Silence filled the bedchamber of the moon queen as a dying candle cast its poor light across the pony duo laying asleep on the room’s sole bed. Quietly, the larger form stirred and stretched as much as her captured limbs and their tiny captor would allow. A sad smile graced the unicorn's lips as she carefully, so as not to wake the sleeping filly, pulled the smaller pony into a closer embrace and peppered her head with soft kisses. Tears filled her eyes, yet she did not openly weep as the target of her affection squirmed in her grasp, a small grin beginning its journey across the filly's face.

"Have I informed you that you are very vocal when you sleep, Twilight?"

The soft voice from behind her startled the dark unicorn, eliciting a soft yelp from the mare. She quickly covered her mouth with a hoof, taking a cautious glance at the still form of Moon Beam, then turned to regard her alicorn lover with a slight frown. "Luna.... I'm so sorry that-"

"No. Do not apologize. You did not have a hoof in the happenings of the past, so no blame could ever fall upon you." Nightmare's tone was firm, yet didn't carry the harsh bite she tended to use when giving orders.

"But I've done so much to open old wounds.... I want to say I didn’t know, but... it’s not much of-"

"And I have done more to create fresh wounds," she gazed pointedly at the blister on Twilight's flank, "both physical and emotional." She sighed and looked to the filly sleeping soundly beneath a mass of blankets. "You wish to speak of the vision, yes? I am sure there was much to take in and there will certainly be much to discuss."

Twilight made to protest the change in direction of the conversation, mildly annoyed that her planned path had been deviated from, but held her tongue. We can always come back to it. "How about we start off with the easy stuff?" She smiled and silently levitated a quill and ink from the nearby desk as she took up her spot by the alicorn's side. "Do you mind if I take notes?" A sheepish grin replaced her warm smile as her dark coat hid the blush that tinged her cheeks. "I would love to write a book about this sometime if I have permission to. About all of this. There's so much information that was never recorded about the pre-Celestial times and I'd hate for all of that to be lost forever."

The night mare stared at her companion incredulously before shaking her head with a slight chuckle. "I do not mind, but I will advise against writing it now. Most ponies would not likely wish to read about their princess' usurper."

Twilight smiled sadly at the news, unable to disagree with her lover's worries. "It's, probably true, but.... Well, we'll find out when I'm finished, right? After all, I'm sure you'll be celebrated as a hero after this war is finished!" Her cheer brought a small grin to the alicorn's lips. "Now, onto more pressing matters." Twilight traced a hoof through Nightmare's mane, disturbing the turbulent flow of the starry nebula. "Why did you change your mane? It was... breathtaking back then, the way it shone like the northern reach's Auroras...."

"I...." Nightmare stopped, clamping her mouth shut to contemplate her answer as Twilight's quill poised over her parchment. "I cannot answer that." She recoiled as Twilight's smile slowly disappeared. "You misunderstand. I cannot answer because I do not know. When I returned..., so many changes had been made. I no longer hold control over the vast wealth of power I once enjoyed, my body is weaker, and my mane are but a few of the alterations."

Twilight leaned against her mare as the alicorn's voice grew deeper until it almost resembled a threatening growl. "I wish we knew. Maybe it was a side-effect of the Elements of Harmony?" She paused to scratch away at her scroll, leaving notes for future research. "Maybe that explains the change in Celestia's mane, too? I don't know nearly enough about the Elements to form a proper hypothesis, but that would be a plausible explanation for the... atrophy."

"That may be, but we have neither the time nor resources to use on this. I am fine." Her tone caused a spike of concern in her purple counterpart who simply nodded and turned to watch Moon Beam's sleeping form. "You are curious about our child, yes? You desire to know what happened to her after I sealed her away?” Twilight’s reply was a long, slow nod as she never took her focus from the filly. “Again, I am uncertain. The nature of the spell was supposed to separate the mind and body and put both into a deep, impenetrable sleep. It is a painful process, but the first thing to be put to rest is the mind. She should not remember any of it, but if you wish to know for certain, then it is her you must ask.”

“I....” Twilight smiled and shook her head. “I don’t think she does and, even if she remembers, it doesn’t show. I don’t want to bring back bad memories. She doesn’t deserve that.” The pair sat in silence, leaning against each other to fight off the chill of the Autumn morning, and watched as Moon Beam twitched in her sleep. "Luna?"

