In times past, ponies would keep their fillies from being bad by telling them that if they didn't behave, Nightmare Moon would come back and get them. Of course, Nightmare Moon hasn't been back since the Elements of Harmony defeated her in Celestia's presence.
Twilight has had dreams of Nightmare Moon's return since her defeat, but she never thought they would actually come true. Then one day, she receives a rather odd visitor... And the chain of events to follow threatens to tear asunder everything that she holds dear.
(Takes place after A Canterlot Wedding. Also disregards events in the MLP graphic novels.)
Edited/pre-read by TheCloudtop and Chaodiurn. Featured four times, most recently on 22 July 2015!
Twilight’s hoof-falls were barely audible in the dark hallway. It was as though the walls were swallowing up every sound she made. Were she to scream… would the walls eat up that noise as well? She hoped not- or, more accurately, she hoped that she would not have a reason to scream in the first place.
She looked down the hallway, squinting to see anything that she could maybe recognize, something that would tell her just where she was. No such luck. It was blacker than night itself in that hallway.
Her horn flared a bright purple, as she mentally cast a spell to provide her with light. It seemed to not make any bit of difference, though, as it was just as dark then as it was before she began to use her magic. The light spell she was using, luckily, took almost no concentration to keep up, and it provided minimal taxation on her magical reserves. Thus, she wasn’t really worried about running out of magic, should she need it for something else later on.
She called out again: “Hello?” This time, her voice did not shake as much. “Can anypony hear me? Where am I?”
This time, she got a response. A sinister laugh echoed throughout the hallway- or, at least, she assumed it was a hallway. She had been walking for quite some time, so she could logically deduce that it was not a single room that she was confined to. That did not really matter at that point, though, for the laugh had chilled Twilight’s blood in her veins.
Figuratively, of course.
Twilight racked her brain, as the laugh continued to echo in her mind, though it had actually ended a few seconds earlier. She knew that she could recognize that laugh from somewhere… but where?
“I know I’ve heard that laugh before,” she said aloud. “It seems so familiar, and yet so distant…”
A voice came out from the darkness, and its timbre was much the same as the laugh she had just heard. “Of course, you recognize my voice, young Twilight,” it said. “I spoke to you directly, so many… moons ago.”
Twilight gasped in recognition. “Nightmare Moon!” she exclaimed.
The laugh could be heard again. “Yes… I have come to visit you again. My friend.”
“Ha,” Twilight responded, though there was no mirth in her voice as she uttered the false laugh. “Friend? After what you tried to do to me and my true friends? I would hardly use that word to describe the relationship between us-“
“I tried to do nothing to you,” the voice echoed, a bit more distant this time, “nor to your so-called “true” friends. My only goal was for eternal night to reign over Equestria. Would that be so bad, do you think?”
Suddenly, dark flames flared up all around Twilight, and she could see further in a dusky light. She saw a throne room, adorned with symbols that she vaguely remembered seeing in some ancient runic texts. The light played games with the shadows, causing them to contort into shapes and figures that Twilight could not recognize.
“You bring foul creatures of darkness to your throne room?” Twilight asked. She hoped her vocal inflection had come across as defiant, but from the look on her foe’s face, she had not achieved the intended effect.
“Foul creatures? What on Equestria would make you think that?” She smiled grimly. “Are your eyes playing tricks on you, student of my dear sister?”
This infuriated Twilight more than she thought she should have been. “Don’t you dare sully Princess Celestia's name by allowing it to cross your lips…” she growled. “You were cast out from her presence because of your deeds. Didn’t 1,000 years’ imprisonment on the moon teach you anything?”
Nightmare Moon laughed devilishly. “Oh yes, Twilight Sparkle, it taught me many things. More, in fact, than you could ever imagine.” The flames around her flared brighter, illuminating the whole room. Twilight gasped in shock as she beheld what she could not have seen before.
“It seems you are beginning to grasp the direness of the situation,” Nightmare said, grinning as she gestured to the five forms chained up to the wall of the room- more of a dungeon, Twilight could see now. “I have already incapacitated five of the six Elements. And now, all I need is you… for my work to finally be complete.”
She began to advance towards Twilight, and Twilight readied her magic in defense.
“It won’t matter at all,” Nightmare said, smirking. “Nothing you have ever worked for will matter at all after tonight… When my return to the world of the living will be complete!”
Twilight found herself lifted off her feet, and though she struggled mightily, she could not break the grip that Nightmare Moon’s magic now had upon her. She screamed a silent scream as she flew through the air, towards the only set of shackles that did not currently bind a pony to the walls. As soon as she had made contact with the wall, the chains snapped shut around her forelegs and hind legs, trapping her there. Again, Twilight tried to use her magic to unbind herself, or barring that, just to magic away the chains that held her.
She failed.
Nightmare laughed with evident mirth as she saw Twilight’s efforts to free herself. “Resistance is futile, young one,” she chanted. “Your friend Rarity tried much the same thing… I very quickly disabused her of that notion, as well.” In a mere moment, Nightmare Moon teleported herself across the room, going from being very distant to Twilight’s location to being eye-to-eye with her.
“And now… we begin.” She cackled as her horn glowed with an ominous light, and as she deftly dipped her head down to touch Twilight’s horn with her own-
---
Twilight’s eyes flew open and she bolted upright in her bed. She was drenched with a cold night-sweat that clung desperately to the individual hairs of her usually well-kept coat. Now, though, hairs were out of place everywhere from where she had been tossing and turning in the throes of her night terror. Her mane and tail were much the same way.
She looked around her in horror, her mind racing a million miles a minute. She had to take in her surroundings for a good five minutes or so, just in order to reassure herself that she was not in the dungeon that she had been in during her dream.
When she was sufficiently aware of where she was, she flopped back down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was still breathing quite heavily, and her heartbeat had not yet begun its descent to a normal resting pace.
A few seconds later, Spike poked his head out of his covers, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Hmm…? Twilight? Are you alright?”
“No, I’m not…” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “This is the third time in the past two weeks that I’ve had a nightmare involving… well, Nightmare.”
“Nightmare Moon again?” Spike already knew the answer to that question, though. The first time that Twilight had her Nightmare Moon dream, she had been nearly inconsolable upon awakening. The second time was not as bad, but just barely so. In fact, she was taking it remarkably well this time around.
“Yes,” Twilight said softly. “I fear she may be returning soon… Though for what, I know not.”
“Well, it’s not eternal night all across Equestria yet, is it?” Spike said, no discernible hint of sarcasm in his voice. “So technically, she has that one really big reason to come back.”
“That is true… But why would she pick now to do it?” She sat up and swung her legs around so they were hanging down off the side of the bed. Spike always found it funny when she did that; it made her look like Lyra sitting on the park bench. “The Elements are still around, and we’re more powerful now than we were even back then, when we defeated her the first time.”
“She doesn’t know that, though, does she?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past her, Spike.” Twilight hopped down off the bed, all four legs making contact with the wooden floor, making soft “pomf” noises as they impacted. She stretched a little bit, trying to get the last bit of blood flow back to her limbs, as they had locked up on her during her marathon tossing and turning session.
When she was done doing that, she walked over to a door and opened it. The night air flowed in, and Twilight closed her eyes momentarily in silent appreciation of such a simple, and yet so pleasurable, sensation.
“You’ve always loved that, haven’t you?” Spike asked. Again, he already knew the answer to that. Twilight had told Spike multiple times of her love for the cool night air. Spike had always thought that she would like the morning air better, with her being Celestia’s student and all, but not one single time had he ever voiced this to her. He dared not see her reaction to that sentiment.
“Yeah,” Twilight said, maybe a bit sheepishly. “You know, Spike, you and I have been through so much… More than I have with any of my other friends, and I’ve known them just about as long as I’ve known you.”
“Well yeah, that’s because you were there when I hatched, silly.” Spike laughed a bit. “Oh, what a day that was. I was safe and snug in my egg, and all of a sudden- bam! The shell gets rocketed out from around me, and then there I am, sitting on a little bit of egg-shell that was left underneath me. I’m seeing all these ponies that I had no idea who they were, much less what they were. I mean, I was only about ten seconds out of my egg, mind you.”
Twilight giggled as she remembered the scene he was recounting. The day that she got her cutie mark, as well as being the day of Spike’s hatching.
“And then…” Spike paused for a second, as though trying to figure out what would be just the right thing to say in that particular situation. “I saw you.”
“What’d you think, then?” Twilight asked, her curiosity taking over her.
“I can’t remember exactly. It was quite a while ago. But if I knew myself, and if I was anything back then like I am today, it was probably something like, ‘Wow, did she do that? That’s amazing…’”
Twilight giggled softly for a second. “It really was amazing, but I had no idea what I was doing. And then when my magic went out of control, I turned you into a giant dragon…”
“Yeah, you know the funny part about that? I guess it was because it actually wasn’t an aging spell that you put on me, but I didn’t actually remember anything about that until Celestia used some spell to show me what had happened. Man, I got big, and really quickly too!”
Twilight was about to say something, but she cut herself off before she could even start, and her smile faded into a frown. “And now all I’m thinking about is those nightmares again. I just can’t get them out of my mind…”
“Then send another letter to Princess Celestia, and let her know about your fears.”
She sighed. “I already have. Multiple times. In fact, I think Celestia’s getting kind of annoyed with me sending her so many letters. It’s always a variant of the same response every time, too: Nightmare Moon is not returning, so don’t worry about it.” She shivered a bit. “I can’t help but feel, though, that it really and truly is going to be happening soon. I just can’t shake this dread…”
Spike sat down beside her and rested his head against her leg. “You’ll think of something. I’m sure of it. You always think of just the right thing to do in every situation. Like that one time when-“
“Spike.” Twilight looked down at Spike, and her assistant looked up at her as well, just in time to see a familiar gleam creep into Twilight’s eyes. “I have an idea.”
“I kinda figured that,” Spike retorted. “That’s usually what it means when you get that light in your eyes. So what’s your idea?” He stretched as he finished the last part of his sentence.
Twilight smiled. “We’re taking a little journey.”
“Hope it’s not too long. I don’t want to miss my afternoon nap again today.”
She stuck her tongue out at her assistant. “You’ll be able to sleep all you want on the way there and back. Besides… you never have liked the Everfree Forest, have you?”
---
Twilight approached the old-looking shack with deferent hoof-steps. She didn’t really expect Zecora to be mad at her for showing up unannounced, but still she wanted to be respectful to the zebra shaman. Zecora had taught her so much about magic and about life lessons in general, and Twilight felt she owed her quite a bit.
Naturally, Zecora didn’t feel that Twilight owed her anything, but- as Twilight thought- that was probably why they got along so well. It wasn’t like Zecora was lording anything over her.
She knocked on the door a bit more quietly than was probably necessary, but she also had Spike to think about. He had taken Twilight’s advice to heart, and had fallen asleep shortly after they had departed for the Forest. His face was pressed up against the clasp of the bag that Twilight had slung over her shoulder before leaving, which meant that he’d have a decent-quality impression of Twilight’s cutie mark on his forehead when he woke up.
She’d gotten the bag as a Hearth’s Warming gift from Derpy a few years back, and she loved it so much that she’d been using it for just about everything ever since.
She could hear Zecora coming up to the door. “Who is at my door this eve?” came the voice from the other side. “If you’re a boogeypony, I suggest you leave!”
Twilight chuckled a bit. “No boogeyponies out here, Zecora. It’s just me. Twilight.”
She could hear laughter as the door opened up from the inside. “This I know, my dear friend. It was all a joke in the end.”
Twilight stepped inside Zecora’s hut and closed the door quietly. Zecora turned to ask why she was being so quiet, but before she could say anything she noticed Spike asleep in her bag.
She smiled. “The young one it seems could not stay awake, though it was quite the long journey to make.” Twilight nodded in assent and took the bag off gently, placing it down softly near the door. Spike always did like the softness of the moonlight, and if it helped him to sleep better, then what was Twilight to deny him that?
By the time Twilight had turned her attention back to Zecora, the zebra had already gotten out two of her special cups and filled them up with a very aromatic tea. Twilight’s eyes glistened as she walked over to the table; she’d had Zecora’s tea many a time before, and she knew how good it was. She carefully picked up her cup with her hooves and took a sip, as it was still hot. She closed her eyes and smiled, as the dual tastes of apples and cinnamon trickled down her throat as she swallowed.
“How does my concoction taste?” Zecora asked. “I hope my talents have not gone to waste.”
Twilight smiled. “They most certainly have not, my friend. Your tea is just as good as always.” She looked over at Spike, still sound asleep in her bag. Suddenly, something occurred to her. “Hey, Zecora. Why are you up so late, anyways? I would figured you’d be asleep by now.”
“I have never had much need for sleep,” Zecora responded, “for I enjoy the night, so dark and deep.”
The mention of the night brought back the images of Nightmare Moon into Twilight’s mind, and she shivered involuntarily. Zecora noticed this, being as watchful as she was.
“What troubles you so, if I may know?”
As much as Twilight didn’t want to tell her, she knew that it was the entire reason why she had come to Zecora that night. So, she swallowed deeply and began from the beginning, first relating the story of how the Elements had defeated Nightmare Moon (though she was sure Zecora already knew all of that), going up through the beginning of the nightmares, and finally ending with that most recent appearance that had prompted Twilight to make the journey into the Everfree Forest to see Zecora.
Zecora listened patiently as Twilight poured her heart out to her, only speaking when she was sure that Twilight had said her full piece. “It makes sense that you would be here, with your heart being in so much fear.”
Twilight sighed. “I just didn’t know who else to turn to, Zecora. You’ve been so helpful in the past, giving me wisdom when I needed it most. And… well, I need it pretty badly right now, too.”
Zecora nodded thoughtfully. “It seems to me that Nightmare Moon, may not even be returning soon.”
That was good news for Twilight. At least Zecora was saying this with a level head. “Why do you think that, Zecora?”
“Nightmare Moon has lost her power, thanks to you and your friends in that hour. You banished her to Celestia knows where, and since then she’s remained there.”
“But that’s the thing, Zecora. Nightmare Moon is no more, or so we thought anyways. The Elements of Harmony combined to turn Princess Luna back into the way she was before she became Nightmare Moon. So technically, Nightmare Moon shouldn’t exist anymore… should she?”
“If what you are saying is right, then peace should have already come to the night.”
“But it hasn’t…” Twilight sounded like she was about to be on the verge of tears. “It hasn’t been that way at all. At least, not for me.”
“Let me ask you a question, then. Has this same dream come to any of your friends?”
Twilight was about to answer in the negative, when she realized that Zecora had a point. The others hadn’t said anything about Nightmare Moon coming to them in their dreams, but they might be just as scared as she was about it. They might not want to talk to her about it at all.
“Have any of them come to you about it, Zecora?”
“None of them have come to me, but some of them are still scared, you see.”
“Not any of the Elements. Though some of the other Ponyville residents might still be…” Twilight looked up at Zecora, a steely determination suddenly filling her eyes. “I knew it was the right decision to come to you. Thank you so much!”
Zecora smiled. “It is always a pleasure to assist; it is how we Equestrians peaceably coexist.” Twilight smiled and walked the few steps to Zecora, hugging her tightly; Zecora returned the gesture, still smiling. Twilight dropped down onto all fours, and was about to go and get her bag to leave when Zecora stopped her. “Before you leave this night, I have something I want you to try.”
Twilight turned to face her again. “Oh? What’s that?”
Zecora walked over to her potions cabinet and got one out; she nodded, and Twilight levitated it over to her with her magic. “This is a potion I made, that might be to you an aid. Drink this when you get home tonight, and no dreams will come to you to fright.”
Twilight smiled graciously. “I was going to ask you if you had something like this… Thank you so much. Let’s hope it works for me.” Still holding it above her head, she went over and put on her bag, slipping the potion into a side pocket. She smiled at Zecora and walked out the door, Zecora waving at her as she left.
---
A few hours had passed by the time Twilight got back to her library home. Spike had stirred a few times on the journey back, but eventually he’d gone back to sleep each time, just like Twilight had thought he was going to do. Twilight smiled as she levitated Spike over to his bed, placing him inside and covering him up snugly with his favorite blanket.
“He’s really out cold…” Twilight said softly with a smile. “It’s almost like that one night when he stayed up all night at Pinkie’s birthday party-“
A thought occurred to her suddenly, which caused her to stop in dumbfounded shock. “Oh no! I can’t believe I forgot all about it! Scootaloo’s birthday party was tonight! Oh no, I hope I didn’t miss it…” She bolted out the door, running headlong in the direction of the Cake’s bakery, which was where the party was being held at.
As she got closer to the door of the bakery, she could see wild lights waving all about inside. That, coupled with the thumping music emanating from behind those closed doors, reassured her greatly that the party was indeed still in full swing. She slowed down to a walk and, trying to catch her breath from running all the way there, opened up the door.
Naturally, she was greeted immediately by Pinkie Pie.
“Welcome to the party, Miss Latey-Pants! Oh!” She found herself suddenly enveloped in a giant hug. “Twilight! We were all wondering if you were ever going to show up! Good thing I convinced Vinyl to keep this party going for a bit longer!”
Twilight smiled a bit. “Sorry about that, Pinkie. I actually completely forgot about the party. I had gone out to see Zecora for something and… well, I guess the time just got away from me.”
Pinkie was looking at her oddly now. “Wait, wait. You only go see Zecora when you have something really heavy weighing on your mind… Hold on a second.” She bounded off in the direction of the refreshment table, and she came back not with drinks, but with Applejack and Rarity. Twilight smiled at them each in turn.
“So, sugarcube,” Applejack began, “Pinkie here tells me that ya’ve been to see Zecora.”
“How is she, by the way?” Rarity interjected. “I have not spoken to her hardly at all in quite some time…”
“She is… well, about the same as she always is,” Twilight responded, smiling. “And yes, I did just come back from visiting her. I had to speak to her regarding a particular issue I’ve been having to deal with lately.”
“Issue?” said a familiar voice from up above her. “You haven’t told any of us about any issue, have you?” Dash looked to the others for confirmation, and got what she was looking for. She turned her attention back to Twilight. “So...? ‘Fess up: why haven’t you come to any of us about this, but you’re more than willing to go to Zecora for advice?”
Twilight’s face fell, and they could all tell she was probably about to cry. This caused them all to glare at Rainbow Dash, who adopted a “What’d I do?” look on her face.
“It’s fine, really…” Twilight said, her voice down low. “I kinda figured you’d react like this. I mean, you all were such a big part of it all, and for me to keep it from you… It seems wrong somehow-“
She suddenly found herself being pulled out the door by Rainbow Dash, and the others were following her looking a bit confused. As Dash forced her out the now-open door, she saw that Fluttershy had joined them, and wondered for the briefest of moments where in Equestria she’d come from.
As quickly as Dash had started dragging her, she stopped once Twilight was all the way outside. The door closed, muffling the thumping bass lines coming from inside.
“I’m confused about something,” Pinkie said, trying to clean out her ears with the tip of her hoof. “What exactly were we a part of? Or did you not tell anypony that yet?”
“She hadn’t said yet,” Rarity responded. “But you will tell us… won’t you?”
“Of course I will…” She looked down at the ground, ashamed of her actions. “I just thought… well, I thought it was just so silly and stupid, that none of you all would take it as seriously as I’ve been taking it…”
Applejack stepped up and placed a comforting hoof around her shoulder. “Now why on earth would ya think that, sugarcube? We’re your friends, aren’t we? So whatever has got you so down in the dumps, maybe we can help ya out with it? Ever thought of that?”
“I have, but… I know that you all have your own problems that you have to deal with, and-“
“Darlin’ your problems are our problems, too. You’re one of our dearest friends, and besides that you’re the most important member of the Elements. Remember that? You’re the one who’s holdin’ this all together. So just come out with it already. What’s botherin’ ya?”
Twilight swallowed deeply as she faced the friends she should have come to all along. “It’s… these dreams that I’ve been having. Three times in two weeks, and every time it’s the same basic theme…” She paused to collect herself, then finished her thought. “Every time, it ends with Nightmare Moon returning to rule Equestria again.”
There was an almost deathly silence over the group for a few moments, only broken by the sound of Rainbow Dash bursting into wild laughter.
“Oh… oh wow… Th-that’s what you were worried about this whole time?” She had to stop her actual words due to now laughing so hard, she couldn’t get anything out. The rest of the ponies in the group were glaring at her, but she was too busy cackling to even notice.
Rarity was the first to speak after the outburst. “Rainbow Dash…” she said chidingly, “you know better than to laugh at our good friend like that. Though-“ She shifted her attention back to Twilight. “-Dash does have a point. Why on earth would you be worried about that? You saw just as well as we did, how the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon for good. That’s that.”
“Yeah! And even if Nightmare Moon did return, why couldn’t we just use the Elements again and seal her away this time too?” Pinkie was bouncing up and down as she normally did when forced to stand still for a long period of time against her will. Of course, nopony was actually forcing her to do this, but she wasn’t thinking about that at that point.
“I’ve thought about all of that…” Twilight admitted, “but still I can’t shake that feeling. I know it’s highly improbable, though I wouldn’t say impossible because statistically speaking, nothing is impossible… which is honestly what really gets me. It’s not impossible, which means it is possible, which means-“
“Sugarcube,” Applejack interjected before Twilight could get off on one of her rants that involved big smart words that nopony besides her- and maybe Derpy, who usually was able to freely converse with Twilight when she was around for one of her faux-intelligentsia discourses- were able to understand, “ya gotta listen to us. We ain’t just hopped off the apple cart yesterday. And I think deep down, ya know that too.” She took a breath to collect her thoughts a bit further. “So what did Zecora say when ya went ta talk ta her?”
“Well… she said pretty much the same thing that you all did. That I really shouldn’t worry about it because of the work that the Elements did-“
“And she’s absolutely right!” Rainbow butted in, apparently done with her laughing fit at Twilight’s initial pronouncement. “We kicked Nightmare Moon’s flank that night! There shouldn’t be any doubt that she won’t be coming back. I mean, has Princess Luna disappeared any time lately? Nope. And why is that? Because she’s not Nightmare Moon anymore. She’s just Princess Luna again. So there, problem solved.”
Just then, Derpy stuck her head out the door. “Hey, Rarity! You… comin’ back in, or am I gonna have to *hic* drag you in…?”
Rarity flushed a little bit at Derpy’s words. “Oh my… I’d completely forgotten that I was supposed to be designated pony for Miss Hooves tonight… If you all will excuse me.” She turned to leave, but not before placing a comforting hoof on Twilight’s foreleg. “Don’t you worry about a thing, darlin’. Nightmare Moon isn’t coming back. That much, I can promise you.” She smiled kindly at Twilight, who did her best to return the gesture. With that, she slipped inside, calling out to Derpy to come back to her as she entered the party room. The music grew louder for a moment with the opening of the door, then fell back down to a dim roar as it closed again.
Rainbow turned to look at Twilight again, as she’d turned around to make sure Rarity got inside ok. “Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to get back in there and party some more! Anypony else comin’ with me?”
“Oh, you bet!” Pinkie started hopping up and down again though pretty much everypony could tell this time it was from excitement about getting back to the party. “I’ve got to greet more ponies, and plus there’s this mare that’s been eyeing me from across the party all night. I wish I knew her name. She looks so much like me. She’s a pegasus, though…”
Pinkie led the way, with the others following closely behind her. Even Twilight went in with them, in spite of her true want to go back to the library and go straight to sleep. She’d come out to wish Scootaloo a happy birthday, and she was going to make sure she wasn’t going to leave without doing that.
Although, if she’d really be honest with herself, she was more concerned about not having another nightmare that night, than anything else.
---
Almost four hours later, the door to Twilight’s library opened up silently. Twilight stumbled inside, closing the door gently with her magic. She’d spent way longer at the party than she’d expected herself to be there for, but she wasn’t intoxicated in any way. Not that she didn’t want to be, though; in fact, she caught herself drinking quite a bit with Rarity and Derpy throughout the night, who at one point had disappeared only to return about half an hour later not wanting to say anything about where they’d been or what they’d been doing.
For some reason, though, she couldn’t even catch a buzz, even though the Apple family had donated some of their best distilled hard apple cider for the occasion- not for Scootaloo herself, or at least it wasn’t intended for her. Rainbow Dash had naturally slipped her a glass or two, just to see if she’d like it. She did.
Twilight yawned as she started to ascend the stairs that would take her up to her bedroom. As she walked quietly, so as not to disturb Spike’s beauty rest, she thought she heard somepony walking around in her room, but she assumed it was probably Spike just getting up to close the window he habitually left open, or maybe he had to go use the little dragon’s room.
Whatever it was, she paid no serious mind to it.
When she got to her room, she turned the doorknob and went inside. She went straight over to her bed and flopped down onto it. She sighed in relief as she snuggled down into her mattress. She was just about to let the deep, beautiful darkness of sleep wash over her when she heard the door open.
“Hrmm…?” she muttered sleepily. “Spike…? Is that you…?”
After a moment came the reply: “This little dragon you keep here is not the one who wants your ear.” Immediately, Twilight recognized the voice and her eyes snapped open. If she was tired at all before, now she was back awake.
“Zecora?” she asked, sitting up and propping herself up against the backboard of her bed. “What on earth are you doing here at this time? And why are you in my house to begin with? I don’t remember giving you permission to come in. How long have you been here?”
“So many questions…” Zecora muttered. “Too many, if you ask me…”
Twilight was about to respond, when something occurred to her, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Hold on a second… Zecora has never not rhymed when she speaks. You just said two sentences back-to-back, and they didn’t rhyme.”
The thing that called herself Zecora smiled. “Oh, darn. I didn’t think I’d slip up this soon. No matter. You would be better off knowing what I truly am, anyways.” A green light enveloped her, coming from the ground up as it completely encased her. When the light had gone away, a very familiar form stood before Twilight, grinning.
