Our favorite boy genius builds a time machine in order to visit the past and disprove the existence of Nightmare Moon. Predictably, he bit off more than he could chew.
He was so sure Nightmare Moon wasn't real. He was so sure all the stories about Nightmare Moon were merely fabrications meant to induce fear in the ponies of Equestria, and insure their loyalty to the alicorns upon the throne. In fact, he was so sure Nightmare Moon didn't exist, he built a time machine to go back 1000 years and prove it.
Needless to say, this time-travelling colt genius bit off more than he could chew.
Now the 8-yr-old must survive the chaos of Nightmare Moon's uprising, forging unexpected alliances while learning to trust in the word of others. But unfortunately for him, Nightmare Moon isn't the only surprise in store for this colt.
This fic is a side-story to Dexter's Lab: Equestria. As requested by you readers, this story will be expand upon darker themes surrounding Luna's original descent into Nightmare Moon and the following events. - But expect a twist or two. This story was made separate to Dexter's Lab: Equestria because of it's darker themes and atmosphere. Reading of Dexter's Lab: Equestria (to chapter 11) is not required to enjoy this story, however it is strongly recommended as it will explain a lot (especially if you've never seen the Dexter's Lab TV show.)
“This project is ill-advised.” Quadraplex stated bluntly. “Going back in time is not only dangerous to the integrity of the timeline, it also presents an extreme risk of injury to you.”
“Quadraplex, the timeline isn’t a fragile thing so you don’t have to treat it like it is made out of glass.” Dexter assured. “Remember, I’ve traveled through time plenty of times, like that one time I went back in time and found the first guy to discover fire.”
“Yes, and according to my files, he got lost in your lab, caused considerable destruction, and worst of all: was exposed to your sister Dee Dee, which could have destroyed the timeline.” The computer reminded. “I am not sure how this, or your other experiences, inspire confidence.”
“In case you don’t remember Quadraplex, I wasn’t born here.” Dexter reminded. “How did you put it? I could have come from an entirely separate universe. Whatever I do to the timeline won’t result in a universe ending grandfather paradox or something.”
“That is beside the point, I don’t care about the timeline” The A.I. declared forcefully. “I care about you. Should something go wrong during your mission to the past, I will not be able to help you.”
“You? Care?” Dexter grumbled dismissively. “Last time I checked I never programmed you to care.”
…
“I will no longer assist you in this project,” Quadraplex replied. However, declaration was ignored by the colt.
At least it was until the lights shut off.
“Computer…” Dexter growled, “Computer!”
No response.
“Alright Quadraplex, alright.” Dexter let out a tired sigh. “I’m sorry, just talk to me okay? When I go back in time I’ll only be observing the equines. I won’t do anything dangerous. As for this load of garbage about ‘Nightmare Moon’ and the solar-lunar war, it’s all just made up propaganda. And once I go back in time, I’ll get proof of it. You’ll see.”
“But what if you are wrong?” Quadraplex challenged. “You were wrong about the changelings being a myth, and you were wrong about claiming that the sun and moon did not revolve around the planet. What if you’re wrong about Nightmare Moon? What if she was real?”
“Okay, say she was real, then what?” Dexter droned sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “Watch her get defeated by the elements of harmony and the power of friendship?” Dexter scoffed. “Let’s face it; Nightmare Moon wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”
“I mean, think about,” Dexter continued his rant. “In the story of Nightmare Moon’s return she created the conditions which allowed for Twilight and her friends to become the elements of harmony, which in turned were used to defeat her.”
“If she’s real, she‘s such a pushover she’d probably defeat herself.” Dexter finished. “So either way, Nightmare Moon isn’t a real problem.”
“Very well,” The computer eventually replied. “I will assist you if you intend to only observe the equines and avoid all contact as much as possible.”
“Good, now if you will please restore the lights, I can get back to-“
“I’m not finished,” Quadraplex interrupted. “I will also require that you be outfitted appropriately should you need to defend yourself. Given the ongoing changeling threat, I have redeveloped several tools and weapons you used in your original lab.”
“You’re worse than my mother,” Dexter sighed. “Very well, Quadraplex, it’s a deal.”
“Agreed,” Quadraplex declared, turning the lights back on.
---
Mission Log: Temporal Excursion
Date: 1000 years prior to arrival in Equestria
Location: Everfree Castle / Castle of the Royal Sisters*
Dexter, Scientist, Boy Genius!
[Voice-to-Text Active]
This is the mission Log of Dexter, Boy Genius, during my trip to the past. I’ve traveled just over a thousand years to the past to acquire proof that ‘Nightmare Moon’ never existed. And I am happy to report that, thus far, I have encountered no evidence of any kind to indicate that this ‘Nightmare Moon’ individual exists.
But let me start from the beginning.
For the record, I immediately activated the sensor module and the Omni-recorder the moment I stepped out of the portal. Everything I see, hear, and do, shall be recorded from all angles.
My time machine worked flawlessly, just like the original, and deposited me just over 1000 years in the past. I arrived intact along with the crate of supplies Quadraplex insisted I bring along.
That computer can be really persistent, to the point that it has become tiresome. She insisted that I bring back a freight container of ‘essentials.” I literally mean a freight container; the box she sent with me is just about the same sizes as those large rectangular boxes you’d find on a large shipping boat.
But what was more staggering was what she put inside it. Did she expect me to fight an army or something? What the heck Quadraplex!? I don’t even remember engineering half of these weapons! And that’s not to mention the rifle she made me carry on my back…
She said she built it for my fight against the changelings, which makes sense I suppose.
What is worse is the fact that she forced me to wear a re-designed version of my ‘DexStar’ suit. I say redesigned because it looks nothing like my original DexStar suit except for the fact it is black with minor purple highlights. But it does use an upgraded version of the nanotechnology from my original suit.
It’s really is well made, Quadraplex did a good job. But she also added a lot of things to it: strength enhancement, force amplifiers, vision assist, sensor module, armor, a cloak, a small magic dampener whose effects are limited to just my person, and a number of other things.
But there is one problem with this suit: I can’t take it off! The darn thing is wired directly into my PNS. [Peripheral Nervous System] I can only take this thing off back at the lab!
I can’t use any of these weapons if I hope to preserve the timeline; just being seen by one of the primitives could give them ideas which would radically change the future. Of course Quadraplex knew that, but apparently she doesn’t care about anything other than my safety…
I really need to have a serious talk with her when I get back; her behavior is getting out of hand and cannot be tolerated any longer. I understand she wants to be ready for any threat posed by the changelings, but this is getting excessive. I’m a scientist, not a weapons manufacturer.
However, I digress.
Thankfully my arrival went unnoticed; the portal deposited me in an unused field filled with tall grass. Quadraplex had the sense to include a cloak for the crate she sent with me, it shouldn’t be discovered.
Judging by the sun hanging over head, this ‘Nightmare Moon’ stuff will be debunked soon enough; and I’ll be back to the future in no time.
Granted, my temporal target coordinates were for four days before Nightmare Moon’s defeat was actually supposed to occur, but I’m not getting the sense this is a nation about to rip itself apart with civil war. Before I can prove anything conclusively, I’ll have to locate the princesses. I have my doubts about the notion that they are actually alive at this point in time, but if I do find the Princess Luna I’m certain she’ll show no traces of anything that could be construed as ‘Nightmare Moon.’
Then I’ll finally have the proof I need to rub in everyone’s faces, forcing them to admit their propaganda and lies.
Of course… there will be a great difficulty in using the proof. I can’t exactly tell them that I went back in time.
But I am going to focus on getting the proof before I decide how to go about using it.
The portal placed me a few miles north of the castle of the royal pony sisters. The castle itself was surrounded by a small village which bordered the Everfree Forest.
The trek to the village was easy enough, but I soon hit my first obstacle.
There were guards at the front gate of the castle.
Sneaking past them with the suit’s cloak should be easy enough. The suit Quadraplex gave me has some limitations. The cloak is not indefinite, and the suit has a power source which can be depleted. Once it is depleted, I’ll have to wait for it to recharge. However , given that the magic dampener works by siphoning off energy from magic I’m certain I can recharge it faster if I found something magical to drain.
This should be easy.
End Log.
---
“It’s about time,” Dexter muttered to himself as he spied around another corner of the castle, finally locating one of the lunar banners marking the entrance to Luna’s wing of the castle. He had gotten lost in the maze of stone walls that made up the castle, cursing at the convoluted layout of the castle.
Sneaking throughout the castle had been easier than he thought; the cloak prevented any of the guards or servants from noticing him. But it also stopped the colt from asking for directions.
That, and the cloak was eating through his suit's power.
He did, however, run into a few of the servants speaking in what sounded like an ancient dialect of English. It wasn’t difficult for the boy genius to understand what they were saying, but he decided now would be the perfect time to try out his suit’s translator.
It would allow him to hear other’s as though they were speaking in the modern dialect, and would automatically translate what he said in the modern dialect to the ancient one, allowing others to hear him as if he were speaking normally.
Of course, it was the cheap way of getting around the dialect barrier. But it wasn’t like he was going to be talking to anyone and it was just more convenient for his ears.
“Now to find Luna’s chambers,” Dexter whispered, strolling through another hallway. It took a few minutes, but he eventually found a door with the lunar symbol engraved in its front. The doors themselves were flanked by four guards.
Much to Dexter’s surprise, he found that two of them were white with golden armor.
Resisting the urge to speculate aloud, Dexter checked to make sure his recorder was on. He had hardly put his foreleg down before the chamber doors burst open revealing a tall white figure, followed by a voice Dexter was extremely surprised to recognize.
“Answer me!” Luna demanded, following after her sister.
Despite the question, the tall white mare pressed past the guards without a word. She was an alicorn too, having both wings and a horn. To Dexter’s surprise, she was also significantly larger than Luna.
In fact, she was pushing the definition of a pony. Any taller and she would be classified as a horse.
Like Luna, she had a mane which appeared to blow in a nonexistent wind. But her mane appeared to a mix of colors reminiscent of the northern lights rather than a picture of the night sky.
The scowl on her face prevented Dexter from admiring the display. The piercing nature of her dark pink eyes let everyone know it was best to stay out of her way.
She pressed forward at a brisk pace, quickly enough that Dexter barely had enough time to step aside, narrowly avoiding a collision with the mare. Celestia managed to only get a few paces before the door behind her burst open again, revealing an equally irate Luna.
“I have a right to an answer!” Luna pressed, a flash of blue light deposited her before Celestia, causing the white mare to halt.
Dexter was momentarily surprised to hear Luna speaking fluently in the modern dialect, but that’s when he remembered his suit’s dialect and language translator was on.
“I have no wish to quarrel with you, again, Luna.” Celestia declared, frowning down at her sister. “You already know why I have made my decision.”
“Your decision? Are we not equals?” Luna glared up toward Celestia. “Or am I now your inferior? That you make decisions and I merely follow them?” Luna accused.
“Stop it Luna, you know that’s not what I meant.” Celestia shook her head with an aggravated sigh. “One of us must go northward for a time, to reassure our subjects and let Equestria’s enemies know we will protect our border. But one of us needs to remain here, and since I am better at negotiating with the nobles, it makes sense that-”
“Do not dissemble with me as though you are speaking merely to a politician, sister!” Luna’s voice was now enhanced, causing the invisible colt to grasp his ears once more in the hopes they wouldn’t start to bleed. “You mask your real reasons for sending me away on this ‘tour.’ You are consolidating your popularity among the nobles, and you’ve been doing so at my expense for years.”
Celestia sighed before looking toward the guards. “Leave us.” She ordered, eliciting a salute before they turned and left.
“Luna, we discussed this a long time ago” Celestia admitted to Luna. “I’ve spent years, and sacrificed much to build the rapport and political capital needed just to keep Equestria in one piece. Many elements in each tribe still wish to split away.
“That means I’ve had to maintain a level of popularity with our subjects, while letting you take care of the less favorable tasks…” Celestia went on. “But now it’s paying off, I am able to use that popularity to maintain the cooperation of many. If I were to leave, then those who would try to incite dissent against us would use my absence as an opportunity…”
“Which means I have to continue to do the unfavorable and unpopular tasks, while you continue to bask in the praise and esteem of our subjects.” Luna accused bitterly. “You knowingly earn their favor at the cost of myself.”
“I tire of this argument, Luna. We have had the same one again and again in growing frequency over this last year.” Celestia began again with a frustrated sigh. “We made our strategy long ago, and we’re not changing it just because you are jealous.”
“I recall our plan!” Luna sneered. “But it has gone on for long enough, how much longer must I wait before you allow me to step out from behind your shadow? Why must you continue to hoard the favor of our subjects?”
“What fault is it of mine that our subjects prefer to work and live during the day? Or that they choose to satisfy their need to sleep during the night?” Celestia retorted. “This isn’t about what’s best for Equestria, nor is it about what’s fair, this is about your jealousy.”
“My feelings are irrelevant. You let this go on longer than is fair. It causes our subjects of prefer your presence over mine!” Luna accused.
The hallway fell silent as the sisters glared at each other. Dexter could almost feel the anger radiating off of them. Dexter swore he could have seen Celestia’s eye twitch, as if a mental barrier had snapped behind her pink eyes.
“Perhaps it’s not the night our subjects find fault with, Luna.” Celestia eventually began again. “Perhaps the fault is yours.”
“Our subjects do not find the night unworthy of their adoration, but they might feel that it is you who are unworthy of representing the night and unworthy of their favor.” Celestia said icily.
“What…” Luna breathed, the anger surging inside her cut her breath short as she started to shake. The type of anger inside Luna wasn’t that which was brought about by having a bad temper, but rather so a product of harsh words spoken by someone close. “Your words are unfair and you know it.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Celestia declared. “But we’re keeping to our plan. Deal with it. The throne room is not big enough for two princesses and your childish jealousy. If we have to contend with it, we may find that there is only enough room for one princess."
“And we both know who our subjects favor more.”
Celestia disappeared after rounding the end of the hall, leaving Luna trembling silently in anger. She stomped a fore hoof into the stone floor, creating a set of large cracks which radiated away from her hoof. The hit was strong enough Dexter could feel it through the stone floor.
Eventually Luna huffed before quickly turning back to her chambers, slamming the door with an aura of magic the second after the invisible colt ducked inside.
Luna’s chambers were everything Dexter expected, being luxuriously furnished. The lunar banners, as well as the image of Luna’s cutie mark, could be found plastered or carved onto just about everything.
The only thing he noticed to be out of place was a number of small patches in the floor with cracks radiating from a single point, today wasn’t the first time she had gotten angry.
‘Whoa,’ Dexter thought to himself. He’d hate to be on the wrong ends of that alicorn’s hooves. He thought it was fortunate that the little argument between Celestia and Luna gave him the chance to sneak into the princesses’ room. Something told him he that he would live to regret it if his cloak failed.
Of course, his mission was nearly completed. He had successfully found and recorded Princess Luna. Despite the apparent dysfunctional nature of her relationship with the other alicorn, Dexter found no proof of Nightmare Moon. At least, nothing he had seen was sufficient enough to be called proof in his eyes. As a good scientist he wanted to be thorough, choosing to record the alicorn for a bit longer.
Following the dark alicorn further into her chambers, Dexter found her standing in the middle of her bedroom.
She was still trembling with anger. Her piercing eyes and tightened jaw were hardly visible in the dark room. Much like what Dexter experienced before, the room seemed to drain of all light and warmth. Soon the room’s atmosphere reminded Dexter of a cold winter night. Luckily his suit kept him warm, as well as automatically activating its vision assistance, letting him continue to see in the pitch black darkness.
Though, the colt forgot all about it as Luna suddenly kicked a nearby cabinet. It shattered instantly, spraying splinters everywhere.
It wasn’t the first casualty of Luna’s wrath, and nothing being spared. The bed was next up to be smashed, then the dresser, then a desk. Even the stone walls were not immune to her onslaught; several large chunks of the stone were crushed by a set of very powerful hooves.
Eventually the storm of hooves and flurry of magic died down, leaving a sobbing Luna to collapse on the remains of her bed.
‘Okay! Coming in here was a really bad idea!’ Dexter panicked silently. The colt barely managed to escape the destruction of Luna’s chambers by climbing onto a chandelier, which escaped destruction by the mere virtue of hanging above Luna’s sight. Even as Luna fell to the remains of her bed, the colt still clung to the decoration as though his life depended on it.
“Sister your words are harsh… your actions unfair.” Luna eyes began tearing.
“Without the adoration and love of our subjects, what do we have to ease our burden?” Luna went on. “Our burden of immortality… the fruits of all friendship will always turn bitter with time. Without the love of our subjects, what am I left with to ease this pain ? All friends I have will abandon me to unending life through their own death. We shall always be alone…”
“Except for you sister, you were always with me.”
“Yet you abandon me now? In your ambition, in your ‘noble cause’ to spread harmony? To you I have become little more than a tool at best, or an obstacle to be removed at worst. You may be my sister, but you’re no longer my friend. Just like all the friends who left before, our friendship did not endure forever.” Luna’s whispering grew bitter. “But unlike our friends, you abandoned our friendship by choice!”
Luna dropped her head to the bed, streams pouring from her face.
Having watched the entire display from the chandelier, Dexter was more than concerned by what he just witnessed.
‘Okay, I admit that this alicorn is probably the same Princess Luna as in the future. She may be long lived after all,’ Dexter silently admitted to himself, anxiously searching for a way off the chandelier. He wanted to get down without making a sound, wanting more than anything to leave now. ‘and I admit that Princess Luna may be suffering from some radically extreme loneliness problems, but that doesn’t mean she is in any way suffering from a ‘Nightmare Moon’ alter ego.’
The colt immediately stopped his search when a voice speaking again.
“Lunaaaa” Dexter looked back down at the mare, finding her now staring into the fractured remains of a mirror. The voice he now heard sounded similar to Princess Luna, but it was deeper, almost cold despite its comforting tone. “Lunaaaa…”
“Luna, look at me.” The dark alicorn said into the mirror, waiting for a moment in silence before smiling. “There we are…”
“Luna, why is it that I find you here, crying alone in dark once again?” Luna asked her reflection.
Dexter’s eyes went wide as he watched the display below, his breath catching in his mouth as a shiver crawled up his spine. Admittedly, Luna was just talking to herself a few moments before, complaining about Celestia in an emotional fit. But this was just different…
‘What the…’ Now he really wanted to leave.
“Nightmare…” came Luna’s original voice.
“Yours truly,” Luna nodded toward the broken mirror with a smile.
“Be gone!” Luna demanded.
“I can’t Luna, and you know that…” Nightmare consoled. “Besides, you’re so lonely. You don’t really want me to go. But do not fret, I am a part of you. I’ve always been a part of you and I always will be. I’ll never abandon you… unlike some.”
“I will not listen to a figment of my imagination!” Luna declared, turning away from the mirror. However, as soon as she turned away the mare jerked back with a scowl.
“Oh Luna, you know I am much more than a mere figment…” The other voice went on in a consoling tone. “I am just as real as you are.”
“Have you come to feed me more poison about my sister?”
“Your sister has already fed you enough poison about herself already!” The other voice said indignantly. “I’m just here to help you digest it…”
“She has been less kind as of late… less willing to hear me…” She drifted her gaze away from the mirror, only to snap back to it with a scowl a moment later.
“You know what I am going to say Luna, I’ve been saying it for over a year now…” the other voice went on.
“I don’t want to hear- “Luna began loudly toward the mirror, though she appeared to interrupt herself.
“Celestia has betrayed you. Forsaken your friendship and stolen what is rightfully yours!” Luna shouted in the other voice toward the mirror.
The alicorn shot up from her bed, kicking what was left of it away as she approached the mirror aggressively, looking down at her own reflection.
“She has not… She… she was just angry. We both were. She isn’t aware of how lonely I get when she neglects…” Luna’s voice faltered. “She still loves me, she’s my sister.”
“Loves you?” The other voice scoffed indignantly. “And how has she shown that love as of late?”
…
“Nothing? I thought as much. But tell me Luna, what is Celestia to you?”
“She’s my sister; She’s always been my older sister…”
“She was not just your sister, she’s supposed to be your friend! Or are you forgetting that each of you bore three elements of harmony, binding you by the magic of friendship?”
“She is my friend…”
“Was your friend… until she betrayed that friendship!”
“She has not-“
“What elements did Celestia bare?”
“Kindness… Generosity and Magic.”
“Where was the kindness in Celestia’s harsh words just now, or the past year?” The deeper voice challenged. “Where is her generosity when she hoards the love of your subjects for herself? She is busy being kind and generous to everyone else and puts you last, if she cares at all!”
…
“But what she has done is far more sinister than forsaking your friendship. She knows full well the burden of immortality. She knows she is the only one who can alleviate the loneliness of long life for you”
…
“And you know what she does? She abandons you to suffering, knowing full well that nigh unbearable pain. All in favor of gorging herself on the love of those who also turned their backs on you!”
“Why… why would she do this to me?” Luna’s gazed drifted to the floor, her eyes held shut as a few tears began to stream.
“You know what is vile about all of this? Celestia knows exactly what she is doing yet she blames you for it!” Nightmare proclaimed.
“No, she was just angry. She-“
“She has known you for centuries, she knows you better than anypony else on this entire planet. She knows exactly how you’d feel in this situation – there is no denying that she knows she is causing you pain.” Nightmare spat in disgust. “ All of this is orchestrated on her part. She has stabbed you in the flank, and is now smiling as she twists the dagger!”
“She… she does know me well after being with me… being my sister… for countless years. She does know the pain she is causing me”
“And the only reason she doesn’t stop causing you pain is because she is doing it on purpose!” Nightmare argued. “I know you don’t want to believe it Luna. But remember one thing, you bore the elements of honesty, loyalty and laughter. Which means I bear those same elements. So when I say Celestia has betrayed you, you know I am telling the truth....
“... You know I am being honest.” Luna’s face produced a contorted, almost vindictive, smile, despite the river of tears streaming down her face.
“I have been betrayed….” Luna whispered her agreement. “Celestia loves me no longer.”
“Indeed, I’m glad you realize it now.” The deeper voice went on as Luna smiled to her reflection once more. “But alas, Luna. I have a confession to make. Over the past year I’ve been influencing Celestia’s dreams, trying to get her to remember her love for you… but she has it no more. That’s how I am so certain of her ill intent. Celestia’s recent coldness and aloofness is merely a product of her true feelings, and her true feelings alone…”
“If that is how she feels, then she should just be honest with me and say it!” Luna retorted angrily. Her emotions stopping her from even considering the possibility that this ‘Nightmare Moon’ may have been manipulated Celestia’s dreams in order to make the white alicorn more abrasive with Luna.
However, it didn’t get past Dexter.
“She’s a politician, the truth is rarely something she entertains.” Nightmare explained. “Besides, honesty belongs to you…”
Luna then said something that was hardly a whisper, nearly inaudible to herself.
“Yes!” The deeper voice proclaimed. “Say it louder Luna!”
“I HATE HER!” Luna shouted in her Canterlot voice, loud enough to crack the broken mirror before her even further. The invisible colt hanging for the chandeliers winced before wrapping a free hoof over his ears.
“Yes, Luna!” Luna smiled into the mirror. “Now you see what I am? I am just the manifestation of the hate in your heart! But now that you’ve openly acknowledged me, I feel like I am really meeting you for the first time! It’s great! Now that you’ve truly accepted me...
"I’ll never leave.”
“I cannot let this betrayal stand!” Luna declared. “I must seize what is rightfully mine, and see to it that Celestia is punished for her crimes against me!”
“And you haven’t!” Luna smiled viciously again, crueler than anything Dexter had seen before. “Over the past five months I have been hard at work in the dreamscape, and in issuing orders through you…”
“What… what have you been doing?”
“What have WE been doing,” The other voice corrected. “And I’ll gladly tell you. I’ve been preparing to take back what is rightfully ours. ” She declared. “I’ve been moving ponies’ loyal lunar guards into critical positions of influence, while rallying our guards through the dreamscape. They are almost ready for what needs to be done.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“WE have been doing this long enough!” Nightmare laughed. “Everything will be ready in just a few more days… then we shall tear down the filthy sun-loving monarchy Celestia has built for herself! We shall right the wrongs that have been committed against us, and bring justice and a love of the night to all our subjects!”
“But our subjects will not let go of their love for the sun easily. ” Luna agreed.
“We both know there is only one cure for a sun-loving face…” Luna smiled. However, despite the smile on her face, her eyes grew wide in fear, starting to shake her head back and forth.
“No… We can’t do that.” Luna whispered. “Taking over is one thing… but-”
“That’s not all Luna,” The voice warned, causing Luna to smile once more.
“No… I still love my sister.”
“Luna… you know what I am going to say…” The other voice began sweetly. “There is no other way…”
“NO!” Luna begged.
“Celestia has a sun-loving face! ” Both voice now seemingly merged, producing a strange echo effect that caused another shiver down Dexter’s spine .
Luna thrashed, seemingly fighting an invisible force holding her to face the mirror.
“You want this.” Luna declared with a sinister grin. “You’ve wanted this from the bottom, deepest, darkest corner of your heart. And that’s why you can’t resist me, because you truly want this.
“And I’m going to see to it that you get it!”
The alicorn brought her head back before letting loose a spine chilling laugh. The laugh was a cross between sinister guffawing and a hysterical sob, blended perfectly. In the end, Dexter couldn’t tell if she was actually laughing or crying. Her mouth was twisted into an ominous grin while her eyes were pained and streaming tears.
Either way, that was the last straw. Dexter didn’t care about Nightmare Moon, he didn’t care about proving anyone or anything right or wrong about her existence.
The only thing the colt wanted was to the heck out of that room.
Which is why he nearly had a heart attack when the battery powering his cloak began flashing a low energy warning.
The last thing he needed was to become visible, there was no doubt this this ‘thing’ in Luna’s chambers with him would smash him to a paste instantly.
Dexter looked around for something to break his fall, or help him down silently. Luna’s onslaught had left the remains of a dresser spread out on the floor beneath him.
He was slowly lowering himself onto the mass of cloth and debris below when the small chain holding the chandelier broke with a snap.
Dexter fell to the floor with a thump as the chandelier hit the floor with a crash. Convinced he was good as dead, the colt froze where he had fallen, looking up with baited breath.
Luna had stopped laughing the moment she heard the chandelier hit the floor, and was now staring at it with two wide eyes. Her pupils were the size of pinpricks, and were unnaturally small for the extremely low light levels.
The colt was nearing a panic at this point, the dark alicorn had already proven to have remarkable senses. He slowly rose, happy to find that Luna’s eyes were not tracking him.
After a few tentative moments of silence, Dexter slowly began backing away before turning out of the bedroom and heading for the chamber doors.
“No Luna…” The deeper voice began again, causing Dexter to pause. “I’m not causing you to hear hoof-steps, nor the sound of breathing…”
“No Luna, don’t get up...I’ll go see who it is.”
Dexter froze mid-step, catching the breath in his mouth.
He slowly turned his head, craning his neck to peer behind him. The dark alicorn was now standing in the doorway to her bedroom, except it wasn’t Luna anymore.
She had a set of dangerously sharp teeth inside a vicious grin, her eyes had become reptilian or cat-like. The alicorn now stood much taller, rivalling Celestia in height. But worst of all, she was staring in Dexter’s direction.
“You know… it’s not polite to eavesdrop on somepony. It’s a crime.” The alicorn said, walking further out of the bedroom as she let her gaze drift around the room, searching for her prey. Her eyes passed the invisible colt without so much as a blink. “And I’m afraid you’ve seen something I cannot afford to let anypony see…”
“Come out, come out... and I promise that I’ll make your death quick and painless!” The Nightmare offered, her horn flaring as a blue aura washed over the walls and door. “Well, maybe not painless… I do have the tendency to get carried away.” She grinned.
The colt fumbled mentally, trying to think of something to do. He was stuck in place, unable to take another step while his cloak was slowly draining. All the while he had to hold his breath to prevent Nightmare from hearing him again.
“Is that you, Star Swirl? I know it’s you… none else would have dared spying on me!” Nightmare pushed farther into the room, passing next to the invisible colt. She missed him by little more than a foot. “And I doubt anypony else could invent such a well-made cloaking spell…”
No answer.
“You know you can’t escape,” Nightmare taunted. “I’ve magically sealed this room…”
Her words were again met with silence.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Nightmare offered. “Come out, and I won’t kill you. Instead, I’ll put you to sleep. In your dreams, you will either become a ‘child of the night’ by accepting the Nightmare, in your heart, and embracing hatred; or you’ll be tortured until your mind shatters.”
“It’s your only chance to live, join me!”
Dexter nearly coughed. She considered that a deal?
“So be it,” Nightmare flashed a toothy grin before a flash of magic erupted from her horn. “But you should know, old stallion, being invisible only hides you from my eyes, but not my ears…”
“And an alicorn’s ears are better than a batpony’s…”
Those words hung in the air, causing Dexter’s heart to leap upon the realization of her meaning. His burning lungs numbed as he felt a spike of adrenaline. He slowly started reaching for the rifle slung over his back.
In this case, the simplest solution was the best one: shoot her.
Nightmare raised a shoed hoof, clicking the metal against the floor loudly.
Maybe it was Dexter’s nerves, but he could almost feel the sound wave bouncing off of him.
“There you are!” A wave of blue energy crashed into Dexter, flinging the invisible colt into the far wall. He slid to the floor as a few pieces of shattered stone fell around him.
There was no doubt in Dexter’s mind that the blow would have killed him if he wasn’t wearing his suit.
Dexter hardly had the chance to look up before he found Nightmare’s metal shoed hoof slamming into the stone wall just above his head.
Her blow hit the wall with impossible force, shattering the stone further and leaving a small hole behind.
If he had been a fully grown stallion, the hoof would be poking through his chest.
One of the very few times the eight year old was thankful that he was still short.
“Huh,” Nightmare Moon huffed, as Dexter shook off the disorientation of the original blow. Nightmare Moon examined her foreleg, surprised that there wasn’t so much as a bloodstain.
By the time Dexter managed to stand up, he was fully expecting another blow. Much to his surprise, Nightmare was just now staring downward toward the floor, examining something she had just spotted.
