“Now!”

Mirage dropped his disguise and spat pale green fluid directly into Nightmare Moon’s face.

Luna immediately called on her magic and cast a spell. She felt three sources resonate in return: one beneath the streets, one from Rainbow Dash’s satchel, and the other from within the castle. She could almost hear the delicate timbre of the enchanted bells she gave out, but of course, their noise was ethereal, only able to be felt by those close by. A seemingly harmless spell that worked effectively as a signal.

She heard a mighty BOOM on the street and turned in time to see a murky brown-yellow spout of sewer water fly high into the air. She saw a flash of gold cut through the water as Gilda, talons wreathed in earth-moving magic, revealed herself with a fierce expression of battle fury.

She couldn’t see the hole Gilda had made in the street, but she could see Eclipse shouting and falling back in alarm as Celestia and Luna’s allies poured out to meet them.

It should have been an inspiring sight, but both armies stopped dead in their tracks as a terrible howl rent the air.

It wasn’t any easier to hear the second time around.

The core of Luna’s being shuddered as a black fog of flashing teeth and empty, white eyes ripped through Nightmare Moon’s body amidst a shower of red and gore. It churned and swirled above her while she recoiled and coughed up blackened blood. Luna caught a glimpse of her face – it was like a jigsaw coming apart.

Luna hoped that would have done it; the Cleansing Joke mixture was going to destroy, or at least disable Nightmare Moon, allowing them to establish a hoof-hold on the field and intimidate the rest of the Eclipse forces into a swift and bloodless surrender.

But Nightmare Moon didn’t fall; she seemed to bolster herself and turn on Mirage. “Curse you! Snivelling insect!”

“Mirage, get away from her!” Celestia leapt into action, her large wings beating once to send her flying over the shocked heads of the Eclipse guards that were supposed to keep them under watch.

Luna took the more direct route, bashing through the line to follow her sibling.

But they were just too far away, and Nightmare Moon was still too fast. Before Luna’s eyes, she raised one foreleg and batted Mirage away like he was nothing. He skipped a dozen yards across the garden, missing two Eclipse guards who side-stepped him in shock, and hit a tree with a visceral crack.

Celestia screamed. “No!”

Luna caught up and pulled her when she tried to go to him. “Sister, stop! We cannot help him at this moment!” Celestia turned, tried to argue, but Nightmare Moon roared again and clumsily turned to glare at them. Celestia’s wings reluctantly folded against her side, and Luna took a step forwards, touching her shoulder. “She will turn on the others if left unchecked.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Y-yes. I know.”

Nightmare Moon convulsed. Her legs buckled, but she managed to catch herself and lurch towards the castle where Rainbow Dash was struggling to hold Vinyl down. “Release her, or I will flay the skin off your cowardly flesh!”

To her credit, Rainbow Dash continued to try and pull Vinyl away. She managed to restrain Vinyl in a way that would have let her fly off without issue, but a dark blue pegasus intervened and knocked Rainbow Dash away.

Vinyl fell to the dirt and another pegasus flew over to help her up.

Rainbow Dash seemed to recognize the dark blue pegasus; her eyes widened with recognition before she soared higher into the sky, pursued by her attacker.

“Sister – move the moon!” Celestia cried.

“I am!” Luna retorted, glancing up and grimacing as her moon – beloved round thing it was – began to uncover the sun at a snail’s pace. “I can’t move it any faster than this!” She pushed and prodded, but it would move no faster.

She heard an immense din going on to the side and looked over, heart sinking.

Just like how they hoped Nightmare Moon would be immediately defeated by the Cleansing Joke, they also hoped that her personal guard would suffer some adverse effects by proxy. But that didn’t seem to be the case. They didn't collapse on the spot, nor did they recoil due to some magical feedback.

She recognized the leader, Ebony, rallying the rest of the Eclipse and ordering them to engage those from Ponyville, who were so courageous as to offer to fight, as they emerged from the sewers. Ebony’s baleful red eyes shone brightly as she drew her sword and rushed to Nightmare Moon’s aid.

‘Blood and fire!’

Their forces were significantly outnumbered: it wouldn’t have been efficient for a large group to move through the crystal caves that lay beneath Canterlot, after all. The group consisted of strong ponies, but the Eclipse were nothing to dismiss so easily, especially with Nightmare Moon’s personal guard making up some of their numbers. If they didn't get any help soon, then...

“Sister,” Luna said. “Go help them. I will fight Nightmare Moon myself.”

Celestia, predictably, was not enthused about that idea. "Are you crazy? Even if she's weakened, she's still dangerous. It'd be better if we both fought."

"If we both go, we'll lose ponies. You're weaker without the sun, but you're still more than able to fend off her lesser pawns," She paused with a deep frown. "Besides, she is my mistake, I should be the one to fix it."

"Luna, this isn't the time for this!"

"Sister, I can do this; you have to trust me."

Celestia bit her bottom lip and looked back and forth between Luna and the clashing armies. Her eyes found Luna's. They shared an unspoken conversation before she nodded. “Very well. Be safe.”

“You too.”

Celestia spread her wings and took off to where the two armies were clashing. She cast one last look at her younger sister as she fearlessly strode forward to engage Nightmare Moon, her form radiating power.

Maybe this truly was for the best. Celestia felt weak and sluggish beneath the eclipse; if she and Luna really had to split up to prevent the loss of their allies' lives, then it made sense for the weaker of the two to fight the weaker enemy. Because even if Celestia wasn't at her best, she had no doubt she was more than a match for the regular ranks of the Eclipse.

Speaking of which, Celestia snapped out of her internal reflection as three Eclipse pegasi rose to engage her with spears and wing-blades. One of them wore more intricate armor and had draconic eyes - Celestia recalled that this was a Praetorian Guard, the one called Veil.

The two regular guards rushed to try and stab her. Celestia summoned a flicker of flame to her horn, causing them to stop in fear, but when the flame suddenly died out, they regained their bravado and came at her again. Celestia had to physically counter and kick them away with a sneer.

She couldn't even conjure and maintain a simple fire spell? More than ever, it seemed that letting Luna take on Nightmare Moon was the right decision, even though her heart ached in concern for her younger sibling.

Veil seemed non-plussed by her fellow guards being so easily defeated and tossed a canister with a blinking red gemstone. Celestia used her wing to bat it to the side. The canister exploded in mid-air with a massive plume of bright orange flames and a burst of grey smoke. Celestia let the heat wash over her with a fleeting sense of euphoria.

