The Moon and Stars: Shades of the Nightmare

by D4ftP0ny

Chapter 3

For generations untold, the ponies of Equestria have feared the shadows and the night… and in truth, I am among them. When the moon is high and the cold hours before dawn stretch until they appear to be eternal, I feel the cold grip of fear deep in my chest that I have had described to me so many countless times by ponies who have served me – the feeling, like frigid mist settling across your flanks, that unsettles even the most stalwart of ponies and stirs our most primal fears into being.

I am not immune to this feeling, though I do my best to appear that I am. Perhaps I am even more susceptible to it than my dear subjects… for it is half of what I am. Luna, my dearest sister, was half of me, half of my life and half of Equestria, and even though it has been nine hundred years since her banishment was carried out I still keenly feel her loss each and every night. Whenever the moonlight touches my coat I feel as though it is crying out to me, begging me to save her… but I cannot. The magic used is too deep and too powerful even for a pony such as myself to undo, and all I can do is wait… wait while the light of the moon turns cold against me, spite and hatred and jealousy growing with each night that passes.

I cannot blame Luna for what she did, nor can I blame what she has become – the being that calls itself Nightmare Moon – for feeling the way that she does. All I can do is become the light that shields my ponies from the darkness, an unstoppable force that will never allow them to be harmed...

…yet my nightmares persist… and I cannot bring myself to shield my mind completely… because even buried beneath a mountain of hate, rage and jealousy, Nightmare Moon is still my sister… and I would suffer ten thousand years of nightmares to be with her once more.

~excerpt from Princess Celestia’s personal diary, roughly one hundred years before Luna’s return.

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

Sweet Dreams soared down into the middle of the Heart alongside Knight Vision, her green eyes lingering on the spot where the Grand Master was speaking to Valkyrie in low tones. The pink mare could tell from the distance that Eclipse, Solstice, and Moon Veil were giving the pair that the conversation was probably not one of encouragement, a fact that made Dreamy think twice about approaching Feywind right then; Knight Vision, however, landed a short distance away and hurried forward, his mind fixed on completing the mission. Dreamy rolled her eyes. I swear, that stallion forgets everything in the face of a task that needs finishing, she thought as she flared her wings and landed where her partner had landed, her hooves clacking loudly in the almost silent room. With an inward sigh and an outward wince, Sweet Dreams proceeded forward to where Vision stood waiting, and as she approached the conversation between the Grand Master and the Master of the Aerie slowly touched her ears.

“...unacceptable behavior,” Feywind was saying, her single teal eye cool as she glared at Valkyrie. “Ronin has always been a problem, yes, but I never expected things to get as out of control as they got today.”

“It wasn’t out of control – I was handling everything until you interrupted.” Valkyrie’s neck was straight and she met Feywind’s gaze without flinching, but Dreamy noted that her ears were pinned back against her golden mane as if they were physically stuck there. “You have to trust me to deal with these newcomers the right way if I’m going to do this job.”

Feywind sighed, and her shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly as she closed her eye. “I do trust you, Valkyrie. You wouldn’t be Master of the Aerie if I didn’t…” Her eye opened again, and Dreamy saw Valkyrie’s shoulders stiffen beneath the bat pony’s gaze. “…but you have a lot of learning to do if you’re going to keep Ronin and any future recruits from challenging your authority,” she finished, her words suddenly full of steel. “If you cannot maintain control over the recruits in your care then I will turn your duties over to somepony who can.” Feywind’s eye narrowed. “Is that understood, Valkyrie?”

Now Valkyrie’s blue eyes widened and Sweet Dreams winced in spite of herself as the white mare’s mouth dropped open in shock. “G-Grand Master, are you insinuating that-,”

“I am insinuating nothing,” Feywind interrupted, her words slicing through Valkyrie’s like a well-honed blade. “I have given you your orders and informed you of the consequences if you do not follow them. We will speak more on this incident later, but for right now you are dismissed.”

