Night of Day

by PonyUpYourBits

Chapter 1

Author's Note:

This story assumes an entire season took place between my last story and this one. So stuff happened and Twilight did some things that got her ready to become queen.

Canterlot Castle, Throne Room

It was a quiet afternoon in Canterlot as Princess Celestia continued her tutelage of the queen-to-be Princess Twilight Sparkle. She was standing atop the pedestal where the two thrones of the princesses were situated while Twilight stood at the bottom and listened intently. Aside from the two guard ponies standing post at the large doorway at the far end of the throne room, there were no other ponies present, giving Twilight a private audience with her cherished mentor.

"Diplomatic situations come in many forms, Twilight," Celestia explained. "It's not simply enough to apply a mere template to. There are cultural aspects and personalities to take into account when attempting to negotiate with a foreign emissary."

"Pinkie Pie has acted as a diplomat on my behalf in the past," Twilight told Celestia. "But I would love to see how you operate!"

"Well, I do have a diplomatic journey to Saddle Arabia scheduled soon," Celestia said thoughtfully. "Perhaps you should joi-"

Celestia abruptly cut herself off as the sounds of a commotion could be heard from beyond the throne room doors. She tilted her head slightly as Twilight turned around to face the doors herself. The two guard ponies moved to open the door to investigate when suddenly they were flung open with a great force, knocking them away.

"What's going on?!" Celestia demanded to know. Beyond the doors to the throne room a long hallway could be observed but it appeared empty until a dark hoof stepped in from the right side of the doorway.

"Celestia...it has been some time..." a sinister voice remarked. The two guards collected themselves and attempted to charge at the unknown intruder but two bolts of cyan magic ended their hopes as they were blasted to the corners of the throne room and knocked unconscious. With the guards defeated, the attacker came into full view, prompting a gasp from Twilight and Celestia.

"It...it can't be..." Celestia managed to say as the initial shock wore off. She raised her hoof to her mouth in horrified awe.

"...Nightmare Moon..." Twilight finished for her mentor.

The inky black alicorn let out an evil laugh. "I am pleased to see you too, Twilight Sparkle, I assure you..." she said to the Princess of Friendship.

"How did you return?!" Twilight said, now readying herself for a fight. She took an aggressive stance and gritted her teeth. "We had separated you from Princess Luna!"

"I would love to explain, foal," Nightmare Moon said, the corners of her mouth curled into a vile smirk. "However for now, know that I am not here for you..."

"What then?" Celestia posed.

"Why...you, of course!" Nightmare Moon said. Before either could react, Nightmare Moon charged up another bolt of magical energy and shot it straight at Celestia, striking on the orange gem at the base of her neck piece.

"Ahh! What...are you doing?!" Celestia said, taken by surprise.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried, reaching her hoof out helplessly. She turned back to face Nightmare Moon and shot a magical bolt of her own to disrupt the attack but her magic deflected off a black force field being generated around Nightmare Moon's hooves. Nightmare Moon grinned at Twilight while not relenting in her assault of Princess Celestia.

The gem on Celestia's neck could no longer withstand the stress of Nightmare Moon's magic and shattered. "N...no!" Celestia exclaimed, as if she knew what was going to happen next. Crimson flames emerged around Celestia's hooves and encircled the princess. "Not...again!" she cried helplessly. She clenched her eyes closed and tried to fight off something from within herself but was quickly losing the battle. The flames around her feet grew much stronger until they enveloped the princess inside a dome of pure magical fire.

"What did you do?!" Twilight said in despair. Nightmare Moon simply cackled with glee that her plan had succeeded. The flames surrounding Princess Celestia dispelled as quickly as they had arisen and in their place, an alicorn adorned in orange armor and a mane of fire stood before Twilight. Her teeth were now fanged and the color of her eyes had changed from a soft lavender to a blazing orange with the image of a candle's flame in her pupils.

"I'm...unsealed?" the armored alicorn said to herself. She quickly looked around the room and immediately was drawn to Twilight's presence. "You!"

"Daybreaker!" Twilight said in response, making eye contact with the white alicorn that had seemingly possessed Celestia.

"Why would you unseal me?!" she demanded to know, not expecting Twilight Sparkle to be her ally after their last encounter.

