The Days of The Eclipse

Chapter Three : Return to the Origins

By Star Origin

“I can’t believe we’re forced to protect her, of all things!” Blitz let out, his anger showing through his voice.

True, Blitz was somewhat of an insensitive jerk sometimes but that was only because he was still being affected by the events of the last few days. Granted, he had accused an alicorn of crimes she didn’t commit and even went as far a uttering what could be considered an insult towards the royal family. Still, that was just how he was normally; carefree.

He stood on a train seat, moping about his own misfortune. He deplored that he was just being a tool in the princesses chess game but Dusk argued with him on that part, saying that Princess Celestia was an honest ruler and only became severe if the situation demanded it so like that time where he had accidentally cast the “Want it, Need it” spell from one of his magical outbursts.

Truly, that was one of the things that had incited Celestia into taking him as a protégé as well. He possessed a great deal of magical potential but his only problem was that his magic was far too raw in power to be normally tamed, which was why he constantly wore an amulet around his neck. It served as a restraint, a patent of Celestia and several other teachers at the Academy for Gifted Unicorns who happened to be victims of Dusk’s outbursts.

“I’m sorry to be a burden, Blitz, but I never asked for this either,” replied Raine after she heard Blitz complain.

“Oh sure! Being the crybaby you are, I wouldn’t be surprised if you pleaded to come with us just so you could annoy us,” Blitz said, glaring daggers at the alicorn in disguise.

“H-hey! I am not a crybaby! I just had to raise myself out in a forest filled with deadly plants and monsters! I have no knowledge of anything apart from my life in the Everfree. And I’m probably the one that was traumatized the most by my mother’s return, especially when she invaded my dream last night.”

“Wait… So, you mean to tell us that Nightmare Moon can invade somepony’s dream and give them nightmares?” Dusk queried.

Raine nodded. She began explaining to the two ponies what Nightmare Moon had told her in her dream the previous night. She didn’t go into details as she wanted to forget the disturbing images as much as possible. Still, she told them that Nightmare Moon’s special talent was the control of dreams. She wasn’t sure if it extended to more than just the ability to alter a peaceful dream into a nightmare but the single thought of that possibility gave her shivers.

Dusk was overly interested by what Raine told him, mainly because he wanted to know as much about Nightmare Moon as possible since such information would prove to be invaluable if they were to cross paths with the evil alicorn. He was a scholar, or so he claimed, but he had never been seen reading many books, unlike Twilight’s undying love for books and all the lore they contained.

Blitz, however, gave out a small laugh and said that even if Nightmare Moon would be able to enter his dreams, he would still be able to kick her flank rather easily. His comment earned him a doubtful stare from Raine as if she was telling him that trying to resist Nightmare Moon was like try to break free from an iron ball dragging you down the depths of a lake.

And it was exactly what she was thinking. She found the Pegasus to be pretty overconfident of his own  talents. Nightmare Moon’s powers rivaled the princesses’ and they could be stronger than the two monarchs. How could that foal even think he had a chance against her mother when he clearly knew nothing about what he was talking about?

“Now, now, Blitz. I know you’re eager to defeat Nightmare Moon but we have to play this safely. We do not know enough about our enemy to attack her head-on like you are proposing to do. I am sure we’ll find a way to do that but for now, let’s just go fetch Spike so we can be done with this,” Dusk told Blitz, carefully analyzing the situation.

“Eh… Since when did you become such a methodical pony, Dusk. Act like you care a little bit about my sister or Twilight Sparkle!” Blitz exclaimed

“I do care but right now, letting our emotions blind us is probably the worst thing to do . We need to set up a trap of our own before doing anything that might endanger us, especially with this new threat Raine has informed us about.”

Blitz scowled. He knew his best friend was right but he was ready to take on Nightmare Moon anytime for the crimes she had committed. Realistically, he knew that it was impossible to defeat the fallen princess alone but if he had enough help to back him up, it could be an achievable feat. The only one he didn’t want help from was Raine and that was because she was mostly useless as she couldn’t use magic.

“Say, Lady Raine,” Dusk spoke, breaking the pregnant silence he had created with his last reply to Blitz, “could I have a look at your flow of magic for a few moments?”

“What was that?” Raine replied, an innocent grin on her face. “I was busy thinking about a lot of things. Could you repeat your question, Dusk?”

“Of course, Lady Raine. Just don’t make it an habit. It would get rather annoying in the long run, wouldn’t you agree?” Dusk asked rhetorically. “In any case, I simply asked you if it would be possible to have a look at your flow of magic as I remember you saying that you couldn’t use magic last night.”

“What good would that do?” Raine inquired, not trusting the unicorn’s intentions.

“Well, as a matter of fact, it could explain why you can’t use magic and it would also enable a process  in which you could regain your ability to use magic,” answered the unicorn, the tiniest of grins visible under all of his effort to hide it.

“If you say it like that, then I guess I could let you have a look. But only for a few moments, okay?”

“You have my word, Lady Raine.”

“Argh! Stop being so darn cheesy!” Blitz blurted out, annoyed by the two’s blabbering about promises and all. “You’re making my ears bleed!”

The two ponies simply glanced at Blitz, then back at each other and just began to laugh as if they had become mad. Moments passed before Dusk was able to regain his calm. He regained his stature and simply said, “Yep! That’s Blitz all right.”

“Haha, this is so funny my sides hurt,” Blitz replied, a bit of venom in his voice.

“Oh, lighten up. This is the first time I had fun since the last few centuries. Let me savour it a bit more, squirt.”

Blitz cringed slightly. He didn’t like to be made fun of ever since he was bullied at the flight camp for trying to perform a sonic rainboom. He tried and tried but he never succeeded. He had begun to doubt the existence of the fabled sonic rainboom until his sister performed one when she was still in the flight camp. However, such memories were beyond the point. His pride just took a big hit when Raine called him a squirt.

“In any case, shall we begin?” Dusk asked Raine to be sure she was still fine with his small observation of her natural flow of magic.

“Of course I am. Just don’t take too long, Dusk Shine.”

With her consent, Dusk’s horn lit up with a pale aura, some sort of mix between grey and white mixed together. The spell to observe the flow of magic within a unicorn was relatively simple and an alicorn wasn’t all that different from a unicorn except for the nigh bottomless magic reserves and wings. The spell was easily casted and Raine felt the magic wrap around her, penetrating her skin to flow along with her bloodstream and ultimately, her flow of magic.

What Dusk was able to experience with his spell left him completely speechless. So much that he decided to double check to see if something had altered his results but they were still the same. He thought about it all, the very thought was gnawing at his mind very quickly. He had been able to feel Raine’s flow of magic. The only problem was that it was leaking an immense portion of her magical energy, leaving only a small fraction which was not enough for even the simplest of spells.

He was dumbstruck. The first reason being that it was the first time he had seen such a thing. It was not normal for a unicorn or an alicorn’s magical reserves to be leaking by themselves. The second one was because Dusk felt something was wrong with Raine. He felt that there was something she wasn’t telling them. Her answers were too brief and sometimes felt forced.

He left that part in the back of his mind for the moment as it was not what he needed to focus on. At that point, he was trying to rationalize the strange condition that had befallen Raine. His mind had been like that since the last few years. He had always possessed a strong deduction but his only problem was that he always needed to find a rational explanation to things. From what Princess Celestia had told him, both he and Twilight possessed that personality trait.

