Twilight was woken up by a slight shaking, next thing she knew was a worried voice calling out to her.
"Princess! Pri- er...Twilight! Wake up!" A female voice whispered.
Twilight mumbled something of a haphazardly made reply and sunk deeper into the confinement of her bed. Then, she felt something wet against her cheeks. Was she crying? Yes, she could feel some tears rolling out. Twilight steeled herself and opened her eyes. She didn’t see much, all of the torches were turned off but she could make out the faint silhouettes of two ponies.
Twilight flinched a bit at seeing two ponies looking down at her but it only took her mind a moment to catch up. Her horn lighting on instinct to create a shield around her. A big hoof went and poked her horn, the magic fizzled and then dissipated leaving Twilight a bit stunned.
"Eaaasy there Twilight." A voice called out. Twilight's brain decided to go on a vacation apparently since it took her a few moments for her to recognize it as Orion's.
"Orion?..." Twilights squinted and recognized small tuffs of fur on the other silhouette's ears. "And...Lilly? What, pray tell, art thou doing in my chambers?"
"First, Twi, wake up, you're switching to your old dialect." Twilight muttered something even she didn't understand and turned to her other side so that her back faced them. "Twilight, the ponies we save arrived about three hours and they're starting to ask for you."
"..Why meee?..." Twilight groaned and folded her ears, blocking out as much sound as she could.
She heard some shuffling behind her and a set of hooves walking to the other side of the bed while a set of wings started beating above her sending a wind current onto her. Twilight muttered something cursing the wind and pulled the covers over her head.
Orion groaned and Twilight heard him facehoof. "This is why Princess Luna entrusted ME to wake you up...You are completely unawakenable...To any mortal." Orion smirked and turned to a flying Lilly. "I love this part of my duty."
Twilight's ear twitched when she heard that. She mumbled something again and heard Orion walking away. Then she heard his hooves galloping towards her. The galloping sound suddenly stopped, Twilight's eyelids opened slightly, curiosity getting the best of her. Before she could register what she saw she felt something heavy land on top of her.
Her eyelids opened completely and she gasped for air. She pushed against whatever had interfered with her sleep but the weight proved to be greater. After a bit of struggling Twilight started lifting it up. Twilight heard Orion speak again and felt the figure above her move with his words. She put two and two together and realized Orion had cannonballed onto her to wake her up.
"Quick! She's getting stronger!''
"What do you want me to do?!" Lilly asked him.
"Help me! Jump on top of me! Together we shalt be victorious over this sleeping ogre of a mare!" He bellowed.
Suddenly Twilight felt more weight land on her and her strength dwindle. "I am not an ogre!" She screamed and then suddenly, her horn flashed. Both Lilly and Orion were thrown off of her and to the ground. With a great war cry, Twilight flapped her wings to get some air and let herself fall on them at great speed. They struggled to catch their breaths until Lilly could gasp out.
"Sweet Mother of all things powerful! Princess, you're heavy! Last time I thought it was just you little chestplate thingy but-" Lilly was interrupted by a groan from Orion.
"Do you girls mind? I know your conversation is interesting and stuff but...GET OFF ME!" He complained. They all looked at each other and then laughed. Lilly fell to her sides and to the floor while Twilight fell back wards. They continued to laugh for a few moments before calming down.
"It's nice to see you guys laughing." Lilly commented while wiping away a tear with her hoof.
"Yes, it was nice to relax a bit." Twilight agreed with her and turned to Orion, something made difficult by the darkness of the room, she lit her horn and magically lit the torches bathing the room in a soft even yellow glow. "You said something about the prench that we rescued?"
Orion looked confused for a moment before remembering. "Oh! That's right, they wanted to see you before we left to find the others."
"About that...Do you know where they might be?" Twilight asked him.
"Last I heard, Andromeda was a famous model at Las Pegasus." He said as it were common knowledge. Twilight looked at him with confusion.
"Las..Pegasus?"
"You'll see when we get there." He smiled and nodded towards the door. "Let's go meet your suitors."
"Of course- Wait WHAT NO, no, no, no, nonononononononnoonoonoonnono."
Nightmare Moon,
Canterlot Castle, Throne Room,
Two hours before,
"I BEG YOUR PARDON!?" Nightmare's voice boomed through the Throne room. The lower nobility and the few equine farmers flinched at the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. "HOW CAN THOU HAVE THE GAL TO DEMAND OF US TO 'LIFT THE SUN'?!".
A mare from the crowd hesitantly lifted her hoof as if she were in school. Nightmare narrowed her eyes and focused on the mare. She turned out to be a very young mare, maybe slightly older than a filly. Nightmare's hate-filled gaze 'softened', well as much as it could, and was replaced with a stoic face. She nodded at the mare and she stepped up.
