Glimmer and Moonlight had entered the Everfree Forest some time ago, with only the moon for their guide. Glimmer was barely familiar with the forest, and Moonlight completely unfamiliar, so they had to keep a look out for anything dangerous. Not like they had Starlight with them to use her magic for protection.
“How far is this Tree of Harmony thing?” Moonlight asked as she pushed through some overgrown vines and bushes.
“Umm...” Glimmer hummed.
“You don’t know?” Moonlight glared at her.
“Not… entirely. I know the general location and how to get there,” Glimmer said.
“Great. Let’s just hope we find it before we get eaten by any horrible monsters,” Moonlight rolled her eyes.
“I’m sure we don’t have to worry about that. The Everfree has a reputation but I never thought it could be as bad as ponies said,” Glimmer said.
Moonlight raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you trying to jinx us?”
“Are you always such a pessimist?” Glimmer said right back.
“You-” Moonlight’s eyes bulged out as she glared at Glimmer. “You’re calling me a pessimist when you-” She stopped as she saw the playful smirk on Glimmer’s face.
“Heh,” Glimmer giggled.
Moonlight’s eye twitched but then an amused smile eventually came to her face as well. “Huh, I’ll be, so you can smile and joke around instead of just moping? That’s good to know.”
“I figured I might as well try to work a little bit on my attitude as well after what you said,” Glimmer said. “There’s um… no reason we can’t become friends at least.”
“That’s true. And I’ll work hard to not be such a pessimist too,” Moonlight winked.
They smiled at each other in the dark forest—right as an explosion went off somewhere in the distance. The two mares looked over in the direction the sound came from, startled, and began to see a column of smoke drift up from beyond the trees. Glimmer and Moonlight quickly calmed back down and flatly glanced at each other with annoyed expressions on their faces.
“Starlight.”
The dungeon hallway shook from the blast that had occurred above it and the three in front of the door looked around in surprise as dust fell from the ceiling and the torches flickered.
“W-What was that?” Flash Sentry asked.
Sunset and Spike merely glanced at each other. “Starlight.”
“Huh?” Flash tilted his head.
Sunset coughed. “Nevermind. Anyways, Flash, you said Twilight Sparkle and her friends were behind this door?”
“That’s right,” he nodded.
Sunset looked down at Spike. “Are they probably really important here?”
Spike nodded. “Definitely.”
“Okay,” Sunset smiled and looked at Flash. “Flash? Can you do something for us?”
“Um, wha-”
Sunset punched him in the face with enough force to spin him around and bounce him off the wall. Flash groaned and collapsed unconscious in a heap. He’d definitely have a black eye when he woke up. Spike just dragged a claw down his face in annoyance.
“You definitely didn’t need to do that, I think he would probably have helped us,” Spike said.
“This way is faster than talking,” Sunset shrugged.
“Okay—you’re definitely not fully reformed yet,” Spike rolled his eyes. “We always try for the peaceful solution first. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Look, I’m still working on the being good thing okay? Cut me a little slack,” Sunset said as she rooted through Flash’s armor before finding a key. The main door didn’t have a lock on it but the cells inside probably did. Now she and Spike opened up the big door to the true dungeon.
The two of them walked inside, making sure to not let the door close back behind them, and took a look around. The dungeon looked like it probably had about one thousand years ago, since it’s not like Princess Celestia and Luna back then would’ve had much use for it, just a simple large room with a low ceiling that housed several cells along the walls. Each cell was actually quite large too, big enough that they could’ve been a luxurious bedroom if furnished properly. Sunset and Spike walked past the first few cells, they were all empty, until they heard a voice from one down a few rows:
“HEY! What was that big explosion? We could feel it down here! What’s going on, Flash?!”
Spike and Sunset’s eyes widened as they recognized the voice. “Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah—what in the hay is happening? Y’all keeping us down here in the dark is bad enough already.”
“I knooowww, it’s so hard to throw parties without any party supplies!”
“Pinkie Pie, darling, though your optimism has been a joy in these times I don’t exactly think now is the moment to talk about parties.”
“I’m hiding under my bed until I’m sure there won’t be anymore shaking...”
“Everyone—please! Something big has obviously happened. Flash? Could you please come down here and talk to me?”
Spike got especially excited at that last voice. “Twilight! Twilight, is that you?” He began running towards the cell her voice had come from while Sunset followed him.
There was a gasp of shock. “S-Spike?!”
