//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 Part 2 
// Story: The Pony Version's Better: Maiden in the Moon 
// by Sunset Reed 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2


Spike had barely made it to bed. He had taken a page out of Tania’s book and fallen asleep with his clothes still on. Tania crept down the stairs, her steps hastening halfway down.
The first thing she did upon reaching the main floor was turn on every light she could. Her efforts only seemed to blacken the outside sky further. Night forever. That was impossible, right? 
Tania took a breath and squeezed her eyes shut. There was little else about the Nightmare myth she could remember except for a cryptic mention of the Elements of Harmony. Somehow they were supposed to stop Nightmare Moon. Would the rebels expect these as some sort of ransom? Likely they wouldn’t give up the Princess in exchange for anything, but maybe these elements would give Tania a competitive edge. Unless they already had them. Still, it was something to go on.
Tania reopened her eyes and looked around the library. She hadn’t familiarized herself with the space yet and didn’t know where first to look. So she ran to the first shelf and frantically read through the titles. 
“Elements, elements…” she muttered. “No, no no.” Book after book was flung off the shelves. 
“Elements, where are you?” Tania was losing her patience. It was too big a library to go through it like this. “Ugh! How can I stop the Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?”
“And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” Two brown eyes appeared in front of Tania. Startled, she jumped back and saw that it was Rainbow Dash. Dash jumped off the table she had been perched on and kept her gaze constant. A breeze from the open front door heralded several more people coming in.
“And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh?” continued Dash. “Are you a spy? Huh? I…WHOA!”
Applejack had grabbed Dash’s jacket once more and pulled her back.
“Simmer down, Sally.” Applejack scolded. “She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's going on. Don't you, Twilight?”
There was that nickname again. Tania tried to pick out what was going on. There were three others in the library now: Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. They all looked at her with sadness in their eyes, waiting for Tania to prove her innocence. But from what? Did they think that she had stolen the Princess? Tania felt herself tearing up.
“I know very little, I’m sorry. I’ve spent all day and all night trying to figure it out myself.” The accusatory gazes lingered “I didn’t take her.” Tania narrowed her eyes. “But I’m trying to find out who did. Go home, please. Let me deal with this myself. You shouldn’t have to do anything, this is my battle.”
“Nuh uh!” said Pinkie Pie.
“Why should we?” said Dash, still being held back by Applejack. “You think you’re the only one who’s affected by this!? Sorry to have to say this, but you’re not the only one who loves the Princess.”
Applejack opened her mouth to excuse Dash’s rude behaviour, but stopped. Dash was right.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” said Rarity thoughtfully. “But I know it’s too big for anyone to do alone.”
Applejack sighed. “Let us help, please.”
Tania laughed nervously. “Help? What’s to help? I don’t know where she is, and I’ve barely got anything to go on. All I know is that there are something called the Elements of Harmony that are supposed to stop Nightmare Moon, but I don't know what they are, where to find them. I don't even know what they do!”
A little voice piped up from one of the shelves.
“The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.” read Pinkie from one of the books’ spines.
Tania ran over and swiped the book off the shelf. “How did you find that?!”
Pinkie did a little skip and answered in a sing song voice. “It was under Eeeee!”
“Oh.” Tania turned the book to its front cover. The head of some kind of horse adorned the soft cover. Tania ran her hand to the edge and cracked it open. She searched the table of contents. How on earth had somebody actually gone out of their way to research a myth so entirely as to write a book on it? How accurate was this thing, and how much was hearsay? Did the rebels own a copy? Tania flipped to the introduction page and began to read out loud.
“There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty.” The other five women stood with rapt attention. “The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal sisters. It is located in what is now…“
“…The Everfree forest”
The six now stood at the entrance to the forest, staring into its dark depths.