1056 AD, January 13th

This was why she never took her armour off.

The behemoth bug approached the size of a fully-matured dragon; what it lost in length, it made up for in sheer width and bulk. Its sides brushed mortar and brick from nearby buildings and its legs made massive potholes in the streets; a single one of its bulbous, shining red eyes was half the size of an ursa minor.

From what Nightmare Moon could see once she was close enough, the bug’s trek of destruction had seemingly started several blocks away near Canterlot’s Museum of History. Several buildings had been heavily damaged on its way, and she could see firefighting pegasi working to put out fires that had sprouted up.

Far below, earth ponies and unicorns sprinted through the streets, their cries and screams faint at her altitude.

She gave another scan of the city, but could not see any Entropic Fractures beaming their headache-inducing lights.

Nightmare Moon sneered and circled the bug. “Is everypony here?”

“Empress! Yes, everypony’s here!” Ebony was the first to Call back. Nightmare Moon couldn’t pinpoint her location with the smoke columns and bulk of the bug obstructing her view of the roads, but she must have been close to respond so readily. “W-we, uh… What do we do?!”

“Don’t panic.”

“Tell me there’s more to that, yeah?” Fade chimed in – Nightmare Moon saw a flash of his colours zip underneath one of the bug’s arched legs. “I really don’t think this big bastard cares if we’re calm or not.”

“Ebony – have the guards evacuate the civilians to the safe zones. Fade, Veil, Lightning Dust – try to keep the creature contained to this district to minimize the destruction.”

“Any suggestions?” Lightning Dust’s trail of cloud and sparks looped around one of the legs and in front of the bug’s maw, catching its attention. “I’m pretty much just a fly right now.”

“Lightning and electricity – it’s our best bet at doing damage. Haze – attempt to confuse it with an illusion.”

“Will that work?” She couldn’t see Haze either.

“If it doesn’t, resort to electrical spells. I’m going to-”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes picked up something by the creature’s backmost legs and she quickly swooped in.

Wind roared past her as she flew along street-level and snatched up a limping mare as the bug stepped down and shattered the roadwork. Nightmare Moon flew up, darted to the side to avoid another rising limb, and was thrown into shadow as she went beneath the bug’s thorax and emerged out the other side, her wings furiously flapping to regain altitude.

The mare she had rescued continued shrieking and struggling.

“Oh yes, fight the mare who is carrying you a hundred feet off the ground – that will turn out splendidly!”

The mare’s struggling ceased and her shrieks turned to whimpers.

As soon as Nightmare Moon dropped her off on a road out of the bug’s path she sprinted off with a frightened keen – not too bad for somepony with a bad leg.

“Ugh…” Nightmare Moon shook her head and flew back towards the chaos. “As I was saying, get the civilians to safety and keep the creature confined to this area for the time being. I will be back soon.”

“What, you’re leaving?” Veil asked.

“There’s something I have to do. I won’t be long,” Nightmare Moon turned her head to the side and smirked. “Besides, you have back-up…”

Pouncing off of Canterlot’s high rooftops, Shadow Strike landed on top of the behemoth’s head and dug his claws into the metre-thick crevices of its scaled armor before viciously tearing into one of its eyes.

A geyser of green-beige liquid burst out and covered the streets as the behemoth bug let out a stomach-churning scream and shook from side to side while enormous jets of steam billowed out from several holes in its grey carapace.

Shadow Strike held on tight and bit down harder, his rumbling growls audible over the bug’s cries.

Nightmare Moon gave a sharp-toothed grin of pride before flying forwards in front of the bug.

‘Good boy.’

There wasn’t much air traffic in front of her, so she teleported a few blocks forwards and ended up hovering over a large house – Octavia and Vinyl’s home.

The bug had been set to demolish it in just a few more clumsy steps; Nightmare Moon was glad that she had arrived here when she did. She didn’t want to imagine how Vinyl would react upon hearing her love had been squished.

‘I hope she’s still here – I don’t want to have to waste time scouring the city looking for her.’

Flying down to the front door, she rammed it down and entered the foyer. She knew Vinyl and Octavia to understand.

There was classical music playing.

She galloped through the rooms, following the music, and wound up in the living room, where the music was so loud that it drowned out the bug’s distant cries and thunderous steps.

