Nightshadow furiously flapped his wings, speeding after the falling Pegasus. The air seemed to offer no resistance whatsoever to his movements.

She was falling fast.

He was faster.

He always had some measure of pride for that. His speed was one of the few things he felt he could be proud of. It was... unnatural, even for an Alicorn. He could fly faster than any being alive, and had proven such before.

As he neared his target his horn began glowing. The dark aura enveloped the Pegasus, adjusting the Pegasus' descent. She landed squarely on his back, right before she hit the treeline. Nightshadow quickly ducked under the trees, hoping to Luna that nopony saw him...

Twilight ran inside her tree library and scrambled about, searching desperately for her first aid kit. Spike questioned her several times but got no answer. When he tried to stop Twilight in order to calm her down, he was immediately tossed to the side. She searched desperately for a few seconds until an idea came to her mind. ‘The locator spell!’ Twilight furrowed her brows and concentrated.

A purple aura enveloped her horn and Twilight began to be pulled towards a small cupboard on the kitchen. She tore the doors out of the cupboard with her magic, throwing them like she had thrown Spike. Twilight grabbed her first-aid kit and returned to the library floor and quickly went to her room. She found what she was looking for on her night table: A book that Rainbow had gotten her for her birthday one year. It was full of short horror novels. Twilight didn’t really care much for it, but it would work for what she had in mind. She placed both the book and the first-aid kit on her saddlebags and lifted both over her body. Twilight quickly skimmed through the contents of her saddlebag one final time and teleported herself out of the library

Twilight galloped. Her muscles burned and her heart pounded fiercely against her chest. She galloped past the crowds of ponies that had gathered to watch the horror, but she paid no attention to them. As she moved down the street, a slight movement overhead caused her to stop. She could have sworn that she saw a black line racing towards her falling friend. Twilight shook her head and dismissed it as her eyes playing tricks on her. ‘I can’t be distracted. I have a friend to save!’ She thought and resumed her sprint.

The Everfree Forest is a large, dangerous place, filled with horrible beasts. But nothing to an Alicorn. Especially an invisible one.

Nightshadow reached the edge of the forest that faced Ponyville at a time that would have made Rainbow proud had she been awake. He carefully levitated her off his back and onto the dirt ground. He tried to observe the damage inflicted by his sister but the tree canopy blocked every ounce of light reflected by the moon.

The dark aura enveloped his horn once again and soon, a small orb of white light began to glimmer on the tip of his horn. Nightshadow kept the light dim enough, as to not attract unnecessary attention towards himself. He surveyed the damage closely, casting old spells that were once used to see the outline of bones, cartilage, tendons and muscles. He directed the spell towards her body. He hadn't managed to slow the descent of the mare by much, so a few minor fractures were present. He also noticed that the muscles supporting her wing were strained.

He cast the arcane spell once again, focusing now on her wings. They were completely featherless, most of her skin was missing and bone fragments pierced the muscles and connective tissue around them. They had been bent at an unnatural angle, probably due to the puppeteer spell clashing with the Pegasus’ own will; pushing them past their limits. Nightshadow recognized the flame curse his sister had used, it was meant to keep anything it burned from healing naturally.

It was probable that she would never fly again.

"That... isn’t good." He thought aloud.

Nightshadow knew the possible ramifications of healing magic on such a large scale, but he had seen what had happened to Pegasi who became permanently grounded. At worst they lived hollow, emotionally broken lives. At best they killed themselves. He knew that this mare was especially attached to her wings. He counted himself lucky that Alicorn wings grew back, if damaged beyond repair.

Shadow began to think about what he had done; why exactly had he saved her. She meant nothing to him. A small, pained groan escaped the mare’s lips, breaking Nightshadow’s dilemma. What mattered now is that he had saved her. He was responsible for her life, now. All in all, he didn't have much of a choice. Shade was his responsibility. When she hurt somepony it was his job to set it right.

That was his talent, setting things right. ‘Ironic…’ He thought. ‘Considering what I am.’

He took in a deep breath and said: "I'm sorry, little one."

His horn began to glow.

He remembered what the wings were like before they became the charred, amorphous mass they were now....

Twilight was just outside of the Everfree. Her muscles ached and her lungs burned with each air intake. She stopped her galloping and picked her breath. Twilight had no idea where in the forest Rainbow fell; but she came prepared. As calmly as she could, she levitated the book out of her saddlebags. She focused her magic around the book, and slowly directed it into a locator spell. The spell shot out a pulse like sonar, drawing a small map in her head with a pair of dots representing herself and Rainbow Dash.

