Chapter 0: Dawn of War

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.
Also just a one time forward note, you may want to read my previous story, A Return to Form, before reading this one. Some things might make more sense, just sayin...

Mid-morning in Canterlot brought forth a feeling of endless possibility and the promise of adventure while the sun had only stretched a quarter of the way on its travel across the bright, cloudless sky. Foals on their summer break and adults that had the day off were planning their days with equal vigor. All in all it was shaping up to be another perfect day in the utopian capital city of Equestria. There were only a few spots throughout the city where this was not quite the case, and one such location was one of the lower hangar bays in Canterlot castle. The casual observer would best describe the activity within as organized chaos.

The retinue of Terra, brother to both Celestia and Luna, was dashing about stowing things away for the return trip to their homeland of Titania. One would immediately note that there was more species diversity in the Titanian envoy than in most towns in Equestria. Members of all three pony tribes, griffons, diamond dogs, and even an adult dragoness scrambled about as they packed and prepared for their journey home. Although most all of them were some form of military personnel, none were on active duty during the entire trip. Most were actually friends of Terra’s that were along simply to visit the quaint and relatively backwards society of Equestria. Nearly all of them had spent their time collecting souvenirs to bring back home with them since it was very rare that anyone actually traveled between the two countries.

In contrast to the busy scene of the departure preparations, the three alicorn siblings sat near the edge of the hangar, simply enjoying their time together as a family once more. The slate gray alicorn stallion sat between his two sisters, much of the discomfort between the two elders having been eased during Terra’s visit. The thing that brought them together at the moment was a discussion on the status of the newly resurrected Nightmare Moon. All three watched as further back, a flustered Shining Armor and a giggling Cadence were occupied with the antics of Nightmare. Unfortunately for the guard captain, Nightmare had discovered that she made him uneasy, which of course meant that the artificial filly made it her mission to be as close as possible whenever he was in sight. As was expected by Celestia of her captain and as a testament to his own discipline, Shining still did not get angry even though Nightmare had clambered onto his back and was attempting to remove his helmet while he twisted and craned his neck to prevent it.

“It seems difficult to believe that is the same creature of doom the stories of your country speak of. She seems naught but an average filly in nature.” Terra observed of the playful Nightmare.

“She never was evil brother, only her desire for my equal standing with Tia and her actions to achieve such ends brought about that branding.” Luna pointed out to her brother.

“My blind self-centeredness brought that about. If her guilt was the action; then mine was the cause. It seems as though she cannot be the evil she was labeled as, otherwise the Elements would not have granted her this second chance at life.” Celestia mused.

“Speaking of second life, art thou positive that thou can build her the body spoken of earlier brother?”

“The fully biological body? Yes, I was near completion of it many centuries ago. I imagine that she will want this body as soon as I can develop it. Have you told her about it yet?”

“Neigh brother, I have not, nor do I intend to as yet. I believe that Tia has conceived of a grand plan for that.”

“Do tell.” Terra inclined towards the elder sister.

“Her legend is still fresh in the minds of the population right now. If she were to suddenly reappear as a fully mature and powerful alicorn there would be panic the likes of which I could not quell. She will be reintroduced as a convicted criminal of sorts.”

“Aye, she shall have a back story given that the Elements separated her from me and placed magical restraints upon her that only we may undo. She shall remain a filly, under our direct supervision until she can be proven capable of integrating into society and paying her debts. Once her image is no longer quite as horrible in the public eye as it is now, we shall gift her with the new body as reward, as well as declare her sentence served.”

“Hmm, seems like a sound idea to reintegrate her into society. Has she said anything about the peculiarities of her current body? Remember, that body is a fake. It has no need to breath, eat, or sleep. She can’t fly and her magic will only be as strong as perhaps a gifted unicorn.”

“I believe she is taking it all in stride rather well. Being back in the world of the living seems to have allayed any depression over her condition.” Celestia observed.

“I can imagine it would.” Terra agreed absentmindedly as he watched the passing of a few Titanians.

Terra had not sensed any malevolent intent from the Soul Gem housing Nightmare Moon. Picking up a Soul Gem with a magical field tended to offer a raw emotional flow from the soul within since it had no body with which to filter itself. The only thing that gave him pause for thought was that he did not sense any purely good intentions either, it seemed the dark alicorn was a blank slate when it came to her ethics. That meant that he was either leaving his sisters with a new friend and ally, or a ticking time bomb. Terra could have sat and mused for many more hours, but all too soon a griffon stepped forward and cleared his throat at the alicorns.

“Lord Terra, all preparations for departure are complete. We leave on your word.”

“Very well then, thank you. Sisters, it appears the time has come. Cadenza, mind your aunties and listen to what they tell you. Oh, and make sure to set up the equipment I left in Luna’s laboratory.”

“I will daddy, have a safe trip.” The pink alicorn said while moving in for an embrace with her father.

Terra made to board the chariot but paused before turning his head toward Luna.

“Keep an eye on Nightmare sister. I know you are eager to get back into your role as a princess but make sure that she is not causing any undue mayhem while you are busy with your duties.” He said while stealing a quick glance at Celestia.

“Also, remember to go out and have some fun once in a while, maybe even find a special somepony. You don’t want to end up a boring old spinster like your sister do you?”

Terra quickly boarded the chariot while Luna and Cadence tried unsuccessfully to suppress their building laughter. True to her nature however, Nightmare didn’t even try, instead electing to laugh uproariously to the point of doubling over and pointing a hoof at her former nemesis. Celestia herself simply sat there stunned, with a completely scandalized look on her face, only to be prompted into action when Terra poked his head out of one of the windows with a smug grin. Not thinking clearly, she quickly removed one of her golden shoes with a scowl and telekinetically heaved it at his face, only to have the dragoness hitched to the chariot snatch it out of the air with her tail and stuff it in a saddle bag. The chariot then lumbered forward as Terra waved goodbye while it pulled out of the hanger with his troops in close pursuit. All present watched until the chariot was lost to view before turning and looking at Celestia.

“My hoof is cold now.” She deadpanned.

“Come Luna, you should get some rest since there is much to do tonight.” Nightmare gently prodded her former host before they both turned and left the hanger.

“I should really get back to my post, see you tonight for dinner Cadence?” Shining remarked before he about faced and marched away.

“Of course, see you later.” Cadence waved her hoof to see him off before turning to Celestia’s now vacant stare. “Come on auntie Celestia, let’s go see if your royal farrier has a spare shoe you can use.”

Throughout the rest of the evening Celestia had seemed a bit more subdued than normal, and nopony was surprised when she had retired early after setting the sun. Cadence and Shining had wandered off to enjoy star gazing under Luna’s beautiful night sky. Luna herself and Nightmare were busy studying the history of the past thousand years, trying to catch up with modern society and its strange new customs. At the far eastern end of the castle, in one of the highest towers, Celestia was also still active. Though all had suspected she had desired some alone time to sulk at Terra’s parting comment and gone to bed early, they were only half right.

Currently, the day princess sat on one of the many plush rugs in her chambers and stared into the crackling flames of her fireplace, a glass of wine parked by her side. Her guards had been ordered to the outside of the inner hallway for extra privacy since now was a time for reflection. Her entire life outlook was in crisis at the moment, never before had she been so unsure of anything. What was the subject of her meditations? Terra’s parting jab of course. She knew full well that he hadn’t been serious when he said it, nor had he intended to be hurtful, but it had touched on a few deeply buried insecurities that she had never fully rid herself of over the long years. Was she really that old? Well, compared to her little ponies, probably yes. She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that Luna had not aged quite as much as she should have after her return to form. Cadence was obviously younger, maybe just a few hundred years old or so.

“Hmmm…” The dejected alicorn’s head sunk a bit more.

A spinster? Her? It certainly wasn’t by choice that she had been alone for the past thousand years. Having to manage an entire country by herself didn’t leave very much time to indulge in a personal life. Granted, she hadn’t really tried all that hard, and the chances to be alone with anypony who wasn’t an aid or governmental official were few and far between. She was still in her prime though; perfectly able to attract the attention of any pony she wanted. Right? Again the doubt crept unbidden into her mind. Terra already had a foal of his own and she did not.

“Hmmm…” She sighed with a deepening frown, quaffing the last of her glass of wine.

The most bothersome thorn in Terra’s comments however, was the insinuation that she was somehow boring. She was most certainly not boring! She hosted some of the most premiere events in all of Canterlot for pony sake. Although in reflection, she couldn’t remember any of them being all that entertaining with the typical upper crust crowd that they tended to attract. With the looming threat of Terra being proven inadvertently correct about her, something snapped deep within her psyche, going so far as to cause her left eye to briefly twitch. A deeply repressed feeling broke through an alarming number of her emotional suppression barriers like a rock through glass. There was no way she was going to be known as the boring, old, lonely princess. With a growing grin that gave her an air of mental instability, Celestia raised her wine bottle and drank deeply, forgoing the glass.

“Haaahhh! I’ll show them! I am not the boring princess they think I am!” She began shouting as dark storm clouds gathered to her tower in response to her unrestrained emotions.

“Hehehe! I know just how to pull this off too. Hahahaha! NOPONY CAN STOP CELESTIA! BWA-HAHAHAHA!” Celestia cackled in a marginally passable villainous laugh as the lightning and thunder boomed and flashed around her tower.

Outside of her hall, the two solar guards posted to her night detail spared a glance at each other before simultaneously deciding that whatever the princess was doing, they had no desire to interrupt. One does not simply stroll down the darkened hallway full of creepy echoing laughter that lead to a possibly unstable alicorn. Not without a battalion of backup anyway. Besides, discretion being the better part of valor meant that they did not need to intrude on their princess when she was most likely helping herself to recover after her earlier funk. She was obviously feeling much better if she was laughing and nothing was being destroyed, right?

======= Elsewhere =======

On the other side of the castle, Luna and Nightmare sat in the library amongst a virtual fortress of books. Luna, however had risen to look out of a large window at the light show coming from Celestia’s tower. Whatever was happening up there certainly was causing quite the scene as she watched a flight of patrolling guard pegasi give the area a wide berth. With her superior night vision she could occasionally glimpse what she suspected to be her sister sitting in the middle of her room on her haunches, shaking with what she supposed was laughter and thrusting her fore hooves into the air in time with the lightning flashes. Luna could only slowly shake her head at the sight.

“Tis the strangest tantrum I hath seen in quite some time. What pray tell has her vexed so?”

“Maybe she has finally lost her grip on sanity due to old age.” Nightmare suggested without looking up from her massive tome of Equestrian law.

“I doubt that.” Luna said as she trotted back to the table they were using, “Why must you use every opportunity to antagonize her?”

“You should know better than any about my nature my dear. Unlike Celestia, I am not purely good, but nor am I entirely evil. Besides, weren’t you telling me just yesternight that it said in your book, a guide to modern friendship for the socially inept, that casual and non-threatening insults are part of a healthy friendship? I was merely practicing with my friend Celestia.”

“Hmmm. Oh, that must have been what Terra was doing when he called Tia those names before he left. It is a most strange thing this new system of friendship.”

Another massive burst of lightning tore through the night sky outside as Celestia continued her tirade, the crash of thunder shaking everything in the library for a brief moment.

“Such a drama queen.” Nightmare sighed as she continued reading her law book.

“Indeed! A large, obese foal!” Luna smiled at her perceived success in the subtleties of friendship before turning to Nightmare with a frown. “How was that?”

“I won’t argue your point, but it could use some work still.”

“Hmm. Methinks this modern style of friendship shall take more getting accustomed to than I had anticipated.” Luna mused as she looked skyward again to check the trajectory of the moon before settling back down to her reading.

====== Meanwhile ======

Far below Canterlot, in the outskirts of the sleeping town of Ponyville, a lone unicorn mare pulled a large wooden wagon to a halt along the side of the dirt path leading into town. She sighed in the pleasant fatigue that came from a long day of hard work. As nice as a hotel room and warm meal would have been, she decided against going all of the way into town tonight. Tomorrow she would make her way into town for her grand, crowd drawing entrance. As a traveling performer, she already knew how to tailor her act based on the venue. A town this size would call for tall tales with flashy effects for the foals, and perhaps a few simple audience participation challenges to keep things interesting for the adults. With her tried and true methods decided on, the mare took one last calming look at the moon hanging in the sky and ducked into the small living space in her wagon, laying herself down to rest for tomorrows show.

Chapter 1: Celestia's Opening Shot

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Celestia’s Attack 1: Opening Shots

The sun hung high and bright in the mid-afternoon sky above Canterlot. The noon Day Court had been concluded, and in seemingly record time as well. Nopony knew why, but it seemed as though Princess Celestia had been eager to be done with the day’s work. To the seasoned observer, the princess had been fidgety and distracted beneath her calm and benevolent façade. No sooner had court been closed for the day than Celestia had made a dignified and graceful dash for the side exit of the throne chamber. While that behavior had been somewhat confusing, it had been much more curious when she was next seen wandering into the kitchen area and later leaving sporting a large pair of saddlebags.

Celestia herself was practically giddy with excitement over satisfying her current longing. It had started quite suddenly after her brother had left to return to his country and she could no longer ignore it. It was a craving, an itch she had not satisfied in well over a thousand years, and it was on her with a vengeance. Anypony in Canterlot could have been her first target, but no, she was aiming right for the top with her first shot. She was going to make her own sister, Princess Luna, her first victim.

To be caught in the act would likely result in a scandal of some sort, so stealth was the method. Not being able to perform shadow magic like her sister, combined with being two to three times the size of the average pony (Stature! She wasn’t fat!) meant that a princess had to be creative when wishing to remain unseen. To this end, Celestia had cast a reverse gravity spell on herself, as well as put on a set of enchanted horseshoes that muffled the sounds of her hoof falls. As an extra precaution, and because it seemed like the proper thing to do, she had also squeezed herself (Still not fat!) into a form fitting black latex cat-suit. Over her suit she had replaced her golden harness with a black bandolier, as well as a pair of large black saddlebags. Fully geared up and with a plan in mind, there was nothing left in the way of satisfying her urge.

Once she was ready she had teleported herself to the ceiling of a sitting room just down the hall from Luna’s chambers. Quickly scanning the room below her for anypony that may have seen her she grinned widely as she found the coast clear. Dropping to the floor on her silenced horseshoes she moved quickly to the door and cracked it open just enough to peek an eye out, Celestia scanned the gloom of the night hall for anypony near the door. Finding no guards, she slipped out of the door and closed it quietly behind her before adjusting her gravity altering spell to slink up the wall and back into the shadows of the ceiling.

Celestia froze as a young pegasus maid scurried underneath of her, the feather duster in her mouth running over the low hanging sconces. To her horror the mare spread her wings and rose to dust the chandelier that she hung near while humming a tune to herself. After a tense minute the maid hovered in place inspecting her work. Celestia prepared for the worst and reached into a pocket on her bandolier, removing a small purple orb. Catching the movement in her peripheral vision, the maid peered into the shadows that concealed Celestia. Just as she was about to move closer, Celestia lit her horn and quickly levitated the purple orb in front of the maid’s nose before bursting it. The small burst of crazy purple knockout gas quickly did its job as the mare went cross eyed before going limp and falling into Celestia’s telekinetic grasp. With a mental sigh, Celestia found the nearest unoccupied side room and laid the mare out on the floor, safely out of sight. Praying that she would not encounter anypony else, Celestia snuck back into the main hall.

Continuing to crawl slowly along the ceiling and sticking to the shadows, Celestia moved forward until she had reached the end of the hall and hung like a bat above a large set of double doors. The beautiful doors were solid black and had a large crescent moon in the middle, surrounded by depictions of the stars and the differing phases of the lunar cycle. What gave Celestia pause however was the pair of Shadow Sentinels that were posted on either side of the double doors.

Celestia was not as familiar with her sister’s honor guard as she was the typical solar guards that roamed the castle halls. For starters they almost looked like feral beasts with their tufted ears, gray coats, and leathery bat wings. Not to mention their golden draconic eyes and serrated shark teeth, she was sure that Nightmare Moon had a hoof in the design of the glamour their armor bestowed on them. She knew they were not selected from within the solar guard reserve and did not follow any of the training that their solar counterparts did either. Wicked thoughts filled her head as she leered down at the tough, wild looking stallions. With a shake of her head she cleared the errant thoughts and refocused on the task at hoof, getting past the Shadow Sentinels to her prize beyond the doors.

“Do you require assistance Princess Celestia? Mistress Luna is not yet due to be active at this hour.”

The guard to the left of the door had spoken to her without so much as looking up at her. After getting over her momentary shock of being caught, Celestia abandoned all pretense of stealth and dropped down to the floor. With a wide grin she pulled two more purple orbs from her bandolier and levitated them before the guards before bursting them and releasing the gas held inside right before their noses. Instead of knocking the guards out as expected, one just wrinkled his nose while the other simply sneezed. Both bared their fangs and growled at her in warning as they shrugged off the now formerly tried and true crazy purple knockout gas. Exasperated at their refusal to go down quietly, Celestia’s horn lit up as she hit both guards a sensory overload spell to knock them out, which they still both resisted far longer than most ponies should have before finally collapsing where they stood.

Sighing out loud in the now empty hallway, Celestia levitated the guards onto her back before retracing her steps to the side room she had stashed the maid from earlier in. Upon seeing the maid still knocked out and with two more ponies now in tow, a plan sprang to mind along with a devious smirk on her face. Unable to pass up the opportunity for more mischief, she positioned the three ponies in such a way that would make waking up a decidedly awkward affair, or possibly a dream come true depending on their outlook. With one last slightly unsettling grin in the passed out ponies direction, she closed the door and made her way to Luna’s chambers yet again. Once there, and making sure the rest of her preparations were completed, she proceeded to knock on her sister’s door.

“Luuuna deeeear, please come out heeeeere! I have something important to share with yooooou!” She sang out, her voice practically dripping saccharin.

After a moment of silence she heard hooves hitting the stone floor followed by the slow clip-clop as they made towards the doorway. Backing up and tensioning her entire body in preparation for the moment that had finally arrived, Celestia held her breath as she was nearly twitching in anticipation. She lowered herself to the ground like a manticore ready to pounce on its prey as the hoof steps on the other side of the door stopped. A muffled yet indignant sounding voice issued forth from behind the door as it opened.

“We swear upon our mother’s name sister, this had best be-”

Rrrrrrrriiiiiipp!

POOOF!

The hallway was quite suddenly clouded in white once Luna’s door opened up. As the dust settled, the now snow white moon princess stood in her doorway covered from horn to hoof in flour. She opened her scrunched up eyes and blinked owlishly several times as she struggled to process what just happened. Looking up, she saw a large, now empty, bag of flour secured above her door. The ripcord on the bag had been tied to a rope that was in turn attached to the edge of her door, the opening of which had unleashed floury doom upon her. Turning her eyes to her strangely dressed sister she saw a grin plastered on her muzzle that was so wide that it seemed like it should have been painful. It was only when Luna’s eyes narrowed in irritation that Celestia broke her silence.

“YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! Score one Celestia, Luna zero!” Celestia exalted as she pranced in place before rearing up and posing dramatically.

“… Twas thy idea of a jest?”

“Ahhh, yes, I needed that SO much.”

“…Twas not amusing.” Luna deadpanned.

“Yes it was. You are just tweaked because I got you so good.” Celestia replied with a smirk.

“Thou art starting upon an endeavor that thou hast no hope to win. Trickery and deception are my domain.”

“And I have had a thousand years to plot and scheme.”

“Very well then, consider thyself warned, a formal declaration of contest shall be issued forthwith!”

“Oh, it’s so cute when you get all feisty!” Celestia cooed.

“…Thou shalt live to regret thy words.” Luna muttered with narrowing eyes.

“I would say you are green with envy but you are looking rather pale at the moment” Celestia said with a cheeky sing-song tone.

“GET THEE HENCE FROM MY HALL!!” Luna bellowed in her Royal Canterlot Voice before lunging at her sister.

Celestia giggled madly and dodged the attack before galloping down the hall with Luna in hot pursuit. A trail of laughter, foalish name calling, and white hoof prints trailed them all the way to the main doors before Celestia deftly escaped from her enraged sister. Much to Celestia’s disappointment, Luna still had the presence of mind not to give chase into the rest of the castle and further the damage with public spectacle. Once she had rounded the next corner, the elder alicorn stopped to allow herself a breath. As she calmed down she noticed an unnatural silence in the usually busy hallway and looked about her to notice everypony in eyesight staring at her. Confused at first, she eventually looked at herself and was reminded she was still in her stealthy cat suit getup. With a sheepish grin she lit her horn and teleported away in an explosion of golden light before any questions could be asked.

Meanwhile, back in the unnaturally darkened hall of the night, Luna was trudging back towards her room while muttering darkly under her breath. About halfway back she stopped as she heard a small gasping sound from the side room to her left. Curiosity piqued; Luna opened the door and poked her head through to see one of the maids laying stock still and wide eyed between her two honor guards, wrapped in their fore legs. The maid saw her and silently mouthed ‘Help Me’ with her eyes darting between the two stallions to her sides. Luna merely gave a knowing grin and waved goodbye with a fore hoof before silently closing the door on the intensely flustered maid. At the very least, Luna was apparently not Celestia’s only victim this morning.

Back in the main room of her chambers, Luna stopped to look herself over. Fanning out her wings and lifting each leg sequentially, she saw that not one square inch of her had been spared from the flour. How had she fallen for something so simple? Was she really so out of it that she couldn’t sense mischievous intent around her? Cursing darkly and stepping towards her bath area she was interrupted by the filly Nightmare Moon stepping out from her little side room and fixing her with a questioning gaze.

“Should I ask?”

“Neigh, Nightmare. Thou need only know that mine sister is as mischievous as ever she was. Methinks I shall have to put her in her place in this regard.” Luna mused as she walked toward her bed.

“Oooh, oooh, let me in on it! I want to help!” Nightmare cried excitedly, jumping up onto Luna’s bed to be closer to eye level with her former host.

“I appreciate thy offer of support, but if thou should walk the field of battle my sister shall consider thou an enemy combatant. I cannot guarantee thou immunity from her.”

“I am my own mare now, I can take care of myself. Besides, think of it as tipping the situation in our favor. That; and toppling her arrogant fat flank will be simply delicious!” The dark filly sniggered in a slightly evil manner.

“Now Nightmare, part of the condition for thou to live here was to not cause trouble.” Luna said with a frown.

“Not to worry, she won’t come to harm by my hoof or horn. Physical harm that is. Whether a pony can die of embarrassment or not is something I would love to test on her.”

“Then I believe we have an accord my dear Nightmare. May our union teach dear Celestia a lesson in the true order of things.”

“Aye ma’am! I am standing by for your orders!” The filly Nightmare saluted smartly with a fore hoof and stood at attention.

Both alicorns put hoof to chin as they began to plot their opening moves. They had bested Celestia in combat before, so neither was worried about overall victory. With both of their power and cunning brought to bear, there was little that was truly a worthy obstacle, even with Nightmare’s diminished capacity. Although their minds used to be in a fairly tight synchronization, both had noticed that in the time following their separation that while their thoughts remained similar, they had begun to diverge slightly. Thus, while they agreed on the end results, the approach was somewhat different when they began to share with each other.

“I propose a shock and awe campaign. We shall hit her with such force that she shall not attempt such an affront again.” Luna said, her white nose in the air.

“Shock and awe is a good plan, I like it, but it is not a good fit for what we need here. I say we need a relentless pressure approach. Keep her off balance and on the defensive.” The diminutive Nightmare rubbed her fore hooves together with a smile that revealed her tiny fangs.

“Why not both ideas then? We shall stage a dramatic entrance and a public declaration of war when she least expects it. After which we shall keep her upon edge with repeated feints and misdirection. What say you to this method?”

“Sounds like a plan to me princess. What are your first orders?” Nightmare happily agreed.

“If thou shall find it agreeable, I wish to leverage thy ability to operate indefinitely without sleep. If we can have an operative upon the field at all times then our situational awareness shall increase dramatically!” Luna observed triumphantly.

“I can do that. Perhaps this body is best suited for spy work after all.”

“Indeed, dear Nightmare, it doth seem as so. But first we will need to see how much shadow magic thou art capable of. A good spy must be one with the shadows, as is only befitting of those such as us.”

“Good idea, but an even better idea would be for you to take a shower before we do anything. I am not sure I can take you seriously being covered in flour right now.”

With a nod to Nightmare and a scowl once again set upon her face, Luna turned toward her royal bathroom. Such an affront would not go unpunished, and deep down in her heart she still wanted some form of revenge against her sister for the thousand years she spent imprisoned. Violence was not the answer, that much she already knew, but revenge of the same caliber was in order.

=|=|=|=|=|=|=

Near the edge of the fearsome Everfree forest, the lone unicorn mare leaned against a tree, gasping for breath after her panicked flight from town. Everything seemed like one long nightmare to the distraught pony. She had gone from a happy and reasonably successful life to a homeless pariah in the span of a single day. She would be the first to admit that her show earlier that day had not gone quite as planned, but was that any reason for what had happened? To witness to her home and all of her worldly possessions being smashed to pieces before her eyes and then defamed and made a fool of shortly thereafter was simply too much to handle. Once her heart had slowed to a manageable rate she looked forlornly into the night sky, attempting to take comfort in the softly twinkling stars and the steadfast moon, but tonight they had no such effect. She panicked as she heard the voices of ponies headed in her direction, in her current state it only seemed reasonable that they were not done abusing her yet and probably wanted to hurt her for what had happened to the town. In her despair, she blindly ran into the forest and was soon lost within the darkness.