Valkyrie’s shrank slightly, and as Dreamy watched she lifted her left hoof from the ground as if to take a tentative step towards the bat pony. “Feywind…”

“You are dismissed, Valkyrie!” the Grand Master snapped, her tufted ears standing straight up as she spoke. Valkyrie flinched, but Feywind’s words had their desired effect on her; without another moment’s hesitation the white mare bobbed a quick bow to her superior and hurried away, her ears against her mane and her head held low. Sweet Dreams watched her hurry towards the north entrance, hoping that the other mare would cast a look back so that she could give her some sign of encouragement, but Valkyrie disappeared into the darkness of the Temple without so much as a glance behind her.

The pink mare’s own ears drooped against her voluminous mane at Valkyrie’s departure, but before she could begin to dwell on the subtle aching that had started in her stomach the Grand Master turned her one-eyed gaze to Dreamy and Vision.

“You’re here,” she said, and the tension in her shoulders eased slightly. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d had complications.” She turned to face them, her metallic eye patch all but glowing in the light from the Eye, and without preamble she fixed them both with a tight-lipped gaze. “Report.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Vision, tossing the bat pony a salute before returning his hoof to the stone. “We found the Nightmare cult exactly where Princess Luna said it would be – in a storage building in Manehatten, just off the docks.”

“Observations?” The bat pony turned and began to pace slowly, her eye unfocused as she listened. Now that Valkyrie had moved on the three other bat ponies had made their way closer, their eyes fixed on Vision and Dreams as the pair gave their report.

Sweet Dreams stood up straighter as she too gave a salute to her commanding officer. “We scouted the building as quickly as we could given the circumstances, Grand Master, and discovered that there was but one entrance that hadn’t been blocked off. It was kept under light guard, so the decision was made to attack.”

Feywind nodded as she turned and began to pace the other direction, presenting her metal eye patch to the pair. “And once you were inside?”

Dreamy shifted on her hooves, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Vision’s wings rustle in agitation. “There were guards, Grand Master,” the stallion said. “More guards than we had expected, and certainly more than an organization of that size should have had.”

Behind Feywind, Solstice gave a snort as she sat down onto her rump. “We’ve run into heavily guarded cults before, Knight Vision – this is nothing new.”

“I agree,” said Vision, his expression betraying none of the irritation that had flared behind Dreamy’s eyes at Solstice’s interjection. “It’s hard to imagine something worse than the Canterlot Incursion two years ago-,”

“Or the Sisters of Shadows, let us not forget them,” said Moon Veil with a frown, her voice soft and breathy. “One of our greatest failures…”

Eclipse nodded. “Both fine examples of instances when we were surprised and prevailed, despite our losses.” She turned her silver eyes to Knight Vision and Sweet Dreams, her expression carefully neutral. “Yet you would have us believe that this cult was unique.”

“Yes,” Sweet Dreams said without hesitation. “The number of guards with Nightmare enhanced items was easily three times the number we have encountered in the past.” She turned her head and grasped her saddlebags in her teeth, a motion that was mimicked by Vision. Dreamy lifted the bags, brought them around in front of her and deposited them onto the floor, where the clinking of metal within left little guesswork as to what the half-full bags contained. “We stopped counting around fifty. Each.”

Feywind stopped in her pacing and turned back towards the pair, her wings fidgeting against her sides. “A high number indeed,” she muttered as she fixed her gaze on the saddlebags. “More than we had anticipated…”

“Again, that’s nothing new,” muttered Solstice with a wave of her hoof. “The cults always think that packing more ponies into their guard contingents will stop us. It never does, and it never will. We’re better trained and better led.” She dropped her hoof back to the floor, her red mane bobbing as she nodded firmly. “With Luna guiding us, Feywind leading us, and the three of us training everypony, we can’t lose this fight.”

“I beg your pardon, ma’am, but we can.” Sweet Dreams felt heat gathering behind her eyes as her anger rose. “What Vision and I walked into tonight can only be described as one thing: a trap.” Solstice’s eyes widened at the word, but Feywind remained silent so Dreamy plowed on. “The ponies they had were almost exclusively unicorns, all armed with Nightmare rings that boosted their magical powers. They had only one way in and out of that building, meaning that they weren’t planning on escaping: they were making it easier to cut off our escape routes. I believe that was their plan, at least.”

