The Real Nightmare Knights

by Bigwig6666

Shady Hollow

Blair Wisp, a young, twenty something thestral from the humble little town of Shady Hollow, hummed a quiet tune to herself as she swept aside the remnants of shattered pumpkin staining the ground by the bridge leading in to town.

A sunbeam shining through the trees revealed the silhouette of a slightly worn tricorne hat caked in mud, some several feet away from the bridge’s mouth, with some more shards of pumpkin littering the ground for good measure. She stepped closer to it and picked it up. As she turned it over in one of her hooves, she recognised it as belonging to that funny looking schoolteacher sent from Canterlot. Mr. Crane, she recalled his name being. Well, it appeared to her that Mr. Crane had trespassed too far into the woods and invoked the Headless Horse’s ire. The latest to do so in a long and storied list.

A grim look spread across Blair’s face as she placed the hat carefully in her pack and gave her wings a quick stretch. They shimmered and glistened as a few droplets of rain dripped in through the trees. Behind her, her ebony black tail swished and her dark coat gave her a shadow like appearance. Her flank was blank, as thestrals saw no use for cutie marks or desired a ‘special talent’ of any sort, simply doing what needed to be done here and there; whether it was farming, hunting, or tending to their town.

Blair craned her neck and looked upwards as more sunlight broke through the dark and gloomy clouds and the trees, revealing to her the path a touch more. She supposed this Twilight character had done a good job with the sun today, as she had with the moon the previous night.

Regardless of how isolated they were in Shady Hollow, it mattered little to the thestrals of Equestria of who exactly was running the country at any given time. The one called Luna had visited the town from time to time while she sat on the throne, unafraid of their unponylike appearances and even recruited some of their best and brightest--or should that be darkest?--To serve in her Night Guard in olden times, a decision met by many with equal parts fear and excitement.

When the Equestrian Civil War had begun, all of Equestria had suffered for it. But some historians would argue that the thestrals had suffered the most besides the dark princess herself. Aside from being used as shock troopers and heralds of the night, even a thousand years after the battles had finished and after the Lady of Nightmares had been cured of her madness, many ponies viewed their shadow-inclined cousins with suspicion and fear; seeing them as bad omens and--while not necessarily evil creatures--certainly dark and foreboding. Even those that had ventured out beyond the wild wood and made themselves known in the wide world did not escape the prejudice thestrals faced on a daily basis.

Blair cared little for such idle fancies as what ponies thought of her, however. No, she was simply content to live and let be, to keep the old traditions of her little town alive and continue to respect the dark woods that surrounded them. Although dull and predictable, her life was not without total boredom, as evidenced by the sound of quickly approaching hoofsteps and hurried voices, making her look up curiously.

“Keep that camera steady, brother. I want to get a good shot of the bridge.”

“It’ll be a wonder if we get a good shot of anything in this fog. I can’t see a blasted thing.”

A pair of rather impudent and full of themselves sounding voices sounded out from the fog. Blair tilted her head and squinted. Her cold, cat-like eyes pierced through the mists until she spotted what looked like two ponies. Two rather tall, skinny ponies, wearing blue and white striped shirts with funny looking hats. One of them held a small video camera to his eye and swooshed it around, getting wide sweeping angles of the forest.

“Just you wait, Flam. Imagine, if we manage it, we’ll be the first ponies in the history of Equestria to capture the Headless Horse on film. Bump!’s ratings will be the highest they’ve ever been!”

Blair looked on in mild amusement. They continued to remain oblivious to her presence even as they waltzed straight past her without batting an eye or breaking stride. The fog was so thick it was almost like the mists themselves had wanted her to remain hidden.

The thestral watched and followed them curiously, making no attempt whatsoever to hide herself. She thought they looked the same. Most ponies did to her, what with them not having the same nuances thestrals had. These two, however, well... they were identical in almost every way, save for the one holding the camera who had a thick, red and white moustache decorating his upper lip.

They came to a stop by the bridge’s entrance, with one standing in front of the other and straightened his bow tie. “Ready, Flam?” he asked.

“Ready, Flim,” replied the other. “Let’s bing-bang-zam in three... two...”

Blair tilted her head and listened curiously as they began their spiel.

“Hello fellow cryptid enthusiasts and welcome to another exciting episode of Bump!” said the first pony, Flim. “Brought to you by the Flim Flam brothers, world famous cryptozoologists and seekers of truth! On today’s episode, we have arrived here at Shady Hollow--one of the last blank spots on the map of Equestria.” He gestured behind him. “Just beyond this bridge here, lies the home of the thestrals and resting place of the not so restful spirit of the Headless Horse himself!”

Blair wrinkled her nose up and silently judged them. The thestrals held no particular love for the Horse, as vengeful and ruthless as he was, but they still respected him and never would even dare thinking of exploiting his reputation for monetary gain--or if any thestral had had that idea, they never voiced it.

The ponies continued on like this for several minutes until one of them held a hoof to his ear.

“Brother, do you hear that?” Flam asked, cocking an ear out and swivelling himself around, pointing his camera towards the trees and the dimly lit path. “It sounds like... hooves approaching. Could it be?”

Flim nodded eagerly and squinted into the fog. “I do indeed, brother. And I’d have to agree with you. Quickly, behind those trees.” He turned into the camera and grinned, while the thestral remained hidden from sight and watched them curiously. “Just barely into today’s episode, viewers and already an appearance! What a rare treat for you all. Careful now. Watch... and listen...”

Blair knew of the legends and the songs, and knew what foretold the Horse’s presence. Why these pair of unicorns thought that the actual Horse himself would be approaching them in broad daylight made her question her own sanity. Didn’t they know that he only appeared after midnight?

As if to answer her, from the mists came the a very forced sounding and false laugh, making Blair raise a hoof to her face and silently shake her head in disapproval and benign amusement.

“Nyah ha ha ha haaa!”

From the darkened trees bounded a pony, wearing what was quite clearly just a cheap, ragged cloak and a pumpkin wedged firmly onto his head. He came to a rather unceremonious stop and the pumpkin wobbled, making him quickly readjust it and attempt to look as imposing as possible.

“Foolish mortals, you dare to trespass here? I should take your...”

The ‘Horse’ paused for a moment to adjust his pumpkin head.

“Ugh some got in my mouth... Agh. I should take your... y... hmm. Line?”

Blair couldn’t help but give those present a look of haughty derision as the pony took off his ‘head’, to reveal somepony indeed not the Headless Horse, but rather a miserable and furious looking, solid brown earth pony of no particular discernible features. His muddy brown mane clung to his scalp, greasy and slick with pumpkin juice.

“Cut!” Flam, or Flim, barked, making her head snap around to look as the two brothers stood up from their cover. The one holding the camera snapped it shut and lowered it.

The other one, Flim, or Flam--Blair was never very good at identifying ponies you see--stomped over to the ‘Horse’ and pushed his face in close to him.

“Head!” he yelled, disturbing some crows that nested high above. Blair’s ear twitched as she directed her gaze upwards and saw the trees shift in the wind. A small but growing sensation of dread began to build in her stomach, yet she didn’t know why. Licking her lips she lowered her gaze back down and watched the heated exchange unfold.

“The line is ‘I should take your head’! When we hired you as an actor, we expected you to be able to act!”

The Not-Horse sighed and wiped some mucus off of his face and dried his hoof on the rag he wore. “Listen Fl... whichever one you are. You try wearing that disgusting thing and not get any in your mouth. My contract never stated I’d be forced into this getup.” He snorted and kicked the pumpkin away and began to tear at the cloth around him. “I quit.”

Flim sighed and ran a hoof through his neatly combed mane as it was quickly becoming bedraggled and messy. “You can’t just quit, you signed a contract and made a deal! Try it again, give us a rousing laugh, one that strikes fear into the hearts of our viewers! Like this-”

Blair watched silently as the unicorn reared up on his back legs and howled with--again, very forced and fake--laughter. “Mwah ah ah ah!”

Both his brother and the Not-Horse, as well as Blair herself, snickered with laughter as he fell back down and readjusted himself.

“Perhaps, brother, leave the theatrics to somepony else?” Flam offered.

Flim scowled at him and snorted and kicked the dirt. “Well, I’d like to see you try any better.”

“Very well then, I shall. Since you’re not comfortable acting, perhaps you can be our camerapony, then, my good stallion?” Flam asked, turning to and holding the camera out to their associate.

The earth pony shrugged. “I guess. I still expect to be paid.”

“Naturally, of course.”

Flam passed the hired actor the camera and cleared his throat. He inhaled a deep breath before rearing up on his back legs and prepared himself.

”YAH HA HA HA HA HA!”

A resounding and terrifying laugh sounded throughout the woods, emanating from all around those present and permeating their very souls. Flim and the brothers’ hired help looked at one another and whistled, quite impressed with Flam’s display. Blair felt the growing dread in her stomach increase tenfold and found herself frozen in fear for a moment.

“Well, brother, that was... something,” the unicorn chuckled nervously. “Perhaps you should be our hired actor?”

Flam swallowed and turned as white as a sheet. “Th... that wasn’t... me...” he whispered.

”YAAAAH HA HA HA HAAA!”

