All Twilight could feel was the rush of the magic coursing through her veins, far more potent than any magic she had ever used before. It was culminating into a single spot within her horn, a raging ball of energy that threatened to go out of control if she didn't do something with it. The moment her friends got out of the way, she did the only thing she could think of: she let it out.

A dark wave coursed outward from her, cascading over her friends and then her enemies. Her friends felt nothing, aside from a light tingle, whereas her opponents, the imposing shadows all around them, were too mindless to get out of the way. The wave of magic ran over them, and their bodies were cleaved in half almost all at once.

The magic wasn't done, however. As if responding to her fears as well as a need she had to protect those around her, more of the same dark magic from her horn began to spread over her body and envelop her. It felt like cold water slowly creeping over her skin, coursing through and over her coat of fur. Regardless, she felt an overwhelming sense of calm, despite knowing she should be afraid of what was happening to her.

Soon it was at her neck, and she barely noticed her friends trying to 'help' her, Rarity's magic grating at her side trying to tear the gunk off of her. If they were panicking, she wasn't surprised. They couldn't stop it however, the magic would not be impeded.

She closed her eyes just as her entire body was engulfed from the tip of her tail to the very last lock of hair on her head. First she felt a chill, then a rush of heat that cascaded over her like a wave, engulfing her face, then her neck, then her torso and finally her tail. Then everything snapped back into place.

She heard the whistling winds all around them, the wind that threatened to whisk them away if they dared to jump. Her friends had backed away from her, her new image causing terror to course through their veins.

"Twilight....?!" Fluttershy barely called out to her over the noise.

White spots appeared on Fluttershy's form, small white dots that shifted position after a few seconds to different points on her body, if they didn't disappear entirely. She looked to her friends and blinked a few times; they all had the dots. They looked like stars, blinking in and out of existence. What did they represent, what were they? She didn't have time to answer that, her friends looked genuinely afraid of her for some reason.

She quickly retrieved the mirror Rarity had brought along, reaching out with her more powerful, lengthy reach to remove it from her friend's saddlebag to take a look at herself. What she saw surprised her, she looked just like the things that had been chasing her! Rather, she moreso looked just like the Nightmare, with the pitch-black and overbearing presence and imposing, glowing yellow eyes, utterly devoid of pupils to indicate where she was looking.

Her magic seemed different however, the first big difference being the fact that all of her magic was colored a dark lavender shade as compared to the usual black they'd become accustomed to within a mere few hours.

"Girls, I'm okay! Luna gave this to me, I just don't really know how to use it!"

"Seriously?! Yer usin' magic ya don't know a bit about?!" AJ shouted at her.

They were all visibly upset at such a revelation, but Twilight wasn't going to be deterred. Unfortunately, things were happening to her that even she couldn't explain, let alone understand. Soon she felt an intense compulsion to move, one hoof moving forward, then another and another, her friends following as she broke out into a full-on gallop.

"Whoa! H-hey, what the-"

She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence before she bent her legs and jumped up into and through the air, soaring up above the treeline with a startled shriek.

"What is happeniiiiaaAAAHHH?!"

She felt like she was disconnected from everything that was happening around her, yet she could still feel the wind whipping past her as she went up, forward, and then began to fall back towards the ground once again, the fear of height combining with the terror of the impending, intense pain that would be caused by her legs shattering when she impacted with the ground. The pain never came however, even as she landed with a heavy thud. She barely felt the landing, her knees bending with it and her body striking a battle pose in front of the massive inky black creature the three escorts were fighting with.

"It's me! I swear it's me don't attah....attah-tack....whoa."

Twilight's head spun even as she felt her pulse quickening and noticed the others glaring at her incredulously. She shook her head hard and blinked a few times, adrenaline lacing into her veins and forcing a feeling of urgency upon her. Moments later, the large creature lashed out at her, making an attempt to crush her in one single motion.

Twilight proved to be too fast, her body shifting to the right and sliding across the ground rather than running. The ground cracked and caved inward beneath the creature's powerful downward swing.

She could feel her mind altering, an unknown anger welling up, all of it directing itself at the monster attacking her. The other three guards looked to one another, then quickly ran away from the fight, letting Twilight face it on her own. She looked to them running away and couldn't help but think terribly of them for running from the fight.

'What kind of bodyguards are they?!'

She couldn't help but notice the anger that was building in her wasn't her own, it was making itself too obvious, not even attempting to be subtle like the anger that built itself slowly within her before. She tried to fight it, but it had an iron grip on her, and whoever or whatever was controlling her movements had her moving with the skill of a truly adept warrior.

The monster swung in a wide arc, the loud and deafening crack of several trees being knocked down and snapped like twigs sounding off just before she jumped high in the air. Three bolts of magic missiles launched suddenly from her horn and detonated on impact with their target, creating three craters in the side of the monster's body.

They filled in quickly even as the creature took another swing at her, a second massive tendril coming out of its body and spearing straight at her. She reached in front of herself with a hoof, everything slowing down for her even as her body moved on its own. She pushed down on the very tip of the spearing tendril just before it impaled her, lifting herself up in the process.

She closed her eyes when a wave of disorientation made her stomach churn, but even now her emotions continued to go beyond anything she'd felt before. She felt rage the likes of which hadn't come over her even with the silent anger that had eaten away at her sensibilities for the past months ever since her initial outburst in Canterlot Castle! It wasn't just a rage, it was directed at the creature she was standing on top of.

It was akin to a murderous intent, the bright spots on the creature's body being targetted and fired at with powerful bolts of magic when she opened her eyes again. Now she wasn't just being forced to attack it, she wanted to attack it, to tear into it and flat-out destroy it! The need to do so drove her forward and controlled her movements, the magic shifting with her now and enhancing every single motion she made.

She ran up the creature's tendril while it was still a solid pillar jutting out of one side of it, leaping up and coming down on a bright spot atop its head. It felt impossibly good to cause a massive cracking sound with a single impact of her hoof, the monster's head caving in and the creature flailing around in pain. Its flailing threw Twilight a ways down the path they'd been traveling down, the unicorn landing hard on her back with a bone-crunching thud.

She felt the wind leave her lungs in a garbled grunt of agony, only to gasp it back in and cause even more pain to rush through her chest. She rolled over onto her belly, the pain a dull throb that went away in mere seconds compared to what she knew it should've been. Her spine should've been shattered, her head should've been cracked open! But no, she could barely feel any of it.

Now she was almost feeling an ecstasy from every hit she landed, relishing in every sign of pain the creature let out, every bellow and screech and sudden writhing from a particularly hard hit on some part of its body....but at some point, she realized that something was very, very wrong. She could feel the murderous intent she had for this monster, and despite realizing how much this disturbed her, feeling this compulsive urge, she couldn't escape how much she wanted to follow through on these vile urges!

Even though this thing would have likely killed her if she backed off, she couldn't help but both want to tear it to pieces, and also regret feeling the want, no, the need to kill it. Even as she rushed at it, bashing her way through the tendril it swung at her, only to make her own from her horn to wrap around the creature and lift its massive weight high up into the air, she couldn't help but laugh, astounded at the kind of power she had.

"This is-hah!-this is absolutely amazing!"

Twilight's cries of amazement accompanied a bone-rattling quake that emanated all through their area of the Everfree Forest as she slammed the giant monster back onto the ground as hard as she could, the vibrations sending a violent thrill up and down every fiber of her being. She did it again and again, her laughter and the intense thrill she was deriving from every pained howl she heard becoming louder and louder until her laughter was raucous and terrifying for her friends, far behind her.

"I can't believe this! I have to remember to thank Luna next time I see her, wow!!" she shouted.

She whipped her head to one side after lifting the dazed and stunned monster into the air again, making a circular motion back, then to her right, and around her front and to her left again, the tendril she had wrapped around it following her motions as she willed them. She spun the monster faster and faster up in the air, then after she'd reached an almost blinding speed she let go, and the creature was sent flying through the air and towards the middle of the Everfree Forest where it had come from.

Her friends stood next to the guards, all of them watching in astonishment as Twilight made easy work of such a massive creature.

Twilight trotted over to her friends with all the giddiness of a young schoolfilly that just found out the most popular colt in school has a crush on her, all smiles despite what should've been a massive draw of magic from her.

"Did you all see that?! Oh wow, I just threw it and it went flying and it felt like absolutely nothing! I mean wow, if this is because of what Luna did it needs to happen more-no wait that'd be all kinds of awkward," she said rapidly, her eyes wild and even manic. "Oh no, what if things stay awkward forever?! She might hate me! This'll drive me nuts, what if this magic is too much for me and I do something-"

She continued on and on, rambling away about all manner of things. By the time she finished, she had curled up into a ball on the ground, hugging her tail, petting it as if it were some kind of cat that could soothe her nerves.

"This is bad. Something's wrong I'm not normally like this my heart is racing as fast as my thoughts I feel like I'm overloading or something-"

Once again, her rambling continued, and the guards rushed over to her. They had been warned, and Valkyre had come prepared. The tip of her horn lit up with a bright light, and she touched it to the side of Twilight's head.

"Shh....sleep, young filly...."

Valkyre's words weren't as necessary as some would likely think, but regardless, the Sleep spell did its job and, with Twilight taken by surprise, she hadn't prepared her currently manic mind from resisting it.

Her words slowed and her eyes rapidly closed, her body swaying as if utterly inebriated until she was out cold on the dirt path. Just as she'd fallen asleep and been hoisted up onto Aegis's back, a loud and terrifying roar came out of the forest on every side of them except in the direction they were headed.

Wasting no more time, they all silently continued at a full gallop now, the edge of the forest barely in sight through the inky darkness that seemed to be enveloping every inch of the Everfree.

