The door opened into the room Levi was sound asleep in, the bright light shining directly into his eyes from the door. He groaned as he was rudely awoken from his sleep by the intruding light beaming from the door, rolling onto his side to avoid the bright stream of light. The small dragon had a lampshade on his head decorated with colored streamers that hung off of it and looked like they would fall to the ground at the slightest touch.
“Hey Twilight, Pinkie just started pin the tail on the pony, wanna play!” Spike asked excitedly, pushing up the lampshade to make eye contact with the unicorn.
“No!” Twilight answered loudly, “The ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?” Twilight continued annoyed as the music from downstairs continued to blast and be heard in there room, only adding to the fire of her annoyance.
“Great question..” Levi commented in a raspy voice from just waking up. He opened his eyes fully and immediately regretted his decision, feeling the light from the door burn his eyes. He turned his head over to the clock and saw how late it was from when he first came upstairs. The ponies had been partying down there for hours after he left, Levi’s head threatened to ache just at the thought of being down there with that music for hours on end.
“Shit..” He said to himself as he rolled back onto his back, being greeted by the burning light from the door that shone straight into his retinas, he shut his eyes tightly and winced from it.
“It’s the evening before the Summer Sun celebration, everypony has to stay up to watch the princess raise the sun” Spike explained as Twilight turned her head to look out the window and look out at the stars in the big beautiful night sky, thinking about how big the celebration was going to be.
“You should really lighten up Twilight, it’s a party!” The dragon suggested, turning his back on the dark and sullen room and leaving, the door clicked shut behind him which muffled the sound once more. Levi could finally open his eyes in peace and the first thing he did was look over at the visibly annoyed Twilight.
“It’s just a party, it’s just a party!” She mocked in a baby-like voice, tapping the mattress as she did so. “Ugh!” She sighed as she flopped down onto the bed next to Levi, holding the pillow she had on her head over her lower body.
Her purple eyes stared at the ceiling as she laid there in the silent room, apart from the noise downstairs, realizing how much she took the quiet for granted. Levi laid his head on it’s side and looked at her, seeing the irritation on her face, and said “He’s not wrong”
She turned her head to lock eyes with him, “What?”
“I mean he’s not wrong,” He sat up and leaned against the bed frame, “I think you should lighten up a little bit, these ponies aren’t as ‘crazy’ as you think” She looked at him with a disgruntled look in response.
“Levi you don’t understand..I need to find evidence about Nightmare Moon but I can’t with all of this noise!” She responded irritated, shooting a quick glare towards the door below them as the music continued to rage downstairs.
The book levitated with a purple aura as Twilight hopped off the bed and walked towards the window, flipping through the pages in seconds as she stood in front of it, allowing the moonlight to illuminate her form. She looked up at the moon as it casted a white light into the small room, Twilight looked at it and saw something peculiar about it.
There was a dark colored unicorn shape on the face of the moon that had splotches and cracks in it like it was fingerpainted. The eyeless shape looked down at Twilight as the moonlight illuminated the page, like it was giving the unicorn permission to read it, and she did exactly that.
“Legend has it that on the longest day of the 1’000th year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about everlasting night” She read. Pictured at the top of the page was a beautiful night sky exactly like the sky and a black unicorn with half her body hidden behind a crescent moon, a sad and gloomy look on her face as she looked down in sorrow. Her light grey sparkling mane flowed down the side of her head as her eyes spoke nothing but sadness.
An audible sigh escaped Twilight as she closed the book and looked down at Ponyville through the window, beginning to feel anxious about the celebration the more and more she thought about Nightmare Moon. The unfortunate alicorn who was trapped in the moon thousands of years ago. Levi shuffled over to Twilight’s side of the bed and leaned off the bed and attempted to relieve some of her worries by saying “Listen Twi, we don’t even know if that’s real or not. It could be some fairy tale for all we know”
Twilight gazed back up at the moon as it reflected in her eyes, “That’s what the Princess said to me, she said it was just an old pony’s tale,” she kept gazing at the moon, mesmerized by its glow and beauty. “I really hope she’s right”
“Listen,” He stood up from the bed and walked over to her, placing a supportive hand on her back, hoping that wouldn’t offend her since he had no clue where her shoulder might be. “Even if this ‘Nightmare Moon’ decides to come back, you’ll have me there to help you. It can’t be that bad right?”
