//------------------------------// // Yipie, We're All Going to Die. // Story: The Twin Students of the Sun. // by Whiteeyes //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer was sleeping in her bed on the library's second lot. Or rather she would be sleeping if there wasn't a party going strong into its twelth hour downstairs. She knew it was tradition to stay up all night so that you didn't miss the sun rise, but she had no intention of staying up. While Celestia made a big public production of it once a year, raising the sun kind of lost its majesty once you'd witnessed the Herald of the Dawn doing her duty while wearing a pink flannel night gown and grumbling about needing more damn coffee on an almost daily basis. As Celestia once said "The downside to raising the sun is that you're always up before dawn." There was a loud crash from below, causing Sunset to bolt upright. Looking around the room she noticed Twilight across from her in her own bed. The lavender mare had a pillow clutched over her head in an attempt to drown out the noise. "Can't get any sleep either huh?" Her partner shot up in frustration. "No! And with the party going on downstairs, I can't do any research on Nightmare Moon! The world could be doomed to eternal night because ponies were partying till the break of dawn! That's almost enough irony to physically drown in!" Sunset facehoofed. "Twilight, Nightmare Moon isn't real. She's not going to attack, so it doesn't matter if you study or not." "But the book of prophesies I read stated, and I quote, on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars shall aid in her escape. And according to what I can find, this is the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration since her banishment." Twilight protested. "You'll see. When Nightmare Moon shows up you'll be asking me for ideas on how to beat her, and then I'm going to do your own 'I told you so' dance to you! And then the world will end because I didn't get a chance to study!" "Twilight, if Nightmare Moon turns out to be real, not only will I let you do the dance, I'll drink an entire bottle of that crazy pink mare's hot sauce." Any further conversation was halted as Pinkie crawled out from under Sunset's bead and, reaching into her mane, pulled out a bottle of hot sauce and tossed it to a stunned Sunset, who somehow still had the presence of mind to telekineticly catch it. "Here you go, you're going to be needing that later." And with that she literally bounced down the stairs and out if the room, leaving two very confused unicorns to just sit and stare. "How did she get under there without us noticing?" Sunset asked, quickly ducking her head under the side of her bed to make sure nopony else was down there waiting to surprise her. Twilight on the other hoof had a more immediate concern. "How long was she under there just watching and listening to us?" Sunset suddenly had a vision of Pinkie hiding under her bed, just waiting until the two unicorns had fallen asleep. Then the pink mare crawls out, and then she pulls out a knife and "Changing the subject! Who else is never going to sleep in this room again?" "Oh Sunset it's not that bad. All she did was pop out and give you some hot sauce...which she had no idea you'd be needing. So she was just here...watching us...just watching...for no real reason....hey I think it's almost time for the ceremony! Why don't we head on over to the town hall instead of waiting in this room! And maybe on the way back pick up some heavy duty locks!" Twilight got out of bed quite quickly. Apparently adrenalin was better than coffee when it came to coming fully awake. Sunset on the other hoof practically flopped out of bed, still dead tired after getting only about an hours rest in the last twenty hours, and most of that had been bought on by stress induced fainting. She had so been looking forward to a good night's sleep, tradition be damned. "Twilight, we don't need to pick up locks, we're only here for one night. Tomorrow we'll be back in Canterlot and we won't have to deal with her again. Still, we might as well get going." As they headed out, Twilight made sure to pick up Spike on the way out, removing the lampshade from his head before letting him mount her. The building was already starting to fill with ponies by the time they arrived, Pinkie's party seeming to have died out at some point adding its own glut of ponies o the mix. Speaking of, Pinkie was practically hovering around the dessert table, waiting for the celebration to start so she could dig in. Sunset noticed Applejack and Rainbow Dash near there as well. While Rainbow Dash seemed just as eager as Pinkie to dig in Applejack had a determined look on her face as she stared at the two, as if daring them to just try and eat all the desserts while she was on guard. Sweetie Drops, whom Twilight recognized, looked at them with trepidation and seemed to be ready to rush over and put out more deserts as soon as the celebration was underway. Meanwhile up on stage Twilight noticed Masquerade doing a quick polish of the mane brass sun, she had decided to place it dead center it seems, before ducking back behind the curtain. The Pony Tones meanwhile were off to the side of the main stage to provide music during the actual celebration proper. Sunset meanwhile noticed Fluttershy and her birds off to the other side, and made a mento note to apologize for taking up so much of her time earlier that day...or was it yesterday? "Bah, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I apologize." 