"A letter to Princess Celestia? Why? I only write to her when I have a report on a lesson I've learned about the magic of friendship. And what do you mean the 'Evil' that changed Princess Luna? She was changed by jealousy for Celestia's days being more popular than her nights." Twilight said giving a look of curiosity between the two friends.
"Well, that's kind of what happened. The whole story is actually a little bit more complicated." George said staring back at her.
"Why don't you just tell me the whole story while we have some lunch? Spike, bring us some food if you don't mind." Twilight ordered to her assistant as she used her magic to pull up four cushions for Jimmy, George, Zeocra, and herself.
"Sure thing! What do you want to eat?" Spike asked running into the kitchen and putting on a chef hat, "We have flowers for sandwiches, some vegetables for soup, and some apples I got from Applejack's farm this morning."
"I guess I'll have some apples." Jimmy said.
"I'll have some too, what kind are they?" George asked.
"What kind? You mean what color?" Spike asked, looking confused.
"I guess they don't have different types of apples. I mean, it would be kind of weird if we were named after food items." George whispered to Jimmy. "I'll take any kind."
"I'll have some soup, and how about you, Zecora?" Twilight said, sitting down on her chair.
"As much as I would love to stay and eat, I have to formally retreat." Zecora said as she put her hood back up and walked towards the door.
"You sure you don't want some food to go? I'd imagine it's hard to find a lot of food the the Everfree Forest." Twilight asked getting her magic ready to open the door, anticipating Zecora's answer before she even finished her question.
"Thank you, but do not fret. The Everfree supplies me with a good diet." Zecora smiled as she walked out and headed towards the forest. Twilight closed the door and walked back and sat at the table, where Jimmy was sitting on the cushion on his knees, while George was trying to get comfortable on his.
"How do you sit like that? It feels weird." George asked, finally just sitting down and crossing his legs.
"This is how I sit when I pray, so I'm used to it. I find it weird that they have benches but not chairs here." Jimmy said, watching Twilight as she came back over and simply sat down, much like a dog would sit down.
"So, what exactly is this 'Darkness' that you mentioned before? And how is it responsible for Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked picking up a notepad and quill, getting ready to take notes as she probably did in Celestia's school when she was younger and heard legends like this.
"Well, basically it's an entity that somehow corrupts anything it can find a weakness in. It's actually responsible for changing people into some of the most dangerous enemies that you've encountered." Jim said, waiting for Twilight to finish writing down whatever she could have gotten from that short statement.
"It changed Discord, Somra, and Luna. Apparently it doesn't know when to give up. And it has some kind of hate for humans like us." George said.
"It changed Sombra and Discord!?" Twilight exclaimed, dropped her quill and paper. "How could it have changed them?! We defeated Sombra and reformed Discord!" Twilight yelled out now.
"Relax Twilight!" Jimmy said, trying to calm her down. "This happened a long time ago, about 1000 years to be exact.".
"Then...how do you know all this? You two can't possibly be 1000 years old. If you were, you would have to be related to the Princesses!" Twilight exclaimed, getting worked up again.
"Zecora told us a story when we found her in the forest. She said that it changed them by exploiting their weaknesses." George said.
"Weaknesses? What weaknesses?! They were the most powerful people in Equestria! Discord has the power to manipulate logic and physics. King Sombra was one of the most powerful unicorns ever. And Nightmare Moon was more powerful than even Princess Celestia, without the Elements of Harmony she never would have been banished to the moon, or changed back to normal." Twilight was still talking frantically, despite knowing herself that they were no longer a threat to her.
"They were POWERFUL, but that doesn't mean they didn't have any emotional weaknesses." Jimmy said, finally calming her down. George sat there wondering how Spike hadn't come in by now, seeing as he usually over exaggerated and panicked at the slightest news of danger. "Sombra was greedy and desperate, he could have easily made a deal with the Darkness. For all we know, he could have used his magic to create it or summon it from another dimension. Discord was isolated and lonely, animals in the forest can't talk like he does. And Zecora didn't live in the forest 1000 years ago. Finally, Luna was jealous that nobody celebrated during her nights and looked up to Celestia and loved her days. It probably wanted to corrupt her the most, which is why Nightmare Moon had a mane different from Luna's, that was the Darkness adapting to her powers, like it probably did to all of them." Jimmy said, trying to sum up everything he and George had learned from Zecora and discussed on their way to Ponyville.
"Then why were Discord and King Sombra still evil when we met them?" Shouldn't it have left them when it found Princess Luna?" Twilight asked, picking up her quill again, a little shakily this time.
"We assume that when they were imprisoned by Celestia and Luna, the Darkness was trapped too. That's why Sombra was able to become a shadow, because it probably put so much effort into corrupting him. Discord doesn't have anything like that because it didn't want to make the same mistake, and Discord already had enough powers." George answered her.
"Hey guys, I finished the soup and I cut up the apples into slices. Who's hungry?" Spike asked walking towards the table and setting the food down. "I got myself some gems before, let me just bring them here so we can all eat."
"Actually Spike, could you eat upstairs or in the kitchen? We're talking about something and I'd rather you not hear it." Twilight said, not wanting him to be scared by everything they were talking about.
"Why? I'm sure I could hear whatever it is. Is it about some new spells? Or are they some new animal? I bet they're in one of these books," Spike began asking questions and looking on the shelves for books about different animals.
"Spike, it's something different, and you can't hear about it." Twilight said sternly.
"But-but I-" Spike saw the serious look in Twilight's face and knew it was something serious. Still, he didn't want to hear anything that would scare him. "OK, I'll just be upstairs then if anyone needs me." Spike said as he quickly ran into the kitchen and got a plate of gems and ran upstairs.
"Spike, just make sure to write to Celestia. Tell her we have two humans and need her to meet them!" Twilight yelled as Spike ran upstairs.
"OK, tell me anything else you know about this before Spike gets a reply from the Princess." Twilight said, getting a new parcel to write more on.
"Nothing. Except that there were humans here before us." Jimmy said, trying to remember anything else.
"Do you know who they were? Did they know you?" Twilight asked with a look of curiosity.
"Well, Zecora said they were willing to fight it. So they were probably from a time period in the past when monsters were thought to be real." George said, recalling Zecora's story.
"They knew how to craft swords. I highly doubt they were from our time period." Jimmy said, wishing Zecora was there to recall the story word for word.
"Wait! Didn't the story say that the Darkness got them and then it disappeared. Around the same time that Nightmare Moon was weak enough to be banished to the moon? Is it possible that it came to our world?" George stated, him and Jimmy coming to a dark realization. The Darkness had been in their world before. And they both had a feeling when it was there.