Past Sins
By Pen Stroke
Assisted By Batty Gloom
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Chapter 14
Once a Crusader
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KNOCK… KNOCK… KNOCK…

Cheerilee looked up from her book. She was curled up with a blanket and a fire roared in the fireplace. Nightmare Moon had taken over Equestria one week prior, and, without the sun’s warmth, the kingdom had been slowly getting colder and colder. At the moment, the air outside was still mildly bearable. Cheerilee doubted that would last for much longer.

KNOCK… KNOCK… KNOCK…

The second set of knocks drew Cheerilee out of the warm spot she had made for herself on the couch. She moved to the door and looked through the peephole. She never used to worry about which ponies were on her doorstep, but she didn’t feel as safe as she used to. However, the ponies outside her door weren’t royal guards, Nightmare Moon, or anypony that looked dangerous. They were three familiar fillies, who Cheerilee willingly opened the door for. “Girls, what are you doing out here in the dark?”

“It’s always dark,” Scootaloo pointed out. She was standing between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom on Cheerilee's front step.

“I guess that’s true.” Cheerilee forced a weak smile. “Still, what can I do for you three?”

“Cheerilee, can we ask you some questions?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’ve been trying to get Rarity and my parents to tell me what’s going on, but I don’t think they’re telling me the truth.”

“Applejack and Big Macintosh won’t tell me anything,” added Apple Bloom.

“And my parents won’t even let me talk about what’s going on,” Scootaloo finished.

Cheerilee’s smile weakened. “Girls, I don’t think it’s my place, especially if your families don’t—”

“Please, Cheerilee,” the three Crusaders begged in unison.

Cheerilee stepped back and motioned with a hoof. “All right. Why don’t you come inside? Can’t have you three standing outside in the cold, now can I?”

The Crusaders happily accepted their teacher’s offer. They moved inside, and, once they were clear of the door, Cheerilee pulled it shut and rubbed her forelegs together to drive away the chill. It was still getting colder outside; she would need her winter clothes soon.

After guiding the three fillies into her living room, Cheerilee let them jump up onto her couch. She climbed up onto a smaller chair and wrapped herself in a blanket. Only then, once she had finished making herself comfortable, did she turn her attention back to her guests. “So, girls, what did you want to ask me?”

“We want to know what happened to Nyx,” Apple Bloom explained as the three fillies shared the blanket Cheerilee had left behind on the couch.

“Girls, I really don’t think I—” Cheerilee began, only to be cut off.

“Please,” Sweetie Belle pleaded. “Scootaloo says that Nyx is Nightmare Moon, but Rarity keeps telling me that Nyx just went back to live with her family, since she was Twilight’s cousin.”

Cheerilee pulled at her blanket, tightening its grasp around her body, and focused on Scootaloo. “Why do you think Nyx is Nightmare Moon?”

“Because of everything Nightmare Moon did when she showed up in the center of town with those weird ponies in cloaks.”

“You were there?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yes, and I heard her say she used to be a filly. Then she went after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, saying that it was their prank that let her become Nightmare Moon. Not only that, but Nightmare Moon didn’t have a cutie mark, just like Nyx.”

“Are you sure Nightmare—” Cheerilee tried to interrupt, only for Scootaloo to continue without pause.

“Then, when she was close to me, I shouted at her. I called her Nyx, and she turned to look at me. She recognized me, I know she did!” Scootaloo’s ears flattened. “But then she said we… we weren’t her friends anymore.”

The heads of all three fillies sank at those words, and Cheerilee felt her stomach twist as a frown formed on her lips. It was obvious to her that their families were trying to shield them from the truth either by not telling them or lying. Despite that, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from the three fillies; they were worried, and, if anypony deserved to know the whole story, it was them.

“All right, girls, from what I’ve heard, Nyx is Nightmare Moon… and she was Nightmare Moon all along.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “The whole time?”

Cheerilee answered with a nod.

“No way!” protested Scootaloo. “Nyx wasn’t like Nightmare Moon at all the last time we saw her. Those weird ponies did something to her.”

“And, even if Nyx is Nightmare Moon, why would she make it dark?” Sweetie Belle asked, glancing out a window at the night-locked sky. “She never really liked it when it was dark out, so why would she make it like this all the time?”

Cheerilee sighed, pausing to think very carefully on how to phrase her reply. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle deserved the truth, but it would be a bitter pill to swallow. She tried to open her mouth, to tell them the straight truth, but the words died in her throat. She had to soften the blow, sugar-coat it… mix in some of the faint, if unrealistic, hope she herself was clinging to.

“I think Nyx is just… confused,” Cheerilee finally told them, hoping the three fillies would accept her explanation.

“Why would she be confused?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“You see, girls, Nyx didn’t remember being Nightmare Moon when she was in class with us, but, because of what happened, now she does. She remembers everything, and I think she’s just confused now. She  doesn’t really know which pony she is supposed to be: the Nightmare Moon everypony fears or the Nyx that was your friend. And right now, unfortunately, she’s decided to be Nightmare Moon.”

“But, if she’s just confused, that means she could be Nyx again, right? Maybe she doesn’t like being Nightmare Moon,” Scootaloo pointed out, a hopeful smile forming on her face.

“Yeah! I mean, if she was really Nightmare Moon, she wouldn’t have let my big sis and her friends go,” Apple Bloom said confidently. “That proves she is still Nyx!”

With some difficulty, Cheerilee forced a smile. “I hope you’re right, girls. Still, why don’t you run along and try to take your minds off of it?” Cheerilee suggested. She shifted in her seat, sinking deeper into the warm embrace of her chair and blanket. “And please make sure the door is locked when you leave.”

The three fillies nodded before jumping down from Cheerilee’s couch, thanking her, and slipping out her front door. They trotted to the sidewalk and began to walk side by side down the street.

“I feel bad for Nyx,” Scootaloo said, glancing at her two friends. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be confused about who you are.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yeah, it’s probably like having a different cutie mark on each of your flanks. You wouldn’t know if your special talent was supposed to be one or the other.”

“Too bad we can’t do anything to help her,” Scootaloo said as her ears drooped.

“Yeah, too bad,” Sweetie Belle agreed. She and Scootaloo continued to walk, but, after several steps, they realized that Apple Bloom wasn’t following them. Looking back, they saw she had stopped dead in her tracks. Her head was bent down, and her eyes were focused down at the ground.

“Hey, Apple Bloom, you okay?” asked Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom was quiet for a few moments more before snapping her head up. “Crusaders, we have a friend who doesn’t know who she is,” she announced like a general speaking to her troops. “She’s up in that big nasty castle, lost and confused, and do you know what she needs?”

“Um… no,” Sweetie Belle replied, not understanding why Apple Bloom was acting or speaking the way she was.

“Well, I do!” Apple Bloom snapped, marching back and forth in front of her friends. “She needs somepony to remind her who she is. To remind her that she has friends, friends that want to play with her in the sunshine again. And we’re just the ponies to do it!”

Scootaloo smiled confidently and pumped her hoof in the air. “Yeah! Let’s go show Nyx that Cutie Mark Crusaders stick together no matter what!”

“Um, girls?” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “You do realize Nyx is in that big castle, the one guarded by all those big scary ponies in armor, right?”

“So? We’ll just sneak past the guards,” Apple Bloom said confidently.

“Yeah, we could be Cutie Mark Crusader…” Scootaloo began, only to fall silent and look over at her friends. “Uh, what’s a pony called when they sneak into places like castles?”

“Boogie Mare?” suggested Apple Bloom.

“No.”

“Infiltrator?” Sweetie Belle offered.

“Close, but no…”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other for a moment, trying to think. Sweetie Belle’s eyes then lit up as she thought of the perfect word. “Spy?”

“That’s it!” Scootaloo said with a bounce. “We’ll be Cutie Mark Crusader Spies!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle smiled, and the three friends high-hoofed before quickly galloping down the street to make their plans.

===

Nightmare Moon descended a spiraling stone staircase, thankful to have a few minutes to herself. The past week had been all about transferring the power over Equestria from the Royal Pony Sisters to her. Members of the Children of Nightmare were put into important positions of power, if they weren’t already in such positions, and the government was once again functioning.

There was some resistance. Despite the news that her husband had joined the Children of Nightmare, Princess Cadance, along with some of the other minor princes and princesses of Equestria, had gone into hiding. The consensus between Spell Nexus and other important ponies was that they were building a rebellion, but Nightmare Moon wasn’t worried. Cadance was the only alicorn among the rebels, and she was only of partial alicorn blood. She was a mortal, and, just as she had no hope of moving the sun in the sky, she had no hope of defeating her, Equestria’s Queen.

Truthfully, Nightmare Moon wanted to forget about it all until the next day. It was past six. She had put in a full day’s work, like much of the castle staff that was leaving at this hour, but she still hadn’t earned a respite from her royal duties. Nexus expected her in the dining hall soon. He had arranged for her to meet with several minor princes and princesses over dinner. They were those of royal blood who had sided with her new regime, and they all shared her turquoise eyes. 

It was a sign that Nexus was spreading her “blessing” around quite freely.

Truthfully, Nightmare Moon was starting to get a little sick of seeing everypony around her with the same color eyes. She decided that, as soon as she was done here, she was going to tell Spell Nexus that she wasn’t going to attend dinner, that she just wasn’t in the mood. She was the queen of Equestria; what was he going to do?

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, Nightmare Moon pushed the thoughts from her mind and strode down the dimly lit hallway. She was down in her castle dungeons, and she passed by many empty cells until she reached the one at the very end, the only occupied cell.

Twilight Sparkle sat up from her cot, having wrapped herself tightly in a blanket. She was unharmed but still bore one sign of her imprisonment. The metal collar that was secured to her neck blocked her magic, ensuring she could not escape through teleportation or even by levitating a key.

Nightmare Moon looked in on Twilight for a time, staring at her through the bars, before finally speaking. “I trust the guards have been treating you as I ordered.”

“They bring me my meals and nothing else,” Twilight replied softly.

“Good. That’s… good…. Are your injuries healing well?”

Twilight looked down at her front right leg, shifting it gingerly. “My ankle is still a little tender, but I’m fine.” She paused for a moment before looking back to Nightmare Moon. “H-how are you doing?”

“I am perfectly fine. I am the queen of Equestria. Everypony is enjoying the beauty of an eternal night, the Children of Nightmare are settling into control of the government, and Equestria is mine to rule. I couldn't be happier.”

“You don't sound happy,” Twilight pointed out.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes pulsed, and her distant gaze turned into an irritated glare. “What would you know about how I sound when I'm happy?”

“Because I've seen you happy, Nyx. I've heard you laugh and seen you smile. You may say you’re happy, but I can tell you’re not.”

“You don't know what you’re talking about,” Nightmare Moon snipped. “And what would you have me do if I wasn’t happy, Twilight? Would you have me give up the crown, or perhaps you want me to release Celestia and Luna?”

“Yes!” Twilight answered eagerly. She moved out from underneath her blanket and to the cell door, getting as close as she could to Nightmare Moon.

“Then you would have me sign away my own freedom. The moment Celestia and Luna are free, they will work together to make sure that I take their place.” Nightmare Moon gritted her teeth and lowered her head down so she was at eye level with Twilight. “I will not spend another thousand years banished to the moon. You and Celestia have made it perfectly clear that no matter what I do, no matter how well I behave, I am, and forever will be, an enemy to Equestria. It is too late to go back now, Twilight, even if I wanted to.”

“But… do you want to?” Twilight asked hopefully.

Nightmare Moon offered no reply. She turned with a huff and strode back towards the staircase. Twilight watched her for as long as she could. She pressed her face up against the bars and strained her ears. She stayed there until she couldn’t hear hoofsteps anymore, and only then did she climb back into her cot.

She wrapped herself back up in her blanket and laid her head down on her pillow. She lifted a hoof to try and dry her eyes, but it was a fruitless effort. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t keep herself from crying.

===

“Halt! Who goes there?” a guard snapped from the top of the castle gatehouse.

“Apple delivery,” Big Macintosh called up to the guards in his deep, calm drawl. He was hooked to a wagon filled with several baskets of ripe, red apples. “Y’all ordered them yesterday.”

The guards on the top of the gatehouse flipped through some paperwork before poking their heads over the edge again. “Proceed. Unload the wagon just inside the gate and then leave. You got that?”

“Eeyup,” was all Big Macintosh said in reply as the castle gates opened in front of him. The moment he could, he pulled his cart inside. Then, as he had been instructed, Big Macintosh unloaded the baskets of apples and left soon after. The castle gates swung shut behind his cart, and, once the courtyard was secured, servants from the castle’s kitchen appeared. They fetched the baskets of apples, carried them inside, and placed them in the pantry for storage.

Once all the apples were moved, the kitchen servants pulled the pantry door shut and went about their other duties. And, for a time after that, the inside of the pantry was pitch black and utterly quiet, but soon a rustling began to fill the air. The noise was followed by another: the sound of apples hitting the floor.

“The coast is clear.”

After some straining and grunting, a light flared to life in the room. The light sat at the very tip of a little, white unicorn horn. Sweetie Belle poked her head out from a basket of apples and looked around the room. Apple Bloom was already out of her own basket and was pulling at her Cutie Mark Crusader cape, which had gotten caught. At the same time, some apples fell from a third basket as Scootaloo popped into view.

“This was an awesome plan, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo praised as she clambered out of her basket.

“Thanks,” Apple Bloom replied. “It’s a good thing I overheard Applejack and Big Mac talkin’ about the delivery to the castle. I don’t know how we would have gotten in otherwise.”

“But what do we do now that we’re here?” Sweetie Belle asked Apple Bloom.

“Simple. If Nyx is in the castle, she has to eat sometime, right? Well, that’s the best part about us bein’ in the kitchen and it bein’ so close to dinner time. We’ll just wait until somepony makes her dinner—”

“And then we’ll use our super spy skills to follow that pony, and she will lead us right to Nyx!” Scootaloo interrupted before striking a dramatic, kung-fu pose.

“But we aren’t even in the kitchen. We’re in a pantry, and we don’t have super spy skills,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“Well… it’s still a solid plan,” Scootaloo weakly defended.

“Hey, get some of those apples,” a fourth voice spoke from outside the door.

The three fillies jumped. They ducked into a corner of the pantry, behind some bags of potatoes, just as the door opened. One of the kitchen workers stepped inside, lingering just long enough to grab one of the baskets. He then turned to leave, letting the door swing shut under its own weight.

The door was about to snap shut again when Scootaloo bolted out of the hiding place and put her hoof in the way. She winced as the heavy door hit her hoof, but she had succeeded in keeping the door propped open. She waved at her friends, and, soon, all three fillies were peeking out the crack in the door.

There seemed to be two sides to the kitchen. On one side, a team of chefs were making a bunch of very plain-looking meals that were probably for the ponies that worked in the castle. On the other side of the kitchen, however, one chef worked diligently on a few smaller plates, stacking them with food that looked much more appetizing.

“I bet that’s Nyx’s dinner,” Scootaloo whispered, pointing at the chef working away from all the others.

“What makes you think that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Well, she’s supposed to be queen or something. I’ve never seen food like that before, so it must be something really fancy, and queens eat fancy food.”

“Makes sense to me,” Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom pursed her face up in contemplation. “How are we gonna follow him to where Nyx is?”

“Look,” Scootaloo said as she pointed with her hoof. “He’s putting some of the plates onto that cart. We’ll just take one of those big silver lids he’s using to cover the plates with and hide on the bottom of the cart.”

“But how are we gonna get that lid?” Apple Bloom asked. The answer, this time, came from Sweetie Belle. She grunted and shut her eyes tight as her horn began to glow. Shakily, one of the largest silver plate covers began to float up, moving lazily along the ceiling towards where the crusaders were hiding. It dipped and bobbed a number of times as Sweetie Belle struggled, but it remained aloft.

Scootaloo smiled and eagerly watched as the lid floated through the air. “That’s it, just a little closer.”

“I… I can’t… do it,” Sweetie Belle whimpered as she began to sweat.

“Come on, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said, trying to encourage her, “just a little farther.”

“I just… can’t,” Sweetie Belle answered, her magical grasp on the silver lid breaking. The lid dropped, landing on the floor with a clatter. The abrupt noise caused many of the cooks in the kitchen to jump, and all eyes fell on the cover.

The nearest unicorn, the one who had been preparing the fancy food, trotted over to the silver lid. He picked it up magically and looked at the floor beneath it. He expected to find some ruined food, but there was nothing there. Confused, the cook raised his gaze and noticed the pantry door was open.

Curiosity getting the best of him, the chef used his magic to open the pantry door while keeping the serving dish lid in the air beside him. He looked all around the pantry, but, when he saw nothing out of place, he looked back at the other chefs and shrugged. With no apparent explanation for where the lid had come from, the chefs went back to their tasks, writing off the event as a mystery.

The chef that currently held the mysterious plate cover went back to work as well. He picked up a particularly large plate, which was laden with a number of sugary desserts, and, after wiping the bottom rim of the lid with a cloth, he placed it over the top of the desserts. The chef then gently set the now covered plate on the bottom of the serving cart before returning to his cooking.

“Whew… nice move, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom whispered.

At last possible moment, Scootaloo had grabbed her two friends and dove out of the pantry. The serving lid had come down right on top of the trio, and, before the chef could investigate, the three fillies had pressed their legs against the lid’s interior. By doing that, they managed to keep themselves inside the lid even as it was lifted off the ground.

Now the three fillies found themselves on the way to Nyx, and they carefully dropped down from the interior of the lid. They stepped gingerly around the desserts on the serving tray while Sweetie Belle lit her horn, giving them some light. The tray itself seemed unnecessarily big for the number of desserts it held. The Crusaders, however, were more focused on the treats themselves.

Scootaloo licked her lips as she looked over the treats with wide eyes. “Wow, these sure do look good.” She picked up a dessert with a hoof. “You… you think Nyx would mind if we had some?”

“She always liked to share the treats she brought to school with us,” Apple Bloom remarked. Both she and Sweetie Belle were looking at the desserts just as eagerly as Scootaloo was, even as they felt the cart begin to slowly move.

===

“Your dinner, Your Majesty,” the waiter Horte Cuisine announced. He pushed the dinner cart into Nightmare Moon’s bedroom and gave his queen a respectful bow. “The royal chef also prepared a selection of desserts for you. They are in the platter on the bottom of the cart.”

“Thank you, you can leave it there,” Nightmare Moon replied. She had only just returned to her room herself and was in the process of removing her shoes. Horte Cuisine gave a nod and backed out of the room with a final bow before he pulled the door shut. Nightmare Moon only sighed; she had already grown tired of the constant pomp and circumstance the castle staff went through whenever she was around.

Having cleaned off her eyeshadow, the now all-natural Nightmare Moon moved over to the food cart. She lifted the lid off her dinner and leaned in to inspect it. The royal chef had, of course, taken her very simple request and turned it into some artful, overly fanciful display. The sandwich was cut into weird shapes and stacked like some kind of sculpture. Her side salad had also suffered. The green leaves were garnished with garishly colorful flowers.

The only thing that looked simple was the soup; then again, it’s hard to mess up soup.

Leaving the sandwich and salad alone, Nightmare Moon levitated the soup over to the bed. She lay down and kept the bowl suspended nearby as she levitated a book up to her face. That was the one benefit she had come to enjoy as Equestria’s new queen: access to the royal library. Some of the books she had been able to read were amazing, despite the few times she had tripped over books that reminded her of the Golden Oaks Library, Spike, or Twilight Sparkle.

Holding the soup with her magic, Nightmare Moon drew out a spoonful and drank it gently. In spite of all that had happened, Rarity’s etiquette lessons lingered with her. She did not slurp or spill; she ate the soup like a proper mare before turning open her book and continuing to read.

AAAchoo!

Caught off guard, Nightmare Moon jumped. The soup slipped from her grip, and it took a desperate surge of magic to keep the contents of the bowl from splashing across her bedspread. By a small stroke of luck, she saved most of the soup, but the portion she couldn’t save spilled onto her bed.

It was an irritating mess, and Nightmare Moon cursed the soup and all the ingredients that comprised it. Her rage, however, quickly cooled. She used a bit of magic to draw up the soup from the fabric and levitated it to the garbage. She then set the bowl down on her bedside table and turned her eyes to the source of the sneeze.

The sneeze had come from the dinner cart, specifically the dessert tray at the bottom. Climbing out of bed, Nightmare Moon strode over to the cart and lowered her head. She brought her ear close to the silver lid that covered what was supposedly a plate of desserts and listened. Through the thin metal, she was able to hear tiny voices whispering.

Eyebrows furrowing, Nightmare Moon grabbed the tray and carried it to the bed. The voices that had been whispering began to panic, but she didn’t care. Somepony had dared to sneak into her castle, into her bedroom, and she was going to confront them.

In preparation for facing the intruders, Nightmare Moon set the tray down on her bed. She spread her wings, flared her mane, and ensured her lips formed a menacing frown. Only then, when she was ready to scare the intruder into submission, did she lift the lid off the tray with a single, swift yank. 

The sudden motion caused the ponies hiding beneath the lid to snap their heads in her direction. The three fillies that Nightmare Moon found were covered in crumbs from long-eaten desserts, and, at first, they looked upon her with fear. Their expressions, however, quickly shifted to ones of joy. The cape-wearing Crusaders smiled, jumped up from the tray, and moved to the edge of the bed closest to Nightmare Moon.

“See? I told you we’d find her,” Scootaloo said. “My plan was just that awesome.”

“It sure was!” Apple Bloom cheered. “And boy, Nyx, Scootaloo wasn’t kidding. You got big! You’re as tall as Princess Celestia!”

Sweetie Belle’s smile faltered as she sat back on her haunches and tapped her forehooves together. “Um, we’re sorry if we ate your food. We… kind of missed dinner.”

Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, sorry about that. You aren’t too mad, are you?”

Mad? Nightmare Moon was honestly unable to process anything at the moment. She was as still as a statue, mind and body locked up like a machine with a wrench thrown into its gears. Her jaw hung open, and her eyes widened at the sight of the fillies that had managed to find their way to her bedroom.

“Whoa, Nyx, is this your room?” Apple Bloom asked, looking around in awe. “It's so big.”

“And beautiful,” Sweetie Belle added.

“Well, Nyx isn’t exactly as small as us anymore,” Scootaloo pointed out, “she kind of needs a bigger room. Hey, Sweetie Belle, look over there. She has a vadidy mirror like your sister.”

“It’s called a vanity mirror,” Sweetie Belle corrected. The three fillies jumped down from the bed, scampered over to the mirror, which had been replaced just that morning, and leapt up onto the small table that was attached to it before looking at their reflections.

“Hey, I’ve got crumbs in my tail!” Sweetie Belle said with a giggle as she used a hoof to bat at her hair.

“Well, that's what you get for sittin’ in one of the desserts,” Apple Bloom said flatly.

“It wasn’t my fault! The cart shook. At least I didn’t eat it, like Scootaloo did.”

“What? It was still good. It was just a little smushed,” Scootaloo defended as she opened a makeup box that was on the top of the vanity, taking notice of the large amount of purple eyeshadow inside. “Wow, that’s a lot of makeup. Didn’t know you were into—”

Scootaloo didn’t get to finish her sentence as the makeup box was snapped shut by Nightmare Moon’s mane. The queen had rushed over to where the three little fillies were and was looking down at them with panicked eyes.

“I-I’m not! It’s just that Spell Nexus says that I need to—”

Nightmare Moon caught herself and gave her head a firm shake. There was no reason for her to be justifying herself to her friends… to her old friends. There was no reason she needed to justify herself to anypony.

“What are you three doing here?” she asked with a voice that was firm but not harsh.

“We wanted to help you so you weren’t so confused,” Apple Bloom said as she and the other Crusaders turned away from the mirror and looked at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon still had a significant height advantage, even though the fillies were standing on top of the vanity table, but they either didn't care or didn't notice.

Nightmare Moon cocked an eyebrow. “Who said I was confused?”

“Cheerilee did,” answered Sweetie Belle. “She said that you were confused about who you were, so you were trying to be the pony other ponies expected you to be.”

“And that’s why you made it so that the sun doesn’t come up. Because you’re confused,” Apple Bloom added. “So we decided to come here to help you remember who you are. After all, Cutie Mark Crusaders stick together.”

“We even brought you a cape!” Sweetie Belle chirped. She stuck her head beneath her own cape and brought out a fourth little red cape which bore the blue Cutie Mark Crusader emblem and an interior made with golden fabric.

Sweetie Belle held it up with a smile. “We wanted to bring your old one, but we couldn’t find it. So, I decided to make you a new one.” Her smile faded as she glanced between the cape and Nightmare Moon. “Though, now that I think about it, I probably should have made it bigger.”

“Oh yeah, a whole lot bigger,” Scootaloo agreed with a nod.

Nightmare Moon was once again struck speechless. She gingerly took the cape from Sweetie Belle and held it to her eyes. She focused on the haphazardly sewn blue shield emblem with a rearing, smiling, cape-wearing, yellow filly in the center.

***
“Why are we going to the clubhouse again? I thought we were going to try being Cutie Mark Crusader Couch Salesponies with Mr. Davenport,” Nyx asked. She was following Apple Bloom to Sweet Apple Acres where, in a more secluded, private part of the farm, a simple treehouse stood. It was a hoof-me-down from Applejack and the current headquarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“We are, but we need to pick up something first,” Apple Bloom replied before she climbed up the steps and nosed open the door of the treehouse. She then stepped back, letting Nyx walk in first. She didn't think much of it until she noticed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were standing in front of her with big smiles on their faces.

“Oh hi,” Nyx greeted. “I thought you were going to meet us at Sofas and Quills.”

Scootaloo was grinning ear to ear. “We were, but we’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Really? What is it?” Nyx asked excitedly.

“First, you gotta close your eyes, and keep them closed,” Sweetie Belle told her.

Nyx closed her eyes as fast as she could and kept them sealed tight even as she felt something fall on her back. She stood there, biting her lower lip in anticipation, but she wouldn't let herself peek.

“May I look yet?” Nyx asked when her curiosity was too much to bear.

“Yes!” Sweetie Belle chirped, and, in a single motion, Nyx opened her eyes and looked behind her. There, on top of her usual vest, was the signature red cape of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Consider yourself an official Cutie Mark Crusader,” Apple Bloom announced happily. 

Nyx looked over at the cape, a smile spreading across her face. That smile was soon joined by a few tears. “Th-thank you… thank y-you so much,” she sputtered out.

“Told ya she would cry,” Scootaloo teased with a grin on her face.

“Scootaloo! That’s mean!” Sweetie Belle chided, though she was surprised to hear Nyx giggling a bit.

“It’s okay, Sweetie Belle,” Nyx assured her friend while she admired the cape.
***

Nightmare Moon shook her head, reclaiming her thoughts from the memory that had forced itself to the front of her mind. The three small Crusaders were still looking up at her, smiling as they waited for her response. For a moment longer, Nightmare Moon looked at the little cape, and then gently set it down on the side of the vanity.

Nightmare Moon spoke neither as a friend nor as a queen, but as an adult speaking seriously to children. She stepped away from the vanity and motioned with a hoof for the fillies to follow her. “We need to talk.”

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo did as they were asked and followed Nightmare Moon as she led them to her bed. The three fillies jumped up and sat on the edge while Nightmare Moon lay down on her stomach, which at least brought her eye level closer to the fillies she once called her friends.

“First of all, you shouldn’t have come here,” Nightmare Moon began firmly. “What you did was very dangerous. If one of my guards had found you, you would have been arrested and put in my dungeons. I can’t imagine how worried everypony is, since I know you didn't tell anypony where you were going.”

A frown formed on Apple Bloom’s face. “Well, if we had, they would have stopped us, and—”

“For good reason,” Nightmare Moon scolded, causing the three fillies to flatten their ears.

“W-we just,” Sweetie Belle mumbled out, “just wanted to help. We were worried about you.”

Nightmare Moon’s voice softened. “I know, and I appreciate your concern. But I don’t need help. I’m the queen of Equestria now.”

“What about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” asked Scootaloo. “What happened to them?”

“Hasn’t anypony told you?” Nightmare Moon asked.

The three fillies hesitated, but they eventually shook their heads.

“Nopony told us, but… sometimes we hear them whisperin’,” Apple Bloom admitted. “They said you locked the princesses up in the sun and moon, and you were the one makin’ it dark all the time. That isn’t true, is it?”

“It is,” Nightmare Moon admitted with a pang of regret in her voice. “I won’t lie to you, I am the one that did all that.”

“But why?”

“It’s… it’s complicated, Apple Bloom,” Nightmare Moon replied as she continued her attempts to defend herself against the fillies’ questions. “I… I-I have a lot of expectations that I have to live up to. It’s just… confusing.”

“But that’s why we’re here,” Scootaloo added. “To remind you who you really are, so you don’t have to be confused anymore.”

Nightmare Moon felt the air catch in her throat, but she forced the strength into her voice. “And… who am I to you three, now that I’m like this?”

“Well, you did look scary the other night,” Scootaloo said.

Nightmare Moon winced as those words dug deep. Scary… she closed her eyes and lowered her head at that word. She should have been expecting that. Of course her friends wouldn’t—

“But now that we’re all here, you don’t seem that scary.”

Nightmare Moon lifted her head back up, unable to believe what she was hearing. “I don’t?”

“Nope! I think you’re just confused, and, if that’s true, then you’re still our friend, Nyx. A pony who is really awesome at magic,” Scootaloo said confidently.

Apple Bloom nodded. “And a pony who’s also really good at school, even if she asks too many questions in class.”

“And who is always really nice and fun to play with,” Sweetie Belle concluded.

Nightmare Moon was finding it difficult to breathe. She couldn’t shake away the tightness that was forming in her chest no matter how hard she tried to banish it. “But… you do know who I am, don’t you? You know that I’m Nightmare Moon, right?”

“Cheerilee said that you were always Nightmare Moon, but… we’ve never really met Nightmare Moon. We’ve only ever known you as Nyx,” Apple Bloom explained. “Sure, I’ll admit, you look like Nightmare Moon now, but that doesn’t mean you have to act any differently.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter what a pony looks like on the outside,” said Sweetie Belle, reciting something Cheerilee had said in class. “It’s who that pony is on the inside that counts.”

“That, and getting a cutie mark,” Scootaloo added. “Hey! I bet you’ve got your cutie mark now! Oh, what is it? What is it!?”

“I… don’t have a cutie mark yet,” Nightmare Moon replied, looking back at her painfully blank flank.

“Don’t worry about it, Nyx. Everypony finds their special talent sooner or later. You’ll just have to keep crusading with us until you find it. After all, that’s what the Cutie Mark Crusaders are all about,” Apple Bloom reassured.

“I… I think… I think I would like that,” Nightmare Moon replied, letting herself smile. It was weak and tiny, but it was the first honest smile to grace her lips in several days. It was also destined to be short lived. It was wiped away when the door to her bed chambers opened.

“I do apologize for this, my Queen, but there is something that you should be aware of. There are reports that the monsters in the Everfree Forest have started to get restless. It may be in our best interests to—” Nexus began, only to freeze up when he glanced away from the clipboard he was levitating in front of his nose and saw the three small fillies who were sitting on Nightmare Moon’s bed.

===

“They need to be made an example of,” Nexus grumbled as he paced anxiously. Before Nightmare Moon could stop him, he had called for the guards. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were now out in the hallway, being held in custody by soldiers.

“They’re fillies, Nexus, ones who were my friends, and who do not fully understand the situation,” Nightmare Moon stated calmly. “They meant no harm.”

“It is not the intent that matters, but the action taken. They snuck into your castle and reached your bed chambers without detection. That kind of trespassing cannot be allowed,” Nexus stressed. “If we do nothing, how long will it be before assassins begin roaming these very halls? They need to be made an example of!”

“So what would you have me do?” Nightmare Moon snipped. “Let them hang from the gallows?”

“If that’s what it takes to ensure your rule as queen is unquestioned, then yes.”

Nightmare Moon’s face tightened to an angry scowl. “I will not execute fillies, Nexus.”

Nexus stopped on the spot, caught off guard by Nightmare Moon’s defense of the fillies. He then frowned and turned to face her. “My Queen, if I may speak frankly, you have already shown far too much mercy. You’ve allowed the mares who wield the Elements of Harmony to go free when they should be rotting in the dungeon with Twilight Sparkle at the very least. Now, because of that, these three fillies believed they could just waltz up to you like you are a regular pony, and such disrespect cannot be condoned.”

“Is it not I who decides what can be condoned?” Nightmare Moon asked. “Am I not your queen?”

“You are,” Nexus said with a respectful bow of his head, “but I ask for you to listen to your own words, my Queen. You are not acting like yourself.”

“How so?”

Nexus moved a step closer, his voice becoming gentle yet confident. “My Queen, you are the most glorious alicorn to ever grace Equestria. You are mightier than Celestia, and the night glistens with greater beauty than it ever did when it was under Luna’s care. Your form is far more magnificent than theirs. You are the one true queen of Equestria, whereas the sisters were only princesses treating this kingdom like a pet that needed to be coddled.

“Think of what you’ve done in the past,” Nexus continued as he raised a hoof dramatically. “You struck down royal guards at the Summer Sun Celebration with lightning for simply drawing too close to you. You’ve held Celestia at the tip of your sword and then banished her to the sun so that she would know the same suffering you had endured for a thousand years. You are Nightmare Moon. Your name strikes fear into the hearts of ponies all across Equestria whenever it is spoken. A holiday was created solely so ponies learned to fear you.”

“These are all things I already know, Nexus. Get to the point,” Nightmare Moon snapped.

“The point, my Queen, is that you should think about what you’re doing. Do not view those fillies as friends you had in ignorance. View them as they are: trespassers in your castle who have insulted you, who have approached you as if you were some common mare. These are indignities you should not have suffered, and thus they need to be punished. They need to be taught a lesson, and, through their punishment, all of Equestria will learn that you are not to be trifled with.”

Nightmare Moon scowled and turned her attention to her closed bedroom door. She was silent for a long time, but then she sighed. “You are right, Nexus. I, as Nightmare Moon, cannot consider those three my friends any more. They are fillies who have trespassed in my castle, and—” Nightmare Moon’s voice caught in her throat. She needed to take a fresh breath to force out the last few words. “And they need to be punished.”

A pleased smile grew onto Nexus’s lips, and he moved towards the door. “Then I’ll make the arrangements. The fillies will hang in the wind before dinner tomorrow.”

“No!” Nightmare Moon said firmly, “They are not to be hanged, Spell Nexus.”

“But your Majesty, don’t you think—” Nexus began, only to fall silent under Nightmare Moon’s cold, hard gaze.

“You will lock them in the dungeon. That should teach them a lesson.”

Nexus puckered his lips, thinking about Nightmare Moon’s proposed punishment before his smile returned. “Of course, my Queen. They shall learn their lesson and then be able to spread it to the general public. They’ll tell their friends and neighbors of their time in our dungeons. I’ll even have them placed in individual cells, give them a taste of the solitude you endured when on the moon.”

“No, I want them all placed in Twilight Sparkle’s cell.”

Again, Nexus looked at his queen with a dumbfounded expression, but, as before, his devilish grin returned. “Of course, the dungeons will likely start to get very crowded as time goes by. We might as well start saving as much space as we can.”

With that, Nexus turned and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Nightmare Moon waited for a few moments, ensuring Nexus would not return, before she locked the door with a flick of her horn. She then stood from her bed and moved over to her writing desk. There, she drew out a scroll, a feather pen, and an ink bottle before beginning to write.

Twilight,

This evening, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle snuck into the castle and managed to make it to my bed chamber. They are currently being taken down to the dungeons and will be placed in your cell momentarily.

Please believe I take no joy in this, but there is a lesson they must learn. I am not their friend anymore. I also do this for their own protection. Spell Nexus would have them executed for their intrusion. He would use them to send a message to Equestria, but I do not want to see them get hurt. They were once my closest friends. If anypony deserves mercy from me, it is them.

So they will remain in the dungeons until Spell Nexus is satisfied with their punishment. I will try to free them in a few weeks, but, until then, I must ask that you try and keep them safe. Make sure the guards do not hurt them, and make sure they believe they will, in time, be free.  

I know I have no right to ask favors of you at this point, but if you will not do this for me, then please do it for them. Also, dispose of this note before Spell Nexus can see it.

Nightmare Moon

The queen rolled the letter and took hold of it with her mane. She then let her whole body turn into an inky, indigo cloud and surged out her bedroom window. She raced around the exterior of the castle as quickly as she could in hopes of beating Spell Nexus and the guards to the dungeon.

It was, thankfully, an easy feat. She was able to arrive well before her advisor, and, after slipping through a barred window, she made her way to Twilight’s cell. There, Nightmare Moon tossed out the letter she had just written.

The piece of parchment’s sudden appearance startled Twilight, and she looked around for its source, but Nightmare Moon had hidden against the ceiling of the dungeon hallway. Despite being unaware of the scroll’s origins, Twilight moved over to it, opened it with a hoof, and began to read.

Twilight was just able to finish the letter when the door to the dungeon opened. In a panic to dispose of it, Twilight stuffed the note in her mouth, chewed, and forcibly swallowed. She gagged from the dry taste but did not have time to be disgusted. She rushed to her cot, lay down, covered herself with a blanket, and pretended to sleep as the group of ponies stepped into view of her cell.

Spell Nexus scrunched up his nose at the sight of Twilight, and, behind him, a pair of guards kept close watch on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies were clinging together and trembling. Sweetie Belle had already been fitted with an anti-magic collar very similar to the neck shackle that Twilight was wearing.

With a flare of magic, Spell Nexus opened the cell door and let the guards shove the three fillies inside. He then slammed the door shut, causing a loud metallic clang to echo throughout the dungeon’s corridors. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all moved up against the cell door, their faces reflecting the fact that they were just coming to terms with the reality of their confinement.

“How long do we have to be in here?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well, that depends on the queen,” Nexus told them, “but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. After all, I’d leave you in here for a few years, just to be sure you’ve learned your lesson.”

The mention of “years” stole the strength from the Crusaders’ legs. They crumpled into a pile on the floor right were they had been standing. The sorrow on their faces tore at Nightmare Moon’s heart but seemed to have no effect on Nexus. He just chuckled under his breath and led the guards away.

Sweetie Belle began to cry, and she covered her face with her hooves while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked off into the distance. They looked as if they wanted to cry too, but, somehow, they kept their eyes dry, if only for their friend.

Only once she was certain Nexus was gone did Twilight come out from beneath her blanket and move towards the three fillies. “Girls?”

The Crusaders sat up and spun their heads around. Their eyes lit up with a flicker of hope, and, in an instant, Apple Bloom threw herself at Twilight. 

“We were just tryin’ to help!” Apple Bloom whined. Tears formed in her eyes, and she buried her muzzle in Twilight’s mane. “Why did Nyx lock us up?”

“Shhhhh,” Twilight said, trying to calm Apple Bloom down. “It will be okay.”

“But he said years, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle wailed. She moved up and joined in Apple Bloom and Twilight’s embrace. “I don’t want to be in jail!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure somepony will come and rescue us soon,” Twilight whispered. She held both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle tight before looking up at Scootaloo. Scootaloo had started crying, trembling, and kept looking back over her shoulder at Twilight. She acted like she was rooted to the floor. She wouldn’t allow herself to share in the embrace happening less than a foot away.

Twilight, however, knew what Scootaloo needed. She reached out with a hoof, placed it gently on Scootaloo’s shoulder, and pulled her close. Scootaloo did try to resist, for a moment, but she too fell into the hug. The three fillies cried, and all Twilight could do was hug them back and tell them over and over again, “Everything will be okay.”

Nightmare Moon watched all of this from her hiding place as a cloud against the ceiling, and it dug at her chest like a rusty dagger. She was only able to watch for a few moments before she had to leave. She was unable to stand the sight of her friends crying like that.

===

After floating lazily outside the castle as a cloud for a few minutes, if only to feel the night’s breeze flowing through her, Nightmare Moon returned to her bedchambers. Despite her hopes, the wind had provided no comfort. She collapsed onto her bed and sought any distraction from the knowledge her friends were now prisoners. Her eyes glanced about the room, and, eventually, she found herself focusing on her reflection in the recently replaced vanity mirror.

A full grown mare… she was a full grown mare, yet her flank was as blank as a starless night sky. That thought alone stung at her brain like a swarm of angry bees. It was a thought she had tried to ignore, but the presence of her old friends in the castle made it impossible. That, and sitting on her dresser, right where she left it, was the new Cutie Mark Crusader cape Sweetie Belle had brought.

A cutie mark is supposed to appear when a pony finds that one thing that makes them special, their special talent. Nexus had assured Nightmare Moon that, after she defeated the princesses and took over Equestria, her cutie mark would appear. He promised that her special talent and destiny was to be the queen of Equestria… but if that were the truth, then why was she still a blank flank?

What did it mean? What was her special talent supposed to be? She had always wanted Equestria; she had always wanted the eternal night. This was what she had always wanted. Nexus had promised that once she had achieved her goals her cutie mark was sure to appear.

Yet even that wasn’t true. Luna's words echoed in Nightmare Moon's mind from when the two had fought in Canterlot Castle. It was Luna’s desire to rule Equestria and bring about the night eternal. It was Luna’s jealous rage that had once been the sole defining feature of their mutual existence. It was Luna’s thoughts that had once filled her mind. But now she was her own mare. Now she wasn’t just Luna’s twisted reflection, something had changed. But what? What was different? What was her special talent, her cutie mark, supposed to be?

Nightmare Moon looked into the eyes of her reflection, as if expecting it to offer answers to the questions buzzing around in her mind. The mare in the mirror, however, offered no such advice. It simply looked back at her with the same questioning gaze.