Twilight blinked out of her trance from the moon and turned her head back to meet Levi’s gaze, his green eyes showing support as she looked into them. “You’re right, I guess you will be here with me”
She looked out of the window once more and was sucked into the moon’s glow, it looked like it would hypnotize her from the way she was staring at it. Levi pat her back and went back onto the bed, her mind still thinking about what Levi had said about this supposed old pony’s tale. “I hope you’re right Princess” She said under her breath quiet enough so Levi couldn’t hear, “I hope you’re right”
Levi and Twilight jumped as Spike came crashing into the room, plowing through the door like an angry bull and letting the intrusive light from downstairs in once more. Twilight and Levi whipped their heads around to see the small dragon standing in the doorway, the decorated lampshade still on his head as he pulled it up to look at Twilight.
“Come on you two, the sun's about to rise!” He proclaimed excitedly, pulling the lampshade off of his head and letting it drop to the floor. He quickly turned around and started running down the stairs before the two could even touch the ladder. Levi climbed down the ladder, internally groaning that he had to go out somewhere despite how tired and worn out he was even after his nap. When he reached the bottom, he dragged his feet over to his shoes and slipped his sore feet inside of them. He pulled his feet up and yanked on the backend of the shoes, struggling to keep his balance as he did so.
“You ready?” Levi asked as the unicorn walked beside him and towards the door.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” She replied, a tinge of anxiety coated in her voice, “Let’s go” The brown haired man and the unicorn walked down the stairs in unison and Levi was mentally preparing himself for the downstairs to be a complete mess. To no one's surprise, Twilight gasped when she saw the once perfectly library that was trashed by Pinkie’s overzealous party.
Empty wooden chalices dotted the floor with some of the liquid in them spilling out onto the floor. Cupcake wrappers and streamers were on the floor and on the wall next to the door that was rudely left open was a white piece of paper tacked to the wall with a crude drawing of a pony in pink marker on it. They figured that must’ve been the pin the tail on the pony that Spike was encouraging her to play. The tail was a piece of paper with a pink tail drawn onto it and it was tacked onto the top of the pony’s back leg.
The snack table was almost completely cleared out, Twilight’s cup of hot sauce still sat there on the table with her straw still in it. The bottle of whiskey was gone off of the table and rested on its side on the floor next to it. The tray full of cupcakes was completely cleared out except for one half eaten cupcake without a wrapper. There was a big blue bowl that somebody must’ve brought after Levi left to go upstairs, whatever was in it was gone and all that was left was a bowl full of crumbs.
Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration and looked like she was about to explode, all of the annoyance from tonight was starting to reach a breaking point for the unicorns patience. “It’s a mess!” She exclaimed in disbelief at how bad it had gotten from just one party.
“We’ll clean it when we get back, promise” Levi chimed in, walking towards the door with Twilight reluctantly following behind. He glanced back at the mess of a library and just the idea of cleaning it made him want to yawn, “Actually..maybe tomorrow”
Twilight rolled her eyes at the man. “Whatever, we’ll figure it out later,” She replied in a deflated tone, “We gotta get to the celebration” She finished, her voice changing to a more positive one as she said it.
Levi grinned at the unicorn and reached behind him, grabbing the doorknob and shutting the door closed behind him. “Lead the way Twilight” Levi said, allowing the lilac pony to pass him and walk in front of him with him following closely behind.
On their way to the celebration, Levi’s eyes wandered as he looked at every pony and every building that he passed. He admired the beauty of Ponyville at night as the moonlight cast a warm white glow onto the small town, illuminating the ponies and buildings that they came across on their walk. He looked up at the night sky and looked at every star that he could while paying attention to where he was walking at the same time, finding the sky to look way more gorgeous than the sky in Tuscaloosa.
With no cars or emissions or air pollution in general, none of that clouded up the sky and blocked the stars from shining down onto Ponyville. He looked up at the big attention grabber in the sky, the moon, that kept the same black unicorn shape and almost pulled him into a trance just by looking at it. As he looked into its bright eyeless socket, he felt like that unicorn wasn’t just a shape in the moon but a real unicorn. It was like he was making unbroken eye contact with the same unicorn that was pictured in Twilight’s book, the one that was looking solemn and sad while she sat behind the crescent moon.
‘On the longest night of the 1’000th year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about everlasting night’ The story repeated in Levi’s head as he looked up at the planet in the sky. ‘Maybe it wasn’t an old pony’s tale..whatever that means, after all’
He moved his eyes from the moon and back in front of him, immediately catching the unicorn with her head turned to look at him from the corner of her eye. “You alright?” She asked, confused as to why he was staring up into the sky for that long.
At first he didn’t know why she was asking, then he realized he probably looked odd staring at the moon and thinking about “everlasting night”, “Oh yeah I’m fine, the sky just looks pretty tonight” He responded as he walked up to be side to side with Twilight.
“Where I’m from, the sky never looks like this, you see maybe like five or six max” Levi added.
“Five or six?” Twilight questioned, “Why?”