It was the final six cells in the dungeon, the last three rows. These six were all actually quite nice looking, with large four-poster beds, desks, tables, bookcases, and other amenities in each one of them. And of course—each one was occupied by a very familiar pony. Well, not so much for Sunset who had only seen a pony Twilight before, but Spike was more than happy to see all of them.
Twilight was pressing herself up against the bars of the cell—an inhibitor ring on her horn, her eyes wide in disbelief and nearly beginning to water. “S-Spike, it’s really you! It’s been over a year, I can’t believe it!”
“What happened up above? Is someone finally taking it to Nightmare Moon?” Rainbow Dash asked from her cell, her wings bound in chains.
“You could kind of say that...” Sunset said.
“Who are you?” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked to the cell across from her. “And Fluttershy, come out from under your bed already!”
“No thank you...”
Spike ignored the other chatter and ran up to Twilight Sparkle’s cell. “Has Nightmare Moon actually kept you all down here ever since the Summer Sun Celebration?”
“Yes… ever since that Wonderbolt Lightning Dust attacked me while we were just about to use the Elements, Nightmare Moon trapped us down here so we couldn’t threaten her again,” Twilight sighed but smiled after. “But I’m so happy to finally see you again, what’s happened since we’ve been down here? Was that explosion earlier caused by you?”
“No, that was almost definitely done by a friend of mine called Starlight,” Spike scratched the back of his head. “And, uh, sorry to really rain on your parade right now but… I’m not the Spike you know.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight tiled her head.
“He’s a spy!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
Applejack glared at her from her cell. “Dash, shut up for a second and let them talk. Something big is happening.”
“I’m from an entirely different world and timeline—look,” Spike said and showed off his wings to her.
Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Y-You have wings? Spike, you’re all grown up!”
Spike’s eyes nearly watered as she said that as well. “Yeah, yeah I am. I’m sorry that I’m still not your Spike though. Me and my friends-”
“My friends and I,” Twilight corrected.
Spike rolled his eyes. “We’re here to fix this world and bring back friendship and harmony. We’ve been doing that in a lot of different worlds. In my world Nightmare Moon was stopped by you the same night she came back.”
Twilight frowned and despondently looked down. “It didn’t go that way here.”
“But you can still stop her now, I’m sure of it! You’re all still together and friends, right?” Spike asked her.
“We’ve had pretty much nothing to do over the past year except get to know each other after all,” Rarity snarked.
“Yeah, at least we haven’t been alone! That would’ve been super-duper sad. But since that meanypants Nightmare Moon put us down here together it’s been okay,” Pinkie Pie said.
“I wouldn’t say okay...” Fluttershy whispered from under her bed.
“I learned the value—the magic—of friendship that day. That’s true,” Twilight nodded. “But I just don’t know what we can do now.”
Spike bit his lip. For obvious reasons this Twilight Sparkle didn’t exactly have the same indomitable attitude and will as his Twilight Sparkle.
“Well first I can get you out of these cells and take those rings off you,” Sunset said and took out Flash’s key, bringing it to the lock on Twilight’s cell. “Name is Sunset Shimmer by the way, nice to meet you. Again.”
“Could you also get these chains off my wings? I’d kind of like to be able to fly again,” Rainbow asked.
“I’ll get there too,” Sunset said to her.
She unlocked Twilight Sparkle’s cell and then went to the others as well. Both Twilight and Rarity were wearing the same kind of magic inhibiting ring, but they were easy for anyone to remove them who wasn’t the one they were being used on. Rainbow also had her wings freed and with some coaxing Fluttershy came out from under her bed and had her wings freed as well. It would’ve been a very nice moment to celebrate if they had the time and weren’t still in a dungeon. Only Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie really seemed to be enjoying themselves—Rainbow mainly because she could actually flap her wings again.
“So what should we do now? Join up with your friend Starlight? If you’re from another world and you’ve done lots of stuff like this before then you must have a better idea of what to do than me, Spike.” Twilight said.
“No,” Spike shook his head. “There’s only one thing that can stop Nightmare Moon—the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Elements were destroyed, Spike!” Twilight shouted. “There’s nothing we can do!”
“They weren’t destroyed! That can’t be destroyed!” Spike shook his head. “The Elements of Harmony are a part of you—they’re inside each and every one of you! And as long as you’re friends and believe in the magic of friendship you can use them. It doesn’t matter if you have your tiara or not, or if those rocks were pulverized, or if they’re in the Tree of Harmony. You are the Element of Magic, Twilight. And with your friends you can stop Nightmare Moon.”
“I hope you’re talking from actual experience and knowledge and not just being unscientific right now,” Twilight said.
