Samurai Twilight

by Foetohn

Episode 2: The Pony Called Twilight

Long ago in a distant land, I, Nightmare Moon, the shape shifting mistress of darkness unleashed a never-ending night! But, a foalish pony warrior, wielding a magic stone stepped forth to oppose me! Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung her into the future, where my darkness is law! Now the foal seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Nightmare Moon!

Samurai Twilight
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro studios
Samurai Jack belongs to Cartoon Network

Episode 2: The Pony Called Twilight

Twilight fell endlessly through the void between times, many colorful but ultimately inaccurate metaphors for her current situation presenting themselves as moments stretched into eternity and eternity became an instant. The novelty wore off quickly, and Twilight found herself desperately wishing it would end. As if in answer to her prayers, the time vortex split open and deposited her back in the material world.

Relieved to have her hooves on tangible ground once more, Twilight took stock of her surroundings. She was in a building of some kind, abandoned from the empty and partially ruined look of things. The floor and walls were bare and grey, the windows shattered and the ceiling sagging in places. Whatever it had been in the past, it was not just a sad skeleton of a building. Twilight picked her way around holes in the floor and piles of rubble to look out the nearest empty window frame.

Her mouth gaped open at the sight of the largest city she had ever seen, many times larger than Canterlot, made up of great towers like a forest of metal and stone. Boxy chariots whizzed through the air at dizzying speeds without having to be pulled by pegasi. There were so many lights Twilight couldn’t tell if it was day or night, and the sky was choked with hazy, orange clouds- so no help in determining if Nightmare Moon’s eternal night prevailed from that front.

Several dark, blocky shapes approaching the building from a distance caught Twilight’s attention. Something about the smooth, unnatural way they moved worried her, and she began to search for a way down. A ruined stairway proved to be the only viable, albeit slightly perilous, option. After descending several floors, she began to wonder just how tall the tower was. No structure could have been built this large without magical support in the Equestria she knew, and as far as she could tell, her surroundings were mundane. This brought up the nagging question of where she was and what kind of place it was.

A glance through one of the many holes in the walls showed Twilight that the floating objects were cylindrical with open vents on the bottoms. Sparks fell from the vents, and Twilight was filled with dread as she sensed that an immense amount of energy was building up within them. Leaping down the stairs three at a time, she wracked her brain for any ideas that might help her escape the building faster.

Above the building’s roof a loudspeaker crackled to life. “The demolition of Nocturne City block D77 will now commence. Our life sign scanners have picked up- NOTHING! We don’t have any scanners installed, hah! If anyone is still in block D77, you’re getting demolished too. Have a nice day!” The speaker clicked off, and the cylinders began to emit a low hum.

Twilight weighed her options, and decided against jumping out a window for the time being. While she could slow her fall somewhat with magic, it probably wouldn’t be enough to prevent injury. Still, as the hum from above became a rumble, she couldn’t think of any other way to escape in time. Most of what the broadcast had said meant little to her, but demolition was very clear.

With a roar like an erupting volcano, the demolishers unleashed barely-contained rays of Vulcan fury upon the building, melting, burning and smashing the structure to bits. Even at the level Twilight was at the floor and walls began to crack, dust choking the air around her. With no exit in sight, the unicorn resigned herself to a long fall from a window.

She was saved the trouble of jumping when the demolisher beams pierced through enough of the supporting walls and the building sagged, breaking into massive chunks that began to obey the inexorable call of gravity. Twilight nearly panicked as she lost her footing, but her years of training and discipline took over and she kicked off from the crumbling floor into a slow flip.

A burst of magic propelled her between slabs of concrete and out of the way of jagged metal support beams, allowing her to ‘land’ on another chunk of rubble and push herself in another direction. Navigating a moving debris field in free-fall had never been a part of her training, but Twilight was able to apply the acrobatics practice and her analytical mind to the problem.

Despite this, she still had quite a few more close calls than she would have liked, and wound up bruised, scratched and covered in dust as she worked her way upward though the crumbling tower. The demolishers shut off their beams, the laws of nature completing their job for them. From atop the settling pile of debris, Twilight watched them depart before turning her attention to the containment field surrounding the block.