“Air pollution” Levi answered in a matter of fact tone, “But here there aren’t cars or anything like that, so no air pollution”
Twilight gave him a confused look which was what he expected from the lilac pony, “Cars?”
Levi grinned unwillingly at her confusion, “Do I have some stories to tell you, I’ll tell you all about it when we get home”
“Speaking of stories,” Levi continued before the unicorn could respond, “Remember when you said you’d tell me later why you were so friendly to me? What was that all about?”
“When I saw you the first time, it was like I was looking at someone that I hadn’t seen in years. It’s hard to explain” She explained, hoping the man would understand despite her lack luster explanation.
“I get that,” He responded, “Like dejavu?”
Twilight nodded and said “Something like that, but I was friendly to you because it was like I already knew you and it was easy to talk to you, but as you can see I’m not very into ‘friends’” Her voice changed as she said her last word.
Levi felt a little disappointed at her continued disdain towards her having friends but brushed it off, deciding to continue their conversation in favor of completely changing the subject. “Well, to be honest..I kinda felt the same too” Levi admitted, the unicorn giving him a surprised look in response.
“Really?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Levi replied, “I looked at you and you had that look in your eyes, like you knew me, but I knew we never met before”
“Interesting, there’s probably something about this kinda thing in one of my books. I’ll look after we clean up that pigsty of a library” Twilight commented dissatisfied, thinking about how she and Levi were gonna have to clean that whole room despite not even making the mess.
“You have magic right? Just use your horn and make it easy” Levi suggested.
“I suppose” She responded, her purple eyes suddenly snapping onto a fancy looking building that a bunch of ponies were walking into. The tall white building had some tall and square windows with the warm yellow light from inside glowing through them. Halfway up the building was a brown banister that circled the halfway point of the building. The ceiling looked very similar to the top of a belltower and another banister circled the top of it, with small colored flags sticking up from the support beams that held it up, the beams ran all the way to the halfway banister.
“Twilight, who builds these?” Levi asked curiously, looking at the magnificent building top to bottom.
“Construction ponies,” She answered almost immediately, “They're good at their job aren’t they?”
“You said it, come on” Levi responded, walking a step forward in front of Twilight as they both walked in sync inside the building.
Inside were the same decorations that Levi had saw earlier that day, the colorful banners hanging from the ceiling and the streamers and tapestries adorning the walls. That combined with the warm moonlight shining through the windows made the place inside look stunning, it was like Rarity made the decorations to blend perfectly with the moonlight. Judging by what she did in her free time, it wouldn’t be a big surprise.
Twilight quickly scanned the large crowd of ponies surrounding the front stage for Spike, eventually finding him standing next to Applejack, Rainbow Dash. Twilight furrowed her eyebrows at the dragon who had his full attention directed at the stage, not even bothering to look for her.
“This way” Twilight stated, walking towards Spike and the group of ponies he was standing with, Levi following closely behind her with his eyes and wandering at every small and big decoration that complimented the room.
They moved through the growing crowd as they walked towards Spike, politely saying “Excuse me” or “Sorry” as they passed by and bumped into other ponies on their way to the small group. Spike saw the lilac unicorn approaching him out of the corner of his eye, turning towards Levi and Twilight as they walked up to the small group.
“Twilight you made it!” Spike greeted warmly, half expecting her not to show up at all.
“I’m here too” Levi interjected.
Before Spike could even think about a response to Levi, an excited pink pony dashed out from out of nowhere and came to a halt right next to Twilight, an excited and vibrant look in her crystal blue eyes.
“Isn’t this exciting! Are you excited cause I’m excited!” She exclaimed in a high pitched voice, simultaneously whipping her head back and forth from facing the stage to facing Twilight in between words.
“I’ve never been more excited! Well except for the time I saw you walk into town and I was like-” She continued in her high pitched and ecstatic voice, imitating the dramatic gasp she made earlier once more.
“I mean what could top that” Pinkie finally finished, directing her full attention back to the stage as the sound of a choir of birds singing filled the room. Fluttershy hovered in the air in front of a wooden t-post in one of the balconies, directing the birds with a baton she held in her hoof. As the gracious singing of the birds came to a stop after a few seconds, a spotlight suddenly turned on and was pointed down at the center of the stage where an older looking tan pony with white hair stood. Her white hair was wavy and golden framed glasses adorned her face and covered her blue eyes. She had a white shirt collar around her neck and a pale green rose was pinned to it.
“Ladies and gentlecolts,” The older pony announced, “As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”
Cheering erupted from the crowd on the ground and the pegasi hovering in the air high above the crowd, including high pitched and easily recognizable cheering from the pink pony next to them. Levi decided to keep his cheers to himself as he really didn’t know the significance of what he was supposed to be cheering for, he instead glanced over at Twilight who was staring blankly off into space. About what Levi had expected from the unicorn.
