Landing with a stumble in the forest just outside the town boundaries, Rainbow Dash shoved a lock of wet mane out of her eyes. A deep breath later, her disguise was dropped and although that unscratchable itch was gone, she was no less irritated. On any other day she'd be ecstatic at the prospect of flying in the rain and darting between lightning bolts, but she was in gryphon territory which meant wild weather and that meant one wrong move in the air and she'd be a deep fried pegasus. Not to mention she was tired, hungry, wet, cold and her muscles were burning.

Double checking her Element of Loyalty was secured around her neck, Dash shook out the raindrops from her coat, lifted her goggles from her eyes and smoothed down her messy hair. Seven days of straight flying would do a number to anypony's hair. Good thing Rarity isn't around – Dash shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if she was. Checking her reflection in the puddle, a snort escaped at how ridiculous she was acting. Being nervous was one thing, but that was no excuse to start worrying about appearances.

With one last deep breath, Rainbow Dash began walking forward through the dense forest. According to her memory, the town should just be ahead. Of course, for the past day everything below her had been the exact same mass of green with absolutely no distinguishing features so for all she knew, the town could be in some other forest and she wouldn't even know.

Lightning and thunder rumbled above and for that split second, she was blind to the world. She didn't stop though, she continued trudging through the thick mud even as it clung to her hooves and tried to suck her down. Every so often, her tail would flick to the side, swatting away the annoying mosquitoes that would no doubt love to feast on her flesh.

The thought of feasts caused her stomach to rumble. "Yeah, yeah, I know," she muttered at her stomach. "Stupid storm making me lose the stupid saddlebacks that had the stupid apples in them. And where the buck is that stupid village!" she yelled, only for her words to be covered by the boom of thunder.

"You were always a cranky when hungry," remarked a familiar feminine voice.

Dash didn't even bother turning to face Gilda, instead she remarked casually over a shoulder, "The hospitality hasn't improved I see."

"So we don't see each for over a year and that's your hello? Too cool for to greet an old friend?"

"Hey, I learnt from the best didn't I?" The smirk was evident in my voice.

"So you admit I'm better than you." She chuckled and moved until she was standing next to me. "About damn time."

"Nah, you're only the best when it comes to being a jerk." Grinning like a mad pony, Dash threw an arm around Gilda's neck. "So what does a pony have to do to get some grub around here?"

"Admit I'm the coolest, most awesomest creature ever." She removed my hoof from around her neck.

"I'll give you coolest, most awesomest gryphon." We started walking through the forest."How's that?"

Gilda's head tilted to the side, pretending to think it over and waving it away. "Nah, not good enough. You can do better than that." Raising her head, she let out a series of shrill whistles and clicks. A couple seconds later there came a reply.

"Huh, new code," commented Dash. "Had to change due to the whole eternal night fiasco?"

"Something like that." There was nothing to signal the change from wilderness to village and looking up, the houses were perfectly camouflaged to the canopy. "And here we are, you were a tad to the west. Good thing our scouts saw you drop into the forest. I take it you want to see the Matriarch?"

Dash merely nodded, not even bothering to question how Gilda knew that. "Also a second pony has been following me these past couple of days. I'm uncertain if the pony is a friendly or not."

Gilda smirk. "Already being taken care of. Don't worry, we're using sedatives rather than the usual poisons since I figured you wouldn't want your friend to die. You can see the pony after the meeting."

Despite it being night and stormy, Dash could feel probing eyes following her every movement as she walked through the town. Sure, she had visited in the past, but each and every time she would be treated with passive aggressive hostility at best, though the younger gryphons didn't have such reservations. Still, this place was like her home away from home.

"Come on, follow me." Opening her wings, Gilda kicked off the ground and Dash followed a second later. In the darkness, she had no choice, but to follow her fillyhood friend since her night vision was vastly superior. Angling slightly to the left, they came to a rest on a tiny balcony and quickly went inside. Once the door was firmly shut, Gilda tapped the side of the lantern causing Dash to shrink back as light suddenly flooded the room.

Once her vision returned, Dash couldn't help, but grin at the sight of Gilda in full armor. Breastplate, gauntlet, wing coverings – the entire deal. "Look at you, step outside in the light you could act like a disco ball. In fact..." Dash leaned in close, her grin only widening. "I think I can see my reflection. So what happened to the whole 'Military is so lame' thing?"

With a hiss, Gilda shoved Dash into the wall and stomped away down the corridor. "We were forced to join alright?"

