//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: In Another World 
// by Sun Aura 
//------------------------------//

	“Does my crown no longer count, now that I’ve been imprisoned for a thousand years?” the mare with a starfield mane demanded. “Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”
“I did!” Twilight shouted at her, despite Spike telling her not to. “And I know who you are! You’re the Mare in the Moon: Nightmare Moon!”
The ponies around them gasped and whispered. Nightmare Moon chuckled, floating herself down to look Twilight in the face. 
“Well well well,” Nightmare laughed. “Somepony who remembers me. Let me guess, Celestia’s student, sent to defeat me? Well, you’ll never get your chance!”
“What are you-“ Twilight began. 
Before she could say anything else, she began floating in the air. Spike felt himself picked up in Twilight’s magic, and flung down from her back. He watched as Nightmare held her in her magical mane. She struggled to escape. 
“Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last!” Nightmare announced. “From this moment forth, the Night shall last forever!”
She threw back her head and cackled into the crowed. A flash of lightning and the roar of thunder, and she disappeared taking Twilight with her. Spike might’ve screamed, he probably swore, but he didn’t know. 
Next thing he knew he was running. He didn’t think about it, he didn’t have time to think. He remembered the book Twilight was reading. That held the information to beat Nightmare Moon, to save her, but he hadn’t read it. 
He wished he had. If he did, he would know where to go. He could just go there. Instead he headed to the next best spot: the library. 
He crashed through the door, not bothering to close it. For once he was glad he’d lived with Twilight teaching him Library organization, because he found the book right where it was in every other library, under ‘E’. 
“Spike, wait up!” he heard a voice say. 
He looked up to see a filly. He’d met her before, at the farm. Yellow coat, red mane, pink bow.
“Hey, you’re Apple-something, right?” he asked. 
“Applebloom,” she said. “Are you alright? I saw her take your-uh, friend?”
“Sister,” he corrected. “Twilight’s my sister. Stars, I have to save her.”
“I get it,” she said. “I’d do the same if she’d taken my sister. But you can’t just run off to who knows where without a plan!”
“That’s why I got this!” he said, holding up the book. “Twilight said the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop Nightmare Moon!”
“And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” a new voice demanded. 
The two of them looked to the still open door. Two more fillies had walked in. The first was a Pegasus, with an orange coat and a purple mane. The second a white unicorn, her mane pink and lavender. 
“What do you know about Nightmare Moon?” the Pegasus who had spoken before demanded. 
“Scoots, calm down,” the Unicorn sighed. “Hi, I’m Sweetie Belle. And this is Scootaloo. We saw what happened at Town Hall, so-“
“So we wanted to help!” Scootaloo interrupted. 
“Thanks, but I’m not going to let you girls get dragged into this,” Spike said. “I’m going by myself!” 
“Like hell you are!” the three of them chorused. 
“Well, of course not!” still another new voice said. 
Spike sighed, wishing someone would close the door. If only so more fillies wouldn’t keep walking in to a dangerous situation.
This one was another Earth Pony, pink with a purple and white mane. She was also the only one to have a Cutie Mark, a tiara that matched the one on her head. 
“What’re you doing here Diamond Tiara,” Applebloom groaned. “And where’s your lackey.”
“Not that it matters,” Diamond began, “but Silver’s home with a cold. As for me, it was obvious what you were doing, running off like that. You’re going to go off and be heroes and defeat Nightmare Moon. And I want in!”
“Come, don’t come, I don’t care!” Spike shouted. “I need to save Twilight now, so let me read the book damn it!”
“Excuse me,” still another voice said. “Can somepony please tell me what’s going on?”
Spike growled and glared at the door, but there was no one anywhere near. He looked around for the source of the voice. 
“Up here!” the voice said, although this time he noticed the accent.
All five looked up to see a short colt on top of a bookshelf. His mane was brown, and his coat was strange. It was white with brown spots. 
“What’re you doing up there?” Applebloom asked. 
“Some older kids at the party put me up here as a prank,” he said. “What happened at Town Hall? And did you say Nightmare Moon? Like Nightmare Night’s Nightmare Moon?”
“There’s pillows upstairs, get one for him to jump on,” Spike said, finally opening the book. “Fill him in while you’re at it! I’m reading this!”
He flipped through the pages, skimming for something interesting. He finally found a good page. 
“Here we go!” he exclaimed. “’There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five Elements was in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest!”
“The Everfree Forest!?” all five ponies shouted at once. 
