The sun's low position in the sky illuminated all of Canterlot in a beautiful, near-sunset light, the sound of construction constant the further Twilight and Spike walked into the new Canterlot Commons area of the capital city.

They were both still astounded at how much the construction workers had managed to get done in a mere three days. They were easily just a little behind one-fourth finished with it when everypony showed up to start moving in, which meant some of the rich nobles gave up parts of their large homes to house 'refugees'.

Now, exactly one week after that day, Canterlot Commons was half finished and every citizen of Ponyville had moved into their own new, but temporary home, fully pre-furnished with some very Canterlot-esque furniture. Well, some of them were pre-furnished.

Those that weren't wound up having their new tenants stopping in and giving tons of business to the Quills & Sofas shop, Twilight's favorite place to go to pick up some sturdy but simple quills. She didn't buy them to collect, like some ponies with nothing better to do with their bits. She hardly ever spent the entire check that she got from Princess Celestia just to pay the bills back at the library anyways....hm.

"Maybe I should start up a collection of some sort...." she mumbled quietly to herself.

"What?"

She jumped, startled by the little dragon on her back. "Nothing, Spike! Nothing at all."

On second thought, that was a terrible idea. She was so obsessive about things, not having every part of any collection she started right away would probably drive her to having an aneurysm. It would truly be embarrassing to have 'Nearly destroyed Equestria due to freaking out about her Pokemon trading card collection' on her otherwise completely clean criminal record.

"Hey, there it is!"

Twilight looked to her right as they came to an intersection, some carriages going this way and that, directed by a traffic-managing pony in the middle of the cobblestone road. She preferred the sidewalk, it was much safer than sharing her walking path with boorish carriage drivers.

Just to the right of where she was, about a block down the street, was a building that currently had very colorful, pink frosting-colored construction going on, the tell-tale design of baked goods on the outside of the building giving it away as the new Sugarcube Corner.

As Twilight approached with Spike sitting on her back, she saw that the words 'Sugarcube' and 'Corner' were only partially completed. Half of each word was finished and painted, with the other half only partially carved out of the wooden blocks the unicorns were working them out of.

Each worker had wood-carving tools held in a magical field, some of them using two at a time, others using three, though a particularly large unicorn seemed to be using seven of them to help all of the workers where he could. Twilight couldn't help but find his magic skill attractive, not to mention how long his horn was....

"Whoa. Where'd that come from?" she mumbled to herself, rubbing her blushing cheek with a hoof.

She shook it off and instead focused on the sudden draft that washed over her and Spike, bringing with it the warming, tantalizing scent of fresh baked goods that could only come from one source.

"Where'd what come from, Twilight?" Spike suddenly asked.

Twilight perked up suddenly. "Oh, nothing! I think it's time we checked out the new Sugarcube Corner, don't you? Pinkie's been really busy in the castle kitchens and has been wanting to know how the Cakes are holding up in their new shop," she said, then licked her lips after taking yet another deep breath. "Not to mention I'm starving!"

Upon setting hoof inside of her favorite snack and baking goods store, Twilight was astounded at what she found: Canterlot nobles, a rather lengthy line of them at that, and the line was still growing behind her, when she finally looked back at the sound of other ponies approaching the front of the store.

She didn't wait any longer to get in line. There were already twenty or so ponies in front of her, she didn't need the five she saw just coming into the store to add to that number. Spike rose to stand on Twilight's back, looking over her head to watch as the Cakes frantically rushed in and out of the kitchen, both of them constantly calling out what they were doing to one another as if they were a two-pony team on the front lines of a war.

They kept going like a well-oiled machine, one staying at the register, only to switch out with the other to give the one rushing around in the back time to rest. Not only that, it allowed them to keep better track of the orders, though it was obvious that they had made a mistake here and there. It was expected, without Pinkie there to assist them they had to pick up the slack, and they had never been this busy in Ponyville.

A good twenty minutes passed before it was Twilight's turn to order, both of the Cakes glad to see her, though not for the same reason she perhaps expected: there were only five ponies behind her, which meant they could slow down a little and take a moment to catch their breaths.

"Oh, hello there, Twilight! Hah, what can we get for you?"

"I'll just have a dozen frosted muffins, Party Pink flavor. How about you, Spike?"

He tapped his chin for a moment, his mouth opening and closing three times in desires that he just as suddenly tossed aside. Then he finally settled on a simple enough decision.

"Can I have a jumbo blueberry muffin with gem frosting? Or aren't those available yet?"

She looked at Mrs. Cake with no small amount of sympathy; the poor mare looked completely exhausted! Mr. Cake didn't seem any better off when he stepped in from the back, thankful for being able to take a breather.

He approached the cash register and took over, quickly taking Twilight's and Spike's order while Mrs. Cake stepped away to talk to the pair for a bit. They had a large stock of pretty much their entire menu at their places on the displays, freshly-baked and ready to be eaten, she could afford to relax.

"So, what's this all about? What caused all these nobleponies to start getting baked goods here? I mean no offense, but this place isn't exactly....well, for them, if you get what I mean."

Mrs. Cake shrugged her shoulders, motioning them to follow her into the back. She went over to a bowl full of batter and got busy stirring it up, quickly adding some fresh blueberries to the remaining batter.

"Well I don't rightly know what they're all doin' here, considering we've only been open a couple of days, but....well, there was the day we first opened."

Spike licked his lips and watched Mrs. Cake begin putting the frosting and some of the gem pieces together, mixing the sharp shards up with the frosting of Pinkie's original design, filled with sweet flavors that even Twilight's extensive knowledge of fancy foods from her years spent next to the Princess couldn't fully place.

"What about the first day you opened?"

Mrs. Cake smiled at Twilight. "Well the Princesses, bless their souls, both came around all of Canterlot Commons as all of our houses got finished and welcomed us! Every shop they were seen at wound up getting tons of business, and that big surge still hasn't stopped for lots of them."

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "Thaaat explains everything. Nobles are so predictable....!"

"What are you saying, Twilight? Surely Canterlot ponies aren't that shallow?"

Twilight just stared at her with a flat look, then pointed at the kitchen door towards the front of the shop.

Spike just sighed and nodded in agreement. "She really does have a point, Mrs. Cake."

"Well, I'll have no badmouthin' those ponies in my shop, alright you two? Hungry ponies are all the same in my mind."

They both just nodded in agreement, neither of them making much of a habit of talking bad about any one group of ponies. Nobles just had a special place in their hearts, though that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Twilight had experienced all of the backstabbing, ulterior motives and the lengths that many nobles will go to achieve such goals when they get the chance.

She still recalled the little 'investigation' she'd done of Prince Blueblood over ten years ago, how many things she'd discovered about him that placed him as an unexpectedly dangerous member of the Canterlot elite to get involved with. Not to mention how much it infuriated her to find out he'd covered up a lot of potentially life-ruining deeds on his part by abusing his supposed relation to Princess Celestia. Yet, when she approached the Princess about it, the Princess told her she would understand when she was older.

Well, she was older now, and she certainly still hated his guts and hated him for all that she knew he'd done! She felt fortunate that he didn't seem to remember Rarity as anything more than yet another mare expecting to bed-and-wed him, though he was entirely wrong in that regard.

While she was wondering how he could forget that an Element-bearer had found him appealing at one point (perhaps he was just that arrogant), until he showed just how horrible of a companion he could be of course, Mrs. Cake tapped her on her shoulder.

"Were you listening, dearie? I said your order should take around five minutes, you two can wait back here or just go out front and wait there, if ya like! Though, I can't promise there's a table open up front, all the ponies out there seem to have the place filled to capacity!"

She took a peek just out of the kitchen door and realized that she had a point: the front area was loaded with ponies both Ponyvillian and Canterlot all sitting down to dig into their baked goods.

She backed up and nodded to Spike. "We'll just wait back here. Nopony out there we know anyways."

That was that, and soon enough Spike had his special jumbo cupcake and Twilight had a baker's dozen (which drove her nuts). Spike stopped her before she got wound up and ate the thirteenth cupcake for her all at once to put an end to the issue, then got to work on his own order.

For a while it was just small talk with the Cakes, talking about how the others were adjusting to life in the castle, especially Pinkie Pie, who took to her task of nightly baking and unexpected random entertainment with such zeal one might think she'd been doing it her entire life....which was basically the truth.

Applejack would have had a lot more free time, but the old gardener she'd been hired to assist always seemed to find new things for her to work on while she was on the clock. Still, being on the clock rather than running her own farm and basically having work to do at all times of the day and late evening gave her five or six hours of extra free time that she still didn't entirely know what to do with.

Recently she and Rainbow Dash had found similar interests in the form of taking rather lengthy naps in the middle of the day and later in the evening because of this.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash, she seemed to be the only one that seemed to be settling in to a job that was the exact same as her job in Ponyville, though this one seemed to have a lot more gruff and stern workers she had to operate alongside. Commander Hurricane in particular seemed to detest her taking naps on the clouds near Princess Celestia's room's balcony, or Princess Luna's tower. That didn't seem to stop her from day to day, however: Rainbow Dash would always be Rainbow Dash.

Twilight had originally been very concerned with Fluttershy, after the fiasco that was the Grand Galloping Gala. From what she understood, many of the animals outright avoided every attempt she made to befriend them, and she....hadn't taken such a blatant rejection on such a grand scale very well. Memories of her face and the words 'You're....going to LOVE MEEE!!!' popped into her mind as the end of that disaster hit her again, causing her to shudder.

Angry Fluttershy is scary, in other words.

It was very relieving for her to go and visit Fluttershy on the third day in the castle, only to find her surrounded by animals, like a scene out of some kind of fairy tale movie. It was cute, and a lot of the animals seemed pleased by her presence, now that they gave her a chance to get to know them.

Fluttershy had explained that it was her other animal friends that had gotten her an in with the animals living in the Royal Gardens. They had hidden from her once again just like before, perhaps because they remembered her outrageous behavior from the last time she'd been to the Royal Gardens, but her other animal friends, in particular a little hummingbird that she had just recently taken in, really began to speak to the others.

By the end of it all, after another bunch of animals had sent her crying alone in the hedge maze by running away from her in blind fear, the bear that had run away from a fairly abusive circus that she had to constantly give massages to came and found her along with a bunch of other birds and smaller creatures. Best of all, they were followed by more, and more, and more until every animal in the Royal Gardens had found her and tried to comfort her.

