One thousand years later, on a night where the moon is full, nopony is awake. Except one, looking out at the sky.
“Sister, what are you doing up? Shouldn't you be asleep?” Luna looked at Celestia. “What's wrong? You look troubled,” she said, confused by her sister's behavior.
“I don't know. I get this feeling that something bad is coming but, when I try to remember what it is, my mind goes blank. I feel I should know what it is,” said Celestia.
“Same here. It feels like we should know something, but part of the memory has been taken away.”
“This is bad. I don't want to resort to this,” Celestia said whilst sighing, “but we may have to look through the history books to find out what is going on.”
“Are bad things going to happen?” Luna asked with worry in her voice.
“I don't know. It may be bad, but either way we have to figure this out before it's too late. I will send a letter to Twilight to keep an eye out just in case,” Celestia said as she moved down the hall.
Later that night, two castles mysteriously appeared in the Everfree Forest.
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In the Gothic Nightingale Castle center
“Do you think they have noticed us?” a black figure asked.
“No Victor, the spell placed on Luna made her forget everything as time went on, and the magic shield makes us invisible to their eyes,” said the other black figure.
“What about Celestia?” asked Victor.
“I saw the enemy did the same spell as us, and I think they have the same magic shield. Those asshole copycats!” said the black figure madly.
“Don't worry about them. Soon they will be defeated, and we will be the rulers of this land,” Victor said.
“AHA HA HA HA!” They both laughed in unison.
“My king,” greeted a female as she walked into the room
“What is it Carmilla? the king questioned.
“You have to see this,” Carmilla said.
Together they walked over to the balcony and took off into the air, trying to get a better view of things.
“Ah, I see Canterlot got bigger and... a small town?” The king said in surprise as he landed back on the ground. He then murmured in approval.
“It seems as if a lot of time has passed while we were away. Carmilla, go get Lycia, Stryker and my son, Shadow.”
“Yes sir,” Carmilla replied. She quickly left him and went off to find the names he requested.
Not long after, a male alicorn, a male unicorn and a female pegasus arrived at the scene, all with red eyes and fangs.
“Yes, father?” asked Shadow.
“As you know we have returned, and it's time to rebuild the army after we lost so many. It seems so much time has passed, but how long exactly? I need you three to go down to that small town to see if you can gather information, and then perhaps find some good ponies to join us. However, don't kill anypony as we don't want the princess to discover us yet,” the king told his subjects.
“What!? That's no fun, and I'm thirsty too,” complained Stryker.
“Now now, he's right: we don't want to get spotted,” said Lycia.
“She's right, but what if we run into the enemy? Shadow asked.
“Yeah, what about those fleabags!” Stryker said madly.
“Do not attack! We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves. However, if they start something, then kill them!” the king said with a grin.
“OK, let's go,” Shadow said.
“Oh, before you go, have this.” The king cast a spell so that the three now looked like normal ponies.
“I don't want you to freak out the other ponies, and now you'll be able to go in the sun.”
“Good,” they all said.
The three then turned and departed swiftly.
(In the Howlester castle)
“Finally, we have returned! AROOOOOOOOOOO!” A loud howl sounded from the creature.
“Yes, my leader,” said a female.
“Now Hyla, I see that the spell we put on the castle worked, and Celestia has no clue as to what's going on. Ah ha ha.”
“What about Luna?” Hyla asked.
“Those assbiter copycats did the same spell. I'll rip their necks,” growled the leader.
“I know. But right now, we have to have a plan before we do anything,” said Hyla.
“OK, now we have returned, we need to find new ponies to join our clan, as we lost so many in the last battle,” stated Leader.
“Sounds good.”
Just then, a guard ran in.
“My leader!” exclaimed the guard.
“What is it?”
“The enemy has begun to move,” the guard answered.
“What?! They already started?” the leader said, full of anger.
“Calm down, sir! Before you take action, you need to know that they only sent out three of their own. Also, one of our spies managed to hear them speaking, and said that they are heading to a small town to gather information. We have never seen the town before. Just how long have we been gone? the guard said.
“Let me see for myself.” The leader and Hyla then departed the room before flying up to the roof where they could see everything.
“Just how long have we been gone?!” the leader questioned as they jumped back down from the roof.
“A long time, I see. Also, I know you won't agree with this, but we should gather information too,” Hyla suggested.
“What?!” the leader responded in a mad tone.
“Look! If we don't do this, we won't know what to do; they will know things that they can use against us and we will be weak just like when the princesses confronted us. So if we do, then we can win!” Hyla yelled.
“Grr, guard! Get Leo, Lightfang, Solar and my son, Silver.”
“Yes, sir.” The guard left.
Not long after, a male alicorn, a female unicorn, a male pegasus and a male earth pony came in. They were all very fury and had yellow eyes.
“Aw-roooooo, I'm ready to get down,” Lightfang said eagerly.
“Ya, I'll bite down on those Bloodsuckers,” said Leo.
“Unfortunately, not right now as I need you to instead gather information, grr,” said Leader with a growl.
“What? That's boring!” shouted Lightfang in rage.
“Ya, why are we doing that?” Solar asked in surprise.
“We need to know what's happening and how long has passed whilst we've been gone. If we don't know, then the enemy can use the information to get stronger. We don't want to lose like we lost against the princesses, remember? If we get the information we can use it against the Bloodsuckers, and then the kingdom. Finally we will be ruling this land,” said Hyla.
“Sounds about right,” said Silver.
“Still sounds boring,” said Leo.
“Look, how about this? You go gather information and look for strong, new ponies to join our clan. Don't change them yet though. Just find them and wait until we are ready so that we can go hunting.
“Fine!” they all said, visibly annoyed.
“Hey, what about those stupid Bloodsuckers?” Lightfang asked.
“Well, we saw them going to that new, small town so try and stay away from them. But, if they start something, then bite their heads off,” Leader said as the others began to smile and howl.
“OK, before you go I need to do something. I know you don't like this spell, but we have to make you look like normal ponies so the princesses don't find out,” Leader said before casting the spell in question.
“OK, fine.” All four of them left.
As the night went on, trouble headed towards Ponyville.