Solstice narrowed her eyes at Dreamy and opened her mouth to refute Dreamy’s words, but to the pink mare’s relief the Grand Master held her hoof out towards Solstice, silencing the red-haired bat pony. Dreams let her eyes dart to Feywind and found herself pierced by the other mare’s teal gaze. The Grand Master is nothing if not intimidating, she thought as she struggled to suppress a shiver.

“You believe this was a trap, Sweet Dreams?” the bat pony asked softly.

Dreamy swallowed. “Yes, Grand Master.”

“And what evidence do you have to support your claim?”

Now Sweet Dreams winced as the needle of Feywind’s query pierced her. “…I have very little, Grand Master – only the numbers we encountered and a suspicious item we found in the basement of the facility.” The pink mare dipped her head and flipped open the right side of her saddlebags with her nose as Vision began speaking once more.

“Once we had dealt with the guards in the building, we interrogated a stallion and discovered the location of a secret subterranean room where the ceremony was to be held. When we arrived there, however, we found that the room was clearly not staffed as it should have been.” Dreamy grasped the shard of crystal in her teeth and brought her head up, the item cold in her mouth as Vision continued. “We found only four ponies in the room: three with the marks of the Possessed, along with the leader of the group – a stallion by the name of Comet Tail.” The stallion’s eyes shifted from Feywind to the other bat ponies as he spoke, ensuring that each of them were giving him their undivided attention. “According to what little information we could get from the guards, Comet Tail had all of the ponies that he’d wanted for this ceremony… but his numbers simply didn’t add up.” Vision’s marching gaze came to rest on Feywind once more, his red eyes serious. “Once we had neutralized Comet Tail and his Possessed, we found a large crystal on the ceremonial table… a crystal that we have never seen before.”

Now all four bat ponies frowned, and Feywind frowned deepest of all. “A crystal..?” she murmured, her one-eyed gaze turning inward for a moment. “What kind of crystal?”

“We don’t know,” Vision admitted with a shake of his head. “When we attempted to investigate it, Comet Tail roused himself just long enough to shoot a beam of magic and destroy the crystal.” The stallion’s wings shifted. “I would like to point out that he shot past Dreams and me to shatter the crystal, passing up a golden opportunity to kill one of us to keep whatever secret it was hiding.”

Feywind’s gaze returned to the present, and her single eye darted to Dreamy. “Is that what remains?”

The pink pegasus nodded before stepping forward and depositing the large shard into Feywind’s outstretched hoof. “It was the largest piece we could find after he destroyed it,” said Dreamy once her mouth was empty. “Whatever it is, he didn’t want us figuring it out.” She cleared her throat before adding, “And for what it’s worth, Grand Master, I’ve never seen a crystal used in any ceremony these cults perform.”

The Grand Master’s eye stared at the crystal shard, her ears twitching sharply to and fro as she did. Dreamy stepped back into line with Vision and cast him a glance, receiving a small smile in return. Good – at least she’s thinking about this seriously, the mare thought. Vision and Moon Veil are both right about one thing: none of us want repeats of the Canterlot Incursion and the Sisters of Shadow. The more information we have here, the more likely it’ll be that we come out alive on the other side.

After several long moments of silence, Feywind extended her right membranous wing and grabbed hold of the shard with the claw on its leading edge; she tucked it tightly against her body before dropping her hoof back to the ground and turning her eye back to Dreams and Vision. “I will study this crystal myself, as well as allowing our allies to probe it as necessary.” Her lips curved into a minute smile. “You both did very well on this mission… and I promise you that I will consider every aspect of your report with the seriousness it deserves.” She offered them both a gracious nod. “You are dismissed.”

Vision and Dreamy both bowed, and as soon as they straightened Dreams turned on her hooves and hurried for the north door, her wing feathers fidgeting against her flanks as she left Vision and the others behind. The knot in her stomach had slowly morphed into a sick, floppy feeling deep in her gut, and she needed to go and see the one pony in the Aerie who could cure it.

