Rainbow Dash watched the restaurant doors with anticipation. Her mischievous grin widened she caught glimpse of a stallion trotting out the door. "Alright!" She whispered. "Here comes another one."

"Excellent!" A voice next to her replied. "One moment..." The voice giggled as its owner moved into position behind the unsuspecting stallion. She took in a deep, silent breath. The stallion stopped for a moment upon hearing the sound and looked behind him.

"BOO!" She screamed with a voice that almost toppled off the Royal Canterlot Voice. The stallion jumped into the air, unknowingly hitting a magic tripwire.

A thin bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck him on the flank. He yelped in pain and jumped into the nearest body of water in hopes of curing the burning sensation. As he jumped in, he yelped in pain once again, clutching his hoof and violently shaking it as a small shark-like fish made out of a black aura refused to let go. He ran through town like a maniac, trying to get the fish that only he could see off of him.

Nightshade quickly teleported herself along with Rainbow Dash to a nearby cloud, on which both kept laughing heartily at the stallion's misfortune. "H-How... How did you even do that? Twilight's magic is never that fun!"Rainbow asked as she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye, causing Nightshade to giggle.

"Well, when you live as long as I have you learn some things..." She said, almost getting lost into old memories.

Rainbow Dash gave her new friend a confused look, before face-hoofing. "Oh, right! You're an Alicorn! Duh!" Both had become friends in a very small time span, namely through their mutual love for pranks.

Which is exactly why Nightshade didn't say anything about her earlier trick with Rainbow. She was probably the only friend she had ever had except for Nightshadow, and Shade held her share of regret for what she did to her. Nightshade's broken mind hadn't encountered regret for so long that this new ‘friendship’ deal scared a bit...

She knew that she could tell Rainbow about the little trick, but Shade knew that Rainbow would never speak to her again. Shade’s mind was comfortable accepting her as a friend. Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, pondering how exactly she would ask her next question. "You know, the only ponies I've known who lived for as long as you are the Princesses." Nightshade tensed at the mention of the Royal Sisters, but said nothing. "I was wondering; do you have any cool stories?"

Nightshade lit up. Nopony had ever wanted to hear about any of the things she’s done before. Of course, most ponies that saw her ran away. "Oh I have lots of stories!"

Rainbow Dash looked at her, expectantly. "Liiiike…?" She said wiggling her brows, inviting Shade to continue.

Nightshade's smile disappeared. "Well, that's the thing, see. Most of the really good ones are things Nightshadow told me not to talk about. Buuut..." She put a hoof under her chin, and adopted a mischievous grin. "Since you already know about us and already promised not to tell anypony... sure! Why not?"

Dash couldn’t contain her bottled anxiety and did a quick back flip before setting back over the cloud. "Awesome! So tell me a story then!"

Shade began to name some of her experiences on Equestia, mainly the ones she thought Rainbow would find interesting. "Oh well there's that time I met a basilisk and she thought I was her mommy, or that time a bunch of diamond dogs wanted that gem I found and Nightshadow ended up becoming their leader, or the time I got sent to the moon. I also-"

"What? Wait, wait, wait." Rainbow interrupted her, gesticulating with both her forehooves. "You... went to the moon once?" She asked Nightshade, voice nearing doubt.

She nodded. "Yep! I was sent there for..." She tapped her head, trying to recall the length of her stay."... twenty years once!” She said, almost sounding proud of it.

Rainbow's jaw hung open. "B-But why?"

Nightshade laughed. "Well, that's part of the story, silly!" She paused and trotted to a comfortable spot on the cloud. "You see I wasn't always who I am today! I used to be a lot... angrier..."

Thirty years after the twins' escape:

The black Alicorn mare awoke with a deep yawn. The stars in her mane glistened slightly as she rose from her slumber. 'Ah. What does the world have in store for me today?' She thought while stretching her leg muscles. She moaned a little as her joints snapped. "Ah... that feels nice." She said to nopony in particular.

Nightshade suddenly remembered where she was, her vision was slightly obscured by golden bars running horizontally in front of her. A magic nullifying cage. 'Oh. Right…' She saw two unicorn ponies in the room with her; Eclipse guards flanking either side of the relatively large cage.

