"So, what do you think she meant by 'where shadows walk with Nightmares'?" Twilight asked as they walked through the Everfree, it had become night so the place had gained its usual evil feel.
"She's probably talking about the Nightmare Tribe that's about four-hundred yards that way." Scootaloo said as she motioned to her left with a wing.
Not having anywhere else to go, the group left for the Nightmare Tribe. As they entered the place, they saw several Nightmares: the 'sub' race of Earth ponies. The Nightmares had shadows that moved mostly on their own and were darker than the group's own shadows, they had glowing dragon-like eyes (basically different colored versions of Nightmare Moon's eyes), and they had sharp teeth. The rest of the small tribe was made up of Bat-Ponies and some Dracorns. The Dracorns had slitted eyes, sharp teeth, and some were breathing small amounts of fire.
"Woah! What are all those?" Aurora asked via the Localized Hivemind.
"The Earth-Ponies that look a lot like how the legends describe Nightmare Moon are called Nightmares, they're considered the sub-race of Earth-Ponies (like Changelings are considered the sub-race of Alicorns). The ponies with bat-wings, fangs, and slitted eyes are Bat-Ponies which are considered the sub-race of Pegasi. The remaining ponies are Dracorns, they're considered the sub-race to Unicorns." Twilight said.
"Good-night Princess, to what do we owe the pleasure?" a Nightmare mare asked as she came up and bowed briefly.
"We're here trying to learn what a Pegasus called Spirit Fire found out." Twilight said in a regal voice.
"Ah yes, Spirit Fire, I swear she was more like a Bat-Pony than a Pegasus. Follow me, I'll take you to the ruins of her royal majesty Luna's Fortress of Darkness." the mare said as she spun around and headed off, followed by the group.
The group soon found themselves looking at a large ruined fortress with purple mist swirling around it. The place was made of an odd black stone and the doors were a black lunar metal.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to take the fillies off your hoofs and allow them a place to rest, after all, the ponies living in that fortress don't really like fillies being around them when they're doing business. Besides, being parents can be a bit difficult." the Nightmare said.
"Wait, back up. Parents, no you've got it wrong there, we're just friends." Rainbow, Twilight, and Midnight said in unison.
"Oh I know, but the chance was just too good to pass up." the Nightmare said with a giggle.
"Okay, but sure, just let us know where they are on our way out." Twilight said.
"Will do Princess Twilight." the Nightmare took Aurora and Scootaloo after that and left.
It didn't take the remaining members of the group long to get to an office-like place and enter. Rainbow Dash instantly growled when she saw the ponies in the room, the Shadowbolts.
"I will rip you all apart." Rainbow Dash said.
The Shadowbolts looked up and groaned in slight annoyance. One of them then pulled out four bits and handed them over to another.
"I new Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight would be the ones accompanying Spirit Fire." the leader, a Bat-Pony with blue mane and black coat, said
"Hey! What are you all doing here?"
"We live here!" one of the other Shadowbolts yelled.
"Excuse Black Claw... I'm Shadowed Mist, the 'True Shadow' as some call me. I'm the leader of the Shadowbolts. Of course, I doubt Spirit Fire came all this way just to here me talk about myself. So... you all, no doubt, have no clue as to why Spirit Fire has a Nightmare Tribe on her list of places to visit, well just follow us." with that, Shadowed Mist stood up and walked through a door, followed by the other two Shadowbolts that were in the room.
The door lead into a large training arena with a Spell Binding Ring painted on the floor, it looked a lot like the Pegasus one from the cloud Tribe, but with bat-wings replacing the Pegasus wings in the center.
"Okay, so you're going to be learning some Lunar Magic, in this case, the Shadow Duplication Spell, which allows you to create copies of yourself that listen to your orders." Shadowed Mist said as she motioned for Midnight to stand in the center of the ring.
Midnight obeyed, though she avoided eye contact and having to look at Shadowed Mist. After some instructions, Midnight began collecting Lunar magic in her horn, turning the aura to a silver color that seemed to be made of millions of tiny stars. soon, her shadow seemed to multiply, then rise into four exact copies of her. Midnight swayed slightly from the exertion of her magic.
"The spell is easy to cast, but it does take a lot out of you." Black Claw said as Midnight went back to her friends, dispelling the spell in the process, and Twilight stepped up.
"Hey, you all-right Midnight, I noticed you looked rather shy?" Rainbow Dash asked through the Localized Hivemind.
"I've never seen a Bat-Pony before." Midnight said.
"Why didn't you just distribute your fear through the Localized Hivemind?" Aurora, who was apparently still awake, asked.
"I didn't want to burden you girls with my fear."
"Gee, you're so much like Fluttershy." Rainbow said, finely voicing the fact.