Dusk Shine was so lost in thoughts that he failed to hear the question the alicorn asked him. He kept thinking about what he had felt when he inspected Raine’s flow of magic and it made his head spin for the hundredth time. The rationalization of the matter was enough to drive him crazy. It just didn’t make any sense to the unicorn.

“Umm, is something the matter, Dusk?” Raine inquired, quite worried about the unicorn’s unresponsiveness.

Silence. Dusk didn’t even move his head and his ears didn’t even react to her calling out his name. Raine mumbled to herself that he had to be really lost in thoughts for him to ignore the outside world in such a manner.

“Dusk?” Raine asked.

“Stand back, granny!” Blitz told Raine, repaying her for the comment she had made earlier. “This is how you get Dusk out of his bubble.”

Without any warnings at all, Blitz grabbed Dusk’s tail in his mouth and with a swift motion of his head, he made the unicorn fall from his seat and broke the entire concentration he had gained since the last half-hour.

Dusk came back to reality and rubbed his hoof on his forehead, wondering what had happened. He looked around him and saw Blitz in flight, a few feet above the train’s floor. The Pegasus wore a mischievous grin on his face and just looked at him with a defiant expression. Without asking anything at all, the unicorn’s brain processed all of the information and came up with an explanation of his own.

“Why did you disturb me when I was deep in thoughts, Blitz?” asked an annoyed Dusk.

“Our milady was attempting to ask a question to you and you were ignoring her in a rather rude manner,” Blitz replied, adding a slight accent he picked up during one of his visit in Canterlot.

“Blitz… Promise me to never ever use that voice again. It annoys me to no end.”

Dusk could only watch as Blitz silently promised as he was too busy laughing at the unicorn following his reply. Dusk let out a sigh and returned his gaze over to Raine and gave her an interrogative look. Not wasting any time, Raine cleared her throat a bit since she had found the situation to be funny as well.

“Well, I was just wondering what made you so unresponsive. Since you began inspecting my flow of magic, you became somehow unresponsive. You even ignored me on several occasions.”

“Well, it’s just that you are a peculiar case. I might know why you can’t use magic but just the explanation itself would make it sound like you should have been dead a long time ago. According to unicorn science, your body shouldn’t be able to withstand all the stress it is put under,” Dusk explained, passing from the first point to the last one.

“Wait…? What do you mean by all the stress my body is suffering from?” Raine asked, quoting the aquamarine unicorn.

“It’s hard to explain in such a manner. Normally, unicorns all have a set amount of magical energy our body can absorb depending on our metabolisms. Alicorns, seeing as they also possess horns, are pretty much the same in that manner. The only difference between the two is the amount of magical energy our bodies can absorb.”

“I understand that much quite well but I think there is something you are not telling me, right?”

“Quite right you are, Lady Raine,” Dusk said, nodding at the same time. “When I said that you were a peculiar case, I really meant it. You flow of magic seems to be normal except at one precise location, which is near your horn. There is a disturbance there and it causes nearly all of your collected magical energy to leak straight out of your body. I’m surprised the princesses never told you or us about it.”

“Please, stop with the formalities. I’m sure Luna and Celestia have talked to you about my peculiar predicament but it feels sort of wrong for ponies to be so formal with me when they know next to nothing about me,” Raine told the unicorn.

“About that, I’m feeling you’re not exactly being honest with us. I feel as if you are hiding some information that could prove vital to our cause.”

“Stop your blabbering! We’ve reached Ponyville!” Blitz let out, breaking the connection Dusk had managed to establish with Raine.

————

After disembarking from the train, the group made their way to the town square. There, they were greeted by a horde of ponies. All of them wanting to ask a question to the two residents of Ponyville. Dusk rubbed his right hoof on his forehead. He wasn’t used to getting so much attention and the stress was easily noticeable in his whole body. It pretty much began trembling.

Raine was examining the situation Dusk was in and tried to analyze what was going on. She wasn’t sure what was being discussed as the voices were mostly muffled by each other. All the citizens of Ponyville that were swarming around the unicorn wanted the same thing; get through to him but that wouldn’t be an easy task when said pony was getting a minor case of stage fright.

“Alright, y’all! Be quiet for a moment. Dusk’s getting overwhelmed by your incessant questions. Give him a break!” Blitz shouted at the top of his lungs, startling the citizens at the same time. “You are all civilized ponies, most of you at least.”

“Mister Dusk Shine, Ah was just wonderin’ if ya got ta talk ta the princesses ‘bout what happened ta my sister,” said a filly that had pulled Dusk’s mane.

“I did get an audience with Princess Celestia, Apple Bloom,  but it would seem that things got a little bit more complicated than we first thought,” Dusk admitted.

“So, does that mean that Nightmare Moon is still alive and free to roam as she wants or are you telling me that she managed to gain control over our princesses?” asked another pony.

Dusk immediately proceeded to tell the pony, a rather grayish amber pony with a dark amber mane and an hourglass for a cutie mark, that the pony that was brought to Canterlot two days before was not Nightmare Moon. He told the citizens that it was her daughter that was framed by her own mother and therefore had to be judged for crimes she never committed.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” said the amber pony.

“To be short, yes. Nightmare Moon is free to roam as she sees fit but she has not yet gained control over the two princesses. Blitz, Midnight and I have been tasked with the responsibility to locate Nightmare Moon. The only reason we stopped by Ponyville was because we needed to come pick Spike up,” explained Dusk.

“I think now would be the perfect timing to tell you that Spike didn’t leave the library ever since Twilight… met with her grim fate,” said another pony, a grey mare with a bag full of letters hanging on her left side.

“Dusk. Come on, we have a lot to do so let’s not waste too much time with them. Besides, you’re already stressed enough as it is. I think more pressure would kill you,” Blitz remarked, harboring a grin as he looked at the aquamarine unicorn.

————

It took about an hour for the group to finally enter the library and convincing the baby dragon was no easy task. It was understandable as Dusk had said. Pretty much any living creatures would be shaken to hear their mother had been slaughtered by an ancient villain that was thought to be imprisoned for all eternity.

Dusk had tried to convince Spike peacefully for the first thirty minutes but it proved to be kind of unsuccessful. Spike was just too stubborn and hurt to listen to Dusk’s arguments. Just as the unicorn was about to give up the idea of recruiting Spike with them, Blitz entered the frame and told the dragon that if he wouldn’t open the door soon, he would force it open.

The baby dragon ignored the Pegasus’ threats and told the small group of ponies that he had better things to do rather than having a discussion with stubborn ponies that didn’t know when to give up. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes, Blitz decided he had waited long enough and just busted the door to the library with a suddden buck.

Spike was surprised when he realized that the Pegasus’ threats were not just for show. Still, after the three ponies entered the library, Dusk replaced the door in it’s rightful position after a certain Pegasus had forced it open without thinking about the aftermath. Another hour passed and they had yet to talk about the subject of him accompanying them.

“There is something I need to ask you. Do you mind me asking you the inquiry?” Dusk queried, locking his eyes in Spike’s.

“I think I know what it is. Princess Celestia sent me a letter explaining what had been decided and I’m sorry but I can’t

accompany you,” Spike said.

“Wait, you mean to tell us that after all the efforts we put into finding you and asking you to help us, you’re going to refuse getting revenge against the one who killed Twilight?!” Blitz exclaimed, shocked by Spike’s answer.

“What good would it do? It wouldn’t bring her back, would it?”

