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// Chapter 1: Eclipsed World 
// Story: A Nightmare's World 
// by Pendragon552 
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	When I woke up, I was in a ramshackle house, and started to look around. Beside me was a black unicorn mare with a short gray mane and a gray tail that could be considered a stub. She had a red cat's paw as her cutie mark, but her eyes were closed, so I looked around. The house had only two rooms, the one we were standing in had a chair, bookcase, and a small counter across from me behind which there was a kitchen. Through the door to the other room I could see a single bed and a safe. From that door came a black cat with green eyes and no collar. The cat ran up to the black mare beside me and licked her a few times, before turning to me and hissing. I stepped back as the cat continued to lick the other pony, who was beginning to stir.
“Hey Bast.” She muttered, her voice sounding like that of a teenagers. Her eyes fluttered open, showing they were a blood red. She saw me and groaned. “Oh right, you. What were you thinking, challenging the princesses directly like that? Speaking of which, what happened to them? And who was that pony who was trying to kill you?” Her voice was confident and clipped as well, and she was glaring at me from the ground. “Well? I did just save your life so you should probably answer me.” I sighed and started to explain what had happened.
“I've been hunting Celestia for years, for reasons I will keep to myself. This most recent time I had those representing the Elements of Harmony on my side, but I left them behind to fight Celestia myself. I failed, so I tried to summon the Nightmare Energy, the darkness of the sun and moon, to gain the power to kill her. But I couldn't control it, and it was sent out in a wave, corrupting the two princesses. Luna became Nightmare Moon, and Celestia became Nightmare Sun, but they combined themselves, somehow, and became Nightmare Eclipse, who was the pony in the throne room.
When I finished she nodded. “That still doesn't explain what you were doing challenging them head on.”
“Well, I thought I was more powerful than them, that I could use the Nightmare Energy to beat them.” The black mare was still lying on the ground, and she snorted.
“There isn't a pony alive stronger than the princesses, especially now they are empowered by this Nightmare Energy.” She stood up and looked at me. “You never told me your name.” I laughed, a tight, quick laugh.
“And you never told me yours.” She rose an eyebrow, and I cracked. “ShadowBright”
“Hm, you looked a bit like Dark Hoof, the traitor who Celestia was training to be the new princess of the moon soon after Nightmare Moon rose to power yet who turned against her teacher, but I must have been mistaken.” My mouth dropped, confused.
“How do you know about Dark Hoof? Who, well, I was.” The mare looked at me confused, before sighing and shaking her head.
“Not even gonna ask about that, but I've broken into the castle multiple times, and I've read the history books Celestia hid away in her chambers and might I say they were very interesting.” She strode over to the chair in the corner and sat. “Sorry, but I don't usually have guests.” I nodded and sat down on the floor across from her. “My name's SwiftShade, but you can call me Swift.” I stared at her, then saw a small black cat statuette in the bedroom, which the cat, apparently named Bast, had just strode into.
“That's The Shadow Thief's mark! She's the most prolific thief in all Equestria!” I stared at Swift before I realized why she was smirking at me. “Are you her?” Swift laughed and nodded. “But you're what, sixteen?” Swift's laugh stopped short and her expression soured. She was about to make a harsh comment, but we saw something out the window that caused us to both spring up. The moon, which had been moving across the sky,  stopped and moved backwards to the center of the sky. The sun rose from the east and passed behind the moon before stopping. What was left was a black circle with a bright yellow aura around it that wouldn't move.
“What is that?” Swift spoke, her eyes wide, as Bast stepped onto the windowsill. I responded with a disgusted look on my face.
“An eclipse.” Swift turned to me, confused.
“A what?” I laughed before responding.
“Turns out Celestia burned the books explaining that. It's when the sun and moon occupy the same space at the same time. It's only ever happened once before, when Luna refused to lower the moon.” Swift nodded, and looked like she was going to finish my sentence, so I started before her. “Which means it can only happen when the princess's are fighting, or controlled by something else.” Swift closed her mouth and glared at me before speaking.
“Fine, then what are we going to do?” I laughed, barely able to hold myself up and Swift's eyes narrowed at me. “What's so funny?”
