> Knight Terrors
>  by Purple Patch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There weren’t many ponies who could find the swishing sound of a hefty book shifting back into its allotted place on the shelf so satisfying. But the Librarian of Canterlot, or at least its unofficial librarian, had just completed another biographical dictionary, not easy work but it had to be done.
Everypony in history made history, as he was fond of saying, and it was his job to chart down each part of it.
Purple Patch closed the cover on his completed tome. A Biographical Dictionary of The Blood-Moon Crisis. A fitting choice to finish on such a night as Nightmare Night. Most young stallions would be out for Nightmare Night but he had books to finish and his books were something he took very seriously.
He thought he’d never finish the part on Vorpal Blade.
Patch shook his head.
Vorpal’s life had not been an easy one.
Before he headed home, he looked over what would be next. His cover had been finished by the illustrator’s guild which he’d previously belonged to.
A mural of the two sisters of sun and moon set against each other. The prelude and cause of the Rise and Fall of Nightmare Moon.
And Purple Patch would have the honour of being the first pony ever to be granted permission to put the knowledge to parchment. Now that Luna had been welcomed back into society, the information detailing how exactly her banishment came about and how others reacted to were free for the public eye, as long as one knew where to look.
He wasn’t expecting ponies positively flocking to the library but there were many scholars and such in the city who had long exercised such interests.
He gave the mural a closer inspection. As a rumble of thunder erupted outside, he nearly dropped it.
With his back to it, his eyes darted to an odd shadow cast upon the wall. Looking round, his heart did a cartwheel.
Standing outside the window, seemingly standing on thin air, was a batpony, dark-grey of coat with a shock of silver mane and colourless white eyes, boring through the glass and staring right into Purple Patch’s soul.
The creature’s face was a look of utter fury.
Purple Patch blinked, adjusted his glasses and paced carefully towards the window, his face a picture of perplexion and unease. One shaky hoof reaching for the curtain, he kept his eyes set on the furious batpony.
“Sorry,” he mumbled “We’re closed on Sunday.”


The curtains gave a sharp hiss as they closed.
Purple Patch gave a few deep breaths, uncertain as to whether that had, in fact, been a real batpony outside the library windows.
There was a smacking sound as a paper was pushed through the mailbox onto the welcome mat.
Patch, not quite sure if he wanted to open the curtains just yet, edged over to the door to check the lock.
He glanced at the paper.
Princess Luna’s joyous face at Ponyville’s Nightmare Night celebration greeted him below the headlines.
Purple Patch felt his blood run cold. He felt a gust of wind from nowhere in particular and the candles blew out as one.
Patch pressed himself against the door in terror.
This was bad. Significantly bad.
Gingerly, each step feeling like an hour, Patch peeked through the curtain.
The batpony was gone, a tiny silhouette just visible in the light of the full moon, obscured by gathering storm-cloud.
‘The poor, tender-hearted fools!’ Patch screamed in his head ‘Don’t they realise what they’ve brought upon themselves?!’
He checked the fireplace. The logs were still glowing. There was still enough to use.
Rushing over to the fireplace, he grabbed a small leaf-green bag atop it and ducked down into the fireplace. Glancing up, he saw his main method of fast transport, the most effective for earth ponies.
Hearthstones. Tiny etchings of various places around Equestria. Carefully, Patch dipped his hoof in the bag and threw some white borax powder against a hearthstone with an etching of Ponyville Town Hall upon it.
Patch watched as the etching started to glow a bright green. Around his hooves, green flames and lime embers started to snake out of the burning logs. They didn’t burn him though. Teleportation via such methods was harmless with the right equipment.
Closing his eyes, hoping he wouldn’t be too late, Purple Patch journeyed to Ponyville in a matter of moments.


*


“See, I told ya Zecora’d have somethin’ nice.”
Bags full of Nightmare Night goodies, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Dinky Doo concluded their night’s endeavours a success. Applebloom knew the way to and from Zecora’s hut on the edges of the Everfree and they’d made good time to get there and leave before it grew too dangerous to walk at night. As long as they stayed on the path and went at a brisk pace, they’d get home just before anypony started worrying.
The Bearers of Harmony had been called to stay a while longer in Ponyville to help the recovering Princess Luna. Though they’d at first been firmly against the four fillies venturing by the Everfree tonight of all nights, they’d understood Zecora wouldn’t be far away and if there was any mare who knew her way around the Everfree, it was her. Nonetheless, they’d imposed a strict time limit which they’d had their little sisters and wards swear solemnly upon.
Dinky had been apprehensive at first of the prospect of making her mother worry, her protectiveness rivalled perhaps only by Sweetie’s sister, Rarity, but Sparkler had managed to convince Derpy she’d be fine with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and, having grown up in a household with Doctor Whooves, she’d become very good at making time.
Soon, they’d reach Ponyville, meet up with their friends and family and all would be well this Nightmare Night.
Scootaloo beheld the incredible concoctions Zecora had gifted them with. Strange jelly-like baubles of glowing green and orange jam, bright-blue crispy snaps that resembled butterfly wings, sticky red bulbs and round green sherbet buds with sour purple spikes. They may have once been plants...plants that ate more than Celestia’s sunshine.
“I’ve never seen stuff like this before.” the little pegasus hooted “Honestly, I kinda’ wanna’ keep it in a glass or something, it looks too cool to just eat.”
“Well, I’m always saving sweets and stuff.” Dinky said with a smile “It really is better if you have a little for lots of days instead of a lot for one day. It helps you appreciate it more.”
“Yeah, once I saved half a bag of fairy marshmallows from Winter Wrap-Up and Rarity loves those so I got her to play with me and do my chores for a few days as long as I gave her some.” Sweetie chuckled “I think she caught on next year ‘cause she saved all her peanut cups so we just traded.”
“Eurgh, you like peanut cups?” Scootaloo asked, pulling a face “I hate those things, all that weird sweet-and-salty gunk sticking to the top of your mouth.”
“Oh yeah? They’re better than those icky aniseed balls you like.” Sweetie retorted.
“Come on now, stop yer’ bickering you two.” Applebloom sighed as they continued on the path.
“Yeah, everyone has their preferences.” Dinky gave a shrug “I mean, I’ve always liked raisins in muffins and you three thought that was really weird.”
“Yeah but...raisins!” Sweetie exclaimed “That...that’s just not right! They don’t belong in dessert. You eat those after dessert! And only then if you really have to!”
“Like when Rarity tells you to.” Scootaloo chuckled.
“Well, when ya join Dash in becomin’ a Wonderbolt, ah don’t wanna’ think about what kinda diet she’s gonna’ put you on.” Applebloom gave the pegasus a smug look.
Her ear twitched as a drop of water landed just short of it. The clouds gathered overhead, nearly blotting out the full moon.
“Aw shucks!” she cursed lightly “We’d better hurry, girls, or we’ll catch somethin’ nasty out here.”
“Girls, problem.” Scootaloo piped up “Our bags are paper. If we can’t cover them with anything, we’ll ruin our candy.”
Sweetie pursed her lips.
“Dinky, how’s your magic?”
“Um...it’s okay, I guess.”
“You’ve been to the clubhouse, right?”
“Yeah, back when I asked you what to get for Pipsqueak’s birthday.”
“Right, so we should be able to teleport our goodies to the clubhouse so they’re waiting nice and dry for us when we get back.”
Placing the four bags on a small patch of moss on the path, Sweetie and Dinky craned their heads forward and fought hard to focus, their horns beginning to glow, lavender and bronze respectively.
Fortunately, teleportation of this type would be fairly simple. Sweetie had spent so long in the Clubhouse, it was easy to envision the materialisation process. While she couldn’t teleport herself or any other living thing, small objects weren’t too difficult, at least not with help.
With a flash, the four bags vanished.
“Wow!” Sweetie said with a slight gasp "I was kind of expecting them to catch fire...At least, that's what happened last time..."
“Nicely done, you two.” Applebloom gave a smile “Now let’s hurry back.” She paused at Dinky Doo who stood curiously still upon the path.
Her face looked troubled. The black part of her eyes seemed to be growing or shrinking as she looked deep down the path where a wind was picking up, blowing the rain into their faces. Still, Dinky didn’t react.
“Dinky, are you coming?” Scootaloo asked.
Dinky spoke at last.
“I...think we should get off the road.” she murmured.
“What?” Sweetie blinked.
Before Dinky could answer, another noise overtook any other sound around.


“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”


It was unmistakeably the howl of a wolf.
And yet somehow, it sounded like it had come from a pony.
The four foals stood terrified on the path, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Dinky was the first to find her voice.
“Get off the road!” she screamed “Quick!”
“What?” Sweetie made to protest but was interrupted by Dinky Doo grabbing her by the shoulder as the four leapt off the path, brushing through the bushes and ferns and following Dinky to hide under a small grassy outcrop.
Crouching tensely beneath the soil, they sat as still and silent as possible as motion rushed down the path.
A wild rush of wind blew a torrent of leaves across where they’d stood, perhaps fast enough to knock them down.
The storm had picked up seemingly without warning. Thunder and lightning raked the sky ferociously above them.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
The noise came again. It sent a tremor through Dinky’s chest, running right down her.
It sounded so terribly angry.
The trees nearly tore themselves off their roots as the heart of the roiling wind flew down the path and skidded across the ground on four hooves, churning up mud and moss until it came to a stop.
The four foals shook with terror. Whatever had made the noises and perhaps brought the storm was right upon them.
Dinky noticed there were hard roots rising and falling above the outcrop, just leaving a concealed looking-hole where she was able to look through the corner of her eye at just what had appeared.