The black queen turned to regard her mate as she carefully wrapped a wing around the smaller pony. "Yes, Twilight?"

"Celestia.... Is that what she was really like back then?"

Nightmare flinched at the heavy sadness pushed into her through their bond and instinctively pulled the unicorn closer. "She was. There was once a time when she would stop at nothing to keep me happy. We were as close as any sisters could ever be, but then things changed. We had to use the Elements to seal away a vile, twisted creature. After that, she became so absorbed in helping her weak and pitiful subjects and how they praised her. Nopony ever thanked the mare that kept the beasts of the Everfree at bay and calmed their dreams at night." Nightmare paused after hissing out the last few words and took the time to ease her anger.

Using the lapse in conversation, Twilight scratched her head in thought, pulling pieces of her recent dream into order for analysis and pushed all other processes to the back of her mind. I don't know what to say.... There's just so much that happened.

"One night I came to Celestia with a request." The young unicorn yelped in surprise as Nightmare shifted her feathers and grip, the movement startling her out of her reverie. "Ah, I apologize. I did not mean to-"

"No, no! It's fine. I was just thinking." She chuckled softly as a light blush burned at her cheeks.

Nightmare stifled a smile and nudged the mare with her flank. "You have quite the concentration, Twilight. It is difficult to ignore your surroundings like that. It is little wonder that you pick up on magic so easily." The alicorn tittered softly when Twilight covered her face with her hooves to hide the growing tinge of embarrassment. "As I was saying, one night several years prior, I went to Celestia with a simple request to possibly extend the night a couple hours every morning. There would not have been any drastic changes to the world if such a thing happened, as you can see. The crops would still grow and the ponies would learn to enjoy my night....

"But she refused! It would upset the poor little ponies. The nocturnal creatures would become dangerous." Nightmare stood and stepped heavily over to the desk, ignoring the scritch-scritch of quill point on paper. "I did not press further, but instead announced the first annual Winter Moon Masquerade to take place during the Winter Solstice...."

Twilight swallowed heavily, expecting her lover to continue, but was only met with silence. Slowly, she stood and hobbled over to the alicorn and nuzzled her neck. "Heart Gleam was the only one to show, wasn't she?"

"No. She had come with her mother as this was quite some time before the conflict, but she was the only pony interested of the two." She sighed and stared up into the ceiling. "I was infuriated and rightly so. I had spent months preparing for it, having couriers spread word of the festival only to have some filly and her worthless mother show up."

"She really admired you, you know. I was actually kind of jealous."

"Ah, yes. Ever the diligent mare even if she was less than spectacular. She did not make a good commander, but she was all I had. Joined my ranks at five years after fleeing from her mother and served me up until her death nineteen years later."

Twilight gasped and turned to stare incredulously at Nightmare. "She was twice my age!? She looked so young! Did you...?" She allowed her words to trail off, too afraid of the answer she might receive.

"If you are asking if we had sexual relations, then the answer is yes. There was little she could do as a filly being a pegasus as underdeveloped as she. Despite all those years, she never truly became skilled at pleasing a mare." She stopped to look at Twilight's dumbfounded stare and closed her eyes. "You must remember, Twilight. She was old enough to have had her first heat and even you have said that there are no laws against such acts today. Back then, ponies took foals as their lovers as soon as they were no longer nursing and marriage at the age of two years was commonplace."

Nightmare eyed her mate cautiously, waiting for her reaction, yet was met with a queasy gulp. "Are.... Are you unwell, Twilight? I did not think that our customs would upset you so. Do you-"

"No. It's-" She swallowed deeply, trying to fight off her nausea. "I'm okay. It wasn't that; I'm just feeling a little-" She quickly held a hoof to her mouth and retched lightly. "No, I'm gonna be si-" Her words were cut short as she vomited across the floor to her side, covering the obsidian with the contents of her stomach.

Without even flinching, Nightmare took the dangling length of Twilight's mane into her magic and held it out of the way as the unicorn's fit of retching continued on until nothing remained but air. She sat with tears in her eyes, panting, as she recovered from her sudden bout of nausea. She shuddered, taking deep breaths, and smiled weakly towards her marefriend. "Thank you...."

