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The Stars of Nightmare Moon

by Mysterious Stranger

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The master mind

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Just as Night Mist turned around to head back to the cave, he came face to face with Frazzle Spark.

"Hey Night Mist!" the dark red unicorn greeted cheerfully. "Princess Celestia has really outdone herself with the sun today hasn't she?"

"Did she really?" grinned Sharp Wing as he approached the two ponies. "Or do we just think its a nice day because we thought we would never see daylight again?"

"Perhaps its actually a ugly day, but we're all too appreciative of it to realize it," Night Mist suggested dryly.

Night Mist mentally kicked himself the second the words left his mouth. Briefly he considered making some excuse to leave so he could deliver the message Nightmare Moon had given him, but decided not to rush it. Eclipse wasn't going to do anything until Night Mist got back anyway, so he had plenty of time.

"Good point," smirked Frazzle Spark. "I should think twice before I decide it’s a beautiful day."

"It’s a crazy day though," Sharp Wing quipped. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that Princess Celestia has a sister."

Night Mist inwardly panicked at Sharp Wing's words. It seemed that both Frazzle Spark and Sharp Wing knew a lot about what had happened after Nightmare Moon returned. He would have to careful to avoid talking about things they didn't know, while at the same time pretending to know what they already knew.

"Me too," Frazzle Spark remarked. "Her name was Princess Luna right?"

"No, not Luna. I heard someone say her name was Luma," Sharp Wing corrected.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn it was Luna."

"It's Luma," Night Mist said with false confidence. "I heard someone say it was Luma too."

"Well, if you both heard Luma, I must have heard wrong," Frazzle Spark figured.

"Speaking of new ponies, have either of you met Twilight Sparkle yet?" Night Mist asked.

"I went to the party Pinkie Pie threw in her honor, but I didn't actually see her there, let alone meet her," said Sharp Wing.

"Same, although I did meet Spike, her dragon assistant. We had a nice chat. Apparently he can send mail to Princess Celestia without paying postage. But later I did see Twilight Sparkle herself at the town hall before Nightmare Moon appeared," added Frazzle Spark.

"What exactly happened after Nightmare Moon appeared?" Night Mist questioned. "I had intended to go the the town hall for the summer sun celebration, but I fell asleep."

"Wait, so you missed the whole thing?" Sharp Wing asked incredulously. "No wonder I didn't see you there."

"Here's what happened in a nutshell," Frazzle Spark began. "Rarity opened up the curtain to introduce Princess Celestia, but she wasn't there. Then there was like this little dark cyclone, and boom, there was Nightmare Moon. Then she starts asking everyone if they knew who she was but nopony did, except for Twilight Sparkle."

Night Mist wondered how much Twilight Sparkle knew. Princess Celestia had been counting on Twilight Sparkle, which implied that Princess Celestia had known Nightmare Moon was returning. It was entirely possible that Princess Celestia had written the prophecy predicting the exact date of Nightmare Moon's return. She might even have been the one to suppress the knowledge about the sixth element and put the the elements in the old castle. Why she would do that, Night Mist still wasn't sure. Despite Princess Celestia knowing about the return, Nightmare Moon had said that Princess Celestia knew nothing about the Star's involvement. Did that mean that Twilight Sparkle didn't know either? Night Mist made a mental note to try to talk to this Twilight Sparkle herself later. Wouldn't do any good for the Stars to disappear into the woodwork if Twilight Sparkle already knew about them.

"So then she starts talking about how night time is going to be become eternal, and the mayor tells some guards to seize her," Frazzle Spark continued. "But she strikes them with lightning, and then turns into this cloud-like thing and leaves."

"One of the guards landed on top of me, " Sharp Wing chimed in bitterly. "Took three ponies to get him off. After that, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash just up and left, and absolutely nothing happened for a few hours. Then the sun comes up, they come back with Princess Celestia and Princess Luma, and Pinkie Pie throws this huge party. Also, they were wearing fancy necklaces, except for Twilight Sparkle, who was wearing a crown for some reason."

"Guys, guys, turn around, I want to introduce you to somepony!" A bubbly voice said from right Night Mist.

Night Mist turned and saw that the voice belonged to Pinkie Pie, who was standing next to Twilight Sparkle. The timing couldn't have been better for Night Mist. He now knew what the average pony was supposed to know, and now he had the perfect opportunity to find out how much Twilight Sparkle knew. Surprisingly, neither Pinkie Pie or Twilight Sparkle wearing their Elements of Harmony. Night Mist wondered what they had done with them.

