“There you are, Twilight!” Twilight was abruptly stopped in her tracks by Twinkleshine’s voice. Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lemon Hearts stood in a row, blocking the path to her room. Why did they have to pick now of all times to try and get her to socialize? She had important things she needed to research! Twilight was so focused in trying to figure out a way around the girls, that she missed what Twinkleshine said next. From the way they leaned forward, she could figure out the gist of it. They were inviting her to go somewhere with them, and she just didn’t have time.
“Oh, sorry, girls. I’ve got a lot of studying to catch up on,” Twilight said, going to her most common excuse. They were used to it by now, and she was pretty sure they wouldn’t push her. They seemed resigned, so Twilight took her opportunity and ran between the three, hurrying toward her room at the castle and leaving the mares far behind.
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
Twilight rushed up the stairs to her room, trying to think of where she had heard of the Elements of Harmony before. It was in some book, she was sure of it. Magical Objects and Their Properties? Pony Powers of the Most Recent Centuries? She shook her head in frustration, and the book suddenly came to her as if the thought was jarred from her memory. Predictions and Prophecies! She’d read it years ago, and she was sure it had mentioned the Elements of Harmony. Now in more of a rush, she burst into her room and looked around for Spike.
“Spike!” she called, looking around for her trusted assistant. “Spike!”
A groan came from the floor, and Twilight looked down.
“Spike?”
Spike was lying on the floor for some reason. Well, Twilight didn’t have time for his jokes right now.
“There you are,” she said briskly. “Quick, find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies.” When she glanced back to see if Spike was helping yet, he was standing and holding a crumpled package. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought it was a present for someone.
“What’s that for?” she asked while nosing through some books on the floor, hoping that one of them might be the one she needed.
“Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but…” The sad-looking teddy bear contained inside the squashed box fell onto the floor.
“Oh, Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing,” Twilight said with a sigh. Spike said something else but Twilight was no longer listening, focused on finding Predictions and Prophecies. She levitated some books around her, but none were right. This library was a mess, how was she ever supposed to find anything? She looked around for any hint of where the book might be, and her eyes landed on the teddy bear Spike had dropped. What did he say it was for? Moondancer’s party? Twilight had known Moondancer for years, and she had never thrown a party. All of the books Twilight had been levitating abruptly fell to the floor as she investigated the gift more closely.
“Did you say this was for Moondancer’s party?” she called to Spike. He nearly fell off the ladder when she asked about something other than Predictions and Prophecies, which Twilight thought was a little overdramatic.
“Yeah,” he said, then climbed down the ladder. He glanced to the side as if deciding whether or not to say something to her. Finally, he spoke. “You know, Twilight, this party was really important to Moondancer. I think she was hoping you’d come. Is there any way you can put off studying for an hour or two?” He gave her a meaningful glance. “Twilight, please?”
Twilight looked at Spike, then sighed. “I guess we can go. But just for an hour,” she added when Spike’s expression lit up. “I have some important studying to do when we get back.”
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
As the two walked to the courtyard, Twilight wondered why she had ever agreed to this. She didn’t have time to go to a party, especially not today, when she was on the verge of learning something that could be really important. She wished she had brought Predictions and Prophecies with her, but Spike had wanted to leave right away. At least she had her other book with her, though it didn’t tell her anything other than what she had read earlier. Spike walked ahead of her, proudly holding his box even though it was crumpled. At least he was excited.
When they entered the courtyard, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine looked up from where they had been standing and talking quietly.
“Twilight, thank Celestia you’re here!” Minuette exclaimed, galloping over to her.
Twilight looked around. Other than the three unicorns, Twilight, and Spike, the courtyard was completely deserted. It didn’t seem like much of a party was going on, even though there were streamers, balloons, and mountains of party food on the tables.
“Where’s Moondancer?” Twilight asked.
Minuette hesitated before answering. “She went inside. We told her you weren’t coming and she just… left.”
Twilight looked at the ground.
“Oh,” she said quietly. She hadn’t thought her absence would have that much of a difference, but maybe it really was as important to Moondancer as Spike had said. She was scraping her hoof along the ground when Spike cleared his throat.
“Twilight, aren’t you gonna go inside and look for Moondancer?” he asked, obviously hinting at what her answer should be.
“Yeah, but I’ve never been inside her house before and she probably doesn’t want me to just walk in…” Twilight’s excuse sounded weak even to her.
