//------------------------------//
// Pilot (Episodes one and two) 
// Story: Oh, No! Not Another Dusk Shine Story! 
// by Nyxian 
//------------------------------//

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Hasbro does. Nor do I own any of the books, movies, games, e.c.t. I reference for comedic purposes.
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Oh, no! Not Another Dusk Shine Story! 
-Pilot, episodes one and two

The Canterlot library was shrouded in Stygian darkness, the bookshelves tall and looming in the blackness. There was but a single soul occupying the murky library, and from him came the only light. It was a thin light; a spectral, frail light that emanated from his very being, powered by his own magic.  He was at home in the dimness, and was busy pouring over large tomes of forgotten lore, his purpose driving him. He felt neither hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness. Such corporeal concerns were far from his mind as he toiled, his goal occupied his mind totally. His entire world had shrunk down to the pages and pages of knowledge that flipped rapidly in front of him, the knowledge they contained being quickly absorbed and processed, stored in his eidetic memory.


He had to accomplish his mission, he had become steadily more concerned over the past few weeks, as his studies had led him down an increasingly dark path. He hoped his predictions were wrong, he desperately did, but the more he looked the more the pieces fit together. It was as if they had been intentionally scattered, spread throughout the sprawling library, but that was no obstacle for him, he knew the library like few others did, arguably better than anyone save Princess Celestia herself. He knew the location of every book held therein, even if he had not read them all yet; so finding the obscure hints and fragments of knowledge presented no real challenge, the only vexation it caused him was the amount of time it took to gather the books he needed from the far-flung reaches of the great library. 


He was so close now, so unbearably close, his search had started in a strange but slightly ominous footnote in a commentary on an a historical document, twisted through a myriad of increasingly old documents and scrolls, and finally to manuscripts so ancient their forms were nearly crumbling to dust despite the magical preservation they had been under for centuries. He had read them all, tearing through the countless thousands of lines of text, even the ancient manuscripts were no impediment to him, the language would have been impenetrable to a lesser scholar, but he was a pony of no mean learning. His scholarly pursuits were his life, he had devoted himself to them from the first, and now he held a store of knowledge that spanned from the mathematical, scientific, and philosophical, to the convoluted and enigmatic branches of magic. Including even knowledge that was denied to all but the most select few out of fear that it would drive all but the most resilient of minds over the brink and into madness.


Yes, he was close, oh so close, but the closer he got the more frightened he became, he who had peered beyond the veil of reality and seen the complex workings of the universe itself and was unafraid, he who had beheld the true power of Princess Celestia and stood his ground, unwavering even in the presence of seeing uncloaked the true form of a being capable of rending the land of Equestria and shattering it so utterly that not even a single electron would have remained. He was brave in a way that most would consider insane, and there were times when he agreed with them, but now…this…this frightened him to his core. 

He only needed the tiniest bit of corroboration, the last piece to prove his theory. It was with great trepidation that he opened the last book, much newer and less worn than the others, and magically flipped it open. The pale green light of his magical aura causing the page to reflect its own eerie glow. He flipped through the pages rapidly until he found what he was looking for, and as his eyes danced across the page his worst fears came true. Icy veins of terror slithered through his hooves and began to clench at his heart, all this time, all the hours he had spent alone in the library had led him to a single terrible truth, the whole of Equestria was in grave peril. He needed to move, he had to act. He quickly shoved past the horror that fought to root him in place and his mind began to race, plotting evacuations, military actions, and magical defenses all in the matter of-


“Dusk Shine!” Spike called, shoving the doors of the library open with a loud crash, awkwardly holding a box in one arm.

“Gah!” Dusk Shine, rudely interrupted by the loud noise and painfully bright noon sunlight, jumped three feet in the air and came down with a loud crash on the table he had been studying at. He tried to regain his standing position, but found his legs stiff and unresponsive. So instead of glaring down at spike, he settled for glaring roughly at eye level. “Spike! How many times have I told you not to do that? Nevermind, I already know the answer, thirty seven, that’s not important. We have to warn the Princess!”

Well, that’s what he tried to say, in reality it came out more like a series of dry wheezy coughs preceded by a loud and very uncoltly yelp.

“Geez Dusk, have you been in here since I went to help the Princess send copies of the budget summary to Candace?”

“*Cough* *Cough* *Wheeze!*” Replied Dusk Shine urgently. Spike just sighed and pulled a cord that simultaneously raised all of the thick curtains covering the windows, the sudden influx of light caused Dusk Shine to squawk again and cover his eyes with his hooves.

“You’ve been in here the whole time haven’t you? How did you keep everypony out?”

More coughing.

“…You haven’t had anything to drink today have you?” Dusk Shine removed one of the hooves covering his eyes and pointed to a sign that said in large, clear letters: ‘No food or drink in the library’. Spike sighed again. He was used to dealing with Dusk Shine’s bouts of…oddness, but this was extreme even for him. Thankfully, the small dragon was prepared for such emergencies and pulled a water bottle out of the box he had been carrying. 

Nary a second later it was enveloped in the royal purple aura of Dusk Shine’s magic and was violently pulled from his hand. Spike rolled his eyes, apparently Dusk Shine was desperate enough for water that he was willing to break one of the sacred rules of the library. Oh well, at least he wouldn’t have to physically drag the dark purple pony out of the library this time.

“Spike!” Dusk Shine rasped after he had guzzled the entirety of the water bottle in a series of prolonged gulps. “This is important! I need you to send a message to the Princess! The realm is in danger!”

“How long have you been in here Dusk?” Spike asked, putting the box down and eyeing his guardian/elder brother. Normally Dusk Shine was a very good role model, but there were times…

“That’s not important.” Dusk Shine asserted urgently. “We're about to be attacked!”

“By what?” Spike asked skeptically, crossing his arms. There was a pause as Dusk Shine’s eyes narrowed slightly, the socially oriented part of his brain (being a tiny, shriveled affair that never did work quite right) finally stuttered and flickered its way to a hazy semblance of life and he got an impression of Spike’s mood, and he did not like what he saw.

“…The Mare in the Moon.” There was an even longer pause, which was abruptly ended by Spike bursting out into loud peals of laughter and nearly falling over.

“The Mare in the Moon!” He crowed. “That’s hilarious! You’ve been up too long Dusk! You’re hallucinating!”

“I am not hallucinating!” Dusk Shine retorted hotly, finally getting his creaking legs to respond and painfully stood up. “You know most of those old foal’s tales actually have at least some basis in truth, and this one is no different! The historical record of Nightmare Moon somehow, through the stupidity of some ancient pony probably, got transformed into the story of the Mare in the Moon! The only force that is known to be capable of stopping her is the Elements of Harmony, but they were lost centuries ago, perhaps even earlier. Without them we’re going to have to rely on a military action to keep her occupied until the Elements can be found and implemented!”

“Dusk Shine, how much sleep have you gotten since I last saw you?” Spike asked after he got over his laughter. Dusk Shine’s eyes were more red than white around the edges.

“Spike I’m being serious!” The massive pile of books and scrolls behind him was evidence of his lengthy study session.

“So am I. How much sleep did you get? And passing out doesn’t count.” Spike said, reflecting momentarily that it was odd that he had to say something like that.

“You’re getting off track!” Dusk Shine all but shouted. “I need you to take a letter to the Princess!”

Spike sighed again, he knew that tone of voice. Dusk Shine was going to ignore everything he said until the letter was written and sent, then he would fret and rant until the Princess, who had even more experience than Spike with Dusk Shine’s obsessive-compulsive personality, would send back a response that would bring him back from the edge of panic (or violence). Then Dusk Shine would realize how hungry he was and promptly wander off to eat something and leave the cleanup to the overworked librarian…or Spike.

“Fine.” Spike agreed reluctantly, pulling out his ever-present quill and parchment with a sigh. The sooner he gave Dusk Shine what he wanted the sooner they could move on. “But after that we’re going to Moondancer’s party. There’s a really nice picnic right next to the pond and Moondancer always brings good food.”

“I don’t have time to go to some frivolous party.” Dusk Shine said dismissively. Then he noticed Spike was ready to take his dictation and started after clearing his throat. “Dear Princess Celestia, through my ongoing study of pony magic I have discovered that the realm is in great danger. The foal’s tale villainess commonly referred to as the ‘Mare in the Moon’ is actually Nighmare Moon, and she is going to be released from her millennia long imprisonment on the day of the Summer Sun Festival. If we do not take immediate action and prepare the Royal Army to make a decisive strike against her before she can gather herself to strike against us I fear there will be great loss of life before the Elements of Harmony, the only weapon capable of defeating her, are found. I am, as always, at your service and will help in any way I can. Your faithful student, Dusk Shine.” 

His dictation rolled to a finish in grand fashion, or would have if his voice wasn’t still scratchy from lack of use. His messages to the princess were (like all of his other conversations) infallibly short, usually devoid of pleasantries or tact, and to the point. Spike quickly rolled and sealed the message, sending it to Celestia in a burst of green flame.

“Dusk, do you really think the Princess is going to respond seriously to that? I mean come on, that ‘theory’ is far-fetched, even for you. I mean, Nightmare Moon being the Mare in the Moon? Really?” Spike asked skeptically. Dusk shine was most affronted.

“Spike, the Princess has never in all her years of teaching me dismissed my concerns or doubted me. Yes, some of my theories and predictions have been false, but she has always given them their due consideration. I fully expect her to do the same now.” He finished, smiling a bit at his proclamation. The smile got even wider when Spike’s cheeks bulged and he took a half step to his right to avoid a gout of smoke as the Princess’ reply was ignobly belched out. Spike gave Dusk Shine an annoyed look and broke the seal, starting to read.

“My dearest student Dusk Shine, you know that I value your diligence, and that I trust you completely,” Dusk Shine’s chest swelled a bit at that and his smile grew bigger. It didn't stay for long though. “But you've got to get out of the library! You've spent more time in there than is healthy recently and I do not want to have you hospitalized because you forgot to eat again.”

“What?!”






“My dear Dusk Shine, there is more to a young pony’s life to study and conspiracy theories, so, I am sending you to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival in this year’s location: Ponyville! And I have an even more important task for you to complete: make some friends!” Spike finished reading a second letter from the Princess just as Ponyville came into sight. I would have made an articulate comment on it, but I was too busy emptying the contents of my stomach over the side of the flying platform of pain. To my great annoyance, Spike’s smug voice came from behind me just as a wave of nausea (and half of a daffodil sandwich) passed. “I told you not to bolt the sandwich like that.”

“Yes, Spike.” I ground out before lurching and getting rid of the other half of the sandwich along with whatever else had been in my stomach and a not-insignificant amount of bile. I hate flying. “I remember. I remember everything. I have an eidetic memory.”

“Well, your oversensitive stomach and mild case of malnutrition aside, look on the bright side!” He chirped cheerfully, just to annoy me probably. “The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library, doesn’t that make you happy?”

“Hmm…yes, yes it does.” I said, trying to put some energy into the proclamation, but since my body was currently down to perhaps a few bites of daffodil and a hay fry that had been too far down my digestive tract to be expelled, none of which would have been processed into glucose yet, I was running on my meager lipid stores, which had already been run down during my search for the knowledge that had gotten me exiled to this abominably pastel part of the realm and thus I was unable to be anything more than annoyed and slightly listless. “It won’t be as expansive as the Canterlot library, but I should still be able to get the information I need to convince Celestia. I’ll take care of the preparations as quickly as possible and then get onto the important stuff.”

“But…when are you going to make friends like the Princess said?” Asked Spike. We were starting to descend, much to my relief.

“She said to oversee the preparations, I am her student and I will do my royal duty, but one: it’s impossible to become more than a passing acquaintance in the time I will actually be here, so it’s a moot point, and two: the fate of Equestria does not depend on me making friends.” I gratefully got off the chariot on slightly wobbly legs and walked up to the guardsponies that had been pulling it, nodding to them respectfully. “Thank you sirs, and sorry about the mess.” They snorted in either amusement or annoyance, I moved on before I was too tempted to figure out which.

“Maybe the Ponies here have interesting things to talk about.” Spike said as we were approached by a pink female with a particularly…poofy, mane. I watched her like I do anypony who gets close to me, in a way Celestia has irksomely described as ‘like you’re afraid they’re a poisonous snake about to bite you in the plot’. Which, in my defense, is normally what most ponies are like if my experiences in school and around Canterlot are anything to go by. He looked at me pleadingly, with those huge eyes he uses to bum treats and favors from the naïve fillies in the castle. I’m extremely grateful it doesn’t work on me though. “Come on Dusk, just give it a try!”

“Um…hello?” I ventured. I never know how to start conversations, especially with ponies I don’t know, so I usually try to buy time until they get down to the brass tacks. This time though, I did not get what I expected. The pink pony jumped five feet in the air with a loud gasp that I would have expected to hear from a mother who walked in on her young son playing doctor with a filly and dashed by us at a dead gallop. Hmm…maybe it’s my breath.

“Well that was interesting alright.” I said, rolling my eyes and orienting on the sign in the distance that marked the library. Before I do anything I have to wash my mouth out. 

A brief oral hygiene trip later and we were on our way to our first stop. Spike was holding a checklist I had made and unnecessarily read the first part out loud.

“First stop: Summer Sun Festival food preparation, Sweet Apple Acres.” I know a bit about Sweet Apple Acres, the zap apple jam and apple cider it produced made its way to the Castle every year…though if you wanted any you had to beat Celestia to it, a feat which I have yet to achieve (or see anyone else for that matter, she swears she’s not omniscient, but sometimes I wonder…). 

The place certainly looked the part: huge rows of apple trees stretching as far as the eye could see, a sizable corn field, a chicken coop, a hay field with huge bales of hay ready for transport (which were looking extremely good in my current state), a tremendous barn, a farmhouse, and at least one more field filled with crops I couldn’t identify. I could almost hear the banjo music playing as I walked up to the main gate. The place is appealing in a rustic sort of way, but I’ve never been very good with my hooves, and I’m a logical pony at heart, so I'm not one to get swept away by the romanticism that most of my brethren attach to the farming lifestyle.

“Yee-haw!” I was startled by a loud rebel yell sounding from my left. I turned around to see a pale orange pony with a blonde mane, a triangle of apples for a cutie mark, and a Stetson hat run at an apple tree loaded down with fruit. Then she twirled onto her front hooves in a practiced motion and bucked the tree with enough force to cause all the apples to fall into pre-placed buckets. Seeing as there was nopony else in sight I approached her, wincing at the necessity of doing so.

“Excuse me Ma’am? I’m Dusk Shine and I-” I was cut off by agonizing pain enveloping my right hoof like a vice. I looked down to see the farm pony was clenching my hoof in hers like she was trying to break it and shaking my foreleg up and down frantically.

