“I mean it. Not a bucking word, Mourne. Not one.” Shadowstep growled, staring directly ahead. “You haven’t just feathered this up for yourself, you’ve dropped me in it, and Emberfire, as well as the Mistress herself. How do you think this is going to look when news gets out that one of the Princesses’ personal guard attacked a civilian?”

Mourne opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again with a soft hiss, rubbing ruefully at his aching jaw. He was lucky that the armour had taken the brunt of the furious earth pony’s attack. Mac was big, strong and remarkably quick, but not a trained fighter. He’d struck wildly, desperately, and that was likely the only thing that had saved him. He wouldn’t underestimate the farm pony again.

“And why didn’t you kill him?”

Mourne blinked. Did she really just…? “What? I didn’t catch that?”

“You heard me,” Shadowstep growled as she finally turned to face her battered and bruised companion. “He fell off the roof, he’s lying on the ground, unconscious or barely conscious. Why didn’t you finish the job when he was helpless? You could have flown down there, slit his throat, dumped the body in the Everfree where it would never have been found and we wouldn’t have to have this conversation. What exactly was your gameplan in all this if NOT to kill him?”

“I…I thought I could frighten him off. He was just a farmer, he had to see that Luna was beyond him, that this relationship would only bring them pain and humiliation. If that argument didn’t work I thought if…”

Shadowstep smacked her face. “You really thought you could just go rough him up and tell him to STAY AWAY? Outside of the playground, does that kind of tactic ever actually work? What are you, six years old? You can’t honestly see the world that simply.”

“Why not?” Mourne shot back. “Why does it always have to be complicated? Sometimes the choices are simple, the right thing to do or the wrong thing. This relationship is wrong and--”

“And who gave you the right to make that decision?”

Mourne and Shadowstep froze as a new voice interrupted the bickering. A heartbeat later Shadowstep was bowed as low as she could get, pressing her helmeted head flat to the floor. Mourne slowly turned, coming face to face with his Mistress. Luna towered over the batpony, her head lifted imperiously, star-filled mane and tail lashing about her. Her anger was a near palpable thing, her power smothering the words in Mourne’s throat.

“I asked you a question, Night Guard.” Luna’s voice was soft, quiet, and somehow that scared him even more than if she’d been shouting at him. “Who gave you the right to choose my partners for me? Who gave you the right to pass judgement on a pony that has done nothing to you?”

“Mistress, I--”

“ANSWER THE QUESTION!” The full force of Luna’s voice thundered across the town. Hospital windows rattled and cracked, birds were startled from their trees and passing ponies dropped to the ground with their hooves clamped to their ears.

Mourne struggled to find his voice, to come up with an excuse, an explanation, but every time he began to speak, the words died in his throat under that unforgiving stare. “I did it for you,” he finally managed to squeak out.

The emotion slowly drained from Luna’s face. “For me,” she echoed in a voice gone empty and hollow. “You attacked an innocent pony...for me. Are these the lessons I have taught you? Is this how I have raised you, to be so harsh, so judgemental. Did I fail you so badly?”

Mourne looked confused, glancing at Shadowstep, then back to Luna, barely paying any notice to the crowd that was slowly gathering, the faces at the hospital windows that watched in amazement at the confrontation playing out before them.

“N-No, Mistress. You have not failed us,” he stammered, brow furrowed. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be at all, couldn’t Luna understand why he did this? Couldn’t she see what he was trying to spare her from? “We are always your servants, we would give our lives for you.”

“And what will you do when one of those servants betrays me? What will you do when you tear my heart from my breast and throw it to the ground, Mourne? What will you do then?” Luna leaned in close to the now utterly confused batpony, her expression sad and lost as she touched a hoof gently to his cheek. “No. If this is what you have learned from me then I have failed you, child. Failed you utterly. Look at you now. I see the confusion plain on your face. You simply do not understand the hurt you have done me or why the actions you have taken today are so wrong.”

