Rainbow Dash was hurt, she could tell that much, her wings feeling like they were at the very least sprained as she was flung into multiple ponies before eventually hitting the door. In hindsight, it might not have been smart to throw hooves with a pony who was so much bigger than her, and an alicorn at that. But to be fair, she looked and sounded evil, and couldn’t just let her get away with whatever she was planning.
The rainbow-maned pegasus sat up and shook her head, stretching her wings painfully for a moment before bringing them back to her sides. She would be grounded for at least a few weeks, the thought of which annoyed her, but she at least hoped she gave whoever that awful pony was something to think about, trying to steal Princess Celestia’s throne.
“That could’ve gone better,” the mare thought to herself. “I thought I got a good hit on her. Maybe-”
Suddenly, she heard a scream, one that sounded like a foal, and looked up to see the silver filly she’d met a couple of times before falling to the ground. She didn’t stop to think about it and quickly reacted, flying over to catch Asher before she hit the ground. She landed hard on top of her, mostly being caught by her back and wings, and she let out a sharp yelp of pain. As it happened, in the back of her mind she thought about the fact that if her wings weren’t broken before, they definitely were now.
“Oh my gosh I hate this place!” the silver coated filly yelled with tears in her eyes as she wrapped her hooves tightly around Rainbow Dash’s neck. “I just want to go home! I hate it here!” She still had her eyes closed as she said it and shivered, clenching her jaw so as not to cry.
“Hey Asher, it’s okay,” Lofty consoled her, she and Holiday upon her in a heartbeat as they comforted her while she sat on the wings of the pegasus. “It’s okay now,” she told her as she petted her with a wing. “Everything’s okay. You’re fine now. It’s okay.”
“It’s not fine!” she yelled angrily as her breathing quickened. “I shouldn’t be here! I don’t want to be here! And this is Celestia’s fault anyway! She’s just letting this-”
Suddenly, she was interrupted by Nightmare Moon, who loudly asked to the room, “Is there anypony here who knows my name?” She asked it with anger and fury in her voice, looking ready to start hurting the citizens of Ponyville if she didn’t get an answer.
“I know who you are,” somepony, Twilight Sparkle, called out loudly, using a hoof to point in her direction, seemingly fearless. “You’re the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!” The crowd gasped at that revelation as Nightmare Moon flew down to greet her, the purple unicorn standing her ground and scowling at her.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” the alicorn asked. “Somepony who remembers me. I’m sure you also know why I’m here now. Tell me, what is it?”
“You’re here to… to…” she trailed off, looking away for a second, turning her attention back to the moon for a second before finishing, “to bring eternal night!”
Nightmare Moon laughed at that, telling the crowd, “Remember this day, little ponies, for it shall be your last! From this moment forth, the night will last forever!”
With that, she let out a loud, evil bellow, creating a cloud of smoke to wrap herself in, the sound of thunder and bright flashes of lightning surrounding her. The crowd gasped in fear at the unicorn, however, the members of the Royal Guard who were present quickly flew up to her to face her. They were unable to get very close before being struck down though, lightning hitting them and sending them flying to the floor. The alicorn didn’t linger for much longer, fully encasing herself in blue smoke before flying away out the door, into the night.
“Okay, that… was more than a little bit scary…” I thought to myself as I tried to process what happened, just now realizing that I was shaking hard from my encounter with Celestia’s sister. “I don’t like this world at all, and I know for a fact that I don’t like Celestia. She’s just letting me be in danger for no good reason, not to mention all these other ponies. And she said that was her sister… oh, I don’t like this world at all. I just want to go home. Lord, I ask that you keep me and all these other people safe, even in spite of what that princess is planning.”
I took a few deep breaths and rubbed away the tears that tried to form as I tried to stay calm. Lofty was still rubbing my back, which helped a little bit, and I closed my eyes for a few seconds to exhale deeply. I was fine now, and everything was okay. Well, not really, but I wasn’t falling anymore or trapped in an almost demonic looking pony’s grasp, so that was a start. Stay calm, don’t cry, and act like an adult as best I could. It was my motto for the last few days, and it certainly applied here.
“Hey, kid,” Rainbow Dash suddenly said, sounding out of breath, “I know I saved you and all, but can you get off of me now? You’re crushing me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I got out as I quickly scrambled off of her, turning to thank her before catching my breath at the sight of her. “Oh my gosh, your wing looks really bad! I’m sorry!”
“Huh, this?” she tried to say cooly but obviously wincing as she lifted it up. “Not gonna lie, it hurts now, but this’ll be all healed up in a few days.”
“That looks like it’s going to take longer than a few days,” I responded, grimacing at the sight of it. “It’s just… not good! That looks like it’ll take months to heal!”
“It’ll be fine, Asher,” Holiday told me, putting a hoof on my shoulder and directing me away from her. “I’ve seen worse from Lofty, like that time she tried to carry me. It looks bad now, but I’m sure she’ll be up and flying again within a week.”