"Are you alright? What happened?"

"I-I don't know. I've been somewhat queasy these past few days, but I didn't think I would regurgitate like that. Maybe I've got a stomach virus?" Twilight tensed, feeling as if she would vomit again, but eased her body as the sensation passed. "It's fine. I'm sure I'll be in perfect health soon enough."

She carefully wrapped the spilled fluids in her magic and levitated them into a bundle of parchment she quickly enchanted to hold the spillage without risk of leaking. Setting it into the garbage pail, the bookish mare regarded her mate with a slight grimace. "Maybe we should put the rest of this off for later in case that wasn't the end of it?" Nightmare nodded slowly and made to stand, but was stopped when Twilight rested a hoof on her shoulder. "I.... I know how much you hate her, but I'm not sure how I feel. Everything from the dream contradicts everything I've ever known about her. I know I haven't known her as long as you, but... Celestia was practically a mother to me.

"I don't want you to ever think that I'd throw away my love for you just to be back by her side, but she isn't a pony I can just abandon." She stared into Nightmare's impassive gaze, searching for any sign of emotion and praying that she would understand, but was met with the familiar emotional blockade she had come to expect.

After several long, tense minutes, the lunar mare nodded and lifted herself from her seat at the desk. "I cannot begin to fathom her having changed so much in my absence after being given free reign over our nation, but I will not fault you for your feelings. Good or bad, they are not something easily moved past."

Twilight sighed in relief and nuzzled up against Nightmare's stomach. "I have one more inquiry before we figure out why there wasn't a lavatory attached to our room." She waited for a nod of approval before standing and following her life partner, wastebasket in tow. "Where is she? Will I ever be able to see her again?"

Nightmare visibly tensed at the question, but continued her steady gait despite the stiffness. "We shall see, Twilight. I cannot grant your second request now, but after the war.... I will provide you with her whereabouts as long as I have your word that you will not seek to find her before I am prepared to take you." She smiled as she felt Twilight's heart soar with glee.

"Of- Of course! I promise on my mother's name that I won't go against your wishes!"

"Very well. When I returned, I sealed her and-" She froze at the sound of her mate retching once more and turned to find her vomiting into the small trash bin before collapsing weakly to the floor in a tired mess. "Twilight!"

The blast of a trumpet startled the residents of the cloud barracks awake, setting the mares and stallions into an almost automatic clockwork motion. The mass of ponies stumbled about in their post-slumber stupor, all of them resetting their uniform sheets and slipping into the dark blue jumpsuits folded neatly at the foot of their beds. All of them except one.

The form of a slim cyan pegasus still prone on her bunk caught the attention of the fiery-maned mare that had sounded the wake-up call. In a fit of frustration, the yellow pegasus stomped over to the rainbow-maned irritation, leaving dents in the cloud floor with each step, and swiftly bucked the bed on its side, spilling mare and mattress onto the unforgiving floor below.

"Every morning, Rainbow Dash! Today, you're not getting off with extra wing-ups and cleaning duty!" She turned to the other recruits waiting nervously by their respective bunks, dressed and ready for orders. "Report to the mess hall. Daily exercise begins in thirty minutes." She returned her harsh glare to the target of her anger as the group filed past them and only softened her gaze when the last pony closed the door behind her. "Look, Dash. I understand you're surpassing the other ponies in all fields of training and that you're worried for your friends, but that doesn't excuse blatantly disregarding the rules. They're there for a reason."

Rainbow arched an eyebrow and smirked. "All these rules are totally uncool. I could sleep through all of this and still come out better than them. Should just let me do whatever."

The young Wonderbolt sighed and rubbed her face with a hoof. "Why are you even still here? You've been cleared for dispatch for a week already."

The athletic pegasus' lips stretched into a smug grin as she rolled her shoulders and worked her wings. "What? Can't a pony make sure she's tip-top of the class? I'm just training like I always do."

Her instructor deadpanned and straightened her stance. "We both know that's not it. Look, you don't have to tell me, but the queen can't afford to have even one pony avoiding active duty."

"I'm not doing this for her."

"Again, I don't need to know why you're here, but whether you want to leave or not, you're scheduled for unit assignment in a week."

