//------------------------------//
// Action 
// Story: Twin Night Terror's 
// by FluffyDoom 
//------------------------------//

	Chapter 3: Action.

They had gone to sleep with full stomachs’ for once, so they would think no nightmare would appear that night, or nothing beyond normal dreaming. Disappointingly for Astra, that would not be the case.

Once more Astra trotted into the Everfree with the Night Gems book floating at her side. She glanced around eagerly, and her eyes leapt to the book. With a cocky grin she opened it up, but only found a shocking surprise within its’ pages instead of knowledge.
A disapproving Luna face stared back at her.
“AHHHH!” She screeched and dropped the book, which sadly did not close shut upon impact with the ground.
Instead Luna pulled her self from the book and gave her fur a quick shake before speaking in a commanding voice.
“How did thee find this book?” She demanded, eyes serious, yet calm.
“I-is this real?” Astra squeaked instead of answering.
Her frown deepened. “This dreamscape is only as real as you make it, but yes, I am the one and only Princess of the Night!” Upon saying her title she used the royal voice.
Astra was stunned into silence for only a few brief moments before speaking once again. “Wh-what is it, my princess?” She asked.
“I have heard of you proposing adventure in Ponyville, where not only the Princess of Friendship lives, but one of my more active subjects too. Top it off with some strange dreams you have been having, I felt the need to investigate.” Eyeing the book on the ground her face grew into one of distaste. “I see I have chosen wisely in interfering with your dreams, young orphan. Where did you get this book?” She demanded once more.
Astra backed up as the question was fiercely asked. “Oh um, Princess Twilight was giving out books, I could not resist, even if the walk was long.”
Luna facehoofed. Of course Twilight would do something like that, not taking things like what would be in that book seriously. It was typical Twilight Sparkle to not believe that what was in that book was even true, because it had no proof! She had not been around long enough to know, she was only 116 years old, after all. That was like, a kid’s age compared to her and her sister.
“Astra, I am here to warn you about the consequences of that book, and why you having it worries me so.” Luna concentrated slightly and the dreamscape changed.
Luna and Astra were no longer alone as a paranoid Night Princess sat hunched in a seat before them. She was reading Night Gems. An accidental hoof movement spilled over some of the pages, but them paranoid princess merely snorted, “Bah, I no longer need instructions! Nightmare Moon, what next to create my new friends?”
Astra flinched at the demons name. “Wh-what is this?”
“Look on. It is known that once upon a time I was very lonely, what ponies do not know is that the nightmare offered more than her friendship, she offered a whole race’s friendship. A race that I could create by myself, with the help of some stolen power.” Luna shook her head at her past chooses. “It didn’t end badly, but I still regret how I did it. What it cost.”
A different voice came from past Luna, this voice most likely belonged to the Nightmare. “Now, you need three special sacrifices…”
The scene was cut off as it transferred to two withering ponies on the ground. One was an Earth pony,while the other was a Pegasus.
“Our loyal minions, do not fear us!” Luna begged with Nightmare Moons voice. “We give you a gift! You will be the ponies of the night, and you shall enjoy the beauty of it to its fullest extent.”
They continued to wither in agonizing pain but nothing was happening.
“Nothing is happening, what now?” Luna turned her head and hissed in a whisper so they wouldn’t hear.
“Now, you add the power that I showed you. Simply draw on it and transfer it. No other pony even uses this power, they have been long dead!” Luna answered herself with Nightmare Moon’s voice.
Nodding grimly, she put on a concentrating face and her horn began to glow with red magick that didn’t belong to her, but rather the power source. It flowed slowly from her, and she seemed to be struggling with it, but she managed to direct it on the pegasus first. The power attacked him, or so it seemed, as she blasted it at him.
He howled in pain, and Astra clearly saw his teeth, they all turned pointy, one by one. His wings stretched out and the feathers fell from them, flesh was replaced by leather that was in to a bats’. His eyes seemed to fight for which color would remain dominate, his original green, or a new blood red; eventually they came to a truce at a striking yellow with slitted pupils.
Luna from the pasted stopped the magick and panted, a weak, yet victorious grin plastered on her face. “Welcome to the night, our minion. You were once a loyal pony of the Night Guard, but you will now be of the elite knights, where only the most loyal and trustworthy ponies are positioned.”
He got up painfully and bowed. “Yes, princess.”

