1055 AD, November 12th

“All the guards have been accounted for, Empress. Some are injured, but nothing serious.”

“And the state of the castle?”

“Nothing that a bit of horn grease can’t fix.”

“Make sure our defences are up to par; the repairs of the castle can wait. Also, I haven’t heard from the griffon ambassador yet, so have somepony go and check up on him.”

“Of course, Empress. Is there anything else?”

“No. That is all.”

Haze bowed his head and turned to trot out of the throne room. Before he fully turned, Ebony saw his lips twitch, and his steps were decidedly more cautious than normal; the only signs that he was still hurting from today’s battle.

She could sympathize.

Ebony gingerly placed a hoof against the breastplate of her armor. Her ribs had been cracked at some point and though they were mostly fully healed by now, there was still a biting sting that accompanied each breath she took.

Still, it was nothing compared to what her Empress had gone through…

Faust, just remembering the event was enough to send shudders down her spine.

“Ebony, stop.”

She gasped and turned her head to the left. “E-Empress?”

“I can feel the tension rolling off of you. I am fine…”

Nightmare Moon made Twilight turn her head to face Ebony, the movement slow and methodical… as well as eerie.

“Do not let your performance suffer because of what happened today.”

“I… I won’t, Empress.”

Twilight’s empty gaze remained on her for several uncomfortable moments as Nightmare Moon briefly tended to the body sitting on the throne. Once she was done doing… whatever it was she was doing… she made Twilight look straight ahead again.

Ebony didn’t know what was wrong with Nightmare Moon’s body; it looked to be completely healed and back to its full glory, but perhaps Fade had a point when he said it was giving that ‘Nightmare Grin’ way too many times.

Indeed, Nightmare Moon – as in, that ‘living’ black smoke that hung around the limp body sitting in the throne – seemed reluctant to completely inhabit the vessel, and instead partially filled it like a half-full water balloon.

Whatever was going on, Ebony knew two things for certain…

One: her Empress was more terrifying and mysterious than she could have ever imagined.

Two: she was going to hunt down those Element bearers and former princesses and bring them back to custody.

‘I’ve finally found my role in life. When Nightmare Moon almost died there… I would have been without… No, don’t think about that. Don’t let your performance suffer because of worry. Act like the leader Nightmare Moon sees in you.’

Ebony drew in a breath and puffed out her chest just as the throne room doors swung open. Veil trotted in with one wing wrapped up tightly in white bandages.

“Hey, uh… that Vinyl mare’s here…” Veil stopped a bit in front of the dais the throne was situated on. From her position, Ebony could see patches of burnt hair that had yet to shed. “She’s asking for you. Well… demanding, more like it.”

Twilight’s normal eye twitched and Ebony wasn’t sure if it was Nightmare Moon’s influence or some sign of inner turmoil. The body in the throne certainly hadn’t reacted to the news.

Veil quirked one eyebrow and blinked at the lack of response, and then started turning away. “So that’s a no?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“Yes to the no?”

“No – yes to- ugh…”

Twilight’s single reptilian eye quivered and flicked back and forth. With a sound not unlike an irritated rattlesnake, wisps of dark fog crawled out from her nostrils, mouth, and ears. Ebony couldn’t hold back a small noise of alarm and her armor clanked noisily as she jolted.

Veil’s lip curled in distaste and she shrunk back as the fog snaked towards the throne. The aura already surrounding Nightmare Moon’s body compressed and disappeared into any orifice it could find; once the last of the fog had vanished within the body, Twilight collapsed onto her side, unconscious.

“Mm…” The previously unresponsive body blinked and bent its neck with audible crunching noises. “Ungh… I… I will see to Vinyl myself.”

Nightmare Moon rose and stretched some more, wincing and grunting in pleasure as she worked out each kink. It sounded good; Ebony felt like doing some herself.

“Ebony – take Twilight to one of the cells where the Element bearers used to be held,” The Empress ordered as she trotted past the fallen mare. “It doesn’t matter which one.”

“Yes, Empress. Should I use an obsidian ring on her?”