'Only a neurotic like Sparkle would worry about proper grammar while apologizing.' Sunset was snapped out of her reverie when an older looking grey maned mare, probably the town mayor, walked out on stage. She tried to pay attention to the speech, but Twilight kept prodding her and trying to get her attention. Turning at last to the offending mare, she hissed "What is it, I'm trying to listen?" Twilight's response was to point up. Rolling her eyes, Sunset looked up...and her jaw dropped. He moon was blank. "Oh bloody Tartasus, no. You can't be right. That's just stupid." "I present to you your princess, Celestia!" the mayor finished, and the curtains were pulled back to reveal...nothing. The gasps from the audiance was audible. Masquerade popped out from back stage. "She's not back there. Maybe she went to the little fillies room?" she suggested, trying to cut the tension which got a couple chuckes. Twilight and Sunset however shared a nervous look. Princess Celestia, for all that she ate and drank like a normal pony, had never even once in the years that they had known her had to use the bathroom. Mostly because she didn't need to. As the alicorn had explained when asked (because Twilight can't leave anything alone), her body perfectly converted any food she ate into pure energy and as such her body required no such function. "No way Sparkle, there is no way we're under attack from a monster from a foal's story." It was then that a dark purple mist, littered with what looked like stars, started to billow out upon the stage. It soon coalesced into a mighty black alicorn adorned in silver armor. Her cat eyes glared over the crowd as she bearded vicious fangs at them. "PEASANTS REJOICE! FOR WE HAVE RETURNED AS IS OUR RIGHT TO RULE!" she bellowed, her very voice shaking the room. She waited as everyone in the crowded room started to yammer in confusion. Except for a certain rainbow maned weather pony who started to charge the alicorn. "Hey you, what did you do with the Princess? Give her back or else I'll" Whatever she was going to do was interrupted as Applejack quickly grabbed Rainbow's tail with her own teeth and reigned her in. The dark alicorn was not happy to say the least, as her mane turned into a nebulous, writhing mass. "WHAT IS THIS? DOES OUR CROWN MEAN NOTHING? DID NONE SEE THE SIGNS? DOES NONE KNOW OUR PERSONS? OUR NAME?" Her presence and voice were terrifying enough that Fluttershy, normally scared of just being near other ponies that she didn't know, decided that hiding in a huge crowd of strangers was safer than being on stage. Not that anypony could blame her. Any sane pony would be terrified at this point. So naturally Pinkie decided to treat it as a guessing game. "Is it Meany Pants? Dark Spooky? Black McDarkbad? Steve? Loudy Yelly Pants? Smokey the Shadow Pony? Oooh ooh Black Snooty, Black Snooty!" Any further guesses were quashed as Sweetie Drops stuffed several tarts into the pink party pony's mouth. The dark figures mounting rage was cut off as Twilight stepped forward, proclaiming "I know who you are. I saw the signs and read the prophecy. You're Nightmare Moon." The announcement caused quite the stir and no small amount of distress for the crowd, but none more so than Sunset Shimmer. "Oh come the bucking Tartarus on! We're actually under attack from a bucking villain from a bedtime story?!" she then noticed the crowds attention and shifted uncomfortably. "Oh what, like none of you are surprised that the monster from your childhood stories is real?" "WE ARE NOT A FABLE MEANT TO AMUSE A CHILD! WE ARE NIGHTMARE MOON, RIGHTFUL AND ETERNAL RULER OF THIS WORLD THAT WE HAVE SHROUDED IN ETERNAL NIGHT!" Nightmare Moon Declaired, savoring the looks of shock and horror on the ponies' faces. "THAT IS CORRECT, WE HAVE DEFEATED THY PRECIOUS CELESTIA AND HAVE CLAIMED THIS LAND AS OUR OWN. WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED WHEN LAST YOU SAW THE SUN, FOR IT WAS TRULY THE LAST YOU SHALL SEE IT! FROM THIS NIGHT FORTH, THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!" The mayor decided to get involved at this point, turning to the royal guards present. "Stop her, she's the only one that can tell us what has happened to Princess Celestia!" The two guards, showing more courage and loyalty than would be found in a dozen other ponies combined each, flew at the imortal entity that claimed to be powerful enough to have defeated The Hammer of Dawn. The fact that it was horribly one sided surprised nopony, as Nightmare Moon simply turned her mane into a vortex that shot a bolt of lightning at each pegasus taking them out in one blow, though thankfully not in a fatal manner, as they crashed to the ground and began moaning in pain. Laughing evilly at the amusing attempts to stop her, Nighmare Moon turned into a cloud of purple mist and flew off. Dash at this point broke free of AJ's grip, and flew out the window into the night after the departing alicorn. Twilight on the other hoof turned and left via the main doors. "Come on Sunset, we need to get back to the library and plan what to do about this." Sunset simply followed in a daze. "Right, right, I'm comming." In her defense, the day had been rather