> For Want of Eternal Nightmare
>  by Flame Bolt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight groggily opened her eyes and yawned, recounting the recent events of the past few days. It was strange how it all happened so quickly, first she became Nightmare Moon’s minion, a memory that still makes her shudder when thinking about it. Then she had hurt Princess Celestia, which she was disgusted with herself for. Then she had fought Nightmare Moon after her friends stayed loyal to her and came to her aid when she needed it and finally freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon’s influence.

Twilight slowly sat up and looked out the window, the sun was shining brightly and there was not a single dark cloud to be seen. Her attention shifted to Spike who was still fast asleep, ‘same old Spike’ she smiled to herself and climbed out of bed, but... as she did, a piece of paper on her bedside table caught her eye. Levitating it closer, she was surprised to find that it was a note, it read:

Dear Twilight,
Princess Celestia has requested to see me on account of Luna and the Nightmare Moon incident which took place a few days ago. She had also requested to see you as well when you wake up. As the matter is urgent she has given me permission to leave an enchanted sapphire on the table downstairs that, when touched, will transport you to us. You shouldn’t be gone for too long so Spike should be fine. See you in Canterlot.
Signed,
Lunar Eclipse.
P.S. on my way out, I accidentally stood on Spike’s tail, tell him I’m sorry when you get the chance will you.

After reading the last section, Twilight held in the urge to laugh ‘Spike just sleeps through everything’ she thought as she made her way towards the door Spike woke up.
“So” He began “thinking of leaving without a goodbye, are we?”
Before she could respond the baby dragon had already wrapped his arms round her left foreleg.
“Have fun in Canterlot” he said with a smile on his face before releasing his grasp.
“Don’t worry Spike, I won’t be too long” responded Twilight.
“Wait, what time it is?” he asked.
“Around 10Am, why?” Twilight responded.
Spike’s eyes immediately went wide in shock, “I’m meant to be a Rarity’s” he screeched, bolting out the library before Twilight could get a word in edgeways.
Twilight smiled and shook her head “Same old Spike” she said.

When she got downstairs, Twilight could see a strange aura emanating from the sapphire. Reluctantly she reached out her hoof, touched it and then everything went white.





“Well, well” chuckled a familiar voice. “It appears that ‘Somepony’ isn’t used to long distance teleportation.”
Twilight groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and her head hurt. She tried to stand up but only succeeded in crumpling to the floor again.
“Need help?” asked the voice.
Again, Twilight groaned.
“I’ll take that as a yes” they said, levitating Twilight onto their back and began to walk down the corridor.

After what seemed like an eternity to Twilight, her vision refocused but wasn’t perfect.
“Where am I?” she said.
“Oh come now, Twilight, surely you recognise Canterlot castle” replied the voice.
“Eclipse?” gasped Twilight.
“You sound surprised?” she replied.
“No no, I’m not it’s just, I didn’t expect you to be where I ended up” replied Twilight.
“Well I did conjure the enchantment, so it only makes sense that I picked its location, give or take a few metres” informed Eclipse.
“What happened?” asked Twilight.
“Well, since you’re not used to long distance teleportation, it explains why you are suffering from a few minor, ‘side effects’, which have started to subside, seeing as you can see and speak properly” explained Eclipse “and before you ask, yes, I am still an alicorn. You have Nightmare Moon’s extremely poor judgement to thank for that.”
“Also I never got the chance to tell Spike that you stood on his tail” admitted Twilight, “He was out the library as fast as Rainbow Dash, something to do with being at Rarity’s.”
“Ugh.” gagged Eclipse, “That dragon, thinks Rarity is his princess in the castle that he has to save.”
Twilight burst out laughing, eventually composing herself. “I couldn’t have put it any better myself Eclipse” she said.
“I always aim to please” Eclipse grinned.

Eventually they stopped in front of a door.
“Why did we stop?” asked Twilight.
“Because we have arrived at our destination” replied Eclipse.
It only took a quick check of her surroundings to know where Twilight was, “This is Celestia’s room” she said, “but why are we here?”
“Celestia wanted to see us in private, probably because the guards get really agitated and nervous when she talks about this incident with them in hearing distance” replied Eclipse.
“Makes sense I guess” shrugged Twilight.
“Do you want me to go in with you on my back, making me look like a big softie? Or will you be alright going in without help?” she asked.
“I think I’ll be fine Eclipse” replied Twilight.
“Ok then” said Eclipse as she knelt down to let Twilight off.

Back on her hooves, Twilight’s legs wobbled but she eventually managed to regain full balance. She looked up at Eclipse, smiled and said “See, I’m fine.”
“Good” replied Eclipse, opening the door with her magic, “after you” she said to Twilight.

> Chapter 1 - A Nightmare to remember
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia was stood on the balcony overlooking Canterlot in all its glory, when Twilight and Eclipse arrived.
“You requested us, Princess?” said Eclipse.
“Eclipse, Twilight” Celestia beamed while turning round, “how are the studies going?”
“They’re going well Princess” replied Twilight. Celestia could tell by her voice that something was wrong.
“What’s the matter Twilight?” she asked.
“That would be the ‘Side effects’ of the teleportation spell” said Eclipse.
“Ah, it’s understandable” replied Celestia who leaned in close to Twilight and whispered into her ear, “Between you and me, you’re not the only one to suffer side effects from it.”
Hearing this brought a smile to Twilight’s face.

“Moving on” Celestia started, “I assume you both know why you’re here?”
They both nodded in response to the question.
“Excellent. Eclipse, I shall speak to you first” she said, before casting a soundproof barrier around herself and Eclipse.

“Eclipse, as you’re aware Nightmare Moon created you using her power.”

“That is correct Celestia, carry on.”

“Well... after the elements of harmony brought Luna back to me, I’m worried that Nightmare wasn’t completely purged from Luna” 

“Well I’ve kind of had that feeling myself to be honest.” 

“Eclipse, I need you to make sure Luna is ok for the next few days. Don’t worry, she will remember you. The reason I ask this of you is because I fear that Nightmare Moon will try to take her again while she is weak, I simply cannot and will not allow that to happen.”

Eclipse reassuringly put her hoof on Celestia’s shoulder “Don’t worry Celestia, I’ll make sure nothing happens to her” she said and turned to walk out the door, closing it behind her.

Twilight was confused, she didn’t know what had been said but at the same time didn’t want to ask, it didn’t concern her. 
“Princess are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes Twilight, I’m fine. Now...”





Eclipse made her way down the corridor towards Luna’s room, fortunately it wasn’t that far away and she was there in no time.

Eclipse knocked on the door, “Luna, It’s me, Eclipse. May I come in?” she asked.

After a few seconds the door opened and Eclipse stepped inside to find Luna lying on her bed reading a book to pass the time.

“How are you doing Luna?” asked Eclipse, walking over to her.
“We are doing fine thank you” she replied, closing the book. “Besides, you shouldn’t worry about being too formal around me Eclipse.”
“Well, that’s a relief” Joked Eclipse, “Twilight’s currently with Celestia, being given ‘her’ task.”
“How is Twilight after what I did to her as,” she looked down in disgust, “Nightmare Moon?”
“She’s doing quite well actually,” replied Eclipse, “on a higher note, she forgives you for your actions.”
“Good,” Luna hopped off the bed and walked towards the window, “at least I’ll be able to rest easier knowing that she forgives me.”
“You shouldn’t fully blame yourself for what happened Luna,” Eclipse walked over and stood next to her, “you wanted ponies to like your night, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just that you went about it the wrong way.”
“Yes I understand that now bu--”
Suddenly the door slammed shut and locked itself, sealing both Eclipse and Luna inside. Suddenly a voice echoed in the room, “Hello Luna, did you miss me?”
“Nightmare” snarled Eclipse.
“Well well, if it isn’t Eclipse, how are you doing after you betrayed me?” Echoed Nightmare
“I was doing fine until you showed up to spoil it” she snapped back at Nightmare, “SHOW YOURSELF COWARD!”
In response to this Nightmare Moon appeared in the mirror before Eclipse.
“What do you want?” she snarled.
“Nothing much” replied Nightmare, looking towards Luna, “Just to take back what’s mine.”
As soon as she made eye contact with Nightmare, the whites of Luna’s eyes turned teal and she just stood there in a trance as if she was hypnotised. Suddenly she started to walk towards the mirror as if accepting her fate. That is, before she was tackled to the ground by Eclipse.
“Luna, snap out of it” she pleaded.
“Ugh... what happened?” replied Luna.
“Eclipse” chuckled Nightmare, “That, was a big mistake.”