Veil hovered in place with a cold grimace. “I would have preferred fighting your sister to pay her back for that time she almost stomped my ribs into my throat, but I guess revenge by proxy's almost as good.”

“It's not to late to back down,” Celestia retorted. “If you give up now, you won't be punished severely.”

“See, the thing is...” Veil rolled another canister between her hooves. "I got into this gig knowing that I'm gonna make a lot of enemies," She shrugged. "Besides, there are a few ponies that I know that I don't really feel like betraying. Even if one of them's a snob."

Celestia had no time to decipher what that was supposed to mean as Veil threw her grenade, its arc precisely measured to strike despite the almost lazy way it was thrown. Celestia prepared to knock it back with a Kinetic Impact spell, but suddenly, the air seemed to bend, and the canister started to grow in size until it was the size of a fully-grown pony.

Celestia was so surprised that she shot her spell early; it missed, and the twirling cylinder shrunk as fast as it had expanded before colliding with the bone in her left wing. In the instant it took for the gem to prime, she jerked away and shielded her face.

The canister exploded with a wave of pressured air and freezing magic that flash-froze her wing and encased it in frost. Celestia hated the cold, she was always more sensitive than other ponies about her body heat dropping; it was why Nightmare Moon was so effective at fighting her, though the reverse was also true. The explosion of air also ruptured her eardrum, throwing her off-balance and forcing her to land somewhere that wasn't bogged down with fighting.

While her body slowly recovered, somebody smacked into her and the leering brown face of a sharp-toothed creature greeted her when she turned. If she hadn’t immediately noticed the black and white body the face was connected to, she might have just punted them across the street.

‘Zecora?’

Zecora was saying something, but Celestia’s head was spinning and the shaman’s words thumped mutedly against her ears like raindrops on a roof. Zecora pulled her past several fighters – friendly – and stopped her near the edge of the hole Gilda had formed in the street.

Four other bodies suddenly swarmed her in a dizzying rush of bright colours and wide eyes. They were pelting her with questions, but it was disorienting. Celestia chose to concentrate on Zecora's voice and let it guide her back to her senses.

“-consume, princess?!”

Celestia shook her head and blinked hard, ears flicking as the sounds of battle came back into hearing range. She looked at Zecora, then at the others - Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. All of them were clad in protective gear. They had realized her confusion and stopped talking over one another and were now awaiting an answer with baited breath.

Celestia took a deep breath and blinked again before focusing on Zecora. “Wh-what did you say?”

“The Cleansing Joke for Nightmare Moon!” Zecora shouted. Celestia noticed for the first time Zecora was wearing a belt of satchels and pouches. “How much of it did she consume?”

“I… Not much,” Celestia slapped herself to clear the lingering effects of the explosion. “Mirage... he got enough of it in her that she came out of her body. In that black cloud?" The present Element bearers nodded in understanding. "But she's not hurt as badly as last time, I think. She's still moving, talking..." She paused to catch her breath and clear the lingering pain in her ears. "Luna's fighting her, I'm too weak right now until the eclipse is over."

"Oh, dear," Fluttershy fretted - the poor thing was strung out by the sounds of fighting, evident by her constant back and forth glances. "I hope she's okay."

"Dang it, ah should be doing more." Applejack hissed.

"No," Celestia shook her head firmly. "It's better that you all remain out of the fight until we have the chance to use the Elements of Harmony."

Applejack glared at the ground, sullen, and Pinkie Pie comforted her.

"Princess, your wing!" Rarity cried, reaching out in concern. "I-I've been training in healing magic, so perhaps I can-"

"It is not needed, thank you," Celestia waved her off. "Save your power for those who need it more than me. I've had worse, believe me."

“The qandisa is weakened, that much is for sure..." Zecora interjected. "But we need-”

“Scusi! Forgive my interruption!”

Marquess Aldo marched between them, feathers freshly preened and talons polished to a majestic sheen. He withdrew a silver sword and marched forward while his griffon guards followed closely behind.

“We fight to defeat one of our allies’ foes,” He effortlessly parried the swipe of an Eclipse guard and knock them to the ground. “Our honour is assured even in death, but I shall see you all through this if you choose to follow,” Spreading his large wings with a strong blast of air, he soared into the fray. “Gli spiriti preservano il Regno Griffon!”

“E possano gli spiriti preservarci!” His guards roared as they rallied around him.

"So cool!" Pinkie Pie squeaked with starry eyes.

Zecora cleared her throat. “Weakened though she may be, the spirit is still a threat; however, have faith in your sister, and we will win this yet.”

"Can she really win against Nightmare Moon?" Rarity fretted.

“Nightmare Moon has the power of Cryomancy... ice spells... and she's resistant to the cold, just like Luna. In terms of physical strength, I think Nightmare Moon has the advantage. But she's hurt, and Luna isn't, so...” Celestia paused, flexed her wing to get rid of the frost and speed up the flow of blood. “Luna has the advantage, especially with the moon out," She shook her head and scanned the skies. "Some of Nightmare Moon's personal guard is here; one of them threw a canister that doubled before my eyes. Has to be Illusion-type magic,” She turned her gaze back to the scuffle and narrowed her eyes. “I'll deal with them.”

“I see,” Zecora put her mask back in place. “Then we will handle the rest. Good luck to you, princess. I wish you the best,” She charged ahead a few paces, but stopped and looked back. “Ah! What of young Twilight Sparkle?”

The four present Element Bearers turned to her hopefully.

Celestia winced and shook her head sadly. “I didn't see her. We have to trust in the infiltration team. That's all we can do about Twilight for the time being.”

Applejack cursed worriedly. "Dagnabbit, RD - if ya'll get hurt, then ah'm gonna whup ya somethin' fierce."

Zecora nodded solemnly – Celestia could feel the worry coming through the mask – and joined the rest of the group fighting.

Celestia looked back to the four mares and smiled reassuringly- "We're not running this time. We'll win - I promise." -and took to the air to fly back over the battle.

It was chaos.

She surveyed and mapped the entire battle in a few seconds, but that was enough to take it all in.

The Royal Guard that had been assigned to protect Ponyville so long ago were at the front lines but had little success in pushing forward; most Eclipse were not as experienced as them, but that advantage fared poorly in the face of so many numbers.