Chapter 2: Throwing Down

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 2: Throwing Down

Sitting on her throne in the middle of a busy afternoon court, Princess Celestia was the regal picture of patience and understanding as ponies filed in and out to have their petitions and grievances heard before the crown. The afternoon sun shone brightly through the large stained glass windows, the bright, cascading colors creating a majestic and calming atmosphere. Celestia wore an easy smile upon her muzzle as she helped her little ponies with their problems. Yesterday had been a great day after all, she had begun the execution of her plan to be seen in a different light by her subjects. Using her sister and inciting her predictable temper flares had all gone according to plan. It was almost too easy when you had thousands of years of strategic practice and you already knew your opponent.

As the mare before her bowed and stepped away from the throne, Celestia’s overconfidence rose up to bite at her backside. The room developed a sudden chill and became noticeably dimmer despite the strength of the sun just outside the windows. The gathered ponies stepped back in panic as a dark purple spell seal formed and began glowing on the floor not twenty paces from the throne. As the guards before the throne moved forward to determine the threat, the very fabric of reality seemed to tear above the seal. A thin line of pure darkness about twice the height of the average pony ran upwards before expanding into an oval shape. Dark tendrils of energy continually seeped from the edges of the abyssal rift before dissipating in the dim light, giving the whole thing the appearance of a pitch black sea anemone.

Without warning, Luna’s Shadow Sentinels leaped forth from the darkness and quickly subdued the approaching solar guards, earning gasps of shock and frightened whimpers from the court attendees. Once the exit point was secure, Luna herself stepped forth from the dark tunnel and calmly approached the throne. Staring up at her sister with a contemptuous sneer, Luna spread her wings wide in an intimidating fashion, the shadows of the room seeming to deepen as she did.

“Thy reign of terror ends now Celestia, we challenge thee!”

Luna proceeded to withdraw an obsidian dagger from within her starry mane. She twirled it in her dark telekinetic grasp before hurling it towards Celestia, where the blade imbedded itself in the wood beside her head with a loud thump, causing more than a few ponies to faint away in shock. Luna turned and sauntered back towards the dark gate, her sentinels walking backwards to follow, growling and baring their sharpened teeth at anypony that hadn’t passed out yet. Before entering the gate Luna turned to look over her shoulder at her sister.

“For thy consideration dear sister, We eagerly await thy response.”

As Luna’s sentinels backed into the darkness after their mistress, the gate seemingly evaporated and the light and heat returned to normal in the throne room. Smiling serenely, both in genuine amusement and for the sake of the few ponies that hadn’t fainted away, Celestia grasped the handle of the dagger in her magic and pulled it free. The dark blade evaporated with a hiss in the bright aura of her magic and left only the grip, which she pulled a string in the middle of to reveal a scroll. Reading over it for a moment, Celestia laughed aloud and summoned a quill before affixing her official signature to the mysterious document and passing it to a slowly recovering page at the bottom of the throne.

“Please have this copied and posted throughout the public and military areas of the castle if you would my little pony.” Celestia gently ushered the nervous page towards the entrance doors.

The page rushed as quickly as he could to complete his assigned task and within the hour had begun posting the copied document throughout the castle. Needless to say, many ponies gathered around each of the bills that he posted with widely mixed reactions to its contents. Were they really fighting already? Was this all a joke? Was there already ten to one odds in Celestia's favor?

Official Terms of War

May it come to the attention of all that a contest of honor has been initiated between Princess Luna of Equestria and Princess Celestia of Equestria. Herein are the proposed rules of engagement to be adhered to by all members taking part in this contest. Upon review of the terms and conditions below and receiving the signature of each party a formal state of contest shall take effect between the parties.

1. The leader of each party shall have the power to levy whatever backup or support that they deem necessary. No military personnel may be drafted for service of any kind. All members recruited shall be considered fully actionable combatants by the opposing party.

2. Collateral damage is a byproduct of any engagement. That being accepted as fact, it should also be actively minimized by both parties as much as possible. Directly targeting an innocent pony will not be accepted, neither shall the wanton destruction of public or private property be acceptable.

3. There shall be considered nothing sacred in regards to location or time of engagement unless agreed to by both parties for a temporary cessation of combat.

4. Any and all methods of combat shall be found acceptable so long as they do not violate the second rule.

5. A Judge shall be appointed by agreement of both parties and shall remain neutral in the affairs of each. The sole responsibility of the judge shall be to hear rule violation grievances from either party, and to keep records of all enlisted combatants on either side. Judgments awarded are to be considered final and must be adhered to by both parties, failure to do so will be considered forfeiture by the negligent party.

6. Conclusion of this contest can be reached by negotiated treaty between both parties or by the admission of defeat by one party to the other.

Princess Luna of Equestria

Princess Celestia of Equestria

===== Near the center of the Everfree Forest =====

The blue unicorn mare burst forth from the tree line with the deep cackling of a cockatrice not far behind her. She was filthy, cut and scratched in multiple places, and in an otherwise general state of dishevelment. Running on pure adrenaline coursing through her long spent muscles she saw her chance over a nearly destroyed rope and plank bridge spanning a misty gorge. The bridge swayed and groaned agonizingly as she dashed across it at a full tilt gallop. With a heart stopping snap as the cockatrice applied its weight to the bridge the entire structure gave way just as the unicorn made her final desperate leap for the far edge. The unfortunate snake bird chasing her plummeted into the foggy abyss with a sharp squawk as the mare heaved herself over the far ledge and promptly collapsed in a fit of ragged, heavy breathing. She was thankful that the heavy little predator could not truly fly, otherwise she would have been finished. After catching her breath and steadying her fried nerves as much as possible she began to examine her surroundings. The mist before her parted like a stage curtain, revealing a dark, broken down castle. The entire structure practically oozed with sorrow and despair, as though it longed for somepony to return to it and fill it with the life it once held. With no way back now, the mare slowly walked forward past the broken gates, darkness once again claiming her.

Chapter 3: Gang Pressed Service

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 3: Gang Pressed Service

Unless it was otherwise planned there were only a few hours a day when the two royal sisters of Equestria were both active and in each other’s presence. Most frequently they saw each other at breakfast and dinner, during the changing of the sun and moon, and anytime that Luna needed to be informed of official business that was to take place during the occasional night court session. It was currently early morning in a private drawing room that the two alicorns were met. They were going over their proposed lists of potential judges for their contest, although they were currently at odds over whom it should be and were quickly exhausting each of their lists as the other shot down every proposal.

“What about Judge Steel Gavel?” Celestia inquired of her fellow diarch.

“Neigh sister, we need not somepony to arbitrate proceedings over public defacement or petty theft. Not as yet anyway. It must be someone closer that we know equally.” Luna refuted soundly.

With a deep sigh, Celestia began wracking her brain for any of the few ponies that Luna knew and that also had experience in impartial decision making. Levitating a small cookie from a tray on the table between them, she took several dainty bites as she poured over the list of potential judges she had gathered. What she did not see was the smirk Luna hid behind a cup of coffee she raised to take a sip of. Not having had the same time to build the perfect poker face her sister possessed meant she struggled greatly not to tip her hoof at the trap her sister had just bitten into. Seemingly brought on from providence to save her cover, there was a knock at the door followed by it opening just enough for young Cadence to poke her head through.

“Ah, there you both are, I hope I am not interrupting anything?”

“Nothing critically important dear, please come in.” Celestia eased her concern with her classic warm smile.

Luna smiled as well but kept her sharp eyes on the young alicorn as she entered. It would have unnerved any lesser pony, but Cadence was still highly curious about her newly returned aunt. By her very nature she was dark and mysterious to the younger alicorn, and her odd speech habits and customs only lent more curiosity as well. What must it be like to return to a world that is your own yet completely alien as well? Luna’s smile grew into a smirk as she extended a wing to bring the slightly smaller alicorn closer to her.

“It is most certainly an unsettling experience my dear, there is much that I must now contend with that did not exist when last I walked this earth.”

“Hey! You were reading my mind again!” Cadence squawked indignantly.

“Neigh, thy thoughts were written plainly upon thy face.”

“Don’t let her startle you Cadence; my sister is quite good at reading nonverbal cues. Unless you tightly control your behavior it can seem like she is reading your mind.” Celestia attempted to sooth her ruffled niece.

“Indeed, were I to employ actual mind reading magic it wouldst be far more obvious. Dost thou care to sample some my dear? Wouldst thou let thy auntie know the darkest corners of thy mind?”

Luna locked the smaller alicorn into her forelegs and extended her wings forward, blocking out the rest of the room in a feathery prison. Cadence struggled briefly before she was quite suddenly teleported to freedom by Celestia. Luna glared at her sister as Celestia leveled her best disapproving gaze at her in return. Once Cadence had recovered, both sisters launched into each other.

“Luna, you know how I feel about mind reading magic, it is unethical.” The elder sister pontificated with her muzzle held high.

“Twas mere fun at our niece’s expense, we were not actually going to violate her mind!” The younger sister defended, wings spread in challenge.

“She doesn’t know that, nor has she had time to become accustomed to your alternative sense of humor!” The elder sister retorted, lowering her head to meet the challenge.

“She doth not need thy overbearing protection; we reason she is savvy enough to figure things out of her own accord!” The younger closed the distance between their muzzles to mere inches.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a brat all the time I wouldn’t have to intervene!” The white horn began crackling with golden energy.

“Doth mine ears detect the sound of jealousy in thy voice? Thou art a stuffy, pompous-”

“AUNTIES PLEASE!” Somehow Cadence had managed to snap them from their focus and shift them apart with a hoof to each chest.

“You are both correct and you are both wrong. Now this is exactly why I sought you both out, in the first place. What is this I keep hearing about you going to battle with each other? Can you really not stay civil with each other enough to prevent conflict?” The younger alicorn finished with a huff.

“…” Celestia stared.

“…” Luna scrutinized.

“Umm…” Cadence raised a fore hoof in preparation to bolt.

“Luna, are you thinking what I am thinking?” Celestia cautiously queried.

“I believe I am big sister, she wouldst be a perfect fit.” Luna backed her sister up.

“Then it is settled!” Celestia summoned a large scroll and thrust it into Cadence’s hooves.

“Huzzah! We are in agreement!” Luna summoned a black robe and goofy white wig, draping them over Cadence’s back and head respectively.

“Best of luck little Woona, and let the games begin!” Celestia cried with a giggle that seemed curiously more drawn out than normal.

“I need not luck, for my attack has already begun! I hope thou hast enjoyed the enchantment I placed upon thy baked treats dear sister. The laughter spell thou hast ingested shall make thee laugh at everything anypony says unto thee for quite a while!" Luna sneered in triumph.

"Hehehe! Then, Oh-hohoho, I hope you-ahahaha, enjoy the laxatives Bah-hahaha, that I laced into the coffee-hehehehe that you have been drinking!" Celestia clutched her already aching stomach as she leered back at her little sister.

Luna's belly let forth an appallingly loud gurgling noise right on cue as her pupils shrank to pinpricks and her muzzle scrunched up in alarm. Celestia cackled madly at her sister as tears began to stream down her muzzle from the force of her laughter. Luna was then the first to retreat as she teleported away in a blast of dark magic. The golden magic of the elder alicorn flickered as she attempted to focus long enough through the laughter to teleport away as well. Eventually she succeeded, leaving a positively gob smacked Cadence alone in the formerly more occupied drawing room. What rolled out of her mouth next however, was quite possibly the most profound thing to have been said in pony history.

“What is this… I don’t even…”

As her senses began to return to her and her mind once again became active she realized that the scroll in her hooves may hold some answers. Her left eye twitched furiously as she read over the contents of the scroll Celestia had hooved over. Once she had finished reading, her response was both violent and abrupt. She telekinetically blew the doors off of their hinges and galloped into the hallway beyond. Heads turned and eyebrows were raised in her wake as she barreled through the halls, shrieking the same phrase over the course of her flight, desperation in her voice.

“NONONONONONONONONONO!”

====== Back in Luna’s atelier ======

Cadence paced anxiously in front of a large crystal that was embedded in the wall. The dark gray stone pulsed with a regular frequency as the magic within it reached outward. Her father had left it in her care and it was the first of its kind anywhere in Equestria, although quite common back home in Titania. Soon enough, the crystal went solid blue and an image of her father, Terra, appeared on the face of the crystal.

“Hmmm? Cadenza? Don’t tell me you’re already homesick. It hasn’t even been a few days yet my little filly!”

“Daddy you have to help me! Auntie Celestia and Luna are fighting and I don’t know what it is about and they dragged me into it and I don’t know what to do!” She finished her rant with her desperate face pressed to the crystal.

“Whoa there! Slow it down just a touch sweetie. Now let’s take things one at a time. So Celestia and Luna are fighting?”

“Yes, they made an official declaration and everything!”

“Have they hurt each other, anypony else, or destroyed their castle?”

“Well no…”

“Are they still talking to each other?”

“They were sitting together and discussing something before I interrupted them earlier…”

“And have they asked you to do anything illegal or unethical?”

“…no.”

“I am not sure there is a problem outside of the one you created in your own mind then. Remember what I always tell you, slow down, clear your thoughts, and the best decisions will always be found. I bet if you still need help you can ask your coltfriend, what’s his name, Sparkly Silk? He should be able to help you.”

“Its Shining Armor daddy, but maybe you are right. He should know how to handle this.”

"That's what I said, Shimmering Satin!" Terra retorted.

"No daddy its Shining Ar-" Cadence stopped herself as she noticed her father's grin. "You know what? Never mind. I am going to go ask for his help. Thanks for the advice though."

"Anytime sweetie. Just remember to slow down and not get so caught up in the moment."

Father and daughter exchanged their goodbyes before Cadence shut down the magic of the crystal and headed out to find Shining Armor, and hopefully any ideas he might have on how to get her out of her current situation. If there was anyone this far from home that she could depend on, it should be him.

===== Shortly Thereafter =====

“Hmm. Seems pretty airtight to me, a typical royal decree really, no wiggle room at all.” Shining Armor explained to his slightly less panicked marefriend.

“But, but, they can’t just make me judge their silly little squabble! I don’t even know how to be a judge!” An exasperated Cadence whined.

The sun shone down on the military training grounds the two ponies stood in. Near them was the galloping track, which was currently being used by a group of cadets under the supervision of the guard captain. When Cadence had shown up in a tizzy about something they had used the opportunity to slacken the pace and eavesdrop on the ensuing drama.

“Seems pretty easy really. All you have to do is make sure neither of them violates the rules that they both agreed to. If they do, all you have to do is arbitrate the punishment. Think of it like back when you watched Twilie and you had to enforce the rules with her.”

“Shining, there is a world of difference between foal-sitting your sister and two several thousand year old adults. Besides, we both know that Twilight never broke any rules, ever.” Cadence deadpanned.

“Okay, maybe that was a bad example, but the principle is the same. I know you can do this Cadence.” Shining Armor attempted to sooth his ruffled marefriend before straightening up and glaring at the cadets cantering their laps on the track.

“I SAID I WANTED HUSTLE YOU WORTHLESS FOALS! PICK UP THE PACE! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” Shining bellowed angrily.

“You are right, I can do this, and you are going to be helping me.” Cadence said as she smoothed her mane from Shining’s verbal assault.

“Sorry hun, but it says right in the rules that military personnel can’t be involved.”

“Oh, but that only pertains to my aunts, dear. Don’t you know that all good judges have a reliable bailiff? A nice, strong, dependable, handsome…” Cadence attempted to woo the Captain while running a hoof slowly up and down his breastplate.

“B-but I have duties! Guard captain duties!” Shining backpedaled with a strong blush and a flustered expression, his cadets slowing down to see what was going on, again.

“Don’t make me do it Shining…” Cadence threatened the nervous stallion.

“Y-you wouldn’t…” Shining blustered as Cadences eyes widened and grew watery, staring straight into the depths of his soul.

“Cadence, n-no I…” The captain’s resolve was quickly reaching its limit, when Cadence moved in for the kill.

“Pwease, Shiny?” She squeaked at him before pouting her trembling lower lip.

“Okay okay, fine, just stop that! Please!? That is so deeply unfair.” The played stallion grumbled.

Cadence instantly reverted to normal before giggling and leaning in to give him a small kiss on the bridge of his muzzle. After thanking him again and promising that it wouldn’t interfere too much with his regular duties she bid him farewell and sauntered back towards the castle. It was then that Shining looked up to see his gaggle of cadets trying to contain their laughter, and worst of all, not running like he had ordered them to. Righteous indignation filling his heart he leapt to his hooves and donned his helmet before marching towards the now terrified cadets.

“THAT’S IT! ON YOUR HOOVES YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS! NOW YOU ARE REALLY GONNA RUN BECAUSE EVERY ONE OF YOU THAT I CATCH WILL BE DOING ALL OF THEIR DRILLS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IN TRIPLE WEIGHT ARMOR! NOW RUN!”

===== The Royal Offices =====

In Celestia’s office, the snow white alicorn herself was busy, reviewing the latest rounds of legislation and planning out her time tables for next week. Her mind was currently split between her official tasks that she appeared to be doing on the surface and plotting her next strike against her sister. Now was when she would have to exercise more caution, she had already used up the element of surprise on her first prank, and Luna was nothing if not cunning. The evidence of her sister’s skill still lingered in the bandages wrapped around her midsection. When she had teleported back to her room there had been a maid inside that asked if she was okay, which of course triggered the spell and sent her into hysterics of laughter. If she couldn’t even trust her favorite tea cookies then perhaps now was the time to revive the old tradition of a royal food safety tester.

She may need to modify her plan, but planning was always Celestia’s strong point, and it was no surprise that she had a plan from the onset of this whole situation. Though it could be considered somewhat cruel by some, she planned to fully exploit the fact that her sister was in no way, shape, or form used to the modern era yet. Chief among her stockpile of ammunition was going to be technology and all of the incredible things that her ponies had put it to use for.

Her face split into a wide grin as she could just picture her sister helpless before the onslaught of modern technology. If she paired her approach with some of the old classics it would keep her sister off balance and constantly guessing at what she had planned. First though, she would need to do some recon and see if she could dig up any intelligence on her sister’s plans and any allies outside of the obvious Nightmare Moon. Perhaps a recon mission to the Hall of the Night was in order. With a melodic giggle, she returned her full attention to her stacks of paperwork. There was a time and place for everything, and she would have time for her spy mission once she finished her responsibilities.

===== The Hall of the Night =====

The deep darkness echoed with the clip clop of small hooves against the granite floors. Nightmare Moon was making her way towards Luna’s room to debrief her former host. As per their plan during wartime operations against Celestia, Luna would host an action and intelligence meeting before she retired for the day. This extra time was reserved strictly for future operations planning and intelligence briefings from her field agents, which only currently consisted of Nightmare Moon. Luckily, Luna still had the youthful energy necessary to stay up as late/early as she wanted without many repercussions the next night.

Nightmare gave a nod to the Shadow Sentinels posted at Luna’s door as they wordlessly opened it for her when she approached. After entering however, she saw not a trace of the night princess anywhere in the chamber, until the bathroom door opened and a sullen looking Luna slowly emerged. Quirking an eyebrow in Luna’s direction, the only response Nightmare earned was for Luna to light her horn and seal the doorway to the bathroom with a magically conjured brick wall. She then shook her head clear and sat, gingerly, at a small table before asking Nightmare to commence her report for the day. Celestia would pay dearly for the evil she had unleashed upon the younger alicorn’s bowels, but for now there was planning to attend to.

It was decided over the next hour that their main plan of attack would follow their style to a T, trickery and misdirection, with heavy reliance on high level magical arrays. Celestia never was as good a student in magic as Luna, and it would appear that even a thousand years had not changed that fact any. As they wrapped up their strategy meeting, Nightmare had one last item to cover.

“Luna, I have been looking over the contents of the royal library and have found their advanced magical contents lacking. Even after I broke into the restricted section, there was nothing that could be of much use to us.”

“Hmm, I am not certain that I approve of thou burglarizing restricted sections of the castle.”

“Whatever, if they really wanted to keep ponies out then I wouldn’t have been able to get in. Beyond that topic, I have a request.” Nightmare dismissed Luna with a wave of the hoof before plowing ahead.

“And what would that be pray tell?”

“I want to go back to the old castle. I am willing to bet that most of our old research notes and spell books still have active preservation spells on them and would be far superior to what Celestia has here.”

“Tis sound reasoning. I believe we shall go this very morning so that we may begin integrating anything we discover into our plans.” Luna closed her eyes and nodded her head in agreement with her own statement.

"Excellent, I can't wait to think up some new hexes to place on Celestia! But are you sure you will be okay for tonight if you stay up like this?"

"Indeed I shall; now onto more pressing matters. Hast thou seen our pet about the area? I could have sworn he was in our room when I last beheld him."

"No, but he can't have gone far. Should we look for the little escape artist before we leave?"

“Aye, it would put my mind to ease knowing his location. Let us be off then, to locate our missing ward, and then onward to our old library.” Luna headed for her chamber doors with Nightmare in tow.

===== Back in the old Royal Castle =====

This was simply too perfect to believe for the lost unicorn, but then again, maybe whatever bad karma she was experiencing had finally run its course. She had stumbled into the old castle to seek some form of shelter but had ended up finding the greatest possible treasure while simply in search of a room that wasn’t wrecked and/or roofless. Indeed she had found an intact room, one which seemed to have a powerful anti-aging ward in place, protecting an ancient looking library.

More than half of the titles that she could see were in ancient Equish which meant she could only read every few words or so. But what she could read brought a wide smile to her face and hope in her heart. This seemed to be a vast collection of magical related knowledge and research, the depth of which would ensure that her normally fantastic shows would become the stuff of legends! What’s more, she could triumphantly return to that horrid little town outside the forest where she was unfairly accosted in the middle of her performance. Those neigh-sayers would learn not to heckle a performer ever again!

She removed a thick tome along one of the shelves that had the words ‘Mirage Mastery’ in its dusty title. Setting herself gently on a stool that appeared older than time itself, she placed the book before her and attempted to ease the cover open with her magic. The book resisted. Pumping more power into her horn had no appreciable effect. Why could she pick up the book with magic but not open it? With a grunt of indifference, she placed her fore hooves on the book and gently pried. Again the book scoffed at her while remaining shut. With a growl of effort she heaved on the cover of the book. Quite suddenly the book sprang open with a blinding flash of light that struck the mare and made her fall backwards from her stool with a screech.

She felt as though a net had fallen over her and flailed blindly in her panic until she heard the snap of the book closing again and the sensation across her body stopped. Leaping to her hooves and looking around she noticed nothing except the closed book on the tabletop. However, as she wiped her brow with a fore hoof, she froze when the hoof she saw was not the light blue of her normal coat color, but a violently bright pink instead. Channeling her magic and summoning a mirror before herself she saw that indeed her entire coat had turned the most eye assaulting shade of pink that she had ever seen. The resulting scream startled a flight of bats to escape from the ruined castle and into the bright morning sky.

Chapter 4: Luna's Attack - Darkest Fears

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 4: Luna’s Attack – Darkest Fears

The hall of the night was as it usually was, dark and mysterious, just as its mistress liked it. Those ponies who found themselves employed therein were all given enchanted bracelets that bestowed upon them feline eyes, which allowed them superior night vision like their employer. The large white alicorn that had slipped into the hall did not have one of those bracelets, and had to let her vision adjust for a moment before proceeding forward. The scattered candelabras and chandeliers cast forth light with their blue flames, but they never seemed to create more than small islands in the gloom.

It was a simple recon mission for Celestia as she tried act nonchalant wandering through her sister’s halls. With quick pulses from her horn she was able to sense the vague outline of various traps that her sister had set, making sure to avoid them. Once she was within sight of her sister’s chambers she suddenly felt as though a cold draft ran straight up her spine. There was the distinctive feeling of being watched although she could see nopony in the area, and her magical senses told her that she was not being targeted by a remote viewing spell of any kind. A nameless, primordial fear took hold of her at once and she suddenly felt the need to return to the warmth and safety of the sunlight.

The decision was made for her when she heard a shrieking noise and the distinctive fluttering of wings. In the present darkness she could not see the source and panicked like a foal separated from its parents. With a loud, instinctual whinny that was far less than dignified for a princess, her flight instincts seized control of her motor functions and had her bolting down the hall towards the safety of the bright daylight beyond. Spurring her faster, she could hear the winged thing following her no matter how fast she seemed to gallop, it was like a scene straight out of her worst nightmares! Her pursuer was gaining on her but she was almost upon the main doors that lead to her escape. Just as she was sure she felt its breath on the back of her neck, she slammed into the doors and burst forth into the bright hallway.

Rounding the bend on the opposite side of the hallway, Luna and Nightmare looked about to see who had been running so hysterically around their normally peaceful hall. As the last of the sunlight faded with the door swinging shut again they looked to each other and shrugged in confusion.

“Who was that, and why were they causing such a commotion?” Luna inquired.

“The pattern of hoofbeats tells me whoever it may have been was running in a near blind panic.” Nightmare observed casually.

“Perhaps the darkness frightened them away. Although I wonder if our mystery pony’s departure created an opening for our pet to escape the main hall.”

“I haven’t seen any trace of the little bugger anywhere; maybe he did escape into the main castle.”

“Perhaps we should question our sister if she has seen him. Let us find her and ask before she assumes the throne for the day.” Luna reasoned as she headed for the main hallway doors.

===== Near the throne room =====

Luna must have had guards besides the normal Sentinels that she employed, more beings adapted to her dark preferences. Celestia reasoned, as she caught her breath, that she would have plan better the next time she was going to set up anything near Luna’s quarters. Checking her internal sun dial, she realized that she would soon have to open the day court. Grumbling issued forth as she trudged towards the throne room, ‘this was not a victory for Luna’, was the mantra she chanted in an attempt to console herself. Just because she ran from her sister’s hall in a blind panic did not equate to a victory of any kind. Steeling herself as she approached the throne room doors, she banished all traces of irritation from her aura.