“Twilight…” Spike’s voice prompted her, and after a few more seconds of floundering she nodded and slowly began making her way into Moondancer’s house.
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
The house was dark, and a bit dusty, like it hadn’t been cleaned recently. Twilight would have been a little grossed out if she wasn’t sure that her house would be exactly like it if it wasn’t for Spike cleaning it up. She made a mental note to thank him later.
Almost as soon as she entered the first room, Twilight heard quiet noises coming from a corner. She gently approached the space near the window, where a light yellow shape lay curled up on the floor.
“Moondancer?” she asked quietly.
At the sound, Moondancer’s head whipped up from where it had been buried in her hooves. She looked ready to make some comment to whoever had walked into her house without her permission, but when she saw who it was her face brightened.
“Twilight!” she said, beaming. “You came!”
Twilight, surprised by the other mare’s sudden change in mood, backed up a step before responding.
“Of course I came, once I knew how important it was to you. I wouldn’t miss it!” This was a total lie of course, but Twilight knew she had made Moondancer cry and felt so guilty she would say anything to cheer her up. “I’m sorry I’m late. I was doing a little studying.”
Moondancer waved her hoof. “Oh, no, it’s fine. I'm really glad you’re here.”
Twilight’s smile was a little forced. She shifted a little, thinking of how she hadn’t gotten to really look up what she wanted to yet. Her mind was trying to bounce between the mare in front of her and her copy of Predictions and Prophecies waiting for her in her library.
“Actually, I haven’t really gotten to look at what I wanted to yet,” Twilight blurted out before she could stop herself.
Moondancer’s expression darkened the slightest bit, then brightened again. “Well, I can help you look for it, if you’d like. As you can see, I have lots of books!” She laughed a little.
Well, now that she had started, she might as well see if Moondancer had the book she was looking for.
“Do you maybe have a copy of Predictions and Prophecies?” Twilight asked.
Moondancer frowned for a moment, thinking. “I might. Let me check.” The unicorn closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. After a few moments, a dusty book floated off of a shelf and made it’s way towards them. “Yep, there it is!”
Twilight stared in open-mouthed shock as the book deposited itself neatly at Moondancer’s feet. “How did you do that?” she asked, forcing her mouth to work.
“Tracking spell. It’s pretty easy, but it takes a lot of concentration. And you have to know exactly what you’re looking for. I learned it in Simple Spells for the Aspiring Unicorn. I can teach it to you sometime, if you’d like.”
Twilight was busy thinking of all the help a spell like that would be. She’d be able to find any book she needed, at any time! It would save her and Spike hours of searching! Realizing she was taking too long, she nodded. Moondancer smiled again. She looked like she’d really cheered up since Twilight arrived.
Now that they had found the book, Twilight leaned over it, quickly flipping through pages with her magic until she got to the “E” section of the book. She read the elements section out loud so Moondancer could hear.
“The Elements of Harmony. See Mare in the Moon?” That seemed a bit unrelated.
“Keep going,” Moondancer encouraged as she craned over Twilight’s shoulder to get a better look. Twilight flipped to the “M” section and found the entry. A drawing that looked suspiciously like one in the book she had read earlier was on the page, along with a small blurb.
“Mare in the Moon. Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal!” Twilight gasped and looked up at Moondancer. “The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun celebration! That means-”
Moondancer nodded and spoke as if continuing Twilight’s thought, “That we could be on the precipice of disaster!”
Twilight looked up at the mare as if seeing her in a new light. She knew Moondancer liked books, but it seemed like they really were a lot alike in the way they thought as well. She instantly said the next thing that came to mind.
“We need to send a letter to Princess Celestia and warn her!”
At this, Moondancer seemed to shut down. “I don’t know, Twilight…” she said hesitantly. Of course, not every pony would want to go directly to the Princess with problems they found, but Moondancer seemed particularly dubious. “Maybe we shouldn’t bother her, at least until we know more about the Elements and the Mare in the Moon. She’s probably really busy trying to get preparations together for the big Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. Once we have something concrete, then we could send her a message.”
Twilight forced herself to take a step back and think rationally, since that was what Moondancer was clearly doing. Maybe it would be better to find out more about the Elements before sending a Celestia a message. And she’d likely take it more seriously if they had concrete proof. Twilight sighed and resigned herself.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “It would be better to wait until we have more information.”
