Chapter 2: Shadowbolt Academy
"Report, Captain," Nightmare Moon commanded. Outwardly she looked the very vision of dark majesty upon her golden throne. Inwardly she pretty much was already on the biting-your-hooves stage and bordering on a full-blown panic attack. Still the presence of her captain was helping if only that she would not let herself be seen as weak and certainly not in front of him of all ponies.
Shining Armour resplendent in his black and gold trim armour with copious additional spikes nodded towards his princess. "Canterlot is fully secured at least for the moment. Everypony under your command is on high alert and non combatants have been moved to safer areas. We do appear to have a minotaur in the palace grounds, but he appears to just be looking for permission to set up a self-confidence workshop for the royal guard so I've got one of my sergeants dealing with him."
"And the..." Nightmare Moon paused as she searched for a suitable description, "magical constructs outside?"
“They’ve made no move towards my shield so far and appear to be attempting to bait you out for purposes unknown. If I may speak honestly, my lady." Nightmare Moon nodded permitting him to continue. "If they all charged en mass I'm really not sure how long the shield could hold out under that kind of sustained assault so this is probably for the best.”
“So you propose we sit here and do nothing?” Nightmare Moon asked raising an eyebrow archly.
“Yes, I’ve brought a pony who has a theory that she wished to share." Shining Armour nodded to the unicorn who had been waiting at the doors to the throne room. "This is one of your faithful students Moondancer, my lady. She is currently studying at the royal observatory and dutifully brought this to my attention which I thought that she should tell you herself.”
The white unicorn with the pink mane that had been trembling silently very reluctantly stepped forward. “Moondancer thinks that if we do nothing.... um well the situation will resolve by itself. Moondancer has noticed from your royal observatory that some of the magical constructs outside are beginning to dissipate. Approximately a third of the original multitude have already returned to pure magical energy and have been observed to be floating back in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Moondancer supposes that whatever has created this ‘horde’ that while certainly powerful is not infinitely so and is beginning to fail under the strain. At the current rate of attrition they may well all be gone in a matter of days if not even faster.”
Nightmare Moon nodded to herself as that seemed reasonable to her. “Just one question my little pony. Why exactly are you speaking in such an odd fashion?”
“Moondancer does not speak oddly at all!” she said loudly putting on an offended tone. “Many ponies have asked Moondancer why she speaks like that and that can only suggest that they are all educationally suboptimal...” Moondancer’s eyes widened as she realised exactly what she was implying and exactly who she was implying it to. “Not that Moondancer would ever dare suggest such a thing in regard to such a wise and beautiful and noble and pretty and wise—”
“You said wise already,” said Shining Armour helpfully, not taking any pleasure whatsoever in the student's discomfort.
“Um...”
Nightmare Moon took pity on the arrogant unicorn and dismissed her with a wave of her hoof. Moondancer gladly took the opportunity and fled the hall as if all the Ursa Majors of Equestria were chasing her down at once.
“See that somepony fetches me a telescope, Shining Armour. I wish to observe this phenomenon for myself.”
Shining Armour coughed. “I do not suggest that would be wise, my lady.”
“You dare countermand my orders, captain?” Nightmare Moon said, her voice currently hovering several degrees below zero.
“My lady, not all of them are as identical as they immediately appear." Seeing his princess' expression Shining Armour continued his explanation rapidly. "Some of them have unnatural protrusions on their hooves, or appear oddly bloated, and then...” Shining Armour gulped. “I had one of the guards observing with a telescope himself after Moondancer came to me with her observations and he saw something so terrifying, so utterly unnatural that frankly I wouldn’t even want to guess what it was, but he’s now safely back in the barracks with a blanket over his head. I have requested one of your maids, begging your pardon, to watch over him with a stiff drink which hopefully will help steady his wits when he finally stops shaking enough to actually drink it.”
