Thus One Arrived - 1.1.1
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created Harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the Sun at Dawn; the younger brought out the Moon to begin the Night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their Kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of Ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The Ponies relished and played in the Day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful Night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.
She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to Ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the Moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and Moon and Harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.
Twilight sighed as she laid on the bed and was trying to ignore the loud music that was coming from the other side of a rather thick door that did nothing to prevent the sound from leaking into the room. It was as if some kind of a Karmic Punishment was administrated upon the poor Unicorn, she tried to force herself to concentrate on what was important but her frustration simply wasn't letting her regain her balance. Sure, she could've used the [Dome of Silence] to surround herself with a bubble-shaped Barrier to prevent any sound from coming through but it wasn't capable of blocking the vibrations that were created by the loud noises and was traveling through the suspiciously conductive wood. The whole library was actually inside a still living and a rather big tree that surpassed with its bulk most of the building in the small town of Ponyville.
Looking from the window on the left of her bed Twilight sighed as she gazed upon the image of the 'Mare on the Moon'.
My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books! My dear Twilight, there is more to a young Pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's Location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!
'What did I do to deserve this?' Twilight felt a headache slowly adding itself to her long list of things that went wrong today. It all started with her breakfast, pancakes that Spike cooked were simply delicious and she was all too happy to add her orange juice to the mix to get all the energy for the day ahead of her. Nothing was even hinting at her life being so severely and violently disturbed, by this point she was actually starting to regret writing that letter to Princess Celestia and trying to warn her about Nightmare Moon's return. How sending her here, to this town, with all these annoying Ponies that had no clue about the meaning of 'Personal Space' will help her against someone that even Princess Celestia herself was unable to fight? Making friends?! This wasn't even on her list of required countermeasures to the possible homicidal Alicorn coming to forever cast night upon the Equestria! What would friends do against someone capable of literally darkening the World!?
Twilight lit up her horn and levitated a small book that she brought with herself, she didn't even bother using her hands as she just opened it with Magic and went over the things she wrote there in the last several hours of self-imposed isolation. After adjusting herself on the bed and making sure not to get her tail caught between the mattress and the side of the wooden support that was actually part of the wall Twilight began to write down all the possible options that she could see. Writing things down and then going over them was something that calmed down her nerves, a habit that she used to find her center and regain equilibrium when faced with something that broke her usual routine. But to every rule there were exceptions, going over everything that happened to her today only made it harder for her to ignore the ongoing trevestry that was successfully desecrating the sanctum of peace and silence that library was supposed to be. So far things went from bad but salvagable to the point where Twilight was considering the possibility of hightailing out of here and try to test if she had enough Magic to teleport all the way to Canterlot in one go.
Upon her arrival, she was literally strong-armed into becoming part of the gathering of the local family of farmers, the Apples. Being polite and respectful earned her indigestion when everyone there almost forced all of their treats down her throat, she ate enough apples to last her for a whole damn year if not more! It was pure luck that she knew the Spell to cure it after finally managing to get away from them, and even then she still felt bloated and overstuffed from all the food that was now slowly making way through her digestive tract. Twilight made a note to stay as far from those Ponies as possible, the amount of pure and seemingly unnoticed invasiveness that she had to suffer through wasn't something she thought she will be able to survive for the second time. Was it something in the water here? Were their brains' chemistry somehow altered due to them eating too many apples?! Where did this strange and really unwelcomed friendliness come from?! Too many questions and too little time...
Next came her meeting with a literally walking and talking Ego, that was the Pegasus named Rainbow Dash. Not only did the girl literally dragged her through the mud but also then drenched her in ice cold water and tried to dry her by creating a locolized tornado! Sure, dirt was bad but the problem could've been solved by a simple Spell that she learned a long time ago and even managed to modernize herself for the sole sake of cleaning of any and all objects from any pollution. A simple cantrip-esque Spell that saved her so many times when she needed to save some of the older books and scrolls from being damaged by water, food, dirt, dust, or whatever else the disrespectful readers managed to taint them with. Who returned a book to the library with a bubblegum stuck between the pages!? Oh, but the water and the following tornado made it basically pointless as she ended up with a literal bush on her head and something along the lines of an old duster for a tail! But it wasn't the end of it, the multicolored bitch had the actual audacity to laugh at her misery which she personally put Twilight through! Oh, how she wanted to just turn around and leave at that very moment, with her stomach still feeling like an overinflated balloon and her appearance being a mess all she wanted was to lock herself up in her tower and not come out for the next year at least!
But Twilight endured and after tricking the obviously dim girl into actually doing her fucking job she walked off while making a mental note to write an official complaint about her to the local Mayor. Wonderbolts weren't known for taking in anyone without a background check, even after their specialized training camp, you would need to go through a lot of loops to actually join the Main Squad. With words such as 'Assault on an Official Representative.' and 'Incompetence and negligence during work.' in an official complaint, her resume won't be more than glanced at before being disposed into a trash bin. A small happy thought didn't help with the fact that her head looked like a bird's nest and her tail like something that was used to scrap the chimneys clean, trying to fix it with her hands wouldn't have done her any good due to all the knots and twists while trying to do so with [Telekinesis] was just asking for her to tear a good chunk of them out by accident.
