A small chime filled the bakery as Clover entered the establishment. The mare examined the place and found the bakery completely deserted save for a few noises she heard behind the room.
Clover made her way to the counter, her stomach whining in hunger, reminding her that she skipped breakfast this morning. Looking over the content the counter had, Clover inspected the contents on display. From eggs and cheese croissants to muffins and jelly-filled donuts, as well as dandelion sandwiches and several fruit caused Clover’s mouth to water. There was no way her stomach was going to let this opportunity pass up and neither was she. Clover pressed her hoof on the bell to place her order.
A voice hollered. “Pansy could you get that please, I’m kind of busy right now with this cake.”
“O-oh, o-okay.” A soft voiced replied back. A maroon colored pegasus mare, her mane soft pink with a few strands of yellow came into view as she started timidly, “W-w-welcome to the C-cookie Factory. How can I help you?”
Clover smiled when she saw her gentle-voiced friend. “Pansy it’s me, Clover.”
The pegasus mare’s nervous nature faded as she recognized Clover. “ Oh, my, Clover I am so glad to see you. How have you been?” Both mares shared a hug.
“I am doing great, thank you. Is Smart Cookie here?”
“Yes, she is just finishing the last cake for the festival. I will let her know that you are here.” The mare walked behind the counter and returned with a ginger colored mare with her blonde mane fixed in a bun, Smart Cookie.
“Well, whaddya know? Clover what brings you here?” said the ginger colored earth pony baker as she saw her friend.
A growl from Clover’s stomach answered for her.
She chuckled nervously. “Well, aside from getting something to eat, I am here to check on how you are faring with your cakes for the festival.
“Also, I am here to tell you that the guard will come by your shop two hours before the Summer Sun Celebration.”
“Ha. This is something, I never thought in a million years that you would ever do something related to the Summer Sun Celebration.”
“Trust me Cookie, I am not too thrilled by it either, which is why I did not eat breakfast in the morning just so I could get this over with quickly. Thankfully, you are the last pony I need to check on for the festival.”
“Like Pansy already told you we just finished the last cake as you entered the bakery. Let me go get one of the extra cakes we made so your stomach can simmer down. Go ahead and sit down Clover, I will be back soon.”
The baker retreated to the back of the store to find an extra cake to munch on. The other two mares headed to a table on the right side of the store near the counter and sat down while they waited for their friend to return.
Once seated Clover took the opportunity to talk to her timid friend. “So Pansy, what brings you to Canterlot? Did Smart Cookie ask you if you could assist her with the cakes?”
“Um, actually I am here because of the Wonderbolts. I joined them not long ago. And I am here with Smart Cookie because I needed a place to stay since all of my relatives live in Cloudsdale.”
“Pansy, you do realize that the Wonderbolts are part of Equestria's military branch, right?”
Pansy sighed as she looked down at the table. “I know that Clover, but coming from a military family, my parents expected me to serve in the military. Truth be told, I did not want to join, but I also did not want to disappoint my parents.
“I joined the Wonderbolts because they were my only option. They are the military’s support so I do not have to worry about fighting. I will mostly be bringing food and supplies for the actual troops in the ground. And when we are not supporting troops, we are going town to town doing aerial shows and with Equestria not in any wars, I spend most of my time trying to learn new tricks for the show.
“I know that you are worried about me, and I thank you, but you do not have to; I enjoy being a Wonderbolt.”
Clover watched Pansy as she listened. She noted that what her friend telling her was sincere. “I know Pansy. I am thrilled that you found something you really enjoy.”
“If you ever decide to retire from the Wonderbolts, I can assure you that you will always have a job here at the bakery,” said Smart Cookie as she returned to the lobby with medium sized cake and a couple of plates and dining utensils balanced on her back. She then placed the cake down and took a seat with her friends.
Pansy face reddened from the compliment. “Oh, my cakes are nothing special.”
“I am being serious, you make better cakes than I do; and baking is my special talent. Go on Clover,” Smart Cookie said, “see for yourself.”
Clover lifted a knife from the table and carefully sliced a big piece and placed it on her plate. Clover then took hold of her fork taking a bite out of the cake. The sweet taste of the cake filled her mouth with glee. Clover was amazed by how rich the flavor of various fruits was present in the cake. Clover the swigged the rest of the cake with relish.
Smart Cookie gave Clover an amused face as she witnessed Clover devouring the fruit cake, however, she was a little confused to why Clover was checking on the festival.
“Tell me again how you ended up with checking on everypony for the Summer Sun Celebration. Did Princess Celestia ask you to do this?”
Clover sighed. “No, Princess Celestia did not ask me to do this. I did not see her at all this morning. The Princess is probably locked in her room so that nopony will disturb her. She always locks herself inside her room the day before the festival every year.”