"Actually that would be me," Nightmare Moon interjected.

Daybreaker took notice of Nightmare Moon for the first time since she returned. "It's you..." she said, surprised to see Nightmare Moon standing before her. "You...did this?" she asked skeptically. She turned her head off to the side slightly and raised her eyebrow, disbelief clearly visible on her face.

"Yes," Nightmare Moon confirmed.

"Not exactly what I was expecting to learn today..." Daybreaker said, still unconvinced that Nightmare Moon was her benefactor.

"I am not particularly fond of you either, trust me," Nightmare Moon reassured Daybreaker, "but a good leader must be able to recognize a powerful asset. In a way call this my thanks for freeing me during your battle with Luna. Now that I walk the lands of Equestria once more I will see to it that things stay that way, at any expense."

"And so you needed me?" Daybreaker said, now grinning at her importance to Nightmare Moon. "What do I gain by working with you?"

"Think of it as...'mutually beneficial'," Nightmare Moon responded. "Last time you demonstrated quite the show but were still rendered ineffective by the Elements of Harmony." Daybreaker snorted and averted her eyes, recalling the last time she roamed Equestria and how it had ended. "That is why I am here; to ensure we both get what we want this time. Now is not the time to bicker when there are obstacles we share in common..."

"Well what I want right about now is to make a certain alicorn pay for ruining my day," Daybreaker said, now focusing on Twilight. She began to charge her horn with dark red magic.

"Oh, I know just what you speak of..." Nightmare Moon concurred. Her horn began to glow with a light blue magic as she too took aim at Twilight.

Twilight looked back and forth at the evil alicorns about to turn their magic on her. She panicked and quickly shielded herself in a magical bubble. Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker both fired at Twilight in the same instant. The magic bubble managed to protect Twilight but the collective power of both alicorns was quickly overwhelming her own magic.

"S-stop!" Twilight pleaded. "You aren't like this, you have to...fight back!" she begged the alter egos of Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker.

"Pitiful!" Nightmare Moon chided. "Luna will not hear you so long as I remain in control!"

Before their magic could completely engulf Twilight's shield, an unseen bolt of magical energy intercepted both and deflected them away from Twilight.

"Rragh!" Daybreaker growled at the interruption. "What is this?!"

Standing alongside Twilight was an elderly gray unicorn cloaked in a blue mage's robe. It was Star Swirl the Bearded.

"Star Swirl!" Twilight exclaimed, surprised to see who had come to her aid.

"This is even worse than I had thought," Star Swirl said, immediately noting Daybreaker's presence in addition to Nightmare Moon's. "Twilight, you need to get us out of here now!"

Twilight nodded then charged up her horn. "Oh no you don't!" Daybreaker said. She and Nightmare Moon powered up their own horns and once again fired at the pair in unison. Before their magic made contact, Twilight covered herself and Star Swirl in a magic sphere, which then blinked out of sight. The magic of the two alicorns clashed in the center of the room and left a patch of smoldering ground on the throne room floor.

"Where did they go?!" Daybreaker snarled angrily. She looked to her left and saw a balcony leading outside of the castle. Daybreaker walked to the lookout and glanced out over the castle lawn. On the ground, she saw Twilight Sparkle and Star Swirl reappear before running off together. "There you are..." she said in a low voice, her eyes narrowed in a malicious squint. Daybreaker opened her mouth and a large fireball appeared between her jaws. She was about to fire but was halted by Nightmare Moon holding her hoof in front of Daybreaker.

"What?! Why?!" Daybreaker demanded Nightmare Moon explain herself. She grimaced and looked Nightmare Moon in the eye.

"Leave them," Nightmare Moon instructed calmly. "Knowing Twilight Sparkle, this will not be our last encounter. For now, let us hedge our advantage." Her horn began to glow with magical energy.

Daybreaker nodded in understanding as she charged up her own horn. Together they shot beams of magic into the atmosphere above Canterlot. A magical shield formed above them and gradually began to expand over the capital city.

---

Twilight and Star Swirl ran across the lawn before stopping quickly and looking up and seeing the shield that was covering the sky above Canterlot.

"Oh no, they're trying to trap us!" Twilight said.