The laughter came again, only this time it was... intensely closer. The trees began to glow with a bright reddish colour--the colour of blood--and the air grew colder, revealing their breaths. Blair felt something inside her wake up as she spied a pony among the trees. It was taller than any thestral and wore a long black and ragged cloak. Its hooves were feathered and as black as night. It had no mane, but its tail lashed around the trees like a living shadow. Where the pony’s head should have sat, a pumpkin with fiery, flickering eyes stared back at her, a malicious grin carved into his face.

It was him. The Headless Horse in the flesh.

Against her better judgement and with a deep and primal fear coursing through her veins she leapt forwards out of the bushes, and barked at the ponies.

“Run!”

Time seemed to slow as they looked at her, then at the Horse, then back at her. The hired actor was the first to move, quickly lobbing the camera at one of the unicorns before darting away, back down the path the brothers had approached from.

“No not that way!” Blair cried despairingly. “Across the bridge!”

It was too late. The unicorns and the thestral stood frozen in terror, and watched as the Horse turned his pumpkin smile towards the earth pony scampering away from him and procured a large, double headed axe from within the folds of his cloak. The glowing, sinister red light intensified for a moment. The earth pony glanced around to see the axe raised and a shrill cry of terror escaped him. Blair squeezed her eyes shut but heard a heavy thunk and a thud all the same, and she knew what had happened. She swallowed and dared to open her eyes only to see the Horse return his weapon to the folds of his cloak and lean down to pick something up.

The Horse’s mad laughter resounded through the woods again and he reared up on his hind legs, his morbid trophy a silhouette against the light shining through the trees.

Blair quickly turned and hauled flank across the bridge.

“Run!” she screamed at the brothers. Her wings beat up and down, desperately trying to carry herself forwards as much as possible. Her tail tucked instinctively between her legs as images of being grabbed and pulled back flashed through her mind.

After what felt like an eternity, she reached the other side and thrust herself down into the dirt and the safety of the other side of the brook, panting and gasping for air.

“He’s not supposed to be out in the day,” she breathed, looking around wildly. The Horse stood at the other end of the bridge, his grin chilling her to the bone. Raring up on his hind legs again, he turned, and with a swish of his cloak, he vanished as quickly as he appeared. The glow of his aura vanished along with him.

With shaking hooves, she rose up and started towards the town. “I have to tell somepony...” she whispered to herself. “Brawn... my brother... somepony...”

“Excuse me! I say, filly, wait just one moment!”

Blair paused in her tracks and slowly turned around. The unicorn brothers quickly assembled themselves and approached her.

“You’re a thestral, yes?” Flim asked as he readjusted his hat and straightened his bow tie.

She nodded. “Excellent observation,” she muttered dryly.

“And you live here in Shady Hollow?”

Again, Blair nodded.

“Wonderful! Flam, would you-”

Flam lifted the camera up to his eye and quickly counted down again. “Three, two, one.”

Flim sidled up to Blair and swung a hoof around her. “My dear viewers, your beloved hosts here have just escaped the clutches of the dreaded Horse himself! If not for the timely intervention of this young filly here-” He nudged Blair in the side and wiggled his eyebrows. “We might have found ourselves goners, and Bump! would be a thing of the past. Tell me, miss thestral, what is your name?”

Blair blinked. “Blair,” she stated without thinking, before twisting her face and shrugging him off.

“Blair!” The unicorn grabbed her hoof and gave it a vigorous shake. “You have my and my brother’s eternal thanks for saving our hides. Care to spare a few moments to answer some questions we have?”

“I didn’t save anypony’s hide,” she snorted. “I told you to run, and you did.”

“Ah but if not for your timely intervention, the Horse would surely have-”

“Listen.” Blair rounded on him and flexed her wings. Her sharpened fangs revealed themselves as she snarled at him. “Whatever you hope to achieve by coming to Shady Hollow forget about it. Something is terribly wrong here. The Headless Horse is only supposed to appear at midnight, not during the day. Now, if you’re finished, I have to tell someone. Excuse me.”

As she turned away she flicked her tail dismissively at the unicorn brothers, and heard them quickly scramble to recompose themselves and continue with their shtick.

“Ahem. Well, viewers. There, uh... you have it. A mystery indeed. Come with us now as we venture forth into Shady Hollow. As always, we at Bump! seek the truth of the matter. Onwards, brother!”

“And cut.”

“Our rating will be sky high once this episode airs.”

“Indeed they will dear brother. Think of the money...”

Blair shook her head and wondered who would believe her, and who could help. If the Horse was indeed free to wander about during the day now, then Shady Hollow was in grave danger and leaving the safety of the town was out of the question. An idea came to her, and she remembered her brother was close to Princess Luna. Yes, maybe she could help... or at the very least send those who could help.

***

Princess Luna looked up as a knocking came at her door. She put down her quill and cleared her throat, moving aside the stack of paperwork left for her to fill out after another ‘excursion’ by the Nightmare Knights. “Enter.”

The door swung open to reveal one of her trusted Night Guard, a young thestral of about thirty winters. He strode forwards and sank his head in a bow to her and stood silently while waiting for direction. She could see that he was tense. His eyes seemed distant and the midnight alicorn got the impression something was troubling him.

“At ease. Willow, wasn’t it?” she asked, offering him a smile, hoping to alleviate some of his clear tension. “You may remove your helmet, if you so wish.”

He bowed again and obeyed her, lifting his hoof up to remove his helmet. His jet black mane, cat-like eyes and gaunt appearance stood out against the usual brightness of Equestria. She supposed that was typical of all thestrals, however, and a bitter taste was left in the director’s mouth for a moment as she saw his ragged wings flutter nervously.

“My Lady Luna,” Willow started. His voice was coarse, and as dogged as his war-torn wings. “I have a message. From my sister.”

Luna stood up and moved around her desk to give him a proper greeting. She admired the thestrals and always enjoyed seeing them, no matter the circumstances, almost viewing them like her kin. Once shunned and forgotten by the wider world, now relics of a bygone era, much like herself.

“What is this message?” she asked him.

He looked over her with piercing, feline eyes. “Our hometown is besieged, it would seem.”

“Besieged?” Luna felt the heckles on the back of her neck stand up and a sudden rage boiled inside her. “Who by? Who dares threaten Equestrian territory?” She flexed her wings.

Willow shook his head and bared his fangs in a brief moment of anger. “Not a who, your ladyship. But what.” He paused, and looked down at he ground. “Forgive me for sounding foolish, my lady. I refer to the Headless Horse, a ghost which has terrorised Shady Hollow for decades. My sister and I grew up listening to stories and songs about him.”

The alicorn relaxed herself but remained alert.

“I see,” she stated, looking out the window for a moment before turning back to him. “Ghosts and their ilk are not as foolish as they might have seemed a few years ago, Willow. Please, never apologise for their interference in our mortal lives. Tell me of this Headless Horse.”

Willow inclined his head towards her as a token of respect. “The legends state, and for as long as we have heard the stories we have known this to be true, that the Horse has always been confined to the late hours of the night, between midnight and three in the morning. My worry comes from the fact that my sister informed me he attacked during the day.” He gritted his teeth and set his jaw. “She barely escaped with her life, and according to her, the spectre is patrolling the woods, rendering any of them unable to leave.”

Luna nodded and tapped her chin. “I see. Troubling indeed.” She sized the thestral up and down. “And your sister has tasked you for asking for my assistance?”

“Yes, my lady,” he said, holding his head up high. “I beg and implore you to-”

“I shall alert my Knights immediately,” Luna stated, cutting him off quickly. She spun on her hooves and moved to the window. “As luck would have it, I have been informed that they are in Canterlot as of this very moment. Would you accompany them to your hometown for me?”

Willow nodded, breathing a sigh of relief and looked at her gratefully. “I would, your grace. I have not seen Blair in some time. It would... be nice.”

Luna nodded knowingly. “I understand completely. Stand aside, please, and I will summon them here.”

Willow stepped aside and tilted his head slightly. He, like many others living in Canterlot, had seen Princess Twilight zipping around the place with flashes of magic, but to his knowledge she had never summoned anypony before. For Luna to do so was going to be a sight to see for sure.

The director’s horn ignited in an indigo aura and with a flash and a pop, four figures materialized out of thin air before them both. Three were pony shaped, and one was half a pony and half something like an ape.

“What the-” one of them said.

The speaker, the smallest figure, a pegasus Willow could see, looked around with wide eyes. Upon seeing Luna and the thestral looking at her, a look of dreaded realisation dawned on her face. She sunk to the ground and pounded her hoof into the wooden floor.

“You maniac!” she howled. “You took them away! Darn you! Darn you to Tartarus!”

Willow looked bewildered at them. “My lady?” he whispered to Luna.

The alicorn smiled at him and gestured to the four figures. “Willow Wisp. Allow me to introduce to you...” She paused and began to scowl, even as the leader of the group picked the filly up by the scruff of her neck and plopped her into position before standing at full attention.

“The Nightmare Knights.”

***

Sugar Glaze Place, the number one pancake, sugary sweets and crêpe café in Canterlot, was unusually quiet for the time of day it was. A few ponies sat here and there, but all gave one entire side of the café a wide berth.