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

Knight Vision watched his partner hurry off towards the barracks on the north side of the Temple, his lips curving into a slight smile as the pink pony disappeared from sight. Normally he and Dreams would have spoken at length about their mission after the debriefing had finished, but tonight it was clear that her mind was elsewhere and, more importantly, that she needed to be where her mind was. At least I’ll know where to look if I need to find her again. The stallion let out a breath of a chuckle before turning back to Feywind, who was likewise watching Sweet Dreams hurry off, her expression carefully neutral.

“I wonder where she’s off to in such a hurry,” she muttered, and Vision couldn’t help but chuckle louder at her tone.

“Off to see Valkyrie, I have no doubt,” said the stallion, his smile changing into a grin as the bat pony turned to face him. “She didn’t seem to take your reprimand very well, so Dreamy’s probably off to check on her.” Feywind’s shoulders relaxed, and after a moment she managed to offer him a tired smile.

“Good – she needs somepony around her right now. I know it’s not easy to be told that you’re not doing a good enough job, but-,”

“But it needed to be said, I know,” said Vision with a nod, his long mane bobbing against his shoulders. “Although I will say… the argument could be made that Valkyrie only seems soft when compared to you, Fey…” From Vision’s right came a snicker, and Feywind’s single eye narrowed as she turned to glare at the culprit.

“I’ll have none of that from you, Solstice,” she growled. “You know good and well that I’m holding you just as responsible as Valkyrie in this matter.” Vision turned his gaze to the red-haired mare, who glared back at Feywind with her golden eyes.

“Me?! This isn’t my responsibility – Valkyrie is the one in charge of the new recruits, not me!”

“Valkyrie’s only overarching task is to ensure that the recruits STAY on task,” Feywind growled. “You, Moon Veil, and Eclipse are each just as responsible for the training of the newcomers as she is, and you, Solstice, were in charge of teaching Ronin and Speckled Comet, were you not?”

Solstice’s glare wavered, and as Vision watched she shifted from hoof to hoof, her shoulder muscles rippling as she did so. “I was,” she confirmed after a few moments of silence. “It was decided that I would begin Ronin’s training because the Star of Asgard is similar to both Lark and Eagle styles.” Her molten gold gaze came to rest on Vision. “And since Knight Vision has been on so many missions for the Princess in the past few months he’s had little to no time for teaching, leaving me to deal with Ronin and his growing problems.” She made sure that Vision got a solid eyeful of her unhappy stare before turning her attention back to Feywind. “I understand why I was chosen to train the griffon, but what I don’t understand is why I’m being held responsible for his attitude – something that clearly falls under Valkyrie’s jurisdiction.”

“The attitudes and mental well-being of our students are concerns for all of us, Solstice.” Vision’s gaze shifted to Moon Veil, her soft blue mane shifting like a curtain of pale morning sky as she took a step towards the other mare. “Valkyrie may be in charge of our new students, but she is meant to be a supervisor over all of them. She can only correct her own students without our help, and I’m afraid that the Ronin situation was not something she could have dealt with on her own.” The normally placid Moon Veil narrowed her amethyst eyes at Solstice. “So while you may not like it, his behavior today is as much a reflection on you as it is on Valkyrie.”

Solstice’s eyes widened in surprise at the accusation and her mouth snapped open, bitter words poised at the tip of her tongue; before she could speak, however, Knight Vision cleared his throat and took a step forward, his posture loose and non-threatening.

“And while I may not like it, I must take responsibility for my own actions as well,” he said quickly. “I am well aware that Ronin’s training is part of my duties here, and missions do not place me above my tasks at the Aerie.” Solstice turned towards him, her eyes narrow with suspicion, but Vision held her gaze in his as he dipped his head into a bow. “I apologize for leaving his training solely in your hooves, Solstice. As soon as he has recovered and apologized as he was instructed, I will begin training him as well.” He straightened his neck and offered the bat pony a strong smile. “Who knows? Perhaps I’ll be able to squeeze that poor attitude of his right out of him.”

Feywind snickered and gave her head a gentle shake. “I think you might be able to do just that,” she said softly. She let out a sigh before glancing at Solstice. “The new moon will be upon us in two night’s time, and then it is a few weeks before our missions will begin again in earnest. Vision will assist you in training the griffon as soon as the new moon is passed and Ronin has done as he was told.” She arched the eyebrow over her metal eye patch. “Does this satisfy you, Solstice?”