“In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this the longest day of the year!” The mayor announced proudly, everybody’s eyes shifting over to the long yellow banner hanging from the ceiling that depicted a sunny day.
Twilight’s eyes wandered around the room as the mayor continued to proclaim, eventually finding themselves looking up at the moon for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. Three bright stars were surrounding the moon in the star as the black ominous unicorn shape was still pictured on the moon.
The stars moved in towards the moon like they were being sucked by a vacuum, and when the stars were fully sucked in towards the moon out of sight, the moon flashed bright white for a split second. Twilight’s eyes strained and she winced from the sudden flash, looking back at the planet in the sky and finding the unicorn shape to be completely gone like it was never even there.
Her mind immediately jumped to the idea that the “old pony’s tale” was real after all, which would explain the shape in the moon to begin with, and worry began to creep inside of her as she faced up at the man beside her.
“Levi!” She whispered in a concerned tone, tapping his side with her hoof.
“Hmm?” He hummed in response, looking down and looking into the ponies concerned eyes.
“Look at the moon!” She whispered. Levi could tell by the sudden change in her tone from earlier that something was wrong and Levi could, oddly enough, sense that something wasn’t quite right with the celebration.
He looked up at the moon he was staring at on the way there, finding the shape vanished. He completely tuned out the mayor’s speech as he recollected Twilight’s story she read from her book and the picture of the black unicorn inside the moon. His feelings of something being off amplified at the discovery and the urge to just turn around and leave suddenly made itself known.
“You think we should leave?” Levi asked.
“No, I guess we’ll see what happens” Twilight responded.
‘Oh boy’ Levi said in his head.
“And now it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..” The ponies surrounding Levi jumped in joy and the pegasi flew in small circles in the sky at every compliment she gave to the princess, huge smiles on their faces all the while.
Levi’s face was a far cry from the smile that every pony shared around him, instead he and Twilight shared concerned looks at what might happen in the coming moments.
“Ready?” Fluttershy whispered to her bird choir as the anticipation built for the Princess's arrival.
“Princess Celestia!” She announced proudly, waving her hoof in the air and looking up at the stage above her that was covered by a deep purple curtain. Rarity yanked down on the rope that was clamped in her jaws, pulling away the curtain as the anticipation reached its peak.
Levi hoped in his head that the white alicorn would be standing there on the balcony and the tale would just be that, a fictional tale, Twilight shared the same feelings. What they saw however completely destroyed their hopes for the tale to be fiction and the celebration to go normally, because as the spotlight moved from the tan pony on the stage to the balcony, the princess was nowhere to be seen.
As the bird choir’s singing stopped, a surprised Rarity standing up at the balcony where the Princess was supposed to be spoke a loud “Huh?” as the ponies below her echoed the same confusion.
The ponies began to chatter amongst themselves in confusion almost immediately the curtain was pulled, some were concerned and some were just plain confused on what was going on.
“This can’t be good” Twilight spoke worriedly, exchanging concerned and nervous glances with Levi.
The spotlight was once again directed back to the mayor who attempted to calm down the worried chatter of the crowds by saying “Remain calm everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation”
To no one's surprise at all, the pink ecstatic pony next to them began bouncing up and down before she exclaimed “Oh I love guessing games! Is she hiding?” she moved her head up and down as she spoke to imitate looking.
Alarm bells began to ring inside of Levi’s head as he saw Rarity trotting back and forth where the Princess was supposed to be, looking all around for her but not finding anything that could explain her disappearance. The more he looked around at every pony chattering and Rarity scrambling to find the Princess, worry began to turn into dread as he felt a strong sense of something bad about to happen. He turned his gaze to look down at Twilight who made eye contact with him, mirroring the same emotions he was feeling.
Suddenly, Spike came running over to the two of them, a worried look on his purple face. “Twilight, do you know what’s going on?” He asked concerned, hoping she’d have an answer.
“I don’t know,” She responded, putting the small dragon unwillingly onto her back with her magic, “But prepare for the worst Spike, you too Levi”
“Already on it” Levi replied.
He looked up at Rarity once more who stopped searching for the Princess and instead stood close to the railing and announced with surprise “She’s gone”
A collective loud and long gasp came from the crowd as Levi looked at some of the many now concerned faces of ponies around him, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s. “Oooh..she’s good” Pinkie commented playfully despite the circumstances, directing her big blue eyes at the balcony where Rarity once stood.
A horrified shriek escaped her at what she saw, completely shifting from her bubbly attitude to one of fear in a split second. Levi jumped from the sudden shriek that was followed by the other gasps and exclamations of fear and worry from the ponies around him.