“Sooo…?” Moondancer levitated a random book over to the two.
Twilight smiled. “Let’s get studying!”
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
Since they didn’t know exactly what books they were looking for, Moondancer’s tracking spell wouldn’t work. Instead, they looked in Twilight’s usual way, which involved rapidly levitating books, checking titles, and stacking up all of the unuseful books in growing piles on the floor. Twilight was surprised by how easily she and Moondancer worked together. She had never really noticed that before, even though they had sat next to each other during classes for almost their whole lives. About an hour into searching with no results, a knock came at the door and Spike walked in.
“Twilight?” he called into the room before being nearly smacked in the face by a whizzing copy of Ancient Unicorns and the History of Equestria. He ducked just in time and took a closer look at the room, which had turned into utter chaos with dozens of books flying around and increasingly unstable piles reaching towards the ceiling.
“Spike!” Twilight yelled when she saw the baby dragon. The books she had been levitating dropped as she trotted over to greet him.
“I came to check on how things were going with Moondancer,” Spike said, still looking around the room. “You guys have been gone for a really long time and I was getting worried. But it looks like things are going okay, though, huh?”
“Definitely!” Twilight exclaimed, a wide smile on her face. “Moondancer is helping me research the Elements of Harmony!” Moondancer gave a little wave to Spike with a hoof. “Now that you’re here, you could help us!”
Spike still seemed shocked by this change of events with the two mares. “Sure,” he said finally. “But Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts are still out there. You two left the party so suddenly, they weren’t sure if they should come in or not. Do you want me to tell them anything?”
“The party’s over,” Moondancer called back over her shoulder. “Unless they want to come and help us study, you can tell them they can go home. They can take some of the food home with them,” she added.
“Okay, I’ll go let them know,” Spike backed out of the room as the two unicorns returned to their task.
They researched long into the night, only stopping to eat a bit of leftover party food. Spike helped for the first few hours, then got too tired and curled into a corner with an old comic book he found. Twilight and Moondancer kept going, looking at the titles of hundreds of books from Moondancer’s personal library. Although she didn’t have nearly as many books as Twilight did, she still had quite an impressive collection. Unfortunately, not a single book mentioned the Elements of Harmony other than a few history books like the one Twilight had read earlier in the day, and they never gave any new information. As they pulled the last book off the shelves, Zebras: Horses or Hindrances?, the two were so tired they were about to collapse on the floor.
Twilight yawned and prepared to make the journey back to her room. “Thanks for all the help, Moondancer,” she said, her eyes half closed as she felt for the door. “Come on, Spike,” she mumbled.
When she looked at the baby dragon, he had fallen asleep, one claw still clutching the comic book.
“You two can stay here, if you’d like,” Moondancer offered. “I have extra rooms.”
“No, I don’t want to… impose.” Twilight yawned again.
“Really, it’s no problem! Here.” Moondancer guided Twilight into a small guest room, then left to get a bed for Spike. Twilight looked at the bed. It did look comfortable, and she was exhausted. She resolved to at least wait for Spike before deciding, but her eyes drifted closed and she faceplanted onto the bed, instantly asleep.
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
Twilight woke up to a patch of bright sunlight on her face. She blearily glanced around the room, then covered her eyes with her hooves in an attempt to fall back asleep. Her eyes suddenly shot open when she realized she was not in her room. She glanced around the room in a bit of a panic before she remembered last night. She was in a bed in Moondancer’s house. She relaxed and fell back against the pillow. Twilight lay with her eyes open for a few minutes before deciding she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep and dragged herself out of bed, still a little bleary. She rubbed at her eyes with a hoof as she made her way to Moondancer’s small kitchen. The pale yellow unicorn was making pancakes, and they smelled delicious. She gently laid three in a stack on a plate before looking up and seeing Twilight.
“Oh, hey, Twilight!” she said. “You slept well, I hope?”
Twilight nodded and yawned before making her way to a seat at Moondancer’s wooden table. “Thank you so much for everything,” she said, looking gratefully up at the other unicorn. “You really didn’t have to do any of this.”
“Oh, it’s no problem!” Moondancer waved her off with a hoof. “I’m glad I was able to do something, even though we couldn’t find the book.”
“That’s okay. I was thinking I would look in my library today. The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow and I really need to see if there’s anything about the Elements of Harmony in one of my books.”
