MLP: Heroes of Equestria: Nightmare Moon Saga.

by SlashaDragos

Chapter 2: First time in Ponyville

Twilight's carriage, on the way to Ponyville...

Twilight was hiding it well, but she couldn't deny that she was angry about the whole situation. Anyone looking at her would see that she looked very annoyed, but to Twilight, it was more than that. She was still angry about not being able to do anything about the possible return of Nightmare Moon and it was constantly bothering her. Spike was doing everything he can to try and cheer her up.

"Look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?" Twilight's ears perked up and she looked more better than she did before.

"Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return." Twilight's confidence that she had before she came on the carriage suddenly came back, however there was still one thing that bothered Spike. He asked Twilight when will she make friends, like the letter from the Princess asked her to. Feeling a little irritated, Twilight answered Spike's question.

"She SAID to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Spike decided to leave the conversation as he decided to check the view from the carriage since they were getting close to Ponyville, looking around, he barely saw six tiny figures a small distance away from the town, Spike started thinking to himself.

"Wonder who THEY are...? Must be somepony who lives in town." Spike decides not to bring it up to Twilight, since he knows that Twilight wouldn't care and there was no point in telling anyway. The carriage finally landed in the town of Ponyville, Twilight thanked the guards and stepped off the carriage. Walking through the town, Twilight wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Spike was encouraging Twilight to at least try to talk to another pony and try to make friends, just then, Twilight and Spike saw a pink pony skipping towards them. Twilight decided to give talking to a pony a try like Spike says.

"Uh... hello?" The instant Twilight said that, the pink pony suddenly leaped in air with a loud gasp and zoomed away. Twilight was first confused and then once again irritated about how much she thought that was a waste of time. Twilight and Spike decide to just check the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration by following the checklist that Spike has. The first thing on the list was the banquet preparations at a place called Sweet Apple Acres.

At Sweet Apple Acres...

"YEE HAW!!!" As soon as Twilight and Spike arrived at their destination, they saw an orange pony wearing a hat kicking trees and making apples fall down. Twilight went up to her, hoping to quickly greet the pony and be away from there as soon as possible, as soon as Twilight said her name and before she could finish her sentence, the orange pony grabbed her hoof and shook it vigorously.

"Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!" This quickly made Twilight feel uncomfortable and REALLY want to leave as soon as possible, Applejack released her hoof, but Twilight's hoof was still shaking on it's own for a little bit before it stopped, Spike meanwhile was resisting to laugh in the background. But Twilight tried to stay professional and stayed on task with what she was supposed to do here.

"Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?" Twilight asked Applejack. Applejack said yes and asked if Twilight wanted to try some. Not wanting to be rude, Twilight accepted as long as it didn't take too long. Just then, Applejack hit a musical triangle and a load of ponies came from around the area, Applejack introduced them ALL to Twilight as members of her family, including her big brother Big Macintosh, her little sister Applebloom and Granny Smith.

"Why, I'd say you're already part of the family!" Twilight was sampling one of the apple-based foods that the family had made, but as soon as Applejack said that, she spat it out onto the ground in shock and surprise. Twilight knew this was going to get awkward and she wanted to leave before it ends up happening. With a nervous laugh, she politely says that she and Spike needs to leave, but because of disappointed sighs and peer pressure from the family, she decides to stay for a while and join them for brunch.

Returning to the center of town...

Spike was looking at the next part of his checklist with an ill looking Twilight with a bigger stomach following, she was complaining that she had too much pie, but Spike paid no attention to it. He said that weather is next on the list and that a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash was supposed to clearing the clouds, however, all the clouds were still in the sky. Twilight was once again annoyed.

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" Immediately after Twilight said that, she was tackled over by a cyan-coloured Pegasus with a rainbow mane into a large puddle of mud, both of them now completely covered in it. Twilight was trying to keep her anger inside as the Pegasus offered to help her by bringing a small rain cloud and bouncing on top of it so that all rain rushes out onto Twilight, getting her soaked wet. Seeing this, the Pegasus started laughing.

"Oops, I guess I overdid it. Um, uh, how about this? My very own patented Rain-Blow Dry!" Twilight was wondering what she was going to do, as the Pegasus quickly flew around Twilight in circles, which was somehow draining away the muddy water away and drying off Twilight. "No no. Don't thank me. You're quite welcome."

