The cursed resident.

by Sylif Daring Doo

Of Sisters and Mysteries.

Author's Note:

I'm trying something a little new in this chapter, I'm putting a little more spacing around these.

_____*example*______

I don't know if this is pointless or not, but if you guys/girls want to let me know what you that'd be great.

Thanks for listening to my ranting, and now, on with the chapter.

_____*Ponyville School, 2:07 PM.*_____

The School let out a while ago, letting fillies and colts out to go home and enjoy the rest of their day, the sky had gray clouds scattered around the sky and birds flew through the air singing some kind of song, there was a slight breeze in the air today and three little fillies sat outside around a tree waiting.

Applebloom was waiting on Applejack to show up to take her home, apparently the older sister of the two wanted to talk to her about something, so now she waited under the shade.

Sweetie Belle was told that Nightmare would be picking her up, under the disguise of Silver Wing of course, and while the young unicorn understood that her sister desperately needed a few days off to relax, she was a little disappointed with this news because Applebloom suggested that she enter the Sisterhooves Social event coming up, so she was hoping to ask Rarity to go with her.

Scootaloo mentioned that she could go home any time she wanted but she said it wouldn't be right to leave her friends alone, so she decided to stick around and wait with them so they could come up with some crusading ideas.

"So what about siege engineering cutie marks?" Scootaloo suggested, getting a confused look from her friends. "Oh come on! it's hardly the most dangerous thing I've suggested, and all we would have to do would be to BUILD something, not use it." She stated with a little aggravation, but it wasn't directed at her friends.

Applebloom shrugged at first, the earth pony then began to think on it for a moment before nodding her head. "I'm in, so long as it's AFTER the Sisterhooves Social!" She stated.

"What about you Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked and then both fillies looked at their friend.

Sweetie Belle sighed and looked up at the sky in thought. 'I'm not going to lie, that does sound fun.' She giggled and looked at her friends. "Count me in!" She stated with a smile, feeling confident in their chances for once.

Before the Cutie Mark Crusaders could begin to brainstorm any ideas, they heard a voice speak up. "Am I interrupting something?" Asked the familiar voice of Nightmare Moon, the fillies looked up and saw that the Alicorn was disguised as Silver Wing again.

Sweetie Belle mentally noted that Nightmare Moon never went outside unless she had that disguise on, and today was no exception, but she said nothing about it and stood up. "Not really, just some ideas on how to get our cutie marks." She replied casually and with a smile.

Silver Wing gave the three fillies a critical stare for a short while, and the entire time they all had a innocent smiles on their faces, half a minute later and the disguised Alicorn sighed. "If you say so, come on Sweetie Belle, Applejack was right behind me by the way." She stated, directing the second half to Applebloom as she turned around and walked away.

"See you later girls." Sweetie Belle said before quickly walking up to the disguised Alicorn and keeping pace with her, as they walked they passed Applejack who gave them a friendly nod.

Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder and watched as Applejack walked to her sister to bring her home, she saw Scootaloo run off somewhere and she looked at Silver Wing. "Hey uh.....what do you want to do today?" She asked nervously.

"If you are up for it I want to continue your magic lessons, you have made great progress lately and I think you are ready to try a different spell." Silver Wing said as she walked, the Pegasus looked down at Sweetie Belle who seemed to be a little more enthused.

"Sure!' The filly replied happily, she felt her excitement build up and she gained a noticable bounce in her step.

Silver Wing smiled and looked ahead, keeping an eye on where they were going. "You do understand of course, that it will be some time before you can cast the spell I am using now?" She asked, she glanced at Sweetie Belle who was still excited.

"I know I know, the Alteration spell is complex and advanced, but when cast properly you can temporarily alter yourself to an alternate species, the only true downside to this spell is that it is draining and cannot be prematurely ended unless you have the excess magic to do so, like you." Sweetie Belle stated, easily remembering Nightmare Moons description of the spell.

"Very good." Silver Wing said simply, not saying more than necessary for now.

In Sweetie Belle's mind however, she wondered just how she was going to convince Rarity to take part in the event, as it sounded like they would enjoy it, once they took part of course.