The reasons for this were fourfold. The Nightmare Knights sat at a booth by the window and waited for their food to arrive. Tirek had just barely managed to squeeze in to the seat, and even then his legs had to rest alongside him as they wouldn’t fit under the table like a pony’s would. Cozy didn’t mind as she sat next to him, hovering just above the seat with an excited grin on her face, casually bopping her hooves on the counter in some sort of tune, while Tempest and Chrysalis sat across from them.

The former looked around the nearly empty establishment and grimaced. Despite their status as ‘reformed’, most ponies still looked at them with fear and kept their distance. She supposed that was simply a side effect of their past lives, and as time would pass they would--hopefully--be remembered for being Nightmare Knights instead of simply villains, and didn’t bemoan them for it. Chrysalis on the other hoof, she seemed to be struggling with the concept.

The former queen propped her face up on her hoof and gazed out the window at the crowds moving passed them, occasionally clicking her tongue and baring her fangs as some hoity toity Canterlot pony spotted her staring and hurried on their way.

Movement, and the sound of clinking plates, made them all turn and look expectantly at the approaching serving mare. Cozy whooped and cheered and flitted up into the air. Tirek yanked her tail down and forced her to sit, giving her a scowl as he did so.

“Sorry about your wait guys,” the mare said with a chipper voice.

When Tempest saw that on her wings and across her back were several plates, each one with a stack of pancakes, crêpes, waffles--and four milkshakes, she grimaced, thinking they had perhaps ordered too much. “Darnit, Cozy,” she muttered under her breath.”

“Lemme know if I can get you guys anything else,” the serving mare said cheerfully as she slid each of the plates onto their table and set the glasses down. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Tempest said as her own stack of pancakes stared back at her, dripping and glistening with sauce and a clump of ice cream looking like a crown directly on top. It did look delicious, she conceded.

“Oooooh!” Cozy squealed as she nabbed her fork. “Where to start, where to start...” She twirled it around in one of her hooves and began to salivate. When she noticed her fellow former legionnaires of doom hadn’t started eating she paused and frowned at them. “Aren’t ya gonna have anything, Chryssy? Terry?”

Tirek lifted up his plate and eyed it suspiciously. “What are these?” he asked, poking and prodding at the food.

“I believe they are what are commonly referred to as waffles, Lord Tirek,” Chrysalis muttered before Cozy could answer, snatching one of the menus from another table and pointing between the image shown with that on his plate. “They look disgusting. What is this... ‘camel sauce’ they’re dripping with?” She twisted her face and stuck her tongue out. “I’ve never tried camel before.”

“It’s caramel, not camel!” Cozy cried in defence of the food. “Try it. It’s sugary and sweet and sticky and-”

“I’ll pass,” the queen grunted and shoved her plate away. “I’d rather suck the love out of a dung beetle than put any of this wretched pony food in my mouth.”

Tempest silently ate her food throughout the encounter while the filly argued that waffles, pancakes and the like were the best food ever made. She wiped the edge of her mouth with one of the provided napkins and smiled, leaning back in her seat in contentment.

“Ugh. If I say I’ll try some will you leave me alone?” Chrysalis snapped.

“Uh huh!” Cozy beamed happily at her, giggling mischievously to herself, quite pleased she had gotten her own way. She leaned forwards with bulging wide eyes as the changeling used her fork to slice a piece of pancake off.

Reluctantly and slowly, and while the Knights watched like a group of weirdos, Chrysalis’s tongue unfurled and licked what was on her fork, tasting the sugary sweetness, the ice cream and the sauce all at once.

It was incredible. Purer than the purest love she had ever eaten. The flavours all blended together perfectly and practically exploded in her mouth, making her insides feel all funny and gooey. Definitely poison to have such an effect. Regardless, Chrysalis found she wanted more and jammed the fork in her mouth, chewing and swallowing almost instantly. She quickly collected herself after a moment’s pause and coolly brushed some mane out of her eyes.

“I suppose this is... acceptable,” she murmured, much to Cozy’s elated delight.

“Yay! I told you it would be!” She grinned at Tirek. “And I told you I could get her to eat some.”

The centaur muttered something under his breath and begrudgingly extracted a pouch full of coins from the inside of his vest. “Here,” he grunted and dropped it in front of the filly.

Chrysalis’s eyes widened. “You gambled on whether I would enjoy some delic--disgusting pony food or not?!” she roared, not bothering to pause for her slip up. “Commander, can you believe this-” She froze and gaped at what was happening before her.

Tempest shifted in her seat and pulled out a small bag of coins from a pouch in her jumpsuit, giving it over to the grinning filly without a word but directed a sheepish smile at the former queen.

“I don’t believe this. I have half a mind to simply take my leave of you all! In fact-” Chrysalis leaned forwards and lifted up her pancakes with her magic. “Deplorable creature that you are, Cozy Glow, I’m going to eat all of this in front of you, and savour every last bite, just to spite you.”

Cozy giggled away to herself and twirled her fork again. Just as she pressed it into the pancake in front of her and carved herself off a piece and lifted it to her mouth, there was a flash and a poof of magical dust. The filly blinked as she bit down on precisely nothing and looked around with wide, big and confused eyes.

“What the-” Cozy started, looking around wildly.

She spotted the reason for them all being there, as did Tempest and the others, and sank to the ground in front of Director Luna. She pounded her hoof into the floor and howled in sorrowful, overly dramatic pain. “You maniac! You took them away! Darn you! Darn you to Tartarus!”

Tempest saw the director smile and gesture towards them.

“Willow Wisp. Allow me to introduce to you...”

The commander quickly grabbed Cozy by the scruff of her neck and hoisted her to her hooves. She gave her a stern glare and moved her hoof over her mouth, indicating for her to be quiet now.

“The Nightmare Knights.”

Tempest, Cozy, Chrysalis and Tirek all looked up expectantly at the director and held their heads up. Cozy’s brow stayed furrowed at being torn away from her pancakes, but she held the former princess’s gaze all the same.

Their leader took a step forwards and cleared her throat. “Director Luna? To what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked with a slight bow.

Luna nodded back at her and gestured to the thestral standing at her side. “Nightmare Knights, allow me to introduce Willow Wisp, a member of my Night Guard. Willow, these are the Nightmare Knights. Commander Tempest Shadow, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow.” She turned back to Tempest and held her head up high. “Willow will act as your liaison with the thestrals in his hometown of Shady Hollow and fill you in on the details when you arrive. When you are finished alert me and I will return you to Canterlot for a full debriefing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tempest said, nodding politely at the thestral as a token of respect. “May I ask a few questions before we leave?”

“You may. But be brief, Commander.”

The Knight inhaled through her teeth. “Give me background, what are we working from?”

Luna nodded and began to explain. “Shady Hollow is a small town located in Western Equestria. It is an isolated town located deep within a forest that surrounds it. There, the legend of the Headless Horse originated, and it is he whom you will be facing.”

“The Headless Horse?” Cozy whispered, looking between her comrades, Luna and the thestral quickly. “He’s just a myth right? Just a story they use to scare little kids like me into behaving, right?”

The thestral stepped forwards. “If I may, your ladyship,” he said to Luna. She gestured for him to speak and turned to look out the window as he spoke. “The Headless Horse is no mere myth, Cozy Glow.” His voice was low, and dripping with dread. “He has hunted and slain any and every pony who dared venture into the Hollow’s woods for as long as I an remember. Once in my home town, I hope you will see that I speak the truth, as does Lady Luna.”

Luna tapped her hoof and he took a step back. “Thank you, Willow. Any further questions, Knights?”

Tirek cleared his throat, making the midnight alicorn look at him expectantly.

“Pardon me, Director, but what sort of threat is this ‘Headless Horse’? What sort of ghost is he? Need we take any of our supplies?” He folded his arms and snorted. “I do not mean to sound rude, but to go in blind is a touch foolish is it not? Especially if he is as aggressive as we are led to believe.”

“While I understand your concern, Lord Tirek, I am confident that all that you need will be provided by the thestrals in Shady Hollow,” Luna responded. The corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile and her eyes sparked with mischief. “Unless, of course, you wish to remain behind, in which case I could have it arranged for you to return to the castle? I believe Miss Inkwell will be delighted to spend some alone time with you.”

Tirek quickly fell silent and simply bowed his head to her, a dark scowl crossing his face in an instant.

“We understand our duty, ma’am,” Tempest said, potentially saving him from further embarrassment. She cast a glance to her team and noted their faces. Despite Luna’s thinly veiled threat Tirek looked determined to do a good job, as did the other two. Even Cozy, as dejected as she looked at losing out on pancakes, looked ready and eager to kick some ghost flank.

“Good. Do not underestimate your foe here, my Knights,” Luna warned. “There are no doubt worse ghosts prowling the edges of reality as we speak, but rarely ones more lethal than the Headless Horse.”

With that last warning her horn ignited in a blaze of magic. She turned to Willow and smiled softly at him as he looked a touch worried. “I shall send you all there now as close as I can. This may tingle, Willow. I assure you any feelings of dysphoria are normal and will pass shortly after. If you would stand by them.”

