1055 AD, November 9th

“What is this?”

“An attack in Manehatten, Empress. A creature from an Entropic Fracture; one of those armored knights.”

Nightmare Moon scowled as she read the details of the report. “Injuries, casualties – not even a working Entropic Fracture to show for it,” She exhaled in disgust and hoofed back the paper. “Thank you, Captain; if there’s anything else?”

“No.”

Turning to leave, Night-

“A-actually…!”

Nightmare Moon halted and fixed Ebony with an expectant gaze. A glimmer of irritation sparked in her chest when Ebony hesitated for a few seconds, but the smaller mare quickly got over it and cleared her throat.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could have the key to the Royal Archive’s Restricted Wing.”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon’s right eyebrow arched slightly in intrigue. “For what purpose?”

She had an idea, but she wanted to hear it from Ebony.

“I was hoping to see if there’s anything that could help me get stronger,” Ebony paused and looked away briefly, embarrassed. “Mostly to see if I have an affinity for anything…”

“I see.”

It came of no surprise to Nightmare Moon that Ebony would want to better herself, even though she was already one of the strongest unicorns in Canterlot.

Her subordinate was prone to doubting herself and – even now – wasn’t all that confident in her leadership abilities. Fortunately, it was this doubt and anxiety which made her an effective leader, as instead of shying away from the responsibilities, she strived and pushed herself to try and be that much better, especially when she felt Nightmare Moon’s gaze on her.

‘You’re quite desperate for my approval, aren’t you? Your time in that village left quite a scar on you…’

Well, if Ebony wanted to train and become stronger, who was Nightmare Moon to deny that?

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon nodded. “But Haze holds the key, so you’ll have to locate him.”

“Thank you, Empress.” Ebony dipped her head respectfully and turned to trot off and find Haze.

Free to continue on her way, Nightmare Moon traversed the castle’s corridors, towards the laboratory.

The griffon delegation was to drop by again later that day, so until that rolled around, she was going to spend her time working in the laboratory. Hopefully, Twilight and Sunset hadn’t established some ‘enemy-of-my-enemy’ nonsense and achieved something with the Orxoni.

It felt like the solution was just within reach; they just needed to figure out what to do with the excess energy when the vessel completed its task.

‘A shame that energy can’t be destroyed.’

When she arrived at the entrance to the laboratory, the guard near the door stiffened in fear. It was a reaction that never failed to amuse Nightmare Moon.

“Empress.” The stallion said with a bow.

“Has anypony aside from me come by?” She asked, pausing in front of the door.

“N-no. Uh, Sunset came out a half hour ago, yelled something about crystals, and slammed the door.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Of course she did.”

One push of her wing opened the door and Nightmare Moon entered, wrinkled her nose at the potent smell of cinnamon, and shut it behind her. The noise drew the attention of the lab’s only two occupants.

Predictably, neither was ecstatic to see her.

Ignoring their glares, Nightmare Moon trotted down between two lab tables and asked, “Have any of you made any progress with the excess energy stored by the Orxoni?”

Sunset cast a pointed look at Twilight before saying, “She certainly thinks so.”

‘Ah yes, the inevitable rivalry between two mares with more similarities than they would dare admit.’

Nightmare Moon stared expectantly at Twilight, who was visibly steeling herself. Whatever she had to say must not be what Nightmare Moon wanted to hear, so the larger alicorn made a mental note to not pass judgement nor react until Twilight fully explained herself.

“I… I believe I…” Twilight paused and wetted her lips. “No, I know I’ve found a way to deal with the excess energy produced by the Orxoni.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “And that is…?”

“We use the Elements of Harmony.”

“…” She took a deep breath. “Continue…”

Seemingly taken aback by the response, Twilight stood in place awkwardly for a second before walking over to a blackboard set near the Orxoni itself. Nightmare Moon followed, sparing a cursory glance at the vessel to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with in a way that had not received her permission.

She didn’t expect there to be – Twilight had her friends to worry about and Sunset was scared – but it didn’t hurt to check.

After deeming there was nothing suspect, she turned back to Twilight and watched as she levitated a piece of chalk to point at the complex array of diagrams and calculations that took up most of the blackboard.

“This is our world.”

She pointed to a simple circle drawn near the centre of the board.

“And this is the… the…”

“Human.” Sunset provided from the sidelines.

“The human world Sunset arrived in.”

She pointed to another circle, near the first one.