Levi and Twilight looked up at the high balcony in unison and Levi’s jaw dropped at what he saw while simultaneously gasping from fright. The spot where Rarity stood just seconds before was now occupied by a black and blue sparkling mass that grew in size with each passing second.
The corners of the mysterious sparkling mass were a waving and misshapen ripple that grew bigger and bigger before anybody could do anything about it or evn comprehend what was happening. Twilight hung her head low to the ground as she realized the hard and scary truth of her situation. The tale was real.
“Oh no..” The mass grew big and formed a circular shape before a pony suddenly formed from the sparkling mass.
“Nightmare Moon” Levi uttered in horror, looking down at Twilight not knowing what to do.
A black alicorn stood where the mass once floated, she had a pitch black coat with what looked like a dark blue chestplate covering her chest with a crescent moon on it in a much lighter shade of blue. On her flank was a purple splotch that covered most of her flank and lower half and some of her upper leg, a crescent moon in the center of the purple splotch in the same color as the crescent moon. Her dark blue helmet allowed her ears to poke out from the top and her eyes and most of her face to be shown.
A hole in the top of the helmet allowed her long, black horn to stick out from her head. She had aquamarine eyes that looked down on the ponies beneath her like they were insignificant to her, like they were lesser beings. Her hair and tail is the same mysterious mass but instead of black and blue it was replaced with purple and blue.
Her hair and tail waved and flowed similar to Celestia’s but the black alicorn's hair behaved oddly compared to hers, like it was some flowing a lot more than normal. Spike put the back of his hand up to his forehead dramatically and fainted, falling off the unicorn's back and hitting the ground below with a thud.
The black alicorn flapped her wings and stuck them upright in the air before she spoke, her voice echoing throughout the room of terrified and quivering ponies. “Oh my beloved subjects! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you’re precious little sun loving faces”
Levi looked around at the expressions of the pony’s around him and the crowd, their eyes were wide and fearful and some of them quivered and shook from Nightmare Moon’s presence. Levi however stood fully upright and faced the alicorn way above him, staring her down and preparing for the worst.
“What did you do with our princess!” A rainbow haired pegasus demanded, her wings shooting out from her sides as she started to fly towards the black alicorn angrily.
Standing behind her was Applejack, who instinctively bit down onto Rainbow’s tail and pulled back as hard as she could to prevent the pegasus from reaching the balcony. She couldn’t break free from her grasp no matter how hard her wings beat. “Slow down there nelly!” She exclaimed through clenched teeth.
Nightmare Moon raised her head in the air and laughed softly before locking eyes with the angry cyan pegasus and responding “What? Am I not royal enough for you?” returning her wings to her sides. “Do you not know who I am?” She asked, putting a hoof up to her chest.
“Oh! Oh! More guessing games!” Pinkie chirped, Levi looked at her with disbelief at how she could act so bubbly and excited despite the situation they were in.
“Pinkie!” Levi scolded through clenched teeth.
“Ummm..Howkey Smokes! How about..Queen Meanie! No, Black Snooty Black Snooty-” Her name listing was cut short by an apple that was shoved into her mouth by the blonde pony holding Rainbow back. She attempted to talk with the apple in her mouth and her cheeks puffed out, but all that came out was muffled noises and squeaks.
Nightmare Moon leaned her body over to Fluttershy and her bird choir who hovered there still the entire ordeal up to this point. The birds all flew away in fright as the alicorn's head leaned closer to the yellow pegasus, who looked up at her scared and threw her hooves in front of her face in fear.
“Does my crown no longer count since I’ve been imprisoned for a 1’000 years!” She continued angrily, her horn just mere inches away from the frightened pegasus’ face. Levi stared daggers at her and knitted his eyebrows in anger at the way she was treating his friend.
She leaned close to Rarity who was hiding behind Fluttershy unseen ever since Nightmare Moon made her appearance and used her mane to hold her chin up like a third hoof. She stared into her blue eyes menacingly as she continued her speech, “Did you not see the signs?”
“I did!” A voice called out from below her, causing the alicorn to push up Rarity’s head with her mane and look down at the lilac unicorn who said it.
“And I know who you are! You’re the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!” Another gasp came from the crowd as the alicorn flapped her wings once more and rested them at her sides.
“Well well well,” She replied impressed, “Somepony who remembers me, well you also know why I’m here”
“You’re here to..to..” Twilight stuttered as the pony’s who once surrounded them began to back away as the unicorn continued to speak, loudly gulping as she looked into the menacing aquamarine eyes of the black alicorn.
She raised her head and laughed maniacally at the unicorns fear before announcing to the terrified ponies in the room “Remember this day little ponies for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last..forever!”