He inclined his head towards her and neatly folded his wings at his sides, moving and coming to a stop beside Tempest. A single bead of sweat ran down the side of his head and he licked his lips. Tempest wondered if he had ever travelled by teleport before. She assumed he hadn’t. Truthfully, she hadn’t either until she became a Knight some months ago.

Light emanated from the former princess’s horn, and with another flash and bang their surroundings changed once again. They all found the cold wooden floor underneath their hooves disappear, replaced instead by soft, warm earth. Chrysalis waved a hoof in front of her face to dissipate the dust kicked up by their arrival and rustled her wings.

“Well this is a lovely locale, isn’t it?” she muttered. “This is Shady Hollow, then?”

The thestral stumbled and coughed, rapidly blinking his eyes. “Yes... yes it is...” he murmured, glancing up and around at the trees. “But... there is something wrong here. It feels...”

“Sick,” Tirek murmured.

Willow nodded and swallowed hard, taking a step forwards to reacquaint himself with the old woods,

Tempest glanced at the centaur curiously. “Do you sense anything?”

He nodded slowly. “I suspect there is more than just one vengeful spirit at work here, Commander, although I cannot say for certain what exactly.” He flexed his muscles and cracked his shoulders. “We should be cautious.”

“I agree.”

“Can we hurry up, please?” Cozy grumbled and folded her hooves like a stroppy child. “Hopefully I can still get my pancake while it’s still warm when we get back.”

Chrysalis snickered at her discontent and misfortune. “Oh boo hoo, hoo. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so concerned with whether I enjoyed mine or not you could have eaten yours by now.”

“So you did enjoy it?” the filly chuckled, giving her a sly grin.

The changeling’s face fell and a scowl appeared on her brow. “Watch yourself, Cozy Glow,” she growled. “We’re a long way from Canterlot. Anything could happen to you out here, especially with a bloodthirsty maniac charging about these woods...”

Tempest covered her mouth with a hoof to keep from laughing out loud as she saw Cozy’s horrified expression. She strode forwards and joined their thestral guide’s side. “Where to, Willow?” she asked him.

Willow remained stock still. His ears twitched rapidly atop his head, and his tail kept flicking nervously. He tensed up and flinched as Tempest tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention.

“I... I am sorry, Knight. Yes, Shady Hollow is this way. Once we cross the bridge we will be safe from the Horse’s power.”

“Lead on then. Tell me more about the Horse.”

Willow blinked and looked at her. “You wish to learn more about him? Is this so you can fight him easier?”

“Exactly.” Tempest grinned coyly at him. “It’s what we do. What can you tell me?”

“Little beyond stories, I am sorry to say. Brawn Bones would tell them and sing songs about the Horse, you see when we were foals. If it can help then I would point you towards him. As roguish as he may seem, he has a good heart and enjoys the company of strangers.” Willow nodded, more to himself than anything. “Yes. Bones will be able to assist you further I am sure. When we arrive at the town I will introduce you.” He gave her a quick glance up and down and smiled. “I hope for your sake, Tempest Shadow, that you and your Knights are ready.”

Tempest grinned and turned her head to those behind her. “Knights, what is it we do to ghosts like this Horse guy?”

Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy all matched her grin with their own.

“We come.”

“We see.”

“We kick their flank!”

Willow looked bewildered at their jovial attitude as they all laughed together and threw their heads back. He shook his head slowly and led them up to his hometown.

None of them noticed the trees begin to glow red with a sinister and foreboding light behind them. None of them saw the pony standing amidst the light, staring at them with a wide grin carved into his face.

***

A drowsy, dreamy influence seemed to hang over the woods, pervading the very atmosphere of the sequestered glen that was Shady Hollow. The town itself was full of dark buildings, narrow alleys, cobblestone streets and dull colours--even during the day as it was now, it looked bleak and uninviting. The town’s peculiar inhabitants, the thestrals of Equestria, didn’t seem to mind this at all however. In fact, one could say that with their equally as dull colours, the thestrals suited the aesthetic of their chosen home.

Despite the dreariness of the town, the local tavern was, as usual, the most colourful part of any locale; practically alive with joyous creatures sharing in drinks, rowdy roughhousing, and of course merrymaking. One particularly rambunctious thestral swung his hooves around his smaller friend and pulled him in close.

“Willow, me old lad! How’ve you been? Finally deigned to leave Canterlot to converse with the peasants?” he teased.

The Nightmare Knights shifted in their seats, looking around cautiously at the gathered and bustling throng. Tirek looked as out of place as can be, and Chrysalis sneered around the room as the thestrals of Shady Hollow gave her warm smiles and friendly greetings. Cozy, meanwhile, was devouring some food their hosts had ordered for them, moaning and groaning in pleasure as she ate the strange baked pudding stuffed with carrots.

“Mm... you guys gotta try this,” she told her companions.

Willow meanwhile rolled his eyes at his friend and shrugged him off. “Brawn listen to me.”

In comparison to the skinny Night Guard hidden behind his armour, Brawn Bones was a burly, brawny creature as his name might have suggested; with a square jaw, a bone white coat, pale yellow eyes and a slate grey mane. Tempest guessed he was in the mid-thirties range from the traces of muzzle on his chin and rings around his eyes.

“We’re not here to sit and make merry, although I am pleased to see you my friend. We were sent here to-”

“Willow, lad, don’t be so formal.” Bones grinned at the Knights and bobbed his head up and down and waved his hoof in the air towards them. He smiled warmly at them and held a hoof out. “Introduce me to your friends.”

“They’re not my fr-” Willow began with a sigh, earning a sneaky wink from Chrysalis and a bat of her eyelashes.

“Tempest Shadow,” Tempest curtly said as she nudged the changeling in the thorax and extended her hoof towards the outstretched one and gave it a firm shake. “This is Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow.”

“A pleasure to meet you all!” Bones raised a tankard and grinned at them all before taking a large swig of it. When finished he smacked his lips together and set it down. “Now, what was it you were saying, Willow?”

“Him,” whispered the young mare sitting beside Willow before Tempest could say anything. She spoke quietly, and her voice was tinged with dread. “I saw him myself, Brawn. They need to know everything they can to face him.”

Willow put a comforting wing around her and gave her a gentle squeeze.

Tempest looked at the frazzled mare carefully. Her mane was a mess, her pupils were contracted and appeared like the smallest black vertical slits in a sea of green. Her hooves trembled even as her brother held her steady and her wings kept flapping of their own accord. Something had clearly spooked the filly.

“And you are?” she asked her.

Willow cleared his throat. “My sister, Miss Shadow. Blair. She-” He lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around conspiratorially. “She was the one who saw the Horse, you see.”

Bones’s face fell. The jovial attitude vanished in an instant, replaced by a grim and concerned expression.

“What exactly did you see, Miss Wisp?” the commander asked the young mare in as soothing a voice as possible, trying not to spook her any more than she already was. The Knights all leaned forwards, even Cozy put down her knife and fork for a moment, but retained a mouthful of food.

The mare shifted her gaze to Tempest and swallowed. “He was a great... beast of a pony. Dressed in a black cloak, his tail seemed to coil around itself like a living shadow. He had a laugh, a dark, booming laugh that chilled me to my core, and...” she trailed off and began shivering.

Tempest leaned back and rubbed her nose.

“He wore a pumpkin for a head,” murmured a unicorn that had sidled up to them quietly.

Tempest looked around in surprise and frowned. “A pumpkin? Sorry, who are you?”

“Good heavens, let me apologise,” the unicorn continued, gesturing to himself and the identical pony beside him in everything besides the moustache. “And allow to introduce ourselves! I’m Flim-”

“And I’m Flam,” said the moustachioed stallion, currently holding a small camera up to his eye. The steady red light on its side indicating it was recording them. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Mind? Mind what?” Tempest growled at them. “Can’t you see we’re busy here?”

“Ah but, Miss Shadow--yes, we at Bump! have heard of the famous Nightmare Knights.” Flim tipped his hat to her and gave her a wide, toothy smile as she tilted her head in question at him. “We record the supernatural and the paranormal, the fantastical and the unbelievable, and broadcast it to all of Equestria!”

Cozy swallowed her food and wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. “Bump!? what’s Bump!?” she asked.

The unicorns grinned at her and lowered their heads. They quickly rearranged themselves and stood back to back in some sort of attempt at a serious pose holding the camera aloft with magic and pointing it at themselves. “To protect the world from devastation-”

“To unite all ponies within our nation-”

“To share our knowledge of the unknown-”

“To ensure that ghost stories aren’t overblown-”

“Flim!”

“Flam!”

“Bump! Takes off at the speed of light!”

“Truth hiders beware and prepare to fight!”

The Knights looked at one another in a stunned silence with eyebrows raised to the sky as the unicorn twins finished, their eyes twinkling like stars for a moment or two. When they had finished and readjusted their hats and shirt collars, they looked at the group and turned their ears down.

“Too much?”

“A bit,” Chrysalis replied with a lopsided smirk as she struggled to contain herself at their absurdity.

Blair glared at them. “They were pretending the Horse was a pony dressed up,” she said. “They didn’t take him seriously enough, and now he rides during the day.”

Flim pulled at his collar and grimaced as Tempest’s scowl deepened at them. “Ah. Well, yes, we did. Purely for dramatic effect, you see. But since our, um...”