“Say these two worlds exist within these circles and we can’t interact with anything outside of them; ergo, we can’t interact with other worlds. However…”

Twilight levitated a duster and swiped an opening in the circles before drawing a horizontal line between them.

“Sometimes the borders of our worlds weaken and fail, and then we are able to interact outside of our worlds. The Orxoni is an artefact which uses powerful magic to deliberately rip through our reality and into another one.”

“So what we have here…” Nightmare Moon looked towards the mirror. “Is a ‘controlled’ Entropic Fracture?”

“Pretty much,” Sunset said, trotting up to the artefact and tapping it soundly on the frame. “And like you asked, we tried to see if there was a way to use that same magic to repair the Entropic Fractures appearing all over Equestria.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “And did you?”

Sunset hesitated and looked unsure. “We-”

“It can.”

Twilight met Sunset’s irritated expression with one of pure determination and confidence, and then returned to the blackboard.

“It doesn’t matter if these creatures and the world they come from have different rules when it comes to reality and physics because we’re not looking to seal the fracture in both worlds…”

She used the chalk to complete the left circle, cutting through the line she had drawn through the pair of shapes.

“We’re looking to seal the fracture on our side only. And we know exactly what rules apply to our world.”

Nightmare Moon hummed thoughtfully and she idly tapped her right forehoof against the ground as she did. What Twilight said was true – she couldn’t care less what happened to whatever world they were unfortunate enough to intersect with, she just wanted her world, her kingdom to be safe.

“But then that’s where we hit a wall…” Sunset sighed as she brushed a lock of her fiery – not to mention frazzled and unkempt – mane back. “To seal the fracture above Canterlot, we’d have to completely overhaul and reverse the Orxoni’s function so that it closes fractures instead of opening them.”

“And then we channel that reverse-engineered magic into a beam and aim it at the fracture above Canterlot,” Twilight added before gesturing to a long calculation on the blackboard. “Unfortunately, that leaves us with this…”

Nightmare Moon took a few seconds to read the calculation and a grimace spread across her face when she finished.

“If it seals the fracture, the magic used to do the task rebounds back into the Orxoni as heat energy and builds until reaching critical mass,” She paused to do some more mental math and recall some thaumaturgy. “The explosion will take out half of Canterlot.”

“If it doesn’t just completely flip out and start tearing reality apart…” Sunset muttered and then gave a shrug. “Well, more than it already is.”

Ignoring the remark, Twilight turned to Nightmare Moon and said, “This is why I’m asking for the Elements of Harmony; there’s no focus stone in Equestria we could attach to the Orxoni that could absorb and safely disperse the amount of heat energy resulting from the sealing of the fracture. The Elements can do that though.”

“It’s why they can’t be destroyed in their current state; they absorb kinetic energy as much as magical energy.”

“Yes, I’m aware of their properties,” Nightmare Moon said. “However, I’m sure you understand, Twilight, that I’m just a little bit hesitant to give you access to that which can overpower me with minimal difficulty.”

“You wanted a solution…” Twilight growled up at her with a sour expression. “And I’m giving it to you. I thought you were willing to do anything to protect your rule?”

Nightmare Moon responded with her own animalistic growl and a showy display of her teeth, irritated by Twilight’s tone.

Impressively, Twilight didn’t flinch as badly as she had anticipated. Hell, Sunset drew back more and she wasn’t even the target.

Perhaps the worst part about this was that she knew Twilight was correct.

The amount of magical energy that would be converted into heat was tremendous and no focus stone she knew of could safely handle all of it. The Elements of Harmony were more than enough to match Discord’s power – as that fateful night in the throne room proved – so it stood to reason that they could handle this.

And of course Nightmare Moon was willing to do what it took to protect her rule and home, but she was very wary of any ulterior motives that Twilight had in store.

“And what would you do with the Elements exactly?” Nightmare Moon asked as she pulled her toothy snarl into a tight-lipped frown. “Attach all six to the Orxoni’s frame like they were focus stones?”

Twilight nodded, still glaring. “That’s the idea…”

“Um…”

Nightmare Moon oriented her head in Sunset’s direction and the sudden movement made the smaller mare flinch. Attempting to recover from the unflattering reaction, she cleared her throat and drew herself up as she spoke.

“We probably don’t need all of them; two or three at the very most. Even one Element would be enough to stall the Orxoni from… you know… immediately killing everypony in a fiery explosion.”