Her hopes of being in the presence of someone sane were utterly crushed as soon as she ran into the local 'Fashinostra' that all but violated her with her attempts to use Twilight as a doll for a dress-up. There were limits, boundaries that were there to not be crossed and this hag literally undressed her without anything even remotly sounding like an agreement and then put her into absolutely ridiculous costumes. Flashing anyone who would be bold enough to look into the window her panty-clad ass and bra-covered breasts wasn't one of the things that Twilight found appropriate or tolerable in any way or form! This was sexual harasment, but as much as she wanted to apply some violence as a proper motivator for her tormentor to learn the meaning of personal space she also was limited in her capability to respond to such things due to her status as a Representative of Princess Celestia. Even with all her training in self-control that she went through over the years it was an very close call, after literally teleporting her clothes back onto herself and then teleporting herself out of the place where she was dragged by the obviously deranged girl Twilight finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief. One good thing that came out of meeting the deluded seamstress was that she at least fixed her hair and tail, Twilight made a mental note to learn these small tricks for keeping a proper appearance no matter how much of a waste she condemned them to be.
'Would it has been better to keep Spike with me?' She asked herself as she thought about her Dragon companion and personal assistant. She sent him right to the library as soon as their chariot touched the ground so he would start on the preparations for her own personal research on the subject of Nightmare Moon. 'No, I'm pretty sure that it would've turned out even worse with him being present. Fluttershy's reaction to his presence told me enough about how even the most soft-spoken girl I have ever met is secretly out to get my sanity to crack, I'm definitely making sure not to stand between her and anything related to animals rarer than a Manticore.'
The little sneak managed to actually pull a fast one on her and play innocent when confronted with the fact that the library was full of Ponies that came there because of... reasons! She never managed to figure out why they were there, to begin with, the unholy spawn of a jackhammer on a sugar rush with a rat's nest for a hair all but deafened Twilight with her wails about... parties... and something else that she felt too frustrated to listen. At least her meeting with the person responsible for music went tolerable if anything the obviously meek and shy Pegasus was like a breath of fresh air among the now officially deeply disturbed population of this town. Sure, Twilight didn't learn her name and it was mostly her who was talking, but the whole thing at least with her persona being either assaulted, violated or degraded in one way or another. That was a win for her, right? Right?!
If only the Golden Oak Library would've turned out as calm and peaceful as she expected it to be, but with the pink-haired ball of energy that was almost literally bouncing off the walls, there was no way she would be able to get at least some shut-eye tonight. There also wasn't as much of exploring to do as she imagined it to be, while the library itself was rather sizable it wasn't as much of a problem to check everything out without being noticed. [Teleportation] was such a useful Spell to have under your belt, many Unicorns were rather reluctant to learn it because of the sheer demand it had on Mana in the beginning that even one use would leave any ordinary user drained almost dry before they would reach the level of Skill with it that will let them do repeatedly without running out of Mana. It was one of the traits that Twilight never understood and never had herself, how can someone be reluctant to actually progress and move forward?
The World was vast, Twilight's interest in Magic was part of her true desire that she held deep in her heart and never told anyone. Would others think of her as crazy? She wasn't sure and therefore she kept it to herself, making sure to never say it out loud like a wish that you make when blowing off the candles on your birthday cake. Her thirst was not Magic per se, Twilight Sparkle desired to reach out for the knowledge that laid in everyone's view but nobody touched it for nobody had the desire nor motivation to do so. How can everybody be so blind?! She wondered that many times, learning Magic was one of the things that she made sure to work upon without pause and without any hindrance that would slow her down or render her progress null. One step at a time, she knew that rushing things would result in bad results that would only make it harder for her to progress even further, subpar performance was unacceptable! Twilight wasn't simply studious how many assumed, she wasn't simply determined as many called her, she was relentness in her work and its ethics.
It didn't mean that she was some kind of a hermit, there wasn't any point in moving forward if you were alone while doing so. It felt like an insult when Princess Celestia told her to 'make some friends', it sounded like she didn't have any at all! What about her school-friends?! Moondancer for example? The studios Unicorn that she met in the Academy was someone that Twilight was honestly calling her personal kinder spirit, the debates and discussions they had were ones of the most pleasant time she ever had during her time in the School for Gifted Unicorns and after it. Sure, she made sure to send a very sincere apology that she couldn't come to her Birthday Party this time around along with sending a present ahead of time but it still left her feeling a bit guilty. One of the rare Ponies that could keep up with her, one of the true friends that she made and she had to fail her like that just because she was sent out to make herself out to be the Representative into this crazy town.
Sure, it didn't come without some good things, Lyra Heartstrings was living here and they even managed to catch-up for about ten minutes before she had to move on to keep herself on schedule. Lyra was nice, a bit too fixed on some of the more obscure part of Equestria's Mythology but a pleasant company to hand out with all the same. She even helped Twilight sneak away during this loud act of debauchery that the locals called a party, she really needed to do something nice for her former classmate as a token of gratitude for the save. Twilight's train of thoughts along with her scribing in her notebook stopped as she heard the door to the room she was in opening and closing, the sound of the door itself wasn't heard over the musing and the sounds of Ponies but the sudden temporary spike in the volume was enough of a clue.
