The Moon and Stars: Shades of the Nightmare

by D4ftP0ny

Chapter 1

The cycle of day and night has spun on since time immemorial- an endless dance through the heavens that ancient races of ponies mimicked through sacred rituals and molded into their theology. They worshipped the sun and the moon equally, because the sun and moon were equals in the heavens and therefore should be equals in their lives. This was accepted for hundreds and hundreds of years, yet most of modern pony-kind knows nothing of their ancestor’s religions thanks to the Age of Discord, in which most of pony’s recorded history was either destroyed or altered so fundamentally by the draconequus that it became malleable and therefore unhelpful. The master of Chaos destroyed or altered everything he could get his mismatched claws upon, and soon the very world itself stood rent asunder; the seas floated, the skies glowed, and the cycle of night and day ceased entirely.

Into the chaos of Discord’s reign stepped the alicorns, guardians of order and harmony in Equestria, and from the ranks of the most ancient of pony lines came the two mares who would be indelibly branded onto the history of the world: the sisters Celestia and Luna, imbued with the powers of the sun and moon, unified opposites in their fight against Discord who rose above all others, harnessed the Elements of Harmony and brought the draconequus to his knees.

The chaos settled, and with all of the power they possessed the alicorns brought harmony back to Equestria, rewriting the laws of nature that Discord had erased. One by one the alicorns gave their lives to correct Discord’s actions, giving their massive magical energies back to the universe so that the ponies who came after them could live in a world unblemished by the mad draconequus’ powers. They could not, however, fix everything: the ponies quickly realized that they would have to control the weather and the seasons, as well as work doubly hard to ensure that the soil itself would give forth the sustenance that they needed to survive.

Into this age of After Chaos came Celestia and Luna, and they brought with them the day and the night, returning the cycle to its natural state through the diligent use of their alicorn powers. The cycle had been broken by Discord, and the two alicorns- the last of their kind- were determined to never let it falter again.

More interestingly, however, is the fact that after Celestia and Luna assumed their roles as Princesses of Equestria ponies began to worship them as Goddesses, literally replacing the old religion’s adoption of the sun and moon as deities. Celestia became the Princess of the Sun, the literal embodiment of all things light and good and wholesome, while Luna became the Princess of the Moon… and the exact opposite of all the things that Celestia was. This was the dichotomy that the After Chaos ponies placed upon them, and after several hundred years of living in the literal and figurative darkness Princess Luna succumbed to the very forces that the ponies of her day imagined as part of her: the forces of the Nightmare, leftovers of Discord’s chaos magic that granted Luna unprecedented power and turned her into Nightmare Moon.

After the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon, the ponies of Equestria were quick to place the sum of their fears into the night. The night became synonymous with danger, the unnatural, and even with death itself to the ponies of Equestria, and even the bravest of warriors would balk at a call for help if it came in the middle of the night. Any pony who associated themselves with the night was labeled evil and cast out of civilized society, and even in modern Equestria the night is considered a time when all good little ponies should be tucked away in bed, gathering their energy for the next busy day. It is a large improvement from the previous several hundred years, but the night is still foreboding to most and outright feared by some- a stark contrast to the religions of the ponies of old, who loved both day and night as two parts of the same whole.

However, it has been postulated by magical historians such as Starswirl the Bearded and his apprentice Clover the Clever that perhaps the ponies’ fear of the night is no longer merely societal or even superstitious- that perhaps there is a reason ponies fear the dark that is ingrained into their very beings, a kind of ancestral memory that protects them from something they would otherwise be unprepared for and, yes, even perhaps something they would not believe if they were told to be wary of it.

It is my hypothesis, based upon the gathered knowledge of Starswirl, Clover and their predecessors, as well as my own observations of both the forces of the night and Princess Luna herself, that the forces of the Nightmare- the very dark magic that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon, the magic that was itself born of Discord’s chaos- are very much present in this world, and that they not only actively seek renewal and a return to power but that they also will answer the call of those brave or foolish enough to seek them out.

If this hypothesis is true, and contrary to my nature I sincerely hope that it is not, our world would be in constant danger of the Nightmare returning and the ponies of Equestria would not only have a very real reason to fear the night, but a very real need of a pony or ponies capable of countering this threat.

~excerpt from Twilight Sparkle’s thesis, “Magical Similarities Between Discord and the Nightmare”

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The moon hung low over Canterlot, a glowing ember crescent in the dark sky as it descended towards its rest beyond the hazy horizon. The summer night had been warm and sticky with moisture, an unusual event in the capital but one that truly made it feel like the spring season had finally given way to the growing heat that heralded the middle of the year. It was a night that had no doubt seen many ponies tossing in their beds, unable to sleep soundly thanks to the extra bit of warmth that the humidity had brought to their homes; none of them, however, would awaken that night suffering from ill dreams or, worse yet, a full-fledged nightmare. Few knew who or what to thank for such a blessing, and even if they all suddenly became aware of who they should be thanking they most likely would never get the chance to do so.

After all, Princess Luna did not protect her subjects for the recognition… she protected them out of necessity.

The dark blue alicorn stood at the edge of one of the beautiful, arching bridges that made up Canterlot Castle, her ethereal mane waving serenely in the soft breeze that wove its way around her tall frame. Her crystalline shoes sparkled in the gentle moonlight of the waning crescent as she gazed out over the sleeping city, her teal eyes uncharacteristically open and melancholy as they wandered from one corner of the landscape before her to the other as if searching for answers in the calm summer night. With a slow, deep sigh she turned her eyes skyward for what felt like the hundredth time to observe the moon as it dropped lower and lower in the sky.