Spitfire turned and sauntered to the door when she was stopped by a tap on her flank. "Does this mean I don't have clean-up duty?"

She turned, giving the inquisitive mare a soft smile. "No." With a flick of her tail across Dash's nose, Spitfire sauntered out leaving the trainee to her morning routine.

"Well, horsefeathers." With a heavy sigh, Rainbow began the simple task of fixing her bed. "Man, you were a lot more fun when we first met, Spitfire." Memories of her initial squeal of glee flashed through her mind along with a particular offer exclaimed in the heat of the moment. The cyan mare slapped a hoof to her face with a grunt of frustration. "Ugh.... I can't believe I said that. Totally uncool."

With her bunk made and jumpsuit donned, Rainbow began the short trot to the cafeteria, ignoring the same old pictures of Cloudsdale and the age old Pegasopolis adorning the pristine white walls. Eager to eat, she quickly arrived to find her Ponyvillean friend had saved her a spot and a tray heaped with this morning's oat based meal.

As she approached, the pink maned mare turned and smiled gleefully at her. "Hey, Dash! Get in trouble again today?"

Rainbow grinned and put on her typical air of smugness as she took her place at Dizzy's side. "Nah. I'm too cool for that!"

The young mare laughed alongside their morning compatriots as a stallion on their right worked his hooves in a mimicry of scrubbing toilets. "Oh, stop it Buster. It's not like you haven't had to scrub 'em before." Dizzy giggled as the brown pegasus grinned with his chest shaking in a mute chuckle. "Well, don't wait to eat, Rainbow. You only have ten minutes before PT starts."

The rainbow-maned mare laughed nervously and practically dove into her food, hoping to hide her anxiety. She sighed into the sweet mush, bored of the same old food, but kept eating regardless.

"Something on your mind, Dash? You seem distracted. You didn't get in too much trouble, did you?" Dizzy placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, drawing the mare's attention away from her food.

"Huh? Oh, nah! Still just a little tired." She rubbed a hoof her mane and chuckled. "Hehe. Not enough sleep, you know?"

"Psh. As if you don't get enough sleep, Dash." A soft pink mare across the table laughed and nudged her lime tableside partner. "Soon as you hit the mattress you're asleep. Celestia, I bet Squeeze and I could bang on top of you and you wouldn't even notice."

"Berry!"

The group laughed at the blushing pegasus' expense with Rainbow laughing right along with them. "Hey, you know that's not true! There's no way I could sleep with a pair of mares riding on top of me. My wings wouldn't let me."

"Oh, guys!" The laughter abated as they all turned to Dizzy, her sudden exclamation drawing the area's attention. "You didn't hear this from me, but I finally got one of the serving mares to tell me where they get the sweetener for their oatmeal." All eyebrows arched as the ponies leaned in for the announcement. "Well, they don't use sugar for it. Have you ever heard of that milking company in Trottingham? Milky Way's? Apparently, the entire shop is run by a single mare and the Cloudsdale Guard Station has commissioned her to provide them with milk."

"Oh, it's just sweetened milk? I was expecting something crazy like Zebran sugar cane or something." Another stallion, this one the color of roses, scoffed and shook his head. "Buck, that's disappointing."

"No! You don't get it. It's her milk. Milky Way produces all of the milk herself."

"So what you're saying is that we've been eating mare... milk...."

The table turned to stare at Rainbow who continued scarfing down the food despite the news. She paused in her eating with bits of oatmeal sticking to her muzzle and arched an eyebrow. “What? It’s good.” For several seconds the group just stared at her, dumbfounded, before bursting into laughter loud enough to draw the rest of the cafeteria’s attention.

Like most mornings, the raucous party soon lost the interest of the other tables and, by the time the instructors came to announce breakfast’s end and the morning’s training session’s start, everypony had moved past the disturbance and back to their own conversations. The mass of ponies all stood from their seats at their respective tables and began the slow shuffle into columns behind their class’ instructor.

Rainbow and Dizzy followed suit, falling into position at the end of their line after depositing their trays in the basin, and kept up with the group until the brash mare could pull her friend to the side. “Hey, Dizzy.... I, uhh.... There’s something you should know before it’s too late.”

The custard colored mare stared blankly at her friend. “What’s up, Rainbow? You didn’t really get into a mess because of this morning, did you? Oh, I knew I should have woken you up.”