“I guess we’re close then,” he said. 
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “It’s the enormous forest on the edge of town.”
“Great!” he said. 
With that, he ran out the door. He headed toward the forest, not minding the voices shouting for him to stop. Thankfully, everyone else had already hidden in their homes or were preparing for a fight. Well, maybe that last part wasn’t ‘thankful’. 
He stopped just before the treeline. Honestly, the place looked pretty terrifying. Unfortunately, it gave the rest of them a chance to catch up. 
“You ain’t going in there alone!” Applebloom said.
“Yeah, well I don’t want you to get into any more danger!” he replied. 
“Too bad!” Scootaloo shouted back. 
“Yeah, you’re stuck with us!” Sweetie Belle agreed. 
“I’m going anyway,” Diamond said. “But if you want to be my sidekicks, that’s fine!”
“Hey, I’m not a ‘sidekick’,” Pipsqueak frowned. “I’m still helping though, unless you can put me back on the bookshelf.”
With that, all five ponies walked into the forest.
“Twilight was right,” Spike sighed. “All the ponies in this town are crazy.”
Still, he was crazy enough to follow them in. He hurried up and fell into line beside them.
“So, what’s with this forest?” he asked, as the night got darker.
“I’m not sure,” Pip replied. “I’ve only been here a few months. 
“It’s totally haunted!” Scootaloo said. 
“Is not,” Sweetie Belle sighed. 
The two of them lapsed into the usual ‘is not’ ‘is too’ argument. 
“Well whatever it is, it ain’t natural!” Applebloom said. “It don’t work like Equestria. 
“What do you mean?” he asked. 
“The Pegasai can’t control the weather,” Scootaloo answered. “It just doesn’t listen to them. Even Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pony to ever awesome, can’t do it.”
“And the trees,” Applebloom nodded. “We’ve tried to work with the forest, make it a bit easier to get through, or even get some of the trees around the edge to have edible fruits and such. But it’s like they have a mind of their own.”
“And the animals!” Sweetie Belle added. “They don’t listen to anyone either. Except maybe Fluttershy. But there’s magic animals like Ursa Majors and Timberwolves.” 
“Some ponies say it’s the magic going haywire,” Diamond smirked. “But of course, no pony knows for sure. 
“Really?” Spike asked. “Why not?”
“Simple,” she answered. “No one who goes in, ever comes out!”
There was a pause, letting what she said and how she said it sink in. It took less than a second for her to burst out laughing. 
“You  should see your-!”
Without warning, the ground gave out beneath them. There was screaming and swearing as they fell down a new cliff. 
“Grab something!” Spike shouted. 
“Easy for you to say!” Diamond shouted back. 
Spike ignored her and dug his claws into the cliff. The momentum hurt, but he ground to a halt. He managed to grab Pipsqueak as he fell past, but he only had one claw. He saw Scootaloo grab Sweetie Belle and flare her wings out. She obviously wasn’t much of a flier, and she definitely couldn’t fly while carrying a pony that weighted as much as she did, but she had enough wingpower while gliding to slow their descent from ‘imminent death’ to ‘This’ll hurt but we’ll live’. 
Applebloom snagged a tree branch hanging out of the side of the cliff. She managed to grab Diamond by the tail, which caused her to swear. Her tiara had gone flying off somewhere. 
“Just let me fall!” Diamond screamed. 
“Have you lost it!?” Applebloom shouted. “You could die if you fell from here! There’s nothing else to catch you!”
“Hang on!” Spike shouted. “I’ll get Pip to the ground and then climb back up and get you two!”
“Don’t leave me hanging,” Diamond said, as if she hadn’t heard them. “Just do it! Drop me!”
“I ain’t gonna drop you!” Applebloom shouted. 
“You want to, don’t you?” she asked. “You hate me!”
“Diamond, I don’t hate you,” she said, much softer this time. 
“Of course you do!” she cried. “Why wouldn’t you? I’m terrible to you. And it’d be easier for you to get ahead if you did. Honestly it’s the best power play. You tried to save me, but you couldn’t. You look like the attempted hero, and I get the tragic sympathy.”
“If we were switched, would you drop me?” she asked.
“No,” she said. “But I don’t hate you. I’m supposed to but I can’t. And I’ve done a pretty good job of making you hate me.”
“Hey!” Scootaloo shouted up. “Do you think you two could have your existential crisis on the ground?!”
“Why are you supposed to hate me?” Applebloom asked, ignoring her. 