"You could've at least tried, you know." Came a soft voice of the newcomer. "Pinkie is overwhelming for someone who is... inexperienced with her antics, but it gets better over time and you'll actually start to enjoy her parties."
Twilight turned to the side and looked at the girl that was leaning against the door: brilliant gamboge eyes, pale, light grayish opal and light gray waist long hair and tail and a very light aquamarine horn on her upper forehead. She was wearing a green turtleneck and blue jeans with gray shoes.
"I felt like I lost a couple of years of my life when she almost caused me a heart attack." Twilight muttered as she once again turned towards the ceiling. "You know how much I hate surprises."
"Yeah, I remember." Lyra chuckled. "That one time you got presented with a Jack-in-a-Box you got spooked so bad that you launched it right into the sky, I think it still didn't come back down."
"It wasn't that bad." Twilight grumbled. "Trixie should've known better to make it actually create a freaking lightshow right into someone's face!"
"Considering that you were her idol?" She saw as her friend crossed her arms over her chest with a small nostalgic smile. "She went all out on it, I'm not even sure that there was anything as cute as her following you around during our younger years."
"And now you make it sound creepy." The girl snorted as she resumed making her notes. "Sure, I helped her with her homework and tutored her on a couple of subjects and we talked a lot, but it wasn't like she was attached to me or something like that."
"... You took a filly with a literal ton of insecurities and turned her into the best Artificer in our year." Lyra shook her head and then added with a sly smile. "Did you know that she had a small shrine dedicated solely to you?"
Twilight choked as her saliva went down the wrong path and started to cough violently, the news making her mind send several signals of critical errors that happened in her thought process. Lyra laughed as she watched the student of Princess Celestia sputtering and hacking her lungs out on her back, Twilight could swear that she could feel all the blood in her body streaming directly to her face.
"What?!" She finally regained her capability to speak and whirled around on the bed to face her friend.
"Yep!" The mint-haired girl smirked. "All those presents that you gave her on her birthdays and other holidays? She stored them all inside of a small cute shrine in her room's closet at the dorm. There was that photo of you and her together when you went to that restaurant to celebrate the end of the first year..."
"Please, stop." Twilight groaned. "That was too much infrontation no matter in what context."
"But you still enjoyed her company, didn't ya?" Lyra asked. "I'm not sure if there was any day when she didn't follow you around like a lost puppy, imagine how she would've turned out without you helping her along the way?"
"I don't want to think about it." She admitted, her current position with a pillow over her head didn't help to even muffle the sound of music coming from the main room. "How is she doing by the way? I didn't hear from her for a week now..."
"I'm honestly not sure, something about her trying her hand at different applications of her Special Talent..." Lyra crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "If my memory serves me right it was something in lines with working with the masses..."
"She isn't trying to sell her Inventions again, is she?" Twilight grumbled. "I'm pretty sure that her idea about an Automatic House-Cleaning System taught her not to do it..."
"Which one?" The mint-haired girl walked up to Twilight and climbed the ladder up onto the second story of the wall where Twilight's bed was and stood there looking at her friend. "That one that was 'sterilalizing' everything with fire or the one that was trying to eat Ponies as it mistook them for garbage?"
"Both." Twilight snorted.
"It's not like you're any better." Lyra grinned at her. "I'm pretty sure that creating that creepy slime that melted through several floors of the School would've gotten you expelled if not for Princess Celestia's intervention. Or that one time where you turned Professor Inkwell into a bucket full of tar, I have no clue as to why she didn't try to actually get you to stay in detention for the rest of the school year." Her grin became wider as she noticed her friend's face reddening from embarrassment face. "Or that one time where you forgot about the time and got locked in the library for the weekends and we had to cover for you before your parents and sneak you some food while trying to figure out a way for you to escape."
"Do you have to remind me about all of these things?" Twilight whined.
"Yes, because when you worked out your little episode on us after the whole thing with the library, I thought my head would pop from all the reading I did to help you resort all the books there!" She smirked. "I'm pretty sure that Minuette was unconscious and simply going through the motions by the end of the whole thing, you sure knew how to break someone without even trying."
Her last remark earned her a hit with a pillow to the face.
'What is this exactly?' Twilight thought as she looked over a round wooden plate that reminded her of a table's top but without the holes for the legs. There were several carvings in one of its sides, she would've thought that it could've been a mobile Magical Circle but none of the drawings were even remotely similar to the Runes she was aware of. After getting embarrassed by Lyra enough to feel like a vein was about to burst in her head Twilight teleported herself into the basement to spend time while doing something useful and calming at the same time. Even if she wasn't going to stay here long enough it didn't mean that she could simply leave this mess behind for other Ponies to stumble into, her inner pedant and her slight case of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder demanded that she would at least clean this place up and organize it in a manner that won't cause anyone to stumble around without any idea what to do.
It was also a good idea to get her mind off the still ongoing party upstairs.
"I think it's a modern art..." Lyra looked over Twilight's shoulder with a frown. "Or maybe it is just a weird tray that nobody wanted and left here."
"Possibly." She put the strange thing into one of the stacks of unknown items. "Are you sure you aren't going to miss on things upstairs?"
