It wasn’t long before the first of the Nightmare’s forces were reported. Some fighting had already broken out, but it seemed Black did as he was told as all the fighting was with ferals or bandits instead of with guards. My children kept me informed as I slaved over the forges. Twilight had to nearly force me to stop working after long. I was exhausted, but I wanted to make sure everything was done in time.

The only reason I didn’t have to be pried away from the thing was because Twilight told me that Rarity finished the designs for my new armor and they needed my help to give it form.

“I know you like the cloak and your reputation surrounds it, but Twilight was definitely right when she said you needed more. The crystalline armor plates are woven into the shadow silk fabric, the most mobile and flexible plate armor design I’ve ever seen. Normally it wouldn’t be possible with normal cloth and metal, but we’re not using normal cloth and metal.” Rarity explained as Twilight imprinted the designs they came up with together in my mind. I couldn’t help but grin, the idea was magnificent.

“I wish we would have met sooner, Rarity, your brilliant mind is on par with your extraordinary craft.” I said with a smile. She inclined her head in thanks and turned back towards the forges.

“Well give it a try will you? I want to see.” Twilight said. I chuckled and did as I was asked and delved into my dark magic. Forming the armor like this was different than what I’d been doing for hours at the forge, therefore It wasn’t that difficult and the fatigue I felt had no effect on the outcome.

The gauntlets were magnificently wicked with its pointed edges and open palms and bottoms of the fingers. The boots were held together with the silk so as to allow my movement to be as unimpaired as possible. The greaves were little more than a few plates strewn together in a similar fashion, and the breastplate was indeed weaved into the silk of the cloak. The hood had an addition as well, and I quite liked it. It was a mask, but not something quite so cliche as a skull. It was more of a heavily slanted visor that left my mouth exposed. There was some sort of magic about it since I could see through it like it wasn’t there.

“I think this is even more intimidating than your usual look.” Twilight said, looking over.

“I like the mask in particular.” I said with a grin as I looked myself over as well.

“You can still feed without having to take a helmet off, and it still protects your face.” Twilight said, stepping up to me.

“And this.” I added, quickly grabbing her and kissing her. She giggled and we just sort of held each other for a few moments.

“This is going to be the last moment we’ll have just for the two of us for a while…” She said.

“Most likely.” I agreed as we separated and looked back towards the forge. One of my children in a night guard’s uniform was porting in and he started towards us.

“Mother.” He said, quickly putting a hand on his chest and bowin. I inclined my head in response.

“Report, Child.” I said.

“We’ve spotted their main forces. They’re well hidden, surprisingly. One would expect they’d be announcing their presence. There are three main bodies. One is on a beeline straight for Canterlot, one is on a course to ransack Trottingham and one is in the everfree. Our friends in the Timberwolf packs are tracking them and are ready to strike when we are. The other two forces will take at least two days to reach their destinations but the force in the everfree is heading for Ponyville.” The man explained quickly. Twilight and I shared a look.

“How many?” I asked.

“Their whole force amounts to nearly thirty thousand, half of them are the ones going for Canterlot, five thousand for Trottingham and ten for Ponyville.” He answered.

“The militia is two hundred strong. With the wall they can withstand a siege, but with so many numbers they’ll be overrun in hours.” Twilight said more to herself than anything.

“Send word out that we need help in Ponyville. Make sure Trottingham and Canterlot are still well fortified and don’t leave any of them weak should they pounce earlier than expected. Twilight and I will head to the forces in the Everfree immediately, tell the wolves to expect us.” I said quickly. He bowed once more and disappeared into another portal.

“I’ll go to the Timberwolves, they know me, and I’ll ask them to help bolster the village. No matter what you are, you can’t fight a large scale battle in that forest. It will spill out to Ponyville.” Twilight said.

“Alright, do what you must. I expect to see you on the field, love.” I said. We embraced, kissed and jumped through two separate portals.