“Everything,” Diamond answered. “You’re a farmer, poor, a blankflank! You run around and get dirty all day! You have that accent! You’re not perfect! And I know I’m not perfect either, but I try so hard so why are you so damn happy about it!? I hate that too!”
“Well that’s a dumb reason to hate somepony!” she shouted. “I don’t know what got the idea of that into you, but I’m not going to stand for it! I don’t hate you. You might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but I’m not going to drop you. I’m going to stay right here with you until Spike can get you down, and then when we get out of here, I’m going to stay with you and try to be your damn friend because you need someone to tell you exactly how fucked up it is that you said that! And don’t even think of trying to get out of this because we  Apples are stubborn! I ain’t giving up on you!”
“Hey!” Spike called. “Give me your hoof!”
Diamond blinked, seeing the claw in front of her. Hesitantly, she held out her hoof. 
“Applebloom, you can let go, I’ve got her,” Spike said. 
Diamond flipped as Applebloom let go of her tail. She felt dizzy, but she was glad she wasn’t falling.
“Hang on to me,” Spike said. “I need both claws to climb.”
She closed her eyes as they climbed down. Diamond collapsed into a heap at the bottom, but she seemed less upset and more happy to be on the ground again. Earth Ponies never were good at being in the air. Applebloom climbed over the branch to the cliff wall and made her way down. 
“If you guys want to go back, you can,” Spike suggested. “That was just a cliff! Imagine what Nightmare Moon could do to us!”
“As much as I don’t want to abandon you,” Applebloom said, “I think I should help Diamond get home.”
“No!” Diamond shouted. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I’m not leaving until you get your sister back!”
“So, we all going on?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Yep!” the other four agreed. 
“Fine,” Spike said. 
They walked on, though they were a little more cautious this time. They made sure the ground wouldn’t fall out. 
“Why is ‘bonding by near death experiences’ a thing?” Sweetie Belle asked. 
“Who knows,” Scootaloo answered. 
“She has a point,” Pipsqueak said. “Dad told me that he and his cousin didn’t get along until they both almost drowned during Winter Wrap Up.”
A roar split through the air. 
“Looks like we have another chance for bonding!” Applebloom yelled. 
They all scrambled as a large beast burst through the trees. Spike flipped back to see what it was. 
“That’s a Manticore!” Spike exclaimed. 
“No shit Sherlock!” Scootaloo replied, using what air she could get.
“Fuck you, Watson!” he answered.  
“Can you use your firebreath?” Applebloom shouted to him. 
“Not with all these trees around!” he replied, tackling Diamond out of the way of its tail. 
“What about claws?” Sweetie Belle asked, jumping from its paws.
“Not good!” he replied. “They could do some damage, but I’d have to get close! My scales beat his claws, but I don’t think I would be lucky with its strength!”
He was just about to try and jump at it anyway, when a red ribbon came flying at the Manticore’s face. He followed the ribbon to its other end, finding a baton in Pipsqueak’s mouth. 
“Did he always have that?” Diamond asked. 
Pipsqueak didn’t answer. He continued to wave the ribbon around, distracting the Manticore from everyone else. At first, they were afraid it would figure out where the ribbon came from, that it would pounce. 
Instead, it flopped over like a cat. As if the ribbon was just a toy. The thing actually began purring, and rubbing its face on Pipsqueak. 
“Hey, it’s limping,” Scootaloo said. “I think it’s got something in it’s paw.”
She took a step towards the Manticore, but it roared and swiped at her. Pipsqueak waved the ribbon frantically, keeping its attention on him. 
“Okay, bad idea,” Scootaloo said. “Pip, keep it distracted a moment. Sweetie, think you can use your magic to grab it?”
“I can try,” Sweetie agreed. 
It took a few tries, but eventually they got the thing out. It was a large thorn. 
“Okay, maybe it’s friendly now?” Scootaloo said. “I mean, we helped it.”
“No offense, but I don’t want to chance it,” Spike said. “Pip, can you get away?”
Pipsqueak watched the Manticore carefully. He waved the ribbon extra furiously, and then tossed it as far as her could into the forest. The beast leaped after it.
“Run!” he commanded in a hushed whisper.
They ran in the opposite direction, thankfully towards where they were headed. They only stopped when they were sure the Manticore was far behind. 
“Where’d you get that ribbon?” Sweetie asked. 
