Written by RandomString Proofread by Knight of Cerebus

Twilight was lying on the big blue blanket in the middle of the clearing at the top of the waterfall when she awoke. Nightmare Moon was lying on the blanket beside her.

"Silly filly, you did not even make it out of the clearing."

Twilight blinked a few times. The phantom bruise that was telling her that she was in a dream the entire time she was running downhill was gone.

"I didn’t notice that the moon was full in the dream, when it’s still just waxing in reality?" asked Twilight, with some self-disgust. The Nightmare laughed.

"Do not feel too bad. I kept that crop close behind you to stop you from being able to pause for thought. I might have put a little block on your mind, too. Just this once."

"Urgh."

"I really am sorry about the nag-naga. I swear you did not give me any warnings about snakes."

"But I did," said Twilight earnestly, "I told you that if you put me in a field of snakes we were through," she said in a voice of diminishing authority, "right before we played in the Sweet Factory," she was now speaking with remorse, "the first time, after which I reloaded, so I remember and you do not." Twilight sighed.

Nightmare Moon gave Twilight a forgiving little peck on her forehead.

"Well, I know now. It will not happen again."

Twilight snuggled up as close as Nightmare Moon's ice-cold armour allowed. The armor was very impressive and intimidating, and Twilight liked the little thrill it gave her every time she saw it, but it lacked the huggability of the mare underneath.

The nightmare draped a large black wing over Twilight’s back, who hummed happily as a response.

"So," asked Nightmare Moon, "How long have you been immune to stun symbols?"

"I’m not immune," objected Twilight, "I just saw so many of them when I was practicing symbology that they don’t really affect me much anymore."

"Oh well, I still have many ways of getting you where I want you, and if they ever run out then I could always just overpower you. That would be lacking in subtlety and imagination, but it would work."

"Hah!"

"Hmm?"

"Luna, I know your weaknesses now. I’ve also been practicing, a lot. I’m not the naive young mare you faced a few years ago. If you try to overpower me then you might be in for a surprise."

"That’s nice, Twilight," said the Nightmare, gently patting Twilight on the head with her wing.

"I’m serious! I know your weaknesses now, Nightmare Moon. You should be afraid of me."

Nightmare Moon snorted. "I have faced down armies. I bested my sister in one-on-one combat, before she cheated. I am not afraid of a librarian!"

"Oooh, I'll get you for that one."

"You truly believe that you are as powerful as I?"

Twilight hesitated, but answered, "Yes."

Nightmare Moon grinned, showing her pointed teeth.

"Prove it."

"Alright, I will! I’m going to overpower you and make you my slave. And I’m not going to let you go until… until you promise to come with me to Canterlot and meet my parents as my perfect marefriend! You will promise to be the most wonderful marefriend ever!"

"Hah! I will overpower you and make you my pet! Well, my number two pet."

"What?!”

“Well, as you have said before, seniority matters, and Mr. Huggles was clearly first."

"You're saying that I'd be outranked by a plush golem that I made?"

"Do not fret, I am sure Mr Huggles will not be too hard on you, and with some careful training you will get on admirably with the other pets during our next pony-pet-play-date. And do not worry, I will take you for walks. Through the dungeons, I admit, but there will be walking involved."

"Argh! Right. I am going to get dressed into something more appropriate. Wait here and I'll be back to trounce you."

"I shall enjoy teaching you your place," said Luna with a sincere smile.

Nightmare Moon laughed as Twilight stalked off, her tail swishing angrily, to get her saddlebags. Nightmare Moon really did have a lot in common with Twilight. Astronomy, history and magic theory were all well and good, but they shared a fondness for complex planning as well. Well, the Nightmare favoured schemes over plans, but it was largely the same thing.

Twilight returned to her saddlebags and quickly pulled on the Mysterious Mare Do Well costume. Her agitation didn't help her coordination. After she nearly tore a hole in it with her horn when trying to poke her head through a leg-hole, she paused a moment.

Cadance's breathing exercises came to Twilight and she drew some calming breaths.

Peace.

Why was Luna deliberately provoking me? Thought Twilight as she saved.

She scried the snow-blanketed clearing. The Nightmare was waiting patiently for her return, a faint smile on her lips. The dazzling constellations and star-bursts in her mane and tail betrayed her excitement. Nightmare Moon's serene smile seemed entirely too knowing. The elegantly laid traps that had been waiting for her crossed Twilight's mind.