Octavia was facing a set of speakers that vibrated with the force of the classical symphony on play; she was balanced on her hind legs and waving one forehoof in patterns.

Nightmare Moon glowered in annoyance and stomped over, using magic to twist the speakers' dials down to zero.

Octavia faltered in place and stared at the speakers in confusion as Nightmare Moon reached out to grab her shoulder.

“Octa-”

The grey mare gasped and spun around and clocked her in the face with a wicked hook.

Impressively, it stung.

Nightmare Moon sniffed and scratched her muzzle, quirking one eyebrow as Octavia went pale and gestured wildly with her hooves.

“I didn’t mean to…! I didn’t hear you enter, I-I thought that-”

“Save your apologies – you need to get to a safe area immediately. Do you hear that?” Nightmare Moon paused so that a distant screech could be heard. “That is the sound of an immense beast that needs to be put down, and I intend to do that once you are safe.”

Octavia’s hooves were a blur. “Wait, Vinyl was going to meet you! Is she okay? Where is she?”

“She’s fine, don’t worry about her,” Nightmare Moon snagged Octavia with telekinesis and tossed her onto her back before she could struggle, and galloped back towards the front door. “You are the one who is currently in danger!”

Octavia made a bunch of displeased noises at the roughness of her rescue, but Nightmare Moon ignored them and leapt back into the air once she was back outside.

The behemoth bug still raged in the distance, nothing new there; Shadow Strike was up on its back biting away at anything soft and numerous pegasi were pushing storm clouds into the vicinity as unicorns assaulted it with spells from the ground.

Nightmare Moon heard Octavia inhale sharply. “Yes, that’s the beast that would have flattened you while you were playing ‘composer’, and it’s the beast that will soon be dead once I ensure you are safe.”

She turned and flew towards one of the shelters scattered across Canterlot; there were throngs of earth ponies and unicorns below in the streets that had the same idea, and their shared destination made them appear as colourful rivers.

Octavia frantically prodded at her shoulder while grunting.

“What?!” Nightmare Moon hissed, looking over her shoulder. “I can’t look at you and watch for pegasi at the same time!”

“Vinyl?” Octavia skipped out on a few signs for efficiency and fear of falling.

“Downtown – she told you we were going to her club, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but she’s not with you!”

“The creature isn’t downtown, so as long as it remains where it is, she’s perfectly safe there!”

“I’m worried about her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Nightmare Moon affirmed, looking straight ahead once more and beginning to descend to street level. “Worry about yourself for now.”

There were a some benefits to being feared by the masses; for one thing, Nightmare Moon never had to want for space because the instant ponies saw her coming in to land, they gave as wide a berth as possible.

“We’re here,” Nightmare Moon said, looking at a sturdy, grey concrete building that’s doorway was mobbed by frightened ponies. “It’s heavily reinforced; I won’t say completely, but it’s better than anywhere else in the city. Get inside and wait until the all-clear siren is sounded.”

Octavia slid off her back, got jostled by a stallion running past, and looked up at her, tense and anxious. “You’ll watch out for Vinyl, won’t you? You promise she’ll be safe?”

“I can’t pro…” Nightmare Moon stumbled over her words. Swallowing, she wetted her lips and said, “Yes, fine – so long as I’m breathing, I’ll make sure she lives to see you again.”

Octavia nodded. “Thank y-”

Something in the top corner of Nightmare Moon’s vision caught her attention, and she turned her head to see-

“Look out!!”

Ponies screamed in terror as a shadow fell over the area, and Nightmare Moon swiftly jumped into the air and raced towards the enormous chunk of what had once been part of a building. The debris was easily four times her size and several times heavier, which made it very disconcerting to see it twirl in the air towards the defenceless crowd like a piece of paper.

Nightmare Moon lit up her horn and fired the strongest Kinetic Impact spell she could muster before following it up by throwing her entire body into its center.

The spell took away enough of its momentum so that she only broke a little under half the bones in her body stopping the debris from continuing its path, and both she and the chunk dropped straight to the ground.

She landed on a fire hydrant, broke it, and the geyser of water pushed her back onto the cobblestone streets.

‘Annnd there goes the little bit that wasn’t broken.’

She spat roughly 70% of her teeth out into a puddle forming beneath her and struggled back to her feet, forcing her limbs to align so the bones could form correctly. She twisted her neck with a painful crack and bit down on her mangled wing to pull it back into shape.

