Act 1, Chapter 1 - The Impossible Happens

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I remember my first time. The first time I fought on HER side. Back then, I thought I was living in a nightmare. We were inside a large room, and I was kneeling down on the floor. SHE was standing next to me, and was viciously attacking the enemies that surrounded us. I didn't need to look at her to know who she was; a dark and deadly mare by the name of Nightmare Moon. A shimmering magical field flowed around us, which protected us from harm great and small. I glanced up at the mare, and her maniacal expression made me shiver in fear. Her fury was relentless as she fired magical blast after blast from her horn. Each blast hit an enemy near us, each enemy a uniformed police officer. Every officer she hit twitched and thrashed uncontrollably on the floor, while electricity arced across their bodies.

When I think back to that night, it was so strange that it felt like it happened to someone else. I remember feeling so scared that I wanted to run away screaming and never look back. But something inside kept me calm, while it softly reassured me I was safe in the presence of my Mistress. Part of me didn't know if what I saw was real, or if I was stuck in some sort of deranged fantasy dream.

Since then, so much has changed.

My wild adventures didn't begin with that memory, but with another one about a week earlier. That day, I got fired from my job. I recall being pissed at my boss for firing me, but I can see now that it was all my fault. The day before had been my friend’s birthday, and I drank and partied with him and our friends all night. On a weeknight no less, and I had work in the morning. Looking back, it was such a stupid thing to do. But the person that I was could never pass on an excuse to party. Boozing it up was how you had fun with your friends, right?

I acted like such a brat when I was fired. There was a lot of shouting and yelling, then I stormed out of the building and into the West Los Angeles sunlight.

I can't believe they fired me! It's not fair! It was my buddy's birthday last night, and I hadn't seen him in two weeks! So what if I had a few beers, it wasn't on the clock!

Fuck, it’s bright out here!

I pulled my sunglasses out of my pants pocket and slipped them over my eyes. With my vision stylishly covered, my thoughts went towards getting home.

I really, REALLY wish I had my car, so I could burn some rubber in the parking lot and get the hell out of here. But no, the stupid city towed it ‘cause I wouldn’t pay their stupid parking tickets! So now I gotta take the stupid bus until I can pay their stupid fines.

I ignored the ‘KEEP OFF THE GRASS’ sign and cut across the large lawn that surrounded the tall building. The freshly-watered grass was slippery under my leather-soled dress shoes, but I tramped my way across the treacherous ground anyway. On the other side, I made a beeline for the crosswalk nearby and forged across without waiting for the light to change. Car horns blared, but several middle fingers took care of that. Once across, I turned right and stomped towards the bus stop a half a block away. My short crusade ended when I plopped my ass down on the bus stop bench. I sat there and seethed with anger over losing yet ANOTHER job.

Why can’t they see how smart I am? I DESERVED that job! Everything will fall apart now that I’m gone! They’ll be BEGGING me to come back!

After waiting for what felt like hours (but was probably only a few minutes), I flew off of the bench and screamed out my curses at the late bus for the whole world to hear. In hindsight, I must have sounded like a crazy homeless person. Next, I stomped off to my left and away from the bus stop, then jammed my hands in my pockets and resigned myself to a long walk home. One block later, the bus I was waiting for drove past me. I turned to see it stopping at the same bus stop I just left. In a flash, I turned around and ran back to the bus stop while waving my hands in the air. I screamed at the bus driver to wait, but he didn’t hear me (or didn’t care) and the bus drove off without me. My anger boiled over again as I reached the bus stop, and I kicked the side of the bench as hard as I could. The METAL bus stop bench.

I writhed around on the ground in pain for a long time, while I clutched my broken foot in my hands. The pavement felt warm on my back as I rolled around and rubbed dirt into my nice clothes. Time passed; and to my surprise, so did the pain. When I felt brave enough, I slowly pulled the cheap dress shoe and sock off my broken foot and gingerly checked out the damage. My big toe looked purple and unhappy, and the ball joint under the toe was tender to the touch. But wonder of wonders, nothing felt broken.

My next thought was if I could walk on my hurt foot. So I carefully slipped my sock and shoe back on, then used the bus bench to help me stand up. Once I was upright, I gently put some weight on the injured foot. It felt sore and swollen, but there was no pain. After taking a couple of cautious steps, I felt sure I could walk on the foot for a while. And walk I would have to do, since I remembered that the bus that I missed only came by once an hour. I really didn’t want to wait for it, so I trudged back down the street again with only the ache in my foot and my pissy thoughts to keep me company.

It was just dumb luck I overslept the day of an important meeting at work. A really, REALLY important meeting. Good thing I fell asleep in yesterday’s clothes, ‘cause I didn’t have time to shower or change. I barely made the bus as it was. Besides, the dress shirt and slacks were still clean! Wish I knew where my tie went to, though.

Well okay, I can smell the spilled beer and sweat now. I probably should have soaked myself in Febreeze before I left, but I didn’t have time. It wasn’t my fault!

I don’t understand why my boss kept getting madder and madder, I had everything under control! I remembered everything I was supposed to say. I think. I wish he hadn’t yelled at me so much, doesn’t he know it’s not cool to yell at someone who has a hangover? He just got madder when I told him that, though.

Who cares about one stupid client, anyway? We have plenty of them!

My anger finally burnt itself out, and the truth of everything hit me all at once.

Aw, who am I kidding? I fucked up, big time.

AGAIN.

A major cloud of gloom settled over me as I made my way down the street. I let my feet do the walking and time just went by. A long while later, I came up to a big intersection that I had to cross. There were only two lanes of traffic in each direction, but there was a large grassy median in the middle. The crosswalk was already flashing, but I didn’t give a shit and crossed anyway. I plodded across the median, and suddenly horns were blaring at me. I looked up, and saw a line of cars stopped and honking their horns at me. I had better things to worry about, so I just flipped them the double birds and kept on walking.

My route home took me past a quiet business park, so I decided to take a shortcut through it. And that’s when things got weird. I was just moping my way down the empty streets when I heard something strange. This strange thing was a sound, and it was strange because I hadn’t heard anything like it before. I could only describe it like a "clip-clop-clank"; like metal hitting concrete on an off-kilter pattern. The sound was so strange yet unique, that I couldn’t ignore it no matter how hard I tried.

What the hell is that?

Out of curiosity more than anything, I took a look over my shoulder towards the sound.

Perhaps a dozen steps behind me was a large...something. That something was covered in something shiny; so shiny, that it was reflecting the late afternoon sun right into my eyes. I turned around to get a better look, but I still couldn't figure out what the thing was. Despite the glare, I was absolutely sure that the thing wasn't human. It wasn't the right shape to be human. The creature looked to be black or brown or dark blue in color, and about as tall as I was. I was pretty tall, so there weren't many things that were as tall as me and not human that weren't dangerous.

Time to leave, I think.

I wanted to put some distance between me and the creature, but I didn't want to run in case it decided to chase me. So I slowly backed up a few steps. To my dismay it grinned, showing a mouth that was full of sharp, gleaming teeth. The creature was still an indistinct blur, but that grin was unmistakable. A jolt of fear shot through me, and I began to walk backwards.

This time, the creature followed.

It moved with the grace of a cat as it easily matched my pace. At each step forward, the creature's feet made that ‘clip-clop-clank’ sound I heard earlier.

How long has this thing been following me?!

My fear reached a crescendo, and I wondered if running was such a bad idea. Another couple of steps more, and the creature passed into the shadow of a nearby building. Without the glare of the sun, I finally got a good look at it. At that same moment, the creature spoke in what I can only describe as a low, sultry voice.

"Fear. Yessss.....We can taste thy fear. Thou art right to be afraid, for We are the Eternal Night. But, We shall not harm thee. Not today, at least."

That cheshire cat grin of hers would make anyone feel like a morsel on a plate, and I was no exception. Yet, that VOICE. Frozen in place, my body was rigid but not only with fear. No, not fear alone - but with excitement too. Oh, I knew that smokey voice -- from places online and in my dreams.

Her. It's HER. Nightmare Moon! Nightmare FUCKING Moon!

Yes, the same Nightmare Moon who tried to kill her sister and cover Equestria in eternal darkness. The same Nightmare Moon who was defeated in the second episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and was turned back into Princess Luna. So somehow, an evil cartoon horse who no longer exists in her world was standing in front of me on a Southern California sidewalk. To say that the scene was a little weird would be the understatement of the century. Yet Nightmare Moon wasn't just a cartoon walking around, like some bad Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Cool World rip-off. She sure looked real, moving and breathing and STILL grinning like a maniac. Very creepy.

Well, if she's just gonna stare at me I'll check her out too. Make sure she really IS Nightmare Moon, and not some cheap knock-off or something.

She was essentially horse-shaped and covered in midnight black fur. From what I knew, it was not a common coat color for a horse but not unheard of. But it didn’t take long to see that this was no mere horse. Nightmare Moon was an alicorn, which according to the cartoon show meant she had both pegasus wings and a unicorn horn.

A long, pointed horn with a spiral groove curling up its length? Yeah.

Two very large feathered wings, obviously used for flying? That too.

Her wings were much larger than in the cartoon though, the tips extended past her rump and partly obscured her cutie mark.

Crescent moon cutie mark and purple markings underneath, just like Nightmare Moon? Check.

She had that weird, wavy hair too. Again just like the show, her hair was constantly waving in slow motion like it was caught in a wind - even though there was no wind. And the stars, her mane and tail were filled with stars. I couldn't tell if they were just little lights in her hair, or I was actually seeing a star field through her mane and tail. Her torso and waist were narrower than I expected, which accentuated her flanks and rump. And when she moved, she moved… differently. Quite frankly, she moved like a human would. Well, if the human was bent over and wearing a strange horse costume and....ah, just forget that. PLEASE forget that. Suffice to say, she looked a lot like a horse but moved like a woman. Oh yes, this creature was definitely female. I'm not sure exactly what it was I saw in her, but even if I hadn't recognized her I would still know that this was a mare in front of me.

Then, there was her armor. Not simply made of flat plates, what she wore looked to be heavily ornamental. A Japanese Samurai-style helmet, with a breast plate covered in curves and swirls, and leg armor that covered her legs from her hooves to her knees. Everything was covered in ornate script and markings, making it look like a work of art rather than functional armor. Yet it still left much of her body completely exposed. Perhaps the missing pieces had been lost? Or maybe they interfered with her wings in flight, and mobility was preferred over protection? I had no answers, nor did I care at that time. The armor she wore blended with her midnight fur into one impressive and intimidating appearance. From everything I saw, there was no doubt in my mind that this was Nightmare Moon.

Unfortunately, that same mare had caught me staring. Even worse, she seemed to like it. Her maniacal grin morphed into a cocksure smile, and she purred out a sly comment.

"See something you like?"

A backwards glance and a wiggle of her rump spoke volumes.

I slid my sunglasses off my face and hooked them on my shirt collar out of habit. Then gaped in wonder at the mare in front of me. I never, NEVER expected to meet Nightmare Moon - not even in even my wildest dreams. And yet, she was here. Somehow. Fantasy had incredibly become real, and to my immense surprise, the reality was HOT. Yes, that kind of hot - smoking, sexy hot. I sure didn't expect that!

The scene in front of me was like all those sexy videos, where the woman moves in slow-motion, shaking her long, wavy hair out all over. Then she gives the camera a slow, sultry smile. At the same time, I was also reminded of a meme about a 'ridiculously photogenic horse' meme that fit pretty well too. The ebony mare in front of me stood there, while her magical mane and tail slowly waved in some unseen wind, almost like they were eternally in slow-motion. And that smile of hers! With one smile, she made herself look confident and sexy with just a hint of arrogance. Sure, I thought it would be cool to meet Nightmare Moon someday. But like this? No way.

I could feel my skin get hot and tingly, and I'm sure my face flushed bright red. Oh, there's a reason why it's called being 'turned on'. These feelings were very familiar to me, I'd felt them the last time I crushed real hard on a girl. But crushing on another species, an actual talking horse? I wasn’t so sure about that. My body didn't seem to care what I thought, however. Unsure if I should listen to my body or my mind, I just stood there and stared.

Despite all of this grandiose alliteration, only a handful of seconds had passed. Before I could find my voice, Nightmare Moon chose to speak again.

"Nothing to say? Ah well."

The slump in her shoulders was hard to miss.

"At least thou didnst run, like the others we spoke to."

Her reaction was so unexpected, so out of place for this confident mare, it snapped me out of my stupor.

This...this is crazy! A cartoon horse is actually standing in front of me. And talking to me.

This CAN'T be real. It just CAN'T. Which means something else is going on.

Could I be dreaming? It's the only thing that makes sense. I guess I passed out from heat stroke or something, and this is just a dream.

Which means...

I can do anything I WANT to do in a dream.

Oooooooh.

"Nightmare Moon? You're Nightmare Moon?"

"Thou hast heard of Us? But We have not yet spoken Our name to any of this world. How did--"

If I was dreaming, I was going to make sure I had a little fun. Quickly moving forward, I reached out to Nightmare Moon and cradled the bottom of her muzzle in my hands. Part of me was surprised that the mare didn't just run, or fly away or even attack me. But this was a dream, so she was doing what I wanted her to do. Right? The ebony mare's eyes shot open in alarm and she tried to pull away. But this was MY dream, and I would not be denied.

So I held on tight and kissed her as hard as I could.

While I watched the My Little Pony show, I developed a very...let's say 'strong interest' in the villain Nightmare Moon. She may only have appeared a few times in the show, but she was one of my favorites. Such a classy villain she was, and had such a sultry and -- dare I say it -- sexy voice. However, I didn't care for the whole 'cover the world in eternal darkness' part of her plan, because it would end up killing every living thing on her planet. Plants need sunlight to grow, and without food everything would eventually die. Talk about a villain that didn't think her 'cunning' plan through. But it was a cartoon show and not real, so the plot holes didn't matter much.

My thoughts were dragged back to the Night Mare's lips. Which I was kissing with a passion that surprised even me. Her lips felt cool at first, like the cool night air, but warmed quickly under my touch. Part of me was expecting the kiss to be like one would imagine kissing a smelly horse: icky, drooly and reeking of hay. But no, this kiss was not unlike the kisses I had shared with human women. Instead of hay and sweat, I found the scent of lavender and jasmine. Her lips tasted faintly of mint, as if she had recently eaten some peppermint candy. It was wonderful.

After a few long lingering moments that felt so much longer, I broke the kiss and opened my eyes. Her eyes opened as well, revealing her aqua-colored orbs with their exotic cat-like slitted pupils. Their..well, the alien-ness of her eyes drew my attention and made me really LOOK at them.

Those eyes are mighty detailed for a dream. And I can see each of the hairs in her eyelashes. And the individual strands of fur on her muzzle.

And she just BREATHED on me.

Oh shit.

THIS IS REAL!!!

I released her and quickly stammered out my apologies. This was a very dangerous mare, and I had just kissed her without permission. I didn't know how much trouble I was in, but it had to be a LOT of trouble.

Nightmare Moon’s response was a wide, toothy grin.

“Oh ho, is this how you primates greet your betters? I doth approve!"

This time, the ebony mare darted in to kiss me, and wrapped a hoof around my neck so I couldn’t get away.

Not like I wanted to, anyway.

The taste and touch of her lips was still very human-like, more than enough to quickly forget that she was not human. Parting her lips ever so slightly, she pushed forward a bit and kissed me hard, but soft; cool as the deepest night but also fire as well. I swear I felt stars explode in my head each time she kissed me. Our lips met again and again for a split second each but they all felt like forever.

At last we parted, my eyes opening slowly to meet those large, beautiful slitted eyes of hers. A feeling of peace and serenity passed over me, and the lazy smile on the Night Mare's muzzle hinted that she felt the same way. We shared several more moments of warm bliss between us, as we got lost in each others’ eyes.

The moment was shattered when Nightmare Moon violently shook her head! She shook her head left and right, as if she was trying to break some spell that had fallen over us. And it worked! I found myself wondering what the heck she was doing. Then took a step back when I realized her very sharp horn was slashing the air right in front of my face. The mare's armor clanked and rattled due to the rough shaking of her head and neck. Nightmare Moon suddenly ceased her thrashing, then brought a hoof to her forehead.

"Nay, nay! This is not why I approached thee."

I couldn't resist making a smart-ass comment.

"Was fun, though."

Something bumped my left shoulder and knocked me off balance. A quick glance revealed Nightmare Moon's wing folding back to her side. Looking back at her, I saw a smirk steal over her muzzle.

"Smart-donkey."

Guessing her meaning, I puffed my chest up a bit.

"You know it! So...why DID you come talk to me?"

"I have traveled to thine world looking for soldiers for mine army. My home of Equestria is...lost to me now. Thus, I wish to start anew in this land. I cast a spell to find suitable candidates, and it drew me to thee."

Figuring her spell had gone wrong, I had the urge to make a flippant remark.

"Why me? What was this spell supposed to do, draw you to a great warrior or something?"

The Night Incarnate must have missed my sarcasm, as she did not laugh at me.

"Nay, merely to one that would wish to join mine army. We cast numerous spells to scry for great warriors that would be loyal to us, but..."

She paused briefly; her downcast gaze implied this was an unpleasant subject. With a sigh, she returned my gaze.

"...none were successful. Either the spells failed to find such warriors, or the warriors were too far away. Thou art not a warrior, yet mine army must grow."

"That's not particularly flattering."

"My apologies to thee, no insult was intended. What say you?"

"To what?"

Understanding hit me a moment later.

"Oh, you mean to join your army?"

"Aye. I would very much enjoy having thee at my side in battle."

A slow smirk crept across her muzzle.

"And at other times. I have found thy bold behavior to be...quite intriguing."

Delight and doubt flowed through me in equal waves. Joining her army would mean completely dumping my life, not to mention armies fight and kill things. What would I do? I'm more a lover than a fighter, as the phrase goes; though my ex-girlfriends might have something not-so-nice to say about that. Would I get put on the front lines, with nothing more than a magic wand to wave?

"I don’t know, I’m no fighter. What good would I be to you in a fight?"

Nightmare Moon strode next to me and extended a wing to wrap around my shoulders. I felt like I had been engulfed in the cool night air, instead of standing in the warm summer sun. The mare caught my eye and gave me a confident smile.

"Then I shall teach thee. I shall teach thee the magic of battle, and how to wield it under fire.

"Pray tell, by what name should I call thee?"

“Oh, um Josh. My name is Josh.”

"I see. A strange name by Equestrian standards, but it seems to suit thee.

“So Josh, what say you?”

I stared at the ebony mare, not really sure how to respond. She stared back, then opened her eyes wide and wiggled her eyebrows. If that was meant to inspire me, it failed. She just looked wild and crazy instead. What was the phrase? ‘Never stick your dick in crazy’? I wasn’t planning on sticking my dick in a cartoon horse any time soon, but the phrase still fit.

Clearly, I had my answer. So I took a step away from the Night Mare and gave it to her.

"Yeah, I gotta say no. I mean, you're hot and sexy and all that. And that kiss was something else. But you bad girls are always bad trouble."

“Bad? Yes, yes I am at that.

"But art thou sure? I am certain I can make it...worth your while."

The ebony mare glanced backwards and gave me a seductive rump wiggle, then flashed me another toothy smile.

"Aw, man! I mean, I'd love to hang with you sometime, maybe throw back a few beers or something. But I got too much going on right now. My rent's already late and I gotta fix that."

"So, you need bits? Join me, and we will be showered in riches!"

"Can you pay my rent today?"

"Nay, I speak of our future."

"Then the answer is still no."

"As you wish. But I am certain that our paths will cross again."

“Yeah, sure. See you later.”

I finally made it back to my neighborhood just as the sun began to dip below the horizon. A look at the time on my cell phone, and I realized I would have been home a lot faster If I had just waited that extra hour for the next bus. Oh well. The apartment complex I lived in was only two stories tall, with a deluxe apartment directly over the front gate. The building was painted some shade of brown, and trees were planted on either side of the front gate. Bushes covered the bottom edge of the building, though they were trimmed so they didn't block any windows. And the building number was in huge letters on the side of the building.

I turned off of the sidewalk and walked through the gate. Once inside, I smiled at the familiar sight of the courtyard. In front of me was a swimming pool, surrounded by concrete and patio chairs and tables. In the center of the courtyard beyond the pool were two deluxe apartments, stacked on top of each other. More apartments surrounded the courtyard. Small, scraggly bushes provided a separation between the first floor apartments and the public pool area. Stairs stretched up towards the second floor walkway on either side of the pool. The metal railings on the stairs and the second floor were old and rusty and looked ready to fall off any moment..

I walked to the left of the pool and went up the stairs to the second floor. It was only a short walk down to the back corner apartment, and in moments I stood in front of the door to my apartment - number 26. A distinctive clatter told me the window to my left was open, and the breeze was rattling the closed blinds. I opened the screen door, and found a printed piece of paper taped to my front door.

Act 1, Chapter 2 - Shit Gets Worse

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I had finally returned home after one of the worst days of my life, to find a piece of paper taped to my front door.

What’s this?

I tore the paper off and began to read. The large bolded text at the top delivered its message loud and clear.

"I'm being evicted? What the fuck?”

So the landlady and I had had a few arguments lately - that’s no reason to evict me!

My outrage demanded answers, so I began to read the document, and hoped to find them inside it.

"Lesse here…'missed payments for March and April'. Yeah, yeah. She knows it took me a while to find a job.

“And here it says 'total due'. Fuck, that’s a lot.

“'Agreed payment not received'? Bullshit! I gave her a check!"

I threw the eviction paper away, then reached over to unlock my apartment door. My key slipped easily into the deadbolt lock, but when I gave it a hard turn the lock didn't budge.

"What the..?"

I pulled out the key and tried the bottom lock, which used the same key. But it also didn't budge.

"That bitch! She locked me out! How am I supposed to get a job if I got no place to stay?!"

"Oh, hello Josh dearie. I thought I heard your screaming."

I knew the owner of that voice, and spoke to her without turning around.

"Hello, Mrs. Johnston."

Mrs. Johnston was an elderly widow who lived in the apartment next to me. She was lonely and loved to cook, and why would I pass up free food? Good food, too. I had spent many an evening sitting on her couch, watching her TV with a plate of delicious steaming hot food on my lap.

"Are you having money troubles again?"

"Yeah. I don't get it! I gave the landlady a check, this shouldn't be happening!

"Not again…”

"Oh, yes. Doris told me to tell you that your check bounced this morning, and she was mighty cross about it."

"I had the money! It's the bank's fault!"

Or maybe I had more beers last night than I thought.

I let my head thump down on the cheap wooden door.

Fuck...

I stood there, with my head slumped upon the door, for several seconds.

"Is something wrong, dearie?"

"Everything. Just everything, Mrs. Johnston."

"Oh, dear. Oh! You must be worried about your kitties!"

Shit! They're still inside the apartment!

I pulled my head off the door and began to yank on the door handle.

"Oh, dear!"

"My cats are still inside! They'll starve!"

"Oh. Oh! No no dearie, Doris let me take your cats so they would be safe."

SHE HAS THEM?!

I pushed past Mrs Johnston and entered her apartment.

"Kusac! Isis! Bastet!"

"They're in the bathroom dearie, until they get used to my wee ones."

I bolted over to the closed bathroom door and turned the doorknob, but forced myself to open the door slowly. Didn’t want to hit my cats in case one of them was standing behind the door. Once inside, their plaintive mews were music to my ears. I closed the door behind me, then sat on the floor and smiled my first smile of the day. My cats purred and mewled happily, and rubbed themselves all over me. These cats were my one true happiness in my life, and I had gone without many times to make sure they were healthy and happy. As each cat begged for attention, I stroked and caressed their fur and found myself thinking about how each one came into my life.

Bastet was my oldest, a female tortoiseshell who was a total sweetheart. An ex-girlfriend and I had adopted her from a no-kill shelter some years ago, as a companion for her older cat. Bastet was already an old cat when we adopted her, yet she still would run and play and scamper around like a kitten. She loved to climb into bed with me at night, curl up in my armpit and fall asleep purring.

I adopted Isis when the same ex-girlfriend moved out and took her other cat with her. This left Bastet all alone for the first time in her life. She was so lonely that she would crawl into my lap when I got home from work and wouldn’t leave. Isis and her sister Eset were barely out of kittenhood when I adopted them from a private cat rescue group. The black cat girls took to Bastet like a surrogate mother, and she was more than happy to groom the sisters and love them. I often found the three of them curled up together in a sleepy kitty pile. Sadly, Eset had a hidden heart condition and she passed away about a year after I adopted Kusac.

Kusac was a special adoption. I wasn’t looking for another cat, but a friend of a friend had a litter she was adopting out. She had been breeding cats for many years trying to make them smarter, and had had some success. I was curious about these cats, so I went over to check them out -- and left with Kusac. He was a black tomcat, and was pretty darn smart for a cat. But his instincts made him impatient, so his smarts didn’t show too often.

I felt a lot better knowing that my cats were being taken care of. There was cat food and a bowl of water next to the shower, and a litter box next to the toilet. So I knew my cats would be fine until they got used to all the smells and sounds of Mrs. Johnston and her elderly cats. I stood up, gave my kitties one last pet and carefully left the bathroom.

“How are they doing, Josh?”

“Just fine, Mrs. Johnston. You always take good care of them for me, but…”

Mrs Johnston came over and held my hand, then patted it gently.

“I understand, you just had to see them for yourself. I imagine that today was not a good one for you.”

“Yeah, you could say that. I got fired today.”

“Again? Tut tut, you must take better care of yourself. I can still smell the alcohol on you.”

“Yeah, I… Yeah.”

She patted my hand again. It was strangely comforting.

“Something will turn up. It always does.”

“I hope so.

“Can I crash on your couch for a while? Just until I get a new job and get my apartment unlocked.”

“Oh.

“It would be nice to have company around, but I am friends with Doris and I’m not sure she would approve.”

Fucking landlady, she keeps screwing me over.

“It’s okay, you’re still helping me a lot by taking care of my cats. I’ll figure something out.”

“I’m sorry dearie. You know I would help if I could.”

“I know.”

“What will you do?”

“Call my friends, see if someone can lend me some money or let me crash with them. If not, well at least it’s almost summer so it won’t be too bad sleeping outside.”

“Oh, dear. I hope you’ll be okay.”

I can handle a couple of days roughing it. Something will come up.

“I gotta go, Mrs. Johnston. I’ll be in touch when I can.”

“All right, Josh dearie. Take care.”

“Yeah, I will.”

I reluctantly walked out of Mrs Johnston’s apartment and left the complex, but not before I flipped the double birds at the landlady’s apartment. I sat down on the front steps of the complex, and started calling my friends. Turns out I had a lot of lousy friends. They were all glad to hear from me, until I said I needed help. Then the excuses started flowing. I never knew so many relatives came visiting at this time of year. All lies, of course. I even tried a couple of ex-girlfriends and this one fat chick that kept trying to get in my pants, but no luck. Finally got ahold of the birthday boy from last night on the tenth try, and he said I could sleep on the couch in his garage. Problem was, he was still out partying and wouldn’t be home until tomorrow.

I guess I can stand one night sleeping in a park or something.

Or, I can go drink all night and look up my buddy in the morning!

Nothing cures a hangover like more alcohol.

I knew just the place, too. There was this local dive bar that knew me well, I was sure they’d let me stay past closing. Maybe they’d even let me crash in a booth until morning. So a half an hour later, I strutted through the front door of the ‘Cock and Doodle Frou’ bar. I sat down on an empty barstool, then waved the bartender over.

“You back here again? Whaddya want?”

I knew they’d remember me.

“Gimme the cheapest beer you have on tap. And start a tab, will ya?”

“No tab for you son, or you’re gonna drink and dash on me again. You’re gonna pay for every beer up front.”

Dammit, I guess they really do remember me.

Fine.

It was a pain in the ass to pay for each beer one at a time, but I did it. After a while, the bartender just kept my debit card and kept the alcohol flowing. By that time, I was too blitzed to care. Time slipped lazily by, and left me in a happy drunken haze.

The party ended when the bartender gave me a blue piece of plastic instead of the beer I ordered.

“Card declined. Time to go.”

“Go…?”

I squinted at the clock on the wall, but I couldn’t read any of their four faces.

“Whaaaat tiiiime isss it…?”

“Ten after nine.”

“Aren’t you ooooopen.until twwwwooo?”

“We close at midnight during the week. But you gotta go.”

“Okay…”

I remember reaching for my debit card, but it slipped through my fingers and fell on the floor. My head wobbled around looking for it, then I shrugged my shoulders and stumbled towards the door. If it couldn’t buy me any more beer, I didn’t want it. The door flew open as I fell on it, and nearly dumped myself onto the pavement outside. Owlishly, I looked to my left; then to my right. I didn’t remember which way to go, so I stumbled off to the left and down the street.

I didn’t get far before I heard someone shouting my name. It was some guy, and he was holding my debit card. At least, it looked like my debit card. He tucked the rectangular piece of plastic into my back pocket, then offered to take me back to his place so we could go get drunk together. The promise of more alcohol made me very happy, so I readily agreed.

The guy threw his arm over my shoulder and pushed me forward, rambling on and on all the while. I couldn’t keep up with him, but there was alcohol waiting for me so I smiled and nodded along. Eventually, he turned and led me down an alley.

Then all of a sudden, he was angry.

He started yelling and punching me, and I was too drunk to stop him. Next thing I knew, another guy showed up and he pushed me to the ground. They kicked me and punched me, and laughed at my drunken pleas for them to stop. Eventually, their mocking laughter echoed down the alley as they left me to lie on the dirty ground. I was at least thankful that the ground was dry, except for the parts that my tears made wet.

I lay there for who knows how long, until the pain from my beating faded to a dull roar. I may have fallen asleep for a while. All I remember is hearing a low, sultry voice speak my name.

“Good evening, Josh.”

Huh?

"I did say that we would meet again."

I opened my eyes, and saw three black horses standing over me. And they kept moving around.

"What do you three want?"

The three horses smiled in unison, which I had to admit was a neat trick. Their horns all glowed, and a tingle crawled all over my body. Suddenly, I felt a lot more sober. I blinked, and the three horses turned into Nightmare Moon. My stomach suddenly threatened to heave, but I was a professional alcoholic and held my meager dinner of pretzels and beer nuts down.

“Woah.”

"Indeed.

“We have returned to make our offer upon you once again."

"What offer?

"Oh yeah, you want me to work for you."

"Yes, of a sort. And I must admit, I have had thy kisses on my mind for much of the day."

“Oh?”

I still had enough alcohol in my system to keep my inhibitions nice and low.

“How about I give you a few more?”

I made to stand up, but the Night Mare firmly pushed me back down to the ground with a hoof.

“Nay, nay. I do not crave the taste of second-hand distilled spirits, nor the aroma of regurgitation on thy breath. Another time.”

“Aw.”

I lay there for several seconds before I spoke again.

“Why me?”

“Eh?”

"Why do you want me?"

"Ah. We have been watching you since we last parted company. None fight harder than those with nothing left to lose."

"Then you saw that I got my drunk ass beat."

"Sometimes the lowest points take a little while to sink in. Join Us, Josh. Put some meaning into your life. And choose thy next words carefully, as this is Our final offer."

Shit. She’s right, it’s never been this bad before.

Well, what the fuck do I have to lose?

"What do you want me to do?"

Nightmare Moon let loose a wide grin, then lit her horn. With a flash of her magic, we were gone.

We arrived at our destination in near total darkness. While the alley wasn’t exactly well-lit, it was as bright as daylight compared to this place. I suddenly realized I couldn't see a thing.

Where the heck did she take me to? I can’t see a single street light!

As if sensing my difficulties, Nightmare Moon lit her horn. A moment later, a large ball of light appeared a few inches above it. The ball looked to be about half the size of her head, and it pulsed slightly as I watched. The area around us was now lit in a dim light.

"Come."

Nightmare Moon said nothing more before she turned away. The ball of light followed her movements as she walked across the sandy ground.

Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly clambered up off the ground and moved to her side. I couldn't see very far past the dome of light, and I was having a hard time finding a clear path across the uneven ground. My dress shoes were not meant for walking on rough terrain, and my dress slacks were getting scratched up from the scrub brush we were walking through. But who knew I'd be walking so far from home today?

As if reading my mind from earlier, the Night Mare spoke.

"We have arrived under the cover of darkness so we are not easily observed."

I guess that makes sense.

"You will address me as 'Mistress' at all times. To others you may refer to me as 'Mistress' or 'Nightmare Moon'. Do you understand?"

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

The midnight mare stopped in her tracks, then turned her neck to stare at me.

“You have agreed to serve me, and as such you will address me properly. Am I clear?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, ‘Mistress’.”

A smile briefly flashed over the dark mare's muzzle before the frown returned.

"That will do, for now. Thy lessons shall be hard, and shall tax thee to thy limits. Work hard however, and thou shalt be rewarded for thy efforts."

Apparently she felt no need to continue, for we walked for some time in silence. The dim glow from the ball of light kept my eyes from adjusting to the dark, so I couldn't see much outside of the circle of light it cast on the ground. There was little wind, but what wind blew brought a slight chill to my bones. Despite the cold, the air smelled fresh and clean. It was a very pleasant change from the smells and pollution of the city. I could hear nothing except for the sound of her hooves and my shoes crunching in the dirt. We had to pick our way around rocks and ruts in the ground that looked like they were made by water runoff. I had to be extra careful, as my dress shoes weren't made for walking on rough ground.

The silence was kinda creepy, almost like anything in the area was too afraid to breathe. It was affecting me, too.

Alright, I admit it - I was scared. I had just agreed to be a minion of a deadly villain, and she was leading me somewhere that I couldn't see in the middle of nowhere. I was beginning to worry that I was in over my head.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a faint howl of a coyote.

I was now regretting all those late-night games of Left 4 Dead 2. I kept seeing imaginary zombies just outside of the circle of light. I knew they weren't real, but I kept wishing for a chainsaw anyway.

No matter where I looked, I couldn't see a damn thing. Well, except for the magical light bobbing over our heads of course. To my surprise, my eyes suddenly adjusted to the darkness and the zombie faces disappeared. Instead of some mysterious and frightening world, we were merely surrounded by cacti and terrain that one would expect from a desert. It was kinda disappointing.

I almost miss the zombies, now. At least it would have been more exciting.

With my night vision working, I could see that the Night Mare was leading us towards a large hill. Several seconds later, a cave entrance appeared at the edge of the dome of light. Nightmare Moon did not hesitate as I did; she instead continued forward into the cave without pause. There might have been enough room for the two of us to walk abreast, but the ebony mare was walking down the middle and was taking up all the room. So I let her lead and followed close behind.

Besides, then I could stare at her butt.

(Perv.)

The tunnel went straight and flat into the hill, and the sides were surprisingly smooth. Loose dirt and rocks were mostly absent, making me wonder how long this passageway had been in use. I also wondered how Nightmare Moon had discovered this place. Could she have dug it out herself? After several yards, the tunnel took a sharp turn to our left and we walked into what looked like a large cave.

Several additional steps later, not that I was counting of course, my new mistress stopped and lit her horn. The ball of light split into several pieces, and dispersed around what I now saw was a small, unassuming chamber. The room was maybe 20 or so feet deep, and almost that high. The magical lights hovered around the edges of the ceiling, and they bobbled slightly in place. They provided a dim light which was more than enough to see by.

The ground in the chamber was mostly flat, covered in packed dirt with a few small rocks near the walls. The Night Mare turned to face me, then sat down in a spot roughly in the center of the room. Her ever-undulating tail shifted around on the dirt floor but oddly enough did not stir up any dust. A pale blue glow surrounded her helmet, which subsequently lifted off her head and revealed her deep black fur underneath.

I idly noted that, while she was sitting down she was still tall. I was taller than her while I stood, but she would tower over me when I sat down. As if reading my mind, she gestured with a hoof to the ground in front of her. While she waited for me, her magical aura deftly placed her helmet next to her in the dirt.

After sitting down in front of the mare, Nightmare Moon proceeded to examine her new minion: namely, me.

"Before We start thy training, We must know where to start. Thus, thou shalt demonstrate for us what spells thee already knows."

Shit.

"Sorry ‘Mistress’, but I don’t know any spells."

Her eyes went wide in surprise.

"None?! But what of the spell thou used to speak to thy companions, the ones that would not help thee in thy time of need?"

It took me a moment to comprehend what she meant.

Did she really watch me all day?!

"Oh um, that wasn't magic but technology."

Her baffled expression prompted me to continue.

"Science? Electricity?"

Still no spark of understanding.

"Uh, how do I explain this. Let's see...my phone is made of bits of metal and...rock...controlled by very tiny lightning bolts. The device hears my voice and sends my words to another device, which sends them to another and another. Eventually, my voice gets to my friends. It’s so fast that we can talk like we’re standing next to each other."

Awestruck, my mentor merely uttered a single word.

"Wondrous."

Continuing my lecture, I found my voice slipping into a lighter tone.

"That’s all I know about it. Other people made it and the network of devices needed to make it all work."

I held up my phone so the ebony mare could easily see it.

"I bought this from a store for a...bunch of bits. I don’t know how to make one, nor could I fix it if it broke."

Suddenly surrounded by a pale blue light, Nightmare Moon's magic lifted my smartphone from my grasp then brought it closer to her for inspection. Unfortunately for her, she was looking at the back battery cover rather than the screen.

"How does one use such a device?"

"If I may?"

I reached out for my phone. After a moment, the smartphone floated back down into my palm and the dark mare leaned in closer. I turned the phone on to its side to reveal the power button.

"These ridges on the side are buttons. This one turns the screen on."

"Screen?"

How do you explain something you take for granted every day, to someone who has never seen it before?

"Um, think of it as sort of a 'window' to let you see inside the device. It’s not really a window, even though the front is made of glass. Following so far?"

The Mare in the Moon's eyes narrowed at me in displeasure.

Uh oh, she’s pissed. What did I do?

It took me a moment to realize that I didn’t call her ‘Mistress’. I nervously amended my earlier statement.

"Ah, I mean 'Following me so far, Mistress?'"

She held my eyes for a few tense moments before returning her gaze to my smartphone.

"Better."

My stomach was still doing flip-flops. Damn, she could be scary when she wanted to! Still on edge, I found myself babbling to my dark mistress.

"Ah, yes. Thank you Mistress. My apologies. May I continue, Mistress?"

At her brief nod, I continued. However, I was careful not to make my earlier mistake again. I found myself speaking more formally, like I was speaking to a prospective client.

"By gently pressing this button, I..er, turn on the light behind the 'window' and reveal what is inside. Be careful Mistress, the light is fairly bright."

After waiting a brief moment, I pressed the power button and the screen lit up. The Night Mare's cat-slitted eyes narrowed briefly to adjust to the bright screen, but she did not back away. If she wondered at the pony picture I used for my lock screen, she said nothing about it.

Resuming my oration, I touched the screen and unlocked the phone.

"The screen is touch-sensitive. It knows where my finger is and allows me to 'touch' what is underneath."

"I would like to try."

Without waiting for a reply, she raised her armored hoof up towards the screen to tap it.

Fearing damage to the smart phone's glass screen, I quickly pulled it away from her hoof. The mare again narrowed her eyes again in displeasure, but this time I spoke before she could.

"My apologies Mistress, but your hoof will likely break or damage the device. Making it sensitive enough to pick up touches also makes it fragile to harder things, such as your metal...er, shoe. Your bare hoof wouldn't work anyway. The screen can only detect - er, understand when bare skin touches it. You may be able to operate the device using...um, your knee.

"Or maybe your nose."

Clearly displeased, Nightmare Moon scrunched up her nose as if smelling something foul.

"Hmph. Clearly an inferior device if ponies cannot make use of it.

“I shall teach you a spell, one that is simple enough that even you can use it."

Aw, man. She won't like this.

"Um, that will be a problem Mistress."

"WHAT NOW?!"

Cringing in fear, I was quite thankful she didn't use the Royal Voice.

"H-h-humans do not have any magic, Mistress. At least, not what you call magic. We are generally very good at making tools and devices to do things for us, such as this phone, but no innate magic that I know of."

Nightmare Moon groaned in frustration and brought a foreleg to cover her face. She muttered something under her breath, but it was just loud enough for me to hear.

"At least he's a good kisser."

She was fucking scary when she yelled at me, but that kissing comment made me feel better. I couldn’t help but make a smart-assed comment..

"We could always practice kissing, Mistress."

Sadly, she hesitated merely a moment.

"While that is an appealing thought, we have work to do. Another time."

"I look forward to it, Mistress."

The Moon Mistress patiently sighed.

"I bet you do, smart-donkey."

Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply before addressing me again.

"Quiet, I must think."

I stayed quiet as bidden for many long seconds. After a time, I began to wonder if she had fallen asleep. My very active imagination conjured up an image of Nightmare Moon, anime super-deformed style, snoring with a big snot-bubble coming from her nose. The image was so sudden and so strong I almost snorted in amusement, but barely managed to suppress the urge. To distract myself, I pulled up a word game on my smart phone that I was quite fond of. Many minutes and several levels passed before the Night Mare finally stirred from her ruminations.

"It cannot be helped. I can think of no other way."

I closed the app and put my phone back in my pocket.

"For what, Mistress?"

Staring at nothing in particular, she spoke not to me but as if to herself alone.

"For my plans to succeed, I need warriors for my army. Scrying for warriors bore little fruit; only one stands by my side. It is clear to me that there are very few on this world that will fight for me, so I cannot just toss weaker warriors aside and start anew."

Hey!

"Therefore, I must make them into warriors."

That's better.

"I cannot just imbue my warriors with magic, for the creatures on this world are not attuned to the natural magic found herein. Their essence cannot feel magic nor draw upon it. Thus, I can not merely 'fill' their form with magical ether and let them wield it til the drought is drained. Nay, there is but one choice available to me. It is a costly choice, and carries much risk, but I can see no other way. I must change the very essence of my warriors to attune them properly to the magic of this world."

That did not sound good.

"Change me HOW, Mistress?"

She turned her head to look at me, her eyes bored deeply into mine. I swear I saw her mane pick up a bit of speed.

"Humans cannot wield magic. So I must change you into something that is no longer human."

Oh.

As I leaned back slightly from the mare, I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into. And if there was any way out of it.

"Um, I don't think I want to do this anymore Mistress."

I was quite attached to my humanity, thank you very much, and wasn't ready to toss it away at a whim.

"You chose to serve me, and as such you will do as I command. If I say that you must be changed, then so shall you be changed."

Her voice was calm, very even; her words carefully chosen. I could not tell if she was angry or immensely patient with me.

"Yeeess, I understand that. But I'm quite fond of being a human, Mistress. I like having hands."

I wiggled my fingers in the air for emphasis.

"And I like standing on my hind legs. I don't want to become a pony."

This little brony fantasy wasn't fun anymore.

Nightmare Moon's voice was still calm and even, almost Zen Master calm.

"Thou dost not have to become a pony."

I sighed, a bit of impatience entering my voice.

"I don't think you understand."

Then her words sunk in.

"Wait wait, what?"

With more patience than I thought she had, she restated her earlier words.

"As I have said, thou dost not have to become a pony. The spell requires that thou must change from thy current form, but the forms available are quite varied."

ANY form? Maybe I had a way out, after all.

"Uh, how about a form that looks human but isn't quite?"

The Night Incarnate slowly shook her head yet kept her eyes locked upon mine.

"No. The spell was not created with humans in mind, and as such it cannot remake thee as thou are. Thus, thy form must change.

"Thou art allowed to choose a form that is not a pony. Thou may also choose a form that allows thee to keep thy bipedal form, but choose thy new form carefully. There are...limits."

I was beginning to panic. Definitely not fun anymore.

"Limits? What limits?!"

Nightmare Moon glared angrily at me.

"Calm yourself! Thou art acting like a foal!"

As if! Oh god, I'm in so much trouble!

The dark mare reached out and placed a hoof on her face, in a surprisingly good imitation of a facepalm, then let out a deep sigh. When she dropped her hoof down, she seemed calmer.

"In order to provide thy new form with magic, I must use a small portion of mine own magic to..."

Nightmare Moon paused and cocked her head to the side, then looked away as if she was thinking.

"Feed the spell, if you will. Thus the spell requires thee to choose a form that is like me in some way."

Bringing her hoof up to her muzzle, she tapped it lightly on her chin and thought aloud.

"Some dark creature of the night would be best."

Dark creature of the night? My panic faded momentarily when my imagination took over.

Hmmm.

Without considering the consequences, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"What about a cat, Mistress? A black cat?"

I really don't know why I said 'cat', I guess it made some sense to me at the time. Thinking back on it, I suppose I was reminded of my pet cats. Both Kusac and Isis were black cats, and black cats were a symbol of darkness and evil in folklore. Not to mention their connection to Halloween, our parallel to Equestria's Nightmare Night.

"A cat? Yes, yes!"

Nightmare Moon excitedly rose to her hooves, and in the process showered some dirt over my pant legs. Looking downwards at me, she confirmed my accidental choice.

"A dark Abyssinian form will work nicely."

In a flash, the Moon Mare lit her horn with dark, arcane magics. Black and purple lightning arced around her horn as the spell quickly grew in strength. Her mane and tail lashed behind her as if they were alive and were trying to escape

"Prepare thyself, my subject. For thy life is about to change!"

The implications of my suggestion sunk in and instantly filled me with terror. I just knew this crazy mare was going to kill me! In one fluid motion, I jumped to my feet and turned to run out of the cave. I ran as fast as I could, but to my surprise I wasn’t making any progress. I looked down at my body to try and figure out what was going on, and that’s when I noticed the blue-green glow surrounding me.

I felt my body rotate around to my right, until I was again facing Nightmare Moon. Her horn was blindingly bright, and her eyes were wide open while glowing the same bright white. Her magic suddenly began to pull me towards her. I flailed around and frantically tried to get a grip on anything nearby. But there was nothing in reach.

"Woah, woah! I don’t wanna-"

Rudely cut off in mid-sentence, I found I could not longer speak. Nightmare Moon had blocked my voice somehow. Didn't stop me from screaming in my mind.

"Quiet. I must concentrate."

I think my last thought was, Oh SHIT! before the pain started.

Act 1, Chapter 3 - Rebirth

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Upon finding out that humans have no magic, Nightmare Moon decided to change me into some sort of cat-thing that did have magic.

I am so boned.

The creature, remade by dark magics, knelt down on one knee in the dirt of the cave. Its left hand, which was clenched into a fist, was also in the dirt next to its left knee. Its other hand was braced upon its right knee, and its head hung low. Smoke rose in wisps from the black fur covering its body, as the remnants of the metamorphosis spell dissipated. The creature made no effort to move from its spot on the ground. In fact, the only sign that it was alive was its slow and even breathing. Even its tail was still.

Nightmare Moon sat several feet in front of her new minion. As before, she wore her full armor minus her helmet, which was resting on the ground next to her. She was calm and confident, secure in the knowledge that this minion would be obedient and thus serve her well. Her magical mane and tail waved slowly in its ever-present yet unseen wind. At last, she spoke.

"Arise, my subject."

The creature rose as if on invisible puppet strings, and slowly got to its feet. No movement was wasted, not even a quick brush of the hand to dislodge the dirt stuck in its fur. Its muscles were tensed, as if ready to lash out at any moment. The creature stared straight ahead at an imaginary opponent in the distance. Much like the Uruk-Hai from the Lord of the Rings movies, strength and aggression were clearly evident in its stance. It was eager to fight for its Mistress.

Ah, the blend of Abyssinian and human shapes was successful. My new minion stands tall like a human, mayhaps a bit taller than his old body once did. He should be able to use his limbs and hooves just as he used to before. Yet he now has a feline tail, and warm black fur all over his body. His face proved to be difficult, but I believe I have blended feline features into his facial structure well. The added muscle also suits him.

And he is so very handsome, too. I am pleased.

"Are you ready to serve, my subject? The pain from the metamorphosis spell should have passed by now."

A pause before the creature responded.

"I feel no pain, only rage."

The Moon Mare cocked her head to he side slightly, puzzlement quite evident in her expression.

"Rage, my subject? That is unexpected. What else do you feel?"

The creature turned to the Night Mare and struck an aggressive pose, its eyes glinting in the magical torchlight and its tail lashing back and forth.

"Hate, power! Death to our enemies!"

(Was I really that cheesy?)
(Yes, I remember it well.)

The former Mare in the Moon sat in the dirt, surprised by her minion's aggressive behavior. The expression she wore was one of concern, shared with a bit of sadness.

Alas, it seems the mind spell I cast was too strong. I merely wished him to be obedient to my whims, but instead I have crushed his personality and created a bloodthirsty beast. Such a creature has little use to me and my plans. I must break the spell ere it sets forever, and hope some shred of his personality still remains.

The Night Incarnate quickly summoned power to her horn, and sent a blast of magic into the chest of the creature. The black-furred being buckled at the waist, and the force of the blast forced it to stagger back a few steps before it fell to its knees. A sound not unlike the shattering of glass rang through air, as the spell matrix within the creature fractured under the onslaught. The dark mare did naught else but observe the being, and simply waited several seconds to see if the creature moved on its own.

When it did not, she lit her horn yet again. A gossamer-thin net of magic wove itself into being in front of her. The net was attached to her horn by a thin glowing strand, a strand which pulsed slightly as if alive. The net was designed to check the magical health of whatever it was draped over; a magical check-up, if you will. The Night Mare re-cast the spell three times before she was satisfied with it, and then with a shake of her head tossed the net into the air.

Her aim was true; the net draped over the creature, and stretched to cover its entire body. The creature did not flinch, nor react in any way as the net settled over its form. It knelt there unmoving, like a puppet with its strings cut.

The strand connecting the net to the dark mare pulsed for several seconds, sending its readings to its caster. When its task was done, the strand and the net broke apart and simply faded away into nothingness.

Good. The spell has been stopped, and he appears to be stable. The rage inside him has been quenched.

The ebony mare brought a hoof to her chin, and thought for a moment.

Now, how do I test to see if his personality has returned to his body?

A lecherous smile graced her muzzle.

Ah, I know.

Addressing her servant, she spoke aloud.

"Bleaugh, that was a horrible kiss!"

Huh? I shook my head to try and clear the thick cobwebs shrouding my thoughts. A wave of vertigo hit me, causing me to wobble on my knees. I blinked several times to clear my view, and the black blob in front of me eventually settled into a mare wearing armor of some sort. As my vision finally cleared, I could see her face was framed by a slight frown and she looked somewhat disgusted. Something told me I should care about that. I think. My tongue felt like it was too big for my mouth, so I couldn't help but slur my next words.

"Sorrrry, sorrrry! Leeeme fix dat."

Stumbling to my feet, I absentmindedly brushed the dirt from my knees. Gesturing with my left hand, a crimson glow surrounded both my hand and the body of the dark mare in front of me. The shocked look upon her face quickly grew, as my magic deftly lifted her up off the dirt floor and over to land gently in front of me. Quelling the levitation spell, I took her muzzle in my paws and turned her a bit roughly to face me. Her cat-slitted eyes snapped over to bore into me a brief moment before our lips met, and my eyes closed of their own volition.

Ah, this is nice.

Is that mint I taste?

A memory came unbidden to me, of a similar kiss with this mare. I remembered her surprise and shock as I pressed my lips to hers. Another memory, as sudden as a lightning bolt through my psyche, of sharing a second kiss with this mare. But this time, in the memory, she leaned into the kiss. She enjoyed it!

Oh yeah, I remember now.

A torrent of thoughts cascaded through my mind, memories of not only the past few hours but days, months, years as well. Hearing a clip-clop-clank behind me. Getting fired from my job, because I was a drunken idiot. Picking up a little kitten, barely bigger than the palm of my hand. The kitten shivered in fear, but still managed to look up at me - not near me, AT me - as if to ask, "You're not going to hurt me, are you?" Remembering school, friends, parents.

Then the memories reversed, or went forward again, like fast forwarding a movie at maximum speed. Within a few seconds, I was back in the present time. Thanks to that memory flashback, I knew who I was once again. I felt refreshed, strong, powerful. My last memories were of being picked up by Nightmare Moon's magicks, then...nothing. And then being kissed by those dark lips. Quite a pleasant way to wake up. Had I fallen asleep?

I broke the kiss gently, then pulled back from the mare just a little bit. When I realized what she had done, a smirk stole over my face.

"You sneaky little mare. That was a dirty trick, waking me up like that."

Returning my smirk, the cool nose of the Night Incarnate bumped my own.

"True, but you cannot say you are displeased with the result."

The whole 'being woken by a kiss' thing left me feeling really affectionate towards the Mare in the Moon. So I stole another kiss from her lips, then wrapped my arms around her neck to give her a warm hug. The mare stiffened in my grasp, clearly unused to this kind of physical affection. I held the hug for a few moments before answering her.

"Nope; not at all."

A moment later, Nightmare Moon leaned ever so slightly into the hug. She waited a bit longer before she rested her head on my shoulder. I tried to hold that intimate moment for as long as I could, but my Moon Mistress had other ideas. When I felt her start to pull away, I let her go and backed away a step or two.

"Your affection was surprisingly pleasant, my subject. But we must not let ourselves get distracted. Your lessons on magic must start as soon as possible."

"Um, I did say I don't have magic - right?"

"Aye, but you used magic to carry me over to your side. Dost thou not remember?"

What?

I looked down at my arms, and they were covered in what looked like soft black hair. Hair that was so thick that I couldn't see my skin underneath it.

This isn't me.

But no matter how I twisted and turned my arms, these furred ones always moved in time with my mental commands. I had no choice but to accept that yes, these were my arms. The fur on them looked so soft and inviting, I just had to touch it. Just so I was absolutely sure it was mine, of course. Reaching over with my left hand, I stroked my fingertips across the hair on my right forearm.

Ooh, that tingles. Feels nice.

As I continued to stroke the hair on my arm, memories of petting my black cats came unbidden to my mind. A moment later, it finally clicked.

Fur. I'm covered in fur!

As I glanced downwards, all I could see was black fur. My feet looked...different, but the toes wiggled when I told them to so they were definitely mine. And I could feel dirt rubbing beneath my toes when I wiggled them. Something kept brushing the backs of my legs, so I reached behind my new body to grab at it. Once I managed to get it, I pulled it around my body to get a better look. At a glance, I immediately knew what it was.

A tail! I have a tail!

"Enjoying thyself?"

SHIT!

I completely forgot I wasn't alone.

"Sorry."

"It is clear that your new body is unfamiliar to you, and you wish to explore it. I shall not fault you for that. However, you shall have to wait until after tonight’s training."

Letting my tail drop from my hands, I brought my eyes up to meet those of my Mistress. She was standing in front of me, so I guessed she had gotten to her hooves while I was distracted with the new me.

"All right, Mistress. What's next?"

"Before we proceed, I believe thou needs a name that better suits thy new feline body. Thy old one is no longer...appropriate."

“What’s wrong with ‘Josh’?”

“Such a name shall not instill fear into our enemies, and as such it is not appropriate."

The Night Mare pondered a moment, then nodded to herself.

"I shall dub thee...Nightmare Claw! Do you accept this name, my student?"

Nightmare Claw? That's awfully cheesy, but any name besides the name your parents gave to you sounds wrong. But I'm no longer the same person I was born as, am I? I feel stronger, more powerful. And a lot furrier. I hope I don't have to groom myself with my tongue, that would taste horrible.

Ew.

When I was Josh, all I could manage to be was a fuck-up. Maybe this is a chance to be a new me.

"Sure."

Maybe the name will grow on me.

"Huzzah! Thou now wearest the form of a warrior. Next, We shall clothe thee in the garb of a warrior. We ask that thou close thine eyes and stay as still as thou can."

Really?

Fine, whatever.

Nightmare Moon's horn lit up with magic right as I closed my eyes. After a moment, she spoke again.

"And try not to breathe."

WHAT?!

One very rapid heartbeat later, I suddenly felt...dressed. From wearing nothing but fur one moment, to the next wearing something solid.

What did she do?

My eyes snapped open, and I looked down at my body to see what my Mistress had done to me.

Woah.

The first thing that got my attention was my arms. To my surprise, they now had silver forearm guards strapped to them. I could not place the design, some sort of weird cross between a chevron and a fleur-de-lis, and their edges looked VERY sharp. Glancing downwards, I saw my chest had some sort of ornate decoration covering it. The metal was also colored silver, with plenty of curves and edges to it; a spade tip covered my abdomen. There was a large teal gemstone in the center of the chest piece, inscribed with a crescent moon. The whole thing looked terribly impractical, as the design of the chest armor left several gaping holes in it.

Beneath the chest piece I was wearing some soft leather that was ripped and torn around its edges. The same leather was wrapped around my waist, with a purple sash tied around that. I tried to look at my feet, but something stopped me; whatever I was wearing hit the chest armor with a metallic clink. A quick check with my hands told me I was wearing a helmet, and it was touching the large neck guard in the shoulder armor.

I'm wearing a helmet? How did I miss THAT?

Since I couldn't tilt my head over any farther, I had to lean over and lift one leg up at a time to get a good look at them. My shins were covered in armor that looked much like the pieces on my forearms, though my feet were bare. Except for the black fur covering them, of course.

It only took a moment’s thought to judge it all to be highly impractical for battle. Like Nightmare Moon’s armor, there were too many gaps in the armor to make me feel protected. But my Mistress seemed to like it, so it would have to do.

"Uh, thank you Mistress."

"Do not thank me. A proper Equestrian warrior does not enter battle without appropriate armor to intimidate her foes. I simply remedied that oversight.

"It is now time to teach you the spells you shall need, in order to assist me in conquering this world. For until thou art properly trained, thou wilt be a hindrance in battle. We shall then start with the simplest defensive spell: shielding. I shall impart the basic knowledge to you, but you will need to refine and strengthen the skill through practice. Remove thy helmet."

I quickly removed said helmet and held on to its bottom edge with one hand. Tilting my head forward in acceptance, I awaited my gift from my Mistress. A moment later, I felt the edge of her horn rest on my forehead. With a flash I could see through my closed eyelids, her spell was cast. At the same time, I felt a small surge of...something flow through me. Perhaps it would be closer to say that a part of my new body had woken up.

Somehow, I knew what this strange feeling was even though I had never felt it before: magic. This new body of mine had MAGIC! The dark mare had opened up the stores of magic in this new body of mine, almost like throwing open the blinds in a dark room. From empty nothingness to blindingly bright light!

As well as that magic, the spell had also given me a really strong feeling of déjà vu. But instead of a familiar sight or place, I now had familiar MEMORIES. As a human, I was never taught magic. I couldn't use it, so how could I learn it? Yet the Night Mare had just given me many years' worth of memories of doing exactly that. These new memories told me that I had practiced shield spells for a very long time, and that I could cast them with little effort.

As the glow from her horn faded, thus ending the flow of memories to me, I could see my mentor's hooves back away. As I looked up at her, she spoke.

"There, now you have the knowledge of a shield spell. Cast it!"

With but a thought, I dropped my helmet and lit my hands with arcane magics. In response, a crimson shield popped into place a foot or so in front of my body. The shield was transparent, so I could easily see through it despite the red tint. Its shape was roughly oval, taller than it was wide; the surface was about the size of a large riot shield and was quite flat. The shield itself was not held, nor did it rest on my arm or in my hands. However, despite the lack of contact the shield still felt connected to me somehow.

The Mare in the Moon approached and examined my shield closely. She lifted a foreleg and ran her armored hoof along its surface. The shield shimmered around her hoof, like oil sliding across glass, but it did not waver or falter.

Wow, magic is easy.

When she was done analyzing my shield, my teacher nodded in silent approval. My chest swelled with pride and I gave her my trademarked cocky grin. Glancing at me, she smiled back. Then she lightly tapped the shield with her hoof. My pride shattered along with the shield as it fragmented; tiny ruby shards fell to the dirt as if the shield was made from sugar glass.

The Night Mare glanced down at the shards in the dirt, shards that quickly faded away like they were never there. She arched an eyebrow in disapproval (which was kinda hard to see actually, as it was a black eyebrow on black fur), then she paused a moment to let the rebuke sink in.

"Again!"

I could do naught but obey.

It took several tries before my shield could withstand several strong blows of Nightmare Moon's hoof. This practice taught me something important: an essential part of magic was willpower. If you put a half-assed effort into a spell, you got a half-assed result. Hal Jordan I was not, but I was familiar enough with the hero Green Lantern to know how this was supposed to work.

The memories given to me by Nightmare Moon emphasized that the strength of your shield involved 'pushing your will' into the magic. The memories reminded me of a martial arts master demonstrating his (or her) art, where each move is carefully made yet done with deliberate force. The casting of magic is much the same, but a mental push is used instead of a thrust with a hand or foot. And it took practice to do it just right. As with each previous attempt, Nightmare Moon tested my shield with physical force. The magically-enhanced impacts of her hooves boomed loudly throughout the cavern. Each 'boom' hurt my new sensitive ears, no matter how I tried to cover them. It was not a pleasant experience.

At long last, my Mistress ceased her royal pounding and let her hooves drop to the ground. The loud echoes faded from the cavern, yet they continued ringing in my head. As it was, I nearly missed the Night Mare's next command.

"..ld is sufficient. We shall continue your training outdoors."

She turned to leave the cave just as her magic lifted her helmet from the floor and slid it smoothly on to her head.

I dropped my shield with a thought and rubbed my ears in a futile attempt to try and stop them from ringing. I kept rubbing my ears as I followed Nightmare Moon out of the cave. And returned a moment later to grab my forgotten helmet. Placing it upon my head, I quickly walked out of the cave and out into the passageway beyond.

The packed earth beneath my new feet felt...weird. It felt sort of like I was wearing sandals, not shoes, but I could still feel the ground beneath me. And that rock I stepped on didn't really hurt, though it felt sharp. Pausing for a moment, I placed a hand against the wall and lifted a foot up to inspect it. My new leg armor made a clanking noise as the shin guards touched. It was now clear that my feet were bare, my dress shoes and socks removed or destroyed.

Eh, they were thrift store shoes anyway.

A quick glance showed I had paw pads beneath each of my toes, the balls of my feet, and under my heel. Just fur between the two paw pads - whups! My feet were just as ticklish as my old ones. Speaking of feet, my new ones were shaped kinda different...

A familiar feminine voice drifted from farther down the passageway.

"Stop dawdling, my student!"

Shit! Looks like checking out my new feet will have to wait until later.

My foot went back on the ground and I jogged the remaining several yards to my Mistress's side. As we walked closer towards the exit and away from the magical lights in the cave, I expected the light to fade to darkness. But instead, it was getting brighter instead.

"Um, Mistress?"

"Yes, my student?"

"Why are we going outside during the day? I thought you were concerned about being seen."

"It is still night time, my student. In fact, it is still the same night that I brought thee here. Merely an hour has passed since we arrived."

"Then why is it so...bright..."

We finally left the passageway and stepped into the surrounding area. I gazed out over the desert landscape, and was totally stunned by what I saw. The sky was lit in a wan twilight, dim and pale but I could still see everything clearly. Yet the shadows beneath the bushes and rocks were so faint I could barely see them. The whole scene was strange, very unlike what one would expect from sunlight. It was like the light was coming from everywhere at once. I could also see these little pinpricks of light all over the place; some were moving, some were not. The lights touched most of the plants I could see, but the rest were spread out in some sort of random pattern. Were these lights the source of the twilight in the desert?

A nearby light skittered across our path, and I realized it was centered on a small desert rat. An epiphany was made: the pinpricks of light were from LIFE in the desert. Plants, birds, mammals, anything alive showed as a little pinprick of light. The desert in front of me was not as barren and dead as I once thought, but instead was teeming with life.

And I could see it all.

This new body had better hearing than my old one, for I could hear the rustling of the wind through the bushes and the sounds of tiny feet scampering around. I guessed the scampering was from the desert rat that just went by. It was all terribly distracting as I tried to identify everything I heard.

The sound of a throat being cleared popped up next to me. Startled, I flinched. Then I turned my head toward the sound, made by the Mistress of the Night. She was smiling at me, clearly amused at my amazement.

"Look up."

And so I did.

If I thought the desert was incredible, it paled in comparison to the night sky. Back in the city, it was rare to see more than a smattering of stars at night as light pollution blocked out the view. And my night time vision was not the best anyway, I could only see maybe a blur of light in areas my roommate said he could see dozens of faint stars. But this view in the desert was a veritable carpet of stars.

I would have expected to see stars in the sky, this far out in the desert. But this was something else. The sky was just covered with bright stars. Even the smallest star was clearly visible, almost like a Photoshop contrast filter turned up to the max. The large stars were bright, but not too bright. I could see constellations I had heard of in my youth, ones long forgotten but sprung to mind as if they were old friends.

It was WONDROUS.

"Is our night sky not wondrous? Well, tis not mine sky but it is still beautiful."

"Do...do you see this EVERY night?"

"Aye. Sometimes it is more beautiful than tonight. Is it any wonder I prefer the night over the day?"

I think I'm becoming a fan of the night too.

"Why did you share this with me?"

"Hmm? Oh, tis merely part of the enchantment that made you a creature of my night. Twould not be useful if thou could not see thy hoof in front of thy muzzle, would it not?"

Awed by the generous gift, I could not respond right away.

"...Thank you. It's a wonderful gift."

I was so busy staring at the stars that I almost missed the blush stealing across Nightmare Moon's cheeks.

"You should share this gift with others, even if it is only temporary. I have no doubt the ponies of Equestria would appreciate your night more if they could see it as we do."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Mare in the Moon dip her head low in shame.

"I...had not thought of that."

Several minutes passed as we quietly basked in the beauty of the night sky.

Author's Notes:

Armor design completely stolen from https://www.deviantart.com/6-fingers/art/Nightmare-Moon-385280751

I feel a need to explain something here. Especially since I'm sure some of you are going to see my profile picture and notice a similarity to Nightmare Claw. No tl;dr here, you'll just have to suffer and read it all.

The protagonist is NOT a self-insert, though he used to be. This story concept started out with a dream that I had, where I was hanging out with Nightmare Moon. I liked the dream, so I kept exploring it in my head. For example, where were we? Equestria, or Earth? What would Nighty and I do together? I added more and more to this fantasy self-insert, until I realized this mental outline was turning into an epic storyline.

I decided to write things down and kept working on the story, so the tale grew and grew. At some point, the main character stopped acting like me and became Josh; a different character altogether. Josh kept making decisions that felt right for him, but didn't match what I would do. I also didn't want this story to turn into a Gary Stu fantasy where the protagonist is super powerful and super sexy and he gets ALL the mares. So I went back through what I had written and changed a lot of things. I also made sure that Josh suffered and worked hard for the gifts he got.

Then I got to the creature Josh turned into. Obviously, he used to be me - so he changed into my furry persona (I am a furry as well as a brony). I thought about changing him into a bat-man, or a rat-man, even a possum-man AKA Tiberius from the comics. I even considered leaving him human, but giving him magic. Or making him a dark elf, which is close to human. But I realized that what Josh changes into isn't directly relative to the story. He doesn't gain any special powers or abilities because he's a black cat. What does matter, is that he has to lose his humanity and become something else in order to live out his fantasies with Nightmare Moon.

His transformation raises other questions as well. Does Josh lose anything else, beyond his humanity? Has his personality been bent to Nightmare Moon's will, or is he still 'Josh' on the inside? What else will he lose while he helps Nightmare Moon conquer the world? All valid questions, so I left his transformation alone. If you are uncomfortable with his furry transformation, then good! It means that the loss of his humanity will have a bigger impact on you.

Act 1, Chapter 4 - Shield Practice

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Nightmare Moon had changed me into some sort of cat-man, and gave this new body of mine magic. She had started training me how to use that magic, and we had just walked outside to continue that training.

The Mare in the Moon and I stood there, staring in wonder at the night sky. A slight breeze blew across the two of us, slightly tousling my fur. The breeze felt really nice, almost a slight tingle as my fur moved under the wind. Though I had to admit, I was getting a bit impatient. The sky was really cool and all, but I had awesome new magic to learn. So I decided to remind my Mistress of her plans for me tonight.

"Shouldn't we start my training?"

"Ah, of course. Forgive me, my thoughts were elsewhere."

The dark mare walked out on to the desert floor, with me following close behind. The ground felt familiar under my new feet, but strange at the same time. Where my old shoes made walking in the dirt awkward, these new feet felt solid and sure even though I was basically walking barefoot. I felt in touch with the ground like never before.

Within a few minutes of walking, we arrived at a flat and open area. The space looked to be swept clear of large rocks or brush. I couldn't see any pinpricks of light, so that meant that life was scarce around there.

Excellent, we shouldn't hurt anything during my training.

My teacher motioned for me to stand in one spot, while she took another one about twenty paces further away. Turning to face me, Nightmare Moon raised her voice slightly to make sure I could hear her clearly.

"I have prepared this area for thy training. The rest of tonight’s lessons shall be used to strengthen thy shield further. I shall attack thee to test thy mettle, and all thou needs to do is stay on thy feet. If you fall, or thy shield falls, you shall suffer the consequences. Make thy preparations, and signal when ready."

Sounds simple enough. All it takes is the right amount of willpower.

Like I was taught, I brought up my shield and pushed enough 'will' into it to make it nice and strong. Mentally, I prepared for Nightmare Moon's attack. A glance at the ebony mare and how far away she was, and I guessed that she would rush me and slam into my shield.

I should brace for impact.

At that thought, I 'remembered' that anything that hit the shield would be stopped but some of the kinetic energy would bleed through. You somehow knew how hard the original hit was, but only felt a small part of it. In other words, a big hit would feel like a small hit but you’d know it was a big hit. The fact that I had memories in my head that weren’t mine didn’t bother me until many weeks later.

But at the time, I was confident I knew how to handle my test.

Turning to face the Moon Mare, I planted one foot down in front of my body and the other behind, then turned the back foot to the side. Experience told me that this position would brace my body from a hit to the front. One last look at my feet to make sure they were properly placed, and I was prepared. Without looking up, I gave my assent.

"Ready, Mistress."

That turned out to be a stupid mistake.

Looking up and over at the dark mare, I expected to see her charging at me at full speed. Instead, I saw a HUGE boulder an instant before it hit me.

HOLY FUCK!

Instinct made me close my eyes and turn my face away from the impact. Thus, I did not see the rock hit. But I knew it hit with the force of a sledgehammer. What I felt instead, was a solid punch to the chest. I blinked owlishly, stunned, more out of surprise than the blow itself. Before I could recover, the next hit slugged me in the gut. Two more successive hits knocked the wind out of me. The final hit that did me in was the biggest one yet. That time, I both heard and felt a loud CRACK that I felt all the way down to my toes. The sound was paired with a haymaker to the chest, and I was off my feet. My balance was gone and I fell flat on my back.

As I lay there, my arms and legs all splayed out and the world spinning around me, I heard my teacher's rebuke.

"You have failed, student! Again!"

A quick shake of my head to clear my double vision, and I could see again. Or so I thought, my vision still wasn't right. What I could see was fractured, like I was trying to look through a window with broken glass. I blinked my eyes a few times, then realized that the real problem was with my shield. A shield that was now cracked and broken in several places. And a shield which stayed up, despite me being knocked senseless. I was kinda proud of that last part.

"I said AGAIN, student! Do not make me trot over there and drag thee to thy feet!"

Grumbling under my breath, and ignoring the dirt now ground into my fur, I clambered to my feet. With a mere thought, I repaired the cracks and made the magical surface of my shield good as new. Looking through the now-shimmering shield, I glared at the Night Mare who returned my glare with one of her own. Understandably, I was seething mad.

THAT was a dirty trick.

This time, I watched Nightmare Moon summon the boulder and toss it my way.

Won't catch me off-guard again, you witch.

Boulder after boulder rained down upon my shield, even faster than before. Each boulder broke into a million pieces upon impact, flinging rock and rubble all around while I was safe behind my shield. Each hit was deafening, yet my ears never hurt from the sound. Was I losing my hearing? I stubbornly endured each hit as long as I could, but I could feel my willpower fading. The result was the same as the last, my shield cracked and my ass hit the ground.

I stared up into the night sky and took a few moments to recover.

Flat on my back, again. That's FUCKING annoying.

Now frustrated at my second failure, I sat up and glared again at the dark mare. I couldn't see her expression, but I could see her mane and tail lashing all around her. It didn't take much of a guess to know she was pissed.

"Root yourself to the ground, student! What good is a strong shield if thy opponent can merely toss you away?!"

It was surprisingly easy to set my anger aside. While I slowly got to my feet, I put some thought into her words.

Root myself to the ground, huh? Like a tree's roots? Hmm.

With a thought, I let my shield drop and braced myself as before. Then I summoned my magic. I imagined magic roots growing from the bottom of my feet that sunk deep into the ground, then used magic to make them grow. As the magical roots grew from the bottoms of my feet, they felt weird and a little ticklish. But, they had the desired effect. I could no longer move my feet no matter how hard I tried. Literally 'rooted' in place, yes.

There, that should do nicely.

I brought up my shield and braced myself for the inevitable blow.

"READY!"

I was not disappointed. My teacher tossed the next boulder at me so hard, it hit with the speed of a Mack truck. I was sure that, if I hadn't literally rooted myself to the ground I would have been thrown several feet away. But thanks to those roots, I was able to keep my grip on the ground. Instead, I absorbed the incredible blow with my body. I was also thankful the magic in the shield was blocking most of the 'hit'. What I could feel wasn't nice, but I was sure it would be much worse without that protection.

Another boulder hit with the same force as the last. Then another, and yet another. The hits kept coming, and I was still standing.

Was it that easy?

CRACK!

A jagged line spread down the length of my shield, where the magical surface had broken. The single line turned into a spider web of cracks when the next boulder hit a moment later. Fearing the complete destruction of my shield, I tightened my mental focus and repaired the surface as fast as I could. It worked, because the shield held up to the next boulder slam. More cracks spread in the magical surface of course, but another push of energy erased those and a couple more besides. Each visible crack came with an audible noise, a sound not unlike one would expect from breaking glass.

Despite the physical punishment, I had to admit this was good practice. I was now able to keep up my concentration through each boulder hit, and several hits later my shield was solid once again. All I had to do now was put a bit of energy into the shield after each new hit, and my shield stayed strong. Good thing too, because I was getting mighty tired. Even though I had gotten better at it, using magic was hard work. And all those hits were taking a toll on my body. It felt like I had bruises on bruises on bruises. I had learned how to survive, true. But I knew I had to have limits somewhere.

There has to be a way to make a better shield. One that keeps anything from getting through. But how?

Without warning, my back foot shifted ever-so-slightly in the dirt. The back foot was the one I was using to brace myself, the one that was keeping me upright. There was no time to react before my shield got hit again. Without sure footing, the incredible impact tore my other foot free from the ground. The remaining force violently threw me backwards and I slammed into the dirt. I landed hard on my back, hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

While I laid limp on the ground, I could see nothing but stars. A cloud of dust surrounded me, lifted by the force of my body hitting the ground. And even though I was sure I was lying down, my world was spinning around me.

Ooooooowwwwwww........

From her position some distance away, my teacher called out to me.

"Another failure! I expect better from you, student!"

A gust of wind blew across my body. It covered me in dust, but it cleared the air at the same time. Good thing too; that dust was about to make me cough, and I was pretty sure coughing would hurt. A lot. Just like everything else did. Ow. It hurt to blink, too. All I wanted to do was lie there, unmoving, and tried not to do anything except breathe.

Time ticked by while I recovered. After catching my breath, I noticed something else - the absence of sound. It was deathly quiet, except for the wind. At first, I thought I had gone deaf. But a moment later, I realized I had heard my accursed teacher speak with annoying clarity. I could only guess that our training must have scared the local wildlife into silence. I hoped we were far enough away from civilization, or someone might wonder what all the ruckus was about. While it felt like forever, it was probably less than a minute since I hit the ground.

“I grow tired of waiting, student! Will thou rise on thy own, or must I drag thee to thy hooves?!”

A few more seconds passed before I could reply to my dark mistress.

"Yeah, I'm..I’m trying. I just..."

"I see. I must remember that thou art a mewling babe in the arts of magic. As such, I shall make allowances. We shall pause for a moment to let you regain your strength."

Sounds good to me.

I lay there for several long seconds, while the pains in my body slowly faded into dull aches. Eventually, I felt good enough to try and sit up. Didn't want the Mistress to yell at me again, of course. However, I was having a hard time sitting up. For some reason, my feet felt heavier then they should. After struggling for a bit, and some more pain, I finally managed to sit up. While I caught my breath, I took a look down at my feet. They looked and felt...weird.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I got changed into some sort of a cat-thing.

My feet looked like some sort of cross between a cat's paw and a human foot. The usual human toes were gone, replaced with cat toes, or a cat paw stuck on the end. The rest of the foot looked mostly normal, though it was covered in black fur like the rest of my body. My legs looked normal as well.

Plantigrade feet instead of digitigrade.

I didn't remember having problems walking, so I guessed that my foot worked much the same way my human foot had. It just looked different. What was really strange however, was the large chunks of dirt stuck to my feet. Roughly a foot square of dirt was attached to the bottom of each appendage, with neon-red squiggly bits sticking out of the dirt at all angles. It took me a moment to realize that these were magical roots, the ones I had sent into the dirt to literally 'root' me in place.

The silence was broken by the sound of hooves hitting dirt. I glanced up to see my mentor was walking over to check up on me. When she was close enough, she looked me over with a critical eye. I must have looked good enough, for she said nothing. Well, until she reached my feet.

One glance at the dirt stuck to them, along with the magical roots poking out, and she broke out into peals of laughter. Her guffaws rocked her mighty frame and she wobbled dangerously on her hooves. Finally losing the battle with her balance, she plopped down on her rump next to me.

I was pissed. And embarrassed at being laughed at. With a thought, I banished the magical roots and the dirt immediately fell off of my feet. Then I crossed my arms and did my best to will my Mistress TO. SHUT. UP! Her continued laughter quickly boiled my anger over, and I let her have it.

“Shut up! SHUT UP!

“JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!”

She showed no sign that she heard me. Her laughter rained on and on, and I swear it took her forever to stop. But she finally calmed down enough to speak.

"Oh hohoho, I did not expect thee to take my words so literally."

"Well, I thought it was a good idea! I just didn't sink the roots in deep enough."

"Hehe, perhaps. But you must then banish the roots when you choose to move, and that takes precious time. Time you may not have in a feverish battle. Not to mention that your body must absorb the blows directly. I can see by how you move that you are bruised and sore."

She had me there.

"Fine. Then what would you do? I don't know what to do except brace myself."

"Use a magical shunt."

"A what?"

"A magical shunt. It links to your shield, and uses the magical feedback from any impact to strengthen your shield. As long as the shunt holds, the physical force will not reach you and you will not need to repair your shield as often.

“Clearly you need the help, so I shall give you the memory."

Another touch of her horn to my head, and I knew how to create these magical shunts. The memory was clear enough to tell me how to adjust the shunt for different types of energy: physical, elemental (fire, water, etc) or pure magic. I could see that this shunt meant I would not have to make such a strong shield, just make a couple of shunts and the energy would flow right back into the shield.

A light turquoise glow surrounded me, and my aches & pains just disappeared.

"A boon for the mewling babe. A bit of healing for thy aching body.

“Oh, yes. I shall forgive you for cursing at me this one time only. But do not allow it to happen again.”

Oh. She DID hear me.

It was much easier getting to my feet, now that I didn't hurt all over. I felt rested and recharged, and ready for the next round of lessons. But before we began, I had questions to ask.

"Mistress? I've got a question."

The Mare in the Moon had been walking back to her starting spot. Upon hearing my words, she paused and turned her head to look at me.

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you teach me these magical shunts earlier? They would have saved me a lot of pain and effort."

"Sometimes my student, you must not only learn what to do, but what NOT to do. Had I gifted you with the knowledge of shunts earlier, you would not have learned what would happen if you did not use them. Now, you have that experience."

Nightmare Moon gave me a sly grin, which widened to show her sharp and pointy teeth.

"And pain is an excellent teacher."

Oh, she did NOT. Fucking sadist!

But to be honest, I should have figured that out by now.

Without waiting for a response, Nightmare Moon walked at a measured pace towards her earlier spot across the patch of dirt. At the end, she turned and waited patiently for me to prepare. I remembered that the magical roots had pulled up dirt with them, so I looked over at my starting spot to see if I could still use it. It now had two large holes in the ground, right where I was supposed to stand. Those holes would be dangerous to work around, so I decided to stay where I was instead. Besides, I figured that a little more distance away from my Mistress wouldn't hurt. Glancing up at her, I nodded to her to indicate I was ready.

"Now, after you bring up thy shield cast three magical shunts; one physical, one elemental, and one for magic. Do NOT root yourself in place. Indicate when ready."

All right - show time.

Up went my shield, then a cast for each of the three shunts. Each shunt felt like something spread all over the shield, then reached out to connect to me somehow. Once the magic settled down, I couldn't feel a thing. Shrugging internally, I braced myself as before and hoped the shunts would work.

"READY!"

The first impact shuddered against my shield. I felt energy flow into the physical and magical shunts, then felt them put the energy back into the shield.

Huh. So she's not throwing actual rocks at me, but making magical rocks to physically hit my shield. Thus both magical and physical shunts are used. That explains why I'm not buried in pieces of rock, the magical boulders probably fade away as soon as they break apart. And why I'm not deaf.

Beyond the feeling from the shunts, and the sound of the magical rocks hitting and shattering, I felt nothing. No impact, no push, nothing. Surprised, I relaxed and stood up. I sent a questioning glance towards the Night Mare, and I saw her grin. Her white teeth were a beacon of light against her dark coat.

"I accept your challenge! Have at thee!"

Uh oh.

Before I could blink, three rapid-fire projectiles were sailing through the air at me! Instinctively, I ducked and braced for impact. Each hit felt like a freight train pulsing madly through the shunts. Each pulse felt like the throb of an overworked muscle. Just after the third projectile hit, I felt rather than heard a pop as the physical shunt failed. My shield shattered into nothingness and I staggered back as if I had been punched. Reeling on my feet, I stared at my mentor as she laughed out loud.

"Ha! Felt that, did you? Always monitor your shunts, student! If they fail, all that energy goes into your shield, then you! Now, again!"

A quick thought and my shield and shunts re-formed. But this time, I tried to make the shunts bigger. And realized that bigger shunts took a lot of magic to create. Along with that realization came the thought that I could not keep making the shunts bigger and bigger. To protect myself against bigger threats, I would have to layer my shield with multiple shunts of each type. The implications of this realization shot through me like a lightning bolt. The strategy involved in defending oneself from magic was incredible! I had to decide what kind of shunts to use and how many, and balance my pool of magic at the same time. Too many shunts and I could wear myself out early, too little and I could get badly hurt. One quick thought later, and I decided to make an extra physical shunt since the last one failed. Signaling I was ready, I waited for my next test.

This was not my night.

Instead of rocks, the Night Incarnate summoned a large fireball at the end of her horn. With a mighty whip of her head, she hurled it at me.

Oh shit! She's going to roast me alive!

Curling up into a small ball on the ground, I summoned up a second elemental shunt as fast as I could, then a third. I had started summoning a fourth when the fireball hit. Fire curled around my shield and power flowed down the elemental shunts as the energy of the fireball was drained away. The shunts barely pulsed in response, and my shield held strong. A couple of moments after the flames were extinguished, I realized I wasn't on fire.

Standing tall, I glared over at my mentor. My fur was smoking slightly and some of it had curled in the heat, but I was otherwise unharmed. Again, the Night Mare grinned toothily at me. She knew what she had done.

Talk about a trial by fire. Literally.

"It appears that you did not make your shield big enough, student. I suggest you remedy that."

The rest of the lesson for that evening and into the early morning continued along much the same path. My shield grew until it surrounded me on all sides, including under me. I learned how to quickly analyze an attack, and choose the right shunts to defend against it. I had been burned, soaked, showered in dirt and tossed across the desert floor more than once. But I learned. By the time the sun began to peek over the horizon, I had successfully protected myself against most anything that damned mare could throw at me. I was tired, sore, drained physically AND magically when she finally called an end to our session.

"Adequate work, my student. You have proven that the mewling babe has some skill, and as such I deem your shield training to be complete. Now, it is time to rest."

FINALLY.

I relaxed my mental concentration, and my shield vanished as if it was never there. You ever overwork a muscle so hard, that it feels like it's going to knot up at any moment? That's how my head felt. One of those implanted memories told me I was nearing magical exhaustion.

I waited for further instructions from my teacher, but she turned away and said nothing.

That's it? Where's my shirt that says, 'I got my ass kicked by Nightmare Moon and all I got was this lousy t-shirt'?

Figures, she's a sadist AND a cheapskate.

Nightmare Moon and I trudged back to our cave in silence. While I knew the walk wasn't very far, it felt like we walked for MILES before we reached the cave entrance. Once inside, I had a horrified thought: I was about to spend the night sleeping in the dirt. In my exhausted state, I couldn't see any way around it. So I resigned myself to an uncomfortable night on the ground. But I would be damned if I was going to sleep in this celestial-forsaken armor.

The problem was, I had no idea how to take it off. I tugged at the plates, looking for a buckle or some other fastening mechanism, but in my exhaustion I couldn't find any. Growling out loud, I tugged even harder at the straps.

Noticing my predicament, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and my armor simply disappeared. A flash of magic came from my left, and the plate mail was resting on an armor stand that I knew wasn't there before. Had she just summoned it? I was too tired to care.

"There, that should be better. Now, we shall rest."

A flash from her horn, and a large four-post bed just appeared in the middle of the room. The ornate wooden frame was stained black and the sheets and draperies were all colored dark blue. I was so thankful for something soft to sleep on, I didn’t have the energy to complain about her choice of bedding. The soft satin sheets beckoned me to slide between them and sleep my cares away. Answering their siren call, I shuffled over to the edge of the bed and lifted the corner of the sheets. I was about to climb in before the Night Mare's voice stopped me.

"Hold! Thou art covered in dirt. I must cleanse you first."

Covered in dirt? REALLY?! I HADN'T NOTICED!!

My mind expected a torrent of cold water and a Rainblow Dry, but instead I felt the tingle of magic all over my body. When it faded, it felt like I had just soaked in a hot bath for hours. I also noticed the scent of lavender bath oils all over me, but again - too tired to care. With many of my aches and pains relieved, I climbed slowly into bed and was asleep before my head hit the down pillow.

The Mare in the Moon used her magic to tug the sheets up to my neck, effectively tucking me in for the night. Just before I drifted off, I head the Moon Mare’s voice.

"Good night, my little warrior."

Act 1, Chapter 5 - Something Forgotten, Something Remembered

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After a long, grueling training session, Nightmare Moon summoned the softest bed I had ever seen. And actually let me sleep in it.

I returned to the waking world slowly. I found myself in a warm bed, lying beneath a fluffy comforter. The sheets were so soft and sleek against my body, it felt wonderful. I let out a contented sigh and decided that this was the best way to wake up. Much better than the blaring of an alarm clock jolting me out of bed at an unholy hour. While I didn't feel like throwing away the WHOLE day in bed, most of the day was just fine.

I wonder what time it is?

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and looked for my alarm clock in its usual place -- next to my bed on its nightstand. But I couldn't find it. Strange. The alarm clock was one of those digital models with big numbers; easy to see at night, but not so bright that the light would keep me awake. So I knew I should have been able to see the clock's display. Puzzled, I wondered where my alarm clock had gone.

Did my cats knock it on the floor again?

My eyes looked around the room for my missing alarm clock. But the room was mighty dark, and I could see nothing. Had I slept all day again? I had a vague memory of going to bed just as the sun was coming up. I decided I didn't care what time it was, and curled up on my side under the covers. I was unemployed, and felt too warm & cozy to get out of bed.

Besides, I had been dreaming about ponies. The dream was something about learning magic from Nightmare Moon. I admit, it was a fucking weird dream. But a pony dream is a pony dream, and I wanted to pick it up where I left off. So I closed my eyes and and nestled farther under the warm comforter.

Just then, I felt SOMETHING shift in the bed behind me.

I sleep alone, so who or WHAT was that?!

I hope it’s not that fat chick that keeps hitting on me at the bar.

Part of me wanted to go back to sleep and hope she left on her own. But another part of me just HAD to know who it was. So for the second time that night, I opened my eyes to the darkness. Slowly, so I wouldn't alert the thing next to me, I rolled onto my back and glanced towards the thing in my bed. I could barely see a large shape next to me, which the comforter was...attached to? It was too dark to see any details. Using my hands, I patted the comforter down. It felt...feathery? A moment later, I realized I was sleeping under a large wing. Which was lying on my chest.

A wing? What the heck?!

Oh.

That wasn't a dream, after all.

This wing could only belong to my new mistress, Nightmare Moon. Who was apparently sleeping NEXT TO me in bed. I felt my cheeks flush red hot at the implied intimacy. Yeah, I still had a crush on Nightmare Moon.

Without warning, the Night Mare stiffened and trembled, just like I did when I was stretching the sleep out of my body. Unfortunately for me, that stretch included her wings. I saw the wing on my chest lift up several inches, watched it tremble, then saw and felt it slap down on my chest. I grunted on impact, more out of surprise than hurt.

Finally awake, the Mare in the Moon spoke to me.

"Awake, my student?"

"Yes Mistress, I am NOW."

My snarky comment must have gone unnoticed, as her only reply was a sigh. One of those, 'I'm awake and I should probably get up and do something' morning sighs.

"Mistress?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"Um, I'm kinda curious why we're sharing a bed."

"Certainly you did not expect me to sleep in the dirt, did you?"

"No no, definitely not. It's just...um..."

"You do realize that this is MY bed, and not yours?"

"Oh...I didn't realize..."

"I see. You have no troubles kissing a mare you just met, yet you are nervous about sleeping in the same bed as her?"

A pause.

"How quaint."

"Hey, they're two totally different things!"

A faint chuckle came from her side of the bed.

"Art thou complaining?"

"Well, no."

"Then hush. Besides, it is time for us to leave this bed and continue your training."

A quick pulse of her horn sent magic lights to the four corners of the cave, dimly lighting the room. The light was enough to see by, but not by much.

An unbidden thought flashed across my mind, of the kind of training one can partake IN bed.

Wow, that was a naughty thought. Where did that come from?

Before I could ponder that thought further, the mare beside me made her move. Throwing her covers off, she shuffled her body to her edge of the bed and stood up on the ground. I was sorry that I lost my feathered wing-blanket, though I was still warm under the remaining sheet. But I knew it was time to get up and out of bed. Just like Nightmare Moon, I also tossed off my covers and shifted over to sit up on the edge of the mattress. Upon standing up and stretching, I had a sudden and worrying realization: I was totally naked.

I couldn't be naked in front of my crush! It was too embarrassing! I wondered how fast I could run over and put my armor on. A second, slower realization dawned on me: I was no longer human and now some sort of cat-man. And I also remembered I was covered in FUR. A look down at the more...sensitive parts of my anatomy revealed that the fur down there was longer than the rest. And well, nothing beyond fur could be seen.

Another brief moment of panic hit me. Did she leave those parts out when she remade me?! My hands quickly yet gently patted the spot down. I could definitely feel the 'frank and beans' were still there, and I let out a sigh of relief. I brushed the fur back down so it was nice and smooth.

"Something wrong, my student? You seem agitated."

I snapped my head over to look at my alicorn bed companion, who had rounded the bed while I was inspecting down under.

How long had she been watching?

"No, no! Nothing's wrong. Just...not used to this new body yet."

"I see.. Thy new body will become more familiar with time. Now, set aside those thoughts. We must begin our night."

"Um, sure. But shouldn't we eat something first? Come to think of it, I'm not hungry. And I haven't eaten anything since the bar last night."

The Night Incarnate sat down, then gave me a knowing smile.

"One of the benefits of using my body as a pattern for thy new one. You have gained some of my talents, meaning you no longer need to eat to survive. Your body will use a small amount of ambient magic to automatically sustain itself. You can still eat, and you can still overeat, as my sister's flanks would show were she here. But if you do not eat enough, or not at all, magic will make up the difference."

Wow, that's kinda neat. What else did I get from her?

"Does this mean I am immortal like you, Mistress?"

"I am not immortal; merely long-lived. I do not age, nor can I catch any ordinary mortal affliction like other ponies. The same magic that sustains me when I do not eat also heals me quickly, thus most mortal wounds are not mortal for me. But if wounded enough, I can still die. Time will tell if you have also gained this ability."

"Huh, cool! I guess I'll find out the next time I get hurt."

I thought about the prospect for a moment.

"Or in a few decades if I don't age."

Nightmare Moon chuckled at my enthusiasm.

"Correct, though I hope for your sake it is the latter."

I tried but failed to stifle a yawn, so I settled for covering my mouth with the back of a hand.

"Too bad your magic doesn't get rid of the need to sleep."

"You may yet gain that ability in time."

"Whuh, really?"

"Yes, it is true. I can go for many months without sleep if I choose to. However, as with many things in life there are penalties to pay. Sleep is a time for the body to rest and repair itself, as well as time for the mind to organize the day's activities. Much like the ability to go without food, this ability will continue to sustain the body and soothe the mind in the same way that sleep will. However, this magic will draw upon one's normal magical reserves rather than using the ambient magic around us.

"My reserves of magic are vast and my ability to recharge those reserves is great, thus going without sleep is nary a burden. For you however, sleep is still a necessity. Your training yesterday drained most of your meager reserves, even with the small drought I gifted to you."

I digested this knowledge briefly, and grimaced at what seemed like the obvious conclusion.

"I'm not sure then how much I'll be able to help you, Mistress. If shield training was enough to exhaust me, how am I going to do in an actual battle?"

"Such an impatient pony thou art. Much like physical exercise strengthens one's physical form, using magic also deepens one's magical reserves. Also know that your reserves were not adequate when we commenced your training last night. As you fully recharge your reserves, you will find your training to be less taxing though it will still remain a challenge."

I managed to stifle the next yawn.

"I hope so, Mistress."

"While each pony has their own unique magical potential, your magical essence was made from a portion of mine. Thus, you have the potential to have a large magical reserve similar to my own. However, it may take you hundreds of years to approach my level of magical prowess."

"If you say so, Mistress."

"I have decreed it as such, and so it is truth. Now, my magic shall don your armor for you so we can resume your training."

"Going to help me get dressed in the morning? Kinky."

My teacher cocked her head to the side, clearly confused.

"I do not understand. Does thy armor not fit properly?"

Stupid sense of humor, you're going to get me in trouble one of these days.

"Never mind, Mistress. Could you teach me how to put on my armor, so I'm not reliant upon you to put it on and take it off?"

"I see. Another time, for we must resume your training forthwith."

The Night Mare took a moment to teleport my armor onto me, then stood up and started walking towards the tunnel that led outside. As she walked, her horn began to glow. In response, her armor shimmered in the same magic field. The armor floated off of its stand and over to her, one piece at a time. Each piece settled itself on to her majestic frame before the next one arrived.

One shoe after another were placed in the dirt right beneath an upraised hoof, in such a way that she stepped naturally into the shoe. Sorta like if you were walking forward, and your socks and shoes just slipped on while you were walking. The straps were buckled together before that hoof was lifted up off of the ground. The whole process looked quite elegant, like she had just walked into her armor. I was more than a bit jealous of how easy she made it look.

Just before I followed Nightmare Moon to the exit, I glanced behind me to see how the cave layout had changed. The large four-post bed appeared to take up most of the room. The armor stands for her armor and mine took up most of the remaining space, now framing the exit to the room. Beyond a small spot in front of the bed, there appeared to be just enough room for one person (or pony) to walk around the large bed.

A short but leisurely walk down the passageway and we were out in the crisp night air. The desert floor looked just as bright and alive as it did the night before. The sky, on the other hand, was breathtaking. I could see the Orion Nebula to our left, which would make that direction to be west-southwest.

That means...there!

The Pleiades were clearly seen to our right, close to the horizon, meaning our cave entrance faced west. Almost straight in front of us and quite bright in the sky was the Eskimo nebula. While I examined the night sky, I could hear naught but the wind and the rustling of branches. That breeze drifted lightly across my fur, cool yet very pleasant. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tumbleweed bouncing across the desert floor, pushed along with the breeze.

This magic of Luna's - er, I mean Nightmare Moon's is pretty impressive. I didn't realize I knew so much about the night sky. Or did I learn more from the Cosmos TV show than I thought?

The breeze picked up again, and I could see some of the desert trees swaying in the wind. Again, the sound of the rustling leaves came unbidden to my ears. I didn't remember seeing or hearing so much in my previous life. Was I that distracted by technology, that I didn't take time to see nature all around me? Was the magic magnifying things, or was it my new eyes, or both? Sadly, I was not to find out that evening.

"Enough sightseeing. It is time for your lessons."

Tearing my eyes away from the night sky, I looked at my teacher who was standing next to me. Her silver armor was polished to an impeccable shine, and contrasted nicely against her ebony coat. Her mane and tail continued their uncanny swaying as always.

"Alright, Mistress. What will I be learning tonight?"

"Flight, my student."

"Flight? Cool! I've always wanted to fly."

A chuckle from my teacher, and her smile was almost as wide as mine felt.

"A stallion with a heart much like my own, then. Here, I shall impart pegasus magic upon thee. Hold still."

I leaned my head in her direction, and felt her horn lightly touch my head. Just like with the shield spells, the flow of memories appeared in my mind as if I had always known them. But this time, they weren't coming in all at once. Like being given a jigsaw puzzle one piece at a time, I could understand parts of the magical memories but only together did they made sense. And they were coming in slow enough that I had time to puzzle over each piece before the next one arrived.

Now, that's interesting. Looks like pegasai instinctively lower their personal gravity so that their wings can keep them in the air. Or they make themselves light enough, same difference. I wonder if I can play with that magic and use it to levitate other objects, superhero-style? Ah, this next spell seems to let me do so.

Oh, it only works if I am touching the object or pony, and the effect fades off quickly the farther the object gets from my body. So, only useful for anything or anyone I'm carrying. Disappointing, but still cool.

The next set of spells were somewhat confusing. They weren't taking for some reason, and the Mare in the Moon had to put more effort into her casting.

This set of spells seems to be adding some sort of pushing force, but again it's not voluntary. I'm pretty sure I can cast the spell, but it needs to be attached to something or it won't work. Maybe the next spell will combine with this one. Or maybe this spell isn't done yet? Oh wait, it just finished.

Why am I suddenly reminded of downloading torrented files?

This magical bandwidth is so slow, is this the equivalent of dial-up? And only one spell at a time. Okay, the next spell has 'downloaded' enough I can take a look at it. It seems to be instinctual knowledge again, of - ha! Cloud control! And is this...yes! I can sit on clouds now! Sweet!

The next part didn't make much sense, and the magic just didn't want to stay. Nightmare Moon had to re-cast the spell five times before it would stick, and even then I didn't understand it. As the Night Mare rested, I tried to digest this last chunk of magic.

This last piece seems to be mostly instinctual, though some of it feels like hard-earned experience. And again, it's not attached to anything. That part feels like knowledge of air currents, and how to read and ride updrafts, and how to angle one's wings to dive....oh.

Wings. This magic has to be used through a pair of wings!

And this magic feels disconnected, just like that 'pushing force' spell from earlier. So I imagine it also has to be used through wings. Knowing that, the problem is blatantly obvious.

Nightmare Moon interrupted my mental analysis with a loud sigh.

"Are you done integrating those spells yet? I am eager to take to the air."

"I don't think we can just yet, Mistress."

Another sigh from her, this one of impatience.

"Did the spells not take hold, student? I am certain they did, despite the additional effort."

"They did, Mistress. It's just...I discovered why they didn't work."

"Truly? The mewling babe has an idea! Pray tell, what is the issue?"

Should I be delicate about this? Probably.

"Well, the spells feel like they need a pair of wings to work."

"That much is obvious. Pegasai channel most of their magic through their wings. Was that your brilliant deduction?"

"Uh, yeah. I don't have wings."

"What?! Such nonsense! They were given to thee when thou was transformed--"

As she spoke, I turned my bare back to her showing that I, in fact, did not have any wings. And thus stopped her sentence cold.

"What? But I...

"Oh horseapples, I remember now."

Turning back to the mare, I saw she had a foreleg draped over her muzzle which covered her closed eyes from view. Not exactly a facehoof, yet it felt more profound.

"Mistress? Are you all right?"

Another sigh of frustration, and she dropped her foreleg from her muzzle.

"Yes, I shall be fine. I remember now. I attempted to give you wings as I changed your form, from human into who you are now. However, the entire transformation spell threatened to fall apart each time I attempted to do so. The magic was unable to integrate the second shoulder girdle into your anatomy. Thus, I set the problem aside in order to finish the rest of your metamorphosis. And forgot about it until now."

"I see, Mistress."

"I intend to correct that oversight. Perhaps the change will be easier now that the rest of your body has been altered. Hold still."

I didn't want to be changed again, but she had already done so much to me already. What more was a pair of wings? So I stayed still. Soon, I felt a tingle all over my upper back. I wondered to myself if that was the feeling of my body being reshaped, or just the touch of Nightmare Moon's magic.

Many moments passed. At last, the tingling in my back stopped. Was she done? What had I turned into that time?

"Mistress, may I move now?"

"Yes, you may."

Was that a note of dissatisfaction in her voice?

I rolled my shoulders, then looked over one shoulder to see what she had done to me. But I saw nothing.

"I don't feel any different, Mistress."

"You have not been changed, my spell was not successful."

I was pleased to hear that, actually. I wouldn't be losing any more of my humanity any time soon.

"What happened, Mistress?"

"The problem has to do with your skeletal structure, and how it differs from pony anatomy. The pony rib cage is shaped differently, more rounded, which moves the pony scapula to our sides. Thus, there is enough room to add a second shoulder girdle to support a pair of wings. Your rib cage is essentially flat on your back, relative to pony anatomy, and your scapula are much larger.

"I could only add the pegasai shoulder girdle if I severely shrunk your scapula, or distorted your rib cage. Shrinking your scapula would have severely compromised the use of your forelegs, and changing your rib cage would have forced you into a four-legged gait. Either would have severely compromised your movement."

"In short, I cannot give you pegasai wings."

YES! This isn't just a temporary setback, but a fundamental issue that let me keep some of my humanity. Or at least my humanoid shape. But how can I fly into battle now? Ah, smart-ass-me knows!

"I guess I'll have to ride you into battle, Mistress."

"That will NOT happen, I shall not be demeaned in such a way! Do I make myself clear?!"

Drat! Though I admit, I was hoping she'd catch the double entendre there.

"Yes, Mistress. But how else will I stay by your side if I cannot fly?"

"That is a valid point that I must solve. But let me be clear. There will be no riding of me. At all."

I did my best to pout, though the twinkling in my eyes was a dead giveaway that I was amused.

"Awwwwww."

The Night Incarnate looked at me strangely, she must not have caught on to my innuendo yet. As realization finally dawned, she inhaled sharply. Groaning audibly, she draped a foreleg over her muzzle again.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"I believe the usual answer to that is 'Love Me?' But we haven't even gotten past kissing yet."

Dropping her foreleg back to the ground, Nightmare Moon glared at me while an ominous wind just happened to blow into my face and chest.

"Keep making comments like that, and we never will, MY STUDENT. Do I make myself clear?!"

She can't be that angry, I know she can be a lot scarier than that. But she made her point.

"Yes, Mistress."

Though the way she phrased that implies there IS still a chance. Heh.

"However, despite your ribald comments you are correct. It is necessary for you to fly at my side. There is only one spell I am aware of to give somepony a pair of wings, albeit they are only temporary."

Ah, I know this one from the Sonic Rainboom episode.

"Do you mean the Butterfly spell, Mistress?"

"That is correct. How did you know of this? I have not spoken of this spell with you, and the memories I have given you should not have included it."

I shrugged in an attempt to avoid the question. I didn't want to deal with telling her about the My Little Pony TV show and the fandom attached to it.

"Not sure, Mistress. I just remember the name."

I had a feeling she didn't like my answer, but she seemed unwilling to press the point.

"Regardless of the source of your knowledge, you are correct. However, the Butterfly Wings spell is time-consuming to cast. I cannot be assured I would have time to cast it upon you if we needed to fly quickly. Also, the wings are fragile and easily damaged thus you could not fly at an acceptable speed."

Rarity’s plight in the Best Young Flier’s competition made that quite clear.

"Well, that sucks. What now, Mistress?"

Nightmare Moon pondered the question for s few moments.

"Can you access any pegasai magic, my student?"

"I believe so, Mistress. I can--"

I was interrupted by an upraised hoof.

"The specifics are not important right now. I must recuse myself to our domicile under the hill and meditate on this issue. Be sure not to disturb me. Practice what magic you can until the sun rises, or when I call for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mistress, I do."

Without another word, the Night Mare turned and walked back into the cave entrance.

Oh that's right, we barely made it out of the cave tonight.

Tonight's magic transfer and subsequent conversation had taken place a mere handful of steps away from the cave. So far, this was turning out to be a weird night.

Act 1, Chapter 6 - This Desert is Jumpin'

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After an embarrassing wake-up call, Nightmare Moon decided to teach me how to fly. But there was a big problem - she couldn't give me wings to fly with. The dark mare decided to meditate on the problem, and left me alone to practice my new skills.

For the first time since I joined Nightmare Moon's Army of Two, I was left alone to figure things out for myself. There was no dark and powerful alicorn to watch over me, lest I escaped from her evil clutches. But not once did I think about running or escaping. My mistress had given me a job to do, and I did not want to disappoint her. Besides, I was having a blast! I couldn't help but fanboy out a little bit.

I got to meet Nightmare Moon, and I've hung out with her for two days so far. Now, she's teaching me magic! On top of that, she's gonna to teach me how to fly! How awesome is that?

Sure, she had to take away my humanity and make me into some sort of cat-man, which really sucked. And I'm helping out one of the My Little Pony villains, which means I'll probably be fighting the Mane 6 at some point. But I get to meet them! Sooo awesome!

A gust of wind blew right in my face, bringing with it the various scents of the desert. I was reminded of a similar, more ominous gust of wind while I was training with Nightmare Moon.

Alright, alright. Time to get serious. The Mistress gave me an order after all.

After a few minutes of practice, I was able to lower my personal gravity enough to jump about 20 or so feet in the air. It took me several more minutes of practice to figure out how to keep my balance while in the air. I quickly learned that cats don't always land on their feet. I was also glad Nightmare Moon wasn't watching, or she'd probably have laughed her butt off at me again.

Once I got the hang of jumping straight up, I tried lowering my gravity and jumping forward. That was not one of my better ideas. Not even a cat's inherent grace could save me from falling over. I seemed to excel at landing on my face. At least I never hit very hard, lowered gravity and all. But it sure was embarrassing.

I kept practicing, and started making progress. Eventually, I was hopping around the desert floor like I owned the place. I got a good rhythm going: crouch down and lower my gravity, then push myself off the ground as hard as I could. When I had traveled far enough, and gravity tugged me earthward again, I would let go of the pegasai magic which would bring my weight back to normal. Gravity would then pull me down at a decent pace.

When I was close to the ground, I would lighten my gravity again so I wouldn't hurt myself when my feet hit the ground. After landing, I would crouch down to absorb some of the kinetic energy of the impact and to prep myself for another jump. The timing was pretty critical; one slip-up and I'd fly out of control again. But when I got it right, I had a lot of fun!

At the time, I never noticed that the exercise didn't made me tired nor did my feet hurt from hitting the ground so many times.

This jumping cadence did help me move around very quickly. Not as fast as flying, of course. I wasted a lot of energy jumping up and landing, especially when I landed hard. More than once, I scared a bird or small rat when I landed. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the animal would take off from its hiding place like a shot out of a gun. My new feline instincts would flare up and make me hyper-alert, urging me to pursue the creature and catch it! But my human instincts won out every time, settling instead for following the animal with my eyes. Only after I lost sight of the small creature would I leave.

One time, I startled a coyote. It ran away like all the other animals, but this time it hid behind a nearby bush instead. The coyote stayed there and watched me, unmoving, until I decided to leap away. More cautious than scared, I supposed.

While I could cover a lot of ground with these pegasai-magic jumps, I couldn't steer while I was in the air. I could only change direction when I landed, and subsequently jumped off in a different direction. I could activate the 'pushing force' spell while in the air, but without wings the magic had no effect.

I wonder if I can channel that magic through my arms? Time to make a mental checklist.

Arms and body at rest? No reaction.

Flapping arms while on the ground? Nothing.

Lowering gravity, jumping straight up and holding arms out? Negative.

Lowering gravity, jumping straight up and flapping arms? Sent myself off-balance and nearly ate dirt. Fail.

Lowering gravity, jumping forward and holding arms out? Still nothing.

Lowering gravity, jumping forward and flapping arms? Off-balance again and this time ate dirt. Scared a rabbit hiding nearby. Epic Fail.

I was now out of ideas. Time for some help from my friend, Google! While the internet shouldn't know anything about pegasus magic, I'd found some really crazy stuff from random Google searches. It couldn't hurt to try. I reached down to pull my phone from my pants pocket, and it wasn't there. I patted that spot on my leg several times, not quite registering that it was empty. Nor that I wasn't wearing pants. Panic set in as I finally realized my phone was missing. And I was just jumping all over the desert floor, it could have fallen out of my pants pocket anywhere!

Oh, wait - I'm not wearing pants.

Cue a forehead smack, which just kinda slammed my helmet back against my head.

Ow.

That's right, I've been wearing this new armor ever since I was changed. I wonder what Nighty did with my clothes? Must be back in the cave somewhere.

Did she undress me before changing my body? Really kinky.

She did tell me not to disturb her, so I'll have to wait to get my clothes until later.

But, I bet I can sneak in there without her noticing!

A number of pegasai-magic jumps later, and I was back at the cave entrance. Using pegasai magic to lighten my steps, I softly walked into the cave entrance and padded lightly down the passageway. As I rounded the corner, I noticed that the room was very dark. Faint magical witch lights bobbled near the ceiling, which gently threw light around the room. Before moving any farther into the cave proper, I paused to look for the ebony mare and watched for any sign that she knew I was there.

It was a good thing I stopped to look for my Mistress, or I would have tripped over her in the dim light. She had removed her armor, which a quick glance showed was on its armor stand off to one side. From this angle, her cutie mark was essentially hidden and her midnight-black fur nearly hid her from view. Only her ever-shifting mane and tail gave her presence away. Said mane and tail swayed slowly as they always did, though they seemed to be moving slower than usual. She was facing towards me, so since I couldn't see her eyes I presumed that they were closed. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she breathed in and out. I could not tell if she were meditating or merely asleep. It didn't really matter which it was, I wasn't gonna get close enough to find out if she was snoring.

I wish she had taught me how to remove my armor, or taught me a silence spell or something. I'm going to make noise no matter what I do.

Ah well, can't be helped. Hopefully she's deep into a trance or something.

Tiptoeing into the room, I searched around the walls and poked into the corners. Nothing. I wondered, could my clothes be under the bed? There was only one way to find out. I knelt down in the dirt and lifted up a corner of the bedspread. Still nothing.

"I THOUGHT I stated I was NOT to be disturbed!"

Aw crap, busted!

"My apologies Mistress, I was trying to be quiet."

"You FAILED. I am most displeased, I expected better from you."

Uh, oh. I didn't think she would be THIS pissed.

"Approach me."

I felt myself trembling as I walked around the bed. Kneeling down in front of my mistress, I looked up at the now very awake and annoyed Night Mare. As soon as my knees hit dirt, she spoke.

"Speak quickly lest you incur my full wrath, my student. Why have you disturbed my meditation?"

I am so screwed.

"I-I...I was looking for the clothes I was wearing before you changed me. I wanted to use my smartphone to do some research on how to fly without wings. Can I have them back?"

"They are no more. I used their material as I remade you."

"Wait. You mean my phone is PART of me, now? Can I still use it?"

"Nay. Its essence was unmade by my magic and remade as part of you. Your device and clothing were used as raw materials. The window on the device, for one, became part of the gemstone in your chest piece. Your attire and some metals found in the earth nearby were forged into your armor. Suffice to say, your device can no longer be used."

The ebony mare's eyes glowed red in anger. I tried to tear my gaze away, but her eyes held me in their terrifyingly firm grip. And they kept getting bigger and bigger, the longer I stared into them. If I had eaten anything in the past two days, I think I would have soiled my armor.

"I shall tell you this once more only. Do not return until I call you, or the sun rises."

Time seemed to slow as my world was burned away, replaced by the Night Mare's hostile and angry red eyes. A chill ran down my spine, and I shivered in my warm armor.

"Now, BEGONE!!"

A gasp escaped my throat, and I could feel all of my new fur stand on end. I lurched away from those evil eyes and fell back on to my butt, then scrambled backwards across the ground. To my horror, the eyes followed. A shudder ran through my body and my arms went completely numb. I fell flat on the ground and hit my helmeted head with a clang.

While I lay on my back, I could no longer see those vicious red eyes. But I knew they were still there, waiting for me. I had to escape! As fast as I could, I rolled over on to my stomach and staggered to my feet. But my body was trembling so hard I couldn't stand up, and I nearly fell over again. But I caught myself with a hand on the ground, and finally scampered away like a cat out of hell.

I ran out of the cave with my heart racing and my blood pounding in my ears. Once I got out into the open air, I used my new jumping skills to help me escape those evil, haunting eyes. I don't know how many jumps I made, or how far I went. All I remembered was the powerful urge to run away. Jump after jump, leap after leap, the need to flee consumed everything. All of a sudden, the tension and fear just BROKE mid-jump and left me feeling drained. I barely managed to land near a large cactus, then collapsed bonelessly to the ground. My body rolled for several feet before coming to rest on my back.

I panted heavily while my heart slowly stopped trying to escape my chest.

OH GOD OH GOD OH God I nearly died...

I lay there for who knows how long, exhausted beyond anything I had ever known. I tried to focus on breathing, and just waited for my body to stop trembling. When my mind began to clear, I took a deep breath and sighed out loud.

Well. Now I know why she's called the Night Mare. Cause that was the WORST nightmare I've ever had.

And to make things worse, I now know my smartphone is gone. No smartphone means no internet. How will I live?

Hey, sarcasm DOES make me feel better.

Hmmm. I used to be a comic book junkie. What do I remember about how superheroes fly?

Well, when Superman was created he could only jump really far. Kinda like the Hulk. But Superman's backstory got retconned, and the writers gave him some sort of telekinetic flight. Basically, he flew by using his mind. Somehow. Not helpful to my situation.

Thor just threw his hammer and held on. And I think he could steer the hammer with magic. Still not helpful.

I think the Vision could make his body very light, and somehow flew. Marginally useful, since I can also lighten my body. But I don't know how he changed direction in mid-air, or why a stiff wind wouldn't just blow him off-course.

Iron Man has rockets in his boots, and used the repulsors in his hands to help him change direction. He also had 'control surfaces' and an on-board computer to help him steer where he wanted to go. I don't have the computer, but maybe I can imitate the repulsors with magical bolts of force? File that away for later.

Hmmm, I can probably learn to make a shield that curves around my body and possibly my arms, making a lifting body of sorts. But that usually requires a lot of propulsion and speed to skip across the air. Another idea to file away for later.

Didn't the Rocketeer wear a helmet with a rudder on it to help him steer? Remember to try that too.

Namor the Sub-Mariner supposedly flew with wings on his ankles. Lame. But maybe tiny wings like that are easier to make with magic? Then channel the pegasus magic through those wings?

Man, I wish I had my phone. At least I could play some games to pass the time. I wonder what time it is?

I was roused from my slumber by a faint voice. I yawned and blinked owlishly, then wondered who was talking to me. The voice continued to whisper in my ears until I was awake enough to understand it.

"attend me, my student..."

Who? Oh, the Mistress! She must've figured out how to give me wings.

She's mighty quiet. What's up with that?

Ah well. Better head back before she gets pissed at me again.

I clambered to my feet and took a look around. I was looking for a landmark or something that would tell me where I was, so I could figure out how to get back to the cave. Nothing looked familiar, but I could still see the marks in the dirt where I fell and rolled on the ground.

I was really scared, so I probably fled in a straight line from the cave. So if I draw an imaginary line through the marks on the ground, I can use it to figure out which way I need to go.

I took a pegasai-fueled jump in the direction of that imaginary line, but stopped after landing. Sure enough, about ten feet away from me was a tell-tale mark of one of my landings: a circle of dust and a pair of large paw prints pointing back the way I came. I corrected my angle slightly, and made another jump. And again, not far from me was another landing mark of mine. I was now confident I was heading in the right direction.

My new pegasus magic jumping skills made crossing the desert floor fast and easy. As I traveled, I could still hear the Night Mare's voice calling me home. I expected it to get louder the closer I got, but it didn't. If anything, it got quieter. Was something wrong with her? I landed right in front of the cave entrance and quickly walked down the passageway.

Rounding the bend into the cave proper, I could see the room was lit brighter than before. A quick look at my Mistress, and her quiet mental call now made sense. To be blunt, she looked completely exhausted. Her head hung low, nearly in the dirt, and her mane and tail hung limply like they were now made of normal hair. And was she actually panting?

I thought she was all-powerful? What could have exhausted her so badly?

Two spherical teal-colored gemstones rested in the dirt in front of the mare. Each looked to be no bigger than a clenched fist. The gems glowed softly, as if lit from within. Even with my limited abilities, I could sense the power stored within them. I was quite curious about the gemstones, but I set aside my curiosity for the moment. Nightmare Moon needed me now.

