Agora returned to his den tired from the nights events. The cool night air flowed freely in from his smashed window. He didn’t mind the fresh air. His thoughts were on today’s work, Hannibal was on the loose, the Lunar guard was clueless, and Luna was shaken.

Perfect. Agora’s forehead hurt.“Ah, I was wondering if you had fallen asleep.” Never, my how the cogs spin. And once they are set in motion nothing can stop it.“Brilliant move by the way,” Agora poured himself some hard cider, “The fake Helmet was smart.”But you exposed it before framing the girl could be completed. “Yeah, but if I hadn’t Luna would have noticed and I would be under suspicion. And besides, this worked out for the better. We have Luna right where we want her.” He took a slow sip of his cider. Luna will only be where I want her when her and her sister are dead! Agora flinched with the pain from his horn. “Calm down, Master.” Freeing Hannibal may have been part of the plan but we still need the artifact from the armory, without that all of this will be for nothing! “Im, still not clear on the total plan, Master. How does The Order, Hannibal, and this artifact fit together?” Agora took another swig. “All Hannibal seems to do is kill ponies.” Exactly, Agora. Exactly. Red-ish smoke pulled off Agora’s horn and floated down to the bone piece on his desk. Relieving his headache. “Never with a straight answer,” he downed the rest of his glass, “I guess i’ll just have to wait and see.”

Lunar Barracks

“I need a drink.” Acropolis lit up his pipe again. Some of the other guards milled about in the barracks. It was mid-shift, guards were waking and getting ready to replace others on shift. Rune and Acropolis sat at their table near the armory watching the guards.

“I need some sleep, I haven’t slept well ever since the duel.” Rune rubbed her temples, squinting her eyes, the static over the link was getting louder. She had dark bags under her eyes which were also bloodshot.

“Studying?” he let out a slow puff.

“No, just haven’t slept.” staring off into the distance her eyes glazed over slightly.

“We need a break.” Acropolis snuffed his pipe and got up from the table, shaking Rune awake. “I’m gonna talk with Luna, you coming?” Rune nodded and followed him from the room.

Ponyville Station

The train pulled off leaving Acropolis, Rune, and Luna on the small platform. Twilight was waiting for them at the end. As usual she was all smiles, of course her smile was more to hide the fact she was freaking out that one of the princesses was in town. Even though she herself was a princess, Acropolis still had trouble with that one.

“Princess!” Twilight bowed to Luna, “Glad to see you again!”

“Likewise Twilight! Always a pleasure, but this is not an official visit. I am having a day off!” Luna stated very dryly.

“A day off?” Twilight seemed confused, “Like when you came by for nightmare night?”

“Yes much like then, but more, common.” Luna picked up her own bag with her magic, securing it on her back. “I will be staying at Acropolis’ home, if you need me send for me there. Good day Twilight.” Luna bowed again and began to walk away. Acro and Rune stood still as she walked away.

“Luna, this way.” Acropolis called out as Rune and him walked the other way. Luna quickly teleported to face the correct direction. “See ya later, Twilight!”

“Bye, Twilight.” Rune called out.

“This will be interesting.” Twilight headed back towards her library.

The trio stood in front of Acropolis’ house. It was freshly painted, flowers growing out front, a pond off to the side, and a small garden in the back. It looked like somepony else was living there. Acropolis was pensive to open his door, just in case somepony else had taken to living there. He opened the door and Fluttershy was placing fresh bedding on one of three new beds in his house.

“Fluttershy? what happened to my house?” Acropolis was in a pleasant shock.

“Oh, Hi Acropolis,” Fluttershy flew down to them, “Well, I take my house sitting very seriously, so I spruced up your house a bit. That and I needed some more space to expand my garden, and well, you weren't really using the back,” She let her hair fall over her eyes, “You're not mad are you?”

“No, no, Fluttershy, Its fine, no it’s fantastic!” He had never seen his house so lived in, and he wasn’t even there! “Oh, Fluttershy, This is Rune Shift, and of course you know Princess Luna.”

“Princess,” Fluttershy bowed, “And Rune we meet before, when you came to Ponyville last time.”

“Ah yes, I remember, I thought you were Acropolis’ wife.” Rune said with a chuckle.

“That aside, I do believe I will take a peek at this garden. Would you mind Fluttershy?” She smiled and nodded, they left the house and Fluttershy lead Luna around the back of the house. Leaving Rune and Acropolis alone in his house.

“Well, I guess the Princess will take the proper bed, you and me will take the pullouts.” Acropolis threw his bag onto one of the small pullout beds.

“Thanks you for letting us stay here at your house.” Rune threw her bag on the other bed.

