//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A Crusade through a Night of Nightmares // Story: The Night's Light // by Keeper of time RD //------------------------------// Having seen the three crusaders home from their day’s adventure, Luna found a cloud to recline on. The fading light glimmered off the top of the cloud as she settled down to watch the sunset. As the sun disappeared over the horizon shadows clamed the land. Only a moment later the moon rose, the sky became darker and the stars started coming out. Within minutes the last light of twilight faded, and the night’s sky could be seen for all its glory. As the stars shown above, so did the light coming from the windows of the town below. With a sigh Luna looked over Ponyville from her cloudy perch, although she could see a dozen or so telescopes, none of them appeared to be manned tonight. The streets were empty and looking back to the light coming from the windows, Luna sighed, “They are creatures of the day.” Luna watched as the night drew on, and one by one the lights of Ponyville went out. Speaking as if somepony was around to hear her, Luna said, “Very well, we shall sleep. Let us see what dreams you have tonight.” Setting her head down and closing her eyes, Luna waited until she felt the waking world fade away. Replacing it, the darkness became a field of stars. With the wave of a hoof, Luna summoned a multitude of tiny windows around her, each a portal to the dream of a pony sleeping in the town below her, each emitting an aura of terror. “W-What is this?” Luna muttered, as her dream self staggered back a step. “H-How can everypony in Ponyville be having a nightmare all at once?” Through the windows, Luna glimpsed visions of ice, flame and shadow. Then the dream windows began shattering all around her, signaling that the dreamers were being startled awake. Pushing away the realm of dreams Luna opened her eyes. The Ponyville below was a stark contrast to the peaceful town settling in for the night of only a moment ago. Lights were being turned on all over the town, usually accompanied by screaming. Sometimes smoke could be seen coming from one of the homes or patches of magic ice forming on a building here or there. Luna descended toward one such smoking home, and just as flames started licking their way through the thatch roof the front door burst open and a family of unicorns rushed out into the street. The mare of the family came to a sudden halt as she beheld the chaos and panic taking hold across all of Ponyville. “They-They’re everywhere!” she shouted, pulling her colt close to her side. The stallion of the family tossed a quick glance around as he backed out of their now burning home, but quickly brought his attention to the flaming pony marching forward, making sure to keep himself between the flaming monstrosity and his family. Glowing purple orbs hovered were eyes should have been on the flaming creature and a sinister smile could be seen on it’s face as it prepared to leap at the family. A beam of blue light came down on the flaming nightmare, flashing brightly and leaving only a scorch mark on the ground where it had stood. A second later Luna landed on the vary spot. “Is there anypony still inside?” she asked. The family shook there heads, and the father answered, “No, we’re all here.” A shattering noise drew everypony’s attention across the street, to see a skeleton being bucked out a window by an earth pony stallion. “And stay away from my daughter!” he shouted, only to pause as his eyes went wide at the revelation that there were screams and nightmarish creatures emerging from all over town. The unicorn mare bowed to the alicorn who had just saver her family and said, “Thank you, Princess Luna. But what should we do?” Looking back to the family before her Luna said, “It is my understanding that thy town hall is the default rally point for emergencies, is it not? Take shelter there! Those who can fight should form a defensive line protecting it!” The two parents gave a quick nod, then the stallion asked, “What about you?” Luna fired another beam of magic, destroying a frankenstallion, and freeing another pony from her nightmarish pursuer. “I mean to put an end to these nightmares given form!” * * * * * * * Less then an hour had passed since the siege of nightmares had begun and Luna found herself escorting another group of ponies toward the town hall. As they entered into the town’s central plaza a headless horse tried to cut them off, only to vanish in a blue flash from Luna’s magic. As they neared the town hall Luna slowed, allowing the citizens to pass her as they made their dash for safety. Above several pegasi fought to keep the nightmares that could fly away from the town hall building, although, in the case of the flaming-winged-demon-pony nightmares they had little choice but to try and lure them into range of a unicorn with combat magic. Unfortunately, with as few ponies that knew combat magic as there were in Ponyville, that usually meant luring the nightmares to either Twilight Sparkle or Luna. The earth ponies and unicorns standing guard on the porch parted, allowing the new arrivals to enter. Luna stopped short at the base of the steps and turned to face back out, toward the rest of the town. As a since of déjà vu came over Luna, she muttered, “The headless horse seems to