As if on cue, the Moon Mistress glanced up in my direction. Her eyes were very glassy and unfocused, and her head bobbled a bit as she tried to focus on me.

What the hell happened to her?

Rushing to the Night Mare's side, I dropped to my knees in front of her. My concern for her welfare was all too evident in my voice, but I didn't care.

"Mistress, what happened?! Are you sick?"

"N...nay. I am...merely...exhausted."

"Exhausted, Mistress? I've seen you do amazing things and make them look easy. What could you have done, that would actually exhaust you?"

The worn out mare shakily pointed a hoof towards the two gems resting in front of her.

"Made...these."

These little things?

I reached down to pick up one of the gems. It was warm in my hand, though I could not tell if that was due to its creation or to the power contained within. This close, I could see that the surface was not faceted like most gems I had seen, but appeared to be polished like a pebble. Brushing my fingertips over the gem revealed it was not perfectly smooth. I could feel little bumps and dips in the surface. A note of wonder graced my words as I gazed into the gemstone.

"Creating two gems drained you of so much...I can feel the power held within."

"Yes...yes. They are quite powerful."

Her voice sounded a bit steadier, and I hoped that meant she was recovering.

"Creating gems that can channel pegasus magic is no easy feat, as you can see."

Indicating with her head to her left, she drew my attention to a number of gemstones lying together in a messy pile. Chunks of dirt missing from the adjacent wall implied that the gemstones had been hurled away by force.

Temper temper, Mistress.

With a force much gentler than what was used on the discarded ones, I set the gemstone in my hand back in the dirt next to its companion.

"I hope thou can appreciate what we have done for thee."

Huh?

Looking back at the exhausted Night Mare, I sat up and gave her my full attention. Her mood was easy to see - tired AND cranky, a clear case of Resting Bitch Face.

Joy.

"We have given thee so much. Firstly, we gifted thee with a new body, seeding thou with our own magic. Next, we have given thee personal instruction. We do NOT take students, unlike our accursed sister who will give 'personal instruction' to any pretty flank who takes her fancy. And lastly, we drain ourselves nearly dry for thy benefit. Why? To give thee WINGS! Dost thou understand the full weight of what we have done for thee?!"

The fight finally drained from her, Nightmare Moon dropped her head down to her hooves.

She has done a lot for me, it's true. Of course, she's doing it so she can take over this world. But it is still a lot of effort.

Reaching down to her muzzle, I caressed the palm of my left hand across her cheek and gently slid my fingers under her jaw. At first, she flinched away; the kind of move that told me she did not want to be touched. But a moment later, she leaned into my warm caress. Speaking softly, I gave her the kindest smile I could manage.

"I'm not sure what to say, except thank you."

The Night Mare smiled into my hand and nuzzled it briefly.

"You are welcome, my student. Truly.

"Ah, do not mind the ravings of a tired and cranky old mare. I shall recover in time."

Under her breath, she muttered to herself. However, my new ears let me hear her clearly.

"This had better be worth the effort. This is too much, too much to make just one warrior. I cannot make an army this way."

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so I instead asked how I could help her recover.

Lifting her head out of my hand, the Mare in the Moon looked askance at me.

"Dost thou really wish to help?"

"Yes, Mistress. I do."

Why wouldn't I want to help her? It's not like it would hurt or anything.

Nodding slightly in acceptance of my offer, she filled me in on her plan.

"There is a spell that will allow me to drain your magic. Do not move."

Like the flight spells earlier that evening, the transfer spell and its use were placed in my head via Nightmare Moon's magic. My eyes glazed over slightly as I examined the new knowledge.

It's essentially creating something analogous to transmitter and receiver 'nodes' inside each of us, where she uses her receiver node to pull from my transmitter node. Heh, kinda like one-way magical wi-fi.

My mental smile only lasted a moment as I digested another bite of this knowledge transfer.

Looks like I can only pull magic, kinda like Leech Seed from Pokemon. But if the other person or pony knows how to block it, or simply has enough magical strength, they can fight the drain. That ability might be useful later on.

I broke off my internal analysis and refocused on the mare in front of me.

"I'm ready."

"Then cast the 'Mana Transfer' spell for me, for I am too weak to do so."

Easy enough.

Transmitter node cast in me...check.

Receiver node cast in her...also check.

That was easy! Well duh dummy, she's not fighting it! Now to--

URGH! Ow! What?! She's...pulling...my magic...from me! So fast...it hurts! The spell didn't say it would hurt!

Gritting my teeth in pain, I pleaded with my Mistress to slow down.

"Not so fast...Mistress...it hurts..."

"Hmph. Very well."

The drain slowed down considerably in response. It still felt like someone was pulling a string deep inside of me, but the pain had died down to a bearable level. I would describe it more like discomfort than pain. I cleared my throat and shook my head, hoping to clear the dizziness creeping in on me.

"Erm, thank you Mistress."

No reply.

Several minutes passed in silence. Eventually, the draining feeling slowed then finally stopped. Good thing too, cause I felt like I was going to faint at any moment. Or throw up. Or both. Ugh. I was reminded of the time I used a new creatine supplement in the gym, and my blood sugar crashed hard. I felt sick and queasy back then, until I had something to eat.

Unexpectedly, a quick burst of energy flowed back into me before the link was severed. I inhaled deeply, and realized I no longer felt sick to my stomach. Still tired, still drained low, but otherwise felt pretty good.

What was that magical surge? A magical candy bar to fix my magical sugar crash?

"Better?"

Dark and bitter, just how I like my mares. Or was that said about coffee?

Looking at my teacher, I noted that she looked...stronger somehow.

"Yes, Mistress. And you?"

"I am still very tired, student. However, you were able to give enough so I am not...quite as drained. I will need more time to recover."

Without another word to me, Nightmare Moon bent down to the gemstones she had created and encircled them with her magic. She brought them up to eye level and set them spinning slowly in midair. It was a fair guess that she was examining the gems. I concluded that it was a good idea, and resolved to go check out the gemstones she had thrown away.

Maybe I can figure out how they work. Beats staring at the wall, or examining the lint in my navel.

Do I still HAVE a navel?

After determining that I did, in fact, still have a navel, I unsteadily got to my feet. My sense of balance was off and I wobbled slightly on my feet. When I felt steady enough, I staggered over to the pile of gemstones on the other side of the cave. Carefully, deliberately, I dropped to one knee then flopped my butt down on to the dirt floor. With some effort I got my legs crossed in front of me, then shifted around until I was finally facing the gemstone pile.

This close, I could just feel the power radiating in the gemstones. Having access to magic is kinda like having an extra sense - along with sight, taste, touch and all the rest of the normal human senses, I now had a magic 'sense'. I could FEEL magical items nearby, and an idea of how strong they were. Sorta like looking at a light and instinctively thinking, that's kinda bright.

And usually followed by whipping out a pair of sunglasses to cover your eyes.

I also ‘knew’ that touching a magical item would give me a better idea of the power contained within it. Using a version of magical 'sonar' of sorts, I could query the magical item and get a feel of how to use it. I didn't know how I knew all of this, but I'd already had enough crazy ideas and memories stuck in my head that I just went with it. The knowledge was probably part of one of those memory transfers from Nightmare Moon. Wherever it came from, the knowledge was obvious to me and I was going to make use of it.

I reached down and picked up the nearest discarded gemstone, then brought it up to my face for a closer look. The first thing I noticed was the weight, or lack of it. The gemstone felt hard and solid, like a rock or a brick, but it had almost no weight to it. Kinda like a styrofoam ball of the same size. To get a sense of its weight, I tossed the gem a few inches up in the air. I swear, the gem felt like it floated back down into my hand.

It was time to pay attention to my magical senses. Thus, I 'reached' into the gem a tiny bit. This one felt...flawed, somehow. There was magic within, but its pattern was disrupted. It felt fuzzy rather than clear, if that made any sense. The inner light on this gem 'felt' uneven as well. Turning the gem to different angles eventually revealed a large crack deep inside.

Guess Mistress put too much power into this one, or made it too fragile.

Setting the gemstone down in my lap, I looked over the pile in front of me. Shifting the pile around to get an accurate count, I found eleven gemstones: ten lying in the dirt, and one in my lap.

That's a lot of wasted energy. No wonder Moony over there is tired. Too bad you can't just drain the energy back out and re-use it.

That was an interesting idea. I narrowed my eyes in concentration and wondered if I was on to something. There was no reason not to try. I picked up the gemstone in my lap, then cast the transfer spells I had just learned. First, a transmitter node inside the gemstone. That one was kinda difficult, and felt weird, but I made it work. The paired receiver node cast inside me was easy. And...nothing happened.

Better check my work, in case I missed something.

After skimming mentally over the spells, I could find nothing wrong.

It all looks okay, but no energy is coming through. Maybe I got this wrong? I don't know if magic works this way.

Nah, I can't give up this soon. Let me think. Normally, a transmitter pushes signals to a passive receiver. But these spells link two nodes together, and the receiver should be able to talk to the transmitter.

I sunk a bit more of that magic 'sense' into the receiver node inside of me, to try and get an idea of how it worked.

The wi-fi analogy is failing me here. It's almost like these nodes are hooked together by a magic hose or a rope or something.

At that moment, I swear I heard a mental DING!

Hmmm, what happens if I give the 'rope' a tug?

One quick mental 'tug' later, and a torrent of pure magic just poured into me. It felt...good! Really good! You know how you feel when you've been working all day, or playing sports, or helping someone pack a moving truck? As the day goes on, you slowly get more and more tired? This was just like that, but in reverse. Like I was getting more and more rested and rejuvenated every second. It was AMAZING, I'd never felt anything like it before.

Idly curious, I looked down at the gemstone in my hand and was astonished at what I saw. The gem had lost most of its glow, but the shocking part was that chunks of the stone were just...missing. As I watched, the gemstone crumbled (or dissolved) from the inside out, with large pits and holes appearing all over its surface. In moments, there was very little left that looked anything like a gem.

Just about then, I felt the magical flow stop and kinda gurgle a bit. You know, like when water empties down the drain in a sink? The remnants of the gemstone in my hands suddenly turned to dust and fell all over my lap. I frantically brushed my hands over my legs to get rid of that crap, lest it begin to sting or burn. Turns out, it neither burned nor stung nor was there any dust on my legs after all. It's almost like the remnants just vanished into the ether. Weird.

Taking stock in my health, I marveled at how good I felt. Almost...no, better then if I had slept all day and night. I felt new! Brimming with energy! And all this from a single gemstone!

I wonder, what happens if I drain another?

Selecting another gemstone, I hungrily stared deep within its magical depths and cast my cliffhanger spell.

Act 1, Chapter 7 - Night Flight

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After scaring me half to death, Nightmare Moon summoned me back to base when she found a solution to my flight problem. She left me to play around with her failed experiments, and I had discovered a unique way of using them.

Nightmare Moon willed the gemstones, currently held aloft in her magic, to descend and come to rest in the dirt in front of her hooves.

These gems appear to be intact. The patterns contained within them also appear to be correct, but we shall not know for sure until he activates them.

She finally paid attention to a bright glow on her left, and turned her head to ascertain its cause. What she saw shocked her enough to rear back in alarm. She saw her student sitting in front of the gemstones she discarded earlier that evening. That fact was not an issue. The startling fact was that his fur was no longer a midnight black, but pure white instead. And he was glowing brightly, the light casting long shadows all around the cave.

Her voice rose in both fear and alarm as she demanded answers!

"What did you do, student?!"

His only response was to turn and stare at her. His eyes also glowed, their intensity even brighter than his glowing fur. His arm rose, slowly and deliberately. His hand then reached out, as if to grab the ebony mare. Unsure of her student's actions, but convinced they were not kind in nature, Nightmare Moon tried to stand and escape his glowing touch. Alas, she was still tired and unable to move with her usual grace. She stepped on her lackluster tail with a hind hoof as she tried to stand, and it took her a moment too long to free herself.

A stream of pure magic, glowing white and bright, left her student's outstretched hand and penetrated the Moon Mare's flesh. A long, strangled gasp tore itself from the mare's throat, so certain was she at her impending doom. The shock took what little strength lay in her legs, and she collapsed down into the dirt.

Her receiver node, created a score of minutes earlier, pulled in the magic flood and silently screamed in protest as it was pushed beyond its limits. Had Nightmare Moon been able to look at the pile of discarded gemstones, she would have seen them dissolve at a rapid pace. One after another after another, the gemstones decayed and dissolved into dust. The stream of magic between the dark mare and her student continued to flow without pause. The only movement was from the Night Mare, who lay twitching in the dirt as the torrent of magic flowed into her.

Soon, the last gemstone disappeared into nothingness. The magical stream from her student's hand slowed, the light from both the stream and his body dimming. The unnatural glow in his eyes faded, as did the glow from his fur. Moments later, the student's fur returned to its normal shade of black and the magical transmission stopped.

For several moments, all was silent.

The Mare in the Moon stood up abruptly, dirt scattering over the gemstones in front of her. Glancing downwards at herself, and at her slowly-undulating mane and tail, she sputtered in confusion.

"What...but...I feel recharged!"

She glared angrily at me, and and snarled out her demand.

"What did you do?!"

Her anger didn’t phase me this time, so I took a moment or two to reply.

"I felt all the power left in the discarded gemstones Mistress, and wondered if I could tap it and drain it. I figured out how, drew it all into me, then sent most of it back into you.

"Did it work?"

"Yes! Yes, it did. I am not fully charged but more than halfway there.

“But...why? Why wouldst thou give me such magic willingly? Thou couldst have used such power to defeat me utterly, drained as I was, and the ponies of Equestria would have treated thou as a hero!”

“Why would I do that? You’ve treated me alright so far, though you can be a real bitch sometimes.”

“It is true, my moods have always waxed and waned with the tides of the moon. But I am the evil that stalks the night, the one that ponies whinny in fear from. None have dared to be kind to one such as me.”

“Eh, I’ve had ex-girlfriends who were meaner than you.”

“Mare...friends…?”

“Uh, yeah.

“Are you alright, Mistress?”

I swear I saw a slight blush flash across her cheeks for a moment.

“...yes. Yes, I am fine. Yes. Tis just a side-effect of the mana transfer, that is all.

“Definitely, all that it is. Yes.

“Now. I must know, how did you drain the gemstones and push their magic into me? Such magic does not exist, or I would have drained them myself."

"Really? I created a new spell?"

"It seems so."

A quick mental flash to a particular My Little Pony episode came to mind. It was a ridiculous thought, but I blurted it out without thinking.

"Does that make me a princess, Mistress?"

"Where...what...No! Absolutely not! What would possess thou to conceive of such an idea?!"

Ah well, it was worth asking. Though I suppose I shouldn't complain, this new body of mine seems to have some alicorn magic in it. And I'm about to get wings anyway, even if they're magical constructs rather than true pegasus wings.

"It's not important, Mistress. Did the gemstones scan OK?"

The mare glared at me out of the corner of her eyes, and at the same time reared back slightly.

"Yeeeess, my student. They appear to be ready for testing. Are you...certain...you are well?"

Ooookay. What I said wasn't that weird, was it?

"As certain as I can be, Mistress."

Silence reigned for several seconds as Nightmare Moon looked me over.

"Stand still, my student. That is the second aberration from you this evening. I must scan thee for any mental damage caused by the magical overload thou hast experienced."

Mental damage? HEY!

The Mare in the Moon lit her horn, and my body glowed in her magicks. I felt a slight tingle as she began her scan.

"What do you mean, 'mental damage'? I'm fine!"

"I am not so certain, my student. I can think of no other reason that would lead you to believe that thou art now a Princess of Equestria."

No other reason? Dammit, my mouth has really gotten me in trouble this time.

"Honestly Mistress, I'm fine. I read that in a book somewhere. The main character created new magic, and as a reward her teacher turned her into a princess. And I blurted that out without thinking."

The tingle from Nightmare Moon's magical scans stopped, and the glow of her magic went out a moment later.

"Be that as it may, I can find nothing magically wrong with you. So I am inclined to believe your story."

Whew.

"If thou hast any more flights of fancy, and believes thyself to be a Princess, be sure to notify Us immediately."

"Uh, yes Mistress. I'll be sure to do that."

"Very well. Then let us continue with our evening, and test these gemstones together. Firstly, we will need to mount the gemstones into your armor."

"INTO my armor, Mistress?"

"Yes, my student. How else wouldst thou use them? Didst thou think that thou would merely keep them in a pouch by your side, and pick them out when thou wished to fly?"

"Uh, maybe."

Nightmare Moon's muzzle crinkled up in amusement.

"Your naiveté is amusing. What would happen if thou wert struck hard enough to drop one or both of the gemstones? Thou would earn a quick trip to the ground, that is what. Nay, the gemstones must be securely mounted to thy person. And each summons a single wing, so the gemstones must be placed on thy back where they can easily support thine weight. The easiest place to mount the gemstones is into your armor. Now, enough questions. I am impatient to begin."

The Mare in the Moon quickly lit her horn, and the armor stand for my armor floated over to rest in front of her. A quick flash of magic and I was naked; in the fur, so to speak. The armor stand, now covered in my armor, was lifted up in the cool blue magic of the Night Mare and turned so the back of the armor was facing her. Said magic receded from the armor and the stand until the glow was centered on the neck and shoulders.

Suddenly, the glow brightened considerably and my eyes burned when I looked at it. Too bright! I had to lift an arm to shield my eyes, and I still had to turn away. Much later, I learned I could have simply put up a shield to block the light. But I didn't think of that at the time. The glow gave off real heat! I could feel it toasting me through my fur, kinda like sitting way too close to a fireplace. She was actually magically forging new metal to the armor!

A moment or two more of bright light and heat, and they abruptly ceased. As I brought my arm down to witness my Mistress's handiwork, my ears twitched at the sounds of a sizzling...something. Looking at the armor, I saw steam rising from the rapidly cooling metal. Water dripped to the ground as bits of ice that remained on the metal quickly melted away.

Huh. First, magical welding and forging. Now, quenching the armor in magically summoned ice! I know an SCA armorer who would love to learn that technique.

The Moon Mare lifted the modified armor off of its stand, and turned it left and right a few times. I guessed that she was looking for flaws in her magical welding. As she turned the metal, I noticed two holes in the new back plate. The holes were ringed front and back with some sort of a ridge of some kind. The holes looked like large sockets for the gemstones, but the holes went all the way through the back plate of the armor. Giving a quick nod to herself, the Night Incarnate deemed the work to be satisfactory.

"Here, let us verify that the armor still fits you. Do not worry, it is quite cool."

Yet another teleport returned my armor to my body. I flinched anyway, expecting the armor to still be uncomfortably warm. To my surprise, the metal was actually quite cool to the touch. Turning to face my Mistress, I saw her upturned brow. She had noticed my flinch.

"Dost thou not trust in my handiwork?"

I sheepishly smiled at her.

"Hehe, sorry. Just instinct. Not used to magical enhancements like that."

"Hmph. As you say. How does thy armor feel on thy body?"

I shifted my shoulders around and flexed my back to see how the new addition to the armor fit. It felt like the new additions barely covered my shoulder blades, and no matter how I moved I couldn't get anything to jam up. My shoulders were still mostly uncovered, so I could still lift my arms pretty high without a problem. Nodding to myself, I concluded that the armor was still a good fit.

"Feels good, Mistress. Nice job."

"Thank you, student. Now to add the gemstones."

A moment later, I felt a tiny addition of weight added to my shoulders. So light that I would have missed it if I hadn't been paying close attention. Unexpectedly, I felt myself yanked and twisted from side to side, and even had my armor lifted up off my shoulders an inch or two and twisted again. As suddenly as it started, my armor was dropped back on to my shoulders.

"Acceptable. The gemstones appear to be set correctly. And a spell or two have been added to surprise anypony that might try to pry the gems out of thy armor. We are ready to test them, so let us go outside."

I suppressed my annoyance at being manhandled like that, and quickly followed in the mare's hoofsteps. A quick walk down the passageway brought us outside, and to my surprise it was still night time.

How long has this night lasted? Surely it should be daybreak by now.

As if to answer my unspoken question, the Night Mare closed her eyes and aimed her muzzle up at the night sky. After a moment, she opened them and sighed in pleasure.

"Ah, we still have a half-hour of night left. Enough time for a lesson and a quick flight. My student, listen to me carefully. Grasp the pegasus magic inside of you, and stretch it into the gems on your back. When you are able to do so, your wings will appear."

Okay, here goes nothing.

I activated the pegasus magic as I did earlier that night, and of course it did nothing. But this time, I could feel the magic on my back. Two things actually, now that I really paid attention to it. The magic was centered on two spots, one centered on each shoulder blade. It felt like the magic was being tugged a bit, like it wanted to touch the gems but couldn't quite reach. Getting a mental hold of the magical spots on my back, they now felt like I had a second set of arms or limbs. I reached outwards with these magical appendages and 'grasped' the gemstones with the pegasus magic.

As soon as I 'touched' the gems, I felt a surge of power out my back and my arms flared out to my sides of their own accord. But my arms hadn't moved...my WINGS had flared out to my sides.

Wings! Oh my fucking gawd! I have WINGS!

They really did feel sorta like a second set of arms - I could flex them and twist them around without conscious thought like I had been using them my whole life. Curving one wing around my body, I saw red feathers. Crimson actually, the same color as my magic. The wings looked real, or at least as real as a human-sized wing could be. I reached out to touch the feathers, almost expecting my hand to pass through them like an illusion. But no, I was able to touch them. I could feel each feather separately, both with my hands and how they brushed against each other as I moved the wings around.

I took a closer look at the feathers, not quite believing that they were real. They didn't look like they were made of magic, or partially see-through or anything like that. They looked and felt solid, just like real feathers. A careful examination and comparison of the wings many months later, would reveal they were identical in shape and function to the wings of Nightmare Moon. We both expected my wings to be similar to hers, as she had used her own wings as a template for mine. But an exact duplicate? Not expected at all.

As I was busy inspecting my new wings, I heard my mentor speak from behind me.

"Hold still, I must examine the summons to test their integrity."

I did as bade, and tried not to flex my wings. The last thing I wanted to do is accidentally smack her in the muzzle. A slight tingle in the left wing told me Nightmare Moon's examination had begun. The tingle traveled all over the left wing, one portion at a time, then repeated over the right wing. Finally, my teacher spoke.

"There are a few minor flaws in the right wing that will impede full movement. Do not de-summon your wings, I can more easily and quickly correct the flaws while the summons is active."

The tingling in the right wing deepened into an itch, which fortunately only lasted a few moments.

"There, give them a few flaps and see how they respond."

I extended the wings to their full extension and back a few times, and gave a few experimental flaps. Not enough to give me any real lift, but they did kick up some dust.

"The one you just fixed feels good Mistress, feels natural. But the left one feels kinda stiff and it doesn't want to move quite as easily as the other one."

"Hold still then, let me see."

The tingle returned, but to both wings this time.

"Ah, yes. The right gemstone is now better attuned to your pegasus magic. It must have happened when I corrected the flaws in the wing. One moment, and I shall attune the other."

A quick buzz in the left wing and she was done.

"Flap them and see how they compare now."

Repeating my earlier motions revealed both wings felt identical.

"Balanced, Mistress."

A grin stole over the muzzle of the Moon Mistress.

"Then, let us take to the air! Merely hold on to your pegasus magic and think what you wish to do. It will handle the rest."

A combined jump and flap of her wings sent her soaring into the air, and without a second thought I did the same. Much like how I jumped around the desert floor earlier that night, I crouched down and lowered my gravity then pushed with my legs. But this time, I flapped my new wings as hard as I could.

Almost like a rocket, I shot up in the air a couple of dozen feet or so. A couple more flaps took me several dozen feet higher. Looking up and ahead of myself, I easily saw where the Night Mare was patiently hovering and waiting for me. A mere thought and a few strong flaps brought me to her side.

"See? Did I not say it was easy? Just like trotting. Just think and it happens. Now, the sun is nearly here and our night is almost spent. Let us take a leisurely flight around the desert and then retire for the day."

Without waiting for an answer, she flew off in a random direction and expected me to follow.

Heh, sure - a romantic flight around the desert. I'm up for that.

A couple of strong flaps of my wings and I caught up to my Mistress. No words needed to be spoken; we just glided through the night air together. I don't have any way to really describe it to you, my dear reader. Flying isn't really like swimming or sky diving or sitting in a plane. The cool night wind blew in my face I flew through the air.

I felt like I was in complete control.

Little tilts and flaps of my wings would move me around in the air, sorta like small wiggles of the steering wheel of a car would let you wiggle back and forth in your driving lane. The pegasus magic I held had all sorts of instincts and knowledge in them, and they were all quite active as soon as I took to the air. My wings felt attached to me, not my armor. I was glad for that - imagine if the straps on my armor broke, and I slipped out of it? My wings would fly off and leave me behind.

Speaking of my pegasus magic, it was pretty incredible. The magic gave me so much confidence, it felt like I'd been flying my whole life. Kinda reminded me of driving my car. I'd been driving for so many years, I didn't think about moving the steering wheel or pressing the gas or the brake or the clutch pedal or what gear to shift into. All I needed to do was decide where I wanted to go and how fast to get there, and my instincts would steer and shift and hit the right pedal appropriately. Flying felt a lot like that. I just adjusted for updrafts and changes in the wind without thinking about it. Like the old slogan went, 'Just do it'.

I wonder where this magic came from? I gotta ask.

A few strong flaps brought me to the right side of the Night Incarnate, and got so close our wingtips nearly touched. I noted the wind wasn't so strong that it would get in the way of a normal conversation.

"Mistress, may I ask you a question?"

Turning to look at me, she gave me a nod to ask away.

"Where did you get this pegasus magic you gave me?"

"Glorious, is it not?"

"It feels like I've been flying for years!"

"Nay, centuries."

My face screwed up in confusion at her words, and it wasn't an act.

"Centuries?! Where would you get--"

She DIDN'T.

Wide-eyed, I could only stare at my Mistress.

"Ah, I see you are not as slow as you would seem."

"Hey!"

She of the Night chuckled at my outburst.

"Is this not the type of humor you prefer? Light-hearted insults that mean nothing? To answer your unspoken question, it was a duplicate of my pegasus magic that I infused into you. There is no true common pegasus magic, only what one has learned during their lifetime. Not only did I give you my experience in flight, you also have my experience in flying through battle. How else could thou stay by my side at all times?"

Yet another gift from Nightmare Moon. My mouth wouldn't work right, I was simply awed into silence. I could only stare, my jaw slack and likely collecting flies. Especially since we were still flying through the air.

Blushing slightly, the Night Mare dismissed what she saw as a compliment.

"Fie, tis nothing. Well, not truly; but nonetheless. At least now I have somepony to fly with me and share the night sky with."

Share the night with her? Yeah, I got something I want to share with you, baby.

"Do not read too much into my words, STUDENT. And remove thy grin from thy muzzle. Twas a compliment, nothing more."

As if to belie her words, she then stuck her tongue out at me.

If she meant to discourage me, she failed!

I felt a sudden urge to show off. My wings flapped a few times to bring me above my flying partner, who looked curiously at my actions. A quick bank and twist to the left drew me over Nightmare Moon, flipped me over 180 degrees and aimed me towards the ground. Just as my descent brought me past my teacher's left side, I flipped again to swoop under her and back up to my original position on her right side.

The Moon Mare laughed, her amusement at my antics obvious. Her laughter was like the tinkling of bells, chiming throughout the night sky. The thrill of our shared flight soared in our hearts as our eyes met, and we held that smoldering, passionate look for several long seconds. The Mare in the Moon looked away suddenly, blushing furiously. Perhaps she hoped to regain some semblance of control over herself. And perhaps she had.

"I...um...we should head back now. The sun is coming up."

A quick glance towards the brightening horizon confirmed her statement. However, I had lost track of where we were, and did not know where our home was from here. I admit, I was more concerned with showing off than navigating. Instead, I waited for Nightmare Moon to act. I followed her as she banked to her left, and a few minutes' flight returned us to our cave and home.

As soon as we landed, I reached out with my pegasus magic, 'let go' of the gemstones and allowed them to deactivate. The feeling of wings at my back simply went away as if it never was. And I missed them already.

No words were spoken as we entered the cave for the last time tonight, the morning sun at our backs. Tonight had been a long night. Once inside, the Night Mare wasted no time floating her armor on to its stand and crawling into bed. And left me standing there in my armor with no way to get it off.

"Um, Mistress?"

"Hmmm, yes?"

"You haven't taught me how to remove my armor yet."

A sigh from the ebony mare.

"My apologies."

A quick blink and my armor was on its stand.

"I shall teach thee the spell tomorrow."

I crawled into bed beside Nightmare Moon.

"Thank you, Mistress. Good Night - er, I mean Good Morning."

Sleep did not come easy for the dark mare. Long after her student had fallen asleep, she lay awake under the sheets. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to let her mind rest. Again and again her thoughts returned to the flight that evening with her student, and the growing emotions she found therein. No pony had ever been so kind to her before. Could there be more meaning behind those kisses he gave? Or was he merely trying to stroke her ego? Regardless of his intent, thoughts of kissing her student again sent tingles throughout her entire being. These feelings were unfamiliar to her, and she wondered what it all meant. If anything.

Act 1, Chapter 8 - Final Lessons

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After solving my flight problem, Nightmare Moon and I took a leisurely flight around the desert until the sun came up. Then we crawled into bed and fell asleep.

I wasn't quite sure if I was awake, or if I was having a really good dream. All I knew is I didn't want it to stop. I felt...warm. And held. Safe. I faded in and out of consciousness, waking and snoozing I think, but the feeling remained. I could feel my face buried into her chest, her arms around my shoulders holding me close. Her? Felt like a her, smelled like a her, and that was all I cared about. I felt a strong urge to return the affection, so I leaned in and nuzzled the body that was holding me. A female voice cooed in response, and the arms pulled me in closer. Time passed by in a warm, cuddly haze.

Sadly, the moment was shattered by a shout.

"GAH!"

The sound was followed by several blows to my face and chest, as my snuggle buddy flailed and tried to escape my cuddly grasp. Almost as soon as she succeeded, my cuddle buddy exclaimed again. But this time, instead of pain all of the sheets that covered my warm body were yanked away. The removal of my bedding was followed quickly by a THUMP on the floor that I felt as much as heard.

I sighed to myself, and decided it was time to wake up. My bleary eyes opened to a dim room. Looking around the room, I had expected the flailing and yelling and disappearance of my sheets to be just a dream. Unfortunately, I still felt bruised and sore. And the sheets were gone, now all bundled up in a large heap on the far side of the bed. Said sheets were actively flailing, kinda like those creepy Air Dancers you see on the street sometimes.

I wondered if I was still asleep, and having some sort of strange nightmare.

The sound of ripping fabric revealed a very different Night Mare. The mare was none other than Nightmare Moon, who was wide-eyed and still tangled up in the now-ripped sheets. That scene was so strange, so unexpected that I wondered if I was still asleep and dreaming. It's not every day (or night in our case) one could see a dark alicorn princess all wide-eyed and freaked out because she got herself tangled up in her sheets. A pinch to my arm told me that I was very much awake.

I suppose I should ask if she's OK.

With a bit of a bleary voice, I addressed the still-tangled and flailing mare.

"Are you OK, Mistress?"

The response was loud and just as panicked as she looked, though fortunately not in the Royal Voice.

"FINE! FINE! Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing!"

Yep, I'm definitely awake.

I rolled my eyes at the dark mare's antics and decided to get out of bed. My butt shifted to the edge of the bed, away from the dark mare. I then slid my legs off of the mattress, and my feet came to rest on the cool dirt floor.

Sheesh, does she think I'm dumb? Clearly SOMETHING happened.

I stood up and stretched as far as I could go, held the pose for a number of seconds, then relaxed. Why were my arms and legs never long enough whenever I needed to stretch them?

Huh, those aches and pains from earlier were completely gone. Guess that's alicorn healing magic for you.

My mind flashed back to that nice dream I had, the one where I was being cuddled close by someone. Turning around, I saw the Mare in the Moon was still tangled in the torn sheets.

Maaaaybe that wasn't a dream after all.

I debated nicknaming her the 'Mare in the Sheets'. She was still wide-eyed and freaked out, but at least she wasn't flailing around anymore. The mare was just sitting there, panting hard and seemingly staring at nothing in particular.

"Are you SURE you're OK? You look freaked out."

"I shall not tell thee again, nothing happened!"

Definitely wasn't a dream, then.

"I didn't say anything happened Mistress, I simply asked if you were OK."

"Didst thou? Yes, yes, you did. I am fine, yes. Or will be once I free myself from these accursed blankets."

A flash of her horn, and the sheets she was tangled in vanished. In the next instant, they reappeared back on the bed in a crumpled, ripped mess. A second flash and the sheets were spread neatly over the bed, intact and undamaged. I wondered to myself if she had mended the sheets that fast, or were the sheets simply made of magic? I never found out.

Glancing back at the now-former Mare in the Sheets, I saw that she had her eyes closed and was going through some sort of breathing exercise. At each intake of breath, she would bring a hoof to her chest. At the exhale, she would push the hoof out and away from her. The motion looked familiar, but I couldn't place it at the moment.

A couple repetitions of this pattern and the Night Incarnate appeared calmer, and hopefully more prepared to face the night. Her teal cat-slitted eyes opened, and she gave a contented sigh to no one in particular. Then she noticed I was staring at her. A deep blush stole across her cheeks, and she hunched down a bit in clear embarrassment. I was tempted to tease her about it, as she had teased me the night before, but decided not to. It was probably better to just get on with our night.

"Ready to start our night, Mistress?"

"Oh...um yes. Of course."

She who is the Night stood up and walked around the bed to stand next to me. She looked deep into my eyes, as if she was searching for some answer held within. At length, she spoke.

"Remind me my student, was there some lesson I was supposed to teach you first thing tonight?"

I did not reply immediately, I had gotten lost in those large eyes of hers. A moment later, I shook my head briefly to break the spell I had fallen under.

"Hmmm? Oh yes, Mistress. You were going to teach me how to put on and take off my armor on my own."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. One moment while I prepare the spells."

A tap of her horn to my forehead and I had the necessary knowledge. Once again, I monologued to myself while the jigsaw puzzle of memories came through via the magical equivalent of BitTorrent into my brain.

This seems to be just two spells, but each spell feels like there's another spell wrapped around it. Three spells, but cast as two?

I took a moment to examine each spell in turn.

Ah, this first one lets me take off my armor and teleport it to wherever I choose. The second lets me reach out and "grab" the armor, then teleport it on me.

I pursed my lips as I puzzled out the meaning of the third spell.

This spell is wrapped around the other two. It feels like it's the same spell, like a...cleaning spell? No, a maintenance spell! A spell to repair and remove scratches and scuffs. Hey, that's neat!

Now that I knew the meaning of the spell, I could figure out the rest of it.

This third spell will clean and repair the armor from...minor damage I think...and polish the armor when I take it off after a night's use. And it does it again when I put the armor on, in case the armor was damaged when sitting on the ground or something. Cool!

A smidge of magic, and I was now wearing my shiny, clean armor. Glancing over at my Mistress, I saw that she was just about done floating over and donning her own gleaming set of armor.

"Mistress?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, why don't you teleport your armor over like you just taught me how to do?"

"Ah, tis mere habit. When I learned how to don armor, I was taught to do so with intent. To don armor in my day was also to prepare oneself for battle, thus it was not only donning armor but a mental preparation as well. Litanies were once spoken as each piece was worn and strapped on. The litanies have long been lost to history, but my habits still remain."

"I admit Mistress, it looks really impressive floating your armor over piece by piece. I'm tempted to do it that way myself, but my armor doesn't appear to be made that way."

"It is true I made thy armor different than my own. I primarily removed all of the adjustment buckles, they are unnecessary with the magic I taught you. And the buckles seem to enjoy catching on my coat besides."

"Well, thank you for saving me those minor pains, Mistress. I'm still new at wearing all this fur you know."

A small giggle slipped from the Moon Mistress.

"Yes, I am well aware. Shall we begin thy lessons?"

"Sure."

We walked together towards the cave exit, though I had to give way to her as the passageway was not wide enough for us both. The entire way down the passageway I watched her tail sway back and forth, the tail itself still swaying in its unseen wind. I admit, the view was quite pleasant.

As with the past two nights, the night sky was just gorgeous. Scanning over the whole night sky, I could not see any changes in the constellations and stars from the night before. However, there was so much to see I doubt I would have noticed any minor changes. The wind from last night seemed to be mostly absent at the moment, but I could still hear the sounds of the desert. Branches rustling, paws scrabbling in the dirt, and an occasional chitter from some creature. All fairly quiet, and probably would have gone unheard by my human ears. These new cat ears felt like they could pick up everything. How with such sensitivity I didn't go deaf at normal noises I'll never know.

"Your lessons so far have been primarily defensive, my student. The subject of tonight's lessons will be offensive magic and illusions. Prepare thyself."

The Mare in the Moon touched her horn to my forehead again, and the magical BitTorrent download began.

Or, since this transfer was limited to one spell at a time, would this be an XMODEM transfer? Or ZMODEM? Hard to say, there's no phone line latency here to test it with.

I sighed as I realized I had gotten caught up in computer geekery yet again.

And Moon Butt here has been trapped in the moon for centuries longer then these protocols existed, so speculation is pointless. I should really start paying attention to these spells, instead of geeking out over ancient data transfer protocols.

A cursory mental review found the skills I had missed while I was geeking out.

Lessee, this one is...fire! My inner caveman is pleased. Ah, there's cold and ice - kinda the opposite of heat and fire.

I waited patiently as the next spell was placed in my memories.

Next one is...water, so I can guess which ones are next. Yep, there's air...

I held on for the next batch of spells, but nothing came through.

What, no earth spells? Oh, here we go.

Again, I studied the spells as the pieces came in.

These use levitation and general telekinesis to lift dirt. And I can crush dirt into a more compact form. Hmmm, seems to work on rocks and other denser matter as well, makes them really tough. Wonder if the spell is strong enough to make diamonds with? Oh, another spell is coming in. Cool, lightning!

Mulling over the lightning spell, I tried to think of different ways to use the spell.

Hmm, I bet I can tweak the lightning's power and use it kind of like a taser to knock someone out. Have to experiment with that one, I bet that skill would come in handy.

Nightmare Moon's magical skill transfer continued on.

Looks like this next spell is simply bolts of magical force. I think this is the spell she used on me while I was learning how to shield.

After the last skill finished transferring, the Night Mare lifted her horn from my forehead and the glow around her horn faded out.

Oh, looks like we're done. No illusion magic, she must be saving it for later.

I took a few extra moments to finish digesting the spells, and realized that there was more to each spell than just how to cast it.

Are those...memories? Experience? I should ask about that.

"Before we begin Mistress, may I ask you a question?"

"You may."

"I've noticed, with each magical lesson transfer you also give me a copy of your knowledge along with it. Do you do the same when the Royal Guards are trained?"

"Nay, such skill transfers are rarely useful. No pony learns the same skills in the same way, and advanced skills build greatly upon many other skills learned in the past. To effectively use the skills transferred in such a way, one must unlearn their previous skills and re-learn them all. Else the transferred skills could not be used by the recipient. Much akin to memorizing a scroll, letter by letter; it is raw knowledge with no way to retrieve it therewith. It is easier and faster to teach new skills the long way via demonstration and practice."

"Really? Then why has it been working for me, Mistress?"

"Because you are a mere babe in magic, and thus had no skill or knowledge to unlearn. Withal, remember that I used part of mine own magical essence to remake thy body and give thee access to the magic of this world. Meaning that, any experience I give to thee will connect readily with thy essence and be quickly absorbed. A short amount of dedicated training will activate that experience and make thee battle-ready very quickly.

“It is true that you have shown an eagerness to learn. But without Us sharing our experience with thou, thee would still be learning the basics of how to levitate."

"Huh. And here I thought magic was just really easy to learn."

The Mare in the Moon chuckled at my naiveté.

"Any magic beyond simple levitation requires dedication and many months, if not years, to learn. To master certain spells can take a lifetime. Dost thou remember my surprise when thy form was first remade? Not only did thou demonstrate an amazingly quick mastery of levitation, thou lifted me and returned me to earth quickly yet gently. We have known few ponies that have mastered levitation to such a level, and yet thou did so within minutes of being remade. Thou had no skill in magic at that moment, thus the only reasoning can be that thou tapped into skills stored in the magical essence given to thee. We merely took advantage of such knowledge, and gave thee copies of my skills to greatly speed up thy training."

That's kinda disappointing.

"So, you're saying I haven't learned anything over these past couple of days. I've just been accessing a copy of your memories."

"Do all of the denizens of this world whine so much, or is it just you? Nay, you have been learning these skills but not as one normally would. Thou has been helped along by the memories I have given you. Thou must still practice in order to integrate the memories into your mind. Thou must still learn the best way to use the memories, thus you must practice. Until then, the memories sit there, unused. The integration of my memories occurs quickly due to the similarities in our magical essences."

I held my jaw in a hand as I thought about what I was just told.

"I think I understand. When I'm learning magic, I'm mostly tapping into memories you gave me. But I don't know how to use them until I practice them, then I make the memories my own. It's easy because you and I are almost the same, magic-wise."

"Ah, the mewling babe begins to understand."

I ignored the Moon Mare’s insults as I processed all this new knowledge. I still wasn't sure if I was pleased or disappointed, so I settled for a generic comment.

"Interesting."

"Very true, my student. This type of learning is rarely done, for few ponies want another pony to share the same memories. Most prefer to savor the lessons the hard way. Alas, we do not have years to train you the common way and I am impatient to begin my conquest of your world.

"There is another side effect of this transfer that we must be cautious of."

"Side effect? Like what, Mistress?"

"Nothing as vile as your tone of voice implies, my student. Merely that our tactics in battle will be very similar, since we have essentially the same memories. An enemy that determines how to defeat one of us will now have an easier time defeating us both. Fortunately, this world does not make use of magic thus this possibility is very unlikely. As time passes and thou gains more personal experience in battle, our...'styles' as such will begin to diverge. Until then, we must be aware of this weakness and treat it accordingly."

"I see, Mistress. I think."

"Very well. If your questions are done we shall start our lessons for the evening."

She who is the Night began walking into the desert without waiting for me to reply. I moved quickly to catch up to her, and matched her pace quite easily.

"How do you want to do this, Mistress? Do the reverse of when you taught me to shield? You shield and I attack?"

"No. I shall provide you with a different target."

Cryptic, but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

We silently walked through the desert for several minutes until we reached a small area seemingly devoid of any life. I recognized the area as the one we used for shield training a couple of nights earlier. Nut surprisingly, the holes in the dirt from when I tried to root myself in place were still there. Nightmare Moon paused in the middle of the cleared area and lit her horn.

A quick burst of energy, and a pegasus pony simply appeared in front of her. The pony had a wide muzzle, so I presumed him to be a stallion. His muzzle and wings were dark gray, and had a dark blue windswept mane and tail. However, most of his body was covered in a very familiar jumpsuit. The bodysuit was purple with midnight blue covering the head, neck and hooves, the two colors separated by a yellow lightning-bolt pattern.

On his flank where his cutie mark would normally be, was a pony skull with wings instead of ears. The outfit was finished off with purple goggles that had yellow lenses.

A Shadowbolt!

The Night Mare lifted a hoof and rested it on the Shadowbolt's back in an affectionate manner. He leaned back into her caress and rubbed his head against her leg. Clearly, the Shadowbolt was very attached to his Mistress.

"My Shadowbolts are very loyal, and very tough. They can take anything you can throw at them. Thus, you shall be using this one for target practice."

Upon hearing this last bit, the Shadowbolt's eyes (goggles?) flew open. He pulled his head back from his Mistress' leg and looked up at her, not quite believing what he had just heard. I could almost hear him thinking, Did his Mistress want him to stand still and be shot at?

Noticing the gesture, the Moon Mare glanced down at her Shadowbolt and raised an eyebrow at his apparent defiance.

"Is there a problem?"

"Seems kinda cruel to do this to a living thing, Mistress."

"Living thing? Hah! Nay, my Shadowbolts are mere magical constructs. They cannot feel pain like a real pony can. Besides, in battle you will be attacking living beings. If you do not get over this fear of yours, you will hesitate in battle. And hesitation may end thy life. The effort to re-summon a Shadowbolt is a mere pittance, so they are ideal for target practice. Now, begin!"

The construct in question rolled his head (and presumably his eyes behind the goggles) and slumped in defeat. He then beckoned to me with a hoof, indicating that I should just go ahead.

"You sure, dude? This is going to really hurt."

After a brief pause he nodded, then beckoned again.

Shrugging internally, I began by setting the Shadowbolt's mane on fire. Screaming wordlessly, he tried to put the flames out with his hooves. This had no effect on the flames, but he did manage to knock himself senseless. Figuring he had suffered enough, I summoned a bucketful of water over him (sans bucket, of course) and soaked him to the bone.

Now sodden and scorched, the Shadowbolt looked really unhappy already. It's not like he could attack me back, his sole job was to be a target. He reminded me of a scene in the first episode of My Little Pony, where Twilight had just been knocked into a mud puddle by Rainbow Dash.

Hmm, I wonder if I can use Dash's idea?

A quick thought, and I whipped up a small tornado around the disgruntled Shadowbolt. It was my best imitation of Rainbow Dash's 'Rain-Blow Dry' trick, and it seemed to work well. Letting the wind die out, the Shadowbolt appeared to be quite dry. However, the remnants of his mane and tail were all poofed out and tangled and his eyes were all swirly. Well, at least the lenses in his goggles had swirls in them. Nightmare Moon giggled at her Shadowbolt's antics, and a quick flash of her horn restored him back to perfect health.

(I did NOT giggle!)

(Yes you did, now hush)

Under our teacher's direction, I basically tortured the Shadowbolt for several hours while I practiced my spell casting. Though on an interesting note, paralyzing lightning has a lessened effect on pegasai. I presumed the effect was due to their weather-related skills, as they would need resistance to cold and lightning to work in bad weather. And the paralysis didn't affect everything, as the Shadowbolt still had control of his eyes and facial muscles. Probably could talk as well, but since the Shadowbolt never talked once I couldn't be sure.

I did learn how many amps to put in a single bolt to paralyze the Shadowbolt, and learned the hard way how much was too much.

Despite all of this torture (and one "death" due to accidental electrocution), the Shadowbolt was always restored by Nightmare Moon and returned to perfect health. He did seem to remember each time that he was the target for the evening, so I didn't know if our Mistress was merely healing him or re-summoning him from scratch. I had no idea if he remembered what I'd done to him before he was restored, but he never seems to hold a grudge. He simply resigned himself to his apparent fate and let me do painful things to him.

Towards the end of my training session, I experimented with combining elemental effects together. Some worked, some not so much. The most successful combinations were fire & water, which created scalding steam; and fire & air which created essentially a flaming tornado. I barbecued the Shadowbolt pretty well with that last one.

After this last demonstration, Nightmare Moon ignored the charred and twitching form of the Shadowbolt and addressed me instead.

"You have demonstrated an excellent understanding of offensive magic, my student."

She glanced down at the torched Shadowbolt before continuing.

"And a measure of creativity in its application. I feel it is time to move on to illusion magic."

Stepping over the still sizzling (and very much alive) Shadowbolt, the Mare in the Moon touched her horn to my head one more time to impart her knowledge and memories to me. This batch was fairly complex, but the complexity varied depending on how real the illusion was. For example, one could create a basic illusion of any size and shape with a smidge of illusion magic. A roaring monster the size of a Ursa Minor or Major could easily be done with little effort. The monster would look and sound real, but it could not touch or break anything. Simply touching it would be enough to dispel the illusion.

Put more effort into the spell, and the star bear could knock over trees and take a few hits before dispersing. Though it might take alicorn-level magic to make the monster as real as the actual thing. The same effect was felt if you cast illusions on ponies; they could feel and see the illusion, but how real the illusion was depended on the magic you put into it.

The Moon Mare interrupted my thoughts with a stomp of her hoof.

"I am impatient to begin, my student. Illusion magic is not a subject I prefer to dwell upon. Its use in battle is frowned upon by worthy warriors, though it can be useful if one has a need to be unobserved or unnoticed. Again, my Shadowbolt will be the subject of your ministrations."

I gestured to the fallen Shadowbolt, whose twitching had nearly ceased.

"Perhaps you should heal him before we begin, Mistress."

"Truly? Oh, very well."

With a flash of her horn the Shadowbolt was restored to perfect health once again. Unnoticed by the dark mare, he had given her a mean and dirty look. He switched to a wide smile just as she glanced down at him. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at her minion. She held his gaze for several seconds, until he shamefully looked away.

"Ahem."

The Night Incarnate gestured at her Shadowbolt with a hoof.

"Begin."

With a blink of magic from me, the now-sitting Shadowbolt discovered he had a long elephant snout on the end of his muzzle. He looked at the illusion for a moment, then waved his hoof through it until the illusion faded away. Another blink and he had large elephant ears, which were dispelled just as easily. The Shadowbolt gave me a dirty look and crossed his forelegs over his chest.

Alright, challenge accepted. Let's see how creative I can be here.

I channeled an offensive spell and added a touch of illusion magic. Suddenly, a fireball about the size of a basketball appeared in my hand. The threat of more bodily harm got the Shadowbolt's attention. I tossed the fireball at him, but instead of burning when it hit he found he was covered in snow! A touch of illusion magic had made the snowball look like fire instead.

She of the Night chuckled slightly.

"Amusing, but hardly useful on the battlefield."

What else can I do with this magic? Could I remove things instead of adding them? Essentially making something invisible?

My dirty mind thought of the perfect thing, and thus I cast my spell of choice on the Shadowbolt. His eyes went wide as he felt some part of him just...disappear. Glancing down between his hind legs to confirm the lack of sensation, he looked back up at me in disbelief.

I simply smiled at him and waited.

The Shadowbolt craned his neck between his forelegs again, then reached between his hind legs with a foreleg a bit too fast...

I could almost feel it when his hoof hit something solid. It's one of those feelings most males are unfortunately familiar with, and usually wince in sympathy when they see it happen to another. Not surprisingly, the Shadowbolt stiffened momentarily then fell over onto his side with both forehooves tucked between his hind legs.

Ouch.

Tactical error on his part, he knew I was casting illusions. Guess he thought I had actually removed his 'frank and beans' instead of hiding them from view.

Glancing down at her hapless Shadowbolt, the Night Sky given Flesh sighed in boredom.

"I tire of this."

Before I could blink, she had de-summoned her Shadowbolt. I was a bit disappointed when he left; I didn't even get to say goodbye. I had no time to mourn the little guy however, for with a shout of "To the air!" the Night Mare launched herself straight up into the sky.

I knew she would not want to be kept waiting, so I flew up as fast as I could to meet her. For several seconds I followed her higher and higher into the sky, never gaining or losing any ground on her. At last, she paused in her ascent and merely hovered.

A moment later, I was at her side. A quick glance around showed us to be more than a thousand feet in the air.

I wonder if air traffic control in the area can pick us up?

"There is one more lesson for thee to learn this evening, my student. Aerial Combat."

As she spoke, the Night Incarnate drifted slowly away from me. As this seemed to be an intentional act on her part, I chose not to follow.

"Thou must use all of the lessons that thee has learned these past few nights, and use them effectively. Your sparring partner tonight shall be....."

"ME!"

Without warning, she tossed a fireball at me! I responded almost without thought. An impression of swatting the offending fireball away manifested as a flat round shield, which slapped the fireball to the side just like one would slap at a fly. The fireball went off course, easily missing me, and I felt its magic dissipate not long afterwards. Another thought brought my full shield up, just in time to absorb a cascade of lightning that surely would have fried me.

I narrowed my eyes at the Moon Mare, who was grinning at me in obvious pleasure. I decided it was best to drift slightly to my right, while I waited for her next attack.

"Excellent work, my student! Your reflexes appear to be sharp tonight. I wonder however, is your endurance also up to the task?"

Cackling in glee, a maniacal tooth-filled grin on her muzzle, Nightmare Moon commenced her assault upon my personage.

Act 1, Chapter 9 - Tirek Flashbacks

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Over the past couple of nights, Nightmare Moon had given me magic and trained me in its use. I was facing my final task: battle the dark mare, and presumably defeat her.

NO PROBLEM!

I admit, I expected to lose. Nightmare Moon was too skilled, too powerful, and had WAY too many years of experience for me to have any chance of defeating her. But that didn't mean I was just going to give up. I intended to use my new skills as best I could, and last as long as possible. My plan was to play defense, and see how long I could survive.

It didn't take me long to see a pattern in Nightmare Moon's attacks. She would fly directly at me, bombarded me with various magical attacks, then zoom past me and swing around for another pass. Nothing she threw at me was worse than I got during training, so I knew how to handle them. For my part, I did my best to break her shield every time she swung past. But either her defenses were really good, or my magical attacks were too weak. Probably both. Each time the Night Mare flew by, I hit her shield as hard as I could. But it was never enough; she never got hurt and would always laugh at me.

I mixed up my attacks as I did to the Shadowbolt, but each spell slid off her shield like water on rocks. I tried to fly away, hoping to catch her off guard, but the Moon Mare was always prepared. I flew above AND below her, but she somehow second-guessed every movement. More than once I would complete a series of twists and turns in the air, only to find myself facing down the Night Incarnate summoning up a magic attack with no time to dodge. It was as if she could read my mind!

Am I relying too much on the memories she gave me?

Strangely enough, her attacks were strong but never seemed to breach my shields. It was plainly obvious she could finish me off at any time, and I wondered why she didn't just do it. Distracted yet again by the Mare in the Moon, I was able to withstand her attacks but my return shots glanced off her stronger shield. Argh! As she flew around and prepared another assault upon me, I finally realized what the dark mare was doing. I mentally slapped myself for being so stupid.

Of COURSE she's not finishing me off! She's measuring me, testing me, seeing how I act under fire! Stupid Moon Butt's DELIBERATELY not giving me enough time to think! I only get a few moments when she flies around for another pass!

Still seething, I struggled to refocus that anger into a more productive direction.

Fine, fine. Let's go over what I know. My attacks seem to do nothing to her, but I'm just throwing them at her front.

I quickly turned over in my head what I had already tried, and realized my fatal flaw. I had been relying solely on Nightmare Moon's memories to attack. That had to stop.

I gotta change up my attacks, do something she wouldn't expect. I wonder, can I attack her from behind while she's facing me?

Just as the Night Mare finished her turn and began summoning her latest attack, I focused my attention on a point in space behind her. Reaching out with magic, I 'touched' that spot and let loose a bombardment of lightning from BEHIND the Mare in the Moon.

Success!

My glee at inventing remote magic attacks turned to disappointment, as the spell did not breach her shield. However, it did have an effect: it caught her by surprise. As soon as the lightning struck the dark mare's shield, she whipped her head around to look at the new threat. It also looked like she lost control of her attack spell. The bolt of force she was summoning fired off early, and it missed me by several yards.

Wow! That was her first miss tonight!

Still flying in my direction, the Night Incarnate flew past me at her usual speed. Hoping to capitalize on her distraction, I summoned up a number of large boulders directly in front of her. They did nothing. She didn't even dodge them but barreled through them instead. She knocked the boulders away like a cue ball does to billiard balls on a pool table.

Dammit! I was hoping she'd be too distracted by the lightning.

As she circled around yet again, I puzzled over what I had just witnessed. Was distracting her the solution? There was only one way to find out.

Again. I imagined a point behind the dark mare. Just as she was about to fire on me, I let loose with a flurry of icicles. And again, her shot went wild when she turned to look at the surprise attack. This exchange repeated several times: me attacking from an unexpected angle, and Nightmare Moon falling for it.

I hoped to find a weakness in the Moon Mare's defenses, or cause her to make a fatal mistake. Sadly, I did neither. I tried attacks from her top, bottom, and even tried both sides at once. All had the same effect: Nightmare Moon's attacks missed me every time, but her shield still held strong.

Out of frustration, I summoned multiple attacks from all around the accursed mare. Fire, lighting, snow, water, rocks, absolutely everything I has learned. If I knew how to summon a kitchen sink, I would have thrown that at her. Again, her shield held fast.

Argh! What would it take to crack that thing?!

The constant barrage did have an unexpected side effect. The Night Incarnate stopped flying around and just hovered in place instead. Maybe it was an instinctual response, 'don't fly when you can't see'. But she gave me an opening, and I took it.

I'm really not sure what I was thinking. I probably wasn't thinking, merely reacting. I had done everything but physically hit her myself, so perhaps I thought that would work. While I did my best to maintain the magical bombardment, I slowly glided down to the desert floor. Once my feet were on the ground, I looked up into the sky to make sure that Nightmare Moon hadn't flown away. I then took a few moments to line myself up under that accursed mare.

I found it was taking all my concentration to just stand there. The focus needed to attack from a distance was immense. The headache that was building in my skull was making my eyes water. I blinked the tears away, then took a deep breath to steady myself. Then shot up from the ground like a rocket. Every time I blinked moisture away, my target grew in size.

First, her glowing shield appeared to be no larger than a tiny ball bearing.

A blink later and it was as big as a marble.

Then the size of a baseball, then a bowling ball, a beach ball, a final glimpse of four silver horseshoes!

SLAM!

The sudden stop was catastrophic. I found myself plastered against the bottom of her shield, like a bug squashed against a car windshield. Everything hurt, even my fur; though I wasn't sure if the pain was from the impact or the shock from my shield shattering. Strangely enough, nothing felt broken. I was just in a lot of pain. Of course, all my magical attacks had stopped upon my impact with her shield.

Prying my eyes open, I took in the sight of Nightmare Moon looking at my crumpled form all squished cartoon-style against the bottom of her shield. Peals of laughter met my ears as the Mare in the Moon reveled in my unfortunate predicament.

"Oh hohohoho! Didst thou see your muzzle as it was crushed against my shield? Wahahaha!"

Clutching a hoof to her chest, she began to hyperventilate.

Anger flared up within me. No one likes being laughed at of course, but my frustration was at its limits. I had done everything I knew of, cast every spell and used every trick I could think of, and they did NOTHING.

What did it take to defeat this mare?!

My pains suddenly gone, I pushed off of her shield as violently as I could and snapped my shield up immediately. It was obvious to me that I wasn't strong enough to defeat her. All I had managed to do was distract her. If only I could increase my magic strength somehow, like gathering ki in DragonBall Z...

Wait a minute!

It's so crazy...it just might work!

I know I don't have the strength for a Super Kamehameha, but what if I FAKED one? If I can get her to panic and shift around her magic shunts, like I did when I was training, I might be able to breach her shield with a physical attack!

It better work, 'cause it's all I got left!

For my plan to work, I needed to put some good distance between the mare and myself. With a thought, my wings beat furiously and quickly brought me to a spot some five hundred feet above the still-chortling Nightmare Moon. While I hovered in place, I mentally went over the magical construct I had in mind. Once I was ready, I shifted that mental focus to my hands and placed them about a foot or so apart. I concentrated on that magical construct and pushed some magic into it.

A moment later, a small softball-sized fireball popped into existence between my palms. The fireball looked to be perfectly round, nearly white with a tinge of yellow to it. It appeared to have tiny little flames surging over its surface, almost like little spikes undulating up and down. The surface itself rippled and shimmered, as if covered in a thin sheen of oil. Despite appearances, the flame was not real; merely illusion magic. The illusion hid only air, but air held under pressure by a thin magical balloon skin of sorts.

Why air? Pure illusions don't have a magical feel to them, so while the fireball would look real it would be magically dead. I wanted something behind the illusion to give that magical feel, and used the illusion magic to make the air balloon look and feel like a fireball instead.

Besides, it was the first thing I thought of and I had little time to plan.

Deciding the balloon analogy worked, I pushed a bit more magic into the fire-balloon and suddenly the fireball felt real. Just as real as if it was fire all the way through, instead of empty air. The deception was necessary; my plan required that Nightmare Moon believed that the fireball was very real, and very dangerous.

I needed the energy for the next step of my plan, so I dropped my shield and re-absorbed what magic from it that I could. Next, I cupped the fire-balloon in my hands and lifted my arms above my head. Then I pushed more magic into it. The fire-balloon increased dramatically in size, to about as big as your average SUV. A quick magical check revealed that the fire-balloon still felt like a real fireball of that size. Another hard push of magic, and the fire-balloon doubled its dimensions; effectively becoming EIGHT times larger in volume. Gathering most of my remaining magic, I pushed it into the fake fireball and it doubled its dimensions YET AGAIN.

One more time, I went over my handiwork. To my delight, the fireball still felt real. Well, mostly. Something was off about its magical signature, but exactly what I could not tell. Almost like it was stretched a bit too thin, like butter spread over too much bread. I needed that 'real' feeling to stay, so I knew the fire-balloon was as big as it was going to get. Its magical signature would have to do.

My ears twitched as they picked up the unmistakable, smoky voice of my dark mistress. From the tone of her voice, she was yelling or screaming at something. It was a fair guess she had seen my big ball o' magic, and was reacting in her own way. To be honest, I was too far away to hear her clearly. But it didn't really matter what she was saying. It was time to toss this baby and pray the mare was too freaked out to dodge. I stretched my arms behind my head to gather a bit of momentum, then tossed the fireball at the Night Mare as hard as I could.

Bombs away!

A minute earlier, Nightmare Moon was still laughing her flank off at her student's antics. Without warning, her magical senses popped an alert: someone nearby was gathering magical energy. The Moon Mistress wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes with a fetlock, and did her best to calm herself. She presumed that her student was attempting some last futile act of desperation, so she took her time composing herself.

Still sporting a wide grin, the ebony mare slowly looked towards the magical surge she had sensed. Once her eyes focused on the giant orb of fire, and how BIG this fireball was, any remaining mirth vanished and left cold chills in their wake.

"B-but HOW? You do not...cannot have this much POWER! Even I cannot create something so powerful! I must stop..."

Eyes wide, the Mare in the Moon hesitated when she saw her student throw this impossibly large fireball directly at her. Experience told her that she could not withstand this attack and she must flee! The next moment, she realized that she was too late. She could not escape fast enough to avoid the impact, or the resulting explosion. The impossibly-large fireball had already filled her vision completely.

In the few moments she had left, the Moon Mistress did the only thing she could do: strengthen her shield. Praying to her moon for hope and survival, the Night Incarnate instantly summoned several magical and elemental shunts and placed them on her shield. Her last desperate act was to change all her physical shunts into elemental ones, then she braced for impact.

As I released the fire-balloon and watched it fly towards its intended target, I quickly focused my magic at a point behind the Mare in the Moon. At that point, I summoned several beach ball-sized rocks and left them to hover there. My magic then compressed the rocks as tightly as it could. In the process, the rocks shrunk to about the size of marbles.

Very dense rocks: check.

The final step required perfect timing. The implanted memories from earlier told me how to sense the distance between two magical objects. As I cast this simple spell, I realized I was almost too late - the fireball was about to impact Nightmare Moon's shield! I flung the marbles at her shield as hard as I could, and watched in rapt attention. I wondered to myself, would this work?

The dense rocks hitting her shield should...

Nightmare Moon's shield shattered just as the fireball touched it. The Moon Mistress screamed in abject terror, absolutely convinced that she was about to burn to death. It was time for the last stage of my plan! I focused yet again on a spot behind the Night Mare, and fired a single shot of paralyzing lightning at her. I didn't bother to wait to see if the shot connected, there was no time.

If my plan worked, my Mistress would not be able to fly anymore and would need me to catch her. Gathering what strength I had left, I flew downwards as fast as I could and angled under the fire-balloon. A split-second later, the fire-balloon consumed the Night Mare...then popped with a loud bang which sounded just like a bursting balloon. The compressed air inside of the fire-balloon rushed out in all directions, quickly dispelling the fire illusion, and Nightmare Moon fell limply through the remains of the spell.

The wind rippled through my fur as I flew downwards as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I had taken too long to act as the dark mare was still beneath me AND falling to the ground fast. Fortunately, the Moon Mare was falling under gravity and not under her own power. With a burst of energy, I was able to pass under her and catch her before she met her final end on the ground.

Oof! She's a lot heavier than she looks!

Good thing my new body had a lot of magic, or there's no way I could have caught her.

Using pegasus magic to lighten her heavier-than-expected weight, I slowed my descent and looked for a good place to land. I quickly found one nearby, and landed on the desert floor with the limp form of Nightmare Moon in my arms. As soon as my feet touched down. I dropped to my knees and gently placed the mare on her side in the cleanest patch of dirt I could see. I would have preferred to set her down on something soft, or at least clean. But all I saw was dirt, so dirt would have to do.

The dark mare was panting heavily, almost hyperventilating, and eyes as wide as I had seen them. Still freaked out from the fireball, I supposed. Or could it be from the fall? Shrugging internally, I decided it didn't really matter. I sat down on my haunches near the Moon Mare's head, and patiently waited until she calmed down.

Nearly a minute later, when her breathing finally slowed to a more reasonable pace, I spoke.

"How are you feeling, Mistress?"

"I am lying prone in the dirt and unable to move. Pray tell, inform me how I should be feeling?"

Ah, there's that scathing sarcasm I admire. I shall return the favor.

"So, cheery and chipper it is."

A sharp intake of breath followed by a drawn out sigh was the Night Mare's only response.

"Prithee, tell me now what was the purpose of this exercise?"

"What, you mean all that..." I waved a hand up in the air, indicating the battle we just completed. "That stuff?"

"Yes, that near-successful attempt on my life. As you say, 'that stuff.'"

While I was waiting for Nightmare Moon to relax, I had carefully thought out how I wanted to say this.

"Remember that fireball you threw at me, when I was first learning to shield?"

The Mare in the Moon ignored me while she tried to move something, anything, even the flick of a tail. She made several amazing faces while she tried. Eventually, her face fell slack in defeat.

"Yes, I believe I remember. What of it?"

"Consider us even now."

The Night Mare sputtered, then snapped out her retort.

"What?! This was all some sort of petty revenge?! I was teaching you!"

"You scared the shit out of me! I was convinced I was going to die! Burned alive! And afterwards, you just laughed at me!"

Nightmare Moon scrunched up her muzzle several times in a row.

"One moment, my nose itches."

I sighed in frustration, then reached over and rubbed a knuckle over her nose pad.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you. You were saying...?"

Her interruption seemed to calm us both down.

"I was upset at your literal 'trial by fire'. That type of lesson is not something I'm likely to forget."

"And killing me would have salved your injured pride?"

"You were never in any danger."

"A fireball of that size might have killed me!"

I pondered the idea - that she hadn't yet caught on to my ruse - but I wasn't sure yet. To let the facts speak for themselves, I made my rebuttal slow and smooth.

"And yet, you are unhurt. The paralyzing spell you taught me only keeps you from moving, not from feeling. If that fireball was as powerful as you said, shouldn't you be in a lot of pain right now?"

Doubt and confusion flitted across her eyes.

"Er...you must have healed me."

A smug smile crept across my face, it was clear to me that she had no idea what I had done. I was going to have FUN with this!

"Nope, you haven't taught me those spells yet. Here, it's probably easier to show you."

I recalled my earlier spell, and summoned up a small fire-balloon about the size of a softball. The construct hovered just above my left index finger, waiting for me to use it. This fire-balloon was just like its larger relative: perfectly round, nearly white and shimmered as if covered in oil.

"Does this look familiar, Mistress?"

Eyes wide, her voice held a slight waver of uncertainty.

"Y-yes."

She was all too aware that she was completely at my mercy.

"In your opinion, what would this fireball do to you if it hit you?"

"A-at best, burn me badly. At worst, sear me to the bone and cripple me."

"Iiiiinteresting. Shall we find out?"

I flicked the small fire-balloon directly at her muzzle.

Nightmare Moon barely had time to close her eyes and flinch (well, more like scrunch up her face - she WAS still paralyzed) before the fireball impacted her flesh. As before, the fireball made an audible pop and dispersed without causing any damage.

A moment later, the Mare in the Moon snapped her eyes open. Looking all around her in alarm, she tried and failed to figure out what just happened.

"What?! I barely felt that!"

The ebony mare stopped her frantic movements to glare at me. If her stare could actually bore into my flesh, I'd be a swiss cheese kitty cat by now.

"What...what did you DO?!"

"All the fireball's energy was put into holding its shape, and in making it as big as possible. There was no energy held in its heat or flame. If you could hold it in your hand - er, hoof - you would not feel any heat at all."

"Impossible! The fireball spell I taught you cannot do that!"

I shrugged, the process seemed obvious to me.

"Not sure what to tell you. It's basically a bubble of pressurized air, surrounded by a illusion spell. The illusion makes the air look and feel like flames, and the air gives it substance. When the bubble pops, the air held within rushes out and the touch of the air dispels the illusion. A simple combination of an illusion spell and high-school physics."

Despite not fully understanding my explanation, realization slowly dawned on the Night Mare.

"But...how...you tricked me!"

The pleasure from my skullduggery shone through the grin on my face.

"Yup! The fireball was merely a distraction."

Abruptly, the Night Mare sighed in frustration.

"Speaking of distractions, now my cutie mark itches."

Man, buzzkill.

I wiggled a step or two backwards until her cutie mark was within reach. Then I stretched out both hands and dug deeply into her dark flesh. Scratching vigorously all over the area brought Nightmare Moon instant relief. Several seconds later, the look of bliss splattered all over her muzzle told me the itch had finally passed.

"Aaahhhh, that was wonderful. Thank you."

The paralyzed mare paused to enjoy her afterglow. Though she only waited a few moments before she picked up our discussion again.

"Now, if the fireball was a distraction how then did you bring down my shield?"

I inched back over to her head so she could see me once again. A touch of magic allowed me to hover a few small rocks off of the ground.

"Rocks, compressed as densely as I could make them. You were so focused on the elemental energy of the fireball, that concentrated physical impacts were able to breach your shield. I timed it right so you thought it was the fireball that did it."

"Hrm. And the paralysis?"

"A quick shot of paralyzing lightning as soon as your shield failed. You were too busy to dodge."

Nightmare Moon stayed silent a short time, while she mulled over what I had done.

"I see. A clever combination of the spells I taught you. You have learned your lessons well, my student."

Huh, praise. Felt surprisingly nice. Maybe I'll give her a little of it back, but only a bit.

"I have a wonderful teacher, though she can be a harsh bitch at times."

"Hah! Harsh I may be, but I get results."

I smiled and patted her withers affectionately.

"That you do."

Each innocent touch of my hand on the ebony mare caused her muscles to twitch.

"It seems the spell I cast on you is wearing off."

"Yes, let us see if I can dispel it."

With a quick flash of her horn, the remnants of the paralysis spell were removed and Nightmare Moon quickly got to her hooves. Another quick flash of her horn to repel the dirt covering her coat and armor, and she gleamed brightly in the moonlight. One long reproving glance at me later, she eventually beckoned me to follow her with a wave of her head.

"Come. The lessons for tonight are over."

We trudged along in silence; the only noise came from the dirt crunched under our feet and hooves. Not too surprisingly, my bare feet-paws were much quieter then her armored hooves. I was curious why we didn't just fly back to our cave, but I had a feeling my Mistress wasn't in the mood for questions.

The awkward silence stretched on and on as we walked. I wondered if she was mad, or merely contemplating our next lessons. At last, she spoke.

"I must know, my student. How did you know that...trick of yours would defeat me? I have thousands of years of experience in battle under my wings. And yet a mere novice, a mewling babe who has only wielded magic for a hoofful of days, managed to defeat me where countless others had failed. How did you do it?"

I did not answer for several moments, while I put my thoughts in order.

"From our lessons, and again while we sparred, I could see you favored a direct, powerful approach. Attack hard, attack fast. Do not let the enemy think, only react."

"Yes, it has served me well. None can withstand it."

"Your strategy only works well when your opponent has little time to think. Make them react, force them to make mistakes, and take them down. You could have clearly defeated me any time, for it's obvious you are much, much more powerful than me. However, defeating me so soundly would also defeat the purpose of the lesson. So you toyed with me instead.

"But by toying with me, you gave me time to think. Frontal assaults did nothing, so what about attacks from the sides? The rear? They did not hurt you, but they distracted you. Your attacks went wide while I pummeled your shield from different angles. That's why I ran into you from below - I was trying to take advantage of your distraction."

Nightmare Moon chuckled softly.

"That plan did not work well, did it?"

"It didn't affect your shield, but that was the closest I had gotten to you yet. And you didn't even know I was there until I hit your shield, did you?"

A quick frown wiped away her smile at my failure.

"True."

"Laughing at your enemy is a good plan, it tends to get them angry and encourage mistakes. But sometimes it backfires, and makes them more determined. And that's what happened to me.

“I admit, I got lucky. My anger reminded me of a story I had read, in which there was a magical fight somewhat like ours. One of the fighters made a gigantic fireball much like the one I made. But in his case, the warrior had the power to make it real. I did not."

"Then why make the fireball in the first place, my student? When you knew it would fail?"

"Yeah, I knew it would fail as a direct attack. But as a distraction? It worked really well. If the fireball fooled you, made you think it was real, I figured you would put all your efforts into strengthening your elemental shunts and ignore your physical ones. If I was really lucky, you would change your physical shunts into elemental ones. Then, while you were distracted by the fireball, a physical attack might bring down your shield. And it did."

The Night Mare thought for a moment.

"I see. You led me to make a mistake, and a critical one at that. I had altered my physical shunts into elemental ones as you presumed."

"Had you not removed those shunts Mistress, my plan probably would have failed."

She of the Night had a thoughtful expression on her muzzle.

"I see that now. And the paralyzing lightning cleanly disabled my magic and any defense I could make. A clean kill...of sorts. Commendable."

"Thank you, Mistress."

Quietly, almost too quiet for even my new ears to hear, the Night Mare muttered to herself.

"Perhaps the effort was worthwhile after all."

Analyze the target, find its weaknesses, and take advantage of them. Who knew all those strategy games and video games would pay off one day?

Act 1, Chapter 10 - Strategies and Skirmishes

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After I had completed my training, Nightmare Moon had given me her final exam - an aerial battle with the dark mare herself. Her intention was twofold: to give me a taste of Equestrian warfare, and demonstrate that she was much stronger than I was. But to her surprise, I tricked her into thinking I was MUCH more powerful - and served her her first defeat since her banishment ended.

Our walk back to our cave was quiet and uneventful. The trip would have been much faster if we had flown instead, but my Mistress did not seem to be in the mood to fly. I tried to talk to her and ask why we were walking, but she cut me off with a curt response. So, we walked.

At last, we arrived at our 'home under the mountain'. A short walk down the tunnel brought us to our now-familiar room. Nightmare Moon paused in front of our shared bed, and began to levitate her armor off of her ebony form. There was a beauty to her motions, as each piece of armor seemed to dance its way to the armor stand. Mesmerized, I peered at the pirouetting plate metal until their carefree cavorting ceased. Shifting her body sideways, the now bare mare gestured to the ground in front of her with a hoof and uttered her command.

"Sit with me, we have much to discuss."

The Night Incarnate also sat down in the dirt next to the bed. She immediately flinched as if bit. Letting out a grunt of pain, the mare sat up slightly and lit her horn. A sharp rock, shrouded in her magical glow, floated out from underneath her shapely rump. The ebony mare carelessly flung the rock over her shoulder, then sat back down on the ground. The rock clattered against the wall and settled somewhere in the room. Nightmare Moon sighed to herself, then commented out loud to no one in particular.

"What I would not give for marble tiles to sit upon, rather than this filthy floor."

I was more concerned with her rump. No 'junk in the trunk' here, this gluteus maximus was all sleek muscle under the fur. The large splotch of purple only accentuated what she had, and the curve of her crescent moon cutie mark looked like it matched her curves perfectly.

Niiice.

Unfortunately for me, the Moon Mare had noticed my...attentions. I guess I must have been staring a bit too long. Her smirk was broad, like a cat who had cornered a mouse.

"See something you like?"

I couldn't help but blush at being caught, but decided to double down instead of apologizing.

"Yes, Mistress. I do."

Her teal eyes widened in surprise at my defiance. Yet, her smirk grew a bit bigger.

"Is that so? Perhaps I should turn around and give you a better view?"

Woah! Almost too good to be true. Was I dreaming? Better answer before she changes her mind.

"Oh yes, that'd be very nice thank you."

"Hah! Thou has not earned the right to see under MY tail. I am not such an easy mark as the common rabble. Now, cool thyself off and sit before me, lest I drench thy head in a shower of cold water."

Dammit! Busted AND shot down. But I wonder...

Ah, better let this one go before she stings me with another one.

I cast the spell I was taught. My armor instantly disappeared from my body, and appeared on its stand in the corner of the room. I then sat down in front of the Night Mare as bidden, and crossed my legs for comfort. At once, she began.

"Now, my student: in the time we have left this evening, we will discuss my plans for conquering this world."

Wow.

It's actually happening.

We're planning to take over the world.

Narf!

The impact of her words was enormous. I mean, I knew conquering the world was the whole point of training me in magic; but still, it was an awesome thought. Nightmare Moon did not wait for a reply before continuing.

"Our first conquest will be at a nearby fortification. From there, we shall spread out and continue our swath of destruction until the rulers of this land surrender to us. We shall use the surrendering armies to bolster our war machine. As this world does not have magic, our victory is assured. The only variable is time. Do you know how many fortifications this country has?"

Where did she get this plan from? A hacked copy of Civilization V with an 'I Win' button? Do all herd species surrender so quickly and easily? I only know warfare from video games, but I do know her plan isn't going to work. She's severely underestimated the US Military.

"Several hundred bases - er, fortifications, Mistress."

"So many?"

"Yes, Mistress. Some are large bases, but quite a few are small and can likely be skipped. But taking over won't be anywhere as easy as you say. You put too much faith in your magic, and too little in my people. Like you, we have much experience in waging war."

"I understand your concerns, but I have been waging war for thousands of years. This strategy, if executed correctly, never fails. Attack hard, attack fast. And I have only shown thee a fraction of my true power. Do you doubt me?"

Good thing I have a close friend who's a big military buff. He's filled my head with more military trivia than I care to remember, so I actually have the right facts to argue my point.

"It's not a matter of doubt, Mistress. You just have no idea the weapons we can bring into play, what we have been able to do without magic. For example, we have flying machines that can fly several hundred miles an hour and fire explosives that can hit a target over a mile away."

"These issues are of no real concern. I can fly faster than that, my student, even if you cannot. And hitting a target that far away is possible for a magically-enhanced trebuchet."

She's not taking my concerns seriously. And being ignored always pisses me off.

"I said nothing about a trebuchet. These explosives fly through the air on their own at two to four times the speed of sound. Some of them can even steer themselves."

"Impossible!"

"Impossible on your world, perhaps. But not on mine. No magic here, remember? We had to do everything with science and technology. And we figured out how to do it. Shall I explain the concepts of non-magical flight to you, Mistress?"

The Moon Mare looked at me in disdain. If she was wearing a pair of glasses, she'd probably be looking at me over them.

"Perhaps later. For now, I shall believe you. But understand, your tales of flying explosives are fantastical at best."

"These principles of flight and rocket technology are so commonly known on this world that even children know the basics. You denying them is the fantastical part."

"Hmph, perhaps. We shall be cautious of these flying machines until their mettle is proven to me. Let us move on. Will there be some of these flying machines at the fortification we will attack tonight?"

"I don't know, it depends on how big the fortification is. But if they are there, it's very likely that they'll be on the ground when we attack."

"Excellent! We shall target them first before they take to the air. Then the skies will be ours."

If only it was that simple.

"Perhaps so, but we will not be much safer. Our armies have many ground machines that can fire these same flying explosives as the flying machines can. And many heavily armored vehicles which can throw explosives that cannot steer on their own but can still fly far and fast. If we face a large enough force of these machines we will be sorely pressed to survive, much less win."

"You are surely overestimating their capabilities. Such power does not exist."

Why don't you just call me a liar, you witch? I'm supposed to be your adviser, why are you ignoring me?

"And I'm telling you, it does. Take that huge fake fireball I tricked you with, make it real, then condense it this small."

I moved my hands apart to about the size of a basketball.

"That's about the power of one of these shells. If the flame doesn't get you, the concussive force will pummel you. And we can cover the sky in these shells. They don't even have to hit us; enough near misses will knock us out of the sky."

"Hah! Now I know you are pulling my hoof. Not even all the unicorns in Equestria can do such a thing."

"You've underestimated us again. There are over 30 million of my people in my country. Something like 2 million of them serve in our military. Even if a fraction of them have the firepower I've quoted, that's an incredible force to fight against. A direct assault on any fortification gives good odds we will fail."

Eyes narrowed, Nightmare Moon's intense anger distorted her muzzle.

"You LIE. So many ponies cannot exist in one place. And even if these...powers exist, we will simply attack hard and fast and destroy their machines before they can be used against us. Their armies will scatter in front of us like ants."

She's too overconfident. I need to derail her thoughts somehow, and get her to listen to me.

"Who was the one that handed you your first defeat in HOW many thousands of years?"

The Mare in the Moon went silent, but her muzzle was scrunched up in a huge frown. It was clear to me that she was absolutely livid. If she could, I swear smoke would be curling out of her ears. After several seconds of silence, I pressed my point further.

"While I clearly have less battle experience than you, I have many years of experience living in this world. I have no military training at all, and yet I still managed to defeat you. We do not have magic, but we are CLEVER. How do you think you will fare against thousands of specially-trained fighters?"

"You defeated me with a TRICK. One which, I shall add, shall never work on me again. And you used magic to defeat me, which the armies of this world do NOT have."

At this point, I was almost as incensed as she was. Both our tempers were boiling over and threatened to explode at any moment.

"I'm telling you, magic is not enough to win. If you make a head-on attack against this country's military, you are going to get creamed!"

Despite how infuriated she was, she still managed to look puzzled. It was so obvious that she did not understand my meaning; I decided to preempt her obvious question.

"Creamed, killed, slaughtered, smeared across the desert floor like so much offal. Magical shielding is horribly ineffective against our military might! You'd have better luck begging them to buck you senseless then hit them over the head with a stick while they were busy for all the good your magic will do."

Fierce anger distorted the Night Mare's muzzle into a snarl. Her tail lashed the air behind her like a whip, and her mane squirmed like a trapped animal. She stood up abruptly and showered me with dirt.

"How DARE you!"

Rising to her verbal bait, I jumped quickly to my feet and stared the Moon Mare down. I was sure the snarl on my face rivaled hers.

"Dare? ME?! You'd better believe it! I know you didn't bring me on and train me like that just because I had a pretty face. If you were smart, and I know you are, you'd bring me on because I know this world. And if I don't know what you want, I know how to find it. And I'm telling you, a headstrong attack on our military will get you killed!"

"ENOUGH!"

Her shout had undertones of the Royal Voice, shook the walls of our little cave and stung my ears something fierce.

"I will brook no more argument. We shall attack the military base tomorrow, just after dark."

"This is NOT over! You are not going to ignore--"

"I said, enough!"

Nightmare Moon sucked in a deep breath, then let out a frustrated sigh.

"I will think over your advice, although I still believe it to be...overly cautious. But advice or no, we will still attack the base tomorrow evening. Is that clear?"

"FINE."

I never had any objections about attacking tomorrow, just to her head-on attack methods. I care too much about her to see her die so foolishly.

Wait, what?

Where did THAT thought come from?

"Hmph. Good. Then, let us retire for the morning and rest."

"No."

Her cat-slitted eyes snapped open wide in surprise, as wide as I had ever seen them.

"What?!"

I couldn't just let this go. I had to get out of here so I could try and think. My feelings expressed themselves in a pronounced scowl.

"I said, NO. I'm too wound up now to sleep."

I was too angry at her to share a bed with her anyway, but I wasn't going to tell her that. With a thought, I summoned my armor on to me. I squirmed and fussed around to try and get the straps to settle properly.

"I'm going for a quick flight to burn off some energy."

The Night Incarnate tilted her head slightly; worry clearly showing on her muzzle.

"As you wish."

Nightmare Moon watched her student storm out of the cave. Faintly, she heard his curse:

"Stupid mare, going to get herself killed!"

A slight wind blew down the tunnel, stirring up dust. Experience told her that her student had angrily taken off to the sky with a furious beat of his wings. Then, all was silent. The mare sighed and wondered to herself where things had gone so wrong.

Truly, I was sure he would be eager for battle. Why does he hesitate?

Lost in her thoughts, the Mare in the Moon walked slowly to her side of the bed. A quick spell to verify she was clean of any dirt or sweat, then used a quick bit of levitation to pull back the sheets. Moments later, she was in bed. Rolling over to her back, unable to sleep, she lay there for many minutes. Over and over, she poured over the argument hoping to find some flaw in her plan. Could her student be right, and her tried-and-true methods would fail her? They had definitely failed earlier that evening, to her immense surprise. And he was right, he knew this planet's denizens better than she did. Perhaps his caution was not unwarranted. Yet she had never shown him her full power, not even close.

As she lay there in thought, she realized what bothered her most was not what they were arguing over, but the fact that they had argued at all. The reason why hit her like a slap to the muzzle. It was an uncomfortable realization. She had not known these feelings for so long, she had nearly forgotten they existed. But still, even though these feelings were no longer familiar they still felt...right. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she resolved not to deal with that issue for now. However, she did decide to listen more closely to her student's concerns when they awoke the next evening. Eventually, sleep overtook her.

Act 1, Chapter 11 - Making Up and Out

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After a heated argument with Nightmare Moon, I had left our home to cool off for a while.

As soon as my feet left the ground, my wings rocketed me up as fast as they would take me into the slowly brightening sky. I sped upwards higher and higher, as I tried to out-run my anger and frustration with Nightmare Moon. The wind whipped past my face and stung my eyes, making them tear up so much I could barely see. The knowledge in my head told me that I had surpassed the protection given me by my pegasus magic, and that's why the wind was hurting my eyes. But at that time, I just didn't care. I pushed myself harder and faster until I could finally take no more. With one last flap of my wings, I held them still and let gravity slow me down. Just before my momentum stopped, I released my wings and let the magic take over. Without any help from me, my wings stabilized my flight and I found myself hovering in place.

My lungs burned from the hard flight, and I panted from the exertion. I found I had succeeded in my task, though; I was simply too tired to be angry anymore. I wasn't happy, but no longer angry. My eyes were still wet with tears, so I wiped them as best as I could on my black-furred arms. Then I picked a black hair out of my left eye.

Figures. Another cat rubs its fur on my face, and its hair ends up in my eyes.

Oh great, now I miss my cats.

Several more blinks cleared the moisture from my eyes. With my vision restored, I took a moment to look around. The desert floor sprawled out all around me. I could see hills and valleys and even a small mountain in the distance. There were a few dirt trails here and there, which wound around the ground and off into the distance. I saw what looked like a paved road, but this high up I couldn't tell if it was in use or abandoned. No other signs of civilization anywhere.

The air felt fairly brisk up here, as opposed to the warmth closer to the ground. I still felt comfortable, though whether that was due to my feline fur coat or my pegasus magic I wasn't sure. What wind that blew by seemed a bit sharper, a little more intense. I looked downward, to see how high I was, and was quite surprised to find that I was over a mile up! There was that pegasus magic again, feeding me passive statistics. It also told me that the air was a bit thinner up here, but not enough to cause me problems.

The urge to just rest and think came over me. My first thought was to find a cloud to lie on. Sadly, there were none in sight because I was in a fucking desert. Lots of places to sit on the ground, but none in the air. As usual, I didn't think things through. However, my pegasus magic told me there was enough moisture in the area to MAKE a cloud. Curious. I triggered that magic, and had the sudden urge to fly in a wide circle. With nothing else to do, I gave in to that urge. In no time, I found myself flying around in a circle some hundred feet across.

Faster and faster I flew. My wings tingled with magic, which I guess meant they were gathering moisture or something. After a couple of minutes of this, my pegasus magic 'said' I had gathered enough moisture and it was now time to condense it. That knowledge was followed by the urge to slowly narrow the circle I was flying in. As I did so, I could sense how much the moisture was condensing: not enough, too fast, or just right. I used that sense to guide me, to narrow the circle tighter or looser until I could sense that the cloud was forming perfectly. I could feel my pegasai magic working hard, pouring more and more of itself into the center of the circle. Suddenly, I felt a pulse from the magic and sensed that the work was done. Banking quickly out of the circle, I hovered in place to discover I had done it!

I had made a cloud!

It looked to be a little bigger than a king-sized bed, if such a bed were round and well, made of clouds. Definitely big enough for two, or maybe three people if you were cuddly. I banked over and landed gently on the cloud's surface. The cloud gave a bit under my feet, yet it held my weight easily. Felt kinda like walking on a mattress. Subconsciously, I nodded my head in satisfaction, then de-summoned my wings. Lastly, I laid down on the cloud's surface and tried to relax.

Lying on the cloud was quite comfortable, even more comfortable than the memory foam mattress I had back home. The light breeze at this altitude, along with the brisk air kept me pleasantly comfortable even in my armor. Comforted thus, I relaxed into the cloud and let my mind drift back to the argument earlier that night. Even though I went over it several times, I couldn't see where I went wrong. It was as if suddenly, Nightmare Moon just decided I didn't want to attack tomorrow and switched the argument around.

To be honest, I did make a wisecrack about her waggling her plot and begging to be bucked. That certainly didn't help.

Hey, this cloud is REALLY comfortable.

No matter how I squirmed around, the cloud surface cradled my armored body perfectly. I now understood why Rainbow Dash liked to take naps on them. All I needed was a pillow. I reached behind my head and fluffed the cloud there to form a pillow of sorts. Then decided it was time for a short nap. I closed my eyes and dragged a bit of cloud over them to block the early morning sunlight. I quickly dropped into a deep slumber.

I dreamt of Nightmare Moon shaking her plot at me, while levitating a bloody baseball bat in her magic and crooning, "Come on baby, you know you want it..."

I was jolted awake by the force of someone landing on my cloud. The motion made me think of the undulation of water when someone jumps onto a waterbed. I pulled the wisp of cloud covering my eyes to see Nightmare Moon, in her full armor, sitting calmly next to me. A glance behind her and around the sky, and I realized that the sun had set and had almost passed below the horizon.

Whoops, didn't intend to be up here all night - er, day. But oh well.

I sat up on the cloud's surface and crossed my legs. Then I prepared to apologize to my Mistress. To my surprise, she spoke first.

"I was concerned when you did not come to bed, but I can see why now."

My eyes were sore from sleep, so I lifted my helm off and rubbed my eyes with a closed fist. Sighing, I mentally prepared for an argument.

"Yeah, this thing was REALLY comfortable. I only meant to take a nap, and...well, you know."

A light breeze blew by, pleasantly cooling me off. Even in the brisk air, I still woke up feeling a bit overheated - even in this new form. Maybe that was because I slept in my armor.

The Mare in the Moon revealed no emotions in her voice or actions, merely patience. First examining the cloud with her eyes, she then tapped a hoof on its surface.

"This is an Equestrian cloud. Did you create it?"

I slowly nodded, and warily awaited the sharp words that had not yet come.

"Yeah. I thought about making a cloud, and it just kinda happened. Is making clouds that instinctive for pegasai?"

"Yes. Whenever I have done so, the magic seemed to simply take over my body and create a cloud from nothing at all. A unique experience to be sure."

Silence reigned for several moments, neither of us quite knowing what to say. Eventually, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Hey, listen. I'm sorry about last night."

The tension broken, the Night Mare's words rushed out a bit faster than usual.

"No no, it is I who should apologize. I should have listened to you."

"Wait. Really?"

A small smile spread over her muzzle, made easier to see in the waning daylight.

"Yes. You are correct; I do value your knowledge of this world. And as such, I should heed your advice."

The tension I was holding rushed out of me, almost like someone had pulled out the drain in an over full bathtub.

"Well, that's good to hear. I was really worried for a while there."

"You do not need to worry about me."

All of a sudden, the conversation felt really intimate somehow. Not able to look the ebony mare in the eye, I let my gaze drop to my lap.

"Maybe not, but I do. I just...I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I mean, I just..."

Dammit. Stuck my foot in my mouth this time, there's no way out now. Gonna have to say it.

"I care about you too much to see you get hurt."

My nervous eyes looked up at the mare sitting next to me. I expected a smirk or suppressed laughter at my useless sentiment. Instead, her teal eyes were wide open in both surprise and shock. Her blush was so deep that it seemed to radiate warmth, and she had both her hooves covering the front of her muzzle. Her reaction was so out of character for Nightmare Moon, or how the My Little Pony show portrayed her anyway, I had to wonder who this mare really was. Imposter? Changeling? From an alternate universe? My confusion was so complete I couldn't say a word -- dumbfounded like a doofus.

Confounded as I was, the Moon Mare spoke up long before I could recover. In an adorably high-pitched voice, she managed to squeak out her response.

"Truly?"

I managed to nod, my voice knocked out by her adorable cuteness. My chest felt tight for some reason.

With an effort, Nightmare Moon forced her voice closer to its natural pitch and made her own confession.

"I...I have been experiencing such feelings for thee, as well."

The mare dropped her hooves to rest on the cloud's surface. She looked nervous, but seemed to be making an effort to fight it.

"Far too long have we felt naught but hatred for my sister, the desire to smite her vacated all other sentiment. Nevertheless, my hatred began to wane while training thee, sharing thy first flight with thee, and...being defeated in battle by thee. We saw at last that we were no longer alone in our crusade. And now, to hear that thou feels much the same, I...I..."

Oh god, this was happening. And it was SO much more awkward that I ever imagined it would be. Did I turn into the main character in a badly-written clopfic, penned by an angsty twelve year old virgin? I really don't wanna be a Gary Stu.

What Nightmare Moon could not have known is that she had just fulfilled a deep-seated fantasy of mine. My crush on her had just come true. Not even after she arrived here and began to train me did I think it would happen. I mean, why would she fall for me anyway? I'm just a means to an end to her, just someone to serve her while she conquered this world. Or was I? Regardless of the reason, her confession was so sudden and so unexpected I couldn't think of anything profound to say. So instead, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I had no idea. I mean, that you felt like this for me. No clue."

She of the Night giggled a bit behind a hoof.

"Did those kisses we shared tell you nothing?"

I tried to stop it, but again I blabbed out the first thing I thought of.

"No, but the cuddling we shared yesterday sure did."

Her blush roared back in full force. And so did the squeak.

"You remembered that?"

I could only nod slowly.

Awkward silence stretched yet again, but the tension we both felt this time was of another kind entirely. The Night Mare recovered first, though she was still blushing really hard.

"Well! I have given your advice some thought, and I have decided to postpone our attack on the fortification to another day."

The sudden change of topic snapped me out of my daze. Well, mostly.

"Www...hold on there. I never wanted to postpone the attack."

"I do not understand."

Let's see if I can make myself clearer this time, without pissing her off.

"I am fine with starting our attack tonight. My issue is with your methods. I believe that a full-on frontal attack will get you killed. Just...just...can we scout the base first, at least? See what we're getting ourselves into?"

"I...of course! I cannot disagree with the need to scout out the enemy! But, but...I...oh, horseapples!"

The dark mare draped her leg over her muzzle as realization sunk in.

"The argument last night was over nothing!"

And there went the last of the tension I held.

"Yeah, I was pretty confused too."

"Fie, you must think me such a foal! I misconstrued your arguments as an aversion to battle! Here I am, allegedly your teacher, and yet I find myself arguing over a mere misunderstanding! Foalish, foalish mare that I am!"

She tried to pound her head with an armored hoof, but with a loud clang her helm intercepted the hit. In abject frustration, the dark mare tore off her helmet with a flare of magic and threw it down on to the cloud with such force I was sure it would fall through. In reality, the helm merely bounced a few times before coming to rest on the cloud's surface.

I was both surprised and concerned, both at her actions and at the sudden shift in her tone. So I tried to reassure her.

"No, you're not a fool -- foal. Really."

"Nay, I was a foal. The blame is mine."

The Mare in the Moon hung her head, clearly very disappointed in herself. Sympathy for the dark mare built up inside of me, until it felt like my heart would burst. I wasn't sure quite what I was feeling for her, but I knew what those feelings were telling me to do - comfort her. So I stretched out a hand to the Night Mare, and caressed the fur of her muzzle with my fingertips. They slid through her fur just past her nose and underneath, to gently cradle her lower jaw in my palm. Softly, I denied her claims.

"No, really. It's alright."

Her teal eyes went wide yet again at our sudden intimacy, yet they quickly shimmered and danced with unshed tears. It was almost as if her emotions, long locked away by her hatred, were suddenly released and overflowed her heart. A moment more, and the Moon Mare darted forward with the most intense kiss we had shared so far. It felt like it was filled with her need for forgiveness, worry when I did not come back to bed, and mixed in with our hormones screaming out our need for the other. Or were those my hormones? I don't know, I couldn't think straight. Or crooked. Or something. Sudden shifts of blood from my brain do that to me.

When I feet her soft lips pull away from mine, instinct nudged me to open my eyes. And what a sight before me! A gorgeous ebony-furred mare, tears streaming from her eyes each time she blinked, running rivulets down her cheeks. And she was smiling at me in this sorta wistfully happy, smouldering sort of way. Hey, I was out of it; cut me a break. See how lucid you are after a kiss from Nightmare Moon.

Keeping her tender eyes locked to mine, she giggled at the dopey stunned expression on my face. Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"So, am I forgiven?"

An unbidden thought came to mind, a pick-up line of sorts I had been waiting for years to use.

"I don't know. We should do that again, just to be sure."

Another giggle from the mare, followed by a lecherous smile. She knew what I was doing.

"As you wish."

This time, we reached for each other. As our lips met, my hand reached out on its own to caress her cheek. A moment later, my fingertips cradled the far edge of her jaw. I felt her hoof slowly snake around my neck, then tug me closer. A buckle from her armor dug in to my skin, but I couldn't care less. Whether this mare was the real Nightmare Moon or some sort of sappy look-alike no longer mattered to me. My whole world was filled with the touch of her lips on mine.

Magic, while able to sustain us indefinitely could not suppress the urge to breathe. We finally broke the kiss, albeit reluctantly, yet refused to let go of each other. Instead, we simply rested our foreheads together. I could feel her horn lying on top of my head, such an unusual feeling but one I could get used to. We caught our breath together, panting almost in unison, our emotions still revving in overdrive. It was a perfect moment, one that I wished could last forever. But for some reason, I just had to ruin it and speak.

"Hah, wow. I'm...I'm tempted to call off the invasion and stay with you on this cloud all night."

The gorgeous mare chuckled, which almost turned into a giggle.

"And what would you rather we do all night, then?"

I knew what I wanted to do, but could I tell her?

"Oh, we could practice our kissing some more."

"That would be wonderful. And after that?"

"We could cuddle, nice and close. And no panicking this time."

Something draped itself across my leg, soft yet sent a tingle across my fur. And it was moving, gently undulating in an unfelt wind. After a moment I realized it was her tail.

"Mmmm, I promise not to panic. And after that?"

This conversation was definitely leading somewhere that I had fantasized about for a long time. Many a night I found myself lying awake in bed, thinking of this same mare. I fantasized about grabbing a cutie mark in each hand and...well, you know. And now, all those fantasies were coming true. Yet, I hesitated. Why? I knew what I wanted, but I just couldn't say it. Something inside was stopping me, telling me 'it's not time yet.' Fantasy had finally become reality, and it just...didn't feel right. Not now, anyway.

The Night Incarnate, correctly guessing why I hesitated, laughed aloud.

"Hah! I know what it is you are thinking of, and I concur! It is much too soon to consider such matters."

Her sigh slipped past her lips, tinged with a hint of frustration.

"Though I am sorely tempted, be assured of such."

Nightmare Moon released my neck from her leg, then slid her head away from me. Correspondingly, I let go of her muzzle and allowed my arms and my gaze to drop into my lap. After a moment, I looked back up at the ebony mare and caught her smoldering back at me. She smiled briefly, then leaned back in for a quick peck on my lips. I opened my eyes again to see the Night Mare pull back and sit comfortably on the cloud. Speaking more to distract us from temptation than from a real need to speak, she laid out our plans for the evening.

"We should leave now, and scout out the fortification your...militia is occupying. It would be best if we exchanged the heat of passion for the heat of battle."

A pause, as her grin reached far and wide and she looked me up and down.

"At least, for now."

Relieved that she felt the same, I could only agree. We donned our respective helms, then turned to leap off of the cloud at the same time. As I did not know which military base Nightmare Moon wanted to conquer, I let her take the lead while I flew just to her right as her wingman.

Wingpony? Wingcat? Whatever.

We flew in silence, the whistling wind and the flapping of our wings the only sounds to reach our ears. Our bodies may have cooled in the wind as we flew, but our minds whirled in thought as we began that fateful night.

Act 2, Chapter 1 - The Conquest of Earth Begins

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Nightmare Moon and I had patched up our differences, and we were finally starting our conquest of the world. About damn time! Hopefully we wouldn't get our arses shot off during the attempt.

My dark Mistress and I soared side-by-side through the night sky. This was no training flight tonight, nor a leisurely serenade across the sky. This evening, we had a more serious goal in mind: conquest. I figured that was why we were in such a hurry. Kinda like the difference in speed between a bicycle and a motorcycle, we were moving a lot faster than we had on my training flight. Strangely enough, I didn't feel any extra strain despite the increased speed. I simply decided I wanted to fly fast, and it happened.

I did not know where our destination was, nor how far we had to go to get there, but I trusted that Nightmare Moon knew where she was going. I didn't even know which direction we were heading in. Too bad pegasus magic didn't include a built-in GPS or even an old-school compass. I was sure we were flying a straight course, but without more information that knowledge was basically useless. I didn't even know where our cave was, relative to...well, anything. The only thing I could do was stick with the dark mare as she travelled through the night.

The wind whipped into my face and fur as we flew. I was pleasantly surprised that my eyes did not water nor dry out, even though the wind was blowing right into them. Weirder things had happened to me in the past few days, so I just rolled with it. And I also expected it to be a lot colder up there, considering how fast we were flying. But the air was merely cool and felt quite nice. Yet another thing my pegasus magic must have shielded me from. We were too high up to smell anything, and I could hear nothing but the wind in my ears. The desert floor beneath us seemed endless and passed by at a rapid rate.

With nothing to do except fly, I spent the time looking for signs of human civilization. But I saw nothing of interest. Just rocks and dirt and hills and trees. Travelling at speed sure was boring. With nothing else to do, I looked for any kind of landmark that would give me an idea where we were. However, the only things I recognized were telephone lines and power poles and an occasional road. I was tempted to fly upside down and try counting the stars to pass the time.

Finally, FINALLY, the Night Mare angled her flight downward and made to land. I followed the ebony mare as she descended, and easily matched her pace towards the desert floor. Mentally projecting her flight path to its end, the only thing I saw beyond rocks and dirt was a sign of some sort. It seemed to be placed in the middle of nowhere. A few body lengths above the ground, I gave my wings a few strong flaps to arrest my downward descent; my feet reached down to gently touch the ground. A glance sideways showed that Nightmare Moon had done much the same.

Gesturing to the sign, the dark mare spoke to me.

"Here. Examine the message on this sign posthaste. I do not understand its full meaning, but I am confident it shall lead us toward the location of the nearby fortress."

My curiosity piqued, I walked around the fairly large sign to read its warning to all visitors.

DANGER
NO TRESPASSING
Military Training Area
Unexploded Ordnance Present
Dangerous Weapons and
High Energy Equipment in use
DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OBJECTS

The words on the sign continued in Spanish. If I presumed that this sign followed the same pattern as other multi-language signs I'd seen, and I had no reason to think it didn't, the Spanish words simply repeated the English message. What little Spanish I remembered from high school confirmed that the text was merely a translation. A second sign below warned against trespassing and theft. Scrawled on the bottom of the sign in freehand was 'MCAGCC Twentynine Palms'.

Ruh roh, Raggy.

Those last three words were very bad news. MCAGCC Twentynine Palms was a large Marine training base in Southern California. They got all the cool toys and got to play with them a LOT. Talk about one of the WORST places to attack. Soldiers stationed here would have their training fresh in their minds and would be quite eager to use it.

On US.

Despite the implied danger, I was pleased to know where I was instead of lost somewhere in the desert. I knew that I was still in Southern California, and that I could find my way back home if I had to. Oh, I wouldn't head home; not yet. Nightmare Moon needed me, so I would stay with her. But I didn't want to stay near this military base any longer than I had to.

BOOM

What was that?

Somewhere off to our right, an explosion had gone off. It was followed by two more just like it, and capped with the unmistakable chatter of machine gun fire. No, I had never heard a machine gun in person. It sounded just like it did in the movies, don't judge me. Looking to our right, I could see dim flashes behind a small mountain some distance away. Above the same mountain, a single glowing ball of some sort sailed directly up in the air. But gravity refused to let it go, and the flaming object fell back to earth behind the mountain.

"What are those noises that assault mine ears? I must see."

Before I could warn her, Nightmare Moon had opened her wings and flown off towards the mountain in the distance.

Shouting out to her rapidly diminishing form did no good, for she did not or chose not to hear my cries. I could only follow and hope she didn't attack immediately. To my great relief, the Night Mare did not fly around but up towards the top of the aforementioned mountain instead. She alighted on a relatively flat section just short of the peak, and did nothing but stand there. Several moments later, I caught up and landed gently next to her. Following her gaze, I could easily look over the edge of the mountain and see the valley below us.

Down below, we witnessed what some would describe as a battlefield. Considering that we were on a Marine training base, what we were actually looking at was a night time tank training exercise.*

I was very thankful for the magical night vision that Nightmare Moon had granted me, for I could see just as well that night as if it was broad daylight. The noises I had heard earlier were from the cannons on the four M1 Abrams tanks in the valley below us. It looked like the tanks were exclusively using tracer rounds; we could see each flaming round speed across the desert and impact on the mountainside we stood upon. Machine gun fire came from the anti-personnel guns mounted on top of each tank, their intermittent tracer rounds lighting up the desert. Two Humvees were parked behind the tank platoon, likely observing the exercise.

My Mistress and I were standing just short of the crest of that same short mountain -- or maybe it was a steep hill -- and we looked straight down at the center of the tank formation. As we watched, the rounds from the tanks would embed themselves in the ground far below us. That part of the mountain was sloped somewhat, just enough that an occasional tracer round would ricochet upwards and sail up and over our heads. Even this high up, we could smell the gunpowder from the gunfire. As the wind shifted our way, I could smell what must have been exhaust from the tanks. But it smelled weird, not like your average car exhaust.

The dark mare and I took some time to watch the live-fire exercise below us. Standing on the top of the ridge like this, I was sure we could be seen if someone shone a light on us. Had the muzzle flashes from the guns below already lit us up? I couldn't tell. This magical night vision was great for letting me see in the dark, but not so good for telling me if I could be seen in the dark. Ah, if only I had researched that 'Sixth Sense' perk.

Maybe Moony would know if they could see us? I turned to look at her, and saw something I did not expect to see. The ebony mare looked like some scary mix of wonder and excitement, and she stared at the tanks below with an intensity bordering on maniacal glee. On top of that, I was surprised to see her twitching and trembling all over. To my eyes, she looked like she was having a full-body shiver: her legs were shaking, her wings and feathers kept shifting back and forth, and her cutie mark appeared to be moving as the muscles underneath danced under her ebony coat. Was there something wrong with her? Was she actually afraid?

I'd better ask and make sure she's OK.

"Uh, are you alright Mistress?"

A few moments passed, and Nightmare Moon did not reply.

Had she heard me? The tank barrage was kinda loud.

"Mistress? Did you--"

"What are these...fascinating...creatures?"

Creatures?

"The...ah, larger ones are called 'tanks'. They are heavily armored machines, covered in--"

"And the smaller ones?"

I had never seen Nightmare Moon act like this before. She had yet to stop staring at the tanks below us. What was wrong with her? The silence went on for a few moments.

Silence? The live-fire exercise below must have stopped.

Oh yeah, Moony asked me a question.

"They're called Humvees, Mistress. They don't have as much armor as the tanks--"

"That is all I need to know. They shall be our first conquest of the night!"

With that statement, the Night Mare dove off the summit we shared and accelerated rapidly towards the closest tank.

CONQUEST?!

"No!"

My shout was too late, she was already out of earshot. My first instinct was to take off after her, and I took a step forward without thinking. But fear held me back. Attacking a tank with magic was suicide! And there were four of them! I stood there uselessly on the hillside, and feared for the life of my Mistress. I wanted to help her, to protect her, to shield her from harm. But I knew I wasn't good enough, nor skilled enough to protect her. All I could do was watch, and hope that Nightmare Moon was a lot stronger than I thought she was.

Down in the valley at the foot of the mountain, a first-of-its-kind battle was about to take place. A dark shape had detached itself from the ridge of the small mountain, directly in front of the tank platoon, and descended rapidly. Had this been Equestria, the dark shape would easily be recognized as the sinister and merciless Nightmare Moon. But this was not Equestria, and the name 'Nightmare Moon' was yet unknown in these lands. Thus, any human watching the dark mare approach would not know that the shape was that of an Alicorn, much less identify who the mare was. However, even an untrained human could guess that she did not have their best interests in mind. In fact, she appeared to be quite malevolent in her intent.

The dark shape descended the mountainside rapidly in the middle of the formation. Once it reached the desert floor, it turned and made a beeline towards the tank on the far right of the platoon. Inside that same tank, the driver had noticed Nightmare Moon's descent and subsequent approach.

"Commander? Bogey rapidly approaching, 11 o'clock low."

The Tank Commander looked up from the digital tablet he was reading from.

Bogey? That's not on the training schedule.

He turned his view away from the tablet and looked at the display showing readouts from the periscopes. Sure enough, something was approaching his tank from the left at a high rate of speed. Flicking the controls on the system, the Tank Commander zoomed in on the incoming bogey with the hope of identifying it.

Better be safe than sorry. Wouldn't be good to drop a round into an endangered bird.

To his surprise, the screen showed a large pair of eyes and a wide grin filled with an array of sharp teeth.

That's no bird!

The Tank Commander barked out orders to his crew in short order.

"Hostile approaching! Load AP and FIRE!"

The team inside this M1 Abrams tank had already gone on alert as soon as the driver declared a bogey in range. The loader was holding an AP shell, and the gunner had entered the target into his fire computer. By the time the commander gave the order to fire, the loader had finished loading the shell and raised the breech. As soon as the computer indicated the main cannon was loaded, the gunner gave it the command to fire.

Nightmare Moon descended from the summit of the small mountain and skimmed over the rocky surface. She kept her wings partially folded to pick up speed while gravity pulled her earthwards. Just before hitting the ground, she snapped her wings open and shot forward some half-dozen hoof-lengths above the ground.

The ebony mare savored the feel of the wind whipping through her mane as she sped towards her chosen target. Her excitement continued to build as she flew, the thrill of impending battle flowing through her veins.

At last, my conquest begins!

Her path took her directly at the tank on her leftmost side, the remaining tanks and Humvees lay to her right. She could see no movement in front of her, and her elation grew as she realized she had not yet been seen. Briefly, she debated flying around these mechanical monstrosities and attacking from their rear, but just as quickly discarded the idea. The psychological impact of a direct frontal assault was irresistible to the dark mare's ego. She grinned widely, anticipating the fear she would inflict upon these warriors.

Besides, without magic they could not withstand the might of an Alicorn at full strength.

This battle shall be glorious!

Some fifty yards in front of the Moon Mare, the tank in her sights suddenly rotated its turret slightly and lowered its barrel to point directly at her approach. An instant later, it fired its main cannon.

It is a testament to Nightmare Moon's speed and reaction time, that she was able to see the threat and react within microseconds. Snapping up her shield, she began to veer up and away to her left. A fraction of a second later, the dark mare was blinded by the muzzle flash while the depleted uranium penetrator round struck her shield. Had she not acted so quickly, the battle would have been over immediately. The penetrator round would have struck her and turned her body into bloody paste spread out over the desert floor. And the Tank Commander would likely have been lectured for shooting a vulture.

Remember the shield lessons that Nightmare Moon put her new minion through? Her shielding was very powerful, magnitudes more advanced than anything her student could muster, but it still followed the same principles. Remembering that the warriors of this world did not use magic, Nightmare Moon had implemented a number of extra physical shunts on her shield. It is a testament to her experience and magical ability that she had strengthened her shield in this way. Those powerful shunts on her shield likely saved her from serious harm.

As the penetrator round struck her shield, the magical shunts absorbed as much of the kinetic energy as they could. However, advanced magical shielding was never designed to handle over 15,000 joules of kinetic energy in such a short time. The magical shunts were quickly overloaded far past capacity, and immediately burst under the load. The remaining kinetic energy pushed into the shield itself, BENT the shield inwards then shattered it. The penetrator round continued straight ahead, even though much of its kinetic energy had been bled off. Nightmare Moon was then left unprotected against the mercy of the tank's firepower.

A little-known fact about advanced Equestrian magical shielding: when a shield shatters, it releases some of the un-absorbed energy inwards from the point where the shield shattered. Which means, if an advanced shield shatters from the side the caster gets a magical hit in the ribs. In Nightmare Moon's case, her quick reaction time meant that the penetrator round had struck her shield just below and to the right (from her point-of-view) of dead center. Ever play a game of Pool? Knock the cue ball against another ball off-center, and the other ball goes rolling away at an angle opposite where it was hit by the cue ball. This is what happened to Nightmare Moon.

The kinetic backlash from her shattered shield hit her chestplate hard. She was then flung backwards, upwards and off to her left. The penetrator round passed under her torso and instead took a few feathers from her left wing. The pummeled mare impacted the mountainside nearly a third of the way up its side and disappeared from sight. With most of its kinetic energy drained away, the penetrator round skipped off the ground like a rock on water then embedded itself in the base of the hill.

Nothing moved for several moments. The cannon blast echoed off of the nearby mountains and the dust raised by the cannon fire began to settle. Inside the M1 Abrams Tank that just took out Nightmare Moon, there was no time to celebrate. Their Platoon Commander was demanding to know why the tank had just fired its main cannon AFTER the training exercise was over! The beleaguered Tank Commander was trying to explain what he had seen, then got chewed out for wasting ammunition on a $@^&*#!% BIRD! He finally convinced his Platoon Leader to review the footage taken from his tank's Imaging System. One video clip transmitted to the Platoon Leader's tank, and the communication channel went silent.

The Platoon Leader replayed the sent footage over and over. He sure didn't know what he was looking at, but he agreed that it wasn't a bird and it sure wasn't friendly. He was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to write this incident up in his report, when a shout came over the radio.

"It's moving!"

The crew of all four tanks and the two Humvees turned to look up at the mountain, where something was moving and shaking dirt off of itself. Their thoughts were all much the same.

How could something that small survive a point-blank shot from an Abrams tank?

The answer: Magic, of course! Well, not completely. It was also due to the physical strength and durability of Equestrian Alicorns. Thus, Nightmare Moon was not seriously hurt upon impacting the mountainside. The dark mare struggled to pull herself out of the hole created from her impromptu landing, then shook herself to dislodge the dirt still covering her form. A couple of feathers dropped from her wings to the ground. Blood trickled down from her nose and dripped down into the dirt beneath her hooves. Otherwise, she appeared to be unhurt.

Perhaps some of the credit for her survival was due to her custom-crafted armor. Despite how little of it she wore, the magical properties of her armor protected her better than if she was covered in thick plate mail made of titanium. Said armor had lost most of its glamour, its surface now visibly damaged. The metal was peppered with dents and sections were bent out of place. Every surface was covered in scrapes and scuffs, and the straps that attached her armor to her left foreleg appeared to be broken. The only part of her unaffected was her ethereal mane and tail, still slowly waving in an unseen wind.

The Night Mare was still woozy from the impact, and she swayed on her hooves. She shook her head to try and clear it, inadvertently spraying bloody droplets all over the area. Her ears would not stop ringing, and her chest felt tight and sore. Painfully drawing in a deep breath, she was immediately overcome by a fit of coughing. The subsequent convulsions took away what balance she had, and the dark mare sat down hard in the dirt. When her frenzied hacking finally died off, she sucked in another wheezing breath. Then was overwhelmed by another bout of coughing. Her whooping and hacking finally dislodged the dirt stuck in her throat, and she spat the disgusting blob off to the side.

Nightmare Moon took another ragged breath through her nose, and was surprised to find she could smell nothing but copper. The smell unmistakable, she knew it meant nothing good. Her leg wobbled as she lifted it to her muzzle, then roughly rubbed her armored hoof across her wet nose. Once the dozen or so hooves in her vision settled down to a single one, she could see the armor was smeared with blood. Though not unfamiliar with the sight, the fact that she could see her blood told her multitudes about the forces that she now faced. As she set her hoof down, she weighed the facts in her mind.

If they can make me bleed, their might is strong indeed.

Her thoughts finally cleared and she lifted her head to look around. In moments, the Night Incarnate realized her tactical position was very poor. A quick glance at the platoon below her revealed that she was higher up the mountain than she expected. Even worse, she was facing the middle-left tank in the formation beneath her - and they all had their cannons pointed in her direction. A moment's concentration on a healing spell, and the smell of copper was gone. It was replaced by the smell of freshly dug dirt and the fading scent of hot metal. Her hearing also restored, she could make out the quiet growl from the machines nearby. Perhaps they thought she was dead. It pleased her to prove them wrong.