Laughing, Dash ran to catch up before rubbing her shoulder. "Still..." She cast an appraising eye over Gilda's armor. "I don't know if you look lame in armor or cooler. Though it makes you look... bulky."

"You saying I'm fat?" Though her body tensed, humor was still evident in Gilda's voice. Luckily though, the pegasus was saved from having to answer the question as they reached the end of the corridor. Pushing open the door, the duo stepped in.

"Welcome Bearer of Loyalty," spoke the regal black gryphon. Her feathers were perfectly in line, gleaming in the lantern light and when she shifted her gaze to Dash, muscles rippled showing a strength few could match.

Crossing her right foreleg behind her the left, Dash gave a low bow. "I am honored Matriarch."

To everyones surprise, the Matriarch returned the bow with equal formality and reverence. "No, the honor is all mine. As a protector of the world, your station outranks mine."

Dash froze. Protector? Licking her dry lips, she turned her thoughts to Rarity, wondering what she would say in such a situation. "I am, but a foal new to the world," Dash said slowly, "I lack the experience and wisdom that you hold with such grace. In that respect I am lesser than you and if I could achieve even a fraction of your ability, it would be an honor."

Silver peals of laughter echoed through the empty room. "My, my, such a young age and already such a speaker." Her eyes narrowed. "But you need not flatter me Loyalty for I can tell such words sit uncomfortably on your tongue. You wish to speak plainly do you not?"

Although Dash tried her best to conceal the grin, it was obvious to those in the room. "Yes please."

"Good. First of all, introductions." The Matriarch gestured to the green and brown gryphon on the right who had more muscle than Applejack. "This is Catarena, the Master of Arms and on my left is Eva, Master of Knowledge." The cream gryphon on the left who was less muscle and more curves, and covered in black swirling paint waved. "Behind me stands Grand Seer Nadia."

At the sound of her name, the blindfolded gryphon wearing a simple blue robe that concealed everything, inclined her head ever so slightly. "Welcome Bearer of Loyalty, I foretold your coming, though you are a couple minutes late and your friend was most unexpected."

"Tell me about it." Dash's eyes widened when she realized what she had said and clamped her hooves over her mouth, but to her surprise the Matriarch laughed.

"I must say, it is nice to have such a meeting and not be playing political chess with each other." The Matriarch stood up and Dash felt like shrinking back. All that muscle. "I will speak plainly, we cannot aid you. My loyalty lies with my subjects first and foremost and to lend you help is to invite war – that is a fact Nadia has seen. You know what they say – a single alicorn can lay waste to an entire army. Furthermore we have no proof that your Dawn Brigade is strong enough that you'd be able to win even with our help."

The only thing stopped Dash from yelling and screaming was the knowledge that doing so would gain them even more enemies.

"However," Dash's ears perked up as the Matriarch continued, "if some gryphons were to be disgruntled with our decision and if they just so happened to leave our service and help you then we cannot be held responsible. Once again, I'm terribly sorry we cannot actively help. Gilda, please take the Bearer of Loyalty to see her friend and offer her a place to rest for the night."

Bowing once more, the two friends turned around and walked out. Neither spoke to the other until the door was firmly close behind them and there were at least twenty steps down the hall.

"Well that was certainly fast," commented Dash. "And anticlimactic."

"What can I say? We gryphons are just that much faster than you lame-o ponies."

"Well this lame-o pony kicks your feathery ass in every single race to date. So the question is, what does that make you?"

"It doesn't make me anything. It makes you an honorary gryphon." They exchanged a brohoof and a grin. Taking a side corridor, they ended back outside in the freezing cold and rain. Quickly darting across the divide between buildings, they scrambled into the house before they could get any wetter. "Anyways, this is where you and your friend will be staying. Guards have been posted outside and will be keeping an eye on your friend."

Simply nodding, Dash turned towards the kitchen, but before she could take a single step, she felt a claw on her shoulder. "Listen Dash, it's good to see you again."

A chuckle escape and Dash punched on the shoulder playfully. "Anything else? 'Cause I'm absolutely starving here."

"If it's not sleeping then it's eating. I see something's never change."

"Yeah, yeah." Making her way into the kitchen, Dash raided the fridge and threw a pan and pot onto the stove and filling it with water. "You staying for some grub or do you have to go off and polish your armor?"

"Har har, real funny. As if I'd turn out a free meal, let alone one cooked by you."