"Twilight, meet Fraz, Sharp Wing, and Night Mist," Pinkie Pie said rapidly as she pointed at each stallion. "Fraz, Sharp Wing, Night Mist, meet Twilight."

"Um, hi," greeted Twilight Sparkle, who seemed thrown by being introduced to three ponies simultaneously. "Nice to-"

"Oh look more ponies you haven't met over there!" Pinkie Pie interrupted as she grabbed Twilight's fore leg and raced off with the hapless unicorn in tow to a group of five ponies.

"Fastest introduction I've ever seen," Sharp Wing remarked.

"Poor Twilight, I think Pinkie Pie intends to introduce her to every single pony in Ponyville," grinned Frazzle Spark.

Night Mist felt slightly cheated that Pinkie Pie had rushed off with Twilight Sparkle before he had a chance to learn what she knew, but decided it was still an informative, if brief, introduction. If Twilight Sparkle was allowing herself to be dragged all over Ponyville, that meant she didn't have anything more urgent to do, such as going after the Stars. The secret was still safe. He could report back to Eclipse.

"Oh, I need to scoot. I got sell-sword stuff to do," Sharp Wing announced.

"You realize that cutting grass with your swords doesn't make you a sell-sword right?" Night Mist asked, not for the first time.

"Technically a sell-sword is a pony who sells the service of his swords, so yes, I am a sell-sword," Sharp Wing replied as he dashed off.

"I've got to run too. I've got real work to do," Frazzle smirked. "See you later."

“See you later,” Night Mist repeated numbly as the unicorn left as well.

Night Mist breathed a sigh of relief. The visit to Ponyville hadn't gone as bad as he expected, and now he was free to leave. Hopefully Eclipse would do as Nightmare Moon had requested, and all of Night Mist's problems would go away. Quite a few ponies were cleaning up the town as Night Mist walked towards the Everfree Forest. Evidently the celebrations were over. Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon must have returned to Canterlot. After stopping for lunch, Night Mist continued his trip until he passed through the tree line into the Everfree forest.

Suddenly an idea struck Night Mist. Earlier Sharp Wing had said that Nightmare Moon departed from the town hall in the form of the cloud. Logically, that meant that Nightmare Moon thought moving about as a cloud was a more effective form of travel than walking or flying. Did that mean he could do the same, since he had the gift of cloud? A faster form of travel was certainly worth looking into. Night Mist took a few steps deeper into the forest, glanced around to make sure no one else was there, and concentrated hard by mentally picturing what he had seen Umbra do ten years ago in his bedroom.

The familiar feeling of electricity passing through his body washed over him, and his vision became blurry as he shifted into a completely gaseous substance. Not quite what Umbra had done. Umbra been able to stay halfway between forms. But Night Mist figured it was his own fault for not being as good at it. Practice made perfect, after all. Night Mist willed himself forward, and zipped off. Due to his blurry perceptions he wasn't able to avoid trees, but he found it was a simple matter to flow around them. As soon as he was able to make out the cave, Night Mist shifted back and hit the ground at a run before stopping at the entrance. Night Mist felt pretty proud as he passed through the wooden doors, until he realized that he still had no idea how to get to the throne room. Then a powerful gust of wind opened the doors behind him and Shooting Star walked inside.

"Oh. It’s you," she said with apparent loathing.

"Why hello, Shooting Star," Night Mist said formally, trying his best not to let his irritation show and ignore the mare's attitude. "Would you be so kind as to direct me to the throne room?"

"Depends. Will Eclipse get mad at me if I don't?"

"Probably."

"Fine. Follow me," she said as she went down a tunnel. "It's not worth making him mad over."

Night Mist felt his annoyance grow as he watched her walk away. He had come here to solve his problems, and he decided right then and there he would solve all of them.

"Okay, that’s it. Stop right there," he ordered.

Shooting Star stiffened, but stopped all the same as she glanced back at him.

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said to stop. I want to settle whatever it is that's between us."

"The hay are you talking about?" Shooting Star questioned as she turned around completely.

"I get that you dislike me. I do. You've made it very clear from the moment I've met you. They only time you were even remotely polite to me was when you were drunk," Night said without raising his voice even a decibel. "I don't know why you don't like me, but I get it. I'm not going to ask you what your deal with me is. I'm not going to ask you to like me. Whatever your problem is, its not mine. But what I am going to ask is that you treat me with the same amount of respect you give all the other Stars, because I am sick of your attitude. Understand?