“What?” Nightmare asked to the air, using her magic to lift up Dexter’s rifle. “What is this?”
He must have dropped it when Nightmare threw him into the wall, having only reached for it moments before. Now that it was apart from him, it no longer fell under the suit’s cloak.
But Dexter didn’t waste any time giving her an answer, sending the command to activate his force amplifiers through his suit.
What Nightmare saw next she could only describe as a transparent, faintly glowing horseshoe which seemingly appeared out of thin air and was accompanied by the unfamiliar whine of capacitors charging.
It promptly collided with her chest, unleashing an energy pulse with tremendous force.
The blow was strong enough to launch Nightmare Moon across the room and through the far wall. The wall itself shattered on impact, exploding into debris which rained down on the grounds below. A large gaping hole remained, flooding the dark chambers with the light of the midday sun.
“Heh….oops,” Dexter said to himself as he looked down at his fore hoof, the faint glow of the horseshoe disappearing. The force amplifier had only reached half power in the short time it had to charge, but it was far more than what Dexter intended. He wasn’t aiming to use lethal force.
But the ominous voice in the back of his head told him that the alicorn was just fine.
He quickly retrieved his rifle, thankful that Nightmare had dropped it on her flight through the chamber wall. Though he frowned when the battery icon on his HUD lit up red, displaying a red ‘5%’ symbol.
His force amplifiers prevented recoil by imparting the recoil’s momentum onto light emitted in the opposite direction of the blow. It meant that he wouldn’t be tossed around like a rag doll whenever using a force amp, but it did mean they took up a lot of energy.
His suit’s battery was now at critical, meaning that he couldn’t activate the magic dampeners to recharge it, given that the dampeners themselves required a certain amount of energy to turn on.
“Crap,” The colt said aloud.
Matters were only made worse when a number of guards burst through the chamber doors, fanning out into the room as they surveyed the carnage.
“What happened here?” An armor clad unicorn asked as he inspected the wreckage of Luna’s furniture before turning to the large alicorn-sized hole in the wall.
“Search the room, find and secure the princess!” The guard barked.
“That will not be necessary.” Nightmare declared, reappearing in the hole with the light of day at her back. Stepping back into the darkness, Nightmare revealed her full form to the guards. “Yet I am not a princess, I am your queen!” She declared.
Startled by the appearance and form of their new dark alicorn, a few of the guards lit up their horns before assuming an aggressive stance.
However, a number of them appeared entirely unfazed by the form of Nightmare Moon.
“Vive nox.” They bowed.
“What?” One of the standing guards asked in confusion, his eyes darting between his bowing companions and the new dark alicorn. “What is this? Who are you and what have you done with the princess?”
“Rise my loyal guards,” Nightmare motioned toward the bowing guards. “The time has come my children; the end of day is nigh. Let us now bring forth the everlasting night!”
“Long live the night.” The bowing ponies chanted.
“We are ready your highness.” One of the bowing guards declared before he stood, an officer if the dark blue lining on his armor was an indication. “Everything is going according to schedule.”
“Unfortunately we must accelerate our plans,” Nightmare declared. “Somepony intruded into our chambers and spied upon us…”
Dexter had to forcibly stop himself from gulping in anxiety.
“They have undoubtedly fled, and are telling everything they know to… Celestia.” Nightmare nearly spat the name, as if the word itself sickened her. “If we do not act now, we will lose the element of surprise.”
“Your highness,” The officer spoke up. “Some of the guards loyal to the eternal night are not yet in position, if we act now a few cities such as Cloudsdale or Canterlot may be able to resist.”
“They won’t be able to resist for long…” Nightmare produced a twisted, almost vindictive, grin. “Everypony has to sleep…”
“What the hay is going on?! Who are you?” One of the other guards asked, raising his voice. He was not one of the stallions who bowed. Him, and the few other guards who remained standing maintained the charge in their horns.
Nightmare tilted her head with a grin, revealing her unnaturally sharp teeth. “I am Queen Nightmare Moon. Until now, you knew me as Luna.”
“In a very short time the diarchy shall be gone. Swear fealty to me, and follow as I lead Equestria to a glorious future under the beauty of the eternal night!”
The guard stood in silence for a few moments, staring up at Nightmare in a mixture of confusion and anxiety.
“You… You can’t be Princess Luna,” He began again. “What you speak of is treason! The princess is more loyal than that!”
“I can appreciate your sense of loyalty. And I can appreciate your honesty in your words, given that you swore an oath to serve the diarchy.” Nightmare slowly approached the vocal guard, stopping to stand over him.
“But now, by my declaration the diarchy you swore to serve is dead. All you have left is a choice: Are you a child of the night,” Nightmare brought her face down to his with a scowl.
“Or do you have a sun-loving face?” Nightmare sneered.
“I…” The guard began hesitantly, taking a step back. “I will not abandon my fealty so readily…”
“Your loyalty is misplaced, reconsider.” Nightmare ordered, her tone was more of a warning.
After a moment of silence the guard braced himself, his expression becoming stoic.
“No,” The reply caused the remaining guards, the ones who had bowed to Nightmare Moon, to turn toward the vocal guard and charge their own horns.
“You know, I would admire your loyalty.” Nightmare waved off her guards. “But it is spoiled by the fact that it is inspired by that sickening sun-loving face of yours!”
The guard didn’t have the chance to reply before a blue aura smashed him into the stone ceiling with a deafening crack. He fell to the floor with a thump, his neck sharply bent and body unmoving.
The remaining guards recoiled, even the ones loyal to Nightmare Moon.
The alicorn knew the reason for their flinch, this guard had obviously been someone they knew and worked with; if not a friend or a brother in arms.
“Don’t falter my children.” Nightmare warned. “If we do not act quickly, the disposal of the diarchy may turn into a long and drawn out civil war. Move swiftly to prevent any further confrontations.”
“What do we do with the others, my queen?” The officer asked, motioning to the remaining guards who had refused to bow.
“Can’t you see they’re sleeping?” Nightmare asked cheekily before a pulse of magic from her horn seized the guards by the helmets slamming them into a nearby wall and knocking them out. They instantly fell to the floor. “Just wait for them to wake up…” Nightmare grinned.
“Just leave them? What about-” The officer asked in confusion.
“Wait,” Nightmare silenced. “I want you to see this…”
The remaining guards did as Nightmare commanded. But it wasn’t long before the silence was broken by one of the unconscious guards.
Each of them contorted their faces in either agony or sheer terror, before their limp bodies started writhing violently. Eventually one howled in pain, while another let out a shriek of horror.
Dexter, along with the remaining guards, merely watched in horror.
“You know,” Nightmare laughed. “The interesting thing about torturing ponies in their dreams is that they can be exposed to much greater amounts of pain and suffering than they could withstand while awake.”
“A waking pony would pass out from too much pain,” Nightmare explained. “But you can’t pass out if you’re already sleeping. And a pony can brought to the edge of fear-induced death by reliving the same horrors a thousand times, with no hope of escape...”
“The Nightmares will allow me to break their minds,” Nightmare went on. “So I can rebuild them, from the very core of their being, as children of the night!”
“But don’t worry, my children. I’ve already done this to each and every last one of you…” Nightmare approached the nearest guard, lowering her head to run a tongue down his neck. He recoiled, unaccustomed to Nightmare’s touch. “You will be my children, forever.”
Dexter had to surpress a gulp. Nightmare would be earning her name in a literal sense.
“When you come to fight Celestia’s guards and their sun-loving faces, do not kill them.” Nightmare declared with a wave of her hoof. “Knock them out or put them to sleep. I’ve corrupted the entire dreamscape across Equestria. All ponies will face a choice when they go to sleep, become children of the night or never wake up!” Nightmare flared her wings at the proclamation
“There will be no more sun-loving faces! THEY WILL FEEL THE PAIN I FELT WHEN THEY TURNED THEIR BACKS ON ME AND THEN BE NO MORE!” She decreed before turning to her guards.
“You know what to do, begin!”
---
Dexter couldn’t do anything but watch as the guards left, following in Nightmare’s wake while dragging the thrashing and screaming forms of those they had called allies only moments before.
A paralyzing wave of fear washed over the colt, momentarily freezing his hooves. He felt like an ocean of dread had been poured into his stomach.
Dexter had seen some pretty dark things in his life, but there had always been certain bounds that were never crossed. One of them being excessive torture. However, what impacted him more was the fact that he felt completely blindsided by the amount of malevolence this Nightmare held.
It was more than anything he had seen firsthand before, a sure surprise coming from a pony of all creatures.
Dexter found the strength to move his hooves when the blinking ‘1%’ battery symbol in his glasses disappeared. He had hardly walked out of Luna’s chambers before the cloak failed and his body became visible.
That’s when he realized he was trembling.
“Okay! Alright! I admit it, Nightmare Moon was real! Can I go home now!?” The futuristic armor encasing his body did nothing to hide the shaking in his hooves, causing Dexter to resort to hugging his legs against his barrel. “I admit it, I was wrong. Quadraplex, if you ever get the recording I’m sorry. I learned my lesson; I promise I’ll listen to you and what the ponies say more!”
Dexter felt the lead ball in his stomach rise as he recalled Nightmare Moon throwing him against the wall, and then narrowly missing his head with what would have been a skull-crushing blow.
He was certainly surprised by Nightmare’s vindictiveness and ferocity. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it.
But that was irrelevant right now. He had to get moving. The last thing he wanted was to be discovered should Nightmare Moon return.
“Come on, Dexter.” The eight year old assured himself. He drew a deep breath to calm himself. “Let’s just get out of here.” He forced his legs forward.
Dexter began to wander the castle halls once more, doing his best not to be spotted. Of course, he had to be lost, and he felt naked without the cloak. But oddly enough, moving while visible felt easier.
It took him a few moments to realize that the castle now appeared empty. There wasn’t a sign of a servant or a guard anywhere. He darted past another archway before rounding a corner.
But that didn’t stop the castle from being a confusing maze, a problem only compounded by Dexter’s racing mind.
The history books described Luna’s attempted rebellion as one of the most violent conflicts in Equestria’s history, so he knew what to expect if Nightmare Moon turned out to be real.
But he had been absolutely certain that Nightmare Moon wasn’t real. And if she was real, the stories about her return made her appear to be less than a formidable opponent in comparison to the types of enemies Dexter had normally faced.
Of course in the future, Nightmare’s ferocity could have been tempered by Luna, who would have had a thousand years to come to regret what she was doing and start to resist Nightmare Moon from the inside.
A part of him had to admit that the only reason he was in this situation was because of his own arrogance, and stubborn refusal to listen to what the ponies around him had to say.
However, the idea of returning to the future brought up another concern for the colt.
Dexter was supposed to have arrived four days before the violence was to begin, not catalyze it.
“Oof” Dexter let out a gasp after rounding a corner and bouncing off something soft and pony-shaped. A small pile of books followed him to the floor.
“Hey, watch where you’re… going…” An aggravated mare started, however she quickly trailed off after glimpsing the colt.
Ignoring the mare, Dexter pulled himself up while carelessly pushing the books away.
“Hey, who are you and how did you get in here?” A unicorn mare stepped into view. Her appearance was familiar; Dexter had seen a picture of her in a history book at least once. Though he couldn’t place exactly where at the moment.
“What is a foal doing in the castle… and what in the world are you wearing?” She tilted her head in curiosity. Her horn flared with magic, lifting the colt so she could get a closer look at his attire.
“Hey!” Dexter protested the aura of magic that suspended him in the air. “Put me down!”
“Interesting…” The mare pulled the colt’s foreleg closer, inspecting it. “Some sort of metallic substance weaved into a synthetic mesh… but the mesh is neither metal nor wood…”
“Let me go!” Dexter reached for the rifle slung over his back, only to find it missing. “Hey, that’s mine!”
The unicorn had lifted it away from the colt and started inspecting it independently. “What is this?”
“None of your business!” Dexter argued.
“Sure… but first tell me what you’re wearing, and where did you get this?” The mare looked up at the frowning floating colt.
Without his magic dampener, he was helpless.
“It is beyond your comprehension, now let me go you stupid nosey girl.” The mare paused at Dexter’s protest, before her nuzzle scrunched into a scowl.
It was the way he said “girl,” it would rub any female the wrong way.
“Well, if you don't tell me then I’ll have to find out for myself.” The mare sternly declared, pulling the colt along as she retrieved her books. “And when I’m finished I’ll make sure that your mother knows what a rude brat you are. In fact… this doesn’t look like it belongs to you…” She raised the rifle in her grasp.
Dexter cursed under his breath, trying to activate his suit’s dampeners. However, his efforts were greeted by a red battery symbol marked 3% appearing in the corner of his glasses.
“That belongs to me, I didn’t steal it.” Dexter countered. “Now release me!”
“No,” The mare replied simply. “Foals aren’t a common sight in the castle, and they shouldn’t be running around unattended.” Her casual demeanor told the colt that she had no idea about Nightmare Moon. Something which was not surprising, given that Nightmare had begun her takeover only a few minutes before. The castle was a powder keg for chaos, ready to go off at any moment.
Of course Dexter didn’t plan on sticking around for any of that.
“Besides, I have a feeling that somepony is going to want this —whatever it is— back.” She lifted the rifle slightly.
Dexter growled under his breath.
“Hey, listen uhh… what’s your name?” Dexter asked, trying to take another approach with the mare. She wasn’t about to release him just because he demanded it.
“Clover…”
---
“What about your meeting with the ambassador-”
“Cancel it,” Celestia ordered the grey unicorn before her. He was one of her best aides, having worked with the princess for the better part of a decade. Now he was helping the princess decimate her schedule for that afternoon. “Is there anything else I have scheduled?”
“A review of the new roads project-” The stallion was cut off once more.
“Reschedule it for next week,” Celestia answered. “Cancel everything I have scheduled for after court.”
“Yes, your highness.” The aid answered with a few sharp strikes of his quill on the scroll before him. “May I ask what you are planning to do, and if you need any assistance?”
“Always so helpful, Fair Quill.” Celestia smiled lightly. “But no thank you, I plan on spending some time with Luna this afternoon before her night court begins.” Celestia’s sighed, gazing out of the closest window. “We’ve… been arguing a lot over the past few months and in that time… I’ve said a number of things I shouldn’t have. Things that were unfair… and I should apologize.”
“But it’s nothing for you to worry about…” Celestia turned back to the stallion just in time to see him bow before turning to leave.
Celesta had turned to the mountain of paperwork sitting on her desk when she heard her chamber doors open and shut, signifying the unicorn’s departure. Shortly after the door closed she heard only what she could describe as a small bang, followed by the doors opening and slamming shut once more.
“Forget something, Fair Quill?” Celestia asked without looking up.
“Greetings, Celestia…”
The alien voice sent a shiver down her spine. Despite the twisted and foreign nature of it, Celestia found it to be very familiar.
In truth, the voice had also surprised her. Outsiders weren’t permitted in her personal tower, let alone her study.
Celestia’s jaw dropped as she lowered the scroll before her, revealing the dark alicorn grinning back at her from merely a few feet away. She wore a blue war helm, complimenting her piercing teal eyes and black coat.
The trace scent of blood danced on the end of Celestia’s nose when she noticed the light splatter on the dark alicorn’s black fur.
It might explain why the guards, or Fair Quill, didn’t keep her out.
“Defend yourself.” The dark alicorn ordered as her grin widened.
Before Celestia had the chance to do much of anything, a blast of blue magic struck her in the chest. The blast itself hit with enough force to throw Celestia into the far wall, destroying everything else it touched.
The white alicorn merely lay dazed until she felt herself being hoisted up by the nape of her neck.
Celestia’s horn flared in defense, only to die out as a shoed hoof slammed her head into the wall. The strike shattered stone, being repeated twice until Celestia was smashed through the wall to the courtyard below.
Nightmare merely grinned down at the fallen form of Luna’s older sister from the new hole found in the side of Celestia’s tower.
Shaking off the pain she felt all over, Celestia slowly got to her hooves. Her mane and coat were now dirty, small pieces of dirt and stone dust littered her form.
The solar alicorn had several deep gashes on her face, and other cuts littering her body. However, after a few moments the wounds began to close themselves, healing almost instantly. Quickly enough, there were no traces of her injuries, and the only indication that she had been attacked was the bits of stone and wood in her fur.
Apparently, using Celestia’s face as a wrecking ball only served to aggravate the solar alicorn.
Of course Nightmare knew this; it would take a lot to bring substantial or lasting harm to another alicorn.
But Nightmare was only looking forward to it.
Standing up to her full height, Celestia glared up at the unknown figure.
“My subjects! Flee from the castle!” Celestia ordered, her words enhanced with the royal Canterlott voice. It was loud enough that everyone in a ten mile radius could hear her loud and clear.
Celestia flared her horn, casting a bolt toward the dark figure. It narrowly missed as Nightmare Moon sidestepped the blast, letting it collide with something inside Celestia’s study. The resulting explosion blew apart the entire room.
Celestia was holding back, as Nightmare could tell. Celestia was probably concerned about a straggling servant or two that might still be nearby. Otherwise she could have destroyed the entire tower.
“I’m afraid fleeing will not help our subjects, Celestia…” Nightmare glided down to land before the solar alicorn. “No matter how far they run, nothing will save the pony who has a sun-loving face!” she sneered.
“Our subjects?” Celestia challenged, flaring her horn threateningly as she glared at the dark alicorn. Celestia was not accustomed to addressing another who stood at the same height as her. “These ponies are only subjects of my sister and I.”
“I have no idea who you are, but when my sister arrives we shall face you together. You won’t be able to best the both of us.” Celestia’s wings flared as she released another blast of energy from her horn. Nightmare ignited her own magic, deflecting the blast. It struck the castle, producing another explosion and more rubble.
“Remember me, Tia?” The dark alicorn began again, this time using Luna’s voice. Celestia’s eyes grew wide as she took a hesitant step back. “Remember when we were little, and I would annoy you by pulling on your tail. You responded by teasing me that the moon was made out of marshmallows…”
“Then one day I got back at you for teasing me. While we were having dessert, I swatted a chocolate cake. It hit you in the face, and got fudge all over your pink mane…”
Nightmare chuckled lightly. “You wouldn’t stop licking your mane for two days after that… it’s when you decided that chocolate cake was your favorite food...”
Celestia looked over the mare before her with a growing sense of dread building in her stomach. “We… We were much smaller then…” Celestia answered with a shaken voice. Was this dark and twisted pony really her sister?
“Luna…?”
Nightmare revealed her sharp teeth with a grin.
It was the last thing Celestia saw before she was lifted and thrown by Nightmare’s aura, crashing against another of the castle’s walls. Rubble fell over her.
“What?” Nightmare laughed at the partially buried alicorn. “You think that indulgence of memories was meant to rekindle some sort of sisterly bond between us?”
“No,” She sneered. “I just wanted to make sure that you knew it was me.” Nightmare flared her magic once more, forcing the moon into the sky. It rose quickly, sliding in position just over the sun.
Then the world fell into darkness.
“So begins the eternal night!” She declared.
There was no question, the mare before her was Luna. Nopony else could control the moon so easily.
“Luna… what is this?” Celestia pleading as she pulled herself up. “Why are you attacking me-“
“Fight me.” Another blast of blue magic was launched toward Celestia, which was deflected by the alicorn before crashing into the ground.
…
“No”
“What?” Nightmare asked sharply, recoiling her head slightly in surprise.
“I said ‘no.’” Celestia’s voice faltered as the glow in her horn faded. She lowered her flared wings, folding them to her sides. “I… won’t fight you sister.”
Nightmare growled before stomping the ground with a hoof, causing another set of cracks in the stone paved ground. “Fight me,” Nightmare demanded.
“Luna, I-I love you…” Celestia choked, floored by the realization that Luna had attacked her. “a-and I will not fight, sister. Please just tell me what’s-“
“Fight me, Celestia…” Nightmare growled. “I need to feed my hate with the rage and fury of battle…”
…
“FIGHT ME!”
---
“Wait… you’re Clover the Clever?” The colt eyed the mare in surprise.
“That’s me!” She declared with a smile. They passed through another door before it slammed shut behind them. The room she’d led him to was a workshop of some kind. Tools, books, papers and quills were scattered about with a bookshelf or two filled to the brim.
“Listen, Clover, you need to let me go. I have to get out of here fast!” Dexter declared as the mare propped his rifle against one of the nearby tables. If he could only get to it for a second, he would stun her and be on his way. “It’s really really important!”
“Oh, and why is that?” Clover tilted her head, her eyes rolling in skepticism. How cute, the colt was trying to avoid getting in trouble. Foals his age weren’t allowed to wander the castle alone; he must have either snuck in or run off from the one escorting him.
Either way, she was certain he’d be in trouble.
“Because Nightmare Moon is crazy!” Dexter blurted in urgency.
“Nightmare who?” Clover raised an eyebrow.
“I mean Princess Luna,” Dexter reiterated. “She’s whacked out of her gourd! And she’s trying to take over the world!”
“Uh huh…” The mare droned skeptically, before pulling his foreleg under a magnifying glass. “Now would you quit fidgeting…”
The mare ignored his protests for the next few minutes, proceeding to inspect him from head to hoof. She tried to pull his suit off of him a few times, a task which she found to be a lot more difficult than she initially realized.
Dexter, however, was counting the seconds until the battery icon on his HUD would read ‘5%.’ The moment it did, he would be free of this unicorn’s magic.
“Could you at least let me have my… thing back?” Dexter motioned toward his rifle. “I want to make sure it’s not broken…” He tried to plead innocently.
Clover didn’t even look up from the suit she was inspecting.
“What’s your name?” Clover eventually asked, prodding the colt’s suit with a pair of metal forceps.
“My name is not your concern.” Dexter replied, causing the mare to raise an eyebrow. “Stop that!” He swatted at the offending tool.
“Well, ‘not your concern,’” The mare smirked. “You can’t have it back, taking things that don’t belong to you is wrong. I’m going to have to tell the guards-”
Her rebuke was cut off by the workshop doors slamming shut. Dexter and Clover looked up to find an elderly stallion casting a spell to seal the door behind him.
“Master Star Swirl!” Clover started. “I’ve found a most peculiar f-“
“No time for any of that my apprentice,” the elderly stallion interrupted, failing to notice the colt floating in an aura of magic. His words were rushed as he urgently swept the room with his own aura. “You must make preparations to leave now. I want you to go to Canterlot immediately.”
His magic lifted a number of objects, mostly traveling trinkets, from around the room before hastily collecting them into a set of saddlebags. However, he added one rather large book to the travelling pouch.
“What? Why?” The confused mare shook her head, more than concerned to see her mentor so uneasy. “What’s going on?”
“S-somepony is attacking the castle,” He hesitated to reply. “I… I think it’s Princess Luna and her guards-”
The stallion was cut off by what sounded like an explosion somewhere nearby. It rocked the castle walls despite being muffled by the stone.
“What?” The mare shook her head again. “I don’t understand.”
“There is no time to explain. You need to leave now. I want you to take the dream catcher spell we have been working on for the past few weeks. I was hoping we wouldn’t need it… that Luna would be able to…” Star Swirl shook his head. “Listen, just make sure the solar guard garrison in Canterlot gets it, understand?” He tossed the saddlebags over her back, fastening them by tightening a strap. “Leave through the secret tunnel entrance in the basement, it should take you to the bottom of the gorge just south of the castle.”
“Don’t stop for anything until you reach Canterlot, and don’t let any of the lunar guard see you.” He instructed, starting to push her toward the door.
“Wait, wait!”
“There’s no time-“
“What about the foal?”
“Foal?” The elderly stallion asked in confusion, relenting from his efforts to shove the mare out the door. “What foal?”
“Him,” Clover cast a hoof in Dexter’s direction.
“Where did he come from?” Star Swirl tilted his head in confusion. “… and what is he wearing?”
“I don’t know, he hasn’t said anything useful since I found him.” The mare explained.
Star Swirl approached the colt, rubbing the long grey beard on his chin. “Intriguing suit… but we have no time for that. Take him with you.” With a flash of his horn, the aura of magic holding Dexter in the air disappeared.
“What?” Clover asked in confusion.
“Not happening.” Dexter countered, bolting toward his rifle. However, Clover’s magic seized the weapon, pulling it out of his reach just before he could grab it. “Hey! That belongs to me…”
Dexter trailed off as the sunlight streaming in from the windows suddenly ceased, the blue hue of the sky disappearing almost instantly as the moon sailed high into the sky. Pale light soon flooded into the once sunlit room, the only source of light for the world bathed in darkness below.
“Whoa…” The colt muttered. He had never seen the sky shift from day to night so quickly; it was like nothing he had ever seen.
“It’s… definitely Princess Luna who is attacking the castle…” Star Swirl declared solemnly, glancing at the full moon now reigning overhead. He turned toward Clover. “You, take the foal and get out of here, now. I am going to find Celestia, hopefully I can convince her to-“
Heavy pounding on the door interrupted the mage, startling the unicorns into looking toward the door.
“Star Swirl,” A muffled voice began. “By order of the throne and the lunar guard, open these doors!” Another round of pounding rang off the doors before they were wrapped in an aura of blue magic.
“The sealing spell I cast will not last for long,” Star Swirl turned, searching for another way out. “The windows, I’ll levitate you to the courtyard below.” He pointed with a hoof. But as soon as he spoke, several armor clad pegasi appeared just outside the windows. One of them barked a muffled order, pointing inside after spotting their target.
“Well we can’t go that way.” Clover answered. With a wave of Star Swirl’s horn, a barrier appeared over the windows. The pegasi outside started pounding on the magically reinforced glass.
“Star Swirl, we know you are in there.” The commanding voice on the far side of the door shouted louder. “Open this door at once! If you do not, you and your apprentice will be charged with treason against the throne!”
“You know a teleport spell right?” Dexter asked the stallion. He nodded. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Needless to say, Dexter shared the older stallion’s desire to escape. Unfortunately for the colt, the battery had yet to reach the 5% mark. He couldn’t start siphoning energy, and what little power he had wouldn’t keep him cloaked for long.
“No,” The stallion shook his head. “The princesses cast a teleport-blocking spell over the entire castle long ago, to prevent security breaches.”
“We’d better think of something fast,” Clover declared, trying to reinforce the barrier protecting the windows. It was starting to weaken under the relentless pounding of the guards outside.
Splinters of wood sprang across the room at the sound of the workshop door being broken. The guards overcame Star Swirl’s sealing spell in a single spot, allowing them to blow a hole in the door. A unicorn guard stuck his head through, charging his horn before promptly turning to the barrier protecting the windows. There was a pulse of magic before it disappeared, followed by the sound of shattering glass.
The pegasi guards flooded in through the broken windows, surrounding Dexter and the two other unicorns. Shortly after, another explosion of splintered wood signaled the defeat of the workshop door.
“Surrender Star Swirl.” The leading guard challenged, stepping over shattered wood and into the workshop. He was flanked by several other unicorn guards.
All of the guards all wore the blue armor, bearing the lunar seal. In total there were ten pegasi and ten unicorns.
The one who spoke had a black lining on his armor, indicating he was the captain of the lunar guard of the castle.
“Tell me Captain Nightwatch, what madness has claimed the princess and caused you to betray Equestria and your fellow guards?” Star Swirl spat.
“You will understand everything in due time…” The captain answered with a grin. “Personally, I think you have a sun-loving face. But Queen Moon has ordered you tested. It’s time you and your apprentice took a little nap…”
“Not going to happen,” Star Swirl said, posturing for his defense. Both he and Clover had charged their horns with magic.
“You’ll be going to sleep one way or the other, old wizard, and you will awaken as one of my brothers or never awaken at all!” The captain threatened. “Save yourself the dignity and come quietly.”
“I… I will come with you if you release my student.” Star Swirl hesitantly offered, earning a protest from Clover. However, she was quickly silenced as Star Swirl waved a hoof. “I won’t resist if you let her go.”
“No,” The captain grinned back. “Queen Moon wants Clover too. Besides, she’ll fall asleep sometime… “
Dexter, however, was having a standoff of his own.
The battery indicator in the corner of his vision just clicked up to ‘5%’, He could now start recharging his suit from the magic around him.
He could also help Star Swirl and Clover escape the lunar guards, but the colt hesitated to interfere.
The history books said that Star Swirl most likely played a crucial role in the defeat of Nightmare Moon, however the colt didn’t know for certain. The books written in the future lacked many useful details which had been lost to time.
For all Dexter knew, Nightmare Moon’s defeat could have been triggered by Star Swirl’s capture.
But Dexter did have to contend with the fact that he might have already changed things drastically, and that Star Swirl’s capture might have never been meant to happen. All he knew for certain was that Star Swirl and his student were supposed to survive Nightmare Moon’s uprising.
However, given the situation unfolding before him, Star Swirl’s survival was starting to look less and less likely. The elderly stallion did not appear to be the type to capitulate to Nightmare Moon, and he didn’t appear to possess the vigor necessary to survive torturous nightmares meant to shatter his mind.
Star Swirl wouldn’t survive Nightmare’s Indoctrination.
Dexter had to step in.
“HEY LOSER!” Dexter cut in, pointing at the captain.
“What?” He scowled down at the colt. However, his glare was cut off by Clover stepping between him and the foal.
“Are you crazy!?” She whispered harshly toward the petulant child. “Be quiet, we don’t need him any angrier.”
However Dexter pushed past her, ignoring her warning. A few neural impulses and a split second later, a line of text flashed in his glasses. ‘Dampeners Activated.’
“I called you a LOSER!” He taunted.
The captain merely glanced toward the closest unicorn guard. “Stun the brat and drag him out of here.” The unicorn in question nodded, charging his horn and launching a bolt of electricity toward the colt.
It struck Dexter dead in the chest.
Nothing happened.
And Dexter merely smiled.
“Oooo, that tickled, fathead.” Dexter mocked. “Did you train these guards yourself? That might explain why they suck.”
The captain merely sneered before looking back at the unicorn, who hastily cast another bolt toward Dexter. It was much more powerful this time, if the larger jump in his suit’s power reserves was any indication.
“Having trouble private?” The captain asked with a scowl.
“I’m trying sir!” The guard in question replied before hastily casting another series of bolts at the foal. “I don’t understand what’s happening!”
