In the dead of night, a pegasus looked down from her perch upon a cloud at the sleeping town of Ponyville. She decided that it was just as dumb and stupid as she’d expected it to be.

Lighting Dust had been planning this for an eternity. This was her moment, this was her time, this was to be her vengeance!

The eternity in question had in fact been since last Tuesday, but she had really wanted to get all the details right after her latest attempt to re-enter the academy had been rejected. Everything had gone wrong since that dumb loser Spitfire had paired her up with that even dumber losing loser. Eventually the so-called captain of the Wonderbolts would get what was coming to her. But first, Rainbow Dash!

She tugged at the tight-fitting flight suit. It made her look wicked cool, there was no doubt about that, but it did have a tendency to ride up in the everywhere. When Lightning had been looking for the perfect way to humiliate her rival, she’d found out that Nightmare Moon had had her own team of ruthless flyers, and surely wearing their uniform would really show Rainbow that she meant business when her plan came to fruition. Lightning could just picture the look of shock and awe on her foolish face when she finally struck like an avenging Shadowbolt from over a millennium ago, and found it to be very much to her liking.

She leapt from the cloud, spreading her wings wide, as she claimed the night sky for her own.

At least that was what she had been totally planning to do, but at the moment of her launch a rope fastened tight around her waist and wings, which made her about as aerodynamic as a thrown brick, and promptly turned her flight into a freefall. Lightning struggled with the ropes and twisted as she plummeted to the rapidly approaching ground with just one thought on her mind:

Whatever happened, this was definitely all Rainbow Dash’s fault.

When the ground was getting close enough to start becoming genuinely concerning, the rope bindings jerked her back upwards with a sharp bone-wrenching tug. Before Lightning Dust could come to terms with this development, she was pulled into a dizzying loop-the-loop as whatever had caught her let out a screeching rebel yell.

“Will you stop showing off?” came a voice from somewhere below. “And yes, Trixie is well aware of the hypocrisy in her to be the one saying that!”

“Whatever,” said a voice by Lightning Dust’s ear, before she was unceremoniously dumped onto some wet grass. “Just ‘cause I’ve got more showstopping presence in one of my talons than you have in your entire scrawny body.”

The ropes were unfastened and floated over to a unicorn mare in sparkly hat and cape of all things, standing by a lantern filled with fireflies. “Perhaps we could debate that for the hundredth time later?” she drawled.

Lightning quickly regained her bearings with all the speed of the best trainee ever to grace the Wonderbolts Academy. Which, after all, she was. “What’s going on here?” she demanded. As she looked around the clearing, she now found herself just outside of the Everfree Forest. “Who are you two?”

“I am,” the unicorn said, rearing up on her hind legs and making her cape swirl around her dramatically, “The Great and Powerful Trixie!” She rolled the r’s to perfection and followed up with an eye-popping burst of fireworks that temporarily banished the surrounding darkness. “The feathered dweeb who caught you is Gilda.” The mare who was apparently called Trixie added as an afterthought.

Lightning Dust turned to look at the griffon decorated in purple tribal colours, which along with her sharp beak and talons made her look positively alarming in the firefly light.

“Sup,” the griffon said, and winked at her.

“Well, this has been really entertaining,” Lightning said as she checked her wings over for kinks after being tied up. “But I’ve got important stuff to take care of.”

“What, like your impending revenge on Dash?” Gilda asked, scuffing her talons through her pelt.

Lightning flinched and threatened to jump out of her replica uniform entirely. “I...” she started, and then set her jaw as she refused to be intimidated by this odd couple. “So what if I am?” Lightning shot back.

“Because it’s not going to work,” Trixie said bluntly. “Believe me, we’ve seen your type before, and it never ends well.”

“She may be a wannabe magician,” Gilda said, and ignored the unicorn mare’s spluttered protestations that she was as absolutely legit as any pony could possibly get. “But occasionally she does know what she’s talking about, and this happens to be one of ‘em.”

Lightning couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “What do you mean by having seen my type before?” she asked. “And how did you know that I was going after Rainbow Dash, anyway?”