“Associate,” Flam put it, cringing slightly at the fierce looks the Knights’ Commander gave him. “is unfortunately no longer with us, we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle with this Headless Horse fellow.”

The room fell silent in an instant. The joyful noises the thestrals were making replaced by an eerie silence, and dozens of cat-like eyes focused themselves on the gathered company. Tempest’s ear twitched as she swore she could hear a fly’s wings beat.

Brawn coughed and tapped the table, drawing the attention back to himself. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Blair--I’ve known you and your brother since you were foals--or you... unicorns whom I do not know or particularly care to know, but don’t you think that’s a little farfetched?” he asked the mare, genuinely seeming concerned for her. “What’s more, if we cannot leave during the day then we’ll end us as prisoners in our own home, what would you have us do?”

“That’s why we are here, Mr. Bones. To prevent that,” Tempest said, shooting some nearby thestrals a look. She cleared her throat and addressed both their contact and the room. “The Nightmare Knights have been sent by Director Luna herself to get rid of the Headless Horse. But to do so we need information.” She leaned forwards and looked Bones in the eye. “So please, tell us what you can and spare no detail.”

The brawny thestral leaned back in his chair and scratched at his chest. “Lady Luna herself, you say? I can’t tell you much besides what the stories say, I’m afraid.”

“That will do. Any information is better than no information.”

“The Horse is evil incarnate!” cried a voice from the crowd.

A series of murmurings went up around the speaker, making both Willow and Blair’s ears turn down.

Brawn held up his hoof. “That’s enough, everytral.” The crowd continued to stare and grumble quietly despite his declaration. “I said that’s enough! Go about your business.”

With that, the crowd quickly returned to normal, although several pairs of eyes still stared at the group. Chrysalis scowled back, baring her fangs at a few of them. “It’s the same wherever we go,” she muttered. “Narrow minded fools.”

“They don’t mean ill of you, Miss Chrysalis,” he replied with a sigh. “They’re just frightened, afeared that the presence of an outsider will bring the Horse’s wrath down on our heads.”

Tirek cleared his throat. “Ahem. Mr. Bones, you were about to tell us what you could?”

Bones nodded and took a sip of his drink. “Of course, my apologies. As the stories go, one thousand years ago, the Horse was a soldier in the Equestrian Civil War. Yet unlike many who followed Nightmare Moon...” He paused as they gasped and all took on grim expressions. The quiet whirring of the unicorn brothers’ camera filled the void between them all, earning them a scowl from Chrysalis. “The Horse supported her not out of pity, or vanity, or even a desire to see the moon never set. No, he followed her purely for his love of bloodshed...”

The thestral whistled and looked up at the cobwebs adorning the ceiling.

“He was a demon given pony form, designed and made for one thing and one thing only: Spreading death and destruction wherever he went. In the final days of the war, when Celestia banished her sister to the moon, this butcher returned to Shady Hollow, to the place he felt some kinship in the world aside from the Night Queen with the thestrals of old. The princess sent her Solar Guards to track him down and bring him to justice for his crimes, but they arrived too late.”

“What do you mean?” breathed Cozy, teetering on the edge of her seat in awe, wiping up the plate with her hoof and licking the gravy. Tempest rolled her eyes and realised she should have asked for a bib for her.

Bones shook his head sadly. “The thestrals had felt betrayed by Nightmare Moon; their faith in her shaken after their unbeatable sovereign had been... well... beaten. When the Horse arrived, they grew resentful and anxious that Celestia would come for them next for supporting the dark alicorn. To try and appease her before she could, they bound the Horse and cut off his head with his own axe in the town square.” He shivered and grimaced and rubbed his own neck while the others looked on gravely. “They took his body into the west woods and buried him under an old willow tree. The legend says that night, at midnight when the moon was at its highest, did the mark of the moon burn itself upon the wood, and the Headless Horse rose from his grave. Thus he began his vengeful quest against the living. To protect themselves, thestrals used an ancient form of shielding magic and placed it on the bridge into town, I’m sure you’ve seen it.” He inhaled deeply for a moment before continuing.

“If that bridge should ever fall, Shady Hollow will burn.”

The group fell silent for a few minutes, contemplating his words.

Chrysalis was the first to break the silence. “Typical of Celestia in my opinion,” she grumbled. “Incites the worst at the first mention of her ‘terrible wrath’ and lets somepony else clean up her mess.” She shrugged as Tempest glared at her. “That is, if this story is true.”

“It is,” Blair said, looking her in the eye.

Tirek stroked his beard and tapped his chin. “And where exactly is this willow tree?” he asked calmly, choosing to refrain from quipping about the former princess.

Bones shook his head and shifted in his seat. “Deep in the west woods. The Tree of the Dead, they call it, as the tree withered and appeared rotten shortly after... it happened. They say that creatures of the forest go there to die.”

“Do we have any specific location other than ‘deep in the woods’?” Chrysalis sneered. “I’m not traipsing through some trees in search of a graveyard.”

“Well if you have any better ideas, your majesty,” Tirek snapped back at her. “I’m sure we’d love to hear them.”

The changeling growled and buzzed her wings lightly as they began bickering back and forth. Tempest simply leaned back in her seat and rubbed her temple, feeling just as frustrated at their situation. Brawn Bones sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, their discontent adding to his.

“I’m sorry I can’t be of much further help, Knights.”

Blair’s ears turned down. “I... know where it is. I can guide you if you want, Miss Knight?”

Willow rounded on his sister and frowned. “What? How?”

Tempest looked at her curiously. “How would you know where it is?”

“Well, um, I was walking around the other day, looking for pinecones, when I came across a clearing.” She shivered before continuing, and avoided the stern glare her brother was giving her. “The ground was littered with bones--just like the stories say--I didn’t stay too long...”

The Night Guard shook his head. “It’s always been dangerous to wander around on your own, Blair,” he scolded.

“I’m not a child anymore, Willow,” she fired back at him. “I can look after myself.”

“Anyway,” growled Tirek. “You were saying?”

“She’s said enough,” Willow stated firmly. “I’m not letting my little sister go rushing off into the woods, even if it is to help Shay Hollow.”

Chrysalis snorted at him and grimaced. “So you would doom your home because you refuse to let one pony help? A truly noble specimen you are, Willow Wisp.”

“That’s enough,” Tempest barked, making the Knights immediately cease in their jeering.

Bones looked between them warily. Even in Shady Hollow did they hear of how three of the four Knights present had almost decimated Equestria and destroyed or corrupted all magic and the very nature of friendship itself. He wondered exactly what kind of pony Tempest Shadow was to command such fearsome creatures without batting an eyelid, or even be able to subdue them with mere words and vague, thinly veiled threats.

“We have a lead,” the Knight continued. She looked at the Night Guard and narrowed her eyes. “Willow, I’m sorry but your sister will have to guide us. It’s that, or we burn the whole forest down.”

The thestrals recoiled in horror. “Surely you’re joking?” Bones asked. He immediately regretted his question as instead of answering him with words, the three villains simply grinned at him. Their eyes flashed with malice left over from a previous life, and he swallowed nervously.

Willow hung his head in defeat and gritted his teeth.

“Feel free to join us if you will,” Chrysalis told him. “If nothing else, perhaps the Horse will take your head instead of one of ours...”

Tempest rose from the table and bowed her head to Bones. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Bones,” she said to him. “We’ll take it from here.”

The thestrals occupying the tavern parted as the Knights and their thestral company, followed closely by the unicorn twins left the premisies. Bones ran a hoof throug hhis mane and shook his head gently.

“Luna guide you, Nightmare Knights...” he whispered. “And Celestia save you, should you need it.”

***

It had been a few hours since the group left town in search of the Tree of the Dead, marching through the dark woods. Of course, the grim atmosphere and their mission didn’t in the slightest deter Flim and Flam from asking incessant questions, talking to their camera about their ‘esteemed guests’ and giving them ‘interviews’. Tempest was beginning to lament not sending them away immediately.

No-one else seemed to mind them, though, so as much as she didn’t like it, she tolerated them and let them be. Chrysalis in particular seemed to relish in filling their heads with embellished stories of their exploits and cracking inside jokes with Tirek and Cozy Glow at their expense. Blair and Willow walked on ahead, with the latter scolding the former about wandering off into the woods.

Tempest walked alone and off to one side, keeping a sharp look out for any sign of the Horse. A deep sense of unease had begun to grow in her stomach ever since they left the Hollow. She embraced it, as it kept her sharp and alert. Blair, and Willow for that matter, despite the Night Guard’s training regime, didn’t look as comfortable as they pushed passed some more trees and stumbled over some overgrown roots and underbrush.

The commander cocked an ear out and listened curiously, realising something she didn’t know she was missing. “Wait,” she said to the group. “All of you. Listen.”

They all turned their heads and held their ears out, even Flim and Flam.

“I don’t hear anything,” said Willow. “Commander, what are you-” He stopped as he looked into her eyes.

She nodded back at him. “Exactly. No birds. No crickets. Not even a wind.” She narrowed her eyes and carefully looked around. “We must be getting close.”

