• Published 11th May 2014
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Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic - Invinsible



A mirror universe, where Nightmare Moon and her friends fight to protect the Everfree Kingdom. A powerful foe plots her revenge. Will Nightmare and her friends be able to defend their home?

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Project Zero

Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic

Project Zero

“How’s the checklist coming along Smog?” Nightmare Moon asked as she flipped through a book.

“Looks like we have everything we need here,” Smog said as he double-checked the checklist. “We just need to stop by Sugarcube Corner to pick up that cupcake order. Although, I still don’t know why we can’t ask Discord for that.”

“Two reasons. One, Discord encouraged us to support the Cakes business. And two, Princess Twilight can be very picky about her schedule. I don’t want her to get upset when it’s snack time and Discord is too busy to snap his fingers and conjure up some food,” Nightmare said as she jotted down a few notes on a spare piece of paper.

“Busy? What would Discord be busy with?” Smog asked.

With a sudden flash of light, Discord appeared in the middle of the library. He was riding on Trixie’s back and twirling a stretchy rubber chicken around like it was a lasso. “WOO! Hi-ho Lulamoon!”

“I meant no!” Trixie shouted as she tried to kick Discord off her back. “I meant no! What part of that made it sound like a yes?”

“Hey there, Moony!” Discord cheered. “Hey Smog, you ever get Nightie to give you a horsey ride? It’s such fun! Woo!”

“Discord, if you do not get off the Furious and Enraged Trixie’s back this instant, she will-” But they never heard what Trixie would do as Discord teleported the two of them away.

Nightmare blinked and turned back to Smog. “So just Sugarcube Corner is left?”

“Yep.” Smog rolled up the checklist, walked over, and climbed onto Nightmare’s back. “What are you working on there?” he asked as he tried to take a peek at her notes.

“What? Oh, uh nothing!” she said as she levitated the books and notes away. “Well we better go pick up that order.”

They left the library and began walking to Sugarcube Corner. Along the way, they spotted Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo rushing off past them. Seeing that Big Macintosh was trying to keep up with the excited fillies, Nightmare created a net-like shield and placed in front of their path.

Big Macintosh caught up to them and smiled. “Thank ya kindly Miss Moon. Now Apple Bloom, Ah need y’all to simmer down.”

“How can you expect us to be calm at a time like this? Peaceville is getting an official visit from royalty today!” Silver said. “This’ll be our chance to meet with Princess Twilight and King Sombra!”

“Not just our chance. With Babs Seed swinging by today, she’ll get a chance to see royalty too,” Apple Bloom said.

“Babs Seed? Who’s that?” Smog asked.

“She’s mah cousin!” Apple Bloom said proudly.

“And she’s from the Big Apple,” Diamond said with stars in her eyes. “As if a royal visit wasn’t amazing enough, I’ll get to meet Apple Bloom’s big city cousin! That’s why it’s so important that we get there early.”

“Obviously,” Silver said. “First impressions are incredibly important!”

“Huh. Hey, where are Snips, Snails, and Button Mash?” Smog asked. “Don’t they usually hang out with you guys?”

“The boys are back at the clubhouse trying to decide what games Babs Seed might want to play,” Silver said. “She’s only visiting for a few days so we want to get as much done as we can while she’s here.”

“Calm down you five,” Nightmare said. “It’s still early in the day. King Sombra and Princess Twilight won’t get here for another hour or so. As for this Babs Seed, I’m not sure when she’s coming.” She looked at Big Macintosh.

“‘Round lunchtime,” he said. “Which means y’all got plenty of time before they get here.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah guess ya got a point. But that don’t mean – OW!” she cried out suddenly. She placed her hoof over her right eye and winced.

The other ponies and dragon turned to her. “Apple Bloom?” Sweetie said. “What is it?”

“M-mah eye. It hurts,” Apple Bloom whimpered.

“What? What’s wrong with yer eye? Come here, lemme take a look…” Big Macintosh said as he gently tried to push her hoof away from her eye.

“N-no!” Apple Bloom turned away. “It’s n-nothing. Ah’m fine. Really. Probably the wind just blew something in it.”

Scootaloo bit her lip. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Ah said Ah’m fine,” Apple Bloom insisted. She smiled a little and said, “Now come on y’all. Even if Babs doesn’t come ‘til later we can still get there early!”

“Well, okay then,” Nightmare said. “Have a good day kids. You too Big Macintosh.” The red stallion nodded and led the five kids to the train station while Nightmare and Smog continued walking to Sugarcube Corner.

Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake smiled from the counter as they entered the shop. “Oh Miss Moon! We have the cupcakes you asked for right here dearie.” She pushed a blue box on the counter forward.

Nightmare smiled and opened the box with her magic before she frowned and examined the box’s contents. “This is a larger number than what I ordered.”

“Oh, I know dear. But we had extra, so I thought I’d add another cupcake or two. After all, King Sombra and Princess Twilight both work so hard. I’m sure they’ll appreciate a little extra food during your private brunch,” Mrs. Cake said.

“I see. Well that was very thoughtful of you. It’s just that some of the icing from the extra cupcakes is getting all over the ones next to them,” Nightmare said as she pointed at the cupcakes. “See?”

Smog raised an eyebrow. “So? Why do you care?”

Nightmare rolled her eyes. “I really don’t care. But Princess Twilight will. Unfortunately, our princess is a bit of a neat freak and a big by-the-book perfectionist. King Sombra told me that she can become very upset whenever something doesn’t match with her schedule for the day.”

“And you think a few messy cupcakes are going to make her flip her lid?” Smog guessed.

“Better to be safe than sorry.” Nightmare levitated the box back over to the Cakes. “If you could give us a bigger box and perhaps clean up the icing, I’m sure Her Majesty would appreciate it. You wouldn’t want her to be upset, would you?”

Mrs. Cake smiled nervously at Nightmare’s warning. “Of course not. I’ll fix these up right away.”

Nightmare nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to mention to Her Majesty how professional you and your husband are. That should put you in good favor with her.”

Smog looked around the store. “Speaking of family, where did Pound and Pumpkin go? I thought they were staying here with you now?”

Mr. Cake smiled. “Oh they are. They just had to make a short visit to Apple Pie Incorporated to let Miss Applejewel know that business in Peaceville was successful. She was the one who asked them to come here as a special request after all.”

“Special request? Why? What’s here in Peaceville that a big business mare like Applejewel would be interested in?” Nightmare asked.

