Nightfire simply blinked, the world coming into focus slowly. He felt his body moving slowly through the open air, although in reality he knew it should have been moving much, much faster. All of the sound that was supposed to accompany the situation seemed to be non existent as well, the open mouths of ponies before him throwing screams and shouts in silence. Another soundless boom sent shivers through his body as he watched a group of his guards being blown apart in slow motion, their guts and entrails splattering the snow in thick torrents of red.

He merely blinked as he sailed through the air very,very slowly. All around, it looked as if somepony had slowed down time to a grueling crawl, bullets and tracers flying gracefully through the air. His eyes slowly shifted to the right as he beheld a furious looking Sky-Driver rearing back on his hind legs, lining up a shot with his bolt-action rifle. He pulled the trigger back and staggered slightly as a flash erupted from the barrel, its bullet catching a massive, charging, and heavily armored griffon in the eye-slit of its helmet visor. Sky ducked as the griffon tumbled through the air over him, the lunar guard pulling the second of four bullets he had clenched in his teeth out and sticking it into the open chamber of the rifle, closing the bolt and lining up another shot.

The world continued to spin slowly, now looking as if he was sideways. A shift of his eyes upwards had him seeing Moon-Lance riding on the back of another roaring and flailing griffon, his front legs wrapped around the front of his neck, his mouth moving and dishing out soundless screaming as Wind-Weaver rammed his own rifle's bayonet into an exposed part of the griffon's chest armor, twisting his hooves so that the blade would do as much damage as possible.

A few seconds passed, the officer blinking once more and causing time to quickly begin to speed up. The ground was approaching fast, a low whining noise echoing in his ears. Before he knew it, he had hit the ground with a heavy thud, the impact knocking most of the wind out of him. He bounced only twice as he rolled through the snow, the low whine in his ears quickly becoming a loud, shrill screech before completely cutting out and restoring the complete extent of his hearing.

"Stab him again dammit!!!"

"I AM STABBING HIM, FUCK, HOLD HIM STILL!"

"Get him in the fucking eye, I don't care! By Celestia's beard, he moves more than my ex-marefriend!"

"HEEYAH! Take that you feathered shit bird!"

Moon tumbled off the now dead griffon, panting heavily as he pulled his helmet out of the snow and slammed it back down on top of his head. Gunfire and the screams of griffons and ponies echoed out across the entire length of the city as the sky lit up like fireworks, artillery and bullets from each side flying about in a deadly torrent of chaos. Sky fired another shot from his rifle, pulling the bolt back and stealing a glance backwards towards his superior. "Nightfire!!! Are you ok!?" he shouted through clenched teeth, pulling another bullet out from his mouth's hold and reloading a round.

The lunar officer shook his head, slightly dazed and trying his best to get the dizziness out of his senses. Moon and Wind rushed over to him, quickly ducking to avoid a fiery rocket passing over head. Wind reared back on his hind legs, aiming the rifle all around as Moon quickly ran his hooves over the dazed Nightfire, checking for any serious injuries. "He gonna make it?" Wind asked, covering them as best as he could.

"Yeah, armor took most of the shrapnel. There's only two tiny pieces that hit skin but it won't kill him," Moon shouted back, laughing as he patted the officer's back "Can't believe you took that artillery shell and lived Night! Damn it all if you aren't the only Pegasus I know with a hide thicker than Sky's skull!"

Sky let another shot ring forth as he turned his head, rolling his eyes and growling "Oh ha ha, the crowd's going wild with that one Moon. Can you get serious for a second and realize we're under serious attack here?! We're being invaded for Luna's sake!"

Nightfire put a hoof to his head, shaking it slightly as the dizziness started to pass, his voice finally finding its way up out of his throat "M...make a line right here in the street! Get Aurora Squad to start lining up crates, tables, anything we can use as barricades. Make two lines and set up defensive positions in the center! Shadow and Cloud Squads, give them covering fire and start throwing lead back at these bastards!"

Wind let forth a shot at a passing Griffon, clipping his wing and sending the beast spiraling through the sky. The Pegasus let out a whoop of joy as the feathered behemoth crashed into a building, his body crunching and ripping itself apart from the impact. "Ugh...nasty!" he laughed, loading another round and feeling his ears perk to the Lieutenant's orders. Turning his head he shouted "Sir, you sure that's a good idea with the artillery pounding our flanks into the ground!?"