“Or a few days with how Scootaloo talks about her,” Lofty chimed in. “But, uh, she does need to get to a doctor. Can somepony help me fly her over to Ponyville General? You stay here with them, Holiday.”
“I’m gonna trust that it’s going to be okay, cause that looks awful. Like, a person on Earth would have to rehab for months after something like that. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.”
“Don’t sweat it Asher. It’s no trouble. I’m just glad you’re not hurt. Besides, it’d be worse if you were a unicorn, since their bodies are more fragile. But we don’t have many of those in Ponyville, so it’s all good. Still hurts like hell, though.”
“I’m still sorry for hurting you, but this is all her fault.”
“Who's fault is it now?” Lofty asked as she and some other pegasus started to pick up Rainbow carefully.
“Celestia’s! She was the one who said she was gonna have…” I looked around for her student to point her out to them, but couldn’t find her anymore amongst the crowd that mostly stood still chattering amongst themselves or trying to help up the other armor plated ponies who were hit by that pony’s, Nightmare Moon’s, lightning.
“Where did she go?” I asked aloud as I looked around, unable to find her. “She was just here!”
“Who was, dear?”
“That pony that Celestia said would… never mind. I’ll explain it to you later. The point is this is all Celestia’s fault because she wants her student to do something for her or teach her a lesson. I forgot what she said exactly, but she wanted this to happen.”
“Well, I would like to hear about that,” Holiday told me, “but first, we need to get you fil- err, foals home and bandaged up. You have some cuts on you we need to treat.”
“But what about Rainbow Dash and Aunty Lofty?” Sooctaloo asked, disappointed that she wasn’t able to go with the two to the hospital, having already started to get going.
“Plus, our sleepover!” Sweetie Belle added. “We were going to go to Diamond’s house!”
“Well, looks like that’s been cancelled given the circumstances. Actually, you girls and Asher can stay over at our home for the night… err… as long as whatever’s happening lasts. Come along, now. I don’t think it’s very safe to stay here.”
“Elements, elements, elements…” Twilight muttered to herself as she tossed around books. She was safely back in her library, having run from the scene once Nightmare moon took off. She didn’t want to waste any time in figuring out what to do, stopping only to put her baby dragon, Spike, to sleep.
“Ugh, how can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?” she asked herself aloud as she continued throwing books. “What am I going to do?”
“And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” somepony asked, flying up to the mare suddenly and startling her. It was a pegasus Twilight remembered from earlier that evening, Lightning Dust, eyeing her suspiciously as she continued, “And how did you know about that alicorn, huh? Are you working with her?”
“What? Of course not! I’m trying to-”
“Oh yeah?” the pegasus interrupted, getting in her face. “Then how come you left so quickly? What are you up to?”
“Calm down, darling,” Rarity said, trailed by the three other ponies who Twilight spoke to at the party not too long before. “I hardly think she’s plotting anything with… well, whoever that pony was. In fact, I think we ought to listen to her, since she seems to be somepony who knows what’s going on, right Twilight?”
Twilight stared at them, debating internally whether or not to divulge what she knew. She bit her lip as she tried to decide before sighing and telling them about Nightmare Moon. She quickly explained who she was and how to stop them, the five ponies before her listening intently.
“But I don’t know what they are or where to find them,” she finished. “I don’t even know what they do!”
“The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide,” Pinkie Pie suddenly called out, staring at the book sitting on the library shelf. She was quickly pushed out of the way by the purple unicorn who grabbed the book and quickly skimmed through it, reading its contents aloud to the group.
“It says here the last known location of the Elements is in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, located in what is now… the- the Everfree Forest…”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy squeaked out. “That’s certainly not good.”
“I agree with you on that, Fluttershy,” Rarity said. “That’s certainly not a place I’d want to be wandering into at night.”
“Eeyup,” eeyuped Big Mac.
“Don’t think we have much of a choice guys,” Lightning Dust said. “She said she wanted to make the night last forever, and I don’t know about you, but I like my sun napping.”
“Well, I don’t know what we’re waiting for then! If we have to save Ponyville, then I say let's go!”
“Well, umm…” Twilight started anxiously, “I appreciate the offer, really I do, but… I’d rather do this on my own, if it’s no trouble.”
“Well it certainly seems like your asking for trouble, dear,” Rarity told her. “You expect to go into that dreadful forest without us? It’s absolutely preposterous.”
“You’re not really going to follow me there, are you guys?” the mare asked, almost more afraid of that than she was of going after the Elements of Harmony and facing Nightmare Moon. “You should stay here where it’s safe.”
“Eenope. Us Apples ain’t about leavin’ a friend hangin’.”
“Yeah, silly! What kind of friends would we be if we let you go face that meanie pants all alone? Bad ones, that’s what! We just threw a new pony party and everything!”
“Besides, I just wanna go after that pony! If we save Princess Celestia from whoever that Nightmare Moon mare is, I’ll be a wonderbolt in no time!”
Twilight rolled her eyes at that thought, and, realizing quickly that she wouldn’t be able to get them off of her, decided, “Fine, but you have to be careful, and listen to what I say. Who knows what’s in that forest…”