Chapter One: Harmony

A Millennium of Eternal Night
Chapter One: Harmony

In a warm study in Manehatten, a grey unicorn reclined in a plush chair, levitating both a book and a pipe in front of his face. His white-maned head was topped off by a carelessly-worn fez. An old tome was imprinted upon his flank, giving all who saw him an easy answer as to his job in this story.

The unicorn blew a smoke ring with his pipe and nodded. "Thank you for the introduction." Coughing, he placed his book down on a table next to the chair and stood up, twisting his neck from side to side.

He cleared his throat and began to address the reader. "Good evening, or morning, or whatever time it may be where you are from." He coughed. "For your entertainment, we are going to examine an alternate universe, a land broken off of our own Equestria by a rogue causality, shattering the timeline and forming an entire world unto itself. At first glance, everything may appear normal." He took a long puff on his pipe before proceeding, "but upon further examination it will turn out to be quite bizarre."

The unicorn began pacing in front of the large fireplace that heated the study. "Imagine, if you will, a universe that is the same as our own: same ponies, same dragons, same landscape, same history. Everypony lived in perfect harmony. But what if that world's definition of harmony..." The unicorn stopped pacing and stared seriously into the eyes of the reader, "...is not as cheerful as it is here? In our world, harmony is a daily balance in all things: the sun and moon rise on time, all ponies get along save for a few hiccups, and the villain is always defeated before this can be upset permanently. But imagine a world where it's view of harmony was not a daily one, but one of epochs? Of millennia even?"

He took a long puff on his pipe and expelled a ring of smoke. "What if harmony dictated that a millennium of Celestial freedom must be followed by a millennium of Nightmarish tyranny? What if the Elements of Harmony were not reflections of their wielders and their spirits, but rather forces bound to uphold their code of Harmony..."

The unicorn smiled knowingly and glanced into the fire, "...whether those wielding them wanted to or not. Our story begins with an adventure nearing its end..."

- - - -

The six young ponies stared in awe at the ruined castle. Though ceilings and walls may have crumbled, the majesty of the structure had been little reduced. Broken windows lined the walls, letting in the pale light of the moonlit sky In the center of the room, amidst stones and vines, stood a grey stone statue. Five grey orbs sat motionlessly around a large central orb, images of jewels hewn into their surface.

"There they are, girls." Twilight Sparkle spoke in awe, "The Elements of Harmony."

"Well I'll be." Applejack whistled while she strolled around the statue.

"Well, they're all right." Rarity said hesitantly, "But I was expecting them to be a bit... er... brighter?"

"Eh," Rainbow Dash waved her hoof out in front of her, "they could be about...I don't know... ten times as cool."

"Oh, they look fine." Fluttershy muttered, lifting one of them off of its pedestal so that Twilight could get a better look.

As the Elements were lowered to the floor by the other ponies, Pinkie Pie danced around. "YAY! We found them! I mean, I knew we would, but it's just so exciting to finally be here. So we won, right? Huh? We're going to be nasty-mcNightmare huh? Huh?"

"There's only five here!"

All of the ponies, even Pinkie Pie stopped after Twilight counted the Elements. She looked up at the statue in shock. "There's supposed to be a sixth... where is it?"

"Are you sure sugarcube?" Applejack circled over to Twilight and examined the Elements. "Aren't there supposed to be just five?"

"Well, there's Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty..." Twilight explained, "...but there's supposed to be a sixth that appears when all of them come together." Twilight knelt down in front of the Elements. "What am I missing?"

"Come on y'all." Applejack said, turning to the other four mares. "Twilight needs to concentrate." One by one, the ponies turned back towards the entrance and started to walk out.

"Okey-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie Pie was back to her cheerful self, "Hey, you know what's a funny word? Déjà vu. It's so fancy and so funny too!"

"Pinkie, you're so random." Rainbow Dash muttered, shaking her head.

"It's just I've got this sense we've done this...."

But before she could finish, the ponies were all startled as the doors to the castle slammed shut in front of them. Twilight sharply turned away from the Elements to face her friends. Her eyes widened as a blue mist sparkling like a miniature starlit sky began to rise from the ground right in front of them. With a sudden crack of lightning, the ponies were tossed back towards Twilight. The mist condensed into a black alicorn, her body encased in a blue-silver armor. Her dark dragon-like eyes glared down at the ponies before her, while her mouth curled into a triumphant smirk.

"Nightmare Moon...." The ponies muttered in unison.

"Hey, that feeling's gone!" Pinkie Pie cried out happily, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Nightmare Moon turned her gaze from the ponies to the ruined castle. "So this is what happened to our old palace. Pity." Nightmare Moon's voice was calm and rational, belying her fierce form. "Then again, I imagined the fallout from my battle with Celestia would leave nothing less than this... mess." Nightmare Moon spread her wings and looked up at the broken ceiling nostalgically. "It must be brought back to its former glory. That is, after I secure my new throne."

"Like we're going to let you do that!" Rainbow Dash cried defiantly, flying into the air.

Nightmare Moon laughed mirthlessly, "And how do you plan to do that, little pony? The Elements of Harmony?"

"What have you done with the sixth element?" Twilight spoke up, joining Rainbow Dash in her challenge to the Princess of Night.