She raised her horn into the air as the familiar sparkling and blue clouds began swirling above her like a forming tornado. As the swirling clouds swirled around her they swirled high above her and into the air, creating a spiraling hurricane above her.
Krakoom!
Thunder roared from the sparkling cyclone and lightning caused the cyclone to flash brightly, the black alicorn cackling maniacally all the while, the sound somehow being louder than the thunder and lightning she created. Twilight put the still unconscious Spike on her back with her magic and Levi instinctively threw her hand over Twilight’s chest as he backed up away from the disaster forming in front of them.
The alicorn continued to cackle louder and louder as the swirling sparkling clouds got bigger and bigger above her, lighting flashed onto Levi’s shocked and horrified face as it became more frequent by the second. All Twilight could do was stand there, dumbfounded and speechless, as the prophesied mare in the moon unleashed her powers onto the screaming and terrified ponies. Scared ponies ran towards the door in bunches, bumping and slamming into Levi and Twilight as they scurried towards the door in a blind panic.
“SEIZE HER!” He heard a voice cut through the chaos unfolding in front him, he looked towards the stage and saw the tan looking Mayor standing on the stage. An angered expression on her face as she pointed her hoof up at the cackling alicorn in fury, three guards at her side all with matching golden armor and blue crests on their helmets. “ONLY SHE KNOWS WHERE THE PRINCESS IS!” She bellowed over the cacophony of noises that rang out around her.
The three guards obeyed and flared up their wings and began flying towards the alicorn on the deck, their faces hardened and their eyebrows furrowed as they darted towards Nightmare Moon.
She reared the instant she laid her aquamarine eyes on the three guards charging towards her, “Stand back you fools!” she called out loudly towards the three white pegasus, her wings flaring up as she turned her body to face them.
Her eyes turned a bright darkish blue color, the same color as the night sky only lighter, and a grin appeared on her face as she pointed her hoof towards them. The sparkling clouds shot around her violently like a puddle that’s been disturbed as the thunder suddenly clapped in the air, the deafening sound causing the three guards to stop dead in their tracks as they looked up in the sky. Horror and panic surged through them as they saw three white lightning bolts raining down from the sky and hurdling right towards them at speeds they couldn’t comprehend.
Levi watched in disbelief at the sight he was witnessing, recoiling as he saw the bolts strike the three pegasi in the air, watching as they went completely limp and plummeted to the ground below.
CLANK!
The first guard hit the stage below, a charred black spot on his armor on the front of his chest where he had been hit by the lightning. He laid there still with eyes closed and his wings disheveled, its feathers being completely ruffled and messy as it laid there limp on the ground. Some white feathers that were once attached to his wing now slowly floated down from the sky and onto its former owner.
CLANK!
CLANK!
Levi’s eyes widened as he heard the sound of metal armor colliding with the floor, the Mayor staring at the alicorn with the fear of God in her eyes as she slowly backed away from the scene. Levi whipped his head around to look at the door, or what he could see of the door through the gaps of the colossal crowd that was gathered in front of it. They all tried desperately to open the door as there screams of fright all combined into one ear piercing noise that rattled his brain, however despite their efforts, the door wouldn’t budge.
The sparkling clouds around the alicorn suddenly twisted around her like a black and purple tornado, and when it stopped spinning, Nightmare Moon had simply become one with the cloud. The mass seemingly jumped up into the air and dived towards the door, all of the ponies let out one final shriek of terror before jumping out of the way of the mass in unison, tumbling onto the ground in a multicolored jumble of ponies all on top of each other.
The mass barreled through the door and into the outside world as Rainbow Dash finally broke free from Applejack’s grasp on her tail. The very instant her tail left her mouth, she dashed through the double doors in the blink of an eye, much to Applejack’s annoyance.
“Come back here!” Rainbow yelled at sparkling mass as it flew off into the distance. She stopped and hovered in the air panting, watching as mass slithered threw the air like a snake and disappeared over the horizon, deep into the darkness of the fateful night.
“Nightime..forever” Rainbow said in a worried voice, her wings slowing down to a more calm pace.
The sound of clopping and running drew Rainbow’s attention back to the ground, watching as Twilight and Levi dashed out of the building in a hurry. Running as fast as they could back towards the library without turning back.
“Where are they going?” The pegasus questioned, raising an eyebrow at the duo as they ran off towards the massive tree that sat in Ponyville.
Spike lightly kicked his foot in his sleep and his hand twitched as he laid there in his wooden basket with a pillow inside, the thing that he called a “bed”. His jaw twitched slightly right before he suddenly shot up into a sitting position, and with half open eyes and a tired voice, said “We..we gotta stop Nightmar…” before his sleepiness overtook him mid sentence. He slumped back down onto his pillow, curling up on his side and beginning to lightly snore as the lilac unicorn threw a blanket over him with her magic.