“Well howdy-do mister Dusk! Ah’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin’ new friends!” She said as she tried to rip off my foreleg.

“Friends?” I asked, my voice tight with suffering. “Actually, I-”

“What can Ah do ya for?” She asked, winking and abruptly aborting her attempt to mutilate me. Spike chuckled, earning himself a brief glare. Ignoring him I turned back to Applejack and tried to sound official. I've found that it's a lot easier to get ponies to listen to you if you sound like you're important, I’m not nearly as good at it as Celestia is, but I think that’s understandable.

“Well, I’m acting in an administrative capacity on behalf of Princess Celestia, I believe that the staff here are responsible for the catering of the Summer Sun Festival, correct?” If I’d been in Canterlot, I would have had to add a few paragraphs to that and make the language much more officious if I wanted any of the bureaucrats to pay any attention to me, but I figured I’d be able to get away with somewhat less here in the country.

“We sure as sugar are!” Came the proud response. “Would you care to sample some?”

“Well, as long as doesn’t take too long.” Normally I wouldn’t have, but since my blood sugar is currently hovering around zero point six and my liver doesn’t have any lipid stores left judging by the headache I’m getting I suppose I could hit two birds with one stone and get some much-needed sustenance to ensure my body wouldn’t start leeching energy from what little musculature I have. 

To my surprise, instead of an affirmative answer Applejack whirled around and dashed off to a small metal object hanging from a tree, a moment of confused blinking later I realized it was a triangle of some sort. She grabbed the striker in a fine display of the mild telekinesis that earth ponies use to manipulate objects and made quite a racket with it, driving my headache to greater heights.

“Soup’s on everypony!” She called. My my, she’s got quite the pair of lungs for a pony her size. 

I heard the sound of the stampede a moment too late to react and I found myself in the midst of a crowd of unfamiliar ponies and being roughly ushered to a seat at a table I had not noticed earlier, with Spike right beside me. We were both surrounded by a truly massive group of ponies. Applejack suddenly popped up to my left and I fought the urge to let out a blast of telekinetic force at the fast-moving object in the corner of my eye. I’ve learned from unpleasant experience that ponies take a dim view of such things, even if it was entirely warranted. 

“Now, why don’t ah introduce ya’ll to the apple family?”

“Thanks, but I really need to hurry-”

“This here’s apple fritter.” Came Applejack’s voice, accompanied by a pony zipping up and depositing a pastry in front of me. This was continued in rapid succession over the next few moments, with a mountain of food quickly appearing. “Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Gold Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apple, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Aaand, Granny Smith.” The final member of the ludicrously large family, a wizened old mare with a pale green coat, her mane long since gone grey white and done up in a bun, was sound asleep in a rocking chair, snoring slightly. “Up and at ‘em Granny Smith, we got guests!” The snoring ceased and caramel colored eyes cracked open. She got up off the rocking chair and made her slow way over, saying something completely unintelligible, which the apple ponies somehow understood. Applejack smiled. “Well, ah’d say yer already part of the family!”

“Well, yes, ah,” I replied desperately. No food was worth this. “I can see the food situation is well in hoof, so we’ll be on our way.”

“Aren’cha gonna stay for brunch?” Came a small voice below me. I looked down to see a small filly with a bow in her mane giving me big sad eyes that put Spike’s to shame.

“Sorry, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.” I responded guiltily. As a rule, I don’t like other ponies very much, but foals are my weakness. I am absolutely terrified of interacting with them because they cry so easily, but seeing one of them sad really gets to me.

“Aww…” Went the apple family in shockingly perfect unison. The sight of all those crestfallen faces might have successfully guilted somepony else into staying, but I’ve got important duties to attend to and-pain. I glared at Spike, who had jabbed me in the side and was giving me a significant look. I sighed in defeat.

“Fine.”

“Yay!” Went the large clan, again in unison so perfect I suspect they must have practiced.







Roughly an hour later Spike and I were on our way back to Ponyville proper. The meal had been what one of the royal guards with an obsession with food and a particularly hyperbolic disposition would call a ‘food orgy’. I don’t think I’ve seen that many apples since the last time Celestia had dragged me and my brother off to go apple picking in an attempt to ‘do something normal’. I, knowing full well that my stomach would be quite delicate after its recent…misadventures, had tried to eat only lightly, but in retrospect I should have known that at a meal hosted by farm ponies ‘lightly’ meant something entirely different than what I was used to.


“Alright, that’s done. Now onto step two, weather.” Spike said, marking off step one on my checklist, looking over his shoulder at me with eyes all a-twinkle with amusement.

“Ugh, I have more carbohydrates packed into my G.I. tract than is even remotely healthy and I think I’m allergic to at least one of the spices they used in that Bundt cake. I don’t have the patience for this.” Nausea and annoyance taking turns to try and burn holes in my stomach lining. Time is running out and I need to get to the library!

“There’s supposed to be a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.” Spike said, ignoring me and looking around the sky searchingly. I followed his example.

“Well, wherever they are, they’re not doing a good job.” I grunted, scanning the sky. “That’s like what? Thirty, forty percent cloud cover? It’s supposed to be totally clea-OOF!” 

I was blown off my hooves by a sudden impact to my side, thrown a few feet laterally, and ended up in a mud puddle, cushioning somepony’s fall. The sudden blow to my gut made me gag and nearly vomit for the second time that day. Fortunately for whoever was on top of me, the pain from the impact stunned me long enough to remember violent pyrotechnics are generally frowned upon in public places. My will was tested, however, when the pony that had hit me opened her mouth.

“Hehehe…excuse me.” She said, getting off and floating above me. I gave her a steady look of stern disapproval. I didn’t trust myself to glare, if I did some magic might leak out and I’d have to explain to Celestia why I’d hospitalized somepony again. The cyan projectile giggled to herself as she looked my mud-covered form over. “Uh, here, let me help you.” She flew off and returned with a rain cloud, which she promptly used to douse me with ice-cold water, leaving me totally soaked, though the rising heat of my anger kept me warm. I could hear my teeth grinding. She giggled again. 

“Oops, I guess I overdid it. Here, how about my very own, patented ‘rainblow dry?” She flew in a tight vortex around me, creating a strong wind that dried me off at the expense of leeching all my body heat and leaving my mane in even more of a complete disarray than it normally was, and then she had the nerve to tell me not to thank her.

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t.” I forced through my gritted teeth, forcing myself to envision that disappointed look Celestia gives me when I let my temper get the best of me and I singe somepony. It kept me from doing something bad. This was made very difficult when she looked at the results of her whirlwind and broke out laughing, actually falling over and clutching her gut, followed shortly by Spike, who has the flimsy excuse of being a child and thus finding everything funny. I pretended that the sudden warmth pervading my flesh was caused by increased blood flow due to embarrassment instead of a buildup of elementally charged magic. “Let me guess. You’re Rainbow Dash.”

“The one and only!” Came the arrogant response as the pony in question floated up a few feet in the air. It was an annoying habit some pegasi had, forcing you to look up at them in mid-conversation implied dominance, though the effect was rather lost on me since I was too busy contemplating painful retribution. “Why, have ya’ heard of me?” 

“I heard you’re supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” I said with a pointed look at the clouds covering a fair portion of the sky. I sighed and forced my anger down into the psychological hole I normally keep it in, right next to my anxieties and compulsions. Being confrontational was a bad idea with pegasi, no matter how things have changed they’re all a bit militaristic as a result of their heritage, and the fact that they have cities pretty much all of their own means that their culture doesn’t change nearly as fast as the rest of Equestrian mainstream culture. As grating as it was, getting down to business without getting back at her was the best way, besides, I have important business to handle afterwards. “I’m Dusk Shine, and I’ve been sent by Princess Celestia to check on the weather.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll take care of that in a jiffy.” Replied the Pegasus, reclining on a convenient cloud. “I’ll get to it as soon as I’m done practicing.”

“Practicing for what?” I asked, flabbergasted that somepony would put a personal agenda ahead of an order issued by Celestia herself.

“The Wonderbolts!” Came the enthusiastic response, along with an aerial backflip. “They’re performing at the celebration tomorrow and I’m going to show ‘em my stuff!”

“The Wonderbolts.” I deadpanned.

“Yup!”

“The most talented flyers in all of Equestria.”

“That’s them!” Replied the star-struck mare. I fought the urge to facehoof. Her mind-numbing arrogance did present me with a prime opportunity for manipulation though. I rolled my eyes and put all the scorn I could manage into my voice, which is a lot.

“Please, they’ll never look at a pony who can’t even clear the sky for a single day.” It was a not-so-subtle jab at her Pegasus pride, but in my experience, it doesn’t take much of a jab at the largest part of any pegasus’ psyche to produce a result that completely circumvents their higher cognitive functions. I wasn’t disappointed at all.

“Hey! I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!” Hook line and sinker, and she gave herself plenty of rope to hang herself with too. Bonus! I smirked as I delivered the line that you could use to get a Pegasus to do anything short of suicide.

“Prove it.” Her eyes lit up and she instantly dashed off. 

What surprised me was the fact that she actually did clear the sky in ten seconds flat. The kind of speed she was flying at, not to mention the g-forces she had to be pulling in some of those turns, made me wonder if she’d had some of those illegal skeletal implants black market doctors gave to pegasi stupid enough to take the risk. Metal reinforced bones may sound cool, but only until your body rejects the implants and you end up dying horribly. Comic books, no matter how amusing, are not a good basis for real life medicine. When she was done Spike was staring in blatant awe, I restrained my reaction to a single raised eyebrow. She perched on a bridge and puffed out her chest.

“What’d I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hangin’!” She laughed again. “You should see the look on your face! You’re a riot Dusk Shine. I can’t wait to hang out some more!” 

“Wow.” Spike said as she flew off, leaving a rainbow contrail in her wake. “She’s amazing.” Then he took another look at my mane and broke out into a fit of giggles. Brat.






“Next up…decorations!” Spike read from my list as we walked into the building where Celestia was due to address the citizens of Ponyville. It had been hung with banners of all colors, not to mention streamers and other decorative paraphernalia that I didn’t recognize. “Beautiful!”

“Yes, it is aesthetically pleasing.” I don’t really care about interior design or décor, I’d be happy with a plain white cube of a room as long as I could read there, but by my own admission this was quite nice. “I’ll be at the library in no time!”

“Not the decorations, her!” I blinked in surprise and followed Spike’s love-struck gaze to the white pony with a well-coiffed purple mane doing the decorating. I raised an eyebrow. He was decades too young to be going through puberty, so this was just a crush, but still, that was quick. “How are my spikes? Are they straight?”

“Um, hello.” I began, only to be cut off.

“Just one moment! I’m ‘in the zone’ as it were.” She said, her tone adding the quotation marks around ‘in the zone’ in a way that instantly grated. It only got worse when she kept talking. “Ah, yes! Sparkles always do the trick! Why, Rarity, you are a talent.” 

Oh terrific, we aren’t going to see eye to eye. I can’t stand uppity artsy types, and the way she spoke in third person and gave herself a pat on the back was a dead giveaway. I don’t know how or why, but somehow once a pony gets it into their head that they’re some kind of highbrow artist they always look down on the rest of us as if we’re lower forms of life because we don’t ‘understand’ the ‘symbolism’ or the ‘meaning’ behind their ‘artistic vision’. I have a sizeable ego, I admit that, but the kind of frank superiority complex and blatant condescension that seems to come hoof in hoof with artistic talent is offensive to me. I swallowed my first response, which was shockingly rude, instead waiting for her to finish. And Celestia says I can’t be polite. 

“Now, how can I help yo-Aah! Oh my stars, darling, what happened to your coiffure?!”

“A long story.” I replied tersely. “I’m just here to check on the decorations and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“My hair? What about your hair?” She was suddenly behind me, pushing me towards a back door. I winced at the unwanted contact, my already abused sides sending silvery sheets of pain up my spine and neck.

“Oi, wait!” I dragged my hooves, but found myself unable to stop her, much to my humiliation, Spike practically floating along behind me. 

Somehow I ended up in the back room of a fancy clothing shop apparently owned by none other than the fashionista who had just abducted me. I found myself being stuffed into various ‘outfits’, each more outrageous than the last, from an old-style frock coat, to a polo shirt that nearly suffocated me, and finally a double-breasted suit a few shades darker than my already dark purple coat. Ugh.

“Now go on my dear, you were telling me where you’re from.” She had somehow started extracting information from me with an efficiency that would make any interrogator in the police proud.

“I’ve been sent from Canterlot to-.” I wheezed out as she attempted to garrote me with a hideously ruffly bowtie.

“Huh? Canterlot?! Oh I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I’ve always dreamed of living there! I can’t wait to hear all about it! We’re going to be the best of friends, you and I!” She crooned as she invaded my personal space to get her muzzle right next to mine. Then she glanced down at the bowtie that was currently causing my vision to narrow into a black tunnel and dashed off. “Ruffles, what was I thinking? Let me get you another one!”

“Quick Spike! Let’s leave before she decides to try and dye my coat a new color or cut my mane!” I grabbed my useless draconic companion and made a run for it, but not before removing the suit and leaving it on a nearby workbench. I may be rude, but I’m no thief.






“Wasn’t she wonderful?” Queried the infatuated dragon hitching a ride on my back as I walked out of town.

“Focus there Don Juan. Think with your big brain.” I grunted. "Let’s move on to the next thing on the list."

“Music.” Spike read, reluctantly tearing his mind away from whatever romantic rubbish it had been infested with. “It’s the last one!”

“Thank Celestia.” I grumbled. It was about then that I heard birdsong, not just any birdsong though, coordinated birdsong. I followed my ears and found a pale yellow Pegasus with a long pink mane conducting a tree full of birds…not something you see every day, to say the least. I saw her fly up to a branch, apparently communicating with one of the birds, which surprised me. But then again, if she was their conductor…sod it, I’m just not going to think about it anymore, if I start thinking about it I’ll have to know how she can talk to birds or else it’ll bug me until the day I die. I walked up and tried for a polite greeting.
“Hello.” The way the birds flew off and the Pegasus dropped to the ground with a squeak was a little much I think. “Oh, I apologize, I didn’t mean to scare your choir away. I’m just here to check up on the music and it seems to be going fine.”

The Pegasus very studiously didn’t look at me. Then she continued to not look at me. After that she didn’t look at me some more, and before long we had a good old-fashioned awkward silence on our hooves. I tried to smile invitingly, but I never got the hang of that, and I’m afraid I looked more psychotic than affable, ponies have told me that before.