"Nothing at all." Nightmare Moon shook her head. "It's hard to get rid of something that doesn't exist yet, don't you think?"

"What in tarnation are you talking about?" Applejack stepped forward, scraping at the ground with her foreleg.

"I mean only the true wielders of the Elements of Harmony can take control of the sixth element and awaken the full power of Harmony." Nightmare Moon leaned forward and looked directly into Twilight's eyes. "Unless you are claiming to be the successors to Celestia's power, the power that sent me to the moon for a thousand years, I have nothing to fear from you."

Twilight's eyes widened, the unicorn backing away. "Everyone... get out of here..."

"Twilight!" Her friends protested in unison.

"I'll hold her off as long as I can." Twilight looked to each of her friends in turn. "There should be another way out of this place. If I keep her distracted, you can go and get help from somepony, anypony else."

"But if we do that, you'll..." Fluttershy piped up and stopped. Instead of finishing her sentence, she shook her head and moved towards Twilight and faced Nightmare Moon.

"There's no way you're going to get me to run away now." Rainbow Dash shot at Twilight and stood her ground.

"Leaving you here alone would be the epitome of rudeness!" Rarity proclaimed and stepped forward. "I refuse!"

"Run away? And miss all of the awesome magic stuff that's going to happen?" Pinkie Pie smiled and bounced up to the front lines. "As if! If I'm going to have one last party, it's going to be here!"

Applejack turned back and winked at Twilight Sparkle. "C'mon now, we're you're friends. You can't just expect us to turn tail and run."

"But...." Twilight tried to object, but at Applejack's words a spark went off in her mind. A sudden light of realization crept over her, illuminating her very being. "That's it."

"Oh?" Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Nightmare Moon," Twilight Sparkle grinned, returning to the front lines, "you claim that the sixth element isn't here, but you're wrong. That's because the sixth element isn't in just one place, it's everywhere. And the Elements of Harmony aren't these rocks," Twilight looked around at the friends that surrounded her, "they're right here with me." Looking at each friend in turn, she recited, "Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty... My friends are the Elements of Harmony." She stared at Nightmare Moon defiantly. "And that's what the sixth element is all about: Friendship! The most powerful magic ever!"

The room was silent as Nightmare Moon stared at the ponies. Then her mouth curled into a wicked smile. "So it is. Well done."

A sudden feeling of dread hit Twilight Sparkle as she realized something had gone horribly wrong. But before she could do or say anything, a sudden light engulfed her and her friends. It was soft and silver, like raw moonlight, and it flowed over each pony, completely enveloping them in its majesty. The ponies reflexively kicked against this sudden feeling, but could not escape as the light wrapped around their forms.

There was a strange whistling as Twilight felt a weight descend upon her head accompanied by a bitter, searing coldness. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and focused her energy outwards, trying to raise a shield against it, but her magic did nothing against the force of the searing energy. She screamed in shock as the light tried to pierce into her with tendrils of infernal energy, but a force inside of her kept it out. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the light faded and the ponies slumped to the ground, exhausted. Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon laughed triumphantly over the stirring forms of the ponies.

"What... happened?" Twilight muttered, raising a hoof to her head. As she rubbed her mane, she felt something sitting there that wasn't there before. She ran her hooves over the strange object, tracing out the form of a fine crown resting just behind her horn. Though it was light atop her head, Twilight could still feel an indescribable heaviness radiating from it.

"Woah, look at this!" From over to her left, Twilight heard Pinkie Pie squeal in awe. Turning her head, she spied Pinkie Pie admiring something that hung around her neck. It was an ornate blue-silver necklace without any visible break. Attached to the front was a turquoise pendant in the shape of a balloon. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she recognized the design as Pinkie's cutie mark.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Twilight turned again to find a similar pendant hanging around Rainbow Dash's neck, identical to Pinkie's save for a ruby lightning bolt on the pendant. In fact, each pony save for her bore a necklace with a pendant that mimicked their cutie marks.

"Nice tiara, Twi!" Pinkie Pie called out, trotting over to her friend. "Woah! It looks just like your cutie mark!" Twilight tried to reach up and pull the tiara off her head to get a better look, but found it uncompromising. Through some magical power, the tiara simply refused to be removed.

"Not that I don't mind the new accessory." Rarity said while holding her own necklace, "but there's something familiar about this color...."

Twilight looked from the necklace to Nightmare Moon, who simply continued to laugh manically. Twilight's eyes widened as she drew the connection between Nightmare Moon's armor and the silver necklaces that hung around her friend's necks. Upon seeing Twilight's look of utter shock and confusion, Nightmare Moon stopped laughing and advanced on the ponies.

"Congratulations!" Nightmare Moon cried happily if a little madly. "You have awakened the power of the Elements of Harmony. I thank you from the depths of my dark heart. Now, a new era will begin in Equestria. The Millennium of Princess Celestia is over!" Nightmare Moon flared out her wings as she cried to the heavens, storm clouds forming overhead. "The Millennium of Eternal Night has begun!"

The ponies were illuminated by a brief flash of lightning, a look of abject terror on their faces at what they had unleashed unto the world.

