Nightmare Moon sat on a pillow in the main room of the castle. The gray fox vixen was curled up by her side, sleeping soundly. In front of her was the second book in the Daring Do series.

The rest of the visit at Fluttershy's -- and the day -- had been uneventful. There had been some conversation, some questions, and a lot of information on what Nightmare Moon would need to take care of a fox. It was a little disappointing that neither Twilight Sparkle nor Fluttershy seemed very upset over Discord's part in Nightmare's existence, but not really surprising considering it was over a thousand years ago. If they were willing to forgive him for things that happened less than a month ago -- as well as those that were nearly a year passed -- why would they get upset over something from a millenia ago?

After returning to the castle, Nightmare Moon decided to take a look around the library. While there, she found something that was quite interesting: a book titled Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny. Specifically, what caught her attention was the fact that a pony on the cover looked exactly like Rainbow Dash.

This led to an interesting explanation from Twilight Sparkle. The main idea of the Daring Do stories was that the titular character -- a pegasus -- would travel Equestria searching for powerful ancient artifacts and trying to keep them safe from creatures with villainous intent such as Ahuizotl (the most common villain to appear in the series). The main audience was supposed to be teens and young adults, but ponies of practically every age seemed to enjoy them. Until recently, Twilight and the others had thought they were fiction, and most ponies still did. However, a couple months ago Twilight and the others actually met Daring Do and were able to help her during one such adventure.

After listening to it all, one question came to Nightmare Moon's mind.

"What happens to the artifacts she finds?"

It was actually an interesting place for her to begin. Each book held at least one ancient artifact of great power and an accurate description of their capabilities -- or at least one of them. She could easily read through the books without raising any sort of suspicion. Anypony that caught her would simply assume she was enjoying the series.

If she were able to find one that would actually be of use to her, then she would just have to figure out how to get it. There were two separate issues with that: finding out where it is and being able to get there. The artifacts had to be placed somewhere they were thought to be safe, be it back to where it belongs (which would be the easiest), on display in a museum or private home (an interesting challenge she would need to consider), or some sort of vault (something she would have no idea how to even start). Depending on Daring Do's connections and the power of the artifacts, they might very well be stored in the castle under the protection of the princesses and their guards.

Of course finding out the location of an artifact would be pointless if she was unable to get to it. At the moment, that would be nearly impossible to do. The collar limited her movements. She was either restricted to Ponyville, or within a limited range of Twilight Sparkle. The artifacts were more than likely not being stored in the town, and having Twilight with her while trying to steal an ancient artifact of great power that would allow her to rule Equestria seemed like it would be counter-productive. The chances that Twilight Sparkle would allow Nightmare Moon to do such a thing were almost non-existent. The best case scenario would be Twilight giving Nightmare a chance to stop in the hopes of accepting friendship. Worst case scenario was Nightmare being hospitalized and the artifact relocated to someplace hidden and more secure. So she would need to figure out a way to get the collar off before starting an active search.

"Nightmare," Twilight called out, drawing Nightmare's attention from the book. "I thought I should warn you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are coming over soon for Twilight Time."

"'Twilight Time?'" Nightmare asked.

She was familiar with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. After all, one of them was the younger sister of her previous host. Plus, there had been a few amusing nightmares that she had seen that involved the trio as some sort of major threat. Usually with some antic or other of theirs ending up in extensive amounts of property damage. It was kind of strange to think of how exaggerated some fears could be in dreams.

Twilight Time, however, was not something that she had heard of before.

"It's kind of like when a pony has additional lessons or activities after school," Twilight explained. "Except it's not exactly piano or swimming. Mostly I have to help Sweetie Belle learn to cast spells and control her magic, but I also help Apple Bloom practice alchemy and guide Scootaloo in her mechanical interest. While I do try to keep it to a minimum, there is still some danger to it: spells going wrong, bad chemical reactions, tools or springs flying loose, something along those lines. So I'm warning you in case you want to get somewhere safe and avoid get caught in the fallout, but I think you should stay. I think you might learn something interesting, and you might even help me keep an eye on things."

Nightmare Moon set her book aside and placed a hoof to her chin. She doubted that she would learn anything useful from watching Twilight teach a group of fillies. Because of her being forced to be a pegasus, she had no horn, and thus no way of casting spells. The alchemy and mechanical options had possibility, but it was doubtful that Twilight would let fillies perform something other than the safe and basic types. Nothing explosive or inherently dangerous that Nightmare could use to her advantage.

Really, if she did stay, it would be more to study and learn about the ponies than of their lessons. Seeing Twilight in a position that could stress her out and seeing how she deals with it could help. Really, studying Twilight Sparkle over all would be a good idea. The strengths she has that should avoided, weaknesses to exploit, how she reacted to stressors, maybe even ways to manipulate her into having a manic panic attack. It would be difficult to battle if she was worried about something else.