have been a common nightmare tonight.” “Don’t forget the zombies. I swear I’ve taken down a dozen of em,” said a young pegasus stallion hovering overhead. Turning his head to a balcony behind him, he added, “Of course, somepony just had to pick tonight to sneak a zombie apocalypse comic from my room. Didn’t he, Rumble?” “I said I’m sorry!” cried the school-age colt in question. The elder brother just glared at his younger sibling. “Sorry doesn’t change the fact that your nightmares summoned an army of undead into your bedroom! Now get back inside before mom realized you’re not with her and panics again!” “Aww… but I want to see you fight!” Rumble complained, but headed back into the town hall. A shadowy mass of tentacles entering the plaza caught Luna’s eye, but just as she charged her horn with magic, a blast of purple magic came down and vaporized the monstrosity. Looking up to the source of the blast Luna spotted Twilight. “You look tired, go ahead and take a break! I can handle it out here for now!” Twilight Sparkle called down from her place on the balcony. Although she said nothing, Luna nodded in agreement and headed inside. The inside of the town hall was crowded well beyond the intended capacity of the building, even though the pegasi were making use of the high overhead to hover or rest on clouds to free up floor space for the ground-bound ponies. In a corner to the left, Luna saw that Cheerilee was holding an impromptu class in an effort to keep the foals awake and distracted. Looking to the right Luna found the improvised medical station tucked away in another corner. More importantly she saw one of the few pegasi on the ground was Rainbow Dash, who was currently getting bandages applied to the burns she’d apparently acquired defending this place. The moment Rainbow looked up, she noticed Luna’s presence and her eyes shifted from the annoyance of waiting for the nurse to finish treating her burns, to a knowing look of concern aimed at the princess of the night. With a firm nod, Luna silently confirmed that the shadow magics giving the nightmares form were too familiar to be anyone other then the same one who had made the shadow puppet they’d faced in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash nodded back at Luna as if to say ‘I thought so,’ and then returned her gaze to the bandages being wrapped around her midsection, ending the unspoken conversation between them. Just as Luna was about to find a place to rest the front doors swung open forcefully enough to draw everypony’s attention. A tan earth pony mare, wearing a cowboy hat, burst into the room and was followed by her red coated elder brother, who happened to be carrying their green coated grandma. Applejack’s panicked eyes quickly searched the room and locked onto the first friendly face she found who happened to be a white unicorn with a purple mane. Dashing over to the mare Applejack said, “Rarity! Ah can’t find Apple Bloom anywhere! Please tell me Ah plum forgot when that sleepover was happening and she’s with you and Sweetie.” “Darling, I’m sorry, but that sleepover isn’t until the weekend. Besides Sweetie Belle wasn’t even staying at my place tonight. She was at our parent’s house tonight,” Rarity answered, shaking her head. Turning the another unicorn she added, “Isn’t that right mother?” Suddenly wide-eyed, Rarity’s mother said, “I thought she was staying at your place tonight.” Simultaneously the entire family of unicorns looked over the Miss Cheerilee, eyes slowly growing wide with horror as they realized that Sweetie Belle wasn’t among the fillies gather by their teacher. Clinging to one last hope, Applejack raised her voice and yelled over the chatter of the crowded room, “Has anypony seen Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle!?” The yelled question brought a hush over the room and made the head of a certain sky blue pegasus bolt upright. The low murmurs of the room were quickly interrupted as Rainbow Dash took to the air, performed a quick loop around the room and then shot up the stairwell for the upper floors of the town hall. The whole time, the loose half of the bandages partly wrapped around Dash were waving like a make shift banner. All of ten second passed before Rainbow Dash returned, shooting in through the front doors. Coming to a hover just above her earth pony and unicorn friends, Dash breathlessly said, “I can’t find Scoots! Or any of the crusaders! They’re not here or with the ponies holding out at the guard station!” “I can not say that I’m surprised,” Luna said as she stepped through the open front door. “What?” the elder sisters, and honorary sister all said together, as they joined Luna on the town hall’s porch. “The first wave of nightmares was spawned by most everypony in town. Yet, the night has drawn on and no matter how many of the nightmares we destroy the siege continues. As the battle has continued, I found an increasing since of familiarity with the remaining nightmares that I couldn’t quite put my hoof on. And yet…” rather then speak the answer, she motioned to a trio of nightmare creatures emerging into the town’s central plaza from an alleyway. The twisted wolf like forms advanced toward the town hall, their bodies made of a dark wood, a purple glow filled the place where eyes should have been. A volley of purple magic came down and destroyed