“But sister, tis not fair!” Luna cried. She and Celestia were sitting in a small office so that Celestia could fill out the paperwork that came with being a princess. While she sat behind the desk, Luna sat in front of it, bags under her eyes that could have only come from days of unrest.

“We can not allow such a thing Luna. Discord still lingers in the back of our ponies’ minds. If we were to change the day/night cycle they may panic.”

“It would only last but a day. The ponies should know to appreciate the night just as much as the day.”

“We are sorry sister, but this notion can not pass. Nothing good can come of it.”

Luna’s face seemed to slowly go from saddened to furious. “You mean nothing good for you.” With that she stormed off, not even stopping as her sister tried to call her back. She didn’t stop until she was back in her room where she finally let out the emotions she was holding in, crying into her pillow. It took a few minutes but eventually her sobbing slowed.

“Why?” She muttered to herself. “Why is that she gets all the praise but we see none? Our little ponies adore Celestia, creating works of art and dedicating things in her name. But no one thinks of the night, of the one who protects them from that which lies in the dark.”

“No. It isn’t fair.” Luna head shot up as she heard a voice echo through her room. When nopony was in sight she called out.

“Who is there? Show yourself!”

“We are here Luna. With you. Inside your mind.”

“In-inside our mind? How did you get there?”

“We don’t know. These are the first conscious thoughts we have made. We don’t even have a name.”

“No name? Would… would you like one?”

“We suppose it would be a good idea to not just be called the voice in your head. Any suggestions?”

“Hmm… how about Astra?”

“Astra… that will do. Now enough banter. We wish to hear more about what troubles you.”

Luna began going into detail about the many problems she had with her sister while Nightmare Moon and I watched from the side, practically invisible as we watched the memory unfold. After awhile I couldn’t help but snicker.

“Astra? Really?”

Nightmare blushed. “I had just been born for all intensive purposes. Though I had the memories and experiences Luna did I had no real understanding of them. The name seemed good at the time.”

“I suppose I can relate with that one, although my memory has holes in it unlike yours. Seems key pieces of information were lost in translation when I was divided from the old Overlord.” As I spoke my memory of waking up in a crypt played in front of us. After meeting Twilight, much to Nightmare’s displeasure, the memory fast forwarded to when I beat the old Overlord within my mind. As it faded Nightmare hummed as she took in what she had seen.

“It seems we are truly from two separate paths. It is good that we realized this before we went up against Celestia and Luna.”

“Ya. I can already imagine that wouldn’t have ended well.” I got up and stretched as the scenery around us changed to our usual training grounds. “Well than, shall we get to the more exciting portion of our night?” As I said this a short sword and dagger appeared in my hands and I took my ready stance. Nightmare grinned as she did the same only with a spear and shield.

* * *

The next day I went out around noon for lunch, though my real reason was getting sick and tired of Flim and Flam’s constant groveling. The two brothers were constantly bothering me, trying to help me with every little thing I do. I suppose it didn’t particularly help that I was a more hands-on Overlord than the last one. Thankfully they were quick to obey so I didn’t have to make some reason why I wanted to go alone.

I found a small deli place run by gryphons after a while and was enjoying my sandwich when Nightmare started up the conversation. “So how do you plan on finding Zecora?”

Not sure. Being the only human makes things difficult. Even with Blueblood keeping Celestia off my trail I can’t just expose myself.

“Why not? It is not like Celestia wouldn’t be willing to help you.”

Do you have a good excuse as to how we ended up miles away from the zebra we were supposed to be following? Cause I’m terrible at lying and I can’t figure out a way to bend the truth about “I tore open a hole in the fabric of reality and some crazy guy with a watch came through and nearly killed me.”

“Hmm… perhaps if we-” suddenly my ears seemed to cut out for a moment as they began to ring before returning just the same. “-you alright? Don!”

I blinked for a moment as Nightmare’s tone of voice had change instantly. I’m fine. What are you freaking out about?

“You just froze for about a minute. Do you not remember?”

I sat up a bit in shock. No. To me it was as if I blinked, lost hearing for a moment, and then you changed from telling me your idea to freaking out. Any idea what just happened?

