"How is he doing?” Fluttershy looked utterly spent, but she had to stay awake long enough to make sure Luna and Discord were doing alright.
“Discord is resting somewhat peacefully, but he shows no signs of waking awake anytime soon.” Luna spoke slowly to make sure she said the right words to this very sensitive pony. She noticed the tears starting to flow in a steady stream down her friend checks. “Don’t worry; this is the Lord of Chaos we are talking about. He will be fine.”
Fluttershy was starting to cry so much that she was hiccupping. “That’s not,” Hiccup “Why I’m crying.” A sob forced it way out of Fluttershy’s mouth.
“Then why are you crying?” Luna reached up her hoof to wipe way the tears, her companion did not answer until she finally stopped sobbing but tears were still running down.
“No one else will talk about it but,” Flutters looked up at the older mare. “They are all saying that we have to banish Nightmare. And all I can think about is when Applejack said that Nightmare is Twilight, but I don’t think any of them are thinking that if we banish her that we are also be banishing Twilight. And they aren’t thinking about the fact that we don’t have the elements anymore. The chest is gone too, but even if it wasn’t here we couldn’t use it without Twilight.”
Luna stood in awe, it had been a long time since Fluttershy had said that much and not blushed or her voiced had trailed off to where you could not here her or it was about animals. “Do not worry yourself about it right now. In the morning, after we have all had a good rest, we will see where our walls still stand.” Luna walked Fluttershy back to the large Hall where the group, all but Discord, had set up to sleep for the night.
“Good night Luna.” Fluttershy had just laid her head down, when Luna stated thinking about the first time any of the main six called her anything that sounded like they were talking about a friend. It had been Twilight at Luna’s first Nightmare Night celebration.
Luna walked out into the night air again and took wing. Humming her tune again she started to feel the knots in her chest loosen. She hated lying to Fluttershy but what else could she have done. They were fighting a losing battle. There was no way to stop Nightmare in her new form, now that she had a body to control. A nearly full grown alicorn no less!
When Luna allowed her soul to be taken by her jealousy and anger Nightmare AND Luna had control of the dark ways they used their conjoined magic. But now that Nightmare forced her way into Twilight’s soul she could have two things happen and both depend on Twilight. If Twilight is still strong enough then she could fight back, but if Twilight doesn’t fight back then the darkness could take her away.
And without the elements, unlike in Luna’s case, this takeover would be permanent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia was standing in the throne room of her castle in Canterlot. She was standing in a defensive stance and her horn was light up, ready to be fired. “What are you planning to do, Sun Butt?” Nightmare laughed after she used Discord pet name to annoy Celestia farther, with her falling right into the trap that Nightmare was laying. “Banish your ‘most faithful student’ and me to the moon again, because that worked SSSOOO well the last time.” Nightmare snickered when she heard a voice in her head. Please Nightmare, do not hurt her! “Sorry dear, but my answer it still no. I will go through with my plan.”
To Celestia she said: “Now dear, I think we have a problem on our hooves.” Nightmare started to walk around Celestia in a circle. “You see, I am the newest princess as long as I am with Twilight. And you are threating the crown if you are threating me. So for treason against the crown I am going to banish you, just like you did everyone else that stood in your way.” Nightmare took a step toward her enemy.
“And how do you plan to banish me without the elements?” Celestia sneered at her old foe, thinking she had finally caught Nightmare’s bluff.
“The same way the girls beat Terek. Though you don’t understand it, the girls used the essence of the elements to defeat him. And with Twilight being the one to have started and finished the reaction of this power, she can use it at her will if she just knew how.” Nightmare bowed her head and hid behind her flowing mane. “It’s just so lucky for me,” She looked up with an evil grin. “I do.”
“Please don’t banish me to the sun.” Celestia hadn’t remembered how hard it was to plead with Nightmare.
“I’m not,” She giggled like a school filly. “It’s too simple, too easy.” Her giggles turned to evil laughter. “I am banishing you to the one place you have always feared, even more so that Tartarus itself.” A single tear forced its way down Nightmare’s face. And for a fleeting moment, Celestia had hope that Twilight was beating Nightmare. And then the moment ended. A whisper killed all of her hopes. “The Moon.”
Nightmare’s horn lit up and as a beam of light so bright it would blind a normal pony shot at Celestia, she remembered the first time she ever saw Twilight. She thought this would be the last time she ever saw Twilight again, so she held onto that first happy memory and every happy one after that.
Not long after the blast and smoke had left the great throne room, the sun rose. Some would say later that the sun looked darker that it ever had, as if someone had hurt it or was hiding it’s full light in the dark.