"Your Highness," Nightmare had to suppress a growl at the wrong way to address her but decided to spare the mare. "I was wondering...Well I guess that we are all wondering...Um...How are we supposed to grow our crops without the sun. It could de-stabilized Equestria's agricultural sector and-"
Nightmare lifted a hoof to 'politely' silence her. She turned towards the rest of the petitioners of that night and asked "Can thou confirm her concerns as you own?" There were multiple nods and several affirmative "mhm's''. Nightmare made a 'shoo' motion to return the mare to the crowd. "We can assure thee, our moon has enough energy and it's magic enough properties to grow crops normally. Nevertheless, we must warn thee, thy crops wilt grow at a slightly lower rate and a bit sweeter."
Most of the farmers seemed to be satisficed with her answer but many were still a bit skeptical. Honestly, Nightmare did not have enough patience left to deal with them so she magically lifted an iron bowl and slammed her hoof inside creating a ear splitting noise.
"Court is adjourned! Guards, please escort our...Guests, out of the room." The petitioners grumbled quietly and reluctantly left with the guards behind them. Before the doors closed the guards caught themselves and opened them again. Nightmare straightened up and looked down at the Thestral that entered.
"Commander Nocte." Nightmare acknowledged the commander as he walked in.
The Thestral walked up yo Nightmare's throne and bowed as low as he could hopping he could become smaller just to get away from the fury he was about to light. This did not go unnoticed by a certain Nightmare, she turned to the guards stationed next to her throne and nodded, dismissing them. Then she turned to the still bowing Nocte.
"We hope thou hast brought us good news, commander." She spoke and saw how the stoic and serious Thestral commander shuddered and tried to hide it..
"No my queen."
"I see, but of course thou hast gotten a clue of the whereabouts of my daughter." Nightmare suggested.
"N-No my queen, we lost her in the Everfree Forest-"
"Thou art telling us, that you did not only fail to return her but also not have NO CLUE WHERE SHE IS. OH AND SHALT WE GET STARTED ON THE FACT THAT THOU LOST HER IN THE EVERFREE, THE MOST UNTAMED PLACE IN EQUESTRIA" Nightmare's boomed through the room. Nocte quickly fell back down into a bow so low he kissed the ground. "AM I CORRECT?!"
"Y-y-y-yes my queen!"
Nightmare Moon's horn lit up and magic exploded outwards. The magic hit the walls and the whole castle shook with her rage.
"GET OUT! DON'T STEP IN MY PRESCENSE UNTIL YOU HAVE FOUND HER!" Nightmare used her magic to open the doors to the throne room and unceremoniously lifted Nocte and booted him out before closing the door behind him.
Nightmare sighed, her day couldn't get worse. First some snobby nobles bothered her with selfish new laws, then the farmers comity came in with their ridiculous petition to bring the sun back, and then Nocte had to return empty hoofed. Anger started to boil within her, her power threatening to come out and begging for use. She brought up the energy into a teleportation spell, not wanting to destroy her new castle.
With a flash the image of the throne room disappeared and was replaced with grassy planes. Nightmare looked around finding nothing near her. She lit up her horn and channeled the anger into raw magic, shooting it out like a flare from the tip of her horn.
That type of 'spell' was very costly and tiring but was taught to every unicorn old enough to have a sense of moderation high enough, just in case they absorbed too much power or felt like a magic flare was beginning within them.
After she let all of the extra power out, Nightmare made a sigh of relief and fell down on her haunches. The grass felt nice under her body and was moist, as if it had rained, something that she very much enjoyed and cherished after having spent a millennium on her moon.
Suddenly she felt something at the back of her head as if someone was trying to pull something out or.
"Push themselves out..." Nightmare spat. She lit her horn again and blocked passage into and out her mind. She then used her multitasking skills she earned when she possessed Luna and entered her own mind.
A dark almost black plain came into view, Nightmare's horn was still alight and the form of Luna slowly materialized inside the plane, struggling against Nightmare's magic surrounding her and holding her in place.
"Art thou going somewhere Luna?" Nightmare asked with an annoyed look and voice. "Thou should know better, you know what happens when you try..." Nightmare sang. Luna stopped her struggling and looked at Nightmare with angry tears running down her face.
"Nightmare." Luna spat. "Thou should know better than to challenge me in the dream realm." Luna's scowl became a smug grin. "Thou doest know we managed to reach the dreams of two of the Element's bearers and pass on our daughter's message."
"Ah, yes of course! The great Sir Leo Golden Hooves and Lady Andromeda Courageous Song?"
''...How did thou-?" Luna's voice was filled with worry but she was interrupted by Nightmare.
"How can the sole shepherd of her subject's dreams drive the wolves away from her own dreams? Luna dearest, doesn't thou think we wouldn't notice? Too bad that that thy messengers won't be able to reach their destination."
"WHAT HAST THOU DONE TO THEM?!" Luna boomed, she lunged forward but was stopped by Nightmare's magic strengthening it's grip.
"Us? Luna We would never get our hooves dirtied! No, they shall remain clean for Celestia. Neigh, one of our subjects presented us with a very peculiar artifact he created capable of... Why art we telling thee? Tis not the point. What is however, that we sent him after Leo, and we can see he succeeded, next shall be Andromeda."
"No!" Luna lunged again but this time Nightmare's magic crystallized around her trapping her in place.