“The poor dear, how is she faring?” Asked Pansy joining in the conversation.
“I know she is worried about something, but she will not talk to anyone about it. I am worried about her and this festival is not doing her any favors.”
All of a sudden a small flash of light filled the room, interrupting the conversation the mares were having. A silver aura holding a stack of papers floated on top of the table. Clover recognized the magic aura in an instant; it belonged to her mentor and teacher, Starswirl the Bearded.
Taking hold of the stack with her own magic, Clover skimmed over them. Both of her friends saw the look of concern on her.
“Is something wrong Clover?” Asked Pansy.
“Do you two heard about the ponies dying in their nightmares?” Both mares nodded.
“Starswirl is leading the investigation about it and it seems another pony died last night from her own nightmare. I will not go into many details, but it seems as if the pony was having a nightmare the night Nightmare Moon attacked. She left behind a child too.
“Starswirl asked me to bring this to the Princess immediately so I must leave.” Clover packed up her things to head to the castle.
“Clover wait,” Smart Cookie called out. When she had Clover’s attention, Smart Cookie ran to the back of the bakery and returned with a box adorn with her bakery’s name on it. “This is for the Princess, I know that this will cheer her up a bit.”
“What is in it?” Clover asked as she took the box with her magic.
“It is her favorite dessert.” Smart Cookie simply stated.
“Okay, thank you both for your hospitality. I will see you two soon.”
“Goodbye Clover, I hope to see you at the Summer Sun Celebration.” said Pansy hugging Clover.
Once Clover exited the bakery, she started her rant on somepony who was not there. “Thanks a lot, Starswirl; just because I am the Princess Celestia’s advisor that does not mean that you can shove every report on my face expecting me to give it to the Princess. For Pete's sake, you could have sent it yourself since you are still in Canterlot! ”
Clover just sighed as she realized that ranting off on somepony who was not with her was pointless. She made her way to the castle trying to think of a way to tell the Princess about the recent victim.
The bedroom chambers of the Sun monarch were filled with silence. The two occupants of the room kept to themselves.
One of the occupants was a fiery feathered bird and the royal pet of the sun monarch, Philomena. The usually mischievous schemer did not try to comfort her owner knowing full well that it could not do anything to alleviate the pain she was feeling. It pained the phoenix that everything she did not have any effect on her owner’s heartbroken state.
The other occupant was the sole ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia; however, it was not always that way. She founded and ruled this kingdom with her sister protecting Equestria from any threat that would harm the young kingdom long ago. But once a new threat began to attack the kingdom, the ponies of Equestria put the blame on the Princess of the Night.
Princess Luna feeling that her citizens were turning against her, could no longer hold her anger against them; using her magic with the power of the magical creature — where both sisters met in the Everfree forest — she became Nightmare Moon.
On that day Celestia was forced to make a difficult decision; she banished her sister to the moon forever, sealed away by the Elements of Harmony.
Since Nightmare Moon’s defeat, the ponies celebrated the Summer Sun Celebration; a celebration that Celestia absolutely despised. But she participated in it because she knew that there was another threat that she now had to face alone and she did not want her ponies to know about the nightmare that will befall them.
The princess sighed as she turned her attention to her window, which showed the city below her getting ready for the festival. Every year Celestia found herself locked in her own bedroom chambers, making the excuse that she was preparing for the celebration despite the fact that none of it was true. In the days leading up to the festival, Celestia secluded herself from everypony to hide her despondency and vexation from her own subjects.
Look at them, not a care in the world. They are too fixated on their festival to realize that they are in grave danger.
“It’s the only source of happiness the ponies have since Nightmare Moon. I will not take that away from them just because I detest the Summer Sun Celebration; I am their Princess and I will do everything I can to keep my subjects happy, even if I am the one suffering in doing so.” Replied Celestia.
But you have already suffered enough Celestia. How much longer will you have to torture yourself? When will you tell them the truth? When will you tell them of the real threat? You can’t protect them from the threat they don’t even know that exists. Celestia’s mind answered, trying to reason with her.
“I will figure something out.”
You and I both know that won’t happen. You have already given up your pursuit to find a way to defeat the pitch-black creature. Celestia’s mind retorted back.
Knock, knock, knock.
Celestia’s argument with her mind came to a close as the echoes of the noise made its way to her ears.
“Princess Celestia it is me, Clover. I am sorry to intrude, but I have something you may want to see.” Clover’s voice tried to penetrate the thick layers of the bedroom chambers but failed, thus her voice sounded muffled.
“You may enter Clover.” Answered Celestia’s muffled voice in a cold way.
The door creaked as Clover opened came in due to its large size; the noise could be heard again as Clover closed it. Celestia turned her head away from the window to face Clover.
