Celestia lay sprawled on her back, staring up at a blazing sun with the smell of burning rubber permeating the air.

~

There was screaming as the explosion blew a chunk of the castle to smithereens.

Celestia herself could hardly believe it as the ivory and gold exterior she had come to know and love for so many centuries was cracked and destroyed; it was like watching her best friend coming undone.

Shadows fell over the garden as large sections of the castle pinwheeled out from the force of the explosion. Before Celestia could react, one unfortunate pegasus was struck by debris and fell limply, and an earth pony stumbling back and looking on in shock disappeared beneath a chunk of masonry the size of a yak.

~

Despite the strength surging within her body from the bountiful sunlight, Celestia had no ability to call upon it; she couldn’t even stand up.

‘What is happening?’

With colossal effort, Celestia parted her lips. “‘lo?” Her tongue felt like a lump of lead. “‘S’pony… ‘er?”

No response.

~

Following the explosion, a cloud of yellow gas billowed out of the castle and surged downwards. It started spreading like wildfire, swallowing up ponies as quickly as one could blink.

In the corner of her eye, Celestia spotted Twilight turning to face the gas and spread her wings to fly towards it.

Was Twilight okay? Did the Cleansing Joke work entirely? Were those crystals still causing her pain? So many concerns and worries but Celestia pushed them all down and followed her protégé, working in tandem to set up a magical barrier to try and contain the threat.

But it was futile – the gas slipped through their combined barriers like it wasn’t there and filled their nostrils and mouths.

~

She heard footsteps coming towards her – slow and unsteady.

Celestia grunted and concentrated on her right foreleg. ‘One thing at a time…’

Her muscles twitched and strained and burned before finally obeying; she pushed her forehoof against the ground with enough force that she ended up on her side, just in time to see the pony shuffling past her.

“Nah… Mrn…!”

Nightmare Moon turned her head, stared down at her – figuratively and literally. Her face was difficult to make out through the density of the lingering yellow gas, but it was hard to miss the flash of teeth bared in a scowl and the brightness of her draconic eyes.

Celestia’s blood turned to ice as her muscles tensed, expecting an attack, but it never came. Instead, Nightmare Moon kept on walking, sharp breaths punctuating each staggered step as she made for the castle. The incredible thing about it was that she was still obviously affected by the Cleansing Joke; she couldn’t have recovered from its effects that quickly, yet here she was walking through the fog while Celestia could barely manage to twitch a muscle.

She couldn’t forgive or condone what Nightmare Moon had done… but she couldn’t deny that she didn’t feel the slightest bit of awe at her foe’s sheer determination.

~

The gas smelt like burning rubber.

Celestia made a face and coughed, pressing one hoof against her nose. It was so strong that it sent pricks throughout her body. “Dwiligh’!” She called, just barely managing to pick out the mare’s shadow through the dense fog. “Dwiligh’, are you…?”

Twilight turned in her direction, stumbled, then fell on her side.

Celestia gasped in reflex. That was a grave mistake; the sudden intake of gas brought a series of muscle spasms so intense that Celestia’s knees bent. “Wh-wha…?”

She turned her stiff neck and saw ponies collapsing, too. Pegasi that were too slow to fly out of the gas seized up and plummeted like stones. Some fell from large enough heights to earn bruises and broken bones but made no sound to vocalize the pain they must have felt.

She saw Luna as a larger than average shadow, trying to reach her desperately; blue shone through the gas as she lit her horn to catch a chunk of debris before it could squash a prone unicorn and used the last of her strength to place it safely aside before she fell.

The urge to protect her kin was strong, but Celestia could only manage a few measly steps before she, too, fell.

On her back, Celestia stared directly into the sun as the moon fully moved out of the way, the world around her growing quiet and still.

~

The gas – the gas was some sort of paralytic aerosol.

Celestia tried to summon her magic but her horn just sputtered and let off wisps of golden energy.

Though, what spell could she use to deal with this gas anyway? Equestrian magic didn’t hold dominion over the wind, just fire and ice and electricity. She lacked finesse in anything but pyromancy anyway.

“S-s-some… one…” Celestia could barely manage coherent words, let alone say it louder than a strangled whimper. She just wanted somepony to answer her, to let her know that the villain of this fight wasn’t the only one able to walk around.

She tried moving her body again. With considerable effort, she managed to get both forelegs under her to lift her head and torso off the ground.

“Answer… me…”

The sun’s rays did little to penetrate the thick vapours; it was as if a bunch of pegasi had coloured a fog and dumped it on the earth for a laugh.

But it was eerily silent – almost like a graveyard.

She could barely see five feet in front of her, but she painstakingly crawled forward, using her front hooves to drag her unresponsive lower half one inch at a time. The sound of her body shuffling against the ground was impossibly loud amidst the silence.

Shhff

Shhff

Shhff

Not too long after, Celestia could make out the dark shape of another pony lying on the ground and moved closer to it. Her hoof knocked a piece of wood out of the way.

“Are you…?”

Two eyes stared at her, unseeing.

He was wearing Eclipse armor, but his helm was dented in from a piece of debris; a rivulet of blood was seeping down his brow.

Celestia inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, sparing a moment to mourn the unfamiliar stallion before carefully lowering his lids.

Then, when she turned to try and find someone else, the piece of wood she bumped into began to glow and float.

Celestia held her breath and watched as countless sticks and logs floated from all over to form the body of Nightmare Moon’s enormous timber wolf in a symphony of clacking and groaning wood; it was smaller than before, but still three times her size.

The beast huffed and shook itself off once it was fully intact, and looked around, sniffing the air.

Its glowing eyes fixed on her.

Celestia swallowed as she heard it growl. Fighting was out of the question, but her body was tough enough to survive an assault for at least a few minutes provided the wolf didn’t focus on her head; she was more worried about the wolf accidentally stepping on somepony.

But the wolf suddenly pricked its ears and looked off into the distance briefly before bounding straight over Celestia and disappearing into the gas.