Before she had a chance to react, a dark tendril shot out of the mirror, hitting Eclipse in the back of the head. Her vision started to fade as she fell to the floor, she was unconscious by the time her body came to rest.
“It was fun while it lasted Luna” Nightmare cooed, “but I’m afraid that this little game is nearing its end” she said before a Pitch black void appeared under Luna, who tried to move but couldn’t.
“What are you doing to me?” Snapped Luna.
“Oh I think you know” said Nightmare, with a sinister grin.
Darkness from the void started to consume Luna, changing her into Nightmare Moon. Luna tried to scream but nothing came out her mouth as the darkness finally enveloped her.

A few minutes passed before the darkness started to retract back into the void, in its place stood Nightmare Moon.
“Oh Tia” she cooed, “I’m coming for you.”

> Chapter 2 - Unpredictable
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eclipse’s eyes slowly fluttered open. At first everything was red, but eventually reverted to normal. She tried to stand and found that she couldn’t move, looking over her shoulder revealed why. Standing over her was Nightmare Moon, her left hoof being used to restrain Eclipse from escaping.

“Woken up have we?” sneered Nightmare, “quite convenient to be honest, it allows me to deal with you first.”
Before she could react, Eclipse was levitated off the ground and suspended directly in front of Nightmare, “Eclipse, you betrayed me and now you will suffer severe consequences” she said before flinging Eclipse into a wall. Before Eclipse could react, she was once again lifted into the air, only this time she was flung through the balcony doors.
Eclipse coughed and sputtered until she finally mustered the strength to speak, “Why are you doing this, Nightmare? What gain do you think eternal night will bring you in the long run?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” replied Nightmare as she slowly made her way over to Eclipse, who was sat up against the balcony wall.
“Not really, no” said Eclipse.
“Many a time has my beautiful night been shunned by the populace” Nightmare looked up at the sky “Just look at all the horrible light the day brings. Do you honestly mean to tell me that my subjects prefer THIS over my eternal night!?”
“You just don’t get it do you?” scowled Eclipse, “It’s not what they prefer, it’s what they need. Without sunlight, crops fail. When crops fail, it leads to starvation because ponies won’t be able to grow anything. The problem with you, Nightmare, is that time and time again, you fail to see the bigger picture because it is clouded by your deluded beliefs.”
“How dare you insult and try to lecture me on matters that I am completely aware of.” spat Nightmare, slamming her hoof against Eclipse’s throat and holding it there “Well well, it seems we are in this situation again” she grinned, “only, this time, there’s no one to save you.” Nightmare increased the pressure on Eclipse’s throat. Eclipse writhed and squirmed to no avail, her vision started to darken and she fell unconscious.

A few seconds later, the door to the room exploded sending a shower of wood everywhere.
When the dust cleared, Princess Celestia and Twilight where stood in the doorway.
Nightmare chuckled, “Quicker than I expected to be honest, oh well still doesn’t prevent me from doing what I intended.” With lightning fast reflexes Nightmare spun round, levitated Eclipse over the balcony and kept her suspended there, “I have the upper hoof Tia, now if you do as I say she’ll live, but disobey me” she chuckled again, “and I think you’ll know what will happen.”
“Luna why?” Celestia asked.
“Oh please, you think this was Luna’s choice? Ha! Don’t make me laugh, Luna got what she deserved, she tried to fight back of course, but I made sure she had no choice but to turn into me, even if I forced her.”
After hearing this Celestia bolted forward, knocked Nightmare into the wall and put her horn against Nightmare’s neck to restrain her.
“Yes, that’s right Celestia” encouraged Nightmare, “let all the anger out, you never know what you might become when you do” she smiled.
Celestia’s eyes widened as she released Nightmare and slowly backed away, she had two options. She could try to fight Nightmare but risk releasing her ‘other self’, or she could try the diplomatic approach. She picked the latter.

“What do you want Nightmare?”
“Nothing much, just eternal night.”
“No, I will never allow you eternal night, Nightmare.”
“Fine” she grinned, “at least I don’t need her anymore.” She gestured to Eclipse and let her fall. She hit the ground with a loud ‘Thud’.
“NO!” screamed Twilight running to the balcony, looking over the edge to see if Eclipse was alright.
This was the last straw for Celestia, she didn’t care if she released her ‘evil self’, Nightmare needed to be taught the lesson of not harming her subjects. She bolted forward, restraining Nightmare again, only this time Nightmare noticed Celestia’s eyes turn draconic for a split second.
“Twilight, go and get some of the royal guard and check on Eclipse, in the gardens.”
Twilight hesitated for a moment before Celestia’s eyes flashed draconic again.
“NOW!” she shouted.

Twilight didn’t delay any longer, seeing Celestia angry was one thing, but being shouted at when she like this was another. As soon as Twilight had left, Celestia turned her attention back towards Nightmare.
“Just out of curiosity, Tia, do you know what happened to your eyes just then?”
Celestia’s eyes widened, “No...” she backed away, “this can’t be happening to me.”
“Oh but it is” smiled Nightmare.
Celestia looked in the mirror and noticed her draconic eyes.
“Sometimes,” Nightmare began, “you need to experience ‘true power’ to know its potential.” She walked over to Celestia, leaned towards her ear and whispered, “You know you want to.”
Upon hearing this, an excruciating pain shot through Celestia’s head and she collapsed on the floor, her vision started to darken as she lost complete control over her body.
“Wise choice, Tia” said Nightmare, before laughter echoed through the room.
The laughter was the last thing Celestia heard before she lost consciousness.

> Chapter 3 - Solar Troubles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight, accompanied by a few guards, ran over to Eclipse.
“Eclipse, are you alright?” 
“Yes, Twilight I’m fine. I’m stronger than I look, you know,” Eclipse gave Twilight a suspicious look, “Wait... you didn’t leave Celestia on her own with Nightmare did you?”
Twilight gave Eclipse a nervous nod.
“Get back up there before she--” Eclipse was interrupted by a bright flash of light accompanied by a loud bang, “Change of plan, I’m coming up there with you.”
“But Eclipse, what about your injuries.”
“Listen Twilight, if what I think has happened is correct, then you’re going to need my help, injured or not.”
“Ok, fine, follow me. Guards, you come with me as well.”
They all galloped back into the castle.





Nightmare looked out of the window with a disgusted look. Her horn lit up as she was about to turn day to night when a voice spoke behind her.
“If you raise the moon, I will punish you severely” it said.
“Don’t you dare make petty threats to me Solar Flare” said Nightmare turning round to face Flare.



“You think you are stronger than me?” scoffed Flare, “I’m on a completely separate scale from Celestia, Nightmare.”
“We’ll see about that” responded Nightmare as she charged towards Flare, who did the same. When their horns connected with each other, a white flash accompanied by a loud bang occurred.



Nightmare realized her mistake too late. When she was Luna, she had been weaker than Celestia. But now that they were both their ‘other selves’, Nightmare was back to square one again. She was quickly overpowered by Flare’s immense power and was flung into the wall behind her.
Flare laughed, “Oh, come on sister. Is that the best you have to offer?”