“No, she’ll be out of it for a while. Take her to the cells and remain guard there until I return; it shouldn’t be too long.”

Veil stepped to the side to allow Nightmare Moon to pass. “Anything you want me to do?”

“Nothing serious…” The Empress stopped in place to address her. “I’m sure you can find…”

“…”

“…”

Ebony frowned in concern as the two stared at each other. “Um…”

“… find something to occupy yourself.”

When Nightmare Moon came out of her long pause, she seemed notably more irritated, and didn’t bother waiting for a reply; she just stormed off with a thunderous expression that made the two guards stationed by the throne room doors quiver until she had disappeared out into the corridors.

“… What was that about?”

Ebony shook her head as she moved over to Twilight and cautiously prodded her with telekinesis, grimacing at the spots of blood that covered the floor from the protruding crystals.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s like the lights weren’t on for a second…” Veil glanced at the doors and then back to her. “Think that’s from the solar strike?”

“What else could it be?”

“… Stallion… tha’ was… pretty damn messed up, eh?”

It was incredibly rare for Veil’s accent to shine through and it caught Ebony off-guard for a moment. She’d sooner hear Veil use country-isms than let her accent slip.

It only happened twice before in the time they’ve been friends.

“Ah knew th’… I mean, I knew the princesses were strong, but Celestia calling down that beam and just vaporizing Nightmare Moon?” Veil shivered. “That was pretty freaky…”

“It was.”

Ebony concentrated and gently lifted Twilight from off the floor. The crystals sprouting from the young alicorn’s body radiated unfamiliar magic which predictably lashed out at Ebony’s aura, but there was also magic coming off them that was very similar to Nightmare Moon’s aura.

And as if sensing the similarity, the magic worked to subdue Twilight’s aura, allowing Ebony to pick up and lay the unconscious mare across her back.

The weight wasn’t a problem, but she shuddered when an errant crystal scratched her side.

“Need help?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks.”

When Ebony made for the doors, Veil joined her, which was surprising. It wasn’t unwelcome, but she expected her to have better things to do than act as an escort.

Although considering who the unconscious pony on Ebony’s back was… maybe having an escort couldn’t hurt.

“So…” Veil glanced around suspiciously once they were out in the castle’s corridors and heading towards the cells. Notably, she looked over her shoulder in the direction Nightmare Moon went before turning back and whispering, “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Me?”

“It’s about Nightmare Moon.”

“Oh, well… okay…” Swallowing as a weight settled in her belly, Ebony nodded. “What’s it about?”

“That whole…” Veil paused and grumbled something under her breath. “Let’s not kid ourselves: Nightmare Moon’s pretty freaky.”

Ebony’s knee-jerk reaction was to defend her Empress, but the more she thought on it, the more she realized that the statement was true, and that Nightmare Moon herself would probably take that as a compliment.

She nodded again. “O-okay…”

“And I think we all sort of figured from the get-go that she isn’t equine.”

“Okay…”

“But that thing where she was hit by Celestia’s beam and just exploded out of her body in that black fog… that was more than I expected. Seeing her all melted was one thing, but that fog, what she actually looked like was another thing altogether.”

A patrol of Eclipse guards passed by and Veil abruptly switched to telepathy; she obviously wanted their conversation to remain private. The switch was a little disorienting and Ebony blinked hard and lightly shook her head.

“What are you saying? She’s still our Empress, whether she’s in her body or as somepony else… or something else.”

Veil looked around again to see if they were clear. They were. “But I never expected her to be so… so…” She gave a short, humourless laugh. “I cannot believe I’m using this word… ‘demonic’.”

Ebony felt heat flare in her chest and she snapped, “Veil!”

“What else would you use to describe that? Look – I don’t believe in Mother Faust. I’ll use ‘her’ name in a curse for impact, but I don’t believe in her. You know what else I don’t believe in? Gods, demons, and devils – the type that alicasists and my parents used to go on about.”