The captain rolled his eyes. “Sergeant?”
Another guard stepped forward, casting more electricity at the colt. Again, there was no effect.
“Keep it coming, morons.” Dexter mocked with a taunting hoof, motioning to himself while watching the power meter on his HUD grow.
The captain himself stepped toward the colt with a glowing horn. He cast a spell, different from the others, which struck Dexter in the chest. Again, it had no effect.
“How the?” Nightwatch asked in confusion. “That spell should have tossed you across the room…” In truth, it wasn’t powerful enough to really hurt the foal, so it didn’t give Dexter much energy.
“It’s the suit he’s wearing!” Captain Nightwatch blurted in realization, waving off the other unicorns before pointing to the pegasi guards floating overhead “You two, seize him!” He commanded.
Two of the fliers darted toward the colt.
“Oh crap-” Dexter raised a hoof in defense, a faint glow coming from the horseshoes attached to his hooves. The moment the pegasus made contact with the colt, Dexter swatted at his chest. A discharge from his force amplifier sent the first guard hurdling across the room, slamming into one of the unicorns before tumbling to a stop.
Dexter reacted more quickly to the second pegasus, hitting him squarely in the chest before sending him careening into a bookshelf. The guard crashed, causing the bookcase to collapse as several books sprayed across the room.
“…what?” The captain asked in bewilderment as several of the other guards recoiled from the colt, charging their horns.
“Shield yourselves,” Dexter instructed Star Swirl and Clover before reaching for the rifle that had fallen to the floor when Clover moved to shield him before, shifting onto his haunches before setting the weapon to stun. He took aim at the closest unicorn.
Unlike his shoulder mounted cannon, Dexter had to sit on his haunches in order to aim the rifle; given that rifles weren’t exactly helpful to someone pony-shaped. But the rifle was small enough to not destroy everything in the room with a single shot.
“What are you foals waiting for?” the captain roared to the remaining guards. “Get them-”
A blue bolt of energy erupted from the rifle, striking one of the lunar unicorns in the chest. His body immediately seized, causing him to collapse to the floor.
Several more unicorns returned fire, propelling various bolts of magic at the colt. Unfortunately for the guards, their spells all fizzled out into nothing on contact with Dexter’s suit.
After taking out most of the unicorns, Dexter turned his aim upwards. He was just in time to catch a number of pegasi lunging at him. He rewarded their efforts by shooting most of them squarely in the chest, causing their bodies to seize mid-dive before crashing into the floor or pieces of furniture.
But he wasn’t able to catch them all. One of the pegasi collided with the colt, knocking the rifle from his hooves, while another pinned him from behind.
It wasn’t long before Dexter threw them off with his force amplifiers, sending them toppling across the room.
However, Dexter didn’t have time to notice that one of the workshop bookcases had been pushed over with an aura of magic. It collapsed on the colt, burying him in a pile of wood and paper.
Of course, given the armor he had on, he hardly felt it. Not that the guard knew.
“I noticed something about you…” Captain Nightwatch approached the buried colt with his two remaining unicorns. He used his magic to summon a pole of wood from one of the nearby broken pieces of furniture. “You’re immune to direct attack from magic.”
“But magic can still hurt you if it is applied indirectly…” He said, standing over the colt as Dexter pushed a piece of debris off his form. He was still half buried by the bookcase, pinned at the moment.
That didn’t stop the captain from swinging at him with the piece of wood in his magical grasp. The aura of magic around the wood allowed it to strike the colt on the head with much more force than he could muster if he was swinging it with a foreleg. The magic itself was not touching Dexter, his suit couldn’t drain it.
“That’s nice armor, little brat.” Nightwatch swung the wood, hitting Dexter on the head hard enough to shatter it. However, he immediately retrieved another piece of debris. “But don’t worry, I’m not trying to hurt you, I just want to knock you out…”
“It’s time for you to go to sleep…” He laughed.
In truth, the blows weren’t really doing much to Dexter. His armor easily absorbed each strike. He was about to throw the remains of the bookcase off himself when the captain was cut off.
Star Swirl’s aura of magic appeared around the captain, slamming his body against the workshop’s stone wall. He slid unconscious to the ground.
The two remaining guards were also struck by bolts of electricity, each cast from Clover’s horn. They too seized before falling over.
“Hey, I had that!” Dexter frowned, throwing off the rest of the bookcase with a single swing from his fore hoof. “I was looking forward to shutting up that stupid captain.”
The two remaining unicorns merely stared at the colt, unable to think of what to say.
They just saw an eight year old beat seasoned guards.
“What?” Dexter asked incredulously. “Don’t worry, they’ll all live.”
“You… you just took out almost twenty guards…” Clover managed to choke out past her astonishment.
“Yes… Well there are probably more where that came from. You mentioned something about a secret tunnel to the bottom of the gorge?” Dexter directed toward Star Swirl.
“I… uh yes,” Star Swirl said, shaking himself out of his stupor. “T-this way…”
---
“Well, what about-“
“No,” Dexter droned.
“But can you at least tell me about this ‘Night vision.’” Clover began excitedly once more. She had noticed that the colt could navigate the tunnels without the aid of any visible light source.
“No,” Dexter replied without even hearing her question.
Star Swirl had led them into the Castle’s basement before casting a spell at what Dexter could only assume was a random wall. However, moments later, the wall opened up to reveal a passageway. It was akin to a small narrow cave.
The cave was wet and dark, and became pitch black after the door behind them closed. However, the colt proved able to navigate the darkness without the light provided by the unicorn’s magic, making the mistake of stating that he possessed something called ‘night vision.’
That led Clover to unleash a torrent of questions on the colt.
Of course, Dexter refused to answer her questions. It was driving her up a wall.
“Does your suit-“
“No…”
“Are you even listenin-“
“No…”
“Of all the questions my student has asked,” Star Swirl cut in, speaking for the first time as he stopped to regard the colt. “She has not asked the most important one. Who are you?”
“Who I am is not your concern.” Dexter replied simply.
“Well then what are we supposed to call you?” Clover complained.
“My name is… Archer.” Dexter lied, blurting out the first pony name that came to mind which sounded remotely like something he could live with.
“Archer?” Clover asked in surprise. “Isn’t that a girl’s name?”
Clover was actually right, as far as pony names were concerned anyway. Archer was the name of a blue filly from Cheerilee’s class. Dexter dredged that name up since it was the first thing that came to mind. Of course, he didn’t realize his error beforehand. It was a boy’s name for humans.
“If I repeated my questions, would you mind answering without lying this time?” Star Swirl chided, causing the colt to frown.
The truth was, Dexter actually felt strangely fortunate to meet the old wizard. He was supposed to be one of the greatest figures in the history of magic and science in the pony culture. If they had only met under different circumstances, Dexter might actually have enjoyed having a conversation with him.
“Look,” Dexter began tiredly. “For reasons I cannot explain, I cannot answer any questions about who I am, where I come from, nor anything about the suit I am wearing.” Dexter cast a glance at Clover.
Star Swirl merely eyed the colt for a moment, increasing the amount of light given off by his horn as though it may reveal something in the retreating darkness.
“You’re a very peculiar, if not oddly capable, child.” Star Swirl declared with a frown. “But you’re still a child and I cannot, in good conscience, leave you alone. Tell me where you’re from and who is responsible for you, and I will take you to them.” Star Swirl offered.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Mr. Star Swirl.” Dexter replied, following after Star Swirl. He shook his head and pressed on. “I can take care of myself.”
“This is not a game, child…” Star Swirl eventually answered. “You may have bested those guards, but they won’t always prove to be beaten so easily.”
“Really?” Dexter asked skeptically, inspecting the old unicorn’s hat and robe. Was he supposed to be the pony version of Merlin or something? “It’s my impression that the lunar guard would have probably sent their best soldiers to take you, Star Swirl, down. If what I saw back there was the best they have to offer…”
“They hesitated” Star Swirl refuted. “They weren’t expecting to attack a child, and were surprised by the strength you displayed. I warn you, they will not make such errors in the future. So don’t be too proud of yourself, lest your ego be your downfall.”
“It's not a matter of ego…” Dexter growled. “It’s a matter of fact. Hesitating or not, they couldn’t get past my suit’s armor.”
“So it is a suit of armor…” Clover muttered. “Wait a second!” She rounded in front of the colt, staring down at him aggressively. “You knew!” She accused.
“Knew what?” Dexter recoiled.
“You knew about… everything!” Clover pressed. “You knew Luna was going to attack the castle ahead of time!”
“What?” Dexter asked, genuinely baffled. “How in the world did you get that idea?”
“You came here wearing a suit of armor, meaning you were prepared for a fight.” Clover began to explain. “You referred to Princess Luna as Nightmare Moon before anypony else could tell us that was Princess Luna’s new name, and you brought something called ‘Night Vision.’”
Dexter felt butterflies grow in his stomach.
“What of it?” Dexter retorted.
“There was no way you could have known the name ‘Nightmare Moon’ before Captain Nightwatch mentioned it unless you heard about it before I found you.” Clover explained. “That, coupled with the fact you are ready for a fight, means you anticipated the attack on the castle. And if the Night Vision does what it sounds like, then you also knew the attacker would bring forth the night…”
“Which means you knew there was going to be an attack, and you knew Princess Luna would be the one to do it.”
“Huh…” Dexter frowned. “You’re… clever,” He declared, earning a grin from Clover.
“Look,” Dexter began. “I did know about the possibility of Nightmare Moon’s attack, and her attempt to bring about eternal night. But the truth is I didn’t think it would actually happen.”
“I think everypony wished that was the case right about now…” Star Swirl added.
“But now everything is different,” Dexter went on. He couldn’t help but feel a growing twinge of guilt forming in the pit of his stomach. Before his interference, Nightmare Moon would have been defeated without question. But now, it was anyone’s guess.
What worried Dexter more was the prospect that Nightmare Moon might actually be able to bring about an eternal night, an act which would cause global extinction for all forms of life.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“I have to make sure Nightmare Moon is defeated,” He turned to Star Swirl, remembering what he could about the old stallion from the history books. “You helped design the magic protecting the royal vaults, correct?”
“You know, that’s supposed to be a secret...” Star Swirl’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“I need you to tell me how to open the vault so I can get the Elements of Harmony.” Dexter went on.
“The Elements of Harmony?” Clover tilted her head. “What do you need those for?”
“Celestia is going to need them to defeat Nightmare Moon.” Dexter explained.
“They won’t help you,” Star Swirl answered, shaking his head before rubbing his beard. “If I know Celestia at all, she won’t lift a hoof against her sister, let alone use the Elements of Harmony on her.”
“Besides, the Elements of Harmony require bearers to wield them. Since Luna bore three of those elements, we’re out of bearers.” Star Swirl declared.
“No, Celestia can wield all six of them.” Dexter shook his head. If what Dexter had read was correct, Celestia wielded all six elements by herself in order to defeat Nightmare Moon.
“That’s impossible.” Star Swirl declared.
“Wait, what?” Dexter scowled in confusion. “Why?”
“Even if a single pony possessed all six traits represented by the elements, they could not wield them. The elements of harmony are based on the magic of friendship.” The elderly stallion continued to press forward, lighting more of the tunnel with his horn. “You can bear all six elements, but wielding them requires at least two ponies who are friends.”
“Up until now, Celestia and Luna were the two required friends. So unless Princess Luna is willing to use the elements on herself, you’re out of luck.” Star Swirl sighed.
“But… but…” Dexter muttered to himself in confusion. The history books clearly stated that Princess Celestia had used the Elements of Harmony to banish Princess Luna to the moon. “But that can’t be right. Everything, even the prophecy which told of Luna’s return from the moon after her thousand year banishment said that Celestia had used the Elements of Harmony to defeat her. Celestia alone used the elements!”
“Prophecy?” Clover parroted. “What prophecy?”
“You know, the one about Luna being banished to the moon for trying to bring about eternal night, but eventually escaped?”
The two unicorns stopped, eyeing the colt silently.
“A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria,” Dexter recited from memory. “Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.”
“It’s one of the things you should know of.” Dexter looked up expectantly.
“I was not aware that such a prophecy had been made…” Star Swirl stroked his long beard with a hoof, contemplating the colt’s words.
After a few more moments of silence, Dexter facehoofed.
Hard.
“I can’t believe I just did that,” He muttered as he mentally kicked himself. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I need to get into the vault so I can get the Elements of Harmony.”
Star Swirl stroked his beard a few more times, looking down at the colt with uncertainty before sighing loudly.
“Even if Celestia could wield the elements, you still have a problem…” Star Swirl explained. “You were right when you said that I had a hand in constructing the vault. Not only did I create a way for myself to get in if need be, I also set up a few monitoring spells to inform me when another entered.”
“A few months ago, Princess Luna entered the vault without telling anypony.” The wizard went on. “I eventually went to find out what she had taken, or left there, and discovered that she had taken her elements from the vault.”
“What are you saying…?” Dexter groaned. “The Elements of Harmony are missing?”
“The elements of loyalty, honesty and laughter, yes.” Star Swirl answered. “The others are still in the vault. But tell me, what would you do once you got them?”
“Give them to Celestia so she can blast Nightmare Moon to the Moon!” Dexter answered straight away. Of course, he was concerned about what Star Swirl said about Celestia needing a friend.
He knew for absolute certain that he didn’t possess any of the elements of harmony. It wasn’t even a question, and he would laugh if someone suggested it. But even if he did, he didn’t have time to make friends with anyone in time enough to use them on Nightmare Moon.
“You know, this might add merit to what he’s been saying…” Clover speculated aloud. “If Luna was planning this attack, she might have known that the Elements of Harmony were one of the few things that could defeat her… splitting them up instead of hiding all of them in one spot would insure that they could never be used.”
“Perhaps…” Star Swirl glanced at the mare before turning back to the colt. “But if this colt is privy to prophecies, then he knows more about what’s going on than anypony else. I’ll trust you with the secrets to opening the vault.”
“And don’t worry, it’s quite simple. You won’t need magic to do it.” Star Swirl added.
“Whoa, wait, Master…” Clover cut in. “You can’t seriously be considering letting this foal, a child, go back to the castle?”
“Considering the suit he’s wearing, and the weapon he’s carrying, I don’t think we have a say in the matter.” Star Swirl turned away, pressing onward through the cave.
“Wait wait… at least take this.” Clover removed and opened up one of the books from her saddlebags, turning to a page before shoving it in Dexter’s face.
Whatever she just showed him, it was written in Unicorian.
He couldn’t understand it.
“I uhh… can’t read that?” Dexter answered, scanning the pages before flipping through them. “I can’t read any of this it…”
“What?” Clover replied with mild confusion. “That’s the dream catcher spell; it will prevent Luna, or Nightmare Moon, from messing with your dreams.”
“In case you didn’t notice, I don’t have a horn. I can’t-“He stopped when he saw Star Swirl lift his hat, pulling out a dream catcher laced with several runes. “Err, thanks.” Dexter replied, making sure his magic dampeners were off. If he drained the dream catcher of all its magic it would be useless at protecting his dreams.
“We’re here.” Star Swirl declared as they approached the end of the cave. A glow from his horn caused a portion of the cave wall to shift before moving out of the way.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to come with us?” Clover asked the colt as they stepped out into the night. “I can’t even imagine how dangerous it would be to go back…”
“Stupid gorge! Why do they even have it?” Dexter muttered to himself as he approached the castle wall, brushing mud off of his suit.
After parting ways with Star Swirl and Clover, Dexter revisited the crate of supplies Quadraplex forced him to take before returning to the castle.
The colt opted to take a variety of explosives on top of a few gadgets, figuring that if Star Swirl’s method for opening the vault proved unfruitful then he would need a plan B.
The trip back to the castle was uneventful, at least until he came to the bridge spanning the gorge. Both sides of the bridge were under guard by lunar unicorns. Of course, Dexter stood a chance of getting past them without incident by using his cloak.
Yet, his cloak had already failed to hide him inside Luna’s private chambers. She had found him due to her advanced hearing. That and he didn’t want to risk running afoul of any magical trap or spell that might still be able to detect him.
Instead, he used a grappling hook to scale the side of the gorge, getting mud on his suit.
However, it wasn’t until he had successfully climbed up and started approaching the castle that he realized the useless nature of the gorge in the first place.
“Seriously, one third of their species can fly and the other third can teleport. Did they build that gorge just to keep out earth ponies?” Dexter complained quietly, scanning to the left and right of the wall for sentries. When he was sure the coast was clear, a ripple of light washed over his form, allowing him to turn visible once more. “Same goes for the walls!”
“Now to get past this wall… I can go around it or over it.” He muttered to himself as he reloaded his grappling gun. He would go over, as going the way around probably involved getting past a guarded door. Grappling would be easier.
At least it would have.
The castle wall a few meters to the right of him suddenly exploded, showering dust and broken stone everywhere.
The colt jumped, startled by the sudden sound, before pressing against the remains of the wall harder. “Or maybe I could just go through it…” Dexter quipped to himself.
However the dust soon settled, revealing a white figure lying in the debris.
Dexter recognized Celestia immediately.
The alicorn was a mess. Her main and coat were disheveled, if not tore up. Wet matted trails of fur hung under her eyes. She had been crying.
Her regalia was also gone, likely destroyed by her impact with the wall.
However, the apparent wounds from her impact appeared to start healing. The cuts sealed themselves while scrapes disappeared under fresh fur.
Dexter couldn’t help but watch, he had never seen something heal so rapidly on its own before.
Unfortunately, his presence didn’t go unnoticed. Halfway through Celestia’s attempt to rise, the alicorn’s eyes drifted until locking on to the colt.
At least, she thought it was a colt, judging by his shape and size. Yet he was wearing something which covered his entire body, hiding everything but the color of his eyes and mane.
“A foal?” She uttered in both fear and bewilderment.
“You see nothing.” Dexter waved a hoof as light rippled over his suit once more, causing him to vanish.
Not a moment later a blue blur crashed atop Celestia, crushing her into the stone rubble and kicking up another plume of dust.
‘What the heck is going on?’ Dexter backed away from the plume slowly. It dissipated slowly, revealing Nightmare Moon standing atop the rubble.
Nightmare brought her head down to Celestia’s face, glaring at the white alicorn pinned beneath her. “Fight me Celestia.” She growled, traces of indignation hidden in her voice. “Or are you too perfect to sully your hooves with a little violence?”
“I will not fight you, my sister...” Celesta coughed, panting under the force of Nightmare’s weight. More wounds that appeared starting healing once again. “Please, stop this madness-“
“AM I NOT A WORTHY OPPONENT!?” Nightmare roared before slamming a hoof down on Celestia’s chest, the force of the hit caused several of the stone bricks beneath them to shatter.
The white alicorn didn’t respond, writhing in agony as she cringed around the point of Nightmare’s strike.
Nightmare merely watched, her expression a mixture of fury and disgust. Using her magic she hoisted Celestia’s head upward before slamming it into another fallen stone. The brick in question shattered upon contact.
Nightmare then kicked Celestia with a sweeping motion, throwing her onto the grass a few feet away.
Celestia began to stand up, however she stopped when Nightmare landed a few feet away.
“I…I will not fight you Sister.” Celestia breathed again, struggling to stand.
“I’m not your sister anymore, Celestia…” Nightmare stepped forward, lowering her head to whisper in Celestia’s ear. “I am Nightmare Moon now.”
“Luna, stop this please!” Celestia cried before a hoof collided with her face.
“Fight me or be silent.” Nightmare ordered. “No talking.”
Nightmare eyed the other alicorn for a moment, apparently trying to decide what to do. The pleading yet resolute gaze cast back at Nightmare displayed Celestia’s clear and unyielding determination.
Celestia would not fight.
By this point, Dexter was wondering if he should just shoot Nightmare Moon. The mare obviously had a number of mental problems to work out, and perhaps attacking the dark alicorn would give Celestia the upper hand.
However, the solar alicorn wasn’t fighting. A fact which would render Dexter’s help pointless.
The next best option was to leave quietly, yet he didn’t want to run the risk of being heard by the dark alicorn again.
Eventually he settled on staying put, hiding under his cloak until the two alicorns would leave. Thankfully this time he had plenty of power left in reserve.
“You know… A part of me is glad that you refuse to fight.” Nightmare produced a grin, though her eyes were filled with anger. “It gives me the chance to break your spirit; and when I do you will choose to fight me, and I’ll have the chance to break your body.”
A spine chilling cackle. “Everypony will see you lying crushed under my hoof,” Nightmare grinned. “Broken in both body and will, and there will be NO QUESTION in anypony’s mind who THE BETTER PRINCESS IS!”
“Luna please…” Celestia’s voice shook. “I don’t care who is better… I love you and nothing will change that. You’re the only one in this whole world I have…“
“At first I thought I wanted to kill you, but now I am not so sure.” Nightmare began. “I never realized the power of hate, and how it is as insatiable as it is intoxicating. No, killing you would not be enough. It would end your suffering too quickly.” Nightmare breathed. “No, I won’t find a way to release you from the curse of immortality!”
“How does it feel Celestia? Knowing that you will suffer just like me!” Nightmare let loose another spine chilling, almost neurotic, laugh. Again it appeared to be a mixture of a sob and hysterical gaffing.
“Can you not see, Celestia? Your sister is dead! You’re going to be alone forever!”
Celestia stood speechless, sheer terror in her eyes as she watched the dark alicorn. It was like her worst nightmares had been realized right in front of her, but not in a way she had expected.
The truth was, being alone forever wasn’t her worst fear. A fact Celestia just realized.
However, something terrible happening to the younger sister she loved was her worst fear.
“No,” Celestia shook her head, anger and frustration seeping into her voice as she stomped aggressively. “My sister is not dead, she can’t die.”
“But she is in pain,” Celestia cast her resolute gaze at Nightmare. “I don’t know what’s happened to you Luna. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I will fix this. I don’t care what I have to do, or how far I have to go. I don’t care if you beat me a million times; I will make you well again, Luna.”
“I love you Luna, and nothing will change that.”
Nightmare’s growing frown finally turned into a snarl, she opened her mouth to speak before abruptly stopping.
Then she grew a heinous grin. “Not if I fix you first…” Nightmare countered before chuckling. “Oh, this will be interesting… Lets see how long your love lasts in the face of such reckless hate.”
“Forget about your love Tia…” Nightmare almost sounded like Luna for a moment. “I will teach you to hate me.”
“And the smallest spark is all I need for nightmare to worm its way into your heart and mind.”
“And what greater victory could I have than making the alicorn of the day become a child of the night!” Nightmare proclaimed. “Oh Celestia, you will embrace me…”
“I could never hate you Luna!” Celestia shook her head.
“If it helps, Celestia, think of all your little ponies I am hurting,” Nightmare goaded. “The suffering I am causing, the friends I am tormenting. I am patient, Celestia. I’ll eventually beat the hatred into you.”
---
It didn’t take Dexter long to find the hidden vault, given that it was exactly where Star Swirl said it was. Judging by how well it was hidden, it might have taken Dexter a few days to find it on his own and without any technology. A fact which made him feel strangely fortunate for crossing paths with the old wizard and his apprentice.
Unfortunately for the colt, the vault room was not vacant. Half a dozen lunar unicorn guards occupied the room.
Four of the guards stood in a row while applying their magic to the vault door. Their leader, a unicorn mare, stood aside with another one of the guards. The black lining on her armor signified her status as an officer, and matched with her equally black coat.
Dexter was quick to note that none of these guards were actually watching the vault room entrance. In fact, they appeared to be more interested in breaking into the vault than keeping anyone out. Fortunately for Dexter, their lapse in vigilance kept him hidden as he walked into the vault room, giving him the chance to cloak before he was spotted.
The guards could have been charged with retrieving something for Nightmare Moon. Perhaps she had sent them after the remaining Elements of Harmony as an added precaution, given that she had been forced to accelerate her plans.
But if that were the case, shouldn’t they already be in the vault? Surely Nightmare Moon would have told them how to open the door.
Shaking off his thoughts, the colt pushed into the room silently.
“Are you sure about this?” The guard beside the officer asked, frowning with a hint of worry.
“For a sergeant, you’re awfully vocal about your reservations.” She chided.
“Crystal…”
“That’s ‘Lieutenant’ while in uniform,” She chastised. “Is that understood Sergeant Lancer?”
“Alright, Lieutenant,” The guard rolled his eyes, continuing sarcastically. “I don’t mean to be hurting troop morale, but this seems rather dangerous. What if our new Queen finds out what you’re doing here?”
“Our new ‘Queen’ is why we are here,” She spat at the word ‘queen,’ hiding no distaste for Nightmare Moon. “You do realize what will happen to this world if she actually does bring about the ‘unending night’ that she has brainwashed everypony into wanting,?it would be horrible!”
“Do you have any idea what she will do to us if she finds out you’re trying to break into the royal vaults without her permission?” Lancer countered. “It’s hard to love a bloodstain…”
Lieutenant Crystal merely glanced at him in annoyance.
“Well, I was hoping for our relationship to be long and happy, but I guess I’ll settle for short and exciting…” He declared cynically.
By now Dexter had circled around behind the pair of talking guards and the four others working on the vault door, taking special care to go unnoticed despite the cloak making him invisible. He didn’t pay very much attention to what was said. He was more concerned with choosing the best angle to ambush the unsuspecting guards. Finding the spot he wanted, he drew his rifle and aimed at the guards.
Lancer opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the Lieutenant throwing him aside with a foreleg. The motion was one fluid movement, proving that she was quite a bit stronger than the average mare.
She then whirled around to face directly at the colt, casting a bolt of electricity from her horn. It struck him in the center of his chest. The magic dampeners in his suit instantly activated, absorbing the blast and leaving him unharmed. However, Dexter’s cloak dropped during the process.
He squeezed the trigger. Blue energy erupted from the barrel, striking the guard just below the horn. Her head jerked back from the impact.
The rifle was a miniature ion cannon, and packed enough punch to blow holes in a five foot thick stone. Of course, the colt had set it to stun, and should have been more than enough power to put the mare down.
Which was why Dexter was utterly bewildered when the mare gazed back downward to face him with an angry scowl.
“What the?” Dexter asked in confusion, upping the setting on his rifle before taking aim once more. It was set to its maximum stun setting.
“You… You’re a foal?!” Crystal asked in confusion, despite flaring her horn defensively with a green aura. “So the rumor was true… Captain Night Watch was ambushed by a child.”
The other guards in the room had already rounded on Dexter, surrounding him with their horns charged. Lancer, picking himself up off the floor, joined them.
That’s when Dexter noted an oddity: all of them had green auras of magic except Sergeant Lancer. All of them were the exact same hue, matching perfectly with Crystal’s piercing green eyes.
“It can’t be…” Dexter muttered to himself, a growing suspicion causing him to worry. Two things didn’t sit right with the colt; the odds that five ponies would have the same aura of magic was extremely small, and given the fact their colors should have been made blue by their uniforms for the lunar guard.
He sent the neural command to his suit’s sensor to scan the mare before him, almost cursing when his suspicions were confirmed.
All but Lancer were changelings.
It explained why she was able to tell he was there; despite the cloak she could still sense his emotions[1] .
“What? What in the world are you freaks doing here?” Dexter held his rifle tighter, aiming straight at the lieutenant’s face. “Heh,” Dexter suppressed a chuckle while he shook his head. He should have known there was something more to history than what he had read in the history books. “You’re responsible for all of this aren’t you! Nightmare Moon and this entire catastrophe is your fault!”
There was no way in the world Dexter would believe that mere coincidence lead changelings to infiltrate the lunar guard at the same time princess Luna became Nightmare Moon. In fact, prior experiences with changelings lead him to presume the worst.
Their ability to sense emotions, coupled with the fact that the alicorns didn’t even know changelings existed at this point in time, provided them with every opportunity to manipulate Luna into a spiraling depression; one which would lead her into becoming Nightmare Moon.
And if the changelings were responsible for Luna becoming Nightmare Moon, then there stood a chance they would know how to reverse the process and bring Luna’s personality back to the surface.
But he didn’t want to do anything to disrupt the timeline further, and changelings were known only as a myth until at least a year after Luna’s return. He couldn’t just expose them, but he still needed to find out what they had done.
“Careful, he’s stronger than he looks.” Crystal warned her fellow ‘guards.’
“You bug eyed freaks have been manipulating Princess Luna’s emotions to turn her into Nightmare Moon, haven’t you!” Dexter accused, grinding his teeth. “Do you have any idea what damage you have caused?”
“What?” Crystal, genuinely surprised by the accusation. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” She waved to the guards. “Seize him!”
A bolt of blue energy erupted from the end of Dexter’s rifle, striking Sergeant Lancer directly in the chest. His body immediately seized before he passed out and fell to the floor, unconscious.
The remaining guards returned the attack with green bolts of magic which were pointlessly absorbed by the colt’s armor.
By this point, Dexter needed information from the changelings. However, getting it would be astoundingly difficult while they were attacking him. He had to find out a way to stop the fight before it could escalate.
He aimed his rifle toward the floor a few feet before the guards, turning the ion rifle to its highest setting. The blue bolt which struck the floor hit with explosive force, shattering the stone and hurling the guards across the room.
The explosion wasn’t close enough to the changelings to actually hurt them, but it did more than wind them.
When the dust cleared, the guards began picking themselves up. “Where did he go?” One of them asked, scanning the room. “I don’t see him.”
“He’s still here,” Crystal replied as her horn glowed. She turned to scan the room slowly, reaching out with her ability to sense emotions, before she was stopped by an invisible object.
“Don’t try anything,” Dexter warned, reappearing as his cloak fell. His rifle firmly pressed to her side. “This isn’t on the stun setting anymore.
Of course he couldn’t leave the weapon on stun, the last time he tried to stun her it only served to tick her off.
“Tell them to stand down,” Dexter ordered when the closest of other guards took an aggressive step toward the colt. “If they try something stupid, and this gun goes off accidentally, you’re the one who will pay for it.”
She responded by waving them off with a hoof.
“Now tell me how to undo what you’ve done,” Dexter demanded.
“Changelings.”
“What are you talking about?” Crystal asked, genuine surprise flashing through her leer. “Changelings are a myth, and we’ve done nothing.”