Just then Twilight and Eclipse ran into the room, The Royal Guards not too far behind. As soon as they laid eyes on Solar Flare they just stood there in shock.
Solar Flare closed her eyes and sighed, she levitated the guards up and flung them out of the room with immense force, “Idiotic buffoons” she hissed and then cast a barrier at the entrance to the room preventing them entry, “Make yourselves useful and get back to your posts instead of staring” she snapped at the guards, who did just that.
“C-Celestia, is that you?” asked Twilight.
“This is going to be awkward to explain” sighed Flare, “Let me take care of our unwanted guest first,” she nodded in Nightmare’s direction, “then I’ll explain to the best of my abilities.”
“I half expected you to kill them, Flare” remarked Nightmare.
“You keep your mouth shut Nightmare, I’m nothing like you” snapped Flare.
“You should try things my way every now and then” Nightmare snickered.
“Get out of my sight now. No, in fact, get out of Canterlot, you aren’t welcome here anymore.” 
“You’ll regret this Flare, mark my words.”
“I SAID OUT!!!” Screamed Flare before slapping the side of Nightmare’s face with her right hoof.
Nightmare gave Flare one last look of hatred and anger and flew off, in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

As soon as Nightmare was out of sight, Flare levitated a vase off the nearby bedside table and hurled it towards the wall, before she flumped on Luna’s bed, “I said, I’d explain Twilight. What is it you want to know?”
“Well first, I want to know what’s happened to Celestia.”
“I am Celestia, Twilight.”
“Wait... so you’re telling me that you have evil version of yourself just like Luna does?”
“Yes, when I am like this, my name is Solar Flare. Normally I only transform when I get sufficiently angry, which explains why I am normally calm.”
“When are you going to turn back, Celestia?”
“In a moment or so, I’m currently trying to calm down. Sorry you had to see me like that. Also before you ask why I didn’t attack you, Twilight, it’s because you’re my faithful student and I care for you very much.”

When Solar Flare said this, her whole body glowed white and when it had receded Celestia was in her place, “Now that’s over with, we have to stop Nightmare,” Celestia let out a sigh, “again.”

> Chapter 4 - Old Allies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night

‘Those foals’ thought Nightmare as she glided over the Everfree forest. “No doubt Celestia will send her precious Elements to deal with me. I’ll show Celestia and her Elements the true power of the night and finally take my place as ruler of Equestria.” She said to herself.

After a few more minutes of flying, Nightmare neared her destination. She decided that it would be easier to go on hoof as her wings were tired out. When she landed, she quickly surveyed her surroundings before walking into the darkness of the forest. Unbeknownst to Nightmare, a pair of draconic eyes had been watching her from the shadows. A dark figure stepped out from the shadows and set off in pursuit of Nightmare.





“Twilight, you know what you must do to save my sister again.” 

“I do Celestia, but by the time I’ve rounded them up Nightmare could attack again” Said Twilight.

“Actually, I don’t think she’ll take that chance. Not while I’m here, at least” Replied Eclipse.

“Twilight, you don’t need to round them up. I sent Spike a letter a few hours ago and if I’m correct they should be here any minute now.” 

As if on cue, Rainbow Dash burst into the room, followed by the rest of the group.
“Celestia, we came as soon as we got your message. What’s so urgent?”

“I think it will only require a name for you to know, just how urgent Celestia means, Rainbow. Nightmare Moon.” responded Twilight.

Rainbow sighed, “Where is she this time?”

“Probably where you first fought her, The Castle of The Royal Pony Sister’s” replied Celestia.

“Let’s go and stop her... again.” Said Rainbow before flying out of the room ahead of everypony else.





Nightmare cautiously approached the castle, something wasn’t right and she knew it. She turned around to make sure she wasn’t being followed when suddenly *Clang*. Something had rebounded off her chest plate and upon closer inspection; Nightmare found that it was a dart that was the same colour as her coat. Nightmare frowned, only one pony she knew had this kind of dart and he disappeared along with the rest of his comrades after Nightmare’s banishment. Eventually she looked towards the forest and smiled.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it... Night Shade.”

The silhouetted Night Shade stepped out from the shadows. He had a charcoal coat and a black mane and tail, both with dark blue streaks running through them. Holstered to his left foreleg was the crossbow he had fired the dart from. His eyes were the same draconic teal as Nightmare’s. He wore a hooded cloak, which was down, and a bandana as a mask, which was also down.

“I could say the same to you, Nightmare” replied Night Shade. He spoke in a deep voice, full of emotion.

“How have you been these past thousand years, Night Shade?”

“One thousand years, Nightmare. After all this time, the first thing you do is act like nothing happened. I know what happened that night, I was there.”

“Well why did you leave?” hissed Nightmare.

“We all had a very good reason actually. You had given us your blessing, which did this” he gestured to his eyes, “and gave us eternal life. We decided that we would be a much greater asset to you upon your return, rather than tried and executed, so we ran and waited. News travels fast around Equestria so when we found out you were banished for a thousand years, what else should we have done. Then on the night of your return, it all ended so quickly that we were too late to reach you in time. Which explains why, this past week, we have been guarding the castle making sure no pony attempts to enter.”

“Where are the other five of you?” 

“It’s the other four now. We--”

“We lost Blood Lance.” It was a mare’s voice that spoke this time. The cloaked mare stepped out of the shadows, followed by three others. She and another figure stopped at the right of Night Shade, whilst the remaining two stopped at the left. The mare brought back her hood; she had a dark brown coat with a brown mane and tail. On her back was a dark red lance with a black tip.

“What happened to him Silent Wind?”

“He died that night allowing us to escape. If he hadn’t sacrificed himself, we wouldn’t be here. His parting gift to me was his lance.”

“Wait... We're being watched” said the stallion next to Silent Wind.

“How do you know?” replied Nightmare.

“I can sense them”

“We’ll carry on our little catch-up session inside the castle, then.” said Night Shade





As Nightmare and her allies entered the castle and disappeared from view, the spy took flight. But they weren’t heading towards Ponyville or Canterlot, they were heading somewhere else.

> Chapter 5 - The Lunar Unit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Shadow Fang, can you still sense our unwanted nuisance?” asked Night Shade.

“No” replied Shadow Fang as he turned round. His coat was the same colour as Nightmare’s but his mane and tail were coloured a dark red, “They’ve flown off, but strangely, not in the direction of Ponyville or Canterlot.”

“You don’t mean to say...”

“They could well have been a Changeling, which is going to cause complications for Nightmare if they are.”

Night Shade facehoofed, “This isn’t good.”

“Indeed” said Nightmare as she stepped out from the shadows, she turned to Shadow Fang, “If what you say is true then it means we now have two problems.”

“Wait, two problems?” said a puzzled Night Shade.

Before she could reply a loud crash was heard from the main room.





“Again, Silent Wind.”

Silent Wind charged towards the stallion before her, but appeared to trip over thin air before she reached him. She face planted the ground and came to a skidding stop at his hooves. Eventually she let out a long groan, whilst the stallion rubbed his head in confusion.

The stallion’s name was Aegis. He had a silver coat with a black mane and tail. He was renowned for his incredible endurance and stamina in combat.

Laughter echoed round the room and a black mist, similar to that of Nightmare’s, stopped next to Aegis. From the mist materialised a dark blue coated mare with a black mane and tail, who immediately fell on the floor laughing

“Astral Moon” sighed Aegis, “we’re trying to train here and we don’t need practical jokes right now.”

“He’s right Astral Moon” Nightmare began, as she walked into the up to them, “The task I have for you doesn’t involve practical jokes.”

“Sorry Nightmare, what task?” asked Night Shade.

“Celestia is sending the Elements to try to stop me, but... I want them silently dealt with and thrown in the castle dungeons, alive.”

“But Nightmare” replied Shadow Fang, “there’s only five of us and six of them.”

“Which is why, Shadow Fang, I’ll be dealing with Magic myself. Moving on, you will each be assigned a target which must be dealt with silently. Night Shade, your target is Loyalty. Silent Wind, Kindness. Shadow Fang, Laughter. Aegis, Honesty. Finally, Astral Moon, Generosity.”

“It will be an honour to carry out your orders, Nightmare.” Said Night Shade.

“It has been a thousand years since you have received a task from me, go forth and restore The Lunar Unit’s reputation and glory.”





“Ready girls?” asked Twilight.

They all nodded in response.

“Let’s go and beat Nightmare again.”

They slowly made their way into the Everfree Forest, completely blind of the impending danger.

> Chapter 6 - When you Dash past the Shade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and her friends cautiously proceeded through the forest, completely unaware that they were being followed by Night Shade. That was until Rainbow Dash brought up the subject.

“Um, is it just me, or does anypony else get the feeling that we’re being watched?”

“It’s probably just a Timberwolf, Rainbow” replied Twilight.