Three days, she thought. Three days until the new moon… Her jaw tightened as she took another deep breath to try and relax. Silence reigned around the Princess as her mind worked furiously. It’s truly not much time, she admitted to herself as she turned and began to pace slowly along the railing of the bridge, her eyes staring ahead of her unseeing. If only I had caught this sooner, perhaps…

Her hoofsteps clicked lightly along the stone beneath her, so lightly that they did not so much as echo in the near stillness of the castle; yet even her delicate steps were enough to cover the flapping of leathery wings in night sky, and the distracted Princess did not realize that she was not alone on the bridge until the other mare landed before her and folded her bat wings neatly behind her before kneeling reverently.

“May your hoofsteps guide the night, Your Highness,” the bat pony intoned solemnly. “I apologize for my lateness- I received your message and came as quickly as I could.”

The Princess of the Night allowed herself a moment to blink before her eyes focused on the pony before her. She was lithe of frame and dark of coat, like all of the bat ponies that Luna had ever met, with a deep blue mane and tail streaked with royal purple. Both her mane and tail were cut short, and as she raised her head the Princess spied the one other major distinguishing mark of the other mare: an eye patch that covered her left eye, its black cloth held in place by two black cords and covered with a metal piece that mimicked the shape of her lost eye.

“You are commended for your speed, Grandmaster Feywind… I’m just glad that you’re here.” She gestured upwards with her right hoof, her wings rustling against her flanks. “Rise, for there is much to discuss and I fear there is little time for pleasantries.”

The bat pony rose back to her hooves and turned her good right eye to the Princess, its turquoise depths glinting in the low light. “And what vexes you so, my Princess?” she asked quietly as she turned and fell into step with Luna as the alicorn continued on her path across the arching bridge.

“You know perfectly well what vexes me,” Luna said gruffly, glancing to her left at Feywind with a frown. “I believe I have finally located the group in Manehatten, but the new moon approaches and if I am wrong tonight I fear that we may not reach them in time.”

Feywind’s tufted ears perked straight up at Luna’s words, and the bat pony’s polished metal eye patch glinted as she turned her head towards the Princess. “Have they finally stopped moving?”

“They have, but they would only do so if they were preparing the final steps of their plan.” Luna glanced up at the moon as the two mares stepped from the bridge onto one of the high castle parapets. “I’m certain I don’t have to tell you how important it is to stop them before they are able to complete their preparations.”

“Of course not, Your Highness – I will deal with it personally if I must.” Feywind nodded firmly, but Luna turned her teal gaze onto the bat pony with a knowing smile.

“Feywind, you are needed at the Aerie. You know that I can’t have my Grandmaster traipsing off to personally complete every mission I give her.”

“But I would, Princess!” Feywind turned sharply, her knee-length tail swishing sharply in the shadowy half-light of the moon. “I would go personally and see that each and every mission you give us is completed to perfection!” Her one good eye practically glowed with fervor, the long slit of her pupil wide in the shadows. Luna let out a gentle laugh and shook her head.

“Feywind… your devotion to my cause is admirable as always,” she said softly. “But you already have a team in position, correct?”

The bat pony straightened, her ears quivering slightly as her lips pressed together into a thin line. “Yes, Highness- I put a team on standby just outside the city, just as you ordered.”

“Then you shall instruct them to move in without delay, because time is of the essence.”

Feywind’s jaw tightened firmly, as if she longed to do nothing more than to try and convince Luna that she should be allowed to carry out this mission, but before Luna could form the instructions on her lips again the bat pony gave her a slow nod.

“As you command, my Princess, so shall it be done.” She shifted and raised her right hoof so that the waning moonlight danced across the half-dozen gemstones that were wrapped about her foreleg with a sturdy silver chain. “I will give them the signal at once.”

“Good.” Luna gave her a nod before turning her eyes to the sky once more, the moon shining in the teal depths of her gaze. “I will pray for their safety… but their success is more important than anything else.” Her ears folded back towards her mane. “I… trust you know that, Grandmaster Feywind?”

Feywind smiled, but it was not full of joy or happiness; instead, it was the grim smile of a soldier who had thrown her life away before and would do so again without hesitation. “I know that, my Princess… as do all of the Coursairs. We would give our lives for you, Your Highness.”

“This is not for me, Grandmaster.” Luna sighed sharply. “This is for Equestria... and it is a debt that I wish you did not have to pay in my stead.” The bat pony and the alicorn stood in silence for several long moments, their minds and hearts clouded with both memories of the past and thoughts of the future. Finally, when the silence became so heavy that it began to weigh on her like a physical force, Princess Luna let out another sigh and nodded to Feywind once more. “Signal them,” she whispered hoarsely. “I will give you the location… and may their lives be protected by my night.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night was uncannily dark in Manehatten as the hours quickly ticked away towards dawn, and as the sliver of the moon sank low in the sky the stars above the city seemed to shine brighter, their soft light glistening above as darkness soaked into city below. It was during the interminable hours before the sun kissed the world once more that the night felt at its most malignant, drenching everything in shadows as if to remind everypony in the city that the night would always come again. It was an uncomfortable time of night to be awake, but for some ponies it could not be avoided.

In the back of a nondescript building on the industrial side of Manehatten, a unicorn dressed in lightweight armor shivered in spite of the warmth of the moisture-laden air. “I hate these late-night shifts,” he muttered unhappily as he shifted on his hooves. “This time of night ain’t fit for pony nor beast.”

“Oh shut your trap, Biggs,” the unicorn next to him scolded softly, his voice echoing unnaturally in the empty back alley in which they stood. “It’s just for a few more hours and then you can go tuck into your bunk and dream away.” The unicorn smirked and reached up to tap Biggs on his horn, where a peculiar metal ring sat firmly around its base. “Although I’d take that trinket off before you do- sleeping with it on will definitely give you nightmares.”

The unicorn named Biggs shivered again. “Yeah… thanks, Wedge. I heard Silver didn’t do that and had a nightmare that made his coat three shades lighter.” Biggs shook his head in trepidation. “I couldn’t take my coat bein’ any lighter than it is- if it went lighter, I’d be some kind of curry-yellow instead of a dun stallion.”