“I--I just…I don’t understand,” Mourne whispered. He’d expected anger, fury, to be punished, to be yelled at, not this, not to be left feeling like a scolded child. “This was all to protect you.”

“How was this protecting me, Mourne? By attacking those I care for? By making it seem that I cannot control those who serve me? That I cannot trust my own personal guard?”

Shadowstep met Mourne’s gaze for a moment, silently mouthing the words “Just shut up.” Anything he could say right now would just make things worse and it wouldn’t take much at all to spur Luna from disappointment to anger…but he never was very good at taking advice.

“By saving you from pain!” he burst out, growing confusion twisting and coiling in on itself until he could hold his tongue no longer. He ignored Shadowstep’s resigned sigh and the look of surprise on Luna’s face as he pulled away and began pacing back and forth. “What are the nobles going to say when they hear you’ve taken a farmer for a lover! How did you think this was going to end, Mistress? A farmer, a mortal pony! The only thing his brief life would give you is humiliation and misery before leaving you alone once more! He would never be accepted by the nobility, he would be forever out of place in Canterlot, an object of ridicule! You have to see--”

“I 'have' to see?” Luna retorted. “You forget your place!”

“My place is before you! Defending you!” he snarled. This was wrong, all wrong, but he would speak his piece before the end. “You must--”

“YOU WILL NOT TELL ME WHAT I MUST DO!”

This was beyond even the Royal Canterlot Voice, this was the sound of an alicorn’s fury, of a Princesses’ rage and betrayal, every word reverberating through the town. Luna reared to her hind legs, towering over her wayward guard as the clouds over Ponyville suddenly turned dark and menacing. They swirled in overhead, blocking out the sun and plunging Ponyville into total darkness, spiralling slowly above their summoner as a dull rumble of thunder echoed through the suddenly silent town.

“I…”

“For the love of Celestia, Mourne! Will you just SHUT UP!” Shadowstep finally exploded. “Will you...just...oh buck me.”

“In one morning you have undermined years of hard-won respect,” Luna snarled, “of letting our ponies finally see that I am not the monster under the bed they have spent generations fearing. You have done more damage to me in one morning than years of whispers and rumours ever could. You have failed to protect me, Night Guard. You have broken the covenant between us.”

The change was subtle, and for a moment Mourne wasn’t sure what had Shadowstep slowly backing away, but then he saw it and all the confusion and all the anger crystallized into a single, icy lump of fear in his belly. Her coat was growing darker. Midnight blue was fading to black even as white teeth grew sharp and deadly. Even the shadows around her hooves were slowly spreading along the ground, the grass withering and dying in their wake.

The crowd of ponies that had gathered to investigate all the noise and shouting were shrinking back now and within moments a tentative withdrawal became an all out retreat. The residents of Ponyville fled this display of power in a near stampede, the sounds of doors and shutters slamming tight echoing behind them.

“Mistress…” Mourne whispered, forcing the word out a throat gone tight with fear. “Don’t.”

“Don’t?” Luna threw her head back and laughed, the clouds roiling and shifting overhead in response. Her laughter grew sharper, more mocking. “Still you think you can tell us what to do, child. How DARE you? You mock our choice of partner, you mock our judgement, you betray our trust, you violate our honour and have the audacity to stand before us and tell us what we can and cannot do? Your arrogance is truly a thing to behold!”

“Luna! Princess!” The doors to the hospital burst open as Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony rushed out to confront the alicorn.

“This does not concern you, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna turned her head to gaze at the younger alicorn with eyes glowing with power. “You shall not interfere in our affairs. We have a subject in dire need of an understanding.”

“But not like this!” Twilight exclaimed. “Don’t you see what you’re doing to yourself?”

“Be silent!” Luna spat. “You are young, Princess. You have much to learn about what must be done to those who commit the greatest of crimes. We shall not tolerate a treasonous wretch serving in our guard!”