The brothers ceased their chattering immediately, no doubt for ‘horror effect’ or some nonsense for their show. Among them, the group’s mood had shifted dramatically, and all of them could taste the palpable dread in the air.

Blair swallowed and waved them on with her wings as they continued on. The trees seemed to grow thicker and darker as they moved onwards, twisting and stretching up to the skies. The forest seemed never ending, even thicker and darker than even the Everfree forest. The absence of sound aside from their hoofsteps unnerved them all until they suddenly broke from the trees.

A thick and impenetrable fog seemed to descend upon them in an instant, blinding them and obscuring their vision

“This is it...” Blair whispered. Her ears trembled as they swivelled atop her head. “It has to be...”

Willow put a wing around her and gave her a comforting nuzzle. Tempest whistled quietly for her team. and stretched her legs “We’ll go first,” she told them. “We need to be careful. Stay behind us, and keep an eye out.” Without another word, she stepped forwards into the mist.

The Night Guard nodded. “Luna be with us.”

“She isn’t, that’s why we’re here,” Cozy said with a gleeful grin on her face as one by one the Knights disappeared from view. It did little to alleviate his fears, possibly even enhancing them somewhat. Flim and Flam readied themselves and looked on the verge of turning tail and running.

They shared a nod with one another and raised their camera high. “Imagine the bits, brother,” one said to the other. “The real Headless Horse... the real Nightmare Knights!”

“I am,” replied the other. “Oh, you bet your flank I am.”

They clasped hooves together and each stepped forwards. Their hooves tentatively reached out before finding their footing, stumbling and tripping over a series of uneven stones that littered the ground. Ahead of them they could just make out the tail ends of their party and hurried to catch up.

A gust of wind shifted the mist enough for the commander to make out that the stones were actually strangely brittle white rocks that cracked and shattered under her weight. The wind passed and the fog returned, and with it their vision was obscured once again.

Tirek crunched over some of the rocks and blindly waved his arms out in front of him. “I can’t see a thing,” he muttered.

“Your powers of observation continue to amaze me, my lord,” Chrysalis snarked.

Tirek stuck his tongue out her and grumbled under his breath.

Cozy, peering over the edge of his back at the ground curiously, tapped the centaur gently. “Terry, hang on a sec -” She hopped down off of his back and landed on the ground when he stopped. She inched closer to one of the rocks and gave it a quick inspection. Very quickly she turned as white as a sheet and her pupils shrank in mild terror. “Uhh, Tirek?” she whispered at him.

“What?”

Tirek turned his head enough to see the filly’s pallid expression and frowned.

“Not to alarm anypony, but, uh, you know that crunching sound we’ve been hearing as you stepped on all those little white rocks?”

Tempest paused and turned around.

Cozy swallowed hard and flapped up into the air. “Well, they weren’t rocks.”

They all directed their gaze downwards and saw a sight that chilled them to the--not to be precise--bone. Under their hooves were not in fact dead or dry leaves, or funny looking white rocks, but bones.

Femurs, skulls, tibias, rib cages and spines belonging to all sorts like mice, birds, a few larger animals--Chrysalis saw what she thought looked like a boar skull--but thankfully no ponies or pony shaped creatures. The mists chose that moment to fully dissipate and unveil a dark, towering tree above them.

Tempest narrowed her eyes and glanced at Blair, noting the mare’s trembling, even with her brother by her side. He also looked as white as a sheet, no doubt having never seen such a sight before.

The commander looked up at the dark, twisted and gnarled tree in front of them. The drooping branches and the strands of the willows themselves clinging on like tendrils grasping at a life once had certainly gave the tree its namesake, if the hundreds of bones that surrounded it like a macabre garden didn’t. She whistled sharply through her teeth and gestured at the trunk.

The Knights fanned out and began inspecting the tree, searching for any sign of a grave. The FlimFlam brothers meanwhile, instead of offering to help like the altruistic souls they were, rubbed their hooves together, imagining all the money they were going to get and how much their ratings would soar with a discovery like this.

“Flam, are you getting this?”

“I am, brother... oh boy I sure am...”

Willow and Blair stood to one side, gazing up at the tree. “It’s just like the stories say,” breathed the former. “The Tree of the Dead...”

“I know...” The latter nodded. “I-” She stopped and squinted at the base of the tree as something caught her eye. “What is... Miss Tempest?” she called. “Nightmare Knights?”

Tempest’s head popped around the side of the tree. “You found something?”

“Look.”

The mare pointed down to what she had seen. Tempest walked over and looked down. The clouds above parted just enough for a ray of light to shine down and reveal a symbol, burned into the very wood. “The mark of the moon...” she whispered. “Chrysalis,” she barked. “Get in here and dig.”

Chrysalis rounded the corner and huffed. “Really, Commander? Digging in the mud like some dirty, grubby foal?”

“That’s an order,” Tempest shot back with a coy grin. “You can change into something else if you’d like to help yourself.”

The changeling curled her lip at her as green fire erupted around her. In her place where she once stood, now stood a scowling timberwolf with sharpened claws and jagged fangs. The wolf pawed at the ground carefully before starting to dig, scuffing and kicking up mud and dirt behind her in a way only a dog could.

Tirek and Cozy stifled some laughter behind their hands and hooves. “I would suggest you keep this form, your majesty. It makes you tolerable,” the former chortled.

“Would the doggy like a treat?” the filly teased before she fell into a fit of laughter, rolling around on her friend’s back giggling and clutching at her sides.

“I’m not sure why you’re laughing, Cozy,” Tempest warned her. “It’s your turn to clean the toilets when we get home.” She grinned at the horrified expression crossing the young Knight’s face, and then looked at Tirek. “And you should know better. How would you like to help her?”

Tirek’s smile faded and a scowl quickly replaced it. “Pay attention, you wretched thing!” he grumbled at Cozy. “And thanks for getting me in trouble.”

“Me?! You laughed first!”

“Did not.”

“Did too!”

Chrysalis wheezed a laugh at them, looking very much more like a hunched over dog with a underbite than a regular timberwolf now as she continued to dig.

Willow looked on in amazement, and felt a very real sense of fear wash over him as his and Tempest’s eyes met briefly.

The scraping of mud eventually stopped and Chrysalis turned around. Green magic ignited the air around her once more and her true form stood, looking down at what she had uncovered. “Commander...”

“I see it, Chrysalis.” Tempest’s face was grim as she and the others looked down. The Knights gathered around, Willow and Blair as well, and Flim and Flam craned their necks--and their camera--to see into the hole. There, at the changeling’s hooves, was indeed a skeleton, with a very intact head on its shoulders.

“So that is the Headless Horse...” Willow murmured. “Buried at the base of a willow tree...”

Blair nodded and leaned into him for support. The mare trembled and shivered.

Tempest cleared her throat. “Alright enough gawking everyone. Let’s finish this.”

Tirek nodded in agreement. “Of course, Commander. I must preface this act with a warning, though, for our company who doesn’t do this sort of thing regularly.”

The scarred unicorn nodded. “I suppose. Go ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Blair asked with wide eyes.

The centaur looked at those gathered, specifically the unicorn twins and the thestral siblings and addressed the issue. “When burning bones of a spirit, they are almost guaranteed to get angry and try and attack. When this happens, it is best to fend them off as much as possible until the bones have been turned to dust. Fortunately for you all, this is why we are here.”

“Eloquently put,” Chrysalis chided as she pulled herself out of the shallow grave. “But you forgot the part about us nearly dying the last time we did that.”

Tirek waved a hand at her. “That was merely the first time. We know what mistakes not to make now.”

Willow blinked. “Wait, you almost died?”

“Yeeeah but we got over it,” Cozy said without a hint of irony.

“I thought the Knights were infallible?”

Tempest snorted. “There are sill some kinks we’re working out.” She shook her head and stamped her hoof. “Like sleeping on the job?” She glared at the red menace himself and raised her eyebrows at him.

Without another word, a stream of fiery magic fired forth from the centaur’s horns, incinerating the bones in an instant like a snowflake in a fiery grip. Willow stepped back and put a protective hoof out in front of his sister as flames lapped at the air in front of them. Flim and Flam’s eyes shone in the light, the fire being reflected in their camera lens.

After a few minutes and after the smoke had risen up into the air, there was a great rumble heard through the woods. The fog cleared in an instant to fully reveal their grim surroundings and a sinister red light began to emanate from the tree itself.

“By Celestia! It’s happening again!” cried Flam. He held the camera as steady as he could with trembling hooves. His brother reached over and held it, and him, as steady as possible with equally as trembling hooves. “The same glow as before when Miss Blair saved us! Commander, it’s-”

“The Headless Horse,” growled Tempest as a great maw opened in the tree trunk. “Here we go...”

A shadowy figure galloped towards them, growing larger with each second. She could see the glowing, fiery eyes of the Horse’s pumpkin head, his long black cloak billowing out behind him, and his tail snaking and coiling around behind him like a living shadow. She saw a glint of something, and with a whoosh an axe whizzed passed her head, circling the clearing before returning to the tree. She noticed it was surrounded by the same glow in the Horse’s ‘eyes’.

Without skipping a beat she yelled at the top of her lungs. “Knights!”