“Maybe not. However, you can make sure her memory is well-preserved by avenging her. If Nightmare Moon wins, she will make sure to erase her name as well as the other bearers from existence,” Raine said, expressing what she wanted to do while on her quest to find her mother.

“Wait? Who’re you?” asked Spike, giving Raine a weird look.

“Me? I’m Midnight Flight. I was asked to accompany these two because I’m a…” Raine began only to start stammering as she couldn’t come up with a good back story.

“She’s a cartographer. She is often asked to update the maps of Equestria as well as to inform the princesses of any irregularities she finds while travelling all over Equestria,” Dusk quickly continued, saving Raine from blowing her own cover.

“Yes, that’s what I was about to say. The princesses have asked me to guide them throughout Equestria as I know its geography quite well,” Raine finished, putting on a nervous smile.

Spike slowly nodded and eyed Raine even more. He knew that there was something fishy about her story and he was determined to find out what it was. The first hint that made him doubt Raine’s cover as Midnight Flight was when she began stammering as she tried to find a believable story. The second one was her nervous smile.

“I’m sorry but my answer still remains. I am not coming with you because it’s a lost cause. There’s no finding Nightmare Moon.”

“But-”

“Not buts! I’m not going and that’s final! Now, if you would please do me a favor and get out of here, I would gladly appreciate it!” Spike shouted, bothered by the three ponies trying to convince him.

Realizing there was no convincing Spike, Dusk simply said that they should let it go and just go to his place for the night. The sun was close to setting so the three ponies thought it would be for the best if they got a good night’s sleep as they would have to explain how Spike had refused to join them to Princess Celestia.

————

Upon leaving the library, Raine noticed that ponies were all gathered in the public square, admiring something. Some of them were even in awe. Intrigued, she notified her two companions about it and asked them if they wanted to check out what was attracting so many ponies.

Blitz let out an annoyed sigh at the alicorn’s curiosity. We don’t have time for this. If we dawdle too much, we’ll have no chances of ever finding Nightmare Moon, he thought. With a roll of his eyes, he still agreed to go see it. The Pegasus was intending to see what the attraction was and take his leave right after.

Raine, on the other hoof, had other plans. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Dusk was sort of interested so he stood on Raine’s side instead of Blitz’s. There was something that called out to him. It felt as if a long lost friend was waiting for him.

Blitz growled as his frustration rose. He still followed the two other ponies but it felt like he was doing chores. Long story short, it felt forced.

“Citizens of Ponyville! The Great and Powerful Trixie, otherwise known as the most magical unicorn in Equestria, has graced your village with her presence. To prove her point, Trixie shall tell you how she vanquished Nightmare Moon in Baltimare.”

A very doubtful Raine rolled her eyes as she heard the blue pony introduce herself. Is she for real? Mares like her probably know next to nothing about the might of Nightmare Moon. She kept those thoughts where they belonged and kept listening to the show mare. Her speech was starting to make the alicorn sick.

“It was no easy task to defeat Nightmare Moon but it did not stop Trixie and her incredible magic. She chased the wicked villain from Baltimare and saved the town from impeding doom,” Trixie exclaimed, a show of lights detailing the events that took place in Baltimare.

Several ponies let out gasps as they listened to the blue mare attentively. At that point, Raine had gotten tired of listening to the Trixie’s lies. The more the show mare talked, the more it became obvious she had accomplished none of the things she claimed to have done. She turned her back and was about to leave but something stopped her.

“What in the?!” Raine yelped as she saw that blue tendrils had grabbed her hind legs.

“Well, well, well. What is this? An early quitter or perhaps you don’t believe the Great and Powerful Trixie. She can assure you, however, that all of her feats are true,” assured Trixie.

“Sure… Well, if the Great and Powerful Trixie defeated,” Raine cringed as she spoke those words,” Nightmare Moon, could she be kind enough to tell us what kind of magic the evil mare uses?”

“That’s… that’s an irrelevant question. Everypony knows that Nightmare Moon has great knowledge over the dark arts and manipulates dark magic with ease, so Trixie assumed that you all knew what that villain was capable of. In your case, it would seem you weren’t well informed.” Trixie replied, pursing her mouth into a self-satisfied smirk.

“I’m having issues believing you, Trixie. Your testimony is filled with holes. For one, I saw the Elements of Harmony get killed by Nightmare Moon when she came back from her imprisonment. She used magic far different from what you are describing.”

Trixie looked stunned. The arguments Raine used against her made her feel like she was losing her edge, her advantage. Still, the show mare was not about to admit defeat so easily. She would sooner die than to let herself be defeated by a mere Pegasus. Flaring more magic into her horn, Trixie moved the tendrils that were still attached to Raine’s hind legs and sent her hurling against a tree.

“Hey, what did she ever do to you?” an angry citizen asked.

“She tried to stain the Great and Powerful Trixie’s reputation by talking lies into you all. Trixie could not let such an offense go unpunished and as such, she did what she needed to do.” Trixie did not want to answer in depth as it was merely a waste of her time.

“If you ever do that again, I will be sure to make you stop. If it needs to be done up, close and personal, then so be it!” Dusk let out, finishing his check-up on Raine.

“Is that a challenge, unicorn?” Trixie queried, raising an eyebrow. “Very well, Trixie shall accept your challenge. Be warned, though; whatever you can do, Trixie can do better.”

“Yeah, yeah! We’ll see about that when I’m done with you!” Blitz flapped his wings arrogantly as he glared at Trixie.

And with that, Blitz leapt into the air, wings beating at an excessively fast rate. He managed to create a large cloud of dust after he took off. He spotted a mass of clouds to his left and directly aimed for them. He spun through them, collecting as much water as he could, while continuing to rise higher and higher. The maneuver he was attempting was hard, that much was obvious, and Blitz used that to boost his own morale.

Higher! The air began to become rarer as he continued to ascend. It also became colder, causing shivers to crawl their way through his entire body. Though it was kind of painful at some point, the current pain Blitz felt at that moment wasn’t enough to make him back down. No, it instead pushed him to go even higher. Augmenting the cadence of his wings beats, he pushed through the troposphere.

As the white Pegasus continued to ascend, he could feel ice form around the edge of his wings. Not only that but his body also began to become numb because the pressure closing in on him. He could literally feel his body get slightly crushed by the current atmospheric pressure.

As strong as his resolve was, Blitz knew he couldn’t take it any longer or his body would just shut down. He snapped his wings shut and just let himself fall down. He kept descending like that for a while until he felt a thermal updraft. He snapped his wings open then and went into a dive.

Blitz passed through several clouds again, his cold body freezing the water at an alarming rate, causing the droplets to turn into snow. The Pegasus was still diving and only opened his wings when he judged the height was right for him to decelerate his fall.

Finally, he finished his maneuver by making a dramatic landing on the platform Trixie was using for her show. Snow soon followed him to the ground and he showed off one more time right in front of Trixie. He even had the nerve to wink her way while giving the unicorn a mischievous smirk.

“Impressive. Now watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie retaliates!”

Charging her horn with magic, she gathered all the pseudo snowflakes Blitz had made in an attempt to impress the show mare and began to make them float around Blitz. It was like a swarm of predators had found a snack in Blitz and began circling him. Then, she pressed all the snow against the white Pegasus and completely encased him in a sturdy snow shell.