Aolimnus took point as he usually did on such an important mission, his wings flexed outward, but bent at the joint between the primary and secondary bones. Fast, rapid swings of his wings caused the flames surrounding them to lash out like blades of fire, carving death into the shadows that came at them from the sides, a few making it to the path before being cut down and dissipated into nothingness.

Valkyre brought up the rear while keeping the Element Bearers and Aegis between herself and Aolimnus. Her shapeshifting metal took the shape of three blades without any sort of mouth-grip or grip in general to be used. They were constantly spinning like buzzsaws, their enchantment making them especially effective against the Nightmare's shadows that assaulted them on all sides when they could reach her.

She kept those weapons behind herself and on her left and right side, each spinning blade lashing out and carving a path through any monster stupid enough to move within her extensive reach.

"How much farther?!" she shouted behind them all.

"I can see Ponyville at the end of the path, just a little longer!"

Aolimnus took a quick look back at everyone, making a quick headcount to assure himself that, at this point in their mission, everypony was still accounted for, especially the unconscious and helpless Twilight Sparkle.

The Element Bearers seemed to be going strong still, so did Valkyre and Aegis. Fine by him, no heavy or labored breathing, nothing beyond a few scrapes and scratches from the earlier encounter with that huge behemoth before Twilight interfered with remarkable skill, she definitely didn't seem like the kind of pony that'd have it in her to fight with that kind of agility! Still he wasn't complaining.

He looked ahead just as the sound of Valkyre's blades slicing through the viscous, goo-like body of yet another shadow sounded off, its pained ethereal wail sounding off as its liquefied body faded into black smoke and disappeared upon being dispatched. What he saw brought a bright smile to his face.

That smile faded when he looked back, only to see the forest disappearing behind them. It wasn't like the sight of the sun disappearing beyond the horizon and masking the land in the darkness of nighttime. No, this was like an absolute absence of light, as if the darkness that was a living thing already attacking them had suddenly decided to stop playing around, instead consuming the forest in hopes of catching them as well.

He tore his gaze away from the encroaching black wall mere feet behind Valkyre, the unicorn looking back as well, then looking forward with no small amount of worry evident in her eyes.

"The Princesses are waiting for us! Ten seconds, come on, put your all into it!!"

Every single pony there seemed to be affected in the same fashion upon hearing that, their hooves bashing at the dirt road, sounding like a thunder moving through the forest as they all dug their hooves in with each step and threw themselves forward with all the strength they could muster in their four legs.

Pitch-black darkness seemed to be forming all around them as they neared the edge of the forest.

Five seconds.

Valkyre could hear voices behind her. They were urging her to join them. Some were begging for somepony to end their suffering. She ran harder, her blades hovering closer to her, directly over her back.

Two seconds.

Celestia and Luna stood there, Luna stepping back, her eyes wide with terror as the dark wall consuming the forest in its horrifying fury came towards them, just beyond the forest's edge. Celestia screamed for them to hurry along with the very large contingent of Day and Night Guards, yet none of them moved a step further beyond the invisible line Celestia seemed to stand firm at.

One second.

The shadows loomed over them, the visages of ponies reaching out from the wall of darkness, their hooves scraping at the armor covering Valkyre's back, the terrified unicorn slicing their legs off with her blades while continuing to charge forward.

Mere hoof-lengths from Celestia and the very edge of the forest, she could feel her hooves leaving the ground, some unseen force making a wild grab at her. She tried to use her magic to fight it off, but it was a futile effort.

Thankfully, Celestia came to her aid, with the rest of her group already having run past the Princess. With Luna trying her best to appear steadfast like her sister, Valkyre felt Celestia's magic all around her, snuffing out the cold, foreboding grasp that had been on her mere microseconds before. Her inertia aided in Celestia's magic wrenching her out of that invisible, dark grasp and launching her through the air, past Celestia and beyond in a wild tumble in mid-air.

She braced herself, ready to receive a few bad bumps, bruises and scrapes upon hitting the ground, but instead she was surprised to feel large, powerful legs engulfing her and the sound of metal clanging against metal.

Aegis had made the save at the cost of dropping Twilight unceremoniously to the ground just before catching her The large and powerful earth pony reared up on his hindlegs to reach out and catch her as if she were an oversized hoofball.

Valkyre gasped and clenched her teeth to resist the very, very strong temptation to cry out in pain the moment Aegis set her down on her hooves once more, the shaken mare lifting her left hindleg up off the ground while hopping up and down on her one good hindleg a couple times.

"RRNHbuckin' hell....!"

Her words left her through clenched teeth, grinding those pearly whites together while Aegis stepped around to her left side, sitting down and examining her hoof, giving it all of his attention despite the loud roars of anger that were echoing through the air to his right.

There, just at the back edge of her hoof, was a large black mark, looking like a blackened burn that was slowly spreading over her hoof from that singular spot. As it spread further, Valkyre seemed to be in more and more pain. She did manage to spot the wound, however, and Aegis made sure to tell her about it too.

"Needs purification, hoof's tainted."

Aegis whistled to a Night Guard nearby, the unicorn rushing over to them. He worked quick, his magic reaching out to the taint and slowly wiping it away, the pain just as slowly dulling the more the taint was eaten away at until it was completely gone.

When the taint was gone, only the edge of Valkyre's hoof had a blistered burning look to it. She still couldn't stand on it all that well, but the pain was at least tolerable for her.

She quickly thanked the unicorn, the stallion nodding to her in silence and walking away, back in formation with the rest of his squad.

Aegis smiled ever-so-slightly as she turned her attention to him, the younger mare smiling brightly.

"Thanks for catching me, stud! Always such a gentlecolt, you are...."

The big earth pony just rolled his eyes with a light blush staining his cheeks, the pair turning their attention to the Princesses just like most everypony else around them.

Luna was doing her best to stand tall like Celestia, but every fiber of her being was trembling. Perhaps her sister couldn't feel it, but she was one with the Void. The fact that the wall of darkness was a pure, raw mass of Void Magic terrified her. It was a clear demonstration of the kind of mastery her daughter had managed to attain over such a massive source of magical power.

It wouldn't have scared her as much if it weren't for the fact that her daughter had managed to gain power far beyond her own prowess.

"How dare you! Give my sister back!"

Celestia simply glared at the wall of darkness, the massive multitude of eyes all trained on her while a massive number of tendrils lashed out from the dark mass before the Princesses and all of the guards that held the line alongside both of them.

However, that line was as far as those tendrils got, the razor-sharp appendages being knocked away by an invisible barrier that refused to fall under such pressure. Again and again the Nightmare lashed out at it, her roars of frustration and fury sounding off as she unloaded on the shield that had been erected.

Her efforts were in vain, however. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how angry she became, her very impressive show of Void Magic couldn't penetrate the invisible shield. The sound of ethereal metal slashing at an arcane barrier sounded off again and again, accompanied by a crescendo of almost deafening, intense screams and roars from thousands upon thousands of different voices; the eyes in the darkness weren't just for show.

All of the glowing eyes turned their gaze on Celestia, like a gigantic jury, casting judgement upon her. She only glared at them in turn, standing tall and proud despite her horribly trembling sister that had moved back a little in the presence of such a multitude of piercing gazes.

"Give her back to me, Celestia! You have no right, she deserves to know, she deserves to DIE!!"

"You have no right to that decision! But I assure you, she will know. She will know all about you, how far you've fallen, and the taint you've left on the very existence of Equestria!"

The Nightmare took form from the massive black wall, the front half of her body appearing from the middle of the barrier. It stretched out and moved up to the barrier, its nose inches from Celestia's, the shield the only thing between them.

They stared one another down, the Nightmare sneering at Celestia after a few seconds ticked by in eerie silence.

"Leave it to a politician to only talk about her own side of the story....! Very well, if this is how you wish to play...."

Celestia blinked when the Nightmare shifted her gaze away, finally taking notice of the dark-furred pony off to Celestia's left, trying to make herself smaller and smaller while still appearing as confident as she could manage.

She was failing horribly. Even worse, a crowd of ponies that weren't the Royal Guard or the Night Guard had gathered and were watching, and whispers were welling up that Luna couldn't quite make out, but out of the corner of her eye she could see a lot of them looking directly at her.

"Oh, does our presence scare you, Princess Luna?"

She spat the words out at Luna, her voice filled with the vitriol that both Princesses and their guards had come to expect. The sudden shock of her own name made her jump a little, a very brief and nearly silent gasp leaving her as the Nightmare's hooves slammed against the barrier, her face pressing against it, her gaze locked on the trembling Princess.

She struggled to avoid eye contact with her, looking anywhere but her face, but her lack of a solid, physical body let her move every which way she wanted. Her head shifted this way and that in almost impossible ways, repeatedly locking her gaze with Luna's until the Princess couldn't handle the fear her eyes imbued in their victims.

A fearful whimper welled up in her throat and she stumbled back onto her rump, her eyes clenched shut and her head hung in shame.

"I-I'm sor-"

"SHUT UP, you little whore!"

The roar of the Nightmare's voice made her shrink back, but she soon wasn't alone against her own daughter's verbal assault. Aolimnus moved in front of her, while Aegis and Valkyre moved to stand at both of her sides.

"Night Guard, stand as one!"

The sudden shock of Aolimnus's commanding tone reminded her of somepony, in particular it reminded her of Strider's usual bravado. To say the least, it surprised her to find the older and more serious of her personal guard breaking rank.

Her eyes shot open the moment he finished calling out his command, the Princess of the Night looking from him to the two to each side of her, a feeling of warmth filling her as she was braced on each side by them and eased to her hooves once more.

It shocked her to her very core when the Night Guard took up a line in front of her, then creating a uniform line behind that one, then another and another until she was completely surrounded on all sides, front and back included.

Their armor rang out as they all stood at attention as one entity, their voices ringing out as Aolimnus's wings extended along with one of his forehooves being thrust up into the air.