“Maybe she wanted the twins to get our autographs?” Smog suggested as he flexed his muscles and struck a pose. “I mean, bearers of the Elements of Forgiveness and all that. Not to brag, but we are famous,” he said with a smug smile.

“No...the twins never asked us for an autograph,” Nightmare said. She smiled as the box was pushed back to her. “Oh, that’s much better. Thank you again Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” After examining the box of cupcakes that Mr. Cake had brought out, she paid the confectioners and carried the box back to the library.


A dark shadow and a blue mist floated in through the library window. The shadow and the mist transformed back into King Sombra and Captain Luna. “Ah, you’ve already set everything up. Well done Nightmare Moon,” the king said.

Nightmare gave him a bow. “Only the best for the ones who taught me everything I know.” She smiled as she saw Luna and ran up to her.

Sun shines and Moon gleams
Owls awake!
Clap your hooves
And give your wings a little shake!

Luna giggled as they finished the song. “Always a pleasure to see you Moony.”

“Thanks Loony.” Nightmare smiled and cleared her throat. “Anyway, as you said King Sombra we have everything set up so we can begin whenever you’re ready.”

There was a flash of light as Princess Twilight teleported into the library. “Oh no, I’m late!” she cried as she saw the king already there. “I’m so sorry! I was testing the spell you and Luna use to shape shift into a shadowy mist form and it was working, but then I couldn’t travel as fast as you could and I was having problems with the winds and-”

King Sombra gently placed a hoof on her back. “Sparky, we talked about this. You’re only a few seconds late. It’s not a big deal. Breathe.”

The princess took a deep breath in and out. “Okay. I’m calm.”

Discord pointed a talon at her. “See that? That right there is why I believe order is so hazardous to one’s health. Chaos is so much better for keeping a carefree and open mind. You would never see me explode over something so trivial.” He smiled at his friends only to see that Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, Gilda, Chrysalis, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were glaring at him. “What’s with all the angry faces?”

“You have used all of us in your little ‘horsey’ rides today. We are angry because you haven’t given any of us a moment of peace since this morning!” Rarity said.

Discord titled his head to one side. “…And your point is?”

“Being forced to give you a horsey ride was not funny!” Sunset said.

Discord dramatically gasped. “Why I never! I was merely including you in a joke like a good friend. But if that’s what you think of my friendship…” He stuck his paw in one of his eye sockets and yanked his left eye out. A lit fuse grew out of the eyeball as he rolled it toward them.

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Whoa, easy there! I’m sorry we got upset, there’s no need to blow up the library!”

Suddenly the fuse went out. The eyeball spun in place as the fuse turned into a tiny hose and began spraying water in their faces. Discord laughed as the water splashed over them before he screwed his eyeball back into place. “Ha, ha! Oh, I’m just messing with you! But not to worry, I have heard your complaints. No more horsey rides for me. Unless of course…”

“Trixie does not see herself offering you a chance to ride around on her back again.” Trixie said as she began to levitate the snacks onto the table. “But Trixie has agreed to stranger things in the past, so what does she know?”

King Sombra, Captain Luna and Princess Twilight sat down as brunch was served. Nightmare sat down next to them. “So tell me my faithful student, how have your studies been?” the king asked.

“Very well. I have finished the last spell book that you and Princess Twilight sent me. Along with all of the new spells I’ve been learning, I have also been researching obscure history, politics, economics, court manners…” Nightmare stopped as she took notice of the odd looks she was getting.

“Those sound like interesting fields to be taking a sudden interest in,” King Sombra said.

“Oh, it’s not sudden. I always do a little more research into other subjects whenever I’m not working on anything else,” Nightmare said.

“Whether your interest is sudden or not, it is nice to see you researching such subjects. I am curious though, why those specific fields? It’s not like you would ever have need of them,” Luna said as she gave Nightmare a gentle look. It was a look that her daughter had seen before.

“It’s…well, you know how it is Loony…” Nightmare said as she glanced at her friends. “Is everyone having a good time?”

“Oh, don’t mind us. We’re just playing a simple game,” Discord said.

“No left! Your other left! Over there stupid!” Gilda yelled at the table. Nightmare looked at their table to see robots running across the wood as toy ships sailed around them, firing small cannonballs at each other.

Princess Twilight stared at the table. “How are the robots walking on the wood as if it was solid, while the ships are sailing through the table as if it was a liquid?”

“It’s Discord, Your Majesty. Logic rarely applies to him. So what’s new at the Crystal Empire?” Smog asked.

“Oh, nothing too exciting has happened recently so it’s been business as usual,” Luna said.

“Oh? What about that volcanic activity? King Sombra said you and Princess Twilight were looking into some strange activity there,” Smog said.

“To be honest, I’m not sure what those were,” Princess Twilight said. “I suspect there might have been some ancient spells in place nearby but the phenomenon calmed down just as suddenly as it started. Cadance was the last one to come back from her investigation and she said she didn’t find anything odd.”

“Really? Nothing odd?” Chrysalis asked.

“The only thing that I noticed out of place was a jar of purple jelly that Miss Fluttershy was carrying.” Luna shrugged. “Maybe they stopped for groceries on the way back home. Although speaking of Cadance, have you noticed anything unusual about her?” she asked.

Princess Twilight’s eyes widened. “Now that you mention it, yes. Do you think it has anything to do with why she moved the date?”

“Date? What do you mean?” Nightmare asked.

The king, princess, and captain all stared at her before they looked at the other Elements and back. “Nightmare Moon…what we are about to tell you and your friends is not to leave this room,” King Sombra said.

“Ooh, a royal secret revealed? Let me guess,” Discord said tapped his chin in thought. “Luna is secretly Twilight’s mother!”

Princess Twilight, Captain Luna, and Nightmare all stared at him. “What?!”

“No? Very well, Luna is secretly Twilight’s daughter? Come now, join in on the fun!” Discord said to his other friends.

“Ooh, I got one!” Rainbow said as she raised her hoof. “Is King Sombra secretly a zombie?”

Gilda raised a wing. “Is Captain Luna a vampire? It’d explain why Nightmare has fangs.”

“Eternity has been turned into a sweet filly who loves magic acts and fireworks!” Trixie guessed with a hopeful smile.

“King Sombra has proposed to Luna! No, Cadance! No Princess Twilight! Oh shoot, can I have another guess?” Rarity said.

“The princess is a changeling! No, the countess is a changeling? Someone is a changeling!” Chrysalis guessed.

