1055 AD, November 13th

The first strike of the battle was made by Caed.

All Ebony saw was a blur of motion and then her Empress recoiled in surprise, choking and gurgling as she coughed up blood from a gruesome slash in her neck.

After that, it was pandemonium.

Nightmare Moon swivelled on the spot and blocked another one of Caed’s incredibly fast strikes by letting the blade bite into a foreleg, the rest of the knights threw themselves against the charging Eclipse, and Ebony found herself staring dumbly as Knight Paladin Esther broke from the ranks to bear down on her.

“Hiya!”

Ebony lifted her sword and held it horizontally to block Esther’s downwards slash. Their blades clashed together and Ebony slid back on her hooves with a wince; her magic was strong, but this female had physical strength to match, not to mention being significantly taller and heavier.

Esther growled as she pushed against her smaller opponent. Around them, ponies and invaders fought, filling the air with battle cries and the sound of metal striking metal.

“Hnn!”

Ebony gritted her teeth and grunted in determination; her sword was trembling as her telekinesis fought to maintain stability. If she slipped up for even a moment, Esther’s sword would slide to and off the tip of Ebony’s blade and plunge down against her face.

“…!”

Ebony gave a strong surge of magic that pushed the offending blade up before suddenly ducking and using her smaller size to slide between Esther’s legs as the invader staggered forwards, arms flying out for balance. Ebony quickly spun as she got back to her feet and thrust her sword, aiming for her opponent’s back.

Clang

Esther managed to twist herself around, as if predicting the attack, and hold her shield up to deflect the blow, though the action caused her to clumsily fall flat on her rear. The Eclipse captain’s sword continued stabbing wildly, but Esther blocked each one; it helped that her shield was large enough to cover most of her upper body.

“Rrgh!” Ebony huffed in frustration and stopped her stabbing to channel a spell.

She was quite fast when it came to her Spark Touch spells, but the few moments it took to prepare it was enough for Esther to peek over her shield, recognize the blue electricity spitting within the red glow of Ebony’s horn, and throwing herself to the side.

BZZT

A jagged blue bolt arced through the air and struck the spot Esther had been, leaving a splash of black soot and spots of red-hot concrete.

‘Damn it!’

Ebony prepared another Spark Touch spell and it gave Esther enough time to get back up, shield up and ready to receive another blow.

BZZT

“Yaaagh!”

Ebony hadn’t taken pleasure in causing pain to the Royal Guard, but when Esther recoiled with a sharp cry, a satisfied spread across her face, accompanied by a pulse of warmth that was probably not normal by equine standards.

Nightmare Moon would have been proud.

Esther dropped her shield and shook violently as blue sparks danced across her left arm, the metal-clad fingers on it twitching sporadically.

‘Electricity…’

The Wisp Knight – Irregulars, as the invaders called them – from the Fracture that had once hung over Canterlot hadn’t reacted much to electricity, but it seemed that these Rouge Knights didn’t have that same resilience.

Perfect.

She charged another Spark Touch spell and Esther responded by ignoring the pain and charging forwards with a yell of defiance. Ebony lashed out with a bolt that struck the knight in the chest, but Esther had already gained momentum; the pain and numbness were ignored as she swung her sword to the side.

Ebony ducked to the side, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid injury entirely.

Pain spiked as the tip of Esther’s sword split the flesh of her cheek open.

“Aggh!” Ebony slapped one hoof against the wound, eyes widening in shock as she felt how deep it was; another centimetre and the night air would have been filtering into her mouth.

‘Oh, Faust!’

Fear and rage swelled in her breast as she forced the pain aside; Esther had recovered and was coming for her with another powerful slash.

Steeling her resolve, Ebony deflected the slash and tried to sneak in a low thrust. Esther cleanly parried it with a brush of her sword’s hilt.

Ebony redirected her blade so it swept up like a rising wind and came down from a diagonal angle. Again, Esther adapted and countered with another parry before taking a step forwards and plunging her sword down.

Ebony stepped to the side and when the blade struck concrete, she let off a quick Kinetic Impact spell to blast the weapon from Esther’s hand.

Skrrrrt

Esther cursed as her blade skid far across the ground, trampled on by metal boots and hooves alike, and quickly backed off, recoiling as Ebony pressed forwards, her blade thrusting violently, seeking to pierce her armor.

Ebony heard somebody scream – she wasn’t sure if it was an invader or one of her guards, but she couldn’t afford to look and get distrac-

Clink

Esther swung her forearm to the side and batted away Ebony’s sword before rushing forwards and kicking with her leg. Ebony gasped in pain as it connected with her breastplate; it didn’t hurt as much as the cut in her cheek, but it had the effect of sending her sprawled on her back.