“T-Treason?” Twilight stammered, frowning briefly as she glanced at Mourne, then back to the Princess. “Even if he did commit treason, this isn’t the way to deal with it! Please, Luna! You don’t want to do this!”

“I beg thy pardon?” Luna snarled, her attention turning to the young alicorn and the group of ponies flanking her. “Didst thou just try to tell us what we want? Didst thou have the temerity to try and tell us what we should do? You forget your place, Twilight Sparkle.”

The shadows around Luna continued to grow, swirling in long, writhing tendrils around her hooves now. Her coat had faded entirely to black and even her cutie mark was beginning to shift as the terrible transformation neared its end. Twilight was suddenly, painfully aware that the Elements of Harmony were safely locked away in the Library, far out of reach right now.

“Luna,” a new voice called weakly from the doors of the hospital. “She’s right. Ya don’t wanna do this. Ah know ye’re angry, but ya gotta stop now.”

All eyes turned to find Mac leaning against the doorframe, his face pale, a cold sweat standing on his brow. The bandages across his chest were already wet with fresh blood from where he’d torn his stitches in his rush to get to the door. A pony would have to be blind and deaf to miss what was going on outside and by the sounds of it, things were only escalating. Hurt he might be, but he wasn’t dead and despite the protests of the nursing staff he’d refused their aid and made his way to the front door himself.

He spared Mourne only a moment’s glance before he began to slowly and carefully walk towards Luna, only to find his path blocked by Applejack, his sister glaring at him from beneath the brim of her stetson. “Dammit, Mac. What’re ya doin’?”

“Sounded like things weren’t goin’ so well out here,” he replied, laconically as ever, trying to ignore the burning ache in his chest and the deep, searing pain of his broken ribs shifting in his flanks with every breath. “Figgered ah’d come lend a hoof. Now, if y’all will just give us a lil space, ah need t’have a word with mah fillyfriend here.”

He stared down at Applejack, unblinking, until she couldn’t meet his gaze anymore. Biting her bottom lip she reluctantly stepped back, nodding to the other girls to step back towards the hospital and give Mac what he wanted.

Luna had not said a word all this time, simply watching, a strange little look on her face as Mac slowly limped up to stand before her. The shadows reached for him, strands of darkness caressing his hooves but he refused to flinch. He couldn’t show fear, not now, not when it was so close to going perilously wrong. Trying to ignore how his stomach churned and roiled he reached a hoof out to the Princess.

“Luna,” he repeated, his voice gentle, as if he was speaking to a frightened animal. “Ya gotta stop this now. Please.”

“Stop? Thou wouldst have us stop disciplining one of our servants? One who attacked you, who tried to k-kill you?” Luna’s voice hitched for a moment and the tendrils of darkness briefly recoiled, only to return a heartbeat later and curl all the tighter around his legs, drawing him closer to her now, pulling him towards the growing Nightmare.

“But he didn’t, Luna. Ah’m still here, but if ya keep goin’ on like this we ain’t gonna be able t’stay together.”

Luna froze and Mac echoed her, barely drawing a breath, standing perfectly still as she ran his words over in her mind. “What...dost thou mean? Art thou threatening to leave us? Thou wouldst spurn our affections even now?”

Mac swore silently. He was no good at this, he was no diplomat for Celestia’s sake! How to get through to her? How to make her understand what she was doing? He didn’t want to just blurt it out for fear that the realisation of her slip into darkness would only hasten it. He gave a helpless look over towards the girls only to find that Rarity had broken away from the group and was trotting over to join them, something clasped in one hoof.

“He doesn’t mean that, Majesty,” Rarity assured the Princess. “Mac would never spurn your affections like that. If he knows what’s good for him and everypony else right now,” she added in an aside. “He means, well, he means this.”