“No clue. I tried looking over your mental state to see if you perhaps got a concussion during the fight but I found nothing. It was as if you just stopped for a minute.”

I sighed. Well if we have no clue what happened than let’s not worry about it right now. We’ve got more important things to do. I finished my meal and started walking no where in particular. I wanted to get a good look at what the city had to offer, plus it gave Nightmare and I more time to talk and a chance to continue working on syncing our movements. Before Nightmare could comment however, four carriages screeched around the corner at full speed. I watched them until they went around another corner, wondering what was happening but not curious enough to bother following.

“This is important Don. What would happen if you froze like that in the middle of a fight?”

Then you would take over since we are going to be working together. I’m not saying that this isn’t something that we shouldn’t address but you have no clue what caused it and I have practically zero knowledge on how the mind works.

“Than we should find someone who does know, or research it. Ignoring it can only make things worse.”

We can do a proper medical check when we figure out a way back to the fortress. We can even have Flim and Flam look over me if it bothers you that much. Nightmare grumbled something about me being foolish as I decided it was time to head back.

Don’t worry about something we can’t do much about right now. Besides, you’re the last person I expected to actually worry about me. Strangely enough Nightmare was quiet from then on so I focused on our walking exercise. By the time we reached the warehouse we had gotten it to a point where we could at least walk slowly without looking so awkward.

Once inside, I turned around and locked the door behind me. Turning back around, I realized something was very wrong. As in the only thing in the warehouse, which had once been filled with machine parts, was Flim and Flam tied up in the middle of the floor.

Of course things get worse. After a minute or so of undoing the brothers’ bonds, I put them back on their hooves and asked “What the hell happened?”

“The mafia happened m’lord. They came and took everything!”

I raised an eyebrow. “There’s a mafia?”

“Yes. They usually only attack big businesses but I guess they heard about everything we had here and decided to take it for themselves.”

“So you didn’t have a debt with them or anything?”

“Not that we’re aware of. They had never bothered with us until now.”

Well this is a mess.

Nightmare agreed before adding “Do you suppose those carriages we saw earlier was them?”

I sighed. Of course. Just my luck. “Do you two know where they would take your things?”

The brothers looked at each other. “Probably the docks. There isn’t much of a market for parts like that here in the city.” I turned around and headed for the door. “M’lord? Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go slaughter the entire mafia and get your things back.” I said as if I was just going for a stroll in the park.

“B-but m’lord! Won’t that expose you?”

I turned my head and gave the brothers a toothy grin. “Not if I kill all the witnesses.”

* * *

I waited until night had fallen before getting within sight of the docks. It turned out to be rather easy finding the mafia since the ponies guarding the building they were in were dressed rather stereotypically. The only thing they were missing were pony-sized tommy guns, something that I was both glad and miffed about.

How is it that Celestia hasn’t noticed organized crime in her kingdom?

“The nobles, at least before I was put on the moon, would often busy us with their idiotic attempts to gain power. I can’t tell you how many times Luna rejected the ‘legalize slavery’ bill.”

I can see that happening, especially if most of them are like that lord that tried to turn me into one of his trophies.

“You will have to show me that memory once we are done here. I often fantasized what I would do to the nobles if given the chance.” That done, I turned my attention to the building in front of us. It was a simple building like the ten others that made up the docks. There was only one large set of large doors on the land side, while on the sea side there was room for boats to enter and dock. The windows on the sides of the buildings were placed close to the roof, making it a not-so-ideal way of getting in.

Any suggestions on how to handle this?

Nightmare aimed my eyes as she spoke. “There are four guards at the door, half unicorns, half earth ponies. They are spread far enough apart that hitting all at once is nearly impossible without making a lot of noise. There are also pegasi flying about above, meaning even if we could take all of them out at once that wouldn’t stop them from raising the alarm.”

Does it matter? We’re going to have to kill them all anyway.

“That’s true, but doing so loudly will only give them more of an opportunity to escape. Not only that but you have no weapon and I would not suggest using one of theirs. Using a weapon you are not used to should be a last resort.”

I sighed. Let me guess. We’re going for a swim.