Clearly they were ashamed of their actions. As far as Fluttershy understood it, most ponies they met considered them nuisances, and they had been trained not to be afraid of ponies, but to leave them be even if they wish to keep the animals around, having had too many ponies complain about the animals dirtying up the gardens in the areas ponies frequented, among other things.

Rarity was the last pony she felt she had to worry about, but she should've visited the fashionista first it seemed. When she first knocked on the door to Rarity's modified suite, she heard noise on the other side, but nopony responded or invited her in on the other side. A second knock, no answer.

Finally, with a firm hoof, she knocked a third time and then just used her magic to open the door since Rarity was clearly there and obviously ignoring her. She found that, upon entering the room, her friend was doing something she had wound up doing a lot when she was younger that she grew out of once she reached her teen years.

Rarity was passed out face-down on her workbench, her horn lit up with magic that was randomly swinging sewing needles and spools and rolls of fabric around in the air with surprising accuracy. When she went to make sure her friend really was asleep, her suspicions were confirmed.

When Twilight was younger, her intense enthusiasm for learning how to use her magic, control it, and develop her skills into something that would make her the most well-known magic-user in Equestria often had her staying up later than she should have at her age, causing her to pass out more often than not on her desk, both back home and in her room in the castle.

Often when she did this, she would be woken up by the Princess, only to find that her magic had automatically and slowly turned the pages in her books and caused her to lose where she was at. It caused her no small amount of trouble in her earlier years of advanced schooling, up until the time when she learned how to control it.

This condition that often crops up in over-stressed unicorns was known by several names, but the most popular one is called 'Z-Casting'. Given how 'catching some Zs' became a fairly popular saying for getting some sleep around the same time this surprisingly commonplace condition became more well-known in the field of medicine, the term 'Z-Casting' became popular simply because of how catchy it was.

For the longest time, many stressed out unicorns blamed magic fatigue on their stress rather than their sleep not really being used to recover the magic they had used up the day before. This was partially true, but not entirely accurate. Furthermore, many unicorns thought ponies were screwing with them, what with how their magic often messed up the things around them in the process of casting spells in their sleep. Still other superstitious ponies often blamed the accidental mischief on ghosts and playful spirits.

It was two years after this condition became a mainstream issue that several very simple cures were discovered, the easiest being adding and removing certain foods and drinks to their diet, though that one was a bit too much of a change for many unicorns.

Instead of that, many more ponies stuck with what was and still is the standard cure for most every unicorn that winds up developing this condition: an herbal remedy derived from a now common flower.

While in the old days the seeds became extremely lucrative to grow and sell thanks to many unicorns keeping small gardens consisting only of that flower, nowadays so many farms grow the flower, now classified as a crop all its own, that almost all unicorns from nobles to commoners simply go to the nearest general store or farm to purchase the leaves of the flower either to eat or boil into rather tasty tea.

Tea is easily the most common of the two choices due to how naturally calming a cup of tea is for anypony: this sickness only appears in unicorns that have become far too over-stressed for their own good, thus, anything that can help them de-stress is going to be the obvious choice.

And somehow, all that history, perhaps only fifty years before their time, and Rarity hadn't a clue what Z-Casting was. Twilight could not facehoof hard enough to fully signify how ridiculous that was to her.

However, after a proper lesson in her condition, Rarity was thankful for having an explanation for sometimes finding a completely messy room upon waking up, but she was also disappointed. For the longest time she believed that she was unique due to having some kind of magical, supernatural sense of fashion that left her clues to give her ideas for some of her best designs while she slept. To discover it happened to a lot of unicorns that worked excessively hard was both flattering (in a way) and very disappointing.

Still, neither Twilight nor Rarity could argue with the results Rarity got from her condition. If she wished to let her magic run wild and leave her a bunch of 'controlled chaos' as she liked to call it so that she can garner some inspiration from the mess, who was Twilight to intrude on Rarity's biggest source of ideas?

With all of her musings, she had almost forgotten where she was supposed to be that night. Luna had been extremely cryptic, which only made Twilight even more curious, but she had waited patiently enough: she wanted answers, and she fully intended on cashing in on Luna's promise.

She had so many questions regarding everything that had happened, but she felt like she was the only one that all this was about that was being left out of the loop. The Nightmare seemed to be so interested in the Princesses as well as herself, but while both Princesses seemed to be able to match her word-for-word, she felt as if she were a blind foal by comparison!

What did she have to do with any of this? She'd never dabbled in anything like the magic she'd experienced over the last month or so, or....well, however long this has been going on, she honestly wasn't sure anymore. Over the last week she'd noticed a lot more activity amongst the Royal Guard as well, along with a lot of whispers amongst them about 'dark creatures' that could only be killed with enchanted weaponry and magic spells.

She didn't want to think of the ponies that Equestria had lost to make those creatures.

"So Twilight, what're we going to see Princess Luna for?"

"We aren't going to see Luna, I am going to see Luna. Rarity told me earlier that she could use your assistance with a recent order from Hoity Toity, so I'm going to leave you with her."

He took a big bite out of the half of his cupcake that was left. "Buh, why?"

"Ugh, Spike, how many times do I have to tell you not to speak with your mouth full?" she groaned. "I need answers for everything that's happened. This stuff about the Nightmare, all of the Wild Shadows we encountered, and the changes that've been going on with my magic."

He swallowed the large amount of cupcake with a firm, almost painful-looking gulp, the way his throat stretched to accomodate the large clump of food being worked down it. Twilight just sighed and shook her head.

"If only you had such eating habits during the times we spent at those boring social events we had to attend with the Princess when we were younger...."

"What?" he asked quirking a brow.

She just waved it off and smiled. "Nothing, Spike."

He just stared at her for a moment, brow quirked and silence dominating the room once more. Eventually he just finished off his cupcake and licked his claws clean, mmm'ing happily.

"Anyways, you're talking about how your magic aura and stuff has all turned a black color, right?"

"Yeah, it's rather disconcerting to know I linked directly to the Nightmare's mind and came out of it with my magic altered," she said, frowning and furrowing her brow in thought. "My magic gets more and more powerful every day, while my focus keeps being more and more inadequate; sometimes I have trouble controlling a simple Telekinesis spell!"

She looked to the muffin that was currently wrapped in the white glow of her magic, the black inky darkness outlining it. She couldn't deny that looking at it brought back rather traumatizing memories of that night in the forest, every shadow in the overwhelming darkness seeming to stalk them and watch their every move.

She visibly shuddered as she took a quick bite out of her muffin, the memory of feeling surrounded at all times making her feel slightly paranoid of her surroundings, even though the kitchen was well-lit and there were a lot of ponies just through the door leading to the front. She hadn't slept with the lights off in her room the entire week, causing Spike to wrap himself in his blankets and move his bed to the balcony every night.

It was easier to sleep under the light of the moon than under the glow of electricity, of course. She often found herself rushing out of rooms that the lights had been turned off in, or getting away from places that were dark and quiet. It was foalish behavior, especially since she'd left her fear of the dark behind when she moved from her home with her parents to her new home with the Princess at the castle.

Suddenly she didn't feel so great, and with that came thoughts of her medicine, with good reason: she hadn't paid attention to the time, nor had she paid much attention to the fact that she hadn't taken any that day. Her trembling could easily be blamed on her lingering fears and memories of the Nightmare stalking them all the way to Ponyville through the forest, but she knew the real reason.

"Spike, I need to go use the bathroom. Meet me outside?"

"Sure thing, uh...." he said, looking around the kitchen to confirm that they were alone. Satisfied, he smiled wide and looked her in the eyes. "Sure thing, Mom."

Twilight felt a new, weird, but no less welcome sensation of warmth that radiated out from her heart to the very corners of her being, a warm smile lifting her spirits until she looked as cheerful as ever. The trembling didn't stop, however, but she knew how to put an end to that, and she was very much looking forward to it.

She leaned over to Spike and planted a small kiss on his forehead, ruffling the spines atop his head with a hoof afterwards.

"Alright then! See you outside, kiddo."

Spike stepped away from the table and headed out of the kitchen while Twilight picked up her saddlebags with her magic and slung them over her back, buckling them around her barrel and adjusting them with a hoof until they settled on her back more comfortably. She left six muffins in the box for Luna and possibly Celestia, placed the box on her back, and then got up and headed for the mare's restroom.

Once inside, she went into the stall and put the toilet seat down along with the seat cover, sitting down on it and reaching into one of her saddlebags for what she so deeply desired at the moment. A bulbous potion filled with a clear, semi-viscous liquid floated into her hooves by way of her magic, and she looked upon it with a quick lick of her lips.

The painkilling potion was by far no longer necessary, save for the occasional headache her experimentation with her new magic gave her, but that wasn't why Twilight continued to take it. The effects the medicine had upon her mind were easily very desirable, it allowed her to completely relax, something she was utterly incapable of on her own.

Of course the potion wasn't very tasty on its own, but she had found that she could simply add some sugar to the mix, saturate the potion with it, and the flavor of the medicine was all but killed by the sugary sweetness.

She uncorked the potion with her teeth, then took a deep swig of it downing a quarter of what was in the bottle. That was her usual amount, but recently she had found that the effects of the medicine weren't as strong as she would have liked. On a whim she took another drink of the potion, leaving only half of it within the glass, then re-corked it and tucked it away within her saddlebag once more.

By the time she found her way out of the bakery, the effects of the potion were in full swing and her half-lidded eyes were glassy. Spike hadn't a clue that Twilight was taking these potions still, as far as he knew she had stopped receiving them from Zecora after the move to Canterlot Commons.

For Twilight's sake, he should have been paying better attention to the fact that she seemed unusually quiet and elated. Spike just figured that she was happy about him calling her his Mother, as she usually was ever since his heartfelt confession to her. Even he seemed much more happy, getting such an important issue off his chest.

It only took around twenty minutes for them to make their way to the castle, the sun having gone down completely by then while the moon smoothly rose up into the beautifully starry night sky.

"Spike, I'm going to be speaking to Luna for probably a very long time tonight, and it's likely going to be very personal. Do you mind heading back to our room on your own?"

