//------------------------------//
// It's dangerous to go alone 
// Story: Friendship was always there 
// by Skyeheart 
//------------------------------//

Everypony within Ponyville gathered inside the town hall as the hour of sunrise neared. Twilight just stood among her crowd of associates, worry still etched across her face. The others all seemed to be to busy chatting among themselves to notice too much.

"Twinkleshine, dearie? Would you like to raise the curtains with me?" Rarity asked, starting up the stairs.

"Would I!" Twinkleshine marched right behind her in her brand new sundress.

"Apple tart?" Lemon Hearts offered Lyra one of Applejack's treats. "I saved a few from this afternoon."

Lyra eagerly accepted it and split it with Bon Bon. "You gotta admit, that farmer knows how to flavor up a celebration dinner good!"

"Mine's still better though, right?" Bon Bon teased.

"No one's better than you," Lyra agreed.

"Isn't this exciting?" Pinkie Pie asked Minuette. "Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited-- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went *GAAAAAASP*. But I mean really, who can top that?"

"I know, right?" Minuette agreed. "This is the first time I've ever stayed up this late!"

The fanfare from Fluttershy's chorus silenced all further conversation as everyone's attention turned to the tan earth pony mare on spotlight.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

As the ponies cheered, no one bothered to look out the window and notice the image of the Mare in the Moon fade away.

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria...Princess Celestia!"

As the birds raised their voices again in triumphant song, Rarity pulled the tassels of the curtains while Twinkleshine did the same from the other end pulling them back to reveal-

-nothing?

"Huh?" The two unicorns looked to the empty space where the spotlight shone, then to each other.

"Umm...isn't Princess Celestia supposed to standing right there?" Twinkleshine asked.

"This can't be good..." Twilight muttered to herself.

Ponies all over the building were already starting to clamor nervously and confusedly. Something was clearly wrong, but none of them knew what.

"Remain calm, everypony," the mayor tried to assuage the crowd. "There must be a reasonable explanation!"

"Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games!" Pinkie Pie called out. "Is she hiding?"

"Maybe...she's late?" Minuette joined in. "Or had to use the little filly's room at the last minute?"

Twinkleshine came back from the room behind where she had ducked in to check just a few seconds ago. "Uh, no girls...she's just...gone!"

There was a collective gasp from the ponies.

Moondancer looked up from her novel. "Hmm? Is it over already?"

Her book then fell unceremoniously to the floor as her eyes widened to the sight of a dark midnight mist suddenly appearing and starting to swirl around the balcony.

Everypony else stared in shock too, unsure of what was happening. One however, had a very good guess.

"Oh no..." Twilight whispered.

The wisps coalesced together, and from it a pure black alicorn in dark blue armor stepped forth.

"Nightmare Moon!"

Spike fainted off her back dramatically. And as for the newcomer, she scanned the crowd below with her dragon-like eyes, like a vulture looking for the sickest beast.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces."

"What did you do with our Princess?!" Rainbow Dash was about to charge the balcony, but Applejack pulled her tail back, while Lyra and Bon Bon pinned both sides down.

"Easy Dash, we don't even know if she's done anything," Lyra reasoned.
"Whoever she is..." Bon Bon remarked.

The alicorn up top must have had incredible hearing, because she immediately snapped her head in the candymaker's direction.
"Oh? Do you truly not know who I am?" she chuckled darkly.

"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games!" Pinkie Pie lightheartedly surmised. "Um, Hokey Smokes! How about...Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty-"

An apple from Applejack quickly muffled any other answers from the pink mare.

"Ooh! Me next! I want a turn!" Minuette waved. "Midnight Sky? Blacken Cloudy? How about Duchess Darkness? Am I warm or-"

An apple fritter from Lemon Hearts shut this one up.

The mysterious mare glared back and forth from one cowering face to the next, all humor lost from her tone of voice. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did."

All heads turned to Twilight Sparkle who stepped out of the crowd.

"And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!"

Another round of gasps elicited from the mouths of everypony, some even fainted.

"Well well well," Nightmare Moon seemingly found her smile again, like a viper that had just waited for the mouse to turn around and see her upon him. "Somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

Twilight gulped, knowing too well that no one here except the fiend herself would like the answer. "You're here to...to..."