the nightmarish timberwolves. “Wow!” Applejack said. “Those things remind me of the nightmares Ah use to get from Granny Smith’s stories when I was little.” “Indeed, and I imagine that we can both guess who else has heard those tales,” Luna said, looking at the farm pony. Then looking back out at the moon lit town, she added, “Though I must admit that I didn’t put the pieces together until Scootaloo’s absence was mentioned.” Tilting her head to the side Rainbow Dash said, “What about Scoots?” Bowing her head slightly, Luna answered, “When most fillies and colts dream up the myth of the headless horse, they envision him with a jack-o-lantern in place of his head. Not so with Scootaloo.” Nodding her head Dash added, “Right, she’s only heard that story from me. And since it wasn’t nightmare night when we went camping I skipped over that part of the story.” “Exactly. I hath fought at least twelve headless horses tonight, and of them, seven were truly headless. In hindsight, it stand to reason that whomever is responsible for this would spirit away some ponies to remain trapped in the realm of nightmares, that they may continue to give those nightmares form,” Luna finished her line of reasoning. “So how do we get our sisters back?” the three ponies gathered around Luna asked. A smile graced Luna’s face. “The crusaders’ dreams shall led me to them.” Luna closed her eyes and when she opened them again a silver light covered them. To Luna, the waking wold faded, replaced by the field of stars that always welcomed her to the realm of dreams. After a wave of her hoof, Luna frowned, as nothing appeared before her. Holding her front right hoof out before her Luna focused her efforts on a single dreamer. “I know that thou dreams, Scootaloo. Where art thou?” Although she could feel the shadow magic hiding the dreams away from her, Luna smiled as a small star appeared at the end of her hoof. “Thou are good, but not good enough,” she whispered as took note of the thin tether of light coming off of the star. Returning to the waking world, Luna and found three ponies waiting expectedly. “Well?” they asked. “It would seem that I must play a game of Marko Pinto.” “That game where one pony is blind folded and must guess where the others are based on the sound of their voices? Forgive me princess but how would that help us find our sisters?” Rarity asked. “It would seem that dark magic hides their dreams from me, preventing me from pinpointing the crusaders. However, I can still since the general direction of the dreamers. I shall repeat the process elsewhere until I find the source.” “So where are they now?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Somewhere to the southeast.” “The Everfree Forest.” “That indeed seems the most likely case.” “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go get our sisters,” Applejack said, stepping forward. “Hold, noble Applejack,” Luna said raising a hoof to bar the earth pony’s way. “Forgive my inquiry, but what good would you hope to accomplish rushing blindly in to face the perils of the forest in addition to the nightmares?” The question gave Rarity pause, but the determined looks refused to fade from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “All due respect princess, but these are our sisters we’re talking about. We’d do anything and face any danger to protect them,” Applejack said. Dash nodded in agreement. “That is well and good. However, your services would be better applied holding the fort here,” Luna said. Seeing that the three ponies didn’t consider this good enough, Luna added, “Plus the search this mission entitles would be best carried out from the air, and two of you would only slow me down in that regard.” Looking squarely at Rainbow Dash, Luna also added, “And one of you is not fit to fight.” “Oh come on! It’s just a burn, so what if my hind left kick will be a little weak, the rest of me still works fine!” Dash complained. With a stern stare, Luna answered, “Yet given what I expect to be finding, I suspect that thou would only get in my way. Please Rainbow Dash, let the master dream-walker deal with the source of an army of nightmares.” Applejack placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Luna has a point, Rainbow. If us being around would just muck things up, we should stay out of her way.” “Fine,” the pegasus conceded, hanging her head in defeat. “Thank you, I shall return with thy sisters as soon as I can,” Luna said, and with that the princess of the night disappeared in a flash of teleportation magic. “So how long are we waiting before we go after her?” Dash asked. “Seeing as she teleported away, Ah’d say now is good,” Applejack answered. * * * * * * * From high above the middle of the Everfree Forest, the silver light faded from Luna’s eyes and she turned her gaze in a new direction. “Southwest now is it?” she said to the wind. Two more dream-scans pointing in the same direction latter and Luna was nearing the edge of the Everfree forest. Once more checking the realm of dreams, she finally found the dream was more below her than any other direction. Yet before she could dive down into the thinning forest, Luna noticed distant movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to investigate, she couldn’t help but sigh and laugh at the same time when she saw Rainbow Dash flying along, slowly