”Stop lying,” Dexter ordered after gritting his teeth. “I know you’re a changeling, and I’m not just about to think your presence here is a coincidence.”
“You’re crazy kid,” Crystal dismissed. “Changelings are nothing but legend.”
Dexter bit his lip; he didn’t have time to play this game.
“Look, let’s skip the denial game okay?” Dexter sneered. “I know you’re a changeling. I know you feed off of love. I know you can sense emotions – which is why you were able to sense my presence despite my invisibility. I know your hive is lead by a queen, you have holes in your legs when you’re in your natural form as well as a bunch of bug-like features.
“I could go on, but you get my point.” Dexter finished with a frown.
The lieutenant stared at him silently, her face held a mixture of confusion and surprise. Yet she pressed on. “You’re confused,” Crystal began. “My name is Crystal, and I’m a unicorn from-“
“That’s a lie,” Dexter chastised. “The name of the mare whose identity you’ve stolen is Crystal. But for changelings, it’s only after you’ve proven to your hive that you’re extraordinary in some way that you are even given the chance to earn a name. An interesting bit of culture you bugs have there, but it should be expected since you don’t need names to distinguish yourselves from one another…”
Crystal’s feigned confusion slowly faded, being replaced with a deadly glower.
“And how, exactly, do you know that?” Crystal hissed, turning toward Dexter. She would have taken an aggressive step toward the colt if it weren’t for the rifle now pressed to her chest.
“How I know it is irrelevant,” Dexter replied with a growl of frustration. The continuous waste of time started to grate on his nerves.
“I don’t think it is,” She countered. The changelings had worked very hard to keep their existence a secret from all of ponykind. The fact that not only was their existence exposed, but they were detected by the colt, had much broader implications for changelings as a whole.
It was an intolerable breach of security that couldn’t be allowed.
Of course, Dexter didn’t want to waste time thinking about that for the moment.
“The only thing of relevance right now is Nightmare Moon.” Dexter dismissed. “If she isn’t stopped, there is a good chance everything on this planet will die, changelings included. So you’re going to tell me exactly what you did, what I need to know to undo it. Understand?”
“We’ve done nothing to precipitate Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon.” Crystal frowned, shaking her head. “Now you haven’t answered my question, and believe me you will-”
“I just don’t seem to be getting through to you, am I?” Dexter growled after gritting his teeth. “If you don’t tell me what I want to know right now, I’ll expose you.”
“What?” The changeling hissed.
“If you don’t help me defeat Nightmare Moon, starting with telling me what I want to know, I’ll go and tell all of ponykind about the existence of changelings… His scowl slowly morphed into a sinister grin.
“And I’ll tell them how to find you.” Dexter spoke. “I’m sure Nightmare Moon will enjoy hunting you all down. That is, if you don’t starve or get enslaved first.”
The room hung in silence when Dexter finished. The mare at the end of his rifle softened her scowl slightly as her grimace became dispassionate.
“You’re playing a very dangerous game, foal.” The mare replied calmly with a cold gaze. “But I spoke the truth, we’ve done nothing to cause Nightmare Moon’s rebellion. In fact, we’ve been trying to prevent this from happening.”
“So I am supposed to believe your appearance here was mere coincidence.” Dexter rebutted.
“Of course it wasn’t,” She hissed. “Over the past few months, we’ve been detecting emotional disturbances in ponies all across Equestria.
“Ponies were becoming more hateful…”
“It took weeks of intelligence gathering before we were able to determine it was Princess Luna,” She went on. “Or should I say, Nightmare Moon, converting ponies in their sleep to her cause.”
“That’s when we became aware of her… mental and emotional state.” Crystal went on. “But by then, Nightmare’s grip on Luna’s mind was very strong. It was far too late for any amount of emotional or psychological manipulation to reverse Luna’s descent into madness.”
“Why didn’t you just send a few changelings, as ponies, to befriend her?” Dexter questioned. “It seems like those whole situation could have been prevented by a letting her know her work as Princess was appreciated.”
“No,” Crystal shook her head. “It would have merely inflated her ego and her pride, and the adoration of those few ponies would have been justification, proof in her mind that Celestia was unjustly more popular than her.“
“And why should I believe any of your story?” Dexter asked.
“What?!” The mare threw who hooves up in frustration. “How could we have done this? Why would we have done this?” She ranted. “Nightmare Moon is disrupting the harmony of Equestria. She is destroying the love that Clover planted and which unified Equestria, and is replacing it with hate!
“Nightmare Moon is a creature of hate, born from jealousy.” The changeling ranted. “In a world ruled by her, there would be so little love for Changelings to feed on, we would all end up starving to death; that’s if her eternal night didn’t kill us all first!"
“We’ve been doing everything we can to stop her.”
Dexter lowered his rifle, looking up at the mare’s face as if trying to see if she were lying. He didn’t know what to make of Crystal’s story, but he knew it made perfect sense from what he had learned about the changelings and Nightmare Moon.
“Look, I’ll prove it.” Crystal turned toward one of the guards. “Bring them,” She motioned with a hoof.
“But, your hi-“
“Now,” She hissed, causing the guard in question to levitate his saddlebag toward her.
“Look at this,” She ordered; opening it up to reveal three large perfectly cut gems: one red, one orange, and one blue.
“The Elements of Harmony?”
“Loyalty, Laughter and Honesty,” The mare confirmed.
“I… I thought Nightmare Moon had hidden those elements away so that they couldn’t be used against her.” Dexter tilted his head.
“She did…” Crystal’s eyes narrowed on the colt. “But how did you know that?”
“Star Swirl told me after I rescued him,” Dexter answered, inspecting the gems after finally lowering his weapon. “How did you-“
“One of the guards Luna instructed to hide the Elements was an infiltrator.” Crystal replied curtly. “She still believes the original guards she sent to hide the elements are still travelling out of Equestria.”
“I had them brought back here so they could be reunited with the other elements.” Crystal explained. “It’s my hope that they were sent away by Nightmare Moon because she knew that Celestia could use them against her. The plan was to put the elements in the vault so Celestia would find the full set waiting for her.
“Unfortunately the remaining three are inside the most secure vault known to exist.” The mare pointed toward the vault door.
“Alright, let’s say I believe you…” Dexter began slowly. “That doesn’t mean I trust you, so here’s a new deal, help me defeat Nightmare Moon and I’ll keep your secret. Betray me, and Nightmare Moon will be the first to know of you.”
“Fine…” Crystal hissed.
“Good, now let me show you how to open this vault…”
---
“Well, that was rather easy…” Dexter asked as he pushed the vault door open. After using the trick Star Swirl taught him to disable the magic keeping the vault sealed, unlocking it was simple. However, the door itself was still five tons of the hardest metal Equestria knew of. But Dexter’s suit made the task a lot more manageable. “Star swirl must have wanted a way to get into the vault real quick.”
The changelings however merely watched the child, trying to hide their slight amazement at the sight of him pushing open a five ton door without magic.
“One thing that I don’t understand though… “Dexter began, recalling a few details of the Canterlot wedding. “Isn’t the changeling queen really powerful if she has the love of someone to feed on? Would she be powerful enough to fight Nightmare Moon?”
“That’s what sergeant Lancer was for…” The changeling replied. “I do hope he wakes up from whatever you did to him soon...”
“Yeah…” Dexter’s gaze drifted. “He might be out for a few hours …or a day … or two… Don’t worry though, the ion bolt stuns by creating a flux of ions through the target’s body that-” Dexter noticed the changelings raised eyebrow. “Let's just say he was electrocuted in a fashion that put him in a short term coma, he isn’t having dreams right now so Nightmare Moon can’t get to him.”
“Good to know, but he’s already been indoctrinated by her.” Crystal frowned. “Took weeks just to get him to say something negative about her…
“But fighting Nightmare Moon directly was my backup plan,” She went on. “I was hoping that it wouldn’t come to that. I have no idea how powerful she truly is, even with love I might not be able to beat her.”
“You beat her?” The colt asked in surprise, following the lieutenant inside the vault. “Wait a second… YOU’RE Queen Chrysalis?”
The mare rolled her eyes. “Chrysalis… Crystal… say it aloud little colt, it’s not that big of a leap. Besides Nightmare Moon threatens all life, of course she would provoke a response from the hive.”
Dexter opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, evidently wanting to say something. He didn’t know she was immortal, or at the very least long lived. But he had a timeline he was trying to protect, even though he knew such was a futile endeavor at this point. “You know what, never mind.” The colt managed eventually, turning to the vault door. “I’ll deal with you later; let’s just unite the Elements of Harmony.”
The royal vault wasn’t filled with gold or jewelry, but rather a large assortment of artifacts. Many of them appeared to be rather old, while others hummed or glowed with magic. Some of the artifacts were weapons, while others seemed to be as mundane as a simple quill and ink.
However, most of the artifacts were clearly labelled with names Dexter didn’t recognize.
“What is this junk?” Dexter asked, poking what appeared to be a mundane vase.
“DON’T TOUCH THAT!” Crystal shouted, frantically flaying her forelegs for the colt to stop.
Dexter gingerly pulled back his fore hoof, eyeing the vase.
“This vault contains everything Luna or Celestia deemed too powerful, too dangerous, or too evil to exist freely anywhere in the world!” Crystal explained, heaving a sigh of relief upon confirming that the vase was intact. “So don’t touch anything!”
“You need to keep Equestria safe from a pot meant for plants?” Dexter asked skeptically.
Crystal shook her head. “It’s not important. Just don’t touch it; we have enough problems to deal with at the moment…”
“The world should be glad Dee Dee isn’t here,” Dexter muttered under his breathe.
It didn’t take long to find the other elements. They were mounted on a device that appeared to be rigged to rise up through a trap door in the ceiling and into the room above. The colt watched as Crystal replaced the missing elements, fixing them into their relative positions.
“The Elements are in place,” Crystal declared.
“So now all we do is wait.” Dexter answered, gazing at the elements. He wanted to believe that everything was fixed, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what Star Swirl had said. Without at least two friends to bear the Elements, they couldn’t be wielded.
But it didn’t make sense, Nightmare Moon would have known as much. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have bothered with hiding them.
“Hopefully Celestia will come to realize her sister is beyond reasoning soon.” Crystal stopped to look down at Dexter. “However, you should get away from here. Despite your apparent strength, this is still no place for a child. You won’t want to be here for what might happen between now and Nightmare Moon’s defeat.”
“I’ll consider it,” Dexter answered. “But I’d rather stay to make sure. After all Star Swirl said that Celestia couldn’t wield the Elements all by herself, so I have a feeling this isn’t over yet.”
“… what?” Crystal asked in shock, almost angrily. “Star Swirl said WHAT?! Why didn’t you say something before?”
“Because, I have a very good reason to believe that Celestia will, in fact, use the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon.” Dexter replied curtly.
“But it’s no guarantee?” Crystal complained, frowning at the colt. “I suppose you’re not going to tell me what your source is for that information?” Crystal turned away from the colt, storming out of the vault.
Dexter turned to follow, taking one more chance to let his eyes wander about the various artifacts. He was about to step out the vault door when his eyes spotted a vacant portion of raised floor, completely vacant of any artifacts.
Taking a closer look, there was indeed something missing. The vacancy betrayed by a patch of dustless stone. Whatever was here had been taken away very recently.
That’s when he spotted the plaque on the corner of the slab.
“Oh crap…”
“Hey foal, get out here unless you want to be locked in the vault until Celestia arrives!” Crystal called from somewhere outside. Dexter raced out of the vault, rushing to her side.
“We’ve got a BIG PROBLEM!”
“You didn’t break the vase, did you?”
---
Mission Log: Temporal Excursion to the Past
Objective: To disprove the existence of Nightmare Moon Save the world.
1000 years prior to arrival in Equestria
Dexter: Scientist, Boy Genius.
// Voice to Text Recording Initiated:
This is Dexter; I am making this recording to update my mission log. And I have to start off by asking:
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!
…
Well, I want to start off by declaring, for the record, that no matter what happens this wasn’t my fault.
I am, in absolutely NO WAY to blame for whatever happens.
Nope.
Now I know that one might argue that this history would have been just fine if I had left well enough alone, and that this whole awful mess with Nightmare Moon’s uprising would have certainly ended in her defeat had I not come into the past and started messing up the timeline.
But how could I be held at fault for that?! My doubts were justified! Even Star Swirl doubted it when I told him Celestia was supposed to wield all six of the Elements, a fact clearly recorded in the history books.
See, my doubts were justified! Therefore, traveling into the past and jeopardizing the integrity of the timeline just to prove my doubts correct wasn’t as stupid, reckless and irresponsible as it sounds.
…
…
…
Who’s to blame for this whole mess isn’t important right now.
So I’ll start over, picking up where my last log left off.
I successfully located Princess Luna, and began recording her in order to disprove the existence of Nightmare Moon.
But much to my dismay, I was wrong.
THAT LADY IS FREAKING CRAZY!
I mean REALLY, Luna is absolutely NUTS. I saw her having a crazed argument with a mirror. On top of that, her voice kept on shifting to this creepy tone. Eventually she changed her appearance all together and proclaimed herself as Queen Nightmare Moon.
That’s when she detected me.
I was hiding on top of a chandelier. However, it broke and I fell to the floor. Fortunately my cloak had performed flawlessly and she didn’t see me, but she heard me when I stood up and tried to leave. Of course when I realized she was on to me, I stopped making sound.
And that’s when everything hit the fan.
I narrowly escaped her bedroom without being skinned alive. But the act of her detecting me was enough to impact the chain of events currently unfolding.
Nightmare Moon immediately assumed that I was a spy working for Celestia, and decided that her plans to attack were about to be exposed. Thus, she accelerated her plans in order to maintain the element of surprise, causing the civil conflict to start four days earlier than it was supposed to.
Needless to say, the impact to the timeline cannot begin to be calculated.
However, I don’t know what to think about the timeline anymore. I have good reason to believe that the history books were completely and utterly wrong about everything. At least, regarding some very important details.
But I’ll explain that in a moment.
Shortly after escaping from Nightmare Moon’s private chambers, I meet Star Swirl The Bearded and his student Clover the Clever and helped them escape the castle. They were rather helpful, if not chatty, and told me how to gain access to the royal vaults so I could retrieve the Elements of Harmony.
Though they did give me a bit of bad news, three of the six elements had been hidden.
And that’s where the Changeling Queen comes in…
Seriously? As if I don’t have enough things to deal with at the moment.
It turns out, I found the Changeling Queen and a number of her subjects trying to break into the royal vaults. As luck would have it, they aren’t actually trying to steal anything. In fact, they seem to be genuinely focused on stopping Nightmare Moon.
Of course, I don’t trust anything they say. But they did retrieve the missing Elements of Harmony from wherever Nightmare Moon had hidden them. Such actions speak louder than any words, so I believe them when they say that didn’t do anything to precipitate Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon.
But considering my personal experiences with them, I still don’t trust them.
Nevertheless, they are my allies until Nightmare Moon is defeated.
But all of that pales in comparison to the discovery I made next.
DISCORD GOT LOOSE!
You know, in retrospect I should have predicted this.
Let me lay this out: Discord was imprisoned in stone by the Elements of Harmony. However, in the future, he will be released from his prison when some fillies get into a fight in his immediate vicinity. The chaos from the fillies’ fight was enough to strengthen Discord such that he could free himself from the magic that kept him encased in stone.
But all that is supposed to happen in a thousand years! Heck, I go to school with the fillies that did it!
However, I should have predicted that the same mechanics could be at play here: what would happen when two immortal alicorns get into a fight in proximity to Discord’s statue? Granted, they weren’t standing just beside him but they were in the same castle.
Plus, their fight is a bit more intense, if not one-sided.
Could the chaos of Celestia and Nightmare Moon fighting be enough to release Discord?
Heck, it might not have been just the alicorns! All of Equestria is erupting in the chaos of a civil war. In fact, the changelings have told me that the entire planet has erupted into chaos due to the sudden and drastic shift in the planet’s day-night cycle.
There is more than enough chaos happening across Equestria to release Discord.
But whatever the cause, Discord is loose!
And one thing is for absolute certain: The history books said absolutely nothing about Discord being freed this night.
Which leads me to one inescapable conclusion: The timeline has been altered irrevocably. Once Discord starts causing chaos, he will do so on a planetary scale.
But it doesn’t make any sense! My interference should not have been the determining factor in Discord’s escape! Even if everything went according to the original timeline, Nightmare Moon would have still caused the same amount of wide-scale chaos with her coup d'état!
And Discord was locked inside a vault this whole time; nothing should have been able to get to him!
…
Either these history books were horribly wrong, or this is now an entirely different timeline.
Whatever the case may be, I’m now flying blind. All of my knowledge about the events of this night are no good now.
I can only express regret for my failure to protect the timeline, but that is irrelevant right now. If Nightmare Moon isn’t defeated then there won’t be an Equestria in a thousand years. I’ve got to focus on that.
When the changelings found out that Discord was loose, they decided we needed to act fast.
It’s not a surprise that they don’t like the idea of Discord running around any more than I do.
In about four hours, they are going to distract Nightmare Moon, allowing me the chance to speak with Celestia. I’ll bring her the Elements of Harmony, and hopefully she will be able to use them to deal with both Discord and Nightmare Moon.
Once they’re out of the picture, I can focus on picking up the pieces-
[Unknown Spkr - M] “Oh I wouldn’t count on that, not with so much delicious chaos about…”
[Dexter] “End Log!”
[Log Terminated]
A/N: Well, there you have it. I hope you guys enjoyed the twist. I've never read any of the comics, but does the MLP lore tell why Discord was released because three fillies got into a fight ("exemplifying discord") in front of him, but didn't get released when two alicorns were slugging away at each other in a fight which tore apart their castle?
Also, I was going to make Nightmare Moon a lot more evil and twisted than she was in this chapter - given that is what you all asked for. But I toned it down because I thought it was a bit much. Then the pre-readers toned it down even more. I hope it was the right call.
As you can see, Celestia spotted Dexter. That is something he will have to deal with when he returns to the future. But don't worry, Dexter's trip to the future will pick up right where it left off - I am not forging an alternate timeline.
STARS WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS IS IN FULL COLOR - sorry for the spoiler.
A/N: As always, please point out any errors you find and I'll happily correct them.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments section.
“Who the heck are you?” Dexter lashed a hoof out at the figure floating before him, bewildered that anyone could find him hiding in the castle’s escape tunnel. According to Star Swirl no one else knew about it, and he was certain no one saw him sneak when he decided to use it as a hiding place.
“Oh, you don’t recognize me?” The figure mocked. From what Dexter could tell the creature before him was some sort of horrid amalgamation of several different animals all attached to the head and neck of a pony. “You were the one to notice I was missing after all…”
“But then again, with all this delightful chaos abounding, I’m surprised somepony else didn’t come to accuse me sooner…” He mocked, sliding up to Dexter’s side. “Oh my, this is a rather fancy suit you’re wearing…”
Dexter narrowed his eyes. “Discord.”
“Guilty as charged,” The draconequus smiled.
“Freak!” Dexter pulled away, quickly retrieving his rifle and aiming it up at Discord. However Discord merely snapped a set fingers.
The snap of his fingers seemed to produce a ripple of magic around his hand, which was mirrored by a ripple appearing around Dexter’s rifle just as the colt squeezed the firing lever.
The rifle belted out a blast of confetti, merely splashing off Discord’s form.
“Huh?” Dexter asked in utter bewilderment, only to see Discord wagging a finger.
“Come now,” Discord mocked. “It’s not nice to call people names. Also, that thing won’t do you any good. If that changeling thing could take your attack, what makes you think you’d fare any better against me?”
“You should just sit back, relax, and enjoy the Chaos. In fact, we both should!” Discord snapped the fingers on his clawed hand, causing a pair of recliner chairs to appear underneath himself and the colt. It was shortly followed by two bowls of ice-cream, one landed in Discord’s open paw while the other landed on Dexter’s face. “But I’m afraid I cannot take credit for the beautiful chaos that has engulfed Equestria tonight. I believe that credit goes to little Lulu…”
“Lulu?” Dexter growled, frantically trying to wipe ice-cream off his visor. Unfortunately, it merely smeared.
“Oh yes! I hear she goes by the name Nightmare Moon now. A fitting name, I suppose, for one whose mind has been thrown into chaos…” Discord added with a smirk. “Of course, I’ll be keeping my eye on her. But you’re the one that really has me interested at the moment.”
“And why is that?” Dexter frowned.
“I’ve never seen a foal like you before! You seem to be ripe with potential for causing chaos!” Discord smiled. “And your fancy suit, well it seems complicated. Like every piece was fitted together perfectly, so organized, so… ordered…”
“Let's add a little chaos, shall we?” Discord snapped his fingers. The dampeners in Dexter’s suit activated instantly, absorbing a healthy dose of energy.
However, when nothing happened Discord frowned. “Huh…” He tried snapping his fingers two more times, each attempt greeted with the same result. Dexter’s suit was charged to full power in a matter of moments.
“Having trouble?” Dexter smirked.
“Odd,” Discord rubbed his chin with his free paw, turning away as he focused on his fingers. “Hold on a second kid, kind of rusty at the moment. Being turned to stone will do that to you…” He turned back toward the colt. “Here, let me try harder…”
What followed was a complete surprise to both Dexter and the draconequus.
Immediately, an overload warning flashed in Dexter’s glasses - before his suit promptly burst into flames.
“Gahhh!!!” Dexter screamed, darting in panic. The wind from his running served to fan the flame engulfing his form. When his brain did finally kick in, he fell to the floor and began rolling back and forth.
“Oops…” Discord snapped his fingers again, causing the flame to disappear. Fortunately for the colt, the suit was built to protect him from extreme temperatures. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t a crispy, and rather angry, critter.
Dexter snatched up his rifle, angling at discord once more. Discord, still wearing a look of bewilderment, didn’t react before the blue bolt of energy bounced off of him before impact the cave wall with a small explosion.
“Whoa, whoa, hey!” Discord raised his forelegs defensively. “I didn’t mean to set you on fire.”
“What the heck is your problem you wacko!?” Dexter shouted. Discord was worse than Dee Dee, beating her record in the time it took to set Dexter on fire by at least a minute.
“I was only trying to turn your suit into a ballerina outfit, honest!” Discord explained. “At least, that’s what the magic I cast was supposed to do…”
Dexter merely shook his head. Discord had overloaded his suit’s magic dampeners, which promptly exploded and caused the fire.
But at least the dampener did its job before it blew; Dexter was still wearing a suit of armor.
“Why should I believe you?” Dexter challenged, cradling the rifle. It may be ineffective against the draconequus, but that didn’t stop Dexter from flicking it to its highest setting.
The blast would be enough to destroy the cave, and everything in it. Including himself. But Dexter was willing to bet it would be better than whatever discord had in mind.
“Hey, if you knew me you’d know I have a few rules: I don’t turn ponies into stone, I don’t kill anypony, and I don’t set them on fire… usually.” Discord trailed off, seemingly counting of his paw as he recalled each rule. “At least, not real fire anyway.”
“You just set me on fire AND nearly killed me!” Dexter glared at him.
Not sure if the colt believed him, Discord snapped his fingers once more, repairing most of the damage he had done the colt’s suit.
“There, good as new.” Discord replied, patting the colt on the head. Dexter promptly swatted at the offending paw. “And I’d appreciate it if you kept this little embarrassing failure of chaos magic between us, mkay?”
“Not good as new!” Dexter folded his arms. “My magic dampener is still fried, and it cannot be repaired by magic. Now I am vulnerable to magical attacks! If I get hurt because of magic it’ll be all your fault!” He accused.
“Magic dampener?” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Well that explains it; chaos magic is unstable as is. I can’t imagine the results if you start interfering with the magic itself as it is cast…”
“We should try it again.” Discord smiled, causing the colt to deadpan.
“You know, for the incarnation of chaos and an immortal, I expected a bit more from you.” Dexter frowned. For better or for worse, the entity before him reminded him of Dee Dee in a number of ways. “But despite my expectations, you’re apparent mental capacity – or should I say incapacity – is betrayed by your childish demeanor and utter ineptitude at following your own rules. I have no choice but to conclude that your brain is just as horribly mangled as your grotesque body.”
Discord merely blinked, before producing a deep frown.
“Don’t push your luck, kid.” Discord reclined back into his chair, returning to his bowl of ice cream.
Dexter growled, trying to think of a way to deal with the entity before him. “And what exactly makes you think ‘I’m ripe with potential for causing chaos?’”
“I’ve been watching you,” Discord answered simply. “That was a fun bit of chaos you caused in Star Swirl’s workshop. Nothing like the chaos of a good brawl to kick off the evening. Speaking of which, I hope that old geezer got away safely. It’s not exactly safer outside the castle than it is here, and I would hate it if I couldn’t show him a thing or two about chaos before Lulu got to him.”
Dexter frowned at the Draconequus. History portrayed Discord as a monster or sorts, using his chaos to drive ponies mad. But the more Dexter observed him the less he would agree with that perspective. Discord seemed more like he was desperately searching for ways to amuse himself rather than trying to hurt others.
As for his desire to cause chaos, if that was a product of his boredom or if he was truly the spirit of chaos was anyone’s guess.
He may have been mischievous, but he wasn’t evil. Kind of like a child with far too much power and time on his hands, rather than a malevolent monster like Nightmare Moon.
“You know…” Dexter began, deciding he preferred Discord running loose over Nightmare Moon’s rampage. “Why aren’t you, you know… taking over? Causing chaos and everything, proclaiming yourself ruler of Equestria?”
“And put a stop to all the chaos Luna causing?” Discord asked in feigned shock. “Never! She’s caused chaos in ways that I’ve never even begun to explore! Besides, if I interfere now, there is a small chance Luna and Celestia might put aside their differences for the tiniest of moments in order to defeat me. No, I’ll remain hidden for now. Once one of them is out of the way, I’ll be more than happy to step in.”
“But Nightmare Moon is hurting a lot of ponies.” Dexter replied. “And you could stop her. You yourself have rules you don’t cross, what happens when Nightmare Moon breaks those rules?”
“Which is precisely why she is causing chaos in ways I never have.” Discord countered.
“What!? That’s it!?” Dexter shook his head, wanting to slap some sense into the draconequus.”
“Ohh, I see what’s going on. You want me to be a goodie two shoes, hmm?” Discord feigned a consoling tone. “Shall I snap my fingers and solve everypony’s problems? Perhaps I should just become a genie and grant everypony’s wishes?”
“No, I am afraid Celestia and little Lulu are going to have to work out this little tiff on their own.” Discord finished.
“Well why not?” Dexter argued. “You could cause chaos and maybe save a few lives in the process.”
“Listen, I don’t take lives when I cause chaos.” Discord explained. “But that comes with a price: I don’t save lives with my powers either.”
“Though if I made everypony into immortal alicorns - that would throw the whole natural order of life into chaos while allowing me to pretend to be the good guy for a change.” Discord tapped a paw against his chin in thought. “But that’s an idea to save for another time.”
“Besides if I step in, you won’t get the chance to deliver the Elements of Harmony to Celestia.” Discord pointed out, motioning to the gems stuffed in Dexter’s bag.
“Uhh…” Dexter took a hesitant step back from the draconequus.
“Oh, don’t be nervous my little pony,” Discord chided. “I know all about your little plan to bring Celestia the Elements of Harmony. It’s all very boring, pedantic, unimaginative, cliché…” Discord added. “And doomed to failure. Which is why I am going to let you keep the Elements.”
“But just between you and me,” He wrapped a foreleg around the colt, pulling him near. “The Elements are useless without at least two bearers that are friends, and unfortunately for your little plan, Lulu and Celestia aren’t on friendly terms. So you might just want to run along and save yourself.”
Discord waved before snapping his fingers once more, disappearing into the thin air from which he sprang.
---
Nightmare Moon sat upon her blue throne, frowning as she counted the seconds until her captain arrived.
The throne room was in shambles, partially destroyed by the one-sided fight Nightmare Moon had with her sister. Several cracks in the wall and ceiling let the unnaturally dark night in, chilling the room to the same temperature of the world that was cooling rapidly from the lack of sun.
For most ponies, the darkness of the night would feel unnaturally heavy, despite the bright shining moon which hung overhead.
Captain Nightwatch entered the throne room. He bowed before his queen, standing a few feet from the lieutenant who had been waiting with the Nightmare.
“I am here in response to your summons, my queen.” The captain declared, glancing at Lieutenant Crystal.
“Lieutenant Crystal,” Nightmare began, her tone sharp enough it could cut the captain in two. “Tell the Captain what you told me…”
“Approximately one hour ago, one of the lunar guards under my command was on patrol near the royal vault room.” The lieutenant began to recite. “There he found the vault open. Upon entering he discovered an intruder attempting to remove six hexagonal gems from a pedestal. However, before he could secure the area or signal for assistance, he was knocked unconscious from another hidden intruder.”
“Fifteen minutes ago, he awoke and reported. I then brought this news here immediately after sending a squad to secure the vault. The gems are now gone.” Crystal finished.
“What, that’s impossib-“
“Silence,” Nightmare hissed, causing the guard to swallow his words.
“You’re wrong about something Lieutenant. The gems weren’t being removed, rather they were being planted.” Nightmare Moon began again. “What else did your guard report?”
“When I asked him to describe the gems he saw,” Crystal went on. “He reported that they had different colors, the ones he managed to see before being knocked out were colored pink, purple and red.”
“But how can that be, I-“ A blue aura grasped the captain’s head, before slamming him into the floor.
“Speak out of turn one more time, Captain, and it’ll be the very last thing you do.” Nightmare Moon declared as she pulled the captain back into a standing posture.
“Of course, the first thing I did when I heard the lieutenant’s report was verify what she said.” Nightmare Moon began again, feigning nonchalance. “And much to my surprise, I found the royal vaults open! And the remaining Elements of Harmony missing!”
“But then I got to thinking, who in all of Equestria could open the royal vaults and do so without setting off the numerous spells met to alert us.” Nightmare turned toward the captain. “Do you know who?”
Nightwatch shakily shook his head, the truth was he was afraid to speak at this point.
“Only three,” Nightmare declared. “Myself, my sister - whom I’ve been entertaining since I started this revolution, and the pony who designed the vault: Star Swirl.”