Then there were the so-called Crusaders. At least one of them was directly related to a former Bearer of Harmony, with the other two -- if not related -- extremely close to other members. It was possible that the trio would one day become heroes in their own right. Not to the same extent as Twilight Sparkle and her friends since such an event was incredibly rare, but they could achieve as much as Starswirl the Bearded. Or even Daring Do now that Nightmare had learned about the mare.

Alternatively, if their proclivity toward danger and mischief was even partially true, the crusaders might be beneficial to her. If Nightmare could gain influence over them now, she could in theory manipulate them into being her minions. The same powers and talents that could be used to protect Equestria would then be turned to her will. It would be easier if she were to start doing so now, seeing as they were still somewhat young and impressionable.

Even if neither were the case, perhaps they would still be of benefit to her.

"Very well," Nightmare Moon stated. "I shall stay and observe." She grinned. "Perhaps I will get to see you caught up in an explosion, or suffer the consequence of a spell gone awry."

For a moment, Nightmare pictured Twilight as a giant purple onion with wings and a horn. The image was enough to cause her to chuckle.

"I'm glad you find the idea of my suffering funny," Twilight stated. "Anyway, school should be out so they will be here in fifteen or twenty minutes."

With a little more reading, the time passed pretty quickly. As the trio arrived, Nightmare Moon studied them. One of them was a white unicorn with pastel pink and purple mane. That was Sweetie Belle, who was Rarity's sister. Another was a yellow earth filly with a red mane. Her name... had something to do with fruit? Nightmare thought she had some connection to Applejack. The third was an orange coated pegasus with a short purple mane. What was her name? Nightmare was pretty sure it started with "s." Whatever the case, the pegasus filly had something to do with... Rainbow Dash? Or was it Fluttershy? Definitely one of the pegasi.

There also seemed to be something wrong with the three of them. They seemed to be walking at a slow rate, heads and tails held low and ears drooping.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked as she looked at the three of them.

"No," the yellow filly replied. "Well... nothin' new."

"Just Diamond Tiara picking on us again," the orange filly added.

"Who is Diamond Tiara?" Nightmare asked.

"A girl in our class," Sweetie Belle answered. "She's a bully that insults and makes fun of a lot of ponies."

"Especially us," the yellow one added, "on account we're the only ones with no cutie marks yet."

Nightmare Moon's body tensed as anger exploded through her body. Ears pinned back and teeth bared, she turned to face Twilight Sparkle, wings flaring out at her sides.

"You allow this to happen?" snarled out.

"What?" Twilight asked, her question being echoed by the three young fillies.

"You," Nightmare snarled, point a hoof at Twilight's chest, "are a former student of Princess Celestia, a princess yourself now, and a hero to all of Equestria. These three" -- she pointed at the crusaders -- "are students of yours and have close ties to three of the ponies that you consider your best friends. This... this... Dime-what-the-buck-ever is giving them a hard time -- seemingly on a regular basis -- and you -- their leader, protector, and friend -- do nothing about it!"

"What do you think I should do?" Twilight snapped back, her own wings flaring out as she returned the glare.

"Force her into physical labor," Nightmare retorted. "Lock her into a dungeon. Toss her into the darkest part of The Everfree Forest and let her find her own way out. Destroy her power base and support system, wearing her down until her fate is in the frog of your hoof. Then as she looks up at you in tears and begs for mercy, laugh in her face before crushing her." She slammed her hoof into the ground before tossing her head back and laughing maniacally.

"Nightmare," Twilight stated, "she's just a filly."

"Oh, I see how it is! She gets to be malicious and cruel without consequence. Allow her to grow up and become a truly evil villain instead of handling the issue now and preventing such a thing."

"She's not going to become some villain just because she's a bully!" Twilight replied.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked back and forth between each other.

"Why do you care so much anyways?" Twilight asked.

"If you think I will allow any pony to pick on my little sister, you are sorely mistaken!" Nightmare snapped.

"Little sister?" the other ponies asked.

The question gave Nightmare Moon pause. Had she said that? She had. She had not been aware of it, but she felt protective of Sweetie Belle. That was part of the reason that Nightmare had gotten so angry to begin with: the idea of a pony picking on the filly made the mare furious, wanting to keep Sweetie Belle safe.

With a sigh, Nightmare Moon rubbed her forehead.

"It seems that my time with Rarity has some unexpected consequences," Nightmare stated. "Let's just proceed with this 'Twilight Time,' and discuss the matter another time."

With a nod, Twilight Sparkle turned her attention to the three fillies.

So the conversation was ended and Twilight Time began. During it, Nightmare learned that the pegasus was Scootaloo -- who was a fan of Rainbow Dash -- and the earth filly was Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom. The three of them seemed very enthusiastic about their interest and learning. Nightmare even asked a few questions, watching the excitement as the filly questioned shared what she knew, and gaining a few bits of information in the process. While she could not learn unicorn magic, it might be beneficial to learn a little more about alchemy and engineering.

Disappointingly, Twilight Sparkle made it through without incident.