Celestia turned her head to follow it, confusion drawing her brow together as she heard the beast snarl and stomp about for exactly three seconds.

After that, the sound of something sharp whistling through the air cut the snarling short.

She heard countless sticks and logs clattering against the earth.

Then, it was quiet once more.

Someone had taken out that wolf in a very short time. Celestia had an idea for the ‘who’, but it didn’t bode well for equine-kind if her guess was correct.

She focused on getting her body to obey her commands. It was difficult, but it seemed that once she managed to get a limb moving, the rest of her muscles loosened up. Her movement was far from optimal, but it was better than nothing.

“Sister…”

Celestia pricked her ears and turned her head to look behind. “Luna… Thank Faust…”

Luna staggered over to her like a drunkard. “This gas is the work of the humans, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I think they’re close by, too,” Celestia dipped her head in one direction and experienced whiplash. “Ow. Over there. Nightmare Moon’s timber wolf ran over, but it was defeated. Nightmare Moon went to the castle.”

“For what?” Luna paused, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “For Vinyl?”

“I doubt it’s for her own safety.”

“Should we go after her?”

“No. The humans are the immediate threat right now,” Celestia gestured to the ponies around them who had yet to so much as twitch. “They’re all incapable of defending themselves. If we don’t intervene, who knows how many unicorns they’ll be able to take?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, you are right.”

Her body engulfed with the sensation of pins and needles, Celestia started at a slow trot, the only thing she could manage with her joints seemingly stuffed with wet plaster.

Ponies lay sprawled all over. Celestia and Luna stopped to help where they could and as much as they could, but their goal was ultimately off in the distance, where a mysterious light could be seen, and long unfamiliar shadows flickered through the gas.

“I saw Twilight,” Celestia said suddenly. “The Cleansing Joke seemed to have worked.”

“That is good to hear,” Luna sighed in relief. “Where is she now?”

“Somewhere near where I had fallen,” Luna looked back. “She’ll be fine. Maybe she’s recovering as we speak. She’s an alicorn.”

“Not like us,” Luna murmured. “Not natural.”

Celestia’s lips became a thin line. “… She’ll be fine. I know it.”

They kept walking until the mysterious light started to take on a rough elliptical shape, like an oval that had been bent out of shape. Dark shapes, tall and imposing, hurried back and forth in front of the light.

There was easily more than a dozen.

“Sister, we can’t take them all on at once,” Luna hissed. “My magic has yet to function correctly.”

Celestia lit her own horn in vain hope but was met with just a few pathetic sparks yet again. “Look – do you see?” She pointed to one of the shapes – it had bent over and came back up with something thrown over its shoulder. “They’re taking the unicorns. If we don’t do something…”

Luna grit her teeth and exhaled. “Okay.”

In just a few more steps, they were close enough that the fog failed to obscure the figures entirely. However, it also failed to mask their approach, and when one of the invaders noticed and shouted, every one of them stopped and stared.

But they didn’t attack.

“Stop this,” Celestia growled, rising to her full height. She may not have been at a hundred percent, but they didn’t know that. “You will not lay a single finger on these ponies.”

“Knights – stand down.”

Celestia’s gaze fixated on Caed as he made his way to the frontline, the knights parting for him like a wave. “Caed… what have you done?”

He seemed different since she last saw him. His face was pale and appeared gaunt, as if the skin had tightened around his skull, and there were shadows beneath his eyes. She also noticed that his steps were heavy, where previously he had trodden as if afraid to disturb a single blade of grass.

Despite that, he carried himself with authority, and Celestia could see nothing but unshakeable resolve in his gaze.

He had some sort of small container on his face that covered his mouth and nose. It looked vaguely like a surgical mask but with a few tubes and blinking lights. It was translucent, so she could see his lips turn down in a frown.

“I am not proud of this…” Caed looked at the smouldering castle, then at the prone ponies around him. His voice was partially muffled. “But it is the only choice we can afford to take.”

“Did you plan this?” Celestia asked. “The timing is too coincidental; you must have known about what we were attempting here.” She had to keep him talking; it meant more time for their strength to recover and less ponies being taken through the Fracture. She hoped that the gas’ effects wasn’t permanent and that others were beginning to stir, too.

“We did. We have surveillance drones in your world that can function even without a direct connection to us. They record everything, and we can see it all when we open a Fracture for them,” Caed paused and breathed in deeply, the breath rattling in his chest. Celestia couldn’t help but cringe in sympathy; it sounded painful. Caed recovered and continued. “So, we planned a surprise attack around your surprise attack,” The corners of his lips twitched. “I know this is inappropriate, but… I cannot help but be amused by the notion.”

Luna growled. “Ponies have died.”

Caed grimaced and nodded. “Sorry.”

“Your words mean nothing to me!” Luna stomped her foot. “You wish to apologize? Then return those you have already stolen and leave. Now!”

Celestia nodded in agreement. But deep down, she already knew that Caed wasn’t going to listen. She could see it in his gaze – the same type of fierce determination that was so familiar in the eyes of Twilight, in the eyes of her friends, even in the eyes of Nightmare Moon.

From knowing in your heart that you are doing the right thing.

Or, in the case of Nightmare Moon and Caed… believing that what you are doing is right.

“I can’t do that,” Caed shook his head. “I’ve already come too far, done too much to just stop now. No matter what happens…” He gestured with his hand, and his knights continued with their grisly work. “I will see my people to a better life.”

Celestia shot forward like a spring, the force of her back hooves kicking off the dirt creating small pot holes. The world seemed to slow down as the wind broke around her, and Caed’s eyes reflected surprise for the briefest moment.

Then, with aching deliberation, Caed’s lithe body turned as he drew his left arm back. His jaw clenched. He planted his boots in the dirt for stability. Celestia, mere feet away from hitting him with all her strength, watched as his arm came back around, his hips swinging as he transferred all his weight to the limb.

She really thought she could get him before he could react, but she underestimated his speed.