They quickly assumed positions and leapt away from it. Tirek’s horns ignited and an orb of magic appeared between them, channelling dark energy from the Otherworld. Atop his back, Cozy began directing them as to where the Horse was about to strike next, and beside them Chrysalis was surrounded by green fire once more. A fearsome black dragon where she once stood raked its spear-like claws along the ground and snarled, its reptilian eyes glowing with a fiery intensity. Flim and Flam darted away and hid behind some nearby bushes only the end of the lens of their camera poking out, and Willow gave Blair a hard shove out the way as the Horse rode towards them.

“Terry, duck! Watch it, Chrysalis! Tempy he’s on you!” came Cozy’s callouts as they battled the fearsome spirit.

Blair gasped as she looked on the spectacle before her. Colours of all sorts: red, green, blue, orange, and the pale green of the Horse himself lit up the woods as the Knights fired spell after spell, and the spectre countered and battled them back with his ferocious axe.

A raucous, mad laughter emanating from the spirit echoed around them, striking fear into her and making her clamp her hooves over her face. Her brother shielded her with his body and held her still, folding his wings over her as best as he could. She glanced into his eyes and saw pure, unadulterated fear.

”YAAAH HA HA HA HA!”

After deftly dodging another blow by the spectre’s axe, Tempest lowered her horn and pointed it at their enemy. A spectral, purple and unstable beam of energy fired forth and finally found its mark, striking the Horse square in the chest, only to curiously have no effect.

“What?”

She balked. “The ectomagic, it’s... useless?”

Chrysalis swiped at the Horse with her claws, making him leap backwards and perform a cartwheel. For a pony with no head, he was extremely nimble on his hooves.

The Horse held his axe close, focusing his flaming gaze on the unicorn with a broken horn. He raised one hoof to his chest and levelled his weapon at her, seemingly recognising her as a warrior of the night.

Cozy’s mind ticked over as she watched their magic continue to have no effect, but noticed how he kept leaping back and trying to avoid a swipe by Chrysalis. Even when the mighty dragon sent a jet of fire towards him, he dodged it, but his cloak wasn’t saved and began to burn, its end becoming singed and charred with embers. She blinked and realised what was happening, and quickly reached up and hissed in Tirek’s ear what she had realised. The centaur’s eyes widened as he noticed it too and nodded.

The Horse reared up on his back legs and twirled his axe around. The same glow of magic that surrounded his weapon grabbed Chrysalis by the throat and began to squeeze.

“Tempy! Use a physical spell! No ectomagic!” Cozy yelled.

Tempest obeyed without even questioning it. A surge of lightning shot out from her forehead, surging and zigzagging through the air, and once more found its mark.

This time, he appeared to stumble and fell over backwards, writhing in pain.

The magic surrounding Chrysalis released itself and she dropped to the ground, returning to her original form. Tirek rushed to her to check to see if she was okay. She assured him she was and looked on as smoke poured out of the Horse’s chest where Tempest’s spell had hit him, and a sound like a wheeze came from the pumpkin. The fire emanating from it was put out in an instant, and his axe dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

“What in Luna’s name...” Blair whispered as she gingerly picked herself up. “Is that...”

“He ain’t no ghost,” Cozy chuckled nervously, her eyes flicking rapidly between her fellow Knights as they looked to her for an explanation. “Remember that old movie we watched a few days ago? How it was just a pony in a suit?” She looked back down at the Horse. “I had a hunch is all.”

They all approached him cautiously, Flim and Flam had their camera at the ready, still wearing some twigs and leaves on their heads and clothes and blabbering to themselves about the ‘heroic’ and ‘indomitable’ Nightmare Knights had just vanquished the dreaded Headless Horse himself. Blair reached out to the pumpkin, but Willow gently touched her hoof and shook his head.

“Look at his tail.”

They all did, and saw that it was not in fact living shadows, and now simply just a normal pony tail, solid brown and boring in colour. In fact, the Horse’s body seemed a lot smaller now, and the pumpkin looked like it had begun to rot.

Tempest felt a chill run down her spine. “Get it off,” she panted.

The centaur of the group cracked his fingers and reached out. He grasped the rotting, mouldy pumpkin with both hands and pulled, and with a tug, it came off with a light popping sound and crumpled to mush in his grip. He made a noise in disgust and shook his hands, wiping some of the foul juice onto the dirt by his hooves.

Cozy poked over his shoulder in wonder and amazement, while Chrysalis’s face twitched in anger.

The Knights, Flim, Flam, Willow and Blair all craned their necks in to see nothing more than a unicorn, strangely skinny and lanky for a pony but still, just a simple unicorn lying there, looking dazed and confused. His eyes swirled with green, luminous magic, yet quickly faded into murky brown pools. His horn glowed faintly with traces of magic, the same magic he had been holding ‘his’ axe with.

“Ahh!” he shrieked and quickly tried to cover his face. “My face. He’ll find me without my face! Have to run! Have to hide, no--no hide, just run. Can’t run. He’s coming...”

Tempest grabbed his hooves and forced them apart. “Who are you?” she asked him as calmly as possible. “What’s your name?”

He weakly tried to shrug her off while looking old and frail, and clearly terrified of something. “He’s coming... he’s coming!” he continued to rave in absolute nonsense.

Blair went as white as a sheet like she’d seen a ghost. “Mr. Crane?”

Willow remained silent and stared at the pony.

Chrysalis rounded on her with a sneer. “You know this wretch?” she hissed. “Who is he?”

The mare nodded and her lower lip quivered. “Mr. Crane... he... he came to Shady Hollow a few weeks ago, a teacher from Canterlot. He vanished after a small party we threw last night, and... I thought the Horse killed him...”

“Clearly you thought wrong, then.” The changeling pointed an accusatory hoof at the pony in front of them. “This creature is nothing more than a charlatan playing off the fear of an old legend, no doubt using it for his own twisted games.” She paused for a moment. “Quite admirable really, as far as villainous nature goes.”

Crane looked around at them curiously until his eyes rested on the thestral mare. “Run! Have to run... can’t hide. He’s coming! He’s coming!” he rasped. His voice grew weaker and as he tried to stand he immediately stumbled and slumped back down to the ground. “He’s coming!”

“Who is coming, Mr. Crane?” Blair asked, placing one hoof on his shoulder and turning him to look at her. “Please, tell us.”

“Can’t... can’t hide, have to run...”

Behind them all, Flim cleared his throat and Flam turned to him, camera in hoof. “Well folks you saw it here with your own eyes. It appears that for all intents and purposes, we, and the rest of Shady Hollow for that matter, have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived-”

“Can it, Flim,” Tempest growled at them. The Knights glanced at one another and then their Commander with growing unease, more so than what they felt on the approach to the tree. She looked down at Blair and motioned for her to continue.

“Mr. Crane? Can you hear me?” she said quietly to the jabbering pony. “Who is coming?”

“Run. Must run and hide.” Crane’s teeth began to chatter as he continued to rant incoherently. “He’s-”

“He’s coming, we get it,” Cozy muttered and rolled her eyes. “Geez, what is he a parrot or something?”

Tempest sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “We’ll have to take him back to Canterlot. Maybe Luna can get inside his head and figure out what he’s talking about.” She looked over to the grave they had dug and the ashen embers of the Horse’s bones. “At least the Headless Horse has been dealt with,” she said quietly. “But now there’s...”

She turned her head back down at Crane as he began rocking back and forth, still whispering about someone coming.

“This.”

Willow flexed his wings and nudged Blair gently. “Step back, Blair,” he said to her. “I shall alert Lady Luna and send you to her now, Nightmare Knights.”

“That’s it?” his sister asked with wide eyes. “You’re leaving? just like that? But... I thought...”

He nodded glumly and nuzzled her cheek. “I was sent on a mission by Luna herself, Blair. I have to return to her for a debriefing and resume my duties in Canterlot. If I disobey then... what am I?”

“Free.”

All eyes turned to Chrysalis as her poignant tone left them all surprised. She began to blush and looked away with a frown. “Can we leave so we can leave this miserable town and return home, lest our journeying here be for nothing?”

Tempest nodded in agreement with her. “Yeah. Luna needs to know about him.” She looked back down at Crane and grimaced. “Take us home, Willow.”

“Ahem.”

All eyes turned to the cougher and the speaker. Flim and Flam stood side by side and lowered their camera. “Well friends, my brother and I must part ways with you now,” Flim said. “We’ve gotten all we need for the latest episode of Bump! and let me tell you, it has been a great honour to watch the famed Nightmare Knights work firsthoof--and to capture it on film for the world to see, no less!”

Chrysalis scowled at them. “If you’re quite finished,” she growled. “Then beat it.”

“And so we shall,” Flam quickly stated, shifting his hooves under the changeling’s stern gaze. “Come, brother. We need to get this edited and broadcasted.”

The pair of them walked away from the group, the completely wrong direction from civilisation and began talking to each other about the amount of viewers and sponsors they were going to get from this episode. Blair sighed and shook her head. “I’m going to have to get them, aren’t I?” she muttered.

Tirek laughed. “I would give them a bonus featurette and chase them through the woods if I were you, just for the fun of it.”

A slight grin spread across the mare’s face. She nuzzled her brother again. “Come visit us again soon, won’t you?” she said to him.