“Trixie has a secret cousin who is related to King Sombra?” Smog guessed.

Trixie shook her head. “No. To Trixie’s great and plentiful knowledge, her cousin Nyxie has no relations to any royal family members.”

“You still need to introduce us to her,” Nightmare said.

“Trixie already showed you the photo. Besides, the Mysterious and Mighty Nyxie Lulamoon is still out traveling and performing with her magic act,” Trixie said.

“Ooh, I have one darlings! Nightmare Moon’s father is from another universe and he is traveling to this world to marry me and make me a princess!” Rarity said. As everyone in the room gave her odd looks, Rarity giggled and burst into laughter.

Rainbow started laughing too. The Elements and their friends all chuckled as Princess Twilight, Luna, and King Sombra all glared at them. “Are you quite finished?” the king asked.

“Ooh! I have one more!” Discord announced. He opened his mouth and said his guess…


“There she is!” Apple Bloom cheered as an earth filly stepped off the train. She had a brownish-orange coat and a red-pink mane and tail. The fillies ran over to the Big Apple filly and grinned. “Babs, Babs! It’s me, yer cousin Apple Bloom!”

Babs Seed chuckled. “Yeah, I remember ya cousin.” She pointed at the unicorn and pegasus fillies. “And you’re Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, if I had ta guess from Bloom’s letter.” She glanced at Diamond and Silver and raised an eyebrow. “Can’t say I remember your names though.”

Before she could stop herself, Diamond blurted out, “What’s wrong with your voice?”

Babs’ eyes widened before she frowned. “Oh yeah? Well what’s wrong with your flanks? Still cutie cursed I see.”

“Whoa!” Apple Bloom got in-between Diamond and Babs and glared at her cousin. “Babs, that ain’t nice. This ain’t how I want mah friends to treat each other.”

Babs raised an eyebrow. “But I thought ya said-”

Apple Bloom surprised them by stuffing her hoof in Babs’ mouth. She glanced at her friends nervously before sighing. “That was before Babs. Me, and Diamond, and Silver are friends now. Understand?”

Babs stared at her like she said something weird, before she shrugged. “Yeah okay. Sorry ‘bout calling you two cutie cursed. That wasn’t cool.”

Diamond huffed and tossed her mane back. “Well you should be sorry.”

“DT…” Apple Bloom warned.

Diamond let go of her haughty attitude and sighed. “And…I’m sorry I made fun of your voice.”

“Still, that ain’t any reason for me to pick on ya for not being blank flanks. I should know, I used to get bullied for the same thing,” Babs said.

Silver raised an eyebrow. “So then why insult us for still being marked when you were picked on for the same thing?”

“I…I got nothing. …So I heard the king and princess are here today?” Babs said as she dodged the question.

“Yep! They’re having a private brunch with my sister and her friends in the library. Then the king said he was planning a fun game for all the kids in Peaceville,” Sweetie said. Her horn glowed as she carried out Babs’ luggage from the train. “Here, I’ll get your bags for you.”

“Whoa! Careful now, some of the stuff in there is pretty fragile,” Babs said as Sweetie gently set the bags down. Once she had them strapped to her back she smiled. “Sorry. So your sister is a friend of the Elements of Redemption, huh?”

“She sure is!” Sweetie beamed with pride. “In fact, we’re all friends with the Element bearers. Uh, kinda. I think we are.” She tapped her chin in thought. “Yeah, we are.”

Babs nodded. “Ya don’t say…hey, is there anything you can tell me about the library?”

“Well, Nightmare Moon is in charge of it. Other than that, it’s just like any other library,” Diamond said.

Babs stared at the library as it came into view. “Is that right…”


Everyone else in the library stared at Discord. “…What? What sort of guess was that?!” Rarity blurted out.

“…With a hammer…and a banjo…oatmeal…are you crazy?!” Rainbow shouted.

King Sombra sighed, “Discord…you have issues.”

Discord stood up and took a bow. “Thank you, thank you! You have all been a wonderful audience.”

Nightmare rolled her eyes before turning back to the king. “So what’s the real secret? I promise I won’t tell anyone.” The other Elements nodded.

“Very well. The date that Princess Twilight mentioned refers to the day they plan to hold the event,” King Sombra said.

Princess Twilight gave them an excited smile. “My brother and Countess Cadance are getting married!”

An overjoyed smile formed on Chrysalis’ face. “Really? That’s wonderful! Oh, I love weddings.”

“I imagine anyone would enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Discord chuckled.

“Hey!” Trixie protested in Chrysalis’ defense.

“Oh, it’s okay Trixie. I know he didn’t mean it. And I’ll admit that most changelings do see big event weddings as free food. But for me, it’s so beautiful to see the love between two people on their wedding day,” Chrysalis said.

“It is indeed beautiful,” Rarity sighed. “Even if I must find my prince elsewhere, I’m happy that Countess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have each other. Ooh!” Her eyes widened as a hopeful smile filled her face. “C-could I design the wedding dress? Please? Pretty please?”

“I’m sure Cadance would love to have you design her dress. But, I’m afraid you might not get the chance,” Princess Twilight said.

“Whatever do you mean?” Rarity said as she took note of the princess’ sad and confused expression.

“My brother has been dating her for a while. Ever since the Gala, I think. I know that wasn’t too long ago and it may seem like they only just started courting each other, but Shining believes that Cadance is his one true love. I heard that Cadance was so happy when he proposed to her…”

“I thought she proposed to him?” Luna said.

“The moment was kept private from what I gathered.” King Sombra shrugged. “It could have been either of them. We’ll never know for sure.”

“The point is, Cadance was happy to be getting married. But then, out of nowhere…she canceled the wedding,” Princess Twilight said. She rubbed a tear out of her eye.

“What?” Chrysalis gasped.

“I do not believe she canceled the wedding. I think she simply said that the wedding would moved to a much later date,” King Sombra.

“Oh. That’s better than simply canceling her wedding. But still, why did she move it?” Chrysalis asked.

“I don’t know,” Princess Twilight admitted. “I don’t even think Cadance wanted to do it. Every time she visits the castle, she hides in her room. Whenever I see her in the halls she looks…heartbroken. She puts on a brave face whenever I see her but...I’m worried about her.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Chrysalis asked hopefully.

“We have been asking Cadance that same question ever since she announced her desire to postpone the wedding,” Luna said. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out what’s troubling her soon enough.”