"We stand as one unit, one entity, one family! We guard the helpless as the sentries of the night. For the glory of Princess Luna! For the glory of Equestria!"

Aolimnus didn't notice the smile that had appeared on Luna's lips, his attention instead had turned to Princess Celestia.

The pastel-maned alicorn listened to the words the Night Guard so proudly spoke very carefully, and almost immediately caught on. She knew what he was doing. She wasted no time in mimicking his motions. The very same motions made by the commanding officer at the end of a group's time in training, ordering them to speak their pledge as one voice.

Her voice rang out with all the conviction that every guardspony and citizen of Equestria could expect from her, eyes filled with fire as the order poured forth from her heightened voice.

"Sun Guard, stand as one with your brothers-in-arms!"

Now that was a name she hadn't used in ages to refer to the Royal Guard. A thousand years, to be more exact. When Nightmare Moon had been banished and the small civil war between the Night Guard that stood beside Nightmare Moon and the Sun Guard that remained loyal to Celestia, she had disbanded the Night Guard and allowed those that wished to remain members of the Royal Guard to join her side. When all was said and done, her Sun Guard had become the new, all-encompassing Royal Guard.

Perhaps it was time to bring that name back to define her own section of the Royal Guard. She doubted that Luna would object, after this show of military might and loyalty.

"We stand as one unit, one entity, one family! We embrace the light and secure peace for the righteous, and we crush the wicked. For the glory of Princess Celestia! For the glory of Equestria!"

Once they had finished speaking, both Celestia and Luna, having recovered from her moment of weakness thanks to her loyal guards, both spoke in unison.

"Thus, the Royal Guard has|hath spoken!"

Luna fell silent, letting Celestia continue from there.

A few tears ran down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and just smiled, feeling the warmth of her personal guard's presence very close to her. They had saved her in that single moment of weakness. She was so close....so close to simply breaking down and begging for her forgiveness for what had happened due to her negligence.

How had she not seen it? Why had it happened? If she had simply trusted her daughter, or taken her to the moon to test her magical skills....but no, she was so interested in evolving Equestria's scientific and magical studies, she simply couldn't resist the urge to practice cloning by way of a mix of magic and scientific genetic manipulation.

She opened her eyes and gazed at her daughter, the Nightmare now focused on Celestia, who had stepped between Aolimnus and the dark creature trying to stare the steely-eyed pegasus down, her own gaze stern and unwavering.

Luna could only cry on the inside, an unstoppable, growing wave of despair inside of her making her feel sick to her stomach.

"You may not wish to believe it Nightmare, but we weep for you. I for one can't fathom the hate that you feel for us. For me. For my sister," she said, her head hung low. "I don't claim to know what happened to you....but I will say that I am truly sorry that it has hurt you so."

The Nightmare laughed, quietly at first, but slowly her echoing voice rivaled the Royal Canterlot Voice, her head thrown back while her disfigured, dark body slowly shifted back into a more normal shape. She just kept on laughing, her roaring glee causing many of the crowd behind the Royal Guard to tremble. She sounded so happy, yet at the same time, so very, very vindictive.

"Are you actually asking me for forgiveness?!"

Celestia kept her gaze locked on the Nightmare's, a deep breath drawn in before she continued. Her tone was unwavering even as she prepared to speak words that were very harsh, especially for her. She knew, however, that this was no time for showing Nightmare any kindness. This confrontation needed to end, now.

"No. I would never ask for your forgiveness for anything. On the contrary, all efforts will be made to put a stop to you, starting with denying you access to every single town, village, city and castle in Equestria!"

The Nightmare giggled wickedly and pouted out her lower lip at the Sun Goddess.

"Aww, but whyyyy? I promise not to kill too many more ponies in the process of building an army that can completely destroy everything you hold dear!" she cooed out to Celestia. "Then again, I would never forgive you for what you did to me, and I will never forgive that little whore over there-" she said, glaring over at Luna for a moment before returning her gaze to Celestia once more. "-for what she allowed those bastards to do to me, so why should I ever expect either of you to forgive me for causing your precious ponies harm?!"

Her tone was innocent and mocking at first, but by the time she was done speaking, her toothy grin flashed her razor-sharp, rotten teeth at the Goddess standing in front of her. Her words were venomous and filled with spite and hate, the Nightmare's gaze easily getting across her intent: she wanted to make them both hurt deep down as much as she possibly could.

Celestia's left eye twitched, her anger barely restrained enough to only be a powder keg.

"You should forgive us because you were one of my little ponies, and all of my subjects are like family to me! Not to mention that everything we did was for your benefit and to be sure that all of our subjects were safe just as much as we wished for you to be safe!"

Celestia could only frown and shake her head, the sadness on her face apparent as the Nightmare's gaze narrowed and she inched her face closer to the shield, wanting to hear Celestia clearly.

The Sun Goddess opened her eyes, a reinvigorated fire in them. Her anger had doubled as she thought of all the things the Nightmare had done.

She contemplated on the ponies whose families had suddenly been torn apart by the disappearance of a Father or Mother, a young filly or colt disappearing after wandering off with their friends during a game of Hide and Seek....every muscle in her body was trembling with the urge to unleash all of her wrath on the Nightmare that very moment.

She settled for lashing out at her in the same way she seemed to be tearing into Luna.

"However, we could never be related to anypony that could hate as you do. You are no family of ours," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Rather, an old saying comes to mind when I look upon you. A rabid dog is worthy of two things: pity, and a swift death."

The Nightmare glowered at Celestia, a threatening silence welling up between them. To the untrained eye, the Nightmare looked as if it wished to kill them right then and there. When she gazed in Luna's direction only to find that the darker alicorn was looking away from her, head hung low with an expression that made the word 'shame' come to the Nightmare's mind, a hint of something else entirely became all too evident to Celestia in the dark creature's eyes.

She saw pain. Genuine, deep emotional pain.

The Nightmare tensed up, her fury faltering for a few short seconds in favor of making the emotional pain she felt more obvious to the more astute ponies that had the guts to look at the Nightmare's face.

This didn't last, however. The dark faux-pony reared back, teeth gritted together while her forehooves slammed against the shield, the sound of a solid object crashing into an ethereal one echoing throughout the area. She roared a bone-chilling, blood-curdling roar that sounded half like a scream, and half like a scream from a beast of Tartarus itself.

Twilight awoke with a start, gasping and shifting her blurry gaze this way and that. The last thing she remembered was being confused by a flurry of emotions, then....well, nothingness. She started talking to somepony, but then she fell asleep?

Her attention didn't stay on herself for long. She looked to the source of all the screaming and saw a massive sheet of black, with a familiar dark alicorn coming out of the middle of it, or relatively close to the middle.

Her gaze turned around behind her, staring at her friends, who just stood there wide-eyed and utterly unsure of what they should do in this sort of situation.

By the time they had gotten past the barrier, Rarity and Fluttershy were exhausted, and Twilight had been out cold. Without the egghead of the group to really try to rally them, they deferred to Celestia's wisdom and power in this situation. They were used to using the Elements of Harmony to one-shot big bad villains of absolute evil and discord, and even then....

Well, Discord and Nightmare Moon had never made attempts on their lives, not out-right, anyways. Nor were they as legitimately terrifying as the Nightmare.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouted while stumbling to her hooves.

Applejack stepped over to her and placed her side against her friend's, bracing the bookworm's weight.

"Whoa there Twi! Now, just calm down, sugarcube....!"

The lavender unicorn felt like her eyes were rolling around in her head, the world still appearing to be blurry and shaky to her. She didn't feel like she was swaying around that much, but judging by how firmly Applejack was holding on to her, she was clearly contributing to how much the world was spinning.

"Buh-but....Princess is bein' 'tacked....!" she whined woozily.

She couldn't keep her gaze locked on her idol, the mare she looked up to, but what she could see told her that she was only mere inches from the dark monstrosity that had chased them through the forest.

"Twi, th' Princesses have everythin' under control. Now ah dunno what happened to ya in that there forest, but after ya wrecked that big monster thing, ya really started losin' it. That was when that Valkyre guardspony knocked ya out with a spell," she explained, patting Twilight on the back of her withers. "Now jus' take a seat an' rest yer head, yer really swayin' about, an' it's got me worried 'bout'cha, sugarcube."

Even in her dazed state, Twilight could sense Applejack's very stern gaze looking at her, practically screaming 'do as I say or I'll make ya'. She had no intention of disobeying, though this was mostly because they had been talking for around a minute and there had only been silence outside of their little conversation.

In the meantime, Celestia and the Nightmare had stared each other down, neither pony wavering in their gaze, but they were both clearly very, very upset. It couldn't be seen by anypony else, but with such close proximity, Celestia could see the tears trickling down from the Nightmare's eyes.

That threw her a little. Why would the Nightmare be crying? Her eyes narrowed to slits, unwilling to show any kind of weakness, unwilling to even think of asking her the reason behind her tears. She had her very educated assumptions, after all. Perhaps the immature alicorn did still care, perhaps such a harsh statement really did bother her.

Whatever the reason(s) behind it, the Nightmare grimly backed away from Celestia, her eyes wandering to her Mother for a brief moment, as if she were hoping that the Night Princess would meet her gaze. Luna, out of fear, still refused to look her own daughter in the eye.

The Nightmare took in a shaky breath and spread her wings, flapping them twice, the feathers aligning enough for her to be comfortable once more.

"I will find a way in, Celestia," she sneered, the words filled with hate. "When I do, you will hear naught but your precious little ponies screaming for you to help them, and the moment you do, I will strike. I will strike again and again, and I will break you. I will break ALL of you!"

She finalized her statement by sweeping a pointing hoof over the entire crowd of Royal Guardsponies before her and the crowd of fearful civilians behind them. A couple of young foals could be heard crying in their parent's hooves, all of the young ponies visibly shaken by the terrible creature threatening all of them.

