The black queen paced along the intricate railing of her new balcony, carefully monitoring the procession of soldiers below as they reformed their ranks through wavering vision. She rubbed a hoof across her face, smearing a thin line of her lavender eye shadow across her cheek, momentarily clearing her eyes of the fog clouding them. "Chancellor."

The white unicorn lifted his head from the mass of parchment floating around him and bowed briefly before the alicorn. "Yes, My Queen?"

"As you should be aware, there are already griffon invaders prowling the halls of my palace that will strike the moment my shield goes down." Nightmare cast a sidelong glance over her shoulder, mimicking the middle-aged stallion's brief nod. "Very well. Our soldiers will fight to maintain a line of defense at the breaching points in the halls, but it is unlikely that they will be able to hold out forever. Should any of those lines fall, you must be the one to escort the servants to safety aboard one of the airships docked in the courtyard. Arm any willing with the remaining stored Valtauran arms and ensure that as many as possible make it out alive. You needs ensure the safety of the foal above all else, no matter the risk." She turned to him, her turquoise eyes piercing into his soul through his baby blue. "Is this understood?"

With a surprising calm, Fancy Pants bowed, dipping his head low enough for his bright blue mane to brush the floor. "Clearly, Your Majesty. Should the worse come to the worst, then I shall follow your command." The unicorn's facade of ease slipped as he glance up to the shimmering black dome blanketing a large portion of the castle grounds. "Pardon the question, My Queen, but do you truly believe we won't win the night?"

The lunar monarch sighed, smearing another streak of makeup across her face. "I am uncertain. While the Valtauran soldiers are vastly well trained, the same cannot be said of our own army. We have certainly had far more time to prepare than those that were slain in the civil unrest, but it is nothing compared to the savagery of the griffons. They have always been a conflict-focused people....

"I also fear that I will be too weakened to fight at my full potential. Months were spent holding out against constant breach attempts and, while I have been empowered by the moon's eternal presence, a defensive spell this large is taxing." The queen's legs trembled as she stared down at them, silently admiring the ornate plated shoes adorning her hooves. "I am nigh immortal and do not doubt my ability to survive the conflict to come, but I cannot say the same of everybody else. I fear there will be much lost tonight."

Fancy nodded, turning towards the bed chamber's doors with the masses of papers in tow. "You are correct, we are all fragile beings, but do not underestimate the rat backed into a corner by the cat. We may come to surprise even you. For now, Your Majesty, I will take my leave and prepare for the coming hours.... Stay safe. Lady Sparkle would not be pleased if something were to happen to you."

Nightmare watched in silence as the stallion trotted out of sight, only taking her eyes off the doorway after she was certain the unicorn was out of earshot to turn to the lavender apparition at her side. "He is right, you know. I'd be very upset if you got yourself fatally injured."

"Of course you would be displeased. It is to be expected of my own hallucinations to fear for my safety, but would you truly be saddened? Would the real Twilight suffer from the news of my mortal injury?" The alicorn's eyes closed for a moment as the small unicorn nuzzled up against her side, her senses sending false signals to he brain. "I find it difficult to believe that the true Twilight, my Twilight, would truly suffer from my downfall. It would mean the return of her freedom, even if her princesses would remain forever missing. She could return to a normal life, one not plagued with abuse and filled with the love of a pony she deserves."

"But wouldn't your death mean the death of everypony's freedom? Aren't you the last remaining hope that this land has against Griffonia?" The spectre reached of hoof over the balcony's railing and waved it above the military congregation below. "Sure, they have the motive to fight, but do they really have the capacity to? You were right when you said that we're weak, but isn't that why you fight with us?"

Nightmare chuckled and turned away from Twilight, casually strolling to their bed to lift the pieces of her armoured-regalia around her head. "It is. We have seen how you ponies have floundered in the past when left to rule by your own devices." Carefully, she stepped into her plated boots, securing each piece around her hooves with a minor enchantment. "We have seen how you are wont to turn upon each other for personal gain, even if those you betray are seeking to give you their aid." Her starmetal gorget was next and gently glided down the fur of her neck until it rested upon her shoulders, its moon-emblazoned crest sparkling in the shield magic's light. "I have seen how you all cower from danger even if that threat aims to take your precious loved ones away."

The lavender mare opened her mouth as if to protest as Nightmare slipped her crested helmet over her horn, but the alicorn quickly spun on her and lifted her into the air in a crushing embrace. "But.... I have also seen these same ponies selflessly sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, even those that they know nothing about. I have seen the love that you ponies share amongst each other and the bravery that you display in moments where bravery would be in minimal supply, but, most of all...." The black queen pulled away from her consort and held her at leg's length, keeping them aloft with simple beats of her wings. "I have felt the love that you hold for me, no matter how misplaced it may be. I know that you are not real and I know not why I have conjured you here to torment me with false touches and phantom warmth, but you are here and you needs know. I fight for the warmth that you instill in my cold heart and for the random acts of kindness that your peers are known to commit."

