1055 AD, February 21st

Nightmare Moon had chosen a secluded spot outside the city of Canterlot for training.

Down the mountain and into the acres of wood that surrounded it, she was confident nopony would stumble upon them, and if anypony did…

Well, then they had better be susceptible to memory-manipulating spells because the alternative method to keep them quiet was far messier.

So it was there, in a large clearing, at a few minutes past midnight, did Nightmare Moon, Shadow, and the members of the Eclipse arrive via teleportation.

“Hurgh…” Fade’s cheeks puffed out. Everypony stepped away from him in alarm. “Geez, you… ugh, you unicorns are way tougher than I thought, yeah? I’ve gone through g-forces more comforting than that…”

“Long-distance teleportation allows more time for one’s molecular structure to separate,” Nightmare Moon replied, casting a quick glance over the clearing for any unwanted presences. “The nausea is your nervous system settling back in your body.”

“Oh, that makes me want to get teleported again big time.”

“It’s a sensation you will get used to – teleportation is an invaluable asset in a unicorn’s arsenal,” Nightmare Moon turned her attention to Ebony and Haze, and remarked, “I assume you know the basic rules of teleportation?”

Ebony’s face scrunched in thought, but Haze readily answered, “Never attempt to teleport to a place you haven’t been to before. Do not teleport across a distance exceeding two kilometres. Take extreme care when teleporting in a populated area with high concentrations of metal.”

Nightmare Moon nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now do you two have experience with teleportation?”

“Some.” Haze replied.

“Uh, no…” Ebony rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

“I see.” Nightmare Moon pursed her lips and whistled a sharp tune.

The difference in pitch at the end was only heard by and understood by Shadow. The timber wolf perked his ears and lowered himself into an aggressive stance, splintered teeth showing as he growled menacingly at Haze.

“Ahem…” Haze took a step back, ears pressing against his scalp in worry. “Excuse me, but your pet appears to have nefarious intentions towards me.”

“You are to avoid Shadow for the span of ten minutes. You are not to use any means of travelling aside from teleportation and you are not to retaliate in any way aside from hiding. Treetops are fair game,” As Shadow continued his approach, Nightmare Moon’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Any questions?”

Haze’s alarmed gaze darted back and forth between her and his would-be pursuer. “Wh-what?”

She whistled again and Shadow dashed forwards with a vicious growl.

Haze exclaimed in fright and vanished in a flash of silver light. Shadow snapped at thin air, paused to sniff, and then shot off into the woods, barking furiously.

Nightmare Moon turned to the others, genuine glee running through her at the thought of being able to cut loose with some of her astounding power after so many years of letting it go untested.

The others however, didn’t seem nearly as excited.

“Oh shit,” Fade cursed softly as he listened to the distant sounds of Shadow’s barking and the pop of Haze’s teleporting. “I’ve seen this in the Wonderbolts Academy; you’re one of those instructors that just shove ponies into the deep end, yeah? Swim for your success or drown for my amusement?”

“I’ll have to remember that,” Nightmare Moon laughed, only further unnerving them. “But that’s the basic gist of it. Now, let’s see how fast you two can fly with the threat of bodily harm hanging over your heads.”

“I love you like the sun… No, that’s crap! Your eyes remind me of… disco balls. Argh, crap! You’re like a record I found… That’s crap – coming out of somepony’s ass!”

“Oh my,” Fleur placed a hoof on her lips in worry as a scrunched-up ball of paper landed on the table. “Shall we go help her?”

“If only…” Nightmare Moon said tensely as she reached up to pluck a ball of paper from her horn. “To stop her infernal moping.”

“Oh, give her a chance; her wedding’s approaching, and every mare is entitled a bit of…” Fleur made a thoughtful noise as she got out of her seat and trotted around the table, heading for Vinyl’s couch. “Ah, what’s the word I’m looking for? Irrationality.”

“My brain is crap,” Vinyl went limp and her magic shorted out. The pencil and notepad dropped on her belly. “Octy’s going to marry a mare with crap for a brain.”

“If you say ‘crap’ one more time, I am literally going to throw you out the window.”

