Twilight looked up from her book.
"...and the stars shall aid her escape after a thousand years." She tapped a hoof on the ground.
"This is important! I should go inform the Princess!" With that, she quickly got up, running off to her house. A couple of ponies tried to talk to her, but she was too busy. This was a quest!
Unnoticed to them, the book she'd left behind stirred, and opened up to the relevant page. For a couple of seconds, an observer would have seen a tall, bipedal figure, with a five-fingered hand turned to the relevant page. The temperature in the area lowered considerably. A wide grin broke out on its face and the book slammed shut.
Good...
With that, it walked away, and faded out of existence.
Back at her house, Twilight quickly slammed the door open, prompting the purple dragon who was on top of a rather percarious ladder to fall down.
"Whoa!" The fall from that height would cause major injury, even to a baby dragon covered in lavaproof scales. For an instant, a shadow with nobody casting it stood beneath him, as if to catch...
Thinking quickly, Twilight caught him with her magic. She sighed.
"Alright Spike, I need you to take a letter."
Spike raised an eyebrow. "Really? Okay, I guess..."
Unseen to either of the two on this plane, the figure watched the writing of the letter with a raised eyebrow.
She has plans for you, I can tell... It chuckled, brushing through the dragon to walk into the parchment he was writing on. He had no idea how this message was going to get to Celestia, and he wanted to see.
Spike suddenly shivered. "Brr."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter, Spike?"
Spike raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, I just felt... cold for a second. Alright, it's good to go!" With that, he blew green fire onto the scroll, and the ashes floated out of the window at high speed.
The figure rolled out of the ashes and gripped onto the majority of them, riding them.
This is more than a bit odd, I'd say... still, I'm hardly one to talk. Let's see how Celestia'll react.
The ashes eventually reached their intended recipient, Princess Celestia. He hopped off and stood to the side, watching her read. With a faint smile, she pulled out a pre-written scroll, waited a small while and lit it up with her own fire. Gripping onto this new cloud of ashes, the figure went for another ride.
I could get used to this.
Spike belched up a new scroll. "Huh, this one's a bit odd..." He'd breathed up a great deal of scrolls in his time, and they'd never been this cold. Sometimes they were hotter, but never colder. Locking this fact away, he opened it.
Twilight was eager to read it, as she usually was. "Well? What did the Princess say?"
He cleared his throat. "Dear Twilight,
while I appreciate your diligence regarding your studies..." Twilight grinned widely. He continued, "...you really need to get out more and stop reading all those dusty books." Her face fell considerably in shock.
Jumping out of the scroll, the figure chuckled at Celestia's conceit as he heard the rest of the letter.
You always were a subtle one, Celestia. I suppose I should leave you a message.
With that, he walked through the wall and disappeared for Canterlot Castle.
Once he got there, he smiled. Throwing up the black hood of his knee-length jacket, he walked into the kitchen. Thankfully, nopony was in there. Breaking out in a vicious grin, he exercised some of his powers. Being a ghost, and a rather angry ghost at that, meant that he had considerable power, certainly more than enough to effortlessly trash this kitchen with naught but a few commands.
Eggs on the counter popped open and were poked into specific shapes, hissing as if they were being cooked on a stove. Flour was thrown into the sinks and the drains were plugged, the taps turning on to turn into a white paste. While that was happening, several vegetables were torn apart in a frenzy and smeared on the walls. To complete it all, several huge baskets of blueberries were pulped, forming a crude mural on the wall.
There, that should do it. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he left a formerly pristine kitchen in a state of calculated ruin.
Twilight looked at Shining Armour. He grinned widely.
"So, my BLSFF is going off with Spike? Well Twiley, I'm sure you'll be fine."
Twilight nodded. "I know, it's just... I wish she'd listened to me about Nightmare Moon."
Shining Armour chuckled. "Twiley, it's just an old mare's tale. Nightmare Moon doesn't exist, it's just a story."
Twilight sighed. "Yeah, but even so, this is the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. How on Equestria am I supposed to believe that this is some sort of coincidence?"
Spike shivered again. "Wow, it just got creepy cold in here." Twilight spared a glance.
"It's a bit odd to feel cold right now, Spike, we haven't even left for this 'Ponyville' place yet."
Spike chuckled. "Yeah, I guess."
Shining Armour smiled at Twilight. "Even if Nightmare Moon is an old mare's tale, I still want you to be safe. Alright?"
Twilight teared up a bit. "A-alright." They hugged for the last time, and the pegasi dragged the chariot off towards their destination.
Celestia stared at the sheer devastation in the kitchen. Cooker eggs on the counter had been twisted into hands and just lay about the counters. Smeared on the wall was a rather crude image of the moon, with the face of Nightmare Moon superimposed on it in smashed blueberries. And written below that, in what appeared to be smashed tomatoes, were the words:
The Mourning.
It was unfortunate that the cook who'd opened the entire room had had a panic attack at the thought of failure.
"Princess? What do you want us to do?" The guard was looking around the destroyed kitchen, trying to find clues as to what kind of pony could do this.
She sighed. "Clear up this mess, and don't bother making a report of it. I know who the criminal is."
The guard was relieved. "Who?"
She sighed. "A figure from long ago... somebody with a serious grudge."
The guard was confused. "You mean somepony, right?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, somebody is the right word for this being."