“You should feel lucky, Pegasus. I hear snow ponies will be getting popular soon. You should also be thankful because Trixie gave you an early start!” Trixie exclaimed, a cruel laugh soon following her comment. “Are there any others who would like to try their worth against the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

To that, no ponies present dared answer. The silence was comparable to the song of the crickets, if not more disturbing. Finally, Dusk approached the stage and made it look like he wanted to challenge the mare but he did none of that. He just levitated both Raine and Blitz with his magic and brought them back to his home.

————

“I swear I’m going to make that witch pay!” Those were the first words the white Pegasus uttered after Dusk had begun to melt the snow around him.

The snow around Blitz had been solidified so much that it resembled ice. It made Dusk’s attempts at freeing his friend from his cold prison more tedious. Had it been snow, it would have taken him a few moment but when it came to magically hardened ice, the process was a lot longer than with snow.

“Sure but first, let’s get you out of that shell of yours, Blitz. And besides, we should probably rest before informing the princess of our failed attempt at recruiting Spike.”

“Dusk?” Blitz called out to his friend.

“Yeah, Blitz? What is it?”

“Do you think that maybe Trixie was the pony Princess Celestia was talking about when she mentioned that trouble had come to Ponyville in the form of a pony?” queried the Pegasus.

“Perhaps but let’s not speculate too much for now. We don’t want to blame a pony that wants the spotlights on her only because she humiliated you. However, I do slightly hate her for what she did to Raine. After all, we are here to protect her and you saw how well that went,” Dusk told Blitz, his voice analytical.

“Speaking of Raine, where is she and what happened to her. Anger kind of got the better of me earlier so I was sort of blinded to everything else around me,” Blitz admitted, a flicker of shame in his eyes.

“So I’ve noticed.” That earned him the angry glare of his friend as the unicorn suppressed a chuckle.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dusk. It means a lot to me,” Blitz grumbled, still glaring at the unicorn.

“In all seriousness,” Dusk resumed, “she is currently resting on my bed. While she received a minor concussion, I think we should count ourselves lucky that she didn’t get killed from the impact or that her disguise didn’t fade away when she was knocked out.”

“So, she’s alright?”

“For now, it doesn’t seem to be all that serious but it’ll take a few days for her to fully recover. That’s why I’m insisting that we stay here until she does,” announced Dusk.

“Wouldn’t that be disobeying the orders the princesses gave us?” Blitz asked, giving his friend a worried look.

“That would be the case but I’m sure they’ll understand if we tell them that it was for the sake of Raine’s recovery. Speaking of which, she seemed to be really agitated, even if she was unconscious.”

“Wait… don’t tell me she started convulsing and you didn’t care at all?” asked a horrified Blitz.

“No, it wasn’t like convulsions. It was more like she was having a dream or, more specifically, a nightmare…” Dusk said before he remembered what Raine told them in the morning.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Dusk and Blitz in unison.

The realization made them shiver. There were many plausible reasons but the one they had in mind was the one they were trying to avoid. They would be glad if it was just a simple nightmare going through her subconscious but the stakes were just too high to take it so simply.

They hurried upstairs as soon as they remembered what the alicorn had told them. Blitz bucked the door to Dusk’s room and the two rushed by Raine’s side to see her twitch uncontrollably while mumbling incomprehensible things. Her mumbles eventually became clearer but Dusk and Blitz still had a hard time understanding them.

“Must… save…” Raine spoke.

“I wonder what’s going on in that mind of hers right now,” Blitz remarked, hints of concern in his voice.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

————

I awoke to the cries of a filly calling to her sister. How did I know it was a filly? The voice was far too high-pitched to belong to an adult pony hence why I was sure it was a filly that woke me up. I got up and once I felt like I could stand correctly on my hooves again, I began to look around to see where it came from.

I eventually spotted the filly that woke me up. She had a coat that seemed like it was a mix between gray and white, making it hard for me to distinguish the difference so I went on ahead and decided it would be simpler to say she had a white coat, and a purple mane and tail with a pink streak passing through the middle on the two.

“Don’t leave me all alone, big sister,” cried the filly, her voice sounding somewhat familiar to my ear. I was, however, unable to recognize it completely.

“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, don’t cause unnecessary trouble while I’m gone. Will you promise that your big sister?” asked a pony, one also white with a purple mane.

That second pony was familiar to me. I was sure I had met her before but since I was unable to look at her cutie mark, I couldn’t recognize her immediately. It was she turned to face me that I was able to recognize the white pony; it was Rarity.

“Would you take care of her while I’m gone, darling. I would feel simply horrible if something happened to her. While I may not trust you well enough to task you with such a thing, you put blind trust in us while you know next to nothing about my friends and I so in turn, I will do the same. Besides, you look like you can be trusted. Just… think about it, dear.”

I didn’t know why but I felt tears leak from my eyes. What was making me so sad. Was it the fact that Rarity’s will had managed to survive through the mind of her little sister and that she had trusted me, a pony she knew absolutely nothing about, with taking care of her sister?

No, it wasn’t that. It was close to that but it was something else. I could feel it. Those tears I had weren’t tears of sadness entirely, but they weren’t exactly tears of happiness. It was more of a mix between the two. I was sad that Rarity was gone and that the only thing that remained of her was the memories of her in her sister’s mind.

But then something hit my mind. How could I be inside the dreams of Sweetie Belle? The only thing that could be plausible would be a mixed dream. The only problem with that was that the only being capable to mixing dreams like that in such a manner was… Nightmare Moon.

The name of my mother sent shivers down my spine. The last nightmare she had given me was still fresh in my mind. I could still see the dead bodies of the citizens of Canterlot, the dismembered body of Celestia thrown in every direction in the throne room and finally, the lifeless remains of Luna after Nightmare Moon had been done with the Lunar Princess.

Something I had never anticipated took place all of a sudden. My entire environment began to crumble and everything became dark. I soon found myself to fall into a bottomless abyss, one that had an ominous aura. My eyes were eventually forced open by a bright light and I awoke in another landscape.

This one was a meadow, one I did not recognize. Puzzled, I began to explore my new environment until I spotted a baby dragon, namely Spike, wearing a tux with a bouquet in his clawed hand. Needless to say, he was preparing for a date in this mindscape as I did not feel like I was awake yet.

I started to approach the dragon I thought to be Spike but right before I was about to address him, he simply vanished in thin air, only to reappear a few hundred feet away from his former position. I began to chase him but the same scenario kept on repeating itself and even when I did try to call him, he remained unfazed.

Eventually, I managed to catch up with the dragon and I saw him in front of a pony I recognized as Rarity, slightly blushing. Their lips were moving but I was unable to hear any of  words they spoke. This whole thing puzzled me to no end.

However, this was all cut short when I saw a purple mist suddenly enter the mindscape. A purple mist I knew all too well. It belonged to Nightmare Moon. While you could have thought that she would target me, she was targeting Rarity. I expected my mother to pounce on the white mare and corrupt her in whichever way she could but she didn’t.

She just took form right next to Rarity and began to whisper some things in her ear. Remember how I told you that I couldn’t hear what Spike and Rarity were saying? Well, simply put, there was a barrier separating me from where Nightmare Moon and Rarity were, Spike being nowhere to be seen.

Dread finally took hold of me as I saw Rarity’s white coat turn into a darker shade of grey while a black armor appeared around her body, giving the fashionista a fierce appearance; one that scared the life out of me, to be honest.

“Go to sleep,” spoke Rarity and Nightmare Moon together, their voice in complete synchronization.

