The Princess that Equestria Never Had

by rillegas08

Farmward Bound

At Twilight's request, Discord teleported outside Zecora's hut and above the trees to look for Nightmare Moon. He quickly returned with an all-clear, and the chimeric dragon and Twilight slipped quietly out Zecora's door. As soon as it closed, there were some clicks of locks. As they slipped behind the large mask and started making their way down the tunnel, a thought occurred to Twilight: Nightmare Moon could turn into mist; locking doors would have no purpose if there was a crack anywhere in the building and Nightmare Moon was determined to enter.

In other words, once Nightmare Moon discovered the tunnels (and there was no knowing when that could happen), there would be no safe way to get around Ponyville.

"We should hurry back to Applejack's barn before Nightmare Moon returns there so we can distribute the Elements of Harmony to my friends."

Discord stopped in his tracks. "You have the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes, they-" Twilight started, and then remembered once again how Discord had been imprisoned the first time. She stopped and turned to face him, his arms crossed.

"You wouldn't happen to be thinking of imprisoning me again, like I was for a thousand years, would you?"

"No," she answered. "The Discord I know would rather stay with his friends than to risk being imprisoned again. And you've helped me so far, so there's no reason to imprison you. If you continue to help me, we won't have any reason to imprison you."

"We?"

"I can't harness all the Elements myself, although I've never tried. Maybe I could, but it would probably take a lot out of me, and I don't want to risk that in my current slowly-disappearing condition. Also, if my friends in this world haven't grown the way they have by this time as they did in my world, then you also don't have much to worry about. It took a lot of concentration for us to imprison and subsequently release you on probation."

"Hm. Why should I trust you?"

"I'll be honest, to you and myself: I need you more than you need me right now. I'll do all I can to make it up to you, but time isn't on my side, so I'll need some help coming up with something."

They hurried back to the barn in silence (at least for a while) after Discord nodded his assent.

"I never knew there was a system of tunnels under Ponyville."

"Fluttershy and some of her animal friends started working on them soon after Nightmare Moon returned a few years ago. They connected many buildings in and around Ponyville since then."

"And Nightmare Moon doesn't know they exist?"

"No, they've escaped her knowledge for years, but I'm concerned she might suspect something after realizing I disappeared." A grin appeared on Discord's face, and Twilight didn't need to look behind her to know what he was thinking. In this world, he hadn't changed much from a few years ago, after all. "And if you want to keep that information as a bargaining chip to make sure I don't imprison you..."

Discord gasped in feigned hurt, still smiling. "Why, Twilight, I'm hurt. Why in Equestria would I do that?"

"I trust you to do the right thing, Discord, but old habits die hard."

After that, they continued in silence until they reached the tunnel entrance at Sweet Apple Acres. They stopped just before the entrance, and listened, but all they could hear was the trouble sleep of the nine ponies trapped among the rafters. Twilight plodded out into the open, finding that Nightmare Moon had yet to return.

"Okay, we have to move quickly. We need to get the Elements to Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity, and then wake them up. Something tells me that Nightmare Moon will be able to tell when somepony wakes up from the nightmares she sets upon them."

"That's all right. When she comes back I'll just give her a big piece of my mind for limiting my power."

"No! Princess Luna is Nightmare Moon's host body, and if you do that you might harm the princess! We can only save her by separating the two with the Elements of Harmony. That's how it worked in my world. When they're separated, you can find Nightmare Moon and confront her then."

"Hmph. All right then, I'll wait longer. Which pony gets which Elements?"

Twilight opened up her satchels, spilling out the five Elements onto the barn floor. She told Discord, based on the symbol engraved on the stone orbs, which Element went to which pony. As Discord flew up and set each Element by the proper pony, Twilight asked him to search the magic and see if there was a way to wake them up. He then came down and told her a way which might work.

"There is a flaw in the design of the cages," he began, "but it's a kind of flaw that I cannot exploit. I just don't have the right kind of magic for it. It requires a very dark and gloomy kind of magic."