King Sombra gave them a sad smile. “We ask that you do not tell anyone this information. Their wedding was supposed to be a pleasant surprise for our empire and now we do not want their feelings to be hurt by any curious reporters or paparazzi. I am sorry at having to burden you all with this sad news. But perhaps you would like to hear some good news now?”

“Good news?” Sunset spoke up. “Like what?”

King Sombra smiled at Luna. “Do you want to tell them?”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Tell them what?”

“You know. The good news.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Could you be a little more specific?”

King Sombra frowned a little. He looked down at the table and shook his head. He looked up and said, “Pardon me, but specific about what?”

“Um, the good news,” Sunset said.

“Oh, um…” King Sombra frowned in confusion as he tried to remember what he was going to say. He looked up at a clock in the library and smiled. “Ah yes. It appears brunch is almost over. Come Sparky, we should go visit the other citizens of Peaceville. I know we had a fun activity for the children planned.”

The whole building shook as they heard a tremendous roar. Discord looked out the window and then looked back with a carefree grin. “Isn’t that always the case? You plan something and then a giant three-headed dog rampages through town. Isn’t life random?” he laughed.

“Three-headed…Cerberus?!” King Sombra exclaimed. They all ran outside the library to see what had caused the roar. There was in fact a giant three-headed black dog, with all three heads wearing spiky collars.

“That’s Cerberus!” Princess Twilight exclaimed. “He’s supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus.”

Gilda stared at the giant guard dog “Whoa. Talk about an awesome pet to have.”

“Yes, well I’m sorry to say he’s not your pet,” a deep voice said. They looked up to see a gargoyle-like creature with a brown mane and fur, red bat-like wings, and a long tail.

“Ah, Prince Scorpan. A pleasure to see you again,” King Sombra smiled and gave a bow to the prince.

“A pleasure to see you too King Sombra,” the prince said as he stopped flying and touched down on the ground before them. “So sorry I couldn’t join you and Tirek during your last Gala.”

“It was rather boring to begin with, but we managed to turn the event into a truly glorious celebration! Even if the party may have awoken the Pink Trickster, you should have been there,” Luna said.

“Prince Scorpan, why is Cerberus in Peaceville? If he’s here, then all the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!” Princess Twilight exclaimed.

Nightmare’s eyes widened. “Wait…you mean those weren’t just myths? There are actually creatures imprisoned in Tartarus? King Sombra, I thought you taught us that everyone deserves a second chance.”

The king sighed. “My faithful student…”

Nightmare stomped her hoof. “You said that no pony is perfect, but everyone deserves a chance for forgiveness. For night’s sake, I thought that’s why we had the Elements of Redemption!”

“My subjects, you will be happy to know that Tartarus has very few prisoners. You are correct my student; we defeat our enemies by making them our allies. Almost every single creature I have met has some good in them, no matter how bad they might seem,” King Sombra said with a proud smile. “Even with all the trouble our empire goes through, we are at peace…most of the time.”

Prince Scorpan nodded. “Your king is right. But sadly, there are still a few creatures that call Tartarus home. I hope that you never have to encounter them.”

“Okay. Here’s an important question: have any of them escaped Tartarus?” Luna said, the force behind her voice a sign that this was a matter of grave seriousness.

“Not since I last checked,” the prince said, which seemed to calm Luna down.

“Well then there’s no real problem,” Nightmare said. “Discord, do you have a ball or something I could…”

She trailed off as they all noticed the giant tree that Discord had ripped out of the ground and was waving in Cerberus’ face. “Come here boy! You wanna play fetch? I’ll bet you wanna play fetch!”

Nightmare shrugged. “Well it’s not my tree so I guess that’ll work.”

“Oh, very good!” Prince Scorpan said as Discord handed him the tree. “I’ll just go and take him back home. Once he’s guarding the gates again, there shouldn’t be any permanent problems.” The prince flapped his wings and began leading Cerberus away from Peaceville and back to Tartarus.

“The guards and I will have to search Everfree just in case one of the prisoners has escaped,” Captain Luna informed the king and princess.

“Aw mom, do you have to leave right now? You just got here,” Nightmare said.

Luna smiled and nuzzled her daughter. “I’m afraid so Moony. While there are very few creatures imprisoned in Tartarus, the ones that are…they could be very dangerous.”

Nightmare sighed and returned the nuzzle. “I understand Loony. The safety of our kingdom must always come first.”

“Aw! And I was looking forward to seeing the Cutie Mark Destroyers give you guys horsey rides,” Discord said, shaking his head sadly.

The others stared at him. “Where…what could possibly make you think we’d do that?” King Sombra asked.

“Well what was that fun activity you were talking about earlier?” Discord shot back.

“A chess game. Princess Twilight would be white while I would be black. We would pick and choose from the children who wished to play the game to be our pawns, knights, rooks, bishops, queens, and kings,” King Sombra explained. “When one piece captured the other, the foals would gently tap each other with paper swords and the captured piece would move off the field to watch the rest of the game.”

“Oh! A pony-sized, fake game of chess. That does sound fun,” Discord admitted. “But you know what would be really fun? Pony-sized Chinese checkers.” He snapped his fingers to show them what a normal version of the game looked like. “I shall explain the rules for anyone who has never heard of it. Now, we’ll need to place the fillies, colts, and nymphs inside giant marble balls…”

The king and princess both glared at him. “No.”

Discord crossed his arms and smirked. “Maybe not today, but I will get my perfect game of checkers. No child can resist the temptation.” He chuckled mischievously.

Luna gave Nightmare one more hug. “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer today Moony.”

“That’s okay Loony. I’ll see you in my dreams at least,” Nightmare said.

With that, the Elements and their friends waved as King Sombra turned into his shadow form while Twilight and Luna flapped their wings and they flew off.

Sunset covered her mouth as she yawned. “So a giant three-headed dog wandered into Peaceville for no reason and it’s barely past noon. I don’t know about you guys but I’m already tired.”

“Not as tired as Trixie is going to be. With the Royal Family’s early departure, it will fall to me to entertain the disappointed kids,” Trixie groaned.

Discord waved his paw in the air. “I can help!”

“Trixie is not letting you put them into giant glass marbles!”

“Oh please, just try and stop me. In fact, once I tell them the idea just try and stop them. Race ya!” Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.

“Oh a race is it?” Trixie’s horn glowed as she teleported away.

“Hey I wanna race!” Rainbow said as she flapped her wings and zoomed off.