She could hear Clockwork insulting the Eclipse – “tossers!” – even when she was so high up. She could see Virtue deflecting a thrown spear with his magic and swiping the axehead off the haft of another foe. Swift Wind was in the air battling Eclipse pegasi, using his small and nimble frame to his advantage.

Marquees Aldo and the griffons had a better handle on things: they used their speed and aerial mobility to blindside their foes and force their attention away from the ground forces. Gilda proved to be a terrifying force as she swung a mace in one claw while terraforming the earth beneath the street to trap and toss the Eclipse about. She was cackling in delight.

Mildly disconcerting.

Pegasi engaged in aerial combat all around her. She tried to step in and help where she could, but her focus was on-

There!

Veil was down with the mob and seemingly berating a unicorn adorned in Eclipse armor. She turned her head, spotted Celestia, and roughly shoved the unicorn with golden colours in the opposite direction before rising to meet Luna.

Celestia noticed yet another unicorn, this one wearing the more intricate gear of a Praetorian Guard, shove his way through the mass of bodies below until he was in a spot where he could freely move, and then light up his horn.

Haze.

Mirage told her he was versed in Illusion magic; it must have been his influence that caused Veil's attack to warp so unnaturally. The same Illusion magic he was now using on Veil as she flew towards her, causing the space around her to shift and splinter like glass.

Celestia grunted. Haze couldn't make Veil invisible, not unless he was up in the air with them, so he was trying to hide her by distorting the space between her and Celestia - right now, it was a mess of shimmering, floating glass that reflected the world and flashing colours. It was an excellent illusion, but for somepony who fought Discord, whose distortions went beyond mere perspective, it wasn't good enough.

There was a splotch of colour, half-hidden by a twirling glass shard reflecting Celestia's own determined face, that was looming closer by the second instead of floating about aimlessly. She smirked - even for an expert Illusionist, it was hard to hide all evidence that a large mass was moving through space - and put all her weight into a right hook.

As Celestia flew off to the brawl, Luna closed in on Nightmare Moon. With a roar, the giant timber wolf bounded over and placed itself between her and Nightmare Moon, growling and frothing foul-smelling sap.

From the other side came Ebony, who stopped in front of the timber wolf with her sword drawn. Her red eyes were haunting, but no worse than what Luna had seen in some ponies' particularly rowdy nightmares.

“A changeling…” Nightmare Moon spat, glaring between the wolf’s legs. “Hopeless fools truly exist in every society.”

“'Tis not a sin to have hope; it is what drives us to fight for a better future.” Luna replied.

Nightmare Moon chortled wetly, spasming and spitting up some blackened blood. “B... breaking your own truce… I expected that from you, but for your sister to go along with it? That's a surprise. She's become more pragmatic.”

"A necessity given your nature," Luna said gravely. "'Tis a travesty that I was too young and naive to see through your manipulation."

"Oh, you poor thing..." Nightmare Moon cackled repulsively and bared her sharp teeth in a sneer. "What, no sympathy for your old head-mate?"

Luna's lip curled. "You never had any intention to give me everlasting night in the first place, did you?"

Another ugly laugh. "Of course I didn't. I prefer the darkness, but only someone like you, blinded by envy, would ignore the effects everlasting night would have on Equestria. But you wanted it so bad," Coughing blackened blood, Nightmare Moon swiped at her jaw. "You were easy to manipulate."

"Which is why..." Luna said coldly. "I want you to understand that part of me will enjoy this."

She started to advance forward.

"Wolf!!"

Luna slowed as she saw Vinyl racing across the garden and coming to a stop beside Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon looked at her, something flashing behind her eyes.

“You… Get out of here. Go back inside and find Miasma.”

“Wolf, I’m sorry,” Vinyl despaired, shaking her head. “I couldn’t get here in time. I…”

“Never mind tha-”

Nightmare Moon's lower jaw froze in place as her body suddenly went taut. Eyes wide, she emitted a wet choking noise before arching her back with a pained howl and falling to the ground.

"Wolf!" Vinyl cried again, desperation stretching her voice.

The black fog grew darker and sprouted more glowing eyes and gnashing mouths; it was horrific, but it seemed to be in pain, unfocused.

Vinyl continued to call to Nightmare Moon, alongside Ebony, and the timber wolf shied away from the unnatural fog, unsure how to react – it was still an animal, after all.

Luna needed to act now while they were distracted.

Breaking into a gallop, Luna spread her wings and leapt at the wolf’s torso while it was distracted. Despite its size, the beast yelped and staggered backwards before falling over completely as Luna gave it a powerful kick and hovered back.

Pain exploded in her side as Ebony shot a bolt of electricity. Snorting in irritation, Luna turned to dive-bomb the lich. The ground cracked beneath her as Ebony dodged to the side and advanced with a flash of her sword. Luna put her foreleg up and let the edge bite into her flesh; she pulled her leg back, along with Ebony, and slammed her other hoof into the startled mare's face. Despite holding back, Luna felt bones bend and snap; Ebony flew back several feet, and Luna removed the sword from her leg with nary a twitch.

The timber wolf, meanwhile, howled and tore out gouges of earth with its claws as it scrabbled back up and pounced.

Luna dodged the snapping jaws and took to the air, but the beast was faster than she expected and managed to bite down on her hind leg. The beast slammed her back onto the ground and pinned her beneath one gigantic paw before unleashing a blast of sickly green breath at point blank.

Luna wrinkled her nose and glared into the beast’s glowing eyes. “Your ancestors could once peel paint off the walls with but a sigh; how far your kind have fallen.”

The timber wolf managed to look ashamed at this.

It even kept that expression as Luna flexed her muscles, tore through its paw, and flew up to decapitate it with one powerful kick.

While she was in the air, a dark blur zoomed in from the side and slammed into her. It zipped away when she tried to kick it. Luna looked down to see three bloody gashes in her belly that spluttered grotesquely before her flesh started to knit back together.

The sound of something cutting through the air brought her gaze upwards and she barely covered her face in time to block a pair of flashing blades. The pegasus – what was his name again? Fade? – was swift and strong, constantly darting to and fro, never striking in the same place. Lacerations appeared on her wings and sides, but they did little besides make her flinch and grunt.

She carefully studied his movements and threw her forehoof out when she felt the time was right, earning a solid thwack and sending Fade tumbling to the ground. He must have been dazed if not unconscious by that.