When the Pegasus actually looked at what her actions have done, she saw Twilight with a face close to anger and that her mane and tail were completely puffed up and looked absolutely terrible, however to the Pegasus, it looked absolutely hilarious and she fell over laughing, even Spike fell over laughing when he saw.

"Let me guess. YOU'RE Rainbow Dash." Twilight asked, wanting to get back to what she was supposed to do, checking the preparations.

"The one and only. Why, you heard of me?" Rainbow Dash sprung up from her fit of laughter, knocking over Spike. Her face brimming with confidence but just looked like boastfulness to Twilight. Twilight introduced herself to Rainbow Dash and told her that the Princess sent her to check on the weather for the Summer Sun Celebration. Rainbow Dash just floated up to a cloud close by and layed down on it.

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." That caught Twilight's attention, so she decided to ask about it.

"Practicing for what?"

"The Wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!" Twilight could tell that Rainbow Dash was obviously a fan of the Wonderbolts, the Wonderbolts are a group of Pegasi that are known as the most talented flyers in the world, but because Twilight thought that Rainbow Dash looked like the type of pony that can never stay on task, she decided to taunt the Pegasus.

"Please. They'd never accept a Pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." The definitely caught Rainbow Dash's attention as she looked at Twilight with an offended expression.

"Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!"

"... Prove it."

Accepting the challenge, Rainbow Dash flew around the sky at a blinding speed and got rid of every single cloud hovering above Ponyville, leaving Twilight with a face that showed absolute shock and surprise.

"Loop the loop around, and wham! What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging. You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more." Rainbow left after saying that, leaving Twilight and Spike to stand there for a while, Spike was saying how amazing Rainbow Dash's flying was while Twilight was moaning in irritation about her appearance that Dash left her with. Spike was trying to cheer up Twilight while they walked towards their next destination on the checklist.

Checking the decorations...

Twilight and Spike went to where the celebration was taking place, in Ponyville's town hall. Inside, they saw that the decorations looked absolutely beautiful, Twilight finally looked happy since she thought this wouldn't take long, however Spike wasn't looking at the decorations when he said the word beautiful. Twilight looked in the direction that Spike was and she saw a white unicorn with a violet mane. Twilight looked at Spike again and saw that Spike was fully infatuated with the white unicorn. Spike was frantically making sure that his appearance was top-notch to impress the unicorn.

Twilight walked up to the unicorn from behind and was about to greet her, but the unicorn interrupted her while she was saying her name.

"Just a moment, please! I'm in the zone, as it were. Oh, yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help y... Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!" The unicorn looked shocked about something, but Twilight DID managed to catch her name before she got confused on what she was shocked about, until she remembered what Dash did to her mane and tail.

"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair!"

Rarity then grabbed Twilight, making her panic as she was brought to a completely different building which was a boutique that Rarity owned. Rarity brought her inside, pulled her into a changing area and not only cleaned Twilight up, but got her to constantly try different outfits. During this, Rarity was putting a girdle on Twilight, but pulling so tight that Twilight was struggling to speak properly.

"No, no, uh-uh. Too green. Too yellow. Too poofy. Not poofy enough. Too frilly. Too... shiny. Now go on, my dear. You were telling me where you're from." Rarity asked while she was sorting out outfits. Twilight managed to say that she was sent from Canterlot, but before she could say what for, Rarity gasped in surprise.

"Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I... EMERALDS?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" Rarity left to get more gems, which gave Twilight enough time to grab Spike and run away from the boutique.

Spike was still entranced about Rarity as Twilight tried to get him back to reality and asked what was next on the list, Spike looked at the list and said that they were on the final item. Music.

Where the music practice was taking place...

Twilight and Spike were walking along the path in the park, where they started to hear birds chirping in rhythm, Twilight and Spike investigate to find a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane conducted a bird choir. She told them to stop to help out one of the birds who was a little off with the singing.

"Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean, no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three..." The Pegasus was about begin the conducting again, until Twilight greeted her from behind, surprising the Pegasus and scaring the birds away.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful." The Pegasus wasn't answering and was looking away very shyly, making the situation pretty awkward to Twilight. Twilight introduces herself and asks for the Pegasus' name.

"Um...I'm Fluttershy..." Twilight couldn't hear the introduction since Fluttershy spoke very quiet, Fluttershy said it again but even quieter this time, since she was very shy around ponies. The birds that were scared off earlier now came back to be able to continue their choir. Twilight, not wanting to continue this awkwardness any longer, was about to leave with Spike, happy that this was at least easy. But then, Twilight heard a gasp from Fluttershy.

