//------------------------------// // The Meeting with Twilight Sparkle (Rewrite) // Story: Rebirth of a Nightmare // by Raven Blackwood //------------------------------// "We’re at the edge of the forest now. Ponyville is this way." As we advance towards Ponyville, I recall a conversation about Twilight that Charm and I had. While it was not overly detailed, it was reassuring that Twilight was described to be almost as nice as literally the most reclusive pony in town. We begin to carefully make our way through the outskirts of Ponyville, me following in Charm's step. We have mostly stayed in the shadows of the buildings, until I start seeing a towering castle up ahead. A magnificent structure, made completely out of crystals. "Here’s the princess’ home. Pretty impressive, right?” Charm points to the castle as we make our way around to the front. The castle is massive, towering above any other structure in the town. “Yeah, this isn’t what I expected at all.” Charm sharply moves her head back to get the hood off, and approaches the large double doors. Knocking three times on it, she steps back and waited. "Hope she's still here, Charm," I said. "Are you certain that she's not busy with any royal duties as of right now? If she is, we can come back another time when she’s free." Running a kingdom can be difficult for a new ruler. It probably takes tremendous amounts of energy to keep everything in order. I hear the sound of two feet coming toward the double doors. One of the doors opens, and out stepped a small purple dragon. "Oh, hello Charm," he said with a smile, "Twilight is up in her study room if you need her." He then took notice of me. "And who's she?" Charm looks at the book for a moment, then back at the dragon. "Uh, thank you Spike," She gestures to me with her hoof, "This is Ada, she’s new to Ponyville." "Hello, Spike," I smiled. He looked familiar... I remember that in the old books, and one of them seemed to be newer than the others as the ink had less signs of wear. It was about a young unicorn that passed a test, and was given a pet dragon as her reward to raise... Spike. "I go by Nuray.” I remember Starswirl giving me this new name when he gave me this disguise to. I know I can control whether I stay in this form or go back into Nightmare’s form, but I am going to make sure I do not go back into that form until I think it is right for me to do so. I know my name is technically Ada, but I think I should stick with this name for the time being. Spike looked at me, confused for a moment, then understood what was happening. "Nice to meet you Nuray.” Once I stepped inside, Spike closes the door, and it echos throughout the hallways. My jaw drops at the colossal size of the place. "Huge, isn't it?" Charm's confusing-at-first question echos in vast space. "I'll say." I can't find the right words to say about the inside of Twilight's castle. I'm still wondering how it's able to stand with all the weight of the crystals. “Well, come along then!” Charm calls, her cloak now hanging on a coat rack near the door. I opt to keep my cloak, instead just lowering my hood to preserve the disguise. As we walk in the hallway with Charm and Spike chatting behind me, it seems to stretch for quite a while, it leading to a large throne room. If it was only medieval-looking, I could easily mistake this place for something from a King Arthur story, just because of the round table. Charm seems to notice me staring in awe at the thrones and table in front of us as we stopped near it. “I think the friendship council meets here once in awhile. The table is a map of Equestria, shown by Twilight’s magic. She then points up, and I don’t know how much farther my jaw could drop… was that…? “They’re old tree roots, from the old home of the young princess. It was destroyed by Lord Tirek. It now shares the memories of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends inside the jewels.” I want to fly up there and touch the jewels, just to see what they would look like up close… but by doing so, I would be exposing my alicorn-hood. “If I remember correctly, the study hall is this way,” Charm called as I found that I have been standing there for a few seconds. Spike must have run off somewhere, because I didn’t see him with us anymore, and Charm is at the foot of a curved staircase. “Up here!” Hearing Charm's voice from the staircase, I get myself up the stairs without any problems… surprisingly, as the stairs look like shiny colored glass and could easily be slippery if one was not careful. It didn't take long to actually make it to the second floor of the palace. In addition, I able to see different types of artwork that were in their picture frames. The frames are made of gold and a few silver. This place must have really cost a lot to build… then again, it was then I noticed the study room was at the other end of the new hallway we are both both walking in. "Spike said she’s in here." I nod as I casually walk to the door. Pushing the door slowly, I can see a lavender pony that didn't stir when we walked in. Due to her head being lowered to read the book, it was difficult for me to see what her eye color is. I couldn't tell what the title of the book she was reading. Whatever was in that book, she was was glued to it. I walk up to the table she was reading her book. “Princess?” I ask. My talking causes Twilight to almost jump in her seat, but not to an extent to where she would have flown up in the air. She looks at me with a surprise expression to know I successfully walked into the library without her being alerted that the door had been opened by me and Charm. “Whoops. I didn't mean to cause you to react like that, Princess.” I said. “You're not the first one to cause me to jump,” she said. “One of my friends has done this to me multiple times. It's alright.” She ends. Her attention went back to Charm, “Hello Charm! Nice to see you’re back!” She gives a smile to Charm. “I… I have something to show you something, Princess. Hang on for a just a moment.” Charm walks over to me where she grabs her book from my saddlebag and places it on the floor once she closed the door. Charm turned to the