Hoof fell before hoof as Twilight galloped towards Brayside, the simple repetitive motion being a nice distraction from everything else. They'd had to stop a few times to let the other wagons change the ponies pulling them as the pegasi quickly wore out pulling such a weight, but Twilight had refused to let anypony swap with her. She even altered the harness so her wagon could only be pulled by one pony, and the only pony strong enough to do it on their own was her. It's not like she was struggling either. After pulling for hours she was barely winded.

She didn't want to have to stop, because she knew as soon as she did that she'd start thinking, and as soon as she did that there was a good chance she'd fall apart, and she'd rather not do that in front of these ponies any more than she already had.

That also meant that the sight of Brayside wasn't the comfort she had hoped it would be in her original plan. She hadn't really thought it'd be a comfort to most of these pegasi anyway, but now that comfort was taken from her too as it meant she had to stop.

Ponies were rushing out to meet them before they had even stopped, medical supplies at the ready. It seemed Soarin had the foresight to get them ready for the new arrivals, but she doubted even he could've foreseen how bad it would really be. Judging from the shouts coming from ponies, some of the wounded hadn't made the trip. Twilight hadn't even noticed, and wished she never could as the already far too big a number of fallen really didn't need to be any bigger.

She added that to her list of woes to contemplate as she quietly unhitched herself. She knew she was being selfish not helping as well, which only really served to make her feel worse, but she was in no condition to really be of use. She'd let the medics get the wounded stable, then she would happily serve her use as a battery for the healing device to fix ponies up. Until then she wasn't really going to do anything.

It was at least gratifying to know she wasn't alone. Now that they'd stopped many of the other pegasi were starting to fall apart. Spitfire had rushed off, probably to find Fleetfoot, while Shadow was lay on the ground, a dazed look on her face as a pony patched her up.

"Twilight!" Twilight raised her head slowly. Octavia was stood before her, her expression rich with worry. "Are you hurt?" Twilight almost wanted to laugh. Death apparently couldn't stop her, so why would being injured? She shook her head instead. "Then could you please go get your healing device. I think we might lose some of these ponies soon without it."

That at least was something Twilight could do.

Hours had passed, and most of the worst injured pegasi had been made stable, but there were too many to heal them all, and after abusing her magic at the lake like she had, Twilight had been too drained to keep trying. After not saying a word save for the occasional yes or no, she had dropped the healing device off after making sure nopony was at risk of dying, and had slinked off into the facility.

That had also been two hours ago. Nopony had seen her since then, and Octavia was worried, but was otherwise too busy to find Twilight herself. Instead she had delegated the task to the one pony who was largely at a loose end. Trixie.

Delighted for the chance to show off her pony tracking skills, Trixie had set off on her noble quest with great enthusiasm, but was quickly losing hope of finding Twilight, and had lasted a whole half an hour before giving up.

As an alternative to finding Twilight, she decided to go to the room she shared with far too many other ponies for her likes, and make a little use of her private stash of that most delightful of liquids, bourbon. She could sneak off to her room while everypony was distracted and get a little warmth in her belly.

Trixie opened her bags, but instead of finding the bottles of amber delight she'd cunningly hidden away in there, there was nothing, save for a couple of pairs of socks she'd brought with her for some reason she no longer remembered, but had been rather useful for stopping the bottles from clinking together.

"Nonono!" She rifled through her bags just in case she had missed them, but to no avail. "This is a tragedy! A tragedy!" Then she stopped, suddenly suspecting that she knew full well who had taken them. "Sparkle..." The hunt was back on.

"If I was a thieving alicorn, where would I hide?" Trixie felt like the answer would be somewhere high up where most ponies couldn't reach her, but the place was designed with pegasi in mind, and had probably had such hiding places eliminated to stop pegasi using them. The roof was a possibility, but that was likely occupied by ponies keeping watch.

"Somewhere where ponies don't go then." The entire building had been taken over to house the great number of ponies that now resided there, both rebels and prisoners, and the number of unused spaces was low, but there was one Trixie knew of that nopony had touched. The pits in the basement they used to punish disobedient pegasi. She didn't really think that'd be somewhere Twilight would really want to go, but it was all Trixie had right now. It wasn't lost on her that she could've thought of it sooner.

She made her way down to the basement and into the room the pits were located, and much to her satisfaction there was a faint glow coming from a lantern. She couldn't see Twilight though. The lantern did happen to be on the floor next to one of the pits however, and Trixie could see the cover of the pit was slightly askew. She pushed it completely aside to find Twilight, slumped against the wall of the pit, staring blankly at nothing, her cheeks stained by tears, but not actually crying. There was an empty bottle beside her, and a half full one in front of her.

"Leave me alone Trixie."

"If you were going to have a pity party, you could have at least invited Trixie."

Weary eyes turned up towards Trixie, "And what do you have to be sad about?"

"Well, some fiend did steal my bourbon. I've been lugging that around since the night we robbed that distillery."

"I'll get you more."

"That's hardly the point," Trixie pouted.

"Sorry Trixie. I guess that's another thing that's gotten fucked up today."

"Ah, so this is that kind of pity party." Trixie lay down and hooked her hooves over the edge of the pit. "I'm curious, how exactly does an alicorn drink herself to death?"

"They don't." Twilight lowered her head, "I wouldn't look in the pit to your right."

"Eww." Trixie sighed, and got down to business. "I know this is probably exactly what you're expecting to hear, but here you go anyway. It wasn't your fault Twilight."