As the dust cleared, three odd figures outside the barrier came into view. One was a squat biped with no neck, resembling a giant potato with limbs more than anything else. Beside it was a creature that was snake from the neck, or what passed for a neck, down, with a rounded head and a ragged mane of hair. The third was, thankfully, a completely normal griffon.

“Dang girl, that was totally hussizzle,” It took Twilight a moment to realize the short one was actually speaking to her. “You’s so totally forizzle you’re beyond brahmanizzle!”

The snake-thing chimed in “You were all dassssh-a-matic and jump-e-ssssstatic!”

“Yo, yo, were that for real girl?” The griffon’s speech was little better than the others. “We thought you was off the chain when our peepers espied you in yonder domicile with them demo-flyers creepin’ up.”

“But you wasss all ssszzzam! Whop-ahm! Pchoooo!” The snake, who seemed to be spraying as much as she was saying, excitedly hissed.

“An’ then you stuckizzle the landinnizzle! Just stantin’ there so chillaxinnizle, them boyz don’t even know what to do!”

Twilight raised an incredulous eyebrow as the three continued to, presumably, praise her narrow escape from the building.

“But yo, how you gonna decipher this conundrum before you girly?” The griffon tapped the force field with one claw. “Them demo-dudes ain’t gonna acquiesce to your transmission through this here barrier, no matter how chill you might be.”

Twilight studied the shimmering curtain of light for a moment. “Well, if I surround myself with a properly-tuned field of magic…” Her horn glowed, and she became softly luminescent as she stepped forward, passing through the wall with a little effort. “There, that did it.”

Her three fans stood agog, rendered speechless for a moment. But only a moment.

“Shazizzle! You just got more and more tricks up the hizzle!”

“You’ssss jusssst a trick-a-matic ssstuntss-a-delic!”

“Uh, thank you, I guess.” Twilight said. “If I might ask, where exactly am I?”

“Girl, you’s in the gutter levizzle of Nocturne Citizzle sector D7!” The short, hairy creature seemed a bit less excited at this.

“The ssssmeliessst” The snake’s spitting seemed almost purposeful this time, at least she aimed it out of the way.

“Most excrement-ridden” The griffon frowned.

“Crowdedizzl-est industrializzle and residential creep on the planetizzle!”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t entirely understand, but I have a lot of questions and not a whole lot of time. Who is in charge here? I need to speak with them.”

The trio laughed uproarisly, as if she had just told the funniest joke they’d ever heard.

“Oh girly, you don’t see Nightmare Moon! Nightmare Moon sees you!” The griffon gestured to the side of a nearby building with one wing.

Twilight gasped. The entire wall was dominated by a mural, animated through some enchantment, of the dark alicorn eating a sandwich of some kind before drinking a greenish fluid from a cup with all signs of enjoying it. A name she didn’t recognize flashed over the image before the whole scene repeated. Looking around at more of the city, she could see more murals, and non animated posters as well, all bearing Nightmare Moon’s image.

“She’s the Mistrizzle of Misfortune.”

“The Dealer of Darknessssss!”

“The Queen of Calamity!”

“NO!” Twilight cried out. “How can this be?!”

“Don’t know.” The three shrugged, or in the case of the snake woman, looked clueless. “Just always beenizzle that way.”

“This- I-“ Twilight stammered. “But-“

“Yo girl, you’s lookin’ a mite bit indisposed.” The gryphon seemed genuinely concerned.

“What sssshe needsss isss a little liquid refresssssh-a-ment!” The snake pointed with her tail to a nearby door, which was to Twilight’s eyes, exactly the same as any other.

“Wordizzle! That joint be the bussizzle happenizzle! They hook you up, girlizzle!”

Twilight stepped up to the door with some hesitation and knocked four times. A thin metal flap near the top slid open, followed by a grunt of frustration before another closer to the bottom slid open. A bloodshot pair of eyes peered out at her.