Nightmare Moon decided to finish for the studious unicorn. "Hm hm hmm...Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"

Lightning flashed from sky as the air above and around filled with her dark aura and triumphant laughter.

It was then that the mayor took action.

"Seize her!" she ordered the ceremonial guards that came for the procession. "Only she knows where the Princess is!"

The white pegasi commanded needed not a moment's hesitation. They moved into attack formation and dove at the villain of legend.

To say that this insolence was intolerable on her part was an understatement to Nightmare Moon. "Stand back, you foals!"

With three swift bolts of lightning, she struck them all down. Cackling, she then dissipated into the mist she arrived in and burst away through the doors and into the endless night sky beyond, disappearing over the horizon.

Or that's at least what would have happened, had some unicorns in the crowd not taken immediate action.

"Oh no you don't!" Minuette struck the doors and windows with a warding charm, a common spell used by unicorns in her city to reinforce points of entry from burglaries. Not nearly something powerful enough to stop a seemingly all powerful immortal, but with a few static spells laid upon it by Lyra and Lemon, it certainly gave her enough of a shock to send her back a few flaps.

But after the initial surprise that she had actually been hurt wore off, she immediately turned to glare at the scattered crowd below. "It would seem that an example needs to be made for the little ponies of Equestria to realize just how powerless they are before me!"

With a glowering whinny, she spread her wings wide and a billowing cloud of midnight blue dust showered from her feathers.

"Oh no! Look out!" Moondancer suddenly leaped into the center of the Canterlot unicorns and raised an airtight bubble around them.

The dust filled the entire room, and as it came into contact with every pony in the town hall, they all fell to their knees, backs, and sides, eyes closing shut.

Her work done, Nightmare Moon dissipated to mist again and resumed her escape into the dark, all the while laughing.

Moondancer waited until she was absolutely sure there was no more dust to pop her bubble. "Whew! That was close."

"W-what was that?" Twinkleshine asked.

"A bubble barrier. Weakest of the shield class spells. Mainly used for wind and weather protection at best, but it can also serve as an airtight shell for-"

"Nononono," Lemon Hearts clarified for Twinkleshine. "What Nightmare Moon did."

"Oh, that. That was a 5th tier sleep enchantment, highest of it's level. Those particles in the air were magical narcotics. A single one could knock out an elephant with one touch. Plus-"

"Bon Bon!"

The group turned to panicked Lyra, who was shaking her fillyhood pal like a limp ragdoll. "Come on Bonnie, snap out of it! Speak to me! Tell me you're alright!"

She magicked her aura into a five fingered appendage that slapped the cream earth pony's cheeks several times before Moondancer stopped her.

"That won't work. A sleep spell this powerful can only be dispelled by the one who cast it. They're virtually comatose until then."

Lyra looked up at her bookish friend, her lip quivering as she spoke. "Y-you mean...my Bon Bon...all our Ponyville pals...are going to sleep...forever?"

"Hey, no worries!" Minuette tried to cheer her friend up. "Like Moondancer said, the caster can undo the spell. That means Nightmare Moon can wake them up. All we gotta do is find a way to get her to do it!"

"Or vanquish her, anything that cuts off the spell's source would do," Moondancer elaborated.

"But, how do we do that?" Lemon Hearts asked.

"Well, Twilight seemed to know what was going on, maybe she has an idea! Don't you, Twilight?" Minuette turned around to the other scholar.

But all she found was an empty space.

"Uh, she was just here a minute ago, wasn't she?"




Twilight gently tucked Spike into his basket-like bed. A faint residue of Nightmare Moon's sleep powder was apparent on his left cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Spike," she said sweetly. "Just have a good sleep for now. I promise I'll find a way to fix this."

After a few motherly strokes to his head, she crept out of the bedroom, turned off the lights, and closed the door as quietly as possible.

Then she made a mad dash downstairs, yanking books off the shelves in a noisy clash and clatter.

"Elements, elements, elements..." The book pile behind her was getting fairly high as she tossed one cover after another aside, her search for information proving fruitless. "Ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?"

"The Elements of what now?"

Twilight turned abruptly to see the five other mares from Canterlot gathered around the library entrance.

"There you are, Twilight!" Minuette breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried for a minute there when you just ran off like that! Good thing I guessed right where you might be heading."