“Doubtful,” said the hitherto silent Eclipse with more than a hint of mirth in her voice. “Solstice is never satisfied.” Vision snickered, a sound echoed by Moon Veil and Eclipse herself, and Solstice’s cheeks colored as she whirled around to face the bat pony with the black and silver mane.

“You shut your mouth,” she hissed, but her sharp words lacked the venom that they had earlier and after a moment her tight lipped frown melted into a ghost of a smile. “But yes, Feywind, I suppose I am satisfied.” She turned her head back to Vision and gave him a nod. “I thank you for assistance in the matter, Vision.”

The stallion bowed his head once more, this time dropping his gaze and closing his eyes. “It’s my pleasure,” he said, holding his bow for a heartbeat before straightening.

Feywind gave a nod, her wings bouncing against her flanks as she did so. “Now that we have everything settled, I’m going to take this crystal and study it.” She twitched her right wing where the large chunk of clear stone was clutched tightly, and Vision nodded.

“I would appreciate it. Please let me know if you find out anything – I’m certain that Dreams would like to know, as well.”

“If there’s anything to be found out, I’ll inform you.” The Grand Master turned and headed for the western door, her tail swishing behind her as she left the group behind. “Let’s just hope that there is something to find,” she said over her shoulder, “because if there isn’t we’re going to be in the dark about something the cults are doing… and we all know where that leads us.”

Vision’s shoulders slumped, and in spite of being at the center of the most secure location in Equestria he couldn’t suppress a shiver that coursed its way down his spine. “Yes, Grand Master,” he muttered at her retreating form. “We all know.”

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

Like the rest of the ancient stone building around her, the hallway that Sweet Dreams found herself in was all smooth tan stone trimmed with white and black along the floor and ceiling. Crystals glowed gently for illumination as the pink mare hurried along the corridor, her stomach knotted so tightly that she thought she might throw up. There truly wasn’t much in the way of decoration anywhere in the Aerie, so for anypony new to the Coursairs or for somepony who wasn’t supposed to be there it could be a little difficult to get around in the cold, almost sterile halls. For a pony who had been there as long as Dreamy had, however, it was an easy task to get around in the unmarked halls, and even if she had been new to the group it would have been an easy guess as to which section of the structure she was in. Doors lined the long hallway on both sides, the portals much closer together here than they had been in the main halls to the south, east, and west, and that meant more rooms of uniform size – the perfect place for a barracks.

The pink pegasus hurried about halfway down the hall before turning to a door on her left, a door that was visually identical to every other door in this section of the Aerie except for symbol that had been delicately painted on the wooden surface: a golden ring encircling the blade of a winged sword, its blade pointed upwards. Dreamy lifted a hoof and rapped it against the wood three times, her stomach clenching even tighter than before. Please be here, she begged silently, oh please be here…

“You may enter,” said a voice from the other side and, in spite of the words being formal and the tone being callous and annoyed, Sweet Dreams felt the tension in her stomach ease and her ears drooped in relief. Thank Luna… I’m not sure I could have handled trying to find her if she wasn’t here. Her hoof darted to the doorknob and gave it a smart turn before pushing the door open.

The room inside was sparsely decorated, containing only a bed in the far left corner, a small table with two chairs at the right side of the room, and a short bookshelf that sat between them to round out the furniture. The room was bare otherwise, and even if it had been filled with the most interesting things in all of Equestria Dreamy’s eyes wouldn’t have strayed from the bed, where the mare she’d come to see sat with her head in her hooves, her golden mane draped over her shoulder to hide her face from the door.

Dreamy felt her heart break as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, her chest aching with a horrible, gut-turning clench that made all of her sick feelings from earlier come rushing back; without hesitation she hurried to the bed and turned so she could sit down next to the blonde mare, the frame of the bed creaking as she did so.