Spike shook his head while hopping down from her back. "No prob, Twilight! I'll have all of the books, quills and whatnot cleaned up by the time you come back."

With that, Twilight was left alone save for the two Night Guards that were making their way towards her from the hallway she was intending to walk down anyways. She knew her way around, but as the guards approached her and bowed courteously to her, she knew that somehow, Luna already knew she was here. That, or Luna predicted she'd be here this night, and ordered her guards to keep an eye out.

"We have orders to escort you to the Princess, Lady Sparkle, if you believe you are ready. Do you wish to go now?"

His voice was gentle, smooth, almost a pleasure in and of itself to listen to. On top of that he was of a youthful age, and was fairly handsome, as was the pony he was working alongside. For that matter, most of the Night Guards she'd seen at night were much the same way, with that single older pegasus guard that Luna kept close by being more of an exception than a standard. Did she prefer it this way, or was there some other motive besides having attractive young stallions to surround herself with?

She didn't dwell on it, shaking such a perverted thought process from her mind. It was just like earlier, with the unicorn construction worker, a moment of daydreaming at the possibilities, flashes of images, temptation, hormone-driven urges that she often left unsatisfied until they faded into background noise in her head. Yet, for some reason, for the last week they had begun to hold a certain amount of sway in her more conscious thoughts.

She didn't like it in a certain sense, but at the same time, she couldn't deny her forehooves were getting more exercise than usual close to bedtime. She certainly liked that aspect.

"Yes, I do believe I'd like to speak to Princess Luna right away. Shall we?"

Both guards stood, one of them standing closer to Twilight than the other, the one speaking of course. "As you wish, milady. With us, please."

With that, she found herself keeping her thoughts of aforementioned fantasies in check as both stallions walked on either side of her. She could've sworn they were standing closer to her than was necessary, but she attributed that possibility to her mind (and her hormones) reacting very, very strangely to the recent changes to her magic. Whatever was causing her to become more and more powerful with every passing day was also toying with her emotions, her desires, enhancing them and amplifying things that were normally latent and off to the wayside before.

Her hoofsteps were noisy compared to the nearly absolute silence that permeated a good majority of the castle. Even the Night Guards on either side of her, with their darker gray coats and their somewhat intimidating armor made of a metal she couldn't identify with her eyes only, seemed to move the same way as she, but their hooves made almost no sound. It was very unsettling to say the least.

Thus, it was like a thunderous boom when she heard the gentle hoofsteps of a pony down a ways along the hallway they were walking down.

As Princess Celestia rounded the corner mere hooves away from all of them, the guards stopped and immediately bowed, but Twilight stood there, as if a deer in the glare of a new-age carriage's headlights. Celestia wasn't too far from mimicking her expression.

Twilight was the first to break the silence. "Good evening, Princess!" she said quickly, putting on a smile that was just a little too big for Celestia to fully believe it was genuine.

Things had become strained, though to Twilight it had no reason to be, because she held no ill will towards the Princess. Celestia, however, did not take it as easily on herself as her student would have preferred she did. On the contrary, Celestia almost behaved as if she hated herself.

Twilight couldn't deny that the fact that she'd essentially been used to draw the Nightmare out into a more open, controlled engagement made her angry, infuriated even. However, she was a logical and sensible pony: she also understood why it was necessary, and that necessity was what separated it as an act in the interests of the overall benefit of Equestria instead of just an act of personal betrayal. The Princess had full faith in her abilities and the abilities of her friends, otherwise she would have found another way through this most trying of times, of that Twilight had no doubt, so sure was her faith in her teacher's wisdom and care for the well-being of all of her subjects.

Celestia's mind was on another track entirely when it came to the recent events. She viewed her reliance on the abilities and the mental strength of her student, her surrogate daughter, one of her most trusted advisors as a personal failing of the worst kind. She had held truths at bay in favor of lies, however small they may have been, and sent Twilight, in a time of great need, into the jaws of her enemy. Even then, she had to beg her own sister, who was deathly afraid of facing that enemy alone, to do just that to retrieve and secure the safety of her personal student, to retrieve her gnarled and frayed mind from the very jaws that she had been thrown to.

Then, with her sister, traumatized and trembling in her hooves, she forced her to put such issues aside in order to assist her in securing every major metropolis, city, and every last pony in Equestria from the Nightmare's influence by way of putting massive barriers of pure energy over each of them and moving every last pony from all the outlying villages and smaller, more isolated towns, so that she could better establish defensive perimeters and keep her troop numbers high in all populated areas. This wasn't her first rodeo after all, and neither was it Luna's: they knew military strategy like the backs of their hooves.

Made of raw Void and Purification Magic, these barriers would be impossible for the Nightmare to get past, at least, that was what her studies and calculations told her, both her own and the ones her sister, easily the smarter and more intelligent of the two of them, had worked through. She forced her subjects to uproot their lives and move to strange, new locations that were drastically different from their lives at their true homes, likely putting many jobs and relationships in danger of being strained to a breaking point.

She was disgusted with herself. It was all she thought about over the past week, all of the events set into motion simply due to the Nightmare elevating her activities in several dark and rarely explored, vaguely studied locations of Equestria. Places that the Nightmare seemed to thrive.

Thus, it took a lot of willpower to do what she did next. She smiled.

"Good evening, Twilight."

Both of them stood there in somewhat awkward silence, both of the guards looking at each other as the two normally very friendly and even perhaps somewhat cuddly mares before them tried their hardest to avoid eye contact with each other. This was going down a bad road, and someone had sabotaged the vehicle's brakes.

"How are things lately? I haven't seen you since the trip on the airship."

"Things are....better, I believe," Celestia said, sitting on her haunches. "It is genuinely nice to see you, Twilight."

Celestia looked to both of the guards and bowed her head to them. "Will you excuse us, gentlecolts? I wish to speak with my student."

"But Your Majesty, we must escort Lady Sparkle to Princess Luna."

Celestia giggled. "Surely you can trust me to bring your charge to your Princess safely, yes?"

They looked to one another once again, then simply nodded and bowed to Celestia once more before walking away.

Both mares watched the guards walk away, only breaking the silence between them when the guards disappeared around a corner on the far end of the hallway.

Celestia sighed. "Well, at least they didn't fade into the shadows like some of them enjoy doing."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"You will find out fairly soon, I'm sure," she said, nodding to the lavender mare. "Have you recovered from your ordeals?"

Twilight smiled wide and approached the much larger mare, though she stopped short of nuzzling Celestia, afraid that such forwardness would cause her mentor to become upset.

"Of course I have!" she said as she sat down in front of the Princess. "It's been a week already, a very eventful week at that."

Celestia tilted her head. "Oh?" She stood and motioned for Twilight to follow, walking slowly down the halls. "Do tell."

The soft clip-clop of their hooves against the polished marblestone floor sounded off noisily as they made their way through the castle, Celestia's serene smile back in full force. Regardless of how Celestia may have felt about herself and what she'd done to Twilight and her friends, what she'd put them through, it was always such a wonderful thing to hear her student's voice, especially when it was filled with such cheer.

"Well, nothing eventful regarding myself aside from the changes that've been happening with my magic. Mostly it's all of the shops that've relocated here from Ponyville...." she said with a sly smirk. "Seems they've been getting a lot of business ever since they opened!"

Celestia returned that smug look on Twilight's face with a knowing grin of her own. "Truly? I would not expect such courtesy from the elite of Canterlot, they are simple country ponies after all."

"That's very true! Surely you didn't have anything to do with attracting the image-conscious nobles to the Canterlot Commons area in order to get them all more interested in the quality goods from Ponyville compared to the more mass-produced stuff from Manehattan, New Yoke and Fillydelphia?"

Celestia smirked and innocently looked away. "I am quite certain that I haven't a clue what you're getting at Twilight."

Twilight just giggled at that and shook her head. "Suuuuure you don't, Princess...."

Celestia looked to Twilight once more, and after a few moments, Twilight looked to the Princess once again as well, the silence between them speaking volumes as the two mares smiled at one another.

Celestia's smile didn't last, however. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh through her nostrils, a somber expression overtaking the moment of joy that she and Twilight had shared mere seconds ago.

Twilight took a single small step forward. "Celestia?"

There it was. That tone of voice that made such a personal inquiry towards her that Celestia hadn't heard it in years, not since Twilight had been a much younger filly. The last time she could recall her student calling her by her name rather than her title was over six years ago. She didn't know what question Twilight had, but she could only assume this had the potential to be another tear-filled conversation in the hallways instead of in the privacy of one of the airship's suites.

"If you hadn't manipulated us, sent us after the Nightmare in the way you did, what other options would you have had?"

That was certainly a question Celestia hadn't been expecting. A plea for her to stop perhaps, or maybe an angry question as to why she did what she did now that Twilight had time to really think on what she'd done, but not anything like this.

"....Do you know how many times I have done such things, Twilight?"

"Huh?"

"Do you have any idea how many times I have been put in a position where I have had to send those I dearly care about into danger? How many times I have had to choose Equestria over them? Discord, Luna....now you and your friends, twice already!"

She couldn't bring herself to get angry again. She'd had enough of that anger. She had had enough of it after the hundred years she spent mourning the loss of her beloved sister by way of the Elements of Harmony, but clearly somepony like Twilight still brought about enough fury for her to curse her own name for several nights and days, all while putting on a happy face for the nobility and her more considerate, gentle-hearted subjects from Ponyville.

Twilight moved closer once again, unnoticed by Celestia, who was looking up at the ceiling. The Princess was lost in memories of the times before, the times she'd done similar things....and how much she detested being able to do such horrible things to her subjects, no matter their relation to her.

"I have-have done it so many times, Twilight. So very many times, all because of my title, my station as the figurehead of Equestria's fledgling government. My subjects all believe in me, trust me to do what is in their best interests at all times," she said, letting out a shaky sigh, her eyes glossing over with tears that threatened to fall at a moment's notice. "Thus, I must always choose them over anything I may feel for those that I love....and it is in those moments that I wish to simply throw this tiara into the wind as hard as I can!"

She lifted her tiara from her head with her magic, her angry gaze seeming to threaten the inanimate object itself. Her eyes screamed of contained fury while her outward expression was little more than a slight furrowing of her brow.