Leaving her body to repair the damage done to it, Luna flew back to where Nightmare Moon was still sprawled on the ground. The dark fog had become listless, falling to swirl around Nightmare Moon’s body, the eyes and teeth sparse and hazy.

Vinyl was trying to help her up, but to no avail. When Luna landed in front of them, Vinyl planted herself defensively. “No way.”

Luna grimaced. “Step aside.”

“I’m not moving.”

“'Tis not an issue.”

She struggled and flailed, but Luna pushed her aside as easily as she would turn a page, or open a door; there was no magic to be wary of, and it wouldn't affect much even if there was.

"There is still time," Luna said as she towered over Nightmare Moon; the demon was glaring at her angrily, so she knew her words were being heard. "For the sake of harmony and benevolence, I will put aside my personal feelings and give you one final chance to surrender and order your forces to stand down."

"She can't even stand!" Vinyl cried, throwing herself against Luna's side and pushing with all her might. "You can't kill her in cold blood like this! It's fucked up!"

Luna's temper flared. What did this mare know? Did she really think she had a say in any of this just because Nightmare Moon, for some bizarre reason, took a liking to her? Foolishness. Luna once believed she could trust Nightmare Moon, and that trust was betrayed; history would repeat itself with Vinyl unless Luna and the others dealt with Nightmare Moon before that could happen.

"This is for your own good," Luna said coldly, shoving Vinyl with enough force to make her trip; part of Luna was shocked at her own callousness, but she didn't let it sway her much. "I know Nightmare Moon better than anypony. Whatever you think you're worth to her, it will never be more than her own ambition. She'll use you for whatever she needs, even your own body, then cast you aside," To Nightmare Moon, she said, "Well? Five seconds to decide... four..."

Nightmare Moon continued glaring, huffing painfully through clenched teeth.

"Three..."

"Stop!" There were tears in Vinyl's eyes as she got back up and put herself in front of Nightmare Moon. "I know she's bad! I know she's done bad shit! But..."

"Two..."

"She's..." Vinyl closed her eyes; tears streaked down her cheeks as her horn sparked pathetically. "She's my best friend. Doesn't that mean anything to you guys?"

Luna swallowed, hesitated, and looked to the side. "O-one-"

And reeled back as a potent blast of magic struck her dead-centre in the chest, robbing her of her breath.

Luna's coat withered and flaked; the flesh beneath the hairs turned grey and cracked, oozing blood like strawberry jam. It wasn't the worst hit she'd recieved, but she still took a few steps back as her vision swam momentarily.

"How did...?" She gaped at Vinyl, but...

Vinyl, also shocked, touched her unlit horn. “I… Wait, I didn't...”

“You really are a fool…”

Unbelievably, Nightmare Moon was standing. The black fog drew back in, condensing around her like a suit of vapor before completely disappearing into her pores.

An incredible feat of determination, but the fact that Nightmare Moon had gotten up didn't mean much; she was still shaking so hard it looked like seizures, and her horn was fizzing weakly, already overworked from a simple – powerful but ultimately simple – spell. Her coat glistened with the blood pouring from dozens of wounds that seemed to be from her flesh simply coming undone on the spot. Her hate-filled eyes were dim and full of pain.

Luna didn’t attack just yet, mostly because she half-expected Nightmare Moon to fall apart like a cheaply-made doll; Vinyl was also in the way, and Luna wasn't sure if any sudden move would make Nightmare Moon attack through Vinyl to land a hit; she needed to get her out of the way. Again.

“Was it not enough to stunt your magic facing Caed?” Nightmare Moon grumbled to Vinyl with… bitter fondness? Was that even a thing? “Now you seek to throw yourself against an opponent superior to you in every physical attribute?”

Vinyl swallowed. “Wolf-”

“Do you realize how embarrassing it is to be protected like some wailing waif by somepony crying their eyes out?” Nightmare Moon scoffed, gently pushing Vinyl aside. “I said for you to go back inside and find Miasma. I meant that.”

“But-”

“Go… Vinyl.” Nightmare Moon repeated with deathly calmness.

Nodding, Vinyl turned and ran back to the castle as fast as she could go.

Luna matched the glare Nightmare Moon was sending her way. “Still, you choose to fight.”

“I'm stubborn like that.”

Nightmare Moon threw a clumsy punch.

Luna pulled back to avoid it and countered with a hook.

Nightmare Moon slammed into the ground. “Damn… it…”

Luna felt an intense burn on her hoof. Glancing down at it, she grimaced at the splotches of blackened blood. It didn’t seem to do anything besides hurt, but she flailed her leg until it was mostly gone.

“You are falling apart.”

Nightmare Moon growled at her and tried to get back up. "I will not... surrender. I've worked too hard to get where I am."

"You do not deserve any of it," Luna snapped. "It's my power you stole to make your own; without it, you are nothing."

Drawing on her magic, Luna focused it down to her right foreleg, where it condensed into three rings of arcane energy. The spell worked well on Discord, a being of chaos magic, so it should work just as well on Nightmare Moon - Zecora said a qandisa was a spirit of negative energy, after all.

Just a few hits, and Luna would redeem the mistake she made all those years ago.

“Return to Tartarus, demon,” She said coldly, pointing her hoof forward. “And haunt us no more.”

Nightmare Moon looked up at her and snarled. "'Nothing' without it, am I?"

Suddenly, with a burst of strength, she lunged with her jaws splitting so wide it was like staring into the maw of a great, slavering snake.

Luna fired one of her magic rings. Then, everything went dark.

Miasma’s hoof was on the door to Twilight’s laboratory when her brother Called. His thoughts went by fast, but she knew him long enough to decipher his excited ramblings.

“Shit’s gone bad, we’re being attacked,” was the main gist.

She withdrew her hoof, turned to order her platoon back downstairs-

-and was crushed between the wall as the door flew off its hinges with a mighty explosion of purple magic.

The other guards exclaimed in shocked, and Miasma heard some running off in the pursuit of flapping wings. A few came to help her. Miasma grunted and pushed the door off her body, then turned, noticing a smashed window down the end of the corridor surrounded by a few guards peering out.

“What happened?”

One of the guards by the window trotted back. “The… Twilight, ma’am. She escaped,” She rubbed her leg awkwardly. “Also, I think there were two Wonderbolts with her. I think.”

Miasma sighed through her nostrils. Clearly, the castle had been infiltrated and somebody got to Twilight without anypony noticing. She didn’t know how, but that wasn’t important right now; they needed to get back down to the garden.
Ordering her troops to fall in line, Miasma galloped back the way she came.