"I know."

"Huh?" Trixie was actually a little surprised by that.

"That doesn't make it hurt any less though. She got us good Trixie. She got me good."

"You mean Pearl, don't you." Twilight nodded and Trixie sighed, "Greeeaaattt... that psychopath."

"Have you heard what happened?"

"I've picked up enough. The only thing I haven't heard about is why Fleetfoot is, well, two wings short of a pegasus." Twilight's head snapped up to glare at Trixie. "Sorry, sorry. You know how I am. I'm guessing Pearl had something to do with that too?"

Twilight lowered her head again and nodded. "Fleetfoot got captured, and Pearl set up a trap so that the pony that actually pulled her wings off was the one trying to save her."

"Oh, that's all kinds of messed up. Who did it?"

"Spitfire I think."

"Ouch. Fleetfoot's like one of her best friends. She's got to be beating herself up inside real good right now. And then, to make things even worse, Pearl went and stuck you between a rock and a hard place."

Twilight picked the bottle up to her lips and downed another mouthful, "If I'd brought ground forces I could've avoided it all."

"But that would go against what you were planning to begin with." Trixie took the bourbon off Twilight and downed a mouthful herself before passing it back. "Is that what you're blaming yourself for? For only taking pegasi?"

"I don't know," Twilight groaned. "I don't know, okay? The best laid plans of mice and ponies I guess..."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing." Trixie raised an eyebrow. "She's waiting for us Trixie, you and me. All we can do is not disappoint her."

"I hate to say it Twilight, but I fully intend to disappoint her. She'll be the one dying when we meet, not us. Well, me anyway."

"I think that's what she wants. She fully expects to die, but she at least doesn't plan on going alone."

"She expects to die? Does she want to? Really? There are easier ways to go about committing suicide."

"Only she knows what she's thinking Trixie. If I were to guess I'd say she expects us to kill her at some point since we're at war and all, but she'd rather it happen on her terms."

"You know the only way to stop that is to fuck up her plans and take her alive."

Twilight shrugged, "I guess, but I don't really want to do that if I'm honest. The more dead she is, the less harm she can do." Twilight sighed and pressed her head against the cool stone of the pit, "I just hope stopping her doesn't cost too many lives."

Trixie laughed to herself for a moment, "Y'know, it's funny."

"I really don't think it is."

"What? No! Not this! This is awful. I'm just saying it's funny that we've had these generals and ponies like Pearl and stuff like that, yet the pony we're here to stop, the Duke, we... well we don't even know his name. He's this mysterious figure we all hate so much, yet we haven't seen him once."

"I have, back in Equestria. He was really old if I remember correctly."

"See?" Trixie sniggered, "We're going through all this crap to depose a pony that can hardly fight off a cold, let alone us."

"This really isn't funny Trixie."

Trixie slumped and lay her head on her knees, "No, I guess not. Anyway, old or not I'm still going to rip his head out through his ass. Bastard has it coming." Twilight didn't argue. "You are in a bad way aren't you? You didn't even suggest capturing him alive to put him on trial for his crimes."

"I really don't care right now Trixie. You could do what you said in front of me here and now and I'd hardly bat an eyelash."

Trixie stood up, "Well that's too bad, because you're going to have to get up and do stuff. The docs were talking about transferring the most wounded down to Neigh Orleans, to the hospital where they conveniently have an expert in pegasus medicine. And since you went and busted one of the wagons so only you can pull it, you're going to have to come with. Octavia and Summer are going too, so I thought it'd be nice if we all went. Get away from things for a little bit. Maybe go see Fleur and Shithead."

"You mean the filly, right?"

"Just because none of you liked my name for her doesn't mean I gave up on it. The difference is that now I say it with affection rather than actually meaning it."

"And what if I want to stay here and be miserable?"

"Tough shit." Trixie held out a hoof to help Twilight out of the pit. Twilight stared myopically at it for a moment before sighing and standing to take it. She let Trixie pull her so far, but her rear hooves could only scratch at the wall of the pit. "Come on Twilight, you could try a little. You're kinda heavy."

"I know this might come as a shock, but I might be a little drunker than I thought."

"Oh for goodness sake." Trixie's horn sparked and yanked Twilight's rear up by her tail and dragged her onto flat ground. The she went back to get the bourbon. "Come on, lean against me."

"Thanks." Slowly but surely they wobbled their way back up through the building. Through some unspoken agreement they headed towards the infirmary, where things were still busy, but not as much as before.

They found Octavia sitting in the corner on a bed, flexing her trembling forehooves. She looked up as they drew closer and sighed deeply as she saw the state Twilight was in. "Twilight, have you been drinking?"

"Copiously, but a lot of it came back out again."

"You just ran here from Prance Twilight! You must be horribly dehydrated." Octavia cocked her head slightly in confusion, "How are you even still conscious?"

"Alicorn baby! Woo..."

Octavia rolled her eyes at Twilight, then shouted across the room. "Summer, could you come here please?"

The blue pegasus dropped the bandage she was rolling and trotted over to the trio of ponies. "Yes Octavia? Wow Twilight, you look awful."

"That's funny, because I feel awful," Twilight said back snarkily.

"Summer," Octavia continued, "could you go and ask Suture if we can delay leaving until tomorrow morning. I know she wants to get these ponies moving, but I really think they, Twilight included, should get some rest first."

"Sure, I guess. Should I bring back some water for Twilight?"