"A baby dragon!" Fluttershy was staring at Spike since she has never seen a baby dragon before and says that he looks cute. Spike was getting nervous that she was giving him so much attention and was stuttering with his sentences, but Spike trying to talk made Fluttershy even more interested.

"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!" Fluttershy said with a big look of excitement. Twilight was about to leave with Spike saying that they should get going, but Fluttershy wanted to know more about Spike so she followed them, wanting to know EVERYTHING about Spike. She introduced herself properly as Spike told her everything that she wanted to know.

Some time later, at the library that Twilight is staying in...

"...and that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?" Fluttershy said yes, but Twilight interrupted her and Spike, since they were now at the library.

"I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep." Spike was about to object, but Twilight brought Spike inside her library and rudely shut the door in Fluttershy's face. Spike commented on rude Twilight looked.

"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now, where's the light?" Immediately, the lights turned on to show that practically every pony in town was in in the library and that it looked like some kind of party was happening, the pink pony came up to Twilight and yelled the word surprise in her face.

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?!"

"Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be QUIET...how did you get in here anyway?!" Twilight was not very amused by this, since this was yet ANOTHER distraction from her learning more about Nightmare Moon's return. But she was also wondering if these ponies broke in.

"Well, that's silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring! The door was already unlocked anyway but y'see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all "hello" and I was all (Gasps), remember? Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean EVERYpony in Ponyville!" Twilight was trying to ignore Pinkie's rambling as Twilight was pouring herself a drink from a bottle that was on the table to keep a level head. Pinkie however, kept rambling and standing next to her were the other girls that Twilight met earlier.

"And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went (gasps)! I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends! And soon, I'll make a party for ALL six of those new ponies I met earlier, are they friends of yours? (Gasps) Does that mean I get to make one large party for ALL of them or a party for each one? Ooh, I'm so EXCITED!"

"Six new ponies? I have no idea who she's talking about..." Twilight thought to herself as she sipped her drink, then she felt a burning sensation in her mouth, a VERY hot sensation. Applejack looked at Twilight's face and asked if she was okay, Twilight steamed up because of the burning in her mouth and sprinted upstairs to her bedroom. Spike checked the bottle to see that it was hot sauce, which Pinkie had a mouthful of with no problem.

Later that night/Early morning...

Twilight was trying to sleep as the party that Pinkie started downstairs kept going very loudly, constantly keeping her awake. Soon afterwards, Spike came in the room wearing a lampshade on his head and was trying to bring Twilight in the fun. Apparently Pinkie was starting a game of Pin the tail on the Pony, Spike asked if Twilight wanted to join. Twilight however, was NOT in the mood for games.

"NO! All the ponies in this town are CRAZY! Do you know what time it is?!"

"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" Spike left the room as Twilight was acting immature and mockingly imitating Spike, she rolled onto her back in the bed and began talking to herself.

"Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!" She rolled onto her side, where she could see the moon through her window. Twilight then stood up and looked through her window, remembering the myth about Nightmare Moon's return.

"Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night. I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..." But just before she turned around to go back to bed, a bright flash happened in the distance, quite a ways from the town. Twilight being a student of pony magic was able to tell that the light came from unicorn magic, but the intensity of the light showed that it came from a powerful spell.

"Who in Equestria did that...? That was a powerful spell, I hope this isn't a bad sign...maybe I should go and check i..." Before she could finish her sentence, Spike came in again saying that it's time to see the sunrise, Twilight decides to forget about the light for now as she went with Spike to the town hall.

Now with Nathan's side of these events...

Nathan and his group had made to the entrance of the town they were heading to, they were heading there to get answers of where they were and how are things done around the place, so they could at least try to blend in with everything else and not seem suspicious. They managed to find a sign that showed the name of the town. The town's name was Ponyville.

"Wow, original name! How much MORE obvious can you freakin get?!" Michael was groaning about how silly this whole situation was getting, the rest just rolled their eyes and went in the town to look around, they all saw that the town looked kinda pretty except Michael, who didn't really care that much about appearances as long as it wasn't TOO cute. They saw quite a few ponies and saw that they were already getting attention drawn to them. But then...