"We're gonna be getting shelled anywhere we go Wind!" Nightfire shouted, looking over his shoulder towards his two miniguns, shifting his wings and watching them spool up. As least they were still working, the contraption on his back starting to load rounds and prepare for a heavy barrage of lead. "We need to dig in somewhere and buy the rest of the battalion time to get their wounded into the buildings, now let's go, double time it!"

Gunfire soared up and down the street, a few ponies falling here and there from the torrent of death. After ten tense minutes, the two lines of makeshift barricades had been erected, with all that was left of Aurora Squad taking cover with Nightfire and his ponies behind them. Sky reloaded another round after a fresh shot through a griffon's skull, the Pegasus watching as inch by bloody inch, a few squads of griffons inched closer, their own twisted versions of bolt actions and wing-cannons firing their own deadly lead towards them. They dove into alleys and behind overturned carts and carriages, taking whatever shot they could towards the defenders.

"Oh this is bullshit!" Wind-Weaver shouted, loading another round and firing it over the barricade "Who knows how many of these feathered punks they have up on those sky ships! There's no way we're getting reinforcements through this much snow!"

"Stow it and keep firing!" Nightfire roared, his miniguns spooling up rapidly and his wings pushing themselves forward, activating both triggers on his cannons. The twelve barrels in total that numbered up from both guns roared thunderously, an insane storm of bullets completely blasting away at whatever cover the griffons were using. He roared a furious battle cry as shell casings flooded around him quickly, his bullets ripping a small market cart and half and tearing two griffons hiding behind it to pieces. "Eat it you bastards, EAT IT!!!!"

A pony to Nightfire's left pointed a hoof to the sky as she screamed "Marauders, twelve o'clock high!!!" Several ponies reared back and started firing at the sky as a squad of six griffons flew down towards them. The battle raged on all around them, ponies screaming and throwing whatever they could at the invaders. No matter what they did however, when a griffon fell, two more plummeted from the sky, landing in and kicking up furious clouds of snow before quickly opening fire on whatever they could set their sights on.

Inch by inch, blood and bullets everywhere, the griffons pushed closer and closer to Nightfire and his ponies. "We're losing too much ground here!" Moon shouted, quickly grabbing up the rifle of a fallen comrade as he ran out of ammo for his own, heaving it over the barricade and opening fire. "I'm running dryer than an Appaloosen creek on ammo here!"

"Keep firing, keep firing!" Nightfire shouted, his own guns starting to run empty "We have to kill as many as we can, do whatever we can to thin out this force!"

Artillery blasted away at the ground around them, a few shells even hitting the griffons. Sky ran a hoof through the snow in a panic, grabbing up as many good bullets as he could find lying about and trying his best to reload and get back into the fight. "Shit, I'm out!" Wind shouted, rearing back and holding his rifle up like a spear, his bayonet ready to plunge into an invader's heart. With a mighty cry, he heaved his body forward, hurling the rifle over the barricade and catching a landing griffon in the face, the beast (much to the hilarious amusement of Wind-Weaver) getting clothes lined slightly as it landed. "Ha! Lay an egg and sit on THAT one you punk-ass!"

As guns started to run dry, the griffons saw their opportunity and began to push their advance, growing dangerously close to the Lunar Guards' position. Nightfire unsheathed one of his longswords, growling menacingly "Not without a fight you bastards!" Sky fixed a bayonet on the end of his rifle as Moon and Wind pulled their own swords out, the rest of Aurora Squad doing the same. "This is it, get ready gents!" Nightfire shouted as the griffons began to charge, their unified battlecry echoing through his helmet.