“I’ve been carrying it around as a lucky charm,” Pipsqueak shrugged. “It used to be my mom’s, and I found it when we moved to Ponyville. I like that ribbon. Well, I did. Too bad, I was planning on using it in my Nightmare Night costume.”
“That would’ve been cool!” Scootaloo agreed. 
“You know what’s not ‘cool’?” Diamond asked. “We’re walking into the gross part of the forest. Stars when I get home I’m showering for a week! I don’t even want to see a speck of dirt for a month!”
The trees above covered what little moonlight they had, plunging them into darkness.
“I didn’t mean it literally,” Diamond grumbled. 
In the darkness, everything looked worse. Was the thing touching your leg your friend, a tree root, or a monster coming to grab you? They huddled together. Or, at least, they thought the thing they were hugging was another friend. 
They saw faces in the trees. Monsters. Creatures come to be worse than the Manticore. Four ponies and a dragon let out a scream. Yet one laughed. 
Sweetie Belle’s horn was lit up, providing an emerald glow. And she was laughing at something.
“Sweetie, what’re you doing?” Appebloom hissed. 
“Guys, it’s a tree,” Sweetie laughed. “It’s a freaking tree!”
“But they’re all…” Spike said, looking around. 
“They’re all trees!” Sweetie said, forcing her horn to grow brighter. 
She was right. There was nothing but trees in sight. Granted, they were kind of creepy looking trees, but trees nonetheless. 
“Guess we let our imaginations get away from us,” Pipsqueak chuckled. 
“I mean, I wasn’t scared,” Scootaloo said, crossing her forelegs. “Not at all.”
“Yeah, that’s why I can’t hear jack out of my left ear!” Diamond shouted. 
“Not my fault!” she insisted as the group began to move forward once again. 
“Yeah, because it was totally Spike screaming in my ear,” she rolled her eyes. 
“Maybe it was!” she said. “You don’t know!”
“His breath is warmer than yours,” she stated. 
“Okay, that was oddly creepy,” Spike said.
“Little bit,” Sweetie agreed.
“It came out wrong,” Diamond brought her hoof to her face. “When we were climbing down I could feel your breath, and it’s a lot warmer than any pony’s breath, so I remembered that. And the scream in my ear felt normal.”
“We’ve got bigger problems than how scared Scootaloo was,” Applebloom said.
“Hey!” Scootaloo shouted. 
“How are we going to cross this?” Pipsqueak asked.
They all looked forward to see a river. It was thrashing around, much more than a river this shallow should. Usually they would just cross, but none of them wanted to chance the waves pulling them under.
It was then that they heard crying. Following it upriver, they found a sea serpent, crying in the river and creating the waves. While the sea serpent was obviously more intelligent than the Manticore, they still approached with caution. 
“Excuse me, sir?” Sweetie Belle approached him. “Why are you crying?”
“Well I don’t know!” the sea serpent wailed. “I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off! And now I look simply horrible!”
He went back to wailing, splashing them in the process.
“I know I can be dramatic, but come on,” Diamond muttered.
“It’d be worse if my sister was here,” Sweetie whispered back. “She’d probably go on and on about how all his beauty is ruined by a lack of a mustache, and then offered to use her tail as a replacement.”
“Your sister is weird,” she said. 
“Okay, I’ve had enough,” Scootaloo said. 
“What are you doing?” Spike asked. 
Scootaloo ignored him. She walked straight up to the sea serpent.
“Okay, listen up,” Scootaloo announced. “You’re going to be fine.”
“How can I be fine with my mustache in ruins!” the sea serpent cried. 
“Because it’ll grow back,” she said. “Yeah, it sucks that the thing you put all that work into is ruined. But you know what? It’s not gone forever. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow you would’ve decided the mustache sucked and shaved it off yourself.
“Besides,” she went on, “you technically lost it when you were attacked. Embellish the story a little, and you can impress others with the story. Okay, don’t straight up lie, but be proud and say ‘I was attacked and all I lost was this mustache!’ Sounds cool, right?”
“Well, it does a bit,” the sea serpent thought. “I know just the lovely sea serpent to be impressed.”
“See? Better already!” she laughed.  “Plus, now we can cross the river.”
“Oh, you must think I’m terrible for blocking the river,” he said. “Here, allow me to fix that for you!”
With that, the sea serpent ducked his head under the water, using the rest of his body as a bridge. They crossed and thanked him from the other side before heading on their way. 