It was a pegasus. In the scant light and the pouring rain, it was hard to make out much but it was definitely a mare. Most of her was covered by a jet-black cape that was slashed in two for aviation down the middle as most pegasus cloaks were. There was a gleam of indigo beneath the cape, indicating the possibility of some form of armour. Strange medallions and bands hung round her neck. On one of her hooves was a strap and a sheathe for a knife.
Her sleek coat was a deep navy, sharply contrasting with her full head of long ice-white mane. There were several beads and bracelets in her mane and around her neck that rattled against each other with each step. Her wings were rising and falling with her shoulders as she breathed long and slowly, her primary feathers as white as her mane.
It was the way she moved that seemed the strangest, the most frightening.
She didn’t canter or trot. She sort of slunk.
Like a dog...or a wolf.
The kind that knew prey was near.
There was a glint close to her mouth and Dinky noticed, to her horror, the mare was carrying a knife between her teeth.
She felt Applebloom pull her away as the four fillies crouched as low as they could, hoping as much as possible that nothing would give them away.
They’d never seen this pony before but they knew full well that nopony they knew carried around knives.
There was a shifting sound and Dinky realised the mare was sniffing loudly, again like a wolf.
The mare’s hoof appeared, curling round the roots upon the outcrop. It was hairy, unshorn before the sole.
Craning her neck over the outcrop, she scanned the forest floor, breathing heavily, water vapour billowing in and out of her nostrils.
Dinky risked a glance.
Her age was difficult to determine. She was definitely older by the CMC’s elder sisters by quite a bit but she didn’t look exactly old, in the conventional sense anyway.
The mare’s face was pitted with small scars and scratches. Her ears were low and twitching in anticipation beside a braid of white mane at the side of her face and a couple of grey feathers tucked behind it. Her eyes were a darker blue than her coat. Most oddly, her canine teeth were pointed, almost resembling fangs that better held her knife in her mouth.
As she continued looking out, Dinky caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were fixed out at whatever she thought was hiding in the woods before her, hungry, restless.
Dinky wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a mare looking quite so angry.


The rain fell down harder, making the mare’s mane hang low below her, almost touching Dinky’s muzzle.
The fillies huddled, trying not to shiver for fear if would give them away.
It dawned on them that the mare had their scent. The rain masked it considerably and silenced their movements.
But if she noticed, there would be no escape.
Dinky shuddered suddenly, her eyes going wide.
She heard noises. Noises that seemed to come from inside her own head.
A slow bell booming, one chime after the other.
A filly’s laughter.
Raised voices, steadily growing more and more heated.
A scream of rage.
Clashes of battle.
And a voice, an almost familiar voice, crying out in unbridled fear and despair.
‘No! Please! Don’t do this! Don’t send me away! Don’t leave me alone! Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please!’
The noise ended at the next thunderclap as Sweetie Belle clasped Dinky’s foreleg tentatively.
Trying her luck, Applebloom picked up a good-sized conker by her side and tossed it to her right, back by the road where it rustled the foliage.
The wild-looking mare’s head snapped round with a snarl as she took to the wing, pouncing over the outcrop.
It was there that the fillies realised the mare had a long white tail not best-suited for swift flying. Yet it seemed it wasn’t her specialty as she did something few pegasi they knew could do safely; fly through forest. Curling and arching between the trees, making her path in one swift dive, she disappeared from sight.
Not wanting to waste a moment, the four fillies rushed through the forest, hoping to find the road to Ponyville lower down the pathway.


They couldn’t tell how long they’d run and how fast their hooves had carried them before they fell down gasping for breath as they found themselves back on the pathway.
“Wha...What...What was that?” Sweetie panted.
“I have no idea.” Scootaloo coughed, her throat dry “I...I’ve never seen a pony like that before.
“Did anypony get the feelin’ it was actin’ like a...” Applebloom thought of the appropriate word.
“Like a what?”
“Well...Like an animal?!” the little farm-pony answered “Ah mean like wild, feral even. Ah don’t even think it could speak!”
“I don’t know what it was but I think she should get home right away.” Dinky said, shaking her head.
“You don’t have to tell us twice!” Scootaloo exclaimed as they made their way down the path.
It was already getting dark as night.
“Girls...” Dinky gasped, stumbling in the muddy road “Something’s wrong with that mare!”
“I noticed!” Scootaloo was close to screaming.
“No, I mean...”
“Shhh!” Sweetie Belle hushed them as they ducked down into another ditch “Nopony move! She’s there, right there!”
Sure enough, there was the figure of a pony, swathed in a sheer black cloak.
The unshorn fetlocks and long, flowing mane were similar.
But it didn’t take Dinky long...
“That’s not her.” she whispered “That...That’s a stallion...A unicorn stallion.”
The CMC realised just as quickly when his hooded head turned slightly, revealing a horn.
His coat was a leafy-green, at least around the horn and neck but as it lit up a bright apple-green, Dinky covered her mouth to avoid gasping.
His eyes were positively glowing blue which better showed off how much his face contrasted. There was something about his otherwise clean, trim face that looked old. As Dinky looked closer, she saw his face showed off a bizarre set of scarring, running like a cryptic pattern from the sides of his eyes to the edges of his neck. In the moonlight, these scars and his wide, staring blue eyes lit up like cobalt.
Despite how calm everything else about him seemed, Dinky saw more than terror or impatience in them.
She could tell this pony had seen something awful, very long ago.
The winds picked up over the trees, the hiss of their rustling leaves becoming deafening.
A dark shape swooped over them, the pegasus from before letting loose her howl again.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
The unicorn tilted his head to the sky and nodded.
It seemed evident these two were working together. To do what, Dinky didn’t know but she didn’t fancy finding out.
The unicorn moved very differently to the pegasus and not just in the way flight was concerned. While the pegasus had slunk along, wolf-like, raking the ground as if her hooves were claws, the unicorn simply stepped slowly and evenly nearly completely silent. His long cloak covered almost all his body. With his dead-eyed stare at nothing, he slowly paced away down the path.
The foals could hear faint mutterings in a language they weren’t familiar with.
“Ah...Mondelin...Die Astralstadt...Horst du irhe Schreie? Kalte Erde bedeckt kalte Knochen...” His voice sounded solemn, distant, almost as if he didn’t know he was even saying them.
Ducking down into the ditch, hoping as much as possible that the undergrowth would hide them, the four fillies lay motionless as the unicorn trudged away, still muttering.
“Lange unausgesprochen...Lange ungesehen...Die Augen der neuen Welt...müssen sich noch öffnen...”
‘You knew...’
The voice rang in Dinky’s ears again.
This one, however, sounded angry, resentful, chilling the top of her mouth with its utter coldness.
‘You knew it wasn’t me...You said you told everypony you trusted...So why wasn’t I told? Why don’t you trust me? Why don’t you care about me?!’
“Okay...” The little earth pony whispered “Let’s get back on the path...We really need to get home. If there’s two of these ne’er-do-wells out tonight, ah think Twilight and the girls should know.”
“Right...”


*


“Urgh! This is the absolute last time I allow that feckless, inconsiderate sister of mine to go out on her own!” The silence around the library was broken by the shrill scream of the Bearer of Generosity, her last limit of patience reached “I don’t know where she gets it from! Ask anypony, I never practiced this sort of imprudence when I was her age, or any age! It’s unbelievable, it’s unacceptable, she’s doing it on purpose I tell you, it’s positively EVIL!”
“Whoa! Take a chill pill, Rares!” Pinkie Pie interrupted, one of the few times she was chosen to serve as the voice of reason “They can’t be too far away.”
“Well, tha’s what bothers me.” Applejack said, fuming “Bloom knows the way to and from Zecora’s like the sole o’ her hoof. If she ain’t home by now, it can’t be by accident. She’s in for a proper wallopin’ when ah get ahold o’ her!”
“Oh no, I...I don’t that’s right, AJ.” Fluttershy butted in pensively “I’m sure those fillies aren’t doing this on purpose. Maybe they’ve just gotten lost.” She glanced worriedly out the window “It...does look like the weather’s getting rather nasty. But I’m sure Dash will have found them by now.”
“Yeah, I can’t understand how it got this bad.” Twilight joined her by the window “The pegasus forecast said this night would be quiet and practically cloudless. This storm’s come out of nowhere.”
“I hope Dash will be okay...The foals also, I mean, but...” Fluttershy shook her head.
“It’s okay, Shy.” Pinkie rubbed her shoulder gently “If anypony’s up for flying in this weather, it’s her.” Nonchalantly, she hopped over to the irate-looking Rarity and Applejack and placed one forehoof on their heads and pressed down gently, making a noise as if one was letting the air out of a pair of balloons.
“Easy for you to say, Pinkie. You’re sister ain’t out on a dangerous night like this.” Applejack groaned “Ah should be out there.”
“Rainbow’s fastest.” Twilight said firmly “We’re sure to hear from her soon. She’s hardly out of her element.”


*


‘Celestia damn it! I am so out of my element!’
Rainbow Dash perched under a tree canopy, brushing her drenched technicolour mane out of her eyes. The rain was pouring down furiously. It was nearly impossible to see. This was nothing pegasi weren’t able to brave but this storm was a strange one. To tame a storm, pegasi would often fly into its very heart and fly out again, moving with the channel rather than against it. But Rainbow Dash was finding herself unable to find the heart of the storm. It seemed to be moving as fast as she was and in random directions.
As if it had a mind of its own.
Rainbow Dash rarely admitted such things but it scared her to go near it.
It scared her even more to know that a filly that was as close to her as family, along with the little sisters and daughter of three of her dearest friends, were caught out below it.
‘Okay, Dash, calm down. Calm down. They may be young but they’re not stupid. They’re bound to have found somewhere to hide out from the storm or find a secret safe spot or-”
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“Hey! Shut up! I’m trying to think! Can you just...wait...” Rainbow Dash yelled over the storm and inexplicable wolf howl. She paused, looked into the sky and gazed out. The darkest, angriest part of the storm was rolling along the sky at an amazing speed. Not her speed of course, she thought in her head, that would be impossible, but faster than any natural storm she’d ever seen.
Which gave her reason to believe this wasn’t a natural storm.
Taking to the wing again, she focussed on flying on the storm’s channel and cast her eye through the rainfall.
In the heart of the storm could be seen the faint outline of what looked eerily like another pegasus.
Rainbow Dash’s chest felt tight against her thumping heart. Flying close to the forests, he flew hard and fast towards the path back to the Everfree.
The rain beat harder and harder against her as she felt the channel turning, dragging her away from her destination.
Almost as if...