“I’m Dusk Shine.” I ventured. Now, I’m no stranger to awkward silences, they tend to crop up a lot when I’m talking to somepony, but normally it’s because I said something wrong (and I highly doubt a ‘hello’ and an introduction qualify as wrong) or because the pony I’m talking to said something so insufferably stupid that I either can’t or won’t respond. I decided to try and be a bit more direct. “What’s your name?”

“Um, I’m…” She said something, but it was too quiet.

“I…didn’t catch that.”

“Um…I’m…” The volume was cut in half.

“I still didn’t hear.”

*Eepysqueak.* Well, buck if I knew how to respond to that. It was just then that the birds returned, good, I can use that as an excuse to leave.

“Well, looks like the birds are back. I won’t keep you any longer.”

*Squeak*

“Well, that was quick.” I commented to Spike, who took a few steps forward and (apparently) into the shy pegasus' line of sight because I suddenly heard:

“A baby dragon!” I was all but bowled over as the previously quiet Pegasus rushed to get to Spike and my well-tenderized body let me know that it was not happy with that. “Oh, I’ve never seen a baby dragon before! He’s so cute!”

“Well, well, well!” Spike said smugly, crossing his arms across his chest and lifting his chin up. Showoff.

“Oh my, he talks! I didn’t know dragons could talk. That’s just…so incredibly wonderful I don’t even know what to say!” How she managed to be so excited and still speak at a volume that falls below standard conversational range baffled me, but I was thoroughly annoyed by now. I got to my hooves, reflecting that I’d been knocked down by not one, but two ponies today, been grabbed by a third, and nearly strangled as well. That was more physical contact in one day than I normally get in a week. I swathed Spike in a sheath of telekinetic energy and floated him over to my back.

“Well then, I suppose we’d better be going.” I said, turning to the path that headed back to town and starting to walk. Annoyingly, the heretofore unnamed pony followed.

“W-wait, wait. What’s his name?” 

“I’m Spike!” Responded Spike happily, encouraging her in a way I distinctly disapproved of.

“I’m Fluttershy.” So she can tell Spike her name but not me? Geez, a second ago she couldn’t even talk and now she couldn’t stop. “Wow, a talking dragon, and…what do dragons talk about?”

“Well, what do you wanna know?” Dammit Spike, stop giving her a reason to follow us.

“Absolutely everything.” I had to fight the urge to ram my head into a nearby tree. Celestia keeps telling me to be nice to ponies, but it gets really hard when they keep wanting to talk.

“Well, I started out as a cute little purple and green egg…”  I can’t believe it, he’s literally giving her his life’s story, and she’s eating it up like Prince Blueblood gobbles Oxycodone. This is why I don’t like to talk to other ponies, once you get them going they talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk until your ears are about to bleed. They even keep going even after the important things have been said and the conversation should be over. By the time the library was finally in sight Spike was just rounding off the details of his life so far. “And that’s my entire life’s story, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?”

“Oh, yes please!” Okay, that’s it. I can’t take anymore. I briefly debated using my normal approach to ending conversations, walking away without a word or a flat ‘I’m done talking’, but my conscience niggled me and I was forced to concede. As long as I’m here I’m a representative of Celestia, and as such I have to be polite, or at least try to be.

“Oh, it looks like we’re here. I’m living in the library while I’m here and my little baby dragon needs his sleep.” I said, turning around to face Fluttershy.

“No I don’t!” Spike said indignantly from my back, only to ‘accidentally’ fall in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with telekinesis whatsoever.

“See, he’s so tired he can’t even stay on my back. Poor little guy.” I’m not a naturally gifted liar, but I’ve got plenty of practice, and Fluttershy bought it. Unfortunately though, she picked him up in her forehooves and actually went into the library ahead of me. 

“Oh, you poor little thing, we simply must get you to bed.” I rushed in after her and took possession of Spike and ushered her out gently but firmly.

“Yes yes, I’ll get right on it. Good night!” Then I closed the door. I turned around to find Spike glaring at me in the darkened library. I ignored the glare with practiced ease and focused on the more important thing, why were the lights off? This is a public building, it was during business hours, and the lights had been on when I came here before. Curious. I stored some magic in my horn just in case I needed to work a light spell or something and walked in.

“Huh, rude much?”

“She followed me.” I defended, scanning the room and wishing my eyes would adjust faster. “And I have to start gathering evidence to convince Celestia. I just need to be alone to study without a bunch of mentally unbalanced ponies trying to make friends with me all the time. Now where’s the light?”

“I think it’s over here.” Said Spike, still disgruntled. 

He turned around with his arms out in front of him, which was made moot when the lights suddenly flicked on and loud noise erupted from all around us. I spun around instantly, getting my back end against a wall and shoved more energy into my horn when I realized that the sound was party poppers and shouts of ‘surprise’ and not some kind of battle cry. The aura around my horn abruptly fizzled out as I took in the absurd scene in front of me. It looked like half the denizens of the town had crammed themselves into the room and were now staring at me expectantly. It was only then I noticed the streamers and confetti everywhere.

“Surprise!” Came a loud, saccharine voice to my right. It was the first pony I’d seen upon landing here, the one who had run off. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Huh? Huh? Huh?” She bounced around as she talked, just following her with my eyes made me a bit nauseous.

“Yeah, I was surprised. I thought libraries are supposed to be quiet, but I guess I missed a memo or something.” I deadpanned, the sarcasm flew right over her bubble gum colored head.

“Well that’s just silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean duh, boring! You see, I saw you when first got here remember? You were all like ‘hello’ and I was like *gasp* because I never saw you before and if I never saw you that means you’re new because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!” 

Sweet Celestia she wasn’t stopping. This is like my worst nightmare, some mare I don’t know jabbering at me at two hundred words per second. Ugh, at least there’s a drinks table. I need some extra fluids to replace the ones I lost over the side of the chariot anyway. I made my way over to it, ignoring her as she followed me. I grabbed the first convenient bottle and poured a little into a goblet, wanting to see if I liked it before I poured too much more. 

“And if you’re new, it meant you hadn’t met anyone yet, and if you hadn’t met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and you must be lonely! And that made me so sad, but then I had an idea! That’s why I was all like *gasp*! I’d just throw a super ginormous extra-fantabular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville, see! And now you have lots and lots of friends!”

When I saw the ponies I’d already dealt with earlier, the ones who were responsible for the various parts of the welcome celebration I tossed back the liquid in the glass in one large gulp. This got me some wide-eyed looks and even got the pink-haired motor mouth to pause. The liquid burned, a lot, and the burn didn’t fade either, it was doing just the opposite in fact.

“Uh…that was one hundred fifty one proof liquor.” Rainbow Dash said, half in awe, half in disgust. I looked at the bottle, which I thought was apple juice. I more thorough investigation of the label proved her right. It was a bottle of Sweet Apple Acers Extra Hard Spiced Cider. 

“Hmm, that explains why it tastes like solvent, at that alcohol content it nearly is.” I said listlessly, convinced that some higher power had it out for me (and suspecting that Celestia put them up to it). I wasn’t even going to fight it anymore. I sudden thought flicked across my frontal lobes, a fact I remember hearing about this particular spirit while listening in on one of the royal guards relate tales of drunken debauchery that had made me wonder how he hadn’t contracted every venereal disease in existence. I turned to Applejack, figuring she would know about the spirit since it was produced on her farm, and asked a rather important question. “What spices are mixed into the distillate?”

“Uh…cinnamon, clove, anise, and cardamom…why?” She answered, looking at me like I was slightly insane for drinking it straight. Her answer, though, proved that something upstairs hated me today.

“I’m allergic to anise.” I replied dully, feeling the start of the allergic reaction revving up in my gut. If I was lucky, it would stop with vomiting, but it would be wise to grab the epinephrine potion I always carry with me just in case. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go make sure I don’t pass out in anaphylactic shock.” And with that, I toddled off to the bathroom to vomit for the second time today. Buck My Life.






Some hours later, once the threat of allergy related suffocation had passed, and I had left a significant portion of my sizeable lunch in the toilet, I was lying on my bed with my head under my pillow, the very picture of misery. Below me the party was still going at full-tilt, amazing given that it was nearly sunrise. I growled angrily from underneath my headcushion-turned-hat and scowled at the door, wishing the ponies would go away and let me study. I’ve been completely unable to get anything done since I got here despite the fact that the room was very tastefully designed to be made almost completely out of bookshelves. None of the books here were what I needed, and there was no way I was going back down there. My sullen brooding was interrupted around six a.m. when the door opened and Spike came in, wearing a large lampshade strewn with torn bits of streamer and letting in far too much light for my sensitive eyes.

“Hey Dusk, Pinkie Pie’s started pin the tail on the pony, wanna play?”

“No!” I snapped angrily. “All the ponies in this town are certifiably insane! Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s the eve of the Summer Sun Festival. Everypony has to stay up to watch the Princess raise the sun.” He said, looking at me with a strange mix of annoyance and something that looked awfully like pity before turning around and going back to the party. “You really should lighten up Dusk, it’s a party.”

“Here I thought I’d actually be able to be productive here.” I growled to myself as he walked away. “But no, of course not, making friends is so much more important than the safety of the realm.” I looked out the window and gazed at the moon, swearing I could see an ominous shadow on the face of the moon, and four stars moving unnaturally towards it. “Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in Nightmare Moon’s escape and she will bring about everlasting night…I hope Celestia was right…I hope it’s just an old pony’s tale.”


As I watched the moon, visions came unbidden to play before my eyes. Visions of a realm shattered and ponies under the hoof of a dark new empress. Visions of plants withering and animals dying as they were deprived of the sunlight that was the basis of the circle of life. Without the sun the death of the realm, of the world, would be assured. I don’t know how long it would take for the plants to completely die but I did know that by the time they were all gone I am sure we would all be thinking them lucky, if any of us lived that long, which was doubtful. 

Without them recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide back into oxygen we would all literally suffocate. It might not get that far though. Social disorder and rioting would inevitably break out, martial law would follow. If the Elements of Harmony weren’t found in time and Nightmare moon banished there would be an inevitable fight, perhaps even a war if the Mare in the Moon had some kind of army of her own, and perhaps even if she didn’t. If she moved to take Canterlot the army would mobilize and attempt to defend the castle and Celestia from the threat. It would be pointless though, if the accounts of Nightmare Moon’s power were even half true the army would be slaughtered wholesale. It would be like ants attempting to kill an Ursa Major. That wasn’t the worst part though.


Most ponies don’t really take Celestia seriously anymore, it’s simply been too long since she’s displayed even a fraction of her power other than the daily rituals of raising the sun and moon, and even this feat of phenomenal cosmic power was so commonplace that nopony really thinks about how incredible it is, it’s become just another part of daily life; like the tides of the ocean and the growth of crops…nopony really stops to think how massively complicated and delicate the whole system is.  The moon pulls the tides, giving the ocean its metronome, which in turn drives the economy of almost every coastal town in Equestria, energy from the sun is converted into food for us, if you stop to think about it you can’t help but be struck by how amazingly intricate it all is, and how much power a being with control over the sun and moon really has. Which is just how Celestia wants it. 

Celestia has encouraged this over the centuries, she doesn’t want her subjects to fear her like they used to in the olden times when she was called on to use her powers in a martial capacity, she prefers them to like her, so she deliberately stays innocuous and set up the parliamentary system so that she became nothing more than a figurehead, a figurehead that still has the authority to give any order she wishes if the need should arise, and has much more political power than anypony outside of the elite of the elite of Canterlot are aware of, but a figurehead nonetheless.


If her realm is threatened, however, she is not one to sit on her laurels. If the threat was great enough she would be on the front lines, fighting. This scares me for two reasons: the first being that a fight between Celestia and any being that would necessitate her presence on the battlefield would inevitably cause so much collateral damage and loss of life it would go down in the history books for the rest of time, the second reason being…that she could lose. Celestia is not infallible, I know this better than anypony. Celestia has raised me since I was a foal, and I know her better than any pony in the realm. I’ve seen her at her grouchy worst in the mornings, I’ve seen her use a bathroom, hay, I’ve even seen her slightly drunk. She is very fallible, and, if things go poorly, it might be her that finds herself banished for a thousand years, or worse. By the time she got back, if she ever did, there would be no Equestria to return to. Just dust and bitter memories.


That is what I fear, more than anything else. Many things frighten me, but beyond all of them is the failure of the realm or the death of Celestia, they’re one in the same really. If her ponies were to all suddenly die, Celestia would not be long in following, and if Celestia were to die, the realm would fragment and destroy itself within years, perhaps it would not even take that long. I closed my eyes and forced the visions away.


“No.” I growled firmly. “That will not happen. I won’t let it happen. I don’t care what I have to do, I will not let the realm die, I will not let her be harmed. No matter what.”

Determination replaced my fear and I settled down to watch the wheeling stars silently, come what may, the realm and my teacher will live through tomorrow. I will see to that, even if it kills me. Spike came in a while later, seemingly no worse for having stayed up all night.

“Come on Dusk! It’s time to watch the sunrise.” He said brightly. I nodded and got up, walking down the stairs and out the door into the main room of the library, which was already deserted. Spike fell into place beside me and we walked out of the library, heading to the town hall.






The sky was a deep velvety purple that nearly matched my coat and still liberally speckled with stars as Spike and I walked in. The hall was already nearly full to bursting. Almost every resident of Ponyville was crammed into it eagerly waiting to see Celestia, a rare occurrence outside of Canterlot. I hadn’t spoken the whole way, feeling too somber to talk much. Spike had noticed, but hadn’t commented on it. Maybe feeling a portion of the same foreboding that I did, or perhaps just tired. Unfortunately for my nerves, Pinkie Pie was all too willing to fill the silence.

“Isn’t this exciting? Are you excited? I’m excited, I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited before, well except maybe that one time that I saw you walking into town and I went *gasp*, but I mean really, what can top that?” She was cut off by a musical sting, horns sounding and Fluttershy’s birds whistling imperiously. A spotlight kicked on and tracked down to illuminate the aged Mayor of Ponyville, who began to speak.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to introduce the Summer Sun Celebration!” She paused to allow for the inevitable cheers. My gut tightened, something was off, I could feel it. I bit my lip, still holding onto the hope that I was wrong. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year.” 

I saw a slight flash in one of the windows, from the moon. Please let me be wrong, please, please let me be horribly horribly wrong. For once in my life I don’t want to be right. 

“And now I am honored 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…” She had the crowd worked into a lather now, ponies were rearing and pawing the air, their excitement barely contained. “Princess Celestia!” There was another musical sting, birds sang, ponies cheered, and the curtain that had been pulled across a high balcony that was obviously meant to be the focal point of the room was drawn back to reveal…nothing. 

No…no, please no. Please let this be one of Celestia’s practical jokes and not what I think it is. The crowd fell silent for a moment before confusion erupted and everypony started talking at once. No, no, nonononononono. My whole body started to tense.