Of course it was barely any time at all before they hit their next obstacle. This time, there was a small gorge with the remains of a rope bridge between it. This wouldn’t be so bad, if it weren’t for the fact that the ruins of the old Castle were just on the other side.
“Okay, this is a problem,” Spike said. “Scoots, think you could fly the broken end over to tie it?” 
“No,” Scootaloo answered sheepishly. “Saving Sweetie back there was the extent of my flying ability.”
“Damn, Sweetie, can your magic-“ he began.
“Probably not, but I can try,” Sweetie answered. 
With that, she lit her horn. Her emerald magic held the end of the bridge. Slowly, the rope moved, lifting the bridge. It still had a few feet to go before reaching the other side. Her horn flickered for a moment, before going dark and dropping the bridge back to where it started. 
“I-I’m sorry,” Sweetie panted. “I’m just-ugh.”
“It’s okay,” Spike said, rubbing her back. “You’ve been walking for hours, you probably haven’t slept since yesterday night because of the Summer Sun Celebration, and you haven’t eaten anything since we left. Stars, it’d probably be noon by now if Nightmare hadn’t made it Eternal Night. I was surprised your magic went that far.”
“But we still can’t get across,” Pipsqueak said. “Diamond, Applebloom, and I are Earth Ponies. We can’t really do much.”
Spike began pacing, looking for a solution. Everything he thought of was shot down. He wished his letter-sending spell worked on living ponies. He wished he had wings like he’d seen on other dragons. 
He wished Twilight was here. She could’ve done something. She could’ve lifted the bridge, or teleported herself across. She could’ve done everything better than they could. She wouldn’t have fallen off a cliff. She would’ve fought the Manticore and won. She wasn’t a kid who would’ve gotten scared of a spooky tree. She could’ve regrown the sea serpent’s mustache. 
But she was gone. Nightmare took her. And the next best option was Shining Armor, but he was back home in Canterlot, probably keeping the place from falling apart without Celestia. Stars, Celestia should be here too. She was the only match for Nightmare Moon. 
What was a kid to do when lost and desperate and scared, without your family, and with everyone in danger? Cry. So that’s what he did. 
“It’s okay,” Diamond said, her voice the softest he’d heard it yet. “We’ll figure out something.”
“It-it just feels real now,” he said. “Nightmare Moon’s stuck us in Eternal Night. She took Twilight! She took Celestia too! And stars know what she’s done with them in the time it took us to get here! We all almost died tonight! It would’ve been fine if we made it, and we came so close! But now there’s this stupid fucking bridge in the way and we can’t do anything!”
“Yes we can!” she exclaimed. “We’ve come this far, and we’re not going to quit now! Right?”
Everyone gave unsure murmurs. No one could meet her eyes. 
“No!” Diamond shouted. “We’re not giving up here! Because we haven’t given up yet! We got through the rest of this forest! Yeah, we almost died, but we made it! Because we’re big damn heroes, and we’re not giving up until we save Spike’s sister and kick Nightmare Moon’s flank back into the Moon! Then we’re going to go home, get celebrated like heroes, and smile off into the sunset like the big damn heroes we are! Now who’s with me?!”
That got a resounding cheer. 
“Thanks, Diamond,” Spike laughed. “You’re right.”
“Okay, but do you actually have a plan?” Sweetie Belle asked. 
“Yes actually,” Diamond said. 
She walked to look over the edge. Apparently whatever she saw was good enough. 
“Sweetie, think you can do what you did with the rope again?” Diamond asked. 
“Maybe,” Sweetie answered. “I don’t think it’ll work though.”
“Just do what you can,” she said. “Spike, get on my back and hold on.”
“Alright?” he said.
Wondering what he agreed to, he jumped onto Diamond’s back and wrapped his arms around her neck. As soon as he was on, she walked off the cliff. Thankfully, they stopped at the end of the bridge’s rope. 
“What the hell, Diamond?!” Applebloom shouted down at her. “You nearly die off a cliff just to jump down another one?” 
“I have a rope this time,” Diamnd shouted up. 
“Really?!” she sighed. 
“Hey, I wasn’t a bitch to the rope!” she defended. “And if you had dropped me, I couldn’t make it to the wall in time to catch myself and climb.”
“What do you need me to do?” Sweetie called down.
“Grab us with your magic,” she commanded. “When I give the signal, chuck us up toward the other edge as hard as you can.”
“And me?” Spike asked. 