_____*Ponyville Market.*_____

"Truly?" Rarity asked with surprise and a little hesitation.

Amethyst Star, one of Rarity's friends nodded as she placed three carrots in her saddlebags. "Yea, Dinky was so excited to go and I heard it was really fun." She said.

Rarity bit her lip as she walked with her friend, having already gotten most of her groceries. "But still, I wonder why Sweetie Belle never said anything to me, I would have thought she would want to go to the Sisterhooves event." She wondered.

Amethyst looked Rarity up and down and smiled. "You know Rarity, I didn't think you would be the kind of mare to want to go to this, what with the mess and all." She snickered. "I always thought it would be 'uncouth' of you to go." She joked.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I still hate getting dirty and I would rather not get covered in mud or anything......else." She shivered at the thought of it. "But if Sweetie Belle does want to go, I'll put it aside for her sake." She stated.

Amethyst levitated a list from her saddlebags and read off it. "That's very nice of you Rarity." She stated. "I need to get going, I have a few more things to pick up before I go home." She returned the list to her bags and looked at the white unicorn. "It was great to talk to you again, don't be a stranger Rarity." She said before walking off.

Rarity headed off into the market in a different direction from her friend, she still needed to pick up some extra fabric for work and then she could drop everything off and relax, and as she walked she came up with an idea. 'I'll let Sweetie Belle ask me herself, if she wants to go then she'll ask right?' She smiled at her sudden plan and then focused on what she needed to do today.

_____*Later, Rarity's house, 2:53 PM*_____

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath as she stood in the center of the family room, the furniture having been moved aside for what was going on, as she mentally prepared herself she heard talking behind her.

"Remember, focus is everything in spell casting, if you lose focus you won't be able to finish the spell, resulting in either a fizzle, a misfire or a weakened spell, in every single case of spell casting it is always better to let the spell fizzle and fail, a misfire can injure yourself or your friends and allies, a weakened spell can have negative impacts even when it comes to a basic magical bolt as it will waste valuable mana, but a fizzle will allow you to reposition, to try again or to regain focus." Nightmare Moon explained.

"Ok, but why do I need to know some of that? it sounds like you expect me to be fighting?" Sweetie Belle asked with a hesitant tone as she looked at the now undisguised Nightmare Moon.

Said Alicorn sighed and walked up next to Sweetie Belle. "I hope you never have to fight, but when Discord was free I wasn't able to protect you or Alecia, it will ease my mind knowing that you can defend yourself." She stated with a soft tone and expression, which soon hardened and she spoke again.

"The spell I am going to teach you is Guardia Force, it is an ancient spell that won't see much use in these times." The Alicorn stated with a firm tone. "When cast, it can take many forms, be it a shield or wave, a nova or a bolt, when the spell collides with your target it will detect a desire to inflict harm upon you or any you wish to protect, and it will prevent them from getting through in the case of the shield." She explained. "Be warned however, when you cast this spell you yourself must not hold any desire to harm another, or it will backfire with double the force." She stated.

Sweetie Belle stiffened a little but nodded determinedly. "What do I have to do?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon smiled but it was quickly replaced by a more stern expression. "First, I shall demonstrate the spell to you in the form of a shield, and then we will work on getting you familiar with its composition." She stated, she motioned for Sweetie Belle to take a step back and then channeled her magic through her horn.

The filly in question stepped back and watched as Nightmare Moon's magic slowly built up and then expanded from her horn, it reached up a couple inches before expanding in a dome shape around her, soon enough the Alicorn was surrounded by a dark blue shield with pure white sparks dancing around its surface, the shield dropped a few seconds later.

Nightmare Moon looked at Sweetie Belle. "Now, it's your turn, do you remember how to create a dome shield?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yes." To which she lit her horn and closed her eyes to focus, she channeled her magic and let it build up for a moment before imagining a dome above her head, her magic shot up a few inches above her head, she let out a breath and guided her magic to lower from the top of the dome, she opened her eyes and watched as the dome completed and she was surrounded by it.

"Good, now for the tricky part, you have to imagine a desire to protect, to protect yourself and others from harm and you have to allow that feeling to manifest in your magic, take it slow." Nightmare stated with a calm voice.