“We?” I spoke with a barely suppressed laugh in my throat. “You're a thief and I'm a traitor. Not only are we just any thief and traitor though, we are the most famous thief and traitor in Equestria! There's nothing we can do.” Swift was once again about to speak, but I sensed a strong magical energy from the castle. “Get down!” I shouted, throwing a shield around me and Swift as we both dived to the ground. A wave of Nightmare Energy passed over the shield and tested my magic to it's limits, but it left as quickly as it came.
“What was that?” Swift asked, standing up as I stared at her.
“That,” I headed towards the door, gesturing at Swift to follow. “was Nightmare Energy. I imagine it was Nightmare Eclipse corrupting Equestria. However,” Swift starts trotting after me as I open the door. “It bounced off my shield, likely giving her a location. Meaning we need to leave, now.” I stepped outside and galloped down the alley, coming out on a side street before gaping at the castle. The castle which was all the way across Canterlot from me. “You teleported us all the way here?” I asked, glancing back at Swift, who was panting behind me. She nodded, smirking as Bast padded silently next to her.
“As you said, I'm the Shadow Thief. However that much of a long-range teleport drained all my energy. That means any magic that needs to be done, has to be done by you.” I groaned and nodded, heading to the train station. Just before we got to the train station, we heard guards shout behind us.
“Stop, traitor!” I looked behind me to see a dark version of Celestia's guards chasing me and Swift, and the station closed down ahead of us. I noticed that their were no airships in the port and that a small black circle was spreading from the castle.
“We need to go, NOW!” Swift and I galloped to the edge of Canterlot and looked over the side.
“But I can't use magic, and that's a really long teleport. I'm not sure if I could do that, let alone you.” I grinned and cast a spell, hovering me into the air, and Swift's eyes widened. “What? No no no, we are not jumping.” I laughed, wrapping my hooves around her as Bast jumped onto my back, and plunged off the side of the city. “I hate heights!” The wind took Swift's words all the way up to Canterlot so I could barely hear them as I struggled to float us gently towards the ground.
It turned out that floating hundreds of feet to the ground with only your magic was much harder than it seems, especially with a screaming unicorn wrapped in your hooves, and a cat with his claws latched into you. Despite Swift's constant screams and Bast's claws in my back, we made it to the ground safely. I released Swift, who stumbled away, trembling. “That,” she paused, gasping for air, “was awful. Don't ever make me do that again.” My face was flushed and I had a huge smile on my face. I was about to comment about her fear of heights, until I realized where we were. I gaped at the mountainside underneath Canterlot. “What is it?” Swift barked at me, but I only pointed towards the mountainside. Swift followed my hoof, and her mouth dropped open.
In the mountain was a large cave opening, leading to a multitude of dark passageways and areas the limited light from the eclipse couldn't reach. I closed my mouth and grinned, speaking with a high note in my voice. “We can rest here, maybe weather the storm of Nightmare Eclipse's wrath, gather our energy. I mean, that spell drained my magical energy, and maybe by then I'll have a plan.” Swift raised her eyebrow first at the cave, then at me, and I laughed. “Come on Swift, any pony could get lost in those caves and never be found.” Swift joined my laugh, speaking in the same teenage tone I heard when she first spoke.
“Especially two black ponies like us, right?” She nudged my shoulder and I nudged hers before treading into the cave, giggling.
We stayed in the cave for three months, grazing on the grass outside and using the springs we found in the cave for water. We only left when the Nightmare versions, as I had taken to calling the ponies corrupted by the Nightmare Energy, of the Solar and Lunar Guard stopped heading off in search of us. “So what's the plan Shadow?” I heard Swift's voice from behind me and jumped. These past three months we learned a lot about each other, and I'd almost forgotten she was a thief. She learned a bit more of my history, for instance that the way I looked now was not the same as how I looked when I was training to be the princess of the moon, and how I came to know Twilight and her friends, and I learned that she really is sixteen, but doesn't remember anything before four years ago, not even how she got her cutie mark.
“The only thing I can think of is that if my friends got corrupted, then maybe their Elements of Harmony got corrupted as well. I think,” I paused, gazing outside the cave. “I think we have to go to, or in my case return to, Ponyville, and figure out a way to uncorrupt the six of them. Maybe then we can either use the Elements of Harmony or the Nightmare versions of them.” Swift nodded, and we strode out of the cave together, galloping towards Ponyville.