'The center of the forest?' Twilight gasped. She had hoped that Rainbow wasn't too far away, but those hopes were now dashed. In order to get to the center of the forest Twilight knew that she would have to move slowly, in order to avoid becoming the victim of a local predator. “Oh… this isn’t good! By the time I find her, it might be too late!” She sent out another pulse, just to be absolutely sure of Rainbow’s position.

Rainbow was now closer to her position."This can't be right." Twilight said, slightly frustrated. She pulsed the spell again. And again. She continued to do so until the dot suddenly stopped moving. According to the spell, her friend was now right inside the forest, just a few meters from where Twilight stood. Her thoughts shifted to the black streak she saw earlier. “Rainbow... I hope you’re OK!” Twilight wished to herself and galloped inside the forest.

Minutes passed and Twilight thankfully didn’t encounter any of Everfree’s many monsters. She pulsed the spell one more time; its mental map showed that she was very near Rainbow’s position. She slowly walked forward, thinking only about how bad Rainbow could be hurt when she saw the black creature land. Twilight immediately dived into a nearby bush. She could feel its crimson eyes linger on the vegetation for only a second before turning its attention back to her friend.

Twilight winced a bit when she dived into the thorny bush, but she dared not vocalize her pain. She had no idea who or what was out there with her friend. Twilight calmed herself and began to force a slower breathing. When she felt calm enough, Twilight risked a peek outside the brush; wanting to know what was beside Rainbow Dash, and how she could deal with it.

Twilight forced a hoof into her mouth to suppress a gasp. The creature beside Rainbow Dash was a pony. ‘No... an Alicorn!’ She thought, eyeing the pony’s black coat and blue mane. She kept on staring at the Alicorn until his face turned enough, allowing Twilight the sight of his eyes. Her heart instantly raced in her chest. Some kind of primal fear took hold of her, making her shake a bit. His eyes were blood-red with a slit pupil.

'Nightmare!' She immediately thought to herself. Her mind went a million miles a minute. 'How? Why? What does he want with Rainbow?' Twilight slowly ducked inside the thorny bush once more. ‘I have to get the other Elements! I have to get the Princesses! I have to get help...’ Her racing thoughts trailed off when she heard a masculine voice.

"That... isn’t good." The voice had a mix of concern and pity to it.

The stallion’s voice sent another stream of adrenaline in Twilight’s blood. Her muscled clenched. Her mind began to race once more. ‘I didn’t know there were other Alicorns besides the Princesses? Did he see me? What will he do to her?’ She fought against her muscles and dared another peek outside the bush.

The sight confused her. The dark Alicorn shook his head from side to side. ‘He seems almost... guilty?’

"I'm sorry, little one." He said after a deep breath. Guilt laced its voice along with sadness and anger.

His horn glowed. Twilight saw the dark aura surrounding his horn and retreated back under the vegetation once more.

Nightshadow didn’t know that somepony was spying on him. He also wouldn't have cared. Shadow closed his eyes, and with effort, he forced the image of the charred wings out of his mind. He took his time perfecting the wing in his mind. It needed to be perfect. He concentrated on the image of what they once were.

Two blue wings.

Fast and powerful wings.

The unconscious Rainbow Dash slowly levitated in the air. Twilight heard the black Alicorn whispering something inaudibly. Her curiosity got the best of her and she peeked her head out of the bush once more. Twilight watched the whole process. She saw the state her broken friend was in. She suddenly became unsure of what to do. She felt that whatever he was doing couldn't be good, but she didn't know what would happen if she tried to stop it.

She might end up hurting her friend worse.

'It's my fault in the first place. If only I were faster… this wouldn't have happened.'

Twilight couldn't look away. The stump that once had been Rainbow’s wing moved, as if the wing itself began to unfurl. Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw a dark aura outlining Rainbow’s wings. The aura grew thicker; shaping the wings and giving them volume.

Nightshadow subtly unfurled his wings and stamped his hoof on the ground, cracking any nearby stones and pebbles into dust.

A blinding flash of light.

Her dark wings twitched violently.

