Nightmare Moon’s life had been dull for quite some time, but her research had once again paid off. Twilight’s dragon-detecting spell had alerted the dark mare the second the dragon crossed into Equestria, and she’d used her own storm spell to slow him down. Twilight’s detailed notes taught the princess everything she needed to know about the dragon’s strengths and weaknesses, and though she had no idea why he was in Equestria now, she knew it would be easy enough to finish him off.

That was the plan, anyway. The dragon didn’t seem very eager to cooperate.

Nightmare Moon was out of breath when she hit the ground and ducked under a snow bank. Blistering green flames hit the ground a second later, turning the ice to water and blasting her with hot air. She cast a quick barrier spell as wave after wave of fire rained down on her. Her blizzard had long since worn off, and despite everything she’d read about dragons, this one was giving her far more trouble than she’d bargained for.

“A barrier spell, huh?” A purple mass shook the ground a short distance away. “Nice try, but Twilight taught me all about that one.”

Nightmare Moon gritted her teeth and ducked as a bright green spear of flame shot toward her, smashing her barrier to pieces. Even in death, Celestia’s protégé was making her life difficult. She quickly morphed into a bluish cloud and sped away, trying desperately to come up with a plan. The dragon—she thought Spike was his name—was quick in the air, and his scales had so far repelled every spell she shot at him. Even his wings gave him an advantage. A normal dragon surely would have tired by now, but those mechanical contraptions ran on some kind of magic, which left him with more strength to maneuver and fight.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Spike yelled, shooting into the air after the blue puff of cloud. Nightmare juked to the side as his jaws closed around her, barely escaping his toothy grip. She assumed her pony form and delivered a quick kick to his belly. Spike let out a gasp and clutched his stomach, losing a few feet of altitude before he could recover. “It’ll take more than that to stop me!” he yelled.

“Oh, will it?” Nightmare Moon cackled as an aura burst around her horn. A second later, a lightning bolt shot toward the dragon, but a second was all it took from him to twist his body around. The lightning struck his side and bounced off the thick purple scales. The dark mare had to do a quick dive to avoid being hit herself, and the next thing she knew, green flames were licking at her black coat.

Nightmare Moon screamed as she hit the snow, rolling to put out the flames. The burns weren’t too severe, but they still smarted when she moved. “Looks like you’re losing your touch,” Spike said, smiling despite his heavy breathing as he slowly circled the dark mare. “Twilight said it would happen eventually.”

“Twilight Sparkle was a fool,” Nightmare Moon spat, turning to keep the dragon in her sight. “Her feeble magic was no match for my powers.”

“Yeah, right,” Spike said with a laugh. “Princess Celestia didn’t pick just anypony to be her personal student.”

Nightmare Moon growled as a dark beam lanced from her horn, striking the dragon squarely in the side. It didn’t hurt him, but it did knock him over. “Celestia was a bigger fool than Twilight,” she said with the fiercest glare she’d given anything in years. “She never cared that nopony paid attention to my night, and she banished me for a thousand years for trying to do something about it.”

“All you’ve done is destroy Equestria,” Spike replied, his smile replaced with a scowl. “If you ask me, Celestia didn’t banish you for long enough.”

“That weakling couldn’t even defeat me when she had the chance,” the princess said with a smirk as her horn lit up once again. “Neither could your precious Twilight, and neither will you!”

Spike lunged forward, teeth bared and claws outstretched. Nightmare Moon hit him with a blast of lightning and leapt into the air, easily dodging his attack as he dove blindly toward her. She rained several more lightning bolts down on the disoriented dragon, striking his head, tail, and wings. Spike let out a roar and shot yet another jet of green flame at her, but this one she dodged easily as she continued her aerial assault.

A lucky lightning bolt penetrated his wings’ armor, causing a small explosion that crippled the dragon’s left wing. Spike roared again as he shied away from the heat, flinging the ruined wing away from his body. When the smoke cleared, Nightmare Moon could see that some of the scales on his shoulder had been blown off, leaving the surrounding area charred and black.

“Well, well, not entirely fire-proof, are you?” she murmured with a grin. The wound was small, and Spike’s thrashing made it difficult to get a clear shot, but after a couple tries, she managed to land a lightning bolt on his exposed flesh. Spike screamed. His left side gave out, and he slumped into the snow, coughing and breathing deeply.

“Had enough, dragon?” the dark princess gloated as she circled her wounded foe. Her side still stung from his flames, but stronger than her pain was the satisfaction of knowing she had a dragon at her mercy.

“Lucky hit,” Spike gasped, struggling to raise himself from the ground.

“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Nightmare Moon said. “I have whatever idiot built those miserable wings to thank for their poor design.” Spike glowered at her, but another lighting blast to his wounded shoulder sent him slumping back to the ground. “Who was it?” the princess wondered out loud. “Was it the griffons? Or was it your pathetic caretaker?”

“Twilight Sparkle was a million times the pony you’ll ever be,” Spike growled.

“Twilight Sparkle is dead,” the princess replied. “Funny, isn’t it? I killed her teacher, I killed her, and now, I’m going to kill the closest thing to a student she ever had.”

“Whatever you say, Luna.”

The princess froze, her heart skipping several beats. “What did you just say?”

Despite the paralysis in his left side, Spike managed a grin. “Luna,” he repeated. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth and struck him with another lightning bolt. “I abandoned that name over a thousand years ago,” she growled.

“Celestia didn’t,” Spike said. “She told Twilight all about you in the second-to-last letter she ever sent me. How you two were sisters, how you were jealous of Celestia’s day.”

“How dare you!” Nightmare Moon pounded the snowy ground with a hoof, causing the ice beneath to crack. She almost killed the dragon then and there, but something stopped her. “You said second-to-last. What did the last one say?”

Spike’s eyes glittered as he smirked at her. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was addressed to you.” His eyes widened, his cheeks puffed out, and with a belch of green flame, an old scroll appeared, held closed with Celestia’s seal. “That never did get any easier,” the dragon mumbled.

Nightmare Moon ignored him and opened the scroll with her magic. The message was short, but it was enough to make the dark mare’s blood boil. She tossed the scroll aside and hit Spike with another electric jolt. “You think you can trick me?” she demanded. “You think I’m afraid of a mare I defeated over a decade ago?”

“Maybe you should be,” Spike murmured, struggling to keep his eyes open. “Twilight always said the ghosts of our past are the ones we should fear the most.”

Nightmare Moon clenched her teeth as she flew closer to the dying dragon. “I can agree with that,” she said softly, her muzzle close to whatever passed as ears for dragons. “It was true for Celestia. It was true for Twilight. And now, it’s true for you.”

The dark mare pointed her horn directly at Spike’s wound and let loose a vicious stream of electricity. Spike’s body writhed and shook as her attack fried every nerve in his body. When she stopped, the dragon slumped to the ground, never to move again. “Good riddance.”

With her foe defeated, Nightmare Moon began to feel the effects of their long battle. Her muscles were stiff and sore, her side still ached, and she could feel a horrible headache coming on from using so much magic. “You were a worthy opponent,” she said to the dragon’s corpse. “I will give you that.” She spread her wings and flew toward Canterlot, determined to add a few notes of her own to Twilight’s. The snow slowly began to cover the last letter Spike delivered, burying its message in the frozen waste.

Your night will not last forever, sister. The day will come again. – Celestia