“Again Princess, apologies for intruding; but Starswirl has sent me his latest report on the most recent victim of the nightmare attacks.” Floating the report to Celestia.
Celestia pretended that she was looking over the report Starswirl had written, but she already knew who was responsible and she was growing tired of Starswirl reporting them to her. “Thank you, Clover. I will see to it that I will speak to Starswirl after the festival.”
“Also, there is an adoption form that came with it. It is the child of the victim and her neighbors wants to adopt the colt.”
What Clover told Celestia took her by surprise. Taking the adoption forms from Clover with her magic, she looked over them. A smile formed on her for the first time that day. Celestia seemed happy that the colt had found another family to love him. Lately, many of the foals who lost both their parents from the nightmares had to live in the orphanages and many families were not adopting the poor foals. No foal needs to live growing up without their parents. Blissfully, Celestia took her quill and ink and began signing the forms determined to make the adoption official as quickly as possible. The adoption forms, then disappeared from sight with Celestia’s magic.
“Is there anything else you want to say?” Asked Celestia to her advisor with a renewed sense of joy in her tone.
Clover sighed before she began, “Are you okay today Princess?”
“I am fine Clover thank you.”
“Do not try to lie to me Princess. I have been your advisor for three years now. I can tell when something is bothering you.”
Celestia took a deep breath before she started, “Do you know why I hate the Summer Sun Celebration?” Clover shook her head. “It is because I am celebrating the defeat of my sister when she became Nightmare Moon.”
“Then why do you participate in it?”
There are things I wish I could tell you Clover, but I cannot for the sake of everypony. “Do you know why you don’t like the festival?” Questioned Celestia
“Yes, I do. In the three years I have been working for you, I have seen what this festival does to you. Every year during this time, I see the anger and sadness in your eyes. Believe it or not I consider you my friend, and I hate to see you torture yourself over this.
“So please, if there is anything you need to take off your chest, just let me know.” Worry filled Clover’s face as she told Celestia her reasons for not liking the celebration.
“I thank you, Clover. I am glad to see that not everypony sees me as their ruler but as a friend. It will be good to have a normal conversation with somepony.” Smiling at Clover.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia. Oh, and one more thing...” Reaching into one of her robe’s pockets, she pulled out a box with the store’s name, Cookie’s Bakery embroidered on it. “This is from Smart Cookie, she told me to give this to you.” Clover levitated the dessert to Princess Celestia.
Celestia opened the box to reveal a three layer cake with bits of citrus fruit in between the layers. The frosting on the cake was full of bright colors consisting of yellows, oranges, and reds covering the cake capable of blinding anyone if it were real like the sun. Celestia’s mouth started to water as she looked upon the dessert with desire. It was her favorite dessert, the Citrus Sun Cake.
“If you see Smart Cookie, tell her I said thank you.” Clover bowed and nodded her head as she made her way out the bedroom chambers. “And Clover,” said Celestia to grab Clover’s attention, “try to enjoy the festival this time, okay?”
“I will try to Princess.” The creaking sound returned as Clover left the room.
Please do Clover. You should not be the one who has to reflect on their past mistakes. That is my burden to bare.
Looking at her grandfather clock in the room, she saw that it was time to lower the sun. As she faced the window, Celestia closed her eyes and, with her magic, she took hold of the sun and began pulling the giant star down to the earth.
As the sun was brought down, Celestia hesitated on using the next spell, bringing the moon up to the heavens to begin the night. Finally, having the courage to start the spell, Celestia raised the moon to the skies peak; where the sun was during the day. She could feel her sister’s presence as she moved the moon to its proper spot and once she finished her spell, Celestia did not look to gaze upon the moon knowing what was there to confront her.
The normally tranquil and undisturbed Everfree forest was full of life; an army of ghost-like creatures were taking refuge from the sun’s rays, waiting for the moon to take the sun’s place in the sky so that their mission could begin. The night was not due to begin for another hour as small rays of light were still able to penetrate the broad forest, making the ghost find ways to entertain themselves with whatever the mysterious forest brought to them.
One group of ghosts were near a lake, making weird faces at their own reflections; playing a game to see if they could make the others laugh.
Another group of the ghost-like creatures was chasing a small purple rat all over the place. They seem to have been chasing the poor rodent for a while now; fatigue took hold of the rat's face, its tongue sticking out the side of its mouth, its body crying for the little rodent to stop, however it did not stop; scared the ghosts chasing it would try and hurt it. No longer able to continue, the purple rat’s body went limp from over exhaustion. The ghost-like creatures howled with laughter as they neared the little rodent who could no longer run.