Though still a bit wobbly, the Night Incarnate stood on her four hooves and faced the tank platoon. Her wings suddenly extended straight up in a show of force, and she scowled down at the warriors beneath her. Assessing the threat below, the ebony mare narrowed her eyes in displeasure.

It seems I am now at a severe disadvantage against these foes.

Without warning, the ebony mare was silhouetted by a spotlight mounted on top of one of the Humvees. The Moon Mistress brought up a wing to block the bright light, just as the single spotlight was joined by a second. An instant later, the ground around her hooves erupted in machine gun fire. The slugs rained around her, making a small noise as they impacted the dirt. As the soldiers improved their aim, the slugs hit and bounced off of the armor on her forelegs. A quick thought on her part, and her shield popped into existence. The slugs were caught in her shield and dropped to the ground, their kinetic energy bled off and away.

Nightmare Moon smirked, it was clear their might was ineffective against her magic. Unfortunately for her, that smirk was short-lived as three more machine guns joined the fray. All four M1 Abrams tanks were now targeting Nightmare Moon directly.

Under the increased barrage of fire, Nightmare Moon found herself wilting. Her shielding held strong, but the magic could no longer block all of the kinetic energy. Each impact upon her shield released a bit of its energy back at her, and the dark mare felt like she was being pelted by rocks.

I must escape their fire, and approach them from another angle.

Luck was with the Mare in the Moon yet again. Just as the ebony mare leapt into the air to her right and flapped her wings downward, the middle-left M1 Abrams tank fired an AP round at her position. The penetrator round buried itself into the ground exactly where Nightmare Moon had been standing, and the round clipped the back edge of her shield as it passed by.

As with before, the kinetic energy of the penetrator round was too much for Nightmare Moon's shield to handle. Shattering into a million magical pieces, the resulting magical backlash from the back of her shield slammed into her rump. From the mare's point-of-view, something had just given her the biggest smack on her ass that she had EVER felt in her long and lengthy life! The slap hit with the force of a speeding bus, and it sent her tumbling head over hooves across the mountain's sloped side. She tumbled and rolled helplessly in the dirt, and something small broke loose from her form and soared off in a different direction. The appendage tumbled down the mountainside and out of sight.

Once it was clear that their target was no longer in their sights, the machine gun fire ceased. The spotlights scoured the mountainside, looking for any sign of their armored foe - alive or otherwise. Within moments, one spotlight caught a glimpse of black fur and feathers. The other spotlight converged and together they covered the area in light.

The soldiers wondered to themselves, did they finally hit it? The shape was moving so much, they couldn't tell if it was injured or even intact. The smell of dust and cooling metal drifted across the desert floor as they watched and waited.

The flailing black pile squirmed around some more, then suddenly reformed itself into Nightmare Moon as the mare regained her hooves. And to the soldier's great surprise, she began hopping frantically on her hind hooves. Zooming in with either binoculars or electronic scopes, the soldiers quickly saw that the ebony mare truly was dancing on her hind hooves. Her large ebony wings were spread backwards to cover her rump, as if holding it up or trying to protect it from harm. They could see her forelegs clutched tightly across her chest plate, and they visibly trembled even at this great distance. And her face showed great strain, teeth bared and eyes squeezed shut in a painful grimace while her head twisted left and right at random. The mare continued to dance like this for many long seconds, hopping from one hind hoof to another as she endured the pain from some great injury. To the soldiers, it was clear she was hurt. But how?

At long last, the dancing mare stopped her hopping and dropped to her hooves. Her face still showed that she was in pain, but not as much as before. Her wings dropped limply to the ground, and revealed her painful injury: a tender and visibly beet red rump. No blood or other injury could be seen, but it was clear that mare had been ass slapped very hard.

The sound of laughter from the soldiers trickled up to Nightmare Moon's ears. One of the spotlights wobbled and pointed up and away from the scene, the soldier collapsing in tears on to the spotlight's controls. As the laughter got louder, the dark mare could feel her muzzle redden and burn in embarrassment. To her deep regret, she realized that she was now glowing at both ends.

As the laughter from below grew even louder, she wondered how she could salvage this operation.

This is humiliating. How am I to instill fear if my actions merely inspire laughter?

The pain continued to fade from the Night Mare's rump, and she found it easier to stand regally once again. Well, as regally as one could when one is being laughed at by a score of warriors. Noting that she felt lopsided as she stood on her hooves, the ebony mare glanced downwards to discern the reason. Her right foreleg appeared to be fine, although the armor plating was visibly bent and cracked. Blood from her nose was still smeared over the metal plate. Her left forehoof, on the other hoof, was totally bare.

Stunned, she could do naught but stare at her bare foreleg. Never in her long years, had she ever lost a piece of armor! Battered, broken, but never lost! Still baffled at the sight, she shifted her weight and lifted her bare foreleg up for inspection. She turned it one way, then the other; looking carefully for any sort of injury. She found none. Her hoof was still immaculately filed and polished, the fur above unmarred. Now puzzled, she wondered when she had lost that piece of armor? She hoped she could find it again. Recreating a new metal piece of armor offered no difficulty, but the enchantments in the original could not be so easily replicated.

Her train of thought was broken by a burst of loud, raucous laughter. She rolled her eyes, correctly guessing that the soldiers below found her missing armor immensely amusing. Frowning, she decided to distract herself from the laughter and let her tactical mind study the battle thus far. Analyzing her odds of victory, she was quite displeased with the result.

My one hope for victory would be to circle behind them and attack from the rear, and that is unlikely. Their cannons move and fire too quickly, and with too much force. I cannot charge an offensive spell before they are able to fire upon me again. And my shielding is ineffective before their might.

Still ignoring the ongoing laughter below, she continued to review her situation.

As long as I stand here, their laughter prevents them from acting. Once I move, they shall act. So for the moment, I have time to think.

She cast her eyes downwards, disappointed in her lack of success so far.

I must admit to myself, that I have survived thus far by luck and luck alone. I am not immortal, merely long-lived; a direct hit from one of their cannons will likely finish me.

And if these warriors were not presently occupied with laughter, they could very well have ended my life by now.

Her eyes narrowed, she was not pleased with her conclusions.

It is clear to me that I must retreat.

As if reading her mind, the turrets of each of the four M1 Abrams tanks began to move. They had been pointing to the mare's left, where she once stood. Now they were rotating in her direction.

Realizing what the turret rotations meant, and the danger that they posed, Nightmare Moon's eyes widened in fear. She barely survived fire from one cannon, she certainly could not survive four! The mare's sole thought was to flee as quickly as possible. Unfurling her wings, she took to the air and brought up her shield as fast as she could. She hoped she could make it up and over the mountain's summit before the cannons could fire again.

Unfortunately, she did not make it in time.

Fortunately, her luck still held.

Perhaps her movements were too erratic for the M1 Abrams' fire control computers to target her accurately. Perhaps the gunners of each tank were too eager to take their shot, and did not wait for the computers to lock on to their target. Whatever the reason, the Universe smiled upon Nightmare Moon that evening. She survived to see another sunrise.

The first penetrator round hit the spot where she had been standing, and thus missed completely. She was already flying upwards towards the summit of the mountain.

The second round was a bit closer. It still missed, but the kinetic energy of the round was close enough to brush her shield. However, her shield was able to absorb the energy of a near miss.

The third round landed to her right, a complete miss. But it was close enough to shower her with dirt, and caused her to flinch. This was a critical mistake, as she unconsciously slowed down her rapid ascent a tiny bit.

The fourth and last penetrator round passed through the back of her shield, shattering it. Due to both the angle of her ascent and the elevation of the tank's cannon, the round missed the dark mare. Instead, it passed through her ethereal tail and subsequently embedded itself into the dirt beneath her. Being ethereal, her tail could not be damaged physically. But she still felt the round pass through it, and the kinetic energy of the round made it feel like her tail was burning with the intensity of a thousand suns.

To add insult to injury, the feedback from her now-shattered shield hit her hard on her still-sore rump; the ebony mare screamed in pain. The feedback from her shattered shield, and the penetrator round impacting the ground so close beneath her, was too much for the Alicorn and she lost control. She was literally knocked ass over teakettle and slammed muzzle-first into the dirt. Fortunately for her, she was hit hard enough to propel her to the summit of the mountain and tumble over the edge to safety.

Act 2, Chapter 2 - Recovery & Ruminations

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Nightmare Moon had just gotten her flank kicked by a tank platoon of US Marines, and was currently performing her best Team Rocket impression.

With shocked fascination I watched the entire battle scene take place. I could not tear my eyes away, yet I could scarcely believe what I saw. My Mistress had survived! I closely followed her attempts to flee the battle, and as such I saw the last shell clip her shield. I watched her subsequent tumble in mid-air, and soar head over hooves over the summit of the mountain.

Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!

Sadly, Nightmare Moon's ordeal for the evening was far from over. I watched as her ascent peaked, then arced downwards. Upon hitting its back side, the dark mare bounced and rolled her way down the mountain.

Ouch.

Ow! That'll leave a mark.

Maybe I'd better go down there, in case she needs my help.

I summoned my wings, jumped off the summit and glided down the back side of the mountain towards the ebony mare.

The Mare in the Moon continued to tumble down the mountainside until she reached its base, then rolled limply across the ground until her momentum ran out. Her body bumped into a dead tree that had fallen over, and came to rest in a tangle of feathers and fetlocks. I expected the mare to clamber back to her hooves and fly into a rage, cursing and spitting. So I landed several feet away, then de-summoned my wings. And hoped I was out of kicking range.

Then I waited.

And waited some more.

Uh oh. She should have gotten up by now.

I walked over and sat down on my haunches next to Nightmare Moon, then ran my eyes over the battered and bruised mare.

No blood, but she sure is a mess. Is she even breathing?

My first thought was to reach down and place my hand on her chest. A heartbeat passed before I was rewarded with movement.

Oh, good, she's breathing. Must've just blacked out.

Do I wake her, or let her sleep it off?

I hope she didn't break anything.

Wish she'd taught me some healing spells.

As I could not help my Mistress in any way, I sat down on the desert floor and settled in for a long wait.

A few minutes passed with my only company the night breeze. Out of boredom, I watched a solitary tumbleweed drift by. A slow and dull look around the area revealed naught but flat ground, dead trees and some scrub brush. I was sitting on the trunk of a dead tree, and the mountain Nightmare Moon fell down was off to my right. I could smell the scent of dead and dried wood from the tree, and the aroma of freshly tilled earth. The latter came from Nightmare Moon, who had an incredible amount of dirt ground in to her fur.

I let my eyes rove over the dark mare's unconscious form. I convinced myself I was just looking for injuries despite the fact that I was really bored. I happened to notice her ass wasn't glowing red anymore, such a shame. I also couldn't help noticing the sad state of her armor. Dinged, damaged and dented everywhere I could see.

Man, is she going to be pissed when she wakes up.

While I examined the mess that was Nightmare Moon, my ears picked up something new. The sound was quiet, so quiet I could barely hear it at all. I tried really hard to listen to the sound, in hopes of identifying it.

Sounds like a growl of some sort. Nope, not my stomach growling even though I haven't eaten anything for several days. That's a surprise, I thought I would have at least had SOME hunger pains by now.

The noise slowly got louder, and I looked towards the spot I thought it was coming from. Some several hundred feet behind and off to my right, I could see some light past the edge of the mountain Nighty had just fallen off of. The light bounced up and down, like the owner was driving over some rough terrain.

Wait, 'driving?!'

That's an exhaust note!

The Humvees are heading this way, looking for us!

I had to get Moony here up and moving, or we would be caught! I scrambled over to her side, and shook her frantically.

"Wake up!"

No response. I shook her again.

"Come on, you need to wake up now!"

Her body moved a bit, but I couldn't tell if that was her moving or from me shaking her.

I shifted to sit next to her head, and gently slapped her muzzle.

"Time to wake up, we have to go!"

The roaring of the Humvee engines grew louder, as the first vehicle cleared the corner of the mountain. It was soon joined by its comrade. I figured we only had seconds before we were found.

Aiming downwards, I smacked Moon Butt on her muzzle as hard as I could.

"Wake up you stupid bitch!"

The battered mare groaned lightly, then twitched a hoof.

Finally!

But I was too late. The Humvees had taken up position in the area, and had turned their searchlights on. I was sure we couldn't escape without being seen and shot. I racked my mind for something, anything that would help us get away. If we only had a cloak or something, or a camouflage net to hide us...

My mind flashed to a scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, where Frodo saves Sam from discovery by tossing his elvish cloak over the two of them. The magical cloak disguised the hobbits as a large rock. I did not have an elvish cloak, but I had illusion magic! I could make us invisible instead! But would it hold up against the intense light of the searchlights?

There was only one way to find out. I reached for my magic, and cast an invisibility spell over the two of us. From my point-of-view, it was as if we had both become semi-transparent. I looked down at my arm, and realized I could see both Nightmare Moon and the ground below through my flesh. I couldn't tell if Moony's ethereal mane and tail were invisible, they were already see-through. Now the question was, would the illusion work and hide us from view?

I did not have to wait for an answer. One of the searchlights panned over us, lingered for a long and tense moment, then moved away. The brief yet illuminating encounter told me what I wanted to know - neither Nightmare Moon nor I cast a shadow on the ground. Combined with the fact that the Humvees were not racing to our position, I gleefully concluded that the illusion had worked. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

While my luck was holding, Nightmare Moon's luck was long gone. At that exact moment, she began to wake up. She groaned loudly, apparently still in some pain, and slowly tried to untangle her limbs. Her movement broke the illusion spell, making us visible again! And Moon Butt's grunting noises were loud enough to be heard by the soldiers in the nearest Humvee.

Their spotlight swept in our direction, so I had to act fast! I reached down and grabbed Moon Butt's muzzle, to clamp it closed and muffle her groans. The ebony mare froze in place as I gripped her muzzle tightly. Her eyes snapped open to look at me just as I leaned down to her ear and whispered my command.

"Don't move!"

At the same time, I re-cast the illusion spell and hoped for the best.

The light from the Humvee's spotlight played over our position. It was quickly joined by another. The two lights brightly illuminated our hiding space, lingered for several long moments, then moved on to examine the area all around us.

I let out another quiet sigh of relief. Whispering to my Mistress, I laid out my plan.

"My illusion worked. We just have to wait until they leave, then we can move."

The dark mare did not speak in response, but her muzzle nodded slightly under my hand. I released my grip on her, but left my hand resting on her muzzle just in case she made any other sudden noises. The searchlights covered the ground all around us, but never returned to our position. The urge to run away was really, really strong. But I knew we'd be seen and caught if I did. All I could do was wait and hope that the Humvees left quickly.

Well, the Humvees did move but didn't leave. To my horror, one Humvee was driving directly towards our spot next to the log! They couldn't see us, but what if they ran over us instead? And we couldn't move without being discovered! What could we do?

The Humvee pulled up right next to our hiding place, its left side facing us. As it pulled up and stopped, Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide and I felt her tense up under my hand. I quickly clamped down on her muzzle again, hoping to squash any noise she might have made. Then I slowly turned my head to look at the Humvee's front tire. The Humvee had inadvertently driven over Nightmare Moon's ethereal tail, pinning it under the tire.

Ouch.

I brought my gaze up to the Humvee's windows, and saw the driver looking around for our hiding place. I could hear more soldiers walking around the desert floor on foot. It was a safe bet that they weren't giving up any time soon. Eventually, the silence was broken by voices inside the Humvee.

"Anything?"

"Nothing. Not a damned thing."

A distorted voice came from the Humvee, which I presumed came from the radio.

"See anything?"

The first voice answered.

"Nothing, sir."

"There should be something. We found spots in the dirt where it looks like the thing bounced, and they lead right to you."

"Not sure what to say, sir. Should we search on foot?"

My blood ran cold at those words. If the soldiers got out of the Humvee, they'd trip over us and break the illusion!

"No need. Sergeant Matherson insists he hit it full on, but then there'd be pieces lying all over the place. More likely he missed and the thing flew off. Pack it up and return to our location."

"Roger, on our way."

The Humvee's tire rolled off of Nightmare Moon's tail and the vehicle turned around the way it came. Its tires showered us with dirt and the engine pumped diesel exhaust in our faces as the vehicle accelerated away into the night. The exhaust smell was unpleasant, especially with my new sensitive nose; I had to suppress the urge to sneeze. Slowly as not to break the illusion, I moved my hand to my face to gently rub my nose.

We waited in silence, Nightmare Moon and I, neither daring to move until both vehicles disappeared around the edge of the mountain. As soon as they did, I released the Moon Mare's muzzle and sat back on the ground. The illusion immediately popped, never to return. Nightmare Moon slowly and stiffly untangled her sore body, then managed to sit up facing me. She took several moments to stretch and roll her shoulders, testing out her body to see if she was still hurt. Flapping her wings once and raising a small cloud of dust, she folded them and laid them to rest on her sides.

The Night Mare then frowned at me and voiced her displeasure.

"I did not appreciate being silenced by you in that manner."

Oh great, she's taking out her frustration on me.

"You were about to give us away, I had to act fast. There was no time to ask nicely."

"Hmph. Fine."

She shifted herself around and looked away from me, as if uncomfortable for some reason. A few tense moments passed, and I dropped my arms down into my lap.

Concerned for her health, I spoke up once she had settled herself.

"Are you OK? That looked like it really hurt."

"I am fine. Remember, my magic allows me to heal most any wound at a rapid rate."

"Yeah, but you took two good hits, those must've hurt a lot."

The Night Mare cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"I do not understand. None of their cannon fire struck me."

"Well, something sure hit you hard on your butt, and something else knocked you out of the sky when you were trying to leave. I presumed you got hit."

The Moon Mistress ducked her head and began blushing furiously. And her adorably squeaky voice from earlier returned.

"You saw that?!"

I nodded slowly.

"I saw the whole thing."

"Oh."

Several uncomfortable seconds passed us by. Suddenly, the blushing mare sat up and quickly rattled off the following.

"We should verify that the enemy has left the area."

Without another word, Nightmare Moon jumped to her hooves and took to the air. Surprised at her sudden departure, I sat there watching for a few moments until I realized I should have followed her. Clambering to my feet, I summoned up my wings and took off after the ebony mare.

My eyes looked ahead for my dark Mistress. I saw her not in front of me as expected, but off to my left. It looked like she was aiming for a smaller hill, one that also overlooked the valley the tank platoon was in. She glided behind the hill, then banked right and floated upwards to alight on the hill's summit. About five seconds later, I gently landed to her right and de-summoned my wings. Down in the valley, I saw that the tank platoon was in the midst of leaving. The last tank had nearly turned around, while the rest of the platoon was on the move towards our left. Gunning the throttle, the last M1 Abrams tank quickly picked up speed to catch up to its comrades.

Curious to see her reaction, I turned to look at the dark mare. Instead of curiosity as I expected, I saw another emotion: fear. Her large, expressive eyes were open as far as I imagined they could go. Her jaw gaped open, and I swear I saw her tremble. Her mane lashed the air around it, whipping itself around in a frenzy.

Could her hair get tangled like normal hair? If so, she'll have a hell of a time getting the knots out of it later.

To be quite honest, Nightmare Moon looked TERRIFIED. And she had a good reason, too. These tanks were not only heavily armored and carried heavy firepower, but they were surprisingly mobile. I did not think it would quell her fears, but I felt the urge to explain to her what she was looking at. And consequently, the firepower that she had just faced earlier this evening.

"Mistress."

She slowly turned her head to face me, though her expression did not change. I inclined my head to point her back at the battlefield.

"As I said earlier, the large vehicles are called tanks. They are covered in thick armor, thicker than two hooves in many places. When we first saw them, they were firing tracer rounds which have a special flame on them so they can be seen at night. What they shot at you were likely penetrator rounds, specially designed armor-piercing rounds. You've already experienced how fast they fly."

Still staring at the retreating tank platoon, Nightmare Moon slowly nodded and did not reply.

"The tanks carry smaller weapons on top, which are intended to hit smaller targets. As you saw, they can fire a lot of rounds at once and concentrate their fire. They are trained to focus their fire on one target at a time, making it difficult to defend against them. And as you can also see, they can move very fast too."

Feeling more empathy towards the dark mare, I inched closer to her side and placed a comforting hand on her withers. Her dark flesh twitched slightly under my palm, clearly not expecting the contact. But after a moment, she shuffled her hooves and leaned her side against me. I could feel her muscles trembling and spasming against my armored side. It was a safe bet that she needed the comfort more than she realized.

We stayed on that mountain ridge in silence, merely watching the tank platoon drive off into the distance. The wind blew up and over our hill, bringing the dry smell of the desert up to us. The sounds of the tanks got quieter and quieter until they had faded away completely. All the while, Nightmare Moon did not speak a single word. Only once the dust had settled and all was quiet around us did she voice her inner thoughts.

"Thou...thou spokest the truth. Not with a thousand unicorns would I confront these wheeled demons. Pray tell, how dost one best them?"

"Usually with another tank, Mistress. The penetrator rounds they shot at you are made of a very heavy metal, which destroys its target by simply pushing its way through it. Imagine what a crossbow bolt fired at that speed would do to a pony, Mistress."

The Night Incarnate glanced down at the dirt near her hooves before she replied.

"I can imagine such, my student. I was nearly pierced in such a way several times during my ill-advised assault upon them."

She paused for a moment and licked her lips, as if unsure how to voice her next thoughts.

"I...I must admit to you that the thought of facing these warriors again frightens me a great deal."

Without thinking, I verbalized my next thought.

"Then I wouldn't think too much about the fact that, the friction from that round would end up setting a pony on fire."

The Mare in the Moon gasped in shock, then grimaced as her imagination told her exactly what would happen. Barbecued pony. And the carnivore in me wondered what barbecued pony would taste like, especially with barbecue sauce. Bad carnivore!

"Like I said last night Mistress, my people have much experience in waging war."

I quashed the urge to say, 'I told you so.'

Still facing the dirt in front of her hooves, She of the Night sighed as she mentally tore her plan to conquer this world into a million tiny pieces.

"So I see, my student."

Again, the mare fell silent. I imagine several near-death experiences will get you thinking about your life. Her head still drooped downwards, the dark mare glanced towards her bare foreleg which was still missing its armor covering. Lifting her head back up, she spoke with a firm voice.

"Before we proceed, I must retrieve my missing armor. I can only hope that the warriors did not find it and take it with them."

The Night Mare concentrated for a moment, and her horn lit up with her magicks. A fine line shot out from the tip of her horn and shot across the valley. It appeared to end at a point at the other side of the valley floor.

"Ah, my 'Lost and Found' spell has located my missing armor. I shall retrieve it straight away, then return here."

Nightmare Moon moved a few steps away, then unfurled her wings and prepared to take off. With a powerful flap, she took to the air and soared across the valley. The wind whipped up by her departure ruffled my fur and wound through the gaps in my armor, leaving me pleasantly chilled. I took a deep breath through my nose, and could smell nothing but the clean night air. My eyes followed my Mistress as she quickly crossed the valley floor and alighted on the ground some distance away.

I could barely see her lift something up in her magic, then place her bare hoof into it. With a flap of her wings, she took to the air again - but immediately stopped to look down upon the ground. Her magic picked up the item again, but this time she carried it with her while she returned to my spot on the hill. Hovering to a gentle landing nearby, Nightmare Moon smiled at me and revealed her prize: her missing piece of armor. As she levitated the metal across our field of vision, she explained what had happened on the valley floor.

"It seems my missing armor is sufficiently damaged that it will no longer stay on my hoof unaided."

Her magic smoothly floated the piece of armor back across to the front of her body. In one fluid motion, she lifted her bare leg and magically slid the piece of armor on to her hoof. Letting her horn go dark, she then placed her hoof back on the ground to pin the armor down and keep it from falling off.

Her horn lit again, but this time I recognized the magic: the Armor Repair spell. At first, she concentrated the spell's power on her recovered piece of armor. I watched as the broken leather straps stretched over her fur and the pieces knitted themselves back together. Then saw the metal on the armor began to bend itself back into its proper place. All of this happened without a sound.

It's so weird to see metal bend so far without hearing the metal screech and scream.

The Moon Mare next allowed the spell to cover her entire body. The deformed and damaged metal of her full set of armor then began to repair itself. Seconds passed while the spell worked, re-shaping metal and stitching straps, then the magic blinked out without warning. It appeared to have done its job, as Nightmare Moon's armor looked intact and in good repair though it was still tarnished.

A quick flash of an Armor Polishing and Overall Cleansing spell, and Nightmare Moon looked brand-spanking new. Once again restored to her natural beauty, her clean and scrubbed ebony fur rippled under gleaming armor. Armor that looked like it had been polished until it gently reflected the moonlight.

The dark mare sighed in absolute bliss.

"Ah, to be clean and restored at last."

I gave my Mistress a wide smile and a thumbs-up, and didn't care if she understood it.

"Looking good, Mistress."

The Night Incarnate slipped on a smug and indulgent look, and briefly strutted around the hilltop.

"Why yes, I do look good. Your praise is welcomed and appreciated."

My eyes rolled at her antics.

"So, what's the plan for the rest of the evening, Mistress? I imagine we're not going to prance around in the desert all evening."

The Night Mare ceased her strutting and addressed me directly. She lifted a hoof to her chest, and made her proclamation.

"Of course not, my student. Our plan is - was -"

The smug look dropped off her face like it was made of lead.

"Oh."

The Moon Mistress visibly wilted and seemed to shrink into her armor. Her upraised hoof dropped bonelessly to the ground. Hesitantly, she spoke a bit quieter this time.

"I confess, after my failure this evening I am not certain how to proceed."

"Well, I know we're going to need a LOT more trained warriors before we try to attack a force like that."

"There will not be any more warriors, my student."

"What, you're giving up?"

Nightmare Moon shook her head slowly at my words.

"Nay, my student. You have misunderstood the meaning of my words. Our army shall not be increased by new warriors that can wield magic. It must grow instead by absorbing the non-magical denizens of this world."

She turned to look in the direction the tank platoon had driven off to.

"And hopefully a number of these fighting machines as well."

"I'm confused. Why wouldn't you train more people, like you trained me?"

When she turned back towards me, she had a look of sadness over her muzzle.

"Two nights ago, while you were resting after your shield exercises, I cast several spells to scry for more warriors. As before, none could be found."

After a moment's thought, I concluded that her spell had to have gone wrong.

"That can't be right, Mistress. I know there are many more warriors that are much, much better than me. Even with your training."

"Not true, my student. Due to my ministrations, you are now a mage. A wielder of magic. The fact that you are freshly trained makes no real difference."

The dark mare looked away and across the valley floor.

"Unless those like you are especially adept at concealing themselves, I have determined that you are the only mage that is native to this world."

"Woah."

Glancing over at me, she nodded once.

"Indeed. Be assured that my search for more warriors was very thorough. To verify my search results were accurate, each one was separated into distinct pieces."

The Night Mare brought up her hoof and gestured with it as if counting off tasks with an imaginary hand.

"My spells found non-magical warriors too numerous to count, countless natives willing to serve me unconditionally, and an untold number with better knowledge of this world than thee."

Placing her hoof back down on the ground, she looked directly into my eyes.

"But none that have all I require. Only you."

In other words, I'm far from the best but I have enough of everything she needs. And was lucky enough to be close enough when she did her magical search.

"So, you're stuck with me then."

The Moon Mistress returned my lukewarm smile with a warm, genuine one.

"While that interpretation is accurate, it is not the one I would have chosen. Forsooth, disposing of thee and training warriors to replace thee would be a poor choice. Making thee battle-ready has taxed me far more than I foresaw, especially while imbuing thee with flight."

The Night Incarnate brought her hoof back up to gesture again as she spoke.

"Withal, only so much of my magical essence can be spared before I am too diminished to fight effectively. Further, as your training consumed more and more of my time and magical energy I chose to end my search for more warriors."

Noticing my expression had changed to one of sorrow, Nightmare Moon tilted her head in confusion.

"Is something wrong, my student?"

"Did making me a magical creature permanently damage your magic, Mistress?"

"Why wouldst thou think...ah, I understand now. Do not fear, my magical essence will recover in time. The amount necessary to seed thy form was small and shall not impact my ability to channel magic. You have my guarantee, my student, that creating thee did not do me permanent harm. Though your concern is most appreciated."

"Then why the worry of diminishing yourself?"

"One or two warriors created using a portion of my magical essence is of no concern to me, but two warriors are insufficient for my needs. Ten warriors would require some time to recover from. An entire legion? Impossible. Even if a legion of mages could be feasibly created, hiding them would be an impossibility. Discovery of such a force before it was properly trained would be disastrous."

Nightmare Moon grimaced at her next thought before she continued.

"Besides, I wish to conquer as much of this world as possible before my sister arrives. It is a certainty that she will discover I was not destroyed by the Elements of Harmony, but escaped to another world instead. In time, my sister or her student will determine where it is that I have escaped to. She will then come here posthaste to confront me.

"I suspect that she will try to treaty with the rulers of this world, in order to elicit their help in defeating me. That must not happen. Thus, our conquest of this world must be as swift as possible."

Not destroyed by the elements, huh? I guess that invalidates the entire My Little Pony series, since the second episode heralded the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Or maybe she's from an alternate universe? Ah, I'll probably never know. Oh hey, she's giving me a curious look. Did I miss something?

"Yes, Mistress?"

"I was certain that thy greatest concern would be that I had considered replacing thee with other warriors. Does this not concern thee?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh, no I'm not worried. You did also say that it was a bad idea, after all. I guess I was too busy thinking about how much making me had hurt you."

"Mmm, I see. As I said, any minor hurt incurred while creating you is easily healed."

Blushing slightly, the Mare in the Moon continued her reassurances.

"Besides, you have one additional quality that I do not wish to find elsewhere."

"Oh? What's that?"

The Mare in the Moon smirked knowingly at me.

"Thy skill in kissing. Or hast thou forgotten so soon?"

Fuck no.

"Perhaps I need a reminder, Mistress."

"It would please me to give you several reminders, but they must await until our tasks this evening have been completed. For now, we must decide on our current course of action."

The ebony mare gestured off in the direction the tank platoon had driven off in.

"Attacking this fortress is no longer a viable choice for the evening. We must find a smaller target, then increase our forces slowly until they can properly combat these...tanks, was it?"

Nodding in response, I ran my internal monologue while I thought her words over.

Smaller target, smaller target...what kind of military base has low firepower...aha!

"How about a police station, Mistress?"

"I do not know what a 'police station' is, my student."

I keep forgetting how little she knows of this world.

"Oh. Uh, it's a local guard station whose primary role is to keep the peace and enforce the local laws. They um...aren't trained like an army, but to deal with local disturbances such as theft and public drunkenness. I would imagine they would pose a much smaller threat to us."

"Excellent! Lead us to this...'police station', my student!"

Easier said than done.

The name of the Marine base told me approximately where we were; still in Southern California but about 200 miles east of where I met Moony here. Sadly, I was not familiar with the local area. To be honest, if the local police station wasn't down the street from the gym I worked out at I wouldn't be able to tell you where it was.

If only I still had my smartphone, I could pull up Google Maps and get a GPS lock to help us out. Sadly, no dice.

Maybe the Moon Mare could help me get my bearings? Couldn't hurt to ask.

"Mistress?"

"Yes?"

"Could you tell me where the sun will rise from? I'm trying to figure out which direction to head towards."

Closing her eyes for a moment, the dark mare gestured with a wing behind us. I noted that it was in the general direction of the sign we stopped at earlier this evening.

"There. We have several hours before the sun rises."

Alright, that direction is east. Meaning that we're on the east side of the Marine base. The city of Twentynine Palms is just to the south of the base, but if we don't want to attract attention we can't fly through the base grounds. We'll have to skirt the east edge of the base perimeter to get to the city further south.

I informed the Dark Mistress of my plan, and with a flap of our wings we were airborne. We flew towards the sign from earlier, then banked right just as we passed over it.

The base can't be THAT big. We should find Twentynine Palms in no time.

Act 2, Chapter 3 - Trapped Like a Rat

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Nightmare Moon had just felt the might of the United States Marines, and was not eager to repeat the experience. We had just left the base perimeter and were heading towards a nearby city to the south in hopes of finding an easier target.

Can someone tell Murphy I'm sorry? I didn't mean to break his law, it was a complete accident.

Turns out that the east side of the MCAGCC Twentynine Palms base perimeter, the side that Nightmare Moon and I were on, was not a straight line running north to south as I expected. It instead zig-zagged towards the east sorta like a staircase. And unluckily for us, the base perimeter was either poorly marked or we kept missing the signs. Probably the latter, the signs looked like they were meant to be seen from the ground and not from the air. Were we showing up on the base radar? It didn't really matter. Each time we accidentally violated their airspace, we ran into a Humvee patrol.

After our first run-in with a Humvee, my dark Mistress gave me an order in case we encountered more of them.

"We should avoid any additional conflict with the guards stationed here, ere we invoke their ire and those 'tanks' are mustered against us. If confronted, attempt to flee towards the east. Only fight if there is no other option."

Sounds good to me. I don't want to attack my fellow humans if I have a choice.

We easily avoided the next Humvee we saw. They had their spotlight on, and were scanning the night sky for anything that moved. The third Humvee kept their lights off, but they were parked in the middle of a field. Thanks to our magical night vision, we saw this vehicle early enough and veered back to the east to avoid a confrontation.

We didn't see the fourth Humvee until it was too late.

This one had parked itself behind a small rock formation, one just large enough to hide behind. When we flew past them, the soldiers launched two drones that lit us up with bright lights. Two quick shots from Nightmare Moon took care of the drones, but the Humvee had already launched a parachute flare that lit the entire area. It was time for us to leave.

As before, the dark mare and I angled east and quickly lost sight of the pursuing Humvee.

BANG!

The sky in front of us had been lit by a painfully bright light! It appeared directly in front of Nightmare Moon, and the flash blinded us both. Fortunately for me, the dark mare's body shielded me from the worst of the blast. But the Night Mare took the full brunt of the surprise attack.

"Argh! Mine eyes!"

A flashbang!

Those things were really annoying in video games, and they turned out to be fucking painful in person. Even though I was protected from the worst of the explosion, I still felt like I had been slapped in the face and punched all over my body. My ears were ringing and the bright light had messed up my eyes. I couldn't see a thing!

So it's not really my fault I didn't see Nightmare Moon stop right in front of me. The next thing I knew, I had slammed into something big and the two of us tumbled out of the night sky. We hit the ground hard in a painful tangle of fur and feathers. Both of us flailed around in a panic: blinded, deafened and quite confused. The smell of gunpowder was everywhere while we each tried to untangle ourselves free of the other.

"Mine eyes!"

"Get off me, you fat bitch!"

"ENOUGH!"

A flash of healing magic from the dark mare, and both of us could see and hear again. We quickly untangled ourselves, and got to our respective feet & hooves as fast as we could. My Mistress lifted her wings and prepared to fly, and I did the same. I did not know who had attacked us, but I really didn't want to be caught on the ground in a fight. My pegasi instincts were screaming at me to get into the air and leave my enemies on the ground below.

But before we could depart, a flare popped up into the air; the chemical light held aloft by a small parachute. Caught unawares, the dark mare and I hesitated a mere moment to stare at the flare as it floated down. One lost moment later, a muffled bang rang out in the night and something white streamed out to cover us both!

I ducked instinctively and waited for the thing to fly over us. After waiting a few tense seconds, I heard my Mistress speak.

"Clearly, thine instincts in battle are in sore need of a polish."

Huh?

I looked over at Nightmare Moon, and noticed that she and I were not trapped in the white thing that flew over us. Instead, we were protected by the dark mare's glowing shield. Said shield was spherical in nature, and the center was a bit taller than the Mare in the Moon's horn. After standing up, I could see that the white thing was actually a large net, and it was draped over the dark mare's shield. The net was so large that it not only covered the shield, but it sprawled across the ground all around us. My Mistress was looking at me, her expression one of disapproval.

"Oh great, now we're trapped."

"Not so, my student. Watch and learn."

A look of concentration covered the ebony mare's muzzle, and a burst of magic shot out from her horn and into her shield. The shield pulsed and SQUIRMED somehow, then grew short and stubby spikes all over its outer surface. The spikes pushed through the holes in the net and effectively pinned it to the shield's surface.

Well, now the net is trapped on the surface of the shield. How is that going to--oh. If she expands the shield, the net should tear and let us escape.

As I watched, the shield split into spherical wedges not unlike pieces of an orange or grapefruit. With a loud yell, Nightmare Moon forced the wedges of her shield apart and violently tore the net to shreds. A moment later, she let the shield disperse and tiny pieces of net fell around us harmlessly.

Two sets of headlights suddenly flickered to life, one to our front and the other towards our left. The Humvees started their engines, and slowly began to creep towards us.

Now that's a threat if I've ever seen one.

After thinking for a moment, I realized that the Humvees weren't much of a threat after all. I was sure Nightmare Moon and I could beat them fairly easily. With a thought, I summoned a fireball into each hand. Then I waited patiently for the order to attack. Instead, my Mistress turned away from the vehicles and leapt into the sky.

HEY!

Aw crap, I forgot she wanted to avoid a fight!

Even if the Humvees were only a small threat, they were still a threat I did NOT want to turn my back on. So I leapt into the air backwards and did my best to fly away. I couldn't travel very fast this way, but it meant I could keep an eye on the Humvees while we fled. In a blink, I de-summoned the fireballs and re-absorbed their energy. In their place, I made a special shield that was large and round and flat. This shield wasn't attached to me like my normal one, so I could move it and even throw it if I had to. But that meant that I could drop it, too. I hoped it was good enough to help the two of us to escape.

I should have known that there would be more soldiers out there.

I saw and felt the trademark flash of light & explosion from a flashbang behind me. It was quickly followed by the blood-curdling scream of Nightmare Moon. I whipped my head around in time to see her tumble out of the sky, smoke and flames roiling from her head. Since I had been facing away from the explosion, the sudden light and sound of the flashbang didn't really affect me. But my fear froze me in place, and I could only watch in horror as the injured Night Mare slammed into the ground and tumbled down a dirt embankment I didn't even know was there.

OH MY GOD!

"MISTRESS!"

Whatever held me in place let me go, and I found I could move again. The sudden surge of motion made me drop my shield, not that I needed it anymore. My only thoughts were of the Mare in the Moon, as I chased after her wounded body as fast as I could. But I wasn't fast enough. I could only watch helplessly as the ebony mare limply rolled down the embankment. Just as she reached the bottom and came to rest, I landed hard in the dirt next to her unmoving form. Dust raised from her crash and my landing swirled around our bodies.

A brief look for injuries on the mare's body revealed no obvious broken bones or blood. However, there were ominous wisps of smoke curling lazily from her head. And I could smell cooked meat. I couldn't see her injuries from where I stood, but the smell alone told me they were really bad. A quick walk around the mare's body, and I could finally see the terrible damage done to her.

It looked like the poor mare had taken the flashbang right in the face. Most of the fur on her muzzle had been burned away, with blackened flesh and soot surrounding large patches of red and burned skin. Even worse, I could see large patches of white bone where the flashbang had burned all of her flesh and muscle away. And her nose was missing, just an empty hole in her skull where it used to be.

While her helmet was still on her head, the metal had been blackened from the flames. Her horn had survived the blast, scorched but undamaged. But to my horror, the fur on her eyelids had been burned away and the skin there was charred and red.

Oh no, not her eyes!

I desperately hoped that her eyes were alright, but deep inside I knew she would never see again. How could the flashbang not have blinded her? There was too much damage. Despair for my Mistress filled my heart, and I slumped to my knees in the dirt.

No, no no no no no no! Why oh why didn't you teach me any healing magic! I can't do anything to help you!

Wanting, no needing to comfort the ebony mare, I reached out and cradled her mutilated head in my arms. I called out her real name over and over until she began to stir.

The Moon Mistress groaned and grimaced, likely from the pain from her burns. Her eyelids twitched, but she was unable to open them. From what I could see, her flesh had melted from the heat and fused her eyelids to the surrounding tissue. After a few attempts to open her eyes, she let out a deep growl of anger. Her horn lit up, and her wounds began to miraculously heal before my very eyes. Mere seconds passed as flesh and muscle stretched over exposed bone, burned flesh healed to a healthy pink, and ebony fur rippled out to cover naked flesh. In mere moments, all of her grave wounds were gone with no sign that she was ever hurt at all.

As soon as her horn went dark, the ebony mare's eyes snapped open. Her gorgeous teal orbs were filled with white hot anger, and I could feel the muscles in her neck tense in my arms. She quickly scrambled to her hooves, and shouted her frustrations to the heavens.

"I TIRE OF THIS HUMILIATION!"

In answer, another flashbang flew over the top of the embankment and fell towards our position. My instincts screamed to knock it away, so I made a flat shield and swatted the flashbang off to my right. The flashbang exploded harmlessly, too far away from us to do any harm.

My protective instincts were still strong, so I gave Nightmare Moon a quick look over for more injuries. To my eyes, she looked completely healed and was likely back at full strength. However, her left wing was drooping down while the right one was neatly folded up against her side. Her armor was scratched and blackened from the flashbang that had burned her, and she was still covered in dirt from her tumble down the embankment.

Why didn't she cast a cleaning spell?

Doesn't matter, we need to leave NOW.

"We need to go, Mistress!"

I took to the air, but when I realized that the Moon Mare was not following I stopped several feet above the ground.

"Mistress?"

"Nay."

"What?"

Nightmare Moon did not turn to face me, but instead addressed me while staring up the embankment.

"Mastery of the finer elements of healing magic has always eluded me. As such, healing such deep wounds taxes me greatly. I must rest before I attempt to heal my injured wing."

Oh, so THAT'S why her wing is drooping.

The Mare in the Moon suddenly tilted her head forward and fired a lightning bolt up the embankment. I heard a yelp high above as someone was tagged by the magical lightning. Screams and yells from several soldiers could be heard above us, followed a moment later by an explosion and a flash of light.

Nice, she got one just as he was about to throw a flashbang at us.

"Search for a place we can hide, my student. I have enough strength to hold these foes at bay for a time."

"Got it!"

Place to hide...place to hide...

I did a quick scan around the spot we were in, and immediately recognized it as a dry river bed. The ground around us was cracked and littered with branches and rocks. The steep river banks were fairly tall, and rose up maybe 20 or 30 feet both in front and behind us. The river bed itself seemed to be maybe twice as wide as the sides were tall. A brief mental estimate told me that it would take a while to climb up either bank, and that was time we probably didn't have. A look down the river bed to my right, I saw rocks and a bridge far off in the distance. To my left, I saw more rocks. And a hundred or so yards down, I saw...metal?

Is that a drain pipe?

Before I cried victory, I wanted to make sure what I saw was actually something we could hide in. Didn't want to trap us in a drain pipe that was too small for us, after all. I was still hovering in the air, so I nimbly flew down the river bed towards the metal thing. Maybe halfway there, I was able to see it well enough to determine it WAS a culvert AND it was big enough for us to fit in. I couldn't see any water coming out of it, and didn't expect to as the dirt all around us was bone dry.

I was confident I had found our hiding place, so I called out to my Mistress.

"Found it!"

Nightmare Moon turned her head in my direction, then began to move towards me. Unfortunately, her injured wing was now dragging on the ground and as such it was causing her trouble. If she ran too fast, she might smash her wing on a rock and the pain would really slow her down. Moving too slow was just as bad, our attackers would have more time to realize that the dark mare was injured. Despite her injury, it looked like the Moon Mare was moving as fast as she could.

Unfortunately, the Marines hadn't given up on us yet. While Nightmare Moon was making her way towards me, one of the Humvees drove up to the edge of the river bank. I presumed that they had seen us moving, for they then turned in our direction and followed us both. Yet another flashbang was thrown out of the vehicle and soared towards my dark Mistress.

"Is there no end to these tubes of fire and pain?!"

Ever alert, Nightmare Moon batted the device out of harm's way with her own shield. She followed it up with a bolt of lightning hurled at the Humvee. The lightning did no visible damage to the machine, but it did make its occupants yelp. Suddenly, the vehicle's engine stalled.

Fortune shone upon us that evening, for the injured mare reached my position down river without further incident. I took over watching for attacks from above, while Droopy Wing Moony concentrated on running. We managed to make it to the culvert opening before the soldiers could restart the Humvee's engine.

"What is this, my student?"

I landed next to Nightmare Moon and took a look at the culvert opening. And realized in horror that I had made a terrible mistake. The culvert entrance was blocked by rusty bars and there was no lock or other opening in sight. A small pile of sticks and other trash had gathered up at the bottom of the grate, probably left there during the last rainy season.

"Oh, crap! What do we do? We can't tear those off, or the soldiers will know we're in there! And we'll be trapped!"

"Calm yourself, student. I believe I have an answer."

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes in concentration, and either did not hear the two Humvees drive up to the river bank or she left them for me to deal with. Probably the latter. As it was, I saw TWO flashbangs arc over the edge and fall towards our position.

I was almost insulted. This was TOO easy.

Without any real effort, I summoned two separate shields and batted the flashbangs right back at the Humvees. I turned my head away just before the devices detonated, and heard screams from the soldiers as they were blinded by their own weapons.

"Now! While they are sightless!"

The Mare in the Moon wrapped her good wing around me, and in a blink we were inside the culvert. The light in the area was very dim, but was just enough to see by. I could hear nothing but our own breathing, but something sure smelled foul and nasty.

If it smells THIS bad when dry, I can't imagine how bad it would be if there was water in here. Eww.

Alright, calm down. It may stink in here, but we should be safe for a while.

I wasn't sure why it was so dark, shouldn't my magical eyesight let me see in the dark? A memory came forth, likely included with the spell, that told me that the magic needed a little light to work properly.

If that magical memory is right, and they all have been so far, it means that it's really dark in this place.

Everything I could see around me made me think that we were deep inside the drainage system. The part we were in was round and made out of a corrugated metal, probably stainless steel or aluminum. It looked to be tall enough for me to stand up straight if I stood in the middle of the pipe. Nightmare Moon, who was sitting just off to my right, had to duck her head down to keep her horn from touching the corrugated ceiling. The metal surface showed some mild corrosion and mineral residue, typical damage for metal that had been in contact with water for a while. Roots dangled from the ceiling in some places, and the bottom of the pipe was littered with sticks, dirt and rocks.

To my left, I could see an intersection between the pipe we were in and another one. It looked like that other pipe was perpendicular to ours, making it a t-intersection. The light seemed to be a bit brighter that way, but I wasn't sure. I could not see the end of the pipe to the right, it simply disappeared into the darkness.

"I DON'T SEE--SEE-see--see--see--see--"

Yikes!

I cringed outwardly as my normal speaking voice echoed up and down the metal pipes. Several seconds passed as the echoes slowly radiated outwards and eventually faded away to nothingness. I looked over at Nightmare Moon and saw a startled look on her muzzle. She obviously realized the echo's significance: if we made too much noise, our hiding place would be discovered. I tried speaking again, but this time I lowered my voice to a whisper and hoped it would be quiet enough.

"I don't see the entrance, where are we?"

Both the dark mare and I waited in silence, simply listening for any echoes my whispered words might create. After several seconds had passed without a single echo, both of us let out quiet sighs of relief. Now confident that we could speak to each other without discovery, the ebony mare gestured towards the intersection to my left with her good wing.

"We are deeper in these metal caverns of yours, out of sight from the entrance yonder."

I glanced towards the t-intersection, then turned back to my Mistress and nodded in confirmation. We seemed to be safe for a little while, so I turned my thoughts to Nightmare Moon and her injured wing. She seemed to be in the same condition as before: healthy and strong, yet her armor was still damaged and her left wing was limp against her side.

"What's wrong with your wing? Is it broken?"

"Nay, merely dislocated. However, relocating the joint shall take more energy and focus than I have at the moment. So for now, I must endure."

Endure? Of course, it must hurt like all hell.

"I could fix that for you."

"Truly? You have experience in relocating wing joints?"

"Well, no. But I have experience relocating shoulder joints. At least, on my people. If the anatomy is similar enough, the same techniques should work."

That was a lie, I had no such experience. But I had seen a couple of Youtube videos on the subject, and the techniques were really easy. What could go wrong?

"Hmmm. You are correct my student, the dislocated wing joint is similar to the shoulder joint and can be relocated in much the same way. You may make your attempt."

Alright, let's do this.

I slowly and quietly padded around Nightmare Moon and over to her left side. Then I carefully crouched down behind her dislocated wing. There were two techniques I knew of to relocate a dislocated shoulder, and I wanted to take a closer look at her wing anatomy before I chose one. Reaching out, I gently placed my fingertips on to the ebony mare's shoulder. I tenderly dragged my fingertips through her fur, from her shoulder down to the pegasus wing girdle on her back.

My Mistress looked back at me, not expecting my light touch against her fur. But she said nothing.

From what I could see, the joint did resemble a shoulder joint on the outside. I avoided touching the wounded joint and traced a line down her wing instead. I noted how similar the skeletal structure looked to an arm. As I reached her elbow, I noted that it looked much like a human elbow except that the lower wing stuck out sideways instead of forward.

Basically, her elbow joint is rotated 90° outward from a human one. In theory, this means I could rotate her wing up or down and get the same effect. But rotating her wing upwards would be closer to the human equivalent.

This should work.

"Alright Mistress, I'm ready. I'm going to slowly move your wing into position. Are you ready?"

"Aye."

Here we go.

I placed my right hand on top of Nightmare Moon's upper wing, and reached under her feathers to place my left hand on her lower wing. I slowly lifted her wing up, then gently rotated the injured limb so that her upper wing was flush to her body and parallel to her spine. At the same time, I bent her elbow at a 90° angle so her wing was parallel to the ground and pointing away from her body. The Moon Mare grimaced in pain as I rotated her dislocated wing joint, but made no sound.

"What I'm going to do, is slowly rotate your wing upwards. When your wing gets high enough, your wing joint should pop back into place. Ready?"

"One moment. This technique is different than the one I am familiar with."

"Oh. You mean the one where you tug on the wing slowly until the joint relocates itself?"

"Aye."

"Well, both techniques will work but the one I'm using requires very little force to complete. And it causes less pain and less risk of permanent damage."

"I care not for risks of damage and lessened pain, for they are easily repaired by magic. However, you may proceed."

Slowly, carefully, I lifted Nightmare Moon's injured wing with my left hand while holding her elbow down with my right. This motion was intended to rotate the bone in the upper wing until the ball at the end of the bone came free of whatever it was caught on. Then, muscle tension should pop the shoulder back into its socket on its own.

OK, I can feel the joint grinding a bit but it's rotating. If that video was right, the shoulder should pop into place somewhere around now.

A moment later, the wing in my hands jerked forward a couple of inches as the wing joint relocated itself. The Night Mare gasped at the sudden shock of the relocation, then went silent. I simply held her wing and waited, guessing that she was resting now that the pain of her dislocation was gone. To help her recover, I held her wing immobile until she was ready to move it on her own. Maybe half a minute later, she lifted her injured wing out of my hands and gingerly stretched the appendage out. When she was finished testing out her wing, Nightmare Moon turned to me and smiled.

"Excellent, your ministrations were successful. The damaged muscles and tendons are now easily healed."

A quick flash of magic from her horn, and she folded her freshly-healed wing up against her side. A simple cast of a cleaning & polishing spell, and the ebony mare was looking her best once again.

Now that my Mistress was feeling better, my next priority was to find out if the soldiers were still looking for us. The only way I knew how to do that was to go take a look. Thus I quietly and carefully tip-toed towards the intersection I had seen earlier.

"Where art thou going?"

"I want to see if the soldiers have left. I'll be right back."

In little time, I was at the intersection of the two pipes. Peering carefully around the corner to the left, I could see the iron grate blocking the culvert opening some 60 feet or so down the pipe. Moonlight shone past the bars and illuminated that part of the culvert. By turning my head to the right, I could see that the metal pipe went off into the darkness with no end in sight.

Suddenly, the area got a lot brighter. I looked left again and saw a bright light beam shining down the pipe! I quickly ducked back into the side pipe, but not before the beam swept across my face. The light played up and down the walls of the pipe, and I realized that the light was a flashlight beam.

Looks like the soldiers are still looking for us.

A second flashlight beam joined the first, and the two soldiers began talking.

"Anything?"

"Thought I saw something moving down the tunnel."

"Could be a big cat or something. If they can get inside, they like to sleep there 'cause it's nice and cool during the day."

"Maybe. But this is the only place those two could be hiding. There's nothing else around."

The sound of metal scraping metal could be heard, something was being shaken back and forth.

"These bars are rusted in place. There's no way they could have gotten in there without tearing these out.

"Damn, they must have flown off while we were blinded."

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, pack it up. We're heading back to base."

More shouts could be heard from beyond the grate, as the soldiers relayed the command to leave. I could faintly hear a diesel engine start up, then rumble as the driver put the vehicle into gear. In moments, all was quiet.

I tiptoed back to where Nightmare Moon was sitting and quietly reported my findings.

"It sounds like the soldiers have left. I heard them talking, and they decided that we could not be hiding in here. They think we flew away instead."

"This is good news. Are you certain that they have left?"

"Well, I heard their leader order them to leave and head back to base. And I heard their vehicles start up and drive away. Or, at least it sounded like they drove away."

"Excellent. While I detest hiding, I am not eager to wage war with them again. My encounter with their tubes of fire and pain was most unpleasant. Perchance, do you have any knowledge of these devices?"

"They're called flashbangs, Mistress. They are designed to do exactly that, make a bright flash and a loud bang. The combination is intended to stun an enemy for a few crucial moments, letting the user approach in relative safety."

"Flashbangs. What a crude yet accurate name."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Nevertheless, I do not wish to encounter these 'flashbangs' again any time soon. We shall have to wait until we are certain that they have left the area."

"Alright. But how will we know for sure? We can't see anything from here, and if we go outside and they are still here they will attack again."

"Undoubtedly. We must then be very cautious."

We both went silent while we both thought of ways to escape. I broke the silence first.

"Hm. Too bad we can't use illusion magic, we could sneak right by them in plain sight."

"How would illusion magic help us? No matter what form we take, we shall still be pursued."

"No no, we use illusion magic to hide ourselves from view. That's how I hid us from the soldiers after your unfortunate encounter with the tanks."

"I had not thought of using illusion magic in such a way. Hiding in the shadows is of no consequence to me, but I have never needed to hide myself while exposed in the open. One moment, I must think."

As Nightmare Moon pursed her brow in concentration, a medium-sized rock next to us began to shimmer. Then slowly faded from view.

"Huzzah!"

"Nice. But there's a problem."

I reached out with a foot and bumped the rock currently hidden from view. Once my toes moved the rock, the illusion spell broke and the rock was visible once again.

"The illusion breaks as soon as the hidden item moves. So even if we were able to get outside and cast the spell, we would be seen as soon as we moved."

"I do not see a problem, my student. I merely need to change the spell slightly. Watch."

The same rock shimmered again, then disappeared from view. As before, I reached out with a foot and nudged the rock. But this time, it did not reappear. In disbelief, I pushed the rock harder and it scraped across the metal surface. But it stayed hidden.

"You see? The spell will now stay in place until a counterspell is cast, like so."

Another flash of her horn, and the rock reappeared.

"There are two consequences to this spell. The first, thou wilt not be able to cast magic once enclosed ere the spell will break. The second, thou may be hidden to sight but the simplest magic detection spell will see thee as clear as day. Here, let me teach you the changes to the spell."

I immediately bowed my head to my Mistress, and with a mere tap of her horn I had the necessary knowledge. The spell was much the same as the one I already knew, but it had been tweaked with a couple of new bits in it. Bigger items needed more power to hide, but once hidden they would stay hidden until they took sufficient damage or the counterspell was cast.

"Wow, this spell would have come in handy earlier tonight."

"How so, my student?"

"Well, instead of fighting the soldiers we could have simply made ourselves invisible and escaped. Like this."

With a quick cast of the new and more durable illusion spell, my body disappeared from the mare's sight. I took a few steps to my right, then cast the counterspell.

"Voila! We could have skipped past all the soldiers, that net trap, and all the flashbangs!"

A moment passed while Nightmare Moon digested my words. Once she finally understood my meaning, she slumped her shoulders and brought a hoof to her head with a squish.

'Squish'?

The Night Mare sat there, frozen, with her hoof still pressed to her face. I could see something stuck to her hoof, which was now also spread into her fur. And that nasty smell from earlier was now coming from the mare herself.

Oh, shit.

The Mare in the Moon slowly pulled her hoof off of her face with a squelch, as the fresh offal on her hoof was pulled apart. She glared at her still-upraised and offal-covered hoof, then began to tremble. Her face contorted into an angry snarl, and her trembling intensified until her eyes burst into white hot flames! Terror burned through my body at the sight! I was so scared that she would lash out in anger at everything nearby, even me!

The white-hot flames spread across her body to her offal-covered muzzle and hoof, and sizzled there for a while. All at once, the flames went out; from high intensity to gone, as if they were never there. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that the offal on her muzzle and hoof was no longer there and the smell was gone. But the mare's fury remained.

I felt a familiar spell being cast: the clean & polish spell, intended to polish armor and clean fur & body. She cast the spell five times before she finally relaxed.

Nightmare Moon sat there, her hoof still upraised, and made no sound. I counted several seconds before she turned and addressed me.

"We are leaving--leaving--leaving--leaving-- NOW--now--now--now--"

My vision went dark. A moment later, we were in the dry riverbed just outside the culvert.

I felt illusion magic spread over me, and realized that I could again see the ground through my body.

"There, we both can no longer be seen. Now, let us leave posthaste."

The Night Incarnate and I took to the air at the same time. As soon as we cleared the edge of the river bank, I saw a single Humvee full of soldiers that was sitting maybe 50 feet away from the edge. The soldiers did not move nor react to us in any way, while we climbed up into the air and resumed flying towards the city to the south.

Act 2, Chapter 4 - Breaking and Entering

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Nightmare Moon and I had narrowly escaped capture by hiding in a filthy drain pipe. We managed to escape, then resumed our trip to a nearby city where we hoped to find an easier conquest for the night.

At long last, the night lights of Twentynine Palms came into view. The desert sands and brush beneath us slowly gave way to darkened homes and telephone poles. The dirt roads changed to paved, and dark streets became lit by street lights. Businesses joined the homes below, and we overflew what looked to be a major street. So I knew we had to be close.

But after that major street, the businesses disappeared and the homes quickly gave way to desert again. We only saw one large building in the area, but its large signs and bright lights marked it as the local casino. Beyond the casino, all we saw were some tall hills and a small subdivision of homes to our left. The two of us halted our forward flight at the same time, and met up in midair to discuss our options.

"It seems we have overflown our destination, my student."

"Yeah, I guess so. I was expecting the town to be bigger."

"Not all are large, nor their edges clearly marked. Dost thou remember the size of this hamlet in your memories?"

"No, I just remember there being one town directly south of the base."

"Then it appears that we have found that which we were searching for. I suggest we return to the densest concentration of buildings, and start our search there."

"Sounds reasonable."

Together, we turned north and flew the several blocks back to the main street. I paused high over a building with a red & blue roof, and informed the dark mare of my plan for finding a police station.

"Okay. The building we want should be on this street somewhere, it's the busiest street we've seen. I suggest we split up. We want a building that may say 'police' or 'sheriff'. Or there may just be a gold star emblem on the side. We'll meet back here afterwards and compare notes."

"As you wish. I shall return forthwith."

Nightmare Moon took off to the east, following the roadway. I watched her form shimmer, then disappear entirely. As for me, I turned and followed the road to the west.

Nightmare Moon's stealthy action got me thinking, and I realized that she had the right idea: search while hidden under an illusion spell. I would have to fly slow and low to read the signs on the buildings, so low that anyone not looking down could see me. Even folks with their nose buried in their smart phone had to look up once in a while, and it only took one to scream and point. But the new illusion spell, the one we used to escape the drain pipe, solved the problem perfectly. Under its power, I could move freely yet still stay hidden. Anyone using magic would know I was there, but on this world no one but Nightmare Moon could do that. So, I was sure it was safe enough.

As I cast the illusion spell and disappeared from sight, I idly wondered if I was still visible on the infra-red spectrum. My inner monologue admitted that I had no answer, so I focused on my search instead.

The desert breeze ruffled through my fur & feathers as I slowly flew down the road. I scanned the road ahead, looking to the left and right at the buildings on either side of the pavement. There were plenty of businesses to see; some familiar brands, many not. But nothing that even remotely looked like a police station. The faint smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes surrounded the gas stations I passed by. The scent of grease and cooked meat rose up from the fast food joints, oil and exhaust smells came from a truck dealership. Occasional cars passed beneath me, the roar of their engines and radios unmistakable. I passed a Motel 6 on my right, and a Holiday Inn on my left. But after I passed a strip mall on my left side, there was little left to see except a few homes and desert sand.

I decided that I had gone far enough, and turned around to meet up with my Mistress. As I picked up speed, I expected I would meet her back at the building with the red & blue roof. However, she apparently had a different idea. Just as I approached the Motel 6 I passed earlier, the dark mare flickered into existence off to my left. She hovered in mid-air, and her head followed me as I invisibly flew past her. Both surprised and pleased at her presence, I dropped my own illusion spell and rapidly flapped my wings to kill my forward momentum. After some more awkward wing work, I was able to reach Nightmare Moon and came to a hover in front of her.

"Found something?"

"Nay. Civilization gave way to desert not long after we parted ways. I continued a bit farther to verify I had reached the end, then retraced my steps to find thee."

"Oh. I didn't find anything either. That's strange, I would have expected a police station to be easier to find."

"I see. How would one normally find one of these guard posts?"

"Well, usually you call them with a smartphone and they tell you where their nearest location is. Since I don't have mine anymore, I'd look instead for a local and ask for directions. But I don't think any of the locals would be willing to talk to us when we look like this."

"Such contact may also alert the local guard to our presence, thus I do not recommend it. Dost thou have any other suggestions?"

"None, except to keep searching. But that could take us all night."

"I concur. We shall then require help in our search."

Several seconds of magical casting from Nightmare Moon, and with a sudden flash three pegasus ponies appeared in the air next to us. Two were stallions, who looked virtually identical with slate-gray fur and dark blue manes & tails. The third was a mare, with a light blue-grey coat and a lighter blue mane & tail than her companions. All wore the same purple & black jumpsuits with yellow goggles. The three Shadowbolts looked around themselves, presumedly to figure out where their Mistress had summoned them to this time. One of the stallions waved at me, while the other two did not react to my presence.

"My Shadowbolts, this feline here is my personal student. You shall follow his commands as if they were my own. Now, he shall educate you as to what we are searching for."

All three nodded in confirmation, then turned to me.

"We're looking for a building that says 'police' or 'sheriff' on the side, or there might only be a large gold star emblem. The building might also have several police cars packed next to it. You know what a 'police car' is?"

All four ponies shook their heads.

"Didn't think so. Alright..."

I looked around the area for a car of some sort, and found several in the Motel 6 parking lot. Pointing to the parking lot, I resumed my lecture.

"...see those wheeled things down there? Those are cars. They are kinda box-shaped, with four wheels and windows on all sides so the people - er, ponies inside can see outside. They can be many colors and shapes, as you can see. Go ahead take a look."

Pausing my lecture, I gave the ponies a few moments to familiarize themselves with the cars in the parking lot. I took the time to look around for a particular car model in the area. I was in luck, a Ford Crown Victoria was parked in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot across the street. Gliding over, I studied the Crown Vic closely. Then, with some carefully applied illusion magic I created a small-scale version of the Crown Vic in my hands. The illusory model was about four feet across, colored white and lacking a number of small details. But it was close enough for its intended purpose.

With my new car model in my hands, I returned to the cluster of ponies then cleared my throat to get their attention. Once all four had turned to look at me, I presented the illusory car model to them and began my lecture.

"Okay, you've seen how varied cars can be. This one on my hands is commonly used by police in this country. Not all use them, but they all should look similar. Some are colored white like this, others have a black and white color scheme."

To demonstrate, I changed the illusory car's colors to match my words: black front and back, with white in the middle.

"The vehicles might say 'police' on the sides, 'sheriff' or just have a gold star on the sides."

As I spoke, I first placed 'POLICE' in blue letters on the sides of the car model, then 'SHERIFF' in black, and finally a gold six-point star on the doors.

"All police cars have bright flashing lights on them, to be used when confronting someone. Otherwise, the lights are off and may not be seen. The lights may be in the back window..."

Under my direction, the car model flashed red and blue lights from the rear window.

"...or they may be in a special light bar on the roof."

The lights in the model's rear window went out. I placed a police light bar on its roof and made its lights flash red and blue.

"Each town chooses their own pattern for their police cars, so I don't know exactly what you'll find. But you'll find some combination of those features, like so."

I changed the car model to the black and white color scheme, with blue "POLICE" letters on the sides and a light bar on top. Then, the model became all white with a six-point star on the sides and a light bar. The model changed again to black and white, with black "SHERIFF" on the sides but no light bar. Finally, the model became all white with a seven-point gold star on the doors, but no light bar.

"You should search wherever you see buildings with roads next to them. If you only see an empty road with no homes, or open desert sand, you've gone too far. Also, there's a military base to the north that you should avoid at all costs. So don't go anywhere that has a high fence or mentions the word 'Marines'.

"If you find any car that looks like a police car, even one that's not near a police station, report in and I'll make the final determination. Got it?"

The three Shadowbolts nodded.

I took a moment to go over my words, and tried to think of any important details that I had missed. When I couldn't think of anything, I looked over at Nightmare Moon.

"That's about it. I think they should search that side of the road and we'll take the other side."

I indicated with a finger towards the northern side of the road.

"My Shadowbolts, you have your instructions. Now go!"

The Shadowbolts flew off towards the north side of town, and in short order one reported in. Therein, we discovered a problem. While Nightmare Moon could see through the eyes of her Shadowbolts, I could not. So the Moon Mare thought for a moment, then summoned some sort of magical mirror. This mirror could focus on one Shadowbolts and show us what they were looking at. I could then see that the Shadowbolt had not spotted a police car, but a white compact car with a roof rack. The next Shadowbolt that reported in had found a patrol car, but it was from a security company rather than an actual police car.

Two more false alarms came in before we found jackpot: a white sheriff's vehicle with a seven-point star on its side and a light bar on its roof. The Shadowbolt was instructed to break off its search and follow that car, while the rest of us continued searching. About five minutes later, the Shadowbolt reported that the vehicle had turned on to the main drag and was heading west.

The sheriff's patrol car was followed down the road, past the point where I had turned around, and kept going until it pulled off on to a side street. The patrol vehicle then navigated a large parking lot and parked next to a brown and cream-colored two-story building. When the Shadowbolt reported that there were more patrol cars parked there, and the building read 'County of San Bernardino' on the side, I knew we had found our target. Nightmare Moon recalled her other Shadowbolts and within a few short minutes we had arrived at the alleged police station.

A quick aerial reconnoiter around the building verified that the Shadowbolt had indeed found a sheriff's station. A few police cars could be seen parked outside the building, along with a van and some civilian vehicles. However, I also noted a California Highway Patrol building right next door. The presence of the CHP building worried me, as it meant that reinforcements could be close by. If things went pear-shaped we might be in real trouble. The Moon Mistress sent her Shadowbolts out to scout the immediate area and to watch out for any approaching danger.

Nightmare Moon and I remained in the air in front of the sheriff's station, and we discussed the best way to start our attack.

"From what mine eyes can see, the only viable avenue of attack is through the main entrance. Any other avenue of attack might alert the guard prematurely to our presence."

"And the fact you prefer an all-out frontal attack has nothing to do with it, right?"

The Night Mare gave me a wide, pointy-tooth filled grin.

"As you say. Regardless, do you see any other viable entrances?"

"No. No, I don't."

"Excellent. Now, do you have any knowledge of the building below, or of what kind of force we may encounter?"

"Well, each building will be different but they all follow a similar pattern. Most locations have a reception desk at the main entrance. It will be staffed by one or two guards who will help route visitors to someone who can help them. The building will be segmented into several smaller rooms hidden behind many locked doors. The design is intended to be confusing; not only to entrap escaping prisoners on the inside, but to also hinder outside attackers like ourselves. Guards will likely be spread throughout the structure."

"Hmm. With the guards so spread out we will have to move quickly to subdue them. Anything else?"

"Most officers will be armed with a handgun. It's a device held in one hand that fires metal projectiles at a target."

"Similar to a small crossbow?"

"Sort of, in the sense that it's a small personal weapon that can be easily carried. However, these fire metal slugs that travel faster than the speed of sound. Remember the smaller weapons that we witnessed earlier? The ones that threw many slugs at once?"

The dark mare gave a small grunt of disapproval.

"I do not believe I shall forget for some time. To answer your question, yes."

"Handguns only fire one slug at a time, but they travel about as fast. They're going to slam into your shield pretty hard."

"That should not be much of a concern, my student. My shielding will be sufficient."

"Perhaps so, Mistress, but these handguns are designed to automatically reload themselves with another slug after one is fired. This allows the wielder to fire these slugs...perhaps one every second or two."

"Before tonight, I would have presumed you were lying to me. But after seeing those...tanks on the battlefield, I am much more inclined to believe you."

FINALLY.

"Thank you, Mistress. Also remember that there will be a number of guards present, perhaps a dozen or more. Your shields will need to handle multiple slugs at once."

"I am still confident that my shielding will hold, my student. Remember, I was able to withstand four of those slug-slinging weapons at once, and those were able to toss slugs much faster then one per second."

"Okay, if you say so. May I suggest that we put our shields up before we start our attack?"

"You are welcome to do so, my student. However, doing so is a classic sign of weakness and will merely embolden the guards."

"And the sight of two dark figures encased in silver armor won't scare them? Armor is rarely worn here Mistress, and wearing armor will make it very clear that we are here to fight."

"Marvelous! Then this will be over quickly. Remember my student, we should endeavor to subdue the guards instead of killing them as we need their numbers to bolster our ranks. Now, let us begin."

The Night Incarnate tilted her wings downwards and alighted in the parking lot near the front entrance of the building. I touched down next to her a moment later. However, as we approached the entrance I noticed something alarming: a distinctive white box mounted just above and to the side the front door. Fearing early discovery via the security camera, I rushed forward to block the mare's path with an arm.

"One moment, Mistress."

"I presume you have a good reason for barring my passage?"

"Yes, Mistress. The white box above the doors will allow the guards to see us."

"It is of no concern. The guards within will see us momentarily with their own eyes."

"True, but these boxes can also save what they see and replay it later. The guards will be able to warn others about us and allow them to prepare for further attacks."

"As I have said, they are of no concern to me. However, if you are concerned then they are now your responsibility."

"ME?!"

"That is what I have said. Consider it a challenge."

Wonderful.

Short of destroying the camera, which could also alert the officers, I chose to block its view instead. Focusing my magic, I summoned up a palm-sized snowball into my hand. I then threw it at the clear plastic sheet in front of the camera lens. My aim was true, the snowball hit the clear plastic dead center and completely covered it. While I knew the snowball would melt quickly in the desert heat, it would also block the camera long enough for us to pass by. The Mare in the Moon, unconcerned about being recorded, strolled past the camera and opened the doors in front of us with her magic. We then casually walked inside.

A quick survey of the room determined the layout was about what I had expected. Immediately in front of us and spreading to our left was a set of typical lobby furniture: numerous padded chairs, several small low-slung tables, and some number of magazines strewn about. The walls were painted some boring shade of white, and there were the usual generic paintings framed upon the walls. I could hear nothing in particular, but I could smell the faint reek of cigarette smoke. To our immediate right was a large floor-to-ceiling window, and farther down the wall was another large floor-to-ceiling window. To our left and on the far wall was the reception desk, which was staffed by a single officer.

Hearing the door open, said officer looked up with a bored expression upon his face. However, once he got a good look at us his expression was quickly replaced by alarm.

"What the--"

Nightmare Moon silenced his exclamation with a bolt of paralyzing lightning. The officer's body immediately began to spasm. After a second or two, the mare ceased her attack. The officer dropped bonelessly behind the counter and out of our sight. A quick glance around the edges of the room revealed another security camera, and another snowball of mine took care of it temporarily. The immediate threat over, the two of us nonchalantly walked up to the reception desk. I took a moment to make sure the officer behind it was relatively unhurt.

After glancing around the room herself, Nightmare Moon finally turned to me.

"It appears that there are three exits from this room, not including the one we entered from. Which exit shall we choose?"

Facing the reception desk, I noted there were metal security doors to our left and right and a double door just to the left of the reception desk. Not having a clue how to answer, I shrugged instead.

"I don't know, the inner workings of police stations are kept a secret for exactly this reason -- attackers will not know which way to go. But in our case, we have magic on our side. Can you cast a spell that will tell us where the officers - er, I mean the guards are?"

"I know of no spell to detect guards, my student."

Hm. Time to get clever.

"What about spells to detect life, Mistress? It's not like there will be much alive in here that isn't a guard."

I ignored the fact that this station might have a number of canine officers boarded on-site, and may have prisoners in an on-site jail as well.

"Excellent idea, my student. One moment while I cast the spell."

The Mare in the Moon closed her eyes, and a moment later her horn illuminated brightly with her magic. Several seconds passed in silence as the magic covering her horn pulsed slightly. At last, her magic faded out. The ebony mare opened her eyes, and gestured with a hoof towards a spot above the reception desk.

"There is a large concentration of life towards the back of the building. I sense much anger and fear from many of them, and most are asleep."

Must be the jail, then.

Before I could comment, the dark mare continued.

"Most other life in this building is sparse and scattered about. However, another concentration of life can be found therein."

Nightmare Moon then gestured toward the doorway to our left.

"Sounds like we've found our target, Mistress. Once we start our attack, an alarm will go off and the rest of the guards should be drawn to us."

"I concur, my student. Let us proceed."

Nightmare Moon and I strode over to the doorway on the left side of the room. Grasping the door handle in my hand, I was not surprised to find it locked.

"Locked, Mistress. The desk where the guard sat at should have a button to open the door."

I turned around to return to the reception desk, but a few steps later the voice of my Mistress stopped me.

"That shall not be necessary."

I turned back around just in time to see the ebony mare had summoned a magical bolt of force, and used it to blast the door in! The door was hit so hard it was ripped off its hinges! The slab of metal flew into the room beyond and smashed into some (fortunately) empty furniture. It then bounced off the carpeted floor and slammed into the wall on the other side of the room. As it came to rest, I could see the metal door had visibly buckled and bent. And there was a large hoof-print embedded in the metal.

Nice! Now THAT is an impressive entrance.

The Night Mare turned to me and flashed a wide grin, revealing a set of sharp and gleaming teeth. Then without another word, she snapped her wings up in the air and strode confidently through the now open doorway.

Act 2, Chapter 5 - Who pulls YOUR Strings?

View Online

Nightmare Moon and I had finally found a sheriff's station, and were attempting to take it over - by force.

I walked through the now-open doorway, and moved to catch up to the dark mare just as she turned to her right to face the room. Finally reaching her side, I did the same and tried to figure out what we had walked into. The room was fairly large, longer than it was wide. Windows to our left and behind us revealed that this was a corner room in the building. The windows all had vertical blinds and were drawn closed, but the vanes were all turned so I could still see outside.

Beyond the small open space we stood in, which was now littered with smashed furniture, the rest of the large room was filled with two rows of four cubicles each. The cubicle walls were about medium-height, tall enough to give some privacy but short enough so most people could stand and look over them. An aisle to access the cubicles was on the left by the windows, and a double-wide hallway was on the right next to the opposite wall. An open door could be seen at the far end of the right hallway, in the back corner of the room. The walls of the room were painted some shade of off-white, and the color almost matched the gray fabric on the cubicle walls.

Bleh, how boring.

Several uniformed police officers were visible in the cubicle farm, all of them staring at us. Some of the officers were standing in the walkways holding paperwork of some sort. Others were poking their heads around or over cubicle walls. I made a quick head count and came up with eleven officers. The room was unnaturally quiet. I expected to hear the officers talking to each other, or shouting at us to surrender. But all I heard were a few whispered words and the hiss of the air conditioning.

None of the officers were moving to confront us. And who could blame them? They just saw a security door get knocked aside like it was nothing. Then a black horse with silver armor and wings walked in, accompanied by a tall black cat also wearing armor. Not exactly a common sight.

Using something just shy of the Royal Voice, Nightmare Moon announced her intentions to all within earshot.

"Good evening. I am Nightmare Moon, and I will be taking over this facility. Surrender now, or be overcome."

Her statement broke the officers out of their stunned silence. All the ones in sight dropped whatever was in their hands and pulled out their sidearms. The officers inside the cubicles used the flimsy cubicle walls for cover, while others chose to stand out in the open. All aimed their weapons at the two of us. The threat was plain to see, so the dark mare and I brought up our shields and the battle began.

Loud alarm bells rang throughout the station, informing all in the building that they were under attack. For some reason, the noise made me think of the fire alarm drills from school. Nightmare Moon and I split up, both silently agreeing that we should not cluster together. The Moon Mistress moved towards the far windows, while I moved closer to the doorway we had just broken through. This way, we provided separate targets for the officers and effectively split their forces between us.

But despite splitting up, I still had several officers to deal with. And I really, REALLY didn't want to get shot. So I laid down several physical shunts onto my shield, ducked down, closed my eyes and prayed for the best. Within moments, several gunshots rang out into the air. Even though I was expecting to be shot at, the loud sounds still made me flinch. Yet, I felt nothing.

Did they miss me?

Opening my eyes, I looked around at the officers in the room to see if any of them were shooting at me. To my surprise, some were. I mean, I really shouldn't have been surprised - I was technically at war with them. But I was expecting each shot to hurt, somehow.

Did we find the one sheriff's station whose aim is worse than a platoon of Stormtroopers?

All of the officers facing me looked surprised, probably wondering why I was not hurt. One checked her gun to make sure it was loaded. Another fired a shot at me. My emotions had changed from scared to curious, so I focused on my shield to see if I could see the bullet hit. And I did. The bullet got stuck in my shield, like a dart into a dart board, then fell harmlessly to the floor. Two more shots rang out, and this time I concentrated on the shunts. I could feel them working, draining away the physical energy from the bullets.

They must be absorbing all of the kinetic energy of each round. Guess I overdid it on the shunts.

As I was no longer worried about getting shot, I casually stood up and took my time looking over the room. I guess I was expecting a firefight like I saw in the movies; hundreds of bullets flying around the room, with the smoke and smell of gunpowder covering everything. But that's not what I saw. The room was fairly quiet, with the occasional gunshot ringing out into the air. But despite the gunshots, I could smell nothing but recycled air from the air conditioning system. A glance at the officers facing me revealed that they had their guns drawn and aimed at me, but they were not shooting.

On the other side of the room, I could see Nightmare Moon simply standing in one place, and allowed the officers to attack her without retaliation. Each attack, whether it be a pistol shot or a chair thrown at her, merely earned a frown or a roll of her large teal eyes.

From what little I remember of horse social behavior, they only fight to submission and will surrender if it's clear they can't win. If Equestrian ponies think the same way as earth horses, then Nighty over there is trying to prove that she's too strong for the officers and they can't hurt her. That theory also fits with what she told me outside the station.

I turned back towards the officers watching me. As I turned, they tensed up and gripped their guns just a bit tighter.

And these officers aren't shooting at me because they can't get through my shield and I'm not attacking them.

Over the incessant alarm bells, I heard the voice of Nightmare Moon.

"I tire of this. By not surrendering, you have incurred my wrath. Have at thee!"

The crackle of lightning echoed around the room, then I heard a human scream. The dark mare shouted over the alarm again, but this time to me.

"If thou art done sightseeing, We could use thy help with these guards!"

"Uh, yes Mistress."

With but a thought, I summoned paralyzing lightning into my hands. The lightning arched and spat from my palms, making an awesome and fearsome light show. More gunshots rang out into the air as several officers opened fire at me. I guessed we had become a credible threat, since we had finally attacked an officer directly. Looking around for an easy target, I focused on an officer who was both standing out in the open and shooting at me. Just like throwing a baseball, I pulled my left arm back and prepared to hurl a ball of lightning. However, I hesitated. After a moment, I realized why. It felt...wrong.

What am I doing? I was about to attack a police officer! Why?! They're just trying to do their jobs, we're the ones that --

We're the bad guys. Oh god, I'm a bad guy. I don't understand why I'm doing this, it's all wrong!

Suddenly, the room began to spin. Overcome with a wave of dizziness, I dropped the lightning spell and held my head in my hands. The more I tried to calm down, to steady myself, the more the world spun around me. I found I could not keep my balance any longer and I dropped to my knees.

I could hear nothing but my own blood rushing in my ears. Every time I opened my eyes the dizziness got worse. All I could smell was copper, and my body felt totally numb. Just as I felt totally cut off from the world, a loud voice started screaming in my head.

OBEY THE MISTRESS

Yes...

Deciding I has dawdled long enough, I summoned up my illusion magic. I had been thinking about how to shield us from the security cameras in the room, and simply blocking them would not work. If I missed one, all my work would be for nothing. And the snow would eventually melt. So, how to confuse the cameras? Well, Nightmare Moon was essentially a cartoon character brought to life. Why not summon more of the same?

A mere thought, and the classic Scooby Doo gang were running around the room. Another thought and the Powerpuff Girls were flying around at random. I added HIM and Mojo Jojo just for the heck of it. Three small toy-sized Iron Man characters, all in different armor styles, flew around and knocked papers off of desks with their repulsor rays. Spongebob Squarepants appeared and kicked the closest officer in the shins, but he immediately popped like a balloon when the officer kicked back.

After Spongebob's 'death', I realized that the illusions had to be more durable. So I added a new spell to them, the one that let illusions survive being hit. Re-summoning Spongebob with the new spell, he not only survived another kick but he got back up and bit the same officer in the leg.

Excellent.

The constant movement distracted all the officers so much that they couldn't focus. Some of them stopped firing their guns and just watched, while cartoon characters from their childhood cavorted around the room. It was total chaos, Discord would have be proud.

Once the Moon Mistress realized that the officers were using the cubicle walls for shelter, she acted to eliminate their cover. A brisk wind whipped up in the room, which quickly increased to hurricane force. Then it was unleashed upon the cubicle farm. The flimsy material could not hold up against such an onslaught, and it broke apart under the strain. Fabric walls, desks, computers, chairs and unlucky officers all flew against the far wall to land in a messy pile.

As soon as the cubicle farm was reduced to rubble, the wind died as suddenly as it began. Officers buried under the rubble groaned in pain and slowly began to free themselves. Unfortunately for us, too few officers were trapped and thus their numbers had only diminished slightly. We still faced several armed foes and more were likely on the way.

As if on cue, two officers ran into the room from the far doorway with guns drawn. One of them stopped and stared at us, until her partner yanked her arm to get her attention. A third officer ran in from the doorway that Nightmare Moon had smashed through. All three joined their comrades and opened fire on us.

Something inside me pushed me to attack the new officers, to protect the Mistress. But it just didn't feel right to attack them directly. Instead, I kept them distracted with my illusions. Some of the illusory creatures would kick, punch and bite. But flying ones would dive at someone and make them duck. Problem was, the illusions couldn't hit very hard. And they could only take so much damage before they popped. It only took a few good hits or a bullet before the illusion vanished. I had to keep re-summoning them to keep the chaos in the room going. To spice things up, I made the illusions move faster so they were harder to hit.

I was considering adding some more cartoon characters to the mix, when I heard my Mistress call to me.

"Student! Attend me!"

Ignoring the officers, whose small-arms fire still couldn't penetrate my shield, I simply stood up and briskly walked towards the dark mare. From what I could see, several officers had dragged over a couple of desks and had taken cover behind them. They were then free to concentrate their fire on the Night Mare. And much like when she and I sparred, her concentration faltered under fire. Her shield held strong, but her attacks went wild. The desks were covered in scorch marks, but the officers behind them appeared to be unhurt.

As soon as she saw me approach, the embattled mare beckoned me even closer.

"Come, shield for me while I attack!"

The officers heard her words, saw me approaching, and turned their fire upon me. Their fire joined the other officers, which meant that every officer in the room was throwing high-velocity metal slugs at my shield. The physical shunts on my shield were holding, but this time they couldn't bleed off the kinetics fast enough. I felt like I was being hit by a barrage of rocks, even though I wasn't actually being hit.

Once I got to her side, Nightmare Moon somehow walked through my shield then dropped her own. Thus, I was shielding both of us while she was free to attack at will. Two shots of paralyzing lightning later, and two officers were down.

Then the tide of battle began to turn against us. From across the room, I heard an officer shout.

"Our pistols aren't getting through! Someone get to the armory and get us something bigger!"

To me, that meant automatic weapons. Anything with explosive force would endanger the officers themselves, so I didn't think they would use them. If the officers began to retreat, we'd have to be very, very careful. I tried to think of a way to protect us from the incoming reinforcements, but the feedback from my shield kept me distracted. Eventually, I simply ran out of time.

An officer entered through the far door with a pair of M16 rifles in her hands. Or were they AR-15's? I'm no gun expert. Either way, they were big trouble. As I tried to warn Nightmare Moon, the officer tossed a rifle to another nearby officer and they both opened fire on us.

Instant pain! The physical shunts on my shield were barely holding, but they couldn't absorb the impacts of so many concentrated impacts fast enough. I felt like I was being pounded with sledgehammers, and I was having a really hard time keeping my focus. I tried to warn my Mistress that I couldn't hold out much longer.

"Can't hold--"

But I was too late. In an instant, my shield shattered with the sound of shattering glass and we were peppered by bullets. High-velocity metal ricocheted off our magically-enhanced armor. Nightmare Moon's armor protected her for the few moments we were exposed, until she brought her own shield up. But I was not so lucky.

Agony exploded in my right side as I felt my insides twist around, and something white-hot burrowed deep into my flesh. The pain was indescribable. I instinctively clutched my wounded side with my hands and collapsed to the floor.

Glancing down at me, Nightmare Moon verbally cursed me out.

"Useless!"

I was in no shape to argue.

The agony was so intense, I couldn't even think. I had never been shot before, nor hurt worse than a sprained ankle when I was a kid. In comparison to that sprain, this gunshot wound was absolutely excruciating. Each shuddering breath I took shot stabbing pain through my torso. Fragments of thoughts passed through my brain: bandaging the wound, being wheeled into a hospital, arrested and thrown into jail. And something in my head pushed me to get up and protect the Mistress. But above it all, I just wanted the pain to end.

Abruptly, the pain dropped down to a manageable level. And I could feel something inside me...moving. Had I gone into shock? I had this overpowering need to look at my injury, so I gingerly shifted my body around to get a better look at it. An injury which had changed again so it felt no worse than a pulled muscle. While I watched, the weird pushing feeling from inside had reached the surface of my skin. A moment later, a bullet slipped out of my flesh and fell to the carpeted floor.

What the...

Under my stunned gaze, the wound closed up and was immediately covered in re-grown fur. It was unbelievable! Patting down the formerly-wounded area, I could feel no sign of the injury and I felt completely normal.

Huh. Looks like I got that Alicorn healing factor after all.

With my injury healed, I felt that I was back up to my full strength and could protect my Mistress once again. I looked up at Nightmare Moon to see how she was doing, and she was not doing well. Her shield had cracks all over it, and the grimace on her muzzle told me she was in trouble. Looking outwards, every officer I could see was concentrating their fire at a spot on Nightmare Moon's shield, a spot right in front of her chest. I watched an officer hand another a magazine clip; the clip was slammed home and that officer opened fire. I also noted a growing pile of spent bullets and casings piling up in front of the shield.

Due to the nature of magical shielding, I knew each crack in Nightmare Moon's shield sent pain back into the dark mare. It had to be messing with her concentration, and I wondered how much longer she could hold out.

I had my answer in moments.

Her shield suddenly dented inwards like a stubborn eggshell, and a second later it failed completely with the sound of shattering glass.

To this day, I still can't believe we got so lucky. I was summoning up a special shield just as hers failed, sparing her from the ballistic impacts. This shield of mine was about an inch thick, and rather than a full sphere it only covered the side facing the officers. I had placed as many physical shunts on it as I had time for, and kept adding more until the bullet impacts felt like raindrops on an umbrella.

The Night Incarnate had closed her eyes instinctively as her shield failed. She snapped her eyes back open as soon as she realized that, not only was she not dead but she wasn't even hurt. She looked around frantically, probably trying to figure out why she wasn't dead. A glance at my shield and another at me, and she had her answer.

Growling in frustration (and perhaps embarrassment) at her failure to guard herself, she exclaimed aloud in the Royal Voice.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!"

For the first time, I witnessed the Night Mare turn herself into a mist cloud. Her ethereal mane and tail swirled all around her, then her physical form seemed to vanish and only the mist cloud remained.

So, she's now a floating mane and tail?

Whatever.

This mist cloud suddenly split into several pieces. Each piece sought out an officer and clamped onto their face. The captured officer reached upwards towards their head, perhaps hoping to dislodge the mist cloud. But their hands passed right through it. After a short struggle, the officer collapsed to the floor. The small mist cloud released the now unconscious officer and zipped over to another unsuspecting victim.

In less than a minute, all eighteen officers lay unconscious on the floor. Eighteen? I counted again, just to be sure. The extra ones must have slipped in to the room when I wasn't looking. Nightmare Moon had worked so fast, she even got two officers who had tried to escape. She managed to stop them before they left the room, close to the far doorway. Beyond the mist clouds, the only thing still moving in the room were my illusions. A few had survived and were still running around.

Nothing moved in the destroyed room, except for the bobbing mist clouds. I couldn't hear anything except for the klaxon of the alarm going off. I could only smell a hint of gunpowder in the air, even though this had been an intense gunfight. The wisps of mist around the room coalesced into one cloud, then re-formed into my dark mistress.

"Turn that accursed noise off!"

Dropping my now-unnecessary shield, I stood up and ran back into the lobby. Once there, I quickly slipped behind the reception desk. My eyes scanned the area for some sort of button that said "ALARM", and I found a nice big shiny red one. I slapped it with the palm of my hand and the loud klaxon immediately shut off. But the equipment and monitors in front of me still flashed warning lights in red.

Crap. Better let the Mistress know.

I ran back into the adjacent room to deliver my news.

"Mistress, the alarm is off obviously. But there's a silent alarm still going off. We're going to have more guards coming, and soon."

"Foolish, foolish mortals! Why dost thou fight so harshly? It was clear from the beginning that we were the superior force!"

I wasn't sure if that was the royal 'we' or if she did mean both of us, but I quickly decided it didn't matter.

"We humans don't think that way, Mistress. While not as well-trained as the military, these guards are still trained not to surrender unless there was no other option. They are also trained to work together and concentrate their attacks on one target at a time. As they did when they focused their attacks on you."

"So I have seen.

“Speaking of such, you have my deepest gratitude for protecting me. Had you not brought up your shield when you did, I fear I would have perished under their onslaught."

"Yes, well...you're welcome."

I had a sudden thought, one that was probably inappropriate at the moment but made me smirk anyway.

"Couldn't let that hot kisser of yours get hurt, could I?"

A small smile grew on her face as the ebony mare turned towards me.

"Always with you and the kissing. Though I admit I am not entirely displeased. Dost thou think of nothing else?"

"Sure I do. But I knew saying that would make you feel better, and laughter heals many wounds."

The Moon Mistress's smile deepened, and her ebony fur glistened under the fluorescent lights as she shifted her hooves under her.

"Be assured that your efforts are most appreciated."

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded from behind the dark mare and a bullet ricocheted off of her silver helmet. The Night Mare frowned, turned her head towards the sound then fired a bolt of lightning through the doorway on the far side of the room. A short yelp was heard, and an officer collapsed across the doorway.

"Enough. We must establish our hold on this fortress before reinforcements arrive."

As if on cue, several sirens could be heard in the distance. I almost laughed at the irony.

"Right on time, Mistress. Here they come!"

"Strewth! I had hoped for more time to prepare!"

Thoughts of unlimited Stormtroopers from an old Star Wars roleplay session came to mind.

"Even if we defeat these Mistress, more will come. Eventually, the military base nearby will be called in."

"And once they arrive, we shall likely fall. Celestia's Bulbous Arse! We cannot have fought so hard and still be defeated!"

Yeah, that would suck.

If we don't salvage this imminent loss into a victory of some sort, Nighty over there is going to get really pissed.

I watched the dark mare pace back and forth, frustration all too evident in her features.

And when she gets pissed enough, I can see her using lethal force.

That's not cool. I don't want to have to KILL people just to conquer them. Beat 'em up, knock 'em out, sure. I don't care about THAT. But there has to be SOME way to salvage this, some way to show Nightmare Moon that she can conquer this world without bloodshed.

While I was lost in thought, the sirens from the incoming police cars had been getting louder and louder.

At this rate, the cops will be here in seconds. We have to do SOMETHING before we leave. How do we get these officers to surrender without killing them?

I decided to share my thoughts with Moony, so we could brainstorm on a solution.

"The problem Mistress, is that the guards here did not want to surrender. Do you know of some way we can subvert their will, or make them our slaves or something?"

The dark mare stopped her frantic pacing to consider my question, and brought a hoof to her chin in thought.

"There is one spell that I know of, but its progress is slow and is not always effective. However, it may be our only option."

"And what is that, Mistress?"

"A Shadow Parasite, my student. The magical parasite distorts the victim's perceptions and will until they are fully subjected to my commands. Unfortunately, many subjects are able to resist. Some few are able to break the hold upon them. Others are only partially subverted. Forcing the subject to submit suppresses too much of their conscious mind and they become naught more than an unthinking drone. Not suitable for an effective army."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see flashing lights outside of the nearby windows. It appeared that we were nearly out of time. I turned to face the windows, and watched as police car after police car poured in to the parking lot. Over my shoulder, I asked the ebony mare a question.

"How long do these parasites take to subject the victim?"

"Hours, perhaps days. Too long to be useful now, my student."

"Do it. Uh...PLEASE, Mistress. We can always come back later and see how many of the parasites took hold, and perhaps salvage something here."

"As you wish, my student. Though I am uncertain what good it shall do."

A moment's focus from her horn, and half a dozen purple blobs popped into existence in front of her. Each blob was about the size of a softball or small ball, and each shimmered and undulated while it floated in mid-air. The blobs were seized one by one in Nightmare Moon's magic, then floated over to an unconscious officer nearby. The dark mare placed one blob on each officer's head, and when she let them go the blob wobbled like a soap bubble stuck on a surface. After a second or two, the purple mass slowly seeped into the officer's skull until it vanished like it never was.

As Nightmare Moon summoned more parasites for the remaining officers, I switched my focus to the officers directly outside the building. Numerous police cars with flashing lights could be seen out of all the windows in the room. Officers hid behind their cars with guns drawn. I could hear an amplified voice outside the building demanding our surrender.

I didn't want the officers outside to see what we were doing, so I used a bit of magic to pull the cords on the blinds around the room. One by one, the vertical blinds snapped shut and hid us from casual view. I figured that we still had some time left before the officers outside decided to invade the station and take us by force. At least, that's what every cop show on TV told me.

Nightmare Moon continued creating her shadow parasites while I watched. In short order, all officers in the room had a shadow parasite seeping into their skull. Only then did the light from her horn dim and fade.

Looking towards the front windows, the Mare in the Moon observed the flashing lights that shone around the edges of the blinds. A bullhorn outside demanded our surrender again, and threatened dire consequences if we did not comply.

"It is clear we need to flee. Dost thou have any suggestions?"

I do, actually.

"I'm going to send these remaining illusions and a few more out the windows here. While they distract the guards, we'll run back to the reception desk and flee out the windows in that room. I'd prefer to escape on the other side of the building, but I don't want to waste time and risk getting lost. When we blast through the windows, most of the guards should be off to our right and they should be too busy to shoot at us. But just in case, I suggest we put up our shields and make ourselves invisible. Sound good?"

"Nay. The magic in our shields will disrupt the illusion spells. We cannot do both."

Dammit.

"All right. I'd rather have my shield than be invisible. The rest of the plan sound good?"

The dark mare nodded.

A burst of my magic assembled the whole Scooby Doo gang, the Powerpuff Girls and as many of their villains as I remembered. Another burst, and several copies of Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk appeared. The surviving illusions lined up with the new ones, and patiently awaited their orders. At my mental command, my cartoon illusions ran or flew towards the windows and passed through them as if they weren't there.

With the officers now distracted, I ran for the next room as the Night Mare followed close behind. Once past the doorway, I snapped up my shield and summoned my wings. Tables and chairs were pushed aside by my shield as I turned right and ran towards the far windows now off to my left. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a shielded Nightmare Moon running towards the other set of windows to my right.

We hit the windows at the same time, and the panes of glass shattered into tiny shards upon impact. I exited the building posthaste, and ignored the officers to my right while I took to the air. A few strong flaps of my wings, and I soared past the roof of the two-story building. Nightmare Moon and I continued to accelerate up into the night sky as we made our escape.

I turned my head to look down at the parking lot, to see if our escape had been noticed. My illusions were still running around all over the place, confusing the officers so much I doubt they noticed us leaving. Calling to my Mistress, I told her it was safe to drop her shield. I then dropped my own, and banished the illusions running around. Our flying forms flickered, then vanished as we both cast invisibility spells and disappeared into the night.

Act 2, Chapter 6 - My Little Minion

View Online

The Mare in the Moon and I had just attacked a sheriff's station, and defeated all that opposed us. But we still had to run with our tails between our legs when reinforcements arrived.

From the roof of a building behind the Morongo Basin sheriff's station, Nightmare Moon and I watched the chaos unfold below. We chose this building because it was both close to the station and completely shrouded in darkness. If there were any street lights or security lights on the building, they were not working.

The fact that the building's rooftop had a clear view of the back of the sheriff's station was a happy coincidence. However, we couldn't see the front of the station from our hiding place. That was a problem because that's where all the action was taking place. To resolve this, the Night Mare had cast an illusion spell on a Shadowbolt and ordered it to hover in front of the station. With the Shadowbolt's help, we had a full view of everything that went on outside the sheriff's station.

It turns out, waiting for something exciting to happen was incredibly boring.

Under our bored gaze, the officers slowly surrounded the building and secured its perimeter. Our first hope of some excitement happened when two large SWAT trucks arrived. Not long afterwards, a cool current of desert air blew in from the south and brought with it a faint smell of diesel exhaust. Our invisible 'Shadowbolt in the Sky' told us the SWAT officers had exited the trucks and had gathered near the front door of the sheriff's station. A few minutes later, they stormed the building.

Our hopes were dashed when nothing interesting happened for a while. I figured the SWAT team was making sure the building was clear of all intruders.

I was thankful that the blacktop beneath my feet was still a bit warm from the day's desert heat. Cold feet suck when all you can do is stand and wait.

More nothing happened.

We were NOT happy. And extremely bored, too.

"Remind me yet again why we are waiting here and not continuing our search for another 'police station'?"

We're going through THIS again?

"We could spend all night wandering around looking for another police station, Mistress. Since NEITHER of us thought to interrogate a guard before we left, we have to start our search from scratch."

I gestured with an outstretched arm to the now-ransacked sheriff's station below us.

"Most of the guards in the area are now down there, so searching for a police car would be useless. Your Shadowbolt is watching all the police cars down there, and will tell us if any of them leave. This is the same answer I gave you the last THREE times that you asked. Don't you know that asking the same question and expecting a different answer is a sign of insanity?"

Nightmare Moon whirled on me, her face contorted in anger.

"Art thou calling us insane?! We have thrown ponies into the dungeons for less!"

"WHAT dungeon? You mean the one down there, in the police station we just trashed? The one which we just RAN from, with our tails between our legs? Or did you dig a secret dungeon beneath our bed back in the cave, while I was sleeping?"

The ebony mare sputtered for a few moments, then turned from me in a huff. I was glad for the silence.

Time awkwardly passed while we watched the scene slowly unfold below. Due to our disastrous attempt to take over the sheriff's station, there was little to do except wait for something to happen.

And bitch at each other, of course.

So desperate was I to kill my boredom, I decided to look around the area and prayed I would find something interesting to stare at. Nightmare Moon and I were perched on the roof of a single-story building at the edge of a medical complex. We were facing south, watching over the sheriff's station. Between us and the station was an empty field covered in dirt and desert brush. Beyond the parking lot to our right was a hospital. While the hospital did have its lights on that night, there were trees between the hospital and our perch that kept us hidden from casual sight.

Behind us to the north was another larger facility, but I didn't know what it was used for. Everything else was empty desert. We were far enough away from the sheriff's station that I couldn't hear a thing down there, though I imagined I would be able to hear a siren if it went off. The only other sound was from the wind rustling the trees around us.

Absolutely nothing interesting. SO much fail.

With nothing else to do but watch the flashing lights from the police cars on the other side of the sheriff's station, I found myself thinking about the battle earlier that evening. And was inexorably drawn back to the fight I just had with Nightmare Moon.

If I was being honest with myself, and I try to be, our failure in the police station was just a mess and was no one's fault.

I should apologize.

"Mistress?"

"I...do not wish to fight with thee again. It does not feel right."

Huh?

"Oh, uh...yeah! I know what you mean. To be honest, I'm more angry at the fight down there and only kind of annoyed with you."

The dark mare chuckled knowingly.

"I am not known for being a patient mare, even at my best. I should not take out my frustrations upon thy hide."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"As am I."

"Kiss and make up?"

Her smile changed into a lecherous grin that I knew all too well.

"Mmm, yes."

We both leaned in for a quick peck on the lips. Nothing hot and juicy, just a bit of electric intimacy to seal the end of our fight. When our lips finally parted, I slid my body next to hers and threw an arm over her withers. When the dark mare leaned into me, I gave her body a quick squeeze. The side of my body warmed slightly from our shared body heat. My thoughts started to wander, and I fondly reminisced upon our second kiss of the night. But my mouth decided to blurt out something else entirely.

"We fight like an old married couple."

"Hah! Thou speakest the truth."

The Moon Mistress turned her head to the side so she could look at me with her right eye.

"Strangely enough, such thoughts comfort me more than I would expect."

Uh oh, there's that awkward feeling again.

"Uh, yeah. About that. What ARE we, Mistress? First I'm serving you, then I'm your student in magic. Now, are we dating -- I mean, courting?"

"In truth, I do not know. I have not experienced such feelings for a stallion in more than a millenia, thus I am not yet certain where they may lead. And besides, romance is difficult during times of war. Even if the guards in this land do not yet realize, we are in truth at war with them."

I had to smirk as a wicked thought came to mind.

"Well, it was one hell of a first date. It started with a tank battle that nearly killed you, then we went to a police station and got shot at! Can't get much more romantic than that!"

The Moon Mare gaped at me for a moment, completely nonplussed that I would say something so ridiculous. Then we both dissolved into peals of laughter. I leaned heavily upon the dark mare while I cackled loudly into her fur coat. The Moon Mare's mirth was giving her similar trouble, making her wobble on her hooves. In time, our mutual merriment wound down and left us chuckling and gasping for breath.

"Oh hohoho, ahahaha, ha. Oh, that was most welcome. Truly, you are a stallion of many talents."

"Hehehe...haha. A talent for making a fool out of myself. I'm just glad you find my sense of humor funny."

The Mare in the Moon craned her neck around to give me a quick nuzzle.

"Be assured that I do."

Turning back to face the station, she closed her eyes for a moment or two.

"Nothing new from my Shadowbolts."

Back to business I see, but that's okay.

I pushed off of the dark mare's barrel and stood on my own, though I left my left hand resting on her withers.

"Drat. Oh hey, can you sense if any of your shadow parasites have taken hold? Maybe one of them can get us the info we need."

"Unlikely, my...hmm. I suppose 'student' will have to do for now."

"It's good enough. We'll figure it out later."

"As you say. And as I have also said, it is unlikely that any of the shadow parasites have finished subverting their host. But, I shall verify."

The dark mare closed her eyes for several moments, sending her magical senses down into the police station below.

"Oh! One of the parasites has fully subjugated its host! Indeed, I cannot recall any other that has integrated itself so quickly before!"

"Cool! Can you communicate with it, and get it to tell us where we can find another police station?"

"I believe so, one moment."

Again the Night Mare closed her eyes, and several long moments passed before she opened them.

"I was unable to convey our needs to her, but she will meet us on the roof of the guard station so we may speak to her directly."

Her? Oh, she must be talking about the officer, not the parasite.

Whups, Nighty's about to leave!

"Wait!"

The Moon Mistress paused just before leaping into the air, then looked askance at me.

"Oh, um, sorry. We should use illusion magic to make ourselves invisible, in case the officers on the ground look up."

"I had much the same thought, my student. I begin to understand the use of illusions in waging war."

Without another word, the dark mare took to the skies and promptly vanished from my sight. I did the same, and in short order I was above the roof of the sheriff's station. While I could sense that someone close by was using illusion magic, which had to be Nightmare Moon, I did not know whether she had landed on the roof or merely hovered nearby.

Common sense told me that one of us should be in the air, in case something bad happened. Two targets are better than one, of course. So I chose to hover above the rooftop, just high enough to clear the large air conditioning ductwork and solar panels that sprawled across the surface. While I slowly circled the building, I spotted a roof access door - a normal-looking door at the end of a small box in the middle of the roof. I figured that was where the enslaved officer would come from. But I kept an eye on the rest of the rooftop, just in case. Fortunately, I did not have long to wait. The door I had seen opened inwards, and light shone across the rooftop. I then heard a faint voice call out from within.

"Mistress, are you there?"

Nightmare Moon appeared almost directly in front of the open doorway, just as her hooves came to rest on the rooftop.

"I am here."

"Quickly, Mistress! Before you are seen!"

Not wanting to be left behind, I dashed over to the open door and landed roughly on the roof's surface. The illusion spell shattered due to the rough landing, and I became visible just as I de-summoned my wings. My timing was good as I stepped into the doorway right behind my Dark Mistress. A quick look revealed us to be in a nondescript gray stairwell. We were standing on a small landing, barely big enough for the three of us, and a set of stairs led down to a gray door on what I presumed was the second floor. Interesting enough, the stairs did not continue downwards to the first floor.

This stairwell must only be used for roof access, then.

My sudden entrance through the doorway startled the officer.

"Mistress, we have an intruder!"

Without turning around, the Night Incarnate addressed her new minion.

"This is my student, and my second-in-command. In absence of any orders from me, you are to obey his commands instantly. Do you understand?"

"Oh. Of course, Mistress."

The enslaved officer released the door, and the door closer on the door began to swing the door shut. While we waited for the door to close, I took a moment to look over our new minion. And discovered that she was doing the same to me. In my opinion, she looked to be Hispanic and maybe in her late 20's or early 30's. And she really reminded me of the actress Michelle Rodriguez for some reason.

After staring at me for a moment, the Michelle Rodriguez lookalike's eyes went wide.

"He was the one fighting at your side tonight, wasn't he Mistress?"

"That is correct. Enough questions for now, we have need of your skills. We desire another target this evening, and hope that you may direct us to a nearby guard station."

"Of course Mistress. The San Bernardino Sheriff's department provides all police services for San Bernardino county, so you'll want a sheriff's station."

The officer slipped past her new Mistress and descended the single flight of stairs.

"Please follow me, Mistress. I'll need to do a bit of research before I can give you that information."

As the ebony mare and I followed the officer, I called out a question.

"Do we need to worry about security cameras?"

"No, the security cameras in most of the building are completely disabled. Those cartoon characters were caught on tape, and no one really believes they were real."

The officer opened the door in front of her then walked on through. She reached back to hold the security door open for the Moon Mistress then continued her explanation.

"So they suspect the camera system was hacked and tampered with. Until the system is checked out and verified as secure, they've shut it down."

After Nightmare Moon and I walked through the doorway, the officer let the door shut on its own and then briskly walked past us. Abruptly, the walkie talkie on the officer's belt squawked to life and startled both me and the dark mare. Before we could react, the officer had popped the radio off her belt and answered the call.

"Eskridge here."

More squawking from the radio.

"Nothing to report, no sign yet of forced entry. I'll keep looking."

A short squawk from the radio, then Officer Eskridge clipped the radio back on to her belt. Turning to us, she gave us a full explanation.

"My cover story was searching the second floor for any intruders or any sign of sabotage. As long as I'm 'searching', no one else will come up here so we should be safe enough. And if I don't stay up here too long, I shouldn't be missed."

Nightmare Moon and I followed Officer Eskridge down another plain hallway, past a pair of bathroom doors and finally turned into a side office. The office was cramped, with several filing cabinets ringing a small desk. There was an old-school blocky computer monitor on the desk, surrounded by piles of paperwork. Officer Eskridge sat down at the desk and turned on the monitor, and I followed behind her to look over her shoulder. The room was too small for the Night Mare, so she merely peered in from the doorway.

"So Master, are you looking for a large sheriff's station like this one or smaller ones like the CHP station next door?"

"Our Mistress doesn't need to waste her time on smaller locations."

"Larger stations, then."

She typed on the computer for a few moments.

"The two closest stations are Central in the city of San Bernardino to the west, or the one in Needles to the east."

Nightmare Moon chose this moment to speak up.

"I wish to conquer the lands from here to the ocean to our west."

Glancing back at Officer Eskridge, I shrugged.

"Central in San Bernardino it is."

"Alright, I'll bring up Google Maps and get you some directions."

The only sound heard for several moments was the officer's frantic typing.

"Student, is your search nearly complete?"

"Yes, Mistress. We'll be done in a few minutes."

"Excellent. I shall recall my Shadowbolt and await you on the rooftop we alighted upon earlier."

Officer Eskridge chose that moment to speak up.

"Thank you for letting me serve you, Mistress! Long live the Lunar Republic!"

WHAT?!

Nightmare Moon looked quite nonplussed at the officer's outburst, and turned to me for clarification. Unwilling to explain right then, I merely shrugged in response. Still confused, the dark mare addressed her minion.

"Er, yes and thank you."

She then turned and left, the sound of her horseshoes slowly retreated down the hallway.

I waited until the mare's hoofsteps had nearly faded away, then turned on Officer Eskridge.

"How do you know about the Lunar Republic?!"

She leaned back in her chair, surprised at my outburst.

"I meant no offense Master, I apologize!"

"Just answer the question!"

Eyes wide in alarm, Officer Eskridge quickly rattled off her response.

"I'm a fan of the My Little Pony show! I know who Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna are!"

Well, didn't expect THAT answer. If I had a chair to sit in, I would have collapsed into it.

"You're a brony?"

"Yes, Master. Does this displease you?"

What a relief, that explains it.

"No, not at all."

I held up a fist for her to bump.

"Brohoof?"

Officer Eskridge smiled and bumped my fist with her own.

"Brohoof! You're a brony too?"

"Yup, ever since season one. Talk about a chance of a lifetime, we both get to serve Nightmare Moon!"

"I know, isn't it great? How long since you were enslaved by her?"

"Actually, I wasn't. I volunteered."

"Really?! Wow! I would never have joined her willingly. I mean, I recognized her as soon as I saw her, but I would never have joined up with one of the villains. But now that I've been enslaved, it all makes perfect sense!"

What...?

That's really creepy. Is that how the shadow parasite works?

"Um, yeah. Well, Nightmare Moon isn't here to bring eternal darkness or kill anyone. She just wants to rule the world."

Man, that was so weird to say.

"So there should be very few conflicts between your job and her commands."

Officer Eskridge blissfully smiled and relaxed back into her chair.

"Oh, that's so good to hear. Thank you for telling me that, Master."

Another strange reaction.

"Uh, you're welcome. Oh, I guess since you're the first one of us enslaved by Nightmare Moon, that makes you Minion Number One. Cool, huh?"

"Really? That's quite an honor!"

"It sure is. I'd give you a button that says 'Number One Minion', but that would kinda give you away."

Officer Eskridge gave me a sidelong glance.

"You think? Anyway, let me print out directions to the Central office along with an overhead map of the local area and a Street View shot of the building itself."

A few minutes later, and I had the printed directions in hand. I tucked them behind the armor plate covering my chest.

"Good job, Officer Eskridge. You've served your Mistress well."

"Thank you, Master."

I was about to leave, but I felt the need to give Officer Eskridge some additional directions.

"Keep an eye on your fellow officers. Nightmare Moon gave a bunch of them shadow parasites, and we're not sure if all of them will enslave their host properly."

"I know, Master. I can feel the other shadow parasites working in their hosts."

"Really?"

"Of course. All shadow parasites can sense any others in the area. It's how we know that we can work together."

Learn something new every day - er, night in this case.

"Okay then. Keep a list of all the officers stationed here that don't have parasites, and if any of the implanted officers are fighting their parasites."

"Got it. Standard procedure for failing parasites is to isolate the host and talk with them to help the parasite settle their emotions."

Seems these shadow parasites were fairly self-governing.

"Good. Oh, and don't tell Nightmare Moon anything about the My Little Pony show or the brony fandom. I'm not sure how to break it to her yet and I'm afraid she'll freak out."

"I will not lie to the Mistress! I have to tell her if she orders me to!"

"Yes, yes, I'm not asking you to lie to her. Just keep it to yourself unless she asks. Withholding the knowledge won't affect her conquest, I'll make sure of that."

Officer Eskridge visibly relaxed and nodded once to confirm my command.

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Nope, just be careful you don't give yourself away. Speaking of which, is computer usage tracked here?"

"Not with the login I used, but if anyone asks I'll make up something. Don't worry."

"Alright then, we'll be in touch. Bye!"

With that, I left the office and retraced my steps back to the rooftop door. Before I opened the door, I made myself invisible. Then I left the building and took to the air. A minute later, I arrived at our rendezvous point. With a thought, I dropped my illusion spell then landed next to the dark mare.

"Got the directions Mistress, we're ready to go."

"Good work.

"Did you query the slave as to the meaning of 'The Lunar Republic'?"

Quick, think of a plausible lie!

"Oh, yes I did. She said it was some cultural thing for her, something about an ages-old battle between the sun and the moon. Warriors were either part of the 'Solar Empire' or the 'Lunar Republic'. She said it felt right to match you up with the Lunar Republic legend she learned as a child."

"Ah, good. That must explain why she gave in so easily to the shadow parasite. I was concerned that something had gone awry with the bonding."

"Not that I could tell Mistress. But then again, I don't know how the shadow parasites work. She did act kinda strange. She mentioned that she would not have joined you voluntarily, but seemed to be completely unconcerned that she was serving you and technically betraying her colleagues."

"Then the shadow parasite is working properly, my student. It adjusts the host's perceptions so that any and all orders seem perfectly reasonable and fit within their moral fiber. However, an order that contradicts their moral fiber too greatly can weaken the parasite's hold and in some cases break it. Fortunately, the subjugated host will hesitate and act uncertain or aggressive when such a conflict occurs and simply rescinding the order resolves the conflict immediately."

That explains a lot.
"Thank you, Mistress. I'll keep all that in mind. Shall we go?"

"Of course. As you have our map, you shall lead. Proceed when ready."

I unfurled my wings and took off into the air, then banked right to follow the roadway in front of the sheriff's station. As a precaution, we hid ourselves from sight until the station was far behind us. Our chosen path would take us nearly due west, across a mountain range and the forest therein, then finally into the city of San Bernardino itself.

The leisurely and scenic flight over the San Bernardino National Forest passed without incident. A short flight over darkened houses and roads, and we arrived at our destination. Instead of landing however, we stayed in the air to scout out the target. Hey, when you can fly you like to keep your air superiority.

The Central Sheriff's station in the city of San Bernardino was another two story building in much the same colors as the Morongo Basin station, but this building seemed to be bigger (or perhaps longer). The front entrance was also on the south-west corner of the building, but unlike the Morongo Basin station you had to walk in front of a wall made of glass panes to get to the door.

The glass panes went up past the second floor and arched over the roof; the structure reminded me of an atrium or a greenhouse. Looking through the glass, I could see hallways and closed doors on both floors. While I watched, a door on the second floor opened and an office worker exited that room. The worker then walked down the hallway to our left and disappeared from sight. There was a single door on the ground floor to the right side of the glass, which could only be the front door. Beyond the glass next to the front door, I could see the reception desk which appeared to be manned by a lone officer.

After our failure at the last sheriff's station, I was confident Nightmare Moon would take a more conservative approach. Or so I thought.

"Mistress, we are not doing this again!"

"I do not see the problem. It is clear to me that the situation at the last police station was an aberration. This time, my plan shall work."

"Mistress, these officers are part of the same group as the ones we met at the last station. They are trained the same way and will react the same way."

"Nonsense. We are clearly in a more civilized area, and the guards inside will act accordingly."

Why can't I get her to understand?

"These are not ponies, Mistress. They do not submit when outmatched. They will fight with as much ferocity as the last ones we fought."

The Night Mare glanced over at me, a wan smile on her muzzle.

"Truly, I do not wish to fight with thee again this evening. I would much prefer to fight side-by-side, with one shared purpose in mind. Canst thou trust me, just this once?"

Guilt. I felt guilt for denying her, even though I knew I was right.

At least she didn't give me puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine, we'll do it your way. But can we at least use illusion magic to hide ourselves, until we walk inside the front door? Walking past that glass wall will surely give us away to those inside."

"In truth, my plan was to smash through that wall of glass and avoid the issue entirely. But I shall compromise with thee and enter the building your way."