"Soooo..." She started. "How are you guys doing on this beautiful day?"

"Quiet you." One of them snapped.

Nightshade smiled and approached that guard. "Come now, is that any way to treat a friend?"

"No friend of mine would butcher an entire town." The same guard replied, hinting that his patience was nearing an end.

Nightshade laughed. "Really? That's too bad. It seems like we're gonna be spending a lot of time together. I just figured I'd-" The guard tapped the cage, a bolt of electricity shot out from the ceiling, shocking the Alicorn.

She just smiled, not even wincing from the slight pain the bolt provided. "Now that wasn't very nice." The loud sound of the large hallway door slamming shut made Nightshade’s ears perk up. Both of the guards immediately stiffened. Celestia walked up to the cage and glared sternly at its occupant.

"Leave us." She said. Her tone wasn’t that of an angry pony, but her voice carried such strength and volume, that the walls seems to shake and reverberate to her every word. The guards bowed and did as she commanded.

"Tia! It's so good to see you again! I was beginning to wonder if I would ever-"

"Why?" Celestia looked deep into Nightshade’s eyes. She saw that the Sun Princess’ eyes were bloodshot and were swollen, as if the Princess spent many hours crying.

Nightshade blinked. "What?"

"Why did you do it?! I know you're angry! I know you're hurt! But why did so many innocents deserve your anger!?" Nightshade noticed that Celestia’s voice was cracking… she was nearing her breaking point.

Shade then did something the Princess didn’t expect. She laughed. "You want to know why I did it? It's a very simple and boring answer."

"Tell me." Celestia’s voice lost all her sadness as it strongly reverberated through the walls once more.

Nightshade stifled her laughter down to a soft giggle. "OK, why not?" She leaned her head in closer to the edge of the cage, and motioned Celestia to do the same. But Celestia never moved.

"Because. I. Could." She whispered and smiled another wicked grin. Celestia stared in shock and disgust. She had never met anypony with such low regard for a fellow pony’s life. Seeing Celestia's reaction just caused her to laugh more. "So, what exactly are you going to do about it, huh?"

Celestia’s demeanor darkened. Nightshade could feel her anger, but wasn’t fazed by it at all. "Nightshade, your crimes are unforgivable, and the fact that you have no remorse for them is unacceptable! By this time tomorrow I will enact your punishment. I suggest you pray that I be lenient."

"Oh please. When have you ever been lenient?" The sudden venomous tone her voice took caused Celestia to recoil in surprise again. She turned from Nightshade and began to walk hastily towards the exit. "Good bye, Aunt Tia! I'll be seeing you again tomorrow."

Celestia motioned for her waiting guards to retake their positions, and began the brief journey through the castle hallways towards her room. She waited until she was alone in her chambers before bursting into tears. Wind Strider stood outside the door, silently listening to the Sun Princess’ sorrow.

He knew what Celestia was about to do. The emotional toll over Celestia for sending her sister away was huge. She wouldn’t forgive herself for resigning another pony to the same fate. Especially a pony she cared for. Wind Strider sighed, he knew that what he was about to do was reckless, dangerous... but his mind was already set. ‘I won’t just stand by and watch Celestia doom herself!'

Nightshadow watched as the younger colts and fillies played below from his perch on top of the farmhouse. He smiled as they chased each other through barns and the small forest of apple trees. ‘So carefree…’ He thought with a slight tinge of warm envy.

The Apple family had done so much for him; he couldn't believe how lucky he was for stumbling upon that mare in the road. He had pleaded with them, asking for a chance to repay all the good that they had bestowed upon him. They would have no such thing; Nightshadow was their guest and as such, the only thing they wanted from him was his well-being.

He sighed... They had done so much for him and never asked for anything in return. Red somehow knew that he would need to learn magic and flight, and had visited a local library without Nightshadow asking. One of the first things he learned how to do was bend light, essentially making himself invisible. That spell is what allowed him to move about Emberglen freely.

It wasn't by all means perfect; if anypony stared at him long enough they would see a small Alicorn-shaped distortion, caused when the brain tries to process what the eye doesn't understand. But it would work for this occasion.