"Do you see now? Why you brought me here? You can be a heartless monster, but even under all of that you, too, hold the kindness that is present in everybody. It's time to fight now, so go and protect that kindness." Twilight smiled, her eyes closed, and slowly bridged the gap between Nightmare's lips and her own only to disappear as their mouths connected.

Nightmare Moon sighed as the spectral warmth disappeared from her grasp and slowly opened her eyes to the ruined, lonely expanse of her room as she settled on the cracked obsidian. "I only wish that you were still around for me to tell you directly." She hardened her gaze, pouring magic into her limp navy mane until it flared out into a roiling cosmic mass, and strolled back out onto the balcony.

Silence fell upon the ponies and minotaurs below as her hooves clicked loudly upon the stone, amplified by magic, and all eyes turned up towards her. She continued to flood her body with the moon's magic until she, too, began to give off an ephemeral light and, only after every being present in the crowd gaped at her in fearful awe did she begin to speak. "Gaze, soldiers, upon the awesome beauty and might of your queen and savior, for it may be the final lasting sight that you will behold! Drink in my wonder and revel in my splendor so that you, simple mortals, shall know no fear in the faces of your foes! Know that your queen, your goddess, holds a strength of such monumental heights that no other being, nor their own armies, should ever hope to overcome it!

"Remember! Remember this image, for it very well may be your last, so, when Death is looming over you, his wicked harvester's scythe in tow, you may have the courage and endurance to laugh in his face and wrest your enemies life from their body in your place!" Nightmare squeezed her eyes shut, pooling power through her horn and into her body until it lifted her from her perch, then spread her wings, her eyes opening and pouring out a piercing white light. "Go, my soldiers, my kinsponies, my allies! Go now and let loose the hounds of war! Let the griffons tremble in their folly and know that they have committed a grave sin against the true goddess of the night! Take thine blades and thrust them into your adversaries until this blasted land grows fertile in the bath of their blood!"

The black mare's glow continued to intensify as she was lifted higher into the air, gently flapping her wings to expedite her ascent, until her horn was a mere few inches from the apex of the black dome surrounding the majority of the castle grounds. The mass below waited with baited breath, dancing on their hooves with weapons drawn, for Nightmare to lower the shield, but they did not have long to stand idle. "Go now and slaughter!" The last of her words echoed with a deafening flare as her white hot horn pierced the spell's barrier. An almost soundless explosion shook the air only for an ear-shattering, deep boom to immediately follow it, sending several soldiers to their knees and disintegrating a mass of griffons in the immediate vicinity of the shell into nothingness, the explosives they were carrying joining them in the void.

As the initial shock wore, a steady, rising cry began to rise from the ground, replacing the supersonic blast with the cacophonous call of battle. Almost as one, fleets of hundreds of pegasi took off from the ruined earth, soaring into the sky to clash and tear into the still-stunned ranks of griffons that were outside of the destructive force of the shield's fall. Swords and spears flashed in the pale moonlight, their sharpened blades and honed heads soon drinking in the blood of their victims.

Far below, the hoofsoldiers began their charge, the clink of their platemail quickly drowned out by their thunderous steps. From behind them, several lines of minotaurs took aim with their massive hand-ballistae and let loose a volley of almost spear-length bolts into the unsuspecting Griffonian army. Strangled cries from the griffons joined the ponies' battle calls as the projectiles' barbed heads pierced their ranks and pinned them to the ground to bleed and die. The momentary respite brought by the surprise attack did not last long, however, and soon the griffons began their counter-offensive.

Far above, Nightmare Moon surveyed the initial rush's outcome, hastily measuring the two armies against each other, her growing frown revealing her concern with each passing second. The Griffonians are far more numerous than I had expected. It seems our losses will be far greater than my initial assumption. The alicorn closed her eyes for a brief moment before rising further into the air and pulling a long, wicked blade from her mane. Our ground forces seem to be most outnumbered.... Do not fear, for I shall show you the true meaning of power....

The lunar monarch tilted her body, angling down towards the central mass of the griffon army, the dead center of the heavily armoured soldiers, and pushed off into a nosedive. In a matter of seconds, the ground and griffon soldiers rose up to meet her, the soldiers warned of her presence only by the whistle of the wind around her body, and impacted the earth with groundbreaking force. She felt a northern dragoon compress under her momentum, his body crushed by the force of her landing and his blood and liquefied organs sprayed on his surrounding comrades, but her entrance was not complete. All surrounding attention turned towards her, every eye not blinded by the debris of her impact dilated in a mix of fear and anger, and she took that moment to lift her ornate, serrated sword into the air, her own height nearly towering over the hybrid masses. "Death shall be your only companion this night, for you face a goddess!"