Spike groaned. “Yes, Twilight, I’m speaking from experience. Everything I just said is true.” He looked around at the others. “Don’t you all want to give it a shot too? Don’t you need to if you want to save Equestria, see your families again, and get out of here?”
“Well—can’t disagree with that,” Applejack said.
“Heh,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Yeah, he’s definitely right about that. Why not just try it out, Twilight?”
“We’ve gotta bring those smiles back to Equestria!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down.
“Yes, can’t exactly let it stay night forever, now can we?” Rarity smirked.
“A-And we have to help those in need...” Fluttershy added.
Twilight looked around at the faces of her friends. Finally she smiled. “You girls are right. We may have only briefly known each other before getting locked in here… but I couldn’t imagine ever meeting any better friends in my entire life.”
Spike grinned up at her. “You’ll try it? You really believe in it?”
“Yes, Spike. I just needed my number one assistant to help me out a little,” Twilight giggled.
“Let’s hope this works then,” Sunset said.
“So… what? Do we all gotta get in a circle and hold hooves or something?” Applejack asked.
“Um...” Twilight thought for a second and looked down at Spike, curiously.
He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe.”
Sunset sighed and shook her head. “This could take a little while. I hope the triplets are okay.”
Glimmer and Moonlight ran through the forest towards the source of the explosion.
“That came from the direction of the Castle of the Two Sisters!” Glimmer shouted.
“The what?” Moonlight shouted back.
Glimmer rolled her eyes. “Never mind, let’s just find Starlight.”
They didn’t have to go very far to find her. In fact, it was kind of like she found them. On an overgrown pathway through the forest, while the two of them were pushing their way past roots and vines and big leafy branches, they heard the sound of something running towards them. Glimmer and Moonlight stopped, soon seeing a figure running through the darkness.
“Starlight!” Glimmer yelled.
“RUN!” Starlight yelled and grabbed them with her magic, pulling the two of them right after her as she ran by them.
“W-What’s going on?” Glimmer asked as Starlight carried them along with her.
“Seriously, put me down!” Moonlight yelled.
“No—you do not want that to happen!” Starlight said and started running off the path, trying to hide and get lost in the brush with the two of them levitating beside her.
Glimmer was about to ask why when-
“INSOLENT MARE!”
The shout tore through the entire Everfree Forest and probably woke up all of Ponyville as well. Glimmer and Moonlight’s eyes widened and they looked up into the barely visible sky between the trees. For just a moment they caught the sight of a large figure silhouetted by the moon, her features darker than the night sky.
“HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A THING TO MY CASTLE! UPON MY RETURN I REBUILT IT AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS OF DECAY AND NOW YOU HAVE GONE AND BLOWN UP PART OF IT! I WILL DESTROY YOU, STARLIGHT!”
“Oh, Nightmare Moon. That makes sense,” Glimmer said.
“Who?” Moonlight asked.
“Shhh!” Starlight shushed them.
A powerful beam of magic blasted part of the Everfree Forest not far from where they were, vaporizing the trees and leaving nothing more than a hole in the ground.
The three gulped.
“WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT SO YOU CAN FACE YOUR DOOM!”
“Okay… we probably should try and be quiet right now,” Glimmer whispered.
“You weren’t afraid of fighting Queen Sunset, what’s different this time?” Moonlight asked Starlight.
“There’s a big difference between upjumped unicorn and Nightmare Moon,” Starlight said.
Another blast of magic hit the Everfree Forest and blew more of it to pieces.
“Yeah… does kind of seem like it,” Moonlight admitted.
“So what’s the actual plan then?” Glimmer asked. “And turn off your magic and put us down—she’ll see the light, we can run with you now that we know what’s going on.”
Another beam of dark magic carved a scar into the Everfree Forest not far from where they were.
“Right...” Starlight acquiesced and put the two other mares down, turning off her horn so the two of them could hide in the darkness. They didn’t stand still—they couldn’t—so together they kept making it through the brush as Starlight explained things: “I don’t know what we’re doing.”
“What?” Both Glimmer and Moonlight flatly said.
“Uh, well, I have an idea or two… but I don’t really know how we’re supposed to stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony,” Starlight awkwardly smiled and began to sweat. “There’s also the fact that Spike and Sunset are still missing, and that means Discord too. I thought they were with you but I guess not.”
“We thought they were with you,” Moonlight groaned.
“So we’re just running around randomly until she blows us up?” Glimmer asked.
“No, I was thinking we can maybe lead her to the Tree of Harmony and it would do something,” Starlight said.