“I take your point, Shining,” Nightmare Moon said carefully. She had lived a very long life and seen horrors in her time beyond even the most afflicted pony's fevered imagination, but this sounded like it could be even worse. “See that he gets all the help that he needs. Order as many guards as possible on the walls. I do not want to be caught unprepared if these constructs do decide to attack your shield." She paused as a thought suddenly came to her. "It is not my imagination, but they are all a pony named Pinkamena Diane Pie am I correct? I am sure that I recognise her face."
"It does appear to be her, yes," Shining Armour said. "Which if anything makes it even stranger as all my reports suggests her to be a loyal pony of business who has brought great wealth to Equestria thanks to her work with the Merchant Guild."
"Possibly this an attack on her reputation rather than on my reign," Nightmare Moon pondered out loud. "Still once the shield comes down we will have her brought in for questioning post-haste. Now what exactly is keeping my other captain?”
~~~
"I really don't do relaxed," snapped Captain Fluttershy, as she spread her wings wide.
Cloudchaser laughed lightly, seemingly completely unconcerned by how annoyed she was making her direct superior officer.
"You'd better take this more seriously before I bust you all the way down to the junior speedsters flight camp. I'll even make you sing the song, don't you think I won't!" Fluttershy said, getting right into her sub-ordinate's face.
Cloudchaser lightly brushed her off with a hoof. "Oh please, captain. Please don't do that!" she said with obviously fake alarm.
Fluttershy gave her a sideways look. Sure Cloudchaser had always been arrogant from their few meetings before. Possibly justified given her skill which was formidable, but this was way out of character for her as she'd always been faultlessly professional in their dealings before. She'd even been tempted last time to ask her how exactly she styled her amazing mane before deciding it would have really not projected the right note of leadership. Fluttershy's wings twitched again as something else was bothering her.
"Where's the rest of the squadron?" There should be eight more pegasi stationed here and other than her, Cloudchaser and Lightning Dust it was eerily quiet.
"Why don't you take a look, captain." The door to the sleeping quarters swung open and Fluttershy stepped inside.
She'd been working on her self-control for years to convey exactly the right image of command and it paid off now as her expression didn't change at all. Instead it froze into one of barely controlled rage. In front of her were eight cocoons hiding the bodies of the missing Shadowbolts. She caught the pleading eyes of Thunderlane almost obscured by the green murky goo. This absolutely was not going to stand.
Unnatural flames burst up from the stone floor. Fluttershy had been completely stunned by the sight of her Shadowbolts held captive, but not enough to dull her reactions and leapt into the air just in time to avoid being pulled down into the depths below.
Still hovering on her wings she said, "a changeling in Canterlot. Now are you insane or just suicidal?"
"Neither," Cloudchaser replied with a grin which contained far more fangs than any pony mouth should ever contain. Sickly green magic burst forth as she dropped her disguise revealing her true form that rose high above her consort. "I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the changelings and you are a jumped up little pegasus who thinks that a little bit of borrowed power makes her a big deal. Why don't you just surrender now and make it easy for yourself before I make this interesting?"
Fluttershy stayed in the air and glanced around the room looking for something she could use. Other than a couple of beds, the cocoons and that the changeling and Lightning Dust really were doing a great job of completely blocking the doorway she came up empty.
“You know even if you do take me out Nightmare Moon is going to squish you into nothing, right?”
Queen Chrysalis grinned as a shimmer of magical energy washed over her again. Standing next to Lightning Dust was now a perfect duplicate of Fluttershy right down to her Shadowbolt uniform. Fluttershy inwardly groaned having danced this particular dance once all too recently.
“With you out the way I will be her consort, not you, and with the mindlessly devoted love of an alicorn I will be completely unstoppable. My changelings will feed forever on Equestria and when I make Nightmare Moon bring back the sun the ponies will actually thank me for the privilege of feeding my progeny with their love!” Chrysalis cackled with glee.
Fluttershy laughed derisively. “Consort, me?” She snorted in amusement. “Sorry, but I think you’ve got the wrong pony?”
“Lies!” Chrysalis exclaimed smashing a yellow hoof down causing a crack in the stone floor. “Your pony newspapers were quite clear that you and Nightmare Moon were an item! They even had illustrations,” she added as her clinching argument and with just the tiniest hint of a blush on her cheeks.
