The Lost Kingdom

by Piece Bot

Five Days Ago...

Five days ago…
Twilight and Princess Luna walked into the abandoned city. Luna was still scared and shocked as to how Nightmare Moon, her alter ego gone rogue, was here. Twilight and her friends banished that side of her forever. Or so she thought.

“There’s nopony here except for…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as her pupils turned to pinpricks. The only reason why they would do that would be if she was scared, seriously scared. Luna looked behind her but there wasn’t anything there. ‘Oh great. Now it’s her turn.’ Luna patiently waited to see if Twilight would ever come out of it. From what Twilight told her mum, Luna was like this for about an hour, maybe two.

‘NO! How can they be here? One was supposedly turned to good, thanks to Fluttershy, but the other was practically vaporised!’

“Surprised little foal?” The star-speckled mane spoke to Twilight. Twilight knew that Nightmare Moon and Discord were in front of her but she refused to believe it.

“I’d say she is. She looks like she’s seen a ghost.” Discord cackled after he joked.

“Don’t tease her she’s scared enough as it is.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not even here. I’ve got a question to ask. Nightmare Moon,” Nightmare Moon looked at Twilight quizzically. ‘What is this ignorant foal doing?’ She thought to herself.

“How. Are. You. Even. Here?” Twilight punctuated each word with an accusatory jab at Discord.

“Me? You think I had something to with it? All this?” Discord feigned shock but laughed it off with a manic smile.

“Foal, you couldn’t possibly comprehend what I’ve done here.” She spread her hoofs out, as if she was gesturing to everything around them.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“I don’t care about some silly question. All that I care about is you becoming my prisoner.” Nightmare Moon began to stalk towards Twilight. ‘What did she just say?’ Twilight was still in shock when Nightmare Moon said that she didn’t care about the question Twilight put to her. She didn’t react when Nightmare Moon lunged for her but Luna, sensing something was amiss, intervened. She grappled with her evil counterpart and managed to hoof her in the face. Twice. But then Nightmare Moon got the upper-hoof and turned the tables against Luna. Twilight and Discord just stood by and watched.

“Why are you working with Nightmare? I thought you were ‘reformed’?” Twilight casually asked Discord.

“Yes, about that, I may have lied …” Discord trailed off.

“WHAT!?” Twilight was positively furious at Discord. He let Fluttershy and the rest of Twilight’s friends believe that he had been reformed.

“You … you …” She let out a horrified scream and started to pummel Discord. At that Nightmare Moon and Luna stopped their fight and watched Discord try to unsuccessfully stop Twilight punching him. Discord looked over at Nightmare Moon pleadingly, thinking that she would help him. Nightmare just glared at him and let Twilight have her fun. After what seemed like hours, Twilight finally relented and stepped off of the battered Draconequus. Twilight was still seething with fury at what Discord had done but she was also furious at herself, for what she did to Discord. She looked around and only saw Luna. There was no sign of Nightmare Moon.

“Where’s Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked her mum. Luna looked to her left and realised that Nightmare Moon was no longer there. She looked at where Discord used to be.

“Forget Nightmare Moon, what about Discord?” Luna pointed to where Discord used to be. Twilight gasped when she didn’t see him but she supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised. This was exactly the sort of thing that Discord would try. She walked over to her mum and let Luna hug her with one of her azure wings. They walked off from the battlefield and tried to get the thoughts of Nightmare Moon and Discord out of their minds. No such luck. Luna suddenly grabbed her head and moaned.

“Mum?” Twilight quickly ran to her mother’s side and tried to console her.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Luna screamed.

“Nope, sorry. I rather like it in here.” Discord cackled madly.

“Noooooo” Luna moaned into the ground as by this time, she had fallen to the ground.

“Oh hey, there’s room here for all three of us.” Nightmare decided to join the party in Luna’s mind.

“Now what? What shall I do?” Twilight just rambled meaningless things under her breath as she began to pace around Luna.

“Not you too.” Luna moaned as her head was filled with both of Nightmare Moon’s and Discord’s voices. Luna could feel Nightmare Moon start to push Discord out of her head and decided to take over Luna’s personality. Again. Much like how she did before her banishment to the moon. She could feel her sense of sanity slipping away.

“Not again …”

“What do you mean by ‘not again’?” Twilight asked her. But then she remembered that Luna couldn’t possibly hear her.

“NOOOOOO!” Luna’s scream turned into a growl as Nightmare Moon finally took over her personality.

“Ah. It feels good to be back.” Nightmare Moon had her black armor on. Twilight turned around and ran, hoping that she’ll be able to get out of the mist and to the Crystal Empire.

“Where are you going little foal?” Nightmare Moon taunted her and gave chase. A hole out of nowhere opened up in front of her. Twilight didn’t even have to scream before she fell into the darkness. She could feel herself sliding until she heard a clang. Then she fell unconscious.