The telescoping metal frame that had held her still lay in the large anti-unicorn magic circle, but the cords had been loosened and the circle repaired. The magic cancellation circle was huge...

The smile on the Nightmare slipped into a concerned frown at the delay. Twilight would need to get moving, and soon. Twilight took a steadying breath. Everything was going to be fine.

Twilight donned the Mysterious Mare Do Well outfit and immediately felt better. The hero suit gave her greater confidence; the mask hid her slightly mad grin. She was going to do this.

Twilight whispered "Plan B" to the air spirits that had been waiting impatiently by her bags and, shoulders squared, marched back into the clearing.

Her head was held high, her mane was streaming behind her and her heart was in her throat. She ignored the excited giggles behind her as the spirits carefully deposited one of her saddlebags at the edge of the trees.

Nightmare Moon perked up immensely when Twilight returned to view, and rose to her hooves to meet the approaching superheroine with a sweeping bow.

"Greetings, oh mysterious stranger. We regret that We cannot welcome thee as We would like, as We await an impudent mare who must be taught her place."

"Foul creature! I am Do Well, the Mysterious Mare! It is you who will be humbled! It is time that you pay for your crimes. If you want Twilight Sparkle, you must go through me!."

Twilight reared impressively onto her hindlegs against the backdrop of the waxing moon, her magic calling a gentle breeze to give her cloak a suitably heroic billow.

"Fool! Thou shalt suffer for thine arrogance!" The Nightmare likewise reared dramatically, wings flared wide and wreathed in shadow, as lightning crashed behind her. Bright moonlight glinted off her sharp silver warshoes.

Twilight decided that Nightmare Moon had her beat at dramatic posturing.

The Nightmare was still indulging in her delightful maniacal laughter when Twilight conjured vines twisting from the soil, them coiling around the alicorn's hind legs. Nightmare Moon swiftly took to the air, leaving the tendrils below to twist fruitlessly around themselves.

Nightmare Moon glared at Twilight and threw a lazy thunderbolt at her, which Twilight barely dodged. The energy from the near miss staggered Twilight and made her fur stand on end. Taking advantage of Twilight's discombobulation, the Nightmare dived at her, fangs flashing and legs pulled back to strike.

The magnificent sight of the swooping demon was enough to captivate Twilight for the barest second; long enough to deny her the time to dodge.

Thankfully, teleportation was quicker anyway.

The devastating kick ploughed through air. Twilight threw a plasma bolt at the Nightmare's back. The attack was anticipated and, with astonishing speed and grace, the Nightmare landed flat and low on the ground, the bolt passing harmlessly overhead. Nightmare Moon then launched herself into the air, pushing off with all four hooves. She gained altitude fast enough to suck a whirlwind of snow in her wake, and avoid Twilight's second bolt as well.

Twilight was craning her neck, desperately searching the skies for her well-camouflaged nemesis, when she realised that she had been standing still for far too long. She teleported to the edge of the clearing, ignoring the crash behind her that told her that she had moved not a moment too soon. She darted amongst the trees, seeking shelter from the baleful eyes above.

"You teleport too much, little rabbit," called out the Nightmare, "Let us see how fast you move when you are relying on your legs..."

Warding an area against teleportation generally took a team of unicorns half an hour. It took Nightmare Moon less than a minute. Twilight shivered as she felt the wave of power roll through the forest.

Twilight tried to think how to fight the monstrous power that was chasing her. She toyed with the idea of dropping something really heavy on her opponent, but discarded the idea as fanciful. She decided on a trap, and quickly started casting, her magic subtly wreathing around the nearby trees.

"Come out, little rabbit. Come out! Or shall We have to get you out?" called the Nightmare as Twilight sneaked through the undergrowth, trying not to focus on how much she was enjoying herself. She grabbed a twig behind her trap with her magic and snapped it.

Burning down Whitetail Woods would be excessive, and uprooting all the trees would be rather time consuming, so Nightmare Moon decided instead to chase after her prey. She headed towards the noise, and made it about a bodylength into the trees before the animation trap that Twilight had left behind activated.