"Yes, good idea. Thank you Summer." Summer left and Octavia stood up off the bed and patted it, hinting that Twilight should climb on. "It probably wouldn't be much fun for you to drown on your vomit in your sleep, so you should probably stay here."

"I'm not that drunk..." Twilight really didn't need to stay around all these ponies that had gotten wounded on her watch.

"She totally is," said Trixie. "She should stay here away from any bourbon somepony has left after somepony else already drank most of it." She turned her head away from Twilight and surreptitiously drank a mouthful out of the bottle held in her magic. She moved the bottle away and swatted Twilight's hoof as she reached up to try and take it. "No, bad Twilight."

"I did not need this right now," Octavia growled to herself. "Trixie, stop waving that in front of her. Twilight, get into bed." Twilight crawled halfway on before Trixie threw the rest of her on. "Shadow..." Octavia blinked at the thestral that had just appeared beside her, "Can we help you?"

"Has Twilight been drinking?"

"Yes," Twilight mumbled into her pillow.

Shadow caught sight of the bottle of bourbon as Trixie tried to hide it behind her back. She pouted at Trixie, her eyes becoming big and dewy as she silently begged Trixie.

"No. Get your own."

"I only want a little sip... One iddy-biddy teensy-weensy sip. Just one tiny sniff out of the bottle even."

"No."

"Pwease?"

"No."

"Pweeaaasssseeee?"

"For goodness sake Trixie!" Octavia yelled, "Just give her some so she'll shut up!"

"It's my bourbon!" Trixie cried, "Mine! I don't have much left..."

Shadow grinned and took a deep breath, "Pweeeeaaassseee-" The pitch of the word changed, becoming unbearably high, worse even than the sound of nails being dragged down a blackboard. Vomit exploded out of Twilight, and the entire infirmary started shouting as they clamped their hooves over their ears and squeezed their eyes shut from the pain of the noise, including Trixie, giving Shadow a chance to grab the bottle while Trixie was distracted, and down as much of it as she could before Trixie snatched it back. "Works every time," she said happily.

"You little bitch!" Trixie whined. She paused as she realised she hadn't heard what she'd said. "Can you hear me?"

"What?" said Octavia.

"What was that? My ears are funny. Are yours?"

"I can't hear you, my ears aren't working."

Shadow grinned uneasily as a large number of ponies glared at her, while a smaller number started repeating "mop," over and over like they thought it would help. "It'll wear off in a minute," she said guiltily.

"What?"

"I said it'll wear off in a- Oh nevermind, you can't hear me anyway."

Slowly their hearing returned, and after a mostly sincere apology from Shadow most of the ponies returned to what they were doing before her horrific interruption. Then she was given the task of cleaning up Twilight and changing the bed after Twilight was transferred to another.

"I can't believe you thought that was an appropriate thing to do," Octavia said as she watched Shadow wipe down Twilight.

"Alright, so it wasn't my best idea. Do you have any idea how many painkillers I'm on?"

"One, if I remember correctly. Two if you include the whiskey-"

"Bourbon!"

"Yes Trixie," Octavia sighed, "bourbon."

"Oh, shit yeah, you're the one that gave it to me."

"So I also know how much they wouldn't actually affect your judgement, so that really was just a bad idea."

"Sorry I took so long," said Summer as she returned. She had a jug of water balanced between her wings that Octavia took off her to fill a glass that she placed in front of Twilight. "I was trying to talk to Suture when some horrible noise came from somewhere and made us both deaf."

"I can't imagine what that might have been," Octavia said, pointedly staring at a embarrassed Shadow.

Summer smiled politely at them, totally unaware of what Octavia meant since there was no way a pony could make that noise as far as she knew. "Anyway, I was going to say that Suture agreed, but we'll have to stay up to make sure everypony's okay during the night."

"Of course. Thanks Twilight," Octavia cursed under her breath. "In that case, I suggest that those of us that can, get some rest. It's a long way to Neigh Orleans after all."

Sleep came and went, with a blissful lack of both nightmares and Nightmare's. When she woke Twilight was actually feeling more or less okay, thanks to Octavia's insistence on almost forcing water down her. It wouldn't have been a far flung notion to think being an alicorn might have had something to do with it though.

That was only half the problem unfortunately. Mentally she was still exhausted and plagued with doubts on what had happened. But she could bury that in the back of her mind until such a time she felt she could cope with it. Or at least until she ate the breakfast somepony had thoughtfully left beside her bed.

It seemed as though half of the infirmary had been emptied while she had been sleeping, probably in preparation to head down to Neigh Orleans, which also left her wondering what time it was. It was probably later than she thought if that was the case.

She scarfed down her food and made a show of at least smoothing her mane down before running outside. The four wagons they had dragged all the way from Prance were lined up, and once Twilight was able to adjust to the sunlight she was able to see that they had already been loaded with six or seven ponies each.

"Ah, there you are." Octavia trotted over, a faint smile on her face, "I was starting to think I was going to have to kick you out of bed."

"Is this all of them? I thought there'd be more going."

"Only the most badly injured are going, and even then its mostly just pegasi with serious wing injuries. I know your device could fix them, but Suture seems to think we shouldn't rely on that to fix all our problems since only unicorns can use it."

"No, I understand that. Their wings really should be set first, and until I fully balance the input matrix I'm really the only pony that can use it right now anyway. If I had more time I could, but I left my research back in Puddingarde."

Octavia surreptitiously glanced side to side, "You should still bring the device anyway, just in case," she whispered.