Trixie and Gilda exchanged looks. “It’s kind of a...” Trixie said slowly.

“Calling?” Gilda suggested.

“Mission, I was going to go with,” Trixie said. "But that does work too."

Lightning groaned. Second coming of the Mag’ne Witnesses. That was just what she needed right now.

“Seriously,” Trixie continued. “It happens more often than you’d expect. Somepony rolls into this two-bit town with a bit too much ego, maybe not the best of intentions, minds get made up, some to all of the same six infuriating mares get involved, and that pony ends up running away with her... sorry, their dignity and reputation in tatters. ‘Course, then they come back for another go, as after all that’s totally justified after what happened last time, and end up even worse off than they were before. And so the cycle continues.”

Lightning threw her hooves up in the air. “You are not making any sense whatsoever,” she announced. “Anyway, I’ve never even been to this earth pony hovel before!”

“Trixie’s letting her own biases show,” Gilda added, flashing an easy grin. “Just a run-in with Dash and her friends is frequently enough. As Trixie said, you’re not the first. So me and her, after comparing notes, well, we decided to do something about that.”

“Oh, so you’re their little devoted bodyguards?” Lightning asked, as she made exaggerated gagging noises. “How sweet.” The word sweet does not usually only contain just the four letters, but she was sure they’d caught the intended invective anyway.

Trixie grimaced. “It’s really more of a support group...”

“You tied me up!” Lightning yelled, and flared her wings.

“Yeah, it be a support group wit’ menaces,” Gilda said, putting on a terrible lower Manehattan accent.

“Gilda,” Trixie chided, in a far too long-suffering tone. “What we decided after bumping into each other while lurking around the outskirts of Ponyville for, uh... reasons, we decided to team up to help others come to the realization we did.”

“And what reason could that be?” Lightning asked, and rolled her eyes.

“That the only reason we keep coming back here...” Trixie paused for dramatic effect. “Is because of unrequited love!”

“You what, mare?” Lightning said, not at all bothering to keep her jaw from dropping.

Gilda nodded. “It might sound ridiculous, but it does seem to keep happening.”

“You have got to be kidding me...” Lightning moaned, burying her face into her hooves. She slowly raised her head back up and looked at the griffon and unicorn. “Wait, this is you two actually talking from experience, isn’t it?”

Trixie and Gilda both looked embarrassed in their own individual ways.

“Well?” Lightning asked sternly.

“You go first,” Trixie mumbled. “Mine will sound slightly less stupid coming after yours.”

Gilda snarled, but then bowed her head in defeat. “So I might have some problems working out my feelings,” she admitted. “It’s not a crime, okay!”

Lightning waited with, given the circumstances, admirable patience.

“She can’t choose between three mares,” chipped in Trixie, causing Lightning to raise an eyebrow.

“It’s not my fault,” Gilda said, with an almost whine creeping into her voice. “I thought I was always meant to be with Dashie, but then there’s Fluttershy who is just knock you onto your tail gorgeous, and plus I might have some conflicted emotions and junk about yelling at her once, and then there’s Pinkie...” Gilda groaned. “Please don’t ask me about Pinkie.”

“See?” Trixie said a little smugly. Then she grimaced as she realized that it was now her turn. “Twilight Sparkle. I’m in love with Twilight Sparkle.”

“The princess?” Lightning asked.

“Yes, the princess,” Trixie confirmed with a wistful sigh.

Lightning grinned. “You utter gold-digger, you.”

“It’s not like that!” Trixie exclaimed. “She’s beautiful, powerful, and has more magic than anypony I’ve ever seen or happened to have made up for the purposes of popular entertainment.”

“So what’s the problem, then?”

“She has a castle,” Trixie moaned.

“Well, yeah,” Lightning said. “She’s a princess. Part of the package, basically.”