Gilda shrugged. “Eh, it ain’t like I got anything better to do today.”

As her friends left to return home or to pursue other activities that day, Nightmare shrugged. “I guess you have the day off Smog. I’ll be catching up on my reading if you need me.”

Smog nodded as Nightmare turned into mist and flew away before he decided to take a walk around Peaceville.


That night, Nightmare talked with her mom in her dreams. “So? Did you capture any escaping monsters?”

Luna shook her head. “We haven’t encountered anything malicious so far. Perhaps Cerberus wandered too far away from his post and that was it.”

“Probably. It might not hurt to keep searching just in case though. Better safe than sorry,” Nightmare said.

Luna chuckled. “No need to be so paranoid Moony.”

“I’m not paranoid Loony, I’m worried. About you and about our kingdom. You have to admit that…”

Nightmare trailed off as Luna held up a hoof and gave her a reassuring smile. “Relax Moony.” She stood up. “If you’re that concerned with the wellbeing of the empire, perhaps it is time we focus our efforts on guarding the dreams of its citizens.”

Nightmare smiled and readied her conscious mind in preparation for dream walking. But just as she began to enter the Dream World, she heard an alarm go off. Her eyes widened. “Oh no!”

Nightmare jolted herself awake as Smog jumped out of bed too. “What is that? Where’s that noise coming from?!”

“Smog, someone is trying to steal from me!” Nightmare shouted.

Smog’s eyes widened. “What? Who’d be crazy enough to steal from you?”

“I plan to find out!” Nightmare growled as her horn and eyes glowed with furious power. She transformed into an angry cloud of magic and zipped outside of the library. She quickly spotted a cloaked pony running away from Peaceville.

“HALT!” Nightmare ordered as her horn glowed with telekinetic power. A dark blue aura surrounded the cloaked pony before a small glow appeared on the pony’s left side. Her levitation spell slipped away.

“No. NO!” Nightmare teleported in front of the pony and fired a blast of magic. The small glow appeared again and absorbed Nightmare’s spell. The dark alicorn growled and aimed a powerful kick at the pony, but the thief was incredibly nimble and leapt away from her attacks before retreating again. Desperately, Nightmare screamed out, “DISCORD!”

After a few seconds that felt way too long to her, the chaos spirit appeared in a flash of light. He yawned and removed the pillow crown from his head. “Moony, I realize that you are a bit of a night owl, but some of us need sleep. I mean I don’t, but it’s nice-”

“Discord this is extremely important! A cloaked pony has just stolen something very dangerous from me! Whoever it is, they have something that’s blocking my power. I can’t hit them with a spell or grab them with my magic. You need to stop them!”

Discord yawned. “Moony, you live in a library. Who cares if someone didn’t want to wait until morning to check out a book?”

“This is serious!” Nightmare cried.

“My dear, what could anyone possibly steal from you that could be considered dangerous?”

Nightmare frowned at him. “Something that could turn all of us into stone or worse.”

Discord’s eyes widened. “Well gee, you should have led with that! You chase after them, I’ll grab the others and see if we can block their path.”

“Wait! Don’t…” she stopped talking as Discord disappeared again. “Oh, blast it all!” She flapped her wings and raced toward the cloaked thief. The pony had managed to travel further away while she had been distracted with Discord, but Nightmare was quickly catching up. Her eyes widened as she saw the other Elements plus Rainbow and Rarity appear in a flash of chaos magic, blocking off the path that the cloaked pony had been running towards.

“FIRE!” Nightmare ordered as she fired a blast of magic at the cloaked pony. Sunset, Trixie, Rarity, Chrysalis, and Discord all fired powerful stun spells at the cloaked pony while Smog spat a burst of fire and Gilda and Rainbow used nearby storm clouds to fire lightning bolts at the thief. The strange glow at the pony's side was able to absorb or block off almost every attack. Almost.

Discord growled as he snapped his fingers. Long vines burst from the ground and ensnared the pony’s legs and hooves, tripping them up and causing them to fall to the ground with a grunt. “Woohoo! Praise chaos everyone!” Discord cheered.

As the pony fell down the motion caused the cloak to flap, revealing the bags they had been carrying. A small clear crystal fell out, as well as a library book, and a black folder with an image of the moon on it containing several dozen pages of notes and photos.

Nightmare’s eyes widened as she grabbed the loose sheets of paper and stuffed them back into the folder before levitating it towards her.

Smog went up to the cloaked pony and stomped on their front hoof. “Alright whoever you are! Why’d you steal from us?! Talk!”

King Sombra, Princess Twilight, and Captain Luna all appeared before them with a huge flash of magic. “What’s going on here?” the king demanded to know.

“This pony tried to steal from us!” Smog said.

King Sombra glared at the cloaked thief. “Oh did they now? And who is this pony?” he asked as his horn glowed with dark magic. He telekinetically pulled away the hood of the cloak to reveal…a completely faceless white pony. The Elements gasped at the faceless creature.

Chrysalis frowned as she examined the thief. Her horn lit up with green magic as she pulled out another crystal from the thief’s bags. “This crystal is filled with changeling magic, and a lot of it.”

“And this crystal can absorb combative magic and cancel out harmful spells,” Sunset said as she examined the clear crystal. “You can’t get these crystals anywhere. They’re very rare and expensive!” She glared at the faceless thief. “But I do know that your disguise crystal isn’t permanent. You’re not going anywhere until we get answers so there’s no use hiding your identity from us anymore.”

The faceless pony grunted. “That freaking hurts dragon,” he or she said in a distorted whisper. The crystal disguised even the thief’s voice.

“It’s going to hurt more if you don’t give us answers,” King Sombra growled.

The pony turned its faceless gaze towards Nightmare. “The folder! Give that back!”

Nightmare growled and pinned the folder to the ground with her hoof. “I will never let this folder fall into the wrong hooves or claws! Who sent you?!”

The faceless pony growled before it noticed the library book by her hooves. “Someone who doesn’t need that information. I figured those kinds of secrets could give me a bonus, but I really only came here for one thing.” The pony reached out and grabbed the library book, before the thief pulled out a third crystal and smashed it into the ground. The crystal shards glowed brightly before they swallowed up the thief and the library book in a flash of magic.

Sunset blinked. “A long distance teleportation crystal? Those are pretty expensive too. And it’s not something that a magic user would need to use.”

“Nightmare! They got away with that book!” Smog shouted.