“Well, maybe I could help you!” Moondancer offered.
“It’s okay. We’ve taken up enough of your time already.”
“Really, it’s no problem! I don’t have anything to do today, and I’d be glad to help you study!”
Twilight looked at the mare in a new light again, something she’d been doing a lot since yesterday. “Well, I guess if you put it that way, we could really use some help. Thank you so much!”
Moondancer smiled. “Do you want to go over there after breakfast?”
Twilight nodded as she levitated a bite of pancake into her mouth. Her eyes widened as the taste hit her tongue. “These are so good,” she said while chewing.
“I’m glad you like them,” Moondancer replied with another grin. She turned to flip some pancakes in a pan as Spike walked in, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
“Do I smell pancakes?” he asked, eyes wide.
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
After breakfast, the three headed up to Twilight’s room at the castle. Moondancer’s eyes widened as they walked up the stairs.
“You live in a tower?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. She really never thought of it like it was that special, but to other ponies it must seem pretty cool. She opened her door, and the three stepped inside.
Moondancer immediately gasped as she took it all in. “This is amazing!” She ran around the room, checking out all of it’s various features. “This hourglass is beautiful, it looks like real gold leaf! And all these books! You must have nearly every book printed in the last 200 years!” She skimmed titles as she ran from shelf to shelf. “All five editions of Celestial Studies, Alicorns: Honor and Responsibility, and even Magical Properties of Non-Magical Creatures! I thought that went out of print years ago!”
“It did,” Twilight agreed sheepishly. “Princess Celestia gave me a copy.”
“And it’s so clean!” Moondancer ran a hoof over a table and Twilight thought of the mare’s dirty home. Now she was even more self-conscious of her house.
“Most of that is Spike.” She smiled at the dragon and he puffed out his chest proudly. “Should we get started?”
“Uh huh,” Moondancer nodded, her face pressed to Twilight’s huge window. Twilight began levitating books off of the nearby shelves. Moondancer would join her eventually.
The two worked like that for the rest of the morning, haphazardly searching through books while Spike desperately tried to clean up after them. By lunch time, Twilight was almost ready to give up.
“Ugh!” she shouted in frustration, throwing the books she had been levitating in several directions. Most hit bookshelves and fell to the floor, but one nearly hit Moondancer and she flinched backward.
“Sorry,” Twilight said, forcing herself to calm down, “but I don’t see how it’s possible for none of my books to mention the Elements of Harmony, or even the Mare in the Moon!”
“Don’t give up yet.” Moondancer looked like she was about to put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, but thought better of it at the last moment and let it fall to the floor. “We haven’t looked through all of your books, and it’s always possible that it’s in a different library. If you want to try somewhere else, we can go there.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, you’re right. I don’t even think I’ve ever looked at all these books, it’s possible that we just haven’t found it yet. We can look for a little while longer.”
Moondancer smiled, before gesturing to the kitchen. “Well, if you want a quick break, I think lunch is ready!”
★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★~★
After some oat sandwiches prepared by Spike, the three continued searching. After Moondancer’s encouragement, Twilight found herself less stressed about finding the book, and even though she still searched as quickly as possible, it felt a little more fun.
Near sunset, Twilight gently dropped the books she was levitating nearby and walked over to Moondancer.
“It’s hard to believe that we’ve looked through nearly my entire library and found nothing about the Mare in the Moon. Maybe it is just an old pony’s tale,” she said with a sigh.
“It is possible,” Moondancer replied, adjusting her glasses with a hoof. “It was in Predictions and Prophecies.”
“I just can’t believe we’ve wasted two days on research on it if it’s not even real.” Twilight didn’t want to admit she was giving up, but if it was real, why wasn’t it in any of her books?
“That’s okay. It was worth a shot. At least we didn’t send that letter to Celestia about it,” Moondancer aimlessly picked through books on the floor.
“I guess we’re done then,” Twilight said awkwardly.
“Well… I did want to look for some books on pegasus weather control. Is it okay if I look a little longer? We’d be up all night anyway for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow morning.” She looked hopefully over at Twilight.
“Sure, no problem. Here, I’ll help you!” Twilight was surprised she had volunteered to help the other pony, but she did enjoy Moondancer’s company. It was nice having someone other than Spike around to talk to.