He saw a pony flying in the distance, heading for the orchard. The pegasus landed. He looked familiar, but Nightshadow couldn't put an exact name to him.

"Excuse me miss?" The Pegasus said as he trotted up to Red. "Can I talk to you for a second?" His tone was regal, imposing. Like a guardspony. Nightshadow unfurled his dark wings and glided to the pair, gently landed beside them. None of the ponies acknowledged his presence. That was something he was good at, being silent.

"I was wondering if you could take a look at this sketch..." The Pegasus reached for his saddlebags and removed a parchment from within. Shadow saw the royal emblem securing the folded parchment but kept still. The Pegasus opened and unfolded the parchment before holding it with its magic to Red. Nightshadow's eyes widened when he saw that the picture was a startling resemblance to himself as a foal.

"Uh... well… ya’ see..." Nightshadow cringed, he knew that Red wouldn’t willingly report him to the authorities. But there was that Apple family honesty... Nightshadow didn’t want to compromise neither the Apple family’s reputation nor Red’s honesty… He knew that there was always a possibility that he would be found. He stopped putting his energy into the spell and it faded, the light passing through normally. The other two ponies jumped in surprise when they saw him subtly blink into existence.

"You've caught me guardsman. These ponies had nothing to do with my hiding, they were just kind enough to take in a stranger at a bad time in his life. Please, if you have to-" The pony lifted a hoof to silence him.

"Shadow, it's OK. I just need to talk to you about something." Shadow’s ears perked up at the familiar sound of that voice.

"Strider... ? Is that really you?!" A warm smile began to form on his face.

The bodyguard chuckled. "Yeah, it's me." He inspected Nightshadow and whistled. "Wow. You've... grown." Nightshadow was as tall as Wind Strider now, his wings had become easily eight times the size they were when he was just a young colt. It was in the nature of Alicorns to be larger than normal ponies, but he was still very young by Alicorn standards.

Nightshadow chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his forehoof. "Yeah… Thirty years will do that to you..."

"Has it really been that long?" Wind Strider said thoughtfully.

"I honestly thought it was longer." Nightshadow said. Both became silent for a long time. Red sensed a little tension in the air and looked to Shadow, who nodded. Red smiled at him, walking away so they could talk in private. "Why are you here, Strider?" Wind Strider sighed. He wished that it could be avoided, but this was the part that he was dreading.

"It's about Shade... your sister" Nightshadow tensed a bit. He hadn't heard that name in years, since he first confided in Red about the truth of his situation.

Nightshadow knew that whatever demanded the presence of Celestia’s bodyguards wasn’t something good. Especially when Nightshade was involved. "What happened?" Strider lowered his head and stared at the ground.

"They found her, Shadow. She... killed a lot of ponies a few days ago. They caught her last night. She didn't even try to get away..." Nightshadow cringed. His sister was a monster when he left her.

‘Could she... have gotten worse without me?’ Nightshadow thought before vocalizing his next question. "What is Tia going to do?"

"At best... she'll have her executed... but I don't think she can do that. You know how her guilt can eat at her." You see, the bodyguard got it in his head that he needed to stop Celestia from doing something she would regret, not in the sense of ‘I'm gonna hurt you if you do that’ but in the literal sense of things. That made him look for the only pony that he knew could help.

"No!" Nightshadow said, the acid practically dripping from his words. "I don't! Remember? I was the one she was trying to kill before Shade-"

"She wasn't trying to kill you." Wind Strider cut him mid-sentence.

"I'm sorry?!"

Strider sighed and proceeded to explain what exactly went wrong that night. He explained how Celestia had only called off the search after the bodies of the first team that were discovered. She had only stopped looking because she couldn't handle any more ponies being hurt because of her. In turn, Nightshadow told Strider about how soon after that event he had separated from Nightshade, how he hadn't seen her in years.

"I came here to tell you this because I thought you deserved to know. I don't know what you'll do with what I told you, and frankly, I don't want to know. But Celestia can't handle much more heartache. I'm worried that what she's about to do finally push herself over the edge."

"You... never told me what she was going to do, Wind." Nightshadow said, partially scared of the answer.

"I didn't, did I? Must have been trying to avoid the question. She hasn't actually announced what Shade's punishment will be, but..." He tailed off.