She just so happened to pass by the doors leading to the throne room and picked up on voices.

“Wait.”

It could have been the castle staff, but… something about the tone and volume was wrong, somehow. It didn’t sound like a pony, it sounded like…

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

With a slight frown, Miasma waved her guards to gather and prepare their weapons before she slowly pushed the doors open…

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

Nightmare Moon’s body was breaking down; hair was falling out, muscle and sinew were coming undone, blood was turning thick and dark; the liquid was slowly destroying her body.

Abandon it, a voice that wasn’t hers seemed to say.

Reveal yourself, it said while phantom limbs tugged at her, trying to separate her consciousness from her body.

Nightmare Moon grit her teeth and ignored the voices and ghostly pull. So long as she focused on her own rage and hate, she could stay within her body.

But this…

This was different to when Celestia almost incinerated her; whatever she was hit with wasn’t just destroying her physical form, it was interfering with her magic. She couldn’t telepathically communicate with her Praetorian Guard, nor feel the link she shared with Twilight. That blast of raw magic she shot at Luna took supreme willpower and concentration.

She used the time that attack brought and sent Vinyl away to the castle where she wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. Then, gazing up into Luna’s hardened eyes – no mercy would be found there – she forced herself to move.

At once, two new sensations became known to her: satisfaction as her teeth raked across Luna’s face, and agony as powerful magic shredded the right side of her body.

The magic blew her back several feet, rolling across the ground, the pain renewing as dirt and grass brushed over her injuries like red hot coals. When she finally stopped rolling, it took everything she had to stop herself from screaming.

‘I’m still alive, though… I suppose I can’t complain.’

Nightmare Moon assumed she had been fast enough to avoid getting hit point-blank by the spell, but her right side...

She turned her head to assess the damage.

Her side was a mess of ruptured flesh and flayed muscle. Her foreleg had been blown off entirely and was resting a little bit aways from where she lay prone. That poisonous liquid the changeling spat must have weakened her considerably for that spell to do such damage. Or, maybe Luna was really that strong with the eclipse. That aside, the fact that she could still move around after receiving that on top of a mouthful of that poisonous liquid was nothing short of miraculous.

Struggling, somehow managing to turn and look behind her, she sneered viciously as Luna covered her eyes. Blood was dripping down her cheeks.

‘How embarrassing to be blinded by somepony in a state such as mine.’

Nightmare Moon pushed the pain aside and tried to contact her Praetorian Guard again, but it was as if there was a wall of cotton around her that absorbed her thoughts. It must have been another effect of that toxin.

Wonderful.

With her remaining foreleg, Nightmare Moon hobbled away. She needed to put distance between her and Luna.

“Divine Daughter!” A voice cried out behind her.

Or, find a healer.

A mare with golden hues to contrast the black armor she wore stumbled into view, her bright eyes widening in horror. “Mother Faust…”

“Vitae…” Nightmare Moon coughed. “S-save the gawking and heal me. Quickly!”

Thank Faust she had Ebony draft this pony into the Eclipse. In the short time Vitae had been here since Nightmare Moon rescued her from the humans, she’d proven to be a prodigy in the Rejuvenation school of magic.

Good thing, too, because she was otherwise hopeless around weapons, and a hopeless sycophant.

“Of course, Divine Daughter!” Vitae grovelled before lighting her horn and spreading gentle waves of magic across Nightmare Moon’s body. “But wh-what happened to you? I-I was fighting with the others when Veil told me to come to you.”

It was a pain to talk, but Nightmare Moon managed to growl out, “Filthy insect… Must have… been something brewed by that zebra witch doctor… The magic’s… sickening…”

Something that could inflict such pain and shock to her very essence could have only originated from Zebrica; the zebra tribes were the only ones who had methods dedicated to destroying her kind.

“Zebra?!” Vitae cried, aghast. “Celestia and Luna would allow the use of heretical magic?”

Heretical?

Magic was magic, but if that’s what this mare wanted to believe, then whatever.

“Nngh…” Nightmare Moon looked at her remaining foreleg in frustration. “This is barely doing anything…” The flesh on her foreleg shifted between two states, seemingly coming together in one instant before falling apart the next. “At this rate… Luna will recover her sight before I can-”

Something moved in the corner of Nightmare Moon’s eye. Before she could focus on it, it smashed into her side and flipped her over as a pair of hooves cratered the dirt where she’d been.

Vitae yelped and fell backwards.

Obviously, Nightmare Moon didn’t appreciate the rough-handling, but looking at the hole that Luna was pulling her legs out of, she figured she could forgive it.

She turned her head and saw Fade and Ebony, the former sporting a massive shiner, and the latter bearing a snout that seemed to have been pushed in a few inches; her skull probably looked like smashed eggshells; Luna had a wicked haymaker.

Fade put his hoof against his lips and shook his head pleadingly. He didn’t look cocky but genuinely concerned and afraid.

Nightmare Moon turned back and watched as Luna swung her head this way and that, eyes still shut tight as her ears twitched. Until her eyes healed, she’d have to rely on hearing; difficult to do with a massive brawl going on in the background.

Nightmare Moon could feel a tickle in her hindbrain; she guessed it to be Fade or Ebony attempting to send their thoughts, but the cotton in her head was muddling whatever they were trying to say. Suppressing a pained hiss, Nightmare Moon pushed herself up with her remaining foreleg.

Her two guards helped to support her. She could feel the part of her essence she left inside them yearning to burst out and come back to her. It would give her a small surge of strength, but Nightmare Moon ignored it; it would barely make a difference, and she’d rather have these two at full strength, even if they were at a major disadvantage.

“Castle…” Nightmare Moon croaked out. “Make a… stand at the castle…”

“And then what?” Ebony asked.

Nightmare Moon paused.

Yes, and then what? She had no plan. All steps and counter-measures she had taken to prevent something like this were for naught, all because of one pathetic changeling. She was making things up as she went along.

She couldn’t let them know that, though; she had to appear calm and in control, no matter the state she was in.

“Just get to the castle… I’ll figure things out from there…”

Fade suddenly stopped. “Boss?”

“Wh-what?”

“You called Twilight here, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon lifted her head and saw, streaking towards her from around the side of the castle, a purple alicorn with a brilliantly shining horn and light-refracting crystals sticking out of her skin. There was murder in her eyes.