Hidden as we were, no one saw us land and approach the building. The officer manning the front desk looked quizzically at the front door as it seemed to open on its own. I saw him pick up a foam coffee cup on his desk and stare into it, as if to wonder if someone had spiked his drink and he was seeing things. Unfortunately for him, his drink was fine. He never saw us as Nightmare Moon incapacitated him instantly with a bolt of lightning. Her illusion failed catastrophically, shattered by the magically-summoned attack. I dropped my illusion immediately afterwards.

The Night Mare and I strolled past benches placed along the walls as we casually approached the reception desk. There was no waiting area like in the Morongo Basin station, just benches lining the walls and an occasional trash can. The reception desk was directly in front of us, so the front door was now behind us and to our left. I turned to examine the hallway to my left, the one in front of the glass. It stretched down about 50 or so feet, with the glass on the left and doors on the right. That hallway ended at a set of double doors that were closed. Just to the left of the reception desk was another set of double doors, and maybe 20 feet to the right of the desk was a wall with yet another set of double doors.

After checking that the officer was unconscious and reasonably unhurt, I nodded to my Mistress. She immediately summoned her magic and cast the spell to sense all life in the building. While we waited, I summoned up some illusory vampire fruit bats and had them hug all the security cameras I could see. Finally discerning our closest target, the Moon Mistress strode confidently towards the double doors to the left of the desk and blasted them down effortlessly.

We sauntered casually down the resulting hallway, and I continued to summon bats to cover any cameras in sight. We had nearly reached the end of the hallway before the Night Incarnate paused at a door on our left. A simple push and it opened easily.

We walked into what looked like a joint cafeteria and break room. Vending machines lined one wall, and another wall held cabinets and a countertop with a sink and a microwave. Many chairs and tables filled the room, several of them occupied by officers. Some were busy eating an early-morning meal, others paused their game of cards to look at us. My dark Mistress addressed the officers, and announced her intent to all in the room.

"Good evening. I am Nightmare Moon, and I am taking ownership of this police station. Surrender or be overcome."

The dozen or more officers in the large, open room all drew their handguns at once.

"Fine. Thou hast made thy choice. Have at thee!"

Act 2, Chapter 7 - Rewind and Repeat

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Nightmare Moon and I had flown to another sheriff's station in hopes of conquering it. I hoped that this one would be an easier job.

"A pox! A pox upon thee!"

Nightmare Moon's curses were flung at the sheriff's officers in the room, whose unconscious bodies littered the floor of the cafeteria. More officers lay unconscious in the hallway outside. Despite the dark mare's hopes of a different outcome, the battle had gone off much like the one at the Morongo Basin station. As before, my cartoon characters frolicked around the room at an insane pace. Tables and chairs lay on their sides or were broken into pieces. And one of the vending machines had been pulled over to be used as cover. Turns out, the metal and glass of the vending machine didn't block bolts of magical lightning.

Oops.

This time, the Night Mare did not wait to taunt the officers but instead incapacitated them in her mist form. I had already run back to the reception desk to turn off the audible alarm, though the silent alarm was still going off. We had won the battle, but still failed to recruit new warriors. As far as Nightmare Moon was concerned, that was a complete and utter failure.

"I did tell you that this would happen, Mistress."

Her ethereal mane lashed the air around her in a frightening frenzy as she stared me down.

"Thou art not helping!"

I wore much the same wan smile that the dark mare had worn earlier that evening.

"I know. So now what? More shadow parasites?"

This deep in the building, we would not be able to hear any sirens blaring outside. But I knew they were coming, and probably from the Morongo Basin station. We would have to leave soon.

"Celestia's rotten teats! What is wrong with the warriors of this world?!"

Nothing actually, we're just aggressive predators that instantly see you as a threat. But I'm not telling you that.

"They're just very loyal, I guess. Once an oath is given it takes a lot of convincing to break it. Imagine how loyal these warriors would be if you convinced them to join you."

"What good wouldst such loyalty be to me, if I must defeat them utterly then subjugate their minds?!"

In her frustration, the Moon Mistress kicked a fallen officer with a forehoof. He groaned slightly but otherwise did not react.

"Utterly useless!"

"Now, now. We did get one officer to submit completely. I'm sure we can figure out how to get the rest to submit as well."

The ebony mare let out a great sigh as her anger and her mane finally deflated.

"Perhaps. Though I am not confident that such odds are in our favor."

I walked over to the dark mare's side, and patted her withers in what I hoped was a comforting way.

"We'll figure something out. Now, put parasites on these officers so we can leave before we have to fight our way out again."

"Oh, very well."

A minute or so of popping out parasites from her horn, and the dark mare had quickly paired each with their new host. Two illusion spells later, and we retraced our steps down a hallway and back to the front door. We took to the sky just as reinforcements arrived with lights and sirens blazing. The cartoon illusions followed us out and cavorted around the arriving patrol cars, both to cover our escape and to drive the officers insane. Once we were far enough from the station, we dropped our illusion spells.

The Night Incarnate spoke not a word to me as she set our course home, and I settled in for the long flight. We seemed to be taking a more north-eastern route, rather than backtracking to the east. I figured the route change was intended to avoid the Twentynine Palms marine base. Beyond that, I would have to continue following the dark mare as I didn't know where our home was from here. Unfortunately for us, the sky was getting lighter. It seems our two failed attacks this evening had taken more time than we planned on. Still too far from home and too close to civilization to risk being seen, we would have to do something soon. I didn't know what my Mistress had in mind, be it teleportation or just a long flight hidden under an illusion spell, but I chose not to wait for her to act.

The illusion spell I cast made me look like a generic bird with gray feathers. I couldn't change my size, so if I was on the ground I'd just look like a huge-ass bird. But I figured that anyone looking wouldn't see a gigantic bird high in the sky, but instead see a small bird flying closer to the ground.

Forced perspective for the win.

Nightmare Moon delayed her change for several more minutes, until the tops of the trees ended and the open ground spread out in front of us. Before my eyes, her mane and tail rapidly swirled around her until she vanished and her less-visible mist form remained.

Abruptly, she accelerated and I almost lost sight of her before I could react.

Adrenaline rushed through me as I flapped my wings as fast as I could. My airspeed rose higher and higher until I was moving faster through the air than I ever had before. The tiny misty blob that was Nightmare Moon slowly grew in size, from a tiny speck to a small poof within the span of a few minutes. Slowly, inexorably, I got closer and closer to the Mare in the Moon as the minutes flew by. An hour or so later, I finally reached the mare's side. To avoid passing the Misty Mare, I pulled my speed back a tiny bit to match hers. We were finally flying side-by-side again.

I glanced over at my Mistress, looking for some sign that she had noticed my arrival. But her mist form showed no emotion, or none I could read anyway.

However, I did hear her voice whisper in my ears for a brief moment.

"Thou took thy time.”

The miles flew by as we raced to our daylight sanctuary under the hill.

At long last, we arrived. I recognized the area a moment before the Night Mare began her steep descent to the desert floor. She remained in her mist form until she passed through the cave entrance, then re-formed into her armored ebony equine form. I landed directly in front of the cave entrance instead, not yet comfortable flying into such an enclosed space. My landing shattered the illusion hiding me from view, and I quickly de-summoned my wings as soon as I walked into the darkness of our home.

As I rounded the bend in the passageway, I caught sight of the dark mare again. She was sitting in the small open space in front of our bed. Her back was to me, but I could easily read the sadness in her body language: wings hanging limply by her sides, shoulders slumped and head hung low. Her mane and tail draped over her form like normal hair, for once. And she was still wearing her armor.

I removed my armor with my magic, and placed it upon its stand. Then I walked the few paces to the ebony mare and stood by her right side. I was reminded that she was almost as tall sitting down as she was standing up, and noted that her head was about level with my chest. I placed a hand on her withers for comfort, then spoke to her in what I hoped was a comforting voice.

"Mistress?"

I did not ask if she was well or what was wrong, it was pretty clear to me our failures tonight were bothering her. The lack of motion in her mane was also a dead giveaway as to her mood. The Night Sky given Flesh did not reply, but instead chose to lean against my side for comfort.

Neither of us spoke. Instead, we simply enjoyed the touch of one another.

Small gestures of affection always made my human girlfriends feel better, so I hoped the same thing would work on my Equestrian one. I lightly trailed my hand up her neck, until I was stopped by her helm. My fingers reached under the metal edge to rub the fur underneath, and hoped she would take the hint.

She did.

First her helm, then the rest of her armor was unbuckled by her magic and floated over to rest on her armor stand. Once the last piece of armor came to rest, I trailed my fingertips up her neck and began to rub behind an ear. She sighed slightly in response, then turned her head and pressed the side of her face into my chest. I brought up my other arm to hug and hold her head close. A deep sigh came from her as she relaxed in my embrace.

"It has been an age since I have enjoyed the comfort of a stallion. And these hands of thine art a welcome change from hoof and wing."

"Oh, I'm sure a wing would have a gentler touch."

"Perhaps, but their touch is too gentle at times. The touch of thine hands is unlike anything I have felt before, and the claws on the ends are surprisingly strong."

"Fingers."

"Hmm?"

"They're called 'fingers', Mistress; not claws. Though this new body of mine does have claws I can use."

"I care not for what they are called. Just, for the love of the Moon do not stop."

I chuckled and decided to re-use a reply she was fond of.

"As you wish."

The fingertips on one hand slowly danced up and down her neck, while the other caressed her cheek and muzzle. The warmth from her body seeped in and merged with my own, until it felt to me like we were of one body. The electric intimacy between us was simply intoxicating. I smiled to myself as I realized I had another checkmark for my imaginary brony fantasy checklist.

And in the next instant I realized I didn't care anymore. Mentally tossing the imaginary checklist over my shoulder, I dearly wished for these moments to last as long as possible.

Alas, all good things must end. This intimate moment ended when my dark Mistress briefly sagged against me, then sat back up with a start.

"Forsooth! Thy touch..."

She interrupted herself with a wide yawn.

"...is most mesmerizing. I had not realized how exhausted I was."

She covered another yawn with a hoof.

"Shall we retire for the day?"

"Sure."

I released my hold upon her, then watched the mare carefully as she slowly got to her hooves. I was worried that she was too tired to walk straight and would fall over. My concern was unwarranted however, as she only staggered slightly as she stood up. Under my watchful gaze, Nightmare Moon slowly and unsteadily walked to her side of the bed. Already in bed myself by then, I watched the mare use a smidge of magic to lift the sheets and slide beneath them and into bed.

Rolling on to my side, I reached a hand over and caressed her barrel with a hand.

"Do you remember how we woke up, two nights ago?"

Nightmare Moon's voice was tired, yet silkier than usual.

"Hmmmm, yes? Dost thou mean the night I woke up flailing in bed?"

"Yes, but I was actually thinking of the cuddling that came before it."

"Oh?"

She made a pleasurable sound as she remembered that part of the evening.

"Mmm, thou hast the most wonderful ideas."

Rolling on to her side to face me, she stretched her forelegs open to beckon me closer. I schooched in between her forelegs and cuddled up to her barrel. As she wrapped her forelegs around me, I gave her breast a soft kiss. A moment later, I let my face rest against her cool flesh. Just before I dropped off to sleep, I felt the ebony mare curl her neck over my head and rest her chin between my feline ears. Cocooned as such, I fell into a deep slumber.

Consciousness arrived slowly for me, partially since I was super comfortable and did not want to face the new day. Or night, in this case. Unfortunately, my body had decided it had gotten enough rest and it was time to wake up. Before my fateful encounter with Nightmare Moon, I would have expected my bladder to insist that I awaken and demand to be emptied. I supposed there were some benefits to being sustained by ambient magic. Full bladder or not, I was awake.

It would seem that neither Nightmare Moon nor I had moved in the night, for I was still snug in her cool embrace. Despite the comfort, my body insisted it needed to be stretched and threatened me with pins and needles if I did not. My mind succumbed to the urge and I tensed up all the muscles in my body. I held that pose for several moments, then relaxed. With a sigh of relief, I realized that the urge was now gone.

Awakened by my sudden motion, the dark mare tugged me closer with her forelimbs.

"Nay, do not leave my embrace just yet."

I stifling a yawn and addressed my cuddly Mistress.

"How long have you been awake?"

"I do not know, I did not care to track the time."

Aww, how sweet.

I nuzzled her breast and pressed my face against her in hopes I could catch a few more minutes of sleep. Regretfully, my body took that moment to tell me that my right arm had fallen asleep -- and was tingling madly. I had fallen asleep on my right side, cuddled up against the Moon Mistress, with my right arm pinned between my body and hers. Seems this body kept that defect from my old one - whichever arm I slept on always fell asleep when I was spooning someone, and even sometimes when I slept too long on my side.

Ow, ow, ow!

I squirmed in the dark mare's embrace, in a desperate need to free my asleep arm. Misunderstanding my frantic moment for wanting to get out of bed, the Night Incarnate pulled her forelegs tighter around my body.

"Nay, nay! I am not ready for thee to leave my embrace!"

"I gotta move! My arm's asleep!"

"I do not understand."

"I need to get my arm free! Relax your forelegs, I promise I just need to roll over!"

Perhaps reluctantly, my cuddle buddy did open her forelegs to free me. True to my word, I rolled over and pushed my back into her barrel. Then frantically rubbed my numb and tingling arm. After a moment, the Night Mare realized I had stayed within her grasp and wrapped me up again within her forehooves. While I tried to get feeling back into my arm, I also noted that my position against the dark mare felt oddly familiar.

We hadn't cuddled like that before, so that wasn't it. Then I realized what it was. When I flipped around to place my back against the dark mare, I had nestled the back of my head against her breast, between her forelegs. Thus, when she wrapped her forelegs around me they came down across my shoulders and crossed over my chest. The position strongly reminded of a roller-coaster harness.

And then realized the analogy was quite appropriate - it's been one hell of a ride so far since I met Nightmare Moon, all those days ago.

At long last, my right arm felt normal again. At least it wasn't tingling like mad anymore.

I sighed in relief, and relaxed back into my cuddle buddy's embrace.

"Dost thy arm feel better?"

"Yes, much better. Thank you."

We continued cuddling for a little while longer. However, while I was very happy with the intimacy between us I was also wide awake. I knew myself well enough to realize I had to do something to keep my mind active, or I was going to want to get up and out of bed. Maybe I can get a conversation going instead.

"Still awake, Mistress?"

Her reply was a bit slow and soft, implying to me she was really comfortable.

"I have found myself drifting somewhence between the boundaries of sleep and wakefullness. Neither truly awake nor asleep."

Ooh, cryptic. But not very helpful.

"So, that's a 'yes'?"

"Perhaps."

Somepony sure gets non-committal when she was warm and snuggly. I'll have to be more persistent.

"What were your plans for our night tonight?"

"Hold thee close and ne'er let go."

I guess it's a really good thing I didn't need to pee, then.

"Actually, I was referring to your plans to conquer this world."

"Ah.

"I admit that I find this subject distasteful."

"It's not going away any time soon, Mistress. We have to figure something out."

A frustrated sigh came from above me, then I felt her muzzle come to rest on top of my head between my feline ears.

"Very well."

Still cuddled up with my back to the Moon Mare, I felt the need to hold her in return. The first thing I could think to do was to slide my hands down her forelegs and wrap my fingers around her cannons. The comparison to a roller coaster harness sprung to mind again, but this time I pushed it aside.

"I think we can salvage all this, somehow. If we can figure out a way to get the officers to submit to the parasite, we'll have the start to your army."

"Didst I not tell you, most subjects do not submit to the shadow parasite willingly?"

"Yes, yes you did. But we do have one officer that submitted completely. If we can make the rest submit that far, we'll have an army that can think and fight for you."

"I fear that she was an aberration, my dear student. Few if any will share her childhood memories of this 'Lunar Republic'."

That lie of mine was going to bite me in the ass if I wasn't careful. I was going to have to break the news about the My Little Pony fandom to her eventually. But at least this lie was close enough to the truth for me to work with.

"They don't need to have the same memories, they just need to accept you somehow. Can't you enter dreams or cause nightmares or something?"

I knew the answer of course, but to keep my lie she had to tell me what her powers were.

"Hmm. Yes, I can cause dreams and enter them. Though I do not yet see your point."

"I don't know...maybe you can make them dream good dreams about you, so they see you in a good way?"

"Perhaps. I am still uncertain how this will help."

Ah, I have an idea.

"Okay then. I'm thinking of an underlying theme amongst many of the stories in my culture. In these stories, the main character must choose between someone who is clearly evil, and someone who isn't evil but may not be good. And in most of these stories, choosing the one who isn't evil turns out to be the right choice. The one they chose turns out to be good, or at least good enough, and the evil is defeated."

"Interesting. And what if they choose to help evil?"

"That doesn't happen too often, but it usually makes the hero's job more difficult. In those stories someone else ends up helping the hero, or the hero gets lucky, and the hero wins anyway. It's rare to see a story where both sides are evil, or one is simply less evil."

"I begin to see thy point. I must portray myself as this 'possibly good' pony, and somehow convey that I am fighting against somepony who is clearly evil."

"Yes, that sounds right."

I scoured my brain for ideas, and several different monster movies came to mind.

"You don't have to fight against a pony, Mistress. Just show yourself fighting against a monster of some sort. The monster should be seen rampaging in a town or city, and you are clearly fighting against it."

"Yes, yes! This idea may bear fruit. Perhaps the dream might show me being injured in some way, and allow the dreamer a chance to defend me?"

"Now you're getting it! And if they don't defend you, the monster can chase them instead and the dream becomes a nightmare. Thus punishing them for making the wrong choice. It sounds like this might work!"

"I think so, my student. But we must test it to be sure. Hold still, and do not move."

"What are you..."

And then everything went blank.

When I could see again, I found myself outside and standing on the sidewalk on a street. Beyond that, I had no idea where I was. The dark sky told me that it was night time, though I did not know what time it was. The street lights up and down the road were casting a soft glow on all that their light touched. To my immediate left were one- and two-story houses, made with brick or wood siding and angled asphalt paper rooftops. Some had the old-school porches, with the small two-step staircases in front. Others simply had a door that opened directly on to the sidewalk I stood upon.

Said sidewalk was narrow, compared to the wide swaths of concrete I was familiar with around my home in Los Angeles. Trees were growing in the sidewalk, next to the curb. Holes were cut in the concrete to allow the trees room to grow. Metal grates framed the trunk of the tree, hiding the tree's roots from casual view. I cast my gaze down the sidewalk, and saw what looked like a market on the corner maybe a half-block or so away.

The stop light at the corner had its red light lit, which changed to green as I watched. Beyond the stop light in the far distance, large multi-story skyscrapers could be seen. The scenery made me think that I was in the suburb of a large city. No cars were visible anywhere within my sight, moving or parked. Everything I saw felt familiar to me, yet I could not remember being in that place before. It could have been a neighborhood in my old home town of Chicago, or some area in San Francisco, or even some city on the east coast of the United States.

A head turn to the right revealed a small residential street. The road next to me was unmarked by lines, yet appeared to be just wide enough to handle a lane of traffic and a row of parked cars parked parallel to the curb. Looking farther out revealed a grassy median, perhaps as wide as a lane of traffic, covered in green grass of some sort and more trees. Past the median was another stretch of pavement, likely as wide as the one on my side. Again, no cars could be seen even though I expected one to pass by any moment. On the other side of the street were more houses, similar in layout and construction to the houses on my side of the street. A porch swing from one of the houses swung lightly in an unfelt breeze.

For the most part, nothing in my immediate area made any sound. Faint sirens could be heard off in the distance, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a helicopter flying nearby. Then came a sound I was not familiar with, a heavy 'thump'. Followed several seconds later by another 'thump'. The peaceful quiet of the night was abruptly shattered by a loud screech! The sound sent chills down my spine, as the piercing sound went on and on. This was not the distinctive roar of Godzilla, but it was similar enough to make me think, 'KAIJU!'

The thoughts of 'kaiju' put the 'thump' noises in perspective; what I had heard was the footsteps of a large creature. Those footsteps had resumed, and to my horror they were getting closer! Before I could think to move, a very large head appeared high above the corner store down the street. It was covered in light-brownish scales, had green eyes and some sort of reddish feathers sticking out the sides of its head. The head was joined by another identical head, and then a third. The rest of the creature walked into view, revealing a yellow striped belly, two clawed feet and a large tail.

The creature, towering high above the nearby buildings, tore down the stop light in front of it like a child would pull at a string. The fourth head was looking behind the creature, as if looking for something pursuing it. I knew without a doubt what this creature was - a hydra!

I took an involuntary step back, and my foot knocked over something behind me. A quick glance revealed a metal can I did not know was there, and it had fallen over at my touch. The sharp metallic noises as the can bounced on the concrete might as well have been as loud as gunshots on the quiet street. All the hydra heads perked up and swivelled around to try and find its source. One head caught sight of me, and to my horror all four heads turned to face me. They all began to salivate and lick their chops in expectation of a meal.

Fear shot through my entire being, as I realized I was about to become the hydra's midnight snack. One of the heads screeched out a call, and the other three heads dove for me. I made to run, but the hydra moved at a speed that belied its awesome bulk. My vision filled with the sight of one of the heads, its excited grin telling me I was about to die in its fangs.

But just before it struck, a loud yell echoed down the street! With it was a loud explosion, which impacted the side of the closest hydra head. The attack didn't seem to affect the hydra, but it did stop trying to eat me. However, the explosion knocked me flat back on my ass. What luck had saved me?

In the next moment, I had my answer. It was not a 'what', but a 'who'. A black and silver streak flew through the air, and it landed heavily on its hooves in front of me. My savior was a black horse, covered in silver armor and sporting not only a pair of black wings but also a large sharp horn on its head. The horse was very familiar, but I could not remember what it was. It turned to me, and with a kindly expression spoke to me in a clearly feminine voice.

"Art thou well?"

My voice had left me, so all I could do was nod in reply.

"Good, now make thy escape while I keep yon monster occupied!"

The dark mare did not wait for me to respond, but instead turned and engaged the hydra with a flourish. I scrambled to my feet, then turned and ran away from the battle as fast as my feet would take me. Without warning, an alleyway appeared to my right between two tall buildings. The alleyway seemed like an excellent place to hide, so I dove down it and hid behind some conveniently-placed garbage cans. Then waited to see if I had actually escaped or was destined to be Hydra food.

Screams from the hydra and shouts I presumed from the mare could be heard as they fought. Shortly afterwards, the sounds of battle ended with a meaty smack and a scream that pierced the night. The dark mare who saved me skidded to a halt on her side, right in front of the alleyway I was hiding in. Somehow knowing I was there, she stiffly turned her head to face me and weakly called out to me.

"Help me, I beseech thee..."

Emotion welled up within me, giving me a strong sense of bravery and urgency. My savior had saved me, it was only right that I tried to save her in return. A quick glance around revealed a thick branch stuffed into a garbage can, and a quick tug I pulled it free. Armed with a weapon, I ran out of the alleyway and swung the branch with all my might! The hydra head that was about to devour my savior pulled back, now nursing a bruised nose. The creature pouted, and the head I had hit began to cry.

Next to me, my savior had recovered and had risen to her hooves. The dark mare slowly walked over to my side and smiled warmly at me. Then she made me an offer.

"Fight with me, and together we shall deal this monster a sound defeat! What say you?"

I nodded, somehow knowing that between the two of us nothing could stand in our way. As I turned to face the hydra once more, my vision faded to a pleasant black...

Act 2, Chapter 8 - We Must Dream Deeper

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Nightmare Moon and I had come up with an idea to finally get warriors for her army. But she decided to test the idea first - on ME.

Bitch.

I awoke once again in the forelegs of my snuggle buddy.

"I am pleased that you chose to help me, though with all we have shared I expected no less."

What? Oh, she did NOT.

"You put me through the 'savior' dream without asking me?!"

"Aye. It was necessary to show you the dream, to verify it would hold true. Had we another subject here, I could have brought thee into the dream with me and we couldst watch the dream unfold together. As we had none but ourselves, you became the recipient of the dream. And I likest thy name for the dream, I shall call it the 'savior' dream from now on."

"Hmph. You could have warned me."

Nightmare Moon nuzzled the top of my head, then gave me her reasons.

"Preparing thou for the dream might have tainted it, as thou might have become aware that thee wert dreaming and thus disrupted the dream. As it were, thy experiences with me may have also done the same."

Thinking back on what I remembered of the dream, I could see she had a point.

"I knew that I knew you, but I didn't remember where from. But I had the same feeling with the whole dream, everything was familiar but I didn't recognize any of it."

"Then the dream was crafted perfectly. If thou didnst know me in the dream, then no other dreamers will."

I thought over the dream again, and remembered that this was the 'positive' dream. Then I wondered what would happen if she tried to put me through the 'negative' dream.

"Don't you DARE make me dream of getting eaten by that hydra!"

"Eh? Ah, be assured I had no intention of doing so. You had already chosen to help me in thy dream, I could not force you to do otherwise. However, had you chosen poorly I would have given thee the dream again and again until thou didst choose me."

"You are a cruel bitch, you know that?"

"Yes, I am well aware.

"It seems we now have a way to ensure that the shadow parasites can fully take root in their hosts. All that remains is paying a visit to a guard station from yesterday, and experimenting on a guard found therin."

"Which means, you have to let me go and we have to get out of this bed."

"Sadly, thou speakest the truth."

After a few moments of reluctance, the forelegs holding me in place relaxed and allowed me to leave their grasp. Both of us made our way out of bed, slipped on our armor and left our cave without any further delays. After we took to the air, I felt it necessary to review our plans with the dark mare.

"How much time did we spend in bed tonight, Mistress?"

"Several hours, my L -- my student. We shall not arrive at the guard station until just after the witching hour has passed."

So, some time after midnight.

"I presume we're heading to the first sheriff's station, where your new minion is?"

"You are correct. Now, enough talk. We must travel with all available speed if we are to make good use of our time tonight."

With that, the Moon Mistress rapidly accelerated off into the night. Had she been a car on a road, I would have expected to hear and smell burning rubber. The ebony mare allowed me to catch up to her, then sped up again. She repeated this frustrating process until I could fly no faster, then she slowed down to match my speed. The wind whistled loudly in our ears and the desert floor screamed by at an incredible pace as we raced to our destination. We successfully avoided the marine base this time, which I was immensely thankful for. That was trouble that we didn't want to mess with again.

Some hours into our flight, we overflew a nondescript two-lane road. Nightmare Moon immediately banked to her right and followed the road to the west. I didn't understand why, but I followed her anyway. The road eventually led us to the east end of Twentynine Palms. From there we easily made our way to the Morongo Basin sheriff's station. As the station was likely populated by officers not under our control, we avoided the building itself and alighted upon the same rooftop from the previous night.

As soon as we landed, I shot a question over to my dark Mistress.

"Alright, I gotta know. How did you avoid the Marine base so easily? We kept stumbling all over it last night!"

"As you may recall from the previous evening, I am able to sense the presence of my shadow parasites."

"How could I forget last night? To answer your question, 'yes'."

"If I cast that spell and narrow my focus, I can determine their direction even from this great distance. However, had we travelled directly towards my new minion we would have encountered the soldiers from this 'Marine base', as you call it. Thus, I needed a less direct way to find the guard station from last night.

"You may recall that there was a large roadway that passed through the hamlet. We searched this same roadway for a guard station, and eventually found the one that we assaulted last night."

"Yes, I'm following. And...?"

"While I was searching said roadway, I observed that the roadway travelled straight east from the hamlet for as far as I could see. I used this knowledge and my minion detection spell to find the roadway once again. I deliberately angled our travel so that I sensed my minions on my right side, between my head and my wing. As we passed over the roadway, I sensed that my minions were now in the same direction as the roadway travelled. I knew then that we were not only far enough south, but that we had found that same roadway. I merely followed the roadway to the hamlet."

"Alright, I guess that makes sense. But roads don't go straight forever, we could have missed the road completely."

"In truth, I was not completely certain I could find the same roadway again. However, I felt it was a reasonable assumption and it was successful."

"I guess I can't argue with that."

My curiosity now sated, Nightmare Moon sent out a magical call out to Officer Eskridge. We hoped that she was on duty this evening, and we were not disappointed. She answered the dark mare's mental call and readily agreed to meet us on the rooftop of the sheriff's station. To guarantee that we would not be seen, the Night Mare and I again approached the rooftop hidden from view. Once Officer Eskridge opened the doorway for us, we could see the familiar landing with a single flight of stairs leading downwards. We dropped our illusions and entered the doorway to discuss our plans with Eskridge.

"How can I help you, Mistress?"

"We believe we have a method to allow my shadow parasites to ingrain themselves deeper into their hosts. We wish to imbue into them the same servitude that thou hast given to us."

"Sounds good, Mistress! What do you need me to do?"

"We need thee to lure another officer to us, so that--"

As if on cue, the door at the other end creaked open slightly and the sliver of a face became visible. I quickly reached out with my magic and threw the door wide open. Behind the door was a male officer in uniform. He appeared to be Caucasian, nearly bald on his head and wore a bushy mustache. And he looked really surprised to see a black horse and a large black cat in the stairwell.

Yanking him towards us with a burst of magic, I then fought the door closer to close the door quickly yet quietly. The officer was unable to make any sounds before the Night Mare placed him unconscious with a simple spell. Holding the officer in her magic, she allowed his unconscious body to gently come to rest on the floor.

"It seems that fortune has smiled upon us, for we now have a subject to experiment on."

The dark mare closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

"It seems this officer does not yet have a shadow parasite. Was he absent when we arrived last night?"

The dark mare turned to Officer Eskridge, expecting an immediate answer.

"Yes Mistress, yesterday was his day off. He's been pestering me all shift, trying to get me to tell him everything that happened last night.

"I think he has a crush on me or something."

Nightmare Moon turned to me.

"A 'crush'?"

"A romantic interest, Mistress."

"Ah. I do not object to fraternization between my minions, as long as it does not affect their duties. Though if this one's affections are unwanted, they should not be continued."

A moment's concentration, and a purple shadow parasite came into existence at the end of the Night Mare's horn. The magical parasite floated down to the sleeping officer and seeped quickly into his skull. The Night Incarnate lit her horn and brought the glowing appendage to the forehead of the newly-implanted officer. After a moment, the glow around her horn ceased but the dark mare did not raise her head.

"There, the 'savior' dream has been inserted into his dreamscape. I must monitor the dream to verify it runs true, do not disturb me."

Officer Eskridge had been about to ask a question, so I decided to speak instead.

"May I speak with your minion, Mistress?"

"You may converse. But do not speak loudly nor address me directly."

I caught Officer Eskridge's attention, and beckoned her to follow me. We quietly walked down the stairs to stand in front of the other door. While we weren't very far from Nightmare Moon, I hoped it was far enough so that we wouldn't disturb her while she worked.

I spoke in a low voice to Officer Eskridge, and asked her what was on her mind.

"What were you about to ask the Mistress?"

In a similarly quiet voice, Officer Eskrige answered.

"I was going to ask what the 'savior' dream was."

Nodding to show I understood, I filled her in on the details of our plan.

"The 'savior' dream is an actual dream that our Mistress is running him through. In the dream, he will get a choice between saving our Mistress and allowing her to die. If he chooses to save her, the shadow parasite ingrains itself deeper into his psyche. If he does not save her, the dream becomes a nightmare. Then the dream starts over again until he chooses to save her."

"Do I need to have one of these dreams?"

"No, you're already enslaved perfectly. The purpose of the dream is to help the other minions get to your level."

"Oh, good. You mean I won't have to hide who I am anymore?"

"Nope. The plan is to fully enslave all the officers here before we leave tonight. You'll all be able to work together for the Mistress."

"Yes! Oops!"

Officer Eskridge's shout of jubilation had attracted the attention of Nightmare Moon, who narrowed her eyes at the officer in displeasure. Whispering a simple "sorry" to her Mistress, Eskridge looked down at her feet and began to fidget.

I recognized the sign of a conflict between Officer Eskridge and her shadow parasite. So I decided to soften the silent rebuke she had received.

"It's all right, Eskridge. Well, not completely; you did disobey the Mistress. But it was a minor infraction, one she won't hold against you as long as you don't do it again."

She let out a shuddering sigh, but her fidgeting slowed and eventually stopped.

"Okay. I'll do better next time."

I spent the rest of our time asking Officer Eskridge about her normal job. It was not long until our dark Mistress broke her silence.

"Unfortunate. Not only did he choose not to save me, he chose to run away in terror. I shall give him a terrifying nightmare as punishment, then restart the dream."

"Looks like we'll be here a while, Eskridge. Do you have a deck of cards handy?"

She nodded, then left through the door to the station proper. She returned a minute or so later with a deck of standard playing cards in her hand. The cards were held together by a rubber band and looked very worn. But instead of sitting down, Eskridge stood there and waited for me to speak.

I sat down on the floor on the second-floor landing, then gestured to a spot in front of me. Officer Eskridge took the obvious hint and sat on the floor.

"Ever play Crazy Eights?"

"Nope. Everyone here usually plays some version of poker."

"Okay then. The rules are simple..."

Time passed as Nightmare Moon re-wove and refined her 'savior' dream spell. Even after the new officer finally chose to save the dark mare, the parasite was unable to take full control of its host. So, the Moon Mistress replayed the dream until she was satisfied that the shadow parasite had ingrained itself deep enough into the officer's psyche.

At that point, she declared him ready. Eskridge and I walked back up the stairs while our Mistress woke her new minion up from his magically-induced slumber.

His new Mistress informed him of the plan and his role in it. He was also ordered to stop bothering Officer Eskridge, to which he reluctantly agreed. Eskridge recommended that we stay here in the stairwell until the few officers on the second floor of the building were enslaved, or we would risk being seen. Both she and the new officer would instead lure others into the stairwell for us to capture. Nightmare Moon agreed, so Eskridge and the new officer left the stairwell to betray their colleagues for their Dark Mistress.

We did not have long to wait. The lower door leading to the second floor opened, with Eskridge holding the door open.

"C'mon, just a quick smoke."

A new voice came from beyond the doorway.

"I didn't know you smoked, Eskridge."

"Just started. Get your butt moving, lazy ass."

"Alright, alright. No need to nag."

An officer we had not seen before entered the stairwell, and before he could react I snagged him in my magic. He was able to sputter out "what the--" before Nightmare Moon silenced him and dropped him into the 'savior' dream. The newly-subjugated officer walked in afterwards and Eskridge closed the door behind them both.

I decided to ask our Mistress what we should do next.

"Mistress?"

Occupied by monitoring the dreaming officer, she absentmindedly grunted in reply.

"Should we wait until you finish subjugating this officer, or should we get more?"

"Hmm.

"I am certain that I can monitor more than one dream at once."

She turned to Officer Eskridge.

"How many more are there?"

"Maybe three or four on the second floor, Mistress. They all have parasites, like this one does. There are more than a dozen on the first floor, and all but two have parasites. I do not know how many are on patrol outside the station."

"Very well. Continue bringing the officers to me from the second floor. I will tell thee if thou needs to stop."

"Understood. Let's go, Calloway."

Officers Eskridge and Calloway left to round up more officers.

It turned out that the Night Mare was able to manage six officers at once: the one officer that was still dreaming, the additional four found on the second floor, and one more that wandered up from the first floor. All of them had shadow parasites, and they were in various stages of enslaving their hosts to Nightmare Moon's will. These officers only needed one or two passes through the 'savior' dream to be fully enslaved, so in a short time our army had tripled in size.

The new minions swept the second floor to make sure no one had been missed, then they found a rarely-used storeroom on the first floor for the Mistress and me to use. Our minions then escorted the two of us downstairs and made sure we made the trip unseen.

The subjugation of the rest of the station went smoothly, right up until the end. The last remaining officer did not have a parasite, and was completely unaware that his fellow colleagues were now serving a new Mistress. He resisted all calls to go to the storeroom, so it was decided to bring his enslavement to him.

He was grabbed by two officers and forced from his cubicle to the ground. Two more officers joined the struggle, and together they were able to flip the officer onto his back and held him down. Struggling wildly, he cursed at his fellow officers until he got his first glance at Nightmare Moon.

"What the FUCK is that?!"

A subjugated officer cuffed him upside his head.

"Do not address the Mistress like that!"

"'Mistress'? What the hell are you talking about, Collazo?"

"He is referring to me. All of your colleagues have become my loyal minions, and you shall be joining them shortly."

The officer got to watch as Nightmare Moon summoned a single shadow parasite. His struggles increased dramatically as the purple translucent parasite floated downward to his face, and he screamed as the parasite seeped into his forehead to take root in his brain. The screaming cut off suddenly, the officer's face simply going blank. At the Moon Mistress's instruction, the officer was carried to a nearby office so he could receive his 'savior' dream in private.

The officers not involved with capturing the last officer merely stood in place and stared as one at the departing group.

Once the minions exited the private room to leave the lone officer alone with his new Mistress, the rest of her minions turned as one and resumed their normal tasks. It was as if nothing had ever happened, and they had no knowledge of a magical talking ebony alicorn working her magic on one of their own.

At last, the deed was done. Nightmare Moon's new minion left the office, followed closely by the dark mare. The minion went back to his cubicle, picked up his overturned chair and went back to work without uttering a word.

Man, it's creepy how well those shadow parasites work.

I stood there, overlooking the officers in their cubicle farm working diligently away. It was a surreal sight, as this was the same room where these same officers had fought Nightmare Moon and myself a single night earlier. Impressively enough, the station had cleaned the room and rebuilt the cubicle farm during the day. They even painted the walls. It looked like nothing out of the ordinary had happened here.

She of the Night walked over to my side and joined me in watching her new minions.

"Looks like we finally won a battle, Mistress."

"I am glad to hear it, my student.

"In truth, this victory is not mine but yours."

"What do you mean? You did all the hard work, all I did was coordinate with your new minions."

"Nay. I refer to thine idea on using the shadow parasites, and to the creation of the 'savior' dream. Without these, there would be no victory this evening."

Where did this defeatist attitude come from?

"As I recall Mistress, it was your idea to use the shadow parasites. I had no idea they existed until you told me about them. And we worked out the 'savior' dream together. Or have you forgotten how our evening started tonight?"

The Moon Mistress smiled warmly as she recalled our snuggling from earlier.

"Nay, I have not forgotten."

I returned her warm smile but kept trying to prove to her that this victory was really ours. It was only right.

"It was pure luck that we got one officer completely subverted. If we hadn't talked to her and figured out how her parasite worked so fast, we'd probably still be in bed trying to figure out what to do next. This was a team effort, Mistress. Neither you nor I could have done this on our own."

"Perhaps."

I guess she needs more convincing.

"Look. Why did you recruit me in the first place?"

"Because thou art a good kisser?"

"HA! Using my humor against me, are you?"

My Mistress grinned widely, showing off an impressive array of sharp and pointed teeth. Surprisingly sexy teeth, at that. But I digress.

"You're right Mistress, but that's not the only reason. You recruited me as an ADVISER. You needed someone to teach you about this world, and advise you on how to best conquer it. And that's what I've been doing. I've been giving you advice on how to best use your magic and your skills to accomplish your goals. When you take my advice, you succeed."

"And when I do not take thy advice, thou implies that I shalt fail?"

Oops! I'll have to treat that subject delicately.

"Well, that's true so far. But the more you learn about this world, the less advice you'll need from me. We've figured out how to make the shadow parasites work for us, and we can probably just tweak the idea if they stop working."

"Mayhaps this is the right choice. But methinks most of the victory this evening is still thine."

"And I still disagree. At best, we share this victory."

I suddenly had an idea that might get her to see things my way.

"So, if we share this victory does that mean that half of these minions are mine as well?"

"Never! These minions are mine, I control them all! Thou shall only rule them in my stead!"

Perfect, that's what I expected her to say.

"And that's the way it should be, Mistress. My nature is to solve problems, so I'm more than happy to advise you and let you make all the decisions. I don't want power, I just like to fix things."

"Art thou saying that I am broken and in need of fixing?"

A glance at her revealed her mane was waving faster than usual.

"That's not what I meant, Mistress, and you know that. But if you want to say anything was broken, I'd say it was your plan to conquer this world. You made that plan based on the ponies of Equestria and how they think. This world is too different for that plan to work here."

My ebony Mistress relaxed noticeably, and her mane slowed down to its usual slow wave.

"I believe I see now. I insisted on using a flawed plan, and that is why I continued to fail.

"It seems that you have become the teacher as of late, and I the student."

There's that awkward feeling again.

"Yeah, well...that's kinda part of being an adviser."

"True. But I should not call you 'my student' if we are to teach each other. It does not feel right. Perhaps I should simply use thy name instead."

"Maybe, but 'Nightmare Claw' is quite a mouthful. What, are you going to start calling me 'Claw'? If you do, I'm going to start calling you 'Moony'."

Nightmare Moon flinched as if struck by a hoof.

"Thou shalt not be calling me 'Moony'!"

"Sure. Just don't call me 'Claw' and we'll be good."

"As you wish. But what shall I call you? And I do not wish thee to call me Mistress any more. Thou art not my servant, nor my minion. Thou art second-in-command of my army, and should be treated as such."

I thought upon her words for a moment.

"Army, huh? Maybe call me by my rank? What's the military rank of a second-in-command?"

"Thy rank would depend on who thee was 'second-in-command' to. I shall be a Queen of my land, and art the General of my army. Mayhaps 'Lieutenant General'?"

"Nah, that's as unwieldy as 'Nightmare Claw'."

My thoughts drifted momentarily to the My Little Pony show.

Huh, I wonder how high Shining Armor's rank of 'Captain of the Guard' was?

"What about the guards around your castle, Mistress? What were their ranks?"

"I have never possessed a castle, I merely resided in my sister's castle. I believe the head of the Solar and Lunar guards were 'Low Captains', with one 'High Captain' above them."

"I'd be fine with being a 'High Captain', or just 'Captain'."

"Then from now on I shall address thee as 'Captain', Captain."

Nightmare Moon smiled slightly at her little joke. I returned her smile with a warm one of my own.

"Sounds good. Now what do you I call you, if not 'Mistress'? We're kind of in a weird spot; when we're out at war, I still serve you. But when we're alone, we seem to treat each other as equals.

"Or like an old married couple."

The ebony mare softly chuckled at the shared memory.

"True, our...relations are most unusual."

"I don't really have a problem calling you 'Mistress', it's only a word. We know how we relate to each other. But if you want to change it, how about 'Queen' or 'my Queen'?"

"I am uncertain that the title is an improvement."

"Well, I think it'll work. Especially if our 'relations' continue as well as they have, I may eventually become your King. Or maybe your Consort."

The Night Sky given flesh blushed slightly.

"Thou art not my Consort yet."

"'Yet'?"

The dark mare was confused for a moment or two, then she realized what she just said and a deep blush flushed all over her muzzle.

"I...no longer wish to continue this conversation."

But I do. Teasing you is so much fun.

"Awww...but what should I call you? We never did decide."

Indecision flowed across her features, as her blush deepened further under my gaze. After several moments, she finally found her voice.

"Queen. You may call me Queen. But thou are not my Consort."

I admit it, I was amused when the dark mare refused to make eye contact. I knew then that she had mentally added 'yet' to her words.

However, I felt I had teased my dark Queen enough and decided to drop the subject. Instead, I called out loudly to all within earshot.

"Officer Eskridge! Attend us!"

Within moments, footsteps could be heard running down the nearby stairwell to the second floor. Officer Eskridge walked briskly through a nearby doorway and breathlessly stopped in front of my Queen and me.

"Yes, Master?"

"I am placing you in charge of this station. This means you will make sure that this station properly carries out the commands of your Mistress. However, when it comes to your normal duties that do not concern your Mistress, you shall follow the normal chain of command. Do you understand?"

"I think so. Everything works as normal, the Captain of the station is in charge as always. Unless we get commands from the Mistress, then I'm in charge."

"Correct."

"I won't fail you, Master! What should we do about the other shifts?"

"What. Other. Shifts?"

"Well, you've conquered the Night Shift. What about the Day Shift and the Swing Shift?"

What?

Oh.

Crap, we're in trouble. How am I going to explain...

"Captain? What dost she refer to?"

...it to Nightmare Moon? This won't go over well.

"A police station must be active all hours of the day and night, my Queen. And the officers you see do not live here, they have homes and families to go to. So, this means that the station is staffed in shifts, each lasting about eight to ten hours. We just conquered the Night Shift, so..."

The dark mare facehoofed, and began muttering under her breath.

"...we've only conquered about a third of the station. There's still twice this number left."

Officer Eskridge chose that moment to speak up.

"A little more than twice Master, the Night Shift is usually a bit short-staffed compared to the other shifts."

I sighed and covered my face with a hand.

"You're not helping, Eskridge."

"Sorry, Master."

Groaning inwardly, I tried to figure out what to do next.

"Okay, we haven't lost anything. We just have to enslave more officers before we're done here."

"And how shall we do so, Captain? We cannot work freely during the day! They cannot be ignored, for they can always be called from their beds to oppose us!"

I turned to the dark mare to see her incensed, her mane and tail lashing madly behind her.

"Relax, we're not defeated yet. We just go after them at night. It might even be easier because some of them will already be asleep."

"And how shalt we find these slumbering officers? I know of no way to trace them from here!"

"Easy. Eskridge?"

"Oh! Um, I can pull up the addresses of all the officers stationed here, no problem. I can even show you where they are on a map if you need me to."

"See, my Queen? We can find them at night, and we know the shadow parasite plan will work. We can do this."

The dark mare sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time tonight.

"So I see. However, it seems that we have much work ahead of us."

"That we do."

Act 2, Chapter 9 - Racking Up The Miles

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Nightmare Moon and I were standing in a room in the Morongo Basin Sheriff's station. We had just successfully enslaved all of the officers working at the station that evening. Then found out that there were still two other shifts full of officers that we had to deal with.

"Eskridge."

"Yes, Master?"

"What time is it? I don't see a clock anywhere."

Officer Eskridge paused while she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and hit the power button to light its screen. Her phone reminded of my faithful digital companion, which had been destroyed when I was remade into some sort of a cat-man by Nightmare Moon. I felt a small pang of sadness over its loss, and all of the data stored on it.

Good thing I play the Gameloft My Little Pony game on a tablet, instead of my phone. My saved game is still safe.

"It's 2:34am, Master."

"Really? That's it?"

"Um, yes Master. Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not at all! That means we finished our takeover of this station in a little over two hours! I was sure we had taken longer."

"Is this favorable, Captain? Do you believe we have sufficient time to subjugate the remaining guards this evening?"

"Eskridge? How long would it take you to pull up the address of all the off-shift officers, and plot them out on a local map?"

"Oh, um...I'm not sure. I've never done that for so many people at once. Maybe two or three hours?"

"That's a long time to wait, my Queen. Maybe we should call it a night?"

"Nay. What of our other conquest, the other guard station? Mayhaps we can continue our successes there."

"The Central Station? Hmm. If our work there goes as fast as it did here tonight, we should be able to enslave all the on-duty officers tonight. We can come back here after nightfall tomorrow, Eskridge should be done by then."

"Yes Master, I'll make sure my task is done before sundown tonight."

"We can then get all of the off-duty officers stationed here all at once, my Queen."

"Excellent, Captain. We shall travel to the Central Station for our last act of this evening."

"You heard the Mistress, Eskridge. Are you on shift tomorrow?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. Hold down the fort here, we should be back tomorrow evening. If plans change, we'll let you know."

"Okay, Master. Have a good evening!"

Now that our final goal for the evening was set, the Mare in the Moon and I left the Morongo Basin sheriff's station via a nearby door and took flight towards the west. Just like the night before, my dark Queen let me lead. The map I was using to find the Central sheriff's station was long gone, but I was pretty sure I still knew the way. I didn't know if this was due to any innate pegasi magic or my own decent sense of direction, but I trusted it to guide me true.

Besides, it would be real embarrassing if I have to tell Moony that I got us lost.

After a scenic yet boring flight over the forest, and a slight course correction once we entered the city of San Bernardino, the Central sheriff's station came into view. Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief.

During the long flight, Nightmare Moon and I had discussed our plans for the sheriff's station. We both agreed that we should scout the area again before we tried to land. Without a spy like Eskridge inside, we did not know how to enter the building without setting off an alarm. This particular visit required stealth, after all - no blasting the doors down.

This time, anyway.

We slowly circled the building twice, just to be safe.

"I don't see any extra guards or anyone watching the sky for us."

"I concur."

"I also don't see any good places to hide on the roof down there, we'd be pretty exposed."

"Again, I concur. I would prefer to find a secluded place nearby, from which we can observe this guard station in relative safety."

"I think that's going to be a problem. There's a lot of empty space around here."

"Mayhaps that structure will suit our needs."

"The Goodwill across the street? Hmmm, yeah. Looks like there's some nice places to hide down there. Let's do it."

"Agreed."

Angling our wings to the south, we passed over an empty street and a culvert to land in the fenced-in area behind the Goodwill building. A quick look around revealed two semi trucks with trailers backed up to the loading dock, and a number of truck trailers with the Goodwill logo parked next to the back fence. We had obviously landed in their shipping and receiving area. Beyond a couple of small lights around the building, the area was shrouded in darkness.

I caught my Queen's eye, then jerked my head towards the truck trailers. The dark mare easily caught my meaning, and the two of us slipped between the wheeled containers to search for a hiding place. We found one in no time, and it was big enough for the two of us to sit comfortably. As soon as she sat down, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and attempted to contact her minions across the street.

"Do not interrupt me Captain, I must have silence.

"Now, let me see...

"Ah, yes! I am in contact--

"Nay, the shadow parasite has not yet taken hold of its host and it cannot relay my commands to her. I must try again.

"Hmmm...nay...nay...nay...yes! A parasite that has full control of its host!

"Alas, the host is asleep at his post! My retribution upon him shall be swift once the fortress is under our control.

"I must find another. Nay...nay...nay...nay."

The ebony mare sighed aloud and opened her eyes.

"I have failed to establish contact with a suitable minion. We must impress the 'savior' dream upon them before they will respond to my commands."

"So what do we do? Just sit around until one of them steps outside for something?"

"Perhaps. However, if I can get closer to them I may be able to exert enough control to force one outside so we may capture it."

"Closer? But weren't you just talking to them now?"

"Distance weakens the connection between myself and the shadow parasites, my Captain. If I am too far away, my commands become too distorted to be useful. Most of the minions I attempted to communicate with could not hear my commands clearly."

"But you were able to talk to Eskridge from this far away last night."

"Again, I say nay. I could not speak to her, but merely impress upon her that I wished to meet with her. It was she that suggested a meeting on the rooftop, and only by sending an impression of the entranceway that she opened for us."

"Damn."

"Indeed."

I looked towards the sheriff's station, and thought about its exposed rooftop.

"I think we're going to have to hide on the roof anyway."

"It is a significant risk, my Captain. But it appears that it is one that we must take."

"Well, let's minimize the risk if we can. Illusion magic, and land in the middle of the roof?"

"A reasonable precaution, my Captain. However, I will be exposed as soon as I begin my search for a suitable minion."

"Okay. Perhaps I could hide you while you cast?"

"Your offer is appreciated, but I can easily maintain both spells at one time. It is the fact that the magic I must cast will shatter any illusion cast over me."

"Oh, right. Duh."

"'Duh'? I do not understand."

"Sorry. It's an expression that basically means 'the correct answer was obvious and I stupidly missed it.'"

"I see. In this case I agree, 'duh' is an apt description."

"Thanks a lot."

The dark mare stuck her tongue out at me, but did not otherwise respond. I rolled my eyes at her then took to the air, with my Queen right behind me. Once airborne, the two of us used a touch of illusion magic to hide ourselves from view.

Just as I angled downwards to land on the roof of the sheriff's station, my eyes caught something that I was sure we could take advantage of. Right as I landed on the rooftop, I dropped my illusion spell in hopes the Night Mare would follow suit. A moment later, she came into view next to me just as her hooves settled on the tarred surface.

I reached out to her neck and pulled her close, then whispered into her ear.

"Fate has smiled on us, prepare the 'savior' dream."

I released the ebony mare quickly, then ran to the edge of the rooftop farthest from the street. Looking over the edge, I noted that the 'something' I saw from the air was still outside. My target was a lone sheriff's officer, who was standing in front of a door directly beneath my spot at the edge of the rooftop. He appeared to be older than the other officers I had seen, with thick white hair on his head. His wrinkled hands appeared to shake slightly as he fumbled with his keys, and I could hear him muttering to himself.

And he had no idea I was watching him from above.

Summoning magic into my hands, I reached down to the officer two stories below. Once I had a magical hold on him, I jerked my hand upwards. The hapless officer was briefly surrounded with a red glow just before he was yanked up into the air. His dropped keys jingled on the concrete as he soared up and over the roof's edge. A quick magical toss to my Queen, and he was deep asleep dreaming the 'savior' dream.

If anyone had been watching at that moment, they would have seen the officer's keys float upwards in a red glow and disappear over the edge of the roof.

Shortly thereafter, our newest minion walked into the station and checked in with his superiors. Once the security around a side door had been disabled, he opened it and let us inside the building. We followed the enslaved officer while he led us down a plain hallway and into a storeroom.

A quick look around the cluttered room, and we knew that it was big enough for our enslavement needs. However, one could see everything from the doorway; we would be discovered as soon as the door was opened. So the three of us rearranged some boxes, chairs and other miscellaneous office supplies in the room. When we were done, most of the room was blocked from view from anyone standing in the lone doorway. Anyone entering the room would have to walk around the boxes to see us, and by then it would be too late.

At our command, the officer left the storeroom and began luring other officers back to us.

As with the Morongo Basin station, it went down nice and smooth. Most officers on duty that evening already had shadow parasites, so they only needed a pass or two through the 'savior' dream for the parasites to firmly take hold. We finished enslaving all officers inside the station not long before daybreak.

We chose to leave the building in a more dignified fashion than we had the night before. That night, the Night Incarnate and I strolled slowly down a hallway that led towards the front of the building. As with the Morongo Basin station, the security cameras were down as it was presumed they were hacked and thus compromised. Enslaved officers would pass us in the hallway on occasion, either choosing to give Nightmare Moon a brief greeting or simply said nothing at all. It was kind of surreal, everyone acted like we belonged there even though I knew we did not.

My mind thought about the flight home, and I remembered that it was a very long and boring multiple-hour flight. And wondered why we didn't use the obvious shortcut.

"My Queen?"

The Moon Mare turned her head towards me slightly, but continued walking forwards.

"Yes?"

"It's a long flight home. Can't you just teleport us back?"

She of the Night angled her head downwards, as if she was looking at me over a pair of invisible glasses.

"Art thou too lazy to fly thyself home?"

"No, though you have to admit it's a pretty boring flight."

"Hmph, perhaps. Regardless of thy reasons, I cannot teleport us to such a far destination. Such teleportation demands a far greater amount of energy than I wish to part with. Even if I were willing to do so, the distance is too far us to travel safely. Teleportation beyond a certain distance is affected by the rotation of the planet and its speed through the cosmos. The longer the distance, the more complicated the spell must be. If the spell is miscast in even the smallest way, we may find ourselves in open space or buried deep in the planet. Only a mare with an incredible grasp of mathematics and physics would attempt such a spell, and I am not that sort of mare. My talents lie elsewhere."

If the My Little Pony show is any indication, Twilight Sparkle is that kind of mare. But what Nightmare Moon is saying doesn't match up with what I remember.

"I admit, I'm confused. Didn't you already teleport us home once before?"

"Nay, Captain. I have not performed any teleportation since I arrived on this world."

"Really? I thought you teleported us back to our cave, on the day you recruited me? The transition from the rooftop to the desert was instantaneous."

"From the rooftop...ah! I know what it is that you speak of. And again, I say I did not teleport. That day, I travelled the entire distance in my mist form to avoid detection. Now that was a long flight, Captain."

"Uh, I'm still confused. How come I don't remember that trip?"

"You did not travel with me, Captain. At least, not directly. I could not hide thee in my mist form, our passage through the sky would be easily observed by any who merely glanced upwards. Thus, I cast a spell to temporarily place you in another dimension. A 'pocket' dimension, as it were. Time does not pass the same there as it does here, so to you time would not appear to pass.

"Once I completed the long flight, I retrieved you from the other dimension and you merely appeared next to me. I suppose from thy point of view, you would simply have moved from one place to another with no time in between. That is also the reason why there was daylight when we left, and darkness when we arrived."

"I...guess that makes sense. But couldn't you just hide me with illusion magic, and carry me along?"

"Perhaps, but holding you with magic for the entire flight would waste precious energy. Also, thy former non-magical form would likely have been injured at the speeds I wished to travel at. Thus, the pocket dimension was an ideal choice."

"Oh. Sounds like an ideal place to hide soldiers. Outnumbered? Boom! Surprise army!"

"An excellent idea my Captain, and one I have considered many times. However, the pocket dimension is much too small and is somewhat unstable. Inanimate items are stored rather easily, such as our bed, but living beings can destabilize the magicks that sustain the pocket dimension. It takes careful and time-consuming spell casting to ensure that a single living being is stored safely. It takes more time to retrieve a living being intact and uncorrupted.

"Such time and care required makes it impractical for storing living beings, much less an entire army. It is normally much easier and more practical to transport living beings via more conventional means. Thus, I reserve such use of the pocket dimension for dire circumstances or when there is no other viable option."

That's a relief. At least I know she won't just toss me in that pocket dimension whenever she feels like it.

Wait a second!

"You've tossed me in that pocket dimension another time! If you haven't done any teleportation, then you must have used the same trick when we were hiding from the soldiers out in the desert! I thought you teleported us past the grate, but you must have dropped me in the pocket dimension and slipped past the bars in your mist form!"

"Yes, exactly. I saw no other means to escape that day."

We passed through a set of double doors and found ourselves in the front lobby of the building. A single officer was present at the front desk. Upon seeing us, he nodded once then resumed his duties. The two of us continued our slow and casual walk towards the front door of the lobby.

"It's still a long flight, my Queen. Maybe we should move our home closer this way."

Nightmare Moon paused in the middle of the open lobby.

"What an intriguing idea."

"It makes sense to me. We spend a lot of time simply flying out this way, and that time will only get longer as we continue our progress towards the coast. We could use that time to enslave police stations instead."

"An outstanding idea, Captain. However, it will take time to find a suitable place for us to rest each evening. Will that search not eliminate any time saved? Also remember, such a search will become more difficult as the population density increases."

"That won't be a problem."

"Oh? How so?"

"Easy. We make use of our new minions."

Stopping and turning towards the nearby front desk, I addressed the sheriff's deputy sitting there.

"Officer?"

He looked up from his computer screen.

"Yes, Master?"

"The Mistress and I are looking to move our base somewhere nearby. Do you know of any abandoned homes we can take over?"

"There are plenty to choose from, Master. The recent housing crisis hit this area rather hard."

I thought so.

"Alright. Task someone to find a home suitable for the Mistress and myself. One in an empty neighborhood or a vacant street would be best. The home does not need electricity, nor does it need to be furnished. But the home should be clean on the inside and relatively undamaged."

He finished writing down my requirements on a notepad, though he was reading the words aloud to himself.

"...relatively undamaged. Got it, Master. I'll send your command on and have someone keep an eye out."

"Do more than that. The Mistress and I are looking to move to a new location tonight."

"Understood. I'll have someone start searching right away. We'll have a suitable home for you when you arrive this evening."

"Good."

I turned back to my Queen.

"All set. Shall we go?"

The Moon Mistress had an awestruck look upon her muzzle.

"Incredible. Is there any task thou canst not accomplish?"

"Bah. All I did was delegate the task to our minions. They're doing all the hard work."

The ebony mare lifted an eyebrow, not pleased with my denial.

"It does not become thee to belittle thyself. In one fell swoop, thou has not only shown the worth of our new minions but thou hast saved us many hours of travel time each night."

"I guess so. Isn't that what a second-in-command is supposed to do? Make things easier for his Queen?"

She of the Night smiled warmly at my comment.

"Very true, my Captain. Shall we depart?"

Without another word, Nightmare Moon and I exited the building and took off into the early dawn sky. One mist form and one bird illusion later, and we were on our way home. The long and boring flight was just as uneventful as I remembered, though it was more bearable knowing this would be the last time we made the trip.

I wonder, can I sleep and still fly?

...

Dammit.

Act 2, Chapter 10 - Door-To-Door Dreamery

View Online

Nightmare Moon had conquered our second sheriff's station, and we planned to move our base from the cave in the desert to someplace more civilized.

At long last, we flew down to the desert floor below us and walked into the cave entrance. Neither of us had much to say this morning, so with the proper application of magic our respective armor was removed and we climbed into bed. I curled up between my cuddle buddy's forelegs and pressed my back against her barrel. We were both asleep in moments.

We awoke just as the sun was about to pass below the horizon. Both of us were quick out of bed; today was moving day, after all. Fortunately, there were no boxes to fill with clothing and knick knacks, as all we had was handled by Nightmare Moon's magic. A quick spell from her, and our bed and armor stands vanished one by one into her pocket dimension.

She spent the next few minutes scanning for and dispersing any residual magic found in the cave. She said this was so anyone looking for her would not be able to sense the presence of her magic and possibly track us down with it. Not knowing enough to say otherwise, I accepted her word and simply trusted that the dark mare knew what she was doing.

After she declared the cave to be absent of magic residue, she swept the dirt floor clean of any hoof and foot prints. We circled the desert floor for several more minutes, until my queen declared that no trace of her magic was left.

I said a silent goodbye to our old home, the place where I had learned to be a mage and where my life had changed so much. We then departed for the Central Station posthaste.

Veering yet again around the MCAGCC Twentynine Palms marine base, we made acceptable time and landed in front of the Central Station sheriff's station. I opened the front door for the Mare in the Moon, and we casually walked inside. At the front desk was the same officer from the morning. Looking up from his paperwork, his face brightened as he recognized us.

"Good evening, Mistress and Master! We have a home all picked out for you. We hope it will meet your needs."

"We shall see. But first, are there any officers here this evening that are not fully subverted?"

"There are a few, Mistress."

"Lead me to them, and I shall bring them into the fold."

"I'll call someone up to help you, Mistress. I'm not supposed to leave the front desk."

"As you wish, but do not dawdle."

While the officer reached for his desk phone, I had a request of my own for the dark mare.

"My Queen?"

"I am still not comfortable with you addressing me in such a manner, Captain."

"You have a better term?"

"Nay."

"Then, Queen it is. Anyway, I had a question."

"What is it?"

"Can you enslave the new officers on your own? I want to gather up a list of the officers we need to visit tonight."

"As you wish. I shall enlist the help of my minions in your stead."

"Sounds good."

I walked up to the front desk, and caught the attention of the officer behind it just as he hung up the phone. I informed him of what I wanted to do, and he said the Duty Officer would be able to help me. He picked up the desk phone again and proceeded to call the Duty Officer to the front desk. While I waited, two officers arrived to guide Nightmare Moon to the others that had not yet been drafted into the ebony mare's army.

Soon afterwards, the Duty Officer arrived. He led me through a side door and down an nondescript hallway to an empty conference room. As we both sat down in some mildly comfortable chairs, the Duty Officer spoke to me.

"So Master, what can I do for you?"

I could get used to this 'Master' business really quickly.

"I need a list of all the officers assigned to this station that are currently off-duty, along with their addresses. The Mistress and I will be visiting their homes tonight and enslaving them."

"Alright, I can do that. Anything else?"

"Yes. I'm not familiar with the area, so can you plot the addresses out on a map? I'd input them into my phone, but I don't have it anymore."

"Oh? What happened to it?"

It got dissolved when I got changed into this cat-creature, but that's none of your business.

"Dropped it and broke it."

"Ouch. Well, tell you what. I can put the addresses into one of the iPads we use here at the station. It's got 4G and GPS, so you can just chase down the saved pins on the map."

"Really? Hey, that's great! Can I put comments on the map? It would be helpful if I could flag the addresses we've visited, and the ones we've finished."

"Sure. I'll create a custom map, which will let you change the icons for the saved pins. You can write comments as well."

"Perfect. How long will this take you to finish?"

"Hmm. About an hour or so, Master."

"Alright. Get started on that right away. Oh, and call someone over who can lead me to the Mistress."

"I can do that, Master. The Mistress is right near my office at the moment."

Huh?

Oh right, all the shadow parasites can talk to each other.

"Then lead the way."

The two of us got out of our chairs, and I followed the Duty Officer out of the conference room. We walked down a few seemingly random hallways, then into a nondescript back room where we found Nightmare Moon. She was presiding over a single officer, who was lying on the floor. I figured that the officer was being run through her own version of the 'savior' dream. While I watched, the officer opened her eyes and sat up. She then stood up and left the room without another word.

Now that my dark Queen was no longer busy, I spoke up.

"My Queen, I've returned."

She looked up, then smiled warmly at me..

"Ah, perfect timing Captain. I have just finished with the last officer at this guard station. We were fortunate, all of them had shadow parasites and all but one needed a single pass through the 'savior' dream to fully subjugate them. The one that just left required a second pass."

"That's good news. The Duty Officer here needs an hour or so to get his list done, so I'd guess our next step is to visit our new home."

"Correct, Captain. Duty Officer?"

"I'll have an officer meet you here and show you the way, Mistress and Master. Excuse me."

Nightmare Moon and I watched the Duty Officer turn and quickly exit the room.

"I am impatient and wish to meet the guard as soon as possible, Captain."

"Sure. Why don't we meet him in the hallway?"

"Agreed."

The two of us stood and made our way to the doorway. I reached it first, so I opened the door and held it open for my Queen. My Moon Mistress gave me a barely perceptible nod in thanks, and strode confidently through the doorway. I followed afterwards and closed the door behind me.

I was facing a bare wall painted a shade of light gray. The corridor stretched off to both my left and right. The left ended in a blank wall some hundred or so feet away, while the right ended in a set of double doors maybe some sixty feet down the corridor. Both directions had several doors and additional corridors branching off form them. The door I just closed was right behind me. The floor was made up of some sort of gray marbled vinyl tile, covered in a glossy wax coating that made the tile look like a slick granite countertop. The walls had various scrapes and scuffs in the paint, but no posters or other materials on the surface.

I looked to Nightmare Moon, to see if she wanted to stand and wait for our guide or walk down one of the corridors to meet him. She chose instead to sit down facing the right corridor, and closed her eyes. She immediately opened her eyes, then stood up and began to walk down the right corridor. A moment later, a uniformed officer appeared from a connecting corridor that joined this one just before the double doors.

"Mistress, Master! Please follow me."

It's almost like she knew the officer was about to appear.

I dismissed the thought from my mind and followed my dark Queen down the corridor. Once we had met up with the officer, he turned to walk in front of us. Once he reached the double doors, he pushed them open and revealed a similar corridor beyond them. However, this corridor ended in a sturdy-looking door which I presumed led outside.

As with the night before, no one batted an eye at our presence. Granted, this was a back hallway that did not seem to be used often. But the few officers did not even look our way as they went about their business. The waxed vinyl floor felt cold and smooth beneath my bare cat-feet; feet which made no sound as I walked down the hallway. The officer's boots squeaked slightly on the floor, while Nightmare Moon's armored hooves clacked loudly at each step on the firm surface.

Upon reaching the sturdy door, my presumption was proven true as the officer opened said door and revealed a parking lot outside the building. The three of us walked out into the cool night air, and I quickly recognized the area as the parking area on the east side of the building.

Once the officer left the sidewalk and entered the parking lot proper, he spoke to the two of us.

"Alright, let me find the panel van that these keys belong to. I'll have to remove the seats somehow, or you'll be squished Mistress."

The Mare in the Moon turned to me for an explanation.

"I think he wants to transport us to our new home in one of these cars."

The ebony mare's eyes opened in understanding, then she turned to face her minion.

"That shall not be necessary."

"Well then Mistress, how can I show you the property we found for you?"

Nightmare Moon and I unfurled our wings and spread them wide.

"Flight, of course."

"Yeah. You just drive and we'll follow."

"Oh. I didn't think about that, Master."

"It's alright. You can't fly, so your first thought is ground transportation. No harm done. Now get a patrol car and let's go."

"Okay. Good thing I still have the keys for my cruiser with me."

The Moon Mistress and I stood in place, wings unfurled, and watched the unnamed officer walk to a nearby patrol car. Under our patient gaze, he unlocked the car door and got in. A moment later, the engine roared to life. When he had pulled out of the parking space and began to drive down the parking lot aisle, Nightmare Moon and I took off and followed him from high up in the air.

We followed the police car as it pulled out of the parking lot and made a left turn on to the main street. Shortly, he made a left turn on to another major street. Several minutes' drive down this street, and the patrol car made another left then quickly turned right into a residential neighborhood. The patrol car wound its way through the residential streets until it turned into a secluded subdivision. This street had several homes in various states of construction. Some homes were little more than bare lots, while others were merely bare plywood and 2x4's. Three of the homes appeared to be complete, all of them two-story homes. The ground around the homes was bare dirt covered in ruts worn into the surface by footprints and rainwater. However, concrete walkways had been laid that led from the street to their front doors.

The officer parked in front of a completed home that was painted in shades of pastel blue and white, and exited the vehicle. Nightmare Moon and I took that as our cue to land. As soon as our respective hooves and paws touched the road surface next to the patrol car, the still-unnamed officer spoke up.

"The contractor who built these homes lost their funding before they could finish this subdivision, and went bankrupt before they could sell any of the finished homes. This home is the nicest one in our opinion, but the whole neighborhood is yours if you want it."

The three of us walked single-file up the walkway to the front door. The officer pulled his keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door and held it open for us. Nightmare Moon entered first of course, and I followed afterwards. Once we were inside, the officer followed us in and closed the door behind himself.

At first glance, the floor plan felt very familiar. I was standing in the tiny foyer with my back to the front door. The stairs to the second floor climbed upwards in front of me, and they turned to the left near the top. To my left stretched the large living room, which the dark mare was standing in the middle of. Past the living room I could see part of the kitchen. To my right was a door, which I presumed was a closet. The walls were pristine and painted a shade of white. The plush carpet on the floor and stairs looked to be the same shade of white, though the carpet looked dirty and could have used a good vacuuming. The carpet muffled our footsteps; even the Mare in the Moon's armored hooves were quiet.

I turned to the officer, who was standing next to me in the foyer.

"Looks nice, good job."

"Thank you, Master. Do you still need me, or can I return to the station? I'm a half-hour late for my patrol on the south side of the city."

"No, I think we're good here."

"OK, I'm out. Here are the keys for the other houses here, in case you want to check them out. Please return them to the reception desk when you return to the station, and we can make you a copy of any key you need."

The never-to-be-named officer pressed a set of keys on a key ring into my palm, then opened the front door and let himself out. As I walked into the living room and looked around, I heard the patrol car outside start up and drive off.

Once in the living room, I could see that there was a hallway behind the staircase that led to two bedrooms on the other side of the home. As I watched, Nightmare Moon exited one of the bedrooms and began to walk back down the hallway towards me. Once she noticed me standing in the living room, she addressed me.

"This domicile may be suitable for our needs, although the two rooms back here are somewhat cramped. If there is nothing suitable upstairs, we may need to reside in this large room."

"This home is probably designed for a family my queen, and those two rooms are probably intended for children. The master bedroom should be upstairs."

"Agreed."

Up the staircase we went. To our pleasant surprise, the second floor was one large room. The room stretched over half of the first floor, essentially covering the space above the living room and kitchen on the first floor. The walls were painted the same shade of white as below, and the carpet also looked to be the same. To our left, there was a large decorative bay window which took up the entire wall. There were thick curtains on either side of the window that were held open. Through the window we could easily see the street in front of the building. To our right was another decorative window, but this one had doors that led out to a large balcony. The rest of the room was empty.

Upon sighting the balcony, Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide.

"Oh, by the maker!"

The ebony mare rushed over to the balcony doors and swung them wide, then walked out onto the balcony itself. My curiosity piqued, I followed behind her.

"This is glorious! It reminds me of my rooms back in Everfree Castle!"

I looked down at the dirt and weeds below the balcony, and then out into the desert beyond.

"Not much of a view to speak of, my Queen."

"Bah, I care not about the view. I care about the seclusion and ease of access. We can easily land on this balcony in the morning and enter our home without being seen. This will do."

The Night Incarnate turned from the balcony and walked back inside. I did the same and closed the balcony doors behind me. Under my gaze, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and closed her eyes in concentration. Suddenly, the room flashed and our bed from the cave appeared in the middle of the room. The head of the bed was against the wall to my right, and stretched into the large room. Another flash, and my armor stand appeared near me; also on the wall to my right. A final flash and Nightmare Moon's armor stand was on the same wall, on the other side of the bed.

My Moon Mistress opened her eyes, and smiled as she saw her handiwork.

"There. Now this domicile looks more like a proper home. I would prefer to add more draperies and tapestries, but it shall do for now."

Nightmare Moon turned and began to walk towards the balcony doors behind me.

"Shall we depart?"

I felt the weight of the keys in my palm, and realized that we would not need them as we would be using the balcony to enter and exit our new home.

"I'll meet you outside, I want to lock the front door."

"As you wish."

I made for the stairs just as I heard the balcony doors being opened. A quick run down the stairs, and I left our new home via the front door. Turning around, I fumbled with the keys for a moment until I found the correct one. A quick turn of my wrist to close the deadbolt, and I was off the ground to meet with my dark Queen.

A short and dull flight over darkened homes and twinkling street lights later, and we arrived back at the Central sheriff's station. This time, we sauntered past the glass panes in front of the front door as if we owned the place. We had nothing to fear - we actually DID own the place. I opened the front door for the Night Mare and followed after her as she entered the building. Again, the same officer was at the front desk. He quickly noticed our arrival, and brightened noticeably. Reaching behind his desk, he placed an iPad on the counter for us.

"Here you go, Mistress and Master. The addresses of all the off-duty officers are plotted into Google Maps on this device, so it's ready for you to use."

Nightmare Moon snagged the iPad with her magic, glanced at its darkened surface, then floated the device over to me. I turned the device on; Google Maps was already open, and the map was centered on the Central station. Pinching the screen to zoom out the map, I saw that there were a lot of red pins on the map; maybe some two dozen or more. I zoomed back in, and tapped on one of the red pins. A dialog popped up, which showed the name of the officer in the title, their address and a photo of the officer in the description. Tapping on the push pin icon in the upper-right of the dialog let me change the icon to push pins in different colors, or I could choose a completely different icon altogether.

The Duty Officer set this up just right.

"My Queen, this device is set up perfectly. Oh, officer?"

When the desk officer looked up, I tossed him the key ring of keys to him.

"These are the keys for the homes in the subdivision the Mistress and I will be staying at. We won't need any copies."

"Alright, Master."

I turned to Nightmare Moon, and showed her the map on the iPad.

"This marker in the center is our current location, and the red pins represent guards that we need to visit. Do you have any preference as to where we start?"

"I would prefer the most efficient route, whatever that may be."

"Of course. I'll try, but the pins are scattered all over. I presume that I will lead, since I have the map again?"

"Correct."

"Alright, off we go."

Back out the front door and into the air, I led Nightmare Moon to our first target of the evening.

Using the iPad as a guide, we arrived at the first address some ten minutes later. The residence was a large multi-building apartment complex, so we had to search the property for the officer's apartment number. Of course, the numbers on the floors weren't in sequential order from one building to another. The numbers jumped around in some crazy pattern that neither of us could figure out, so we ended up wandering for several frustrating minutes before we FINALLY found the apartment.

"Alright, my Queen; we're here. How do we get in?"

"A simple task. I shall slip under the doorway in my mist form."

"And what about me? Gonna unlock the door so I can get in?"

"Ah.

"As your presence is unnecessary for me to impart the 'savior' dream on to our subject, perhaps it is best that you should wait out here."

Oh.

Before I could reply, the dark mare had turned to mist and slipped through the cracks around the doorway.

Then silence.

I looked up and down the empty hallway to see if anyone was watching us, but I couldn't see anyone. Nor were there any chairs or benches to sit on. I admit, I was unhappy at being left behind. With nothing else to do, I sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall behind me.

I guess I should mark this address as 'visited' on the map.

And...done.

That took a whole 5 seconds, whee.

Any games on this thing?

Looks like that's a 'no'.

Maybe I can surf Reddit while I'm waiting? Provided the site's not blacklisted on the sheriff's network. Hah, I bet /r/mylittlepony would freak out if I took a few selfies with Nightmare Moon.

Just then, a mist seeped out from around the door and coalesced into the Night Mare. Not expecting me to be seated on the floor, she turned to a spot above my head and spoke.

"Success. The guard is..."

Finally noticing she was speaking to empty air, the dark mare looked down at me on the floor.

"Why art thou sitting on the ground?"

"I didn't know how long you'd be, so I settled in for a long wait."

"I see. As there is no longer a need for me to oversee the progression of the dream, my time inside each new domicile shall be quite short."

While the Mare in the Moon had been speaking, I had clambered to my feet and stood in front of her. Re-opening the Google Map application on the tablet, I flagged the current spot as 'in progress', and then chose our next destination.

"I've got the next address ready, my Queen. Shall we go?"

"Of course."

We quickly made our way out of the apartment complex and took to the sky.

I wish I could embellish some sort of high-stakes sneaking around or an unexpected surprise, but the work was mighty boring and dull. At least, it was for me. Basically, the rest of the visits we made to each address went much the same way. A quick visit to each officer's home to make sure they were asleep, then place them in their own 'savior' dream. Any that we found awake, we came back later until we found them asleep.

After we had visited every address on the map, we cycled back through them all to see how their dreams had progressed. Nightmare Moon had changed the 'savior' dream cycle to automatically place the dreamer in a nightmare if they failed to save her, and into a pleasant dream if they succeeded. If she found an officer in a nightmare, or that had not fully accepted the shadow parasite, she would send them back into another dream cycle. This assembly-line pattern meant that we could enslave a large number of officers at the same time, even though it meant that we were flying back-and-forth for most of the night.

Many hours later, I changed the icon for the latest officer into a green pin which marked them as 'enslaved'. After zooming out and scrolling around the map, I realized that all the officers listed on the iPad had been fully enslaved. The night went by smoothly, almost everyone we visited was home and asleep and unknowingly waiting for us to arrive. Most were in their beds, alone or with a partner, but a few were asleep in front of the television. All in all, this evening was trouble-free.

And we even had about 50 minutes left before sunrise.

A quick flight back to the San Bernardino Central sheriff's station, and we summoned the Duty Officer. Tonight's activities had been so successful, I decided we should revisit the Morongo Basin station tomorrow evening and execute the same plan. I proposed the idea to my Queen, and she agreed. However, flying to the Morongo Basin station was out of the question for the evening as we would be caught outside in daylight. Fortunately, the trip was entirely unnecessary. The Duty Officer led Nightmare Moon and I down a dull hallway and into a plush conference room, where we could make a conference call to the Morongo Basin station.

The Duty Officer punched in the phone number into the conference phone, but did not press the "CALL" button. He then left the room, giving us privacy. Just before I was about to initiate the call, I was held back by a hoof.

"Ah, Captain?"

"Yes, my Queen?"

"I admit I am uncertain as to what is happening here."

"Oh! Sorry about that, I'm so used to these things I didn't even think about explaining it to you. Um, remember my phone? The device I used to call my roommate with?"

"I believe so. What of it?"

"Well, my phone was designed to let one person - er, pony speak to another far-away pony."

I gestured towards the conference phone on the table.

"This device was designed to let a roomful of ponies speak to another far-away pony, or another roomful of far-away ponies."

"I...see."

By the expression on her muzzle, it was clear that she did not see at all. I pressed on anyway.

"All you really need to know, is that you will hear the voices of your minions from the device over there. Simply speak to them as if they were in the room with us."

"What shall I say? I do not know who I will be speaking to."

"You'll be speaking to an operator, whose job is to direct incoming calls to the right party. Just tell whoever speaks that you're Nightmare Moon, and we want to speak to Officer Eskridge."

Before the mare could reply, I pressed the "CALL" button. The phone rang twice before it was answered.

"Morongo Basin Sheriff's Station, how may I direct you call?"

Looking towards the ebony mare, I indicated she should speak. She leaned slightly towards the conference phone and repeated the words I gave to her seconds earlier.

"This is Nightmare Moon. I wish to speak to Officer Eskridge."

"Yes Mistress, I'll transfer you now."

At that, the line went silent. The Night Incarnate looked to me for direction.

"Now we wait my Queen, until Eskridge answers."

Several rings went by, then Eskridge's voicemail picked up.

"You have reached the desk of Officer Eskridge. I am away--"

The phone made a clicking noise, and the operator returned.

"It seems she's not at her desk, Mistress. Should I page her?"

Again, the dark mare looked to me, and I nodded.

"Yes. Do so."

The operator did not put us on hold, so we could hear the resulting page.

"Eskridge, please call the switchboard. Priority call from the Mistress. Eskridge, please call the switchboard. Priority call from the Mistress."

"I've paged her Mistress, she should be calling in momentarily. Oh, there she is now. I'll patch her in."

A click was heard, then Officer Eskridge's voice came on the line.

"Yes, Mistress? What can I do for you?"

I detailed our plan to Officer Eskridge. She was to take a station iPad and add the addresses of all off-duty officers to a custom map. We will then use that map to target the off-duty officers tomorrow evening, so she must have the iPad ready when we arrived the next day. If she had any questions, she should call the Duty Officer here at the Central station. She acknowledged her task and I ended the call.

Nightmare Moon and I retraced our steps and left the Central station by the front door. The two of us took to wing then angled ourselves southwards towards our new home. We touched down on the balcony to our bedroom just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. We removed our armor, and without another word we crawled into bed and curled up together. We were content in the knowledge that we finally had a major success in our goal of conquering Earth.

Act 2, Chapter 11 - The Whole Truth

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Nightmare Moon and I finally had our first success in our campaign to take over the world. We just hoped that we could repeat it.

The next evening, I opened my eyes to a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors streaming across our bedroom wall. A glance towards the source revealed the setting sun streaming through a small stained glass pane inset into the top of the main window. I wondered to myself why I hadn't noticed that detail the night before. Deciding it was much too early to be awake, I snuggled up against the still-snoozing mare and closed my eyes.

And was immediately awakened by the soft and tender nuzzling of the Mare in the Moon herself. I opened my eyes to see her soft. teal eyes gazing into my very soul. She gave me a soft smile, then spoke softly to me.

"Time to wake up, sleepy kitty. We have a world to conquer."

Looking past the ebony mare, I saw that the room beyond her was now mostly dark so the sun had clearly set. I sighed internally and nodded to my Queen, although I would have been happy to sleep for a few more hours. Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed.

While we donned our armor, the Night Mare and I briefly discussed our plans for the evening. There really wasn't much to discuss. We were going to pick up an iPad at the Morongo Basin station, and use it to find the off-shift officers there. When we found them, we would enslave them. Essentially, a repeat of the previous night.

Nightmare Moon deemed the night to be dark enough, so we set off into the night sky. We made our way to our Morongo Basin station, which was about an hours' flight away. Our long and uneventful flight ended as we landed in the parking lot in front of the Morongo Basin station. Our minds were untroubled as we walked in the front door and greeted the officer manning the front desk.

"Could you summon Officer Eskridge, please?"

"Yes, Master. She is already on her way."

I counted about seventeen seconds before the double doors to the left of the reception desk opened and Officer Eskridge walked through. She was carrying what appeared to be an iPad in her right hand.

"Good evening, Mistress and Master. All the officers on duty tonight have shadow parasites and they are completely under your control."

She then handed me the iPad in her hand. I turned the device on, and a quick browse through Google Maps showed me that Eskridge had done her job well. Though I noticed some extra information that she had added.

"I see you've used different pin colors. What do they stand for?"

"The blue pins represent the officers that are on the day shift tomorrow, purple pins represent officers on the swing shift tomorrow, and yellow represents officers that have the day off tomorrow. The day shift should be asleep now, so you may want to start with them."

That's helpful.

"Overachiever."

"Well duh, Master."

"Shall we depart, my Captain? I am eager to start our evening's work."

"Sure, let's go."

The Moon Mare and I turned without another word. We exited the station via the front door then took to the skies to pursue the night's prey. As a precaution, we took Officer Eskridge's advice and visited the day shift first. The previous night's hunt was still fresh in my mind, thus that night's hunt went over easy. As expected, we met no resistance. If Nightmare Moon had any problems with anyone awake and/or hostile, she did not mention it to me.

Near daybreak, we returned to the Morongo Basin station to drop off the iPad. After we walked in the front door, we received a warm greeting from the officer behind the front desk. After asking for Officer Eskridge again, we were informed that she was no longer on duty as her shift had ended.

Too bad, I wanted to say goodbye to her.

I handed the iPad over to the officer behind the desk, then the Mistress of the Night and I left the building. With a strong flap of our wings, we took to the air and flew towards our home in the abandoned subdivision.

The next evening, we flew to the Central station and spoke with the Duty Officer to find out where the nearest sheriff's station was.

We quickly fell into a reliable and mostly predictable pattern. Working our way westward towards the beach, sheriff stations gave way to Los Angeles police stations. While our overall plan did not change, we had refined it a bit. From the previous station, we got the address of an officer from the new station that worked the night shift. The Mare in the Moon and I would enslave that officer before his or her shift started, then that evening get him or her to let us in to the station house undetected.

Now that we were inside the station, we quietly enslaved the officers on-duty that night. Then we got an iPad full of addresses and enslaved the officers not on duty while they slept. Following this process, enslaving all officers at any particular station took two days if our timing was good - three days otherwise.

As the days and weeks went on, we found our new targets were getting farther and farther from our current home. We then enlisted enslaved officers to help us find a new home nearby. Night by night, police station by police station, more and more of the Southland's local enforcement fell under Nightmare Moon's control.

I should have known things were going WAY too smooth. I was a black cat now, I should have known that I was unlucky.

As with the many before it, I chose a destination from the iPad in my hands. Upon landing, the Night Incarnate entered the officer's home by slipping through an open window while in her mist form. I leaned up against a wall and waited for the dark mare to complete her task.

Yet this time, the plan was changed.

I was startled by the click of a door lock and heard the door to the officer's apartment swish open on its hinges. I leapt to my feet and prepared for a fight, fearing that the officer within had somehow subdued my Queen. To my surprise and relief, it was not a human but Nightmare Moon herself who exited the doorway. Catching my eye, she beckoned me inwards with a wave of her horn.

Curious.

Once I had passed through the entranceway, the magic of the Moon Mistress quietly swung the door shut and locked it with a click. The Night Incarnate spoke quietly as soon as I crossed the threshold into the home.

"You may speak freely, Captain. I have already subverted the officer and placed the rest of his family in a deep sleep."

I did wonder why she invited me inside, but I figured she would tell me when she was ready. In the meantime, I decided to take a look around the apartment. The layout of the home did seem somewhat familiar, but I could not place where. There was no separate entranceway to the home, so the door opened directly into the back corner of what appeared to be the living room. Said room stretched out to my right, and a passageway on the other side of the room presumably led to the bedrooms and the bathroom. An opening in the living room wall just to my left revealed a table, a linoleum floor and some appliances - clearly the kitchen.

Directly in front of me, against the back wall of the living room were some bookcases filled with books and knickknacks. Off to my right was a fairly expansive living room, with a dark blue sectional couch, a brown leather easy chair, and a flat-screen TV leaning up against the far right wall. What looked to be kids' toys were strewn across the carpet in front of the TV. The living room walls themselves were painted some shade of off-white, and upon them hung a few framed pictures of people I didn't recognize. The carpet itself was a different shade of off-white, but appeared to be poorly taken care of. Or perhaps the discolored, trampled carpet was simply worn from age.

"Okay, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"I am not sure yet, Captain. There is something I wish to show thee."

The ebony mare walked past me into the living room. I followed behind her and tried to find something that was unusual or out of place. I saw nothing of interest on or around the couches as we walked past them, and the TV was off. But as soon as I saw the toys in front of the TV, a chill ran down my spine. At our feet and hooves were a number of My Little Pony toys, along with one of the castle playsets. Nightmare Moon used her magic to pick up two of those toys, the talking Celestia and the talking Nightmare Moon figures, and waved them in front of my face.

"Perhaps you can explain these to me?"

Shit. This is NOT GOOD.

"You need not speak, for your expression has told me enough. It is clear that you recognize these objects for what they are and whom they represent. I am also reminded of the fact that thou wert aware of my name before I spoke it to thee. I dismissed such knowledge as an aberration, but it is clear to me now that you have been withholding knowledge. I suggest that thou speakest up now, ere I become truly angry."

"I...I'm not really sure where to begin."

"As with all things Captain, start at the beginning. I hope for thy sake, thou has not been withholding knowledge that would have assisted us in battle."

"No, my Queen. Knowledge of these toys wouldn't have helped or hurt us in any way. If I thought that they might have, I would have told you immediately."

"You have been negligent, Captain. It is clear that this world is aware of Equestria, and of who I am. My sister could be on her way to confront me as we speak!"

Oh, is that what she's worried about? Then telling her should be easier than I thought.

"If that's what's got you upset, then you have nothing to worry about."

"I vehemently disagree."

I held up my hands in front of me, in hopes the gesture would calm her fury.

"Okay, okay. Let me explain. This world is aware of Equestria, but only as a child's fairy tale. Tales of unicorns and magic are considered to be the playthings of young children. Uh, I mean young foals. Most adults consider such stories to be a waste of time, not worthy of an adult's attention."

"Not worthy? How can the rich history of Equestria be relegated to mere foal's tales?"

"On this world, the only intelligent species are primates. We call ourselves 'humans', and no other species or creature on this world can speak or reason like we do. And you yourself know that there is no magic on this world. So, tales of magical talking ponies are considered to be impossible and thus left to the imaginations of young foals.

"Man, a lot of folks are going to be really surprised when you conquer them all."

The dark mare's earlier fury seemed to be quelled by her confusion.

"I...I am finding this knowledge to be troubling, at best."

"And that's why I didn't tell you anything about it. I was trying to find a way to tell you so it made a little bit of sense."

"I begin to understand your motives, Captain. Now, if these tales are considered to be the folly of foals how did you become aware of them?"

Explaining television and cartoons would probably confuse her too much. I think I'll try passing the show off as a series of books, like the Daring Do novels.

"Well, most stories for foals are written poorly. Many feel that foals are not smart enough to appreciate a good story, so they get lazy and write something simple. But the stories about Equestria were written quite well, in hopes that both foals and their parents would enjoy them. Word got around, and a small group of adults found that they also enjoyed these stories. And yes, I am one of them. I loved every story I read about Equestria, and often wished that the stories were real. If anyone had known that Equestria was real and not just a story, I would have heard about it."

"How could this have happened? How is it that there are stories about Equestria, yet none know that it truly exists?"

"I don't know, my Queen. Before I met you, I thought you and your sister were just figments of someone's imagination. Beautiful figments at that, but still figments."

A blush stole across her muzzle as my off-handed compliment struck home.

"Flatterer."

"Have you ever known me to be anything else?"

I found myself engulfed in feathers and pressed to Nightmare Moon's chest in a warm hug. She turned and nuzzled me as our armor clanked and squealed slightly at the metal-on-metal contact. After giving me a brief squeeze with her wing, she released me to stand by her side once again.

"Never change, my Captain."

"Is that an order, my Queen?"

A warm smile spread over her muzzle.

"Aye."

Opting for a dramatic answer, I formally bowed to her.

"I shall do my best."

Just as I rose from my bow, something smacked me hard on my right shoulder and nearly knocked me over. The force of the blow made me stagger a couple of steps to my left before I could regain my balance. Looking up, the grin on the Mare in the Moon's muzzle told me she was highly amused at my antics. But she hit me with her wing, so she was still mad at me.

"Ahem. Anyway, back to our discussion. I don't know how this world knows about Equestria, but a book I read a while ago had an idea that I really like. The writer called the idea 'World as Myth', and it goes something like this. Sometimes when a writer thinks of a story, he or she sees something from another world or universe instead. Maybe they only see characters, maybe they see whole stories or battles. But to them, what they see is not real but merely ideas from their imagination. So they write what they see in their mind. I can only guess that is what happened in our world, someone 'saw' Equestria and wrote a bunch of stories about it."

Setting the Celestia toy down upon the carpet, the Mare in the Moon brought her namesake toy closer for inspection. Slowly rotating the large Nightmare Moon toy in her magic, the real-life mare stared at the toy as if to discern some deep seated secrets within.

"I suppose."

She pressed the button set into the cutie mark of the toy, and the toy spit out one of its catch phrases.

"My star barrettes are fabulous!"

In disgust, the Moon Mare dropped the toy onto the carpet. Then gently kicked it over with an armored hoof for good measure.

"Yeah, no one knows why such a stupid phrase was put in there. It's just not...you. Maybe the toy maker thought foals would be too scared of the real you."

"Aye, foals should be afraid of me! Yet, this...THING makes little sense."

"Well, the toy maker wants to sell toys. And it's usually difficult to sell scary toys to foals."

Not waiting for the mare to reply, I decided it was time to change the subject.

"Anyway. Back to the stories about Equestria. I can tell you that the stories are probably going to be vastly different than what really happened. The first story is centered around your return to Equestria, and your eventual defeat by the Elements of Harmony. The Elements turned you back into Princess Luna."

At the mention of her former name, the Night Incarnate visibly flinched. Hanging her head low, so low her nose was nearly in the carpet, she spoke softly to no one in particular.

"So that is how it was supposed to end."

The mare clearly needed some comfort, so I stepped over to her side and placed a hand on her withers.

"How did you escape?"

Her head still low to the ground, Nightmare Moon spoke more to the floor than to me.

"My sister's protege' had just discovered the sixth element, the Element of Magic. I knew then that the battle was lost. I tried to teleport away, or change into mist and drift away in the wind, but I could not. My magic was being blocked somehow, possibly by the Elements themselves. As the bearers summoned the Rainbow of Light to punish me, I...panicked. Before I could do more than twitch however, the Rainbow had already surrounded me and threatened to consume me whole.

"Just then, the connection to my Moon was restored. I tried to teleport there, to escape my fate. Yet something went wrong. The teleport began just as the Rainbow of Light engulfed me. The magic of the Elements seared me, twisted me...and CHANGED me in some way. Their magicks left me screaming into the void just as I was pulled away to safety. Some time later I awoke, seemingly safe upon my beloved Moon. I rose to gaze upon Equestria below, but it was not Equestria that I saw. My spell had been changed somehow. It successfully brought me to A moon, but not MY moon.

"Banished yet again. Yet I was not bound to this moon, I found I could leave at any time. And leave I did."

Nightmare Moon slowly brought her muzzle up off of the floor as she continued her tale.

"Even if this was not Equestria, was I not the Mare in the Moon? Without Celestia on this world, who would stop me from conquering the planet below?

"NOPONY."

A stomp of her hoof accentuated her determination.

"Yet upon entering this world, I found it populated not by ponies but primates. No magic but strange chariots that pull themselves. I needed a guide to this world, and an army to fight it.

"You know the rest."

We both let the silence stretch on for a short while. When it was clear that the Night Incarnate had nothing more to say, I spoke up.

"Was there anything else here we need to do here, my Queen?"

"Nay, our task is done here. And you have given me much to think about."

The rest of the evening was uneventful. We were able to visit and subvert the rest of the officers on our list without any further My Little Pony-related incidents. I did have one more close call a few weeks later, though. This home had different My Little Pony toys than we had seen before. This young fan had several of the toy-only princesses, like 'Princess Gold Lily' and 'Princess Sterling', toys that had the brony community up in arms in late 2014.

I explained to the Night Incarnate, as the bronies were also well aware of, that many of the toy ponies did not correspond to the stories from Equestria. Someone decided that 'princess toys sell better', so several more princesses were created so more toys could be sold. The ebony mare seemed to accept this explanation, and moved on without comment.

I let out a short breath I had been holding. Nightmare Moon had said nothing about the Equestria Girls dolls also lying on the floor. Perhaps she did not recognize them, perhaps she decided they were irrelevant. Regardless, I was glad that I did not have to explain the presence of a 'Vice Principal Luna' doll hiding behind a castle playset.

Back to the evening where I had learned how Nightmare Moon had arrived on my world. As previously mentioned, the rest of the evening was uneventful. However, instead of our usual banter Nightmare Moon was quiet throughout the rest of the night. She barely spoke to me, merely going about our tasks as if on automatic. I guessed she really did have a lot to think about. Learning that she had by chance escaped the dissolution of her dark self would shake anyone. Once the last officer dreaming the 'savior' dream fully accepted her shadow parasite, we took flight back to our current home.

We landed on our bedroom balcony not long before the sun threatened to poke its nose over the horizon. Doffing our armor, as we did every night, the Moon Mistress and I climbed into our shared bed. And as we also did every night, we moved in close to each other to snuggle for the night. I was pressed up against her, facing her barrel with the Night Mare's forelegs wrapped around my shoulders.

While this position was incredibly comfortable, and the night's work dull yet tiring, I found that I could not sleep. Something was bothering me, a question in my mind I just had to ask the dark mare. I sighed internally and decided I had to talk to her to get it over with. I just hoped the question wouldn't piss her off.

"My Queen?"

"Hmmm?"

"May I ask you a question? Though I'm not sure how to ask it, I don't want to upset you."

"Hmm.

"Does this have to do with our discussion earlier at the Guard's home?"

Guard? Ah, yes - the policeman.

"Yes, my Queen."

Shifting slightly in the bed, the mare pulled in a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"You may ask."

"Alright. Um, so you were once Princess Luna. You became Nightmare Moon, and the Elements were supposed to turn you back into Princess Luna. So that has me wondering, what exactly ARE you? Did you capture Princess Luna, take her form, possess her body? I mean, I guess I don't really care that much. You are who you are, and I like who you are."

I nuzzled her chest softly and placed a kiss on that same spot. I hoped she would be willing to tell me what I wanted to know.

The Mare in the Moon did not respond right away. She rested her muzzle atop my head while she took a few moments to collect her thoughts. I could feel her muscles tense a bit, like she was bracing herself for her response. Or was she worried how I would react to what she had to say? Regardless, I did eventually get the answer I sought.

"I am Princess Luna."

Pushing me away slightly so she could look me in the eyes, my Dark Queen's slitted aqua orbs glistened as they met my own.

"Nightmare Moon is not a spirit, demon or magical construct that has possessed me. It is merely a name I chose for myself, nothing more. I wished to change my life, cast aside the old and start anew. Thus, I needed a new name."

Pleased with her answer, I leaned up to kiss her softly.

"Shame, Luna is a very pretty name."

Returning my tender buss on my lips, the Night Mare smiled warmly.

"Perhaps, but I did not think so when I summoned the dark magicks that changed my form. I was so angry at my sister, I wanted to change everything about me: my coat, my eyes, my name. The only part of me I left unshaped was my cutie mark, though I did change its color.

"Perhaps I was too hasty when I tossed my old life away. Do you truly find my old name so beautiful?"

I nuzzled her briefly.

"I do."

"Then you may call me 'Luna' when we are alone like this, when we remove our armor and grow comfortable with each other. But only then."

Princess Luna looked up and around the room. I did the same, and saw the glow of the morning sunlight reflecting around the room.

"It appears that the sun is rising, it is time for us to rest. No more questions for now."

The former Princess of Equestria used her magic to close the window drapes to once again plunge the room into darkness.

I snuggled in just that tiny bit closer, then pressed my muzzle up against her warm hide and closed my eyes.

"Good night, Luna."

I then fell quickly and deeply into slumber.

Luna watched her Captain sleep for several moments before tenderly resting her head upon his. Her forelegs pulled him just a bit closer while he slumbered, then whispered four tender words into his ear.

"Good night....my love."

Act 3, Chapter 1 - Home with One Heck of a View

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Nightmare Moon had discovered My Little Pony toys, and she was most displeased that I had hidden this knowledge of Equestria from her. During that ugly conversation, I discovered how Nightmare Moon had come to my world. More importantly, she revealed that she is actually Princess Luna in disguise and not some sort of creature who possessed her body.

Woah.

The night skyline of Los Angeles stretched out before me, a bright and twinkling pearl close the sea. That's what the travel guides said, anyway. The city may not be as tall as some (thanks to a regulation requiring that every building over 75 feet tall must have a helicopter pad on its roof), but for me it was a comforting sight.

I'm finally home.

Close enough, anyway

At that moment, Nightmare Moon and I were flying westward high above the 60 freeway. Beneath us, cars sped down the freeway going west. Their red brake lights swam back and forth, like fish down a concrete river flowing towards the sea. White head lights dashed in our direction on the other side of the highway, zipping like angry bees escaping an unseen danger. In the distance, some dozen or more tall buildings reached skyward; some tall, some not. But they all stretched high above the smaller buildings that covered the ground for miles around, like a sparkling ocean made of concrete and glass. This modern metropolis did not sleep, its buildings both tall and small still lit with tiny specks of light from millions of windows. It reminded me of a star field that had left the sky and covered the ground instead, bright and twinkling for as far as I could see. Their light was so bright it made the actual night sky look dim in comparison.

Don't tell Nightmare Moon I said that, though.

We continued to follow the concrete and asphalt road during our approach to the city. A look ahead, and one could easily see the cluster of high-rises that was Los Angeles in all of its night time glory. The high-rises were our actual destination this evening, so as soon as we crossed over the 5 freeway we left the torrent of cars behind and angled right towards downtown.

Our path took us over the large LA Fashion District, where many of its shops were still open for business despite the late hour. Laughter and raised voices from angry shopkeepers drifted up to us as we passed overhead. To our right, I could see the Los Angeles Flower District, its floral arrangements quite colorful even from the air. Cars and trucks still wound their way through the streets, as if unaware that the sun had set. Idly I watched the traffic travel down the road beneath me, and saw a yellow taxi cab zip around a city bus; it then came to a screeching halt at a red stop light.

The buildings and pavement below were still warm from the day's heat, and that heat created thermal plumes that wound high into the sky. Those thermal plumes were both a blessing and a curse to a flyer. While the rising air made flying quite easy, the sudden updrafts could make a normal flight very dangerous. An unexpected updraft on one wing could easily spiral a flyer out of control, and if you didn't recover in time you might find yourself crashing onto a rooftop.

Once again I was thankful for the lessons and memories given to me by the Mare in the Moon. Not only did her centuries of flight experience make mid-air recovery simple, the pegasus magic I wielded allowed me to sense where the more dangerous updrafts were. Avoiding disaster was then an easy matter of angling away from them. Without those memories and magically-grafted experiences, I doubt I would have survived that thermal minefield without crashing. As it was, those magically-gifted skills and the confidence they gave me made the updrafts fun!

I kept my senses out for an updraft I could play in. The closest ones weren't stable enough, but there was one off to my left that felt really strong. Its thermal signature was familiar, REALLY familiar. So familiar that it triggered a long-forgotten memory in my head. I quickly realized it wasn't a memory of mine, but one of Nightmare Moon's. It had to be hers, as 'I' remembered 'myself' as a pegasus filly. It was probably a memory from a younger Princess Luna, and one from before she became an alicorn, but that was just a guess. The memory had no sense of who the flyer was, or what she looked like, just what she was feeling and seeing. It was a happy memory, no matter whose memory it was, and it told me how I could have some fun in that thermal column. I thought the idea was awesome, and I wanted to try it out. So I broke formation and headed directly towards the air current. The Night Mare noted my course change and called out a warning.

"Be cautious, my Captain! You are heading towards a thermal draft!"

I turned my head back towards my Queen and gave her a grin, just as the updraft caught my wings and dragged me into it.

The air current really wasn't very strong, especially compared to a tornado or dust devil, but it was more than enough to tug me around. I spread my wings wide and simply let the spiraling wind slowly pull me up into the sky. A sigh escaped my lips as the thermal's warmth wound its way through my feathered wings and soaked into my sore muscles. The warm massage drained my stresses away and left me feeling warm, relaxed and happy.

The same memory that guided me towards the thermal updraft also told me how to leave it in a neat way. When it felt right, I angled my wings towards the edge of the air current. My wings felt a touch of turbulence, then I was out of the updraft. A twist of my back and wings, and I found myself upside-down in the cool night air. The cooler air outside the thermal was an unexpected shock, and I let out an involuntary gasp. Then my pegasus magic kicked in, and I no longer felt cold. Once again, I lost myself into the memory and let my pegasus magic take control. My body continued its arc downwards, and I descended down towards the ground at a rapid rate.

A twitch from my wings and my feathers caught air. The pegasus instincts completed the mid-air loop, and an instant later I found myself flying behind Nightmare Moon. My time in the thermal had left me feeling playful, so I decided to mess around with the Moon Mare. A quick flap of my wings, and my body shot forward through the air towards the ebony mare. Just before I collided with her, and before she could move out of the way, I did a twist in mid-air and flipped over her body. I finished the move by flying backwards in front of her, then flashed her a wide grin. With teeth this time.

"Oho! Feeling playful, are we? Two can play at this game! Let us see if this cat can learn new tricks!"

Nightmare Moon then turned to her left and took off. As I followed after her, I sensed another thermal updraft nearby. My pegasus magic said this updraft was larger than the one I had just played in, and the currents were twisting upwards in a corkscrew pattern. I quickly realized that Nightmare Moon was heading right towards this powerful updraft. As I watched, the Moon Mare flew directly into the thermal plume. But instead of angling upward as I had, she tilted her wings to her left. Her feathers caught air, and she then began to corkscrew upwards through the air current.

Another memory flashed in to my head, one where 'I' was playing in a similar air current. The memory was of a warm, sunny day somewhere in Equestria. 'I' had flown into a thermal column much like this one, and was laughing and giggling as 'I' corkscrewed my way higher and higher into the air. Once at the top of the thermal, 'I' quickly flew down to the bottom of the column and started the process all over again. The happiness and glee stored in the memory was overwhelming, and I couldn't wait to experience it 'again'. A few quick flaps of my wings took me to the edge of the thermal, and momentum pushed me inside of it. Just like I 'remembered', I angled my wings just as 'I' had done for hours and hours on that warm summer day. So caught up in the memory of that pegasus filly, an involuntary giggle burst out of my mouth as I began to circle around the column of air.

"Fun, is it not?"

I looked upwards at Nightmare Moon, who was some 30 or so feet above me. As I locked eyes with the ebony mare, she gave me a gleeful grin with much teeth. I had never seen her so happy before, and it warmed my heart to see her enjoying herself so much. Had I been a Changeling, I probably would have burst into pastel colors at the sight. Instead, I blushed slightly and broke eye contact with the mare. Yet my smile kept getting wider and wider.

I could see different parts of the Los Angeles cityscape each time I went around the thermal updraft. I felt like a little kid who kept spinning themselves around and around, giggling louder the dizzier they got. Well, I wasn't feeling dizzy at all but I could feel a case of the giggles bubbling up in my throat. Fierce warriors did not giggle, so I did my best to keep them down. But I was slowly losing that battle.

Suddenly, I heard a shout of jubilation above me. When I looked up, I caught Nightmare Moon rapidly descending the length of the thermal column. On her way down, she shouted out to no one in particular.

"Again!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I could not resist laughing aloud at her antics. Her descent also warned me that the thermal air current was reaching its end. Somehow, I just knew that I would be out the top of the updraft in something like three more loops around the column. My excitement grew as I rose higher into the air, and those darn giggles threatened to pop out like an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

One loop...

Two...

Three!

I felt the column of air end, and my happiness peaked with it. One eager back flip later, and I was rushing down the outside of the thermal column at a rapid rate. I couldn't hold them in any longer, and began to giggle aloud like a school colt running free after a long day at school. The cool wind rushed past my face as I descended down to the bottom of the thermal updraft, ready to ascend it again. Close to the bottom, I saw the Night Mare was already back inside and ascending upwards. Her laugh was light yet heartfelt, and so very feminine in tone. It was so unlike her normal coarse exterior, but at the same time it fit her soul perfectly.

We travelled up and down that updraft several times, each trip better than the last. I never wanted that time to end.

But if it didn't end, this story would be a lot shorter. On my last trip down the outside of the thermal column, Nightmare Moon was waiting for me at the bottom.

"While this diversion has been most fun, we have goals to accomplish this evening. Come."

The ebony mare gestured with her head towards downtown Los Angeles, which wasn't quite where I expected it to be. A look around showed me that we had ended up on the other side of the 10 freeway, now farther south of downtown than we were before. And I had no idea HOW. It's not like it's easy to miss a large 8-lane freeway that's packed full of speeding cars. But somehow, I missed it. With no easy answers coming to mind, I decided to roll with it and made my way towards the downtown area. As the two of us flew on, I found my thoughts slipping back to the thermal drafts and all the fun I just had there. The more I remembered, the wider my smile grew until I thought my face would split wide open.

I was pulled out of my reverie by a soft tap on the edge of my left wing. I turned my head to look, and I saw Nightmare Moon had much the same warm grin on her face. As soon as we locked eyes, her grin got just a bit wider.

Oh GOD.

I think my heart's going to burst. She is so ADORABLE!

I think I'm in love...

This time, it was my turn to blush and turn away.

Once Nightmare Moon and I passed by the LA Convention Center and the well-lit Staples Center, I knew we had finally reached downtown Los Angeles. I idly wondered if there was a game playing tonight, but it was hard to tell because the building was brightly lit all the time. The tops of the buildings below flashed by as we followed Figueroa Street from above, the night life below seemingly more active than in the daytime. Were they active because it was cooler in the evening, or were they celebrating the end of the work day? Probably both.

I did have a destination in mind tonight; despite our playtime earlier, this was no mere sightseeing trip. At the police station we took over earlier that night, I had done some web searching on the best penthouses in downtown Los Angeles. My Google-fu turned up the name of the Roosevelt Lofts, a complex right in the middle of the Financial District. Plush, roomy apartments and several large penthouses to choose from. If the one my Queen wanted was occupied, well...let's say that a few well-placed shadow parasites would make that Not A Problem.

A right turn at 7th street, then one block to Flower Street and we arrived at the Roosevelt Lofts. The two of us circled the building from the air to get a good feel for it and the surrounding area. Right away, the Night Mare found a problem.

"Hmph. I do not care for what I see."

"What's wrong with it?"

"I wish to be able to see the lands that I rule from my residence, and this domicile cannot do such a thing."

I took a good look at the ten-story building that was the Roosevelt Lofts, then looked up at the high-rise buildings that dwarfed it.

She does have a point.

"Why don't we take a look at the penthouses anyway? Maybe you'll find something that you'll like."

"I do not care how nice these residences are. If they do not command an impressive view of this city, they are insufficient for my needs."

Without another word, the Night Incarnate flew straight up into the air. She continued her ascent, with me following behind, until she crested above the roof of the tall MCI Center building next door. With a twist of her wings, the mare made a small circle in mid-air and looked around at all the buildings in the area.

"There! We shall inspect that building and see if it is suitable."

The ebony mare was pointing a hoof in a north-easterly direction, and appeared to be aiming at a familiar landmark.

"What, the US Bank Tower? The white, round one?"

"Aye. We shall enter from its peak and work our way downwards. Let us be off."

While I was annoyed she didn't like the home I picked, I quickly realized it didn't matter. She could live in a trailer park for all I cared. So I gave myself a mental shrug, and followed the dark mare towards the tall building a few blocks away. We were far above the streets and nearby buildings, so we headed directly towards the top of the US Bank Tower. From what I remember, the building was the tallest one on the West Coast. I hoped that Nighty would find the view there acceptable enough, as her choices for tall and epic views was very limited.

We easily reached the top of the US Bank Tower. As soon as we crested the top, Nightmare Moon chose to land on the helicopter pad while I circled around it looking for an entrance. Finding one was easy; I just followed the stairs leading down from the helicopter pad. There wasn't even a door. I called out to my Queen to summon her over, then landed to take a look around.

I was expecting a single elevator or perhaps a large, impressive waiting room. But instead, I was greeted by a dirty, tiny room with a single doorway. The missing elevator was a surprise, but the lack of one would not stop us from getting inside. I noted that there was a security camera pointing towards the door, but I couldn't see a little red light indicating the camera was on. Usually no light meant the camera was off, but I decided not to take any chances. In a flash, I summoned up a snowball and buried the camera in snow. I figured the altitude would make water damage to the camera plausible.

"Still playing with snowballs like a foal? How amusing."

"Just trying to be stealthy, my Queen. You know this."

Nightmare Moon stuck her tongue out at me, but said nothing.

A look at the single door in the room revealed a simple metal slab painted gray, a security handle in the door and a lock just above it. I tried to turn the handle on the door, in case it wasn't locked. But the handle barely budged. To the right of the door was an intercom button, directly above a fire alarm pull station.

Probably have to call security and ask to be buzzed in. Definitely not using that or the fire alarm, they're the opposite of quiet and stealthy.

"Well?"

"Door's locked, and the only way I can see to unlock the door would alert the security in the building."

"Then there is but one choice available to us. Stand aside."

"Wait!"

"What now?!"

"Most of these doors are going to have some sort of security on them, my Queen. At least, there will be a device that tells the guards when the door is opened. If you buck the door down, that sensor will stay open and they'll know something is wrong. If you sneak in using your mist form and open the door for me, the guards are likely to consider the opened door a glitch and be lazy in checking it out. That gives us more time to check out the place without the guards bothering us."

"You make a fair point, my Captain. Be aware that my plan was always to slip in undetected and open the entrance for you."

The ebony mare then gave me a reproving look.

"I am not an insensitive oaf, I am ROYALTY. This location is soon to be my home. I shall not destroy it and urinate all over the walls like a common ruffian."

Without another word, the mare turned into mist and slipped around the edges of the door. A moment later, the door opened. I pulled on the door handle, and was greeted by the beautiful sight of my Mistress. And she was still giving me that same reproving look.

"Sorry, my Queen. Still used to your first choice being violence when it comes to doors."

"I have learned the lessons of stealth in war, Captain. Do not bring the subject up again."

Her death glare no longer scared me, so I let her comment slide without comment. A look beyond the dark mare revealed an unadorned stairwell, and not an elevator lobby. The layout of the stairwell looked like most every emergency stairwell I had seen in my life, with walls painted white and metal stairways and handrails painted gray. I couldn't hear or smell anything important, so as far as I could tell no one had been up here in a long time.

I did see another security camera, and it got the same snowball treatment as the one outside.

Nightmare Moon and I descended the stairs to the next landing, then turned around to descend the second flight to the next floor. The next landing had a door and two metal pipes, one painted brown and a larger one painted red. The red one had a wheel attached to the side, so I presumed it contained water and was for fire use only. A diamond sign next to the door said "Level 73". The two of us reached the door at the same time.

"The top floor, my Captain. I shall return forthwith."

The dark mare quickly changed into her mist form and slipped around the edges of the door. But instead of opening the door, she slipped back around its edges and re-formed into an equine again.

"Do not bother, my Captain. The room contains pipes and varied machinery, and as such is unsuitable for my needs. Let us check the floor below."

Down two sets of stairs. Nightmare Moon's metal shoes clanged loudly as each one impacted a metal stair, while my paws were whisper quiet in comparison. The next floor looked about the same as the last one, except the diamond sign said "Level 72". As before, the Moon Mare slipped between the door and its frame in her mist form. But this time, the door opened with a click.

"This floor has promise, my Captain. Let us explore."

I stepped through the door to the 72nd floor into a carpeted hallway that stretched to my left and right. The walls were painted some shade of off-white with wood trim around the edges, while the carpet was some abstract mix of circles and lines. The carpet was colored light green with some dark green and blue mixed in. The garish mix of shapes and colors hurt my eyes and my sensibilities, so I did my best to ignore the carpet. I heard the door close behind me, and decided to turn around and look at it. The door looked like an ordinary security door with the usual crash bar used to open the door. Above the door was a lit "EXIT" sign. I looked for signs that said something like 'alarm will sound if door is opened', but I couldn't see one.

That means there shouldn't be an alarm on this door. And THAT means that no one knows we're here.

Good.

"We should be able to search without worrying about guards, my Queen. If we keep damage to a minimum, no one should know that we were ever here."

"I concur, Captain. Rendezvous back here fifteen minutes from now."

Nightmare Moon turned to the nearest door on our left, and tried the handle with her magic. When it did not open, she turned into mist and slipped around the door.

I walked down the hallway in the other direction, and tried every door handle I could see. I skipped any that did not open and quickly left any rooms that did not have windows. Most of what I saw were interior offices or cubicles, though I did find a cafeteria that had an impressive view of downtown Los Angeles. Several hallways ended in a window facing outside, with offices on either side of the hallway. But most of those doors were locked, so I couldn't check them out.

But I had seen enough. Everything I had seen so far told me that this office space was not suitable for Nightmare Moon. She wanted an unobstructed view of the skyline, and there were too many small rooms with too small of a view to make her happy. We would have to tear up most of the floor and redecorate it, and the company that was there would have to move somewhere else. In my opinion, it was too much turmoil to keep her new home a secret. I had not finished searching the floor, but I made my way back to the emergency exit anyway. No point in continuing the search when I knew this place wouldn't work out.

I arrived back at the emergency exit door to find Nightmare Moon waiting for me. She looked at me expectantly, and I merely shook my head in response.

"Your search was as fruitless as mine, then. Let us try the next floor down."

Back out the emergency exit door, and down the stairs to the 71st floor. Again, the dark mare slipped around the emergency exit door in her mist form. However, this time the door didn't open immediately. Several seconds passed as I watched and waited for her to open the door for me. More time passed.

Something's gone wrong.