Fleur gave a look of disapproval before smiling gently and touching Vinyl’s shoulder. “Vows aren’t something you can force, dear; they have to come from the heart. Why don’t you take a breather and join us for some calming tea and biscuits?”

“I don’t see the importance behind these vows.” Nightmare Moon said with a grumble.

She had no idea why Vinyl invited her over; she wasn’t adept in this… emotional stuff, and she certainly wasn’t experienced in anything to do with marriage. She had attended the wedding of Fancypants and Fleur, but that was about it.

Fleur turned on her with an overly-dramatic gasp. “Vows are an expression of how you feel about your special somepony! One of the most important events of a wedding is the groom and bride saying their vows to each other.”

Vinyl groaned.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “If two ponies are truly in love, then do they need to write down how they feel? Is not knowing how much they feel about the other enough?”

“It’s a way of telling the world how much you care for your lover,” Fleur’s eyes sparkled as she held her hooves to her chest. “When you say your vows – words written by your hoof, words coming from your soul – you’re announcing to the universe how much that pony means to you.”

“Ugh…” Nightmare Moon felt her stomach clench and it wasn’t because of that suspicious-looking hotdog she ate this morning. “What’s the point in that? Who cares what the universe thinks? You and your lover are in love… or lust or whatever; why do you need to shout it out? It seems about as necessary as shouting how much you like having sex and what your favourite positions are. And Vinyl does that enough already.”

“She does that?”

“Constantly.”

“Hey, I’m just gonna lie here and die, if that’s cool with you two,” Vinyl muttered without moving an inch. “Might get a bit dank up in here, so crack open a window.”

With a sympathetic cluck of her tongue, Fleur sat down on the couch beside the distressed mare. “Oh, I know this is all frightening, but-”

“Fuck yeah, it’s frightening!”

The DJ shot up into a sitting position and threw her forelegs into the air. Without her shades, her face displayed her emotions like an open book, and right now she was more worried than Nightmare Moon had ever seen her.

“I’m gettin’ friggin’ married to the hottest and most awesome mare in Canterlot!” She continued, muttering, “No offense guys. I mean, what if something goes wrong? What if…” She deflated and simpered. “What if she decides to call it off?”

“Oh, sweetie,” Fleur pulled her into a hug. “Everypony has doubts about their wedding, but it’ll all work out in time. I was the same way with Fancypants and – judging from what his friends tell me – he was the same way. You know, at one point I was so scared I debated changing my name and running off to work on a rock farm? You remember that, don’t you, Star?”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, that was a very proud and defining moment in your life.”

“Oh, hush – you were the one who talked me out of it.”

“Yes, well, it was infuriating seeing somepony allow fear to control their life.”

“The point is…” Fleur turned back to the solemn DJ. “It’s okay to be scared, but don’t let your fears get the best of you. You’re having trouble writing your vows; that’s okay. Take a break.”

Vinyl sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I just… I hate feeling useless. I’ve never felt like I couldn’t do something before.”

“It is a bad feeling,” Nightmare Moon agreed. “However, if there’s anything I’ve gathered from our time spent together, it’s that you are annoyingly stubborn. If you wish to do something, then I don’t doubt you’d be able to do it if you truly set your mind to it.”

Fleur gave an open-mouthed smile of admiration, something which Nightmare Moon found strangely creepy to look at. Not that she was actually scared; if a dragon smiled at you, you’d be cautious even if it didn’t have intentions to roast you alive.

“Thanks, Wolf,” At least her words seemed to have the desired effect on Vinyl, who appeared to be regaining her composure. She gave her a grateful smile. “Always pulling my flank out of the fire, eh?”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Only because you’re dragging me further into it.”

“Ah, come on, Wolf – surrounded by stuffy politicians, you need a little of the ol’ DJ Pon-3 spice in your life to keep things fresh.”

Fleur snickered. “Even you can’t argue with her there, Star.”

Nightmare Moon merely stared at them for a few moments before allowing a small grin to form. “I suppose I can’t.”

“Ebony, why am I not seeing any teleportation?”