Nightmare Moon’s left eye twitched. “You’re kidding, right?”

It was all Rainbow Dash could do to avoid the unbelievably strong kicks of her foe. The last hit almost broke her ribs, now they creaked and whined with every stroke of her wings; another hit like that and she was done for.

Lightning Dust knew that and pressured her, refusing to allow even a second of reprieve as they weaved around the castle’s towers and spires, trying to out-manoeuvre the other.

“What’s wrong?! Feeling woozy?!” Lightning Dust jeered over the rushing wind. “I thought you were the best flier in Equestria!”

Rainbow Dash snorted in disgust. “Sorry, what was that?! I couldn’t hear that over the sounds of the cheating magic Nightmare Bitch put into you!”

“Just improving what’s already near perfect! You should try it…”

The fur on Rainbow Dash’s back stood up. On honed instinct, she twisted to the side, and Lightning Dust shot by and hit the slanted roof of a spire hard enough to shatter the shingles. Rainbow Dash veered off and flew around the castle, hearing Lightning Dust’s laugh chasing after her.

“Assuming you even live that long!!”

Holy shit, she was literally trying to kill her!

Rainbow Dash knew that Lightning Dust harboured a grudge against her for what happened at the Wonderbolts Academy, but seriously?! She never pegged Lightning Dust as a pyscho; egotistical and short-sighted, maybe – kind of like her, but she was getting better, honestly! – but not crazy murderous like this!

What the hell happened to her after the Academy?

Well, no point in focusing on that now; better to focus on surviving.

Lightning Dust came around in the opposite direction, almost too fast for Rainbow Dash to react, but she managed to put her hooves up in time to stave off the flashing wing-blades.

‘Stave off’ meaning that she got her forelegs cut to shit instead of her face.

Rainbow Dash had martial training, but the difference in strength and speed between her and Lightning Dust was so much that she pretty much just flailed about to avoid getting hit until she managed to get away.

“Why don’t you just fly away?” Lightning Dust shouted, giving chase. “Just abandon your friends right now if you’re just gonna keep running like a coward!”

Rainbow Dash bristled at the insult. She didn’t like that she was on the defensive, but she just couldn’t fight Lightning Dust. She matched Rainbow Dash in speed and agility when she was normal, now she was even faster, and stronger to boot.

Also, she had knives, which was total BS.

“I cut you up pretty bad there!” Lightning Dust crowed, diving in and trying for another flurry of slashes, which Rainbow Dash barely dodged. “All that bleeding’s gonna tire you out sooner or later! Might as well make it easy on yourself and hold still for me!”

There was one thing Rainbow Dash could do, though.

She could keep Lightning Dust occupied. It didn’t seem to occur to her that every second she spent chasing Rainbow Dash was a second she was spending not helping protect Nightmare Moon, or helping the rest of the Eclipse. Bad or not, Rainbow Dash always felt that you should help the guys on the same side as you. Not that she was complaining that Lightning Dust wasn’t doing that.

Her instincts flared and told her to get out of the way, but when she tilted her body and banked right, cold steel cut into the space between her wings. The pain made her wings spasm and she lost control.

“Look at you now…” Lightning Dust taunted, choosing to remain hovering as Rainbow Dash landed on a spire and scrabbled for purchase on the shingles. “I’m stronger than you, faster than you, and I have just as much skill,” The blades on her wings started to glint with the sun finally emerging from behind the moon. “You’re totally finished What do you have compared to me now, huh?!”

She came at Rainbow Dash like a comet…

Then fell like a shooting star as a yellow and orange flash came down from the sky right on top of her.

Lightning Dust hit a slanted roof a few storeys below Rainbow Dash with a flurry of pained curses.

Spitfire swiped her foreleg across her chin. “Friends, for one thing.”

Rainbow Dash grinned wildly. “The hell took you guys so long?”

“Had to make sure the princess took the Cleansing Joke well,” Soarin said, landing beside her and retrieving a roll of gauze tape from his saddlebag. She held still and let him wrap her wounds. “She did, by the way.”

“Where is she?”

“Went to go help the others,” Spitfire answered, landing on Rainbow Dash’s other side. She grimaced as one of her hindlegs twitched as it touched the shingles. “Shit. I hit her hard enough to hurt my own leg, but she’s still standing.”

Twilight was okay – that news made all the injuries she bore worth receiving.

“She’s crazy strong,” Rainbow Dash muttered, watching as Lightning Dust shook herself off and flew back up with a nasty glare. “We can probably take her with all three of us here, though.”

Lightning Dust growled as she hovered a dozen yards away, hate darkening her eyes. “Well, looky here… I don’t care much for that loser, but you and the captain of the Wonderbolts in one place? Must be my lucky day.”

Soarin bit off the end of the gauze as he finished wrapping her last cut and placed the roll back. “So, how are we gonna do this, captain?”

“Alpha-3, Manoeuvre 5.” Spitfire said immediately.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Whoa, that’s intense.”

“Yeah,” Spitfire glanced over with a daring smirk. “What’s wrong? Slowing down?”

Rainbow Dash returned the smirk and flexed her wings. “Even if I was, I’d still be faster than you.”

The other mare chuckled and prepared to take off. “Let’s win this, so I can give you latrine duty for mouthing off.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

If there was any doubt that Twilight wasn’t one to let vengeance take hold of her, it was immediately quashed when a bolt of dark magic hit the ground and created a wall of black-tinted crystals in front of the castle’s front doors.

Twilight landed on one with a flat top and glared down, tense like a tiger ready to pounce.

Any other day, Nightmare Moon could have easily handled her, but the situation didn’t allow that: a barely-budding but revenge-driven alicorn in front, and an experienced but blind – not for very long, though – one at her back.

“Boss?” Fade murmured uncertainly.

Nightmare Moon winced as a chill swept through her body. “Curses…”

“Hey, boss? You got a plan, yeah?”

Sparing a few seconds, Nightmare Moon surveyed her surroundings:

Ebony and Fade were at her side, both stronger than any normal pegasus and/or unicorn. Strong enough to match a fresh-faced alicorn like Twilight? She didn’t know.

Movement stirred in the corner of her eye. “Divine Daughter!” Vitae panted as she stopped beside Ebony, face covered in dirt and scratches. “I’m a little dizzy, but I will prove myself worthy.”

Vitae, a devout unicorn with powerful healing magic but completely worthless in anything else; fodder compared to Twilight, but she certainly couldn’t hurt by helping.