She looked up, eyes widening as her opponent stomped forwards with an infuriated cry. She felt for her sword and called it to her, but Esther was closing in fast; she might have had to roll to escape those heavy feet or-

“Oi, fucker! Heads up!”

“Wh- gah!”

Esther staggered to the side and wildly grabbed at Fade’s mane and body, struggling to throw him aside. He was putting up a fight, but the blades attached to his wings weren’t tough enough to cut through her armor. However, through the scrabbling and batting of his hooves, Esther’s helmet was slowly beginning to come off, revealing the milky-white flesh of her neck.

It was just what Ebony needed.

“Fade, get her helmet off!”

“Trying super-hard here! She keeps hitting me! Not fun!”

She rolled to the side and stood back up before drawing her body back and building the magical tension of the grip she had on her blade. When her muscles were so bunched she started trembling along with her blade, she released it in one powerful thrust, punctuating it with a yell of exertion.

“Ebs, I got her helmet o-”

Her sword cleanly sliced through Esther’s exposed neck, cleaved through vertebra, and burst out the back with a spray of viscera. Fade yelped in shock and fell back, wings flapping madly as he dropped the invader’s helmet.

“Hlk…”

Esther’s chocolate brown eyes bugged out as she crumpled in on herself and hit the ground, facing Ebony with pained surprise. Her glossy black hair fanned out and partially covered her face, saving Ebony from looking at the ghastly expression for the few moments it took for Esther to finally choke on her own blood and go still.

“A-ah…” Ebony shuddered as she wrenched her sword out, feeling physically ill as she heard flesh and muscle shifting and vertebra cracking. She stared at the body in morbid fascination. “O-oh Faust…”

Fade made a queasy face, but recovered quickly. “D-don’t just stand there, Ebs! Help us fight!” He mentally shouted before racing off to assist the Eclipse.

Ebony shook her head and shooed the haze from her head. The pain in her cheek came back and helped her refocus; levitating her bloodied sword high, she charged in to protect her home from another threat.

‘Don’t think on it, don’t think on it! Ponies are counting on you, so keep moving and don’t think about it!’

Despite their advantage in numbers, it became clear to Ebony that the invaders were doing better in this fight.

The invaders were still largely uncoordinated – perhaps the death of Esther had something to do with it? – but even so, they were faring well. She saw one invader using their mace and shield in perfect synch; one second they were swinging and knocking aside the guards and the next they were blocking a counter-swipe – sometimes several at once – before bashing them into a daze.

She saw that several of her subordinates could use a hoof, but she made her way to the closest one that needed it.

Three of her guards had tried to take down the invader without the helmet, but now only one was still standing, the other two prone on the ground and completely still. She didn’t know for certain if they were dead, but there was a disconcerting amount of blood leaking from the crevices of their armor.

Ebony entered the fray by letting loose a Spark Shot.

The bolt struck the invader in the back as he brought his greatsword over his head for a finishing blow against the remaining guard; a pained yell left his lips and he fell to his knees, spasms wracking his body.

One swipe of her sword and his head tipped to the side, barely holding on by strings of muscle and ligaments.

Bile rose in her throat, but she pressed on.

Halfway towards another pony in need of help, Ebony was almost trampled when her Empress suddenly landed in front of her. Nightmare Moon probably didn’t mean to almost crush her; she wasn’t even looking at Ebony, her eyes darted about excitedly as her body twisted on the spot, anticipating…

“Empress, where do we-”

Again, all Ebony saw was a blur of motion in her peripheral and then Nightmare Moon’s blood sprayed across her face. Ebony flinched as it got in her eyes and a few drops coated the surface of her tongue.

The metallic taste was foul, but to her horror, it also invoked a deep sense of yearning – she wanted more…

She pushed down that frightening urge and wiped her face, gasping as the blur shot by again and drew another deep cut in the Empress’ flesh.

‘I can’t even see him!’

“Move!”

“Wha-”

Nightmare Moon’s wing swept out and pushed Ebony to the ground, the sound of her impact immediately followed by a metallic clink and a grunt of pain. Ebony rolled onto her side and looked up, eyes widening when she saw Caed standing where she had been mere moments ago.

His red eye was giving a subtle glow as he tugged at his glaive furiously; the portion of the hilt near the blade was caught by a pair of sharp teeth, some broken and some misaligned from baring the power of his strike.

“You heal so swiftly…” Caed murmured, watching as Nightmare Moon’s teeth grew back and aligned themselves properly. While he was distracted, Ebony scrambled back to her hooves. “A property of this ‘magic’ that is prevalent in your bodies…?”

Ebony gritted her teeth as she put all her might into a diagonal swipe.

Caed didn’t even spare her a cursory glance as he relinquished one hand to catch her blade mid-swing.

“Or is it some natural ability of your kind?”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t really talk with a glaive between her teeth, but the glare and growl she gave was more than enough to get the message across.

