//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Nightmare Reigns 
// by Gabrielangel13 
//------------------------------//

	Supper came around, and despite her new friends' insistence, Twilight returned home for supper. Her family was at the dinner table when she walked in. After two whole nights of unpacking, her parents had finally unpacked everything but their science equipment. Her parents greeted her warmly as she walked in, but Shining Armor refused to even look at her. They ate their daisy salads in awkward silence, until Twilight Velvet broke the silence.
"Did you have a good night, dear?" She asked.
"I had an amazing day! I met five friends and got my cutie mark!" Twilight declared. Her mother had her remove her cloak so that she could see. 
"That's great! Star-gazing, like us, right?" Twilight Velvet asked.
Twilight smiled. "What else?" She barely could fake the happiness under Shining Armor's glare. The dinner passed with light chitchat, during which Shining never took his eyes off of his sister. As soon as supper was over, and Sleep Cycle began, Twilight escaped to her room. Shining Armor hesitated as he walked by, but did not say a word as he continued on.



Shining Armor entered his room, not at all shocked by the figure in a dark cloak standing by the window. "We need her now. The prophecy must be fulfilled." He said.
Shining glared. "Sargent Sunlit Sword. We have been over this. Both Nightmare Moon and the Solar Stance will be after her when they find out. We will wait until they come to take her out of her life. She doesn't deserve to be the one of prophecy."
Sunlit glared. "You are aware that Nightmare Moon will kill her, right Captain?"
Shining Armor lowered his head. "I am."



Twilight and her friends sat in the clearing with Spike. After several months of research and slipping off for practice, Twilight's spell casting abilities had increased immensely. She had found an ancient history book, it told of the Unicorns' magic. She was impressed with Rarity's selflessness, she never pouted about how she couldn't use magic, she just worked as hard as she could to help Twilight.
Spike had grown to be almost as tall as their shoulders, and he was speaking rather intelligently. He still got words confused, though. He lived with Fluttershy at the edge of town, and she loved that arrangement. Everyday  he went out with the six friends to help Twilight, and his organizational skills could almost rival Twilight's. He quickly volunteered to record all of the experiments in the notebooks. Twilight often noticed the other's glances,  but none ever commented. They always glanced away when she noticed their curious gaze, and she couldn't blame them. The question in their eyes was the same constantly on her own mind: why can't they do magic too?
When the news finally hit Twilight, it came like a wrecking ball: Nightmare moon was coming to Ponyville for a visit very soon. Fear filled Twilight at the thought of seeing the pony she used to serve, and the one she stole something priceless from. Every pony else shared her concerns, what if Nightmare Moon found out about Twilight? What if she hurt her? They considered themselves fortunate to have two whole wake cycles to think of a plan before she arrived, but the hours were ticking away. The end of the first wake cycle yielded no new plan. when Twilight returned to bed that Cycle, tears were in her eyes and fear in her heart.