Luna cut off the scenes in total. “I borrowed only a little of its power, yet I had the proper training to use it. I beg of you, brave Astra, do not use this power on somepony else! I made a once free-spirited guard into my loyal servant, and before that forced him to undergo painful transformations, and did the same to many more guard ponies.” She hung her head in shame. “The ancestors of the bat ponies were like fighting slaves to Nightmare Moon. She figured that once she had control of Equestria they could be like her police force, and army. Any who disobeyed were brought in by them and became like them. 
Luckily for me, after I was banished they regained a small portion of their free-will, and a few found their soul mates. They had baby Bat ponies, and those were born with free-will. That aside, please, Astra, never use the power from there on somepony else. Please!”
The frantic moon princess had a worried look upon her face and Astra took a deep breath. “I, Astra the Unicorn, swear to an oath, that I will never ever do what you did, and use the power on somepony else.” She crossed her heart with a hoof.
Luna sighed with relief. “My little pony, the ways of them have been lost for so long with only a few leaks of power here and there… I shudder to think of its whole power…”

The dream ended, and as Astra wook she saw it was a little before dawn. She didn’t remember a thing from it, but she had a feeling of seriousness from her slumber.
“Sister, wake up! Quick!” Astra shook the slumbering Pegasus.
“Wha?”
“The adventure!” She yelled at the top of her lungs to wake her sleeping sister.
“Aaaaie! I don’t want to be late to that!” Shimmer jumped up with her wings abuzz. She zoomed down stairs yelling of her shoulder, “I will get everything ready, you go wash up and bring the book! Also, fill the water bottles!”
Rushing with speed to match the fastest flyer Astra opened her bedroom window and jumped from it. Praying she had this spell down, she casted a light landing spell and floated down gently. It was much quicker than using the door and running through the house with her sister rushing around it. She pumped water from the pump and soaked her body to clean off any grime and dirt.
Ignoring her now shivering body she used a quick heat spell to get most of the moisture off and sprinted quickly inside to grab a the two water bottles. One was fairly old, but still useable, while one was brand new, bought with the bits they had spent on this trip. She filled both with the freezing water from the pump and turned it off.
“Shimmer, I can take over, you go wash up!” She told her sister as she began to finish packing the objects that Shimmer had brought out.
“On it, Sis!”
Checking everything was there, Astra levitated the Night Gems book towards he and began to pack it in her bag carefully. That was when a flash hit her.

Astra couldn’t see much, just some busy hooves. One of the hooves accidentally spilled some strange liquids on a page.

She shook her head to clear it. Where did that come from? Well, she could look into it later. For now the ponies were running a bit later, as they had hoped to wake up earlier. She packed the book and closed both bags. Astra grabbed an apple for the road, and place one of the apples on her sisters bag. They would share the last apple later that day.
She was finishing her apple when her sister rushed in and hurried to put on her bags.
“What took you forever?” Astra demanded.
Shimmer flapped her wings. “Wings are harder to clean than horns, miss Unicorn. Besides, it has been forever since they got a decent cleaning. Now are you ready to get going? We can’t be later to this, we run this!”
“Eat your apple on the fly. You are lucky I used to be in track before we had to leave school.” Astra answered, tossing her the apple. “Now lets, Shimmy, on out of here.” She winked at her own horrible joke.
“Nooo, you are forbidden to make puns with my name.” Shimmer groaned as she exited the house.
While Shimmer flew at break-neck speeds, Astra ran as swiftly as her hooves would take her. The whole apple for breakfast gave them energy, while skill and endurance alone kept them going for so long at such paces. Only around two and half miles was Astra forced to take a breather and walk.
She had began to slow to a job around the two mile mark, and at the one mile mark she was running, but not as fast as she was that first mile. Her sister was lucky, being able to have wings meant she could go longer and faster naturally. Unicorns had grabbed the short end of the stick when it came to physical fitness. Sure, they could become stronger with training, but they were simply built for magick. Most of their energy went into controlling and making it, for Celestia’s sake!
Huffing she glanced at the sun and tried to guess the time. It was climbing at a steady pace, but was still fairly close to the horizon. She estimated that it was at least 7:30, but she didn’t know for sure. She prayed to Celestia that her sister was in the park at least. Three minutes of sweaty walking later, she set off at a trot, her horn lit to have her magick help her forward.