The dark veil of magic shaped the bones, making them grow to their fullest size. Loud snaps were heard as the bony wings bent, straightening themselves before falling to her side. Thick, strong muscles grew from the bone, shaping Rainbow’s wings once more. The charred burn ceased and gave way for the rapidly-growing skin. Feathers began to grow where the skin was still bare. Rainbow dropped to the ground inelegantly.

Twilight suppressed a gasp.

Rainbow’s wings…

They were whole again.

Nightshadow was afraid to see what he had done. It took a moment but he slowly opened his eyes.

There the cyan Pegasus lay, minor cuts and bruises remained open, but the bleeding had ceased. Her wings were no longer blackened pieces of bone and charcoal that hanged from her sides. They were now back to their spectacular form; strong muscles packed tightly under the skin.

He blinked a few times, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The spell he used was extremely dangerous, sometimes causing insanity or outright killing the subject. Nightshadow couldn't believe his luck, or rather her luck.

He breathed a long sigh of relief. Trotting next to the unconscious mare, he cautiously moved the mare's wings with his magic, flexing them, furling and unfurling them, flapping them a few times, making absolutely certain that nothing had gone wrong. The movement felt smooth enough for Nightshadow; any small bone fragment could be taken care of in a hospital, but he didn’t feel any. He noticed that the wings were actually a bit larger in span than they had been before. Nothing else was different.

Except for one thing.

The feathers at the tips of her wings had blackened.

Rainbow’s eyes slowly opened and looked over the creature standing beside her. She noticed the presence of a pair of wings and a horn on its head.

'Wha.... What?' Rainbow Dash got up and backed a few steps from the creature. She rubbed her eyes with both forehooves, trying to force away a wave of disorientation from getting up so quickly. When she opened them the creature was gone.

'Huh?!' She thought before acknowledging something.

She felt tired.

Very tired.

She heard Twilight yelling, and the sound of hooves moving quickly before slipping out of consciousness.

When Nightshadow made his way back to the cloud, he found his sister waiting for him. She glared daggers into him. "What was that!? Why did you have to go and ruin my fun!? It's not like I bother you when you’re doing your whole 'reflection' thing!" She yelled at him. Her voice had raised to an unnatural volume. Had both not been on such high altitude, they certainly would have been heard.

"Did she really have to die for you to have fun?" Nightshadow yelled back, but in a much lower volume than his sister.

"Yes!" She said, instantly getting within hoof distance from him. They glared at each other for a while. Nightshadow couldn't believe those words coming from his sister. Shade had never directly attempted to kill somepony before, at least not just for the sake of it. Sometimes it happened on accident, but she never played a prank with the intention of ending her subject's life.

Then Nightshade broke into a smile.

"Oh I see... she's a friend of that unicorn, isn't she?" She laughed loudly. The fact that Shade mentioned Twilight mixed with that laugher made Shadow angrier. "Alright brother! I forgive you... this time. I guess I should try to be a bit more careful with who I play my little jokes on, hmm?" She cackled madly and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Nightshadow wearily sighed. His sister's cruel pranks on 'normal' ponies were something he could never understand. He didn't see that as 'fun'. Maybe if she wasn't the way she was.

He knew she was getting worse.

One day she would go too far.

One day, she would have to answer for what she had done.

One day, he would have to destroy his only friend.

Eight months after Luna's banishment:

The two foals moved silently throughout the halls of the castle. It was much later than they were supposed to stay up, but they just had to know.

Earlier this day, they had both overheard a few of the guards talking about something to do with the night sky. The only thing that the two really remembered about the conversation, the one important thing, was that their aunt Tia could control the moon. Both foals had seen the moon before, and unlike most foals, who readily believed it, they were extremely skeptical.

"How can somepony, even a pony like Tia, move the moon?" Nightshade asked her brother.

"I don't know… maybe some kind of powerful magic?" Nightshadow replied. Shade shook her head.

"No magic is that powerful! At least… I don't think it is..." She said, a bit unsure of it herself. Nightshadow gave his sister an amused look.

"Oh just shut it! We're almost there..." Both foals kept their quiet trot through the castle halls. They slowly peeked around a particular corner. Down the hallway was Celestia's personal guard pony, standing outside her door. To both foals he seemed angry.

"Oh man, I forgot about him!" Said Nightshade, frowning a little bit in displeasure.

"Well, what do we do now Shade?" He turned to her sister, who placed a hoof on her chin and took her time to think.