The day court was set to begin any moment as Celestia confidently climbed the dais steps to her throne. With a confident grin she settled into place while her aid began rattling off what to expect from the day’s session. She however was lost in victorious thoughts of thwarting her sister’s latest strike in their ongoing contest. She may have been rattled earlier, but if Luna’s goal had been to send her running and screaming like a foal then she had miserably underestimated her many years of fortitude and resolve. The aid stepped away as she thanked him with a warm smile and adjusted herself on the throne in preparation for the doors to open and her little ponies to begin filing in. Fate, it seemed, would not allow her smug attitude to endure however.

Celestia froze stock still on her throne as the felt something shift within her mane. Not wanting to cause alarm she neither panicked at the foreign feeling nor did she do anything whatsoever to acknowledge it. As the first of the petitioners came forward to have their business heard before the throne, Celestia could have been mistaken for a life sized marble statue that was placed upon the dais. She did not blink, or shift, nor did she even appear to be breathing really. Several more petitioners passed through while Celestia gave them the most cursory of nods and acknowledgement of her consideration for their petitions. With terror welling in her heart at every subtle tug or pull the thing in her mane made she realized that it had climbed higher until it should have been level with her head at this point. As was usual with her mane style, one of her eyes was covered by her billowing mane, and that proved to make the impending nightmare so much worse than it could have been for anypony else.

After another tug at her mane the eye under her hair focused inward as a seam opened up in her mane just in front of her eye. Her eyes shrunk to tiny pink pinpricks as the creature in her mane revealed itself. The tiny head with large round eyes and almost comically oversized ears poked out of the divide and beamed a wide smile at her as it sat suspended, not more than an inch from her eye. The little creature snuggled itself into her mane as it made itself comfortable and gave her a nearly inaudible squeak of happiness before it settled down; Celestia gave an equally inaudible whimper of horror.

Celestia’s entire world faded into the unyielding darkness of the abyss. Gone were her happy subjects, the stoic guards, even the whiney nobles. As her throne room faded, time itself ground to a halt simply to maximize and prolong her suffering. Her mind snapped as panic and horror rose up from the depths of her immortal soul. Her very life was at stake with the eldritch horror this far within her defenses and drastic measures would have to be taken to save herself. She would call the very sun itself down to her side as she pulled her ancient battle armor from within it and wielded the terrible pyroclastic fury that was her birthright. The entire earth would be reduced to cinders as millions died in the fallout of her battle with this distilled evil before her. The struggle would be monstrous as the sky was torn and the earth rent asunder with the force of their battle, and the black maw of Tartarus would claim one of them before it was all over.

The terror settled into the pit of her stomach as her mortal foe continued to stare into her eye with its insidious grin. She had gotten lax in her security and her foe had taken advantage to the point that she was now left with no immediate defense except to simply continue her game of psychological chicken. When it became clear that her foe would neither blink nor grant her any quarter she began to entertain more desperate ideas. A crooked smile split her face as she began losing her mental balance. The sun overhead pulsed brightly as she called out to it to aid her in her time of need.

“Ah, sister, we should have searched here first, of course thou wouldst be upon thy throne at this hour.”

The words cut through Celestia’s haze and returned her to the world of the living once more. Though still frozen in fear, she chanced a quick glance from her mortal enemy to see her sister trotting down the throne hall towards her. Everypony in attendance was staring at Celestia strangely and she began to realize that she may have been behaving strangely and ignoring everything else around her excluding her current quarry. With a slight start at a sudden cold sensation on her chest, Celestia glanced down to see that her royal physician had removed her golden collar and was pressing a stethoscope into her chest fur. Clearly she had been immobile for long enough to cause a medical scare. It was also about then that she noticed her tormentor had shifted its attention from their staring contest to looking about while pivoting its large ears in every which direction. With a heart stopping realization that made her doctor strain to hear anything from the buds in his ears, Celestia understood what was about to happen.

With an excited squeak, the small creature stretched forth its horrific, spindly limbs and pulled itself out of Celestia’s mane, and directly onto her face. Everyone in the court stared in amazement as the small purple fruit bat awkwardly used its legs and wings to crawl out onto the tip of the white alicorn's nose before squeaking again and smiling towards the lunar alicorn. Luna smiled and rushed forwards to the great amusement of the bat on her sister’s nose.

“Ivan, thou art a terrible creature for worrying me so, I searched both high and low for thee!”

Ivan the fruit bat spread its wings and quickly fluttered to a new perch atop Luna’s head, just behind her onyx crown. This of course caused complete system overload for Celestia, whose eyes rolled back in her head and collapsed with a slight sigh. Unfortunately, her doctor had not been quick enough and was immediately overwhelmed with the much larger alicorn that bore down on top of him. The doctor struggled while two solar guards tried to determine the best way to shift their collapsed princess without putting their hooves somewhere inappropriate. Luna meanwhile turned to face the audience with a happy smile on her muzzle and Ivan sitting contentedly on her head.

“Princess, what pray tell is going on today?” One of the more bold nobles approached with his wife in tow.

“Duke Iron Gate I believe?” The properly identified earth pony nodded.

“This doth all stem from an idea presented to me by mine sister just yestereve. I happened upon her caring for her companion phoenix and was greatly confused why she would do so. It was impractical to keep animals for companionship a thousand years ago, but she explained to me the concept and benefits to be wrought from such an alliance. In the end she suggested that I go forth and find an animal friend to call mine own, as it would help me to identify with the ponies of this age.”

“So you saw Princess Celestia playing with her pet phoenix and she told you to go and adopt a pet for the fun of it?” The Duke attempted to surmise with a question.

“Indeed. Allow me to introduce mine companion, Ivan the Adorable! I could not think of a better companion befitting my station as guardian of the night!” The happy little bat spread his wings before his audience and gave a shrill squeak of greeting before flapping into the air.

“Certainly Princess, and such a lovely shade of purple too.” The Duchess, Feather Gale, smiled as Ivan landed on her pro-offered foreleg.

This display brought forth the rest of the court to admire Luna’s new friend Ivan. The royal purple bat was loving every minute of the attention. Behind them, Celestia’s doctor continued to struggle in vain with the dead weight of the solar alicorn on top of him.

“I’M TAPPING! I’M TAPPING OUT! GET HER OFF OF ME!” The pinned medical stallion hollered while slamming a fore hoof on the ground repeatedly.

Not a single pony had moved to help the downed diarch as they were thoroughly distracted with Ivan the Adorable, posing gallantly from various perches on his mistress. Soon enough though, the dark princess calmed the little bat down and began her way towards the throne room entrance again, just as her sister was regaining consciousness.

“Come Ivan, we must be away for there are things yet to do this day. I bid thee all farewell my little ponies.” Luna said as she walked away, stealing a glance at her sister.

“And lest I forget, thank thee, dearest sister for keeping Ivan company until I found him. I had meant to introduce the two of you later, but it would seem as though thou already get along so well that I may have to employ thy services again sometime.” Luna flashed a wicked grin before turning down the hall and out of sight.

===== The airfield ruins of the old castle =====

An angular, low profile chariot touched down on the long unused landing strip of the ancient castle. Pulled by Luna’s two Shadow Sentinels, the almost warlike vehicle clattered forward across the now uneven surface as they made their way toward the castle ruins. Sitting atop the open air chariot, two cloaked figures looked upon the ruins with nostalgic eyes. They saw not so much the ruins, but a vision of the past, and what had once been such a grand sight, so very long ago. Bidding the Sentinels forward to a vine covered hangar, Luna swept her glowing horn sharply from side to side, causing blades of shadow to clear the entrance for their use.

Once inside, the two alicorns disembarked and left the Sentinels to wait for their return. After removing her cloak and shaking out her long silver hair, Nightmare caught up to Luna as she entered the ruins of the castle.

"Hmm, I wonder what we will find. Can you tell if the preservation wards are still in place?" Nightmare queried Luna who responded with a pulse of magic from her horn.

"Most interesting. It would seem that the wards are indeed still active, but what's more, the silent alarm system we placed in them has been tripped, and just recently." Luna responded with curiosity heavy in her voice.

"Really? You mean there might be some dirty treasure seeking thief going after our research?" Nightmare asked with entirely too much excitement.

"Let us make haste to our library. If I am reading the alarm correctly then they may still be there!" Luna set forth at a gallop slow enough for the smaller Nightmare to keep up with.

The two friends dashed through the crumbling halls and time worn chambers guided by their shared memory of the layout of the castle. Both once again saw not the decay, but the castle as it once was, even going so far as to swing wide around corners so as not to crash into servants that had not walked the halls for a thousand years. Soon enough, they came to their personal wing of the castle, or what was left of it. Luna panted lightly as she slowed on the approach to the library entrance, Nightmare showing no fatigue due to her artificial body. Stopping, Luna issued covert hoof signals to Nightmare to remain silent and take up a position on the opposite side of the library doors. Once in place they pressed close to listen for any disturbances, which they heard plenty of indeed.

POOOOF!

"Aughhh! My mane! Stupid book, how dare you!"

THUMP!

"Okay, now open up and don't make this harder than it needs to be!"

KA-ZAAAP!

"What the hay!? That hurt you useless thing!"

THUMP!

"There must be at least one book here that isn't riddled with traps! And I know this is the one!"

KER-SPLAAASH!

"EEEEK! Oh Faust, It's everywhere! What is this stuff!? You stupid, hateful, thing!"

THUMP!

Outside the doorway, Luna and Nightmare Moon had heard enough. Once again signaling with her hooves, Luna instructed Nightmare to remain silent and sneak around to a flanking position on the thief. Once Luna signaled her, she was to provide support as necessary. Nightmare nodded her understanding and slipped into the room, her black coat blending into the shadows perfectly while she took care not to let her silver mane and tail give her away. Once Luna finished a two minute count she charged her magic and blew open the doors to the library to confront the thief.

“Halt there! Who would dare to intrude upon the sanctum that is our royal library!?”

“Eeep! Whoa!” The thief stumbled and fell in their fright.

Luna stood firm, blocking the only entrance to the room as she gazed down on the intruder, and did her level best to not begin laughing at the sight before her. The intruder was a unicorn mare, and whatever colors she had been could not be determined now, as well as many other features beyond her gender and race. It appeared as though she had set off every trap that Luna and Nightmare had set on their research books, traps that had been meant to deter a snooping Celestia. The smaller mare’s coat was the most obnoxious shade of pink ever seen. Her mane alternated stripes of green and red as well as being stuck in a rather tall mohawk fashion. Whatever color her tail had been, it was now a dingy shade of brown and woven into a tangled braid. To top off that ridiculousness, she was spattered from horn to hoof in some sort of blue gunk that managed to mostly obscure several singe marks on her body. What caught the princess’s eye however was the mare’s cutie mark, a star topped wand casting a sweeping crescent of magic.

“P-p-princess Luna? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know these book belonged to you! Please, I never would have touched them if I had known!” The young mare threw herself into a deep bow.

“State thy name and occupation, besides thief of course.” Luna suppressed her amusement and glowered down at the prostrate unicorn who cringed at the moniker of thief.

“M-my name is Trixie, Trixie Lulamoon your highness. Please, I didn’t know who these belonged to!”

“Lulamoon you say?” Nightmare slunk out of the shadows behind Trixie and sidled up next to her, scaring the poor mare half to death.

"Eeeeek! W-who are you?" Trixie squeaked in fright of the new pony.

"Hmm, I suppose I look a bit different now." Nightmare flicked her long silver mane "I am Nightmare Moon my little pony." Nightmare finished with a fanged smile.

"Thou hast left mine question half answered Trixie of the Lulamoon clan. What is thy occupation?" Luna broke Trixie's focus on Nightmare, who had begun to circle her.

"I a-am a t-traveling showmare y-your majesty, m-my special t-talent is illusions. Please d-don't feed me to Nightmare Moon your majesty! I am s-sorry!" Trixie was practically sobbing at the self created thought being devoured by Nightmare Moon as punishment.

"And tell me, young illusionist, for what purpose did you violate the sanctity of my library?" The now intrigued Luna questioned the now slightly more calm Trixie.

"I was made a fool of in my last performance your majesty. After I was run out of town and into the forest I stumbled on this castle and this library. I thought I could learn enough to teach them a lesson, and show them the error of their hateful ways." Trixie cast her eyes to the floor as she remembered the events of the past days.

"Hmm, thy intent seems innocent enough, so perhaps only a short imprisonment term should suffice as punishment" Luna pondered as Trixie continued to stare at her fore hooves.

"Neigh Luna, what if she is of the same bloodline from era's past? A Lulamoon mage could be a powerful ally if trained properly." Nightmare spoke up from between the two other ponies.

"I cannot say that the thought does not intrigue me at least somewhat. But without the rule of law and punishment for offenders then society will destabilize, surely thou understand this?"

"Oh, we both certainly understand the meaning of punishment dear Luna. But perhaps I understand the meaning of forgiveness more than you. She did no damage, and we have not laid claim to this library for a thousand years now. I say we offer her the training she seeks and simply remove the materials of this library to the new castle to prevent another incident like this." Nightmare retorted.

"Hmm." Luna scrutinized the mare before her, who had not moved an inch.

"Perhaps then, a compromise is in order. Nightmare, you seek to forgive her for innocent mistakes. Ms. Lulamoon, you seek knowledge to better yourself. I seek to uphold the rule of law. Therefore my decision is a s follows, Trixie Lulamoon, by the authority vested in me as the sovereign of the night, I hereby pass judgement upon you." Luna straightened herself up after analyzing the situation.

Luna's horn glowed as she lifted Trixie from the ground, who flailed her limbs briefly. The shadows of the room seemed to dance as the magic surrounding the showmare intensified, their movement and the low hum of the princess's magic giving the feel of an ancient and heretical ceremony being performed. A pressure began to form around her lower left foreleg, and just as it seemed to grow intense enough to cause her to cry out, Trixie was unceremoniously dropped to the floor. After shaking her head clear, she glanced down at her leg to notice that it now sported a rather thick looking black metal band just above her ankle.

"Thy punishment Ms. Lulamoon is that thou shall become our personal student. Be warned now, this path shall not be one of ease. Should thou choose to abandon my instruction, this bracelet shall transport thee directly to the depths of the castle dungeons. Should thou embrace my teachings, thou shall find the knowledge and skill that thou seek. As my pupil thou shalt be given accommodations within our hall, and thy needs shall be taken care of so that thou may focus only upon thy training. What say you to my terms?"

Trixie stared at the bracelet for a moment longer before regarding the princess and bowing once more.

"Yes, your majesty, I accept your judgment and will do my best as your student."

"Hmm, that seems like a fair compromise." Nightmare nodded her head slowly.

"Indeed. Now let us be off, we shall gather our books at a later time, for now we shall return to the castle with our... interesting looking student. She set off so very many traps that it shall take a while to remove the hexes from her. Come student." Luna motioned for Trixie to follow as she began to return to their chariot.

As they trekked through the ruined halls, Luna went over the recent series of events in her mind. If Nightmare's suspicions were correct then they had gained a powerful ally indeed. With a bit of training, this Trixie could prove to be a potent weapon in her ongoing rivalry with her sister. But in a more practical sense, she could be another sign of goodwill and stability that she needed to show to those still skeptical of their newly returned princess. She never was that interested in punishing the poor mare, but she didn't need to know that for now. For now Luna needed to get back and get some sleep after so much drama, she had a contest with her sister to maintain after all, and clear minds made for clear actions.

Chapter 5: Celestia's Strike - Sweet Dreams

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 5: Celestia's Attack - Sweet Dreams

Dawn over Canterlot brought forth the changing of the diarchy. The moon sunk below the western horizon as the sun crested the skyline in the east. Both immortal sisters stood upon a large balcony with their horns lit as they guided their celestial charges in their eternal dance. The sun cast its warming rays on the land in an explosion of bright colors, bringing a smile to the elder's muzzle as she gazed out on the land. The younger sister however, sat with a small frown as the burning rays of the obnoxiously bright bag of gas assaulted her sensitive eyes. She turned and stood upon her hooves as she prepared to make her way to the royal dining hall to enjoy her dinner before she started to wrap up for the day. She was interrupted however before she even made it to the balcony doors.

"Oh Luna. I meant to ask you what was going on in your hall the other night. I could have sworn that you returned from your little outing with Nightmare a bit too quickly. Is everything alright?" Celestia halted her sister's retreat with her question.

"But of course dear sister. We merely wished to take a short flight out before we settled for the day, nothing unusual whatsoever to report." Luna brushed her sister off with her short denial.

"Hmm. Are you sure everything is okay? When I went to see you after you returned your guards had been posted outside of your hall and told me I was denied access by your orders."

"Aye dearest sister, we simply wished to retire for the day without distraction, nothing unusual." Luna remarked as she opened the balcony doors and made her way into the castle.

“Really? And who was the third pony on your chariot then, hmmm? A special somepony I should know about?” Celestia had trotted ahead of her sister and blocked her path with an outstretched wing.

“Old age hath degraded the quality of thy eyes I suspect.” Luna narrowed her eyes at her sister and sidestepped her wing with a slight blush.

“Oh isn’t it just adorable that my little sister has found a special somepony!” Celestia squee’d, “I will just have to do something sweet for the two of you!” She said with mischief in her eyes.

A sense of dread filled Luna as she trotted ahead of her sister. She had to deny all knowledge of her new student, Trixie Lulamoon. The potential payout of her skills could easily eclipse any short term suffering she had to endure to keep her student a secret for a bit longer. Just the thought of the reveal and the look on Celestia’s face would be well worth it, probably, hopefully. But Celestia had already begun to form a plan, and it was going to be messy after it was all said and done.

===== Later that day =====

Cadence and Shining Armor trotted into the main dining hall side by side, chatting about the events of their day so far. Whenever possible, the couple liked to sneak away for a short while and enjoy a snack as well as each other’s company. Today they sought out the fresh doughnuts that were typically delivered by the local legendary doughnut maker himself, Doughnut Joe. However, as they entered there was no scent of freshly baked anything, and nopony at all at any of the tables. Confused by this unusual sight, Shining Armor poked his head into the kitchen to find it all but deserted as well. He spotted one young prep chef peeling potatoes in the rear of the kitchens and approached her for an explanation.

“Excuse me ma’am, but do you know where everypony went? I was looking for a quick bite to eat but nopony is here.”

“Oh! Captain Armor! I’m sorry, but Princess Celestia has called most of the cook staff away on a special assignment.” The young mare bowed briefly to the Captain.

“Hmm, that’s a bit odd.” Shining mused while rubbing his chin in thought.

“If you don’t mind waiting I can fix something up for you!” The former potato peeler was giddy with the prospect of showing her skills.

“Okay then, something quick for Princess Cadence and I, if you wouldn’t mind.” Shining Armor smiled and nodded to the enthusiastic young mare.

Shinning trotted back out into the dining hall and explained the situation to Cadence, who developed a frown after hearing him. There could only be one reason that something so unusual would happen without a large party being planned, and she knew of none in the near future.

"Something tells me that auntie Celestia is going to do something to her sister in their little game." Cadence explained to her coltfriend.

"What reason could she have to employ all of the cooks though?" Shinning wondered aloud.

"I am not sure I want to know. Whatever her reason I am sure that it will only escalate their silly little feud." Cadence shook her head as she sighed in resignation.

"Speaking of their contest, how is that going on your end?"

"Nothing really bad so far actually. Neither has approached me to complain of rule violations. Although, auntie Luna did say that she had an official member of her team to report to me at the end of the week."

"Would you like me to be there for that?"

"Oh aren't you just the most helpful thing? Of course I want you to be there." Cadence smiled and nuzzled shinning briefly.

They both turned their attention to the young prep chef trotting towards them with a freshly made stack of doughnuts and a bright smile on her face. Thanking her and offering quick compliments that sent the young cook off with a skip in her step, the couple turned their conversation elsewhere. As they enjoyed their treat along with each other's company the afternoon slowly wore on.

===== In a shadowy war room under the castle =====

Several beings sat around a large rectangular table. The room was completely dark save for the blue glow of the magical projection emanating from the table top, though that did nothing to illuminate the figures surrounding it. Once all had settled in their places the one at the head of the table spoke forth.

“Welcome to you all, let’s begin since the hour grows late. You have all been brought here because you are the best of the best at what you do; the leaders of your respective trades, and the perfect candidates for what I have in mind.”

“And what iz zis plan you have in mind?” A gray and black male griffon with a long, thin moustache leaned forward to be illuminated by the table light.

“Just a guess here Gustave, but I’m thinking it has something to do with the floor plans laid out on the table?” A lanky yellow stallion with a dark orange mane and wearing a white and red food service cap leaned forward to study the castle floor plan.

“You are correct Mr. Cake, before you are the plans for the Hall of the Night, and more specifically, the personal chambers of Princess Luna. That is the site of our mission, should you choose to accept it.” The still shadowed figure at the table head confirmed.

“And what would the payout be for this mission?” A female mule leaned forward to gaze at the floor plans.

"I am glad you asked Ms. Mild. I am aware that there is an ongoing and fierce rivalry between all that are gathered here in this room. Should this mission be successful I will organize a competition to determine once and for all who is the very best among you."

"Now that sounds like something I can get behind, count me in." A light tan unicorn stallion leaned into the light and tossed his messy brown mane, an angular food service hat somehow staying affixed.

"Excellent Mr. Joe, and welcome aboard. What of the rest of you?"

The remaining attendants took a moment to glance at each other furtively before they nodded their assent at the still shadow cloaked figure. Finally the last figure leaned forward into the light to reveal Princess Celestia. The shadows of the room and the ghostly blue glow of the table combined to give her face a menacing visage. She slowly brought her forelegs above the table and leaned on her elbows, gold shod hooves tapping lightly together as a wide smile split her face from behind them.

"Wonderful my little ponies, simply wonderful. Now, we must be swift if we are to finish our plan before my sister retires after sunrise. Here is my idea..." The princess thus began to lay out her idea to Equestria's top chefs bakers.

Once the details had been worked out, the assembled bakers all set out to gather their supplies from the royal kitchen. With fire in their hearts and their reputations as the best on the line they would not fail their princess, even if what they were about to attempt had never been heard of before. Being the true masters of the art that they were however, they each relished the challenge offered to them.

===== Shortly before sunrise =====

Luna's chariot touched down on the castle grounds and was swiftly pulled into the main hangar by her two Sentinels. The three figures that rode upon the now crowded chariot disembarked after it came to a stop. More accurately, two jumped down while the third simply slumped out and collapsed in a pile. The deep robes that all three wore prevented their identification until Luna dispersed hers into a cloud of bats, lead by her pet Ivan the Adorable, whom she waved off as he went to play with his friends. Nightmare threw her hood back as she and Luna approached the downed pony.

"Trixie can't do this! Why were we doing military drills instead of learning magic? And why does this have to happen in the middle of the night? Trixie has no energy left to get up anymore!"

"There is always a lesson to be learned Ms. Lulamoon, and this week’s lesson is that the best mages are balanced in both body and mind. Furthermore, this will get thee accustomed to the nocturnal life that I lead, and that thou shalt need to adhere to while under my instruction." Luna stated impassively.

“If you’ve got the energy left to complain then you’ve got energy left to drain Trixie.” Nightmare scowled at the collapsed showmare.

“Now get on your hooves! We are going to do magical calisthenics while Luna wraps her day up!” Nightmare bellowed as Trixie slowly stood and began plodding towards the castle.

Luna and Nightmare stood back for a moment to converse privately. Once Trixie was far enough ahead, she bade her Sentinels to accompany her student back to the Hall of the Night. Until Luna was ready to reveal her, she must be protected from discovery by Celestia, even though her sister already suspected something anyway.

"What dost thou think of Ms. Lulamoon's progress Nightmare?" Luna questioned her cohort.

"From every scan we have performed, and her whiney yet proficient adaptation to what we have subjected her to already, I would say that the Lulamoon bloodline is as strong or stronger than it was a thousand years ago. Once we begin honing her illusion magic and teaching her the art of the shadows she will be a fine young mage of great potential."

"I concur with thy assessment. Next week we shall begin her magical instruction and see first hoof what potential she truly holds." Luna nodded slowly as Trixie turned a corner and disappeared from view.

"What do we do about Celestia? What does she suspect?" Nightmare peered up at Luna.

"She portends that I have taken a lover and am secreting them from her view. I believe the act I have given in her presence thus far has solidified this belief and lead her away from suspecting I have taken on an apprentice."

"Let's just hope it stays that way. I should be off now. Trixie won't improve unless we keep pushing her further at this point." Nightmare gave Luna a smile before trotting off to catch up with Trixie.

"And as for me, I believe a quick meal is in order before moonset tonight." Luna spoke to herself before turning towards the royal kitchens.

===== Shortly after the new dawn =====

A grumbling moon princess made her way towards her chambers. How was it that every single cook, chef, and wait-pony had been gone from the kitchens? Deeply disappointed with the celery stalks she had found, Luna resolved to reprimand the royal kitchen staff for leaving the night shift completely empty. She really could have gone for a simple cookie before shutting down for the day. Maybe that rotten sister of hers had already cleaned them out.

As she approached her chambers, she did not notice the distinct lack of Shadow Sentinels at the entrance. Her mind was preoccupied with the thought of requisitioning a pudding all for herself for tomorrow night; she could practically smell the sweetness already! Once inside, Luna noticed with some curiosity that her balcony windows were open and a cool breeze flowed through them. Shutting them with her magic and drawing the blackout curtains, Luna removed her regalia and shoes, setting them aside. Her horn flaring again, she pulled out the bench before her mirror and levitated her mane brush towards herself. Just as she sat down, everything went straight to Tartarus.