"Do I really look like a girl who will abandon their friend simply because of a party?" She asked as she levitated books into neat stacks with her Magic. "Pinke Pie keeps making those often enough that I won't miss on anything if I will skip one, I'm pretty sure that keeping you from suffering one of your episodes is far more important than me having fun."
"It's not that bad." She huffed. "I'm getting better at handling them."
Twilight looked around the rather vast basement, it was a nice touch for the building to have it so spacious and probably very useful for some of the work that she may or may not have been thinking of while working here. The problem was with an unholy collection of dusty junk that for some reason accumulated here for what seemed to be over the years of storage, there were tennis balls and broken garden tools lying near rotten furniture and dirty clothes. There was no rhyme nor reason for anything here and it hit several of her buttons just how disoraganized this whole place looked like, most of the things here were going to the dumpster simply because they were unsalvageable by most means. Sure, she could repair some of them with Magic but who would need a pair of antique looking skies that obviously had they glory years long behind them?
"Twili, I'm going to be totally honest with you." Lyra said in a deadpan tone. "You're the smartest Pony I have ever known, you're a genious that neither I nor others would be able to keep up with, Moony being the sole exception. I saw you working on stuff that would make Professors blow their casket, but at the same time it took us years to pull you out of the social isolation that you was so adamant on keeping yourself in!"
"I wasn't that bad." Twilight weakly protested but was met with an unamused stare. "What?"
"Getting you to socialize with others was like pulling teeth." Lyra admitted. "And you know why we didn't simply give up on you and move on?" Lyra walked up to her and looked her right into the eyes. "Because that's what friends do. Can you honestly tell me that you would've been better off without us finally pulling you into the light?"
"No." Twilight sighed.
And it was the truth, no matter how much she denied it in the beginning but actually socializing and making friends did help her become a better person in the end. She and Moondancer always had things to talk about, with them working in tandem it was as if there was no problem tough enough for them not to crack open and see the solution right in their reach. How many things would she'd missed upon without her friend? They discovered so many new and interesting topics to work on together, sometimes it only took another outlook on something to find some of the best and most fitting solutions. Would she be at the same level as she was now without constant challenge that Moondancer provided her with? Their constant bouts of book-diving, the literally unreachable goals they put before themselves and then tried to tackle them just to test their own capabilities, their experiments that then earned them applause from the audience...
"Oi, Twilight!" Came Spike's voice from the door. "It's almost time for the Celebration to start, come on!"
"... How does Spike always know where you are?" Lyra blinked as the door closed behind the small Dragon.
"Honestly? I have no clue." She sighed once again. "He just knows me all too well, I guess."
"It does make a moderate amount of sense." Her friend shrugged. "And you really need to pull yourself together, it's not my job to give you pep talks like this each time you manage to start regressing back into your shell." She then smirked as she walked up the stairs and towards the door. "That what we had Minuette around for!"
Twilight couldn't help but snort, it was a rather poor joke in her opinion but she couldn't even say that it was untrue with how her the always energetic Unicorn always managed to pull everyone back together. On the other hand, the remainder of the hyperactive Unicorn made her shudder from the idea of her and this Pinkie Pie ever meeting, she would probably have to dig into her old plans about reaching the moon just to be on the safe note.
As she was about to follow Lyra she noticed something from the corner of her eye, it was a small glow coming from behind one of the big boxes that contained old clothes that she really didn't want to think too much about. Taking several steps closer she saw a tiny crack in the floor that was releasing a rather intense pale-green light, it was rather obvious that the ground simply cracked from the lack of proper maintaining of the Enchantments that held it together and didn't let the tree grow out of proper shape. A small failure that could be easily corrected in five minutes, but the strange illumination was something that Twilight couldn't detect any actual source of in the Matrix of the currently applied Magic.
"What are you?" She muttered absently as she looked closer.
The crack itself wasn't easily noticeable due to the basement being rather cluttered with junk and piles of boxes filled with even more junk, it was pure luck that she even managed to notice it in the first place. Her mind welcomed a sudden and rather convenient distraction from her current set of worries as she mentally calculated that she had at least ten more minutes before she would need to be present and any problem with the path would be solved by a simple [Teleportation] Spell.
"Twilight, are you coming?" Came Lyra's voice.
Well, her friend calling her out was an option too. Twilight started walking towards the stairs while making sure to note the location of the crack and remember to investigate it later, a source of light that wasn't based around Magic was a rare occasion and she really didn't think that there was a lightbulb under the basement's floor. According to history books, this library was built before the electricity was properly laid into the town's structure, the tree itself was here even before the town was even put into consideration... She was rambling to herself once again, at least it wasn't much of problem as she stopped doing it out loud years ago and therefore nobody would notice her slipping into her own thoughts for a minute or two.
... When did she and Lyra got outside?
There were things that Twilight honestly couldn't stand and that was when someone ignored the facts for the sake of keeping the illusion of everything being alright, ignoring the problem never helped in solving it in any way or form. Nightmare Moon was descending back to Equestria after a literal thousand years of banishment to bring 'Eternal Night' and nobody was preparing for it! She warned Princess Celestia about it, making sure to even point out the book where the Prophecy could be found as a reference point to make her point more valid but was rebuffed simply because it was an 'old tale' that shouldn't be paid any attention to.
The 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!