“You’ve been up all night, you really need some sleep. You’re just a baby dragon after all” She whispered as she smiled down at a sound asleep Spike, walking out of the room and switching the lights off. Leaving the dragon to sleep peacefully in his basket, oblivious to the panicked searching that was occurring in the library just a room opposite of him.
THUD!
A cluster of books Twilight was scanning through in just a few seconds hit the floor loudly, ignoring the fact a dragon was sleeping in the room just next to her. She was pulling books off the shelves like there was no tomorrow, her eyes scanning every page of the book as she flipped through them hastily, wanting to waste no time to find out any information she could. The book she had brought with her in her saddlebag proved to be useless in her search for information, only giving a description of what she was looking for which was not a solution to her and Levi’s main concern.
“Elements, elements, elements!” She said in a panicked tone, dropping the books she finished in a few moments onto the floor loudly. The finished books cluttered the freshly cleaned floor as Levi looked through some of the books in the vast selection she had on her many bookshelves, grunting in frustration when the book proved to be worthless.
“Son of a bitch!” He exclaimed angrily, dropping the book and letting it clatter to the floor. “We’ve checked half this library Twilight and there’s nothing!”
Awkwardly standing in the corner away from the mess of books Twilight was creating was Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, all of them following the pair into the library in hopes of finding an answer or a solution to the Nightmare Moon problem. ‘Nightime forever!’ Dash panicked in her head as she watched the unicorn scramble everywhere for an answer.
Levi begrudgingly began sliding books out of the bookshelf and scanning through the pages, flipping through them much slower than the lilac pony but it was a lot better compared to doing nothing at all. Rainbow Dash looked at the two of them as she felt more anxious by the minute. Rainbow Dash thought of the night lasting forever, Nightmare Moon getting what she wanted, never seeing the sun again. She couldn’t really fathom the thought of never ever waking up and seeing the bright early morning sun shine through her window, how catastrophic that would be for Equestria, and how bad it would be having Nightmare Moon be the ruler of Equestria. The thought sent shivers down Dash’s spine.
“Ugh!” Twilight grunted in irritation as she and Levi dropped another useless book on the ground in sync, Levi letting out a small grunt of frustration as he pulled another book out of the bookshelf. Twilight noticed the man’s movements becoming more sluggish and lazy the more and more books he was being pressured to look through for information that he knew wasn’t there, Twilight caught onto this almost immediately.
“Come on Levi!” She encouraged, “We have to keep looking! We can’t defeat Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony-” “Can we know what the Elements of Harmony even are!” Rainbow Dash flew right up to Twilight’s face, their noses touching together and her angry magenta eyes staring into her surprised purple eyes.
Levi and the rest of the group looked at her in surprise at her sudden outburst towards the unicorn, with Applejack having a look on her face like she’s seen this before and knows exactly what to do. Levi dropped the book he was reading onto the floor and started walking over towards the group as soon as the commotion started.
“And how did you know about Nightmare Moon huh?” Rainbow demanded, moving closer to Twilight as she backed away from the cyan pegasus, backing up all the way until her back almost met the wall.
“Are you a spy? Woah!” Rainbow accused, her interrogative questioning being interrupted by Applejack biting down onto her tail and yanking her down and away from the unicorn.
“Simmer down Sally,” She said as Rainbow looked down at her with an annoyed expression, “She ain’t no spy”
The rest of the group moved in closer to Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they all looked at the lilac pony with a inquisitive look, the five of them moving closer to her as she backed away from the group.
“But she does know somethin’, don’t ya Twilight?” She asked, the group stopping in front of her as she looked at her with her emerald eyes. Levi walked over and stood next to Twilight as she looked down and sighed before looking back up at the curious ponies.
“I read the prediction about Nightmare Moon, some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only way to stop her,” Her eyes wandered over to a window above one of the many bookshelves, the moon shining into the room ominously given the circumstances. “But I have no clue what they are or what they even do!”
“Elements of Harmony, a reference guide” A high pitched voice suddenly spoke from behind the group, drawing the attention of the ponies in the room and especially Twilights. Her eyes widened in surprise as she darted over to the pink pony in the blink of an eye, knocking out of the way and standing in front of the half slid out book on the shelf in disbelief and amazement.
“How did you find it!” Twilight exclaimed.
“It was under E!” Pinkie responded in her usual cheerful voice, starting to bounce around the room in her typical Pinkie fashion as Levi smiled subtly at her.
“Oh..” Twilight replied in a half embarrassed tone and hushed tone, looking at the pony bounce around the room playfully from the corner of her eye. Her horn glowed purple as she pulled the red book from its place as the group, including Levi, gathered around the unicorn as she flipped through the pages rapidly.