Wedge sighed and elbowed Biggs in his brown side. “Idiot- that was just a rumor; Silver just got shaken up is all. Besides, I didn’t take you for a coward.” The larger unicorn cast his gaze up and down the alleyway. The structure of Manehatten made it easy for groups like theirs to move around at night before vanishing during the daylight hours, but this building had a lot more entrances and exits to cover than their last hideout and Wedge wasn’t about to be caught off guard. Next to him Biggs straightened.

“I ain’t a coward!” he objected loudly, his voice echoing sharply in the space around them. Wedge turned and shushed Biggs loudly, a sound that caused the smaller unicorn to wince.

“Keep your voice down, you idiot!” Wedge hissed. “The last thing you want is to do is draw attention to us!” He turned his blue eyes down the alleyway once more, his mottled gray and white muzzle scrunching as he did so. “I know it’s late, but Manehatten is the city that never sleeps,” he whispered. “SOMEpony is awake, mark my words, and if they hear you shouting and carrying on they just might call the Guards on us.” He turned back to Biggs, his cloth and metal armor shifting over his shoulders as he did so. “And what would we have to do then, huh? Run inside and tell the boss that we have to move again, even after he told us that this was gonna be our base until after the new moon?” He gave his head a shake, his navy blue mane swishing back and forth over his face. “Not on my watch, Biggs- no way, no how.”

Biggs nodded as his green eyes grew stoic beneath his chocolate brown mane. “Yeah… you’re right, Wedge. We just hafta do our job as best we can, and once the new moon’s come and gone I’m sure we’ll be movin’ right along to somewhere new.”

“I’m sure.” Wedge nodded and opened his mouth to continue, but before he could do so his left ear twitched hard enough to cause his words to falter and die. The stallion’s head jerked towards the sound, his eyes narrowing as he gazed into the shadows of the alley. Biggs’ eyes narrowed in confusion, but as he opened his mouth to speak Wedge lifted a hoof and held it towards the shorter unicorn, his face a mask of seriousness.

“Stop- who goes there?” Wedge demanded into the night.

“Have you lost your marbles, Wedge?” Biggs demanded in a whisper so soft that it barely left his lips. “You’re hearing things- there ain’t nothin’ in this alley but us!”

The taller unicorn waved his already upraised hoof at his partner, his features still serious and calm as he waited for a response from the darkness. For several long seconds silence reigned in the alleyway, and for Manehatten it was an all but deafening silence; there was no hum of traffic, no sound of movement or even sighing of the wind to disguise the sounds in the alley, but try as he might Wedge could not hear the sound that had drawn his interest. Finally, after Biggs started to shift nervously from hoof to hoof and mutter softly to himself Wedge let out a sigh and ignited his horn with magic.

“Last chance- who goes there?” he challenged again, and this time he accompanied his demand with a beam of light from his horn that lanced into the clinging darkness of the night and filled the left side of the alleyway.

To the surprise of both Biggs and Wedge, the beam of light illuminated another pony in the darkness, a pony who was much closer to them than either of them would have liked. The light poured over a soft pink coat and a rich magenta mane that faded to a pale bluish-purple, and as Wedge refocused his horn-light up to the pony’s face she winced and raised a wing to cover her eyes, displaying pinion feathers that faded from the soft pink of her coat to a darker pink at the tips.

“Whoa, sorry- didn’t mean to startle you guys,” she said jovially, her voice light and pleasant despite the late night. The feathers of her wing cast shadows across her face in such a way that only her disarming smile could be seen by either of the guards, but despite the ease of her words Wedge felt his shoulders tense.

“State your business,” he ordered. “This area is off-limits to unauthorized personnel.” The Pegasus nodded, her mane bouncing gently above her shadowed face.

“Of course, sir,” she replied, her voice dropping some of her former lightness and replacing it with an almost military formality. “I’m reporting in for the last stage of the ceremony, as I was instructed.”

Wedge’s gaze darted to Biggs, who simply arched an eyebrow at him and shrugged. The taller unicorn frowned hard at Biggs, but after a moment he let out a silent sigh and turned his eyes back to the Pegasus.

“Last stage of the ceremony?” he asked as he took a careful step towards the mare. “I was under the impression that the three ponies we required were already here.”

The Pegasus sighed, her wing still protecting her face from view. “The boss said that he wanted to try and get a full six in, and I’m the first of the second batch.” Suddenly her body tensed in irritation and she snorted loudly. “Look, do you really intend to keep me standing out here in the alley all night or are you going to let me in?”

Wedge’s eyes narrowed, and the next step he took towards the Pegasus was an aggressive one. “I was told that we would only be expecting three ponies for our mission, not six. Comet Tail never said anything about another batch of ponies coming in.”

“COMET TAIL- that was his name!” The mare stamped her hoof in recollection, a large string of beads around her right hoof clacking audibly in the silent alley. “Right, Comet Tail was the one who sent for me. You can ask him about it tomorrow if you want.”

The tall unicorn winced behind his horn-light, and without turning his head too much he made eye contact with Biggs once more. The shorter stallion was frowning too, and Wedge made a discreet horizontal motion with his hoof followed by two vertical taps. To his relief, Biggs didn’t ask for clarification of his orders for a change; instead, the other stallion simply nodded and took a step back towards the door, his eyes once again sweeping the alleyway as Wedge started towards the Pegasus mare once more.

“Again, I wasn’t told about anypony else coming in for the mission, especially this late at night.” He squinted at the mare, his horn-light focusing tighter on what little of her face he could see. “Why don’t you lower your wing and let me see your marks. Then we’ll take you inside and get you a room for the night, and in the morning you can get all the time with Comet Tail that you want.”

The mare chuckled as Wedge stepped closer, his horn still glowing brightly. “Why don’t you relax on that headlight of yours so I’m not totally blind when I drop my wing?” She hid a little more behind it, her right hoof raising off the ground demurely as her other wing rose behind her. “I was flying in the dark, y’know, and bright lights don’t feel the best on night eyes.”