“Yeh? Whaddaya want?” A gruff but also slightly squeaky voice addressed her rudely. It sounded a bit like the owner had a naturally high-pitched voice and was trying to sound intimidating.

“Ah, I was told this was a place I could find refreshment in.” Twilight glanced warily up at the higher slot, worried she might see a second pair of eyes peering down at her.

“Yer? An’ who d’ya fink you ‘re?”

Twilight glanced back to her trio of fans for help. “I don’t have any credentials!”

“Yo Mac, our girl here’s the hussizzle! She chill, we’ve got her backizzle!” The hairy man made an odd gesture with his hand, and for a moment Twilight thought he was making a poor attempt at magic.

The doorkeeper snorted in irritation and slapped the peepholes shut. With an audible grunt accompanied by the shriek of un-oiled hinges, it hauled the metal door aside. A solid wall of sound assaulted Twilight’s ears, blasts of what could have been musical notes accompanied by throbbing bass so heavy it felt like physical blows. Flattening her ears against her head, Twilight winced and made her way in.

The three creatures who had greeted her outside hadn’t prepared the displaced unicorn for the crowd that awaited within the establishment, beings of all shapes and sizes imaginable and more rubbed shoulders, traded intoxicated punches and sucked down various beverages. Some walked on two legs; some on four and a few had more or even none. More… shapely examples of certain species danced inside glass spheres or in cages suspended above the crowd, thrusting and gyrating in time with the deafening music. The doorkeeper himself was a wall of living stone, a mountain on legs with a light coating of lichen.

Twilight was so caught up in the new sights she didn’t realize that her mouth was hanging open and that she was openly staring. A few of the more temperamental clients took notice.

“What’re you staring at?” A heavily-muscled biped with slimy tentacles for hair demanded. “Weirdo.”

“Yeah,” a second voice responded from its stomach. To Twilight’s surprise the creature’s head detached itself from the body and slithered on to the counter. The body’s arms uncrossed to reveal a lumpen face in its center. “Weirdo.”

“I-I was just- I mean I wasn’t-“ Twilight stammered, totally at a loss. The overwhelming new sights, overpowering music and unfamiliar environment were putting her on a course rapidly approaching sensory overload. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“You can apologize better than that!” The stocky ‘body’ creature stomped up to her. “With your blood!”

A meaty fist struck the side of Twilight’s head with enough force to send her stumbling back into the side of one of the cages. The dancer within, a six-legged pony-like creature, paused her dance long enough to get a good look at Twilight as she regained her footing.

Twilight stood and faced the burly creature. “Please, I didn’t mean to offend, I’m new here, this is all new to me.”

The round, tentacle creature barked with laughter. “It’s too late for that, horsie.”

Twilight gave diplomacy one more try as her antagonist donned a pair of metal-studded gauntlets. “I don’t mean anypony harm, nopony has to get hurt.”

“Hah! You should spend less time talking and more time running!” The creature swung its fist at Twilight once more, but this time, she was not there.

A flash of magic from overhead caught its attention, and it looked up in time to see the blast of fire Twilight threw at it before its gauntlets were burned to ash and its hands scorched. As it snarled in pain, its partner put a tentacle up to its mouth and whistled.

Heavyset, headless thugs from all over the bar, each identical to the one who had attacked Twilight shouldered their way through the crowds to surround the unicorn. They bore a motley collection of crude hand weapons, jagged bits of metal made for chopping and stabbing.

High above the heaving mass of dancing, drinking and brawling club patrons, an insectoid DJ slapped a segmented limb against a control panel and the music changed. A fast, aggressive beat filled the room, the dancers changing their movements to match it. The thugs took this as their cue, and leapt as one towards Twilight.

People didn’t come to the club just to drink or enjoy the company of the dancers, some of the more discerning clientele recognized it as an excellent place to conduct their business hidden by the rather intense club atmosphere. Such individuals or groups could pay a minor fee to make use of insulated booths that helped to tone down the overwhelming flood of music.

One such booth was occupied by a massive hybrid of a man, a fish, and a lizard, all of them bad-tempered. He guzzled down a pitcher of fermented fungus squeezing and belched. In front of him sat three ponies, two colts and a mare.