Rarity’s horn lit as her magic lifted up a small compact mirror before the alicorn and opened it. Luna scowled as she trotted towards the white unicorn to look more closely. “What foolishness is this? What dost th--”

Her voice died in her throat as she saw herself in the mirror. No, not herself. Staring back at her from that silvered glass she saw a face she’d hoped was gone forever, the face of Nightmare Moon. “No… We did not… I did not. This was not what we intended.”

She took a shaky, uncertain step towards Mac, her eyes wide and fearful, unshed tears glistening, ready to flow down her cheeks. He moved to meet her as the shadows faded around his hooves, brushing his cheek to hers, then just pressing his neck against her own, feeling her shivering against him, the rage fading, replaced now with bitter shame and regret.

“McIntosh, we--I--”

“Shh. S’okay, Luna. Ah know. We know ya didn’t mean it. Ah know that ain’t who y’are anymore.” He turned his head a little, managing to catch Twilight’s eye and motioned with his head towards Mourne. Twilight nodded and the girls moved quickly to surround and then escort the unresisting batpony into the hospital. Shadowstep hesitated, then followed in behind them, the doors thumping closed and leaving Mac alone with Luna.

He lifted a hoof, gently stroking down her neck, watching the black fading, lightening once more to that familiar deep blue. The shadows recoiled, twisting and fading into nothingness till there was not a trace of the Nightmare left, only a shaken, tired filly feeling all the weight of her many centuries pressing down on her.

He nudged at her cheek, urging her to lift her head up to meet his gaze. “Again you are the stillness in the nightmare. My refuge." She glanced down and her expression darkened again. "You hurt yourself,” she whispered, a hoof brushing over the now crimson bandages across his chest. “You have been hurt and it’s my fault. If I hadn’t come to you, if we hadn’t...he wouldn’t have…”

“No. No, enough o’that,” Mac growled before she could go any further. “Don’t you go blamin’ any of this on yerself, Luna. What that guard did, Mourne? He’s gonna have t’answer for that. Y’might be his Princess, but that don’t mean ya gotta share in his mistakes.” He shook his head, wincing at the new, sharp pains that shot across his chest. He sat down carefully, letting his weight settle back onto his haunches, not quite able to stifle the hiss of pain that escaped his lips.

“You should be in bed,” she insisted, nudging at his cheek. “The doctors will need to tend to you once more.”

He nodded. “Reckon so.” He huffed out one last, shaky breath. “You, uh, wanna tell me what that was all about?”

Luna ducked her head once more, her mane drifting down to cover the shame that filled her face. “The moon is not just light, Mac. The moon is darkness as well. Nightmare Moon was not some spirit or demon that possessed me. She came from within me, fuelled by rage and betrayal, sadness and loneliness, and though her rage has been quelled by the Elements she is never entirely gone. As long as I exist, there will always be the Nightmare.”

Mac frowned. “But she don’t just come out whenever you’re angry, though. Ah mean, that first Nightmare Night y’all got plenty pissed, but ya didn’t go all scary teeth on us.”

Despite herself, Luna smiled, taking a moment to nuzzle into Mac’s mane and breathe in the reassuringly earthy scent of the stallion. “Silly,” she whispered before she drew back again. “No. Mere anger would not be enough. When you said that I was his Princess you were half-right. My batponies are more than just my guards, more than just my servants, they are my children.”

Mac opened his mouth, then just closed it again without a word, his head cocking to one side like a quizzical puppy. Luna nodded as she continued. “The batponies are a created race, or they were. Now there have been so many generations of natural birth that they stand on their own with the other tribes. In the beginning, though, they were created from volunteers from the royal guard, those who wished to serve me more closely. It was one of the last times Celestia and I worked together on a great feat of magic. We did not wish to give them just the appearance of the batponies you now see, we remade them, redesigned them entirely to serve me. Later there came the madness, and my batponies retreated into seclusion afterwards.”

“Mmm. We’d heard stories about’em, some folk even said they’d seen them, but none of us really believed it till ya came back and the Night Guard was reinstated.” Mac swayed a little where he stood and in a heartbeat Luna was there with her shoulder pressed to his, supporting him.