“No, it wasn’t because of- Okay, it was a little because of that, but it’s not about me getting in trouble.” Rainbow sighed and scratched her mane as she looked off nervously. “You remember how I promised that I’d stay until you were ready to go? I- I know this sucks, but... I’m not gonna be able to do that. They’re shipping me off next week with the rest of the deployments.”

Dizzy frowned momentarily, but quickly recovered her smile as she patted the athletic pegasus’ shoulder. “It’s okay. You did keep your promise as well as you could, after all, and it’s not like I don’t have friends here. Why didn’t you just tell me earlier, though? I’m sure the others would have congratulated you.”

“Well, it just doesn’t look cool to be all sappy like this, you know? Gotta make sure ponies know I’m all awesome!” The pair laughed softly before peeking around the corner to catch the tail end of the line they were supposed to be a part of. “We should probably catch up before we get caught. I’ll be sure to tell everypony at lunch, but I wanted you to be the first to know.”

Rainbow lazed across the patch of cloud she had taken as her perch as she waited for the remainder of her class to finish, ignoring the shouting of their fiery maned drill sergeant. She cast a bored glance towards the panting and sweating ponies, noting with an arrogant smirk that most of them were glaring at her as usual. Dash sighed and laid back across the soft cloud bed with her sword at her side, taking comfort in the fact that her training dummy had been thoroughly, and properly, dismembered on her first go, a feat she had been repeating for several nights. Same old routine.... By Celestia’s beard, I’m so glad that I’mma be outta here soon.

“Rainbow! If you’ve got time to lay about, then you’ve got time to be practicing your swordsponyship!” Spitfire marched over to her, a pair of blunted and cloth-wrapped blades sitting across her back. "Thunderlane! Get over here! You're sparring with Rainbow Dash."

The coal black stallion sighed as he left his third dummy to join the pair of mares. Both pegasi grabbed a weapon, the metal cufflinks at the ankle of their suits and the swords' hoof guards helping to maintain their grips, and took their places facing each other. They stood on their hind legs, using their flared wings for balance, and held their swords to the floor.

Rainbow stared her opponent down, sizing him up as she waited for the match to begin. He's bigger than I am, but I doubt he can match my speed. Nopony can. She smirked and tensed her muscles for flight.

"Begin!"

All eyes were on the pair of duelists as soon as Spitfire's voice echoed across the open hall. In a matter of seconds, Dash had closed the distance between her and her sparring partner. The dark stallion started an arcing swing, aiming to use the mare's momentum against her, but, as his weapon came down, Rainbow was already shifting. Her body twisted gracefully through the air with padded blade following with it as she impacted the stunned pegasus. Cloth and metal met thick leather as her horizontal slash smashed into his side.

Dazed and winded, Thunderlane fell to floor only to come face-to-face with the tip of a sword and its owner grinning smugly behind it. "Sorry, Lane, but you're no match for me."

The stallion went cross-eyed as he stared into the blunted point until it was moved from view and replaced by a cyan hoof. "You're pretty amazing, Dash, but did you really have to hit me that hard? That's gonna leave a bruise."

Rainbow chuckled alongside her compatriot and patted his back consolingly. "Hey, at least it was only one this time, right?" She received a nod of appreciation before turning to the ex-Wonderbolt. "Do you really need to do this everyday? I mean, I love having ponies see how badflank I am, but it-"

She was silenced by a quick smack to the face as Thunderlane's sword blindsided her. She grabbed the side of her helmet and glared at the mare holding the defeated stallion's weapon. "That was totally uncool."

"The griffons won't play fair, Rainbow. Just because you're top of the class here, don't expect everything to be just another day at flight camp." The young instructor dropped the weapon on the cloud and turned to the rest of the trainees only to have a padded sword knock her hind legs out from under her. She recovered quickly, using her wings to pull herself back to her hooves, and turned on the smirking pegasus with a glare.

"What? Can't take your own medicine?" She grinned and rubbed a hoof on her uniform. "And here I thought that the captain of the Wonderbolts would be able to dodge that."

"Rainbow Dash! You will stand down this instant! I am not going to fight you. Just be glad I'm not your commanding officer in the field or else you'd be paying dearly for that."