"But?" Nightshadow urged him.

"... but I think she's gonna banish her to the moon." Shadow could have sworn he heard the sound of a string snapping.

"WHAT!?" Every aspect of Shadow’s demeanor changed. His strong voice seemed to physically shake the Unicorn before him.

"Hold on, we don't know for su-"

"SHE'S GOING TO SEND HER TO THE MOON?! THE THING FLOATING UP IN THE NIGHT SKY!? IMPRISONED UP THERE WITH THAT NIGHTMARE MONSTER!?"

"Shadow calm down-" Wind Strider backed up a bit at Nightshadow’s furious display.

"No! How could I be expected to be calm when-"

"Because you still have time!” Wind Strider found the courage to cut him off. “Celestia said that her punishment wouldn't be decided until after nightfall. Canterlot is not far from here, you should be able to get there in time as long as Celestia doesn't change her mind."

For a moment, the only audible thing was the wind’s harsh treatment to the apple tree’s leaves. Wind Strider gave one step forward and looked Nightshadow deep in the eyes. "Maybe you can convince Celestia to think of another way. Maybe you can help Shade escape. I just... wanted to give you the opportunity to keep anypony from being hurt... Celestia included."

Nightshadow took a deep, calming, breath. He considered briefly that it wasn't really his problem. He could simply ignore what Strider told him and do nothing. He had a good life after all, why throw away what he had? But he found out that he he couldn't.

He couldn't leave his sister behind.

Not again.

"Thank you, Wind Strider." Wind Strider nodded.

"I'm going to be staying in town for a while, Canterlot-" He pointed to his right. "-Is in that direction. You can fly with those wings, right?" Shadow nodded. "Okay." Nightshadow turned around towards the farmhouse and galloped inside. Wind Strider simply stood there for a few moments, before adding under his breath "Good luck, Nightshadow..."

Explaining things to the Apples was a bit harder than he wanted it to be, but eventually they had accepted that this was something he had to do. They had wished him the best and soon he was on his way.

He made sure to fly high in order to keep ponies from identifying him as anything more than a black-coated Pegasus while heading in the direction of Canterlot. He thought with his new understanding of what happened he could convince Celestia that it was all a misunderstanding, Shade would go free, everypony would be happy.

The best laid plans of mice and stallions.

Nightshade was taken from the chamber, the cage being levitated by a small group of guard Unicorns. She was brought to the Princess' throne room, in which Celestia awaited. Celestia looked stern but Nightshade could see the glimmer of sorrow in her eyes.

"You are accused with the deaths of over eighty-five ponies, not including guardsponies sent to capture you, which would bring the total to over a hundred. You have destroy-"

"Ahem. Princess, if you could just please move this along? If I’m here to make my case, then I plead guilty to all charges. If not, then let us please continue." Celestia was somewhat shocked by Shade's interruption, but she did not allow herself to show this feeling.

"Very well. If you know the court so well, then you know the punishment." Five orbs floated out from behind her. A familiar tiara appeared on her head.

Nightshadow moved through the castle hallways quickly. He managed to sneak in with his invisibility spell, but the lack of practice made it impossible for him to maintain it for too long. He suddenly blinked into existence in front of two, very surprised, guard ponies flanking the door leading into the throne room.

"Halt!" They both said in unison, advancing towards him. Nightshadow risked a glance to a nearby window. It was nearly nighttime.

"I don't have time for this!" Nightshadow shouted. "Out of the way!" He tackled the guardspony; a swift kick sent the first guard flying. The second attempted to jump at him, only to be levitated into the air, crashing into the ceiling with enough force that would have cracked his skull had he not been wearing a helmet.

He got up and galloped, bursting through the double doors just in time to see the rainbow shoot towards his sister.

"No!" Was all he could manage. His sister turned back towards him, a look of confusion in her face. As the Elements hit her, she did not scream in pain as Nightmare Moon did. She simply smiled kindly at her brother.

The bright flash, as quick as it came, subdued.

Then she was gone.

Nightshadow was once again, alone.

Anger, guilt, sadness, all came bubbling to the surface. Having nothing else, he took these emotions out on the only thing available at the time. Nightshadow couldn’t control himself. His emotions took the form of an arc of lightning.