"Oh! I know!" She said and placed her hoof on the floor. Her horn began to glow. Nightshade waited until the spell was nearly cast before she angled her head around the corner and pointed her horn towards the unsuspecting guard.

"What are you-" Shadow was cut by the silent energy bolt that flew towards the guard. The guard pony’s eyes widened when he saw it coming, but he didn't have time to react. The bolt connected to his chest and, for a moment Shadow thought that he was feeling pain. The guard then simply tumbled to the side and fell to the ground, snoring loudly.

"Whoa!" Nightshadow exclaimed, totally awestruck. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Nightshade thought for a moment before phrasing her answer. "I'm... not really sure." They both shrugged and trotted towards the ivory-adorned wooden door. They were careful not to wake the guard pony, or to alert Celestia to their presence. They slowly inched the door open, breathing silent sighs of relief as the door opened without any creak. Both foals peeked through the door, trying to find Celestia. As they saw nopony, both foals entered her room before Shadow turned to Shade:

"Huh... She's not here, Shade!" He said a little more emotionally than he meant to.

"That's weird… Aunt Tia is alw-" Shade was cut short by a familiar voice.

"Hello little ones." The voice made both foals jump, eliciting small yelps from the pair. They quickly looked behind them to meet two pairs of white hooves adorned with golden bangles. They raised their gaze to meet Celestia, who eyed them sternly.

"H-Hi aunt Tia!" They said in unison.

She looked to the unconscious guard pony, then looked back to the foals, and to their surprise, she smiled. "What is troubling the two of you?"

They both looked at each other guiltily.

"Well..." Nightshade began, looking at the floor and pawing it awkwardly with her hoof.

"We were wondering..." Nightshadow took where his sister faltered, but his voice too trailed off.

"If you could show us how you move the moon!" Nightshade said in a burst of courage. Celestia's smile instantly turned into a frown.

'Keep them away from anything that could be associated with Luna or Nightmare Moon! We don't know for sure what could trigger these memories… We don't even know if we could trigger the memories, but it is absolutely imperative that you do not expose them to anything related to Luna!'  The words of Greymane echoed in her head. 'Suppressed memories' he called it. Something they could deal with in time, but would certainly spell disaster if something were to cause them to relive them all at once.

'Still... perhaps it would be best? They have witnessed the moon plenty of times, and nothing bad has happened then.' She decided and smiled warmly at the twin foals.

"Alright, little ones. I'm sure that no harm would come of it. But afterwards you’re going straight to bed!" Celestia said in a motherly voice, to which they instantly nodded, happy that Celestia wasn't mad at them. She looked to the unconscious guard. Her horn glowed, embracing the guard in a golden veil of magic. Suddenly the guard was awake.

"Sleeping on the job, Wind?" He suddenly realized where he was, and became very nervous.

"Um... Yes! I mean no! I mean... I'm sorry your highness, I don't know what caused me to-" Celestia smiled and held her hoof up to silence him.

"It's alright Wind Strider. You can take the rest of the night off." The Pegasus' face immediately lit up.

"Thank you, your highness!" He cordially bowed and turned around. Celestia waited for him to fly off before continuing on, through her room and out onto the balcony. The foals followed closely behind, eager to see what she would do.

It wasn't nearly the spectacle everypony made it out to be, but Celestia understood why they overplayed the event so much, it was the movement of two celestial bodies after all. But to her it was all so... simple.

They all looked out into the night sky.

Celestia raised her head as her horn glowed brightly. The air cooled around them. Moonlight seemed to gather around her horn. Celestia began to feel the moon with her magic. She acknowledged its size, its weight and the powerful presence that now resided on it. The moon began to fall down, ever so slowly. Her horn stopped glowing, she had set her charge on its course.

She held back small tears. Even though it had been several months, she still felt saddened, knowing that Luna was up there. "There we go! I'll have to come back in a little while to finish the job, but for now you two... need... to..." Her words trailed off as she looked to Nightshade.

Nightshadow was frowning and scratching the back of his head. 'Why does it feel like I've seen this before?' He looked at his sister, but found himself unable to ask his question at the sight of her.

Nightshade was shaking violently. Cold sweat forming and flowing from her forehead. Her heart fought against her chest, pounding heavily. She was terrified. Her mind was on full automatic mode, showing her a plethora of different images at great speeds. She saw Celestia as a little filly, Queen Gaia, the night sky, the strange artifact she had found...