“Yeah, Rainbow” started Applejack, who proceeded to put on a spooky voice, “It could pop out at any moment and eat you.”

The rest of the group giggled at this remark, except for Rainbow who was quick to defend her pride.

“Yeah right, I’d buck that Timberwolf to Tartarus without a sweat.” she boasted, “But seriously, I think we are being watched by somepony.”

The feeling of uneasiness slowly washed over the group, one by one, the realisation hit them that Rainbow could be right.

“I’ll go scout ahead. Make sure there are no surprises waiting for us” 

“Ok Rainbow but be careful” replied Twilight

“Pfft... I’ll be fine you guys.”

And with that said Rainbow Dash flew ahead and out of sight.

From within the shadows, Night Shade smiled to himself.

“You should have stayed with your friends, Loyalty.”

The true beauty of the Lunar Unit’s cloaks was that it concealed whether or not those who weren’t Unicorns, were Earth pony or Pegasus. In Night Shade’s case he was a Pegasus so, staying absolutely silent, flew off in pursuit of Rainbow Dash.






It’s an extremely rare occurrence Rainbow Dash ever feels on edge, but this was an exception: Dark spooky forest, Pony eating predators and finally being lost.

Night Shade could clearly see the look of uneasiness on Rainbow Dash, so he decided to toy with her. He found a twig on the ground and slowly picked it up, he then proceeded to snap the twig and hide.

*Snap*

“W-who’s there?” asked Rainbow Dash

Night Shade snickered.

Rainbow heard this, but she wasn’t amused.

“Is this some kind of cruel joke?”

No reply.

“Fine, whoever you are, I’ll find out.”

And with that she slowly proceeded towards a hidden Night Shade. When she got to the general area she had heard the noise originate from, she cautiously looked around. This was when Night Shade made his move; he pounced towards Rainbow, who tried to lift a hoof in defence but was too slow, and tackled her to the ground. 

Putting his hoof over Rainbow’s mouth, Night Shade began to speak.

“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. Which will it be?” he asked.

When Night Shade removed his hoof from Rainbows mouth, she chose to counter attack. First, she head butted him which caused him to stumble. Then she got up and attempted to buck him, but it went horribly wrong. He sidestepped out of the way with ease and used his right hoof to flip Rainbow onto her back. But he wasn’t finished yet, he then proceeded to lift Rainbow up and charged her into the nearest tree.

Night shade chuckled, “So you chose the hard way, very amusing.”

As Rainbow felt her vision darken, the last thing she said was, “You’re pretty good.” And she passed out.

After lifting Rainbow onto his back, Night Shade set off, back to the castle.





“Nightmare, I come with a gift.” Night Shade joked

“Oh goody, Night Shade I wonder what it could be.” replied Nightmare playing along.

“The Element of Loyalty, just for you.” 

Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Well, well. It seems she’s waking up, how unfortunate for her.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes groggily opened to the sight of Nightmare Moon. Too weak to do anything, she groaned again.

“Don’t worry, Loyalty, there’s plenty of time for you to rest,” Nightmare smiled and lit up her horn, “Enjoy your Nightmare, free of charge.”

All Rainbow Dash saw was a few seconds of teal and then she blacked out.

> Chapter 7 - A Shocking Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Um girls... Rainbow Dash has been gone for quite a while.” Said Fluttershy.

“I’m sure she’s fine.” replied Applejack.

“But shouldn’t somepony check to see everything is fine?” 

“Fluttershy’s right.” Responded Twilight, turning to face Fluttershy and Pinkie, “It would be a good idea to send somepony to check on her, just to make sure she is alright.”

“I-I’ll go.” Fluttershy immediately volunteered.

“I’ll come too!” Responded Pinkie, as she giddily bounced past Fluttershy and disappeared into the trees.

“Hey, wait for me!” Squeaked Fluttershy before galloping off after Pinkie and disappearing out of sight.





“Rainbow, where are you?” Pinkie cheerily asked, while still bouncing.

Just then the trees rustled attracting Pinkies attention as she bounced over to them, “You aren’t very good at hide and seek Rainbow.”

Out of nowhere, Shadow Fang lunged at Pinkie and grabbed her, but before he could cover her mouth she cried out for help, “Fluttershy, help me!”

Shadow Fang cursed under his breath and knocked Pinkie out and disappeared back into the trees with Pinkie slumped over his back just as Fluttershy arrived.

“Pinkie... Pinkie, where are you?” called Fluttershy, receiving no reply from the forest.

This scared Fluttershy, now she was on her own and something had happened to Pinkie. The girls needed to be warned, but just as she turned round and began to gallop back, she was tripped up by Silent Wind.

“tsk tsk tsk, I can’t have you running off and spoiling the big surprise now can I?” Silent Wind jeered. 

“P-P-Please don’t hurt me.” Fluttershy whimpered in response while attempting to scramble away from Silent Wind.

“Go on, run” dared Silent Wind, “how far do you think you’ll get before I catch you, not very far, I’d say.” She leaned in closer, “Tell you what, if you make this easy for me and come quietly you’ll be able to see your two friends that we’ve captured already. Of course, if you run, then we’ll knock you out like we did with them and take you with us anyway, in other words you don’t really have a choice in the matter. So, what’ll it be?”

“T-The first option.” Replied Fluttershy.

“Good choice.” Acknowledged Silent Wind.





“Ah Shadow Fang and Silent Wind, I take it your task was a success?”

“Of course, Nightmare.” Said Shadow Fang before signalling Silent Wind to bring both Pinkie, who was still unconscious and Fluttershy to Nightmare.

“Excellent, throw them in the dungeon and make it the cell that their cyan coloured friend is in.”

“Right away” replied Shadow Fang before taking Fluttershy and Pinkie to the dungeon with Silent Wind.

“May I ask why you do this?” asked Fluttershy as they left the room.

“We do it because Nightmare tells us to, we’ve been around for about a thousand years thanks to her. The least we can do is repay the favour.” Replied Silent Wind as the group turned left and headed down a corridor. “Why do you want to stop her?”

“Because Celestia knows she’ll try to bring about eternal night again and she wants her sister back.”

“It’s funny because you won’t be able to stop her now.” Chuckled Shadow Fang

“It looks like we’re here.” Announced Silent Wind as they approached an iron door that was open and being guarded by Night Shade.

“Well, that was fast, we already have half of them? I expected more of a fight from the Elements.” Joked Night Shade. 

They all followed Night Shade to Rainbow’s cell and opened the door. Shadow Fang, with Pinkie on his back entered first and carefully set Pinkie down, followed by Fluttershy who immediately checked on Pinkie before Shadow Fang left and locked them in. After Shadow Fang, Silent Wind and Night Shade were out of sight, Pinkie woke up.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Captured and in the Castle dungeon.” Replied a vaguely familiar voice.

Fluttershy whirled round in surprise.

“R-Rainbow is that you?”

“This is going to be awkward Fluttershy.” She replied

“What’s awkward?” Asked Pinkie.

Rainbow stepped into view and the reaction on Pinkie’s face said it all as her jaw comically fell to the ground, whilst Fluttershy slowly backed away.





“Like I said awkward.” Responded Rainbow.

“What did Nightmare do to you?” Asked Fluttershy.

“I can’t really say, to be honest, but I noticed my transformation as I drifted in and out of consciousness whilst stuck in here.”

“Well this is rich.” Snorted Nightmare, surprising the group as they all turned to look at her, a smug grin on her face.

Rainbow being... well, Rainbow beat everyone to the punch.

“How long have you been spying on us?”

“A few minutes, I don’t intend to overstay my welcome so I’ll cut straight to the point.”

“What do you want?” Snarled Rainbow.

“I want you to carry out a little task, if you do it I’ll release you.”

Rainbow was quickly running out of patience, “Tell me before now, before I lose it!”

Nightmare smirked before leaning in, “I want you to kill...”

















“Your friends.” 

> Chapter 8 - The Ultimate Sacrifice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’ll never do that in a million years, Nightmare.” Spat Rainbow in utter disgust.

Nightmare began to chuckle which Rainbow raised an eyebrow quizzically in response to.