After another hour, which seemed to be the basic time for learning these things, Shadowed Mist brought the group into her office to discuss something important, which was proven to be extremely important when Aurora and Scootaloo were called to the fortress, resulting in another four bits for Shadowed Mist.
"Now then, tell me, how much do you all know of the Nightmare Moon legends?" Shadowed Mist asked.
"Nightmare Moon was the evil that befell Luna and tried to bring eternal night, she was stopped by Celestia and banished to the moon for a thousand years." Midnight said, feeling confusion seep in from those around her before saying "What? Hatch-lings and recently turned Changelings hear the legends as well you know." through the Localized Hivemind.
Shadowed Mist winced at the summarized version of the legend. "That's all a lie you know. Luna never became Nightmare Moon to try to bring eternal night, she just tried to dethrone Celestia because the sun princess was becoming tyrannical. The day and night use to be exactly the same time with the day starting at one in the morning and the night starting at one in the afternoon, but Celestia elongated her day because she wanted to be the most known, then she got most ponies to sleep during the night, and then she cast a spell on Luna to make her take on the form of Nightmare Moon as to bring more fear into the ponies' eyes. When Luna rebelled, she was banished, and when the Element's brought her back, Celestia cast a memory spell to alter what Luna thought happened."
Everypony's jaw dropped at what Shadowed Mist said.
"Th-that's a l-lie, when w-we saw N-nightmare M-moon for the f-first time she was p-pure evil." Twilight finely said.
"Let me ask you this Twilight Sparkle, if you were left on the moon, constantly starving, constantly in need of air you can't get, unable to use your magic, and with absolutely nothing to do for a thousand years, would you stay loyal to the world, or would you wish it to suffer as you had?"
"I-I didn't think of that." Twilight looked down at her hoofs as Shadowed Death's words returned to her 'you may think you know everything about Celestia, but all you know will be shattered'
"How can we trust you!" Rainbow Dash was suddenly in front of Shadowed Mist, "You helped Nightmare Moon's attempt to separate us!"
"For the record, we weren't even aware of Nightmare Moon's return. We had heard about you from allies and we came with that offer because we felt you'd be great for the team. We were hoping to have you as a member during one of our free run shows, that's why we said that it was us or your friends, we said it because we were almost late for the show and didn't have time to let you tie the bridge."
"Can we get back on subject?" Twilight asked, interrupting them.
"Yes, Spirit Fire left us a note so here you go." Shadowed Mist pulled out a letter then and hoofed it to Midnight.
"Thank you."
Hey again, now you've met the Shadowbolts and learned the Shadow Duplication Spell. Anyway, you'll need this later.
I first entered this place because I had received a letter from my cousin, Nightshy, who's a Bat-Pony. The letter said that the Shadowbolts had an interesting bit of information regarding Luna and Celestia, which you now have. So I came here, I actually ended up getting roped into foalsitting a Bat-Pony, Nightmare, Dracorn, and Changeling foal before I could leave (That was the craziest night I've ever had, especially when the Nightmare started playing with my dreams).
So, as I'm sure you or one of your allies will point it out, Nightshy's name is similar to Fluttershy's, well that's because they're twins (Yes one's a Bat-Pony and the other a Pegasus, but they look almost exactly the same) anyway, the main subject of this letter is our family. My sister, the one that died protecting me, was a Pegasus by the name of Silver Wing. My cousin, and I hope Rainbow Dash (if she's there) doesn't faint from this, is Spitfire of the Wonderbolts (you can guess where I came up with my alias), her sisters are Nightshy and Fluttershy (by the way, did you know our family is made up entirely of Bat-ponies and Pegasi? Well now there's a Changeling in it). Oh, I also found out, through more contacts than the holes in your legs, that Rainbow Dash is actually Daring Do's lost little sister, but that doesn't matter.
*Hidden inside the Castle of the Sun; in a room of reader's fun; in the purple legend's favorite section; lies but one of two ancient tombs, look for her mark, the mark of the first; and within those of disharmony, lies the second, the tomb of darkness, hidden past the eyes.
signed you
Spirit Fire.
P.S. PLEASE ensure Aurora is safe during this, she's going to come, just keep her safe.
P.S.S. WATCH OUT FOR THE GUARDS!!!
P.S.S.S. Also, as you can likely tell, I'm giving up on the whole thing where I say that you're me in these letters. I'm doing this because I'll soon lose my sanity if I don't.
Rainbow Dash managed to not faint through the entire letter, but the second it was finished being read, she did so.
"That's a lot to take in." Midnight said through the Localized Hivemind.
"Yea, well that aside, We're definitely going to the Canterlot Castle Library, that's obviously where we need to head off to. Once all this is over, then we're going to talk with Fluttershy, Nightshy, and Spitfire about who you were in the past." Twilight said as she levitated Rainbow Dash on her back, Midnight doing the same for Scootaloo and Aurora since they had fallen asleep.