After stumbling upon the ruins of an ancient kingdom, the gang meets an equally ancient pony who shares the secret of a forgotten realm, but also a secret their princess had held from them until now. Is Princess Celestia really the individual they've always believed her to be? Or is something more sinister at work in the shadows? Twilight will have to rely on what may be her mentor's final lesson and unexpected allies when the power of Disharmony threatens Equestria...

This is my "serious" MLP fanfic...serious in the sense of episodes such as "Friendship is Magic", "The Return of Harmony", and "The Crystal Empire"...the episodes where they have to deal with a powerful threat to everyone's well-being. And in that tradition, I have this in "two parts", just like the two-part episodes. Ideally, it should be treated as a two episode plotline.

This fanfic is partially in response to the constant criticism that Princess Celestia gets. It explores more of the Twilight/Celestia relationship and shows how even someone who doesn't always step out to give the villain a bloody nose personally can still be making a world of difference.

Finally, it's important to know that this story was written only a few episodes into Season Three and prior to looking at the comic series, which presents its own story of the background of Nightmare Moon.

The image of the mask is a public domain clipart image.