“I knew you would refuse, which is why I have a foalproof backup plan.” Said Nightmare, her horn lighting up as she prepared a spell whilst looking at the group with an evil smile on her face. 

When Nightmare had finished preparing the spell she sent a ball of dark energy right towards Rainbow. Before she could react, the ball of energy hit Rainbow right in the forehead and dissipated. Dash stumbled back as the spell began to take effect, her eyes felt heavy as she fell to the floor. She tried to muster enough energy to get back on her hooves but it was no use, the spell was too strong.

“Rainbow!” Gasped Fluttershy as herself and Pinkie ran to Rainbow’s side.

To Rainbow it sounded severely distorted and was the last thing she heard before the spell finally took hold and she passed out.

“What did you do to her?” whimpered Fluttershy.

Nightmare began to cackle and started to walk away, “Oh, you’ll see for yourself soon. Very soon indeed.”

When she was out of earshot, Nightmare muttered to herself, “Time to deal with Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”





Twilight, Applejack and Rarity cautiously advanced through the forest. As they were nearing their destination, Astral Moon charged out of nowhere and in a swift motion, tackled Rarity to the ground and teleported both herself and Rarity away from the group leaving Twilight staring, at where Rarity had just been, in shock.
A few seconds passed before Applejack broke the silence.

“Uh-oh.” Was all she managed to say before Aegis came out of nowhere, grabbed her and threw her into the nearest tree, before proceeding to pin her by the throat against the tree trunk.

Twilight was about to help Applejack before she realised that she couldn’t move her legs. Looking down at her hooves she saw the midnight aura that was keeping her locked in place.

“Ah ah ah, Twilight Sparkle. We can’t have you interfering with our plans now can we?” Nightmare said with an almost mocking tone as she stepped into view before looking at Aegis.

“Remember Aegis we want to capture the Elements, not kill them.” 

Aegis instantly loosened his grip on Applejack’s throat and looked in Nightmare’s direction giving her an acknowledging nod. This gave Applejack the perfect opportunity to attempt an escape.

As Aegis turned to face Applejack, she used her left hoof to deliver a nasty looking jab to his throat, an action which caused even Nightmare to grimace and turn away. Aegis’s eyes immediately widened as he stumbled back struggling to breathe. Applejack used this opportunity to gallop away in the opposite direction.

A few seconds later, Aegis recovered from his recent humiliation and galloped after Applejack. But not before shouting, “GET BACK HERE!”

Twilight assumed a combat stance, an act which made Nightmare chuckle.

“Are we really going to do this again Twilight, remember what happened last time?”

“That was last time, Nightmare, this time it’s a different story.”

“Well then, let’s see how far your arrogance is willing to go, I’m betting that you don’t last five minutes.”

Out of nowhere a zipper appeared next to Nightmare, which promptly unzipped itself leaving a small black hole. A few seconds later Pinkie Pie, of all ponies popped her head through the hole with a pouty expression on her face.

“And I’m willing to bet that Twilight teaches you a lesson Queen Meanie!”

Twilight shook her head, “Pinkie pie.” she sighed

Nightmare staggered back and looked at Pinkie with surprise.

“Y-you, but you’re meant to be in the castle, how did you escape?”

“I didn’t silly, I’m still there. All I wanted to do was to give you a present.” Pinkie Pie disappeared back into the hole, reappearing a few seconds later with her signature party cannon.

“Is that a...”

“BOMBS AWAY!” Shouted Pinkie, cutting Nightmare off and sending a giant ball of confetti directly into her face.

Nightmare coughed and sputtered before she lost her patience with the annoying pink mare.

“That’s it!” she growled before pushing Pinkie back through the hole, zipping it tightly shut and using her magic to send it back to wherever it belonged.

“Right” sighed Nightmare, “where were we?”

“We were up to the part where you were boasting about how quickly you thought you could defeat me.” Reminded Twilight.

“Ah, yes!” remembered Nightmare, “Thank you for the reminder.” she began to cackle, “Not that it’s going to help you.”

Nightmare’s horn lit up and a Midnight black fog created a dome that enveloped them both, when it dissipated, both Twilight and Nightmare were gone.





Meanwhile

“Got to lose him” panted Applejack, galloping as fast as she could with Aegis in hot pursuit behind her.

She began zigzagging between trees, hopeful that Aegis might crash into one, a few seconds later he did.

“Gah!” she heard him cry followed by a loud thud.

Even though she knew he had hit the tree, she kept going just to make sure she lost him and after a few minutes, stopped to catch her breath.

Unbeknownst to Applejack, Aegis had faked his ‘Wipeout’ and was sneaking up on her. When he was directly behind her, Aegis prepared to deliver the knockout blow, a black blur crashed in to him sending him flying into a tree. The impact knocked him out cold.

Applejack whirled around to see what all the noise was about thinking Aegis had found her again and instead found Lunar Eclipse standing over his unconscious form.

“Eclipse, what are you doing here?” Asked Applejack, a hint of confusion in her voice.

“Saving you,” Eclipse turned round, “where’s Twilight?” she asked

“Probably fighting Nightmare Moon, I distanced myself from them, to prevent him” Applejack gestured towards Aegis “from helping her to defeat Twilight, if I was captured.”

“What about the other Elements?”

“They’ve been captured, from what I can tell.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well they started disappearing, first was Rainbow, then Pinkie and Fluttershy. Then Nightmare confronted us with backup and they got Rarity.”

“Brilliant,” sighed Eclipse, “this whole mission has been an elaborately set up trap right from the beginning.”

“I’m not gonna disagree with you there.”

“Here” began Eclipse before a letter magically appeared and levitated into Applejack’s hooves “When you see Twilight give her that letter, she’ll want to read it.”

“Why can’t you give it to her yourself?” 

“Because what I’m about to do means I’m not going to be around anymore and before you ask, you already know what I mean by not being around anymore.” Admitted Eclipse.

“There has to be another way?” Applejack tried to reason with Eclipse.

“Farewell Applejack, it was nice to know you. Maybe we’ll see each other in the next life?”

“If that’s the case then I’ll see you there.”

“I’ll be waiting.” With that Eclipse began to set off before she was stopped by Applejack who asked one more question.

“What exactly are you gonna do?”

Eclipse looked at Applejack with an expression full of confidence before she spoke.

“I’m going to save Twilight.” And with that she was gone.





When the fog cleared, Twilight found herself within an open clearing somewhere in the forest. She heard the sound of running water and found a stream to her left. Unfortunately she didn’t have time to take in the scenery when Nightmare appeared in front of her. In reaction to Nightmare’s appearance Twilight took up a combat stance for a second time.

Nightmare sighed before looking up at the moon.

“You know, this is where it all began for me.”

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.

“When I was Luna, she would come to this place from time to time whenever she felt worthless and unloved by both her sister and the populace.”

Twilight dropped her guard considerably, an act which Nightmare easily noticed.

“Well, if you want my opinion it’s a nice and tranquil spot. I can see why she would come here.”

Nightmare let out a soft chuckle before continuing.

“Then, one day, Celestia did something that made her seethe with absolute rage. She came here to try to calm down but it didn’t work. It was on that Night that I was born.”

“What did she do?”

Nightmare cracked a sly grin before chuckling once more.

“Given other circumstances, I would tell you, but I shan’t as it would bring back to many bad memories. I would, on different terms, have allowed you to ask my sister, but all you’ve been since my return is a thorn in my side.”

Upon hearing these words, Twilight raised her guard once more.

“It pains me to do this as you would’ve been a great asset to my cause but, seeing as you are a constant pest who has already ruined one of my plans, I’m afraid greater action must be taken to ensure you will not interfere with them again.”

Nightmare began to absorb power from the moon that shone brilliantly in the night sky. The energy she built up was so great that the light from her horn illuminated the entire area.

“Prepare to meet your end, Twilight Sparkle.”

Eclipse arrived just in the nick of time to save Twilight.

“Twilight, look out!” she shouted, before galloping towards Nightmare.

Nightmare was helpless to do anything. There was too much power in the spell to stop it now. Eclipse ran into Nightmare, tackling her to the ground, but in doing so cause her horn to discharge the energy from the spell.