CRACK

Caed’s fist slammed into the spot just beneath her horn, and Celestia blacked out for a second as the shock rippled through her body.

“‘Tia!”

Celestia landed on all fours after coming to a dead-stop in the air, neither she nor Caed able to outmatch and push the other back. Her vision became blurred and colourless and sounds were hollow, like shouting down a well or a tunnel. Her body shook, ready to collapse, but she willed herself to stand.

Caed shook his hand and hissed through clenched teeth. Some knights drew closer in concern, but he waved them off and smiled crookedly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, but you surprised me. I’m not the best at dealing with surprises. Ask those that were so kind to celebrate my birthday.”

Celestia huffed and some drool seeped from the corner of her mouth. “Hah…” Her mind was scattered, but she was able to focus on Caed’s words. She found that a little funny. “Hah…”

Luna stepped in front of her, and Caed raised his other hand. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“What do you expect? You are killing our ponies!” Luna cried, flexing so her wings flared up to their full size. Or, she would have if they hadn’t stopped midway and awkwardly spasmed. Luna winced in pain and stiffly folded them. “W-we will not stand by while you do this!”

Caed sighed and looked down so his gaze was hidden. “… You’re right,” He looked back up. “So… I guess that I must hit you until you can’t stop us. Sorry.”

Luna moved her wing in front of her as Caed drew his glaive and slammed the haft down. Luna yelped in pain, and the sound stirred Celestia out of her stupor; the world was still spinning, but some things were clearer.

Luna immediately tried to rush Caed down with punches, bites, and kicks, but her limbs were too rigid, and Caed weaved back and forth, dodging each attack with ease. He told his knights to back down when they drew their weapons. When Luna turned on the spot to kick out with her hind legs, Caed ducked and rammed his fist into her stomach, dropping her like a stone.

Fury cleared the remaining cobwebs from her head, but Celestia realized that charging in full of emotion was not going to win this bout; she had to be smart, especially since her magic wasn't working.

Extending her left wing as far as it would go, Celestia bent her body and swiped the limb at Caed's legs, knocking him into his rear with a confounded 'ow.' Celestia clamped down on his arm with her powerful jaws and pulled him to the floor. She figured that if she could just get him pinned and helpless, then perhaps she'd have the time to plan her next move, or at the very least get the knights to just stop for a minute.

Caed didn't allow her that: he twisted, pulled her off-balance with incredible strength, and wedged the hilt of his glaive into her mouth and used it as a lever to get his arm out, then rolled away.

Celestia slashed the ground with her wings and sent up a spray of dirt to blind him before attempting to knock his weapon away. Caed dodged the spray, swayed back to avoid her punch, then leapt straight over her head - a well-timed somersault sent his foot crashing into the back of her skull.

Stars exploded in her vision, but she managed to buck with her back hooves, and cleanly hit Caed as he was coming down behind her before collapsing.

She could hear the knights’ footsteps as they surrounded their leader, voices rushed and heavy with concern. Celestia shakily turned herself around, still sprawled in the dirt, and saw that not only had she knocked Caed quite a way back, but his mask had come off. She attempted to reach for it, but she was out of breath, and the knights were closer; one of them quickly grabbed the mask and returned it to their leader. Caed removed the hand covering his mouth and put the mask back on, his breath coming out in a pained gasp that dissolved into a harsh coughing fit.

Celestia could hear how it rattled around in his chest and saw red drops paint the inside of his mask.

When his fit calmed somewhat, Caed politely dismissed everyone’s attempts to help and looked back to Celestia. “I-I realize that we were to meet as adversaries the next time we saw one another… but I also said for you to bring all that you can muster. As much as my health would like to believe that that was your full potential, I know better; you can hardly expect to fight at full strength with the Medusa Shrieker’s gas.”

“What is this poison?” Luna wheezed. She was trembling and finding it hard to stand. Celestia assumed that getting winded caused her to take in deeper breaths and more of the gas, making the paralysis potent again.

“A remnant from our war: it explodes to destroy buildings, then releases a gas that causes death by paralysing the muscles for breathing,” Caed held up his hand when he was fixed with two horrified stares. “Natalia, one of our scribes, re-configured it to only paralyse the muscles for moving around,” He gestured to his mask. “These neutralize the gas’ effects. It also helps me stop feeling like every breath I take is a knife between my ribs.”

“A device that paralyses but leaves the victim alive,” Luna mumbled, her tone heavily slathered in disgust. “Perfect for your intentions.”

Caed faltered. “It’s… Yes, it is. Though, you two are obviously strong enough to resist complete immobility.”

One of his knights stepped forward and touched his shoulder. “Knight Enforcer, we’re running out of time.” The voice was female and familiar. Celestia could almost put a name to it – Eden? Esther?

“I know,” He waved his hand. “Continue gathering the unicorns.”

Celestia grit her teeth and struggled to get up, watching in helpless anger as the knights went about carrying any unicorns they could find to the Fracture. “Stop.”

“You can’t do anything in the state that you are in,” Caed shook his head and sighed, kneeling in front of Celestia so they were eye level – an unnecessary gesture but Celestia could sense the sincerity in it. “I realize that this goes against every fibre in your being, but please stay down and do not interfere.”

“How can you ask that of us?” Luna’s brow was covered in sweat. She almost stood back up, but without looking, Caed held his glaive out and slapped her knees with the side of the blade. She collapsed. “Blood and fire! Thou shalt rue the day thou left whatever blackened womb thou was conceived in!”

Celestia couldn’t believe the situation they were in: forced to watch, helpless, as ponies were taken away to be used as fuel. She had to do something, but she just didn’t have the strength.

“We can give you food and water,” She choked out, staring pleadingly into the human’s face. “Seeds to grow your own crops.”

Caed sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I told you during our last encounter, Celestia. Our soil is barren – we can’t grow anything there. Not anymore.”