With a squawk of alarm, Luna fell to the floor as her chair gave out under her weight. Looking beneath herself she saw her entire backside coated in what appeared to be blueberry jam and the mangled debris of the doughnuts that once held said jam. Her chair had been swapped with a confection that appeared just like the real thing! Only her sister would use baked goods as such. With a disgusted grumble she directed her magic to teleport the mess back to the royal kitchens. Now in need of a shower to cleanse herself, she moved towards her lavish bathroom, but her suffering was not to end so simply.

As her left fore hoof made contact with a large rug laid out in the center of her room she suddenly lost balance as her hoof went straight through the rug. Flaring her wings to avoid falling she was too late to avoid going through with a screech of surprise. As she disappeared under the pie crust shaped as a rug, the vat of tapioca pudding below swallowed her entirely. The wobbly surface stilled after she submerged and remained as such for a moment, until she violently breached its surface in an explosion of pudding. Hauling her dripping and sticky body from the morass, she sprawled on the floor, panting for breath. After a time, she was able to regain her senses and stood up to continue towards the bathroom, now in very desperate need of a shower.

Crossing the threshold into the bathroom that was nearly as large as her bed chambers she immediately lost balance and began scrambling her hooves as they lost grip on the tiled flooring. Finally losing it after a moment of panic she slid forward on the floor that was apparently covered in a fine sheen of butter and face planted on the floor. With a pained groan, the lunar alicorn slowly stood, and with a careful shuffling motion that only resulted in falling on her rump a few times, she made her way to the spacious shower stall. Upon entering she turned and caught the entire floor in her magic as she applied a heating spell. As the butter melted she gathered it up in a sphere and sent it slowly down the drain of her shower.

Revenge would be hers, just as soon as she was clean, she swore to the stars above that her sister would pay for this. Still grumbling curses toward her sister under her breath, she cranked the warm water handle of her shower. Closing her eyes once the warm water began pelting her, she sighed in contentment that it was finally over, all was calm right up until she noticed the smell of chocolate filling her senses. Against her better judgment, she opened her eyes and saw that her shower was not dispensing warm water, but warm chocolate milk instead. She simply continued to stand under the stream of warm milk with a blank look of absolute incomprehension. Finally understanding just how thoroughly her sister had planned ahead of her, Luna shut the chocolate rain down and gathered a bottle of soap in her magic before shaking as much of the mess from herself as she could.

Stepping to the balcony, Luna spotted a group of clouds that had not yet been destroyed by the Canterlot weather patrol. With a flash of her horn and a dark burst she teleported herself to standing on one of the clouds. A small glob of soap formed in her magic as she gathered the remaining clouds into a swirling mass. Combining the two into a maelstrom of soapy water, she stood still and passed the soapy storm slowly over her entire body. Once she was finally clean, the night princess cast a venomous glare at her sister's tower only to see the white alicorn herself standing on her balcony, staring back. Celestia raised a large banner and affixed it to the mantle above her balcony door before waving to her sister and trotting back inside. Focusing her eyes across the distance, Luna's fury exploded by geometric proportions as she read the single word on the banner.

GOTCHA!

Chapter 6: Rise of the Dark Apprentice

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 6: Rise of the Dark Apprentice

Another day had passed and the sun now settled behind the western horizon, casting its final display of dazzling color across the land. Sitting upon a high balcony, the royal sisters attended to their duty, though tonight Nightmare Moon had insisted on joining them. As the glow of Celestia's horn faded when she was assured the sun was safely down for the evening a look of apprehension flickered across Nightmare's face. No sooner had Luna stepped forward to begin the moon's journey than the resurrected Nightmare nudged the lunar Princess, interrupting her.

"Luna? I was wondering, um, if you wouldn't mind, if I could ask a favor?" The normally quite forceful filly was looking decidedly bashful as she gained the attention of both Princesses.

"Speak thy heart my dear friend, this behavior is most unusual." Luna encouraged her friend, as Celestia watched without comment.

"Umm. I was wondering if I could try raising the moon tonight." Nightmare's draconic gaze stared hopefully up at Luna.

"Nightmare, you know you don't have the magical capacity in that body to guide the moon." Celestia explained with a sad smile at the now downcast filly.

"I must agree with Tia upon this matter Nightmare." Luna shared her sister’s look at the cringing Nightmare.

"However, it shall not hurt anything for thou to try. Thy magic is stronger than average, and should anything go wrong I shall step in and correct it." Luna raised Nightmare's lowered chin with a hoof until they met eye to eye.

"...If you are sure Luna." Celestia stepped backwards and sat on her haunches as Nightmare stepped eagerly forward.

Nightmare steadied her nerves as she pulled the memory of her time when Luna and her were as one to the forefront. The knowledge of how to raise the moon was forever ingrained in her memory and she dug deep into her magic reserves as she visualized the spell in her mind. More and more magic pumped into the spell as she sat motionless, sweat would have been forming across her brow had she been capable of it. She sensed the initial stages of the spell completing as she felt the moon behind the eastern horizon. But she also felt her magical reserves quickly dwindling, although she gamely tried to press on. Once the spell approached one quarter completion, she had used the last of her available magic and collapsed forward, the spell falling apart and the moon remaining behind the horizon.

“Steady thyself Nightmare, Terra did not tell us what would occur should thou expend all of thy magical energy. Let us not aim to find out the difficult way either.” Luna consoled the downed filly.

“But I can still feel the magic within me, I didn’t use it all, it just stopped!” The frustrated Nightmare flicked her silver mane.
“Perhaps then, it is a sort of safety feature that Terra put in place to prevent you from doing it accidentally.” Celestia mused.

Nightmare slowly stood, and without a word trudged indoors. Both sibling alicorns turned to face each other with the same look of concern etched on their faces. Anger had been expected, perhaps flat denial of her limitations, but not a silent admission of defeat. It had been strange that she had made a request such as attempting to move the moon, and although the outcome of her attempt had been predictable, its after effect had not been expected in the least.

"Luna, has Nightmare been having any difficulties adjusting to her body or dealing with its limits?" Celestia cautiously asked her sister, afraid of taking the wrong tone.

"Neigh.Least ways, not in my presence. I suspect that she may have developed this fixation based on our shared memories. Perhaps if she were not limited in her power she may have been able to move the moon on her own." Luna slowly sorted out her suspicions over the odd behavior of her friend.

"Keep an eye on her sister. If you suspect that she needs any help finding her way then I will help however I can." Celestia craned her neck down to briefly nuzzle her little sister, who returned the gesture with a smile.

"I appreciate thy help sister, thou shalt be the first to know if help is needed. Now I must be away, sleep well Tia." Luna turned away after quickly raising the moon and followed after Nightmare towards the Hall of the Night.

Neither sister caught the dark filly sulking just around the corner. She looked sullenly back at the mark adorning her flank. A full moon resting on a bed of clouds stared back at her. Nightmare just shook her head slowly and began the trek back to the Hall of the Night, mumbling glumly to herself.

"Stupid cutie mark. What the hay is that even supposed mean anyway?"

===== Trixie's Quarter's =====

Nightmare and Luna stood outside the door to showmare's room. They had knocked and called out to her to begin the night but had so far received no response. Seemingly back in form, Nightmare was quickly becoming impatient with being ignored by the unicorn and was loudly vocalizing her opinion. Much as Luna was becoming annoyed with her friend's antics, she was glad to see her back to her old self instead of continuing to mope over her earlier failure with the moon.

"We have wasted enough time here. Let's just bust in there and snatch her up already. If you don't then I will!" Nightmare threatened while loudly knocking a fore hoof against the door again.

"Hmm. I suppose we may have exhausted the time for patience. Calm thyself, and we shall go in and fetch her." Luna lit her horn and undid the latch on the door.

Stepping into the guest accommodation, they were greeted with mountains of books on magical theory and advanced illusion weaving. All of the books had been cleared of traps, since most were from the old castle library. Moving in further, they began to hear loud snoring noises coming from behind a lectern. Closing the distance, the two alicorns caught sight of Luna's apprentice slumped on the back of the lectern, face buried in a thick tome that had been inadvertently converted into her pillow. Nightmare grinned and crept closer, prepared to wake Trixie with a mighty slap to her flank but was stopped just as she raised a hoof. Luna whisked her backward with her magic and explained her alternate wake up plan.

"Neigh Nightmare. I shall enter her dream and issue our wake up instead. Then she shall learn that sleep cannot be used to avoid our tutelage."

"Hmm, maybe that would be better. A bit of despair will build character!" Nightmare grinned again and stood by.

Luna channeled her magic and a slight aura surrounded the sleeping unicorn. Nightmare waited for the spell to complete and was surprised as she looked back up to Luna's face. A look of great effort being applied was etched upon her muzzle as a slight bead of sweat formed on her brow, Nightmare could feel Luna channeling far more power than normal as she attempted to cross through the dream barrier. Confused, Nightmare could only watch as Luna finally grunted with the extra effort and successfully broke through as the aura surrounding Trixie faded away. A minute passed by, when suddenly Trixie jolted upright with a deep gasp and a look of panic on her muzzle.

"No! Trixie is awake! Don't use the feathers!" The still panicky mare tried to move but stumbled and fell on limbs that were not quite awake yet.

“Then thou shalt make the effort to wake in a timely manner my lazy apprentice. Hast thou forgotten the examination and lecture scheduled for this very evening?” Luna spoke in monotone as she recovered her waking senses.

“N-no Princess, I didn’t forget. I was up most of the afternoon studying anything I could get my hooves on to prepare. I guess I almost overslept though, sorry for making you for waking me up.” Trixie studied her fore hooves with rapt attention.

“Let us tarry no longer then, come.” Luna stood and bade the other two to follow her to the training grounds.

The training grounds Luna had selected were actually in the courtyard of the old castle, back in the Everfree Forest. This was one of few places where they could train and conspire that had the perfect blend of free space, relative shelter, and lack of anypony potentially spying for Celestia loitering about. They typically took Luna’s chariot to the site, since neither Trixie nor Nightmare could fly. Luna herself has taken to flying alongside the chariot during the journey, since the narrow vehicle was never meant to hold that many ponies, plus it gave her the chance to stretch her wings a bit. Once they landed, and the two Shadow Sentinels were sent to skulk about the grounds as they typically did, while the mares remained in the courtyard for Trixie’s test.

"We shall delay no further, let the examination begin." Luna stated as she sat upon a cushion procured from the chariot.

Trixie stood at attention before the alicorn and adopted her most serious face. All of the knowledge she had gained in the admittedly short time under the study of the Princess being brought to the forefront of her mind. As long as she was able to maintain her position as the personal apprentice to Princess Luna then she just may have a chance of exacting her vengeance on the wretched little town of ponyville, and all of the haters that dwelled in it! Nopony could stand before the might of somepony who was taught specifically by a Princess after all.

"What are the alignments and what do they mean to ponies?" Luna let forth her first question, keeping it vague.

"There are three alignments Princess, Light, Dark, and Neutral. Everypony is in tune with one alignment and it determines many things from the range of their talents to their personality." Trixie stated confidently.

"Correct. Concerning the field of magic, what do they entail?"

"A pony of Light alignment bears great raw power but can have difficulty learning to wield it effectively. Neutral alignment bearers are in balance with the forces within themselves while they seek to create that same balance around them. Dark alignment is evidenced by the subtle manipulation of perceptions and redirection of external forces." Trixie was inwardly jumping for joy as she found her smooth answers flowing forth.

"Correct again. Most illusionists are of Dark alignment, bending the perceptions of those around them to craft the scene they wish to set. Why is this a problem?"

"It becomes a problem because of the suspicion other ponies develop about what is real and what is not when in the presence of a talented illusionist."

"Go on, what is the easiest way to counter a common illusion?" Luna prompted, waving a hoof at the smaller mare.

"Umm, well, most common illusions are based on one sense, so those that are suspicious quickly figure out that things don't make sense. Most unicorns can undo a common illusion with a burst of magic though?" Trixie finished uncertainly.

"Indeed. It would appear that the basics are within thy grasp Ms. Lulamoon. Now for something more difficult, some application theory." Luna said as she lit her horn.

Dark fire spread from Luna and engulfed the area around her, effectively obscuring her from view. Once the blaze faded, five separate Luna's appeared in a line, all identical. She had cast a duplication spell, one which caused Nightmare to grin from the sidelines she watched from. The Luna's all nodded in unison and spoke to the showmare in unison.

"Determine which of these is the real me to pass this exercise, thou shalt have but three attempts."

"Oh, Trixie was waiting for this! Watch in awe as she banishes the fakes!" Trixie reared up and channeled her magic into a wave that slammed into the five Princesses.

None of the Princesses even flinched as the magic hit them simultaneously, simply blinking back at the unicorn who was just a bit perturbed now.

"Um, right. Trixie knew that wouldn't work! But she does know that mirroring spells can't create copies that have actual presence! I will reveal the true Princess by exposing her shadow! Watch in awe!" Trixie felt confident as a triumphant tone entered her voice.

Rearing up, Trixie struck a dramatic pose as her horn flared with magic. Once she had gathered enough power a brilliant light flare spell shot upwards with a multitude of smaller fireworks spells. As the flare slowly drifted back downwards, Trixie's heart fell. Each of the copies of the Princess had a proper shadow in the bright light. She had guessed wrong, this was no simple mirroring illusion. To drive home that point, each of the Luna copies began moving around and acting individually once the flare had fizzled out. Mirror copies weren't supposed to be able to act individually!

"A nice show, but an incorrect technique. That is two down by the by, one left." One Luna looked towards the formerly confident mare.

Trixie was stunned into disbelief. Here she was with but one chance left and the Princess had played a dirty trick by using her alicorn magic to bend the rules against her! There must be something she could do to find the real Luna, there had to be a way to weed her out from the fakes. Trixie began to breath heavily as the thought of impending failure closed in on her, until she suddenly froze on the spot and her breathing stopped. Revelation and inspiration had struck, almost painfully, within her mind at once. The answer was far more simple than she had guessed, at least she hoped it was. With her final chance on the line, Trixie sat on her haunches and bowed her head. Magic began gathering into her horn and was relayed to her eyes, which were bright blue as she opened them and looked up again.

"Most interesting, what art thou attempting my little pony?" A Luna asked as the others adopted looks of confusion.

Trixie did not respond, the magic she was directing required too much focus. Her eyes now saw the light of the area on different spectrums, which she cycled through while gazing at the group of Princesses. She began to doubt herself more as each copy appeared to have their own mass, heat signiture, and even bone structure! She was about to give in as her eyes drifted upwards slightly and salvation presented itself to her. The moon overhead was glowing as usual, but there seemed to be a barely visible beam of moonlight that shone down upon only one Princess while seeming to radiate out to the others. Almost disbelieving her own enhanced vision, Trixie walked forward slowly, the eyes of the Princesses on her as she approached them. She slowly reached out a hoof and placed it on the chest plate of the Princess before her as the spell faded from her eyes.

"Princess?" Trixie mumbled hopefully.

"Thou art correct, well done indeed." Luna nodded as she swept the smaller mare into a grand hug, her clones fading like a mirage around her.

"The key to unraveling a well crafted illusion is to maintain a calm mind. Thy bravado and grandstanding would have seen thee fail this test, yet once thy ego was put to the side, and the looming threat of failure focused thy mind, the answer did present itself. Not always do the fastest or strongest win the day, those with a sharp wit, a keen eye, and the drive to succeed can outperform even the mightiest of foes."

Nightmare joined the other two as Trixie was released from Luna's grasp. The showmare simply sat in stunned silence as she was still attempting to process the fact that she had chosen correctly. Luna and Nightmare smiled at each other, both reaching the same conclusion. Trixie Lulamoon had exactly what they were looking for in an apprentice. Though rough around the edges and in need of a great many hours of practice and refinement, she had all of the potential worthy of their teaching. First though, there was the small matter of removing the tracking bracelet that Luna had attached to Trixie's ankle.

"Ms. Lulamoon, there is but one final thing to do." Trixie was shaken from her reverie as Luna approached her, horn aglow with magic.

Thinking this to be another part of her test, Trixie braced herself, but was surprised as Luna's magic flowed toward her. Quickly surrounding her and lifting her slightly from the floor, the lunar magic focused on her ankle as the bracelet was dissolved into nothingness before she was set gently back down. Next, Luna flared her magic into greater strength as a singular beam of pure moonlight radiated from the orb in the sky overhead, falling just before the Princess. Magic and moonlight coalesced before the Night Princess, taking the form of a black ring. The ring itself was quite simple, with no jewels or any other adornments save for a series of runes that ran along the entire face. Luna smiled as she relaxed her magic and levitated the band before Trixie.

"Thou art now a free mare Trixie Lulamoon, the threat of incarceration is now null. However, we would ask that thou stay with us. Accept this ring as a symbol of our covenant to each other, for thou art exactly what we seek."

"Eep! Um, well, that is..." Trixie was now blushing intensely as her voice trailed off, her eyes refusing to meet Luna's.

"Speak clearly Ms. Lulamoon, we cannot comprehend thy mumbling!"

"Um, you see, I think you are a really great pony Princess. And I'm flattered that you think of me that way, but, um... I like stallions..." Trixie struggled out her explanation, which only garnered a blank look from the Princess.

"Bwuh?"

"Oh yeah. I probably should have told you earlier." Nightmare commented as she lay sprawled on her side, head supported by a fore hoof while she disinterestedly studied the other hoof.

"Told me what exactly? What am I missing here?" Luna slowly turned to the smaller alicorn.

"In this day and age, giving a horn ring to a unicorn isn't a symbol of accepting somepony as an apprentice." Nightmare lazily offered.

"Then what is... Wait... Thou cannot mean..." Luna trailed off as she examined the situation, as well as the blushing mare before her.

"Yeah, it's become a sign of proposing marriage to your special somepony." Nightmare finally dropped the other horseshoe and looked at Luna with a mischievous grin, causing Luna's face to go crimson as well.

“Wait, you mean the Princess isn’t asking me to marry her?” Trixie finally looked up from the floor to stare accusingly at Nightmare.

"NO! THAT IS CERTAINLY NOT THE CASE!" Luna bellowed in vehement denial.

"Hahaha! Calm down Luna! Listen up Trixie, when Luna and I were around a thousand years ago things were a bit different. When a teacher or master of the arts took an apprentice or understudy, they gave that pony a ring or hoof band to show the world that the student was training under them. Luna is offering you the position of apprenticeship for all the world to see. She doesn't want to marry you, probably, not yet anyway." Nightmare finished with a smirk at both of the flustered ponies.

"Nightmare! Mind thy tongue!" Luna hissed at her alter ego.

"Oh, well, if that's the reason for the ring then my answer is yes Princess. I would be honored to be your student!" Trixie shook her head clear of errant thoughts and sat before the Princess with her head bowed.

"Hmph. Very well then. Ms. Lulamoon, from this moment forth, thou art mine apprentice in the art of magic. Carry thyself with the dignity and bearing that would honorably represent thy master, for this ring shall announce to all who see it that thou art chosen by royalty." Luna gave her official declaration as Trixie kept her head bowed.

Slowly, the black ring was settled onto the base of Trixie's horn. Once in place, the ring tightened to a snug fit of its own accord. The runes along the band dimly pulsed in sequence with a silvery light. Rising at the Princess's direction Trixie stood tall and proud, now officially the personal student of the powerful and mysterious Night Princess.

"Now, we should inform thee of something. The metric by which thy progress shall be judged shall be thy continuous improvement in the aid thou provide in my ongoing struggle against mine elder sister." Luna nodded to the smaller mare.

"WAIT! WHAT!?" Trixie shrieked as parts of her mane began to fray out of place.

===== After daybreak at Canterlot Castle =====

Trixie and Luna strode through the brightening halls at a leisurely pace. Trixie had once again donned her full body cloak, obscuring her identity. As the two ponies chatted idly, Luna suddenly stopped at a doorway and nodded to her apprentice.

"Wait here. I shall return shortly after retrieving something."

Trixie nodded her wordless acceptance and stood by once Luna had gone beyond the doorway and closed it again behind herself. To all appearances this area of the castle was completely free of other ponies, quite mysteriously so actually. She had stood for not even a minute before there was a sudden explosion of golden light before her, which faded to reveal the ruler of the day, Princess Celestia, grinning down at the cloaked mare.

"Well well well. It would seem I finally get to meet my sister's special friend! Oh no, my little pony, hehehe, there is no escape." Celestia giggled as Trixie broke away in a dead sprint down the hall.

To Trixie's credit she was actually able to make several turns before the solar diarch caught up with her. Of course, the dead end she had wound up in also didn't help to facilitate her escape at all. Celestia slowed to an almost predatory gait as the cloaked pony before her was backed up against the wall. There was no escape, and nopony to interrupt either.

"Now, why don't we get a good look at the face under these robes. Hmm? WHAT THE BU-" The Princess's leering face became one of horror as she removed the hood of the mystery pony.

KA-POOOOW!!!

A massive light flare spell went off as soon as the devilishly grinning face of the blue mare was revealed. Celestia fell backwards with a shriek as she was instantly blinded and disoriented, the world now swimming around in a bright haze, sounds became distorted and muffled. This allowed the second phase to begin as Trixie quickly bound the much larger mares' limbs with a magical lasso, the alicorn's disorientation not allowing her to easily snap the hold. The door beside them opened, from which Luna trotted calmly, a large case of makeup held in her telekinetic grasp. The next few moments were a blur of movement and alarmed shrieking. Once her senses had begun to return to her, Celestia broke the hold that held her down and leapt to her hooves, but not before Luna banished the makeup case.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" Celestia bellowed while she caught her breath.

"Sister, allow me to introduce my new student, Ms. Trixie Lulamoon." Luna gestured grandly at the now fully revealed Trixie, who was still grinning at her successful involvement in the scheme.

"Personal student? Wait why does that name sound so familiar? I know I've he-"

"My goodness sister, would thou observe the time! Don't you have a breakfast meeting with the griffon ambassador? Thou should not be late for such a thing, let me assist thy timeliness."

Luna's horn flared with dark magic before her sister had a chance to respond. Celestia was engulfed in dark fire and swiftly teleported to the smaller private dining room. The master and student were left alone in the hallway as Trixie looked up hopefully at the Night Princess.

"Thou hast performed admirably my student, well done indeed!" Luna beamed at the smaller pony.

"Thank you Master. How long do you think it will take your sister to notice her new style?"

"Not long I am sure, the griffon ambassador is rather blunt as I am told. We will certainly know regardless of when the reveal takes place. Now let us be away for a day's rest, tomorrow night thy training continues!"

===== In the private dining room =====

Dark fire burst forth from Celestia's seat as the Sun Princess materialized from the flames. The griffon ambassador sat at his seat, slightly aghast at what he saw before him. Settling himself into a neutral look, the large griffon leveled a bored stare at Celestia as she regained her wits.

"Princess. I am glad you could join me this morning, but I must ask. Did you apply your own makeup this morning or did you just make your royal stylist mad recently?" The large lion-eagle snarked with a slightly raised brow.

Mortified, Celestia wordlessly summoned a mirror before herself. What stared back was no less than epically horrific. Her eyelids were caked in heavy purple gunk, the eyelashes heavy with what must have been an entire tube of mascara each. Her lips were practically dripping with deep red lipstick, and her cheeks were smeared haphazardly in bright pink blush. The topper on the metaphorical cake though was the random series of small, heart shaped hair clips placed in her mane. She looked like a teenage filly after she got her first makeup kit. Rage boiled in her mind as she slowly started trembling in her seat, the ambassador cocking his head slightly before being assaulted with the resulting outrage.

===== The Hall of the Night =====

Trixie had stopped at the door to her room as the princess continued to her own chambers. She went wide eyed as she felt the very stones beneath her tremble before a very angry and very distinctive voice was heard as much as felt.

"LUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Said Night Princess did not even turn to look at her student as the sound wave finally passed them by.

"See? I did tell thou we would know." Luna remarked before continuing onwards.

Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment

Vengeance was a terrible thing. It was cyclical in nature, but then, Celestia already knew that. She just didn’t care at this point. It had taken nearly an hour and a half to scrub off the heinous amounts of makeup that Luna had plastered to her face that morning, not to mention the fact that she had to reschedule her meeting with the griffon ambassador for the next day. And to add to her distress? Luna now had her very own personal student that she had actively engaged in their struggle. Her earlier suspicions were also correct, she had heard of this Trixie Lulamoon before, and it had been from her own student, Twilight Sparkle, no less. While Twilight’s friendship report containing information about Trixie had been more about the lessons she had learned and had used fairly neutral wording towards the showmare, it was clear to her at least that Trixie had been part of the latest in a series of incidents that always seemed to occur in the drama prone little village.

Although Celestia had briefly considered bringing Twilight to her side in this struggle, two factors had stopped her from sending a letter immediately. Firstly, the thought of her poor, tightly wound student being subjected to any of the devious pranks that Luna devised was somewhat distressing. The poor thing would probably have a nervous breakdown and live in fear of what could lay in wait around every corner of the castle. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, she would see no end of teasing from her sister about not being original by bringing in her own student. No reason to give Luna any more ammunition than was necessary. Not if she wanted to win this thing anyway, and she knew she needed to win this. Still though, maybe if she came at her student sideways with the request for help then she would join anyway.