Twilight could only think to do one thing, for hearing her teacher, her mentor, her idol and the only pony that knew her better even than her friends did tearing herself down and hating herself? She refused to tolerate such a thing.

Celestia didn't notice how close Twilight had gotten to her until she felt Twilight's form pressing against her own, the lavender mare's forelegs wrapped around Celestia's neck, the smaller unicorn raised up on her hindlegs to even out the size difference between them.

"Wh-wha? Twilight?"

The smaller mare's tears soaked into the fur on Celestia's neck. "I understand, Princess. But please, tell me....what would you have done if you hadn't chosen my friends and I to go in after the Nightmare?"

"I....hadn't given it thought afterwards."

"But you thought about it before, didn't you?! You didn't want to send us in there, right?"

Celestia looked aghast. "Twilight, of course not! I would never-"

"But you had to do it. You had to do something to secure Equestria's safety. It's your decision to make as one of the two Diarchs ruling over Equestria."

She sighed. "Yes....and I hate it."

"Then please, I know you have every right to be upset, but not at yourself! Be upset at the situation you were put in, that you had to do what was best as the ruler of Equestria, but don't consider it a personal shortcoming by having to rely on somepony you trust!" she said, leaning back and letting up on her hug, hooves resting on Celestia's withers while she looked up at the Princess. "I would....I would feel terrible if I ever thought that you felt that you could no longer call on me when you really needed somepony like my friends and I."

Twilight released her and sat back on her haunches, looking up into the surprised face of her mentor, her glossy eyes smiling just as much as her curved-up lips.

Celestia smiled after a moment and let out a good-natured sigh. "Sometimes, I forget you are capable of being much more wise than I often give you credit for, Twilight."

Celestia giggled so quietly as she leaned down and nuzzled Twilight's cheek with her own, both mares continuing with that moment for what felt like several minutes to Twilight, or so she'd hoped on the inside. Hugging Celestia, nuzzling her, hay even just speaking with her, they were all activities that Twilight could never get enough of.

Now? She had the Princess all to herself during her walk to what was a new destination for her: the royal kitchens. They talked about many things, especially the studies Twilight had been working on just before her little explosion when she was still enrolled. Both teacher and student took up a seat closest to the bakers and Celestia clopped her forehooves together, attracting the attention of Ponyville's premiere party pony.

Pinkie hopped up and down next to them, the pink pony reaching up to adjust her floppy baker's hat, her joy at seeing one of her best friends along with the nightly visit from the Princess clear on the massive smile she wore. Even late at night, Pinkie's energetic demeanor didn't diminish until it was time to tuck into bed and recharge, though many would argue that Pinkie could probably go a few days before really needing any actual sleep.

"Howdy-doody Princess Celestia! What'll it be tonight? Slice o' cake, one-and-a-half slices of pie, maybe some of my special Party Top Cupcakes or some banana nut muffins?" Pinkie asked, laughing happily. "I can make it all thanks to the previous chef's notes! I even know how to make the 'Princess's Favorite', whatever that is."

It had taken Pinkie a couple days to figure out how to work the very special ovens the previous baker got very good use out of. Each one was magically enchanted to bake rapidly without burning the ingredients within, something Celestia herself put a lot of her own bits into in order to allow her favorite nighttime snack to be whipped up rapidly and mere moments after she asked for it.

There were limits of course. She couldn't just clap her hooves, tell the baker what she wanted, then have her treat a second or five later. No, instead where she might have to wait a half an hour, she only needs to wait perhaps five minutes for her snack(s) to be ready, piping hot and utterly fresh. The Apple Family could claim to make the best food and baked goods for ponies throughout all Equestria all they wanted: Celestia had a chef and equipment to guarantee fresh baked goods every night!

"I believe I will have a slice of cheesecake tonight. Twilight?"

"Oh, I'll have the same Pinkie, no need to bake anything extra!"

Pinkie grinned and hopped away. "Okie dokie lokie! Be back in a jiffy!"

The rest of the time spent with the Princess was relatively cheerful, especially after Celestia got her usual nighttime snack. If there was one thing Twilight knew for certain, it was that Celestia always....always forgot about her worries, at least for a little bit, when baked goods were on an express route down her gullet. Of course, being around the Princess most of her life, even Twilight could at least partially share Celestia's enthusiasm for baked bliss.

After an hour of conversation, both while eating their cheesecake slices and while walking around some, Twilight managed to recall what had brought her to the castle in the first place. She had just been enjoying her time with Celestia so much, it had completely skipped her mind. In all honesty she didn't mind this, but she was still very curious.

"By the way, Princess....the reason I'm at the castle so late at night?"

"Hmm? Ah yes, I was wondering that myself."

Twilight nodded. "I'm actually here because I need to see Princess Luna. It's been a week, so...."

Celestia's smile faded quickly. "I see...." she muttered, looking away from Twilight as they walked, her gaze locked on the wall next to her, opposite the lavender mare.

Twilight stopped as Celestia stopped. "Princess....?"

The Princess looked to Twilight with a concerned expression, turning to face the smaller mare. "Twilight, promise me something. Please."

"O-of course, anything!"

They both regretted it the moment they both spoke. For Celestia, it was because of nervousness and not wishing to give away too much to Twilight before she got her information from Luna. For Twilight, it was because she didn't wish to upset the Princess, and her more serious demeanor had the unicorn worried.

Celestia nodded, a sad smile on her lips. "No matter what Luna tells you, promise me that nothing will ch-well, no...."

"Huh?"

"No....I would prefer things change, in time," she said, smiling more for a brief moment before nodding again. "No, promise me that you will not be afraid of me, and that you will trust me still. I have never given you reason to distrust me before now, so promise me."

"But, I don't-"

"Please, Twilight. For me."

She looked to the Princess with wide eyes, both mares looking into the eyes of the other, Twilight with surprise and Celestia with a stern, almost pleading gaze. Well, what harm is there in it? Surely whatever Celestia's concerned about isn't that bad.

....Right?

"I-I promise, Princess Celestia. I'll always think of you as the kind and benevolent Princess you've always been to me!"

Celestia visibly twitched at that as she stood up straight once again, but she smiled regardless.

"That is good to know, Twilight. Come, I'll escort you to my sister's suite in the tower near my room."

It only took Twilight a few steps to figure out where that was, and it made her smile.

"She has good taste! My old room has an almost perfect view of the night sky!" she said, grinning. "I used to stargaze for hours through that big window that tower bedroom has built into it....!"

Celestia grinned. "Oh Twilight, didn't I ever tell you, since Luna came back?" she asked, looking ahead. "That tower was initially Luna's room long before you ever moved in there. When I found out you had such a powerful love of the night sky, I figured I should move you in there and you would feel right at home!"

The lavender mare quirked a brow at that, but smirked and 'huh'd at the minor revelation. In all honesty, it didn't surprise her all that much, but it was still rather interesting that she wound up with the same room as the Princess of the Night when she moved into the castle. She would have to talk to Luna about that. Perhaps Luna found her old research paper on magic phobias from her second year of study under Princess Celestia! Neither she nor Spike had any clue where that stupid research paper went, and it drove her up a wall having to write another one from scratch.

Celestia walked past her own room and continued down the hall towards the end, a stairwell leading into a spiral at the end of the hall that went up into the tower. Twilight knew exactly where she was even before they reached the staircase, this area of the castle all too familiar to the young unicorn.

"I can make it from here, Princess. You're probably tired right about now, so I should probably let you get to sleep, right?"

Celestia yawned with a hoof over her mouth, then nodded. "Yes, of course," she said, her half-lidded eyes betraying the regal posture and the lively flow of her mane that was still going. "I will talk to you in the morning, Twilight....if you are awake, that is. Luna may wind up altering your sleep schedule to properly educate you over time, and I fear our schedules may begin to clash. It is necessary if it does come to pass, however."

Celestia's rather serious way of talking over the course of the night had Twilight both confused and concerned, but she knew that if she asked why, Celestia would more than likely deflect, leaving the explanations to Princess Luna instead. Given Luna clearly stated that she would explain everything in front of both of them, she had no doubt that Celestia was doing so in order to get Twilight to take this as seriously as possible. What was the reason for all of this hush-hush seriousness, though?

"Of course, Princess. Still, I hope I don't wind up becoming somepony that's only around at night, we'd never get to enjoy our morning tea together, or talk about my studies or your current political and charity work, and the layout for the most recent addition to Las Pegasus....I miss doing those things," she muttered, lightly scuffing her hoof against the floor. "....Princess, am I weird for wishing that I could go back to curling up against your side and browsing through your most recent legislatures, laws and treaties to give you my own opinion, like you used to ask me for? Remember, before I first went to Ponyville?"

The Solar Princess smiled wide. "Of course I remember, how could I ever forget? It was always so wonderful to have another bright, sharp-witted young filly, and then young mare, at my side to give me a second point of view that I could trust to be unbiased and completely neutral, not to mention very well thought-out and from a pony with a pure heart that held no secret agendas."

Twilight could only grin and blush at such a compliment from her mentor, nodding along with her statement. "I-I didn't know you thought so highly of my opinions, Princess! It's very nice to know that....thank you."

They both parted ways after Celestia gave her student a small nuzzle. "Be well, and remember your promise, my faithful student."

"I-I will! Goodnight, Princess!"

Twilight turned and began up the stairs once Celestia began to walk away, the Princess's rather serious concern with her meeting with Luna giving Twilight pause to think and consider everything that had happened thus far. The Nightmare, the similarities between this new magic and the Nightmare's, the origin of said magic, the Nightmare calling her its sister....she still couldn't make complete sense of it, though she did have her suspicions about the Nightmare and Princess Luna.

As she approached the top of the tower, she looked up at the new, heavy-looking double doors with a small sense of awe. It was a gigantic purple-tinted door with several solid metal studs in it made of the same metal as the Night Guard armor, with ornate etchings dug out of the mahogany the door itself was made out of. The entire door seemed to be sparkling, the clear image of bright, strong stars shining in the painted wood as if they were actually there before her eyes.

Before she could think to knock on a door of such immaculate quality, an aura of magic engulfed the large brass loops acting as handles on the door, the dark auras pulling them outward, away from the room itself. In the back of her mind, Twilight thought that to be very odd design, but she didn't bring it up. It wasn't all that important anyways.