"Dark and gloomy, like living on the moon for a thousand years?"

"That, or a similar kind of darkness. A somber kind, if you will, that currently resides in a far-off and forgotten kingdom."

"Somber... King Sombra? So my brother and Princess Cadance's protection spells didn't work against him. That makes sense, considering Cadance was weak when Spike and the six of us went to the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies. Oh no! Cadance! I wasn't here to recognize that she was being impersonated at her wedding, so the queen of the changelings was able to take over Canterlot. What happened to her? But Princess Celestia was with us then in my world, and she hasn't been seen here since Nightmare Moon returned. Who was put in charge of Canterlot, then?"

"Calm down, Twilight. I was at that wedding, or at least I was among the shadows. I'd detected some strange magic and was curious. At the time, Nightmare Moon was presiding over the wedding, although she was clearly reluctant to do so. Your brother and Queen Chrysalis (disguised as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, of course) were married, and as soon as they'd said their vows she revealed herself. Nightmare Moon wasn't impressed, and when she learned of the Queen's plans, she said," at this he transformed into a likeness of Nightmare Moon and used a falsetto voice, "'As long as you don't interfere with my plans' and left. We never learned what happened to the real Princess Cadance. We only learned about the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies after Sombra returned and his crystalline evil spread throughout Equestria. Chrysalis confronted him, and he reined in his power so that Canterlot wouldn't be overrun by his magic."

"The evil queen imprisoned Cadance in the abandoned mines under Canterlot. Everypony's forgotten about them. But we need Sombra's magic to wake them up, right?"

"That's right, but I doubt he'll be willing to help. By the way, you sure calmed down quickly."

"I've had a few years to practice calming down when I get excited. It comes with spending so much time with my friends. And we don't need King Sombra's help. I learned from Princess Celestia how to emulate his magic when my friends and I went to the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies to stop him. My cutie mark will disappear faster, but it's a sacrifice I have to make right now. I'm the only one that can do it."

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. The last time she'd tried this, she had a crystal to focus the power onto, but this time she'd have find a new focus point. She chose the center beam of the barn's roof; it was as good a focus as any. As she concentrated, the glow of her horn slowly turned from purple to black, flashing with sparks. Purple wisps of magical smoke seeped out from between her eyelids, and soon her horn was covered with billowing purple and green smoke. A very dark, almost black ribbon of magic streamed from her horn to the beam, engulfing each cage with the dark magic.

Quickly the cages fell, dropping all nine ponies to the ground and the hay below them. The sudden kick woke them all up.

"Oof!" said Rarity as she tumbled off a hay bale. "How's my mane? Is it messed up?"

"Nope", replied Big Mac, who had tumbled expertly down a stack of hay bales, having had years of practice as a colt. Applejack tumbled down after him.

Pinkie Pie, in true Pinkie fashion, realized she was falling and concentrated on stopping herself from hitting the ground, hovering a few inches above the ground. She set herself down and trotted toward the others, smiling.

Rarity noticed her sister and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders falling, and frantically caught them in her magic, letting them down softly.

"Thanks, big sis!"

As they gathered together once again, some yawning, but all glad to be done with their nightmarish slumber, Twilight interrupted them.

"I know it's good to be reunited, but this is important, so listen up." All the ponies turned to face her, getting quiet as they heard the urgency in her voice. "Nightmare Moon discovered I had tricked her, and as you can see is gone. I'm afraid she knows you've all woken up, so I'm sure she'll be back any minute now. Big Mac, take the Cutie Mark Crusaders into the house. They're not safe here. The rest of you, gather up the Elements. We'll need them to defeat Nightmare Moon when she comes back." She paused and smiled. "I'm so glad to see you all again."

Comments

[miiohau]

New problem with Twilight exposition a few chapters ago. In this chapter she surprised by information she told the others.

[rillegas08]

7167811 Are you referring to the part just after she realizes she needs to emulate Sombra's magic again? Or a different part?