“I-I’m sorry, Mistress…” Ebony gasped for breath, perspiration lining her forehead and matting her fur down. “I can’t figure it out; the spell’s too-”

Nightmare Moon easily parried one of Miasma’s jabs with her wing and countered with a punch that sent the other mare tumbling over the span of several yards. To Miasma’s credit, she only uttered a grunt in response, and was already getting back on her feet the second she stopped rolling.

Turning, Nightmare Moon scowled as Ebony attempted teleporting again, only for her horn to give off a few pathetic sparks of magic.

“There’s no such thing as a spell being too complex; too powerful and too dangerous maybe, but never too complex. And since I know you have the magic reserves needed to do it and this is the safest environment to attempt teleportation, the only thing holding you back is you.”

“But…” Ebony’s face creased in panic for a moment, but she swallowed it down and gave a single nod. “O-okay, I can… I can do it.”

Satisfied with the answer, Nightmare Moon turned and deftly side-stepped a punch. Miasma threw her entire body weight into a flurry of punches, trying to press the advantage.

Waiting until there was a pause in the assault, Nightmare Moon extended both her wings and gave a powerful flap. The gust of wind pushed her back and almost knocked Miasma off her feet. The loss of balance allowed Nightmare Moon to close the distance and, once more, knock Miasma back.

Miasma already had some experience in fighting, but not as much as Vinyl and nowhere near as much as Nightmare Moon. Notably, she had great difficulty dealing with Nightmare Moon’s wings, apparently more used to fighting non-pegasi.

“Veil, Fade,” Nightmare Moon looked up to the sky, easily picking out the dark shapes darting about, one more frantically than the other. “Score?”

“Seven out of ten so far,” Veil fished out another rock from the saddlebag at her side, took aim, and threw it as Fade attempted to loop around her. She was rewarded with a pained curse and a grin broke out on her face. “Eight out of eleven.”

“What sort of training involves getting shit thrown at you?” Fade cried, stopping to hover in mid-air. He nursed the bruises on his body and shot a glare at Veil. “Look at this sadistic creep; you splooshing good over there, yeah?”

“Oh, you have no idea…”

“If you can’t dodge projectiles, how do you expect to dodge magic?” Nightmare Moon answered coolly. “As for you, Veil, I am impressed by your aim; not many can hit a target moving at that speed and a 3-dimensional range of movement.”

“It’s all in the pectorals,” Veil shrugged with a showy thump of her chest with a hoof. “Plus, I’m pretty motivated to hit him.”

“Hey, don’t hate me ‘cause I’m beautiful, yeah?” Fade’s attempt to flash a brilliant smile was interrupted by a rock to his wing. He yelped and faltered in the air. “Hey, she hit a sensitive spot!”

Nightmare Moon nodded in approval. “Good – that’ll make things interesting for when I get to shoot spells at you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Miasma’s charge. With an air of casualness, Nightmare Moon swept out her wing to deflect the-

-Miasma suddenly appeared beneath her, sliding on her belly so the appendage sailed over her head. Nightmare Moon looked down in surprise and received an uppercut to the underside of her muzzle.

Her head snapped back and pain bloomed in the affected area; it wasn’t the worst pain she had experienced by a mile, but it still stung.
Nightmare Moon slowly brought her head forwards, aware of how quiet everything had gotten, and stared down at Miasma. She seemed just as surprised she had gotten a blow in, but there was an underlay of mounting fear written in her eyes, the most expressive part of her face.

She didn’t know why she was afraid; that had been exactly what Nightmare Moon was looking for.

“Well done.” She said with a nod.

Miasma slowly nodded back. “Yeah…”

“Now do it again.”

Nightmare Moon promptly went on the offensive.

“I agree,” Blue Diamond, the Third Representative of the Royal Court, said. “Canterlot may not have had trouble with these creatures yet, but that doesn’t mean it’ll never happen. Canterlot’s always had an advantage over invading forces because of our location, but this new threat has the capability of appearing literally anywhere, rendering that advantage ineffective. We need another means of protecting our buildings.”

“We don’t have room in the budget to layer the outer walls in metal, if that’s what you’re thinking,” The Second Representative – Floral Flare – retorted and paused to take a sip of her water. “And Captain Shining Armor is the only pony I know capable of erecting a barrier that large. Besides, the Crystal Empire has their own problems dealing with the creatures.”