When the doors opened, Twilight was beyond surprised at what she saw. On the other side of her threshold, operating in dim candlelight,was Princess Luna in all of her moonlit glory. What truly surprised Twilight was what she was busy doing, however: the room was filled with various modern and dated technology! Luna was moving between a series of telescopes of varying sizes, her magic floating an abacus next to her that she was rapidly adjusting with a hoof.

She had clearly used the abacus a lot since she didn't even need to look at it to accurately shift the counters along their wooden tracks, the constant and somehow satisfying click-clack of wood knocking against wood sounding off in constant rhythm. What she was counting Twilight hadn't a clue, but whatever she was studying, it had something to do with the stars, whatever she had under the microscopes on the table nearby, and several books that were laying near each of the stations she'd set up.

Luna looked to Twilight when she turned around, bowing her head to the mare while walking past her to a small table directly next to the entrance to her room, her dark magical aura enveloping the doors to her room and smoothly pushing them shut, the magic-based lock falling into place after Luna gave it a charge.

"Welcome to my laboratory, Twilight," she said, smiling faintly while approaching the lavender mare. "I trust you are doing much better after a week of rest?"

"This is amazing, all the things you're doing in here!" Twilight said, awestruck as she looked up to find an opening in the ceiling, various rings encircling the equally circular opening, in conjunction with the position of the moon, it seemed. "But, wait....I thought this was your room, not your lab?"

"Oh, it is both," Luna said, waving a hoof towards a dark corner of the room, a vague shape resembling a bed residing in the shadows, a large window directly next to it. The window was covered with wooden shutters completely, preventing any light from coming through the opening. "But yes, as I asked, you are doing much better now?"

Twilight looked around for a moment longer before responding, some microscopic organisms under one microscope Luna wasn't using catching her interest. "Oh yes, I'm doing much better! No more nightmares in my sleep, no more dark creatures sprouting from the walls, all of it has stopped."

"No doubt due to what you are now," she muttered, sighing. "Twilight, has your magic been questionable in its behavior recently? A bit difficult to control at times, constantly getting more powerful, those sorts of problems?"

"Well, yes I have, I've even been avoiding using my magic on things that would normally be very simple, like picking up a sandwich, or drinking from a tea cup....why?"

Luna stepped closer to her, causing Twilight to blush slightly. "The transition seems to be going well then, though there seem to be some hiccups occurring."

"U-uh....what transition?"

"Ah....you have not figured it out then. A shame, simply telling you takes all the fun out of situations such as this, but you want answers, and I did promise them," she said, standing and walking over to her telescope, her hoof flicking a few wooden balls on her abacus without her looking at it. "I will tell you all that is pertinent to what is going on, and if you have any questions, you may ask them afterwards."

"Uh, first things first! Why did you-th-that is, why did our....horns, touch?" she asked, fidgeting nervously and looking away, her gaze falling down to the floor. "I know you passed knowledge about that weird magic over to me, but-"

"Why that method?" Luna asked, smirking. "I have been asked that numerous times in the past. The reason is simple: it's the quickest and most guaranteed way for me to transfer my memories to another unicorn."

"You mean, you can do that with any unicorn?"

"No, just those that descend from my own bloodline."

"That must be a very compli-WHAT?!"

It took Twilight a moment to register that last part, but the moment she did a plethora of questions cascaded over her like a very eager tidal wave made of irritation, curiosity and even anger.

Luna, however, seemed a bit surprised at Twilight's reaction. "You mean....Tia didn't tell you?" she asked, looking rather confused. "I would have expected her to have confided such information in you, especially after my return to Equestria."

"Wait, nonononono, whoa. Can we go back to the part where I'm a descendant of yours?!"

Luna nodded to her. "I will explain everything."

Twilight sat down with an audible fwump, frowning. "Please do! Because right now, this sounds like a lot of horseapples."

"Really?" Luna asked her, smirking. "Twilight, you are aware that I am as much a mare as my sister, yes? Why is it hard to believe that I could have given birth to foals in the past?"

"Well it's easy to believe that, but for me to be one of them, th-that's just....why wouldn't the Princess tell me?!"

"Most likely because my existence was turned into an old mare's tale, and after that was overthrown by my return, it simply slipped her mind."

Twilight gave Luna a flat look. "My family lineage as a descendant of her sister could just slip her mind? How?! How could such a thing possibly slip her mind?!"

She was becoming visibly freaked out while her mind began to fray, her thoughts beginning to go every which way while she began to pace back and forth. Luna simply watched as Twilight's mumblings ran rapid-fire from her mouth, the young mare trying to decypher Princess Celestia's reasons for keeping such a thing from her....even though she had very little insight on the true workings of her mentor's thought processes.

"I mean maybe she could just be toying with me, but she's usually a prankster when she's bored and playful, not a deceiver. She might have wanted you to tell me instead of her, but that doesn't make a lot of sense-OH NO!" Twilight shouted suddenly, freezing in place, her pupils turning to pinpricks. "What if she's ashamed of me? What if she doesn't want me as a relative?! Wh-what did I do, I must've done something! Did I miss or-or fail a test? Mess up a friendship report?!"

Luna just tilted her head while watching Twilight walk back and forth in front of her, all semblance of calm completely gone in the normally rational mare. It was difficult not to giggle at Twilight's antics, her concern only serving to make the poor unicorn seem direly stressed out over what seemed like nothing to the Night Princess.

"Honestly, you are taking this news far better than many of your ancestors ever did. By now they'd be asking me-"

"How can you be sure?! I-I mean I've never heard about this, and my parents have never made mention of it! What if you're wrong?"

"Ah, there it is. Yes Twilight, I knew the moment I joined you and the Nightmare within her mind."

"But....but how? Would that kind of detail even show in the family lineage records, or whatever they're called?" Twilight asked, exasperated. "I mean if I'd even checked once, I'd have probably found-"

"-THAT your family line began over six-hundred years ago, and your parents had been instructed to follow the most perfect and convincing lie my sister could construct at this time, that lined up with all related records to the information about your family lineage," she said, quietly giggling. "Celestia can be very good at political subterfuge when she wishes to. Deception is more becoming of me, however."

"Mind you, the lie only would have continued until you were deemed old or sensible enough to handle the truth. Then you either would've been paid off with status, land or bits to go along with the constructed lie, if you didn't already believe the lie. With a mind as keen as yours however, I believe you would have seen between the lines," Luna said with a grin. "Celestia believed the same thing. She was so thankful she didn't have to be so underhooved with you."

"Then...." Twilight mumbled, her eyes wide and a saddened expression overcoming her. She slumped into a sitting position in front of Luna, looking down at the ground. "The only reason she made me her student...."

"Oh, no no, Twilight. That was a lie of omission, not an outright lie. She endeavored to lie to you in the most harmless ways possible about this. She cares for you deeply, more than I've ever seen for many of her past students," Luna said, bowing her head with a genuine, cheerful smile. "You are very powerful, and there is a lot of latent magical prowess within you. Celestia simply wished to help you learn how to limit it, control it."

Twilight stared at the floor for a little longer, mulling over what Luna just told her, memories of her time at the castle and time specifically spent with Celestia flashing by rapid-fire. It didn't take her long to come to the proper conclusion.

"I suppose you're right. Princess Celestia really was always there for me, even when I was a little filly and I woke her up before it was time for the sun to come up so I could begin my studies early," she muttered with a small laugh, sitting up straighter. "She was a magnificent teacher. Why didn't she ever teach me about this magic?"

"Because this magic is my domain, just as it is yours now. She cannot fathom it, much like how you and I cannot fathom Celestia's divine magic," Luna said with a smile, motioning Twilight over with a hoof. "Come, step into the light of my divine duty."

Twilight stood as she was instructed, following a little behind Luna and off to the Princess's left. Luna used her magic to open the glass doors leading to her balcony and walked outside, the full moon still high up in the night sky.

Twilight and Luna took a seat at the balcony, the young mare seeming slightly uncomfortable sitting close to Princess Luna. It wasn't just because of what happened with their horns touching and the 'sensation' sending such a magical pulse through her that....well, that would come up a little later, as far as she was concerned.

It was because she was being so casual about the whole event! Maybe it was just because she was a virgin, but it seemed like a big issue to Twilight!

Of course she could have been feeling uncomfortable because of how the moonlight was making her feel. It was an odd sensation, like a chill that wouldn't go away, even on this Summer night. This high up on a mountain it was expected of the air to be fairly chilly, but somehow she knew it wasn't her surroundings. It was something within her that felt eager to get out, to be used and exposed, and the moonlight was making that urge difficult to resist. Yet, she hadn't a clue how to do so without risking losing control of it.

"This is all my daughter's doing. Not the one you descended from, the Nightmare."

Twilight just blinked and looked to Luna in disbelief, figuring this night couldn't possibly have anything more mind-blowing than 'you're a descendant of a Goddess' to throw at her.

"Long ago, war broke out in Equestria, thanks to some dissident forces within that wished to seize power. My sister and I were forced to battle, but she took a more tactical role. I did as well, but I often waded into the carnage when my assistance could make a substantial difference."

"Then it happened. Several unicorns appeared from the debris I was making my way through, all of them wearing illegal enchantments that amplified their magic to an astonishing degree. They tore my escort apart and then tore into me. Mortals have no chance at killing a Goddess however, no matter how hard they try," she said, then laughed a bitter, sad kind of laugh. "They can make us writhe in pain something horrendous, though!"

"They tore me apart, literally. They were trying to dismember my body and lock my body parts in boxes so I couldn't pull myself together. They got my left hindleg locked away before a volley of magic from a backup unit took them by surprise and blew them to pieces as well."

"Anyway, I had a husband at the time. You would think my husband would have been some sort of General or powerful warrior, come to sweep me off my hooves in a show of brute strength and sheer confident bravado, but I've always respected those with the intellect to keep up with me, at least a little bit," she said, looking over at the intrigued lavender mare next to her. "I do believe that trait runs in the family! Your Mother married your Father because he was smart, if I recall my conversation with them a month ago correctly."

"Why were you talking to my parents?"