enough that it was clear she was leading others on the ground. “I suppose I can not blame them,” Luna said. Turning her attention downward she spotted a cave in more or less the direction of the crusader’s dreams. Only a hundred yards worth of trees separated cave from the edge of the Everfree forest and, ironically enough, the northern end of Ghastly Gorge as well. Landing as quietly as she could above the mouth of the cave Luna felt the magic in the area. The dark magic coming from inside the cave left no reason to bother checking the realm of dreams. The sounds of hooves and claws made Luna lower herself and watch quietly as a pack of twisted nightmare timberwolves and zombie unicorns exited the cave, marching off to the northwest, to Ponyville. Luna waited a moment longer as the sounds of the nightmares given form faded. Once the silence had lasted long enough that she was sure nothing more would be coming out, Luna opened her wings and flew as silently as she could into the cave. Around one corner Luna set herself down silently, for around the next bend in the cave the flickering light of a campfire could be seen dancing on the wall. Steeling herself to face whomever the crusaders’ captor was, she charged her horn with magic and darted around the corner. In the middle of the room a small campfire flickered as expected. Along the right side of the room was a metal cage, where the three crusaders slept. Between the frequent fidgeting and the dark glow around their bodies it was clear that magic kept them trapped within their nightmares and unable to wake. However, the sight that drew a gasp from Luna was the figure standing on the opposite side of the campfire. An alicorn slightly larger then herself, with a coat as black as the darkest of nights, her mane and tail shimmered like a vision of a starry night’s sky and clad in silver combat armor that gave the dark figure it’s only contrast. “Nightmare Moon,” Luna whispered as she looked at the pony across from her. “Surprised to see me?” With a prolonged blink Luna recomposed herself, abandoning her combat stance for a more casual one she walked forward. Turning her gaze to the three fillies in the cage she said, “I expected more. Tell me, imposter, why just these three?” “You have the nerve to call me imposter and yet you have to ask me that?” Nightmare Moon sneered. “I would think it obvious, just look at them. Still blank flanks at their age, the anxiety pent up in their hearts primes them for nightmares.” Motioning to Scootaloo, Nightmare Moon added, “Especially this one, so much pain in her heart, so little solace. Her nightmares have been especially potent.” The dark aura around Scootaloo pulsed, the filly moaned and fidgeted as black tendrils came off of her head like dark steam. The dark magic wafted through the bars of the cage, consolidating just outside it, becoming a hellishly black coated demon-pony with wings made of black fire and crimson lightning arching all over its body. Nightmare Moon grinned. “I rest my case.” As the nightmare demon-pony opened its glowing purple eyes it swung its wings forward, launching a black fireball sheathed in crimson lightning. Luna released the magic in her horn and the resulting beam of blue light cut through the incoming attack, and blasted the nightmare into nothingness. The remnants of the nightmare’s attack licked at Luna’s sides, forcing a pained cry from her. Yet as she righted her stance, Luna was smiling. “I have seen her nightmares, but I also know the light that resides in her heart! Come, imposter, see the true power of her dreams!” Then Luna’s horn flared to life and the dark glow around the crusaders was joined by a soft blue glow. At the same time a silver light covered Luna’s eyes and the waking world vanished. * * * * * * * This time there were no stars to welcome Luna when she appeared in darkness. The only other things that filled the void around her were the three dreams standing alone like islands in a sea of infinite darkness. In one direction Apple Bloom was running through a dark forest, being chased by nightmarish timberwolves and crying out for her big sister to come help her. In another direction Sweetie Belle was running through a twisted vision of Carousel Boutique, being chased by a unicorn zombie and begging her undead elder sister to leave her alone. In yet another direction Scootaloo could be seen running through what looked like an active volcano of all things, leaping from one stone platform to the next as she crossed a river of lava. Although what the filly was running from couldn’t be seen, the fear reflecting in Scootaloo’s eyes could, and Luna’s heart couldn’t help but ache for the filly when she noticed the deafening silence in which the young pegasus ran. “You choose to challenge me within the realm of nightmares?” Nightmare Moon’s voice said from above. “You realize that if you fail to break them free of their nightmares you’ll be trapped here as well, don’t you?” A quick glance at the three fillies showed that they were too deeply trapped with in their nightmares to notice the conversation occurring in the darkness between the dreams. Pulling her gaze up from Scootaloo and toward Nightmare Moon, Luna gave a smirk and said, “Who said that I would be braking them free of their nightmares?” Rising up on her hind legs and spreading her wings, Luna held her front legs out to the sides. Bringing her front hooves together in a resounding clap, the three dreams rushed toward each other. The three dreams collided below Luna, shattering and becoming a large circular stone platform. As the fillies fell to this new floor, glowing pools of dark magic appeared around each of them and black chains shot out of the pools, shackling each of fillies’ legs. The three fillies were all facing away from each other as they jolted upward, as if waking from a dream. Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief and was the first to speak. “Good, not the boutique…” Then noticing the chains shackling her legs she added, “Oh come on!” “Sweetie Belle? Oh thank goodness… Oh applesauce Ah’m stuck!” Spurred by the voice of her friend Apple Bloom tried to turn around only to notice the chains binding her legs had only enough slack to allow her to stand normally but not turn around. Settling for turning her head instead Apple Bloom found her found her friends in similar situations, but asked anyway, “Scootaloo?” Having pulled herself into a pained sitting position, pulling all of her chains to their limits, Scootaloo was focusing on trying to pull her front right hoof free of its shackles. With one final grunt the young pegasus finally relented. “Sorry crusaders, these shackles are too tight. I’m stuck too,” she admitted, hanging her head slightly. In the space between the three crusaders Luna landed hard, forced down by a torrent of black and purple magic. “Don’t think I’m going to make this easy for you!” Nightmare Moon shouted from the other end of the beam of magic. A powerful blue light erupted from Luna’s horn, pushing back the dark magic and allowing the princess of the night to stand up properly. “Luna!” the three fillies called out. “Are you alright?” Sweetie Belle added. “Wait, does this mean Ah’m dreaming?” Apple Bloom asked. “What took you so long?” Scootaloo asked, although the soft smile, welcoming eyes and relief in her voice took the bite out of her choice of words. Luna gave a small laugh as she answered, “My apologies little ones. Dark magic hid thy dreams from me. I had to gain line of sight of thee to break into thy nightmares.” “Ah can see you’re busy and all, but Ah don’t suppose ya could get us out of here could ya?” Apple Bloom asked. With a slight shake of her head Luna answered, “No. The three of you are under the power of a nightmare spell. Those chains represent the magic keeping you bound here, in the realm of nightmares. I can only keep the nightmares at bay, it is you who must free thyselves.” “Okay, how do we do that?” Scootaloo asked. While the torrent of magic flowing from the tip of Luna’s horn kept back the shadow magics of Nightmare Moon three small sparks of blue light scattered off the base of Luna’s horn, each coming to rest right in front the crusaders. “Take my light, use thy hopes and dreams to make it thy own! Then show this nightmare the true strength in thy hearts!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle tossed nervous glances at each other. Scootaloo lifted her hoof up, touched the spark of light before her and closed her eyes. Pulses of light came off of the spark as it grew into a sphere and changed to an orange color. Even prismatic light appeared, coming off of the sphere like ribbons of steam. When the sphere was almost the size of Scootaloo it shattered. Some of the fragments of light came back together in the space just beyond Scootaloo’s outstretched hoof, becoming a silhouette of light in the shape of a sword. The remaining fragments of light wrapped around Scootaloo’s body, mostly taking the shape of an armored vest and sheathing her wings in light. As the light faded the silhouette gave way to reveal a silver sword, perfectly sized to be a filly’s broadsword. Its blade was simple and straight, right up to the end, where it came to a point. The guard was shaped like pegasus wings spread in flight. Etched into the middle of the guard, between the two wings, was an insignia of a shield with a crescent moon in it. The handle grip was the only part of the sword that wasn’t silver, as it was wrapped in light blue cloth, before ending in a silver pommel. As the light around Scootaloo’s body faded, it became a silver chain-mail vest. Around her hooves the light became armored boots with tiny silver lightning bolts coming off of the backs like stylized wings. The light over her actual wings became countless segmented silver plates, protecting her wings like an extra layer of silver feathers. Silver knight Scootaloo made two quick swings of her hoof and the sword hovering just beyond it matched the motion, shattering the chains attached to her front legs. With two more swings the chains binding her hind legs were also sundered and the remaining fragments of the dark magic evaporated into nothingness. Finally free Scootaloo turned around to face Luna and her friends and gave them a confident grin, while her sword hovered to her side just beyond the reach of her wings. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked from their newly knighted friend to each other, sporting similar smiles before closing their eyes and reaching out to touch the sparks of light before them. As Sweetie Belle touched her spark it became a light green color and grew slightly larger then her hoof before shattering. The fragments of Sweetie’s light wrapped around her horn. A transparent bubble of light formed around the young unicorn like a shield spell cast by a master unicorn mage and shattering the chains that bound her as it closed around her. The blue spark at Apple Bloom’s hoof shifted to a golden yellow color and grew to almost double the size of her hoof before shattering. Bloom’s light wrapped around her becoming a silhouette of thick heavy armor. As the light wrapped around her legs like knee-high plated boots the dark shackles shattered to make way for the golden light. Taking a moment to gaze into the radiant armor forged of light, a flash of curiosity appeared on Apple Bloom’s face before she looked up and smiled back at her friends. The three crusaders gathered together, lining up beside Luna. “Are we ready crusaders?” Apple Bloom practically cheered the question. “Ready!” With a nod from Apple Bloom, Scootaloo raised her hoof and her sword took its position just beyond it. When Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle each placed a hoof on the sword’s guard three beams of light erupted from the fillies, one yellow, one green, one orange, and spiraled their way down the length of the sword’s blade. At the tip of the blade the beams merged and the tri-colored beam shot out toward Nightmare Moon. As the crusaders’ tri-colored beam joined with Luna’s magic, the dark magic aligned against it buckled and the world of dreams shattered. * * * * * * * The light covering the eyes of the two alicorns vanished and both shot a glance to the three fillies in the cage. The dark auras around the crusaders evaporated. Their eyes slowly pealed open as they awoke. “Seriously?” Apple Bloom said, as she glared at the iron bars of their cage. “So you’ve cut off my source of nightmares to conjure into the world,” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Not that it matters, I can recast the nightmare spell on them later. And we both know how easily you can handle nightmares, so surely you didn’t expect me to relay on them to face you, did you?” “Considering thy habit of hiding behind puppets and nightmares, I would not have been surprised if thou didn’t plan on facing me at all,” Luna answered. Then the light of Luna’s magic flared to life around her horn. A light blue glow appeared beside the alicorn and quickly took shape. The three fillies in the cage smiled as they recognized the blade, despite being made only of transparent blue light. “Is that Scootaloo’s sword?” Sweetie Belle half asked, half cheered. “It seemed appropriate,” Luna answered with a smile. “If that is your choice so be it,” Nightmare Moon scoffed, as a dark aura formed around her horn and her shadowy magics took the form a scythe. The two alicorns stood ready, each with wary eyes watching the other. Nightmare Moon made the first move by lunging at Luna and the flurry blades began. The magical blades flashed, striking out and parrying each other in rapid succession, never allowing the other to gain more then a minor cut on the ponies wielding them. The flurry of blades ended when the blades locked and Nightmare Moon tried to step back only to find she had no more ground to give. With her rump against the cave wall Nightmare couldn’t dodge anymore and if she abandon her parry Luna’s blade would land a serious blow on her chest. As the blades pressed against each other cracks formed in the scythe. Luna stepped forward saying, “What’s the matter, imposter? Can your nightmare scythe not withstand the light of a dream sword born of a mere filly’s dreams?” The scythe shattered and Luna’s sword cleaved deep into Nightmare Moon’s chest, drawing horrified gasps from the three fillies watching from their cage. The gasps were quickly replaced with questioning ‘Huh?’s as they realized it wasn’t blood coming from the wound . Instead Nightmare Moon’s body was into dissolving sparks of dark magic. As she collapse to the ground Nightmare Moon gave a sinister smile and said, “It would seem that you were right. I am the imposter… and you are the true queen of nightmares.” With that Nightmare Moon’s form shattered into a sea of dark sparks that quickly flickered out of existence. A Shadow puppet that powerful can only mean that the caster is nearby, yet I can not abandon the crusaders to search for the true villain lest I risk leaving them open to a reprisal born of spite. A perfect escape plan it would seem. The thoughts made Luna frown as she stared at the blank cave wall. The sounds of the three fillies cheering her apparent victory brought Luna out of her thoughts. Turning around she gave them a weak smile and said, “Let us get thee out of there. Stand back.” Once the crusaders had backed up as far as the cage would allow, Luna made two quick swings with her sword. Several of the heavy iron bars fell to the ground with a resounding clang as Luna finally dismissed the magic blade. After the crusaders showered Luna with their thanks and praise, Apple Bloom asked, “Luna, can Ah ask you something.” “Of course, child, what is it you wish to know?” “Back when we were dreaming, Ah tried to make my dreams become a suit or armor like Scootaloo did, how come it didn’t fully form like hers did?” “Yeah I was wondering about that too, I tried to make a mage’s outfit too but all I got was the magic,” Sweetie