"See you soon, dear Princesses.....!"

The Nightmare's tone was acidic and filled with hatred as her body sunk backwards into the wall of darkness once more. The dark wall itself shuddered and the numerous eyes glowing within it faded away, the darkness turning moreso into a liquid and splashing down against the ground and rushing out against the barrier like a small tidal wave.

When all was said and done, the water-like darkness bubbled and sank into the ground, disappearing as quickly as it seemed to be able to conjure itself up. This did not set Celestia at ease though. Instead, she stood stalwart along with the rest of her guard, the entirety of Ponyville utterly silent after that little incident, nopony being willing to do so much as take a single step until they were assured that it would not invoke the monster's wrath or break some unwritten rule of such a situation.

Silent seconds ticked by. Five. Ten. When some ponies began to shift, uncomfortable with the silence, Princess Celestia let out a deep breath and turned to face her subjects, her voice soft and gentle despite currently being as powerful as the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"EVERYPONY, CONTINUE THE EVACUATION."

The crowd of ponies didn't need to be told twice. Both the Royal Guard and the civilians quickly broke away, every guard pairing up with one or two other ponies, assuming them together, offering the same assistance they had been up to much earlier, before they had to prepare for a potential assault on Ponyville.

When everyone was off, busy packing and being loaded up into the nearby airships, the area near the Everfree Forest was deathly quiet. While the others remained crowded around Twilight to try to help her through the rather lengthy bout of dizziness and tiredness she was experiencing at the moment.

It was an odd sensation, similar to magic fatigue. She felt tired and exhausted, but at the same time, there were moments where she managed to focus enough to the point that she felt completely awake and fine, only to suddenly experience vertigo all over again the moment her concentration wavered from trying to put one hoof in front of the other.

Fluttershy was the first to leave Twilight's side oddly enough, the Element-bearers having noticed a mention of an evacuation.

She rushed over to Celestia's side as well as Luna's, the two royal mares clearly distraught, if Luna's tears were any evidence to this fact. Aegis, Valkyre and Aolimnus were standing on the other side of Luna, while Celestia was tended to by her own personal guards. Shining Armor was distinctly missing from the roster however, having been sent to assist in keeping the civilians calm and collected while making their ways home, and then onto the airships with their most valued belongings.

"W-we must thank each of thee, for th-thy loyalty in such a dangerous moment," she said, letting out a shaky breath. A moment passed before she spoke up again, looking directly at Aolimnus. "Thy quick thinking allowed us to save face. That means more than thou can imagine."

He nodded his head solemnly, a faint smile on his lips.

"When I saw the look on your face, I was reminded of how upset it would've made Wind Strider. Then I realized what he would have done, and decided to go through with it," he said, chuckling quietly. "Feels a bit less energetic without him here."

"Hah, yeah! He's ridiculously dedicated, isn't he?" Valkyre chimed in. "So cute~!"

Luna could only giggle weakly at that. It was all too true, given how many times Strider had put his reputation and even his job on the line in favor of 'helping' her.

"Indeed, even going so far as to purposely weaken himself to lure the Nightmare out. Truly half-zebra." Aegis said, which was far more than most ever expect him to say.

"Tha's right! Can't tell if it was foolish or a feat o' strong self-control."

Luna sighed and nodded her head slowly. "Yes. I will be returning his strength to him when he has adequately recovered from his injuries. To do so now would be very unwise."

"Um, e-excuse me...."

Luna turned her head, an almost inaudible voice coming to her attention. Most would never have noticed such a near-silent tone, but Luna's hearing was better than most. She noticed the quiet and patient little pegasus before her guards did.

The three guards turned their attention to the timid canary yellow pegasus they'd been escorting minutes earlier along with the rest, Fluttershy's posture one of fear and apprehension, they noticed, when they all, including Luna, turned their gaze upon her. Only Luna broke the silence.

"Yes, young Element Bearer? What may we do for thee?"

Fluttershy eep'ed and ducked back at Luna's slightly elevated tone of voice. Though she didn't know it, she should have been thankful that Strider was so dutiful towards assisting Luna in whatever way he could, along with the three around her at the moment as well: they had worked the Royal Canterlot Voice out of her system, and boldly corrected her every single time she used it when an arrogant noble or ridiculous petitioner at Night Court asked for something deceitful or blatantly selfish or harmful to ponies 'of lesser stature'. The end result was a much more approachable Night Princess.

Of course, their hearing had paid the price for quite a while, but what could you do?

The timid pegasus took a moment in silence, Luna's expectant eyes gazing upon her casually, almost relaxed even despite what had just happened. Fluttershy slowly worked herself up to her hooves again, one foreleg nervously rubbing at the other while her gaze faltered and fell towards the ground.

"Well I-I was just wondering, if um....well, that is, if you don't mind...."

"Yes? Please, thou must speak up, we cannot quite hear thee."

"Well what I mean to say is, um....would the animals be...."

Once again, Fluttershy's voice trailed off into nothingness, or rather, it became so inaudible that it may as well have been nothingness. Luna's hearing was good but not that good!

She cleared her throat and took a tentative step forward, causing Fluttershy to squeak and lower down a little, as if she was afraid. The reaction made Luna frown, the Night Princess drawing the wrong conclusion from her reaction. She said nothing in regards to it, however.

"We are sorry, but we cannot hear thee. What art thou trying to say, timid one?"

"Wh-what will happen to all of my little animals?! Can I bring them with us on the airships?" Fluttershy said as quickly as she could, looking away from the Princess again.

"I have already looked into tending to that issue, my little pony, among many others."

The sudden chime of Celestia's voice, surprisingly enough, soothed Fluttershy rather than sending her into a shivering fit from the surprise of it all.

The regal mare had been busy issuing orders to the messengers and higher-ranking Lieutenants and squad leaders of the pegasi Sun Guards. The moment she found herself left alone, however, she quickly turned her attention to her sister and the Elements of Harmony, all of which save for Fluttershy seemed busy trying to assist Twilight in walking. They were failing miserably.

Celestia returned her gaze to a very hopeful little pegasus standing before both her and Luna now, smiling in kind to Celestia's almost constant mask of serenity that Luna seemed partially capable of mimicking at the moment.

"S-so, then, I get to take all of my little animals with me?"

"But of course! My sister and I would never consider leaving thy little friends to fend for themselves. Such a thing is necessary within the Everfree Forest, not within our lands!"

Celestia very quietly giggled, as if such a notion were simply silly to suggest in front of her. Truthfully, it was: she cared for all of her subjects, from the most misguided pony to the smallest bug.

"We have added some expansions to the Royal Gardens, Fluttershy," Celestia said, smiling even brighter. "We knew something like this would happen from the moment the Nightmare awoke. There is more than enough space for your entire animal care facility, which is exactly what has been set up in the Royal Gardens! I'm sure many of the animals already there will appreciate your therapeutic touch."

Fluttershy's eyes lit up with excitement. "R-really?! Oh my, that's just....!" she stuttered, fluttering up a few feet off of the ground, grinning wide. "I-I just don't know what to say!"

"It is no trouble at all, dear Fluttershy. It was a planned expansion that we decided to put priority upon, for thy arrival."

She looked to Luna and nodded for a moment, silence reigning once more....until Fluttershy suddenly perked up, the smile disappearing from her face. "O-oh my, I better go and start packing! I have so many little animals and critters to guide to the airships! Oh dear, so much to do, I hope Mr. Bear won't make too much of a fuss, he's so stubborn about not leaving his home this time of year because it's close to his hibernation time, and-and-"

Celestia had stepped forward while Fluttershy was turning away to head off to her home, a hoof being placed on the smaller pony's withers. Fluttershy almost instantly snapped her wings against her back, the unpredicted touch startling her as it usually would. Celestia couldn't help but giggle a little at the reaction, it was rather funny.

"Do not worry my little pony. Several of the royal animal caretakers are here, and have been sent to your home to help gather up the animals. You don't have to worry."

Fluttershy gasped and leapt into the air, a reaction very uncharacteristic of her. Of course, no one had ever tried to interact with her animals en-masse without her around before, either.

"Nonono that's not good! I take care of lots of trauma cases! A lot of the animals that stay with me are cases of neglect and abuse, they're very distrusting of any ponies that I don't know personally! Oh, this is bad, very very bad, um, I have to go! Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness....!"

With Rainbow Dash bracing Twilight and helping her move one hoof carefully after the other, the lavender pony had her eyes closed and entirely relied upon her friend to guide her to where Fluttershy was just moments ago. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were walking ahead of the others, and Rarity had overhear most of what was being spoken of between the Princesses and Fluttershy, and her own concerns were coming to the forefront of her thoughts.

After they all were standing there in front of Luna and Celestia, they all bowed save for Twilight, who knew that if she even dared to try to bow, she'd wind up launching herself face-first into the ground, and then upon trying to stand up, she'd likely wind up somersaulting forward and bowling into one or both of the Princesses.

Instead, Twilight carefully took a few steps forward, only to sway and hold a hoof to the side of her head, clenching her eyes shut. Luna knew exactly what she was going through, the Night Princess swiftly darting forward and placing her forehooves on Twilight's withers, standing directly in front of her.

The Princess's firm grip made Twilight flutter her eyes open and gaze into Luna's in the process. The memories hit her harshly and suddenly, like a sack of bricks to the crotch. In particular, memories involving her horn touching Luna's. Intentionally.

Twilight blanched and cringed as that singular memory took the stage in her head. She couldn't help her face turning as red as Applejack's namesake, reflexively leaning her head away from Luna's.

Luna looked at Twilight quizzically, until it suddenly clicked in her mind as well. She calmly cleared her throat, hoping to steer the conversation in an entirely different direction than the one Twilight would inevitably go for, if she were given the chance. Luna placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, looking the young mare in the eyes.