The two alicorns connected heavily with the dirt, both skidding to a halt a few yards apart. Nightmare got up, but Eclipse stayed down unmoving, when the spell had discharged it had hit Eclipse in the chest and gone straight through her. There was nothing Twilight could do for Eclipse as attempting to help her would be suicide with Nightmare still in the equation. 

“Twilight run!” shouted a familiar voice from behind her.

She whirled around to find Applejack beckoning her.

“Applejack we’ve got to help her!” pleaded Twilight.

“There’s no time Twilight, this is the only chance we’re gonna be given to get the hay outta here.” 

Twilight was about to open her mouth to speak when she heard Eclipse’s voice in her head.

“She’s right Twilight, there’s no time. Not to mention the immense power that Nightmare has siphoned from the moon, if you try to help me then Nightmare will succeed.”

“But Eclipse...”

“Twilight, the right choice is not always the easy one to make, don’t waste this opportunity by throwing your life away.”

Tears began forming in Twilight’s eyes.

“Goodbye, Eclipse.”

“Farewell, Twilight, it had to end sometime right?”

Twilight galloped towards Applejack. When she was near, both mares ran off into the forest.

“ARGH!” screamed Nightmare in utter frustration, releasing all her energy into the ground where Twilight had been standing just seconds before. When the dust settled a crater was left in its place.

She turned to Eclipse anger still pumping through her.

“Why? Why sacrifice yourself for that pathetic foal you used to be?”

“You wouldn’t know what friendship was even if it was right in front of you.” Eclipse rasped weakly, still lying on the ground.

“But you could’ve had unimaginable power!”

“Power is nothing but of source of evil if you don’t use it correctly, I expected you to know better than that Luna.”

Nightmare clenched her teeth at the mention of her past name.

Eclipse chuckled triumphantly, “They’ll stop you, you know. They always do.”

It was Nightmare’s turn to chuckle this time.

“What’s so funny?” asked Eclipse.

“You’ll see, or rather, you won’t.” Replied Nightmare as she teleported away.

Now it was just Eclipse on her own now, eventually she sighed.

“I’ll miss this place.”

Black fog began to evaporate from Eclipse as she began to fade away.

“Good luck Twilight” she smiled before fading away entirely.

Lunar Eclipse, was no more.





Back in Ponyville

The door to Twilight’s library opened revealing a worried looking Spike on the other side. Twilight and Applejack both entered, Applejack closing the door behind them.

“Twilight what’s wrong?” he asked

When he got no reply he asked another question.

“Where are Eclipse and the others?”

Upon hearing this Twilight collapsed on to the floor, sobbing into her hooves.

> Chapter 9 - Complications
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“R-R-Rainbow?”  Sputtered Fluttershy, slowly backing away from her.

Rainbow continued to advance, she smirked before speaking. “Rainbow? I’m no longer Rainbow Dash, she’s long gone. No, I am Nightmare Spectrum, queen of the skies!”

Spectrum’s voice was deeper than Rainbow’s like it was with Luna and Nightmare Moon.
“That’s all we need, a Queen Meanie number 2!” Wailed Pinkie.

Spectrum began to chuckle as she cornered both Pinkie and Fluttershy who had finally run out of room to move away from her.

“And this...” she raised a hoof, preparing to finish the job. “Is where it ends.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie both screamed in unison as Spectrum’s hoof came down, stopping inches before them.

“What?!” Exclaimed Spectrum, as she stared down at the midnight blue aura surrounding her hoof, before she was suddenly yanked back and crashed into the cell door.

“Correction, that is where it ‘would have’ ended.” Scolded Nightmare, using her magic to turn Spectrum around to face her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Carrying out your orders, Nightmare.” Spectrum smirked, an action which only seemed to make Nightmare angrier.

“Could you have not waited for me and asked if the order still stood?” Nightmare questioned with a look of annoyance on her face.

When Spectrum didn’t respond Nightmare opened the door and yanked her out of the cell using her magic. It was at this point that Pinkie and Fluttershy both saw Rarity, draped over Nightmare’s back.

“Rarity!” Exclaimed Fluttershy.

Nightmare chuckled, “So it seems you realised I have your friend,” When Nightmare was met with angry looks from the two she chuckled again. “Not to worry, she’ll be just like Spectrum here soon enough.”

Nightmare levitated Rarity into the cell and set her down in front of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Her coat was already darkening as the spell was beginning to take effect.

As Nightmare closed the cell door, Spectrum shot Fluttershy and Pinkie a menacing glare. “I’ll be back to finish the job later. “ She growled, before Nightmare hit her in the back of the head. “What was that for?”

“OUT, NOW!” she shouted at Spectrum, who defiantly remained where she was. Nightmare sighed. “Spectrum, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The hard way will mean a lot of pain, so pick wisely.”

“Fine.” Huffed Spectrum, before she turned round and left the dungeons.

Nightmare growled in frustration, turned around and delivered a strong blow to the wall with her left hoof. The blow was so strong it caused a big crack to appear on the wall. She then turned towards Fluttershy and Pinkie with a much calmer expression.

“Forgive me for her attitude; I didn't know she would be this bad.” Sighed Nightmare, before she turned away and left the dungeon. 

Fluttershy then turned her attention to Rarity. “Rarity? Rarity!” She desperately tried to wake the unconscious unicorn who was falling prey to corruption.

Fluttershy then heard hoofsteps and looked up to see Night Shade and Silent Wind watching them.

“What do you want?” She asked.

Night Shade sighed and proceeded to attempt to unlock the cell but the key wouldn't turn.

“That’s odd.” Said Silent Wind, with a confused look on her face.

“Wait, let me try something. It’s a long shot but still worth trying.” Replied Night Shade, before pushing the door which, to his surprise, opened.

“Are you serious?” Chuckled Silent wind, “She forgot to lock it.”

“Well she did have her hooves full with her snotty new addition.” He pointed out.

Silent Wind rolled her eyes before walking over to Rarity, “Night Shade, can you place her on my back.”

“Sure.” He then lifted Rarity onto Silent Wind’s back before turning to Fluttershy and Pinkie, who had backed away into the corner. “Come on, don’t just stand there.”

“Where are we going?” Asked a nervous Fluttershy.

“Well for starters, we’re leaving and going to Ponyville.” Replied Silent Wind

Upon hearing the word ‘Ponyville’ both Fluttershy and Pinkie’s ears perked up, they looked at each other before Fluttershy gave Silent Wind a nod and they followed them out of the dungeons.

Silent Wind stopped them with her hoof, “Be very careful and stick close to us.” She whispered.

Fluttershy nodded and proceeded to follow them as they made their way through the castle. When they made it to the main hall, two very loud, muffled voices could be heard. It seemed that Nightmare and Spectrum were having a heated argument. The fact that they were distracted caused a wave of relief to wash over the group.

The good fortune was short lived however as Aegis rounded the corner and came face to face with Night Shade and Silent Wind who had been caught in the act.

“You traitors.” He growled before charging towards Silent Wind.

“Silent Wind, MOVE!” Shouted Night Shade as he galloped forward and pushed Silent Wind out of the way just in time, only to take the full force impact as Aegis charged Night Shade into the wall, creating a cloud of dust upon impact.

When the dust cleared Aegis smirked as he backed away, revealing a barely conscious Night Shade who fell forward and landed on the floor in a heap in front of Aegis’s hooves. Upon seeing this Silent Wind carefully set Rarity down, whose coat had darkened to a light grey by now and time was of the essence.

“That was a big mistake Aegis.” Spat Silent Wind as she grabbed her lance and attempted to impale Aegis with it who, in response, grabbed the shaft and yanked the lance clean out of Silent Wind’s hooves before pinning her by the neck against the wall with it and applied more pressure.

Aegis licked his lips at Silent Wind’s expression of utter terror. It didn’t help that she couldn’t breathe as she began to feel numb as her forelegs lost their energy to fight back.

Night Shade weakly lifted his head and stared in shock as Silent Wind was slowly succumbing to suffocation. He seethed in anger, grabbing a dart from his quiver as he shakily got back up and crept up behind Aegis, who seemed to be rather enjoying Silent Wind’s struggle.

