The original Twilight Sparkle walked quietly through the tunnels, having escaped underground while Nightmare Moon was distracted by her clones, and breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan had worked, although there was a lot of things that could have gone wrong at the time she thought of it, it seemed almost too risky to even attempt. It appeared that luck was on her side during the battle, and she hoped it would last for a while longer.
Remembering a point during the battle where she'd caught a glimpse of the flank of one of her clones, she looked at her own. As she had feared, using so much magic during the battle had caused another star to disappear from her cutie mark. Time and not using her powers were both of the essence, and she didn't know for sure how long she had left before her flank was once again blank. She made a note to do as little magic as possible until the next star disappeared, after which she could estimate how much longer she would have until the small stars had all disappeared. How the large star would disappear, however, was still a mystery, so she might have to wait longer still. Regardless, it was in everypony's best interest to bring back Princess Celestia quickly. Twilight was sure Princess Celestia would know what to do.
She reached the intersection the group had come to before where the tunnel branched off toward the Everfree Forest. Hoping Fluttershy's burrowing friends had worked quickly, she turned down the tunnel. If they weren't quite close enough, Twilight knew she would have to use some magic to dig herself out. It would be risky, but using that small amount of magic might have less of an effect than waiting for the tunnel to be completed.
It wasn't long before she met up with Angel and the other burrowers. Although she couldn't understand what he'd say, she knew that he could understand her, and asked him to estimate how many more minutes it would take by stomping his foot. After a dozen stomps and counting, it occurred to her that she might have to dig up anyway. She waited for him to finish and told him so. He frowned and crossed his arms.
"Okay, I won't dig up. For one thing, I don't know how to dig it so that it won't collapse on me." Angel looked satisfied, and Twilight continued. I'll go back to the pet shop and make my way into the forest from there. It should be the safest." Angel looked a bit worried. "Don't worry, Nightmare Moon won't catch me. She's too busy watching us to make sure we don't get out of our cages." Angel looked behind Twilight, realizing that she was alone. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Fluttershy and the others were captured by Nightmare moon when we fought back. It's okay; they're all asleep and I used a clone to distract Nightmare Moon. Fluttershy will be all right."
Twilight started making her way back to the pet shop, and turned her head back. "Keep digging. If you do happen to finish before I get back, leave a trail from the tunnel's exit to Zecora's hut. I'll meet you there." With that, she left Angel and Fluttershy's burrowing friends to their work and started once again on her way to the pet shop.
Reaching the entrance to the pet shop's tunnel, Twilight pressed her hooves against the fake stone and pushed it out of the way. She climbed out and put the stone back, making her way toward the forest.
As she had expected, the walk toward the forest was uneventful, but that didn't mean Twilight would be careless. She still peeked around every tree, just to be safe.
The Everfree Forest, as she had always known it, was dark even during the day, but in the eternal night, it was understandably darker than usual. The trees contorted strangely, their canopies sparse and withering. She continued down the path, soon coming to a cliff side. She remembered the time the cliff had suddenly broken off, and she hadn't had a good grip on the ground, so she kept sliding down. Applejack had held onto her until she'd told her to let go. Twilight had thought Applejack was crazy at the time, but, trusting her, she let go and was caught by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Although the cliff was currently still intact and unbroken. She wondered why that was; if the cliff was going to break off naturally, wouldn't it have done so already? She looked over the edge and found the path that Applejack had used to get down the cliff side and took that down into the valley below.
As she followed the valley, she suddenly remembered the next trial they had gone through: a distraught manticore that had a thorn in its paw. It seemed highly unlikely that the manticore would still have a thorn in its paw from three years before, but it would still be best to play it safe. Fluttershy had demonstrated her talent with animals at the time, having been the only pony to consider the possibility that the beast wasn't just violent but needed help. She hid behind trees and rocks, searching for signs of the manticore's presence, but all she could see were old tracks. The manticore appeared to have vacated this area a long time ago, so Twilight did the same and continued on her way.