“Not important. I saw the cover of the book they stole, I can order a new copy easily,” Nightmare said as she began walking away. “I got back what was important.” She levitated the black folder and held it in front of her as she walked.

“What? You don’t care that a book has been stolen? It hasn’t been checked out properly!” Princess Twilight cried. Nightmare glanced at her before she flapped her wings and began to fly back to the library. “Hey!” the princess shouted as she teleported in front of Nightmare and hovered in midair. “Nightmare Moon, I’m talking to you!” Princess Twilight frowned at the folder. “What’s so important about that folder anyway?”

Nightmare looked away. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I can’t tell you.”

King Sombra’s eyes widened. “Nightmare Moon, what is in that folder?”

“I can’t tell you either, Your Majesty.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Moony, this isn’t like you. What’s going on?”

Nightmare closed her eyes. “I…I’m sorry mom…”

“Yoink!” Discord said as he snapped his fingers and made the folder appear in his claws. He flipped a talon through the folder as he began to inspect its contents. “Now what do we have here?”

Nightmare’s eyes widened in fear as she flew toward him. “Discord give me that back!” But the draconequus snapped his fingers and trapped Nightmare in a giant marble ball. He chuckled and continued to read. But Discord’s playful smile soon faded. Without a word he levitated the folder over to King Sombra.

The king looked through the folders contents before he set it down and frowned at Nightmare. His eyes began to leak dark magic as he calmly asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

Nightmare gulped. “I…I can explain…”


They all sat in the library as they looked over Nightmare’s notes. Nightmare Moon sat away from them, her head and ears lowered.

“Cockatrice…stone prison…Windigos…magic suppressors?!” Princess Twilight looked up from the folder’s contents in shock. “What is all this?!”

Trixie glared at Nightmare. “That’s what I’d like to know too.”

“You and me both,” Gilda growled.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say you owe us an explanation Nightmare,” Sunset said sternly.

Nightmare sighed. “I think I first started to consider the project’s creation some time after Pinkie Pie’s defeat, but I only recently started put more thought into it.” She looked them all in the eye. “I call it Project Zero Hope, or Project Zero for short.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Zero Hope? Well that sounds cheerful,” she said sarcastically.

“I felt it would best describe my feelings if the event occurred. A feeling of hopelessness. I had to be prepared for the worst.” Nightmare said. “I know that you’re not comfortable with this and you have every right to be, but hear me out. The Elements of Redemption are the Crystal Empire’s best line of defense but we need all the Elements to make them work. And the wielders of the Elements – by which I mean we – are some of the most powerful and potentially dangerous creatures in Everfree.”

She pointed at each of her friends. “We have three powerful unicorns, a griffon and a pegasus who are both incredibly fast and can pull off extremely destructive aerial attacks, a dragon who can grow into a monster, a king of darkness, a princess with incredible magic, a changeling queen who can shape shift and command the respect of an army of changelings, and of course a draconequus who can change reality with a snap of his talons.”

Nightmare pointed at the plans next. “I created this Project in the event that one of you or more ever turned evil, as way to contain you until you could be turned back.” She looked back up. “Notice I said contain. I would never want to hurt any of you.”

Gilda slammed her claws on the table. “So you created this stupid project just in case one of us turned evil? I thought I could trust you! This is just Mare Do Well all over again.”

Nightmare looked at her. “I don’t actually see you turning evil by your own choice, but sadly mind control exists in this world. And speaking of Mare Do Well, I remember you and Rainbow getting possessed by Vengeance and being forced to attack us.” She turned to face her other friends. “Trixie and Sunset were under the influence of the Inspiration Manifestation. Smog was being controlled by his own greed-growth. Princess Twilight was once controlled by Eternity and Rarity was being corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet. Not to mention that we were ALL put under Pinkie Pie’s spell when she broke free. What if instead of making us fall asleep, she had tried to force us to attack Everfree with her?”

Sunset frowned. “Okay, I think I’m starting to understand. You make some good points. But these plans were all about finding a way to imprison us! Even turning us into stone. How are we supposed to trust you if you can’t even trust us?”

“I trust all of you completely. But as I said, mind control exists and it could take any one of us next!” Nightmare argued.

Rainbow flew into Nightmare’s face. “So why not just make a plan to stop the mind control or whatever? In case you haven’t noticed these plans of yours could be used against us anytime! And someone just tried to steal them tonight! What happens if this stuff falls into the wrong hooves?”

Nightmare sighed. “Project Zero was still incomplete. I was still preparing for any possible situation when I wrote all of this.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were doing this?” Chrysalis asked.

“Because if I told you the details of the plans, your mind-controlled selves might figure a way around them and keep hurting people,” Nightmare said.

Sunset spread her hooves out. “Who said you have to tell us the details?! Just tell us you were making the plans in the first place and why you were doing it.”

Nightmare bit her lip and looked away. “Okay. You might have a point there.” She shook her head. “Gilda’s right, this is like Mare Do Well. I didn’t think this all the way through. I’m sorry.”

Gilda looked a lot less angry, even if she was still frowning at Nightmare. “And just like Mare Do Well, this could have been solved if you just talked to us. I thought we were friends.”

“We are friends. But our kingdom needs us to be more than that. The safety of the Crystal Empire must always come first.”

King Sombra titled his head in thought. “Why do you say that?”

Nightmare’s eyes widened before she looked away. “Because I have to think about the safety of the kingdom of course.”

“Hold on…why do you have to think about that?” Princess Twilight asked. “Sombra and I are the rulers of Everfree. It’s our responsibility.”

Nightmare sighed. “You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to us Nightmare,” Luna said.

Nightmare closed her eyes, took a few breaths, and opened them again. “Because it’s my responsibility.”

“You’re not making any sense Nightmare,” Princess Twilight said.

“King Sombra…Princess Twilight…I respect both of you very much. You have ruled Everfree peacefully and you have both taught me much. But the truth is, you were not supposed to be the rightful rulers of Everfree.”

King Sombra frowned. “Excuse me?”

“My mom never told me all the details but she told me enough,” Nightmare said as she looked at Luna. “Before you two came into power, Captain Luna was known as Princess Luna. She ruled Everfree with her older sister and my aunt, Princess Celestia. But my aunt became corrupted and turned into a monster. Sombra imprisoned her to protect the kingdom. Even though my mom knew that it was the right thing to do, she was still heartbroken over losing her sister. So she passed the crown’s responsibilities to Sombra and Sparkle.”