“When she does that,” she said, “use your firebreath on this wall. As powerful as you can make it. I’m going to do the Earth Pony thing and jump as hard as I can. After your fire, get ready to catch the other side.”
“Diamond that’s genius!” Applebloom shouted. 
“I know!” she laughed. “Now, get ready!”
Sweetie’s emerald magic surrounded them. Spike took a deep breath in, building up his fire as much as he could. This had to work, because there wasn’t going to be a second chance. 
“Now!” Diamond shouted. 
She jumped, Spike blasted his fire, and Sweetie threw them up. It felt like they were flying! They jolted suddenly as Spike grabbed the ledge, but it was quickly replaced by cheering as they climbed up and tied the rope. 	
“That was amazing!” Diamond laughed, jumping to hug Spike as the others crossed. 
“Uh, Diamond,” Spike said. “Your mane’s a little-“
He reached over and smothered a section that was on fire.
“Mom’s going to kill me,” she said. “Okay, hopefully defeating Nightmare Moon will get me off the hook. Maybe. I mean, I did lose my tiara too so maybe not.”
“Where the hell did you learn to do that?” Pipsqueak asked as he made it over the bridge.
“My uncle,” Diamond answered. “We did something similar last time we went on vacation. Except he was the only one jumping, and we had a Pegasus to catch us if something went wrong. Mom nearly had a heart attack when we told her, but he brings expensive Hearth’s Warming gifts, so she tolerates him.”
“I didn’t know you had an uncle,” Applebloom said.
“Well, technically he’s dad’s cousin,” she said. “But he’s twenty-five so he’s always been Uncle Caballeron to me!”
“Caballeron?!” Spike and Scootaloo asked at the same time. “Like the Daring Do character?”
“The what character?” she asked.
“Daring Do,” Scootaloo answered. 
“It’s a book series,” Spike said. “About a mare that goes on adventures and saves the world. Caballeron is one of the treasure hunters in the book.”
“Probably a coincidence,” Diamond shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like this Daring Do is a real mare who goes on adventures and writes books about her adventures ad if they were fiction!”
“Fair enough,” they shrugged. 
They made their way into the ruined castle. Thankfully they didn’t have to go too far. The first room was obviously what they needed. It was more of a ‘chamber’ really. It was a large room, mostly empty except for five stone orbs sitting on pedestals. 
“This is it!” Spike exclaimed. “It looks just like the book!”
“Finally,” Scootaloo sighed as Spike climbed the pedestal. “So, how do we get them to work?”
“And how do we find Nightmare Moon?” Applebloom asked.
“There’s only five,” Diamond pointed out. “Aren’t there supposed to be six?”
“I don’t know,” Spike answered, looking at one of the orbs. “The book said ‘when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element of be revealed’.”
“What does that mean?” Pipsqueak asked. 
“Not sure,” he replied. “Sweetie, any magic reaction?”
“Not really,” Sweetie answered, her emerald magic testing out the orbs. 
Spike thought for a moment. He breathed fire on one orb, but nothing happened. It was worth a try. 
The orb was still smoking, but it looked wrong. It was a more blue-purple color than he was used to. It was also more solid. Almost like a magic aura. 
“Guys! Run!” Spike shouted. 
He didn’t get a chance to see if they had. Everything went dark and his stomach flipped. He’d been teleported enough times to know what was going on, and despite the surprise, knew how to land as well. 
He landed in another part of the castle, not that he knew where. It was another room, emptier than the last. 
Nightmare Moon stood before him. She was as tall as Celestia, although he never realized how intimidating that height could be until now. Her eyes were like his own, which look unnerving on a pony. Around her hooves were broken stones, the shattered remains of their last hope. 
“What did you do with Twilight!?’ Spike demanded, summoning the last of his courage. 
“She’s fine,” Nightmare answered. “For now.”
“Give her back!” he shouted. 
Nightmare’s form disappeared into mist again. It-she- swirled around him. He tried to keep looking at her, but it seemed impossible. 
“I know you well, little Dragon,” Nightmare whispered to him. 
“You don’t know jack about me!” Spike shouted. 
“I am a Nightmare,” she said. “I can see your fears. I know what it’s like to be a ‘lesser’ younger sibling.”
The mist shifted. A figure walked of the darkness. It looked like Twilight! Her face, her mane, everything! He took a step forward, before he saw her eyes. Nightmare’s eyes, looking out from Twilight’s face. 
