//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Embracing the Darkness // by BlueAzura //------------------------------// *I own nothing, but the experience and story* *Ponies go to Hasbro* Embracing the Darkness By: BlueAzura Chapter 2 It was dark… so very dark. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself floating in a room completely devoid of any light. ‘Where am I? What was I doing before I got here…’ Panicking, she flailed her hooves about, trying to find anything solid to latch onto. Eventually, she managed to brush against something soft and she immediately grabbed it, holding whatever it was close. After a minute of mindless floating, Twilight suddenly realized. ‘Oh wait! I have magic… duh!’ Her eyes screwed shut as she concentrated on her horn, willing it to light. To her relief, her horn responded, sending a soft glow around herself. Twilight reopened her eyes to stare at the item she was currently holding. It was a small doll that looked remarkably like Princess Celestia, but to Twilight it was one word… safe. She felt like a filly again as she held the doll against her chest, but she didn’t care because all she knew was that she was safe. Twilight slowly realized that her surroundings had changed. She was now sitting on what felt like a stone floor. ‘Stone floor now where did I…’ Twilight gasped as memories started to resurface, rekindling her mind on what Nightmare Moon did to her. The unicorn shivered, pressing a hoof on the spot where the vampony… ‘No. I can’t waste time thinking about that right now… I need to find out where I am first.’ Looking around, she immediately thought she had returned to the ruined castle. However upon closer inspection, she saw that it was a different place entirely. Before she could process anything else around her however, she heard the soft clip-clop of hooves behind her. Turning, she was once again face-to-face with an onyx colored alicorn. “N-Nightmare!” Twilight quickly backed away, clutching the Celestia doll in a vice-like grip. “W-what are you doing here?” Nightmare Moon watched the frighten unicorn backing away from her, with a blank look on her face. “Well if you must know, I live here now.” Nightmare replied in a matter-of-fact tone, slowly moving towards the terrified pony. “Because you’re mine now.” “You live here? But, where are we?” Twilight finally reached the far side of the room, her back pressing against the wall behind her. “You don’t know?” Nightmare said in a sarcastically surprised voice. “Why, we’re in your subconscious, of course.” The alicorn finished, looming over the unicorn. “M-my subconscious?!” Twilight was lost for words, but her mind was on overdrive. ‘My mind… Nightmare Moon is in my mind and by the sound of it she’s planning to stay!’ She continued her train of thought. ‘And what did she mean that I’m her’s? Oh sweet Celestia, what am I going to do? Oh… if only I read a book on how to fix this…’ “There are ways to get rid of me, but of course I’m not a foal to tell you how.” Twilight’s head snapped up at the reply. “You can read my thoughts now?!” “No… But, I can read it plain as Celestia’s day on your face.” Nightmare’s face turned into a smirk and glanced down, she then noticed the doll. “Well, well, well… what do we have here?” Her horn glowed with power as she wrenched the doll out of Twilight’s hooves. Twilight’s face instantly paled. “No! Give that back, it’s not yours!” Twilight lunged forward, landing on her stomach as the doll was pulled away at the last moment. “Hmm…” Nightmare Moon stared at it intently. “Your dedication to my sister must be to the point of obsession, for you to manifest this into your mind.” “Hey! I’m not obsessed with the Princess and I would appreciate that doll back!” Twilight reddens, blushing with anger and embarrassment. “Fine… here.” Nightmare’s glowing horn suddenly cut off, dropping the doll on Twilight’s face. “Anyways, just know that I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, Twilight.” Nightmare said, as she watched the unicorn scrambling to grab the doll. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the ground started shaking. “W-what’s going on?” Twilight nearly lost her balance while trying to stand up. “Well… it looks like you’ll be waking up soon.” The alicorn gazed around, as the walls started to crack and crumble. She glanced back, saying her final words. “I’ll be returning in the real world, to collect my prize in Ponyville. Soon… very soon.” Her voice slowly faded out into nothingness, as Twilight was once again surrounded in darkness. Twilight tightly gripped her Celestia doll, feeling safe, as she felt herself fade away into the void. “…” “…” “…ey” “hey…Twi…” “Hey! Twilight!” Twilight softly moaned, feeling as if a huge weight was suddenly lifted off her body. She heard the voice once more. “Hey guys! I think she’s awake!” “Honesty, Rainbow, must you be so loud?” A second voice emerged. “You really must take a leaf from Fluttershy’s book and learn how to be a little less brash.” “Oh, silly Rares, I thought we found out that Flutters wasn’t a tree already.” This voice was a high-pitch squeak, which sort of makes you want to eat something sweet. “Or a book for that matter.” “Pinkie dear, I didn’t mean it like that…” “Um… I-I like to be a tree… just to see what it’s like… I-If you don’t mind…that is…” This new voice was by-far, the quietest one out of the group and seems to almost blend into the background. “That’s nice, Fluttershy, but right now I think ya’ll need to put a cork in it, can’t you see our friend need some sleep?” Twilight decided that it was time to speak. “Ugh… too late, Applejack.” Twilight said, slowly inching her eyelids open. Her eyes quickly adjusted in the bright light, as everything came into focus. What she saw immediately was that she was in a hospital bed, with a group of ponies surrounding it. “You alright there, sugarcube?” The apple-farming mare leaned in. “I think so…” Twilight slowly sat up, with her back resting against the bed frame. “What happened?” “Nightmare Moon captured you, dear, but Rainbow Dash managed to get you away from her.” The snow-white unicorn said, with a look of concern. “We thought you actually died, with all that ghastly blood covering you.” The room suddenly became quiet, only the sounds of the medical equipment and a small whimper from the butterscotch Pegasus could be heard. “B-blood?” Twilight automatically placed a hoof on the spot where Nightmare Moon bit her, expecting to feel bite marks. But to her surprise, she felt nothing, just the smooth hairs of her coat. Applejack noted the motion and she quickly added. “But when we checked, we didn’t find any sort of injuries on you.” She placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder and quietly asked. “Can you tell us what happened?” Twilight was torn, she wanted to tell them everything that has happened between Nightmare Moon and herself, but at the same time she didn’t want them to worry. “I’m not really sure what happened either.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. She still felt a little guilty, but was determined to tell them sometime in the future. Applejack saw the fire, flashing in the unicorn’s eyes before letting out a sigh. ‘She’ll tell us later then I guess.’ Just then, the doctor entered the room. Rainbow went straight to the point. “Give it to us straight, doc, is Twilight going to be okay?” The doctor cleared his throat, looking at his clipboard. “Ahem! Why yes, she’ll be just fine, a little low on blood but other than that, just fine.” The group all let out a sigh of relief as the doctor continued. “The results from the blood work all checked out, but it’s strange.” The group gave a worried look. “The blood on your coat, that we were able to retrieve, did indeed come from you Miss Sparkle. But after the examination, we found that you weren’t sporting any fresh injuries for the past week.” The doctor looked up from his clipboard at this. “Do you remember how your blood was able to make its way to the surface of your skin?” “Uhh… no, not really, no.” Twilight shook her head, fearing that the doctor might know something. “I only ask this because when we saw how low your blood was when you arrived, we thought it was some sort of new illness.” The doctor said as he eyed Twilight’s neck, as if trying to see through an invisibility spell. Twilight unconsciously placed a hoof back on her neck, jumping slightly when she felt a pair of hooves wrapping around her waist. Pinkie Pie tightens her grip, giving Twilight a big grin. “Illness or not, we’re going to make sure to stay by your side so you’ll never feel lonely.” Her grin grew impossibly bigger as she said, “Because that’s what friends are for.” “Pinkie…” Twilight’s eyes began to moisten, a small smile inching on her lips. One by one, the rest of the ponies joined in, adding their own warmth into the pile. The doctor gave a small nod, before leaving to give them some privacy. “Thank you… all of you…” Twilight’s eyes closed, tears now running freely down her face. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.” For once in her life she felt something she never truly felt before, true friendship. “Whoa, Twilight… are you glowing?” Twilight opened her eyes to stare at the cyan mane Pegasus, who spoken out. “You’re glowing too, Rainbow…” Twilight glanced around at the group. “In fact… we’re all glowing…” The ponies slowly retreated from the group hug, watching one another as the glowing intensified. There was a sudden flash of light, causing Twilight to shut her eyes. When she reopened them, she gasped from the spectacular sight before her. Everypony was floating, by an unknown force, as five jeweled necklaces materialized out of thin air. The necklaces gave a small twirl, before placing themselves around each of her friend’s neck. Twilight felt a sudden weight pressing on top of her head, looking up she saw a large gold crown nestled there, giving off a magnificent glow. But just as suddenly as the flash had appeared, the glowing ceased and promptly dropped the ponies back to the floor. “Ugh… what happened?” Rainbow slowly sat up, with a hoof rubbing the side of her head. She took a quick glance at the necklace, hanging off her neck, before exclaiming. “Hey! Check out this awesome necklace!” The Pegasus immediately puffed out her chest in satisfaction. She then noticed the others were sporting their own necklace. “You guys got your own too? Sweet!” Her eyes flicked, from one pony to the other, before finally stopping at the purple unicorn. “Oh, cool! Awesome crown, Twilight!” Twilight flicked her eyes back towards her crown before saying. “I-I don’t believe it… It’s the Elements of Harmony!” The room was suddenly filled with a piercing scream. Rarity sucked in air as if she was a fish out of the water. "My goodness... oh my goodness!" The cyan Pegasus swooped up close. "What is it, is something wrong?" Instead of answering, the snow white unicorn sputtered, "M-m-my t-tail..." She leaped up and gave a whoop of joy. "My beautiful tail is back!" Sure enough, the once stump of a tail was now a long, shiny, beautiful one. Rarity gave the newly grown tail a hug. "Oh, I'll never take advantage of you ever again!" The librarian gave an amused smile. "Well I think it's safe to say that the Elements are capable of regrowing hair." She suddenly remembered what she was going to say. "That reminds me on what's going on right this moment, don't you see?" The unicorn gazed around at her confused friends. "We are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony!" Applejack spoke up. “Yah mean the same elements that were from that book of yours?” Twilight nodded. “I believe so, Applejack… In fact, it makes sense if you think about it.” She brought a hoof to her chin. “While we were in forest, you all showed your true spirit, facing down all the trials put before us.” She looked at each of their faces. “Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty… I didn’t even realize that it doesn’t necessarily mean that the elements had to be those stone orbs.” Twilight suddenly felt ashamed, covering her face with her hooves. “I’m such a fool… to not see the answers practically given to me.” She felt hooves touch her, as the group once more entered into another hug. “Now, don’t feel bad about that, Twi.” The farm-pony comforted. “After all we’re all in this together now.” “Yeah! Don’t sweat it, Twi. We’ll be with you no matter what gets in our way, because we’ll never leave you hanging!” The head-strong Pegasus exclaimed. “Even I must agree with Rainbow on this one, darling.” The alabaster unicorn chipped in. “For what kind of friends will we be, if we abandon you now, dear?” “Hey!” The Pegasus cried out, followed by a small giggle from the group. “Umm…” The butterscotch Pegasus, who was mainly quiet most of the time, finally spoke. “Even though there’s going to be a lot of hardship ahead of us… I know that with all of us working together and a little bit of kindness... we’ll be just fine.” The timid Pegasus retreated slightly. “Umm… if that’s okay with you…” “Oh, Fluttershy…” Twilight wiped a tear from her eyes. “Of course it’s okay.” She tightens her hug. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The happy ponies were interrupted, when the pink pony in the group cried out. “Alright girls, there’s only one thing to do now… PARTY!” Everypony in the room burst out laughing, but it quickly died out, when the doctor re-entered the room. “That party is going to have it wait ladies…” He looked a bit flustered. “Because we just got word that Mayor Mare is going to make a royal announcement to the whole town.” He gave a small huff. “I don’t really want you to move from the bed, Miss Sparkle. However, it being a royal order, we really have no choice.” Rainbow’s face brightens at the news. “You hear that, girls?” She started moving to the doorway. “I bet that’s the Princess telling us that the Nightmare jerk is gone for good!” Twilight glanced out the window and saw that the moon still stood, high in the sky. ‘I really hope you’re right, Rainbow…’ She quickly joined the group as they left the building, fear gripping her heart.