Luna looked at the floor, her ears folded down in sadness.

Nightmare stood up, her wings unfurled and her horn glowing. “I am Nightmare Moon. The second alicorn of the night and the true heir to the throne. I was born to become the next princess. This was to be MY kingdom to rule over.” Her wings folded back up and her horn stopped glowing. “But since I cannot rule this kingdom, I have to do the next best thing. It is my royal duty to protect Peaceville, the empire, and all of Everfree. Even if I’m no longer royalty.”

Her friends and family all stared at her with wide eyes. “All of this…you did all of this to protect a kingdom you can’t even rule over?” Sunset asked.

Nightmare stared them all down. “As an alicorn and the bearer of the Element of Power, the role of leader has always suited me. I enjoy having the power to lead others and I gladly accept the responsibilities that come with it.”

Luna sighed. “Moony, we’re not princesses anymore.”

“I know mom. But that’s not going to stop me,” Nightmare said.

Rainbow sighed. “Okay fine. I think I understand your reasons even though I also don’t understand.”

Trixie sighed. “That about sums this confusing thing up.”

Gilda pointed a talon at Nightmare. “Okay, even if you were trying to protect people in your own weird way, you still hurt us with these plans.”

Nightmare lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt any of you, just contain you if you ever went crazy.”

Sunset sighed. “Well we are the Elements of Forgiveness. I’m willing to forgive you, but you need to answer me something first. Where’s your plan?”

Nightmare looked back up. “Excuse me?”

Sunset frowned. “Don’t tell me that for all that talk about power, you never thought of a plan to stop yourself.”

Nightmare smiled. “Actually, I did come up with a plan. I’m looking at them right now.” Everyone else blinked in surprise. “Like I said, I trust all of you completely. Even with protecting the world from me.”

Smog scratched the back of his head. “Well uh, that doesn’t seem fair. You already know how to stop all of us so…”

Nightmare laughed. “Stop all of you at once? HA! Then I’d really have zero hope!”

One by one, the rest of her friends smiled a little. “Well, heh…I would still feel better if you gave us a plan…” Rarity said.

Nightmare pointed at Luna. “Just ask her for some embarrassing stories about me. Loony’s the only one I didn’t create a plan for because I knew I’d never stand a chance against her.”

Rainbow held up a hoof. “Okay, okay. I forgive you.” The others agreed.

“I dunno…you promise to trust us more?” Gilda asked.

Nightmare nodded. “I do. In fact…I’m going to trust you all with a secret.” She glanced at Discord. “Even against my better judgment. Can you promise me you won’t tell this to anyone?” They all nodded. “Okay. When I was still a filly, my mom and I were guests at a wedding.”

Luna’s eyes lit up. “Oh my…are you telling them about that? By the night, am I dreaming?”

Nightmare sighed and continued. “I was very young at the time and I didn’t really know what was going on or what a wedding was. I just knew it was a ceremony meant to symbolize the love between two people. That night, I had a dream and mom visited me in my dreams just like she does for everyone on every night.”

Luna grinned. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh…”

Nightmare cringed. “My mom saw the much younger and very foolish me…getting married to her.”

Discord, Rainbow and Luna burst into laughter while everyone else worked hard to suppress their own laughter. “Oh my gosh!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“I was very young at the time! I had no real idea what a wedding meant! It was just a stupid game! Come on, kids play pretend weddings all the time!” Nightmare cried.

Sunset giggled. “Maybe, but I don’t think any of us had a fake wedding with our moms!”

“Perhaps a cousin or two,” Trixie said, even as she couldn’t stop her giggles.

Here comes the bride! She’s dressed in black! I don’t know the words to the rest of this song!” Discord sang.

Nightmare put her head on the floor and covered her face as she blushed in embarrassment. “Okay, yes. It’s very funny. Now I trusted you all with my darkest secret, something only my mom ever knew before. Can we please move on? Please?”

Eventually they all calmed down. “Well, I feel better now. Who’s up for a game?” Discord said as he rolled some marbles in his claws.

“I just have one more question. The thief wasn’t after your Project Zero, they just grabbed it as a bonus. What was the book they were really after?”

Nightmare shrugged. “It wasn’t important. They could have gotten a book like that at any library. It was just my copy of The Elements of Forgiveness: A Reference Guide.”


Somewhere in the Big Apple, Granny Smith knocked on the door. “Pardon me. Someone’s here to see ta see you.”

“Send them in,” Miss Applejewel said.

Pound and Pumpkin nervously walked into the shadowy office. Babs walked by them, a more confident smirk on her face.

“Ah, Pound, Pumpkin. I didn’t know you would be coming too. What can I do for you darlings?” Applejewel asked.

“We were just bringing Babs back here miss. And we wanted to check up on you. We haven’t seen you face-to-face in a while,” Pound said.

“Are you okay miss?” Pumpkin asked.

Applejewel spun around in her chair to face them. She wore a plain dress and a simple hat. She also still wore the same golden mask that she had worn to the Gala. “That mostly depends on what Babs here has brought me.”

“Miss Applejewel, why are you still wearing that mask? I thought the accident happened a while ago. Shouldn’t it have healed by now?” Pound asked.

Applejewel chuckled. “I told you all the truth. I’m sorry if you found it misleading.”

“Huh?” the twins said.

“The accident that forces me to wear this mask actually happened much earlier. It’s only now that my condition is being to show,” Applejewel said.

“Condition?” Pumpkin said.

“Yes. Actually it’s – OW!” Applejewel winced as she turned away from them. “Pound, Pumpkin, can you wait outside please? I need to talk to Babs in private.”

The twins walked out of the office while Applejewel removed her mask and rubbed at her eye, making sure to look at the floor as she did so.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Babs said.

“I’m fine,” Applejewel said as she put the mask back on.

“What does your eye look like?” Babs boldly asked.

Applejewel chuckled. “Trust me Babs, it’s a scary sight to see.” She turned back to face her. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

“Yep. I almost got a bonus too. A folder filled with information on the Element bearers. I thought you might want it.”

“You don’t say? Where is it?”

“I’m afraid the Elements caught me before I could get far away enough for the teleport crystal to work. Someone really needs to improve the range on those things. Anyway, they took the folder back and unfortunately I don’t remember much of what was in it.”

“Well at least you got back. The disguise crystal worked okay?”