“…are you okay, Valkyrie?” she asked after a moment of silence, her wings quivering along her sides as she stared at her friend. The other pegasus shook her head silently, and as she did her hair shifted, allowing Dreams to see the tell-tale traces of tears on Valkyrie’s face. You poor thing… she thought with a wince. Feywind wasn’t kind to you today. Without another word, Sweet Dreams extended her left wing and wrapped it around Valkyrie, pulling the other mare closer so that Dreams could lay her head against Valkyrie’s blonde mane. The warmth from her long-time friend nestled tightly against her and, as if she had been waiting for just such a moment, Valkyrie’s tears began to flow. Her shoulders shook as tension filled her body, and Dreams made gentle shushing noises as the frustration and outrage poured out of her friend.

“It’s going to be okay, Val,” she cooed softly into the golden fibers of Valkyrie’s mane. “It’s okay… everything’s going to be fine…”

“H-how could she talk to me that way?” choked Valkyrie, her words hoarse and virulent. “I’ve done everything I can think of to straighten that damned griffon out, b-but it wasn’t enough for Queen Feywind…” The muscles along her neck bunched beneath Dreamy’s wing, the sinewy fibers as strong as corded steel beneath Valkyrie’s deceptively soft coat. “It took everything I had not to hit him… not to hit her…”

“I know,” murmured Dreamy before gently nuzzling Valkyrie’s mane. “I could feel your anger all the way on the second floor… and I’m proud of you for keeping it together.” Now a snort came from beneath Valkyrie’s mane.

“Keeping it together… right… that’s what we’ll call it.” She managed to bark a coarse laugh. “It felt like my whole body was on fire… I literally saw red, Dreamy, a-and I wanted nothing more than to plow Feywind’s face with my hoof so hard you could pant seeds there next season…”

Valkyrie’s tone was as serious as could be, but her analogy struck Dreamy deep in her gut and sent a wave of mirth rising through her whole body. It shot through her chest and burst from her lips as a bright giggle, the sound echoing off the sparse walls of the small room. Her right hoof rose from the bed and pressed itself firmly against her muzzle, but the giggle would not be stopped: it forced its way around her hoof and out into the air, its joyful peals washing over everything.

“Oh dear Celestia,” she managed to wheeze between fits, “Valkyrie… d-did you seriously just say that..?!”

Valkyrie shifted and turned her gaze to Dreamy, her muzzle scrunched into a tearful frown. “You’re laughing at me again,” she muttered huffily, her hooves sliding down her face to her chest. “I hate it when you do that…” Dreamy’s giggles continued, however, and despite Valkyrie’s tough words the pink mare felt her friend relax beneath her wing as she did.

“I… I’m sorry, Val,” she said after a few long moments of laughter. “It’s just… plow her so hard you could plant seeds…!” She snickered again, her eyes squeezing shut tight as her hoof pressed against her lips. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re not more country pony than you let on.” She opened her eyes, and to her delight she saw a smile flicker across Valkyrie’s lips.

“Yeah… you would think that, Dreamy.” Valkyrie sat up a little straighter and gave her rear hooves a kick that sent her legs swinging between the bed and the floor. “I’ll have you know that St. Petershoof is not a farming community,” she said, a hint of imperiousness entering her voice despite the scratches that her tears had left behind. “It is a city with a lot of history and great significance in-,”

“-in the construction of modern Equestria as we know it,” finished Dreamy, her eyes narrowing playfully as she scrunched her muzzle at her friend. “Yes, I know – I’ve heard it from you a thousand times, farm pony.”

Valkyrie’s mouth dropped open in mock horror that, when coupled with a playful wink from Dreams, quickly melted into a warm smile as she let out a sigh. “Dreamy… why won’t you just let me stay mad, hmm?” Her pale blue pinion feathers rustled against her snowy sides so that they lay in place once more. “It seems like you’re always here to make me laugh instead of letting me stew. I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of dealing with my anger all on my own, thank you very much.”

The pink mare shifted closer to Valkyrie and pulled her tight with her wing, her left foreleg snaking around the other mare. “Because we both know that the Aerie can’t afford to have you breaking any more furniture,” she said matter-of-factly. “And that has proven to be your way of ‘dealing with your anger’ on multiple occasions.” To her delight the white mare blushed, the red in her cheeks contrasting sharply with the bright blue of the tattoos on her neck.