“The big sister,” it sounded like Twilight, but with the echo of Nightmare’s voice. “A magical prodigy! One of the most powerful Unicorns since Starswirl the Bearded! Student to Princess Celestia herself! But how does she see you? Just an assistant. A glorified mailbox. Does she pay attention to you when she slams a door in your face, or drops a stack of books on you?”
“She does care,” Spike said, his voice more of a whisper now.
“But it’s not just her,” said another voice.
He looked away from Nightmare Twilight, to see Shining Armor, eyes just like Nightmare’s. His voice as hers was, like his own with Nightmare’s echo. 
“A brother as well,” Nightmare Shining said. “Almost as gifted as his sister. Youngest Captain of the Royal Guard. But what does he do for you? He and Twilight have the nicknames, ‘Big Brother Best Friend Forever’, ‘Little Sister Best Friend Forever’, but nothing for a ‘LBBFF’. Has he even visited you since becoming Guard Captain?”
“He-he’s busy,” Spike managed to say.
“Then again, they’re not the problem.”
He felt tears before he looked. He knew what he would see. Mom and Dad, with Nightmare’s eyes. It was bad enough to hear their echoing voices. 
“The ponies who are supposed to appreciate you,” Nightmare Mom said. 
“But where is that?” Nightmare Dad asked. 
“All to the older siblings,” she said.
“After all, they were here first,” he said.
“Even if you do something just as great,” both Nightmare Parents said, “it doesn’t matter. They already did it first. It’s never quite as impressive the second time, even if you were better.”
“And then there’s the head herself!”
He watched as Nightmare Twilight and Nightmare Shining parted. Celestia walked between them, her eyes showing just a Nightmare like the rest. 
“Celestia knows what she’s doing,” Nightmare Celestia gave a bitter laugh. “She knows what happens when a younger sibling does unappreciated. She could step in, do something. Yet she stands by and watches. 
“No,” she continued. “She gave you to Twilight, gave you that letter spell, made you her assistant. A Dragon your age should be in class, with foals your age, making friends and trying to figure out your place in the world. You might not get a Cutie Mark, but you could have friends, ponies who appreciate you regardless of your siblings’ achievements.”
“But I can see what you could be,” Nightmare, the original Nightmare, said. “I know what it’s like to be the unappreciated younger sibling. You could join me. Be better than the older siblings who dared to keep you in their shadow.”
He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. Did she have a point, or was that just magic making him think she did? It sounded so tempting. He could see it. 
But he could hear something else. He heard Diamond’s voice in the back of his head, telling him not to give up, that he should hold his head high and smile because it’ll be alright. He could hear Applebloom telling him to stick by his family, to stand to what they came here for. He heard Scootaloo, saying it was dumb to feel useless because he was great as he was, even if he was unappreciated. He heard Sweetie Belle, telling him it’s all an illusion, none of it was real. And Pipsqueak, offering to give his time to help with whatever he needed to make sure Spike knew he was appreciated. 
He could hear them, though they were more real now. They were outside the room, trying to find him. He felt like he could cry again, but for a different reason. Sweetie Belle was right about ‘bonding by near-death experience’. They were his friends, and he wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from him. 
He took a deep breath and sent fire at the Nightmares. They vanished into smoke before reforming into Nightmare Moon at the end of the hall. 
“I’ll never let you win!” Spike shouted as his friends came up behind him. “We’ll never let you win!”
“Fine!” Nightmare roared. “I’ve already broken the Elements! What else do you think you can do?”
The group looked to the shattered stones. Nightmare cackled as that sank in. 
“You’re a fool, thinking you could defeat me!” Nightmare laughed. “Now you will never see your princess, your sister, or your precious Day! The Night will last forever!”
She was right. The stones were nothing. Still, none of them could bring themselves to give up. Because they had friends by their side. 
“You might’ve broken the stones,” Spike said, “But the Elements are more than that! The Spirit of the Elements is within all of us!”
He heard confusion, but it was silenced by the stones at Nightmare’s hooves. They began glowing, floating through the air. 
“Applebloom, who promised to stay by her friends, even new friends she didn’t quite trust yet, represents the Spirit of Loyalty!”
“Pipsqueak, who gave up treasured Lucky Charm to save us from a Manticore represents the Spirit of Generosity!” 
“Sweetie Belle, who saw through the illusions of fear, represents the Spirit of Honesty!”
“Scootaloo, who told a sea serpent what he needed to hear, even if he didn’t want to hear it, and calmed him with compliments, represents the Spirit of Kindness!”