Throwing a glare over her shoulder, Dash quickly and deftly sliced some tomatoes and mushroom before moving onto washing the spinach. "Well if you're eating here there won't be any meat and I hope you remember our deal. No speaking of this to any pony."

"That you just luuuuuurve cooking like a stereotypical girl? Or that you look absolutely adorable in an apron?"

A gagging noise could be heard, but before Dash could get into her usual routine of pretending to puke, the water came to a boil. "Hey, unlike a certain lazy gryphon I lived alone for most of my life and my mother could cook the most delicious dishes ever. All of these are her recipes and well..." The two friends exchanged a sad smile. Drizzling some olive oil onto the pan, Dash tossed in the spinach followed by the mushroom. "Hey Gilda, stir the pasta for me will you? Wait, no eggs in those right?"

"Of course. I learnt from last time."

Working together, the dish was quickly assembled onto three plates. By this stage both Dash's and Gilda's stomach had grumbled up such a storm that it managed to wake up the pony in the next room. Both friends tensed up and slipped into an aggressive fighting stance and readied an ambush, but when the pegasus in Wonderbolt uniform stumbled into the room with a yawn, both visibly relaxed.

"Man, something smells delicious," mumbled Echo.

"You sound like Soarin."

"Please." He slumped grabbed a plate off Gilda and slumped onto his seat. "He eats every minute of every day and when he isn't, he's talking about food. None of us complain though since he's the best cook out of all of us."

"You mean only cook," quipped Gilda.

A curious look was directed at her from Echo for that comment. "I didn't realize gryphon's cared so much about the Wonderbolts."

"You try rooming with this fangirl for a year." Gilda smacked Dash upside the head with her wing. "If you don't pick something up then your an idiot."

"I am not a fangirl!"

"That's not how Spitfire tells it."

"Wait, isn't Spitfire the mare tha-"

"Gilda! Always a pleasure, please stop by again sometime. Good seeing you, have fun with guard duty, goodbye." Dash slammed the front door shut and promptly locked it before the gryphon could figure out what just happened. "Anyways, I'm assuming Spitfire told you to come after me and make sure I don't screw up?"

"Er... it wasn't exactly Spitfire..." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably while looking away. "I mean, she gave me the order, but it didn't come from her I don't think."

"Applejack." Face meet table. Table meet face.

"Er... yes..." Noisy chewing filled the room. "And man, this is really good. Who made this?"

"It was already made when we got here," mumbled Dash through a mouthful of food. "I don't know about you, but I could use another helping of food."

"So I take it we'll be meeting them tomorrow morning?"

Shaking her head, Dash trotted back with a plate full of food. "Nah, already had the meeting. They're afraid of the Nightmare Moon blowing up their city and killing off the entire army so we're on our own for now."

"What! But-"

"No buts. Their decision has been made." For the first time since shoving her muzzle into the pasta, Dash looked up with a smirk. "Trust me, everything will work out in the end."

"... Alright... I was told to trust you after all. I'm just glad you didn't end up as gryphon food." Letting out a satisfied burp, Echo leaned back in his chair. "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. There's no point hanging around any longer, though I get the feeling we'll have some guests on our return journey."

"Guests?"

"What can I say? I'm so awesome that even gryphons can't resist me."

"This is insane."

"If it wasn't, it wouldn't be fun." The rain pelted Dash's face as she struggled to walk against the wind. "Plus, it provides the best possible cover imaginable. I mean, come on, only super insane pegasuses would think to fly in this weather. Hm... maybe I have been hanging around Pinkie too much lately..."

"We can barely walk and you want us to fly home? Just give the storm another day or two to calm down," yelled Echo above the wind.

"Pfffft, as if." Echo rolled his eyes at Dash's trademark cocky grin. "Don't tell me the high and mighty Wonderbolt Echo is afraid of flying in a little storm."

"I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. But as a side note, flying through this storm is simplicity itself."

"Well then why worry?" Closing her eyes, Dash tapped her inner pegasus magic to part the incoming air in front of her.

"Because I'm worried tha..." The rest of his sentence was lost as Echo stared in amazement. "You know how to tap pegasus magic?"

The cocky grin was back. "Bet I can out fly you too." Launching herself into the air with a mighty flap of her wings, Dash cut through the incoming air and quickly rose above the storm clouds. A couple seconds later, the familiar magenta blur erupted from below as Echo made it through the clouds.

"Where did you learn to tap pegasus magic." It wasn't a question this time, it was an order.