page with the reflections of Celestia and Luna from before, then places her hoof slightly below Nightmare’s picture. “I have a reason to believe Nightmare Moon has returned...” She then points at me. I think my heart just skipped a beat when she pointed at me. Charm noticed my reaction after she said Nightmare had returned to Equestria. Twilight, was now looking dead at me. "Ummm... hehehe..." I give her a sheepish smile. Twilight looks at her in disbelief, and before I had a chance to explain, said “I’m sorry, but what do you mean returned?” “Nightmare Moon returned in a new form. She is still a spirit, but is using Nuray as a disguise.” Charm looked around until she saw my necklace. “She has a necklace resembling Nightmare Moon, and this,” she gestures a hoof for me to come towards the mirror. As soon as I get to where Charm wants me to be, Twilight follows and watches, confused and curious of what is going on. Charm looks at me, then gestures at the mirror. “Touch the mirror, see for yourself.” "How are you certain Twilight won't try to hurt me at that point?" I whisper. "If she sees this, I don't know what I'm gonna do." I'm not even sure how this would play out. Will she understand? Or will she try to knock me out right after I place my hoof against the mirror? Sighing, I decide to press my hoof against the mirror to see if anything might happen while looking straight at it. Nothing happened. "Charm. Are you sure this is supposed to ev-" I notice the reflection from the mirror was starting to change drastically, myself swirling and morphing into another shape. My reflection started to shape shift into Nightmare Moon. I raise my hoof, and the reflection follows my every movement. It's working. I point to the left and right. Up and down. Even putting my hoof on the side of my face seems to match exactly what is going on in the reflection. I could hear Charm whispering saying “I told you so”. "Please. Don't leave me, Ada," Nightmare spoke in a horrified tone. "Nightmare…..” I said. “I’m here.” I spoke calmly. The reflection morphs and changes back to who I am. I put one hoof against the mirror in hope to see her again. “Nightmare?” Charm lightly nudges me, gesturing for me to see a very surprised and shocked Twilight. “WHAT?!” Charm's smile grew at Twilight’s reaction. “But how?! How can she be back?! Spike!” She turns towards the door as she called him, and a moment later Spike walked in, apparently knowing that tone of urgency. “Yes?” he asks, very concerned. “I need you to write a letter and send it to Luna.” Spike goes over to a desk and grabs a parchment and a quill, “All set!” Twilight sighs and starts to dictate for Spike to record. “Dear Princess Luna,” she starts, observing every detail of me from afar, “I need to inform you of something very important, I have discovered something that is imperative you take a look at. One of my friends, Cursed Charm, has discovered someone called Nuray.” "Twilight, I don't think it would be a good idea to write to Luna as of right now," I interrupt after she finishes speaking. Twilight shakes her head, "I'm sorry, but we need to let Luna know about this... if we don't, all of Equestria could be at stake!" “Look, Twilight. If Luna were to see that letter,” I stop to think about what the outcome would be if it were to come to this. “She might attack me. How do you know Luna isn't going to just end me where I stand right before you?” I could only imagine the face of Luna looking right at me with a face full of fury. Nightmare probably doesn't want to see Luna at this point. Twilight begins to talk once again. “I’ve known her for years, and I haven’t seen her do anything that I would indicate she would attack you.” Twilight states. “I just want to be sure that Nightmare Moon isn’t a threat to me, my friends, and to Equestria, Nuray. Please understand that is important that I tell Princess Luna about it.” Twilight then continues to talk to Spike to write to Luna. Charm, who puts her hoof on my shoulder gives me a reassuring smile that everything is going to be okay. “Well, I should have expected that,” said Charm. “I’m sure everything will turn out fine.” “Well, alright.” I am sort of nervous wondering how this might all go down. I don’t want anything bad to happen to me or to Nightmare. We’ve only known each other a few days. Which is really a short time to then leave the Everfree Forest and to then meet with Princess Twilight to discuss the matter at hand. I mean, at hoof. “Nightmare Moon has returned to Equestria,” Twilight continues. “I don’t know how it is possible for Nightmare to have come back and to also get inside a pony. Despite her being present, Nuray is somehow able to control herself. I do not know how this is possible, but Nightmare might possibly be locked inside of her and might not have any control of Nuray physically or mentally. So far, there are no signs of Nightmare Moon having any sort of control.” From your friend, Twilight Sparkle.” “Twi-light….Spar-kle.” Spike finishes the letter as he then wraps it up and then... breathes fire on it? Why would he even need to do that? Twilight looked at me to see confusion in my eyes. “Spike sends letters via fire to be sent either to the Princesses or to anypony anywhere.” Twilight informs me. “Oh.” I am just hoping that by the time Luna gets the message, she won’t do anything brash. If Charm and Twilight are right about this, then there is no point for me to argue to both of them. On the other hand, it could be harrowing if Luna does turn out to be trouble. “Hey, Twilight, is it possible for me to wait outside the library while you and Charm talk to Luna?” I asked. “If that’s alright.” She gave a nod to me. “Of course. I understand.” “Thank you Twilig--” A bright flash of light obscures my vision, followed by a sharp distortion of sound. I use my hoof to cover my eyes to regain my sight. A dreadful few seconds went by as the light dimming down enough to see again. As my eyes finish adjusting, my heart freezes to an icy stop. The silence is deafening. Princess Luna, in all her majestic fury, is staring right at me. I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well.