"Of course." Twilight's head drooped a little, "Is Fleetfoot coming too?"

"She is, and not just for her wings." Twilight looked up with confusion. "She hasn't eaten, said a word, or done anything really since Soarin brought her here. She won't even walk. The most we can do is get her to drink, but even that's a battle at times. She refuses to take any form of pain relief either. She does cry a lot though so at least there's something going on in her head."

"I see. She won't talk to Spitfire or Soarin either?"

Octavia shook her head. "They are coming with us though." Twilight saw Spitfire and Soarin sat next to the wagon Fleetfoot was riding in, Soarin reaching a comforting wing around Spitfire. "I think they'd drop everything if they could help Fleetfoot."

"They are dropping everything to help her," said a voice behind them. They turned to find Snowbright there, giving the Wonderbolts a dirty look.

"And you wouldn't in their situation?" Twilight asked. Snowbright just snorted. "Then I guess you're not so different. I also guess you've worked out you're in charge while Trixie and I are gone?"

"Yeah, I'll keep things together while you're off having some 'rest and relaxation.' With the majority of our forces here I doubt that the Grand Army will come sniffing too close." Snowbright looked to where Trixie was sat watching what was going on, "Just don't be gone too long, y'know."

"We'll be back in a couple of weeks, maximum."

"Yes ma'am." Snowbright left them, shouting a couple of orders as he went.

"Come on," said Octavia, "let's get you on your cart, since you're the only one that can pull it now."

Twilight let Octavia lead the way, distracted as she was for a moment by the large group of recently freed pegasi that were gathered nearby. "What are they doing?"

"They're coming with us," Octavia explained. "They've been pretty quiet since coming back, so I'm not sure if they're planning on joining us or not. Either way, they'd still be heading back to Puddingarde and New Pegasopolis."

"Oh..." Twilight said dejectedly. After what had happened she was hoping that they'd be rearing for a little payback. "How many of them are there?"

"Just short of three hundred I think." Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, "Take away the twenty-seven we lost, it's still a gain of roughly two hundred and fifty."

Twilight opened her eyes again, "But there shouldn't have been any losses! And we should have saved all of them!"

Octavia lowered her head, not wanting to look Twilight in the eye. "I know Twilight, but that's the cold hard truth of the matter."

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, "Sorry Octavia."

"It's alright, I know you're angry."

"I don't know what I'm feeling entirely." Twilight shook her head and plastered a wide but obviously fake smile onto her face, "Should we get going then?"

"Certainly. Allow me to check everypony is ready and we'll be on our way."

"Wait... you're in charge?"

"Well, Me and Summer technically. Suture's staying here, and since both Summer and I wanted to come with you she put us in charge of transferring the patients." Twilight hadn't really realised just how involved they had become in the medical side of things. "If you'll excuse me."

Twilight stood there silently as she waited for the signal to go. She was glad that she was getting to go somewhere other than here, if for no other reason for the distraction it provided. She was sure that if she had to stay here being reminded of the day before, and with no way to ignore it, she might have gone a little crazy.

"Hey!"

"Aah!" Twilight craned her neck around as much as she could to find Shadow grinning at her through the bars of the wagon. "What was that for?"

"I was only trying to get your attention. Not my fault you were day dreaming."

"Wait, why are you coming?"

"Since I'm injured and all that, I might as well go for a road trip. That, and some of us are flying cover for the convoy, so they need their fearless leader."

"By us I assume you mean thestrals?"

"Yep. I'm also semi responsible for getting the pegasi to Puddingarde, but I might have to delegate it all to Rush until I can comfortably fly again."

"I thought Spitfire would be in charge of that?"

"Nah, she's sticking with you guys because of Fleetfoot. Soarin too, leaving Rush in charge of the pegasi while Spitfire, Soarin, and my sexy self are occupied elsewhere. I would put Fleetfoot on that list, but... yeah..."

"Did- Did you lose any of your thestrals?" Twilight asked awkwardly.

"Nah, we got lucky. I think those soldiers were told to aim for the weather ponies, and they worked into that nicely by making themselves easy targets. I got injured pushing one out of the way of a net."

Twilight smiled at bit more genuinely that time. "You big hero."

"Yeah, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it." Shadow's grin faded, only to be replaced by a frown. "Too bad I couldn't push them all out of the way. I really hope we don't have to go through something like that again. I'm used to being in the line of fire, but to see them firing at defenceless ponies like that. Not cool."

Twilight couldn't agree more, but she knew that there was plenty of opportunities for horror to come yet. "The only way I'm going to trust that something like that won't happen again is when this war's over."

"Hopefully that doesn't take too long then."

Progress had been good for the journey, and starting as early as they had they were reasonably sure they were going to reach Woodberry hall by nightfall.

Twilight had mostly been left to her own devices for the majority of the trip, apart from the occasional conversation with Shadow, but things were thankfully quiet otherwise. It seemed that now they had the time, the events of the previous day were starting to sink into ponies minds. More than one pony in the wagon behind Twilight had a little cry during the trip.

Slowly Twilight became aware of Trixie sidling up to her. Seeing as how she hadn't seen Trixie once during the trip, Twilight was starting to think she hadn't come at all.

"Where have you been?" she asked once Trixie was close enough.

"I've been trying to avoid ponies. You know what I'm like, and I didn't really want to upset anypony. It's also given me time to think."

Twilight wanted to feign surprise, but honestly couldn't muster the energy to actually do it. "About what?" she asked instead.