Wedge felt a twinge of guilt despite the suspicious nature of the situation, and after a moment he allowed the beam of his horn-light to widen and soften until it once again lit her whole body… and as soon as he did so, the Pegasus moved.

Her wing dropped just as she had promised, but instead of simply revealing her face it kicked back in tandem with her left wing and pushed the mare forward. Her muscles bunched as she launched herself into the air, and within a heartbeat she drove her right front hoof into Wedge’s face with enough force to knock the stallion out instantly. His eyes rolled back in his head and his horn flickered once before falling dark, plunging the alleyway into the uncomfortable semi-darkness that it had been before.

Wedge’s body fell to the stone of the street with a clatter, and Biggs’ eyes bulged in his head as he made a wild grab for his own magic; just as his horn began to glow, however, a dark shape plunged out of the sky and swooped at the stallion, its momentum carrying it past Biggs as it bashed him in the face with a hoof. So hard was the strike that the unicorn spun in place on his hooves for one full revolution before his knees buckled and he joined Wedge on the cobblestones.

The dark shape turned sharply in the confined space of the alley, its dark wings pumping furiously as it landed next to the Pegasus mare who still stood next to Wedge’s unconscious form. The mare glanced at the figure next to her, a dark stallion with vibrant red eyes and a dual toned green and blue mane that was almost as long as hers.

“Good timing,” she muttered, kneeling in the street. “I was worried I was going to have to get the other guy myself.”

The dark stallion snorted. “You should know better. I’m just glad you got some information out of him.” The mare extended her wing and wrapped her pinions around the ring that sat at the base of Wedge’s horn. She grimaced in disgust, but despite her obvious distaste she plucked the ring from his head and placed it quickly into one of the saddle bags she wore across her flanks.

“It’s not much, I’m afraid. The group is being led by a pony named Comet Tail,” she said as she rose to her hooves again, “and it sounds like he’s got his party ready to go for the new moon in a few days.” The dark stallion stepped past Wedge’s body and moved to Biggs, where he used his own pinion feathers to remove the ring from Biggs’ horn and place it into his own saddlebags.

“It’s a pity he’s never going to have that party,” the stallion said, flaring his wings so that the brilliant streak of white that sat beneath his leading feathers was displayed in the soft starlight. He turned towards the door, his eyes hard and his face calm as the mare stepped up next to him.

“A crying shame.” Her face was impassive as she reached a hoof out and placed it onto the door knob. “But every party has to have some crashers.”

The stallion nodded and launched himself into the air as the mare turned the knob.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Less than ten minutes later a pair of stallions huddled in a room near the top of the four story building, their eyes wide and their horns glowing feverishly in the low light of a single overhead light bulb that swung back and forth slowly from the ceiling.

“Did you see where they went?” the first one asked, his voice a tight whisper. The stallion to the right of the door shook his head jerkily, his ill-fitting helmet bouncing against his horn as he did so.

“No, I just saw them come up the stairs before I bolted in here,” he hissed back, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. “I didn’t even get a chance to get a good look at them before they started attacking…” He shivered uncontrollably for a moment as adrenaline pounded through his veins. “I don’t even know what’s going on…!” The first stallion opened his mouth to snap an angry response to his room buddy, but before he could do so both stallions’ ears twitched as they heard loud shouting from down the corridor outside their small room. The shouting grew louder and was followed by the sound of beams of magic sizzling through the air accompanied by the irregular pounding of hooves, and before the two stallions could so much as blink a trio of unicorns poured through their door, their horns glowing brightly as they retreated with all due haste. Two of the newcomers, a pair of stallions, plastered themselves to the left wall next to the first stallion while the third, a mare, threw herself against the wall to the right. The first stallion threw the new ponies an incensed glare as the sound of pounding hooves and sizzling magic filled the hallway outside.

“What in Equestria are you idiots DOING in here?!” he snapped, his voice full of venom despite being little more than a stressed whisper. “The enemy is out there- go get ‘em!”

The mare leveled a malicious glare of her own at the first stallion, her ears pressed tightly against her long black mane. “If you can hide in here then so can WE,” she whispered angrily. Her eyes darted to the open door as a wail of pain filled the hallway outside and the number of horns firing magic decreased noticeably. “Besides, we’re not going to do anything except get slaughtered out THERE.”

“Has anypony been able to get downstairs to alert the boss?” one of the other stallions asked, his chest heaving as he took deep, sharp breaths. “He needs to be told about this!” The first stallion turned his head and glared at the stallion who had spoken, his lip twitching in derision.

“Oh, you think?” he hissed. “We TRIED to get to the stairs when we heard fighting on the floor below, but by the time we mustered everypony those other ponies came up at us!”

The second stallion huddled a little lower towards the floor, his eyes wide. “That means that they trapped us up here,” he muttered, his tail flicking back and forth jerkily against the mare’s rear legs. “W-we’re stuck… we can’t get to the stairs and there’s no other way down!”

“Shut up, Dusk!” the first stallion snapped. “We’re NOT stuck, we’re NOT trapped!”

The stallion named Dusk raised his head, his eyes wide and his pupils shrunken in terror. “We’re not TRAPPED?!” he moaned loudly, despair rising in his voice. “If we can’t get down and we can’t get out somewhere else, we are TRAPPED, Aries!! That’s the DEFENITION OF TRAPPED!!” Out in the hallway the cadence of hoofsteps was interrupted by a series of much louder, more concussive thumps that shook the walls of the room the five ponies were inside. The small group shared worried glances as the sound of magical attacks in the hall fell off dramatically until only one horn was firing, the hissing of the magic beams sounding almost lonely and desperate despite their deadliness. A voice rose, presumably from the last unicorn in the hallway as he retreated: he snarled and shouted as his hooves thumped down the hall, his words colored with swears that would make a sailor blush with embarrassment. A discordant thumping resounded in the hallway, followed by a rushing sound almost like a rising wind that grew louder and louder until the unicorn in the hall let out a strangled cry and fell silent.