terrible for her and having the monster who was supposed to eat her if she forgot to brush her teeth show up was rather disorienting. It also made her want to brush her teeth a second time just to be extra sure, but that was probably the lack of sleep talking. Arriving back at the library, Twilight quickly laud out her plan of attack. "Alright, according to the legend I read Nightmare Moon was originally defeated by an artifact called the Elements of Harmony. We're going to have to go over all these books to find anything about it." Looking at the shelves, she whickered in annoyance. "These books are disorganized beyond all reason! Why place a book about basket weaving next to a book on scuba diving? In case somepony wants to take up underwater basket weaving?" "Actually, Celestia is quite skilled at it." Sunset responded. Noticing the look of incredulity Twilight sent her way, Sunset rolled her eyes. "Apparently three centuries ago was just that boring. She also invented tightrope unicycle pottery making, bungee jump, the pinwheel, and extreme reading. And before you ask I don't know what that involved, just that they wound up rebuilding a section of Canterlot, paying massive compensation to a zebra ambassador, had Fillydelphia changing its official desert to cheesecake, Cloudsdale banning all tubas even to this day, and Celestia making the sport illegal." Twilight blinked, several times. "You know, for once in my entire life I do not want to know something...huh, I guess it is the end of the world when I'm not curious about something. Shiny was right, go figure." Before they could really begin however, the door slammed open (once again on poor Spike) and four familiar mares charged in. "Rainbow Dash? Applejack? Two ponies I don't know? What are you doing here?" Sunset asked. Really, at this point she was just accepting that anything was possible. AJ facehoofed "Oh right, ya'll haven't met. Sunset Shimmer, this here is Masquerade" she gestured to the twinkle eyed pegasus "and Sweetie Drops. Ladies, this here is Sunset Shimmer, inspector fom Canterlot fer the Celebration. Don't know why these two are here rightly, but me and Dash decided to pop in and check up on ya." "Well, I did after losing track of Nightmare Moon anyway. Who knew tracking a dark cloud of mist at night would be so hard?!" the chromatic mare complained. "Hey, I recognize you purple, you were that pony that knew who she was! What are you doing here? What's your angle? Are you a spy?" Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that. Twilight, might I introduce Rainbow Dash, head weather mare, Applejack, local apple farmer, and Masquerade, our resident drama pony...in that she's an actor. If you want the other kind of drama you should meet Rarity Belle, now she's this unicorn that" "I know who Rarity and Masquerade are; I met them on my route." Twilight dead panned, annoyed by all the distractions to the point that she failed to notice Spike wiggle his way from out behind the door. "Oh okay that saves some time then." Sweetie replied,smiling. "Everypony, may I present to you Twilight Sparke, personal student of Princess Celestia, and therefore not a spy." She shot a suddenly emberrassed Rainbow Dash a slight smirk at that. "That's fine and all," Masquerade piped up "but it does raise one question. If Clestia's personal student was in charge of inspections, what is Sunset Shimmer doing here?" she asked with a slightly accusatory hoof point at the mare in question. Sunset just quirked an eyebrow. "Students, with an s, plural. And the senior student at that." Noticing the stunned looks on the locals faces, she facehoofed. "Seriously, why do ponies have so much trouble with the idea that the immortal Alicorn has enough time to teach more than one student?" "Yes yes, it's a mystery. Now can we focus on stopping Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked, turning back to the bookshelf. Dash did a victory pump. "Aw yeah, the eggheads have a plan! Lay it on us, how do we buck the Nightmare back into the moon?" Twilight twitched dangerously. "I don't know right now. We need to find a book on the Elements of Harmony, but considering how disorganized this library is that could take forever. Well, you guys might as well help us search. To find a book on the Elements, we're going to have to go book by book and shelf by shelf; it'll be long, boring, difficult" "Or we could check out the book labeled The Elemnts of Harmony: A Reference Guide somepony put on the table with a note." Spike said, pointing out the otherwise ignored object on the table, causing all the mares to stare in shock. "...seriously? Nopony noticed?" "Give me that!" Twilight shouted, zipping the book over to herself and desperately starting to read. Sunset looked on nervously. "Alright then, I'll just read the note then." Floating it up, she cleared her throat and began "Dear Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, the Twin Students of the Sun," she blinked at that. "We're not twins. That's a stupid title!...right, continuing. Yes I know it's not a good title, but I didn't write that prophecy! We're getting off track..." Sunset trailed off and shared a look with Twilight, who had been so intrigued by this she had actually stopped reading. "Right, we're obviously dealing with somepony that knows what's going on. So I'm going to start over