“And Diamond Tiara, who made me smile and reignited my hope when I thought all was lost, represents the Spirit of Laughter!”
“We made it through every challenge thrown at us, and we’d do it again! Because that’s what friends do for one another!”
The glowing stones surrounded each pony. They were buzzing with magic, each a color matching the pony it circled. They floated a few inches off the ground.  
“You still don’t have the sixth Element!” Nightmare shouted, though her voice wavered.
“Yes we do!” Spike shouted back. “’When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed’! It’s not a powerful spell or another artifact! It’s the spark that lights inside someone when they remember their friends! The spark that resides in all of us, is the Sixth Element: The Element of Magic!”
Another stone appeared in the air in front of him. He reached out, and felt its magic wrap around him. He watched as the other stones did the same. The amount of magic flowing through them was more than he’d ever felt before. Even several Unicorns hopped up on coffee for Finals Week couldn’t hold a candle to it. 
There was a burst of light in a rainbow of colors. He heard Nightmare scream. Then it was all over. 
“Are y’all okay?” Applebloom asked. 
“Better than okay!” Scootaloo answered. “Look at these!”
Five of them had a new necklace around their neck. However, only Diamond had a tiara. 
“Not that I’m complaining,” Diamond said, looking at the new tiara, “but shouldn’t Spike have gotten the crown, since he’s leader?” 
“Eh, crowns aren’t really my thing,” Spike answered, admiring his own necklace. “Besides, it looks cute on you.”
Diamond turned red, but before Spike could think about what he’d said, he heard a voice. 
“This is quite unexpected.”
The others bowed as Spike turned to the window. There stood Princess Celestia. The real Princess Celestia, with her own eyes and voice. Spike couldn’t hold back. He ran to her and climbed up her leg to hug her around the neck. 
“Oh stars I’m so glad you’re okay!” Spike cried.
“I’m glad you are unharmed as well,” Celestia smiled. “Though where is Twilight?”
“I-I don’t know!” he said. “Nightmare took her when she showed up at Town Hall! I thought she would’ve come back after we beat Nightmare but-“
“It’s alright,” she said. “I know who to ask to get her back.”
He followed Celestia’s gaze. In the scraps of Nightmare Moon’s armor, was a dark blue Alicorn. She looked terrified as Celestia approached, ducking behind her hooves. 
“Princess Luna,” Celestia addressed. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.”
Celestia knelt down to her, offering a hoof.
“It’s time to put our differences behind us,” Celestia said, her voice soft. “We were meant to rule together, little sister.”
“Sister?!” all six of them gasped. 
“Will you accept my friendship?” she asked, ignoring them.
“I-I’m so sorry!” the blue Alicorn cried, jumping to hug her. “I missed you so much!”
“I’ve missed you too,” Celestia let her own tears fall. “But I know someone else who misses their sister.”
Spike slid down from Celestia’s back and approached. The blue mare did look sorry, and quite scared. He couldn’t bring himself to be mad. 
“Where’s Twilight?” Spike asked. 
“A pocket dimension,” the blue mare answered. “She’s fine. I-I’ll bring her back now.”
Her horn lit up silver. With a pop, Twilight was dropped out of nothingness. Spike wasted no time at all hugging her.
“What happened?” Twilight asked. 
“It’s a long story,” Spike sighed “But come meet my new friends!”
He dragged a still disoriented Twilight over to where his friends still stood. Celestia followed a few steps behind.
“These are my friends!” Spike said, letting go of Twilight in favor of a group hug. “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Pipsqueak and Diamond Tiara! They helped me get through the forest to save you!”
“Okay, this is going to be a long story,” Twilight sighed. 
“Well, I know a place we could tell it,” Sweetie Belle smiled. 
“Oh yeah,” Applebloom said. “Knowing Pinkie Pie, she’s probably already had a ‘congratulations on defeating Nightmare Moon’ party set up since we left.”
“Pinkie Pie was the really talkative one, right?” Twilight asked. 
“Yeah, she’s a great party planner,” Diamond said. “And we could have a party at my place!”
“I’m pretty sure even your place isn’t big enough for the whole town,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Well yeah,” she agreed. “But we’ll want to stop and talk for a while, and we might crash soon because we haven’t slept in two days.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Spike laughed. 
“That, and your families are probably wondering where you all are,” Celestia said.
Five faces paled at the thought. 
“Yeah, let’s get back home!” Pipsqueak laughed nervously.