“Not a problem,” Acropolis looked out his window. He spotted a familiar pony walking away from his home. He wondered what Vinyl Scratch was doing out this way. “least I could do,” Luna and Fluttershy came back inside, Luna held a flyer and looked rather confused. “What did Vinyl want?”

“She has invited us all to a,” Luna squinted and read off the flyer, “musical demonstration of her new album, that she wanted me to take part of her show, and she mentioned something about there may possibly be a cannon involved?”

“Oh my, Applejack will be upset if she hears that,” Fluttershy explained, “Vinyl used her cannon at a show at Sweet Apple Acres last summer, rattled all the nails from the barn.”

“HAHA! I remember that show, that was funny though.” Acropolis laughed.

“Well, I should go, have fun you three.” Fluttershy waved and flew silently off.

“Acropolis, is this ‘show’ as much fun as you seem to make it?” Luna interest had been peaked, maybe it was mention of a cannon?

“Luna, Vinyl’s shows tend to be rather, loud.” Acropolis didn't think it was Luna’s scene but if she had decided to go, he wouldn’t turn down a good party.

“Loud? as in volume?” Luna’s interest was not waning, Acropolis began to mentally prepare himself to go to Vinyl’s show.

“As in Bass,” Rune chirped. “She uses massive speakers that can rattle boards and shatter glass.” Acropolis was surprised at Rune’s knowledge of Vinyl and her particular style of music.

“Well then, tonight we shall see this ‘show’ your friend puts on. I am sure it will be delightful.” Luna smiled and returned to Acropolis’ new garden, Acro and Rune traded shrugs and unpacked.

They spent their day mainly relaxing around Acropolis’ house. Reading, doing some gardening, getting some sun, the trio spent the day just relaxing. It had been far too long since any of them had a day where there was nothing asked of them. Luna was a princess and was constantly under siege with royal duties. Rune was a researcher before joining the guard and had deadlines and quotas she had to adhere to. Acropolis was town guard and was always on patrol and hadn’t taken a day off in forever. Evening came a bit too soon, Luna was napping next to the pond, and nearly missed the scheduled moon rising.

They began to get ready for Vinyl’s show. The idea was to try and hide the princess as much as possible. She wore a dark shall and Acropolis’ sunglasses that Vinyl had actually given him. They figured it would be enough.

“Oh hey it’s Luna!” Pinkie pie called out from the crowd. How she made it over to them so quickly and through so many ponies Acropolis had no clue. But he learned along time ago to not question what Pinkie does. The show had already started and the opening acts were well underway. Ponies were already nice and riled up, moshing, dance circles, the works. A conga line had formed and of course it passed by the bar. BigMac was working the bar with Cheerilee, who had glow sticks woven into her hair, strangely it suited her. Pinkie pie was similarly decked out, glow sticks everywhere.

“Pinkie, we are trying to keep her on the dl, okay?” Acropolis shouted over the music. Pinkie nodded.

“Well, duh, but you do know that Vinyl had announced earlier that she’d be here right?” Pinkie Pie pulled off Luna’s cloak handing off to some random pony. It vanished into the crowd. She reached up and pulled off the glasses too, slamming them on Acropolis’ face. Reaching behind her she pulled out some more glow necklaces and in a flurry of pink made Luna a crown and broach from glow sticks, remarkably they looked just like her real crown and broach, only glow sticks. “And now you’re ready to par-TAY!” Pinkie threw up her arms and did a blind dive into the crowd and crowd surfed away vanishing into the mass.

“I will never understand her, anyway, since everypony already knows you're here why not mingle?” Acropolis lead Rune and Luna over to the bar. BigMac and Cheerilee looked like pro’s behind the bar. Despite his size BigMac was very agile, spinning around Cheerilee as they moved from station to station. Honestly, it looked more like they were dancing. “Yo, BigMac!” Acropolis called out, BigMac pointed at him signifying he was listing. “Three, Big-Cheer.”

“Eeyup!” BigMac went to work, making the drinks in beat to the music. Halfway through he passed them off to Cheerilee without even looking. She finished off the drinks with a great flair, flipping bottles, sliding glasses, tossing bottles behind her back and catching them again. A real spectacle.

“Who is that pony?” Luna asked.

“That’s Cheerilee, the school teacher.” Acropolis savored Luna’s surprised face that this pony was the school teacher. They took their drinks to a table that been set up. Acro and Rune shotgunned thiers and gestured for Luna to do the same. She hesitated and then slammed it back. It burned, all the way down, it was harsh and strong. Luna hadn’t ever had anything like it. “Big-Cheer special, all the effects, almost no hangover!” Acropolis shouted over the music.

“I am beginning to see the appeal of these events!” Luna’s head was beginning to bob up and down. “These, beats, are quite infectious.”

