The Final Sunset

by Wonder

Darkness Eternal

The crowd was getting more and more excited by the minute. Soon their beloved princess would stand before them, in all her radiant glory, and raise the sun. Conversations were loud and charged. Most ponies could barely contain their joy, there was even one pony named Berry Punch who thought it would be a good idea to start the festive drinking early. In the end she had to be banned from the refreshment table.

Fluttershy was with her birds preparing for their performance. Rarity was on the same balcony as where the princess would raise the sun, talking to herself nervously. Sunset was in the crowd idly talking to Pinkie, whilst Applejack and Rainbow Dash were in a heated discussion.

Pinkie leaned over to Sunset, a large smile plastered on her face. “Isn’t this exciting? Are you excited? ‘Cause I’m excited. I’ve never been so excited. Well, except for that time I saw you walking into town and I went,” Pinkie made a gasping sound. “but I mean really, who can top that? Oh wait, that was Twilight, not you.”

Immediately after Pinkie finished speaking Fluttershy’s birds launched into their fanfare, their music reverberating off the walls. Each bird’s song was perfectly matched with the next, all coming together into a beautiful harmony. Fluttershy flew in front of them conducting, her hooves moving in tune with the music. The room was now completely quiet, void of all sounds except for the music.

From one of the many balconies, a pony turned on a spotlight and guided the beam of light down towards the dais, on which Mayor Mare stood waiting. “Fillies and gentlecolts. As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration.” The crowd cheered loudly. The mayor waited for silence to return before continuing. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sun rise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year. And now, it is my great honour, to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria.”

The mayor paused her speech to add effect while Fluttershy spoke to her birds, preparing them for the next song. “Princess Celestia!” Another fanfare began. Rarity grabbed hold of the rope that would open the curtain to reveal Celestia and gave it a tug. The Violet curtains parted as the spotlight moved its light to the balcony and came to rest on... nothing. The princess wasn’t there. Rarity looked at the empty balcony and gasped. Murmurs and whispers spread through the crowd. Many different theories were going around but the main question on everyponies lips was 'where is the princess?'. One certain pony, seeing how distracted everypony was, took the opportunity to sneak a few more drinks from the refreshment table.

Rarity went in search of the princess while Mayor Mare attempted to keep the crowd under control. “Remain calm everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation.” Her voice was shaking. She didn’t deal well with stress.

Pinkie Pie started bouncing on the spot. “Oh, I love guessing games. Is she hiding?" Pinkie began looking around the room excitedly.

Rarity returned to the balcony with a bewildered look marring her face. “She’s gone.” A collective gasp came from the crowd.

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oh, she’s goooood.” Pinkie’s eyes then widened even further, this time her countenance was accompanied with a scream. A few ponies looked at her curiously, then followed her gaze to the balcony. A few others were already staring at the same spot. Another gasp went through the crowd. On the balcony an ethereal blue aura appeared began swirling and pulsating as they watched.

The strange entity parted down the middle revealing a dark alicorn adorned in a silver helmet and peytral with a moon placed in its center. The blue aura forming her mane and tail shimmering like the night sky. On her flank was a dark purple patch of fur with a crescent moon in its center. The dark mare stared at her captive audience, taking in every detail. All their confusion, all their fear. It was something she had not experienced in over a thousand years.

With a fake smile, she began her speech. “Oh my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious little sun loving faces.” She practically spat out the last few words.

“What have you done with our princess?” Rainbow’s snarled, launching towards the alicorn, only to be held in place by Applejack.

The alicorn chuckled. “Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?”

Pinkie Pie smiled. “Oh oh, more guessing games. Um, Hokey Smokes, how about Queen Meanie. No, Black Snooty, Black Snoo-” Pinkie Pie was silenced by Applejack, who had force a cupcake into the party ponies mouth.

“Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” She scanned the crowd. “Surely there is one pony among you who must release who I am?" she scanned the crowd for answers, but none came. "very well then. Remember this day well ponies, for it was you last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!” The dark mare laughed menacingly. Her ethereal mane spreading, swirling around the room as if it caught in a harsh wind. As if on cue, Lightning shot out from the blue aura, accompanied by a deafening roar of thunder.

Mayor mare glared at the dark mare and yelled. “Seize her! Only she knows where the princess is.” On her command, three solar guards leapt into the air, their wings outstretched. As they neared the alicorn, her eyes began to glow, and a bolt of lightning launch towards the guards, throwing them to the ground like ragdolls. “Stand back you foals!” She glared at the crowd before her. The blue aura enveloped her and flew through doors of the town hall.

Everyone just stared, not knowing what to do. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, everypony lost it. They began to run in every direction, screaming as they went. The few ponies that had managed to stay calm were collaborating with each other on ways to find the princess. This group mainly consisted of solar guards but there was one or two local mares also included.

Sunset looked around the chaos, trying to find a familiar face. Between the crowds of confused ponies she managed to catch a glance of purple scales and ran towards the owner. “Spike? Are you ok?”

“Oh, uh yeah. Have you seen Rarity anywhere?” The baby dragon looked around worried. Sunset arched her eyebrows. Of all the ponies he wanted to see, he wanted to see her?! Was she jealous? No, of course she wasn’t. “Oh, there she is!” Spike ran to the dais at the front of the room.