“Listen to me reminiscing when you are injured. Come, my brave Mac. Let us return to your room. There will be time enough for explanations later.”

“Eeeyup,” he agreed, slowly standing and walking back indoors, leaning against Luna the entire way, taking comfort from this simple closeness as her wing curled around him to keep him close.

Later, after the doctors had thoroughly berated him and re-stitched his wounds, he lay in bed, gazing up once more at the ceiling as he mulled over the day’s events, he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Eeeyup?”

The door was pushed open and Luna stepped in, followed closely by Applejack and Twilight.

“Where’s everypony else?” He asked as he sat up a little to better talk to them.

“Gone home.” AJ replied. “They asked me t’give ya their love, said they’d be helpin’ out on the farm till you’re better so don’t ya worry about that.”

“Mmm,” he grunted sourly. This would hit them hard and not just around the farm, he’d have to try and find another pony to take over fishing duties as well. Maybe Rainbow Dash? Rarity would likely refuse to touch them, they already know Fluttershy wouldn’t do it… Pinkie? Much as he cared for the manic pink pony, he wasn’t sure he wanted to trust the safety of his farm to her.

“Quitcher broodin’, big brother,” Applejack prodded him lightly with a hoof. “As it happens, we’ve come t’ya with a suggestion.”

“Uh-huh. Can’t help but notice ya come with backup,” Mac drawled, glancing at Luna, who said nothing, and Twilight, who promptly stared at her hooves and rustled her wings nervously.

“Let it be known that I do not agree with what Applejack proposes,” Luna grumbled. “In years gone by the punishment would be far more severe than what thou proposes.”

“Oh he ain’t gettin’ off the hook that easy, Princess,” Applejack replied, then turned back to Mac. “Ah want Mourne t’come to the farm. That’s his name, the pony that attacked ya. He’s responsible for ya not bein’ able to work, so he’s gonna pick up the slack. Not only that, ah want him assigned as a bodyguard for ya in case anyone else gets the clever idea o’having a go.”

“Bodyguard? Him? Y’sure you don’t need t’get yer head checked out, AJ?”

“We will be sure to impress upon him that the withdrawal of the treason and attempted murder charges are reliant on his carrying out his duties in your service without hesitation or complaint,” Luna added. “Much as I might contemplate other punishments for him, Applejack has a point. Mourne is a Night Guard and that alone will deter many foolish ponies from any further attempts to disrupt things between us. Not only that, he is well acquainted with Canterlot’s nobility and the ins and outs of the Royal Court. He will be a fine adviser for what you will need to survive in the shark-infested waters of Canterlot’s social elite.”

Mac grunted, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. They made a fair point, and it was true that the batpony could have killed him, could have left him in a pool of his own blood in the mud...and didn’t. Mac believed what he’d said, that it wasn’t an attempt to kill him, but did that mean he was comfortable turning his back on this pony? In inviting him into the Apple family home?

“Ah gotta think about it,” he said at last. “Where is he now?”

“Locked up in one of the vacant rooms,” Twilight answered. “The other Night Guard, Shadowstep is watching him. Ponyville doesn’t really have a jail so it’s the best we could come up with.”

“Mmm. So what’s Princess Celestia got t’say about it? Ah’magine ya told her what happened here?”

Twilight glanced at Luna, who shrugged in reply. “Yes, we told her. She said that Luna’s guard are for her to control and for her to punish. She also said that she made the mistake of undermining her sister’s authority once before, and she wasn’t going to do it again.”

“In turn, Mac, I leave Mourne’s fate to you,” Luna added. “Either he serves his penance with you until you decide he truly understands the depth of his mistake, or he returns with me to Canterlot. In chains.”

“An’what’ll happen to him then?”

“We will see him stripped of rank, dishonourably discharged from the Night Guard and tried for attempted murder,” was the prompt, flat reply, barely a flicker of emotion crossing the alicorn’s face.