As hellish revelation hit her like a thunderbolt, Rainbow Dash’s wings locked straight in fear as the heart of the storm surged towards her.
And bursting through the thick miasma of jet-black clouds came a midnight-blue pegasus in a flowing black cape with a face of pure, unadulterated rage, howling like a mad beast, a glint in her open maw where a pair of wickedly sharp teeth lunged forward like a nightmare creature.
With a crash, the stranger hit Rainbow Dash with full force, the two diving, locked in combat.
Her vision blurry, Rainbow Dash found herself screaming as she felt a pair of jaws clamp down on one of her wings, pulling left and right in a frenzy. Instinctively, Rainbow elbowed the biting creature with her right foreleg once, twice and thrice until it let go with a snarl, another bite lashing out and just missing her neck.
Struggling madly, Rainbow Dash gasped with relief as she found her wings again, her right wing smarting furiously as the membrane bled.
She had to think fast.
Fortunately, ‘fast’ was something she was very good at being.
Fighting hard to keep a safe distance from her attacker, she found the tallest, widest and hardiest tree she could find and made one ditch effort to save her life and hopefully find the four missing foals still lost in the forest on tonight of all nights.
Pausing, she leaned back against the tree, bent her forelegs and stretched her wings fully. Her magenta eyes gleamed with anticipation as her energy revitalised and the old pegasus sky magic coursed through her body.
The sharp-toothed pegasus closed in, reaching into her swirling cape for something nefarious.
Bending the treetop back, multichromatic streams of magic spiralling around her, Rainbow Dash let loose right as her hunter threw a brace of daggers that whistled as they honed in.
The whole forest shook, swarms of leaves tearing through the air, as the Bearer of Loyalty shot forth like a bullet toward Ponyville. The daggers were caught up in the storm and flew away, barely missing their own wielder who wrapped her wings around her front for defence as she was tossed high into the sky.
As the wind subsided and she felt her altitude slow and drop, she unfurled her wings again, hovered in mid-air and scanned the horizon.
The rainbow-maned mare was gone.
For a moment, the hunter was quiet.
Then she cracked a sardonic grin of anticipation.
This one thought she was clever.
Adorable.


*


“Well, Derpy, I’d say your muffins went down very nicely.”
The quirky brown stallion known as Doctor Whooves gazed at the bare muffin basket, picked clean of Nightmare Night goodies. As everypony in Ponyville knew, nopony made muffins quite as well as Derpy Doo.
Derpy, the young muddle-headed mailmare the Doctor had fallen in love with all those years ago, was pacing by a window tentatively, her wall-eyes restless with worry.
The Doctor sighed, placing a shoulder over his partner.
“Derpy...”
“Look at that storm, Doctor...” Derpy murmured with fright “Dinky’s still out there. How am I supposed to be calm when my little muffins out in enough wind and rain to knock down trees?!”
“Hey, hey...Listen, Twilight told me that Rainbow Dash is being sent after them to get them home safely. You know Dash would never let them down.”
“I...I guess...” Derpy gave a sniff “But, I mean, what if it’s too much for her? I know she’s a great flier, better than I could ever be but...”
“Derpy, calm down. Look, if it gets any worse, I’ll go out and see if they’re alright. They know the way back from Zecora’s and...”
There was a squeak and a clunk as something came through the letterbox.
There was a pause as it did so.
As a rule, a mailmare rarely got mail delivered to her.
The Doctor moved from his partner’s shoulder to the doorway and picked up a small scrap of paper.
His twin hearts felt gripped by a pair of icy hands as he read two bold, harsh words in black ink.


They Know


There was a small blot of purple ink in the bottom-right-hoof corner.
Doctor Whooves took a deep breath, hid the scrap of paper in a pocket in his coat, put the coat along with his very old, very precious patchwork scarf, and opened the door.
“Derpy...” he called out “I think I’ll check on Dinky.”
“Uh...Okay, Doctor.” the grey pegasus replied timidly “Will you be alright?”
“Yeah...” he reluctantly lied “Of course.”


*


Closing and locking the door of the town hall behind him, Purple Patch feared to light any of the lamps.
Clutching at his research bag and pulling up his collar, cold sweat beading at his brow, he searched the bookshelves for anything related to the information he sought.
There had to be something.
One thing he was sure of was that it couldn’t be in Golden Oaks Library but nor could it have been destroyed.
And nor could it have been in Celestia’s palace.
And it wouldn’t be in any city founded after the...
“A bit dark in here, isn’t it.”
A quiet, dour voice sounded above him.
Purple Patch spun round, pressing his back against the bookshelf, shaking like a leaf as he looked up.
The batpony stood over him, standing perfectly upside-down atop the ceiling, looking down at him with his colourless eyes, sighing sardonically.
“All alone are you? What a mess you’ve been caught up in...”
He gave a hiss of anticipation that emitted from his throat like an eerie gust of wind, blowing around every piece of paper in the hall.
“And tonight of all nights.”


*


“Girls, I...I need to stop. Please, just for a sec.”
Breathless, Sweetie Belle collapsed against a tree, gasping for air.
The others, though put out by her show of fatigue, understood her plight to some extent.
They’d been running for what seemed like hours, flinching at every noise and shape in the growing darkness.
The four of them came to a stop.
Applebloom wiped a hoof against her face to wipe away the sweat and rainwater, coughing twice, her throat feeling like cracking bark.
The only thing keeping her on her hooves was the sight of Ponyville just clear in the distance.
Scootaloo shook the water out of her wings.
“Who the heck are these ponies?” she was close to screaming “Why are so...creepy?”
“Ah dunno’. Ah think the best thing to do is tell AJ an’ Twilight. If anypony around here’ll know what to do about this, it’s them.”
“Girls, I’m sorry but I need to talk.” Dinky butted it, her periwinkle face pale with worry “There’s something really wrong about them.”
“Yeah, we noticed!” The three fillies barked impatiently.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean.” The little unicorn shook her head “When the pegasus got close, I...I heard voices. It was like they were coming from her. They sounded frightened, really frightened. ”
Scootaloo and Applebloom glanced at each other then back to Dinky.
“Maybe yah ate too much candy.”
“No, I’m serious, girls, I promise! And with the unicorn, they sounded angry. They said somepony didn’t trust them.”
“Dinky, even if this didn’t sound weird, this isn’t the time!” Scootaloo brushed her wet purple mane out of her face and turned to the other unicorn propped up against the tree.
“Sweetie, come on.”
There was no reply. Sweetie Belle remained propped up against the tree.
“S-Sweetie?” Scootaloo stammered, trotting over to check on her friend “You’re not hurt, are you?”
The little pegasus paused, her wings drooping in dread.
Sweetie Belle’s face was a picture of utter horror. Her little forehoof was rising shakily, pointing at a cliffside.
Her wide lime-green eyes were shrunken to pin-points in fear as she spoke with chattering teeth.
“It’s him...”
Atop the cliffside, silhouetted by the silver haze of consistent lightning across the sky, the green unicorn stood, his cobalt eyes boring into them.
Scootaloo stepped back, now wearing the same face of horror as Sweetie Belle, followed by Applebloom and Dinky as all four fillies noticed the hunter on the cliffside.
The unicorn’s horn began to glow with a jade green miasma as he drew something from behind his cloak.
A silver bow, rising high above his head, arching over as it pointed skyward.
From under his cape, five arrows spun round him and arranged themselves along the bow. The four fillies found their legs and found cover, ducking behind the tree and shrub Sweetie was resting against.
The bowstring pulled back, clutched by a ring of blazing turquoise. The arrowheads glowed silver, shimmering like hundreds of stars as they began to hiss hellishly, a metallic scream joining with the thunder as the unicorn yelled in his harsh, foreign tongue.
“Aus dem Nachthimmel kommt dein Käfig!”
He let loose the arrows, flying high into the air, gathering and twirling as they rose, joining into a great ball of light that hovered straight above their heads, throbbing and fluctuating as if it were ready to explode.
“Run!” Applebloom’s shriek cut through the pounding noise of storm and magic as the foals bolted, making for Ponyville, hoping speed would succeed were stealth had failed.
The ball of light gave a screech as it opened like a flower of many petals and a thousand arrows flew like a swarm of fireflies and darted for the ground.
Her hooves skidding to a halt, Dinky grabbed Applebloom and Scootaloo by the tails and held Sweetie’s with a small spell as the arrows landed right in front of them.
It was astonishing, almost wondrous to behold.
The arrows had arranged themselves in a perfect ring around them. As the last one found its place, the feathers bristled like luminescent plants and blazed teal, forming a magical barrier.
After momentary awe, fear quickly burrowed into their hearts and minds again as Dinky Doo, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turned round to face the cliffside.
The unicorn atop it was gone.
With a viridian flash, he reappeared opposite them, his azure eyes fixed and wide.
“Du kannts nicht rennen...” he droned in his deathly tone “Alptraum findet uns alle am Ende.”
Then he drew closer, each step on the wet grass a death knell, no escape for his horrified quarry.
Sweetie Belle had begun crying, held tightly by Applebloom as Scootaloo fought to find a way out of the shield, the four backing up as far as they could.
The green unicorn trudged ever closer, his bow in his magical grasp, slowly seeming to ripple bizarrely.
He spoke again, his voice changing slightly.
Anger?
No, Dinky remembered the voice from before.
Resentment. Indignation.
Betrayal.
“Kannst du sie schreien hören? Die Wut? Der Verzweiflung? Der Herzschmerz?”
“What’s he even saying?” Sweetie whimpered.
“He’s...angry at something...” Dinky wasn’t sure what gave her the idea but she’d never felt more certain “Something he thinks we did.”
One of the unicorn’s eyes twitched. The bright blue scarring shone upon his face as his bow flattened and elongated, emitting an eerie metallic lilt as it morphed.
“Du ... Du hast das Getan...Du und all deine Art. Du lebst in einem falschen Licht.” His head tilted as his breathing got heavier “Doch in ihrer Dunkelheit ist Wahrheit.”
Though some unknown means that none of the four fillies could comprehend, the bow had morphed into a gleaming silver spear. One that was now turning and tilting in his grasp.
“Die maske ist abgerissen. Und der Verfall Deiner grozen Luge...Es ist fur alle da, um in unserem Mondlicht zu sehen.”
The spear stood still as it rested over the stallion’s shoulder, moving with him with each step, pointed squarely at the foals.
Sweetie Belle was shrieking now, falling into hysterics in Applebloom’s hold.
“Girls!” Scootaloo was screaming, pounding against the shield “We gotta’ get outta’ here!”
“Sweetie, please!” Applebloom clutched at her unicorn friend, shaking her desperately “Yah gotta’ use a spell. Anythin’!”
“I can’t! I can’t! I’m scared!” Sweetie wailed, lost in terror.
Tentatively, Dinky stood in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, struggling to understand just what was happening and why.
“Why...” she whispered “Why are you doing this?”
The unicorn did not answer. It seemed uncertain if he could even hear her.
“You...” the voice came again, “You said you’d protect me from them. You lied to me! You...betrayed me!”
As Dinky blinked, a somewhat familiar face flashed before her, jet-black and silver-eyes, mouth open wide in a scream of fury.
“Betrayer!”
The eyes shot forth like falling stars.
Blinding light was followed by darkness.
“Night comes for you, sister...And it will last forever!”
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness; Nightmare Moon.”
The stallion reading the book aloud did so in a voice steadily growing more and more enraged.
“She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom; The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since...”
The reader’s hoof holding the book shook and with an eerie, shadowy screech, a dark-indigo shape emerged around his hoof, forming five sword-sized claws that crushed the book, turning it into a cloud of minuscule, burnt scraps of parchment scattering across the interior of the lightless town hall.
Shadow magic. Trademark of powerful batponies.
The reader then slowly turned to the young stallion he had inches from the tip of his sword.
“How many times have you heard that story now?”
“Well...it’s hard to know for sure...and to be frank, this current situation is not such so as to one can properly estimate...”
The side of the batpony’s lip curled in dark amusement.
“But you know it’s not true.”
“Well...not the full story, of course.”
“So knowing that...Knowing, indeed, what you know, Mr Patch, as a historian...Would you say, therefore, that the good folk of Equestria were blissfully ignorant...or just ignorant?!”
The snarl ripped through the air, setting Purple Patch’s scruffy mane on end.
Purple Patch had, at no point in his life, claimed to be a courageous stallion.
Though few would claim to be with a blade at their neck.
Especially with a wielder such as the stallion before him.
“H-h-hard to say, sir...” he managed to mumble.
“That is disappointing. From what I’ve seen from you, Mr Patch, ‘saying’ is one of your greatest skills. And I require you to employ it tonight.”
“...r-r-righto...”
The batpony gave him a steely look.
“You will head with all haste to Twilight Sparkle’s homestead. You will tell her who we are, why we are here and what really transpired a thousand years ago between the two regal sisters.”
“Uh...I’m terribly sorry, sir, but...I don’t have permission from the necessary authorities.”
The batpony rose one eyebrow.
“You are being given permission this very moment.”
“N-n-no, no, I mean, it’s simply not possible...sir...sad to say...truly...The Grand Academy, they’d take away my cloak.”
The batpony gave a quiet snarl and moved the blade a fraction closer meaningfully.
“Mr Patch...If you do not do as I have requested...the item I remove will mean infinitely more to you than your cloak.”
“...true...”
“So am I clear, Mr Patch?”
“...As the Crystal Empire...Which is, as far as I know, very clear. I’ve never been there myself but-”
“I have. I’ve seen horrible things happen there...”
“...I’m sorry to hear that...sir.”


