The Gift of Time

by Shadow Dragon

Nightmare Nighfright

Author's Note:

I’m sorry for the long hiatus wale writing Watching A New Generation, but now the story is back and I’ve got inspiration
A few references in this chapter, I own nothing from the original sources

After Moonlight became a filly and Screwball became an official part of Discord’s life once more Ponyvill was in for an additional shock when Moonlight Sparkle was also revealed to the town but their surprise and shock would have to wait a bit as Nightmare Night was just around the corner, Discord said he had a major prank planed for the event but refused to explain what

Soon the night finally rolled around, Twilight honestly had a couple of ideas of what she wanted to be for Nightmare Night, she honestly didn’t really want to be Starswirl the Bearded after having learned about how he basically used the human world as a dumping ground for ancient magical artifacts and The Sirens, add into the fact that her meeting with him was kinda underwhelming, now when the time came Twilight would still save him and the other pillars from Limbo, but she didn’t know when the antique shop would get Starswirl’s book and even if they already had it she had no way of knowing which barrel had said book, but for now Twilight couldn’t help but be disappointed in her other former idol, so when Rarity asked if Twilight wanted her to make a costume for her Twilight accepted this time around and asked Rarity to surprise her, she silently decided to herself she would need to get used to surprises with how the timeline is getting, she could only hope it was on close enough track, and would remain so as she already had a plan to make Luna’s visit to Ponyvill go better this time around

She had no way of knowing it in that moment but because of Discord she wouldn’t get the chance to use that plan but also wouldn’t need it

It was now Nightmare Night and Spike had a different costumes this time around, in an ironic twist Twilight was still dressed up as Starswirl the Bearded while Spike was dressed up as Clover the Clever, seemed like Rarity got some inspiration for this idea

She didn’t have to dwell on that for long as suddenly a flash of light wiped through the entirety of ponyvill, Discord’s prank had begun

Twilight looked into her reflection and immediately noticed something wrong, her illusion spell wasn’t working, how she noticed despite the costume? Century’s of looks at them in her own reflection, she could tell by the ever so slight of some of her her feathers peaking out from underneath the costume, not noticeable to anyone who wasn’t Twilight ‘OCD’ Sparkle, Rainbow Dash came up with that one, well technically future Rainbow Dash did

Twilight tried to reapply the spell but to her surprise it didn’t work, it felt at if all her knowledge that she knew she had on Illusion spells was currently not there somehow, she couldn’t even remember how to cast some of the basic illusion spells Trixie had ‘recently taught’ her, speaking of Trixie, she should be here any minute, she agreed to hove out candy with Spike so Twilight could spend the entire night with Moonlight, who in an extremely ironic twist was dressed up as a filly version of Nightmare Moon, and also spend the night with Luna but they didn’t know about that part

Meanwhile all over town everyone else was having a much different reaction that Twilight and Moonlight, you see Discord’s prank went like this; whatever your costume for nightmare night is, that’s who or what you will be for the night, Twilight and Moonlight weren’t affected by said prank because Discord purposely added a rule to this specific prank (Yes he could add his own rules to pranks, he may be the lord of Chaos but he has some rules) and the rule of this prank was it had no affect on Immortal Beings so that included himself, Screwball, and all current Alicorns, but he still wanted to mess around with his friend Twilight so he did something extra special for her, Tonight and Tonight alone Twilight Sparkle had absolutely no knowledge on illusion spells, she didn’t know any, she couldn’t cast any, and she couldn’t learn any new ones no matter how hard she tried but only until Midnight

Spike rushed over to Twilight and declared “Master Starswirl something most unusual has occurred, somehow I am an adolescent dragon and you happen to be a mare! Fortunately unlike me you still have your horn so perhaps you can fix whatever happened.

Twilight stood confused for a few seconds until she gave a sigh in annoyance, she had immediately figured out exactly what Discord’s prank was now. Then her eyes widened as she suddenly had a horrifying realization. She decided she would play along for now because their may be an emergency, getting into character Twilight declared “Yes it is a most unusual situation we find ourselves in, not to worry, we will be back to normal by morning, but for now we have a more pressing manner to deal with, we need to find an Alicorn filly, no time to explain the details!”

With that she ran out the Library and bolted in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, Moonlight wanted to officially introduce herself to the CMC’s and maybe possibly join them since she also doesn’t have a Cutie Mark and thought this was the best way to do it, a combination of it being a small harmless prank to scare them at first and later because she fully planned on tellingly them the absolute full truth eventually, but she wouldn’t get the chance this night

Now Twilight didn’t know all the details of how Discord’s spell worked, but as she passed through town her working theory was that the prank was affecting Everypony in Ponyvill except for her and making them act like their costumes, Rainbow Dash the Shadowbolt was acting mostly the same as the first time but more mean and Twilight was sure that it was only due to the fact that Fluttershy didn’t like to participate in Nightmare Night that the mare wasn’t pranked tonight, Pinkie Pie the Chicken was actually acting the same as last lime as well but Twilight expected that, Applejack the Scarcrow was asking if anypony knew where her friends, Dorothy, the Tin Pony, and The Cowardly Lion were. Twilight also knew for a fact she would never be able to get the new image of when she was passing by Mayor Mare who was balancing on one hove on a beach ball juggling apples above her head