from the beginning and then we can freak out over it and analyze in afterwards." Clearing her thrat, Sunset proceeded to do just that. "Dear Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, the Twin Students of the Sun, Yes I know it's not a good title, but I didn't write that prophecy! We're getting off track here though, so let's get back to business. If you're reading this Nightmare Moon has escaped, defeated Celestia, and plunged the world into eternal night. If this is not the case then you've either read it too early, in which case sorry or the spoilers, or you're reading the after Nightmare Moon has been defeated, in which case enjoy the victory party! Assuming this is not the case however, I took the liberty of preparing the Reference Guide so you wouldn't have to go through the library, which I think is somehow an even bigger mess than it usually is. The Guide was under E. Oh, I'm also including Z's prophecy deal, just remember these things never make sense untill later. The Twin Students of the Sun Shall Send the Nightmare on the Run And When the Deed is Finally Done The Many Shall Become the One Well, good luck! You're really going to need it! - P" "P huh? Well that explains it." AJ said, nodding. "Um, come again?" Twilight asked, confused. Masquerade cleared her throat. "P and Z are a pair of mysterious individuals who leave notes around town on occasion, with warnings about the future. A pair of predicting precog ponies nopony knows the real identity of. They are eerily accurate though, so ponies tend to listen to their notes, even when they sound odd. The full blown prophecy bit is new though." "Great, we'll worry about to later, I found what we are looking for." Twilight said, turning back to the book. "The Elements of Harmony are six magical gemstones that each represent one of the Virtues of Harmony. Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, and Laughter. The sixth Element is a complete mystery, but will appear when the other five are brought together and exposed to a spark. The Elements can be found in the ruined Castle of the Royal Sisters located deep within the Everfree Forest." "The Everfree Forest?" the locals called out in a mixture of surprise and fear. Sunset was surprised by such a reaction, especially from the normally brash Rainbow Dash. "I take it you know the place?" Mask snorted. "Know it? Ponyville is right on the boarder to it, the most dangerous place in Equestria!...besides maybe the Fire Swamp, but really it's hard to top a swamp filled with fire." "Oh I'm sure it's not that bad." Twilight said, setting up her saddle bags and levitating Sunset her own set. "Spike, stay here while me and Sunset get the Elements and rescue Princess Celestia." She turned to find her way barred by Rainbow Dash. "Woah woah woah. There is no way we're going to let you two go into that death trap. The Everfree Forest is totally unnatural. All sorts of weather happens on its own, and no pegasus can stop it while it's in the forest." AJ nodded. "Not only that, but the plants grow all mixed up on their own and so thick you can hardly move in some places." "And worst of all is the horrible monsters that dwell in the forest. They'll hunt you down and swallow you whole!" Masquerade provided as a capstone to how horrible the place is. While Sunset naturally looked properly disturbed at the thought of a place that so thoroughly defied the laws of nature Twilight, if anything, looked even more determined. "Be that as it may, it doesn't matter if the Everfree is a thousand times more dangerous than you make it sound. If thats we're we have to go to get the Elements and rescue Princess Celestia, then that's where we're going, and nothing's going to stop us." "I understand dear." Sweetie nodded. "And that's why I'm comming with you. You'll need a local to help out, plus safety in numbers and all that." "What? We can't ask you to go on an ultra dangerous mission!" Sunset cried, feeling panic that the kind looking mare would be placing herself in mortal peril for their sakes. "I know you can't. That's why I'm volunteering." Sweetie replied "I know full well how dangerous it's going to be, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we get through and save the world, and it's more likely to happen with three ponies than with two." "Better make that four I reccon." AJ said, stepping forward. "I ain't no slouch when it omes to deling with beasties, mah farm's right smack dab next to the forest after all. I know mah way around the shallow parts,so I can at least get us going the right way." "Five." Rainbow Dash chimed in. "You had me at 'ultra dangerous mission'." "The sad part is you probably did." Masquerade sighed. "Well since we're all crazy, we might as well make it a full six pack. Cause at this point I know I'd just worry myself sick, so I might as well come along as the voice of reason." Sunset took a look at these ponies, and knew that nothing would turn them from their quest to help. And so her team would consistent of herself, exhausted without sleep, Twilight the neurotic, Sweetie Drops the sweets maker, Applejack the apple farmer, Rainbowdash the super speed pegasus (okay, so she was useful), and Masquerade who was an actor. All against Nightmare Moon, whatever forces she had, and the deadly Everfree Forest. She evaluated their chances. "Yipie, we're all going to die."