"HI!" The boys jumped back in surprise as Michael almost drew a sword in reflex, Lee managed to get his bearings as he went to calmly speak to the pony that surprised the group. The boys could see that the pony that surprised them was coloured bright pink.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You guys are new, aren't you?! I LOVE seeing new faces in Ponyville! Now I have MORE welcome parties to make for all of you! Ooh! Are you here for the Summer Sun Celebration?!" Since Pinkie was talking fast, some of the group was struggling to catch what she was saying to them, luckily Lee was able to catch what she said and decided to speak for the group. But before he started, Nathan decided to ask about what Pinkie mentioned.

"The...Summer Sun Celebration?"

"Of course silly! It's where the Princess of Equestria raises the sun for everypony to see and we celebrate the sun and the moon! It's a very special moment for all the ponies! Have you all been living under a rock or something?" Pinkie answered, she started to look at the boys in suspicion. Lee was taking in the information that Pinkie told them while Michael and Adam were whispering to each other in the background.

"Princess of Equestria? Raising the sun?" Adam whispered to Michael, making sure that he was hearing this right. Michael deducted that Equestria must be the country or place that they were in, Thomas was thinking to himself on how strange this all was.

"Wait, a Princess with the ability to RAISE THE SUN?!" Was the first thing that popped in in Thomas thoughts, he could not believe how much this sounded like a fairy tale that he would hear if he was about 2 years old.

"Well duh, little guy! The Princess has a lot of powerful magic!" Pinkie answered... Thomas' thoughts? Thomas was about to ask but Pinkie cut in before he could.

"It was written in this story! But I can't read it all otherwise it'll all be spoiled, although in my copy of the story your names are smudged out!" Pinkie smiled and the boys could swear they heard a weird squeak as she did, but Nathan was mostly lost about what Pinkie said and Michael thought she was just insane. Lee was seeing if he can get the group some more information.

"So do you have any friends around here, Pinkie?"

"Well, I know every and I mean EVERYpony in town. But I have some good friends, there's Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity..." Travis was trying not to laugh with these names, but Lee and Nathan was listening carefully since they both had the same thing in mind. Michael looked at Lee and Nathan, wondering what they were thinking about. Pinkie promises that she will make a party for them after the Summer Sun Celebration was over and then bounces away. The group got together and decided to make a plan.

"So Nathan, Lee. You guys looked like you had something on your mind." Michael wanted to hear what they were thinking. Nathan was the one to answer. Nathan explained that with the kind of names they heard that other ponies had, then them using their regular names would draw suspicion and attention towards them, so they'll have to use different names to blend in better. Lee also stated that they also need to figure out how Michael and Thomas use their wings and what Nathan, Travis and Adam's horns do, since he's confident that they'll need to know to blend in more.

Nathan then saw a grey pony with wings walking around and decided to ask her a question or two, Lee decided to go with Nathan to ask about some things.

"Excuse me miss."

"Huh? Can I help you?" Lee decided to make friendly conversation first.

"Hello, miss. We were wondering if you could help us with something? Do you know where we could go to... s-study?" Lee did not like the idea of studying, but knows that they will have to in order to know what they have to do to blend in. The Pegasus told them about Golden Oaks Library, Nathan smiled now that they had an idea of where to go.

"Well, thank you very much Miss...?"

"Derpy. My name is Derpy Hooves." Nathan and Lee then noticed that one of her eyes were... wonky, but not only that, they heard quiet chuckling behind them, Lee looked to see Michael slightly chuckling to himself. After Derpy said goodbye and left, Lee decided to confront Michael about it.

"Something funny, Mike?"

"Nope, just the name of that horse." Lee got irritated at Michael saying this. But he decided to ignore it for now, after a couple of minutes walking, they managed to find what they assumed to be the library. The library was a large tree, which made Travis chuckle with the pun with the library name. Nathan tried to open the door but it was locked.

"Step aside, is anyone watching?" Michael looked around as the rest said that they couldn't see anyone. Michael then asked for Travis' rapier, which confused Travis but he gave it to him anyway. Nathan asked Michael what the heck he was doing, but Michael shushed Nathan and asked him to keep lookout.

"Right...now since this rapier has a very thin blade...aaaaaand...there." The rest of the boys heard a click at the door as they figured that Michael just picked the lock. Thomas was worried since he knows that they are breaking and entering a library of all things. Lee patted Thomas on the back.