The five unicorns exchanged glances once more, their eyes wide as a horrible, clinging silence filled the dark hall beyond their open door. Dusk’s shivers returned and within moments he was hunched down on the floor, his entire body wracked with uncontrollable convulsing.

“We’re gonna die,” he whispered hoarsely. “We’re all gonna die..!”

“Not if we all go out there together, right now!” Aries rose from his crouch and moved to the center of the door, his jaw set tight. “We’ve got five unicorns here in this room… there’s no way that anypony could stop five of us!”

The stallions to the left of the door nodded, their eyes narrowing in determination that was echoed by the mare standing above Dusk’s shivering form. Aries’ horn glowed brighter as he grasped every ounce of magic he could muster and stepped up towards the door.

“All right,” he said in a louder voice, “we’re all going out there on the count of three- everypony with me?!” As soon as the words left his mouth the sound of rushing wind in the hall rose again, low at first but growing louder by the second as three of the remaining four unicorns stepped up to stand with Aries. The sound rose in Aries’ ears, and in spite of his strong words the stallion’s eyes grew wide in fear. “Ready?!”

“Ready!” the three others answered him, their faces set in the firm masks of trained soldiers. Dusk, on the other hand, made an incomprehensible babbling noise from his crouched position near the door. Aries managed to throw the other stallion a disgusted glance before taking a deep breath.

“All right, on three: One! Two! Th-,”

The rushing sound filled Aries’ ears as a dark pony darted into view from the hallway, and before the unicorn could even finish uttering the number at the tip of his tongue the pony in the hall gave its wings an enormous flap and launched itself off of the opposite wall straight through the door and into Aries. The unicorn only had the time to jerk his head back in surprise before the Pegasus had his front hooves wrapped around his neck; Aries felt the winged pony flap his wings in a complicated twisting motion, and quick as lightning Aries’ whole world shifted as the Pegasus planted his back hooves onto the floor behind the unicorn and used his momentum to flip and throw Aries bodily into the far wall.

Chaos erupted in the room as Aries’ body crumpled against the back wall of the small room, his hoof kicking the hanging light and causing the dim illumination to begin swinging wildly around the room in a shifting dance of light and shadow. The Pegasus moved like lightning as the three standing unicorns tried to bring their horns to bear on him, their different colors of magic casting brilliant contrasting colors against his impassive face as he darted at the mare first, the white streak in his otherwise dark wings catching light and color as they propelled him forward. His hoof connected to the mare’s face, driving her head backwards with enough force that it knocked her out instantly. As her body dropped towards the floor the Pegasus’ wings flared and pumped mightily, sending the pony shooting backwards and out of the path of the pair of magical beams that filled the air where he had been moments before. The stallions valiantly shifted and tried to shoot him again, but the Pegasus twisted in mid-air and before they had a chance to even try to aim a second shot the dark pony drove his hooves against their heads, bashing the pair of stallions together like a pair of cymbals in a marching band. The duo groaned and dropped to the floor, joining the mare and Aries as unmoving lumps of shadow as the light continued to swing overhead.

Dusk felt his stomach tighten, and if he hadn’t been so scared he was certain he would he would have thrown up as the dark Pegasus landed silently on the floor and turned his red gaze on him.

“You’re the last one,” the Pegasus whispered, his voice deep and terrifying, “which means you’re the lucky winner.”

Dusk’s unintelligible babbling filled the room and his helmet dropped to the floor as the dark Pegasus grabbed him roughly by the scruff of the neck and threw him against the back wall of the room, the unicorn half tripping over Aries’ crumpled body before the Pegasus reared up on his back hooves and pinned Dusk bodily to the back wall, his front hooves held above his head.

“All right, tell me where the ceremony chamber is.” The Pegasus’ red eyes burned into Dusk’s own, his words firm and uncompromising. “I didn’t see it anywhere up here, so where is it?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dusk squealed as he wriggled against the Pegasus’ powerful hooves. “I haven’t seen any chamber of anything anywhere!!”

The Pegasus’ eyes narrowed. “Don’t play with me,” he growled. “Where is the chamber, unicorn? It’s got to be in this building somewhere, so tell me where it is!” He shifted his weight and pushed himself against Dusk’s upraised legs as he spoke, causing the unicorn let out a shriek of pain as the hard edges of the Pegasus’ hooves dug into his flesh.

“AAAAAGH! I swear! I swear I don’t knooooooow!” Tears of fear and pain sprang into Dusk’s eyes as he shook his head vigorously. “I don’t know! Please, please don’t kill me!!”

The Pegasus’ lip curled into a snarl, but as he opened his mouth to ask his question again a third voice cut into the room and stopped him in his tracks.

“I think you might be asking the wrong question.” The dark Pegasus’ eyes narrowed in irritation and after giving Dusk a threatening glare he turned his head towards the door as a pony flitted into the room, her pink wings flaring in the yellow light of the room’s one light bulb. The mare settled gently to the floor and leveled her gaze at the stallion. “Don’t ask him about a ceremony chamber,” she said as she hurried to the stallion’s side. “Ask him about a secret room or a place he wasn’t allowed to enter.”

The stallion sighed. “It’s all the same thing,” he muttered. “I don’t see what good it could do to ask-,”

“Oh, y-you’re looking for the secret room!” Dusk’s eyes were wide and his breathing was fast and shallow as he nodded his head briskly. “Yeah, I know where that is! I-it’s in the study, on the first floor on the north end of the building! Behind the bookcase! None of us guards were ever allowed in there!” The mare looked pointedly at the stallion, her green eyes gleaming in the low light of the room. The stallion rolled his own eyes before turning his gaze back to Dusk, who gave him a broad, slightly unhinged smile. “That’s what you’re looking for, right? S-so you’ll let me go now, right?!”

