//------------------------------// // Melody's Friends // Story: Everlasting Night: If Nightmare Moon Ruled // by Violetkat //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle woke up trembling. Her mind was filled with terrible dreams as well as flashbacks - Nightmare Moon nearly killing her, Scootaloo's death, and the recent meeting of Melody Jayheart. Why is this happening? I should've saved Equestria. But I failed. She glanced around - all the animals, as well as Fluttershy, were still fast asleep. Twilight sighed. She knew she would need her rest for whatever happened next, but it wasn't worth it - not with all these nightmares. She stepped outside, and stared up at the moon. Why did Nightmare Moon have to be so harsh and cruel? When she had first read about her, Twilight had felt a stab of sympathy for the dark princess. Ponies hated nighttime, but it was Nightmare Moon's job. She had never been appreciated. But now, Twilight didn't care about the past. Nightmare Moon couldn't carry on doing this. Twilight had no idea what time of day it would actually be, if Celestia was still with them. Either way, the sun hadn't been in the sky for quite a while now, and Twilight felt as though she was gradually going crazier and crazier. "Twilight." Twilight turned around to see Fluttershy behind her. She must've heard Twilight leave the cottage. "I'm sorry." "For what?" Twilight replied, no emotion in her voice. "I know that all of us have been making you feel really bad, ever since you came to Ponyville..." "It's fine," she turned back around, eyes fixated on the moon again. "You were just trying to make friends. But I didn't want friends. I stood alone. And I know that all of you would support me in anyway you could... I just feel like this is something I need to do on my own. Fluttershy took a deep breath. "Okay," she sounded uneasy and uncertain. "You're still going to go to meet Melody's friends today - right?" "I will," Twilight replied. "Maybe one of them will have an idea on how we can beat Nightmare Moon." "Maybe," Fluttershy replied. "... should I leave?" "Stay, go, whatever you want. This is your home, not mine." "Okay." The two of them sat in silence for a very long time. Then Fluttershy whispered. "Umm... this has been nice, Twilight. I'd better go feed my animals." Twilight heard her rush away. I don't need friends. Twilight told herself. However, as Fluttershy left, she felt her heart grow colder inside.Stop this, Twilight. You don't need anypony. Twilight Sparkle still needed to convince herself. A few minutes later, Rainbow arrived. "Hey Twilight," she whinnied. "Is Fluttershy ready?" "She should be," Twilight rolled her eyes. "She's been feeding those animals of hers for a very long time." Twilight was about to go get her, but Rainbow Dash swiftly flew inside and came out mere seconds later with Fluttershy. It didn't look as if the yellow mare had been rushing to feed her animals. Was she purposefully trying to avoid Twilight? Were things between them really that awkward. "I hope the others arrive soon," Rainbow said restlessly. She flew backwards and forwards. "We really need to go meet Melody's friends so that we can beat Nightmare Moon!" As if on que, Rarity appeared. Twilight was not surprised to see that she was wearing a fancy outfit. "Really, Rarity?" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "We're basically going to a meet and greet today," the unicorn replied. "I must look impressive to leave a good first impression." Rainbow Dash snorted. "Fine then, whatever you say, great Rarity. But fashion isn't going to help us defeat Nightmare Moon." "She's right about that," Applejack cantered towards them. "But if Rarity wants to play dress up, then just to with it." "Now we're just waiting for Pinkie," Rainbow said. "I wonder what's taking her so long? If she doesn't turn up soon, we'll have to go without her." "Rainbow's right," Twilight agreed. "We can't be kept waiting on just one pony." "Well, if I know Pinkie, she'll probably suddenly appear here in about five seconds flat." "Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed. The pink pony zoomed over. "What held you up?" Rarity asked. "I was making cupcakes... duh." "Cupcakes?" Twilight replied, puzzled. "Y'know, cupcakes! We're meeting some new ponies." "Why, Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed. "I don't think cupcakes are necessary. We're going to be meeting Melody's friends today, but not for a party. It's strictly business! We're going to discuss Nightmare Moon! I mean, it's not like I'm doing something ridiculous so that these ponies form a good opinion on myself!" Fluttershy giggled. "Are you sure, Rarity?" She pointed at her outfit. "I don't know what you're talking about!" She replied sheepishly. "We'd better be going," Applejack cut in. "From what we saw of Melody yesterday, she didn't seem at all happy about agreeing to help us. I doubt it'll take her long to just give up on us." It didn't take too long to get to Melody's place, especially since the ponies were moving so very fast. Rarity knocked. A few seconds later, Melody cautiously opened the door. "Oh, it's you again." She narrowed her eyes, flattening her ears. "Try some of my super duper extra tasty cupcakes!" Pinkie