‘Ah, pain – always there to keep my mind sharp.’

“Whoa, you… saved us.”

Nightmare Moon stared at the stallion that had approached her – he was a dirty-looking pony with buck teeth and an accent that put the ‘hill’ before ‘billy’. “Shocking, isn’t it? Though that will hardly matter if that giant beast isn’t slain, so if you’ll excuse me…”

Her take-off wasn’t clean; she struggled to remain aloft and almost swung round into the side of a building. Appearance was hardly ever concern, however; she needed to get back to the fight as soon as possible.

Her new teeth bit through her bleeding gums by the time she was high enough to see over the buildings; the behemoth bug was still rampaging, and its thrashing limbs were shattering nearby constructions, sending debris flying over large distances, which at least explained why she had to body-check a hunk of concrete and rebar in the first place.

A black mass of storm clouds cast the creature in shadow, interrupted by the occasional bolt of lightning striking down, or the arc of electricity zapping up from ground level. Shadow Strike moved across the bug’s body like an aggressive leech, biting and snapping, eyes glowing bright green.

She had no intention of missing out on the fun.

The sky ahead of her was completely clear, so she teleported across a huge gap before flying the rest of the way.

“Status report!”

“Shit’s bad, yeah?”

“Preferably some details on exactly how bad the ‘shit’ is?”

“It’s causing a lot of damage to the city,” Ebony answered. “There’s… dead ponies on the street, but… I don’t think I can use them to much effect.”

“Save your magic. Are you having difficulty keeping out of its path?”

“A little, but I- uh, everypony on the ground is managing… somehow.”

“How is the electricity and lightning working?”

“The spells aren’t working too well; I think it’s too big to feel it. But I think…”

“Lightning’s getting its attention, but that’s about it,” Lightning Dust interrupted. “The big wolf’s the only one actually doing damage as far as I can tell.”

That wasn’t comforting to hear.

Nightmare Moon growled as she wracked her brain for a plan of attack while circling around the behemoth bug, searching for a weak point. They had very little information about this type of creature and Twilight’s none-too-helpful letter only suggested using electricity, which didn’t seem to be very effective after all.

She had half a mind to go back to the castle and drag that mare outside and dangle her over the beast’s toothy maw.

Wait a minute…

Nightmare Moon looked down, sighting the numerous street lights, and quickly flew down.

‘Perhaps we just need to hit a bit deeper!’

Landing on a road pockmarked with huge holes, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and encased a teetering street light with magic before giving a strong pull. The concrete around the base spider-webbed and began to give.

“I’m going to drive a street light into one of its eyes!” Her face was set in a scowl of determination as she pulled and twisted. The tremors and sounds of battle a mere block away rang in her head; it felt as if the chaos was right on top of her. “Fade, Lightning Dust, Veil – order the other pegasi to hold off for now, and then let loose with all the lightning you can muster once I tell you so.”

“Got it, boss.” Fade replied.

“Ebony – tell your troops to refrain from any heroics for the time being.”

“Understood, Empress.”

“Haze – I don’t suppose those illusion spells are having any effect?”

Silence.

“Haze?”

“… I fear we may have yet another problem, Empress.”

“What? Where are you exactly?” Nightmare Moon finally tore the light free with a burst of pebbles and dirt; she magically held it over her head with little effort, and got ready to take to the air again. “And what do you mean by another-”

Several yards in front of her, a glowing white tear appeared for a brief instant before vanishing, but not after depositing a tall, armored figure.

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in her tracks and, after a few moments of disbelief, snarled ferociously. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

“I am not ‘kidding’, my nemesis! I have come for our rematch!”

Caed twirled his glaive and smacked its hilt against the road, his teeth bared in a confident grin. He looked the same as when Nightmare Moon last saw him, though he seemed to have a new gauntlet on his empty hand – it was black and, oddly, seemed overly-large.

“The last time we faced you, my forces and I strategically retreated…” He said, swinging his weapon to point the blade at her. “But now we have returned to the place of our initial encounter, and it is here we-”

Nightmare Moon threw the street light at him.

With a high-pitched yelp, Caed ducked down, and the length of metal whistled over his head to impale the side of a book store with a loud crack.