Just as the invaders neared the barricades, a series of sudden thuds and explosions echoed out from above. Chancing a look upwards, Nightfire let out a gasp as he beheld a torrent of MASSIVE yellow-colored bolts of magic slamming into two of the griffons' skyships, their hulls exploding in flame. It wasn't long after this that Nightfire started to see streaks of yellow zooming this way and that, the gunfire around them increasing thirty-fold. "Oh shit, LOOK OUT!" Sky screamed as a figure roared down from above, two white wings fanning out and slowing its furious descent. It slammed down to the ground on its hooves, kicking up a large plume of snow. Nightfire shielded his eyes for a moment to avoid getting caught in the eyes from the snow. When he looked back to what was happening, his eyes widened considerably and he felt his jaw drop. A massive stallion stood before him, his flank to him. He was clad in ornate golden armor, two miniguns resting on his back just like Nightfire's. The stallion turned his head to the left and right, taking in the scene before him as the griffons in front of him were taken aback slightly at his sudden appearance. With a heavy, booming voice, the stallion spooled up his miniguns and roared "All who would stand against the sun and its princess, WILL, BURN!"

Nightfire's eyes continued to widen as the stallion's guns boomed thunderously, the front of the barrels emitting strands of fire as his bullets raced outwards. The most amazing thing about his ammunition was that whatever was hit...was caught on fire. Hellfire bullets tore through many screaming griffons, setting many of them and the snow around their positions on fire. Several more stallions adorned with much of the same armor and weaponry landed around their position, quickly turning the tide of the battle and sending many of the griffons packing.

"Holy mother of Equestria, it's the Solar Guard!!!" Sky yelped, pointing a shaking hoof at the marauding stallions lighting the entire street on fire. "That means its....its...!!!!"

As if his statement, prayers, and expectations were answered, the celestial being herself plummeted through the sky, landing with slamming hooves into the ground. She stood as tall as she could, her chest puffed out in strength and pride. Her royal, sunlit battle armor clung to her perfectly, a single, massive minigun attached to her back. A massive broadsword of ornate design was slung to her back as well, the fronts of her wings covered in two mighty yellow blades. Her horn was crackling with fury, a magic of untold power, her light purple eyes gleaming with a bright, authoritative glow. Wisps of purple power emanated from those eyes, centering on a completely shocked Nightfire.

Princess Celestia, had entered the battle.

"Lieutenant Nightfire!" she shouted, her royal Canterlot voice booming through the air. Nightfire gave her a mighty salute, his senses quickly coming back to him. "We are here to help you retake the city, Discord has taken the capital and Princess Luna has been captured. I need your help my old friend."

"Whatever you need Princess!" Nightfire shouted, smiling as his squad trotted to his side "Whatever you need of us!"

Celestia nodded, looking back over her advancing guards as they pushed through the flame-torn streets "Good," she said, her eyes flicking up to the sky to watch the third sky ship get caught in a torrent of magical fire "Taking the city is our secondary objective, once we are done here, we will pursue our primary."

The members of Shadow Squad looked at each other quizzically, the three Pegasai looking to their commander with questionable looks. Nightfire raised an eyebrow as he asked "Primary...objective?"