The dark stallion sighed. “Why do they always ask that question?” he muttered under his breath. Dusk’s eyes widened in terror, but before he could even attempt to form words to plead his case the Pegasus pulled his right hoof away from Dusk’s leg and coiled it tightly against his body before driving it into the unicorn’s midsection with enough force to drive all of the air from Dusk’s lungs in a single burst of exhalation. Dusk’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open as he gasped silently for air that would not come, and after a few moments the Pegasus let him drop to the floor in a heap next to Aries. Dusk writhed on the floor as his vision slowly went dark, and in a matter of seconds he was unconscious.

The mare arched an eyebrow at the stallion, her wings rustling against her flanks. “Was that really necessary, Vision?” she muttered. “He told you what you wanted.”

Knight Vision dropped back to all four hooves, his wings flaring wide before retracting to his sides. “I couldn’t just leave him to run free while we go deeper into this place,” the stallion said, his voice cool and collected. “He had to be dealt with, and I dealt with him. He’ll wake up with a monster of a headache, but he’ll survive.”

“Unlike the unicorn you smashed into the wall?” The mare’s voice was very matter-of-fact, but the stallion winced and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“I… that is regrettable,” he muttered, his ears drooping against his long blue and teal mane. “I forget that unicorns are sometimes much more delicate than they appear.” He sighed and shook his head. “But regrettable as it is there is no changing what happened, and we still have a mission to complete. Are the lower floors clean, Dreamy?”

Sweet Dreams nodded once, her voluminous pink and purple mane bouncing as she did. “All ponies are neutralized, and I collected as many of the rings as I could.” She patted her saddlebags with a wing. “I don’t think I missed any, but I’m sure the Elucidators will find them if I did.”

“Good work. Now let’s get downstairs and find this secret room.” Vision reached out with his left wing and plucked the ring from Dusk’s horn before snatching Aries’ ring with the same feathers. With a smooth, practiced motion the Pegasus tucked the pair of rings into his saddlebags before turning to the door, where Sweet Dreams was tucking away the last of the rings from the unicorns. The pair shared a look and a nod before darting out into the hallway, Vision’s hooves pounding on the floorboards as Dreamy took to the air, her wingtips brushing the walls as she flew behind the larger stallion.

They hurried down the stairs, their hoofsteps and wing beats echoing eerily in the now-silent building – a monument to the team’s precision and skill. Every single pony in the four-story structure had been silenced in a matter of minutes, and as they hit the bottom floor and started for the northern side of the building, Vision could not help but glance around and arch his eyebrows at the piles of unconscious ponies strewn around the halls.

“Did you have a hard time down here?” he muttered to Dreamy. The mare pursed her lips and gave her head a shake.

“Not really,” she whispered in return, “though it got a little tougher when your two floors started to empty downwards to try and get away from you. Not a lot of ponies got through, but I’d say a good ten of them were from your floors.”

Vision’s lips quirked into a smile at the mare, his steps slowing as the pair approached the section of the building the now-unconscious unicorn had indicated. Dreamy’s flapping wings slowed significantly as she and Vision split up without a word to each search a side of the vacant hallway. They began to duck their heads into the quiet rooms, each searching for the one that held the supposed bookcase that would lead them to the last part of their mission.

After less than a minute of searching, Sweet Dreams landed outside a room, raised her right wing and slapped it across the wood twice. Her wing against the wood created a sharp pop sound that caused Vision’s ears to snap towards her from further down the hall, drawing his head and gaze with them. He turned and hurried to where the mare stood waiting, and without even pausing at the door, he entered the large study, Dreamy close on his heels.

The room was beautifully decorated, a stark contrast to the rest of the building which had been extremely minimalistic in décor and more suited to a barracks than anything else. Thick red drapes hung from the windows, their folds drawn back to let in the soft light of the crescent moon outside, and the walls were lined with paintings, portraits and other items that a pony might associate with an upper class sitting room. A small assortment of candles still burned on the large desk and small table that sat to the pair’s front and to their right, casting quivering illumination against walls painted a color so deep that Vision could only assume it was black. There were a myriad of trinkets and playthings scattered in display cases around the room, but the only item that Dreamy and Vision were interested in was the bookshelf that stood tall against the wall to their left, and it was to that particular piece of furniture that they hurried.

The bookshelf itself was beautiful and made of the same antique wood as the rest of the furniture in the room, but the two Pegasi wasted no time admiring its craftsmanship; instead, the two ponies began pulling books from the shelves and discarding them haphazardly, working downwards from the top in unison until they pulled the last book from the bottom shelf, exposing every square inch of the unit.

“I don’t see a switch anywhere,” Vision murmured. He moved to the left side of the bookcase and shifted a large tapestry out of the way to reveal a set of tracks built into the wall. “The case should slide to the left without a hidden trigger.”

Without another word the two ponies moved to the right side of the bookcase and gave it a mighty shove, but the unit refused to budge. Dreamy and Vision shared a confused look before putting their shoulders to the bookcase again, harder this time, but again the wood did little more than creak beneath their combined efforts.

“Hmm… maybe there’s a switch hidden somewhere else in the room?” Vision took a step back from the shelf, his eyes wandering the space surrounding them. “Some kind of mechanism designed to be hit from the desk or one of the display pieces?”

From her place next to the bookcase, Dreamy shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Vision – take a look at this.” Vision turned and looked back to his partner, who lifted her right hoof and held it out until she almost touched the shelf with it. The stallion frowned at her, but the mare nodded towards the beads wrapped around her foreleg and, more importantly, to the crystalline crescent moon that hung from the string of beads. Vision’s eyes darted to the ornament as Dreamy touched her hoof to the shelf, and as she did so the crystal moon’s edge faded from its normal clear blue-white color to a deep purple, the darker color seeping into the rest of the crystal like a pervasive fog. Vision’s eyes narrowed as Dreamy put her hoof back to the floor, the purple clearing from the crystal moon as she did so.

“Tainted magic?” asked Vision softly.