"Why won't you fight? You seemed to like hitting me with that cheap shot." She lowered herself closer to the floor, her grin stretching wider across her muzzle. "Oh. I get it. You're just chicken."

"Seriously?" Spitfire scoffed and waved a hoof at Rainbow. "Name calling is for foals. You don't honestly think-" She cut her words short to dodge the lightning fast slash Dash had attempted and rolled to the side, her scowl deepening. "Seriously, Rainbow. If you don't stop now I'm-" Another swing cut her short, this time barely skimming through her mane. "You have one last chance to-" She landed face first on the clouds as her forelegs were knocked to the side. With a furious flap of her wings, the ex-Wonderbolt righted herself and grabbed the practice sword thrown to her by the grinning trainee.

In a fit of anger, Spitfire rushed Rainbow who deftly dodged the attack and countered with her own. Swords clacked together as the instructor parried the blow mere inches from her shoulder and pushed her opponent back. The pair of ponies planted their hooves in the fluffy floor, tensed their bodies, then sprang into action once more.

A flurry of feathers, sweat, and swords filled the air around them as they clashed, each slip of the blade resulting in a new bruise on the pegasi. Cheers arose from the audience, split almost evenly between the fighting mares, as the swings became more intense. Tempers rose with each blow as the mares pushed themselves to surpass the other, when Spitfire lashed out with a hoof, sucker-punching Rainbow in the gut.

Dash gasped for air as the hot-headed pegasus stood above her with a triumphant grin on her lips as she wiped a trickle of blood from her nose. "Had enough, Rainbow?"

"That...." She paused and took a deep breath to steady her voice. "That wasn't fair."

"What? Didn't I say that griffons won't fight fairly? You wouldn't learn any-"

In a fraction of a second, blue met with yellow as Rainbow tackled Spitfire to the cloud floor, swinging wildly with her hooves with every opening she could get. She didn't even bother trying to dodge or block her antagonist's retaliation in order to get as many blows landed as she could before the mare could push her off herself, but her berserker's flurry was cut short as a pair of burly hooves pulled her from her prey.

Both mares fought against the ponies restraining them, but their efforts were useless in their exhausted states. They heaved for breath as they were dragged apart, left only to glare in each other’s direction until that, too, became difficult to do. Rainbow and Spitfire were turned to face a grizzled old stallion with a face covered in small scars. He regarded the pair wearily, waiting for their adrenaline high to wear off, before having the brutish guardsponies release them. “So.... Couldn’t wait ta get out an’ start fightin’, could ya?”

“I’m sorry, Sir Strong Shield. It was my fault I-”

“Captain Spitfire.” His voice was calm, yet firm, allowing no room for interruptions. “Ah already know what happened. Miss Twister here tol’ me everythin’. Both a ya are as much ta blame as tha other. An’ both a ya should know better than ta pick a fight in tha middle of a buncha recruits.”

The pegasi hung their heads in shame, but the old guard still wasn’t finished with them. “Captain Spitfire, ya know the punishment fer yer actions. Ah expect ta see ya tomorrow mornin’ in mah office ta turn in yer stripes.” Spitfire nodded as the aged, purple pegasus turned his working eye on Rainbow. “Yer not gettin’ off any better though. We were considerin’ ya fer a rankin’ officer when ya dispatch next week, but this li’l stunt ya pulled tells us ya ain’t quite cut out fer it. Ah expect both a ya on cleanin’ duty tomorrow... unless there’s anythin’ else ya wanna get off yer chests?”

Rainbow and Spitfire shook their heads and gave a quick salute as Shield nodded his buzzed head and turned to leave with his armored guards following close behind him. They waited for the stallion to disappear through the training room’s doors before sighing and turning to each other with their shame showing clearly on their faces. Neither spoke as they fought to find the words to say, but a soft voice prompted them on.

“I’m sorry for getting you two in trouble, but....”

Rainbow turned to her fellow Ponyvillean and chuckled lightly. “Nah, it’s cool Dizzy. I really should be the one apologizing. You probably saved us a trip to the nurse’s station.” She rubbed the back of her head and winced as her hoof brushed a sore spot. “Ohh.... Maybe we should go see the nurse anyways.”