“You actually read the gossip rags?” Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow. “And believed that they were accurate?!” she said, not even trying to keep the incredulity out of her voice.
A stunned expression passed over her face that the changeling was wearing before stiffening into a look of resolve. “No matter! Anyway I’m sure I can convince your princess otherwise.” The other Fluttershy slowly pulled down the zipper of her flight suit and gave her a shameless wink.
Fluttershy had to fight the urge to gag. “That’s just wrong, you know that?”
“Oh we’ll be just magical together,” the other Fluttershy said as she batted her eyelashes. “It’s almost a shame you won’t be around to watch it. Perhaps when she is in my thrall that can be something to look forward to seeing while being trapped all alone in the crystal mines far below Canterlot. As you can see I can be a considerate ruler.”
Still hoping to stall while she tried to think of some way out of the room Fluttershy asked, “So what happened to the real Cloudchaser then, in fact why her in the first place?”
“Simple she and Lightning Dust were in love,” Chrysalis explained, as Lightning Dust stood by her completely oblivious of what they were even discussing. “I had not wanted to risk my children against such a ruthless foe so I infiltrated Equestria alone. When I arrived at the Shadowbolt flight camp the choice was simple. Lightning Dust had been far too full of herself and with far too much to prove, but when Soarin’ made her a wing pony being forced to bring herself down to Cloudchaser’s level forced her to grow as a pony and the relationship eventually blossomed into true love. So all I had to do was take Cloudchaser’s place and fueled by Lightning Dust’s devotion there could be no other possible choice for the coveted position in the Canterlot honour squadron.”
“I suppose Cloudchaser’s dead then?” Fluttershy said with grim resolve.
“Of course not!” Chrysalis said putting an offended hoof on her chest. “She is blissfully happy as one of my progeny back in the hive.”
“Is that reversible?”
“No,” Chrysalis said matter of factly. “Not that you’d ever have a chance to even try to rescue her to find that out for yourself."
Cloudchaser, I don't care what she says I will try to save you, Fluttershy promised herself. You might have only been a trainee, but you were a Shadowbolt and that makes you my responsibility. We may have done terrible things in the name of our princess, we may cheat for any possible advantage we can get and may only be a mockery of what came before when it comes down to it, but we still do not leave a pony behind no matter what. Fluttershy flew higher closer to the ceiling and glared downwards as she steeled herself for the fight of her life.
"That’s more than enough time-wasting.” The other Fluttershy’s eyes started to glow intensely that reached out towards her and wrapped around Fluttershy’s head before she had a chance to move and threatened to rob of her wits entirely. Still compared to the stare down Fluttershy had experienced once this by comparison was nothing.
“Why don’t you try that again, but this time maybe put a teensy bit more effort into it?” she said in just the right tone of concerned helpfulness to drive the changeling completely and utterly up the wall.
The other Fluttershy snarled before shifting back into her Cloudchaser form. “Lightning Dust, seize her!”
Lightning Dust snapped out of her stupor at her lover’s voice and leapt into the air. She truly was exceptionally fast, just not anywhere near as fast as Fluttershy who managed to roll out the way in mid air leaving the two pegasi at a momentary stand-off. "Sorry about this, ma'am," Lightning Dust said in far to normal a tone for Fluttershy's liking. "You'll be happier when my love brings back the sun, you'll see."
"She's a changeling!" Fluttershy yelled trying to shake her out of it as she just narrowly avoided another feint.
Lightning Dust just looked at her oddly as if she wasn't even speaking Equestrian such little sense she was making. "You're old and slow, ma'am," she taunted as she threw a quick volley of jabs with her forehooves. "Just lay down so I can pummel you quick and get this nasty business over with."
"Old!?" Fluttershy countered with a vicious head-but sending Lightning Dust away reeling. "I'm only two years older than you are for night's sake."