“But the food and-”

“We would still need energy to use the Spectrum Shifter and open the Fractures for that exchange. And as I said, there’s only so much that can go through a Fracture before it shuts on its own,” Caed swept his arm out in gesture to the garden. “Even if you were willing to trade enough food and water so that we can survive, sooner or later, we’d still need magical energy to power the machine to keep the trade going. In the long term, we’d end up needing even more unicorns.”

"Do not bother with him, sister..." Luna growled. "Clearly, the only thing his kind understand is violence."

Celestia licked her dry lips. "What if I go with you instead?"

"Sister!"

"Surely, an alicorn would be worth more than one unicorn?"

Caed shook his head firmly. "No. You must remain to rule your lands. Self-sacrifice is a noble ideal, but there are many that still need you to lead."

Celestia couldn’t see any room for sway in his gaze and lowered her head, shamed by her own helplessness. “So, it’s really going to be like this? Forced to watch as you take our friends?”

"You are a coward, Caed!" Luna cried. "You make you and your people out as blameless victims, but no matter what Nightmare Moon may have done to warrant your ire, it will never make up for the pile of bodies that grows beneath your feet! To kill is to kill!"

"Luna, don't..." Celestia pleaded as she watched her sibling rise to her feet and face Caed.

"Stop making excuses and searching for pity," Luna's muscles tensed. "You will find none here."

She tried. She really tried to win, but the gas and Caed's prowess proved too much, and Luna ended up back on the ground. Celestia sighed and closed her eyes; try as they might, they couldn't win under these conditions - there was no magic to call on, no unexpected allies to burst onto the scene with a convenient artefact to wash away all the bad things, and no treasured memory or inspiring epiphany that would give them the strength to overcome the effects of the gas.

"You are no hero," Luna spat, face-down in the dirt. Hate speckled each word. "You are no victim. You are just a murderer."

Some of the knights were murmuring, disagreeing, talking to Caed and telling him not to listen, that they needed to do this to save everyone.

Caed just stared at Luna silently.

Unlike Luna, Celestia felt an immense pang of sadness for him.

In a way, she could understand his drive to save his people. Celestia often felt something similar when she stood on her balcony and overlooked Canterlot and the land beyond it and thought, 'I will protect this - all of it.'

How tragic that it could lead to something so despicable.

“I will not take you two, nor the ones you call the ‘Element bearers.’ However…” There was an edge in his tone and it made Celestia glance up. “If you could inform me where Nightmare Moon is, I will do my utmost to remove her from your world. Two birds with one stone, as it were, and it would be delicious irony to use her magic for our machine.”

Celestia was quiet for a bit, then sighed. “Nightmare Moon is…”

‘Where are you?’

Dust choked the air, so thick that Nightmare Moon could feel it coating her like a second skin. Her hooves scuffed and kicked over bits of rubble.

‘Idiot. You better not be dead after I told you to go inside the castle. Do you intend to make a fool out of me?’

Nightmare Moon’s muscles were aching, not just from the Cleansing Joke, but the gas; it had some sort of paralysing effect that was strong enough to take down even Celestia and Luna, and leave Nightmare Moon floored.

Fortunately, the gas wasn’t so concentrated at the blast zone; it had spread out to the surrounding area as quickly as possible, so she didn’t have to worry so much about it now. She still wasn’t entirely sure why the gas’ effects on her wore off after a few minutes, but figuring that out wasn’t her greatest concern right now.

She needed to find Vinyl.

Yes, she could have tried to kill Celestia, but at that moment, it just wasn’t important. Nothing but finding Vinyl was important to her. Not Canterlot, not her enemies, not her Praetorian Guard – nothing.

‘You knew she’d be your downfall eventually,’ A slimy voice whispered into her ear. ‘Look at you – shifting through the wreckage to find one body amongst hundreds instead of retreating while you still have the chance.’

“She’s not dead,” Nightmare Moon growled. “I didn’t save her just so she could die before the month’s even out. That’s embarrassing to me.”

‘Justify it to yourself all you want. You’re pathetic.’

Nightmare Moon clenched her teeth and ducked to look beneath some rubble cobbled together to make a tent-shape. Inside was the body of a maid. She ignored it and moved on.

The castle was still standing, amazingly; the explosion appeared to have ripped a huge hole in the exterior rather than bring the whole foundation down – it was like some immense being had gutted the place. The main lobby was still partially intact, but above Nightmare Moon was empty space where there should have been ceilings and the winding hallways of the upper floors.

She hoped that Vinyl hadn’t been too high up on a floor when the explosion…

No, don’t think about that – just keep searching.

“Vinyl!” She croaked, coming across a huge marble column that once held up the ceiling in the main lobby. A foreleg stuck out from under it, but stained in blood as it was, Nightmare Moon could tell it wasn’t the right shade of white. She went around the column. “Vinyl! Answer me!”

“W… Wolf…”

Nightmare Moon’s heart leapt into her throat. She stayed in the same spot for a few seconds before limping over to a destroyed wall and slipping through a hole. Pieces of splintered wood and nails pierced her flesh as she used the fading vestiges of her strength to force her way through. She was bleeding heavily and gasping for breath as she ducked beneath a wooden beam and found a white unicorn pinned beneath a chunk of masonry.

Vinyl raised her head, one eye sealed shut by the blood pouring from a wound on her head, and smiled. “Jeez, what took you so long?”

Nightmare Moon made her way over, a chill creeping into her bones. “Be still.”

Vinyl snickered. “Only thing I can do, dude. You look like shit, by the way.”

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and staggered from the pain of the backlash. Ignoring the resulting migraine, she reared up and put her hooves on one side of the debris.

“Seriously, though, you okay? You’re bleeding, like… a ton,” Vinyl grunted, tried to shift so she could see better. “And there’s that black shit coming out of you. S’that normal, or you going for intimidation points?”

“Can you move?”

A pause. “Yeah. Hurts, but I can move.”

Nightmare Moon pushed down with all her might and tilted the debris. “M-move.”

Vinyl pulled herself free from the debris, and Nightmare Moon let it drop, exhausted from just that moment of exertion. Her knees were shaking, but she walked to Vinyl’s side. She saw that Vinyl’s left hindleg was swollen and bruised.