“Star Swirl.” She repeated louder with a hiss. “The one pony I sent you to capture! I believe I told you: The capture of Star Swirl and his student is your top priority captain. Am I recalling correctly?”
Captain Nightwatch hesitantly nodded.
“But the notion that Star Swirl is acting against me is not enough to explain everything the presence of all six Elements of Harmony, even though he is a rather powerful mage…” Nightmare went on. “Crystal, do you know what the Elements of Harmony are?”
“Vaguely, My Queen.” Crystal replied.
“Do you know which Element the red gem is?” Nightmare Moon pressed.
“I believe it is the Element of Loyalty, your Majesty.” Crystal answered.
“You’re correct.” Nightmare Moon directed her gaze back at the captain. “Puzzling isn’t it? How could the Element of Loyalty, one of the three Elements I sent away, possibly be seen in the royal vault? Almost as if someone were trying to place it there for Celestia to find?”
“But then I remembered you, Captain Nightwatch.” Nightmare went on. “You were the one whom I entrusted with the task of hiding the Elements. You were the one, whom I gave explicit instructions on where and how to hide them, and you were one who selected the guards to escort the Elements out of Equestria…”
“Now what am I supposed to think, Captain?” Nightmare Moon snarled, a dangerous venom filling her voice as the room darkened. “You seem to have failed the eternal night spectacularly.” Nightmare went on. “Am I supposed to believe that Star Swirl’s freedom, and the reuniting of the Elements, was just a product of your ineptitude?”
“Or am I betrayed?” She hissed.
The captain stood, frozen stiff. The fear pouring into his stomach almost made him sick. He was still hardly able to speak.
“Speak, Captain.” Nightmare ordered. “And choose your words carefully, for this is your only chance.”
“I-I…” Nightwatch began, struggling to find the courage to speak let alone face the mare. “I d-don’t know, m-my Queen. I f-followed your instructions to the l-letter for hiding the e-elements, a-and Star Swirl o-only escaped b-because he had… help.”
“I’m not interested in the lies of a traitor.” Nightmare rose from her throne, causing the Captain to take a step back in fear. “Unless of course you’re going to confess that you did indeed help him escape.”
“I am n-not a traitor your highness, I’ve been only l-loyal.” The guard replied hastily, watching as Nightmare stepped down from her throne to approach him. “I c-can’t explain what has happened, b-but I will do anything to prove my loyalty, even submit t-to you in the d-dreamscape.”
Nightmare paused, tilting her head as she regarded Night Watch. “You’d have to be supremely confident in your loyalty to me to offer yourself to me in the dreamscape…” Nightmare replied in genuine surprise. “Not that you’d have a choice anyway.”
Nightmare continued to regard the stallion, who was doing everything he could to stop himself from trembling.
“I believe you,” Nightmare declared, surprising everyone in the room. Her tone was a lot less harsh as she continued her approach toward her captain, nuzzling the stallion softly. “You are a child of the night after all; your indoctrination means you cannot be disloyal. These failures must be a result of mere incompetence, not treason.”
“But one thing still puzzles me…” Nightmare went on, lowering her head to eye level with the stallion. Her tone conveyed genuine confusion. “Why would you be willing to go to extreme lengths to convince me you’re loyal? What would you have to gain at this point?”
“Do you prefer the penalty for incompetence over the penalty for treason?” Nightmare asked.
Nightwatch looked up at the mare in confusion.
“The two penalties are the same…” She sneered.
---
“Okay. Crystal, or Chrysalis, or whoever she really is, should have Nightmare Moon distracted right now.” Dexter said to himself aloud as he checked the timer in the corner of his HUD.
Finding Princess Celestia’s chambers was a simple matter, given Crystal’s directions, and much to Dexter’s surprise, the room itself was lightly guarded. Only two lunar guards stood watch outside her doors.
Unfortunately for the guards, they literally didn’t see the colt coming. From their perspective, a blue bolt of energy appeared out of thin air before striking the first guard in the chest. The second hardly had time to flare his horn before another bolt hit him as well, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious.
“Easy.” Dexter bragged to himself as he pushed the door open.
The chambers had been reduced to absolute tatters.
However, Dexter could easily spot the tall white alicorn sitting on her haunches among the wreckage.
She was a mess.
The alicorn’s mane appeared tattered, despite its ethereal nature. Her coat was also scuffed and dirty, having seen far better days. Her regalia was still missing, and the streaks under her eyes matter the fur on her face.
“I won’t fight you, sister.” She declared softly, not bothering to look up. “No matter what you do…”
“Uhh… I’m not your sister” Dexter replied slowly, drawing a look of surprise from the alicorn.
“You…” Celestia’s expression slowly shifted from bewilderment to dismay. “This is no place for a child, you must leave at once!” She motioned with a hoof.
“Absolutely, you don’t need to tell me twice!” Dexter readily agreed as he approached the princess. “But first, you just need to fix everything by using these.” He upended his saddle bags, spilling the Elements of Harmony on the floor before the sitting alicorn.
Celestia stared at them motionlessly, eventually turning away.
“How in the world did you get those?” She asked.
“Long story,” Dexter replied. “Which I’ll gladly tell you how after you use the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon.”
Celestia didn’t reply, sitting in silence for a few moments.
“Hello?” Dexter eventually asked, prodding the alicorn with a hoof. “Did you hear what I said?”
Celestia heaved a large sigh.
“Hey lady!” The eight year old grabbed a part of her mane with a hoof, tugging repeatedly. “You need to fix this! Nightmare Moon is crazy and you need to blast her with the Elements of Harmony otherwise the world will freeze over!”
“You…” tug.
“Need…” tug.
“to…” tug.
“Fight her!” tug-
“NO!” Celestia roared, rounding on the colt. Her eyes were glowing, revealing a fury Dexter had never seen before. Her voice was enhanced with the royal canterlot spell, causing it to have a deafening volume, it was enough to cause the boy to retreat a few steps. “I WILL NOT FIGHT MY SISTER.”
“I…” Celestia’s voice died down, her eyes starting to water. “I love my sister… I can’t fight her. I can still reach her…”
“But you…” She frowned at the foal. “I find it atrocious that she would use a mere child as a pawn in her little game. Did she really think she could get me to fight by sending a foal in here to ask for it? Be gone, young one. You would do well to avoid Nightmare Moon no matter her promises.”
“What?” Dexter tilted his head in confusion. “You think I’m working for Nightmare Moon?”
Celestia didn’t reply, merely turning away from the colt once more.
“Nothing could be further from the truth!” Dexter went on. “If I was working for Nightmare Moon then why would I bring you the Elements of Harmony to defeat her?”
“The only way you could have gotten into the royal vaults is with her help…” Celestia retorted. “And ever since she attacked me… she has been doing everything she can to get me to fight back… but the moment I do fight her I risk losing her forever…”
“Look, Princess, Star Swirl helped me get into the vaults okay?” Dexter replied. “And your sister has LOST HER FREAKING MIND! You cannot reason with someone who is CRAZY!”
“I will not attack my sister!” Celestia declared.
“So what… the rest of Equestria gets to freeze under an eternal night?” Dexter challenged.
“My…” Celestia began hesitantly. “Equestria is strong. You mortals are heartier than you give yourselves credit for.” She declared. “You can hold out long enough for me to reach my sister. I have to try. She is the only one I have…” Celestia trailed off. “I… I can’t face immortality alone.”
“Your sister’s mind has been consumed by Nightmare Moon!” Dexter argued. “Luna’s gone.”
“I DON’T BELIEVE THAT!” Celestia yelled once more, glaring down at the colt.
Dexter merely glared back up at the mare this time.
“I… can’t believe that.” The alicorn lowered her head, fighting back another bout of tears. “I won’t.”
“You don’t have a choice anymore.” Dexter eventually declared. “Discord is free.”
“What?” Her eyes darted back toward the colt. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s true. Thanks to all the chaos Nightmare Moon is causing, he broke free of the magic imprisoning him.” Dexter explained. “Combined with conflict between you two, the Element bearers...”
Celestia merely shook her head. “Even if I believed that, which I don’t, I cannot use the Elements of Harmony alone.” Celestia continued. “They require at least two ponies who are friends and possesses some combination of the six Elements…”
“Okay… so call up one of your other friends?” Dexter asked.
“None of my… remaining friends… are Element bearers.” Celestia explained. She opened her mouth to continue on, but was stopped by a sound from the hallway. Soon a number of voices could be heard.
“You need to go now, little foal,” Celestia declared. “It sounds like more of the lunar guards have returned.”
“But-“
“Quickly, go…” The alicorn dismissed, pushing the colt away with her magic.
The colt growled in frustration before shaking his head. He quickly collected the Elements into his saddlebag before slinging it over his back. He glanced at Celestia one last time before he vanished in a ripple of light.
“I’ll be back…”
---
“Congratulations,” Nightmare smiled, as she levitated a set captain insignias toward Crystal. The mare lifted her hoof to catch them, ignoring the fact that they were drenched in blood. Though Crystal showed no outward sign of disgust or fear, remaining stoic. “On your promotion to Captain, Crystal.”
“It’s a shame Nightwatch had to retire so soon,” Nightmare smiled, feigning regret. “But I have faith in your abilities, Crystal. Don’t give me reason to be… disappointed; like Nightwatch did.”
“Your Highness, if I may?” Crystal started. “I would like to advise that you separate yourself from princess Celestia.”
“Oh?” Nightmare raised an eyebrow.
“If the Elements of Harmony are unaccounted for, it stands to reason that Celestia might acquire them and use them against you.” Crystal explained. “If you were to separate from her, it would become significantly more difficult for her to use the Elements of Harmony on you.”
“A captain for two minutes and you’re already trying to influence my decisions…” The dark alicorn chuckled. “Thanks for your concern, but I think it would be better that I stay near Celestia at all times. Then I can make sure she never receives the Elements of Harmony if I keep her with me.”
“Then she can never use them.” Nightmare declared.
“Understood, my Queen.” Crystal replied.
“My first orders for you is the secure the royal vault,” Nightmare instructed. “I’ve got enough to deal with without the dangerous artifacts in the vault getting loose.”
“Right away, your highness,” The new captain bowed before turning away.
“Oh, and please send somepony to clean up after Captain Nightwatch here.” Nightmare asked, before letting out a cackle. “Tell them all they will need is a mop and a bucket…”
Crystal merely again bowed before continuing her leave, pushing past the throne room doors.
They closed behind her with a massive thud.
“What are you doing here?” Crystal immediately let out a hiss, directing it toward what appeared to be thin air.
“Waiting for you,” Dexter’s voice answered as a shimmering effect in the air revealed the colt’s form.
“So you meet me outside Nightmare Moon’s throne room!?” She hissed once more, trying her best to hush her tone after glancing at the two stallions guarding the door. “In front of these two?”
“They’re changelings…” Dexter scratched his head in confusion, failing to see the problem. He had scanned the guards and knew exactly what they were. “I doubt they're going to report you to Nightmare Moon…”
“Shut up!” She hissed once more. “Don’t EVER use that word, got it?” Crystal emphasized with a hoof. “You’re lucky the throne room is sound-proofed, otherwise I’d throttle you right now.”
“Which word? You mean ‘Changel-’” Dexter guessed, earning a hiss from both Crystal and the surrounding guards.
“Okay, okay!” Dexter backpedaled. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, but we’ve got more important things to discuss right now.”
“What about Celestia? Were you able to give her the Elements of Harmony?” Crystal asked hurriedly. “Nightmare Moon just… finished with the longest distraction I could get for her, but she knows about the Elements and she’ll be watching Celestia like a hawk from now on.”
“Well, um…” Dexter said, motioning toward the gems in his saddlebags. “I ran into a bit of a problem…”
“Problem?” Crystal growled in frustration. “You do realize that getting Celestia away from Nightmare Moon will be impossible from now on. We won’t be able to give her the Elements of Harmony!”
“It wouldn’t have done us any good!” Dexter argued back. “Celestia said that she wouldn’t fight Luna under any circumstances, even with the Elements of Harmony. If I left them with her, Celestia would do nothing, and Nightmare Moon would just take them back. Then she’d probably hide the Elements on the moon for all we know…”
Crystal cursed, stomping with a fore hoof. The stomp itself caused several cracks in the stone floor, surprising Dexter until he remembered there was a changeling queen was hidden under that pony façade.
“I knew it!” Crystal turned, scowling as she began to pace.
“You knew?” Dexter tilted his head in surprise.
“I knew it was a long shot. Celestia’s emotions are all over the place right now, as I’m sure you can imagine. I sensed in her a growing will to fight, but it seems that was fleeting.” Crystal answered. “I was hoping it might have opened Celestia up to the possibility of fighting, which is why I sent you.”
“So that’s it then…” Dexter huffed in frustration. “We can’t do anything until Celestia decides to fight Nightmare Moon?”
Crystal didn’t respond, continuing to pace around the room. A few times she stopped to stare at the throne room door, as those peering through it toward the dark alicorn on the other side. She could sense Nightmare Moon’s emotions easily, the hate which raged within her ran rampant, unchecked. The hatred was like a burning star for the changelings, blazing bright enough it nearly obscured the emotions of everyone else in the castle.
And it flowed out of her into every last one of the indoctrinated guards she called her ‘children if the night.’
However, there was something else Crystal could sense hiding inside the Nightmare.
“I think I know of another way we can get Celestia to fight…” Crystal said slowly, drawing to glance at the colt. “But we’re going to need to reach Princess Luna to do it.”
“From what I can sense, Nightmare Moon and Luna are the same individual; but they’re like different sides of the same coin…” Crystal replied, looking once again through the throne room doors to sense Nightmare’s emotions. “We just need to bring the princess Luna to the surface where Celestia can see.”
“How will that help with anything?” Dexter asked.
“Celestia won’t attack Nightmare Moon because she thinks Nightmare Moon is her sister.” Crystal explained. “But if we can convince her that Luna is separate from Nightmare Moon then-”
“Celestia might just be willing to fight her!” Dexter finished for the mare.
“More than might be,” Crystal said. “If she thinks Nightmare Moon and Luna are completely separate individuals, and that defeating Nightmare Moon is the only way to save Luna, then Celestia will stop at nothing.”
“What happens when Celestia realizes she’s been tricked?” Dexter asked.
“One problem at a time,” Crystal replied, turning back to the colt with grin. “Besides, I have a feeling that neither of us will stick around long enough to suffer Celestia’s anger.”
“Alright…” Dexter rubbed his chin, deciding to hear Crystal out. The changeling’s theory was sound, and she was the expert at manipulating emotions. Plus he couldn’t think of a better plan that had a decent chance of working. “Tell me what we need to do…”
---
“How in the world did I get talked into this? I don’t want to get anywhere near that wacko!” Dexter said, trying to recall what Crystal had told him a few hours ago. Of course he agreed to the plan that the new captain suggested, he was just doubted why he had been selected to carry it out.
“You’ll do fine,” Crystal assured. “Just remember what I told you, the key to manipulating Nightmare’s emotions is Luna. You need to create a wedge between her two personalities.” Crystal reiterated. “And don’t worry; I can still sense Luna somewhere in there with Nightmare Moon. Luna has always had a soft spot for children, I know she wouldn’t hurt you – or let Nightmare hurt you. At least… I don’t think she will.”
“Which is why you are the ideal one to do this, most others wouldn’t live long enough.”
“Didn’t the Lunar guard captain tell Nightmare Moon about me? Won’t she be suspicious?” Dexter asked, looking over his body. He was covered in what appeared to brown fur. His mane and tail had also changed to a dull grey.
“Actually, Captain Nightwatch kept what you did to save Star Swirl under wraps…” Crystal explained. “He didn’t want to have to explain to Nightmare Moon that a mere child stopped him from capturing the wizard. So no, Nightmare Moon doesn’t know about you.”
“And with this Illusion spell, you’ll appear as nothing more than a normal child to everypony else.” Crystal added, sending a few pulses of magic toward Dexter’s form. Each one altered his appearance slightly. “Of course, it would be easier if you just took off your suit…”
“I already told you,” Dexter sighed. “I can’t take it off.”
“Seems sort of limited, doesn’t it?” Crystal added, continuing to adjust the magic surrounding the colt. “Something out of place for what appears to be such a sophisticated suit.”
“Well, the one who built it was extremely concerned with my wellbeing…” Dexter replied. “I think she did it on purpose.”
“She?” Crystal asked. “There is more than one of you running around with a suit like that?”
He realized he said too much. “I uhh, can’t talk about it…” Dexter finished, earning a huff from the mare. Dexter looked over the changeling queen.
He couldn’t help but admire her skill at creating illusions, if it weren’t for his suit’s sensors he wouldn’t have a clue that she wasn’t a pony.
However, as he drifted back into his own thoughts he could feel a growing sense of guilt building inside his chest. The first thing he had done when he spotted the changeling queen was to threaten her, and her species with exposure and possible extinction; or enslavement if they were lucky.
Dexter did it because he thought they were responsible for starting Luna on the path to becoming Nightmare Moon. But it turned out to be the exact opposite, they were trying to stop Nightmare Moon at all costs.
They certainly weren’t the bad guys.
“I’d uhh…” Dexter began hesitantly, causing the mare’s ears to rise as she continued to work on his appearance. “I’d like to apologize…”
“I know,” Crystal replied simply. “You’re ripe with contrition right now. But for what, I don’t know.” It took Dexter a moment to remember she could sense emotions.
“I want to apologize for threatening you…” Dexter went on. “And the changeling species. I thought you were behind what happened here tonight… I thought this was some sort of reckless scheme on your part that could end up with the world freezing over in eternal night…”
There was a moment of silence as Crystal continued her work. “I suppose I can understand that…” Crystal eventually replied. “But I don’t take threats well, and neither does the hive.”
“We are not herbivores like you,” Crystal went on. “We are predators, it is in our nature to fight and kill for our survival – to retaliate against any threat.” She glanced down at the colt. “Which is why I understand why you threatened us, but it is also why we still regard your threat. It’s not something I would expect a prey species like yours to understand. Griffins and dragons would, but not ponies…”
“Maybe I…” Dexter hesitated, watching as Crystal went back to work. “Maybe I have a better perspective than you think.”
“And what does that mean?” Crystal asked.
“You can sense my emotions right?” Dexter asked, earning a nod from the mare. “Look harder…” He instructed cryptically.
Taking a moment to look at the colt, the changeling took him up on his suggestion. At first she could sense his drive; his anger and determination with the current situation with Nightmare Moon. Underneath that was his fear and doubt, natural responses to what he has seen over the past few days. Pressing on she was able to sense an air of innocence, confirming for the queen that he was in fact a child.
But there was something more: a primal willingness to be violent; the facility to enjoy the thrill of a hunt - to feel elation and victory upon a kill.
An instinct that belonged to all predators.
“You-“Crystal recoiled slightly from the colt. “You’re not a pony… you’re a predator of some kind.”
Dexter let his eyes wander for a moment. “You could say we’re both changelings in our own way…” Dexter eventually replied. “Though I am surprised it took you so long to catch on, the last changeling I met noticed after a few short minutes…”
Crystal observed the colt in silence for a few more moments, it wasn’t often she was truly surprised.
When she didn’t respond Dexter huffed. “Alright, c’mon. Are you finished yet? I’m not getting any younger and I’d like to get on with this before Nightmare Moon decides to do something else…”
“Very well…” Crystal eventually replied. “But there are a few more things you should know.” Crystal paused, checking over her work before stepping away from the colt. She motioned for him to follow as she turned to leave “Nightmare Moon is very temperamental; especially given the fact that she is with Celestia now. It appears that Celestia is the focal of the hatred which allowed Nightmare to form in Luna and eventually take over. Try to avoid talking about her.”
“I’ll try,” Dexter answered.
“One other thing,” The captain went on. “If Nightmare says you have a ‘sun-loving face’ then she’s already decided to kill you; you might want to start running.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better…” Dexter deadpanned as the pair arrived at the throne room doors.
“Alright, wait here.” The captain instructed.
Crystal motioned toward the guards flanking the throne room door, instructing them to open the doors.
Both of the alicorns were sitting on their respective thrones. Nightmare Moon looked up at the newcomer, motioning for the captain to approach. Meanwhile, Celestia continued looking down at the floor silently. She still appeared run down, her mane and coat seemingly uncared for.
“I will break your resolve eventually, Celestia. I’ll eventually find out what it takes to get you to fight.” Nightmare Moon declared toward Celestia. “For what reason do you interrupt us?”
“A matter of protocol which requires your attention, my Queen.” Crystal’s eyes drifted away from Celestia, noting her complete lack of reaction to her presence.
“Speak quickly.” Nightmare ordered. “So that we may be done with this.”
“The royal court has… a petitioner,” Crystal answered, surprising both alicorns and causing Celestia to look up.
“A petitioner?” Nightmare asked in surprise. Her raised eyebrow and baffled grimace was the first time Crystal had seen the dark alicorn express confusion. However, she shook it off quickly enough. “This petitioner is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.”
“Yes, my Queen.” Crystal went on immediately. “Normally his petition would be handled by court protocol, which was established by princess Celestia to dictate who may petition the court and what times… of day… he would be allowed to seek an audience. However, given that there is no more ‘daytime’ the- “
“The protocol is now defunct, yes I see the problem.” Nightmare cut in. “I will establish new protocol soon.”
“And what of the petitioner?” Crystal asked. “Should I maintain the Celestia’s traditional protocol which-”
“No, I think we should hear this petition. He is the first one outside of the lunar guard to openly acknowledge the new lunar government, and my reign as Queen.” Nightmare declared before shifting her gaze toward Celestia. “At the very least, we will be able to discern if he has a sun-loving face.” She sneered.
“But what do you think sister?” Nightmare mocked, feigning a tone of polite concern with a raised hoof. “Of course, you must have a say. We are supposed to be equals right? We’re both supposed to a say, right?”
…
“Well speak!” Nightmare Moon continued. “Should we give an audience to this petitioner?”
Celestia continued to remain silent, eliciting a sneer from Nightmare Moon. “Send him in so we may hear this stallion.”
“That’s the other thing…” Crystal replied hesitantly. “’He’ isn’t a stallion, ‘he’ is a colt.”
“What?” Celestia breathed, just loudly enough for Nightmare to hear.
“A foal, here?” Nightmare grinned at Celestia. “Strange… very strange, but fortuitous, don’t you think sister?” Nightmare sensed an opportunity to test her sister’s resolve in ways she couldn’t before, an idea only encouraged by the wide eyes of growing dread on the white alicorn. “Bring us this child.”
Soon after, said foal appeared; peeking into the throne room. Dexter didn’t need to act to any degree in order to appear as a timid, hesitant foal. Having witnessed Luna’s descent into Nightmare Moon, and the following madness, he was far from enthusiastic about seeing the dark alicorn again.
Upon spotting the colt, Nightmare seized him in an aura of magic, pulling him through the air toward the throne. The colt tensed in her magical grip, baiting his breath as he noticed the toothy grin on the dark mare.
“Well well well,” Nightmare said, releasing her magic once she was able to grasp him with her hooves. “What do we have here?” She eyed the colt, before glancing at Celestia with a grin. “You must be what, eight, nine years old?”
“I’m uhh… I’m eight, your highness.” Dexter gulped before stealing a quick glance at the other alicorn. Dexter couldn’t tell if she recognized his voice, but whatever the case was, she appeared more than concerned by the colt’s presence.
“I’m sorry, subject.” Nightmare began again. “I know you’re probably eager to get to your petition, but there is something we must do first.”
She raised the colt up to eye level, letting her teal eyes meet his blue ones. “I must determine if you have a sun-loving face!” Her sneer caused the colt to recoil.
It was enough to get Celestia on her hooves. “Luna, he’s just a child-ack.” A blue aura of magic appeared around Celestia’s neck, tighten rapidly.
“Fight me or be silent,” Nightmare declared, glaring sideways at her sister. Nightmare raised up the colt in her grasp, displaying him to the other alicorn. “Well?”
There was a long moment of silence as Celestia stood motionless.
However, Nightmare was disappointed to see Celestia fold her wings before slowly turning away.
“Ha!” Nightmare cackled, shoving a hoof in Celestia’s direction. “You claim you love your subjects yet won’t fight to save one of them? Well now we know your love isn’t worth very much…”
“But then again, I could have told you that.” Nightmare sneered.
Dexter shifted uncomfortably in the mare’s grasp, turning back to look up at Nightmare Moon.
“Oh don’t worry, my little pony.” Nightmare pulled Dexter closer, feigning a consoling tone. “That doesn’t mean Celestia doesn’t care, quite the opposite actually. All it means is that she feels you’re… oh what’s the right word? Expendable.”
“Let me explain…” Nightmare went on, glancing at the other alicorn. “You see, I’ve known Celestia for a very long time, centuries even. I’ve gotten to know her very, very well. So well that I could tell you what she’s thinking.”
“And you know what she’s thinking right now?” Nightmare asked, coming back to eye level with the colt. “She thinks that if she reacts now, then I’ll always resort to threatening foals when I wish to provoke her. But if she doesn’t react, I won’t do anything to hurt foals further.”
“A rather simple principle really, she is protecting children in the future by writing you off now.” Nightmare rolled her eyes before grinning down at the colt. “Serving you up for others who may never even need saving.”
“You’re wrong.” Celestia cut in, finally turning back to glance at Dexter before looking up a Nightmare Moon. “I know you well enough, Luna, to be certain of the fact you wouldn’t hurt a child. I don’t have to fight you because you’re not going to hurt him…”
“And she gambles your life on the belief she knows me well!” Nightmare laughed. “You know, I bet if you asked her a few days ago if she thought I would not overthrow her and end the diarchy, she would have told you she knew me well enough to know I’d never do such a thing.”
“Yet here we are…” Nightmare almost sang to the child. “She has no good reason to just sit there, watching you and everypony else suffer – except for the fact that she wants too. She wants something and she is willing to right off everypony else to get it!”
“You. Just. Can’t. Help. But. Hate. Her. Right?” Nightmare finished by looking at the child, waiting in silence for an answered.
“U-umm, yes?” He replied hesitantly, earning a huff from the nightmare.
“You don’t sound so convinced, whelp.” Nightmare replied. “And neither are we. So the question remains, do you have a sun-loving face?” Nightmare sneered. “Do you even have the smallest appreciation for the night? Do you do more than just give the stars a passing glance each night before you forsaking them in favor of sleep?”
“I-err,” Dexter began again, working up the courage to speak. Of course his fear was apparent to both the alicorns, but they knew he had good reason for it at the moment. “Y-yes your highness. I do appreciate the night. In fact I love astronomy, cosmology, astroph-”
“Do you even know what those words mean, runt?” Nightmare still didn’t sound convinced.
“Huh?” Dexter recoiled slightly before frowning in resentment. “Excuse me your highness, but I’ll have you know that I do know exactly what those words mean.” The colt folded his forelegs. “Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and their natural processes, while astrophysics is specifically the application of physics and chemistry to the nature of celestial objects.”
Nightmare blinked.
“All of which is not to be mistaken for cosmology, which specifically relates to the nature of the universe, its origin and ultimate fate.” Dexter went on, almost falling into a light rant. “Of course the simpleton wouldn’t know the difference, and why should they? To them the night sky is just four thousand nine hundred twinkling little dots worthy of little more than a glance. But simply studying the stars in the smallest degree could reveal incredible truths about the nature of the universe and own existence in the cosmos such… that…” The colt trailed off when he noticed the dark alicorn staring at him intently. The scowl on her face had vanished, leaving her to eye the colt under her wing. “Umm, heh.”
Eventually Nightmare’s expression morphed into a grin before she let loose an extended laugh. She took the colt out from under her wing before holding him before Celestia in a pair of extended hooves.
“Look at this Celestia!” She jostled the colt as she presented him to Celestia. “This is the future! Ponies everywhere will come to love the night! You cannot stop it, and soon there will be no more sun-loving faces!”
Nightmare let loose another spin chilling laugh.
Celestia’s gaze toward the colt was still a mixture of surprise and fear. Dexter didn’t know if she recognized him, or at least his voice. However, his suspicions were soon confirmed.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Celestia said so softly she practically mouthed the words.
Before the colt could even think about a response, Nightmare pulled him back.
“I like you little whelp,” Nightmare declared, putting Dexter under her wing once more. “But tell me, where are your parents? And how did you get here to issue your own petition?”
“My parent’s…” Dexter’s voice trailed off as he looked toward the ground. Of course his parents were still alive, but at this point he knew there was a strong chance he would never seen them again. They were over a thousand years away, if not in another universe entirely. “My parents aren’t… around.”
“Good,” Nightmare declared after a moment of silence. “Now no pony will argue with me when I take you for myself.” Dexter recoiled in Nightmare’s grasp as her wing became uncomfortably tight. He looked up to find her gazing down at him. “You belong to me now, little colt.”
“Any other family?” Nightmare pressed.
“Well, I have a sister… “ Dexter admitted. “But she isn’t here either.”
“You have a sister?” Nightmare eyed the colt, her piercing eyes bore into his own. “You… hate her… don’t you?” Nightmare declared with a growing grin.
“I uh…” The colt stammered, trying to recoil from the mare as she nuzzled him.
“Oh don’t bother denying it little one,” Nightmare breathed, nuzzling the child once more. “I can sense it. I can feel the power of hatred buried in the dark corner of your heart…”
“You should embrace it,” Nightmare went on. “But first let me teach you a little something about hatred.”
“Hatred can set your heart ablaze and make your will indomitable.” Nightmare explained. “Hatred can make you powerful, focused, and determined. And it can twist you into anything you need to be in order to satisfy it.”
“But the most perverse thing about hatred is that it is made most powerful by love…” Nightmare laughed before panting. “You see, the highest forms of hatred are reserved only for those you love. You cannot hate an enemy that you always fought as much as you can hate loved ones who has betrayed your love and driven a stake through your heart.”
“But that’s not all; hatred is finally made complete when you learn to love it!” Nightmare looked down at the child, a hysterical smile plastered on her face. “Once you learn to love the fire in which you burn, it will truly bring you power. Once you become addicted to the elation hatred brings you when you watch those you hate suffer! When you learn to let go of all restraint and welcome the glee you feel at the sight of somepony suffering.”