I reached over to try the door, when it suddenly flew open! The door smashed into my outstretched hand and knocked me backwards. My hand immediately began to throb in pain. Instinctively, I pulled my injured hand to my chest and cradled it with my other arm. I could feel my face twist up in anger and pain, and I glared at the creature standing in the now-open doorway. The creature turned out to be my Queen, and she had a wide-eyed and gleeful expression on her muzzle. If she noticed that she had hurt me with the door, she showed no sign.

"It is wondrous! Come and see, we beseech thee! Come and see!"

The ebony mare grabbed my uninjured hand in her magic and yanked me through the doorway. Too stunned to react, I let the excited mare drag me around and pull me to her side. She swept her wing wide, a gesture not unlike what a human would do with their arm when they wanted someone to look around.

"See? Is it not everything that I wished to find? The view is to die for!"

The concrete floor was completely empty, except for some trash and several support pillars near the windows. No walls or doors or furniture anywhere, not even any construction equipment. However, that wasn't the best part. All the outside walls that we could see were glass windows, allowing us to see for miles and miles wherever we looked. Even better, the ceiling was several feet higher than the floor above us. A quick guess would make this floor almost twice as tall as the floor above us.

"Come, come! You must see the views from the rest of the windows!"

Nightmare Moon flapped her wings and managed to FLY in the open air on the floor. Unfortunately for me, she still had a magical hold on my hand; I had no choice but to summon my wings and join her. The view outside all of the windows turned out to be really impressive. But I was more impressed that the two of us had enough room to flap our wings and fly around the 71st floor. Our little flight revealed that the entire floor was open and empty, so we made a fast circuit of the floor then came to rest near our starting place by the emergency exit. The dark mare took another look around the room and sighed.

"This. This will be my new home on this world."

She turned to me and smiled, and I realized that she was expecting me to be just as happy as she looked. Instead, I looked askance at her then looked down at my hand. The one she was still holding in her magical grip. Then I looked back up at her. The Night Mare quickly got my meaning and released my hand.

"Ah. My apologies, I was caught up in the moment."

She at least had the decency to blush and turn away.

I rubbed my sore hand with the other, and suddenly realized that neither hand hurt anymore. I flexed both hands and wrists several times, expecting the injured one to complain when I hit the right angle. But I felt no twinges or shooting pains at all.

Huh. Magical alicorn healing magic wins again.

Now free of pain, I looked around the open room. I could see a bare concrete floor, clean yet bare walls, and an uncovered ceiling showing ventilation ducting and fire suppression pipes. Then wondered why the floor wasn't rented out already.

"This is a wonderful place, my Queen. I think it would make a great home for you. However, the people who own this building aren't going to be real happy when they find out we're living here rent-free."

"Then we shall have to convince them that this floor is already occupied, Captain. Perhaps we should give them a generous down payment...in shadow parasites?"

Had I been drinking something, I would have done a classic spit take all over the ebony mare.

"W-Was that supposed to be funny?!"

"Aye. Was it not? I was certain that you would appreciate the morbid humor."

"Oh sure, it's hilarious. But it's also extremely dark to joke about enslaving people like that."

"I do not see the problem. They are merely sheep to be led to our slaughter. It is up to us as their betters to find a proper use for them. Is this not what we have been doing thus far, with all the guard stations? Subjugating them with shadow parasites?"

I had no ready answer for her.

"Yes, but...argh! It just sounds wrong to joke about enslaving my people!"

Nightmare Moon cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Is there a problem, Captain?"

A shot of adrenaline shot through my body, and a voice in my head ordered me to submit.

Yes...I will obey.

"No problem, my Queen. However, no matter what our plan is we're going to have to work during the day to do it."

"And why is that?"

"The people who manage this building only work during the day. Unlike the police stations, there is no night shift to conquer and then tell us where the day shift lives and sleeps. Well, there are guards here at night but this is not a building full of guards. Most of the people working here are civilians. Thus, the guards will not be able to get the information we need. We're going to have to conquer them during the day, somehow."

"How do you propose we do this? You know we cannot work freely during the day."

I paused to think for a moment.

"Actually, I think we can."

I filled Nightmare Moon in on the details. I admit that I made it all up on the fly, but made it sound like a well thought out plan anyway.

"Your plan has merit, though I am not comfortable with my part in it. However, I have no better plan so we shall have to make yours work."

"Good deal. I hope I can get some sleep tonight, or I'm going to be really tired in the morning."

"That may not be an issue. Here, sit down for a moment so I may examine your magic and see how much it has grown."

The Moon Mistress summoned up two large and comfy-looking pillows for us to sit upon. I sat upon the blue one, while she took the black one. The pillows turned out to be just as comfy as they looked. After we had gotten comfortable, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and began to use her magic to examine mine.

A few quiet minutes passed before the dark mare spoke.

"Your magical wellspring has grown since I first created your current body. You appear to have enough magical reserves to go without sleep for a few days. However, you cannot yet tap into that reserve to go without sleep. That ability does not exist within you."

"Damn."

"Do not fret, your magical abilities are still developing and it may yet appear. In the meantime, I shall cast a spell on you that temporarily replicates this ability. You will not tire until the spell is broken or it wears off in a number of hours."

"That's convenient. I wish I had that spell when I was back in college. Studying for finals would have been a lot easier."

"An astute correlation, my Captain. This spell was very popular in our schools of higher learning, until one student damaged her magical wellspring from over-using the spell. After we discovered its widespread abuse, my sister and I subsequently banned the spell. Anyone found using it in any school of learning would be permanently banned from the school."

"Uh oh. Should I be worried?"

"Nay, the mare had abused the spell for months before it caused her damage. You will only be using it for a number of hours. It is perfectly safe."

"Alright."

Without another word, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and cast her spell. I felt a bit tingly all over, then...nothing.

"Um, I don't feel any different. Did your spell work?"

"It did, my Captain. You felt nothing as you are not yet tired. Had you been tired, you would have felt your exhaustion fade away and leave you as awake as you are now."

"Huh. Okay, now what? We've found your new home, is this all we're gonna do tonight?"

"Thou art correct, there are several more hours left in this evening. Twould be a shame to waste them here, yet there is little we can accomplish with such few hours remaining."

"True. I suppose I could practice my illusions for tomorrow."

"Then I shall explore the floors below us. I am curious as to what I shall find there."

"Okay. How can I contact you if I need you? We don't have any minions to help us out."

"Hmm? Ah, yes. I can cast a spell into the gemstone in the chestpiece of your armor, that will signal to me that you are ready. The spell merely connects your gemstone to my magic, and allows us to send a quick signal to each other. I have used it in the past to signal my generals to start their attacks, so it shall serve this simple purpose well. Here, hold still."

Nightmare Moon touched her horn to the teal gemstone embedded in my chest armor, and I felt a small surge of magic pass from her to me.

"There. To use it, place your -- er, what are your forehooves called again? Paws? Or hands?"

"Either is good, I guess. I get your meaning anyway."

"I see. Then place a paw on the gemstone, and give it a small push with your magic."

I did as she instructed, then took my hand off of the gemstone.

"Ah yes, there is your signal. Here is mine."

I felt a small tingle on my chest, directly under the gemstone. It didn't feel like a vibration or an electric shock, nor did it tickle. Whatever it was, it felt like nothing else I had felt before. So I figured it was simply a magical 'zap' of some sort. I was sure I wouldn't mistake it for anything else.

"Got it. Enjoy your exploration."

Nightmare Moon turned into mist and headed for the emergency exit. She slipped around the edges of the door and disappeared from my sight.

I began experimenting with illusions to change my appearance. My first attempts were clumsy, but practice made them better. I kept polishing and refining them until the sun began to rise above the horizon. As promised, Nightmare Moon's spell kept me awake and alert.

I was very glad Nighty wasn't there to see me, because that sunrise was GORGEOUS.

Author's Notes:

The US Bank Tower is an actual building in Los Angeles. At the time I outlined this chapter, the 71st floor was completely empty though it was rumored to become a restaurant in the future. Later on, I re-did my research and found that the restaurant eventually moved into the 71st floor. Obviously, in this story the restaurant never moved in.

I found this video that shows the doorway in the US Bank Tower that leads to the helicopter pad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmY5HKbx3NQ

This video shows the 54th floor transfer and demonstrates a different route to the helicopter pad. It also mentions extra security. However, the video is from 1994 and it is likely outdated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ziEDhCPjOQ

I have presumed that the security on this second route is different than the first one, and have simply used the first one. The actual security in the building is likely different.

This video is a recent video and shows that the elevator lobby on the 54th floor matches what's shown in the Huell Howser video I referenced in the last chapter. So it should be safe to use that older video for reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JWQ2KHJ-RM

Act 3, Chapter 2 - Signing the Lease

View Online

Nightmare Moon had chosen her permanent home, the US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. It was time to 'sign our lease', Nightmare Moon-style.

It was late morning when I strolled through the front door of the US Bank Tower. That day, I was dressed in a sharp gray pinstripe business suit that was tailored to fit me perfectly. To compliment the suit, I wore shiny black dress shoes that clacked loudly on the polished floor of the lobby. I stopped just inside the doorway to check out the large, expansive lobby while I tried to look both bored and professional. The first thing I saw was that I was on the left side of the room. The front wall of the lobby was to my right, and it was made of glass windows which reached far above the lobby ceiling. They let in plenty of natural light from outside, and brightly lit the large room. The other walls of the lobby were decorated in off-whites and grays. There were three notable things I saw in this room: a set of open double doors on the back wall in front of me, a security desk to my right, placed in the middle of the lobby, and an entrance to an elevator lobby behind the security desk. Off on the far side of the lobby was another set of doors that led somewhere that I couldn't see.

The lobby had a lot of people in it, all walking and sitting and talking and stuff. The doorway in front of me was the busiest, as there was a constant stream of tourists coming and going from it. Well, they looked like tourists to me -- not only were they dressed more casually than others in the lobby, they kept looking around at...well, everything. In contrast, most of the people entering and leaving the elevator lobby were cleanly and professionally dressed. They all had a sense of purpose around them. So did the people standing in line in front of the security desk. The people behind the security desk looked like your usual guards; dressed in dark blue uniforms, with patches on them.

The security desk looked like the best place to start, so I approached the desk and waited patiently in line for my turn. When I got to the front of the line, I gave the guards my name and informed them of my intentions. The guard nodded and gave me a security badge, then told me that some one would be down shortly to see me. I acknowledged him with a simple nod, then made my way towards a nearby seating area. An empty bench looked soft and inviting, so I sat gracefully upon it and gently placed my large briefcase on the floor. I took a moment to brush an imaginary bit of dust off of the sleeve of my suit with my human-looking hand.

Oh, you didn't think I was walking around as an human-shaped black cat, did you? No, definitely not. That would be plain stupid. And I lied about my name AND my intentions. They'll find out the truth soon enough.

The illusions I had practiced the night before were human and clothing illusions. I knew my new feline form would attract way too much attention, so I had to look human again. Thus, I crafted illusion after illusion until I could recreate my old human form perfectly. Although, it felt weird to look human again. I did look like my old self, just like I remembered. But that look didn't feel like ME anymore. Next, I practiced clothing. It was a lot harder than I thought. But I was eventually able to create an illusion of a business suit over my body. The fabric didn't look right if I moved too fast, the material just didn't wrinkle the right way. But it flowed pretty well when I walked, so I decided it was good enough.

After the sun had risen, I hid myself behind an illusion and flew down to the street. I then donned my human illusion and made my way down to the Fashion District. Once there, I wandered around until I found a really nice and expensive suit in the window of a shop. That suit was just perfect! I had to have it for today. Stealing the suit would have been easy, but still more work than it was worth. I couldn't just wear the suit right off the rack, it would need to be tailored to fit me properly. And 'me' was a human-shaped cat wearing armor, not the human illusion I was wearing. It would be easier and faster to create an illusion of the suit instead. Besides, it still felt really wrong to steal. In another store, I found a pair of black dress shoes and copied them, then copied a tie from yet another shop. The last piece I needed required a physical briefcase, not an illusion, and I made a lucky find. Someone had thrown away a damaged briefcase in a dumpster behind the stores. The sides were cut up but the latches and hinges and handle were in great shape. It was easy enough to cover the briefcase with an illusion so it looked new again.

My clothing illusion was complete, so I headed out to the busy streets of Los Angeles for the final piece of my plan. I didn't actually want to use my human face, in case I ran into trouble and got filmed or photographed. But I didn't want to just steal someone else's face for the same reason. So instead, I walked up and down the streets and studied the faces of the men I walked past. I stole a hairstyle from one man, and the hair color from another. Eyes, nose, cheekbones, teeth and chin; even my skin color was copied from yet another man until I had crafted a generic yet handsome face. At least, I thought it looked handsome. Anyway, my illusion was ready to use.

Now that I had everything I needed, it was time to head back to the US Bank Tower and make my plan work.

Flashback over. I was sitting on that bench in the US Bank Tower lobby, still hidden behind my carefully crafted human illusion. I had been waiting for so long, I was bored out of my freaking mind. I had taken to staring at the security desk and watching anything that walked towards it. After a bazillion years, which was probably only 10 real minutes, I saw a smartly dressed woman walk up to the back of the security desk. She spoke briefly with a security guard, who then pointed to me. She then walked briskly over to my bench, introduced herself as the leasing manager for the building, then asked me to follow her. We walked past the security desk and into the large elevator lobby behind it. The leasing manager pressed the 'UP' button, and we made random small talk about the weather while we waited. Soon, an elevator arrived and we walked inside.

The leasing manager pressed a button for a floor, though I didn't pay attention to the one she pressed. There were other people sharing the elevator with us, so out of courtesy we made the trip in silence. At our floor, the leasing manager left the elevator and led me first into the elevator lobby then through a locked door nearby. Once inside, we passed a cubicle farm and walked down another hallway before she opened a door to an office.

At first glance, the office felt roomy and comfortable. The walls were painted a dark brown, while the carpet was either a very light brown or light gray. Each wall had a single painting of something generic, like sailboats or trees. There was a couch and a couple of lamps up against the wall to my left, while the right side held a large desk with a computer on it. A couple of gray filing cabinets were sitting in a corner. Two comfortable-looking chairs faced the desk. There was a lot of open space between the furniture, so the room didn't feel crowded nor did it feel empty. Most importantly, the only way you could see into this office was to open the door.

No windows in this office, perfect.

The leasing manager was still standing next to the desk while I checked out the room. When I finally looked back at her, she gestured towards the chairs in front of her desk. I nodded to accept her offer, then sat down in the chair to my left. Once there, I set my briefcase on to the floor. The leasing manager took a seat in the chair behind the desk. Once she got comfortable, she turned to face me.

"So, how can I help you?"

"I represent a client that is looking to lease office space in this building."

"Certainly. We have three full floors and several partial floors available. Do you know how much square footage your client is looking to lease from us?"

"I do, one moment."

I picked my briefcase up off of the floor and sat it down on my lap. With my thumbs I pushed the levers to release the latches, then opened the briefcase. As soon as it opened, smoke billowed out and began to quickly fill the room.

The leasing manager gasped and stood up from her chair. The smoke froze in place for a moment, then streamed over to the leasing manager and obscured her from my view. When the smoke released the woman several moments later, she was asleep and resting in her chair. The smoke then swirled around itself and re-formed into the equine form of Nightmare Moon. The ebony mare summoned a shadow parasite and unceremoniously plopped it down upon the leasing manager's face. Once it had absorbed itself into the woman's skull, I felt Nightmare Moon cast the spell to start the 'savior' dream.

"There, the dream has begun. Excellent work, my Captain. Your trick of hiding me inside that saddlebag was inspired."

Before I had entered the US Bank Tower, I had signaled Nightmare Moon via the gemstone in my chest. She then met up with me in a nearby alley. The ebony mare changed into her mist form then slipped inside my briefcase, with instructions to wait until I opened it again.

"Thank you. What do we do now?"

The Night Mare placed a hoof upon her chin while she thought.

"We cannot proceed until this mare becomes one of us. Thus, I suggest you rest and regain some of the sleep you have lost."

Nightmare Moon shot a narrow beam of magic at me, which hit me square in my chest. I felt something inside me break, then a wave of exhaustion swept over me. All my energy rushed away and I slumped back into my chair.

"I...I think I'm going to take a nap."

"An excellent idea, Captain. Here, I shall move you on to the couch behind you."

I fell asleep before the Night Mare had lifted me from my chair.

I was awakened from my slumber by a hoof shaking my shoulder. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. was Nightmare Moon looking down at me. She had a small smile on her muzzle for me. I took a deep breath, yawned and sat up. After that, I rubbed my eyes. When I felt awake enough, I stood up from the couch. Then hid another yawn behind my hand. I noticed that my hand still looked human, and a closer look showed that I was still wearing my gray pin-striped suit.

Awesome, my illusions still work even after I fall asleep.

I took a moment to look around the office to see what, if anything, had changed while I was asleep. The room looked the same. The leasing manager was now awake, sitting at her desk, and was looking at me with an attentive look on her face. And there were two people lying on the floor.

That's new.

I presumed they were women, as they both wore skirts and low-heeled shoes. I turned to Nightmare Moon for an explanation.

"Who are they?"

"These two entered this room without permission. I was forced to silence them and give them shadow parasites, ere they would have revealed us to those outside."

"Okay then."

I turned to the leasing manager, who was now awake and presumably now a minion under Nightmare Moon's control.

"You asked for my client's square footage needs. She is your new Mistress, and she requires the entire 71st floor."

"That will be a problem, Master. A restaurant has already signed a lease for that space, and they are currently seeking the required permits from the city."

"I don't care. Cancel the contract."

"I can't do that. It's been signed and finalized, we'll incur heavy penalties if we cancel the contract without notice."

"Not my problem. Find a way."

"I...um..."

The leasing manager began to fidget in her chair.

Crap, better resolve the conflict.

"Is there anyone you can consult with, or can help you find a way?"

The leasing manager's fidgeting slowed as she spoke.

"Yes, I believe so. But they'll be suspicious of me, as that was a very lucrative contract. They'll want to know why I want to break it."

"Not a problem. My Queen?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"I'll need you to do the...uh, 'saddlebag' trick again. Same idea, you stream out of the saddlebag once it's opened and knock out anyone you see."

I felt another yawn coming on, but I was able to cover it with a hand.

"But this time, your minion will be carrying the saddlebag."

"Ah. I understand your plan, and I agree with it."

I turned back to the leasing manager, just as Nightmare Moon changed into her mist form and streamed back into the briefcase. As soon as she was fully within the briefcase, the misty mare snapped it shut.

"Set up a meeting with whomever you need to speak to. Make up an excuse, anything will work. Once the room is sealed, open this briefcase and your Mistress will take care of the rest."

I handed the briefcase to the leasing manager, who stood up and gingerly took it from me. She softly set it down upon her desk, and gently ran her hand over the side of the briefcase for a moment. After staring at the briefcase for another moment or two, she sat down in her chair behind the desk. She clicked around on her computer for a minute or so, then picked up her desk phone and began to make calls. While I waited, I sat back down upon the couch and tried to stay awake. I must have needed more sleep. Soon enough, the leasing manager spoke to me.

"I was able to set up a meeting with one person in about five minutes. But the others are busy the rest of the day and can't meet up until tomorrow."

"Drat. Well, get off to your meeting then. I'll keep napping here until you're done."

"Yes, Master."

For the second time today, I laid back on the office couch and fell fast asleep.

"Master."

Huh?

I opened my eyes to see the leasing manager leaning over me.

"The Mistress wishes to return to the 71st floor, and wants you to join us."

"Uh, sure."

I rolled over to a sitting position on the couch, then stood up. I stretched my body out as far as it would go, and let out a loud yawn.

"How long was I out?"

"About two hours. The meeting ran long as the Mistress had trouble converting my co-worker into her minion."

As before, I looked around the room to see if anything had changed. The furniture was all the same still, but the two office workers on the floor were now gone.

"What happened to the two women on the floor?"

"The Mistress finished enslaving them and they have returned to their duties. Come, the Mistress grows impatient."

The leasing manager held up the briefcase that was Nightmare Moon's hiding place. It was a fair guess that the mare was inside of it.

"Alright, lead the way."

The leasing manager led me out of the room, and carried the briefcase in her hand. I was tempted to nickname the briefcase "The Moon", as Nightmare Moon was trapped inside of it. Though I was pretty sure the case couldn't hold the Mare in the Briefcase if she really wanted to get out. I followed the leasing manager out of her office area and out to the elevator lobby. The whole way, my mind imagined a briefcase in the Canterlot dungeons wrapped in chains and a big sign on it that said "The Moon". As soon as we reached the lobby, the leasing manager pressed the 'UP' button. The two of us waited patiently until an elevator arrived. We rode the empty elevator up to the 54th floor, which was the highest floor this elevator went to. When we exited the elevator, the leasing manager spoke up.

"We have to transfer to another elevator on this floor to get to the 71st floor."

I was about to ask why we had to switch, instead of having one elevator that went all the way to the top. Then realized I didn't really care. This is the way the building was designed, and I had to deal with it. Even if I thought it was a weird design.

The entire lobby appeared to be made up of four short hallways in a plus-shape, with elevator doors on each side of all the hallways. All of the walls looked the same, painted white with gold or brass trim around each elevator door. The floors were made of large tiles set up in a black-and-white diamond pattern. From our elevator, the leasing manager turned left. At the hallway junction, we turned left again and immediately passed a security station. The security guard at the desk nodded at the leasing manager but said nothing. The woman pressed the 'UP' button at this set of elevators, and we waited. Once an elevator arrived, which was also empty, we boarded it. The elevator looked much like the last, with gray metal walls and buttons for the floors. A familiar black sensor pad sat beneath the floor buttons, usually used for security access. However, I noted that buttons for floors 69 and 70 were missing.

The leasing manager took out a white key card and placed it up against the sensor pad, which promptly beeped happily in response. With the security system now satisfied, the leasing manager pressed the button marked '71' and the elevator began to move upwards.

"There aren't buttons for floors 69 and 70. Why is that?"

"Those floors are observation decks for tourists Master, while these elevators are for our tenants. The 71st floor button was going to be removed from these elevators once the restaurant moved in."

"Ah."

We stood there in silence until the elevator arrived at the 71st floor. As soon as we exited the elevator, the leasing manager opened the briefcase to release Nightmare Moon. The ebony mare streamed out of the case and re-formed into her equine form. She immediately began issuing orders to her new minion.

"I wish this opening to our left to be sealed off, as my bedroom shall be on the other side. All visitors shall walk down this hallway to our right."

As the ebony mare spoke, I watched the leasing manager pull out a digital tablet from a pocket in the briefcase. She turned it on with her thumb and began to take notes on it. While she was busy listening to the Mare in the Moon, I decided to look around the elevator lobby. The elevator doors for the elevator we rode up here was behind me; the doors were closed as the elevator had just left. Directly in front of me was a blank white wall. Just to my left were two more elevator doors, one on my side of the lobby and one on the opposite wall. The opening that Nighty wanted sealed off was just past those elevator doors. To my right was a smaller hallway, which appeared to be wide enough for two people to pass each other. Or for a single alicorn to pass through comfortably. I imagined that Celestia would probably have scraped her fat flanks on the walls, but in reality the hallway was even wider than that. It was down this hallway that Nightmare Moon had walked, closely followed by the leasing manager. My human illusion was no longer needed, so I dropped it before I followed the two females down the hallway.

I passed through this short hallway into a larger room, which appeared to be as wide as it was long. However, the far side of the room was completely open to the rest of the floor. We could see out the windows on the far side, and the cityscape stretched out for miles. It was still an impressive sight, even though I had just seen it this morning.

Looks like LA's smog and haze has cleared out today. I can see the snow caps on the San Gabriel mountains from here.

I continued looking around the square room, and noticed two doors on both the left and right walls. I made a mental note to check out those doors and see what was behind them -- but later. A glance over my left shoulder revealed the Men's bathroom door, and a look over my right showed the Women's bathroom. I had a mental flash of Nighty trying to fit in a bathroom stall and awkwardly sit on a toilet made for humans. Then had to stifle a snort of laughter.

I think we're going to have to remodel the bathrooms to fit Moon Butt over here.

While I was busy checking out the room, Nightmare Moon had been doing the same thing. She then continued her dictation.

"I wish to have the lobby behind us and the hallway painted black with silver trim. This room shall be painted in a night time motif using elements resembling my cutie mark, such as purple clouds and a crescent moon. The scene should be dark and foreboding. As this room shall be the entrance to my throne room, I wish to have large Neighponese sliding walls covering the entrance."

"Uh... 'Neighponese', Mistress?"

Both Nightmare Moon and the leasing manager turned to me for an explanation. The leasing manager flinched backwards a step as soon as she saw me. After all, the last time she saw me I looked human. Not anymore!

Uh, Neighponese sounds like Japanese, so could she mean shoji doors? Probably.

"Do you mean the doors made of wood and paper, with a lattice of wood over the paper?"

"That is correct, Captain."

The leasing manager was looking at me strangely. I guessed that she recognized my voice, but not my appearance. As we would be working together for a while, I felt it best to reassure her that everything was still normal. Or as normal as a flying unicorn and a talking black cat can be. To start, I changed back into my human illusion.

"Is this what you were expecting to see?"

"Uh, yes."

I dropped the illusion to look like my fine feline form again.

"There was no way you'd talk to me if I looked like this, so I crafted an appropriate illusion. I guarantee you it was me all the time."

The leasing manager turned to her Mistress for verification.

"Yes, he is the same one you have been communicating with all this time. He is my Captain and my second in command. In the absence of orders from me you shall obey him instantly. Understand?"

"Yes, Mistress."

I turned back to the leasing manager.

"Fine. Done now?"

The leasing manager nodded.

"Okay. You were asking about 'neighponese' sliding doors. She means Japanese shoji doors."

The leasing manager nodded in understanding. After a second or so, the Night Mare resumed her instructions.

"I wish these 'shoji' doors to have wood stained black with silver hardware. The paper will be purple with my cutie mark embossed on each door."

"I need to stop you there, Mistress. I am not in charge of internal construction, so I'll have to get the building manager and an interior decorator in here to help you."

"You shall be responsible for executing my orders as long as I reside in this building. I care not for who does the actual work, but you will be responsible for finding workers and verifying that their work is done to my specifications."

"I...understand, Mistress, your will be done. Some of the people I need are here today, and they will need to become your minions if we are to succeed."

Nightmare Moon sighed.

"We shall need to use the 'saddlebag' trick again, correct?"

"Yes, Mistress. It would be much more convenient to visit these people directly, as convincing them to come up here would be difficult at best."

Nightmare Moon draped a foreleg over her muzzle, and muttered quietly to herself. However, my feline enhanced ears could still hear her words.

"I detest that saddlebag. It is too cramped and I am too vulnerable hiding inside of it."

The dark mistress dropped her foreleg back down and addressed me.

"I need you at fighting strength, as we shall be continuing our conquest this evening. Thus, you will remain here and rest while I continue making arrangements for my new home."

Without warning, Nightmare Moon zapped me with her horn. My surprise quickly turned into exhaustion, and I found myself wobbling on my feet. I felt my eyes close against my will, and I collapsed only to be caught in a soft embrace. Had I been fully awake, I would have recognized the soft touch as the magic of Nightmare Moon. The last words I heard before I fell deep asleep were the words of my Queen.

"Rest, my Captain."

I awoke to the sound of people talking. For a moment, I was afraid that someone was sneaking up on me and were about to find me. But then I heard Nightmare Moon's voice.

"And I wish to have...er, what were they called again?"

The voice of the leasing manager answered the Night Mare.

"Japanese shoji doors."

"Ah, yes. Japonese shoji doors both here and here..."

I ignored the rest of the conversation, as it sounded really boring and I was still very tired. The important thing was that my Queen was nearby, so I knew I was safe. I laid my head back down and snuggled into my bed made of pillows, then fell asleep once again.

I was awakened by the tender nuzzling of my Queen.

"It is time to awaken, my Captain. Dusk has fallen and it is time to resume our conquest of this land."

I reluctantly opened my eyes, then looked up towards the owner of that voice. It belonged to my Queen, who merely smiled softly as I stared. I smiled back at her, then took a look down at my bed. It seemed to be just a pile of soft pillows resting on the floor. I also noticed that I wasn't wearing my armor, even though I was wearing it when I had fallen asleep. Nightmare Moon must have stripped it off of me when she put me to bed.

Dirty girl...just my type.

With a heavy sigh, I rolled out of the pillows and stood up on my feet. A quick look around revealed my armor piled up in a heap, just a few feet away. A bit of magic to put on my armor, and I was ready for another night of conquest.

"Ready, my Queen. I take it we're heading to the Alhambra police station tonight?"

"Correct. We shall be leaving via a different route this evening, one I have arranged with this tower's management."

"Oh?"

Nightmare Moon merely smiled, then turned and walked away. With no other choice but to follow, I tagged along.

We walked around to the southwestern part of the building, the same side we used to enter this floor via the emergency stairwell. Nightmare Moon opened the exit door, but instead of heading upwards we descended the stairs. We walked down two flights of stairs to the 69th floor, where the dark mare paused at the emergency door.

"The leasing manager has shown me how the locks on the doors work, so I can now manipulate them with my magic instead of using my mist form to bypass them. She has also provided a way to temporarily disable the security so we do not alert the local guards."

With an audible click, the lock released the door and we walked inside the room beyond. I could see that the area was an open floor plan, with no dividing walls or rooms to break up the vast space. It was completely empty of any furniture, not even benches or chairs in my sight. The floor looked like it was covered in some form of vinyl topped with a hard resin coating. Even though the floor's surface looked a lot shinier, it still looked like the ones in the sheriff's stations and police stations I'd been in over the past few weeks. I realized this must be an public observation deck, as the outer walls were made entirely out of windows. The view through the windows was much the same view we had upstairs. However, the ceiling was much lower here. Said ceiling looked to be of average height, unlike our floor which had a high ceiling and tall windows to match. Off to one side was a modern-looking staircase that curved up to the floor above. I could not see anyone in the area and the only noise was from our paws and hooves, respectively. The only smell was of cleaning chemicals.

Nightmare Moon began to slowly walk towards the nearest doorway, which appeared to lead to the outdoor observation deck.

"This area is normally used by tourists, but it is closed at 9 each evening. We are free to use this route to enter and leave the tower after it closes and before it opens again at 10 in the morning. If we wish to leave or arrive at any other time, we will need to use the access upon the top of the tower. If you must use the roof access without me, use the 'intercom' by the door and give the code 'eternal darkness'. The guards manning that station are now my minions, and will accept the code from you or me without hesitation."

Once she reached the door leading to the outside, she opened it and held it open with her magic. As soon as the door was opened, a gust of cool air blew past me and ruffled my fur. The ebony mare looked at me, then gestured towards the doorway with a wing. I took the hint and walked out on to the observation deck.

A look around the area revealed a few benches and chairs to sit upon, and several tower viewers / binoculars next to the tall glass walls that surrounded the edges of the deck. I guessed the height of the glass walls to be about 8 feet tall. The height of the glass walls kept the wind down to a minimum, no worse than a soft breeze on a nice day. There was a bit of howl from the wind, but not enough to interfere with a normal conversation. The glass walls rattled occasionally when a stiff wind slammed into them. The temperature was about as cool as I would have expected, as it was night time and we were over a thousand feet above the ground.

Once I stepped on to the observation deck, the Moon Mistress strolled through the doorway and let the door close behind her. She then walked towards the northern side of the deck.

"This path to and from our new home is temporary, so I shall not waste time teaching it to you. Once the permanent entrance has been completed, I shall convey to you all of its secrets. But for now, let us be off."

Nightmare Moon flapped her wings a couple of times, just enough to fly above the tall safety glass that surrounded the observation deck. She then did a backwards flip over the glass and immediately plummeted downwards. I judged that to be an awesome way to make an exit, so I went over the glass the same way and dove headfirst after the mare.

The dark speck that was Nightmare Moon plunged ever downwards towards her fatal kiss with the ground. I followed not far behind. I could see she had rotated around so her belly was facing the tower, so I copied her and figured her move would make sense soon enough. She had also kept her wings mostly closed, which I knew would increase her downward speed but still give her a measure of control. I did the same thing with my wings, and soaked in the adrenaline rush I got from the near-freefall to the ground.

Is this the rush that skydivers get when they jump out of a plane?

Just then, I saw Nightmare Moon snap open her wings and watched her soar away from the US Bank Tower like a shot out of a gun. I immediately snapped my magical wings open and angled them to follow my Queen northwards. The transition was really fast; one moment, I was falling downwards. The next, I was rushing away from the US Bank Tower pretty damn fast. I shot past the Bank of America Center and over several shorter buildings, then followed the Mare in the Moon as she angled towards the east to follow the 110 freeway. Not wanting to be left behind, I put on an extra burst of speed to catch up to the ebony mare. Once I was next to her, she turned her head to me and flashed me a wide toothy grin.

We followed the 110 freeway north until we passed over the 5 freeway, than angled east over Montecito Heights on our way to Alhambra.

Act 3, Chapter 3 - Moving In

View Online

Nightmare Moon and I had enslaved some of the US Bank Tower's management staff and had taken possession of the 71st floor. But what was she going to do with all that open space?

Early that morning, we left the Alhambra police station and flew over to the condo we had 'rented' (aka, taken over) in Rosemead. As we had a new home in downtown Los Angeles, it was time to pack up our things and move out. And when I say 'pack', I really meant that Nightmare Moon de-summoned our bed and armor stands then cleaned the area of any residue of our magicks. Me? I mainly stood there and tried to look important. Neither the mare nor I had any knickknacks or other possessions, and the only clothing we had was our armor. Magical spells kept us clean and smelling nice, so we didn't have toiletries like shampoo or toothbrushes. In truth, Nightmare Moon could have done our 'packing' without me. But I was her Captain and second-in-command, so I had to stay by her side unless she ordered me otherwise. I simply stood there and waited the few minutes it took the mare to pack and clean the area of any residue of her magic. Afterwards, we left the condo and headed back to our permanent home in the US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles.

The sky began to slowly lighten on our way back, and I realized that we would not get home before sunrise. Oh, I knew we could just use illusion magic to make ourselves invisible. But I was in the mood for something a bit more...fun. I turned to speak to Nightmare Moon, who was flying next to me.

"My Queen?"

"Yes?"

"Last one home is a griffin's uncle!"

I sped away as fast as I could, then remembered the daylight and made myself invisible. I was determined to win this race, so I pushed my wings as hard as they would go. Faster and faster I flew, until my vision began to blur and I felt my body begin to shake in the air. I tried to push myself faster, but my speed didn't change. I hoped it would be enough. Once I caught sight of the US Bank Tower, and there was no sign of Nightmare Moon, I thought that I just might win the race after all.

The mist cloud sped by me so fast it shattered my illusion and sent me spiraling out of control! Without Nightmare Moon's memories of flight, I would have fallen and crashed on the ground far below. As it was, I tumbled for several seconds before I managed to get my spinning under control. I shook my head several times to clear the dizziness I felt, then it took me four times to re-cast my invisibility spell. I continued my way towards the US Bank Tower, but I was flying a lot slower than before.

The Night Mare was waiting for me on the building's observatory deck. As soon as I made a wobbly landing, she addressed me.

"A race? Truly?"

"Eh, you said you liked a challenge."

"A challenge? You? Thou thinkest highly of thyself."

Yet the mare wore the barest of smiles as she turned away.

Nightmare Moon used her magic to push on the crash bar on both doors, and the doors swung wide for us. Again, the room was completely empty and silent except for the sound of Nightmare Moon's armored hooves. A short walk to the emergency stairwell, and a simple push of the crash bar opened the door for us. We sauntered our way up the two flights of stairs to the 71st floor, and a flash of magic unlocked the emergency door for us.

Neat trick, can't wait to learn that one.

I swung open the door and sighed.

Ah, home sweet home.

Wait a minute...

Nighty's had some construction done.

On either side of the emergency stairwell entrance, there were walls built up that went all the way up to the high ceiling. The one to my right had two gaps in the wall; one by the windows and one close to us, and the other side had one gap in the middle of the wall. All three gaps appeared to be about the same size, a little over seven feet tall and about six feet wide.

"Mistress?"

"Ah, I see the workers have been busy. Come, join me while I inspect their handiwork and I shall describe my plans to you."

Nightmare Moon then turned to our right and headed for the nearest gap in the wall.

"This space will be our entrance to our home. Though instead of walking up these stairs, there will be a trap door in the floor that will lead to the floor below. We will open the trap door with our magic and simply fly up to this floor. In addition, this room can also function as a private meeting room.

"These gaps in the walls are for the Japonese shoji doors that I have requested."

As we passed through one of those gaps, I noted that it was just tall enough for Nightmare Moon's horn to clear the top without her having to duck her head. The gap was plenty wide enough for the dark mare to pass through comfortably, but not enough for two people at the same time.

While we walked towards the center of this new room, I took a look around to see what had changed. The room was quite large; I guessed that it would be the largest room on the floor. To my right was the entrance to the elevators, and at the far end of the room I could see another wall with a gap for a single shoji door in it. There was a pile of wood and drywall sheets on the floor near that gap, along with some tools. The rest of the room was clean and appeared to have been swept recently. A broom was leaning against one wall, next to a small pile of trash. The ceiling was still covered in ductwork and fire sprinkler pipes. The Night Mare's shoes clacked noisily against the concrete at each step, while my padded feet made no noise at all. The air was slightly stale and smelled lightly of dust.

"This will be my throne room, my Captain. My throne will be behind us, in front of the wall we just walked through. In truth, my throne will merely be a comfortable yet regal couch, which I will recline upon when we entertain guests and dignitaries. You shall join me there, of course. The throne will be on a raised dais, perhaps four or six inches tall. The dais is merely symbolic, to show that we are above the common rabble. The area in front of the dais will be filled with comfortable cushions for our guests to rest upon. The leasing manager has recommended something called a 'bean bag chair'. Have you heard of it?"

"Uh, yes I have. That describes a type of chair, which is comfortable but considered to be very casual. Depending on the design, they may not be regal enough for a throne room."

"I see. We shall have to see if the designs chosen will be appropriate. Come, let us look at the other rooms."

The Night Mare sauntered towards the far side of the room, and walked through the sole opening in the wall. Once inside, I saw a room that was essentially empty. Another emergency exit door was here, which presumably lead to another set of stairs. The other side of the room had another newly-constructed wall, with a shoji door-sized hole in the middle of it.

"This room shall be used by our visitors if they wish to have a private conversation that cannot be made in the throne room. In truth, this is merely unused space that I am designating as meeting space. We can repurpose it as a storage room if we have need of one.

"Now, let me show thee the final room in our new home."

I followed Nightmare Moon into what looked to be the second largest room on the floor.

"This room shall be our bedroom. This corner near this entrance shall contain your armor stand. Mine shall be on the opposite side."

We slowly walked to the center of the room. The smaller doorway leading to the elevators was here, though the doors to it were closed. This room looked to be almost as big as the throne room, but it seemed to be more narrow; as long or longer than the throne room, but not as wide.

"Our bed shall be here, placed near those doors. The doors will be removed and the entranceway sealed shut. I shall use a silencing spell to block out any external sounds, so our sleep shall not be interrupted.

"Speaking of sleep, it is past time for us to slumber. I shall summon our bed and our armor stands forthwith."

As expected, our bed and stands appeared in no time at all.

"And now, the silencing spell. One moment."

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and her horn lit with her magical spell. After a few moments of quiet concentration, a magical surge burst out of her horn. The surge passed through the mare and me, then touched and seeped into the walls. The ebony mare then opened her eyes and smiled.

"There, our sleep shall not be interrupted. Let us retire for the day."

I turned towards my armor stand and put some energy into the correct spell. A moment later, my armor left my body and instantly appeared on its stand. That task done, I turned and walked towards the bed. I saw my dark Queen waiting for me next to our shared bed, and she was also bare of armor. Her ebony fur glistened in the light streaming through the windows as she smiled softly at me. I returned her smile with one of my own, then we both slipped beneath the covers. I snuggled up against the warm and cuddly mare and I was asleep in moments.

I was pulled from my restful sleep by the sound of footsteps. I knew no one else was supposed to be here, so I was instantly awake and alert. However, I didn't get out of bed and confront the intruder. Instead, I stayed in bed and pretended to be asleep. If the intruder got close enough, I figured I could surprise them. So I lay there under the covers and simply listened.

At that moment, I was lying on my back on the left side of the bed. To my right, I could hear Nightmare Moon's soft, even breathing. She seemed to be asleep, or pretending to be asleep like I was. The footsteps I heard had come from my left. While I listened, they stopped for a few moments, then started up again. To my untrained ear, the footsteps sounded like heels clacking on concrete. That and the light scent of perfume made me think that the intruder was a woman. The footsteps continued around the foot of the bed, and continued around to Nightmare Moon's side. Then they stopped near the head of the bed. I heard the intruder inhale, then let out a sigh. To me, that sounded like she was preparing to do something that she didn't want to do. I decided it was time to take action and protect my Queen.

As fast as I could, I rolled over on to my right arm and used that arm to push myself up. My left arm flung the blankets off as I leaned over Nightmare Moon to grasp at the intruder. I felt my claws extend from my left hand, and I reached out towards the intruder to threaten them with deadly harm. At the same time, I bared my teeth and growled at the intruder to make my threat clear.

The leasing manager screamed at the top of her lungs and dropped the large briefcase she was holding in her hands. She then flung herself backwards to escape my deadly wrath, and slipped on the dusty floor. She fell down on to her butt and skittered backwards on the floor to put more distance between us.

Once I realized who the intruder was, I backed down from my red alert; I relaxed my lips to hide my teeth and retracted my claws. At the same time, I lowered my arm to rest upon Nightmare Moon's side. The leasing manager's screams had also awakened the Night Mare, who looked up at me for an explanation.

"Good morning Mistress, I thought we had an intruder."

I broke eye contact with the dark mare, then called out to the still very frightened leasing manager.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know you were coming here today, and I thought you were an intruder here to attack the Mistress."

"Didnst I tell you that she is allowed to awaken me if she has need of my attentions?"

"No, my Queen."

"Ah, the blame is upon me then."

Nightmare Moon made to get out of bed. I rolled back onto my side of the bed to give her some space. She rolled over and slipped out from under the covers, then slowly walked towards the frightened woman. The leasing manager had managed to retreat all the way to the far side of the room, and was leaning up against the far wall. Once Nightmare Moon reached the woman's side, she bent her head down and lightly nuzzled the leasing manager's cheek. She spoke softly to her minion, mostly small platitudes and comforting words. The leasing manager's shivers slowly calmed down, soothed by Nightmare Moon's silver tongue until she stopped shaking altogether. The Moon Mistress helped the woman to her feet, then cast a cleansing spell upon her to clean her clothes of any dirt she had picked up from the floor. The dark mare lead the now calm woman back to our bed so she could retrieve her dropped briefcase.

"Now, what is it you wished to discuss with me?"

"Ah yes, Mistress. The custom shoji screens we ordered on your behalf are on backorder and will not arrive for several weeks. However, the basic design is in stock now but without your custom changes."

"Unfortunate. I am unwilling to wait so long, so order the basic doors and I shall alter their colors myself."

"Understood, Mistress. Also, I need you to attend some meetings with me today. Some of my colleagues need to be enslaved so we can cancel the contract for the restaurant that was supposed to be here. In addition, you will need to enslave more workers in order to speed up construction."

"I see. At what time do you need my presence?"

The leasing manager looked at the time on her watch.

"In about 20 minutes, Mistress. Immediately afterwards, we can meet with the construction workers. We should be done in about two hours."

The dark mare sighed aloud.

"Very well. Is the saddlebag on the floor for me to ride in?"

The leasing manager picked up the large briefcase and opened it up, showing it to be empty.

"Yes, Mistress. I grabbed a larger one that looked more comfortable for you."

"How considerate."

Nightmare Moon summoned her armor from the nearby armor stand and put it on. She then turned into her mist form and streamed into the suitcase. The leasing manager gently closed the briefcase, then turned to leave without saying goodbye to me. I ignored her rude behavior and went back to sleep.

I was roused from my slumber by the nuzzling of my Queen. Blearily opening my eyes, I saw that she was no longer wearing her armor but merely clad in a warm smile. And she was under the covers in bed next to me.

"My duties for the day are complete. Here, cuddle with me. I am in need of your comfort."

How could I refuse such a request? And honestly, I didn't want to. So I snuggled close to the Night Mare's barrel and nuzzled her chest. In return, she rested her muzzle on top of my head then gave me a light squeeze with her forelegs. We slept that way until the sun had fallen below the horizon.

This time, I woke up before the Mare in the Moon. I roused her from sleep by stroking her muzzle and gently scratching behind her ears. Waking the mare so nicely earned me a kiss for my effort, so the evening was already shaping up well.

As she slipped on her armor, Nightmare Moon informed me that her minions would be working on our bedroom this evening. As such, she needed to remove our bed and armor stands to keep them out of the way. Once she had finished putting on her armor, she did just that and the two of us left to complete our conquest of the Alhambra police station.

The night was uneventful yet productive; we returned to our new home near daybreak. The Alhambra police station was now completely ours, and did not need any more of our attention. We even had time to enslave an officer who worked the night shift at our next conquest: the Northeast Community Police Station near the city of Glendora. This officer would let us into the station the next evening, and we could easily start our takeover without fighting our way in.

Back at the US Bank Tower, we made our way inside and up the stairs to the 71st floor. As soon as I opened the emergency exit door, I saw that things looked quite different than when we left. There were rolls of charcoal carpet lying on the floor, scraps of a dark blue carpet on the side, and several large paint cans were piled up on one wall. And I could smell drying paint, the chemical smell unmistakable. Nightmare Moon had also noticed the smell.

"Ah, let us see if my instructions for our bedroom were carried out correctly."

She then strode towards the open doorway to our left. I was just as curious, so I followed immediately after her. Inside the bedroom, the chemical smell was much stronger. The walls had been painted midnight blue, a metallic paint I had only seen on cars, but it worked wonderfully on the walls. The sun was just coming up, and the light made the metallic paint glint and sparkle. The carpet was a dark blue, a slightly lighter shade than the paint on the walls, but it had this dark shimmer to the fibers so that it looked like faux fur instead of carpet. The carpet was thick and very well padded, it made me feel like I was walking in a grassy meadow rather then on artificial carpet. Each of the numerous windows had a navy blue sun shade installed at the top. These sun shades were different than the usual window blinds, as they let a little bit of sun through instead of blocking it all.

The paint fumes were getting to me, but I pushed on. The ceiling and everything up there had been painted a flat black. From what I could see, there were now electrical wires and conduit running down to power outlets near the floor. The ductwork for the air conditioning and the fire suppression pipes were still in place, just painted the same black as everything else up there.

In the middle of the floor, there was a folded piece of white paper. Even though it was small compared to the room, it was very visible against the dark blue of the carpet. Nightmare Moon reached out with her magic to pick up the paper, then took a moment to read its contents.

"Let us see what we have here. Ah, it is from the leasing manager - Janice. I believe that this is the first time I have heard of her name. Regardless, Janice writes that she has used a Midnight Blue paint for the walls and a Toronto Shag navy blue rug for the floor. She apologizes that she could not match the color of the window shades to the paint on the walls, but she was able to find a navy blue from something she calls 'Amazon'. Do you know what she speaks of?"

"Yes, I do. Amazon is an online retailer that is so commonly used that most people know it by name. She must have bought them yesterday and paid for One-Day Shipping."

"What is an 'online retailer'?"

"Oh. Uh, it is a store or shop that does not have a location in every town, but will ship your orders anywhere. Um, like if a store was in Fillydelphia but would gladly send your items to Canterlot for a fee."

"I see.

"For the love of the moon, the smell of this paint is driving me mad! Let us step outside, and I shall accelerate the curing process."

Once we had retreated from the bedroom, Nightmare Moon stuck her horn back through the doorway and began to cast her spell. I could feel the heat coming from the room in moments, and the air was starting to swirl around inside.

I hope she doesn't set off the fire suppression system.

"My Queen, I need you to stop so I can tell you something."

"Can it not wait until this work is complete?"

"Nope. Curing the paint with heat might melt the carpet and destroy the room."

The Night Mare let the magic in her horn fade away, and I felt the temperature in the room drop noticeably.

"Now, repeat what it is that you have just said?"

"The carpet is made of an artificial fiber, and will melt if heated too much. So will the sun shades."

"Melt? Art thou certain?"

"Yes, though I'm not sure how hot is too hot."

"Hmph. I have my doubts."

Nightmare Moon looked around the room, and focused her attention on the dark blue carpet remnants piled in one corner. She picked up a small scrap in her magic.

"I shall test the carpet myself, and see if it burns or melts."

The ebony mare lit her horn one again, and I could feel the heat rolling off the carpet fragment immediately.

"The carpet can still burn, my Queen, if the temperature is very high. But it's more likely to melt first than burn."

A few seconds later, the carpet fibers suddenly melted and began to ooze into a solid lump. Nightmare Moon's horn went out immediately, and the intense heat faded away. Wisps of smoke curled off the melted polyester as the material cooled. And the mare's large teal eyes were wide in surprise.

"One of these days, you really ought to believe your Adviser when he gives you advice."

The Moon Mistress dipped her head in apology.

"This world has many strange and fantastical things, it is difficult to believe them all.

"I shall protect the carpet and shades with the same fire-proofing spell that I would use on a book."

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

"There is a special fire suppression system in the ceiling. Glass bulbs hold back water under pressure. Intense heat will break the glass and water will pour out all over and destroy the room. And please don't test this with heat, the system can't be easily fixed once it's been set off."

"Truly? Very well, I shall carefully inspect the ceiling."

Yet again, Nightmare Moon lit her horn with magic.

"Let me see...oh! You are correct, I have found the glass bulbs you speak of. I see, the glass bulb does hold back water under pressure. If the glass breaks, the water streams in automatically. Very simple, and I imagine fairly foalproof. I shall make the glass bulbs shatterproof temporarily, so they cannot break."

"I would make the glass bulbs in the adjoining rooms shatterproof as well, in case some of the heat leaks out."

"Agreed, though it is a simpler task to make them all shatterproof for a short time."

One more time, the mare's horn lit with her magic. I could see the sparkle of magic at all of the sprinkler heads within my sight. Next, a surge of magic flowed across the carpet, and a shimmer of magic over the rolled-up sun shades. Then her horn went dark.

"There. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Nope, I think we've covered it all. Oh, one question."

"Ask."

"Why do all this work yourself? Wouldn't it be easier to get your new minions to do all this for you?"

"I wish to sleep in this room tonight. If we wait for our minions to do the work, we will have to wait until the morrow before we can rest in this room. And thou knowest I am not a patient mare."

"I agree with the last part."

Nightmare Moon stuck her tongue out at me.

"Any more interruptions, Captain?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then I shall re-commence the curing of the paint."

As before, Nightmare Moon stuck her horn back through the doorway and began to cast her spell. The temperature rose quickly, and heat waves began to radiate through the doorway.

"Are you just throwing heat at the paint? Too much will burn or bubble it."

"I am aware of this.

"This is a custom spell...

"...and not just a heat spell.

"It requires great focus...

"...to perform and monitor.

"Do not disturb me."

Minutes passed. Suddenly, the Night Mare's horn went dark and she gasped.

"Oh! This curing spell requires an intense amount of concentration, and the shock of releasing the spell is always a harsh one.

"Now, to vent the hot air and gasses."

While I watched, a small black ball appeared in the center of the room. The wind picked up as air was sucked into what I presumed was a miniature black hole. Electricity arched around the sphere as it sucked all the hot air away. Soon, the air around me had gotten noticeably cooler. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the miniature black hole disappeared with a 'pop'.

Once the swirling winds had calmed down, Nightmare Moon turned to me.

"Forsooth, inspect the walls for any damage to the surface."

She then strode into our bedroom and turned to the right, then began examining the wall closely.

I shrugged internally and followed the mare into the room. However, instead of shadowing the ebony mare I turned left instead. A glance down the painted wall did not reveal any obvious flaws or imperfections in the paint. I placed my hand on the painted surface, and to my surprise it was still warm to the touch. The warmth reminded me of the heat of a warm summer day, and quite pleasant to the touch. I was a bit sad that this warmth would fade fairly quickly, as it was just an after effect of the hot curing process rather than a special feature of the wall. I ran the palm of my hand over the wall's surface as I walked farther into the room.

From my experience, paint that wasn't completely cured would smear when rubbed. But I couldn't see any smears in the paint. After a few steps, I paused to take a look at the underside of the hand rubbing the wall. I also knew that paint that dried too fast would not stick to the surface, so it would shed chips of paint when touched. I couldn't see anything like that on my hand. I I also knew that paint that wasn't fully cured would still smell if you got close to it, so I got close and carefully sniffed the surface. I could smell a tiny bit of something, but it was more of a 'hot surface' smell than a 'wet paint' smell.

Good job, Moony. This paint is completely dry and cured.

As if on cue, Nightmare Moon called me from across the room.

"Anything?"

"Nope. It looks like this paint is all dry and cured. Good job."

"Excellent. I shall remove the protection around the glass bulbs above us, then summon our bed and armor stands. I see no need to dispel the heat protection on the carpet and blinds."

In a flash, the deeds were done and the room was complete. I had to admit to myself that the color choices were excellent. The dark blue sheets of the bed were a different shade of blue than anything else in the room, but all the blue shades blended together very well. The black wood stain of the bed and armor stands accentuated the blue sheets and the blue paint on the walls. I was no interior decorator, but it looked really nice to me.

"And finally, a sealing spell for the walls to keep unwanted smells and sounds out. The act of painting the walls will have disrupted the spell I cast last night."

A few seconds of magical casting, and the aforementioned spells were in place. I couldn't tell if they were working, as there were no other sounds or smells on the floor. But I trusted my ebony Queen and her magic.

"Ah, at last we have our permanent home. The room is a bit sparse, but I am certain that we shall fill it with possessions and knickknacks in no time. But for now, let us rest."

The two of us removed out armor and slid beneath the bed sheets. We cuddled together and fell fast asleep, knowing that our future together was finally taking shape.

Act 3, Chapter 4 - Final Preparations

View Online

At last, Nightmare Moon and I had a permanent home on the 71st floor of the US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. But the rest of our home wasn't finished yet.

The rest of Nightmare Moon's new home came together with little difficulty. As was our habit, we had taken the stairs up from the 69th floor to the 'entrance room'; the one that would eventually have a trap door installed in the floor. In fact, the floor had already been torn up in preparation for installing that exact thing. It made sense that the trap door would need to be finished before carpet could be laid. The entrance room walls had been painted a dark purple. To our left, the entrance to our bedroom now had a shoji door installed. The door was made of wood stained black, with white paper behind the wood slats. To our right, the two entrances to the throne room were closed with shoji doors that were also stained black with white paper. The ceiling had been painted a flat black, just like our bedroom. The room smelled of curing paint, which was unpleasant.

"Ah, more progress. Let us see what has been completed in our absence."

Nightmare Moon turned to my right and walked over to the shoji door. Her armored hooves loudly clacked on the bare concrete. She slid open the shoji door with her magic, then walked through. Curiously, the sound of the mare's shoes had vanished. I followed the Moon Mare in to the room, then slid the door closed behind me.

The throne room had been painted in a dark blue, though the blue was not as dark nor as vibrant as the Midnight Blue used in our bedroom. Carpet had been installed, which was a dark charcoal color that was quite soft under my feet. The dais that would hold Nightmare Moon's throne-couch had been built, and it was covered in a dark purple carpet. No furniture was visible in the room. Like the other rooms, the ceiling was painted a flat black. The smell of curing paint was faint but still present.

The shoji doors had been installed in this room as well, and looked like the others; black-painted wood with white paper. The Night Mare strode towards the doors leading to the elevator lobby, and slid one side open. Again, I followed behind to look over her shoulder. The room beyond had been painted black as the mare had requested, but the silver trim and cutie mark motifs were absent. Nodding in satisfaction, the dark mare closed the door and walked over to the meeting room on the far wall.

Behind the door was a simple room, painted a dark purple with dark charcoal carpet. Otherwise, the room was empty. A shoji door, again black with white paper, was on the far wall. I knew that beyond that door was our familiar bedroom.

"Ah, excellent. I am pleased with the progress so far.

"Now, time for our daily slumber."

One opened shoji door, and we walked in to our bedroom. As the room was complete, Nightmare Moon had left our bed and armor stands in their places. The two of us removed our armor and unceremoniously climbed into bed. We cuddled together and I quickly fell asleep.

I awoke to the sound of a shoji door sliding open. I cracked open an eye, and saw Janice (the building manager) standing in the doorway. I remembered that she was allowed into our bedroom, so I promptly fell back asleep.

I was awakened again by my dark Queen. Janice wanted some input on furniture for the throne room, and Nightmare Moon wanted my input. Together we decided on a plush sectional couch covered in black satin fabric, with a purple canopy high above the couch. Janice convinced me that the bean bag chairs she had in mind would be regal enough, so the Night Mare authorized her to purchase them. She would get them in the colors red, blue, black or purple depending on availability.

We deferred to Janice's choice on a conference table and chairs for the meeting room, though there would also be a small selection of bean bag chairs for any equine or other four-legged guests. Also, Janice promised that the trap door would be complete by the next morning. Her task done, Janice left and we quickly returned to bed. Cuddled together once again, we slept until dusk arrived.

Or so I thought.

Upon waking and getting out of bed, I noticed that the shoji doors had been changed. When before they were made of black wood and white paper, now they had black wood and dark blue paper. I turned to Nightmare Moon for an explanation.

"Weren't the shoji doors white when we fell asleep?"

"Eh? Ah, I could not sleep after Janice left us so I chose to recolor the Japonese doors. I completed all of them very quickly, then returned to bed to cuddle with you."

"I don't remember you getting up, nor you getting back in bed."

The ebony mare paused a moment before replying.

"I do not know what to say to you. Perhaps you were simply in a deep sleep."

Something felt off about her answer, but it was a plausible explanation. I let the matter drop as it was time to start our work that night.

That evening, we completed our conquest of the Northeast Community Police Station a bit earlier than expected. For that reason, we returned to our new home about an hour before sunrise. We landed on the 69th floor observation deck as always, and I casually pushed the crash bar on the closest door to open it. Once inside, I headed over to the emergency stairwell as usual.

"Hold. The trap door entrance to our home should have been completed this evening, and I am eager to try it out."

Nightmare Moon began to ascend the large, curving staircase in the middle of the room. My curiosity piqued, I followed behind her. And as always, I ogled her fine flank the whole way up.

The staircase let us off on the 70th floor into a large hallway. The Moon Mistress looked upwards and lit her horn with her magic. A moment later, she grinned widely and let her magic disperse.

"Huzzah! The trap door is complete, and done to my exact specifications. Here, let me teach you how to open it. Reach upwards with your magic, and feel for three bars of metal above."

Ok, let's see what we have here.

Ah, got the three metal bars. And I can feel that they're on a pivot and will rotate to the side.

Afterwards, the doors should lift up easily.

"Any magical locks I need to watch for?"

"Eh? None as of yet, but I shall add them this evening."

I locked eyes with the Night Mare as I summoned magic into my hands. With a thought, I 'grabbed' the three metal bars with my left hand. While I continued to stare at my dark Mistress, I lifted my left hand up so we could both see it was glowing red with magic. I gave my hand a twist, and the three bars rotated sideways. The bars made no sound as they moved, though I was hoping to hear a satisfying 'clunk'.

In my mind, I 'released' the metal bars. Next, I lifted both hands up into our shared vision, and opened them so the palms faced upwards. I paused for dramatic effect, then pushed my hands up a few inches. The ceiling immediately split open into two pieces. The pieces were hinged on their outer edges, so I gently rotated the two doors with magic until I felt them come to rest on the floor above. Eyes still locked with the ebony mare, I flew upwards through the open trap door and landed in the entrance room on the 71st floor. I idly noted that the floor was now covered in a dark charcoal carpet, which appeared to match the carpet used in the throne room. A few moments later, Nightmare Moon joined me in the entrance room. She used her magic to close the trap door, and I guessed that she also locked the door with the metal bars. The back of the doors were also covered in the same carpet on the floor, so when the door was closed the trap door was nearly invisible.

"In hindsight, the trap door's mechanism was obvious."

"Only when you told me about the metal bars, then yes."

"I see. Give me a moment to place the locking spells into the mechanism."

Nightmare Moon bent her head down, lit her horn and sent a beam of magic into the trap door. While she worked, the two halves of the door glowed in her magic. When she finished a short time later, the glow quickly faded away. Just before she spoke, I felt a little magical twinge like I had just been poked.

"There. I have linked you to the lock's magic, so I may demonstrate how it works. The lock will send you a warning if somepony attempts to open the trap door and does not have permission to do so."

The Moon Mare used her magic to try and open the trap door, but the door did not open. In my head, a tiny buzzing started.

"There, do you feel it?"

I nodded but did not otherwise speak. I filed that buzzing away in my head as 'Unauthorized user attempting to open door.'

"Excellent."

She released the door, and the buzzing stopped.

"I shall now link myself to the lock's magic...there. I shall now open the trap door."

As the trap door opened, a pleasant chime went off in my head. I decided that this one meant 'Authorized user entering.'

"Heard that."

"If the door is not locked properly after it is closed, you will receive yet another warning. I shall close the trap door, but shall not lock it with the metal bars."

The mare closed the trap door. After a few seconds, a harsh chime went off in my head. That one had to mean 'Door left unlocked.' I used my magic to close the metal bars, and the warning chime went silent.

"What happens if we need to leave the door open for some reason, say to bring in a bunch of boxes?"

"That should not happen, we have the elevators for such things. But if necessary, I can mute the alarm.

"Now, there are two ways to open this lock. One is the way I have just used. The other will also open the door, but will send a warning to all ponies linked to the lock. It is used in case a pony has been captured and is being forced to open the lock."

This time, as the trap door opened I heard an alarm tone in my head. This one clearly meant 'Authorized user compromised.'

"Nice feature."

"Yes, it has saved me from invaders several times."

"Won't save you from people who turn traitor."

"True, though there are other spells that can help detect unauthorized usage. However, I have no need for such spells at this time."

"No? I'm flattered you have such faith in me."

"Yes...faith."

The dark mare stared at me for a moment but said nothing more.

"Er, yes. How do I open the lock both ways?"

"To open it normally, grasp both the bar and its pivot point. To set off the warning, only touch the bar. Go ahead."

I reached out with my magic, 'grasped' each bar by its pivot point then pushed the bar to the side. Once all three bars were pushed open, I lifted the trap doors open. This time, I did not hear any chimes or warnings in my head.

"Good. Now, repeat the process but open the trap door the incorrect way."

I closed and locked the trap door, then turned each metal bar without holding the pivot point. As soon as I pushed the trap door open, Nightmare Moon spoke.

"Excellent. Now you have the ability to come and go from this trap door as you please."

"I didn't hear the chimes or alarms when I opened the door myself. Is that an extra security feature?"

"I am impressed. Yes, it is so anypony opening the door shall not know if they have set off any of the alarms on the lock. Anypony attempting to monitor the lock or tamper with it will set off other alarms that only I shall hear.

"Now, let us inspect the rest of our home and see if it is complete."

As we had done for the past few nights, we turned to enter the Throne room. Nightmare Moon slid the closest shoji door open, and the two of us walked through. I gently closed the door behind us.

From what I could see, the throne room had been fully furnished. On the dais was the large sectional couch that the Night Mare had requested. It was huge! I had never seen a couch so big, it must have been able to seat ten or twelve people. The couch was in an "L" shape, with the bottom of the "L" next to us. The rest of the couch stretched across the wall behind it, and appeared to end at the other shoji door back by the windows. The couch frame and seats were covered in a soft black velour fabric, and thick, plush navy blue pillows were generously stacked on the back of the couch. A canopy made of sheer purple fabric and black metal poles was draped high over the couch.

In front of the dais were a number of cloth-covered chairs. If they were actually bean bag chairs, I'd never seen any like that before. But an instant later, I realized that it didn't matter what they were. I would be sitting on the couch with Nightmare Moon, so what did I care what the commoners sat in?

"Ah, I must try out my new throne. Come, join me."

I followed Nightmare Moon as she walked up to the dais and over to the couch she was calling her 'throne'. Up close, I could see the fabric for the seat and back cushions were made of the same type of fabric; some sort of glossy velour. The fabric shimmered in the light, almost like a star field.

Nice choice of fabric, matches Moony's coat really well. Bonus points to Janice.

The ebony mare gleefully climbed on to the middle of the couch, with her tail towards the bottom of the 'L', and I watched as she stretched her hooves out like a cat. She held this stretch for a few seconds, then relaxed and let out a blissful sigh. I noted that she took up most of the couch when she stretched out like that. Her mane was draped over her back while her tail hung down in front of the couch. My queen smiled up at me, then gestured with her head towards the only part of the couch left open -- the bottom of the 'L'.

"Come, sit with me."

I walked the few steps over to the end of the couch, then sat down. The cushions felt nice and soft to me; just enough give to be comfortable, but not so much that they would suck you in and make getting up nearly impossible. I shifted around in my seat, to check if I found the one comfy spot or if I could find another that was better. The couch surprised me by being super comfy no matter how I sat on it. A smile slipped on to my face as I leaned back and let the pillows hug me close. The pillow behind my back felt just as soft as the one I was sitting on, and I imagined it would be even more comfortable when I wasn't wearing armor.

I glanced over at Nightmare Moon, who was still stretched lengthwise down the couch, and I decided I wanted to lie down on the couch too. Hey, if it was good enough for Moony it was good enough for me. I laid down on my left side and rolled over, so I was lying on my back with my head in the corner of the couch. I closed my eyes and decided that yes, the couch was very comfortable to lie upon.

Without warning, I felt something flop down on my face. I opened my eyes, and my vision was filled with twinkling stars out in deep space. That made absolutely no sense. I could feel something lying on my face, so I reached up to pull it off. But I couldn't touch it. My hand went right through it and I nearly poked myself in the eye. I panicked a bit, and kept trying to grab this thing even though I knew I couldn't. Then, I heard a cute giggle from off to my left.

"Stop that, it tickles."

Tickles?!

Oh.

Duh, this must be Moony's tail.

I pushed my body up from the couch, and the star field disappeared to be replaced by the throne room. I turned to look down on the couch, and saw just what I expected to see: Nightmare Moon's tail, slowly undulating right where my head just was. I gave the dark mare a reproving look, and she replied with another giggle.

"Cute."

"I am glad you think so."

I rolled my eyes at the mare's antics, then sat back up on the couch. Another glance at the Mare in the Moon only got me another adorable giggle. I let out an exasperated sigh, and decided to check out the rest of the room. To my right lay the bean bag chairs. A quick bit of math told me there were sixteen chairs, in four neat rows and columns. A glance beyond the chairs showed a large open space. It looked like the dais and chairs only took up half the room, while the back half of the large room was completely empty. Seemed like a waste of space to me, but maybe Moony had some future plans for it. I had a sudden urge to try out one of the bean bag chairs, so with a push I stood up from the couch.

"Where art thou going?"

"I'm going to check out the chairs over there."

"Verily? Ah well, I suppose I shall join you."

As Nightmare Moon clambered off of the couch, I walked off the dais and stepped in front of the rightmost chair. A quick look at it revealed nothing special. This chair was completely covered in navy blue fabric, and appeared to be made of vertical strips stitched together. Each strip looked like it was three or four inches wide. The seat was made of the same sized strips of fabric. The arms of the chair came up at an angle from the seat and rose up to meet the back in one smooth curve. And there was a large tag attached to the side of the chair that read "Big Joe".

With nothing else to learn from looking at the chair, I turned around and sat down on it.

Yup, it's a bean bag chair. And comfy. And it holds its shape a lot better than I thought it would. The back of the bean bag is actually supporting my back, too.

These should do nicely.

"I am uncertain how comfortable these seats shall be for an equine. Are they comfortable for a biped?"

"Yes. my Queen. They are comfortable, yet they're a bit awkward as well. They force you into a casual position, rather than a rigid or regal one. And sitting in one makes the dais and couch seem much taller than they actually are, which will make you seem taller."

"Ah, excellent. I do not expect to have this many petitioners to my court so soon, but I wish to be prepared.

"I shall have to reward Janice for making such a fine seating choice."

I struggled a bit standing up from the bean bag chair, but finally managed it. The two of us then strolled over to the double shoji doors that lead to the elevator lobby. One shoji door had been colored black and navy blue like the rest, but the other was blue and dark purple. Nightmare Moon slid the purple door to the side, and we strode into the lobby.

The first thing I noticed was the murals on the walls. To my left was a forest scene at night, with trees and forest animals like deer, foxes and owls. A crescent moon shone through the tree tops and gently illuminated the scene.

To my right was a beach scene at night, with waves crashing upon the sand and palm trees visible on the left of the mural. A small mountain range was in the background, and the full moon was high in the sky yet surrounded by clouds.

Nightmare Moon and I studied the murals for a couple of minutes before the mare spoke.

"These murals shall be sufficient, though I am certain that Equestrian craftsponies would have shown more imagination."

We left the lobby and made our way to the meeting room, the only room we had yet to see. Once inside, we noted the large yet boring conference table and the dozen or so executive chairs surrounding it. A speaker phone similar to the ones in the sheriff's stations was in the middle of the table. The wood surface of the table was polished to a shine, and looked absolutely new. But it was still a dull conference table. And it seemed that the Moon Mistress agreed with me.

"Hmph. I expected a table made of marble or crystal."

"It's a common style. It's supposed to look fancy even though it's actually pretty dull."

"I see. I shall have to speak to Janice about this."

Our inspection of the floor complete, we entered our bedroom and removed our armor. As was our custom, we faced each other and cuddled together, with my head cradled between her forelegs and her head resting upon mine. Most nights, we would simply relax together this way until we fell asleep. But that night, the Night Mare pulled her forelegs in a bit tighter and gave me a pleasant squeeze.

"Forsooth, I have thee now! Thou cannot escape my grasp!"

Oh, we're going to play THAT game, are we?

I dropped the tone of my voice to a flat monotone and pretended to resist.

"Oh no. I am trapped. Whatever will I do."

"Be subject to my ministrations, of course!"

She then proceeded to nibble gently on one of my ears.

Hey!

Oh.

Oh...my...

When I was human, I never liked it when my ex-girlfriends played with my ears. It just felt weird. But this new body of mine was turning out to be very different. The mare's nibbles sent these little electrifying jolts through my whole body. Jolts that were also quite...erotic in nature. The nibbles were still a little weird, but in a 'not used to this' way. And I really, REALLY didn't want her to stop. But despite the pleasure, I didn't want to just lie there and be pleased. I wanted to give her some of the same pleasure that she was giving to me. So I slid my left hand between my body and hers, then slowly slid it downwards. I stopped right at that crease where her right leg joined with her body, and gently rubbed the tender flesh there. My ebony playmate paused her ear nibbles and let out a slight gasp, which stretched out into a soft moan. My fire down below was kindling fast, and I couldn't hold back a moan of my own. If we kept this up, I knew I would soon hit my point of no return.

"You keep that nibbling up Luna, and we're going to be awake for quite a while."

In response, Luna gave my ear a long and sultry lick.

"Wouldst that be such a bad thing?"

My only reply was a loud moan. She had slipped her right forehoof between us, and was idly rubbing my lower belly. She was so close to what I wanted her to rub, so close... But she always stopped just before she reached my need.

I found myself even more frustrated when the dark mare stopped rubbing and nibbling and instead rested her muzzle atop my head.

"In truth, now that we are here I am uncertain how to proceed. Shall we move southwards, where we may encounter hard resistance? Or continue northwards, and sink our teeth deeper there? Or perhaps cease our motions for a time, and merely relax?

I squirmed in her grasp, hoping to rekindle her flames of passion.

"Oh, don't stop now."

"Eh? I was speaking of our conquests of this land, what dost thou mean?"

The ebony mare lifted her head to look at me. Then looked farther down at her belly, where perhaps she felt a part of me brushing against her belly fur. It took her a moment longer to finally realize what she had done to me.

"Oh! OH! Oh my...I did not consider that thou would react in such a fashion. Truly, it was not my intention to push thee so far. I only meant to be affectionate, not...this."

Oh, I was pissed. She just made it very clear that I wasn't getting any relief from her. And I didn't want to take care of it myself in a smelly bathroom or janitor closet.

I had a sudden flash in my head of making a 'mess' sitting on Luna's new couch. Then another quick flash where Luna had joined me instead.

"You are such a tease, Luna."

Luna giggled and nuzzled the top of my head.

"It seems so. I shall make it up to thee one day."

"You'd better."

We cuddled in silence for several minutes as my passions went limp, sputtered and miserably died alone in the dark.

"Feeling better, my little Warrior?"

"I'm not little."

Luna whispered softly into my ear.

"So I saw. And what I saw pleases me very much."

And...she just rekindled that fire.

"I thought you said you weren't going to tease me again?"

"Didst I? I believe I have forgotten."

Oh, no. I'm not going through that tease again and not get any relief.

"That's it. I'm getting up and sleeping on the couch."

I squirmed in Luna's grasp and tried to get free. But she wouldn't let me go, and instead held me close with her forelegs.

"Nay, nay! I apologize! I shall not tease thee again. I...I do not wish to let thee go. Please, stay with me."

Even though I was very frustrated and angry, I still wanted to believe her. I loved to cuddle when I was human, and still liked to cuddle now that I had been changed. But this teasing would stop, NOW.

"Fine. But if you tease me again, you better go all the way or I'm going to be very angry with you. Got it?"

She let out a great sigh that resonated both against my belly and atop my head.

"Yes, yes I do. I deeply apologize for my behavior. It is just...I find it difficult to control my actions when I hold thee close like this."

"Then perhaps we shouldn't be so close."

I made to leave her grasp again.

"Nay, nay! I...I must learn to control myself. I find myself unready to move things forward between us, yet I wish to keep thee close. So I must learn control."

I really wasn't used to being on that end of a relationship. Normally I was the one to heat things up, and the girlfriend was trying to slow me down. But I supposed the reversal was only fair. I thought about heating Luna up and pushing things farther, but the Mistress had spoken. It was clearly time for both of us to learn some patience.

But right then, it was time to use a trick my ex-girlfriends used on me when they wanted to slow me down; a distraction.

"So, what do we do now?"

"I wish to cuddle with thee some more, and I solemnly swear I shall control myself."

And she actually did, for I slept unmolested until the sun went down past the horizon.

Act 3, Chapter 5 - Homesick

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Nightmare Moon and I had finally settled in to our new home. But we still had plenty of conquering left to do.

After Nightmare Moon and I settled in to the US Bank Tower, my life got really boring. Boring, hanging out with the Moon Mare herself? Well no, she was still awesome. But the actual conquering part had become routine weeks ago. Sneak in to a police station, implant shadow parasites, then move on. The interesting part to me was the neighborhoods we lived in. Before the US Bank Tower, we would move in to a new home and conquer the police stations around it. Then we would find a new place to live, and do it all over again. We had new sights to see every time we moved around, which broke up the boring repetition of our conquests. But now that we had a permanent home, we returned to the same place no matter how far we had to fly that night. True, it sucked when we lived out in the desert and had to fly several hours each night. And our new home was a lot nicer than any of the abandoned homes we had been living in. But I missed the thrill of moving, of sleeping for the first time in a new place.

Who knew conquering the world could be so dull?

Even the new home became routine. We had no need for Janice nor any of the other staff that Nightmare Moon had enslaved, once her 'Moon Palace' had been completed. We had no guests to entertain nor petitioners to the Night Mare's court. The two of us would come home in the morning, go to our bedroom to sleep, then leave in the evening to do it all over again. We hadn't found any interesting knickknacks during our travels, so our bedroom was still empty beyond our bed and armor stands.

The cities and police stations went by in a blur; they had become so common, that I couldn't be bothered to remember them. Well, I admit there were some things that did change. At her request, I taught Nightmare Moon how to use Google Maps on our borrowed tablet. She then had full control over where and who we conquered. In exchange, she taught me how to monitor the 'savior' dream and control it a little. However, she wouldn't teach me how to create the 'savior' dreams. Her excuse was that it was a 'custom' spell that she had created, and I didn't know the advanced magic necessary to understand it. But I got the feeling that she just didn't want to teach it to me for some reason.

Even with the new skills, the new work got boring real fast. Nothing ever went wrong with the 'savior' dreams, so my job was painfully simple: send the dreamer into a pleasant dream if they chose to help Nightmare Moon, a nightmare otherwise. After those dreams were done, restart the 'savior' dream. Repeat until Nightmare Moon was satisfied that the dreamer was completely enslaved.

Sounds like a lot to do, right? Not really. It was a lot of waiting around, then 'push' a magic button depending on what the dreamer did.

Boooring.

One of the things I do remember from that time, was when we reached the ocean. Sure, I had seen the Pacific Ocean and the Southern California beaches many times before - I lived near one, after all. But the beaches looked very different when one was flying over them with magical wings. The beach was beautiful, and the familiar smell of the sea air brought a soft smile to my face.

It was on one of those boring nights that things finally began to change. That night, we were just south of the LAX International Airport and were flying towards another police station to conquer. I was staring at the ground below out of boredom, and was hoping that something interesting would finally happen to me.

Mmm. That school there looks familiar.

And I swear I've eaten at that Mexican restaurant before.

"Hey, where are we headed to tonight?"

"Eh? Ah, one moment.

"Yes, we are headed to the 'El Segundo' police station this evening."

El Segundo? I think I left my wallet there once.

Wait...

OH.

How could I have forgotten?

I was FROM El Segundo! Or at least, that's where my apartment was. My apartment, my cats...and my old life. I felt a dark chill roll down my spine when I realized it had been over two months since I joined Nightmare Moon's Party of Two. And it looked like I was going to be with her for a really long time. Maybe forever.

So much for looking for adventure, I found a whole new life instead. And what a life it's turned out to be.

I guess that answers my next question to myself, did I want to quit being Nighty's partner in crime and go back to my old life?

Nah, like I'd ever be happy with my old life again. Not after wielding magic and becoming some sort of cat-man. Yeah, I could cast a human illusion over myself and pretend to be the old me. But it would just be an illusion. While I still feel like 'me', the old me is long gone.

I really miss my cats...

At the El Segundo police station, I did my job with even less enthusiasm than before. And Nightmare Moon noticed. After we had returned to her Moon Palace and began to shed our armor, the ebony mare spoke to me.

"I have noticed that you have been quite morose this evening, more so than usual. Is something amiss?"

I was standing listlessly in front of my armor stand, and had made no effort to remove my armor.

"I...I'm sorry Mistress, I'll do better next time."

She of the Night paused while levitating her helmet off her head, and held it midair instead of placing it on her armor stand.

"Now I know something is amiss. Your work was never the issue, I have no complaints. It is merely that thy mood has changed. And thou hast not called me 'Mistress' in a long time."

"Oh.

"I guess I was pretty distracted tonight."

In a magical blink, my armor was finally on its stand. My feet dragged across the carpet as I sluggishly made my way to our bed. I mechanically lifted the sheets on my side, then flopped my butt down on the soft mattress. But before I could slip beneath the covers, I felt the soft touch of a hoof against my furred shoulder. It took me a moment to register the touch, and its meaning. My body turned of its own accord until I was facing an unarmored Nightmare Moon, who was sitting on her side of the bed. She had a soft and kind smile on her muzzle.

"I wish to hear that which has been bothering you. I know that I am not good at being patient, nor in sharing feelings with thee.

"But for you, I shall try."

How was I supposed to keep my feelings hidden inside after that? So I opened up to her, and hoped she wouldn't laugh at me for something so stupid.

"So, um. Tonight? The police station we took over tonight? I used to live a few blocks away, before you met me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think we flew over the place that you and I first met at, on our way there."

"I had not noticed."

"I almost didn't. But once I did, all these memories came back. Everywhere I looked, I saw places I walked to or ate at or hung out with friends. And all I could think of was my old life."

"Hmm. Unfortunate."

"What?"

"Eh? Ah, I mean that...it is unfortunate that you miss your old life so.

"I surmise that...um...you wish to return to your old life!"

"Oh, hell no. This new life with you is so much better than my old one. But I left my old life incomplete. Unfinished. I want to end it somehow, kind of wrap it up in my head so I know it's done."

I reached out and cradled Luna's muzzle in my hand, then gently rubbed her jaw with my thumb.

"Besides, If I left I'd have to give you up."

Luna smiled softly, then let out a soft giggle that sounded to me like the tinkling of bells.

"Thou knowest how to make a mare feel special."

"Only the best for you, my Moon Princess."

I gently let her muzzle go and let my hand rest in my lap.

"The only problem with ending my old life is, when can I find the time? Our nights are taken up by conquering the local police, and we sleep all day. Do I have to wait until we have finished conquering these lands?"

"Not necessarily, my handsome warrior. I may have a solution for thee."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You may recall that I have the ability to go without sleep if I choose to. I can test your magical wellspring, and if you have enough power I can give you the spells you shall need."

"That's great! Let's do it."

"Such an eager stallion.

"Very well, give me a few moments to make my examination."

Luna lit her horn and let her magic wash over me. After a minute or so, the spell winked out.

"Your magical wellspring has greatly grown since I last examined it. You appear to have sufficient magical reserves to go without sleep for approximately four days, provided you do not overexert yourself. One moment while I give you the spells."

Whee, another magical download!

God, I am such a geek.

Okay, here we go.

This seems to be a spell that I don't have to cast, it's always on when I am awake. It feels like the one that feeds me with magic when I don't eat. But instead of sustenance, this spell will keep me rested and alert no matter how long I stay awake.

Huh, it also works on exercise as well. So I could keep running and running far beyond my normal endurance, because this set of spells will just restore me and keep me going. Well, until my magic runs out anyway. Could I work out in the gym all day, and just get stronger and stronger?

Hmm, I'll have to be careful. With these spells running, I will never get sleepy again. But how will I fall asleep?

Oh, just got a spell that lets me fall asleep when I want to. That's good. I have to be calm and relaxed and have my eyes closed in order to activate it, though. A safeguard to avoid activating it by accident? Oh, here's a memory that tells me it's hard to recharge magic if I don't sleep. Nag nag nag, but it's still a good reminder.

Looks like I'll have to choose when I go to sleep from now on. I guess that's why Nighty always goes to bed at dusk.

Hmm. If I'm in control of my sleep cycle now, how will I know when it's time to wake up? Better ask Luna after this is done.

Another spell, this one monitors my magical wellspring and gives me a warning when it's running low. Hah, it's my own personal low battery warning! I wonder if I can set it at the classic 15%, 10% and 5%? Ah crap, no settings. Whomever made this magical app sucks at making apps.

And that's the last spell.

I opened my eyes and saw the Night Mare doing the same.

"There. You now have the ability to function without sleep. Be cautious in using it, one can easily enter magical exhaustion if one is not careful."

"I will, I will. I'll be careful."

"We shall see. Even I overexerted myself once I realized I could stay up all night and day with no consequences."

Whatever. I guess this is one of those 'you'll understand when you're older' things. I hate those, especially when they turn out to be right.

"Oh, a question. I can make myself fall asleep, but how will I know when to wake up?"

"As you always have, when your body is rested. These spells do not interfere with that process, they merely replace your exhaustion with magic in some way. When you invoke the 'sleep' spell, the spells reverse so you may properly rest. However, once you awaken the spell will reactivate and restore you regardless of how much sleep you have received."

"Oh, alright.

"Unless you have an objection, I'll start wrapping up my old life tomorrow morning."

"As you wish. Good night."

"Good night."

Ok, here we go.

Eyes closed and relaxed, check.

Oh, that's cute. The sleep spell just 'lit' up in my mind. Guess it's ready.

SLEEP.

I awoke as I always did, with my sense of 'self' returning slowly to the waking world. Some evenings, I woke up a bit before Nightmare Moon. If I did, I would try and sleep some more until she was ready to start her night. I rolled over to face the ebony mare, and opened my eyes to see if she was awake.

I saw a large lump in the bed that told me Nightmare Moon was still in bed and likely asleep.

And then I was AWAKE.

What the hell?

That was better than a Mountain Dew or a cup of coffee.

Was that the 'stay awake' spell? Must have been.

Well, it's not time to get up yet so I'll just go back to sleep.

Eyes closed and relaxed, check.

Huh, the sleep spell isn't activating. Maybe I need to relax some more.

Nope, not working. Maybe if I count sheep? One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, beep beep...

...Nine sheep, ten sheep. Nope, not working.

Guess it's time to get out of bed.

I opened my eyes again and crawled out of bed. Then walked over to Nightmare Moon's armor stand, and picked up the tablet she was using to navigate us around Los Angeles. I figured I could play some games on it or surf the web. Unfortunately, the battery was at 7% and we didn't have a charger for it. I made a mental note to grab one tonight, and set the tablet back down. I didn't want to kill the tablet's battery and earn the ire of my dark Queen.

With nothing to do, I wandered over to the throne room and flopped down on the couch. Then promptly lost myself into a daydream.

"Ah, there you are."

I snapped out of the daydream, and turned to see the ebony form of Nightmare Moon. She was standing off to the side of the couch, at the bottom of the 'L' right next to the shoji door. She had not yet put on her armor.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I couldn't sleep."

"Truly? Did the sleep spells malfunction?"

"Well, no. But I woke up and couldn't use the spell to make myself fall asleep again."

"I see. If the sleep spell will not activate, then you are fully rested and do not require any more sleep."

"Oh."

"Do not worry, you will become accustomed to the spell's actions upon you in time.

"But for now, it is time to don our armor and begin or evening."

"Alright. Oh, do you like cats?"

"Eh? I do not understand."

"Oh, I adopted three cats in my old life: two black cats and a tortoiseshell. I was going to bring them here to live with us. Will that be a problem?"

"Ah, I see. You mean pet felines. I do not mind, though they will remain your responsibility. I do NOT clean litter boxes."

"Sure, sure. They're my responsibility."

Nightmare Moon walked around the edge of the couch and stepped up onto the dais. She then climbed onto the couch and sat down next to me.

"I have never understood owning pets. They always seemed like too much trouble."

"Cats can be independent, depending on their personality. Others can be just as affectionate and needy of your time as dogs. My cats are my companions, my furry friends. I always feel happy when they are around."

"I see. You wish to keep them by your side, always?"

"Well yeah, they're family. They might as well be my own kids."

"Why not turn them into Shadowbolts, then?"

"Wait, what? You can do that?"

"Verily. How else do you think my Shadowbolts were born? The spell was originally used to raise prized warriors and Generals from the dead, after they had fallen on the battlefield or had perished from old age. The resulting magical construct was a mere copy of the original pony and could not operate on its own. However, it would have the memories and personality of the deceased. The construct could then advise or train the living for many years afterwards.

"I discovered a new use for this spell when I cast it upon a pony that was fatally wounded. The resulting magical construct was stable, reliable and most importantly, could think on its own. As he was a magical construct, I was able to add an enchantment to him so I could summon and de-summon him at will. And thus, my first Shadowbolt was born."

"That's cool. But why only three? I would think that an army of Shadowbolts would be awesome."

"Perhaps. But the constructs take considerable magic to summon, and my magic is not limitless. Summoning an army would leave me exhausted and unable to fight for many days."

"Oh, ok. But even then, why just three Shadowbolts?"

"I did not choose that number specifically. The third Shadowbolt had fallen in battle a mere three days before I was banished by my accursed sister. I may still add more Shadowbolts in the future."

"Hmm, alright. Won't this spell kill my cats, though?"

"In truth, I am uncertain. I have only used the spell on an uninjured pony once, the Shadowbolt mare. She was just past her prime, and desired to be forever young and strong. Thus, she made an eager volunteer. With the other two Shadowbolts, their dying bodies were consumed and a new construct was created. But with the volunteer, her body was changed instead. In her case, I believe her essence was retained and she is still the same pony that she was before. The males are mere constructs."

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

"My apologies. I can guarantee that they will not perish, but I do not know what form they will take. The spell was made for ponies, after all."

"Hmmm, I suppose. I guess I'll bring them here and you can convert them."

"That shall not be necessary. I can give you access to the spell and you can convert them yourself."

"You can teach me the spell? Cool, I'm ready."

"Ah, not exactly. The spell has its nuances, and as such I cannot simply impart the knowledge of the spell to you. However, I can enchant the gemstone in your armor and allow you to access the spell through me."

"Uh, I don't understand."

"It is not necessary for you to do so. Come with me."

The two of us stood up and walked across the throne room, through the conference room and into our bedroom. Nightmare Moon paused in front of my armor stand, which still held my armor.

"Give me a moment to impart the spell into your armor's gemstone."

"Wait a minute. Won't this tire you out like it did making the gems for my wings?"

"Not in the slightest. Those were special gemstones, ones that manifested physical wings when specific pegasus magic flowed through them. They are very complex gems and ones that I had not personally made before. That is why there were so many defective gems, I did not have the experience to make them correctly and without flaws.

"However, in this case your gemstone will merely be enchanted to transfer magic and spells from me through you. I have created these gemstones many times for my minions, and they are simple to enchant. Forsooth, this enchantment is the exact reason that I included the gemstone into your chest armor.

"Your concern is greatly appreciated, but it is unnecessary this time."

The ebony mare lit her horn and touched the tip to the gemstone in my armor. After a few moments, she lifted her head and smiled at me.

"There, the enchantment is complete. Now, don your armor and I shall review its new feature with you."

One magical 'put on my armor' spell, and I was ready. But instead of waiting for instructions, I sunk my magic into the gemstone and tried to figure out what had changed. And I found quite a bit.

"It looks like you added several spell slots into the gem. There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 slots here, with 'center' being neutral. 'Up' and 'front' have spells in them, while 'down', 'left', 'right' and 'back' are empty. 'Up' feels like the signal spell you taught me before, do I still need to put a hand on the gem to activate it?"

Nightmare Moon chuckled at my child-like enthusiasm.

"Nay, I can hear it ring loud and clear. The other spell is the Shadowbolt creation spell. Using the spell is simple: concentrate on the target or targets, then push magic into the 'front' spell slot until the spell activates. Essentially, the spell in your gemstone accesses my magic and knowledge to craft the spell. Your magic is used to power it."

"Sounds easy."

"That is its intention. However, be aware that I will know what spells you are trying to cast through me. And I have the ability to deny it to you.

"I also have the ability to induce a feedback into the spell. The feedback can be as little as a small vibration, or it can be a painful backlash. I can also destroy your gemstone if I choose. This ability is merely a safeguard, to prevent anypony from abusing the spells I have lent to you."

The dark mare smiled at me, then reached up and tenderly touched the underside of my chin with a hoof.

"You have earned my trust many times over, but abuse has happened and I must protect myself. I have no intention of ever using this ability upon you, ever. No threat to you is intended, my Captain. Yet I felt it necessary to inform you that this ability exists."

No threat, my ass. Implicit threat received loud and clear. Betray her, and ka-boom.

Not like I was planning on betraying her, anyway

"You are now ready to create your own Shadowbolts, and we are ready to start our night of conquest. After I don my armor, of course."

True to her word, we were out the door as soon as the mare had put on her armor. Our target was the El Segundo police station, to complete our conquest there. But after our night was over, my exciting day was about to begin.

Act 3, Chapter 6 - The End of a Life

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After getting homesick, Nightmare Moon had given me the ability to work during the day. At last, I could walk in the light again! It was time to end my old life and focus on the better one with my Queen.

My tasks at the El Segundo police station that evening went by in a blur. Before I knew it, it was time to head home. But at that time, I was heading to my old home while Nightmare Moon went to our new one in the US Bank Tower. That morning, she and I were standing in the courtyard between the El Segundo Police Station and the courthouse next door. Most of the courtyard was boring flat pavement, but there were bushes and concrete benches lining the courtyard.

The back of the courtyard slimmed down between the building into a narrow walkway, and ended down a set of stairs into a parking lot. In front, the courtyard led to a sidewalk; past that, the street. All the little shops and eateries across the street were closed and would probably not open for a few hours. The sky was just starting to lighten, so I knew that sunrise wasn't too far away.

"Welp, time for me to go."

"Yes. I admit, it will be strange to be apart from thee. We have spent nearly all of our time together since we first met some two months past."

"That's true. But it's just going to be one day, and we'll be back together tonight. Speaking of which, what's our next target?"

"One moment while I look up the name on this tablet.

"It is called the 'Manhattan Beach' police station. Dost thou knowest where it is?"

She's slipped into Old English. This separation must really be bothering her.

"Nope, but that's why I snagged another tablet. Can you show me the location on yours?

"Got it, I've pinned the location. I'll meet you there just after dark. OK?"

A quick look at the ebony mare told me that she was not ok. She was looking down at her hooves, and was using one of those armored hooves to scrape at the concrete floor of the courtyard. It was pretty obvious that she didn't want me to leave. I knew that affection always made her feel better, and I was happy to give it to her. So I reached out and cradled her jaw with a hand, and waited for her to smile. When she didn't after a few seconds, I lifted her head up until she looked at me.

"Hey now. I'm only going to be gone for a single day. And I absolutely guarantee I'm coming back! Life would be way too boring without you in it, missy."

I felt Nightmare Moon's muscles twitch under my palm. Then at last, she smiled warmly at me.

"Thou always knowest the right thing to say."

"Only the best for you."

I gave her no warning before I darted in for a long, passionate kiss. I even gripped her jaw with my hand so I could kiss her hard. Just as suddenly, I let her go and stepped back a bit.

"See you tonight."

With a hard flap of my wings, I was in the air before the mare could reply. Hey, always leave them wanting - right?

I angled my flight north and east to head to my old apartment. And of course, I got lost. I still knew the streets of my home town, I hadn't been gone that long. So I was sure I was in the right area. But I couldn't figure out which apartment was mine from the air. Eventually, I gave up and flew down to street level so I could see the street signs. It was then a simple matter to follow the streets to my old home. I was annoyed at myself for getting lost, so I pinned the location on my tablet so it wouldn't happen again. Then realized the gesture was useless, as I wouldn't be going back there again. I stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the building I had lived in for many months.

The apartment complex was only two stories tall, with a deluxe apartment over the front gate. The building was painted some shade of brown, and trees were planted on either side of the front gate. Bushes covered the bottom edge of the building, though they were trimmed short so they didn't block the windows of the first-floor apartments. The building number was in huge letters on the side of the building, just off to my right. Satisfied that I was at the right place, I walked through the gate and into the courtyard.

Once inside, I stopped and smiled at the familiar sight. In front of me was a swimming pool, surrounded by concrete and patio chairs and tables. Beyond the pool were two deluxe apartments in the center of the courtyard. They were stacked on top of each other kinda like a mini condo. More apartments surrounded the courtyard. Stubbly, scraggly bushes provided a separation between the first floor apartments and the public pool area. Stairs stretched up towards the second floor walkway on either side of the pool. The metal railings on the stairs and the second floor were just as old and rusty as I remembered.

I walked to the left of the pool and went up the stairs to the second floor. It was a short walk down to the back corner, and in moments I stood in front of the door of my old apartment; number 26. A distinctive clatter told me the window to my left was open, and the breeze was rattling the closed blinds. Standing in front of the door, I began to feel nervous. To wrap up my old life, I had to live my old life for a little while. Could I do it? I felt uncertain and uncomfortable, like wearing clothes that were a little too tight. Speaking of clothes, it was getting light out so it was time to put on my human illusion.

I closed my eyes, and thought back to what I looked like before I had met Nightmare Moon. Back to that fateful day, when my whole life changed in ways I never expected. To my surprise, I couldn't picture my old self in my mind. That was strange, I had already made an illusion of my old self back when Nightmare Moon and I moved into the US Bank Tower, This time, the mental image of my body was just a blur. But as I concentrated, details began to slowly appear until that mental image of myself was nice and sharp. Only then did I release the illusion magic that I had been holding. The spell rushed out all over me in moments, then faded to nothing.

I opened my eyes, and I saw that the world around me had not changed. That wasn't a surprise, I had cast magic on myself and not the door to my apartment. But it only took a look at my hands to see what had changed: me. Not only were my hands human again, but all the creases in the skin that I knew so well were there. I turned my hands over, and I saw the scar just below the knuckle on my left ring finger, the one I got when I punched a guy in the mouth back in high school. I learned the hard way, that when you punch a guy in the mouth who wears braces you're gonna get an interesting scar.

I looked up my arms to see my familiar Southern California tan. Spend enough time out in the SoCal sun you'll get what's called a 'farmer's tan'. A glance down at my shirt revealed one of my work dress shirts; this one was sky blue in color, and the sleeves were rolled up to my elbows. No tie. Farther down, I was wearing a pair of dark blue dress pants with a black belt and a pair of brown wingtip leather shoes.

I didn't have a mirror, but a pat down with my hands told me my face felt human. And my voice hadn't changed when Nightmare Moon changed me, so I expected it to stay the same. Didn't know how to change my voice, anyway.

Nothing left to do but open the door.

My keys had been lost a long time ago, along with my cell phone and clothes when Nightmare Moon had created my body and my armor. But I had since learned how to open keyed locks with magic. I opened the screen door, which wasn't locked, and cast a bit of magic first on the deadbolt lock; then on the one in the door handle. In about the same time as it would take to open with a set of keys, the door was unlocked and I walked through the doorway into my old apartment.

Which was completely empty.

All my stuff was gone!

The beat-up couch I picked up off of Craigslist, that always smelled a bit funny: Gone.

My shitty flat panel TV, which I found by the dumpster. The colors were messed up in the right corner, but it was free. Also gone.

And the worst part: my PS4 with all of its games was missing. My heart pined for the hundreds of hours lost in the saved games in the console.

The walls had been repainted an off-white, hiding all the random stains and smudges on the walls. And that 'fresh paint' smell wasn't there either, so the place had been repainted a long time ago.

The carpet had either been cleaned really well or replaced. I didn't think any of those food stains would come out.

I took a few stunned steps inside the apartment, and still couldn't believe everything was gone. I slowly turned my head to my right, and the tiny kitchen was spotless.

A glance down the hallway just past the kitchen, and I could see the single bedroom was all empty. My mattress with the broken springs that sat on stolen milk crates was gone.

That last part kinda pissed me off; it took forever to steal that many plastic crates from the local supermarket. There's just no loyalty between thieves.

I remember...

I remember!

I remember little black kitties running and playing!

I remember staying up all night playing games, and going to bed as the sun was coming up!

I remember --

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Who--?!

Oh.

I remember. It's the elderly lady that lives next door. Glad to see that something around here hasn't changed.

"It's just me, Mrs. Johnston."

"Me? Who is 'me'?"

The screen door creaked as it opened, and the shuffling of Mrs. Johnston's slippers could be heard.

"Oh my! Josh dearie, is that you?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Johnston. I'm back.

"Though it looks like all my stuff is gone."

"Yes, well. You were gone for so long that Doris had your things removed."

Doris? Oh! That's the landlady. Wasn't I angry at her for something?

I took a deep breath before replying.

"I guess it makes sense, I have been gone for a while. But part of me still expected the apartment to be the same."

"There, there dearie. Now, why don't you come and have some tea with me. And then you can see your kitties."

That sounds really nice, actually. Both the tea AND the cats.

I allowed myself to be led to Mrs Johnston's apartment next door. Once inside, Mrs Johnston turned to her right and walked into the kitchen. I took a moment to look around, and suddenly realized how normal my former life used to be.

Her apartment looked just like I remembered. It was laid out just like mine, and she even had her furniture in the same places that mine were in. The same dull brown couch was facing away from the door. The same small widescreen TV that Mrs Johnston would watch her soap operas on. The pictures of children and grandchildren that adorned the faded white walls. The small kitchen to my right, separated from the living room by a narrow counter, where Mrs. Johnston was making tea. I didn't know what tea she was making, but it smelled good. There was a hallway that led past the kitchen, which led to the bathroom and the single bedroom beyond it.

There was a big cat tree in the corner by the TV, which had a large black cat lying on the top perch close to the ceiling. And that cat was staring all wide-eyed at me.

"Hey Kusac, I'm finally home."

At the sound of my voice, Kusac scorched down the cat tree. He ran around the couch and stopped cold right at my feet, then stared up at me with his huge eyes. This was the moment I was dreading. I didn't know anything about my scent, did it change when I had? Would Kusac still know me? There was only one way to find out.

I leaned down and offered Kusac my hand.

He took one sniff, and a second. Then enthusiastically rubbed his head all over my hand. I let out a deep sigh, and knew then that everything would be OK. I scritched the top of his head, then reached around and scritched his chin. Suddenly, Kusac took off and started running excitedly around the apartment. I couldn't help but grin at his antics, and a chuckle from the kitchen told me Mrs. Johnston enjoyed them too. Kusac always got the 'zoomies' when I came back from a long trip, he was too excited to stay still. I knew my cats well, so I simply sat down on the carpet and waited for him to come back. And come back he did! He ran right up into my lap and rubbed his face all over my hand again.

Yeah, he knows me. What was I worried about?

Kusac kept running around, only returning for a quick pet before he was off again. I knew he'd keep up his antics for quite a while, and I also knew that his frolicking would call out my other cats. Sure enough, I heard a soft meow from the hallway to my right. Turning towards the sound, I saw my tortoiseshell girl poking her head around the corner. Bastet was a total sweetheart, very affectionate and loved to cuddle. She was also my oldest cat by many years.

"Hey baby girl. Come here."

Her joints sore with age, Bastet moved a bit stiffly around the corner to walk towards me. As with Kusac, she sniffed my hand for a moment before she rubbed her cheek on it. I gave her a few affectionate scritches on her head before she decided to climb into my lap and PURR.

The last cat to investigate was Isis. She was a rescue cat that had been found very thin and starved on the streets. Since she grew up hungry, she always ate too much and became a chubby black kitty. She never got too fat though, and the vet said she was healthy, so I just let her be. She was also the timid kitty of the group, so I expected her to take a while before she said hello. I passed the time petting Bastet into a happy pile of fur.

Kusac had finally calmed down and was leaning against my leg when I finally heard the plaintive meows of Isis. I looked up and saw her standing at the same place Bastet had been, at the corner of the kitchen wall. She was scared, her eyes all open wide and her face was half hidden behind the wall.

"Come on, Isis. You can do it."

I reached out towards her with my right hand, then wiggled my fingers at her. Isis immediately perked up and walked towards me with a purpose. This finger wiggle was a thing I had taught Isis a long time ago, so she knew I wanted to pet her and give her love. Kusac and Bastet didn't need the sign, but Isis always calmed down when I used it. In moments, I was being attacked by three cats who all needed to be petted and loved.

I spent the next several minutes petting Kusac, Bastet and Isis. They all purred and purred and purred, until one by one they fell asleep and dreamed their little kitty dreams. Mrs Johnston was kind enough to hand me a cup of hot tea while my cats had me pinned to the floor.

"Oh, aren't they the cutest darlings? My cats are too aloof to cuddle, but your children were always happy to climb into my lap and give me love."

Mrs. Johnston took a sip of her tea, then let out a sorrowful sigh.

"I know they are your kitties and they belong with you, but I will miss them so much when they go."

"I... I..."

Mrs Johnston smiled, then patted my shoulder.

"It's okay, dearie. I can see how much they missed you. Now, I'm going to sit down on the couch and enjoy my tea."

While I sat on the carpet and sipped my own tea, I debated taking the next step - changing my cats into Shadowbolts. Did I have the right to change them? To risk their lives for my own selfish needs? And if I did, what would they change into? Would they stay cats, or become ponies? Would they have free will, or be mindless constructs?

I did a lot of soul-searching while I sat there on the carpet.

Act 3, Chapter 7 - The Beginning of a New Life

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I was trying to wrap up my old life, so I could live my new one with a clear conscience. But I still had a big decision to make.

I did a lot of soul-searching while I sat there on the carpet. Eventually, I realized that I didn't have a choice. I couldn't just give up my cats, they were too precious to me. They could have a life with Mrs. Johnston, but they would always wonder why I had abandoned them. Cats do remember those they love, and will mourn when the one they love is gone for too long. Having the cats stay in the US Bank Tower with Nightmare Moon and me was a better option, but also problematic. There was no guarantee that I would be home every night to care for them, and I had no one to watch over them while I was gone.

No, I had to go through with it and just hope for the best.

Cat gravity kept me on the carpet while my cats snoozed and purred away. So I spent the time enjoying the warmth my cats gave me, and the warmth of my tea.

"Oh! I just remembered Josh, I have something for you!"

"What?"

"Let me go fetch it from my closet, I won't be but a moment."

Mrs Johnston stood up from her couch with a slight groan, then walked a bit stiffly down the hall and disappeared into her bedroom. I heard her closet door slide open, then another grunt as she picked something up. When she returned, she had a white banker's box in her hands; the kind you might see in the average office that's used to store papers. The box looked to be maybe a foot wide, maybe a foot tall and a foot & a half deep. It also had a lid on top of the box, hiding its contents from view.

"Here you go, dearie."

She grunted again as she set the box down with a thump in front of me. The box didn't look that heavy, so I guessed that Mrs. Johnston's joints were acting up again.

The noise woke my cats. Isis was easily startled, so she ran off into the kitchen. Kusac stood up to check out the box, while Bastet stayed in my lap and just looked curiously at it. I reached over to the white box, and lifted up the lid to peer inside.

My PS4!

And my games!

I rifled through the box to see what else Mrs. Johnston had saved for me.

She got my tablet!

And my big jar of pocket change!

Oh, and my phone charger. It would be useless now if it didn't also charge my tablet.

"This is awesome, thank you!"

"You're welcome. I managed to sneak all those things out when Doris was cleaning out your old apartment. I am sorry dearie, but I had to use your cat food and litter."

"That's cool, Mrs. Johnston."

While I stared into the box, Mrs Johnston turned around and sat back down on the couch.

I remember when I first met Mrs. Johnston, I thought she was just some really stupid old lady. And a sucker for giving me free food.

But I was the stupid one. Mrs. Johnston actually CARES about me. And she was willing to reach out to a spiteful kid who was too dumb to realize he was causing his own problems.

And when I leave here today, I'm never going to see her again.

My eyes immediately got misty at the thought. My original plan was to just take my cats and go, but I realized that I really wanted to spend some more time with Mrs. Johnston. I used to be so annoyed when she asked me to watch TV with her, but at that moment it sounded like the best thing in the world.

I put the lid back on the cardboard box, then gently cradled Bastet in my arms as I stood up from the carpet. Kusac followed me as I walked around the couch and sat down next to Mrs. Johnston. Kusac stared at me for several moments; I patted the cushion next to me as an invitation for the tomcat to join us. But instead, he turned and padded over to the cat tree. He climbed up to one of its higher shelves, then lay down to watch us.

Mrs. Johnston and I spent the next several hours chatting. She brought me up to date with the local gossip, which I didn't care for but it was important to her. I had to spin a lot of lies about my new life, since I obviously couldn't tell her the truth. I told her that I was the personal assistant to a powerful woman who traveled all over SoCal, and I did all the mundane tasks that she never had time to do. And my new employer had kept me way too busy to come back and visit until then. If Mrs. Johnston had any reason to doubt my story, she never said anything.

Eventually, we ran out of things to talk about and Mrs. Johnston turned on the TV. Isis had joined us on the couch at some point, and was leaning on my left hip as she snoozed away. Bastet was still in my lap and enjoying all of the pets I was giving her, while Kusac was asleep on the cat tree. Mrs. Johnston and I watched her favorite soap operas until noon, then she got up and fixed us some lunch. I swear, no one could beat her tuna fish sandwiches. She never told me what her secret recipe was, no matter how many times I asked, but they always tasted amazing. She even gave me a small bowl of tuna for Isis and Bastet, who were quite happy to eat it all up. Kusac was still sleeping so he missed out.

After lunch, we watched TV for another half hour before Mrs. Johnston announced that she was tired and wanted to lay down for her afternoon nap. As she got herself ready for bed, she let me know that I was welcome to stay until she woke up. I didn't answer, but I knew I had other plans. When Mrs Johnston called out for me to tuck her in, I set a slightly disgruntled Bastet down on the couch then walked into Mrs. Johnston's bedroom. The elderly woman had just pulled the covers over herself, and looked quite cozy. I held her hand for a moment, and suddenly couldn't find the right words to say. But when Mrs. Johnston smiled tiredly at me, they all came out in a rush.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Johnston. I never really appreciated you until you were gone from my life."

The elderly woman smiled warmly at my kind words.

"Oh, it's no less than you deserved."

"No, actually. I didn't deserve you. But you were what I needed, even if I didn't know it at the time."

"Why Josh, that's real sweet of you to say."

Her smile suddenly turned into a slight frown; she must have noticed the sad and wistful look that I felt on my face. And in my heart, too.

"You won't be here when I wake up, will you?"

"No. No, I'm afraid I won't."

"Oh.

"Will you think of me, from time to time?"

"Always, Mrs. Johnston. Now SLEEP."

I punctuated my last words with a minor sleep spell, one that Nightmare Moon had taught me a couple of weeks ago. Mrs. Johnston's eyes closed and she began to lightly snore. One of her cats, a white molly named Snowball, took that moment to jump up on the bed. She sniffed my offered hand, then let me pet her for a few moments. Afterwards, she curled up next to Mrs. Johnston so she could have her own cat nap with her mistress on the soft bed.

The sleep spell would keep Mrs. Johnston asleep for the next few hours, so I knew I wouldn't be disturbed. I made my way back into the living room, and found all of my cats asleep; Bastet and Isis on the couch, and Kusac still on the cat tree.

It was time.

I took a deep breath, then summoned magic into my hands. My human illusion shattered, revealing my dark and armored feline form underneath. With a thought, I gently lifted all three slumbering cats up with my magic. The levitating cats wobbled gently in the air as I sat down on the couch. I gently set the snoozing cats down in the center of the carpet between the couch and the TV.

There was nothing left to do but cast the spell. I focused my gaze upon the cats, then began to push magic into the 'front' spell slot in the gemstone set into my armor. All three cats immediately began to glow red, the color of my magic. While the spell was charging, I thought about what I wanted the cats to look like. I was hoping that I could affect the cat's transformation, and prevent them from becoming ponies. So I concentrated on their looks and the abilities I thought they should have.

I wanted them to be as big as a large cat, like a leopard or panther, but I wanted their faces to still look like a house cat. So basically, a big house cat. I wanted them to have front paws that could work like a hand, so they could grab things with their front paws. I got this idea from a book I read a long time ago. I also wanted them to have the ability to change shape back to a normal house cat if necessary. I kept these features in mind while I continued to power the spell, up until the spell suddenly fired off on its own. The cats were surrounded in a bright red glow, then the area exploded in a bright flash!

My vision slowly returned, and my eyes began to focus on three large shapes in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to clear the spots in front of them. When they finally cleared, I saw an amazing sight: three large cats standing in front of me! These cats looked to be about two feet tall at the shoulder, and around three or so feet long not counting their tails. The center cat was slightly taller than the other two. I didn't see any bodies laying around, so I presumed that these three were my cats. Just changed. They looked like my three cats: the taller one was a sleek black cat; the right one was a chubby black cat; and the left one was a tortoiseshell. It was kinda hard to tell, the uniforms kinda got in the way.

Uniforms? Oh, yes. These large cats were wearing Shadowbolt uniforms! They all wore the same one: a purple bodysuit with very dark blue covering the head and neck, with the two colors separated by a yellow lightning-bolt pattern. However, their paws and muzzles were uncovered revealing their fur. All three wore purple goggles with yellow lenses. On their flank was a cat skull, but with wings instead of ears.

Speaking of, they all had wings! They were folded at their sides, and looked about the same as pony pegasus wings. All three cats were standing and facing forward, though with their goggles on I couldn't tell if they were awake. I did not see their tails moving, so they may have been asleep. I decided to re-cast my human illusion, in case my armored feline form frightened them.

Afterwards, I focused my attention on the center cat.

"Kusac, is that you?"

At the sound of my voice, the center black cat sat down on the carpet. He brought his hand-shaped front paws to his goggles, lifted the goggles off his eyes then set them down on his forehead. Without his goggles on, I clearly recognized the face of Kusac. He then looked up at me.

"Yes, Master, I am Kusac."

"Whoa, you can talk?"

"Yes, Master. Does this displease you?"

"No no, not at all! I'm just glad I can finally talk to you! I've wanted to for so long, so I can tell you to stop chasing Isis and Bastet!"

"Really, why? I was just playing."

"You play too rough for the girls, Kusac. They don't understand."

The two remaining cats sat down and lifted their goggles up. I could now see that these cats were Bastet and Isis. Just bigger. Isis was still a bit chubby but not as much as she was when she was a normal cat.

Bastet turned to Kusac and began bitching him out.

"Yeah, you idiot! I thought you were trying to kill me! All that biting and scratching really hurt!"

"I'm sorry! You were supposed to chase me after I chased you!"

Isis took that moment to speak up.

"How were we supposed to know that? Why do you think I hissed at you all the time?"

"I don't know, maybe you were just grumpy!"

Isis lashed out and hit Kusac in the face with a paw.

"You numbskull!"

Kusac reared back at the hit, and his wings flared out instinctively. One of his wings hit Bastet, who then turned and hissed at Kusac.

"Ow! Hey! I'll bite you for that!"

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

All three cats immediately cowered on the ground and looked up at me.

"No more fighting, that's enough. You all can talk and understand each other now, so I expect you to talk this out and work out your problems.

"Bastet and Isis, remember that Kusac was playing and trying to make friends. He messed that up pretty bad, but he wasn't trying to be mean.

"Kusac, understand that Bastet and Isis think you're playing too rough. Tone it down, and TALK to them.

"Do you understand?"

All three cats spoke in unison.

"Yes, Master."

"Good.

"Ok, here's the plan kids. We're moving out."

The cats didn't like that idea.

Kusac complained, "What? Again?"

Bastet whined, "I like it here, I don't want to go!"

Isis just shivered in fear.

"Oh come on, you guys."

I knelt down on the carpet and beckoned them closer.

"Come here, come here. Please."

Kusac and Bastet came close and I petted their faces. Kusac smiled and Bastet sighed out loud. Isis approached a few moments later. I extended the petting to their necks and backs, and my hand slid over the slick fabric of their uniforms.

"Oh hey, can you guys take off your jumpsuits?"

All three cats closed their eyes, and their bodies briefly flashed a bright white. A moment later, the cats were bare and clad only in their fur. They were still the same larger size, but their wings had disappeared with their uniforms. I thought that was strange, but figured their wings were just part of their uniform somehow.

It's magic, who knows how it works?

Kusac spoke up.

"Better, Master?"

I stroked his fur from his head to his tail, then caressed his tail from base to tip.

"What do you think?"

His only answer was a smile and a purr.

I spent some time petting all three cats to help calm them down. It was kind of weird petting them when they were big, there was a lot more of them to pet. But their fur felt the same, and they acted the same way they always did. Kusac would lift his head after I stroked his tail, so I would stroke his head and pet his body all over again. Bastet preferred having her chin and jaw rubbed, and Isis would lie on her back and beg to have her belly rubbed. If I still had any fears that my cats had been destroyed, this petting session crushed them completely. They may have looked different, but these were still my cats.

"Ok, ok. Enough for now."

All three chimed in: "Awww!"

"Later, I promise. But for now, it's time to go."

The cats all looked sad when they remembered that we were moving away.

"It won't be so bad. You'll be working with me now! I've got a new job, and I need your help. You'll get to stalk and hunt and guard me, instead of sitting alone at home all the time."

Bastet and Kusac both perked up.

"Ooh?"

"Really?"

Isis was less enthused.

"Yay."

"Now now Isis, I promise it won't be so bad. Now come on, it's time to go."

The reply I got was a chorus of sad "yes, master'.

"Good. First off, change back into your smaller cat forms."

All three cats flashed bright white for a second, then reappeared in the feline forms I knew so well. I walked around the couch and picked up the banker's box.

"Okay. Kusac and Bastet on my shoulders, while Isis lies down on the box."

The cats jumped on to the couch, then its back, then on to me.

"Alright, hold on."

I focused on my magic, then cast an illusion spell. In a flash, my Shadowcats could no longer be seen.

I heard a chorus of 'woah' from them. I smiled, but didn't respond. Instead, I walked to the front door of the apartment and pushed the screen door open. I used my tail to wrap around the door handle, and pulled the door shut behind me. Next, I turned to my right and made my way down the walkway towards the stairs by the pool.

While I walked down the stairs, Kusac whispered in my ear.

"I always wanted to see what it was like to be outside. It's so cool!"

Unfortunately, Bastet wasn't as curious nor as brave as Kusac.

"I'm afraid."

I could feel her paws shaking on my shoulder.

"It's ok, Bastet. You're bigger and braver now, I know you can do it."

"I-I'll try, Master."

"Just remember, I'll always be here for you."

Bastet shifted on my shoulder and leaned against my neck for comfort. This was her favorite way to cuddle, so her shaking calmed down and she began to quietly purr.

By that time, I had made it down the stairs and past the pool. Some kids were splashing around in the shallow end, while a woman I presumed was their mother was reading a book in one of the deck chairs nearby. One walk through the main gate, then a turn around the corner of the building and we entered the narrow alley between this one and the apartments next door.

"Alright kids, jump down and change into your Shadowbolt forms."

I felt Kusac and Bastet push off of my shoulder, while the box shifted when Isis made her jump. In a flash of light three large cats wearing Shadowbolt uniforms landed on the ground. Kusac turned to me, and pulled his goggles off of his eyes.

"Don't you mean 'Shadowcats', Master?"

"Yeah, that's true. Time to show you all my true form."