“Well now, Twilight Sparkle… Now, things start to get interesting.”
Twilight stared at the creature before her. That was the best term that she could use for her; she wasn’t exactly a pony, Twilight knew. She had something else mixed in. Changeling. She was the queen of the Changelings, after all. Her eyes were met by those of her visitors, a spark flaring to life in those green irises.
Her fangs poked out from her tight-lipped smile, and Twilight knew that she couldn’t be up to any good. Still, she didn’t dare look away.
“Why did you choose to take the form of Zecora?” she finally asked, finding her voice after her initial bout of shell-shocked silence.
“The zebra fascinates me,” Chrysalis replied, not losing her wry grin. “And besides that, I was following you ever since you and your little dragon left your house to go out into the Everfree forest. The whole way there, I was above you. While you talked with her, I stood outside her hut, watching you try in desperation to get answers about your problems. And while you came back, I was not too far behind you.”
“Were you following me all the way to the party?” Twilight asked with some trepidation. She feared what Chrysalis’ answer was going to be. What more havoc could she wreak if she had seen some of the other ponies that were at the party? Maybe it would give the Changelings even more ammunition in their constant war against the ponies, more forms they could morph into in order to fool the unsuspecting populace.
“There was no reason for me to do so. I simply stayed here until you returned, then assumed the form of your zebra friend before you entered.”
Twilight’s brain was starting to work again, and even more questions were flooding her mind. She wanted to ask them all at once, but she didn’t want to turn Chrysalis off from the conversation. Maybe if she kept the Changeling queen talking long enough, she could figure out how to get her out of her house and back on her way.
She had no way of knowing whether or not this plan would work, but it was the only thing she could come up with, so she had to go with it for the moment at least.
“Do your changelings know you’re here?” She regretted the question almost as soon as she asked it. Of all the questions that she could have proposed to Chrysalis, that one had to be the first one…?
Chrysalis smirked. “Of course they do, and they’ve taken the proper safety precautions to guard until my arrival back in our homeland. My Changelings know everyplace I go, and vice versa. We are never without our connection.”
“I thought you were expelled, though, after Princess Cadence and my brother’s wedding… How did you get back here?”
The Changeling queen’s grin faltered for a moment, as the unpleasant memories of her defeat at the hooves of Shining Armor and his powerful spell that ricocheted herself and the Changelings away from the Canterlot royal hall. She didn’t let this get at her for very long though, and after a moment or two, her grin was back as though it had never left.
“That was a very unfortunate setback, and one that I admit I had not thoroughly planned for. After our defeat, we went back to our home to plan our next attack.” She sighed, slipping her fangs back inside her mouth. “That attack never happened, though.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked, still trying to buy time.
“We were too weak, and our numbers were decimated in the attack. Thanks to the pink one using you as… some kind of rapid-fire spell machine, my Changelings were defeated far quicker than I could have ever thought possible. I had hoped to bolster our forces by the time the planned attack was to be carried out, but obviously that didn’t happen.”
Curiosity overtook Twilight at this point. “How exactly did you plan on creating the new forces you needed for the attack?”
The look in Chrysalis’ eyes now was one of pity, as though a teacher was looking down upon a student who just couldn’t quite grasp the subject matter at hand. “How do you think it happens? I give birth to them. I’m not called queen of the Changelings for nothing. It’s not just a title.” She tried to put on the sneer that had been on her face for the first part of the conversation, but it just didn’t seem- to Twilight, anyways- to come as easy as it had.
She decided not to press the issue at the moment. Instead, she slipped out of her bed and stretched a bit, yawning. She knew she had to sleep but at the same time, thought it rather impossible with Chrysalis standing in her bedroom.
“Can you at least tell me why you’re here?” Twilight asked after a moment. “As far as I was told, you and your Changelings were banned from Canterlot and its surrounding areas- which, may I remind you, includes Ponyville- after your failed attempted coup d'état at the wedding. So you’re automatically taking a huge risk in coming here to see me.”
Chrysalis finally let her wry smile fade away, and a depressed frown replaced it. It was only then, that Twilight noticed that the queen looked to be very tired like she was. She wasn’t manifesting any other kind of outward symptoms besides the tired look in her face and eyes, but Twilight recognized it immediately. She knew what it meant; she was having to deal with the same thing herself, at that particular moment.
“Is everything alright?” Twilight asked in spite of herself. Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered why in Equestria she had asked that. This was an evil queen who was standing in her room, and here she was, asking her if she was ok. Have you lost your mind, Twilight? This is totally not what you need to be doing…
Chrysalis’ face shifted back into its normal smug façade. “Did you really just ask me that, Twilight Sparkle?” She laughed condescendingly as she faced Celestia’s protégé head-on. “You’ve grown much too soft, even more so since we last fought.”
Twilight backed up a bit, defensively. “I’m not soft. And even if I was, it’s still better than what you are…”
An almost seductive smile crept over Chrysalis’ face. “Oh really, now? So you know sooo much about me, do you?” She started walking towards Twilight at a slow creeping pace. “Tell me, then… What am I?”
For some reason, Twilight found herself getting a bit flustered at the way Chrysalis was looking at her. Did she have some sort of mind powers or something else that Twilight didn’t know about? As it was, she was barely able to choke out her answer: “You’re… a devil…”
“Oh? Is that so? Well then, I guess that makes my Changelings my demons then, doesn’t it?” She kept on coming towards Twilight, still with that look on her face. “And maybe you’d like to meet my demons again… You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
Twilight looked desperately around for anypony to come save her. She saw nopony, though. Not even-
“Where’s Spike?” Twilight cried out a bit pitifully. “What did you do with him?”
“Me?” Chrysalis asked with an innocent tone. “Why on earth would I want to do anything to your pitiful little dragon? It’s not like he is of any threat to me at all…” She grinned again. “Nothing like you. He is small, weak. You, on the other hand… could probably pose a pretty big threat to me and my work, if you were to actually want to do anything about it…”
The rage in Twilight’s eyes was becoming more and more evident by the minute. If Chrysalis expected her to believe that she hadn’t done anything with Spike, then the Changeling queen was more of a fool than Twilight had expected her to be. She had to have done something with Spike… didn’t she?
“Your Changelings took him, didn’t they?” She spit those words out with as much venom as she could muster, though they ultimately fell short of the rage that she was truly feeling inside. “If they harm him in any way…”
“You’ll do what?” Chrysalis said tauntingly. “You’ll do nothing, because you never could do anything. You’ve been relying for far too long on your book-reading to get you by in life. You’ve never tried to put any of that into application. And that is why even your unicorn counterpart- what was her name? Rarity, I believe- is stronger than you when it comes to that. Simply put, any unicorn in Equestria will eventually turn out to be better than you, because of that simple fact.”
She spat on the ground. “Why do you think I’ve hated Celestia for so long? She makes all of her students weak sheep, unable to function out in the real world. They’re too dependent on knowledge to feel important, and who do they get that knowledge from? Celestia, of course.”
Twilight’s rage built up more and more by the second, and her eyes began to glow a pale grey-green color. “Do… not… talk about Princess Celestia like that…”
Chrysalis smiled coyly. “Or you’ll do what? That’s my point, Twilight. You can’t do anything. Not to stop me, not to stop Nightmare Moon when she returns, not-“
Almost immediately, Twilight’s eyes returned back to normal, and she visibly recoiled. “Wh-what did you just say? D…did you just say something about Nightmare Moon’s returning?”
Chrysalis grinned again. “Well, that got your attention, now didn’t it? As a matter of fact, that is the reason why I wanted to come to you to begin with. See, the truth is-“
A very familiar voice came from behind Twilight: “The only truth you need to know, is that you are not supposed to be here. And I have just the thing to remedy that.” Before either of them could even react, a solid bolt of energy flashed past Twilight and struck Chrysalis straight in the chest. She reared back and readied a blast of her own, but a second bolt struck her before she could even get all the way readied. Enraged, she spread her wings and pivoted, flying out the window. She barely avoided the third and fourth magic bolts as she flew away, crying curses as she sped towards the horizon.
Twilight turned and looked at her savior, though she already knew who it was. She smiled when she saw the familiar white form that stood in front of her now, and she couldn’t help but think that it had been an eternity since she’d smiled like that. Her encounter with Chrysalis had taken that much out of her.
She bowed in deference. “Princess Celestia… thank you.”
Celestia looked concerned as she scanned the horizon, but she managed a brief smile for Twilight’s benefit. Her horn glowed briefly, and Twilight could sense the surge of power that always accompanied Celestia’s use of magic in the area. It was active for only a moment or two, before the glow died down, and the magic level in the area began to equalize itself again.
“Okay…” Celestia said softly. Seeing the inquisitive look on Twilight’s face, she continued: “I was casting a spell to make sure that Chrysalis or her Changelings weren’t still in the area. It appears she has fled for good… for now.”
Twilight tried to force herself to relax, but she simply couldn’t get her muscles to de-tense. Just then, a small purple face poked itself from around the back part of Celestia’s hind leg, and Twilight couldn’t help but let out an excited squee.
“Spike!” she shouted gaily. “You’re alive!”
“Well yeah…” Spike muttered. “Why wouldn’t I be…?”
Twilight rushed over to him and hugged him close to her. Her outburst of emotion surprised even herself. Spike blushed faintly, but embraced her back.
“Your assistant here came and got me, as soon as he saw that Chrysalis had come back,” Celestia explained. “That is why he was not here when you returned. It had nothing to do with Chrysalis or her Changelings harming him in any way… though I cannot blame you for thinking that. You had no knowledge to the contrary.”
Twilight looked up at Celestia, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye. “I… I didn’t know what to do. If you hadn’t have shown up… I don’t know what would have happened.”
“I understand,” Celestia replied with a kindly smile. “It was hard enough for you to take on Chrysalis the first time, and that was with the other Elements at your side. Having to face her one-on-one is probably something you wish not to repeat. It is good fortune that Spike was able to get to me when he did, so that nothing of harm would come to you.”
It was only then that Twilight remembered something that Chrysalis had told her. “Chrysalis mentioned her, you know. Nightmare Moon.”
Celestia’s smile faded. “I heard her say that, right before I intervened. I wonder why, though... Did she know something about her that you or I did not?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “She never got around to telling me why, before you came along and saved me.”
Her smile returned, and she laid a comforting hoof atop Twilight’s head, ruffling her mane affectionately. “If I had to take a guess, Twilight, she was simply using Nightmare Moon’s name to scare you into doing something that she could later take advantage of. As far as I can tell, she failed in that regard.” She looked around outside, but saw nothing except the placid night sky. “Would you like me to dispatch a few of my guards to keep watch over you tonight? Just in case she comes back, I mean…”
Twilight smiled. “No thank you, though I appreciate the gesture. I’ll be fine, I think. If I have to, I’ll ask Fluttershy or one of them to stay here with me tonight.” Celestia nodded and gave Twilight one last quick hug, before taking to the air and flying out the window.
She looked down at Spike. “Did you and Celestia get in through the window?”
Spike nodded. “We didn’t want Chrysalis to notice us before Celestia was ready to blast her.” Twilight nodded; that much made sense. Suddenly, she swooned on her feet, her eyes closing rapidly. Spike hurried to help her over to the bed, and with his help she made it. She collapsed on the bed and in moments was soon asleep.
Spike walked over to his bed, feeling very much tired himself. As he settled in, though, a voice echoed through his head, one that chilled him to the bone.
“Soon, my young one… You will all know the new world that she will bring upon you…”
As daylight broke the next day, Spike’s eyes opened slowly. As he did so, the events of the previous evening came rushing back to him, and he suddenly found himself wanting to tuck himself into his covers, burrow down as deeply as he possibly could, and never come back out.
He thought about those deadly green eyes, and how they seem to look straight through Twilight, as though she was looking not at her face but into her very inner being. He thought about the smirk on her face, as though what she was talking about was some sort of cosmic in-joke and Twilight just happened to be out of the loop.
More than anything, though, he thought about the voice that he had heard inside his head after Celestia had left. What did it mean? It was so odd. The voice had almost sounded like Chrysalis’ regular voice... and yet it had a much more sinister timbre behind it. It was almost as though somepony else was talking through her, simply using her as a channel, and-
“Hmm? Spike...?”
Spike looked up at Twilight’s bed and smiled. “Hey there,” he replied softly. “How did you sleep? You know... after all that?”
Twilight rubbed her eyes sleepily, though Spike figured that to be more of a side-effect of her just waking up than anything else. “You know something? I actually slept better than I thought I would. You’re right, though... Last night was really... something else.”
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Spike asked, a concerned look coming over his face. “You’re acting awfully calm for somepony who’s just had quite possibly the most harrowing experience of their life happen to them, and only a few hours ago at that.”
Twilight had to smile at Spike’s concern. “Yeah, you’re right. That would be something to be concerned about, if I were at all calm about this situation. I think, though, that a more appropriate term would be... in shock.” This made Spike feel a little bit better, at least. Maybe she hadn’t come completely unhinged, like she had when she thought that she had nothing to write to Celestia about and went just about permanently insane as a result. Only Celestia’s own explanation had been able to back Twilight away from going in the deep end for good.
Spike was about to say something else, when he heard a small clutter from downstairs. He silenced himself immediately, and pointed in the direction of the stairs. Twilight nodded silently, confirming that she had heard the disturbance, as well. Spike could tell that they were having the same thought: what if Chrysalis had come back for them?
Twilight got out of bed slowly, so as not to potentially cause another fainting spell like the one she’d had the evening previous. Her steps were unsteady at first, but as she regained her balance she began to move more purposefully. She and Spike descended the stairs quietly; on the off-chance that their unwanted guest from the night before had returned, they did not want to prematurely let on to the fact that they were aware of her presence.
When they were downstairs, Twilight held up a hoof to her mouth, mimicking a silent “shush” motion. Spike gave her a deadpan look of sorts, as if to ask her, “What, do you really think I’m going to be a loudmouth and screw this up?” With that, Twilight turned her focus once again to-
“Why is she in the kitchen?” Twilight asked with the barest of inflections, and in a whisper so soft that Spike almost didn’t hear what she said. He simply shrugged in response, trying to stick as close to the original protocol as possible. From what Celestia had told him the night before regarding the Changelings, their hearing was their most valued asset- aside from their shapeshifting, of course. And even Spike recognized that if the Changelings’ hearing was that acute, then the sense of their queen was undoubtedly so, as well.
Twilight held up a hoof, signaling for Spike to stop, and he did so. She seemed to be readying herself for something, more than likely to confront her guest. She did a silent count to three, then burst into the kitchen, magic at the ready. Spike was only a step or so behind her. What they both saw there, confused and bewildered them.
“There’s nopony here!” Twilight exclaimed. “I know I heard noises, and you did too, so... where in Equestria did they go?”
“C-can she turn invisible?” Spike asked, stuttering a bit. “We already know she can turn into anypony that she wants... Maybe she’s got more powers than just that at her disposal.”
Twilight allowed herself to shudder. “If she does... We certainly do have our work cut out for us.” Just then, her ears perked up. “Somepony’s removing one of the books that’s in my library! Maybe she’s out there now!”
Spike gave her an odd look. “So... now you can hear when a single book is being taken out of a single shelf? I couldn’t even hear when Rainbow Dash crashed into the library and knocked all of the books out onto the floor.”
Twilight sighed in near-exasperation, though most of it was directed at the situation in general and not at Spike himself. “First of all, you weren’t even there when Dash lost her sense of direction. I’m the one who told you about that after the fact. And second, you’re underestimating me again. This is my library, and my books. I know this tree better than I do anyplace else, and I’m including my old home in that. Call it ‘book sense’.”
“Book sense? Is that anything like spider-sense?”
Twilight was about to respond, when the utter nonsensicality of his statement hit her. “Um, Spike... What on earth are you talking about?”
“Oh, it’s this comic book that Fluttershy showed me the other day. It’s called Spider-pony. You really should read it sometime; it’s-” The look on Twilight’s face shushed him right up, and his face flushed a bit red, embarrassedly.
“Now,” Twilight continued, “to the library!” They turned around and, since the library was right outside the kitchen, pushed the door open bravely. Twilight readied her magic yet again, and when they stepped hoof (and claw) into the living room, they were surprised to find-
“Celestia?” Twilight asked in shock, her mouth falling agape. “Wh-what on earth are you doing here? I thought you left last night...”
Celestia smiled warmly at her. “You did. However, your assistant informed me that you might say something like that, and so I took it upon myself to stay the night anyways. Besides that, the castle does tend to get a bit stuffy at times. It is always good to get a little change of scenery every once in a while.”
Something still wasn’t clicking in Twilight’s mind. “But, I saw you leave through the window and fly off. When did you get back downstairs? And besides that, wasn’t the door locked?”
“My dear student... you are not the only unicorn in the room who has mastered the art of the teleportation spell.” Twilight’s mind went blank for a moment; how on earth could she not have thought of that before? “And besides that, the door was unlocked when I got in. I took the liberty of locking it for you; I did not want any other... unwanted disturbances to your slumber. I saw last night that you were quite in need of it.”
Twilight smiled a bit sheepishly as she remembered. “Yeah, I was pretty tired. That whole thing with Chrysalis didn’t help out at all, either...” Just then, a thought occurred to her. “Why did she choose Zecora as her disguise? Anypony else would have served just as well.”
“I believe it was because she knew that you had just gotten done visiting our Zebrican friend. She knew that Zecora’s appearance wouldn’t cause much alarm, even as unexpected as it was. That way, she wouldn’t arouse any more suspicion than she had to.”
“But... how did she know? Was she following me?”
Celestia sighed, her smile long-since faded. “It is entirely possible that she was following you the whole time. In that case, she may have also been to visit some of the other Elements, or possibly even a few of the other Ponyville denizens.”
Twilight gasped audibly. She hadn’t even considered that possibility. “I’ve got to go ask and see if that actually is-”
Celestia held up a hoof, and Twilight obediently fell quiet, though her exasperation and desperation at the situation was still evident. “Do not worry yourself with such matters. I will go and check on everypony else. You need to stay here and get your rest. I can tell that you are not yet recovered from last night’s events.” She smiled again. “Watch over this place with diligence, my student. And you, Spike, help her out as much as she admits, maybe even a bit more if the situation calls for it.” Before either of them could speak, there was a bright flash of white light, and with that the princess of the sun was gone.
Twilight looked at Spike. “You know, there’s one thing that I still don’t get.”
“What’s that?” Spike asked.
“What book was Celestia getting out when we heard her?” She took a quick glance around the room. “All the bookshelves appear to not be disturbed, and it doesn’t look like any of my usual books are missing.”
“This assumes you know every single book in your library, what they look like and everything, in addition to where every single book is at all times, which when it comes to Dash coming in and crashing and making everything go kaboom... You probably don’t, do you?” The look that Twilight gave him was one of mixed pity and bewilderment, and Spike immediately amended himself: “Oh yeah, that’s right. You do know where everything is. Even know technically, I’m the one who’s supposed to be keeping all of this-” he motioned around the library- “in order, you’re the one who’s actually doing it, and doing it much better than I ever could, at that-”
“The alicorn book...” Twilight’s voice was so soft, it could barely be heard, but Spike recognized it and fell quiet for a moment. When it was clear that Twilight was not going to be saying anything else without prompting, he continued: “What do you mean by that, Twilight?”
“You know I have a lot of books on a lot of subjects, right?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “That’s the understatement of the century, right there.”
Twilight half-heartedly tossed him the evil eye before continuing: “Well, one of the subjects that I have been researching more enthusiastically than others, is the subject of alicorns. Where they came from, what causes them to form... Everything about them, basically.”
“And Celestia took your alicorn book?” Spike asked. “Just for clarification.”
“Well, technically, she took one of my alicorn books. I actually have six, all of them written by the same author. Pennyfeather the Wise, ever heard of him?”
Spike scratched his head, thinking. “Wasn’t he like some sort of protege of Starswirl the Bearded or something? I know you’ve mentioned him at least once in passing before...”
Twilight nodded. “Well, kind of, anyways. He was more of a contemporary of Starswirl. They studied together at the royal university of Canterlot. Pennyfeather taught Starswirl just as much as Starswirl taught him, though, and it was Pennyfeather’s studies of the ruling alicorn family of the time- ironically, the same one that rules at this very moment- that provided the basis of alicorn studies for generations of ponies to come.”
“And yet still, ponies claim that we know nothing about them...”
She scoffed. “That’s because ponies don’t want to take the time to read up on them.” She sighed and went into the kitchen, opening up cupboards at random. “There’s nothing good to eat here. You want to go out to eat, Spike?”
He nodded, his stomach rumbling. “We haven’t eaten yet today, you know.”
“Well of course I wouldn’t take a catnap. I’m not a cat. I’m a dragon.” He and Twilight continued to banter back and forth as they got ready to leave. As they walked out the door and shut it behind them, though, the air shimmered near the door, and a tall form became visible once again.
Chrysalis smiled. “Find out all you want to about your precious little alicorns, Twilight. It will not save you in the end.”
Twilight sat down at the table that the waiter had pointed them to, and Spike took the other seat. While they pored over the menu and Spike jabbered pointlessly about a certain marshmallow-colored pony, Twilight’s mind was more occupied by more pressing matters, namely the situation with Chrysalis, and just why on earth Celestia would have wanted that book.
“It was the fifth book out of the six!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, a bit too loudly for proper restaurant talk. “At least it would have made a bit more sense if she would have taken the first book! Who on earth starts with a book that isn’t the first one in the series?!”
“You all talkin’ about Daring Do again?” Twilight looked off to her left a bit. Rainbow Dash was standing there, grinning expectantly. “Well? Are ya?”
Twilight couldn’t help but get caught up in Dash’s enthusiasm about her favorite literary character, and she smiled a bit. “Hi, Dash. Unfortunately, no, we’re not talking about Daring Do this time. I was referring to... well... her.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t have looked more confused if her life depended on it. “Um... who, now?”
The lightbulb came on in Dash’s head. “Oh. Yeah, her... Heh, I probably should have known that’s who you were talking about. Celestia came and visited me just before I came over here. She was asking about her, and if anypony odd had come to visit me lately.”
Twilight wasn’t going to ask before that, but now that Dash had brought it up, she couldn’t help it. “Well... have they?”
“What, has anypony odd come to visit me? Not really odd. Gilda stopped by for a visit the night before last. But...”
“But... what?” Twilight prompted.
“Well, it was kinda weird, actually. Usually, she and I like to just kick back and reminisce about all the awesome times we’ve had over the years. This last time, though... it was like she’d forgotten all about them. Like, she could kind of remember vague details, but nothing specific. That was really weird, to me. Usually, her memory’s sharp as a tack.” Twilight couldn’t remember much about the little bit of Gilda that she’d seen, but she’d heard Dash talk about her plenty, and that was one of the most consistent things that Dash had brought up about her.
Rainbow’s eyes went wide just then. “Wait a second... You don’t think... Do you?”
“It’s entirely possible.” Twilight’s eyes roamed for a second, looking for anything that seemed to her to be out of place. When she couldn’t see anything that fit her paranoid descriptor, she continued: “Did Celestia mention anything about what happened to me last night?”
“She didn’t go into too many specifics, but yeah she mentioned something about her coming to visit you, and something about Nightmare Moon that I didn’t quite understand... I had just woken up from a nap right before she came to me.”
“Yeah... Apparently she thinks that Nightmare Moon is going to be returning soon.” Dash looked at Twilight oddly for a second, as though she was expecting Twilight to clarify that she was just joking about that. When no such pronouncement was forthcoming, Dash burst into raucous laughter. The other patrons looked at her condescendingly for a moment before turning back to their meals, some of them making the cyan pony their topic of conversation for the time being.
“What is your problem?” Spike asked a bit harshly. He had just been able to get to his sandwich, and he was not particularly keen on the thought of his meal being interrupted by a loudmouthed pony.
“She doesn’t have a problem,” Twilight said in a scolding tone. “Though I will admit, there isn’t much of a reason for you being that loud, Dash.”
“I... I’m sorry... but... I just thought you would have disabused yourself of that notion the first time. Remember? That big, long conversation we all had when you first told us about those dreams you’d been having? You still actually think that could be true?”
“I know what you all told me, and deep down inside I feel like it’s true, but... I’m just thinking, why in the world would Chrysalis be talking about it?”
“Um, maybe because she just wants to throw you off? She might be planning something, and wants to use this to throw you off from getting on her trail.” What she said made sense, but it didn’t fill in all the holes.
“That may be true, but that’s not how all of this started. Remember, I’d been having these dreams for weeks before last night. So how in the world would Chrysalis have known about the dreams?”
“Maybe she has telepathy. You already know she can use magic like a regular unicorn can. Why couldn’t she be a telepath as well.” Twilight was shocked at how much sense Dash was making at the present. Usually, it would have been Applejack that would have been bringing these points up.
“We don’t really know anything for sure,” Twilight pointed out. “This is all pointless conjecture at this point.”
“Celestia doesn’t seem to think so. She was all on-fire about some book she’d gotten from your library, I think.” Twilight nodded. “It was that alicorn book, right?”
“Yeah. Did she say why she wanted it?” In response, Dash looked down at the ground a bit and shifted uncomfortably. Twilight fixed an intense stare on her. “Rainbow Dash... You are going to tell me, aren’t you?”
“Well... I want to... but Celestia told me not to tell anypony else. And besides, I don’t know everything about it. And it really doesn’t make sense to me, anyways.”
“What was she talking about?” Twilight asked, her curiosity now piqued more than ever.
“Something about Chrysalis being Cadence’s sister.”