Nightmare Moon listened to the conversations, but had her mind on other things. She was still paying attention and devoting brainpower to the Royal Court’s concerns; just because she had a coup to plan didn’t mean she could skip out on her other persona’s responsibilities.

She was thinking on a training regime; one that would whip her followers into a force worthy of being her personal guard. They had the potential – she placed it there herself, after all – but they had yet to develop the disciplined mindset so prevalent in the Royal Guard. They needed to be sure of themselves, to not flinch in the face of bodily harm, and to not hesitate when it came to causing harm.

Having never trained anypony before, it was a new challenge; one that Nightmare Moon actually looked forward to meeting.

‘I haven’t taken Shadow out for a while. Perhaps I can implement him into the training…’

“Star Secret, what do you think?”

Nightmare Moon looked towards the head of the table. Due to the urgency of the matter, Celestia and Luna were attending Royal Court meetings together more often than not, rather than letting whoever was awake at that time go.

“… I believe we should make more of an effort to study these creatures for weaknesses,” She addressed Beaker, the Sixth Representative. “You’re swapping notes with Princess Twilight, correct? Has anything of significant importance turned up?”

Beaker briefly flipped through the notes before him, squinting through his glasses at the neat, cursive writing.

“Nothing else we don’t already know; Princess Twilight has a few theories, but that’s all they are: theories.”

“I would like to hear them anyway,” Luna said. “She is an intelligent mare and I would not be surprised if her theories turn out to be concrete.”

“Fair enough,” Beaker’s horn lit up as he levitated a crinkled letter. “Let’s see – Princess Twilight theorizes that the creatures are incredibly resilient, if not immune, to magic in its purest form. If this has some ground, then they would be unaffected by spells from the Arcane and Alteration schools. The Elemental school should be fine, but I don’t know about the school of Illusion. Their physiologies must be different to ours, so even if it was effective…”

Celestia acknowledged the information with a nod and said, “Is there any particular element they are weak against?”

“Princess Twilight has some… interesting results,” Beaker rotated another letter in mid-air, as if a new perspective would make more sense of the words. “She theorizes that though the creatures are – like most animals – afraid of fire, they are especially vulnerable to lightning.”

Nightmare Moon arched one eyebrow, wondering exactly what sort of tests Twilight was doing to get such results. Was she experimenting on live subjects?

If so, then that was quite impressive.

“Furthermore,” Beaker continued with a minute adjustment of his glasses. “She believes that… well, this is a bit unusual, but she believes that they have an aversion to tin foil.”

“Tin… foil?” Celestia echoed with a tone that reflected the general bewilderment of everypony else.

“Yes, uh, apparently she did an experiment where she laid down tin foil and the creatures made a conscious effort to avoid touching it.”

“Shall we wrap tin foil around our buildings?” Blue Diamond suggested; it sounded like he was only half-joking.

“Not enough foil, the weather will rip it to shreds, it reflects the light…” Nightmare Moon dryly pointed out the flaws. “Problem after problem – I suggest we update each and every building’s security systems; make them deliver a more potent electric shock.”

“It can’t be too potent,” Beaker quickly retorted. “The last thing we need is ponies dying because of the very things manufactured to keep them safe.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Of course I don’t mean it to be lethal, but it should be sufficient enough to ward off the creatures.”
Luna nodded. “I agree with Star Secret.”

“Princesses, with all due respect, this sounds like it’s doomed from the start,” Floral Flare spoke up. “I feel like we’re going to have more shock-related injuries that way.”

Nightmare Moon scowled and felt her ire and frustration build. Floral Flare was always the first one to complain – especially when it came to Nightmare Moon’s suggestions – but the last one to actually try and come up with solutions.

She had a feeling the other mare only got her position because her father pulled some strings before he passed away.

Sighing, Nightmare Moon reached for her glass of water and downed it in one go, grumbling as the Representatives started bickering – surprise, surprise – amongst themselves. The princesses looked too deep in thought to say something about it, so it was up to Nightmare Moon to try and keep the peace.