Nightmare Moon found herself in the unwelcome embrace of thick tree branches surrounding her, holding her tight. Roots squirmed around her hooves, binding them. The teleportation ward that she had just raised worked just as well on her as it did on her prey. She hissed in frustration as she struggled.

"Are you stuck, Black Snooty?" called out Twilight, watching the dark goddess's struggles from behind a tree, "Would you like to surrender while you still have your dignity?"

"We will escape! We will destroy you!" shouted Nightmare Moon, struggling mightily against the magically strengthened branches.

Twilight grinned and left the trees, carefully circling behind the Nightmare. She took the time to admire her captive's beautifully toned rear end.

"What was that, Queen Meanie?" asked Twilight, stepping into the clearing with growing confidence, "I couldn't hear you over the sound of your futile struggles..."

"We said..." Twilight was close now, "'WE WILL DESTROY YOU!'" with that, the Nightmare turned to a black mist and slipped out of the tree's clutches like a breeze.

"Oops," said Twilight as Nightmare Moon reappeared in mid-air above her, wings flared. Twilight had been lured far from the safety of the trees.

The paralysis bolt that the Nightmare threw barely bounced off Twilight's hastily erected shield as Twilight turned and ran. The power of the bolt was staggering. Nightmare Moon followed that attack with a hail of powerful bolts as she chased Twilight.

Twilight darted left and right, dodging a few bolts while her rapidly weakening shield took the brunt of the attack. The sound of the bolts that missed gouging out chunks of earth as they crashed into the ground lent speed to her legs, but it wasn't going to be enough. The tips of her hooves were feeling numb from the paralysing attacks that only nearly missed.

She wasn't going to make it as far as the trees.

"Plan B, NOW!" shouted Twilight.

The air spirits she had summoned earlier had refused to attack a goddess, point blank. It had taken a lot of persuading for them to see it rather as a once-in-a-spirit's-lifetime opportunity to prank a goddess. Attacking a goddess was suicide. Pranking one was epic.

Nightmare Moon was gliding fast after Twilight when the spirits pulled the air out from under her wings. The majestic armoured alicorn squawked in dismay, flapping her wings desperately as she nose-dived into the ground and tumbled across the snowy clearing, her passage ploughing a groove in the snow.

The triumphant air spirits quickly returned to their home plane to avoid divine retribution.

Nightmare Moon shook her head to clear the ringing in her ears and struggled to her hooves. She had barely gotten upright when all the snow in the clearing was piled onto her. Twilight pulled yet more snow from the trees and poured it onto the goddess in a deluge, packing it down tight.

Pulling snow from wherever she could find it, Twilight pressed in with great force, encasing the goddess in ice. Eventually the flurry subsided. The air cleared to reveal a thick iceball four times Twilight's height standing where the Nightmare had been.

Twilight saw that there had been more than just the magic circle buried under the snow. There were some new toys near the rock that had been previously hidden: a paddle, blinkers and a small riding whip…

Twilight desperately wrapped the frost in her aura, packing down the snow ever tighter, forcing it into ice. Her horn blazed with power until the snowball had been compressed into a clear block of ice with an enraged Nightmare centre. Shadows writhed around Nightmare Moon. Twilight was panting hard when she approached the ice, searching it for weaknesses.

She leapt back, startled, when a thundering voice boomed in her mind, "I AM A GODDESS!"

Her reflexive leap and startled shield protected her when the ice prison shattered into thousands of pieces with a deafening roar. The Nightmare walked over the steaming chunks of ice, wreathed in black flames.

Falling chunks of ice bounced off Twilight's shield and clanged against Nightmare Moon's armour for a short while.

"YOU LIKE SUMMONS, LITTLE NUISANCE?" thundered Nightmare Moon, "LET US SEE HOW YOU LIKE THESE!"

Nightmare Moon's horn blazed with light and black chains appeared around Twilight. Taken by surprise, she was unable to dodge, and soon found herself anchored to the ground by many chains, each one far far stronger than she could hope to break. She tried to uproot them or dismiss them with her magic, but they absorbed everything she threw at them.

"Struggle, little rabbit," said a slightly calmer Nightmare Moon, "thou shalt learn thy place..."