If Twilight had thought that she couldn’t be fazed by anything that Rainbow Dash could say, obviously she hadn’t taken this into consideration. She could have said that this was the last thing that she thought Dash would say, but that would have technically been a lie because this was not even on any possible list of things that she thought would ever come out of Dash’s mouth.
“Um... I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you quite right.” She lifted a hoof to her ears and scratched them as though trying to clear away some invisible blockage. “I could have sworn that you just said Celestia told you that Chrysalis and Cadence were sisters.”
“Well... Technically, she didn’t outright tell me. I kind of just overheard her when she was talking in that weird telepathy-thing that she does when she and Luna are trying to have a private conversation.”
“So does she know that you know about it?”
“Yeah, I mean as soon as she was done talking to Luna, I asked her about it. And she pretty much flipped out- well, as composedly as she could, anyways. She basically said that there was no way I should ever tell anypony, because she hadn’t nailed it down yet as to whether or not it was actually true. It was just a theory that she was pursuing. She specifically mentioned you, though, for me to not tell you. I think she didn’t want you to be too distracted from your studies and your duties here in Ponyville.”
Twilight snorted a bit in laughter. “Oh, what? Maintaining that dusty old library that no one but you and Celestia ever go to? That hardly takes up a lot of my time. And besides, Spike is the one who does most of the work.”
Dash shrugged, nonplussed. “I don’t get it any more than you do. What exactly was in that book, anyways? The alicorn book, the one that Celestia got from you?”
She had to think for a second. “Mostly just genealogical history. Not too much is known about where alicorns first came from, but when they did start recording their history, they took it down it rather well. It’s quite meticulous, the records they kept.”
“Well that’s interesting and all, but how do you explain the bit about Chrysalis? I mean, technically, she’s not an alicorn, is she?”
This was something that hadn’t crossed Twilight’s mind before then, so she had to think about it for a second. “Well, the only thing that really distinguishes alicorns from the rest of pony-kind, besides the vastly increased magical potential, is just the fact that they have both a horn and wings. So I guess in that respect, then yeah, Chrysalis could be considered an alicorn. She does meet at least those minimum qualifications.”
“But does she look like any kind of alicorn you’ve ever seen.”
“No, but then again, I’ve only seen two. Celestia and Luna.”
“Don’t forget Cadence.” Twilight smiled sheepishly; how on earth could she not remember her sister-in-law and oldest childhood friend?
“Okay, so three alicorns. That still doesn’t change the fact that Chrysalis looks nothing like any of them. And besides that, does she even have a cutie mark? Chrysalis, I mean. Think about it: alicorns are still technically ponies. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all have cutie marks, but I didn’t see one on Chrysalis when I saw her last.”
“I really have no idea,” Dash admitted. “I didn’t bother to check.”
“Can’t blame you, really. The last time we all saw her was not under the... best of circumstances.” The memory came unbidden in her mind: Chrysalis crashing the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, after it was revealed that the Cadence in the wedding was actually Chrysalis in disguise. Only after a pooling of their efforts- and quite a bit of magical expenditure on all the unicorns’ (and alicorn’s) part- was the menace finally defeated. For good, even... or so they thought.
“Yeah, I was kind of distracted by all the Changelings throwing themselves at me. At all of us, really.” Dash nodded at a friend who had passed by their table. “Hey, how long have we been here, anyways?” Twilight looked over at Spike, whose admittedly young dragon body still had the most accurate internal body clock that she had ever seen.
“About an hour and a half,” Spike replied.
“Oh man, that long already? I was supposed to get over to Fluttershy’s house half an hour ago! Sorry to jet, but I’ll see ya later, okay?” Dash took off into the skies, and a peaceful calm settled over the pavilion.
Spike looked up from his sandwich. “It’s almost nice when she’s not around.” Twilight looked at him crossly and bopped him on the back of his head. “What? It’s true. Man, I swear she can talk up a bloody storm.”
“That still doesn’t excuse your rudeness,” Twilight chided. “And besides, she brought up some good points. What if there is something to this whole thing about Cadence and Chrysalis being sisters?”
“How is that possible? Chrysalis is 100 percent Changeling, and last time I checked Cadence doesn’t have a single bit of Changeling in her, at least from how she looks.”
“Maybe it’s dormant?” Twilight mused half-heartedly. She finished her sandwich in a few bites. “Anyways, it’s time to get back to the house. The Crusaders are coming over later tonight for their meeting, remember?”
Spike groaned. “I still don’t get why on earth you agreed to let them use the library for their CMC meetings. They have a perfectly serviceable clubhouse all to their very own.” As Twilight began to lecture him on why she made that decision, she dropped a few bits on the table and walked out, her number-one assistant riding on her back like he so loved doing.
Dash soared on the invisible currents of air in the sky, using them to propel herself forward. They were strong enough so that she didn’t have to flap her wings all too often in order to keep herself aloft and in forward motion. The only reason why she did so every once in awhile was just to keep them from going entirely stiff from lack of motion.
Up ahead, she saw Fluttershy’s cottage and smiled. She’d made it a point a few months ago to get together weekly with her oldest friend, just to talk about random things and keep each other company. Being independent and all suited Dash just fine, but she had longing needs just like any other pony, and living alone in her cloud house meant that sometimes she just wanted the company of her friends. And besides, she knew that Fluttershy liked it as well, if only to break up the monotony of taking care of all those animals.
Dash landed a bit awkwardly and had to quickly correct in order to avoid going head over tail. Once she did so, she straightened up and brushed herself off quickly, hoping Fluttershy hadn’t seen her little flying faux pas. It’d been a good while since she was so lost in thought while flying that it almost caused her to crash. That wasn’t good.
She went and knocked on the door to her house. “Who is it?” she heard, coming muffled through the door. She figured Fluttershy must be at the very back of the house.
“Just me!” she called back. She heard a flurry of hoof-falls, then the door opened quickly.
“Oh my, was our date today...?” Fluttershy asked, a bit out of breath. “I’d totally forgotten... I was just back in the back, changing out my roosters’ water and food.”
“That’s cool, I forgot about it, too. I met Twilight and Spike when I went to go get lunch, and we kind of ended up getting into a really big discussion about stuff that lasted longer than I thought it would.”
Fluttershy sighed with relief. “Oh good, I’m glad I’m not the only one running behind today.” She stepped aside and motioned for Dash to come in, and she did. Fluttershy shut the door behind her, just in time to prevent one of the baby chickadees from escaping.
“Oh no, you don’t...” Fluttershy reproved the young bird. “You’re not getting away on my watch!” She scooped the bird up delicately and placed it on her shoulder, heading back to the aviary portion. “Come on back. You can help me finish up.”
“You sure?” Dash asked a bit hesitantly as she nonetheless followed her closest friend to the back. “You know that I’ve never been as good with animals as you have.”
“Oh, it’s really easy. I promise.” They went all the way back, and Dash saw the familiar bird cages lining the room where Fluttershy kept her aviary. “All you’ll be doing, really, is keeping an eye on them, just to make sure they don’t fly away when I open their cages to feed and water them. If they do fly out, just don’t let them get out the window. These are all still nursing back to health, you know, in one way or another.”
Dash grinned. “Sure, no problem!’ Over the next few minutes, as Fluttershy finished up on her work, she and Dash began the process of telling each other about all that had happened to them over the previous week. Even though they were both technically still members of the Elements of Harmony, their roles as such had not been active since they used them to defeat Chrysalis at the wedding. As such, they had settled into their everyday roles as seamlessly as they possibly could.
One thing they all hated, though, was the decreased time that they spent being around each other. Aside from an odd party or two thrown by Pinkie Pie, they really mostly just kept to their own businesses. It was Rainbow Dash who had called them out on it to begin with, and it was she as well who had suggested the weekly get-togethers, a concept which all of them had embraced wholeheartedly.
In the few months or so since it had happened, they had all incorporated it into their regular schedules, and they’d made it a regular thing. It wasn’t just unique pairings, either; they all made time for all their friends. Occasionally, they’d even invite along other ponies to join in on their play dates. Derpy and Dinky Hooves were always glad to come along, and some of the Elements- Applejack and Rainbow Dash, in particular- had their feelings that the dates that they invited them to were the only real times that they got out of the house. Even though Derpy also had the support of the Doctor since the two of them got together and he moved in with her, she was still having to work really long hours at the Ponyville post office just to be able to make ends meet for her family.
They were all willing to help her out as much as they could.
“So what all happened at Scootaloo’s party after I left?” Dash asked as she snagged a stray bird, trying to make a beeline (or would that be birdline?) straight for the open window, just like Fluttershy had warned her about.
“Nothing too much, really... Twilight had already left before you, so it was pretty much calm on the ‘Nightmare Moon is coming back’ front. Rarity and Derpy ended up leaving shortly after you did, and for some reason neither of them will tell any of us what they did after they left that night. As far as everypony else... The party pretty much wound down, and everypony left. It was rather uneventful, and I think for one, Scootaloo was glad for that.”
Dash nodded. “What was up with Twilight, anyways?”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s just because she’s been really stressed out lately... Everything going on with the library and all-”
“Well...” She looked a bit apprehensive, which was usually the way she looked when somepony told her not to tell something, but she ended up telling just a bit of it anyways, enough for another pony to basically demand that she spill the rest of the beans.
“Come on, Fluttershy, you can tell me. You know I can keep a secret. Hello... Element of Loyalty!”
She was still a bit unsure, but she decided to go with it anyways. “Well... I don’t think Twilight told me everything, but apparently some books have been going missing from her library over the past few weeks. Like that alicorn book that Celestia borrowed...? What Twilight didn’t mention was that the first four books in the set had gone missing a few days before Celestia came and borrowed the fifth one.”
Dash was nonplussed. “So wait, you don’t think Celestia... “borrowed” those books too, do you?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, no... There would be no reason for her to do that. She’s not the stealing type, and besides Celestia and Twilight are practically mother and daughter. If Celestia wanted to check out one of her books, there would be no reason for Twilight to refuse her. She’d have no reason to steal them...”
Dash nodded; what she’d said made perfect sense. As the afternoon went on, their topics of conversation became quite varied, just like they always ended up doing: everything from their feelings on different subjects, to discussions on how the Ponyville weather team was going to coordinate their next event... Really, they didn’t care about what they were talking about. They simply enjoyed being around each other.
It was close to dusk when Dash finally bid her friend goodbye and left. She sped straight for her cloud-house, eager to kick back and relax in her “awesome” bed. When she entered her house, though, her nerves immediately went on edge. She slowed down considerably, becoming almost sneaky in her movements.
“Something... isn’t right...” she whispered to no one in particular. “What’s going on...? I never feel like this in my own house...” She got the distinct sensation that she was being watched, but when she looked around her, all she could see was the normal accoutrements of her house, vaguely outlined in the dusky light. Eventually, she made it back to her bedroom, and collapsed on her bed, sighing in relief. Suddenly, she became aware that there was something weighing down the other side of the bed. Scared, she slowly turned her head to see who was there.
The moon crest on her chestplate armor gave her away immediately, and Dash’s eyes widened as she beheld the alicorn who had propped her forelegs up on Dash’s bed. She gave Dash an evil eye, and her grin set every nerve in her body ablaze. She began to scream, as her visitor just stared at her, unflinching.
“Be afraid, young one... Your nightmare is just beginning!”
“One more monster crawled inside, but I swear I saw it die…”
(Red - “Faceless”)
A slowly twisting maze lay before her. The cold walls of stone surrounded her, offering her no chance to take any route but the one that had been pre-planned for her. She looked up; because there was no upper roof to this maze, she could see as far as her eyes’ power would allow her. For reasons she couldn’t comprehend, though, all she could see was an inky blackness. “Full dark, no stars,” as she had heard it put once.
She couldn’t understand before now what that phrase meant. Now, though… She knew.
The worst part about it, though, was that she could hear sinister voices echoing from inside the walls. It was as though an impish presence was living inside them, whispering delusions of madness to anyone who was trapped within. She tried to shut the voices out, but it was no use; the incessant chatter seeped through any magical barriers she put up around herself.
“The most insidious thing in the world,” she muttered to no one in particular, “is nonsense that sounds just plausible enough to listen to…”
Her horn lit up in a display of magic, as she began to walk forward with no small amount of trepidation. She didn’t know what was around the first corner, much less what awaited her at the end of the maze. She didn’t see any other way to go, though, so she had merely resigned herself to walk it in solemn silence… And so she did.
Her thoughts were her only companion: “To what end is this…? I don’t get any of this? Am I in some kind of dream? And if I am… Why can’t I wake up from it?” She shook her head irritatedly. “Come on now, Twilight… You’ve got to get it together! You’ve got to wake up from this!”
She turned the first corner slowly, letting the light from her horn illuminate the darkness. In the brief moment it took for her eyes to adjust, she could have swore she saw something deftly flit out of the reach of her light spell and back into the darkness it called its home. Then again, she couldn’t tell for sure. It could have all just been a trick of the light, or her paranoia… Or something more sinister, maybe.
Slowly she continued, trying path after path in her attempt to escape. Some directions led to simple, blunt dead ends. Others continued winding for what seemed to be ages, leading nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time. At moments, she could almost sense that she had been in that spot before, that all she was doing was just doubling back on her own tracks, but owing to the fact that all the walls- texturally and in color- looked exactly the same, it was impossible for her to determine this.
And so, she steeled her resolve, and kept walking.
After a few more trips and a few more dead ends, she stopped for a bit to try and re-orient herself. It was only then that she realized something: the voices that had been speaking to her had been becoming more and more clear by the minute, and now that she was not giving her full attention to the hunt for the exit… She found that she could hear the voice perfectly.
“It’s about time you stopped to listen to me, I say. You of all ponies, Twilight Sparkle, should know just how much it aggravates me when my… subjects… don’t listen to what I have to say.” Immediately, the light went off in her head, as to why she thought the voice was so familiar.
“You again?!” Twilight hissed. “Can’t you just leave it alone? Why do you have to keep coming to me in these dreams? Because you want to live up to your name? Nightmare Moon?”
Nightmare- wherever she was- laughed an evil laugh, and Twilight could almost sense that Nightmare was imagining laughing straight into her face. “Why do you think I call myself that? Just for the attention? No, it is because I find that nightmares are the easiest way of imparting certain… knowledge to the ponies I visit. And the best part is, they don’t even have to realize I’ve done anything!” She laughed that laugh again. “They’ll just chalk it up to whatever they want, really, and just go on with their lives!”
“So why can’t you let me do that? Why can’t you let me go on with my life? Why keep coming back to me?”
“Because, my young one… You are the key to my release from this prison.”
Her words dawned upon Twilight anew. “So this place, where I am right now… This is where you’ve been trapped? Since the Elements banished you?” Before the sentence could even be finished, a thick black smoke appeared in front of Twilight, and just as quickly disappeared, leaving behind the being who had used it to transport herself there.
“Oh come now, Twilight,” Nightmare said with a grin. “A magician never reveals all her tricks… Not right away, at least. I’m still having fun with this. And it’s not like you have a choice in the matter, anyways. One way or another, you are going to end up releasing me once again.”
“No!” Twilight spat out. “I- I would never…!”
“Or so you think… Do you really believe yourself to be incorruptible? Well, let me tell you this, young Sparkle: so did the princess you all call Luna, and look what I did to her!”
Twilight was about to respond when she heard a scream, echoing as though traveling from some far-away place. If she hadn’t been able to identify the source of the voices from earlier, she had no trouble then being able to tell whose scream she heard. Her eyes widened. “Rainbow Dash…!” She began to force herself out of the dream, using her magic to wake herself up.
“Yes… Go to your friend… Soon, none of this will matter! For my time is coming once again, and I… will…-”
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, Rainbow’s scream echoing in her eardrums. Immediately, she flipped the covers off of her and hit the ground running. She scooped Spike up from out of her bed, ignoring his sudden cries of protestation, and sat him on her back as normal as she bolted out of the house.
“What’s going on?” Spike asked, still groggy. “Where on earth are you going like a bat-pony out of Hay-des?”
“Rainbow Dash is in trouble… I could hear her screaming in my dream. I’ve got to go see if she’s ok!” Spike said no more; nothing else needed to be said, as Twilight rocketed down the sleepy, empty city streets. She could still hear Dash’s pained, scared screams in her mind… not to mention Nightmare Moon’s parting words to her.
She reached Dash’s house in record time, but stared up at the cloud house in dumbfoundedness. Of course Dash lived in a cloud house; she knew this for a fact. So why on earth did she come all the way out-
The door to Dash’s house opened up and a blue streak came flying out and down towards the ground. Spike barely had time to jump off of Twilight’s back before Dash hurtled towards Twilight, landing and wrapping Twilight up in a terrified embrace. Twilight tried to give her a comforting hug, but she wasn’t quite sure if it had the intended effect, as she’d never had to console anypony as completely and utterly scared as Dash was. She wasn’t crying, but Twilight could tell it was taking everything she had in her not to do so.
She gave Dash a minute to compose herself as best she could. After a minute or so, Dash looked up at her, still shaking. “T-Twilight…? What were you doing coming over here?” Twilight was confused for a second; why was this the first thing Dash asked her? She just shrugged it off, though, chalking it up to a temporary confusion following whatever tragic event had befallen her. And speaking of…
“Dash, I… I heard you in my dream. You were screaming so loudly.”
Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You… heard me? In your dream?”
Twilight nodded. “It was another one of my nightmares… About you know who. We were talking and then all of a sudden… I heard you screaming, but like it was from really far away. And I knew it was you, and I woke up and raced over here. Dash, what in Equestria happened?”
Dash stepped back a bit, releasing Twilight from the hold she’d put her into. She couldn’t seem to meet Twilight’s eyes for some reason, and Twilight was having a very hard time figuring out why this could be.
“You… you were right.”
Twilight was now really confused. “About what? What was I right about?”
“Nightmare Moon.”
The simplicity of this statement bowled her over. Dash had been one of the most vocal detractors of her “Nightmare Moon is going to return” theory, and now she was having a complete and total 180? Twilight was having a very hard time believing that. Then again… there was the point of Dash’s screams.
“Why are you just now believing me on this?” Twilight asked. “Why the change of heart?”
“Because I saw her, ok?” Dash turned away from Twilight fully now. “She was in my room, standing right next to my bed. I couldn’t have mistaken her for anypony else, either.” Twilight’s jaw dropped. This was the last thing she could have expected Dash to say.
“She even said something to me. Something about being afraid, because my nightmare is just beginning.”
Twilight’s mind was reeling from this revelation. “But… Nightmare Moon was supposed to be sealed away still… As far as I know, she hasn’t been released yet, because I’m sure that Celestia would have told me once it had happened…”
“Well, I’m just telling you what I saw. You can believe me or not, it doesn’t matter. I know what happened.”
“Dash…” Twilight walked up to her friend and put a comforting hoof around her. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you. That’s the last thing I’m saying. I just want to come at this logically and-”
Dash whirled around, knocking Twilight’s hoof off her neck. “Logically? Are you serious?! What in Equestria is logical about any of this? You were there when Nightmare Moon was defeated; so was I. The Elements were supposed to make sure that Nightmare never came back, and as far as we knew, that’s exactly what we’d done. And yet now, you’ve been having all these dreams, and Nightmare herself apparently just showed up in my room! What part about any of this is logical?!”
Twilight had to admit, Dash had a point. “Well, how about this. Let’s just head on over to Princess Celestia’s castle, and we can sit down and talk to her about it.”
“There will be no need for that, Twilight. I am already here.” Twilight turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Sure enough, Celestia was standing a few feet from them, her royal chariot in the background. At the sight of their princess, both Dash and Twilight bowed deeply, as was the custom.
Celestia smiled as she walked over to them. “No need for such formalities right now. You may rise.” After they had done so, Celestia cast a glance around the area. “No prying eyes, I hope- or ears, for that matter…” After a moment, she nodded in satisfaction, then looked over at Dash. “I heard the last part of your conversation with Twilight just now. You say that Nightmare Moon came to visit you?” Dash nodded, and haltingly recounted the same story that she had just told Twilight.
When Dash was finished, an odd pallor had come over Celestia’s face. “This… this should not be. The Elements were supposed to have done their job.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” Twilight put in.
Celestia shook her head. “This cannot be a good omen at all. I will have to consult the texts that I have been reading to see if there’s anything I can find out about this.”
An almost sly smirk briefly crossed Dash’s face. “Well now…” she remarked to Twilight, “I can see where you get your egghead-ness from now.” Twilight gave her a glare, then looked back at Celestia.
“Why do you think she chose Dash to reveal herself to? Would it not make more sense for it to be me? You know, with all my dreams and everything?”
Celestia’s eyes glinted for a moment, and Twilight could tell that she had had a revelation. “Do either of you think it was possible that it was not actually Nightmare Moon that came to Dash’s bedside tonight?”
Twilight was about to argue the point, but a moment later, she saw where Celestia was trying to go with her line of reasoning. “You think it was Chrysalis, don’t you?”
Celestia nodded, obviously pleased that her student had caught on so quickly. “The Changeling queen does have the ability to shape-shift into whomever she pleases, as she so adeptly proved when she impersonated Cadance for such a long time without anypony knowing the better of the situation. It could be entirely possible that it was Chrysalis, and not Nightmare Moon herself, that appeared to you tonight, Rainbow Dash.”
“But why Nightmare Moon? Wouldn’t Chrysalis know that Nightmare was still locked up?”
Celestia nodded. “Wasn’t that something that Chrysalis mentioned that first night that she appeared to you, Twilight? About Nightmare Moon’s returning?” Twilight nodded, and Dash nodded as well, remembering Celestia’s coming to visit her.
“I see Twilight has kept you apprised of the situation,” Celestia said approvingly, noticing Dash’s agreement with her statement.
Dash looked at her a bit askance. “Um, don’t you remember, Princess? You’re the one who came and told me about Chrysalis’ coming to see Twilight. It was the same time you asked me about Gilda.”
The look on Celestia’s face sent pangs of fear racing through her heart. It was, simply put, a look of not knowing what in Equestria Dash was talking about. “I think you must have me mistaken for somepony else, Rainbow Dash. I don’t recall coming and talking to you about your griffon friend.”
Twilight and Dash looked at each other, and each could tell the other was thinking the same thing. “So it looks like our enemy has been taking on more forms than just Zecora,” Celestia commented.
Celestia was about to comment further, when her ears perked up and she swiveled her head to the east. “We’re not alone here,” was all she said. At that, they all heard a rustling in the bushes in the direction Celestia had looked, and they saw a Changeling dart off towards the outskirts of the glade.
“Got it!” Dash shouted, and before either Celestia or Twilight could say anything, she zoomed off in the direction that the Changeling had gone off in. Though the Changeling was fast, Dash was faster, and soon she caught up to Chrysalis’ minion.
“Hey!” Dash yelled over the rush of the wind. “What’s the big idea on spying on our conversation! Did Chrysalis send you to do this?”
The Changeling looked at Dash, and though its mouth didn’t move at all, Dash heard its voice echoing in her head, clear and with a rich timbre: “Yes, she did. And I am truly sorry for what is about to happen; you must believe me on that. I did not want this, but I am bound to my Queen’s will.”
Dash was stunned for a moment, just long enough for her to take her attention off her flying. This was all she needed to make a mistake, and sure enough she flew right into the luminescent green net that had been strung between two trees. As soon as she made contact, the net closed in around her, trapping her. She cried out, not in pain but in shock. Immediately, a familiar form appeared next to the tree on the right, and the Changeling landed at her side.
Chrysalis smiled at the sight of Dash caught in her trap. “Got ya,” she said with a smirk. A split second later, a purple flash of light came from a few feet away, as Twilight and Celestia teleported to the scene.
“Let her go!” Twilight cried out, though instinctively she knew her words were going to fall on deaf ears. Chrysalis had her right where she wanted, and there was no way in Equestria that she was going to just let her go.
“Sorry, Twilight, but I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, I have a very special use for this young one. You can have her back once we’re done with her… if that day ever comes. Until then… farewell!” Chrysalis and her changeling vanished just then, taking the netted Rainbow Dash with them.
Twilight sunk to the ground, in a position of defeat. “This is all my fault… Somehow, I know this is…”
“Then do something about it,” came Celestia’s voice from behind her. “If it is your fault, then it is your responsibility to right the wrong that you have committed.” Twilight had a sense that Celestia was not saying that she agreed that it was her fault, but that she was merely using these words to spur her into some form of action.
She rose to her hooves. “You’re right. Celestia, I’m going to need your help on this one.” Celestia nodded her assent.
“We’re going back to the library. We’ve got some reading to do.”
The walk back to Twilight’s library was the longest she’d ever taken. Of course, distance had not changed in the slightest; it was only her mind that slowed the walk down for her. Celestia had not said a word throughout the entire trip, and she showed no signs of breaking that. She knew that Rainbow Dash was a near and dear friend to Twilight, and she could sense just how much her heart was breaking at the fact that Chrysalis had captured Dash, and neither of them did anything about it.
“I could have stopped it!” Twilight finally angrily said aloud, breaking the calm stillness of the night, which up until that point had only been punctuated by the near-silent whispers of their hoof-falls. “I should have been able to stop her from taking Dash, but… I froze up. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything…”
“And why was that?” Celestia asked.
It was a question that Twilight had asked herself more than a few times on the road back to the library, and she had long since answered that question for herself. “I didn’t want Dash to get hurt. Nopony truly knows what Chrysalis is capable of… I couldn’t risk anything happening to her.”
Celestia nodded. “It was the wisest course of action, in my humble opinion. But may I ask a question of you?” When Twilight reticently nodded, she continued: “Why are we going to your library? If you are really so concerned about your friend’s condition, then why not just go after her?”