Babs smirked. “Yep. They have no idea it was me. Of course I’ll need another teleport crystal to get back to Peaceville so that Apple Bloom and her friends don’t get suspicious.”

“Apple Bloom? How is she?”

“She’s fine. Her eye was hurting a little but she said she probably got a hair or something caught in it.”

“Huh…yeah, that’s probably it. Did you get what I asked you to get?”

“Right here,” Babs said as she placed the copy of The Elements of Forgiveness: A Reference Guide on Applejewel’s desk. “I don’t know why you wanted this specific copy though.”

Applejewel chuckled as she gently placed a hoof on the book. “You’ve done well.” She walked over to the mini-fridge in her office and opened it. “As promised: the best bottle of apple cider you’ve ever tasted. Made with zap apples too.”

Babs’ eyes widened even as she licked her lips. “And you’re sure it’s safe to drink?”

“I am. I won’t let anyone else get hurt because of last year’s failure at making this stuff. We’ve added a few extra ingredients to make sure there won’t be any negative side effects. It’s expensive to make but safe to drink.”

Babs quickly grabbed the rainbow-coloured cider and slowly drank it, savoring every last delicious drop. “Oh my gosh…” she moaned in happiness.

Applejewel chuckled. “Yeah. Don’t drink too much at once though. Okay?”

“Thank you. I better get back to Peaceville before morning.”

Applejewel removed another teleportation crystal from her desk and tossed it to Babs. “You got that right. I’ll contact you if I need anything else. Always a pleasure working with you Babs.”

As the earth filly left her office, Applejewel flipped through the pages of the reference guide. Eventually she found what she was looking for. “Gotcha…”


Elsewhere in Everfree, Pinkie Pie smiled as she patted the coughing pony on the back. “There, there. Keep coughing, you’ll feel better in a moment.”

The pony that looked like Twilight Sparkle glared at Pinkie with draconic purple eyes. “Trickster. You removed me from the dragon’s stomach?”

Pinkie grinned. “Yep!”

“But you were the traitor who trapped me in the first place!”

“Yepperoni!” Pinkie giggled. “So what’s it like living in Spike’s belly, Smokey?”

“Do not think of me as just some harmless cloud of magic! I am vengeance eternal! I am-”

Pinkie patted the spirit on the head. “Yeah, yeah. You can call yourself whatever you want silly filly. Just don’t call me late to the party!” she winked and giggled.

The spirit growled. “Was betraying me part of the plan? What did you hope to accomplish?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Well I was hoping to see if we could make a few of Nightie’s friends go crazy-wavy and then she’d make some nifty plans to beat them before making them not crazy-wavy.” She snapped her finger and made a folder appear. She flipped through its contents curiously. “Huh. Nightie’s mind really wanders.”

The spirit grinned evilly. “So you managed to acquire plans to defeat the Elements?”

Pinkie giggled. “What, you think I’m going to use these? Nope!” She snapped her fingers and turned the folder into butterflies. She smiled and watched the butterflies fly around before she turned them back into a folder and banished it back to Nightmare’s library with a snap of her fingers.

The spirit glared at her. “What? Then what was the point of all that?”

Pinkie giggled. “Aw, what fun is there in a point?”

“So this was all some sick game to you?” Eternity growled.

Pinkie smiled. “Oh there was nothing sick about it! Except maybe when I pretended to have Rock Pox.” She stuck her tongue out. “Does thith look gray ta you?”

“Then what was the real plan?” Eternity demanded to know.

Pinkie floated back in the air and sighed happily. “That’s the best part. I don’t know yet! What I do know is that all I have to do is wait.”

Eternity hissed in disgust. “You weakling. I will no longer ally myself with a fool. Stay out of my way Pink One.” She made to leave but stopped when she felt her hooves freeze to the ground.

“Now hold on a minute silly filly.” Pinkie floated forward and looked the spirit in the eye. “Why did you switch from possessing Gilda to Rainbow?”

Eternity growled. “I thought that was part of the plan.”

Pinkie frowned. “You hurt Dashie, you big meanie. That wasn’t cool, it wasn’t part of the plan, and it wasn’t FUN.” Pinkie smiled sadly. “I really hoped we could have been friends. But then you went and hurt Dashie. Now that I think about it, you hurt Rarity and Twily and a bunch of ponies. I can’t be friends with a big mean bully. So Imma gonna destroy you now, okie dokie lokie?”

Eternity smirked. “And how do you plan to accomplish that? I am conflict made flesh. As long as good and evil battle each other, I can never die.”

Pinkie nodded. “Uh huh. But the thing is, when Princess Sparkle was sad and lonely and angry, she used her magic to summon you and become Eternal Twilight. Before that…I dunno, what were you?”

Eternity’s eyes widened as its smile fell. “You wouldn’t…”

Pinkie smiled and snapped her fingers. “Ooh, I just thought of what you were! Let’s see if I’m right.” She reached into the air and ripped a hole through the fabric of time and space. The magical black hole began to suck in the magic it was created to absorb. Eternity gasped in horror as it watched its hooves turning into mist and getting sucked away.

She stared at Pinkie. “You would destroy my physical form. You’re actually going to kill me…”

Pinkie frowned and pointed a hoof at the spirit. “Hey! You listen here, you meanie hissy-missy! Don’t you dare make me the bad guy. I’m the one who’s making sure the evil spirit of doom doesn’t hurt anyone. Besides, you just said you can’t die. You just won’t be able to interact with other ponies anymore.” She smiled calmly. “It’s okay. I felt the same way when I was turned to stone. It made me pretty crazy but maybe you’ll turn so insane that you become sane! Won’t that be fun?”

“You can’t do this!” the spirit cried.

Pinkie giggled. “I can do anything I want! Including this.” She snapped her fingers and made a cake appear. “I am sorry about this though. Will this make it better?” The cake in Pinkie’s hooves had the words ‘I’m Super Sorry for Destroying You’ and a smiley face drawn with icing.

Eternity glared at Pinkie. “You may think you’ve seen the last of me.”

“I have,” Pinkie said as she stuck a fork in the cake and ate a piece.

“You may think you can beat the Elements. That you know what’s coming. You may think you know everything. But I know one secret you don’t.”

Pinkie smiled. “Ooh really? Betcha I know it!”

Eternity grinned evilly. “I know who escaped from Tartarus.”

Pinkie’s smile slowly faded away. The spirit formerly known as Eternal Twilight gave one final evil laugh as she was sucked away into the magical black hole, never to be seen again.

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