Twilight and Moondancer continued searching into the night, but the atmosphere had gotten a lot lighter. They laughed about books like Starswirl: Famous Unicorn or Colt Leader?, looked at lengthy books filled with old spells by ancient authors, and discussed their particular skill sets and abilities. Moondancer was surprisingly adept at levitating things with large weights, and even levitated Twilight into the air for a few seconds. Twilight was better at levitating multiple things at a time, and they had a challenge to see how many books Twilight could levitate at once. She got up to fifteen books levitated just inches off of the floor before she became exhausted and made them all drop. Twilight had a great time, which she was surprised by. She had had no idea how much fun it was to spend time just talking with another pony! She and Moondancer had a lot in common, and it made it very easy to talk to her. Twilight was actually surprised she had never tried it before. The lights in her room blazed long into the night.
At four in the morning, just before the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight and Moondancer were just bringing out the dregs of Twilight’s library. The books had started to get very odd, written in ancient languages on crumbling paper, detailing things like the histories of other races in Equestria and ancient magic techniques that had long since been improved upon. Twilight lifted out of one of the last books in the library and gasped when she saw the title, making Moondancer jump up from where she had been flipping through a book by Mane Austen.
“What is it?” she asked, craning over Twilight’s shoulder to get a better look.
Twilight blew dust off of the cover, revealing a title written in gold leaf. “The History of the Two Sisters,” she read in a whisper. The cover had a picture of two alicorns on it, one detailed with a sun behind her, one with a moon.
As Twilight opened the book, a smaller one fell out of the inside, which was just a hollow shell. She picked up the smaller book, which was leather bound and seemed pristine, likely kept in such good condition by its larger cover.
“I wonder why it was hidden,” Moondancer whispered. Both mares had become hushed, as if this old book needed silence or it would vanish. Twilight gently flipped open the smaller book’s cover and the two began to read.
“Dear Journal,
I have been taking care of the two sisters again. Today, the two have been asking about their cutie marks again, wondering when they will get them. All I can tell them is that they will come when they are ready. I have sworn to never tell them what their destinies will be, and I will keep that promise.
Sincerely,
Governess Gumdrop.”
Twilight looked up at Moondancer. “It’s a journal!” she whispered.
“Keep going,” Moondancer prodded the mare.
Twilight read on, skimming through pages of the little journal for interesting entries.
“Celestia has just learned full body levitation and has enjoyed levitating Luna around the castle. She is remarkably adept at it for her age. Luna seems unhappy that she has not learned it yet.
“The two sisters tried cooking today. They attempted to make me dinner, but everything ended up burned, though they didn’t seem to mind. It was nice to see the two of them having so much fun together.
“Celestia and Luna seem to love to trick me. Today, I entered their room only to find them missing. I searched the entire castle looking for them only to find that they had been following me the entire time on the ceiling. Sometimes I wish they had never learned to fly.
“Today the sisters played hide and seek. It would have been more fun if I had not been tasked to keep an eye on them at all times. I had to run back and forth between the two to make sure they did not get too far out of my sight. It was a very tiring day. I’m not as fast as I used to be.
“Celestia received her cutie mark today after attempting to raise the sun for the first time! It was quite the celebration. I think Luna knows what she must do for hers now, though I’m not sure if she has the ability to accomplish it yet.
“Luna has been trying to raise the moon for nearly a month now. She seems frustrated. I have been trying to encourage her, but she becomes more upset every night she is not able to move it. Celestia has taken over partial duties of raising the sun, and is improving every day.
“Luna finally received her cutie mark today after two months of trying! Everyone was very happy for her, but I think she was disappointed that her celebration was not quite as big as Celestia’s was.
“Both Luna and Celestia have now entirely taken over the duties of the sun and moon, I’m glad I was able to live long enough to see it. I’m so proud of them, and I hope they know it. Although I have told them many times, I’m not sure my words have sunk in for Luna.
“I have been growing steadily weaker, and now find it hard to even get out of bed. Now the princesses visit me, still wanting advice from an old mare such as myself. Celestia is becoming worried about Luna, she thinks Luna is becoming unhappy raising the moon. Luna has come by many times, telling me her moon feels unappreciated in comparison to Celestia's sun. I can do nothing for either other than tell them to talk to each other, but neither will do so. I am worried about Luna. She feels alone, and that can lead to dangerous consequences for a pony, especially one as powerful as Luna.