At this, Celestia turned her head towards Nightfire and nodded, a smile forming on her face as she said with booming pride "We shall find the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle herself!"

~~~~

"So why can't ya tell me what in the hay is goin' on again?" a raspy-voice, infected Applejack asked an equally sick Shadow-Mane in frustration "Ah dunno what's supposed to be so hush hush bout' this whole thing." The two of them were trotting quickly through one of the more dense, overgrown areas of the Everfree Forest. Shadow whimpered apologies every now and again when they had to pass through thick thorn bushes or climb through thick vines and other entangling plants.

The colt was just helping Applejack up from a small fall he had taken by getting tripped up by a small log when she asked him the question she wouldn't stop pestering him with. He couldn't really blame her though for asking so many times. In her horseshoes, he'd demand answers as well, and keep pushing until he got them. Unfortunately..."I can't tell you this far out from our destination. Discord's minions and ravaged could be anywhere, listening. I promise, I'll let her tell you everything when we get there."

"Who's this her ya'll keep goin' on about?" Applejack grumbled, trying her best to follow Shadow through the dense growth "Is she the one responsible fer...ya know...you n' me?" The night was quickly starting to recede, the songs of morning birds beginning to quirk up here and there. Tiredness clung to the weary country mare, and it was only then that she started to think about the last time she actually had a full, decent night's sleep.

Shadow nodded to her question, holding back a large tree branch to let the apple mare pass through. "You...could say that." Shadow said, letting the branch swing back outwards as Applejack passed through "She's helped a lot of other ponies...some you might know I'm sure."

"She must be a pretty powerful unicorn to be able to give the infected ponies their minds back." Applejack muttered, emerging into a large clearing with the lunar guard not too far behind.

Shadow chuckled, walking up beside her and sitting his flank upon the dew-covered grass. "You'll see soon enough," he whispered, leaning over and giving her a small kiss on her cheek.

Applejack blushed, sitting down beside him and looking about the clearing as she asked "So uh...how much farther is it till we get there? Mah hooves are killin' me."

"Well...we're already here." Shadow said with a chuckle, smiling at the confused look the country mare was giving him. "Just give it a minute," he said, pulling her close to him "You'll see soon enough."

Applejack took a breath in and out, her ears perking to the sounds of the forest. Her eyes scanned the thick treeline carefully, looking for the answers she needed. How was being a carrier for an earth pony and a Pegasus possible? It shouldn't have been, only unicorns, powerful ones at that, were the only ones who could ever had a chance at being immune from the Ravage's effects. Yet...there they were, two ponies who should have been driven insane...but weren't.

The beams of the sun were just starting to peak through the trees when a certain set of sounds reached Applejack's ears...sounds she hadn't heard for so, so long. It was the sound...of laughter. She could barely hear the words float through the trees, but once they were done and said, a chorus of laughing followed them, and it was coming their way. "Shadow..." she whispered, looking out into the wood where the laughter was coming from "We ain't...we're safe, right?" she clung to him slightly as the lunar guard nuzzled her cheek slightly and nodded. It wasn't too long before the voices starting to get clearer.

"Oh man, did you see the look on her face!?" A colt's voice echoed out "She totally thought we were gonna eat her!"

Another voice, a mare's, followed his quickly "And the way she held onto that little plushie, you'd think she was just a little filly getting attacked by the monsters under her bed!"

"Well, guys, technically we are monsters..." said another, younger colt's voice, drawing some giggles out of the mare.

Applejack watched as some bushes were parted, and three ponies walked out into the clearing. The bigger colt, his coat a fine shade blue with a lighter blue, unkempt medium length mane, lead the other two ponies into the clearing, a typical jock smile on his face. The mare, her coat a chocolate brown with a sand colored, ponytail-tied mane, trailed behind, giggling at whatever the younger colt behind her said. He looked as if he was just getting out of his adolescent years, his dark green coat looking slightly tacky compared to his short light blue mane.

The lead colt's smile instantly vanished as his eyes passed over the two ponies already occupying the clearing. He stopped in mid stride, causing the two ponies behind him to run into his flank. "Oof, hey! Noteworthy, what's the hold up?" the mare whined, looking around him to the two ponies sitting before them. Unlike the colt's reaction, the mare's smile returned quickly and even grew as she exclaimed "Shadow!!! You're ba- oooh and you brought a friend!"

Shadow blushed, giving a little wave as he said "Hey there Coco, you doing ok?" Applejack's jaw dropped as he heard her name, the apple mare stunned that...no, it couldn't be!