Celestia was so shocked by his sudden entrance that she did not attempt to dodge the incoming assault. Instead, one of her more loyal guardsmen leapt in front of the attack meant for Celestia. His body twitched violently until Nightshadow ceased casting the spell. The guardspony lay dead on the floor, his coat seemed fine, but thin streaks of smoke were slowly raised from his body.

Nightshadow had just killed another pony, something he had never done before. Something never considered doing before.

"CELESTIA!" He screamed, his voice booming loudly, echoing throughout the castle. He charged another spell, firing raw magic in bolts. This time, several of the unicorns had recovered their wits. They quickly deployed a barrier around the Sun Princess, who was still too shocked to react.

Nightshadow hit the barrier with everything he had. He kicked it. He dived into it. He fired off more energy. But the unicorns’ barrier was too strong. He knew it was useless, but everything inside of him burned and urged him to maintain his attacks.

'Stop.' A voice in the back of his head caused him to pause. 'You cannot overcome her guards. How can you defeat Celestia if you cannot even best her guards?' In truth, the unicorns were almost tapped out, but they were doing a good job of not showing it.

Nightshadow was unsure whether he should reply to voices in his head, but at this point he didn't have much left to lose.

'Run.' The voice said. Nightshadow broke out of his surprise just in time to evade a magic bolt shot by one of the unicorn guards 'Run away. Live to fight another day.' The voice had calmed him, and with the calm came his rational side, which wholeheartedly agreed with the voice. He couldn't do anything now.

'You’re still no match for them... but one day, you will. Take my advice and you will have your revenge soon.' Nightshadow slowly began backing out of the room, never taking his eyes off of Celestia.

"This isn’t over!" He said before slamming the double doors shut with his magic. The guards immediately hurried after the would-be assassin. Celestia simply collapsed to the ground and gently took her head in between her forehooves.

‘What have I done?’

Nightshadow stopped above the canopy in the very forest Nightshade and himself had ran to when they first escaped Celestia’s wrath.

'Shade...' He felt like crying. But something else in his mind replaced his sadness. He now had a purpose.

He knew what he should do.

He knew what he was going to do.

'I can show the way...' He paused and thought for a moment.

"How could you possibly help me?" He asked the voice.

'She is older than you... stronger than you... she has the Elements of Harmony... as of the moment if you were to fight her you would lose. But there is a way.' He said nothing, allowing the voice to continue. 'There is ancient power locked away in Equestria... hidden by Celestia from the eyes of normal ponies. But not from your eyes. Not my eyes.'

A wicked smile crept onto Nightshadow’s face. “Go on...”

'Harmony does not hold all of the Elements...'

The present day:

Rainbow Dash stared mouth agape at Nightshade as she recounted her story with enthusiasm unmatched by anypony, save for Pinkie Pie. ‘It is as if she enjoyed being sent to that dreadful prison!’

"To be honest, the moon wasn't all that bad a place!" Nightshade said, almost reading Rainbow’s thoughts.

She shook her head to fight off the dumbfounding effects of Nightshade's story. Rainbow Dash briefly considered whether or not there was any truth to it. Nightshade was like a mad-mare the way she told such disturbing story without batting an eye.

"So... what's it like... on the moon?"

Nightshade frowned. "It was... weird. I could see everything going on in Equestria at night. I could see what the Princess, Nightshadow, and all the other little ponies were doing, even though most of them were asleep. It was also... cold. Very cold. You don't have a body when you're trapped in the moon, but it still felt... cold for some reason." She involuntarily shivered at the memory. "Any-who, I think I've talked enough for now. I couldn't really tell you the rest of the story anyway since I wasn't paying much attention to it at the time!"

"What?" Rainbow was clearly more confused than before.

Nightshade laughed.

"Yeah, I wasn't really paying attention to the second bit! That all happened on Equestria. Nope, I was too busy..." Her voice trailed off.

"Too busy doing what?" Rainbow frowned. ‘What is there to be busy with on the moon?’

Nightshade frowned once more. "I'd rather not talk about that. Let's just say I... learned some things Miss Nightmare didn't want me to."