The batpony gave a sigh.
“Pay attention.” he said sternly “Once you have told Twilight the full story, so to speak, you will tell her to send a message to Celestia. Are you listening?”
“I can do little else, sir.” Patch’s eyes remained fixed on the sword edge.
“Celestia has till the stroke of midday to reveal the true details of her sister’s banishment, take responsibility for all that took place and formally abdicate the throne in favour of her younger sister, surrendering to our judgement for her charges of high treason. Have you got that clear?”
“Well...”
“As the Crystal Empire?”
“P-p-purely hypothetically...what if Celestia chooses...prefers, even...perhaps on the advice of her counsellors...to decline?”
The batpony’s chest lifted and fell with a weighty sigh.
“You may tell her that if she refuses...We will kill everypony in Ponyville.”
Purple Patch paused a moment.
“You have not misheard.” The batpony said flatly “We will not discriminate. Species, gender, age or position...none shall be spared. If she refuses further, we’ll find another town and do the same. We will take it as far as Canterlot if that’s what it takes for her agree.”
“But...why?”
The batpony bared his fangs and hissed.
“She knows why!”
A moment passed. Purple Patch could feel the tip of cold steel brushing under his chin. Sweat and tears beaded down his cheeks but he said nothing nor moved a muscle.
The sword lowered slightly.
“Deliver the message, Mr Patch. She has until dawn to reply and midday to prepare.”
The massive blade sheathed itself behind its wielder’s back.
“Nighty-night.”


*


The ground rushed up to meet her as Dinky Doo fell on her side.
A sudden golden flash had erupted from between Dinky Doo and the spear-wielder. The green unicorn stumbled back, shielding his scarred face with one forehoof and crying out in anguish, cursing in his odd language.
“Hraaagh! Die flamme! Verdammte, unreine flamme!”
“Girls! Come on!”
Dinky felt Applebloom grab her by the tail as Scootaloo kicked loose a few arrows.
The barrier had subsided and the foals were wasting no time in escaping it.
The four little fillies ran as if they knew no other course of action. The wet grass turned slippery under their hoof, making them feel almost as if they were simply sliding at high-speed through the dark.
The dim lights of Ponyville still in the midst of settling down guided them forward.
Dinky made a mental note to thank whomever sent her adopted sister, Sparkler the light-tender and lantern-maker, to Ponyville.
"Du kannst nicht fliehen!" the strange unicorn’s voice pierced the storm, close to screaming. Bright green lights appeared in the sky, steadily growing brighter.
“Oh shuuuuuuucks!” Applebloom screamed the strongest curse she knew at her age as roaring balls of green flame crashed into the ground, missing them by mere paces.
Sweetie Belle screeched as emerald embers sprayed in front of her face. Over the din, Scootaloo’s frantic yell could just be made out.
“What is this guy’s problem?!”
On and on they fled. The sounds of the green unicorn’s furious hollering growing fainter.
‘He’s angry.’ Puzzled thoughts swam around Dinky’s mind despite the madness outside ‘Why is he so angry? And the mare...Her voice...Was that-’
“Kids!”
A tomboyish voice above shook them out of their fright.
Scootaloo’s violet eyes widened with hope as her ever-impressive role model appeared in the sky.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Sweet Celestia’s Sunny Flanks, am I glad to see you!” the Bearer of Loyalty hovered over them “Hurry! We’re in the library!” She glanced back “Better pick up the pace, I don’t think that creep’s gonna’ give up too soon and his friend’s even worse!”
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“I heard ya the first time!” Rainbow Dash yelled back as the dim outline of the howling pegasus mare appeared in the oncoming storm clouds.
Without a doubt, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had never run quite so fast in their lives, not even when they were trying for Cutie Mark Super-Fast 100-Metre Gallopers.
They felt glad to have the wind at their backs.
The howl came again. Closer.


Rainbow Dash felt her heart chill as she realised it wasn’t the wind at their backs.
As the light from Ponyville reached the ground beneath their hooves, Rainbow realised there were two shadows of pegasi above.
With a snarl, not unlike thunder, the strange mare descended.
As she drew close, Rainbow Dash threw her hoof back to catch her pursuer off guard.
Her eye caught the glint of metal in the moonlight.
The next instant, Rainbow Dash threw her head back and screamed in pain as something thin and sharp stuck into her shoulder and wouldn’t leave. Shaking frantically, her hooves reached the ground as she half-ran, half-skid forward.
“Dash!” Scootaloo’s terrified shriek cut through the storm, the little pegasus staring back in horror as her hero’s face twisted in pain.
“I’m fine! Don’t worry ‘bout me! Keep running! We’re almost there!”
The fences that marked Carrot Top’s garden spelt safety.
Rainbow Dash let out a growly sigh of relief as they entered Ponyville and half-landed, half-crashed to the ground.
There was a thump as the dark pegasus landed on all four hooves behind them, growling and hissing.
The unicorn stallion followed but stopped as the mare threw out her forehoof, blocking his way.
She sniffed the air. Her eyes widened.
Out the corner of her eye as they approached the Golden Oak Library, Dinky saw something in the mare’s face that looked almost like fear.
And just as quickly as they’d emerged, the two vanished into the darkness.
And as they found themselves on the porch of Golden Oak Library and found the door unlocked, they felt fatigue take each of them as the wooden floor somehow felt surprisingly comfortable.