"We have a lot to discuss Twilight, but such matters are things that thy friends should not have to bear the weight of. We shall speak in Canterlot. All shall be explained there."

"Uh, whuh-why-" Twilight stuttered, trying to collect herself as best she could.

Luna sighed and reached out with a hoof, a small current of dark energy, similar to the Nightmare's but with a kind of glimmer, like small stars flickering from within it. It jumped from her hoof to Twilight's horn with a jolt, and Twilight jumped with a startled squeak.

Twilight blinked a few times, an almost instantaneous change occurring within her mind, her vision and her equilibrium returning to normal in a matter of seconds. That change alone almost made her feel dizzy as well, but it was like the dizziness was forced out of her mind all at once rather than it taking to the forefront and twisting her vision around.

"W-what did you just do?"

Twilight stood up straighter and looked to her two friends, both Applejack and Rarity stepping away from her with small looks of concern. Ultimately though, they let her be.

She looked to her friends, all of them lingering around her, save for Fluttershy. Twilight smiled at them all to give them more reassurance.

"Don't worry girls, I'm alright now. I just felt so exhausted before, I think I overdid it in the forest. It felt like I had so much power, I thought I had plenty of magic to burn. Plus I felt so strong and irrational, like I could do anything...."

"'Tis the nature of thy new reservoir of magic."

They all turned around when Luna's voice sounded off, drawing their rapt attention even as Celestia stepped up behind her, moving to stand next to Luna on her right side.

"Indeed. You have an immense level of control over magic, my student. We both have no doubt that you feel that way because you are naturally gifted."

"Not ta' mention yer the Element of Magic!"

They shifted their attention to Applejack, who just shrugged.

"Just sayin', it makes the most sense, don't it?"

She steps forward, looking to both of the Princesses with a concerned frown.

"Not to sound ungrateful or nothin' Princesses, but....with us all basically abandonin' Ponyville, what's gonna happen to Sweet Apple Acres? How will the Apple Family make their money?"

Celestia could only smile at the inquiry, whereas the others stepped forward with similar concerns.

"Yeah, what about Mr. and Mrs. Cake's bakery?"

"Not to mention my boutique! I couldn't possibly leave any of my designs here, everything in that store is my life's work!"

Celestia quickly held up a hoof, her serene smile quickly taking its rightful place on her muzzle, giving her the usual radiance that had mares and stallions alike bending at the knee for her, usually for more than one reason, though nopony would say so.

"Please, you will not have to give up anything, my little ponies! Rarity," Celestia said, nodding to the fashionista. "I have had a second studio crafted for you, courtesy of my personal dressmakers. You will have everything you need to continue practicing your craft in your free time. As an unintentional bonus, Hoity Toity and a good friend of Luna and I wish to speak with you. Working out of the castle is something worthy of gossip amongst the Canterlot elite, after all. Perhaps you have heard of a stallion named Fancy Pants?"

Rarity's mouth went agape and stayed that way, the pupils of her eyes mere pinpricks for the moment. She finally spoke up after Applejack waved a foreleg up and down in front of her face, in some small attempt to snap the white-furred mare out of it.

"He....how does he know my name?!?!"

"Oh, you would be surprised! Actually, he didn't know until Hoity Toity told him, though Hoity Toity wouldn't have known if he didn't regularly work with my dressmakers. He remembered you from the fashion show you put on a year or so ago," Celestia said, a sudden knowing smirk altering that otherwise soothing smile. "The good one and the bad one."

Rarity was practically trembling before all of them. Every inch of her body was vibrating with restrained joy, the classy mare utterly dumbstruck from this sudden news. She turned away from the Princesses and began walking in the general direction of Carousel Boutique, though she swayed this way and that as she went, and her body tipped this way and that, like a ship in a stormy sea.

"I will talk to you on the ship, girls. Have to go do the thing, at my place-packing, yes, ha ha, that's it, lots of packing....!!"

Luna looked to Aegis and motioned him over.

"Sir Bulwark, please go and assist miss Rarity with her things. She no doubt has quite a bit to carry. Gather some other guards to assist, if you must. Try to get it all done in a single trip."

Celestia turned her gaze to Applejack next. She knew what was going through their minds, and it was all too true: she could not just give them a second apple orchard to work at, such a thing would be impossible by constraints of time and the natural flow of nature. She couldn't make even a single acre of apple trees spontaneously grow, let alone the massive amount Sweet Apple Acres has. Not to mention all the other crops they grow and ship out that they're much less known for.

"Applejack, as you well know, it is impossible even for my sister and I to give you grounds as fertile as the ground upon which Sweet Apple Acres stands for you to operate a second farm with, nor would it be within our power to make all the trees and other plants needed grow within such a short time."

The farmpony simply nodded her head, looking rather crestfallen. That could only mean one thing, and if her family couldn't work, she didn't have a clue how they were going to even begin to pay off all of their debts!

"Therefore, all expenses normally incurred by the operation of Sweet Apple Acres will be suspended until the day that it is safe for the Apple Family to return to their work upon the farm. I have added the care of every plant and crop on the farm to the training regimen of the guards that will be stationed here in Ponyville after the evacuation, so your trees and other crops will be well cared for until you are ready to return, and they will be harvested annually to avoid a shortage of Apple Family products on the market in Canterlot. None of your business contacts will suffer any losses either."

Applejack's eyes were wide as saucers, her surprise barely contained. She hadn't forgotten her manners, however, and bowed to the Princesses in thanks.

"Wow, y'all can do that? I-I mean, thanks, Yer Majesty! Why, ah never would'a expected somethin' like this!"

Luna smiled wide. "Keep in mind, fair Applejack, that this does not mean that you will be acquiring any sort of free income. If you wish to find a job to change this, we actually have several positions in the castle that could use an extra hoof here and there. The Royal Gardens, for example, could use a second gardener, and given your skill at tending to your farm, we have no doubt you could handle general garden care with little difficulty."

Applejack bowed her head to Luna, smiling wide. "Sounds just fine t'me, Yer Majesty!"

The farm mare turned to her friends and tipped her Stetson to them, nodding her head in the process. She would have preferred to stick around, but much like Rarity and Fluttershy, she had a lot to tend to before she'd be ready to board any of those airships and head out to Canterlot.

Perhaps it hadn't sunk in yet, but she was aware that her family was a country family being forced to move, at least temporarily, to a fairly sizeable city. This was going to be a very trying transition for Big Macintosh and Granny Smith.

Then there was Apple Bloom, she hadn't a clue what they were going to do about her teaching! Applejack stopped just short of taking off running, looking back to Celestia and Luna after she said goodbye to her friends.

"Uh, Princesses? Ah just got one last question."

Celestia turned her attention away from a soldier that had rushed over to give the Sun Princess a quick update on the evacuation. "Yes? Please, go ahead."

"What about schoolin' fer mah little sis, Apple Bloom an' her friends? Ah don't claim to be all knowledgeable or nothin' when it comes to this sort of thing, but wouldn't it be hard on 'em to have 'em continue their schoolin' without their teacher, Cheerilee?"

Celestia grinned wide. "Oh, that is being taken care of, I do assure you. It's actually a part of a very ambitious project that we are able to make full use of, thanks to this complete evacuation of Ponyville. This relocation of Ponyville's entire population is actually the very reason that this project has become economically feasible as well as beneficial," she said, looking over to Luna with a warm smile. "Leave it to my sister to find the perfect way to make the most of an otherwise troublesome situation."

Luna couldn't help but blush at the compliment.

"Truly, t'was a simple idea, once we realized just how small the middle class population is in Canterlot. 'Tis very inappropriate for the capital of Equestria."

Applejack didn't quite follow what they meant, but she just shrugged, nodding to the whole thing.

"Well, ah don't rightly know what ya mean with all that, but if ya say it's bein' taken care of, ah trust ya Princesses! Gotta go git mah family ready to go now," she said, waving once again to her friends before taking off in a gallop towards the farm. "Later girls!"

Pinkie hopped over to the Princesses after she and the others waved goodbye to Applejack in return, the gleeful party pony still bouncing up and down, Luna's eyes following her while Celestia just kept her gaze in Pinkie's general direction, hoping she would calm down. Oh, how futile it was to hope for such a thing.

"So does this mean you've both planned for everything?! Even for Sugarcube Corner? 'Cuz Mr. and Mrs. Cake really need to run their own business, and if they didn't we wouldn't get any more of their wonderful cakes and cookies and brownies and pies and croissants and-"

"Yes, we have indeed, my little pony," Celestia said, resting a hoof atop Pinkie's head, easing her down to the ground and keeping the energetic pony there. "Your employers have a new, state-of-the-art bakery waiting for them when they get to Canterlot, along the main street of the new project being worked on. They will be receiving the deed to it upon their arrival."

Pinkie was practically vibrating with excitement, looking as if she were about to rocket away into the sky from her overabundance of joy upon hearing this news.

So of course, Pinkie did indeed rocket into the sky, complete with fireworks explosions dissipating away from her, as if they burst out of her mane. Though Celestia had the best poker face in Equestria, even she was baffled on the inside with Pinkie's antics. Now she could truly appreciate Twilight's utter confusion and curiosity in her letters.

When she landed once again, Pinkie was rambling away her ideas on what they would do to throw the bestest of parties to celebrate their arrival in a new home, even if it's only a temporary one. By the time Pinkie Pie slowed down, Luna's mouth was open in astonishment at this wild mare's level of energy. Surely, she was on some kind of medication?

"-and then I'll live there with them and work for them still and I won't have to have some kind of boring job like at the rock farm or-"

"Actually, Pinkie Pie, I have a request."

Pinkie froze mid-rant and looked over to Princess Celestia, though she only stayed still for a brief moment before smiling wide and dashing over in front of her.

"Well, whatcha need, Princess?"