When he was within striking distance he tapped Aegis on the shoulder with a smirk on his face. Aegis slowly turned his head in confusion until he was met with Night Shade’s eyes, the hate clearly visible in his expression.

“I’m sorry Aegis.” He said before stabbing the dart into the side of his neck.

Aegis’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed on the floor, unconscious, with Silent Wind’s lance next to him. Silent Wind collapsed on the floor gasping for air.

“You took your sweet time.” She wheezed, before grabbing her lance.

Night shade chuckled before helping Silent Wind up. “Well,” he looked at the spot on the wall where he had hit it, “It hurt a lot more than it looked like.” Night Shade placed Rarity over Silent Wind’s back once more before turning to face the others.

“Are you ready to go?”

They both nodded in response to his question. 

“Good, there shouldn’t be anypony else around,” Night Shade gestured to the unconscious form of Aegis, “He was the only one meant to be patrolling this area. It was just unfortunate that we ran into him.” He said before rounding the corner and braking into full gallop, throwing all caution to the wind, whilst the others ran after him.

When the group made it out of the main entrance and into the courtyard, they breathed a sigh of relief before proceeding across the courtyard. However, they only made it half way before they noticed the corporeal form of Astral Moon who immediately transformed into her physical form and sighed.

“I knew this would happen sooner or later.”

“Astral we’re leaving, period. Please don’t make this difficult by attempting to stop us.” Said Night Shade.

Astral Moon smirked. “I wasn’t going to stop you from leaving, but I will do if you don’t let me come with you.”

“Feel free Astral, we could use the extra help.” Replied Silent Wind.

The group then proceeded on until they disappeared into the depths of the Everfree forest.





In Twilight’s library

By now, Twilight had calmed down enough to be talked to and was sat in the centre of the library with Applejack, who decided now would be a good time to give her Eclipse’s letter.

“Twilight,” Began Applejack as she took off her hat, revealing the letter underneath. “Eclipse wanted you to have this.” She said as she handed over the letter.

Using her magic Twilight took hold of the letter and opened it. As the letter opened a stream of magic shot out and hit Twilight. Her body glowed for a few seconds as the stream kept going until it stopped. A few seconds later Twilight’s body stopped glowing, she gave the letter a confused look as Applejack shrugged. Eventually, Twilight read the letter.

Dear Twilight,
If you are reading this then it means I have passed on. I wanted to leave you with a gift, a spell that I made as well as the knowledge to cast it. It will change your form and make your magic stronger; to change back requires the spell to be cast once more. However, do not use the form for extended periods of time, the power gained is intoxicating but it also slowly corrupts its user. If you use the form for too long and succumb to its effects, well let’s just say you’ll become another Nightmare Moon so be careful. Thank you, Twilight, for everything.

Signed,
Lunar Eclipse.

After reading the letter Twilight set it down and lit her horn, focusing on casting the new spell she had learned. After a few seconds she began to feel its effects. A cold sensation washed over her she felt herself grow taller and felt her coat and mane change colour. As she opened her eyes, Twilight felt two wings protrude from her back. Looking over her shoulder she was met with a black coat. Realising she needed a mirror to see the full extent of the changes, she was about to make her way upstairs when she noticed Applejack’s shocked expression.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

Applejack just sat there, mouth agape. Eventually Twilight rolled her eyes and made her way up to her room, closing the door behind her. She took a step forward then heard the sound of metal on wood, looking down; Twilight saw that she had steel shoes on her hooves. An eerily familiar feeling began to work its way through Twilight as she quickened her pace to the mirror. When she got there she gasped at her reflection. There looking back at her was none other than Lunar Eclipse. Casting the spell again, Twilight felt herself turn back to normal, although it still didn’t stop her looking in the mirror to make sure she was herself again. Sure enough, Twilight’s reflection stared back at her and she let out a sigh of relief.

“At least it works.” She shrugged.

Suddenly, she heard a crashing sound, before the door flung open and Spike ran in.

“Uh, Twilight.” 

“Spike, what’s happening?”

“There are two cloaked ponies downstairs, having a fight with Applejack. Also Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came with them.”

“WHAT?!” She exclaimed galloping past him and down the stairs as fast as she could.

Surely enough, Applejack was fighting with Night Shade and Silent Wind. Well, it wasn’t so much of a fight; it was more of Applejack lying on the floor defeated.

“What are you two doing here?” Twilight snarled at them both.

“Returning your friends and also switching sides.” Replied Silent Wind.

Astral Moon suddenly teleported into the centre of the room with Rarity on her back,

“Guys, I know you asked me to take care of her. But this is bad” She gestured to Rarity who’s transformation had almost finished.

“Rarity!” cried Fluttershy, rushing over to see if she was alright.

“Spike, send a letter to the Princess telling her she needs to get here as soon as possible!” Said Twilight.

“On it.” Replied Spike, wasting no time getting the letter written.
> Chapter 10 - A Fallen Star (Part 1/2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do you really think it’s wise to get Celestia involved? There’s no telling what will happen when she sees us.” Said Night Shade as he made his way towards Twilight.

“Don’t get yourself worried, when I explain the situation, she’ll understand.” Replied Twilight as she turned around.

“Will that be before, or after she jumps to conclusions?” Remarked Night Shade sarcastically. 

“Um guys?” Said Astral Moon trying to get their attention.

“Twilight, its ready!”  Announced Spike as he ran down the stairs waving the letter in the air, which was promptly enveloped in a magical aura and snatched from his claws, “Huh?”

Suddenly laughter filled the room as everypony turned to look in the direction of its source, which was none other than where Rarity was, or had been...

Instead, in her place was Nightmare Rarity.

“What’s this? A letter, for me! Oh my dear, Spikey-Wikey, you shouldn’t have.” She teased.

Opening the letter, she read it before smirking.

“Tsk tsk tsk, looks like someponies were going to tattle on me. We can’t have that now, can we?” she said, before incinerating the letter while they watched in shock.

“Rarity...” Twilight tried to say before she was cut off.

“SILENCE!” she snapped before continuing.

“Now that the main event has been rescheduled, let’s have some fun.” She snarled before charging right at the group.

Silent Wind was the first target but, as Rarity neared her, Night Shade tackled her to the ground getting them both out of harm’s way. Behind them Twilight threw up a shield in the hopes that it would hold only, upon Rarity making contact with it, the shield shattered allowing Rarity to keep her momentum going as she smashed into Twilight.

When she did however both she and Twilight were enveloped in a white light which lasted only a few seconds before she was spat back out in the opposite direction with almost double the force from the few seconds before. The result, a Nightmare Rarity shaped hole in the wall leading outside.

The light died down revealing Twilight, now in Eclipse’s form, who was unscathed. She shook her head and sighed before teleporting outside to face Rarity, who was still slightly dazed from her ordeal.

“If things have to be this way Rarity, then you leave me no choice.”

Rarity laughed in response to this and slowly rose with a smirk, “Well then, don’t expect any mercy.” 
Rarity immediately charged right for Twilight who only narrowly managed to jump out of the way and responded by firing two bolts of magic that Rarity deflected with ease.

“You’ll have to do better than that Twilight!”

“Oh, don’t worry; I’ve only just finished warming up.”

“Then let’s see how you fare against this!” Rarity responded before firing a barrage of magic bolts at Twilight, who threw all caution to the wind and charged directly towards Rarity.

Twilight deflected two of the bolts before the third hit her in the chest; she gritted her teeth in pain but kept going regardless. She continued to deflect or dodge the rest of the bolts as she closed the distance between Rarity and herself. Rarity prepared a single bolt containing more power than the rest but before she could discharge it at Twilight, she was tackled to the ground. She looked up to see Twilight pinning her down and preparing a spell. Rarity responded by head butting Twilight which caused her to stumble back, leaving her dazed and open to attack.

Seizing the opportunity Rarity charged up one last bolt of magic and released it at Twilight. The bolt hit her in the chest and she cried out in pain as it knocked her backwards; she hit the ground and rolled over a few times before she came to rest, unconscious.

Rarity laughed before speaking, “I have to say, Twilight. I’m not impressed with your performance. So why don’t we go on a little trip together, hmm?”

She was met with silence

“Well I’ll take that as a yes then.”