Caed stood back up, turned to look at the shuddering metal pole, and looked back at her incredulously. “You interrupted my speech! I spent weeks working on that!”

“I don’t care,” Nightmare Moon growled. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you again, so that I can tear your head from your shoulders and parade it on a pike in front of your soldiers.”

“Better humans have tried and failed,” Caed shot back, regaining his composure. “And you, too, shall fail.”

Nightmare Moon scoffed and jerked her head to the rampaging behemoth in the distance. “I assume you’re the one to blame for the sudden appearance of this creature?”

“It took a significant amount of time and resources…” Caed nodded. “But it was worth it. Your forces will be split up having to deal with both my knights and the beast, making you less effective.”

“Incorrect – it’s made me more angry,” Nightmare Moon flashed a bloody rictus. “And being angry makes me far more effective.”

“Empress!”

“What is it, Ebony?”

“There are Rouge Knights in the city!”

“Yes, I’m speaking with their leader right now. About to eviscerate him, really.”

“B-but they’re not just here; a few scouting pegasi just told me that there are even more in the city!”

Nightmare Moon frowned, keeping her sights on Caed as he strutted from side to side, but blocking out whatever monologue he had prepared. “Where?”

“Uh… s-some are in the eastern part of the city, but the majority are away from where we’re fighting the monster – downtown Canterlot.”

“…”

“Empress?”

Nightmare Moon had no idea what it would be like to freeze to death, but the sensation that came over her in that instant gave her a vague idea – it was like a pit had opened up in the depths of her belly and sent ice-cold water flooding into every gap and crevice.

Ebony was still talking, crystal clear in her skull, but Nightmare Moon heard none of it.

‘Downtown… I left Vinyl in downtown. She’s… If there are knights there, then…’

She quickly made her decision.

With a powerful leap, she took to the air and sailed over Caed’s head as he paused and stared at her dumbly, and wrenched the street light free from the wall with magic; she only barely heard the human cry out as she ascended into the sky and flew towards the behemoth bug.

“Wait, I thought you wanted to fight?! Why do you keep interrupting me?!”

Oh, she wanted to go back down and pop his head like a melon, but she was set in her decision; nothing was going to impede her.

She cut through the air like a fish through water, whizzing past all other pegasi that hung back nervously with their hooves on rumbling clouds and through the chokingly thick dust clouds billowing up with each of the behemoth’s steps. She could barely tell what was thunder and what were footfalls.

The bug’s multi-eyed, squat face was wet with saliva, blood, and water, all mixing together with dust and dirt to form a semi-thick sludge that dripped against the streets. One of its eyes was dim and ruptured; pinkish fluid poured out around the socket.

Shadow Strike was still holding on to its back; Nightmare Moon swiftly flew in until she was close enough to purse her lips and whistle out a tune, which Shadow Strike immediately responded to by clambering off the creature’s shell and hop down onto a nearby rooftop that groaned beneath his weight. His teeth and claws were saturated with a mix of liquids.

“Get ready for my order!”

Now that he was out of the crossfire, Nightmare Moon flew back to a spot where she had a clean view of the behemoth’s maw place, took aim, and threw the street light like a spear.

The behemoth’s shriek of pain must have rattled every window in the city.

“Do it now!” She ordered, and ducked as the behemoth unexpectedly swirled in place, one of its building-sized legs cutting through the air like a scythe. The wind that slammed into her was akin to a small hurricane. “Strike at the metal pole!!”

A split second later, she was blinded by the sheer number of lightning bolts that struck the pole, the effect heightened by how dark the storm above her made the area.

She squinted, flying back still, and saw that the creature’s erratic movements ensured only a few lightning bolts actually struck the pole, but it was clear that it hurt by how it teetered and staggered before collapsing on its belly, flattening a few more small shops.

It didn’t scream this time, but it was far from finished – its legs still twitched and kicked with life.

But she couldn’t stay.

“Ebony – I’m going to stop the Rouge Knight activity in the downtown district. You’re in charge now.”

“You’re leaving again?!” The worry in her thoughts was palpable.

“I have to save Vin… I have to protect the civilians. Just concentrate on that street light and have the pegasi jam in as many metal objects as they can to strengthen the lightning and electrical spells.”