Her smile was infectious, as was her glee. Both Celestia and Luna, standing side-by-side, felt as if they'd been caught in some kind of feel-good spell just by having Pinkie flash a smile at them, the Royal Sisters both giggling quietly for a moment before Celestia spoke up once again.

"It would be preferable if you lived at the castle, with the rest of the Elements. While living there, I would like it if a pony so experienced with baking various sweets be the pony that bakes the desserts for my sister and I after every meal," she said, a quiet and wistful sigh leaving her. "Recently, the dessert chef that had been on the kitchen staff for fifty years passed away, and we are in need of a new, skilled dessert chef to at least temporarily take his place. Bless his heart, he made the most absolutely amazing cake....!"

"That he did, sister. That. He. Did."

Both Princesses sighed, a far-off look in their eyes as they both faded off into a world of cakes and pies and other baked confections that they had indulged in to their heart's content on more than one occasion since Luna's return. Much like Celestia, Luna had fallen in love with the marvel that was cake, and then, oh, then she discovered so many different types of PIES....! Pumpkin pie by far had become her favorite.

Pinkie Pie surprisingly had become rather still, her eyes wide for a moment as she gasped very similarly to how she'd gasped when Twilight showed up the very first time in Ponyville.

"Yuh-you want me to cook for the castle? ME?! That's....that's just so super splendiferous! That's-that's wondertastic!! Of course I'll do it! Ooh, I hafta go tell the Cakes what's going on! See ya later girls!"

Pinkie Pie was gone before anypony could say anything else, the party pony taking off like a bullet down the path towards Sugarcube Corner.

Rainbow Dash fluttered up into the air, the Element of Loyalty the last one to take off besides Twilight. Before she left to get some of her things together, she asked basically the only questions that really mattered to her.

"Can I assume that I'm gonna be working at the castle too?"

"You don't have to, but it would be preferred. You, as well as the rest of the Elements, will be needed at the castle almost every day to prepare for what may come in the near future," Celestia explained quickly. "Of course, I doubt you would turn down the task of keeping the clouds above Canterlot Castle clear at all times, yes?"

"Wow, just the castle? That's way less work than keeping Ponyville's skies uniform from day to day! Count me in."

With that, Rainbow Dash was gone in a sudden burst of speed, the cyan pegasus rocketing through the skies towards her cloud home.

The only one left was Twilight, and she looked much better now. That single jolt of Void Magic from Luna seemed to do more than Twilight thought it initially would, her mind clearing and a lot of the dizziness disappearing from her vision, though she still felt somewhat drowsy.

"Princess Celestia, Luna, why uh....well, I don't have all that much to pack and take with me, since all the books I have at the moment belong to the Ponyville library. Maybe on the way to the library, you could both explain to me what exactly's going on?"

With a simple nod from Celestia and Luna, the trio rather lethargically made their way through town, where a large bustle of activity was flowing to and fro from every building. Guards and citizens were making their way in and out of the buildings carrying all sorts of belongings, bags and suitcases with them.

"To put it simply Twilight, we are making the most of this otherwise unfortunate situation."

Twilight watched as a blushing guard was pursued by a drunken Berry Punch as they stepped out of her doorway, a surprising amount of wine, beer and liquor being carried in various cases. She was very clearly hitting on the poor guard mare something fierce. That and she was drunk. Yes, very drunk. Of course, the possibility of her passing out on the way to Canterlot and waking up in her new, temporary home would probably be an experience that Berry Punch was all too used to, minus the lack of a random bedmate. Then again, perhaps her drunken antics with the guard....

"Twilight? Are you alright?"

She snapped to attention and shook her head firmly, trying to get rid of the slowness in her mind. She felt so airheaded and unattentive for some reason. It was probably because she was feeling drowsy, but with all the bizarre things that have happened over the course of the last night and the current day....

"Oh! Princess, what time of day is it right now?"

"It's about two in the afternoon if I'm tracking the time accurately. Why do you ask, Twilight?"

"Oh, wow. No wonder I'm spacing out, I haven't gotten any sleep since the night before last!" she muttered loud enough to be heard by both the Princesses. "I'm sorry Princesses. I'm listening this time! Can you please explain what's going on again?"

Twilight's magic pushed her library door open, only for her and the Royal Sisters to be surprised by the sight of several tubs of eaten ice cream laying all over the main floor of the library. Vanilla, strawberry, mixed, chocolate, even some Rocky Road could be seen sitting on the main table, next to the kitchen door, they were pretty much everywhere!

And in the middle of it all was a very sick-looking Spike with his tongue hanging halfway out of his mouth, facing the door and reaching out for Twilight, a garbage bucket sitting next to him with something unsavory slightly spattered over one edge of it.

"Twiliiiiight....I did something really stupid, I think....!" he groaned out weakly.

The lavender mare just looked around, her mouth hanging open after she took count of just how many tubs of ice cream he'd gone through. Then she blatantly facehoofed as the Princesses entered and just stared at the mess and the suddenly vomiting little dragon on the floor.

"Oh, Spike...." Twilight groaned, shaking her head and getting to work cleaning up the mess.

The wind on the top deck of the airship was rather powerful, as Spike found out when going from the captain's cabin to the lower deck, where Twilight was currently resting. He still felt sick to his stomach, but he took solace in the fact that it was because he almost literally stuffed his gut with a LOT of ice cream over the course of twenty-four hours, not because he had the beginnings of some sort of long-lasting sickness.

Ponies were moving this way and that through the halls, some complaining about the fact that it had been over an hour and they were still on the ship, and others were still very crestfallen regarding leaving Ponyville for who knew how long. Others still were lingering by the ends of the halls, near the sides of the ship, marveling at being so high up in the air on such a sophisticated piece of mechanical genius.

Celestia had gotten very busy the day after she'd been spoken to so desperately by Twilight. It felt bad, in a way, to find out that her mentor had refused to tell her anything about the Nightmare. Just because she knew Twilight well enough to predict that the unicorn would look to her friends for guidance, didn't mean she couldn't have found a better way to handle the situation.

It was honestly hard for Twilight to believe that Celestia predicted things happening the way they did. Anything could've altered the outcome, one of her friends could have encouraged her and that would've been it. Hay, she could've just said 'buck it' and rushed into the forest to go after the Nightmare immediately in a fit of anger!

Yet, all Celestia had said to that was 'But that isn't how it happened, is it?'

No matter how much Celestia's wisdom astounded her, no matter how much her mentor seemed like she could see the future or read ponies as if they were all open books, she knew Twilight as if she had known Twilight her entire life, rather than knowing her for Twilight's entire life, which didn't make sense because Twilight was as mortal as the next pony.

Then there was the news about the 'expansion' they were making to Canterlot. Twilight had quite the skilled, analytical mind, and the moment she'd been told that the expansion was running under the castle, down the side of the mountain, then down a cable car to the bottom, she'd tried to gain a mental rough estimate of just how many ponies could fit into such an expansion.

Then Luna began to explain how the property values and decor were deliberately crafted to appeal more to the middle class rather than the nobles that already had Canterlot overrun with their 'private sub-culture', as Luna so delicately put it.

Both Luna and Celestia approved of this plan since Canterlot was the capital of Equestria, and it just wouldn't do to have the capital of Equestria consisting of the minority class almost exclusively, when high-production cities and towns like Ponyville, Manehattan and Fillydelphia consisted mostly of the middle class, hard-working ponies that were the very reason the nobles were so rich in the first place.

Many, many nobles voiced their opposition to this plan, but ultimately, the number of ponies that both understood and agreed with the viewpoint of the Royal Sisters outweighed the braying and neighing of fearful, money-grubbing nobles.

Thus, the Canterlot Commons Project was put into motion, and made great strides in construction in a mere three days. That had been the purpose of Celestia buying such a small amount of time alongside the Princesses using the time to prepare the Royal Guard to move out and occupy Ponyville, to set up a solid defense between the Nightmare's base of operations and the capital of Equestria.

Twilight was a little dubious at learning that Celestia had literally put a halt on construction in Manehattan, Las Pegasus and Fillydelphia in order to call all the construction companies from those big cities in to get to work on building the massive expansion that was Canterlot Commons. That meant that there were a lot of different construction companies being forced to work very close together, possibly even being forced to work on the same properties by combining their work forces to get certain larger jobs done.

This had her worried. After all, could the integrity of the buildings and structure braces holding the massive expansion firmly in place against the side of the mountain really be of optimal quality with all these construction companies potentially being at each other's throats? She really hoped that there was somepony on-task keeping all the different construction companies working well together with minimal conflict.

At least, Twilight would've been worried about all of this if she wasn't in the process of taking a nap. It wasn't exactly full-on sleep, but it did help her recover a little of what she lost out on trekking through the Everfree Forest.

She had retired to a room that Celestia and Luna had given her, which oddly enough was the same room that Luna and Celestia had been in on the way to Ponyville, not that it was a very extensive trip. Ponyville was only a few hours away after all, the room was more for rich ponies that used the airship for lengthy trips around Equestria and possibly beyond.

Spike entered her room slowly, the sound of ponies talking non-stop outside of the room filling the room very briefly until Spike shut the door again, the soundproofing in the walls giving them peace and silence once more.

Spike waddled over to the bed and climbed up onto it with a groan, looking over Twilight's uncovered form with a somber expression. So much had happened to her, and he felt so useless through it all, even now. From what he understood, it was a good thing he'd alerted Celestia of what was going on as soon as Twilight left rather than the day after, otherwise all of his friends as well as every citizen of Ponyville might very well be dead at the moment.

The thought chilled him to the bone. The only thing that stopped the Nightmare, whatever she was, from following Twilight and the others into Ponyville was the powers of the Princesses combined, casting a barrier over the town that forced the Nightmare to stay out, somehow. If they hadn't been there....