“Hm, strange that you didn’t mention that…” Nightmare Moon cast a dark look at Twilight and continued before she could respond. “Fine – I will allow you access to three of the Elements. They won’t activate unless they and their bearers are all together anyway.”

“It’ll take some time to make sure they’re attached to the Orxoni properly,” Twilight said. “Three days at the very most.”

“One day.” Nightmare Moon retorted.

Twilight’s brow furrowed in indignation. “We can’t have it-”

“Every day that passes is another day for those creatures to filter in through the fractures,” Nightmare Moon leaned down so she was eye-level with her. “Did you know that five ponies in Manehatten died last night?”

“I…” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“And nine others were injured. We’re getting this fracture sealed even if I have to work through the night. If saving ponies isn’t a good enough motivator for you…”

“N-no…” Twilight shook her head. “I’ll help. I just…” She sighed and rubbed at her brow. “Ugh, just let me get some coffee…”

“Oh Faust, me too!” Sunset cried with a desperate look. “I haven’t had any in days!”

“That sounds like an addiction if I’ve ever heard one…” Nightmare Moon remarked as she rose back to her full height and turned to head towards the lab’s entrance. “I’ll be back shortly and then we can get started.”

Halfway towards the door, she stopped and twisted her neck to stare coldly at Twilight.

“I hope you’re aware of the consequences should I get any hint that you’re doing something other than attaching the Elements to the Orxoni.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” She replied in a low voice.

“Good.”

Just before Nightmare Moon left, she caught sight of Sunset staring at the Orxoni with a forlorn expression.

‘What is it about the human world you miss so much?’

It made her curious…

The restricted section of the Royal Archives was not as intimidating a place as its name might suggest.

When Haze unlocked the heavy wooden door in the very back of the Royal Archives, Ebony entered, expected a dungeon-like chamber with lit wall scones, and gave a ‘huh’ of surprise when she saw that it was exactly the same as the rest of the archives.

Well, maybe the bookshelves were a little bit dustier.

“Have you been in here before?” Ebony asked as she walked down the row of shelves, eyes widened to take in the sheer volume of literature.

“Only recently…” Haze replied. He followed her after taking out a white, embroidered handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit. “And to bring the Empress some coffee, I’m sad to say. Oh, but I can already tell I’m going to be sneezing like mad in here.”

Ebony had never been much of a bookworm, but the sight of so many books and scrolls containing a millennium’s worth of knowledge was enough to leave anypony in awe.

She stopped at one bookshelf and shifted through the bottom-most row. They were about Electromancy spells; a field which she – unfortunately – had no affinity for.

Even so, she took a particularly thick tome out with telekinesis and opened it to the first page, crimson aura flickering as she speed-read.

Oh, they were lethal spells, too!

“Ebony, if I may ask…” Haze approached her side, handkerchief hovering close to his muzzle in preparation. “What brought on this sudden desire to score the Royal Archives?”

“I…” Ebony hesitated, lowering the book as she avoided eye contact. “I don’t feel like… I feel like I should be doing more.”

“More? You’re already…” He paused upon feeling a sneeze, but it turned out to be a false alarm. “You’re already doing more than your share as Captain of the Eclipse. The Empress is brutally honest and would have said as much if she believed you weren’t.”

“Maybe…” Ebony shrugged. “But I still think that I can do better. I’m still wondering why she made me the captain instead of you. I mean, you’re always so calm and collected.”

Haze chuckled. “My ego thanks you for that, but the Empress gave us our positions for a reason. My talents lie with politics and number-crunching; I am also quite comfortable helping the Empress organize her daily agenda and other events. You, on the other hoof, have quite the flair for actually leading and training ponies in more… confrontational scenarios.”

“You really think so?”

“My dear, what reason would I have to undermine your abilities?”

Ebony placed the book down on the floor and shifted through the books once more, looking for any more items of interest.

“Sorry, it’s just… I’ve never had this much responsibility before, or have so many ponies place this much faith in me,” She paused as she took out another book from the second row. “I just don’t want to disappoint any of you.”

Haze tilted his head, curious. “I admire your dedication, but there are many stallions and mares throughout history that have worked themselves to the point of harm following this path.”

She tagged a page in a book of Pyromancy and set it down on the first book before replying, “I’ll be careful; I promise.”

“As you say, but be wary that if at any point I think you’re at risk, it is my duty to give you a sound bop on the horn.”

Ebony grinned at the playful note in his tone. “I’ll hold you to that,” She turned to him and gestured towards the shelves. “Hey, do you know where the stepladder is?”