She suddenly found herself shoved aside as Lyra marched to the front, confrontation in her eyes. "Alright Sparkle, what's going on around here? The Princess and her sun are gone, our Nightmare Night icon just came into reality, we're the only ones left in this entire town who aren't sawing logs on an indefinite basis, and you're the sole pony who seems to have a clue about it! So spill it! My Bonnie's life is at stake here!"

Twilight took a step back from Lyra's intrusive face, and looked before the circle that had gathered around her before explaining.

"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them. I don't even know what they do!"

"Oh, you must have been looking for this." Moondancer pulled out a book from her saddlebags and floated it over to Twilight.

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." Twilight looked up in astonishment at Moondancer. "How did find this?!"

"I checked it out earlier this afternoon," Moondancer said as she started to re-shelve some of the books. "This library has a surprising unorganized categorizing system. I actually found this book under E."

That was certainly odd to Twilight who was just as well versed with the Dewhoof Decimal System as Moondancer was. What did the last librarian here do? Sort the books by title?

Never mind, there where bigger things to worry about right now. Flipping the book open, Twilight found the page she wanted and began to read out loud.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. 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 pony sisters."

Little did any of them notice a shadow near the window outside chose to dart off before Twilight continued further.

"It is located in what is now..."




"The Everfree Forest!"

All six mares stood at the edge of looming mass of wild overgrowth that stood on the outskirts of the village. Mostly uncharted, and home to a number of unknown creatures and untamed perils, almost everypony in Equestria knew the Everfree was one of the most dangerous places in the land for a pony to wander in.

"Woah, spooky..." Twinkleshine said to nopony in particular.

"Well, those Elements aren't going to get found with us just standing here!" Lyra began leading the others in. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast!" Twilight teleported in their way. "You're going back to town. I'm going to get the Elements."

The rest of the group all looked at each other, and then back to Twilight.

"Alone?" Lemon Hearts asked.

"I have to do this myself," Twilight affirmed.

Lyra shook her head. "I can't just sit on my rump while my bosom buddy is being held hostage in dreamland! And I'm certainly not losing another one by letting her run suicidal into the deep dark forest all on her own!"

"Yeah! And you know what they say, the more the merrier!" Minuette chimed in. "Every hero on a quest to save the world needs a party to help them out. Who better to be that party than your best friends?"

"WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!!!"

Everypony jumped back at Twilight sudden rush of anger. She, on the other hoof, just looked disdainfully at each and every one of them.

"Ever since I got here, you five have done nothing but impede me! All I wanted to do was find out about how to stop Nightmare Moon before she could come back. And you know what? I could have done it! I could have found about where the Elements of Harmony were kept, and would have been to and back from the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters with them in hoof before the sun even set today. I could have prevented all of this!"
She waved up to the everlasting night sky. 
"But I didn't, because I couldn't. And do you know why? Because all of you kept dragging me every which way but the right way with your pointless activities! You get it yet? Nightmare Moon is back because you all stopped me from stopping her! And now you want to come with me into the forest as I try to retrieve our world's only remaining hope? Why? So you can mess that up too?! Maybe stop to have me smell some flowers that end up spraying toxic fumes on me, or pause to pet a cute little mouse that grows into a humongous hydra that eats me alive! No thank you, I have a much better chance of succeeding at this without friends!!"

She finally slumped down after her tirade, the pent up frustration from today having been let loose all at once. As she panted, Minuette slowly approached, and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Even so, we're still going with you."

Twilight looked up in bewilderment as each one of them approached after Minuette.

"Maybe we aren't friends to you right now," Twinkleshine said with a soft smile. "But you are to us."

"And we'd never live with ourselves if something happened to a friend of ours that we could've helped with," Lemon Hearts added.

"Besides, we've got a stake in this too," Lyra insisted. "We don't want an endless night just as much as you!"

Moondancer just said nothing, she seemed to be the only one without a big reassuring smile, although she did seem to stick with the others on this case.

Twilight breathed in deeply a few times to collect her thoughts and work through the situation logically. Finally, she stood back up and addressed them all with a no-nonsense face.

"You promise not to get in my way and do exactly as I tell you?"

"Cross our hearts, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes!" Minuette chanted. "My new friend Pinkie taught me that."

"Alright then..."
With some reluctance, Twilight ushered the five mares behind her to follow.
"Let's go."