Belle added. Lowering herself down to eye level with the fillies, Luna asked, “Well, what dreams did you use to make the sparks of light your own?” “Well, getting my cutie mark has always been important to me, so Ah focused on the dream where Ah got my mark,” Apple Bloom answered. With a nod Luna turned to Sweetie Belle and asked, “And you?” Blushing slightly, Sweetie answered, “Well, someday I want to be a designer like my sister. So I thought about a dream I have from time to time where I make a dress and Rarity actually thinks it’s good.” After a short pause Sweetie Belle asked, “What about you Scoot? What dream did you use?” Scootaloo’s gaze quickly found the floor. “Do I have to?” she asked weakly. “All of them,” Luna answered on the filly’s behalf. “What?” the two fillies not in the know, responded. With a supportive smile Luna clarified, “Scootaloo truly heeded my words, she used all of her hopes and dreams. She held back nothing, thus the light of her dreams fully manifested.” “Ohhhh!” the two crusaders said. Unseen by her friends, at the same time Scootaloo silently mouthed the words ‘Thank you’ to Luna. Standing up again, Luna smiled and said, “Come my lunar crusaders, let us take our leave of this place.” They had barely emerged from the cave when Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity emerged into the clearing before the cave. Judging from their newly acquired cuts, bruises, and Dash’s increasingly shredded bandages they had already dealt with the last wave of nightmares. Each crusader ran to their elder sister, or honorary sister in the case of the pegasi, and embraced them. After accompanying the crusaders and the three spirits of harmony back to town, Luna took her leave of Ponyville. * * * * * * * Landing on her balcony Luna saw the small, newly added ramp and judging form the fox’s paw prints in the snow the guards had grown accustom to allowing Luna’s pet to come and go as he pleased. Pausing for a moment Luna’s eyes found their way to the guards stationed beside her balcony, warped in heavy blankets. A soft breeze carried the chill of the high mountain’s night air. If she chose to linger much longer Luna might have even thought the air cold. The thought of being stationed outdoors, at a post above the snowline made Luna asked, “Soldier, are thou cold?” The soldier jerked his head to look at his princess, clearly surprised that he’d been spoken to at all. Quickly regaining the composure on his face he answered, “No, your majesty. The blankets work fine.” Between the visible breath and the slight hint of discomfort in the soldier’s voice, Luna doubted his words. Searching her mind for an excuse to help her guards anyway Luna found one. “Hmm, I shall have to have these guard posts enchanted to keep you warm. Shedding those blankets would slow thy response time, if thou had to take sudden action.” Once Luna had entered into Starlight Castle, the two guards broke their stoic gaze for just a moment as they each gave a slight smile. Once she had tracked down an attendant to pass along her request regarding the guard posts by her balcony, Luna retreated to her chambers and found everything was as she had left it. Turning her attention to the mannequin with the molding clay her horn came to life. She had work to do. * * * * * * * The sun beat down on the small Ponyville schoolhouse and birds chirped, seemingly taunting the young ponies stuck at their desks. “…And that is why they say to stop, drop, and roll. The point being to smother the flame between the skin and ground, forcing them to go out,” Cheerilee finished her lecture, reminding her young charges of fire safety. The safety lessons had been a direct result of nightmare invasion and most of it was sufficiently redundant as to bore the fillies and colts to sleep. Much to the delight of the students, an unexpected knock prevented the teacher from moving on to the next lecture. “I wonder who that could be?” Cheerilee thought out loud as she approached the door. Opening the door the teacher’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “Princess Luna? What brings you here?” “Forgive the interruption, however I wish to speak with some of thy charges,” the princess of the night answered. “Oh yes, come in. We were just doing a refresher on some safety tips. Perhaps you could give some tips on handling nightmares?” “I think that I shall take you up on the offer. However, first allow me the indulgence of the reason I came here, as it is a bit more ceremonial,” Luna said, drawing attention to the large saddlebags she wore. “Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, would thou come here a moment?” The three fillies were more than happy to answer Luna’s summons and abandoned their desks to join her at the front of the class. Opening her saddlebags with her magic and speaking in an official tone of voice, Luna said, “I come bearing gifts of thanks for thy services during the recent nightmare incursion!” From her saddlebags, Luna produced a silver circlet, with an attached crest meant to fit around the base of a unicorn’s horn and right where the circlet would cover the forehead it had the symbol of a shield with a crescent moon in it. Then turning to Sweetie and said, “To you, Sweetie Belle, I wish to present this circlet, custom crafted for you. Its enchantments will aid thee in