The intensity in Veil’s tone was uncharacteristic of her. Ebony came to a stop and nervously looked around for twitching ears and prying eyes; she didn’t want Nightmare Moon catching wind of this.

“So if I’m using the word ‘demonic’ to describe ‘our’ Empress…” Veil continued, now stepping forwards and getting in the other mare’s face. “Then something’s seriously screwed here!”

“Veil, stop shouting!” Ebony drew in a breath and looked around once more before meeting her friend’s gaze. It really wasn’t like Veil to be this way. It was a little scary, to be honest. “We swore our loyalty to Nightmare Moon because we wanted change in Equestria, right? Y-you told me some… uh, some time ago that you wished Equestria didn’t rely so heavily on the ‘friendship is magic’ ideal.”

“Yeah… I remember…”

“Well, Nightmare Moon’s doing that right now; she even made the Resonator and closed the Fracture. It… Does it matter what she is so long as she’s helping our home? I…” A thought came to Ebony. “She saved you, remember?”

“… Yeah, she did. I would have been toast if she didn’t shove me out of that beam. Literally. Surprised she did that actually…”

“And you said how it’s screwed up?” Ebony shrugged as best she could without disturbing her passenger. “Well… we had to expect that when we swore loyalty to her, r-right? Plus, we’ve already done some pretty… s-screwed up stuff. We hurt all those guards…”

“Yeah…” Veil cast her gaze to the floor, though there was no hint of guilt in her tone, only acknowledgment. “Yeah, we did,” She sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Hmph… maybe I’m just being crazy… or maybe my parents’ ‘advice’ about demons and devils just got through for a bit. I dunno…”

Smiling sympathetically, Ebony gently said, “It’s been a long day; I think we all just need some time to recover.”

“… Maybe,” Veil nodded as she stopped massaging her temple and put down her foreleg. Briefly, she cast a quick look down the end of the corridor they came from. “I still stand by what I said about Nightmare Moon. I don’t think she’s actually a demon, but she’s definitely something. You’re right about following her though; we all chose this and said we understood what we were getting into, so… might as well stand by it,” She gave a short huff of a chuckle. “We’re already in pretty deep and I don’t think the princesses would smile and take a little ‘sorry we kicked your asses and imprisoned you’.”

Relieved to see a bit of the real Veil again, Ebony chuckled in amusement as her muscles relaxed. “I’m sure they’ve forgiven worse.”

“That’s something I don’t doubt,” Veil rolled her eyes before giving a jerk of her head to the side. “Probably talked your ear off enough for one day; let’s go get Gem-Face in her cell before she wakes up.”

Ebony kept her relieved smile on and fell alongside her friend in a brisk trot.

She didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from her Empress, but she feared how Nightmare Moon would react to hearing Veil having doubts. She cared deeply for Veil – considered her the closest thing to a ‘bestie’, if the word didn’t make the pegasus scrunch her face up and get stomach aches – and didn’t want to see her get into trouble.

‘Maybe I can keep this one secret; it can’t hurt anypony, right?’

It was just a little secret…

Oh yes, she was definitely still smarting from that attack.

Nightmare Moon scowled when her right wing unfurled and flapped three times without her permission, incidentally knocking over a small table holding a ceramic vase. She had to make a conscious effort to tuck the appendage back in and her magic didn’t react as instantly when she called on it to pick up the vase.

‘I shouldn’t be meeting Vinyl in this condition…’

Yet she was still going to.

She chose not to dwell on it and simply fixed the vase before moving on down the hallway and going through the door at the end.

The entrance hall was where all who requested to see Nightmare Moon would be seated until she either ordered her guards to escort them in or had them sent off. It was frustrating since Nightmare Moon held a court in the morning and night at specific times so that ponies could come in and voice their concerns.

Apparently, nopony had any.

Nightmare Moon spotted Vinyl before she even used the large set of stairs to get down to the ground floor; the alabaster DJ was staring at a painting hanging from the wall near the front doors. She had her head tilted to the side, so Nightmare Moon could only guess she was struggling to understand exactly what the content of the painting was.

“I’m no closer either.”