She came closer to a patch of trees with dense canopies, and it became so dark she could barely see her hoof in front of her face, and recalled that this had also happened before. After they'd passed the manticore, the six had come to this dark area. And in this dark area was a grove of scary-looking trees that had frightened everyone! Everyone, that is, except Pinkie Pie, who laughed at the scary faces and sang a song about what her grandmother had told her about facing her fears when she was a filly. Twilight caught herself smiling and giggling at the memory. The darkness seemed to brighten a little as she laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight Sparkle came across a river. Looking up and downstream, she gradually recognized the surroundings and remembered that she needed to cross this river. She stepped into the cold water, but noticed something odd downstream. The water humped up as it flowed against the current. She backed up onto dry ground as a large purple dragon with a mane and mustache, both the color of fire, ascended from the river.
"What do we have here?" he asked, sounding somewhat high-pitched and sophisticated. "A single pony traversing the Everfree Forest alone?" He brought his head closer to Twilight's and spoke quietly. "And how have you evaded Nightmare Moon long enough to do so?"
Twilight sat on her haunches and told him what she'd told the other ponies back at Applejack's farm. "And so I need to get to the ruins of the castle of the Royal Sisters so I can get the tools necessary to stop this eternal night." The serpent didn't seem to have much motivation to let her cross, however. Then Twilight got an idea. "You know, I bet you would like a friend of mine. She's a connoisseur of fabulosity, and she would just adore your lovely luminescent scales, your expertly coiffed mane, and your fabulous manicure. She would especially love how your beautiful mustache ties it all together." Twilight smiled as the serpent's smile grew larger.
"Ooh, when can I meet this friend of yours?" He rested his head on his hands.
"She's... occupied now, but if I get to the castle and back, that will be enough time for her to finish."
"Then allow me to help you!" The serpent made a bridge with his body. Twilight thanked him and crossed, thinking of the first time she'd crossed this river. He'd been missing one half of his mustache, thrashing about in the water, and he'd told them the story of tacky purple mist. Rarity had cut off her own tail in order to repair his mustache so that he would be calm so that they could cross.
Twilight stopped suddenly and gasped, realizing that her path was so easy now because all the obstacles had to have been because of Nightmare Moon. She didn't realize their connection until she remembered what the serpent in her timeline had said about a purple mist, the very same color of mist that Nightmare Moon could dissipate into. Was it possible in Twilight's timeline that Nightmare Moon had overheard the girls' plan and had created obstacles to slow them down? Given Nightmare Moon's abilities, it wasn't that far-fetched.
Twilight hurried on her way, toward the fallen bridge, not sure what to expect. Would the bridge still be up? Or, like the manticore, would it be down because the time that has passed? Or will it be down because of Nightmare Moon? If it was one of the last two, she wouldn't be able to tell which it was without more details. As she reached the chasm, she saw several things. First, that the ruined castle was just on the other side, just as she remembered it. Second, that the bridge was down. Third, that the chasm would be too far to leap across. Finally, that there was no strange mist or other ponies on the other side dressed in dark, sinister uniforms. With little else to go on, she guessed that the bridge's rope had naturally been untied from the post on the other side of the chasm and that the odd ponies in costumes of whom she'd only gotten a slight glimpse in her own timeline were Nightmare Moon's creation. Wishing once again that she still had her wings, she used her magic to tie the rope back to the post.
As she walked across, she remembered what the odd ponies resembled: the Wonderbolts, the aerial performers that Rainbow Dash idolized, although they were distinctly different from the Wonderbolts. They must have told her something appealing to her pride in being the fastest flyer in Equestria, but Rainbow Dash didn't go with them in the end. Her loyalty to her friends trumped achieving the quick way to achieving her dreams.
Entering the old castle, Twilight found the statue in the middle of the courtyard where she and her friends had found the Elements the first time. The Elements were not in their places, but their shards lay strewn at the base of the statue where, just as she had boasted, Nightmare Moon had destroyed them. She searched the old castle's rooms, looking for a bag to hold the shards. Finding one in the library, she put it on, returned to the courtyard, and placed each shard in the satchel, using her magic because picking them up one by one in her mouth would have taken hours.
Then she sat on her haunches and sighed. Twilight had planned to bring the shards back to the barn and release them, where the shards would circle around her friends like they had in her timeline, and be restored. What proof did she have that this would even work? Last time her friends were with her and conscious. Last time the spark that produced the sixth Element of Harmony had ignited inside her when she heard her friends coming up the stairs, and she was glad to hear them. Would just remembering them be enough to ignite the spark this time?
It was worth a try.