“You’ve got it,” affirmed Dreamy with a quick nod. “This thing’s sealed up tight to the wall and won’t unlock unless a unicorn can take care of it. Who knows, it might even be personalized to the unicorn who cast it – magic is funny like that, and Nightmare magic even more so. And considering it’s tainted with the Nightmare it may take one of the Elucidators to open it.” She took a step back from the shelf and shook her head. “So unless you happen to have an idea that doesn’t require us waiting for the cleanup crew to arrive, we’re stuck.”

The stallion touched the bookcase with one hoof, his gaze calm and calculating as he pressed his weight against the piece of furniture once, then twice before stepping back and flexing his shoulders.

“I might have one idea,” he said with a determined smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“The ritual is almost complete, Master,” the unicorn named Comet Tail said with a bow. “We have three ponies who have been prepared for the night of the new moon, and thus far our location has been kept secret.” He straightened and smiled broadly, his short mane spiked so it would stay up out of his face. “With everything going according to plan, I think that-,”

“Do not think, Comet Tail. It is not your task to think, it is your task to obey.” The unicorn stallion winced, and in spite of his previous confidence he felt his tail droop almost between his legs at his Master’s voice. He brought his eyes back to the large crystal that sat before him, its multiple facets gleaming with internal light as the image of his Master filled it. “You are there for a very specific task, Comet Tail,” the image in the crystal continued, his voice so deep and powerful that Comet could feel it in his chest as his Master spoke, “a very specific task that has a very specific ending, as you recall.”

“W-well yes of course, Master,” he stammered, “I could never forget your orders, of course… but I thought that we may as well continue with our plans if nothing goes amiss. See, I have the three ponies I require right here.” Comet turned so that the image in the crystal could see the three ponies standing behind him, two unicorn stallions and a Pegasus mare who stood loosely at attention with their heads high and their hooves together. Comet moved to the first stallion and tugged his head lower, pointing gingerly to the other unicorn’s face where a small collection of black patterns swirled away from the corner of his eye in delicate sable filigree. “See? I have three in possession of the Nightmare right here, and on the new moon we can work to complete the ritual!” Comet released the unicorn stallion and hurried back to the crystal, his eyes wide as sweat began to bead across his forehead. “There’s no need to assume that we’ll be stopped, Master! W-we might be able to go ahead as planned!”

The figure in the crystal laughed softly and shook his head, the long, slender horn atop his head shifting in the three dimensional image of the crystal. “Oh Comet Tail… ever the optimist.” The figure sighed. “Did you remove the spells as you were commanded?”

“Of course, Master!”

“And did you comply as soon as I gave that command?”

“Y-yes, Master! Without hesitation!”

The dark figure in the crystal did not change, but Comet could have sworn that he felt his Master smile. “Then you have done well, and your loyalty will be rewarded.”

Comet frowned, but before he could give voice to the horrible feeling surging in his stomach, he heard a loud crash from the hallway on the other side of the room. The unicorn spun on his hooves, the sound of splintering wood cascading down a staircase echoing in the dank stone basement as he threw worried glances at the ponies who stood with him, his concern mirrored on their faces.

“Master,” he whined, spinning back to the crystal, “th-they’re here, Master! What are we supposed to do?!” To his horror, the figure simply nodded its head once.

“Complete your instructions to the letter, and do not fail me.” The light in the crystal surged for a moment before dying away completely and leaving only a blank faceted crystal pillar that reflected Comet’s own dismayed expression.

The stallion’s eyes widened and he turned to bark orders at the three ponies before him, but before he could even get a word out of his mouth, it was already too late. Into the room swooped a pink Pegasus, her wings pumping furiously as she dove headlong at the group of ponies near the crystal. Comet Tail dove out of the way as she flared her wings and drove her front hooves into the first unicorn stallion, her blows striking the unicorn along his face and neck with such speed and precision that in less than a heartbeat she had put him onto the cold stone of the floor. The second unicorn turned and leveled a magical blast at her, his beam much broader and more powerful than the ponies who had been placed as sentries in the building above. The mare’s wings pumped once and shot her up out of the way of the blast as the Pegasus from Comet’s group took to the air in pursuit.

As she rose towards the high ceiling, however, another pony joined the fray – a dark colored pony darted out of the doorway and plowed himself bodily into Comet’s Pegasus, knocking her sideways and away from the pink mare who looped her way quickly around the room, dodging magical beams from the second unicorn stallion. Comet rose to his hooves and joined his comrade, their horns blasting away at the nimble mare as she swirled through the air like a cherry blossom, her movements so smooth and tight that they simply could not hit her. Comet’s teeth ground together as he elbowed the stallion next to him, goading him on to greater accuracy in his desperation but to no avail: the pink mare was too fast and too agile, her long mane and tail fluttering behind her as she dove and made a lap around the large room, her wingtips so close to the floor and walls that they brushed the stone as she flew.

Above the unicorns, the dark stallion fought Comet’s mare, blows from his larger hooves blasting through every defensive measure she tried to put up until finally he made his move. He darted in and grappled her, knocking her backwards in the air as he used his momentum to wrap his legs around her and pin her wings to her body. The pair hung in the air for a heartbeat as the stallion swiveled his body around her, but all too soon they were falling, the stallion shifting his weight so that the smaller mare was beneath him as they smashed into the unforgiving stone floor of the basement with an audible crunch.

The pink mare’s wings pumped furiously as they propelled her faster and faster around the room, the blasts from the unicorn’s combined efforts to bring her down throwing up chunks of stone debris all around her as Comet and his last ally fought for their lives. The mare’s body twisted and darted to and fro, deftly avoiding every beam and blast until she was upon them once more, her movements so fast that Comet hadn’t realized she was retaking the offensive. Her wings flared as her hooves hit the ground to the unicorn’s right, her feathers shining in the dim light of the closed up room as she twisted her body and lashed out at the second unicorn, her glowing left wing striking him firmly across the chest. The stallion cried out in pain as he was knocked aside, but before Comet could even attempt to react, the mare used her incredible momentum to half-slide, half-hover across the stone floor towards him, her body rotating so that she could deliver a powerful double-hoofed kick into his side.