Vinyl started at the sound of her voice, but quickly relaxed and had a big familiar grin on her face when she turned. “Hey, Wolf! How’s it been? Heard there was some brawl or something at the castle and the princesses and Element girls escaped.”

“…”

“… Not that I’m… happy to hear that… heh heh…”

Nightmare Moon grinded her teeth and swallowed her rage as she descended the steps, carefully in case her leg muscles suddenly stopped responding. “Literally three seconds and already I want to commit defenestration.”

Vinyl’s brow scrunched behind her glasses. “That’s, uh… that’s a fancy way of sayin’ ‘toss my ass out the window’, right?”

“Vocabulary lessons going well, I see.”

“Dunno what’s wrong with just sayin’ it straight and true,” Vinyl muttered before tilting her head to the side again, as if to examine Nightmare Moon in a different light. “So anyway… I also heard that you sort of got smoked. Pretty badly, too.”

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Nightmare Moon flashed her teeth as she growled and, against her wishes, her right hind leg tapped against the marble floor twice.

“I do not wish to talk about that.”

Vinyl frowned. “Hey, I’m just worried about ya, is all…”

The concern struck her like a bucket of cold water. Fortunately, there were no guards around. Nightmare Moon inhaled deeply, stopped a few feet away from Vinyl, and looked down with a somewhat calmer temperament.

“Perhaps… the worst I’ve ever been injured… but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Your worries are not necessary.”

“You sure?” Vinyl’s horn glowed and she lifted her glasses to show inquisitive red eyes. “That smile’s not so much reassuring as friggin’ shit-scary.”

‘Wonderful – it’s happening again…’

As soon as she was aware of it, the muscles in Nightmare Moon’s cheeks allowed her lips to push together and tug downwards instead of stretching to the sides and pulling apart. It may have taken more muscles to frown than to smile, but her frown was more likely to put people at ease than her smile.

“Nothing to worry about,” She insisted. “Now, you wanted me for something, correct?”

The DJ placed her glasses back and broke into a cheesy grin. “Yeah! I heard some crazy crap went down and figured you could use your ol’ friend to lend an ear… and some, uh… some hard cider.”

“Vinyl…” Nightmare Moon said with a sigh and closed her eyes in irritation. “It is past noon, but only by a few hours. Do you think I have nothing better that I could be spending time on?”

“I dunno…” She shrugged. “Do you?”

“…”

There was no way Nightmare Moon was going to attempt a recapturing of the princesses and Element bearers when she wasn’t at full strength, even when she was almost one hundred percent certain she knew where they would have fled to.

The Resonator wouldn’t need another inspection until later that night.

Twilight wouldn’t wake for a few more hours.

Her Praetorian Guard would be taking care of their duties.

And… well, she could really use a drink after everything that happened today…

“Sadly, no.”

Vinyl laughed with triumph and gestured to the front doors. “Come on – I know a bar that’s pretty alright for being in an uppity neighbourhood.”

Haze exited the throne room with a curious expression on his face. Fortunately, he spotted Fade attempting to strut down the hallway as a patrol of two female guards passed.

Haze gave him points for trying.

“Fade, have you seen the Empress?”

“You have telepathy, yeah?” Fade pointed out with a slight grimace and stretched out his sore legs.

“It seems rude to intrude on her thoughts like that. It’s not important that I find her immediately, but I am curious as to where she’s gone.”

“Ah, she’s gone drinking with Vinyl or some shit…” He winced as his left foreleg gave a soft click. “Ooh, that’s good.”

Haze quirked a brow. “Drinking?”

It was important that she appear strong and unfettered to any who gazed upon her; she would not and could not stand for seeming weak and deserving of pity.

At the same time however, she also made a point that she didn’t care what other ponies thought about her, especially when it came to the droll bleating about morality and what was ‘right and wrong’.

Maybe it had to do with her mood because right now, Nightmare Moon couldn’t care less how it looked to onlookers to see the Empress of Equestria sitting in the booth of a public if-not-classy bar that was a little too small for her.