“Rarity.” The familiar voice of Spike pleaded, “Please don’t do this.”

Rarity lit up her horn, aimed at Spike and fired a stream of magic at him. Time seemed to slow down as Astral Moon galloped towards him and jumped in front of the beam taking the full impact of it before it could hit Spike. When she hit the ground, she stayed there and a pool of blood began to form around her.

Night Shade and Silent Wind rushed over to her side.

“Night Shade, she needs medical attention.” Silent Wind cried.

Night Shade nodded in response “Put her on my back, I’ll take her.”

Rarity began to laugh once more as her horn lit up and in a bright flash, she and Twilight were gone.







Rarity appeared inside the castle’s main hallway with Twilight’s unconscious form draped over her back. The entrance to the throne room was directly in front of her; she opened it and strode in. Nightmare turned around and smiled when she saw Rarity. 

“Rescuing you didn’t do them any favours did it?” Nightmare remarked. 

“No it didn’t, not to mention Twilight thinking she could beat me.” Rarity replied before dropping Twilight on the floor, which caused her to stir.

Twilight groggily opened her eyes and was met with Nightmare looking down on her.

“Even though she’s dead, Eclipse is still a persistent pest it seems.” Replied Nightmare.

Nightmare lowered herself and cracked a sly grin at Twilight, “Don’t worry, I already know what kind of spell she left you. It looks like you’re in a pretty bad situation, doesn’t it Twilight?” she said before using her magic to summon a black ring that she placed on Twilight’s horn.

Twilight cried out in pain as her magic was cut off and began to whimper as the inhibitor left her helpless.

Nightmare leaned in and whispered into Twilight’s ear, “Soon, you’ll be begging to join us again.”

Nightmare’s horn glowed blue and sparks began to form around it, before she aimed at Twilight and discharged the energy. 

Twilight screamed as the energy coursed through her. Red began to fill her vision before she finally succumbed and fell into the embrace of darkness.

> Chapter 10 - A Fallen Star (Part 2/2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Will she be ok?” Asked Silent Wind

“Your friend should make a full recovery over the next few days, if you ask me, she’s extremely lucky that the spell didn’t kill her.” The doctor replied. 

Night Shade and Silent Wind nervously glanced at each other before the doctor continued.

“Anyways, she’s awake right now if you would like to see her.” He gestured to the door before walking off.

Night Shade rose to his hooves and entered the room, Silent Wind not far behind.

They were greeted with a smile when Astral saw them.

“Hey guys.”

“Hi Astral, how are you feeling?” Asked Night Shade.

“I’ve felt better, but I’ll live. Did you tell them?”

“About your enhanced healing? No.” Silent Wind replied.

Astral Moon was about to open her mouth to reply when the group heard a familiar voice that they hadn’t heard in a long time.

“So, you three are what all the fuss is about?” 

Night Shade and Silent Wind both turned round, wide eyed.

“CELESTIA?!” They both exclaimed in unison, slowly backing away as she entered the room, followed by a solar guard who took position next to the door making sure that they weren’t disturbed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, but I still recognise you all.” She replied

“What are you doing here?” Silent Wind cautiously asked.

“I’m here because of the incident at the Ponyville library and because you three were involved, but not in the way I would’ve suspected. Care to explain why?”

“We’ve left Nightmare Moon’s side, she’s shown to us that she now clearly only cares about power.” Night Shade replied.

“And don’t forget that she’s already corrupted two of the elements.” Silent Wind quickly added.

Celestia’s eyes widened, “Two!? I already know about Rarity but who else has been corrupted?”

“Rainbow Dash.” Night Shade replied.

Celestia sighed, “This just became more complicated, we’re down 3 of the 6 elements, 2 are corrupted and there’s no telling what they’ll do to Twilight.”

“Well what’s the plan of action?” Asked Night Shade.

“We can try to get through to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, free them from the corruption, free Twilight and then use the elements on my sister, again. Or, should that fail, we can try to persuade her to focus our efforts on the common enemy, the Changelings.”

Their expressions turned to that of shock before Night Shade spoke up, “How did you know about the changeling spy?”

“You didn’t think that changeling was the only spy there when you reunited with Nightmare Moon, did you?” She grinned before turning to the guard, “You can drop the act now.”

Their eyes shifted towards the guard who removed his helmet, causing his whole body to glow a blindingly bright white. When the glow had subsided his appearance had changed completely, his coat was dark grey, his mane and tail were red with black streaks running through them and his eyes were the same draconic teal as theirs, he also had a scar that cut across his left eye and ended at his cheek. He looked at them and smiled.

“Miss me?”

Their mouths hung agape and after a few seconds of total silence, Silent Wind spoke up.

“Blood Lance, Is it really you?”

“The one and only.” He grinned.

Silent Wind shot forward and threw her hooves around him, pulling him into a loving embrace.

“Lance, I thought you were dead.” She replied, as tears formed in her eyes.

“That night I thought the same thing Wind.”He replied while returning the gesture.

“How on Equestria did you survive what happened?” Night Shade asked.

Blood Lance, with silent wind still in his embrace, looked at him, “Well...”






1000 Years ago


“There’s too many of them, we have to get out of here!” Shouted Night Shade.

“Agreed.” Replied Blood Lance, currently in a heated battle with another soldier who took advantage of the minor distraction and using his sword delivered a nasty blow across his left eye leaving a deep cut and causing Blood Lance to cry out in pain.

In response to this Astral Moon materialised and tackled the soldier to the ground before unleashing a beam of energy aimed directly for his face. The soldier screamed and tried to cover his face but to no avail, after a few seconds the screaming stopped and his body went limp.

“Thanks Astral.” 

“Don’t mention it, now let’s go!”

It was at that moment that an off target spell hit one of the pillars supporting the room and it started to collapse, straight towards Silent Wind. 

“Wind look out!” Blood Lance Shouted as he galloped towards her a tackled her to safety just in the nick of time.

The pillar smashed into the ground and the whole room began to shudder.

“Shadow Fang the door won’t budge give me a hoof before we’re buried alive.” Shouted Night Shade

“On it.” he replied before they both tried to open it, “The Damn thing’s still stuck.”

“Move you two.” Said Aegis, before charging at the door which resulted in it being forced it open, “Now go!”


“Come on Wind.” Said Blood Lance as he extended a hoof to help her up.

“Lance look out!”

Before Blood Lance could react one of the soldiers thrust his sword into his chest, his eyes widened as he began to feel numb. The soldier laughed as he forcefully pulled out the blade and watched as Blood Lance fell to the floor. Silent Wind grabbed her knife and with all her might, drove it into the soldier’s neck, not even bothering to pull it out and watched his body fall to the ground.

“W-wind.” Blood Lance managed to cough out.

“Lance, you’re going to be ok, we’ll get you out of he—

“No” he interrupted her.

“What?”

“Leave me.”

“No, we’re not leaving you.”

“If you don’t leave me, you’ll die.” He gestured towards his lance, “I want you to have it, something to remember me by.”

“Don’t do this Lance.” She pleaded.

“Silent Wind we have to go now!” Shouted Astral who had made her way over to them.

“No, I’m staying with him.”

“I’m sorry Wind.” She replied before knocking her out, levitating her limp form onto her back and picking up the lance.

“Goodbye Lance.” 

“Goodbye Astral.”

Astral Moon made it to the door and took one last look at Blood Lance before following after the others.

About a minute later the room could take no more punishment and began to collapse. Before he was buried alive Blood Lance smiled and said one last thing.

“Goodbye Silent Wind.”


Sometime later


Darkness... that was what surrounded the unconscious form of Blood Lance. However it was from this darkness that muffled voices could be heard and what ultimately caused him to stir. Blood Lance weakly opened his eyes but was met with the same darkness. Trapped underneath the rubble and debris he could only wait, either to die or to be rescued. Luckily for him, fate had picked the latter.

Above him ponies were searching through the rubble and debris to find survivors from the battle that had taken place a few hours prior. Eventually he began to feel weak again and on the verge of slipping away the rubble that trapped him was dug out and he was found. 

“Your Highness we’ve found somepony, but you might want to take a look at this.”

After hearing this Blood Lance once again fell unconscious.