"Do not lose hope!" Star Swirl reassured her. "We need to get out of Canterlot before that shield covers the entire city!"

Twilight nodded. "I'll find Spike. You get out of the city and meet me at the outskirts," she instructed. Star Swirl nodded in response before galloping away. Twilight charged up her horn and teleported again.

In Twilight's study within the castle, a small purple dragon was carrying a stack of books across the room to be reshelved on the bookshelf at the far wall. He was quietly humming to himself when Twilight suddenly appeared in front of him, startling the dragon. "Ahh!" he exclaimed as he fell backwards with his stack of books tumbling all around him.

"Spike!" she said to the dragon in a hurried fashion.

"Twilight..." he groaned, mildly irritated by Twilight's rudeness. He rubbed his head as he picked himself up off the ground. "You could have just kn-"

"There isn't time to explain, we need to get out of Canterlot right now!" she urgently interrupted her assistant, pointing to the open window with her hoof. She spread her wings and took flight. "Come on! We have to go!" she urged Spike to do the same. Spike unfurled his own wings and flew up to meet her at eye level.

"But-!" Spike said. However before he could ask anything else, Twilight bolted out of the window and flew at breakneck speed across the skyline of the city. Spike could only groan in annoyance before following Twilight outside through the open window.

Twilight cut through the sky above Canterlot as Spike caught up to her. "What is going on?!" he shouted, demanding Twilight explain the situation.

"It's terrible, Spike," she told him. "Nightmare Moon has overtaken Luna again!"

"Nightmare Moon, seriously?!" Spike said in disbelief.

"Yes, she returned and freed Daybreaker! Now the two of them are working together to try to overthrow Equestria!"

"That's awful!" Spike said. He looked up and saw the magical shield that was covering the city. "What is that?!" he asked, pointing at the glowing barrier.

"That's what we're trying to escape from, come on!" Twilight told him. The pair increased their flight speed as they approached the border of the city. The magical barrier was now cascading down the edge of the city.

"We're not gonna make it!" Spike panicked, seeing that the barrier would close them in before they could get under it.

"Don't give up yet, Spike, grab my tail!" Twilight ordered. Spike reached out and gripped Twilight's tail with his claw as Twilight charged up her magic. The magic covered both and they instantly vanished right before hitting the magical barrier. On the other side of the barrier, Twilight and Spike reappeared still flying at top speed.

"We made it..." Spike said, letting go of Twilight's tail as they slowed down to a stable hover, looking back at the now enclosed city. Twilight looked upon Canterlot encased in the magical barrier and sighed with a heavy despair.

"Come on, Spike, hopefully Star Swirl made it out..." she said, her voice weighted with gloom.

Meanwhile, inside the city, panic was starting to spread among the populace.

"What's going on?!" cried a terrified pony, seeing the magical barrier close in the city.

"We're being trapped!"

"Is this an emergency response?!"

"Who's doing this?!"

Young ponies held their parents closely as worried citizens began gathering in Canterlot's central avenues to witness the powerful magic that had sealed them inside their own city.

Back at the castle, Nightmare Moon stood out on the highest balcony facing the main entrance to the castle grounds, looking beyond the walls towards the rest of Canterlot.

"They have escaped..." she spoke softly to herself regarding Twilight Sparkle and Star Swirl. Daybreaker approached Nightmare Moon from behind.

"You should've let me deal with them while they were still on the castle grounds," Daybreaker said, displeased that Nightmare Moon hadn't allowed her to solve the problem earlier.

"Do not concern yourself," Nightmare Moon reassured her, walking back into the castle. "Everything has a purpose."

"Now they're likely to seek help. Probably those pesky 'friends' of hers..." Daybreaker muttered, still sore over her previous defeat.

"Actually...that was my expectation," Nightmare Moon responded. Daybreaker whipped her head in Nightmare Moon's direction and growled angrily.

"You wanted Twilight to seek out her friends?" Daybreaker asked incredulously. "To what end?!"

"As I said; everything has a purpose," Nightmare Moon reiterated. "The last time you skirmished with Twilight Sparkle, you had to contend with the Elements of Harmony, as did I. She will surely resort to them once again and I am planning ahead. I want Twilight to play her entire hand before we strike, so as to not be caught off-guard. We may possess the most powerful magic in the land but that princess always seems to have some other trick behind her back."

"But last time we fought, Twilight used the power of her castle to amplify the Elements and seal me," Daybreaker reminded Nightmare Moon. "That castle no longer exists and thus can't be used against us."

"Perhaps but something tells me that there is still more that she will try. With that old stallion accompanying her she's bound to come up with something 'creative'. I want to ensure every factor is accounted for, if not for the present then any future contingency we may have to deal with. For now the magical barrier will allow us to control the situation within Canterlot until the next time we encounter Twilight Sparkle," Nightmare Moon concluded. Daybreaker frowned then looked back towards the horizon.

"Whatever..." she conceded, trotting back inside the castle.

---

A short while later, Twilight and Spike were resting under a tree atop a small hill some distance away from Canterlot. The city was entirely surrounded by Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker's magical force field, preventing them from going back to the city. Twilight looked over the crest of the hill and saw the familiar sign of Star Swirl the Bearded's pointed wizard cap. She galloped over to her friend. Accompanying him was a small gray unicorn with his dark green mane styled into a simple bowl cut. He was wearing a plain robe and carried with him a pair of saddle bags.

"Star Swirl, Stygian, I'm glad you made it out!" she said, relieved to see the pair. She gave Star Swirl a hug. "We were starting to lose hope that you had escaped."

"I had to take a small detour to retrieve Stygian but we managed to get outside the walls before the entire city was sealed," Star Swirl assured her.

"This is really bad," Spike said, coming up behind Twilight. The three ponies and dragon looked towards Canterlot as a gust of wind kicked up. "We're not going back there, that's for sure."

"Mr. Star Swirl explained the situation to me," Stygian said. "The dark personas of the princesses have reawakened?" Twilight nodded somberly.

"I tried to stop Luna from succumbing to the power of Nightmare Moon but it had already grown too out of control when I found her," Star Swirl said with regret. "But I was not expecting she would try and free Daybreaker as well. Nightmare Moon is clearly obsessed with staying free at any cost."

"What do you think triggered it?" Twilight asked the great mage. "I thought you had determined Luna was safe from being consumed again."

"Coming into contact with Daybreaker's magic must have infected her magic with the darkness that you purged," Star Swirl said, reminding Twilight how Luna had attempted to fight off Daybreaker directly and failed. "The dark nature of the magic that controls the sun and moon cannot be completely destroyed, only cleansed, and a sufficient amount of negative magic can draw it back out. That is why you were selected to be the new host of that magic, Twilight Sparkle. That darkness is powerless against your magic of friendship, even if it continues to exist."

"What should we do?" Stygian asked the troupe.

"I am...not sure," Star Swirl said dejectedly. "Last time we had the fortune of being able to use the power of the Castle of Friendship to amplify the effects of the Elements of Harmony. That is no longer an option..."

"Regardless," Twilight said, "I have a duty to act. We may not have the castle anymore but there must be some way to achieve the same effect without it." She let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever we're going to do, we can't do it from here," Twilight surmised. "We need to convene somewhere else to strategize."

"What do you have in mind?" Star Swirl asked.

"Somewhere far away...somewhere Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker wouldn't think to find us..." Twilight said, trying to think of a place they could stay hidden from the two tyrants.

"So Ponyville's out," Spike said. "What about the Crystal Empire?"

"Yes, Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, her mood shifting for the first time that day. "They wouldn't think to look for us there! Plus the Crystal Empire has a big library that might help us come up with a solution." She gave her assistant a hug as thanks.

"So what do you propose we do, Princess?" Star Swirl inquired.

"We'll need to split up," Twilight instructed. "I'll go ahead to the Crystal Empire to fill in Princess Cadence and my brother about the situation. Spike, I need you to go to Ponyville to round up the others." Spike nodded in understanding.

"And us?" Stygian asked on behalf of himself and Star Swirl.

"Can you gather up the other Pillars of Equestria? I have no idea what may happen and it's best to be prepared," Twilight requested. Star Swirl and Stygian nodded at each other and then towards Twilight. The group all reached in together and touched hooves as a sign of unity before going about their individual objectives.