She wanted to trust her mentor, don't get her wrong, but her mind refused to ignore the facts that were boldly looking her in the face and telling her that it wasn't something that can be ignored. All signs her being thrown into her face, stating the obvious that there was a giant threat looming over her home country and she had literally nothing to show when it came to defense. Were troops prepared? Twilight was a realist and knew that it will be a rather short and futile battle against a millennia-old Alicorn but they could at least evacuate civilians and provide cover for when Nightmare Moon will come! Was it such a big task to ask for?! Princess Celestia was old, she knew better than probably anyone else and it wasn't as if Twilight had any grounds to speak upon when it came to such things as Legends of the bygone Era but was all these signs just a huge coincidence?
What if the Prophesy was nothing but a lie?
The whole idea of so many things happening all at the same time without there being a reason for it? Twilight Sparkle did not believe in blatant disregard of facts for the sake of pretending that nothing wrong was happening, but she also trusted her mentor and therefore her headache was created by the conflict of two opposite opinions. Facts were telling her one thing while Princess Celestia was telling her another, this was driving her up the wall and therefore she was a lot more stressed than she would've normally been at the moment. Standing in the City Hall and awaiting the arrival of her mentor didn't ease her nerves even a little, it was as if she was holding onto the collection of straws which had their numbers constantly thinned. She barely even registered what that pink-haired Pony was saying while standing near her, it wasn't important and she was mostly checking the clearly seen moon in the window of the first floor.
The silhouette was still there, still present as the clocks were ticking.
She caught the sight of Lyra standing not far away, the girl was also fidgeting while glancing around nervously as she tried not so subtly keep an eye on her friend... Bon Bon? Yeah, that was the name of the Earth Pony she shared her house-rent with, Twilight was introduced to her not long ago on their way here and she really had to admit that the moderate cobalt blue with very light fuchsia stripes haired girl had a strong handshake. Twilight told Lyra about the Nightmare Moon, it was obvious that her friend believed her and right now was keeping an eye on her roomy to pull her out of here at the first sign of trouble. There were things that could not simply be said out loud without raising panic among the population of the town, simply shouting about the return of the Mare of the Moon would either cause a global hysteria or will be dismissed as an outright lie due to denial.
'Tact is what I need here, something reasonable to guide the population to safety before the whole thing will blow over.' Twilight felt a cold pit forming in her stomach. 'Correction, if it will blow over.'
How she wanted to be back in Canterlot right now, somewhere where she could simply bury herself in her books and forget about the whole mess as if she never read that damned book altogether. Go to Moondancer's party and have fun, talk about their latest projects and trade notes on subjects, maybe even work on something together? Twilight didn't like to stay still, it wasn't that she was energetic but it was more about her strongly disliking wasting time when she could do something productive. Therefore she developed a habit of constantly working on some small projects that weren't overly complex but required an effort to solve and finish, like her development of a flying chariot that worked on Magical Gems, the main problem was to properly apply the Gravity Spell so the whole thing won't flip over from the smallest breeze. Sure, she tested it and it still needed some kinks to get worked out of it, but it worked and was capable of going at least fifteen kilometers per hour until she would figure out a more efficient propulsion method than simply tugging on it with her [Telekinesis].
"Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited!" Pinkie Pie was babbling near Twilight, it was as if this Earth Pony never needed air. "Well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went *Gasp* but I mean really, who can top that?"
'I can think of many things more exciting to do than this, and none of them here.' Twilight thought bitterly as she watched the stage where Mayor Mare was starting her announcement, the musing from the birds that were orchestrated by Fluttershy finished their performance. At least the music was pleasant, Natural Music that was performed by the songbirds was one of the rare things that she enjoyed herself and it helped her fall asleep after a long day of work and research into whatever she chose at that time. 'Maybe I should ask her if she will be interested in making a recording for me?'
Twilight shook away the stray thought and concentrated on the present, there was no point in actually making plans for the future is there won't be a future to look forward to. This was one of the moments where you actually had to just wait and see, nothing could be done because nothing can that will happen if affected by your actions and you have no way to influence that outcome. The metaphorical coin was spinning on its side, giving the impression of two equally plausible paths unfolding from this point forward and she hated that she had no actual way of even remotely affecting the outcome.
"Lady and gentlemen, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Mayor Mare exclamation was met with thunderous applause of the crowd, the atmosphere was intoxicating and almost everyone was cheering right now due to the such a monumental event. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"
It was as if the time slowed down for Twilight and her blood turned to ice, her heart was beating like crazy as she watched four stars closing on the moon and then disappearing right behind it. With an unnatural slowness she watched the mark of the Mare of the Moon disappearing from the moon in a wave of white light, there wasn't anything she could do but feel numb as the coin in her mind eye slowed down and toppled over with the mark of the moon shown on its face. Cold sweat was running down her back as she looked around, nobody noticed the phenomenon bar one person, Lyra was looking at her with wide eyes and rapidly paling face.
"Go." Twilight mouthed her.
Spike that was standing near her was cheering with the crowd, Twilight saw as the small Dragon pumped his closed fist into the air in excitement from the event. Lyra was already pulling a confused and slightly protesting Bon Bon out of the Town's Hall, she will explain everything later but even with what was happening right now it was a small blessing that Twilight had two fewer Ponies to worry about.