"Getting in touch with family, though I told them to keep this fact from your brother as well as you. I did not tell them why, but they complied regardless. If you had found out then, this all would have turned out differently, most likely far worse than things are at the moment."

"In any case, the war....yes, my husband," she muttered, a fond smile appearing on her as she gazed up at the moon. "His name was Book Heart, an odd name to say the least, but he was so very sweet. Well, when he wasn't being the most timid stallion I'd ever met, that is," she said with a happy grin. "He spent so much time with me, as much as he possibly could, always finding obscure books or interesting stories to tell me about. Most would have found such things boring, but he always got so worked up and energetic about them, I could not help but be enthralled!"

"He sounds wonderful....I think even I would've liked him."

"Of that, I have no doubt. Anyways, he and I had a rather....heated dalliance before I headed out for that fight, and it had been three weeks before I had arrived to it. When those mages tore into me....well,"she muttered, looking down from the balcony and tapping her hoof against the ground. "Let's just say that they managed to take a life regardless of whether or not they could take mine."

Twilight wasn't sure how to react to that. For a moment, she thought Luna was referring to the bodyguards she'd mentioned. When the Night Princess looked down to her stomach and ran a hoof over her abdomen however, the unicorn put two and two together.

Before she had a chance to console Luna, the Princess continued. "I was stricken with grief. Heart and I had been trying for over a year to have a foal together," she said, sighing. "Can you imagine how much it would destroy you, to know that you had a child growing within you, only to get that child killed in the midst of a war you already thought was pointless and very stupid?"

"Not only that, my insides, my uterus and some other parts, were damaged irreparably by the attack. Even if we bothered to try, it would be a very long time before I would be able to even chance getting pregnant again."

Luna looked to Twilight and shook her head. "It can take over fifty years, perhaps even longer, for 'non-essential' body parts to fully repair themselves. At the time, I was completely convinced that my dear Heart and I would never have a foal of our own because of it. So I made a very, very bad choice."

Luna turned away from where she was sitting, walking to one side of the balcony and looking down over the edge, eyeing the guards patrolling the gardens below with a lazy gaze. Twilight moved to join her, but Luna held up a hoof to stop her. She pointed down at the guards while her horn lit up with a pitch-black aura, and Twilight looked down as Luna motioned her to the edge again.

Twilight gasped and almost called out, but Luna's magic held her muzzle shut as shadows appeared from the shrubbery, slowly stalking up behind one of the guards. Their hooves made no sound, a second and a third joining in, one behind each of the three guards patrolling the area.

Twilight's eyes went wide as they moved up behind the guards, each shadow moving like a cat hiding in the tall grass, waiting to get close enough before pouncing. They moved in perfect synchronization, all three shadows moving together until they were all directly behind all three guards. All at once, they rose up with forehooves and forelegs held high, sailing through the air....

....And they floated just behind each of the guards, their hooves covering their eyes.

"Guess who?!"

Each shadow burst into a puff of black that seeped into the ground before the guards even managed to spin around, a hoof reaching up on the other side of the guards from underneath the dirt to poke at their sides. Just as quickly, all three shadows' hooves tucked back into the dirt before the three guards could turn their heads and find out who was there.

The final straw came with especially long legs jumping out of the ground, one for each guard, only to knock noisily on their helmets, like a pony knocking on a door. Each leg burst to smoke once again and tucked down into the ground, and each of the three guards looked visibly shaken. Luna was shaking with laughter, but her hoof was held over her muzzle, her horn dying down and the magic holding Twilight's muzzle closed faded away.

Twilight couldn't help but join in the laughter when she saw all three guards running towards each other and talking about what happened. It only served to freak them out even more when the word 'ghost' came up between them. They eventually went back to their rounds, but they were far, far more alert this time, their eyes darting this way and that every once in a while.

Twilight watched Luna head back into her bedroom, following the Princess's lead with light laughter as their accompaniment. "That was so mean, Princess!"

"Hah, I know, but they are doing their jobs far better now, are they not?"

Twilight couldn't deny that, and her laughter continued for a moment, but Luna was already done. She almost looked somber with a smile, sad but happy one could say, or perhaps unreadable. If anything, Luna was reminiscing about times long past, of that Twilight had no doubt.

"I was stricken with grief, upon finding out. It pained me to see my dear husband standing at my bedside, his desires taken from him because of a single ambush. So I endeavored to use magic to make his wishes come true."

"Every immortal being, with some exceptions, has certain domains that they watch over. You of course know this, you are after all an accomplished scholar with a penchant for books, no doubt you know the domains my sister watches over," she said, then grinned. "To keep things simple tonight, I will say that one of my domains is Creation itself. It is what our magic embodies, it is what our magic is derived from."

Luna smirked and looked over at Twilight out of the corner of her eye. "Perhaps you have put it to use more than you realize. There are many kinds of scholars: those that follow based on established rules, laws, formulas and experiments, and there are those that actively go out to try and discover their own truths. They experiment, they come up with applications for old formulas to create new ones, and are generally the ones that lead civilization forward. That is how they make the best use of their creativity, by finding that which already exists using a combination of their knowledge and their desire to manipulate the laws of the world."

Luna walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder, smiling warmly. "My sister has stated that you remind her of myself, a lot. We are very much alike in this regard, but the difference is that I had thousands of years to think, test, experiment and apply my discoveries, to the point that my understanding of the world was beyond even our most intrepid of bookworms. Hay, most ponies thought the world was still flat when I began undertaking a very....questionable experiment."

Luna dropped her raised hoof to the floor and frowned. "I understand why Celestia allowed me to try it, she hoped that upon my attempt I would simply give up and deal with my grief. I do not think she ever believed the device I built would work."

"Given her reservations, I did not tell her that it actually did, not at first. With the assistance of several of my most trusted assistants, we locked ourselves within the massive device itself and performed several tests on the little filly that came out of the whole endeavor. My Little Star, I used to call her....!"

The sound of Luna's words choking off made Twilight keenly aware of the teary-eyed Goddess in the room, instead of her internal attempt to fathom a device that could potentially create life itself. Sure, living creatures made such a feat look simple, just add intercourse, mix in the right time of the month for creatures like ponies that have estrus cycles, and in a while you've got a brand new baby. Doing it without these prerequisites, however....!

"Her prowess with the magic we share was immense, especially with her being a newborn young filly in a body that seemed to be around the age of five. Her mind was pure, new, ready to take in fresh experiences. She cried for my embrace, she laughed at the appropriate stimuli, even ate and digested food properly....it was an absolute success. Within a single year, she learned to speak, walk properly, everything that one would expect of a newborn pony and then some. I could scarcely believe what I had managed. To be honest, it scared me."

"Celestia warned me that I was performing things that could bring ruin down upon myself and my subjects if I was not careful. Yet, she allowed me to continue if I assured her enough that I was being careful, also I promised to not use the device again. I would not dare do such a thing again, doing it once was a terrifying kind of success, one can imagine the possibilities one with ill intent could reach if they learned how to use such a thing."

"The secret was safe, however. Nopony knew of my little Moonlight Star outside of the castle anyways, not even my husband knew about her. Only my closest assistants knew along with my sister, and we both visited her several times in the day. I would have let her out of the device, but it was like a very large laboratory in and of itself, and it contained her immense magical power. Until I taught her proper control, I couldn't risk her going outside and wreaking havoc on Equestria, by accident or otherwise."

"Thus, every day Celestia and I visited her, spoke with her, taught her various things while helping her to learn to control and focus her magic. She was a fast learner, but the sheer amount of magic power she has seems to be unfathomable at this point. Even after a year, she couldn't fully control it, but she was doing very well by that point."

"Two weeks after that one-year anniversary for her, I found myself waking up sick and having odd cravings for very bizarre food combinations. A visit to the doctor gave me news I hadn't been expecting in the least."

Luna blushed a little, and Twilight just smirked and gave the Princess a teasing nudge. "Another 'heated dalliance'? Don't tell me they didn't have protection spells back then, I've done my research!"

The Night Princess couldn't help but laugh a little. "It wasn't that! It's just....well, why bother with protection when you've been led to believe that part of you isn't functioning properly in the first place? Besides, he and I wanted a foal of our own," she said matter-of-factly, then cleared her throat. "But yes, I was pregnant, almost for a whole month actually. I didn't tell Star until she asked what the lump in my belly was."

"Later in the second year, I became incapable of visiting as much both from fatigue due to carrying a very active unborn foal around inside of myself as well as concern for the condition of my 'parts', for lack of a better term. I did not wish to risk a miscarriage due to putting strain on a part of myself that had been put into use before it was truly ready to take the full strain."

"Because of this, there were several days that my little Star had no visits from myself or my sister. After a while, she began to be....distant, during my visits. I couldn't fathom why at the time," she said, frowning and shaking her head. "I should have seen it sooner, she always flinched away from the researchers when we walked the halls of that laboratory after I began staying away two, three days at a time. We would talk, but the shine in her eyes was gone and her smiles were so off, like there was something just beneath them that I could not quite see."

"Finally the time came for me to give birth, and for a whole week I stayed away from the lab. I cannot fathom what they did to her to send her over the edge, nor do I wish to, but as my husband came to see me to my room after I got out of the hospital, the entire castle shook under the force of a vast amount of magic. Given such a powerful pulse could have come from only one source, I quickly dismissed myself from my husband's care and took off alone towards the laboratory."

"I hadn't a clue what had happened, but I felt such a sense of dread, as if something in my life was horribly out of place. No doubt you have felt it as well, the more you have become attuned to this new font of magical power, yes?"

Luna noticed that Twilight seemed enthralled with the story, despite how grim it was. It made sense, it was a story after all, and she soaked up knowledge like a sponge, of that Luna had no doubt.

Twilight nodded in response, lightly tapping her chin with a hoof. "So, these odd mixed feelings I've been getting, they aren't mine?"

"Most likely not. Our magic relies on emotions, and we can be influenced by the emotions of anypony else that has a connection to this magic if we do not know how to block them out. It takes some practice, but you will know how by night's end."

With the story almost over, Luna took up her abacus and a couple pieces of paper, placing them on a clipboard and walking over to the largest telescope she had, her eye pressing to the guard around the smaller lens and peering into the night sky. The click-clack of wooden counters were heard as Luna rapidly worked her way through mathematical equations, her horn lighting up and levitating a quill to the paper to take some notes and make some small sketches.