Shimmer looked at the clock of some pony she asked. 7:52. Where was her sister? Both of them needed to be present for this, when they finally choose the pony who would accompany them!
Five minutes passed and she heard a huffing sound nearby, turning her head she saw her sister come wheezing in.
“Track pony, eh?”
“Shut. Up.” She managed to gasp, using the rest of her magick to clear off the sweat.
Shimmer snickered. “You can tell me later, come on now. I found a rock to stand on, since we can’t afford a stage.”
Breathlessly, Astra nodded and followed.
The twins struggled up onto the rock, well more like Astra struggled. Shimmer flew up easily and landed with grace as her sister used her remaining energy to reach the top.
Slowly, the ponies gathered around as 8:00 drew closer, the minutes inching by as slowly as a snail. When the clock tower dinged the passing hour, Shimmer began the opening speech.
“Greetings!” She boomed. “I would like to thank you all for meeting here so early, sadly though, we only have one spot open. My sister and I discussed who to pick, and we will be dismissing those who are not to join us shortly.”
Both gazed at the ponies that they other choose. While it was easier to eliminate all Pegasi and Unicorns, they agreed to keep two of each kind in the last group to choose from, along with four choice Earth ponies, two picked by each sister.
Finally Astra called out the names. “Eclipse, Harold, Banana Splits, Seabreeze, Quick Hoof, Yellow Lemon, Green Lime, and Lisa!”
Two were sisters, while the rest were strangers to one another. Lisa, Quick Hoof, Seabreeze, and Harold were the Unicorns and Pegasi, while the sisters and other two were Earth ponies. Quickly each sister took the ponies aside and dismissed the non Earth ponies, then looked at the rest.
The two sisters left a bad taste in Astra’s mouth. While they were eager, and seemed ready to go on an adventure, they had greedy and sly look’s in their eyes. That left them with the mellow Eclipse, and a joking Banana Splits.