"I was thinking... maybe we shouldn't go after Pearl..."

Twilight hadn't been expecting anything in particular when Trixie said she had been thinking, but if she were to compile a list of possible subjects, that might have been at the bottom. "Really?" she blurted out.

"Well... yeah. She got loads of ponies killed using a plan she put together in a few hours. Who knows how many ponies she could get killed with weeks to prepare. Maybe we should just avoid her for now."

Twilight smiled wanly, "It's things like this that should make you realise you're not evil."

"Perhaps."

"I also wish we could avoid her, but I'm not sure we can take Prance and ignore her at the same time. Then there's the possibility that she might start killing ponies until we do go after her."

Trixie frowned, "Oh... yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Now you mention it though, isn't that how they broke the last rebellion? Killed ponies until their leader surrendered. What if they do something like that again?"

It was a horrific possibility, but one that Twilight was at least reasonably sure wouldn't happen. The Mareitania liberation front was simply too big to just roll over and surrender at this point, and the Duke had to know it.

"At best we could make specific strikes against the places the killings are taking place, and try to stop them, or at least slow them down. At worst, we let it happen. Hopefully it would only encourage more ponies to fight back. Holding the south like we do there is at least somewhere for ponies to run to."

Trixie was shocked, "Let it happen? Are you serious?"

Twilight wished she wasn't, "Sadly, yes. Say we do give up, the Duke's grip on the country would only get tighter, and even if he granted our ponies clemency things would only go back to the way they were before, if not become worse. We'd have done all this for nothing. Even if we let it happen, we keep pushing forwards to try and stop things like that from ever happening again."

Trixie chuckled silently and smirked at Twilight, "You really have an answer for everything, don't you."

"I wish." Twilight considered the ponies in these wagons proof enough that such a thing was far from true. They continued in silence for a couple of minutes more, making Twilight feel uneasy. "Isn't this when you ask me how I'm feeling?"

"Guilty, upset, sad, and angry? Oh, and you're constantly thinking about what you could've done differently. Did I miss anything?"

Twilight couldn't help the tiny smile that came to her face, "You forgot the crippling self doubt."

"Oh how dare I forget that! That's the most important one!" Both ponies shared a short moment of laughter at the attempt at levity, a sound that had been all too absent the entire day. "Seriously though, could you have done anything differently?"

"Not really. Save bringing you and a bunch of ground forces, the only thing I could really do differently was to not do it at all."

"But that would've left Fleetfoot as their prisoner."

"Exactly. We would've gone in to save her anyway at some point, even though I doubt she considers her life worth all those that were lost, and I would've taken pegasi because we could get there faster."

"So nothing would've changed. All those pegasi might've been ended up getting killed in Pearl's trap anyway."

"Bingo."

Trixie didn't want to admit it, but at some level she was impressed. "Her plan really was almost flawless then."

"I wouldn't say that. If we'd gone in with the specific purpose of saving Fleetfoot we could've split our forces differently. We might have been able to protect those at the compound while I destroyed the net launchers."

"But if you left it longer," Trixie countered, "Pearl might've worked out you were coming for Fleetfoot, and might've brought more soldiers to counter you, so you would've lost more ponies because of that, except they would've focused more on our ponies, so things really wouldn't have been much better."

"I suppose not, no," Twilight said, thinking that Trixie was probably right. Pearl would've got them somehow, no matter what they tried.

There was a rustle behind them as Shadow popped her head up though the bars of the wagon, "You guys are super depressing, you know that?"

"Are you kidding? This is a big thing for Twilight," Trixie cheered, "She's finally learnt to not completely destroy herself with self loathing when something goes wrong. She only partly destroys herself instead."

"Gee, thanks Trixie, there was almost a compliment in there."

The stars were out and the moon shining by the time they reached Woodberry hall, but the inclusion of the thestrals in their journey made navigating at night almost trivial.

What was less trivial was the coach parked outside. Twilight could recognise it as the one she had used to transport Seeker to Puddingarde after their brief altercation in Neigh Orleans, but there was no reason she could think of why it was here of all places. So, while the wounded were transferred indoors, she went off with Trixie and Shadow in tow to locate somepony who might have an answer.

Fortunately they found not only the answer, but the pony behind it in the well appointed living room of the manor, sat in front of a roaring fire along with a pink pony wearing a full set of hoof-cuffs sat opposite her, eating a sandwich. It was about as much as Twilight could do to not blurt Luna's name straight out at the strange sight.

"L-! Selene! What are you doing here?"

"Surprised to see me Twilight?"

"Very!" Twilight pointed at the other pony with her, "And who's this?"

"This is Hotpot, the spy I apprehended." Hotpot raised a hoof and waved at them. The fact that Nightmare had been right about that was quickly swallowed up by Twilight's disbelief of something else.

"B-but she's a cook! Are you really sure she's a spy?"

"She knew a phrase that could control Seeker, and tried to use it to command Seeker to kill the filly, so yes, I am quite certain. I-"

Trixie rushed forward, her eyes wide, "You tried to kill the filly? You dared to live the impossible dream?"

Hotpot held the tips of her hooves a centimetre apart, "I was thiiiiis close too. Maybe you'll have more luck than me."

Trixie blushed as she felt the eyes of the others upon her, "What? You talk to the lunch-mare about things, okay? I didn't think she was actually going to try. The filly might be an asshole, but she's our asshole, so... yeah..."