- - - - -

The grey unicorn looked away from the fireplace and glanced mischievously at the reader. "Interesting, no?" He chuckled and looked back into the fireplace, where the flames of fate and will roared, engulfing the wooden log in the fireplace. "Do you think you can explain what's going on?"

- - - - -

With pleasure. This here is a story I started writing long before I came up with the idea for After the Sun or Pantheon, my other two stories. I abandoned it for two primary reasons. One: I could not see an ending for it at the time and I must admit I still don't. I now try to stay away from indefinite-ending stories as they quickly lose my interest. The second... will be explained later.

With a creative dead-end forming at my other stories, I decided to dust off (figuratively) this story and put it up for everypo-... everyone to see. These first chapters should come out quickly as they have already been written and only require a few edits here and there. I hope you enjoy and review. The next chapter should be up tomorrow with the thrilling conclusion to the opening scene... wait....

-The Author

Chapter Two: Millennium

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A Millennium of Eternal Night
Chapter Two: Millennium

"What the hay is that supposed to mean!?" Rainbow Dash called out, flapping up to Nightmare Moon. "We've got the Elements of Harmony now, which means you're dust."

"Oh really?" Nightmare Moon cocked her head in an amused manner. "Then tell me, why have I not yet been sent back to the moon? Or stripped of my power? Or anything for that matter?"

"Because..." Rainbow Dash stuttered, "Because... we... haven't done it yet. Yeah!"

Nightmare Moon smirked. "Oh please, the reason why is because it's already been done. A thousand years ago, this very night, my sister used the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the moon, leaving her to rule over the land on her own."

"Sister...?" Rarity looked to Twilight in confusion.

"I read about this," Twilight whispered, "Legend has it that she used to be responsible for the night while Celestia was responsible for the day. At least, before she became Nightmare Moon. I think her name was Princess...."

"The pony who bore that name is dead." Nightmare Moon cut off Twilight coldly, "I am Nightmare Moon, nothing less. Now that a thousand years are over, the Elements of Harmony have dictated that balance must come in the form of a Millennium under my control. And so, here we are."

"But if the Elements are on your side," Applejack asked, "why'd you need us?"

"The sixth element, my little pony." Nightmare Moon explained as though to a child. "One cannot have the magic of friendship without friends. And as you can imagine, I am not a friendly pony."

"You don't have any friends!?" Pinkie Pie cried in horror. "That's terrible! Nopony should be without friends! We should throw a part-EUMPH"

Applejack threw a hoof around Pinkie's mouth. "Pinkie, now is neither the time or place to be planning another party." The pink pony sighed and nodded sadly.

"This is all a bunch of garbage!" Rainbow Dash shook her hoof at the dark alicorn. "If you're going to win anyway, why'd you kidnap the Princess?"

"I do not know where Celestia is." Nightmare Moon shook her head, chuckling. "She knows as well as I that the Millennium of Night must come. If she hasn't been dulled by a thousand years of peaceful rule, she should be fleeing Equestria by now."

"The Princess wouldn't...." Twilight shook her head. "So now that the Elements are awakened," Twilight approached Nightmare Moon hesitantly, "you're just going to take them and rule over Equestria?"

Nightmare Moon smiled widely, causing Twilight Sparkle to quake in fear.

"No little one." Nightmare Moon drawled, "I'm certain you've noticed the... attraction that's built between you and the Elements. Taking them from you would be impossible. Instead, you will be helping me."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her hair standing on end. "Listen witch, I don't care what you or even what the Elements say, there's no way I'm turning my back on the Princess!"

Nightmare Moon chuckled and strolled up to Rainbow Dash who, for her credit, shook very little as she looked into the eyes of the Princess of Night. "I'm your Princess now, whether you like it or not, and the Elements know that."

"Like hay!" Rainbow Dash kept eye contact with the alicorn.

"Who's your Princess?" Nightmare Moon asked with a twisted smirk on her face.

"Nightma-" Rainbow Dash started but suddenly stopped herself, the color fading from her cheeks. Flying backwards, she slapped herself across the face. She angrily shook her head and continued, "CELESTIA! Princess Celestia! She's the Princess!" But her earlier answer had shaken all of the ponies to their core. Even Pinkie Pie looked less energetic than usual, her bright smile wiped from her face.

Nightmare Moon examined the ponies before her. "Hmm, it appears that you are still resisting. No matter, the Elements will take care of that soon enough." Nightmare Moon turned around and strolled towards the entrance. "I will have full cooperation eventually."

"We'll see about that!" Rainbow Dash shouted, the color still drained from her cheeks.

"Eventually?" Fluttershy timidly asked.

Nightmare Moon, flung open the doors of the ruined palace and turned back to face the six ponies. "The Elements of Harmony have the power to change reality itself, to pierce any magic, and to overcome any obstacle. I'm pretty sure your apprehensions about my rule will be dispelled in short order."

Not even Rainbow Dash replied to this. All of the ponies were lost in their own thoughts, fearful of the changes Nightmare Moon had prophesized. The newly re-instated Princess smirked. "I suppose show of my benevolence is in order." She stretched her wings and a dark glow surrounded her horn. "As my first decree as Princess, you are free to return to your homes to gather your belongings and settle your affairs. But when three midnights have passed, I will come for you, and our work will begin!"