“Hey, Dash.... Uhm, sorry about all that. I guess you can tell why they named me Spitfire, huh?” She laughed weakly and ended it with a sigh. “At least I’ll get to keep teaching.” She looked up to see the group of recruits watching them intently as if waiting for something else exciting to happen and flinched. “All right! Back to work, ponies! I expect to see perfectly maimed training dummies lined up on the wall tonight!”

“You aren’t gonna lose your job, are you? ‘Cause I’d really feel bad if you are.”

“What? Nah. I won’t be able to keep my place as a Wonderbolt after the war’s over, but at worst I’ll get a slap on the hoof and the janitor detail tomorrow.” Spitfire worked her jaw and tentatively rubbed her nose. “Wow, you really do know how to fight, though. I’m gonna be sore for weeks.”

Rainbow smirked and roughly hoofed her instructor’s shoulder. “I used to hang with a griffon back in Flight School. We got in a lotta fights back then. You’re not half bad yourself. I think my flank is numb.”

“What? Oh, you’re bleeding too! Okay, you’re definitely going to the nurse now! Both of you!” Dizzy rushed between the bonding mares and began ushering them towards the door, but not before Spitfire could shout a warning threat to the ponies that had already started taking advantage of her soon-to-be absence.

“Okay, so I can’t find anything physically wrong with her and, aside from the lingering physical injuries,” the unicorn doctor shot both of the mares a worried glance, “Twilight is in perfect health. The venom levels are low, though still present, and wouldn’t cause such spontaneous nausea. Her magical stores are unusually high, but it isn’t uncommon for a unicorn to experience such levels after a magical blockage, but, again, it wouldn’t cause these symptoms.” He paused and went over a list floating in his magical grasp. “Have you participated in any overly-strenuous activities lately? Something that required more stamina than you are used to using?”

The dark unicorn blushed and looked to Nightmare, but the stallion stopped the line of thought with a shake of his head. “Non-sexual activities. While I will admit that they can be taxing, they are not typically draining.”

“She has been working on her combat skills recently. My commander is not one for promoting laziness. Perhaps that would be the cause?”

He paused and jotted something down on the clipboard before turning to his patient resting in the bed, but Twilight cut him off before he could probe further. “I don’t think that would be the issue. I only started practicing last night and I’ve been having these issues for a while now.”

“I see.... I suggest you take the training easier from now on in case it’s making whatever illness you have worse.” He rubbed his white mane and set the clipboard on the bed’s hook. “I would like you to stay here and rest, though, for tonight. It’ll give me a chance to run some more tests and try to pin down exactly what’s wrong.”

Twilight frowned and turned to Nightmare with a look of concern on her face. “I’m feeling better now. Maybe I should come back when-”

“Rest, Twilight. I will fetch Moon Beam to keep you company while I take care of my court. I am certain that Chancellor Fancy Pants will appreciate the assistance.” She nodded to the medical unicorn and turned to leave. “I will come and check on you when I have finished what needs my attention. Thank you for your time, Doctor Well Wisher.”

“Anytime, Your Majesty. I will be sure to inform you if I find anything new.”

Author's Notes:

Author’s Notes: A chapter out before the month’s end? Wtf is going on here? I think somebody replaced Peppy with some fiendish monster Tartarus-bent on giving you fun stuff to read. Who would do such a thing? I dunno, but this monster needs to be stopped. Anyhoof, new chapter, so have fun and try to pretend you know what’s happening while I watch *insert evil giggling* Peppy out~! (also, what jeky-poo says below. Wilkommen Spacecowboy!)

Editors’ Notes:

Dr.Jekyll: Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I like this peppy monster clone thing better then the real one (that slow bastard). Mandatory joke over, it’s time for me to be a lil’ serious and make a super sweet special awesome (poorly written) announcement. We have a new proofreader/editor in our midsts. Please give a wondrous round of clacking-keyboard-keys for Spacecowboy!~

Spacecowboy: *Dodges the spotlight* Oh drat. Well, seems I picked a good time to come on board, as Pep wrote this out pretty damn fast. Jekyll is kinda cool too I suppose. Guess what folks? I know all sorts of spoilers now, and you can’t have any~ Hopefully y’all enjoy this chapter, and buckle your seat belts cause Pep has got quite the ride in store for y’all, and I’m glad to be on board helping with the editing.