As the day had worn on and the Day Court had been wrapped up, Celestia had wound up in her personal office just beside the throne room as usual. The stack of official petitions and reports on her large desk was currently being ignored in favor of another activity. To the casual observer she was deep in concentration as she marked up a document, but that was not the case. Celestia was in fact, sketching out her latest plans for pranking her sister on parchment. Sketching may have been a generous description however, since unbeknownst to nearly everypony, Celestia was a terrible artist. The doodles on her parchment could likely have been outdone by an early grade school filly or colt and could really only be interpreted by the artist. Nevertheless, Celestia sat with her orange tongue poking out of the side of her scrunched muzzle as she focused on sketching the stick ponies and flow arrows detailing her latest masterpiece. The sudden, distinctive sound of an armored hoof rapping at her door brought Celestia back to the present as she hurriedly put away her plans.

“Please enter.”

The helmeted head of a solar guard poked through the door after it opened just enough.

“Your Majesty, the specialist that you summoned has arrived. Will you receive him?”

“Splendid, please send him in, thank you.” Celestia smiled brightly.

As the guard withdrew from the doorway both office doors opened to reveal a lanky young earth pony stallion. His coat was an ashen gray with a dull green mane and tail, a pair of sleek spectacles perched atop his muzzle, framing light blue eyes. A cutie mark of a flask full of bubbling blue chemicals adorned his flank. Still quite young for a pony that had already made as much of an impact as he had on the scientific community, but then again, prodigies did happen every few generations. Thanks to countless years in the realm of politics, she was able to determine much about this pony at a mere glance. His bright eyes spoke of his passion for what he did and the enthusiasm that he approached his work with. His strong stance denoted the confidence that success had instilled in him. Just the type of eager and talented youth she needed.

“Fizzle Flask Ma’am, at your service.” The confident young stallion stepped forward and bowed to his princess.

“Rise Mr. Flask, and thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I have a task that I believe you are the proper pony to consult with, but first I have a few questions to ask of you.” Celestia indicated the young stallion to the seat opposite of her.

“Of course Ma’am, what would you like to know and how can I help?” The eager stallion sat and leaned forward expectantly.

“Are you aware of the little contest my sister and I are engaged in?”

“Princess, to be honest, I am sure that most of Equestria is aware of it by now. It seems like opinions on the matter seem to be fairly scattered though.”

“Oh? In what way do you mean my little pony?” Celestia titled her head to the side as she inquired.

“Well… Umm… Permission to speak freely your Highness?” The now nervous stallion fidgeted in his seat before Celestia nodded her assent.

“I have heard some ponies say that it is just two siblings bonding. Others say that it is uncouth for ponies of your stature to engage in such a foalish thing. Yet others say that this whole thing just makes you look silly.” Fizzle Flask summoned up the height of his courage as he relayed what he had heard from the common ponies.

“Hmm. And if I could have your personal opinion?” Celestia steepled her hooves before her muzzle as she asked.

“I guess if we are being honest here, I would say that I’m surprised that somepony like you would engage in a prank war with anyone. It doesn’t seem like something that a princess would do publicly.” Fizzle cringed as he finished and waited for the impending rebuke for his candid statements.

“Hehehe! Perfect!” Celestia giggled in genuine good humor.

“Princess?”

“You see Mr. Flask, some of the theories you put forth are true. I am indeed bonding with my sister to repair our damaged relationship. However, I am also trying to give myself somewhat of an image makeover if you will.”

“Princess, I’m still not sure I follow. Why would you want to change the image that your subjects already have of you? Wasn’t it a good image already?” Fizzle asked with a tilt of his head.

“Indeed it was a good image, too good in fact. Ponies saw me as the sole immortal ruler of the country for a thousand years. This led them to view me as both perfect and infallible, which in turn put me on a pedestal and made me seen as unapproachable and distant. It is that mindset that I want to change.”

“Hmm, I guess I never thought about how isolating that could be.” The stallion nodded as he reasoned through the logic.

“Indeed, now onto the reason I wish you to be involved in my little campaign. My sister Luna is a very powerful magician and a talented illusionist, but her understanding of modern technology is understandably lacking, severely.”

“I could see that being a hindrance for someone that had to step straight into a thousand years of technological progress.”
“Yes, and that is why I wish for you to make a bottle of coat and mane wash for her.” Celestia smiled warmly as she finished her statement.

“…What?” The poor stallion was officially lost.

“Not just any ordinary shampoo,this one needs to be a bit special for my dear sister. What can you tell me about photo reactive compounds?” Celestia queried the now intrigued young scientist.

Over the next half hour, Celestia went into detail over what exactly her idea entailed. Once all of her ideas had been discussed, she was pleased to hear from the young chemist that her idea seemed plausible and that he would begin his research and development immediately. Celestia had known that the setup for this prank would take a while, so she would need to devise something else in the meantime. Patience had a payout though, and she could make do with something less epic here and now to allow her larger plan to properly mature. And of course by less epic she meant just ever so slightly. Once again her office resounded with the sound of an armored hoof meeting a wooden door.

“Enter~.” Celestia’s sing song voice called out.

“Princess, the Canterlot historical museum security chief you requested had arrived. Will you see her now?” Her guard called back.

“Indeed. Please show her in.”

As her office door opened, a dark orange coated, silver maned unicorn mare entered and bowed to the princess. A blue shield with a white cross in the center adorned her flank, denoting her special talent in the defensive arts. Celestia could tell from the way this mare carried herself that she bore a confidence derived from years of hard work and successful endeavors. Just the pony she needed to consult for her interim plan.

“Ah, Miss Ever Shield I presume?”

“Correct your Majesty, what can I help you with?”

“I am looking to set up a small laser trip-wire system, which I would assume you are familiar with in your field, what can you tell me about them?”

“Absolutely Princess! What kind of deterrent system are you going to interface with? Cameras? Alarms? Security shutters?”

"Claymore anti-infantry mines." Came Celestia's nonchalant response.

"Ah I see... WAIT! WHAT!? Princess, I'm so sorry, but perhaps you meant to ask your question to a military pony. My methods aren't supposed to result in dead ponies." The flabbergasted mare refuted the request.

"Hehehe, calm down my little pony. I have no intention of killing anypony either. I am going to modify the mines in order to make them a rapid deployment system for something decidedly more benign than a hail of shrapnel." Celestia giggled softly as she soothed the security pony.

"Well, in that case then..." The still somewhat cautious mare trailed off.

Over the course of the next hour, Celestia had changed Ever Shield's view on her plan from passively resistant to cautiously agreeable. Not much of a shift really, but still enough to ensure her help in procuring the necessary materials for the plan. As the mare left her office with a promise to bring the necessary equipment tomorrow evening, Celestia could barely contain her glee. Once the door was shut and she was once again alone she was no longer able to contain her excitement as she stood in front of the large office window and began prancing in place while making excited squealing noises. How could she not after all? Tomorrow was looking to be just perfect!

===== Early afternoon of the next day =====

Celestia walked around the corner of a hallway and ducked into a small alcove that was serving as a temporary forward operating base. The space was small already and stuffing Ever Shield, her security equipment and the much larger alicorn into the space made for a tight fit.

"Are your preparations complete Princess?" Ever looked up from her equipment calibrations as Celestia trotted up.

"Hehehe, indeed my dear, Oh-hohho, everything is ready on my end. Showtime approaches, are you ready?" Celestia turned her pinprick gaze to the waiting mare.

"Umm, yeah, I guess so. Are you feeling okay your Majesty? You seem somewhat... off."

'Off' was the most polite way that Ever Shield could voice her concern over the apparent instability that her princess was displaying. Ever since meeting up with Celestia that morning, the alicorn had been displaying increasingly odd and worrying behavior. So much so in fact, that Ever was no longer certain that accepting the request for help was an altogether good idea on her part. She definitely didn't understand the nature of the rivalry between the princess and her younger sister, but she was beginning to realize that being involved may not end up going exactly well for her.

"Nonsense my little pony, everything is going exactly as planned. There is nothing to worry about." Celestia flashed a small but for some reason DEEPLY disturbing smile to the smaller mare.

"O-okay then P-princess. Should I a-arm the s-system?" The now unsettled mare questioned.

"If you would please."

With a flip of a switch and a few button presses, there was a slight hum as the security system was activated. On a monitor placed before them there was a graphic representation of the hallway around the corner, and once the system had been activated a series of red lines began to criss-cross the area. Laser trip lines had been set up at angles that provided complete coverage across the hall. Also adorning the screen were a series of small red and yellow blips that represented the claymores that Celestia herself had modified and placed in precise locations throughout the hallway. Once Luna walked through the hallway she would trigger the trap and complete her sister's revenge plan. It was perfect!

"May I ask what thou art doing hiding here as such?" A new voice drifted into the alcove.

"Shhh! Be quiet, we are waiting to spring a trap!" Celestia hissed as her shifty gaze and creepy smile focused on the monitor before her.

"A trap? For whom pray tell?"

"My rotten sister of course! She will pay for what she did to me the other day, deciding to escalate this into the public embarrassment realm like that. I can still hear the laughter of the griffon ambassador..." Celestia shuddered but kept her gaze fixated on the monitor.

"Umm, Princess?" Ever Shield spoke up.

"Not now Miss Shield. My sister should be coming down the hallway any moment now and I don't want to miss a second of this."

"Art thou certain that Princess Luna will be coming down this hallway at precisely this time?"

"Of course! Her predictability is something that this plan is hinging on. Wait, I can hear her coming now!" Celestia edged closer to the screen as hear ears swiveled to focus on the clip-clop of hooves approaching the hallway.

"Princess you should really-"

"Just a moment more Miss Shield and then we-"

"PRINCESS YOUR SISTER IS SITTNG RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!" The frustrated mare bellowed at her princess.

With a slowly dawning horror, Celestia pried her eyes from the monitor as she slowly turned her head to look beside her, a distinct creaking noise accompanying the slow motion. There Luna sat, and smiled widely as she waved at her sister with an enthusiastic fore hoof. The terror gripped more firmly onto the Solar Princess for every nano-second that she beheld her younger sister sitting there and not in the hallway. But if Luna was there then who was walking... down the...

"NONONONONONO!" Celestia shrieked as she sprung to her hooves and attempted to stop the inevitable.

Just as she cleared the entryway of the alcove, Celestia's sharp ears picked up the distinctive click of the relays making contact in Ever Shield's security setup, it was too late. Not even a fraction of a second later the first explosions shook the hallway. Celestia skidded around the corner as the first wave of mines was halfway through their detonation sequence. She had daisy chained them together so that the entire hallway was covered by their blast zones. Huddled in the middle of the hallway was a pair of figures that sat screaming as the hallway erupted in a series of explosions that released torrents of maple syrup onto everything in the area. As the last of the primary mines detonated, the second series went off in the opposite direction. These explosions released clouds of feathers in an apocalyptically fluffy white storm, which of course instantly stuck fast to everything that had the sticky maple syrup on it, which was everything.

Once the chaos had died down and most of the feathers had settled, Celestia strode forward into the disaster scene. The two figures she had seen revealed themselves to be castle maids, now covered head to hoof in syrup and feathers, their uniforms wrecked beyond recovery. To make matters worse, she could just barely make out the green bands on the sleeves of one of the maids, it had been her first day on the job.

"My little ponies I am so, so, sorry." Celestia attempted an apology until the junior maid's lower lip began to tremble.

"Shhh, Shhh. Weep not my dear, let us hasten to the nearest showers. I shall not let my reckless sister harm thy day any further, come now." Luna had swooped in like a dark guardian angel to usher the two maids away from Celestia.

"Rest assured, I shall see to it that my sister is properly punished for her transgressions against thee." Luna glanced behind her as she led the maids away, her smile promising the most horrible of retributions.

===== Later that evening =====

A small group of ponies had gathered in the royal throne room. As night had officially begun, the throne room had undergone its normal transformation. All of the solar banners and motifs had magically changed into lunar symbols and effigies. The broad stained glass windows that depicted historic Equestrian events during the day now displayed simplified starry night patters and the various phases of the moon. All that was once red, white, and gold was now blue, black, and silver respectively. As night court was still a very infrequent occurrence, few had beheld the transformations that took place in the throne room. Although, tonight there was not to be a night court, despite it being the correct time and location for it. Tonight, it was the first gathering of the court of Chief Justice Cadence of the Royal Grievance Court.

To one side and several paces away from the base of the dais sat a sullen looking Celestia and a confused Ever Shield, with two solar guards not so much guarding the two as making sure they stayed put. To the opposite side and at equal distance from the throne sat Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, and Trixie. Standing at the base of the throne was Shining Armor, in his full guard regalia, and with his game face on. And finally, sitting atop the throne was a thoroughly uncomfortable looking Cadence.

"Umm, I really don't feel comfortable sitting on your throne auntie Luna..." Cadence mumbled as she fidgeted in place.

"Nonsense my dear, thou art perfectly welcome to it on this occasion." Luna nodded toward her niece.

"Well, okay then. Let's get this started. Attention all prese-" Cadence began before being cut off.

"Neigh, Cadence. Thou must first don thy official robe and wig to properly assume the role of judge." Luna interrupted while summoning a black robe and goofy white wig before her niece.

"What? Are you serious?" Cadence queried, looking askance at the offending garments.

"Tis tradition!" Luna confirmed as Cadence looked desperately to Celestia.

"Sorry my dear, my sister is right." Celestia perked up a bit as she hid a smirk behind a hoof at Cadence's flustered expression.

With a scowl and an indignant huff, Cadence draped the full coverage robe over herself and fitted the wig over her mane as carefully as she could. Once she was done she glared out at the ponies before her. Thankfully neither of her aunts was openly laughing, that was reserved for Trixie, Nightmare, and Ever. If Shinning was laughing he was doing a masterful job of hiding it. Calling the court to order, Cadence wanted to get this over and done with.

"Princess Celestia, you stand accused of violating the code of conduct that you have affixed your signature to regarding the contest between yourself and your sister, Princess Luna. How do you plead to these accusations?" Cadence settled herself as she slipped into the required character for the occasion.

"I wish to plead no contest your Honor." Celestia raised her head and looked up at her niece.

"So noted and accepted. Miss Ever Shield you stand as a co-conspirator to the violation perpetrated by Princess Celestia and are therefore guilty by association." Cadence decreed as Ever Shield cringed visibly.

"By the rules of this court, it is now up to Princess Luna to suggest a punishment that will then be made official on my judgment. Princess Luna, have you decided upon the punishment that Princess Celestia is to receive."

"Indeed your Honor, we have arrived upon several choices to select from. Firstly though, we wish that the charges be dropped against Miss Ever Shield, she should not be made to suffer for being an unwitting accessory to my sister's recklessness." Luna nodded resolutely.

"That is most generous of you Princess Luna, and the court agrees with your motion. Miss Ever Shield, consider the charges against you dropped, you are no longer in jeopardy." Cadence smiled at the exuberant mare beside Celestia, who herself sent a small smile at her sister.

"Excellent, now onto my sister's punishment. Our first suggestion, that she be made to work in the employ of the Canterlot sanitation department for a day." Luna smirked at her somehow more pale than usual sister.

"Hmm, community service. Interesting. Anything else?" Cadence mused from her perch.

"Eternal Night!" Nightmare jumped up and down as she shouted enthusiastically.

"..."

Nightmare stopped as she noticed the entire room giving her the 'seriously?' look.

"What? Too soon?" Nightmare tilted her head in confusion.

"Denied." Cadence deadpanned.

"Whatever." Nightmare pouted with her forelegs crossed.

"What of thy ideas my student, feel free to join in devising a punishment for my sister." Luna smiled at Trixie as Celestia shot the two a venomous look.

"Well, umm... Oh! I know!" Trixie smiled as revelation hit her.

The showmare quickly levitated a quill and parchment from her saddle bags at her side and began scratching out her idea. Once finished she showed it to both Luna and Nightmare, both of whom gasped and looked wide eyed back at Celestia, whose sense of impending doom deepened. Luna folded the parchment in half and levitated it to Shining Armor, who carried it by mouth up to the throne. Sneaking a brief kiss from her coltfriend by taking the note in her own mouth instead of by magic, Cadence read the note. Upon finishing, her eyes widened and she broke character to whisper briefly.

"Oh, my..." Cadence shook her head and resumed her role.

"Very well then. I have taken into consideration all of the proposed correctional actions, and have made my decision. Princess Celestia of Equestria, it is the judgment of this court that you will pay for your rule violation in the following manner. In three days time you are to perform a sing along magic show for the foals of Canterlot, the venue being the royal amphitheater. Failure or refusal to comply will result in your forfeiture to Princess Luna, is that understood?"

"...Yes..." A shell shocked Celestia spoke back in a dread filled voice.

"In that case, this court is adjourned." Cadence huffed as she banished the ridiculous wig and robe with her magic and stepped down from the throne, Shining Armor in tow.

"Thou had best to begin planning thy routines dear sister, as I suspect the time of thy performance will be here before thou realize it." Luna smirked at her sister, who simply scowled before teleporting back to her room.

===== Three Days Later =====

"No Luna, absolutely not!" Celestia sat on her haunches with her muzzle raised high in defiance.

"Tia, the time for negotiations hath concluded. Now take it off." Luna crooked forward her fore hoof in a 'gimme' gesture.

"I am not going out there without my regalia! It would be like being naked before my subjects!" Celestia looked positively scandalized at the very notion.

"Listen, sister, I have already given more ground than I needed by not making thou wear the jester costume that Nightmare made for thy performance. Besides, this is meant to be a humbling experience, now remove thy articles before I remove them by force!" Luna challenged her sister with steel in her voice.

With a whimper that garnered no sympathy from her sister, Celestia reluctantly removed her royal vestments and stood waiting in the wings of the stage. On the opposite side, Nightmare and Trixie stood and waived to her. The mass of foals sitting in the bleachers were all waiting and the time to perform had come. Celestia gave one last pleading look back at her sister in the hail mary of hopes that this would all be called off somehow.

"Please sister..." Celestia employed her best puppy dog eyes and set her lower lip to trembling.

"Neigh! Gentlecolts, if thou would please give my sister a nudge."

Suddenly, both of Luna's Shadow Sentinels were behind her and had planted their hooves on her backside before giving a mighty shove. With an alarmed squawk, Celestia stumbled forward onto the stage, where spotlights formed on her and the thunderous applause of hundreds of foals greeted her. Luna gave a nod and dispersed into the shadows along with her Sentinels, she needed to get a nice vantage point to enjoy her sister's act. After all, what kind of sister would miss their sibling's big performance?

Chapter 8: Radio Broadcast of Doom

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Chapter 8: Radio Broadcast of Doom

High atop the tallest tower in Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia, the ruler of the sun and co-ruler of the mighty nation of Equestria sat and enjoyed the bright sunlight of the afternoon. The sun had somehow become a bit more bright and cheerful as it reflected the mood of its avatar, and was now providing exactly the relaxation factor that she needed. Her grand wings spread out to absorb more of the soothing warmth as the slight breeze played in-between her feathers, eliciting a contented smile as she reflected on recent events.

Luna had subjected her to a public performance for a group of foals a short time ago and now that it was safely in hindsight, she could see it for what it truly was. Much like herself, Luna always had a hidden motive to her actions, and her punishment for violating the terms of their contest had been no different. On the surface, it seemed that simple humiliation had been the goal, but there was actually more to it than that, not that humiliation hadn’t been a factor of course. In the end, Celestia had been brought down from her princess pedestal and was playing on the level of the common foal, thus endearing herself to them in a manner of a familiar instead of a distant authority figure. For one glorious hour, she had been loved by her little ponies for a reason other than simply being their princess. That didn't mean that Luna was off the hook however, far from it in fact. Now Celestia simply saw the error of approaching her revenge with wild abandon, it would result in her eventual defeat.

A calm and clear mind, with the more potent emotions carefully set to the side. Meticulous planning towards her objective, along with contingency plans to account for wildcards. Most importantly however, an air of mild innocence that none could see behind. These were the things that were trademark of Celestia, and she would succeed if she simply stuck with what worked best for her. To that end, the preparations for tonight had all been placed and confirmed. But that didn't mean that she shouldn't go over them one more time in her head. Closing her eyes and inhaling several deep, calming breaths she cast her mind back to several days ago.

===== Celestia's chambers shortly after nightfall three days ago =====

The trap was set and Celestia merely needed to wait for the approach of her prey. Just as she finished checking her preparations for the hundredth time, the knock at her doorway alerted her that it was game time. The trap was armed as she turned on her radio and set it to the appropriate station. After bidding the inquiring pony entry, Celestia was far from surprised to see her sister enter the room. Phase one was complete and the prey was poised to take the bait.

"Luna dear! How nice of you to swing by. Was there something you needed?" Celestia purposely had not turned down her music.

"Indeed sister, a short session of the night court has been called for this eve. Was there any business that you would like to pass off for me to complete?" Luna was only halfway paying attention to her sister as she eyed the radio system with a curious gaze.

"Hmm. I suppose there are a few things that you could handle for me if you feel up to it. Has something caught your eye Lulu?" Celestia's poker face was absolute perfection as Luna trotted up to the radio.

"What manner of device is this sister? It doth seem to produce the sound of a symphony when none be present." Luna carefully studied the mysterious piece of electronics.

"That is a modern radio sister. It receives a signal from a central broadcasting location and translates it into an understandable sound on the receiving device. There are several broadcasting stations throughout Canterlot that allow ponies to listen to music or news and announcements with their radio sets. Not many ponies use radio systems since they are considered somewhat outdated by today's standards but I still enjoy it."

"Fascinating, such a marvel of technology. May I acquire one of my own?" Luna still stood before the radio, examining it thoroughly.

"Of course sister, I can have one just like mine sent to your quarters tomorrow. Would you like me show you how to use it?" Celestia could barely contain her glee as Luna fell right into the entrance point of her trap.

===== Back in the present =====

Celestia opened her magenta eyes as the memory finished running through her mind. A small smile graced her muzzle once more as she relived the relief of Luna unwittingly stepping into her own demise. Her whole plan had hinged on Luna taking an interest in a radio, and her sister had certainly been enthusiastic about getting one of her own. Once that had been taken care of and Luna was set up with a radio of her own, the rest was simply an exercise in her organizational prowess and ability to mobilize ponies under her direction. The next piece of her plan preparations came drifting into her mind as she closed her eyes once more.

===== Downtown Canterlot commercial district two days ago =====

Celestia calmly walked into the building before her after ducking her head slightly, her two honor guards taking up positions at either side of the door to keep an eye on all who came and went. The journey from the castle had taken longer than was expected simply due to having to pause every so often to politely acknowledge the ponies who continually bowed as she passed them. But she had finally arrived at her desired location, which brought a smile to her face as she approached the front desk of the radio broadcasting station she had chosen for her plan. The poor mare behind the desk was practically tripping over both her own hooves and her words as she simultaneously attempted to bow and welcome the princess to their station.

"Rise my little pony. Could you please direct me to the manager of your station? I have a project in mind that I believe this station could be of great assistance in completing."

"Of course your Majesty. Please wait here while I go and fetch the manager!" The mare bolted off behind the doors to the office.

A short time later Celestia was greeted by a pegasus mare that introduced herself as Sherry Song, the manager of that particular radio station. After the pleasant greetings, Celestia was shown back to the office of the mare in charge. After briefly outlining her seemingly innocent request, she asked the manager if she could fulfill her request.

“So let me get this straight Princess, you want me to play this old program starting at two hours past moonrise, three days from now?” Sherry tilted her head as she questioned Celestia.

“Indeed I do, that is one of my favorite performances of all time. The delivery is masterful, and the sense of drama and suspense when played over the radio is second to none in my opinion.” Celestia sighed with a dreamy look on her face.

“I agree it is certainly one of the all-time classics ma’am, however I have to tell you that I am bound by law to give a warning and disclaimer before the presentation. What happened during the original airing can’t be allowed to be repeated.”

“That is fine Ms. Song, I would never dream of either asking or coercing a citizen to violate the law.” Celestia calmly stated.

“But that doesn’t mean that everypony will hear the disclaimer of course.” Celestia mumbled under her breath with a grin.

“What was that ma’am?”

“Oh nothing, I must be on my way, but thank you so much for agreeing to play my favorite old program. You don’t know how much it means to me and I am already looking forward to it.” Celestia smiled down at the radio pony.

“Of course Princess, I am glad to assist!” The happy mare beamed her smile at Celestia.

===== Back in the present =====

The pieces were in position, and the trap was set, but Celestia had decided to take things a step further in her plan. After all, what was a thrilling radio drama without a bit of real world interaction to go along with it? As she had heard some of her guards say from time to time, ‘go big or go home’, and she was going for bigger than life. This portion of her plan was perhaps the most complex, and yet again required her to solicit experienced professionals in order to pull it off. Luckily there was always at least one of her subjects that could fill out nearly any requirement that needed to be met. The degree of difficulty in this portion of her plan was considerable, and only the best of the best could pull it off. Deceiving her sister involved a lot of planning and no small amount of luck, which was why she had to yet again contact outside sources to assist.

===== Canterlot Grand Theater, yesterday =====

“I appreciate you meeting with me on such short notice Mr. Philharmonica.” Celestia kindly nodded to the stallion seated across the table from her as she sipped at the tea he had provided.

Before her sat none other than Andante Philharmonica, the famed actor and current head of the powerful Philharmonica clan. Their family had made its fortune through its seemingly otherworldly talents in acting, playing musical instruments, or playwriting. Andante himself was one of the most successful actors of the current time and was sought after for many roles being cast by aspiring directors. Though if her sources were as accurate as ever, then his daughter was in a strong position to inherit his position after he stepped down.

“Why of course Princess! Even at my level of the game, a royal invitation for an exclusive role is not to be passed up. Now, you were somewhat vague in your earlier message, let’s discuss what exactly you had in mind.” The large, black coated earth pony smiled at his royal guest.

“I have seen many of your most lauded performances and you simply were the foremost in my mind when I thought up my current project. Tell me Mr. Philharmonica, are you familiar with this story?” Celestia proceeded to produce a large manuscript from her saddle bags and place it on the table before them.