“So, My twin Shimmer interviewed you, but today I will be asking you questions. I want to see the personality of our possible future traveling buddy.” She grinned.
“Possible, future, traveling buddy. Never thought to get a title like that!” The cheeky brown stallion grinned.
Banana Splits had a banana peel as his cutie mark, and throughout Shimmer’s interview he had been cracking jokes. He had yellow eyes that oddly complimented his shaggy dark brown coat. His build wasn’t as muscular as other Earth ponies, as he seemed to favor jokes instead of gardening, or other jobs that were usually left to them.
As she asked her questions, she felt a general liking for this pony, but she felt he was simply not serious enough for the adventure. He flew threw any of her semi-serious questions with corny puns (and why must you watch what you say in a corn field? Astra didn’t get it!) and laughs. Any questions that were 100% serious, he merely chuckled and diverted the topic. She could understand why Shimmer liked him, he was the missing humor in their all to serious and real life.
“I am sorry Mr.Splits, but I don’t think you are the Stallion for the job. I feel that you could have been a stress reliever for this journey, but I want someone who can talk business, and be a bit more real when they have to be.” Astra sighed.
He waved a hoof nonchalantly. “No big deal!” He grinned. “I didn’t even expect to make it this far, but that’s ok! I only signed up out of mere curiosity, though I assure you, I have given this my best shot. Well, I wish you and your sister luck, Astra. You will need it.” He nodded, and walked off smiling.
She let out a sigh of relief. So many ponies had exploded in the last two days at not getting picked, and he was perhaps the most at ease one who was not picked! He even wished them luck! What a nice stallion, she hoped to cross paths with him again some day.
After telling her sister her decision, with wide grins they approached Eclipse.
“Congratulations, Eclipse, you are the mare who is going to help us!” Shimmer grinned. “And when we find that treasure, if it is real, you will be getting a good chunk of it. 50-50.”
“50-50? I mean no offense, but that sounds like a scam…” She murmured, looking at them both.
Astra understood quickly. “Oh, no, see, because my sister and I live together we only want half of it. Besides, there are a few obstacles we left out, that, and another part of the treasure.” She grinned slyly. “We just didn’t want to tell the public, ‘cause we didn’t want to attract overly ambitious ponies who would use this thing negatively.”
Eclipse drew back. “You guys aren’t secret psycho’s, are you?” She whimpered.
Their faces fell, and while Shimmer struggled to hold back laughter, Astra rushed to sooth her. “Celestia no!” She looked around and whispered, “The thing we left out? Power. There are three things we are looking for, treasure of gold, treasure of knowledge, and power that can be used by any pony race, we think.”
“You think?” Eclipse asked. “Why do you “think”?”
“Well, some things in the book are clear, other things are iffy, but I promise, even if this treasure isn’t still there, we will have a fantastic time! Think about it, not many ponies want to go adventuring into the Everfree, so think of this experience as just that! A unique experience you will never get anywhere else!”
Eclipse stood taller and attempted to assert herself. “I want more proof.” She said. “Show me more proof of this treasure, or that this experience will be a positive one or I will back out.”
Shimmer and Astra looked at one another. They didn’t want to talk about this in public, so that left only one choice. They had to bring Eclipse to their house and show them why they thought this was real, or more like, needed this to be real.
Astra looked at her seriously. “To do that, you need to see our home, and see why we would never lie about something like this. Thing is, I don’t want you to see our home.”
“Because you guys are crazy?” Eclipse wimmered. “And you keep scary things there?”
Shimmer gave her an annoyed look. “That was funny the first time, but now I am feeling insulted. No, it isn’t that, and I don’t wanna tell you. Astra, you can tell this crazy mare that we aren’t psycho’s. I am going to ready our home for a guest and clean up your book mess.” With a snort she flew off.
Astra watched her silvery sister fly away, and turned her head to Eclipse. “I- I really hope you don’t think less of us but… We are homeless.” She said, looking down.
“Is that it?” Eclipse demanded gently. “This whole scene because of that?”
“Ma-maybe.”
Eclipse let out a breath and glanced at her. “I don’t see why you were so worried about it. Though, why aren’t you in an orphanarium?”
Astra growled at the word. “Because nopony checks on them. They assume that all of them are ok, and have the occasional monthly checkup, a scheduled checkup! On that day the pony who runs it simply yells at the foals to clean faster, and they do, and it doesn’t get shut down.” She raved.
“Not all are like that.” Eclipse said, highly confused.
“Around here they are.” She sneered. “I checked.” Her tone and face returning to their normal pleasantness, she asked, “Now, why don’t we walk to my home?”
She went out on a hoof and trusted the young pony. Eclipse nodded her head and they walked the three miles to the abandoned home.

Shimmer hummed as she cleaned. Being a pegasus, her wings let her travel faster than any Earth of Unicorn on hoof. Though she wasn’t the fastest, she was still fairly fast compared to a pony who occasionally worked out.
She cleaned the down stairs and upstairs as thoroughly as she could in a short amount of time. The cleaning helped to deal with the things that Eclipse had said, mainly calling them crazy. The reasonable part of Shimmers’ mind knew that Eclipse didn’t mean to call them crazy for searching for a treasure that might not exist, or possibly had already been plundered. Sadly the anxious part of her thoughts spoke louder that day.They told her that Eclipse was calling them crazy for searching for this treasure that may or may not exist, and if it did, may or may not have already been found.
She sighed and put the last book down and looked around her room. It was cleaner than it had been in a few days, considering there was nothing lying around on the floor now. The kitchen, where the twins most often hung out, was as very clean too, and she was sure her sister would be impressed with her efforts.
After floating around the house for a few minutes she decided to go outside and relax in the early morning sun before they had to go off on their adventure. The Everfree forest was a cold dank place most of the time, so now would be prime time to soak up any sun rays she could.
Sigh she lay on the huge rock that was near her house. Astra and Shimmer never knew why, but there were about four different boulders close to home, and they never bothered to figure out why they were there in the first place. Besides, warmed sun-rocks was the best, and something both sisters looked forward too in fall, summer, and spring days.