Caed smirked. “Truly, your kind are an enigma, nothing like the mystical creatures in the Old Tales.”

Ebony directed a Spark Shot at her sword.

He shouldn’t have been able to react in time, not at such a short distance and with how quick the bolt travelled, but he did anyway; his hand left the blade and he blurred several paces backwards, leaving his weapon in Nightmare Moon’s jaws.

‘Damn it!’

Ebony made to extend her electrified sword and take another swing, but he dashed forwards far faster than her eyes could follow and slammed an open palm into Nightmare Moon’s chest, actually managing to physically throw her backwards and into the air.

The cry her Empress gave sounded more like one of irritation than pain and sounded suspiciously like, 'Faust damn it'!

The glaive had fallen from her jaws and Ebony struck out in a panicked attempt to stop Caed from picking it up.

He deflected her blade with another palm slap and snatched up the glaive, spinning it around thrice in a flashy display.

Caed grinned down at her and it didn’t take a genius to know that she was woefully outmatched.

Still, she had to try, for the safety of-

“Wah!”

Caed’s single red eye had flashed brightly right before he swung his glaive in an arc and brought the blade down, both hands clutched tightly around the hilt.

Ebony didn’t know how she reacted fast enough to dodge backwards, but she did, and the blade shattered the concrete where she would have been.

‘Oh Faust, that was cl-’

WOOOSH

“Aiiieee!” Ebony shrieked in shock as a cyclonic wind swept her up into the air. What views she got of the battlefield whenever she tumbled the right way told her that things were chaotic and that there seemed to be more injuries on their side than the invaders’.

Also, she was falling!

“Fade, help! Fade!”

“What, who, where? Where the hell are you?!”

“Up up up u-”

“Ah, shit!” Fade lunged to catch Ebony, but it was too late, and his heart skipped a beat when she landed headfirst on an invader. “Shit!”

He kicked at the head of another invader as he went past before landing a few yards away from his friend; the invader she hit seemed to be out for the count, much to the relief of the four guards fighting them.

Fade dropped to one foreknee and shook her, shouting, “Ebs, get up!” Her eyes were closed and a streak of blood matted her mane beneath her helmet. “Come on – you’re tougher than this, yeah?! We sort of need you here!”

This fight was going to hell real fast in his professional and most honest opinion.

Wasn’t bad enough that Knight Asshole Caed was matching Nightmare Moon pound for pound, yeah? Now the rest of the Eclipse were getting beaten down and he didn’t even know what was going on with the hostages – he saw one streak by at the start of the match, screaming, but that was about it.

At the risk of sounding like a wimp, he sincerely wished his sister was here.

“Fade!”

“Uh…” Fade looked up and around, squinting through the clashing forces. “Veil?”

“Hold on!”

Several objects fell from the sky and struck the invaders with a very familiar – painful, his memory added – accuracy. Some exploded into ravenous flames, some burst and coated the enemy in thick layers of frost, and some created powerful distortions in the air that flung the enemy aside like ragdolls.

‘Okay, it ain’t Miasma, but I’d settle for Blueblood at this point. Probably make a good weight to swing around…’

Veil descended from the air, her hooves a blur as she reached into the bags at her side and tossed out canister after canister. Not one of them strayed and hurt the Eclipse guards, but things quickly became miserable for the invaders as they struggled to make sense of the unexpected assault.

A few were shouting in alarm about ‘fucking grenades’, but could do little about it; Veil was flying too high, and there were other threats on ground level that demanded their attention.

“Where the hell were you?” Fade frowned as he lifted Ebony into a sitting position and shook her again.

“Out of range!” Veil threw another barrage of canisters, but the Knight Enforcer suddenly dashed by and swung his glaive, one eye glowing as a powerful wind shot upwards and knocked the canisters far out of the park. One flew back at Veil and she barely managed to roll out of its trajectory. “Son of a…!”

Nightmare Moon appeared beside Caed in a flash of magic and lunged forwards, mouth stretched wide like a snake – shit, that was still creepy as hell – and spit-coated fangs glinting in the moonlight.

Caed dashed to the side and swung his weapon down, but Nightmare Moon blocked it with an arcane barrier. When he recoiled, she dropped it and shot a ball of twinkling frost at his leg.

He responded by twirling in place and cracking her upside the head with the frozen leg, knocking her to the ground while simultaneously breaking free. He dashed back to avoid another blast of ice and the Empress followed him, horn flashing as she shot spell after spell.

‘Tartarus, what the hell is with this guy?’

“Miasma should be here soon!” Veil ‘said’. She swooped around the park and came back, tossing out more canisters, and Fade couldn’t be certain, but he swore there was an unsettling grin on her face when she went by. “What’s wrong with Ebony?”