“This might be my last entry. I have grown so weak it is hard to use my magic. Luna still will not listen to my pleas. I fear that something dangerous will come of it if she is not consoled. I will be hiding this journal inside of another book and leaving it in my personal quarters, in hope that the next pony to come upon it will be able to do what I have not. Comfort Luna and show her that her night can be appreciated without using violent means.
Sincerely,
Governess Gumdrop.”
Twilight flipped to the next page, but it was empty. She skimmed the rest of the book, but there was nothing else. “That’s all there is,” she said, and looked up at Moondancer.
The two mares sat in silence for a few moments before Moondancer cleared her throat.
“This book was interesting, but how does it help us?”
Twilight suddenly remembered that Moondancer didn’t know Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna were the same pony. She took her book out of her bag and handed it to the other unicorn. She sat in silence as Moondancer read the short book. Twilight saw her eyes fill with understanding as she read about Nightmare Moon. When Moondancer closed the book, Twilight began to speak, her thoughts already going a mile a minute.
“Celestia and Nightmare Moon really were sisters, and this journal proves it! That means if the prophecy of the Mare in the Moon is true, Celestia should be informed immediately. Spike!”
Spike jumped up from where he had been watching the window and ran over.
“Take a letter, please.” Spike pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” she dictated as Spike scratched her words on the paper.
“My fellow student Moondancer and I have been doing research on the myth of the Mare in the Moon and we have discovered that she is in fact your sister, Princess Luna. According to prophecy, she will be freed from the moon on the one thousandth anniversary of the Summer Sun Celebration as Nightmare Moon, and will bring with her eternal night. We believe that the only things that can stop her are the Elements of Harmony, and we urge you to take the necessary precautions.
“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike finished writing out the letter, and immediately puffed fire on it to send it. The letter vanished into smoke and drifted out of the open window. A few seconds later, Spike belched out a letter, which he grabbed in his claw.
“That was fast,” Twilight commented as she ran over to the dragon. “What did she say?”
Spike rolled open the letter and began to read it. “Dear Princess Celestia-” He stopped, confused. “This is the same letter that you just sent her!”
“Oh no!” Twilight gasped.
“What is it?” Moondancer asked, trying to keep up with the purple pony.
“If I received the letter I sent her, not even a reply saying she can’t respond, that can only mean one thing.” Twilight galloped to the window. “What time is it?”
“Almost time for the sun to rise!” Spike supplied as he and Moondancer joined Twilight in looking at the sky. “The sun should be rising any minute now.”
Twilight plastered herself to the window and watched the moon, which was still high in the sky. She waited one minute. Then two. Then ten. The sun still hadn’t risen. Twilight tapped her hoof nervously against the floor.
“Spike, you did say the sun was supposed to be up by now, right?”
“Yeah, it should have risen a few minutes ago!” Spike checked the hourglass behind him and stifled a quiet yawn with his claw.
Twilight’s hoof-tapping increased. “Quick, scan for Nightmare Moon,” she told Moondancer.
The pony looked confused, not used to having to follow Twilight’s thought process. “What?” she asked.
“You know, with your tracking spell!” Twilight’s nerves made her shout and Moondancer backed up a few steps. Then, calming down, Moondancer closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
“No...no...nothing…” she muttered as she scanned. Suddenly, her eyes sprang open. “She’s here!”
“Where?” Twilight barked in a panic.
“The Everfree forest. There’s the ruins of a castle at it’s heart, and she’s inside.”
“That must be where Celestia and Luna ruled before Canterlot. Of course she would go to a familiar place.” Twilight galloped around the room, throwing the two books and diary into her bag and strapping it on with her teeth. She looked back at Moondancer, who was staring at her with a puzzled expression. “Are you coming?” Twilight asked her.
“Coming where?” Obviously Moondancer hadn’t followed.
“To the castle! We need to stop Nightmare Moon. She’s obviously done something to Princess Celestia, and if we don’t do something the night will last forever! And you saw what Governess Gumdrop said in her journal. We could be the only ones who can stop her, because we’re the only ones who know who she was before! If Celestia was the only one who knew about the Elements of Harmony, the journal could be the only thing out there we can use.” She ran to the entrance and looked back at Moondancer. “Will you help?”
Moondancer looked out at the dark sky and nodded. “I’m in.”