“But-”

Nightmare Moon didn’t wait for the reply – she did a half-turn and flew for downtown; the sinking feeling in her gut tugged harder with each passing second.

Deep down, she knew that this was exactly what she feared would happen by letting Vinyl in: she was prioritizing one life above all others, letting emotion rule over logic; there may have been ponies in trouble in downtown, but the true threat was the behemoth bug and Caed, both in the exact same place.

She should be staying.

She should be trying to kill the leader of her enemy.

It was the logical thing to do: a few lives sacrificed for something of greater worth.

Unfortunately, one of those lives was Vinyl’s, and it was a life she found difficult to pass off like some errant thought.

This was most likely going to cost her, she knew that much…

But she kept on her path, eyes narrowed as she chased away the part of her that growled and bristled over her emotional attachment.

And really, with that lack of spatial awareness, it was no surprise that she ended up getting smashed back to street level by a tremendous blow.

The cobblestone cracked along with a few of her bones, and her mouth suddenly started filling with warm, harsh-tasting fluid; she must have bitten off a portion of her tongue on impact. The pain was sharp and fiery like a red-hot stake, but she stood firm against the crashing waves of agony, as she always did.

A weighty clunk from in front caught her attention, and with blood dribbling down her chin, she sneered hatefully as Caed rose from a kneeling position.

“Goodness, that’s disorienting…” He scrutinized his oddly-shaped gauntlet for a second before turning his odd eyes upon her. He gave an infuriating smirk. “Ah hah! Did you truly believe you could escape me so easily? My nemesis, you shall not escape my blade – now prepare yours-”

“Ah ‘on’ have ‘ime for you, foo’!!”

“-elf for glorious battle and- Hey! Stop flying away!”

Nightmare Moon’s desire to find Vinyl was stronger than fighting Caed – she was dead-set on relieving his body of his head, but that would come later, once she had-

“Defend yourself, horse!”

Caed came out of a Fracture that suddenly tore the air asunder in front of her and landed on her back. His weight was enough to make her falter in mid-air, and before she could throw him off, she felt his fingers grabbing onto her wing and something very sharp pierce her side.

With a guttural scream of fury, Nightmare Moon wrestled her wing free and swooped back down to the streets. She veered to one side and smashed into a line of buildings, crushing and grinding the human in an explosion of shingles and mortar – she was exuberant to hear his grunts and yells of pain.

He suddenly yanked at his glaive, widening the gaping wound in her side, and the blinding agony forced her to roll to the other side and smash through a window.

She rolled across the floor and heard a scream. She ignored it.

Nightmare Moon forced herself back onto her hooves and violently bucked around the apartment, sending the lone mare occupying it running for the door as Nightmare Moon threw herself against walls and furniture.

“Get off me, you pathetic cur!” She reared up and slammed backwards into a wall. “I will not let you delay me!” She slammed again and broke into the neighbouring apartment.

“You were eager to face me again…!” Caed cried. He sounded completely unaffected by having her weight upon him. “So why do you suddenly flee? Don’t you wish to harm me? Kill me? Or at least try to?”

“More than you can imagine!” Nightmare Moon snarled, and rolled over before flapping her wings and leaping up into the ceiling. Chunks of plaster cascaded around her as she fell back down with a floor-shaking whump, and then charged at a window. “But I will do it at a later time!”

SKRASH

Shards of glass bit into her flesh as she emerged back into Canterlot’s streets – she immediately tried to teleport upwards, but Caed’s magical resistance was like an anchor and kept her in place.

She threw herself against the road instead.

CRACK

Caed spluttered as he was crushed between her and stone; his grip loosened, and she wrenched herself free, shaking the glaive from her side.

Nightmare Moon turned with a frenzied hiss and blasted him with a cold spell that he easily dodged by rolling off to the side. Once he was on his feet, it was like trying to fight the wind – he moved around so fast that she could only catch a vague blur, just like the last time they fought.

But she didn’t intend to stay.

She spread her wings and took off again.

Caed’s frustrated cry followed her. “You’re making this battle very un-dramatic!”

So now the human could use Fractures as some sort of personal transportation – wonderful.

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder in time to see Caed rush towards his glaive and snatch it up before clawing at the air with his mismatched gauntlet – his fingers created four vertical lines that merged together and bloomed to create a wide, glowing white gap in reality.
He jumped through, and the Fracture sealed itself back up, leaving no evidence he or it were even there.