“…I certainly do know this tale your Majesty, although I was unaware that it had ever been played outside of radio broadcast. If I am not mistaken, that was its intended medium.” The stallion responded after examining the manuscript.

“You are correct my little pony, however, I am organizing a hybrid of radio and real life performance. This is the first time to my knowledge that something like this has been done and I want only the best of the best to be involved.”

“I am honored Princess. If I might ask however, what is the intended audience to be? Radio reaches many at once, while an actor can only be in one place at a time.”

“That would be correct. Following the constraint point of an actor being in one place at a time, the intended audience is quite small. The audience will be royalty mostly, with a few exceptions as necessary.”

“Royalty you say? So, that would mean your niece, your sister, and yourself then?” Andante titled his head in curiosity.

“Not quite, Cadence will not be involved in this, and I will most likely be assisting you with your performance.” Celestia smiled serenely.

“Then that would just leave your sister, Princess Luna, unless there are more of your relatives that I have not heard of. Wait! This wouldn’t have anything to do with your little ongoing squabble that you two are in would it?” Now he was suspicious.

“Oh? I take it from your tone that you do not wish to be involved then?”

“Princess, with all due respect, this is most unusual. Besides which, it has been reported that the last pony to help you in your schemes almost wound up being punished for violating some kind of new castle law.” Andante slowly shook his head.

“That was a very regrettable ordeal, but I have taken steps to assure that it will not happen again. No rules will be broken, and if punishments are to be handed down then they will be on my head only. Please may I count on your assistance?” Celestia lowered her head and gave him pleading eyes.

Somehow, Andante withstood the look for about twelve seconds before he relented and agreed to assist in playing perhaps one of his more epic and at the same time, strangest roles ever. After moving on to the master props maker of the theater and commissioning a very specific set of costume prosthetics from her, Celestia agreed that they should meet up with her in the late afternoon of the following day to go over the plan once more before it was set in motion. Once everypony was on the same page, Celestia headed back to the castle with a smile on her face and excitement in her heart. Tomorrow would be just perfect.

===== Present time in Canterlot Castle =====

Having finished enjoying the afternoon sun, Celestia had returned inside after viewing her expected guests approaching the castle with a wagon being drawn behind them. In addition to the two ponies she had spoken to, it would seem as though Andante Philharmonica had brought a crew of stage technicians to assist them. By the time she had made her way to the storage shed that she had directed her solar guards to send her guest to, they had already arrived and begun to offload their equipment. After a short greeting and thank you to the ponies in attendance, Celestia broke right into the last minute details planning. Maps were distributed and equipment was dispersed as the ponies went about setting up their respective zones of operation. Once she was sure that everything was proceeding at the proper pace and that everypony would be ready to play their parts, Celestia herself broke away and proceeded to make her way towards the tipoff point.

Her excitement was barely contained as she approached the doors to Luna's hallway. Several times she had had to stop to prance in place and bleed off some of her excitement, but she was still on time when she arrived. Pushing her way into the perpetually darkened hallway, she took a moment to let her eyes adjust as much as they could amidst the gloom. Adopting her calm and collected facade, she serenely walked straight to her sister's chambers, but was immediately puzzled by the lack of the two Shadow Sentinels that followed her sister at all times. Her brief moment of anxiety over losing her target was cast aside as she continued down the hall and found the two stallions posted outside of her sister's atelier. Now all that she had to do was speak briefly with her sister and tip the lead domino so to say.

===== Within Luna's atelier =====

Trixie Lulamoon sat at attention as Luna began her early evening lesson. Tonight's topic was particularly fascinating since it was about stacking sensory alteration spells to make illusions more believable. While Trixie could grasp the basics since she was adept at casting illusionary fireworks, her spell only lasted a brief few seconds before fading out. This concerned her greatly since she was well aware that her raw power levels were not that high and it seemed like it would take an immense amount of power to misdirect more than two of a target's senses for very long.

"Master? I am not sure that I can maintain a stack of illusions for that long. Wouldn't that take the raw power levels of a light magic user?" Trixie asked before scrunching her muzzle in confusion.

"To the unversed, it would seem that way my student. But listen now as I tell thee of an alternate way to think of things. The way of the shadow magic user is not to overwhelm the target with force, that is for light magic users." Luna paused as she made sure her student understood.

"Think of things in terms of my sister and I. She is the light incarnate and has massive magical power reserves, her sun being the very embodiment of her power. I am the darkness, calculating and subtle, the moon is the reflection of my power." Luna explained what was perhaps the obvious to her student.

"But the moon doesn't make light of its own, it gets its light from the sun... Wait, does that mean..." Trixie began before trailing off.

"Thy thoughts travel the correct path my student. The moon does indeed capture and redirect the light of the sun, remaking it into something different altogether. The same concept applies in the realm of common magic as well. If the power is already being put forth by another, then it merely needs to be twisted and made useful to the shadow magic user." Luna dropped the revelation on her student.

Just as Luna was about to continue, there was a knocking at the door. After bidding Trixie to further ponder the deeper meaning of shadow magic, Luna rose to her hooves and made her way to the door. She was met by one of her Sentinels, explaining that her sister was waiting outside to speak with her. It seemed it was time to exchange the day and night once more. Calling Nightmare to her side from where she had been sitting with a book, Luna instructed Trixie to continue her studies while she stepped out to handle her duties.

After exchanging greetings, the three alicorns stepped outside onto a balcony to handle their business. Celestia lowered the sun below the western horizon while Luna rolled the darkness and stars across the sky from the east. Once the moon had crested the skyline and Luna settled her magic, Nightmare immediately launched into her with a request to try rearranging the stars by herself. It was understood now by both sisters that Nightmare was becoming increasingly concerned about what her cutie mark meant and what her special talent was. So far it had not had anything to do with the darkness of the night sky or with the orbit of the moon. She seemed to be running down the list of each of Luna’s abilities, and tonight the stars were in her sights.

“Very well my friend, if thou dost remember the spellwork to alter the stars then thou art welcome to attempt moving them about. However, I request that thou rejoin me in the atelier. I cannot neglect guiding the studies of my student after all.” Nightmare bounced with anticipation as Luna turned to walk back into the castle.

“Oh, Luna dear, I meant to ask if you have been using the radio that I sent you.” Celestia halted her sister with her question.

“Indeed I have been, tis a most entertaining device. I find that it is quite relaxing to simply have it playing music whilst I attend to my activities.”

"That is a good use for it, but there is another that I believe you will enjoy even more. The radio can also be used to broadcast the latest news from around the country. During the night the broadcasts are typically a summary of the events that have occurred during the day. There is a station that I have trusted for many years to deliver the news honestly and accurately, perhaps you should give them a try this evening." Celestia calmly explained.

"Hmm, this would seem as though an easy way to connect to the daytime events of our subjects! What frequency shall I attune to in order to receive this broadcast?" Luna's eyes shone with eager energy.

"Set your radio to the local Canterlot station of 99.5. They broadcast the news for several hours per night, but be sure not to tune in before precisely 23:02, otherwise they will be broadcasting a series of annoying and useless commercials. After that though, it will be straight and uninterrupted news." Celestia smiled a very controlled smile at her younger sister.

"Indeed I shall remember that sister, thank thee for telling us of this news broadcast!" Luna smiled in greater excitement as the trotted off to tune her radio.

After her sister turned the corner and Celestia was alone in the hallway, her mask of serenity finally cracked and she sat back on her haunches to give her best evil cackle at how cleanly Luna had bought into her suggestion. After laughing by herself for a long moment, Celestia quieted herself down to mere giggles as she once more stood and made her way to the first rally point of the night. Everything had gone perfectly so far and the game was in motion, her victory need only to be reached out and grasped now.

===== Rally Point Alpha =====

"Status check, all teams report." Celestia called out over her radio for the final time.

"Mobile group is in the first position, awaiting the target." Came the crackling voice of Andante.

"Containment team is set up and standing by for all captured targets." A resolute sounding mare replied back.

"Effects team is in position, all systems primed and ready for action." The gruff voice of a stallion called back.

"Herding team is standing by and ready to direct the flow of traffic." Another mare called back in a cheery voice.

"Excellent, all action teams are confirmed ready. Current time is 23:01, expected action time will be approximately 23:12. This is it my little ponies, stay focused and aware of your surroundings." Celestia smiled confidently as she released the broadcast button on the headset in her left ear.

===== Luna's atelier =====

Luna sat before the radio that Celestia had given her. A notepad and quill was held in her magic as she made notes of the various reports coming in over the news broadcast. Behind her, Trixie was busy attempting to add a third layer to her perception illusions. The young unicorn would rush back to a stack of books each time her illusion collapsed where she would consult and add to her notes before resuming her practice. Nightmare was at the opposite end of the room, standing in front of a large window, trying for perhaps the hundredth time to make the stars bend to her magical whim. Luna turned her attention back to the radio as an odd report sounded out.

~We now interrupt the recap of today's events to bring you currently breaking news,reports of strange weather phenomenon continue to come in from the areas surrounding Mount Canterlot. Strange and unaccounted bursts of lightning are being reported that are not part of any scheduled weather pattern.~

Just as she pondered this, a burst of light filled the window that nightmare sat in front of. The dark filly was sent tumbling backwards with a screech as the deafening crash of thunder filled the room. She fumed as she stood up again, while Trixie paused what she was doing once her concentration was broken by the thunder.

"Can those cloud brained pegasi not keep the stupid lights show to themselves!?" Nightmare raged as her hooves beat the floor in fury.

"Hmm, that was a bit odd. Is lightning supposed to strike that close to the castle princess?" Trixie's question received a mere shrug as Luna now listened closer to the radio before her.

~Stranger still perhaps, are the reports of the deep holes appearing in the ground at the site of the lightning strikes. Authorities are urging citizens to stay indoors as the local weather teams attempt to determine the cause of this rouge weather.~

Luna smiled as she heard this. While the situation was indeed strange, at least in this day and age it seemed like the mortal ponies were capable of taking care of themselves to a degree. In times long past, something like this would have been left to her sister and her to sort out while the masses huddled together in panic. Nightmare had moved away from the window to sit next to Luna as several more odd lightning strikes continued outside.

~This just in, I am now being handed a report that indicates that the odd weather here in Canterlot is not an isolated incident. According to reports coming in from across the country, nearly every major city is experiencing this same situation. Wait now, we are on the phone with a pony in Fillydelphia who is describing the situation on the ground in the big city. I will do my best to relay the information as my assistant talks over the phone with our local reporter.~

"This is strange, are you sure this is the local news Luna?" Nightmare looked up at her former host.

"Indeed Nightmare, the preceding reports were all quite informative as to the happenings of the country. It would seem that there is an outbreak of unexplained weather gripping the country this eve."

"But everywhere at once Princess? What are the odds of that happening?" Trixie had moved to join the alicorns near the radio.

~As I am being told, there appears to be no pattern to the location of the strikes, having witnessed them coming down in both the middle of the city as well as the outskirts. What's that? My assistant is relaying that strange noises are being heard from the holes created by the lightning strikes.~

Luna tilted her head to the side in confusion as to what could possibly make a noise from underground like that. Just how deep had the lightning strikes penetrated the earth, and what had they struck under the ground? Underground caverns maybe? An aquifer that was rushing water up the holes?

~Fillies and gentlecolts, we are being told that there are now lights coming up from the impact sites, lights from under the ground! Wait, are you sure? Yes, it would seem that a rumbling noise is being heard as well as felt in the areas surrounding the strike zones! What in Celestia's name is happening out there?~

All three mares now sat in rapt attention to the radio before them. What was going on out there? What were those lightning strikes? A low rumbling sound had begun to spread throughout the city, causing Trixie to squeak in fright and the two alicorns to turn to each other with a shocked expression. The entire castle suddenly seemed to shudder as though it had been struck with a massive force, rattling all of the equipment in the lab and finally causing concern to spread across Luna's face.

~Listeners, I must report that our source from Fillydelphia has been cut off. We are not sure what has happened out there but she reported seeing something begin to emerge from the lightning strike hole she had been observing for us. Just as quickly she was cut off and we lost our connection. Reports are now coming in from across the nation of strange goings on and loss of communication from areas affected by the lightning strikes. Please everypony, exercise extreme caution and try to avoid the areas where the lightning came down!~

"Princess! What's happening!?" A now very nervous Trixie pleaded for an answer from the night Princess.

"I am not sure Ms. Lulamoon." Luna responded with her eyes darting about as though the answer was there in her peripheral vision.

"I do not like the way this is sounding Luna. Whatever is causing this situation is just outside of our castle doors for Makers sake! It rattled the castle!" Nightmare interjected, causing Trixie to begin breathing heavily in her growing panic.

~Everypony please listen carefully! I can now report first hoof that there are creatures emerging from the strike zones! There are multiple of them emerging from the hole that was created down the block from this station! They appear to be taller than the princess and squid-like in nature! Oh dear harmony! They, they are capturing ponies! Sweeping them off the streets into their clutches! Anypony listening to this, run for your lives!~

"Luna we have to do something! Those things could be closing in on us as we sit here!" Nightmare tried to spur the shocked princess into action.

"I agree Nightmare but we must know for sure what is going on before we-" Luna began before being cut off by a telepathic link being established shifted her attention.

--Luna!? Are you safe!? Where are you!? There is something happening in the castle! A strange horde of creatures has somehow overcome our defenses and are overrunning us!--

--Sister what is going on!? The radio news station is describing something horrible going on throughout the country!--

--I dearly hope that is not the case, otherwise we may not be able to strike back effectively. Meet me in the throne room as soon as you can, I am o--

Luna's eyes widened as her pupils shrunk down in panic. The connection had been forcefully severed. That could only mean that her sister was in trouble, as well as perhaps the entire country! Now was the time for action, she had to rescue her sister and stop whatever was happening. Fear crossed her face as she thought of her sister captured and alone with nopony to help her. Whirling around to face Nightmare and Trixie, Luna issued her orders.

"My sister tried to contact me to explain what was going on, but was cut off before she could finish. This must mean that she is in trouble, and that it is up to us to stop whatever is happening. Firstly, we must rescue my sister and then we shall determine what to do next. Stay close and let us be away!" Luna commanded with a voice that brokered no argument.

Luna rushed into the castle hallways with Nightmare Moon and Trixie hot on her heels. Though she tried her best to contain her fear she could not help but feel it eating away at the edges of her reason. There was an unknown group of creatures invading her country, her very castle no less. Her sister may already be captured, and maker only knew what was happening to her little ponies throughout the rest of the country. Her fear spurred her to gallop faster while the two smaller ponies trailing her struggled to keep up.

Just as Luna rounded another corner on her way to her sister's wing of the castle she came to a screeching halt when a sharp scream was heard behind her. Whirling about, she rushed back in her previous direction as she realized how far behind her friends had fallen. What greeted her sight made her blood run cold though. Greenish tentacles were reaching in through an open window and had Nightmare grasped solidly while beginning to drag her through. Trixie was pressed against the opposite wall, frozen in fear. The adjacent windows to the one already containing the otherworldly horror burst open and more tentacles flooded inward, seeking additional prey.

"Princess! Help us!" Trixie screamed hysterically.

"Neigh! Nightmare! Trixie!" Luna sprang into action and leapt forward.

Trixie was swept up into Luna's magical grasp and away from the still searching monstrosities outside the window. As she turned to free Nightmare however, she was again frozen as she saw how dire the situation had become. Nightmare had her entire lower half caught by the creature that was attempting to drag her through the window. Her small, black, fore hooves were gripped desperately onto the window frame as she locked eyes with Luna.

"Luna! Take Trixie and run! Go!" Nightmare grunted as her captor continued to tug.

"Neigh Nightmare! I cannot abandon thee!" Luna's voice broke as she shouted back.

"Trixie is not immortal! We both are! Go, get out of here, RUN!" Nightmare's grip was broken as she was hauled out the window.

Luna was in autopilot as she held Trixie in her mane while she turned and fled the scene. She could not let Nightmare's valiant sacrifice be in vain, she had to escape with Trixie. Once she was sure that they were safe then she could return and rescue her alter ego and her sister both. For now though she needed to find reinforcements, and the royal guard barracks were her next destination.

===== Outside the castle =====

Nightmare struggled in futility as she was hauled outside of the window by the marauding tentacles. Once she regained her senses however she noticed one important thing, she was no longer being held by anything physical. Looking around her she noticed several ponies perched on scaffolding platforms around the windows, each with an animatronic tentacle in their control. The next thing she noticed was that she was suspended in a golden levitation aura, controlled by none other than princess Celestia who hovered overhead with a maniacal grin.

"YOU!? You are responsible for all of this? How!?" Nightmare bellowed at her captor.

"A master never reveals her secrets Nightmare. Now, I think it is time for you to take a rest." Celestia leaned forward as she spoke.

"Ha! You foal! You know I can't re-" Nightmare was cut off as Celestia's horn made contact with her own.

Nightmare's eyes went blank as the color drained from her body. Her limbs went slack as her back arched and a seam opened up down the middle. With a sound that distinctly reminded everypony present of a toaster ejecting bread, Nightmare's Soul Gem popped up from her back and was caught by Celestia. The Soul Gem itself had red lines of energy racing along its facets, indicating Nightmare’s impotent rage. The nonplussed solar diarch levitated both the empty body and the gem to a waiting unicorn stallion.

"Please take these carefully to the containment area. Now, excellent job everypony, but it is not over yet. Let's keep up the good work!"

===== Back in the castle =====

Luna galloped at full tilt through the castle halls, and with Trixie held firmly in the grasp of her mane she did not have to worry about leaving the little unicorn behind. Slowing to a swift trot as she rounded another corner, she set her sights on the large iron double doors at the end of the hallway. These doors would lead her into the main barracks of the royal canterlot guard. Admittedly they were all made up of her sister's solar guard and therefore somewhat inferior to her own Shadow Sentinels, but beggars could not be choosers as the saying went. If it came down to it she would just overwhelm the enemy with superior numbers!

Just as she reached the doors and set Trixie back on her hooves, Luna came to a sudden realization. Where had her Shadow Sentinels gone? They should have been just outside of the door of her atelier and fallen into step with her after her exit. Had they already been overwhelmed and captured? She would have had further time to speculate had she not been interrupted by Trixie's shaky voice interrupting her thoughts.

"P-p-princess? What is going t-to h-happen to N-nightmare?" The shaken unicorn looked up at her mentor.

"...I am not certain my student. Set aside thy fears of the worst though. Remember her words, that both her and I are both immortal. Beyond that, once she was certain that we were away I can only imagine the fight that our foe had stepped into. Now, let us not delay any further, we've an army to raise!" Luna pushed the iron wrought doors open and was greeted with the exact opposite of her expectations.

The mustering room that lead to the rest of the military complex was empty, not a single guard pony was present. What was perhaps worse was the silence, there was not any indication of a living soul in the area. There should have been somepony, anypony at all here. Even in the most dire of situations they would not fully empty or abandon their main base right?

"Where is everypony? Aren't there supposed to be guards all over the place in this part of the castle?" Trixie quietly mused as she began to check around the large room.

"Those were my thoughts as well. Let us check to make sure that the area is truly empty. Anypony that we can find shall be a boon to our rescue efforts."

Finding the main room empty, both ponies moved on to search the office area. Each room they checked was empty, and not even in a state of disarray either. There were no signs of struggle anywhere to indicate that the guards had been taken from the area by force, it was as though they had simply vanished into thin air. Moving on to the main barracks area, both mares were greeted with more emptiness. Rows of neatly made bunks, with all of the guards armor sitting in racks next to the beds indicated that whatever had happened to the guards, they had not even had the time to don their armor. Just as they finished checking the area and were in the rear of the room, everything went dark.

The lights had been cut suddenly and the entire room was pitched into darkness. With all of the windows and shutters being drawn, the only one who could see halfway decently was the princess as her eyes were made for seeing in the dark. But this advantage was taken away as well as the lights began to erratically flicker, not allowing her eyesight to fully adjust. She could hear Trixie's panicked breathing near her as she braced herself for the worst. Near the back of the room a door had opened, and the only one who saw what issued forth was Trixie.

A massive creature resembling a land bound squid was creeping out of the back room, causing Trixie to seize up in terror as she beheld it. The creature leered toward the moon princess, whose back was turned to it, solid black eyes focused in on the princess as it approached. As though in a nightmare, the flickering lights lent the horrific effect of causing the creatures movements to become jerky and sudden as it approached the princess who was still unaware. Just then its jaws fell open, revealing rows of sharp teeth that it bared as it hissed sharply at its target. Luna spun around to become face to face with the monster, whose slimy tentacles had begun to form a cage around her. This sight finally galvanized Trixie into action.

"PRINCESS, NO!" Trixie yelled as her horn lit with her gathering magic.

Trixie had not yet mastered true teleportation, but she was able to do the next best thing. Discharging her magic she was able to swap places with the terrified princess, removing her from the clutches of the beast at her own expense. Immediately the creature seized her with a frustrated screech and began to drag her back to the room that it had come from. Luna stood spellbound as the creature pulled her student further away. Righteous anger filled her heart as the creature reached the doorframe to the back room, Trixie struggling wildly in its grasp. With a bellow of rage, Luna sent a bolt of dark magic at the creature, which was intercepted by a tentacle that seemed to absorb the energy before emitting a strange purple gas into the room. Coughing through the quickly spreading miasma, Luna noticed her student had gone limp after breathing the toxic fumes, which were making her head spin already.

Luna took the only option that she had left; she turned and fled from the room as fast as she could in her dizzy state. The further she got from the strange gas that the creature had emitted, the clearer her head became before she finally stopped to fully shake away the effects. Shame fought with fear to take the foremost spot in the mind of the alicorn. Luna had allowed both Nightmare and Trixie to be captured, and she herself had not been able to help her friends in either situation. The echoing sound of hissing came through the halls as Luna sat in contemplation of her situation. This prodded her into motion as she leapt back to her hooves and started her way cautiously towards the throne room. She could not let herself be captured here, there was still hope as long as she was alive.

===== Back in the barracks =====

All of the lights snapped back on in full once it was confirmed that Princess Luna was making her way out of the area. The back room door opened and the creature crawled forth again before removing the mask covering the head of Andante Philharmonica. A respirator was wrapped around his muzzle into order to make sure that the crazy purple knockout gas that his damaged costume had released did not do its trick on him. Behind him a unicorn mare wearing a similar breathing apparatus trotted out before opening the windows and flushing out the offending gas with a magical breeze.

"Another excellent performance Mr. Philharmonica!" The mare beamed as she removed her mask.

"Thank you my dear. Although I must say I am most grateful you were able to catch the attack that the Princess launched my way." The stallion offered back with a warm smile.

"Not a problem sir. I am just thankful that Princess Celestia provided us with this weird gas stuff. We could have been in for it had Luna stayed and fought."

"Indeed, now please radio in and inform the princess of our success. I will take Princess Luna's student to the containment area." Andante looked down at the softly snoring Trixie before hefting her onto his back.

"Sure thing boss. But one question, how did Princess Celestia manage to clear out all of the guards from here?" The mare tilted her head in confusion.

"I am not too sure myself, all she mentioned was something about a party."

===== A storage cavern beneath the castle =====

Multitudes of ponies milled about and congregated in small groups in the large underground space. Tables laden with food and drink were set along the walls, while a DJ played music in the background. All in all the space had all of the proper elements of a party.

“Wow, it sure was nice of the princess to throw a thank you party for all of the guards!” A pegasus stallion sitting at a table with his friends smiled in gratitude.

“I know right? It’s always nice to know the boss appreciates all of the hard work we put in!” A unicorn mare agreed happily.

“Still though, it was kinda weird that either everypony in the guard shows up or there is no party.”

“I won’t complain, usually when you hear ‘mandatory attendance’ it’s a boring meeting of some kind.” A rough looking earth pony chimed in.

"Yeah, but the second requirement of keeping Luna's guards down here too was kinda tricky."

"If by tricky you mean forcing them each to down three casks of cider and letting all of the mares in this outfit fawn over them, then yeah." The not bitter at all pegasus grumbled.

===== Back in the castle proper =====

Luna was now frantically racing towards the throne room, all pretense of regal bearing and decorum having been abandoned. Behind her she could hear the hissing and slithering of the alien invaders and she could swear that they were getting closer regardless of how fast she was galloping. Through the haze of fear pervading her mind there was one resolution that held firm, the throne room was where she would make her final stand. It was there that everything would be decided and she would either pervade or fall like her comrades had.

Flapping her wings as she rounded the last corner before the throne hallway, Luna put every ounce of physical energy she had into making it to the throne room. Creating a magical bow shock wave before her, Luna blew the heavy double doors open as though they were made of wicker. Leaping over the threshold, she spun in midair and threw her head back as she used her magic to slam the doors shut. To her continuing horror she heard something heavy slam against the doors as she began to search for something to brace them with. What came next however was more than her resolve could withstand.

The room itself dimmed as shapes moved in front of the windows, the unmistakable sound of window latches being popped following soon after. Tentacles and slimy bodies attempted to crawl through but could only manage to fill the windows, effectively blocking off any retreat. The main doors shuddered one final time before creaking open with an agonizing slowness. Now there was truly nowhere to run as what appeared to be the leader of the alien invaders crawled through the doors. With a whimper, Luna dropped down to the instinctual defensive position of laying on her belly. There was no escape, and she could not fight back otherwise the strange gas these things released would surely incapacitate her anyway. The final conscious part of her mind commanded her magic to form a bubble shield around her quivering form.