“So, what d’you say? D’you think you can help us?” The first colt asked. He had an amber coat and mane, with green eyes under a wide-brimmed Stetson.

The fish man grabbed the pony by the collar of his vest and began to shout. “G’FLOBBAH FUT’ARGH N’TMAGGAN M’OO-NON P’TEO GHOOFUU T’SOFEYO!” He released the colt’s vest and stormed out of the booth, leaving the door partially open behind him.

“Ah don’t think he’s gonna be helpin’ us.” The pony disappointedly straightened his vest.

“Eeyup.” The other colt, a large, well-muscled pony with a red coat and dull orange mane intoned as he casually chewed on a sprig of wheat.

“Well, what’re we gonna do now?” The third pony, a mare with an orange coat and blonde mane, asked. “We’ve asked nearly everybody ‘round these parts.”

The sounds of a slightly larger than usual brawl from across the room caught their attention.

“Hey, what about that pony?”

Brutish and simple as they were, the attackers were intelligent enough to fight as a group rather than attack one at a time, forcing Twilight to dodge and weave around multiple attacks at once. Luckily for her they were unskilled and relied on brute force. If nothing else, she could have used her superior agility to simply allow them to exhaust themselves or possibly trick them into striking one another, but that would be a waste of time she was sure she didn’t have.

Besides, one or two of the thugs had crudely-devised projectile weapons built in to their armored gauntlets, which they fired indiscriminately. They might not have cared, but Twilight was worried about the risk to any bystanders- innocent or otherwise. Remembering her basic combat training, she formed her magic into a thick but nonsolid shield that would catch and slow the projectiles instead of ricocheting them around the room.

Twilight dealt with the melee weapon carrying thugs using carefully controlled spells to disarm them and give them painful but not life-threatening injuries, mainly a collection of minor burns and bruises. The relative ease with which she did this soon had them hesitating to attack, hoping that one of their allies would step in first. When none of them proved brave enough to, the burly creatures melted back into the crowd, nursing various injuries. Their tentacled leader snarled in frustration and scuttled off along the bar.

“Wow!” The Stetson wearing pony watched the scene with obvious admiration. “D’you think we could get her ta help?”

“Hmm. Guess you could always just ask. But be careful Braeburn.” The big colt had dropped his wheat stalk while watching the fight, but pulled a fresh one from somewhere.

“First sign o’ trouble an’ you git right back, y’hear?” The mare cautioned.

“’course I will cousin!” Braeburn straightened his hat and stepped out of the booth. “Ah’m always careful!”

“An’ that’s what worries me.” The mare said as he walked away.

Twilight shook bits of shrapnel from her mane and looked for a place to sit. It had been a rough day so far and a drink would not be amiss. She was interrupted by a polite cough from behind.

“’scuse me miss, could I have a moment o’ your time?” The speaker was a, amber colt about her age wearing a brown vest and matching hat. Twilight eyed him suspiciously, glad to see another pony but wary of anyone she encountered in this strange place. “Now ah don’t mean you no harm, ah’m not lookin’ to cause ya trouble.”

Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry, today hasn’t been going well for me. I’m a little on edge, and being attacked hasn’t helped.”

The colt’s eyes widened a little. “Hey, that’s old Equestrian you’re speakin’! It’s pretty rare to hear anybody speakin’ it these days!”

“Everypony speaks it where I come from.” Twilight shrugged.

“You’re not from around these parts, are you?” The colt brightened up. “Why don’t you come sit with me an’ my cousins, we’ll explain everything!”

Twilight hesitated, and then nodded in agreement.

“Great! Right this way!” The colt lead the way over to an enclosed booth where two other earth ponies sat. Such a mundane sight was very welcome in Twilight’s eyes after all she had encountered.

“My name is Braeburn, and this is AppleJack and Big Macintosh.” Braeburn introduced himself before gesturing to his two companions. Big Macintosh nodded politely.

“Howdy! It shore is nice t’ meetcha, miss-?” Applejack greeted Twilight with far less restrained enthusiasm than the big colt.