“I don’t even have a caravan anymore,” she replied, staring down at her hooves. “She’s actually great, incredibly powerful, now has wings, hasn’t ever taken over a village while being possessed by a dark magic artifact, probably isn’t even into mares anyway, and she’s incredibly well-read and has been published repeatedly. Closest I’ve ever got to being in a reputable paper was a three star review in the Bridleton Guardian. She’s everything I’m not, so there’s no way she’d ever be interested. Fluttershy would have a better chance of shacking up with Nightmare Moon than I’d ever have with her!” Trixie finished with a wail.

“Err,” Lightning said, still somewhat stunned from the rant. “Nightmare Moon was banished.”

“Exactly!” Trixie snapped, and buried her face in her hooves.

“Okay, okay,” Lightning said, wondering exactly how much of this she was going to have to put up with. “So just because you two have ‘issues’, that really doesn’t make a trend.” She punctuated the word ‘issues’ by making quotation marks with her wings. “That certainly doesn’t imply anything about what I’m going to do to Rainbow Dash. Who totally deserves it, by the way.”

“Well, other than us,” Gilda said. “There was that fool Blueblood who had come up with a cockamamie scheme involving hunting manticores, a diamond dog artificer, and the incredibly drunken unicorn mare wizard who reckoned that she was a descendant of Starswirl the Bearded.”

“To be fair, I did totally tell her that was a terrible idea when I turned him down first,” Trixie put in. “Actually, now I think about it, it was the hanging around with him that drove her to drink.”

“That was a whole messy affair, but after a whole bunch of overly complicated stuff – which I have to admit I didn’t entirely follow, involving that foal that also stalks Dashie a lot,” said Gilda, “he tearfully confesses that Rarity was the perfect mare of his dreams ever since she assaulted him with cake.”

“‘Course, then she brutally rejects him and kicks him to the curb,” Trixie said, her eyes shining. “It was the most wonderful thing that Trixie had ever seen,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“And what about that Suri Polomare?” Gilda said with a grin. “We caught her trying to set fire to one of Rarity’s dress shipments. Let’s just say she’s not trying to do that anymore.”

Trixie hopped up onto a rock and clutched her forehooves. “Oh, Rarity," she said, in an overly winsome voice which sounded almost entirely not at all like what Suri Polomare probably sounded like. "I do so hope that you will notice me today.”

Lightning wasn’t at all sure what happened next, as up to that point the night had been completely still. Despite that, a sudden small gust of wind had sprung up, which was just enough for Trixie to trip and fall over. She picked herself up again with a sheepish grin.

“There was the Flim Flam brothers,” said Trixie after recovering her dignity, such as it was. “Pair of snake oil swindling lowlifes who rolled into town a few times with increasingly dodgy and morally bankrupt bits-making plans. Now, after we set them straight, they only put on increasingly elaborate musical numbers to win the heart of fair Applejack.” Trixie paused. “I must admit, some of the innuendos were pretty amusing.”

Seeing that Gilda was not jumping in with the next incident, Trixie kept going. “Then there was the Pinkie Pie clone,” she said. “She managed to escape being sent back to the pool like the others, and had this whole scheme with impersonating the real Pinkie to ruin her good name.”

Lightning noticed that Gilda was still oddly silent.

“Err, Gilda?” Trixie said, turning to the griffon. “What happened to her again?”

Gilda sighed. “We talked a bit and it went really well...” she said quietly. “Then things got a bit uh, touchy... and then she popped...” Gilda said, and then shuddered. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Lightning and Trixie stared at the griffon, who glowered back at both of them.

“Right!” Gilda said firmly. “It was after we ran into the local pack of diamond dogs that really clinched the theory,” she said. ”Not too bad sorts if you can deal with the smell.”

Trixie retched dramatically at the memory.

“They actually had a ten-foot carving down in their mines in a reasonably good likeness to their beloved ‘Empwess Raritee’,” Gilda said. “I think Rarity might have been encouraging them a bit, actually, in exchange for them sending her a couple of carts worth of gems every so often. Either that or she’s just enjoying making a whole bunch of outfits to play Mistress of the Underdark.”

“Of course, there are exceptions,” Trixie admitted. “There was that mysterious masked Mare-Do-Well who was around for a short while and disappeared again. Bit of a shame, Trixie must admit,” she said a little wistfully. “There was something oddly attractive about her.”