"Doest thou like the spell? We learnt it from thy paramour." Nightmare said with a sing-song tone.
"Don't call him that!"
"Do not worry my dearest Luna! Thou shalt get to watch Andromeda's last moments! Do not try to evade my spell for it shalt end in failure..."
"Thou won't get away with this! My daughter and friends will-"
"Ugh...So cliché!...Tata~"
Twilight Capella Sparkle,
Council Head-Quarters, Main hallway,
Three hours later,
"Never. Again." Twilight shut her throne room door behind the last on the prench.
"Oh c'mon Twily! It wasn't that bad." Orion gently shoved her and laughed along with Lilly.
"Not that bad?! Did you not hear them? They were snobby, self-centered bastards that like to kiss flank to get what they-" Twilight let all of her frustrations with a ver un-princess like groan. "I am NEVER going to get those er...Catch phrases?" After looking at Orion for confirmation that she actually used the term correctly she continued. "Out of my head!"
"Surely it wasn't that bad." A voice sounded from the side of the room. A pink hoof stepped out from behind a pillar revealing a pink alicorn.
"Ah, Cadenza-" Twilight started but was interrupted by Cadence.
"Cadence." She corrected
"Oh, yes my apologies. Cadenza, just the cousin I wanted to see!" Twilight smiled to herself, feeling proud to get a small reaction from Cadence. "Pray tell, what does the Princess of Love think of my...suitors"
"Uh...They were fine, I guess." Her voice trailed off and she looked at Twilight. She narrowed her eyes and her face lit up with realization. "Twilight, can I borrow you for a while?"
"Whatever for?" Twilight tried reading Cadence to see what she wanted and to see if she could talk her out it, the answer was 'no'. "Of course...Let's go guys."
"Actually, I want to talk to you alone."
Twilight lifted her brow and looked down at Cadence skeptically from her throne. "Very well, lead the way." Twilight stood on the marble, crescent shaped table before the six thrones that adorned the room and leapt off it into a glide that took her next to Cadence at the bottom of the dais.
Cadence shot Twilight a worried glanced and opened the door at the end of the hallway with her magic. They walked out together, and then through the hallways until they arrived at the room Cadence was temporarily using.
Twilight cautiously entered the room and looked around while Cadence closed the door an lit up her horn.
Twilight noticed the sudden change in light and violently turned around while conjuring up a magical shield between both of them. Cadence was a bit taken aback but continued her spell. Her light blue aura painted the room's walls and then dissipated.
"Calm down Twilight, it's just a privacy spell...Well more like a 'Sound proof' spell. Heh, you never know with the nobility, they have ears EVERYWHERE.'' Twilight's defensive position melted into a relieved one.
"Phew...My apologies cousin...You're right, you can't be too careful nowadays, I can tell." She frowned sadly to herself and started to space out before noticing and snapping out of it. "Ahem...Back to the point of this conversation. What can I help you with?"
"You can't, but I can." Cadence's expression became serious, something that differed greatly from what Twilight had seen of her earlier. She looked at Twilight in the eyes and it made a chill run down her spine.
"What do you mean?" Twilight attempted to remain calm and match her stare. She took a deep, silent breath, fixed her posture to lift herself to Cadence's height and unfurled her wings. "I do not need any help." Twilight walked past Cadence and towards the door.
"You can stop the 'though' act. It doesn't work with me." Cadence patiently called out and Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and looked back towards Cadence with a perplexed look. "I may be the Princess of Love but I can also easily read ponies' emotions. You are not well, and you know that. You have been avoiding thinking about it and facing them. You can't continue to do so, it'll rip you from the inside."
Twilight looked at the ground in contemplation, her outside might have looked calm but inside her mind was in a riot.
'Is she right? Have I really been doing that? No. Forget about that. H-Have I been forgetting on purpose? What else have I done? Nothing. I couldn't have, I wouldn't do that...Right? How do I feel?-'
A sharp pain appeared in Twilight's head which caused her to wince and bring a hoof to her head. She looked back at Cadence with wide eyes.
"For how long?" Cadence asked Twilight, both her voice and face betrayed her worry.
"I-I don't know..." Twilight's breath became uneven as she and Cadence realized the implications. Cadence lit up her horn with her light blue aura and cautiously walked towards Twilight. "No, not now...Sorry." Twilight's horn also lit up and she disappeared in a magenta flash.
She reappeared back in the throne room. Her friends, who were heading out of the throne room, stopped startled and looked back at her. Twilight took another deep breath and pushed her headache to the back of her mind. "We need to leave now. Pack quickly and meet me at the secret exit...If you see him, tell Pyre to accompany us too."
"Pyre?" Lilly asked and brought a hoof to her chin similar to a fangirl trying to remember a certain character of they're favorite story.
"You'll see soon." Was the only answer she got from Orion. He then turned back to Twilight with a worried expression. "Is everything okay Twi-?"
"Yes, everything is fine. We've just wasted too much time, if we want to find the others before the...'murderer' does, we have to move fast." With that Twilight teleported again, disappearing to her room to prepare before Cadence could find her.