My vision went black in a few seconds and I began to panic. What to do? What’s happening? My whole body was then struck with numbness, eventually refusing to listen to my commands. Tiredness began to occupy my whole body and not long after, I had been plunged in what I thought was a deep slumber.

————

“Rarity!” Raine exclaimed in panic, sweat dripping from her coat while the heat made her feel nauseous.

Needless to say, she hadn’t been exactly quiet upon waking up in terror. She just so happened to have woken up the two ponies that took care of her. They looked at her in discontent but it was clear that while they may not have appreciated her waking them up so abruptly, they were still glad she finally gave some signs of life.

She felt something around her head and, looking at her reflection in a nearby mirror, realized that it was only a simple bandage that covered a small spot where she bled. It wasn’t exactly life-threatening to her but the fact was, it could have brought upon the death of Raine Moon in an unwilling manner if not tended to properly before an infection could occur.

“Heheh… Sorry, guys,” apologized Raine, a nervous laugh exiting her.

“And here I was, enjoying that awesome dream of mine. Still, we’re both glad you came to. I don’t want my head impaled on a pike before I get a chance to stop Nightmare Moon,” admitted Blitz.

“Ignore him, Raine,” Dusk told her, pushing the Pegasus away with his magic. “When Trixie threw you on that tree, you suffered from a minor concussion, which is why you took several hours recuperate.”

Dusk proceeded into telling her what happened during the afternoon when Trixie was doing her petty exhibition. The disguised alicorn found it very surprising when Dusk told her that he protected her from a second attack coming from Trixie. He knew that he still resented her a bit after what had happened with Twilight but she never expected something as kind as that coming from the aquamarine unicorn.

She, however, couldn’t help but let out a muffled giggle when Dusk told her about Blitz’s exhibition when he soared so high in the sky that his whole body became as cold as ice, turning the clouds’ rain water into snow as he pierced through them in his descent. That part was normal for her but what really made her burst into laughter was when she was told that the white Pegasus was turned into a snow pony by Trixie.

Blitz sighed as he looked at the two ponies have fun at his expenses and rolled his eyes. There really wasn’t anything funny with his situation. Trixie had just gotten him by surprise, or at least that’s what he told himself.

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the house and soon, the trio heard the screams of the citizens of Ponyville as they seemed to flee from something that obviously scared them. Dusk and Blitz got on their hooves and nodded to each other and told Raine to stay inside in case it was dangerous out there but no responses came.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Raine had rushed outside the moment she had heard the suspicious noise. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her for a second time. She headed for the city’s main square only to find the pony responsible for causing such a panic.

Rarity…

If it had been Nightmare Moon, the shock might have been moderate, if only slightly, but the scene Raine had witnessed possessed the same effect as if somepony had slapped her face repeatedly.

Several questions ran through her mind all at the same time.

How was Rarity even alive?

Why was she in Ponyville in the first place?

Why did she have a coat that was darker than when she had originally met her?

Why were her eyes resembling her mother’s?

Wait, why was Nightmare Moon even next to Rarity the next minute?

Everything happened so fast that Raine began to hyperventilate. Her breathing fastened and it gradually began to hurt her lungs each time she took a breath. She only snapped out of it when a filly’s high pitched voice resonated through her eardrums.

Searching for the origins of that voice, her eyes eventually darted on a little filly, the same one she had seen in her dream. Sweetie… Belle, was it? Well, in any case, the sound of her voice was enough to get Raine out of her trance.

“What are you doing here, Nightmare Moon?!” coldly asked Raine.

She tried her best to act like she wasn’t scared of the alicorn in front of her but her legs said otherwise. They were shaking so much they eventually gave way under the stress and Raine fell flat on her underbelly. She continued to look at Nightmare Moon but her brave gaze was replaced by an embarrassed one.

Soon enough, a nigh inaudible giggle escaped Nightmare Moon and her expression changed from stern look to an amused one. Yes, she was enjoying the show her daughter was putting on and the smirk that her mouth adorned proved it so.

“Oh, you should see yourself, Rainie! This is, by all means, a very amusing scene I am witnessing!”

To that, Raine found no replies. She tried to think of something but her brain was just so anchored on panic mode that it literally left her unable to come up with any kind of solid replies. She began stuttering, trying to find something to say and that, unfortunately, only added to her embarrassment. Finally, she shut up but not before she had made a fool of herself for yet another time in front of Nightmare Moon.

“I think I’ll let you two catch up on things together. I’m sure you have lots to talk about. Wouldn’t you agree, dear?” She spoke with a somewhat refined accent for two obvious reasons. She wanted to annoy and anger Raine as much as possible and also because Rarity was more approachable when she was addressed with a “Canterlot” accent.

“Why, but of course. Now, I suppose you have somewhere else to be, darling?” Rarity asked Nightmare Moon in a rather deep voice, deeper than what Raine remembered from her dream.

“Rarity! Why are you doing? Why are you working alongside that freak of nature?” inquired the high pitched voice of Sweetie Belle behind Raine.

“It’s complicated, Sweetie. If I were to make it short in any way, I would have to say that we’re trying to achieve the same goal, more or less,” admitted Rarity. “You see, dear, I already died once and Nightmare Moon told me that if I got rid of Raine here, she would consider keeping me alive and if that happens, we’ll finally be together again.”

That malevolent gaze! That gaze was proof that Nightmare had extended her reach to the mare that used to be one of the Elements of Harmony. She was but a shadow of who she had been, a shell that had been fashioned by a crazy alicorn.

Raine almost instantly told Sweetie Belle to get back and go take shelter somewhere Rarity wouldn’t find her but the filly didn’t listen. She placed herself in Rarity’s path and kept calling her name, as if she was trying to make her snap out of it.

That was in vain, to the filly’s disappointment.

It was only then that Sweetie Belle took heed of Raine’s warnings and quickly skedaddled to go hide behind Raine. She still eyed Rarity as she approached the pair but made no further attempts at trying to call out for her. Then, the white filly thought she saw her sister smirk so she closed her eyes to open them a few seconds later and realized the pony that resembled her sister was smiling in a malevolent way.

“Oh, no, no, no, no! This simply cannot do. Surely you didn’t intend to hide your appearance like that, darling?” She was looking straight at Raine just as if she was peering into her very soul.

A sudden wave of magic hit Raine, blasting her against the wall of a nearby building. The impact was enough to knock the wind out of her but other than that, no major injuries were inflicted on her.

Except for one thing…

She caught sight of her fore hooves for an instant and noticed that they were black. Black just like the night. No, she couldn’t have broken Luna’s illusion with such ease?! Raine gasped mentally. Then, the screams of a filly rang through her ears for a second time.

“But… you’re… No, I saw you at the execution! You’re the reason my big sister is dead, you monster!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, tears filling her eyes.

She began to slowly back away from Raine as the alicorn tried to approach the filly. Sweetie Belle eventually turned around and ran away from Raine. The alicorn heard Rarity laughing behind and turned around to see why that was.

Needless to say, the scene was enough to scare anypony and that literally meant any pony. Rarity was levitating a sharp sapphire and bore a dark grin as her laughter deviated into a maniacal one. Where she had taken the sapphire, Raine may never know but it scared her because there were so many scenarios going through the black pony’s mind.

“Oops, did I forget to mention that I wasn’t allowed to let anypony else escape and tell them of what transpired here, darling. She may be my sister but in this case, she could prove to be a threat to me. Don’t worry, I don’t intend on killing her, dear. I just want to stop her from telling on me. And if that were to happen, it would be the worst possible thing,” explained Rarity.