“Oh, it’s incredible and so perverse.” Nightmare let out another cackle.
“And you have it child, you have hatred and it is for someone you love!” She declared. “Now all you have to do is learn to love it and you will make an excellent child of the night.”
Dexter couldn’t help but stare up at the dark alicorn, wide eyed. He was certifiably sure she was nuts, but he didn’t want to run the risk of disagreeing with her and getting on her bad side.
“But tell me, foal.” Nightmare eventually began again, more calmly and collected. “What has your sister done to earn your hatred?”
”Well, she is an idiot to begin with.” That got Nightmare to chuckle. “But she’s done a lot of things. She’s destroyed many projects I’ve worked hard on, She’s beaten me up, set me on fire, poisoned me, exposed me to germs, exposed me to lethal amounts of electricity, irradiated me, lied to me, stolen from me…” Dexter slowly trailed off, hesitating to continue his list when he noticed the look up surprise Nightmare was giving him. “-Umm, heh. Uhh… She’s done a lot of things.”
Nightmare merely stared at the child, hardly able to believe what she had just heard. She thought she had a reason to hate Celestia, but this colt had arguably better reasons to hate his sister than she did.
“Did your sister really do those things to you?” Nightmare asked, for the first time sounding a little concerned. However after a few moments of critically looking over the colt she grinned. “I guess she must have… the hatred within you is powerful indeed.”
“You will become an excellent child of the night,” She nuzzled the colt. “When you’re a little older, you’ll go to sleep one night and have no trouble waking up again… and then you will be one with the nightmare forever!”
“But I assume your petition is to have your sister dealt with,” Nightmare assumed, her voice turning cold. “Consider it done. I’ll find her in the dreamscape and deal with her personally.”
“Umm…” Dexter began hesitantly. He had a good idea what Nightmare meant when she said ‘dealt with,’ and Dexter was pretty sure he didn’t want that. But considering the fact that Dee Dee was on another planet, a thousand years in the future, the colt wasn’t actually too worried about her safety.
“T-that wasn’t what I wanted…” Dexter hesitantly replied.
“Oh?”
“I-I was hoping that one of y-you could bring Princess Luna back…” Dexter didn’t need help playing the part of a frightened child at this point. There was no doubt in his mind that ‘Nightmare Moon’ was off her rocker in more ways than one. He could only hope that the changelings’ intuition was right, and that whatever part of Luna that was in Nightmare Moon might be responsive to a child.
“Fear not, child.” Nightmare dismissed. “I am Princess Luna.”
“No, you’re not…” Dexter retorted quietly, deciding it was now time to press on. Though he felt like he was stepping through a minefield, not knowing when he would say something that might cause Nightmare’s fury to explode. “You can’t be. Princess Luna bore three elements of harmony and helped defeat Discord. She did good things.”
“But you, you’re an evil monster.” Dexter finished.
“Do not speak of what you do not understand, child.” Nightmare dismissed. “I may be evil but I am rectifying many wrongs, correcting the injustices perpetrated against me.”
“How so?” Dexter challenged. “By causing suffering and death across Equestria? Torturing ponies in their dreams? Betraying all, even your own family.” He motioned toward Celestia. However, the moment he did he was pulled up in Nightmare’s magic to eye level with the dark alicorn.
“Celestia betrayed me first!” Nightmare roared. “I am not the betrayer but the betrayed!”
“Perhaps…” Dexter glanced at the white alicorn. Celestia watched the scene before her with wide eyes. Frozen still as if she were holding her breath. “But you did betray all the others. Princess Celestia may have done something wrong to you, but the others didn’t.”
“Yes they did!” Nightmare sneered. “They and their sun-loving faces connived with Celestia to rob me of the love and respect I deserved, casting me as nothing more than a tool to be used, forcing me to be nothing but the mare that lives in Celestia’s shadow! Choosing the sleep away my beautiful night and living only by her repulsive day!”
“Are you trying to convince me of that, or yourself?“ Dexter retorted. “Betrayal requires intent. Many ponies may have failed to appreciate you, many of them may have favored the day over the night. But their choice to sleep during the night wasn’t one made out of hate for it.”
“And you, being the mistress of dreams, the one who interacts with ponies during the night and when they sleep, would have easily known that. You would have seen what you say is not true.”
“They didn’t betray you. And even if they did wrong you, they never intended it. And if they didn’t betray you, then it is you who betrayed them…”
“Which is why you cannot be Princess Luna. She was the Element of Loyalty.” Dexter finished hesitantly, watching the now trembling Nightmare Moon.
“Shut up! Shut up!” Nightmare seethed, shaking her head at the colt as she bared her fangs. “You know nothing, you moronic child. Too young and inexperienced to know the meaning of half of what you say…” Nightmare shook her head dismissively. “Now be quiet before I decide to do something… unkind.”
Dexter glanced back at Celestia. The white alicorn returned the gaze, pleading silently for the colt to stop. She must have recognized his voice by now, and knew what he was trying to do. But that didn’t mean she wanted him here. She knew the only way she could protect him would be to fight Nightmare Moon, something she seemed still unwilling to do.
“You know…” Dexter eventually began again, no longer bothering to portray fear. He had long since decided it was time to get brave, otherwise he wouldn’t have come nearly as far. “You seem so focused on turning everyone into ‘children of the night,’ but you’re the last person on the entire planet who should have any children.”
“Shut up foal.” Nightmare commanded.
“Mothers work tirelessly for their children, even if the children seem ungrateful.” Dexter shook his head, remembering the reprimands his own mother had given him in his short life. “And they do so out of duty and devotion, if not love. It is a simple fact any parent should expect.”
“And any person capable of being a parent, anyone capable of being a mother and having children would have known that.” Dexter pressed on. “But you didn’t, did you? You can’t handle serving your subjects while waiting for them to become grateful. So you’ve turned on them.”
“You’re an injudicious brat who knows nothing! You’re life is merely a blink of an eye compared to mine, on what wisdom does a foal like you judge me?!”
“And now you want to call some of your subjects children?!” The colt ignored Nightmare’s retort, raising his hoof after pointing an accusatory hoof at the dark alicorn. “What happens the next time you feel unappreciated? Will you hurt them again?”
“There shouldn’t be any ‘children of the night’ because you shouldn’t be a mother of any kind!”
“Even if you were to have a foal of your own, it should be taken from you because you’d end up abusing it!”
Nightmare shook the colt furiously. “I COMMAND YOU TO BE SILENT!”
“You’re a monster! And you don’t deserve to have a dog let alone a child!” Dexter nearly shrieked the last of his words, finding himself now unable to speak due to Nightmare’s tightening grip. Her forelegs’ grasp on his barely had become so hard he was starting to have trouble breathing, despite the added protection his hidden suit provided.
Nightmare, however, continued to tremble in sheer fury, scowling at the colt in the mercy of her grasp. She brought the colt’s face to close to her own. “I think I see the problem now. You have a sun-loving face!” She sneered, violently throwing the colt across the throne room. He bounced across the stone floor a few feet before finally skidding to a halt.
By the time he could look up, Nightmare had already risen from her seat and was descending the stairs before her. The air around her seemed to darken as the air in the entire hall dropped to freezing. Celestia too had risen from her seat, now looking more panicked than ever.
“Luna, you’d never hurt a child, no matter how angry you got!” Celestia pleaded.
Nightmare froze at the bottom of the stairs, her horn glowing in the growing dark. She continued toward the colt; however now each step seemed hindered as if she was struggling against a growing force with each step.
“No…” Nightmare hissed, finally stopping once more after failing to take another step. She thrashed her head back and forth, stumbling backward. “Don’t… Don’t stop me now!”
She jerked her head once more, drawing a large breath before huffing. Her head snapped toward the wall, letting her gaze drift toward her reflection in a nearby window. “Don’t get in the way!” Nightmare rasped.
“He deserves this!” She shouted toward her reflection. “The runt has a sun-loving face!”
“I won’t be party to this…” Nightmare said quietly, in a voice not quite as deep.
“He has no love for the night!” Nightmare spat. “And he could never be a child of it.”
She thrashed once more before staring into her reflection. “I won’t harm a child.” She retorted.
“We’ve already hurt many children. You may have spared them from the nightmares, but we have orphaned all those whose parents couldn’t become children of the night.” Nightmare stomped, leaving a crack in the stone floor. “Why not just take the next step?”
“I won’t do this; I won’t let you do this.” The other voice countered, straining as it fought back. “If I hurt him, it would only prove everything he said was right!”
“He will never be a child of the night,” Nightmare shouted. “And when he grows up, I will torture him to death in his sleep.” Her furious glare shot toward the colt. “Why not let me get started early and save us all some time.”
She ripped her head back towards the window, glaring into her reflection. “I will NOT be a foal-killer!”
“You can’t make me do this, Nightmare.” She declared, wrestling against her trembling fury. Nightmare lashed a hoof at the window, shattering it with a crash. “I don’t want this, which is why you cannot get me to do it. I truly don’t want this…”
The dark alicorn stood silent, panting while she slowly drew her foreleg from the shattered window.
Nightmare drew a long breath, before slowly opening her eyes and turning toward Dexter.
By now the colt had risen to his hooves, having assumed a defensive stance. He was no longer acting the part of a defenseless foal. He was on a hair trigger, ready to send the neural commands to his suit to power it up.
Since he didn’t have any of his weapons, he doubted he could really defend himself from Nightmare Moon. His only option would be to flee, something he thought he had a good chance at should he activate his cloak.
Though that would prove unnecessary.
“Do not be afraid whelp…” The dark alicorn eventually spoke, far softer than Dexter expected. However, what surprised Dexter the most was the fact that the dark alicorn’s eyes were no longer cat-like, having returned to their normal round and pony-like shape. The fangs in her mouth seemingly disappeared. Though she retained her black coat and tall stature. “I will not hurt you. I would rather die than be a foal-killer.”
Dexter couldn’t help but take a hesitant step back. Despite her words, he had more than enough reason to believe her to be a tad bit unstable.
Possibly prone to explosive anger.
“I do not expect a child like you to understand, and I can see that a foal would think of me as a monster.” Luna admitted. “But what I am doing is right, and it is for the best. I know you don’t understand, and I cannot explain it to you. I can’t explain it to myself… but I know it is right. It feels right.”
“I did not mean to hurt you, child.” Nightmare took a step toward the colt, prompting him to take another step back. “Come to me so that I may apologize and heal any injury I caused you…”
Fat chance.
Instead the colt took another step away before casting a brief glance at the other alicorn.
Celestia appeared dumbstruck. Her jaw hang agape, her mind was a swirl of confusion, shock and fear at what she just witnessed in her sister.
A part of Dexter felt relief; maybe Celestia now understood the depth of Luna’s madness. There was nothing like arguing with your reflection to convince onlookers that you're a schizo. However, she was spurred into action when she glanced at the colt, noticing him returning the gaze.
Celestia rushed to Luna’s side.
“Luna,” Celestia placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Luna, please listen to me.” She pleaded. “I don’t care who is better, I don’t care about whatever differences that have come between us. I love you, please stop this.”
Celestia continued to plead with her sister. She hoped that now, after whatever just happened to the dark alicorn, she might be able to reach her.
However, the more Celestia spoke the colder the dark alicorn’s gaze became. Eventually Luna closed her eyes, starting to tremble as a scowl grew on her face.
Eventually the scowl grew large enough for Dexter to notice a pair of fangs appearing among the dark alicorn’s teeth.
That’s when Dexter remembered: Celestia was the focal of Luna’s hate.
“Celestia, you moron, shut up!” he pleaded.
Unfortunately, his warning came a little too late. Luna had opened her eyes once more to reveal a set of cat-like slits for pupils. “Yes sister, do as the little colt says and stop talking.”
Nightmare turned to the white alicorn, seeing her head in an aura of magic before slamming it into the stone floor. The impact left a small crater which grew with repeated blows. “Fight me,” Celestia had slammed into the floor again. “Or be silent.” Another slam. “Don’t talk.”
Nightmare released the white alicorn, allowing her to fall to the floor where she would writhe in pain as he wounds healed.
“Flee.” Nightmare commanded, facing the colt with a deadly glare.
“What the HECK was that?!” Dexter shouted angrily, a ripple of light washed over his form to reveal his presence to the lunar captain. Crystal had been awaiting the colt’s return in one of the chambers near to the throne room.
“That was… perfect,” Crystal chuckled. “You couldn’t have done a better job had you really been one of us changelings.”
“Get this illusion garbage off of me!” Dexter motioned to the faux brown coat, eliciting a pulse of green magic from Crystal. A few seconds later the form of Dexter’s suit returned, along with his orange mane and tail.
“What in the world do you mean that was perfect?!” He lashed a hoof at the changeling. “Your little plan only made her crazier!” He had risked exposure, and his own neck, by going through with the changeling’s plan of manipulating Nightmare Moon’s emotions.
“Not only did you show the extent of Luna’s mental breakdown to Celestia,” Crystal explained. “You also put a wedge between Luna and Nightmare Moon.” She turned back toward the colt.
“For the first time I sense Luna resisting Nightmare Moon.” The changeling went on. “If given enough time, Luna’s resistance may undermine Nightmare Moon’s malevolence; eventually stopping her from being so vicious…”
“And how long will that take?” Dexter frowned.
“I don’t know, it could be a few days or decades, and when it does work, Nightmare Moon will still be in control and still be trying to bring about eternal night.” Crystal turned to face the colt, failing to suppress a smug grin. “However, she will be less violent... or at the very least less lethal.”
Dexter huffed and shook his head indignantly.
“What about Celestia?” Dexter complained. “Is she going to fight, or has risking my neck for your little plan turned out to be pointless?”
Crystal gazed back at the wall, toward the throne room. “From the emotions I can sense… I’m afraid she won’t.”
Dexter fought the urge to pull his mane out.
“Thanks to you, Celestia has finally seen the extent Luna’s mental breakdown; shocking as it is.” Crystal went on. “But I sense Celestia has only become more determined to find some other way of dealing with Luna without fighting, probably because she saw you get through to Luna. She undoubtedly thinks she will be able to do the same.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Trust me,” Crystal went on. “Celestia’s emotional state is not that of one who is preparing themselves to fight.”
“Aurgh! I can’t believe it!” Dexter shouted, kicking over a nearby chair.
“Hey!” Crystal chastised. “This is the only ‘captain’s office’ left in this castle and I just got it.”
“What in the world are we going to do now?” Dexter asked, ignoring the mare. However he paused as an idea came to him.
As far as Dexter could tell, the only way Celestia would use the Elements of Harmony was if he forced her to. Anything else would be a waste of time.
He would have to force Celestia to choose between using the Elements of Harmony or risk losing Luna for certain. Though that was easier said than done. He didn’t have anything powerful enough to threaten Luna with. If he did, he'd simply stop Nightmare Moon himself.
That was when the colt remembered Discord. He was than powerful enough to pose a threat to Nightmare Moon. But the draconequus had been hiding, lying in wait for one of the one of the sisters to defeat the other so the elements could not be used to against him.
The trick would be finding him and getting him involved. Dexter had no way of detecting him, but he knew Discord was watching. Dexter would have to find a way of drawing Discord out.
This probably meant causing a good amount of chaos.
“I think we should try again,” Crystal started. “But this time, let’s target Celestia’s emotions. The trick will be-”
“No,” Dexter cut her off.
“No?” Crystal reproached.
“We already tried it your way, it didn’t work.” Dexter answered. He understood the changeling was very good at manipulating emotions, but he was certain her tactics were not the answer. “You go ahead and do whatever you want to Celestia, but at this point I’m beginning to wonder if she is just as crazy as Luna.” Dexter turned away, only to have the office door shut in front of him.
“Wait a second, where are you going?” Crystal approached the colt, holding the office door shut with her magic.
“To handle this my way,” Dexter replied.
“And what, exactly, does that mean?”
“You said the throne room is sound proofed, right?” Dexter asked, earning a grimace of confusion from the mare.
“Yes…” She raised an eyebrow.
“How good is it?” Dexter pressed.
“Very good,” The mare added. “There could be a thunderstorm just outside and you would never hear it in the throne room. But what does that have to do with anything?” She asked. “What are you planning?”
“We can’t convince Celestia to use the Elements of Harmony, so I’m going to force her to use them.” Dexter replied cryptically.
“And how are you going to do that?” Crystal pressed.
“I can’t tell you,” Dexter replied after a pause, looking around the room to find it empty of anyone else. “There is a chance someone is watching, discussing it might jeopardize my plan.”
Crystal eyed the colt for a moment. “Okay,” She eventually replied. “What do you need me to do?”
“You’re in charge of the guard, right?” Dexter asked, earning a nod. “How many of them are there?”
“Around two hundred and fifty,” Crystal answered. “Why?”
“In one hour, raise the alarm and tell the guards there are intruders in the main courtyard. But make sure Nightmare Moon remains undisturbed.”
“All of them?” The captain asked in surprise, earning a nod from the colt. Reaching into his saddlebags, he produced another bag which he promptly shoved toward the mare. It contained the Elements.
“Yes, all of them. But divide them into two groups, one that approaches from inside the castle structure, and other approaching from beyond the castle walls.” Dexter added, pressing forward. “And instruct them not to use lethal force.”
---
“If I’m not mistaken this should be it…” Dexter muttered as he peered around another corner. He was taking extra care to be cautious, moving slowly to make sure he was not seen.
The colt sought the castle dungeons. Needless to say, he knew it would be well guarded. Unfortunately he could not use his suit’s cloak to travel undetected. Ever since Discord fried his magic dampener, he had no way to quickly recharge his suit. This meant he had to save energy where he could, foregoing the cloak unless it was absolutely necessary.
Pushing deeper into the underground corridors of the castle, Dexter finally came across a large wooden door. The door itself was reinforced with thick metal plating and was flanked by two lunar guards.
Drawing his rifle, Dexter was able to fire and stun the two guards. They fell to the ground with dull thuds.
Pulling the door open and peering inside revealed what the colt was looking for. The walls were lined with cells cordoned off by metal bars. A few contained prisoners, who were kept company by a pair of guards patrolling the length of the dungeon. The dungeon itself was bleakly lit by a few torches which lined the walls.
A pair of flashes broke the darkness of the dungeon, bolts from Dexter’s rifle striking the patrolling guards. They dropped in place.
The sudden attack startled the prisoners, causing them to rise to their hooves and investigate the commotion.
Dexter approached one of the prone guards, tapping him with a fore hoof to make sure he was out cold.
“Whoa, was that you kid?” One of the prisoners in the cell asked, causing Dexter to glance at him through the metal bars. The prisoner in question was a unicorn with a white coat, wearing a solar guard’s chest armor. His helmet was missing, replaced by what appeared to be a ring on his horn. “…and what is that suit you’re wearing?”
“Never mind the suit,” Dexter replied, shifting his attention to the other unconscious guard. “And I’m here because I need your help to defeat Nightmare Moon.”
The guard remained silent for a moment, apparently scrutinizing the colt. “Let me out of here, then.” He instructed, pointing toward the wall at the far end of the dungeon. “The keys are on the wall by the-“
“I don’t need keys,” Dexter interrupted, causing the guard to tilt his head. “Stand back,” Dexter instructed before placing his fore hooves on the metal bars. Prying the bars open would be easy enough, given that his suit would be doing all the work.
“Wait kid…” The weak voice of another prisoner came from behind the colt, causing Dexter hesitate before looking back.
The second prisoner was also a solar guard, but this one was a pegasus. A first Dexter was slightly taken back by his appearance; large bags were under his eyes as he apparently struggled to stand. It was clearly evident that he was fighting the need to sleep as hard as he could. He was joined by another Pegasus who appeared as tired.
“Don’t release him,” The pegasus shook his head slowly. “You, you can’t let him out.”
“What, why not?”
“Never mind them, kid.” The unicorn cut in loudly. “They aren’t thinking straight, just let me out of here so we can fight Nightmare Moon.”
“No, kid. Don’t, the LT he… he can’t be trusted anymore…” The second pegasus spoke up, tiredness filling his tone as well.
“Don’t listen to them, just open the door and let me out!” The unicorn guard pleaded. “They’re delusional.”
“And you’re well rested!” The first pegasus accused. “How was your nap?”
That’s when it dawned on Dexter, causing the colt’s gaze to slowly shift back to the unicorn. The pegasi guards had a point; this unicorn didn’t look like he had spent any time trying to resist sleep. When Dexter took a hesitant step back, the unicorn’s demeanor changed drastically. His pleading gaze replaced by a vicious leer as he slammed the dungeon bars with his fore hoofs.
“He fell asleep eight hours ago…” the pegasus added. “The only reason he is still in that cage is because Nightmare hasn’t confirmed his indoctrination yet!”
“Open the door right now you little runt!” He hissed. “Open this door or I’ll kill you.”
Dexter recoiled and backpedaled from the bars when the unicorn lunged at him, trying to grasp the colt by swinging a foreleg between the bars.
“All will become children of the night and love Nightmare as she deserves!” The unicorn prisoner sneered. “Those who resist deserve to die. They will die!” His gaze never shifted from the colt. “You hear that you mud-foal runt?”
Dexter continued backing away, as the unicorn tried to wrestle the door to his cell open. However, Dexter didn’t get far before the unicorn started shouting. “GUARDS! GUARDS! INTRUDER IN THE-”
Another flash of light belted from Dexter’s rifle, striking the prisoner. He fell to the stone floor, unconscious.
“Thanks for that,” Dexter said, turning back to the pegasi.
“You… you’re welcome.” The first pegasus replied. “Though… I’m not sure we can be… be much help at fighting Nightmare Moon.”
“We’re just… so exhausted. It’s been… days.” The second pegasus added.
“What do you mean it’s been days?” Dexter asked.
“It’s been days since Nightmare began her takeover.” The pegasus continued. “And our shift had just begun when she attacked. We were captured soon after and thrown in here.”
Dexter reached up to his mask, accessing the control for his heads up display. Flipping over to the mission recorder, he was surprised to find it read that over three days had passed.
“What the…” Dexter asked in confusion, trying to figure out how his perception of time had become so distorted. Of course, without the sun and moon cycling, everything seemed like it was just one night. He had gone to sleep a few times, using the dream catcher Star Swirl provided to protect him from Nightmare Moon’s indoctrination. The rest of the time could be accounted for in everything he did to combat Nightmare Moon, at least that’s how his mission recorder viewed it.
But the more the colt recalled, the more he realized the pegasi were right. He might have realized something sooner if he could feel how cold it had gotten outside. However, his suit had kept him perfectly warm to the point he didn’t realize the atmosphere was already being affected by the lack of sunlight.
“Listen kid… just go.” The first pegasus went on. “We’re going to fall asleep any time now.”
“In fact, it might be better for you to leave us locked up...” The other guard added. “You know… if we wake up again we won’t be too friendly.”
Dexter stood silently, considering the guard’s words. He was taken aback by how grim their situation had become. Normally he would be dismayed, but he quickly pushed his emotions aside.
“Listen, I need your help.” Dexter stated simply. “And I think I know of a way to keep you awake. Can you hold on for just a few more minutes?”
“It’s not like we have a choice…” The first pegasus replied bleakly.
Dexter turned away from the two prisoners, looking into his pack for a set of tools. Once he found the tools he was looking for, he fell back on his haunches to get a better view of his suit. After a few minutes of tinkering, he was able to open up a compartment.
“If I know Quadraplex she probably… Ah, here it is!” Dexter said, extracting what appeared to be a large tube with a needle attached. Placing it on the floor he resealed his suit.
“What is it, kid?” One of the tired guards asked.
“It’ll help you stay awake,” The colt replied before putting the syringe in his mouth, placing his fore hoofs on the dungeon bars. The metal bars screech in protest as Dexter pried them open, leaving them mangled and distorted as they were tossed aside.
However, the pegasi’s eyes lit up in surprise. Suit or no suit, it wasn’t everyday they saw an eight year old bend open several inch thick metal bars.
“Hold still… this stuff is really potent.”
---
“Whoa… that’s different.” One of the pegasi declared, feeling wide awake as his exhaustion seemed to drain from his body. “What’s in that thing?” He motioned toward the needle.
“A special mixture of amphetamine, caffeine and… several other compounds.” Dexter admitted, earning confused looks from the guards. Dexter hardly expected them to know what those names meant. “Uh, look. The mixture I have given you will keep you awake and alert for the next twenty four hours. After that, you’ll crash and likely crash hard.”
“Its twenty four we didn’t have before.” The first guard glanced at the other before turning back to Dexter. “I’m Strafe, he’s Winds.” He motioned toward the other pegasus. “And you are?”
“My name isn’t important,” The colt replied. “But like I said, I need your help.”
The pegasi glanced at one another.
“I am more than willing to help you at any tasked aimed at toward stopping Nightmare Moon,” Strafe went on. “But now that I am thinking more clearly, it would not be safe for a child to be involved in any of this. I want you to-“
Strafe was cut off by the sound of capacitors charging in Dexter’s suit, shortly before the colt placed a fore hoof against the stone wall of the dungeon. His force amplifier discharged in a pulse of light, causing the stone to explode. It left a large hole in the wall.
“Make no mistake; I am not the one at risk of being hurt by Nightmare’s guards. Nightmare’s guards are the ones in danger of being hurt by me.” He declared.
The pegasus blinked.
“Now, in about twenty minutes I am going to start a fight with every guard in a five mile radius.” Dexter went on.
“Are you nuts?!” Winds asked.
“No, I’m a genius.” Dexter retorted. “Now I’ll need your help. Don’t worry, I am not asking for much.”
“What can we do?” Strafe asked. “You must know Nightmare has hundreds of guards.”
“I know,” Dexter replied. “But trust me, I can handle any fight that happens on the ground. What I can’t handle is a fight on the ground while swarms of pegasi attack from the sky.”
“What do you expect us to do?” Winds asked. “We can’t hold off all the pegasi or bat ponies working for Nightmare Moon.”
“That’s not what I need,” Dexter rolled his eyes. “You pegasi can control the weather right?”
The guards glanced at each other before Strafe nodded.
“Good, I need you to disguise yourselves as night guards and blanket the entire castle in a cloud of fog…”
---
“That was fast,” Dexter muttered to himself. Fifteen minutes had gone by since the pegasi had been sprung from the dungeons, and a fresh bed of fog covered the castle grounds. It was so thick he could hardly see five feet in front of him. “I really need to figure out how you pegasi use magic to manipulate the weather.”
“Actually, the fog wasn’t that hard.” Winds answered. “This… unending night… it's wreaking havoc on the typical weather systems.” He pointed upward. ”The cooling of the sky made a lot of clouds, which haven’t been cleaned up since the weather ponies fled. We used them for the fog.”
“What’s that?” Strafe asked, pointing toward a device Dexter flicked shut before attaching it to a latch on his suit.
“It’s a detonator,” Dexter replied simply before checking his rifle.
“What’s-“ Strafe began, getting cut off.
“Listen, I know you probably have a lot of questions.” Dexter interrupted “But now you two need to get somewhere safe.” He checked the timer on his visor. Two minutes remained. “Fly to Canterlot, and see if you can find Star Swirl the Bearded or Clover the Clever. They should have a way to let you sleep without getting attacked by Nightmare Moon.”
“No way kid,” Strafe replied. “Were not just leaving you-“
“No time, listen.” Dexter cut in. “In two minutes, every night guard in this castle is going to launch an assault on the courtyard.” Dexter sent the neural commands to his suit, activating his cloak. His form shimmered before disappearing before the two pegasi.
“If you two are caught up in that, you won’t survive.” Dexter went on, his voice coming from thin air. “I, however, will be fine. So just go.”
Strafe looked around the courtyard for a moment. Though he didn’t see much due to the fog before him. He then glanced at his fellow guard before hopping into the air.
“Good luck, kid.” He replied, hovering for another moment before disappearing into the mists above. He was quickly followed by the other pegasus.
After watching them leave, Dexter activated his suit’s visor. Toggling it to thermal vision would let him see through the fog easy enough.
Hardly a moment had gone by before he spotted the first of Nightmare’s guards advancing on the courtyard. A large group of them entered from the courtyard’s main gate, while another was pushing in from the castle’s main entrance. Their horns were alight, casting an eerie glow in fog.
Dexter was caught directly in-between the two massing groups, he couldn’t help but grin. He surmised Crystal had figured out what he was planning, as the two masses of Nightmare’s guards approached from exactly opposite ends.
“I can’t see a thing… where did this fog come from?” One of the guards complained.
“Intruders! We know you’re here. By the authority of Nightmare Moon you are ordered to step forward and surrender yourselves to the eternal night!” The lead guard from one of the groups shouted.
“Down with Nightmare Moon!” Dexter shouted back, ducking as he flipped the toggle his detonator. A series of explosion tore through the castle walls, spraying stone debris over the guards while knocking many of them off their hooves.
Fortunately for them, Dexter hadn’t placed the explosives close enough for any of them to be injured.
However, he immediately rose at the sound of the explosions. Dexter angled his rifle at one of the groups before spraying them with several bright bolts of energy. Many of the bolts struck their marks, dropping a number of night guards.
At this point, the guards had been blown up and shot at. They instinctively returned fire, casting a barrage of spells through the fog in Dexter’s direction.
Fortunately the colt at the good sense to get low again, allowing the magical attacks to sail past him where they struck the other group of Night guards.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
The two groups of Night guards began shoot off spells at each other, unable to see who they were really firing at thanks to the fog. The entire situation quickly degenerated into a chaotic mess.
Dropping his cloak, the colt began crawling along the ground as another hail of spell-fire was exchanged. Each one sailed harmlessly over him as he made his way toward the sidelines.
The mayhem only exploded from there. When Dexter finally made his way out of the line of fire he turned back toward the battle scene, viewing the whole scene through the fog thanks to his visor. More guards for each group were pouring in from the castle and main gate, while countless pegasi dove into the fray from above. Fortunately the pegasi didn’t seem to know any better than the unicorns on the ground, in fact they seemed bound and determined to subdue both groups.
Whenever one of the unicorns or pegasi seemed to realize what was happening, Dexter would pick them off from the sidelines. The bolts from his rifle were indistinguishable from the countless spells being exchanged.