Haze nodded and turned to trot away. “I believe I saw it back in the non-restricted section. I won’t be long.”

“Thanks.”

Alone for the time being, Ebony settled down to read through several more books.

She was thankful that Nightmare Moon’s intense training had given her a better understanding on magic and how spells worked, so while the information in the books were difficult to grasp, they weren’t impossible, as Past Ebony might have deemed them to be.

The only problem she had, really, was that she had no idea where to start. She wanted to become stronger in magic, that goal was clear in her mind, but how to go about it?

Discovering what field of magic she had an affinity for would be nice, but Ebony might not have even had an affinity, so that would just mean wasted time.

She could try branching out her repertoire of spells so she had more variety when it came to dealing with threats; that certainly couldn’t hurt.

Maybe she should take a page from Haze’s book and study up on spells tailored to supporting her allies.

So many ways to go about it…

By the time Haze returned with the stepladder, Ebony had gathered a stack of books as tall as her.

“I cannot believe it took me so long,” Haze grumbled as he stood the ladder up against the bookshelf. “The blasted thing was hidden underneath a table and when I pulled it out, a gust of wind blew an entire collection of scrolls on my head. Thank heavens none of them were damaged,” He observed the pile she had gathered with an amused smirk. “I can see you’re putting your time to good use.”

“It’s hard finding the right books,” Ebony replied as she rolled up a scroll and put it back, slight annoyance fuelling her movements. “Most of these just repeat the same thing, but in different ways. I went through one book about Cryomancy spells and their origins, and there was another explaining the same thing, but much more clearly.”

Haze clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “This is most likely why the restricted section is restricted; the anger scholars would feel if they discovered how many ponies plagiarized one another throughout history would be palpable.”

Ebony hummed in agreement and telekinetically pulled the stepladder over to her and set it up. She climbed the first few steps, allowing a better view of the tomes at the top rows.

‘Inanimate Augmentation… Animate Augmentation… A History on Wendigos… Wait, Starswirl wrote a book on his pet cat? Why?’

“Ah, if it’s not too much trouble, could you see if there’s a book up there called Mirages and Memories?” Haze asked. “I’ve been searching for it all over the Royal Archives, but never in here.”

“I’ll keep an eye- oh, found it!”

“Tch…” Haze pursed his lips in frustration as Ebony levitated the book down to him. “The hours I could have saved if I had just started in here.”

“Hm…” Ebony stretched her magic to pull out several books and float them in front of her face like it was a parade.

So far, many of the good books were the ones that didn’t have flashy covers or poignant-sounding titles. Obviously, the authors were confident enough in their work that they felt any form of showponyship was a waste of time.

Still, it couldn’t have hurt to have a little blurb on the back; one or two sentences wouldn’t have been ‘showy’ in the slightest.

Seven books danced their way before Ebony’s eyes until she settled on one in particular.

It was plainly titled Studies of Flesh and had a black hard cover. Humming in intrigue, Ebony placed the other books back before stepping down from the ladder, and then flipping to the first page of the thick tome.

“Dedicated to Torch Runner; From the heavens, I know you are watching me. – Marrow View.”

Haze took note of the book and carefully place Mirages and Memories down before asking, “What have you got there?”

“Do you know who Marrow View is?” Ebony answered with a question of her own, glancing up quizzically. When Haze’s eyes widened and he gave a sound of surprise, she then asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just been a while since I’ve heard that name,” He paused to think for a bit, features scrunching in thought. “Marrow View was, ah… Yes, she was a unicorn who was born in 573 AD and known for single-hoofedly establishing the school of Necromancy.”

Ebony’s lips parted in shock. “Necromancy?”

“Have you heard of it?”

“Sort of…” She looked down at the book in a new light. “I remember seeing a crime movie where they mentioned using it for detective work. It’s magic suited for dead things, right?”

“Correct, but I have to point out that it’s less nefarious as it sounds. Necromancy is just like any other field of magic, but the subject matter is… Well, ‘death’ as a concept is something that we – as living creatures – are wont to shy away from, hm?”

Ebony nodded distractedly as she slowly flipped through the book’s pages. “So Marrow View was the first necromancer?”

“Maybe…” Haze answered with an unsure frown. “It’s up for debate if she was the first pony to actually use necromancy, but she was most definitely the first pony to be officially recognized by Celestia as a necromancer.”