Nightshade squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the images. When she opened them she found herself in a pitch black room, with no illumination whatsoever. She couldn't even tell where the ground was as if the world had suddenly become solid darkness.

"Sh- Shadow?" She called out into the darkness. Not a sound was heard after the words left her lips. "Where am I?" She tried again, still getting no answer. She began instinctively stepping backwards. Her eyes were tearing up. "O- OK Shadow, you got me! I'm s-sorry for dumping that water bucket on your head yesterday."

Shade began sobbing. "T- This isn't funny anymore... Please, Shadow!"

Her brother had almost never been very far away, and when he was, she always had Tia, or a guard, or a servant to talk to. To make her feel protected. This was the first time she was ever truly alone. “P- Please… somepony…” She took a large amount of air in her lungs and yelled with everything she had: “ANYPONY!”

She cried for what felt like hours. The darkness felt unusually cold against her coat. Her first experience with loneliness was being a harsh one.

It was then that a light shone in the darkness.

“S- Shadow…?” Shade trotted slowly towards the blue light. Something about it felt... nice. The darkness felt less and less cold as she neared the source of light. Shade could tell it was from a spell, she could see the point of the horn, but it was shining too brightly to see who was casting it.

As she neared the light, it became dimmer. She could now make out two wings on the back of the stranger. She did not care for whom exactly that pony was. It felt familiar to her. She simply moved faster, the loneliness quickly dispelled from her mind. As long as there was somepony else around her, it did not matter who or what they were.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She knew that something was wrong. She didn’t know what to do. The presence by itself comforted her… but it also scared her. She slowed her trot but kept going towards the light. As she got closer the light dimmed even more. She could see the stranger's eyes. They were like hers, but blue.

She suddenly stopped. The light on the tip of the stranger's horn dimmed again, barely illuminating the space around the two. Shade could now see the stranger clearly. She had a black coat, with a beautiful mane that looked as if the night sky itself were alive. Nightshade looked at the pony with amazement and fear.

The pony looked down at Shade, as if noticing her for the first time. Its eyes pierced Shade's, looking for something in behind them. A smile slowly formed on the its face.

"Hello, little one." Shade recoiled at the sound of her voice. The voice itself was surprisingly warm, welcoming even. What left Shade startled was that she recognized the voice as being her own.

"Who... Who are you?" The little filly asked, to which the adult Alicorn frowned.

"You already know, don't you?" Shade was about to reply when the images violently flashed her mind again. She tried to block them away, but in desperation she found out that she could not.

"Wh- Why? Why are y- you... make it stop please!" Her head began to hurt. Shade grasped her head with both her forehooves, collapsing on the ‘floor’. A small smile formed on the adult Alicorn’s mouth. Shade began to feel the ‘air’ weight itself onto her. Small tears began to well up on her firmly closed eyes.

"Oh it will. But first you must do something for me."

"W- What?" Shade was barely able to phrase her question. The headache began to pound on her forehead as if her heart had switched places with her brain. The adult Alicorn leaned down to the filly and whispered a single word.

"Remember.../i]"

It's true what they say: In the dark, nopony can hear you scream.

"SHADE?!" Her brother violently shook her with her forehooves, successfully bringing her away from her nightmare. Her eyes shot open and she gasped for air. Nightshadow hugged his sister tightly. He quickly broke the hug and let her stand by herself. "Shade are you alright?!" She slowly looked up. Her eyes gazed past Nightshadow, past Celestia, past Canterlot. She looked at the falling moon.

She began to weep.

Celestia moved to the filly's side in an attempt to comfort her. Nightshade saw Celestia’s closing in on her and screamed. The scream resembled a howl of pure agony. The highest amount of physical pain on the weakest pony in Equestria couldn’t elicit such emotion. Nightshade was terrified of something.

Celestia and Nightshadow, taken by suprise at the filly's sudden outburst, did nothing to stop her from running back into the castle’s corridors. Shade galloped as fast as her little legs allowed her. She galloped down the hallway and back into the sibling's room, slamming the door shut.

Nightshadow blinked in confusion and looked to Celestia. "Tia.... what just happened?" His voice showed concern for his sister, but Celestia couldn’t see if he was on the verge of tears himself. She frowned as she remembered the look that Nightshade gave her. The fear in her eyes. The piercing scream.

Celestia remembered.

It was the last image she had of her sister… before she banished her to the moon.