Realizing what the sapphire’s purpose was, Raine turned around and began to give chase to Sweetie Belle but not before she heard Rarity say that it was already too late. Time was running out and if she didn’t act soon, an innocent pony would be seriously injured because of Raine.

The alicorn finally caught up with the white filly. She looked behind her and saw that Rarity had thrown her projectile directly at Sweetie, aiming to incapacitate her. Without even thinking, an idea burst into Raine’s mind.

An insane idea, at that.

“Sweetie Belle! Watch out!” Raine threw herself in the projectile’s path and it sank into her flesh.

A single scream was heard through Ponyville.

“Why? Why’d you do that?! I called you a monster and you still protected me? Why?!”

“Heh. Rarity asked me to keep you safe if you were to be in danger. Now, be a dear and go find a nurse or doctor for me. This hurts quite a bit.” Raine spoke through sore breaths, struggling to regain her posture.

The sapphire shard was stuck in her left hind leg and it just kept on drawing blood. There was a moderate amount already laying on the ground and Raine herself was doing her best to not scream out of pain. It was intense.

Still, unlike what she told Sweetie Belle, she turned to face Rarity, who was approaching the wounded alicorn. Raine was going through what she believed to be an adrenaline rush as the gravity of the wound was simply too much for any pony whatsoever to bear. She even felt the tip of the sapphire against her bone.

“What was that for?! She’s your sister, your little sister at that! You would be ready to harm to your sister just so you can get brought back to life? Not even Nightmare Moon can bring back the dead, Rarity.” Anger could be observed in the alicorn’s eyes and tone. She was furious even.

“You say that but yet, I don’t remember you telling us who Nightmare Moon was to you. Just who are you, Raine Moon?”

“I’m that monster’s daughter. That’s how I know her like that, and why I despise her so much. You’re luckier than me. You have a family that loves you unconditionally… I never had that luck, but I know for a thing that family comes before anything else!”

“Hmm… Touching story, dear, but unfortunately, I have too much at stake to just give everything up like that. Sorry, but you’re going to have to go, darling.”

Out of nowhere, to Raine’s complete surprise, Spike appeared on the scene and confronted Rarity as well, feeling that the former fashionista was just being used. She was being used but there were no possible ways to bring her back to her senses.

“Rarity, stop this! You’re not like this. You’re graceful, kind and pretty.” Spike blushed at the mention of those traits.

“Oh, dear Spike. We haven’t met for more than a few minutes and you already feel like this. Maybe I should reward your devotion with a quick death!”

Another gem was thrown by Rarity’s magic and it stuck itself just before Spike’s feet, making him walk away slowly because of the growing fear within him. The Rarity Raine had met before she died was in no way like that. Yes, maybe a little bit eccentric but her heart was at the right place. That Rarity was nothing like the original.

Raine was about to shield Spike from another attack, one that never came. Why? Because a certain blue mare made a dramatic entry while boasting all the while. I swear that unicorn wants to die at some points, Raine told herself.

“Fear not, citizens of Ponyville, for Trixie has arrived to rid you of this evil pony like she did Nightmare Moon in Baltimare.”

What happened next was the result of all the lies Trixie had given the ponies in Equestria increased by tenfold. Basically, Rarity sent a crystal towards Trixie, missing her head by this much. Two widened eyes explained everything the show mare felt at that moment: fear.

“Next time, I won’t miss, missy!” Rarity told Trixie, warning her for the first and last time.

“Trixie i-is not a-afraid of you, nameless pony!” Trixie retorted.

Then why are you legs shaking so much? Raine rhetorically asked herself.

Rarity summoned another one of her weapons, the gems she somehow raised from the ground, and aimed it right about where Trixie’s heart ought to be. She sharpened the emerald she was using as a projectile to make it as deadly as possible and then shot it right at Trixie.

Raine, in a second moment of insanity, shoved Trixie away and took the hit instead of the show mare. The result was an emerald going straight through her left foreleg. It had been so sharpened that it simply ate away at her flesh as if it were butter.

Raine fell flat on her side, screaming and crying in agony. All the adrenaline she had experienced before was beginning to fade away and the pain was, for only one pony, too much to bear and even then, that was an understatement. Rarity smirked at that and prepared another enchanted gem.

She threw it at Raine but before it could finish the alicorn off, the gem was simply deflected by some sort of magical barrier. Annoyed, she looked ahead of her and saw Dusk and Blitz in front of her. During the time she had been occupied, which was about less than five seconds, Dusk managed to teleport Raine behind the two and then took an offensive position.

“Oh, you two are simply far too amusing!” Rarity laughed. “You really think that you two dears can hope to hurt me? Yes, I may be a fashionista but I know how to use my magic, darlings.”

“You’re not the Rarity I used to know. I don’t know what you are but you’re not her so stop impersonating our friend!” Blitz replied with the most serious and deadly glare.

To put it simply, Blitz’s intervention didn’t really change a thing. The same scenario went on; Rarity threw a gem at the two ponies. The only advantage that the two ponies possessed was that they were more prepared to actually fight than most of the ponies present in Ponyville.

Rarity, rather annoyed by the persistence of Dusk and Blitz, began to assault them endlessly with a rain of crystals. The two got a few scrapes from that. They were finally saved by a barrier Dusk had set when it was obvious that Rarity was not lacking in gems nor would she. That alone would have made Ponyville the pair’s tomb.

Dusk, feeling his barrier started to fail him, made his barrier expand in a sudden outburst. That sent Rarity flying right into a stone wall, cracking her armor on several locations.  That drained Dusk of most of his energy but it was nothing he couldn’t recover in time.

Rarity got back up on her hooves and gave Dusk a glare that could tame a hydra. It wasn’t enough to make Dusk abandon the fight as he wouldn’t leave Blitz all alone. On top of that, if he left Raine for dead, Luna would probably want his head for letting her granddaughter die.

The former fashionista summoned several crystals all at once, causing Dusk to summon another shield around Blitz and himself. Instead of just throwing them at the two resisting ponies, she broke the crystals down into tiny pieces and changed them into chains. Still using her magic to control those chains, the mare made them snake their way to Blitz.

Assured that his barrier would protect his partner, Dusk was awfully startled when he saw that the chains just went through his barrier as if it had never existed at all. They latched themselves onto Blitz before he could react properly and the Pegasus was completely tied down to the ground.

“Damn! What… are those?!” Blitz yelped as he realized he was trapped and that the chains were constricting him.

“Oh, those? Well, dear, those are magical chains enchanted to restrain somepony and then constrict them to the point of death. Really, where have you been living?”

Dusk’s eyes widened as he realized what that implied. The unicorn was left all alone to fend off a crazy unicorn bent on killing him. He began to take a few steps back but he was stopped by the cries of a filly; Sweetie Belle’s cries to be exact.

“M-miss Midnight? St-stop joking around,” Sweetie Belle began, he voice already filled with sobs. “Just move already! You can’t be dead… I never had the chance to thank you for saving me so get up so I can do it!”

No! I will not flee and abandon my friends! It’s my turn to protect them! Dusk roared inside.

The former fashionista was so sure that her victory was assured that she took her sweet time to sharpen a ruby into the perfect projectile. The sight of it nearly wounded Dusk so much it was sharp. Without further ado, Rarity threw it at Dusk while he was still pretending to be scared.