“And it’s not just the mares that get the attention,” said Gilda. “We still have Fleetfoot flitting around after Big Macintosh. ‘Course, that’s not when she’s hoof-fighting with that floozie Tealove.”

Lightning had been looking around to see if she could get away unnoticed while these two idiots just would not stop talking, but that particular revelation caused her head to whip straight back to attention. “What, as in the full-fledged member of the Wonderbolts Fleetfoot?” Lightning asked incredulously. “Nah, you’re putting me on.”

Gilda placed a claw over roughly where her heart supposedly was. “Griffon’s honour,” she swore, managing to somehow say the blatant oxymoron with a straight beak.

“Then there was that minotaur, Iron Will,” Trixie said, adding with a smile. “Good sort, even if he did find another supplier of clearly inferior fireworks.”

“He never really did much, though,” Gilda added. “Just mooched around the town when his motivational speaker biz ran into difficulties.”

“Fluttershy got bored with him never making a move and actually attempted to seduce him to move things along,” Trixie said, grinning. “Never seen anything so terrifying as that pegasus chasing a full-grown minotaur around while shouting slogans like ‘if you want to ride the flank, then this mare you must spank’ and the like.” She grinned wider. “Did I say terrifying? I of course meant that it was hilarious.”

“So,” said Lightning slowly, as she attempted to banish that particular image. “Not just ponies and diamond dogs then?”

“Oh, we get all sorts here,” Gilda said. “Hey, Trixie. What about that complete maniac with the hair-tentacles?”

Lightning sat bolt upright with all thoughts of escape momentarily forgotten. Okay, they absolutely have to be messing with me now. “Uh,” she said, raising a hoof. “Did you say Mane-iac or maniac?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Gilda asked, inspecting her with her hawk-like eyes.

Lightning flinched under her stare and decided that perhaps mentioning her comics collection right now might not be the best of ideas to maintain her totally badflank image. “Yeah, totally the same,” she said, her face completely scrunched up.

“That mare was a fun one,” Trixie put in. “And by fun Trixie means completely and utterly bonkers. She was ranting about how she now knew the ‘Power Ponies’ secret identities, and how a shadowy ally had set her free to conquer all of Equestria. Seriously, must have been touched upside the head by Discord, that one.”

Again, Lightning squirmed as her desire to educate somepony that was uninitiated with the wonders of the coolness of Radiance and her awesome oath along with the others was making itself known loudly. They were probably just taking about a really enthusiastic cosplayer, anyway. Probably.

“Luckily,” Trixie was saying, “she turned up at the same time as Cherry Jubilee came sniffing around for some former talent of hers.”

“She’s the owner of an entirely reputable business,” explained Gilda helpfully.

“Yeah,” Trixie said, with an entirely straight face, “along with running a cherry farm.”

“We think she was trying to persuade Applejack to come back to work for her again,” Gilda said, picking up the story. “Ended up introducing the two of them and solved both problems nicely. Now they’re making so many bits that they could probably buy and sell Princess Celestia and Luna twice over,” she added, a little wistfully.

“Then there was that changeling Queen Chrysalis,” Trixie said.

“Wait,” Lightning said, “You’re saying that the monster that attacked the royal wedding came here?”

“You heard about that?” asked Gilda.

“Of course,” said Lightning. “C’mon, it would be like not knowing that the new princess was Twilight Sparkle in the weeks after her ascension.”

Trixie coughed and muttered something indistinct about not always having access to a newspaper. “She was looking to seduce Twilight Sparkle into becoming a new changeling queen or something,” Trixie spluttered, as her voice began to rise. “And the utter changeling hussy thought it would help by turning into me! As if that would really help!”

“I dunno,” Gilda put in. “It was a pretty good imitation, I thought. The princess, from what I saw, seemed to think so too,” she added, and waggled her feathers suggestively.

“She sounded nothing like the Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!” Trixie proclaimed, not letting her increased agitation stop her from being dramatic.

“Hang on,” Lightning said, raising a hoof. “Wouldn’t it have made more sense for her to be interested in Princess Cadance? Embodiment of love and all that?”