“Knocked out…” He clenched his teeth and fanned his wings around Ebony’s unconscious form when a burst of fire came too close for his liking. “Hey, you do see us here, yeah?”

There was a pressure against his head which might have been her about to reply, but then she thought it more important to concentrate on distracting an invader that was about to deliver a finishing blow on a prone guard.

Fade cursed and looked around, feeling helpless. He wanted to get back in the action, but there was no way in hell he was leaving Ebony alone in her current condition.

She might have been blowing him and the others off for the past few weeks and yeah, she was a total Empress’ pet, but she was still his friend, one of the only few genuine ones he had.

No way was he abandoning her.

‘Shit, where’s a medic when you need one?’ He scanned the area for a white cross, but found none. “Faust… Come on, Ebs – we’re seriously going to get killed if you don’t- oh crap!”

Fade tightened his grip and gave a powerful flap that pushed him and Ebony backwards, barely avoiding a spiked ball of iron that smashed the spot where they had been. The invader – smoking and with a set of freshly-charred armor – spat out a curse and pulled their flail back up, the chain length rattling ominously as they prepared another attack.

“Hey, don’t go anywhere, yeah?” Fade told Ebony as he set her down and leapt forwards to engage his foe.

“-yeah?”

Ebony’s eyes fluttered open and the pain in her head doubled as she was placed down on a hard surface. She groaned in displeasure, but nopony granted her pity; the ear-numbing noises of… fighting? What was that all about?

…

‘Oh no!’

Ebony’s eyes went wide and she sat back up, her gut churning as vertigo and pain made her vision swim; it was a chore to even stand and when she did, she almost went down again.

She fought through the pain though and searched for her sword. It was still in her magical grasp when she fell, so it had to have landed close to her, right?

“Mommy, help! Mommy!”

“Huh?” Ebony’s ears pricked at the shrill cry.

She followed its source and it took a few moments before invader and Eclipse alike moved out of her line of sight so she could see what made the noise.

The small filly from before, struggling in the grasp of a knight that was making their way towards the Entropic Fracture.

Ebony didn’t even think; she leapt into action.

It was like an obstacle course; there were so many sounds, spells, and elemental explosions going off that her already-battered senses were reeling. A knight backed up into her as she ran past and stumbled into one of the skating bowls. She tripped and rolled across the concrete, earning several scrapes and bruises before getting up, a wave of hot air catching her in the back as three canisters were tossed into the skating bowls, cooking the invader inside their armor with a chilling scream.

She skidded to a halt as Caed and Nightmare Moon impeded her path and went back and forth, trying to find an opening as the two leaders battled for supremacy.

‘The Empress needs help!’

‘That filly can’t protect herself!’

She took a risk and ran between them.

A gust of wind almost bowled her over and an errant pillar of ice almost impaled her, but she was finally through.

The foalnapper was within reach.

“Let her go!” Ebony reached out with telekinesis and put all her strength into a hard pull on the knight’s leg, just like how she saw Nightmare Moon do earlier.

However, the knight only stumbled; her magic had slipped off them almost immediately, but at least she succeeded in stalling them and getting their attention.

“God, it’s just one thing…!” The knight wrapped his right arm around the crying filly like a mail package and held up his shield with the other hand.

“She’s just a child!” Ebony yelled, standing her ground and bleeding crimson-tinted magic from her horn and eyes. “Let her go, you… y-you thing!”

The knight moved his head to stare at the sobbing filly and he seemed to falter, just the slightest. “… We… I…” He grunted and shook his head firmly. “We have to do this.”

Ebony wasn’t convinced. She discreetly stared at a spot just behind him and charged her magic – Faust, her headache was bringing tears to her eyes.

“Put her down right now!”

“No,” The knight shook his head again and started backing up to the Fracture. “No, this needs to be done. I can’t just-”

Ebony teleported behind him.

Her vision went dim and an intense pain spiked through her head, but she turned her resulting stagger into a tackle aimed right at the back of the knight’s knees. She heard him shout in surprise and fall on top of her.

The weight knocked the breath out of her lungs and she found it near impossible to draw in another.

The filly landed in front of her and stared at Ebony in terror, cheeks wet with tears. “Ugh…” Ebony choked and managed to whisper, “G-go…”

It took the knight shifting – causing Ebony to cry out in pain – before the filly turned and ran in the opposite direction, shouting, “Mom- eeeee!”

One of the hostages – a stallion – flew over the foal’s head, across where Ebony and the knight were sprawled out, and into the Fracture. His scream was cut short as the blinding, otherworldly light swallowed him whole and shuddered ominously, as if it was about to collapse at any moment.

‘What…?’

Ebony turned her gaze to where the filly laid flat against the ground, hooves over her head, and saw the Knight Enforcer approaching. His glaive was glistening with blood and she immediately feared for her Empress when there was no sign of her.