To the greyish unicorn’s surprise, her opponent’s horn flared with magical energy, a small ball of energy forming at it’s tip, and the aquamarine unicorn sent a small blast of energy that collided with Rarity’s weapon, turning it into dust when the two collided. After the smoke faded away, Rarity saw Dusk offer her a provoking smirk as if he was mocking her.

That enraged her. She summoned a dozen of gems and fired them all at once at the amused unicorn. Using a smoke screen to hide himself, Dusk charged his horn with a relatively larger amount of magical energy. He discharged that energy by performing a teleportation spell, reappearing behind Rarity.

Without her knowing, and before she could react, Dusk unleashed another wave of magical energy in the form of a fire ball. Rarity heard Dusk’s grunts and began to turn away. She didn’t do so fast enough and was hit by the full strength of the fire ball, melting her armor. The molten metal sank its way into her flesh.

The fire ball’s explosion also reached her head, singing her fur and burning her flesh, leaving only half of it intact, namely her left side. The right side had been burned to such a high degree that all that remained were the charred and disfigured features of the mare’s head and muzzle. Screams of agony exited Rarity as the molten metal sank deeper and deeper into her skin. It drew blood but there was no time for it to even touch the ground. It was almost instantly burned by the scorching hot plate of armor.

“M-my mane! What have you done to me, you ruffian?!” Rarity exclaimed when she no longer felt her mane. “This is a crime against fashion itself! I’ll make you pay, unicorn!”

Convinced that his trick would work for a second time, and especially since Rarity lost an eye, Dusk conjured another smoke screen and teleported behind Rarity but to his great surprise, walls of crystals shot forth from the ground and encased the unicorn in a prison.

“You foolish ruffian. Did you really think the same thing would work a second time?” Rarity rhetorically inquired, waving a hoof nonchalantly. “In any case, that prison will be your undoing, just as your friend will draw his last breath after having been completely constricted by my chains.”

Rarity let out a malign laughter and turned her back on the three incapacitated ponies that dared to stand in the way of her grand return. Tears rolled down her left cheek at the thought of her mane. While it may have been burned, the mare kept hope in Nightmare Moon’s promise.

Perhaps she would be clement enough to restore what was lost in this battle,” pondered Rarity, her eye darting off from the path in front of her.

————

Inside the crystal prison, Dusk was beginning to slightly panic. Not only were his spells completely useless but his magic was also reflected by the crystals. The bruises present on his whole body were proof of his multiple attempts at breaking the walls.

But, as worrying as his imprisonment was, that was the not thing he was really worried about. What worried Dusk was that the walls of the prison were closing in on him. That intended his death and the worse in all of this was that the crystals seemed to leave nothing go through, not even sound…

He curled into a small ball, as the space was getting cramped, because of all the stress he was going through. There was one thing that happened at that point that he had never wanted to happen and that was a protruding crystal severing the string that kept his amulet around his neck. It had been ages since it had been left untouched and the unicorn wasn’t sure if his magic had stabilized during that time.

He received an answer faster than he had ever anticipated.

An intense surge of magical energy shot through his body. It was his regular amount of magic and it was slightly above the normal reserves of most unicorns while still under Twilight Sparkle’s. His only issue was that his magic was too raw for his body to convert it successfully, sometimes leading into an uncontrollable outburst.

Dusk groaned in pain as his flow of magic ran freely through his body but his horn wasn’t enough to convert it all. His eyes suddenly turned white and a sudden explosion occurred around his body, tearing the walls of his crystal prison apart. The sudden outburst of magic even shattered the chains that were holding Blitz.

This isn’t good! This is really not good! At this rate, I might unleash a destructive spell and raze down Ponyville with it. I need to find a way to contain my magi—wait, what’s this feeling?

Although he could not really see anything because his own magic was altering his sight, he felt some sort of magic soothe his own. Unaware of things around him, Dusk hadn’t noticed that Raine had gotten up even with the hole present in her right foreleg and the sapphire lodged in her left hind leg and that like him, her eyes shone with a white glow.

I’m not sure what’s happening but it seems like my magic is reacting to yours in harmony. If you focus hard enough while my magic is restraining yours, you might be able to control it from unleashing certain havoc, Raine told Dusk through a strange telepathic link.

But… w-what if I fail? His mental tone was worried and anxious. There was too much at stake to even consider a failure.

Then, we’ll all die knowing we tried our best to save Ponyville. But, hear me Dusk, I believe in you and in  your abilities. There was a slight sweetness in her voice.

What makes you say that, Raine?

Well, you are the only unicorn on our side and you seem pretty good at what you’re doing. Apart from that, it’s just that you send the idea that you care for those around you.

Aw, you’re a cute little thing, you! Dusk took great pleasure in teasing the alicorn.

Don’t call me that! And besides, don’t you have better things to do than to embarrass me? Raine asked the unicorn so he would concentrate on his task.

He gave a nod of his head and began to feel the magic surrounding him. The problem with his magic wasn’t that he had all that much magic potential, granted he had potential that was slightly superior to the average unicorn. The problem was that his magic wasn’t tame and it was extremely unstable. That was the real reason he wore his amulet, because it was able to absorb and alter the nature of his magic so he could use it properly.

Raine’s magic coming into the frame also had an influence whatsoever on his. Her magic was, to say the least, different from any kind of magic he had seen before. Hers was based on emotions. But magic couldn’t be driven by emotions, or it would be fake magic. Things began to unfold into the aquamarine unicorn’s mind; things he decided to ignore for the time being.

Bending his rampaging magic to his will, Dusk started to chant a complex seal. It had been taught to him by Celestia after he had experienced his first magical rampage. The rampant magic struggled to keep itself out of the unicorn’s will. It was in vain as he managed to contain it in a sphere around the two ponies.

Meanwhile, Blitz was beginning to regain consciousness. He was a pony with great dexterity and that allowed him to recuperate what a normal pony would have taken several hours to recover. Glancing at Dusk and Raine encased in a white bubble, the same color as Dusk’s magical aura, he locked his eyes in his friend’s.

Both ponies looked at each other and nodded. Blitz noticed a crystal next to him and an idea flew right through his mind. By instincts alone, he grabbed the part that was chipped with his mouth, making sure he grabbed it to avoid injuries. Deploying his wings to their full length, he took off and gained a reasonable altitude, circling around the town just like an eagle would search for a prey.

So, what now? Raine sounded unsure of the procedures to come and if they would even survive for that matter.

Now, I need to reject the rampant magic and then put my amulet around my neck again before my magic goes rampaging again.

The sphere around them slowly began to expand, allowing Dusk’s magic cling onto the walls of the barrier. Both ponies’ horns lit up with an intense light, an act that was not of their own.

The rampant magic was consumed by the magic the two used and it created a blinding light in turn. So bright that it blinded all the ponies that were near. Even Blitz had to squint his eyes so he wouldn’t be completely blinded and even then, it felt like he was staring directly at the sun.

Finally, the barrier expanded completely, encasing Ponyville inside of it and the last of the magic that originated from Dusk had been completely consumed by his magic.

That was Blitz’s cue!

He dived, aiming for Rarity and Rarity only. With the mare still being blinded it made it easier for the Pegasus to operate, closing in on his target. A few seconds passed and another high pitched shriek rang through Ponyville.

Blitz let go of the broken crystal and took a few steps back, looking at the bleeding unicorn as she began drawing her last breaths. They were hoarse and slow. It was clear that blood had already started filling her lungs and that soon, she would inevitably die.