“Twilight. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight endured a powerful hoofshake from the mare before sitting down at the table.

Braeburn shut the door and sealed the booth, cutting out most of the background noise. “If you’d like somethin’, just use the screen in the middle of the table there, drinks are on us.”

Twilight eyed the center of the table, which had some kind of runic interface glowing on its surface. An exploratory poke with her hoof produced a change in colors and a beep. Encouraged by the lack of disaster, she prodded a few more of the runes until the interface chimed and became covered in a green banner.

“Uh, you sure ‘bout that sugarcube?” Applejack looked concerned.

“Why, did I do it wrong?” Twilight looked up, embarrassed that she had been so engrossed by the display.

“Um, no, it’s just, oh nevermind. It’s all right if that’s what ya wanted.” The group subsided into an awkward silence as they waited. A short while later, a three-eyed biped- Twilight made a mental note to start learning the names of these alien species- tapped on the door before opening it.

“Your refreshments.” She placed the drinks on the table before each pony; a curving and fluted bottle alongside a simple glass with ice in it for Braeburn, a fizzy drink so purple it nearly glowed for Apple Jack, and a tiny glass with a paper umbrella and a fruit skewer on the side for Big Macintosh. Twilight’s drink was in a metal box that steamed slightly. The server carefully set it down and donned gloves before opening it, taking out a thin crystal phial filled with pink fluid and a thick-sided crystal glass half-filled with a darker pink liquid. “Let this one sit for a few minutes after mixing it before you drink it. Remember, the management is not responsible for anything that results from you drinking this.” With those ominous words, she glided from the booth, shutting the door behind herself.

Apple Jack stared at Big Macintosh’s drink. “You ordered one o’ them girly frou-frou drinks again, didn’t ya?”

Big Macintosh sighed. “Eeyup, an’ ah’m gonna enjoy it too.”

“Hah!” Apple Jack laughed. “That’s mah brother for ya, all big an’ tough on the outside, but likes his frilly drinks when he can get ‘em!”

“Ah don’t see why it’s so funny.” Big Macintosh took a careful sip from his glass.

“So, ah, you two are siblings?” Twilight asked as she eyed her drink with suspicion.

“Yep! An’ Braeburn over here is our cousin, ain’t that right Braeburn?”

Braeburn finished pouring his drink into his glass. “Yep! We’re all proud members of the extended Apple family! Best and oldest agricultural providers in all the world!” He beamed with pride as if he had done it all with his own four hooves.

“And we’ve managed to keep our farms outta Nightmare Moon’s grasp fer as long as anypony can remember!” Applejack rivaled Braeburn’s look of pride with all her might.

“But that could all change,” Big Macintosh cautioned, “if we don’t stay vigilant.”

“Yeah, about that.” Twilight was grateful for the chance to interrupt. “I’m still a little confused. What’s happened in all this time? Where I come from is nothing like this.”

“Well, where d’you want us to start?” Braeburn began. “Far back as anybody knows Nightmare Moon’s ruled the world. Some people say it can’t have been longer than a thousand years, but she’s got a stranglehold on schoolin’ and history, an’ she always claims it’s been since the dawn o’ time.”

“So there’s no denying it then,” Twilight sighed “she must have sent me to the future or something. Although…” She thought for a moment. “An extreme-duration stasis spell would have the same effect…“ She stopped when she saw the lost expressions on the other pony’s faces. “Sorry, go ahead.”

Applejack continued where her cousin left off. “Even all the world isn’t enough fer her, so she opened th’ world up fer ‘trade’ with all the races o’ the galaxy. ‘course that’s just a trick an’ when they come ta see what Equestria – she named the whole planet that after the homeland of ponykind – is all about, she swindles ‘em outta everything they got! ‘cus o’ that we’ve got all sorts o’ mindless goons, unsavory mercenaries an’ who knows what else hangin’ ‘round.”

“Kinda inconsistent if y’ think about it.” Big Macintosh chimed in. “Claimin’ ta have ruled th’ world forever an’ then acknowledgin’ that ponies had ta get their start somewhere. But she’s unchallenged ruler of th’ world, so I guess she can be a mite inconsistent if she wants.”