Shooting Star's face was frozen in shock for a minute. When she finally spoke, her eyes were on the ground.

"For a detective, you're pretty clueless," she muttered.

"That includes insults," Night Mist snapped.

"Are you seriously going to make me spell it for you?"

"Apparently, because you're not making a ounce of se-"

Shooting Star suddenly leaned forward and kissed Night Mist. It lasted only two seconds, but when it was over it was Night Mist's turn to be speechless for a minute.

"Oh," he said finally, and after a moment’s pause said it again. "Oh."

Shooting Star watched him anxiously, clearly waiting for more words.

"I'm... not quite sure how to respond," Night Mist admitted. "and now I've completely forgotten why I... oh, right. Um, I don't want this to end here. I actually can see this working. You and me, I mean."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Night Mist said with a bit more confidence and a smile. "But um, it's really important that I talk to Eclipse right now. There's been a lot of things going on, and I need to get it all sorted out."

"Well, follow me then," Shooting Star smiled.

The inevitable awkward silence overtook both ponies as they traveled to the throne room, walking much closer to each other than usual. The double doors make a loud whack against the walls as Shooting Star used her gift of wind to open them. Eclipse, who had been sitting on his throne with his head down, glanced up.

"When those doors finally break, I'm going to make you go up to the forest and create some new ones," he said in a completely serious tone.

"Sorry," Shooting Star winced. "Um, Night Mist is here."

"Oh! You're early! Give me your report." Eclipse said eagerly as he got up from his throne.

"You may want to stay seated," Night Mist warned. "It’s going to be a lot to take."

The smile vanished from Eclipse's face as he sat back down.

"Talk," he commanded.

So Night Mist did, and left nothing out. He told Eclipse every detail from the second he saw the chariot up until he left Ponyville. By the time he finished both Eclipse and Shooting Star looked bewildered.

"That can't be true. Not after all that we've done. Right?" Shooting Star asked Eclipse.

Eclipse didn't answer. His eyes were closed in concentration he and appeared to be deep in thought. After what felt like forever, he smiled.

"Well played," he remarked. "You almost had me fooled."

"I wasn't lying," Night Mist insisted as he took a cautious step back.

"Not you," Eclipse scoffed. "You're telling the truth. You told me exactly what you she wanted you to tell me."

"Nightmare Moon?"

No, Princess Celestia."

"I don't understand."

"Think about it. Doesn't it strike you as odd that Nightmare Moon changed her ways so quickly? Remember how quickly she reconciled with her sister after she was defeated by the Elements of Harmony? She didn't change her ways, Night Mist, she's being mind controlled. The Elements of Harmony must have put her completely under her sister's will."

"But she spoke to me," Night Mist pointed out.

"Did she really? Didn't you say it was telepathic? How do you know it wasn't actually Princess Celestia in your head?"

"But that still doesn't make sense," Night Mist argued. "If Princess Celestia has control of Nightmare Moon's mind, then she would know what Nightmare Moon knows, which includes the Stars. But no one has come to the cavern to deal with us."

"The reason for that is very simple, Night Mist. Don't you see? Rather than waste her army or put herself at risk, Princess Celestia is trying to get rid of us without a fight. She's been the mastermind behind everything. The book, the prophecy, the old castle, even the new Spirits of Harmony, its all a part of her game. A game to get rid of the one thing that threatens her rule. Us."

"Holy crap," Shooting Star breathed. "She's been playing us like puppets the entire time."

"That she has," Eclipse smirked. "I've severely underestimated her part in this battle of wits. But not anymore. Now we're going to be the ones pulling the strings. We're going to strike first and finish this once and for all!"

"How?" Night Mist wondered.

"The Spirits of Harmony are the key. Right now they're on Celestia's side. Once she realizes we didn't fall for her trick, she's going to send them after us. So what we're going to do is take care of them first."

"You mean kill them?!" Night Mist gasped.

"What?! No! Holy crap, Night Mist, what on earth could possess you to think I'd do something like that?!" Eclipse said in genuine horror. "It's against the will of Nightmare Moon to kill! Besides, we need the Spirits of Harmony alive in order to force them to undo whatever they did to Nightmare Moon."

"So we're kidnapping them then?" Night Mist questioned, relieved that no blood was going to be shed.

"That we are," Eclipse confirmed as he turned his attention to Shooting Star. "Gather everyone in the central cavern, Shooting Star. We're about to use the Dark Storm six times in a row."

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: The first strike Estimated time remaining: 45 Minutes
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