Dash ignored him and instead looked across to her right. "Hey Gilda, you gonna lounge there all day or will you get your feathery butt into a gear and get up here?"

Blinking in surprise, Echo glanced down and sure enough, there was that gryphon from yesterday night except next to her was a second who was black in coloration with light blue swirls over her entire body.

"Geez Dash, it's way too early." Gilda yawned and stretched. "What happened to sleeping in till midday? And you'll have to come down here, Miss Stupid here decided to chop off one of her wings."

Groaning, Dash dropped down and landed on the white cloud, completely missing the look of utter horror on Echo's face. "Seriously? I hope we won't have to carry you the entire way."

"Of course not." Her voice was soft and silky, holding a seductive quality to it as though she was caressing the words being spoken. "If you let me view an image from your mind, I can teleport all of us there without a hitch."

"You're telling me a gryphon can perform a long range mass teleport without an anchor?" To say Echo was skeptical would have been an understatement.

"Yes." A dangerous glint appeared in her blue eyes. "If you don't believe me we can take a bet."

"We're risking our lives here. I doubt we can bet anything more than that."

"Oh please, there are worse things than death."

"I never said there weren't worse things, merely commenting that there's nothing we can bet within the realms of relative probability that'd trump putting our lives on the line."

"Oh I don't know, how about your wings?"

"My wings? Lady, you're insane."

"Fine, a wing then. Don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kinda missing one." A huge grin spread over Silvia's face. "Ah ha! Something worse than your life. I win."

"Silvia, stop pissing off our companions," interrupted Gilda.

"And Echo, stop being such an egghead," added Dash. "Oh and ready the spell, but if you think I'm letting you into my mind you're an idiot. Take the location from Gilda."

"But-" Echo was silenced with a glare.

Dash continued, "Gilda, set us down at Ghastly Gorge at the startling line would you?"

"Look at you, high and mighty Rainbow Dash commanding the armies of the rebellion. Heh, who would have thought they'd let a dweeb like you in charge."

"Says the gryphon in armor shiny enough that I can see my reflection in it and can't beat me in a race," countered Dash. "I mean, what kind of lame gryphon can't even beat a pony in a race."

"Well you are the fastest pegasus."

"So you admit it!"

"No! I- That is... I mean... Gah! You're an honorary gryphon remember?"

"Gilda, Bearer of Loyalty, might I suggest we get a move on?" suggested Silvia.

"Pfffft, we're teleporting! That means we can waste some time. How about a race once you've teleported?" suggested Dash.

"Ghastly Gorge circuit?"

"You got it." Spitting on her hoof, Dash held it out and Gilda followed suit. "Be ready to taste my dust featherbutt."

Picking up my knight, I moved it to D5 with a bored expression on my face. Under said bored expression though, I was carefully watching Nightmare Moon's face as I spoke, "You know, telling me that half truth about Celestia was an idiotic thing to do. Did you really expect me to fall for such a blatant lie?"

"A mare can hope can't she?" Levitating the bishop, she took my rook. "And you need to stop being so suspicious of me, not everything I do has an ulterior motive you know."

"Can you blame me?" I was barely paying attention to the chess game. "After all, you've spent roughly a month torturing me on an almost daily basis." Tilting my head to the side, I showed off the welts from the white hot chains she had coiled around me last time she visited five days ago. Five days with those infernal chains around me – I could still feel the ghostly remnants.

"Truthfully, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet." It was said so casually as though she was referring to some sort of surprise between friends. "Unless..." Her grin returned – how I hated that grin, but it was less frightening than the familiarity from before. "Unless Celly hasn't told you the truth about the sculpture garden."

Okay, scratch that, I prefer familiarity to the predatory grin. Predatory grin equals bad. Like, really bad – no, not just bad, world ending catastrophe bad. The previous secret was just a test to see if I could communicate with Luna at will for if I couldn't, I'd be torn over what she said without any way to verify the truth. Now though, now that she knew I could, she could tell me the truth and know Luna would back her up in what she said. Last time was just a set up for the crushing blow she would deliver this time. Either way I'd be royally screwed.

"If you're going to say it you might as well say it," I replied with a wave of my hoof. "It's not as though it makes a difference either way."

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight," she tsked while moving her queen. "Where's the fun if you're so open to the idea? I was hoping for some verbal sparring."

"The fun comes from watching my adorable little face crumple up as you tears of utter despair leak down my cheek."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"But chess does? That's very stereotypical of you, you know" I took her rook with my queen without even looking at the board. "You might as well tell me. Plus, I think sarcasm suits me just fine. It's got the whole 'I'm so bitter at being tortured' vibe going for me." That bought a smile to my lips – surprising Nightmare Moon always makes me smile.