“Your leg is broken.”

“No crap?” Vinyl stared at the limb with morbid fascination. “That… sucks. Could be worse, right?” She looked up, her smile wavering and her eyes starting to water. “I mean… it could be worse, right?”

Nightmare Moon didn’t answer. Vinyl’s distress was distracting, but she kept herself focused on what needed to be done. First, they needed to be somewhere with a little more cover.

“Try to lift yourself up,” Nightmare Moon lowered her head and pushed her snout against Vinyl’s belly. “I’ll carry you.”

Even with a broken leg, Vinyl managed to accomplish this. Nightmare Moon tried to be as gentle as she could – a rare occurrence for her – but ended up practically tossing Vinyl onto her back when she straightened. The impact of the DJ’s weight made both of them grimace in pain.

“You okay?” Vinyl sniffed. “Don’t push yourself if it’s too much.”

“Be quiet.”

“Just saying that-”

“I’m fine. I just need…” Nightmare Moon trailed off as she pricked her ears. “… Curses.”

“You need curses?”

Nightmare Moon shushed her and got as low to the ground as possible. She could hear footsteps. Not the ‘clip-clop’ of ponies, these were heavier and went more like ‘thud-thud’. Unless they had been invaded by a clan of minotaurs – likely giving her current string of luck – than the humans were venturing into the ruined castle.

And they were close.

Nightmare Moon hated to admit it, but she was in no condition to fight anyone, especially with an injured friend on her back. She needed to get away.

First, she spread her wings to test her flight ability, and immediately dismissed it when a few flaps caused searing pain to lance up her spine, and Vinyl moaned in discomfort, her grip loosening.

‘No. Too much jostling – she’ll fall.’

Running was a no-go, either; she could barely walk as it was.

She could try using magic; it wasn’t completely out of the question provided she had time to concentrate and gather power.

Settling on that idea, Nightmare Moon looked around and saw a cluster of broken stairs and debris. What used to be the main lobby’s staircase was now a heap of broken wood and stone with only shreds of red carpet hinting at its once grandiose nature. But there was cover as a result of the debris piled together; it was enough to hide somepony her size.

Nightmare Moon limped over as quietly as possible and hid within. The shadows offered some sense of security, even if it was false reassurance.

“Wolf, what’s happening?” Vinyl wiped her eyes and sniffled. “Ugh, shit… Fucking shaking…”

“You’re in shock,” Nightmare Moon murmured, straining her ears for the sound of the humans. “Just take deep breaths – I’ll get us out of here in a moment.”

Vinyl released a shuddering exhale and tightened her hold. “How?”

“I’ll teleport us away from here.”

“Can you handle that?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I can.”

“But you’re-”

“Vinyl – shut up.”

Nightmare Moon lowered her head and concentrated, focusing magic to the tip of her horn to start weaving a teleportation spell. The pain in her head shifted from ‘strong’ to ‘intense’, but she ignored it and grit her teeth.

Then, strangely, the pain started to fade, as did the tingle behind her eyes whenever she used magic.

“Wolf, you’re smoking.” Vinyl sounded like she was talking from within a well.

‘What?’

Breaking focus, Nightmare Moon ‘looked’ down and saw that she was floating right above her body, and that black smoke was pouring out of it. Panic choked her – she ghosted back down and took control of her physical form.

“Damn it.”

“Is that…?” Vinyl squirmed. “Wasn’t that crap ‘you?’”

Nightmare Moon felt this sensation before – when she’d left her body to augment and empower the once-normal ponies that would go on to form her Praetorian Guard. It seemed that if she lost herself concentrating on her magic, she’d just slip out of her body without intending to.

The Cleansing Joke, even now, was trying to exorcise her true form, where she would be incredibly vulnerable to any sort of magical attack.

‘But I can’t cast magic unless I’m in my body!’

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth, seething. She cursed Celestia and Luna, cursed that insignificant zebra for making this concoction, cursed the-

“Wolf?”

Like a splash of cold water, Nightmare Moon came back to her senses. “What?”

“I think someone’s coming.”

Nightmare Moon listened and realized Vinyl was correct – the humans were closer now; she could hear them turning aside wreckage and talking to one another. She caught a snippet of something that sounded very much like her name.

‘They’re looking for me.’

She was in no state to fight them, but it wasn’t as if she could escape easily; her body felt heavy, her movements sluggish, and Vinyl’s weight was like a boulder on her back when any other time it would have been nothing to her.

If they tried to escape, the humans would run them both down.

Unless she abandoned Vinyl.

“Wolf?” Vinyl touched her shoulder. “Hey, Wolf?”

The humans wanted unicorns, didn’t they? Living ones. If she discarded Vinyl, surely they’d stop to capture her. Nightmare Moon could run without the added weight.

“Wolf, I…”

Vinyl was a liability, after all. Useless weight. She couldn’t contribute anything to help Nightmare Moon survive.

“I think I got an idea.”

Nightmare Moon exhaled shakily and shook her head. For the first time in a while, she didn’t want dark thoughts filling her head. “Tell me.”

“You, like… did something to those guys in your Praetorian Guard, right? The same thing that you said you’d give to me,” A pause. “To help fix my magic.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think you can do that now?”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened. “You want to be augmented?”

“Wolf – look at me.”

Nightmare Moon did.

In those red eyes, she saw determination and resolve of such intensity that no amount of tears or pain could hide it. She was grinning, arrogant and certain.

“I said I’d get augmented to hell and back within a heartbeat if it was to save you, didn’t I?”

Nightmare Moon’s voice refused to work for a second. “I…” Something fluttered in her chest, something that made her feel like hiding her face. “I don’t require your help to get out of this situation.”

“Are you blushing?”