*


At the sound of the door slamming and locks rattling, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie spun round and bustled towards the door where an exhausted, sopping-wet Rainbow Dash stood over four unconscious foals, blood running down her wing from the knife embedded in her shoulder.
“Girls...” the Bearer of Loyalty said hoarsely “We got a problem.”
“Oh my goodness! Dashie!” Fluttershy flew to her best friend’s side, her green eyes wide with worry “Don’t worry, Dashie. Don’t move. I’ll get this out and make sure it doesn’t hurt too much.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head with groggy reassurance.
“Don’t worry about me. Are the kids okay?”
“Sweetie!” Catching sight of her little sister bedraggled, wide-eyed and delirious, Rarity forgot her anger at the filly’s impunctuality, rushing over and sweeping her up in her hooves and planting her with hugs and kisses.
“Dear Celestia in Paradise, Sweetie Belle! Speak to me! I take back everything I said! I’d never think you were staying out late to spite me! I’ll go with you next time, I promise, just please wake up!”
“Sis...I can hear you, you don’t have to overreact.”
“I’M NOT OVERREACTING! TWILIGHT! MY LITTLE SISTER’S LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE!”
“Rarity.” Twilight interjected “Calm down. Let’s get everything together. Fluttershy, you deal with Rainbow and Scootaloo. The rest of us take care of the foals.”
Fluttershy gave a nod and ferried her friend into the bathroom. The rest of the mares tended to the foals.
“Bloom! What in Celestia’s name ‘done happened to ya’?” Applejack was at her sister’s side in moments “Ya look like ya’ seen a...well...worse than a ghost!”
“Ah-ah-ah’m okay. I just think ya’ll gotta’ help Dinky and Rainbow Dash first. Ah’m alright, honest.” Applebloom was breathing heavily, shaking her head of the rain.
Pinkie Pie shook her head as she helped Twilight gently pick up the collapsed Dinky Doo, giving off stunned exclamations.
“Holy Roll-Me-Up-In-A-Guacamole-Poly, Twi! What’s happening? Luna finally found some friends around here and everypony had a super-duper Nightmare Night. So why’s Ponyville’s suddenly gone cuckoo-ka-choo!”
“I-I don’t know.” Twilight stammered “Right now, I just want to make sure nopony’s hurt then get some answers.”
“You okay now, Scoots?” Rainbow Dash passed her protégé’s wing “You’re okay, right? You’re a tough filly, aincha’.”
“Um...uh-huh...” Scootaloo mumbled hugging Rainbow Dash tight.
Between them, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie carried the semi-conscious Dinky Doo upstairs to a bed. The moment Dinky’s head rested upon the pillow, Twilight Sparkle straightened up and gave a call to all present in the house.
“Alright, mares and fillies, let’s reign in the sanity here! What is going on?!”


“Somepony’s chasin’ us.” Applebloom was the first to gather her senses and tottered up to Twilight, hopping with anxiety.
“Who? I told you before, Nightmare Moon isn’t a problem anymore.”
“It wasn’t her! This was a stallion!”
“And a mare!”
Twilight blinked.
“Okay...Can you describe them?”
“Green unicorn...Uh...Bright blue eyes, like big blue lightbulbs in his head!” Sweetie was mumbling “Blue pegasus, dark-blue, long white mane, feathers and beads and weird spooky bracelets, the kind of hair that’d give Rarity a heart-attack!”
Rarity rolled her eyes.
“I dunno’. I dunno’ what’s out there but they’re nuts!” Scootaloo gasped “One kept on speaking these weird words, the other one didn’t speak at all! They’re definitely not from here!”
“Ah think Dinky might know.” Applebloom pointed out “She said she could understand them...or something anyway.”
“Well, we’d better wake her up soon then.” Twilight shook her head “This doesn’t make any sense. If it’s not Nightmare Moon out there, who else could be causing this ruckus?”
“Ah can make one a’ Zecora’s pick-me-ups.” Applebloom piped up, the first to recover from the shock of the events.
Twilight nodded and took a moment to check on Rainbow Dash “Ah just need me some nettles, elderflowers, brown sugar and some boilin’ water.”
Fluttershy had managed to sew the wound and was cleaning the bloody shoulder. The tomcoltish pegasus was wincing now and again but doing her best not to show pain.
“Twi...What’s out there?” She panted “That pegasus. She’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before!”
“How exactly?” Twilight answered, exasperation in her tone “I’m just as confused as you are, Dash. What was this mare like?”
“Well...she wasn’t faster than me but...it’s like she didn’t need to be. She was pulling the storm along like a freakin’ kite! And the way she flew, the way she moved at all, it was like she’d been hunting all her life. It was like...it was like some kinda’ flying monster in a pony body. Look at this!”
She drew her wing up and showed her the slightly mangled edge of her wing membrane.
“Her teeth were like daggers! I swear!” she squawked.
“Um...Twilight. I got the knife out. Do you know if it means anything?” Fluttershy pointed tentatively to the knife she’d removed, resting on the table, half-submerged in a basin.
The Bearer of the Magic of Friendship lit up her horn and the knife glided slowly and carefully through the air, hovering before Twilight Sparkle’s face.
“Strange...” she mused “The knife is of cervine craft. I recognise the runes. But there’s no way the deer would grant their weapons to ponies. How did it come into her possession?”
“Y’know, Twi, I’m a lot more interesting in how it came into my freakin’ shoulder!” The technicolour tomboy snapped before her face twisted in pain “Ow! Flutters?! Are you trying to make it worse?!”
“Don’t fuss so much, Dashie. I need to make sure this wound doesn’t get infected.” Fluttershy said with all the calmness and professionalism of the best nurses as she dabbed at the wound with salve-soaked cotton swabs.
“Okay...Spike?”
“Right here.” The voice of a small dragon sounded underneath a walking pile of towels topped with a full basin and Applebloom’s herbal ingredients.
“I need you to write a letter to both princesses and send them off, soon as possible, if not sooner. State of emergency. Armed ponies in town, threatening folk for reasons unknown.”
“Okay, Twilight. Gimme’ a minute.”
Twilight nodded and helped him dispense the necessaries. As she placed one hoof in front between Spike and Sweetie Belle to stop them colliding, there came a wooden tapping against the door.
Twilight sighed audibly, already under more stress than was convenient for her, especially at this time of night even after what had transpired before.
Cantering to the door, she stopped, remembering there was a very possible threat to them and all others in Ponyville.
She held up a hoof for silence.
All eyes turned to the door, hearts thumping against the insides of their chests.
The knock on the door sounded again, quicker, more desperate.
Twilight managed to ask.
“Name?”
“The Doctor.” A stallion’s voice came from behind the door “Just the Doctor. Please let me in!”


Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight threw open the door. A scruffy brown stallion in a nutmeg coat and a stripy scarf shuffled in. Carried over his shoulder was another stallion, his head lolled dully over his shoulder.
This stallion was very different. While he had a similarly scruffy mane, it was fuller, thicker and consisting of bright locks of violet and white. His coat was patterned with thick patches of purple and white. A pair of spectacles hung lopsided over his muzzle in front of a freckled face that was paler and sweatier than normal. His amethyst eye were sunken and blank, in the grips of some fit of terror as he muttered nonsense.
“It’s them again! Them great big hairy things with big feet! I knew you couldn’t trust the blighters!”
“Dr Whooves?” Scootaloo exclaimed, noticing him as Dinky’s father she’d seen pick up their daughter from school once or twice “What’s wrong?”
“Who’s that slung over yer’ shoulder?” Applejack asked with concern “He don’t look too grand.”
“I was on my way here and found him in the rain, stumbling about like a loon.” the Doctor explained “You’ll want to get some tea into him fast before he blinks out completely.”
“Sorry. One thing at a time.” Twilight shook her head “Doctor. Your daughter’s upstairs. She’s fainted but she hasn’t any injuries I can see. You should stay with her.”
The Doctor didn’t need telling twice. He placed his companion down on a chair and cantered upstairs.
Twilight continued relaying orders.
“Rarity, your sister’s fine, I promise. Can you check on the newcomer?”
“Oh very well.” The glamorous unicorn trotted over and checked over the bizarre purple stallion.
“Are you quite alright, sir?”
The young stallion started, drew himself up and spoke in a bombastic falsetto.
“I beg your pardon, miscreant? I will have you know that I am to be addressed as the Duchess of Odds-Bodkins!”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no’, shall I?” Rarity muttered aside, ignoring her little sister’s giggling at the spectacle.
“Okay, stay calm everypony, AJ, watch the door. Pinkie, pass around the things. Spike, letter, quickly. Rarity, you watch the fillies, I’ll take over here”
Twilight gave the bedraggled creature a look over and suddenly stepped back, eyes wide and mouth open.
“Holy Horn of Star-Swirl! It’s Purple Patch?”
“Who now?” Applejack asked.
“My old history teacher and librarian at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”
“Uh...huh...An’ the reason he’s here, lookin’ like he done got dragged through a soggy hedge?”
“Sproggs. Sproggs. They come at night. Bouncy balls of bad-breath.” Purple Patch whined incomprehensibly.
“Well, we’ll have to bring him to his senses somehow. We can’t just leave him here in a state like this.”
“Get some tea down him, Twilight.” the Doctor hollered from upstairs.
In a quite literal second, a cup of piping hot tea materialised before Twilight Sparkle and Purple Patch, held aloft by a grinning pink pony sporting a bowler hat, monocle and fake moustache.
“Good show, old bean!” Pinkie Pie sounded, speaking to an edamame bean atop her muzzle "Actually, no, it would be 'bean' if it was coffee, wouldn't it...Old 'leaf', I guess."
Twilight blinked, shook her head and paid it little heed as she offered Patch the beverage.
The librarian gulped it down eagerly, jolted, puffed out his cheeks, rolled his eyes and straightened up.
Blinking several times and clearing his throat, Purple Patch came to his senses and looked around.
“Ah. Good...Made it.” He brightened up “Twilight! Hello! How long has it been?”
Twilight scratched the back of her mane bashfully.
“Sorry, Patch, but reunion’s gonna’ have to wait.”
Before she could continue, there came a sudden bout of choking and spluttering as Spike, having written the letter and flamed it away, suddenly regurgitated it quite messily on the floor. The little drake doubled up, eyes bulging and brow sweating as clumps of soggy parchment and jet-black bile which those around quickly realised was ink shot out of his open mouth as he gagged and heaved, falling to his knees in no small amount of discomfort.
“Spike! My gosh, are you okay?” Twilight exclaimed, rushing to his side, joined by another.
Rarity scooped up the little dragon close to her heart and gushed over him.
“Spikey-Wikey! You poor little drakelet, are you alright?! Speak to me, my little smoky-puff!”
Spike, unable to enjoy Rarity’s affections for the moment, hocked up one last scrap of wet blue-black parchment that smacked into the side of the mare’s muzzle. With a cry of alarm and appal, Rarity frantically brushed it away.
“S-sorry! I’m really sorry, Rarity!” the little dragon managed to groan.
The unicorn blinked and gave a shudder but managed to compose herself.
“I-i-it’s alright, Spike. It’s not your fault. Here.” She passed him a glass of water while Sweetie Belle passed her a towel.
Twilight patted her young assistant on the shoulder gently as his throat was cleared.
“Okay...That has never happened before.”
“Urgh...Oh, that was awful!” Spike croaked, staring at the black puddle on the floor “It was like choking up a shower drain...Sorry about the mess everypony.”
“We’ll get it.” Scootaloo said as she and Sweetie Belle brought forth a mop and basin.
Twilight clutched her aching temples as she gave another command.
“Okay...Nopony do anything for now. We need to know just what the hay is going on here before we make any more moves that could get us hurt.”
She spun round and clutched her young history teacher by the shoulders and shook him slightly, her face a picture of anxiety.
“Patch, I am giving you free reign to talk as much as you want, no backsies. Just for the love of Celestia, tell us what the hay is happening!”
Patch gave her a look.
“Free reign? When this is already going to be a long story even in summary?”
“If it helps, yes!” Twilight exclaimed “We’re all ears.”
The patch-coated librarian sucked his teeth and sighed.
“Well, alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Here’s where it gets...complicated.”