Twilight's horn lit up again, but there was no visible aura around the chains. The Nightmare peered at her, puzzled, but nothing appeared to be happening. Twilight was barely channelling any more magic than could be expected from a foal, anyway. With a shrug, the Nightmare continued.

"Thou wert foolish to challenge us, rabbit. We are a mistress of ancient arts, and thou art but a foal. Accept thy punishment with good grace, and we might yet prove merciful–"

The faint glow on Twilight's horn winked out, and the little unicorn closed her eyes.

"Good–" was as far as the Nightmare got before the clay wardstone that Twilight had carefully fished out of her pack dropped onto the Nightmare's helmeted head.

The wardstone shattered and released the energy bound in it, true to its purpose. The bright light would have blinded Twilight if she hadn't closed her eyes; it was just a shame that she couldn't block her ears from the thunderclap. The dismissal spell blasted away the chains binding her and oh-so-briefly stunned her enemy. It also gave Twilight a splitting headache, but that was a small price to pay.

Twilight galloped to her pack, which she was pulling to herself with her telekinesis as fast as she dared.

The Nightmare spun around, eyes blazing with fury, another deadly spell gathering on her horn.

Twilight leapt to grab her pack.

The Nightmare reared onto her hindlegs, wings flared for balance, and took aim.

Twilight cast a spell.

The Nightmare looked puzzled as she collapsed, as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut, and sprawled to the ground amongst the chunks of ice. The spell that had been brewing on her horn dissipated harmlessly.

"We have fallen and cannot get up," said the bewildered goddess, unable to even lift her head.

Twilight gasped for breath, her heart hammering in her chest, before grabbing a healing potion from her bag and chugging it down. Her headache was gone and her ears stopped ringing. Twilight could finally relax a little.

"What have you done?!"

"Sorry about that, Black Snooty," sad Twilight, walking to the helpless mare, "Just a little foal's trick."

"What magic–"

"You may be a mistress of the ancient arts, Queen Meanie, but I am a mistress of the modern ones. Magic has changed since your banishment, you big nuisance. We foals may have forgotten some tricks, but we have learned some new ones to take their place. Tell me, have you ever heard of 'voodoo'? It's all the rage in the new world."

Twilight smirked as she pulled a black alicorn doll from her saddlebags, complete with a single black feather for a tail. Nightmare Moon's eyes widened.

"A biolink is required to bind the spell, of course, but by chance I happened across one of your feathers... You really must be more careful with such things, your Nightmareship."

Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed as she saw that the feather that adorned the doll was the same one that Twilight had plucked from her wing and turned into a quill the last time that they had played. She tried again to struggle, but she could only observe as Twilight tenderly lifted her head and fed her a healing potion that she barely needed.

Twilight then slowly and carefully removed Nightmare Moon's armour, revealing Princess Luna underneath. She listened to her lover's threats and complaints, and she did so with a happy smile. Helm, peytral, barding and warshoes were arranged in a neat pile, off to one side.

Satisfied, Twilight walked to the huge unicorn magic cancellation circle and made the necessary minor modifications to turn it into an alicorn magic cancellation circle. The circle had been far larger than necessary for Twilight, but it was just the right size for Princess Luna.

Once that was done, Twilight took the doll and turned back to Luna. The princess found her body responding to commands that were not her own as it jerkily pushed itself to its hooves and clumsily marched into the cancellation circle.

Luna gave a little involuntary shiver as the aegis of her power fell away and her mane and tail lost their luminescence, but she didn’t make a sound.

The telescoping black rods easily lengthened to suit the alicorn, and Twilight swiftly bound Luna's hooves. The silken rope was woven neatly into Luna's tail and mane, then unwoven to allow the big blue blanket to be wrapped around her barrel, trapping her wings and keeping her warm, and then tail, rope and mane were woven back together again.

Twilight took a step back to review her work, and, satisfied, dismissed the spell on the voodoo doll. Luna sagged a little and struggled a little and swore revenge a little, but Twilight just smiled a little.

Twilight's pounding heart had calmed, and the tension inside her had been swapped for a giddy gladness. She took a few calming breaths and looked around for the small whip.

"So, tell me," said Twilight, hoisting the whip where Luna could see it, "when were you planning on throwing the fight?"

Luna laughed.