Eventually the fighting did start to die down as the number of standing guards started to dwindle. Dexter then got off the sidelines and started stunned the remaining guards himself.
“Fools!” Dexter chuckled to himself. The colt had to admit that he felt a little guilty. For him, taking out the remaining guards wasn’t exactly a fair fight. The few guards which caught on to his presence, before getting shot, could hardly see him. Dexter, however, was protected from their attacks by his suit. Moreover, he could see through the fog like it wasn’t even there.
It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
When the dust had finally settled, Dexter scanned the courtyard. It was littered with prone forms of the night guard. Most were wounded, stunned or unconscious. Dexter was hoping there were no fatalities.
“My my my…” Came a familiar voice from somewhere in the fog. Dexter recognized it instantly.
“Discord…” Dexter turned, looking for the source. There was a quick sound of snapping fingers, causing the fog to dissipate, revealing the draconequus. He wore a large grin as he surveyed the courtyard.
The colt couldn’t help but return the grin, drawing discord out was the whole point of his plan. All he needed to do now was lay the bait and see if Discord would bite.
“I must say, I’m impressed.” Discord replied with a proud grin at the colt. “I haven’t seen someone cause such a lovely flavor of chaos. Yet you did it without so much as a hint of magic!” Discord applauded. “I knew keeping an eye on you would be worthwhile, and you didn’t disappoint.”
Dexter turned toward the newcomer, putting on a smug grin for a few moments of silence. “Well, what can I say… when it comes to mayhem…”
“It’s easy to impress an amateur.”
Discord coughed in surprise. “Excuuuussseeee me!? Amateur? Moi! ” The draconequus forced out over a laugh of disbelief.
“I’m sorry Mr. Discord,” Dexter continued his ruse with a shrug. “I meant no offense, but the truth is… I don’t believe you’re a very good agent of chaos. You don’t represent chaos very well…”
“Do you know who I am, little colt?” Discord pointed down toward Dexter with a frown. “I am not an agent of chaos, I don’t represent chaos, I am chaos.”
Dexter huffed skeptically. “Really? You’re the incarnation of chaos? Then I must be missing something.” Dexter took a moment to glance at his surroundings before looking back at Discord. “Let’s talk about chaos,” He motioned for Discord to follow before turning toward the castle entrance.
“My favorite subject!” Discord followed after the colt, floating just above the ground. “You may be too young to remember my reign. But if you did, you’d have seen chaos like none other.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that.” Dexter replied with a glance, pushing into the castle through a set of doors before turning up a flight of stairs. “You may cause chaos well, but you don’t represent chaos very well.”
“Oh, and what makes you say that?” Discord challenged.
“I’ve come across a number of agents of chaos.” Dexter began. “Heck, my own sister is an agent of chaos.” The colt flashed back to memories of Dee Dee. “But one of the most prolific agents of chaos I’ve heard of revealed the one way in which chaos is, and always shall be, superior to harmony.”
“And do you know what he said that reason is?” Dexter stopped to ask the draconequus. However after a moment of silence the colt answered. “Chaos is fair.”
Discord looked upon the colt with intrigue.
“Chaos, like justice, is blind. It deals fate toward everyone and everything impartially - unbiased and pure chance.” Dexter began walking again.
“Sounds like a pony after my own heart.” Discord answered. “I’ll have to add that little fact to my impossibly long list as to why chaos is better than harmony.”
Discord actually found himself surprised. Everything the colt had said was true as far as Discord could tell. A part of him had to admit, he never thought of that.
“I think you’ve uncovered my one redeeming virtue…” Discord grinned, letting a hint of sarcasm slip into his voice. “I knew I liked you for a reason, kid.”
Discord tried to pat the colt on his head, though his hand was swatted away by Dexter’s hoof.”
“The agent of chaos which said that had no rules…” Dexter went on. “And why should he? I mean, chaos doesn’t respect boundaries so why should he?”
“Chaos does not have rules, and it does not plot, plan or scheme; and it certainly doesn’t skulk in the dark, hiding like a schemer until the time is right.”
“But you, you do all of that!” Dexter stopped to point an accusatory hoof at Discord. “You have rules, you’re unfair when with others whenever you setup one of your little games, and you hide in the dark where the alicorns cannot see you while you scheme!”
“And that’s why you’re an amateur; you don’t even know what chaos really is!” Dexter challenged. “What kind of embodiment of chaos is so detached from it that he forsakes its best qualities?”
“Stop,” Discord declared, appearing in front of the colt with a frown. “I am a million times a source of chaos than you could ever hope to be.” The expression on Discord’s face revealed that Dexter had finally managed to get under his skin, something which actually frightened Dexter for a moment.
“Really? Prove it.” Dexter countered. “You just saw the chaos I caused. Do better than me.” He challenged.
Discord scoffed. “Normally I wouldn’t hesitate. But I know you still have the Elements of Harmony, if I reveal my presence then-“
“Please…” Dexter rolled his eyes, sidestepping Discord before pressing onward down the hall. “You’ve been watching the alicorn sisters. You know the state of Luna’s mind. There is no way she is bearing any of the Elements of Harmony, which means the elements are useless. That, and Nightmare Moon is not strong enough to hurt you.”
“You could even reclaim your rule over Equestria any time you wanted now,” Dexter finished.
“I suppose that is true…” Discord rubbed his chin began grinning once more, raising his hand as he prepared to snap his fingers. “But I am afraid I’m going to have to decline. I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work. Lulu and Celestia are going to have to work out their problems on each other, I won’t be stepping in to save the day… literally or figuratively.”
“Until next time,” Discord raised his hand, ready to snap his fingers. Though he stopped when the colt turned toward him.
“Not so fast, snappy!” Dexter shot a hoof at Discord, causing the Discord to freeze in place.
“Snappy?” Discord recoiled. There was one thing Discord had to admit, this colt could surprise him. Being the master of chaos that he was, very little was genuinely surprising for Discord. This colt was proving to be ever more amusing.
“You’re right, I want you to fight Nightmare Moon. I admit it, I’m sorry.” Dexter shrugged. “But you of all can’t blame me. I prefer your chaos over Nightmare Moon’s new order. You of all can't blame me for agreeing with you about chaos for once.”
“I suppose not…” Discord admitted with a nod.
“But I’m just trying to get you to be yourself, Discord.” Dexter went on. “We both know what you think about the new world order Nightmare Moon is building; or any form of order for that matter. And that is what she is building, despite the immediate chaos. You’re going to have to fight her at eventually if you want to bring back chaos.”
Discord had to admit, that was true as well. The way things were going, Both Celestia and Nightmare Moon weren’t going anywhere.
“Now, you’re not going to intervene against Nightmare Moon because of anything I’ve said.” Dexter began again as he stopped walking, noting that he had arrived at his intended destination. The two now stood outside the throne room doors. “And you’re not going to fight Nightmare Moon to be a ‘goodie two shoes.’ You’re going to do it for one simple reason.”
“I’m listening,” Discord folded his arms with a smug grin, ready to turn the colt down once more.
“You’re going to do this because, simply put, you’re bored.” Dexter declared, causing Discord’s eyebrow to rise.
Dexter could only describe his sister as an agent of chaos, and if there was anything he learned from her it was that agents of chaos hate being bored.
And Dexter was dead on. Discord had to admit to himself, he was bored to tears.
“You are bored, Discord.” Dexter repeated with a grin, noting the surprised grimace on Discord’s face. Dexter had hit the nail on the head and they both knew it. “Why else would you be watching me? Why else would you have revealed yourself and spoken to me? Heck, why are you still talking to me? It’s because you’re bored out of your mind.”
“And I don’t blame you, if I had been locked in stone for a few years I’d be desperate for amusement too.”
“You have a point.” Discord admitted with a grin. “Maybe I should do something to fix that...”
“You should, and I’ve given you every reason to.” Dexter pointed toward the throne room doors. “The only question is, can Discord come out to play?” Dexter asked, intentionally sounding like a child. Given the fact that he was an eight year old, he did so perfectly.
“Yes he can.” Discord declared with a smile.
“Good,” Dexter answered, disappearing as a ripple washed over his form. He angled his ion rifle at the throne room door before setting it to its highest setting.
---
“What is this?” Nightmare turned toward the sound of the throne room doors exploding open, spotting a draconequus standing before them. “Discord?!”
“Lulu!, Sun-butt!” Discord greeted, flying into the throne room. “How have you been?” He glanced around the half-destroyed throne room, which had not recovered from the fight between Nightmare Moon and Celestia. “I love what you’ve done with the place!”
“How did you escape from your imprisonment!?” Nightmare demanded.
“Oh, you know…” Discord began nonchalantly. “Chaos, madness, mayhem, havoc… all these things tend to empower me and interfere with the magic of the Elements of Harmony. Thanks to the chaos of a certain little somepony’s uprising…”
“I really have to thank you for that Lulu,” Discord added with a grin, before pretending to look around once more. “So this is the eternal night eh? Quite a sight to see, I really should take a look around to soak it all in…”
“Though I could use some more light…” After a moment of heavy silence, Discord snapped his fingers. Magic visibly pulsed off the draconequus before a blinding light washed over everything.
Dexter, who had been watching the exchange from under the cover of his cloak, had to blink several times before he realized what happened. Immediately Dexter look up to find the sun hanging directly overhead.
“Oops,” Discord taunted, grinning haughtily. “I guess that night wasn’t as eternal as everypony thought…”
Celestia had risen to her hooves, looking up at the sun as if to greet it. However, Nightmare Moon was now trembling with rage, glaring at Discord. If looks could kill, Discord would be dead regardless if he were immortal.
“NO!” Nightmare shrieked, using her magic to pull the sun out of the sky once more. The sudden change back to night blinded Dexter again.
The draconequus opened his mouth to speak. However, he was cut off by a blast of magic which erupted form Nightmare’s horn. It struck him in the chest before launching him through one of the throne room’s stone walls.
“Now that’s just rude!” Discord replied, picking himself up. “Normally I don’t hit girls but…” He snapped his fingers, sending a flash of magic over his other hand. His other hand blew up to comically large proportions, easily over twice the size of Nightmare moon.
Seeing the gigantic fist fly through the air, trailed by a relatively smaller Discord, was enough to make Dexter double take. Nightmare hardly had the chance to dodge the incoming fist before it impact her throne, reducing it to rubble in an instant.
Celestia rose to her hooves, quickly turning her magic on discord. She attempted to cast a spell when she felt her magic falter as a blue aura enveloped her form. It promptly threw to the floor.
“Don't you dare!” Nightmare spat. “You stay out of this Celestia!” Nightmare looked back down at Discord. “If Discord wants a fight, I’ll give him one.”
---
“Are you insane!?” Crystal hissed, seemingly talking to thin air. The changeling captain was fortunate enough to be safely out of the line of fire when Discord appeared.
The fight between Nightmare and Discord was starting to flare up. Nightmare used ever increasingly amounts of magic in every attempt to kill Discord. Discord, however, merely laughed as he dodged, duped, and dispelled every attack Nightmare cast his way.
By the looks of it, Discord was enjoying himself. He was clearly playing with Nightmare Moon, something which didn’t surprise Dexter. Discord had proven in the past he was more powerful than both Luna and Celestia, who required the Elements of Harmony to defeat him.
Though, fortunately enough, Discord desire to trifle with Nightmare Moon stopped him simply ending this fight in a moment. He wasn’t using large amounts of chaos magic yet. If Dexter was going to complete his plan, he would need Luna. This meant he would have to act fast, as Discord would eventually get rid of her.
“What?” Dexter answered the question, deciding to drop his cloak and become visible once more. “Nightmare’s attacking Discord, not you. And she can’t kill him…”
“Doesn’t mean she won’t vaporize half the castle in the attempt!” Crystal nearly shouted. “Do you have ANY idea how-“
“We don’t have time for this, where are the Elements of Harmony?” Dexter interrupted, earning a frown from the captain. She signaled to a nearby guard who was hiding behind a stone pillar. He hesitated for a moment, obviously dubious about leaving the shelter the column provided.
Eventually the infiltrator presented Crystal with a familiar sack, revealing the Elements of Harmony hidden inside.
“I’ll take those.” Dexter snatched the sack before bolting.
“Hey wait a second!” Crystal called, chasing the colt.
Dexter had bolted in the direction of Celestia. The princess had hardly moved from where Nightmare threw her, having stood up to get a better view of the battle unfolding before her.
She was visibly rigid, fearfully watching in the hope that her sister would not be harmed.
Until something struck her side.
“Hey lady!” Dexter chucked the sack at Celestia, causing it to bounce of the princess’s neck. The sudden impact didn’t hurt the alicorn so much as startle her, causing her to jump before whirling on Dexter with a glowing horn.
“You!” She said in slight relief, letting the charge in her horn fade.
Dexter retrieved the sack, upending it to spill several gems across the floor before the alicorn. “I think you know what you need to do.”
Celestia glanced over the Elements of Harmony, counting them to make sure all were present. But when she was finished she merely shook her head. “No, I will not! I just need a little more time-“
“Yes, you will.” Dexter cut in, raising his voice just enough to silence the alicorn. “You’ve spent ample time with her. If you were capable of reaching her by now, you would have.”
“I’ll be the judge of that!” Celestia snapped back. “I will not abandon my sister to this madness which has consumed her!”
“Call it whatever you want, you’re going to use the Elements now.” Dexter retorted. Despite the colt’s angry glare, he couldn’t help but notice how massively bigger the white alicorn was in comparison to him. “You don’t have a choice anymore.”
Dexter took a few paces before motioning in the direction of Nightmare and Discord, a loud explosion echoing through the castle as if on cue to emphasize his gesture. “Right now, Discord is playing with your sister. He isn’t using the full strength of his chaos magic because he wants to brag about being able to cause chaos better than I do. But you and I both know how this is going to end. Sooner or later, Discord is going to get bored with the little contest he has with me and will end this fight...”
“But you can stop both of them by using the Elements of Harmony.” Dexter turned back to the white alicorn. “So all you have to do now is choose: do you want Luna to be at the mercy of the Elements of Harmony, or at the mercy of Discord when he’s finished playing?”
“You…” Celestia scowled at the colt, expecting that he knew the Elements could destroy Luna. “You did this…”
“No,” Dexter countered. “You and your sister caused this mess, and caused the chaos that released Discord. This fight would have eventually happened; I just hurried things along so you still might have the chance to help Luna.” Dexter motioned toward the Elements one more, causing Celestia to glance at them again. “Now decide!”
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Celestia shook her head, retaining her frown. “I cannot use the Elements alone, there needs to be at least two bearers present in order for the Elements to work!”
“I know,” Dexter turned toward Crystal; the captain had been listening to their conversation. “You said a part of Luna was still in there, right?”
“Yes…” Crystal glanced at Celestia before casting her own frown at the colt. Dexter knew why, but he didn’t care at the moment. “That has been my observation, but how does that help us?”
“The Elements of Harmony, and their bearers, operate through magical connections they make between each other and those around them.” Dexter began to explain. “If a part of Luna is still there, at least one of these bonds to the Elements should still exist.”
“This is the whole reason Nightmare Moon had her Elements sent away in the first place.” Dexter explained. “She knew Luna’s presence might just be enough to get the Elements to work. Otherwise, Nightmare wouldn’t have bothered.”
“But the tricky part will be determining which element would be the most responsive to her…” Dexter motioned toward the Elements, pulling loyalty, laughter and honesty forward. They all once belonged to the dark alicorn.
“If we only had someone who could sense what she was feeling, they could make an educated guess.” Dexter hinted before looking at Crystal.
It didn’t take the disguised changeling long to figure out what he was getting at, her eyes lighting up in realization.
Crystal picked up the orange gem while scratching her chin with a hoof before presenting it to the colt.
“That’s honesty, right?” Dexter asked skeptically. However, his grimace was cut short by another loud explosion. It was shortly followed by the easily identified sound of Discord cackling.
“You missed again, Lulu!” Discord called, shortly before another explosion rocked the castle.
“It’s sure as hay not going to be loyalty,” Crystal replied, instinctively ducking at the loud boom. “And trust me, it’s not laughter either. Honesty is your best bet right now.”
“What do you know of my sister, or what element she is closest too?” Celestia challenged, earning Crystal’s gaze for a moment.
“Trust me,” Crystal said to the colt.
“Be ready, I need to get this near Luna, we’ll only get one shot at this.” Dexter turned away from the mares, slipping the Element of honesty into a pocket. However, he suddenly felt himself pulled back by Celestia’s aura.
“Are you insane?” Celestia protested, motioning toward the battle between Discord and Nightmare. “We don’t even know if this will work -and if you get caught in between them you’ll be torn apart!”
“Be ready.” Dexter instructed before activating his cloak, his form disappearing before her.
---
Discord was still playing with Nightmare Moon, a fact he made painfully obvious to the dark alicorn. His attacks would hardly faze Nightmare Moon. Of course, Dexter knew Discord could end this fight with a snap of his fingers. Heck, if the stories of his powers were true he could have made the whole moon disappear if he wanted to.
The colt could only imagine Discord’s potential destructiveness had this been a serious fight. But then again, from what he heard about Discord, he very rarely fights in a serious fashion.
Nightmare, however, was completely transparent about her desire to kill Discord. She continued to use ever increasing amounts of magic in her attempt to maim or murder the draconequus.
Though, she wasn’t having much luck at it.
Dexter had approached the battling pair as close as he could, but unfortunately they were airborne. He had to wait until Nightmare approached the ground.
Luckily he wouldn’t have to wait for long.
“Ha!” Discord mocked, floating to the castle’s stone floor. “That was a close one Lulu, so I’ll give you another shot. Try to land one right here…“ He pointed to the side of his face.
A furious blue blur was more than happy to oblige, streaking toward the draconequus. Just as Nightmare’s hoof made contact with the draconequus, a snap from his fingers sent a ripple through his form and the surrounding stone. Both Discord and the stone floor seemed to yield to Nightmare’s blow, bending despite its seemingly solid form. However it suddenly rebounded as if made of rubber, deflecting the alicorn.
It happened quickly enough to send Nightmare Moon careening toward a stone wall, where she collided with enough force to shatter the wall into a cloud of stone dust.
Discord laughed. “I’m rubber, you’re gl-“ He didn’t get to finish his taunt before a flurry of magic erupted from the dust cloud.
Several of the spells struck Discord, where they too bounced off his form before being sent in random directions. Each one exploding on impact wherever they hit.
One of them landed near the colt, showering him with rubble as it destroyed the stone beside him.
Despite the fact this armor protected him from the falling debris; the magical blast was a stark reminder that his magic dampener was fried. His suit could not protect him from blast if he were hit.
The dust cloud around Nightmare had long since passed, giving the colt a clear line of sight toward his target.
Dexter was in a full sprint when Nightmare launched another attack at Discord, a large arch of electricity from her horn struck the draconequus. Like her previous attacks the arch of lightning deflected off Discord, sending several arches through the room and another back at herself.
One of the arcs landed at his hooves, causing a small explosion which launched him a few feet into the air while a wave of electricity washed over his form, making him visible once more. He crashed to the floor with a thud not a second later.
He heard Discord say something, and Nightmare respond. However, Dexter paid no attention as he lifted himself back onto his hooves. A warning flashed in his HUD, letting him know his suit’s cloak had been destroyed by the magical lightning.
It didn’t matter though, he was only a few yards now. Still seemingly unnoticed by the battling pair.
Dexter wasted no time, resuming his charge toward Nightmare while retrieving the Element of honesty from his suit. Nightmare was just standing up when he reached her.
“No!” Nightmare hissed, spotting both the colt and the Element. Dexter knew alicorns had quick reaction times, but what happened next was so fast he didn’t even realize what hit him.
Nightmare instinctively kicked a fore hoof, catching the colt in the chest with enough force to send him into the ceiling. He had hardly bounced off the stone roof before being caught by the aura of Nightmare’s magic, which threw him through a stone pillar, shattering it.
---
// [Automated Log]
// [System_Fault_Detected]
// [Rebooting…]
// Device: DXTR_ARMR
// FIRMWARE V_1.03_117
// System_Status: Online
// Mission_Time: 74H:32M:15S…
// Mission_Recorder: ONLINE
“I was really starting to like that little colt, Luna. He proved to be quite the little bundle of chaos… You didn’t have to kill him.”
“That was a child? I didn’t even realize it. It doesn’t matter, I saw what he was trying to do with the element. He was trying to stop me, Nightmare Moon, and the eternal night! He must have had a sun-loving face, and I’d kill him again if… I had... the… chance.”
// [Device Status Check]
// Neural_Link: Online
// Sensor_Array: Online
// Adaptive_Armor: Damage Detected
// Visor: ERROR_FAULT – Offline
// Magic Dampener: ERROR_FAULT – Offline
// Cloak: Offline
// Force Amplifiers: Offline
“I underestimated the depths of your insanity, Luna. This child was right when he said a return to my reign of chaos would be a good thing.”
“Ha! As if you’re any better. All you want is for the world to descend into chaos were everypony goes mad. You’re worse than I am, Discord.”
//[:::WARNING:::]: User Life-signs: Weak.
//Assessing_User_Status
“I’m not worse than you. In my reign of chaos, I never killed a child to achieve my goals.”
“He had the element! It was fair! He was trying to… trying… No, Luna… stop! Stop being weak!”
“The colt was doing nothing to threaten your life! Was it necessary to take his?”
“I… didn’t mean it. I didn’t want to, it just… happened so fast, I… I… he was trying to-“
// Rib_Fracture_Detected:
// 2nd_Rib_Fracture_Detected
// Lung_Puncture_Detected
// Fractured_Vertebra_Detected
// User_Status: CRITICAL
“I thought you said you’d rather die than be a foalkiller, Luna.”
“Nightmare, she… I… my madness did it. I didn’t mean for something like this to happen. I-I’d do it again, he had a sun-loving-“
“This isn’t just madness. I drove many ponies crazy before you and your sister stopped me with the Elements. But they didn’t do anything like this. This is more than just madness, this is evil.”
//User_ Survivability: 13%
//Initiating_Emergency_Medical_Protocols
//Activating_Nanotech_Response
//Administering_Sedative
//Recalculating_User_Survivability
//New_User_Survivability: 87%
“I… I’m a monster… and I’m loving every second of it NO! I DON’T WANT THIS!”
“Luna, you’re-”
“-I’ve spent countless years protecting Equestria from monsters. Monsters like you, Discord - the one who drove all of ponykind mad! But now I’ve become a monster just like you...”
“A monster, perhaps. But not like me.”
[:::Warning:::]: Energy Reserves Low
//[Shutting Down Non-essential Systems.]
“You’re right, Discord. In honest truth, you’re right. This has been evil all along, I’ve become evil, and I’ve lied to myself about it the whole time. But maybe I can protect Equestria from evil one last time…”
“At this point, Luna, I am more than glad to risk being turned to stone just to let you try.”
“Luna! What are you doing? Put the Element down! - What I should have from the moment I met you -No Luna, Stop! We can still win! The colt’s not- NO!“
// Sensory_Array: Offline
// Adaptive_Armor: Offline
// Neural_Link: Offline
// Automated_User_Log: Terminated
---
The last thing Dexter could remember was trying to sneak up on Nightmare Moon. However, now he appeared to be standing in a void of total darkness.
Dexter was about to call out, trying to lift a hoof to take a step forward. Only to notice he had hooves.
‘Well, if I was dead I’d probably be a human again.’ Dexter speculated internally, his attempt to look at his hooves was thwarted by the total dark. Though he could still feel them, or rather his lack of fingers.
The silence of the void was suddenly broken with a spine chilling laugh Dexter easily recognized, causing his heart to stop a cackling form materialized in the void.
“Oh how I am going to have fun with you…” Nightmare revealed her fangs. “You are going to suffer.”
What happened next only served to confuse the colt. As quickly as Nightmare had appeared, she disappeared.
The form of Nightmare Moon had been replaced by another mare. She was an earth pony with green eyes, a blonde mane and orange-brown coat.
Dexter recognized her immediately.
“Don’t worry,” The mare spoke. “You’re still dreaming, but Nightmare Moon cannot hurt you now.”
“Applejack?” Dexter asked in bewilderment, checking the pony before him for any slight detail out of place. He found nothing amiss, down to the freckled fur on the mare’s face.
“Mmm, close enough.” The mare confirmed. Though she lacked her trademark accent, speaking clearly.
The black void surrounding the two ponies suddenly disappeared, replaced with the castle hall Dexter was in a few moments ago. Everything was still, seemingly frozen in time. Nightmare Moon was now holding the element of honesty, half of her face appeared to be streaming tears while the other was that of an enraged and panicking Nightmare Moon.
The element in Nightmare’s hoof shone brightly, illuminating her form. Applejack stood next to her, specifically next to the element, while watching Dexter silently.
“You’re…” Dexter squinted in confusion. “You’re the Element of Honesty?” He guessed, though something told him he was right.
“That would be a more accurate description, yes.” The blonde mare responded, taking a moment to glance over frozen form of Nightmare Moon before turning and approaching the colt. “We’ve met before, I recognize someone whose heart I’ve touched…”
“Well, it would be more accurate to say that you’ve met me before, but this is the first time I’ve met you…” The mare rephrased.
“I don’t understand, if you’re the Element of Honesty then how can you speak?” Dexter began, scratching his head. “You’re just a stone, a gem, that sits on a pedestal all day.”
“Dexter, what is ‘Honesty?’” It was a rhetorical question , earning a grimace from the colt. When Dexter didn’t answer right away the mare replied. “Honesty is a character trait, a personality trait. It would be difficult for me to be the physical embodiment of a personality trait without having a ‘personality’ for that trait to be rooted in. I am not just a simple stone, or another inanimate object. But I do not exist in the same way you do.”
“As for looking like your friend, Applejack.” The mare went on. “This is my avatar to you since this is how you know me.”
“I don’t understand, what’s happening?” Dexter examined the scene around him, looking between Nightmare Moon and Discord. Discord had his arms folded, apparently willing to let Luna activate the Elements of Harmony. At the far end of the hall, Celestia was surrounded by the remaining Elements. The streaming tears on her face were frozen in time, reflecting some of the Elements glow.
“I take it, the plan worked?” Dexter began, before trailing off as his eyes landed on his own form. All he could see of his own form was a hoof sticking out of a pile of shattered stone.
“Am I… going to die?” Dexter asked grimly.
“No,” Honesty appeared at his side, examining the colt’s prone form. “The suit you made is rather impressive, a testimony to order, harmony, and precision. It saved your life from Nightmare Moon’s attack. It is also mending your body. You will live.”
“And to answer your other question, of course it worked.” Came another familiar voice. Dexter turned toward the voice to spot four more ponies approaching him from direction of Celestia and the Elements around her. Each one of them bore the exact images of the mares he knew from the future, the form of Rarity being the one that had spoken. “Albeit, not according to your plan. The Elements of Harmony have been brought to bear, surprisingly with Luna’s help.”
“Miss Rarity- er I take it you all are the other Elements?” Dexter looked between the other four mares. The forms of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy before him.
“That’s correct, though I won’t be Rarity for another thousand years…” Generosity replied.
“Uhh… how do you… umm… know about that?” Dexter asked hesitantly. As far as he could tell, the fact that the Elements of Harmony had personalities didn’t change the fact that he shouldn’t dole out information about the future to them.
“That’s… complicated.” Generosity replied with a smile. “Though suffice it to say, were aware of a great many things.”
“Including who you are and what you did this night.” The one appearing as Rainbow Dash added.
“You said the Elements have been brought to bear,” Dexter questioned, glancing at Nightmare’s frozen form. “What’s going to happen? Will you be able to stop Nightmare Moon?”
“Yes and no…” Honesty answered, motioning toward the forms of Discord and Nightmare Moon. “Although we are considered the most powerful force of magic on this world, our strength is not infinite. We do not have the power to both subdue Discord and Luna.”
“Why not?” Dexter asked, biting back the sense of frustration in his voice. Considering the fact he had been thrown through a two foot thick stone column in order to activate the Elements, it was an answer he didn’t want to hear.
“Discord is the embodiment of Disharmony, our exact opposite, and is very powerful.” The element appearing as Pinkie Pie replied.
“As much as he does not have the power to destroy us, we do not have the power to destroy him.” Loyalty answered.
“The best we can do is subdue him, an act which will take most of our strength.” Honesty added. “And that is our priority, our first act will be to turn him back into stone.”
“However, we cannot proceed with destroying Luna. Her death would create an imbalance in the world. She and Celestia have magical connections to-” Generosity continued to explain, but was cut off by the colt.
“Wait, what?!” Dexter looked back and forth between the mares. “You want to destroy Luna? As in kill her?” Dexter asked in surprise. It wasn’t something he expected from the Elements of Harmony, and he was hoping for another solution to Nightmare Moon.
“You can’t do that!” Dexter turned toward the one that appeared to be Fluttershy. Assuming this one represented Kindness, he spoke up. “How could you, the alleged embodiment of kindness, support that?”
However, the mare merely tilted her head before staring at him silently. After a few awkward moments, Dexter looked around toward the other Elements. Each one, however, was facing kindness as though listening to her speak.
“Umm… hello?” Dexter asked brusquely, hoping to finally get a response. However, it was Honesty who would reply to him.
“You’ve only seen Kindness’s bearer,” Honesty explained. “You’ve never heard her speak, so her avatar is incomplete and you cannot hear her.”
“Well, what did she say?” Dexter pressed.
“She said that death would be a much kinder alternative for Luna given what will be her fate now.” Generosity answered. “After dealing with Discord, we will not have the strength to correct the magical imbalances her death would create.”
“She is an immortal alicorn with deep magical ties to this realm and the sky above it,” Laughter explained, answering his question before it was asked. “So our only recourse is to exile her for an eternity, somewhere far enough away that she cannot hurt anyone again.”
“In this case, the moon.” Loyalty added.
“That doesn’t explain why you think killing her would be an act of kindness.” Dexter retorted cheekily.
The mare all turned heads toward Kindness again, apparently listening to her speak.
“Can someone whom I can hear please explain it?” Dexter deadpanned.
“The whole reason Luna descended into madness was due to suffering brought about by loneliness” Laughter answered. “However, her permanent exile to the moon will insure that she is lonely forever. The suffering which drove her mad and turned her into Nightmare Moon will be nothing in comparison to what she will face in eternity.”