*


The house was cold. Terribly cold.
Why Dinky was resting upon the icy floor, she couldn’t fathom.
Raising her near-frozen cheek off the floor, she gazed around.
Twilight’s library was gone. She was standing in a dark marble corridor stretching on for what seemed like miles, bathed the whole way in moonlight.
She turned to its source.
Before her was a balcony facing the full moon Standing in the centre of it, right before the railing was a stall pointed dark-grey pedestal from which hung a great midnight-blue curtain with a pale gold crescent moon embroidered into the centre surrounded by and five silver stars.
Turning, despite fearing what she might find, Dinky jumped at a growing shadow at the end of the corridor and the clacking of hooves upon the tiles.
She nearly curled up in fear, hiding her muzzle in her forehooves.
Then she realised the shadow was getting smaller and smaller until it was right before her, curling round the shape of a galloping filly.
An alicorn filly.
Darkest-blue of coat and cornflower blue of mane trailing in locks behind a small silver tiara, a patch of night sky with a moon and stars as a cutie mark.
Dinky Doo blinked as the dark filly rushed past her, a giddy smile on her face, glee in those big bright navy eyes of hers.
The little unicorn took a moment to fathom the fact that she was looking at Princess Luna.
Barely as old as she was now.
The pedestal turned.
Dinky blinked again as she realised it wasn’t a pedestal at all but a pony.
An earth stallion with the darkest grey coat she’d ever seen, so much so that he’d passed for solid stone in his motionless, watchful state. His mane had barely been noticeable in the darkness, coal-black and thick, sloping over his head and down his neck gracefully but plainly. The curtain she saw was in fact a cloak, trailing behind his shoulders, held aloft by great spiked jet-black pauldrons. His chest was covered by a black steel plate and his hooves were calked with obsidian.
It was like looking at a pony out of a black-and-white film, quite literally. Dinky had never seen such a dull-coloured creature among Equestrians before in her life, young as she was.
Yet there was a luminosity in the slightly sunken eyes set in a rugged, rocky face pitted with scars. A safety in the night’s gloom that radiated like a crystal lamp.
At the sight of him, the dark filly rushed forth and the silence of the corridor was broken by her laughter.
A smile spread across the face of the grey stallion as he knelt down with his forehooves outstretched.
The little alicorn’s wings gave a short, fowl-like flap as she bounced into the stallion’s hooves. Both of them laughing, they hugged before the fullest expanse of the moon.
Dinky stared in awe, thoughts of confusion pushed aside, transfixed by the spectacle.
Was this stallion Luna’s father?
No. It couldn’t be.


Still hugging the stallion, Luna seemed to grow. Her legs, shoulders and ribs stretched, as if unfolding like rolled up silk. The feathers in her wings grew and reproduced, smaller feathers sprouting out of the larger ones.
The armoured stallion dissipated into a mist as black as ink.
Around Dinky, the corridors split into segments, great pillars of stone branching off between each other.
Then it dawned on her they weren’t pillars at all but trees. Grass, ferns, flowers and shrubs sprouted out of the floor which itself turned soft, uneven and damp.
Before she knew it, she was standing in a forest.
Luna, about the same age as her older adopted-sister, Sparkler, was sitting in a clearing alone, quietly crying. Her wings were wrapped round her sides, hiding her from view.
Dinky stared. Taking gentle, tentative steps, she made to check on her, unable to tell how silly she felt casually walking over to the princess to see if she was alright.
One of the ferns behind her rustled. With a slight squeak of fear, she ducked, trying to hide her horn under the foliage.
Four slender paws crossed the ground before her muzzle one after the other.
A wolf was slinking by, rounding on the Princess. A sleek, pale-grey mother with a buffy flush across her back. Another appeared on the other side, a sooty male with an arching back, bristly muzzle and narrow eyes. Beside that was a piebald male of smaller build. Another appeared between them, older and greyer than the others. Beside that one was a red furred, black-backed female powerhouse. Then an albino, thin-furred and skinny.
The mother growled. Luna looked up and gasped at the pack before her. Scrambling onto her hind legs, she gaped at the predators before her.
The red one crouched while Luna had her back to her, raising her hinds in the air in preparation to pounce.
Then leaves fell before them as there came a louder, clearer growling that sounded considerably un-wolfish.
Dinky tottered back, belly on the ground, as a familiar face broke through the canopy and landed before the pack, teeth bared and eyes full of fury.
It was the pegasus that had chased her. The same dark-blue coat, shaggy white mane, tribal trinkets and pointed canine teeth were unmistakable. But she was younger, the same age as Luna, as Sparkler
At the sight of her furious glare, the great red she-wolf, at least twice her size, backed off almost immediately. The wolves around did the same, beholding the spectacle with intrigue, just like Dinky.
The pegasus turned to the meek young Princess of the moon who was staring up at her saviour with wide eyes. The pegasus, though small in build and light in bone, seemed to dwarf her somehow.
Maybe it was just the shaggy fur and mane. Or maybe it was her posture, keeping her shoulders up and her neck down.
Then she did something, something neither Dinky nor her friends had seen her do.
She spoke.
Her voice was low but sonorous, given something of a slightly rustic drawl.
“S’alright now. I got my point across.”
Luna blinked.
“You...can talk?”
“You can listen.” The pegasus grinned, her canine teeth glinting. Even the way she sat down was lupine “Don’t let ‘em agitate you. They’ve got cubs to protect. They’re all a bit skittish nowadays.”
“You mean you...” Luna glanced at the pack “You can...talk to them?”
“Sure...Can’t you?” The pegasus tilted her head, pointing them out one by one "The mama wolf here's Nul'n-Mahs. Her husband, Gahs'la Greypine, and eldest son Riih'Mur. Beside them are their pack-sister, Kahsi-Farh the Red, and her son, little Yuh'Pek."
"You...named them?"
The wolf-speaker scoffed.
"No. They named each other. Ain't that what ponies do?" She tilted her head.
Luna did the same, perhaps out of confusion, causing the young pegasus to snigger.
“You’re funny.” she chuckled “What are you doing down here in the forest for? They said you were crying?”
“Who?”
“The wolves.”
“Oh...er...well...” Luna rubbed at her eyes “Sorry, I-”
“Don’t apologise.” the pegasus said, the closest she’d come to gentle that Dinky had heard “What was wrong?”
“Um...it’s complicated...” the princess murmured “Me and...my sister...we came round, we were sent round, to...to make some friends...”
“Right.” The pegasus nodded “And?”
Luna blinked away tears and slowly bowed her head.
“I...didn’t...”
“Ah.” the pegasus nodded understandingly “Well...don’t worry.”
Luna gave a sniffle.
“Why not?”
And she was met with the shaggy blue pegasus wrapping her forehooves around her shoulders and a calm, tender whisper.
“Cause you’ve made one now. I’m White Wolf, yours whenever you need me.”