Mac whistled softly. “Kinda making it hard here, Luna. Ye’re placin’ his fate in mah hooves.”

“Our intention was not to make this more difficult, Mac, but you must understand that were it not for brave Applejack and Twilight, Mourne would already be on a train back to Canterlot in chains.”

“Ah guess. Look, ah...ah still need t’think it over. I’ll let ya know soon, ah promise.”

Luna nodded. “As you wish.”

There was another knock on the door before it was pushed open, this time by the familiar face of Pinkie Pie. “Hey Mac! Glad to see you’re looking better! Can’t have you being hurt, Princess Luna gets all saddy-waddy and we don’t want that. She might go all Black Snooty on us again and--” Pinkie trailed off as she pushed the door open further, to find Twilight, Applejack and Luna all staring at her, the last with her eyes narrowed. “That would be...awesome?” Pinkie finished weakly, wilting beneath that unamused glare.

“What can we do for ya, Pinkie?” Mac asked.

“Well, I know that today was supposed to be your second date with Luna and because of that mean old pony you didn’t get to have it! So I thought we couldn’t have that and I went back to the farm and I spoke to Granny Smith and I got the basket and I gathered all the stuff and I said goodbye to Granny Smith and I bounced right on down the road and I--”

“Pinkie…” Twilight groaned, rubbing a hoof to her forehead. “Skip to the end?”

“And I brought your picnic so you could have it right here!” Pinkie finished, producing the picnic basket with a flourish! “I mean I know it’s not really what you had in mind and you’re still hurting and stuff, but at least this means you don’t have to miss out on spending time together, right?”

Mac blinked, looking down at the basket, then up at Pinkie’s widely beaming face. He shook his head slowly and laughed quietly. “A hospital bed picnic. That’ll do, Pinkie. Thank ya kindly.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie happily exclaimed as she planted the wicker basket on the end of the bed. “Now come on! Let them have their privacy! ShooShooShoo!” As efficiently as Winona herding cows, Pinkie corralled both Twilight and Applejack and ushered them out, closing the door behind her with a smile and a wink.

Mac sighed as he reached over for the basket, only to find Luna had already opened it and spread the red and white checked blanket within on the floor. Her horn glowed as she nimbly levitated out the contents and arranged them neatly, making soft, appreciative noises as each treat was revealed.

“A fine spread, Mac. You flatter me,” she sighed as the last treat was placed down and the basket tucked away in a corner of the room.

“Ah’d planned t’take ya to the hill overlookin’ town. There’s one heck of a view from there, but this’ll have t’do.” He made to sit up and slide out of bed, only to find a slice of apple pie hovering before his nose.

“Ah-ah,” Luna chided. “You are injured, and have done quite enough for today, I think. Rest, Mac. You put yourself in harm’s way to help me today, this is the least I can do to repay you.”

He hesitated, then grunted and lay back with a resigned little nod. “Got a point, ah guess.”

“Of course. I AM a Princess, after all.” Luna grinned, then applied a daub of cream to the end of Mac’s nose, laughing as he went cross-eyed trying to see it before licking it clean. “So,” she went on. “I am sure Pinkie will see to it that we are not disturbed, you are not going anywhere and nor am I so let us eat, drink and relax.” Luna smiled gently down at him as she brushed a hoof down his cheek. “Tomorrow will take care of itself. Right now I wish only to enjoy the rest of this day with you.”

“Fair enough, Princess.” He leaned forward to take a bite of the still-patiently hovering apple pie. “Fair enough.”

Author's Notes:

Okay, so as I am lovely and caring, you guys get to see this one early. I'd debated making you wait till the weekend, but I kinda want to see your reactions to what goes on in this chapter!

Chapter 14 is plotted, it's going to be another "Meanwhile in Equestria..." type one where we check in with a few other folks and see what else is going on. As per usual, expect that one in a couple of weeks.