Coco smiled, motioning with her head towards the smaller colt as she said "Heh, yeah, Grassy here was just trying to put the moves on me with his sweet talk."

At this, Grassy blushed and rubbed the back of his head as he said "Ah'm sure it'll work...ventually'" his voice was dripping with very much the same accent Applejack had, but that wasn't the most expressive feature about him, or the other two. The most distinguishing thing that Applejack could see right off the bat...was that their eyes were all blood red. They were all infected...but what she couldn't believe that it was actually-

"Coco...?" Applejack whispered, her eyes wide "Ah thought...ah thought you died! That day at the park when ya...ya know!"

At this, Coco let out a girlish giggle and said "Yeah, I thought I was a goner too! But then, like a week or so later, I found myself slowly being able to think again! If it wasn't for the Captain, I don't know what I'd do."

The country mare raised an eyebrow as she asked "Captain...as in Shadow-Mane?" Coco started to open her mouth to answer, but another answered for her. It was that of another mare's voice, but she sounded...much older. A lace of power rested within her words, and her tone seemed almost...wise, in nature.

"I think she means me," said the voice as it emerged from the bushes behind them. The country mare gasped as she approached, the mystery mare who stood as big and as tall as Princess Luna. She had a medium length length that was a dull and very faded shade of light purple which fit her gray coat well, her bat-pony ears matching her bat wings. She was adorned in a set of what Applejack perceived to be Lunar Guard armor...but it didn't look like any armor she had seen any guards wear before. It was of an interesting design, ornate in a way. Various sets of runes lined their way across the sides, with a large crescent moon implanted on the front. If anything...she could only vaguely remember seeing such armor in a museum she had once visited with Twilight way back before the madness had started. The one thing that was out of place about her...was the weird looking necklace she wore around her neck. It was nothing simpler than a necklace of beads, except there were very tiny vials of red spaced out between them. Just looking at it gave Applejack the shivers. But just like the rest of them, the mare also had an equally infected pair of eyes. It seemed nopony could escape the disease nowadays.

What Applejack was really gasping at however, was the small occupant riding on the large mare's back, the rider being none other than - "Spike!" Applejack shouted, the small dragon jumping off the mare and rushing towards her

"Applejack! No way, I can't believe it's you!" Spike answered with glee, jumping into Applejack's expecting hug and holding her tightly "I was so scared that you and the other girls weren't gonna make it! Are you ok? Is the change working for you too?!"

Applejack chuckled, rubbing a hoof on his head and staring into his ruby-colored eyes as she said "Well...whatever is that's been done to me is workin'...ah'm sorry this happened to you though..."

Spike shrugged, crossing his arms as he said "Eh, it's no big deal, being like this has made it a lot easier to move around. Well, with the Captain's help of course."

"And I believe..." whispered the large mare as she approached from behind the small dragon "That Miss Applejack would like a few words with me. I believe she's tired of being left in the dark." She looked up towards Shadow and asked him quietly "Could you take Spike and the others and get a fire going? I believe some heat will do well for our bones."

Shadow nodded, giving her a salute and saying a simple "Aye aye ma'am," before leading Spike away from them.

Spike turned and waved towards the apple mare, shouting a quick "We so need to catch up after you guys talk!" before padding off with Shadow.

Applejack smiled, giving him a wave back as the big mare sat on her flank, the necklace around her neck jingling slightly against her breastplate. She smiled as Applejack followed suit, the two of them getting comfortable before the mare began "Well then...I'm sure you have many questions Applejack, perhaps if I started with my name?" Applejack nodded, reaching up to tilt her stetson back but quickly realizing it wasn't there. She frowned, mourning the loss of her prized hat for a moment as the mare said "Well, my name is Captain Vivid Nightmare, retired soldier of the Lunar Guard and the previous leader of Shadow Squad."

Applejack blinked, a mightily impressed look passing over her face as she let forth a whistle and said "Old leader o' Shadow Squad huh? Musta' been one hell of a soldier. Shadow never mentioned you though..."

Nightmare smiled, casting a look over towards Shadow who was currently banging two rocks together and trying to get a small fire started. It was hilarious to watch it seemed, the ponies and one dragon surrounding him laughing hysterically as the weary bat pony swore all sorts of obscene remarks at the rocks. "Well...wouldn't be able to," Nightmare said, turning back towards Applejack and sighing "His memory and the memories of the other members of Shadow Squad concerning me were wiped clean. I became a ghost to all of Equestria when Celestia decreed me a traitor and that any traces of my existence be erased from all the archives."