"Truthfully, I'm curious as to if you never asked Luna why she was so scared of Celestia removing her form power."

"Because the same thing happened to Princess Gaia when she went insane." Tilting my head to the side, I contemplated my next move as the alicorn moved a bishop to a seemingly random location.

"Gaia only went insane as a result of Celestia's actions." My head snapped up and my mouth was suddenly dry. "Celestia broke the natural order that had ruled the land when she stole Gaia's power to control the weather and gave it to the pegasi. And so she attacked Celestia and Luna out of insanity as well as a need to regain her power."

"But that-"

"That doesn't make sense?" She gave me that sadistic smile of hers as she leaned forward. "You know the story do you not? Of how Gaia controlled the winds, the sea and the land? Did you never once question how it was the pegasi and earth ponies now control the winds and land respectively? Or did you merely believe that once Gaia died her powers transferred itself onto the ponies without mediation? Truly Twilight Sparkle, I expected better from Celly's prized pupil."

Though my heart was racing, I met her gaze with a cold, unflinching stare of my own. "I find it remarkably amusing that no other pony is capable of telling that story. Gaia is dead, Celestia is locked away somewhere and Luna was not present. I expected something that would truly give me pause. After all, you are the Nightmare and I – somewhat foalishly perhaps – believed that you could actually live up to that name."

"Such a barbed tongue!" Nightmare Moon chuckled as she leaned back. "Well then how about another tale that you can verify with Luna? You have no doubt been in the sculpture garden and no doubt Celly has failed to tell you the truth about that just like how she's failed to tell you the truth about everything else."

"Get on with it," I growled.

"Every single one of those statues was a living, breathing being. The draconequus for example is Discord, previous ruler of Equestria and even I shudder at the thought of him. Cupid is a pegasus who invented a particularly aggressive mind spell that could force two ponies to fall in love. He really did not realize what spell he had created until it was too late and though he was willing to do everything in his power to right the wrong, Celestia did not grant him mercy – after all, I wielded Generosity back then, not her. Each and every single one of those statues has a story. They range from the deranged to the bittersweet. Some were crimes against Equestria, while others were mere minor details.

"Do not think for a moment being sealed in stone is a blessing. Every moment feels as though your suffocating, trying desperately to breathe in, but always chocking. And all you can do is watch as life continues around you while you wish, dream and earn for it yourself. To feel a hug, the warmth on your skin, to cry. I tortured your body Twilight Sparkle. Celestia tortures your soul. What I am trying to say, is that Celly is not the great ruler you think her to be. She is an extremist – well intentioned, but still an extremist. I remember when she turned her own ambassador to stone when it was revealed he was planning a coup. No trial, no jury, no explanation, no lesser punishment. She couldn't 'risk it' apparently."

With each word she spoke, my heart beat just a little bit faster and bile rose a tad further in my throat. That wasn't the Celestia I knew, that wasn't the kind, caring ruler that I spent long nights talking with. She had always forgiven ponies, always been lenient, always been understanding. But... to seal them in stone, to break their minds in such a manner... nothing was worth that. Surely nothing could be so evil as to deserve that punishment.

Even Nightmare Moon didn't deserve that.

But... the mental torture wasn't on purpose was it? It couldn't have been, Celestia wouldn't have done that, she would never have done that – it must have been a side effect of the spell she was casting. A small voice argued though, that she was a princess and an alicorn, so surely she could resolve any such side effects, even a simple sleep spell beforehand may have sufficed. Then again, it's not as though she could have known that they were conscious while in stone, after all she's never been turned into stone before.

And now the voice came back stronger than ever. It was as though I was in an empty room facing a mirror as my reflection spoke back to me, lecturing me as Celestia had when I was a little filly no taller than her knee. That part of me spoke with absolute clarity pointing out the one glaring flaw that I could never answer. The logic went like this:

From what Nightmare Moon has said, Celestia turns creatures to stone as a punishment for actions she deems particularly evil. The mere fact that Celestia petrified them instead of locking them up for life or exiling them testified to this. Furthermore, if it was a form of punishment then it must cause some form of distress and if was used instead of exiling or life time imprisonment then the distress of being petrified must be worse than living forever alone or away from family and friends. While it is possible to argue they were turned to stone as a warning to others, such a fact never made it into the public sphere of knowledge and Celestia was not the type to turn ponies to stone as a reminder of past mistakes. Also, by not letting the public know the truth speaks ill of Celestia in and of itself. Therefore, Celestia knew turning creatures to stone placed a very heavy mental distress on said creatures and did so purposefully. The fact that they would live forever as a statue with a constant reminder of what they had would break any pony.