Trixie and Gilda exchanged looks. “Naaah,” Trixie said eventually. “I can’t see how that would work out at all.”

“Then there was that mare that claimed to be a siren, of all things,” Gilda put in.

“Adagio or something. Really huge mane,” Trixie said, while gesturing with her hooves spread wide for emphasis. “We caught up to her heading to Fluttershy’s cottage. Think she was trying to steal her singing voice for some reason.”

“Ended up setting her up with some pegasus guard up north in the empire,” said Gilda, and then turned to Trixie as a puzzled expression crossed her face. “Wait, why did we do that again?”

“Because, reasons,” Trixie shot back with a surprising amount of venom.

Gilda shrugged. “Whatever,” she said, as she turned back to Lightning. “Nice enough stallion, I suppose, if you like that sort of thing. Not much going on upstairs, but Adagio didn’t have any complaints about that for some reason.”

“I’m sure that he has many really appealing qualities other than his looks,” Trixie added through gritted teeth, and with enough sarcasm that if some kind of detecting meter had been present it would have promptly exploded. Twice.

Lightning let out a low whistle. Apparently issues wasn’t even the word for what this mare was dealing with. Subscriptions perhaps might fit better. Why exactly am I listening to them at all again then? Lightning thought to herself. This was just as bad as listening to her father go on about the glory days, and these two were utter idiots. Just because they might have gotten lucky once didn’t mean they could do it again. Especially now that she was prepared. Somewhere out there in the night was Rainbow Dash, and her reckoning had been far too long coming for Lightning to waste her time with these two losers.

She had barely flexed her muscles in preparation before Gilda took a warning pace towards her. “It’s not polite to leave a conversation hanging,” she said, with surprising mildness.

“Do I look like I care?” Lightning fired back.

“I used to be able to out-fly Rainbow Dash, so I could definitely catch you,” Gilda said, fixing Lightning in place with her unblinking predator state. “Doubt I’d even need to. Trixie’s seriously skilled with those ropes of hers.”

“Oh my,” Trixie drawled in as long a manner as was feasibly possible.

“So unless you want to be trussed up until you look like you should be in a neighponese instructional booklet, I suggest you settle down.”

Lightning felt her pinions twitch hard as her back was well and truly raised. “Maybe I’ll take my chances anyway.” She fixed Gilda with a no less impressive stare of her own. “Dweeb.”

Gilda flexed her razor sharp talons, and set her paws firmly and snarled out a low rumbling growl.

Trixie sighed. “I think we need to introduce you to the third and most recent member to join our little band.”

Suddenly there was a definite presence behind her that had not been there before. Something large loomed up behind Lightning as the stars above seemed to fade for just a second. All the fur on the back of her neck stood up and she gulped nervously as she looked up. And up.

“Introducing,” Trixie intoned, with her perfectly rolled r’s and all the showmareship of one born to the stage. “Nightmare Rarity!”

“I must say that costume is in quite appallingly poor taste,” Nightmare Rarity declared, her massive and impeccably styled purple mane flowing with sheer magical power. “Even if you do pull it off well.”

Lightning stared upwards at the abomination against harmony looming over her, and resisted the entirely reasonable impulse to whimper.

“Trixie was wondering about that, actually,” she said, and rubbed her jaw. “Trixie knows about the fabled Shadowbolts of old, as she is quite amazingly well read and first amongst her peers.”

As Lightning continued to tremble, all she could think was that suddenly those stories about how these two had talked around all those wannabe antagonists made a whole bunch more sense...

Gilda returned after having paced off some of the infamous griffon bloodlust. “Only since she realized she’d never be able to keep up with the princess of eggheads otherwise,” she said, in a confidential tone. “Seriously, I’m surprised that she gets any sleep whatsoever anymore.”

“I-It was in a comic book,” Lightning stammered, far too shaken by the presence of the dark unicorn to dissemble. “Saddle Rager wore one after she was turned grey by Bridled Fury.”

Gilda burst out laughing. “Wow, you’re really a complete and utter nerd,” she just about managed to get out in between the guffaws.