"When I got there, I opened the door and saw my daughter just....sitting there. In the hall. Dead bodies all around her. One of them had even been torn in half," Luna said, lifting her head away from the telescope. "I was in utter disbelief. My mind jumped to looking for any possibility, any reason why such a thing could possibly happen. Not once did I think to blame my daughter, at the time."

"I approached her and hugged her close. She didn't return it. After a few moments, I felt a sharp pain in my head. I began to feel manic, maddening fury. I could keenly feel every microscopic piece of stone beneath my hooves, and I could hear the panic of ponies far above and beyond my natural hearing. Everything was amplified, including my own emotions....along with hers."

"I realized what was happening the moment I discovered I could feel her as well. Before her corruption could fully take hold, I stumbled back and ran out of the lab as quickly as I could. The safeguards must have been in place and functioning properly, because she did not gave chase and stayed put within the confines of the device."

Luna visibly shuddered and rubbed her hoof over her right foreleg, looking down at the floor. "To make a long story short, I managed to warn Celestia and give her my final wishes before my daughter managed to completely take over my body. My sister used the Elements of Harmony to seal me away in the moon after a very heated battle, then used the information I gave her to seal the device and strengthen the safeguards to last as long as possible."

"The fight with my sister ended with the castle being abandoned due to one of my spells altering the entirety of the Everfree Forest to function under a long-forgotten rule of the natural world in Equestria," she said, motioning out towards the balcony. "Natural Selection is a scientific terms which basically means 'survival of the fittest'. If you are not smarter, stronger, and more adaptable than the others of your species or the predators that may want to eat you, you will be killed off while those worthy of survival will live on to pass along their genes. It is harsh, but always fair."

"That is the penultimate rule that a chaotic, uncontrolled world would operate under. We impose control on our surroundings to gain peace and harmony with every living thing we allow to exist within Equestria."

Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes, sitting up straighter and stretching her wings out. "That is all there is to that tale. My sister sent my husband away for a month with our daughter to avoid him finding out what truly happened, but he figured it out anyways. The cover story she came up with was just too suspicious to him, given he knew how happy he and I were just before I....well," she muttered, reaching up to wipe a stray tear from under her eye. "You know what happened to me."

Twilight furrowed her brow, a small fire building in her head as she mulled over the story that she'd just heard, her eyes scanning the ground but taking in none of its details. No, she was sorting through every little detail of what she'd heard and kept finding it at odds with what recently-revealed historical documents had listed as the recorded events of a thousand years prior.

"Are you saying that everything that I've been led to believe is historically accurate, including the story about The Mare In The Moon, is wrong?"

"Believe me when I say that we are not proud of this falsification," Luna said, shaking her head. "There is little else we can do, however. If we told the truth, how do you think all of Equestria would react? Such a thing is too great a risk to take, Twilight. Better that my fall from grace be reflected as a lesson worth being taught to young foals than having it strike terror and paranoia into the hearts and minds of our subjects."

Twilight just shook her head and clenched her teeth, sitting down and rubbing her temples with her forehooves. "This is ridiculous! If I didn't know better I'd think both you and Princess Celestia are lying about this," she said, taking a deep breath and blinking her eyes open. "So what is all this supposed to mean? Why didn't Princess Celestia try to kill your daughter?"

"She did....that's where the greatest fear of her comes from."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, quirking a brow. "If your daughter couldn't run away, what stopped the Princess from defeating her?"

Luna shook her head. "Oh, Celestia did indeed defeat her. She just couldn't kill her. As far as my sister told me, she poured everything she could risk of herself into putting my little Star out of her misery. It should have been that simple, light is the dominant power in the universe over the shadows. Light can freely give and take away what the shadows rule over," she said, her horn lighting up and levitating a candle over, unlit. "You see, this candle is shrouded in darkness because there is no light."

Twilight tilted her head a bit, looking down at it before looking up to Luna once more. "Well yes, that's true, but....wait...."

Luna smiled a little and nodded. "You're on the right line of thinking. You see, if you light the candle, the darkness is instantly banished from whatever the light touches. Yet, there is no way for the darkness to take back what it lost, no way for the darkness itself to snuff out the light on its own," she muttered, frowning. "Celestia holds complete control over whether or not I live or die, whereas I could never pose a threat to her no matter how hard I tried. With a single spell, whether by accident or on purpose, she could snuff me out in an instant. This is something that Celestia hated more than anything else about our relationship."

"You mean because you are sisters?"

Luna was quiet for a moment, just staring at Twilight, visibly torn between speaking up on the matter and keeping her mouth shut. Still, she promised truths, and if Twilight was going to be like her, she deserved to know the full truth. She was family after all.

"Celestia and I are not sisters. Not by blood, anyways."

Twilight's jaw almost hit the floor. "Wha....why-you-she....huh?" she squeaked out.

"Celestia and I have never truly been related to one another. We have simply accepted that as a more spiritual truth because we are the only two Goddesses in existence on Earth. There have been others such as Discord and N'tumba, but they have usually wound up at odds with the peace and harmony-loving world we have struggled to build."

"W-who...." Twilight barely muttered, shaking her head and doing her best to put such thoughts on the backburner. She was beginning to feel like 'just accept it' would be her answer to most of the issues she had with what she was being told. Why would the Princess lie? "Who's N'tumba?"

"The God of War. He disappeared a very long time ago, long before the incident with Moonlight Star and my banishment."

"Oh. I see," Twilight muttered numbly, her left eye twitching. "I'm sorry Princess Luna, this is all....really hard to just take in and accept. I mean, what you've told me, it changes the very history of Equestria and completely alters the truth about what happened between you and Princess Celestia! Why would you be happy with being painted as a jealous younger sibling that almost caused a coup against the throne itself?"

Luna could only laugh at that. "Celestia accepted my return with open hooves, did she not? I have proven to our subjects that I have no intention of making such a mistake again. Overcoming such a 'truth' about myself is far easier for all of Equestria to accept than a very dirty secret being locked away for a thousand years in order to cover up my greatest mistake of my very extensive existence."

"That-I-....I suppose I can't argue with that. It just feels wrong to lie to your entire nation, though!"

"I would have to agree with that," Luna said, bowing her head. "I take solace in the fact that the tale woven has become more of a cautionary one, something that young foals should take to heart as a lesson in controlling themselves and never allowing hate and anger to control their actions and thoughts. That was the purpose of the lie, after all, aside from being a cover-up."

Twilight just let out a deep breath and nodded to her, looking out towards the night sky. "This is just so much to take in. First I find out I'm related to a Goddess by blood, then I find out that this thing that's been obsessed with me is yet another relative that wants nothing more than to destroy everything and everyone I hold dear. Then on top of THAT, I find out that the two rulers of Equestria aren't even truly blood relatives and have both been lying to our entire country for a very long time!" she half-shouted, stamping a forehoof against the floor. "I'm sorry, but I just....I don't know how to feel!"

"And that is why we will begin your lesson now. Come," Luna said, walking over to the fireplace located away from the telescopes and papers and tables she had set up, closer to where her bed was in the room. Five cushions were set up in a half-circle in front of the fireplace built into the wall, and Luna laid down on the middle one while her horn lit up and started a fire that began small, but quickly grew and engulfed the three small logs that she'd placed in the fireplace. She patted the cushion next to her on her left, looking over to Twilight. "Lay here with me and relax your body. Then I will teach you how to relax your mind."

Luna bid Twilight goodbye, both of the mares having spent a good hour talking and examining the stars together before Twilight got herself ready to leave. The lesson itself was simple enough, being something close to meditation, but more focused on shutting down and controlling emotions than centering the mind and body. Twilight took to it with ease, no doubt due to her strong will.

Luna's spirits were high after spending such an enjoyable amount of time with a new friend! Celestia had been right, she and Twilight got along as if they'd been friends their entire lives, and Luna wouldn't have wanted it any other way right now. After forcing herself to mentally relive everything that had happened so long ago, she needed something to relieve her of the sorrow that was quickly wrapping itself around her heart and her thoughts, poisoning them and making her feel even more horrible than she already did.

She would begin Twilight's training as gently as she could, but eventually, things would take a turn towards places she so very much wished she would never have to go....but it was unavoidable now.

"I have no doubt that I will beg her forgiveness on more than one occasion over the next few decades, depending on how long this takes....are you still awake, Strider?" she asked, reaching to her neck and pressing her hoof against something metallic there.

It was invisible at first, but when she used her magic to remove it, the choker appeared right before her eyes, a small metal object in the middle of it glowing with arcane magic. She set it down on the table just as a response from it made her smile.

"Of course, your majesty! I am one of your most dedicated servants. Surely you wouldn't expect me to fall asleep on the job just because I am mostly confined to my bed?"

Luna giggled and shook her head, walking over to her abacus and looking through a few more sheets while putting it to use. "Heh, of course we would not expect such from thee, one of my blessed guards!" she said, humming thoughtfully. "The enchantment we hath placed upon that accessory worked perfectly, it seems! Our manner of speech was corrected no matter how we believed we were speaking to Twilight, 'tis magnificent!"

"Not to mention you allowed me to listen in through it. I'm glad that you trust me with the truth, your majesty. I promise that my lips are sealed on the matter though, I'd rather not cause a crisis of faith or something," he said through the choker. "Permission to enter, Princess?"

"Permission granted, Watcher."

She could easily make out the limp in Strider's hoofsteps as he pushed open the door to her room and stepped inside. If he was in pain he didn't show it as he stepped into the light of her room, the electricity left off in favor of the dim glow of candlelight and the moonlight flooding in through the glass and open windows nearby. Luna preferred the more rustic feel compared to the more modern feel most of the castle had these days.

Strider's barrel was wrapped in a metal brace, restricting his movements but still allowing him to walk. The limp was obvious, but his leg was at least healed enough to walk on, the Red String having done its job very efficiently in healing his injuries as best they possibly could in such a comparatively short amount of time. His wings were bound in bandages and nothing more, needing nothing else to assist their healing. As long as Strider didn't remove the bandages and try to fly, his wings would heal just fine over time, a small miracle given how badly one of them had been damaged, the other one merely broken during his unexpected tumble into the side of a building.