Astra walked up the road half an hour later. Eclipse had insisted that they jog some of the way to make better time, and Astra did not complain. Compared to her frenzied sprint that morning, the jog was a mellow, relaxing, walk.
When they finally got to her home, she assumed it was around 9:30 AM, maybe 9:15, but she didn’t know for sure. As they rounded a corner she spotted her sister.
“Stop lazing about, Shims, and get the book.” Astra ordered.
Shimmer cracked open an eye. “A please would be nice.” She grumbled, but flew off to get the book anyway.

Eclipse watched the sisters anxiously, not knowing what to truly make of these near strangers. They did seem really nice, but she sensed they had a thick layer of distrust they refused to show. Astra had proved that when she practically growled and hissed at the word orphanage.
The Earth mare felt like she could trust them not to harm or betray her though, and surely that was what mattered?
The devoted follower of Luna walked calmly after the Unicorn twin and began to wonder how that even happened. She wanted to ask, but she supposed that asking her would be bad, they barely knew each other and were only judging that they trust one another by both appearances and what they had managed to gather from the interviews. If Eclipse really wanted to know more about this odd mare and her equally as odd sister, she would have to befriend them.
Well, at least friendship is magick.

The three gathered in the kitchen and Eclipse had to force herself from flinching at the state of the furniture when she sat down. A splintery, hard, wooden seat bug into her backside as they began to speak.
“The book is called, The Night Gems. It has the written instructions, but we need the map, and the book said the only way to get it was to get a Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony together.” Astra grinned and pushed the book towards her. “We were actually aiming to only get an Earth pony from the interviews, but didn’t have the heart to tell the other ponies they wouldn’t make it.”
She picked up the book gingerly. It had a worn cover, but it appeared to be in OK shape. She figured it was fairly old, and the fact that it wrote about some ancient treasure and power only proved her theory that this was one old book.
“What page?” She asked.
“I think page 121.” Shimmer suggested.
It took a few minutes, but Eclipse finally read all she wanted too, and still holding the interesting book, she spoke. “Ok, this book is fairly interesting, but I still feel like you guys are going on hope.”
“Astra had a dream after reading it!” Shimmer blurted out, then hurried on, “And it wasn’t a normal dream either. She began to sleep cast in her sleep, and she was dreaming about the book. She had dreamed that she was a bat-pony!”
That piqued her curiosity. “Like one of Luna’s?”
Astra fidgeted. “Sorta. I could feel in my mouth I had fangs though, and fangs I could retract. It was… Odd. I also felt like I had heightened senses too. Do regular bat-ponies have that?”
“Ok, first they are actually called Thestrals.” Eclipse chuckled lightly, “And secondly, no.” Her face grew serious. “Have you had any other dreams?”
Astra looked down. “I don’t know,” The Unicorn admitted, “I might have, but I don’t remembered if I dreamed at all last night.”
Eclipse nodded her head. “I could see…. Or no, maybe not. When do you guys plan on leaving for this adventure?”
“Noon today!” The twins replied in unison.
She nodded. “Ok. Astra, if we camp out in the woods, would you mind terribly if I entered your dreams?”
The mare looked at her confused. “I guess not, but how can you?”
“Luna’s followers are all taught how to dream-walk, and because you don’t need magick for simply exploring anothers dream, anypony can do it. Though, if I wanted to say, see if your dream was about to become a nightmare, I would be unable to.”
“Interesting, we can talk about that later though, for now, we need to get ready!” Shimmer announced.
“I am already ready.” Astra informed.
“Ditto.” Eclipse replied.
“Huh, same.” Shimmer scratched her head. “Then how about we work on getting that map. Astra, you have a plan?”
“You know it.” She smirked. “Eclipse, sorry about this.” She said and yanked a hair from the Earth pony’s mane.
“Ow.” Was the simple reply as she put the book down.
Astra proceeded to pluck a feather from her sister, and placed both next to the book.
“My turn.” She grinned and lit up her horn. Magick surrounded the book and the two objects, yet nothing happened.
Eclipse looked at the scene with slight confusion. “I fear I have skimmed past that part. Why do you need to do this?” She inquired.
“We need something from an Earth pony, a Pegasus, and a Unicorn, but it isn’t working!” Astra groaned and set the book down, realising it from her magick.
“Odd, let me read.” She said and picked it up. As she turned a page she got a paper cut.
“Ouch!” She yelped and dropped the book on the floor. “Oh geez, sorry about dropping it!” She said and went to pick it up.
As her hooves hovered over the book a few drops of blood got on to it, and suddenly it glowed a dark green. All three mares gasped and Eclipse quickly set it on the table. “What did I do?” She wondered aloud.
The bright red drops on the book cover caught Astra’s attention. “Your blood! We needed the Earths blood!” She yelped and lightly shot harmless magick at the book.
Sadly it did nothing, but that didn’t stop her from putting the feather back on the books cover. Another color, this one a dark blue, joined the green. It symbolized the Pegasus part. Astra bit her lip, confused on what to do next.
“I- I have already tried to use my magick on the book. Why wont it work? I don’t know what to do!”
“Thirds time the charm?” Shimmer asked. Eclipse nodded her head in agreement.
Letting out a breath she laid harmless magick on the book, and it glowed in a tri-color light of beauty. Green, blue, and dark purple now surrounded. The colors swirled and the book began to float in the dramatic lighting. It opened, and the written pages of instructions flew and and began to morph together. When they did that, it formed a map.
“Quick, grab it!” Astra yelled.
Quick as a whistle, Eclipse snatched it from the air, rolled it up, and placed it in her bag. As she was doing that, the twins saw the book wasn’t done with its shenanigans. It floated slightly higher, than out the door.
“Follow that book!” Shimmer demanded and flew after it, Astra and Eclipse hot on her trail.
They followed it for a good five minutes, and every time Shimmer caught up, it would fly right out of the Pegasus’s reach. Frustrated with the teasing literature, she added on speed and forgot her companions, who thankfully had not taken their backpacks off yet. She left them in a trail of dust and followed the book as it lead the way to the looming forest.