"Damn," Applejack breathed, an impressed look on her face "Ya'll must have done some pretty serious stuff to get blacklisted by ol'Celly!"

"Heh...well," Nightmare whispered, blushing slightly as she tapped her two front hooves together in embarrassment. "I may have...stolen something from her."

Applejack let out a bit of a chuckle, the thoughts of what ridiculous things she could have stolen passing through her mind. "So what?" Applejack asked, snorting slightly in laughter "Ya steal her favorite pair of slippers or somethin'?"

At this, Nightmare simply laughed along with her, taking a moment to breathe as she said "Ha! Well I...um...well I may have stolen Discord's necklace...the um, the same one that contained the original virus..."

Applejack's laugh quickly died in her throat as Nightmare looked away kind of bashfully. "You...stole, the necklace where all the blood...all the chaos, where all of our pain and misery came from?"

Nightmare sighed, nodding her head sadly as she asked quietly "If I could have a moment to...explain." Applejack blinked, the surprise on her face still very apparent and her questions no doubt increasing. Applejack finally had the strength to nod, motioning for her to go on.

The retired Captain sighed as she looked up at the stars, her voice quivering for a moment before she started to speak...

"It was such a long, long time ago. I was a six year combat veteran and one of Luna's prized Pegasus guards. A real top ace in those days. I was so great, that when the time came for Luna to open up a new, special forces group in the Lunar Guard, she chose me to lead the team. I lived up to my name of 'Vivid Nightmare' when I chose very carefully my candiates for the team. Moon-Lance, Wind-Weaver, Sky-Driver, Shadow-Mane....even my own son."

"Whoa now...," Applejack interrupted for a moment, her eyes widening so much she thought there were going to roll freely out of her head "Your son...you mean Nightfire!?"

Nightmare sighed, nodding her head sadly as she went on "Yes...I even brought my own son onto the team. He was so adorable in his younger years, always jealous whenever his mother got to go on adventures, leaving his poor little self with his father whenever I was deployed. He wanted so badly to follow in my hoofsteps that he joined the Lunar Guard. He did so well...he really became one of the most perfect candidates I had ever seen. Anyway, so I let them onto the team, and oh the adventures we all had together. From the peaks of the northern mountains to the darkest, gloomiest caves in the east. We fought and battled our way through so much.

She paused, sighing for a moment as she hugged herself slightly, letting out a small whimper as she found herself struggling to continue "I...I remember that one fateful day when Celestia ordered us to go deep into the Razor Talon mountains to the north on the rumor that there was dark magic at work near one of the peaks. Our mission was to find out what was causing such dark energy, and destroy it. So we went...simple enough. What we found in those dark, deadly caves, was this necklace." She ran a hoof over it, smiling slightly as it jingled lightly in her hold "It's gotten so heavy over the years...anyway, I was maintaining a magical mental link with Celestia at the time, and I told her that we had found the source of the energies, explaining to her that it was some kind of dark necklace with some kind of mysterious runes carved into the pedestal it rested on. I told her I was going to destroy it, but she told me to wait and get a good look at the runes first. So I did, I stared and let her see through my eyes what was written in the stone. Well...after that her view towards the artifact completely changed, she wanted us to bring it back to her as quickly as possible. I thought it was rather odd, strange of course but...I was a mare of orders, and I followed them no matter what."

Applejack leaned back, resting her front hooves behind her to hold her up as she listened to the Captain's tale. "Sounds like whatever them runes were sayin' must have made some kind o' sense to her." Applejack said, her brow furrowed "To her, it mighta' meant a solution to the Griffons that were pushin' her borders." Nightmare nodded, looking back up to the sky as the hoots and hollers of celebratory ponies rang out behind her, signalling the fire had finally been made.

"It may have very well been that. I was always wondering when we'd get that fateful order to march to the north and take the fight to the griffons...but ever since she found that necklace, the order never came. Instead, we were sent from one underground bunker to the next, harboring the artifact to scientists and historians and all kinds of specialist ponies. It wasn't long before a lot of us started to listen in on some of their conversations. We heard so many theories, so many suggestions of what it could have been. The only thing they all agreed on however...was that this necklace was definitely the property of the Lord of Chaos, Discord himself. They said that the vials of blood lining the necklace might have been part of what they called 'The Scales of Balance', something that the runes we saw were referring to. Instead of a virus...they said it was the very essence of Chaos itself mixed in, a sort of make-shift weapon that could be used when the scales tipped way too far in the direction of Harmony. According to the experts, the weapon appeared to have been lost for centuries, and may have only been activated and able to be found because of the ever growing amounts of Harmony triumphing in the world."