In a nearly imperceptible flash, Nightmare wheeled her weapon around her, the honed edge easily sliding through the metal plating and tearing into the soldiers surrounding her that had survived her initial attack. Blood sprayed from severed necks and dismembered limbs, coating the cracked earth with crimson pools. Again, the surprise of her attack had given Nightmare a chance to survey the situation and plan her next move until a stray arrow lodged itself into her shoulder.

She yelped in surprise, yanking the shaft out with her magic as she turned towards the source of the projectile with murder in her eyes. The griffons, finally coming out of their concussed stupor, converged around her, each of them eager to be the one to slay the god-queen and earn their warchief's favour, but were struck down by blade and magical lance as Nightmare thundered through their ranks. Several more arrows peppered her hide, barely penetrating her magic-thickened skin, but she kept her sights on the first archer that had struck her and cackled like a madmare as she closed in on her, her blade parrying and slaughtering a hole through the griffon's formation. Just as she reached her target, however, the griffon took off into the air in a panic, but, with a tightening of the muscles in her hind legs, the alicorn kicked off from the ground and planted her hooves squarely on the girl's back. As one, they crashed into the soil, Nightmare crushing the griffoness into the earth and shattering her spine with a sickening crunch.

Her former foe's death offered no reprieve, however, as several more arrows arched towards her only to bounce off a quickly formed shield or unintentionally embed themselves into their allies. She spun on her heels, expecting to charge the next group of rangers, but was met with a wall steel and feathers. She glared down at the soldiers barring her path, horn aglow and ready to launch another volley of magic arrows when one of the griffons raised his halberd with a smirk.

"So, the mighty queen is trapped with nowhere to run. How does it feel to be helpless and-"

Nightmare growled, raising herself into her hind legs and smashing her forehooves against the speaking griffon's and his left-flank warrior's helmets, splattering blood on her boots and the ground below as the metal collapsed and their skulls crushed under the force of the kick. "Never monologue on a battlefield, foal!" She came down with a grunt, barely having enough time to parry a thrust aimed at her neck, and howled in pain as one of the griffon infantry thrust her scimitar into her side.

She wrenched the sword from her attacker's grasp, ripping the length that had opened her hide with an agonized hiss, and stopped her own blade across the staggered girl's forelegs, crippling her. The alicorn wasted no time as the rest of the surrounding warriors closed in on her and jumped into the air, hovering just above the battlefield as she closed her wound and swirled a second layer of silvery magic around her black aura. Without warning, the night mare released her charged spell, angling her horn down at the ground below. Faster than any of the griffons could anticipate, a thick ray of concentrated moonlight struck the earth, dimming the moon as it seared the brown dirt black and reduced a wide swath of Griffonian foot soldiers to ash.

The intense ray died down leaving Nightmare panting above the scorched earth to survey the damage as rivulets of sweat ran down her neck. Hundreds of griffons had been eradicated by the spell, missing completely save for the ash slowly blowing away in the late-night breeze, and many more lay writhing, screaming, or dead on the outskirts of the destruction zone from gruesome burns that no amount of medicine or magic could ever hope to heal.

The alicorn grunted again, struggling to remain aloft as she recovered from the taxing effort the spell had taken. I should not have let my anger take hold.... She glanced towards the ground, grimacing as the griffons converged around her, each of them anxiously waiting for her to land and recover from her exhaustion. I do not believe this will end well.... Nightmare closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and readied her sword as she prepared herself for the imminent struggle below. Her blade quivered in her grasp, her magical reserves also struggling under the heavy strain of the past months, but she held it as firmly as possible. I cannot waver if we wish to come out victorious tonight. I am the beacon of strength, the idol of victory.... Hesitation serves nobody on the battlefield.

“Fight for them, Luna. Show them that you are willing to sacrifice for their survival and they will rally behind you.”

The queen opened her eyes, expecting to see the lavender apparition hovering beside her, smiling at her with the same smile she had seen on her Twilight, but there was nothing, not even a griffon within earshot of her. Frantically, she spun, searching for the source, but found another welcoming sight instead. Her soldiers were pushing the griffons back, slowly, but surely, and they would be joining her shortly. She grinned, her pearly teeth glinting in the light of the moon as she braced her sword at neck level, and pulled her wings in for a dive. She met with the enemy below with as much force as they aimed to press upon her, swirling her own blade at lightning-fast speeds to counter and parry each thrust, swipe, and slicing arc, but even that wasn’t enough to save her from everything.

Each missed block was another notch carved into her thickened skin, each piercing stab created another gash to drain her blood into the growing pool of mixed life-fluids, and, were it not for the magic coursing through her body, Nightmare knew she would have been dead long ago. She cut down a griffon charging her flank, cleaving straight through his heavily plated midsection, and screamed as the sharp head of a spear pierced her ribs, narrowly missing her vital organs as it slid into her flesh. Her wicked weapon swung around to separate the griffon’s head from her body, but stopped short as another spear stuck in her shoulder, glancing off bone and burying itself awkwardly in her muscle.