“But it would be foolish to pass up a helping hoof considering the circumstances,” Nightmare Moon cleared her throat and squashed the flutter in her chest when she reminded herself of their situation. “That is, of course, considering that I can even…”

She may not have been able to cast spells properly in the state she was in, but what Nightmare Moon did to empower her hosts, and her Praetorian Guard wasn’t a spell, it was an inherent ability she was ‘born’ with; all she needed to do was shift into her true form and let her instincts guide her to manipulate the mysterious orb of energy that rested within Vinyl.

But the Cleansing Joke… How would that affect her? It could do more harm than good.

Nightmare Moon’s ears twitched as she heard a human grunt and toss something aside. If they were discovered, then her fears wouldn’t matter – they’d be killed, or captured and used as fuel.

She didn’t want to die, but it was imagining that fate for Vinyl that helped cement her decision.

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon turned her head and nodded to Vinyl. “I will try, but it may be difficult. Time isn’t on our side, either.”

Vinyl’s eyebrows were drawn together, fierce confidence emanating from her body. “Just tell me what to do.”

“I need you to get off me,” Nightmare Moon took a breath as she mentally prepared herself. She hadn’t attempted something like this since Lightning Dust, especially not with this sort of pressure and anxiety. Lightning Dust was expendable, but if she messed up with Vinyl… “Lie down next to me.”

Vinyl nodded and started to slide off, lips pressed together as she had to briefly put pressure on her bad leg.

Nightmare Moon stretched out her wing to help, never mind the pain that flashed up her side and back. “Easy,” Once Vinyl’s belly was on the ground, Nightmare Moon turned to face straight and closed her eyes. “Relax – let whatever happens happen. I’ll try to be gentle, but…”

Nightmare Moon felt a hoof cover her own.

“I trust you, Wolf.”

She felt no urge to shake away the contact.

‘Focus… focus…’

Nightmare Moon concentrated on Vinyl’s breathing, strained and exhausted.

'Focus and become that which is lighter than air, become that which light cannot see…’

Something inside her pulsed in pain.

Nightmare Moon twitched a little, but then started thinking of Vinyl, thought of helping her, thought of exacting revenge on her enemies, thought of achieving all her desires with no one around that could wrest them away from her – everything that brought her a sense of fulfilment and joy.

The pain started to fade like a dissolving memory. The urge to breath became less significant.

‘Become what you always were…’

Nightmare Moon felt herself rising.

‘Now open your eyes and see what you are.’

Regaining sight, Nightmare Moon looked down and saw her body, covered in wounds that refused to heal and reeking of something foul that made her instincts flare up in revulsion. The effects of the Cleansing Joke – the nausea, the general feeling of ‘wrongness’ – didn’t feel so intense now, but she could still feel some of lingering on her, weighing her down as if there was a boulder on her non-existent shoulders.

But she could still move – that would be enough.

‘Vinyl.’

She was lying in the same spot, eyes closed and breathing… slightly more normal. Vinyl’s aura surrounded her, blue just like her magic, but it was washed out like a faded painting and listless when it should have been active and swirling about. The burning white orb in the centre of her body however, blazed brilliantly.

‘I’ll fix this,’ Nightmare Moon promised, floating down to mingle in with Vinyl’s aura. ‘I’ll fix you.’

To her surprise, Vinyl did not recoil at her touch. If anything, her aura seemed to welcome her. Nightmare Moon wasn’t used to this sort of reaction, but she didn’t hesitate to take advantage and ease her way into Vinyl’s body, dark smoke wrapping around her like a protective shawl.

She tapped into Vinyl’s mind. ‘This will hurt.’

An echoing laugh. ‘Your bedside manner sucks, dude.’

Nightmare Moon’s lips would have twitched if she had any. ‘Steel yourself – it will be over soon.’

And with that, she imagined claws and fangs and dug into the blazing orb.

Vinyl… reacted, as she expected, but she didn’t plead nor beg for it to stop. Nightmare Moon had taken control of her body to keep it from moving, but she suspected that Vinyl would have stubbornly refused to move so much as an inch if she hadn’t.

It was remarkable, the level of trust that Nightmare Moon could feel bleeding from Vinyl’s mind and heart.

She worked quickly: bones were reset, torn muscles and ligaments were sewn back together, and Nightmare Moon did her utmost to repair the damage done to Vinyl’s horn; she worked the shattered pieces back together like a jigsaw, watching intently as the magic started to flow once more.

‘Come on, come on…’

There were pieces that refused to fit. Nightmare Moon pushed, prodded, then eventually started hammering them together, but they wouldn’t stay, and Vinyl screamed inside her mind as the pain became too great.

‘Damn it!’

The pieces weren’t going to fit unless she had magic healing it from the outside; she left them there and treated the blazing orb to a sample of her essence. It hurt Nightmare Moon when it shouldn’t have, but the orb absorbed her essence with no adverse effects – that was the important thing.

‘It’s done.’

Nightmare Moon ripped herself free from Vinyl’s aura and sped back to her body, filling up all the nooks and crannies and-

“Grrgh!!”

It was like molten silver had been poured into her veins. Nightmare Moon’s eyes bulged as she slammed her jaws down on her foreleg to muffle a pained howl. Blood poured down her chin, and her mouth was awash with the taste of metal.

There was movement at her side as Vinyl, with some stiffness, rose onto all four legs. “Wolf? Are you okay?”

“Hnf…” Nightmare Moon felt like she had been pushed through a tunnel of inverted thorns – smooth one way, excruciating the other. “M’fine!” With deep breaths, she reigned in her body’s urge to curl up and rock and forth in misery, and looked to the side. “Are you…?”

Vinyl’s coat had obtained a greyish hue, the colour of morning fog, and her mane was duke blue. Her body was significantly heavier with muscle, and her horn, while still askew, sparked tentatively with magic.

Looking over herself, Vinyl gave a smarmy grin, wine-red eyes shining in the shadows. “See? The goth look just doesn’t suit me.”

“Excellent,” Nightmare Moon grinned her bloodstained fangs and shakily stood, her elation so strong that she was able to ignore the intense pain in her body. “Truly excellent. Y-your magic is not fully healed, but it’s enough for simple spells and magic blasts.”