Luna cleared her throat, "I was about to say I was in the process of transporting her to Whiplash to get her away from Seeker, and for you to question her. It seems you're heading in the opposite direction though."

"Yeah, we... had a problem." Twilight explained it, and Luna listened. Even Hotpot seemed taken aback by the time Twilight had managed finished, her chest becoming tight as she relived it all.

"Good heavens..."

"We're transporting the worst injured to the hospital in Neigh Orleans for Doctor Amal to take care of."

"Is your healing device not capable?"

Twilight shook her head, "Yes, but it'd take days and days to get everypony back on their hooves and back into the air, especially Fleetfoot. We need to have their wings set before I could even begin, and even then some of them might heal on their own before I got around to them."

"I understand Twilight. Maybe you should think about making more of these devices?"

"I would, but I don't know when I'll have the time to make the necessary changes and build them."

"Perhaps you should send your research back to Equestria. You've already done the hard part, so if you make concise instructions on how to build them along with your changes, I'm sure they could work it out."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Twilight glanced at Hotpot, who was busy studying the floor with great interest. "You're being rather quiet."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near changing my mind about you guys, but what Madam Pearl did to the pegasi..." Hotpot shook her head, "Military targets is one thing, but the pegasi? They're just pegasi, they fly around and make weather! They can't be that much of a threat, not like the unicorns."

"And that's the kind of ignorance a lifetime in the kitchen will get you," laughed Trixie. "Are you even aware we're winning this war? Because you're a poor spy if you aren't."

"Of course I know! But even I don't agree with slaughtering defenceless pegasi like that!"

"And yet you can lead our ponies into the slaughter by giving away our plans?" Shadow growled.

"I was just doing my job," Hotpot said bluntly.

"A job that became a lot easier with Seeker around for you to use, I imagine," Luna said, joining in.

"Yes, but I was only using the tools at my disposal."

"Still doesn't mean you had to try and get her to kill the filly."

"No, it doesn't, and I'm sorry for that if it matters. I was kind of in shock after being caught." Hotpot shrugged, "What does any of this matter anyway? Even with me giving your plans away, and information, you still beat us every time! That attack on Puddingarde was supposed to take you out for good, but you didn't even bat an eyelash before unleashing tactics we had no chance of beating! We're fighting you using proper military tactics, and you unleash a tornado on us! How is that even approaching fair?" Hotpot was almost screaming at the end.

"How is killing defenceless innocents fair?" Twilight said back evenly.

Hotpot sighed, her anger burning out quickly, "If we still had a chance I could at least understand her doing that if it stopped you getting stronger. But all it really does is make you angrier, so it was pointless."

Twilight looked to Luna, who shrugged, "You don't really sound like you really believe in what you're doing."

"What's the point in being all gung-ho about it when we're losing?"

"Then why? Why keep spying on us for a losing side?"

Hotpot looked Twilight in the eye, "Because not all of us want to live in a country where we have to fear being cursed by a unicorn, or where we're constantly looking over our shoulders for an attack from pegasi." She glanced at Shadow," Or those bat winged freaks."

"Always with the freaks thing," Shadow muttered.

"And we certainly didn't ask to bend the knee to some Equestrian Princess who has no right being here!" Hotpot sat back, her point made. "So yes, we keep fighting, and we might be losing, true, but we haven't lost yet."

"Are you sure Shadow can get Hotpot to Whiplash?" Luna asked once Trixie and Shadow had left to escort Hotpot to the room they were going to secure her in.

"Absolutely. What's she going to do against a dozen thestrals? I really thought that you'd be the last pony to doubt their abilities, and I certainly doubt we'd have made the progress we have in this war without them."

Luna nodded slowly, "Tis what they were made for after all. I'm glad I didn't see fit to alter their aggression and attitudes beyond the norm for ponies. Even Nightmare Moon might have had trouble with them if that were the case. Well, beyond them betraying her that is."

Twilight climbed into her chair and sat back, trying not to show what she was thinking. It seemed odd for Luna to bring Nightmare Moon up seeing as how that was what Twilight hoped to talk about herself. In lieu of that, Twilight decided to take the initiative.

"Luna, can I talk to you about something?"

Luna stoked the fire with her magic, her poker face well in place. Sadly for her Twilight had learnt from Celestia, and could tell Luna was slightly annoyed at having her build up interrupted. Outwardly though, Luna smiled, "Certainly Twilight."

Twilight swallowed and readied herself, "Is there a small chance that the fragments of Nightmare Moon that were locked inside your head somehow built a separate personality from you and escaped into the dreamscape while you were fishing around inside Seeker's dreams?" Luna's poker face evaporated instantly.

"Wha..? How did you..? How could you possibly know that Twilight?"

"Because she came to see me the night before last."

Luna jumped out of her chair, almost onto Twilight, and began swivelling Twilight's head about as she checked her over. "Are you alright? Did she hurt you? I'll destroy her if she even thinks of laying a hoof on you!"

Twilight gently pushed Luna away with a hoof, "Actually she was quite polite, all things considered. Besides, she's hardly going to hurt me through a dream."

"So she doesn't have a physical presence?"

"She exists purely in the dreamscape."

Luna retook her seat and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Then there may still be a chance to contain her." Luna paused as she realised something, "Why would she risk herself to come to you?"

Twilight grinned uneasily. She knew Luna probably wasn't going to like what was about to be said. "She came to ask for my help."

"Your help? What in the blazes could she need help with?"

"You, actually," Twilight mumbled.