"Don't worry, Thomas...we'll return the books." Lee smirked and Thomas did not feel any better about the situation, the boys went in and looked around, Michael and Lee found a book titled Tips for Flying while the rest found different books about types of magic for unicorns. Nathan saw the title and was surprised.

"Magic?! Unicorn magic?! That means me, Adam and Travis can do magic!" The rest looked surprised but Lee just kept looking casual.

"Cool. Let's go." The group left library and shut the door, with no way to re-lock it. They decided to go back to the hill they woke up on to see what they could do with their new abilities.

On the outskirts of town...

Wanting to get straight to business, the boys opened the books and see what they could learn from them, but Nathan decided that they should sort out the name situation before they continue on. Some already had a nickname planned for them, while some didn't.

"My name is now Sorin Dragos." Nathan proudly said. Michael looked blank as he commented on the name.

"You're seriously gonna use that old nickname I gave you? Alright, I'm Shadike Dragos." Michael was happy that he could finally use that name in daily life since he thought it sounded cool..

"I am now Eclipse Blade. Now THAT sounds cool." Lee said with a confident smirk.

"Uh...Nova Heart. I was a fan of space at school so I was thinking of a supernova, since I always liked the sound of them and some people say I have a good heart so..." Adam rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Uh...since I'm apparently able to use magic, how about...Arcane? Soul! Arcane Soul?" Travis quickly made up. The group tilted their heads saying that their names weren't bad, then looked at Thomas, waiting for him to make his.

"Uh...let's see, flying...wind, wind... Gale! Force...? Rush? Yeah! I like that! Gale Rush!" They all nodded in agreement and then they decided to begin training, Michael and Thomas started training to fly, Lee trained with his katana, while the other three attempted magic. Adam was constantly looking at the book that he took, about medical uses of magic.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Travis were reading books on general magic and combat magic and worked together trying to understand it. Somehow, their abilities all felt natural to them and they were was able to quickly learn, they trained at a constant rate at a vigorous pace until they got too exhausted to continue, it was still pretty early, but they then decided to rest up. They noticed that even though they slept outdoors, they didn't feel cold, probably because of their new furry bodies.

Late at night...

The group was now refreshed and and was ready to do some more training. The boys have gotten used to their new abilities and Nathan, Travis and Adam was now able to use basic spells and Michael and Thomas was at least able to fly at a good pace because of their vigorous training that they did earlier. Travis then got what he thought a great idea.

"Hey, Nathan, Adam. What if we used our magic together?" Nathan was instantly going to object to the idea, Adam however thought it sounded like a good idea. After some tough persuasion, Nathan eventually gave up and decided to go through with it. The other three stepped back, knowing how dangerous this could be. The three unicorns began a countdown.

"Ready?! THREE!" Travis began.

"Two..." Nathan was still unsure about this.

"One...!" Adam finished.

"GO!" With that signal, all three blasted with all of their power towards the sky, sending a large magic ball into the air as it exploded into a flash of light, surprisingly not making THAT much noise. Nathan began to get worried.

"Oh boy...everyone in the town probably saw that!" Soon after that, there was so much chatting from the town that the six boys could hear it. They assumed that they just attracted a large crowd, but checking the view from the town, they saw that almost every pony in town was heading towards a large building which they assumed to be where the mayor is. Relieved that they didn't attract the crowd, they started wondering where they were going.

"Any idea where they're going?" Thomas began.

"Uh...wait, are they heading to that celebration that Pinkie mentioned?" Nathan thought.

"Well, let's join the party, eh guys?" Lee smirked and already started heading off towards where the crowd was heading. The rest decided to follow Lee, since they thought they had nothing better to do.

"Eh, why not?" Michael just shrugged his shoulders as he walked with the group. The boys decided to at least have fun while they were here. Nathan reminded the others that they should sneak the books they took back to the library while in town, they agreed on continued walking.

Author's Note:

If a sentence is in Italic font then the character is either reading something or thinking to him/her self in his/her head. Also if you're wondering how I'm going to show Nathan and his team's names, if they are on their own in a scene they'll use their real names, (In the narrative as well) but when they are with a resident of Equestria, (Twi and her friends for example) they will use their nicknames.

In case you forgot:
Nathan = Sorin Dragos
Michael = Shadike Dragos
Lee = Eclipse Blade
Thomas = Gale Rush
Travis = Arcane Soul
Adam = Nova Heart