“B-b-but I ju-just wa-wanted a life o-of p-peace for m-my s-sister and I.” With those words filled with sadness, the mare’s legs gave way and her body collapsed to the ground.

It left nothing but a body that soon disappeared into dust, as if it had never existed. As they thought everything was over, the two ponies heard another body hit the ground. Looking around them, they found it was Raine that had collapsed out of exhaustion. Strangely, the hole in her left foreleg wasn’t there anymore although the sapphire was still stuck in her right hind leg.

A peaceful smile covered her mouth, and she looked like she was finally enjoying a nice dream. Shortly after, Sweetie Belle arrived with a doctor and a few other ponies to help transport Raine, and Trixie at the demand of Dusk. He didn’t like the mare at all. He just thought that it would be cruel to let a trauma get the better of her.

As for Spike, they just brought him back to the library and used it to look after the baby dragon while he recovered from everything that happened.

————

"Doctor, she's showing signs of consciousness!" Raine heard a voice. It was clearly a mare's voice.

Ugh! My head hurts like crazy. And I can't remember what happened yesterday after Rarity died for a second time.

"Miss Raine, I wouldn't recommend you to move too much at this point. Your wound is still recovering and it could easily open again if you were to move again."

"Just as Nurse Redheart mentioned, you shouldn't move too much. Your surgery was a long one and if you were to open you wound again, you could lose the usage of your leg for the rest of your life."

That voice definitely came from a stallion, that much Raine was sure. Her eyes still had trouble adjusting to the light so she couldn't see the silhouettes in front of her. It continued like that for a good ten minutes before her eyes adjusted to the lights in the room.

"In any case, it is good to see you regain consciousness. You were out cold since that evening when Rarity, or whatever that thing was, appeared and a week has passed since then. At one point, some of my colleagues suggested that we simply stop giving you life support," said the doctor, a little tension in his voice as he told her the events that took place in the week that passed.

Raine's mouth hung agape. Not only had she been completely out for a whole week. A whole week! She had also nearly been refused her life support because she hadn't been showing any signs of life.

"Don't worry, though. You did so much already for this town when that thing that resembled Rarity attacked. You took damage that would have crippled ponies for the rest of their lives, perhaps even to the next life too." A small smirk could be noticed when the doctor finished.

"What about Trixie and Sweetie Belle? Are they all right?" Raine managed to finally ask.

"Don't worry about Miss Trixie. She suffered from a slight psychological trauma but other than that, she didn't suffer any kind of physical injuries. As for Sweetie Belle, she came to see you each day since we brought you in. See those flowers?” Nurse Redheart pointed her hoof at a mass of bouquets. “She’s the one that brought those bouquets here.”

“Speaking of which, she’s long overdue for her daily visit now,” stated the doctor.

The sound of hooves were then heard coming from a nearby corridor. By the sound they made, they belonged to a filly. Raine raised her head to see who was coming in the room and saw an ecstatic Sweetie Belle coming her way. She climbed her way onto the bed right next to Raine’s and offered the alicorn a large grin.

Heh, I kept my promise to you… Rarity.

“I’m glad you’re safe, Sweetie Belle,” Raine whispered, a warm smile replying to Sweetie’s grin.

“I’m so sorry I called you a monster back then,” Sweetie Belle had a sad look in her eyes and tears were glistening in them, “but I really, really thought you were out to get me too.”

“What happened to your sister is indeed sad and while I am partly to blame, I never wished for them to meet with such a grim fate… I’m so sorry for taking your sister from you.” Tears were already rolling down the alicorn’s cheeks.

Raine was still blaming herself for everything that had happened. She knew there were no excuses that could forgive her for what she had done but the friendly expression Sweetie Belle gave her hope, even if only a little bit.

“Well, I just wanted to thank you for saving me and freeing my big sis. I knew that was her but I felt that it wasn’t her at the same time. I gotta run now, Apple Bloom’s waiting for me back at my sister’s boutique.” And with that, Sweetie Belle was gone before Raine could say anything back.

“You’re welcome… Sweetie Belle.” Her whisper was almost inaudible for any ponies around her.

She rested her head on her pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep once more. This time, however, her dreams were clear and peaceful. No nightmares haunted her sleep, much to her relief.

————

“Spike, would you be so kind as to help me send a letter to Princess Celestia?” Dusk was asking Spike a task that he had not done since Twilight had… met with her fate.

“Sure… but why would you need to do that?” reluctantly asked Spike.

“Well, let’s just say that we need to know more about Nightmare Moon and her powers and only the princesses know of that. If possible, I’d like to inquire what they know about her powers. Also, the fact that Raine, an alicorn unable of using the art of magic, used magic to soothe my outburst is disturbingly strange.” His explanation was brief but clear. He did what he needed to and that was to inform the dragon of his intentions.

“Whoa there, big guy! I knew this Raine you’re talking about was coming to Ponyville according to the last letter I received from the Princess. You’re saying that Raine is unable to use magic at all?”

“Pretty much, yeah!” Dusk replied without so much as a trace of emotion in his voice. “Now, are you going to write that letter or will I will I have to make you do it?”

Slightly annoyed and insulted, Spike blew some smoke out of his nostrils and scowled at Dusk Shine. “Fine but don’t expect any other favors from me, though.”

Dusk recited the message he intended to relay to Celestia concerning his many inquiries and once it was done, Dusk made a double check, a habit of his he took because of the time he spent the Academy for Gifted Unicorns, and nodded when he confirmed it was done. On the parchment, the message read:

Dear Princess Celestia,

During my passage through Ponyville, Blitz, Raine and I encountered something we thought to be impossible, although Raine did mention that Nightmare Moon could do some things thought to be impossible to begin with. Ergo, we saw a corrupted Rarity, the Element of Generosity as it was her element, and she even attacked us.

My first concern with this is that it is logically impossible for a pony to come back from the dead and once we killed her, yes we had to end it in such a way else it would have been us laying at her hooves, she just disappeared into dust as if she had never existed at all. Raine told us that Nightmare Moon can manipulate dreams to her liking but this wasn’t a dream at all. It was very real so it made me ask myself if Nightmare Moon couldn’t make dreams become real and have them under her control for as long as she can hold her spells on them. If this is indeed the case, I would appreciate if you or Princess Luna could shed more light on this matter.

My second concern is about Raine. You may remember that she told us she was unable of using any kind of magic at all, correct? Well, last week when you first sent us to Ponyville, I asked her if I could inspect her flow of magic and she agreed. It seems that it is severed at a major location and it leaks from there. I think that this is what is restraining her from using any kind magic. However, this is not what concerns me the most. What does is that when my amulet’s string was cut, I started an outburst of magic but for some reasons, Raine used her magic to calm my rampaging magic. And that’s not all, her magic were based on emotions alone. I could actually feel the pain she felt since she had taken wounds that few ponies could withstand. As I recall, magic is based by converting the surrounding energy into magical energy so our horns can use it.

On a final point, I would like to know where it is we should head to next. A week’s passed since Raine entered the intensive care, although it seems her health is stable and not in direct danger, so we had to remain in Ponyville for the time being. If you could give us the highlights of our next destination, I would gladly appreciate it.

Sincerely yours,

Dusk Shine

“Everything should be in order. If you would please send it now, Spike.” Dusk’s voice was slightly agitated. A lot of things were stressing him and even more were to come down his way.