Across the lake, a dark purple ghost with a roundish body, multiple spikes covering its back with two large pointed ears and short arms and legs with a stubby tail, was leaning on a large tree. Its red eyes saw what one of its comrades did to the rodent; its wide mouth curled into a sinister grin.
However, the dark purple ghost was beginning to lose its patience as it looked onto its comrades. Ugh, how much longer must we wait? I know that the Master wants to attack the ponies when they least expect it, but everyone is getting bored of waiting.
While the ghastly creature did not want to disturb its Master, it decided to find out how much longer they will have to wait. Quickly sinking into the forest floor becoming a shadow, the dark purple creature made its way up using the shade the branches made by catching the sun’s rays as a pathway to reach the tree top; to where its Master was.
The sky radiated in a vast color of red, yellow, and orange, signaling that the day will soon come to a close. At the treetops stood a pitch-black creature, standing perfectly still, its eye set upon the mountainside city. The sun touched the castle’s marble walls; anyone staring at the castle at this time, even from the distance of the Everfree forest, would have gone blind from the brilliant light reflecting from the castle.
The rustling of leaves caused the creature of darkness to turn its head. A round shadow appeared from under the leaves and soon the shadow formed into a dark purple ghost.
“What is it, Venom Shade?” Questioned the creature of darkness to the spiky-backed ghost.
“A thousand pardons Master Darkrai, but I must ask; how much longer must we wait? The others are growing restless from waiting that they have begun to cause havoc in the forest. If we do not act quickly, we run the risk of being discovered.” Its usually grinning smile was set in a worried frown.
“Patience Venom Shade. As of now the ponies are preparing for the summer solstice, which marks the longest day of the year. We will head to the city once the sun descends from the sky and we will use the cover of the night to enter the city undetected. With the ponies too busy with the celebration, they will be unable to react quickly enough when we strike. And soon after we will control the rest of this pathetic kingdom.”
As its leader tells Venom Shade of the plan, its devious smile returns. “An excellent plan Master! I never doubted you for a second.”
The colors of the sun soon start to die out as the night fast approached. The mountainous city soon disappeared into the night, leaving only a silhouette shape of the city in its place.
“It is time.” The pitch-black creature said as the night officially began.
BOOM!!!
A large explosion was heard and soon smoke rises into the air. Not long after that, laughter can be heard from under the forest leaves. The two phantoms quickly turn into shadows and descend to where the explosion happened, reappearing near a large white tree with a blue "X" near the top of the trunk, all of its branches growing upwards, but with no leaves.
As the smoke faded away, there was a large crater with a round white and red ball-like creature inside. Its face showed that it was in excruciating pain.
Although they were covered in the explosion’s residue, all of the ghost-like creatures roared with laughter since the explosion had no effect on them. Venom Shade chuckled at the scene, however, Darkrai did not find it amusing.
“Ignorant fools, cease your reckless behaviors! Do you wish us to be discovered!?” All of the ghosts halted their waves of laughter as they focused to their leader.
Once it determined that the army of ghosts was giving it its full attention, Darkrai began, “My brothers, this is the moment we have all been waiting for. Many years have we spent in seclusion from the other species of this world, watching as they struggled to live with their lives. But they have shown that they are too weak to survive the challenges this world gives them and for that they must die. Only then will the strong dwell in this world.
“Now go, the night draws near. Head to the kingdom’s capital and only reveal yourselves once I have.”
The army of thousands of ghost-like creatures flew out from the Everfree forest, heading toward the pony kingdom capital, Canterlot. The only one who did not leave immediately was the pitch-black creature, Darkrai, as it faced the large white tree that once was its adversary.
“You thought that giving eternal life to the two princesses would be enough to stop me, but your plan backfired. One fell into hatred against her own subjects. The other is too mentally distraught and can no longer protect her kind.
“I promise you this, once you return from your slumber, things will play out more differently when we face each other once more.”
One of Darkrai’s claws began to glow with a purple outline. The aura grew into a large claw as Darkrai’s shadowy claw sank into the bark of the large white tree. A deep mark of what was the dark creature’s attack was now part of the white tree’s appearance. While the pitch-black creature was unsure if its foe felt the attack, it was still content with what it did to the tree. Soon it levitated itself from the ground and it too left the forest to join the rest in taking over the kingdom capital.
The large white tree near the lake began to gleam in a white light that soon spread throughout the forest.
The little purple rodent regained its energy and with haste; it dashed away from the lake, taking this opportunity to leave before the ghost returned.
The round white and red ball-like creature also had its energy restored as it rolled away from the area as well, and the creator vanished; the whole in the ground was covered by the soft grass.
And even the large white tree’s most recent injury was no longer present. The bright light the tree emitted died off as everything went back to normal.
Soon the Everfree forest had once again returned to its quiet and undisturbed state.