But the moment the sun was up, Nightmare shrunk back in fear. When a small bit of sunlight touched her fur, she screamed and ran to what was left of the shadows in the room. “I remember now, I am made of so much darkness that the light burns me!” She screamed in frustration. “But it won’t burn you.” She was speaking to what was left of Twilight’s soul. She started to explain her rules to Twilight, “Now Twilight I will let you out to play but I will still be in charge.” Nightmare felt lightheaded as she morphed into Twilight. Just as the transformation was done, a guard walked into the room.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, what happened, where is Princess Celestia, Why are you hiding here in the dark?” He held out his hoof to her and Nightmare made Twilight take it.
Nightmare controlled Twilight’s voice to say: “Princess Celestia, she… attacked me. I… I tried to protect myself. I only remember a burst of light and waking up here.” As soon as Nightmare forced Twilight’s head up she regretted it Twilight had no control over any parts of her body except her eyes, she could move them and blink. Twilight made her eyes go as crazy as possible.
The guard got very worried for his princess, “Your Highness, I think we should got to your friend Zacora. Maybe she has a brew to help your eyes.” Nightmare didn’t know who Zacora, and thought she was a normal pony and it was normal to go to her for help. To make her seem as valid as possible, Nightmare ‘forced’ Twilight to agree.
Zacora had known all along that Twilight had Nightmare Moon inside her, Twilight had come to her for a sleeping brew on a few different occasions. The moment Twilight didn’t speak to her dear friend the way she always did with a very chipper happy voice that shone through even in the worse of time, Zacora knew something was wrong.
“Ah yes come right inside, from me dear friend you should not hide. If there is something I can do, I would be more than happy to help you.” Nightmare was very surprised to see a zebra in place of a pony but she recovered quickly.
“Yes do you think you could help me fix my eyes, I don’t know what is wrong with them.” Twilight had to think of something and fast, then it hit her.
“Yes,” Twilight spun her eyes to the left the moment Zacora said yes. “I think I know what to do, but first you must tell me what happened to you.”
After asking the guard to leave them for a while, Nightmare used Twilight to explain what happened in a way that made her look so innocent. As Nightmare explained Twilight would spin her eyes to the left every time the word Yes was used by either pony and she spun them to the right when they used the word No.
Zacora was noticing this pattern and tried to ask Twilight something Nightmare Moon would never know. “Twilight my dear friend, I must use what we used to defeat Trixie again. To fix your eye, this we must try.” Nightmare stood dumbfounded.
But Twilight knew what Zacora was doing and pointed her eyes in the direction of the fake amulet after Nightmare had tried making some will minded guesses. She thought it was a brew so she grabbed a purple bottle that matched Twilight’s fur to a tee.
Zacora smiled as Nightmare handed her the bottle, “Yes,” Twilight rolled her eyes to the left again just in case. “This is the one, but you must wait until the brew is done.” Zacora pored the contents into her big black cauldron.
So many thoughts were running through what was left of Twilight. Now what is going to that happen? What was the point in getting Zacora’s attention, there was nothing anyone could do without the elements. But what if they can bring them back and they can use them without me? The first time Nightmare got a new body, she was careless and let her true anger get the best of her. Leading to her defeat, but now with Celestia, the elements, and the chest gone, what could destroy her?
Nothing that Twilight could think of would have her still standing.
Twilight was so distracted that she didn’t even notice when Nightmare used her hoof to grab the cup Zacora gave to her that was full of the brew that she had made. Twilight could hear Nightmare’s thoughts running through her own brain: What will happen, there isn’t really anything wrong with my eyes. What if it’s a trap? Oh, but it’s what you would do.
Before Nightmare had time to think about it anymore, she downed the contents. She felt lightheaded, like she had when she was morphing into Twilight. But before she could ask what was happening, Nightmare had fainted.
Zacora ran to her and pulled off one of Twilight’s hairs near her horn. After doing so, she ran back to her cauldron and put it in. The instant the hair touched the brew; a cloud of smoke came out of it. The cloud was in the shape and form of Twilight.
“Zacora?! Where am I?” Twilight tried to run to her friend but found she could not move.
“Twilight dear, please tell me what has happened here. Why Is Nightmare Moon, standing in place of you?” Twilight explained everything, and while doing so she was glad to be able to use her own body again.
“Um, Zacora can I ask you what I am right now? And why my body is lying on the ground not moving?”
Zacora explained that when she had used the hair that was near her horn it was supposed to have Twilight’s magic infused in it from Twilight preforming so many different spells over the years. Twilight’s magic is what truly ties her to their world, and the fact that it was imbedded with her magic, to her destiny if you will, means it was tied to the soul of Twilight.
This means that when Zacora put the hair in, she pulled Twilight’s soul out of the hair.
“Zacora, what am I going to do? There’s nothing that can bring back the elements, and they were the only things that could have beaten Nightmare.” Twilight looked downtrodden, so Zacora told Twilight something that could help her in her battle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometime later when all the talking was down, Twilight went back into her own body. Zacora still had the pair in a trance so she carried them in a cart of the Castle of the two pony sisters, with the help of the guard that did understand what has happening but went along with it.