She laid her eyes intently on the page and began to read as she turned around to face the group who stood there in anticipation, “There are seven Elements of Harmony, but only five are known,” she read aloud, “Kindness, laughter, generosity, honestly, and loyalty”
The five ponies stood side by side as she listed off the Elements, like they somehow knew that was their purpose, as Levi stood at the end of the line with his arms crossed over his chest. “The sixth and seventh are complete mysteries…” As the unicorn continued to read, Levi caught something out of the corner of his eye at the wide window above the bookshelf the book just came from. A sparkling and sinister looking tentacle sat completely still besides the edges of it waving gently, it sat there staring into the wind like it was a sentient being, listening intently to their conversation. Levi’s heart jumped in his chest out of fear when he saw the tentacle with half its body hidden behind the window frame and the top part that served as its “head” poking out to look.
He immediately recognized it as Nightmare Moon’s sparkling mass that seemingly had a mind of its own. His eyes snapped to it and the very moment he laid his eyes on it, it was gone. Like it disappeared into thin air in a matter of moments. Levi scowled at the window as he focused less on the window and more on Twilight’s explanation, “The last known location of five elements was in the Castle of the Royal Pony sisters”
The ponies were all huddled together as they all read the page, Twilight being the only one reading aloud, with Levi standing behind them looking over their shoulders in an attempt to get a glimpse of the page. “It is located in what’s now known as..” An audible gulp was heard from the ponies before they finished the final word, “The Everfree forest!” They all exclaimed fearfully.
Levi’s face went from a blank expression to one of dread in the blink of an eye as Fluttershy turned her head to face him, a fearful look mirroring in their eyes as they looked at each other.
“Is that the place where…” Levi asked, his voice trailing off at the memory he was referring to.
Fluttershy nodded solemnly, ‘Yes it is,“ she answered in a hushed whisper as Levi struggled to hear her, “But with all of us hear it should okay”
“Damn..I hope so,” Levi replied, raising his voice slightly and uncrossing his arms as he spoke “Well what the hell are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on!” Rainbow grinned at him as she boosted herself up into the air and hovered as she returned his enthusiasm with her own, “Let’s go everypony! Whatever’s there we’ll face it together!”
The ponies except for Twilight cheered loudly and pumped their hooves in the air for a collective fist bump, Twilight had a worried look on her face as she closed the book and slid it back where it belonged. She looked over at Levi, her purple eyes displaying anxiety towards the thought of even going near the forest at this time of night, nonetheless going there to save Equestria.
Despite his confident and enthusiastic exterior, the same nervousness and anxiety was hidden behind his confident smile as they both listened to the group cheer loudly. He shot a reassuring smile at the worried unicorn in a silent way of telling her “Everything’s gonna be okay”. Twilight returned a grin as she walked with the group towards the door.
Levi felt a hoof hit him in his shoulder playfully as a raspy voice exclaimed “You ready for this Levi!”
He looked into her magenta eyes and couldn’t help but smile at the fact the pegasus remembered his name, but answered her question with an enthusiastic “Yeah!”
The cyan pegasus chuckled as she caught up with the group with Levi lagging behind and being the last one out of the group out of the door. He walked outside onto the doormat outside and looked over at the group of ponies as they walked, with Rainbow Dash being the only exception as she hovered in the air above them but still following closely. He reached his hand back and grabbed the doorknob and looked into the cozy first floor of the library, and thought to himself ‘Alan would really love this place, he always loved reading’
It was only then when he realized how long it had been since he really thought about Alan. When he first got here finding him was the only thing occupying his mind, but with all the drama of the failed celebration, he had a bunch of other things to worry about then just him. The more he thought about it the more he felt worried for his friend and what could be happening wherever he is, how the catastrophe that was the Summer Sun celebration made things different for him. He felt a grin grow on his face at the thought of finding his best friend and bringing him to Ponyville, letting him meet the friendly faces that lived there.
“Levi!” Rainbow called out a few meters away from Levi, her voice echoing through the empty streets of Ponyville, “What’re you waiting for!”
“O-oh, sorry!” He called back embarrassed at how lost he had gotten in his thoughts. He took one last look at the beautiful interior that he now called home and whispered to himself “I promise you brother, wherever you are or whatever is happening to you, I’m gonna bring you home”
And with that, the man closed the door and hurriedly began to run towards the group of ponies that were a lot further away from him than he thought. “Wait up!” He yelled out, holding his hand in the air for a few seconds to show them he was there. When he caught up, he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked with the group, overwhelmed with nervousness but at the same time excited for the journey ahead of him.