‘This is going to be a problem.’

She didn’t know where he got this tool, but with it, he could keep up with her and consistently hold the element of surprise by attacking at odd angles. It would make her search for Vinyl incredibly difficult with Caed constantly hounding her.

She had to get rid of him somehow.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of wind chimes, and reactively veered to the right. The whoosh of a blade went by her ear, but by the time she looked down, Caed was already slipping into another Fracture in mid-air.

‘Try it again. Come on – try it again. I am ready.’

She slowed her flight speed, just enough so that the wind rushing past her wasn’t so loud, and listened and waited…

Vzzzm

Nightmare Moon rolled off to the left, dodging another of Caed’s slashes, and quickly took aim and fired off a ball of twinkling frost from her horn.

A victorious grin crossed her face as Caed was pulled towards the ground, his arm encased in a thick coating of ice. She relished the look of surprise on his face as he plummeted and landed on top of an abandoned kiosk selling souvenirs.

‘Got you.’

She knew from their last encounter that even having a limb weighed down with ice did next to nothing in terms of slowing Caed down and that he would soon smash free of it, but it would hopefully stall him long enough for her to get far enough away.

Long enough for her to make sure Vinyl was safe.

The roadwork blurred below her as she flew beneath the cover of the city’s buildings – it didn’t take much longer for her to arrive in the downtown district, and when she did…

She saw two unicorns being carried off, kicking and screaming, slung over the shoulders of two Rouge Knights sprinting towards some destination in full armor.

Nightmare Moon’s fury intensified – she bared her teeth with a chilling growl and shot forwards like an arrow with one powerful flap of her wings.

The first knight wasn’t aware of her until she bit down on the back of their chestplate and savagely pulled them onto the ground. The knight uttered a masculine gasp as the unicorn flew from his arms and rolled across the ground. Fortunately, the unicorn was smart enough to run and never look back.

The second knight doubled back in alarm, and their arms around the second unicorn shifted like they was trying to reach for their sword, but Nightmare Moon was having none of it – she charged forwards and tackled them, hard. The armor dented around the middle as the human fell, and the unicorn was thrown a safe distance away – a few bruises and scrapes did not deter her from running away.

“Ah, it’s the fucking Empress!” The first knight cried. Nightmare Moon turned on him as he drew a single sword and gripped the hilt with both hands. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

The knights charged together and swung their swords in an overhead arc. Nightmare Moon cracked her jaws open and slammed her teeth down on one blade while simultaneously turning so she could buck the other knight with one hind leg. The knight was knocked a good ten feet backwards from the blow and rendered useless, allowing Nightmare Moon to twist her neck and tear the sword from the male knight’s hands before charging and knocking him to the floor.

He struggled, but she swiftly dispatched him with three stomps to the helmet, crushing it like a tin can.

The other knight didn’t put up much a fight either; Nightmare Moon received a few shallow slashes across her neck before she managed to stun the knight – female, judging by the grunts – with an electrical spell and knock her to the ground and follow it up with a few more vicious stomps.

She saved two ponies, but none of them were Vinyl.

“Argh!!” Frustration and unfamiliar helplessness welling up within her, she took to the skies again for a better viewpoint, and cast a spell to amplify her voice. “Vinyl!!”

She continued to cry her name, flying all over and scanning every nook and cranny of the district for a glare of white or a shock of blue hair. She swung by the club, but Vinyl was no longer there.

“Vinyl, where are you?!”

There were no more ponies on the streets. There were no more knights.

The feeling in her gut worsened.

“Vinyl!!”

Chills swept through her body as she became deaf to the far-off sounds of inequine shrieks and thunder – it was just background noise at this point.

‘This is pointless.’

‘I’m needed elsewhere.’

‘She’s just one pony.’

‘You’re getting far too emotional.’

The dark thoughts swirled in her head, but she ignored them as well, and channelled her mounting frustration and worry into rage; she snarled and flapped her wings harder, swooping so low through alleys and streets that she kicked up a strong gust of wind like a contrail.

“Vinyl!!” She passed through another alleyway, scattering trash cans and errant pieces of paper. “Damn it, Vinyl!”

She emerged out into another road and along it.