“Which brings ta mind somethin’ that’s been botherin’ me, Twilight.” AppleJack pointed to Twilight’s flank. “Nightmare Moon claims that th’ marks on our flanks are ‘Pony Identification Points’ that she first made with her awesome powers. They’re supposed ta show our place in society. How come you have one if you’re not from ‘round here?”

“Where, or rather when I come from everypony gets theirs naturally when they discover their special talent. It’s been like that since before Nightmare Moon returned.” Twilight worked up enough courage to undo the stopper in the phial she had been given and poured the pink fluid into the glass. It bubbled slightly, and intoxicating fumes rose from the surface. “Which is another thing she’s lied about, before she ruled Equestria she was sealed in the Moon by her sister, Princess Celestia-“ she trailed off.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” Braeburn put down his drink.

“It’s just- I guess it finally hit me that if this is the future- if Nightmare Moon rules the world- then I failed.” Twilight’s nose drooped dangerously near the surface of her drink. “Princess Celestia was counting on me, and I let her down! And Spike… oh Spike, what must he have thought of me when I lost?”

Braeburn, Applejack and Big Macintosh looked uncomfortable.

“It’s all my fault.” Twilight pushed her drink aside and dropped her head to the table. “I’m sorry, you don’t want my help, I’ve done enough harm.”

Applejack gently patted her shoulder. “Come on now Twilight, plenty ‘a people have fought Nightmare Moon an’ lost. But ya gotta count yer blessin’s, y’ survived, right?”

“You gotta buck up an’ learn from yer mistakes.” Big Macintosh’s deep tones were reassuring. “Truth be told, your humility is a good sign. T’would be discouragin’ if you pointed th’ blame elsewhere.”

“That’s right! We’ve all had our… encounters with Nightmare Moon and her deplorable minions. And sometimes it didn’t turn out so good for us, but, we gotta keep on keepin’ on, for th’ sake of everypony left.” Braeburn finished off his drink in one gulp. “So what d’ya say Twilight Sparkle? We came here ta find someone with the guts and strength ta help us keep Nightmare Moon’s goons from overrunning Apple Orchards and taking it ta feed her armies. So far everybody’s turned us down, but, maybe, could we count on you?”

“But what can I do? I’m just one pony, and I’ve tried and failed before.” Twilight looked up into Braeburn’s hopeful face.

“The Apple family’s got numbers and the will ta fight, but we don’t have any trainin’. You proved yerself against that gang, if you could show us a bit o’ technique, an’ help us get organized, we could hold out against Nightmare Moon’s looters.” Applejack prodded Twilight. “An’ no-one should hafta stand by herself.”

Twilight lifted her head a bit. “So you really still want my help?”

Applejack smiled reassuringly. “Yep, an’ if yer still gonna fight Nightmare Moon ya gotta start somewhere, right?”

“I guess you’re right, sitting around feeling sorry for myself won’t accomplish anything.” Twilight straightened up and took a large swig from her drink.

Applejack and the others looked on in amazement and concern as Twilight’s face turned a deep red, then a bright pink. Her eyes twitched, and sparks flew out of her horn. She coughed up a small cloud of smoke, and then collapsed face-first onto the table. Braeburn gave her an experimental poke with one hoof.

Twilight sat bolt upright, practically crackling with energy. “Right! Let’s go!” She opened the booth door with her magic and herded the other three ponies out with one hoof. “No time to lose, let’s get moving!”

A certain six-legged pony, or half pony, as it were, watched the four go, carefully masking her interest behind wild dance motions. When they reached the front door, she hit a concealed button that lowered her glass ‘stage’ into the floor, to soon be replaced for another. Stepping out of the clear bubble, she grabbed a plain robe from a hook and shouted to the many-armed creature in charge. “I’m goin’ on break.” It nodded to her, and she exited the club through a discreet back door.