The large creature stalked forward, its victory assured as its hisses took on a distinctly victorious sounding tone. Tentacles snaked forward as the creature approached, wrapping themselves around her shield and constricting with a force that the trapped Princess could feel on her psyche. The creature was now upon her as she began hyperventilating, her eyes wide with pure, unadulterated panic. Its lifeless black eyes fixed her with their gaze as it pressed its face up to the shield. This was it, the end of Luna, Princess of the Night. She shut her eyes tightly as she prepared for the inevitable.

"Gotcha Lulu." Came the sing song voice of Celestia.

Luna's eyes flew open to see the creature before her split in half as the zipper sealing the body suit opened and her sister stepping out of it, the widest possible grin on her muzzle. Teal eyes darted to the windows where more creatures were being revealed as expertly costumed ponies with more smiles on their faces as well. Luna shot to her hooves as her bubble shield faded away, head turning every which direction as she attempted to take everything in.

"W-what is the m-meaning of t-this!?" Luna stuttered out, ending with a small squeak.

"Oh Luna, you really shouldn't believe everything you hear on the radio, especially when they decide to play out novels like they did tonight." Celestia smiled at her sister like a cat with cornered prey.

The only response Luna could give was to release a sigh as her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed on the spot, her mind having reached its limit.

Interlude 1: A Dream of Mine, Revenge Divine?

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Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.

Interlude 1: A Dream of Mine, Revenge Divine?

Nightmare Moon was not a happy camper, and she was making sure that anypony who interacted with her knew it. A scowl was leveled at whatever stood in her path for more than a moment, although, at this time of day its effect was somewhat diminished. The midday sun streamed in through the many windows of the castle, causing the hallways to practically glow as the light diffused throughout them. Birds sang their happy songs as they flitted about outside, their tunes carrying through the opened windows. This combined with the large goggles that Nightmare wore over her light sensitive eyes made her come across as not anypony to fear really, just somepony that was best avoided.

It had finally reached a tipping point with her cutie mark quest and she was ready to swallow her pride to ask for help, not that she had to be happy about that exactly. Although Luna had been very accommodating in letting her try her hoof at all kinds of night related magic, she could not move the moon, darken the sky, or shift the stars. She knew the spells to do all of these things, but the connection just wasn’t there like it had been when she was one with Luna. She had to know for certain if it was not just the limitations on her current body or if it was something that was truly beyond her grasp. To find out what she wanted to know, she would have to go to her ‘creator’ so to speak, Luna’s brother Terra. As far as she knew, the only one who could contact him was his daughter, Cadence.

Currently the pink alicorn was adding to Nightmare Moon’s frustrations, since she was seemingly nowhere to be found. How in the world did something that garishly pink hide in the first place? It was illogical how she was eluding Nightmare so well. Admittedly she may have had slightly better luck had she taken the time to ask somepony instead of frightening them away with her visage. Just as she was ready to give up however, she was suddenly struck by the desire to poke her head into one of the side rooms, where she hit the jackpot. There Cadence and her coltfriend, Shining Armor, sat facing each other. Just as they were leaning in to exchange a kiss Nightmare decided to announce her presence.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Nightmare slowly drawled out as she sauntered forward.

“Bwuh!?” Shining Armor sputtered as he reeled backwards.

“Eep!” Cadence squeaked before backpedaling.

“And now I know why it was so difficult finding you Cadence. Sneaking off to make out with your coltfriend like that, how simply scandalous such behavior is.” Nightmare leered at the furiously blushing couple with a predatory grin.

“Nightmare Moon, what are you doing out alone? Princess Luna is supposed to be watching you all the time.” Shining attempted to turn the tables and go on the offensive.

“Luna is not my keeper Captain Armor, I am my own mare now and I will do as I please.” Nightmare leveled a caustic glare up at the Captain.

“Er, well, what I meant was, um…” Shining sputtered, once again on the defensive and trying to avoid the diminutive Nightmare’s wrath.

“Nightmare? Please don’t tell my aunts that we snuck away?” Cadence adopted a hopeful look as she pleaded with the dark filly.

“Oh? So you are both shirking your duties for this little rendezvous then? I was unaware of that juicy little tid-bit.” Nightmare’s predatory grin could not have stretched further.

“Gah! Stupid, stupid!” Cadence’s hoof met her face and proceeded to slowly drag downward.

“Hehehe! Don’t despair my little ponies, not yet anyway, I believe you have the means to keep this quiet.”

“Oh great, here comes the blackmail.” Shining groaned.

“My goodness, blackmail is such an ugly word Captain. Simply think of this as exchanging a favor for a dear friend.” Nightmare batted her eyelashes in faux innocence at the stallion.

“Okay Nightmare, I have no problems doing favors for my friends. What is it you need us to do for you?” Cadence adopted her diplomatic foal-sitting voice.

“It’s really very simple my dear, I only ask of one little favor from each of you. First you Cadence, I want to speak with your father.” Nightmare stared resolutely at the larger pink alicorn.

“My dad? Is that all? That’s easy, we can do that now if you want, but may I ask why?” A slightly confused Cadence tilted her head at the smaller mare.

“…You’ll see when we get to it I suppose. It’s a bit of a personal issue.” Nightmare could not meet Cadence’s gaze.

“Okay, then I won’t press you. Like I said, we can go now and give him a call if you want. Now what did you want from Shining?”

“Ah yes, the good Captain. You have it even easier; all you have to do is display a bit of chivalry for me.” Nightmare looked up innocently at the Captain.

“Huh?” Shining deadpanned at the dark filly.

“I seem to have become dreadfully tired in my search for you today, and my hooves are now sore from all that walking. Would the big strong knight give me a ride to our destination?” Nightmare’s voice was dripping with saccharin.

“What!? No way! I know for a fact that you don’t get tired, and I am pretty sure that artificial hooves can’t get sore either.” Shining steeled his defenses with his retort.

“That was just hateful. Oh well, I’m sure Celestia will be interested to hear where her vaunted guard Captain has been spending his on duty time.” Nightmare’s fanged grin provoked Cadence into action as she leaned in to whisper in the captain’s ear.

“Come on Shiny, let’s just do this. If you think about it she could have really made some outrageous demands compared to this.”

“Alright fine, let’s just get this over with so we can put this whole thing behind us.”

Shining lowered himself onto the ground so that Nightmare could easily climb onto him. What he hadn’t expected was for her to take a running leap and land squarely in the saddle of his armor. As Shining Armor recovered some of the breath that was knocked from him, Nightmare took the opportunity to situate herself by sitting upright with her hind legs dangling to either side, and her fore hooves gripped onto the base of his helmet. Slowly, he stood up and bore the extra weight of the dark alicorn atop his back.

“Now, let us be off. YAH MULE!” Nightmare hollered, as she gave a sharp tap to her mount’s sides with her rear hooves.

“Excuse me?” Shining turned his head to become face to face with the grinning Nightmare Moon.

“Don’t make me break out the bit and bridle my little pony, we wouldn’t want to make your fillyfriend jealous now would we?” Nightmare leered directly into the flustered stallion’s face.

“Come on my handsome mule, let’s go.” Cadence had the good humor to giggle at Shining’s predicament before making her way back into the castle hallways.

===== One egregiously long and embarrassing parade through the castle later =====

“You made us take the long way on purpose Nightmare!” Shining Armor groused at his charge.

“That is not true.” Nightmare retorted.

“You insisted we pass by the guard barracks for no apparent reason!”

“How rude, I thought you would want to tell your subordinates that you would be busy for a while.”

“Hehe, it may be a while before they forget the sight of Nightmare leading you around.” Cadence giggled.

“Not helping! And why was it necessary to pass through the throne room?”

“I wanted to say hello to Celestia, is that a crime?”

“The look on auntie’s face was pretty funny, although the way she stayed all frozen up like that even as we were leaving makes me think we broke her somehow.” Cadence mused.

“Okay, here we are, Luna’s workshop. Time for all passengers to disembark.” Shining gave a slight buck and dislodged Nightmare from her perch.

"Doesn't auntie Luna call it something different?" Cadence queried as Nightmare landed lightly on her hooves.

"You mean when she says 'atelier'?" Nightmare looked up at the pink alicorn.

"What's the difference?" Shining wondered aloud.

"Nothing really, they are just different words for the same thing. The word 'atelier' is just what they called a magical laboratory back a thousand years ago, and I think we all know how dearly Luna sticks to the old ways." Nightmare explained as she led the other two ponies into the workshop.

“That’s another thing that has kind of bothered me. How is it that you speak modern Equestrian, but she doesn’t?” Shining Armor looked quizzically at Nightmare.

“That’s an easy one. While we were imprisoned in the moon, and not in a blind rage, I was usually in control of our body. I spent that time observing the evolution of pony culture through a window of sorts in our cell.”

"Yeah, I have heard aunt Celestia say that Luna needs speech therapy to adopt the modern tongue. I am not sure if she already mentioned that to her sister though." Cadence expounded as she walked up to the large, flat crystal embedded into one of the walls.

"Doubtful, Luna would probably attempt to beat the stuffing out of her if she had. Is this it? I had been wondering what this thing was." Nightmare slowly moved forward to examine the crystal.

"Yes, this device will let us talk to my dad. Just watch."

Cadence sat on her haunches before the crystal and focused her magic on it for a brief moment. The dark grey stone started to pulse slowly, causing Nightmare and Shining to tilt their heads in curiosity. After a few more moments of waiting, the stone changed to a blue color and a pony shaped image developed on the surface, which soon resolved into the image of Terra, Cadence's father. Seeing his daughter over on his side of the crystal communications device he smiled widely before greeting her.

"Cadenza my little filly! How are you doing over there? Not being spoiled rotten by those sisters of mine I hope?"

"Hi daddy! No, they are putting me to work so I don't get bored around here. Actually, the reason I called is that somepony else wants to talk to you." Cadence stepped aside and nudged Nightmare forward.

"Well if it isn't Nightmare Moon. What can I help you with, is there a problem with your body?" Terra looked on as the faux filly stared back at him.

"I should say so you great big buffoon! This thing is defective! You gave this body a cutie mark and I have no idea what it means or what I am supposed to do with it!" Nightmare unleashed her frustration on the now bewildered stallion.

"Okay, let’s correct the record here. First off, there is nothing wrong with that body. Second, I didn't give it a cutie mark of any kind. The mark you now bear on your flank is the same mark that is displayed within your Soul Gem. Since all alicorns are already born with their cutie marks you just have to figure out what yours means." Terra snorted in frustration as he finished.

"That's just it though! I have tried everything that I can think of that would relate to the moon and clouds displayed on my backside. I can’t for the life of me figure out what this stupid thing is trying to tell me." Nightmare fumed.

"Hmm, it would make sense that since you were born from my sister's essence that you would have probably taken over one her talents when you were separated. Are you sure you have tried everything that Luna does involving the night?"

"Yes, I have! And now I am getting frustrated because none of them seem to fit! Not a single part of the night sky will bend to my will!"

“Oh you poor thing, it sounds to me like you have a textbook case of Cutie Mark Compulsive Control Disorder.” Terra said with a sympathetic lilt to his voice.

“What?” Both Shining and Nightmare chimed at the same time.

“Hmm, not surprised you haven’t heard of it. After all, you Equestrians don’t consider it a legitimate medical condition.”

“That explained nothing you fool!” Nightmare growled at the crystal image.

“Allow me daddy.” Cadence stepped up and smiled down at the fuming Nightmare.

“We all know that Cutie Marks are unique to the pony culture and that every pony gets one eventually. Alicorns on the other hoof are born with them since we inherit control over one of the natural forces of the universe. In Equestria, when a pony gets their cutie mark it guides them to their destiny and puts them on a path for their life. When ponies don’t or can’t follow that path it can cause mental trauma and result in deep emotional instability. The same is true for alicorns like us. The magic of Cutie Marks is an ancient and powerful one that is deeply rooted in the pony psyche.”

“However, I saw an inherent flaw in the system of Cutie Marks for two reasons.” Terra interjected before allowing Cadence to continue.

"The first was that a they actually come with a whole host of medical problems that crop up from time to time. Cutie Pox being one good example." Cadence continued before hoofing the baton back to her father.

"Secondly, every few centuries or so, some blithering idiot of a unicorn manages to stumble upon a spell that either alters or swaps the cutie marks of other ponies. This seems to rewire the affected pony’s brain and causes them to make drastic lifestyle changes despite knowing full well their own past. Seeing something like that overriding the rational thoughts of a pony just did not sit right with me."

"So what did you do?" Shining Armor piped up, genuinely curious.

“I created a very special type of mineral compound using my geomancy. When a newborn foal is exposed to the unique radiation that it gives off, their body chemistry is altered to suppress the control that a cutie mark usually exerts on them later in life.”

“That doesn’t sound natural.” Shining said with a frown.

“Maybe not, but its loads more ethical than allowing a cutie mark to basically enslave a pony. I can offer them a choice in life, and the ability to follow their hearts desires rather than a preset path that may not provide true happiness.” Terra said with a lifted snout.

“Yes, yes, as fascinating as this all has been what does it have to do with my problem? Or have you already forgotten why I even contacted you?” Nightmare spoke up with a snarl and narrowing of her draconic eyes.

"Hmm, I suppose I did get a little side tracked. Oh well, as you should know Nightmare, my sister’s talents extend beyond just the night sky. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, I know that both of my sisters kept diaries when they were coming of age and discovering their talents. I bet if you could find Luna's diary you could gain some insight on her other abilities." Terra was now smiling at his own brilliance.

"Hmm, yes, steal Luna’s diary." Nightmare pondered with a hoof scratching her chin.

“Huh? But I didn’t-”

“Subterfuge and espionage, yes...” Nightmare was now rubbing her fore hooves together conspiratorially.

“I really wouldn’t rec-”

“Cloak and dagger tactics, that’s brilliant! I knew there was a reason I liked you more than Celestia! Thanks for the advice, but I must be quick while Luna is still asleep!” Nightmare bounded off, leaving a confused Terra staring at the space she had just occupied.

“She does know that she is probably the one pony in the entire world that could just ask Luna for her diary straight up right?” Terra deadpanned.

“Sometimes it’s just best to let ponies learn their own lessons.” Shining quipped as he watched Nightmare slip out of the room.

Cadence and Shining Armor stayed a bit longer to chat with Terra before ending the call and wandering out towards the rest of the castle. Since they had heard no shrieking, explosions, or the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was assumed by the duo that either Nightmare had not been caught, or she had yet to make her move. Although they both sympathized with her frustration over her cutie mark, they wanted no part in any activity that had the slightest chance to earn the Moon Princess’s wrath. Besides, Shining Armor already knew from experience with his own sister that a mare and her diary were best left well alone. Doubly so when that mare was a talented mage, and who could be more talented than a bonafide princess?

===== Princess Luna’s chambers =====

Nightmare Moon slunk along the floor as low as she could go, creeping across the floor of Luna’s chambers on her belly. The darkened room was almost devoid of light, although her predatory eyes amplified what little there was so that she was able to make out her surroundings halfway decently. Sleeping soundly in the center of the large, plush bed, Luna was oblivious to the waking world. Edging closer to the bedside, Nightmare pumped magic into her eyes to enhance her vision and scan the area for traps. She noticed a fair number of wards placed on her first destination and the most obvious spot to look for a diary, the nightstand.

Over the next ten minutes all of the traps had been neutralized, except for the few that she had botched and managed to trip. It must have been a lucky day since she was only set on fire twice and struck by lightning once! Miraculously, none of the tripped spells had awakened the sleeping princess, leaving Nightmare to wonder what their purpose was when their creator slept like the dead anyway. Dismissing the idle wonder, Nightmare slowly pried the drawer of the nightstand open while furtively shooting glances at the sleeping alicorn next to her. Just as she got the drawer open wide enough to peek inside however, her expression settled into a frown. Inside was a single tome, and she didn’t need to be a genius to tell that the new looking book before her was the latest in the series of Luna’s diaries. One this new had probably only been in use since their escape from the moon, the volumes she sought were far older than that. Silently cursing, Nightmare closed the drawer and began re-applying the wards once more. Looking across the room once she finished, the long row of shelves stuffed full of books caught her eyes.

Wandering over, her magically enhanced vision picked up on the enchantments and wards placed throughout the books shelves. With a deep sigh, Nightmare began the arduous task of sifting through the books before her. Not a single one had the look of a diary, but perhaps they had been disguised to look like any normal book. Time drifted by, and as midday approached, Nightmare had still not found anything even remotely promising. Just as she was pulling another book out in frustration, something behind it caught her eye, barely noticeable in the limited light of the room. There was a small emblem etched into the back of the shelf only fully visible after clearing all of the books concealing it. Curiosity getting the best of her, Nightmare pressed her hoof to the strange emblem to hear a clicking noise followed by the entire panel shifting backwards before sliding aside to reveal a hidden alcove beyond, filled with books, ancient looking books. Nightmare grinned at the ingenuity of the security; a mechanical device would not show up under a magical scan and would require a physical search just like she had done.

Reaching into the recess, Nightmare carefully lifted out one of the ancient tomes. She noticed that it had what appeared to be a date on the spine, although there were no other makings on the cover. Quickly scanning through the dates arrayed before her, she noticed that they stopped shortly before a thousand years ago. Before they had been exiled to the moon. With a shudder, Nightmare began taking volumes that displayed dates before her earliest conscious memories, before she herself had gained sentience in the back of Luna's mind. As she covered her trail and prepared to leave Luna's chambers she spared a glance at her former host. With a groan, Luna turned in her sleep and revealed an ancient and raggedy looking doll clutched firmly in her fore hooves. Smiling warmly, Nightmare crept out of the room, she had much to do, but taking the moment to observe the innocent happiness of her alter ego did much to lift the weight that had born down on her the past few weeks.

Stealing into a side room, Nightmare opened the first of the books that she had 'borrowed' and set to reading the innermost thoughts of Princess Luna. Many of the first entries that she skimmed through were what she expected, rather inane rambling about nothing of much consequence. There was the occasional entry about some pony that had caught her eye for one reason or another. Most were simply about everyday life and growing up with her sister. Quick skimming soon brought Nightmare to what she had been searching for, entries about Luna discovering her abilities with magic. After carefully reading through another stack of entries, Nightmare finally found one that made her heart race with new hope. Taking her time to translate back the ancient Equestrian script with precise detail, Nightmare knew what she had not yet tried, dream walking. How had she not tried this yet? Had it been simply because Luna had not really done any dream walking herself since her return? Now that she thought about it, the one time that she had seen Luna try it, she had struggled to complete the spell. Where she had chalked that incident up to a lack of practice, she saw now that perhaps the struggle had more to do with a loss of natural ability for the spell.

Reading further for any details of the process that Luna imparted to the diary, Nightmare gleaned several important details of dream walking that Luna had discovered. Firstly, she would have access to the dreams of anypony who was not conscious while she was performing her spell. Second, even if they were not actually having a dream then she could not make contact with them. Next, while she interacted with a dreamer, they would be entirely lucid during her interaction with them. Perhaps the biggest restriction that she read stated that she would not be able to alter their dream in any way; she was merely going to be an observer and possibly counselor, if she felt like it that is.

Settling into a cushion on the floor after setting aside the diary, Nightmare channeled as much magic into her spell as she could, ready to try and make the spell work by force like she had with all of Luna's other abilities. What she did not expect however was the sudden activation of the spell as soon as she applied the slightest hint of power to it, and what she could not see with her eyes closed in focus was the slight shimmer that passed over the full moon and clouds displayed on her flanks. Her mind was taken from the waking world as the spell easily spooled up and took her to the border realm of dreams.

Opening her eyes, Nightmare immediately noticed that she appeared to be in the same room as she had been when attempting her spell. The only difference was that now everything was somewhat translucent and indistinct, almost like looking at a heat mirage. It was only after attempting to stand however that she noticed a rather large and immediate difference. Quickly summoning a mirror to her side she stared at a reflection that was both her and not her at the same time. The mare in the mirror was now a fully grown, midnight black alicorn, tall and slender, with wide ebony wings. Her long mane and tail of silver hair setting apart a stark yet elegant appearance. The teal, draconic eyes stared back as they slowly roved over her now adult body. This was exactly how she had pictured she should look in real life, not stuck in the diminutive body that Luna's brother had fashioned for her.

There was only one thing that needed changing, and if this was the dream world, then she was only limited by her imagination. Closing her eyes and imagining what she wanted, her ears flicked as an audible snapping sound was heard before she opened her eyes again. Now she was clad in a newer, deep purple and silver, version of the armor that she had worn all those years ago. A familiar helmet graced her head and ran down her neck, her silver mane spilling out of the top, unimpeded. Her old boots were now heavier and sported greaves that covered each of her four legs. The thin chest piece that she had worn was now replaced with a harness the size of Celestia's, although Nightmare's bore sharp angles that made it look like an exploding star, with her cutie mark of a full moon resting on a bed of clouds set into the middle. Nightmare sent the mirror before her a fanged smile as she admired her new look, letting herself be lost in the moment of indulgent vanity.

Once her fun was over though, she recalled why she was here in the first place. It seemed that her talent had to do with the dream world, but the whole point of dream walking was to interact with the ponies of Equestria as they slept. Recalling Luna's notes about being able to see other ponies as bright lights if she sought them, Nightmare cast out her thoughts in search of a sleeping pony only to immediately realize her error. She had cast the dream walking spell in the middle of the afternoon! There were few if any ponies who were asleep right now. Casting aside her feelings of stupidity, Nightmare realized that there were still a few ponies nearby who were asleep at this time of day, with a grin she turned her body into mist and drifted through several walls to reappear back in Luna's chambers.

Sure enough, there was the sleeping princess, still in her bed, although now she sported a bright blue, spherical aura around her that was emblazoned with her cutie mark. Nightmare pranced in place happily with the anticipation of showing off her discovery to Luna. Doing as she had read in Luna's diary, Nightmare brought her horn in contact with the aura barrier only to have it all go wrong. There was a huge pulse of energy that sharply rejected the contact and sent Nightmare straight to her backside and all the way across the room. Rubbing her horn with a scowl, Nightmare looked back at Luna to see her aura now sporting a large kite shield emblem behind the cutie mark symbol. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was denied access to Luna's dreams, but there was still one more pony to try, Trixie Lulamoon.

Once again drifting through the dream world as a mist, Nightmare proceeded directly into the young unicorn's bedroom. Once she reappeared, she spent the next few minutes laughing at the sight before her. It would appear as if Trixie had been reading in bed as she fell asleep, tucked in as she was with the open book now resting on her face with her soft snores coming from under it. As she approached however she noticed something that gave her a moment of pause, Trixie’s aura had a slight red tint to it, and Luna’s notes never mentioned anything about specific colors on an aura. Approaching Trixie cautiously, Nightmare bent her head low and contacted her horn to Trixie’s reddish aura, causing a bright pulse of light before pulling her into the young mare’s dreams.

===== Trixie’s dream =====

Opening her eyes, Nightmare Moon looked out on the mostly darkened world and realized that she was suspended above it. A small village was beneath her, and reminded her vaguely of the small village of Ponyville near the base of Mount Canterlot. A bright light flooded down from behind her but she could not determine its source, until she looked down on a lake near the village and saw the reflection of the full moon, complete with the alicorn shaped scar that signified her imprisonment within it. With a panicked rush, Nightmare leapt away in a random direction away from the moon, causing her dream body to materialize as she looked back at the moon, now lacking her visage. Slowing her breathing, Nightmare felt drawn to the village below her, as though something that she sought was down there. Spreading her dark wings, Nightmare began to spiral down to the village, taking enjoyment in the simple act of flight.

Once on the ground, Nightmare realized that the village was abuzz with activity, all of which was coming from the center of town. Making her way towards the commotion coming from a gathered crowd of ponies, who were strangely indistinct, not facial features beyond the structural differences indicating gender, no cutie marks could be seen on these dream ponies either. Since the dream ponies did not react to her presence, Nightmare continued to make her way through the crowds until she saw a stage that they had gathered around. Since she was now at her full grown height she was easily able to see what was upon the stage even from a distance, but the sight before her caused a bit of confusion in the dream walking alicorn.

Four ponies stood on stage, one was Trixie, although she was wearing a cape and conical hat of purple, covered in stars and crescent moons, she was cringing away from the other three who surrounded her. The first, was an earth pony mare, with an orange coat and blonde mane and tail topped with a stetson, a trio of red apples on her flank. The second was a light blue pegasus mare, mane and tail composed of vivid rainbow colors, a lightning bolt descending from a cloud adorning her flank. The third was a white coated unicorn mare, her deep purple mane and tail intricately curled in an ornate manner, triplicate diamonds graced her flank. Strangely, all three of the other ponies were hurling insults at Trixie, their voices full of venom and spite as they cowed the trembling showmare. Nightmare could only look on in a quizzical fashion as she wondered if this was a memory being relived or if it was an active dream.

Suddenly, a yell of rage exploded from Trixie as she had apparently reached her limit of absorbing insults and degradation. Her magic flaring to life, Trixie rounded on her aggressors and proceeded to deal with them. The white unicorn reared back in fright as a wave of corrosive magic washed over her, her styled mane and tail slowly eroding away as her coat was stained a splotchy green and brown color. The earth pony was magically bound and gagged like a hog before being tossed into and suspended from a nearby apple tree. Finally, the pegasus was consumed in a vortex of wind, causing her to tumble helplessly within as lightning clouds formed outside before repeatedly shocking the trapped mare followed by dropping her on her flank before the crowd. Just as Trixie stood triumphantly on stage, huffing with the effort of her magical assault, Nightmare noticed something else, a purple unicorn mare had materialized on stage. Trixie spun around to face the newcomer with fire in her eyes once she had appeared.

"YOU! HOW DARE YOU STAND BEFORE ME!" Trixie bellowed at the mare.