"Well we're not going to go with you!" Rainbow Dash found her voice and shouted back.

Nightmare Moon laughed triumphantly and cast her magic over the ponies. Darkness rose from the ground as the dark alicorn answered, "Haven't you figured it out already? You don't have a choice."

The darkness enveloped the ponies and at once they vanished. Smiling triumphantly, Nightmare Moon took off into the night sky, reveling in the feeling of freedom.

- - - - -

After disappearing from the castle, the ponies immediately reappeared in Ponyville. The streets were quiet, yet lights were on in nearly every window. Nopony wished to be outside when not too long ago Nightmare Moon had revealed herself to Equestria.

The shocked and horrified ponies stared mutely at the ground before them. It was a long time before Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and whined, "That wasn't very fun."

Pinkie Pie's complaint set all of the ponies moving again. They scrambled in a panic, fighting with their necklaces.

"Consarnit, I can't get this thing off!"

"Eep!"

"Come on, come on, get off, get off!"

"I take back what I said about this horrid gem!"

"I just can't get a hoof-hold on the thing!"

"Um, necklace, would you please let go?"

"Applejack, get me a crowbar!"

"Besides, black simply isn't my color."

"GIRLS!"

The ponies stopped and looked at Twilight Sparkle. The lavender unicorn sighed and shook her head. "We're getting nowhere fast doing this. We all need to calm down and think thing through rationally. Panicking is going to get us nowhere."

"What's wrong with panicking?"

Twilight shot Pinkie Pie a glare, "Because it wastes time!" She sighed and turned around. "Come on, let's all go to the library. Maybe there's something in the Elements of Harmony guide that can help us figure this out."

"You know more than we do about this." Applejack nodded and followed Twilight home.

- - - - -

Spike flew out of bed, shocked by the sound of the door opening. He spun around, trying to get his bearings. "Twi! What happened? Didja beat Nightmare Moon? Did-" He stopped as soon as he spied Twilight and company enter the room sadly, their new jewelry in tow.

"Woah," Spike's eyes widened upon seeing the gems. "Are those...?"

"Yes." Twilight replied sullenly.

"Then... did you?"

Twilight passed him and started looking through the shelves, starting with the 'E' section. "No." She replied flatly.

"You mean, they don't work?"

"Oh they work all right." Applejack approached Spike while tugging absentmindedly at her necklace. "It's just they don't work like we thought."

"Spike!" Twilight called over her shoulder. "Where's..." But she stopped as a pink hoof shoved a familiar brown leather-bound book into her face. "Where did you...?"

"You put it under H by mistake." Pinkie Pie giggled.

Twilight merely shook her head and opened the book, levitating it in front of her. She flipped through the pages, scanning thick blocks of text rapidly.

"I'm confused." Spike scratched his head. "Is anyone going to tell me what happened?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down. "So we went into the forest. And it was really dark, I mean really. And we got to this cliff and it broke off. And we all went flying! It was so fun! But Twilight slipped and that's not fun, so Applejack-"

"Can you shorten that please?" Spike said, clutching his head in his claws, "I think my brain's going to burst."

"We found the Elements of Harmony." Applejack trotted up to Spike. "We also figured out that the sixth element is Friendship or Magic or whatever, so we unlocked their power. But then Nightmare Moon showed up and explained that the Elements are on her side now, rather than that-" Applejack blushed at what she was about to call the Princess and shook her head, "Princess Celestia's side. And apparently we don't have a say in it."

"You mean...?"

Twilight Sparkle spun around, still looking through the book, "We're going to be Nightmare Moon's mindless servants pretty soon unless this book gives us anything that can help us!" Groaning in frustration, she threw the book to the ground. "And it's got nothing!"

"Nothing at all, Twilight?" Rarity approached and leafed through the book.

"It's got everything about the last time they were used, everything about each individual element, but there's nothing about how they work!" Twilight paced in circles, talking to nopony in particular. "There's no science, no analysis, not even any theories. Not to mention all of the information is second-hand. Who wrote this book?! It's the most unhelpful 'reference guide' I've read since..."

"Somepony named Starswirl the Bearded." Rarity replied, looking at the inside cover.

Twilight stopped pacing and looked at Rarity in shock. "Really?" She shook her head. "That's not important right now. What we have to do is to figure out for ourselves what to do." Twilight looked around for a moment before turning back to the shelves. "There has to be another book that can help!"

"Maybe there's nothing we can do?"

Everypony turned in shock at Fluttershy's suggestion. Now with the eyes of the room focused on her, Fluttershy blushed and looked to the side. Nervously, she picked at the ground with her hoof. "I'm sorry..." She muttered beneath her breath, "...I don't know what I'm saying...."

The room was covered in a thick pallor of silence as everypony continued to stare at Fluttershy. Meekly, she crawled behind a stack of books and hid from their gaze. Sighing, Applejack turned to face Twilight with a sad expression. "Sugarcube..." she muttered, "...what if Fluttershy's right? Maybe we should just... accept it?"

"OOOOOHHHH NO!"

Rainbow Dash swooped down, furiously shaking her hooves. "No! No! No no no no no no no no NO! Nopony tells me what I can do, and definitely not Nightmare Moon. I'm not going to bow down to her no matter what she says. Next time I'll see that witch, I'm going to fly right up to her and punch her in the face!" She started twisting in the air, bucking and flailing every once in a while. "And I'll give her a little this, and a little that. And then I'll kick her out of that ridiculous armor she wears and send her all the way back to the moon." She stopped flying circles around the room and folded her legs across her chest. "And it'll be so awesome and cool after I saved the day, everypony will be cheering my name, and the Shadowbolts will have to let me join them. Heck, they'll probably make me their captain."

There was another pause as the ponies below digested Rainbow Dash's rant. Finally Applejack spoke up. "Shadowbolts?"

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack. "Yeah, the Shadowbo-" She froze as she realized what she was saying. Overtaken by a sudden fear, she stammered, "The Shadow-... Shad-..." She flew across the room and slammed her head into one of the walls of the tree, sending books falling off shelves. "WONDERBOLTS!" Rainbow Dash cried out. "WONDERBOLTS! I'm going to join the SHA-..." She threw her hooves over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Rainbow Dash, please..." Twilight stepped forward, but Rainbow Dash cried out in agony and fury and sped out of the room, smashing open a window. She left a faint rainbow tail behind her that faded slowly into the night as she fled home.

Twilight made for the door, but was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. "Let her go, Twilight. In fact, we should all probably go. It's been a long, long time since we got some shut-eye, and if we're going to tackle this, we gotta be well rested."

"She's right!" Pinkie said happily, trotting over to Twilight. "We can take care of everything in the morning!"

Everypony stared at Pinkie Pie with more annoyance than usual. The pink pony looked between her friends for a few seconds before realizing her mistake. "Oh yeeeeaaaaahhh." She squeaked and backed out of the tree. "Well, see you next.... later. See you later everypony!"

Without any fanfare, Fluttershy snuck outside right behind Pinkie Pie. Rarity turned to Twilight just as she was leaving and said, "Don't worry Twilight. One way or another, everything will turn out fine."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Twilight muttered once Rarity turned back around. Only Applejack was left in the tree with her, the earth pony kicking the ground.

"This has been one long night." She muttered, walking towards the door. "And it looks like it's going to last even longer."

Alone in the tree with just Spike, Twilight Sparkle looked out the door and at her tired, depressed friends. With renewed focus, Twilight spun around and started searching through the books on the shelves. Spike opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and went into the kitchen to fetch Twilight something to help her stay awake.

- - - - -

I... don't have much to say for this chapter. It's really just an explanation blurb. Sorry for the teensy-tiny delay, but you know how it is. Busy busy busy. The next should be more interesting... filler-ish character development... but still interesting.

-The Author

Chapter Three: Moonrise

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A Millennium of Eternal Night
Chapter Three: Moonrise

- - - - -

The moon hung high in the sky as Nightmare Moon soared menacingly over Canterlot. Glittering lights shone from both the town below and from the castle itself, little havens of brightness in the night. Through the darkness, Nightmare Moon's gaze fell on the battlements of Canterlot palace. The armored pegasai and unicorns that normally patrolled the walls were completely absent.

"Well, my sister," Nightmare Moon muttered to herself, "It appears you took some soldiers with you before abdicating the throne. Do you seriously seek to challenge me?"

Her eyes fell upon a large window overlooking the valley below. Inside, gathered around a long, wooden table, high-status ponies of all colors were sitting on plush cushions. From what Nightmare Moon could tell, they were having a very lively debate. She smiled wickedly and angled towards the unsuspecting nobles.

The glass shattered as Nightmare Moon crashed through the window, sending the ponies inside scattering, clutching their heads in fear. With two heavy flaps of her wings, Nightmare Moon settled down at the end of the long table and gazed around at her audience. Most of the ponies assembled were unicorns dressed in fine silk suits and dresses. There were a few pegasai and earth ponies in the mix, but the conference was definitely dominated by their magically-endowed brethren. At the doorways, ponies in royal guard armor cowered in fear, clearly having only received their positions tonight. Nightmare Moon smirked, there was not one pony among them that showed the slightest hint of willpower.

Rising to her full height, the black alicorn raised a hoof in the air and proclaimed, "I am Nightmare Moon! Princess Celestia has fled Canterlot and left you foals in her stead! Who among you claims to speak for these lands?"

The nobles stared at her in awe and fear. After the shock wore off, every pony assembled stared at one unicorn sitting at the end of the table. He was a white unicorn with a handsome blond mane, and despite his regal bearing he looked as capable as a damp towel.

Nightmare Moon stepped towards the table and glared down at the unfortunate unicorn. "And who are you?"

Much to her surprise, the unicorn rose, met her gaze, and replied proudly, "I am Prince Blueblood, closest present descendent of Princess Celestia. Therefore, I am entitled to represent Equestria in her temporary absence." He waved his hoof dismissively. "You may speak."

Nightmare Moon was shocked. The nobles were shocked. The guards were shocked. Blueblood's eyes never left the dark alicorn's, his hoof still hanging in the air lamely. Slowly, ever so slowly, the nobles sunk under the table and out of Nightmare Moon's sight. It did not matter as all of her attention was focused on the arrogant whelp before him, her head tilting slightly to the side in incredulity.

You must be joking.

Slowly, menacingly, Nightmare Moon stepped onto the table and started walking towards Prince Blueblood. "I'm sorry, I don't think you know who I am." Nightmare Moon said lightly, malice dripping from her voice. "I am Nightmare Moon, Princess of the Night. I was banished to the moon a thousand years ago and it has not improved my demeanor. I have faced down the Elements of Harmony that defeated me so long ago and now they are under my sway. Princess Celestia has fled at the mere thought of facing me and now I am here."

By this point, the alicorn was inches away from Prince Blueblood's face and still he remained arrogantly staring into her eyes. "Tell me," She whispered into his ear, "Who is in charge of these lands?"

Without even a moment's pause, Prince Blueblood squeaked, "You are."

Nightmare Moon smiled and raised her head from the pony's. "That's what I thought. You have my permission to faint."

Prince Blueblood nodded and promptly fell; he was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Nightmare Moon strolled back along the table while the cowering nobility watched on in fear. "There are going to be quite a few changes now. The first all you foals can see already." She gestured at the moon which hung high in the midnight sky. "Get used to it, because there will be no more day under my reign. The second is that I am going to personally examine every one of you so-called "noblemen," and get rid of any that are not doing their job. But first, I am going to be reforming the Royal Guard." She gesture over at a cowering pegasus. "Pathetic lot. Then, once my new..." she looked to the side thoughtfully, searching for the right words to describe the six ponies who tried to defeat her, "...my new enforcers arrive, we are going to show Equestria what is means to be ruled."

Nightmare Moon stood by the window and looked out over the castle and the surrounding lands, all bathed in moonlight. "If any of you wish to oppose me, you may attack me now."

Unsurprisingly, there was no response from the noblemen. Nightmare Moon smirked. "As I thought. You are dismissed to do whatever it is you do when not failing to run this country." As the ponies behind her thankfully got up and cantered to the door, one dragging the unconscious Prince Blueblood behind him, Nightmare Moon peered down into the garden below the window.

"Is that...?" She asked incredulously to the emptied room, "Is that... what I think it is.... in the garden?"

- - - - -

"YEEAAGH!"

Rainbow Dash flew in through the window of her cloud home and slammed into her bed, burying her face in her pillow. Tufts of cumulus were thrown into the air as the pegasus grabbed the pillow and held it to her face as she flipped onto her back. She screamed, still enraged over everything that happened, everything that going to happen.

Jaw clenched, she reared up and glared at the pendant around her neck. She immediately began pulling at it with her hooves. When that failed, she raised her back legs and tried to pry it off of her neck. "Come on you stupid little... GAGH!" She screamed and flew into a wall, trying to break the necklace itself. "Why! Won't! You! Get! Off!?" She punctuated each word by running into the wall again and again. While she had built a resilience to these kind of hits, the ferocity of her own attacks wore her down. Eventually she paused, floating in the air and staring at the pendant.

"I had to ask you to be cooler, didn't I?" She muttered before throwing herself down in the bed again. She traced the edges of the ruby lightning bolt that decorated the necklace. "Eh, I guess you're a little bit cooler." Begrudgingly, she smirked. The gem was pretty cool after all, and the silver was pretty stylish. Heck, it would probably look even more radical with her black and purple....

Rianbow Dash shook the image of the Shadowbolts out of her head, gritting her teeth to hold back another scream of frustration, "Come on Rainbow Dash, you can do this." She muttered, holding her hooves to her head. "You need to get your game face on. Yeah, imagine that this all just another trick. You can do this, Dash."

Opening her eyes, she turned her attention to a poster of the Wonderbolts pasted to her wall. "Wonderbolts." She insisted. "I like, nay, love the Wonderbolts. The Shadowbolts don't even exist. They're all just part of this delusion that Nightmare Moon is responsible for." She glared at the poster. "I'm the best flier in Equestria, and one day I'm going to meet the Wonderbolts and show them what I'm made of. Then they'll have to let me join them. The Wonderbolts. Not the Shadowbolts."

Grinning triumphantly, Rainbow Dash pointed at the pendant. "Yeah, that's right, you can't tell Rianbow Dash what to do!" Happily the pegasus flew into the air and cheered, "Yeah! Let's hear it for Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!" Shaking her hoof, she mimicked a roaring crowd, "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" Smiling, she slid back down onto her bed. "Aw, I love you guys. Stop it."

She was still smiling as she turned over and looked at the Wonderbolts poster. She stared at it without blinking for nearly a minute. When her eyes finally started itching, she brought her hooves up to her face and murmured, "Wonderbolts. I'm going to join the Wonderbolts...."

She turned her attention back to the poster. Again she stared at it as an alien pressure built up inside of her. She winced and twitched, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the poster. Finally, in an inexplicable burst of rage, Rainbow Dash leapt up and tore down the poster. The Wonderbolts poster fell gently to the ground, face-down.

She stared at the fallen poster for just another second before she fell into her bed and began to cry.

- - - - -

Rarity calmly entered the Carousel Boutique, turning on the lights with her magic. The entire building was silent, save for a soft purring coming from a bed in the corner of the workroom. The white unicorn looked around at her silent, deserted, store, sighed, and entered.

She trotted up to a mirror and examined the Element around her neck. "Quite stunning craftsmanship." She muttered, turning her head from side to side. "Not the color I would have chosen, but I don't have a say in that, do I?" Her horn glowed softly as she cast a spell upon the Element. After seconds of concentration, Rarity dismissed the spell, finding the necklace completely unresponsive to her magic.

"As I expected." She sighed and turned away from the mirror. "I suppose I'll have to get used to it then. Good heavens, I hope I have something that doesn't clash." Rarity trotted over to her closet and began sorting through her wardrobe.

A creak from upstairs startled the white unicorn, causing her to drop a gown she was examining. She stood still, eyes darting across the ceiling, ears strained for any other sounds. "Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, her voice wavering slightly. There was no response. The creature in the bed snored loudly.

Rarity turned back to her clothes. Mother and father must have taken her with them, she thought absentmindedly. She frowned as she examined a hat, hovering it in front of her with her magic. I wonder if mother and father will be able to take care of her once I'm gone? She levitated the hat back into the closet and stood quietly appraising her collection. How am I going to tell them about....?

She closed her closet and turned away. "I'm simply going to have to design an entirely new outfit if I'm going to be a servant of darkness." Head raised, she trotted upstairs to her room to prepare for bed.

Sweetie Belle....

- - - - -

Applejack trudged down the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres, looking over the orchards of apple trees. Bathed in the moonlight, the apples seemed to glow a dull purple, the leaves a deep swampy green. She sighed and opened the gate to the farmhouse. Rarely been out here at nighttime, she thought as she trudged up to the house, these orchards can get pretty creepy.

As she trudged up the road, the door to the farmhouse was thrown open. A tiny filly dashed out of the open doorway and straight at Applejack. Applejack's heart froze over as she saw the red bow bobbing on the filly's head.

"Applejack!" Appplebloom cried in elation. She threw herself at Applejack, who caught her in her hooves. "We were all so worried about you! Where've you been? Big Mac, Applejack's back!"

In the doorway, a large red stallion nodded. "Eeyup."

"Sorry, Applebloom," Applejack chuckled nervously, "Y'see I...."

"Granny Smith!" Applebloom detached herself from her sister and dashed back towards the farmhouse. "Applejack came back! She's all right!"

"Eh, what's that?" From outside, Applejack could hear Granny Smith stirring in her rocking chair.

"Everypony's been waiting for you to come back!" Applebloom jumped atop Big Mac's back. "And the sun's not coming up still. What happened to princess Celestia? Did Nightmare Moon capture her? Is that where you went, to rescue her? Tell us Applejack, tell us!"

"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded.

Applejack stood still on the path, all eyes on her. Nervously, she looked from side to side, trying to find any way out of the situation. Suddenly Applebloom gasped and jumped off of Big Mac's back. The little filly trotted up to Applejack and stared at the pendant that hung from her neck.

"Golly, where'd you get that, sis?" Applebloom looked up into Applejack's eyes and saw the first faint traces of tears starting to form at the corner of her eyes. Frowning, she asked, "Applejack, what's wrong?"

Without answering, Applejack grabbed her sister and brought her close. Big Mac looked on in confusion while Applebloom stared into her sister's eyes fearfully. Applejack said nothing and just cried.

- - - - -

Pinke bounced through the door of Sugarcube Corner, humming to herself. The store was abandoned, pies and cakes stacked around the room. The sweets and candies looked especially eerie, their sugary coatings gleaming in the moonlight. The Cakes were nowhere to be seen, probably either asleep as many would normally be after staying awake all night before the Summer Send Celebration.

Pinkie continued bouncing through the store until she came up to the counter. Looking around to make sure nopony was watching, she grabbed a cookie from behind the counter and gobbled it up quickly. "Adventure always makes me hungry." She giggled.

"Mr. Cake? Mrs. Cake?" she called out, though not too loudly. "Are you still up?"

Silence.

Pinkie Pie stood by the counter and looked over the storeroom at all of the sweets. Her enthusiastic smile fell from her face as she saw how gloomy the store looked at night. Curiously, she looked down at the Element around her neck, the gem glowing softly in the moonlight. She giggled and tugged at the pendant, unsurprised to find that it was stuck fast.

"Oh well," she shrugged and began trotting upstairs. "I'm sure Twilight will figure something out."

Halfway up the stairs Pinkie Pie paused and turned around. She gave one last look at the store, thinking fondly on the many memories that were made here. Wistfully, her eyes took in every single cookie, every single cake, every single candy cane. I wonder if the Cakes will find someone to replace me on such short notice? she thought.

Shaking the thought out of her head, Pinkie Pie smiled broadly and headed upstairs to tuck Gummy in and to fall asleep herself. All the while she sung under her breath:

"Giggle at the ghostly...guffaw at the grossly...."

- - - - -

At the far end of town, Fluttershy crept into her own cabin. Inside, piles of animals huddled together, staring out the window at the moon. As soon as Fluttershy entered, the little animals spun around and scurried towards her. While she was taken aback, Fluttershy stood her ground as all of her woodland creatures surrounded her.

"There, there now," Fluttershy squeaked with an uncomfortable smile, "everything's going to be all right, I'm here now."

Angel pushed through the crowd of squirrels and other creatures. Standing atop a turtle, Angel looked into Fluttershy's eyes and rapidly pointed towards the window.

"Um..." Fluttershy looked out at the moon hanging in the night sky, "I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about that."

Angel cocked an eye inquisitively and instead pointed at Fluttershy's necklace.

"Oh, that?" Fluttershy sheepishly avoided eye contact. "It's just... the... Element of Kindness..."

Angel leaned forward and tapped on the necklace. His eyes widened and he nodded appreciatively. A ferret crawled forward and tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder and pointed at an empty bowl at the edge of the room.

"Oh, right." Fluttershy perked up and walked over to a cabinet. "It's breakfast now, isn't it? I'm so sorry, I've just been thinking about...."

She was quiet as she pulled out a bag of animal feed and began to fill each animals' food dish. While most of the animals readily dug into their food, Angel just tapped his foot and looked into Fluttershy's eyes.

"Are you not hungry Angel?" Fluttershy asked, confused.

Angel shook his head and bounced over to the yellow pegasus. Insistently, he tapped Fluttershy's necklace, one eyebrow raised.

Fluttershy looked away. "I'm fine, really."

But Angel was having none of that and jumped back into her field of vision and stared at her, his eyes screaming, I know everything isn't all right, what's really going on?

Fluttershy hung her head and muttered, "It's just... I have to go away... and I don't know when I'll be back..."

All of the animals immediately stopped eating and turned to face Fluttershy in shock and fear. Angel's eyes widened, but at the sight of tears forming in the corners of Fluttershy's eyes, the rabbit stepped close and hugged the pegasus' neck.

"I'm sorry." she muttered to the quiet room.

- - - - -

"Twilight," Spike groaned, wrapping a blanket around his friend's back, "You've been up really late." He looked out the window and at the midnight moon. "Well, I guess it's always going to be really late," he shook his head, "but what I mean is you need some sleep!"

The lavender pony grunted as she read Ancient Magicks of the Alicorn Kinde through half-closed eyes. A difficult read for even the studious unicorn, the book was proving incredibly difficult to tackle in her sleep-deprived state. The unicorn found herself reading over the same verbose passages over and over again without really caring.

"Twilight, are you even in there?' Spike waved his claw in front of the lavender unicorn's face, causing her to jerk back from her book. She blinked heavily and looked around the library. She had only been here for a day, and yet she felt intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of the tree house. Bloodshot eyes panned over the room until they fell upon her dragon assistant.

"GAGH!" Spike recoiled at Twilight's frightening appearance. "OKAY! That's it. As your assistant and your friend, I insist that that you go to bed."

Twilight didn't resist as Spike led her up to bed. Her eyes continued to move back and forth across an invisible book, looking for some solution to her problem.

"Gee Twilight," Spike chuckled, "I haven't seen you this worked up since that one time you thought the Princess was going to give you a pop quiz." Carefully, he led Twilight up the stairs and into the moonlit bedroom. "I thought you were never going to sleep again..."

"Can't stop... Princess needs me..."

Spike shook his head. "You'll be a lot more helpful when you're well-rested."

Twilight fell down into her bed, eyes staring out the window. "Can't sleep now... I'm Nightmare Moon's... top student."

Spike froze in shock. "All right Twilight, now I know you're really tired, you're starting to spout nonsense."

Twilight turned over, continuing to mutter to herself, " Have to stop... Celstia's out there... for night eternal."

Nervously, Spike reached over to the tiara on Twilight's head. Taking it in both claws, he heaved as hard as he could. But try as he might, the Element stayed firmly atop Twilight's head. Suddenly growling, Twilight flipped over in bed, wrenching the Element out of Spike's reach. The dragon sighed heavily and turned away, slumping over towards his bed.

"Spike?"

Spike turned around at the sound of his name. Twilight was hanging over the edge of her bed and looking into his eyes with her own blood-shot and unfocused pair. "You're not going to leave me," she mumbled, "are you Spike?"

The dragon stood rooted to the ground, thrown off guard. After a moment of hesitation, Spike replied quietly, "I'm always here for you, Twilight."

Grunting, Twilight flipped over in the bed and promptly fell asleep. The tiara on her head glowed in reflected moonlight. Spike stood staring at her friend for another few seconds before stepping over to his bed, curling up, and waiting for Twilight to continue her search when she woke up.

- - - - -

Sorry about the delay: getting a job, having a birthday, new video games, blah blah blah stop making excuses.

ANYWAY, Sad chapter is SAD. Sorry for a little filler, but I simply couldn't resist looking into each character's reactions. Don't worry, the plot moves on next chapter... but we finally reach the point where I decided that I would work on other projects over this one. Why?

OC's....

They can be accepted, but only rarely. These characters actively work against the premise of fanfiction: building a story with the characters and setting provided. As soon as I started writing this part of the story, I knew that I should probably write something else first before introducing a single original character.

And now I'm introducing eleven.

Celestia help me.

-The Author