I dropped my human illusion, and a moment later my armored feline form was revealed to my Shadowcat minions.

Act 3, Chapter 8 - Back in the Groove

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I had made my choice, and my new Shadowcats were all I had hoped that they would be. But how would they take my transformation into a cat-creature?

Only one way to find out.

I dropped my human illusion, and a moment later my armored feline form was revealed to my Shadowcat minions.

"Oh, wow!"

"Woah!"

"You're one of us now! I thought you smelled different."

"I was worried about that, Bastet. I can hide my appearance, but I can't change my scent."

"Oh, you still smell like you. But there's some other smell about you that I can't figure out."

"That might be from my new Mistress. We've been working and sleeping together ever since I left. But anyway. We are flying to meet her tonight. She wants to conquer Southern California, and we are going to help her with that. Right now, your job will be watching and guarding us while she and I do the conquering. Got it?"

"Yes, boss."

"Very funny, Kusac. Our Mistress is a black horse called Nightmare Moon. You will call her 'Nightmare Moon' or 'Mistress'. You can take orders from her, even when I'm not around. Just tell me what those orders are when you see me next. If she contradicts one of my orders, just do what she says and tell me later."

"Got it."

"Alright. You know how to use those wings?"

In a blink, Kusac had unfurled his wings. A few quick flaps and he was hovering a few feet up off the ground.

"What do you think?"

"Smartass. Bastet, your turn."

The tortoiseshell took a few timid flaps with her wings, but very quickly gained her confidence. Soon, she was hovering in the air next to Kusac.

"Good job. Isis, your turn."

The chubby Shadowcat stayed on the ground and shook in fear.

"Come on, Isis. Just open your wings and flap. You can do it."

The Shadowcat timidly opened her wings and began to slowly flap them. Her confidence seemed to grow the more she flapped, and in no time she was hovering up off the ground. She tenderly flew up and down the alley several times while I gave her more verbal encouragement. Each time she turned around, she flew a little higher and a little faster until she was zipping up and down some twenty feet above the ground.

"OK, enough playtime Isis. Come here."

The Shadowcat took a sharp turn in the air and made a beeline for me. When she stopped and came to a hover, she had a grin on her muzzle and was purring loudly.

"There you go - good girl!

"Alright. We're supposed to meet our Mistress tonight, but as you can see it's still daylight out. So instead, we're going to go somewhere so you can practice with your new bodies and work on your teamwork."

Besides, if Nighty sees they can't work together she's going to give me a lot of grief.

"Now, I'm going to hide you all behind bird illusions before we take off."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why', Kusac?"

"Why do you hide us? You hid us on the way down here, and now you're hiding us again. Are you ashamed of our new forms?"

"No, I am not ashamed of you. But my Mistress and I are trying to be sneaky, and flying cats are not sneaky."

"Oh."

"It's a good question Kusac. When it's dark out, we won't need to use illusions because people can't see very well at night. But until the sun does down, we need to be careful.

"Everyone okay?"

Nods all around. So I cast illusion spells on all of us, so we looked like ordinary birds. I had worked on the bird illusion since I last used it out in the desert. None of us looked any bigger than a normal pidgeon or sparrow now; the rest was simply hidden from sight. I took off into the air, then waited above the apartment complex for my Shadowcats to catch up. Once they did, I flew northwest towards the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). I was aiming for an area just west of the airport that was marked as a Blue Butterfly sanctuary. Before it became a sanctuary, there were houses and families and animals living there. It's prime real estate, as the ocean is just down the hill from there. While the El Segundo Blue Butterfly does exist and they make their home in the sanctuary, rumor has it that the sanctuary was made just to shut up the people who complained about all the noise from the airport. A little eminent domain to force the people to move out, and place a sanctuary there so no one can ever move back in.

The four of us skirted the southwest corner of LAX, and landed in a part of the sanctuary that couldn't be seen from the street. I removed our illusions, set my banker's box down in a dry spot, then addressed my Shadowcats.

"Okay. We're going to be playing games of tag. One of you will go run off, and after a bit the other two will give chase. The chase is over once the one being chased is tapped with a paw. Tails don't count. No tackling, no biting. I'll give you directions from the air. Got it?"

They did. Kusac was first, and he was great at avoiding Baster and Isis one-on-one. But when I gave them directions to cut him off, he didn't stand a chance. Both Bastet and Isis had the same result, though sometimes Kusac just ran them down. However, during one chase Bastet stopped in her tracks and looked down at the nearby beach.

"What's that, Master?"

I landed next to her and gave her a quick pet.

"That's a beach, Bastet. It's made of soft and warm sand. Beyond the beach is water."

"That's a loooooot of water."

"Yup. But you don't have to go into it, the beach is plenty of fun anyway.

"You want to go check it out?"

"Yes, please."

"You got it."

I shouted over to where I thought Kusac and Isis were.

"GAME OVER! SHADOWCATS, RETURN!"

Within a minute, all three cats were at my feet and waiting expectantly.

"Good job, all of you. We're going to take a break for the rest of the day, and head down to the beach. Now, wait here while I go get my box."

I flew over to my box on the other side of the hill, picked it up then returned to my Shadowcats. I took a look down at the beach, and noticed that it looked kinda empty.

"Alright, here's the plan. We're going to fly down there as birds and land across the road. As soon as you land, change into your smaller cat forms. No one should notice. Got it?"

"Yes, Master."

A splash of illusion magic, and three birds appeared in the grass. We took off, flew over the fence and landed on the sidewalk across the street. In a flash, three cats appeared next to a human wearing a t-shirt and shorts. We trotted down a nearby set of stairs, crossed the parking lot and hit the beach. The cats were fascinated by the sand, and how their paws would sink into it. I let them freely frolic on the beach, as long as they didn't go too far. I walked down close to the water line, then sat down in the sand. I spent some time watching the waves roll in. Eventually, the cats joined me; Kusac played in the surf, Isis curled up on my box and Bastet curled up in my lap.

I heard a familiar jingle not long after the sun began to go down. A fruit vendor was wheeling his cart along the harder sand near the water line. The ringing bell on the man's cart woke up Bastet and Isis, while Kusac stopped playing to watch. When the seller was in front of me, he stopped and looked at me expectantly.

Probably doesn't speak English well, but that's okay.

"Do you have any mixed fruit cups left?"

He nodded and held up two.

"How much for both?"

He held up some fingers, and I felt it was a fair price. I pulled out my jar of change and showed it to him.

"Change okay?"

He nodded. I counted out the right change and handed it over, and he gave me the two plastic cups filled with fruit along with a handful of paper napkins. He then wheeled his cart down the beach, looking for more customers.

I found myself surrounded by three cats, all enticed by the strong smell of fruit.

"What's that, Master?"

"Fruit. It looks like we have..."

I looked inside the two cups, and turned them around to see what fruit was inside them.

"Watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, mango and cucumber.

"Want to try some?"

All three enthusiastically answered, "Yes!"

I fed each cat a piece of fruit, which they first sniffed then ate with gusto. Kusac and Bastet were most fond of the mango, while Isis really liked the watermelon and I loved the cucumber slices. But we all ate some of everything. In no time, the fruit was all gone and the sun had nearly vanished below the horizon.

"It's almost dark, Master."

"Yes Isis, it is. My Mistress should be waking up around now. Once it's fully dark, we can leave."

That moment arrived several minutes later. As there was no one else on the beach that I could see, we changed into our feline forms and took off right from the beach. I pulled out the police iPad from behind my chest plate, turned it on and brought up Google Maps. I corrected my flight slightly so I was heading right to the Manhattan Beach police station.

Kusac was really chatty during the whole flight. His natural feline curiosity combined with his newly acquired sentience meant that he could ask questions and actually understand the answers. I didn't mind, as I had always wanted to talk with my cats about...well, anything. But I swore if he started asking 'why' over and over like three-year-olds tended to do, I would have sprayed him with water from a spray bottle. After I found a spray bottle and filled it with water, of course.

The conversation made the flight go by fast, and in no time we were at the Manhattan Beach police station. I spotted Nightmare Moon on the station's rooftop, so I landed on the blacktop next to her.

"Ah, I see you have created your Shadowbolts."

Kusac replied before I did.

"We prefer to be called 'Shadowcats', Mistress."

Nightmare turned to me, surprise evident on her face.

"You allow them to speak?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Their prattling is so annoying. 'I'm tired and I want to sleep.' 'I'm in pain, help me!' 'I want to visit my family, can I take some time off?' Ugh, who wants to hear it all? It was a simple matter to silence them and compel them to obey."

"Uh, ok. This one is named Kusac, and the other two are named Bastet and Isis. I'll have them guard us while we work tonight."

"As you wish. I realize that your new minions are well, 'new' to you and you wish to spend time with them. But I am dubious as to their usefulness during our conquest."

After the night was done, I had to admit that the Night Mare was right. She and I had our 'tag and bag' routine down pat. That's 'tag', as in give the officer a shadow parasite; and 'bag', meaning we put them in the 'savior' dream. I was able to give the cats tasks to do, like 'watch this person and tell me if they move or wake up', and 'watch this door and tell us if someone is approaching', but these were all things that the ebony mare and I could do ourselves. After a while, I just let them explore the station on their own.

Beyond my Shadowcat's 'training', the night went as smooth as it always did. At least working with my cats kept me from getting too bored. But time still passed and we finished conquering the night shift close to dawn. It was time for us to leave.

A few minutes later, Nightmare Moon and I stood in the parking lot in front of the station with my Shadowcats sitting around my feet. Beyond the glass wall that surrounded the front door of the station, we could see police officers going about their normal business. A nice coastal breeze ruffled my fur and feathers each time it blew by.

"So, how goes your quest to close out your previous life?"

"All done. Turns out that most of my things were disposed of, and all that's left I have in this box."

"I see. And how was your rest?"

"Oh. Um, I haven't slept yet. You?"

"I confess that I have found it difficult to sleep. The room feels so empty without you in our bed."

"That's kinda sweet, in a way. Can't you just will yourself to sleep?"

"Nay, my disquiet has been such that I cannot relax sufficiently to activate the spell."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But at least we'll be together tonight."

"Huzzah! My snuggle buddy hath returned!"

I heard snickers from my cats, but I chose to ignore them.

The flight back to the US Bank Tower was uneventful though it was the first time for my Shadowcats. They had a bit of trouble with the strong winds at the top of the tower, but otherwise did very well. But there was a small surprise waiting for us when we arrived in the Moon Palace on the 71st floor.

"It seems that the building manager is awaiting us in my throne room."

How the HELL does she know that?!

Oh, right. She can sense her minions when they're nearby.

"You should decide what to do with your new feline minions, my Captain. I do not recommend revealing their true natures as of yet."

Fair enough.

Before I could speak, three flashes of light appeared around me. I looked down at the floor to see three normal-sized cats, and they were smugly smiling at me.

"Hmph. Your minions may have some use after all."

Nightmare Moon slid open the shoji door that led to the throne room and strode through. I followed, with my curious cats at my heels. Janice was standing in the middle of the room, and when she heard us approach she turned to smile at us.

"Welcome back, Mistress and Master."

"Good evening. What is the purpose of your visit?"

"I have some urgent business for you Mistress, that can't wait."

When we were close enough to her, Janice looked around and smiled at my cats. They were walking around the throne room, as curious cats will do.

"I see you have a few guests with you. They seem well behaved, may I pet them?"

"Certainly. Kids, this is Janice; come say hello."

My feline companions obediently approached Janice, sniffed her hands for a bit then graciously let her pet them. Of course, my cats were more than willing to take all the attention Janice was willing to give. After several moments of pets and love, Janice stood up and ended the petting session. She brushed some imaginary dust off of her skirt, then spoke to Nightmare Moon.

"May we start our business, Mistress? It will not take long."

"As you wish."

Once my cats had realized Janice wasn't going to pet them any more, they had taken off to explore the large room. I waited until Nightmare Moon and Janice had entered the meeting room and closed the shoji door before I made my next move.

"Shadowcats, attend me!"

Three feline heads popped up from behind different items in the room, and all three looked at me with urgency in their eyes. The heads ducked down, then the cats came running across the room towards me. All three came to a screeching stop in front of my feet and sat down. They all looked up at me and waited for me to speak.

"Okay, this floor is our new home. When we are alone here, you are free to take any form you wish and explore wherever you wish, unless told otherwise. When others are near, stay in your smaller feline forms. Also, you must stay on this floor and are not allowed to leave on your own. Understand?"

All three spoke in unison.

"Yes, Master!"

Kusac and Bastet both flashed bright white for a moment, then reappeared in their larger feline forms. A moment later, Isis also assumed her larger form.

"Good. Now I'm going to bed."

While I didn't feel tired per se, I had been getting a little warning message in my head all afternoon. The warning was from the spells watching my magic capacity - my wellspring, if you will. It was telling me the spells Nightmare Moon gave me were keeping me awake, and were draining a lot of magic to do it. Nighty said I should have been able to stay up for several days, but maybe she was wrong. I had no reason to stay awake anyway, so off to bed I went.

As the conference room was in use, I backtracked to the entrance room then entered the bedroom from there. A quick spell to remove my armor, and I slipped beneath the covers of the cool and soft bed. In moments, I had fallen asleep.

"Ah, it is good to see you lying in my bed again. I am pleased."

Wha...?

The sheets moved on their own, and a warm body slid beneath them.

"Come, cuddle with me. I have missed you."

What a nice idea.

I rolled over in bed, and snuggled up against Luna's barrel like I always did. In response, her forelegs wrapped around my shoulders. She nestled her muzzle between my ears and let out a long sigh.

Ah, I missed this. It was only one day, but it was still too long.

We lay there, cuddled together, until I quickly fell into a deep slumber.

Act 3, Chapter 9 - Intruder Alert

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I had closed down my old life and turned my cats into my own Shadowcats. Now there was nothing to keep me from the Night Mare's side.

Several weeks later, I was shocked out of a deep sleep by a loud, blaring alarm in my head. An instant later, I threw the covers off and dove out of bed. The claws on my feet instinctively snagged the carpet and they helped launch my body across the room. I scampered as fast as I could towards the closest shoji door, which was the shortest path to the source of the alarm. The urgent need to defend my home pushed me to scramble faster, and the need to protect myself prompted me to summon my armor on the run. In a flash, I was fully prepared for battle.

The magical alarm in my head also told me which one was going off: the one on the elevator doors. While I ran, I remembered that Nightmare Moon's alarms only go off if someone did not have the correct magical marker. All of the Night Mare's minions had that marker, so whoever set the alarm off was not allowed in the mare's Moon Palace. I didn't know if this was an attack or just some idiot who got off on the wrong floor, but I wasn't taking any chances. As far as I was concerned, this was a full-on invasion until proven otherwise.

A flurry of activity exploded from under the bed, and three small cats scorched across the room to beat me to the shoji door. One cat put on an extra burst of speed and reached the door first; Bastet hooked her claws into the wood and flung herself to the side. The door opened just in time for the other two cats to pass through, with me right on their heels. Chubby Isis was surprisingly nimble as she ran ahead and opened the next door the same way, though her extra weight pulled the door off its rails. Kusac cut the corner sharp and bolted for the entrance hall, while I instead swung my body wide. My remaining cat ran full-tilt into the edge of the shoji door covering the entrance to the elevators. His body slammed the door open and the cat tumbled out of the way, unharmed. My wide and curving route let me run through the open shoji door without slowing down. I burst into the entrance hall at speed and skidded to a halt in front of the intruders.

There were only two humans standing side-by-side in the room, instead of the army I had expected. They had just walked into the entrance room with the large murals when I ran into the room. Both intruders looked really surprised to see me. I recognized the human on my left as a security guard for the building. He was skinny and tall, though he wasn't as tall as me. He had balding gray hair and wore a dark blue security uniform. Nightmare Moon had long ago taught me how to detect shadow parasites, and this guard definitely had one. But the other did not, so that meant he was our intruder and worth a closer look. He was shorter than the security guard by about half a head, had short black hair that looked a bit greasy, and thick black glasses that framed his face. He was wearing a black t-shirt, worn blue jeans, and some sort of canvas sneakers. He was a bit pudgy but not excessively so. Beyond having pale skin that implied he rarely went outside, he looked to be reasonably clean and groomed.

I reached out with my magic and grabbed the intruder by his throat, then yanked him closer to me. His panicked expression was delightful, even if the smell of cigarettes and Cheetos was overwhelming. But instead of threatening the intruder, I screamed at the security guard with as much authority as I could muster.

"WHY DID YOU BRING THIS ONE HERE?!"

The guard shook in abject terror, but still managed to answer me.

"He-he-he said he was invited here!"

I moved in close to the guard and pushed my face towards his, our noses nearly touching.

"HE LIED."

Before I could utter more threats, I heard the magically-amplified voice of Nightmare Moon from behind me.

"Send the guard away, my Captain. And bring the intruder to me."

I turned my head off to the side, as if to look at the Night Mare back in the throne room.

What?

Aw, come ON.

OBEY

Yeah yeah, Creepy Inner Voice. I got it.

I turned back to the security guard, a snarl on my face.

"Go."

An instant later, the guard turned around and fled back to the elevator lobby. I last saw him frantically pushing elevator buttons before I turned my attention back to the intruder. I willed my magic to hold his entire body instead of his throat. Then I lifted his body off of the floor. He was flailing his arms and legs all around, and grunting and groaning like he was fighting against something. It was kind of cute, like he actually thought he could escape my grasp. But there WAS. NO. ESCAPE.

I shook him around like a child would a toy, until he stopped making noise.

"Stop that."

The intruder now hung limply in my magical grasp and no longer tried to escape. But there was still a great amount of fear in his eyes.

"Good. I will bring you to the Mistress, and she will determine your fate."

The two of us passed through the shoji doors; me under my own power, the intruder cocooned in my magic. Once we cleared the doors, Kusac kindly slid the door closed behind us. I gave my Shadowcat a smile and a nod, but continued my walk towards Nightmare Moon's throne. The ebony mare was sitting upright in the middle of the couch, wearing her armor. Despite the informal setting, she looked very regal to my eyes. Her expression was stern but without anger as she looked at our intruder. She did not speak as I strode over to the dais and set the intruder down on his knees in front of it. He knelt there and stared at the Night Mare with his mouth agape, too dumbstruck to speak. After a few moments, I grabbed his head with my hand and forced him to bow.

"BOW BEFORE YOUR QUEEN!"

I held his head down on the dais for a few moments, then released him. He shook in fear, but to his credit he kept his head bowed.

Several seconds passed before the Mare in the Moon spoke up.

"You may rise."

The intruder lifted his head up off of the dais, but stopped partway to turn and look at me with fear still in his eyes. I gave him a nod, and he finished sitting up to rest upon his knees. He still looked really nervous, and probably unsure of what to do. He did not have long to wait, as Nightmare Moon addressed him again.

"How did you find us?"

He did not immediately reply, though his lips moved like he was trying to speak. Internally, I counted to five then grabbed the back of his hair in my fist.

"ANSWER YOUR QUEEN!"

"Ow ow ow! Aw fuck that hurts!"

"I SAID ANSWER!"

"Okay okay okay! I work nearby, and I saw you two fly by a week ago!"

I let go of his hair just as Nightmare Moon prompted him to continue.

"Interesting. And...?"

The intruder rubbed the back of his head where I had grabbed his hair.

"And um, I set up a bunch of cheap webcams in case you flew by again."

My dark Queen turned to me.

"Web cams?"

"Small devices that remember what they see and let you look at the pictures later."

"Ah."

The ebony mare turned back to the intruder.

"And by tracking our comings and goings, you were able to determine where we were staying."

"Yeah. I moved the webcams around until I caught you leaving this building from the observation deck."

"I see. And how did you determine which floor we reside on? We do not leave the building from this floor."

"Uh, I didn't know that until that security guard took me here."

"And why did he do that?"

"I just told him that 'Nightmare Moon' wanted to see me."

Uh oh. He shouldn't know her name. Unless he's...oh no.

"How do you know my name?"

"Of course I know who you are. I'm a fan of the My Little Pony TV Show."

Great, he's a brony.

"Captain?"

"Yeah.

"Remember when I said that this world is aware of Equestria, but only as a child's fairy tale? The stories are called My Little Pony, and this guy has seen them too."

The intruder looked up at me, surprise evident on his face.

"What? What do you mean?"

I crossed my arms and stared down at him.

"You're not the only brony to find Nightmare Moon."

His face turned to shock.

"You're a brony like me?!"

"Not like you. I'm better."

"Captain, why does he call you a 'brony'?"

"That name is used by those of us who enjoy the My Little Pony stories. It's made up of two words; 'bro', which is a slang word for a male, and 'pony'."

"Hmph. We have finally met another of your 'brony' comrades."

"That's...not exactly true."

"Oh?"

The Night Mare narrowed her eyes at me.

"What have you been hiding from me?"

"Um...you remember our first minion? The one that spoke of 'The Lunar Republic'?"

"The one that had a familial story about the sun and moon? Yes, I do remember. Am I to understand that your explanation was a lie?"

"Yes and no. She was a brony, but I didn't know how to explain the My Little Pony series to you at that time. So I panicked and told you about the Solar Empire and the Lunar Republic, which are factions in the brony community. The only lie was about the familial story. Then we found those pony toys in the officer's home, and I had to explain it to you anyway."

"So. The truth is, she was subjugated easily because she is a 'brony' and was already aware of who I am. Thus your lie was not intended to deceive, but to explain knowledge that she should not have had."

"Uh, yes. If we already had our discussion over the toys, I would have told you the truth."

"I cannot say I am pleased, but I understand your intent. Then, what is the true meaning of 'The Lunar Republic'?"

"It's a made-up name for a group of bronies that would have chosen you over your sister. Your sister's allies called themselves the 'Solar Empire'."

"I see. Another deception that explained the evidence rather then concealed it. Are there any more truths that you have concealed from me?"

"None, my Queen. Well, when you ask me a question about this world I don't always explain everything about it. I just give a quick answer that's easy to understand. For example, I spoke the truth about the web cams. But there are many more details I could tell you about how they work."

"And if I were to ask you for more details about these 'web cams'?"

"I would be happy to tell you all that I know. You just need to ask."

"And had I asked more about these 'bronies'?"

"Well that's what you did when you discovered the toys. Before then, you didn't know what questions to ask."

"Hmm.

"You have shown a side of yourself that is darker than I would have imagined."

I shrugged.

"Maybe. But I thought you liked dark things?"

A smile slowly stole across the ebony mare's muzzle.

"Always with the quick wit. I shall forgive you, this one time. Come, sit next to me."

I left the brony kneeling down in front of the dais, and walked up to the couch that served as Nightmare Moon's throne. Once there, I sat down just to the ebony mare's left, and placed my right arm on the top of the couch behind her. As soon as I sat down, we both turned to look at the other and gave each other a warm smile. Our intruder, whom I had actually forgotten about for a moment, chose that moment to speak up.

"Oh man, I ship it."

I mentally facepalmed but quickly recovered.

"SHUT UP, YOU!

"What should we do with him, my Queen? I imagine a shadow parasite would shut him up real quick."

"W-w-what? A parasite whatsit?"

"An intriguing idea. my Captain. And one that would truly silence him forever.

"But before I pass sentence, I have more questions for our...'guest'. I suggest you answer truthfully, as your fate will depend on whether I believe you."

The brony looked very afraid, and he appeared to be shaking a bit. He must have finally realized that he could die here, if he said the wrong thing.

"Uh, yes ma'am."

"Now. You have discovered where I live. How did you get past my guards?"

"Oh. Uh, that part was pretty easy. I came here and told a security guard that I had a message for Nightmare Moon. When that didn't work, I threw a fit and told them you would be pissed if I couldn't give you my message. One of them finally agreed to bring me up here."

"I shall have to have a stern word with the guards about such tricks. And what message did you have for me?"

"What?"

"You said you had a message for me. What is it?"

"Oh, um...I mean..."

I rolled my eyes at the brony's antics.

"He doesn't have a message, my Queen. He made that part up to get past the guards."

"Is that so? How unfortunate.

"My judgement is now passed. I shall prepare a shadow parasite, and we shall dispose of his body somewhere where it shall not be found."

"NO! Wait! I...uh...

"You're beautiful!"

Nightmare Moon and I were left completely stunned at his outburst, but the mare recovered before I did.

"I beg your pardon?"

"No! I mean it! I always wanted to tell you that you were beautiful, but you weren't real and I had no way to tell you but then I saw you fly past my work and I just had to tell you!"

I wasn't impressed by his words.

"He's just lying to save his skin."

The smile that stole across the mare's muzzle was one that I had seen on her before. It meant that even if she believed he was lying, she was still enjoying the attention.

"No, let him continue."

The brony was nervously looking back and forth between Nightmare Moon and me.

"Well?"

Still no answer.

"Hmph. I am disappointed."

Nightmare Moon let loose a volley of lightning not unlike a certain evil Emperor from a famous movie trilogy. The electricity arched all around the brony, who screamed in mortal terror.

"OH GOD! You are beautiful! Gorgeous! Your sister was a fool to banish you! I will worship you forever!"

"Ah, there is his silver tongue. He just needed the proper motivation."

The Mare in the Moon stepped off of her throne-couch, and slowly crossed the dais to stand in front of the cowering brony.

"I hereby decree that you shall be the first courtier of my Camarilla, starting tonight."

WHAT?!

DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE MISTRESS!

But...I...fine, whatever.

Nightmare Moon continued, unaware of my inner dialogue with my Creepy Voice.

"You are required to be here at dusk and must remain until daybreak unless I dismiss you. What you choose to pursue during the day does not concern me.

"Your first task is to find more 'bronies' to join my court as courtiers. Be certain that they are part of 'The Lunar Republic' and not of the 'Solar Empire'. And be discreet, for we wish to keep our presence here a secret for the foreseeable future.

"Do you understand?"

The brony took a moment to reply.

"Uh, I think so?"

Nightmare Moon replied by lifting her hoof and summoning a ball of lightning into it. The lightning sparked and spat around her armored shoe.

"I mean yes! I understand! I stay here at night and I'll get more bronies for you!"

The Night Mare's horn flashed, and the ball of lightning turned into a featureless blue ball.

"Good. Then, you are dismissed for the evening. Return tomorrow evening with more 'bronies', or I shall be displeased."

With a flick of her hoof, she tossed the blue ball of magic towards the brony. The ball landed on his right shoulder, and stuck there for a moment. The brony frantically tried to grab at the ball, but his fingers slipped right through it. A moment later, the blue ball began to seep in to his flesh until it disappeared from view.

"That ball will allow you to pass through the elevators without setting off the alarm. It will also signal the guards to escort you and any with you to me immediately.

"You may go. Captain, escort him to the elevators."

Nightmare Moon turned to return to her throne-couch just as I sat up from it. I walked over to the confused-looking brony, who was still kneeling down in front of the dais. I unceremoniously picked him up in my magic and placed him on his feet. When he made no effort to walk, I gave him a push with my hand.

"Come on, let's go."

The brony stumbled, but quickly regained his balance. We crossed the throne room floor and quickly reached the door to the entrance room. Kusac once again opened the shoji door for us, then slid it closed behind us. Once the door closed, the brony spoke to me.

"What just happened?"

"You're one lucky bastard. Nightmare Moon just invited you to be part of her court. Play nice, make her happy, and we'll all get along."

"Oh.

"This is a lot to take in."

"You have no idea."

We arrived in the elevator lobby, and I pushed the 'down' button. I could hear the hum of machinery that meant an elevator was on its way.

"Alright, listen up. When Nightmare Moon meant 'discreet', she meant to keep news of HER quiet. Invite a few brony friends but don't tell the world. Maybe post a last-minute brony meet for Nightmare Moon fans at your office, then bring them here. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"And if a whole mob of bronies show up here and attract attention to us, Nightmare Moon is going to KILL you.

"Literally."

The brony was silent for several moments.

"What am I gonna do?"

"Do exactly what she says, dumbass. Because if you don't, she's going to track you down by that ball she shoved in your chest and make sure you can't tell anyone about us. Permanently."

The brony looked down at his right shoulder, then placed a hand above where the blue ball of magic had touched him.

"Oh fuck."

Just then, a chime sounded somewhere nearby. I looked around the lobby to find it, and saw a pair of elevator doors slide open. I turned back to the brony and led him to the open elevator.

"Exactly."

With a slight push, the brony walked into the elevator. I reached inside the elevator and pushed the button for the 54th floor, which was the lowest floor this elevator went to. I pulled my body back out, then gave the brony the cheeriest farewell I could.

"See you tomorrow!"

The horror in his eyes bored into me until the elevator doors closed between us.

Act 3, Chapter 10 - Completing the Circuit

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A brony had found us and our new home, and Nightmare Moon had invited him to be part of her new court. Boy, was that a mistake.

Jealous. I'm actually jealous.

The brony actually came back the next night. I was sure that Nightmare Moon and I would have had to hunt him down and kill him. And he brought a few brony friends with him. Of course, Moony welcomed them all with open arms. Or would that be forelegs?

All the bronies did was eat, drink and kiss ass - but not to me. It was Nightmare Moon they loved. When she was around, they were all smiles and affection. But once they thought she couldn't hear them, they were condescending to everyone. Oh, did I forget to mention? One of the bronies couldn't keep their mouth shut, and told all his friends about us. There were at least a dozen bronies that hung around the Moon Palace at any time. And it was never the same bronies, either. When we went to bed, a bunch of them were still there. When we woke up, some of them were gone but new ones had arrived to replace them.

"Good morning," they said.

"We worship you," they cried.

"Don't hurt us," they begged.

It was SO annoying.

And Nightmare Moon just sucked up the attention. She laughed with them, told them stories about Equestria, and ordered pizza with them. She was even comfortable enough to leave her armor off when she held court. Now THAT was a high level of trust from her. I guess I wouldn't have minded the bronies so much if I had been able to party with them, too. But Moon Butt kept sending me out to conquer police stations on my own, so she could secure her hold on the LA Basin. Those missions always took the whole night, and I would get home right when the party was ending. I would have been happy to stay up late and party with the Bronies, but they weren't interested in me. It was the Night Mare they wanted.

Bummer.

Now, I didn't have a problem working on my own; that part was easy. Before the first brony showed up, Nightmare Moon had decided that we should split up and conquer police stations separately. She figured splitting up would double our capture rate and speed up her conquest. Of course, her plan had one flaw; I could not create the Savior dream spell nor create shadow parasites. Her solution was the gemstone in my armor. Just like the spell to change my cats into Shadowcats, the Night Mare gave me access to the Savior spell and the shadow parasite spell through the gemstone. It had six 'slots' that I could access; 'up', 'down', 'left', 'right', 'front' and 'back'. 'Up' still had a signal spell and 'front' still had the Shadowcat spell. After Nightmare Moon was done, 'left' had the 'savior' spell and 'right' had the shadow parasite spell. Well, to be honest none of the slots really had spells in them. The gemstone let me access Nightmare Moon's spells, so I could use complicated magic that I didn't have the skill to cast. Just like any cell phone - you know how to swipe and press buttons, but you don't know how it does what it does.

Splitting up worked really well, we did double our takeover rate. But after the bronies arrived, she delegated all of the conquering to me and let these suck-ups kiss her ass all night. She even set up her Shadowbolts as guards in her throne room, ready to threaten and intimidate the bronies at the whims of their goddess. Each time I returned to the Moon Palace, I was afraid I'd find she'd changed the bronies into her dark minions. And thereby removed the one thing that made me special to her.

I did get a good laugh one evening, when one of the bronies asked about Celestia. Moon Butt slapped a shadow parasite on him and had her Shadowbolts storm him out of the building immediately. The remaining bronies were a lot quieter after that.

My one saving grace in all this, is that I was the only one allowed to sleep with her. Meaning sleeping and snuggling, as we hadn't done the other meaning of 'sleeping with' someone yet. Surprisingly, she wouldn't allow the others to touch her or get too close to her. She wouldn't even let anyone but me sit on her throne-couch. However, she did let some of the bronies sit on the dais in front of the couch. Even so, I left one of my Shadowcats in the throne room every night to watch the bronies. I usually left Isis behind, as she was good at not being seen and remembering what she saw.

The hidden Shadowcat watched and waited, like a predator stalking its prey. Eventually, one of those kiss-ass bronies would screw up and try to make a pass on MY Queen. Nightmare Moon never accepted their clumsy advances, but I refused to take any chances. My Shadowcat would remember what happened, and when I returned near dawn she would tell me who did what. I made sure to have a 'talk' with that brony, so they fully understood the trouble they were in.

No hanky panky with the Moon Mare - that's MY job.

What pissed me off even more is that I could understand why they were doing it. If I hadn't been approached by Nightmare Moon when she first arrived on Earth, I'd be tickled pink to be part of her court. Just knowing that Equestria and its denizens were real would make all the ass-kissing worth it. I'd be hot to trot with the Moon Mare, too - and likely fail as bad as these jokers. I just couldn't bring myself to ask Nighty to kick them out and deny them their fantasy come true. Doesn't mean they'd get to fulfill EVERY fantasy, though.

Despite my annoyance with those boot-licking bronies, I kept going out and conquering police stations. What else could I do? Nightmare Moon made it an order, so I had to do it. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could join the party. Though I did have a lot of work to do. Back when the Moon Mare was helping me, we had split up Los Angeles County between us; she took north while I went south. Fall had just started to creep into the weather by the time we moved into the Ventura and Orange Counties, respectively.

Then the first brony arrived, and Nightmare Moon began to hold her accursed court. When she ordered me to continue my conquests, I chose to continue my work in Orange County. Each station still took about two days to conquer: one to take over the station, and a second to enslave the officers not on duty that evening. So it took me about a month to finish up my work. The next night, I flew north to pick up where the ebony mare had left off. There were thirteen stations that Nightmare Moon hadn't conquered yet; it took me about four weeks to complete her share of our conquest.

The night I conquered the last station, I called the Duty Officer at that station over for a chat.

"Yes, Master?"

"Do you have a way to talk to the other conquered stations? I have a message I want to send them."

"Yes, Master. Our shadow parasites can send out a cascading chain of messages. It's much more secure than email."

"Oh? How does it work?"

"Well, remember that we all can communicate with any shadow parasite that is nearby. We don't have to touch or talk to or see each other to send a message. I can send your message out to all the shadow parasites nearby, and each one that hears me can send it as far as they can. And so on."

Sounds weird, but nothing about these shadow parasites surprises me anymore.

"Sure, here's my message. Have all subverted officers in the LA, Ventura, Riverside and Orange counties check their area for any officers or stations that have not been conquered. Have the results sent back to the Duty Officer at the Central Community station in downtown LA, and he or she should bring the final results to the Building Manager of the US Bank Tower. I will notify her to bring the officer and their results to me. Understood?"

"Yes, but the cascading chain doesn't work that way. I can send the messages out they way you want to, but they have to be returned back to me or the messages will be lost."

I shrugged internally.

"Okay. I don't care who reports the results to me. Either you report them to me personally or you can give the results to someone else. As long as I get them."

"Understood, Master."

"Any idea how long this will take?"

"Hmm. The messages will spread out quickly, probably within a few hours. But investigating who is not one of us may take longer. Perhaps two days?"

"Good enough. If I don't hear back from you soon, I'll give you a call. I'm out."

"Good night, Master."

Why I didn't have the Duty Officer just call me instead of reporting in personally I don't know. Maybe Nightmare Moon's archaic ways were rubbing off on me. Regardless, when I returned home that night to the Moon Palace in the US Bank Tower, I reported immediately to the Mare in the Moon. I told her that the conquest of Southern California was now complete, and her minions were double-checking that nothing and no one was missed. Until they reported back in, my task was done. Nightmare Moon declared that this was a good reason to celebrate, and I was finally able to join the party. We partied day and night for the next four days, and it was GLORIOUS! I was finally accepted, or at least tolerated, by Nightmare Moon's suck-up court filled with bronies.

The party was filled with food and alcohol, though there was plenty of soda and water for those that did not drink. While the bronies were constantly eating and drinking, Nightmare Moon herself would only take a nibble here or there. Perhaps she feared becoming more like her sister, who she said indulged herself to the point of excess. However, the ebony mare was excessively fond of hot spicy buffalo wings. She only ordered them once during the party, but she ordered a 50-pack just for herself. She ate all of them, bones and all, and practically moaned in ecstasy after every bite. I admit, the sound of her sharp teeth cracking the chicken bones combined with her guttural moans was a bit disturbing. But the bronies were outright uncomfortable. One by one, they moved away from her as she ate. Some ran to the meeting room and closed the shoji door behind themselves.

To keep themselves entertained during court, the bronies had set up several activities in the open areas of the throne room. They had tables set up for playing games. One had a stack of games including Risk and Monopoly, along with several decks of cards and the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game. One dedicated group ran a session of Tales of Equestria all four days. Someone else had brought several game consoles to play, along with some small displays to play on. I kept my PS4 to myself however, and didn't let anyone else play it.

Nightmare Moon had given me the tour when I first joined the party, showing me what events and activities were available to all. She expressed little interest in board games, stating that she was a mare of action and moving small pieces around bored her. The video games fared little better in her opinion, though she did say she could see some of their merits. Yet her eyes lit up when she trotted over to a pile of foam weapons leaning up against the windows.

Where did she get Dagorhir weapons?

Dagohir is many things, but at its core it's an athletic sport where you beat each other up with foam weapons that looked like swords, spears, shields and the like. Using foam weapons meant that players could fight without the risk of seriously hurting each other. And the Night Mare loved the challenge! Well, she didn't get too much of a challenge from most of the bronies, though a couple could put up a good fight. But the mare had many years of experience fighting with real weapons, so she could easily best any and all that challenged her.

Though after watching her fight for a while, it seemed to be her alicorn stamina that gave her the advantage. If she couldn't beat an opponent with skill, she simply had to wait until they got tired and sloppy. Even I didn't do so well against her my first time. But I got lessons from a brony that was a Herald at Dagorhir events, and I got better over time. Oh, you should have seen Nightmare Moon's face when I got my first 'kill' on her! Of course, she beat the crap out of me in the next match but it was still worth it.

On the fourth day of partying, Janice came up for a visit and brought a uniformed police officer with her. She interrupted my Dagorhir duel with Nightmare Moon, then inform me that the officer was enslaved (meaning that she was safe to bring to us) and she had asked to see me. The officer, whom I recognized as the Duty Officer from four nights earlier, stated that she had the results I had asked for. The dark mare and I agreed to pause our duel, and summarily dismissed Janice. We led the Duty Officer to the meeting room, and sat down to hear the results of her search.

She stated that there were eleven shadow parasites, working at eleven different police stations, that were having trouble controlling their hosts. Also, there were seven police stations that had not yet been enslaved. After looking at the location of the police stations on Google Maps, Nightmare Moon decided that they were not important to her plan. She tasked me to reinforce the failing shadow parasites, but to start the following evening as she and I had our Dagorhir duel to complete. We dismissed the Duty Officer and resumed our battle, which I won by the way.

The next evening, I left to visit the officers that were fighting their shadow parasites. They were spread out across the four counties we had conquered, so I had to work on them one at a time. Thus, progress was slow. I had to visit the police station the officer was working at, then find out if they were on shift that night. The ones that were in the station were easy; I just ordered them into an empty office or cubicle, then put them into the Savior dream until their shadow parasite had full control. If the officer was on duty but not at the station, I had to wait until they were called back in. The ones off-duty were the trickiest. One of them was never home, I had to wait until they were back on shift before I could pay them a visit. One was at home, but was awake all night playing video games. I finally had to burst into their house and force them to fall asleep with magic. Fortunately, this officer was single and did not have any roommates. Hopefully the neighbors would mistake the shouts and sounds of fighting as a loud movie.

Five days later, I returned to Nightmare Moon's Moon Palace and announced that my task was complete. My ebony Queen, who happened to be sitting on her throne-couch telling another story, called all of the bronies to her and praised me in front of them all. She then declared that she and I had to plan the next step of our conquest privately, and dismissed the bronies for the rest of the evening. After a bit of bitching and moaning, they reluctantly filed out of the throne room and left via the elevators. Once the last one was gone, Nightmare Moon beckoned me to sit next to her with a pat of her left forehoof on the couch. I obediently sat down on her left and cuddled up to her.

"Ah, it feels like an age since we have enjoyed some peaceful time together."

"I know what you mean. I've gotten used to all the partying and all the noise all the time, it seems weird to have some peace and quiet."

"Aye."

The ebony mare and I just enjoyed the warmth of each other while we cuddled. Now and then, we would nuzzle each other. I loved all of the attention she gave me, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was delaying our meeting for some reason. Or was cuddling her plan all along?

"Hey, Luna?"

"Hmmm?"

"Were we going to have that planning meeting you talked about?"

"Why Captain, dost thou enjoy my company so little?"

Huh. She always slips into Old English when she's nervous.

"Oh, not at all. But I'd rather get it out of the way before we get too comfortable."

"Is that all? In truth, there is no planning to be done. Now that we have conquered the local guard stations, we shall continue our conquest with the larger military encampments in the area. Our successes with the Savior dream were so great, that I see no reason that the same plan will not work on the soldiers of this world. We will travel to the nearest military encampment tomorrow evening and begin our conquest of its soldiers without issue.

"There, our meeting is concluded."

The Night Mare turned her head to face me, a sultry look upon her muzzle.

"However, there is another conquest I have in mind this evening."

What?

The Mare in the Moon nudged me away with her left foreleg, then pushed me to my side with a forehoof.

"What are you doing?"

She did not answer, but instead reached down to me with her left foreleg. She lifted my right leg up and over, to rest against the back of the couch. She then used her magic to shift my body so I was lying on my back.

"You know what it is that I desire."

Luna slowly leaned over and placed her hooves on either side of my hips.

Oh.

Oh!

I was too stunned to react as the sultry mare slowly crawled her way up my armored body. She kept her body low and pressed down upon mine. Her abdomen dragged sensually across my crotch and my hips, then up and over my belly. Her fetlocks caressed my sides one by one as she slid her forelegs up my body. And the whole time, she kept her teal eyes locked upon mine. Inevitably, her hips bumped up against mine and she methodically ground the two together. Her muzzle slowly dropped down lower, and lower, then stopped just a whisker's width above mine. She spoke, her hot breath caressing the fur around my nose.

"Ah, that is much better.

"Though I believe you have no need of your armor at this time."

With a blink, my armor vanished from my body. Luna's chest now rested directly upon mine, her body heat radiating into my fur. But that wasn't the only reason it felt really hot all of a sudden.

We stared into each other's eyes for what felt like forever. And then, Luna kissed me passionately on the lips.

WOAH.

We had shared soft kisses before, but nothing like this. Not even our first kiss, made so long ago, could compare to this one. It felt like my head had been lit on fire, then exploded into tiny, sparkling stars. The heat behind her kiss burned every single thought of mine away, until all that was left was the feeling of her heavenly lips upon mine.

It was all that I had ever wanted, and all that I would ever need.

But still, I wanted more.

My hands moved up on their own, to reach up and caress the midnight mare's muzzle. The mare's body shivered against mine, and earned me a shuddering sigh through our most intimate kiss. Tenderly, gradually, I reached higher with my left hand and ran my fingertips across the side of her neck. And then reached ever so higher to caress the nape of her neck.

Without warning, I clenched my hand and tightly grasped her ethereal mane in my fist. Luna froze in place and let out a little gasp, one that experience told me was out of both surprise...and pleasure. I chose to wrest control from the mare, and used the fist clenching her mane to pull her in for an impassioned kiss. I held her close and poured all of my pent-up feelings for her into that one long, wild kiss. Then opened my fist and released her mane from my grasp.

Luna gasped at the sudden release, then immediately dove in to attack my lips with hers. I met her frenzied kisses with my own. I could only guess that her heat was rising as much as mine, and mine felt so hot that I felt I would burst into fiery flames at any moment.

As suddenly as she started, Luna broke our hot-blooded kisses to simply stare into my eyes. I will swear to this day I saw stars sparkling and popping all around her, and they weren't coming from her mane. Eventually, she spoke.

"I want thee, my love."

In that single instant, I suddenly realized that I wanted her too.

But I was also really nervous, of taking that final step in my relationship with Nightmare Moon. To take my Queen, to have Princess Luna as my lover. I hesitated a mere moment, and my sense of humor took its chance to sneak out.

"Was that your idea of foreplay?"

I expected her to say 'yes', to which I would reply 'I really like it' or something equally cheesy. But Luna took things in a different direction.

"You desire foreplay?

"Then foreplay is what you shall receive."

She leaned her head upwards and began to nibble on my left ear.

OH.

Oh god, here we go again.

Just as before, Luna's nibbles sent these electrifying shocks all through my body. Shocks that sent all sorts of erotic jolts into the more intimate parts of my body. But this time, Luna drove her point home by grinding her hips up and down against mine. And I couldn't help but notice that the place where our hips touched was getting really wet.

That was all my body could take, and my urgent need began to swell between us. And as close as we were pressed together, there was no way Luna could miss it.

"Oh! I see my attentions are finally appreciated.

"Or dare I say, very desired."

Luna leaned down again, and huskily whispered her next words into my ear.

"I grow impatient for thee, my love. I want thee, no NEED thee to quench my eager need. What say you?"

How could I say no? I needed her too.

We made wild, passionate love that night. Even though we were of two different species, we made it work somehow. And it worked VERY well indeed. Too bad for you, the reader, for that's all I'm going to give you. After all, some things are meant to stay private. Let's just say that night 'joined' us together in more ways than one.

(Tease)

(You know me so well.)

I awoke the following evening to find myself alone in bed. It was a surprise, for I had not fallen asleep alone. Luna and I had retired to our shared bed together, after our amorous adventures the previous morning. The mare was usually in bed when I woke up, so I was curious as to where she had gone. Thus, I crawled out of bed and made my way to the throne room. I left my armor on its stand as I had no conquering to do that evening. I entered the throne room, and expected to see Nightmare Moon with some bronies. But for once, the large room was empty of both. The only creatures in the room were the dark mare's Shadowbolts, who stood guard in their assigned places around the room.

Maybe they know where Luna went.

I walked over to the closest Shadowbolt, who was standing guard next to the shoji doors leading to the elevators. I idly noted that this was the Shadowbolt mare, which meant that the two stallions were on the other side of the room.

"Excuse me."

The Shadowbolt looked up at me, a bored expression on her face.

"Do you know where your Mistress is?"

The mare pointed a hoof straight up in the air for a moment, then let it fall back down to the floor.

Oh yeah, Nighty forced them not to speak.

"Oh, up on the roof?"

The mare did not look at me, but simply nodded.

"Okay, thanks."

I made my way to the emergency stairwell and walked up the three flights to the security door on the roof. Once through, I walked up the stairs to the helicopter pad while the brisk autumn night air gently ruffled my fur. As always, the twinkling of the city lights and the stars in the sky took my breath away. The dark mare was easy to find, as she was sitting upon a pile of pillows right in the middle of the helicopter pad. She was unarmored just like I was, her ebony form bare to the stars and the wind. When I got close enough to her, I could see she had a sad or wistful look upon her muzzle. She did not turn to greet me, though her ears did twitch in my direction. So I was sure she knew I was standing there.

"Hey."

"Greetings."

"What's up?"

"I do not understand the question."

"Oh, sorry. It's a greeting that gives you a chance to say what you are doing and how you are feeling."

"Ah."

When the mare did not speak for a bit, I sat down next to her on the pillows. I schooched over until our sides touched, then I slid a hand across her back to rest over her hip. I gave my lover a small squeeze with my arm, and earned a soft sigh in return. After a moment, Luna leaned her body up against mine. However, she kept her gaze up to the stars in the sky.

"I miss Equestria."

"Oh?"

"Aye. Our worlds have much in common, but I find myself longing for the things that are different. And for the days of old, before I attempted to overthrow my sister. Those times were sad, but there were happy moments within them."

Luna turned away from the night sky to look upon me.

"I came to this place to be alone in my thoughts. But now that you are here, I am glad. Your presence has eased my somber mood a great deal.

"If nothing else, this exile upon your world has brought one mote of happiness into my life."

Luna leaned down and kissed me ever so softly on the lips.

"It is you, of course. You have brought much brightness into my darkened soul, and our lovemaking has greatly deepened my love for you. I do wonder, had we met earlier in our lives would I have become Nightmare Moon? Would I have been so jealous of my sister if I had your love in my heart, as I do now?

"These are questions that can never be answered. And foalish, as you were not yet alive when my jealousy first sprang forth.

"Enough of this melancholy. It is time to resume our conquest of your world."

Nightmare Moon's horn lit with her magic, and in a flash our armor stands appeared next to us. The Night Mare broke our embrace to stand up, then began to slowly walk towards the edge of the building. As she walked, individual pieces of her armor floated towards her in her magic. Each piece buckled itself to her ebony form before the next one came forth. She always made the process look so elegant, I was always in awe of her every time I watched her armor up.

My process was so simple and easy, it was boring in comparison: the cast of a spell, and my armor was instantly upon my body. I walked quickly to catch up to the mare, who had nearly reached the edge of the helicopter pad. Her one remaining piece of armor, her helmet, floated towards her. In a smooth and practiced motion, she slid the helmet over her horn and brought the metal helm down to rest upon her head. Finally, her eyes narrowed in steely determination. To me, she looked ready to take on any who opposed her.

"Our conquest tonight shall be Camp Pendleton, near a city called Oceanside. Dost thou know the way?"

I nodded. I had driven past the military base many times in my previous life, and could easily make my way there.

The Mare in the Moon beckoned with a wing towards the edge of the building and the open air beyond.

"Shall we?"

I answered by jumping off the rooftop. The brisk wind rushed past me and buffeted my body as I plummeted towards the ground. With a thought, I summoned my magical wings and snapped them open. A quick twist of my wings to catch the air, and they carried me out and away from the US Bank Tower at a rapid rate. I made a mid-air turn to angle my flight to the south, and then poured on the speed. Not long afterwards, Nightmare Moon pulled up next to me and took a position just off my right wing.

Together, we sailed off into the night sky together.

Act 4, Chapter 1 - Staking our Claim

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It was time to take Nightmare Moon's conquest to the next level, before the leaders of this world realized that we were here. Next stop: Camp Pendleton!

"There. See?"

"Yeah, I see him. Get the Savior dream ready."

Nightmare Moon and I were on top of a building just north of Oceanside, California. More precisely, we were on top of the Naval Hospital just inside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. We had followed the 5 freeway to the south from downtown Los Angeles for about an hour, until we saw the distinctive Naval Hospital come up on our left side. I chose the location mainly because it was a prominent landmark that we couldn't miss from the freeway. Another good reason was the building's modern design and its open-air walkways. They made it easy to watch for people who were walking or standing alone, so we could kidnap and enslave them. The target I was watching that evening was wearing a set of light blue medical scrubs and a surgical mask hanging around his neck. He was staring out across the freeway and to the ocean beyond, while smoking a cigarette. And most importantly, he was standing alone in a darkened corner with no one else in sight.

Hope you got your nicotine fix dude, 'cause you're not finishing that cigarette.

One magical grab later, and the man was yanked up two stories then over the edge of the roof of the building. I didn't see or smell fresh cigarette smoke from the man, which worried me. So I looked back over the edge of the rooftop for his cigarette. Didn't want the burning embers to fall in the bushes and start a brush fire, after all. I found it fairly quickly, the glow from its end was easily seen in the dark. His cancer stick was lying on the concrete floor, in the same corner the man had been standing in. A thin line of smoke was still wafting up from its lit end. Satisfied that the cigarette wouldn't start a fire, I turned back from the rooftop edge to see how our new slave was doing. He lay there on the rooftop where I left him, completely limp and unmoving, with the Night Mare looming over him. Her horn wasn't lit, but I knew she had to be doing something to the man. With a bit of focus, I could tell that she was casting something: the same spell I used to monitor the Savior dreams. While the ebony mare watched over the male's dreams, I decided to keep looking for another victim on the walkways below. In my opinion, the more minions we had the better. All I needed was one person walking or standing alone, where no one could see them.

A light yet brisk sea breeze blew across the rooftop, which rustled the trees nearby and ruffled my fur. We were close enough to the ocean that I could smell the salt in the air. That autumn night was so crisp and clear, I could clearly see the ocean past the freeway and over the buildings near the Del Mar Boat Basin. To my left was a housing subdivision and Camp Pendleton's main gate; to my right was a shopping mall. From my earlier explorations I knew there was another housing subdivision behind the Naval Hospital. I could hear quiet and muffled voices below me, which got louder every time someone opened a door.

I had no problem finding targets to kidnap, there were people walking around everywhere I looked. The problem was, none of them were alone. They were either walking in groups or someone else was always standing nearby. If I snagged any of the people I was looking at, someone else would notice and we'd be discovered. So I kept watching.

Nothing. An hour of looking around, and no good targets. Looks like this guy will have to do.

I turned away from my perch at the edge of the rooftop and walked across the black tarred surface towards Nightmare Moon. She was still watching over our lone captive.

"How's he doing?"

"Not well. No matter how many times he passes the Savior dream, the shadow parasite can not fully subvert his mind. It is as if he is fighting the parasite, yet I can find no sign of him doing so."

"Uh, that's not good."

"No, it is not. However, I believe he has been subverted enough to lure others to us. He is a surgeon and not a soldier, so his use to us may be limited. I shall wake him."

A flash of magic from the dark mare's horn, and the surgeon's eyes fluttered open.

"Do you recognize who I am?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good. I require a private room within this facility. It should be in a discreet area so my associate and I can enter it without being seen. A storage room or other room that is rarely used would be best."

The surgeon turned to look at me, then back to the dark mare.

"I know the perfect room, Mistress. It has a door that leads outside that you can use."

"Excellent. My associate will return you to where we retrieved you from. Enter the room you have chosen and open the outside door. We shall find you."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Alright dude, hold on."

I picked the surgeon up in my magic and carried him over to the edge of the rooftop. Once there, I gently lowered him down to the walkway I had taken him from. Fortunately, the walkway was still empty so the surgeon's reappearance was not seen. As soon as I let him go, he reached down and picked up his cigarette. Somehow, it was still lit. He took a couple of puffs, stubbed the butt out on the bottom of his shoe, then went inside the building. Nightmare Moon could easily track the shadow parasite wherever it went, so she simply followed the surgeon as he walked across the building. On the far side of the rooftop, the two of us peeked over the edge just as our minion opened a door for us.

The two of us jumped off the rooftop before he whispered out to the night air.

"Mistress?"

We landed quietly on the walkway right in front of him. To his credit, the surgeon didn't even flinch.

"I am here. Now, show us this room you have chosen for us."

The surgeon held the door open for us, then closed it once we were inside the dark room. A click from the light switch, and the room was brightly illuminated. It was a medium-sized room, maybe 20 feet square with plain white walls. The only other exit was a single door on the other side of the room. On either side of the door were large windows, but they were covered in blinds so no one could see inside. The room was adorned with four empty hospital beds; two on our left and two on our right. Tracks for hospital curtains ran across the ceiling. Currently, the curtains were drawn back against the walls giving the room an open feeling. The room smelled a touch dusty, but seemed clean otherwise. Beyond our own footsteps, I couldn't hear anyone else.

"This is a spare room that is only used when the hospital is full. Right now, the room is unused. Will it do, Mistress?"

"It seems to be big enough, but there is no privacy. We shall be discovered as soon as the door is opened."

The surgeon walked to the far right corner of the room. He grabbed the edge of a curtain and dragged it towards the left wall, until it blocked our view of the door.

"Is this better?"

"Yes, it is. Your next task will be to discreetly lure soldiers to us, one at a time. Give them any excuse you can think of, but do NOT reveal our presence to them. Do you understand?"

"Yes...Mistress."

The surgeon turned away and walked around the curtain. I then heard the door open and then shut. This left the ebony mare and I with nothing to do except await his return.

A few minutes later, our wait was over. The lock on the door clicked open, and we heard someone rush into the room. A moment later, the curtain we were standing behind was yanked aside! To our dismay, we were not greeted by a single soldier but two very angry soldiers pointing guns at us! They were wearing what looked like desert camouflage caps and uniforms, with black belts and a gold badge over their left breast.

"Freeze, Military Police!"

"Don't move...whatever you are!"

Aw, shit!

With a thought, I popped up my shield and prepared for a firefight. However, Nightmare Moon had a different plan. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn into her mist form and streak toward the soldiers. The two men were standing next to each other, so her non-corporeal form was large enough to completely cover both men minus their boots. Suddenly, their weapons fell out of the mist cloud and clattered against the hard floor. Moments later, their limp bodies slumped down to the tiled surface and did not move. One of them began to lightly snore. The dark mare reformed into her equine form and shouted at me.

"Where is the surgeon?!"

In answer, a klaxon began to go off.

"Ran for the alarm, obviously."

"Strewth! I was certain he was under our control.

"We had best give these two shadow para...sites..."

The Mare in the Moon's equine ears must have picked up the same thing my feline ones had - several pairs of boots, running this way. Or maybe she heard it as sets of hooves, as I didn't think she had ever heard the sound of boots on tile before. Whatever she heard, it meant that guards were coming this way -- and fast.

"Or perhaps it is best that we retreat, immediately."

The two of us ran for the outside door. The dark mare blasted it off its hinges, then we ran through the smoking opening and out to the walkway outside. I heard shouting in the room behind us as we took to the air, and we quickly disappeared behind our invisibility spells. As we flew off, I took a look behind us and saw Military Police exit through the destroyed doorway. One looked over the railing, probably to see if we had jumped down. The rest split up to run down either side of the walkway, wrongly guessing that we had run away down one side or the other. Too bad for them, we could fly and we were already long gone. Once Nightmare Moon deemed us to be far enough away, she and I landed in a nearby field to discuss our ruined plans. We both agreed that it was too early to head home, and we wanted to try the same plan again. The surgeon's actions were too strange, there had to be something wrong with the man. I suggested an area in Camp Pendleton called Mainside, an area northeast of the Naval Hospital that my internet research said contained shops and offices and headquarters for many of the units stationed at the base. Nightmare Moon agreed it was a good location, and hoped that we would have better luck there.

This was not to be the case.

We found plenty of soldiers to capture, but the one we grabbed also had troubles with her shadow parasite. She led us to a dark alley behind an abandoned building, then left to lure another soldier to us. To no one's surprise, she returned with Military Police instead. This time we left before we were seen, and dejectedly made our way north along the 5 freeway and back home. However, when we reached the San Onofre gate (the northernmost Camp Pendleton gate on the 5 North) we decided to make one more attempt.

We shouldn't have bothered. The soldier we snagged wouldn't accept Nightmare Moon's orders, no matter how many times he went through the Savior dream. We left Camp Pendleton for the last time that evening, completely defeated.

It was a bit after 4 in the morning when we arrived back at the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles. As was our usual, we landed on the outside observation deck and opened the door leading to the 69th floor. One trot up the staircase to the 70th floor, and it was a simple matter to open the hidden trap door that led into Nightmare Moon's Moon Palace. I watched my Queen fly up through the open door, then with a quick flap of my wings I was inside and next to her again. As Nighty was closing the trap door, I heard a voice through the sliding door leading to the throne room.

"She's back!"

I turned to look at Nightmare Moon, only to see her looking past me towards the throne room. I figured she had also heard the voice, so I waited. After a few moments, her head turned to look at me. I could only shrug; I had no idea what was going on, either. The ebony mare said nothing, but merely turned and walked towards the throne room door. As always, I followed. Once we were both in the throne room, I slid the door closed behind me. I could hear voices and whispers coming from farther in the room, but from where I stood I could only see the back of Moony's throne-couch. As soon as we walked past the back of the throne-couch, the Moon Mistress turned left then stepped up to the dais. I was then able to look at the room and see what was going on.

A bunch of bronies were sitting patiently on the bean bag chairs that sat in front of the dais, and consequently Nightmare Moon's throne. This was quite strange, as they were usually spread around the throne room doing their own thing. I looked around at the rest of the room, hoping to make sense of the situation. I was standing at the front right corner of the dais, facing the bronies. Nightmare Moon's throne couch was to my left, sitting upon the back of the dais. The bronies were sitting in bean bag chairs in front of the dais, directly in front of me. The chairs were placed four to a row, in four rows. Most of the chairs were being used, with a few empty ones spread out among the group. I wasn't interested in counting them, so I moved on. Beyond the bronies were the video game consoles: a table which held two small widescreen monitors and a number of consoles. Controllers and wires were piled all over the table and boxes stacked underneath. A few folding chairs were set up in front of the table. To my right and behind the bronies were a few tables with board games stacked on them. Some of the board games were set up and looked to be in the middle of a game. Another table was stacked with soda and cups and snacks. The Dagorhir gear was piled up against the far wall. The bronies had brought in a lot of crap to play with, but the only bronies I could see were sitting in the bean bag chairs. I could not remember any other time that ALL the bronies were waiting for us when we came home. Usually they were busy playing games or eating.

Now that I think about it, they ignored ME when I came home. This is the first time Moony has left and returned while the bronies were staying here.

I admit, that revelation left a bad taste in my mouth. But instead of staying pissed, I ignored it and simply walked up upon the dais. In front of all of those annoying bronies, I sat down on the throne-couch next to Nightmare Moon. They could be as disrespectful as they wanted, but I knew I had a place with her that they could never get. Immediately after I sat down, one of the bronies spoke up.

"How did your conquest go, Mistress?"

"Not well, sadly. Our mission tonight was a complete failure."

A collective gasp was heard around the room.

"Mistress, how could this be?"

"We are uncertain. We applied the same tools that have worked for us in the past, without fail. The soldiers seemed to be under my control, but they all immediately betrayed me.

"At this time, we cannot reliably subjugate the soldiers of this world and we are uncertain how to proceed."

Another brony spoke up.

"Can't you just ask nicely to see who's in charge? The soldiers may not help, but maybe their boss is easier."

Several other voices immediately attacked the speaker.

"That's just stupid."

"Really? Just ASK them to give up?"

"No wonder you suck at D&D, Howard."

While the bronies slung insults at each other, I was trying to remember something. The suggestion reminded me of something else...something we did....

Ah, the 'briefcase' trick. That's it. We just asked to see the people we wanted to see, and had a good cover story. But would it work within the military hierarchy?

"HOLD!"

For once, the bronies quieted down at my command.

"The idea IS pretty stupid, sorry Howard. But we might be able to use the concept as part of a larger plan.

"Does anyone know if a soldier can just ask to see their supervisor?"

One hand went up, and I pointed to the owner.

"Yes?"

"I served a tour of duty in the Army. And yes, anyone can get a meeting with their direct report. Depending on the reason and their schedule, you may have to wait a couple of days."

"What could you say to get an immediate, private meeting?"

"Hmm. You could probably say you had a personal issue you needed to talk about. It would get you a private meeting, at least."

That would work.

I turned to Nightmare Moon, who was looking at me curiously. Lucky for her, I had just worked out a plan.

"We can use the 'briefcase trick', my Queen. Take one of the soldiers we've enslaved, and ask them if they would take you to see their direct report; basically, their boss. And I mean 'ask', as we already know what happens when we order them."

"I have not yet forgotten tonight's failure. Are you certain that this plan will work?"

"If our minions will do what we ask, then yes. Enslave the direct report, then just repeat the same process over and over until we get to the commanding officer of the base. Once he takes our orders, the base is ours."

"And if MY minions do not do as we ask?"

I ignored the implied rebuke. As far as I was concerned, they were my minions as much as hers.

"Then we're no worse off than we are now."

"I see.

"Very well then, we shall use your plan. As it is too late to make an attempt this evening, we shall return tomorrow evening instead.

"In the meantime, let us socialize and relax."

I spent the rest of the evening playing the My Little Pony Monopoly game with several bronies. I picked Rarity as my playing piece, and came in second to the brony playing Pinkie Pie. After a nice day of sleeping and cuddling with my big plush and cuddly ebony alicorn buddy, she and I left her Moon Palace just after dusk. Once again, we followed the 5 freeway south for about an hour until we reached Camp Pendleton. On the way, we discussed our plan and decided to start with the surgeon at the Naval Hospital -- but only if he was at work that evening. As soon as we arrived and landed on the roof of the hospital, Nightmare Moon called to her minion. Fortunately for us, he was in the hospital that night. However, he informed us he could not get free of his duties for another twenty minutes or so. The Night Mare decided that she would wait. I wandered around the edges of the rooftop, looking for another victim we could enslave. But that night, security was much tighter than it was the night before. Armed guards were on all of the exterior walkways, and they were keeping an eye on everyone that was walking around. So yet again, it looked like we had to rely on this one minion. A minion that had already betrayed us once. I was beginning to wonder if my plan was going to work, or if it would backfire on us like the last one did.

Twenty-five minutes later, Nightmare Moon informed me that her minion was ready. He exited the building and onto a bridge that led to the parking garage next door. I couldn't see anyone watching him, so I hauled him up to the roof with my magic.

"There you go. I hope we didn't disrupt your evening too much."

"I can spare a few minutes, Master. What do you need from me?"

Here we go.

"We'd like you to bring your Mistress to see your direct report. Can you do that for us?"

Act 4, Chapter 2 - Can We Haz Your Base, Plz

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Our takeover of Camp Pendleton was running into problems. We were forced to ASK our minions to help us, instead of ordering them around. But would they help us?

"We'd like you to bring your Mistress to see your direct report. Can you do that for us?"

The surgeon immediately began to fidget.

"I can't...she'll be seen walking through the halls."

"It's okay, she can change into a cloud of mist and fit herself into a briefcase or a large bag. All you need to do is carry the bag to your boss."

The surgeon's fidgeting slowed, but did not stop completely.

"I don't know...won't I be betraying the chain of command?"

"No, no! Really, we just want to talk. Like you said, the Mistress is quite noticeable and folks may get the wrong idea. You're sneaking her in so folks won't panic."

"It still...something about it doesn't feel right."

I turned my head to face Nightmare Moon.

"Is his shadow parasite still in control?"

"Yes, or at least in as much control as it was last night."

"Drat. Looks like this one is a bust."

I turned back to the surgeon.

"Never mind. We won't force you to do something you're not comfortable with."

The surgeon's fidgeting finally stopped, to my immense relief.

"Thank you, Master."

"I'll let you back down. Can you get back in the same door you came in?"

"Yes, Master."

"Alright, off you go."

I returned the surgeon down to the parking garage level and released him.

"Looks like we'll have to try your other minion, my Queen. Hopefully she'll be more helpful."

"Agreed."

She was. We found her not in Mainside in the barracks, but in an apartment complex in the nearby city of Fallbrook. We told her what we wanted to do, and to our surprise she readily agreed. She called her direct report, who sounded annoyed to get a call just after nine in the evening. But he agreed to meet with her that night when she said she had a 'personal matter' to talk about. Our minion even had a large duffel bag that Nightmare Moon could hide in. However, before she turned into her mist form my Queen had an order for me.

"Sit. And stay."

"Excuse me?!"

"Your role in this affair is minimal. In addition, you can not become intangible like me; only invisible. For that reason, it is likely that your presence will be discovered and endanger the plan. My minion is necessary to enact the plan, so she shall accompany me. I shall return to retrieve you regardless of whether the plan succeeds or fails.

"So I shall say again: sit, and stay."

At that, the ebony mare changed into her mist form and slipped into the provided duffel bag. Our minion zipped up the bag and walked down the stairs to her car, leaving me alone in her mostly-bare apartment. With nothing else to do, I decided to look around and see if I could find something interesting to do. I was standing in the small living room, maybe ten feet wide and fourteen feet long. I was facing the front door, which was in the right corner of the room. Just to my left, on the same side as the door, was a large window with glass louvered windows on either side of it. You know, the kind of window made of horizontal strips of glass, which you open and close with a lever? Yeah, those. Both louvered windows were open, letting the cool night air inside the apartment and rattling the open blinds. I suddenly felt exposed, standing in front of an open window looking like a black cat wearing metal armor. So in a flash, I cast an illusion spell to make me look human and wearing normal clothes. Maybe the neighbors would think I was a visiting friend or something.

Now that I was safely disguised, I continued my search of the apartment. The wall to my left was bare, with black scuff marks all over the paint. I turned around to face the rest of the room, and saw a small TV sitting on a table with a Nintendo Wii underneath. The TV was in the far left corner, from my point of view, and a small futon was in the far right corner facing the TV. The walls were all painted a dull white, and were entirely bare. There was a doorway next to the futon, off to my right.

Mow mildly curious, or simply too bored to care, I walked through the doorway and found myself in a small hallway. In front of me was another doorway that led into the small kitchen. To my left were doorways that looked like they led to the bathroom and bedroom. I took the easy choice and walked into the kitchen. The room was narrow, barely wide enough for two people. There was a small refrigerator that looked so old that it should have been retired long ago. There was a small sink piled up with dirty dishes, and the small counter space was covered in empty takeout containers. I saw a small electric stove next to the refrigerator. The rest of the room was filled with cabinets, above and below the countertop. I wasn't bored enough to dig through the cabinets, so I turned around and checked out the bathroom. Like the rest of the apartment, it was small with just enough room for a sink, toilet and stand-up shower. Toiletries were piled up around the sink and in the shower, and an unused toilet paper roll was on top of the toilet's tank.

Lastly, I strolled into the bedroom. It was a small room, as wide as the living room but shorter, maybe ten or so feet long. There was a twin-sized mattress on the floor to my right, with a few boxes and pieces of clothing strewn across the floor. The mattress was bare, with only a crumpled-up blanket and pillow on top of it. Just to my left was a closet; the doors were covered by two full-length mirrors. The mirrors made the room look a lot bigger. A peek into the closet revealed a dress uniform, a couple of sets of combat fatigues and a bunch of normal clothing. Shoes and boxes lined the floor of the closet.

Now that the apartment was fully explored, and nothing interesting was found, I went back in to the living room and sat down on the futon. Then I turned on the TV. About fifty minutes of dull channel-surfing later, our minion came back to her apartment but without Nightmare Moon. The minion said that the Mistress had left with her Gunnery Sergeant, and had commanded her to return to 'keep me company'.

She looked at me, and I looked at her. She waggled her eyebrows, and inclined her head towards the bedroom. It was obvious to me what she had in mind.

So we played Wii Sports for the next two hours until Nightmare Moon returned. Strangely enough, our minion seemed grumpy the whole time and didn't seem to have her heart in the game. She and I were in the middle of a game of Wii Golf when Nighty returned just before midnight. She streamed in through the open front window in her mist form, then reformed back into herself. Then she told us of her night.

"Success! The base is now under our control through the Commanding General."

"That's good news!"

"It is now time for us to leave, Captain. I shall convey tonight's happenings to you while we travel.

"Minion, your duties have ended for now. Know that you have my thanks. You may resume your normal life unless we call upon you again."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Mistress."

With that, Nightmare Moon and I left our minion's apartment. We took to the air and angled ourselves towards Camp Pendleton. While we flew, Nighty told me how she conquered the base and its leadership. The tl;dr was this:

Our minion brought Nightmare Moon, still hidden in the duffel bag in her mist form, to her direct report who held the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. Once they had privacy, our minion unzipped the duffel bag and Nightmare Moon streamed out. She immediately put both soldiers to sleep. Then she gave the Gunnery Sergeant a shadow parasite and started the Savior dream. Nighty said she put our first minion to sleep so she wouldn't betray us while we were enslaving her boss. Once the Gunnery Sergeant was ready, Nighty woke him up and asked him if he would bring her to his boss. After a bit of discussion, he agreed. She woke up our first minion while the Gunnery Sergeant called his direct report. Once informed that the Gunnery Sergeant had a 'personal matter' to talk about, his direct report agreed to meet with him immediately. According to the Gunnery Sergeant, his direct report was a Sergeant Major. Nighty then sent the first minion back to me.

The same scenario repeated when the Gunnery Sergeant met with the Sergeant Major. Nightmare Moon put them both to sleep while she enslaved the Sergeant Major. After a short conversation, the Sergeant Major agreed to take Nightmare Moon to his direct report, who was the Commanding General of Camp Pendleton. He was the leader of Camp Pendleton, and was our final target of the evening. The Sergeant Major spoke to the Commanding General's aide, who was taking the Commanding General's calls as it was late and long past normal office hours. As with the other soldiers, mentioning that this was a 'private matter' was enough for the Commanding General to agree to a late-night meeting. The Commanding General was at his home, so he asked the Sergeant Major to hold their meeting there. Nightmare Moon readily agreed to the meeting location. The Gunnery Sergeant was sent home, as he was no longer needed.

Again, the same scenario worked out perfectly. However, since the meeting was inside of a home Nightmare Moon had to search the entire house for anyone else living there. While the Commanding General was dreaming the Savior dream, the ebony mare found the man's wife and children and cast a spell on them to keep them asleep until morning. As soon as the Commanding General was enslaved, she dismissed the Sergeant Major and left to get me.

With her story done, Nightmare Moon and I made the rest of the trip in silence. A short time later, the two of us landed in front of the Commanding General's home. It was a single-story building, with a circular driveway in front and bushes up against the walls. There were two SUV's parked in the driveway, and a third, smaller car parked behind them. Between the three cars, the black asphalt driveway was quite full. We walked up the driveway and past the cars, then made our way to the front door. But before we could knock, the Commanding General opened the door.

"Ah yes. Good evening, Mistress."

"And a good evening to you, minion. This feline to my right is my Captain, and my second-in-command. In absence of any orders from me, you will follow his orders instantly. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Mistress. Before you come in, I should tell you that my aide has arrived. He will need to 'join us', if you get my meaning. It will be difficult to execute your orders without his help."

Nightmare Moon immediately turned into her mist form, then streamed past the Commanding General into his home. The two of us started after the dark mare and into the Commanding General's home. We heard a single choked gasp, then silence. The Commanding General then turned back to me.

"My home is yours, Master. Please follow me."

Once I crossed the threshold, the Commanding General closed the door behind me. He then led me into and down the home's foyer. Its bare walls were painted a dark shade of brown. The Commanding General's shoes squeaked on the polished wooden floor, while my feline feet were silent as always. We crossed the small foyer in six steps, then we turned left into what I presumed was the main living room of the house. Directly in front of me were two comfortable powder-blue armchairs, both facing to my left. To my right and behind the armchairs was a large opening, which lead into the kitchen. To the left of the armchairs was a coffee table made of glass, with a few magazines and doilies piled upon the glass surface. Past the coffee table was a couch, which was big enough for three people to sit comfortably upon. The back of the couch was up against the wall, which was painted some shade of tan. Lying on the couch was a man that must have been the Commanding General's aide. He appeared to be asleep, and was presumedly dreaming the Savior dream. Past the couches and chairs on the far wall was a TV and entertainment unit, with maybe 6 or so feet of empty space between the TV and the couches & chairs. The floor was carpeted, a medium pile that was colored a dark chocolate-brown.

I entered the living room, and saw another armchair up against the wall just to my left. The carpet felt soft under my bare feet. There was a small table in the corner, between the couch and chair, which held a lamp. The lamp was turned on, and was the sole light in the room. Nightmare Moon was sitting on the carpet on the far side of the coffee table. She was facing us with the TV to her back. The Commanding General gestured towards the two armchairs, indicating that I should sit in one of them. I took the armchair closest to Nightmare Moon, while he sat in the chair next to the corner table with the lamp. Once we were all settled, the Commanding General spoke to us.

"So Mistress and Master, what can I do for you this evening?"

I deferred the question to Nightmare Moon, who spoke up immediately.

"We would like to have a talk with your direct report, please."

"Much like the 'talk' you had with me tonight?"

Uh oh. Is he aware that he's been enslaved?

I turned to Nightmare Moon to see if she'd picked up on the Commanding General's implication. By how wide her eyes were, it was clear to me that she had. After a moment's pause, she answered.

"Yes, that is correct. Will that be an issue?"

The Commanding General leaned back in his chair, then steepled his fingers. He sat there quietly, examining both Nightmare Moon and I with his eyes. Finally, he spoke.

"I have no issue with that. However, he resides in Washington DC so meeting with him in person will be difficult."

Nightmare Moon turned to me.

"'Washington DC', Captain?"

"It's our nation's capitol, our version of Canterlot. It's on the other side of the country from us, maybe twenty-five hundred or so miles away. Most of the people that run the country are there, including the head of the country. He's called the President."

"Ah. Please continue, minion."

"Yes. Due to the distance between us, all of my communication with my commander is via phone or email or a rare Skype call. In order to get approval to travel to Washington DC and meet with him, I need to have a really good reason to do so. Simply stating that I have a 'personal issue' is not good enough."

"I see. That is unfortunate."

Looks like our little plan ends with the Commanding General here.

"Then I would like to make use of the soldiers under your command. I wish to deploy them to the south, to conquer the city of San Diego and the surrounding areas."

The Commanding General immediately began to fidget in his chair, although he kept his fingers steepled in front of himself. I spoke up before the dark mare could.

"Is there a problem, General?"

"Yes, I...

"I will not attack American citizens. It's against the military code."

"Truly, General? How is this so?"

"I am sworn to protect the Constitution and its citizens, against all enemies foreign and domestic.

"If you wish me to attack Americans, then I will have no choice but to consider you an enemy.

"Don't make me do this, Mistress. Please don't make me do this."

Nightmare Moon responded quickly, to settle the Commanding General and the shadow parasite within him.

"Do not fear, I shall not force thee to fight against the citizenry. I am merely trying to ascertain what options are at my disposal."

As expected, the Commanding General stopped fidgeting as soon as the unpleasant command was lifted.

"Will you move against my people, known as Equestrians?"

In other words, Celestia and the Element Bearers.

"If they attack my Country, I will defend her."

Nightmare Moon made a face, a distasteful one like she had smelled something foul. The conversation was clearly not going the way she wanted it to, so I decided to intervene.

"Will you let your soldiers guard us, or help us set up military law, or something like that?"

"I will not deploy the forces under my command unless I receive a direct order from my superiors."

"You can't act on your own?"

"I can, but only under certain circumstances."

"Like what?"

"If I can't reach my superiors and immediate action is needed."

This isn't working, let's try a different direction.

"Is there any way you can act without direct orders?"

"No.

"Well..."

"Yes?"

"If I receive orders that I deem are illegal, I can ignore them. Or I can choose to act, if the illegal orders ordered me not to do so. But I must be careful, especially at my rank. Disobeying orders is a court-martial offense, and I must prove that the orders were actually illegal not just that I believed them to be illegal."

"So, it's a big risk to disobey orders."

"Quite. It's also a risk to obey orders if those orders were deemed to be illegal. There's no defense for simply following orders."

"Sounds risky."

The Commanding General spread his hands in a gesture of conciliation.

"Such is life.

"Is there anything else you need of me, or can I retire for the evening? I have a busy day tomorrow."

I turned to the ebony mare, who shook her head.

"No, we'll take our leave. Thank you for your time."

"It is my pleasure to help my Mistress. Here, one moment."

The Commanding General leaned over and reached for a binder on top of the coffee table. As soon as he had it, he leaned back in his chair and opened the cover. He removed a small card from the binder, then wrote on it with a pen.

"This card contains the direct line to my office. Give the code phrase 'the lady in the mist', and you will be directly transferred to me."

I took the card from his outstretched hand, and saw it was a standard sized business card with the Commanding General's name, rank and phone number on it. I turned the card over and saw that he had written the code phrase on the back.

"Thank you, we'll be sure to use this soon."

"Oh, yes. Did you have any plans for the Marine Corps Air Station here at Camp Pendleton?"

"Uh, aren't you in charge of it as well?"

"It seems your knowledge of Camp Pendleton is woefully inadequate. Fortunately, I can help you. The Air Station has its own Commanding Officer, though he and I cooperate fully on any matters that involve both commands. When you are ready, I can set up a meeting with him so you two can have your 'talk'."

"Okay. Thank you, we will let you know."

The Commanding General stood up from his chair.

"Then I shall retire for the evening. Let me show you the door."

Nightmare Moon spoke up just as I was about to stand.

"One moment, I have not finished subjugating your aide."

"I see. Once you have finished, exit via the front door and take him with you. Good night."

With that, the Commanding General stood up and left the room. I stayed in my chair and simply waited. About ten or so minutes later, Nightmare Moon proclaimed the Commanding General's aide to be ready. She woke him up, and the three of us made our way out of the Commanding General's home. Once outside and in the cool night air, the ebony mare and I waited until the aide drove off in his compact car before we took to the air. We were heading home early once again, but this time we were ending the evening with a huge success under our wings.

However, we arrived back at the Moon Palace less excited then when we left Camp Pendleton. We discussed that night's conquest on the way home, and realized that we didn't actually have control of the soldiers on the base. Their commander was technically under our control, but he wouldn't do anything that we thought was useful. The problem was that the shadow parasites weren't taking full control of their hosts, and we didn't have an answer for that.

Our plans were failing, and we had to fix them fast - or Nightmare Moon's conquest of Earth would have come to an early end.

Act 4, Chapter 3 - Finding a Solution

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Askling the Camp Pendleton to be nice to us was working...sort of. The base commander would talk to us, but he wouldn't do anything we considered to be important. Until we could solve this problem, we were still stuck at Square One.

As with the night before, the bronies were waiting for us to return. They were sitting patiently in the bean bag chairs in front of the dais, while the Night Mare and I took our seats on her throne-couch. Once we had settled in, Nightmare Moon spoke to her suck-ups -- I mean, her subjects.

"Our actions tonight have borne much fruit. The base is technically ours."

A cheer rose up, though one brony immediately shot his hand up in the air. Once the cheers died down enough, I acknowledged the brony by pointing at him.

"Yes?"

"The Mistress said 'technically' hers. What does that mean?"

"The commander of the base won't take all of our orders. Most importantly, he won't let his soldiers help the Mistress take over the country."

Nightmare Moon chose that moment to speak.

"I am certain the problem lies in the process we use to subjugate the soldiers. This same process was highly successful in subjugating the local guards -- what were they called again, Captain?"

"Sheriffs and police officers."

"Ah, yes. Once subjected, these 'sheriffs and police officers' would help us lure their comrades to us and execute any command without issue. When we used the same process on the soldiers at the base, they appear to be fully subjugated and under our control. However, they will not lure their comrades to us but will betray us instead. We have determined that they will take commands that do not directly involve betrayal or conquest."

The room fell silent. After several quiet seconds had passed, it was obvious that no one had any ideas for us.

Well, Nighty WAS pretty vague on the details. If we want help from the bronies tonight, we're going to have to give them something more.

I turned my head to face Nightmare Moon.

"We're going to have to tell them about the Savior dream and how it all works."

"Why, pray tell?!"

"They need to know how it works if you want them to help us figure out what's wrong. You and I couldn't figure it out on the way back here."

"Oh, very well."

She turned back to the bronies, who were waiting expectantly.

"My Captain has requested that we tell you all how we attempted to subjugate the soldiers the past two evenings, in hopes that you may find a flaw in the process.

"Be aware that divulging these secrets to others is expressly forbidden. In fact, discussing these details with anypony after this evening, including yourselves, is also forbidden. Am I understood?"

A chorus of agreement went around the room. However, the Night Mare frowned in displeasure.

"Do not think that you will escape my wrath simply because you chose to be silent rather than acknowledge my command. I say again: am I understood?"

The bronies looked at each other in confusion, they didn't understand the dark mare's meaning. But they got it once two voices meekly spoke their assent.

"Yes, Mistress."

"Better. Now, to subjugate the human guards we use what I call a 'shadow parasite'. The parasite is a magical construct that twists the perceptions of its host, so that my commands fit within the host's moral fiber. Thus, said commands are obeyed without question. These shadow parasites had limited use in the past, as they could not reach deep enough into the host's psyche without completely suppressing their personality and knowledge. The result would be naught more than an automation, not unlike a zombie but without the bloodlust. However..."

Nightmare Moon glanced over at me before she continued.

"...the Captain and I developed a special dream, that allowed the shadow parasite to penetrate deeper into the hosts' psyche without disrupting their mind. We then had perfect double-agents: hosts that carried the trust of their comrades, yet would betray them when commanded to by me. This could be done because the shadow parasite convinced the host that my commands were right and just.

"The special dream was designed to encourage the host to trust me and my commands. It does so by projecting a scene of a rampaging monster in their mind, then showing an image of myself saving the host from the monster. The host is then given a chance to save me from the monster. If the host successfully chooses to save me, the shadow parasite penetrates deeper into their psyche and they receive a reward. If they fail to assist me, they are punished. The dream repeats until the shadow parasite fully penetrates into the hosts' psyche and they are fully under my control. This dream has not failed us, until now.

"As with all who receive the dream, the soldiers we gave it to responded favorably. However, the shadow parasite was unable to fully penetrate their psyche despite making many successful passes through the dream. We believe that this is the failure point in the process, but we are uncertain as to WHY it is failing.

"Have you all understood so far?"

Murmurs of assent all around.

"Excellent. The shadow parasite cannot force the host to do something that is against their moral fiber. An example would be the killing of a foal, not that I would ever order such a thing. If the host receives such an order, they will show physical discomfort such as shuffling their hooves around or an inability to sit still. They may also verbalize their discomfort. If the host is pressured to continue, the hold of the shadow parasite will be weakened and it may lose control of the host. To calm the host, one merely rescinds the order. The host may also express relief after the order is rescinded.

"Now, the host should not be able to disobey an order without breaking the hold of the shadow parasite. As already stated, the host should instead show signs of discomfort long beforehand. However, the soldiers at the base not only disobeyed me, but they actively betrayed me without breaking the shadow parasite's hold over them. In fact, the same soldiers that betrayed me continued to accept later orders without complaint or discomfort. The reason for this is currently unknown.

"You all are now aware of the situation we face. Do not hesitate to make suggestions you feel are foalish, as they may trigger other, better ideas. Also, avail yourselves of myself or my Captain for any questions that you may have.

"Now, discuss amongst yourselves."

The bronies turned towards each other and began their discussion. With nothing else to do, I simply waited patiently for them to finish. Shortly, one hand raised up in the air.

"Yes?"

"I believe I know the flaw in your plan."

Conversation stopped at the brony's words. I recognized him as the former Army brony who spoke up the night before.

"So soon? Pray, do tell."

"You are correct, the flaw is in the dream and how you encourage the host to trust you. The motivation for soldiers in our military is different than the average person. Your dream will make a soldier trust you on a basic level, but things such as loyalty to our country and their fellow soldiers are held to a much higher standard."

"Hmm. Your words do appear to explain both their betrayal and why the parasite cannot fully penetrate their psyche. Do you have a remedy for the situation?"

"I do not."

"I see.

"The next goal I set before you all, is to discuss this theory and test its durability against the current issue. Also discuss any way of resolving it. Multiple ideas and resolutions will be considered acceptable.

"Go."

The bronies turned to each other and began to animatedly discuss and argue. I tried to wait patiently, but this time they took longer to come to a consensus. So I tapped Nightmare Moon's leg to get her attention.

"Yes?"

"Do we have to sit here quietly while they talk?"

"Aye. We must remain regal while they do work on our behalf."

"But, it's so boring!"

"Immensely so. But as their rulers, it is expected of us."

The mare then turned away from me, and faced the bronies once again. I took her example and did my best to sit quietly. Without a clock or my cell phone, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. But it felt like a half hour had gone by before a brony raised his hand to indicate they were ready.

"Yes?"

"We have decided that the theory is sound, or at least sound enough."

"I see. Do you have a resolution?"

"We do. Change the dream to include elements of the Business Plot."

"And what, pray tell, is the Business Plot?"

"A loose summary would be: several businessmen wanted to overthrow our government, and they approached a popular retired General to be their leader. The General found this idea to violate his morals and the oath he took to his country, but he appeared to join the businessmen to gather evidence against them. Once he had enough evidence, he reported them to his superiors in order to thwart the plot."

"I do not see how this will help us."

"Change the dream so you are fighting against Changelings disguised as humans. Tell the dreamer that the Changelings are trying to infiltrate and take over the government, and you need the dreamer's help to save the country. That should engage the soldier's sense of loyalty."

Nightmare Moon turned to me.

"What dost thou think of their idea?"

"Hmm. I'm sure we can make a new dream like that, and their reasoning sounds good. I say we give it a try."

"Agreed."

The Mare in the Moon turned back to the bronies in her court.

"We shall make use of your idea. Be assured that your help this evening will not be forgotten.

"Now, my Captain and I must retire and work on this new dream. We shall reconvene if we have need of you again. This meeting is now concluded."

Nightmare Moon stood up from her throne-couch, and began to walk off of the dais to my right. Of course, I followed after her. The bronies began to stand up and move around the room, while Moony and I slowly walked along the right edge of the throne room. Our destination was the meeting room in the back of the throne room; once she reached the door, the Mare in the Moon slid it open with her magic. I closed the door behind me, and we took seats on opposite sides of the conference table that sat in the middle of the room. Once we got comfortable, we began to discuss.

"So, tell me again what kind of dream I am creating."

"It's not that different than the Savior dream. The dream will still show you fighting against monsters, and you will still ask the dreamer to help you. The consequences will be the same: a pleasant dream if they help you, a nightmare otherwise. What will change is who you are fighting, and how you plead for help.

"Well, I think the setting should change too. I dunno, maybe a war scenario?"

"I disagree. The setting shall remain the same, but the dreamer's reason for being there must change. The soldier will be on patrol, looking for unspecified difficulties."

"Alright. So, the dreamer will be wandering the streets and...hear a fight?"

"Aye. The dreamer will run to see the altercation, and shall see me fighting against several monsters. I believe the suggestion was that I would be fighting against Changelings."

"That's right. Black, bug-like ponies with fangs, wings and a horn. And strange holes through their limbs."

"I am familiar with the creatures, yes. Though I am curious how the bronies became aware of them."

"Oh. Um, remember the My Little Pony stories I told you about? Several of the stories featured Changelings. The first one detailed an attack on Canterlot, led by a Queen Chrysalis."

"I am not familiar with this 'Queen Chrysalis', but I have known of other queens with their own hives. However, none have been ambitious enough to directly attack a town much less Equestria's capitol. Pray tell, did she succeed?"

"For a short while, yes. She managed to overpower your sister and began to ransack the city. However, they were repelled by a spell that violently forced them all out."

"Curious. I am surprised that my sister allowed herself to be defeated so easily."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. I would have thought that a pony that can move the sun would be much stronger."

"She is, as am I. Perhaps she felt that she could not release her true power for some reason."

"Well, Queen Chrysalis was disguised as a bride and was revealed during the wedding ceremony."

"Ah, that would be the reason. Celestia could have easily vaporized the interloper, but would have slaughtered any and all that were within the room. I imagine she held most of her power back and only used what she felt was necessary."

"I guess. Celestia was really surprised when she was defeated. Queen Chrysalis claimed to have drained so much love from the groom that she was stronger than normal."

"That explains my sister's defeat. My sister and I can place limits on our power, both to hide our true power and to limit accidental usage. These limits can be changed, but they take time. It is clear that Celestia underestimated this Queen Chrysalis and put too much of a limit on herself."

"'Accidental usage'? What do you mean?"

"As my sister and I grew older, our magic grew stronger. It was not unheard of for one of us to pick up a drinking glass and mistakenly vault it into the ceiling. One day, Celestia was startled by one of her maids and accidentally tossed the mare across the Everfree forest. Fortunately, the maid landed in a lake and was relatively unharmed. But it was after that incident that the two of us began to place limits upon our power."

"I see. None of that was covered in the My Little Pony series."

"This does not surprise me. For obvious reasons, my sister and I wish to keep our true power a secret."

"Got it, my lips are sealed. Uh, back to the dream and the Changelings. I was thinking they should look human at first, perhaps dressed in business suits or in soldier's uniforms. Maybe both."

"I do not know what a 'business suit' is, but I can easily pull it from your mind."

"Oh, it's the clothing I was wearing when we first enslaved Janice when we arrived here."

"Ah, the formal clothing with the multicolored strip of fabric that wrapped around your neck and draped down your chest? That is helpful to know, I now know what memories to look for."

"Okay.

"Now that I think of it, we should definitely have Changelings in soldier's uniforms. Ones that the dreamer will recognize, and maybe the same uniform he or she is wearing. I think it'll make the dreamer realize that the spies could be anywhere, even his own teammates."

"An excellent idea. It will help cement in her mind that I am the one to be trusted."

"Exactly. So, you reveal them to be Changelings but they attack and knock you down. You then see the dreamer, and ask them for help. If they do, they attack the Changelings and the two of you defeat them. You then tell the dreamer that these 'creatures' have infiltrated the government and you need the dreamer's help to save the country. Their loyalty should compel them to accept."

"And thus view me as a positive agent, and one to be trusted. Of course, any rejection and the dream turns into a nightmare.

"This dream can be constructed with little difficulty. All that remains is to test it."

"You're going to put me through the dream, aren't you?"

"Of course, you are the only one I trust with this. Now, hold still."

And then everything went blank.

Said sidewalk was narrow, compared to the wide swaths of concrete I was familiar with around my home in Los Angeles. Trees were growing in the sidewalk next to the curb. Holes were cut in the concrete to allow the trees room to grow. Metal grates framed the trunk of the tree, hiding the tree's roots from casual view. I cast my gaze down the sidewalk, and saw what looked like a market on the corner maybe a half-block or so away.

The stop light at the corner had its red light lit, which changed to green as I watched. Beyond the stop light in the far distance, large multi-story skyscrapers could be seen. The scenery made me think that I was in a suburb of a large city. No cars were visible anywhere within my sight, moving or parked. Everything I saw felt familiar to me, yet I could not remember being in that place before. It could have been a neighborhood in my old home town of Chicago, or some area in San Francisco, or even some city on the east coast of the United States.

A head turn to the right revealed a small residential street. The road next to me was unmarked by lines, yet appeared to be just wide enough to handle a lane of traffic and a row of parked cars parked parallel to the curb. Looking farther out revealed a grassy median, perhaps as wide as a lane of traffic, covered in green grass of some sort and more trees. Past the median was another stretch of pavement, likely as wide as the one on my side. Again, no cars could be seen even though I expected one to pass by any moment. On the other side of the street were more houses, similar in layout and construction to the ones on my side of the street. A porch swing from one of the houses swung lightly in an unfelt breeze.

For the most part, nothing in my immediate area made any sound. Faint sirens could be heard off in the distance, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a helicopter flying nearby. My stomach gave a small grumble, and I was sorely tempted to see if the corner market was still open. But I knew my stomach would have to wait, as I had a job to do. I was a soldier in my country's military, and I had been called up to help calm down some local 'trouble'. No one would tell me what kind of 'trouble' I was supposed to look for, so all I could do is patrol my assigned area and hope that I recognized this 'trouble' if I found it.

The 'higher ups' had decided against the usual combat gear for this deployment, as we were patrolling peaceful city streets and not in the middle of a war zone. I was wearing a standard set of combat fatigues: a shirt, pants and cap made with the woodland camouflage pattern, with an olive t-shirt underneath and a pair of tan combat boots on my feet. I had a radio on one hip and an M9 sidearm on the other. I would have prefered body armor and an M4 but my request was denied. So my M9 would have to do.

I turned around and began to walk my assigned patrol route. The neighborhood was extremely quiet. None of the houses had a light on, nor did I see any cars driving by. The only lights were from the street lights. But that wasn't the strangest part. The whole time, I never heard a single dog bark. Or a cat yowl, or an owl hoot. Nothing. The only sound to keep me company was the sound of my boots on the sidewalk. I wandered up and down the streets until it was time for me to report in. Even stranger, I couldn't raise anyone on the radio. I checked channel after channel while I walked, and all I heard was static.

I guess I'm on my own.

The silence was shattered by a female voice shouting a warning. It was immediately followed by laughter. My senses slammed into high alert, and I swiveled my head around to try and locate where the new sounds were coming from. I could hear the voices begin to argue, and the sharp words quickly led me to a nearby alley. I double-timed it across the street and to the right, then burst into the mouth of the alley with my hand resting on my sidearm. While I was sure I had found the 'trouble' I was tasked to find, I wasn't exactly sure what it was that I had found. Partway down the alley was a...horse. A black horse. With WINGS. Its back was towards me, but it looked like it was wearing something colored silver. Facing the horse were three men; two in dark business suits, and to my surprise the third was a soldier dressed just like me. I wondered to myself, was the horse the 'trouble'? Seemed like a silly thing to deploy the military just to corner a silly horse.

Just then, the horse spoke. Yes, spoke. It spoke in the same female voice I had heard earlier, and boy was she mad.

"I shall not tell thee again, do not come any closer!"

The businessman in the middle chuckled before replying.

"And what are you going to do about it? You're too weak to fly, much less use magic."

Magic?!

In response, a light of some sort flicked on in front of the mare, and a beam of light shone out to touch the men. They all lifted an arm to cover their eyes, and in an instant they CHANGED. What once was human had become some sort of black bug-thing with big blue eyes, yet they were still dressed in the same clothes as before. Even my counterpart had changed. A moment later, all three bugs dropped down to their knees. When the bugs did not try to stand up again, I realized that they were actually standing on what looked like hooves. Were they bug-horses? I didn't know, but I was seriously creeped out. What the heck was going on?!

The middle bug-horse spoke up, and it had the same voice as it did before. If I had any doubts left that these things were the same people, I didn't anymore.

"You may have dispelled our disguises, but you have not taken our power!"

A light appeared in front of each of the bug-horses, and the lights shot out to hit the black mare. She screamed and was thrown down the alley towards me. I stepped aside, to make sure she didn't hit me by mistake. She came to rest on her side, just off to my left. I could now see that she had a silver helmet on her head, wore some sort of metal chestpiece, and had a black horn that rose up out of her forehead.

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

But I still can't tell who's the 'trouble', and who's not.

"And who do we have here?"

Uh oh, they spotted me.

"A silly human that's stuck their nose into something that's none of their business."

The one wearing combat fatigues looked at me, and another beam of light came out from its head. The light hit the ground in front of my feet, and it tore a small chunk out of the gravel in the alley. The gravel sprayed across my boots and lower legs.

"Skit skat, kitty-cat! Skit skat!"

All three bug-horses laughed at their little joke. But I didn't find it very funny.

I still don't know if this black horse is on my side, but I definitely know these guys aren't.

I drew my M9 sidearm, and aimed it down the alley at the bug-horses. I advanced down the alley and placed myself in between the black horse and the bug-horses.

"Freeze, Military Police! Nobody move!"

The bug-horses stared at me for a moment, then broke out into laughter again.

"Aw, the little human has a bite after all! What are you going to do, shoot us?"

"I will if I have to. Now, lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head!"

"What hands?"

The bug-ponies laughed again and ignored my command. While they were laughing, I heard some scuffling sounds behind me. I guessed that the black horse had finally woken up, and really hoped that she wouldn't shoot me in the back.

"I won't warn you again. Get down on the ground!"

"You can't do anything. Your shots can't penetrate our shields!"

A beam of light appeared from over my right shoulder and hit the bug-horse on the left. Said bug-horse bounced a ways down the alley, and didn't get back up. A female voice spoke up behind me.

"But mine can."

Two more beams of light, and the remaining bug-horses were also down for the count. I lowered my sidearm and turned around, and saw the black mare was now standing up. And smiling at me. It was really weird to see a smile on a horse, even one that could talk.

"You have my thanks. If not for your assistance, I fear that those three may have captured me."

"Uh, yeah. What the heck are they?"

"They are Changelings, and they have infiltrated both your military and your government. Should they succeed, they will take over this world and force all of you humans to be their slaves."

"Well, that's bullshit."

"Quite. I was attempting to uncover their plot when these three waylaid me. I desperately need an ally in this fight, wilt thou help me?"

"So, what you're saying is that these guys are trying to take over America, and you're trying to stop them?"

"Exactly."

"Hell yeah, I'm in!"

"Excellent. You will not regret your decision.

"When I am ready, we shall discuss the current matter at hand. Then, we shall resolve it together."

A sense of pride surged over me as my vision faded to a pleasant black...

Act 4, Chapter 4 - Inspiring Loyalty

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Nightmare Moon and I had just developed a new dream, that was supposed to target the loyalty that American soldiers have for their country. But would it actually work, or fail like the rest of our plans?

I awoke, slumped over the conference room table. I pushed myself up and wiped the drool off of my chin, then glared at the dark mare on the other side of the table.

"I hate it when you do that."

"Shame, you snore so divinely."

"Fuck you."

Her response was a wide, toothy grin.

"Whatever. The dream made sense and I think it will work."

"I concur. Shall we rejoin my Camarilla? I challenge thee to a Dagorhir battle."

"Yeah, fine."

I made the bitch suffer and whupped her ass twice in a row. That'll teach her to use me like that.

Well, she then beat me the next five times before I gave up. So I'm not sure who taught who a lesson in the end.

Next evening, I pulled out the Commanding General's business card and gave him a call. His aide answered, and I set up a meeting with them later that evening. It was still early in the evening, so the appointment was at the Commanding General's office rather than at his home. As soon as I hung up the phone, Nightmare Moon and I left the Moon Palace and made our way back to Camp Pendleton. Just under an hour later, we crossed the base's northern border. Nightmare Moon then began to track the Commanding General's shadow parasite, which led us directly to his office in Mainside. The two of us landed outside the building and walked towards the brightly-lit entrance. Just before we got to the doorway however, the Commanding General's aide opened the door for us and he ushered us inside immediately. Down the hallway and through another door that had the Commanding General's name on it, and we were inside his outer office. Around the corner and through one last doorway, and we were finally inside the Commanding General's office. He had already risen from his desk to greet us.

Nightmare Moon wasted no time and sent both men into dreamland. Then she started the Commanding General through the new dream, which we were calling 'Loyalty', while I handled his aide. And the dream was working very well indeed.

"Hey Luna, it looks like the new dream is working. The shadow parasite has already gone deeper into his brain."

"Didnst I ask thee not to call me by that name, unless we were alone?"

"Yeah, but these two are asleep so we're alone."

"No, we are not alone. We are WORKING."

"Sorry."

The mare relented and gave me a soft smile.

"You are forgiven. And I concur, the shadow parasites have gained a greater hold on them than before. In fact...

"Yes, the Commanding General's shadow parasite has full control! This is most fortuitous. How is your subject?"

"Yeah, same for the aide here. Shall we wake them up?"

"Yes, we shall."

A flash from Nightmare Moon's horn, and the two men began to stir. As soon as they caught sight of the ebony mare, they smiled and sat up straight on the carpet.

"Welcome back, my minions. Will you now deploy your troops at my command, to save your country from the creatures?"

The Commanding General spoke up.

"Yes, Mistress! Just tell me when and where."

A broad smile stole over the Night Mare's muzzle.

"Not yet. We must first verify that the soldiers under your command have not been replaced by these creatures. My Captain and I must visit each of them in their dreams, to test if they are still human. Can you help us with this task?"

"Of course! My aide will give you any assistance that you need."

In truth, our way of 'testing' each soldier was to give them a shadow parasite and run them through the new Loyalty dream. But we needed to know where each soldier lived and when they were likely to be asleep. The Commanding General was correct, his aide would be an invaluable resource to us. The three of us left the Commanding General's office, and paused to talk at the aide's desk. The aide spoke to us first.

"So, what's your plan Mistress?"

"We need to visit each soldier personally, and examine their dreams for signs of betrayal."

"Alright, do they need to be already asleep before you visit them?"

"It is preferred, otherwise the soldier may resist and begin to fight."

"Got it, I can set up a schedule of who you should visit and when, but I can't guarantee that they will all be asleep at that time."

"Understood."

The aide scribbled some numbers down on a pad of paper.

"So, how long does it take to enslave one of us?"

"Either my Captain or I can start the process in less than a minute. We can monitor their dreams from nearby, and can monitor many at once."

"I see, I see...figure a minute per soldier, add twenty percent more for travel time...

"From my estimates, you should have full control of this base in three to four weeks, Mistress."

"WHAT? So long?! How many soldiers are stationed here?"

"About 42,000 active soldiers, plus a varying number of reservists, retirees and guests at any time."

Nightmare Moon sat back on her haunches, a dumbstruck look on her muzzle.

"Forty-two thousand..."

"I take it you didn't expect so many, Mistress?"

"No. No, I did not.

"This process must be sped up somehow."

"Got it. got it. The problem is, Mistress: at one minute per soldier, excluding travel time, you're looking at about thirty days to clear the base. If you two can split up, that's still fifteen days."

"I can find no fault in your logic. However, I can subjugate more than one human at once within the same time period. I am uncertain as to how many, however."

"Alright. I think I have a plan..."

I missed out on the rest of that conversation, as the Commanding General had pulled me aside to enslave another one of his aides. When I returned, Nightmare Moon and the aide had concocted a plan. That night, we were to enslave soldiers and officers from a list that the aide gave to us. He said that these people were necessary to enact his plan. Once each person was enslaved, they were to call the aide and receive their orders. Nightmare Moon and I each had our own list, so we split up and enslaved each of the sleeping soldiers on our lists. Once the last person on our lists was enslaved, we returned to the Commanding General's office and waited for daybreak.

Early the next morning, we were escorted to a large warehouse. I was wearing a generic soldier illusion, while I carried Nightmare Moon (in her mist form, of course) in a duffle bag. The warehouse was filled with soldiers, at least a hundred or more walking around. On one side, enslaved soldiers were passing out military cots. Soldiers were taking cots and setting them up in rows throughout the warehouse. In one corner was a large tent, which looked to be big enough for 5-6 people to comfortably stand in. It was to this tent that I was led. Once inside, I saw that it was empty except for the Commanding Officer's aide. As soon as the tent flap was closed, I released Nightmare Moon from the duffle bag. Then, our briefing began. Essentially, once the soldiers had settled down on the cots and closed their eyes, Nightmare Moon would cast a far-reaching spell that would make them fall asleep. She and I would then give the now-sleeping soldiers shadow parasites, and then start the new Loyalty dream sequence. After all the soldiers were dreaming away, Nightmare Moon and I would be transported to another location to enslave another group that were ready for us.

New Loyalty dream sequence, you say? The original process we used to enslave someone was fairly simple. A person would complete the Loyalty dream while either Nightmare Moon or I watched them. If they chose to help Nighty, we ran them through a nice dream. If they didn't help her, we triggered a nightmare based on their deepest fears. After those dreams ended, we would manually restart the Loyalty dream. Because we had so many dreamers to supervise, Nightmare Moon was forced to chain the dreams together. This meant that the good or bad dream would start automatically, depending on the dreamer's choices. Those dreams would run for a short while, then the Loyalty dream would restart. The soldiers would then dream forever in a never-ending cycle, unless one of us ended the dream sequence manually or someone woke them up.

I asked Nightmare Moon why we didn't do this process with the Savior dream, and she said that the Savior dream had too many possible endings to automate the good and bad dreams. But with the Loyalty dream, it was much simpler to determine success or failure. She acknowledged that there was a risk that the wrong dream could be triggered by mistake, such as a successful Loyalty dreamer getting a nightmare. But with so many soldiers to enslave, she deemed it to be an acceptable risk.

We visited warehouses, auditoriums, and even a movie theater. Each location could fit scores of soldiers, and every one of them allowed Nightmare Moon and me to enslave soldiers en masse. Later that morning, we were brought back to the first location to check on the dreaming soldiers. When soldiers were deemed to be fully enslaved, they were awakened and sent off to resume their normal duties. Otherwise, they were left alone to keep dreaming. When the last soldier left a location, the next time we returned it was full of new soldiers awaiting their enslavement. The plan didn't feel very efficient to me, as the dreamers spent far too much time dreaming than they had to. But the plan was set up to let Nightmare Moon and I enslave soldiers as fast as we could. So it didn't matter if the soldiers were dreaming too long. The plan was efficient for us, not the dreamers.

It was a good thing that Nightmare Moon and I did not need to sleep, as it took close to three days of work around the clock to completely enslave all the active soldiers at Camp Pendleton. Despite all this hard work, Nightmare Moon told me that we were not yet done. She had noticed a little quirkiness in the shadow parasites' hold on the soldiers, probably caused by automating the good and bad dreams. However, she said she had come up with a solution. And what did she come up with?

A pep rally.

No, I am not kidding.

She needed to gather the newly-enslaved together again, so the two of us set up a new meeting with the Commanding General and his aide. After we exchanged the usual pleasantries, the Commanding General got to the point of the meeting.

"So Mistress, what is is you need of me?"

"I must ask you to gather the subjugated soldiers together, so that I may discuss with them the current subject at hand."

"'The current subject'? You mean...the 'coup'?"

The phrase 'the current subject at hand' was a trigger phrase used in the Loyalty dream. It was intended to remind the Commanding General that Nightmare Moon was 'working to save the government from being overthrown'. Of course, WE were the ones that were trying to overthrow the government but he didn't need to know that.

Nightmare Moon answered the Commanding General with a single nod.

"Of course, of course! Anything you need. My aide will make the arrangements."

"Thank you, General. But first, I would like to brief you and your aide on 'the current subject at hand'."

With that, Nightmare Moon cast a simple glamour spell on the two men. I watched their eyes glaze over as the spell took hold. The Night Mare told me that this last spell was intended to cement their loyalty to her, and to settle any instabilities with the shadow parasite. Once the spell had completed, both men refocused on the ebony mare and she completed her 'discussion'.

"I have completed my examination of all of the soldiers that reside here, and all of them are loyal to you and your country. However, be wary of those soldiers outside the base. Most are good and not a threat, but some are still suspect. Until we find the source, say nothing. Not even to your fellow soldiers. When I know who our enemy is, I will call for you to fight by my side."

The two men stared at Nightmare Moon like she was a goddess from on high, one who had promised to smite all their enemies and bring forth a new era of peace and prosperity. And to be honest, that IS what she promised to them. Too bad for them, it was all a lie.

After the 'briefing' had concluded, the Commanding General's aide arranged for Nightmare Moon's newly enslaved soldiers to meet her at the newly renovated Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Training Center. We were told, however, that folks just called it the 'base theater'. With seating for over a thousand, it was an excellent place to cast a single spell on a lot of soldiers at once. Too bad we weren't able to use it for the Loyalty spell, as Nightmare Moon did not feel that she could control over a thousand 'free' soldiers at one time. But she felt she could easily handle a thousand enslaved soldiers at once. Go figure.

The 'meeting' in the base theater worked well. The shadow parasites allowed Moony to get the soldiers into their seats quickly, and to get them to sit calmly for the glamour spell to take effect. She then gave the same speech to the soldiers as she did to the Commanding General and his aide. It was my job to check the soldier's shadow parasites as they left, to make sure they were strong and stable. There were no unstable ones; each and every soldier left the base theater in high spirits, and they all felt filled with a strong sense of purpose. Nightmare Moon was able to hold these meetings every half-hour until every enslaved soldier was completely and permanently in Nightmare Moon's enthrall. We waited until dusk fell, then made our final trek back to the Moon Palace in Los Angeles. This time, we were confident that the base was well and truly ours.

After entering the Moon Palace through our secret door, the two of us made our way into the throne room. To my surprise, it was completely empty of people. The room smelled like it had been empty for at least a few days.

"Whoa. Where is everyone?"

"Hmm? Ah. Once I realized that we would be at the military base for an extended time, I spoke to Janice and had her dismiss them all. They served no purpose here if we were not present, correct?"

"Uh, right. I'm fine with it, just surprised. It hasn't been empty like this for a while."

"Quite. I shall recall them when I deem it to be appropriate. Now, let us retire for the day. We have been awake for several days and have much magic to restore. When we awaken this evening, we shall first have a feast and then discuss our plans for the future."

Luna dipped her head slightly, then gave me a soft smile.

"Besides, we have not been intimate for what seems like an age. I wish to spend such special times with you once again."

Who was I to say no to such a gorgeous mare?

The next evening, we ordered pizza and soda and a huge order of buffalo wings for Luna. Two security guards delivered our large order up to the Moon Palace, and Luna brought it over to her throne-couch for us to devour. Much noshing and crunching of chicken bones was had. I had forgotten how good food tasted! Now that I was used to magic keeping me alive, eating food was a rare treat. And I didn't have to feel guilty about overeating, as long as I didn't do it all the time. Magic was, well, magic after all. But as the phrase goes, all good things must come to an end. In this case, I mean we ran out of food. We magicked the empty boxes and trash into a corner, and Luna made a credible attempt to get all the barbecue sauce out of her fur. Finally, we leaned back into the soft foam of the throne-couch, and sighed contently.

"Ah, I simply adore these Buffalo Wings. I shall have to introduce the beast to Equestria one day."

"Actually, they're fried chicken wings slathered in a special tangy 'buffalo' sauce. Not sure why it's called a 'buffalo' sauce, though."

"Truly?"

"Yup. I presume you already have chickens in Equestria?"

"Aye, though they are merely used for their eggs and their ability to eat bugs and insects that would plague other farm animals."

"Well then, all you need to do is import the buffalo sauce. You might even be able to make a similar sauce, I believe the basic recipe can easily be found."

"Mmmm, excellent."

The ebony mare suddenly let out a very unladylike belch. I stared at her, and the surprised mare stared back. Then we broke out in peals of laughter.

"Oh ho ho ho ho, ah hah hah! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Wah ha ha ha ha ha--"

Just as suddenly, I let out a loud belch of my own. We stopped laughing for a moment, while we let that sink in. Then, we were lost in laughter again. It felt like hours before we calmed down, though it was probably only a few minutes.

"Ahaha, ho. Truly, I wish that these times would never end."

"Hah, hah, hah. Oh yeah. But if we ate like this every day, we'd be fatter then Celestia in no time."

"Ah, yes. She is truly an icon of excess, a perfect example of what a pony should not do with one's long life. Or waistline.

"Though I would wish for some guidance on what we should do next, on our quest to conquer this world. For we do seem to be at an impasse."

"True. I have no helpful advice here, I'm not an experienced warrior. Well, I wasn't before we met anyway.

"How did you try to take Equestria away from your sister?"

Luna sighed as she thought back a thousand years to her attempted conquest of Equestria.

"Equestria had a sparse population, with woods and farmland in between each hamlet. Thus it was easy to conquer a town, then intimidate its residents into compliance. I could then leave a small group of guards or constructs to keep the town under my control. Eventually, I could have taken over all of Equestria with this strategy.

"However, the towns upon this world seem to stretch beyond the horizon."

"Actually, the Southern California area is made up of a bunch of smaller towns. But one town turns into another without any space between them, so it all appears to be one large megalopolis. As far as conquering and defending the area, it all might as well be one large town."

"Agreed. Additionally, I have noticed that the population density is magnitudes greater here than any city in Equestria I am aware of. Keeping the populace under control will be difficult.

"Shadow parasites are not viable for the general population. I could not use them even if this world had Equestria's lower population density. We must rely on other means of control."

"Yeah Luna, I agree. It would be better if we could keep our rule hidden from the people, convince them that everything is still normal and safe. The average person only interacts with the local police, and we already have them under our control."

"Thus, we cannot use a heavy hand when interacting with them or they may revolt."

"Something like that. Or worse, they notify the forces outside this area that they are no longer in control and they invade."

"That would be most unfortunate, as our soldiers will not attack their comrades. The invaders would not only trot in unopposed, we would also lose control of most of our army.

"It appears that we have an army that is of little use to us."

Luna sighed and looked down at her hooves, a move I learned meant that she was uncomfortable or nervous.

"It would have been most fortuitous for us if the leader of the military base was able to connect us with somepony in this nation's capitol. Or with somepony that could do such a thing."

"Right, someone with those connections..."

I audibly gasped out loud as my mind finally made the right connections.

"Bait!"

"Bait, my Captain? For what or for whom?"

I excitedly explained my plan to the Mare in the Moon.

"We need someone who can get us to Washington DC, right? But we don't know who that is or where to find them. Right?"

"Correct, though I do not yet understand."

"What if we lured that kind of person to us, instead?"

"That would be preferable, of course. But how would we know when such a person had arrived?"

"I'm not sure how yet, but we'll figure it out. But when they get here, we enslave them. If that person doesn't have the contacts we need, we keep it up until we find someone."

"I am not convinced that your plan is feasible, Captain. It seems to rely too much on random chance."

"True, but I'm sure it will be faster than taking over the country, town by town."

"Perhaps. However, you may continue."

"So, we use our new soldiers to lock down the greater Los Angeles area. We don't block communication or travel in or out, but we make it inconvenient enough to attract attention. The populace will complain, and someone from Washington DC will have to respond."

"And if they choose to respond with military force?"

I shifted around in my seat, before I replied to her question. The gurgling in my stomach from all the soda was beginning to make me uncomfortable.

"They won't. Not right away, at least. We can make the lock down seem reasonable, like they're filming for an upcoming movie or something."

"A 'movie'? Ah, one of the 'bronies' organized something he called 'movie night'. He brought a device that used light to put pictures on the wall that moved."

"Sounds right. The word 'movie' is shorthand for 'moving picture'."

"Ah."

"Yup. Think of it like a special kind of play that you might see in a theater. The actors act out a scene. But instead of acting to an audience, they act to a special camera that records what it sees. The scene can now be acted out anywhere you bring a movie camera, it doesn't have to stay inside a theater."

"Ingenious.

"Do these 'movie' cameras have anything in common with the 'webcams' the brony used to find our home?"

"Uh...yes! The name 'webcam' is shorthand for 'web camera', a cheap camera that makes low-quality pictures and movies. A movie camera is more complicated and makes very high-quality movies."

"Excellent. I begin to understand this planet's technology. Please continue."

"Right."

I let out another belch, but we were so wrapped up in our conversation that we didn't find it funny at all.

"Um, where was I?"

"You were speaking of our soldiers making a movie, I believe."