“Hey, that was a long time ago…” she muttered, but in spite of her words she relaxed against Dreams a little more. “But you’re right – it’s certainly a lot less complicated this way.” Valkyrie’s smile quirked up a little more at the corners and she gave Dreamy a nod. “Thanks.”

The pink mare leaned over and gave her friend a firm nuzzle on the side of the head, enjoying the closeness as she squeezed Valkyrie with her wing once more. “Anytime, angel,” she said softly. Valkyrie blushed again and with a laugh Dreamy slid away from her, putting a little bit of space between them on the bed. “And hey, look at the bright side: the new moon is only two days away, which means that tomorrow Feywind is going to take off for the Gathering in Canterlot.”

“And she’ll be gone for three days,” Valkyrie said with a grin. “Yeah, that thought occurred to me and it’s a welcome one.” She let out a sigh and shook her head, her flaxen mane swaying around her face as she did. “I’ll have to apologize to her, I’m sure, and try my best to keep Ronin under control in the meantime.” She winced, and her ears drooped down into her hair. “I swear, Dreamy… sometimes I wonder why I ever took this stupid position in the first place…”

Dreamy rolled her eyes. Oh boy, here we go again… “We both know why you took the position as Master of the Aerie, Val,” she said in her most patient tone. “You care about the training that our new recruits get, and out of anypony here you were the one who was willing to take responsibility for them.” Her grin returned as she met Valkyrie’s gaze. “And in the end you took that ‘stupid position’ because you know good and well that you wouldn’t have felt comfortable letting anypony else take it.”

Valkyrie opened her mouth as if to protest and Dreamy opened her mouth in a similar fashion, her eyebrows raised expectantly. She stared at Valkyrie openly, meeting her friend’s gaze for several long moments before the other mare’s ears drooped back into her mane in defeat.

“…I hate it when you do that,” she muttered, giving Dreams a look so sour it could have curdled milk. Dreamy giggled, and despite Valkyrie’s glare she could see that the anger had truly left the white mare’s eyes. That’s really what I came here for, she thought as Valkyrie’s glare melted away into a knowing smile. To make sure she didn’t get herself into even more trouble.

“Well, hate it if you want to,” said Dreams after a moment, “but as long as I’m here I’m going to keep on reminding you why you took that job.” She leaned towards Valkyrie, her wings rising slightly off her back to balance her properly as her mane draped itself over her right eye. “And I’m going to keep you from flying off the handle, too,” she added with a grin, “as long as I can do something to stop you, that is.” She gave Valkyrie a wink before straightening, her eyes never leaving the other mare’s muscular form. “Besides, if I know Vision – and I do – he’s already promised to take Ronin’s training into his own hooves, so I doubt you’ll have much more to worry about from the griffon.”

“Oh is that so?” Valkyrie’s smile warmed as she winced dramatically. “I almost feel sorry for the kid now. Vision’s going to wring him out like a dirty dish cloth.”

“Oh you know he will,” said Dreams with a chuckle. “But at least he has a few days to recover before his new training regime starts.”

“Yeah… another new moon comes and goes.” Valkyrie’s eyes unfocused as she stared ahead, and Dreamy knew exactly where she was looking: the past. It was a look that the pink mare knew well, and one that she did everything in her power to avoid. “No training for the three days that Feywind is gone, the Vigil on the night of the New Moon… plenty of time for the griffon to regain his strength.” Silence fell between the two mares for several heartbeats before Valkyrie gave her head a brisk shake and turned her smile back to Dreamy. “I suppose he’ll be fine by then.”

Dreamy nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.” Her grin returned. “And I guess if he’s not, then he’s not cut out to be a Coursair.”

Valkyrie returned her grin with a predatory one of her own. “That’s the truth if ever I’ve heard it.” The two mares shared a laugh, and Dreams felt her worries ease as Valkyrie stood from the bed to shake out her wings. It’s a dark path we all walk, she thought, but as long as each of us can find a light, it makes bearing that darkness a little easier. Her mind flashed to the image of Valkyrie’s face, her eyes staring back into the shadows of her memories… and without a doubt Dreamy knew that, despite her desire to never look into the past again, she would face those shadows for the sake of her comrades.

And face them I will… a thousand times and more.