Nightmare nearly collapsed from the pain, but managed to keep her balance and dispatched her two assailants only to have five more take their place. She gasped, erecting a thick bubble around herself as she whimpered and ripped the broken spear shafts from her body. I- I cannot keep this up.... Too much stamina spent.... Accursed griffons, you will rue the day that you brought my pure fury down upon your heads just as those who have called upon it before you! The alicorn’s eyes dilated, the thin reptilian slits expanding to encompass her irises as they began to radiate a pure, white light. She looked up into the sky, watching as the clouds roiled, stormed, and thundered, charging the air with electricity. Lightning struck, electrocuting a griffon just outside her bubble shield, but she was not done yet.

Her horn burst with silvery light, the growing spell overpowering the black aura maintaining her barrier, and the clouds split to reveal massive swirling portals filled with the blackness of space and the occasional ray of light. The first to notice the change were the aerial units. Pegasi and griffons alike froze in fear as the void above them sparked and roared, catching the first glimpse of the destruction to come. Their warnings went unheard as the thunderous roar grew, though it was still not loud enough for the soldiers below to recognize it over the cries of battle and death howls. Nightmare could feel the stars breaking apart just inside of the portals as they rocketed towards their targets and she licked her lips in anticipation. Tonight, none shall doubt my true ability! Tonight, they shall all die!

“Luna, no! Stop, or you’ll kill everybody!” Again, the voice in her mind forced her to scan the area, the charging spell dissipating.

Her concentration slipped just in time to prevent the first star piece from passing through the howling gates, but she cared little for the lost effort. “Twilight? Where are you? If you have come to haunt me again, then now is not the time!” She screamed, stamping her hoof, and glared down at the griffons around her. They were waiting again, waiting for her to lower her shell so that they could overwhelm her in her weakened state, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to kill them all before she fell to their instruments of death. “Damn my mental instability to Tartarus.... I should have known that my hallucinations would spell out my downfall....” She sighed, bracing herself for the inevitable as she tried to conjure up the false Twilight one last time before she perished, but nothing happened. Desperate wishes were muttered to bring the lavender mare back one last time so that she could feel the warmth of her body, the soft caress of her fur against her own, even if it was just her senses being fooled, but nothing happened. Not even the haunting whispers that had brought this death upon her returned.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she felt her spell fading. She could not maintain the shield any longer and it began to spark and shattered as she tried to pour magic she did not have into it until. As one, the griffons charged her, covering the short distance created by her bubble in a matter of seconds. Nightmare closed her eyes, waiting for the first bit of metal to cut into her and finally end her life, but was startled out of her stupor by a bellowing shout and a balance-shattering tremor from the ground in front of her. She fell to the earth, her body shaking as the fear of death finally began taking its toll on her, and shot a glance towards the massive bloody maul embedded in the ground at her hooves.

Jahurl lifted his club back into his grasp, winking at the black mare, and turned on the remaining soldiers, ignoring the choked gasps of the griffons he had smashed under the length of his weapon. Nightmare heaved a sigh of relief as more minotaurs and ponies converged on the area, swarming over the Griffonian forces that had not begun their retreat while some of the unicorns and smaller half-bovines assisted her in getting back on her hooves. She could feel the adoration from her ponies as they joined her, most of them having witnessed her brutal charge first-hand, but not the destruction she had planned to rain down upon them, and she silently thanked the phantom voice for interrupting her spell, knowing that she would have been one of the few to survive.

Already, the Griffonian siege force was retreating and cheers were beginning to rise from the ponies as they chased what few they could catch down. Ponies circled around her, dropping their weapons and praising her for her part in routing their foes. The scene almost brought a new batch of tears to her eyes, these ones of a much less somber origin than those shed in the recent past, and she almost didn’t feel the change in her own soul. Almost. It was a familiar sense, something she knew from long, long ago and it brought a slight smile to her face. Moon Beam. Are you well?

“Yes, mistress....” Nightmare’s smile widened and visibly stretched across her muzzle, much to the pleasure of her subjects, though it did not last as the deep, hissing voice of her soul-piece dropped in tone. “But.... There is something that you must know....”

Author's Notes:

Author’s Notes: So, I wasn’t expecting to get this out today, mostly because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to finish out the battle. I had several plans, most of them differing completely, but here’s how it turned out! The first real victory for the ponies, something they sure as sugar needed, and it was brought about not just by Nightmare, but her army’s effort as well. Maybe her view of them will turn for the better now? Who knows? She’s still such a silly pony. Anywho, hope you enjoyed and Merry Christmas! Peppy out~!