“Dusk?” Spike asked worriedly, I ignored him, scanning the room with every magical sense I had, trying desperately to locate Celestia. Instead I found something else. Somepony screamed as a midnight blue magical aura coalesced where Celestia should have stood. 

The bottom fell out of my stomach and terror flooded through my entire body. No, how was this possible? Celestia couldn’t have been taken without a struggle, there’s no way she could just have disappeared. The aura started to take a recognizable form. In that instant, fear turned from a force of petrifaction to a fuel, galvanizing my will and speeding my mind. 

I dashed ahead, weaving my way through the crowd quickly as magic suffused my body, preparing it to endure the increased demands I put on it as I hurtled towards the stage. I tried to shout a warning, but I was drowned out by the spreading panic and I didn’t dare take the time to use a voice amplification spell, I already had a shield spell spinning up, my own body enhancements, and a powerful offensive spell charging in my horn, three spells was all I could do at once, my mind, body and horn were all occupied. 

The doors all slammed shut to prevent any escapes and Nightmare Moon appeared in all her terrible majesty. Her coat was blacker than pitch, and the ornate blue breastplate and pseudo-helm she wore were both liberally emblazoned with lunar symbols that glinted omninously in the suddenly dimmed light. Her insane amber eyes sparkled with sadistic glee, and her presence alone was enough to root most of the ponies in the room into terrified stillness; what few weren’t captured by the aura of terror she radiated were frozen when she spoke, her courtly accent steeped in malice.

“Oh, my loyal subjects.” She began, gloating as only the genocidally insane can. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious sun-lined faces.” She lingered over the last word, enjoying the drama. From somewhere in the back, some dumb buck pony whose first reaction to the eldritch abomination before them was anger rather than completely sensible fear shouted.

“What did you do with our Princess?!” Nightmare Moon just laughed, a smooth laugh that couldn’t be properly called a cackle, but was too scornful and insane to be anything else.

“Why? Am I not royal enough for you?” She asked, teleporting to the main stage with a rush of visible magic and rearing up, showcasing her greater height. “Don’t you know who I am? Did you forget the legends? Did you not see the signs?”

“I did.” I called, I had almost gained the stage, and I leapt up onto it as I spoke, facing her head on. I had to keep her attention focused on me. The ponies in the crowd didn’t stand a chance. Buck, I didn’t stand a chance against a being that could take Celestia down without a fuss, but I had the advantage of a plan and enough magic to create a suitable distraction…I hope. “Nightmare Moon.”

This proclamation caused all the screaming to start again, at least until the abominable aura that shrouded Nightmare Moon like a fogbank responded to her will and rolled out over the crowd freezing them all in a terrified silence again.

“Well, well, well.” She said, amused, regarding me like a cat looking at an injured mouse. “It looks like someone studied their history. Then you should know why I’m here.”


Every rational part of my being was screaming at me to turn tail and run. Blast a hole in the wall and get as far as my legs and magic could take me, anything to get away from this thing that was in front of me. The other parts of me though, my loyalty to my Princess, to the realm, and the sheer egomaniacal determination that rears its head at the most inopportune times wouldn’t let me. In fact, right then, as I stared down the biggest threat to the realm that had existed in a thousand years, in front of a being that intended to destroy the realm as we knew it…I stopped being afraid. 

Deep down, underneath all the logic and cynicism that makes up most of my soul, I got angry. Defiantly angry. How dare this mare threaten our realm? How dare this pretender take our Princess?! My nostrils flared and my plan was formed. Anger fueled the raging torrent of magic coursing through my being, supercharging it. I wouldn’t let this invader get away with this. I only needed a little more time. Once again I drew upon my anger and did something I’m very good at: be monumentally rude. 

“Apparently you’re here to spout clichéd speeches and put on a show for our benefit.” I began, smirking a bit as I broke her momentum mid-gloat, insulting a pompous aristocrat mid-rant always makes them pause, it’s an old trick I picked up a long time ago in Canterlot. I continued quickly, not giving her room to respond. “I mean, really? Big amorphous aura, echoing voice, evil laugh? If you were a stallion I’d say you were compensating for a small penis. Did you read some kind of stereotypical evil overlord for dummies book or something?” 

That made the whole room gasp, and Nightmare Moon’s eyes shot open wide. It’s not every day you see a small purple pony shoot his mouth off to an eldritch horror. I suddenly felt her power constricting me and the shield spell I had been intending to protect the crowd with had to be repurposed in the interest of keeping my ribs intact.

“How dare you speak so crassly to me?” She hollered. She had me tight around the middle, but my hooves were free. Stupid move, and I’d make her regret it when my other spell was ready. I theatrically waved a hoof in front of my nose and made a face to emphasize my next snark.

“Whoa nelly, it smells like you’ve been eating rotten horse apples. What? The evil overlord position doesn’t come with a dental plan? At least have the courtesy to get some mints or something.” Insouciance is something that comes naturally to me, and I’m playing it for all its worth. “And to answer your question: I dare speak to you because you’re nowhere near as impressive as Celestia and I see no reason to-.”  

“Do not compare me to her!” The shockwave that accompanied the shout was painful, but informative. Mentioning Celestia like that was a gamble, but I really didn’t have anything to lose. If she didn’t react, I got time to think up something more insulting, but since she did react, I got a bit of information that might just save everyone in the room. She had a big red ‘do not push’ button front and center in her psyche. And, as suicidal as it may be, I’m about to stomp on it until it broke.

“Aww, what’s wrong? Big scawy moon thing jewous of Princess Celestia?” I sneered, desperately hoping I wasn’t pressing her too far and earning myself an instant death. I was, for all intents and purposes, doing a high wire act here, except the wire was monofilament and instead of a net there was a huge pile of rusty knives, axes, and used needles. “Feel like you can’t measure up to the true Princess of Equestria? Feeling like no one loves you? Like you have to go cut yourself and write angsty poetry? Aww, don’t worry…even though it’s true. I’m sure you can find a broom handle somewhere that’ll love you without judging.”

“Silence!” Screamed the creature of darkness, I winced and felt something warm start to trickle from my eyes, ears and nose. Good, I’ve gotten ludicrously lucky, she’s too angry to think the obvious thought ‘hey, why don’t I just squish him’. Just a little more time and then I can make my move. Which, of course, meant that I promptly ran out of ideas. 

Dammit, all my life I have a singular talent for making ponies angry without even trying and when it’s finally time to cash in on that dubious skill, it runs away. Typical. Desperation, like necessity, is a parent of invention though, and as I saw Nightmare Moon literally start to froth at the mouth a bit I switched tactics. I smirked and leaned in, taking a shot in the dark and hoping I was right.

“You know what? No. I won’t shut up. You know why? Because you’ve got no right to give me orders. You’re not Celestia. You’re not even in her league. You’re nothing compared to her. She garners awe and respect just by walking down a street, ponies love her within seconds of meeting her, she’s earned the loyalty of every pony in the realm without even trying. You, on the other hoof, have to threaten and bully ponies into fearing you because you’ve got nothing else. Beneath all your pomp and theatrics, you’re just a little foal shouting for attention. You’re not even a cut-rate imitation of Celestia. You’ve got no place in this land or this world. I’ve seen Celestia uncloaked, I’ve felt the power she radiates, and let me tell you, you don’t even come close. You’re nothing but a pale, thin, shadow of her. No, not even that really. You’re no different than a whining. Little. Foal.” I knew I had finally crossed the line when she instantly went from foaming and slavering to calm and collected faster than any sane mind could switch gears.

“You are lucky, my little pony.” She said, her voice quiet, but carrying throughout the room in a way it shouldn’t have been able to; which made it all the creepier. My shield strained as the force of her grip increased. Just a few more seconds… “You will serve as a fine example as I paint the walls red with your blood.”

“Red’s not really my color.” I snarked in a strained voice. Just…a little…yes! My face split into a grin that matched hers for crazy as I felt the magical forces I’d been gathering finally fall into line. “How about a nice shade of…plasma?”


The magic I’d been storing and shaping in my horn flowed out all at once, part of it transforming to matter for a split second before the other half of the spell took effect. My shield instantly thickened and changed magical frequency to prepare for what was happening. Right in front of Nightmare Moon’s face, right under the halfway point of her horn, a small orb of matter appeared, and was instantly heated thousands and thousands of degrees Celsius. Molecules shattered as energy flooded into them, their component atoms started moving so fast they flew apart. Solid turned to liquid, liquid to gas, and gas to luminescent plasma as my spell violently altered reality. 

Heat and light exploded from the spell, igniting banners, parts of the stage, and singing a few unlucky ponies close to the stage I’m sure. My shield helped me, but I still lost a few hairs. Nightmare moon, who hadn’t been expecting the attack, had even less fun than I did. She screamed in surprise and what I hoped was pain, then I took advantage of my free forelegs and slugged her in the mouth. I couldn’t properly wind up, suspended in the air as I was, and I’m no athlete, but it sure as hay got her attention. 


I was suddenly thrown violently across the stage, only to be stopped by a wall. The impact drove the air from my lungs and I fell to the ground with a grunt. When the black spots disappeared from my eyes I looked up at the smoldering stage to see Nightmare Moon glaring down at me. Damn. I hadn’t expected to kill or even incapacitate her with that, but I had hoped it would have done a little more than that. I had achieved my goal though, her concentration was broken, the doors were no longer sealed by her will. All of that was focused entirely on me. Somehow the Mayor found her voice and delivered a well-meaning, but profoundly stupid order.

“Seize her! She’s the only one who knows where the Princess is!” Dammit! I went through the trouble of getting her angry and getting her attention so you could all run! I tried to countermand the order, but my breath was still gone. The royal guardsponies leapt into action, relying more on training than thought no doubt. Nighmare Moon reared and lightning flashed, they all fell to the ground.

“Stay back you fools!” She shouted. “I will not be taken like some petty criminal! I am your ruler now, your Queen! I will rule over the eternal night that started the moment my hooves touched the soil of Equestria!” 


I lurched unsteadily to my hooves and took a closer look at her, she was singed. She was actually singed. I had damaged her. Suddenly a thought flashed across the forefront of my mind. She didn’t have her full power yet. She really should have just snapped me in half when I was snarking at her, but she didn’t. Yes, it made sense, banishment spells don’t have expiration dates, they don’t just suddenly wear off one day, they’re permanent. What changes over time is the strength of the binding, the walls of the prison. They’re at their strongest at the start, but in time they wear down to a minimum strength which they maintain indefinitely. That’s why they’re so hard to pull off, they need to be set up in such a way that they pull a certain amount of magical power out of their surroundings to fuel themselves. You need enough power to keep whatever you’re banishing contained but you have to be careful not to overload the structure of the spell itself or draw so much of the ambient energy that everything in the area dies and the ambient magic in the area dies off completely. 

The spell that held Nightmare Moon must have been hideously complicated and powerful, it would have to be if it was going to contain something like her. It was also a stroke of genius to seal her on the moon. The moon may be lifeless rock, but it has the advantage of having a huge area to use to construct a magical prison without worrying about harming anypony. You could, if you were skilled in a way almost impossible for a mortal, set up the spell to draw from the entire moon’s ambient magical field instead of a small section of it, ensuring that you would have enough power to maintain a barrier strong enough to imprison something like Nightmare Moon.


Between breaking the banishment spell and warping from the moon to Equestria must have sapped almost all of her strength. Even for a being as powerful as her, the banishment would have proven costly to dispel, and the power needed for a teleport increases exponentially with distance. Getting from the moon to here, hay, even Celestia would pause to think that one over. If she was weak still, biding time to restore her strength. I had another opportunity to act, but it had to be fast, she wouldn’t be vulnerable forever, and I’d already hit her with one of my best shots. I couldn’t take the time to conjure up another ghetto star, but I know plenty of other spells. Dumping more magic into my horn I fired off three quick bolts of energy, hitting  her dead center with each, wringing an extremely satisfying glare from her. 


“Your efforts are futile. I am beyond such pathetic magic. Just know this, my little ponies.” She turned dramatically to address the cowed crowd. “Celestia is gone, I go now to finish her and drain her power for myself, and then…I shall return for you.”


With that she dissolved into an amorphous mass of dark magic and zipped out a nearby window, shattering the glass despite never once coming in contact with it physically. Damn, I have to move. I don’t know if she was telling the truth or not. She might have just said that to cover her retreat, but then again she might not have been lying. Doesn’t matter, lying or not, it doesn’t change what I need to do. I need to find the Elements of Harmony, quickly. If Celestia’s alive, then I’ll be able to save her, if not, I’ll kill Nightmare Moon, or die trying…most likely the latter. 

Regaining my equilibrium after getting my head slammed into a wall wasn't easy, but I did it. Then I pushed and shoved my way towards the nearest door, taking a quick detour to grab spike and set him on my back via telekinesis. Once I was out the door I made for the library as fast as my hooves could take me, ignoring Spike’s shouts as I galloped recklessly through the streets. 

When I got back I practically tore the rear door off its hinges opening it and dashed into the main room, searching the shelves frantically for anything that looked like it would help me find the Elements. I only stopped when Spike fell off my back. I looked down to find him blearily looking up at me. I sighed and bit back my impatience. He had been up all night, and he was just a baby after all. I picked him up telekinetically and ran upstairs briefly to deposit him on my bed, covering him in the blankets before returning to the library and tearing it apart looking for clues.


“Elements…Elements…damn it, how the hay can I do anything without the Elements of Harmony?!” I growled. Then I heard a loud crash and an angry Pegasus that I recognized as Rainbow Dash was in my face.

“And what exactly are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare moon? Are you a spy?” Oh, you have got to be bucking kidding me. That whole room saw me practically blow myself up in order to distract Nightmare Moon and she thinks I’m the villain here? I can hardly expect anypony to be rational right now, but I don’t have time for this. My horn glowed and I nearly grounded her permanently before another voice piped up and Rainbow Dash was pulled backwards.

“Simmer down sally.” Came the admonition, delivered in Applejack’s drawl. The other ponies I had run into today were here as well. “He ain’t no spy. But he sure knows what’s goin’ on. Dont’cha Dusk?”

“I’ve studied the prophecies and writings regarding Nightmare Moon’s return.” I said, explaining would be quicker than fighting them, but I still resented the wasted time. “The only known weapon capable of neutralizing her is a group of objects called the Elements of Harmony. The problem is I don’t know what they are, where to find them, or even what they do. Nopony does as far as I can tell. The great library of Canterlot doesn’t have any-”

“The Elements Of Harmony, a Reference Guide.” Read Pinkie Pie from the side of the room. My eyes shot open and I bowled her over rushing towards the book.

“Where did you find that?!” I shouted. How could this little rural library have something the great library of Canterlot didn’t?

“It was under E!” Came Pinkie’s sing-song voice as she bounced a few feet away. My face fell flat and emotionless. I had walked right into that one. Ignoring that, I grabbed the book telekinetically and opened it up, reading from it.

“Introduction…not important…pretentious twaddle…outright lies…ah! Here we go! There are six Elements, but only five are known: Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. The last known location of the elements was the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters in Everfree forest.”







Jump cut a few minutes and a run later, and I (along with five hangers-on) were at the entrance to the eldritch forest that all of Equestria loved to fear. My companions were all visibly frightened, well, except Pinkie Pie, but I’m beginning to assume she’s on some kind of powerful psychoactive drug. Predictably, it was also the pink pony that spoke first

“Whee! Let’s go!”

“Hold it.” I spoke quickly, stopping her in her tracks. I’m not going to be responsible for getting somepony killed by letting them go into Everfree forest. A lot of the dangers of the place are exaggerated, but the ones that aren’t are more than enough to get you killed in any number of unpleasant ways. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m going in alone.”

“No can do sugar cube.” Drawled Applejack. “There’s no way we’re lettin’ no friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We’re stickin’ to you like caramel on a candy apple.”

“You do realize that you’ve known me for all of a day, correct?” I pointed out.

“That don’t matter none.” She replied dismissively. I almost commented on her double negative, but they’d already started walking, and the way she said it made my insides twitch just a bit, but hay if I knew why. Dammit, I don’t have time for this. I quickly moved to catch up and we plunged into the most dangerous forest in the whole realm. 

A few minutes later and they were all jumpy, looking over their shoulders nervously. It was an effect of the eldritch magic that infested this place. In a way it was similar to Nightmare Moon’s aura, but it was faint here. We were far from the sources of the otherworldly blight that had earned this forest its reputation. I could feel them, faintly, far off in the distance. The energy that had leaked this far wasn’t enough to cause the mutations and distortions in the fabric of reality that it could if it was concentrated, but it was plenty potent enough for those uninitiated in such things to feel it and be afraid of it.

“S-so none of you have ever been here?” Rainbow Dash asked, trying to be nonchalant, but her voice quavered and she failed.

“Good heavens, no!” Rarity said. “I mean look at it, it’s dreadful!”

“It just ain’t natural.” Applejack commented. This, of course, only got them more worked up. Since we were nearing a cliff, I decided to take a break from trying to formulate something resembling a plan, like I had been since we started, and try to reassure them. It wouldn't be good if one of them panicked and knocked one or more of us off the cliff.

“Relax.” I said, trying not to sound annoyed or angry. “What you’re feeling is the magic that tainted this place. It’s nowhere near strong enough to harm you, but it’s…different, different in a way that your hindbrain doesn’t like. You’re all feeling like you’re being watched right? Like there’s some predator lurking nearby, just waiting to pounce?”

“Y-yeah!” Rainbow Dash said. “How’d you know?”

“Because I’m feeling the same thing.” I replied. “I just know why. There’s nothing hiding in the bushes. What’s happening is that you’re sensing the blighted magic, which is coming from miles away mind you, and your subconscious doesn’t really know what to do with it, so it’s interpreting it as a threat.”

“You know…” Rarity began. “I do believe I see what you mean. I believe I can feel…something, off that way.” She waved her horn in the direction of the source of the foul magic. “But this place is so soaked in the awful stuff that it’s making me nervous.”

“The magic can’t spread any further than it has.” I informed them. “It’s taken centuries for it to filter this far, but the spread of the magic is monitored by the royal army, the border hasn’t moved in generations.”

“W-why can’t it spread further?” Asked Fluttershy as we got to the cliff and turned left onto a narrow path that descended downwards.

“It doesn’t work on this plane of existence, the rules of reality are different here. Linear time in particular has a detrimental effect on the structure of…” I glanced backwards to see five blank stares. I curtailed my explanation with a sigh. “Let’s just say it’s complicated and leave it at that.”

“Oh…okay.” Fluttershy said, obviously unconvinced. I opened my mouth to respond when I felt the ground beneath my hooves give a sickening lurch and suddenly there was no ground at all.

Well, buck.

I, along with the other non-winged members of this little party, tumbled down the slope uncontrollably. I felt approximately ten thousand rocks try to lodge themselves in my flesh as I went, leaving bits of myself all over the ground. Thankfully the grade wasn’t quite so severe closer to the cliff and I was able to get control before I slid over the precipice and tumbled to my death. Unfortunately I was already halfway over the edge when I was finally able to stop myself. The cliff, being an overhang at the end, offered no purchase for my hind legs, so that wasn’t an option. I searched around for anything large enough to use for a platform for levitation, but there was nothing but small rocks. Seeing no other option I started scanning the internal structure of the cliff side, hoping I would find it stable enough that I could pull a portion of it out. No such luck, the whole thing was cracked and unstable, the instant I tried to grab a portion of it the whole thing would give way and I’d be falling down to my doom accompanied by a large number of rocks which would be more than happy to cause my end if the sudden stop at the end of the long fall didn’t. 

My mind worked rapidly, speeding up as minds can only do under the influence of adrenaline. The only feasible plan I could think of would be to levitate myself. This, while sound in theory, has gotten almost all the unicorns who tried it killed. Primarily, this is because levitation, true levitation, the act of making gravity ignore something, involves pouring carefully structured magic into the object you want to float. This works fine most of the time, but if you did it to yourself the feedback produced by your magic entering your own body would cause an arcane short-circuit that would at the very least leave you brain-dead, or worse, completely destroy your ability to use magic at all. 

The other option, the one I would have to use, would be to use telekinesis. Once again this sounds simple in theory, I’ve used telekinesis on living things countless times, but doing it on yourself is tricky for the same reason that levitating yourself is suicidal. The only difference between the two is that telekinesis is an external application of magic whereas levitation is internal. I could try teleportation, but the ground up slope is covered in debris I could end up accidentally teleporting a portion of myself into, which would be unpleasant in the same way that getting stabbed in the gut is unpleasant, and I had no idea how far I was to the bottom of the cliff, so odds are I would just end up falling from a lesser (if no less fatal) height; or I could overshoot and end up underground, where I would be instantaneously killed and never be seen or heard from again. It was just too dangerous to try. I was just getting ready to carefully wrap myself in bands of telekinetic force when I heard scuffling and Applejack called out.


“Hold on! Ah’m a-comin’!” She slid into view and grabbed my hooves.

“Can you pull me up?” I asked desperately. She tried gamely, but she was in the worst possible position for leverage, lying on her belly, legs splayed awkwardly. There was just no way she was going to be able to do anything. I resumed my preparations and broke character by asking a question that was rather pointless and I already knew the answer to.

“Any other ideas?” I was just getting ready to get started when she replied, and the reply was enough to break my concentration.

“Dusk, let go.” ...What?

“I know I’m a jerk but you can’t want me dead already.” I grunted, my hooves starting to slip.

“Look here, what Ah’m tellin’ you is the honest truth, let go, and you’ll be safe.” I felt something just then, a tiny spark of…something. I hesitated to call it magic, but it was certainly something similar, coming from the blonde pony. Her eyes were…well, she was convinced, and convincing. She really did believe I would be safe. So I, hardly able to believe what I was doing, let go. Gravity took effect immediately and I slid off the edge and began to plummet. All I could see was sky and ground repeated in a sickening procession, and then, just as I was sure I was going to strike the ground and die after all, I stopped.

“Oof!” I grunted as my momentum was abruptly halted. After my vision stopped swimming I noticed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy holding me up and…smiling at me. We were descending slowly, and Fluttershy’s smile became a bit strained.

“Sorry, I’m not used to carrying anything more than a bunny or two.” She murmured. I thanked them both distractedly, watching Applejack jump down a series of ledges. I had definitely felt something from her. I don’t know what, but something had happened and my instincts were poking the back of my mind with a stick, telling me it was important. Once my hooves were on the ground again I scanned myself for injuries, found dozens, and decided to ignore them for now, no medical supplies and an important goal after all.


A quick reorientation later, and we were all headed for the castle of the royal pony sisters. Rainbow Dash started recounting a tale of her exploits in the rescue almost as soon as we started walking, but I tuned her out. Something was off about this whole thing, Celestia was too powerful to be taken without a fight, and even though she may not be omniscient, she still has more senses than you can shake a stick at, and I know for a fact that if she is in the same room she doesn’t need to physically look at something in order to see it. 

If Nightmare Moon was so drained by her release that I was able to actually singe her, then a fight between her and Celestia should have played out like a rat getting hit by a chariot. Unless there is some way of restraining or incapacitating her that I’m not aware of, which is a distinct and uncomfortable possibility, I can’t think of how she could have disappeared like she did. Also, something was niggling me about the castle, about the royal pony sisters. Nothing I can put a hoof on, but I feel like there’s some kind of hugely obvious connection I’m just not making. My reflections were cut off when I became aware that Rainbow dash was addressing me.

“-then me and Fluttershy loop-de-looped around and bam! Caught you right in midair!” She finished smugly, landing on the ground beside me and strutting.

“Yes Rainbow. I was there, I am quite familiar with the situation. Intimately so. In fact, it’s given me a few grey hairs and knocked a few years off my total lifesp-” I was cut off by a loud roar. The roar was then cut off by a rock impacting my head. I hit the ground hard and was momentarily blinded and deafened by the neurological effects of the impact. 


When I got ahold of myself I saw the rest of the group, minus Fluttershy, fighting a manticore. I was surprised to see Rarity, the last pony I’d expect to actually participate in a fight, get her hooves dirty and buck the thing right in the chops. After that though, she made the classic newbie mistake of stopping to say something. I couldn’t make it all out, but I distinctly caught the word ‘ruffian’. Then it roared and took a swipe at her, which resulted in her turning tail and running. Not a bad plan actually. 

I staggered to my hooves, ruing the amount of cranial damage I’d taken today, and assessed the situation. Manticores are resilient suckers magically speaking, to say nothing of their physical strength and endurance. In order to get rid of this thing I’d have to conjure up something powerful, powerful enough to endanger anypony near the thing when I let it loose. I started charging my horn with fire magic, compressing it and tightening it in a way it distinctly didn’t like, preparing to make something like the mini-star I’d used on Nightmare Moon earlier, except more directed and not quite so likely to kill anypony near it.

Then Applejack jumped on top of it and, to my complete disbelief, tried to ride the thing into submission…or something. I’m not entirely sure she thought it through. Either way, it bucked her off quickly, which Rainbow Dash took as her cue to get in on the action. She started whirling around the thing at high speeds, maybe trying to create a vortex powerful enough to lift it and throw it, but unfortunately for her, it managed to swat her out of the air rather magnificently. Finally, I had a shot, I ducked my head and sighted my horn onto the hairy bucker’s center mass, preparing to char it from the inside out when Fluttershy jumped in front of it to stop the rest of us from attacking.

“Wait!” She shouted, in the loudest voice I’d ever heard from her. Obligingly, everypony stopped.

“Get out of the way!” I shouted uselessly. She had already turned around and started speaking to it, ignoring everything we all shouted at her. My heart clenched, I didn’t want to see her get torn apart by that thing. She got closer as I desperately ran to the side, trying to find an angle from which to make my shot without catching her as well, but the narrow defile we were on foiled me. Her body blocked my view of it as she got within striking distance. No! It roared, lashed out, and…hugged her? I got closer, noting that everypony else had the same gobsmacked look on their faces that I’m sure I did. When I got close enough to edge past I could hear her talking to it as it licked her and purred. I noticed a large thorn on the ground, and saw that one of the manticore’s paws had a lightly bleeding hole in it.

“Aww, you’re just a cute little baby kitty aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are!”

“It’s not exactly ‘little’.” Rainbow Dash said under her breath as she walked by the thing, eyeing it warily the whole way. A sentiment with which I agree wholeheartedly. I lagged behind the rest of the group as Fluttershy caught up with us, smiling, happy, and seemingly unaware of the fact that her mane looked like someone had dipped it into a bucket of styling gel and sat her out in a force five gale. I powered down my horn, wincing a bit as the heated energy coursed back through my magical circulatory system.

“How did you know about the thorn?” I asked.

“I didn’t.” She said, her eyes getting a far-away look as she spoke. “Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness.”

I felt that twinge again, what the hay? I know neither Fluttershy or Applejack are capable of the kind of magic that I can passively sense. Something is definitely odd here, and for the life of me I can’t figure out what. The words of the reference book kept scrolling past my mind’s eye as we continued to walk, venturing into a darker section of the forest now. The legend of the royal pony sisters was bugging me more though. It had been part of what clued me into Nightmare Moon’s return, and the legend, if you could really call it a legend since it was obviously grounded in fact, was inextricably tied up with the Elements of Harmony. It was Something about the famous illustrations of the legend, the ones that had been found by an expedition to the very castle we were headed to. They were plastered all over every book about the legend that had been made since adding illustrations to books was made cheap and relatively easy by modern printing technology. 

I feel like the big, obvious connections are right between my hooves, ready for the taking, but they’re like bars of soap in the shower. My contemplations were, once again, halted, but this time it was because I almost tripped on a tree root. I looked around and found that the area we were in was as much swamp as it was forest, the ground was soft and soupy in place, the trees had hanging lichens and mold coverings so thick it was hard to find actual bark in some places, and the whole place smelled like wet rot. Ironically, this is actually a good thing. It meant we were on the right track. The castle of the royal pony sisters is located on the rim of a giant (and slightly oblong) geological bowl that spans for miles and miles at its widest and only about two at its thinnest. Due to the difficult geography and general abandonment of this place, the only way to get to it was to go directly across it in a straight line, which meant crossing the fringes of a swamp (where we were now) and the river that was at least partly responsible for the geological formation.

“Ugh, my eyes need a rest from this awful muck.” Rarity said disgustedly. Now, saying something like that in a dark spooky forest is equivalent to showing the universe a big sign that says ‘screw with me’. Murphy, being a pony I am intimately acquainted with but completely loathe, took the invitation, and not a second after she said that the forest around us was blacker than pitch. “I didn’t mean that literally…”

“That ruin could be right in front of our faces and we’d never even know it!” Rainbow Dash muttered. Then there was a squishing sound and Applejack made a sound of disgust.

“Ah think Ah stepped in somethin’.” She grunted. Fluttershy screamed. “It’s just mud-ah!”

More screams followed. I only wondered why for a second. The trees around us had taken on a distinct glow and were looking uncomfortably carnivorous for autotrophs. I could swear they also started moving towards us. I hastily dumped the magic back into my horn as I backed up, ending up in a circle with the others. Fire magic would be risky here, a forest fire would kill us for sure, but if I’m about to fight a bunch of hostile ambulatory trees fire is probably my best bet, and besides, the area here is plenty wet. The girls were screaming loudly behind me as I charged up my shot. Which was about when we all noticed that one of the loud sounds wasn’t screaming, it was laughing. We all turned, incredulously, to (who else?) Pinkie Pie. She was right in the ‘face’ of one of the strange trees and was laughing like she’d heard the funniest joke of her life. She even started making faces at it. Ugh, first Fluttershy and now Pinkie, what is it with these ponies and putting themselves in danger.

“Pinkie, move!” I shouted. She ignored me (and the others, who made similar invocations). She just turned to us and shook her head slightly.

“Oh come on, don’t you see?” She paused and bounced slightly in place in a way that was familiar to anyone who had ever performed music before. She was getting into a beat. “When I was a little filly and, the sun was going down~,”

“Tell me she’s not.” I said flatly.

“The darkness and the shadows they would always make me frown!”

“She is.” Confirmed Rarity.

“I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw, but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all!” Oh you have got to be bucking kidding me. “She said, Pinkie you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears! You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear!”


She stopped to laugh directly at one of the trees and, to my utter shock, the face on it vanished in a puff of smoke. It was an illusion of some sort, something that was subtle enough not to be noticed up close and that fed on…fear? I’d never heard of something like that, but in a place like this and with Nightmare Moon around you could never know.


“So, giggle at the ghosty, guffaw at the grossly, crack up at the creepy, woof it up with the weepy, chortle at the cooky, snortle at the spooky.” She started pushing us all in front of various trees. The others laughed and sure enough, poof went the illusions. I didn’t laugh at mine, I stared at it, the energy felt familiar, and it only took me a few moments of feeling it out to detect the taint of Nightmare Moon’s influence in it. I’d never forget the feeling of that aura. Just remembering it made me angry. She had apparently made off with Celestia somehow, and although I hadn’t felt the massive surge of magical backlash that would have signaled Celestia’s demise, I was still impatient to move on.

“Come on Dusk!” Said Pinkie, suddenly appearing right next to me. “Laugh at it!”

“Yeah, come on! It actually works!” Crowed Rainbow Dash, the others voiced similar thoughts. I scowled at the tree, not finding anything about this situation remotely funny, before I remembered that my horn still had a substantial charge of magic in it, and I had a convenient target that is. Then I smiled…right before unleashing the magical charge all at once. The bright red beam of superheated magic reduced the tree to cinders and continued onto a convenient hill, where the energy dissipated itself into the wet, swampy earth, making a rather magnificent steamy crater in the process. After that, the tree was reduced to a few small wood chips and dead leaves raining down on us and a slightly smoking stump. I turned to leave and saw the others giving me shocked looks.

“You were supposed to laugh...” Applejack said. I looked at her and then back at the stump.

“Ha ha ha.” I deadpanned. Time waits for nopony.







The next segment of the forest continued in the general downhill fashion that the first bits had, and before long I could hear running water coming up. I wasn’t really interested in that though. After that shockingly incongruous musical number (I had to give credit where its due, Pinkie can improvise, and do it well) I had, once again, felt that odd tingle of magic, this time coming from her. It was really starting to drive me insane. Pinkie, as strange as she is, is still just an earth pony, she shouldn’t be capable of magic, and yet, she apparently was. 

The more I think about it, the more my mind keeps going back to the Elements of Harmony, still getting the infuriating feeling that I was missing something manifestly obvious. I had to curtail my contemplation when we came up to the source of the running water sounds I had heard. It was a river, and one hay of a river at that. It wasn’t too big as far as rivers go, at least not this particular part wasn’t, but what it lacked in size it made up for in rapids. The whole bloody thing was a class five whitewater. I didn’t see any rock formations to cause the disturbance, and I was momentarily puzzled as to why the river was so rough. Then, as if to answer my unasked question, a large segment of purple serpentine flesh reared up out of the water and splashed back down, splattering me with river water. Oh. A sea, er, river serpent. Terrific. 

“Does anyone else hear…crying?” Fluttershy asked. I pricked my ears and, sure enough, if I focused and tried to listen through the cacophony of raging water I could, indeed, hear somepony or something crying. In unspoken agreement, we all started following the sound. What we found at the source was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen, and coming from somepony who grew up in Canterlot and dealt with the hallucinogen-addicted artists and actors that make up a decent amount of its population on a daily basis, that’s saying something.

Rising up out of the water was a purple serpent, but this one was not like most of its kind. Instead of a cold-blooded carnivorous killer completely without higher cognitive functions, this one was apparently intelligent…and it had hair. Dark goldenrod locks were carefully arranged about its vaguely draconic head in a fashion that even I recognized as being fashionable, which begged the questions: how does a serpent know what’s in vogue, how does a serpent style it’s hair and keep it that way, and most importantly, why the buck does an aquatic reptile have hair in the first place?


“Uh…” I began, how does one go about speaking to a well-coiffed serpent anyway? “Why are you crying?”

“Why, I was just swimming here, minding my own business, when suddenly this tacky cloud of blue magic swipes by and tears half of my beloved moustache clean off!” It pointed a webbed digit at…half of a moustache. “Now I look simply awful!” It fell backwards into the river dramatically, soaking all of us in a freezing deluge. I summoned my magic to heat myself up and started calculating the amount of power I’d need to remove the rest of the thing’s facial hair, as well as its head.

“How're we gonna get across?” Applejack asked, looking at Rainbow Dash contemplatively. Rainbow shook her head.

“I’m a good flyer, but I couldn’t carry you guys across without a harness, not as wet as we are. You’d slip.” She explained.

“I could blast it.” I said. “One good shot to the bottom of the jaw, around the base of the tongue, and he won’t be worrying about his moustache anymore…or anything else for that matter.” 

“You can’t be serious?” Rarity asked, rearing up and sounding appalled. The others didn’t seem too happy about it either, Fluttershy in particular.

“Princess Celestia could dying as we speak, the realm is in danger. If I have to blast a hundred serpents to get to her I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

“Oh, do stand back. I will handle this.” Rarity said, looking at me sourly. I just raised an eyebrow.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Excuse me, sir?” She called, getting the serpent to raise its head again. “Ignore my boorish companions, I know how important it is to look good. I mean, just look at those polished scales of yours!”

“I know…” Responded the serpent glumly.

“And that expertly coiffed mane!”

“I know, I know!” It replied dramatically. This is ridiculous.

“Your fabulous manicure!” Okay, that’s a stretch even for-

“It’s so true!” I resisted the urge to facehoof and resumed my power calculations.

“All ruined without your beautiful moustache!”

“It’s true, it’s true! I’m hideous!” Sheesh, between these two there’s more drama than those soap operas Celestia watches.

“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!” She declared dramatically, making up a word in the process. Then, lightning fast, she gripped one of its scales in her teeth and ripped it out before neatly severing her own tail. Everypony blinked in surprise, and the serpent fainted theatrically. She dropped the scale, which was probably for the best, given how unsanitary it probably was, and levitated her tail magically, fusing it with the cropped half of the serpent’s moustache. Another one of those strange twinges skittered across my magical senses.

“Oh! My moustache! I look fabulous!” Gushed the serpent, preening.

“You look simply smashing.” Said rarity, admiring her work.

“R-Rarity, your beautiful tail…” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, it is fine.” Rarity replied, though it sounded a little strained. “Short tails are in this season, besides, it’ll grow back.”

“So will the moustache.” Grumbled Rainbow Dash, ignored by all. The serpent, happy again, had stopped its thrashing, and the river was calm. I took the opportunity to wade into the water and start crossing.

“Finally.” I said. “We can cro-ah!” An arch of scaly flesh erupted beneath my hooves.

“Allow me!” Declared the serpent, forming its body into a series of arches. Not one to look too closely at a gift of serpentine provenance (I’m not a very good swimmer), I jumped from arch to arch and was quickly on the other side.







If the map I’d consulted before this catastrophic little adventure was correct, we were very close to the ruin of the castle. The sudden uphill slant the path (the only one that ran through this part of the forest) reassured me that we were on the right track. I set a quick pace, wanting to locate the Elements of Harmony as soon as possible. The others were chattering excitedly behind me, any fear of the forest apparently forgotten. I was, as usual, lost in my own thoughts. So far, all of my companions except Rainbow Dash had displayed a spark of magic that they shouldn’t have, even Rarity. The magic wasn’t the kind of magic ponies use, it felt more like some other force was behind it, like something was leaking through them somehow, which was patently ridiculous. If some kind of magic was leaking through onto this plane of existence they’d have all sorts of awful side-effects, and since none of them were showing signs of massive internal bleeding, dementia (except maybe Pinkie Pie), or magical incontinence I had to assume it was something else. It was frustrating in the extreme, like I had every piece of a puzzle except one, and I still couldn’t make out the picture regardless. 

I grit my teeth hard as I continued on, weaving through the suddenly thinning trees. When I found the Elements I’d have to first, figure out how they worked, find Nightmare Moon, and finally utilize them against Nightmare Moon. Hopefully they wouldn’t require the kind of raw power that other high end magical weapons did, the only things in the league we're talking about require five unicorns who specialize in that sort of magic to completely dump their reserves into the capacitors just to fire off a single shot. I'm powerful, but not that powerful, nopony is. Between the encounter with Nightmare Moon, the forest, and my lack of food, water, and sleep the preceding days (which I was now regretting fiercely) I simply did not have much left to give. What made it worse is that my magic was automatically speeding the healing of the innumerable lacerations and bruises I’ve accumulated today, which is an automatic function I can’t stop without effort. It’s a good thing in most situations, but I need all the energy I can get right now and-oh, that’s a cliff I nearly stepped off. Good to know.


“Stop!” I shouted, just to make sure I wasn’t bumped into and sent tumbling to an ignominious (if ironic) end. The ruin was before us in all its ancient, crumbling, glory. The only problem being, it’s on the other side of the cliff, and the dubious looking rope bridge is out. It’s still attached at this end, but not on the other one.

“How are we going to get across?” Pinkie asked.

“Um, duh?” Rainbow dash said, fluttering her wings before leaping into the air and diving below the cloud cover that obscured the other end of the fallen bridge. She came back a second later with the rope clenched in her teeth and she flew over to the other end of the bridge, only to be obscured by more fog. We waited for the bridge to be secured…and then we waited some more, and then some more after that. I got a bad feeling in my gut.

“Rainbow? What’s taking so long?” I called out. Then the wind managed to blow a hole in the fog bank that had settled on the other side of the bridge and I saw three figures talking with Rainbow Dash. I probed them with my magical senses and was immediately rewarded with a surge of nausea as my aura came into contact with Nightmare Moon. The figure in the middle turned to glare at me, having felt my touch, and its eyes glinted, the fog bank swirling unnaturally. “Rainbow! Don’t listen to them! That’s Nightmare Moon in disguise!”


Dammit! I doubt she heard me. If Rainbow Dash gets turned by Nightmare Moon we won’t have a chance to get across, even if Fluttershy was willing to go across (which I doubt she would be since I just announced to all of them that Nightmare Moon was on the other side) She would just get turned or worse, and…and just then Rainbow Dash flew across the bridge, dispelling the fog and garnering cheers from everypony but me, I was too shocked to make a sound. How had she gotten away from Nightmare Moon without a scratch? 

I scanned the other side furiously, but couldn’t find anything. That worried me, if Nightmare Moon was already at the castle she would be waiting for us. I doubt she had the Elements already, if she did she would have engaged us and wiped us off this plane of existence, but she would be searching for them just as we were. I could only hope we got there first, though the odds of that weren’t exactly heartening. As we walked across the bridge Rainbow Dash flew alongside me and said something that sent another odd sensation creeping across my magical senses.

“See? I’d never keep my friends hangin’!” The others went on ahead, and I found myself lagging behind a bit, frowning severely. They were connected with this, I knew it, one burst of magic could have been a random thing, two, a coincidence, but three is a pattern, and I’ve felt five. I could feel myself inching laboriously closer to that revelation that’s been eluding me all night; I just needed that one last spark of inspiration to close the gap.


As we finally entered the ancient palace I couldn’t help but find myself in awe of it despite my troubled mind, and my fear of Nightmare Moon lessened as my senses failed to detect her presence and the power of the castle filled me to the core. Our hooves made echoing sounds as we walked on the stones. We traversed empty rooms with what had once been grand murals and majestic carvings liberally applied to the walls. Ancient sconces that would have held torches or lanterns were filled with dust and pebbles. The whole place was steeped in an air of reverence, nostalgia, and a strange sort of sweet sadness, the same kind you hear in a grandpony’s voice when they tell stories about their youth; fondly reminiscing about the past and missing the days gone by while still accepting they were gone and enjoying the present. 

This place had once been vibrant and full of life, but no more. There was no lingering bitterness about it though, as there could be in abandoned places. This place, the magic that so obviously permeated the very building, didn’t resent its lack of occupation. It accepted it, and only wanted any who crossed into its boundaries to see the fragments of history that it held, to show them a glimpse of past glories. Even after all this time, it still felt welcoming in a way. Many doorways had collapsed, and halls had caved in, but it seemed almost deliberate, as if the building was guiding us on a tour. 

It led us through the remains of once-grand banquet halls and ball rooms. Through dust filled reliquaries and dilapidated statue gardens. The whole time it was like it was whispering to us: Do you see, young ones? Do you see what once was here? Look around and take it all in, little ones. See the ghosts of our past glories and think upon them, that you may return from whence you came with a greater understanding of how things truly are. 

Time may have worn these halls, and they have held no life for centuries, but the memories that were made here endure, as they will until the very last stone crumbles into dust and the very foundations upon which this place was built are consumed by the earth. None of us spoke as we walked, falling into a respectful silence as we subconsciously acknowledged the grandeur of the far flung past.

The crowning moment, though, was when we entered the room with the Elements of Harmony. There, in the middle of the otherwise empty room, with a broken ceiling, supported on a pillar with radiating arms somewhat like a giant candelabra, were grey stone orbs that exuded such power that I was surprised none of us were harmed by it. They were so powerful that even the earth ponies and pegasi in the group could feel it, judging by the way they all looked at the objects with reverence. Rarity and I shared a glance, we could feel them in a way the others could not, and I could tell that she was just as strongly affected as I was. Tears were shimmering in her eyes as she felt the wondrous power they emitted, and I felt my own eyes get damp as I beheld the sacred relics. The aura was immensely powerful, but…beautiful in a way I just can’t fully describe.

The Elements; laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness, and generosity…they radiated from each stone like moonlight, flowing softly over each and every one of us, encircling us in their gentle embrace. If I had any questions about how the castle was spared from the eldritch magic of Everfree forest, they were gone now. Not even the blight that stained the world at the heart of the forest could have come close to matching the power of the forces contained in these stones.

“Isn’t this what you were lookin’ for Dusk?” Applejack asked, her voice carrying strangely in the large room, echoing even though the vaulted ceiling had long-since collapsed and left the room open to the sky. I nodded, still enraptured by the stones. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew up to retrieve them.

“Careful.” I admonished. The last thing I needed was for one of these to break. I approached the small circle of stones and knelt down, examining them closely, astounded by the power they held.

“There’s only five.” Pinkie Pie piped up. “Where’s the sixth?”

“The book said that when the five are gathered, a spark will cause the sixth one to be revealed.” I said distractedly, the revelation I’d been seeking was so close now, I could practically taste it, the breakthrough was there, I could feel it.

“What the hay’s that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked, brows furrowed.

“I don’t know.” I admitted as I lit up my horn. “But I have an idea. You may want to stand back, I don’t know what will happen.”

“Come on y’all, he needs to concentrate.” I heard Applejack say, followed by the sound of hooves trotting and wings flapping. When I was alone I opened up my magical senses to the fullest, ignoring everything else, and immersed myself in the aura of the Elements.


Oh my…I’ve never felt anything like this, the sheer power was unimaginable, these…they rivaled Celestia’s level of magical might! No wonder they could be used to defeat something as powerful as Nightmare Moon. The two were like poles of a magnet, opposite, but equally strong; and now that I really felt them I realized that these weren’t the true form of the elements. It was like I was viewing them from a distance, or behind a cloud. Their presence was muted slightly. I delved deeper and I felt the thing that was obscuring them from me, but I couldn’t pin it down. It was like the answer I had been seeking all night, so similar in fact, that the two had to be connected. I pushed myself deeper, throwing my whole being into my task; allowing the power of the Elements to flow through me, using my mind as a filter, trying to find that one last little thing that would let them break free from whatever was-


Loneliness, fury, bitterness, resentment, spite, fear, envy, pain, despair, and a vehement, all-consuming hatred for all things that lived under the sun slammed into me with such acute force that I screamed. The abrupt shift in ambient magic nearly tearing my mind in half. I opened my eyes painfully and blinked away the tears that had formed to see a familiar midnight blue aura. Nightmare Moon. She had somehow managed to sneak up on me, drawing close to me while I was absorbed in trying to figure out the Elements. How she had done it I don’t know, an aura so steeped in misery should have been like a signal fire, alerting every pony in a mile radius. 

Her aura was swirling rapidly, picking up the stones with it. She was going to teleport, to take them away. I couldn’t let that happen. I lurched to my feet, ignoring the caustic pain that the unprotected contact with her aura had sent coursing through my mind and body and hurled myself clumsily forward, getting caught up in the vortex and teleported along with the stones. 

I’ve never been in so much agony in my entire life. 

Being teleported transforms you, briefly, into nothing but magical aura, and mine was mixed in directly with Nightmare Moon’s. It was like having every bad memory, every horrible experience I’ve ever had magnified a thousand fold and replayed all at once, except there was no separation between the mental and physical. I felt like every cell in my body was being roughly scrubbed with a red hot steel wool brush dipped in sulfuric acid and my mind was rent by seething clouds of despair and anguish. I screamed noiselessly as the teleportation was thrown off balance by my added mass and had to be terminated prematurely. The emergency stop deposited me roughly onto a cold stone floor, and for a second, I laid still and didn’t move, panting and trying not to sob, it would hurt too much. 

My body felt wrong, wrong in every way possible. My bones hurt, my muscles hurt, my skin hurt, my intestines hurt, my mind hurt, my soul hurt, everything hurt. I could still feel her foul magic infesting me, constricting my muscles and bones like a slimy parasite, draining me of energy and hope. I cracked my eyes open and saw her on the other side of the room, glaring at me. I had to get up, I had to. I will not lose, not after coming this far. Summoning my will and ignoring the pain I flared my magic, flushing the foreign power out of my body and cleansing myself somewhat. The pain was still there, but it was manageable. I stood up and faced Nightmare Moon for the second time, gathering every last bit of energy I had left, and feeling my heart give a sickening lurch as I started tapping into the well of energy that kept me alive. She was, as you would expect, not amused.

“Insolent little insect.” She seethed. “How dare you befoul my presence with your taint?”

“You think I’m just going to let you walk away with the Elements of Harmony?” I asked, charging three spells at once and preparing them, I would have to execute this flawlessly if it was going to work, and at least half of this was going to be guesswork. She saw me preparing my spells and threw her head back, laughing.

“Seriously? You think you can defeat me? Me?! You are mad!” She howled, slowly walking towards me, intent on finishing me off.

“Oh, probably.” I agreed, forcing the spells to charge faster, my vision dimmed slightly as I started to pull out yet more magic. “But then again, you never know. I’m the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria, Celestia’s personal student, and…I know something you don’t.”

“And what is that?” She asked, stopping in her tracks as her eyes narrowed and her own, shadowy, magic, formed into counterspells as she saw one of my spells visibly warp reality, causing light to bend and refract unnaturally. I smirked, perfect.

“Now that.” I said as I released the high level antimatter detonation spell I had charged, used the second spell to warp it right in front of her nose, and then used the third spell to warp myself behind her, in the middle of the Elements, all in mid-sentence. “Would be telling.”


To those of you who are uninformed in such matters, antimatter and matter don’t get along. They don’t like each other at all. When they get together, they fight, and the result is an explosion that would make any explosives technician, or movie director, drool. 

The antimatter mine I created was enough to blow what little roof remained off of the room we were in, and if there were intact windows in the room before there sure weren’t any afterward. My ears were ringing abominably, and I got hit with some shrapnel, but the shield spells Nightmare Moon had concocted protected me from the worst of the blast. I crouched down, flaring what magic I had left to me into my horn and touching the nearest Element stone, my vision shrank to a grey tunnel, and breathing suddenly started becoming difficult as my vital functions were affected by the magical drain. The rest of the stones started to glow and I broke out into a smile despite the searing pain that lanced through my body as my internal magic well ran dry and my body completely refused to give up any more. That was the spark that was needed, magic! I drained my reserves to the dregs, forcing it all into the stones in order to-


“No!” I was violently grabbed and hurled backwards, skidding to a painful stop. Nightmare Moon had survived, and she was angry. But more than that, she was scared. She knew the Elements were the only things that could harm her, and she wasn’t going to let me have my way. In a burst of stygian magic she rushed across the room and was suddenly standing in the circle of glowing stones, right where I had been just a moment before. She flared her own magic, desperately trying to snuff out the magical glow that had surrounded them; and, to my complete and utter devastation, she didn’t even have to. The glow faded of its own accord and the stones once again fell to the ground, inert.

“No.” I protested weakly. “The sixth Element…”

Nightmare Moon just laughed, cackling in triumph as her aura swelled, starting to fill the room slowly but inexorably. Then, in what would be perhaps one of the most horrible moments of my life, she reared and brought her hooves down with a flash of lightning, shattering the last hope of Equestria beneath the weight of her mad glee. The presence of the stones that had permeated the castle vanished instantly. How? How could this have happened? How could it not have worked? It had to work, it should have worked! Why didn’t it-

“Dusk!” My ears perked up.

“Dusk Shine!”

“We’re a-comin’! Hang on!”

“Dusk Shine!”

“Duuuusk Shine!”


It was the others. They came. The thought warmed my soul in a way I didn’t think was possible. They came even though they had to have felt the ambient energy of the Elements dissipate, even though they knew I had failed. They knew that Nightmare Moon had won and that they should have run away, but they still came. Their voices were frightened, but not just of the foul magic spreading through the castle, the way they shouted my name touched something deep inside me. They were frightened…for me. Me. The strange, awkward, rude pony that they had just met the day before. I moved my head towards the door to the room and saw them come in, each of them with concern writ large on their faces. The twinges of magic I felt before returned and something…just…


Sparked.


I understood now, that niggling feeling that I’d been getting all night, it was as obvious now as the sun at midday, as most things are in retrospect. I briefly closed my eyes again and a single, breathy laugh passed my lips. I reached out to those ticklish streams of magic surrounding the others, and for the first time, I saw them. 

I could see, truly see, the others…my friends, how they truly were. Each of them was like a star to my unclouded vision: radiating a power they didn’t even know they possessed. A power that was waxing as I watched, growing stronger by the second. The spark had been ignited, the barrier was burning away, now it was time to cast it down for good. I got to my hooves, pain and weariness falling from me as the ambient energy of the Elements returned. I turned to the ponies beside me, each of them staring at Nightmare Moon’s hysterical form in terror, and I smiled.

“She hasn’t won.” I said simply, and as if those words were an incantation the shards of the elements started to glow and float upwards, circling around Nightmare Moon rapidly. She noticed and stopped laughing, her eyes wide with fear as her aura clashed violently with the burgeoning magic.

“W-what is this?!”

“The Elements of Harmony aren’t physical things you can break.” I said clearly, unafraid for the first time tonight. The power of the Elements was growing stronger by the second, and we could all feel it. “They’re more than that. Each one of them exists as a force, a force beyond you Nightmare Moon, and now, we’re going to use them.” 

“B-but the sixth Element!” She shouted, as if reminding me of it would stop me. I smiled wider.

“Was here all along.” I finished and turned back to my friends, addressing them one by one. 

“Applejack, when you reassured me, when you told me the truth, you convinced me where nopony else could have…because were honest. You represent the Element of Honesty.” A group of shards flew over to her and started to circle her, much to her evident surprise. Then I turned to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, you defeated a manticore by showing it compassion, by showing it you cared. You represent the Element of Kindness.” Another group of shards separated from the whole and flew over, glowing brightly.

“Pinkie, you literally laughed in the face of danger and saved us all in the process. Nopony can make ponies laugh like you can. You represent the Element of Laughter.” The power in the room was staggering, and Nightmare Moon was visibly struggling against it, her dark aura being repulsed by the power of the Elements.

“Rarity, you sacrificed your own tail, giving of yourself to soothe another’s pain. You represent the Element of Generosity.” Nightmare Moon’s aura was being compacted into a ball around her now, and every attempt she made to escape was foiled as her spells simply dissolved on contact with the power of the Elements. I turned to the last pony.

“And Rainbow Dash…you gave up your own personal ambitions, staying true to your friends in the face of great temptation. You represent the Element of Loyalty.” They all had shards orbiting them now. I turned to face Nightmare Moon as I felt the last stone materialize above me.

“And the sixth Element? It is the spark that ignites a friendship, the warmth you feel in the presence of those you cherish, the happiness that spreads through you as you are with somepony you care about. The sixth Element…is Magic.” 

I closed my eyes as the Elements were finally revealed in their true form. Light washed over the room as the shards were transformed, each Bearer receiving their own symbol of their newfound power. Before, the power of the Elements had been like gentle moonlight, softly bathing us, but now, it was like the noon sunlight on midsummer's day, a fierce joy welled up in my chest and my eyes filled with tears of pure, ecstatic, hapiness. The others made sounds of amazement, and I found myself sighing in awe as I felt my own Element wash over me, pull me to itself and connect with me on a fundamental level. 

Magic, pure magic, flooded into my body. A well of power so inconceivably vast that I doubted it could ever run out poured into me, filling my depleted pool of mana to the brim and then some. Then I felt a weight settle on my head. A helm, a golden helm, my own symbol of power. I felt myself floating upwards, buoyed on the combined power of the Elements. I looked to the side, and I saw my friends floating beside me, awe on their faces. The tremendous forces of magic welled up, and I floated higher, fixing my gaze on Nightmare Moon.

And then, for the first time in Millennia, the Elements of Harmony burst forth in all their chromatic glory. Nightmare Moon was enveloped, then engulfed in a wave of magic that contained every color of the rainbow, and was no more.









Rainbow Dash was the first to come to.

“Ugh…my head.” She groaned, rubbing her skull with a hoof.

“Is everypony okay?” Called Applejack, standing up shakily.

“Oh, beautiful!” Rarity exclaimed, her restored tail waving through the air.

“Rarity, it’s lovely!” Fluttershy said.

“I know, I’ll never part with it again!” She said happily, nosing at her tail.

“No, your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark.” Fluttershy said.

“Hmm? Oh! Why, so is yours!” Rarity said, inspecting first her own, then Fluttershy’s necklace.

“Look at mine, look at mine!” Pinkie Pie bubbled, bouncing up to Applejack. 

“Aww, yeah!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, inspecting her own adornment.

“Well done my little ponies!” Came a merry voice. Outside a window long bereft of glass, the sun made its long-delayed ascent into the sky, and to the ponies in that room it seemed to travel into the room with them. A shining ball of golden light alighted onto the floor and Princess Celestia stood before them in all her glory. The ponies all bowed to their Princess reverently. She continued on, turning her gaze to the side. “I cannot be more proud of you. You have done all I hoped for and so much more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and I knew what must be done to stop her. Only the magic of friendship would be enough to strip away the façade of Nightmare Moon, and reveal her true form…Princess Luna.” 

Indeed, lying there in the midst of shattered armor and swirling energies, was a small, dark blue pony, just waking up. When she fully came to she gasped and shrank back from Celestia, who approached her and knelt down in front of her.

“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this, it is time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?” The smaller pony’s eyes widened and filled with tears.

'“I am so sorry! I missed you so much big sister!” Came the alto voice of the moon princess. The two sisters embraced, reunited after a thousand years of painful separation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as Luna leaned against her elder sister and Celestia wrapped her wings around the smaller alicorn, both sisters reveling in the catharsis of their long-awaited reunion. After the long embrace was broken though, Rarity asked a question that startled them all, except, perhaps, Celestia.

“What happened to Dusk Shine?” In the confusion, and the arrival of Celestia, not to mention the revelation that Nightmare Moon was none other than a corrupted Princess Luna, they had not noticed their friend’s absence. 

The ponies scanned the room quickly and frantically, but the rubble that had accumulated during the years of ruin and the fight made their search difficult. Then, just as they were on the edge of panic, a cough echoed off the walls and a section of rubble tumbled to the ground, revealing a much battered Dusk Shine. His coat was covered with dust, and his front left foreleg was swollen almost to the size of a grapefruit not far above the hoof. He coughed a few times and awkwardly righted himself, or tried to, but his injured leg wouldn’t support his weight. Celestia stepped forward, Luna trailing behind her, and inspected her student.

“That’s a fetlock injury. You won’t be walking out of here my faithful student.” She said, her voice warm. He was swathed in a glow of magic and gently lifted. He was obviously weary, but his eyes were sparkling.

“It wouldn't be the first time I’ve been injured in my studies.” He said, looking from Celestia, to Luna, to his friends, on whom his fond gaze lingered the longest. “And I’m sure it won’t be the last. But…I think this was worth it.”

“I am glad to hear you say so Dusk Shine. Now come, my little ponies, let us leave this place and return to Ponyville. Once we get out of the castle I will take us there directly.


The party moved out then, Celestia setting an easy pace that the tired Bearers and her still slightly wobbly sister could easily keep up with. The Bearers were silent, in awe of the royal sisters among them. Or five of them were anyway, Dusk Shine, injured and exhausted or not, had no qualms speaking to the Sun Princess plainly.

“You know.” He began, giving his teacher a sidelong look. “It seems to me, that this whole situation could only have worked out under very specific circumstances…circumstances that would take years to set up.”

“Are you implying something, my most faithful student?” Celestia asked, her eyes lighting up with amusement and a small smile playing over her face.

“Well, if one wanted to engineer such an improbable series of events I suppose one would have to…take artistic license with the history books, monitor a great deal of the population in order to find the ponies that bore the Elements of Harmony, ensure that they would be in the right place at the right time, and then one would have to beat the truth about friendship through the remarkably thick skull of a certain recalcitrant and asocial student.” He said, his tone an acknowledgement of his shortcomings, which made Celestia smile wider.

“Why Dusk Shine, are you accusing me of manipulating events in such a fashion?” She asked, not even bothering to hide her amusement. The Bearers and Luna stayed silent through the exchange, though they were a little surprised to hear somepony talk to Celestia that way, and even more surprised to get the next best thing to an admission from her.

“I know you manipulated these events.” He responded flatly, then he chuckled. “Thank you.”

“You are most welcome Dusk Shine.”

Teacher and student regarded each other, and everypony could see the mirthful pride in Celestia’s eyes as her wing gently draped over her sister and her magic embraced her student. They could also see the unabashed trust and affection on Dusk Shine’s face as he looked at his mentor. Then he leaned over to her and nuzzled her, softly and lovingly.

“I’m glad you’re back.” He whispered, the softly spoken statement rebounding across the stones. Celestia laughed softly, holding her sister close and looking at all of the bearers warmly.

“And I am glad to be back, Dusk.”







As soon as the sun rose over Ponyville, the hearts of the ponies there were lifted, and the terror that they had felt was forgotten. They began to crowd the streets, basking in the light that had been denied to them, and shedding, perhaps, a few tears of relief. Then, scarcely an hour later, word came through a herald of the royal guard that Celestia had returned! And what’s more, the fabled Princess Luna was coming with her, and they would preside over the Summer Sun Festival together. Their arrival was set to be at high noon, two hours from the time the herald gave the announcement. The residents of Ponyville, who had gathered in the town square to hear the proclamation, let out a resounding cheer at the news and preparations began for the celebration. 

Food was brought out, musical instruments were set up on hastily erected stages, decorations were hung, and the whole town degenerated into the happiest form of chaos imaginable. Each pony worked diligently at their given task, and if many of them often paused to anxiously check the time, nopony faulted them for it. As the time wound quickly down a regiment of the royal guard arrived ahead of time, making their own preparations for the arrival of Equestria’s royalty, and with them came exciting news, the princesses were going to be accompanied by six regular ponies, Bearers of the fabled Eelements of Harmony. Six ponies that had, if the whispered mutterings of the guards could be believed, braved the dangers of Everfree forest and fought Nightmare Moon herself, saving both princesses in the process. What was more, these weren’t trained soldiers or court wizards, they were regular ponies, residents of Ponyville no less! 

If the townsfolk had been excited before, now they were all nearly foaming with curiosity and pride. Time seemed to grind to a near halt as the set time slowly drew nearer, the anticipation growing worse and worse as the seemingly endless number of tasks necessary to make their town fit for the festival were all seemingly done, and suddenly nopony had anything to do but wait and watch the town’s large clock with growing resentment.


Finally, after what seemed like years, the clock tower read noon and the great bell was sounded. Everypony froze when the first note was struck, and all eyes turned eagerly to the sky as the second note was struck, then the third, and the fourth. For the next few agonizingly long seconds the whole of Ponyville held its breath. The bell was struck for the final time, and silence reigned. All ponies, young and old, strained their eyes looking for any sign of the approach of their Princesses, and for the longest half minute of everypony’s life, they saw nothing. 

Then, suddenly, a call came down from above. A single Pegasus had flown high above the rest, and it was her who first sighted the gilded chariot bearing down on the town. That single call from on high broke the spell of silence that had fallen on the town and leapt from pony to pony, voice to voice, growing only louder as the chariot came into general view. The royal guard marched out, resplendent in their polished armor, and they quickly cleared a path for the rapidly approaching chariot. Trumpets and horns sent forth a clarion call, the royal anthem heralding the arrival of Princesses Celestia and Luna. The ponies of Ponyville roared as the chariot landed, overjoyed to see their rulers. 


Many among them eyed Luna curiously as the princesses strode up onto a stage in the town square, eager to compare her to the fable they had grown up with. Any doubts they might have had about her being an imposter were stifled by the obvious bond between the two princesses, Celestia’s wing was draped over the smaller princess and if one looked very closely, a shimmer of tears was visible on both of the royal alicorns’ faces. Celestia waited until most of the furor died down before speaking, her strident voice carrying across the crowd with no need for magical enhancement. Silence fell immediately when she spoke.


“Ponies of Ponyville, today I come before you, on this, the longest day of the year, the Summer Sun Celebration. With me is my sister, Princess Luna!” Another cheer went up, just as loud and joyful as the first. A few tears slipped from Luna’s eyes, but only the ponies closest to the stage were able to see, and if anything it only made her seem all the more real. When the cheer died down Celestia continued. 

“I am sure you have all heard rumors, and wish to know what happened in these past few hours. Many rumors have spread, I am sure, and the fable that has been passed down through the centuries is at the forefront of your minds. But the truth is this: Long ago, when the realm was young, an evil force from far beyond this world beset my sister and took control of her, using her form and shaping it to its will, creating what you knew as Nightmare Moon. This foul parasite attempted to use my sister to take over the realm, and without the Elements of Harmony, the only force strong enough to break the foul creature’s control over Luna, I had no choice but to banish it and my sister, to the moon. The magical binding I cast lasted a thousand years; long enough for me to ensure that upon its release there would be new Bearers, and that the Elements of Harmony would be ready to vanquish the abomination that dared attack my sister. These Bearers made their way through the Everfree forest, risking their lives and facing numerous dangers, to the ancient castle that was once the capital of the realm, unlocked the true power of the Elements of Harmony and cleansed my sister!” 

The crowd cheered as Celestia’s story built to a crescendo, her masterful oratory imparting the grief she felt at the loss of her sister, the rage that filled her at the thought of the otherworldly creature that had taken hold of Luna, and the boundless joy that filled her heart at her beloved sister’s return without making her seem any less regal than she was. 

“I ask you now, ponies of Ponyville, will you accept Princess Luna as co-ruler to your realm?”

“Yes!” Cried the crowd in one voice. Luna smiled and bowed her head in obvious relief. Celestia wasn’t finished though.

“I am overjoyed to hear your acceptance, and I thank you for it. But we are not the only ones you wish to see. So now Ponyville, I am proud to present to you the ponies that saved my sister, myself, and the entirety of the realm: the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony!” She called, her voice ringing out clearly despite the lingering noise of the crowd. 

Then, in front of the princesses, there was a swirl of magical energies, the full spectrum of colors bent and twined together in a kaleidoscopic display of power, shaping into an opalescent dome for a split second before bursting with a flash to reveal six ponies. Five wore golden necklaces, and the last, the one that some in the crowd recognized as the one that stood up to Nightmare moon some hours before, wore a golden helm. The crowd cheered with such force that the ponies on stage nearly fell over and all of them were a little wide-eyed at the reaction, a few even scuffing their hooves a little in embarrassment, but all of them were smiling widely. At an unheard signal they stepped forward in unison and bowed, causing the crowd to cheer even louder.

“Fair residents of Ponyville!” Said Princess Luna, stepping forth and speaking for the first time, her relatively voice and aristocratic accent having no problem carrying over the noise, catching the crowd’s attention immediately. “Let the Summer Sun Celebration commence!”


Joyful music filled the air and the crowd gave one last cheer before dispersing and starting to celebrate. The Bearers and the Princesses moved to an open pavilion not too far from the stage, where an overjoyed Spike was waiting for them. 
From the pavilion they watched over the jovial celebration and were still visible, but could at least get a measure of privacy. The white cloth the pavilion was constructed from and the brightly colored cushions that had been set out for comfort, made it seem warm and inviting. It was, at first, filled with a constant stream of ponies that wanted to get a closer look at the occupants, and all were accepted. 

Many who went were those who knew one of the Bearers and wanted to speak to them, Applejack alone got a half dozen visitors in the first ten minutes. Everypony who came had their chance to talk, and many of them were surprised to find themselves talking with the alicorns as much as the regular ponies. Eventually though, the excitement wound down and thoughts turned to food, drink, and games. The line diminished, and the pavilion was closed, the guards outside telling any who approached that the Bearers and the Princesses wished for some privacy in order to discuss the ramifications of the recent events. This was true, but it was only half the reason, the other half being that the occupants of the tent needed the rest.







“Whew, I feel like I flew from here to Canterlot and back!” Rainbow Dash said, sagging into her cushion. “Who would’a thought that standing in front of a crowd could be so tiring?”

“Welcome to politics.” I said, sharing a smile with Celestia. “Enjoy your stay.”

“I t-thought I was g-going to faint.” Fluttershy murmured.

“It is something you never quite get used to.” Celestia chimed in; smiling at us, though I’m sure that smile was equally due to pride and amusement at our expense. “But you need not worry, I do not plan on involving you in any more political spectacles.”

“Ah still cain’t believe what happened.” Applejack interjected. “They were cheerin’ for us, like we were some kinda heroes or sumthin’.”

“Well you are.” Celestia pointed out. “You defeated Nightmare Moon and brought my sister back to me. For that you all have my eternal gratitude.”

“And ours as well.” Luna said as she leaned against Celestia’s side and was embraced by her sister. Her grammar was a bit outdated, and the way she referred to herself using plural pronouns had been confusing at first, but by now it was no big issue.

“It was fun!” Pinkie bubbled excitedly. “Especially when Dusk made that rainbow dome thing and we all stepped through it and went like zing, and landed on the stage!”

“‘went like zing?’” I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, because when we teleported it was like zinging across the whole town all at once like rubber bands flying through the air!” I don’t think I’ll ever understand Pinky logic.

“I must admit, I am rather curious about that teleportation spell myself.” Rarity asked, she was carefully reclining on her cushion and somehow managing to look like she was in a posh parlor and not an overgrown tent. “Do tell Dusk, how did you add that dome? I’ve certainly never heard of a teleportation spell like that.”

“Oh, that? After I created the anchor points and the safety tether I pushed a little magic through and applied Starswirl’s theory of luminescence to attach an additional prismatic affect to a dome of water elemental magic reinforced with a lattice of semi-rigid heliotubes that provided proper dispersal of protons throughout the structure of the radial matrix and…” I paused mid-explanation and noticed the blank stares my friends were giving me, along with that annoyingly parental twinkle Celestia gets in her eyes when I do something she thinks is cute. I sighed and amended myself “I made a magic dome that worked like a prism.”

“See, was that so hard?” Spike asked.

“Oh hush you.” I responded, shifting to a more comfortable position.

“Do thine injuries pain thee?” Luna asked, concern touching her voice along with some guilt. 

The reason the royal address had been scheduled for noon, a few hours after we had arrived in town, was to get all of the Bearers cleaned up and any wounds we had received in the forest looked after. We’d all gotten a few of them, and the immersion in river water (that particular river being very slow moving and running through swampland was not the cleanest body of water in existence) caused some worry of infection, so we all got inspected thoroughly. I was the worst off, having accumulated plenty of dings and scratches over the course of the past two days, the worst of which had been the fetlock injury and the blows to the head. Fortunately my skull is approximately as hard as steel plate, so there was no permanent damage and once I was bound to the Element of Magic and my magical reserves restored I had been able to cast a numbing spell on my leg, which would have been quite painful otherwise; and Celestia had been careful not to stress the wound at all when she had carried me out of the castle. Between the doctor’s care and the natural magical regeneration that all unicorns have it was well on its way to recovery.

“Not really, the doctors did a good job and I swear getting bound to the Element of Magic enhanced my regeneration a bit. But thank you for asking.”

"We feel awful about the pain we hath caused you." Luna said, her ears lying flat against her skull.

"Don't worry, I've done worse to myself over the years I've been studying magic." I waved my (non-injured) hoof dismissively, and the sentiment was echoed by my friends a second later.

“What’re ya’ gonna do now Dusk?” Applejack asked. "Ah mean, with the Summer Sun Celebration taken care of and all..."

“Well, our business here is drawing to a close.” Celetia answered for me. “I will stay long enough to close the festivities, but then we need to return to Canterlot.” Her tone included me, and a few days before I wouldn’t have been able to agree with her fast enough, but now the thought of leaving makes my guts all wobbly. Silence stretched on as I made no sound and didn’t meet Celestia’s eyes. My friends didn’t look happy about it, which actually made my throat tighten up a bit. I’d never had friends outside my family before. My brother had been my only friend until Spike came along, and Celestia had all but raised me; now that I did finally make some real friends I was going to have to leave them right away. It wasn't fair. "Dusk Shine?"

“Yes?” I still couldn’t look her in the eye, but my ears perked up at her tone, she was smiling, I could hear it.

“Would you rather stay?” I looked at her for the first time, and she was indeed smiling. She can read me well.

“I would like that.” I said. Her smile got wider and she turned to Spike.

“Spike, take a note please.” His ever-present quill and parchment were readied in an instant. Celestia started speaking once she saw he was ready. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Dusk Shine shall take on a new mission for Equestria. He will begin study of the magic of friendship and report to me his findings from his new home, Ponyville.”

“Thank you.” I said, pretending my eyes weren’t watery and my voice wasn’t thick. I would have said something else but I suddenly found myself in the middle of a pony pile, surrounded on all sides by my new friends. 

Celestia laughed at this, but I didn’t care. It felt good to be surrounded by friends like this. For once, I didn’t care that ponies were touching me, or that that they were talking a lot. For the first time in my life it actually felt good. Yes, this is nice. The best part though, is that for some reason this doesn’t feel like an ending. After the huge ordeal the past few days have been I would have expected this moment to feel like the end of a movie, but it doesn’t. It feels like a beginning…the beginning of something wonderful.



I can hardly wait to see what comes next, just so long as my friends are there with me.