"Me?" Luna frowned as she thought, her gaze shifting about the room, "Does she seek to destroy me?"

"Not at all. She actually wants me to protect her from you since she's sure you're going to come after her. She said you're the only pony that could destroy her."

"And why should I not? You have no idea of the harm she could be capable of!"

"Or she could be no harm at all," Twilight argued. Luna looked away with disgust. "Believe me Luna, she was one of the last ponies I ever expected to be asked for help by, but she did, and offered information in return."

"What kind of information?"

"Whatever she can find from ponies dreams and memories."

"That's a lie already. I cannot read ponies memories, so she shouldn't be able to. At best she could interpret messages from the dreams themselves, but it would be akin to reading tealeaves in the hopes of finding prophesy."

"She also helped you with Seeker by helping to destroy something in her nightmare, if what she said is to be believed, and helped you find the memory of the spy."

Luna thought of the eyes she had seen within the eyes of the monster in Seeker's head. She knew she had seen those eyes, but the thought that Nightmare Moon might have helped her wasn't one she enjoyed. "I'm sure she's just trying to lull you into a false sense of security."

"Maybe you're right Luna," Twilight said earnestly, "but I can't in good conscience let you destroy her without giving her a chance to prove herself. She said she had no desire for power or eternal night, saying those things were your desires as Nightmare Moon. She just wants to live. If she does become a problem, then I won't stand in your way."

Luna shook her head, "I don't trust her Twilight..." Twilight was about to protest against that when Luna continued, "but I do trust you. So long as you think she's not a danger to us, then I will accept your judgement and stay my wrath. But I will warn you that the moment she breaks your arrangement or harms a pony, I will be coming after her."

Twilight was surprised by how relieved she was that Luna had agreed to let Nightmare be for the time being. She couldn't deny that it could be because it was nice to save a pony for once.

"Thank you Luna. I know this can't be easy for you to agree to."

"We'll see if it was worth it soon enough," Luna said, darkly.

At least it wasn't too hard for Twilight to discern that she was dreaming this time, although the blood soaked landscape and piles of dead and mutilated bodies hardly deserved to be called something so pleasant as a dream. What worried her more was how little she was put out by it. She'd seen both before, in dreams and reality, so this was hardly new. The red and stormy sky was at least new.

Considering that, it wasn't too hard to tell when Nightmare arrived, as it felt exactly like something was trying to segue its way into her head. She didn't say anything though, and waited for Nightmare to come to her as Twilight had no idea where the mare would come from. Turns out it would be simpler than Twilight expected.

"Greetings Twilight," said Nightmare from behind her, "I- Good heavens." Nightmare stopped to flick a glob of ichor off her hoof, "You must be in a bad way. Hmm... Pearl... Sounds like an interesting pony with a tragic backstory if her behaviour is any indication."

"Luna says you can't see ponies memories, because she can't."

"Nightmare Moon could, not that she tried so Luna doesn't know that, but it means I can," Nightmare replied, brushing it off. "Perhaps not their full memories, but the more recent ones aren't too hard to discern, like what happened with you and this Pearl."

"Stay out of my memories."

"I only wished to know," Nightmare said, neither defending herself or apologising. "I shall stay out of them for now."

Twilight wasn't in the mood. She stayed still, sat looking into the middle distance so as to not see what was around her. "Stay out of them, period."

Nightmare rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine. As you wish." Nightmare examined one of the bodies, raising the ragged wing on its side, "Pegasus. I guess that's logical considering what happened."

"Huh?"

"These bodies, they're all pegasi."

"Can't you get rid of them?"

Nightmare chuckled, the sound rather inappropriate for the surroundings. "I could, but I doubt you'd like the method in which I did it."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I don't seem to have inherited the nicely-nicely approach of Luna's dream magic. I could make them go, but only in some gross way like making them get up and walk away, or devour each other until there's nothing left. Not ideal as you can imagine." Nightmare shrugged, "I'll work on it." She cleared her throat, "Soooo... how'd it go with Luna? I can tell you're near each other."

Twilight sighed and finally moved to look at Nightmare, "She's agreed to leave you be so long as you keep on your best behaviour."

Nightmare pressed a hoof to her chest and breathed out with relief, a gesture Twilight wasn't expecting. "Thank goodness. You have no idea what it's like to have that hanging over you all the time. You have my appreciation Twilight. Sadly I'd don't really have anything to tell you other than there are a lot of ponies around you not having the most pleasant of dreams ei-" She stopped and looked about wildly, "Something's wrong."

"What?"

Nightmare tried backing away, but couldn't as something was stopping her. The dream rippled around her, and her thrashing became more frantic. "What is this Twilight? Why can't I get out?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Nightmare stopped and glared at Twilight, "This is a trick!" she snarled. "You let Luna trap me here!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Twilight shouted back, genuinely unaware of what was happening. The only thing Twilight was sure of was how hurt Nightmare seemed to be by the thought of Twilight betraying her like this. It was an oddly uncomfortable thought.

Nightmare almost screamed and shielded herself with a wing as the clouds parted above them, revealing a bright full moon, the light of which dissolved the mutilated bodies of the pegasi into silvery dust that blew away. From the light Luna walked into the dream, standing tall as Nightmare tried to push herself away from her, but couldn't.

Twilight ran over to Luna, stopping in front of her, "What are you doing Luna!?"

"My apologies Twilight, but I had to see her for myself, to be sure that she really was free. And what else do I find other than her trapping you in a nightmare."