'I hope it works.' She was literally betting everything on one thing that she could do right now, there was no way to make the population listen so she will need to find a way to protect them without their understanding and she had only one way to do so. Plans were something Twilight was good with, it was always rather fun to come up with many variations of the scenarios how to accomplish different tasks. Right now she had to work on the fly, half-cooked parody of a proper plan that solely relied on her capability to bluff her way through the meeting with a Dark Alicorn and live for more than two minutes.
"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the Ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." Mayor Mare continued her speech, unaware of the shit in the atmosphere and the incoming danger.
"Ready?" She absently heard Fluttershy ask her birds but paid it no attention as the feeling of dread only grew.
"...Princess Celestia!" Mayor called out and the curtains over the entrance to the balcony parted...
... only to show an empty spot. Twilight's heart fell, there was nothing that indicated even the smallest degree of Princess' involvement, she even strained her senses to feel the Mana in the air but the familiar warmth of her mentor's presence was absent. Her mind was working in overdrive as she was trying to puzzle things together, there was no way that Princess Celestia would've given up without a fight and the clash of two Alicorns would've been noticed by anyone within several kilometers radius. She could move Celestial Bodies with her Magic and Twilight was pretty sure that it didn't even strain her in the slightest, there was no way that anyone could simply defeat her that fast and without even the smallest sign of struggle being felt! She was the strongest Pony alive and there wasn't even a question of her capability to utterly defeat whoever would try to assault her openly, and getting a drop on her also wasn't an option as she was the one who taught Twilight how to sense Magic. This whole situation didn't make any sense!
"Huh?" The purple-haired Unicorn that Twilight absently remembered was Rarity exclaimed. She really couldn't care less right now, but it was her who was on the second level of the room and near the balcony and therefore was the first one to take a peek behind the curtains. "She's gone!"
"Remain calm, everyone, there must be a reasonable explanation!" Mayor called out with a faltering voice, her own worry rather obvious to the crowd that was currently in a state of worry.
'It's not every day that a Princess goes missing...' Twilight thought as she started looking around, absently counting heads and making note if anyone was trying to leave the building. It wasn't much of problem for her to multitask, a skill like that was essential to any Unicorn that specialized in Magic itself rather than its narrow application like many did these days. She will have to stretch her reserves rather thin here, it will be a miracle that she would be able to actually stand after it but it was far better than the alternative. Twilight started to mentally prepare to cast the Spell, trying to build-up the charge without anyone noticing was hard and even harder when you were trying to hide it from an Alicorn that was probably already on her way here. There was a small hope that Nightmare Moon would limit herself to Canterlot but with the Summer Sun Celebration being organized in Ponyville this year it was almost inevitable that she will come here sooner rather than later.
"Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down and trying to look in every direction at the same time. "Ooh, she's good!"
Twilight momentarily stopped her counting and looked directly at the Pony that was bouncing on the spot near her with a blank expression. There were things that Ponies did to coup with fear, some even blatantly denied its existence to calm themselves for the sake of keeping their peace of mind. Blatantly disregarding it and acting all jolly? That wasn't normal in any way or form... Was there something in the water here?
She didn't have the time to think more about it as suddenly the whole place became flooded with Mana, the saturation was so high that Twilight could almost taste it as the source of it moved and became more prominent on the balcony. Normally passively released Mana had no effect on the surrounding area as it just joined the background fond that was always present from everyone releasing the excessive amounts when they weren't using it and were at full charges. But here? Twilight could see the air itself warping and twisting from the heavy, dense and incredably potent Mana basically pouring from the owner of the Magic that just arrived and was taking her time fully materializing. The coldness of it was making it hard to breathe, it was like Twilight was suddenly underwater and her body was frozen from the sheer presence that made itself know with the sound of hiss as the ethereal column of swirling Mana of a bluish color and filled with sparkling dots suddenly erupted in the center of the balcony.
Most of the Ponies beside trained Unicorns couldn't feel Mana, but the sheer amount of it and the heavy pressure that suddenly flooded the hall managed to register for them on their subconscious level and froze them on their spots in pure instinctual terror. She saw Spike trembling near her, Dragons having far sharper instincts than Ponies and right now he was probably feeling the incredible desire to flee but couldn't as the fear from the presence of a superior predator frozen him on the spot. Twilight noticed that Lyra was already gone along with Bon Bon, at least they will be safe for a time being and right now she had to deal with the rest of the present Ponies that weren't capable of rational thinking at the moment.
"Oh, no..." She muttered as the sound of heavy footsteps suddenly pierced the murmurs of the crowd. "Nightmare Moon."
The clicking of heavy metal armor that Twilight was familiar with due to her times visiting her brother in the Royal Guards' barracks, the presence that flooded all of her senses, the pair terrifying glowing moderate cyan slitted eyes that could be seen as the Magical tornado started to dissipate... The outline of a tall figure in royal armor with two huge wings spread wide and ethereal hair and tail that was waving on the inexistent wind, for a moment Twilight forgot how to breathe as pure raw primal fear tore its way through her mind and rendered her whole body paralyzed.