That's it!

"If what you said is true and the mental distress is as you state," I began slowly, trying to keep my voice from betraying my thoughts, "then by all accounts you should have gone insane after one thousand years."

For the first time since meeting her, Nightmare Moon actually seemed embarrassed. She looked off to the side, coughed into her hooves and said in an almost meek voice, "Luna and I came to truce after the first decade or two. We created a neutral dreamscape within our mind where we could interact. I wanted to stay sane to rule Equestria and she wanted to stay sane so she could return to her sister. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. "

Crap.

Not only did that disprove my argument, but now I also had to worry over what the truce entailed. With a groan, my head slammed onto the table causing all the pieces to jump. Why can't things ever be simple and straight forward?

Faith.

Celestia is wise, experienced, kind, generous, loyal, honest and kind. I had to have faith in Celestia – that she had a reason for what she had done, that her actions were for the best of Equestria. I've trusted her so far haven't I? Everypony trusts her and looks at where they got Equestia! The most prosperous nation and the most harmonious. Plus, even if it was morally wrong for her to do so, I should forgive her or at least hear her side of the story. I should trust her. I should have faith in her.

Broken.

That's what Nightmare Moon would expect to see. A broken mare as her faith was shattered into a million pieces. Though... maybe not yet, I still have to confer with Luna after all. Troubled then. I'll put on the facade of being troubled. She must not know the truth. How long has it been since I was first bought here? A month? Two? Maybe I should hold out a bit longer to so it doesn't seem as though I'm faking.

No. Bad Twilight, stop second guessing yourself.

Lifting my head off the table, I opened my eyes slowly and stared at Nightmare Moon's snout. After a deep calming breath, I spoke in a level, but almost monotone voice as I tried to keep all emotion under wraps, "I trust Celestia. I have faith in her. Whatever her reasoning might have been, I trust they were morally correct."

The alicorn hid her surprise well. No change in posture, no change in expression, not even a twitch of a feather. But for a split second, her magic intensified by just a tiny fraction. Inconsequential when it comes to a unicorn, but for an alicorn who's had decades of practice and control, it was an obvious slip up. In all my years with Celestia, she had only slipped up like that once and that was when Blueblood had charged into during the middle of court to express his outrage that a mere commoner had been selected to be her personal protégé instead of some noblepony's son.

I trained my eyes on the chessboard in front of me. Part of me was afraid that if I stared at her in the eyes she'd see through the lie in an instant, but the truth was that to look her in the eyes could be viewed as an act of defiance and if she took it that way, then my plan was up in smokes. Or at least, that's what I told myself. It was a lie, a simple lie, but a lie nonetheless. Somewhere in my mind, there was an echo of the truth – too distorted and soft for me to pick up, but it was there and I was afraid of facing it.

Honesty...

I had to be honest with myself. Right? It was a part of harmony and I had to have harmony within myself. Didn't I? Everything's so confusing now with so much at stake, but... I don't need harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. And yet... if I didn't have harmony, would I end up any better than her? Could I face Celestia at the end with my head held high?

So... To be honest with myself, I... I was afraid. To look into her eyes was to see a reflection of myself and I wasn't sure I could handle that. If I saw myself with my burn marks and my dulls eyes and my thin body, I was afraid I'd actually break. I was afraid I'd see the truth in those eyes – that I've been lying to myself, thinking a single unicorn could go up against an alicorn and win.

For the first time since the match began, I actually looked at the chessboard and blinked in surprise. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her follow my gaze and the exact same look of shock appeared on her face. I recognized the piece positions. I knew every single step required to get to those positions. She had used my preferred opening on me and I had countered with Celestia's own movements. Picking up the queen in my mouth, I moved it before sitting back and watching intently.

"A queen sacrifice I see." Her words were oddly hollow. "Celly played that very same move on me once you know."

It was like watching a memory. Her next move was one I made a long time ago when I faced that same scenario for a second time and almost instinctively, I moved my knight to counter the same way Celestia had. I knew each move before she made it and I had no doubt it was the same for her. I wasn't facing Nightmare Moon. I wasn't even facing Princess Luna.

I was facing myself.