"I knew I would not need to 'throw the fight', Twilight. I knew that you would win, one way or another. One thing I realised when we were apart was that not only did I have to accept that you are my equal, but that you have to accept it, too. In your head as well as your heart."

"Awwww" Twilight kissed Luna full on the lips. It was a long kiss.

*Ahem* went Twilight when they finally broke off, "Nightmare Moon! I have you now! You shall learn the displeasure of the Mysterious Mare Do Well and pay for your crimes!"

"Do your worst, you foal! We shall break free from this pitiful trap and wreak vengeance upon thee for this indignity! He he he."

"Your bluff and bluster will not save you now!" Twilight tried to crack the whip on the air for emphasis.

*Whoosh*

"Erm..."

*Whoosh*

"Grrr. Daring Do makes this look so easy. Hmm, maybe if I..."

*Crack!*

"Aha! Got it!" *Ahem* "Your bluff, bluster and sniggering will not save you now!" *Whoosh* "–um–" *Crack* "Ha! You shall be punished until you– until you confess to having been overpowered by a librarian!"

"No! The Nefarious League of Evil Doers would never respect me if I do that!"

"You should have thought of that before you challenged Twilight Sparkle!"

"What?! The Mysterious Mare Do Well is actually Twilight Sparkle?!"

"Oops. I’ve revealed my secret identity! I must drive the memory from your mind. Thankfully, I know a ritual that will do just that. Nightmare! Prepare yourself!"

"Nooooo!"

<Author’s note> The following section contains clop - movement restriction, light use of whip, paddle and a voodoo doll. As usual, please skip to the next section break if you want to give it a miss</Author’s note>

Twilight cracked the whip, firmly on Luna’s behind this time, and cackled in a decidedly non-heroic fashion. To be fair, Luna’s groan was more aroused than villainous.

The blinders were sized to fit neatly over Luna’s head. Twilight was feeling generous, and set them to deny her lover any side-vision, rather than blinding her entirely. For now.

"Curse you! I shall have my–"

Twilight interrupted her tirade with a feather-light kiss to a very delicate part of her anatomy. Nightmare Moon exhaled all the air in her lungs in one sigh.

Twilight pulled back to review her options. Luna could only stare at the rock in front of her and speculate on the silence around her. Her tightly bound mane prevented her from even turning her head. There was a crunching noise as Twilight moved about the clearing over the scattered ice chunks. Eventually the hoofsteps came closer.

Luna shifted uneasily until Twilight trotted primly into view and perched herself on the rock. The Nightmare Moon doll was perched on the rock beside her. Twilight’s horn was glowing, but Luna couldn’t see what was being manipulated.

"So, ‘Nightmare Moon’, if that’s your real name, let’s discuss your actions today."

"Uh, were you not going to do something about my memory–" *crack* "–Ow!"

"You will speak when given permission, criminal," said Twilight with a smile. Luna glowered.

"That’s better. As I was saying, let us discuss your actions today. One, you led me to believe that a book had been taken from my library, causing me great distress."

*Thwack*

"Ah!"

Luna had been expecting the whip, but got the paddle. The glow on Twilight’s horn had remained constant, giving no hint or warning as to when the blow would land. She hadn’t recovered from her startlement when the next landed.

Luna was reacting more strongly than she had before to their games, but despite being powerless, she seemed content to take her punishment. The continuous tensing and relaxing of muscles betrayed her nervousness, the musk that Twilight could smell clearly betrayed her excitement.

Twilight didn’t want to over-do things with Luna – she was unfamiliar with the whip and Luna was unfamiliar with vulnerability – so she kept things light and steady, leaving her plaything begging for more. Well, moaning for more, but Twilight knew what Luna meant.

"Well, are you ready to apologise yet, criminal?"

"Ha! Is that all you have, heroine? You come across as very green. Do your worst."

"Very well. Number Two: you compared me unfavorably to a fruit basket!"

*Crack*

"Ah!"

Twilight took a little while to get the hang of the small whip; it took a certain amount of mental dexterity to crack it when it was being held facing her, but Twilight was a fast study and a practiced mage. She soon had Luna tensing with anticipation before each delicate touch and sting that could land anywhere on her legs or backside. Luna’s moans were getting closer together now as her excitement rose.

Once Twilight was reasonably comfortable wielding the whip, she covertly grabbed a few items from her other saddlebag. One had been loaded in preparation for the fight, the other for afterwards. She was just cursing herself for not bringing the oranges this time, as they would have gone wonderfully as a counter to the ‘fruit basket’ insult.

The first hint that Luna had of Twilight’s plans was the change to her smile. The second was when she felt the warmed, lubricated dildo slide into her.

"Ooh!"

"Number three: you presented me with a dream full of temptations and fooled me into thinking I didn’t have time for them!" Twilight paused a moment, and then added, "You will be making that up to me, by the way."

The dildo started sliding in and out, very slowly. The whip didn’t let up at all. Luna’s moans and groans rose in pitch.

There was no interruption as Twilight carried on, "Number Four: you insulted my profession!"

Twilight hovered a chunk of melting ice between Luna and herself. Luna was distracted by what was going on behind her. Her distraction was quickly dispelled when the chunk of ice touched to the voodoo doll’s back.

"Aaaaah! That’s cold!"

Twilight laughed wickedly, toying with her marefriend with a combination of whip, paddle and ice, each element coming at Luna in an unpredictable fashion all over her body. The thick blanket had been protecting her back from the whip, but it was not able to protect her from the freezing touch of the ice chunk against the doll. All the while, the dildo slid in and out with steadily increasing speed.

"Number five: you threw a nag-naga at me. Ignorance of my feelings about snakes is no excuse."

Happy to keep Luna completely off-balance with the assault on her senses, Twilight decided to simplify things for her. With another touch of her magic, she closed the blinkers completely, effectively blinding Luna.

Luna had planned this night with some trepidation. She had deliberately picked out toys for Twilight to use on her that were softer than she would have normally chosen, knowing that the helplessness of the anti-alicorn circle would amplify the experience. What she hadn’t accounted for was Twilight’s creative use of modern magic.

The voodoo doll made her very uncomfortable, and kept a touch of fear in the back of her mind. Being able to see the doll had helped a lot: she could see where the next icy touch would land, even if she was unable to do anything about it. Losing sight of the doll was enough to turn that seed of fear into the first stages of panic. She fought the feeling, but could not help the touch of urgency bleeding into her voice.

"Nngh!"

Twilight was keenly aware of the delicacy of Luna’s position, and remembered the problems of the last time they had tried this. Noticing the first worrying hints in Luna’s voice, she decided to finish things, fast. There was one thing she had always wanted to do for Luna, ever since their first night together. A physical limitation that she couldn’t overcome. Until now.

"Number six: you challenged me to a fight! Which was actually really fun. So take THIS!"

The whip and the paddle stopped their torment, but the ice kept trailing across Luna’s body and the dildo sped up further. Luna was trembling with anticipation, excitement, fear, need, lust… She was on the cusp of orgasm, fighting the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her, when Twilight brought the alicorn doll to her lips.

Luna’s long, delicate horn was too long to fit in any pony’s mouth. As it had grown in her youth, she had resigned herself to never again having a proper horn-job. Twilight had tried on their first night, and she loved her for it, but all the tricks that Twilight had tried were not the same as the real thing. She was completely unprepared to experience one now.

Twilight easily encompassed the doll’s horn with her lips, and licked and teased and tickled it with her tongue as she sucked and the dildo thrusted in and out in double time, Twilight trying to stimulate Luna as much as possible before–

Luna’s horngasm exploded in fireworks across the midnight sky, her howl of joy silencing the night.

---------------

Luna sagged, deeply satisfied. Twilight erased the anti-magic circle, snatched away the blinkers and set about untying Luna’s hooves, mane and tail. Luna was still a little out of it by the time Twilight was done, so they settled down, wrapped together in the blanket, and hugged for a while.

After a while Luna kissed Twilight and stopped hugging quite so tightly.

"Thank you, Twilight. That was wonderful."

"Thank you, Luna. You are wonderful."

They exchanged cheesy grins and warm silence.

"Um," said Twilight, "I don't want to sound really shallow, but about that book..."

Luna laughed.

"Yes, you may have the book, my love. Here–" Luna extricated herself from the blanket and brought the book over to Twilight, "I look forward to studying it with you."

Twilight blushed as she gratefully accepted the book.

"Oh, I brought something for you, too. Let me go get it."

Twilight rushed back to where she had originally put down her bags. While she waited, Luna started tidying up the clearing, removing the signs of their play.

Twilight came back with a large silken bag that clearly contained something with lots of points poking into the sides at all angles. She gently laid it on the ground and shushed Luna before teasing it open and stepping back.

Luna held her breath as a faint green light appeared in the darkness of the bag. A small leafy snout peeked out of the bag and sniffed. It was soon followed by a wooden canine head with glowing green eyes, leafy ears and a puzzled expression. The timber puppy looked around curiously as Luna tried to hold back her excitement.

The puppy came all the way out and sat on its haunches, apparently unaware of the divine attention. Twilight offered it a liquorice twig to munch on. The puppy sniffed the twig. Its muzzle wrinkled up, its eyes closed, and it took several quick breaths. Luna bit down on a hoof. The puppy gave a cute little sneeze. Luna couldn't hold back any longer and release a small, high pitched noise from around her hoof. The puppy darted back into the silken bag.

After a moment when there were no more strange noises, the muzzle poked outside the bag just far enough to grab the twig and pull back in. There was the sound of gnawing.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" whispered Luna, "It is perfect! Where did you– I mean, how did–"

"This little monster was quite a bit larger when it had an encounter with a hydra. I think the hydra just sat on it by accident. Zecora found it while looking for bog-nettles and has been looking after it ever since. She traded it in return for a jug of Applejack’s best apple cider."

"Oh, thank you. I shall take very good care of it."

Twilight started clearing up the trap she had laid earlier as Luna carefully lifted the silken bag onto her back.

"You're welcome. I’ll give you a copy of my notes on timber wolves; they might come in handy when caring for it. Just don't send it against your sister as a recruit in your little prank war. I don't think it would survive as well as Mr. Huggles did."

"How did you– Little Twilight."

"It's not my fault she likes me more than you," said Twilight, sticking out her tongue at Luna.

Luna laughed.

The clearing was now clear of traps, battle debris, armour and sex toys, so the two mares wandered to the path towards Ponyville.

"You need not worry for the pup's safety. I have sued my sister for peace and have negotiated a surrender."

Twilight pulled up to a halt, "What?! You surrendered?"

Luna sighed, "I am afraid so. I could not fight a war on two fronts, so I surrendered to my sister that I might focus my attention on pleasing you."

"Wow. Thank you. Um, what were the terms?"

Luna sighed.

"I must sing to the assembly of the next Grand Galloping Gala, and I am constrained against further pranking for six months."

"Wow. I think I could even persuade Spike to attend the next Gala now. I must remember to ask Princess Celestia for tickets. My friends are not going to want to miss that either… Aww, don't worry Luna, six months gives us plenty of time to plan our retaliation."

"–our retaliation? You will join me in this endeavour?"

"Well, this time. I may have to help Princess Celestia sometimes, too. Nothing personal, you understand," Twilight's smile was smug.

"Ha ha! My sister is doomed! I am doomed! We shall have to join forces against this new threat!" Luna's grin was smugger.

"Eep!"

---------------

They enjoyed a companionable silence as they made their way down the side of the hill, accompanied by the occasional clang as various parts of Nightmare Moon's armour collided with each other. Ponyville was in sight when Twilight spoke again.

"Thank you for tonight, Luna. I know that this wasn't something you wanted to do."

"You are very welcome. I actually found it to be fun, once I got into the spirit of things," Luna’s blush was barely visible in the moonlight, but nevertheless captured Twilight’s heart, "It is good to test oneself, from time to time. Did you enjoy being at the mercy of the dark one?"

Twilight gave a happy shiver, "Oh yes, thank you. It's just a shame that I didn't get to play with all your friends during the downhill run..."

"Do not worry about that, at least, Twilight. I will make sure that you have plenty of opportunity to make all of their acquaintances, and that of the ‘friends’ you did not meet. Give me permission to block your mind in dreams if you want a more authentic experience. Despite your... recent growth, I believe I am still capable of that."

"Um... That sounds, umm... Okay. Moondays. Well, Moonights."

"Thank you, Twilight. I believe that we will both have fun. Be sure to soundproof your bedroom."

Author's Notes:

The End

Sort of: there is a light-hearted and fun epilogue, which I hope you will enjoy.