Vinyl nodded, her eyes roving over Nightmare Moon’s trembling form. “Yeah.”

“With this, we can…” Nightmare Moon took a step forward, almost collapsed. “We can run and fight if we have to.”

Vinyl said nothing.

Nightmare Moon glared down at her shaking foreleg as if the intensity of her glare would make it obey. “Those fools that doused in that foul liquid. I’ll make them pay for making me look weak in front of everypony.”

She swallowed blood and bile, then looked up to meet Vinyl’s eyes. There was concern in them.

“This? It’s nothing. I’ll be fine in a minute. Then, we can go,” Nightmare Moon’s chest tightened, and she covered her mouth to muffle the coughing. “I… I won’t allow these pathetic humans to stop us. I still have a life to live, desires to fill… enemies to vanquish. This is a grave setback, I’ll admit, but I’ll come back. I always have. I… I…”

Nightmare Moon paused, confused, as she watched Vinyl walk ahead out of cover and turn to face her.

“… What are you doing?”

In those red eyes, she saw determination and resolve… but it wasn’t quite enough to hide the pain behind them.

“Wolf, thanks for everything,” Vinyl said with a big smile. “And I’m sorry.”

Nightmare Moon watched in awe as Vinyl fired a powerful blast of magic at the roof of the opening, and a shower of rubble blocked it off, plunging her into darkness.

Vinyl ran off, shouting insults at the humans, until her footsteps, along with theirs, grew quieter and quieter.

For that entire time, Nightmare Moon stood there, staring ahead into blackness. For all her intelligence and cunning, she failed to come up with a response to what had just happened. She was in disbelief.

“Vinyl?”

She approached the opening. Pressed her hoof against the rubble and pushed. She couldn’t even manage the strength to make it budge.

“Vinyl?”

Pressure welled up from within her belly, filling her chest until it felt as if her organs were squashed and showing through her skin. She put all her weight against the blockage.

Still nothing.

Nightmare Moon finally came to terms with what had happened. Her world turned red as her emotions boiled over. She hadn’t been able to telepathically communicate with her Praetorian Guard due to the Cleansing Joke, but like a tsunami, everything inside her surged forth and crashed against some invisible barrier, tearing her body apart with agony as her mind reached out and slammed against the retreating form of her only friend.

“VINYL!!!”

Vinyl stumbled and almost fell on her face as that one word, charged with so much energy that she could feel it in her bones.

“Hi, Wolf. I, uh… kinda expected that to be pretty final," Jeez, this was crazy; she could feel a bunch of tingling in her head, like smaller signals she could reach out and touch, but Wolf was hogging up the retail, so to speak. It was a bad signal, too; choppy and way too loud like the wrong TV channel. "This is awkward.”

Vinyl looked over her shoulder, smirking as she saw the humans pursuing her. It seemed to be everyone that had been searching amongst the rubble.

Sweet.

“YOU MISERABLE CUR! GET BACK HERE AND LET ME OUT! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU!”

Vinyl winced and turned on the spot to fire blasts of magic into the crowd of pursuing humans. Most of the knights blocked with shields, but one was hit in the chest. Not that it mattered; they looked down where they were hit for a second before continuing to advance.

Shit, that’s right – humans were immune to pure magic or something, weren’t they? That sucked.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?! GET BACK HERE AND UNDO WHAT YOU DID, OR I’LL…!”

Wolf went on to describe a series of painful-sounding actions that might have made Vinyl’s skin crawl under any other circumstances. Right now, all she could feel was a sense of sorrow that she might never get to be threatened in such a way ever again.

“We were never gonna get away from these guys, Wolf,” Vinyl replied, diving to the side to avoid a thrown spear, and then returning to her mad sprint. “You could barely walk, and I can’t carry you. Maybe if I knew how to teleport, but…” She paused to turn her head and yell at the humans that their leader was an asshole. “I don’t. I’m sorry I didn’t learn, Wolf. I kept putting it off because it was so hard and-”

“STOP. TALKING.”

Wolf went quiet, but Vinyl could feel her hovering in the back of her head like an angry ghost. She felt incredible waves of anger and violence, yet there was something mixed in. Something bitter and cold.

Vinyl kept her gaze focused straight ahead, so when the towering form of a human appeared through the thick dust, she swerved to the right and narrowly avoided the brunt of a shield bash. Adrenaline flowed through her veins as she heard the humans close in on her, their shouts bringing more of their comrades.

She felt like a rabbit trying to escape the slavering jaws of a fox.

“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS? I SAVED YOUR LIFE!”

Vinyl’s heart thumped against her ribs as she ran into an area where the air seemed to be tinged yellow; her muscles suddenly became sore and rigid. She came to a halt, hooves skidding against dirt, before she could go any further and turned to see the knights boxing her in, shields raised and swords poking out over the tops.

“And now I’m saving yours.”

“Heh heh – you’re too late, dumbasses,” Vinyl was thankful that her voice came out steady and strong because she was honestly shit-scared. “Wol… The Empress is already long gone. Maybe if you hadn’t followed me like idiots, then you might have gotten her,” Her throat was painfully parched as she swallowed, then smirked mockingly. “Jeez, you guys must have a crappy commander.”

None of them responded, but the way they shuffled to her with increased fervour made her think they were scowling beneath their helmets.

“WE COULD HAVE ESCAPED TOGETHER!” Wolf raged. “IF YOU WEREN’T SUCH AN IDIOT, THEN WE COULD HAVE-”

“Wolf, if somepony like me could see we couldn’t get out of there together, then it’s, like… pretty obvious, you know?”

Nightmare Moon went quiet again, and the ghost in Vinyl’s head writhed and twisted about in anguish.

The knights surrounded her completely in a ring formation. Vinyl’s legs were shaking, but she took a deep breath to steel her nerves.

“Wolf, you’re my best friend. I love you platonically as much as I love Octavia romantically. You’ve been with me since the days of the club, you’ve been there at my wedding, and you were there to save my life in the human world.”