“Vi…!”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes went wide as she abruptly puffed out her wings to catch the air and come to a faltering stop.

Vinyl’s glasses glinted up at her from the cold ground.

Landing, stumbling, she jogged over to pick them up with her magic.

There was a possibility she was

There was no blood on them and they weren’t broken.

Vinyl would never leave her shades out in the open, so they could have been knocked off by another panicking pony or… or yes, perhaps in a struggle with a knight.

But there was no body, no blood, and the knights attempted to take unicorns alive.

So she was alive – she had to be – but then… she was…

It took her a second to realize that the reason her teeth were tingling wasn’t solely due to the flurry of emotion within her, but also because there was an incessant droning key that was just barely on the cusp of her hearing range.

‘That sound…’

Her ears told her that it was coming north-west, and she wasted no time in running off in that direction with the shades floating alongside her.

She passed through an empty pawn shop and went through the back entrance to emerge out in an alley. The sound was clearer now, and she ran straight ahead, flying over the chain link fence that separated two alleyways from each other.

She could hear shouting – a familiar voice.

‘Vinyl!’

It wasn’t far.

Nightmare Moon ran so fast that when the next corner came up, her hooves skidded against the concrete as she made to turn.

And she saw Vinyl being carried towards an Entropic Fracture over the shoulder of an astonishingly bulky knight.

“Vinyl!!”

“Wolf?” Vinyl ceased her struggles as her eyes widened; there was a smear of crusted blood running from her nose. Instantly, she brightened and grinned. “Wolf!”

Nightmare Moon felt her rage boil over as the large knight turned around and stared at her through the thin slit in their helm.

“Let. Her. Go.”

The knight’s helmet clanked as they cocked their head…

And swiftly turned to lift one leg and put it through the Fracture.

“No!!”

The light began swallowing the human as they advanced, and Nightmare Moon launched herself forwards unthinkingly, one forehoof reaching out as Vinyl extended her own foreleg to-

Vinyl disappeared through the Fracture.

Nightmare Moon didn’t think what would happen if she went through, if she just left Canterlot as it currently was – her body reacted before she could take a moment to plan and carried her through the anomaly.

~

Nightmare Moon stumbled onto a hard surface with a sensation like millions of ants crawling across and beneath her skin.

She looked around at the grey, metal walls, the sterile white floor, and the beeping electronic devices furnishing the spacious chamber. Black and yellow hazard tape sectioned off a square portion of the floor – she was standing within the square along with the Fracture that marred the very fabric of reality just mere feet behind her.

And then she looked at the many humans occupying the room – pink bipeds in thin clothing stationed behind some of the many electronic devices, or carrying clipboards and papers.

She stared at them, and they stared at her.

“Wolf!”

Nightmare Moon blinked and broke eye contact with them. “Vinyl!”

Several feet away, the large knight dropped Vinyl to the floor and took a step forwards, the bulk of their form shifting as they heaved a massive shield into a guarding stance – the slender shape of their sword stuck out to one side.

‘This is… I’m in their…’

She shook her head and lowered into an aggressive stance, her lips pulling over her sharp teeth.

Questions for later – right now, she had a knight to kill.

The shield-bearing knight fell upon her as the other lightly-armored humans scurried to the machinery, shouting to one another in a panic.

“Close the portal – we have a breach! I repeat: we have a breach!”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: "Knight Enforcer, in regards to your suggestion to re-engineer the gauntlet found on Dami the Irregular, I am pleased to say that it is indeed possible. To elaborate a bit, the device appears to operate very similarly to the Spectrum Shifter, but on a smaller and less powerful scale. Put simply, it does not so much as 'transport' matter from one spot to another, but 'shifts' them into a state which is not affected by gravity nor friction and is invisible to the naked eye. From our few experiments, the user seems to 'swim' while they are in this state, and 'shifts' out of it by operating the gauntlet once more.

"The operation of the gauntlet is child's play: this is most likely so that the Irregular would still be capable of using it without much dexterity or thought. Should you wish, you are more than welcome to have it, although I ask that you allow the Scribes to study it for at least a few days in case it may be trapped.

"P.S. We also ask that you NOT paint skulls onto it to make it more 'edgy'. Do you not remember what happened with Knight Guardian Lena's shield?" - A letter from Scribe James to Knight Enforcer Caed.