Dinky gazed, equal parts heartened and puzzled at the mare who had, in her experience, been a feral beast bent on brutality.
A gust of wind shot forth from the canopy, blowing away the leaves.
Then the grass.
Then the trees.
Dinky huddled against the ground, buffeted by the storm, nearly blown away.
When she raised her head, the air was warm and heady. The ground below her hooves had turned dry, cracked, burnt.
It wasn’t the weather though. Storm-clouds were gathering above them, nearly blotting out the falling sun and the emerging moon.
She was standing on a battlefield. Blood soaked the fields. In the distance, she saw ponies in armour carrying their wounded comrades over their shoulders or simply upon stretchers.
Or worse, carts.
Tiny flames were still flickering upon the brown and grey grass, dry as quills.
Luna had stood up, taller and thinner, looking more like the Luna they’d seen earlier this night.
She was walking over the scorched fields, approaching a figure.
A unicorn in a dusky cloak with a quiver slung over his shoulders.
He turned his head to the Princess. Dinky’s eyes widened as the green-coated face with the long, wispy blonde mane gazed up at Luna with an unfamiliar gentleness.
“Your highness...” he spoke. His voice was low but soft and possessed of an odd accent, though his words were clear, spoke in Equestrian.
“I apologise for what you’ve seen, your highness.” he said gravely “War is never easy on the eyes, even for one who’s seen it many times before.”
“I am glad to see its end.” Luna said, her voice solemn and distant “Will your prince survive his wounds?”
“I am certain.” the unicorn answered “It’s just that...” He shook his head “It just gets to you...All of this. All I wanted was to end the Gildenpakt’s tyranny. I never expected it to get so...bloody.”
“Wasn’t like the stories?” Luna replied flatly.
“Nein.” he spoke in his native tongue, slowly getting to his hooves “My kind make much song and tales of it but I know better than most...War is the most unromantic thing known to ponykind.”
There was no doubt about it, this was the stallion who had chased them.
But gone was the blank-eyed stupor and the zombie-like gait. Gone was the erratic temper and the hellish fury. Gone were the hideous scars and the eerie blue eyes. His eyes now were a leafy green, light and naïve but darker in the shade, as if just slightly burnt by the flames of war.
“I hear things are...different in your land.”
“Not...that different. But nowadays, yes.”
“Is it true then? You alicorns really do ‘fight evil’. It’s not just bickering over land and gold and wives. It’s...it’s something meaningful?”
“It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“I don’t want it to be easy. I want it to mean something!” the unicorn said intently “I...I don’t know what’s happened to Stirrope but it’s not what I was fighting for. Already, Traxony and Furingia’s nobility are at each other’s throats, the Pardans want to lay claim to our Herdeatic League, there’s even talk that the Baron of Fleiburg is raising troops to eradicate the deer of the Grey Forests. It’s like another war begins as soon as the other ends. After all this time, after all this blood...peace is nowhere near in sight.”
He looked out at the war-torn landscape.
“Tirek’s invasion has brought a sickness upon Stirrope. From Trotland to Hippomorphia, all the ponies can think of is war and unpaid grudges and the ‘glory of battle’ but this...This is all it brings.” He waved his forehoof out upon the scorched earth “I don’t want to be a part of that! When me and Conrad stopped hiding in the forest, I thought ‘This is where it all counts for something. I’ll be a knight now. A pony who protects other ponies from war and danger and all the stuff you hear about in the tales.' But as a knight, among knights, I’ve done nothing more than send ponies into those same horrors. And seen so few come out alive.”
He turned back to Luna.
“And then I hear of Equestria. And its wise and powerful princesses keeping those below them from harm. And I think...‘That’s where the stories come true’.”
“It’s not easy.”
“I would be disappointed if it was.”
“It will mean leaving all you have here.”
“There isn’t much left of that after all of this and...I’ll do it if I finally have something worth fighting for.”
The stallion knelt, drawing his spear and placing it upright in the ground before his bowed head as he spoke.
“Princess Luna of Equestria’s Moon. I, Fletcher Fray of the noble House of von Armbrust pledge to you my bow and spear, my hoof and horn, my words and deeds. I, Fletcher Fray, pledge to you my life.”
Dinky stared at the spectacle and all at once, the flames around her were snuffed out by a cooling wind.
The clouds went pink then ochre then gold as the figure of the kneeling knight and noble princess were silhouetted atop the hill.
Princess Luna smiled serenely and drew a sword, a mighty silver blade with ornate inlays and a gleaming ink-black edge.
She rested it atop the shoulders of Fletcher Fray left then right.
Then sheathed it and spoke.
“Rise, Knight of Luna.”


Then the black mist fell.
Dinky felt herself blown away, caught up in the sudden gale, pulled through the air as all four of her little hooves reached out and kicked at nothing. She opened her mouth to scream but whether it never escaped her mouth or it simply couldn’t be heard over the screaming of the wind itself.
She felt her heart pounding as she was taken up, higher and higher and higher, into the sky, into the stars.
The ground below was turning too.
Bricks, then walls, then towers rose out of the darkness. Damaged, broken, holes in the walls and the tops of towers torn out of their workings by some staggering power. Yet still they rose.
It was if the city below was trailing her, following her upwards, trying to catch her.
Then it stopped suddenly.
Dinky felt herself stuck in mid-air, frozen in place, watching the scene below.
White Wolf, Fletcher Fray and another figure were atop the balcony in that tall, dark castle, staring upwards at the night sky in the wake of the carnage.
This figure had the same coat as the grey earth pony who had laughed and played with young Luna. But something had happened to him.
His mane had whitened, his face had hardened. Wings very much unlike a pegasus were arching out his shoulder blades.
And his eyes lacked all colour.
Yet in them was pain. So much pain. And loss.
The three ponies were staring at the sky, faces torn with absolute dismay.
White Wolf was crouching, emitting short, strangulated howls of grief like a dog who’d lost its beloved master.
Fletcher Fray was on his knees stamping a hoof calked in black metal upon the balcony tiles, tears running down his muzzle.
The figure in the middle though, looked the worst. His rugged face was twitching, one forehoof raised in front of him as if reaching out for what had just shattered in front of him.
He spoke quietly, brokenly, like a father calling out for a child taken from them.
“Luna...” he murmured “...Luna...”
With a robotic, fitful steps, he staggered to the balcony, gripped the walls with both forehooves and bowed his head as low as he could, a low, throttled wail escaping from the bottom of his throat, his entire body shaking with grief.
Then it stopped.
A hissing came from the back of his mouth. Razor sharp teeth clenched against each other. His lip bled. His eyes twitched.
He whispered something. Even as a whisper, Dinky could hear it from high above, running down her spine, every word dripping with umbrage. Dinky felt the air grow cold as every word from the creature’s mouth billowed up like a cone of icy wind.
“Your sister, Celestia...” the grey pony rasped “Your...only...sister...”
The hissing and growling from the furious stallion pulsed and pounded like a thunderstorm.
Dinky stared at the wings on the beast spread, bat-like, monstrous, coursing with shadow and colourless mist as pure, unadulterated fury emanated from the core of the batpony before her.
Until at last, the stallion threw back his head and gave a scream that slashed the very sky.
Dinky flew back, blown away by the final, coldest, harshest, angriest storm below her.
Then light hit her eyes.


She was resting on a bed in a house with walls that looked carved from a tree.
Or rather, into a tree.
Her father was beside her, the scruffy-maned, earthly-coloured time-traveller, looking at her with eyes of half-composed concern.
“Dinky.” he said gratefully “You gave us quite a fright.”
“The ponies...the ponies out there...in the night.” she murmured, eyes wide, face damp with night-sweat.
“Yes?” The Doctor asked, feeling fairly sure he knew the answer.
“I know who they are.”


*


“You mean to tell me...That the story of the Two Sisters...how Luna went mad and became Nightmare Moon...and Celestia kept the peace...is a lie?”
Twilight’s face looked as if something inside her had cracked in two. Her friends were beside her yet none knew the full measure of just what this meant for her.
This was her own little world before she came to Ponyville, all she’d taken to heart, all she’d relied on when fighting Nightmare Moon the first time round.
In front of her, Purple Patch gave an awkward look.
“Well...not exactly. But it’s not the whole truth. Not by a long measure.”
“But why’ve we’ve been led to believe it then?” Applejack asked with a slightly begrudging tone.
“To stop the past repeating itself.” the librarian shook his head “If Equestria knew what mistakes were made and how much they cost the land that came before them, it would start all over again. Nopony would feel safe in Celestia’s hooves. Nopony would trust her.”
“What...what did she do?” Twilight was close to stammering, so afraid of the answer.
“It’s more what she didn’t do.” Patch sighed and fidgeted with his hooves in dismal gestures “What we are led to believe was that nopony loved Luna or her night and that’s what made her jealous. But that’s really not how royalty works.”
“So...she had ponies who loved her.”
Patch raised his head and spoke almost grievingly.
“More than anypony can contemplate.” He brushed his mane and explained.
“She was the younger of the two sisters. As the heir, she had support as all heirs do no matter their disposition. It wasn’t about night or day, not in the capital. There it was all intrigue and power games and the misadventures of those willing to go to any ends to rule through either one of the princesses. Celestia and Luna were powerful, exceptionally powerful but they were also young, naïve, Laurelore, Star-Swirl, Gusty and Mimic were gone and even in the period of peace and prosperity, danger was never far away. The long period of non-event heralded the end of the Second Age of Magic, an oncoming storm. As the great Chineighse warlord, chancellor and mastermind, Chao Dao, once said ‘An empire long united must divide. An empire long divided must unite.’”
“Does anypony wanna’ tell me what the hay this guy’s getting at?” Rainbow Dash shook her technicolour-topped head impatiently.
“What you must understand is that there was conflict in Canterlot long before Nightmare Moon. Both the Princesses had their own supporters that clashed with each other in court, bitterly. To the second most powerful social tier in Equestria, the alicorns were simply a means to rise higher. And neither of the princesses took it well. Celestia, obliged to see the good in everypony, saw all these flatterings and grand gestures as genuine, promoting those undeserving of it. While Luna saw threats in every corner, damaging her trust and faith in the ponies she was meant to protect."
He caught his breath a moment then continued.
"Many years ago, when Laurelore left Equestria, the two princesses had expelled their dishonest regency together after years of turmoil. The corrupt and power-hungry knew therefore that the best way to exploit them was to separate them. As she gained more authority, Luna employed spies in court but Celestia wouldn’t follow suit, seeing it as duplicitous in itself to resort to spying on others, as she'd been taught. As a result, not only did Celestia see none of the corruption and malevolence behind the veil of courtesy in the capital but she began to distrust her sister more and more. The court accused Luna and her faction of more underhand, ‘dark’ practices which Celestia steadily began to treat as more and more credible until at last she sent away the spies and most of her sister’s faction, barring them from court, shaming Luna in full view of Equestria. It is this that pushed Luna over the edge, completely. She had long believed she hadn’t a friend in Canterlot and now...” he sighed “Her sister had just confirmed that.”
“But...Celestia must have realised her mistake!” Twilight murmured.
“She did. Far too late. By then, Nightmare Moon had emerged, bent on carnage. She could not reform the court without the influence of her sister. As one faction was removed, the sword hung above the one remaining, as it often is.”
“But she punished the ones responsible, surely.” Rarity piped up.
“That was most certainly her plan. But...the ones outside got to them first...and carried out retribution in ways one cannot imagine.”
“The ones outside...” Applebloom’s eyes widened as she worked it all out.
“Luna’s spies!”
“Her personal bodyguard, her eyes and ears in the capital, the only ones she truly trusted.” Purple Patch’s voice darkened with dread. “The Eternal Knights.”
“But that would make them-”
“Over a thousand years old, yes.” Patch interrupted Sweetie Belle “If you’re asking how they’ve lasted this long, of that I don’t know. But I reckon it has something to do with their vow. The Eternal Vow.”
“Which was?”
“Never to rest, not even for death, until they had released their Princess Luna from her imprisonment...”
“Well, that’s okay then.” Pinkie jumped up and spoke “We done that already. We can tell them all about-”
“I’m...not quite finished.” Patch interjected awkwardly “-And placed her on the throne of her sister, ruling over all of Equestria...after the execution of her sister.”
“What? Why?” Twilight blurted out “She...Celestia didn’t do anything!”
“Precisely.” Patch waved his hooves frantically “She didn’t do anything while the entire capital ganged up on her sister.”
“It was a mistake.”
“A big one. One that, to them, proves her unfit to rule. You need to understand. To the Eternal Knights...Celestia is the betrayer! And for a thousand years, she has escaped punishment!”
“But...Luna’s back. She’s happy. The sisters have made amends.” Fluttershy pointed out “Surely, anypony in their right mind-”
“Precisely! They’re not in their right mind! You’ve seen them!” Patch squawked feverishly "A thousand years have taken their toll!"
“I wish she’d stop saying ‘precisely’” Rainbow muttered to Fluttershy.
“Look, try to look at it from their point of view.” the librarian’s hooves flew about in some attempt at sign-language.
“Imagine, at the lowest point of your life, the very lowest, after losing just about everything you grew up with and left in a strange world you have no idea how to traverse, an alicorn, a goddess, a guardian offered you a new life, a life better than you could ever have dreamed of. You grew up with her, learned beside her, fought beside her, laughed with her, you and her against the world. And then you had to watch her grow sick. Sick with fear, with despair, with paranoia, as all around the most powerful ponies in the land made life hell for her and for you. And the one pony she’d trusted more than you, the one pony closer to her than you...was letting it all happen with no idea just how much it hurt. And finally, when she broke, you were far away, sent away, and while you were gone, the pony who was meant to help her...destroyed her.”
“It...it couldn’t have been like that.”
“I don’t know if it was, I wasn’t there, but that’s how it feels to them.” Patch shook his head “Now imagine that feeling. Imagine holding onto that feeling for a thousand years. Imagine blood spilt over that feeling. Imagine hiding away, waiting for the day your goddess, your princess, would return...and then imagine hearing that she now thinks they were right from the beginning, that it was all her fault and that she was bad and selfish and unfit to rule...How would that feel?”