Astra and Eclipsed huffed as they finally caught up to the young emotional hothead.
“Thanks for leaving us back there, sis.” Astra coughed as she sat down.
The book was lifeless and useless on the ground, but a slight glow came from the bag that belonged to Eclipse. Undoing the latch she drew out the map that had a faint glowing dot, that soon disappeared.
“If my guess is correct, then it lead us to the beginning of the trail to the cave.” The Earth mare spoke quietly.
Astra stood up wobbly. Two long runs… Unicorns weren’t even built for physical activities, yet here she was, running like a mad mare! Pushing her aches aside, she acknowledged Eclipse’s claim with a slight nod. “I guess we are a little early, but that probably means we will be out of here by tonight. I hope.”
Shimmer, not even out of breath unlike the two runners, picked up the map. “And if we are, our Earth pony friend here can show us back home by the night sky. Only if our map disappears though.” She said rolling it shut.
Spontaneously, Astra broke into a wide grin. “Hey girls… Guess what we just did?”
“Solve a stupid, and bloody riddle?” SHimmer guessed sarcastically, not in the mood for guessing games.
“Um, find our trail?” Eclipse added.
“We have completed the first out of five tasks!” Whopped Astra. Her breathlessness forgotten, and aching legs ignored, she stood at the trail-head, and peered in. “Now we just gotta finish the other four.” She muttered. “Eclipse, you control the map, Shimmer, you watch us from the air, I will lead.”
Eclipse had second thoughts about following the orders of a 15 year old pony, even if she was unnaturally bright despite her lack of school, but didn’t voice them. Dipping her head she scooped up the map, and Shimmer floated above them. Astra lit her horn against the untamed darkness of the Everfree forest, and the trio entered the wild, self-controlled, jungle.