“Because I don’t know where she is.” She had thought about this as well. “Neither of us have any idea where Chrysalis took her. She could be all the way back in the Changeling Nation already, or she could be right next to us. We have no idea. And anything rash done on our part will do nothing but endanger her further. That’s why we’re going to the library, Princess. You taught me that yourself. ‘Before one goes into any situation, they need to have the most powerful weapon in the world at their hooves: knowledge. If one does not know what they are heading into, they are sure to fall, no matter what else they may think or know’.”
Celestia was taken aback by this. She had told Twilight that before, but it was only one time, and a very long time ago at that. She had no idea that her words had been seared so brightly into her heart, that she would remember them now, so far in the future. Then again… Twilight always had viewed her as akin to a mother-figure in her life, seeing as she spent so much time away from her real parents while being Celestia’s student.
They lapsed once again into silence, and remained that way until they arrived at the library. Spike had long since gone back to sleep in Twilight’s bookbag, and Twilight gently set it down at the entrance to the library. After closing the door, she used a spell she’d learned to seal the door from anypony coming in, whom she did not directly want to enter.
“I recognize that spell,” Celestia said with a smile after Twilight turned to face her anew. “It was one of my own, one that I developed quite a long time ago. I had not realized that you had learned it for yourself.”
Twilight blushed a bit at the direct compliment. “Well… I came across it in one of my books, when I was doing a bit of reorganizing a few days ago. It surprised me how easily mastery of it came to me.”
“All that means, Twilight, is that you are turning into the unicorn that everypony has seen from the very beginning that you would become. I would be willing to bet that someday soon, you will be as good at the craft as I am.” Twilight smiled even brighter still, but a moment later, a dark pallor came over her face.
“If I’m so good at what I do, then how did I not see what was coming?” She walked over to where a stack of books lay on her desk. “And how did I not stop Chrysalis from taking her?”
Celestia walked over to where she was. “I cannot answer that question for you, Twilight. That is something that you must decide for yourself in time. But until that day comes, we have a mission, do we not?”
Twilight nodded, steeling her resolve. “I need your help, Princess.” She levitated Spike out of her bag and into his downstairs bed, then brought the bag over to her and began filling it with some of the books from the desk. “I need you to get me into the Royal Archives in the castle.”
“Why do you want me to do that?” Celestia asked. “It is not a matter of me not being able to, mind you; as ruler of all Equestria, I can go wherever in my own castle that I please. I just do not see the point of it.”
Once Twilight had loaded the bag up with her books, she turned and looked Celestia straight in the eyes. “Here’s what I’m thinking, Princess. The last time these books were touched by somepony else besides me and Spike, a book was taken by someone whom I thought was you. Obviously, it wasn’t you who took the book-”
“Oh, you mean the book about the alicorn blood-lines? Of course that was me who took it. Who else could it be?”
“Why would you need to borrow that book from my library, though? I would assume that being as vast as it is, the Royal Archives would most assuredly have a copy of that book on hand.”
Celestia smiled. “It does, and you are absolutely right. I could have gone and gotten that book at any time. I had my own motivations for coming and getting it from your library, though, the most prominent of which was simply a desire to see if you were safe or not. You see… I myself have been having dreams lately. Nothing on the level of what you have been experiencing, but they have been intensely personal nonetheless.” Before Twilight could ask the question she knew that she was going to ask, Celestia cut her off: “I do not wish to discuss them at this time, as I believe they are in no way relevant to this situation. Soon, though, we will have to sit down and talk about them, for I believe that they will become intensely relevant to our current problems sooner rather than later.” Twilight wanted to take it further, but the look on Celestia’s face said that the topic was closed, and so she held her tongue.
“And to ease your mind,” Celestia continued, smiling now, “I did return the book back to its original spot. I know how you like your orderliness in here.” Twilight craned her neck to look upwards, and sure enough it was back where it was supposed to be.
“I do not have a problem with taking you into the Royal Archives,” Celestia said, “if that is what you truly want. However… I do not know if what you want is able to be found there.”
“You know the information I seek, then? Or at least, what I seek?”
Celestia nodded. “I imparted a bit of this information to Rainbow Dash when she asked about you as we met a while back. Looking back on this, it may not have been the best decision to make, as in the end it may have been the reason why Chrysalis chose to go after Rainbow Dash first.”
Twilight was momentarily confused, but the light dawned on her. “Wait… do you mean that thing that Dash told me? About Chrysalis and Cadance being related?”
Celestia nodded. “Not even Cadance knows about that yet. She has her own reasons to harbor hatred towards the Changeling Queen, and I do not think she would even entertain the notions of her being blood-related to her captor. However, the signs do point towards it being more than a little bit likely.” She began to walk towards the door. “Are you coming?”
Twilight walked over to where Celestia was. “Of course I’m coming. I said I was, didn’t I?” After a moment, she walked over and opened the door as a gesture of respect to the Princess. “But something really confuses me about this.”
After the two were out the door and Twilight had locked it back up, Celestia replied to her: “What about it does not make sense to you?”
Twilight answered as they set out: “It’s their looks, to be frank. Sure, Chrysalis and the Changelings have physical features that are somewhat similar to those of regular ponies, but that’s about where the similarities end. If they truly are related, then what in Equestria caused such changes to come about? Or were they inflicted upon herself?”
“Why would she do that, though?” Celestia queried. “Would it not make sense that if she craves the purest form of love and affection, that she would make herself look as much like the other ponies as possible, in order to maximize her potential to gain that love and affection?”
Twilight was silent for a moment; the thought may have crossed her mind sometime in the past, but if it had, she hadn’t given it enough thought as to be able to answer it immediately. After a few minutes, though, she had come up with what she thought was a feasible possibility. “Maybe it’s because of the fact that she couldn’t get the love she wanted. She might have thought that if her pony-kin would not see her as what she was, but instead as a monster… then maybe she should just become a monster in whole.” It was Celestia’s turn to be silent, as this was a notion that had not even crossed her mind.
Celestia was about to respond, when she suddenly stopped. Twilight almost kept going without her, but she held a hoof up to stop her. Twilight came to a halt and before she could ask why, Celestia wordlessly pointed ahead of them, where a Changeling stood in their path. Immediately, Twilight dropped her book-bag and readied her magic, purple sparks coming off her horn.
“What do you want?” Twilight snarled.
The Changeling advanced towards them, slowly and non-menacingly. “For starters,” echoed a voice in their heads, “I would very much appreciate it if you would not call my Queen a ‘monster.’ That sentiment is so very far from the true reality of the situation.” The voice was unlike anything either had ever heard before; it had a tonal clarity and a rich timbre unheard of amongst pony-kind.
Something clicked in Twilight’s mind, and she had no idea how she came to that conclusion. Nevertheless, she voiced it aloud: “Hey… You’re the Changeling that was with Chrysalis when she captured Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?”
It nodded. “Your skills of perception are just as keen as my Queen had told me, young one. It pleases me, to be honest. I would not like to have an unarmed opponent in a battle of wits.”
Twilight cocked her head. “A… battle of wits? What in Equestria do you mean?”
It smiled. “Quite simple, actually. In spite of what you might believe about our kind, we are not all mindless warmongers. Some prefer to simply talk things out, as opposed to resorting to more boorish tactics. I have been sent by my Queen as an emissary, so that maybe things can be resolved before the battle that she believes is inevitable comes upon us.”
Something struck Twilight as odd just then. “You speak so… properly. Why is that? And for that matter, since when are Changelings able to speak to begin with?”
“It is not exactly ‘speaking,’ what I am doing. Your kind would refer to it as ‘telepathy,’ and that is the closest word that I can come up with to describe it as well. As a species, we have no actual vocal cords, so we have had to adapt to what Nature has given us. And we have adapted quite well, if I do say so myself.”
Celestia spoke then: “You mentioned a battle that Chrysalis is preparing for. Who is she planning for this battle to be between?”
“Between herself and her enemy,” the Changeling replied. “The one who has vexed her so, these past weeks and months… Aimless drivel about a New World Order, and something about bringing her back to life. Mind you, I only know what my Queen has told me.”
Twilight and Celestia glanced warily at each other, and both could tell the other was thinking the same thing. “So this final battle… It’s supposed to be against Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon?”
The Changeling cocked his head, and it looked almost comical in nature. “Nightmare Moon? The evil spirit that once possessed the Ruler of the Night, the one you all call Princess Luna? No, I do not think she is whom my Queen was referring to. Then again, I have been wrong before.”
“Well,” Celestia put in, “regardless of who Chrysalis is wanting to wage war against, that still does not answer my most important question: why did you and your Queen pony-nap Rainbow Dash?”
The Changeling replied, his voice betraying a hint of weariness at the current topic of conversation: “Your friend will not be brought back to you harmed. She simply wanted her for informational purposes. She believes the one you call Rainbow Dash knows something that she does not, and she would be willing to do anything to get that information out of her.”
“What information is that?” Twilight asked.
“As I said, I do not know everything, but I have been told it has something to do with her lineage.” The light went on in Twilight’s head, and she snarled at it again.
“She kidnapped Rainbow Dash for that? To find out about herself and Cadance?”
The Changeling thought for a moment. “Cadance. That name rings a bell. I distinctly remember my Queen talking about her once. She spoke of her rather fondly, both her and the one you call Luna. It may be that that is why she has taken Rainbow Dash to her hive.”
Twilight’s eyes flashed white. “Her… hive?! Tell me where that is, now!”
“Why, so you can go retrieve her before the time is right? I am terribly sorry, Miss Sparkle, but I am afraid that I cannot let you do that.” Twilight reared up on her back hooves, readying a powerful magical spell, but Celestia once again stopped her before she could fire it off. The Changeling grinned a bit evilly. “You should listen to your master, Miss Sparkle. It would not be a good idea to attack me here. Not now.”
In spite of her rage, Twilight forced herself to look around, and when she did, she gasped, the light in her eyes slowly fading dim. All around them were thousand of Changelings, all of them staring down at Twilight and her teacher. They had a hungry look in their eyes, as though they were all considering the pair to be their next dinner - which, for all they knew, they were.
Twilight leaned closer to Celestia. “Wh-what do we do? We can’t fight them all…”
“I know,” Celestia whispered back. “We’ll just have to figure something out.”
The Changeling stepped forward, causing the two to redirect their attention back to him. “I am sincerely glad we have had this conversation, Miss Sparkle. I hope we can do this again sometime. For now, though, I must get back to the hive. My Queen is expecting us back soon. Until next time… Farewell.” It launched itself in the air, and as though on cue, the rest of the Changelings followed suit, soon disappearing into the distance.
Twilight looked at Celestia fearfully. “We don’t have much time to spare, do we?”
Celestia shook her head. “We need to get to the Royal Archives - and with a haste that I fear is past due…” The pair set off for the royal castle, walking for a brief moment before disappearing in a flash of bright light. As soon as they had teleported away, the air shimmered once again, revealing Chrysalis’ form.
She smiled. “You’re being very proactive, young Twilight… This is good. Maybe we will be able to hurry our plans along even more now.” With that, she faded away into the air, leaving no trace that she was ever there.
Rainbow’s eyes opened slowly. She didn’t sense any kind of bright light in the immediate vicinity, but she wanted to give her eyes a moment to adjust to her surroundings, which at the moment consisted of that medium’s exact opposite: There was no light at all, where she was.
As she tried to figure out where she was, she became aware of a viscous substance covering the floor. She tried to move her hoof, but it was rather hard; the ooze that covered the ground was very sticky, unlike anything Dash had ever felt before. After a moment, though, she managed to extricate her hoof from the melange.
“Wh-where am I?” she murmured, still trying to regain her mental wits about her. She felt tiny creatures nuzzling her from all around, but she still couldn’t see where she was or what they were yet. She was also aware of a feeling of being drained from all sides, as though something was sapping the very life-force out of her… or maybe something else.
Dash’s eyes flew open in a moment of epiphany. She looked down at the beings around her, able to see them now, and she was horrified at what she saw, which unfortunately was exactly what she thought it was. She was surrounded by hundreds of baby Changelings, all of them rustling in an attempt to get close to her.
“So it’s not my energy that’s being drained…” she murmured. “It’s my love…”
She could feel the air part next to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care at that point. Neither did she care when she felt a pair of hooves lift her up and take her across the room, accompanied by a buzzing sound that seemed to fill the room with its incessant drone.
“Now now,” a distant voice said, “we can’t have you going all the way down the rabbit hole just yet… I’ve still got a purpose for you.” Dash tried to hold onto what little consciousness she had remaining, but it eluded her one final time, and she slipped away into oblivion.
It was still dark when Dash awoke next. After gathering her wits about her, she tried standing up, but found that she could not do so. This time, though, it was not because of any sticky goo on the floor. Rather, icy cold manacles bound her hooves to the ground, chained onto the cold floor which had the sheen of marble to it.
By then, she had regained enough of her senses to look around her and see what was in the room with her, if anything at all was. Once her eyes had re-adjusted to the almost lack of light in the room, she was very surprised to see that there was a large bed in the room. It had a wooden frame that was very exquisitely carved; she could tell that the unicorn who’d done this was a true master of their craft.
Looking around some more, she saw that there was actually a window in the room, but the curtains were drawn tightly shut, so as to not allow in any light from the outside. Near the bed, there was an ornate lamp, taller than Dash was and shaped in much the same pattern that the bed was.
Dash could only guess whose room this was, but if she had to do so, she would say she was in the room of Chrysalis herself.
She tried to stand up and stretch as she did in the previous room, and found that this time she could do so, but just barely. The chains were lengthened in such a way to allow her just enough room to stand and stretch as she saw fit, but no real movement was facilitated. Nevertheless, Dash was grateful, and she started to exercise her cramped and tired limbs. She had no idea how long she’d been out, but it seemed to her to be not a short length of time.
Straining to hear something- anything- from outside the room, she began to hear the buzzing of wings. It sounded as though there were quite a few of them out there, whoever “them” happened to be. She had a feeling it was the Changelings themselves, but she didn’t want to make any kind of assumption that might have proven fatal to her in the long run.
She sat back down as she began to try to devise a plan of escape. However, her brain was still a bit addled, and that did not bode well for her at all. “Was it a side-effect of whatever material that net was made out of?” she murmured to herself. “Or was it some kind of Changeling drug that Chrysalis gave me while I was out?”
She shook her head a bit violently, as though trying to physically shake away the mental clouding that was fogging up her brain. It didn’t seem to help, though, not that she really thought it would anyways.
Dash could hear footsteps echoing in the hall outside, and every fiber in her being wanted to scream as loudly as she could, cry out so that maybe somepony out there would hear her and let her out. But she kept her tongue; she knew it was only going to be an exercise in futility. And besides, she might actually need that voice of hers for something later on.
She lay down on the marble floor, studying her distorted reflection. From what she could see, she didn’t exactly look as dapper as she normally did. Then again, when was the last time she bathed? Or ate? Or had a night of undrugged sleep, for that matter?
As she looked at herself, the anger in her heart began to well up like a spring newly found, and soon rage won out over reason. She began to scream as loudly as she could, yelling at the top of her lungs, shouting things like “Let me out of here!” and “Why are you doing this to me? Why are you keeping me here like this?”
Her words echoed off the cool, indifferent walls and floor, and if the walls did truly have ears, they showed no indication that they were listening to what she had to say. Nor, for that matter, did anypony else. There was nothing at all to tell Dash that anyone outside the room had heard her screaming. For all she knew, her words may not have left the room at all.
Tears forming at the corners of her eyes, she continued her ravings, all the while growing more and more hoarse as the sharp, biting words left her mouth. Soon, she was less screaming and more whimpering, as the salty tears stung her eyes as they were freed from their ocular prison.
She was only awake for a little longer, and then she succumbed to unconsciousness once more.
Twilight stood at the entrance to the Royal Archives, staring up at the ornate door that barred entrance to the most sacred of libraries in all of Equestria. Standing beside her, as she had since Twilight was a tiny filly, was the ruler of Equestria herself.
Celestia looked down at Twilight, who had a look of utter determination on her face. She had no idea, really, why Twilight had insisted so vehemently upon going to the room where the Archives were kept. She did know, though, that if Twilight thought this was important, and if she thought something in here was going to help her save Rainbow Dash from Chrysalis’ clutches…
Then she was not going to be foolish enough to get in the way.
“So how do we get in?” Twilight asked. “I can’t find any kind of keyhole or anything that could be used to open the door…”
Celestia smiled. “There is a reason for that, my student. If we were to make it that easy to get in, then maybe somepony might find out something they do not need to know. True, they may want to know it, but whether or not they need to know it is something else entirely.” She faced the door now. “And besides, this castle is watched over by two of the most powerful magic users in the history of Equestria - three, in fact, when you are here. If there was one way out of all of the ways that we could stop ponies from getting where they didn’t belong, one way that we had to choose…I would much rather choose the most inconvenient one of them all.”
She stopped talking then, and closed her eyes, and her horn glowed a brilliant white. The hinges and dark lines around the door glowed the same color, and soon the entire door was awash in a light as bright as the Sun itself. It only lasted for a brief moment, though, and then the light faded.
“What did you do?” asked Twilight when Celestia’s horn returned to its normal color and she opened her eyes again.
Celestia smiled. “Why, I unlocked the door. Magic unlocks magic, as Starswirl’s old saying went.” She reached out a hoof, and pushed open the door. It did not creak at all, even though Twilight could guess that it had been quite a while since it had last been opened. The door slid smoothly over the marble floor, polished to the point where even Rarity could have used it as a mirror to do make-up for somepony and had no problem with it at all.
As they walked into the Archives, Celestia continued: “Magic, in spite of what many may believe to the contrary, is the truest and most accurate way of unlocking knowledge that we may or may not have ever had the chance to realize for ourselves. This is why it is imperative that we find out something hear, that may help us in our endeavor to get Rainbow Dash back.” She looked down at Twilight. “I have refrained thus far from asking you this simple question, but I am afraid I cannot put it off any longer: What do you suppose to find out from this expedition? What do you want to know that can only be found in the Archives?”
Twilight stopped and looked Celestia full in the eyes. “I want to know where Chrysalis came from. I want to know where the Changelings’ homeland is. And I want to know whether or not she really is related to Princess Cadance.” She turned and began walking anew. “Please don’t ask me why those things in particular, because I don’t know. My mind is just telling me that these are the questions that need to be asked, and answered.”
Celestia nodded, not in approval nor in understanding, for she in honesty had neither of those things in reference to the current situation. Rather, she knew that Twilight had a purpose to all this, and a hunting expedition with a clear, concrete purpose (in her experience) usually had better results than a hunting expedition with no purpose at all, if there truly was such a thing to be had.
When Twilight came into view of the main library portion, her jaw dropped. Never in her life had she seen so many books, stacked high on top of each other on shelves and in columns at the end of the shelves. There were so many, not all of them could even fit in what space had been allotted for them.
Twilight looked at Celestia now, with the same awe and reverence that she had just given to those dusty old tomes, and Celestia felt a pang of sorts sear through her heart. She knew just how much reading and knowledge meant to Twilight, and to be able to think for a second that she meant as much to her student as the knowledge she was able to impart to her… It was a beautiful thing.
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, in a deferential whisper, almost as though she was in any regular old library, trying to ask the librarian where a particular book was.
“Yes, my student?” Celestia responded.
“How do you keep all these books organized?”
Celestia had to stifle a quick laugh; this wasn’t exactly what she’d expected Twilight to say. Nevertheless, she had a ready answer: “It is tradition for the ruling family to spend a while in the Royal Archives every few years, getting acquainted with where everything new is and remembering where everything old is. It is simply so that just in case something from very long ago needs to be referenced to deal with something that is more recent than that, the rulers know where to go in order to get that information.” Twilight nodded; this was a more than satisfactory answer for her.
She turned once again, and Celestia could almost visibly see her steeling her resolve for the search that was in front of them. She began the walk into the halls of the Archives, and Celestia followed close behind her, and in the cover of darkness, on the other side of the room…
A pair of azure blue eyes intently watched their every move.
As Celestia and Twilight confidently made their way through the winding aisles of bookcases, they were totally unaware of the other presence in the room. She watched her sister and student intently, as though trying to figure out what they were doing. She already knew, though; information like this does not stay secret for very long in Canterlot castle. It also didn’t hurt that Celestia had divulged the details of her plan to her sister when Celestia had first come up with it.
Luna closed her eyes briefly, opening them again. The subjects of her study had stopped at a particular bookcase and were looking over some tomes that they had taken out. She could hear every word they were saying, not that they were trying to be quiet or anything.
“Could this be the one?” Twilight asked, flipping through a few pages and studying them briefly. “No, this isn’t it. All this details is how the courts were run… Three thousand years ago?” Twilight looked up at Celestia. “The Archives have records dating that far back?”
Celestia smiled at her. “I told you that we keep meticulous records. In fact, I remember writing that book myself. Granted, my dear sister had her part in it as well, but I was the one who ended up taking all of it down on paper in the very end.”
Twilight looked up at her teacher. “Where is Luna, by the way? I haven’t seen her around in awhile, not even in the few brief times that I’ve visited the castle at night?”
Celestia sighed. “I know where she is, but I believe she wants her privacy for the time being. She has had many things on her mind as of late. Of what, I do not know. I could always just pry into her mind and find out for myself, but I have more respect for her than that.”
Luna let out a quiet sigh. It was true, her sister did have respect for her. However, she entertained no false notions of Celestia not knowing exactly what was going on inside her mind. She knew; of that, she was certain.
She continued to study their every movement. “There is something not right about this…” Luna murmured to herself. “Why is she not mobilizing every force that she can, to try and find Rainbow Dash? This is entirely unlike her… Every other time one of the Elements of Harmony has been in danger, she’s done everything she possibly can in order to get them out of danger. So why the change of heart now?”
She tried to shake the feeling of dread that was welling up in her heart, but she simply could not. Every fiber of her being was telling her that something was seriously wrong, and she found herself conflicted that she could not figure out what it was. Was her love for her sister blinding her to some key fact that she could have seen easily, were it not for the ponies involved?
She glanced around the room, watching for anything that could clue her in, as to why she was having such an intense feeling of dread. As she gazed upon her surroundings, her heart skipped a quick beat: The door to the Archives was open.
“Why?” she asked herself as she stood from her crouched position. “Why did Celestia not close the door when she and Twilight entered?” She dropped down from the top of the bookshelf where she was perched, landing noiselessly on the ground, using her magic to ensure she was not heard. She quietly made her way over to where the door was located, all the while keeping an ear on Twilight and Celestia’s conversation.
All they were talking about was old history topics, things that hadn’t been brought up in hundreds, if not thousands, of years. She remembered them all, though, as though they’d happened yesterday. That was one of the curses of being immortal; her memory was just as unassailable as her lifespan, and both the good and the bad things were always at the back of her mind.
When she rounded the corner and reached the door, she could swear that she saw an ever so brief shimmer in the air, but just as quickly as it had caught her eye, it was no longer there. Luna was almost tempted to brush it off as just a momentary illusion, but the fact that the hairs of her coat were now practically standing on end caused her to discard that thought. Now, she was sure that there was something else going on, more than just what she could see.
She sent a ping through the whole room, using her magic to try to weed out any life-form that was there that shouldn’t be there. She almost audibly gasped when the ping returned to her and revealed not one, but four invisible beings in the room. Knowing the situation, and who they were dealing with, she could only think of one thing that it could possibly be.
“Changelings!”
Deciding upon abandoning her previous plan of staying in the shadows, she dropped the magical field that was keeping her presence a secret, and she strode up to Celestia and Twilight, who were both nose-deep in ancient tomes. It was not until she was almost upon them that Celestia looked up at her.
“Luna?” she asked in surprise. “This is rather unexpected. I have always known you to hate being in the Archives. What brings you around this fine night?” At Celestia’s words, Twilight also looked up and seeing Luna there, bowed respectfully to her.
Luna smiled and nodded at Twilight, acknowledging her gesture, and when Twilight had stood once again, she directed her attentions back to Celestia. “I was taking a walk to clear my mind, and I happened to see the Archives door opened. I came in to make sure nothing was wrong.” She felt bad lying to her sister, but she had to see what her reaction was going to be to her words.
Celestia cocked her head, seemingly confused. “The door was open? But… I closed it as soon as Twilight and I were in…”
“Then somepony else must have opened it after you-”
Celestia was already shaking her head before Luna could even finish. “There are so many magical wards around this part of the castle, that an intruder would have been identified before they could even finish opening the door.” Luna had to admit, this part was completely true. She knew, because it was she and Celestia that had put them up to begin with.
Luna turned to Twilight. “Can you remember if my sister had closed the door when you all came in?”
Twilight thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I wasn’t paying too much attention to that; I was just wanting to get in here and start looking through all these books.”
Luna nodded silently. “Well, it appears that all is well here, so… I shall not interrupt you any longer.” She bowed slightly to her sister, then turned around and walked away. As she left, she could hear Celestia talking to Twilight, encouraging her to keep looking for the information she was seeking.
“She is not questioning anything?” Luna whispered to herself as she walked out, making sure to close the door behind her. “My story did not even sound plausible, even to me. So why is she almost wanting to make sure that nothing about it is questioned?” Nothing was adding up to her, and it very much concerned her.
She made her way back to her royal quarters, and crossing through her bedroom, she stepped out onto her personal balcony. She gazed up at the stars that were out that night, and a far-away star blinked at her once, then twice. She smiled.
All at once, an idea came into her mind, and she visibly recoiled at even the thought of it. She usually trusted her instincts, but this time, even she had to question where the thought had come from. It was not normally her modus operandi to have such crazy thoughts, and yet this one had surfaced unbidden as easily as raising the night came to her.
The more she thought about it, though, the more she began rationalizing it, and she began to consider that this might be a very good plan in the end. After all, if her sister was going to be this meek about the situation, it may very well in the end have had to fall to Luna after all to clean up the mess.