It finally became too much for Spike and he fainted, she really couldn't blame him as she was barely holding herself together and even with all of her willpower she was on a brink of simply breaking down. Everyone around them was frozen, it was like time has stopped and only the Dark Alicorn was allowed to move as she moved forward and now was fully revealed to the present public. Dark tough full-body skintight protective undergarment and midnight-blue armor with a crescent moon symbol, a helmet that covered almost all of her head except for her face and her long very dark cornflower blue sharp horn. Her lips twisted in a smile that revealed a set of unnaturally sharp teeth, there was no warmth in it and only predatory desire that only added to the feeling of a dark and corrupted Power saturating warping the air around her.
"Oh, my beloved subjects." Her voice was deep and sultry and even with her speaking without raising it she was still clearly heard all over the hall. The notes of mocking that practically oozed out of the two last words made Twilight feel almost as if something cold wrapped around her heart and squeezed making it miss several beats in a row. "It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces."
It was as if a physical force suddenly spread around from the Alicorn like a shockwave in every direction, passing through everyone present. Twilight felt her legs trembling as she almost lost the grip on her own Magic, raw emotion of Hatred channeled through Magic and simply launched out in a spherical blast that robbed almost everyone around her of any will to fight. It was pure luck that her build-up of Mana shielded her somewhat and let her resist the discharge, and even with how much she already prepared it was such a close call that she felt some of it slipping into her very being. The fact that Nightmare Moon didn't even look bothered by the casual display of raw Power was no less terrifying.
"What did you do with our Princess?!" Suddenly a voice rang out.
Twilight, shocked by the sudden outburst, managed to turn her head slightly to see who it was and saw that Rainbow Dash that obviously was making a wrong decision on her 'Fight or Flight' response. She was wearing a blue top and blue shorts with white outlines and was beating her wings while another Pony that holding her back by her tail, an Earth Pony named Apple...something. Considering how many of those she met today it was understandable that she couldn't listen to everything that they have said back then, she was much more concerned with keeping her arm from being torn off by the overly friendly farmer's rough handshake. A perfect recall was only good if you actually cared to listen to whatever was said to her, if she didn't hear something then she couldn't remember it and most of the time she didn't bother so not to fill her mind with really unneeded junk.
"Whoa there, Nelly..." The blond and green-eyed farmer said as she held the tail tightly in a wide stance so not to be pulled along for a fly.
'How are they able to overcome the fear?' She couldn't be sure if it was pure stupidity or stubbornness, but the fact that they could actually move right now made it a small blessing that could be compared to a genuine miracle by this point. The loud outburst that managed to snap most of the Ponies present from their stupor, having something else to concentrate upon other than the source of fear helped them regain their bearing just enough to be able to move and talk. It didn't help with the problem of all of them were still scared and on a brink of panic, but right now anything good happening was better than nothing in Twilight's mind.
"Why, am I not Royal enough for you?" She once again looked at the Dark Alicorn who looked more amused than anything else by the defiant Pegasus' actions, a smirk that she now wore told Twilight enough of how things were going to work out if the rainbow-haired Pony will actually make the charge. "Don't you know who I am?"
"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games!" Came the voice of Pinkie Pie. "Um, Hokey Smokes!"
'What is wrong with this Pony?!' Twilight's head snapped in the direction of the bouncing idiot so fast that she was sure that she felt something crack in her neck but she didn't care as she watched with increasing horror as the Earth Pony was trying to get herself killed. There were things that you simply didn't do when you had a metaphorical sword pressed against your throat and one of them being a blatant mocking of the one who held it! Where the fuck was this Pony's sense of self-preservation?! She was literally taunting someone who could crush her like an bug without as much as flicking her finger on the moment's notice, even an Earth Pony should be able to tell that the darkening aura around the Alicorn indicated that she was far from enjoying being called derogatory nicknames like that!
"Shut up!" Twilight hissed through her teeth at the girl but was ignored.
"How about... Queen Meanie!" The smirk on Nightmare Moon's face was still there but the spark of amusement in her eyes was gone as Pinkie continued to dig her own grave with suicidal vigor. "No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty... Nrghm!"
Twilight managed to clamp her left hand over the girl's mouth as she shoved a whole damn apple from the nearby table into it, there was no way she was going to let her continue trying to provoke someone who had no problem of turning them all into bloody stains on the carpet! Nightmare's gaze shifted upon Twilight, but she only paid her a minor note of attention and then once again looked over everyone present in the hall, it was only now that they were letting the situation they were in finally sinking in.
"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" The Dark Alicorn asked with a bit of a bite in her voice, it was as if she was winding up for something and Twilight could tell it wasn't anything good for the general public. "Did you not recall the Legend?"
Another wave of raw Power rolled over the audience, there was no actual Spell done so the effect was lessened greatly but it didn't mean that the tidal wave of Mana did nothing. Twilight could tell that there was something layered inside of it, a hidden subtle threat that was meant to serve as a warning for everyone present that they should better answer the question or thing will deteriorate rather quickly. It wasn't that she couldn't say anything, there were things that were just on the tip of her tongue that she oh so wanted to say right now and better even scream in the face of the terrifying figure looming over the present company. Twilight Sparkle wanted to say that she was right, that she was the only one who figured out the easiest damn riddle in history that everyone wrote off as a simple myth, that she tried to warn Princess Celestia about it but was ignored... That it all her fault... What if she had warned Shining? Her brother was a Captain of the Royal Guard and she had his trust without question for as long as she could remember, with his help an evacuation could've been properly organized and so many innocent civilians wouldn't have been put in danger.