The few patrons who dared remain in the bar hid the fact that they were staring with varying levels of success and the only ponies who truly weren’t interested was a band on the stage in the back playing their music.

Nightmare Moon admired their dedication.

“No shit? She called down the actual friggin’ sun?”

“I was not aware she even had such an ability,” Nightmare Moon shifted in her side of the booth a third time – she took up the entirety and it was only just enough. “It makes me wonder if Luna possesses something similar.”

“Maybe,” Vinyl’s horn glowed as she lifted a small glass of whiskey to her lips. She sucked on her teeth once it was empty and shuddered slightly. “Mm. Hey, maybe it’s not a beam of moonlight; I betcha it’s like a… like a sword or some crap.”

Nightmare Moon gave an amused smirk. “A moonlight sword?”

“Why not?”

“Ignoring the fact that lunar rays are in no way harmful to living creatures…” She paused. “Well… at least not the lunar rays from Equestria’s moon… it would be incredibly difficult and impractical to forge an actual sword from the rays.”

“Difficult but not impossible,” Vinyl pointed out and lounged back in her seat. “Didn’t you say at one point that you should prepare for every scenario?”

“That’s hard to do when you are still unaware of the capabilities of your foes…” She took another pause to down her own glass of whiskey and when she placed the receptacle down, Vinyl was eyeing her pointedly. Nightmare Moon nodded with a grumble. “Yes, I am well aware that is hardly an excuse. I should have planned more thoroughly for their inevitable escape attempt, but I didn’t think they were strong enough to…”

Her pride was wounded and no amount of alcohol would fix that; doubly so when her liver processed the liquid faster than she could down it. No, she would always have a clear head: some would call that a curse, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“At any rate…” She continued. “Considering how badly the beam injured me, it would have killed my Praetorian Guard if I hadn’t pushed them out of the blast radius.”

“Whoa, so you saved them?” Vinyl sounded surprised but not unpleasantly so. “Nice going, Wolf.”

“I would have teleported us all out if I had the time and concentration,” Nightmare Moon said dismissively. “It was a knee-jerk reaction that I chose to push them out of the way instead; after all, I have a better chance of surviving whatever Celestia could manage.”

“Somepony’s got a heart~” Vinyl cooed in a lilting tone that didn’t quite suit her scratchy voice.

“And somepony stills plays the role of the jester,” She retorted. “Do not mistake the fact that I am grateful to those who assist me as evidence that I am turning into some saccharine and soft-hearted sovereign. If it were anypony else, I would have let them be reduced to cinders.”

“Mm-hm…” The DJ simply smirked in reply and turned to shout over the music, “Yo – Empress wants some more shots, right stat now!”

“I can only imagine what nonsense you’ve gotten yourself into throwing my name around…”

“Not as much as you’d think,” Vinyl idly traced the rim of her glass with one hoof and watched a lone mare on the other side of the bar exhale into her hoof and sniff suspiciously. “Classy.”

“So how are things with you and your wife? I assume you are still sickeningly mad in love?”

“So much your stomach will blow chunks…” She laughed… perhaps a little too loudly and quickly. “It’s… pretty cool.”

Nightmare Moon levelled her with an unimpressed stare. “The guts and lack of brain cells you must have to attempt to lie to me…”

Vinyl grimaced at being caught out and nodded slowly, “Yeah, yeah… well, we’re both still totally hot for each other, but I’ve kinda been in the kennel for the past few days.”

A young mare in her early twenties brought over their drinks; she shivered so hard the liquid sloshed in the glasses.

Inevitably, some found its way onto Nightmare Moon’s coat.

“Truly, the pinnacle of service can be found in this establishment,” She commented dryly as the mare went white as a sheet and whimpered out her apologies. “Give me those.” With magic, she took the drinks, placed them on the table, and no sooner did she flick her hoof did the mare bolt.

“She’s still super-upset that I’m still pals with you,” Vinyl said and gave a nod of gratitude when her drink was slid over. “Cheers. Like, she didn’t even want me to go check up on you earlier today. I mean… Octy, I love ya so much it gives me diabetes, but I gotta go see how my friend’s doing, right?”