‘Ugh, this is going to be a long night…’

“Haze, Ebony – stop what you’re doing and come here.”

The two unicorns approached her, panting from the exertion of the night’s training.

Ebony had yet to perform teleportation, which was quite frustrating for Nightmare Moon to acknowledge. After this, she’d have some one-on-one time with the smaller mare; perhaps the risk of physical harm would result in success.

It worked for the rest, so why not?

“Are you aware of what it means to have an affinity towards a school of magic?” She directed the question mostly towards Ebony, since she knew Haze had a fairly deep understanding of thaumaturgy and its terms.

Haze nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s, um…” Ebony scrunched her brow together in thought for a moment. “It’s… when you’re more skilled in a certain… type of magic than others, right?”

“Correct,” Holding up one hoof, Nightmare Moon cast a minor spell. Ice crept over hoof and formed a sharp spike, pointing skywards. “My affinity is towards cryomancy, a sub-school of Elemental. As a result, ice spells are easier to cast and use up less of my magic. Even without taking my alicorn physiology into account, I am resistant towards frost spells and low temperatures as a beneficial side-effect of my affinity.”

With a casual flick of her hoof, she sent the ice spike into the trunk of a tree. It dug in a few inches and stayed there, a layer of frost spreading out from the point of impact.

“Not every unicorn has an affinity and it is not something you can develop; it is something you are born with,” She gestured to the two standing before her. “Both of you have an affinity, but I only know of Haze’s,” Nightmare Moon turned to the stallion in question. “It is of the Illusion school, yes?”

“You are correct,” Haze nodded again. “It was somewhat of a surprise considering my father and his father before him had an affinity for the Arcane school.”

“The school of Illusion is one of my favourites,” Nightmare Moon said with an evil grin. “There are few offensive spells, but there’s nothing quite like watching somepony flail in terror from threats you force them to see.”

Haze and Ebony exchanged frightened looks.

“And you, Ebony…” Nightmare Moon continued. “You seem to have great difficulty with teleportation. Would it be wrong of me to assume you’re also inept at most spells from the Arcane school?”

Ebony cringed at her words, but nodded, ears flattening in shame. “Y-yes. It took a long time for me to even get telekinesis down…”

‘To be fair, that’s most likely because of your past.’

“You will still train to perform telekinesis and create magical barriers – they are too important to pass up – but you will take a different path from Haze.”

Ebony looked back up, one ear perking. “What do you mean, Mistress?”

“Haze, you will train in spells tailored to support the others,” Nightmare Moon decreed with a nod to her right side, referring to Miasma, who was halfway through her 200 hundred push-up routine. “You will learn how to heal, how to be unseen by the enemy, and how to debilitate them. You, Ebony, will learn some of the most powerful offensive spells presently known.”

“You really think I can do it?” Ebony asked, nervous but seemingly eager to try.

“Yes, but importantly…” Nightmare Moon pointed at her. “You must believe that you can do it. A general must have as much belief in their own strength as they have in the strength of their soldiers.”

“Well put, Mistress,” Haze said with approval. “I certainly believe you are capable of it, Ebony.”

“Th-thanks…” Flushing but determined nonetheless, Ebony held her head up high. “I’m ready for anything you have, Mistress.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled and lit up her horn while spreading her wings. “Then prepare yourself, my general; the night is still young, and there is so much for me to teach you…”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: There are five schools of magic: Arcane, Alteration, Conjuration, Elemental, and Illusion. Of the five schools, Arcane is the easiest for most unicorns to learn yet also has some of the most complicated but powerful spells. However, the spells from this school can also be countered with minor difficulty by any unicorn worth their horn. Elemental is the second-most difficult school to learn - Conjuration being the most difficult - but many of the spells are strong and not easily countered. Of the sub-schools of Elemental, electromancy - manipulation of electricity - is the easiest to learn and pyromancy - manipulation of fire - is the most difficult, with cryomancy - manipulation of ice - being in the middle.

Note 2: Nightmare Moon didn't arrive at Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding until after the two were actually betrothed due to a mishap involving her present and Princess Luna's; she doesn't count it because of this very reason.