He looked upon his sleeping caretaker with further appreciation for her presence, though she seemed to be asleep. That didn't stop him from eagerly throwing himself into a hug that wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling in close to curl up against her as best he could.

Tears were running down his cheeks when a quiet sob roused Twilight from her meager slumber, the sleep-deprived mare looking to him with puffy red and vaguely bloodshot eyes. He wasn't the only one that had been shedding some tears.

"Spike? Wh-what's-" she began to say, only to realize that he was crying openly, with his face buried against the side of Twilight's neck.

She hugged him in return as best she could, her sleepiness forgotten in lieu of having a very upset dragon grabbing hold of her.

Before she got a chance to ask however, Spike spoke up again.

"You're what's wrong!" he half-shouted, opening his tear-filled eyes and looking into hers. "Y-you almost died!"

She looked to him with some surprise as he held her tighter, the sounds of his despair making her begin to cry all over again, though not nearly as much as he was. She couldn't handle hearing the little dragon so upset, it was like when she was a little filly and bullies had him crying his heart out and she couldn't do anything but hold him.

The only difference now was that there were no bullies, just Twilight and the consequences of her actions. So she held him. She held him and just let him bawl and cry against her, but he just didn't seem to have an end to his sorrow.

"Wh-when you and the others left it was like Nightmare Moon all over again, but she wasn't like whatever this thing is! It....it tormented you! I'd never seen you like that before, and I was so worried and I felt so useless because I couldn't....I couldn't do a-any....!"

She had no idea where this was coming from. If he was really so upset because of what she and her friends had to go and do-well, no, technically they didn't have to go. Spike had even pleaded for her not to go....and now that little fact was bugging her. Something about that moment was eating at her now, but she couldn't pinpoint it.

Spike pulled away from her a little, his eyes staring down at the bed, his shoulders slumping as he let go of her. He clenched his eyes shut as tight as he balled up his fists, his sharp teeth flashing in an angry growl.

"My parents abandoned me! Celestia told me everything before we first went to Ponyville, during the Summer Sun Celebration. Th-the-*hic*-the last unhatched egg in an abandoned nest. Just....just left there, because they didn't want me!!" he shouted furiously, the tears pouring from his eyes.

All of his anger left him suddenly, his legs giving out. The baby dragon flopped down onto his butt, bouncing once slightly on the large bed, his sad eyes looking up into Twilight's equally saddened and tearful gaze.

"Y-you weren't even supposed to succeed at that test they gave you. To use magic to force me to hatch a week early," he said, sniffling and curling his knees in towards himself, wrapping his arms around them. "But you did! You did something that was supposed to be impossible for a unicorn your age. So Celestia gave me to you to teach you responsibility."

He was trembling now, and something in the back of Twilight's mind was screaming at her, but she wasn't listening. She subconsciously reached out for him with a hoof, gently wiping the tears away from one of his cheeks, just listening to him, hanging on every word.

"You-*snf*-you fed me, you played with me, you even used your allowance to buy me toys and gems and take me to fairs and Celestia knows what else that I haven't mentioned!" he said, laying his forehead down against his knees.

"You even kept me around when other ponies made fun of you for spending all your time with me instead of running around with other ponies your age. You made raising me right a priority right next to your studies, you even gave me tutoring so I could learn everything you learned. You were always there, you never abandoned me! Not even once!"

He looked up into Twilight's eyes again, a faint smile on that sad face of his, the tears beginning to come down all over again as that smile disappeared. He began sobbing hard, just barely choking back his sorrow long enough to speak up once again.

"My p-parents abandoned me and left me for dead....! Now I h-have a new family, an-and the most awesome Mother I could've asked for," he said, whimpering and looking into Twilight's eyes. "I don't wanna lose my Mom all over again! Not now....!"

He finally lost what little composure he had left, breaking down into a fresh torrent of crying that tore Twilight apart on the inside.

She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath in, Spike's tearful confession making her feel an ache in her chest, a deep ache the likes of which only a loved one could inflict upon her. Her own tears began flowing as if the dam had shattered within her, this sudden revelation making her feel a myriad of joy and sadness in equal amounts.

She reached for him and gently pulled him closer to herself, the little dragon easing into her grasp until his back was resting against her chest, his head just under her chin. Her forelegs rested over his lap, hugging him tight against herself.

"I'm so sorry Spike! *snf* I would have found another way if I'd known, I swear I would have, I am SO sorry I put you through this....!"

He furiously shook his head, looking up at her with a small frown.

"N-no, it's okay! I just-if-if you ever had to face her again, a-and I didn't tell you how I really felt about you, I'd....!"

She tilted her head to one side of his and nuzzled his cheek with her own, a warm smile on her lips, the tears finally slowing down enough for a faint feeling of joy to warm her, now that what Spike had said really had a chance to sink in.

"Shh....it's alright, Spike. I wish you had told me a long time ago, but I'm glad you told me now. Just forget about all of that. I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise."

She had often thought on this subject when she had a lot of free time to ponder on such issues. He had said she was like a big sister to him before, which was somewhat sensible, she supposed. After all, Princess Celestia had always been watching out for her and, by association, she was often looking out for Spike as well.

But when she thought further beyond that, she realized that the way Spike truly felt right now, the reason for his sadness and his fear of her potential death when pitted against this dark horror that called her its sister....she understood completely. She took care of him. She tended to his needs. Hay, she even learned how to change his diaper when she'd only been out of diapers for a few years herself!

It made her smile. 'Mother'. She liked the thought of being such an important figure to him.

Spike turned in her grip and faced her, throwing his arms around her neck as far as he could to hug her tight, his entire front pressing against her neck and chest, the little dragon getting as close to her as he could.

"I l-love you, Mom."

She could've sworn her heart was doing backflips against her lungs, because the air caught in her chest and refused to come out as anything but a startled and gleeful whimper.

"I love you too, Spike....!"

The door to their room suddenly flew open, a bleary-eyed Celestia standing in the doorway.

The day that they had restored Nightmare Moon to Celestia's long-lost sister, Twilight's belief that the Princess could never lose her composure had been shattered, the sight of her crying even a little bit rather jarring for the lavender mare. Now, she and Spike both watched as Celestia marched almost angrily towards them, her large form looming over them both upon the equally large bed.

Twilight gasped in surprise as she noticed the tears that had stained the fur on the Princess's cheeks. What she had mistaken for pure anger from a distance was actually moreso sadness in Celestia's gaze.

The alicorn suddenly dropped down next to them both, wrapping her long forelegs around both of them and hugging them close, Spike being pinned between the two mares.

"Twilight. Spike....I owe you both a grand apology for the suffering I've put you both through. I must also apologize, but I overheard your conversation from the other side of the door, it was cracked open when I arrived."

Twilight was about to say something, but Celestia gently placed a hoof on her lips as well as on Spike's, the dragon seeming far more confused by the Princess's actions now than anything else.

"Twilight, you had begged me to tell you what was going on, why you were feeling the way you were feeling and who or what the Nightmare was. Indeed, I could have told you without any problems. However...."

Her ears flattened against her skull and her eyes slid shut. She felt unwilling and unworthy of looking either of them in the eyes.

"It was Luna's idea, but I went along with it. I am just as guilty. We needed to have control over when the Nightmare made her move, and we needed to buy time to set this expansion of Canterlot into motion. Thus, I said nothing, but I did make it seem as if there was something very important, perhaps even dangerous and bad for my reputation that I was keeping secret from you. At least, that was the intent. While I do not agree with many of my sister's methods, I cannot deny that this was the method most likely to have the best outcome....but in the process, I threw you to the wolves, so to speak."

Celestia frowned and hung her head, level with Twilight now as she looked into her student's eyes. Silently, she pleaded for some form of forgiveness, some kind of interruption from Twilight that would make it all better, make it all go away.

Twilight leaned her head away, utterly surprised at what she was hearing. She understood why, even accepted it, but she couldn't deny that she felt betrayed, even used. Her mouth hung open in partial shock at what she was hearing, while Spike between them glared at the Princess with obvious fury.

"I had complete faith in your abilities Twilight but please believe me when I say that it hurt so very much to do such a thing to you! Even if I agreed with this plan of action, I felt disgusted with myself for going through with it, I was inconsolable for hours after I returned to Canterlot," she said, her voice wavering. She released both Twilight and Spike, backing up and bowing her head to them both. "I am begging for your forgiveness, Twilight!"

She looked to Spike next, her tearful eyes meeting the dragon's furious glare.

"I am begging for your forgiveness as well Spike, though I know I do not deserve it from either of you," she said, looking to him with a shake of her head. "I had no idea you felt so strongly about Twilight, I didn't....that isn't what matters. What matters is that this has tortured both of you, and if you are upset with my sister and I, I fully understand."

Twilight looked to her in surprise, but Spike had far more than silence to give to the Princess. So very much more.

"How dare you," he muttered, glaring at the much larger pony. "How dare you come in here and act like there's any kind of justification for your actions, for your intentions, even!"

Twilight gasped. "Spike-!"

"NO!" he shouted, shutting her up. He glared at Celestia while pointing at the lavender mare behind himself. "She almost died because of you! Because you thought manipulating her into going after that thing would result in 'the best outcome'!" he said mockingly, attempting an intentionally bad imitation of her voice. "Oh, look at me! I'm Princess Celestia! I send ponies I care about to certain doom so they can deal with problems that are likely my fault to begin with-'"

"I KNOW! Damn it all I know, Spike!" the Princess suddenly roared out, the solar wind that constantly caused her mane to flow around suddenly intensifying, her mane splitting and waving in random directions as she came nose-to-nose with Spike. Tears were streaming down her face, twisting her normally serene, radiant visage into a sight of fury and sadness combined.