Veil and Haze were fighting alongside the rest of the Eclipse and preventing Celestia’s forces from just swarming them, so she couldn’t rely on their help.

Miasma was still inside the castle; no sign of her, and she couldn’t Call her either. Nightmare Moon could easily imagine Vinyl storming through the place trying to find her.

In short, the situation was bad… but it could have been worse.

Nightmare Moon snarled as she imagined the looks of smug satisfaction on her foes’ faces after beating her, as if it was only natural that they would win because they were fighting for the ‘right’ reasons.

Victory was not decided by who was right, but by who was stronger and more determined.

And damn it, she was nothing but strength and determination! It got her this far, and it would see her through this!

“They want to fight dirty? Fine…” Turning to her guards, she hissed, “If there was ever a time to cut loose, then it is now. Call on all your strength and strike,” Growling, she shook their support off and stabbed her barely-regenerated foreleg into the ground, the pain forcing her voice to rise to a restrained yell. “I refuse to lose!”

Fade and Ebony looked at each other for a second before the latter took a deep breath and lunged forward, a bolt of electricity lancing from her horn and crashing against a barrier that Twilight quickly summoned. Fade groaned and muttered something about ‘signing up to live freely, not this’ before launching himself at Twilight, too. Vitae stared dumbly for a second before running to catch up.

Turning away from them, Nightmare Moon staggered back towards Luna. Luna was turned in her direction, but only one eye was partially open, and it was bloodshot and unfocused.

Nightmare Moon let her know where she was.

“You're taking this personally, Lu-Lu!” She shouted across the garden, watching the other alicorn's blown-out pupil centre on her. “Do you think I betrayed you because of some hidden hatred I harbored towards you?!”

Luna wiped her face and snorted. “You whispered your honeyed words into my ears, played on my insecurities-”

"I do that to everyone!" Nightmare Moon threw in a laugh for good measure. "Do you think you're special? You're not the first naive fool I possessed to get closer to my goals of ruling a kingdom. Do you want the truth?" She bared her teeth sadistically. "The truth is that whatever you thought of our relationship, it meant nothing to me."

Luna's eye widened in outrage. "Silence."

Yes, that's it; Nightmare Moon's chances of winning were slim but they weren't non-existant, and the angrier Luna got, the more mistakes she was bound to make. She would use Luna's own feelings against her.

"You were a means to an end, nothing more," Nightmare Moon chuckled again. Faust, her body hurt, but she didn't let it show. "Despite our time spent together, the only thing I felt for you was pity."

"Enough!"

"What was it you said to Vinyl? 'You know me better than anypony.' That's a lie since you would know that I felt nothing but pity for the poor sister unable to get out of her older and more beloved sister's shadow."

"Your tricks will not work on me." Luna growled, making an obvious effort to reign her anger.

"I'm half-dead and still standing; perhaps you should leave and go find your sister..." Nightmare Moon paused. "And let her take care of me for you."

Luna bared her teeth and rushed forward.

Nightmare Moon knew her taunting worked; Luna had completely forgotten about the remaining arcane rings on her hoof. Nightmare Moon knew from experience that the more emotionally invested in a fight you were, the more likely you were to try and finish things as directly as possible.

Fortunately for her, Nightmare Moon truly didn't hate Luna as much as she did with Celestia - 'punched me a lot' just didn't have the same weight as 'sent me to the moon for a thousand years' - so she was able to keep a clear head.

Luna threw a punch that was severely hampered by her damaged vision, and Nightmare Moon dodged it before calling on her magic and forcing it out of her horn in a wild spray of blue missiles; the pain was intense, but she could handle it.

Luna, even in the haze of anger, was smart enough to summon a barrier to dissipate the attack instead of trying to withstand it. She moved in closer to see better and stomped her hoof on the ground, conjuring a cluster of icicles; Nightmare Moon staggered back to avoid it and tried to counter, but her magic fizzled out in the middle of the spell. Luna noticed and rushed in.

Nightmare Moon grimaced, her mind racing for a counter-attack as Luna lifted her foreleg and swung at her head-

~

The knight had it worse; Vinyl had, at some point, clambered up onto his back and shouted directly into his helm, and now he was yelling in pain while reeling backwards.

~

-only for it to miss as Nightmare Moon ducked beneath it, rose back up and summoned, forced her magic to comply and weave into a basic Voice Amplify spell.

Basic, yes, but Nightmare Moon had much larger lungs than the average unicorn.

She screamed right into Lun’s ear but was blown back as her opponent reflexively kicked out and caught her in the chest. Nightmare Moon’s armor caught the brunt, fortunately, so she only received broken ribs instead of having a hole punched straight through to her heart.

Luna reeled and choked up bile, her eye glassy as blood poured out from her ears. Were it a regular pony, the vibrations would have turned their brain to mush. As it was, Nightmare Moon only had seconds to make her next move.

She flapped her wings, immediately determined they were in no state to lift her when pain shot through them, and decided to run/stumble closer to where her army was fighting.

Shouts filled the air, weapons clashed, and magic charged the air – the Eclipse were holding back Celestia’s forces, but Nightmare Moon couldn’t see either side making much headway on their own without a lot of casualties.

She could see Celestia fighting Haze and Veil; predictably, she was giving those two a run for their money even without the full power of the sun.

More movement caught her eye. A vicious scowl tugged at her lips as she spotted Marquees Aldo and his daughter and griffon escort fighting alongside the enemy. She had expected them to ally with Celestia and Luna, but to see it in-pony was a kick to the face.

She watched as Gilda stretched out her claw, and a geyser of dirt shot up in response, catching a few Eclipse off-guard.

‘So, that’s how they infiltrated through the sewers so quickly. If only I had known that brat was magically inclined…’

Nightmare Moon shook the thought away; no sense dwelling on what could have been now. She snatched up a spear that was lying on the ground with her mouth, its owner either already fled or deceased, and charged back, and twisted the weapon so she was holding it sideways near the end of the shaft.

She intended to turn her head and drive the metal tip through Luna’s neck, then throw her weight against the shaft to try and sever the spine, but Luna recovered from the shock of having her eardrums ruptured and dodged the stab. Nightmare Moon stumbled and saw Luna raising her leg, finally remembering that she had those magic rings at her disposal.

~

-she barely managed to dodge to the side to avoid Caed’s strike that cracked the road. A blinding flash of red-orange sparks kicked up as Caed swept his glaive through the stone to send a volley of rocks at her.