squealed, her mane suddenly poofing up, as though back to her old self. Melody ignored her. "Do you want to come in?" "I want you to eat the cupcakes I made!" Pinkie replied. "Yep! We need to talk!" Rainbow Dash seemed very determined today. As they went inside, Pinkie's mane swiftly deflated, and she shoved one of the cupcakes into Melody's mouth. "Good mare, eat the cupcake." She muttered. "Chill," Twilight heard AJ whisper to her fellow earth pony. "No need to be getting all worked up over some cupcakes." "But there is!" She replied, as, embarrassed, Melody tried to discreetly spit out the cupcake. Twilight had heard Pinkie's food was usually very good, so she guessed that Melody was just uneasy accepting food from strangers. "So, these friends of yours," Twilight addressed the unicorn. "Do they have unusual abilities, like you?" "Well, one of them does," Melody replied quietly. "She can switch between a pegasus, unicorn and earth pony. It doesn't use up any of her energy, unlike me. But the other one doesn't seem to..." "Are they already here?" Applejack asked. "One of them is - Amber Glimmer." Rarity was the first to spot Amber - she nudged Twilight and pointed her hoof towards a tall, night blue earth pony. She had dark brown, almost black eyes, a pink bracelet on one of her hooves and her cutiemark was a yellow, shining tickmark. Her mane was blackish brown, tied up with a red bunchie. "Look at her unacceptable fashion style!" The fellow unicorn exclaimed, her eyes huge. Twilight saw Applejack roll her eyes. "Howdy, are ya Amber Glimmer?" Applejack asked as she approached. "Yep! That's me!" On closer inspection, Twilight recognised Amber as the mare who had guided them to Melody's yesterday. It made sense. They were friends. "Hello Amber, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight shook hooves with Amber. "So, you're Melody's little, well, rather, big, friend?" Rarity asked. "You don't seem very fun." Pinkie added. Fluttershy and Applejack hushed her. "Yep, we used to be classmates." Amber replied with a smile. She seems nice - my sort of pony. But now's not the time... or is it? Sooner or later, they were going to need as much support as they could get, so maybe even 'friendship' could help. "Where's your other friend?" Applejack asked. Melody replied. "Late. She's always late. Very late." "Maybe we should start without her," Rainbow decided impatiently. "This is pretty urgent." "I agree," Rarity nodded. "If this other pony doesn't want to help, so be it." "I think that we're probably going to have to do that," Twilight sighed. "But doesn't she have a special power? She might come in handy." "No offence to Amber." Applejack added. "None taken!" Amber smirked. "Everypony!" Twilight announced. "I think we should all get to know eachother." "See, Twilight, looks like you really do care about friendship! Why hide it?" Pinkie bounced, then tumbled to the floor in a heap. "Anyways, if me and Fluttershy-" "Actually, it's Fluttershy and I." "Whatever, does it look like I care? So, Fluttershy and me-" Twilight face-hoofed. "...And Applejack, can go get acquainted with Melody. Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity can introduce themselves to Amber." "How come you get to choose?" AJ and Twilight demanded in unison. "It's Pinkie - don't question." Rainbow Dash smiled - just slightly. "Okay then, then let's get started-" There was a knock on the door. "If that's Glittering Moon..." Melody grunted, answering it. Another light blue face, similar to Melody's, appeared. "Glittering!" Melody's eyes flashed furiously. "I told you that it was urgent!" "Sorry!" Glittering snapped, without seeming at all regretful. "I had some things to do!" "Like what?" Melody sneered. "Sleeping!" There was a long silence. "Can we please just get started?" Rainbow insisted. "We have to say hello to our dear pal Glittering Moon first!" Pinkie squeaked. Glittering got closer. She was a light blue mare with chestnut eyes, a poofy mane and a purple, glittery moon as a cutiemark. Twilight found herself awkward. This young mare didn't at all resemble Nightmare Moon, but she had a moon as a cutiemark, and 'moon' in her name. She hoped whoever spoke to Glittering found out a lot about her, so that Twilight knew whether she could be trusted. "Out of interest," Applejack spoke. "Who here is the one with the special powers?" Glittering raised her head high, waved her hoof, and announced. "Me." "Of course it would be the showy one." Rarity murmured whilst fiddling with her mane. "You're the showy one." Rainbow Dash whispered. At the moment, Twilight noted, Glittering was in her earth pony form. That soon changed, as suddenly a dark aura shone around Glittering Moon, and everything became shadowy. When Twilight could see again, Glittering was a pegasus, flying around the room at an impressive speed. Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Cool!" then she frantically shook her head. "There's no time for this. Me and Applejack..." Twilight was on the brink of killing herself. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were just taking the mickey now. "Me and Applejack will go with Glittering, Rarity and Twilight with Amber, and Pinkie and Fluttershy with Melody. Done! And go!"