She stepped back into her room, gathering up her royal armor and putting it on carefully. Where she was going, she wanted to announce herself as someone not to be trifled with, a force to surely be reckoned with. When she was done, she took one last glance out into the stars, then sighed and began the journey out of the castle. She had become convinced that the Celestia in the Archives was not the real Celestia, and she knew that the only way for her to find out the truth for herself was to go where nopony had willingly gone before.
She was going to make her way into the Changeling lands.
“Where am I to find a voice that keeps urging me to climb? I need to hear it again or I'll lose sight of land and be swept past my chance to survive...”
(Oh, Sleeper - “In the Wake of Pigs”)
Chrysalis strode down the halls of her castle, walking with a confident gait. Everything was going according to plan, at least as far as she could see. So far, no unexpected snags had come about. The one they called Rainbow Dash had been remarkably easy to capture, and now she was safely within the confines of the castle. Twilight and Celestia were off doing who knows what, but at least they were out of her hair, and that truthfully was the best that she could ask for.
As she passed each individual Changeling who just happened to be walking the halls as well at that moment, they all stopped whatever they were doing and bowed respectfully, paying homage to their queen. They only resumed their previous duties after Chrysalis had passed them.
Chrysalis smiled. The workings of her hive were ordered to the highest degree, and although setbacks were to be expected, they were also to be minimized as much as possible.
As she rounded the last corner that would lead her to her private quarters, though, her posture sagged slightly and her steps became less confident. The facade that she put on for her underlings could not be broken in front of them; however, there had hardly been a moment where she actually felt the same way that she allowed the rest of her subjects to think she felt.
Why are you doing this to me? she asked in her thoughts. She knew to whom she was referring to, even though she didn’t expect the being inside her to respond.
She was surprised when it did: Doing what to you, my friend? I thought we had agreed to this. I laid out my plan to you, sparing no detail, from the very beginning. And you seemed to be utterly fine with the whole thing-
I was fine with it, until it started growing past the initial boundaries! she snapped at the voice in her head. You had never mentioned anything about having to pony-nap one of the Elements of Harmony-
I did tell you, though, the voice replied, that in order for the plan to succeed in any fashion, the Elements needed to be taken care of. They were the ones who caused my downfall last time, and they tried to make sure that it was a permanent act. Were it not for the one called Twilight Sparkle not putting as much power into it as she could have, it would have been a permanent ordeal.
Chrysalis thought about it for a second. So what you’re trying to tell me, is that Twilight is the key to your survival? As she has been, this whole time?
A sinister laugh echoed in her head. Are you just now figuring this out? Why do you think I gave you specific instructions to not harm her? It was not just for the sake of old times, Chrysalis. I have reasons for everything that I do, which included making sure that the young one did not come to any harm. Though you are a key part of my plan, the most key piece to the puzzle is young Sparkle. She is the one who will ultimately be the key to my release back into the world.
Just remember your promise to me, Chrysalis pointed out. I’m risking a lot for you, more than you’ll ever know. I cannot, and I will not, allow my hive to come to ruin because of this. She stopped her walking. I can promise you that you will not enjoy it, were I to take out my anger on you, should anything happen to my subjects.
It laughed again. Oh, I shall not forget you, my Queen. However… I do not know if you will be able to keep calling yourself Queen when this is all done and over with. Maybe you shall; I have not decided yet. In the meantime, though… I believe Miss Dash is awakening in your chambers. Now might be the best time to go in and speak to her.
Chrysalis smiled. Maybe the information she sought was closer at hoof than she expected. She waited for a few moments more to see if the voice had anything else to say to her, but her mind echoed of quietness. Satisfied, she continued her stroll towards her private quarters.
A few miles off, a pair of lonely eyes espied the topmost spires of the castle that housed the Changeling queen. The azure irises saw everything, and the alicorn to whom they belonged did not like what she was seeing.
Tensions are running high these days… Luna thought to herself as she settled further down into the under-brush, trying to remain hidden from the constantly patrolling squads of Changeling sentries that patrolled the desolate lands that Chrysalis called her kingdom. They speak of many things… One held captive in the castle, another who escaped their grasp… Even a savage stalking their lands. They are all on the highest alert. Luna had a thought that the “savage” that they spoke of was actually herself, but she held no pretensions that it was completely true.
A few times on her journey, she had attempted to espy upon the dreams of sleeping Changelings that she had come across along the way. However, she had been shocked to discover that she could not see anything in their minds at all. She had pondered on this for many a day as she had made her journey, and only a few days prior she had thought of something that almost made her blood run cold.
The reason that she was not able to see anything in their dreams was not because of any kind of magick or spell that had been placed over them to prevent anyone from reading the thoughts in the darkest recesses of their minds… It was because they did not dream at all.
Why…? she questioned. Why would they be bred to have no dreams at all? It seems almost… torture, to not have any dreams at all. What must it be like to sleep every night, bleakest darkness your only companion, no memories to keep you warm like a well-lit fire?
It was only then that it came to her. They were bred this way for a reason. If they cannot dream, then they cannot have ideas of revolt. It is the ultimate control mechanism that could be placed inside anypony. She shuddered. The Queen they call Chrysalis is much more devious than anypony could have ever imagined…
Then again, she thought, how much imagining did the ponies do of the Changeling queen? The information about the Elements coming together, with the help of Cadance and Shining Armor, to defeat Chrysalis and expel the invading horde, had spread like wildfire throughout all of Equestria. With this information, though, came a sense of security that there would not be any more need for worry about this threat.
How wrong they are… Luna thought.
She ducked her head quickly as a small group of Changelings buzzed by, chatting animatedly amongst themselves. She could decipher only a few words of what they were saying; her Changeling language skills had deteriorated a bit during her time in lunar imprisonment.
“From what do you get this information?” one of them asked. It appeared to her that this one was the de-facto leader of the squad, both by the way it carried itself and by the way the other Changelings deferred to it.
“Rumors,” another replied. “But they are… among many others. It is not just…says that.”
“If it is true,” the leader replied, “it could mean bad things for the entire nation. We must… to our Queen. She will want to know… this.” The other two members of the squad nodded, and they flew away in tandem.
Luna waited until they were out of earshot (mostly, anyways) before letting out a deep breath she had been holding in. “So something has got their hackles raised…” she murmured to herself. “I do not think it is any kind of pony threat they are talking about, or I believe they would have mentioned it as such. A detail like that generally tends to get talked about, even in the hazy generalities of an oft-repeated rumor…”
She noticed the sun settling down to the lowest part of its arc, and finally she found herself able to relax a bit. She shifted slightly, trying to keep pressure off an aching rear hoof. She had unfortunately injured it a while back while trying to evade capture by a group of Changeling sentries, and though she had tried to use her magic to heal it right away, she found that somehow her magic was being dampened in the Changeling lands.
Her mind returned to that conundrum as she pondered her current situation. “Why can I not use my magic like I normally do…? It is almost as though some kind of spell has been put into place, in order to keep non-Changeling magic from being used to its maximum efficacy… But the kind of magical power that would be required to constantly keep a spell like that active…” She shuddered, and it was not just due to the chill wind that blew now through the area.
It was the constant realization of just how truly powerful her foe was, that was causing her to feel this way.
A voice echoed complainingly in the back of her mind: But if she is truly this powerful, then how were we able to defeat her at all? Why in Equestria is she not ruling over all of us with an iron hoof as we speak? Is it possible that you’re just blowing all of this out of proportion? Luna had never really liked this side of her: the argumentative conscience that just had to make everything that she thought seem not right.
It does have a point, though… This does not seem to make any sense. I wonder what answers I will find when I reach the castle. It is nearing nightfall… She scanned the horizon as she tried to stretch her limbs again without drawing undue attention to her presence there. Maybe I will be able to find some answers in the stars…
Chrysalis paused momentarily at the entrance to her quarters. She pressed an ear to the door, in an attempt to listen for any unwanted guests- besides the one they called Rainbow Dash, that is. Satisfied in her knowledge that nothing was amiss, she opened the door to the room.
She almost didn’t catch the form hurtling itself at her in time, but her senses told her enough to back off a little bit. Fortunately for her, she had all the time in the world to react, as she heard the sound of a chain snapping taut, then a thud on the ground followed by harsh, raspy coughing. She laughed and entered the room.
“You fool,” she said mockingly as she entered the room, observing Dash sprawled awkwardly on the ground. Dash struggled to her hooves, trying to regain her sense of balance as well as her breath. She snarled at Chrysalis and spat at her, and Chrysalis saw a tinge of blood in the saliva that landed just a few inches away from her.
“You are a damned fool,” she repeated as she watched Dash’s vain internal ragings. “What made you think you could break out of my prison so easily?”
“You know just as well as I do that I will never stop!” Dash spat back with no small amount of venom. "I bet right now, my friends are coming to save me!”
“The other Elements?” she asked with a mock questioning tone to her voice. “No, I do not believe so. They would not dare brave the perilous journey that it would require to cross into our lands. And besides, even though you are loyal to them, have you ever stopped to think that they might not be so loyal to you?”
Dash didn’t respond, so Chrysalis pressed a bit further. “You have given up so much for them, young one. All the times you could have been off doing your own thing, but no. You had ‘obligations’ to fulfill.”
“It didn’t matter to me,” Dash replied. “I was happy to do it. And even if I didn’t want to, I had to. I’m part of the Elements of Harmony, in case you’d forgotten.”
“Oh no, my dear. I have not forgotten. It was you and your so-called ‘friends,’ after all, who stopped my attempt to take over Canterlot. And speaking of, how is dear Cadance? Is she recovering well? I surely hope not…”
“Why are you even doing this?” Dash asked. It seemed to Chrysalis now that Dash was getting a bit of her usual bravado back into her voice. “It seems so… useless. Why kidnap me?”
“You were convenient,” Chrysalis retorted. “Truthfully, I would have liked to have gotten Miss Sparkle, but it just so happened that you rushed into battle before she did. Not that I am surprised about that. For an Element of Harmony, you seem to not have very much regard for your own self-preservation. What do the other Elements think about that, eh?”
“I had to try something…” Dash grumbled. This was something that had been eating at her, as well. Why had she gone out there like that, chasing after Chrysalis and that Changeling? She had just been asking to get captured, and that is exactly what had happened, in spite of Twilight and Celestia already being there.
A Changeling appeared at Chrysalis’ side, and she looked down at it with an approving smile. Dash had no idea where the thought came from, but she could almost tell with certainty that this was the Changeling that had spoken to her just before she fell into Chrysalis’ trap.
“You remember Adriu, don’t you, young one? That is his name, after all. He is the one who was with me that night.” It was almost as though Chrysalis could read Dash’s thoughts, and Dash reeled at the realization. Adriu inclined his head towards Dash, and Dash could almost sense a reverential respect in the gesture.
Almost immediately, Dash heard that rich-timbred voice echo through her head. If it were me imprisoning you, I would most certainly provide you with more fitting accomodations. Sadly, I have no say in the matter. I do wish that you not hold this against me.
Dash spoke aloud in response: “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you at all.”
An odd look crossed Chrysalis’ face. “Who are you talking to, young one? No one spoke at all…” An amused grin then formed. “If you are attempting to convince me that you are insane, young Dash, you need not do so. I already believe it with all of my heart.”
“Why are you keeping me here?” Dash asked plaintively. “Why not just let me go?”
“First of all, you know entirely too much about my lands now. I cannot let you go, and risk having that information fall into the hands of my enemies. Second, you do have a purpose in the overall scheme of things. Not now, but soon.” She was about to continue, when another Changeling appeared at the door and bowed to her.
“My queen,” he said from his prone position, “it is almost time for the council meeting.”
“Ah yes,” she said. She turned to Dash. “I am terribly sorry, but I must take leave now. Adriu will watch over you until I return, to make sure you don’t try anything that would mess up our plans.” She laughed and strode out the door, the Changeling who had come to get her following in her stead.
Dash sank to the ground, exhausted. All she wanted to do now was to sleep, and never wake up. Adriu came over to her and lay in front of her, staring deeply into her eyes.
“What do you want?” Dash asked, almost boredly.
You intrigue me, if I might be perfectly honest. You are in a situation where there is no hope at all of you escaping alive, and yet you still hold out in the hopes that your friends will come rescue you. Why is that? Why are you still fighting?
“It’s not like I have another alternative…” Dash grumbled. “I have to fight. I’m a fighter. It’s in my blood. I haven’t been given anything on a silver platter my entire life. It’s in my nature to fight for everything that I have.”
Adriu nodded. I very much know the feeling of which you speak, friend. It is something that is well-known amongst the Changelings. They fight constantly to gain our Queen’s favor, which I might add is not an easy task in the slightest. And even if we gain her favor, we must always fight to maintain it, which is even harder than gaining it to begin with.
“Why do you do it, then? Why not just… not care?
The thought of “not caring” about our Queen’s favor never crosses our minds. It is bred in us from the very beginning. To go against it, is to go against the very fabric of our beings. We do not, because we cannot.
Dash sighed. “It’s the same way, I guess, for both of us. You were bred to serve, I was bred to fight.” She shifted slightly. “I hope my friends come soon.”
Adriu rested his head on his forelegs. Even if they do come, sadly, there will be nothing they can do to stop Chrysalis from enacting her role in her ultimate plan. Something about that jarred some memories in Dash’s head, about what Twilight had told her.
“The whole Nightmare Moon thing?” She laughed mirthlessly. “That’s just a crock. Nightmare Moon can’t be brought back, and she won’t. We beat her, and that’s all there is to it.”
You did not defeat her wholly, though. You merely destroyed her body. Her soul, however, is an entirely different matter. I do not blame any of you, though. You could not have known that a soul can be destroyed, but only by a magick so dark that it has been banned in Equestria for thousands of years. Conveniently, I might add, by the same ruler who even now is the head of the entire land.
Something about that didn’t sit right with Dash. “So wait, you’re telling me that Celestia knew of a way to beat Nightmare Moon completely and totally, and she banned it from being used?”
She did it for the safety of the Equestrian nations, not just so that it could not be used on Nightmare Moon. In fact, at that point, the entity known as Nightmare Moon had not even revealed herself to Celestia- or Luna, for that matter. It was still quietly waiting in the shadows, for that one perfect moment to strike.
“How do you know so much?” Dash asked. “None of that was written in any history book I’ve ever seen. And believe me, I’ve seen enough of them from Twilight trying to get me to read more about Equestrian history."
Adriu’s response was prompt and simple. I have spoken to her.
This threw Dash for a major loop. “Wait. You’ve personally spoken to Nightmare Moon? How?”
It was one of the times when Chrysalis was having her conversations with her spirit. I accidentally tapped into the connection, and for a few seconds I was listening to the two of them talking. I even asked her a question, which she answered for me.
Dash almost couldn’t help herself. “What was the question?”
I asked her how she was going to manage this whole endeavor. She spoke to me of an eldritch magick, so old that it pre-dated even Celestia herself. All she needed, she said, was a sacrifice, and the spell could be set in motion.
His words hit Dash like a ton of bricks. “Wait… You can’t possibly be saying…”
Adriu looked at Rainbow Dash, and she could almost sense an aura of sadness emanating from his eyes. That is exactly what I am saying. You are the sacrifice that Chrysalis is going to use to bring Nightmare Moon back from her prison. He smiled. You should have seen it coming, young one. And because you did not... You will not be leaving this castle alive.
He closed his eyes and went to sleep, leaving Dash with nothing but her tears.
The cornfields stretched out for as far as the eye could see, and undoubtedly much longer than that. A breeze blew through the individual stalks, rustling ears and leaves alike. The resulting natural symphony was almost as silent as the wind on the air, and yet for the pony who stood in the middle of the field, it was as audible as her own voice, her own screams.
The pony with the rainbow mane sat still, staring at the scarecrow that towered over her.
Rainbow couldn’t quite figure it out, why the scarecrow bore an uncanny similarity to one of her friends. Which one, she couldn’t even tell. Maybe it didn’t look like any of them at all, maybe all of them at once.
She just couldn’t stop staring at it, regardless.
A tear slid down her cheek, from eyes that had already cried too many tears to count. She had long since abandoned all false former pretenses; they were no longer necessary. Nopony had any more need to see her as a constant stalwart, an anchor in the water when the waters of life had begun to roil and froth around them. She wasn’t that pony anymore, at least she didn’t see herself that way.
Before this thought had even finished manifesting itself in her mind, the scarecrow before her began to speak in an ululating, rhythmic tone. “You have grown so much since I first came to know you, young one… Some day, you will never have to grow again. But not now. Not any time soon.”
The voice seemed so familiar to Dash, but there was just nothing that she could do to identify how she knew it. She didn’t care much. As long as the voice wasn’t that of Queen Chrysalis, or of the rich-timbred Changeling drone that Chrysalis had tasked with watching over the Element of Loyalty, she didn’t care who it was.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Am I going to get out of this alive?”
“Just know,” the voice said in response, “that there are those out there who have your back, and who are working this very second on a plan to free you. Myself included. Just remember, Rainbow Dash: you may be Loyalty, but you have some who are more than willing to return that loyalty to you. Your friends.”
Just then realization hit her. She bowed low, as was the custom she always practiced. “How did I not recognize you before now…? Princess-”
“It is quite alright, Dash. I must be getting back to Canterlot very soon; my duties are required there as always. Just remember, you cannot give up. Soon, we will have you out of this land and back to your friends, where you belong.”
Dash stood up and smiled a wan smile. “If you say so, Princess… I will keep going. I can’t think of doing anything else but that.” She heard no voice after that, so she knew that she was alone now. No one else around. The voice had departed.
The voice of the night.
“Darling, please calm down…”
Rarity stood at the head of the pack of ponies, looking at Twilight who was laying on the circular patch of fabric that made up the large rug directly in front of the main bookshelf at her Ponyville library. Celestia had gone on her way after the two of them had exited, and had sealed the archives back up. Almost immediately, she had been hit with a wave of inconsolable sadness, and had crumpled to the ground, racked with spasms from her crying.
Unable to move for almost an hour, she had finally gotten enough strength up, and used her magic to teleport herself back to Ponyville. Spike had met her inside, and seeing her state, had rushed off to find the others.
They were then all gathered there before her.
Rarity knelt down beside her and laid a comforting hoof on the small of her back. “Dear, why don’t you tell us what has you so sad? Maybe there is some way we can help-”
“No,” Twilight said decisively, brushing Rarity’s hoof away. “There is nothing you can do to help. This is beyond me. This is beyond all of us.”
“What do ya mean?” Applejack asked. “How can ya expect us to understand if ya won’t tell us what’s really going on?”
Twilight got up and walked over to the window right by the door, opening it up to let in the breeze. She sighed and turned to face her friends. “Both of us are right, you know. What I just found out is absolutely huge, but at the same time it’s no reason for me to blow all of you off. You do deserve to know.”
Twi came up to them close, so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice so they could hear. “I took a trip with Celestia to the royal archives earlier. I wanted to have a look at some of the genealogy books, so I could confirm something for myself.”
“Did this have anything to do with that theory you had?” Fluttershy asked. “The one about your sister-in-law?”
Twilight nodded. “I couldn’t stand it anymore, not knowing the truth. And the Canterlot archives have the most extensive genealogical resources in all of Equestria. So I figured that if there was anyplace that I could find out that information that I needed… It was there.”
“And what did you find out?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight sighed, then steeled her resolve. “Celestia was right. There is a direct genealogical link between Cadance and Chrysalis. They really are related.”
The quiet pallor that came over the room upon Twilight’s pronouncement could not only be heard. It could be felt as well. They were all stunned into silence. It was Applejack who broke the silence a few moments later, and even then she spoke in a hushed, almost reverential tone.
“But how could that be possible? Her body structure is so much different from regular pony body structure- or alicorn bodies, for that matter…”
“From what I read,” Twilight continued, “it was a very long time ago that Chrysalis and her bodyguards left the mainland of Equestria and went on to found the Changeling nation. Their bodies simply adapted to their new surroundings. I guess, anyways. Maybe something even worse happened to them, that caused them to change their body structure. Who knows? All I know, is that the book I read showed a clear and distinct familial link between them.”
“So what?” AJ asked. “What does that have anything to do with why you were just about inconsolable an hour ago, from what Spike told us?”
Twilight sighed. “It wasn’t that part that had gotten me so bent out of shape. When I was in the archives with Celestia, she was acting very… strange.
“How so?” asked Applejack.
“She kept asking me questions about what I planned on doing with this information, why I needed it… And then there was Luna coming in…” She relayed the story about Luna’s conversation with her and Celestia. “It really seemed like Luna wasn’t at all comfortable with the whole situation.”
“Did she sense something was up?”
“It’s possible. And if she did, she wasn’t the only one. I kept getting this odd sense that we were being watched by somepony. When Luna came up to us, I thought it might have been her that I was sensing, but when I thought about it some more after she’d left… It just didn’t add up. I know the kind of magic that Luna has. I would have recognized that it was her. I didn’t feel that. I felt like somepony- or something- invisible was watching us. I kept trying to steal glances around the room while we walked, but I could never catch a glimpse of anything concrete…”
“That is really weird…” Spike admitted, walking back into the room carrying a sandwich. “So why didn’t you just try to use your magic to see if you could figure out who was watching you that way?” Twilight had nothing to say to this. Why hadn’t she done that?
“I… don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess because my biggest focus was on the whole reason why I was there to begin with.”
A familiar voice came from the doorway: “Then I suppose ‘twas a good thing that I was there, and being a fair lookout.” Everypony looked up to see who it was, then customarily bowed when they recognized who it was.
“That is not necessary at the moment,” Luna stated. “You may rise.” They all did so.
“What brings you out here?” Twilight asked. “Shouldn’t you be back at the castle, preparing to raise the night like you normally do?”
“That will come momentarily,” Luna replied. “For now, I felt I must come speak to you all about some troubling matters. Not the least of which is your missing comrade.”
“Do you know anything about Dash?” Applejack asked. “I mean, like where she is or if she’s alright.”
“I spoke to her last night, through my dream powers. I reassured her that we were coming to break her out as soon as we possibly could. She is holding on for now, but I am not sure how long that is going to last. I located her in Chrysalis’ personal chambers. That is where she was being held.” She sighed. “I went to the Changeling lands for a brief time, trying to find out anything I could about the current situation. I fear that upon retrospect, that may not have been the most well-advised move.”
Twilight gasped. “You went there? You could have been killed! Did you even think about that before you left? And what about the castle? You see it too, don’t you? The situation with Celestia? You were trying to tell me something in the archives, weren’t you?”
“I thought it was the best thing to do at that point. I see now that my thinking was erroneous. And you are right about one thing. Not all is right with my dear sister. I do not know what has come over her, but she is not the Celestia that I have known and loved for so long.”
“What do you wish for us to do?” Rarity asked her. “Surely there is something that we can do to help out-”
“Not in the matter concerning my sister. I fear that only two ponies will be able to do anything positive regarding that situation: myself and my sister’s student. As far as the rest of you are concerned, the best path for you all to take at the moment is to try to determine the safest way to get Rainbow Dash out of Chrysalis’ clutches. I fear she may not last much longer… I must leave you all now. Take care, and stay safe.” There was a flash of bright light, and then the ruler of the night was no longer among them.
Twilight sank to the floor. “Why all of this? Why now? As if we don’t have enough on our plates to begin with…”
“Maybe that’s the point though,” Applejack pointed out. “We can’t afford to let all these other distractions get to us. The number one biggest thing we gotta worry about now is figuring out how to get Rainbow Dash away from Chrysalis.”
“I would say let’s just go ask Princess Celestia,” Pinkie replied, “but didn’t Princess Luna just say that there’s a chance that Celestia isn’t actually Celestia at all?”
Rarity nodded. “If something has happened to her, then we mustn’t risk having our plan discovered by snooping eyes or ears.”
“So… We’re alone in this?”
“Not really,” Applejack pointed out. “We may only have each other… but that still means we have each other, right? One of our own is out there alone and scared, and we’re going to work together to go get her!”
“But… Nopony knows where the Changeling lands are…” Fluttershy pointed out. “Well, nopony except Luna, I guess…”
“Yeah, and I don’t think she’d tell us, would she?” They all solemnly shook their heads.
“So what now?” Twilight asked. “We’re no further along than we were at the start. What are we going to have to do to make things right?”
They all thought very hard for what seemed like forever, but nopony could come up with anything concrete. Just as they were about to go insane, Twilight looked up at her friends wiith a very odd look on her face.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Rarity asked.
“I have an idea, but nopony is going to be willing to go along with it. It’s dangerous, but we might be able to figure out a plan if we take this risk.”
“Explain, please…”
Twilight sighed. “We need to figure out something that is going to allow us to get Rainbow Dash out of there without her suffering harm. You heard Princess Luna: Dash is okay for now, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to last that way. If we want to get there and get her out, we’re going to need some serious help. I’m going to ask Princess Luna to do what she can, and you all need to do what you can too, but we need a magic stronger than what we can muster.”
“I’m still not getting what you’re trying to get at,” sighed Applejack.
Twilight fixed her gaze upon her friends. “I think it’s time we paid Discord a visit.”
That night was dark and lonely for the young filly, as she walked the streets alone. Her mother had asked her not to leave the house, but of course she didn't listen. She had to go to the park, she thought. The ghosts that were there came out at night, and she wanted to see them for herself.
She didn't see any that night, however. Disappointed, she trudged her way back to her house. She vowed to go back the following night, though. She would see the ghosts, she resolved. No matter what.
Slowly, she became aware of eyes upon her, watching her every movement. The moment she tried to bolt away, though, a pair of shadowy tentacles came up out of the ground and grabbed her, dragging her down into the solid earth. She managed to let out a single panicked yelp before she disappeared completely, leaving no trace that she was ever there.