“Of course,” he replied. “I will.” He looked up to the Knights and waved them over. “I advise you to stand close to me, Knights. And Blair, step back.”

He touched his chest plate and his sister obeyed him. A glowing light surrounded them all, and in an instant they were gone, with only a breeze blowing passed where they once stood. Blair sighed heavily and set off after Flim and Flam, deciding not to be cruel to them and simply agree to guide them back to town, and then somewhere else if they wanted.

***

There was a snap, a crackle and a pop as Luna looked up from her desk to see the Nightmare Knights, the Night Guard she had sent with them, and somepony she did not recognise. The midnight alicorn pursed her lips as she stood and pushed aside her papers, setting down her quill in the process.

“So the Headless Horse, is he-” she began.

“The situation was more complicated than we had originally thought, your high--madam Director,” Willow said with a bow. “But the Nightmare Knights were successful.”

“We can speak for ourselves,” Cozy Glow muttered.

Luna frowned and held her head up high. “And who is this guest you have brought with you? You there, stallion, state your name, rank and intention.”

“Run!” Crane blabbered. “Run. Hide, hide and run. He’s coming.”

“I see. What is your name?”

“Hide! Got to hide! Can’t hide--should run.”

Tempest shook her head. “Blair said he was a teacher sent from Canterlot a few weeks ago, called Crane,” she explained. “He was masquerading as the Headless Horse, and only started this when we managed to subdue him and take the pumpkin off. He just keeps repeating himself over and over. Run, hide, some variation of the two, and ‘he’s coming’. We don’t know who.”

The director lowered her head to the stallion and touched his shoulder gently. Her horn glowed briefly as she cast some spell at him and closed her eyes. His own eyelids fluttered shut and he slumped over in a deep sleep.

“Masquerading, you say? Troubling. Thank you for bringing him here, Willow. That will be all, Nightmare Knights.”

The commander bowed, although the rest of the Knights looked disgruntled at being dismissed so casually without even a word of thanks to them for a job well done.

“That’s it?” Chrysalis snorted. “Here I thought you liked us, Luna.”

Luna glared at her and said nothing. Instead, her horn ignited in a blaze of indigo magic and surrounded the Nightmare Knights. Their surroundings changed once more and they realised they were standing in the main hall of their castle. Jack looked up briefly from her magazine and raised her eyebrows.

“What took you so long?” she muttered.

Tempest exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding and strode up to the secretary’s desk with a corporate, business-like demeanour. “Any messages?”

“Nice to see you too, Commander.”

“Don't sass me. Any messages?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nadda. Zilch.”

“Ugh. Fine, let me know if anything comes up. I want to know the second it happens”

Jack looked at the commander over her glasses and frowned. “You got some downtime and all you can think about is work? You need yourself some sugar, girlfriend.”

Tempest’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks while the Knights snickered behind her. “That is... wholly inappropriate, Jack,” she snapped after a moment of stunned silence. “Just do your job and let me know if anything comes up.”

“Affirmative, Commander,” the earth pony said with a wave of her hoof. “Don’t say I never try an’ help, though.”

“She’s not wrong, you know,” Chrysalis chuckled. “A mare like you could do with some... sugar.”

Tempest rounded on her as they started up the stairs towards the common room. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

“Don’t take this personally, Tempy,” Cozy chimed in. “But you’re kinda wound tight a lot of the time.” She shrugged and fluttered her wings as the unicorn’s glare found her. “That’s nothing compared to Terry, though. You should have seen what he was like in Tartarus.”

“I told you I hate that name,” Tirek growled at her while Chrysalis laughed and the corners of Tempest’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Besides after being in there for centuries, being ‘wound tight’ would be the least of your worries.”

“You guys ever hear about how he and his gram-gram would write letters to each other?” the filly continued, ignoring his jab at her. “She calls him Moon Pie.”

“You leave Gram-Gram out of this!” Tirek roared in her face, going from zero to a hundred in an instant.

“Oh well that’s just delightful,” Chrysalis chortled, snorting with laughter. “Does Moon Pie wove his gwandma?”

“At least I have a gram-gram you snivelling cockroach.” He paused and began to grin. “And at least I don’t cuddle a stuffed toy of Princess Twilight in bed.”

Chrysalis’s laughter ceased immediately. A deep dark red began to spread over her face and her eyes shrunk so much they were almost invisible. “Cozy gets hooficures!” she practically screamed.

Cozy put her hooves up in defence. “Well yeah, who doesn’t wanna look their best when they’re saving the world?” She grinned with a malevolent glint in her eye. “What do you do with a stuffed toy of Twilight?”

“I’ll have you know I throttle it every night and plan my revenge. It helps soothe me.”

“Pfft, yeah right. Does somepony have a crush?”

Once again the Knights took to bickering and arguing amongst themselves while poking fun at Chrysalis. Tempest allowed herself to laugh and shook her head, glad to be in their company. Perhaps she was wound tight. Perhaps she didn’t care, as they all came with their set of quirks.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” she told them before punches could start flying or magic could start getting eaten. “Settle down. Go do whatever you want to relax--that doesn’t involve destroying Equestria.”

“Aw Tempy, you’re no fun,” Cozy giggled.

With another job and another day done, the Nightmare Knights had earned some well deserved rest, free from ghosts, cameraponies, rowdy thestrals and strange, crazy murmurings.

At least until next time, when they’d have to do it all over again.

Comments

[DovahkiinMaster]

This bouta' be some Scooby Do crap, I'm calling it now.

[Bigwig6666]

10539735
Omg what an idea

[Bigwig6666]

10539795
Would you be the one to go in and tell the ghosts they're getting evicted? Or the one who tries selling a 'haunted' house?

[secury]

Nice chapter. Looking forward for more

I have question if you don't mind. Was there any particular reason to choose Tempese as a field commander for Chrysalis, Cozy and Tirek to keeping them in line? I can imagine that as a former soldier she is pony that trio could respect on some level. Or you just like the character?

[Bigwig6666]

10540296
Thanks I'm glad you're enjoying it it's a lot of fun to write something light hearted for a change. As for Tempest well it's a bit of both really.

At first I had the idea that Luna would lead them and keep them in line in the field, but then--if you've played Star Wars: The Old Republic this would be a bit clearer--giving her a more of a 'Keeper' role seemed to fit more. Plus, Tempest is cool as dicks and I figured it would be funnier if they (the Knights) were more afraid of this badass verymuchnotapony pony than say Luna or even Twilight. Also, you know... former villain and all keeps the theme going.

I had thought about putting Discord in that mix or even Sombra, but I have a plan for them both of them instead of making them simple Nightmare Knights

[secury]

10540320

Thanks I'm glad you're enjoying it it's a lot of fun to write something light hearted for a change

Your are welcome. I enjoying there is a "adventuring" kind of story with trio where they are physically doing something and using their knowledge and assests for good, albeit on short leash (but there are bonus points for tension).

Also I like your writing style. (Like a using a lot body language etc.)

[Teaspoon of Godzilla]

Poor Cozy, missing out on her pancakes

[Bigwig6666]

10545719
Oh I know right? It's almost like there's no rest for the wicked

[Teaspoon of Godzilla]

10547938
The real wicked ones are the hypocritical bastards who screwed her over IMO. But that's not an argument I feel like having again right now, so I digress.

[Razzy]

Snrk, that's what you get for teasing Chrysalis, Cozy.

Aah, a classic, that ought to be good.

... Why do I imagine Chryssie starting to try and secretly gorge herself on pancakes after this?

'When the Equestrian Civil War, had begun' - remove comma

'straight passed her' - past

'or if any thestral had had that idea, never voiced it' - idea, they never

'Just barely in to today’s episode' - into

[asdtroi8895]

Flim and Flam took a rather interesting new carrier. The mystery of the headless horse was fun, as was the twist of it being some random pony, albeit a not very sane one. I wonder if he was being mind controlled in some way.

The thestrals recoiled in horror. “Surely you’re joking?” Bones asked. He immediately regretted his question as instead of answering him with words, the three villains simpky grinned at him. Their eyes flashed with malice left over from a previous life, and he swallowed nervously.

They can still be as nasty as ever, it seems.

[AyanamiRei]

10846597
Well his Power had to come from Somewhere after all. Not to mention his eyes were originally glowing green. He CLEARLY saw something that shattered his psyche severely.

Plus as stated earlier, it didn't seem to be the effects of just one super natural creature.

[Draco Dei]

Brawn coughed and tapped the table, drawing the attention back to himself. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Blair--I’ve known you and your brother since you were foals--or you... unicorns whom I do not know or particularly care to know, but don’t you think that’s a little farfetched?” he asked the mare, genuinely seeming concerned for her. “What’s more, if we cannot leave during the day then we’ll end us as prisoners in our own home, what would you have us do?”

Took me a bit to realize this... but does that mean the Headless Horse can fly? Or can most of the Thestrals not fly long enough to make it across his "hunting grounds"? Or is this a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" moment?

P.S. Obvious sequel hook (or at least more nuanced explaination if they are too dumb to actually figure it out and go back to finish the job) is obvious.

[Misssharko]

Ngl, kind of wished flim and flam joined the knights as tech experts