Every breath of air inside Comet’s body left him in a dramatic whoosh as he was propelled through the air to the wall, where he impacted with a loud thud before slumping to the floor, his vision swimming.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Vision gave his head a shake as he rose from the floor, the body of the injured and unconscious mare remaining unmoving beneath him as he turned to where Sweet Dreams stood folding her wings back into place.

“Nicely done,” he said as he stepped away from his foe and hurried to his partner. “Will they all survive?”

“I believe so,” said Dreamy with a glance at the pony she had hit with her wing blade, who lay motionless on the floor in a small pool of blood. “I tried to dull my blades enough so that they would be blunt instead of sharp, but I may not have succeeded.” Her ears folded against her mane as she looked at the unconscious, bleeding form of the stallion, but Vision held up a hoof and shook his head.

“No time for sympathy right now, Sweet Dreams – we need to do a room check.”

The mare’s ears pressed more tightly against her mane for a heartbeat, but in the blink of an eye she met Knight Vision’s gaze and nodded. “Right, let’s do it.”

The pair split up and performed a quick search of the room, their trained eyes sweeping the cold stone basement for any indicators as to what their targets may have been doing. The room was sparsely decorated even for a basement, with only a single, large table flanked by two smaller ones occupying the wall opposite the door. There were no chairs or cabinets to search, but the three tables were stuffed full of candles, ancient-looking texts and a set of three long ceremonial knives arrayed around a large crystal pillar that occupied the center of the table. Dreamy and Vision approached the table, their faces drawn into contemplative frowns.

“This is a first,” muttered Vision. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crystal like this at any of the other locations.” He glanced to his partner. “Time to impress me, Dreams: what’s with the crystal?”

To his surprise the mare shook her head, her green eyes wide. “I don’t know… I’ve never seen one before.” Vision’s eyebrows climbed into his long bangs.

“You haven’t?”

“Afraid not,” she confirmed as she took a step closer to the table. “The knives are standard for this kind of ceremony, but the crystal is definitely not…” She brushed the long knives aside, their cruelly curved blades glinting in the light of the candles as she reached her hoof out to touch the crystal. Before she could touch it, however, the shimmering sound of magic filled the basement and a beam of light lanced past Dreamy, missing her by mere inches. Both Pegasi leaped backwards as the beam struck the crystal and blasted it into a million pieces, the force of the explosion sending sparkling dust into the dank air of the basement.

Vision’s wings took him into the air and carried him to Comet Tail in a heartbeat, his left hoof snagging the injured unicorn by the coat on his chest and yanking him upright as his horn went dark. The Pegasus’ right hoof drew back in a strike that would have ended the unicorn’s threat for good, but before he could follow through the unicorn gave him a cross-eyed, quavering smile.

“N-now you’ll never get your hooves on that crystal, s-scum,” he slurred, his face swollen and bruised. “N-never…” Vision’s eyes narrowed and he pulled his hoof back a little further, but before he could strike, the unicorn’s eyes rolled back in his head and he passed into unconsciousness, his head lolling back as his mouth dropped open. The stallion made a disgusted sound in his throat before dropping the unicorn roughly back to the stone and turning to face Dreamy, who stood near the table once more.

“Well, I guess that ends that investigation,” she muttered unhappily as she brushed the crystalline debris around with her pinion feathers. “There’s barely enough left to even identify.”

Vision stepped up next to her, his long mane bobbing as he glanced around the table. “Is there anything left at all? Anything big enough we can take back to the Aerie with us?”

“Um…” Sweet Dreams shuffled through the items on the table until she found a large shard of the crystal that had survived mostly intact. It measured just longer than her hoof was wide, but with a shrug she held it out for Vision to see. “That’s as good as we’re going to get, I’m afraid. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it,” he muttered. He took it from her hoof with his wing and dropped it into his saddlebags. “It’s better than nothing, and maybe somepony there can tell us what it is.” He glanced around the table and room once more before turning back to Dreamy and nodding. “All right, signal the Grandmaster and let her know we’ve neutralized our target.”

The mare nodded and reached over with her left hoof to touch the beads wrapped around her right leg. With a subtle turn, she revealed one bead that was not quite like the others – a bead that was not rounded on all sides but rather had a small blue sapphire embedded into it. Dreamy rubbed it three times with her hoof before tapping it sharply in a series of sequential clicks, the tapping the only sound in the basement as Vision moved silently to each of their four opponents to check their vital signs. Dreamy finished her tapping, and mere moments later, the small sapphire began to flash a soft blue in a similar sequence. The mare raised her right hoof to watch it as it flickered, and when it stopped, she lowered her hoof back to the floor with a smile.

“The Grandmaster says good work and that both the authorities and the Elucidators are on their way. Time to head back to the Aerie.”

Vision nodded. “All right, then. No further orders?”

“Other than returning to the Aerie, no – although she did say that the Princess thanks us personally.” Sweet Dreams smiled broadly. “It’s always nice to get a thank you from Princess Luna.”

“Indeed it is,” Vision agreed. “Indeed.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A few minutes later, the two Pegasi flitted away into the darkness of the night before the dawn, leaving behind a building full of ponies behind them. The moon was slowly setting in the west as Sweet Dreams and Knight Vision put it to their backs and winged their way towards the Aerie – towards home.

But instead of feeling comforted by the prospect of rest, both Dreamy and Vision found themselves wrestling with nagging thoughts: thoughts of the strange crystal that Comet Tail had risked his life to blow up, a crystal whose remains now rested in Vision’s saddlebag. Both ponies felt in their hearts that there was more to this crystal than first appeared, and they both hoped beyond hope that one of their compatriots could tell them more about it.

It had been a long night, but the dawn was not far away – and with the dawn came peace.

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[Cookie Encylopaedia]

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