---

I arrived simultaneously with a large force of my forces, my children. I looked around at them, met all of their eyes. There were a hundred of us here, and we would be facing thousands. There weren’t many of us sane vampires left, and a lot of us were going to die. A lot of them here with me are going to die and I know it. They know it too. They would gladly give their lives for me, even without reason.

“Friends, Brothers, Sisters…” I started to say. I had their undivided attention. Messengers prepared to disperse with any messages she might have. “We aren’t fighting just for us anymore, here and now. For thousands of years, we’ve fought for our own gain and survival. Today we fight for those who cannot fight back. They may have hunted us, but that does not make them bad, our enemy.” I continued.

“The humans of this world were ignorant of our existence, and when they knew of us they feared and hated us. Honestly, we deserved it. We had done nothing to help them, nothing they would see as right. To them, we are animals that feed from them. How about we prove that we can be friends and allies?” I finished. The small force yelled in agreement, the forest being filled with their calls. In an instant we all spread out, dashing through the forest with practiced ease.

We found Efialtis’ forces quickly. They moved slowly through the forest, this wasn’t their kind of fight. Lucky for us, it was definitely ours. We gave no warning as we all encircled the massive army. In the treetops, one might barely see the rustling movement of armor and weapons forming of black crystal. They were unnoticed as they became only shadows, not even giving a flash of movement as scores of bandits and ferals fell dead.

“They’re here!” One of them yelled and a sort of alarm sounded. It was much too late, though, we were already here and we were already slaughtering them. Each pass left at least another hundred dead, usually more. The battle went on like this for a few more passes before the Nightmare’s forces scattered into the forest. Most of them were heading towards Ponyville, though, so we gave chase immediately.

It was a grueling hour of this guerilla style battle until the enemies spilled out of the forest. I noticed Zecora’s hut was ransacked, or maybe that’s how it naturally looked. I’d never really seen the thing. Me and my forces hung right at the edge of the forest for cover as half of the remaining enemies turned to fight while the rest continued towards the village. There was a thousand or so left for us and another 1500 heading towards Ponyville. We were a hundred strong but we only lost a few, ninety of us still remained.

I watched as the gate opened, seemingly inviting the marauders in. A hail of arrows rained down from a garrison of archers on the walls and a huge force of men, women, vampires and timberwolves poured out of the place to meet the attacking forces. I even saw a few of the older children alongside their parents and older siblings. That distraction gave me and my force a chance to pounce on our own prey, devastating them. The remaining battle was quick, but I felt uneasy. Twilight wasn’t with the militia. I suddenly had a very bad feeling, so I finished the enemies in front of me and shot towards the Library.

The door was blown off its hinges, a few holes scattered around the tree even. I entered and found Twilight and Efialtis locked, Twilight with her blades and Efialtis with his longsword. The second I moved in to help Twilight, they exploded into action again. It was too fast for me to even follow it properly, if I were to even stick my arm out towards them it’d probably be ripped off.

So I waited. I waited, ready to swing the first chance I got. I got that chance when they locked together again. They both noticed me at the same time. Twilight moved Efialtis into my scythe blade, but he somehow managed to twist away from it. As that happened, a dagger formed in his hand and I could only watch in horror as he shoved it into Twilight’s abdomen. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stumbled back and pulled the thing out of her body. Efialtis cackled, there was dark magic swirling around the blade.

I nearly screamed as I dropped my scythe and grabbed the nightmare by the throat. I lifted him up and with my other hand I shattered his blade. He scrabbled at my hand clamped around his throat, surprised. I was draining his power so he couldn’t get away. I looked over to Twilight and almost dropped him. I could see it in her eyes, whatever that dark magic was it was killing her and she knew it.

“Sorry, love… Looks like you’re going to have to finish him without me.” She said with a ghost of a smile as blood spilled from the wound. She put her hands over it and Efialtis started chuckling in my grip. I closed it tighter to silence him. It didn’t work.