Ebony struggled against the weight of the knight as Caed paused to swing his weapon and produce a gust of wind to snuff out the flames that enveloped another knight rolling on the ground.

“Rouge Knights!” Caed bellowed and bent over to yank the charred knight to their feet and push them in the direction of the Fracture. “Steel your pride and flee from these colourful creatures!”

‘Th-they’re retreating?’

Caed’s eyes went to the cowering filly.

“No! Get off me, you- unf!” Ebony’s face was pressed into the concrete as the knight on top of her placed his hand on the back of her head for leverage. She felt a tooth chip from the rough treatment, but the instant he was gone, she scrambled back up, tripping forwards and yelling, “Leave her alone! Fade, they’re getting away!”

“Yeah, I see that and I’m trying to help!”

Everypony was behind the knights as they retreated back to the Fracture – Ebony was the only thing standing between them and their escape.

She had to stop them! She was the Captain, the Empress’ Right Hoof; it was her duty to protect this city and its inhabitants.

She had already failed one poor stallion; there was no way in hell she was going to fail this child!

Caed reached down and snatched up the filly in one large hand as whatever Rouge Knights were still able made a dash for the Fracture, a few walking backwards so they could deflect any thrown weapons or spells with their shields.

Ebony stood her ground, bruised and battered but utterly determined. She gathered magic in her horn despite it making her headache so bad it brought tears to her eyes.

“Y-you won’t get past!” She shouted. Caed paused in place once he took notice of her and tilted his head curiously. “I mean it!” Ebony started building a spell to create a thick artificial storm. “The only way you’re getting past is by-”

Caed blurred forwards and struck her aside like a fly attempting to fight a rolled-up newspaper.

Ebony rolled across the ground and ended up on her side, swaying in and out of consciousness with what felt like three broken ribs. Each strained breath sent pain all across her body and it took all her willpower to keep awake.

‘I… He just… I couldn’t even…’

That wasn’t how it usually went in the movies…

She watched helplessly as the knights retreated into the Fracture, each departure making the anomaly flash brightly and shimmer as if it was underwater. Caed gestured the last of his knights to go through and then turned to the encroaching Eclipse.

He performed a full body spin and swung his glaive from right to left, sending out an upsweep of wind that knocked earth ponies and unicorns back, and sent pegasi tumbling out of control in the air, Veil and Fade included.

If there was any good news to be had from every Eclipse in the area being knocked down, it was that it cleared Ebony’s hazy sight line, so she was able to see that her Empress was not dead.

Limping with a leg that’s shinbone had splintered and pierced the skin with a thick tree branch spearing through her belly and coming out her back thrown in for good measure… but certainly far from dead.

“You… coward!” Nightmare Moon’s eyes were filled with rage as she trudged away from a crater in the distance, blood staining the ground in heavy spurts from her ravaged chest. “Get back… here…” Her horn lit up like she was trying to teleport, but it spluttered, and she instead resorted to telekinetically tugging the tree branch, widening the hideous wound and giving the blood spurts more force. “And fight!”

“Valor, chivalry, integrity, and bravery!” Caed swept his glaive out to the side in a grandiose gesture, returning Nightmare Moon’s insults with a confident grin. “These are the virtues prevalent in the Old Tales! However, we have added a new virtue, and that is the ability to, as my comrades would say, ‘know when to fold them’.”

Ebony struggled to crawl even an inch forwards as he kept talking.

The filly trapped beneath Caed’s free arm kicked and struggled, calling the knight a ‘meany-poop face’ and a ‘stink master’.

“But this is far from over, Empress Nightmare Moon! We shall meet again another time, another place – it may not be soon, but mark my words: we shall face one another on the battlefield again, and when that happens, only one of us may walk away alive!”

He pointed his glaive up into the sky.

“For just as the sun rises and the rain falls, the Rouge Knights will cleave a path towards a better future for-”

“Sir, would you just get in here?!”

A knight re-emerged from the Fracture and slapped a metal-clad hand on the Knight Enforcer’s shoulder just as Nightmare Moon wrestled the branch from her chest and disappeared in a burst of magic. She reappeared directly in front of the startled Caed, horn glowing and teeth bared.

Ebony saw the Empress’ magic creep up the filly’s foreleg and hope flared within.

‘She’s doing it! She’s going to save her! She-’

Caed fell into the Fracture and it winked out of existence with a lacklustre flash of white light and the sound of fading wind chimes.

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in the exact spot where it had been, magic still going and…

Empty-hooved.

…

Ebony thought…

Well, she didn’t really know what to think.

She lowered her head to the ground, her brow pressed against the harsh surface, and the sounds of conversation filtered in her ears.

“Wh… Did we win?”

“We saved the hostages, didn’t we? W-we made them retreat…”

“The hell were those things?”