---
In the dark depths of the Everfree forest, a pair of eyes opened, having heard the yelp in her dream. She shuddered. She knew what had happened to the young filly. She pushed up off her bed and began gathering up a few choice ingredients into her satchel.
"To Ponyville I go this night," she said softly, "to spare them from eternal fright."
The looks of disgust on the faces of the other Elements did not surprise Twilight very much. Save for Fluttershy, they all knew that Discord was not a being to be trusted, not even after Fluttershy had “reformed” him. None of them believed that his true nature could be suppressed; even his name belied his propensity for causing chaos and disharmony.
“Of all the magical beings that you could have picked,” Rarity piped up, “why did it have to be him? You know we can’t trust him any further than we could throw him.”
“Oh come now,” Fluttershy chided. “You don’t know that he hasn’t been reformed. He could be just as good as Celestia is now.” Her tone of voice, though, gave a clear implication: not even she herself believed her own words, not fully anyways.
“Nopony really believes that, I hope you know,” Applejack replied. “Discord is just too much… well, Discord. Sure, he’s got some of the most powerful magic that Equestria has ever seen, but howdya think he’s even going to help us, if we do go to him? Wouldn’t somepony like Zecora be a much better choice for this?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Well… Zecora has proven to us on multiple occasions that she is most definitely on our side. But I don’t know if even she has what it takes for us to be able to get Dash out of there before Chrysalis ends up fully going through with her plan.”
“It’s worth a shot, though,” Applejack replied. “Especially if that means we don’t have to go to Discord for help.” She tried to avoid Fluttershy’s pained gaze, but she was finding it very hard to do so. She sighed inwardly. “I really want to trust Discord. I do. It’s just that… He hasn’t really given us many reasons to do so.”
“I think that’s because we haven’t really given him any situations for him to do that,” Fluttershy pointed out. “And this would be a perfect way for us to do that. I mean, he’s told me himself that Dash is the one out of us that he likes the least. If he’s willing to put his magic on the line to save her, then maybe he actually is as good as he says he is.”
“I think Applejack has a point,” Twilight said, “but I believe the rest of you do as well. Discord could turn out to be our closest ally in this, but he could also turn out to be the thing that denies us the opportunity we need to save our friend. If need be, we can always just turn him to stone, I guess…”
“Didn’t we already tell him that we weren’t going to do that, though?”
Twilight nodded. “And I don’t intend on breaking that promise. He is supposed to be reformed, after all, and I think that at least he should be given the chance to prove he is, like Fluttershy said. I do think, though, that we should have a back-up plan should the worst come to fruition, and I think Zecora would be the best back-up plan in this case.”
“Then let’s head out to the Everfree Forest,” Rarity said, “so we can talk to Zecora and ask her if she’s fine with agreeing to help us.”
“I don’t even think she’s in Everfree anymore,” Twilight replied. “I sent Owlowiscious to deliver an unrelated message to her a few days ago, and Owlie came back with the message still tied to her claw. If she did see Zecora there, she didn’t give her the message, and I don’t think she’d do that. So that lends some credence at least to the idea that Zecora isn’t in her cottage for the time being.”
“Could she have just stepped out for a minute, and that just happened to be when Owlowiscious went to go see her?” Fluttershy asked.
“I suppose that’s possible, but Spike said he talked with Owlie a bit later- don’t ask me how, I guess he can- and she had indicated to him that her cottage looked like it hadn’t been lived-in for a few days. So maybe something happened to where she had to go somewhere and-”
They all heard a loud belch from the other room, and a few seconds later Spike came walking in bearing an official letter from Princess Celestia. “This just came in,” he said, rubbing his stomach a bit queasily. “Why can’t she figure out some other way to get into touch with you when she needs to…?”
Twilight took the letter from Spike and read it silently. When she finished, she rolled it back up. “Well, that explains at least why Owlowiscious wasn’t able to get the letter to Zecora when she went over there.”
“What did it say?” Rarity asked.
“Well, apparently, Zecora has been a guest at the royal castle for the past few days. The Princesses were having a talk with her about the current situation. I guess they had roughly the same idea that we did. The letter also said that they would like our presence at the castle tomorrow for a meeting with Zecora and them.”
“I wonder what for?” Fluttershy mused.
“I hope they have a plan for getting Rainbow Dash out of Chrysalis’ clutches. If not, then they’d better come up with one soon. And we need to help them.” The others nodded in agreement. “How about this? Let’s all meet up back here tomorrow morning, and then we can head out to Canterlot together. The meeting isn’t until the afternoon anyways, so we’ll have plenty of time to get there if we catch the train.”
“That’s fine,” Rarity replied. “I was supposed to be going over to Derpy’s house tonight anyways. I told her I’d help her clean up her house, since she’s been putting in so many hours at the post office lately. I want to help her and Dinky out any way that I can.”
“And I have to change out the lining in all of my animals’ cages,” Fluttershy said. “It’s been a few days since I did it, and I want them all to have fresh lining.”
As it turned out, almost all of them had other things to do that night, that would keep them busy until the next day. As they left, one by one, Twilight came to a realization: she didn’t have anything to do that night. She wandered off in the direction of the staircase leading to her room, wondering what in Equestria she could do to pass the time until the next morning.
Down below her, sitting on the coffee table in the center of the room, a vase suddenly sprouted eyes, which looked around for a few moments before blinking and vanishing. After that, all was quiet.
The royal bedroom of Queen Chrysalis was dark. None of the lights were lit, which was exactly the way that she wanted it. Her head was pounding with a splitting headache, and every bone in her body felt like it was about to shatter into a million pieces.
She was in the most severe pain of her life, and she had no idea why.
Her Changeling guards stood at their posts outside her room, occasionally exchanging worried glances at each other, though they did not turn their heads or otherwise move. They knew she was in terrible pain; her anguished cries and moans throughout the previous night and all throughout the day had been enough to clue them in on that much. And as they were all magically linked to their Queen, to a certain extent they felt it as well.
One of them shifted restlessly, trying to take pressure of his rear left leg, which was currently developing a rather irritating cramp. The other guard looked at him out of the corner of his eye, a twinge of fear going through him. Would their Queen come out unexpectedly and berate them for their un-guardlike behavior? After a few moments, though, he relaxed, seeing that there wasn’t going to be a lecture in their immediate future.
Inside the room, Chrysalis gritted her teeth, trying as hard as she could to not pass out from the pain. She had tried to contact Nightmare in an attempt to try to figure out if maybe this was the spirit’s doing, but she had been thus far unsuccessful. Either Nightmare Moon didn’t want to talk to her at the current time, or the pain that she was experiencing was interfering somehow with her telepathic capabilities.
Whichever was the case, there was something unsettling about the silence on the other end. Normally, the spirit who called herself Nightmare Moon was incessant in her talking to Chrysalis, checking up on her, trying to figure out if the preparations had been finished for the ritual that would (hopefully) end up in reconstituting her original physical form, so she didn’t have to just possess whichever pony was convenient for whatever her current purposes were. Chrysalis couldn’t get her to shut up on most days. And now that she desperately needed answers the most… Nightmare was nowhere to be found.
It aggravated the hell out of her.
She tentatively tested her legs, flexing them slowly to minimize the number of twinges that those small movements sent through her every muscle. Sure enough, the pain hadn’t lessened up at all since the last time she tried doing that about fifteen minutes previously.
“Why is this happening?” she asked angrily, gritting her teeth through the pain. “Is someling trying to kill me from the inside?!” No answer came, obviously, and she was sorely tempted to roar in frustration. She restrained herself, though, if only because she didn’t want to be racked with another body-wide spasm of pain like what happened the last time she’d tried something like that.
She sighed, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Why was she having to go through this, when she should be getting ready for the meeting of the Changeling nobles the next day? They were all counting on her being there. She was their Queen, after all. And not only that, but she still had some final preparations to make for Nightmare Moon-
“Give it up…” came a soft, raspy voice from the corner of her room. “You’re not going… to win… You should just… accept that… and move on…”
Chrysalis’ eyes flitted towards the prisoner that was in chains in the darkest corner of her room. She had almost forgotten about Rainbow Dash being there; the Element had long since lapsed into sullen silence as long as Chrysalis was in the room. She never heard a peep out of Dash, not even when she got into one of her crueler moods and used her eldritch magic on Dash, torturing her in an attempt to break her spirit- and her faith that her friends would ever come rescue her- even further.
Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash proved to be even more tenacious than Chrysalis could have ever imagined, and the Queen’s attempts to break her had always ended in failure. Even when she had been off doing her Queenly duties and had set her most personal confidant, Adriu, to keep watch over her, he had unfailingly reported that during his prolonged questioning of her, Dash had never once indicated that she had given up faith in her friends, the fellow Elements.
“You should keep quiet, young one,” Chrysalis retorted, “and save your energies towards your mere survival. Soon, this will all be over, but I cannot have you dying off before-” She was racked with a fit of coughing, and every muscle in her body cinched up with an unholy pain that brought stars to her eyes. She felt so sure that she was going to pass out, that she began to subconsciously give her body up to it, just so she could finally be rid of the pain.
Unfortunately for her, in a few moments, the worst of the pain had subsided, and she was still conscious, though every fiber of her being now throbbed with the worst possible pain.
“It looks like… it’s you… whose time is almost up…” Dash smirked silently to herself. “Like I told you… Good always wins…” Her tiredness overtook her then, and she laid her head on her hooves and closed her eyes, succumbing to the tiredness.
Chrysalis lay staring up at the ceiling, wanting only to die. She would have relief from this pain, she determined… One way or another.
The following day, the Elements arrived at the royal castle. None of them had slept much during the night, they had discovered when they had convened at Golden Oaks Library that morning. All of them had reported waking up at various intervals during the night with excruciating cramps in their legs, a phenomenon that none of them had any rational explanation for.
Following an uneventful train ride, they stepped into the foyer of the castle. They immediately saw Princess Luna coming down the hallway, alongside her royal guest. The Elements bowed in deference to the Royals.
“We are glad to see you here,” Zecora said as they straightened back up. “There is not much time left to act, I fear.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked with a twinge of fear running through the back of her mind. “Did you all find out something?”
Luna nodded. “I am the one who sent you that letter, Twilight. I did not trust Celestia to do it… for the reasons that I explained to you the last time we met. I have already apprised Zecora of the situation, and she has agreed to keep the matter under close wraps until it can be resolved.” Zecora nodded, silently indicating her implicit agreement in the matter. “But no matter for that for now. I have dire news that you all need to hear. Follow me.”
Luna led them into the royal throne room, and when they saw the scene there, they all gasped. The entire throne room had been tossed into disarray; most of the banners had been ripped and torn asunder, a few of the stained glass panes had large cracks spanning them, and the throne itself had a rather large chunk taken out of the right side of it.
“What in the hay happened here?” Applejack asked, as much in shock as everypony else was.
“The Changelings launched an attack on the royal castle early yesterday evening. I was in my chambers with Zecora when it happened, and we only barely made it into the throne room to ensure that it was not completely demolished. The guards, Zecora, and I fended off the remaining Changelings, and we managed to send them all away… Except for one.”
“What happened to that one?” Twilight asked.
“The one who is left is in the stocks,” Zecora replied, “cursing us though chained to rocks.”
“Take me to them,” Twilight demanded. Luna nodded, and began to walk again. It took them a few minutes to get down to the stockades, but as soon as they walked into the room, they saw that Luna was indeed right: a solitary Changeling was chained between two stone pillars, looking rather pained and weak.
Twilight immediately strode up to it. “Why did you attack the castle? What purpose did you have for doing this?”
The Changeling managed to lift its head to look Twilight straight in the eyes. It spoke in a telepathic voice, keeping its words to her alone. As it spoke to her in her mind, the look of anger vanished off her face, and was replaced by a look of shock and horror. A moment later, it hung its head again, having said its peace. Twilight turned to her friends, tears coursing down her cheeks. Immediately, the other Elements flocked to her.
“Undoubtedly it has told you how dire the situation now is,” Luna spoke up. “We need to act more quickly now than ever.”
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “What did it tell you?”
Twilight sniffed, trying to speak through her tears. “Chrysalis plans on doing the ritual to resurrect Nightmare Moon… Tomorrow night.” Amidst the gasps from her friends, she continued on solemly: “We now have only twenty-four hours to find and rescue Rainbow Dash… before Chrysalis kills her as the sacrifice to bring back Nightmare Moon. We have to find her… or we’ll lose her forever…”
Twilight paced in her study, incessant in her motions. It had been only a few hours since the Changeling had told her about Chrysalis’ plans for Rainbow Dash, and she had immediately (and tearfully) taken off to her library, Spike and the others trying their best to follow closely behind.
“There has to be something that we can do!” she exclaimed angrily. “I may not get along with Rainbow all the time, but she’s still my friend, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some two-bit self-proclaimed Queen steal her from me!”
The others were there still, though they were more inclined to silence than their friend. They were all feverishly thinking about what to do, but none of them were really coming up with anything.
“Well, let’s just think about we do know,” Applejack chimed in. “We have less than twenty-four hours now before Queen Chrysalis is going to supposedly enact this ritual that will bring Nightmare Moon back, and we figure that Rainbow Dash is somehow going to be a key part of this ritual. But what use is she going to be if she’s dead?”
“I haven’t read much of anything at all about blood magic,” Twilight replied, “only that it’s outlawed in all civilized areas of Equestria and that it is a process that will inevitably- and irrevocably- taint the soul of the individual who performs it. That’s the only thing that I can think of, for why Chrysalis would need Rainbow Dash. If the ritual didn’t require some sort of blood sacrifice, why kidnap her? Why not just perform the ritual on her own, and quietly at that, so we wouldn’t know what was going on before it happened?”
“That just tells me,” Rarity replied, “that Chrysalis is willing to do literally anything to ensure that this happens. Though for the life of me, I can’t figure out why she would want to do this… What is her motivation behind this?”
“She’s evil and loves to spread it throughout Equestria?” Spike suggested with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. None of them could really argue with that.
“There’s something more to this, though,” Twilight mused, “something that we’re just not seeing. Rarity brings up a good point. Chrysalis has mainly stuck to her own agenda, that we know of. She needs love to feed her Changelings and maintain her country, so why would she be doing this? This is totally out of character for her.”
“Um… Maybe she isn’t doing this willingly…” Fluttershy offered. The others stopped and looked at her, their full attention now on her.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Well… You did say it yourself… This is completely out of character for her… So wouldn’t it stand to reason that maybe she’s not doing this completely of her own volition? Maybe something- or someone- is controlling her from behind the scenes, or at least directing her actions in the direction that they want them to go…”
“I hadn’t thought of that at all,” Twilight admitted. “I’d just been going off the notion that Chrysalis knew what she was doing, and that she wanted this whole thing to happen the way it’s been happening. But if she’s being controlled by someone to make this happen… This just throws a wrench into-” She gasped. “Dear Celestia, I think I know who’s doing this! And I think I’ve known it all along!”
Spike was immediately in sync with her train of thought. “Nightmare Moon herself?”
Twilight nodded. “Think about it. Nightmare Moon has appeared to me in my dreams how many times now?”
Spike thought for a moment. “I think about seven or eight.”
“Exactly. And the first few times, she’d bragged that the time was coming nigh that she would come back into the world!”
“So what you’re saying is that, what? Queen Chrysalis is now Nightmare Chrysalis or something?” Applejack asked bemusedly.
“No, I don’t think so. If Nightmare Moon were strong enough to fully possess Chrysalis and operate within her body, then there would be no need for the ritual. She could just use her dark magic to corrupt Chrysalis’ body, and eventually change her into a suitable shell for her work. I think in this case, she may just be influencing Chrysalis’ mind in her decisions, possibly through some sort of telepathy or mental link.”
Just then, they heard a clapping sound from behind them. “Oh, bravo…” came a very familiar voice. “You all have been running around like chickens with your heads cut off for so long, I doubted you would ever catch on…”
Twilight whirled around angrily. “So you’re telling me that you knew about this the whole time, Discord? You’ve been letting this happen?!”
Discord shrugged. “Well, I am the embodiment of chaos and disorder, after all. And what would be better than seeing all of Equestria turned upside-down by a single event… And me, having nothing to do with it!” He chuckled.
“So this whole ‘reformed Discord’ thing was nothing but a sham after all!” Rarity exclaimed.
Discord mockingly put his hand up to his heart. “Oh, my dear Rarity, you wound me to the quick with your words! Just because I haven’t done anything to stop this whole ordeal, doesn’t mean that I’ve gone back to the dark side. Had you even stopped to consider that maybe the reason why I hadn’t done anything about it was because I couldn’t do anything about it?”
Their silence was encouragement for him to go on: “I may be the physical manifestation of chaos, but my magic can only go so far. Nightmare Moon is thousands of years older than even I, and her magic extends even further than my reaches. So when you say that I did nothing to stop her, keep in mind that even I knew better than to test her.”
“You could have at least told us!” Pinkie said angrily. “Poor Twilight has been worried sick about this whole situation since-”
“Since how long ago?” Discord asked with no small note of smugness in his voice. “Quite a while, if I am not mistaken. And she herself told you about this, remember? She tried to get you to believe, but you all thought she was a madmare, a lunatic. It wasn’t until you were showed incontrovertible proof that Twilight was right that you inevitably were brought over to her side. But it may have been too late…” He sighed. “Nightmare Moon has to have been growing stronger since you defeated her. It’s entirely possible that this time, not even the Elements can save your friend and banish Nightmare Moon again.”
“And without Rainbow Dash, we can’t even use the Elements anyways…” Fluttershy reminded everypony. “Remember what happened last time when Spike tried to use her Element? Nothing happened.”
“Well, the Elements worked once before,” Twilight replied. “There’s nothing saying that they won’t work again. We have to keep in mind that if we can’t stop this whole thing without using the Elements, we may have to fall back on them as a last resort.”
“But why are we leaving them for a last resort?” Pinkie asked. “Shouldn’t they be the first thing we go to, considering the bond of our friendship is the reason why the Elements are as powerful as they are in our hooves?”
Twilight swallowed. “If- and I’m not saying at all that I think this will happen, or that I wanted to happen- if something were to happen to Rainbow Dash, that would make her unable to use her Element for any reason, we have to have other plans in the works, just as back-ups.”
“Sounds to me like a whole lot of nothing,” Discord remarked. “You all are just talking around in circles; you’re not really making any sort of progress at all towards saving your friend. Why not actually- and I don’t know why I’m saying this- do some research and figure out what is going to be the best course of action for saving her.”
Twilight turned her attention back to Discord. “That is exactly what I intend to do. But before myself and the others go to this, we need to hear this from your own mouth… Are you with us on this? If we go to defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all and rescue Rainbow Dash, are you going to be with us or against us?”
Discord smirked. “Oh, I have no intention on being against you. None in the slightest. Bear in mind, though, that my efforts may not be of any use to you at all. Remember, my magic is far outstripped by hers.”
“That may be true,” Twilight replied, “but if we all work together to fight this, I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing that can stop us. We’ll have Celestia and Luna by our side as well, and maybe Cadance and Shining Armor if I can get in touch with them. They should already be at the Royal Castle, so there won’t be much work in that regard.”
With that, Twilight began to gather up some books that she thought may be of some use in formulating a plan. The others began to anxiously help, painfully aware of the limitations that were being placed upon them, both in time… and in power.
Rainbow Dash cautiously opened her eyes. It was almost fully dark outside, as she could see from the window in Chrysalis’ room that had been left slightly cracked open, and as far as she could tell there weren’t any stars out that night. It was almost too much for her; she thought about Luna and her raising of the night.
She wondered about Luna coming to visit her in her dreams, as she had done that one time. Could it be that they had all forgotten about her? She hadn’t heard anything from Luna since that one time, and she had promised a speedy end to this trial.
Dash got up and stretched; upon standing up fully, she was surprised to find that the chain had been lengthened sometime during her sleep. She could now not only stand all the way, but she could even move around a bit, though not far enough to be able to get on Chrysalis’ bed or to reach the window.
She walked in a circle a few times, stretching out the muscles in her legs that hadn’t gotten much use at all since she’d been captured. As she was doing so, she started thinking about something else that scared her more than anything else.
“My wings…” she murmured. “I don’t know how long I’ve been down here, and I really haven’t been able to exercise my wings much at all, much less get any actual flying in. I hope this doesn’t have too big of an effect on my speed and everything. It seems like nowadays, flying is really all that I have… Besides my friends that is,” she amended quickly, even though nopony at all was around to hear her.
She stretched her wings out tentatively; it hurt at first, seeing as how long it had been since she had given them much exercise; in a few moments, though, the ache subsided and she found that- as far as she could tell- she had just as much range of motion with her wings as she’d had before her capture.
“This is good,” she said as she continued to pace. “If I can actually break out of here, I may be able to make it to-” The crackling of a piece of paper stopped her, and she looked down to see what it was.
To her surprise, she found herself looking down at a poster, an old one at that, advertising a Wonderbolts exhibition. She smiled against her will and settled down onto all fours, gazing deeply at that poster, drinking in every small detail of it: the sun setting against a vibrant sky, the rushes of air coming off their high-flying bodies, the uniform that she knew so very well and wanted more than anything else to wear one day, as an actual Wonderbolts member…
Without her even noticing it, her resolve began to strengthen. “I will make it out of here,” she growled. “I will not let this kill me… No matter what, I’m going to make it back to Ponyville, back to my friends, back to the life that I love… and I will make sure Chrysalis pays for bringing this upon me!”
Just then, the door closed behind Dash. She jumped a little bit, mostly because she hadn’t heard the door open to begin with. She quickly craned her neck to see who it was, and found it odd that she was actually able to relax once she realized it was not Chrysalis who had entered.
“I would not quite put all your eggs in one basket,” Adriu commented drily, “especially about the part where you are going to make Chrysalis pay for what she has done to you.”
“You put a lot of faith in your queen,” Dash remarked. “Is it forced into you at birth, or do you choose to be loyal to her?”
This seemed to throw Adriu for a loop momentarily. He recovered quickly, though. “Is there a difference? Being loyal to her is all that I know; it comes as naturally as breathing. If she says to do something, I do it. If she says to go somewhere, I go. If she says to trust her, I do it… Regardless of how immediately hard it may be.”
Something dawned in the back of Dash’s mind. “You really did mean it when you said you were sorry for having to come out and capture me, didn’t you?”
Adriu nodded. “It is not in my nature to seek out trouble, and I thought from the beginning that that was precisely what Chrysalis was doing when she mentioned to me about going to ponynap you. However, it is also not in my nature to rebel, so I had to go along with what she was telling me to do.”
Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You may be the only Changeling in the entire hive that has actual, personal feelings about things. You can use that to your advantage! You can help me get out of here…!”
Her companion shook his head. “I cannot do anything that would go against the will of my Queen. That much, I know and believe for a fact. However, if I could do anything to make your stay here more… Not as much enjoyable, but tolerable… Then I would do that without a second thought. I do not wish to torture you, after all. My Queen hinted that she would have liked for that to be done, but I wanted no part in it.”
“I know,” Dash replied. “What has been done to me, was done by others, not you.” Something clicked in her mind. “Did… did you bring me that Wonderbolts poster?”
He nodded. “You can take that as a sign that I want you to be strong and overcome this for yourself, or you can take it as a sign that I want to break your spirit even further, by reminding you of the things that you once had but no longer do, and the life that is inevitably going on around you, passing you by as you sit here chained up like a cur.”
He smiled. “But tomorrow evening, it will all be over anyways. Nightmare Moon will return, and her reign on this earth will last forever. And you… Well, you get the easy way out. Your friends, on the other hand… Not so much.” Before she could say another word, he inclined his head to her in what she thought in disbelief was a gesture of respect to her, then turned on his heels and walked out the door.
Dash settled back down onto the ground. If her friends were going to come and rescue her, they needed to figure something out… And quickly.
Twilight and the others thundered into the Royal Castle. Luna was already waiting there for them, as Spike had sent a letter ahead of time informing her of their imminent arrival. Zecora stood in their midst, as did Shining Armor and Cadance.
Luna led them into a large room with a singular circular table in the center. “This is the War Room,” she said solemnly. “I had wished that you would never have had to see this, as those who see it should know that when these doors are opened… There is no turning back. When a Princess enters into the War Room, it is to prepare for war. No more, and most certainly no less.”
“What about Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.
“I still have my doubts about the veracity of her identity,” Luna replied with chagrin. “And at this point, it matters not much, because I have not seen ‘her’ around in a few days’ time.”
“At all?” Twilight asked. She only got a nod in response.
At Luna’s behest, all the books and materials that they had brought were placed onto the table and divided up amongst those standing there. Once this had been done, Luna walked up to the head of the table and took her place there.
She addressed all present: “This is an event that I never thought would ever happen, but it is right on our doorsteps. You all know of the evil that Nightmare Moon has caused during the times that she has been allowed to roam free over Equestria, and now she is attempting to influence Chrysalis into performing some kind of ceremony to give her permanent access to this world. This somehow involves one of the Elements of Harmony, the pony Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty.” She drilled stares into them. “The time for inaction is behind us. If we are to get Rainbow Dash out of there before tomorrow night, we need to make a plan.”
“We?” Twilight asked. “So we are all just going to thunder into the Changeling lands and try to break Rainbow out? What about the Royal Castle? Who is going to be in charge there?”
“I will,” Luna replied. “My duties are first and foremost to this nation, and I cannot abandon my post as ruler. Shining Armor and Cadance will accompany you, however, as will the draconequus Discord.” She pointedly looked at him, and he confirmed her words with a sly nod.