There was quiet in Twilight’s library. The Bearers of the Elements and the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked from one to the other with faces of unease, dread and confusion bubbling in the pits of their stomachs.
“Oh dear...” Fluttershy murmured.
“But...that’s a rotten way to live. Holdin’ onto a grudge like that.” Applejack said sternly.
“I’m sure they think so too. But it was their vow. They consider it their duty. Luna was their Princess and they’ll fight for her even after all this time.”
“So why weren’t they there when Nightmare Moon showed up in the first place?” Scootaloo asked.
Patch looked up in thought and Rainbow gave her student a friendly nudge for ingenuity.
“Of that I cannot say. My best guess is that the rebirth of the Elements created magic they cannot traverse. You see their nocturnal magic is exceptionally powerful but, as the Elements banished Luna so too can it keep them at bay. The Elements lost their power after Luna was banished. They are unfamiliar with the power they hold. Its possible the Elements even subconsciously blotted out their gaze. The Knights until now have been in self-imposed exile on some unknown plane, waiting for Luna’s return. They might not have even heard until the Elements became somewhat dormant. Might explain why they’re so angry. They see it as another betrayal. To them, Celestia is keeping them away while she brainwashes Luna the same way she’s brainwashed Equestria.”
“What makes them think she’s brainwashing Equestria?”
“The fact that nopony knows the truth!”
There was another pause.
“So...that’s why the story ain’t the whole truth.” Applejack summised “Because if the ponies knew...the mistakes Celestia an’ Luna made...the stuff that happened ‘cause of it...it’d...it’d happen all over again?”
“Precisely.”
“Stop saying that!” Rainbow groaned.
Patch nodded apologetically and continued.
“The moment ponies figure out the alicorns aren’t perfect, some nut-jobs who think they are will try to take their place.” he said darkly “It’s happened before.”
“Wait. It’s a metaphor!” Pinkie piped up, hopping on the spot “Celestia was kept in the sun and saw only the bright stuff. The good stuff. And any other way looked nuts to her! And Luna was kept in the night and saw only bad things and thought nopony loved her! It’s all about taking the bad with the good and the good with the bad. That’s what Granny Pie taught me!”
Her friends were taken aback by her odd moment of sincerity.
“Hmm...Interesting theory.” Patch mumbled “Regardless. They’re here now. The night will only get longer and darker while they proceed. I ran into one, you see, getting here.”
“The howling mare with hair like a bathroom rug or the stallion taking gibberish with blue glowsticks in his face?” Sweetie asked.
“Their names are White Wolf and Fletcher Fray. And no.” Patch sighed “Their leader. Midnight Blade.”
Twilight’s brow rose.
“Blade? As in-”
“Vorpal Blade’s nephew. Yes. The deadliest swordsmaster the Second Age of Magic ever saw. A batpony, a creature of night, like Luna. It’s him that’s causing the curse of long night around the town as well as a null that prevents anypony escaping the city or sending out messages.”
“So that explains it.” Spike said, shuddering at the aftertaste of the null’s effects.
“However, they’ll allow one and only one message to go through, provided it says what they want.”
“Which is?”
“They want you, Twilight Sparkle,” Purple Patch pointed to her “To write to Princess Celestia. They want to formally denounce her, refuse her the power of the Elements of Harmony, reveal her crimes to Equestria, demand she step down as Princess in favour of her sister and submit to the Eternal Knight’s judgement.”
The Bearer of the Magic of Friendship gave a snort of indignation.
“Like hay I will!”
Patch sucked his teeth as the sound of thunder sounded outside, the rain slamming against the windows.
“In that case, I should probably place my head between my flanks and kiss my skinny, Trottingham flanks goodbye.”
“Please don’t, there a foals watching.” Rarity said bluntly.
“Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Because their ultimatum is that unless Celestia abdicates the throne and places her life in their hooves then by evening the next day...everypony in Ponyville will be dead.”


There was a third pause, longer than the ones before it.
Rarity clutched Sweetie Belle tightly in one forehoof and Spike in the other.
“What do they mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Patch raised an eyebrow awkwardly.
“I...would have thought it was fairly self-explanatory.”
“But why? Why do they want to kill so many innocent ponies?”
“They don’t.” Patch answered “But they feel they must. Celestia has gone without punishment for over a thousand years. This is their way of reminding her that even a princess must pay her debts. They can't go after Celestia herself but they know this town and the ponies in it, yourselves prominently among them, matter a lot to her. You must understand that these are ponies who feel it is their duty to place Luna upon the throne, no matter the cost. And considering they’ve spent a thousand years in limbo out of that same sense of duty, I think it’s safe to assume they are well and truly serious.”
Twilight gave a nod and was quiet a moment. Her face was flat, torrents of conflicting emotions running through her mind.
Was this really Celestia’s fault?
Was this what Luna wanted?
Were the Eternal Knights who Patch claimed they were?
At last, she stood up and spoke grimly but determinedly.
“Well...No time like the present.”
“So...are you going to write that letter then?” Patch asked timidly.
“Well, Mr Patch...At times like this, I prefer to answer in person...in actions.”
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Rainbow said, testing her wings “I’m getting even with the wolf-mare! And the green guy! And if I say the third dude, Fright-night somethin’ or whatever the hay is name is, he’s gonna’ get it too!”
“Careful now!” Patch said, nearly starting for the door “These guys are serious! They come from a time unknown to us and have killed more ponies than you’ve seen days! What do we have to fight them with?!”
“Not sure...yet.” Twilight said, putting on her cloak and hat from Star-Swirl’s assortment, leaving behind the beard “But we’re gonna’ find out. After all...”
She opened the door, standing rigid as the rain hit her like a brick wall, wrestling against the storm’s force to stare up at the night sky.
“It’s a lovely night for a fight.”


*


The silver caught the moon’s light, even under the heavy storm.
On the hills overlooking Ponyville, a rocky and branchy outcrop provided some cover from the pouring rain as Midnight Blade lay against it, wings spread out, colourless eyes fixed on his famed sword.
So long, it seemed, had it gone without the gleam of the moon.
So many years spent in darkness, living like a cypher.
So many years spent under false names in half-lives.
So many years unable to be true.
With claws of shadow, forming glass-like out of his hoof-tip, he caressed the flat of the blade, admiring each enchanted gem as the hum of the running metal sounded softly in his wide, bat-like ear.
It felt like an old friend.
An old friend kept in darkness.
Now at last, it was back in hooves that were his own, that were the hooves that made the blade so feared, that protected Luna and Equestria from the foul forces now rotting in silence.
When murderers and traitors woke up screaming in the night, they saw Midnight Blade coming for them in darkness.
And so it would be again.
Wind buffeted his right side and a blue light dazzled his left as his compatriots emerged.
White Wolf landed and crouched, her long shaggy tail coiling round her side as she growled in a language only he had familiarised himself with, years of silence and wildness costing her most of her voice.
“Yes...I see...” he replied flatly “So he’s with them?”
“Lichter lechten.” Fletcher Fray said dourly, his vivid blue eyes staring into the abyss he’d plunged into all those years ago and never fully emerged. “Lichter in vielen Farben. Wie Flaggen. In die Schlacht getragen.”
“...Interesting...” Midnight closed his eyes “A shame that blood must spill this night. Still...If Celestia wills it, let her see that a war put to silence and falsehoods...never truly ends.”
He stood, his wings still outstretched, stepping out of the outcrop like the nocturnal hunter he had long become, raising the sword high in his hoof.
“Celestia, the False Princess...Night comes for you!”