“That’s pure untapped dark magic, it’ll eat away at your life force like fire does ice.” He rasped out, though his voice was almost completely taken over by the Nightmare. Twilight and I locked gazes for a moment. Her eyes told me not to worry as she slowly stood up straight. I could literally feel her power build up, both her dark and normal magics.

I had a sinking feeling that the dream I wanted to prevent was going to happen.

I wasn’t wrong.

I was nearly knocked off of my feet as all of Twilight’s built up power literally exploded out of her. I felt like a drop of rain falling into the ocean of pure power around me. It was nearly instant, and it was exactly as I remembered it in my dream. The library looked like a massive hall, black crystal everywhere. And Twilight, with a peaceful look, encased in crystal in the center of the room.

Two things became apparent. The first was the fact that Efialtis was gone. The second was that some time had passed, I was on the floor. I don’t remember falling. I couldn’t stop tears from falling down my face as I scrambled up to Twilight. I could feel the Nightmare inside of her, as well as the poisonous dark magic.

She did this to trap Efialtis with her, and to stop the dark magic from eating away at her. Untapped magic on its own was difficult enough to disperse or control, dark magic was exponentially worse. I put my hand on her smooth crystalline face, I could feel her life force pulsing within her. In this state her life force would slowly deplete, keeping the crystal formed. I immediately enforced it with my own power to stop or slow that process.

I wanted nothing more than to smash through this crystal or melt it down with my own magic, getting her out of there wasn’t exactly very hard. At least for me. But I know that if I were to free her then she would only die. Or worse, be taken over by the Nightmare she pulled into herself.

Somebody coughed, nearby, and My cision snapped to them. Fovos was there, sprawled across the ground. I hadn’t noticed him the first time. I walked over to him and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, lifting him up.

“Must you, Mother? You know that was not my own will…” He groaned. I sighed.

“You’re going to explain to me exactly how you came about the Nightmare, Even if she still had power here she was scattered and unable to even assume a form. Then you’re going to tell me exactly how to counter that dark poison. If you don’t know how then you will be in every library, every magical laboratory, experimenting and researching it to figure out how. You haven’t called me Mother for centuries, doing so now doesn’t make this any better for you.” I explained swiftly. I nodded his head and I dropped him to land on his feet again.

“The story of how I became the puppet will have to wait, it is a long story and I can already sense people coming to investigate the new center of their town… I honestly know very little about that poison, I was so far gone at that point she was her own entity instead of corrupting my thoughts… And I call you Mother now because it wasn’t until I was rendered helpless by the Nightmare that I realized I am still but a child compared to you…” He started. I looked back at Twilight as the doors slowly creaked open to reveal battle worn inhabitants of Ponyville, Twilight’s friends at the front.

“I’ll talk to all of you in private, but for now we need a place other than here where Fovos can tell his story.” I said lowly to them. The whole group was gaping in awe and horror at the ‘statue’ in the center. Spike stood on his hind legs, staring into the crystalline eyes.

“Is he the one who did this to her?” He practically snarled, dropping back down to all fours and glaring at Fovos.

“No, it was her own doing… I’ll explain soon, for now let us find some privacy.” I started and made to leave, but I was surprised to find the inhabitants of Ponyville that had wandered in quickly saluted and left. A few of them even stayed to guard the door.

“Before he starts, does the battle still go on?” I asked our friends that had stayed.

“Your troops are mopping up what’s left, the militia and timberwolves devastated them. One of your messengers reported the other small force decimated and the one heading to Canterlot disappeared, they’ve set up a scouting net across the nation.” Applejack answered. I nodded and looked at Fovos again, who seemed to be deep in thought.

“You, start talking.” I commanded.

Author's Notes:

so I have absolutely no more creativity left for the chapter titles lol so don't expect much from those. This chapter was written over the course of like two weeks so hopefully it's not too disjointed, I hope to finish this before I lose interest again but I don't know how long my enthusiasm will last again.
hope you enjoyed.
and for those of you disappointed by the lack of epic major battle, it is coming.
As the Starks say, Winter is Coming