Sweetie Belle was laying on a big soft pillow, to comfort and relaxed to move from the spot. She was in a world full of fabrics and threads that could make one feel that they're in a decoration store. On all of the cloths was a symbol or pattern that related to music in one manner or another. One had a note sheet, another had a flute, and others had a mike sowed on it. The pillow Belle was on had a huge G Clef in the center. Nights is resting as well while floating in the air.
"This place is so comfy, this is definitely my version of a spa day. It's like magic" Sweetie Belle cooed.
Nights nodded in agreement "Say, I never did see you use magic before." Sweetie broke from her trance with panic "Do you know how to use your magic yet Sweetie Belle?"
"A-a little" she said, hoping that it would end the conversation.
Nights looked around and flew away. Grabbing something, it flew back to the pillow Belle was on and it placed an item a foot or two away. It was a button, Nights floated back giving a friendly smile "Let's see you levitate this."
She was scared. She wasn't that good at magic, but she didn't wanted to be looked at as a failure. She started to focus on the button before and stood up to plant her hooves to the pillow. Her horn lit up with an aura as well as the button. She channeled all of her thoughts on lifting the plastic material up into the air, but sadly the closes thing she could do is to shake it around a little. The aura fades from her horn and she begins to pant at her overworked, under-payed results. She glanced at Nights, then looks away in disappointment "I can't use magic, alright."
Nights rubbed its chin for a moment in thought "What do you like to think when your passing time?" Sweetie looked at Nights for more clarification "Like when your working or helping your sister out."
She glances away from it "I... well..." she didn't really wanted to say, but Nights' eyes were drilling for an answer from her. "I, I like to sing a song."
"Alright, do that while focusing on levitating the button" Belle gave a confused expression. "Have faith and try it" Nights encouraged her.
Sweetie Belle was starting to blush when taking her stance again, finding that singing would be embarrassing. She begins to think of a song, remembering how the notes were presented and began to hum. Her horn lights up again and the button follows. She starts to think about it levitating... and it starts rising. Belle breaks the connection from the surprise. The button falls back on the pillow with Sweetie Belle in denial at what she saw. She starts the process again, going a little bit faster this time, and the button starts flying into the air. "It's worked" she gives a relieved chuckle at the situation "I did it!"
Nights nods at the results "When you use magic on something, you need to have a connection. What you seem to be doing is focusing all of your energy on the object, leaving nothing that ties you to it. It's like grabbing an egg; put to much pressure on it and it will break, but put to little pressure on it and it will drop."
Sweetie Belle broke the connection again after she realized that a pegasus knew how magic worked, but how? "How do you know so much about magic."
Now Nights was the one panicking "Um, I know of a pony that can use it and she told me one night on how it's used. Ahem, what I'm getting at is that you need to be yourself. You need to put a little bit of yourself into the channeling if you want a strong connection."
Sweetie Belle looked over to the button she dropped and trotted over to it, proud of her accomplishment. She started to repeat what Nights said over and over in her head, making sure to keep one thing in mind.
"I need to be myself!"
Scootaloo was running around on cloud nine, then ten, eleven, and lastly cloud twelve. She was up in the clouds that could be best described as another version of Cloudsdale. There was houses, bridges, columns, all of it was made out of clouds. Nights was flying right beside Scootaloo, in all of her bliss.
"This is so cool!" she exclaimed "I always wanted to visit a place like Cloudsdale"
"Is it because you can't fly up to one?" Nights spoke.
Sheepishly, Scootaloo nodded before hanging her head down "I'm always training my wings, but I just can't fly."
"Let me see you performance, maybe I could give you some advise" Nights reassured her.
She looks up at Nights. S/he was giving a warm smile that made Scootaloo feel more at ease. She raises her wings up and starts flapping them in an extreme fashion that resembled that of a humming bird's wing flapping. She jumps in the air and stay air born for less than a second before dropping back onto the cushion of the cloud. She looks at Nights in hope for any advice it can give her.
Nights was looking up in thought, having a hoof over its mouth "I got an idea! I'll start clopping my hooves together and I want you to flap your wings to the sound of it." Scootaloo didn't really see where this was going "On one, I want you to retract your wings then lift them up. And on two, I want you to cup your wings and flap them down, getting as much air as you can." But she really wanted to fly, so she decided to wing it.
"Are ya ready? One... two... one... two..." Nights starts clopping its hooves together at each number. Scootaloo does as she was instructed and moves her wings to the sound of the beat. She closes her eyes listening only to Nights coaching her on.
"One, two, one, two" Nights starts to speed up. The air around Scootaloo is starting to become stronger and begins to shake the surface of the cloud she was on.
"Onetwoonetwo" Nights' voice trailed of leaving on the sound of its hooves to follow. Scootaloo kept her eyes shut, focusing only on the sound that Nights was making.
*Clipclopclipclop* The sound too started to soften until it faded. Scootaloo kept the rhythm in her head and kept flapping, but curiosity started to get the better of her. She slowly opened one eye to see Nights was doing. Nights was laying back in front, reclining while it crossed its legs. S/he was giving a proud smile at her while it float there at the height of Scootaloo's face.