“Oh Faust, I’m… I’m kinda bleeding pretty bad here…”

…

“Dew? Dew?! Dew!!”

Ebony looked up at the shrill shriek and watched as the guards quickly parted to make way for a mare, her face a pained grimace of hysterical panic.

The mare searched and turned in place several times – hyperventilating and shaking her head – before directing her full attention to Nightmare Moon.

“Wh-where is she?! Where’s my daughter?!”

Nightmare Moon swivelled her head to coldly look down at the sweating mare. “…”

“Y-y-you have her? Please! Please tell me you have her!!”

“…”

“No no no no no…” The mare shook her head rapidly and pawed at the ground, eyes wide and unfocused. “Dew, Dew – you were supposed to stay with mommy, not run off like that, I know you must have been scared, an-and I-I was too, but… y-you…”

“…”

“… You… Y-you’re an alicorn!” The mare accused, her tone hitching and cracking at the end. She made a lunge, but Nightmare Moon didn’t react. “What the fuck were you doing?! You’re supposed to be strong, you’re supposed to…! Celestia would have done it! Sh-she would have saved everypony!”

Ebony watched blankly as the mare punched the Empress with all her might, aiming for the wounds that had yet to heal.

Blood splattered across the mare’s coat and hooves as she attacked and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“It’s all your fault! Dew’s gone because of you! You monster!!”

The next blow never came.

Nightmare Moon continued passively watching as she held her attacker’s hooves in place with magic.

“…”

It wasn’t long before the mare tired herself out and sunk to the concrete, sobbing and wailing for her daughter. When her hooves were free, she laced them over her head and hid herself away from the world.

“… Why are you all just standing there?”

Nightmare Moon did not turn nor did she raise her voice… but a deathly chill swept through everypony that was still conscious.

Ebony saw several ponies nervously back up, armor clanking as they bumped into each other.

“Attend to the injured.”

Another cluster of metal clanks and the ground trembled from a dozen hooves striking it as the Eclipse guards rushed to carry out the order.

“…”

Ebony continued lying on the ground, completely unmotivated to do anything else, but she did manage to shift when she heard a new set of noises.

From the west entrance of the park, Miasma and her platoon stormed in. The platoon balked and gasped and mumbled in shock at what they saw while Miasma’s eyes widened by a fraction, barely noticeable unless you knew her tics.

Miasma gestured and amazingly enough, her platoon understand her wishes, and moved around her to help the Eclipse that were already there.

A few came near Ebony, but she shook her head slowly and sat up, ignoring the pain in her chest.

They awkwardly trotted past her.

She pressed one hoof against her side and looked up pitifully when Miasma approached.

“What happened?”

“… They got two of the hostages,” Ebony replied in a small voice. She felt like crap and not just physically. “Their, uh… their leader showed up through a Fracture. He called himself Caed and… and he and a few of his knights got away.”

“There was a Fracture?”

“I think they can control them.”

“… That’s not good.”

“Mm…”

Miasma parted her lips again as if to say something, but thought otherwise and closed her mouth. She offered a simple nod of acknowledgment instead and walked past Ebony.

“…”

A minute passed – full of staring at nothing and listening to the ambient sounds of healing magic, hushed queries of somepony’s wellbeing, and the occasional authoritative order – before Ebony felt a dark shadow loom over her from behind.

The size and shape could only belong to one pony… unless a lot more happened in the minute she hadn’t been paying attention. It wouldn’t surprise her at that point.

“… Get up.”

Ebony reflexively obeyed and rose to her hooves.

“Look at me.”

She obeyed again and tilted her head up.

Nightmare Moon’s draconic eyes bore down on her and the air felt tensely heavy, chokingly thick. The Empress’ eyebrows were drawn together in cold rage.

“Why are you just sitting there? The morale of the guards won’t increase from such a pathetic display.”

Ebony winced and muttered in a small voice. “I failed…” She took a deep breath. “I was standing right between them and… and the Fracture, but I… He just knocked me aside like I was nothing. I couldn’t save that filly.”

Ebony had never held a particular liking or affection towards children, but at the end of the day, she’d rather see an adult get hurt than a child.

‘They shouldn’t have to suffer because they can’t properly defend themselves…’

“So your response is to sit and wallow in self-pity?” Nightmare Moon sneered in disgust.

“I…”

“Uh, hey, boss?” Landing beside them, Fade cautiously approached, attempting to alleviate the tension with a charming grin. It never worked before, but it didn’t stop him from trying. “Ebs is a little hurt, so maybe… ease up a little, yeah?”

“No, I don’t think I will ease up.” Nightmare Moon snapped without even looking at him.

Fade’s grin faded and a flash of anger came across his face. “Well… that guy was hella tough, yeah? Give us a break!”