The enchantment on the metal brace alleviated the strain of his own weight on his body. Every step he took was lighter than it should've been normally, causing far less pain in his ribs and allowing him to walk around for a set amount of time before he needed to lay down and get the overall weight off of his currently fractured bones.

He sat down near the entrance to the room and bowed his head. "Good evening, Princess Luna."

"A wonderful evening to thee as well, Strider. Please, drop such formalities for tonight, thou art temporarily relieved of duty after all, yes?" she said with a smirk, motioning him to come closer. "So, dost thou accept the new truths revealed to thee?"

"I can understand the reasons for the actions Princess Celestia took," he said, moving to the table to look over some of the notes Luna had taken so far. He organized a few of the papers as he saw fit, based on which notes seemed to fit with each other. "Still, I must also agree with Lady Sparkle, it does feel a little wrong to lie to all of Equestria like this."

Luna laughed. "Only a little?"

"Okay, quite a bit!" he said, looking to the Princess with a smirk. "But no, this discovery still leaves me unimpeded in my duties," he said, turning to face her after tapping the bottom of a stack of papers against the table, straightening them out. "Speaking of my duties...."

Luna pulled her face away from one of her telescopes and abruptly put a sheet of paper she'd been holding with her magic down as well. "Yes, we have been meaning to discuss thy 'duties' with thee as well! We have had time to ponder on the events leading to your rather grievous injury, and some parts of the incident seem quite suspect to us."

Strider simply bowed his head to Luna and smiled. "I will answer any questions that you have for me, your majesty."

Luna frowned a little and sighed. "Very well. First of all, thou asked us for an extensive detailing of our-"

"You're doing it again, Princess."

"Rrrrrrgh!" she growled out in frustration, her magic grabbing the enchanted choker and slipping it around her neck. "As I was saying! You asked for a detailed psychological profile of my daughter prior to her losing herself. At best, the information I gave you was theoretical since none of what I told you was based upon even a single therapy session with her. What purpose did that serve for you?"

"Truthfully it was less useful than I thought it would be. I didn't run into a situation where talking with her would have served any beneficial purpose in my protection of her assault on Lady Sparkle and her friends," he said, then shrugged. "There was only one part that truly helped me when I realized it: she did indeed remain very playful, despite her madness. She was toying with me the entire time she fought me. She could've killed me in an instant if she wished, but she chose not to."

"That was something else that bothered me. Why did you ask me to take away your blessing?"

"I wished to be weaker than I normally am."

Luna quirked a brow at him. "Why would you wish for such a thing?"

"The next time we encounter her, she will most likely underestimate me. That will give me a certain element of surprise that she won't be able to anticipate, or so I hope. You can never be completely assured in the heat of battle."

"Was that the purpose of the injuries you sustained? Why did you antagonize her if you knew you were so outmatched?!"

"As I said, I confirmed that she was still very playful. The fact that she didn't instantly tear into the crowd of ponies that had gathered around the scene at first was a good hint towards that. When she took her time to inflict as much pain upon me as she could, she confirmed my suspicions."

"She could have killed you!"

"She could have. She didn't, and oddly enough, she seems 'interested' in me. An unexpected bonus to the whole thing, it might just make her spare my life again if I stand against her once more."

Luna just glared at him and shook her head after a moment, a saddened frown on her features, her entire body visibly sagging. "Why do you go so far, Strider? If I did not know you better, I would consider your drive to keep me safe utterly fanatical!" she muttered, looking him in the eyes. "I am asking you to stop going as far as you do."

"It is because I am willing to go as far as I do that I am among your chosen few and more, Princess," he said, looking away. "You know I can't stop. I knew what I was doing-"

"If you had put even a little more power into that shield, your own bones would have torn your insides to shreds! Do you hear me, you would have died! Because of some stupid long-term plan to better your chances at safeguarding my life!"

"These injuries were an unintended consequence of entering combat with her! I made a mistake, a miscalculation, but it still worked, better than I even hoped at first," he said, slightly louder than before. He cleared his throat and looked off to the side, away from her, focusing on the stars outside instead. "Regardless, what is done is done. My risk bore fruit, now I merely have to wait to enjoy the end result, however slight it may have increased my chances of keeping you safe."

Luna could only sigh and shake her head, a sad smile appearing on her face suddenly as she stepped over to Strider and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I am not made of glass, Strider. She cannot strike me down with a single swing of her hoof or a single casting of one of her spells."

"She corrupted you when she was only a year old!"

"She caught me off-guard, I was wide open mentally, spiritually and physically. She had no resistance to get through back then," she said, looking him in the eyes. "You do not have to risk your life like this to secure my safety, Strider. You seem to forget that I am a Goddess, immortal! Yes, she can kill me, but by far it would not be an easy task for her to undertake."

He leaned his head back away from hers, furrowing his brow. "I-I know that!"

"Then why do you act as if you cannot risk her laying a single hoof on me?"

Strider looked away from her and hung his head for a moment, a pensive look overtaking him before he did his best to sit up straight once more. The pain in his chest made that almost impossible.

"I can't risk her having even a slight chance of taking one of our rulers away from us. Equestria needs you."

"Equestria grew just fine under my sister's singular rule for a thousand years."

He looked away from her once more and closed his eyes. "....I stand by my statement. If my life can secure your safety...."

She frowned at him and her hoof fell away from his shoulder, the Princess simply shaking her head at that and closing her eyes. She turned away from him and walked towards her balcony, her wings spreading wide and the moonlight spilling into the room intensifying.

Her horn lit up and the balcony doors flew open, Luna's body turning a darker color and growing in size, small fangs elongating until they grew out of her mouth, her legs growing longer and her mane becoming even more majestic than it was already, the pegasus only able to watch as Princess Luna swiftly changed into the Nightmare Moon figure that struck fear into so many ponies that believed the false history.

Strider knew otherwise, however. He knew many things for that matter that very few others knew, only Luna's other personal guards could claim to know what he knew. For one, this form of hers was a natural embodiment of the Night Princess, it was her at her full strength, a figure of utter beauty and terrible power. He stood up and slowly stepped forward, watching her step into the empowered moonlight shining down onto her balcony.

"Step into the light of the night, Wind Strider, and be judged."

He swallowed hard and slowly walked towards the balcony, the light of the moon bringing a chill to his skin that felt neither cold nor hot, but rather it felt as if the light itself was caressing his body, like the touch of a gentle lover. He couldn't decide whether it was unnerving, or relaxing. Ultimately, the feeling of being wanted that it gave him won out, and a faint smile curved the corners of his mouth up as he stood there, the Princess turning to look down at him. She was smiling as well.

She removed her choker and set it aside. "Thou hast been judged, and the moon has found thee worthy. Thy intentions are pure and thy will is strong and just," she said, gently reaching up and grasping the sides of his head with her hooves, leaning down towards him. "We accept you once more as one of our chosen few."

He could feel his body bracing even as Luna's elongated horn touched his forehead, the magic from it pouring into him and permeating every single fiber of his body. His muscles tensed and pain shot through his damaged leg and his chest, the bones protesting in their own way to the changes that were occurring in his body. His fur began to darken and turn a gray color, his normally dark blue coat of fur shifting to a darker gray color.

He felt a stinging in his eyes and he clenched them shut for the remainder of the transformation, his wings twitching within their bandages as the feathers began to disappear and meld together into a single piece, rows upon rows of feathers disappearing in favor of instead having wing membrane give him a more solid and effective form of flight.

Next he felt his teeth changing within his mouth, fangs forming along with sharper teeth here and there. He was still herbivorous by all means, but he now had another very dangerous weapon in combat: some flesh-rending teeth.

He could feel the muscles in his body become more solid, yet they still maintained their light structure, as was necessary for any creature that flew through the skies, whether in the night or during the day. His body did not bulge with more muscles, rather, he felt as if his body had become more streamlined and his muscles more durable and strong while staying as they were.

Finally he opened his eyes, the initial strain of the powerful moonlight dying down after he blinked a couple of times. He already knew what kind of gift his eyes had been graced with, the ability to see in the dark, but he would test it out some other time.

The final physical change came in the form of the function of his ears. They were altered ever-so-slightly on the inside rather than the outside. He could make a clicking noise with his tongue or with his hooves, and by focusing on the sounds, he could get a mental image of the area around him by way of magically imbued echolocation.

With the changes complete, he blinked his eyes open fully and looked up to Luna, a gleeful grin on his lips. "It's good to be back to my usual self, Princess!"

Luna simply nodded to him, her tall and imposing midnight-colored figure looming over the somewhat shorter stallion, yet he seemed utterly unfazed by this. Soon the moonlight returned to normal, and Luna relaxed her connection to her magical power, slowly shrinking down and losing her own fangs, returning to the somewhat normal-sized pony she usually presented herself as.

"Well then, with that done Strider, we do believe our business is concluded for the night! Thou art dismissed, return to thy quarters and rest, we have kept thee on thy hooves for long enough."

He bowed his head and turned to walk away. "As you wish, your majesty."

"Oh, and Strider?"

He paused in place just short of stepping into the shadows that permeated Luna's room, turning his head to look back at her. "Yes, Princess?"

She had already turned away from him to look up at her night sky, taking in the sight of her majestic night as she often did when she got the chance. "Please do not misunderstand. We are truly grateful for thy dedication to our safety," she said, looking to him as well now. "We simply fear that thou may go too far one day. Please refrain from such self-endangerment in the future unless absolutely necessary. Promise us this."

He stood there for a moment, contemplating such a request. He thought she was being rather protective given this was only his second time doing something so risky, but if she wanted him to promise....

He turned to her and lowered down closer to the ground in something like a bow, the metal brace not allowing him to lower down completely. "I promise that I will do my best to refrain from such dangerous plans in the future."

With that, his body suddenly faded to pitch-black along with the brace he was wearing and his bandages, the batpony sliding back into the shadows behind him and disappearing. "Have a good night, Princess." he said while fading out, soon melding into the shadows and disappearing from the room.

Luna looked back to the night sky with a small smile, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "If only we could believe thou would keep such a promise...." she sighed, stepping back into her room and returning to her calculations.

She had to make the most of whatever time she could find to indulge in one of her favorite hobbies, because Twilight's training was going to take up a lot of her free time from now on.