//------------------------------//
// Chapter 23: A Heated Mistake 
// Story: When Snow Falls 
// by Prophet Of Doom 
//------------------------------//

   Dr. Twinstar had marched herself all the way back to Canteralot, where she stopped in the middle of a square.
Calm yourself Twinstar She berated herself. Foxtrot has always been a complete….

Her thought process was interrupted by the sight of a certain Royal guard earth pony, Steel Wall.
Nightmare Moon!! Twinstar screamed internally. What's she up to? She quickly gave chase to the stallion, who was not trying to be evasive. After a short time, he turned off the bustling streets into a building she did not expect for.
 The Canteralot library? Twinstar pondered. Of course’ knowledge is power.
She entered the grand building but her moment of hesitation, she had lost sight of Steel Wall. Canteralot library was huge, thousands of books stacked on hundreds of shelves and bookcases. It took Twinstar awhile to re-acquire the stallion. He was sitting alone at a table, reading a book on Equestrian history.

"Why," She asked approaching him, not caring about being silent.
“Good afternoon Dr,” Nightmare Moon replied with Steel Wall’s voice. “Take a seat, you seem stressed.”
“Answer my question,”
“And which question is that’ Dr,” Nightmare Moon continued to tease.
“You know what I mean,” -Twinstar held back from shouting- “So answer me, Nightmare Moon.”
After her name had been called out loud, Nightmare Moon rose her host up and glared at Twinstar.
“I strongly advise not calling my name out loud in public. Someone might think your mad,” Steel wall grinned, his eyes flawed indigo for a brief second. “And seriously, which question? I left you with so many last night. Why did I let you live? Well, killing you will draw unnecessary attention. Why did I let you go? Well with the obelisk gone, you had no proof to go to Celestia with and you yourself convinced me that she would not be so believing that her sister’s evil had returned without it.”

Steel Wall rocked back his sea,’ grinning maniacally. “Was that the question’ Twinstar?”
“NO… Well yes, but not the one you left me with before you departed,” Came her reply’ clearly unsettled by the day's events.
“Oh, yes! Why did my subjects lived in peace and prosperity?” Nightmare Moon made a great show of words, delighting in the how uncomfortable she could make Twinstar. “Of course. Well as for them fighting each other.”
Steel Wall’s eyes turned into does of Nightmare Moon’s and then leaned forward again. “They stopped because I would not let them.”
“And they obeyed you?” Twinstar queried.
“Oh yes. Few defied me after they witnessed my power.”
“Few?” Twister’s eyebrow raised.
“Well, there were these two tribes who continued their blood-soaked feud even after I had conquered them and ordered them not to.”
“What happened to them?” Twinstar asked’ not sure whether she wanted to know the answer.
“Oh, I wiped them out, all of them,” Nightmare spoke directly to Twinstar. “Even the youngest. All their bloodlines destroyed.”
“Even their existence,” Twinstar finished.
“Oh no, Twinstar. I needed their existence,” Nightmare raised her host’s hoof’ to make a point. “I needed an example as a warning to others’ behave’ or else.”
“So that's how you rule,” -Twinstar saw an opportunity to dig at her- ’Nothing but fear.”
Nightmare Moon’s response was to let out an unnerving giggle.
“Many tribes also flourished under my rule, Twinstar,” Nightmare Moon continued “But yes, I did need to use fear to bring them in line, to stop them killing each other.”
“And the Night Eternal?”
“Oh, that was luna’s doing,” Nightmare moon lied. “It was her desire to have ponies see her night. I believe the Nightmare Moon of this world indulged her, as it probably added to her visage of fear. I may use the threat of it, as a levering tool you understand.”

Twinstar nodded. This statement confirmed in her mind the belief that Luna was not fit to rule.
“But do you honestly believe you can do better than Celestia?” She challenged.
“Well, I do not have to do much,” -Steel Wall closed the book she had been reading- “Equestria is prospering and it’s population, for the most part, are united. It’s Equestria’s borders and defence forces that are lacking.”
“The defence Forces?”
“The Royal Guard,” -Steel Wall tapped his armour- “Being a member has allowed me a study their doctrine and routines and I find them less than satisfactory. The guard are little more than parade ground soldiers, they proved ineffective against Tirek, against the changelings and I fear they would prove ineffective against a well lead force of any nation. True, there are powerful individuals that can and have taken their place, but you have been riding mainly on luck, and luck…”
She learned her host in close to Twinstar. “….Can run out.”
Twinstar looked down in contemplation, searching for a counterargument but none came to her, save one
“Tell me, Nightmare,” -She looked up- “How were you defeated?”
The sinister smile Nightmare Moon had on her host disappeared, replaced with an annoyed glare with her terrible indigo eyes flaring up.
“If you must know,” She said’ keeping her temper in check. “I grew complacent, overconfident, and I underestimated an unknown band of warriors and I assumed that they had no knowledge of magic. These were mistakes, mistakes that cost me hundreds of years of freedom, seeing all my hard work unravel. Mistakes, I will learn from and not repeat, Twinstar.”

Twinstar smiled, readjusted her glasses. Believing she now had the upper hoof.
“Don’t act superior to me, Twinstar,” Nightmare Moon snapped. “You are in no position to talk down to me!”
Twinstar took a step back’ continuing to adjust her spectacles. “Whatever do you mean…”
“Celestia!! This very morning!” Nightmare Interrupted. “She summoned you after learning that you had kept personal items from the Ponyville crash site for study, despite her orders for them to burnt along with the victims.”
Twinstar eyes widened.
“Oh’ did you think that meeting was a done unnoticed,” Nightmare Moon said, bringing her voice down. “It’s the talk of the court, you're not expected to retain your position by week’s end.”
Nightmare Moon turned back to her book.
“It may have been a mistake to display my obelisk in the manner that you did,” -Nightmare refound her page- “Now if you excuse me Dr, I need to find out where I can get my hands on the ‘Alicorn Amulet’.”
“The Amulet!? That's currently in….” Twinstar said, lifting a hoof to her mouth.

Nightmare Moon slowly closed the book and turned to face her, the menacing grin returning. “Care to finish that statement, or would you like me to go into your mind and wrench it out?”
Twinstar composed herself, trying to put on a confident posture.
“I was for a short time, on the research team studying the amulet, after it was handed in by Twilight Sparkle. I believe it's currently stored in one of the many deep vaults under Canteralot castle.”
“A short time?”
“Yes,” Twinstar said. “I was kicked off the team, my ideas were too extreme for the others.”
Nightmare Moon let out a small laugh in her voice, through Steel Wall’s mouth.
“Laugh all you want,” Twinstar snapped. “The Vaults are well defended and nigh impregnable.”
Steel Wall rose out of his seat and picked up the book in one hoof.
“Dr. Twinstar,”Nightmare said in her voice. “I have my ways and if it's protected by the royal guard, I shouldn’t have a problem.”
Steel Wall slide the book back in its spot on the shelf, then walked past the magenta unicorn. “Good Day’ Twinstar. And thank you for your help.”
The Stallion walked past and headed for the exit of the library, leaving Twinstar visible shaken from the confrontation. Realising all too late that in her anger, she had made a grave mistake.