Upon arrival, the castle looked like a war zone. Applejack was chasing down Pinkie Pie to calm her down for crying so much, Rarity was trying so desperately to get the elements’ magic out of the candles, Fluttershy was yelling down to Luna who was standing with the tree, Discord was nowhere to be seen, and Rainbow Dash was sitting on top of the tallest tower. When Rainbow spotted them she started screaming at everyone:
“She’s here! She’s here!” Rainbow flew down to the small group approaching the castle, and started to yell at Twilight/Nightmare. “You better stay away, I don’t know what you’ve done to these two,” Rainbow gestured to Zacora and the guard, “But I won’t let you do it to…” Zacora cut her off before Rainbow would say something she regretted.
“There is no danger here, Loyal Rainbow Dash dear. The threat is gone, but not for long. She is resting, though it was not hard to do, I just gave her a little brew.” Everyone gathered around, except Discord, to see how she was doing.
“She looks, peaceful… so calm, like she always used to.” Fluttershy stated what everyone else was thinking, how could this calm pony be the host for the most dangerous pony in all of history?
“Please, let’s put her inside. There is somewhere here where we can put her, to keep her safe from…” Luna trailed off until the last word came out only a whisper, “Herself.” The group carried her to the dungeons that resided under the castle.
Zacora had packed a bag, for precautions. She pulled out a small golden ring, when she placed it on Twilight’s horn it would stop her from using her magic at all. Rainbow walked to the back of the cell and with the help of Applejack they lifted an extremely heavy collar that was chained to the wall up and placed it on Twilight’s neck.
The guard was ordered to never leave the cell unguarded, one of the others would come and release him in a few hours. The group started walking to the room where Discord was staying as Zacora explained everything there was about the situation. Once everyone was caught up, all questions were answered, and all plans were made, Zacora walked into the room with Fluttershy. No one else was allowed to come in.
Luna and the rest of the girls walked down to the ballroom. Luna was allowing Rainbow to go make sure the weather was in check, Applejack to explain things to her family, Pinkie to explain to the Cakes, Rarity to her family and to check her shop, and Spike to go to Fluttershy’s and take care of the animals. So with everyone gone Luna allowed herself some well needed rest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There is nothing I can do, to help him come through. Thought he is not dead, I fear he will never leave this bed. His wound is severe, and his magic is keeping him alive dear, but like Twilight in her fight, Discord is the only one that can wake him this night.” Zacora placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder to support her crying friend.
“He is strong, he’ll wake up. He’ll wake up, he’ll wake up.” Fluttershy mumbled as Zacora walked her down to Luna for some sleep. But when they got to the ballroom, Luna was nowhere to be seen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guard walked away calmly as Luna took his place standing near the cell door. The cell was dirty, covered in dust and mud, but sitting there perfectly in the center was Twilight Sparkle. The young pony that Luna almost killed when they first met, and over the past few years Luna raised into her princess hood. Luna felt a pull on her heart, as she looked at what her young student had become.
Twilight mumbled in her sleep, until that progressed into a whimper, then into a small scream. Luna opened the cell door and fell to the floor in front of Twilight, using her hoof to move some hairs from Twilight’s face. Luna had a small daydream of a young filly with a lavender coat; she had no chain on her neck, no ring on her horn, and no Nightmare to be seen.
Luna unconsciously used her magic to make this happen, well as much of it as she could.
Twilight suddenly stood up, no chain on her neck, no ring on her horn, but she had a Nightmare look to her eyes. “Oh, good I thought you’d never get to it.” Luna looked up, suddenly very worried. Had this been her plan all along? If so, what now?
Luna tried to run, but before she could Nightmare forced Twilight to touch Luna’s horn.
“Now you can have that bueatiful dream, forever.” Luna’s eyes glossed over the moment Twilight’s hoof left her horn. Luna fell to the ground, asleep until the pony from her dreams woke her up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discord’s body still lay down in the room he was placed in, but in his mind he was walking down a path talking and laughing with Twilight. She looked just like she did before any of the past few months had happened. Then suddenly she stopped.
She didn’t look at Discord as she said, “You know this is all in your head right? That when you wake up I’ll be your worst nightmare? That there are no ways you can stop me? That this is all in your head?” When Twilight looked at him there were tears flowing down in bucket loads. “Why won’t you help me?”
“How can I help you? Just tell me and I’ll do it.” Discord held Twilight’s head tried to wipe away her tears but they came down so fast it was a losing battle.
She looked at him through her tears, “I love to look at the moon stars, but I would love to look at the sun one last time.” Twilight hung her head but when Discord tried to lift it back up, his claw went right through her chin.
Discord gasped as she vanished from his sight.
Once he realized that he was back in the room that Twilight had been staying, he shot out of the bed. Shouting at the top of his lungs, “I know what to do! I know how to save her!” He ran down the stairs shouting, screaming. Then he came to the bottom of the stairs and was met with a horrible sight.