“Now with my leadership, we will come up with a plan. Shining Armor, I want you to start looking through the Books of Maps. Cadance, you help him. The others…”
She went down the list, telling everypony their part. They all agreed to do them, and set about it with enthusiasm. Luna watched over them, knowing that this was doing more than helping them to free Rainbow Dash: this was also helping them to keep their own minds off the troubles that they were currently experiencing, but more ominously…
It had taken Luna longer than she had thought to be able to explain everything to the Elements gathered there, along with their special guests. They had some questions for her, mostly concerning logistical aspects of the ordeal, and she was grateful for Shining Armor’s presence there. This was, after all, mostly in his repertoire of skills.
“A question,” Cadance said, after her husband had finished with his responses. “Is there any kind of information as to how you were able to penetrate the Changeling lands unseen? Chrysalis herself had said that there were defensive measures in place around the entirety of her kingdom.”
Luna nodded. “I had encountered some of them while on my travels there. The most obvious among them are the constant patrols by the Changeling drones. I do not think there was a single minute I was alert to, that they were not out en masse.”
“Was there any sort of detection spell out there?” Twilight asked. “And if so, could it be deflected towards another area or something?”
“I do not know exactly what kind of spell it was, or if it even was a spell at all. Maybe it was just my overanxious mind playing tricks on me. At a few points in the journey, though, I could have swore by the moon that I could feel magical energy radiating from some indistinct landmarks I passed. Maybe there is some sort of magical energy in those that would alert the soldiers to any… unwanted guests in the area.”
“Then why didn’t they come after you?” Shining asked.
“I do not know that either. It may have been because I was using an ancient spell to mask my magical energies- and with that on my mind now, I will need to get with the magic users among you-” she gestured to Shining Armor, Cadance, Twilight, and Rarity- “on the proper usage and application of that spell. If it will be at all a help to you, and I believe it will, seeing as I used it and evaded capture the entire time, you should be able to go in there and extract Rainbow Dash without much of a fight on your hooves.”
“Did she seem fine when you contacted her in her dreams?” Applejack asked. Luna had apprised them all of the contact she had made with Rainbow a few nights previous.
“Well enough,” Luna replied, “but very weary. I do not know what they are doing to her over there, but I can surmise that it may not be much time before they try more drastic measures on her. That is why we need to get over there as soon as we can, to get her out and get back without arousing alarm.”
“Are all of us going in one group?” Twilight asked. “Such a large group would undoubtedly attract attention eventually.”
Luna shook her head. “I had thought of that beforehand. You will be split into two groups. Cadance will head up one and Shining will head up the other. Each group will be teleported to a different side of the Changeling lands. After drop-off, each team will head in towards the central castle, where Rainbow Dash is being held. You will all converge there, then perform the extraction.”
“How will we keep in contact with each other?” Fluttershy asked.
“The unicorns and alicorns in the party can use their magic to communicate with the other group, though I do not know the limitations of this. I hope that distance will not prove too much of a problem in this effort.”
“But why Chrysalis?” Applejack asked. “Why would Nightmare Moon use one of our enemies to house her spirit while she brooded up this plan to resurrect herself? Wouldn’t it have gone under less notice if she’d used one of our friends?”
“I do not entirely know,” Luna replied, “but I believe that it may have something to do with the fact that she wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible during her efforts. If she had gone into the body of somepony close to you all, then the behaviors displayed as a result would have alerted you too quickly that something was amiss. As it stood, Chrysalis had been banished, alongside the other Changelings, back to their own lands, where the plans could be brought to fruition without anypony really being any the wiser.”
This brought a pall over those gathered there; clearly now, Nightmare Moon had thought about this beforehoof. She had planned out so much, and it had nearly succeeded without a single hitch in sight.
“There is still the matter of my sister,” Luna continued. “I do not know where she is, or what she is up to. I can assume nothing good, though. I am sure that with Zecora by my side, we will be fine here until you all can return with Rainbow.”
A voice echoed from the back of the room. “Why do you put such little faith in me, sister?” Everypony craned their heads at once, and a chill ran down their collective spines.
Celestia strode into the room, somehow managing to look both meek and outraged at the same time. A wave of foreboding crashed over everypony simultaneously, and they all looked around at each other, confirming silently that they had each felt it as well.
“Is this because of what I did to you back then?” Celestia continued. “You know that I would have not banished you to the moon, had I thought there was any way else to fix the situation.”
“This has nothing to do with that,” Luna growled, turning away. “If you would have been with us from the beginning, you would know that this situation is about us going to rescue Rainbow Dash from Chrysalis’ clutches, and nothing else.”
“And I have every faith in the world that you will be able to retrieve her,” Celestia replied with a smile that was almost trying too hard to be kindly. She yawned slightly. “I am tired from my journey, and I must go lay down now. I am trusting in you all to get your friend back. Don’t stop believing in yourselves, whatever you do.” She turned and walked out of the room, using her magic to close the door behind her.
As soon as the door shut, Cadance turned to Luna. “Journey? You never mentioned anything about Celestia going anywhere? Is that why she wasn’t here? Maybe you’re just overthinking this whole thing, Luna…”
“Yeah, maybe Celestia isn’t a Changeling spy like you told us she was. She’s got a lot of things on her plate right now; maybe it’s just that she’s excessively tired.”
“Well hold on a minute now,” Applejack butted in. “Why would Celestia just up and leave to go on some grand, magnificent adventure without telling anypony, much less her own sister? That doesn’t seem like her at all.”
Luna nodded. “I have known my sister for longer than anypony else. This is not her. There is some other force at work in her body right now. I cannot surmise if this is Chrysalis’ work, or that of Nightmare Moon. What I do know, is that every moment we sit here and talk, is a moment slipping away towards the ritual. How much longer do we have?”
Twilight closed her eyes and her horn lit up. A few moments later, it faded and she opened her eyes again. “We have approximately sixteen hours until the appointed time.”
Luna nodded. “Everyone has their tasks. Get to them. We need to be prepared in an hour’s time to leave. I will teleport you in groups to the designated locations, and then it will be up to you.” They agreed and got up; Luna opened the door for them. They all walked out, trying not to let their fear show. Each had a different area of the castle to go to, in order to get their part done.
Twilight was walking towards the library, when she heard a familiar voice coming from the Royal Library: “Do you really think this is going to work?”
She turned, sighing. “What choice do we have, Discord? We almost literally have our backs up against the wall at this point. We have to trust Luna that we will be able to get there in time to stop the ritual and save Dash, we have to trust you that you’re not going to majorly screw us over in the name of Chaos, we have to-”
“Did Cadance ever address the issue of her relationship to Chrysalis?”
Twilight stopped. “How did you know about that?” she asked accusingly.
Discord smirked. “Oh, my dear, when your Princess Luna was advising me of the situation, she did not leave anything out. And I take it that by your reaction, you have not addressed it with her yet.”
“No, I haven’t,” Twilight replied angrily. “I just don’t see how that is possible to begin with. I mean, they don’t really look anything alike, besides having alicorn bodies. How in Equestria did she and the Changelings get to look like they do now, if they did at one point have some kind of blood relation to Cadance? What happened to them?”
“Didn’t you read at one point that they had simply adapted to their new surroundings, cast out into a harsh and unforgiving land?”
Twilight wondered how Discord knew that, but she brushed it off for the time being. “Yeah, but I’m starting to think that it’s a little bit more than that. How would they have gone through that drastic of a change? And what was the catalyst? I’m pretty sure there’s more to this than just what I’m seeing right now.”
“There is,” came the reply from ahead of them. Twilight looked up and froze.
“Cadance?” Twilight asked. “Wh-what do you mean, there is?”
“There’s more to that story than just what’s written in the history books. Which are right, by the way. Chrysalis and I are related.”
“Oh this is just too perfect,” Discord chortled. “The truth is finally revealed…!”
“What happened to Chrysalis?” Twilight asked. “Why does she look so different from us now?”
“Because of me,” Cadance replied. “She was a being of incredible power, as are all alicorns. However, due to some traumatic event that happened to her when she was still yet a filly, she had harbored intense hatred in her heart, and that rage corrupted her into a monster.” Cadance sighed. “I hated to have to use that spell on her, but I had no choice…”
“What spell?” Twilight asked, unsure if she should have even been asking that question to begin with.
“It was one that I was taught by my teacher,” she said. “It was one to un-corrupt rage and darkness within a pony’s heart, and I thought that as the Princess of Love, my magic would be especially suited to such a task. Besides, it was family, and I wanted to do this for her. But… Things did not go as I had planned.”
“What happened?”
“The spell that I used was less effective than I’d thought; the darkness in her heart was complete, and I didn’t realize at the time that a completely blackened heart could not be turned whole again by this spell. What I also didn’t intend, was for the outward change to occur. She became what she is today, her outer self matching the inner. I have regretted what I did every day, but I could not go against my Queen’s wishes-”
“Your… Queen? Who are you talking about?”
Cadance looked at her oddly. “Chrysalis, of course. That was the final adverse effect of my spell. Some of the darkness within her bounced back to me, and tainted my blood ever so slightly. In the same way that we share familial blood by our parents, we also share Changeling blood.”
Twilight was stunned. This was something she could have never seen coming. And this, from her old foalsitter…
“Were you like this when you were foalsitting me?” Twilight asked tentatively.
Cadance nodded. “This happened long before you and I met. I am truly sorry I’ve never told you about this before now, but… it was just shame on my part. And now I have to-”
The entire castle shuddered- once, twice, three times. Twilight was almost nearly knocked off her feet, but Cadance steadied her.
Luna’s voice magically echoed throughout the cold, stone hallways: “Everyone to the front parapet now! Mare the battle stations! We are being attacked!”
Twilight and Cadance looked at each other and took off towards the ramparts, Discord following not far behind. As they ran, Twilight began to hear a telltale buzzing noise, and her heart dropped as she hurried on.
Footsteps echoed throughout the castle as the inhabitants raced to their battle positions. Twilight glanced behind her as she ran towards the front gate of the castle. She saw her friends behind her, and Discord alongside her. His expression exuded utter determination, and she felt a twinge of regret for all the times that she'd doubted whether or not he had truly come over to their side.
Now, she could see, he truly had. Otherwise, he wouldn't be this set on protecting the castle and those within it.
She skidded to a halt about halfway down the long, narrow corridor, and the others slammed on the brakes shortly thereafter. Standing in front of them was a large group of Changelings, all with the same expressions that they had seen on their faces while Chrysalis was leading them against the Elements after the Royal Wedding. Cold, calculating... but oddly this time, also with a tinge of glee.
She waited for them to begin shifting their forms, as they did the first time, but not a single shimmer was seen among them.
“Why aren't they changing?” Twilight whispered.
“I believe it's because they think they don't have to,” Discord returned. “They have been convinced that whatever their mission is here, they don't even need to disguise to do it. Victory has already been guaranteed, in their eyes.”
Twilight's eyes narrowed. “Well, let's give them a reality check, shall we?” Discord smiled, and slipped into invisibility.
She returned her attention to the Changelings, who hadn't moved at all during her brief exchange. “Why haven't they come after us? Surely my momentary lapse of attention would have been enough for them to make a first move...”
“Why are you here?” Twilight asked. “Why have you come here?”
Shining Armor's telepathic voice echoed in her mind. “Are you all ok? Have they attacked you yet?”
Twilight sent back a message. “No, not yet. I'm trying to find out why now.”
“Alright, just keep me informed.”
No response came from the Changelings, nor did they make a move towards them. Twilight was about to speak again, when she saw the back of the group began to slightly ripple outwards, parting ways for somepony. This continued all the way to the front of the group, until the figure they had been showing such reverent respect for came to the forefront of the group. This new Changeling was slightly taller than the rest, and Twilight assumed this indicted either advanced age or advanced stature in the Nation- maybe both.
This new Changeling spoke, and though the voice was not as rich in timbre as the other Changeling lord that, Twilight could still sense a stately bearing in their speech, along with something else that almost surprised her: the voice was female.
“Our second welcome into this castle went much smoother than the first, do you not think?” Twilight hadn't stopped to think that there were any females in the Changeling Nation, other than Chrysalis herself. All of her research had pointed towards the entire brood coming from Chrysalis herself, so she had assumed that the rest of the brood had been male.
Somewhat shortsighted, she was now seeing.
“You caught us off-guard this time,” Twilight responded, “but don't think that your arrival this time is any more well-heralded than the first. You are still not welcome here- not you, not your Queen, and certainly not your warriors.”
“Warriors? This is merely my envoy. Notice they have not come after you yet? That is because these have not been trained to fight. They are the royal escorts of my Queen and her trusted Ones- myself included in that, obviously, as is Adriu, the other whom you have already spoken with.”
“So then speak. No one is attacking you, and no one will, save on my command.” Twilight dipped her head, as the others' jaws collectively dropped. “Why are you here?”
“To negotiate a trade. Your friend... for your queen.”
Twilight's mind swam. “You're telling me you... you want Celestia? For Rainbow Dash?” She shook her head. “First off, Celestia is not a queen. She's a princess, just like Luna, just like Cadance. And second of all, why would we deprive an entire nation of a ruler just for one pony?”
“So your friend means nothing to you,” the Changeling retorted. She chuckled. “Oh, how easily the bonds of this so-called 'all-important love' fall apart when situations change but a little...”
“That's not the reason why,” Twilight growled. “Rainbow is more than capable of taking care of herself, and Celestia is way too important to Equestria for me to just give her up like that.” And besides, we're not even sure that Celestia is who she says she is... Especially Luna. She thinks Celestia is nothing but a Changeling in disguise.
“Do you really think that? Your 'friend' won't last much longer. Tonight at midnight, our ritual will be completed, and the truest ruler this world has ever seen will reclaim her rightful seat, on the throne of this whole nation!”
“You mean Nightmare Moon?” Twilight sneered at the merest mention of her name. “Nightmare Moon won't do any better for Equestrian rulership than Chrysalis would. Actually, I'm pretty sure Chrysalis would make a better ruler than Nightmare Moon would. At least Chrysalis wants us alive to feed her subjects our love. Nightmare Moon just wants us all under her tyrannical rule. And we will not let this happen!”
“You keep thinking that.” She grinned. “And we, in the meantime, will continue our glorious march towards unity, under one common banner! We ride!” With that, the Changeling army rose up en masse, and started to fly away.
“Don't let them get away!” Twilight yelled. Her horn glowed, and she cast a levitation spell on those in the group who could not fly naturally. They launched themselves up at the Changelings, intent on starting the battle that they thought the Changelings were there to begin at first.
“Oh, the ponies are getting feisty...” the Changeling leader crooned. “You want to dance? Let's dance.” She motioned a hoof, and the Changelings with her started to move into formation. With a wave of her hoof, the Changelings flew downward at their foes.
“So much for not attacking us, I guess...” Twilight murmured as she fired a bolt of magical energy up at the oncoming horde. To her surprise, the oncoming force halted suddenly, smashing into an invisible barrier before they could even get halfway to the Elements. So that's where Discord went off to...
The Changelings recovered quickly though, and once again flew downward, this time in a more erratic fashion, dodging and zig-zagging every which way. Twilight and Rarity sent more bolts of magic their way, while the others flew around and engaged in hoof-to-hoof combat. Discord popped in and out of the air, grabbing Changelings at random and then disappearing with them, only to reappear empty-clawed a moment later.
The Changelings, however, were not impressed with their grandeur tactics. They began to shapeshift into various members of the group; a few even managed to passably change into faux Discords. They kept up their erratic movement patterns, inserting themselves amongst the group.
Twilight swallowed hard. She'd dealt with this kind of behavior before, but not in the air. She wasn't sure which of her friends were real and which were Changelings, and she didn't want to accidentally end up hitting one of them.
“What do you plan to do now?” the Changeling envoy asked with a malicious tone. “Are your friends worth the potential of-” Her sentence was cut off by a blinding streak of magical light, which tore from the buttress of the castle below them. It struck her square in the chest, and she squealed in pain, wheeling off from the spot where she had been hovering.
“You wanted me?” Twilight heard from below them, immediately recognizing the voice. “Well now you have me!”
Celestia streaked upward like a bolt of lightning, with Luna not too far behind. Twilight was close to warning Luna that this may have been like before, with the fake Celestia, but she kept her words to herself for the time being. There would be time after the battle to quickly sort things out.
Luna's horn flashed, and the air around her shimmered as she became invisible. Discord appeared below them, and with a wave of his claw, the Changelings began to lose their disguises one by one. A distinct slam was heard, and the revealing of the Changelings stopped, as their leader had somehow managed to get around the whole group and hurled herself at Discord, tackling him and interrupting his chaos magic. Those that had been revealed, were quickly dispatched by the unicorns and the newly-arrived Celestia and Luna.
“Where's Shining Armor and Cadance?” Twilight yelled out over the din.
“They are safe inside the castle,” Celestia replied. “in the Royal Archives, where they are doing some last-minute research on how we are to get there and what to do after-” She stopped suddenly, staring at a perfect duplicate of herself. Twilight fired up a magical bolt, but the impostor raised a magical shield and the bolt deflected harmlessly, sailing off into the skyline. Twilight snarled and shot again, but the results were no different this time. The fake Celestia smirked, and Twilight felt her rage growing. She was about to fire off another magic bolt when a black tear appeared in the air beside her. A familiar claw reached out and snagged the Changeling by the hoof, and jerked it into the tear, which closed diretly thereafter. A moment later, Discord appeared in front of Twilight and Celestia, and tipped an imaginary hat to them before vanishing again.
Twilight turned to Celestia. “We don't have enough time to deal with these Changelings! The ritual to resurrect Nightmare Moon is less than twelve hours away!”
Celestia nodded thoughtfully. “Then we may have to split everyone up in order to be able to fight on both fronts.”
Pinkie's loud voice echoed from across the battlefield: “What are you doing?! You never split the party!”
Celestia ignored Pinkie's objection. “If we want everything to work out, we're going to have to make sacrifices. I'll stay here with the other Elements to take care of the Changelings. You take Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadance, and start making your way to the Changeling lands. We shall meet you there as soon as this threat is dealt with. Take Zecora as well,” she added, almost as an after-thought.
Twilight swallowed hard. “Are you sure this is going to work? Are you going to be alright here?”
Celestia laid a comforting hoof on Twilight's back. “If ever you put your trust in me, my student, make it so now. We shall see each other again- of that, I am sure.” Twilight steeled her resolve, and teleported away.
She reappered a moment later beside Luna, who was fighting off a group of Changelings. Twilight forked a magical bolt and blasted them all away. She took the opportunity to grab Luna by the hoof and teleport away, leading them over to where Shining Armor and Cadance had just finished dispatching another group of Changelings.
“Okay so this is the plan,” Twilight yelled over all the din. “The four of us and Zecora are going to head there early as an advance party. As soon as Celestia and the other Elements are done with the Changelings here, they'll head out that way as well and regroup with us.”
“But that puts everyone in a more precarious position...” Cadance objected.
“That normally would be true,” Twilight admitted, “but she does have a point. They are more than capable of taking care of the Changelings here. We need to start heading out that way to make sure that our position is secure for us to stop the ritual before it's complete.” She started scanning the battlefield. “Where's Zecora?”
A Changeling flew backwards past them with a pained expression, and Zecora came charging after it, lunging at it and headbutting it over the battlement. She caught herself before she went over the edge herself, then dusted herself off. “Well, that answers that question.”
“I am hardly a fighter on any day,” Zecora said, visibly trying to regain her composure, “but I will if it is the only way.”
“You're not the only one,” Twilight said with a reassuring smile. “Now let's go, before things get too out of hand.” They took off in the direction of the Changeling lands, leaving their friends and family behind in uncertain hooves.
---
Rainbow Dash awoke suddenly, hearing footsteps coming down the corridor leading to Chrysalis' personal chambers, where she was still being held. She almost didn't want to care who it was, but instinct prevailed, and she rose up on all fours, alert. Her joints groaned and her head pounded, but she fought through the pain, even when her vision started to swim in front of her.
A few moments later, the door opened, and Adriu stepped inside. He glanced around before shutting the door.
“What does she want this time?” Dash asked. “More torture... more empty platitudes... more reassurances that my friends w-won't come and save me...?”
Adriu shook his head. “None of that this time. In fact, if my Queen were to know that I was even in here, about to have this conversation with you, she would have my head as well as yours.”
This befuddled Rainbow. “S-so wait... What?”
“What I am about to tell you is going to surprise you, but I need you to put off any doubts of my veracity that you might have.” He took another look around him, then continued. “You know already that were I in charge of your condition while here, you would not be in such a... predicament. Do you not?”
Dash nodded. “Th-that's one thing you did make clear to me...” She sank back down onto the floor, letting the cool polished marble press up against her matted coat. “I know you don't want this for me. You're just following orders.”
Adriu approached Dash tentatively. When she did not shrink away or flinch, he went down on his stomach, meeting Dash at eye level.
“I have been planning something for quite a while now, ever since how I saw my Queen treating you with such blatant disrespect. I wanted to tell you, so that you know just how dire this situation is. Were things different, I would have hoped that we would be good friends. You and I are a lot alike, you know.”
“W...what makes you think we aren't friends?” Dash smiled feebly. “You protected me... a few times. I'd probably be dead already if it weren't for you.”
“Then listen to me closely,” Adriu said, as he began to lay out his plan to the Queen's captive. And as a hush fell over the room, save for Adriu's pained voice as he spoke to Dash...
The entire hive seemed to be crackling with an invisible energy. Every Changeling in the land was on edge. Though specific details had been withheld from them due to planning issues, Chrysalis had issued a mental edict the very same night that Nightmare Moon had come to her and came to inhabit her body. After a few hours of discussing the plans of how to resurrect her in a new body, Chrysalis used the mind-network that was naturally present in the minds of all her subjects, to relay the message that soon the world would have a glorious new ruler, and that Chrysalis herself was chosen to bring about this change.
Because this link never slept, all of the Changelings kept getting bits and pieces of Chrysalis' emotions during the previous two weeks. Pain when the presence of another soul within her mortal shell (besides her own) caused her body to rebel and wrack itself with wave after wave of agony, elation when piece after piece of the puzzle fell into place after long hours of planning and execution...
And now, anticipation was being sent out over the hive network. None of this was intentional on Chrysalis' part, but her emotions were so strong and so vivid that the link was transmitting them regardless of her intention.
Thus, her subjects buzzed among themselves, talking about what could possibly be happening. They assumed it was because of the upcoming ritual to resurrect Nightmare Moon, which the previous night they had been told would be coming up the very next night at midnight. Now, it was only four hours away.
The time was soon approaching... and Chrysalis knew this.
Chrysalis strode down a long corridor, in an underground construct set back a ways from the Royal Palace. She had this building constructed for when it came time for her to birth a new brood of Changelings, so that she could have the privacy that she needed, save for a trusted few guards who would watch over her and ensure that should she need their help, they would be able to come to her aid within seconds.
Adriu was one of these guards. There were two others besides him, but Adriu was the favored one amongst her guards, and the others knew it. They didn't resent it, though. That just meant that should they fail her in any way, their punishment would be less severe than that Adriu would receive.
Chrysalis looked around her, wide-eyed, as though this was the first time that she was experiencing anything within this building. This was not her that was seeing things this way, though, but Nightmare Moon. Though Nightmare resided within Chrysalis' body, she was not always in control of the Queen's consciousness. In fact, the only times that Nightmare Moon took over full function of her body, was when Chrysalis offered her express permission to do so.
This had been one of those times. Because Chrysalis generally bred a new brood once a month, around the same time every month, Nightmare Moon had not been present within her body the last time she bred. Now, because this chamber was also being used for the ceremony now, Nightmare was taking in the surroundings, wanting to know what the building was like and how it would be used.
“Where is the ceremony going to be held?” Nightmare Moon spoke out loud, for Chrysalis' benefit. Chrysalis could still hear everything that Nightmare spoke aloud, and though she was not in control of her body, her consciousness was still active, and she would reply telepathically to Nightmare with her responses to whatever statements or queries Nightmare had.
The entire building was deserted, save for her, so she did not worry about anyone seeing her essentially talking to herself, or that when Nightmare spoke in Chrysalis' body, Nightmare's voice was the one that came out.
“There is a room at the far end of the corridor,” Chrysalis replied. “You won't be able to miss it. The doors are adorned far more ornately than any other in this building, with perhaps the sole exception of the doors that lead to my breeding pool.”
“Your... what?”
Chrysalis smiled silently. She had forgotten for a moment that she hadn't really even told Nightmare about the specifics of what went on in that place. It had been a secret even from her. “This is where I go when I have to breed a new litter. Once a month, I come out here to that secret room, with only my most trusted guards, and there I birth a new brood.” Something occurred to her, and she voiced her concern. “What is going to change when you are in command? Will I still be able to go about my regular business as Queen?”
“Most certainly,” Nightmare replied in what Chrysalis assumed was supposed to be a reassuring tone. “You are the vessel by which my dreams shall be fulfilled, after all. Nothing will change for you and your subjects. That much, I can promise you.”
“Thank you...” Chrysalis said quietly. They passed the door that led to her breeding pool, and Nightmare had to admit to herself, it was the most adorned door she had probably ever seen. There were visages of flowers and grassy pastures, as well as likenesses of herself and her guards. It was all very well-done, and she had to wonder who the craftsman of such a work of art was.
“There it is,” Chrysalis said as they approached the final door, which was itself a stunning work of art. “The place where all of this is going to be completed in just a few hours. My guards and the other Changeling royalty should be here within the hour. All preparations are already finished, though. We made sure of that last night.”
As she pushed the door open, Nightmare Moon asked another question. “Who are the other members of the royalty that you mentioned? Tell me more.”
“There are three princes and three princesses that make up the Royal Court. These are the first six Changelings that I ever birthed, and they have lived far longer than any Changeling that I have ever created. Still to this day, they are unwaveringly loyal to me. There is a seventh member of the Court, a Changeling named Adriu. He is not technically royalty in the sense that he is not a member of the Six, but he is in charge of all my royal guards; he has proven his loyalty to me many times over and thus has earned a permanent place on the Court.”