"Actually, that was going on before she got here." Twilight grinned sheepishly, "It's been a rough night."

"I see." Luna stalked closer to where Nightmare was trapped, but stopped as the mare's body started shifting until it was almost, but not exactly the same shape and size as Luna's. Even her mane and tail became similar, save for being a darker shade of purple. Cowering as she was it was hard to tell if Nightmare had even noticed the changes happening. Luna glanced back at Twilight, who pulled a face and shook her head. She was just as mystified by the change as Luna was.

"You're trembling," Luna observed.

"You wouldn't understand," Nightmare hissed back.

"Understand what?"

"You wouldn't understand what it's like to stand before the one thing in the world that could truly destroy you!" Nightmare screamed, tears running down her face even as she bared her teeth in a snarl.

Luna stepped back, "You're scared of me?"

"Terrified!"

"Nightmare Moon wasn't afraid of anything."

"I'm not Nightmare Moon! You were Nightmare Moon! I'm just me!"

Twilight ran up and pressed a hoof to Luna's chest, "Give her some space Luna, you're scaring her."

Luna didn't though. She had before her the one thing that she could blame for all her problems. It'd take effort, but she could snuff Nightmare Moon out for good, even if the pony before her didn't seem to be like the Nightmare Moon she remembered.

"This is my chance to rid the world of Nightmare Moon forever Twilight. Forgive me if I'm not willing to give her the full benefit of my doubt without seeing her first."

"You wouldn't rid the world of anything Luna! Even with her here you're still Nightmare Moon in the end. All you'd be doing is destroying her as a consequence of your decision to become Nightmare Moon in the first place, and changing nothing. Doesn't she deserve a chance to show she could be better than her origins, that something good could come of your choice to be bad?"

Luna watched Nightmare for a few long moments as she shielded herself from the light of the moon. Doubt started gnawing at her. Would destroying the pony before her really change nothing? The mare was clearly Nightmare Moon in some regards, but was very different to what Luna remembered Nightmare Moon being. Maybe she really wasn't the same pony.

"Very well Twilight. I didn't come here with the intentions of breaking our agreement, but I will admit that seeing her may have riled me up a bit. I'm sorry."

"It's fine Luna, but please stop scaring her."

"I feel it's more than my presence that scares her. Tell me, why do you cower from your namesake?"

"I'm not Nightmare Moon," Nightmare reiterated, "just Nightmare."

"All the same, why do you hide from it?"

There was a short bitter laugh from Nightmare, "You really don't remember do you? What it was like on the moon?"

"I remember arriving, certainly, but other than that I have only fragments."

"I guess the Elements spared you that knowledge then." Nightmare looked up into Luna's eyes, "Because I remember every single bit of it. A thousand years of being alone! Sinking into madness and depravity until even that got boring! Because of what you did! I have to suffer those memories while you get away with forgetting! So yes! Yes I hate the moon! Please, take it away!" Nightmare begged.

"Would you prefer the sun instead?"

"No!"

"So you fear the sun as well?"

"I fear what it represents."

"Celestia," Luna breathed. Nightmare said nothing. Luna's horn glowed and clouds gathered until the moon was out of sight. With some reluctance Nightmare lowered her wing until she and Luna were stood facing each other with nothing between them. "You really aren't like Nightmare Moon at all."

"What I am, is you, the good and the bad. The fragments of Nightmare Moon, as well as the pony you are now, on top of all the fears and doubts you have now and as Nightmare Moon. I'm not sure what that makes me." It wasn't hard to see that Nightmare was still trembling, even if she was trying to hide how scared she was.

"You've changed quite a bit in the time since I last saw you," Twilight pointed out. "Like you're changing. Evolving." Nightmare looked away and shrugged.

"Where is your armour?" Luna asked.

"It's not my armour," Nightmare growled. "You're not getting this are you? You are Nightmare Moon, always have been, always will be. I'm no longer part of you, so I no longer have to be that pony. I'm just... made of you, and what the Elements did to you."

"You look like me too."

"What?" Nightmare studied herself, surprised by the changes she had gone through.

"Perhaps your proximity to me has changed you further."

"Perhaps." Nightmare looked off to the side, no longer able to look at Luna. "Please, let me go."

"Very well." Luna released the spell she was using to trap Nightmare in Twilight's dream. "I will be watching you," Luna warned. Nightmare didn't waste time with farewells, vanishing without a trace the moment she was able to. "That was odd."

"Why'd you do that Luna?" Twilight asked angrily. "Don't you trust me?"

"I do Twilight, and I didn't come here in the intentions of reneging on our agreement, but you do not understand what Nightmare Moon is to me Twilight. I had to see her for myself. I had to know. I'm sorry."

Twilight sighed irritably, "I suppose I can understand that, but I need her to trust me. I can't do that when you do things like this and scare her half to death. I'm still trying to work out why she changed when you arrived. Do you feel any different?"

Luna pondered it for a second before shaking her head, "I don't think so. Maybe a bit for seeing her, but nothing so drastic as what she went through."

Twilight sighed irritably, "I doubt I'll be seeing her for a while to find out. How about we just worry about getting these ponies to Neigh Orleans for now, and leave Nightmare to sort herself out until she's ready to show herself again."

"As you wish Twilight."

Author's Notes:

I'm here, with more of the backness I keep doing quite a lot lately, but things going well we should be back to regular weekly updates again since I have been happily writing away these last couple of weeks.