the learning of magic. Though once learned I would urge you to practice your spell work without its help.” The next object that came out of Luna’s saddlebag was a heavy, silver, armored saddle, complete with armored plates to protect the front and back as well, much like the armor of the royal guard. The chest plate also had the crest of a shield with a crescent moon etched into it. “Apple Bloom, I present thee with armor befitting for thy adventures, may it protect you, and through you, thy friends.” The final object to come from Luna’s saddlebags was a silver armored vest with wing sleeves made of segmented silver plates. The shoulder-pads of the vest had the same shield and crescent moon crest as the other gifts. “Scootaloo, I offer you the armor of the pegasi. Though I wish that I could give you something to aid you in flight, I am afraid this will only encumber your ability to fly. You may think of them as training weights of sorts. Finally being designed to be light weight this armor will offer less protection than that of Apple Bloom’s, but it gives as much protection as possible for the knight who values speed over raw strength.” Holding all three items in the air before the fillies, Luna looked at the trio with great seriousness and said, “Now before I give these to you, I have one question first. Do the three of you accept the post of my lunar crusaders? A position with absolutely no authority what-so-ever, but also the heavy burden of trying thy very best each and every day to be model citizens, upholding the virtues of truth, justice, wisdom and righteousness?” The trio wasted no time bowing low to Luna, each giving an affirmative response. (While Cheerilee, among other, did their best not to snicker at the idea of their infamous crusaders being model citizens, or wise for that matter.) “Then rise, my youthful champions! I hereby dub thee, Lunar Crusaders!” Luna said, as she used her magic to help the trio put on the gifts. The crusaders stood up and turned around to face the class, as their teacher and most of their classmates cheered. “There now that the ceremony is done, you three may return to thy seats,” Luna said. As the crusaders did what was asked of them, Luna turned to the class and added, “I do believe I promised a lesson as recompense for the interruption. Forgive me that I did not come prepared for such… where should I begin?” Immediately a pink hoof shot up. “Yes… forgive me, what is thy name, and question?” “Diamond Tiara, and I wanted to know what those three actually did for you? Because the way I heard it, all they did was get foulnapped and rescued.” “Not entirely inaccurate, although that version seems to skip over the part where they helped me break the nightmare spell. Thus ending the flow of nightmares besieging thy town,” Luna answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “Those three actually did something right for once? I don’t believe this! I must be dreaming!” Diamond Tiara growled just loud enough to be heard, drawing a gasp from some of the other students. Tiara quickly sank into her seat, mortified at the realization that her thoughts had escaped her lips. With a raised eyebrow Luna said, “That presents an excellent idea for my first lesson, let us test that theory shall we? Miss Diamond Tiara, take thy hoof and do this.” Luna then struck her other front leg hard enough to make herself flinch. She hesitated at first, but even Tiara didn’t dare refuse an order from a princess and so she followed Luna’s example. “Oww! That hurt, what was the point of making me do that?” “Simple, the part of the mind that…” * * * * * * * Luna had finished her lessons regarding dreams by lunchtime and had left the schoolhouse to tend to one last matter that had her heading to Canterlot. Luna found Celestia in her chambers with her face buried deep in a pile of papers. “Oh thank goodness! A welcome excuse to take a break from this dreadful paperwork,” Celestia said once she’d noticed who her company was. Finding her crown exactly where she’d left it Luna picked it up with her magic and said, “I hath come to reclaim my crown and once more return to service as princess of the night. However, I do have one question first. Does Equestria still officially make use of crusaders?” Celestia gave a slight laugh. “No, sister, ever since the E.U.P. guard was formed individuals righteous enough to take on the burden of maintaining law, order and justice onto themselves typically just join the guard these days.” After pausing and bringing a hoof to her chin for a moment, she added, “Although I suppose individuals like Twilight’s friends and Miss Daring Do would qualify, but I don’t think any of them have bothered to clam that ancient title. It probably doesn’t help that acts of heroism are acknowledged more as individual events these days.” Luna nodded. “I see, I suppose that makes since. With greater organization of civilization such burdens would not have to be shouldered by independent individuals.” Placing her crown on her head she added, “A promise is a promise, I do believe that I owe you upwards of a month’s worth of vacation time. Though I do ask you give me a day or two to get back into the flow of things before you take your leave.” With a wide smile Celestia said, “Oh don’t worry, little sister. I shall take my time planning the perfect vacation.”