The door opened effortlessly, as though it had been oiled to perfection just for this one moment. It opened up into a cavernous room, ornately decorated with stained glass windows depicting what appeared to be significant moments from the Nation's history. Some were epic battle victories, others showed accords struck with dignitaries from other nations.
There was even one of Chrysalis standing alone on a grassy knoll, staring up at a sunset.
“So what is the plan for this ceremony?” Nightmare asked. “How is this all going to work?”
“My royal scribes searched for weeks for a spell in order to make this work. We had thought long and hard about how to make this work, and the only thing we could come up with was a spell. However, when we found a spell suitable for our purposes, we also discovered that the costs were going to be... more than we had initially accounted for.”
“Costs? How so?”
“The ritual that would have to take place while the spell was being cast would require a sacrifice, as I may have mentioned previously. This is why the one called Rainbow Dash is in my chambers. She will be the sacrifice, and thus will provide you with a new body, one that you can modify to your liking if you so desire.”
Nightmare remembered them talking about this previously, but it struck her just then how cold and calculating Chrysalis could be. “I am certainly glad that I chose you to aid in this endeavor. I would certainly not want you to be against me.”
“I cannot lie,” Chrysalis admitted, “my motivations for helping you with this are not purely selfless. I am spitting in the face of the laws of the universe just by allowing your spirit to occupy my body. Vessels like ours are not supposed to house more than one spirit, and if they do... Well, bad things happen. I have been wracked by pain for hours on end some days, as my spirit threatened to expel yours forcefully to regain its sanity of sorts. The only times when it didn't do so, were times like this when I allowed you to fully take over my body. This forces my spirit into submission, and the pain subsides Otherwise, I live with it close to constantly.”
“Well in a few hours, that will not be an issue,” Nightmare commented almost offhandedly. “If everything is ready, then call your guards in here. I will allow you to regain control of your body for the remainder of the night.” A moment's silence passed, then Chrysalis shook her head, as though trying to clear mental cobwebs out of it.
“I will never get used to that feeling...” she murmured. “It's a good thing that this was the last time I will have had to deal with it...” She sent out a telepathic ping to her guards and the Royal Court, telling them that the time had come for them to gather for the final preparations to be made. She also pinged Adriu, telling him to bring Dash with him to the Hall.
She settled down onto the ground, letting the cold marble mat her fur with delightful coolness. She smiled. Soon, it would all be over.
---
Twilight and the others raced along the desert road. Her legs ached from the strain, but she ignored it for the most part. They needed to get to the Changeling lands before the ritual was to take place. If they could make it there on time, they could stop Nightmare Moon from escaping back into their world- possibly this time, for good.
Cadance was flying alongside them, and Shining Armor and Zecora ran headlong alongside Twilight.
The landscape whipped past them at a blinding pace. They had little bearing of their direction, only that they knew generally where they needed to head from the information that Luna had given them from when she took her own trip to the Changeling lands. They were traveling the exact route that Luna had taken.
Luna had also warned them of a few of the dangers that they would have to face along the way, namely the constant patrols by the Changeling guards. They would have to find a way to slip past them, but they would worry about that when the time came, they had decided.
Shining sent Twilight a mental message: “How much further?”
“About an hour's run,” Twilight sent back. “I know, we're all tired, but this is the most important thing we've ever had to do. Rainbow's life is counting on it, and it could be that all of Equestria is in the balance. If Nightmare Moon returns, who knows if the Elements will be able to stop her this time... Especially if she is able to use one of the Elements' bodies as a vessel for her own spirit.”
They grew silent as they ran, each of them going over options in their mind. Without the other Elements there at first, they would have to plan for just themselves. The addition of the Elements later would just make their plans easier to execute.
The fact that three of them wielded magic would definitely be of help to them, and Twilight knew that Zecora- though unable to use unicorn/alicorn magic like the rest- was far from helpless. The satchel of potions and herbs strapped across her back was proof of that.
But aside from magic and Zecora's knowledge... What else did they have going for them? They were running headlong into a nation where the inhabitants were knowingly hostile towards them, and Twilight was sure that the Changelings hadn't quite forgiven them yet for expelling them so forcefully from Canterlot during the wedding. The Changelings themselves had magic available to them, as well as being able to feed on love to fuel themselves and their powers.
Chrysalis had already informed them so graciously during the wedding that Shining Armor and Cadance's love for each other was so strong that it had allowed her the power to defeat Celestia in single combat. And now, the entire Changeling nation would be there to feed off that love. Twilight and Zecora both had love for their family and friends- not to mention for Celestia and the other Elements- so they would have that as a food source as well.
The cons of the situation seemed to far outweigh the pros, and Twilight was starting to feel more than a bit overwhelmed by it all. She knew that they couldn't stop now, though. Too much was on the line, and she didn't know how she could live with herself if she gave up now. She could tell that everyone else was feeling the same way, as well.
And so they ran.
---
The doors to the great hall opened, and the Changeling royalty stepped inside. They were used to seeing this room, but it had been quite a while since it had been needed to be used. At their side was Adriu, who was leading Rainbow Dash into the room. Dash had an absent look on her face, and Chrysalis could tell that she had lost more than a little sleep since being taken in.
“Take your places,” Chrysalis commanded, and the Court walked to the sides of the room, spacing themselves equally along the sides of the room. Adriu walked Rainbow to the center of the room, where a circle had been drawn, along with some Changeling runes along the outside of it. This was where the sacrifice was to be taking place.
Chrysalis strode to the front of the room and turned, facing the Court and Adriu. She spoke then, with all of the authority of the Queen of an entire Nation.
“In just a few hours- less than two hours, to be more specific- the most significant event in Equestrian history will take place. I am proud to be standing here with you all, my most trusted of subjects. At midnight, history will be made, in a huge way.”
She directed her attention to Dash. “I am almost sorry that it had to be you. I would have much preferred it to be Twilight who stood here today as the intended sacrifice, but in the end that would have proven to be too problematic. Twilight's magic is stronger than any I have ever seen, and that would have been too much of a liability. You, on the other hand... You are strong, both physically and mentally. Someone of a lesser caliber would have folded like a house of cards days or even weeks ago. And yet here you are. You may look defeated, but I can still see a fire in your eyes. The fire that has suited you so well for your life. I am proud of you, and Adriu has informed me of his admiration for you as well.”
She let that sink in for a moment, then stomped her hoof twice on the ground, the noise echoing throughout the entire chamber. The door opened once again, and the Guard stepped in. There were twenty official members of the Royal Guard, including Adriu, but only five were ever on duty at one time. This time, though, the full nineteen other Guard members were present, and once they were all in the room, the door shut again.
“You all are my most trusted subjects,” Chrysalis began as the guards took their places. “I would not have you guarding me if I did not place my utmost faith in your loyalty to me... and that loyalty would not have been earned if it weren't for your actions. So thank you all.” They remained silent; this was protocol until they were directly asked a question.
“I have but one order for you this night, my Guard. And it is a simple one: Stay alert. This one's friends-” she motioned to Rainbow- “are as fiercely loyal to her as she is to them. Rainbow Dash is not the Element of Loyalty for no reason. None of them bear their Element titles for no reason.
“I am almost a hundred percent positive that the other Elements will be coming here tonight to save their friend, and to stop this ritual from taking place. You will stop them at all costs. Is that clear?”
Their shout echoed throughout the hall, shaking the windows: “Understood!”
Chrysalis smiled. “Excellent. In two hours' time, we shall begin. No one leaves this room until the ritual is completed.” She laid on the floor and closed her eyes.
---
About an hour and a half later, Twilight and her friends saw the place that Luna had marked as the official entrance into the Changeling lands. They slowed to a trot, and then to a normal walk. Twilight spotted a shady outcropping of rock ahead, and she motioned to them to follow her. Once there, they sat down in the shade, and Twilight used her magic to conjure up flasks of water for them all. They drank appreciatively as they sat there.
“We're almost there,” Twilight said encouragingly. “Just a few more miles to go, and we will be close enough to the Changeling hall to where I can just teleport us all there without fear of missing our mark. Luna described the place enough for me to know just about where it is.”
“What are the chances that they will start the ritual early?” Cadance asked after she was done drinking. “To throw us off and make it to where by the time we get there, it's already too late? I don't think they're oblivious to the notion that we might come and try to stop them, after all.”
Twilight was stunned. She hadn't factored that into her plans at all. “We have to keep going then!” She stood up, and it seemed as though every joint in her body protested. She gritted her teeth against the ache, though. They all did.
They continued on at a manageable pace. They had no choice.
---
At fifteen minutes until midnight, a Changeling entered the room, bearing the materials that would be used in the sacrifice. She set them all up in the center of the room, surrounding Rainbow Dash, who was still in the center of the circle. Once she was done setting everything up, which took about five minutes, she left the hall, closing the door behind her.
As the remaining minutes crept past, Rainbow looked around at all the Changelings, and at the stained-glass windows in the hall. As long as she could find a way to get out of her chains, she figured she stood a decent chance of being able to barrel her way into one of the glass windows. Assuming it shattered, she could then escape.
She saw all the guards around her, though, and her resolve weakened a bit. If push came to shove, though, she would do it. Provided her friends didn't show up before that, obviously.
At exactly midnight, Chrysalis cleared her throat, and all small talk in the room ceased.
A pale light cast itself over the room, as the light of the moon filtered itself through one of the stained-glass windows near the east side of the room. Chrysalis stepped down from her position at the head of the room and slowly walked down the stairs that led from her pedestal to the ground floor.
She examined the materials that had been laid out in the circle, inspecting them to make sure that their quality was unmatched. After a few moments, she nodded silently, expressing her satisfaction at the quality of the materials.
She looked Dash in the face, who still bore a defiant expression. “Surely you must know that there is nothing you can do about this? The time has come for our one true ruler to ascend to the throne that she rightfully deserves, and if you think that you or any of your so-called 'friends' will have anything to do or say about it... Well then you are far more foolish than I ever took you for.”
Dash did not say a word, but continued to stare defiantly into Chrysalis' face. Chrysalis was slightly unnerved by this. After everything she had done to break Dash's spirit, none of it had worked? If she was not completely submissive in this, then she could conceivably put up a strong fight. And though Chrysalis was confident that in the end, her missive would still be accomplished, what could a fight do to the ritual? Delay it? Weaken the resolve of the participants?
These were things that could absolutely not happen. Chrysalis had prepared too long for this, and she was determined to see this through to the very end. Everything had to go according to plan...
It just had to.
Chrysalis motioned for the members of her Royal Court to come to the front of the room, and they made their way up to the circle. Once there, they positioned themselves equidistant from each other, making sure they surrounded the circle entirely. Adriu, though also a member of the Court, stayed in his position on Chrysalis' pedestal, as he was previously instructed to do.
She looked out over all of the Changelings- and the one pony- that had gathered there. She felt a swell of pride in her soul- for indeed, she did have one, in spite of what everypony else had said about her up until that point- as she gazed at her subjects.
She had prepared a speech for this moment, but she felt deep inside her that the other Elements were approaching rapidly. And though she had no way of confirming this, she had learned long ago that her instincts were not to be mistrusted.
And so, she spoke.
“It has not been easy on me, these past weeks. Having another being residing within my body has caused me nothing but the most excruciating of pain. But it will all become worth it tonight. This night shall go down in history as the single greatest event to have ever occurred on Equestrian soil.”
She turned to the Court members. “Begin the chant.”
The Court members closed their eyes in reverential respect to the ancient tongue, as was tradition whenever the words of the old ways were spoken. It began as a whisper, but soon began to grow in intensity, as words that had not been spoken in decades, or even centuries, flowed onto the air in the hall.
Slowly but surely, the pitch grew. The syllables began to flow into each other, as was common when the intensity of the chant was beginning to reach its fever pitch. Dash looked around in confusion; she had never heard words like this before, and it was beginning to scare her- and this, coming from a pony who wasn't easily scared by much.
Although it should not have been possible in such a circumstance, seeing as the hall was completely sealed off, and none of the windows could even open to begin with, a stiff breeze began to blow within the hall. Papers fluttered in the books that had been set out in front of each Court member, books that held the ancient ritual they were performing, one that had been outlawed in civilized Equestrian society for almost six hundred years.
The breeze blew against Dash's coat, matting it against her body, and she shivered against the wind, which was gaining in strength as the chant went further and further on. For what seemed like the first time since she had been captured, she began to seriously doubt if she would ever make it out alive. She was determined to last as long as she could...
But she just didn't know.
---
So rapt was their attention on the scene that was unfolding in front of them, that none that were present in the room even paid attention to the brief shimmering of the air in the back of the room. It only lasted for a short moment, and then it died out, leaving the air as still as it was before, the wind in the room notwithstanding.
Four figures now stood cloaked in the back of the room, looking out at everything that was going on. Shining Armor and Cadance stood beside each other, with Twilight on one side of them and Zecora on the other.
“This is way creepier than I thought at first,” Twilight said telepathically to Cadance. They had all agreed to use their magic to mentally speak to each other, so as not to inadvertently give away their position to those present before they were ready.
“I agree...” Cadance replied. “And that just shows that we need to end this- and quick.”
“I received word from Celestia a few moments ago,” Shining Armor stated. “They have dealt with the Changeling problem at the Castle and they are ready to teleport to our location as soon as I give them the signal.”
“Very good, my love. Just remember, don't give them the signal too soon. We want them to think that it's just us that they have to deal with; then, when we are in the heat of things, give them the word and bring in our reinforcements when they least expect it.” Shining nodded.
Turning their attention back to the ritual, they were a bit startled to see Chrysalis looking directly at them. They froze completely, not even breathing, unsure if Chrysalis could actually see them or if she was just suspicious that there might be somepony around there to begin with. After a moment, she looked away from that spot and turned her steely resolve towards another spot in the room, and they all let out near-silent exhales of relief.
They were about to shift positions as quietly as they could when Cadance spotted an unusual, albeit almost imperceptible, haze around the circle. She tapped Twilight on the forehoof silently, and pointed in the direction of the circle. Twilight saw it as well.
She almost swore. “They have a shield guarding the circle. I should have known they would have Changeling magic guarding their quarry. I might be able to take it out once we launch our attack, but even then I don't know how strong the shield is. It may be that it's growing in strength as the ritual nears its climax.”
They began to creep silently along the back side of the room. The wind was now almost at gale-force speeds; the only thing keeping the pages of the books from flying out of control now, was the Changeling magic that kept the pages steady. Their chant, which had started out as a whisper, was now nearing an all-consuming shout.
“If we're going to do something, we have to do it quickly,” Cadance whispered, chancing speaking out loud instead of their normal telepathy. Twilight nodded, as did Zecora.
Twilight looked up and saw an incredibly ornate chandelier hanging above the hall. She smiled to herself and pointed up to it. Cadance got the idea immediately and grinned. She made a hole in the barrier so Twilight could do her thing, and Twilight fired off a bolt of magic. It struck the chandelier at the point where it connected to the ceiling, and the chain snapped.
The chandelier plummeted towards the Court. Chrysalis whipped her head around and her horn glowed. A moment later, the chandelier was incinerated in a burst of green flame.
Chrysalis roared in rage. “That was my favorite chandelier! You will pay for that!” She turned to her guards. “Just as I said, the dissidents are here! Fan out and find them! Do not let them interrupt the ritual!” She turned the Court members and shouted over the din. “Keep chanting! We are almost-”
Cadance shattered the barrier, and it exploded outwards with deafening force. Twilight took to the air and shot a magic bolt at Chrysalis, who barely put her shields up in time to deflect it. Chrysalis looked up at Twilight and smiled, which threw Twilight for a loop.
Her guards took to the air as well, and though they did not wield spears or lances as Celestia's and Luna's guards did, Twilight was sure that they were not to be underestimated. They had Changeling magic on their side, after all.
“You two go after the guards,” Twilight said to Shining and Cadance. “Zecora and I will concentrate on getting Rainbow out of here!” They nodded and took to the air after the guards.
Twilight turned to see Chrysalis now in front of the circle staring up at her. Chrysalis had a crazed expression on her face, but Twilight could see that cunning and guile behind her eyes as though it were the first time they had ever met.
“Your friends are not here to back you up,” Chrysalis spat. “Did they not think this as important as you are? Oh wait, that's right- they probably had more to deal with on their hooves than just one little Element of Harmony...”
“You mean the Changeling attack you ordered on the castle?” Twilight replied. “They managed to defend the castle. They are on their way here now, and-”
Chrysalis laughed gaily. “It is almost a day's journey from Canterlot to here. By the time they get here, everything will be over!” The temperature in the room plummeted about ten degrees just then, as if on cue. This only caused Chrysalis to laugh even harder. “It is almost done! Soon, this world will be under Nightmare Moon's rule... Forever!”
Twilight was stunned for a moment. Chrysalis seemed to genuinely believe that Nightmare Moon's rule was the best thing that could possibly happen. Didn't she know about the prophecies? About the thousand moons of night that Equestria would have been cast into, had Nightmare Moon been allowed to gain power in the beginning?
“I can never let that happen,” Twilight growled. “I stopped Nightmare Moon the first time, and I'll be damned if I won't stop her again!”
Chrysalis blinked a few times, and then she spoke again. This was not Chrysalis' normal voice, though. It was much more sinister, much more menacing. “You honestly think that fluke of a chance is going to repeat itself? Haven't the dreams I sent you told you anything. You cannot stop me. You will never be strong enough.”
Twilight shivered uncontrollably at hearing Nightmare Moon's voice emanating from Chrysalis' body. Nightmare's spirit had truly been in Chrysalis' body the entire time?
“I don't care what you said in my dreams,” Twilight replied in what she hoped was a defiant tone. “There is nothing that is going to stop me and my friends from making sure that your eternal night will never become a reality.”
The windows began to shake, as did the very foundations of the building. An ethereal glow began to emanate from the Court members, as their shouting grew to unearthly volumes. Their words were now entirely unintelligible; all it sounded like was discordant screaming.
“Do it now!” Twilight yelled, and though Shining Armor barely heard her, he nodded. He dipped away from the battle momentarily, and his horn lit up brighter than she had ever seen it before. A moment later, a bright flash came from the corner of the room, and the other Elements and Celestia were then standing there in the room, alongside Discord and Luna.
Chrysalis hissed. “So you managed to get them here after all... No matter. In a matter of moments, the ritual will be complete... And none of your insolence will have mattered at all!” She stamped a hoof against the ground, and all around the room, the air shimmered with a menacing hiss as hidden Changelings began to reveal themselves. Without a single word, they took to the skies and hurled themselves at the newcomers.
“We will handle these!” Luna shouted as she blasted a Changeling away from her. “Go and handle things with the ritual! We cannot let it be completed!”
Twilight darted in the direction of the circle, but she was halted in midair by Chrysalis, who engulfed her in magic and brought her back over to where she was at. Twilight burst the magic bubble around her with a bolt of her own, and flew towards the circle.
Chrysalis took to the air and flew in front of Twilight, landing just at the edge of the circle. The entire building was beginning to shake now, and the floor seemed to be dangerously close to cracking completely from the pressure that was building in the air.
“Now, we both know that I can't let you do that,” Nightmare warned with no small amount of menace. “Nothing you can do now can stop us.”
Twilight snarled. “We'll see about that.” She teleported away and into the magical bubble. She grabbed ahold of Rainbow. “Let's get you out of here.” She flashed herself back out of the bubble, but when she regained her senses, she was shocked to find that she was no longer holding Rainbow. She looked back to find Rainbow looking back at her with a forlorn expression on her face.
“Just leave me...” came Rainbow's voice echoing in Twilight's head. “The ritual is almost over... There's really nothing that we can do about it anyways. Just save yourselves and the rest of your friends.” A tear crept down her face.
Twilight was stunned into silence. Her friend was just giving up like this? The Element of Loyalty? What in Equestria was she thinking? She shook her head. No. She would not let it end like this. She reached deep down into the recesses of her mind, trying to remember a spell that would allow her to teleport Dash away from it all-
And then, silence.
Twilight looked around her, confused. The room had become a vacuum. No one spoke at all. Even the battle between the Elements and the Changeling guards had ground to a halt. The air around Dash shimmered, and then a green dust fell to the ground. Twilight assumed that this meant that the shield around Dash had been lowered, so she leaped towards Dash to knock her out of the circle.
Chrysalis reached out a foreleg and clotheslined Twilight hard down onto the ground. As soon as Twilight hit the floor, Chrysalis drove a knee deep into Twilight's chest, and Twilight screamed in agony. She could swear she heard a rib break, as well.
“No...!” Chrysalis hissed, in her own voice. “It is done. You are too late.”
Twilight strained to be able to look at Rainbow. She saw Dash look at her, and she could have swore that she saw Dash smile. Then, with no warning at all, a black flame shot out from the center of the circle and engulfed Dash within itself. The smell of burning flesh wafted through the air, and when the flame receded a minute or so later, there was no one left in the circle- just a charred, blackened floor.
Twilight let out an involuntary squeak. One of her best friends... Gone. She could feel all the strength being sapped out of her as she lay underneath Chrysalis' pin.
Suddenly, the air around them exploded in heat. The six members of the Court who were standing around the circle were suddenly incinerated in a blast of unseen fire, and Chrysalis flew to the back of the room to avoid being incinerated herself.
The air was thick with heat, so much so that they could all swear that it was tangible. The Changeling Guard grouped around their Queen, fawning over her trying to see if she was ok. The Elements grouped alongside Twilight.
“You alright?” Applejack asked.
Twilight shook her head. “Physically, I guess so... But I just saw Rainbow die right in front of me... In front of my very eyes...” She started to shake uncontrollably. “And all for what...? For that bitch over there?!” She pointed a hoof at Chrysalis. “One of my best friends in the world is dead... What do we do now?”
A deep, evil voice echoed from the center of the room: “You bow.”
As one, they all looked towards the circle. A black mist swirled in the center of the circle, beginning to take form. At first, it looked similar to Rainbow Dash, but then it took a more Changeling like shape. Soon, it took the form of a twisted combination of the two. The mist continued to swirl, and then coalesced into something more solid.
A moment later, the mist solidified, and Nightmare Moon stood in the center of the room. She looked the same as she had when she had inhabited Luna's body, and Twilight looked reflexively to see if Luna was still ok. Luna was standing beside Celestia, who was consoling her younger sister.
“Now see, things would have been so much easier if you had just submitted from the beginning. Now, you all will have to die.” She turned to Adriu, who had retaken his place on the pedestal after being blasted off by the wave of heat. “Adriu. Kill them.”
Without hesitating, Adriu reared back, then leaped forward at Twilight. She stood there stunned for a moment, but before Adriu could reach them, a bolt of white magical light came from the back of the party, and it struck Adriu in the chest. He yelped as his body began to strip away from himself, and soon a scattering of green ash was all that was left of him.
Twilight looked back to see Rarity striding up to the front of the room, a look of complete disdain on her face. “You...” she growled at Nightmare. “You are the reason why Equestria almost fell so long ago. And now, you think you can just come back?”
“And what do you plan on doing about it, Miss Rarity? Defeat me with the Elements? If I recall correctly, you cannot now. One of your ranks is no longer among the living. And without all six Elements together in one place, your precious magical force doesn't work, now does it?”
Twilight didn't know how to respond. Nightmare was absolutely right. Without all six Elements together- not to mention being wielded by their respectful owners- there was nothing they could do about it.
“We'll find a way,” Twilight managed, choking back tears. “We'll defeat you again. We did it once before; we'll do it again.”
Nightmare scowled. “Get the hell out of my sight.” Her horn glowed bright black (Twilight didn't see how this was possible but apparently it was) and suddenly they were all sitting outside Twilight's library.
Twilight couldn't take it anymore; she collapsed on the ground, sobbing into her hooves, and her friends all surrounded her, trying to console her. Nothing was working, though. They didn't expect it to work, really.
They knew that they had to try, though. And so, they tried.
Nightmare strode throughout the Great Hall, taking in her surroundings. She hadn't had a physical body in so long, she couldn't help but relish the fact that she was once again in this physical plane.
Chrysalis walked up to her, wiping beads of sweat off her brow. The air was still uncomfortably hot from the giant explosion that had taken place just a few moments prior.
“Welcome back,” Chrysalis said, bowing at Nightmare's feet.
Nightmare smiled and touched a forehoof to Chrysalis' head. “Rise, my friend,” she said, and Chrysalis rose to her feet. “There is no need to be so reverent. You were a bigger part of this than any other. The time for niceties is over.”
Chrysalis inclined her head. “My lord, I wish to offer to you my Hall as a throne room. Here, you can plan your plans in peace, without any interruptions. I will also offer you some of my Guards as your own.”
Nightmare had figured something like this was going to happen, but she feigned surprise all the same. “My dear, you are too kind. I will be honored to accept your offer.” She strode over to the pedestal. She clicked her tongue once, then twice. Her horn glowed again, and a throne appeared from out of the air. It was decorated similarly to her own body style, and Chrysalis couldn't help but admit that it gave a certain air of power to the place.
Nightmare sat upon the throne. She motioned for Chrysalis to join her, and she did so, sitting down at Nightmare's right-hoof side.
“I am truly sorry for your loss,” Nightmare said. “Adriu, I know, was the most loyal Changeling you had. If it weren't for that bitch Rarity, I am sure he would still be around.”
Chrysalis didn't need to be reminded of this. “I will exact my revenge upon her in my own time. Her and those two both. Shining Armor and Cadance, former sister of mine. She is kin to me no longer...”
Nightmare looked out at the Hall, envisioning all the things that could be done within this new home of hers. She looked over at Chrysalis and smiled.
“Now is the time,” Nightmare said with no small amount of glee in her voice. “Time... to show Equestria who is truly in charge now.”
