The First Piece Of The Puzzle

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The town hall was deathly silent as the ponies stared up in fright at the black-coated, armored alicorn that stood tall and proud above them. Her mane and tail were like purple mists filled with sparkling lights like stars in the night sky.

“What did you do to the princess?” a cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash, demanded of the dark figure. She tried to fly up to the alicorn, but was stopped when an orange earth-pony with a blond mane, Applejack, grabbed the rainbow-maned mare’s tail in her mouth.

“Whoa nelly.” She mumbled through her teeth.

“Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” the alicorn accused the ponies beneath her.

“Ooh, more guessing games!” an all pink earth-pony, Pinkie Pie, exclaimed excitedly. “Umm, Pokey Smokes? How about Queen Meanie? No, Black Snooty! Black Snooty!” the hyper mare would’ve said more if Applejack hadn’t stuffed an apple in her mouth.

“Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?” the dark mare continued, growing irritated that she’d been forgotten. “Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”

“I did.” A voice called out. The alicorn’s eyes widened. She recognised that voice, and through her whole imprisonment feared that she’d never hear it again. She turned her head to where the voice came from, and her heart skipped a beat. There, staring up at her was a mare with lavender fur; straight-cut, dark-blue mane and tail with a stripe of pink and purple side-by-side; violet eyes and a pink, six-pointed star surrounded by smaller white ones on her flanks. Was it really who she thought it was, or was fate playing a cruel trick?

“And I know who you are,” the mare continued, “you’re the Mare in the Moon; Nightmare Moon!” all the ponies gasped, shocked at the revelation.

‘At least I wasn’t completely forgotten.’ Nightmare Moon thought. She mentally shook herself out of her stupor and acted like nothing was wrong. “Well, well, well… somepony remembers me. Than you also know why I’m here.”

“Y-you’re here to… to…” the mare stammered.

Nightmare Moon forced a laugh. “Remember this day little ponies, for it is your last. From this moment forth; the night, will last, forever!” She laughs again, creating storm clouds above her head that shot small bolts of lightning.

“Seize her, only she knows where the princess is!” the mayor cried to the Royal Guards that were there. They spread their wings and flew towards Nightmare Moon, believing that they could take her down.

Nope! Not a chance.

“Stand back you foals!” the black alicorn growled as her eyes glowed brightly. She struck each of the guards with a bolt of lightning, making them collapse to the ground. Nightmare Moon laughed again and turned her whole body into the same mist as her mane and tail, flying out of the building through the front door and towards her old castle in the now, presumably, overgrown Everfree Forest.

During the journey to the place she once called home, the Queen of the Night’s mind was racing with confusion and worry. ‘She’s alive, but why did she look at me with such anger? And why is she a unicorn? What happened to my precious little star?’

Nightmare Moon paced back and forth in front of the podium that held the inert Elements of Harmony in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, but she ignored them as she pondered how this could be possible. She’d set a few traps within the forest to at least buy her some time to formulate a plan concerning the lavender unicorn.

‘But why is she a unicorn in the first place?’ she asked herself for the umpteenth time. ‘Did something in the chamber go wrong? Did the guards find her? No, no… if they did I definitely wouldn’t have seen her again.’ She stopped her pacing and took a deep breath to calm herself. ‘Okay, if they didn’t find her then somehow Celestia must have. But why would she turn her into a unicorn? Does she want the ponies to believe that there’s only one Alicorn so that they’ll worship her as a goddess?’ she then growled. ‘Of COURSE she would! That’s so something Celestia would do! I thought that she might have changed in the last thousand years, but it seems I was mistaken.’

The sound of rotten wood doors being opened brought Nightmare Moon out of her thoughts. Her mind panicked; she still didn’t have a plan to confront the light-purple mare. She used a spell that her husband taught her and hid in the shadows, where the six ponies that came after her would be too focused on the podium and Elements to even look for her.

Still hiding, Nightmare Moon watched as the cyan pegasus from before and a butter-yellow pegasus mare brought down the stones that contained the inert Elements of Harmony. Her breathing grew slightly heavier and her heartbeat faster when the orange earth-pony ushered the other ponies out while they left the unicorn alone to awaken the Elements, as she requested.

Taking a deep, calming breath, the dark alicorn left the shadows in her mist form and swept up the stones and the smaller mare, causing her to yelp in surprise when they teleported away and into the most intact tower. Nightmare Moon used her magic to throw the Elements at the far end of the chamber and stood above the now cowering unicorn.