Fluttershy was about to follow-up when something slimy and horrible dripped right on to her back. She spared a moment to glance up. The green sticky ooze that had trapped the squadron had spread out over the floor, crept up the walls, and was now slowly beginning to spread across the ceiling to drip down right on top of them. A big dollop of the muck landed on Lightning Dust's head, turning her mane into a sticky mess and weighing her down. She didn't need to look to know that this was changeling work. Much more of this and she'd be cocooned right here with the rest of the other Shadowbolts.
She dived forward and seized Lightning Dust in a body hug taking advantage of her state of distraction. She spun her over and over in a controlled mid-air tumble before when the moment was right flinging her at the changeling with as much force as she could muster.
Not even stopping to look at the tangle of both fake and real pegasi, Fluttershy burst out of the doorway and in a matter of moments was flying far faster than could be considered safe or indeed wise through the tight palace corridors. She could already hear wings beating behind her.
"You wanna play tag, ma'am?" She heard Lightning Dust yell from far too close behind her. She was mildly impressed that Lightning Dust had recovered from the spin out followed by the hopefully painful tumble in such a fast time. It might even be an academy record.
The narrow corridor opened out into a long hallway filled with stone pillars. Perfect, thought Fluttershy. The academy is officially now in session.
She busted out a perpetual barrel roll figure-of-eight around the first two pillars straight into her own signature move the Whiplash Waltz. Lightning Dust was still just behind her, but was beginning to lose ground as she was unable to keep up with the captain's unnatural agility. Fluttershy shook her head as that wouldn't do at all and purposely slowed down slightly as she led her pursuer in the most complex aerial dance she could come up with on the fly. She reached the final pillar and unleashed every muscle she'd been holding back and accelerated out of the room at speeds she'd normally consider unsafe when dealing with clouds; let alone when in indoors. She was rewarded with the sound of pony head meeting very solid wall as the by now incredibly dizzy Lightning Dust missed the corridor she'd gone down entirely.
Acting purely on instinct she jinked to the side as a burst of green fire missed burning most her feathers off by a matter of inches. The sound of buzzing wings filled her ears. It would just be a case now of whether she could find her friends first before her skill or indeed her luck failed her entirely.
~~~
As they descended the long spiral staircase leading down from the tower Rock nudged Pinkamena. "So what's this I hear about you sniffing around a married stallion then?"
Applejack's ears long honed by a lifetime spent at society events immediately perked up at the potential sound of scandal. "Gasp!" she said out loud theatrically. "And how long has this been going on, you hussy?"
"What? I didn't I swear!" Pinkamena exclaimed in surprise. Applejack grinned back showing she wasn't being anything like serious. "And how exactly did you hear about that anyway, Rock?" she asked far quieter as she remembered that they really didn't want to be caught here out in the open.
"Yes, details now. No matter how saucy!" Applejack said lightly, her eyes dancing in amusement.
"Ponyville is a small town and ponies do love to talk," replied Rock, looking far too pleased with herself for Pinkamena's liking. "So Filthy then—"
"Rich. He prefers to be called Rich..." Pinkamena trailed off at the look of obvious amusement on Rock's face.
"Hah! You do like him!” Rock said with a chuckle. “Don't get me wrong he's cute. Obviously not my type of course, but cute for a pony old enough to be your father. In fact isn't one of his daughters around our age?" Applejack started to laugh. This was getting better and better!
"She is a couple of years younger than me!" Pinkamena insisted loudly as they finally made it down into the palace grounds.
"Will you lot be quiet?" Trixie hissed, turning her head round so that she could see past Rainbow Dash on her back and so she could properly glare at them. The grounds seemed deserted and it was dark enough for them to not be seen, but Trixie was certain that if they couldn't manage to be quieter the entire palace would descend upon them at once.
Speaking much more softly, but still with no plans of stopping poking fun at her friend, Rock said, "Well of course being so close in age does mean you easily can bond with your new step daughter and talk about how much you've got in common—"
Pinkamena's eyes went wide. "My tails twitching!"
"If this is your way of getting me to stop talking about this—"
"It means that something is falling. C’mon girls we've got to hide!"
The six ponies quickly huddled together under the cover of a nearby gazebo in the royal garden. Rock risked sneaking a look only to duck back again as a dark shadow passed across the stars in the sky above. Born aloft on leathery wings it landed on top of one of the battlements towers and disappeared out of sight again.