“Something?” Glimmer raised an eyebrow.
“The Tree of Harmony is alive… I was thinking maybe it would stop her, or purify her with a rainbow laser… or something,” Starlight shrugged.
“Oh wow, we really are doomed aren’t we?” Moonlight said.
“I think it’s a decent shot!” Starlight glared at her.
The forest in front of them exploded from another blast of magic and they found their way suddenly blocked off by a smoking hole.
“I’ve found you,” Nightmare Moon said as she descended from the sky in front of them, hovering over the hole. She smirked viciously down at Starlight… and then her face morphed into confusion. “Why are there three of you?”
“It’s a long story… but if you promise not to blow us up I’ll tell you?” Starlight bargained.
“No,” Nightmare Moon’s horn lit up.
Starlight lit hers up in turn, preparing to at least fight and defend the others-
Suddenly a bright rainbow of light and magic erupted from further away in the forest. Starlight, Glimmer, Moonlight, and Nightmare Moon looked over in shock as the rainbow shot high into the dark sky. It was gigantic, and just seeing it seemed to usher forth warm feelings into the unicorns but fear into Nightmare Moon. They could all tell it was coming right from the castle. It hit an apex high into the sky and instead of arcing down it almost looked to “erupt” into bright light before another beam of rainbow magic shot down from it directly towards Nightmare Moon.
The dark Alicorn reared up and her eyes widened in fear. “N-NO! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”
The rainbow washed over her and Starlight, Glimmer, and Moonlight watched as the darkness was washed away and destroyed—the brightness becoming so powerful they had to squeeze their eyes shut and look away at the end.
When they finally opened their eyes again, Glimmer and Moonlight gasped in surprise—seeing a much different Alicorn lying on the ground in front of the smoking hole.
“Who’s that?” Moonlight asked.
“It’s Princess Luna,” Glimmer said. “Princess Celestia’s sister.”
Luna opened her eyes, tears already gathered at them, and brought her hooves to her face. “What have I done? Oh dear sister… all my little ponies… what have I done?”
Starlight walked forward and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder as Princess Luna cried.
“Oh, so that’s what you two were doing,” Starlight said after Spike and Sunset had met back up with them and explained things.
“Yeah… it took a couple tries but they figured it out in the end,” Spike rubbed the back of his head and looked over at the other thing that was going on right now.
Princess Luna was standing before this world’s Elements of Harmony as she explained everything that had happened to her and the ponies discussed what would happen to their world now. It was a lot to go over but at least they had one Alicorn princess back to normal. She was the linchpin of this entire world, and now that Princess Luna was okay there shouldn’t be any other major problems facing them. It just might take a little time for things to be put in order.
And a certain guard or two might have needed to be imprisoned for a while.
“So we can leave now then? This world shouldn’t need our help anymore,” Sunset said.
“I think so. Princess Luna will probably bring back Princess Celestia and lower the moon once she’s… calmed down a little. Yeah, honestly I think we’ve left this world in a better place than most we’ve visited,” Starlight said.
“Kind of feels nice,” Glimmer said, smiling at the locals.
“It’s definitely better than the last world,” Sunset rolled her eyes.
“Now maybe next world I’ll get to do something...” Moonlight grumbled.
Starlight smirked and looked over at Spike. “Spike? You wanna wake up Discord?”
“Yeah just a-” Spike paused.
“Spike?” Starlight raised an eyebrow at him.
“Give me a second,” the dragon said as he looked over at the others. His eyes settling on Twilight Sparkle. Spike ran over to her to get her attention as she was talking with her friends. “Twilight! Hey, Twilight!”
Her eyebrows shot up and she looked over at him. “Spike! What is it? What were you and your friends talking about?”
“Well… we’re about to leave actually,” Spike said.
“Wait—already?! But I just got to see you again! I want to meet your other friends, and, and-” Twilight sputtered.
“Twilight, I’m not your Spike, remember? You’ll be able to see the real me again soon. And I’m sorry but we’ve still got important work to do,” he glanced at Princess Luna briefly and then back to Twilight. “It was you who really fixed things here—you and your friends—and you don’t need us around anymore. I just wanted to say goodbye to you and let you know what was happening. You deserved that much.”
“I-” tears were starting to gather at her eyes. “I understand. Thank you, Spike. Tell your friends thank you too. And let them know that we’ll be sure to fix things here.”
“I will, Twilight,” Spike hugged her and she hugged him back for just a moment. Then they let each other go and Spike ran back to Starlight and the others.