“Shh, calm yourself, Twilight. You have nothing to fear from me.” Nightmare cooed soothingly with a kind, motherly smile.

“H-how did you know my n-name?” Twilight timidly asks. The fear and confusion in her voice and on her face made the alicorn grimace. She wanted to comfort her, but thought that it wouldn’t work the way she’d want, until another idea came to her.

“Tell me Twilight, what do you know of me?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Y-you tried to plunge Equestria into eternal night but you were defeated by the Elements of Harmony and then sealed in the moon. Well, until now, that is.” The unicorn explained.

“Do you know of a draconequus named Discord?”

“I think there’s a statue of him in the castle gardens in Canterlot, but other than that, no.”

“Have you ever heard of King Sombra, Princess Summer Rose and the Crystal Empire?” Nightmare’s voice pitched a little; she was getting desperate now.

“Um… no?” Twilight was starting to get uncomfortable with a great threat to Equestria asking her random questions.

The Queen of the Night froze, eye wide and mouth slightly agape. She couldn’t believe it; she just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You…” her eyes started to water, which made the unicorn before her even more confused and uncomfortable. “You… don’t remember anything, do you?” the tears started to freely roll down her cheeks. “The Empire… Discord… Sombra… Summer… me? You don’t remember any of it?” Could she have been mistaken? Did fate just play its cruellest trick on her?

Twilight felt a little guilty that she wasn’t who the black alicorn thought she was, but despite her feelings, when she saw an opening to get to the Elements, she took it. She closed her eyes and focused on finding a spell that would get her to the discarded stones. This act didn’t go unnoticed by Nightmare Moon.

“What are you-“ she was cut off by a blinding flash of light. When she finally blinked the spots out of her vision, Nightmare heard a sound from behind her. She turned her head and saw Twilight with her horn glowing and the Elements caught in her magic. “No!” she called out, but it was too late as another, brighter flash filled the room.

When the light faded, nothing had changed; the Elements were still stone and the sixth was nowhere. “What?” Twilight screamed. “I don’t understand, where’s the last Element?”

The unicorn fell back when Nightmare Moon teleported right in front of her, a deep scowl gracing her features. “I don’t know what has happen to you this past millennia, my little star.” She said. “But I will no longer stand idle whilst my own child’s mind is twisted by my sister’s lies!” she emphasised this by rising her forelegs and slamming them down on the ground, destroying the Elements. “Now, we are going to stay in the Canterlot castle until your father is free from his unjust ice-prison, by that time the Empire should’ve returned as well and we can finally go home and be a family again.” Her expression softened greatly as she lowered her head to meet Twilight gaze with a pleading look. “Please, Twilight, that’s all I want.”

Twilight was only getting more confused by the second, but she needed to keep Nightmare Moon talking and figure out what she’s talking about. “What about eternal night?” the unicorn asks.

Nightmare sighed and raised her head. “When I first proclaimed that I was very stressed out so it was more of a ‘heat of the moment’ kind of thing. After I had finally gotten the love, adoration and respect that I deserved from the Equestrians, I would bring back the sun as a reward, so to speak. And even then the nights would be a little longer.” After finishing her explanation, she looked down to see the lavender mare giving her a curious look. “What? Did you seriously think I had not foreseen that the ponies would slowly die without the sun to help their crops grow?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t answer.” She rubbed her head with a hoof before looking down at Twilight again. “Come now, my little star, the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go home.”

Twilight still didn't know what was going on, but seconds later she heard the voices of the others coming up the stairwell to the chamber, calling out in concern for the purple mare. She turned her head towards the stairs and her eyes widened upon realisation. And if one focused hard enough, they would have seen an actual spark in her eyes.

“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” Twilight accused Nightmare Moon, foregoing what she heard as tricks, earning a look of hurt from the alicorn. “Well you’re wrong. Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony, are right here!” the other mares stood behind Twilight and the shards around the black mare began to faintly glow and float in the air.

“What?”

One by one Twilight called out the names of the mares with her and what they did that represented each of the Elements, the fragments floating to them. Nightmare mostly ignored the rant, too shocked that her daughter still refused to believe her, regardless of the lack of accusations being yelled. When she finally zoned back in, Twilight was just finishing. “...The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us.”

“You still don’t have the sixth Element, the spark didn’t work!” Nightmare countered, panic striking her face.

“But it did; a different kind of spark.” Twilight turned to face the others. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all,” she turns back to Nightmare Moon, “are my friends.”

A bright light shone overhead and when they looked up, they saw another stone ball. But this one had a six-pointed star carved into it unlike the others, which had the same gem-like engraving. It started to lower itself to float above Twilight’s head, making so much light that the dark alicorn had to use a wing to cover her eyes.

“You see Nightmare Moon,” Twilight spoke up again, “those Elements are ignited by the, uh… the spark, that resides in the hearts of us all. It creates the sixth Element; the Element of… Magic!” in another flash of light, the Element shards reformed themselves to resemble the cutie-marks of their new bearers. Whilst the others had their Elements contained on necklaces, Twilight had hers on a tiara. The six mares were bathed in majestic light and hovered in the air before a ray of energy in the form of a rainbow shot out from the group and headed for Nightmare in an arch.

‘No…’ she thought as the beam drew closer. ‘No… we were just brought back together. I don’t want to lose her again!’ the rainbow energy struck the ground before her hooves and began to coil around her body. “No! Twilight!” she cried, but it was no use. Her vision was blocked and she could feel the power of the Elements against her, it would only be a moment until… nothing?

Nightmare Moon slowly opened her eyes to see that the rainbow still surrounded her, but there was no movement or sound. “What is-“

“Remain calm, Miss Moon, we bring you no harm.” A male voice soothed.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” she demanded. The rainbow wall that trapped her became transparent until it was completely gone. In front of her were a group of six beings with their features hidden by the white, hooded cloaks they wore. However, the edges of the sleeves, the part of the robes that skimmed the ground, the thick sashes around their midsection and where their faces should be were all pitch-black. What caught Nightmare’s attention though were the black marks on their chests: an apple, a butterfly, a balloon, a diamond, a lightning bolt and a star. She gasped. “Y-you’re the…”

“Yes, we are.” The voice said, sounding like it came from the one with the star. “And we wish to help you, Miss Moon.”

“Why?” she asks.

“Because we’re sick and tired of that white witch using us to fix her mistakes.” A somewhat young, brash, yet very strong voice growled. The figures turned to the one with the lightning bolt.

“Now, now Loyalty, that’s a little rude.” A feminine voice scolded; this one easy for Nightmare Moon to at least guess as Kindness.

“Apologies, Kindness, but I agree with Loyalty. He simply said what we’re all thinking.” A wize, aged voice of - who Nightmare assumed was - Honesty confessed.

Kindness sighed and rubbed her arm. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Anyway,” Magic spoke up again, “what we are proposing is that instead of destroying you, like what these poor dears expect,” he gestured to the group of mares frozen in mid-air behind him and the other Elements, “we will separate you from Luna and you will hide in the castle while you regain your full strength. Hopefully Discord will still be sane enough to help you acquire a body of your own once he is free.”

“What do you mean by ‘separate me from Luna’?” Nightmare asks, putting the part about Discord in the back of her mind for now.

The figure with the diamond, Generosity no doubt, stepped up. “Well darling, Celestia just wants her sweet little sister back, yes? And you want to be reunited with your family. So we decided that this way we could bring back together two families.” She explained.

Nightmare blinked. “Oh, well, I guess that makes sense.” She said, and then a thought occurred to her. “Will she-“

“No.” Magic interrupted with his right hand raised. “Luna will not remember your life in the Empire. The reason is that when she let you in, her mind was cast into a deep sleep, allowing you full control. As such, your life is yours and she has nothing to do with it.”

“If anything, she’ll most likely remember imprisoning King Sombra in the Frozen North and sealing Discord in stone as she was in control at those times, and of course those few moments before you were banished.” Honesty said with a shrug of his shoulders. He looked to the others and noticed them staring at him “What?”

“Yes, well, except for those details Luna won’t recall a thing, and it’s the only option you have if you wish to ever be with your daughter again.” Magic concluded.

Nightmare Moon craned her neck to look past the Elements and gaze upon the mares suspended in the air, or more accurately, at the lavender unicorn and the smile on her face. She would give anything to keep her little filly happy and smiling brightly. A tear rolled down Nightmare’s cheek as she recalled many moments of joy and love.

‘I promise we’ll be together soon, my little star.’ She thought. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Magic. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Magic nodded and walked back towards the ponies, followed by the other as the rainbow started to become visible again. “Oh, and one more thing!” a new voice called out, obviously Laughter. “Because you were originally born from darkness, this may still hurt a little!” he said with a mad cackle.

“WHAT?!”

Anything else that she would have said was immediately cut off when she was overcome by the shearing pain of being torn in half. Just as suddenly as the pain came, it disappeared. Nightmare groaned and opened her eyes, taking notice that her mist-like form was hidden in the shadows and of the small, light-blue alicorn lying where she was just standing. Knowing that Celestia would be here soon and afraid the she might uncover her, Nightmare slipped through the cracks to the lower chambers.

The ponies are absolutely clueless that she’s still alive.

Visions Of The Past?

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Twilight Sparkle was feeling somewhat conflicted. She and her new friends had not only saved Equestria from a great threat, they also reunited Princess Celestia with her little sister. But despite all that, she couldn’t shake off the guilty feeling in the back of her head for what they did to Nightmare Moon. Did she really mean what she said about eventually giving back the sun, or was she lying to make Twilight drop her guard? No, the look in her eyes was sincere.

All day the young scholar was looking for books on Discord, King Sombra and the Crystal Empire only to find nothing. There wasn’t a single book that so much as even mentions either of them. Sighing in defeat, she trudged up the stairs to her new bedroom and made her way to the bed.

Spike was already fast asleep in his basket at the foot of the bed, snoring softly. She used her magic to lift the covers and climbed in, then lowered the covers to get herself set. Once comfortable, Twilight closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A grand city of glistening crystals and green fields stood tall and proud, stretching for miles in all directions. The ponies, Changelings and other races that traversed the streets were so happy their smiles shone just like the crystals that made up their home. At the base of the Crystal Palace, the largest building in the city, was an open lobby that showed the greatest gem in the Empire, held suspended in the air between a stalagmite and stalactite: the Crystal Heart.

Four figures stood in front of the Heart; the more detailed features of three of them were blurry but they resembled a black-coated mare, a dark-grey stallion - both much taller than the average pony - and a light-pink colored mare.

“Wow.” A small, light-purple filly breathed as she stared in awe at the heart-shaped gem from between the larger ponies. “Is that really the treasure that keeps the Empire safe from the monsters?” she asked.

“Yes, Twily, it is. And it's my duty to make sure it’s safe.” The pink mare, a little taller than the filly, said. “The Crystal Heart has used the love and hope in the hearts of the crystal-ponies since the first king and queen created it over three-thousand years ago.”

“How did they make it, sis?”

“They did so by paying the ultimate price.” Answered the black mare instead. Her daughter gave her a confused look, so she continued. “Not willing to put their ponies in any danger, the king and queen used their love for each other, their children and their kingdom to vanquish a demon known as Diablo; who was the very embodiment of terror and insanity, despite not being insane himself.” She mumbled.

“Then, why was he called that?” Twilight asked her parents and sibling.

“Because he grew so powerful that his mere presence alone could drive not only ponies, but all sentient creatures into madness.” Her father said with a deep voice. “It was only because the king and queen believed that their love was stronger than Diablo’s power that they were able to stand before him without being affected by it at all. They challenged the demon and used all the power they had and even went as far as to unleash the strength of their very souls to destroy him. Once the guards came to the battlefield, all they found were the shattered remains of a monster, a pile of cloths, and the Crystal Heart.”

“They selflessly sacrificed their own lives so that the Empire could live on. And now, we celebrate that sacrifice through the Crystal Fair every year on the anniversary of their death by powering the Crystal Heart with our love.” Her mother finished.

“Whoa…” was all the little filly could say. “That is so cool!” she screamed, ruining the moment and causing her parents and sister to flinch from the sheer volume. Her small wings buzzed so much she floated above the ground for a short time before falling back on her hooves.

“Cool?” Her sister asks, curious of her explanation.

“Of course! Where all other ponies would go crazy, they were perfectly fine and they took down a big monster that no one else could. Sure they died to do it, but they’d rather risk themselves than their people, and at least they were together at the end.”

Her parents looked between themselves for a few seconds before smiling down at their youngest daughter. “That’s very impressive reasoning, Twilight.” Her mother said. “Why don’t we go home and have lunch while your father and I teach you a little more about the infamous ‘Lord of Terror’?”