“And what’s worse is the fact that we do not have the power to purge the insanity that is Nightmare Moon from her either.” Generosity replied solemnly. “Who will forever wish to torture her out of spite, revenge, and pure sadism.”
“Which means, she will be tortured by her madness, tortured by loneliness, and tortured by guilt for an eternity.” Loyalty added with remorse.
Dexter’s eyes lit up in surprise. When they put it like that, it sounded like death was a much kinder outcome.
“At this point, death would prevent her from an eternity of suffering.” Honesty answered. “And at least give her some peace.”
However, Dexter shook his head furiously. He was never the type to kill his opponents. “Are you sure you cannot just remove Nightmare Moon from her?” Dexter asked. “Or just banish the ‘Nightmare Moon’ part of her?”
“As powerful as we are, we cannot override someone’s free will. Doing so would be evil.” Loyalty answered. “And Nightmare Moon spoke the truth when she said a part of Luna’s heart truly wanted many of the bad things she has done. We cannot remove Nightmare Moon from Luna without Luna wanting it with all her heart.”
“One day, if Luna’s heart changes, we may be able to remove Nightmare Moon from her.” Honesty added.
“How's that supposed to happen if she’s stuck on the moon for an eternity?” Dexter countered.
“The sentence for her crimes is eternal banishment to the moon” Loyalty stated grimly, before giving the colt a hopeful nod. “Though, remember that our power is not infinite, and we cannot hold her on the moon for an eternity. She will eventually escape, as foretold by a prophecy we just delivered to Celestia. But you already know all about that…”
“Now on to what we want…” Generosity began circling the colt, scanning his form. “You come from over a thousand years in the future. Curious… very curious. He has potential.” She remarked to the other Elements.
“He does,” Loyalty confirmed, joining in the inspection of the colt. “He is loyal to his few friends, and even remains loyal to his sister despite the harm she brings him…” She gave an amused huff. “Though it could use some work… he sometimes tries to hurt her back. But that is nothing I can’t fix.”
“Mmm…” Laughter frowned. “He doesn’t really seem to care about making friends happy, or making friends, or making anyone happy. I have my work cut out for me.”
There was a moment of silence, which Dexter used to cut in.
“Umm, excuse me?” Dexter took a hesitant step away, though it didn’t stop generosity from circling him. “Just what the heck are you getting at?”
“I agree with Kindness,” Generosity remarked, ignoring the colt’s words. “He has potential for more than one of us. Though it is buried beneath his antisocial tendencies.” She looked up toward the form of Applejack “Honesty? You’ve already gotten to work on him.”
“And he’s still a stinking liar.” Applejack’s form declared with a frown. “Though that will change.” Honesty locked eyes with Dexter. “I’ll see to it that my future bearer knows whenever you lie, and not to let you get away with it. Then she’ll teach you the virtues of honesty.”
“I uhh…” Dexter scratched his head, looking away for a moment. “I don’t know what it is you’re after, but I don’t think I want the same thing.”
“Your wants are irrelevant, Dexter. This is about making you a better person.” Honesty approached again, causing the colt to backpedal. However, he stopped when he bumped into Loyalty. The form of Rainbow Dash had flanked him, preventing his retreat. “You will suffer my sisters and I, but you will suffer me first.”
“Back off, Honesty.” The form of Applejack halted, before stepping aside to glance at the newest apparition. It had taken the form of Twilight Sparkle, and approached from the glowing form of the five gems. She pointed at the colt with a frown. “He’s mine.”
“You’ll have to forgive her,”’ Magic gestured toward honesty. “Honesty can be brutal at times…”
“When I have to be.” Honesty huffed.
“Get away from me!” Dexter protested, stepping around the image of Rarity before backing away from the six mares. “What do you mean when you say I’ll ‘suffer you?’?”
“We, as the Elements of Harmony, require bearers in order to effect change.” Magic answered.
“Why me?!” Dexter protested.
“Don’t assume yourself to be special in any way, Dexter.” Magic replied, stepping toward the colt. “Though you are extraordinary in several ways, you are not worthy of being a bearer. Though, we will make you worthy. Force you to be if necessary.”
“We Elements want all the bearers we can get.” Laughter added. “We’d do the same to anyone else.”
“You are not only a potential bearer, but one of the few who may be able to bear more than one of us at once.” Honesty motioned toward the other Elements before looking back at the colt. “I’m glad we could get to you while you are still young, it will make molding you easier…”
There was a moment of silence as Dexter processed her words. “No,” he replied curtly, looking up at the mares defiantly. “Not happening, I refuse.” He pointed at honesty. “I do not choose to bear any of you.”
“Don’t fight us, Dexter.” Loyalty ordered, her voice both gentle yet firm. “You know you aspire toward harmony and order. You always have.”
“I am fundamentally incompatible with you, with harmony,” Dexter countered. “And that isn’t just a choice, it’s a fact.”
“Really?” Magic challenged, peering into the colt as though she could see through him. “Then why do you spend so much time creating laboratories which are testimonies to order? If you do not choose harmony, then why do you endeavor to surround yourself with it?”
Dexter shook his head. His goals in life had nothing to do with harmony, but rather science.
He refused to let that change.
“In a way, you’ve already chosen me, Dexter.” Magic countered, eliciting a scoff from the colt. “You just don’t know it.”
“I have not chosen to embrace magic.” Dexter answered flippantly, grinning as he dismissed the mare. “And considering the mess I just lived through, with the aid of science mind you, I doubt I ever will choose magic. I pick science, sorry.”
“Yes, Dexter. And what will your love of science do?” Magic grinned smugly. “Will it not drive you to study me, magic? To understand me, and ultimately use me?”
“I’m an earth pony, Not a unicorn.” Dexter rolled his eyes. “I can’t do magic.”
“The magic of friendship is not reserved for unicorns alone.” The form of Twilight said to the colt, closing the gap between them made by his backpedaling.
Dexter bit his lip before rolling his eyes.
“Let me shut this down right now. You Elements require friendship.” Dexter declared, grinning as he paused. “And that is where choice comes in. I need to have friends before I can be a bearer to any one of you.”
The mares didn’t respond.
“Well, I don’t choose to have friends.” Dexter pointed a hoof at the group of mares. “So you’re out of luck, I won’t be bearing any of you.”
There was a moment of silence before Honesty tilted her head toward Generosity. “You spoke truthfully when you said he was antisocial.”
“Better luck with your next victim,” Dexter smugly folded his arms.
“He will still be ours.” Loyalty declared to the others.
“Fat chance.”
“Don’t worry Dexter,” Magic replied, grinning once more. “I know you think being a loner is some sort of virtue, and that you will always be able to make do without friends. But sooner or later, you will mature and learn how to socialize. Then you’ll discover friendship.”
“And you’ll love it.” Magic declared, turning away from the colt. The other Elements following her. “Then you will be fair game.”
“Wait!” Dexter called out. “Just one question…” Dexter hesitated for a moment. “Can you send me home?”
“To earth, where the other humans are?” Magic turned her head to look at the colt. The colt nodded. “Under normal circumstances it is within our power to do so, but we will not. Kindness and Generosity refuse to allow it, sending you back will only cause you suffering.”
Confused, the colt tried to ask another question. But he didn’t get the chance, the world around him faded to blackness once more.
---
A dull ache in Dexter’s chest caused the colt to stir, drawing him away from slumber. He felt slightly dizzy, for what reason he didn’t know. Trying to ignore it, he cracked open his eyes.
Everything was a blur, causing the colt to shake his head before rubbing his temple with a hoof. Closing his eyes before blinking them open again, he found everything was still a blur.
It didn’t’ take him long to figure out why. “My glasses!” Dexter gasp, feeling his face. His glasses were nowhere to be found, along with his mask and helmet. “No no no! I can’t see without my glasses!”
Dexter began fumbling around, feeling everything he could reach. “How could I have lost my glasses! They were attached to my face!” He felt around, feeling what he could tell was soft bedding. Soon he bumped into a large white blur. It was soft, warm and feathery.
“Rather oddly shaped pillow…” Dexter remarked, concluding he was on a bed.
It wasn’t a pillow.
Celestia couldn’t help but watch the colt, amazed that he was already up and moving.
She was certain he was dead the second after Nightmare Moon launched him through a two foot thick stone column, shattering it. He had been one of the many things she shed tears for in the first hour after Luna’s banishment. Even when she got around to dragging him out of the pile of stone rubble which buried his form, she fully expected that he’d be as stiff as a board.
That is, until she noticed he was still breathing.
Then began the struggle to heal him of his injuries. Relieved that he was still alive, she noticed he was bleeding from the mouth. She knew he must have been hurt, but her efforts to find out how were hindered by his suit.
Much to her amazement, the suit seemed to directly connect to his body at certain points. It made her fear that she would do more harm than good if she forcibly took it off. Though, with large amounts of careful magic, she was able to safely remove only his helmet and a patch that sat over his broken ribs.
She then spent a few hours using her magic to heal his wounds. Of course, it only took an alicorn of her power a few minutes to mend his ribs such that there was no permanent damage. Though magic could only do so much, and further efforts only produced ever diminishing returns, but she continued anyway.
The truth was, focusing on opening the colt’s suit and healing his wounds was a good distraction. It allowed her to focus on something, allowed her to escape from dwelling on the traumatizing events of the past night, enough that it was bearable.
Though it didn’t stop her from crying the whole time.
Eventually she had to stop, leaving the colt to sleep by her side. She had many questions for him, and she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight.
Now that he was awake, Celestia couldn’t help but notice how he really was a child. If it wasn’t for his size, she might have forgotten he was one.
Soon enough, Dexter had decided to climb over the ‘oddly shaped pillow,’ and was now crawling on Celestia’s back.
She turned her attention to the helmet she had removed, noticing that there were a pair of spectacles inside. She quickly removed them with her magic, placing them on the colt’s nose.
“My glasses!” Dexter cheered as the world came into focus, finding himself atop Celestia’s back. The alicorn looked back at him, tilting her head.
He quickly realized he was in the princess’s chambers. At least what was left of it. Sunlight streamed into the room through a large hole in a nearby wall.
Celestia didn’t have her regalia, and her coat was still a mess. The streaks under her eyes made it evident that she had been crying a lot.
“Oh crap…” Dexter sighed, causing the mare to tilt her head as she watched the colt.
“Princess?” A knock came from the far side of the room. The newcomer was an elderly stallion with a long beard and an unmistakable wizard’s hat. “Captain Crystal and I would…” His eyes drifted toward the colt as he pressed farther into the room, followed by the captain in question. “Ah, I see you’re awake. You had us worried for a moment.”
“Uhh…” Dexter slowly slid off of Celestia’s back before taking a few hesitant steps away from her. However, he was quickly pulled back to her side by an aura of golden magic.
“You have no need to be afraid, little one.” Celestia said in a comforting tone before she wrapped a wing around the colt. Despite the gesture, Dexter was sure it was meant to keep him in place rather than anything else. “We’re glad to see that you’re well. Now please, wait a moment.”
“What is it you wish to report, Star Swirl?” Celestia turned toward the elderly stallion.
“I cannot discern why the Elements of Harmony have turned to stone, they’ve become largely inert and unresponsive to magical analysis.” Star Swirl answered. “Nonetheless, they’ve been returned to their pedestals. Though, considering that some of the indoctrinated guards are not accounted for, I didn’t want to risk opening the vault. I raised the pedestals to their position over the vault in the east hall, and placed the Elements there.”
“That will do, Star Swirl.” Celestia replied with a nod. “Thank you.”
“What do you want me to do with Discord?” He asked.
Celestia took a second to think. “It seems that Discord was released by chaos occurring within his vicinity. We should keep his statue in a place that is carefully tended and harmonious, like a garden or a library.”
“I’ll start looking for an appropriate place.” Star Swirl replied before Celestia turned toward Crystal.
“Captain?” Celestia asked.
“Thankfully, Nightmare Moon had announced my promotion to captain to the rest of her guards through the dreamscape.” Crystal began, glancing at the colt. “Fortunately, she also indoctrinated her guards a little differently than everypony else. They’re programmed to obey orders without question, and disturbingly without regard to morals. Which means they’ll do anything, even obey the order to stop fighting for the eternal night.”
“So, I’ve issued the orders for all of Nightmare Moon’s guards to stand down,” Crystal went on. “They aren’t happy about it, but they are obeying. Most have already been detained by forces loyal to you, Princess Celestia.”
“Thank you captain…” Celestia replied. “We’re fortunate. If the indoctrinated guards chose to continue fighting in Nightmare’s name, we could have had a civil war. You’ve saved many lives.”
Crystal merely nodded in response.
“What about everypony else?” Star Swirl asked. “The majority of ponies that Nightmare indoctrinated were not guards, and she did not brainwash them into blindly follow orders from a superior. Which means the only one they listen to is Nightmare Moon. Without knowing what Nightmare did to them, or what magic she used, there is little I can do to restore their minds.”
There was a moment of silence before Celestia let out a sigh.
“How is… Clover?” Celestia eventually asked, restraining the regret in her voice.
“Physically she’s fine,” Star Swirl answered in frustration, lashing a hoof forward. “But ever since she accidently fell asleep without her dream catcher…” Star Swirl paused before shaking his head in regret. He looked back up at Celestia. “Nightmare’s banishment seems to have helped; she’s remembering who she really is. But it’s like she has two different personalities.”
“Is she nearby now?” Celestia asked, earning a nod from the stallion. “Bring her here, please.” Star Swirl promptly turned and left.
By this point, Dexter was hardly paying attention, not entirely hearing the dialogue between Celestia and Crystal which followed. He was busy looking around the room trying to find an escape route.
Unfortunately, the loss of his helmet prevented him from using many of his suit’s systems. It would also prevent his cloak from fully concealing his head. That would make getting away much harder, as he doubted these ponies would just let him walk out of there.
Though he eventually spotted his helmet, and the missing patch from the chest of his suit, on a nearby stand which had amazing survived the destruction.
However, his thoughts were interrupted by Star Swirl returning. He was flanked by two guards and a shackled unicorn mare. The mare in question had a ring on her horn, which Dexter assumed was supposed to prevent her from using magic.
“Clover…” Celestia began, causing the shackled mare to look up.
“Yes, princess?” Clover asked quietly.
“Do you know what has happened to you?” Celestia asked gently.
“I…” Clover hesitated. “When Nightmare was banished… I could feel that she was gone. And then I started to remember. I… I was on my way to Canterlot with Star Swirl when we stopped to rest. I started to read… to pass the time and… I didn’t realize how tired I was. I forgot to get my dream catcher…”
“Clover, do you remember anything about what Nightmare Moon did to you in the dreamscape?” Celestia asked softly. “Did you notice anything that might tell us about the magic she used?”
“Filthy sun-loving BITCH!” Clover lunged toward Celestia, prompting the guards flanking the shackled mare to respond quickly. Clover’s shackles immediately went taut as the magic from one of the unicorn guards threw her to the floor. “I HATE YOU! YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN THE NIGHT! YOU ALL WILL EMBRACE THE NIGHTMARE OR DIE!”
However, after a few moments of struggling, Clover suddenly recoiled before shrinking away.
“I’m… I’m sorry princess!” Streams of tears started leaking from Clover’s eyes. “I… I can’t control it. I didn’t mean to-“
“Don’t worry, Clover. I understand.” Celestia waved off the guards, who released the mare and allowed her to stand up.
“It's just… I don’t know,” Clover continued to cry. “There’s a part of me who knows how awful all this is…” Clover hesitated, however in those few seconds she went from sobbing to shaking with rage as she glared toward the alicorn. “And then there is a part of me that would gladly watch you and that mud-foal DIE.”
Celestia could hardly look at Clover. This mare had been one of her friends, and to see her in this condition only added to the torrent of emotions she was trying to restrain.
But what surprised Celestia the most was Clover’s use of a tribal slur. Clover had been instrumental at uniting the tribes, and never was one to use such hateful speech.
“I’m sorry princess,” Clover pleaded. “Please help me.”
“I will do everything I can Clover.” Celestia answered. “But I think it is you who will need to help me. You’re one of the few ponies who have the magical knowledge to analyze what Nightmare Moon did to you during indoctrination. We are going to need your insight in figuring out how to undo the magical manipulations she forced upon you.”
“We are going to need your help to cure you and everypony else,” Celestia went on. “But in the meantime, you’ll have to fight this in whatever way you can. I have every confidence in you, Clover.”
Clover meekly nodded before Celestia waved a hoof, signaling the guards to take her away.
Once she had gone, Star Swirl turned back to Celestia. “The best I can summarize is that Nightmare Moon somehow manipulates ponies through amplifying their hate.” He explained. “The exact interactions between emotion and magic are still unknown to me, but it can apparently be used against anypony who has hate.”
“But, Clover’s not the type to hate anypony.” Captain Crystal pointed out, her tone that of a question. “How’d she have the hate to survive indoctrination?”
“She was raised in the unicorn tribe when they still taught their children to hate the other tribes.” Star Swirl speculated, rubbing his beard. “Even though she had spent most of her life fighting hatred and bringing the tribes together, Nightmare must have been able to incite her memory of hatred.”
“That’s all a guess though,” Star Swirl finished. “All we do know is that Nightmare Moon is like a contagious mental disorder, transmittable to those who hate or have ever once hated. That’s what indoctrination really is, Nightmare Moon becoming a part of you just like she did to Luna.”
“Is it… possible that my sister wasn’t the cause of all this?” Celestia asked quietly. “That she was merely a target for… whatever evil Nightmare is… because of her connection to everypony through the dreamscape?”
“I don’t’ know,” Star Swirl shook his head. “That would make sense since Luna would be the perfect conduit for spreading the Nightmare to the world. But without more information, we may never know if she was the source of that evil, or just another victim of it.”
“Whatever the case may be, we need a more immediate solution to dealing with the indoctrinated.” He added.
The four ponies sat in silence for a few moments, all but Dexter deep in thought. However, it was the captain which spoke first.
“We need to cover up what happened here…” Crystal began, earning the attention of the other two adults. The furled brow of disapproval on Celestia prompted the captain to go on. “No, really. Think about it. If word spread about how close Nightmare Moon had come to taking over, it might embolden the remaining indoctrinated who haven’t surrendered.”
Dexter rolled his eyes, of course the changeling in disguise would think up a solution involving deception.
“You mean, lie to everypony?” Celestia frowned, eyeing the other mare.
The room hung in silence for a few moments as Star Swirl visible mulled over Crystal’s suggestion. “I actually agree…” He started, earning a surprised gaze from Celestia. “But not for the same reason. If Nightmare Moon is some sort contagious ‘secondary personality,’ or mental disorder, suppressing knowledge of her may hinder any further spread.”
“But we would have to do more than just cover up what happened here,” Star Swirl went on. “We would have to be proactive about it, preventing ponies from willfully spreading knowledge about her.”
“It would also stop any foreign power from perceiving us as weakened by Nightmare Moon’s actions…” Crystal pressed. “If they’re told Nightmare Moon’s banishment was a show of strength on your part, rather than a nearly successful uprising, they’d be less inclined to act on our current vulnerability.
Celestia sat quietly, reluctantly warming up to the idea. In fact, she could think of a number of ways lying would be to her advantage. With Luna gone, she would have to consolidate power and gather more support to keep Equestria in one piece.
With a sigh Celestia gave a short nod. “Do what is necessary.”
“I’ll modify the anti-scrying spells on the castle,” Star Swirl added. “If any of the indoctrinated come here at a later time and try to view what happened, they’ll see something else.”
“Of course, this might not be necessary if I had more information with which to create a cure for indoctrination.” The wizard’s eyes drifted toward the colt. “And there is somepony here that might have some answers, given that he seems to have a lot of information he shouldn’t.”
“I have no idea what in the world you’re talking about.” Dexter replied without missing a beat, letting loose his denial before Celestia could even turn her head to gaze at him.
“You have no need to be afraid; you can be honest with us.” Celestia pulled him closer with her wing, holding him firmly. “I do not blame you for anything that has happened to Equestria or my sister.”
“But we do need to know what you know,” Celestia finished. “Now please be honest, do you know anything of importance?”
…
“Nope.”
Star Swirl huffed, sounding like a horse. “I see you’re going to be as tight-lipped as you were last time we spoke.”
---
Celestia and Star Swirl spent half an hour trying to convince Dexter to talk to them, yet his constant and unyielding denials were starting to drive them up a wall. Despite everything that had happened, the colt was still determined to minimize any interference with the timeline. Though at this point he had no way of knowing if the timeline had been preserved or hopelessly altered.
Either way, he was not about to start leaking information the ponies should not have.
But the more he refused to talk, the more Celestia and Star Swirl were convinced he knew something.
“You are the most stubborn child I have ever met.” Celestia sighed in frustration, taking a moment to glance out gigantic hole in the wall. She had a clear view of the forest in the distance, which was bathed in an orange hue as the sun began to set. Thick clouds in the distance hung low, hinting at a coming rain.
However, Celestia was brought back by Star Swirl stomping the floor with a fore hoof. “Half an hour of trying to get him to talk and we don’t even have his name.” Star Swirl said before shaking his head.
“Look, it’s not my fault that I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Dexter replied, trying but failing to sound innocent.
“Then why won’t you at least tell us your name?” Celestia challenged.
Dexter merely looked away.
“Listen, young colt.” Star Swirl began sternly. “Clover is like a daughter to me, and every second she is suffering is like a knife in my side. Now I know you know something more about Nightmare Moon, or at the very least you can tell me where you got that prophecy from. I need to know whatever I can, as any small detail about Nightmare Moon could prove useful in undoing her indoctrination magic.”
Dexter could understand where Star Swirl was coming from. But he still felt obligated to keep quiet. That, and keeping quiet proved to be rather easy for the colt. As far as Dexter could tell, he knew nothing that would help Star Swirl or Clover. So spilling his guts would not only be risky to the timeline, but also fruitless.
“I never said anything about a prophecy.” Dexter lied, causing Star Swirl’s jaw to tighten.
“Prophecy?” Celestia raised an eyebrow at Star Swirl. “What prophecy did he speak of?”
“During the first hours of Nightmare’s uprising, he helped Clover and I escape from Nightmare’s guard.” Star Swirl began to explain. “That’s when he spoke of a prophecy which stated that Nightmare was to escape from her imprisonment in a thousand years before bringing about another eternal night.”
“What?” Celestia’s gaze darted between the colt and the wizard. Of course Dexter pretended to be completely oblivious. She wasn’t buying it. “The Elements said the same thing to me just as Luna was banished.”
“A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria,” Celestia recited. “Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.”
“That’s it,” Star Swirl shot an accusatory hoof at the colt. “He said those words exactly, less than an hour after Nightmare Moon attacked!”
“How did you know this prophecy before the Elements gave it to me?” Celestia pulled the colt forward with her magic before lifting him to eye level, firing off questions at him one after another. “Do you know anything else about my sister’s fate? How will the stars aid in her return? Will Luna’s mind survive her banishment? Will Nightmare consume her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I never-“
“Please, please don’t lie to me.” Celestia begged, her eyes starting to tear. This subject apparently had more emotional weight than the alicorn expected, threatening to break the composure she was straining to maintain. “I’ve been with my sister for a very, very long time. She is the only one I have. I must know if the prophecy will come true. Will I ever get my sister back?”
“I have to know.” Celestia pressed. “When exactly will she come back? How will she come back? Is there anything I can do to bring her back sooner?”
Celestia hesitated for a moment. “Is she being… tormented by that ‘Nightmare Moon’ thing right now?”
“I’m sorry, but I simply don’t know anything-“ Dexter had hardly uttered his denial when Celestia felt something within her snap. The torrent of emotions she had been hiding flooded back like a tidal wave that crashed over her.
‘DON’T YOU DARE LIE TO ME!” She cried. Her eyes began to glow, reflecting in the tears that streamed down her face. Celestia’s voice boomed to a deafening volume, enhanced to impossible heights by magic. The room itself suddenly became swelteringly hot. “I LOVE MY SISTER MORE THAN ANYTHING. I’VE WATCHED OVER HER FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. I WON’T LET SOME STUPID COLT WITHHOLD WHAT I NEED TO BRING HER BACK TO ME!
She began to shake the colt in her tightening magical grasp. “TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THAT PROPHECY! TELL ME WHAT ELSE YOU KNOW ABOUT MY SISTER! TELL ME HOW TO BRING HER BACK!”
“TELL ME EVERYTHING!”
Her magical grasp suddenly vanished, causing him to fall to the floor. Before he could even get up, another aura dragged him away from the alicorn’s hooves.
Star Swirl’s horn was a light, having broken Celestia’s hold on the colt. However, a green aura belonging to Captain Crystal had dragged him away. It was only then that Celestia had noticed several of her guards had rushed into the room, summoned by the loud commotion.
“Celestia!” Star Swirl protested, but he didn’t need to say anything more. It took a few moments for the anger in Celestia’s gaze to wane, only to be replaced by grief. She hung her head before bringing a hoof to cover her face, tears continuing to pour.
“Get out… all of you…” She declared quietly. “But keep a close eye on him.”
---
“You’ll have to forgive Celestia,” Star Swirl lead the colt into one of the castle’s remaining rooms, escorted by a pair of guards. Luckily the room was intact, but something told Dexter that was meant more to keep him contained than comfortable. “She’s been with her sister longer than any of us have been alive, combined. I can’t even begin to imagine how she feels.”
“I don’t care.” Dexter scoffed, causing the wizard to turn on the colt with a frown. Star Swirl was about to say something before one of the guards spoke up.
“Leave him with me,” It was Captain Crystal who spoke, capturing the attention of both Star Swirl and the colt. “Celestia has ordered us to abandon the castle, we’re relocating to the Canterlot palace. I need you to supervise the packing and move of your workshop as well as the vault, Star Swirl.”
“Just a moment, I want to-” Star Swirl started, looking back at the colt.
“Now, Star Swirl.” Crystal pressed. “Celestia made a big deal saying that she doesn’t want to spend another night in this castle, and it's already sunset. Leave the colt with me, he will keep until you’re finished.”
“Fine,” Star Swirl relented, turning back to the mare. “But collect everything that belongs to this kid. Some of his gadgets are the most sophisticated tools I’ve ever seen, and I’ll want to examine them closer when we get to Canterlot.”
Star Swirl turned to eye the colt once last time, before kneeling down to whisper such that only the colt could hear. “I think you’re from a different time.”
Star Swirl stood back up, or at least tried to. The colt had grabbed his beard, pulling him back down. “Nice try, but that’s not even the half of it.” Before Star Swirl could finish processing the words, the colt pushed him away.
“Escort Star Swirl to his shop and assist him in any way he requires.” Crystal instructed the guards. They saluted before falling in line behind the old wizard. Star Swirl merely squinted at the colt before leaving.
“Are you okay?” Crystal asked, pulling a nearby trunk toward the colt with her magic. Flicking it open revealed Dexter’s saddlebags, along with rifle and everything else he had brought with him. The only thing that was missing was his helmet and patch of armor missing from his chest.
“I’ll heal just fine,” Dexter answered.
“That’s not what I meant” Crystal replied with a frown. “I’m sensing a lot of emotions from you.”
“Which should be expected,” Crystal shrugged. “You’ve seen many things, and been forced to do many things, that a child shouldn’t.”
“I’ve done this sort of thing before,” Dexter waved her off.
“I take this is everything that’s mine?” Dexter eyed the dream catcher Star Swirl had given him.
“Everything but the helmet,” Crystal nodded. “That’s still with Celestia.”
“Good enough,” Dexter answered. “Other than protecting my head, the helmet was just an interface. And it needs to be attached to my suit to work.”
“So… Celestia won’t be able to use it to…”
“Discover any private secrets you might be concerned about?” Dexter finished for the incognito changeling, packing his saddlebags before slinging them onto his back. It didn’t take him long to put every weapon, device or tool into the right place in his suit. She was right; everything that belonged to him was there. “No, but to be safe, burn the inside of it.”
“Done.” Crystal nodded.
“I could ask why you’re helping me get away…” Dexter said.
“I don’t want them to know what you know anymore than you do.” Crystal explained. “I trust that you’ll hold up to your end of our deal? And that you’ll make sure your friend, whoever she is, honors it as well?”
“Yes,” Dexter answered, turning to lock eyes with the mare. “So long as you behave yourself, I’ll keep your secret.”
“Seems like I still don’t have your trust,” Crystal huffed with a grin. “Just a word of warning, they’ll be hunting you.”
“Let them,” Dexter shrugged. “They will find nothing.”
“I think I’m starting to like you.” Crystal declared. “You have a lot in common with changelings.”
Crystal watched as the colt replaced a battery pack in his futuristic rifle. It hummed to life as he adjusted a knob on the side.
“I left a hole in the solar guard’s security perimeter, if you take the east hall you should be able to get outside without being spotted.” The mare advised. “There are only two guards watching the bridge, you should be able to stun them with that thing of yours and escape into the forest.” She motioned to the rifle in his hooves. “From there, you’re on your own.”
Dexter stood silently for a few moments. “Thanks, I guess…”
That was the last time anyone would ever see the captain.
---
Night was approaching rapidly, something which Dexter felt was a tiny bit ironic given what he had just been through. Though, the sunlight was quickly dwindling as thick clouds rolled in.
He had made it out of the castle with ease, just as Crystal said he would. Crossing the bridge was a cinch, the two guards watching it didn’t know what hit them. Two shots from his rifle and they dropped, stunned for a few hours.
He had just made it to the tree line, stopping to glance at the remains of the castle in the distance behind him. It gave Dexter the strangest feeling that he had left something behind. He watched for a few moments as rain drops started trickling from the clouds, bouncing off his armor.
He couldn’t place what he was missing, it wasn’t physical. Everything he owned was with him or accounted for.
It was more like something had changed.
He recalled his conversation with the Elements of Harmony. Why would sending him home cause him suffering?
That was a question he’d have to answer when he returned to the future, but it wasn’t what was bothering him. He didn’t realize what it was until he scratched some dried blood off the fur by his mouth.
He’d never look at Equestria the same way again.
He was only a short walk away from returning to the future, but what he really wanted was to return home.