"What's wrong you great big blowhard? Afraid I will make a fool of you again?" The purple mare sneered.

"SHUT YOUR TRAP! I will destroy you this time! Revenge will be mine!" Trixie seethed at her challenger as her horn lit up.

"Like you could ever beat me you fraud. Your power is nothing compared to mine." The haughty unicorn retorted with her muzzle raised high.

Letting loose an inarticulate growl, Trixie blasted the other unicorn with a wave of concussive force, knocking her down and sending her skidding across the stage. Nightmare watched on as Trixie pummeled the other unicorn with her magic, never causing serious injury, but making it obvious who had the upper hoof in this contest. It became clear to Nightmare what she was witnessing. Through the clarity of an unfiltered mind, she was witnessing Trixie's desire for revenge against the mares that were antagonizing her. Knowing full well the corruption that the desire for revenge could bring about, the dark alicorn found herself longing to guide the young showmare away from it. It was almost as if her nonexistent heart yearned for the mares salvation. The only thing stopping her was the note she had read in Luna's diary that explained that while she could interact with the dreaming pony, she could not alter the dream world.

Up on stage, the purple unicorn had been knocked off of her hooves again and struggled gamely upward once more only to be crushed back down by a gravity alteration spell from Trixie. The showmare's eyes were now a burning red with faint purple ribbons of energy drifting from the corners. The downed mare refused to yield despite never once landing a blow on Trixie.

"Does it sting to know that I am better than you, you foal." The trapped mare jabbed at her captor.

"Now who are you calling a foal? You should really look in a mirror before saying something careless like that." Trixie hissed at her tormentor before engulfing her in a swirling mass of sickly looking magic.

As the magic faded away, the purple unicorn was revealed having been age regressed to the point of a tiny foal, clad in a diaper and a pacifier. She began to cry and flail about on the stage as Trixie stepped back and reared onto her hind hooves only, maniacal laughter belting out of her. As her laughter faded, Trixie again dropped to all fours and turned to face two unicorns that had appeared on stage with her. One a lanky orange colt, and the other a shorter grey colt, each cheering as they approached her, which strangely caused her to back away from them.

"Oh great and powerful Trixie, show us more amazing magic!" The lanky orange colt exclaimed.

"Yeah, show us how you dealt with the ursa major! We brought you one so we could see your amazing magic!" The shorter colt bounded in place as a monstrous roar was heard behind the stage.

Casting her draconic eyes up over the stage, Nightmare Moon saw a blurry shape that seemed to meld directly out of the starry night sky. Once the form became distinct, it was revealed to be a towering ursa minor, not quite as deadly as the adult, but still plenty more than enough to destroy the entire village. Trixie backed away from the beast as it loomed over her stage at first before she stopped and held her ground. Growling a return challenge at the beast, her eyes once again went red, the purple energy ribbons at the corners lengthening and becoming more distinct. Nightmare narrowed her own eyes at the changes in the young unicorn, it was something she had seen before, something that happened many years ago when a once great king gave himself to anger and revenge. She had to do something before Trixie's anger led her down a dark path.

"Watch in awe, as the great and powerful Trixie tames the savage beast!" Trixie exclaimed while rearing up and flourishing her cape.

More of the young unicorn's corrupted magic lanced forth and struck the great star bear square in the chest. The beast stumbled back with a roar as it clutched at the spot that Trixie had struck, shaking its head back and forth as though trying to rid its vision of something. The ursa went still for a moment before opening its eyes, revealing them to be tinged with red, similarly to Trixie's. The young showmare laughed once more as she rose to stand and twirl on a single hind hoof before landing on all fours again and leering at the purple unicorn who she had turned into a foal.

"Do you see now you miserable insect? Do you see who has the power? You may have surprised me before but you will never truly best me!" Trixie hissed at the crying foal before turning to the patiently waiting ursa.

"Go my servant! Destroy this hideous little town for your master, leave nothing standing! Teach these fools what happens to those who try to ruin my career!"

The ursa nodded in understanding before raising both forepaws and bringing them down on the nearest house, shattering the entire structure into so many splinters. Trixie resumed her laughter as the ursa moved on to the next buildings to resume its command. Nightmare had seen enough, the scene before her may have only been a dream, but she was also seeing the desires of the young unicorn having the dream. Acting on instinct Nightmare willed the entire scene to come to a halt, hoping against hope that she may be able to counsel the disturbed dreamer as was the job of a dream walker. To her surprise, the dreamscape bent to her will, with no complaint whatsoever.

The world froze suddenly, the bawling purple foal on stage in mid flail, the ursa in mid swing through another building. All color had drained from the world, the vibrant colors replaced with stark black and white, grayscale filling in the remainder. All sound had ceased only to replaced with a deafening silence, broken only by the bewildered sound of Trixie as she struggled to process what had happened. Nightmare was astonished that she had been able to alter the dream of another pony, all of Luna's notes had said specifically that she was merely an observer in other ponies dreams. Could it be that she had been able to take things a step further because dream walking was her special talent? In the back of her mind she knew that this ability was nothing to scoff at, and that there was tremendous power in dreams. Now she needed to use her power to save the clearly troubled mare on stage.

"What is this? This can't be happening! Nothing can stop my revenge! Please! Just let me have my revenge!" Trixie whined and pleaded at the world from her stage.

"Neigh Trixie. Revenge will not come in the form you desire." Nightmare's voice was deafening in the void of silence.

Trixie spun around to finally see what appeared to be a fully grown Nightmare Moon standing amidst the frozen crowd of ponies. She could only stutter incoherently as Nightmare began her approach to the stage. For her part Trixie found herself rooted her spot as in the worst of nightmares, the dark alicorn that she barely recognized approached with agonizing slowness. Nightmare came to a stop before the young mare, towering over her with her natural height, and giving off a commanding aura in her new armor set. Trixie finally seemed to find her voice to squeak out the question with the obvious answer.

"N-nightmare? Is t-that you?"

"Indeed it is my little pony." Nightmare flashed her now much more intimidating fangs, smiling at the young mare.

"But h-h-how are y-you here? What is g-going on?" Trixie asked as she sunk down to lay on her belly, submissively.

"It would seem as though I have discovered what my special talent is today. I am Nightmare Moon, the mistress of dreams, and my cutie mark is telling me that it is my job to set right the hearts of those who have gone astray. You, my dear, have gone astray." Nightmare craned her head and neck downward to meet Trixie's eyes.

"What are you going to do to me?" Trixie's frightened whisper was barely audible.

“To be honest, I know what I should do, but I am conflicted. Tell me, is what I have seen here in your dreams accurate to real life?” Nightmare shifted to sit on her haunches before the smaller mare.

“Yes ma’am, mostly.” Trixie sighed as she spoke.

“Tell me about it, and I will make my decision based on your testimony.”

“Before I met either you or the princess, I was a solo traveling performer. I would go from town to town, putting on my show for a few days before packing up and moving on again. It was a difficult life, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Everything was going fine until I came to perform in the town of Ponyville a little while ago. I had performed there in the past and never had a problem, but something was different this last time.”

“Was it the mares that you fought against here in your dream?”

“Yes, for some reason they banded together shortly after I started my opening performance and began to aggressively heckle me. I was starting out simple, performing easy conjuring spells and rope tricks because they are always a hit for the fillies and colts in the audience, which there were quite a few of up front as I recall. They got to be so disruptive that I had to call them out and use my magic to try and convince them to either behave or leave. In the end I used more force than I probably should have.”

Trixie’s eyes went wide before she clamped her fore hooves over her muzzle, the suggestion of using too much force not being something she wanted to reveal. Nightmare however, just grinned downward at the young mare.

“Don't be surprised Ms. Lulamoon. In the world of dreams, the mind does not filter the heart, so you can't lie. Now, let your heart’s truth finish what you have to tell me.” Trixie looked to the ground in misery before continuing her story.

"Sorry, ma'am. After I had dealt with the ponies that had tried to disrupt my show I recovered as best I could. The show went on even though I could tell that the mood was different after those brutish mares had acted up and I had been forced to deal with them. I closed up my act with a crowd favorite, telling tall tales of bravery and heroism, things that young ponies tend to enjoy. What I didn't count on was my stories being taken for truth by a particularly slow witted pair of colts in the crowd. It was later that evening after I had retired to my caravan that everything truly went downhill."

"The ursa minor?"

"Yes, somehow the pair of colts that you saw in my dream found an ursa living in the nearby forest. They woke it up and led it into town to have me deal with it like I had done in my stories. Needless to say, the beast was enraged and started to destroy the town. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and it would have probably destroyed the entire town had that purple unicorn not shown up and handled it. The only problem afterwards was the fact that her actions combined with the unbelievable naivety of the young colts soon had the entire town rallying against me. The ursa had destroyed my home during its rampage and I was forced to flee the town before they formed a mob to apprehend me. I ran into the forest and eventually stumbled on the old castle where you and Luna found me."

"Where you were attempting to gain the knowledge of Luna's library. Tell me, what would you have used that knowledge for had you been able to access it?"

"I wanted revenge, and I still do. Those ponies destroyed my life and humiliated me! I want them to suffer for what they did."

“Hmm, your story leaves me with a difficult choice to make, but one I must make anyway. Your desire for revenge is one born of righteousness, you were wronged after having done very little wrong yourself. However, revenge is a caustic thing, no matter the reason. A true desire to demean and destroy those who slighted you will always lead down a dangerous and repetitive road. I can tell you first hoof that this is true.” Nightmare calmly delivered her short sermon to her one pony audience.

“But, but…” Trixie trailed off, crestfallen as she realized she would not escape unpunished.

“Therefore, Ms. Lulamoon, I will alter your dreams. You will not have nightmares, because you are not a bad pony. Instead you will be shown the end results of the drive for revenge. Once you awaken, find me, and tell me what you have learned.”

“Y-yes ma’am.” Trixie whispered as her head drooped low, unable to meet Nightmare’s gaze.

“Please, my little pony, do not think of me as the heartless mare of eternal darkness like Celestia’s stories portray me. Let me save you from the fate that revenge will drive you towards.” Nightmare lifted Trixie’s head with a massive hoof to meet her gaze again.

“Besides, I never said that you weren’t deserving of justice. If you can leave your revenge by the wayside, then I can help you get that justice.”

“R-really? Do you promise?” Trixie looked up hopefully at the dark alicorn.

“If you have learned the proper lesson then yes. Now, pay close attention to the dreams that you will have tonight, and remember to seek me out when you know what it all means.”

Seeing the young unicorn steel herself, Nightmare stood tall, closed her eyes, and channeled her magic into the construct of the dream world. Feeling its flow and sensing the elements to alter, her dark magic seemed to spread across the night sky and the ground beneath their hooves. The world dimmed and blurred around them as Nightmare’s magic seized control of the dreamscape and bent it to her will. Trixie gave her a thin smile before the dreamscape blurred completely and she was guided into the new dream. Nightmare herself felt a lurching sensation akin to the feeling of teleportation as she was removed from Trixie’s dreamscape.

Opening her eyes and breathing deeply (oh how she missed breathing!), Nightmare stood once more in the dream over world, still in Trixie’s bedchambers. The reddish aura that had surrounded the sleeping unicorn had changed to a grey color, now seeming a bit less off-putting than it had been. More curious was the observation that the cutie mark on its surface had changed as well. Trixie’s wand and magic was still there, but was now encased in a larger version of Nightmare’s own cutie mark, held within the sphere of the full moon. Smiling, she realized that her mark had literally been left on the young unicorn before striding back to the main hallway.

===== Nighttime in Canterlot Castle =====

The night had long since fallen, yet Nightmare Moon waited patiently for her prey to make its appearance. It seemed as though she could maintain the dream walking spell indefinitely seeing as how she was not feeling even the slightest ache of magical fatigue. She had been waiting patiently in the dream realm of Celestia's bedchambers for a few hours now for the elder princess to retire for the day and fall asleep. Her eyes flashed with excitement as a spherical aura suddenly grew from the bed she sat next to. This aura was a calming and light sky blue color, and just being near it Nightmare could feel the positivity radiating from the aura. Naturally it was emblazoned with Celestia's cutie mark, making its owner readily identifiable, what differed from the aura that Luna had sported however, was the distinct lack of a shield symbol around the cutie mark.

Nightmare's grin widened as her suspicions were validated, Celestia had no defenses against dream magic since she could not perform it. This cleared the way for the next part of her plan and a new test of her abilities. Focusing on the image that she had stored in her memory of a very specific pony, Nightmare was rewarded with a tone much like a distant bell being rung. Turning her eyes in the direction of the tone Nightmare saw a pinprick of bright light shining through the haze of the dream world. Focusing on the point of light, her body dissolved, only to reassemble itself at her intended target. Looking around to gather her bearings, the environment soon came back to her as the tiny town of Ponyville, situated near the base of Mount Canterlot. Flowing towards the now bigger beacon of light, Nightmare found herself standing before a building that resembled a massive gingerbread house. There were three auras that she could see within the structure but the one at the very top was the one that she sought.

Flowing through the dreamscape as a mist, Nightmare entered the top room of the residence and wasted no time before entering the dreams of the young pink mare sprawled out on the bed she found there. It barely registered in her mind that this mare's aura was also a bright and happy blue, or the trio of balloons that graced its surface. The only thing that Nightmare was concerned about was entering the dream of the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie.

===== Pinkie's dream =====

Nightmare came to immediately and almost completely regret her decision to dive headfirst into the dream of this mare. It seemed as though the entire dreamscape was the antithesis to everything she was. A bright and cheerful sun hung overhead that bore a bright, grinning face as it bobbed about in the sky, swaying to the beat of the pulsing, rhythmic music that seemed to be coming from nowhere yet filled the atmosphere. The town itself was weighted down in bright banners and party streamers, confetti seemed to rain down from no specific source in a perpetual, multicolored drizzle. The airspace above the buildings was awash with bright balloons that swayed in a gentle breeze but never seemed to float away. At the epicenter of all of the cheer was of course, Pinkie Pie. Nightmare observed the energetic young mare laughing and playing with the faceless dream ponies that frolicked around her and knew what she needed to do to get the party pony's attention.

Focusing her power, Nightmare changed the dream from bright day to deep night, watching as the dream reacted by grinding the party to a halt with the distinct sound of a record needle being dragged out of place. Nightmare once again froze the dream into the black, white, and gray that heralded her dominance of the dream. For her part Pinkie Looked on with concern as the color suddenly left her happy world.

"Hey! Who turned out all of the lights?"

"That would be me, my little pony." Nightmare said silkily as the wandered through the frozen partiers towards the pink mare.

"*gasp* Queen Meanie!? I thought you turned back into the nice princess!" Pinkie said as her mane began to go straighten out from its chaotic curls.

"Oh, Princess Luna is still back to who she was, but I am here now as well." Nightmare now sat before the distressed young mare.

"You aren’t gonna try and throw my friends off a cliff again are you?"

“No, I-”

“Or cut off another poor dragon’s mustache?”

“That was-”

“Or rile up another innocent manticore?”

“Hoenstly? I never-”

“Or trick my friends into betraying each other?”

“ENOUGH!” Nightmare bellowed as her rage boiled over.

“Eep!” Pinkie promptly shut her mouth and cowered before the massive alicorn.

“Miss Pie, I am not here to antagonize you or your friends. I am actually working on turning over a new leaf you might say.”

“You mean you aren’t gonna be a meanie anymore? You are gonna be a nice happy pony?” Pinkie perked up along with her mane as she questioned Nightmare.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here Miss Pie. I was aiming more towards neutral really. As for happy and nice? Maybe, but probably not within your lifetime. Anyway, I am here for a different reason, I need your help with something. Something that I believe you would be perfect for.”

“Really?” Pinkie leaned towards the alicorn with her eyes shimmering with glee.

“Yes. You see, Princess Celestia is a very busy and overworked pony. She never has any time for fun and games, or even much time to enjoy all of the things that life has to offer!”

“That’s no good! We have to help her!” Pinkie said with resolve in her voice.

“I agree Miss Pie. And that is why I have come to you in your dreams tonight to ask for your help in making this situation right. Now what I want you to do is…”

===== Princess Celestia’s dreams =====

Celestia lounged on a large fluffy cloud amidst the boundless, bright blue skies. The sun shone brightly above, pleasantly warming everything it touched and lending a soothing and relaxing aura to the world. There was no ground beneath the princess, the world consisted only of clouds, sky, and sunshine. What could be heard by the sensitive ears of the princess was the bustle of a happy city full of ponies, as soothing to her as a babbling brook to any other pony. Rolling onto her back and stretching her wings to her sides she gave a contented sigh and stared up aimlessly at the sky above. Just as she was thinking that things could not get any better, Nightmare Moon’s grinning face appeared right above her, blocking out the sun. With a shriek the princess flailed and fell off of her cloud. Spreading her wings to stop her fall, Celestia rose back up to the level of her former perch and stared incredulously at the sight of Nightmare Moon’s little filly form before her.

“Nightmare? Is that you? No, this isn’t possible!” Celestia queried the pony before her before backing away from the dark filly.

“You wound me Princess, backing away like that. Especially when I come all the way into your dreams bringing such great news.” Nightmare flashed her little fangs at the faltering Celestia.

“My dreams? That isn’t possible Nightmare, Dream Walking is my sister’s ability, the magics involved are far to advanced for you to be able to use.”

“Normally you would be right Princess, but you see, I have finally broken the puzzle of what my cutie mark is telling me. Allow me show you.” Nightmare faded away as she finished her statement, her body seeming to dissolve on its own.

The mist that was Nightmare’s body surged forth to violently seize the bright blue skies, spreading across them like ink poured into water. The cloud that Celestia and Nightmare had been using turned a dull grey and expanded in size, smoothing itself as it went until it resembled the polished marble floor of the castle. Faceless ponies of every variety rose up from the surface of the once cloud and stood at attention as the skies finished turning black. From the edges of the horizon, stars began to twinkle into view, spreading uniformly as the converged on the still shining, but ineffectual sun hanging in the sky. As the stars reached the sun it dimmed until its glare was reduced to the point where distinctive splotches could be seen along its once bright surface. The sun had been replaced with a massive moon, and what’s worse was that it bore the darkened scar in the shape of an alicorn head.

Celestia instantly felt old yet familiar pangs of guilt, sorrow, and grief as the scarred moon seemed to glare down at her. She had folded her wings as the gray surface had extended below her and sat before the faceless horde of ponies. Just as she felt that she could no longer bear the judging gaze of the moon, the scar disappeared from its surface with a brief pulse. Before her relief could be appreciated however, the air before her shimmered like a mirage, which resolved into the new form of Nightmare Moon. As tall as Celestia herself, darker than the midnight sky, sporting even heavier and bulkier silver and purple armor, and with a luxurious mane and tail of long silver hair, Nightmare Moon fixed her with those piercing, predatory eyes and smiled at Celestia’s shocked visage.

“While I appreciate you ogling my new body, I must advise you to close your mouth unless you are trying to catch flies.” Nightmare sauntered closer to the Sun Princess with a smirk adorning her muzzle.

“B-but, how is, when did, Bwuh?” Celestia babbled incoherently.

“Where are my manners! Allow me to introduce myself, I am Nightmare Moon, Mistress of Dreams!” Nightmare spoke as she came almost nose to nose with Celestia, never breaking eye contact.

Celestia almost toppled backwards as she leaned away from the proximity of the other mare, causing Nightmare to laugh while she recovered herself.

“I see, so you have taken over my sister’s Dream Walking abilities.” Celestia attempted to will calmness to her voice.

“Not so much taken over really, but as you can see, I have certainly taken it to another level.”

“Indeed you have Nightmare, I am happy for you.” Celestia adopted her regal façade again as she realized she was safe from harm in the dream world.

“Why thank you Princess, but I still have one thing that is bothering me. You see, I have been observing you since my return, and it seems to me that you are carrying far too much stress for such an old mare.” Nightmare nodded her head as though agreeing with herself.

“Hey! I am not that-” Celestia began her indignant rebuttal before being cut off as Nightmare continued.

“So to that end I want to demonstrate another of my abilities that I just discovered this very evening. Pinkie Pie dear, would you please join me?”

No sooner had her words been spoken than a tear in the dream fabric opened at Nightmare’s side. A distinct smell of bubble gum and freshly baked brownies flowed from the tear as the aforementioned Element of Harmony hopped forth. Still hopping in place as the tear closed behind her, Pinkie’s eyes darted every which way with barely contained glee.

“Hello again Ms. Pie, do you remember what we discussed?” Nightmare craned her neck downwards to be closer to the smaller pony’s eye level.

“Yuppers! I sure do Nightie! Let’s get this Cheer-The-Princess-Up-Because-All-She-Ever-Does-Is-Work-And-That- Is-Super-Boring party started!” Pinkie bounded higher and higher as she spoke before landing and pulling her party cannon from behind herself.

“That’s the spirit Ms. Pie, but allow me to help you. That little cannon just won’t do for a proper princess party.”

With a flash of her horn, Nightmare Moon replaced the small yet intimidating party cannon with a massive recreation of itself. Pinkie now a sat in the control seat of a hulking, trapezoid shaped turret which sported three enormous thirty foot long barrels that were leveled at a completely speechless Celestia. Pinkie gave a whoop of excitement as she pumped a forehoof into the air before reaching to pull the trigger of the massive artillery piece before Celestia could mount any type of defense. A near apocalyptic boom shook the dream to its foundations as the converted war machine went off. Tables laden with sweets and drinks appeared as confetti, balloons, and streamers rained down on the dull grey platform. Cheerful torches lined the sides of the area as lanterns floated lazily overhead. Celestia herself was covered up to her neck as a massive cake fell over her, her eyes rotating opposite each other as her head swayed in dizziness.

“Come on Princess, its time to par-tay!” Pinkie giggled as her upgraded party cannon disappeared.

“How is this even possible?” Celestia questioned as she shook her head clear.

“Never mind that silly billy! We are gonna have so much fun! I have everything planned out so that we can keep having fun all night long!” Pinkie hopped around the Sun Princess as she spoke.

Nightmare walked over to the confused princess and caught her eyes once more. She leaned in again, invading the princess’s personal space as she whispered to her.

“Oh yes Princess, this is my gift to you. I do hope you enjoy it, because this dream, shall last…” Nightmare drifted off to increase the suspense as Celestia’s pupils shrank in fear.

“Until I release you when it is time for you to raise the sun tomorrow morning.” Nightmare finished with a wide grin.

“Come on Princess! Let’s play pin the tail on the pony!” Celestia staggered a bit as pinkie jumped to glomp onto her neck before stuffing her muzzle with a hot sauce covered cupcake.

Celestia could only plead with her now watering eyes as Nightmare Moon reared up and gave her trademark villainous cackle before she faded away and sealed the two ponies into the Princess’s dream.

===== The next morning at the royal breakfast table =====

Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, and Trixie were already sat at the table. Though Nightmare herself rarely attended breakfast since she could not eat, this morning was a bit special. She was excitedly retelling the tale of her of her discovery on what her cutie mark meant for her. Trixie had confirmed her story where she had been involved, although what had happened afterward, Nightmare was somewhat vague about. Needless to say, Luna was overjoyed that not only had Nightmare discovered her special talent, but her purpose in her new life.

"Words cannot describe my happiness at thy discovery dear Nightmare. Thou shalt be an arbiter of justice where this age's court systems cannot reach."

"Yes, and I have already begun my mission by helping a troubled pony," Nightmare gestured towards Trixie, "as well as rewarding a good pony with pleasant dreams!"

"Oh, and pray tell who did you bestow a rewarding dream to?" Luna cocked her head at Nightmare's statement.

It was at that moment that the door to the private dining room creaked slowly open. Through the doorway, Princess Celestia dragged herself through and slowly made her way to the table. Once at her seat, she flopped limply down onto the cushion and let her head fall to the table surface with an audible thunking noise. Her normally regal mane was slightly frazzled and her crown was askew, but perhaps the most off-putting aspect was her bloodshot eyes. Conversation had ceased once the doorway had opened while both Luna and Trixie openly gawked at the sight before them. Luna was the first to recover herself as she initiated the most obvious statements.

"Sister, thou art quite late."

"Mmhmm." Came the absentminded agreement.

"Thy visage is most terrible." Celestia fixed her sister with a bloodshot glare at that.

"Your Majesty, if I may interrupt?" A waiter pony had stepped forward to inform her of her options.

"The kitchens have prepared a lovely assortment of cupcakes for breakfast this morning, is there any particular flavor you would care for?"

Suddenly turning a decidedly unhealthy looking shade of green, Celestia groaned loudly and covered her face with both fore hooves as her stomach lurched. Confusion ran rampant for each of the room's occupants except one. It was well known that Celestia loved all kinds of baked sweets with a barely contained passion, what could have caused her to react so out of character? Realization slowly dawned on Luna as she caught the maniacal grin on Nightmare's muzzle.

"Nightmare. Who didst thou claim to have bestowed good dreams to this past evening?"

"Why your sister of course. I threw a grand party for her in her dreams! Though it would seem as though she partied a bit too hard." Nightmare grinned again.

"It would seem to me that both thou and mine sister could use lessons in temperance." Luna said with a slow shake of her head, and a small smile on her muzzle.

A Return to Sibling Rivalry

by dracolord85

Chapter 0: Dawn of War

Chapter 1: Celestia's Opening Shot

Chapter 2: Throwing Down

Chapter 3: Gang Pressed Service

Chapter 4: Luna's Attack - Darkest Fears

Chapter 5: Celestia's Strike - Sweet Dreams

Chapter 6: Rise of the Dark Apprentice

Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment

Chapter 8: Radio Broadcast of Doom

Interlude 1: A Dream of Mine, Revenge Divine?