The front door to the cottage swung wildly open, banging against the near wall. Foxtrot raced in, leaving the door ajar and bolted for her bedroom.
She had run all the way from Canterlot back to her cottage in Hoofly. The confrontation with her mother had left her completely distraught. Throwing herself onto the bed, Foxtrot wailed into her covers. Unleashing what she had been barely able to contain during her return from the city high above. Her tears had long since dried up, leaving her emerald eyes very sore.
Foxtrots muffled wailing turned to sobbing, silently wishing for a great hole to appear and swallow her up.
The sound of movement from the main room pricked Foxtrot’s ears. Lifting her head out of the bed covers, she looked through her window. It was now late now evening and the sun had long been set by Celestia. She turned to face her bedroom door. “Midnight?”
She did not wait for a reply, getting off the bed and slowly moving over to the bedroom door. Opening it, she called Midnight’s name again but was greeted by an empty room. He’s not here Her ears dropped. I really need him, now.
A breeze picked up outside, causing the front door and various objects in the main room to flutter and sway.
Foxtrot made her way over to the door and closed it, but not before the wind claimed a victim. One of the many picture frames lining the mantelpiece above the fireplace was rocked over by the breeze. Falling onto the stone hearth, the glass in the frame broke with a loud crack.
Foxtrot let out a disgruntled groan and moved over to the fireplace. Kneeling down, she flipped over the fallen frame and inspected the damaged glass.
Her voice caught in her throat. Of all the pictures, it had to be this one. The one of her as a filly at Canterlot castle with her father. Her father…
At that moment, memories of them together flooded her mind. Many happy, warm and comforting moments, now being poisoned by her mother's words. Fresh tears developed in her eyes and fell onto the broken glass. The crack of which ran across the picture, cutting through the head of the filly’ Foxtrot.
“Sorry, Daddy,” She started weeping. “I’m not your little girl.”
As Foxtrot wept, she did not notice the stallion that had silently entered the cottage and walked up behind her. Her ears caught the strange noise he started to make. “Midnight.”
She turned to see a royal guard stand menacingly over her. It took Foxtrot a second to recognize him as Steel Wall, from Stern Wings company, but there was something was clearly wrong. He was standing bolt upright with his arched back, his eyes rolling back into his skull. Most alarming was the mouth. It was wide open and making a gargling noises, whilst a thick indigo cloud poured out of it and gathered in a swirling mass above the stallion's head.
“Wh..what?” Foxtrot stuttered, trying wheel herself around onto her hooves.
The last of the indigo cloud left Steel Wall’s mouth and he collapsed backwards onto the floor. The cloud then surged at Foxtrot. She screamed loudly before being cut off by the indigo mass, forcing its way into her mouth.
Midnight Snow slowly walked through Hoofly, tired and confused. He’d spent most the day at the Canterlot’s grand station, waiting for Professor Blessed Beard.
When Twinstar gave him the letter for Foxtrot, she also informed Midnight that the professor would be returning to Canterlot on a train arriving late afternoon today. So Midnight went along to station to greet him, but he never showed up. After a long while and many trains coming and going, he quickly popped over to Blessed Beard’s lab. Once there, he learned that the professor was not due back for at least another week. This confused Midnight. Twinstar was not the kind of mare to get something like this so wrong.
This is what was playing on his mind whilst walking back to Hoofly.
It was at this moment that he noticed Stonie the old griffon waving him over to his stall, which he had just finished packing up for the day.
“Alright, Stonie. What's up?”
“Midnight, did you and Foxtrot have an argument?” He asked gently.
“No, why?”
“Well it's just that I saw her a little while ago and she didn’t look good,” Stonie said, using a talon to indicate Foxtrot’s path. “She looked like an emotional wreck.”
Midnight looked in the direction of their cottage. “Twinstar, what have you done?”
Midnight started walking again towards the cottage. Stonie followed, realizing that foul play was a hoof. Together, they quickly made their way onto Midnight’s street, when a noise pierced the evening air. The sound of a mare screaming in terror before being violently cut off.
The two quickly glanced at each over, then started running to Midnight’s cottage.
“FOXTROT!!” Midnight shouted, quickly leaving the slower Stonie behind.
He galloped past several other ponies, who upon hearing the scream came out of their homes to investigate.
Midnight stormed into the cottage to see Steel Wall still collapsed on the floor with Foxtrot now standing, at least he thought it was Foxtrot. Her coat had turned a darker shade, turning almost violet. Her mane and tail were something to behold. Hundreds of tiny stars, twinkling in emerald tinged cosmos that flowed and pulsated as if it were a life of its own.
She bellowed out a sinister laugh, in a voice that was not her own.
“Oh, yes. This feels so much better,” Nightmare Moon announced to the world, shift her host about as if she had not moved in ages.
“Foxtrot,” Midnight called gently, unsure what was happening.
With her new found magic, Nightmare Moon pulled the Alicorn Amulet from the still unconscious Steel Wall and placed it upon herself. She visibly got a kick from the increased magic.
“Foxtrot,” Midnight tried again, a little firmer to get her attention.
Nightmare Moon flashed her terrible indigo eyes at Midnight, before moving towards him. Foxtrot had always been a tall mare but now he could see that she had grown in size, to almost Celestia’s hight.
She glared down at him before lifting him by the neck up in her magic. Unable to move and fighting for air, Midnight could only watch as she pulled him in close and uttered only one word. “Begone!”
Still in her magic, Midnight was suddenly thrust back into the wall with such force that broke through it. He then flew across the street and into the adjacent cottage and smashed into it so violently that the building partly collapsed, much to the horror of the family who had just vacated it.
It was only now that the old Stonie had caught up, just to see Nightmare Moon step through the hole in the wall that she had just created.
”Foxtrot,” Stonie said in awe and confusion. He was answered by a lightning bolt striking from her swirling mane, aimed at his talons.
“I, am Nightmare Moon, vermin,” She declared with venom in her voice. “I hoped you enjoyed today's sunset, for it will be the last one you see. For the night will last, forever!!”
And there it was, fear. It engulfed Stonie and the gathering crowd of ponies, most of whom found themselves unable to move whilst under her gaze. Nightmare Moon took in the sight of so many cower in her presence. She enjoyed it immensely, but she did not have time to reveal in it.
Now that her existence was known, she needed to move quickly against her biggest threat, Celestia. Turning to look at the castle high above them, she let a sinister grin grow on her face. Concentrating on one the central tower, Nightmare Moon used a spell she had learned during her many late night trips to the library, and teleported out of Hoofly.