Trixie draw herself up righteously. “I used to quite enjoy the Sand Mare as a filly.”

“Oh, I already knew that you were a nerd already,” Gilda said, and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Trixie is cool,” she said back, her face tilted upwards haughtily.

“I bet your mum tells you that all the time.”

“My mother is dead, you feathered f—”

“Sleep.”

Gilda and Trixie had hit the ground and were snoring away before Lightning could even process what had just happened. The single word from Nightmare Rarity had seemed to bypass the ears entirely and land directly in the brain.

Nightmare Rarity sighed. “They are usually pleasant enough company,” she said. “But they do have a tendency to natter on and on.”

Lightning only felt capable of gaping at her, and was quickly realising that she was all alone with the Nightmare of legend in the middle of the night.

“So then,” Nightmare Rarity said matter-of-factly. “Are you still planning to seek some kind of ill-advised revenge?”

“No, ma’am?” Lightning said hesitantly, when she felt capable of speaking without stammering.

“Sensible.”

“I’m not planning on pursuing Rainbow Dash in that way either,” Lightning said hurriedly. “Totally not my type.”

Nightmare Rarity favoured her with a small smile. “There is nothing wrong with that,” she said. “You will have to forgive them. They are both lost in their own particular ideas about love, and it would take something truly drastic now, to free them from the traps that they have built for themselves in their heads.”

“Really?” Lightning said. It wasn’t the most germane of comments, but it was all she was managing this second.

“I shouldn’t even exist,” Nightmare Rarity said, and then laughed. “It gives one... perspective. If my better half had never channeled such a large amount of dark magic again, there would have been no chance at all for me to come to be her again, even as limited as I am now.”

Lightning raised a hoof slowly. “I don’t think I followed any of that.”

Nightmare Rarity laughed again. “I’d be surprised if you had!” she said lightly. “Suffice to say, I am the Rarity that you briefly met once, but with some of the memories and power of Princess Luna’s Nightmare. While I’m sure it might help my better half with her dress-making and such like, she barely knows what I get up to and has none of my not inconsiderable power.” At that, her brow creased in annoyance. “Though it is tied up into not the most impressive of vessels, so I can’t quite keep up the magic like I used to be able to.”

“Right,” Lightning said. It hadn’t really cleared up much, though she thought it would be a lot better to not admit that.

She examined the immense unicorn, and said, “So, do you also have an unrequited love, to be hanging out with these two?”

“As if!” Nightmare Rarity said with a haughty sniff. “I’m the single hottest being to be found in all of Equestria and beyond,” she announced – with admittedly some justification, Lightning reckoned, though also without a single shred of modesty. “If I want to go on a date, I just look in the mirror for a couple of hours.”

Lightning grinned. “You’re not being entirely serious.”

Nightmare Rarity smiled back. “Who knows—” Suddenly her eyes shot upwards. “Just what is she doing out here?” she said, more to herself than Lightning.

“What is it?”

Nightmare Rarity held up a hoof. “One moment, please.” With another word of power, Trixie and Gilda’s eyes opened and then blinked a few times. They exchanged puzzled glances, as if they weren’t quite sure what they had just been talking about.

“Well?” Lightning asked.

Nightmare Rarity didn’t answer and just nodded upwards.

“Look out below!” came a yell from above.

Nightmare Rarity’s horn sparked to life, instantly forming shining spheres around Lightning Dust and the others, which turned out to be impressively impenetrable from the flying debris when the inevitable impact came.

Princess Twilight Sparkle hauled herself out of the small crater formed by her landing, and dusted her now somewhat battered dress off. “Sorry about that,” she said, as she looked around at everyone present. “Still not entirely got the hang of night flights yet.”

“Princess,” Gilda said, bowing her head respectfully as a dual-national of Equestria. But not too deeply, Lightning noticed, because apparently a griffon still has her pride, dammit.

“How is Griffonstone?” Twilight asked, her tone perfectly regal before lapsing into excitement. “I’m still hoping to visit someday! Rainbow and Pinkie made it sound better than I’d even hoped, especially your extensive collection of scrolls in your library!”