"Think that was a Night Guard," Rock reported with a shudder when they were convinced it was safe again.
"They give me the creeps," said Pinkamena as they started to head once more to the main building of the palace. "Saw two of them when Nightmare Moon was out doing the rounds on her chariot last Nightmare Night. Just what are they anyway?"
Trixie's horn glowed bringing to life a dark flame to seem to lick about them. "I heard that they were damned souls who passed away in Tartarus—"
"Tartaurus," said Sparks, correcting her special somepony's pronunciation.
"Word Naga," replied Trixie teasingly and stuck her tongue out. "Where was I? Ah yes, poor damned souls wrenched from the everafter and forced to serve Nightmare Moon eternal as their punishment!" Her horn conjured up tormented shades moulded once more into pony shapes that danced for a shadowy alicorn's amusement.
"Very entertaining," said Rock.
Trixie grinned as she dismissed the illusions. "Everypony’s a critic."
"I'd always thought they were just pegasi that followed her during her rebellion back in the day that Nightmare Moon messed about with to serve her better and then survived to this day after her exile," said Rock.
"Then how come there's been no mention of them for the last thousand years till now? Least not that I've heard of," said Applejack. "Anyway I always heard they were just bats turned into ponies. Y'know like she does with her cloak sometimes."
"Is that even possible?" Pinkamena asked, her brow furrowing at the idea.
"Oh yeah," Rock nodded. "Rarity told me all about how Twilight Sparkle turned a bunch of mice into horses for the Grand Galloping Gala."
"That's really impressive magic!" Trixie said, giving Sparks a quick hug.
"Rock means the other Twilight," Sparks said dejectedly.
"Oh, well I'm sure you could do it too then," Trixie said supportively, causing Sparks to give her a smile.
"I'd always heard they were what happens when a dragon and a pony love each other very much," offered Sparks, with a light blush spreading across her cheeks.
Pinkamena's eyes goggled at that concept. "Oh no-no-no, surely the size difference alone—" Not wanting to complete that particular thought out loud she firmly placed a hoof in her mouth to shut herself up.
"It's totally possible," said Rainbow Dash weakly, before giving her new friends an impressively filthy grin.
Trixie unceremoniously dumped her long-time partner in showpony business on to the ground. "You're kidding. You're kidding, right? I mean I knew about that seapony mare back in Bridleton, but surely you've got some standards... Okay that was a dumb question I know, but still, really?"
Rainbow Dash nodded smugly. "Remember the couple of nights we spent in Las Pegasus? When there was that ambassador's son at Jet Set's party with the really cute emerald scales? Him."
Trixie's jaw hung open in horror as realisation slowly dawned. "But we... that night... so you must have..." She let loose a small scream of frustration. "I'm so, so glad I dumped you. Y'know that, Rainbow Dash?"
"Oh you totally love me," Rainbow Dash said, cheerfully oblivious to the looks everypony else was now giving her that ranged from total horror to certain amount of awe. "Now are you going to give me a hoof here or what." Trixie groaned and levitated her burden onto her back once more.
Rock nudged Pinkamena again. "So c'mon you've still not told what you were doing trying to break up the happy household."
"It really wasn't like that!" Pinkamena bowed her head. "Anyway how was I supposed to know he was still married in this stupid reality?"
The group burst through a side door leading back inside just in time for Rock and Applejack to collapse onto a nice soft carpet in fits of giggles. They then tried to shush each other which just resulted in another round of giggles. Luckily though this part of the palace seemed to have been abandoned at very short notice. The only sign there might have been other ponies about was a discarded feather duster and a silver platter of now somewhat battered daisy sandwiches. Rainbow Dash didn't care about their condition given how hungry she was after her exertions. She rolled off Trixie's back and started devouring the free food with gusto.
"Are you two quite done?" Pinkamena asked when it looked like her two friends might finally have got it out of their systems. Sparks and Trixie both rolled their eyes in unison at the display.