“I get such a warm feeling inside…”

The worst part was she actually did, though she was quick to squash it before it could spread.

“She didn’t like that, so I’m definitely gonna get an earful when I get back home. Meh – worth it.”

“… Are you and Octavia truly well?”

“Huh?”

Nightmare Moon was suddenly struck by a pang of ‘wrongness’; she likened it to how her closest associate was possibly suffering marital problems because of her. Naturally, she was eager to be rid of the blasted sensation.

“It would not please me to hear you two separate because of differing viewpoints.” She said calmly and swirled her glass.

“Separate? Nah…” Vinyl shook her head and her mane fell across her face from the action. “No way it’ll get that bad; we’re just hittin’ a rough patch. That crap’s bound to happen in any marriage, eh? I bet Shining Armor and Cadence have rows over who hogs the blankets, too.”

There was confidence and certainty in Vinyl’s tone, which soothed the wrongness pulsing beneath Nightmare Moon’s chest.

“Besides…” The DJ continued with a so-so wave of her forehoof. “Our viewpoints aren’t exactly different.”

“What do you mean?”

“First of all, you always said for me to be honest with you, right?”

“Right.”

“So I’ll start by sayin’ that I agree with Octavia fully about how what you’re doing, what you’ve done is pretty fucked up.”

“…”

“That being said, I don’t feel right… I mean, I just can’t pretend that I don’t care about you anymore, even after all the crap you’ve done,” Vinyl took a break to sip at her beverage. “Maybe I’m crazy, but we’ve been together for, what, four years? That’s way longer than most of my friendships and the closest, so I ain’t too keen on losing it, ya dig?”

“I understand,” Nightmare Moon nodded as she shifted a fourth time. “Perhaps we’re all a little crazy in our own right because I, too, am… hap… content with our relationship.”

“Heh heh…” Vinyl raised her glass with telekinesis. “Here’s to insanity.”

Despite herself, Nightmare Moon smirked and met the toast, clinking Vinyl’s with her own glass.

“There are worse things to toast to…”

She waited a moment for Vinyl to drink before draining her own glass, watching the DJ intently over the rim.

‘Really… how on Earth did our connection develop?’

She still didn’t know why it was so easy to speak to and be around Vinyl. The fundamentals of friend… companionship seemed to be that it started when any number of ponies with similar interests spent enough time around each another.

She guessed that Vinyl and her had similar tastes, but only in music, the love of a good brawl, and… and…

No, that was it; Vinyl led a rather hedonistic life, and that was something Nightmare Moon didn’t. In fact, she detested the idea of one’s passions overriding their sense of control.

So how did they become so close over the years?

Maybe it was a fluke.

‘What would have happened if I didn’t stumble on that flyer of hers?’

…

The question didn’t sit right in her mind so she cast it aside and instead grumbled out a snarky remark when Vinyl called for another round.

Author's Notes:

Note 1: "Equestria is notable in that the land possesses its own 'sun and moon', and are completely exempt from the day and night cycle that affects the rest of the natural world. Arriving at the country by sea or air, it appears no different from any other place in that time zone - bathed in sunlight or awash in moonlight - but upon breaching the 'four kilometre radius', the time of day abruptly switches to Equestrian standards.

"This radius is not unlimited in height either, as pegasi who have flown high enough attest that at a certain altitude, the Equestrian time of day switches to the actual time zone in that part of the world. Because of this, it is incredibly confusing as to whether or not Equestria's sun and moon are genuine or illusions as the sunlight is obviously real, but there should be no way of anypony making it to the moon, as they would simply pass through the anomaly that surrounds the country - (See: Mare in the Moon).

"The rulers of Equestria have limited knowledge of this occurrence despite being connected to the celestial bodies and the most-commonly accepted theory is that Equestria partially exists in a state between two dimensions, owing to the unusually high magic energies found there." - Excerpt from A Griffon's Guide to the World by Ezio Tusk-Shear.