“It seems so.” I made my way around the building, using whatever cover I could find to keep out of sight of the guards. Once at the water I took one look down before diving in. I hugged the dock as I swam beneath the surface, using any handholds I could find to propel me further. Eventually I made it to where the wall turned inward. A boat sat in the pony-made inlet so I used it as cover as I breached the surface.

Once my ears were not being clogged with water, I heard a conversation happening above. It was between one particularly squeaky sounding pony and another who sounded like your typical mobster.

“B-but boss, why did we-”

“I told you to can it! Them Faust-lovin who-ha’s are paying good for this information. Add to that the bonus we’ll get from this junk and we’ll be living good for quite sometime.”

The Evermore! They know I’m in Manehatten.

“Hang on. By the sounds of it they have yet to give them your location.” Nightmare said. “They must have taken the parts prior so that the Evermore wouldn’t get the chance to.”

Well their greed is about to get them killed. I glanced up at the rafters and in an instant I had teleported on top of them. From this perspective it was easy to pick out where all the ponies were. A unicorn was packaging the machine parts into crates, another was taking said crates and loading them onto the boat. The voices I heard earlier were two earth ponies who continued to argue on the front end of the ship.

Nightmare turned my head as she spoke. “Make a sound over there. Most likely the leader will send that squirrely one to check it out.” After a few moments I found something. Some sort of piping had been stacked up in a pyramid. All it took was pulling away one of the blocks that kept the stack from rolling to send it all crashing down.

“What in Tartarus was that? Ey, quit sitting around and check it out.” And just like Nightmare predicted, the squeaky pony made his way off the boat and over to the pipes, his companions already not paying him any mind.

One sound muffling spell later and I had dropped behind the pony. A taser strike to the back of the head ended his life quickly. I was quick to grab the dagger he had on him, but unlike the last dagger I had this one was poorly made and not taken care of. It had obviously been more for show than use as an actual weapon.

“Ey, what’s taking you so long runt?” I heard the mobster call out. Before he could be bothered to check on his now-dead friend I threw the dagger with deadly accuracy at the unicorn packing parts. It embedded itself in the unicorn’s throat, causing him to drop what he was levitating as he quickly died.

“Now what’s going on?” The earth pony sneered. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at what was sure to come. I teleported onto the boat, the pony now facing away from me as he tried to determine what happened to the first unicorn. The other noticed me however and yelled out.

“Look out boss!” The earth pony dubbed “boss” turned but it was too late. I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up, taking in his fear as he looked back at me.

“I believe you have something of mine.” I spoke darkly. He looked about to respond had the unicorn not tried to send his blade at me. Nightmare was quicker to react than I, moving my arm just enough so that the earth pony took the sword through his back. I added to this by quickly throwing the fresh corpse at the unicorn, breaking his concentration and allowing me to end him with a quick bolt of lightning to the face.

“That was a satisfying test of our new way of fighting.”

I agree. Our being in sync continued to benefit us as the doors to the warehouse were pulled open and we quickly teleported back into the rafters above.

“Hey, you hear that?” One of the ponies spoke as they entered. She was a unicorn while the stallion behind her was a pegasus.

“Heard some crashes, but other than that nothing. What, you scared?” The mare bashed him on the back of the head as he started snickering.

“Shut up and search the place. Something don’t feel right here.” The group of ponies, two of each race, began to spread out and search the warehouse. With how each body had fallen, they would need to be halfway into the warehouse before realizing what was going on.

“And by then it will be too late.” Nightmare chuckled. The obvious first choice to take out were the unicorns. I set my sights on the mare who had been speaking earlier as she neared the body of the first unicorn I had slewn.

“Hey! We got a body he-hrrrk!” She was cut off as her own shadow stretched out from underneath her, piercing her chest but missing anything vital. I was quick to correct that by driving one of the sharper pieces of metal lying about into her skull with a bit of creative telekinesis.

“Fruity? What’s going on?” the pegasus spoke. All the other ponies were now on edge, readying weapons where they had them.

I think it’s time we finished our little show, don’t you agree? I held out my hands to either side of me as the flames from the many candles dotting the room began to flicker. All at once they went out just as Nightmare slammed the doors shut with a flick of the newly created shadows.