"I sent her to what would have been guaranteed death by keeping my mouth shut! I made Luna keep watch over their exchange despite the fact that my sister is so terrified of the Nightmare that her very presence reduces her to a trembling mess that will probably need therapy for millennia after this is all over!"

The scowl and anger in Celestia's voice faded as she sat up, her head hanging low and her eyes shifting between Spike and Twilight, finally settling on the bed, finding some of the stitching so very interesting all of a sudden, or so it seemed. All that was left was a load of remorse and self-loathing that ate away at her in that moment like a fast-acting cancer.

It was Celestia's greatest weakness, being a politician with a heart that punished her for decisions like the one she made for her student.

"I failed you, I failed Twilight, I failed my sister....!" she growled out, clenching her eyes shut, holding her head in her forehooves. "I have failed you all and I deserve whatever you all wish upon me, but I cannot help but ask for your forgiveness because I am not perfect!" she said, looking Twilight in the eyes, one of her own hidden behind her mane. "I'm not perfect, my student....! I make mistakes. I let ponies down....and I am sorry. I will remain sorry for what I have done until you decide that I am worthy of your forgiveness," she said, looking to Spike suddenly. "Both of you."

All three stayed there, like statues in perpetual stasis. Twilight was the first to make a move, reaching for Spike and resting a hoof on his shoulder. The little dragon had his arms crossed over his chest, his resolve diminished after that sudden tirade from Princess Celestia, though it was a meaningful and heartfelt plea from a mare that, for all intents and purposes, could have just said 'I order you both to forgive me', and then exiled them if they refused. Surely, she meant everything she just said.

Twilight urged Spike to turn around, and when he met her gaze, his anger faded. She was smiling at him, a knowing smile that said everything that needed to be said without her uttering a single word.

Twilight stood up from where she'd been laying, Spike approaching the Princess suddenly. The Princess looked between Spike and Twilight, waiting for them both to let her have it, verbally or otherwise.

She was utterly surprised when she felt Spike wrapping his little arms around one of her legs, hugging her tight around what he could reach of her. Twilight was standing next to him, looking up at the taller alicorn with that same smile.

The lavender unicorn reared up onto her hindlegs and pressed her forehooves against the Princess's chest, the bigger alicorn easily bracing Twilight's comparatively meager weight.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

Celestia tried her best to smile, every inch of her body trembling, fearful of Twilight despising her for what she'd done to the poor unicorn. She didn't deserve any of what she'd been through. It only made Celestia hate herself more than she already did right now.

"The Nightmare, she....she was in your head, Twilight," Celestia said, frowning and looking away. "We could not risk her learning what we had planned by having you know as well," she said, taking a deep and shaky breath. "I wanted to tell you. How I wanted to tell you! I could barely handle seeing you in such a desperate state, begging for an answer that could stop all the suffering you had been going through, but I just couldn't and I knew it....!"

Twilight frowned and just listened as the Princess covered her mouth with the side of her hoof, closing her eyes and sniffling loudly. That seemed to be all she needed to partially recover the composure she'd lost under Spike's verbal assault, a deep breath drawn in again before she let it out once more.

"That was why I took the first chance I had to rush out of the library. If you had begged me to tell you one more time, I-!" She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat. "I don't think I would have stayed quiet."

"She spent an entire day lamenting her decision to go along with my plan."

They all suddenly looked to the open doorway only to find Luna standing there, the shorter Princess smoothly approaching the bed the three were sitting on.

Celestia smiled weakly. "Luna. Good afternoon. I expected you to be taking a nap at this time. Your sleep schedule has been thrown off for long enough thanks to all of this."

Luna smiled a little and nodded to Celestia. "Worry not for us, dear sister. This has been more trying on thou and the ponies that thou holds dearest above all else, than it has been on us," she said, then sighed and shook her head. "I mean, me, do not worry about me! I am still trying to adjust to that, so very annoying...."

Twilight laughed quietly at that, just shaking her head and looking from Celestia to Luna and back. "I forgive you. Both of you."

Both Royal Sisters stared at Twilight incredulously for a moment, Spike doing much of the same, but he sighed and ran his right hand over the spines on the top of his head.

"I forgive both of you as well....but I'm still not very happy with either of you."

Celestia sighed and nodded her head. "That's far more than I ever hoped for. Thank you both...."

"No. I am the one that deserves all of the blame. I did not spend time searching for a different solution, I simply went with the one that would allow us almost complete control over the confrontation with little regard for who would suffer as long as nopony got hurt too badly," Luna said, stepping forward. "If you must blame anypony for the trials you have been put through, you should lay it all on me."

Celestia stepped down from the bed. "No. I chose to go along with your plan, that was my decision. I am just as much at fault as you are, Lulu."

Luna sighed deeply. She couldn't refute that, not in the least. She looked to Twilight and Spike after a brief staring contest with Celestia that the larger alicorn clearly won, the Night Princess sitting next to the bed and bowing her head to both Twilight and Spike.

"Please. If you harbor any ill will towards my sister because of this, do keep this in mind: she only very reluctantly agreed to go along with my plan after coming up with no less than twenty-three other plans that did not include you or your friends at all, plans that I refuted due to the risk they posed to both of us or a good majority of our Royal Guard and possibly many other innocent ponies as well," she explained, sitting up straight again, her expression unreadable. "She acted in the best interests of Equestria as a whole. Please keep that in mind."

Twilight could only giggle a little, feeling quite a bit better after being awoken by a very upset little dragon. "As I said....I forgive both of you."

"Same here," Spike said, smirking. "Just try not to do it again?"

"I cannot promise that."

Spike looked at Luna with a frown, unamused and rather unhappy at such a statement, but he said nothing.

Luna looked to Twilight after a moment of silence. "Twilight. Take the next few days to recover. You deserve it after what you've been through. In one week's time, if you feel ready by then, come and speak to me in my chambers after the sun goes down. Then and only then, will we have much to discuss."

She stood up along with Celestia, the Sun Princess looking somewhat crestfallen at having to leave so soon, or at least, it felt rather early to her. Luna swiftly moved along towards the door, her magic grasping it entirely.

"For now, get some rest. The airships are not going anywhere, so rest for as long as you feel you need to, then depart. The guards will escort you into Canterlot at that point."

Luna left before Celestia, her magic still holding the door until she realized that Celestia hadn't followed her. She didn't stop and wait, however, the Night Princess just continuing along down the hall, some ponies bowing to her as she went, though some didn't notice her, too busy with maintenance and cleaning to look around. Royal vessels didn't take care of themselves, after all.

Celestia stood there, looking into Twilight's eyes, a somber expression on her face. They both just stayed where they were, Twilight laying there next to Spike on the bed, and Celestia standing near the doorway, unwilling to take the final few steps through it. She felt like there was more she wanted to say, needed to say, but she couldn't put her feelings into words. Thousands upon thousands of years spent analyzing and understanding herself, how she felt, how she thought....and she hadn't a clue how to put what she felt at that moment into words.

Finally, Celestia rushed towards the bed and pulled Twilight towards the edge with her magic, the unicorn barely having time to gasp before she felt Celestia's large frame pressing against her, forelegs hugging her tight around her chest and neck.

"You may forgive me, Twilight," Celestia said, sighing shakily. "But I will spend a very long time trying to forgive myself for what I have done to you."

With that, Celestia left Twilight and Spike there in that large room alone, her magic closing the door on her way out.

Twilight was, for the most part, perplexed and surprised by everything that had just happened. Not only had things suddenly become extremely complicated between her and Spike, but up until that last hug from her mentor, she thought that Princess Celestia was for the most part a very professional and practical ruler. She had no idea she meant so much to her.

Spike pulled Twilight from her thoughtfulness by tapping on the side of her head, the unicorn looking to him just in time to see him pointing to the window.

Canterlot was closer than either of they had expected, but it didn't matter to Twilight or Spike: they were both dead tired now that they could relax their minds as much as their bodies.

"I'm gonna lay back down and get some rest, Spike. How about you?"

"I'm all for that....uh," he muttered, looking around the bed. "Where's my bed?"

Twilight laughed a little and pulled him close with her magic, the blanket tugging out from under them both while she wrapped her forelegs around the baby dragon, hugging him tight.

"Your bed's right here." she muttered, snuggling up against his back with a smile. "Mm, you're better than my Smartypants doll any day, 'son'."

She couldn't help but laugh at that little jab, though she did partially mean it. It was still way too weird for her though, thinking of Spike as her own son, let alone being a surrogate Mother to her number one assistant.

"Oh, be quiet, 'Mom'....Twilight?"

She had laid her head down when he spoke up, her eyes closed and her mind already slowing down, she felt so tired all the sudden.

"Hm?"

"Is it alright if I call you Mom?"

Her eyes flew open again, the question rolling around in her head, Spike's voice speaking it over and over and over for her. For some reason, it terrified her and made her feel very odd deep down.

But, more than that, it made her feel....warm. Fuzzy. She smiled and tilted her head down to kiss the top of his head.

"You don't have to if it embarrasses you in front of our friends, but....I think I'd like that. A lot, actually," she said, hugging him tight for a moment. "I'm sure it'll be really weird for both of us for a while, but I'm sure we'll both get used to it."

He smiled and laid his head down this time along with Twilight, both of them closing their eyes and letting out a deep sigh.

"Alright then....Mom. Love you!"

"Heh! Have a good rest, Spike. Love you."

With that warm, fuzzy feeling coursing over both of them, they both quickly began falling asleep, Twilight's mind swimming with new thoughts towards her number one assistant, and confusing feelings regarding her mentor. She anxiously wanted to speak with Celestia again sometime soon, and Luna as well, though for entirely different reasons.

She didn't get very far with those thoughts before the feeling of Spike's overly lukewarm body and the warmth of the covers atop her put her into a deep, and finally very restful sleep, utterly devoid of the Nightmare's intrusions or anypony else's interruptions.