Pulling her robe tight around her neck, she trotted through deserted and filthy back alleys, passing ridiculous product advertisements featuring Nightmare Moon; dodging the occasional sanitation drone and scrambling across infrequently maintained bridges through and over major traffic lanes. Eventually she arrived at her goal, a Supplicant Transport Station. These crystal-topped buildings housed teleportation units that could be used to gain access to Nightmare Moon’s court, security around them was light, more interested in preventing sabotage than unauthorized use. Anyone could use the teleporters, but Nightmare Moon reserved the right to vaporize anyone she didn’t like.

The dancer, Spanglehooves, as she was known on stage, materialized in the reception chamber and groaned when she saw the long queue that had formed. Hopefully the dark empress would be in a vaporizing mood that would clear up by the time she got to the front of the line.

As luck would have it, she apparently was, because the line soon reversed, supplicants tripping over one another in their hurry to flee Nightmare Moon’s wrath. Spanglehoof crouched in the scant cover offered by a courtesy bench (complete with a meter coins had to be fed into in order to retract the deterrent spikes for a limited time) and waited the stampede out.

Once she was left alone in the rather bare reception chambers, she stood and made her way into the grand court of the Nightmare. A rich, deep purple carpet stretched over a sea of the darkest obsidian that swallowed all light beside the faint, ghostly reflections upon its surface. Quiet rumor was that the floor was actually a window into the deepest pits of the netherworld, and that the reflections were actually souls imprisoned by Nightmare Moon. The carpet ended in the center of the vast chamber, leaving supplicants without even the slightest illusions of being able to hide from the terrible gaze of their goddess.

Beyond the end of the carpet, on the other side of a flat expanse of floor that may as well have been a rift in the fabric of space, the grand throne of Nightmare Moon crouched like a barely-restrained feral animal. All elegant but fierce curves wrought from silver and lapis lazuli, it was studded with purple and blue gems that gave the impression of an eldritch beast covered in unwinking eyes. The Mistress of Misfortune herself lounged upon it, polishing a delicately armored hoof with a beam of destructive magic from her horn.

Spanglehoof prostrated herself before the seat of darkness, no mean feat for a pony with six legs, and awaited the goddess’s favor. After a few seconds that seemed to occupy years, the dark mare spoke.

“You are either incredibly brave or profoundly stupid to remain in my presence.” Nightmare Moon never shifted her gaze from the minute imperfection in the surface of her hoof. “Whichever it is, if you seek to waste my time you will suffer for it in the pit of hate!”

Spanglehoof swallowed back her fear. “My Empress, I bring great news-“

“What news could be considered great to the immortal Nightmare Moon?” The Dealer of Darkness glared out of the corner of her eyes at the insignificant creature that cowered before her.

“Representatives of the infamous Apple clan were in town, and they have recruited a unicorn warrior to their cause.” The six legged half-pony risked a glance upwards.

“WHAT? FOALS! How dare they continue to defy me!” Nightmare Moon leapt from her throne, stamping her forehooves on the glassy floor. “Show me!” The surface clouded, and an image took shape upon it. Nightmare Moon frowned. “That looks like a-“

Applejack, Braeburn and Big Macintosh stood by a dumpster in awkward silence as Twilight was rather loudly sick on the other side. The drink had given her a manic energy only long enough for her to lead them out of the club, down the street and realize that she didn’t know where she was going. The aftereffects were not pleasant.

“Ah’m sorry Twilight.” Braeburn looked sheepish as Twilight staggered back into view. “We shouldn’t’a assumed you knew how ta use the drink console.”

“We just figured you knew what you were orderin’.” Applejack handed Twilight a napkin to clean her face with.

“It’s- it’s ok.” Twilight felt rather like the universe had mugged her brain and left it lying in the gutters. On the positive side everything seemed to be in razor-sharp focus. On the negative side these razors were all pointed directly into her eyes and ears. “Just never let me do that again. Now, where were we going?”

“Ah’m not sure where you were takin’ us, but our vehicle’s parked over this way.” Big Macintosh lead them to a multi-leveled parking garage where a sleek flying chariot like the ones Twilight had seen earlier.

Nightmare Moon chuckled darkly. “So, foalish pony warrior, you have finally returned! It has been a long time, but now you will pay for my pain in the past with your pain in the present! Ahahahahaha!”

As she laughed, the image shifted to show an army of black-armored insectoid robots activating and marching out from a factory. The dark tide of Nightmare Moon’s army issued forth, prepared to sweep the land clean of any who would oppose the Queen of Calamity.

Most of the trip passed in a blur for Twilight, except for the parts where she asked Big Macintosh to pull over so she wouldn’t be sick on the interior. She was still feeling a little queasy from the drink, and moving so fast at such high altitude wasn’t helping. After what felt like a lifetime they slowed and approached a concrete landing pad, where a small group of earth ponies waited.

As soon as they touched down, Applejack jumped out of the vehicle and embraced the welcoming party. “Howdy y’all! We’re back, an’ we got someone ta help!”

Twilight staggered out of the vehicle, tripped over the doorframe and smacked into the dirt, face-first. There was an uncomfortable pause. She looked up at the assembled ponies. “S-sorry, I’m not used to going so fast…”

“Ah shoot, that’s our fault again Twilight.” Braeburn helped her up as Big Macintosh locked up the vehicle. “We keep forgettin’ how new all this is to ya.” He turned to the ponies gathered before them. “Everyone, this is Twilight Sparkle. She’s agreed ta help get us in ta shape ta fight Nightmare Moon’s goons!”

A hearty cheer rose from the group and Twilight was lead towards a veritable forest of apple trees. She found herself walking alongside a light orange filly with a large pink bow in her rose mane. “Hi! Mah name’s Apple Bloom! Applejack’s mah sister, an’ Big Macintosh’s mah brother!” Twilight smiled patiently as she listened to the little filly explain her entire family tree and everything about her family’s trees. The other ponies interjected with the occasional fact or to point out something Apple Bloom had missed, but for the most part she managed to impress Twilight with her knowledge. By the time they reached the barns and houses, it felt like she was a part of the family.

“They’re coming! They’re coming!” The moment was shattered by a panicked shout from a pony running from the other end of the farm.

“Calm down Caramel, who’s coming?” Big Macintosh questioned the yellow mare.

“Nightmare Moon’s army! It’s a whole swarm of drones!” Everypony gasped, and Applejack had to shout to be heard.

“Hey, listen ta me! Would everyone BE QUIET FER A MOMENT?!” The hubbub died down and all eyes turned to her. “Thank you. Now, everyone, we’ve talked about this, you know what ta do. Start preparin’ and we’ll join you as soon as we see what we’re up against. Twilight’s gonna show us how ta fight more effectively, and if we all stay calm an’ focus, we’ll get through this. Alright?”

The ponies murmured their agreement and split up to various parts of the farm. Apple Bloom gave Twilight a hug before departing. “She’s an adorable little filly, ain’t she?” Apple Jack smiled as her sister trotted off towards the houses. “An’ now you know what all we’re fightin’ for. Time ta see what we’re fightin’ against; it’s a bit sooner than ah’d hoped, but we’ll make do.”

A quick climb up a watchtower gave a good view of the land all around the orchards. Twilight was amazed at how vast the Apple Family’s property was, and noted how different kinds of fruits had been planted in groups to stagger the harvests. To the south an ominous cloud of dust peeked over the horizon.

Braeburn raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes and set his jaw grimly. Applejack nudged him. “What’ve we got Braeburn?”

“Biggest swarm o’ combat drones I’ve ever seen, even bigger’n the one that… took Appleloosa from us.” His voice had a hard edge to it. “It ain’t good, but I’m not backin’ down. Not now, not ever.”

“Ah understand Braeburn, we all do, but this ain’t th’ time ta be rememberin’ old grudges.” Twilight made a mental note to find out what they were talking about when they had time.

The purple unicorn narrowed her eyes and watched the gradually rising plume of dust, kicked up by thousands upon thousands of scurrying metal feet. They would be upon the farm by dawn.

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[Greki]

I'm officially hooked.

[Brony Tom]

I Need Moar.