~

Twisting her head, Nightmare Moon stabbed the earth with the spear’s point and flicked it up, sending a spray of dirt and pebbles, including one particularly sharp rock that struck Luna in the temple and caused her to reel back; her spell went wide, inflicted a burn across Nightmare Moon's muzzle, then flashed into the air to fizzle out as the magic came apart.

Nightmare Moon lit her horn, relieved when it obeyed with only minor discomfort, and hurled the spear with telekinesis. Luna cried out as it punctured her chest and quickly broke the shaft with a hoof before yanking the blade out.

“I’m half-dead, yet you’re still taking this long to kill me,” She jeered. "Perhaps you should just wait for your sister."

Luna snorted with a glare that could kill. She was huffing with such intensity that Nightmare Moon was certain the only reason she wasn't seeing smoke was that Luna had a lower body temperature. "Do not say that lightly; you will fare no better against her than I once the sun is out."

That was true. However, Nightmare Moon was prepared to wait for that since it meant more time to stay alive and plan, plus more time for her body to recover. It may not have been the best plan, but right now it was the only one she had.

Luna's face was darkened by a shadow for a brief instant. "Hm?"

As she looked up, Nightmare Moon jumped when a pegasus landed in front of her. "Fade?!"

“Boss…” He said.

"Why is one of your legs a potted plant?"

He looked down and waved the upside-down ceramic pot attached to his torso. “Twilight. But, so... we got a problem.”

“There are many of those at the moment. One is standing right behind you,” Nightmare Moon spasmed and coughed into her hoof, splattering it with blood. “Another is the cause of that.”

“We got a bigger one,” He grimaced. “My sis’ just Called us. She thinks she’s found a bomb in the throne room.”

Nightmare Moon’s blood went cold. “… What?”

“Damn it, they found us!”

“It doesn’t matter now; it’s already primed, so just get back in!”

The two knights had immediately retreated through the portal they came through when they had been spotted, which was Miasma’s first clue that something was very wrong.

The throne room was empty, save for one maid that had the misfortune of choosing now to clean the stained windows. One of Miasma’s troops went to check on the prone mare and shook his head with a grim expression.

A quick search of the area revealed a sinister-looking device that had been set up behind the throne’s dias – a grey-hued obelisk shaped like a lamp stand, standing at roughly the size of a pony and covered in lights and metal prongs.

The LEDs were flashing periodically.

Even with the humans’ alien technology, there was no doubt in Miasma’s mind that this was an explosive.

‘Shit,’ Miasma examined the device closer once she finished warning the rest of the Praetorian Guard. For some reason, she couldn’t contact Nightmare Moon. She was concerned, obviously, but didn’t let it distract her. ‘I can’t make sense of this thing…’

The only experience she had with explosives was dynamite and the little bombs Veil toted around; this thing was far more complex than powder in a stick, and Veil’s bombs used magic, which humans were incapable of producing, so no bypassing the problem with a Dispel from one of her unicorns.

Thinking quickly, she turned and pointed to two pegasi. “You. Take this and fly as far away as you can.”

The stallions she pointed to turned ashen-grey and shared a ‘why us’ look, but wordlessly followed her order. They walked up to the bomb, got on either side, and-

BZZT

The two stallions screamed and collapsed into twitching messes.

“Hn…” Miasma stared at the sparking prongs with a grimace. She should have expected it to be trapped in some way. “That’s not good.”

“‘Not good’, she says,” One of the troops murmured. “We need to get the eff out of dodge. Like, right now! How long’s that thing set for?”

Miasma couldn’t see a display, but the interval between the light flashes seemed to be getting shorter by the second. She considered getting some unicorns to teleport it away but dismissed that idea when she remembered that anything from the human world was effectively immune to magic interference.

The LEDs were flashing faster.

Perhaps she could try smashing it?

A few strikes with her axe resulted in nothing but a few scuff marks; it would take hours to get through the shell, and who knew if the insides were any less tough? She couldn’t even hit it out a window, the bomb was anchored in a way that didn’t seem to make sense – it was like it was magnetized to the floor; she could barely budge it with her hits.

She holstered her axe and turned to a unicorn. “Zap it.”

They nervously stepped forward and cast a simple Spark Shot spell.

Nothing.

Miasma swallowed. She was good at keeping her cool but faced with something that could go explode at any moment would be trying on anybody’s nerves. Her heart was thumping against her ribcage and she could feel sweat forming on her brow.

The LEDs were flashing much faster.

“Damn,” Miasma stepped forward and hefted one of the unconscious stallions. Another troop grabbed the other one. “Everypony get out of the castle now. There’s nothing we can do.”

As she and her platoon bustled and made for the doors, top speed, Miasma thought of those still in the castle. There were many innocent civilians working here, but it seemed impossible for anypony to warn every single pony, let alone for them to get outside before that bomb went off. They only had time to try and save themselves, and just warn whoever happened to be in their way.

Guilt swarmed her insides as she swallowed and picked up the pace.

The throne room entryway loomed closer, and just as they were about to exit, somepony slid into view, jostling one of the troops as they failed to stop in time.

“Hey, what-?” Vinyl blinked, then took a few steps back. “Whoa, where’s the fire?”

“There’s-” Miasma started before one of the troops beat her to the mark.

“Fucking bomb, run!” They shouted, pushing past the DJ.

Vinyl just gawked back at her. “What?!” Miasma used her larger body to usher Vinyl along the corridor. “Where did a bomb come from?!”

“Stop yelling and start running,” She hissed. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before it-”

Across the city, a terrific roar was heard, and shrieks of horror filled the air as the upper half of Canterlot Castle was dismantled and consumed in a cloud of mustard-yellow smoke.

Author's Notes:

Note 1: ".. while acknowledging that its existence is what enables them to fly, griffons do not revere magic as deeply as the equines, nor are they as fascinated by as the minotaurs. Griffons see it as a property and process of the natural world that is to be studied and explained: nothing more.

"Despite this cold outlook, it is an uncommon sight to see a griffon tossing foes around with magic without an unsettling amount of enthusiasm.

"No one said science couldn’t be fun." - Excerpt from Magic Beyond Equestria, written by Iron Papyrus, a scholar whose boundless curiosity led to a deeper understanding of other races.

Also, the discovery that Faeran Death Worms do eat ponies when given the chance.