“That’s my girl!” Rune shouted, the drink had already taken effect in her, “Lets dance!” and with that Rune was out with the crowd dancing. Luna looked on in a trance, all those ponies dancing together, their glow sticks making glowing art in the night, the bass rattling their empty glasses, this pounding she could feel in her chest. She was thoroughly enjoying this.

“Luna!” He was just loud enough to get her attention. Acropolis motioned for her to get out onto the dance area. She looked back to them, thought for a second, and ran out into the crowd. The Alicorn made quite the scene on the dance floor. She danced like she had never danced before. Royal parties and events were always so stuffy, ballroom dancing, quiet music, she hated them. But this, this was kinetic, alive. A thousand years ago nothing like this existed, no ponies celebrated like this in her night. No parties late at night, no Big-Cheer specials, no bass slamming into your gut, no mosh pits. Luna liked this kind of party.

Vinyl walked onto the stage as the set ended. Everypony cheered as she began to set up her gear. Grabbing the mic on stage she opened her set.

“GOOD EVENING PONYVILLE!” The roar from the crowd was so loud it drained out the music. “Now tonight we have some special guests in the crowd, the bringer of this glorious night, PRINCESS LUNA!” The cheering for Luna was even louder. She felt happy that so many ponies loved her nights now. “And, the FIRST Lunar guards! Our very own ACROPOLIS! and the lovely RUNE SHIFT!” Everypony cheered, “So if you see them in the crowd make sure to break as many rules as you can, BECAUSE THEY ARE OFF DA CLOOOOOOCK!!!!!” The shouting got even louder. “Now, Princess, wherever you are, in honor of your visit I will be changing up my set tonight,” many ‘no’s’ and ‘awww’s’ came from the crowd, “Now, now, I will instead be playing songs off my new album, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON!” The cheering peaked her merging into one singular noise. “Now for those not in the know there is one song I had to remove from the album due to lack of proper sound samples. Which is why before the last song tonight, I want Princess Luna to come back stage with me,” Cheering picked up again, “And maybe, MAYBE, tonight you will hear,” the crowd started to hype up, “MOON’S NIGHTMARE!” The crowd exploded. Luna was surprised by the names of Vinyl’s album and songs. Everpony was enjoying music inspired from her story. This brought her great pleasure. “And tonight I open with a fan favorite ‘FALL FROM GRACE!”

“Get ready, Princess,” Acropolis had joined Luna on the dance floor, “It’s about to drop.” Vinyl was starting up her first song it was a soothing melody, slowly becoming more and more harsh.

“What is about to drop?” Luna asked as the song started to turn more aggressive. There was a slight pause in the music, time itself seemed to slow down, the ponies around her seemed to be expecting something, bracing almost, all excited for what was about to happen.

“The bass.” As the word left acropolis’ mouth Vinyl threw an arm into the air. Luna could feel the night air pull away from her, the speakers pull back into themselves, almost like they were charging something. In this moment she was almost scared of what would come. Luna could almost see the music as it left the speakers. It washed over everypony like water. Every bone in her body was vibrating with this strange sound. This music was like none she had never heard before. Not like the other performers that had been up there, this was louder, harsh, almost violent and Luna liked it greatly. Every fiber in her being was vibrating to Vinyls style of music. The ponies around her were dancing even harder than before. The whole world seemed to boom and vibrate along to the wub’s of the bass. Luna felt nothing else but the force of the Wub’s crashing over her. And she began to dance, seeing the very princess of the night dancing a circle of dancers formed around her. Cheering for their princess as she danced to song after song after song after song. With every drop the bass got more aggressive, and the dancing got even more intense. Eventually the set ended and Vinyl came back on the mic.

“Okay, now I’m going to take a little break, Princess, if you're still here please come on back stage!” Vinyl ran off stage. Without a word Luna walked backstage as well, ponies cheering her the whole way.

“I wonder what Vinyl wants with Luna.” Acropolis and Rune returned to their table. Many of the others were back at the bar refueling for Vinyl’s last song.

“I heard that for Moon’s Nightmare Vinyl initially wanted Nightmare Moon to perform it with her.” Rune wobbled a bit at the table. She clearly had been thoroughly enjoying herself.

“I thought you were a wallflower?”

“At regular parties! here no pony can even see me! so what do I care?” She ran back off into the crowd. Vinyl was retaking the stage. Ponies were scrambling back into the stage area. Princess Luna followed Vinyl onto the stage.

“This should be good.” Acropolis shotgunned another Big-Cheer special.

“PONYVILLE,” the crowd hollered, “PRINCESS LUNA!” The crowd exploded with hoots, hollers, and a few ballsy cat calls. “And for a special treat, tonight you will be the first to hear, MOON’S NIGHTMARE!!” The crowd went nuts. Vinyl went over to her decks and started up the track.