"Sorry," coughed Rock when she'd composed herself.
"We'll be good," agreed Applejack. "Still I've just got to know exactly what happened. Pretty please," she said with eyelashes fluttering shamelessly.
Pinkamena sighed. "I looked him up when I first got back to Ponyville from the other one and invited him out to an evening repast to discuss potential guild membership. All totally above-board and businesslike I assure you! That was the plan anyway... I might have had bit too much champagne and said a few things." Pinkamena had to give her friends a look to silence some further giggles that looked to be imminent. "He was the perfect gentlestallion and was very understanding. He even gave me a pretty good bulk discount rate for helping to outfit the distractions. Now please can we drop this?"
"Well I do have a big brother spare now, y’know," Applejack said giving her new friend an appraising look. "Been running his own farm and a great head for all kinds of fancy mathematics if you're feeling lonesome?"
Pinkamena paused and then smiled. "I'll think about it okay? Now can we please kindly get on with saving Equestria if you all wouldn't mind?"
~~~
Pinkamena—well one Pinkamena out of many—sat on the hard pound or round or something like that anyway at the back of all the other Pinkamena's. She'd had a go at making friends with the mound, but it didn't seem too interested in the concept. Pinkamena had been in the middle of the crowd when there had definitely been more of her other selves earlier, but they'd slowly been drifting away into the night sky in clouds of pretty sparkles all the way back to the pool that had birthed them.
"Knight-Rare Toonie, come out to plaaay!" she yelled, remembering that the other Pinkamena had been very insistent that she'd get pebbles if she called it out correctly and as often as possible. Pebbles after all meant profit, and profit was what made Equestria go round. The other Pinkamena's sang out in chorus; though most of them were getting it totally wrong. What a bunch of silly ponies, Pinkamena thought to herself. She'd tried telling some of the others the correct words, but they'd just laughed at her or said "profit" over and over insensibly until Pinkamena had got bored and given up. This had taken all of ten seconds which was practically a lifetime as far as she was concerned.
Was it because I was the first to emerge? Pinkamena pondered. She was fairly certain she was the first. Passably sure anyway that there'd been a time when there had been just the two of them even if it hadn't lasted very long at all. She'd tried to make some notes in the cud, or rud maybe, before to aid her thinking, but all her other selves stomping about had made it impossible. Now though she had a bit of space she could have a go at working out what was going on.
'Pebbles=Profit', that seemed like a good place to start as Pinkamena started scratching away in the mucky fud with a forehoof. 'Me=Pinkamena Diane Pie', she was sure of that even if she knew she wasn't the original. 'Friends=Sock, Larks, Fluttershutter, Applejohn and Cash=Magic', this was a new concept in her memories, but it seemed to be important so Pinkamena dutifully wrote it down. She'd heard somewhere that understanding check-lists was vital for the modern business pony and soon she'd have her own empire, so this was something that Pinkamena would have to master. She was struck by a sudden thought that she didn't have a tie on. How will anypony know I'm here to do business and make profit if I don't have a tie?! Pinkamena was beginning to hyperventilate as the walls were closing in everywhere. That she was outside made no difference. The walls were going to get her!
The Pinkamena chant rang out again distracting Pinkamena who had been trembling with her hooves pulled over her head from her panic. Now she knew that original Pinkamena could get a tie from anywhere. After all she had them stashed all over Equestria in case of tie emergencies. Choosing a small rock as a likely candidate Pinkamena pushed it over and was rewarded with a smart, official black tie just waiting for her. She laughed out loud in delight at her discovery and tied it round her head so that she looked properly smart and went back to her check-list. On second thoughts she returned and picked up the small rock thinking that it might make a suitable companion. It just seemed right, somehow.
'Tie=Professional', it was of course deeply important to look the part Pinkamena thought sagely. Huh, something is drooling on my check-list. That's very rude. Pinkamena looked up into the slobbering mouth of a very large manticore who was regarding her with a certain amount of bored interest.