“I DIDN’T SAVE YOUR LIFE JUST SO YOU COULD THROW IT AWAY LIKE THIS! WHAT ABOUT YOUR WIFE?!”

Ah… she could see her now. Those beautiful purple eyes, that awesome smile, those flexible hooves that were perfect in just about everything they did from playing the cello, to using sign language, to roving across Vinyl’s body and making her feel loved and safe. Vinyl wanted to see her one last time, but it was for the best that she wasn’t here.

“Can you tell her I’m sorry? Can you tell her that I had to do this?”

One of the humans charged forward to slam her with their shield. Vinyl dodged it and threw herself into their legs, knocking them down. She stood back up, then-

CLANG

Vinyl reeled back, blood squirting from her nostrils. Having received more than her share of hits to the noggin from bar brawls, she was able to duck the next swing of the knight that hit her and cast a Kinetic Impact spell that sent them flying. Seeing that made her wish she had more time to play around with her new strength.

“YOU CAN TELL HER WHAT A BRAINDEAD WORM YOU ARE YOURSELF ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE!!”

Two knights came for her, and Vinyl swayed back, dodging their attacks like she was in another bar brawl. She imagined Wolf standing by her side, scowling and berating her for not paying her bill again. It made her smile.

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Wolf,” Vinyl backed up into a piece of rubble larger than herself and her hindleg grazed against something hard and sharp. Calling on her magic, she took hold of it while smiling innocently at the approaching knights. “I would love to see Octy’s hooves signing at that speed while she’s fuming and sexy as fuck again, but it’s not gonna happen.”

“YOU’RE…” Though it was surely impossible, Vinyl thought she heard a choke. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I don’t need to be protected. Please… come back and free me.”

‘Please’ – that one word almost broke Vinyl there and then.

“Wolf, the fact that you can’t get out yourself when it’s you means that you need protection, as much as it sucks to hear.”

Vinyl chuckled, stopping the knights in their tracks. “Don’t know why the Empress left. I feel like she over-estimated you guys. Come on – show me your teeth…”

Sneering and flashing her sharpened teeth, Vinyl tore the piece of rebar free with an explosion of dust and dashed forward.

“And I’ll show mine!!”

She swung and hit a knight in the head, hard; they fell to their knees with a cry, and the other rushed forward, lashing out with their shield.

They were still aiming to capture her, huh? She’d make them reconsider.

Swaying beneath the shield, Vinyl jabbed the rebar under a crevice in their breastplate, hoping to get a piercing blow. The knight stumbled back but it looked like it was from the force rather than any real damage; they came straight back in, using their superior size to loom over Vinyl and slam their shield down.

She couldn’t get out of the way in time, so she took the blow on her back with clenched teeth and shoved the rebar into the human’s chin. For a second, it was almost as if their head came off, but it was just their helmet. Vinyl caught a glimpse of their eyes wide with surprise, and then promptly stabbed the rebar upwards again.

Blood squirted into the air – from the human’s throat, and from Vinyl’s side.

As the human fell back, gurgling and coughing up blood, Vinyl collapsed in the dirt, blood staining her teeth orange as the knight that flanked her left the sword sticking between her ribs like she was a pig in a blanket and went to help their wounded friend.

“We aren’t supposed to kill the unicorns!”

“It’s too much trouble. We’ll find more elsewhere. Here - help me pull the rebar out and stop the bleeding.”

“Where the hell's the Knight Enforcer?”

"He started coughing again and hung back; it was bad this time."

"Jesus Christ, you left him alone when he's like that?!"

Vinyl had a sideways-view of the world from the cold ground, which wasn’t entirely new given her many nights of binging. The sword in her chest telling naughty secrets to her heart?

Heh – that was a new experience.

“Hey, Wolf? I lost.”

No reply.

“Wolf… There’s not a lot to analyse here. You saved my life, and I’m just returning the favour. You’ve still got your dreams to fulfil, remember? Me? I’ve become a DJ, I owned my own club, I married the most beautiful creature in the world, and I’ve made a whole new genre of music with her.”

“Vinyl…”

“I guess I could wish that we adopted a kid, but fuck, kids scare the crap outta me if I’m honest. They copy what you do, you know? That kind of pressure would mess me up.”

“Don’t die.”

Vinyl grimaced as something started filling her lungs. She could feel blood sticking to the back of her throat. “I don’t wanna die, dude; I wanna grow old with Octy. It friggin’ sucks that I won’t be able to do that, but if me dying means you might survive, then that’s cool with me.”

“… cursed…”

The humans were talking, but Vinyl just heard it as white noise. “Sorry, what? I zoned out a little.”

“I said that you are a cursed creature that poisoned my life. I would have been happy to have never met you. You taint my ideals with your presence.”

Vinyl just laughed. “Kah hah hah…”

Wolf continued. “And yet… I would give up my goal of ruling Equestria if it just meant you would live.”

Vinyl smiled and closed her eyes. “Mm… I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Vinyl, I-”

“Live your life, Wolf. Make your mark on history and tell them the story of that super-talented and extremely hot DJ. Make sure you mention my humility, too.”

Wolf didn’t reply, but she felt the presence in the back of her head gradually getting lighter and lighter, much like how her own body felt.

‘This is okay,’ Vinyl exhaled and slipped deeper into the warm embrace of the darkness. ‘She’ll remember me. I won’t fade…’

“Stay with me.”

‘I won’t fade.’

Then, there was nothing left.

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Canterlot Castle - a resplendent structure of ivory and gold colours, Canterlot Castle is the most visited place in all of Equestria.

Originally, the castle was built under the command of Discord, who wished for a temple devoted to him. After his defeat, the temple was left to fall into disrepair before being restored to new glory as the castle where Celestia would rule for a thousand years as a benevolent, if melancholic, monarch.

The significance of Canterlot Castle is such that when one of its spires had to be knocked down due to an infestation of parasprites, it is said that half of Canterlot's populace wept in dismay.