When Snow Falls

by Prophet Of Doom

Chapter 17: Late Night Reading

Steel Wall slid a book on arcane spells back onto the shelf from where it had been taken. It had been nearly two moons since the time he had first been back in the city of Canterlot, returning with Steel Wall’s company. And Nightmare Moon was wasting no more time tonight.
Ever since taking over Steel Wall’s body, she had tried her best to blend in smilingly with his day to day life. This task which she thought to be tedious and annoying proved to be somewhat advantageous. She quickly learned the royal guards total strength, their doctrines, and fast response plans. Everything about this army an enemy commander would kill to know.
Every other opportunity she had’ Nightmare Moon would go to the library to gain more information. Her recent attention was on the Princess Collection and how to get at it.
She studied the entrance from the shadows of the isles and even used Steel Wall’s position as a royal guard to explore the perimeter.
Then she started sneaking into the library at night to observe the night patrols. The fact that it was guarded day and night further convinced her that its contents could be extremely useful.

After a while, she noticed a window of absence between shifts when it would be possible to enter unnoticed. But the window only lasted an hour, so her search through the collection was slow. Despite this hurdle, she was content on what she had found, mostly various spells that would prove most useful when her conquest began. If her conquest begins...
Nightmare Moon was acutely aware of her biggest hurdle in her path, the lack of an adequate host. She had hoped that one of the alicorn princesses could become her host but it appeared that this was not going to happen. Canterlot castle had recently held the annual princess summit and Nightmare Moon inside the Guard Steel Wall was able to observe them at will, well almost. Her near brush with Luna in Pontville had made her wary of reaching out to far with her powers, her discovery now would be disastrous.
Nightmare moon quickly saw that with one exception, the princesses minds and wills were strong as bastions, especially Celestia’s. Any attempt to seduce or force herself into them would inevitably end in Nightmare Moon’s demise.
The one exception was Candence’s daughter, Flurryheart. The mind and will of a youngling were less of that of an adult but even here there were problems. Flurryheart’s movements and magical skills were limited’ and not even Nightmare Moon’s input would make up for this. Anyways’ the sight of a child was not intermediating enough to lead a glorious conquest of this land without drawing laughter.

She used Steel Wall to pull out another book, this one on arcane items. There was still half an hour left in tonight's window to read up on as much as she could get. There was one spell high on her list to learn.
During the summit’ Nightmare Moon learned that Candence and Twilight Sparkle were not born alicorns but instead was bestowed this honor by Princess Celestia.
Clearly, this action was done by a spell or ritual of magic. If she could find this spell, then it would prove most useful…

“What are you doing here?” Came a stern voice from behind Steel Wall.
Whys she here’ and now Nightmare Moon cursed inside, turning Steel Wall to face the voice. It was the smug faced librarian that she had to deal with nearly every day. So often that she came to learn her name, Neat Shelves.
“Who said that you could be in here?” She barked.
Nightmare Moon weighed up what to do with this interfering mare who was now in the process of blowing her cover. Her first thought was to kill her but there was nowhere to hide her body, or destroy it without drawing any attention.
“Well!” Neat Shelves barked’ but louder.
She needed to silence her, now. Steel Wall’s hoof came up and grabbed Neat Shelves neck. She choked a surprised grunt but was unable to scream. Steel Wall’s eyes turned indigo with snake-like pupils and looked dead into Neat Shelves. As their eyes locked, rings of indigo pulsated from his eyes to hers and after a while, her eyes turned indigo.
“What is you command, your majesty?” She said’ voice absent of any emotion.

Nightmare Moon internal took a deep sigh of relief. She hadn’t used that trick for over a thousand years and that was on humans. She wasn’t sure if it would even work on a pony but it seems they are just as susceptible to it as her last prey were.
Steel wall released her neck and stood in an intimidating pose.
“You will the leave library and walk north,” -Nightmare Moon’s voice came out of the stallion's mouth- “And when you leave the city you will keep walking.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Neat Shelves said before bowing.
A twisted smile spread involuntary across Steel Wall’s lips. I wonder how long she’ll walk until the smugness is wiped from her face Nightmare Moon playfully mused. Or until her hooves turn to stumps.
Well, at least one annoyance was gone. She watched the mare leave before turning back to her current book, she had wasted enough time tonight. She flicked through the book until a subtitle caught her attention.
The Alicorn amulet She read to herself. Interesting.