Ebony cringed and whispered, “Fade, don’t.”

He didn’t seem to hear her. “We tried, ya know? Can’t get angry for that!”

“You do not tell me why I can and can’t be angry!”

Ebony fell backwards and clutched at her ears, grimacing in pain. Through narrowed eyes, she saw Fade react similarly, but with an expression that screamed, ‘oh crap’.

Which perfectly summed up one’s thoughts when Nightmare Moon was staring you down with split cheeks, bared fangs, and a threatening aura of black smoke leaking from freshly-opened seams in her skin.

The outburst had caught everypony’s attention and even the wounded stopped griping to look over in shock and terror. Veil stood off a bit to the side, eyes wide and brow furrowed, and Miasma looked about ready to dart in to save her sibling.

“I am angry that this is the second time I’ve been… defeated!” Nightmare Moon practically shuddered at spitting out the word and one plume of smoke momentarily grew a set of gnashing teeth. “I am angry that they got away! I am angry that they got away with two of my subjects and I am enraged that I couldn’t kill more of Caed’s accursed knights! But am I angry at you? No!”

“… Wh-what?” Ebony blinked in surprise.

“You…” Nightmare Moon inhaled deeply and some of the black smoke was pulled back into her body, the seams closing with nauseating squelches. “You did all you could. It may not have been enough to stop their escape… but I cannot fault you for giving your best. If their leader… if Caed was able to give me trouble, then of course he would be able to defeat you more easily.”

Some of that previous anger crept back as she glared at Ebony again.

“If I’m upset about anything concerning you, it’s that you’re moping and crying about what happened instead of getting angry and striving to get vengeance.”

“But… the filly and the stallion…”

“… There may be a chance to get them back…” Nightmare Moon’s pause suggested she didn’t quite believe that. “But whether we do or don’t, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s still a city full of citizens to protect. You can’t do that when you’re stewing so… pathetically.”

“…”

Nightmare Moon took another deep breath and the rest of the smoke pulled back into her body. Her torn cheeks healed a few moments later.

“Now, get up and start acting like my Eclipse Captain and Right Hoof; if I have to have another lapse like just now, then I really will give you a punishment. Am I clear?”

“Y-yes, Empress.” Ebony saluted in a slight daze.

“Uh, yeah, boss…” Fade seemed just as shocked by the encouraging – well, encouraging when it came from Nightmare Moon – words as well as remaining uneaten. “No worries.”

“… Well? Go on.”

Ebony and Fade exchanged looks of similar surprise before quickly rushing off. Ebony caught Veil and Miasma’s expressions and they seemed relieved; their concern was touching.

She made her way over to a trio of guards, still deep in thought, and asked, “How is he doing?”

‘Vengeance… vengeance… But I don’t feel like getting vengeance; I just feel sad that I couldn’t save those two.’

The medic – a petite unicorn mare with bright colours that clashed against her armor – looked up from the groaning stallion, but didn’t stop her flow of soothing green magic. “He’s stabilized. Could use some antibiotics though.”

“Other than that?”

“He’s fine.”

Ebony examined the other guard that was there to help the medic before nodding. “Okay – carry on.”

‘But Nightmare Moon’s right – feeling sad won’t accomplish anything; I have to feel angry. I have to keep doing my duties, so… so if I can’t save them, then at least I can make sure that their… that I can make those invaders pay.’

After checking up on several other instances and directing a few guards to more efficient and worthwhile tasks, Ebony eventually came upon a guard laying a white sheet over a body.

“How many?” She asked with a cold thread in her heart.

“Just two…” The buff stallion answered, his eyes dark. He paused to shift in place and stare at the covered bodies before turning back. “It’s… weird.”

“What is?”

‘But to do that, I have to be stronger.’

“Never really seen dead ponies before,” He rubbed at one foreleg where a black and purple bruise was forming, though he didn’t seem to pay it much notice. “Like… ‘fresh’.”

“And how do you feel?”

“… Sad?” He shrugged, frowning. “Also pissed at these knights. Next time I see one…” He made a threatening gesture. “Won’t even see it coming.”

Ebony nodded. She might have had a bigger reaction or feeling towards the deceased guards, but it had been a big night, and she was fatigued. It’d probably come back to nip her in the bud full-force when she got some rest or had a moment to sit down.

“Carry on.”

‘I have to keep learning.’

Her next stop was somepony she knew: Ensign Scarlet, and she was standing with a higher-ranking guard who was busy using telekinesis to loop some thick ropes around the still body of a Rouge Knight that had been left behind.

Something heavy must have fallen on their head to render them unconscious.

“Sir!” Scarlet saluted nervously. “Er, uh, ma’am! Captain!”

“Everything okay?”