Marrow View was big on illustrations as there was one almost on every page. They were incredibly detailed and were something Ebony was both thankful and disgusted to see, the latter emotion coming up strongly whenever the illustration had to do with the equine body.

“Necromancy is a sub-school of the Alteration school, just as Temporal Summoning is a sub-school of Conjuration. More accurately, it falls under the ‘Inanimate Augmentation’ category and is very closely tied to the ‘Come to Life’ spell. Though anypony may learn necromancy, those experienced in Alteration magic will most likely have an easier time learning.”

As Ebony read, Haze continued speaking. “Necromancy is studied in schools, but only a select few. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns comes to mind; they have an entire class and lab dedicated to it, and it’s usually for those training to become part of the guard force.”

“Guard force?”

“Corpses rising from their graves is often what most think when they hear ‘necromancy’, but it has a place in identifying how somepony was killed, the time, and the cause of death,” Haze paused to wipe at his nose with the handkerchief. “Ugh… In fact, I had a distant cousin acquitted of murder charges because somepony used necromancy to determine his spouse died from natural causes. Had being the correct term; he sadly took his own life some time ago.”

“Oh…” Ebony looked up, surprised by how dark that quickly became. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Haze said with an indifferent shrug. “We weren’t close, but it certainly… Yes, well, the point I’m making is that necromancy does not deserve the level of infamy it garners.”

“You know a lot about it,” Ebony observed as she turned her attention back to the book. “Did you ever…?”

“Oh heavens no!” This time, Haze paused to give a powerful sneeze, after which he rubbed at his nose with a groan. “I respect the necromantic arts, but I could never bring myself to dabble with corpses. The stench…” He shuddered.

Ebony shifted through several more pages, her interest growing with each paragraph, each drawing.

“My interest in death stemmed not from an unstable and unhappy childhood, but a fulfilling one. My parents – rest their souls – were very loving and supportive; most of all, they were honest. When a family member died and when I went to my first funeral, they did not hesitate in telling what had transpired; someone close to us had died, gone to heaven, and we will never see them again until we had died ourselves.

“This may seem a dark thing to do, but I believe it is better than if they told me that family member were asleep, and I would live out my days fearing sleep. With my parents’ guidance, I learned that the myriad of emotions that came with death was a natural part of life and completely healthy for somepony to experience at a younger age than most of my friends.”

There was something about the way Marrow View wrote, her words. There was… passion; confidence exuded from her delicate hoofwriting.

It appealed to her on some level.

“Maybe I’ll take a look at this…” She said, more to herself. “Even if I don’t get into it, it’d be an interesting perspective.”

“You are your own mare and you can make your own decisions,” Haze stepped closer, eyeing the book with a scrutinizing eye. “However, as your friend, I implore you to be cautious if you wish to travel the path of the necromancer. It is a misunderstood school, but it is still a dangerous one.”

“I will.” Ebony reassured with a smile, warmed that he had referred to her as his friend. He was always polite and pleasant with them, but it was rare to hear him say something along those lines.

“Now, I-” He interrupted himself with a loud sneeze. “Oh dear, I think I should be leaving now before I sneeze this entire place to pieces,” Lifting Mirages and Memories, Haze nodded to the exit. “I’ll be in there for the next hour or so, so feel free to contact me if you require anything else.”

Ebony nodded. “Okay. Thanks again, Haze.”

The captain of the Eclipse settled down to read her book, back pressed against the shelf behind her, while Haze trotted off to do his own studying.

“Many cried out in protest upon learning how necromancy tampers with the deceased and they have the right to do so; even if a corpse is nothing but an empty vessel and the soul has long since left, it still housed life and is worthy of respect. Therefore, a necromancer must be – above all else – respectful to any creature that has passed, no matter their origins…”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Focus stones have often been described as a thaumaturgist's best friends, especially when they prevent magical-related injuries. Focus stones are found near Equestria's coasts and are comprised of a wide variety of substances, including malachite and gravel.

Originally, focus stones were thought to be the tears of an ancient sea deity, but it is now known that they are the droppings of a species of giant clams which feed on earth itself.

Note 2: Key to the Royal Archives' Restricted Wing - Celestia has amassed a wealth of knowledge over her extensive life and though much of that knowledge she gladly shares with any willing to learn, there is some which she feels more comfortable being under lock and key.

Once upon a time, a young Twilight Sparkle begged her mentor to be allowed access. Whether she was given permission or not is known only to those two.