'Cadance...' Her babysitter who also was an Alicorn and Princess of Equestria who could've been persuaded to see the truth and held enough sway with her word to simply order everyone to leave the endangered zones! It was truly a sad fact that your mind and body worked far better under the proverbial blade of a guillotine hanging over your neck, so many opportunities lost because she never considered any other way to getting the warning across than writing to Princess Celestia.
"No..." She muttered as she watched Nightmare observing the crowd with narrowed eyes, her amusement fully gone.
"Did you not see the Signs?" Her frown deepened as the saturation of Mana in the air suddenly spiked.
"I did!" Twilight didn't even register that it was her voice that said it, that it was she who just gained the attention of the most dangerous individual in the whole Equestria. Cold sweat was running down her face, she wasn't sure if she would've been standing if the pure terror that she was feeling didn't lock her legs in the position they were in, all she could do to not barf her insides out and succumb to the darkness that started creeping at the edges of her vision the moment these slitted eyes pinned her down with a stare was keep talking. "And I know who you are."
"Oh?" Nightmare Moon raised a delicate eyebrow, obviously seeing the condition Twilight was. "So someone do know us? It appears that the Olden Time wasn't completely forgotten by the Ponies of this Era, no matter how much things changed over the millennia." Her eyes glowed with Power as the predatory smile returned onto her face. "Speak."
"You're the Mare in the Moon..." Twilight wasn't sure if it was she who was speaking right now or her body acting out of the sheer self-preservation doing all the work for her. The numbing terror mixed with adrenaline wasn't helping the matter at hand, she couldn't move nor could she stop as it would only make things worse. "... Nightmare Moon!"
There was a silence that was hanging in the air right after her exclamation, she was pretty sure that nobody even breathing right now. Nightmare Moon was just staring at her with the same expression of dark amusement, her eyes were glowing and the feeling of impending doom still hang in the air like tar that made breathing. Suddenly the pressure of malice vanished as if it wasn't there in the first place, the saturation of Mana was still high but it wasn't as oppressive as it was just a moment ago and it let Twilight finally fill her lungs with fresh air that she didn't know she needed till now. A small chuckle escaped Nightmare's mouth as her smile grew into a wide grin and morphed into a booming laugh that shook the air itself, there was something not quite right with the sound as it sent shivers down the Unicorn's spine. There wasn't any joy in it, only satisfaction that was heavily mixed with twisted hysteria that made it worse than if she would've threatened them directly in Twilight's mind.
Suddenly Nightmare became silent once more and stared at her with open curiosity, her next words came with a sickly sweet purr.
"Then you also know why I'm here." It wasn't a question.
Twilight felt as if her throat was refusing to cooperate, it was constructed and prevented any sound coming out of her mouth which felt suddenly dry. Her whole body felt numb and cold, all the attention was concentrated on her as she felt all the eyes of everyone in the Hall on her. Twilight really didn't like this feeling, but at least it was far better than them all panicking and doing something stupid that would get them either hurt or worse.
"You're here to..." Words were coming out hard, she had to literally force her vocal cords into cooperation so as not to stay silent and probably provoke the Dark Alicorn into action. If Nightmare Moon was more interested in talking right now then it was alright with Twilight, the less time she spent actually doing anything to harm the more time she spent gloating about it the fewer Ponies would be put at risk. If only her own body would just start cooperating! "... to..."
Nightmare Moon released a chuckle once again, obviously finished with being amused by Twilight's stammering and once again deciding to take the lead in this conversation. She spread her arms and wings, the earlier disappeared Power suddenly crashed down upon the hall with a newfound intensity that made the balcony crack from the sheer output. A shroud of raw brilliant cyan with light violet sparks Mana wrapped around the Alicorn in a chaotic transparent cocoon, her eyes were shining with glee as her hold blazed with an Aura of titanic might like a blowtorch. Twilight felt as her bones creaked from the sheer pressure that was now threatened to crush her very Soul from just her proximity to the source, her mind absently noticed that the seemingly casual display was one several orders of magnitude eclipsing everything she even imagined being possible till now.
"Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last." Her voice boomed around the whole building, making the whole structure heave under the strain as the Mana surrounding the Alicorn surged once more and created a column that crashed into the ceiling and tore right through it. There weren't enough words to describe the sheer magnitude of what was happening around, the shockwave of the sudden release of Power made the windows in the building expload and the ground under everyone's feet shake. The cracks spread from the balcony and right over the walls of the City Hall that seemed to struggle under the onslaught of Magical Eruption that was tearing the building apart without any mercy. "From this moment forth, the Night will last forever!"
Nightmare Moon's cackling laugh rang through the whole Ponyville, the skies that could be seen through the torn hole in the roof were covered in dark clouds that were spiraling around the column of Mana released by the Alicorn. Thunder cracked as waves of lightning rolled over the black masses that bloated the whole welkin, with a deafening roar the brilliant azure lance of pure electricity shot down and impacted the ground somewhere nearby. Twilight watched with her whole body trembling as the World as she knew was crumbling around her and the current Era was coming to an abrupt and rather terrifying end...