"Oh! I remember now. Soldiers and machines from our country's military are regularly used as actors for movies. Our soldiers will simply tell everyone that they're filming a movie."

"I see. And how will this lure bureaucrats to us?"

"Well, movie filming can take days or weeks in one location. The longer we maintain the military presence and use the same story, the more attention we attract. But the story is still reasonable enough that people will just complain louder rather than demand that we stop. We keep up the ruse until the right person comes here to investigate."

"I begin to understand. Enough complaints will require a visit by a petty bureaucrat, and we use him or her to get to your President."

"Correct."

"And how did you plan on intercepting this bureaucrat when they arrive?"

"Um, I hadn't gotten that far yet. They'll probably raise enough of a stink when they arrive that they'll be pretty obvious."

"Your plan is inefficient and risky. The bureaucrat may attract the wrong kind of attention before we can subvert them. And what if the visitor is not a petty bureaucrat, but a soldier or guard of some sort? One sent to quietly investigate, then leave?"

"That's true. I hadn't thought about that."

"We must find these visitors quickly, before they can report their findings. It would be best to intercept them as soon as they arrive."

"I agree, but I don't know how to do that.

"I guess this plan won't work after all."

"Do not give up hope yet. I am certain we can detect these visitors if we can get them to pass through a magic mirror."

A WHAT?!

Act 4, Chapter 5 - Bait and Tackle

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Our new dream, nicknamed 'Loyalty', was incredibly successful. It gave us full control over the military forces at Camp Pendleton, so we finally had our army! Well, not exactly. They were a useful tool, but we needed more.

"A magic mirror?

"Aren't they just used to see the future or far-away places?"

"Traditionally, yes. But they can also be used as portals. It was commonplace in my time to place a hidden magic mirror in a busy hallway. The mirror was actually two magically-constructed mirrors placed with their backs facing each other, and set so that the destination of one was the origin of the other. Each mirror would then show what the other one saw. And as such, the linked mirrors could no longer be seen by non-magical sight. A pony would walk down a hallway and pass straight through a mirror without realizing it. The mirror had spells to detect for whatever we wished for, such as spies or double agents. If a spell found a pony of interest, it would give that pony a magical marker that could be tracked almost anywhere. The pony could then be found and investigated at a later time, or simply followed."

"Interesting. But how are we going to find these people and get them to voluntarily walk through a magic mirror? Once we find them, we won't need the magic mirror."

"Simple. As we are looking for an arriving visitor, and not a traitor that is leaving, we place magic mirrors at the entrances to this region. We then scan all that arrive."

"That's thousands of people every day at each mirror, and dozens if not hundreds of mirrors all around the area. Even if it was possible, that's too many mirrors."

"We only need to concern ourselves with the major choke points leading inward. Remember, the visitor does not know about us nor that we are looking for them. Thus, we do not need to cast a fine net to catch our prey. The lightly-used and unlikely routes to us can be safely ignored."

"I guess so."

"As for a large number of visitors, it might be an issue if we were uncertain as to what we were looking for. However, we are looking for a specific visitor: one that has a high degree of curiosity or determination towards the unusual activities in this area. I can easily add spells to the mirror that look for such thoughts, and will place a magical marker on the being that has those thoughts. We can them investigate the marker at any time."

"I have no idea how any of that will work, but you're the expert on magic mirrors so I trust that you can do it."

"Fair praise from you, my Captain."

"Don't thank me yet, we still don't know if the plan's going to work. How fast can the mirrors scan? We'll have to scan vehicles moving at speed on the freeway."

"Ah, yes. The metal machines on the gigantic roads. I am certain the mirrors can cast the spells fast enough. The spell is not too different from a typical 'friend or foe' spell; we are just using different definitions of 'friend' and 'foe'."

"Hmmm.

"Okay, I think I have a plan. How big can these magic mirrors be?"

"As big as we require them to be. Larger mirrors require more magic to create, but they sustain themselves until damaged or removed."

"Good. So here's the plan. We build hidden magic mirrors at the choke points into the area. We use existing structures if possible, like a freeway overpass. Otherwise, we build our own. The ones we have to build and put up will be guarded by our soldiers, who will be told that the structures are checking for traitors to the government. This fits right in with the Loyalty dream, so they should accept it without issue."

"Agreed."

"The cover story for the deployed soldiers is that they are being filmed for a movie. We make sure the soldiers know that, so if anyone asks they can all tell the same story.

"The mirrors, as programmed by you, will place a magic marker on our 'person of interest'.

"Um, question: if a vehicle has more than one person inside, who gets marked?"

"The spell I planned to use will mark all living beings inside the metal machine."

"Meaning that we will need to verify which markers are true and which ones are false. Can the spell tell us how many markers were made?"

"Nay. Think of the marker like a spray of water; we will know that water was sprayed, but not how many ponies are now wet."

"Right. Nice analogy, by the way."

"My thanks."

"So, we'll have to intercept the vehicle and fine-tune the results. We should hopefully get just a few interesting visitors at first. But the longer we keep the bait out, the more visitors we'll get."

"Aye. At first, we should be the ones the intercept these bureaucrats. And by 'we', I mean 'you'."

"Thanks."

The ebony mare flashed me a toothy grin.

Great. She parties while I do all the hard work AGAIN.

"So, how am I supposed to inspect all the people in the car and figure out the right one?"

"Simple. Subjugate them all, and we can interrogate them one at a time. If there are too many to subjugate at once, I will join you and assist."

"Alright, I guess that works. But how do I get them to pull over, so I can enslave them? I can't just blast them from the sky, our cover will be blown."

"That is your problem to solve. I cannot hold your hoof for every decision you make if you are to be effective as my second-in-command."

"Fine. In the meantime, I think we should take over the leadership of the nearby military bases. We don't need their soldiers, we can use the ones at Camp Pendleton. But taking over their leaders will keep them from asking questions, and might help us find out if anyone else is asking questions."

"I concur. I had thought to subjugate all the soldiers at the military bases we visited, but your reasoning is sound."

"Thanks. Besides, we can always enslave them later if we need them."

"Agreed."

"We should also have the Camp Pendleton Marines figure out the best places to put the magic mirrors. They can also begin to work on the frames for the magic mirrors at the same time."

"An efficient plan, I like it. We should start immediately."

"Sure. Let's call the Commanding General at Camp Pendleton, and get his team started."

The two of us slowly got up off of the throne-couch (we were still full of food, after all), and made our way to the meeting room. Once there, I used the speaker phone in the room to dial up the Commanding General's office. The phone rang three times before his aide answered the phone, and he immediately transferred us to the Commanding General without asking for the passphrase. I explained to the Commanding General what we had in mind for his soldiers, though we told him that we were attempting to detect 'spies' coming into SoCal. Technically true, of course. However, he did not reply right away.

"Minion, are you still there?"

"I'm controlled by idiots."

"I beg your pardon?!"

The Commanding General let out a long sigh.

"My apologies, Mistress and Master. I meant no disrespect. But if this is your best plan, you clearly don't know what you're doing. Let me help you."

Nightmare Moon looked quite offended at the Commanding General's words. So was I, his words were pretty insulting. But I also knew he wasn't a stupid man; he couldn't be if he was placed in charge of Camp Pendleton. So I figured I'd give him a chance to explain himself before Nightmare Moon went off on him.

"Fine, we're listening."

"Thank you, Master. You are clearly looking to draw someone important from Washington DC here to SoCal, someone with close ties to the President. Correct?"

"That's right."

"I can draw that person to me, by creating chaos within the military hierarchy. Once enough chaos and confusion is created, I will be contacted by someone who can eventually deliver you to the President."

"And pray tell, how will you accomplish such a thing?"

"Simple, Mistress. I will deploy my soldiers to places all over the Southern California area, places where the soldiers will be seen by as many people as possible. When anyone asks what they are doing, they will simply say that they are filming a movie. Nothing else. However, I will tell my soldiers that they are there to attract attention, so those involved in the 'coup' will become nervous and act rashly. The eventual media coverage will attract the attention of the bureaucrats in Washington DC. They will contact my office for information, as paperwork must be filed before we cooperate with a movie studio and no such paperwork exists."

"I think I follow you. You'll keep giving excuses every time they call."

"Correct, Master. In the meantime, I will step up the deployments around Southern California. While the cover story of filming a movie is common in Southern California, people will eventually get suspicious the longer the deployments go on."

"And when no one sees a film crew anywhere nearby."

"Exactly. I will eventually receive a call from a higher-ranked bureaucrat, and I will give them a different excuse. This will cause even more chaos. I will continue this charade until I get contacted by someone that can reach the President. If we are lucky, I will be contacted by the President himself, or someone acting on his behalf. I will then offer to tell this person the 'truth', but I cannot divulge the reasons over an unsecure line. I will then ask the caller to meet with me here, at Camp Pendleton."

"At which point, Nightmare Moon and I will be in your office waiting for him. Or her."

"Correct. I will handle all of the details of this plan, and attract all the attention to me and my staff. There is no need to enslave the other military installations, their confusion is necessary for the plan to work. If there is anyone that I cannot handle for some reason, I will contact you immediately.

"That is the plan. What do you think?"

Nightmare Moon was quiet for several moments, as she thought through the Commanding General's plan. Finally, she spoke.

"I approve of this plan. It is both simpler than ours and accomplishes the same goals. Enact it immediately."

"Yes, Mistress. My staff will give you weekly status updates, even if there is nothing new to report."

"That is acceptable. Good night."

At that, I hung up the conference phone.

"Well. That was unexpected."

"Very much so. It seems that this minion has retained all of his mental faculties, and is quite aware that he has been subjugated. Despite this knowledge, he is quite willing to assist us. Even to the point of belligerence."

"Well, I'd guess that the head of a military base has to have an independent streak in order to act without orders if he has to. We did tap into his loyalty to this country, maybe he's just that loyal."

"Perhaps. I do not wish to consider how he would act if he realized that we were the agents attempting to conquer his country."

"Yeah.

"That would be really, really bad.

"So, now what?"

"I do not understand."

"The Commanding General is going to do all of our work for us. No magic mirrors, no investigating visitors, and no conquering military bases. We have nothing to do anymore, except wait."

"Ah, I see your point. In truth, our original plan did involve a measure of waiting but only after a period of action. It seems that we must learn to be patient.

"However, I find myself encumbered by thoughts of betrayal. Betrayal on behalf of the Commanding General. If he decides to betray us for any reason, we would need to flee as soon as possible. To attempt to counter this, I shall set up several magic mirrors in this building. Their sole purpose is to give us advance warning of any such attackers. Hopefully, they shall give us enough warning in order to escape."

"Yeah, he could fuck us over really bad if he betrayed us."

"Agreed. But for now, I shall recall my Camarilla. They can entertain us while we wait. And perhaps form a first line of defense if we are invaded."

"What, those pussies?"

The ebony mare smirked at my comment.

"I cannot argue with your assessment of their bravery. But I can control them via the special shadow parasites inside their bodies, and force them to attack any invaders."

"Huh. That's pretty cold."

"They are naught more than sheep, only having meaning when in service to us."

"I can't argue with that. Though part of me wants to."

"Enough. I shall recall my Camarilla."

And she did. While we waited for the bronies to return, Nightmare Moon set up the magic mirrors she mentioned. The building security was already set up to tell us of any invaders, so we left them alone to do their jobs. We had Janice report on any media coverage of military deployments in Southern California, in order to double-check the reports we got from Camp Pendleton. All that was left to do, all that we could do, was wait. And party, of course.

Time passed. The reports from Camp Pendleton were boring and dull, but they always matched the info we got from Janice so we were pretty sure they were telling us the truth. I finally convinced Luna to try out the video games, and once she got the hang of the controllers Gamer Luna was born. Or would that be Gamer Moon? She was quite fond of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), but she couldn't handle losing and quickly got real salty at the game. Didn't stop her from playing, though.

A few weeks after Camp Pendleton started their campaign, the bronies introduced Nightmare Moon to Thanksgiving and the traditional feast that came with it. The bronies surprised me by cooking a turkey, which was quite good actually. I joined a D&D campaign, run by the bronies of course, which ran daily for months. For Christmas, the bronies bought Luna toys and posters from the video games that she played, and she was very pleased. The ebony mare finally had something to decorate her side of our bedroom with.

When January rolled around, we got a request to call the Commanding General at Camp Pendleton. He asked us to come down to the base, as new recruits had arrived and they needed to be 'brought into the fold' (aka, enslaved). While down there, I found myself waiting in the Commanding General's office in the afternoon with nothing to do. Suddenly, the phone rang. And no one was around. The phone rang several times before I had a sudden urge to answer it.

"Uh, Camp Pendleton."

"Why the heck are you deploying soldiers all over the place?!"

"We're...helping to film a movie, sir."

"Bullshit! I've contacted all the movie studios and none of them have signed a contract with us!"

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know--"

"I demand to know what are you REALLY doing down there?!"

Oh, really? You asked for it.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you, sir."

"SPILL IT, SOLDIER!!"

"We're filming a porno."

"WHAT?!"

I swiftly hung up the phone, and cackled like a madman.

More time passed. I took to flying around the city at night, just to have something to do. I was lucky that my magic kept me in excellent physical shape, or all of this sitting around would have ruined me. Go, magic! If only magic could keep me from getting bored.

More time passed. I had Janioe get me a Netflix subscription and I started binge-watching television programs on my old PC. The superhero programs I used to watch were there, but they didn't hold the same appeal for me that they used to. The stuff the heroes did in the shows used to be so cool, but now they seemed so ordinary. I guess it's because I had become a superhero, doing super things every day. Or was I a super villain? I was the minion of a villain, after all. I tried not to think about it too much.

Sometime in the middle of March, something FINALLY happened. We got another request to call the Commanding General at Camp Pendleton. He finally had good news for us! He had been contacted by one of the President's direct aides, and the aide was coming to Camp Pendleton to get 'clarity on the Southern California incidents'. This was exactly what we were waiting for! The Commanding General requested that we be in his office before 9am the next day, as that was the time the Presidential aide was supposed to arrive. Easy enough to do, though we arrived at Camp Pendleton just before dawn so we could travel under cover of night. Nightmare Moon and I met the Commanding General when he arrived at his office at 8am, and we spent the next hour waiting while the Commanding General did paperwork.

The office was quite roomy, maybe 20ft wide by 30ft in length. The Commanding General was sitting at his desk, which was on the far side of the room. It faced the door to his office, which was on the opposite wall. The desk was ornate and made out of a heavily varnished wood. The top of the desk was covered in papers, a desk phone and a computer screen on one side. Behind the desk were paintings hanging on the plain white walls, and two short filing cabinets were in the back corner. If you were sitting at the desk, the filing cabinets would be to your left. I was standing next to the filing cabinets, while Nightmare Moon was on the other side of the desk. In front of the desk sat two well-used and creased leather armchairs. To the mare's right, and all along the right wall were dark-colored bookshelves that nearly reached the ceiling. The bookshelves were filled with books, binders and some knick knacks that were mostly military-related. On the other side of the room near me was a dark gray couch, with a wooden coffee table in front of it. The coffee table had a drawer in the middle of it, with two empty storage shelves on either side of the drawer. The legs for the table were long and tapered, wider on the top then the bottom. The carpet was light brown, and cut in some sort of short-pile that looked decent but was probably chosen for its durability. There were marks on the carpet that implied that the armchairs in front of the desk were routinely dragged over in front of the couch. The rest of the room was empty.

At ten past nine, the phone on the desk rang. The Commanding General answered it on speaker phone, and we heard an aide say that the Presidential aide had just arrived. The Commanding General hung up, then stood up from his desk and walked past me towards the door. Nightmare Moon and I looked at each other, nodded and then turned invisible. Two seconds later, the door to the office opened and the Presidential aide walked into the room.

The man was somewhat wiry and thin, and carried an air of self-importance around him. As in, he knew he was important and he made sure that you knew it. He was wearing a dark blue suit, black shoes and a dark red tie, with a mustard-yellow vest and a pale blue shirt underneath. He wore glasses with round lenses on his dour face, which seemed to be permanently stuck in a frown. His hair was trimmed short on the sides but long and curly on top, almost like a poofy pompadour. The most unusual part of him was his hair color. For some reason, it was some shade of peach. While I couldn't complain about the style, it seemed very out of place for a politician or political appointee. Regardless, the man swept past the Commanding General and ignored the man's offer of a handshake. Once he was in the middle of the room, the Presidential aide crossed his arms and demanded to get down to business.

Act 4, Chapter 6 - Final Approach

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Nightmare Moon and I had finally found someone that could deliver us directly to the President of the United States. Our plan to conquer the United States was almost complete!

Once the Presidential Aide was in the middle of the room, he crossed his arms and demanded to get down to business.

So Nightmare Moon obliged him.

She shot him point-blank with a magic ray from her horn, and the man crumpled to the floor. Her invisibility spell was shattered by her spell, and I dropped mine right afterwards. The Night Mare sat down next to the sleeping man, and sent him into his first Loyalty dream. Some twenty or so minutes later, the dark mare declared him fully subverted and woke him up. The Presidential Aide got up off the floor, brushed off the sleeve of his suit with a hand, then wiped his glasses off on his tie.

"What is it you wish of me, Mistress and Master?"

"We wish to speak to your President, in order to speak to him about the 'current subject at hand'."

As this was a trigger phrase used in the Loyalty dream, we hoped it would cement our control over the man. It worked, but not quite the way we expected it to.

"You mean, enslave him like you just did with me?"

Nightmare Moon and I stood there, dumbfounded. The Presidential Aide turned to look at the Commanding General, who was sitting calmly behind his desk working on his paperwork again.

"Did they enslave you too?"

The Commanding General nodded slowly but did not look up.

Uh, oh. We could be in trouble. These are two smart and savvy men, and if they're going to betray us this would be the time.

"Will this be a problem?"

"No. The President is always someone's puppet. At least you have the country's best interest in mind."

I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

"Great. So, the Mistress and I have developed a way of sneaking her into places she normally can't get into. She can turn into a mist form, then she hides inside a briefcase or duffel bag. Someone carries her where she needs to go, then they open the bag when it's time to attack. We were hoping to use the same trick to get her into the Oval Office."

"I can get you a meeting with the President, but you won't be able to carry anything except for some papers in a folder."

The Presidential Aide looked me up and down, and took in my feline look and Lunar Republic-inspired armor.

"Were you planning to wear that dreadful armor into the Oval Office?"

"Uh, yeah. Under an invisibility spell, of course."

He turned back to the Commanding General, and gave him a condescending look.

"Idiots."

"That's what I said."

I had to speak up.

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted, or just glad that you're on our side."

The Presidential Aide snapped back an answer, then began to pace back and forth.

"Probably both. Now, listen up. Security at the White House is very paranoid, and for good reason. They are constantly thinking of unlikely scenarios so they can better protect the President. Unfortunately for you, they have thought of the exact plan you are using: a foreign agent attempting to sneak in and mind-control the President. You will not be able to bring anything with you except for the clothes you will be wearing. In light of the 'Shoe Bomber' in 2001, it's likely that they will make you remove your shoes and give you a replacement pair. They will touch you and aggressively pat you down, so you cannot wear armor. And even if you can somehow hide how the armor feels, they will suspect that you are wearing something under your clothing. Everyone walks differently when they wear armor, even if it's just a bullet-proof vest."

"I shall keep your armor for safe-keeping, my Captain. Once we are engaged in battle, I shall return it to you."

In a blink, my armor was gone.

Wonderful, I'm naked in front of EVERYONE. This is like every high schooler's worst nightmare. At least I have fur to cover everything.

I used a bit of illusion magic to salvage my pride, and make it look like I was wearing my favorite pair of denim shorts.

While I was busy whining about my not-so nekkidness, the high-strung Presidential Aide had paused to take a breath and think. Suddenly, he spoke.

"If you can create an illusion to make you look human, it would be better. Explaining a walking and talking cat would be difficult.

"Wait one moment. Do you even have any government-issued ID?"

"Um, not anymore."

The Presidential Aide threw up his hands into the air.

"I can't sneak you into the Oval Office! You need to be a legal person so you can have a background check before we even get to the White House! This is ridiculous!"

The Commanding General stood up from his desk and walked around it to stand next to the Presidential Aide. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder in what looked like a comforting gesture.

"Patience, Mr. Nicholes. There is always a solution. Radonich, come here."

An aide I hadn't noticed left his spot next to the door, and walked over to the Commanding General.

"Yes, sir?"

"Take a look at the Master over there. Imagine him without that fur, as a human. Doesn't he remind you of someone?"

"Hmm. Burke, I think?"

"Burke, exactly. Go get his wallet with his driver's license, you know where he leaves it. Then file paperwork to report it stolen."

"Yes, sir!"

The aide ran out of the room.

"Mr. Nicholes?"

"Hmm, yes?"

"The problem has been solved. My aide is fetching the driver's license of someone who is approximately the Master's height and build."

"Is he a soldier?"

"No, he is a civilian. Someone who I am acquainted with."

"Okay, okay.

"That should work. The Secret Service shouldn't need to fingerprint him, so we should be okay.

"Now Master, you must be wearing real clothes as security will touch you so they can search you. Do you own a suit?"

"Uh, not a real one."

"We'll need to buy one, then."

Mr. Nicholes turned back to the Commanding General.

"Is there a local tailor we can use? I want him in something tailored, he'll blend in better that way."

"I'm sure something can be worked out."

The Commanding General beckoned over another one of his aides, who had entered after the last one had left. In the meantime, Mr. Nicholes had more to say to me.

"Now, I'll report in that I have been fully briefed on the situation here and I am bringing someone with me that can make a detailed report to the President. So you MUST be seen with me from the moment we leave this base, and cannot leave my side until you see the President."

Mr. Nicholes then turned to face Nightmare Moon.

"You cannot attend, Mistress. There is no way to sneak you in."

"Impossible, my presence is required. Can you not carry the briefcase, instead?"

"I cannot. If I try, it will be opened and inspected and you will be discovered."

"Strewth! There must be a way, we simply have not discovered it yet."

Silence for a bit, as we all tried to think of an idea. The Commanding General spoke up first.

"My kids just rewatched Peter Pan last night. Can you do anything like that, Mistress?"

"I do not understand. Who is this Peter Pan?"

What does Peter Pan have to do with anything?

Wait...

His SHADOW!

"My Queen, can you hide in someone's shadow?"

"I have the ability to hide in shadows, yes. What of it?"

"Hide in my shadow, and we can sneak you in that way!"

"Yes, yes! I can hide in even the lightest shadow. Discovery is great when the shadow is light, but only by magical means that do not yet exist on this world. This plan shall succeed."

With that problem solved, Mr. Nicholes continued with his plan.

"When you attack Mistress and Master, you will have to block the doors quickly or you will have to fight off the Secret Service. There are many cameras watching the President, and they will react immediately.

"How much time do you need to enslave the President, Mistress?"

"Perhaps up to twenty minutes before the shadow parasite fully takes hold."

"That's far too long, the Secret Service will break into the Oval Office before your plan is complete."

I did not hear the rest of the discussion, as I was subsequently hauled off to a local tailor to be fitted for a suit. However, I could hear the Presidential Aide and Nightmare Moon argue loudly until I exited the building.

When I returned to the Commanding General's office a couple of hours later, I was wearing a dark blue suit with a white shirt, dark red tie and dark brown dress shoes. I was also wearing a human illusion, crafted from the picture on the driver's license that Mr. Radonich had given to me: fair skin, short cropped brown hair and a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. I inquired about the Oval Office plan, but I was simply told that 'the plan was worked out' and I merely had to look surprised when 'something' happened.

Great, I'm stuck being the 'clueless' minion.

Mr. Nicholes took several seconds to look me and my new suit over. Finally, he declared that I 'would do' and that he and I would be leaving for the airport immediately. Nightmare Moon then did a little hop and somehow JUMPED into my shadow. Man, that was weird to see. I was quickly ushered out of the Commanding General's office and outside to a waiting limousine. The warm spring air that drifted by carried with it the scent of blooming flowers. By the height of the sun in the sky, I guessed it was Noon or close to it. Mr. Nicholes and I climbed into the back of the limo, and as soon as the door closed the vehicle drove off.

Mr. Nicholes spent the hour long drive to the San Diego Airport prattling to me about White House protocol, which could be best summarized as 'shut up and don't talk unless spoken to.' At the airport, the two of us were escorted past TSA security and were led directly to the gate our flight was departing from. From the look of the harried gate staff, and the dirty looks we got from the other passengers when we boarded, the airline had held the flight for us. As soon as we had boarded and buckled into our first class seats, the outer door was closed and the plane taxied away from the gate. After a short wait in line, the plane maneuvered on to the runway and promptly took off for Washington DC.

According to the display in the seat back in front of me, the flight was a little under six hours long. We had left just after 1pm local time, and we were crossing three time zones, so we would be arriving around 10pm Washington DC time. A bit late to meet with the President, even though Nightmare Moon and I were more than ready to meet with him. I lamented the fact that we couldn't simply sneak into the President's bedroom and get him when he was sleeping. I spent the trip listening to the music on the in-flight radio stations.

As predicted, we landed at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport just before ten in the evening. Mr. Nicholes and I were allowed to de-board first, and we were met on the jet bridge outside the plane by a Secret Service Agent who never gave us his name. The agent was big, Caucasian, and very intimidating. He had no hair on his head; whether this was deliberate or due to balding I had no idea. The man wore mirrored sunglasses, and he never took them off. His suit was a dark gray and he wore a white shirt with a solid red tie around his neck. His whole look and ensemble made me wonder if I had fallen into a Hitman video game and I was one of the idiot NPCs that needed to be escorted to a checkpoint far away.

The Secret Service 'Hitman' Agent led us down the terminal, past baggage claim and out to a waiting black limousine. The chilled air outside the airport was a shock after the warm California weather, but it could have been worse. The weather report on the plane had predicted rain in the DC area, but the ground was completely dry. Mr. Nicholes and I got into the back of the limo, while the agent sat up front with the driver. Thankfully, Mr. Nicholes kept quiet this time, and the trip away from the airport was peacefully quiet. A short fifteen minute trip later, and the limo pulled up to the curb in front of a hotel. The door on the right side opened from the outside, and I exited the limo into the night air. I shivered as a cold gust of air blew past. Fortunately, the suit I was wearing was real and thus provided me some protection from the weather. I briefly noted the 'Hitman' Agent standing next to the opened door, then paused to look at the ornate entranceway to the hotel. Above the entranceway, I saw the name "Sofitel" in lights. Mr. Nicholes exited the limo behind me, and paused momentarily to make a comment.

"Ah, yes; we shall be 'slumming' at the Sofitel Lafayette tonight. I was unable to book two adjacent rooms at the Hay-Adams."

With that, Mr. Nicholes walked through the front doors of the hotel and strode into the lobby. I followed, with the 'Hitman' Agent right behind me. At the front desk, Mr. Nicholes retrieved two room keys, and handed one to the 'Hitman' Agent instead of me. I gave a pointed look to both the agent and Mr. Nicholes, and was informed by the agent that I was not allowed to leave my hotel room for any reason. He also told me that there would be a guard outside my door until I left for the White House in the morning. I wasn't interested in a tour of the town that evening, so I accepted that and simply followed Mr. Nicholes and the agent to the elevator lobby.

While we waited, I noted the white marble surrounding the elevator doors and how they contrasted with the teal couches and wall hangings behind me. I thought the teal coloration was unusual, but but I know nothing about interior design. We rode the elevator to the third floor, and I followed the two men as they exited the elevator and turned left down the hallway. The decor in the hallway looked posh and clean, with the walls and carpet done up in dark grays and whites. The agent paused at one door and held out a hand to stop me, while Mr. Nicholes continued to the next door down.

The agent opened the door with the room key, then held the door open for me. As soon as I crossed the threshold, the agent pulled the door closed and I heard the latch shut with an audible click. With nothing else to do, I began to explore the hotel room. Down the short hallway and to the left was the bathroom, with the expected shower, toilet and sink. The hallway ended just after the bathroom door, and led into the small room. There was a closet with mirrored doors next to the bathroom door. I was standing next to the closet, in the left corner of the room. There was a single king-sized bed up against the right wall, which took up about half of the space in the small room. There was a nightstand with a lamp on either side of the bed, with two red footstools at the foot of the bed. On the left wall in front of me was a dresser with a large flat-screen TV on top of it. Beyond the dresser in the corner was a desk. The far wall was made up of windows that gave a view of the darkened street outside. While the quality of the furniture and bedding seemed to be quite nice, the hotel room looked no different than any other hotel I had stayed in.

I heard a knock at the door, then the sound of the door being unlocked and opened. A voice spoke to me, which I recognized as the agent's.

"Take off your suit, and I'll have it dry-cleaned for the morning."

A moment later, I heard the door click shut once again.

I guess it wouldn't look good to show up tomorrow while wearing a wrinkled suit.

Experience told me I would find hangers in the closet, and I was not disappointed. I also found a fluffy white robe hanging in the bathroom. I carefully took off my suit coat, pants, dress shirt and tie, and put the clothing on the provided hangers. I included my socks for good measure. After donning the robe, I carried my suit to the front door and opened it. The agent was standing in front of the doorway with his back to the room, but turned his head around as soon as I opened the door. Once he saw I had my suit ready, he turned around and took it from me.

"Good. Room Service is on its way."

With that, the agent turned his back to me and said nothing more.

I let the door close on its own and walked back to the bed, intending to watch some TV while I waited for Room Service to arrive. But to my surprise, Nightmare Moon jumped out of my shadow and stood in the space between the TV and the bed. As always, she was clad in her silver armor. A moment later, she used her magic to drag the curtains in front of the windows.

"For such a high-class accommodation, I would have expected something much more spacious."

"Mr. Nicholes did say something about wanting to stay in a better hotel. Maybe this is the best he could do on such short notice."

"Perhaps, but I am still not impressed."

Spoiled brat.

"The room was intended for a basic guest, and not for royalty such as yourself. Maybe a bigger room would have raised suspicion."

"A very good point, my Captain. Regardless, the room is acceptable for a single evening.

"Now what, pray tell, is 'dry cleaning' and 'room service'?"

"How did you hear about them?"

"I can hear and see everything that occurs around you when I am hiding in your shadow. It would not be a very safe place to hide if I was not aware of my surroundings while hidden."

"I guess. I never thought about it."

"So, 'dry cleaning'?"

"Ah, right. Dry cleaning is a way of cleaning clothes without water, as water can damage some of the fancier clothes we humans wear."

"I see. And, 'room service'?"

"Food and/or drink is ordered, then delivered to the room; essentially providing a 'service' to the room."

"Interesting. As we do not need to eat, why did you order this 'room service'?"

"I didn't. I presume Mr. Nicholes did it for me. Humans still need to eat, after all."

"A fair point. We shall see if the food is edible, and if not we can always turn it into ash."

"I'm sure it will be fine."

Nightmare Moon then went around the room asking what each item was for, until room service finally arrived. I took the tray of food from the hotel employee, then closed the door behind him. As soon as the door closed, I dropped my human illusion and emerged from the hallway, still wearing the robe but in my ebony feline form. I then carried the tray over to the nearest footstool and set it down upon the plush surface. The dark mare sat down next to the footstool as I lifted the cover off the plate, revealing our meal: a large boneless steak, baked potato covered in butter and chives and sour cream, and some steamed broccoli on the side.

"Ah, good choice. I always did like a nice steak."

"The meal smells quite appetizing. I presume the large slab is the flesh of some animal?"

"Yes, it's from a cow. Remember, hooved animals aren't sentient here."

"I have always wondered why bovines burnt by flame always smelled so scrumptious. I believe I am about to find out why."

"With how much you loved the buffalo wings, I figured you were an omnivore like me. Here, let me serve you your first taste."

I used the supplied fork and knife to cut off a small piece of steak, including a chunk of fat from the edge. I pierced the piece of flesh and fat with the fork, and lifted the utensil up into the air. I held the laden fork in front of my dark Queen, who daintily took the morsel of food off of the fork. She chewed the meat for a few seconds, then her eyes lit up and she gasped loudly.

"This is wonderful! I was not aware that my bovine cousins were so tasty!"

I chuckled at the mare's childlike enjoyment of our meal.

"Well, some of that is the preparation and spices used to cook the meat. But I do agree with you."

I cut off another piece of steak, but this time I cut off any trace of fat. I speared the meat with the fork and placed the morsel into my mouth. I slowly chewed the tender flesh, and rolled it across my tongue a few times to savor the full flavor of the meat. I judged it to be one of the better steaks I had ever eaten.

"Yes, it's quite good."

"May I have another piece?"

"Of course."

I cut off a larger piece of steak and fat, then offered it to the Night Mare. She eagerly snatched the steak off the fork and eagerly chewed the tasty treat. I turned back to the plate of food and decided to try out the baked potato. The knife slid through the flesh of the potato with ease, and I lifted the chunk of spud to my waiting taste buds. The potato's flesh was soft and tender, with the skin a nice contrast in texture. The butter was rich and creamy, the sour cream a nice contrast to the butter, and the chives added a tasty crunch to the dish. I closed my eyes and sighed at the savory sensations simmering on my tongue.

Moments later, I felt a feathery touch caress my forearm.

"More, please?"

I opened my eyes and smiled at my dinner companion.

"Sure. You definitely need to try the baked potato."

I cut off another piece of tuber, slathered it in butter and sour cream, and offered it to my ebony mare. She gave the morsel a dubious look, then daintily took the potato off of the fork. As with the steak, her eyes popped open once the tender taste finally crossed her tongue.

"Goodness! This is a potato? The ones from Equestria are hard and somewhat unpleasant to eat."

"So are our potatoes, but they turn into this when cooked properly. And covered in butter and sour cream, of course."

"A wondrous surprise. Pray tell, what other surprises dost this meal have in store?"

"Well, there's the broccoli but I doubt it'll be as good as the steak and potatoes."

I speared a piece of broccoli and brought it to my mouth. I was pleased to discover that it was cooked just right, leaving the vegetable crunchy and slightly sweet. In my experience, it was easy to overcook the broccoli and lose that natural sweetness; the result was a vegetable with little flavor.

"Mmm, the broccoli has been cooked right but it's not as rich as the rest of the meal."

I offered a piece of broccoli to the dark mare, who snatched it off of the fork.

"Interesting. You say that this has been cooked? Its flavor is certainly more subtle than the raw version."

"Yeah, steamed actually. Cocking usually alters the texture and sometimes makes it soggy if overdone."

"I see. Its texture is a pleasant compliment to the meal but I greatly prefer the bovine flesh."

"We call it a 'steak', actually."

The two of us finished the rest of the meal, with Nightmare Moon consuming the majority of the steak and potato while I finished off the broccoli on my own. Afterwards, we decided to get some rest to recharge our magic as we were likely to be in battle the next day. Nightmare Moon magicked her armor off and set it on the floor, then crawled into the bed. I was ready to join her, but I had one task in mind first. I didn't want any unwanted visitors with Nighty in the room, so I quietly walked over to the door and slowly flipped the security latch on the door closed. My task done, I turned the lights off then dropped my robe and crawled under the covers. The two of us cuddled together and discussed plans for the next day, then fell asleep.

Act 4, Chapter 7 - The Oval Office

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Nightmare Moon and I were within striking distance of the President of the United States. We just had to follow the plan we had made, and we would win it all.

We were woken up out of a deep sleep by a voice shouting something and a loud banging on the door. My magic drained away the last vestiges of sleep, and I recognized the voice as the 'Hitman' Agent from the night before. I looked at Nightmare Moon, who nodded once. She then grabbed her armor and jumped into my shadow. I got out of bed, put on both my human illusion and my robe, then ran to the door and threw back the security latch. The door slammed open and I suddenly found a gun pointed right between my eyes.

After a few tense seconds, the gun lowered to reveal the face of a very angry 'Hitman' Agent. He swept past me and quickly searched the room. After he was satisfied that the room was empty, he stormed over to me and got right in my face.

"Why was the security latch thrown?"

"I-I-I always throw the latch when I'm in a hotel room!"

"How am I supposed to protect you if you lock me out?!"

"I don't know, I've never been guarded before! Besides, I thought you were there to keep me from getting out?"

"I do both!"

"Okay, okay! I wasn't thinking, geez."

The agent (who was still dressed like Hitman) calmed down after that. He opened the door and picked something off of the floor, then handed it to me. It turned out to be my suit, folded and wrapped in a plastic bag that had a dry cleaner's logo on it.

"Get dressed. As soon as you're ready, we're leaving to see the President."

Oh shit, it's time.

I closed the door and quickly got dressed. A quick glance in the mirror and a final adjustment to my tie, and I was ready. I opened the door to see the back of the agent, who moved out of the way to let me leave the room. He ushered me to the room one door down, then knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Mr. Nicholes.

"Finally awake? Excellent. Let us go."

We waited a few minutes in the elevator lobby on that floor, before an elevator finally arrived. Down to the lobby and out the front door, and we walked outside into the bright morning sun. The temperature that morning felt like it was somewhere in the mid-60's; nice and crisp, and much warmer than the night before. From what I remember reading on the plane flight last night, this was uncommonly warm weather for this time of year but not unheard of. Mr. Nicholes took a look at his wristwatch while we waited for the limo to arrive.

"It's 9:10 now. If the limo arrives promptly we should be in to see the President by 10."

A few minutes later, a black limo pulled up to the curb. It looked like the limo from last night, but I couldn't tell if it was the same or a different one. Mr. Nicholes and the 'Hitman' Agent walked towards it, so I presumed it was ours. The agent opened the rear door of the limo for us, then got into the passenger seat next to the driver. The limo then left the curb, and within seconds we were passing by the White House. The limo turned left just past the main gates, and stopped in front of a guard shack. We paused while the guard checked the driver's credentials, then we slowly drove forward.

As I looked out of the limo's windows, I could see the telltale signs of a parking lot; lines painted at an angle on the pavement, and cars parked between the lines. The limo slowly drove down the single parking lane for about a minute, until the White House came into view on our left. We stopped in front of a set of double doors. The 'Hitman' Agent got out of the limo, walked around the front of the vehicle and opened the door on the left side for us. Mr. Nicholes got out first this time, and I followed. The three of us began to walk towards the double doors in front of us; Mr. Nicholes first, with me just behind and off to his right. The 'Hitman' Agent was directly behind us.

The double doors opened up, and a man exited the building. He was dressed in a dark blue suit with a bright blue tie, and wore mirrored sunglasses on his face. This man had dark hair, though it was cropped short in a common military style. For this reason, I presumed he was another Secret Service Agent. The agent was wearing a white badge on the outside pocket of his suit, and was carrying a handheld scanner with a small blue nylon bag on his hip. This new agent stopped a few steps in front of us, and we of course stopped in front of him. When the man spoke, it was in a very clipped fashion.

"Agent?"

The 'Hitman' walked around us, and presented the new agent with an ID. The new agent inspected it and swiped it through the scanner. Two seconds passed before the scanner made a pleasant beep. The new agent returned the ID to the 'Hitman', then retrieved a white badge from the nylon bag. The badge had some kind of hologram on it, which reflected in the morning light. The new agent clipped this badge on to the 'Hitman', who then stepped back behind us. Next, Mr. Nicholes presented his ID. The agent swiped the ID through his scanner, and two seconds later it gave a pleasant beep. The agent returned the ID to Mr. Nicholes, then retrieved a blue badge from his bag. This badge also had a hologram printed on it, and had a picture of Mr. Nicholes on it. The agent clipped the badge on to Mr. Nicholes, then turned to me and spoke three words.

"Pat him down."

I suddenly felt two big and strong hands slap my shoulders, then unceremoniously patted every part of my body from shoulders to waistline. I had seen this kind of 'pat-down' on TV, but I didn't realize how violated I would feel the whole time. The unknown assailant pushed my feet apart, then patted down each of my legs in turn. After fishing a finger around in my shoes, I heard a familiar voice.

"Clear."

I glanced behind me to confirm what I had heard. My assailant was none other than the 'Hitman' who had guarded me last night. The new agent cleared his throat to get my attention, then spoke a single word.

"ID."

I fished out Mr. Burke's driver's license from his wallet, and presented it to the agent. He scanned it, and two seconds later his machine beeped. He handed my ID back to me, and pulled out an orange badge. This one did not have a hologram on it, and simply had a large "V" printed on the front with a bar code at the bottom. The agent scanned the barcode with his scanner, which beeped pleasantly once it recognized the bar code. He then clipped the visitor badge on to my suit coat.

"Welcome to the White House."

The agent then turned and walked back inside the building without another word.

Mr. Nicholes resumed walking towards the double doors in front of us, then turned his head slightly to talk to me.

"Stick close to me, I do NOT want you getting lost. We have a standing appointment..."

He paused once we reached the double doors, and Mr. Nicholes pulled one door open then walked through. I caught the door and walked inside, then held the door open so the 'Hitman' could grab it. The agent nodded once to acknowledge my kindness, and I turned to catch up to Mr. Nicholes who was walking through the Ground Floor Lobby. I couldn't help but notice that the ceiling was a bit lower than I was used to; I was concerned that I might hit my head on something. Mr. Nicholes started lecturing me as soon as I caught up to him.

"As I was saying, we have a standing appointment with the President. As soon as we check in with his secretary, she will fit us into his schedule as soon as possible."

While Mr. Nicholes talked, we kept walking down the length of the Lobby and ignored anyone we passed. The lobby turned into a hallway, and we passed through a set of double doors at the end. I ducked under the door frame just to make sure I didn't hit my head. Once through, we took an immediate left and made our way to a staircase heading to the floor above. Just as we passed a doorway near the staircase, I heard the door open behind us. I turned to see the 'Hitman' walk through the open doorway and disappear inside.

Up the stairs we went. At the top of the stairs was an unmarked wooden door on our right. Mr. Nicholes turned left and began to walk back the way we came, but now on the first floor. We passed a closed door on our right, then one on our left before he opened a second door on our left. We walked down a short hallway before opening another door at the end, and we walked into an office. In front of us was a desk covered in papers and a single computer monitor, though no one was sitting behind it. To our right was another desk that looked much the same, but it had a woman sitting behind it. From our position at the door, we could see that the woman had long brown hair and was wearing a white short-sleeved blouse. She looked up as we entered, and gave us a warm smile.

"Mr. Nicholes and guest, welcome to the Oval Office. May I scan your badges?"

"Of course."

The two of us approached her desk, and she used a handheld scanner to scan the barcodes on each of our badges. After each scan, her computer made a pleasant beep.

"Thank you Mr. Nicholes, and...Mr. Burke. The President should be ready for you in a few minutes."

We ended up waiting about twenty minutes before the door to the Oval Office opened, and two men in business suits exited the room. Both were white, but one looked old and wrinkled while the other was younger. I guessed that the older man was a congressman and the younger one was his aide. As the two men passed us, I heard my fake name called out by a voice I had heard many times on TV.

"Mr. Nicholes, Mr. Burke! Please come in."

The two of us walked through the open doorway, and into the Oval Office. I had read a lot about this room, and had seen it in pictures, but nothing prepared me for the sheer enormity of walking into the Oval Office. Just to my left was a grandfather clock standing against the wall. Directly in front of me was the iconic dual couches, currently light brown with pillows in blue and brown. A dark brown coffee table stood between the couches. To my right were two dark brown end tables, each with lamps resting on top of them. Also to my right were two chairs, upholstered in a medium brown fabric. The chairs sat between the two end tables, and faced the coffee table. The famous Oval Office rug was a light tan, almost a cream color, and the striped wood flooring was visible between the rug and the walls. I could not see the iconic Presidential seal on the carpet from where I stood, but I was sure I would as soon as I walked farther into the room. To my left, on the far side of the room sat the President's desk. If I remembered correctly, this was the famous 'Resolute' desk - made from wood from the HMS Resolute and given to the President back in the 1800's. The current President of the United States was about halfway from his desk to the door, and was walking towards us with his hand outstretched.

"Welcome, welcome!"

The President shook the hand of Mr. Nicholes, then shook mine. I knew I was there to mind-control this man, but I couldn't help but be in awe of him.

While I was simply staring at the President, Mr. Nicholes addressed him directly.

"Thank you for the private meeting, Mr. President."

"You're welcome. I wanted to hear this news first, before the rumor mill started. And you must be the person that Mr. Nicholes has told me about. I hope you can shed some light on whatever is going on in Southern California."

"I will do my best, sir."

"Excellent, excellent. Now, let's take a seat and have a chat."

The President strode around the couch to my right and walked past the coffee table. As I turned to watch him, he took a seat in the medium brown chair on the left. Mr. Nicholes sat on the couch on my left and took the seat next to the President. I sat in the middle seat on the couch, next to Mr. Nicholes. The President broke the ice first, and spoke directly to Mr. Nicholes.

"So, how was your flight?"

"It was a pleasant flight, both ways. Though it is a long flight."

"I see, I see. Flying cross-country is a bit of a trip. And you?"

The President indicted to me.

"The flight was fine, Mister President. Though I think I'm a bit jet-lagged."

"I can see that, with California being three hours behind us. This must be pretty early in the morning for you."

"Yes, sir."

"Is that all that's bothering you?"

"Well, not really Mister President. I'm quite nervous."

The President smiled warmly, then leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs.

"Now, now. I know people tend to get star-struck around me sometimes, but there's no reason to be nervous."

"Maybe...but that's not the only reason. I'm really afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting in trouble."

The President sat up straight in his chair.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, the SoCal mess makes sense to me, but I'm afraid I'll explain it wrong and I'll get in trouble for it."

The President smiled warmly at me again.

"Is that all? Well, I never shoot the messenger my good boy. Now, let's get down to it and just tell me what's been going on."

"Alright, sir. Well, you know how the story has been about the marines helping to film a movie?"

"Yes, that's what everyone tells me. But it doesn't add up."

"Yes, sir. That's because it was a cover story for what's really been going on."

"I knew something was up. What was the real reason?"

"We had credible rumors that there was a foreign plot against the United States, sir. And possibly aimed directly at you, sir."

Both the President and Mr. Nicholes looked shocked, eyes wide and stared at me. Mr. Nicholes was probably shocked because it sounded like I was revealing the actual plot against the President, instead of a pretend one. I knew it was best to keep a lie as close to the truth as possible, as it makes the lie more believable.

The President addressed me directly.

"Why wasn't this plot brought to me in the first place?"

"Well, at first it was only rumors. Nothing substantial, just the usual crackpots screaming at the world. But the rumors kept coming in, and we thought we saw a pattern. We didn't want to accidentally cry wolf over nothing, so we started investigating on our own. The cover story was to keep the public calm, but if the rumors were true we were hoping to panic the spies and force them to make some mistakes."

"I see. And do you have any credible proof of this plot, Mr. Burke?"

"I do, Mister President."

I felt my shadow twitch, just a bit. I guessed that Nightmare Moon was getting antsy, having to wait and watch and do nothing. Last night in bed, she and I had agreed that she would remain in my shadow until I had pushed the President's curiosity or paranoia as high as I could. Then I would say a specific word: 'pancakes'. I thought that the unusual word would catch the President off-guard just enough to give us a bit of an edge. We also hoped that the President's unusual state of mind would help to enslave him faster.

It sounded like a good idea at the time, anyway.

The President thought about my words for a moment, then came to a decision.

"Before you start Mr. Burke, let me bring in my outside consultant."

"An 'outside consultant', Mister President?"

The President got up and went to the door that we had entered from, and shouted out to his secretary.

"Bring her in, please."

Her?

I turned to Mr. Nicholes, while the President returned to his chair next to us.

"An 'outside consultant'?"

He looked as surprised as I was.

"I have no idea."

I turned back to the President of the United States.

"I'm sure I can be of great use to you, Mister President. If you'll let me privately present my evidence--"

The President held up a hand to stop me.

"Just a moment. I want my consultant to hear this information as well."

I heard a door open behind me, followed by the unmistakable sound of high heels on carpet.

"Ah, here she is."

I turned around on the couch to look at this 'outside consultant', and immediately realized that I did not hear high heels on tile.

I heard metal horseshoes.

Golden horseshoes that belonged to a white alicorn with rainbow-colored hair that waved back and forth in an unseen wind.

Oh look, it's Princess Celestia.

FUCK!!!!

Act 5, Chapter 1 - First Strike

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Full control of the United States was within our grasp! Nightmare Moon and I finally got our private meeting with the President of the United States! All we had to do was enslave the President, and control of the country was ours!

Then Princess Celestia showed up.

Man, that bitch has the WORST timing!

I tried to keep my face neutral as Celestia's horn lit up in her golden magic. But on the inside, I was panicking. A moment later, I felt a light tingle rush over my body. A memory in my head told me that Celestia’s spell was a magical scan, and it could not be blocked or fooled. I felt another shiver roll down my spine. I was in a LOT of trouble, and there was no way to avoid it. Five seconds rolled by in silence. I know, because I counted them. Suddenly, Celestia's eyes snapped open in alarm!

"Beware, Mister President! This one is not who he seems to be!"

At those words, I felt a flare of magic from my shadow. That flare made my blood run cold; it meant that a battle was about to begin, whether I wanted it to or not. An instant later, Nightmare Moon exploded out of my shadow and landed on the couch opposite mine. Suddenly, the weight of my business suit vanished and my armor was dropped into its place. Its bulk upon my body was very welcome, and I drew comfort from its magical protection. However, the spell that returned my armor violently broke my human illusion. The sound of breaking glass signaled the death of the disguise, and my feline form was revealed for all to see.

I quickly stood up from the couch and turned to face my opponent, Princess Celestia. Battle this early wasn't the plan, for Nighty and I had wanted to sneak out of the White House the same way we came in. However, the Night Mare had discussed this possibility and I knew my part in it. But when the time came to fight, I panicked. I was about to battle with THE immortal Sun Goddess, what could I do against her? I felt my body flush as it prepared for the heat of battle, even though my mind was frozen stiff. Time seemed to slow, and I watched Celestia's expression change from surprise to anger. A ball of magic materialized on the tip of her horn, and I knew then that I was done for.

The Night Mare came to my rescue, though I know she didn't do it for me. Something shoved me to my left, and a gigantic blast of magic scorched into the couch right where I had been standing. The light was so bright, it would have blinded me if I didn't have magically-enhanced sight. Accompanying the blinding light was a loud and deep hum, one that I not only heard but felt as the beam went past. The bolt of force smashed through the couch and slammed full-force into Princess Celestia. The snow-white mare disappeared into the light as the blast savagely hurled her backwards. Her body was crushed into the Oval Office wall, and I heard the mare let out a high-pitched wail. With a loud crunching sound, the bolt of force violently pushed Celestia through the wall and out into the corridor beyond. The magical bolt continued to burn until I heard another crash, then it faded away into nothingness.

The silence that followed was deafening. My brain was still frozen in fear, so all I could do was stare at the hole in the wall. As I slowly recovered, small details began to emerge. I noted that the large hole was just to the left of a door set into the wall. And despite how bright the magical blast was, there was no heat and nothing had actually burned. My brain finally unlocked, and I remembered that I had a job to do. That job was twofold: stop anyone that interfered with Nightmare Moon, then enslave the President of the United States. My first task was to check the Oval Office and clear it of any hostiles. I turned to my right to check on the people I knew were in the room. Past the gaping hole in the couch I had been sitting on, I saw the body of Mr. Nicholes. The man was sitting right next to the hole in the couch, and was sitting rigid in fear. His expression was pure terror as he stared at the hole in the couch. And the smell of urine told me he had wet himself. If his emotional state had broken his shadow parasite, he might rebel and fight me. But it looked like his fear had frozen him in place, so I figured I was safe for a while.

I turned my attention to the other person I could see, the President of the United States. The President showed surprise and shock, but didn’t stink of fear like Mr. Nicholes. Nor did he reek of urine, fortunately. The President was busy staring at the new hole in his wall, so I felt I could ignore him for a little longer. I took a brief look around the Oval Office for any other threats, but I saw none. My attention then turned to the Mare in the Moon. My Mistress was also staring out the new hole in the wall, but her expression was one of concentration. I wondered, was she watching for her sister or waiting for another attacker?

Movement from the corner of my eye put me on alert! My heart jumped into my throat, and my head spun around to assess the new threat. The threat was only the President; he had shifted in his chair to stare at my Queen. The man started to stand up from his chair, but my bolt of paralyzing lightning stopped him cold. As the President slumped down and slid to the floor, Nightmare Moon spoke.

"Enslave the human, then follow me."

She leapt over the coffee table and the destroyed couch, then slowly walked towards the large alicorn-sized hole in the wall. I turned to enact my second task: enslave the President of the United States. The man was on the floor where he collapsed, but was lying on the other side of the coffee table. I had to awkwardly shuffle around the table before I could kneel down next to him. First, I made sure I hadn't overdone the lightning and accidentally killed the man. I was pleased to see his chest slowly moving up and down, which meant he was still breathing. Next was the important part: I summoned a shadow parasite into my hand, then pushed the magical blob into the President's head. I cast the spell to send the man into the Loyalty dream, and set it on repeat until the parasite had full control. That last part was a bit risky, but there wasn’t time to wait around and monitor his dreams. I just hoped he wouldn’t get stuck in a dream loop.

My tasks complete, I stood up and followed after Nightmare Moon. It didn't take long, she hadn't gone far. I found her standing on the other side of the hallway outside the Oval Office. The ebony mare seemed to be staring into the Roosevelt Room next door, which had a matching alicorn-sized hole in its wall. A brief walk through the new exit from the Oval Office, and I stopped next to Nightmare Moon’s left side. I followed her gaze into the Roosevelt Room, and saw a mix of old and new. The room was decorated in a traditional way, which in my opinion looked really dull. The walls were painted plain beige, and they were covered in classic painted portraits and ornamental flags. The main centerpiece in the room used to be the large conference table and the chairs surrounding it. But that furniture had been knocked over by the body of Princess Celestia when she was blasted through the wall. The alicorn’s unconscious body was slumped up against the upturned table, and was covered in a pile of wood and plaster.

What concerned me more than the Princess, were the six ponies standing in the back of the room. Purple and white, orange and blue, and pink and yellow were the colors of their coats. The purple one wore a golden tiara with a purple gem set into it, while the others wore golden necklaces with gems that matched the color of their coats. None of them were clothed, except the orange pony who wore a stetson hat on her head. There was no doubt in my mind that these ponies were the Mane Six, wearing the Elements of Harmony. I did note that the mare called Twilight Sparkle did NOT have wings. The six ponies did not speak; instead, they stared at either Celestia, Nightmare Moon or me. They made no attempt to move, nor did their Elements light up with magic. I figured that it was safe to ignore the Mane Six as long as their elements were dark. I then turned to my dark Queen to report my findings.

"The Bearers of the Elements are here, along with the Elements themselves."

"Yes, I have seen them. At the moment, they pose little threat."

The Night Mare turned to me, a somber look upon her muzzle.

"It seems our final battle has begun."

A noise inside the Roosevelt Room drew our attention. We both turned to see that Celestia had woken up, and was slowly crawling out of the wreckage she had been buried in.

"Not so fast, sister!"

Nightmare Moon reached out with her magic and lifted the snow-white mare up and out of the rubble. Celestia’s face was a taut grimace of pain, and I could clearly see a band of teal magic tightly encircling her throat.

"Let us take this battle OUTSIDE!"

The Moon Mistress forcefully threw her sister to her right with incredible speed! Celestia’s body brutally smashed through the fireplace set into the west wall! She was hurled so fast, she passed through the brick fireplace like it was made of paper! Dust filled the room, and I heard three more great crashes before things grew silent again. Nightmare Moon cackled loudly, then trotted through the new hole in the wall. I quickly lost sight of her through the cloud of dust. It was an easy guess that the mare went after her sister, and I decided to follow her. But first, I turned to take a long look at the Mane Six. The mares were still frozen in place, shocked looks upon their muzzles. When they made no attempt to move or speak, I turned away and walked through the new hole in the wall.

I emerged into the northern side of the rubble-strewn Oval Office Corridor. A glance both left and right did not reveal anyone walking, hiding or even screaming. In front of me was another large hole in the wall. With no other clues to guide me, I crossed the Corridor and followed after the wanton destruction. Celestia's passing had obliterated a wall separating a hallway on my left and a small office to my right. I recognized the hallway as the one I walked through to see the President’s secretary, and knew it led to the room where Mr. Nicholes and I had waited to see the President. Several steps later, I walked into the ruins of the President's Outer Office.

The large hole continued straight ahead. Through it, I could daylight cascading across a large grassy lawn. I also saw Nightmare Moon taking potshots at something farther down the lawn. Although I couldn’t see what the ebony mare was shooting at, it was a safe bet that it was Princess Celestia. The snow-white mare's passing had demolished an empty desk in the room, but left everything else untouched. A glance to my right showed a pristine desk with a frightened secretary sitting behind it.

"Hey miss, are you OK?"

The woman did not answer, but stared wide-eyed at the ruined desk instead. I snapped my fingers to get her attention, which worked amazingly well as my fingers were covered in black fur.

"Miss? MISS?!"

She finally turned to look at me, but still looked scared out of her wits. A large alicorn suddenly exploding through the wall of your office would tend to do that.

"Are you OK?"

The frightened woman managed a frantic nod. I gave her a thumbs-up in response.

"Cool. I wouldn’t hang out here, I don’t know if the battle’s going to stay outside.“

I left the frightened secretary on her own, and walked through the hole in the outer wall to enter the Rose Garden. The concrete walkway around the garden was cool under my feet. By coincidence, Celestia's path had taken her down the short stairs and right down the middle of the Rose Garden. The formerly pristine grass was covered in debris from the White House interior. Large chunks of turf had been torn up as the snow-white alicorn had tumbled across the lawn. There were two pillars framing the stairs, and the one to my right had been damaged when Celestia tumbled by. The pillar was missing a chunk of wood and had lost a lot of paint. Nightmare Moon was standing at the top of the stairs, firing magical bolts at her sister. Each time Celestia tried to stand, Nighty would take a potshot at her and knock the mare off her hooves. Nightmare Moon would cackle at her sister's misfortune, then the process would repeat again. It didn't take a genius to realize that the Night Mare was toying with her sister. A few steps brought me to the ebony mare's right side, and I placed a hand on her withers to get her attention.

"Don't toy with her, you know she's a serious threat. Don't give her time to think, like you did with me."

Nightmare Moon stopped firing at her sister, then turned her head towards me. The deep frown she wore on her muzzle left no doubt that she was displeased. My comment about 'time to think' was a deliberate reminder of my first and only battle with her. A battle where I defeated her, because she had toyed with me instead of taking the battle seriously. I was concerned that Nighty would do the same with her sister today, with similar results.

"Yes, I believe I shall heed your warning."

We turned back to Celestia just in time to see her flap her wings and take off into the air.

"Do not go far, sister! I am not through with thee!"

The Night Mare leapt into the sky and took off after the snow-white mare. I watched after my Queen for a few moments, then took some time to think.

So, that leaves me with the Mane Six. I have to keep them busy or they'll try to zap us with the Elements of Harmony.

Six against one is not good odds, even if they're as inexperienced as I think they are. All they need to do is have Pinkie distract me at the wrong time, and POW. Doesn't matter if it's Kicks McGee, a Rainbow Barrage or a spell from Twilight. If they work together, I'm finished. And that's ignoring the Elements.

I turned to look through the hole in the White House, where Nightmare Moon had thrown Celestia through the outer wall.

I don't see them. Are they waiting for Celestia's order? Or just hiding?

I guess I should go find out.

I walked back to the hole in the wall, then peered inside. At that same moment, an orange hoof holding a Stetson hat poked out from the Oval Office Corridor. The hoof shook the hat up and down several times before both disappeared back behind the wall.

Ah, there they are.

I don't really want to fight the Mane Six.

DO IT!

Aw, come on! They're nice ponies.

DO IT. NOW!

Fine fine, Creepy Inner Voice. But we do it my way: no killing. But bumps and bruises are fair game.

ACCEPTABLE.

Game On.

I trotted down the stairs to the Rose Garden, then turned and shouted my challenge to the Element Bearers.

"A WARM HELLO TO OUR VISITORS FROM EQUESTRIA! I EXTEND THIS INVITATION TO YOU!

"COME ONE, COME ALL! TO THE GREATEST BATTLE THAT THE PLANET HAS EVER SEEN!"

The battle was difficult and hard-fought, but the bearers were too inexperienced to work as a team and were eventually overcome.

(Wait a moment! You are going to skip over the whole battle?)

(Uh, yeah. Battles are neat to watch but boring to read. Were you reading over my shoulder again?)

(Don't you dare! You are going to write out the whole battle, right now! And yes.)

(Excuse me? Who's the author of this story? Me, that's who. You want to write out a battle scene, write your own story.)

(Have you not been reading the comments on your story? The readers like it when you write out all the details!)

(Nope, still not writing it.)

(Fine. If you will not write out the battle scene, you can just sleep in one of the guest rooms.)

(You. Wouldn't. DARE.)

(Try me.)

(FINE.)

After shouting my challenge, I backed up until I was on the grass maybe twenty feet from the stairs. I did not have long to wait before the Bearers appeared. Twilight Sparkle appeared first, and stood at the top of the stairs that led to the Rose Garden. Applejack took position on Twilight's right flank, and Rainbow Dash on Twilight's left. Rarity was flanking Applejack and Pinkie Pie flanked Dash. I could see yellow and pink behind Twilight, so I guessed they were protecting Fluttershy.

"Welcome! I see you got my invitation to tango!"

Rarity gasped at my words. Dash looked disgusted, while Applejack and Twilight just looked confused. Pinkie Pie was, well, Pinkie Pie. She had that really big and creepy grin on her face that she always had. And she was the first to respond.

"Ooh! Dancing!"

Dash piped up.

"Eww! What are you, a creep?"

"I am not a creep. An invitation to 'tango' is another way of saying I want to fight."

"Well then, why didn't you say so?!"

"I just did. Sheesh, you need to read more."

"Nuh uh! Reading is for eggheads! No offense, Twi."

"None taken, Rainbow."

Dash doesn't like to read?! Doesn't she love the Daring Do books?

But that was in season two of MLP...

These mares haven't been together that long. If they're still at their season one strength and experience, I should be able to separate them and take them out one at a time.

"Excuse me, Miss Rarity? How was the Grand Galloping Gala this year?"

"Who, me? What a strange question to ask."

"I was just curious, I've always wanted to go."

The other ponies looked at each other, confusion all over their muzzles. Except for Twilight Sparkle, who was looking up and scanning the sky instead.

"Well, if you must know I have not yet had the pleasure of attending the Grand Galloping Gala. But my friends and I have our tickets for the next one, in several months' time."

Still season one levels. I can work with this.

"And why would you be wantin' to know that, pardner?"

So I can judge your general power levels and your ability to work as a team. But I'm not telling you that.

"Like I said, just curious."

Twilight chose that moment to interrupt.

"Girls, let's not get distracted. We need to unleash the powers of the Elements upon Nightmare Moon."

Oh no, you don't.

I unleashed a bolt of paralyzing lightning upon Twilight Sparkle. This blast was stronger than usual: it was intended to not only paralyze, but knock the pony unconscious. My attack caught Twilight off guard, and the electricity arced all over her body. The mare's muscles spasmed wildly, and she grunted in pain. All of a sudden, she fell forward. Her body limply rolled down the five or six steps, then came to rest in a heap on the grassy lawn. All the mares shouted out at once.

"TWILIGHT!"

Act 5, Chapter 2 - The Battle Begins

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Nightmare Moon and her sister had begun their final battle for control of the planet Earth. I was about to fight the Mane Six, and had just knocked Twilight Sparkle out with paralyzing lightning. So would I then be facing the Mane Five?

"TWILIGHT!"

I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me! No attacking the Mistress without MY permission.

"Oh, and Twilight'll be fine. She's just knocked out."

The mares all let out sighs of relief. Then Rainbow Dash laid into me.

"What the hay is wrong with you!"

"Oh, I don't know. Where do I start? And if I start, we'll be here all day.

"So, let's talk about you instead."

"Me?!"

"Yeah. Well, all of you. Delicate mares such as yourselves just shouldn't be here! It's way too dangerous, and I know you CAN'T HANDLE IT."

"Buck you! I can too!"

"Nah. I think you and Rarity should set up a shop together. I can see you modeling for her, wearing all sorts of frou-frou dresses. And you'd be bragging to everyone, 'Rainbow Dash always dresses in style!'"

"THAT'S IT!"

Rainbow Dash finally lost her temper and blasted off towards me. Which was exactly what I wanted her to do: make a reckless charge and leave her friends behind. With a thought, I summoned a flat shield and swatted Dash away like she was an errant flashbang. The sky-blue mare screamed as she tumbled through the air to my left. She crashed into a flower bed and rolled until she smacked headfirst into a crabapple tree. The tree shook from the impact and a bunch of apples were knocked out of its branches. The apples dropped on top of Dash and buried her underneath them.

"HI!"

The randomness that was Pinkie Pie appeared, right in front of my face. Just as I expected her to do.

"Hi Pinkie! I have a tasty treat for you!"

"OOH! OOH! What is it?!"

I hid my hands behind my back, then pulled a yellow and brown box out of my pocket dimension. I brought my hands back around, and presented my gift to the pink pronking pony.

"A big box of Fudgsicle Pops, just for you!"

I opened the package, unwrapped a popsicle and shoved the frozen treat into Pinkie's open mouth. The mare chewed and ate it, stick and all. Her eyes lit up, and she shouted her excitement for all to hear.

"YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!"

The party pony grabbed the box and ran off behind a nearby bush to enjoy her treats.

Oh, did I forget to mention my new pocket dimension? Nightmare Moon and I had to wait a long time before our minions found someone to bring us to the White House. While we waited, I asked Luna to teach me about her pocket dimension. She couldn't teach me how to make one, but she made one for me instead. Then she taught me how to use it. I was sure I'd have to fight the Mane Six one day, so I filled the pocket dimension with things that I thought I might need. As time did not pass in the pocket dimension, the Fudgsicles would have stayed frozen literally forever. I had several other surprises stored in there, but time would tell if I needed to use them all.

Luna had then given me access to a few of her spells, through the gem in my armor. But she also taught me a couple of basic spells: a sleep spell, and a 'Nothing to See Here' spell. Casting the latter on a person or pony would make everyone in the area ignore them, while casting it in an area would cause all those nearby to get bored and leave. I learned these spells by hard study and practice, instead of a magical transfer or through the gem in my armor. So I was quite proud of them.

I turned back to the remaining three ponies, and deftly caught Applejack's lasso in my right hand.

Looks like somepony's got some skills. She almost caught me while I was dealing with Pinkie.

The lasso in my hand began to glow in my magic just as the farm pony yanked back on the rope. I let go of the lasso, then took control. The rope zipped back towards Applejack before she could react. I slipped the lasso over the mare's neck, then dragged her out onto the lawn while she choked. Once she was close to me, I loosened the noose a bit so she could breathe. Then I wrapped the rest of the rope around her legs to hogtie her good. The mare wobbled on her hooves for a bit before she fell over onto the grass. Applejack struggled frantically, but couldn't get herself free.

"Consarn it!"

"You're a silly pony, Applejack."

"BUCK YOU!"

"Maybe not that silly."

I turned to look at the last two ponies on the battlefield. Fluttershy was hiding behind the damaged pillar, which left Rarity. The fashionista took a deep breath, then drew herself up under my gaze.

"Do your worst, you ruffian! I am prepared!"

"Hardly, my dear."

A quick application of illusion magic, and Rarity's mane and tail changed color to a dark green. I added illusory wriggling worms that stuck out all through her hair.

"Take my Boast Busters special!"

"What. Did. You. DO?!"

I removed a full-length mirror from my pocket dimension, which I had decided to nickname 'hammerspace'. I then set the mirror down in front of Rarity. Her eyes opened wide in shock, then she screamed in terror!

"No, not my beautiful HAIR! Not again!!"

Rarity then ran off crying into the garden.

Whoops, looks like Trixie already made her appearance in Ponyville. Then that trick won't hold her for long.

I turned to look at Fluttershy, who was attempting to hide behind the cracked and damaged support pillar on my left. I didn't want to harm her, but she was a Bearer so I couldn't ignore her either. My decision made, I began to walk purposely towards the mare's hiding space. When Fluttershy noticed I was heading her way, I gave her a friendly wave. She meeped cutely, then ducked around the pillar so I could no longer see her. I didn't want to scare her too much, so I slowed down and approached the pillar carefully. My feet padded up the stairs, then I looked behind the pillar.

No Fluttershy.

That was a surprise. How had she moved so fast, yet stayed hidden? I scanned the bushes and trees for any movement, but I didn't see any. However, I did see a bright bit of pink sticking out from behind a nearby tree. As quietly as I could, I tiptoed towards that tree. It didn't take long to see that the pink thing was a tail, and not just a bunch of flowers. I continued my sneaky sashay to the tree, then peeked around it to see Fluttershy hiding there. To get her attention, I gently cleared my throat. The mare peeked out from behind her mane to look at me, then meeped again. Her body then began to tremble in fear. I gently knelt down next to the pastel yellow mare, then whispered softly to her.

"It's okay. I promise, I won't hurt you."

Time to get her out of the combat zone.

I pulled two items out of hammerspace: a small Equestrian cloud, which was just big enough for a single pony; and a large white rabbit plush. The plush was almost as big as Fluttershy herself. With a swish of magic, I lifted Fluttershy up and placed her gently upon the cloud. The mare crouched down on the springy surface and shivered in terror. A touch of magic on the cloud, and I made it look like it was made of butterflies. The insects were colored and shaped the same as the ones in her cutie mark.

"You're safe, Fluttershy. Really. I could never hurt a kind mare such as yourself. Just open your eyes, you'll see."

She shook for a moment longer, then her quaking suddenly stopped. The mare lifted her head up and opened her eyes wide, not quite believing that she was floating on a cloud of butterflies.

"See? I told you. Here, I have a gift for you."

Fluttershy turned her wide eyes towards me, then at the white bunny plush I held in my hand.

"I know this isn't your bunny Angel, but maybe he can help keep you safe."

I held out the plush to the pastel yellow mare. Fluttershy looked at the plush, then back at me as if to ask permission. I nodded slowly in response. She tenderly reached out to the toy, and gently took it out of my hand. She pulled the stuffed bunny in close, sniffed at it briefly, then buried her muzzle deep into its fur. I took that moment to give the cloud a gentle push to the southwest, both up and away. As I watched, it and its passenger slowly floated across the White House lawn and began to rise up into the air.

Now that I had separated Fluttershy from the rest of the group, I knew that Twilight couldn't activate the Elements of Harmony. My next task was to keep the mares busy until my Queen could defeat her sister. The tree I was standing behind was in the southwest corner of the Rose Garden. From there, I could see that Twilight was still unconscious at the base of the stairs. Rarity, Dash and Pinkie were nowhere in my sight. But Applejack was awake and out in the open lawn. The farm pony was still tied up, but had somehow gotten to her hooves. She was slowly hopping away from the battlefield to the east.

Nope, no escape for you AJ.

I strode through a flower bed and got three steps onto the lawn before my vision turned pink.

"Hey there, Mister Cat-Man!"

Pinkie.

The pink receded until I could see the whole party pony. She was holding the Fudgsicle box I gave her, and was shaking it upside-down to show me it was empty.

"Those were good! Got any more?"

"Nope, but I have something even better."

"Really?! What?"

I grinned and threw my arms open.

"A HUG!"

Pinkie Pie squealed, then jumped into my arms for a full-body crushing hug! I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, then buried my face into her mane. I was not surprised to discover that Pinkie's mane smelled like cotton candy. I let loose a great sigh, then summoned a strong dose of paralyzing lightning into my hands. The pink pony shook in my embrace, then dropped limp into my arms. I knelt down and gently set the unconscious mare on to the grassy lawn.

"Sorry, Pinkie. But I had to do it."

I swear I heard Pinkie's voice whisper, "it's ok." But it couldn't have been her, because she was unconscious and paralyzed. I didn't have time to figure it out because Rainbow Dash took that moment to make herself known.

"Hey! You leave her ALONE!"

I looked up towards the voice, and saw Rainbow Dash standing next to Applejack. AJ had been untied, and Dash was holding some of the rope in her hooves. Dash was also staring angrily at me. I stuck my thumbs in my ears, wiggled my fingers and stuck my tongue out at the future Wonderbolt. The brash mare rushed me again, anger in her eyes. Dash was so predictable! Applejack shouted out a warning, but was too late.

"No, Rainbow!"

All too easy...

I only had a second before Rainbow Dash clocked me. But that was plenty of time to set up my next plan. I set up several curved shields in a familiar pattern. I used to play with Hot Wheels tracks when I was a kid, and made loops and banked curves out of the flexible plastic tracks. I set up my shields just like those tracks. The entrance was in front of Rainbow Dash, right where she couldn't miss it. The magical track curved around in the air and exited right in front of Applejack. Rainbow Dash slammed into the bottom of the magical track, and let out a surprised yelp. She found herself sliding along its length, away from me and back in the direction she came from.

"Woahoohoohooh--!"

Dash's shout was music to my ears. Just as she rounded the last bend into the final straightaway, I gave the sky-blue mare a hard magical push. A moment later, she slammed into Applejack at speed. The two collided with a satisfying crunch, then rolled in the grass until their momentum ran out. The mares lay there, both breathing but unconscious.

I should probably tie those two up with AJ's rope--

My forehead suddenly exploded in pain! Stunned, I reached up to the wound and my hand touched something wet. I brought it down to see that my fingers were covered in blood. MY blood! Suddenly, my right shoulder screamed in pain! Another blast of agony burst from my right thigh! Instinct finally kicked in, and I threw up a flat shield. An instant later, that shield was smashed by four sudden impacts. But that was enough time for me to raise my full shield, along with several physical shunts attached to it. The pain slowly faded away as my donated alicorn magic began to heal my wounds. Two more impacts hit my shield, but this time I barely felt them. I knew my shield would keep me safe, so I stood up straight and looked for my attacker. Yet another item impacted my shield, but I finally saw what it was! Strangely enough, it was a large gemstone. It took no effort to follow the gemstone's path to its origin, where I saw an incensed Rarity standing some hundred or so feet away. She was levitating gemstones out of her saddlebags, which she had gotten from somewhere, and would periodically throw gems at me. But I was protected, and the priceless gemstones did nothing against the strength of my shield.

Oh, and her mane & tail had been restored to their beautiful violet coloring and curls.

Looks like the Mane6 team got Rarity's attack style right.

"You ruffian! Drop that shield RIGHT NOW and take your punishment like a stallion!"

"Let me think about that for a moment.

"How about, NO. Let me take those."

I levitated Rarity's saddlebags off her flanks, and tossed the bags over a tree.

"HEY! Those are MINE! Don't you know it's rude to take a lady's things?"

"It's also rude to throw things at someone you just met."

"You...you...! Such an uncouth stallion! I shall have to make an exception in your case!"

"You look stressed, Miss Rarity. Why don't you just take a spa day?"

"What?! What do you mean?"

Without warning, I used my magic to tear chunks of dirt and sod out of the ground underneath Rarity. The mare squealed as she fell into the new hole in the dirt. She quickly got to her hooves, and discovered to her surprise that her head and shoulders stuck up out of the pit. Before she could climb out, I summoned water in the air above her. Rarity squealed as she was suddenly soaked in cold water, which partially filled the hole. As fast as I could, I dipped the dirt in the water and packed the wet chunks all over Rarity's body. The water quickly soaked into the dirt and turned it into sticky mud. I covered the mare in the sticky mud, though I left her head free. However, I made sure to pin her mane in the mud. The fashionista was effectively immobilized, even though her horn was still free. As I expected, Rarity freaked out and forgot that she could use magic to free herself.

"Aah! What have you done to me?!

"No!

"You'll stain my coat!

"Eew, it's COLD!

"I can't move! You...you...ruffian!"

"But I thought you liked mud baths, Rarity?"

"Not this kind of mud, it's dirty!"

The fashionista let loose with a long string of invectives, most of which I had never heard before but sounded quite nasty. I believe she even questioned how often my family tree forked. While I was impressed with her verbal creativity, her bitchy tone was getting on my nerves. I had to shut her up somehow, and after a moment of mental searching I came up with an idea. My magic levitated a handful of mud off of her back, then slapped it on to her muzzle. Of course, some of it got into her mouth. It did shut her up for a moment, but she spit the glob out and let out a shrill scream. She then resumed cursing me out.

While her screams were hurting my ears, they didn't stop me from checking the rest of the mares out for trouble. I could see Dash, Applejack and Pinkie were still lying where I had left them. So I knew they were still out cold. I couldn't see Fluttershy anywhere, so she was probably still floating away on her cloud. Rarity was still trapped under mud and screaming curses at me. At that moment, she was implying something very lurid between me and my mother. Considering my mother had been dead for several years, that made her insults even more disturbing. I glanced over at the last remaining Element Bearer to check her status. Twilight Sparkle had not only woken up, but was trying to stand on her hooves.

Whups, better zap her again.

To my surprise, she blocked my paralyzing lightning with a shield of her own.

"Oh no you don't! You won't be doing that to me again."

"Aww, you always take away all my fun."

Twilight smirked at me.

"I'm going to stop you."

"Oh, really? You and what army?"

The mare looked around, and her smile dropped as she realized that she was the only one left to fight. She closed her eyes, and her horn lit up with magic. A bright flash appeared around Dash, AJ and Pinkie. Applejack and Dash immediately groaned in pain. They both sat up, then rubbed their heads with their hooves. Pinkie was also awake, but every time she tried to stand up she fell over.

"Oh, no! My hooves fell asleep!"

Twilight smirked at me again.

"Now that the odds are more in my favor, it's time--"

My eyes were blinded by a sudden bright light! I closed my eyes and lifted an arm to protect myself. I could hear a loud warbling, buzzing sound coming from Twilight's direction. At the same time, I heard a female voice shout out from far above.

"TWILIGHT!!"

That shout had to come from Celestia. I also heard a mad cackle, also from above, that sounded just like Nightmare Moon. The bright light vanished as suddenly as it began, and I blinked several times to clear the spots from my eyes. When I could see clearly again, I saw a frazzled Twilight Sparkle. Although she seemed to be in one piece, she had this dazed, thousand-yard stare on her muzzle. Her shield was down and her fur was smoking slightly, but she was still standing on her hooves. Barely. A blur of white zipped out of the sky and made a hard landing next to Twilight. The sudden impact was too much for the purple mare, and she began to topple over. However, Celestia scooped up her faithful student in a wing and gently set her down on the lawn. By some miracle, Twilight was still conscious and was struggling to stand up. Celestia put an end to that, by covering Twilight with a wing until she stopped moving. When Celestia lifted her wing, Twilight could be seen lying quietly in the grass.

A black blur rocketed out of the sky and slammed into the ground next to me. Nightmare Moon stood up from her crouched position, then opened her wings in a show of force.

"Excellent aim, sister! I am certain that your student would agree!"

Celestia frowned as she looked over the battlefield, where she saw five battered ponies and two uninjured opponents. If I were in her horseshoes, I would realize that I was in danger of losing the battle. It seemed that the Princess had reached that same conclusion.

"This isn't over, sister."

In a flash of golden magic, Celestia disappeared along with the five remaining Bearers. I heard a wet squelch as the mud that had been packed around Rarity collapsed in on itself.

"Excellent work, my Captain. The ponies that hold the Elements of Harmony looked to be much the worse for wear.

"However, I noticed that one of the Bearers was missing. Did you silence her?"

"No, I stuck her on a cloud and pushed her away from the battle. She was too scared to move."

"I see.

"I am disappointed in you. I had hoped that you would have permanently silenced one of them, to guarantee that the Elements could not be used against me."

You may be a killer, Nighty - but I am NOT. Better change the subject.

"Good job on that Solar Beam, my Queen. Tricking Celestia to hit her student was inspired."

"Ah, that was mere luck. I simply deflected the beam towards the ground."

I felt the blood drain from my body, and terror took its place.

You mean...that beam could have hit ME, instead?!

FUCK!!

Act 5, Chapter 3 - Hot Pursuit

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Nightmare Moon and I had defeated Princess Celestia and the Mane Six, but before we could finalize our victory they had managed to escape. I learned that our victory had been coincidence, as the blast that took out Twilight could have hit me instead.

"Wha-bwa--

"I could have been killed!"

"Yes, that was a distinct possibility. Now cease thy prattling, I must ascertain where my sister has gone to."

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, then lit her horn. I watched her for several moments, then realized she wasn't going to apologize for nearly killing me. I let out a sigh, then decided to guard her like I always did when she was busy. I watched for Secret Service Agents or anyone else that was stupid enough to interrupt my Queen, but I didn’t see anyone. I thought about putting up a shield just in case, but I didn't want to accidentally interfere with Nighty's magical scan. But the only things that moved were the leaves on the trees in the breeze.

"Ah sister, thou hast gotten careless in thine old age."

"Hmm?"

"I have found her. Quickly, to the air!"

The ebony mare launched herself into the sky, and I immediately followed. We zoomed over the White House lawn to the south, then soared over the park across the street. My Queen's callous behavior worried me, so as we approached the Washington Monument I pulled up to her right side. The gleeful grin on her muzzle didn't make me feel any better. But as I watched, her grin turned into a frown.

"What is it?"

"Mine sister is charging a spell of some sort, and I am uncertain as to its purpose. Nor if we shall be able to prevent her from casting it."

"Well, let's distract her. Maybe bombard her with rocks before we land?"

"Yessss. She is my sister, after all."

Huh?

Ah. Nighty can't attack and defend at the same time, so maybe Celestia will have the same problem. If we both attack her, she may drop whatever spell she's casting.

I could finally feel the tingle of a large spell being cast, so I knew that Celestia had to be close by. The Night Mare and I passed over some fancy buildings, rocketed over a river then sailed over a golf course. An instant later, I spied Celestia and the Bearers. They were standing in an empty field south of the golf course. The field was on the point of a peninsula; the waters of the Potomac River flowed around the field. The water line was lined with trees, which enclosed the grassy field and gave it a measure of privacy from anyone boating on the river. A cursory glance did not reveal any humans or cars nearby, but there was one small and empty road that curved past the field.

The ponies were clustered together in the middle of that field, which was a big mistake. Nightmare Moon and I could attack them all at the same time! I pulled magic to my hands, and let loose with a volley of magically-created boulders. I didn't even throw the rocks from my hands, I propelled them forward as fast as I could in my best imitation of a machine gun. But just before our attacks landed, a golden shield appeared to protect the ponies beneath it. The boulders hit and made a loud booming noise as they shattered on impact.

I drifted off to my right so that Nighty and I could attack from two different angles. When we were close enough, we stopped attacking and merely followed the boulders down to the ground. I landed hard on the grassy surface, one fist and knee in the sod anime-style. The turf all around had been torn up by the broken rocks that had exploded over Celestia's golden shield. The shield itself had taken quite a beating. Its glow was pulsing slightly, in a way that meant that the shield was weak and ready to crack. I stood up and resumed tossing boulders at the shield, in hopes of weakening it further. Nightmare Moon and I were focused on one goal: to distract Celestia and mess up her spell. If that didn't work, we wanted to break the shield and get inside before Celestia was done.

If our attacks had messed up Celestia's concentration, I couldn't see it. Celestia and the Bearers were right in front of me, standing behind the aforementioned shield. Celestia herself was pouring a large stream of golden magic into Twilight. Twilight was channeling that magic, and was sending a lot of lavender magic into the four other Bearers. If I had to guess, it looked like Celestia was providing the power and Twilight was controlling it. The Bearers themselves looked healthy, strong and clean; unlike the mess I had left them in. Rainbow Dash glanced over in my direction, then stuck her tongue out at me. That caused the other three to look over. Applejack and Rarity both frowned, while Pinkie smiled and waved a hoof. Twilight’s eyes were closed, and her face was creased in concentration. If she knew Nightmare Moon and I were there, she showed no sign. My attention was dragged back to the shield, which had finally begun to fragment. A spiderweb of cracks quickly spread all over the magical surface. This was a pattern I knew by heart: the shield was about to shatter, and nothing could stop that.

"NOW, TWILIGHT!"

A bright purple light exploded from inside the shield! The explosion demolished the magical dome, and flung sharp shards outward like an exploding grenade! I would have been impaled by those shards if I hadn't put up my own shield in time. When my eyes cleared a few seconds later, only Celestia remained. Nightmare Moon was standing on the other side of Celestia, opposite of me. I dropped my shield, and the golden shards stuck in it fell to the ground.

"What foolishness is this, sister? You knowest thou cannot escape me!"

"Not foolishness, sister--

While Nightmare Moon distracted Celestia, I tried a sneak attack on the Solar Goddess. My blast of paralyzing lightning arched all over the sun-kissed mare! But she simply absorbed the blast as if it were nothing. The snow-white mare turned to me and frowned, then returned her attention to her sister.

"Strategy. By the time you find us, we shall be ready for you. Goodbye."

In a flash of magic, Celestia disappeared. All that was left was a perfect circle of unmolested grass, and a bunch of torn-up grass and rocks surrounding it.

"CURSE YOU, SISTER!!!"

Nightmare Moon and I ran towards each other and met in the middle of the circle.

"Please, pray tell me that thou sawest something that can help us find them!"

"Uh, maybe. I saw that Celestia was channeling magic into Twilight, the bearer of Magic. And Twilight was sending that magic into the other Bearers."

"Truly? Why...

"Could it be?"

"What?"

"Hush, I must ascertain something."

The Mare in the Moon lit her horn, and fell silent for several moments.

"Aha! I know your tricks, sister!"

"What did you find?"

"An old spell, one that my sister's alchemists invented during my war with her. My spies managed to steal its secrets not long before my banishment, and I presume that my sister is still unaware of its theft. The caster creates a special teleportation spell, one that not only transports a pony but also sends a magical 'node' to the same destination. This node can then be used to send more ponies or items to the same location, or make it a simple task to retrieve the pony teleported at a later date."

"But I thought you said that teleporting over long distances was incredibly difficult?"

"Yes, and it is. But this spell was designed to overcome such an issue. With this spell, only the first teleportation is difficult. The magical node then places itself in a static orbit over the teleportation destination. So all a pony needs to do is use the node to teleport ponies or items to the same location.

"As I understand it, the marker computes the mathematics for the teleportation automatically. A pony merely needs to magically 'touch' the node, tells it what or whom to teleport, then feeds in enough magic. The node itself does the calculations and the actual teleportation.

"Ah yes, before I forget. Your paralyzing spell on Celestia was inspired. Alas, my sister is highly resistant to lightning attacks as you have discovered."

"Uh, thanks. Too bad it didn't work."

“Quite.

"It is clear to me that my sister's plan is to disperse the Elements and their current Bearers to parts unknown. We would then waste precious time tracking them down. With these magical nodes, she could have kept us flying all over the globe until she was ready to face us in battle. By that time, we would be exhausted and much easier to defeat. If we choose to ignore them, she would then gain the time to prepare and confront us at her leisure.

"However, I can easily track down the Bearers with these nodes. If all goes well, we shall have the Elements of Harmony in our hooves by nightfall!"

"Okay. Then what?"

"Is it not obvious?! We shall use the Elements to defeat my sister and her underlings!"

"Um, from what I remember the Elements are a purifying force and not a weapon."

"Art thou disaGREEING WITH ME?!"

"No need to shout. And no--"

"THOU SHALT OBEY ME!"

"Oh, so I'm just a minion now? All that stuff about being your adviser and your Captain was just a lie?!"

"Ah...er-- Rrr!

"Rrrrr.....

"Canst thou...trust my...JUDGEMENT...in this MATTER?"

"Yes, yes I can.

"But!

"Am I your minion, or your Captain?"

"Thou arrrrt...

"rrrrRrRrRrRrr....

"My...Captain.

"My Captain.

"As you have always been.

"I...thank thee, Captain. Ever since my Sister revealed herself, I have been experiencing difficulty with my self-control. If thou had not confronted me just now, I fear that my blood lust would have eventually consumed me."

"That's why I'm here with you. To help you stay on the right track."

I darted in to give the Night Mare a quick peck on the lips, and pretended not to notice the deep blush that stole across her cheeks.

"I will always be here for you, my Queen of the Night."

Nightmare Moon wore a wan smile on her muzzle as I spoke, but it quickly faded to a slight frown.

"Queen of the Damned, mayhaps."

"Nah, she's a crazy vampire from a completely different story. But that's not important right now. Don't we have some Elements to capture?"

"Hm? Ah, yes. Yes! I shall send thee forthwith!"

The Mare in the Moon lit her horn and began to study the remnants of Celestia and Twilight's spell.

"Now, let me see. Ah, there is one. Hm...the others are proving to be more elusive.

"I shall send you to this one location, while I attempt to locate the others. When you have retrieved the Element, return to the point you arrived at then signal me via the gem in your armor. I shall return you to this place once again. Art thou ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Excellent! I bid thee good hunting!"

The ebony mare blasted me with her magic spell, and I found myself tumbling through a tunnel of swirling colors. I couldn't decide if it looked more like a Star Wars hyperspace tunnel or a trip through time and space in the Tardis, but before I could decide on either one it was over. I was standing on a dirt road, with a field of green grass on either side of me. The grass waved lightly as a gentle wind blew by. I could see buildings off in the distance that made me think that I was on an old farm. Somewhere.

Where the heck am I?!

Act 5, Chapter 4 - Honesty

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I had been sent to retrieve one of the Elements of Harmony, but which one? And where the heck did Nightmare Moon send me?

I was standing on a dirt road that wound through a field of green grass. The grass waved lightly as a gentle wind drifted by. The wind blew from behind me, and with it came the earthy scents of a forest. I could see buildings off in the distance that made me think that I was on an old farm. Somewhere. The sky was a bright blue, with wisps of cloud that drifted lazily in the wind. The late morning breeze was a little on the cool side, though experience told me it would warm up after noon. To my left was a large swath of green grass. The grass was close to knee-high, and was a bright shade of green that would darken during the heat of summer. Beyond the field was a wooded area, the trees too tightly packed together to see far past the tree line. To my right was much the same, but the grassy area was bigger. No, not 20% bigger. Sheesh. More like twice the size of the expanse on my left. The dirt road was just two ruts in the ground parallel to each other. They had been dug deep into the soil, so I knew this road had been well-used for many years.

A ways down the road was a small building. It sat just off to the left of the road, and it had seen better days. Its roof had collapsed, and the bare rafters were sagging downward. The faded red paint covered badly-weathered boards, while the door was open and sagged down on its hinges. The building was much too small to be a barn, perhaps it had been used for storing tools or animal feed? Much farther down the road was a large farmhouse. The house had fared much better than the storage shed, as I was calling it. The home looked to be in decent condition and had a newish looking roof on top, so someone was probably living in it. However, the white paint looked to be dull and peeling even at this great distance. The road continued past the farmhouse on its right side, and presumedly led up to a street on the other side. I idly wondered if that part of the road had been paved, or just covered in gravel. The entire scene was somehow familiar, even though I had grown up in the suburbs of a large city. This was simply what was left of an an old country farm, where the owner had sold off the farmland but kept the house to live in.

So. If I was an Element of Harmony, where would I be hiding?

I could spend all day searching the farm and find nothing. So let's cheat.

I can sense magic, and magic is rare in this world. Let's see if I can detect the magic that this Element gives off.

I closed my eyes to concentrate, and sent out my magical senses. I immediately felt a little tingle of magic from where I was standing, though it was maybe twenty feet in the air. That had to be the teleportation node. I got another tingle of magic, somewhere down the road and off to the left. The tingle felt like it was around my 10 o'clock position, and on or near the ground.

I doubt Rainbow Dash would hide on the ground, and Fluttershy wasn't with the group. So this means I have air superiority.

With a thought, I opened my magical wings and leapt into the air. I stayed kinda low to the ground however, maybe a hundred feet or so in the air. Much higher and I wouldn't be able to see a pony hiding on the ground; any lower and I could be easily attacked. I slowly followed the road towards the farmhouse, then took a lazy left past the storage shed. What I saw next surprised me so much, I had to stop in mid-air to stare at it.

The large yard behind the farmhouse was covered in old appliances. Refrigerators, washers & dryers, dishwashers, freezers, and other stuff I didn’t recognize. They were painted in browns and pale greens and whites, with a smattering of yellows and blues and tans. Grass and weeds poked up all around and even inside the metal machines. What the appliances all had in common was age. None of them looked remotely new, their paint faded or their doors left open to the elements. Some looked to be made entirely out of rust. The group of appliances just in front of me were strewn around at random, with dirt paths that snaked between the metal shells. Some lay on their side and some were upright, like someone had just dumped them and left. It was obvious to me that this was an appliance graveyard. Farther down, someone had taken the time to organize the old appliances in order. There were five rows that stretched away from me, with random gaps in the rows. The shorter appliances were stacked two high, with a tall refrigerator placed here or there. It almost looked like someone had made a maze out of the metal boxes. I imagined that this farm was an ideal place for the local Halloween horror maze.

The maze of appliances was also a great place for a pony to hide. My magic-sense wasn't very accurate, unfortunately. It had stopped giving me a direction as soon as I saw the graveyard, so I knew the Element Bearer was close by. But exactly where, I couldn't tell. So I drifted slowly forward, almost hovering over the graveyard, and panned my head to the left and right. I saw no one, and no pony.

Suddenly, I heard a loud CLANG! You know, the sound of metal hitting metal really hard. It came from behind me and to my left, so I glanced over my shoulder. I was just in time to see a washer unit sailing through the air right at me!

"WHOAH!"

I quickly ducked under the large projectile and watched it sail over my head. That was TOO close! It was definitely a washer unit; the top controls and upper door were unmistakable. And it had a large dent on one side.

How in the heck did that thing get up in the air? These things are HEAVY! There's concrete inside them to keep them from shaking around in the spin cycle!

My eyes subconsciously followed the washer as it fell back to earth, and watched it land noisily into a pile of old refrigerators. As suddenly as the first, another loud CLANG signaled that it was time to dodge. This time I was ready, so I simply flew half a dozen feet to my right. The projectile (a dryer this time) sailed past and missed me by a comfortable margin. I watched this one smash into a million pieces when it landed on the hard ground.

Which of the Element Bearers could toss such heavy objects so high in the air?

From down below, I heard my answer.

"Stand still, ya varmint!"

Applejack.

I turned and followed the voice with my ears, then looked down at the ground. There she was, standing out in the open. Her tan coat and stetson hat stood out starkly against the green grass. While I watched, she turned around and was about to buck another appliance at me. But this time, I was ready. I swung off to my left and swooped down towards the apple farmer, who was too busy aiming her shot to notice I had moved. Yet another CLANG came from the mare's horseshoes impacting the appliance, the force of which sent the metal box flying into the air. Before her hind hooves touched the ground, I fired off a blast of paralyzing lightning at her body. The blast hit!

And was absorbed by a small magical shield. It popped up to absorb the blast, then disappeared just as fast.

"Nice try! Princess Celestia gave me this here necklace, an' said it would protect me from your confounded black magic!"

"It's not black magic, it's just ordinary magic!"

"Whatever! Bet ya can't catch me!"

Applejack then bolted towards the appliance maze. I made a banked turn and tried to catch her, but she was surprisingly fast. In scant seconds, she was inside the maze. I had to drop down low into the maze to try and catch her; then I put on an extra burst of speed. I was upon her a moment later, and I reached out to grab her tail...

Just as AJ jinked left through a gap between the appliances. I took the same turn on instinct, but I was moving too fast and smashed into the row of appliances. The one I hit crumpled under the impact and was pushed out of the way! The heavy freezer on top then dropped painfully onto my body. A second later the stack next door tipped over, and the top unit fell on to my legs. Ouch. I tried to untangle myself, but my wings were pinned under the heavy machines. I had to de-summon them to free myself. After I untangled my body and stood up, I realized that the metal gadgets would have crushed my wings if they weren’t magical constructs.

I heard Applejack's laughter float over from somewhere nearby.

"I hope you got a hard head, or this chase'll be over quick!"

I have to fly fast to catch her, but she'll just pull the same trick again. I can't run as fast as she can, and if I stay safely in the air I can't even zap her.

Time for some reinforcements.

With a magical tug, I pulled my Shadowcats from the Moon Palace and re-formed them in front of me. The small cats looked surprised to be there, and glanced all around themselves to get their bearings.

"Okay, listen up. Take your Shadowcat forms."

All three cats immediately shimmered in magic, then reappeared in their larger Shadowbolt bodies and uniforms. They sat down in front of me, fluttered their wings and waited for their orders.

"Your prey today is Applejack. Tan earth pony wearing a hat and has three apples for a cutie mark. Track her down on foot. Er, paw. When you find her, chase her and try to grab one of the necklaces she's wearing. Doesn't matter which one. Split up, and I'll watch out from up above."

I leapt into the air and took up a position maybe forty feet or so high. I hovered over the maze for a few uneventful minutes, until I heard a loud feline yowl! I made a beeline to the sound, and saw that Kusac had Applejack on the run! I watched as AJ took a 180 around an appliance wall, but instead of taking the turn Kusac skidded to a stop and turned around. Both AJ and Kusac were running the same way, but on either side of the same wall. Applejack was fast, but Kusac was faster. He burst through a gap in the wall right in front of the mare, and the farmer pony slammed on the brakes! As she did, I saw a little sparkle swing away from her body. It had to be the pendant! Kusac must have thought the same, as he reached out with a paw to grab it.

Electricity arced across the cat’s body and through his fur. His pained yowls could be heard over the crackle of lightning. As soon as they started, the electricity and yowling stopped. Kusac immediately collapsed to the ground. Applejack paused for a moment to look at the downed cat, then stretched out a shaky hoof towards his unmoving body. She paused and looked up at me, then immediately turned around and ran back the way she came. My concern for Kusac was much more important than catching Applejack, Nightmare Moon be damned. So I ignored Applejack and landed hard next to my feline friend in the grassy dirt. A quick check-over revealed he was breathing, but would not wake up when I shook him. I had no way to heal his injuries, but I remembered that he was supposed to be a magical construct. So, I decided to try something: I de-summoned Kusac, then re-summoned him. He reappeared next to me in a sitting position. And most importantly, he was awake. He shook his head several times, then looked up at me with confusion in his eyes. I stroked his back with a hand, and he began to purr.

"Good job, Kusac. You almost had her."

I recalled my Shadowcats and gave them new instructions.

"Her pendant is booby-trapped, so don't touch it. Grab her hat instead, and run off with it. Make her chase you, and lead her to me.”

Bastet found Applejack next. The tan pony put on the brakes as soon as she saw the tortoiseshell cat, but Bastet was faster. Her paw swiped out and snagged AJ's stetson with her claws. She tucked the hat under a wing, then scorched off into the maze with Applejack in hot pursuit.

"Come back here with ma hat!"

Bastet let AJ on a short yet speedy chase around the appliance maze. She ran just fast enough to keep the mare close, but never close enough to be caught. Applejack rounded the last corner only to find me, kneeling down with an outstretched hand.

"Whoah, nelly!"

There was no way for her to stop in time. Applejack ran into my hand, and I let loose a zap of paralyzing lightning INSIDE her protective shield. The mare had no defense against that, and her body tumbled limply into my arms. I set the awake yet paralyzed mare gently onto the ground, and arranged her body so she looked comfortable. While I did this, Kusac and Bastet padded up to my right and left sides respectively. Isis trotted around the corner from in front, and all three cats sat down to watch. I turned to Bastet and retrieved Applejack's stetson hat, took off my helmet, then placed her hat on my head. Surprisingly, the hat was a good fit. I looked down at AJ, and she looked pretty pissed that I was wearing her prized hat.

"Aw, is something wrong?"

"You know there is, you're wearin' ma hat!"

"My hat now. Isis, get her Element necklace please. Don't touch the other pendant."

"No, no, no! Ya can't do this!"

Applejack tried to squirm and prevent the loss of her Element, but the paralysis held her strong. Isis handed over the Element of Honesty to me, and I smiled softly at the farm pony.

"See? All done."

"Fine. I guess you're just gonna kill me now."

"What? Why would you think that? I just wanted your Element necklace. The paralysis will wear off soon, and Celestia will come back for you eventually."

I stood up, and took the stetson off of my head. I held it above Applejack, then dropped the hat on her face so she couldn't see. As I walked away, I gave her my last statement.

"Not all of us bad guys are evil."

The world re-appeared around me, and the first thing I saw was Nightmare Moon. She was facing towards my left, and had not yet noticed my arrival. A quick glance past her showed that I was back in the field in Washington DC, where Nighty and I had confronted Celestia and the Bearers. A zap of lightning arched from the ebony mare’s horn, and her target screamed in agony. I turned in time to see a uniformed police officer collapse to the ground. Lightning arced all over her body, and she let out another throaty scream. The officer thrashed about on the ground for several painful moments until the spell faded away.

Just past the police officer was a police car, parked on a paved pathway normally reserved for joggers or bicyclists. Its lights were flashing and the driver's door was open. The officer was still lying on the grass, and had not moved as far as I could tell. The officer’s unmoving body made me uncomfortable; had the Night Mare killed her? I turned back to the ebony mare, who had just noticed my arrival.

"Ah, you have returned. And so quickly! I trust that you were successful?"

"Uh, yes."

I pulled the Element of Honesty out of my pocket dimension, and showed the jewelry to her.

"Excellent! And what of the Bearer?"

"Paralyzed and relatively unhurt."

The Mare in the Moon frowned.

"I would have thought your feline nature would have made you more bloodthirsty."

I returned the Element to my pocket dimension before I replied.

"Didn't want to damage her Element on accident. Besides, Celestia had her protected with some sort of anti-magic shield via a necklace she was wearing. I had to chase her down and get past that protection before I could stop her. Once I had her Element, there was no need to kill her. I had what I wanted."

"Hmm, perhaps.

"Regardless, I shall send you to rendezvous with the next Bearer."

Nightmare Moon's spell enveloped me, and I was sent off through the aether to my next meeting.

Act 5, Chapter 5 - Generosity

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One Element of Harmony was mine, time to pick up another. But whose Element would I steal next?

I appeared in what looked like an alley. The tall walls of the buildings, trash cans, dumpsters and general trash were big clues. The alley itself looked to be just wide enough for a car to drive through, if the alley was completely empty. But with the dumpsters and trash cans along the walls, there was just enough room to walk down the middle without touching anything. I was happy for that, because something smelled really nasty and I didnÕt want to have to climb over it to get out. The walls of the buildings reached high over the alley and shrouded it in shadows. Outside the alley was clear and bright daylight.

I took a deep breath, then let my magical senses reach out in a way that I had nicknamed the 'Element Detector'. I ignored the little ping that represented the teleportation node, and searched for another source. I felt one, then rotated in place to get my bearings. When I faced the mouth of the alley, the 'detector' was indicating ahead and to my right. That meant I’d have to leave the alley to find the Element and its Bearer. One quick illusion spell later, and I exited the alley in my original human form. The street ran to my left and right, while the alley continued across the street. The 'detector' was still indicating ahead and to my right, so I turned right and began to walk down the middle of the street. I figured I’d keep walking straight ahead until the 'detector' indicated straight left. And hopefully not down another smelly alley.

The street was narrow, a little wider than your average car but not wide enough for two cars to pass by each other. I did not see any cars parked on the street for as far as I could see. The street itself was made out of cobblestones, with low curbs and sidewalks that butted right up against the buildings with no room for a front yard. There were trees on either side, with wide leafy branches that almost reached the trees on the other side of the street. The sky was a light blue with patchy cloud cover. The sunlight shone in splotches on the street, filtered through the leaves on the trees. There was no breeze, but the late morning was not unpleasantly warm.

The buildings had an old southern feel to them, kinda like you'd see on TV. They had porches and pillars and old-fashioned windows, and dull white paint that was just starting to peel. Now and then, you'd see a house with a modern facade on it that stood out among the older buildings. I had the feeling that I was in New Orleans somewhere, or some town that reminded me of it. Well, I'd only seen New Orleans from movies that showed Mardi Gras festivals. But it felt like I was there, minus the parties and tons of people.

Speaking of people, there were a few walking around. Some walked on the sidewalks, and some like me walked in the street. None of them paid me any mind, and I ignored them too. I walked past a building that was blaring an upbeat jazzy tune from a second-story window. The 'detector' was still pointing ahead, but slowly leaning to my left. So I kept walking.

After several blocks had gone by, the 'detector' finally pointed straight left down a side street. I turned down that street, then followed it while the detector began to lean left again. I was surprised to feel the detector begin to slowly point upwards. When the detector pointed into a storefront on my left, I had to backtrack to get to its front door. The screen door to the store was unlocked, so I opened it and walked inside. The business turned out to be a tea room. The store spread out in front of me and to my right, meaning that the door I entered through was in the front-left corner of the room. Chairs and tables covered in checkered tablecloths stretched across the room in lazy rows, and the walls were covered in shelves that were filled with leaves in jars. The smell of tea was strong, pleasant and unmistakable. I could only see one person in the room, a customer who was sitting at one of the far tables. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt and a white fedora, and had dark skin on his hands. Whether his skin color was a sun tan or genetics, I didn’t know nor did it matter. When he set his teacup down, I could see he had a large, gray, bushy mustache.

My detector pointed up and to my right, where I noticed a second floor landing. The second floor only covered part of the first floor, so I guessed that the area was used for private parties. I had a feeling that was where I would find my pony. While I was looking around, a young man wearing a white apron came out from a doorway near the back of the store. He noticed me standing in the doorway, then walked up to greet me.

"May I help you, sir?"

"Yes. Is the second floor available?"

"I am afraid not, it has been reserved by a private party."

I placed my hand on the gem in my armor, which was hidden under my illusion. I pushed a bit of magic into the gem, then waved my other hand in front of the waiter's eyes. Magical sparkles leapt from my fingers and bounced all over his face. A colorful cartoon swirl appeared in his eyes for a moment, then disappeared.

"She will see me and my guests."

"O-of course, sir."

"My friends would like to take over the tea service, as a special thank you for your guest. Whom may I speak to about that?"

"You would need to speak to the manager, let me bring you to her."

Several finger sparkles and swirly eyes later, and the staff was completely under my control. My plan was simple, and it just needed a little time alone with the pony on the second floor. I summoned my Shadowcats, then left them with the staff to help put my plan into action. I then made my way to the staircase that led to the private seating area. My hand unlatched the rope blocking off the staircase, and then calmly walked up the creaky wooden stairs. At the top, I turned the corner and saw Miss Rarity. She could be no other; her alabaster coat and expertly coiffed purple mane were exceptionally unique. She was sitting calmly at a table near the balcony. Her back was to me, and thus could not see me approach. The squeaky floorboards made sneaking up on her impossible, but I didn’t need stealth. Just as I reached her table, she spoke aloud.

"I'm sorry darling, but I haven't finished this pot of tea yet. Could you come back in ten minutes?"

I walked around her table, and took a seat in front of her. I couldn't help but notice the Element of Generosity around her neck, and the smaller necklace that had Celestia's cutie mark on it.

"I'm not your server."

"Oh, my apologies my dear stallion. This is a private party."

"I am aware of that, Miss Rarity. I was hoping to speak to you, alone."

"Alone? Why would you...

"Wait, I recognize that voice! You're that ruffian from this morning!"

"Guilty as charged, Miss Rarity. And I deeply apologize for my treatment of you. It was, as you said, quite uncouth."

"It will take more than a silver tongue to earn my forgiveness! Are we going to turn this fine establishment into a battleground?!"

"Not at all, Miss Rarity. If I wanted violence, I could have easily hit you in the head while your back was turned. I just came here to talk."

The logic of my words calmed the mare down somewhat, and the tone of her voice softened.

"That may be so, but I do not trust you one tiny bit."

"I understand. But please understand that my actions this morning were not intended to harm, but to distract. My goal was simply to keep you girls from using the Elements of Harmony on Nightmare Moon."

"Perhaps, but you certainly took things too far! It took me many cleaning spells to get all of that mud out of my coat."

"Well, I had to do something to immobilize you. Of all the mares, you had the most creative counterattack."

Rarity beamed slightly at my compliment, but she hid it well.

"Flattery will only get you so far. But you have yet to apologize for mistreating me and my friends.”

“True. I am very sorry for attacking you and your friends. I really didn't want to do it. But, what I did was better than what Nightmare Moon wanted me to do."

"Oh? And what was that?"

"She wanted me to kill one of you, to guarantee that the Elements couldn't be used against her."

The fashionista turned a bit green at my words.

"K-kill...?"

"Yes. She was actually pretty upset that I didn't kill anyone, and only left you all with bumps and bruises."

"O-oh. I see. We were so worried about Fluttershy, the Princess wasn’t able to find her."

"She’s safe. I set her on a cloud, and sent her away from the battle so she wouldn’t get hurt."

"Oh, thank Celestia!"

"So you see, I was forced to attack you but I did my best to protect you at the same time."

Rarity went silent for several moments.

"Perhaps I have misjudged you."

"Eh, not really. I am working for one of the bad guys. But that does not make me evil, either."

"I suppose not."

Several uncomfortable seconds passed by. I broke the silence first.

"Well! I imagine your tea has gone cold. Shall we order another pot?"

"Oh! Um, yes please."

"And what were you drinking?"

"Darjeeling white. It's my favorite."

I had no idea what kind of tea 'Darjeeling White' was, but it hardly mattered.

"Excellent choice."

I waved my hand and shouted at an imaginary waiter behind Rarity. I knew my voice would carry downstairs, where my Shadowcats were waiting and listening.

"More of the same, please!"

I turned back to Rarity.

"It'll only be a few minutes.

"So! What do you think of this world?"

"I admit that I have not seen very much of it yet. But what I have seen is quite intriguing. Why do you ask?"

"Just small talk. Unless you'd like to stare at each other in silence?"

"Oh no no darling, that would be most unpleasant. Let me think...ah, yes! Unfortunately, I have not had time to explore your world, we are here on a mission after all."

"Mm-hm."

"We arrived on a farm, apparently. Princess Celestia led us to what looked to be a house, and she knocked politely on the door. Would you believe that they slammed the door in our faces as soon as they saw us?"

"Really."

"Yes! We kept knocking and tried to explain ourselves, but they wouldn't open the door! They kept telling us to 'go away' or they would 'call the po-lice' on us! I admit, the first impression your people gave us was quite poor."

"I see."

Princess Celestia felt that these 'po-lice' might be able to help us better, so she persisted in her knocking. Eventually, a metal carriage arrived to investigate. But to our surprise, it was not the local guard but somepony called 'Animal Control'! Animals, us! I could barely contain my outrage."

"That's too bad."

"Of course, we eventually understood why. But..."

I tuned Rarity out when I saw two of my Shadowcats appear at the top of the stairs. It was Bastet and Isis, both in their larger feline forms. I was pleased to see that they had listened to me and not worn their Shadowcat uniforms. The two female cats gracefully walked over to our table on all fours, while balancing our tea order upon their heads. As they approached, I could see them in more detail. Bastet was balancing a steaming teapot upon her head, with a thick white towel between the pot and her head. Isis was carrying a plate with two tea cups on her head. I watched my cats approach and ignored Rarity, who did not notice I wasn't paying attention to her. Once both cats arrived, they sat down next to our table. The cats were wearing identical black tuxes, or at least the coat portion of them. They both wore a white shirt under the black coat, and the tails of the shirt stuck out past the bottom of the coat. And they wore identical red bow ties. While the cats were much larger than normal cats, the top of their heads barely reached above the edge of the table.

"Your tea, Master."

Rarity turned to look at the voice, and gasped out loud.

"Oh my goodness! What adorable felines!"

Both cats smiled at the compliment.

"Yes, they are. The one that spoke is Bastet, and the other is Isis. They are both my companions, and my friends."

"How wonderful!"

"Bastet, you may serve the tea."

The tortoiseshell reached above her head with her forepaws, and used the towel to carefully lift the teapot off of her head. She set the teapot down on the edge of the table, as she was too short to reach any farther. Bastet did the same with the plate and teacups on Isis's head. Both felines looked to me for further instructions.

"Thank you, you may go."

They both bowed their heads, then dropped to a four-legged stance and trotted towards the stairs. Rarity watched after them for a few moments, then turned back to me.

"My goodness! I didn't know Abyssinians lived on this world!

I remembered that Abyssinia was the mythical city of cats on the same world as Equestria, first canonized in the comic books.

"They're not from Abyssinia, they're native to this world. They were normal cats when I adopted them, but a little magic helped change them into who you just saw."

"Oh my! They are so pretty!"

"That they are. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

I picked up the teapot by its handle, and poured us each a cup. I offered one to Rarity, who took the cup in her magic. I picked my cup up in my hands, and gently took a sip. I had never tried Darjeeling tea before, but I was quite pleased with its light flavor. I let out a small sigh of pleasure as the heat from the tea warmed my insides. Next, I looked over at Rarity to see if she had also enjoyed her beverage. She had not. Her magic still held her teacup in the air, but instead of drinking it she was staring at me instead.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, just concerned about poison in my tea."

"Really? I just drank some."

"Perhaps you added the poison after you poured my tea."

"Well, I'd be happy to switch cups with you. But since I've already drank from it, it's got cooties."

The fashionista scoffed at my claim.

"Cooties? Such a childish notion."

A light blue glow encircled my teacup, and the mare's magic gently yet firmly pulled it from my hands. The same magic set her teacup into my waiting grasp.

"There. Now, drink up if you please."

I shrugged, and took a sip from my new teacup.

"Satisfied?"

"Not yet. Take a deeper drink."

"It's too hot to take more than a sip, but I'll do my best."

I took a longer sip, and felt the hot liquid burn down my throat.

"Gah! Hot, hot, hot!"

I fanned my mouth for a few moments.

"I think I burned my tongue. Satisfied now?"

Rarity smirked at my pain. She obviously wanted to see me burn myself on the tea.

"Yes, quite."

She then took a small sip of her tea, as if nothing strange had happened.

Our conversation lasted for more than an hour. As we conversed, we finished that pot of tea and yet another. Rarity's paranoia was quite strong; she kept trying to 'catch' me poisoning her, by switching our teacups at random. I let her do what she wanted, it wouldn’t affect the outcome one bit. By the time we had finished the second pot of tea, Rarity began to tire. Her eyelids had been drooping for the past ten minutes, before she finally let out a big yawn.

"Oh, my goodness! How rude of me!"

"No worries."

She let out another large yawn.

"I don't know what's come over me!"

"Oh, it's just the sleeping potion I put in the tea."

"What?!”

Without warning, I reached across the table and grasped Rarity's shoulder. I cast a sleep spell on her, then sat back in my chair.

"Rest easy, Rarity. You've had a long day."

The alabaster mare's eyes closed and she set her head down upon the table. A moment later, she began to snore. Nightmare Moon had given me this 'Essence of the Moon' sleeping powder when we were back in her Moon Palace. She told me it would put any pony into a deep sleep, but our shared alicorn magic conveniently made us immune to its effects. I stood up from the table, then walked around it to stand behind Rarity. It was an easy task to unclasp her Element necklace and place it in my pocket dimension. Before I left, I gently set my hand on her back where her neck met her shoulders. It felt like an intimate gesture, even though I knew I wasn't taking any liberties with her.

"I hope that someday, you'll understand."

I lingered a moment longer before I turned and headed down the stairs to the ground floor. I retrieved my Shadowcats, freed the workers from my spell, and walked out the front door.

I returned to the park in Washington DC to see Nightmare Moon smiling at me.

"A warm welcome to you! Was your mission a success?"

I retrieved Rarity's Element from my pocket dimension and showed it to the mare.

"One Element of Generosity."

"You have made good progress, I am pleased."

"Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Nay. Merely a minor annoyance."

The mare inclined her head to my left. I turned in that direction to see not one police car, but FOUR. Several police officers littered the ground; none moved.

"Are they dead?"

"I do not know, nor do I care to find out. They dared to attack me, and paid the price for their folly.

"Now, let us send thee to confront thy next opponent."

The familiar teleportation spell sent a tingle across my fur as I was whisked away. I idly wondered, who I would meet next?

Act 5, Chapter 6 - Loyalty

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Two Elements of Harmony down, four more to go.

I appeared in the middle of a cloud bank high in the sky, and immediately began to plummet downwards.

"Oh shit!"

I panicked and flailed around as I plunged to my inevitable meeting with the ground. My heart leapt into my throat when I realized I was going to die. I fell an embarrassing amount of distance before I remembered that I had magical wings. In a flash, my wings appeared and caught air. I easily soared out of my fall, and my wings let me glide effortlessly across the sky. Even though I was no longer falling, my heart was still racing in my chest. To calm myself, I took several deep breaths and tried to let my mind go blank. While I practiced Twilight’s breathing exercises from the show, laughter rained out of the clouds above me. I couldn't stop my face from blushing out of humiliation, and the burning heat on my cheeks just made it worse.

It didn't take long to track the laughter down to a small little cloud floating high in the sky. My embarrassment bled into anger, and I flapped my wings hard to climb to the cloud and confront this jerk. But before I got to that lone cloud, I knew who was laughing at me. My guess was confirmed when I arrived; the merry mirth was from Rainbow Dash. She was still laughing, tears streaming from her face and soaking into the Equestrian cloud she was lying on. It was easy to see her Element necklace and the smaller one embossed with Celestia’s cutie mark.

"Wahahaha! Oh, that was great! What, did you forget you had wings or something?!"

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I wasn't born with these wings, you know."

Dash stopped laughing and leaned back into her cloud, her head resting on her forelegs.