Gilda gazed at her blankly. “It’s okay...uh, I guess?” she stammered. “The baking powder did help, I’ll admit.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, not entirely understanding the reply, but shrugged it off to turn to the being that had attempted to bring about night eternal.

“Nightmare,” Twilight said curtly.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” Nightmare Rarity replied, clearly trying not to let a good chuckle out.

Twilight groaned and shook her head before moving on.

Lightning Dust watched quietly as Trixie tried to draw back into the shadows of the forest at night, and didn’t meet Twilight’s gaze when she turned to look at her. There was a long moment of silence as Trixie seemed to shrink before the presence of the alicorn.

“I don’t suppose that there’s any chance you’d like to come and have a look at my castle, Trixie?” Twilight said, finally breaking the sudden quiet while shuffling her hooves. “It’s really big, and I have tea. Princess Celestia really loves tea, so I thought it would be nice if you came and had a cup of tea together with me.” She finished blurting out her clearly prepared routine, and let out a tiny little squeak as everypony plus additional griffon stared back at her.

Lightning sniggered at what had to be the most awkward attempt at a pick up ever, but then she noticed that Gilda and Nightmare Rarity were gawping at the princess as if she’d grown yet another set of wings. Trixie had so many feelings and thoughts crossing her face, Lightning couldn’t even be able to guess what the magician was going through.

“That...” Trixie trailed off, before recovering. “That would be really nice,” she managed to get out.

“Great!” Twilight said excitedly. “No time like the present, then,” she said as her horn started gathering power. With a flash, both she and Trixie disappeared for parts elsewhere.

Lightning Dust had managed to catch a glimpse of Trixie’s face just before the teleportation spell had whisked her away. The expression of happiness breaking across her features at the possibility that all her wishes, hopes and desires might suddenly be granted had really been something to behold. It was almost enough to give herself ideas, despite never really considering them much at all before.

“I’m really going to have to have a word with Greta about doing something with that library,” Gilda muttered to herself. “Setting it on fire and then hiding the ashes, possibly.” She then puffed out her chest as she came to a decision. “Quick, Nightmare,” the griffon said. “Pick a number between one and three.”

“Three?” she responded, immediately having realized in which direction Gilda’s thoughts had turned.

“Right!” Gilda ran a claw through the feathers on her head. “Uh, how do I look?”

“Like a bedraggled chicken with an attitude problem,” Nightmare Rarity said, and grinned. “You look fine. I’d wish you luck, but I don’t think you need it.”

“Thanks, that’s, uh, pretty cool of you, actually,” Gilda said, and then took to the sky, spiralling away in the direction of Ponyville.

Before she got a chance to leave herself, Nightmare Rarity hugged Lightning close until the pegasus was struggling just to get away from the powerful embrace. “I guess not all love has to go unrequited after all,” she said blissfully, and promptly and without any kind of warning fell fast asleep.

Lighting tried to wiggle free, but even in slumber the limbs were iron strong, and in the end gave up and dozed off herself in the oddly comforting embrace.

She was eventually woken with the start to the sounds of an unearthly howl, as the remaining shadows of the early morning rushed towards them and coalesced all around Nightmare Rarity’s form. Lightning didn’t entirely follow everything that came next, but after several minutes of convoluted and somewhat disturbing transformation, she found herself carefully lowering a snoozing white unicorn mare to the ground.

Rarity gently stirred, and opened bleary eyes. “Lightning Dust, right?” she half said and half yawned. “I take it my worse half has been having herself a busy night.”

Lightning realised with a sudden flush that this Rarity was really quite cute, actually – even more so in the light of the early dawn, au naturale, and without the fake eyelashes. She also wasn’t half as intimidating as her Nightmare self. It had to be worth a try... Sure, there had been that whole unfortunate incident with the hot air balloon, but forgive and forget, right? She slowly unzipped herself out of the Shadowbolt flight suit and shot Rarity a cocky grin.

“I don’t suppose you’d like to go out sometime, would you?”