She quickly looked down to see that she was flying! As joyous as it was, her wings started to fly at the speed of the Humming bird's and dropped back to the cloud. "Wha? I had it, I was flying, what happened?" she cried out, so close victory.
"It's because you lost the tempo" Nights answered while making a decent down to the filly. "Call me crazy, but I think you're afraid to fly" the orange Pegasi's jaw dropped "when you realized that you were in the air, you panicked, and started to flap your wings uncontrollably." Scootaloo glanced at her wings with eyes that were starting to tear up "But you just shown that you can fly perfectly if you keep calm and held faith." Nights landed and placed a hoof on the filly's head "Your ready to fly at any moment, the question is 'are you ready to fly?'"
Scootaloo looked up at Nights as it gave a supporting smile to her. She wiped her tears away realizing that their was never anything wrong with her wings, this whole problem was just trying to live up to expectations. She was just like every other Pegasus and she will be if she keeps in mind what Nights said.
"I need to be calm and confident!"
Applebloom was on a farm that looked like it was meant for a future generation resident. The fences were half built, the shed didn't have a roof, the barn was in its framing stage, even the house was lacking it's furniture and part of the floors. She couldn't stand to see the work unfinished and has been working on the fence for a while now and is almost done. Nights flies done to her and sees her near finished work.
"Whoa, you did an amazing job on this!" Nights exclaimed, placing its hooves on the fence.
"Oh, that's nothing. Anypony can do that" Applebloom brushed off.
"I certainly can't. Say, why are you so interested in fixing up this place?"
"Because somepony has to. Applejack always said 'the best way to make sure things get done is to do it yourself'" the little filly then lifted another log up.
"Perhaps, but shouldn't the residents of the land do it? After all, it is their land."
"Nothing wrong with being neighborly, Big Mac and Granny Smith do it all the time so why can't I?" She then started hammering the wooden post into the ground. "There, all done" Applebloom takes a few steps back to see her work. "One structure down" she twists her body around "and a bunch more to go!"
Nights joins the sight she was looking at then back to Applebloom "*giggles* I see two finish structures." Bloom looks at Nights, confused at where the other structure it was talking about "I think your family has done a wonderful job at raising you."
Like a baseball to a window, the praise Nights gave left a shattering effect on Applebloom. "Raising me?" she wondered. It never actually occurred to her at how much of an influenced her family left on her. She looked at the unfinished structures and the supplies next to them. "These buildings, they represent me! And as for those supplies, they're my family! Even though these buildings are unfinished, they are secured by the strength of my family!"
"They helped build what I am today!"
She continued the stare down at the structures, wondering why they're unfinished before realizing "They probably have a lot more to teach me." She smiles "No matter where I go, they're always with me!"
Just as she was about to leave, the sky quickly darkens and the structures around the two suddenly fell apart bring dust into the air. "Oh no, Applebloom!" Nights issued, Bloom didn't need to be told twice and quickly dualize with Nights. Once united they looked around for the Nightmaren. They eventually found a silhouette of a pony in the dust. It seemed like a Pegasus with its wings open and floating in the air, but strangely it didn't flap those wings.
"Who are you?" Nights commanded at the figure.
It didn't response, it just float there.
"ANSWER ME!" Nights yelled and the creature responded.
"I'm not going to acknowledge you." It pulls back its wings "As far as I'm concerned," and suddenly blows all of the dust away in on powerful swoop "THERE IS NO NIGHTS."
The dust vanishes to reveal a Pegasus pony that looked a lot like Nights. Nights wore purple clothing while this Pegasus wore red. Its eyes were threatening and it lifted its hooves into the air to summon large orbs all over the place. The Nightmaren then flies to one of the orbs and throws it at the two dualized ponies.
They both dodge the impact "Who is that?" Applebloom asked.
The orb they dodged exploded and Nights sighs "It's just somepony I know that always gives me trouble wherever I go."
"It's just a big bully!" She tried to lighten the mood before another orb was heading their way. The two avoided that incoming attack as well and it also exploded but another orb was about to collide with them. Acting fast, the two held out their hooves to stop it like a goalie in soccer and threw it right back at the Nightmaren. It flies was away from the orb but gets caught in the explosion.
The Nightmaren didn't seemed tuckered out yet, it went to another orb and threw it once more at Nights and Applebloom. They in turn spiked it downwards and it missed the Nightmaren, it didn't even come close to it, but once it hit the ground it bounced up and right into the Nightmaren. The orb soon exploded and sent the Nightmaren to the ground, landing on its back.
The Dualized duo landed to the ground as well "Great job Applebloom" Nights congratulated.
She separated from Nights "Granny Smith didn't raise no pushovers."
Both of them looked over to the injured Nightmaren, who rolled over onto its stomach. It glared at Nights "N-Nights, why d-did... you be... tray... us?" it said before it faded away.
The world around Applebloom and Nights returned back to normal, even the buildings returned, but Applebloom was confused. "Nights," she began "what was it talking about?"
Nights knew their was no way out of this one, so it decided to give in. "I think it's time for me to tell all of you the truth."
"All of you? Who else is here?"
Nights didn't reply. It only gestured her to follow it, as they headed towards the door.
