Twilight Sparkle felt numb. Mortified, even. And she didn’t quite understand. How had this gotten here? She slowly and carefully levitated the indigo piece up and looked it over. Twilight would know this anywhere: It was Nightmare Moon’s chest plate.
“No,” she said softly. Her entire body had gone cold, even though the early morning sun was shining through the window and right onto her coat. “I… No.” Twilight shook her head, how did this happen?
“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” she muttered. She was about to call Spike, then stopped. She levitated a quill, ink and parchment over to her and started writing.
Dear Princess Luna,
I awoke this morning and found in my saddlebags a scroll, but when I opened it…
Twilight stopped, the quill was shaking in the air slightly. “I… can’t,” She said, she wasn’t sure why but she just couldn’t. What if Luna got mad at her? Accused her of stealing? What if she was thought to be traitorous?
Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “I just can’t.” Something tugged at the back of her mind, preventing her from thinking clearly.
“Spike!” she shouted down the steps, and a moment later he appeared at the bottom.
“Yeah?”
“I need you to find me every book you can on Nightmare Moon! Now!”
He stared at her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m fine, Spike.”
“Uh… okay,” he said and ran off to find the books.
Twilight turned back to her bed. The chest piece was smaller than she remembered, instead of looking to fit a great big alicorn, it looked like any mare could easily wear it. She stepped just a bit closer, picking it up once again. She wondered what it would feel like to wear – just for a second. She closed her eyes and let it hover over her head, and slowly begun to lower it…
“Twilight, I found what you needed!”
Twilight gasped, her concentration broke and the armor fell, clonking her on the head. She yelped in pain, but quickly grabbed it and stuffed it under the bed just as Spike appeared at the door. “I got the… hey, are you okay?”
“What? Yes, I’m fine!” She levitated the books out of his grasp, and rubbed the aching spot on the back of her head.
“You don’t look fine,” he said, eyeing her suspiciously.
She chuckled nervously, “No, I’m just tired is all!”
“Well… okay,” he backed out slowly.
“Whew,” she sighed in relief. She tugged the armor out from under the bed and trotted over to the chest where she kept her old toys like Smarty Pants. She opened it and stuffed the armor to the bottom, making sure it couldn’t be seen.
Then, falling back on the bed she opened the first book: Nightmare Theory: The Legend of Nightmare Moon.
~~
“And so Nightmare Moon returned with a vengeance on the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration… yadda, yadda, yadda.” Twilight closed the last book and set it aside.
“Nothing,” she said to herself. “nothing useful, at least. Just religious propaganda and the re-telling of her fall and return.”
Twilight rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply. Her lids felt heavy; that tended to happen when one sits for hours and hours reading. “Maybe a book on ancient dark magic is what I need to be looking for.”
She yawned and looked out the window; it was only mid-afternoon.
“I’ll look around and… Oh brother, I was supposed to have tea with Fluttershy today! I completely forgot!” she cried hopping of the bed and stretching her stiff legs. As she half-staggered half-ran for the door, she stopped for a second. She could have sworn she heard… no, no. That was impossible. She chuckled nervously to herself and trotted down the steps.
The chest in the corner seemed to glow slightly. 'Twilight Spaaarklllle.'
~~
In Canterlot, Princess Luna jerked up in bed as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water upon her. She blinked, and used a hoof to sweep her messy mane out of her face. She looked around, feeling more than a little disturbed.
“Bad dreams, perhaps?” she said to herself, unconvincingly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forgive if this feels a little rushed, this is old. The chapters after this will be new, so they'll be better.