"Ya mean..." Applejack interjected, rubbing a hoof under her chin "When me and the other Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon n' Discord once before...we stopped a massive amount of chaos from happenin' and that paved the way for a heap o' Harmony."

Nightmare nodded, her ears perking to Noteworthy telling a whole bunch of dirty jokes that the guys would laugh at, leaving Coco to merely roll her eyes. "Those incidents of Harmony may have very well been the final straw that tipped the scales too far, and activated the resonating magic of the necklace. Celestia wanted to use it against the Griffons, not only to rid her precious kingdom of a dangerous threat, but to restore order to the scales by creating a hellstorm of chaos. Unfortunately...the necklace had other ideas. It was like it had a mind of its own, slowly driving Celestia insane as she raced to find some way to harness the blood contained in the vials and use it against the Griffons. It reached out to her, plaguing her poor mind. I suppose it figured that if it could break apart one of the strongest pillars of Harmony in the world, ultimate Chaos could be achieved."

"Looks like it's worked..." Applejack sighed, scratching her head as she asked "But how does that explain all of this? Me being...almost normal, Shadow being able to think. We're not unicorns! How're YOU normal?!"

Nightmare ran a hoof along the necklace, her eyes saddening slightly as she went on "Well...I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of mass genocide, regardless of who our enemies were. A fight needed to be met head on, in glorious battle! It didn't need to be fought with cheap weapons of biological warfare. I stole the necklace, trying to save the world from a terrible fate. When I put it on however...it infected me. I don't know how, but I felt the same burning hatred deep within my veins that many of the others in this world suffer from. I wandered the frozen wastes of the north, wondering who I was, what I was becoming. I was scared, afraid that nopony would ever want anything to do with me ever again. But then I started feeling...different. I slowly started to feel stronger, more powerful...more in control. Before the infection broke out into Ponyville...I snuck into the underground bunker in the Everfree Forest. Don't ask me how...it was quite embarrassing." She blushed heavily for a moment before quickly clearing her throat and moving on "I was there when they brought Twilight Sparkle into the facility, and right before they infected her...something happened. I suddenly felt a surge of power flow through me, and I concentrated solely on Twilight. I think...that somehow I used magic, because once I hit her with whatever spell came out of that necklace...it turned her into a Carrier. The same thing happened when I happened across Trixie....and so on and so forth."

Applejack frowned, leaning forward and saying "So let me get this straight, Discord's necklace...gave you the power to wield magic...and that this magic actually stopped ponies from goin' all stir crazy?"

Nightmare sighed, shaking her head and whispering "It's all that I can think of that happened. It's like...maybe what Celestia did, maybe all of this has caused TOO much chaos. Maybe this is just nature's way of working through me to bring some kind of balance back."

The apple mare put a hoof to her head, a confused expression on her face as she said "Well this answers a lot ah guess...still a lot of questions though."

"I know what you mean, this hasn't really been the easiest of years for me lately." Nightmare sighed, getting to her hooves and turning towards the fire. She took a look back towards Applejack for a moment as she said "I've not been able to...momentarily cure many ponies, only about a hundred. We're scattered about, staying hidden where we can. If Discord knew what I was up to...he'd surely come after me and my flock." She looked down at the necklace again, a hopeful look on her face as she went on "I hope to maybe use this necklace to find a cure...maybe find a way to reverse all of this and bring Harmony back to the world again. That's all I have though...is the hope."

She quietly trotted away towards the fire to join the others, leaving Applejack to sit there and ponder what she said. A long lost Pegasus, shunned and exiled by Princess Celestia for trying to steal away the very source of Discord's terrible Ravage Virus in the hopes to find a cure...maybe atone for the sins she's brought across the world. Would anypony believe her if she told them that was what was happening? "This is just all comin' too fast...ah don't even know what's what anymore..." she whispered to herself, holding her aching head in her hooves.

So much change in just a few nights. Would there ever be an end to it all? Perhaps Nightmare had a solid plan...maybe she was really onto a cure, something that could help the world be rid of the Ravage. She let out one final sigh, falling to her back and staring up at the sky as a few shooting stars streaked through the sky.

"Whatever she's got cookin' in that brain o' hers..." she whispered, looking up into the stars "Ah hope she puts it to good use soon...ah don't know how much more anypony can take..."

Author's Notes: