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At the next hilltop, we saw where the pegasus armada had been heading - an imperial base on the top of the next broad, round hill. They had constructed a tornado over it. I looked to Rainbow Dash, saying, "You can do that?"

She was agape. "That's... awesome! At least four thousand wingpower!" Wingpower? "Oh, yeah, we can control the weather. They must have emptied Cloudsdale and half the other cities in Equestria!"

Applejack grimly said, "But look what they're doing." Indeed, the base was being utterly demolished. Outlying funnels were mopping up the fleeing troops. It was a slaughter.

Twilight Sparkle sat down roughly. "I don't even know what to do. It looks like this new empress Nightmare Moon actually has Equestria under her control, and... appears to be defending it effectively! If my brother was following her orders..."

I said, "She may not have changed her name, but when I left her, Nightmare Moon was not the same being that you encountered."

"So she was halfway good?"

Rainbow Dash pointed out, "But those nightmares?"

"Half way to neutral, maybe. She did go so far as to explicitly state she wouldn't actually plunge the world into literal eternal darkness. Something like this doesn't seem beyond her."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, saying "Then who took Spike? Macidexia had Terra. Omar, what do you know about the Gestahl Empire?"

"Never heard of them. Must be another world."

"And they invade the same time as Nightmare Moon returns. This is very suspicious."

"You think she invited them in to have an enemy to rally the ponies against, to consolidate her rule?"

Twilight Sparkle blinked. "That's... horrible! Anyway, the general seemed to indicate that Terra was from the Empire. And then the empress or someone killed her. Anyway, Terra is linked to the Gestahl Empire, and Macidexia is linked to Terra. So she's probably with them. Right?"

Everyone nodded.

"So, the empire has Spike. I propose we rescue him and sort the rest out later. Any objections?"

We looked to each other. Applejack hesitantly said, "That seems to be what Discord sent us to do. It might play into his plans."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes narrowed. "I have a hunch that we're on the same side on this one. Let's hope I'm wrong. Dash, see if you can catch up with the general. She probably didn't end up going to the base. Let's hope not, anyway."

Rainbow Dash leapt into the air. "What do I do when I find her?"

"Offer our help."

"Roger!" She zoomed up and scanned the nearby hills. "Whoa."

"What?"

"Dragons. A lot of them, and they're big. Coming this way. Well, to the battle."

"Any sign that the army has spotted them?"

"Not yet. They're a ways off, still."

Twilight Sparkle lay her head on the ground, hooves over her face. "What do I do? If we warn the army, we're helping Nightmare Moon, and betraying Celestia. If we don't, we're betraying the ponies of Equestria. Do we just take on the dragons ourselves? What would Celestia do? She used to be so infallible."

Rainbow Dash added, "Do you still want me to get the General? I see her."

"Yeah."

"What do I say!?"

"Use your own fucking judgement!" Twilight snapped.

Rainbow Dash let a moment pass, then shrugged and zoomed off. The rest of us looked to each other, alarmed.

Applejack said, "Twi... do you trust your brother?"

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes. "I do. I just don't know whether he's really with her, or trying to minimize the harm she can cause from the inside."

"Does it matter?"

Twilight Sparkle stood, faced the remnant of the battle. I'd been facing away, and took a look myself - the tornado had subsided, and the pegasi had landed to mop up. She said, "I'll go. I can get there in moments. Rarity, hold my element, just in case." She took it off. Rarity hesitantly packed it in her bag. With a new resolve, Twilight began gathering magic.

Fluttershy whispered, "Good luck."

Twilight teleported.

Applejack stamped her hooves and said, "So, are we going to make Rainbow Dash a liar when she tells the general we're coming? We gotta keep going! Twilight can find us easily enough."

Fluttershy moaned, "The dragons..."

"... are coming if we go to 'em or not. Do you want to meet 'em alone, or with that general on our side?"

When she looked at it that way, getting moving seemed a great deal more attractive. There was a ridgeside path that went in the direction Rainbow Dash had gone, and we set out one last time.

Rainbow Dash swooped up over our backs as we climbed one of the hills, and stopped right in front of us. "The general thought that hill up ahead would be best. Where's Twilight?"

Applejack replied, "Finding out what she can about Nightmare Moon. She'll be back when we need her."

"Well, we kind of need her to do anything against those dragons."

We crested the hill - wide and flat. The dragons were still approaching, taking their time, traveling only as fast as the slowest, largest dragons in the center of the formation. Now that they were closer, we saw there were around twenty.

A rapid patter of footsteps and general Chere was with us. She panted and took off the sprint shoes. "Where's the purple one?"

Applejack said, "She'll be along."

"Are you sure? It looks like your air force is retreating."

We spun - and sure enough, a cloud of pegasi was flying away.

Rainbow Dash complained, "No way. No way! Oh, phew. Look at 'em." She was pointing to the side. A few blue dots were visible, streaking through the air, circling the dragons. "The wonderbolts are on it. And there, and there... Looks like they're all out. Awe-some!"

We were watching their scouting and harrassing - they actually engaged some of the peripheral dragons - when around us there was a chorus of popping sounds of teleport arrivals: Twilight Sparkle first, then her brother, and two other royal guard unicorns. They bowed preemptively as a small flight of unicorn pegasi approached and landed. In the center of this formation was the smaller, softer variant of Nightmare Moon - and, by the deference immediately shown her, clearly the empress.

She said, "Go." and the others set about various tasks: one pink unicorn pegasus established a bubble shield around the hilltop; a light blue one established what amounted to a giant telescope for viewing the incoming dragons; a red-coated one I recognized as the stern tutor from that jurassic dream (!) created what looked like giant Van der Graff generators out of the ambient rock, ripping the materials straight from the earth. Others executed less obvious tasks.

Twilight Sparkle ran to us and said, "Quick!" to Rarity - she levitated out the element of Magic and passed it to Twilight.

Then she hurried back towards Nightmare Moon, and the other five followed closely. Giving her three lengths of personal space, Twilight Sparkle halted and bowed. The other five hesitantly imitated her.

Nightmare Moon ignored them - she had spotted me, and was staring. With as much dignity as I could muster, I strode to the line the others had formed, and bowed.

Finally, she spoke, coolly. "I thought you died in Charn."

I rose from my bow. "I thought you died on Earth. I'm glad to see I was mistaken."

Her look was highly suspicious: "What power did you hide from me, that let you escape and make your way here? Or did Jadis take you too?"

"I used her chair. Explorers found me. Had help from there."

She seemed momentarily satisfied. "We will speak more later." A glance to the approaching dragons, and she shifted her attention to the gang. "The elements may be able to forestall open combat. This will provide an opening I can use to try to command her dragons. How much experience have you gathered with them?"

Twilight Sparkle swallowed. "Well, we momentarily healed a pony infected by Discord. And we blasted the general over there, but it didn't do anything."

Nightmare Moon looked at the general, who was being discreetly watched by two unicorns. "It dispelled her illusions. Hold off until I tell you. Definitely do not strike their empress until we have the dragons. When the moment comes, bring yourself up as close as you can to striking, without actually striking. It will prevent evasion or attack. We can talk at length then."

Then she looked to the general intently. The general met her gaze, appraoched and saluted. The empress asked, "What is your name? What are you doing here?"

"I am general Celes Chere. The empire is led by a monster who does not care about it in the least, merely thinking it useful to her selfish ends. She must be defeated."

"Can you fight these dragons?"

After a moment, she said, "I may be able to take on the mid-size dragons one at a time. The largest are definitely beyond me. I am more tuned to fighting espers and magic wielders - such as the empress. Without me, I believe she would annihilate you in moments. I can neutralize her magic. Just don't try to cast any of her kind yourselves."

"Our destroying your army does not bother you?"

She took a deep breath. "If afterwards I may return and tend the fallen, I expect there will have been very few true fatalities, merely many who look dead. And even if they are dead... I couldn't exactly blame you for defending yourselves. It is tragic."

Nightmare Moon gestured her back. There was no more time to talk - the first dragons were scratching at the shell surrounding us. Soon more, and larger, dragons piled on.

Only when the largest were about to land on the top of the dome did Nightmare Moon command Twilight Sparkle, "Now!"

The elements flared, and time seemed to slow down.

Not everything slowed down - Nightmare Moon boomed out, obviously amplified, "Dragons, heed my call. I am Nightmare Moon, who created you. And for this, today I demand the price."

The odd slowed time continued as the dragons stopped altogether, and looked up to a tiny dot at the top of the dome. The dome rippled, and began dissolving from the top. The dot fell, ever so slowly.

It unrolled and we could see it was a woman, her long black hair trailing in the wind of her passage. She spread her arms and hovered. Once she was still, we could tell she was in full armor of black and violet, with a sword at her side and shield strapped across her back. "False, so-called 'Nightmare Moon'! Who are you really? You have no basis to demand anything from these dragons!"

"I am Nightmare Moon, who created them! Who took the promise from their parents, in exchange for dragons ever existing."

"Lies!" The dome's dissolution continued, and the heaviest dragon up top began to fall inwards, slowed further by its broad wings. "I, the empress Jadis Gestahl, the Nightmare Moon, command the dragons, by the agreement held from the dawn of time!" Sometimes I feel kind of dim - I hadn't figured out who she was.

Nightmare Moon growled, "Then that agreement breaks now - for only when our pact was already made did I build the headwaters of the stream of time! Dragons! Do you remember? Or do you forget who brought you past the cataclysm? Who your parents were? What was their promise?"

The oldest, heaviest dragon - balanced on the top, now sagging through the growing gap - started, and the others joined: "Our unlaid - unhatched - our children - our dragons. One day is not too much to give for your lives. Answer the call of Nightmare Moon. Serve the one responsibe for your birth, for our survival." The oldest continued heavily, slowly - "We already serve Nightmare Moon. She did ensure our survival. Where were you when we first hatched? Did you guide us and spread us across the worlds?"

"She is an egg-thief! She only wanted your power!"

The dragon replied to Nightmare Moon, "So did you."

"Does that make the difference? Would you have followed one who, fully responsible for your birth, only thought to serve?"

The elder dragon looked down to Jadis. She was seemingly preparing to mount his neck when he fell past. He asked her, "Mistress, what do you say?"

She cackled. "Certainly. Let it be her fault. Let her..."

Nightmare Moon boomed over her. I barely slammed my hands over my ears soon enough, and even so it was nearly deafening. "Though you are enjoined to come to the call of Nightmare Moon, you are only required to serve the one responsible for your birth. The one most responsible is standing before me: Omar. And he only thought to help you. He devised the deal only to convince me, and argued me down to a day of service. He brought your aunts and uncles, the dinosaurs, with no promises at all."

I was speechless, but Jadis shrieked, "What?"

Nightmare Moon turned to me, and I was suddenly amplified. I hurried before Jadis had a chance to regain control of the situation: "Go home, all of you! Go in peace. Ignore any orders from Nightmare Moon - anyone claiming the name - and not just you here, but any dragons called in the future. This is my command."

Nightmare Moon ended the amplification. The dragons slowly milled about and began to back off. The eldest gave me a long look, nodded deeply, and with a powerful flap of his wings, began to rise back out of the half-dissolved dome.

The elements of harmony dimmed, and time resumed its normal pace. The pink unicorn pegasus who'd formed the shell fell to her knees, panting.