Sweetie Belle felt a drop of sweat form on her head but she ignored it, she drew upon her memory of Discords return, she remembered how he terrified her and Scootaloo, she remembered how he threatened her, Nightmare Moon and Alecia, she remembered how powerless she felt to protect her friends, she used these memories to fuel a desire to protect her friends, she opened her eyes and felt a surge in her magic, taking this as a sign, Sweetie Belle funneled the surge to her shield.

At first it seemed like it was working, white sparks danced along the surface of the shield along with a few faded pink sparks, but then the young unicorn filly winced in pain and the shield grew unstable, she stopped channeling her magic and the shield dissipated soon after, Sweetie Belle found herself breathing heavily and feeling a little dissapointed in herself. "I'm sorry, I messed up." She said with a held back tear as she slid to her chest and looked at the floor.

Nightmare Moon walked up to the filly and knelt down, she moved her right hoof and lifted the filly's chin so she could look her student in the eye. "So....that's what you can do huh?" She asked, her voice soft.

Sweetie Belle sniffed and looked away from Nightmare Moon. "Yes......I'm sorry." She said quietly, trying not to sound upset and failing.

Nightmare smiled and held back a chuckle. "I can't wait to see what you can do later on." She said while standing up, she took a step back.

Sweetie Belle froze and then looked up at Nightmare Moon who had a large smile on her face. "What?....what do you mean?" She asked with a confused tone to her voice.

"When I started to teach you magic, you could barely maintain levitation for a few seconds, after we solved that I taught you how to improve your telekinesis and levitation, and then I taught you how to make a magical block which you can step on." Nightmare stated, she even cast said spells in demonstration. "Then I taught you how to make a dome shield, which isn't exactly easy, add on to that the fact that you almost perfectly cast an ancient spell after only seeing it once?" The Alicorn smiled, proud of her student who was red faced from the praise she was getting.

"You would have given Glyph a run for her money, and that is saying something." Nightmare praised with a large smile.

Sweetie Belle stood up fully and looked up at Nightmare Moon. "You mean that?" She asked with hope, to which the Alicorn nodded in confirmation and looked outside.

"I think that's enough for today, we'll pick this up tomorrow." Nightmare said as she returned the furniture to where it once was, she then walked to the stairs, leaving a filly who could barely contain her excitement.

Once she was alone in the family room, Sweetie Belle jumped and cheered in joy, she had a large smile on her face and she suddenly felt newfound confidence in herself, she heard the front door open and she barely contained her excitement when she saw Rarity enter the house.

Rarity closed the door with her magic and saw Sweetie Belle standing in the family room with a large smile on her face. "Let me put these away and then you can say what's on your mind." She said, the filly nodded eagerly in agreement.

After a few minutes, Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle who seemed to calm down some while also seeming a little nervous, she took a moment to brace herself before speaking. "What was it you wanted to say Sweetie Belle?" She asked calmly.

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and then spoke. "There's an event called the Sisterhooves Social coming up and I was wonderingifyouwouldgowithme?" She blurted out suddenly.

"Of course I'll go." Rarity said calmly, having already guessed wha this was about.

Sweetie Belle groaned. "But Rarity! you never do anything if it means.....getting......what?" She asked as she looked at her sister, only now realizing what she had said.

Rarity smiled. "I said I'll go, I may not like being dirty, and once I heard what the event detailed I was.....hesitant, but I care about you, and if you want to participate who am I to say no?" She said, she leaned in and hugged her sister.

Sweetie Belle was stunned to say the least, but she returned the hug happily. "Thanks Rarity." She said quietly.

_____*A few days later, Sweet Apple Acres.*_____

Nightmare Moon sat disguised with the audience watching the Sisterhooves event, it had yet to begin and she found herself sitting next to Twilight and Spike who wanted to spectate. "Sweetie Belle came to the library yesterday." Twilight said, looking at Nightmare Moon. "She was excited about some magic you're teaching her and wanted to borrow books on the subject." She added.

"She is a good student." Nightmare said as the event was about to start.

Twilight nodded and watched as Applejack and Applebloom stood side by side, with Rarity and Sweetie Belle next to them. "Out of curiosity, I asked what she was learning, and she said it was old magic but refused to tell me more." She looked at Nightmare again. "Naturally I am curious, what spells are you teaching her?" She asked.

"What, you don't trust me now?" Nightmare asked with a smirk as the obstacle course began. "If you must know I am not teaching her anything dangerous and I'm taking precautions to make sure she doesn't hurt herself, the spell I'm teaching her is defensive in nature." She explained before watching as Sweetie Belle and Rarity cleared the hay jump just after Applejack and Applebloom.

Twilight said nothing and returned her focus to the obstacle course, deciding to enjoy the day and cheer her friends on.

The race progressed well for most of the participants, a few pairs gave up and in the end, Applejack and Applebloom came in first, and with a little surprise, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were second, and as Nightmare Moon watched all of this, she could not help but smile.

______*Two weeks later, Ponyville.*______

Rarity walked to the train station with Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon who was in her usual disguise, she had once asked the Alicorn why she disguised when the entire town knew who she was.

"Because when I'm Silver Wing I'm much more myself, because as Nightmare Moon I am seen as Luna's darker half." Had been the reply she got.

They were currently heading to the train station to board the train that the Cakes were using to transport their entry in a dessert competition, Rarity also knew that none of them would say anything, but they all missed Alecia, the house just seemed a lot less lively without their ghostly friend.

The main reason they were boarding the train though was to get away for a short while, to enjoy some time away from the town and enjoy the competition......mostly because Nightmare Moon was requested to be a judge, which she accepted but with a lot of complaining.

"So, who all is going on this trip?" Nightmare asked as she walked.

"Twilight and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and the Fluttershy, I think Applejack is coming, maybe Big Macintosh, the crew and I'm not sure who else." Rarity replied, looking at Nightmare.

"Us!" Sweetie Belle added with a cheerful voice.

Rarity held back a chuckle and simply nodded, she then spoke a moment later after getting herself under control. "Yes of course, how could I have forgotten?" She joked.

The two sisters and the Alicorn laughed at that until they came up to the train station, where they found a group effort taking place to load an enormous cake into the train. "Wow, that's a big cake." Nightmare remarked.

"I guess the Cakes are taking the saying 'go big or go home' seriously." Sweetie Belle added.

Rarity could only nod as she walked up to her friends, followed by her sister and Nightmare Moon, they watched as they managed to get the cake inside and then returned the previously lowered wall back to its position.

Suddenly a pink blur was in front of them. "Oh good! you made it Rarity! we were worried you would miss the train but we managed to get the cake inside just the same!" Pinkie Pie stated before zooming off to talk to the Cakes.

Rarity looked over her shoulder at Nightmare Moon. "We should get inside." She suggested.

"Yep, don't want the train to leave without us!" Sweetie Belle replied, with that the three of them boarded the train and soon enough, the other Elements of Harmony boarded the train.

______*The train, a few minutes later.*______

Nightmare Moon zoned out, that doesn't happen very often to the Alicorn and she made It a personal rule not to do so, but today was the exception to that particular rule and there was a reason for it.

First off, Pinkie Pie's rambling, normally Nightmare could handle the rambling with ease and she actually liked the hyper mare, but there were limits to everyone's patience and Pinkie found hers.

Then there was the introduction of three other bakers for the contest, Donut Joe, a unicorn stallion that ran a donut shop in Canterlot that Twilight and Spike recommended, then there was Gustave Le Grand, a griffon pastry chef that reminded Nightmare of pompous nobles, and Mulia Mild, a mule that the disguised Alicorn didn't really know much about.

All three of them had one thing in common, they were all proud of their entries and it caused Nightmare to have a headache, especially when the arguing started.

Then Twilight thankfully dissolved the situation peacefully and suggested they all get some rest, Nightmare didn't need convincing and she walked out of the train car, Sweetie Belle followed, and after a few minutes the rest of the mares excluding Pinkie who wanted to stand guard over the MMMM.

______*hours later*_______

Nightmare Moon was awake, she sat in one of the upper seats reading a book she brought along with a dim lamp lighting her little cubby, it was a mystery novel and she found herself enjoying the story of the griffon detective who was the main character.

As she read the book, Nightmare watched as a shadowy blur raced through the cart, she raised an eyebrow and looked up from her book just in time to see a dark pink blur chase after the other one, blinking, Nightmare said and did nothing and instead returned to reading, not even bothering to look up after seeing the pink blur return to the dessert car. 'Even when it comes to a harmless contest like this, I cannot catch a break and relax.' She thought to herself.

Time passed by quickly for Nightmare as she read the book, she didn't know how much time exactly but it was enough time that everyone else on the train woke up and seemed to be quite upset about something, Nightmare looked at her book and saw that she only had half the book left, she blinked and bookmarked it for later. "Time flies when solving crimes." She mused as she set the book aside and rested her head on the floor of the seat, feeling a sudden wave of fatigue.

Nightmare closed her eyes to try and get some sleep, it would have worked too if it wasn't for the familiar voice of Pinkie Pie. "And you! where were you last night?" The hyper earth pony asked.

Nightmare opened her left eye and saw that Pinkie Pie was wearing a gray camouflage deerstalker hat with a bubble pipe while a very disappointed looking Twilight stood behind the mare wearing a bowler hat. "First off, I don't care what game you are playing, I am tired, I was up all night and I need sleep, secondly, I was here reading all night, now go away." She stated before closing her eye and shifting her head to be facing the window more.

"Aha!" The pink mare declared. "I have a suspect!" She added, making Nightmare mentally groan in annoyance.

Twilight could be heard sighing. "Pinkie, she's a judge for the contest, she had no reason to do it." She said before walking a little closer. "I'm sorry Nightmare, somepony took three large bites out of the MMMM, did you happen to see anything?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and looked at Twilight for a moment before speaking. "I saw a dark blur go through here last night followed by her I'm guessing." She stated while pointing to Pinkie. "I didn't see or hear anything else, so if you don't mind, please keep it down." She added before closing her eyes and resting her head.

Time flew by after that, Nightmare could faintly hear that Rarity held helped herself to some cake as did Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, she quietly chuckled at the absurdity of it all but found herself oddly enjoying the little mystery, everything else that happened was quiet as Nightmare fell asleep and she didn't wake up until they got to Canterlot.

When the time came later that day to reveal the desserts, Nightmare Moon was surprised to see that all four treats had been merged into one, after a while and a unanimous decision to not bother voting, Nightmare Moon joined Rarity, Sweetie Belle, the rest of the Element bearers and Princess Celestia for some talking.

'Well, I wanted a distraction, and I got this instead.......but I wonder why Celestia seems on edge?" She pondered as she looked at the White Alicorn.

Princess Celestia talked with the Element bearers for a while before looking at Nightmare Moon. "Excuse me, could I speak to you in private?" She asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

Nightmare Moon shrugged. "Why not?" She replied before looking at Rarity and Sweetie Belle. "I'll see you later." She stated before following the Solar Alicorn who walked away from the party.

The walk was silent, Princess Celestia said very little and Nightmare Moon found little to say. 'This is awkward.' She mentally noted, eventually the Princess stopped moving when they were right outside the train which was curiously empty.

"So what's this about Celestia?" Nightmare asked with a raised eyebrow, genuinely curious as to what the Alicorn had to say.

Princess Celestia sighed and took a deep breath, she then looked at Nightmare and spoke. "Nightmare Moon, I need your help." She stated.

In reply to this, Nightmare Moon could only think of one thing to say that fit the situation perfectly.

"What?"

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Next chapter, a well known wedding with some uninvited guests.

[Sylif Daring Doo]

10066599
Perhaps, but hey, you never know what could be next.

I suppose I will say that the wedding WILL be in this story, I just need to get around to that.

[Sylif Daring Doo]

10067374
So the middle of the screen?

[Sylif Daring Doo]

10067636
Then I am afraid I have to dissapoint, I attempted to do that while working on a new chapter earlier and it just went right back to the left side of the screen.

I'll do some experimenting some time and see if I can do that, but unless I find a way, it's stuck as is.