"Excuse me if you would not mind, oh pink pony if you'd be so kind." Pinkamena kept on looking up to the thing riding on the back of the beast in front of her. It looked like another pony, but it had stripes marking it as the most freakish and unnatural thing Pinkamena had ever seen. This, this evil enchantress was clearly up to no good. It was also wearing a mask painted in tribal colours with a permanently fixed fearsome grin making the whole sight more than terrifying enough to freeze Pinkamena solid with terror.
"Please I request that you do not be afraid, it is not to you who respects are due to be paid," the masked stripy pony said gently from it's mount. The manticore sniffed Pinkamena and started to drool even more than it had been.
"Nightmare Moonie, come out to play?" Pinkamena asked and then giggled, as it was the only thing that could come to her right now as her legs were threatening to give out right from under her. Then she smiled happily. That had what she'd been supposed to remember after all!
The masked pony shook it's head. "Oh poor pony with brain gone to rot, you must move aside so that we may proceed to Canterlot."
Pinkamena wondered who exactly 'we' was and then started to see shapes emerging out of the darkness. There were all the beasts she'd ever heard about, along with many that she hadn't, from the garbled memories she'd inherited. Countless timber wolf eyes glowed brightly lit with spirit fire. Sinewy heads of hydras towered over head silhouetted against the dim starlight. The hulking arachnid bodies of Ettercaps lumbered forward with their assorted self spun silken hats tilted to the proper jaunty angle for a bit of the old one-two-eight. There was even a few river serpents hauling themselves forward out over the muddy ground with the smaller snakelike Nagas slithering about them.
She desperately searched through memories she didn't understand to decide what to do. Facing down monsters was really not Pinkamena's thing at all. Then she remember those new friends of hers and asked herself what exactly would Sock or Fluttershutter do?
Pinkamena crouched down and bucked the manticore as hard as she could manage right in the jaw. The beast roared so loud everypony and everything around could hear it's pained surprise. Every single Pinkamena in the field all the way to Canterlot turned and looked as one to see what was going on and whether there might possibly be some pebbles in it for them.
She reared up on her hind legs and let loose her own roar in an effort easily worthy of being compared to the Royal Canterlot speaking voice. "CHAAARGE!!!"
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Love this.
Poor, poor guard. And poor Moondancer, too. And go, Fluttershy! 
Send those changelings back to the wastelands!
Wow!
The Awesome Rainbow Dash certainly gets around.
Liking the various origins of the Night Guard, the Everfree Forrest army and the multiple invasion plots.
Looks like Pinkamena may have an apprentice in the works.
That poor guard...got the G3 face full blast.
Soooo.... magical Pinkamena swarm vs Zecora's beast army...
...
My pebbles are on Pinkamena.
2060855
I think the Pinkamena swarm and Zecora's Everfree Army may be on the same side.
Favorite moments: The guard being horrified by the G3 faced Pinkamena clone, the New Academy Record, the emergency ties, and Moondancer.
facepalms* oh jeez,
Oh my gosh this is amazing! More please!
I can understand how the papers made that mistake, I ended up wanting to ship Fluttershy and Nightmare Moon here, too. But how did they get pictures...? Oh, illustrations. Huh. I thought they had cameras by now.
You know, I found another good story where Fluttershy is a Shadowbolt.
It's called Who Needs Rainbows. There are some interesting parallels in her relationship with Nightmare here and there, though she's joined by her good friend Rainbow in that one. They're the only two real shadowbolts, while Twilight Sparkle is Applejack's accountant, Rarity and Pinkie run a rock farm, and Nightmare Moon has gotten so sick of petitions to raise the sun that she's retired to her old castle:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/4974/no-need-for-rainbows
Side note: Why are there no Fluttershy/Nightmare Moon fics?
Forgot last chapter, but this one and last one. Shinging Armour >> Shinging Armor. Although talking about his amour with a "u" is a perfectly valid spelling. The only reason it matters with the name, is because that's the spelling for armor/amour, that is used in the show / merchandise.
Now I remember about Cloudchaser. Can't believe I forgot just what hte heck was happening. Kinda miss the fact that we don't see them grow / evolve into the EoH, but it's still cool.