Luna walked up the edge of the stage and stood regally for a second before letting out a loud sinister laugh then being enveloped in back smoke. It swirled and filled the stage, the tune was dark and moody. Clouds began to form above the stage, deep black, swirling storm clouds. The lights in the area cut out, even the stage lights cut. Vinyl had a deck lamp, but the only light was coming from the smoke cloud where Luna was. At the first musical spike Luna exploded with bats, spreading her wings wide revealing that she had transformed into Nightmare Moon. Acropolis smiled. Vinyl’s bass dropped and Luna caused a lighting strike, the more furious the music got the more lighting Luna caused. Wiping her head around to the music, wielding nature itself as a musical instrument, Luna followed Vinyl’s beat with the lightning. The flashes and strikes lit up the ground below illuminating the dancers in beat with music, creating a strobe like effect. As the song progressed, Luna got more confident with her lightning. She began to mimic the music almost perfectly with the lightning and rumbles of her storm.

Never before in Equestria had such a sight been seen by pony kind. Luna’s Lightning had become musical, it fell away from being an interesting addition and became one with Vinyl’s wub heavy melodies. The slight reverb from the echo, the menacing beat, the haunting image of Nightmare Moon, the almost assaulting bass from the speakers. If Acropolis could distill what made Luna Luna he felt it would be this moment. As the song began to climax it got faster and more vicious. Luna started to call down strikes on nearby poles along with the beat, showering the crowd in sparks in the process, much to their approval. Her clouds swirled around the stage getting more and more aggressive. As the song climaxed Luna called down lighting on the whole stage and all the surrounding poles all at once. The stage exploded in flashes and sparks as the equipment and lights erupted from Luna’s strike. The sparks showered down onto the crowd, who loved every second of the display. The lights did not come back on, but glow bugs slowly filled up the area giving some illumiation. Luna’s magical glow could be seen on the stage. She lit up the stage with her magic, her and Vinyl stood next to each other, victorious. The cheers from the crowd were so loud Acropolis assumed Celestia could hear it in Canterlot. Vinyl pulled out a megaphone.

“PONYVILLE!” The crowd exploded again, “LET’S HEAR IT FOR PRINCESS LUNA!” Luna changed back from Nightmare Moon and bowed heavy to the crowd. “Unfortunately that will be the end of the show! Since, we, ya know, blew up the gear, anyway, GOOD NIGHT PONYVILLE, AND AS USUAL YOU’VE BEEN FANTASTIC!” and with that Vinyl dropped the megaphone and walked off stage. Luna leaped from the stage spreading her wings a gliding over the crowd. Cheers followed her the entire way. She landed next to Acropolis who had collected Rune. BigMac and Cheerilee stood with him as well.

“That couldn’t have gone better princess.” Acropolis beamed.

“Agreed, such, FUN!” Luna was ecstatic. BigMac placed a drink on the table, it was dark with a soft grey foam and a glowing red cherry on top. Luna recognized the glow cherry but not the drink.

“This is for you,” Cheerilee smiled, “we made it for you specifically, We call it ‘Soft Nightmare’, I hope you like it!” Lune looked quizzically at the mixture. Acropolis motioned she should drink it. Luna picked up the glass and, as she did before, shotgunned it. Slamming the glass on the table she gasped. It was rich and smooth, it felt like a cool night breeze sliding down her throat. Luna smiled wide. “Told you she’d like it.”

“Eeyup.” BigMac smiled and bowed. He and Cheerilee took their leave as the area cleared out. Ponies were beginning to take down the rigs for the stage, Acropolis took that as a sign they should leave. Luna helped him carry the now unconscious Rune back to his house.

The sunlight pierced through the curtains of Acropolis’ ponyville home. Luna rose from her slumber, mane a mess, the most disheveled she had ever been. Rune was still asleep on her bed. Acropolis was up and was in the process of making breakfast.

“Morning, Luna.” He placed a cup of coffee on the table near her. “Hows your head?”

“This is how you relax?” Luna managed through her headache.

“Well, it certainly was fun,” Acropolis put a cup of coffee near Rune. She started sniffing the air, and began to rise. “Train leaves in two hours, rest up, tonight we go back to work.”

‘Don’t remind me.” Rune gargled out as she reached lazily for her coffee.

“Oh, Luna, Vinyl came by and dropped this off for you.” Acropolis handed Luna a record. It read, ‘Dark Side of the Moon featuring Princess Luna as Nightmare Moon in Moon’s Nightmare the never before released single, lots of wub, Vinyl’. Luna pulled the records out of the sleeve, there were two records, a black one and a gold one. “The black one is to be played, the gold one is for display,” Acropolis explained, “I Would frame the gold one and the sleve.” Luna smiled and slid the records back into their sleeve. Time could have stopped that day, and Luna would have not cared.