Rarity saw the little drake arrive. Sunset watched them as they talked but kept her distance. Maybe I am jealous? Pinkie bounced over to Rarity and whispered in her ear, before bouncing away. Rarity looked at her confused but then went back to her conversation with Spike. They talked for a while but eventually Spike ran back to Sunset. “Sunset, we’re all heading over to the library. Pinkie told Rarity that we might find out what to do there. Something about Pink sense.”

“Pinkie sense?”

“Rarity said to just roll with it.” Spike shrugged.

“So then I guess we better go with them, seeing as we technically live at the library.”

---

Books were strewn across the oak floor, and more and more books were still being added. “Pinkie? Are ya sure we are lookin’ in the right place?” Applejack pulled out a book with a red cover, a picture of a dragon was printed onto it. “What are we even lookin’ for anyways?”

“Anything. Everything. Just look for something with that mare in it.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “And what makes you think she is going to be in a library book.” Rainbow Dash shivered at the word.

Fluttershy spoke in her soft voice. “Girls? I think I found something.” No one heard her. “Girls. I think this book might be important.” The others kept looking though the shelves. “There’s a picture of that mare in this boo-” Spike grabbed the book from the yellow pegasus.

“Hey guys, check this out. There’s a picture of that evil pony in here.” Sunset took the book with her magic. Isn’t this the book the princess gave me? The others gathered around her as she began to read.

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria.”

---

“Well… I guess that makes some sense.” Applejack shrugged. “Now we just have to find these element of harmony things. Keep looking girls, there must be a book or something about these element here somewhere.”

Each mare went to their own areas and began their search again. Sunset decided to go through the books on the floor in case the answer was buried beneath the pile. Each pony had gone through multiple shelves, placing each book I a pile next to it. Pinkie Pie however, had been standing in front of the same shelf for the past half hour, simply staring at it.

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash groaned. “This is pointless! How do we even know if there is a book of these elements of harmony?” The others turned to face the disgruntled pegasus.

“We don’t.” Rarity said bluntly. “But we have to do something.”

“Well don’t know about you guys, but I have had enough of these books. You guys can keep searching, I’m going to find that mare.”

“Um, Rainbow? You got something under your wing.” Fluttershy whispered.

Rainbow flinched. Looking under her left wing was a book with a green cover. “Oh this.” She laughed nervously. “Must have got stuck there when I was searching through the books.” She opened her wing and allowed it to drop to the floor.

Rarity levitated the book so she could see its cover clearly. “Darling, reading is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when the book is written by such a good author. Although I myself am more into romantic novels.”

“I’m more into… quiet stories. I find adventure stories to be too fast paced for my liking.” Fluttershy said in a hushed tone.

“Aren’t we supposed to be searching for a clue on how to defeat Nightmare Moon?” Sunset asked.

Rainbow Dash, thankful for the interruption spoke. “Right. Let’s get back to work girls.”

“No need Dashy! I found it.” Pinkie screamed excitedly, holding a book above her head.

“When did you find that?” Applejack asked, her brow furrowed.

“About an hour ago.” She smiled innocently.

“You had it this whole time… and you didn’t tell any of us!” Rainbow was close to screaming. “We could be kicking butt right now.”

“I was just waiting for the right time.” She smiled again. “It wouldn’t be any fun if we just found it right away, would it?” Pinkie received a few glares from the group, but they didn’t say anything.

Sunset tore the book from Pinkie grasp, who kept on smiling, and read out a passage in her head. The others leaned over her shoulder, trying to get a good look. “So where are we headed?” Applejack asked.

“It says here that the elements are in the castle of the two sisters, in the… uh oh.”

“What. What’s wrong?”

“It’s in the… Everfree forest.” Sunset could visibly see a shiver pass through the group, except for Pinkie who was bouncing happily. “Rainbow, go find the Mayor. I need to speak with her.” Rainbow saluted and flew of an open window.

“Why do we need to speak with the mayor?” Rarity wondered.

“The Everfree forest is dangerous. On top of that we are also dealing with a mare that was able to defeat three royal guards without even blinking. We are going to need all the help we can get.”

Author's Note:

I'm sorry about how close the beginning of the story is to the actual show, but the way I see it, the mayor and Luna's Nightmare Moon's actions would not have been affected by Sunset until later in the story. Again, sorry if you didn't like reading through their speech. Hehe, such a funny word. Speech. Speeeeeeech. Haha.

I thoroughly checked this story to make sure there were no mistakes. But they always find a way of slipping through, so if you see any, quote them for me, and I'll kill them.
Thx

Comments

[Vanilla Mocha]

This story is great!!!!!!!

[FinalFan]

Conversions were loud and charged.

What was being converted? (conversations)

she had to be banned from refreshment table.

from the refreshment

go find one of the Mayor

I figure you meant to change "go find one of the guards" to "go find the mayor" and didn't quite make it.

[RandomBlank]

Rarity grabbed hold of the rope that would open the curtain to reveal Celestia with her teeth and gave it a tug.

Garden path sentence; Celestia with her teeth. What's so special about Celestia's teeth? This should be rephrased to remove the deceptive ambiguity.

"this time her countenance was accompanied with a screamed"

“Surely there is one pony among you who must release who I am… very well then.

ellipsis is not enough of a pause here. It's merely a suspension of voice for a second or two. You should introduce an action piece like "she scanned the crowd for answers".