“W-w-what’s going on ‘ere? S-someone trying to pull a fast one on us? You don’t know who youse messing with, see?”

“Let’s save that one for last. He’ll be the easiest to interrogate from the looks of it.”

That and it’ll be fun to see him piss himself. We did just that, killing off each of his friends in some creative way as we relaxed, hidden in the rafters. Each death shook up our target a little more as we made sure they were on full display. What really got him though was when he watched the other pegasus be tacked against the wall like a butterfly in a bug collection. Overall it was a nice change of pace after having been beaten close to death by some hero with a fancy watch and spending about a month and a half recuperating.

The last guy was a whimpering mess by the time we finished our game. I dropped down behind him silently before grabbing one of his wings and snapping it at the base. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, he began to grovel, begging for his life.

“P-p-please, I-I’ll do anything fo’ ya! I d-don’t wanna die like this!” He couldn’t see my grin from the darkness beneath my hood, leaving his only judge of my mood to be my glowing eyes.

“Answer my questions.” He nodded briskly, waiting for my every word. Gnarl’s right. You’ve got to love the smell of blood, carnage, and urine. It’s the sign of a good job.

“First, what do you have to do with the Evermore?”

“Them weirdos? They gave us an offer to find ya’s, a big bounty for just a little information. We thought they were crazy to offer so much but we weren’t about to say no to that kind of money.”

“Seems our enemies have more resources than we gave them credit for.” Nightmare noted. I nodded and continued.

“Second, what do you know of me and the Flim Flam brothers?”

“Nothing really. Just the bounty on ya and that they like tinkering with… what’re they called… I dunno, the metal things with moving parts.”

I nodded again. “Alright, final question. Has anyone in the Mafia been told about them or me?”

“The boss wanted us to keep quiet. Said the cuts would be bigger if we kept it to ourselves.”

I let out a low grumble as I considered everything he told me. So these ponies were essentially acting on their own. That makes my life easier.

“Indeed. Hiding a dock massacre in this city should be easy enough for Blueblood.”

I nodded before regarding the still whimpering pile-of-filth before me. “You will aid me in bringing all these parts back to the warehouse you stole them from.”

The pony looked hopeful as I gave him my command. “Y-you got it! You the boss now.” He moved over to the carriages resting against the wall while I levitated the parts. Soon, all the carriages were loaded and tied end to end, barring the front which was to be pulled by the lone pegasus, who just barely managing to do so. Once he was out of the way I set fire to the crates and boat inside before sealing the doors.

Deja vu. Once clear of the docks I halted the flow of magic, making my face visible once more. Thankfully the city streets were pretty empty so no one noticed the human and the pegasus totting four carriages at once.

About half way there I felt a slight tremor. Not a physical one mind you, but a magical one. It felt familiar, and warm. No, not warm, hot. Very hot. I quickly told the pegasus to halt as I investigated.

The tremor had come through an alleyway, and on the other side was a factory. What it made was made clear by the giant loaf of bread that hung above the entrance to the facility. Underneath it read “Wheat Thin’s Bread & Co.”

A bread factory? Why would you need a factory to make bread?

“Perhaps bread and other grains are eaten much more than in Equestria than we gave it credit for.”

I suppose Twilight enjoys her daisy sandwiches, but a building of this size could probably serve all of Equestria. Ponyville has it’s own grain and bread makers, as too does Canterlot. Overall, this just seems excessive. I continued to look over the building that shouldn’t have made sense before another tremor went through me. It felt almost just like…

A nest!

“A nest!”

But of course this just left more questions. Why the hell is a nest in a factory? What could they possibly be doing with it?

“I don’t know. The energy they put off could be useful, and if you are only getting small pulses, that must mean the rest is going somewhere.” I would have continued analyzing the situation if a certain pony on death row hadn’t spoken up.

“Uh… boss? Can we go now?” I turned around and glared at him before grumbling and waving at him to keep moving. I glanced back at the factory, memorizing the location before following after him.

That bit of exercise earlier was nice, but breaking into that factory will be the real test.

Author's Notes:

I... got nothing smart to say. Hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway!