How did Nightmare Moon learn about Twilight Sparkle? How did she know that Celestia was building up a six-pony crew to defeat her?
Dreams.
Nightmare Moon's power had been severely weakened, in the battle against Celestia. It took four centuries before Nightmare Moon could view ponies' dreams again. That was all she could do: view the dreams. She didn't have the power to enter the dreams and speak to the sleeping ponies.
Recently, things had changed. Celestia's original spell was deteriorating quickly. The moon had entered the final phase of the thousand-year curse, and as it waxed in power, so did the nightmare whose power was tied to the moon.
Nightmare Moon contented herself with spying on the ponies who were going to oppose her. Most of their dreams were boring and irrelevant, but she managed to pick up a few pieces of useful information here and there, like the fact that Scootaloo was an orphan.
Nightmare Moon used that information to her advantage. She gave Trixie Lulamoon a little push in the right direction, giving her dreams of visiting Ponyville. And of course, Nightmare Moon made sure to change all of Twilight's dreams into nightmares.
Really, Nightmare Moon was surprised that she got away with that trick. You'd think a pony as smart as Twilight would be able to put two and two together. Constant nightmares, after confronting Nightmare Moon? It was obvious what was happening, but the sleep deprivation must have been impairing Twilight's thought processes.
"So, can you do it?" Twilight asked. "Can you make me a unicorn?"
"I can," Nightmare Moon said. "As long as you do something first."
"No," Twilight said.
"What?" Nightmare Moon asked.
"You're just like Celestia. You're trying to use me, so you can get the upper hoof in your stupid battle," Twilight said angrily. "Well, I'm not making any one-sided deals anymore. Either you make me a unicorn, or I leave. Now."
Nightmare Moon immediately changed tactics. "You misunderstand me completely," she said. "Tell me, Twilight. What is the only creature more powerful than a unicorn?"
"An alicorn," Twilight said. "Like you."
"Yes. To turn a pegasus into a unicorn, you have to use alicorn magic," Nightmare Moon said. "As I told you earlier, I'd perform the spell myself, if I wasn't currently stuck on the moon."
"Well, then, that doesn't help me," Twilight said. "What, am I supposed to hunt down Princess Cadance or somepony?"
"No, what you need is the Alicorn Amulet," Nightmare Moon said.
"The what?" Twilight asked.
"I made it, over a thousand years ago," Nightmare Moon said. "It has magic strong enough to turn you into any type of pony you want. All you have to do is put it on and concentrate on being a unicorn. The amulet will do the rest."
"That's it?" Twilight asked skeptically. "I just have to wear an amulet?"
"It's not that simple," Nightmare Moon said. "The magic behind it is immensely complex, and it takes about two days for the entire process to be completed. But if you want to become a unicorn, this is the best way to do it."
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Where do I find the Alicorn Amulet?" she asked.
As Twilight flew away, Nightmare Moon felt a strange sensation which she had not felt in centuries. It took her a moment to realize that she was feeling the desire to giggle like an idiot. Her plans to sabotage the Elements of Harmony were working so well, it was ridiculous.
Giddy with happiness, Nightmare Moon decided to risk using more of her magic to interfere on the Earth. She slipped herself into Scootaloo's happy dreams. "Oh, Scootaloo!" Nightmare Moon called.
"Nightmare Moon!" Dream Scootaloo gasped. "You're a bad pony! Go away!"
"I'm not a bad pony. After all, I kept my promise to you," Nightmare Moon said. "I brought your mother back, didn't you?"
"That...that was you?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yes," the Nightmare said. "And what about the cutie mark finder? What cutie mark did it show for you?"
"The...cutie mark finder?"
"The gray orbs," Nightmare Moon explained. "If you open one of them, you find a necklace with your cutie mark inside."
"That's what happened to the other ponies, but not me," Scootaloo said. She turned to show her flank to Nightmare Moon. "I don't have a cutie mark."
"But darling, that's what the cutie mark finder is for," Nightmare Moon said. "Even if you don't have a cutie mark, the necklace shows what your cutie mark will be."
Scootaloo perked up. "You mean, I just need to smash one of those things open, and I'll see what my cutie mark will be?" she asked.
"Exactly," Nightmare Moon said. "All you have to do is break the gray orbs."
Manipulating children is so easy, sometimes, Nightmare Moon thought.
A shady shop in the alleyways of Canterlot had an unexpected visitor that night. The shopkeeper, a former doctor by the name of Curey O., was not used to seeing pegasi in his shop. Nor was he used to first-time customers who asked for goods by name.
"Ah, the Alicorn Amulet," Curey said, pointing to it. "It's a powerful artifact, although nopony is quite sure what it does."
"Can I try it on?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
The shopkeeper chuckled. "It's a magical artifact," he said. "As in, it only works for unicorns?"
"I want to try it on," Twilight insisted.
The shopkeeper thought about it. There was a dark history surrounding the alicorn amulet, but...he shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
The instant the Alicorn Amulet snapped around Twilight's neck, the front of her forehead burned. Her eyes turned red, and she looked at the shopkeeper.
"I'll take it," she said, smiling.
"That will be one hundred bits," he said. "Plus, you need to fill out—"
Twilight grabbed the shopkeeper by the throat and pulled him close. "I said, I'll take it," she said. "I didn't say anything about paying."
Twilight threw Curey across the room and laughed maniacally before leaving with the Alicorn Amulet firmly around her neck.
That night, a series of inexplicable events occurred in Canterlot.
First off, an unidentified pegasus went to the University Library and started a tornado that knocked every single book off of the shelves. Twilight's rude former boss was forced to spend days, cleaning up the mess.
Somepony spray-painted "PRINCESS CELESTIA IS A LYING, FAT FLANK" in humongous letters, on the side of Canterlot Castle. The guards in the area were bewildered as to how this could have happened; they were patrolling the grounds the whole night.
The vandalism didn't stop there. 60% of the unicorn statues in Canterlot had their horns broken off. All the horns were found four days later, lying at the bottom of Canterlot Lake.
In a crime that went unreported, somepony broke into the house of Twilight's parents. Screaming about revenge for the worst vacation ever, the pony set one of the family photo albums on fire. The album in question contained pictures of the family's trip to Ohayo, from, sixteen years ago.
Finally, somepony managed to fight their way past Blueblood's guards and break into his apartments. Prince Blueblood was knocked unconscious, tied up with rope, then left hanging upside-down from one of the towers. He wasn't found for six hours, and when he was pulled to safety, it was discovered that an inappropriate word had been permanently tattooed on his forehead.
The next morning, Twilight woke up with the worst headache she had ever experienced in her life. "Ugh..." she groaned. "Oh..."
"Twi, are you awake?" a voice asked.
Twilight opened her eyes slowly. She was in a strange bed, in a clean room. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were standing nearby.
"Where am I?" Twilight asked.
"You're in the hospital," Pinkie Pie said. "And now that you're awake again, we can have a 'Twilight's Not Dead' party! Yay!"
"Why am—owwww...what happened?" Twilight asked.
"That's what we wanna know," Applejack said. "When you came back to your house last night, you were looking more beat up than a year-old sack of potatoes."
"Yeah, where were you?" Pinkie Pie asked. "We spent hours looking for you!"
"I...don't remember..." Twilight said. She lifted a sore hoof to her forehead, which throbbed with intense pain. "Ow..."
"Maybe we should get the nurse," Applejack said to Pinkie Pie.
"No need," a voice said. A white earth pony with a nurse's hat stepped into the room. "I'm here." The nurse opened a cabinet and pulled out a clipboard, as well as a bottle of water, which she gave to Twilight.
"Drink this," the nurse ordered. "You need fluids, after all your blood loss."
"Blood loss?" Twilight shouted. She sat upright, then screamed in pain. "My wings!"
Twilight turned to look at her wings. Her left wing was in a cast, and her right wing was missing about half of its feathers.
"I'm surprised you were able to fly with a broken wing," the nurse said, reading from the chart. "Who broke it?"
"I...I guess...me?" Twilight said, trying to make sense of things. "Maybe I crashed while I was flying?"
"No," the nurse said, while examining Twilight's forearm. "This isn't crash damage; the bruised areas are too far apart. I'd guess that you got into a fight."
"A fight?" Twilight asked. "But I've never fought anyone in my entire life!"
Pinkie and Applejack glanced at each other. "Uh...that's not exactly what Rarity said..." Applejack said.
"Yeah, she said you were upset, because you had a big fight with the princess and the magician pony," Pinkie said.
"Magician pony?" Twilight asked. "You mean—oh. Oh, jeez. Now I remember. Ugh..."
"What is it?" Applejack asked. "What's wrong?"
"Scootaloo's parents!" Twilight said. "Her mom is Trixie, and her dad is...oh, I can't believe it..."
"Who?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Is it Applejack's brother?"
"Pinkie!" Applejack said. "Don't talk about Big Mac that way!"
"Hey, I think he'd make a great daddy!" Pinkie said.
Twilight gasped, as she remembered what happened after Trixie's exit. "Oh no! I yelled at Princess Celestia! I—I have to apologize before she—"
Nurse Sweetheart put her hoof over Twilight's body, forcing her to lie down. "You are not allowed to leave this bed for at least four days," she said.
"But—I—the princess!"
"You can write a letter to the princess from here," the nurse said.
"I'm doomed!" Twilight said. "Princess Celestia is going to fire me as a librarian, then banish me to the Griffon Kingdom!"
"Hey, maybe she's the pony who beat you up!" Pinkie suggested.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Twilight said. "Even though I did tell her to go to Tartarus..."
"You said that to The Princess?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Wow! How did she react?"
"I don't want to talk about it..." Twilight moaned.
"That's okay," Applejack said. "We don't need to hear about the fight. But where'd you go after that? By the time we all came to your house to check up on you, you were gone."
"Well...I went out to fly," Twilight said. "Flying helps clear my mind, you know? I flew over the Everfree Forest and...uh...I don't remember anything after that."
"You think maybe a monster attacked her?" Applejack asked the nurse.
"Maybe," Nurse Sweetheart said. "The forest can be dangerous at night. You're lucky you managed to escape with your life."
The nurse put a rag to Twilight's forehead, causing a fresh shockwave of pain to emerge. It felt like somepony was drilling a hole into her forehead.
"Augh!" Twilight shouted, pushing the nurse away. "Don't touch my horn!"
"Your...horn?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yes! My horn!" Twilight said. Her eyes flashed and turned red.
The nurse looked worriedly at Twilight. Nopony said anything until Applejack pointed out the obvious. "Twi, you ain't a unicorn."
"I...I...right," Twilight said, slowly deflating as her eyes turned back to their normal color. "I'm...a pegasus. Sorry about that, I just...huh."
"You need more sleep," Nurse Sweetheart decided. "Your eyes are positively bloodshot."
"Right," Twilight said, closing her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell..."
Where did that come from? Twilight wondered. For a second there, it felt like she was hurting my horn.
But I don't have a horn...
A sharp pain came on Twilight's chest. She put a hoof to it, only to find that her hoof bumped up against something metallic.
"What's this?" Twilight asked, looking down at the thing around her neck.
"We're not sure," Nurse Sweetheart said. "We tried removing it yesterday, but we couldn't. It seems to be enchanted with an anti-theft spell."
"Hmmm..." Twilight said. She reached behind her head and undid the clasp holding the item in place. She held it in front of her face. It was a black necklace, with a red jewel in the center. Sticking out of the top was a pony with wings and a horn.
"It looks like an alicorn!" Pinkie said. "Was it a gift from the princess?"
"I..." Twilight said. A few more memories fell into place, as she gazed at the Alicorn Amulet. Her eyes went wide, as she remembered that she met and talked with Nightmare Moon.
"Are you okay?" Applejack asked.
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Twilight said. "I spaced out for a moment, there. Anyway, yes. This is the Alicorn Amulet. The princess gave it to me." Just not the princess you're thinking of.
"Oooo, what's it do?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Nothing. It just looks pretty," Twilight lied. "Anyway, I should probably get some rest. My body hurts like crazy."
"Right, we'll let you sleep," Applejack said.
"We'll be back real soon, okay?" Pinkie asked.
Twilight waved to her friends as they left the hospital room. After making sure Twilight finished drinking her water, Nurse Sweetheart left, too.
Twilight was left to herself, trying to make sense of things. No matter what she did, she could not remember a single thing that happened after she spoke with Nightmare Moon. It was as if somepony had put a magical block on her memories, partway through their conversation.
Did Nightmare Moon give me the Alicorn Amulet? I guess she must have. How else would I have it?
Can it really turn me into a unicorn? What if Nightmare Moon was lying?
Pain came from Twilight's sore forehead again. She wondered if, just maybe, the pain was because a unicorn horn was starting to grow.
I guess there's only one way to know if it works. She said all I have to do is wear it for two days to become a unicorn.
And we need a unicorn to be the Element of Magic...
Twilight put the Alicorn Amulet back on herself. Her eyes glowed red for a moment. Then she rested her head on the pillow and tried to go back to sleep, her mind full of disturbed thoughts.
Around the same time Twilight woke up in the hospital, two fillies went inside the Golden Oaks Library. Neither of them noticed that they were the only ponies there.
"See?" Scootaloo said, pointing at the display case. "Those are the Cutie Mark Finders!"
"Let me see!" Sweetie Belle said, pushing past her best friend. "Ooo, they're pretty! That one looks just like Rarity's cutie mark!"
"It is her cutie mark," Scootaloo said. "She helped us get them. The other two are Pinkie Pie and Apple...Apple...whatever Apple Bloom's big sister is called."
Sweetie Belle took the glass off of the display case. "And nopony has used these two yet, right?" she asked.
"Right," Scootaloo said. "We just gotta open them to get our cutie mark necklaces."
The two fillies both took one of gray orbs. For a while, they tried smashing them open with their hooves, then smashing them against each other. Nothing worked, until Scootaloo had an idea.
"The balcony!" she said. "Twilight's got a balcony upstairs! We can drop them off of there!"
"Great!" Sweetie Belle said.
With some effort, they carried the gray orbs upstairs and to the second-story balcony. They pushed the orbs over the edge of the platform, and the orbs broke into pieces when they fell to the ground. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle excitedly ran down the stairs and outside to see what the results would be, but they were sadly disappointed.
"There was nothing inside of them!" Sweetie Belle said. "They were just big rocks!"
"That's impossible!" Scootaloo said. "My dream said they had our cutie marks inside!"
"You listened to a dream?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well...it was a very realistic dream," Scootaloo defended herself.
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Come on," she said. "Let's try getting our cutie marks some other way."
In Canterlot, Prince Blueblood was very upset. To be sure, he always was upset, whenever his schedule of sleeping until noon was disturbed. But today, he was practically seething with rage. After the indignity of being attacked, tattooed and hung to dry like a piece of laundry, he was now being forced to wait for something.
Wait for something! He was a Prince! He deserved whatever he wanted, as soon as he wanted it! That was his prerogative, as the great-great-great-grandson of Prince Bluebill! How could anypony have a more noble pedigree than him?
Blueblood was making a mental list of ponies he wanted to fire and/or banish—a favorite pastime of his—when the door to the waiting room finally opened, and Captain Whitewings of the Royal Guard stepped inside.
"About time you showed up!" Prince Blueblood said. "I've been waiting for nearly twenty minutes!"
"I would have come sooner, but there were six ponies ahead of you," Captain Whitewings said. "There have been a lot of vandalism complai—is that a pink headband?"
Blueblood adjusted the headband which was covering up his new tattoo. "It was the only color they had available," Blueblood said. "That's not important right now. What matters is that I was brutally attacked last night!"
"Yes, I received the report about the break-in at your apartment," the captain said. He pulled out a copy of the report and put it on a nearby table. "I already sent some ponies to look into the matter. Have you come here to give me an official statement?"
"No! I want the perpetrator arrested immediately!" Blueblood said. "Throw her in the dungeons for daring to besmirch the royal visage!"
"Pretty fancy talk," Captain Whitewings said. He flipped through the report. "But we can't arrest somepony if we don't know who did it. It says here that all the eyewitnesses could tell us is that it was a pegasus with a purple coat."
"That's more than enough information," Prince Blueblood said. "There's only one purple pegasus with a grudge against me: Princess Celestia's pet prodigy, Twilight Sparkle."
In reality, Blueblood never saw his attacker, and he had no idea who it was. But he didn't care a bit about falsely accusing another pony, and Twilight made a convenient scapegoat.
That'll teach the little ice queen not to put out for me, Blueblood thought smugly.