Finally making it to Sweet Apple Acres she was great by 4 fillies, Scootaloo who dressed up as Rainbow Dash flying all over the place despite the fact that Twilight knew for a fact that such a thing impossible, she chalked that feet up to Discord, Twilight promised herself in that moment that she would somehow make it possible for Scootaloo to actually fly on her own… at least after Scootaloo met Rainbow Dash’s parents because Rainbow herself attempted that she likely never would’ve reconnected to her parents if it weren’t for Scootaloo’s accidental meeting with them, but definitely before the Washouts incident, Twilight knew first hove that Scootaloo had constant Nightmares about it after, having personally helped her through a lot of them herself

Along with Scootaloo was Apple Bloom dressed up as the Tin Pony asking if she’s seen her friends, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion

And then their was Sweetie Bell who was dressed up as a Vampire Pony tried to bite her but she could fort still teleport to safety and Spike who thought he was Clover the Clever was lagging behind, as for Moonlight

Moonlight looked at Twilight and asked “Mommy what’s going on? What happened to them?”
“I don’t want to point hooves but, this had Discord written all over it.”

Moonlight frowned, Twilight knew why, when asked about it Moonlight admitted to remembering everything that happened the day Screwball kidnapped her to use her power which ended up with how she was now, Moonlight was confused about how she felt about it all, on one hove she liked being a filly much more than being a baby but on the other she now fully understood the absolute danger she was in, she knew that she was basically the final remnants Nightmare Moon’s power given form, according to Celesta she should be evil and locked up in Tartarus as the princess knew for a fact the Elements of Harmony weren’t an option this time

Speaking of Princess’s and problems, Luna finally made her grand arrival, the greeting she received ranged all over the place, from some actually bowing before her, to some, specifically the once’s dressed as animals running away, to some of them making empty threats against her but she was mostly welcomed with open hooves

Discord’s first official meeting with Luna was awkward to say the least, Discord also used his powers to made it so she could only talk like a normal pony as to not scare anymore fillies (mostly just for Screwball and Moonlight) but it would only last until tomorrow, she would need to work on it herself on her own time

Then came time for Luna to meet Screwball and Moonlight

Luna stared at the two for a moment before pointing at Moonlight and declaring “I seem to remember you being a foal the last time I saw you.”

Screwball admitted “That’s my fault, dark ritual gone wrong, or right depending on your view point.”

Luna looked at the Chaotic filly and asked “And you are?”

Screwball cheerfully declared “I’m Screwball! You and your sister turned my daddy Discord to stone.”

Luna gasped at that information

Discord thankfully cleared up the confusion by whispering into her ear that Screwball is technically a chaotic creation of his with a will of her own and a small portion of his power, and that also that if she or Celestia did anything to hurt Screwball then not even the Elements of Harmony would be able to stop his rampage

Finally Moonlight asked the question she needed to ask “Luna do you hate me?”

Suddenly all thoughts about Discord and Screwball were put to aside for Luna as she started directly at Moonlight as she asked “How could you possibly come to the conclusion that I hated you?”

“Because I’m basically all that’s left of Nightmare Moon, don’t lie and tell me I’m not, I know it and you know it two! I also know you hate Nightmare Moon! I remember the time we were Nightmare Moon, those thousand years of hatred, despair, and sadness! I’m even dressed up as Nightmare Moon!” Moonlight was crying at this point

Luna tried “Moonlight-“
“Don’t.” Moonlight interrupted and declared “I can since you don’t want to call me Moonlight! Call me what you want to call me! Call me Nightmare Moon!”

Luna sighed, Moonlight wasn’t wrong, not once in their whole conversation, so she decided to admit “I do hate Nightmare Moon. For everything she’s done. I sometimes wish you didn’t exist as you are a constant reminder of the one thing I truly hate about all others .”

Moonlight looked away and Twilight glared at the Princess, her horn glowing in warning. Luna remembered what Twilight did to Celesta for trying to take Moonlight away, and that was Twilight’s first time meeting her. Luna was almost afraid of what Twilight would do to her after she’s been with Moonlight for awhile and Luna just openly attempted to hating her but such a thing needed to be said to get to this next point

Luna declared “But you are not that pony.” Moonlight opened her mouth to protest but Luna held up her hove signaling for Moonlight to be quiet so she could finish, Moonlight complied and Luna continued “Nightmare Moon cared for nopony, not even me, you care about your found-mother Twilight. Nightmare Moon cared only for her ambitions and everything else was an afterthought, you care about many things, you are more like me than Nightmare Moon in that regard. Most importantly Nightmare Moon was created by my anger and jealousy towards my sister, I can tell you have no such qualities so that leaves me wondering, what part of Nightmare Moon do you come from? The answer to that question is simple, you come from the part that is me, the good and the bad, during those thousand years it barley even mattered who was who, our magic was intertwined, I can even still become Nightmare Moon myself, so to hate you I would have to hate part of myself, and I refuse to do so a second time, no matter what anyone says you are Moonlight Sparkle. I do not know what path lies before you and I must attempt that I am weary of you simply because it’s impossible for me to enter your dreams but… I think I will trust Twilight to care for you.”

The next day Twilight sent a letter explaining the events of last night to Celesta
Twilight considered finally telling the Princess about her silent resentment towards her, but in the end she decided she would save that conversation for when she officially became an Alicorn

Comments

[Theresa]

I love this story in fact so far its the the longest running twilight time travel rewrite that I've read. Please give us more soon. Also when Luna meets moonlight she said I seem to remember you being a foul the last time I saw you.”. But foul means awful but foal means baby. Change the u to an a and you be be shining.

[Zetari]

Glad I stuck with this,

Your writing has improved over the years

[DzikutheDzik]

Can't wait for more 😁