“This is the only one still alive, Captain,” The other guard answered as she finished a complex knot. Ebony guessed her to have been a former girl scout or something to make that knot. “The others are dead. A few, uh…” She paused and scratched her head. “It almost looked like a few just… fell over and died for some reason. Mostly ones that were far away from that Fracture.”

“I see.”

“Fucking weird…”

“Yes. Make sure those ropes are tight.”

“Gotcha.”

‘I have to be…’

“Ma’am?” Scarlet cleared her throat. “Are you… okay? You look a little… pale.”

“… I’m fine, thank you. Carry on.”

‘I have to be worth something…’

Nightmare Moon silently seethed.

War.

Caed hadn’t officially declared it, hadn’t said, ‘we’re at war’, but in lieu of this attack, Nightmare Moon had no qualms about treating it as such.

‘Wonderful…’

How humiliating to have been beaten by her enemy a second time. Granted, she hadn’t been reduced to a bubbling pile of flesh and viscera, but this actually felt more personal because there were casualties and missing civilians.

And she hadn’t been the only one to take it personally.

She truly couldn’t blame her Right Hoof – the rest of the Eclipse and the Praetorian Guard, really – for failing to stop the Rouge Knights, especially when Caed had been leading the retreat.

That monkey-like creature was on a whole other level from his cannon-fodder subordinates; he moved so fast her eyes watered to keep up with him, he packed a punch that could make a dragon flinch, and he was largely unaffected by any spells she threw out. Not even illusions spells, which had worked on his knights, had any effect on him, and all she gained from trying was a damn branch through the chest.

So it wasn’t too surprising to see Ebony get swatted aside. Nightmare Moon had faith in her strength, but she also knew that there were limits to that strength; it was to be expected when one had enemies like Celestia, Luna, and Discord.

That being said, she could fault Ebony for that shameful display when things had calmed down.

Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself was not an appropriate reaction to losing.

Laugh it off, shrug it off, get pissy and spit in your adversary’s face – anything was better than moping about it and not getting anything done.

Personally, Nightmare Moon chose to get even.

And that was what she was going to do.

“You’ve made a grave mistake, Knight Enforcer…” She told the empty spot where the Fracture had been. Not even a spot of soot to mark its existence. “At the end of this, whenever that may be... you will burn.”

“…”

Twilight sat in the middle of her cell with a thick blanket wrapped around her form.

She had woken with an obsidian ring around her horn. It should have been difficult, nigh impossible to perform magic without pain or the risk of shattering the ring.

But somewhere deep inside her…

“I’m so sorry, everypony…” Twilight wept as she looked down at her trembling hooves. A sliver of the crystal beneath the skin of her right foreleg was poking out; it hurt to touch it, worse to try and remove it. “This could have been over and done with, but… but then you were all afraid for me. I would have… I would have sacrificed…”

She trailed off and a few more tears dripped down her cheeks.

A shuddering intake of breath made her form shift and the crystals sprouting from her back, freshly-cleaned of the congealed blood that once splattered their surfaces, scratched at the blanket.

‘I can feel it all beneath my skin. It’s disgusting…’

“But… but I’m not going to sit by like this… while you’re all out there, hiding…”

Somewhere deep inside…

“I’ll find a way to break free and… and then…”

Fanned to life by the force of her will, a power that was similar to the tingling and comforting rush of her mana surged up and coursed through her veins, through the crystals that had been implanted into her body without permission.

Twilight inhaled deeply, held her tears, and looked up at the barred window of her cell. A sickly purple haze bled from her eyes as they shone green and her pupils turned blood-red.

“And then I’m going to make her pay…”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Blade Wind Greatsword - a very large sword that would be unwieldy to a normal human, but is swung about as if it was light as a feather by the Blade Winds. Nothing remarkable about this weapon, but many Blade Winds prefer it this way.

Blade Winds are lithe figures in the Rouge Knight Order who, in contrast to their comrades, wear thin but surprisingly durable jackets and trousers. They may not be able to take much punishment, but they make up for this with their astounding strength, speed, and skill with the greatsword. Blade Winds dart around the battlefield to get behind enemy lines and swiftly destroy the opposition, earning them the jesting moniker amongst their peers, ‘jumping jack-knives’.

Knight Enforcer Caed once had a close associate whose unique fighting style fascinated him. When the warrior’s life was tragically cut short in a cowardly attack by enemy opposition, Caed started and named the Blade Winds in honour of his dear friend.

Note 2: "Knight Enforcer Caed... Don't get me wrong: I would literally follow that man to hell and back, even if it meant I would die for real. Like, actually die and not just what Jenkins did five minutes ago. Now that that's out in the open, I have to say... he's such a dork, especially when it comes to those speeches." - Audio Transcript from Scribe Washington.

Note 3 (EDIT): So whoops - I repeated the same passage twice concerning the Blade Wind Greatsword description. Fixed now.