"That's obvious! You're such a rube."

"Whatever. You got a big mouth, but no skills."

Dash immediately sat up on her cloud, an angry look upon her face.

"That's minotaur droppings, and you know it!"

"Pfft. All you know how to do is fly fast. While that's something, there's a lot more to flying than that."

"I've been flying longer than you have, smart donkey!"

"Well then, you must learn slow 'cause I know more than you do Straight Line."

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!!"

"No? Then, what is it? Rainbow CRASH?"

"THAT'S IT!"

I let my wings go limp, and my body dropped out of the sky. I looked up, and saw Rainbow Dash take off from her cloud. Just like on the show, her trademark rainbow contrail stretched out behind her. She shot out in a straight line, then circled around towards me. I opened my wings to catch air, then tried to dodge the mare with a sharp turn to my right. But I wasn't fast enough. She clipped my left wing and I spun out of control. It didn’t take long to break out of that death spin, but I still wasn’t fast enough. Just as I leveled my flight, something clipped my right wing and I lost control again. This time, I heard Dash's comment.

"Gotcha!"

I regained control once again, but this time I dodged Rainbow Dash's attack. Her shout of "Darn!" was music to my ears. Before she could turn around, I made a beeline for a nearby cloud and hid in it.

Alright. Clearly, all Dash needs is speed to take me out. And even if she decided to run instead of fight, I'd never be able to catch her. So, it's time to cheat.

In a flash, my Shadowcats appeared in front of me. They were all wearing their Shadowbolt outfits, and both Kusac and Bastet immediately unfurled their wings to hover in place. But poor Isis didn't catch on in time, and with a yowl she plummeted out of the cloud and out of sight. I was about to fly out and catch her when she reappeared, her wings flapping to take her place next to her fellow Shadowcats. She looked quite embarrassed, and the other two cats snickered at her.

"Alright, that's enough. We need to trick Rainbow Dash into letting her guard down so I can steal her necklace. Like the orange pony, she also has a necklace that will shock you if you try to grab it. So we're going to confuse Dash by hitting her wings, or just ram right into her. This should tire her out enough for me to get her Element of Harmony. And we're going to confuse her even more, by making her think she's seeing quadruple."

When one had entered, FOUR of me left our hiding place. The other three were my Shadowcats, under illusion spells of course. We all scanned the sky for our target, when Bastet let out a yowl.

"There, Master!"

I turned to look where she was pointing, and saw our sky-blue pegasus hovering in mid-air. Her back was to us, so I saw the chance for a sneak attack. I signaled for my Shadowcat-clones to spread out, and I made a beeline for Dash. I got closer, closer, and closer. But just as I was about to strike her, she spun out of the way.

"Ha! I heard your feathers from a mile-OOOF!"

One of my clones had slammed into Rainbow Dash's side, knocking the wind out of both of them. I took the opportunity to hide behind a nearby cloud.

"Hey! How'd you get over there so fast?"

My clone broke off and flew into a cloud. Just as it disappeared, another clone slammed into Dash's back.

"OW! That hurt! Wait a minute, weren't you just over there?"

The future Wonderbolt tried to fly away, but it was Dash’s bad luck that she flew past my hiding place. I shot out and slammed into her! I grabbed her fur with a hand, and shocked her with a blast of paralyzing lightning!

"Yeowch! That smarts!"

She lashed out with a hindhoof and smashed me in my right shoulder. I spun out of control and fell through a cloud. It took me a bit to recover, but by then my alicorn magic had healed the broken bones that Dash’s hoof had smashed.

Wow, that mare has a hard kick. And that lightning should have paralyzed her immediately. Do pegasai have resistance to lightning? Probably. It would make working with storm clouds really dangerous otherwise. I'll have to up the wattage.

I poked my head out of my cloud, and saw that Dash hadn't gone far. My clones were keeping her busy, though she had caught on that there was more than one of me. She was managing to dodge most of their attacks, but now and then one would clip her wings. That gave another clone a chance to slam into her, tiring her out just a little more. After watching for a little bit, I decided it was time for me to try my new trick. I hid behind some clouds as I snuck in close, then waited for Dash to turn her back to me. Once she did, I zipped in and zapped her with a double-dose of lightning!

"AAAAHHH!!!! That bucking HURT!"

I ducked into a nearby cloud to hide and think.

The lightning isn't paralyzing her, it’s electrocuting her instead. Not cool. Gonna have to just grab her and take her Element from her.

I popped back out of the cloud, and pantomimed grabbing Rainbow Dash to my Shadowcat-clones. They each nodded their understanding to me. The next clone to catch Dash off-guard grappled with her instead of ramming her. This gave the other two clones a chance to engage her and grab her fore hooves and wings. After a short struggle, the three of them managed to immobilize Rainbow Dash. Though it didn't stop the mare from struggling and yelling out loud.

"Hey! Lemme go! This isn't fair!"

I flew up behind the trapped mare, and deftly removed the Element of Loyalty from around her neck. Dash tried to twist her head around to see what was going on, but couldn't quite see me.

"Give that BACK! That's MY Element!"

"Mine now, Dash. Finders keepers!

"Keep her here while I return to the Mistress."

My clones acknowledged my command by nodding, then held Rainbow Dash even tighter. I turned and flew away from the group. The Element necklace was slipped into my pocket dimension for safe keeping. I then used my magic senses to find the teleportation node, so Nightmare Moon could call me home. The spot found and the signal sent, I waited for the Moon Mare's magic to take hold. As soon as I felt its familiar tingle, I de-summoned my Shadowcats so I wouldn't leave them behind. That was almost a fatal mistake. Dash was now free, and she wanted revenge. I watched the mare frantically search the sky for me, then she blasted off in my direction. The teleportation spell took me away an instant before Dash slammed into me! I can still see the grimace on her face, and the bugs in her teeth, to this day.

The teleportation spell returned me to the park in Washington DC. As soon as I arrived, I screamed and collapsed on the ground with my arms covering my face.

"Captain, your assistance would be greatly appreciated!"

Huh?

I slowly uncurled my body, and realized that I had arrived in the middle of a war zone.

In one fluid motion, I stood up and raised my shield. In front of me, my Moon Mistress was holding her own against a bombardment of bullets. However, her gritted teeth told me that her survival was not easy. I turned to face her attackers, and saw two military-styled SWAT trucks parked behind the four police cars from earlier. Some dozen or more officers in riot gear were taking cover behind the vehicles, and were firing rifles of some sort at Nightmare Moon. One of the armored officers pointed over at me, and I knew it was time to act.

I threw a blast of paralyzing lightning at a nearby armored officer, and caught one in the chest. But the officer was only stunned for a moment. He/she shook their head, then aimed their rifle at me. Nonplussed, I put more power into my attack then tried again. This time, a large ball of lightning flew from my hand and hit the same officer. They dropped their gun and shook, lightning arching all over their body. I was also surprised to see officers to their left and right also spasming under the electrical barrage.

Area effect? AWESOME!

I ignored the bullets striking my shield as I tossed balls of lightning at every officer I could see. When I couldn't see any more, I threw a couple at the SWAT trucks themselves. Electricity arced all over the vehicles, and I could hear faint screams from inside. In moments, all was quiet.

"Your composure under battle has clearly suffered."

I turned to see my Queen had dropped her shield, and was panting slightly. I knew that if she dropped her shield, it was safe to drop mine. So I did.

"What?"

"Thou arrived and immediately collapsed on the ground in fear. Your bleating was unmistakable."

"Oh, that? The Bearer of Loyalty was about to slam into me right before you teleported me away."

"Ah, that explains it. I have had a similar experience in the past, so your reaction is understandable.

"Now that that matter is settled, I thank thee for thy assistance."

"Yeah, well. Us against the World, right?"

"Indeed."

"Next time, maybe you shouldn't stand in one place so they can focus their fire."

"I was confident I could withstand their attacks and still defend myself, but I was clearly mistaken."

"You did better than last time, there were a lot more of them than we faced at the police station."

"Agreed. But it took all of my focus to maintain my shield this time, I did not feel I could hold it even if I tried to fly away. I was barely able to trigger the teleportation node when I felt your signal.

"What does my Advisor recommend?"

"Take to the air immediately and weave around, don't let them focus their fire. You should have enough time for a potshot or two."

"I am not certain that is helpful advice."

"Well, your problem is that you can't focus on your offense when you're busy with defense. Right?"

"I must sadly concur. It has been an issue ever since I learned offensive magic."

"So, keep moving so you don't have to focus so much on defense. And poorly-aimed attacks are better than no attacks."

"I see."

"And if your attacks aren't working, try something else - anything else. Using the same attack that failed will just give you another failure."

"How did you know that a stronger attack would be effective?"

"I didn't. I just noticed that the lightning affected the officer a little bit. So I tried a stronger one. Since the new one worked, I kept using it. You would have had similar results if you used fireballs or rocks or just dropped a tree on them."

"Your non-lethal methods must be affecting my judgement. I had not considered more lethal means."

"Well, if it's a choice between 'them' or 'me' I always choose 'me'. But if I don't have to choose, I won't."

"I cannot fault your reasoning.

"Now, it is time to send you out to procure another Element."

Nightmare Moon's spell sent me flying across the country yet again, on a date with another pony. Only two left to choose from.

Act 5, Chapter 7 - Laughter

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That last one sucked, I didn’t mean to hurt Rainbow Dash like that. Let’s hope I don’t have to fight this one.

I appeared in a large, grassy field. Tall, chest-high grass grew for what felt like miles around. There were a couple of short trees here and there, their far-reaching branches spread wide to shade the ground below. Far off in the distance I could see a tree line, and a snowy-topped mountain behind them. The sky was light blue, without a cloud in sight. A light breeze blew by, pleasantly warm yet unseasonably so. I could smell nothing but fresh grass and dirt. The bright green grass waved in the wind, making the field look like an undulating green sea.

I can't be in North America anymore. Nothing could be this green and this warm at this time of year.

But without my phone, which is back at the Moon Palace, I have no way of getting a GPS lock.

I guess it doesn't matter, I just have to find the Bearer and get her Element. Then I can go home.

So, which Bearer is here?

I slowly rotated in place, and looked everywhere I could see for anything that was out of place.

The remaining Bearers are pink and purple, since Fluttershy wasn't with Celestia in the clearing. Their coats should stand out like a sore thumb in this green grass.

And...nothing. Nothing but grass and trees. Where could she be?

As if on cue, a goofy pink mane popped out of the grass some hundred or so feet away.

"Hey, Mister Cat-Man! Looking for me? Betcha can't catch me!"

Just as suddenly, the pink pony disappeared back into the grass.

I'll take that bet, Pinkie. Never challenge a predator to the Hunt.

Of course, her Pinkie Sense must have told her that I won't hurt her, so there's no danger in playing Hide and Seek with me.

Time to deploy my Shadowcats.

I summoned Kusac, Bastet and Isis from whatever place they hide in. As soon as they appeared, the felines looked around and sniffed the air delicately. All three cats were in their Shadowbolt forms.

"Okay kids, take off the uniforms but stay big. It's time to hunt."

In a flash, all three cats appeared in their large feline forms.

"Hunt down the pony in this field. But when you find her, it's play time. No claws and no biting, but you can pounce her. Got it?"

I was answered with a chorus of "Yes, Master!"

"Good."

I teleported my armor off and stuck it in my hammerspace, then crouched down low in the grass next to my feline companions.

"Let's hunt her down.”

The cats streaked off into the tall grass, and I followed close after. I had a moment's worry of being attacked by a Pokemon in the tall grass, but I pushed the thought off to the side. For I was HUNTING. I stalked over to where I saw Pinkie last, and quickly got a faint whiff of candy. One sniff of the air, then another. Suddenly, my senses locked on to the sugary scent. My world narrowed down, filled only with stalks of grass and the tantalizing scent of sugar and pony. I slipped quietly through the grassy field as I followed Pinkie’s scent. My fingertips gently parted the grass fronds as I passed through them, and my feet were just as silent as they padded through the soft dirt.

Soon, I found a trail in the grass. It was only made of grass fronds crushed under hooves, but it was all I needed. My pace quickened as I followed the trail in the grass. The scent of crushed grass and sweetness assaulted my senses as the trail weaved and bobbed one way, then another. The intoxicating smells and adrenaline rush from the hunt threatened to drown me, but I managed to dance on the razor edge of reason and instinct. The thrill was incredible! Sadly, it didn’t last long. Not far in front of me, I heard a cat growl followed by a giggle.

"Hehe, you found me!"

I inched forward and slipped my head through the fronds of grass into an impromptu clearing. The grass had been crushed down by rolling pony and cat into an area roughly five or six feet across. Pinkie Pie was lying on her back with a black cat lying atop her. She was playfully batting at the cat’s paws with her hooves. The sunlight glinted off a familiar golden necklace around her neck. The pink pony was squirming around on the ground and giggling as the cat playfully nipped at her. All of a sudden, Pinkie got her hind hooves under the cat. With a shove, she sent the cat (who I recognized as Kusac) flying up and out of the clearing. Kusac let out a surprised yowl as he disappeared into the tall grass. Pinkie then rolled over and got to her hooves, just in time for a chubby black cat to run out of the grass and tackle her back to the ground. Pinkie giggled as Isis tried to lick her face, then she suddenly turned her head to look at me.

"Hi, Mister Cat-Man! Your kitties are mighty big!"

"Yup, but they're still itty bitty kitties at heart."

While I spoke, Bastet had run out into the tiny clearing and pounced onto Pinkie's mane. Kusac returned to the clearing a few seconds later, and began to play with Pinkie's twitching tail. I no longer needed to sneak up on Pinkie, so I walked into the clearing and sat on my haunches.

"Here, let me show you. Kids, take your small forms and pounce!"

The three large cats flashed a bright white, then reappeared in their original, smaller forms. Bastet dove into Pinkie's mane and promptly disappeared. Isis stood on Pinkie's chest and resumed licking the pink pony’s chin. Kusac was holding on to Pinkie's tail for dear life as he and it thrashed all over the ground. Pinkie saw the smaller Isis and squealed! She grabbed the kitty and cuddled her close in her forelegs. Isis didn't like being squished, so she yowled and tried to push herself free. But the pink menace would not be denied, and she just cuddled Isis closer.

"Now now Pinkie. Let Isis breathe."

At the sound of my voice, Pinkie instantly let Isis go. The pink menace then rolled to her hooves and sat down on the grass. Isis lay on the ground on her back, eyes wide and breathing hard but otherwise unhurt. Pinkie reached out to rub a hoof on top of Isis’ head.

"Aw, I'm sorry little kitty! I didn't mean to hurt you!

"Your kitties are really fun to play with! Are they really your kids?"

"No, I just call them that. I adopted them when they were little kittens, and they're part of my family now."

"Aww, that's sweet!"

Movement in Pinkie's mane got my attention. Bastet's head and shoulders popped out of the pink curls, her ears up and her eyes wide. She looked like she had seen some serious stuff. The tortoiseshell cat had a colorful swirly lollipop stuck to the back of her head, with the paper stick pointing up into the air. Just as suddenly, Bastet ducked back down into Pinkie's mane and out of sight.

"Hee hee, that tickles!

"So, did you come from Equestria too?"

"Nope, I was born on this world. Nightmare Moon gave me this cat form and some of her power when I agreed to work for her."

"But why would you work for Black Snooty? You seem so nice!"

"Well, Nightmare Moon is a lot nicer now than she used to be. She's actually Princess Luna, Celestia's sister."

"WOW! I didn't know that!"

"Yeah. She became Nightmare Moon when her sister was mean and everyone ignored her. She had no friends."

"Aww, that's so sad! Everypony deserves friends!"

"Exactly. While I work for her, I am also her friend. And she's been getting nicer the longer I am her friend."

"That's very nice of you! But she was really mean to Princess Celestia earlier today."

"That's true, but they're sisters. Sometimes they get angry and fight. Didn't you ever get into fights with your sisters?

"Sometimes. But I never meant to."

Pinkie flopped onto her back in the grass. Unfortunately, she had laid down on her tail and Kusac was still clinging to it. He yowled and squirmed, but he couldn’t escape and Pinkie didn't seem to notice he was there. When I realized that Kusac couldn't free himself and Pinkie wouldn't help, I stood up and walked over to where Pinkie was lying down in the clearing. I lifted her body up just enough to free Kusac, who scrambled off to a safe distance. I set Pinkie back down on the grass, but left my hand resting on her side. Pinkie turned to look at me, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mister Cat-Man, why can't every pony just get along?"

"I don't know, Pinkie. I really don't."

Pinkie closed her eyes and let her head rest in the grass. Then she uttered two words.

"Nap time."

I took that moment to cast a sleep spell on her, and her body went limp. I reached under her neck and unclasped her golden necklace, then placed the Element of Laughter in my pocket dimension.

"Come on Bastet, it's time to go."

Bastet's head popped out of Pinkie's mane. She looked at me, then ducked back into the pink curled mess. She emerged a moment later with a rock candy necklace in her mouth. The tortoiseshell pranced out of Pinkie's mane with her tail in the air, a proud smile on her muzzle and a bounce in her step. Isis padded over to my side along with Kusac, who warily started at the pink menace.

"I hope we can be friends soon, Pinkie. I really do. But for now, I have a job to do."

I stood up and walked away from Pinkie, and disappeared into the tall grass. When I found my starting point, I put my armor back on. Pinkie’s words rang true for me, and after signaling to my Queen that I was done I spent the remaining time thinking.

Why CAN'T we all just get along?

I arrived back in the Washington DC park yet again. Nightmare Moon was sitting in the grass with her eyes closed, and her horn was alight in her magic. I knew that disturbing her while she meditated was a bad idea, so I looked around the park to see what had changed. To my surprise, the police cars and the SWAT trucks were gone, and so were the fallen officers. The only sign that any of them had been there were tire tracks in the grass. I looked all around, and could not see anyone save Nightmare Moon and myself. With nothing else to do, I watched for attackers and waited for my Queen to finish whatever she was doing.

I did not have long to wait. Mere minutes after I had returned to the park, I heard my name called.

“Ah, you have returned.”

“Yup. Where’d all the cars and cops go?”

“It was most unusual. I received a verbal request to retrieve the fallen guards and their metal machines. I asked for a guarantee that their request was not a cover for a sneak attack, and was given it. So I allowed their request. I watched as several large machines arrived, each one with a large red 'plus' symbol on their sides. The humans inside the machines exited and gently retrieved the fallen guards. Afterwards, larger vehicles arrived to pull the leftover machines off and away from here. It has been quiet since then.”

“Oh. I guess that’s good.”

“I surmise so. I spent the remaining time searching for Celestia's location, until you arrived. Sadly, she still eludes me.

“Were you successful?”

My answer was the Element of Laughter, held in my right hand.

“Very good. There is but one left, then we can pursue my sister to wherever she has been hiding.”

The familiar flash and feeling of teleportation washed over me. While I did not know where I was going, I knew who I would be facing as there was but one Element left. This was the strongest one, and I had a feeling getting her Element was not going to be easy.

Act 5, Chapter 8 - Magic

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It was time to face the Bearer of the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. If the My Little Pony show was correct, Twilight was incredibly smart - and much smarter than me. So this was going to be a tough fight.

I appeared inside a large room. At first glance, it appeared to be an abandoned building. The floor was made of hard-packed gravel and dirt, while loose gravel and small rocks lay on top of wide tire tracks and boot prints. Nothing moved, and the area was so quiet it creeped me out. To my right was some old machinery, surrounded by a wood frame and some large pipes. The biggest part of the machine was wedge-shaped, with the narrow part at the bottom. There was an axle sticking out of the base of the machine, with a wheel of some sort attached to it. It reminded me of a chipper or grinder, where you fed stuff in the top and blades at the bottom would grind it into small pieces. But there was nothing attached to the wheel on the axle, and there were no gears or teeth on it. Was it belt-driven? I realized it didn't matter, and more importantly I didn't care.

To my left and across from the chipper was a metal framework of some sort. The bottom level was covered with broken bricks and rocks. The space above it was filled with pipes and metal machinery for something I didn't recognize. Directly to my left was a metal staircase that wound upwards and ended somewhere above the ceiling. Farther down, I could see a lot of chippers lining the right wall and more machinery and stairs on the left. The area I stood in was really big, maybe two or three stories tall. The large space that ran down the building looked like a large hallway, and was probably big and tall enough to drive a large dump truck down the middle. The hallway stretched out for what seemed like miles and miles. The only light came from dirty skylights and broken windows, and all I could smell was dust and old grease. It was then that I realized that I was standing in an old factory.

From what I knew, a factory of this size should have been busy all the time. Especially during the day. But nothing moved, and there was no sound. No squeaks of mice, no voices of men, no rumbles of machinery. The latter looked like it hadn't been run for years, though there was no way to really tell.

Suddenly, the silence was broken apart by a single voice.

"I knew you'd come."

The voice echoed around the large room, and the echoes made it really hard to find its owner.

"Where are you?"

"Over here."

From behind the large pile of bricks on my left, a purple unicorn slowly walked into view. She was wearing her Element tiara as expected, but I didn't see a second necklace around her neck. Celestia probably figured Twilight didn't need the extra protection. The mare kept walking out into the open until she was in the middle of the hallway, then she turned to face me.

"Princess Celestia told me that someone would follow me here, though I admit I didn't expect you so soon."

"Well, what can I say? Nightmare Moon knows all your mentor's tricks."

"I seriously doubt that. But it doesn't matter. You are here, and I am prepared."

"Prepared? For what?"

"A magic duel, of course!"

Uh oh. I can't beat Twilight in her own element. I'll have to think of something.

"What, do you mean coming up with magic tricks that the other can't do? Like turning a frog into an orange?"

"Exactly! I'm glad to see you're showing some sense."

"Nah, I can't do any of that stuff. I was thinking of attacking each other with magic until one of us gives up."

"That doesn't sound very challenging."

I tossed a small magical bolt of force at Twilight's hooves. The bolt hit the ground and showered a bit of dirt over her forelegs.

"I like it. Ready GO!"

As fast as I could, I threw magic bolts at Twilight. The magical mare yelped in surprise, yet still remembered to pop up her lavender shield. My blasts splashed ineffectively against her magic, though the occasional blast bounced off and shot out in a different direction. There wasn't a lot of energy in the magic, but all they had to do was keep Twilight busy so she couldn't think. I wanted to keep Twilight under pressure, so I kept up the barrage as I walked towards her. In case the mare decided to blind-fire something at me, I angled my walk off to my right. I was hoping to overload Twilight and make her run, and run she did. She made a break for a set of stairs some fifty feet or so behind her, and I ran to keep up.

I kept throwing magic at her to keep her distracted. Granted, most of those blasts missed; but they did the job. Twilight galloped up the staircase, and I switched my magic to paralyzing bolts of lightning. I knew I didn't need to hit her directly, as long as she was on the stairs; the electricity would conduct through the metal and zap her through her hooves. So I pummeled the metal staircase and waited for her screams. Electricity arched all over the metal, but Twilight kept running. I swear I hit her directly once or twice, but there was no effect.

Must be protected against lightning, just like Celestia. Damn.

My feet weren't protected like that, and the staircase was too narrow to use wings, so I had to wait until the magic subsided before I could chase Twilight. By then, the mare had ascended the staircase to the upper floor and disappeared. I had to run up the three flights of stairs and hope that Twilight didn't use the same lightning trick on me. I sweated each step I took, worried that the next one would electrocute me and send me tumbling down the stairs. But that never happened. I reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the adjoining walkway, yet there was no attack from Twilight.

In front of me was a large room. I could see raised wooden platforms on the walls to my left and right, both piled high with neatly stacked bricks. The bricks themselves looked like they were once colored white, but had discolored yellow and brown with age. In between the platforms, the factory floor itself sat very low; maybe twelve or fourteen feet below the walkway I was standing on. The floor was littered with broken bricks and discarded tools. Farther down the factory floor was a concrete staircase that led to a small platform. Above that platform was a much larger one, and this one was piled high with stacks of bricks and machinery. Some of the machines were blackened by soot, so I guessed that this was where the factory had made bricks and let them cool.

Well, now I know one of the things that this factory made.

An old wooden railing separated me from the large room. I looked to my left, and the walkway abruptly ended into a solid wall. To my right, a hallway stretched off into the distance. I could see broken doors and hints of open doorways all the way down the right side of the hall. The opposite side of the hallway was open to the elements, as the glass in the large window frames was long gone. I guessed that the doorways led to offices or small rooms. The walls of this section of the factory were made of brick that was covered with flaking plaster and paint. The floor was covered in dirt, leaves and dust but I couldn't see any hoof prints. Twilight could have run just about anywhere.

Fortunately for me, I could sense the Equestrian magic of the Elements. I couldn't tell exactly where Twilight and her Element was, but I could at least get a direction. Triggering this magic was easy; I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let my magical senses stretch out. I was facing down the hallway, with the large room on my left and the metal staircase to my right. The magic tingled in my head for a moment, then indicated just off to my right. A second signal was downstairs, which I presumed was the teleportation node.

So Twilight's hiding in the offices. Time to hunt down a purple pedantic pony.

A few steps past the stairwell on my right was an open doorway. The brick-making room was still open to my left. The door to the office was missing, though some old wood was still stuck to the rusty hinges. Inside, the tiny room was a mess. If I had to guess, I would say that the tiny room was maybe eight feet wide and twelve or so feet long. The concrete floor was nearly filled with trash and debris. Piles of rock and broken wood lined the walls, and the only window was in the same wall as the doorway. To my left was a pile of metal and plaster, heaped upon a broken desk. Most of the left wall separating this office from the next had collapsed, which essentially combined the rooms. However, a small part of the wall near the door was still intact. There was barely enough space left on the floor to walk across, but just enough. The only light came from the doorway and window behind me. I carefully entered the office, my magical and feline senses on alert. My hands glowed with magic, ready to defend myself in an instant. I slowly made my way around the broken desk, then peered into the office next door.

MAGIC ALERT!

The alarm went off in my head, and I snapped up my shield just before a lavender bolt of force hit it! I resisted the urge to duck and hide, as I was sure that Twilight wouldn't resort to deadly force. Instead, I stood my ground. The lavender bolts increased in intensity until they cascaded all over my shield and the debris all around me. Still, I did not flinch. I took a play from Nightmare Moon's playbook: my only response was to cross my arms and look impatient. This was supposed to show Twilight that I was stronger, and that nothing she did could hurt me. But Twilight did not surrender, instead she increased her attacks. My shield was handling her assault easily, so I focused on finding their creator.

Fortunately for me, Twilight's aim was bad. If she had better aim, she could have placed her shots right at my eye level and left me blind. Instead, I could easily look into the room she was hiding in; it was no worse than driving through a rainstorm. It took little effort to see that her magic was coming from behind yet another broken desk. The desk looked strong, like it was made of solid wood that wouldn't break easily. My guess was proven true as her impromptu shelter absorbed everything I threw at it. I couldn't even set it on fire, though it smoked slightly.

This battle could go on forever at this rate. Neither of us are hurting the other. And Twilight is smarter than me, so she'll eventually figure out how to beat me. I can keep her distracted, but that won't work forever. So I'm going to have to cheat somehow.

I don't want to bring out my Shadowcats, they don't have my shields and might get shot by accident. So I'm on my own.

I should flush Twilight out and keep her on the run. Maybe an opportunity will present itself.

I couldn't see her lavender shield, so I guessed Twilight had forgotten to protect herself. My theory was easy to test; I adjusted my aim from the mare and the desk, to the plaster and brick of the ceiling above her. After a few blasts, a large amount of debris and dust rained down upon Twilight's hiding place. Her attacks stopped and she screamed in fear! Suddenly, a lavender blast shot out and destroyed the closed office door behind her. Twilight then bolted from her hiding place and ran out the door. She immediately turned left, and I knew I had a chance to cut her off. I let my shield drop, then ran back into the other office and made for its open door. As I expected, Twilight ran past my door and that's when I acted. I blasted through my doorway, ducked low and plowed into Twilight's side. My momentum carried us into the railing, and Twilight's body smashed the old wood into splinters. Her eyes went wide as she fell over the edge.

I would have gone over the railing with her, if my foot hadn't slipped on something. Instead, I fell belly first onto the hallway floor with most of my chest hanging over the edge. I watched Twilight fall sideways in slow-motion, like all those movies when someone falls off a steep cliff. She stared at me as she fell, though I did not hear her scream. I watched her shield flicker on and off as she plummeted towards the ground.

She's not drained, why would her--

THAT'S IT!!

I quickly cast the 'Mana Transfer' spell, and planted a transmitter node inside of Twilight. A moment later, her shield snapped up! Her protection let her bounce off the floor like a rubber ball, and even included the cartoony 'boing' sound. The mare did a flip in midair, then landed neatly on her hooves. Twilight looked up at me, then gave me a really dirty look.

"That was uncalled for!"

"All's fair in love and war, Twilight."

I gave the transmitter node a magical 'tug', and hoped that it would work through Twilight's shield.

It did.

I was rewarded with an infusion of pure, magical energy. It felt like I had taken a dozen caffeine shots, all at once! The rush was so intense, I almost missed Twilight's gasp of pain. I knew then that I would win the battle. My ego, inflated by the extra energy, demanded that I win in a strong show of force. I stood up and unfurled my magical wings, then casually stepped off the walkway. My wings let me float gently down to the factory floor, and I stared at Twilight with my arms opened wide. Twilight looked really intimidated, as was my intent, and she backed up as far as she could. When her rump bumped up against a wall, her eyes opened really wide. A few moments later, she stomped her hooves firmly on the ground and gave me her best 'war face'. Her fierce expression was so adorably cute on a pastel-colored pony.

I stood there on the factory floor, wings raised in a show of power, and simply stared at Twilight for a few seconds. Then I gave her transmitter node another strong 'tug'. The rush was delicious! I felt my wings glow brighter due to the influx of magic. I was so strong! I must have been drunk on power or something, for I had the overwhelming urge to show off to Twilight. Bricks levitated up from both sides of the room, and began to pelt Twilight's shield. I heard her grunt under the onslaught, but still her shield held. Eventually, I buried her in a pile of crushed bricks. With a swipe of my hands, I swept the crumbled brick away from Twilight and exposed her to the world again. Another hard 'tug', and I saw her shield ripple in response.

"How-how are you doing this?!!"

"I thought the answer was obvious, Twilight. Magic!"

"But there's no magic that can do this.

"Wait! The 'Mana Transfer' spell!"

SHIT! She figured it out! Smart girl.

Better drain her dry while I can!

I 'pulled' as hard as I could, and magic from Twilight's wellspring poured into me like water from a fire hose. Twilight screamed as her magic was ripped from her body! My wings and hands began to glow white as my wellspring took in more magic than it could handle. Under this magical onslaught, Twilight's shield flickered and died. Inside me, I felt the magical drain 'gurgle'; this meant that the mare was nearly drained of magic. At the same time, Twilight wobbled dizzily on her hooves. I cut off the drain just as the mare's eyes rolled up into her head. Then she bonelessly collapsed to the floor.

I could see Twilight breathing, but she didn't move.

Looks like I overdid it. Did she pass out? Or is she faking it?

Only one way to find out.

I slowly padded over to where Twilight was lying on the floor. She was still breathing, slowly and evenly, like she was deep asleep. I waited a little longer, to see if she would react to my presence. When she did not, I knelt down next to her and reached for her Element tiara. Suddenly, the lavender mare snapped her head up and blasted me with her magic! Twilight gasped in pain as the magic left her horn; it must have taken the last of her reserves.

The beam passed through me, then my form flickered and faded away.

"What?!"

I dropped my invisibility illusion, and reappeared on the other side of Twilight's body. I knelt down next to the mare and deftly plucked her Element tiara from her head.

"Good job, Twilight! How very sneaky of you, you'll make a good battle mage yet. But did you really think I'd be stupid enough to step in front of you?"

One sleep spell later, and the lavender mare began to gently snore. I sat there for several moments, just watching Twilight sleep. She was cute, in a bookworm sort of way. I imagined the two of us sitting in the Golden Oaks Library, sitting back-to-back and each reading our own books. Another daydream took over, of Twilight lecturing me on the finer points of Unicorn magic. I shook my head to clear those thoughts, they were unlikely to ever happen. And fantasizing about a sleeping mare who was technically an enemy was kind of creepy, too.

I didn't want to be cruel to Twilight, but it occurred to me that I already had. I had painfully drained her magic away and left her hurting and unprotected. Well, I could try to make up for both of them. I changed her transmitter 'node' into a receptor, and pushed the magic I had taken from her back into her body. As I sent magic back into Twilight, my wings faded from bright white and back to their normal crimson. Once I had returned the magic I had stolen from Twilight, I removed the magical node I had placed inside of her. Finally, I cast an illusion spell on the floor around her body. The illusion would cover her and keep her hidden until she woke up, but still allowed her to leave any time she wanted to. Her only risk was someone wandering into the abandoned factory and tripping over her. As we hadn’t seen nor heard anyone else, I deemed that to be Not Very Likely.

I placed her Element tiara in my pocket dimension, then stood up. It only took a few seconds to fly back up to the landing, then walk down the stairs and return to where I first appeared in the factory. I signaled to Nightmare Moon that I was ready to return, and waited for the spell to take me back to her.

Once again, I returned to the park in Washington DC. But this time, the scene was vastly different. On the grass between the road and the waterline were three wrecked military Humvees. One was near the water to my right, and it was on fire with black smoke curling up into the air. Several patches of grass nearby were smoking but not burning. The second was behind Nightmare Moon, and the back of the vehicle was encased in ice. The third was lying on its side on the other side of the small road, with a large dent in its side. A rock nearly as big as the Humvee was lying nearby. I did not see any bodies on the ground, military or otherwise. I hoped there weren't any dead ones inside the vehicles.

"What happened?"

"Not long after I dispatched you, six of these armored chariots arrived and attacked me. As per your advice, I took to the air and returned fire. In one case, literally. As you can see, I was successful in defeating three of the metal monstrosities. After the third one fell, their commander called for a retreat. The soldiers from the downed chariots boarded the undamaged ones, and they returned from whence they came.

"They have not returned since."

"Nice job."

"My thanks. Your advice proved to be crucial in their defeat. I was able to dodge their incoming fire with ease, and concentrated my fire on one chariot at a time. I am at a loss as to why I did not think of this technique before."

"Probably because it involves dodging first and foremost, while your usual way is to attack head-on."

"You are likely correct. It is rare for me to face an opponent that poses a credible threat."

"So, what's next? I have the Element of Magic here."

I retrieved Twilight's tiara from my pocket dimension, and showed it to Nightmare Moon.

"Excellent! This makes five Elements in our possession. We are only missing one."

"Correct, but the sixth Bearer wasn't here with the rest. I sent her floating off on a cloud earlier today."

"Unfortunate. Perhaps the Element Bearer is now with Celestia?"

"Maybe. Do you have an idea where she is?"

"I do not. My sister has covered her tracks well. However, if she recalls the Element Bearers to her location I can track her through the same nodes that I used to send you to the Bearers' locations."

"Ah. So, that means we have to wait?"

"Correct."

"Any idea how long?"

"Nay. If we must wait any longer than nightfall, I recommend we find someplace safe to spend the night."

"Sure. In the meantime, I'm going to take a nap and recharge. That last battle took a lot out of me."

"As you wish."

The sun was not far past its apex, so I guessed it was around 1 or 2 pm when I laid down in the grass. It only felt like a second had passed before I was nudged awake by a hoof.

"My sister has made her move! It is time to depart."

The sun had dropped farther from the sky since I had closed my eyes. It was now closer to the horizon than its apex, so I estimated it was around 4 pm or so. I clambered up off the ground, then stood next to my dark Queen.

"Ready. Are we flying or teleporting?"

"Teleporting, using the teleportation nodes. I was able to detect another node, and the Bearers were being teleported to its location."

"Let's go!"

The world around me winked out as Nightmare Moon and I were teleported away.

Author's Notes:

I used these two photos as reference when describing the abandoned factory. The first is where 'Nightmare Claw' first arrived into the factory.

https://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-old-creepy-dark-decaying-destructive-dirty-factory-160678031.jpg

This next one was the inspiration for the hallway where Twilight went to hide. The original seems to be gone from Getty Images, so hopefully this cached image still works:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRZi1mZ78MbhohS1EUJyH3-aGtGpuq-RJxkSCnxobbskEEIJQ4UaQ&s

This last one is where Twilight and Nightmare Claw had their final fight.

https://st2.depositphotos.com/1934071/5788/i/950/depositphotos_57880173-stock-photo-old-abandoned-factory.jpg

I make no claim of ownership on either of these, I just used them as a guideline when describing the scenes.

Act 5, Chapter 9 - Kindness

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I had stolen five of the six Elements of Harmony. Nightmare Moon had found where Celestia was hiding, and had teleported the two of us to her location. We were so close to winning, I could taste it!

We appeared high in the air over a city, above a large building that looked like a convention center. I began to fall, but I remembered my lesson from hunting Rainbow Dash; instead of panicking, I quickly summoned my wings and kept myself from falling. My safety secured, I took some time to look around. To my left was a stadium of some sort. It reminded me of the photos I'd seen of Wrigley Field in my youth, but this clearly wasn't Chicago. However, the brick work of the stadium and the nearby buildings told me we weren't in earthquake country either. To my right were tall skyscrapers, and beyond them I could see water. In front of me were more skyscrapers and other buildings. The design of the buildings and the plentiful green foliage suggested that we were still on the East Coast of the United States. But exactly where, I couldnÕt tell. The sky was a light blue with clouds peppered all around, a typical partly cloudy day. The air felt cool yet pleasant for a spring afternoon. Some vehicle noises drifted up to my ears, but we were too high up to make out much of anything. My sightseeing was cut short by a jubilant cry from Nightmare Moon.

"I have her! Follow me, quickly!"

The ebony mare bolted off to the north, and I was hard-pressed to follow. The smell of fresh water faded as we left the waterfront behind, replaced by the faint stink of pollution. We flew over a building with a strange white roof, several blocks of long yet narrow brick buildings, and soared over an unusual structure with some unique architecture. I remember it had a white oval roof with a brown 'swoop' of some sort on one side. Our flight then took us over a park and a freeway interchange, before the Night Mare came to a sudden stop in mid-air. I had to make a quick jink to the right to avoid colliding with her. After some panicked maneuvering, I came to a hover next to the mare.

"I have sensed something strange. My sister is clearly nearby, but I sense a faint amount of Equestrian magic off to the east."

"Could Celestia have split the Bearers up in two different places?"

"Perhaps, but it is not Equestrian life that I sense. It is magical in nature, a power source of some sort."

"Hmm. Could it be the last Element of Harmony?"

"Mayhaps. Go investigate, and capture the power source if at all possible. I shall scout out my sister's hiding place in the meantime."

"And if this isn’t an Element of Harmony?"

"Then we shall keep searching. We shall only confront my sister once we have all six Elements."

"Alright. Let me try and find this weak signal."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to focus my thoughts. After a moment, I let the breath out slowly then opened up my magical senses. They immediately responded with a strong signal to the north. That had to be Celestia. But it was kinda blurry and fuzzy like something was trying to hide it. I also felt a ping from the direction we just came from, so I presumed that was the teleportation node. But that was it. I kept widening my search until I felt a tiny 'ping' to the northeast. Its location memorized, I relaxed and opened my eyes.

"Got it. It's that way?"

I pointed to the northeast, in the direction of the weak signal.

"That is correct. Do not fail me."

"When have I ever?"

Nightmare Moon arched an ebony eyebrow at my statement.

"Okay, don't answer that. Good luck hunting Celestia, her signal was strong but muddy."

"I shall find her, do not fear."

"Okay. Back soon!"

With that, I took off towards that faint signal in the northeast. The signal had disappeared when I stopped concentrating on it, but I was sure I would pick it up again when I got closer. The wind whipped past my ears in a pleasant and familiar way as I flew. I passed over too many brick buildings and parks to count, but the buildings thinned out and the parks grew once I hit the suburbs. The smell of the city also faded away, to be replaced by the scent of trees and freshly cut grass. Parks and trees wound around subdivisions, and the freeway cloverleafs began to space out as I left the hustle and bustle of the city behind. I was mildly amused to see that my flight was roughly parallel to a large ten-lane freeway. Many miles and large malls passed by before I sensed that 'ping' again. The signal from the Equestrian magical artifact began to angle off to my right, so I veered away from the freeway and made my way directly towards the signal's location. The freeway made a similar twist to the right not long afterwards.

I passed over a subdivision with a river winding around the houses, then a church and yet another large park. A minute later, I had found the location. The Equestrian magic was inside a large white building next to a four-lane divided road. The business next door looked like a used-car lot, as there were a dozen or more cars parked on the grass next to the road. I never liked Nightmare Moon’s method of just barging in and taking things, so I made myself invisible and landed in the parking lot next to the white building. A banner on the outside read 'Luna's House, Animal Care and Education Center'.

'Luna's House', how appropriate.

I shifted my illusion to appear in my old human form. I don’t know why I kept using my original human shape, I should have appeared as someone else entirely. But it felt right to be 'me' each time. When I reached the front door, I reached out to its handle and pulled it open; then walked inside the building. The room was about what I expected. There were lots of murals of cute dogs and cats on the walls, with stacks of pet food and animal carriers for sale. There was a long table with a cash register on it, and a set of double doors to the right of the table that had to lead deeper into the building. To my surprise, no one was at the cash register. I saw a bell next to the register that I could ring to get help, but I didn’t want to announce my presence just yet. So instead, I walked through the double doors and into the back of the animal shelter.

I expected to walk into a room, but what I actually entered was a hallway. To my left, the hallway quickly ended and looked like it opened into a large room. Plastic animal carriers were stacked against both sides of the hallway. The other side of the hallway stretched to the right, and ended in a doorway that looked like it led outside. I did not want to go back outside, so I turned left. The room at the end of the hallway was large and roomy. Metal tables lined the walls to my left and in front. The tables had a mix of small and large animal carriers on top of them, and a few had large dog carriers beneath them. Most of the carriers were open, so I presumed that they were empty. A couple of the larger carriers had dogs sitting quietly inside of them. As one would expect, the area smelled a bit funky. I took a couple of sniffs, and could smell dog, cat and sweaty humans. I expected no less from an animal shelter that catered to cats and dogs. No unusual smells, however. And there were no humans nearby, though I could hear voices down a hallway further inside the building.

I strolled farther back into the facility, and followed the voices to the back of the building. Eventually, I found five or six people clustered around a double doorway. They were holding the doors open so they could look inside. Their energy was high, and their excitement was a bit contagious. I could hear them whisper things like "Isn't she amazing?" and "I've never seen animals so calm before." The magic was much stronger back here, and it definitely felt like the energy of an Element of Harmony.

I needed a private audience with the Bearer, so I cast a 'Nothing to See Here' spell in the general area. Everyone in front of the door suddenly stood up straight. They began to mumble amongst themselves as they walked past me, and presumably went back to work. As no one was holding the double doors open anymore, they swung shut on their own. I turned to watch the people leave, to make sure I wouldnÕt be disturbed. When the last one disappeared around a corner, I turned back around and pulled one of the double doors open.

Inside was a large playroom. The walls were painted in outdoor motifs, things like trees and bushes and stuff. There were a number of animal beds and carpeted raised platforms in the room, and dog and cat toys lay on the floor. But that wasn’t the interesting part. All of the animals in the room were sitting down in a half-circle around the sole human in the room, who was also sitting on the ground. All the animals were staring at her in rapt attention. Most of the animals were dogs and cats, who were sitting next to each other without fighting. But there were some squirrels and birds too. There were a few birds perched on top of the larger dogs’ heads, but most were sitting in front of the young woman.

The woman’s back was to me, so I couldn’t see her face. But from what I could see, she looked to be thin and somewhat frail. She spoke to the animals in a quiet, yet graceful voice. Her hair was bright pink, and she wore a white tank top with a pale yellow skirt. But the big giveaway was the large gold necklace she wore around her neck. I knew then that I had found my target, but I also knew that I'd have to be very delicate with her. I didn’t want to scare her, after all. So I slowly walked up behind the woman, then gently sat down to her left and crossed my legs. All of the animals turned to look at me, which got the woman’s attention.

"Oh, hello there."

"Hi, Fluttershy."

The delicate woman stiffened a bit at my words, but she tried to hide it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. But that's not my name."

"Unnaturally pink hair, a yellow dress and the ability to speak to animals? Yeah, you're Fluttershy."

"Oh.

"How...how did you find me?"

I felt the need to lie for some reason, but still wanted to give her a hint as to my identity at the same time. A large white rabbit plush in the corner gave me an idea.

"I tracked down the Angel bunny plush I gave you this morning."

"Oh.

"Oh, dear. It's you."

"Yup, it's me. But don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't do so this morning, and I won't do so now."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Well, your animal friends will protect you. Right?"

"Um, yes. They always do."

"Well, take a look. They all look calm and relaxed.

"Well no. They look like they're watching me, just in case I do something stupid. But they’re only watching, no growling or hissing.”

"I guess that's true."

The two of us sat there in silence for a minute or two. The animals began to relax a bit, and a Golden Retriever decided to lay down on the ground. A corgi wandered off, grabbed a rope toy then began to chew on it. The serenity of the moment was simply wonderful. But I guess Fluttershy was not comfortable with me sitting there next to her.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude. But is there something you want?"

"Yeah. Actually, I wish that we'd met under different circumstances. I'd really like to be your friend.

"Instead, I have to get your Element from you."

"Oh. Princess Celestia said that you took every pony else's Elements from them."

"Yup. Nightmare Moon wants to use them against Celestia."

Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Oh, no! Is she going to banish the Princess to the Moon?"

"Maybe. If the Elements work for her.

"The thing is, I'm worried about Nightmare Moon."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She’s actually Celestia's younger sister Luna. And Luna's just really angry at her sister. I don't think she really wants to hurt anyone."

“Oh my. She’s really scary."

"Yeah, she can be REALLY scary when she wants to be. But she wasn't mean when we first met, and she's been getting nicer all the time. I think she just needed a friend."

"Friends are nice."

"They are. And that's one of the reasons I stay with her. I'm worried that if I leave, she'll turn evil again."

"Oh, dear. That's not good."

"Nope. See, right now they're just two sisters fighting. You know, siblings don't always get along."

"I guess that's true. I don't always agree with my brother."

"Zephyr Breeze, right? I hear he can be a real jerk sometimes."

Fluttershy giggled lightly, like the tinkling of bells.

"Maybe a little."

"But alicorns are super powerful and super strong, so they have super fights. They just need to get it out of their system."

"I guess so."

"I figure that Luna just wants to make her sister suffer for a while, get back at her for sending her to the Moon. Then she'll just make you all go back to Equestria, and she'll go back to normal.

"But, if she does try to go evil I'm the only one that can stop her. You girls don't know her, you'll miss the signs until it's too late."

"I don't think we're that bad..."

I gave Fluttershy a pointed look, and she shrank back slightly.

"All she has to do is take one of you out, and the Elements are useless."

"Oh no!"

"It could be any of you. Maybe Rarity...or Pinkie Pie."

"No..."

"Or even Rainbow Dash."

"No! Oh, please, not her!"

Fluttershy reached over and grabbed my shirt sleeve in her fists.

"Please! Can you help us?"

All too easy. But it helps that I'm also telling the truth.

"I want to. And I will.

"But I need your Element. I need them all to activate them."

Fluttershy quickly reached behind her neck and unclasped the Element of Kindness. She offered her Element to me, her hand shaking in fear.

So trusting. And the irony is, I want to be worthy of that trust.

I reached out and gently took the Element from her outstretched hand. Then I gave the timid woman my best smile.

"Thank you. I'll do my best to protect you all."

"T-thank you."

"I guess we should get going soon. The battle can't happen without us, after all.

"But..."

I lifted up my right arm in a familiar gesture, one meant to invite someone for a hug. Fluttershy's eyes lit up, and she scooted over to settle in under my arm. I then brought my arm down to rest on her shoulders in a comforting hug.

"...there's no big rush. They can wait for us for a little longer."

The two of us sighed together as we enjoyed our shared intimacy.

Act 5, Chapter 10 - The End of an Era

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This was it. I had all six Elements of Harmony, and Nightmare Moon knew where Celestia was hiding. It was time to finish this war, once and for all.

I just hoped I had the strength to do what needed to be done.

Nightmare Moon and I stood across the street from a run-down building. It looked like it used to be an old theater, the kind that showed plays instead of movies. There was a small ticket booth out front, with double-doors on either side that were closed and presumably locked. While there was no sign stating the name of the playhouse, old papers clung to the building's walls that advertised long-gone productions. Mixed amongst the old playbills and brickwork was cheap and shitty graffiti, sloppily spray-painted on the concrete walls. I had nothing against artistic graffiti, that stuff was cool to look at and took real talent to create. This was just idiots scrawling their names all over the wall, kinda like dogs that piss on the same tree to cover up some other dogs' piss. I had no respect for that. The four-lane street in front was surprisingly empty, despite the late afternoon hour. I had seen traffic packed on the freeways on my way to this location, so I was quite surprised to find the street to be quiet.

"Are you sure this is the place? It’s pretty far from the teleportation node.”

"Most certainly. I can sense my sister's magic inside the building. And by how much that magic is fluctuating, she is aware of our presence and is preparing for battle."

"Which means we're going to just strut in through the front door and meet her head-on."

"Thou dost show the capability for learning! Most excellent!"

"Smartass."

My response was a wide, toothy grin.

"How do you know that this isn't just an elaborate trap waiting for us when we waltz in the front door?"

"Unlikely. Celestia could potentially fake the magical signature of another pony, but not her own. I do not know why she is at this specific location, nor how many ponies may also be in the building, but Celestia is most definitely inside."

"Well then. This is your area of expertise, so I will defer to you."

"At last."

The Moon Mistress strode off of the sidewalk, and into the empty street. As always, I followed after her. I was thankful for the cooler spring weather, for the blacktop would likely have burned my feet during the summer months. Out of nowhere, I heard the blare of a car horn! I snapped my head to my left, and saw a clean silver luxury car bearing down upon us! The Moon Mistress slowly turned her head towards the sound, then casually lifted a wing towards the speeding vehicle as she looked away.

The luxury car smashed headlong into an invisible barrier, mere inches from the ebony mare! Its front-end crumpled under the impact, spewing radiator fluid across the barrier and on to the ground. The rear of the vehicle lifted off the ground upon impact, then slammed back down to the pavement. I saw the airbags inside the car had deployed, their white fabric stood out starkly against the tinted windows. During all this, Nightmare Moon had not stopped her stroll across the street. Nor had she acknowledged the imminent threat, beyond gesturing with her wing. Just as she crossed the double-yellow line in the middle of the roadway, the fluid spread across the invisible barrier suddenly dropped to the ground. The hiss of steam as it curled up from the destroyed engine was the only sound around.

I stared at the car as I walked past it, and wondered if I should check on the driver. I needn't have worried. The driver's door opened suddenly, and a man in a light gray business suit got out. He looked to be in his late 40's, with a balding head and heavy jowls and wrinkled skin. The man took on an aggressive stance and began to shout at Nightmare Moon.

"Hey, you! Yeah you, you black bitch! Oh yeah, you may not be human but I know you're a whiny little bitch!"

The Night Mare stopped in her tracks, but did not turn to look at the very entitled man.

"Yeah, you better stop and listen to me! Look what you did to my car! I don't know how you did it, but I know this is all your fault! You're going to pay - URK!"

Nightmare Moon had lit her horn, and lifted the unruly man up off of the ground by his neck. His hands grasped at the magical noose in vain while he gasped for air. His struggles became frantic, and his face slowly turned a deep shade of purple. All of a sudden, his expensive pants grew a large wet stain in the crotch area. By the location and the rank smell, the man had wet himself. He let out one last rattled gasp, then went limp. The dark mare's magic lowered his body down to the ground, then released him.

All the while, Nightmare Moon had not once turned around to face her attacker. Suddenly, she spoke.

"Do not worry. In deference to your sensibilities, he is merely unconscious."

The Moon Mare resumed her slow walk across the street. I was not sure how to react, so I moved quickly to catch up to her to walk by her side.

"Leaving him and his car out there is going to attract attention to us.”

"I care not. My victory over my sister is at hand! We shall then complete our conquest of this land, and shall no longer have to worry over minor inconveniences such as this."

While Nightmare Moon was speaking, the two of us had crossed the street. We were then standing in front of the double doors on the right side of the ticket booth. The ebony mare looked down at the door handles and pulled at one with her magic. When the door did not budge, she cast a spell to unlock it. A second tug on the handle, and this time the door opened. She swung it open wide, then gestured to me with a wing; a suggestion to enter the building before her. So I did.

Past the door was a narrow lobby, maybe fifteen or so feet deep but stretched far to my left and right. As soon as I walked inside, the lights clicked on to illuminate the area. In front of me was another set of closed double doors, which I presumed led into the theater itself. Just off to my left was a concession stand, though it was obviously empty of candies and sweets as the theater was no longer being used. Past the concession stand was another set of double doors. Nightmare Moon walked up to my right side, and paused to look around. In the meantime, I heard the outer door close and latch behind us. I glanced to my left, then to my right, and saw no one and no pony else. Strangely enough, the dark red carpet looked clean and the concession stand was not dirty or dusty. All I could smell was cleaning chemicals. Strange. I turned to my Queen and reported my findings.

"Nothing, they must be in the theater itself. Shall we?"

The mare gave a quick nod, then strode toward the double doors in front of us. These doors were not locked, so they opened easily by hand and magic. We strode side-by-side into the main theater itself.

We had entered on the right side of the theater. The large room was brightly lit, including the lights on stage. The seats stretched out before us and to our left, while the aisle sloped downwards slightly down to the wooden stage. The seats had a metal backing painted black, and the arm rests were made of wood. The front of the seats were covered in some sort of red velvet fabric. The seats were the typical folding-style, and while they looked worn and well-used they were not stained or torn. The aisle was covered in a short-pile charcoal carpet, one that looked more like a rug than a carpet. The carpet had been kept clean, as I could see wheel marks on the carpet that usually came from a vacuum cleaner. The space under the seats looked to be a blue swirled marble, though it was more likely to be painted concrete. The walls were covered in black fuzzy carpet, which I imagined would be an excellent sound absorber. The stage itself was trimmed with a red, shiny curtain, both sides tied back with a golden rope. The same type of curtain covered the back of the stage.

As we walked down the aisle towards the stage, I looked around for hidden threats. No matter where I looked, I saw no one and nothing out of the ordinary. Unless you considered the bright lighting and freshly cleaned surfaces in an allegedly abandoned theater to be suspicious, which I did. The theater looked like it was open for business and would be hosting a new production any day now. About halfway between the doors and the stage, Nightmare Moon came to a halt and announced herself in the Royal Equestrian Voice.

"COME OUT, DEAR SISTER! I KNOW THOU ART HERE!"

Celestia immediately walked out from the left wing of the stage, the one closest to us. She then sat down on the stage facing us.

"No need to shout, Luna. I am here."

"You knowest that I have not used that name since I took this form. Why dost thou insist on using it?"

"Because you will always be my dear sister, no matter what form you take."

Nightmare Moon scoffed at her sister's sentimental words.

"And where was this sentimentality when I was ignored by YOUR ponies? Where was this concern when I complained to you, and you dismissed my complaints as the whining of a baby sister who wanted attention?"

Celestia sighed and looked down at her hooves.

"I have had a thousand years to go over my mistakes with you, and there are none I regret more than ignoring your needs. I was young and stupid and caught up in my own self-importance. All the praise from our little ponies went to my head."

"Praise that equally belonged to ME! I protected them from the nightmare fiends in their dreams! I protected them from the star beasts that roamed the forests at night! I risked my life every night to keep them safe! But all they could ever see was YOU!"

"I know, Luna. I should have done more to make sure our ponies saw your accomplishments."

"Too little too late, sister! You must pay for what you have done!"

Nightmare Moon turned to me.

"Bring out the Elements!"

"But you two are having your first talk in centuries. Why don't - ow!"

The Night Incarnate had smacked me hard with a wing.

"I said, BRING OUT THE ELEMENTS!"

"Okay, okay! Sheesh."

While Nighty and I fought, the Mane Six had begun to walk onto the stage from stage right. First was Twilight, then Rarity. Dash and Applejack were next, followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in pony form. Fluttershy appeared to be wearing her Element of Kindness necklace, which drew a raised eyebrow from me. Twilight sat down next to Celestia, and her friends sat down in a line to her right. As each of the mares spoke, I pulled out their respective Elements and placed them on my body. Twilight started first.

"Princess Celestia has done great things for Equestria while you were gone! You can't just throw all that away!"

I retrieved the Element of Magic and set it upon my helmet. Surprisingly, it stayed in place as if held by magnets.

"The beauty of Equestria shines upon Equus! It should not be destroyed merely because somepony feels left out! Besides, I've already designed my summer line and I would have to start over if the world was covered in eternal night."

The Element of Generosity was next, and I clipped it around the armor strap over my left shoulder.

"D'yall know what eternal night will do to my crops? My apples'll rot on the trees!"

I wrapped the Element of Honesty around the strap over my right shoulder.

"Yeah! You try to mess with my friends, and you'll get what's coming to you!"

I shuddered at the memory of Rainbow Dash about to crash into me, as I escaped with her Element. The memory didn’t stop me from wrapping the Element of Loyalty around my left forearm, though.

"Playing hide and seek with you in the grass was lots of fun! Give your kitties a hug for me, okay?"

I nodded and wrapped the Element of Laughter around my right forearm. Fluttershy simply hid behind her mane, and Celestia spoke for her.

"You do not have all of the Elements, Luna. As you can see, the Bearer of Kindness still has hers."

"Not true, sister. Your deception here has failed."

I retrieved the final Element from my pocket dimension, the Element of Kindness. My hands reached up and clasped the Element necklace around my neck. Upon seeing the six elements, Celestia frowned and looked off to Stage Right. A second Fluttershy walked on stage, but this one was not wearing an Element necklace. She walked over to her counterpart on stage, and passed right through her. The real Fluttershy sat down next to Pinkie Pie, and the illusion pony simply faded into nothingness.

"It matters not, Luna. Your soldier will not be able to activate the elements."

"He is not a mere soldier, he is my Captain and my second in command! You would do well not to underestimate him!"

Nightmare Moon looked at me expectantly, and I knew it was showtime.

Oh boy. Let's see if I can activate the Elements.

I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the Element of Generosity on my left shoulder. I reached inside of it with my magic, and felt something respond. A collective gasp came from the stage, and I knew then that I had succeeded. I opened my eyes and looked down to see that the gem in Rarity's Element was glowing. The same technique was repeated with each element in turn, and the Elements of Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter and Kindness responded to my calls. I had left the Element of Magic for last, mainly for dramatic effect. As with the others, I reached inside and made a connection. But since all the Elements were active, something changed. A burst of magic suddenly flowed into me, and filled my magical wellspring up from the inside. I felt disconnected from my body as it floated up off of the ground, and when I opened my eyes everything was glowing in white.

Another collected gasp from the ponies on stage, and I heard Celestia speak.

"How is this possible? Only the purest of heart can activate the Elements of Harmony!"

I replied to the mare, though it felt like my voice was echoing around inside my head.

"How do you know my heart isn't pure? Do you really think that I have to be evil to work with your sister? No wonder she hates you!"

Celestia had the decency to dip her head in shame.

"I..."

My words went unspoken as my sense of self was yanked away from my body, and my entire world turned white.

When I came to, I was floating in the middle of a star field. One that looked a heck of a lot like the one Twilight Sparkle appeared in when she became an alicorn.

"Aw, man. I hope this doesn't mean I'm becoming a princess."

"No, you are not."

I looked around for the voice, but saw nothing but the star field. Just then, six stars broke away from the field and zoomed down to hover in front of me. They were colored lavender, red and blue; purple, pink and orange. As the voice returned, the stars flickered in time with the words. It was a shock to realize that the Elements of Harmony were speaking to me directly.

"You have been brought here so that we may determine your fate."

"Fate? Uh, that doesn't sound good."

"Your worry is not warranted. If you had not been deemed worthy, you would not have been able to activate Us."

"Oh. Okay then."

"We have looked at your intentions and have seen that you bear these ponies no ill will. Yet you hesitate. Why?"

"I don't want to banish Celestia to the sun or the moon, or hurt her or anything like that. If I have a choice, I'd rather send her and the other ponies back to Equestria and keep them from coming back here again."

"That is within Our power. Yet We sense that there is more."

"Yeah. I'm afraid that I'll have to turn on Nightmare Moon if she goes too far. I've spent a lot of time with her, and I know she's not evil. She's just got a lot of hate towards her sister."

"We agree, the one known as Nightmare Moon is not evil. This is why We allowed her to escape Us on Equus. Yet she may yet become evil if her hatred is not contained."

"That's my fear. If I have to use you on her, I'd prefer that her hatred be removed or changed into something else. I don't want to remove her memories, because she won't learn anything if she forgets it all. I want her to learn her lessons and move past the pain."

"This is also within Our power. We also sense that you do not wish her to forget you, and the love she has for you."

I couldn’t help the blush that stole across my cheeks.

"True.

"I guess I'm being a little selfish there."

"We do not think so. While your intentions may not be entirely pure, they are pure enough to wield Our power.

Use Our power in the way We have spoken of here, and your wishes shall be respected. Misuse Us however, and We may turn Our considerable power against you."

I was whisked away from that star field by an unknown force, and my vision once again faded out to white.

The haze over my eyes cleared, and I was able to see the theater once again. I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I did not know if I could banish Celestia and her ponies away from this world forever. Especially since I really wanted to be their friend. I hesitated a moment longer, then felt a pulse of comforting magic flow through my body. Somehow, I knew it was the Elements. Their presence helped calm me down, and settled my fears. With their help, I knew I was ready.

"Celestia, ponies of Equestria. Your judgement is at hand."

Was that my voice? It's deeper than usual. No, there's more power in my voice. More presence. Awesome!

Yet I also felt more responsibility, a greater focus on my goal. I also felt incredibly old, ancient and wise. Almost like the Elements were part of me.

"Hahahaha! Prepare yourself for a thousand years on the sun, sister!"

A collective scream rose from the ponies on stage. Celestia hung her head low, and seemed to accept her fate. However, the Element of Honesty nudged me to tell the truth. Under its guidance, I turned to Nightmare Moon and corrected her misunderstanding.

"I shall not be sending Celestia, nor anypony, to the sun. Nor the moon. I shall be sending them back to Equus and blocking the portal so they will not be able to return."

"WHAT?!"

A sudden blast of magic from Nightmare Moon sent my flying away and over the center block of seats. I smashed into the seats on the left wing and sent wood, metal and fabric flying. My body came to rest on top of some smashed seats, lying on my back. Strangely enough, I was unhurt. I barely felt the magical impact, nor the physical contact with the seats. The Elements pulsed briefly, and I somehow knew that they had protected me. I also knew that I had to deal with Nightmare Moon first, and hopefully get her to back down.

With a mere thought, I floated back up in the air above the ruined seats. A look at Nightmare Moon revealed both shock and surprise on her muzzle. Her blast must have been more powerful than I thought.

“The will of the Elements shall not be denied, Nightmare Moon. These ponies shall be banished to their homeland, and you have been given free reign of this world to do as you see fit. Do not squander this opportunity."

The Night Mare's face turned from shock to anger in an instant.

"No! I have my sister in my grasp, and I shall not let her go unpunished!"

"She will be punished. She will never be able to see her sister, ever again."

A cry of "No!" came from Celestia on stage.

"That is not enough! I shall not let a mere MINION dictate terms to me!"

"Minion?

"Is that what you see? You proclaimed this vessel as your Captain and second-in-command not long ago."

"Bah! A weak minion such as yourself does not DESERVE to be my Captain! You have not the strength to do that which must be done!"

I sighed internally. It seemed that Plan B was in effect.

"Are you sure that this is what you wish to do?"

"Of course! You are weak and do not deserve to be at my side!"

"You are wrong, Nightmare Moon. We do have the strength. The strength to determine the greater threat to this world, and that threat is now YOU."

"What?! NO!!"

The mare began to throw magical blasts at me. I blocked them all with an ease I did not have before. It only took moments for me to realize that this battle would be a long one. Nightmare Moon was very powerful, and could dodge any attempt to use the Rainbow of Light on her. So I knew I had to wear her out first, and that would take a lot of work.

Unless I cheated, of course.

While Nightmare Moon was distracted, I cast the 'Mana Transfer' spell on her. Just as I did with Twilight, I gave the node a hard 'pull'. The strained gasp from Nightmare Moon was strangely satisfying, and a torrent of magic poured into me. The Elements were kind enough to take some of the stolen magic so it wouldn't overload me. I gave the magical node another ‘pull'. This time there was resistance. I sensed something else grab this magical ‘rope’ with me, and we all 'yanked' on the node as hard as we could. There was another moment of resistance, then it broke apart. Nightmare Moon cried out in pain as her magic was torn from her and poured into me. This time, the Elements took it all.

"How?! How can I not be strong enough to stop you? You never had this kind of power before!”

"The magic of the Elements is a powerful thing."

Yet another strong 'pull', and Nightmare Moon fell to her knees in the aisle.

"No! I cannot be defeated in this way! I must flee!"

Why do villains always monologue their plans?

The Moon Mistress struggled to her hooves, unfurled her wings and tried to fly away. She only had time to flap her wings once before I 'yanked' hard on the transfer node again. The ebony mare gasped loudly, and hesitated in midair. I did not, and used a flat shield to swat her down like an errant fly. She crashed down into the seats beneath her, much like she had done to me a few minutes earlier. The defeated mare lay in the rubble, gasping for air.

I slowly floated over from the left side of the theater to the right, and paused when I was above the exhausted mare. She turned an eye to look at me, and wheezed out a question.

"Why?"

"You turned on me, Nightmare Moon. I was your friend, your partner, and your lover. Yet you turned on me. That is when I knew your hatred had taken you over, and you had to be defeated.

"Had you accepted Celestia's fate, we could have ruled this world together. Instead, you must be erased."

Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide as I released the Rainbow of Light directly in her face. Her screams matched Celestia's as the magic of the Elements consumed her. The dual screams rose in pitch, and my vision faded to white once again.

Act 5, Chapter 11 - The Aftermath

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It finally happened. I turned traitor on Nightmare Moon, and zapped her with the Elements of Harmony. Well, she turned on me first!

"She has been cleansed."

It's over.

The white glow from my eyes faded, and I could see normally again. I was still floating above the theater seats, and was looking down into the pile of crushed seats that served as the grave of Nightmare Moon. I noted that the Elements were still glowing, so I knew they were still active. But I couldn't feel their presence inside of me anymore. At the same time. my ears twitched to the sound of crying. I looked down to the stage, and saw Celestia with her head buried under her hooves. Her body hitched up and down in time with her sobs. Twilight was trying to comfort her mentor, but looked really uncomfortable doing it. I imagined that the role reversal was hard for her to do. The other ponies either looked sad, uncomfortable at seeing Celestia cry, or both. I couldn't help but comment on the dramatic display.

"Wow Celestia, you sure are a drama queen."

The snow-white mare looked up at me, tears staining her face and anger burning in her eyes.

"MAY I BE ALLOWED TO MOURN THE DEATH OF MY SISTER IN PEACE?!"

"I guess. But she's not dead."

A collective shout came from the ponies on the stage.

"WHAT?!"

I looked back down to the pile of crushed seats, and nestled beneath the pieces of Nightmare Moon's armor was something blue and breathing. I used my magic to push the armor pieces aside, and a sleeping blue filly with a light blue mane and tail was revealed. And she had a black cutie mark with a white moon embedded in it.

Ah, Woona is as adorable as I thought she'd be.

I picked up Woona in my magic, and pulled her into my arms like one would cradle a human baby. Then I addressed the ponies on the stage.

"See? She's just been drained of magic."

Celestia's expression was priceless. Surprise and hope turned to elation as the alabaster mare jumped off of the stage and ran up the aisle to meet me. For my part, I floated back to the aisle and lowered myself until my feet touched the carpet. Now that she was closer, I could see that Celestia's tears had smeared her eye makeup so bad that she looked like a gothic reject. The messy makeup mare craned her neck down to look at her now-baby sister, and cooed.

"Aw, she looks just like she did when she was a baby!"

Tears of happiness poured down her face and dripped down upon Woona's face and chest.

"Shame on you, Celestia. The Elements of Harmony cannot be used to destroy or kill."

The Sun Goddess did not answer, but merely sniffled and cried more happiness onto her sister. Without warning, Woona's muzzle wrinkled in discomfort; her wings fluttered in my arms. Her eyes fluttered open, then opened wide. The first thing she focused on was Celestia's face, matted wet with tears and streaked makeup. The little filly cried out in fear, in an adorable squeaky voice.

"Waaa! Ahh!

"Whuh, Celly? Is that you?"

Celestia was smiling so wide she could only nod in response.

"Oh. Why are you so big?"

The maternal alicorn gave off this sobbing laugh.

"Oh Lulu, I'm not that big. It's you that is small."

Woona looked down at her hooves, and gave a start as she realized that she was a filly once again.

"Ahh! How did this happen?!"

I spoke up.

"Don't you remember? I blasted you with the Elements of Harmony."

"Oh.

"Yes, I remember now."

Woona turned to face her sister.

"I'm so sorry Celly! I was just so angry at you ignoring me for so long that I just couldn't let it go!"

Celestia wiped her tears of happiness away with a fetlock.

"I-I know, Lulu. It was all my fault for ignoring you. You were right to be angry."

Woona reached up and placed a tiny hoof on Celestia's tear-streaked cheek. The mare opened her eyes wide in surprise. She then closed them briefly and smiled wide, then set her hoof on top of Woona's. The tiny filly spoke up.

"Can-can we start over? Try again to be good sisters to each other?"

Celestia began to openly weep and sob, yet her smile got just a bit wider.

"Of course, of course! That's all I ever wanted for the past thousand years!"

Woona looked down at her tiny body.

"But I don't want to start all the way over! Do I have to go back to Magic Kindergarten again?"

Celestia laughed out loud and sprayed tiny droplets of tears all over Woona and me.

"No, you don't have to. You're just that small because you've been drained of magic. You'll get your adult body back again when your magic returns."

"I think I can help with that."

Both mares turned to me, surprise all over their muzzles.

"I drained a lot of magic off Luna when I fought her, and I still have that magic. I can give it back to her if you think it will help."

Celestia spoke up.

"But, there's no spell to give magic to a pony."

"Actually Celly, he figured out how to reverse the 'Mana Transfer' spell and transferred magic from some gemstones into me. I originally thought he was attacking me, but I was amazed when I realized what was really happening."

Wonder washed over Celestia's muzzle as she turned back to me.

"You can do this?"

"Of course."

The alabaster mare backed away from Luna and me.

"Then, please do."

I set Woona down onto her hooves, then backed up a couple of steps. Next, I cast a receiver 'node' into Woona's body then a transmitter 'node' into mine. Finally, I took a deep breath and re-connected to the Elements. I could feel all of their untapped power, along with all the magic I had drained from Nightmare Moon. The Elements 'pulsed' in my mind; magic began to flow from them, through me and into Woona. The little filly closed her eyes as her body began to glow. In seconds, the light was too bright for even my magical sight and I had to cover my eyes with an arm. The light flashed pure white for a moment, then the flow of magic abruptly stopped. The bright light faded away, and I noticed that the Elements had gone dark. I looked up to see what Woona had become.

And what a sight! I was expecting Season Two Luna, who was a bit shorter than Celestia with a dark blue coat and starry mane. What I got was even better. Luna was taller than I expected, at about Nightmare Moon's height. Her coat was darker, more of a midnight blue, and it shone with a deep brightness that almost looked lit from within. Her mane and tail were filled with stars as in the show, but they waved in the same unseen wind that Celestia's did. In fact, a glance at Celestia showed that their manes were waving in sync with each other. Or close enough that I couldn't tell the difference. The Princess Luna from the show was stern and emotionless at times, yet shy and vulnerable at others. This Luna looked serene, calm and confident. Before me stood a true princess.

"Whoa, damn Luna. You look hot."

Princess Luna turned to me, a small smile on her muzzle.

"I am glad that you approve. Very glad, in fact."

I could feel a blush burn across my face.

"Oh?"

The midnight blue mare moved to stand in front of me, and brought her muzzle close to mine. She gave me a sultry smile before continuing.

"Yes. You have taken good care of me these past months, and I am forever grateful."

Then she leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. She lingered for a few passionate moments, then pulled back.

"There will be more of that, later."

I did not reply, her kiss had scrambled my brain again. Luna stared at me for a moment longer, then let out a soft giggle.

"I love it when you look like that!"

She reached out and gave my chest a nudge with a hoof, which was enough to break me out of my daze.

"Whuh? Huh?

"Oh. Oh!"

My cheeks flushed once again as Luna let out another cute giggle.

"Yes, well. I see Luna's back to normal."

"Y'all call that normal?"

I turned to face Applejack, who along with the rest of the mares had walked up to meet Celestia's sister.

"Yeah. Well, normal for me and her anyway."

Applejack looked dubious, while Fluttershy blushed and Pinkie cheered. Rarity's reaction was worrisome, as she had stars shining in her eyes. She approached Luna with a gleeful expression on her muzzle.

"Oh, Princess Luna! You must let me design your wedding dress!"

I snapped my head around to object with the fashonista.

"Now, wait a second! We're not getting married!"

Luna turned back to me with this sultry look in her eyes that said in no uncertain terms, 'not yet.'

Oh. Guess we're skipping the 'consort' part.

I felt a hoof tap me on my leg, and I looked down to see Twilight Sparkle standing next to me.

"If you're done with those, can we have our Elements back?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure. I'm done with them."

I took the Element of Magic off of my helmet, and handed it to Twilight who took it with her magic. For convenience's sake, I gave each Element to Twilight. She then returned each Element to its Bearer and affixed the necklaces around their necks. Immediately after returning the last Element, Twilight and the girls began to back away from me while Celestia pulled her sister back.

"Wait Celly, what are you doing?"

"Now, girls!"

Twilight's shout coincided with the Mane Six activating the Elements of Harmony. Luna's cries were ignored as the Rainbow of Light appeared. It did not arch up in the air like it did in the cartoon, but instead blasted out directly at me. I could only think of one thing as my vision was filled with rainbow magic.

Well, shit.

The Rainbow of Light blasted me backwards down the aisle, smashed through the double doors at the end, then crashed through another set of doors and I was outside. The magical energy cut off right as my body left the theater building, but my momentum carried me out into the street. I hit the blacktop hard, then skipped twice across its surface before smashing through the brick wall of the warehouse across the street. My back slammed into something hard and solid, and my body collapsed painfully onto a cold concrete floor. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath, while I laid there on the floor.

Ow.

That sucked.

I opened my eyes again and took in a big breath of air. My aches and pains were already fading, thanks to my donated alicorn magic. I didn't feel drained of magic or worn out, and everything looked to be about the same size. I brought my hand up to my face, and after a moment I flexed my hand to release my claws.

Well, my hand is still a cat paw or something. And my arm still has its armor on.

I rolled my arm over to inspect the chevrons strapped to my forearm.

Well, that's different. The armor's no longer silver in color, it's now a dark blue. It has some minor scratches on it, but it's not broken. And the color is in the new scratches, so I don't think it's anodized or painted. Weird.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position, then ran my hands over my body and armor looking for any other changes.

Okay, I'm still a cat-man. My face still has a muzzle, and even though this room is pretty dark I can still see everything nice and clear. So my magical night vision is still working. My chest armor and shin armor is the same blue as the forearm pieces, and the gemstone is now a light blue instead of teal. The leather underneath seems to be a darker blue instead of brown. Darker then the armor, but not as dark as my fur.

To finish my inspection, I clambered to my feet and made sure everything was still okay.

Yup, I look the same but I'm black and blue instead of black and silver. Great, I'm colored like a bruise now. Did my magic change color, too?

I summoned my wings, and they felt just like they always did - an extension of my body, even though they were a magical creation. I curled both wings around my body and ran my fingers through their feathers.

Nope, they're still crimson. Good. Might as well check my normal magic.

I let my wings fade away, then summoned magic into my hands. Its color confirmed, I let the magic disperse.

Still crimson. So, the only thing changed was the color of my armor? Huh.

Well, Princess Luna's Night Guard in the show was a dark blue. Maybe the Elements decided to change my armor to show my new allegiance to Luna?

Ah, I don't know. What I do know is, I'm really pissed at Twilight and her friends for blasting me.

The hole in the wall was big enough for me to walk through if I ducked down, so I did so and immediately jogged across the street. While I did, I cast the 'Clean and Polish' spell on my armor to get rid of the scratches and scuffs it got when I skipped across the street. I idly noticed that while the spell worked, my armor was still colored dark blue. I also noticed that the wrecked car was still sitting in the street, though the puddle of fluids beneath it had gotten bigger. Once across the street, I strode through the ruined doorway. But after a moment's thought, I turned left to enter the theater through the other set of doors. I wanted to slam the doors open for dramatic effect, but I couldn't do that on the right because the doorway was destroyed. By me being tossed through them, of course. I reached the left set of doors, made sure they weren't locked, then yanked them open as hard as I could. The solid wooden doors slammed open with a satisfying BOOM!

"What the heck did you think you were doing?!"

The eight ponies on the other side of the theater turned to look at the noise. The Mane Six and Celestia looked shocked to see me, as I expected. But Luna looked up at me through tear-streaked eyes. As soon as she saw me unharmed, she brightened up in an instant.

"My Captain! You are alive!"

I noted that Twilight was whispering to her friends, and they all struck a pose.

"Of course! The Elements wouldn't harm me."

Twilight and her friends looked surprised when nothing happened. Were they trying to activate the Elements again? My dramatic entrance was over, so I unfurled my wings and flew over to the other side of the theater. I landed in about the same spot I was standing where the Bearers had blasted me with the Rainbow of Light. At least this time, I knew they couldn't do it again. I turned to Twilight and her friends to address them.

"Idiots. Did you really think that would work? I just activated the Elements myself! Did you really think they would do anything to me after deciding I was worthy?!"

The ponies had the decency to look ashamed. I then turned to Celestia to berate her.

"Was this your idea?"

"No, it was not. They acted on their own.

"Though I will admit that I was considering it."

"Celly!"

Luna's shout of outraged was music to my ears.

"What? I said I was considering it. He wasn't acting like a threat, but I was watching in case he became one."

"Hmph, fine. But we will discuss this later."

Luna turned to me and pounced! Her upper forelegs hooked over my shoulders in her species' version of a hug. Then she gave me a hard buss on the lips, which sent little stars popping inside my head as her kisses always did.

"I am so glad to see you are unhurt!"

"Woah, I don't think I'll ever get used to those."

Luna giggled cutely at my dopey expression, and gently pressed her nose to mine.

"There will be many more of them, so you will have plenty of chances to 'get used to them'."

The midnight blue mare slipped her forelegs from around my shoulders, and stood back on the ground. Then she gave me a good look up and down.

"Hmm, I like the new look. I think I will use the design for my own royal guards."

"But sister, we have plenty of Royal guards. I can just assign some of them to you."

Luna turned to look at her sister.

"Thank you sister, but those are your guards. I presume their armor was crafted with solar motifs? I shall not be seen to be guarded by my sister's guards. While I am sure they are competent, being seen guarded by solar guards puts me subservient to you in the public eye. I am a princess in my own right, and as such I will be guarded by guards of my own choosing."

"But sister!"

"Do not 'but sister' me! I deferred to you before because I was young, and you see where that got us."

Celestia's ears twitched backwards, but gave no other outward sign of the rebuke.

"I will not allow that to happen again. You WILL treat me as an equal, in public and in private. Anything else is an insult."

"I...understand, Luna."

Luna smiled and nuzzled her sister affectionately.

"I look forward to learning how you have changed over the past millennia. And to being sisters again, instead of rivals."

Act 5, Chapter 12 - Apologies

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Now that Luna was free of her hatred and had made up with her sister, it was time to undo everything that she and I had done. And make a heck of a lot of apologies.

With Nightmare Moon 'defeated', her plan to take over Earth was over. Well, Luna and I agreed that the effort was pointless now that she had made peace with Celestia. She and I realized that we would need her sister's help to dismantle our control over the country, so we laid out our former plan to the Solar Diarch. She was shocked to find out how close our plan was to succeeding, and doubly shocked to find out how close she came to losing. The only reason Nightmare Moon lost was because she turned on me when I controlled the Elements of Harmony. If Nighty had kept herself under control, Celestia would have lost and never seen her sister again.

In order for us to undo the damage we had done, we needed Celestia and her diplomatic skills to keep us from being arrested for our crimes. The three of us discussed the story we would tell to the United States, and eventually to Equestria. Luna and Celestia decided to blame Nightmare Moon and her 'minion' on 'dark magic'. I was uncomfortable with using 'magic' as an excuse, as the people of Earth generally considered magic to be cheap tricks and fakery. Thus, the excuse would be seen as just that, an excuse. Celestia convinced me otherwise. She said that her ponies in Equestria would accept the explanation, as 'dark magic' could still be found on Equestria. As for my people, she admitted that they would be more difficult to convince. But she was confident that she could make the excuse work.

To shift the attention away from Luna and me, Celestia and the Mane Six would take the credit for 'defeating' us. My part in the final battle would be reduced to a mere minion, and I would claim that Nightmare Moon had kidnapped me and 'infected' me with her 'dark magic'. Both Luna and I would ask for forgiveness from the President of the United States, and offer to help undo the damage our 'evil' selves caused. Celestia would apply political pressure as necessary, plus the promise of trade with Equestria to push for that forgiveness.

As she embodied the Element of Honesty, Applejack had to object. She wasn't comfortable with all the lies we were about to spread, and not at all comfortable telling folks that she 'defeated' us when she didn't do horseapples. We finally convinced the farm pony after a heated discussion on the finer points of diplomacy. Applejack agreed to say something like 'she didn't do anything, the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon.' Most ponies and people would presume that Applejack was just being modest, and had used her Element against Nightmare Moon. This was a 'lie of omission', letting others believe a lie because you didn't reveal the full truth. Applejack agreed to tell that lie so Luna and I would have a chance to make amends. However, if we did not follow through on our promises she would be very 'cross' with us.

Once every pony was satisfied with their part in the official story, Celestia contacted her government 'handlers'. According to her, the theater was a government 'safe house'; the Equestrians had been staying there ever since they had made contact with the United States government. The building was designed to house a large family, so there were several beds and a full kitchen in the back. Celestia told her 'handler' that she had defeated the 'Equestrian Invader', and that she must speak with the President of the United States as soon as possible. While Celestia was busy, I went over to Nightmare Moon's 'grave' and snuck Nighty's old armor into my pocket dimension. I remembered that the armor was special to her, so I figured that I could return it to her as a present or have it mounted as a memento of our time together.

An hour after Celestia hung up the phone, the theater was invaded by SWAT forces. The SWAT team caught Celestia and Luna chatting, while I was sitting with the Mane Six (covered in a human illusion) playing a board game that Pinkie Pie had pulled out of her mane. There was a lot of shouting and yelling before Celestia managed to convince whomever was in charge that everything was under control. It took some more yelling before Luna and I were allowed to travel with the other Equestrians.

All nine of us filed out of the back of the theater, and found a plain white delivery truck waiting for us. It was a relatively small truck, where the cargo area was maybe sixteen or eighteen feet in length; basically, a medium-sized moving truck. We walked around to the back of the truck, and instead of waiting my turn to walk up the loading ramp I just climbed up to the deck. The back of the cargo area was decorated with two couches that were strapped against the side walls. Several large pillows were piled up in the space between them. I was pleased to find out that this was a refrigerated truck, and as such this trip back to Washington DC would be a cool and pleasant one. Celestia walked over to a couch and draped herself across the padded surface while I sat on the far end of the other couch. Luna climbed on to my couch, then draped her forelegs over my lap and leaned her head against my chest. The trip to Washington DC and the White House was mostly uneventful. The conversation was light and easy, and I noticed that the Mane Six had relaxed around Luna and me. Even Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the two most suspicious ponies the MLP show had ever known, were laughing and trading stories.

We only realized that we had arrived at our destination when we heard someone unlocking the truck's rear doors. When I exited the truck with the other Equestrians, I noted that the sun had dipped below the horizon and the light had turned into shadow. We had been dropped off at the same side door to the White House that Nightmare Moon and I had used that morning. I couldn't help but reflect on how much had changed that day. Our conquest of the United States had almost been completed, then our battles with Celestia and the Bearers, and finally our 'defeat'. I had to admit, I was glad we had been 'defeated'. The whole conquest thing had felt wrong for a long time, but I had been too caught up in my brony fantasies to do anything about it.

Strange. When I think back on the things I did for Nightmare Moon, I feel bad about doing them. I used to enjoy following the rules, but I broke so many of them under Nightmare Moon and never thought twice about it. That's so out of character for me.

I set my inner thoughts aside when I noticed we had entered the West Wing Ground Floor Lobby. This time, the hallways were cleared of all but Secret Service agents. Some wore uniforms with tactical vests, while others only wore business suits. All were armed. Our handlers quickly escorted our group down the hallway, around the corner at the end and then up the staircase to the first floor.

There were more armed agents on this floor. Down the hall, I could see the Oval Office Corridor. I was surprised to see that the Corridor was clean. When I had last seen it that morning, it had been covered in debris from Nightmare Moon's attack on Celestia. In my opinion, the cleaning crew had done an excellent job. However, as our group was escorted down the hallway I could see that the holes in the walls had not yet been repaired. A glance into the Roosevelt Room as we passed by showed that the conference table and chairs had been set back up, and a look in the opposite direction showed a blue tarp over the hole leading to the Rose Garden. Our group was held out in the Corridor for a moment, before we were led into the Oval Office.

The room looked unchanged from our visit earlier that day. The only difference I could see was a missing couch, the same one that Nightmare Moon had damaged when she attacked her sister. The President of the United States was sitting behind his desk, but once he saw us he stood up and stormed over.

"What in the HECK were you thinking?! Starting a WAR in my own home? Look at the damage you caused! If this is your idea of a peaceful resolution--"

"Be quiet."

Luna's spoken command was immediately obeyed; the President stopped his rant and his anger disappeared from his face.

"Yes, Mistress."

The armed officers in the room looked at each other in shock and surprise. I imagined it was unnerving to see your leader suddenly obey an alien. Luna turned to speak to Celestia.

"As you can see, the leader of this country is completely under my control. If you had not arrived when you did, my Captain and I would have leveraged that control to finalize our conquest of this country. Eventually, we would have spread that control to the rest of the planet.

"But now that we have been defeated and my free will returned to me, it is only right to restore this human's free will to him. Here, I shall guide you during the process."

"Of course, sister."

As Luna and Celestia approached the President, I realized that Luna's speech had not been for Celestia but for everyone else in earshot. She had not only confirmed that she was the one responsible, but was trying to make amends by undoing the damage she had caused. It only took a few minutes for the President's shadow parasite to be removed, and the man sat up from the couch he had been laying on. He rubbed his head tenderly, then looked at the purple blob that sat in Luna's upturned hoof.

"That thing is what made me obey you?"

"Yes, Mister President. It is designed to make my commands sound reasonable to its host; in this case, you."

"It was so strange. One second I was furious with you, and the next I felt ashamed for speaking out of turn. Felt like I was a child and talking back to my mother."

"The Shadow Parasite searches the memories of its host so it can learn how to control your behavior. I can only guess that your mother was a strict disciplinarian."

"Yes, yes she was. What else did this thing make me do?"

"Nothing, as I had not given you any other commands. It only interferes with free will when given a command."

"I see.

"Wait a minute."

The President took a good look at Luna, then at me. His gaze swept over the other Equestrians before he spoke up again.

"I don't recognize the two of you. You're--are you the ones they defeated?"

"Yes, Mister President. We are the ones that attacked you."

Luna briefly projected an illusion over the two of us, showing herself as Nightmare Moon and me in my armored feline form. Well, in my case she dropped my human illusion to reveal my feline form underneath. I simply re-cast my human illusion when Luna dropped hers.

"I don't understand. If you're evil, why did you help me?"

Celestia took that moment to join the conversation.

"I believe I can explain, Mister President. This mare is my long-lost sister, Princess Luna. Over a thousand years ago, a magical experiment went awry and she was consumed by dark magic. It twisted her until she became the one you saw earlier, a mare called Nightmare Moon. When I defeated her, I did so by purging the dark magic from her and she returned to normal."

"That is correct, Mister President. The dark magic twisted my thoughts, much like the shadow parasite did to you. Once I was freed, I was ashamed at the evil I had done. As such, I wish to make amends in any way that I can."

"Okay. And what about him?"

The President had pointed to me. I decided to answer, rather than let Luna do it for me.

"I ran into Nightmare Moon when she first arrived her on Earth. I was a fan of the My Little Pony cartoon show, and I recognized her as one of the villains."

"We made the same connection with Celestia and her guests when the daughter of one of my aides recognized her."

"Right. Nightmare Moon infected me with the same dark magic, and made me follow her commands. She then used my knowledge of this world to help her conquer Southern California, where I'm from."

"So, you two are responsible for the strange goings-on in Southern California?"

"Correct."

Luna and I laid out everything we had done in Southern California, from our initial success at the sheriff's station in Twentynine Palms to our conquest at Camp Pendleton. Afterwards, Luna and I gave our deepest apologies to the President and did our best to show remorse towards our actions. Celestia then helped us explain out plan to undo the damage we had caused. Our apologies had softened the President's anger, but it was our plan to right our wrongs that convinced him that Luna and I were no longer evil.

The President of the United States asked us for one thing, to settle our debt to him: repair the damage our fight had done to the West Wing of the White House. Celestia and Luna did the actual repairs, while Twilight, Rarity and I helped. The alicorns pieced the broken wood and plaster in order like a billion-piece jigsaw puzzle, and somehow fuzed them together with their magic. Twilight and I ferried the broken pieces to the alicorns, while Rarity did the final polish to the decor. Applejack and Fluttershy went outside to repair and replant the Rose Garden, with Pinkie and Dash as helpers. To the President's amazement, we had the West Wing and Rose Garden back to new in under an hour. Twilight tried to explain to us how it all had been done, but her explanation quickly went over our heads. I can only summarize it as 'Magic can do cool things.'

After all the repairs were complete, we returned to the Oval Office. To our surprise, The President had summoned Mr. Nicholes while we were repairing the White House, and man was standing there waiting for us. Celestia gently removed the man's parasite, and as soon as he was free he immediately began to grovel at the President's feet. The President rolled his eyes at Mr. Nicholes' actions, then ordered his staff to 'take these ponies to California so they can clean up their mess.' The Secret Service quickly and efficiently escorted us to what I presume was the National Airport, then loaded us onto an unmarked plane. We spent the night on that plane, and arrived at LAX in Los Angeles early in the morning.

Transportation was arranged to take us to Luna's Moon Palace in the US Bank Tower. Immediately after we arrived, the Mane Six crashed in the bedroom. They had been too excited to be inside a 'flying metal tube' to get any sleep. As Celestia, Luna and I did not need to sleep, we stayed up to talk. I also dropped my human illusion, and placed my armor on to its stand. Celestia was impressed with Luna's throne-couch, and Luna showed her sister all of the various games and other entertainment that the bronies had left behind. I did get a kick out of the two alicorn sisters laughing and beating the heck out of each other with Dagorhir swords.

When Twilight woke up around noon, we brought her into a meeting. The alicorn sisters and I had been trying to figure out how to remove the thousands of shadow parasites Luna and I had spread across the Southland. It had taken months to enslave that many people, and could take even longer to free them all. None of our ideas solved the problem, so we were hoping that Twilight could help. The problem was, removing the parasites one-by-one would take too long. Luna could destroy the parasites from a distance, but it would cause psychological damage to the host. In rare cases, the host can die from fatal brain damage. Even if we removed them safely, the hosts would all remember what they had done under Nightmare Moon's control. The ones that acted against their personal morals would probably have the hardest time dealing with those memories, and they could react badly. I had watched an old friend go through a mental breakdown, and I did not want to make anyone go through that kind of anguish. Luna also insisted that causing the enslaved humans any more pain was not an acceptable option.

While Twilight did come up with better ways of destroying the shadow parasites, she couldn't figure out how to protect their human hosts. So we eventually decided to punt the solution, and make this a 'future us' problem. With Twilight's help, we learned how to put the shadow parasites in a 'crippled' mode of sorts. In this mode, a parasite would cut itself off from the rest, was not allowed to control its host nor force them to follow commands. There was one exception: if the host tried to remember a painful memory caused by the mind control. The parasite would then interrupt the memory and make the host feel happy or satisfied, like they had done something good. It wasn't a perfect solution, but we hoped it would be enough until we found a more permanent one.

Twilight and Luna worked on the new spell to cripple the shadow parasites, and they figured out how to do it from a distance. This meant that we wouldn't have to visit each enslaved human personally. We could instead disable the shadow parasites en masse, just by flying overhead. The spell was designed for the shadow parasites' unique magical signature, so it would not affect their hosts nor humans that were not under our control. Celestia, Luna and I could easily work several nights in a row to do this, but Rainbow Dash offered to fly Twilight around so we could get the job done faster. With our plan set, Luna decided it was time to recall the bronies to her court. After the magical message had been sent, she spoke to all of us in the room.

"I have another issue that must be discussed.

"Janice."

I sucked in an intake of breath. Janice certainly deserved our special attention. She had not only been exceptionally helpful in creating the Moon Palace, but she had been lying and hiding us from the owners of the building.

"My Captain knows whom I speak of. Janice is a high-level worker in this building, and she has acted as my seneschal in most every way. Her help was essential in creating the Moon Palace that we now sit in. As Nightmare Moon, I did not care about the consequences for my slaves and merely did as I wished. But now, I am quite concerned that she will take the blame for my decisions here. The number of bits spent on my behalf must be enormous."

"And the rent lost, from renting this space out."

"Correct, Captain."

Luna turned back to Celestia and Twilight.

"My Captain and I enslaved Janice and many of her fellow workers, then convinced them to cancel a rental contract for this entire floor. I imagine the financial loss was quite high."

"We have to free her, Princess Luna!"

"Yes, Twilight. We must. But that will mean the end of my home here, as Janice is the only one preventing its discovery by the owners of this building. That will put us all out of a place to stay while we undo the damage I caused to these lands. In addition, it will not prevent Janice from paying for my crimes. In a sense, we will be doing more damage to her as she will be aware of the things she did here but have no way to remedy them."

"My fears may be groundless, though I don't believe so. The only way we shall know for sure is to speak with Janice herself. I have already sent for her, and she will arrive shortly."

True to her word, Janice arrived not long afterwards. She then took a seat at the conference table with the rest of us.

"Thank you for coming, Janice."

"You are always my top priority, Mistress."

"Thank you. As you can see, my appearance has changed. Does this not concern you?"

"No, Mistress. While I can see and feel the changes in you, you are still my Mistress."

"Excellent. Part of my new changes is a newfound concern for your welfare. I am concerned that running my Moon Palace has taken a high toll upon you. Is this so?"

"O-of course not, Mistress. I am happy to serve."

"I'm glad to hear that, but I wasn't questioning your loyalty. I know I have asked you to lie and hide my Moon Palace from the owners of this building. I have also asked you to purchase many expensive items for me, and you have provided them without complaint. But those bits must come from somewhere."

"Oh, yes! I am in charge of the finances for this building, and I have siphoned off those funds as needed. Officially, the funds were used for repairs that were not needed and never done. But I have used other means as well."

"I imagine that the owners of this building must be suspicious by now."

"Yes, they have been for a while. At first, they accepted my excuses. But they've started talking to my co-workers and keep trying to catch me in lies. Fortunately, everyone they've talked to is also your slave and they have helped me keep the lies going."

"Is that all they have, suspicions?"

"For now. But they've decided to open an investigation into the building's finances anyway. I can delay them, but eventually they'll find out what I've been doing and I'll be accused of embezzlement."

"Not just accused, Janice. You have been stealing, under my orders."

"Yes, Mistress. And I have been happy to do so!"

"I know. Let me pose a question to you. If we were to leave all this today, and remove all evidence that we were ever here, what would happen to you?"

"Oh. Well, the investigation would still find the embezzlement that I already did. It might even be more suspicious as the money stopped disappearing as soon as the investigation started."

"And thus, you would still be found guilty of stealing."

"Yes."

"What would happen to you then?"

"I-I guess I'm not sure. I won't tell them that you ordered me to take the money, so I guess I'll be the one they blame. I can't pay the money back, so I'll probably be sent to prison for a while."

A gasp came from Twilight.

"But, that's not right! You were just following orders!"

"Yes, I was. But unless I betray the Mistress, I am the one that must take the blame."

"We can't let this happen, Princess Luna!"

"I agree, Twilight. But there are only two ways I can think of to help Janice: either I take the blame myself, which may not pull all blame from Janice; or we bring her with us to Equestria and out of their jurisdiction. Neither option is very appealing."

We all jumped at a sudden knock on the shoji door to the Palace Room. The door slid open to reveal Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Luna! Your house is really neat!"

"Um, thank you Pinkie."

"You should keep this place so you can stay here whenever you visit Earth! You could even have your Earth friends come visit you here!

"Okay, bye!"

With that, Pinkie slammed the shoji door shut.

"Well, that was something."

"You get used to her ways, Lulu. But there are times, like now, when her inner brilliance shines through. She has given me an idea."

"Oh?"

"We could declare this place as the official Equestrian Embassy on this planet. I'm sure I can convince the President to authorize it."

"Hmm. I think I see your plan. Embassies do not tend to appear overnight; they are planned and built, then their presence is announced. Thus, this embassy has been 'under construction' ever since I arrived here."

"Exactly, sister."

"That takes care of the future of this space, but it does not help Janice. Why would Janice embezzle if this was an official embassy?"

"We have not negotiated a conversion rate of Equestrian bits into this country's currency. So we cannot pay our bills until our money has value here. She was loaning the missing money to us until we could reimburse her properly."

"Perhaps. But wouldn't the government of this country pay its citizens on our behalf, then expect us to reimburse them?"

"An excellent idea, Luna. I'm sure the President could do that for us, and also officially sanction Janice's actions. He can say that she was ordered to support and cover up the presence of an official embassy for an alien race. Which is what we are to the people of this planet, aliens from another dimension."

"It could work. The plan would paint Janice as a potential fool, for if the embassy did not happen she would be the one blamed for the missing funds. However, it is a reasonable explanation for her actions."

"I'm glad you agree, Luna. I'll discuss the matter with the President the next time I speak to him."

Celestia turned to Janice.

"How long do you have until this investigation is complete?"

"Oh! Um, it hasn't started yet. I was told that one would be started soon."

"Then we have time to set our plan into action and clear Janice's name. Good."

Luna inclined her head upwards slightly, as if hearing something that the rest of us couldn't.

"It seems that the bronies of my Camarilla will be arriving soon. Janice, please place our usual pizza and soda order. But this time, add a second order of 'hot wings'. I am sure my sister will want to sample them."

Twilight's face went slack in shock.

"Princess Luna! Didn't we just talk about the financial damage to Janice?!"

"I don't see the problem. We discussed a solution that will absolve Janice, so additional funds taken will not harm her. If our plan fails, she will face the same consequences whether we feast tonight or not.

"Would you like to go hungry tonight?"

"No."

"Very well then. Janice, place the order."

"Yes, Mistress."

"I proclaim this meeting to be adjourned."

"So formal, sister."

Act 5, Chapter 13 - Restoration

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Princess Luna and I had returned to Southern California, to break apart our network and restore free will to our slaves. We had a plan, now it was time to implement it.

The first bronies arrived not long after our meeting had ended. They were surprised, to say the least. Luna spoke to each one of them personally, and assured them that she was still their Mistress despite her change. She cautioned them all to remain polite and courteous while in her Moon Palace. However, Luna saved her big announcement until all the bronies had arrived. She told them of her defeat, and that her hatred was purged by the Elements. She told them that she had reunited with her sister, and the bronies were to be polite to her and the other Equestrians. The pizza had arrived while Luna was speaking, so she ended her speech with an order to 'feast, and be merry!'

And we did.

Luna introduced Celestia to the hot buffalo wings, and after a tender nibble the alabaster mare dug into the meaty flesh as voraciously as her sister. Twilight was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons, and she mastered the rules very quickly. However, she quickly became known as a rules lawyer and was asked to leave the game. Pinkie and Fluttershy were all over the board games, and both were amused to find playing pieces shaped like themselves. Dash tried out the video games, but spent most of her time battling Applejack and some bronies in Dagorhir combat. As was our custom, the party lasted all night.

In the early morning, Celestia placed a call to the President of the United States. She had to wait for several minutes before the President was available to take her call. The two spoke for some time while the Solar Princess laid out our plan for the Moon Palace. The President agreed to authorize the location as an official embassy, and agreed to pay for it until the Equestrians were able to finance it themselves. Celestia mentioned that she always carries a bag of gold bits with her, and the President agreed to accept them as payment. Once her call was concluded, she went over to Luna's throne-couch and slept until evening. I noted the irony of the Sun Goddess sleeping through the day and partying all night.

More bronies arrived for the party that evening, including some new 'Solar Empire' worshipers. Celestia was kind and spoke to them for several minutes before we had to leave. for it was that evening that we agreed to start crippling Nightmare Moon's shadow parasites. I had gotten ahold of two extra iPads, and plotted out the routes on the tablets for each pony. Twilight and Dash were given the easiest route, which was the land south of the Angeles National Forest and north of the 10 freeway. It was an east-west strip that was easy to cover. Celestia would cover the larger area south of the 10 freeway and north of the 91 freeway. Luna and I were more familiar with the area, so we took the largest areas to cover: Luna went south to Orange County, and I traveled west to cover western Los Angeles County and Ventura County. It took us four nights of broadcasting to make sure that all of the shadow parasites in the Los Angeles and neighboring counties had been crippled.

Well, we hoped that we had gotten them all. It was always possible that a few slaves were on vacation or out of town for some reason. But with most of the parasites crippled, they would not be able to communicate with each other. Any parasites that were left would only accept commands from Luna, which would effectively shut them down. Or so Luna said. It all seemed really messy, leaving all these shadow parasites lying around. I just hoped that 'future us' would actually try to remove the shadow parasites rather than ignore the problem.

That last night of parasite hunting, the five of us returned to the Moon Palace at different times though we all arrived before daybreak. Twilight and Dash rejoined the party, while the rest of us excused ourselves to discuss the next phase of our plan: freeing Camp Pendleton.

We could easily put all of the shadow parasites in the base into 'cripple' mode, but the Commanding General deserved our special attention. Luna had come up with a plan to free the man in a way that she hoped would keep his honor intact. Celestia and I felt it was a good plan, so we set up a conference call with the President of the United States. The man was essential to our plan, and when we told him about the g-man from his clan, he agreed to be our front man. He was told the time for our crime, confirmed it was before his bedtime, then said goodbye until it was show time.

(That rhyming is not necessary!)

(No, but it is amusing for the readers that are perusing what they are doing.)

(Thou art cruising for a bruising.)

(Now you're getting it!)

(Oh Faust!)

A second call was made, this one to the Commanding General's office. We set up a meeting at his office for that evening, then the four of us slept until nearly night time. Once dusk had fallen, Celestia joined Luna and me for our trip down the coast. The flight was uneventful, as usual. If Celestia saw anything interesting, she didn't say anything to Luna nor me. An hour or so after we left the Moon Palace, the three of us landed in front of the Commanding General's office in Camp Pendleton. One of his aides was outside and waiting for us.

"Good evening, Mistress. Your appearance is different, is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course. I grew tired of the black and silver look, what do you think?"

"It rather suits you, Mistress. I recognize your Captain, but who is this other one?"

"She is my sister, and ruler of the land that I came from."

"I see."

"She is part of the reason I have come to speak to the Commanding General. Will you take us to him?"

"Of course, Mistress."

The man escorted us into the building and into the Commanding General's office. The room looked the same as it did the last time I was there, with bookshelves on the left of the room, a couch and chairs surrounding a coffee table on the right, and a large desk in the back of the room. It felt like a long time had passed since Nightmare Moon and I had met Mr. Nicholes here, and got our access to the President of the United States. But in reality, it was only a week. The Commanding General greeted us warmly, then offered us a place to sit. I took a spot on the couch set against the wall, while Celestia and Luna moved the chairs and sat on the other side of the coffee table. The Commanding General sat in a chair at the end of the table.

"So Mistress, I gather your mission was a success?"

"In a manner of speaking. My Captain and I did get our visit with the President, and we did manage to enslave him. However, my sister here was also present and we fought a long and hard battle."

"I see. Was there a victor?"

"Of sorts. While my sister did not defeat me, I was purged of the dark magic that fed my hatred. I personally consider that to be a great victory."

"I had noticed the change in your appearance, but I wasn't sure if it was relevant."

"In this case, it is. My sister and I have ended our war, and I have agreed to end my conquest of this planet."

"And what of the changeling spies infiltrating our government?"

"That was a lie, a ruse to ensure your cooperation. For this, and for my other wrongs against you I am truly sorry."

"No apologies necessary Mistress. I suspected that was a lie, but I am still willing to serve you in any way I can."

"Thank you. However, the reason for this meeting is not to ensure your service to me, but to free you from my control."

"Free me? I am not under anyone's control. I am serving you freely."

"Sadly, you are not correct. I order you to contact the President of the United States, using the 'Skype' method. He is expecting your call."

"Yes, Mistress."

The Commanding General stood up and walked behind his large desk, then sat down and wiggled his mouse to turn off the screen saver. While he used the machine, he spoke to us.

"This explains the contact request I received from a White House staff member today. I'll call them now."

The Skype call was answered almost immediately, and the President was conferenced into the call. We could not hear the President's voice clearly, until the Commanding Officer turned up the volume on his computer speakers.

"Can you hear me now, Princess Luna?"

"Yes, Mister President, I can."

"And are your other guests with you?"

"Celestia and my Captain are here. And they can also hear you."

"Excellent. Kevin, I've got some bad news for you."

"What do you mean, Mister President?"

"You're under mind control, Kevin."

"Negative, Mister President. I am in full control of my mind, body and soul."

"According to Princess Luna there, you're wrong. She has full control of you, even though you believe you're helping her of your own free will."

"I-I don't mean to doubt you sir, but I am certain I'm not being controlled."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, son. Princess Luna got me, too. And she says that you helped her to get to me."

"Never, sir! I would never betray my country!"

"Did you, or did you not, engineer a situation in Southern California that was intended to lure a high-ranking official to you? And did you not introduce the Princess to Mr. Nicholes, and help her capture and enslave him?"

The Commanding Officer began to fidget in his chair.

"I-but I--the Changelings, sir!"

"Ah yes. The Princess told me that's how she finally got you to submit, she made up a story about alien invaders infiltrating the government. Did she tell you that was a lie?"

The man's fidgeting got noticeably worse.

"Yes, but they may still be a danger to us."

"So, she told you that she lied yet you still believe that lie? That's not you talking, Kevin. She manipulated you well, and only got you to submit by using your loyalty to this country against you."

The Commanding General began to shake in his chair, but he didn't seem to notice.

"It-it's not possible, sir! Her cause is right and just, and she has our best welfare in mind!"

"It's okay, son. I'm not holding this against you. Remember, I've been there with you. I understand what she has done and how it can twist your mind against you. As far as I am concerned, you are still loyal to this country and have served her well. This conversation will stay between us, and will never be spoken about to anyone."

Luna segwayed into the conversation.

"He is correct, Kevin. You have served both me and the President well. So calm yourself, there is nothing to fear."

The Commanding General's arms and hands settled slowly, but he still twitched now and then.

"Excellent. Mister President, I believe I can take it from here."

"Got it. Kevin, let's chat again after you're free."

"Y-yes, sir."

"Just an informal chat, you're not in trouble nor is your commission in danger. Just two soldiers talking about their battle scars. As far as I'm concerned, you will stay in charge of Camp Pendleton for some time."

"Yes, sir."

"All done, Princess Luna."

"Thank you. Kevin, end your call and come lay down on the couch."

"Yes, Mistress."

As the Commanding General stood up from his chair, Luna turned towards Celestia and me.

"I believe it would be best if you two gave us some privacy. Freeing him from the shadow parasite may break down his emotional state even further, and I have no wish to humiliate him any more than necessary."

Luna's request was fair, so Celestia and I quickly left the Commanding General's office. We quickly realized that we could enact the second part of our plan while waiting for Luna to finish her task: free the soldiers of Camp Pendleton from Nightmare Moon's control. The base's perimeter and the surrounding cities was a much smaller area to cover than the counties to the north, so Celestia and I were able to quickly and easily find all of the soldiers living on and off the base that had shadow parasites. Celestia travelled to the north, while I went south. After an hour or so, I returned to the Commanding General's office and found Luna outside waiting for me.

"A most warm welcome to you, my Captain."

"Thanks.

Are you alright? You sound sad."

"Most astute, as always. My liberation of the Commanding General, and our subsequent conversation, has drained me emotionally."

"Oh."

"Do not worry, I shall be fine. And as for the General: he will recover, in time."

Celestia arrived some ten minutes later, so the three of us left the base for the final time and returned to the Moon Palace. With our part of the plan nearly complete, we had to wait for the President to complete his share. Until he did, the Equestrians and I continued to party with the bronies. The Equestrians were the center of attention, and even Fluttershy began to enjoy herself. Two days later, Luna and I were woken up by an excited Janice.

"Wake up, Mistress and Master!

"Wake up, please!"

"Whuh, what? Janice?!"

Luna let out a wide yawn.

"What can we do for thee, Janice?"

"I'm sorry for waking you, but I just couldn't wait any longer!

"The investigation has been called off!"

"Really? That's awesome!"

"Yes! The President called my bosses personally! He took all the blame for everything that's been going on! And he told them that he ordered me to secrecy, and to hide everything from them! Oh my gosh, it's so amazing!"

"That is most welcome news, Janice."

"It gets better! The President told them that the government would reimburse the building for the money they lost because of the embassy! I just have to provide him with an accounting of the funds I spent on you, and it'll be all over!"

"That's great, Janice. We're so happy for you."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"It is no less than you deserve, Janice. You would not be in such dire straits if it were not for me. It was only right that I act to free you from them."

Luna turned to me.

"Speaking of freeing, I believe this is an excellent time to free Janice from our control."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Won't we be vulnerable without her protecting us?"

"I am not certain it will be good for us, but I believe it is the right thing for Janice."

"Good point."

Luna crawled out of bed, sat down then tapped her hoof against the mattress.

"Janice, please sit here."

"Yes, Mistress."

Janice walked around the bed and sat down where the Lunar Mare had indicated.

"Thank you. Now, just relax. I am going to remove your shadow parasite, so you may feel strange."

Luna lit her horn, then closed her eyes in quiet concentration.

"My what? I don't understAAAANNNDD!!"

"It is okay. This is a normal process, you are safe in my hooves."

"I feel so strange!"

"That is a normal feeling, your senses have been clouded for some time. You will be fine."

"The voice in my head is gone! It was always so nice and sweet whenever I did what it told me to do."

"Yes, that was its purpose: to keep you calm and happy while doing my bidding. Ah, it is done."

The purple blob that was the shadow parasite floated out of Janice's head, surrounded by Luna's magic. The mare set the parasite on her upturned hoof, then let her magic subside.

"Here it is. This is the means by which I controlled you."

"You mean, that thing was in my head?"

"Yes. It is the source of the voices you heard. But now, your mind is yours once again."

"Oh, what a relief! I thought I was going crazy!"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

I answered my Lunar Goddess.

"In our culture, hearing voices in one's head is seen as a sign of madness."

"Ah, I see. Be assured Janice, that you are not mad or otherwise deranged."

"Oh goodness, that's so good to hear.

"So, you're saying that this purple thing is why I did all those things for you?"

"Yes, Janice. It twists your perceptions so my commands seem reasonable."

"That explains everything! I couldn't understand why I kept taking money and buying things for you, but it always felt like it was the right thing to do."

"Exactly. I am deeply sorry for what I have done to you, and for any pain that I have caused. I cannot undo the damage, but I have done my best to make you whole once again."

"It's okay. Most of what I did for you is stuff I'm supposed to do for the other tenants if they ask. Well, except for the embezzling and pizza parties, but I didn't mind the pizza parties."

"So, you're not angry at us?"

Janice turned to me.

"No, not really. You guys helped me out and got me out of trouble, so I can't stay angry at you."

"I thank you for your understanding, Janice. I do not deserve your forgiveness, though I accept it wholeheartedly.

"If you will indulge me for a moment longer dear Janice, I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"Would you like to stay and work for me, but in an official capacity? You would become my seneschal, the one in charge of my Moon Palace and responsible for keeping it in good condition. You would be doing the same job that you have been doing these past few months for me. But instead of being controlled, you would become part of my extended family."

"Wait, you're offering me a job?"

"Yes. I have grown quite fond of you over these past months, and would be sad to see thee go. I wish thee to stay with us."

Janice sat there for a moment, and did not react. Then she smiled, and leaned in to give Luna a big hug! Luna stiffly endured the contact, but wrapped a wing around the woman a moment later.

"So, is this your way of saying 'yes'?"

Janice released Luna and sat back on the bed.

"Yes, and yes. I'd love to keep working with you.

"I guess I'll have to quit my old job and train my replacement. Susan might be a good fit."

"You have been performing both jobs for several months, perhaps your employers will allow you to stay."

"Maybe. Oh! You should free my co-workers as well!"

"We shall, do not fear."

"Oh yes! I almost forgot."

Janice leaned over the bed and patted me gently on top of my head.

"Good kitty!"

I sat there nonplussed, while both Janice and Luna had a laugh at my expense.

Later that day, Federal Agents arrived to take over security for the building. Their presence officially made the Moon Palace a foreign consulate, and marked our job complete. Nightmare Moon's secret control of Southern California was no more.

It was over. For real this time.

Epilogue

View Online

"It was over. For real this time."

I read those words over and over for several long seconds. It was hard to believe that the meaning behind them was actually true. I shook my head to break out of my stupor, then saved my work and closed the laptop. I stared at the computer for a few moments, then slowly leaned back in my chair. While I still had some editing left to do, I knew that the story of my time with Nightmare Moon was finally complete.

I stared out the one window in the room for what felt like an age. It had an impressive view of Canterlot that I never got tired of. My ears twitched at the familiar sound of metal shoes on marble, and I knew that the love of my life had returned.

"Taking a break?"

"Nope, all done."

"Truly?"

"Yup. Well, I need to edit up the last chapters a bit but the core story is there."

"Excellent news! I am sure it will be a bestseller in both your world and mine."

"Maybe. When you convinced me to write my memoirs on our attempt to conquer Earth, I admit I wasn't sure anyone would want to read it."

Luna leaned in to nuzzle my cheek.

"I hope that the interest shown by publishers both on Earth and here in Equestria have convinced you otherwise."

"I guess. But you do realize that ponies would buy any book involving you? You could narrate a trip to the bathroom, including all the grunts and groans and sounds and smells, and it would sell out in minutes."

Luna let out an adorable giggle, and my heart melted into a pile of goo.

"I am well aware."

"Oh! I decided to leave the comments you made in the story, and added my own."

"Oh? The words I put in using blue ink? Those were intended just for you, and not your readers."

"I know. But I thought they were funny, and might give the readers a little hint as to who was writing the story."

"Well, they were not private so you may leave them in if you wish.

"Ah, I have just remembered. After reading your story, I was reminded of something I did under my guise of Nightmare Moon. Something that I should apologize to you for."

"Oh? Which one? I can think of quite a few."

Luna smacked me on the arm with her wing.

"Smart-donkey.

"But in truth, I did wrong you back when we had just met. If you remember the time, when you asked your friends for help and none would do so?"

"Yessss...what did you do?"

"I had been watching you for some time beforehand, and I had sent my Shadowbolts to follow your companions home. When you were blocked from entering your home, it was a simple matter to threaten their well-being and guarantee that they would not offer you any assistance."

"Is that why none of them wanted to help me when I got evicted? I thought that they were just shitty friends!"

"I cannot say as to the quality of your companions. However, most did acquiesce to my demands quite easily."

"Huh. You fucked with my life pretty bad, didn't you? Just to get me to join you? Did you get me evicted too?"

"Nay, that was of your own doing. I merely saw an opportunity and made use of it."

"I see. Well, apology accepted I guess. It was so long ago it doesn't matter anymore."

Luna leaned in and kissed me softly.

"Thank you, my love.

"Ah! I almost forgot. The Human delegation has arrived, and Celly has asked us to get ready for the reception."

"It'll be weird to see Humans again, after being here in Canterlot for so long. I've gotten used to dealing with ponies."

"I can imagine. I have brought you the suit you shall wear tonight. It is your best suit, the one that matches my coat. I intend to show off my fine feline fiancé, after all."

Oh, yeah. That. I gotta say, life has been pretty good since I came to Equestria to live with Luna.

"Do I have to wear that one? It itches!"

"Then bring it to Rarity to have it adjusted. She is here in Canterlot today to help us look our best this evening."

"Alright."

I got up from my chair and took the suit out of Luna's magic, then draped it over a furred arm. I leaned over to give my love a soft kiss on her lips, then gestured towards the doorway.

"Ready?"

Luna nodded.

We turned to leave the small room in Canterlot Castle that I had turned into a study, and closed the door behind us.

FIN