Twilight gasped and looked up to her father. “Really?” she asks excitedly.

He sighed but smiled. “I don’t have much of a choice, do I? And what’s this ‘father and I’ you speak of?” he asks, looking straight at his wife.

She merely grinned. “You’re much better at telling stories than I am.”

He chuckled. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Yay!” filly-Twilight exclaimed, running ahead of her parents.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened and she hastily sat up in bed with a gasp. “What was that?” she thought out loud.

“What was what, Twi?” Spike asked. He had woken up earlier to do some chores and make breakfast. The little purple dragon was just about to wake Twilight up just when she’d awoken herself. “Was it a nightmare?”

“No, Spike, it wasn’t a nightmare.” She replied. “But it didn’t seem like a dream either. It felt more like… like a memory.” Her assistant merely shrugged his shoulders and walked back downstairs. Twilight stayed in her room for a little while before her stomach grumbled, signaling that it was time for breakfast. She walked out of her room whilst thinking about her strange ‘dream’.

Unlike most other dreams, she could remember this one perfectly and it kept repeating in her head. When she came into the library foyer, Twilight stopped and gasped, a piece of detail just dawning on her; the black mare, the one that the filly-Twilight called mother, was Nightmare Moon. ‘W-what’s going on around here?’ she thought.

The next day...

“So let me get this straight, darling: you had a dream that you were an alicorn filly living in a city made of crystals, and Nightmare Moon was your mother?” Rarity asks, earning a nod from the lavender mare. It was the day after Twilight had her ‘dream’, and when Rarity invited her and the other girls over to the boutique for some tea, she decided it would be the best time to tell them about it.

“The first time I had it, they were all blurry and I could only see the color of their coats. Every time I think about it, my ‘father’ and ‘sister’ are still blurred but now I see Nightmare Moon as clear as I see you guys.”

“It’s probably just something to mess with ya.” Rainbow Dash said. “I mean, did you hear Nightmare Moon call out your name just before we hit her with the Elements? She was probably all “Curse you, Twilight!” and all that.”

“There’s no such thing as curses.” Twilight replied dryly.

“Um, I didn’t hear her say anything before Twilight’s name… you know, in case you were wondering.” Fluttershy just barely whispered.

“What Ah’d like ta know is why in Equestria you’d have such a dream in da first place.” Applejack commented.

“But that’s just it, Applejack,” Twilight said, “It felt more like it was a memory than a dream.”

“Don’t worry like a silly filly, Twilight! I’m sure that in a couple of days you’ll forget all about it and everything will be back to normal!” Pinkie exclaimed, getting approving nods from the other four mares.

“Pinkie is right, dear. Just forget about that dream and your life with go back to the way it was.” Rarity encouraged.

“Thanks guys, and you’re right; once I forget this dream everything will be fine.” Twilight said. After the group all finished their tea, they embraced in a group-hug and went back to their homes. As she was returning to her library/house, Twilight was filled with confidence that her mind would be rid of the strange dream and she could move on with her life. Everything would be fine.

About three weeks later...

Everything was absolutely, positively, definitely not fine! Not only could Twilight not stop thinking about her first ‘dream’, but she’d also been having more every week or so as well.

They would often vary between Twilight being a foal, a filly and about the age she is now, but all would have her doing some kind of activity with the grey stallion, Nightmare Moon, both, her ‘sister’ or all three. Although the purple unicorn still couldn’t make out his more distinctive features (like his cutie-mark), she was able to find that the stallion’s horn seemed to be red, considering that the norm for the horn of a unicorn and even alicorn was to be the same color of the pony’s coat. So seeing that her ‘father’ had a different colored horn was very odd.

The things she did with her ‘family’ varied from learning strange concepts of magic (she says strange because some parts keep getting blocked out) with her father, stargazing late at night with Nightmare Moon, taking strolls through the crystalline city with her sister, learning to fly (she found out that the stallion and other mare were alicorns as well) and other activities a family would do. What made Twilight feel bad about it was that they seemed so… happy. She could feel the love and joy being expressed in every event, and it made her feel guiltier for what she and her friends did to Nightmare Moon.

Whenever Twilight would recall that night, she would always see the look of sadness and hurt on the dark alicorn’s muzzle. The more she had these visions (they begun to occur during the day for the past week, so she began calling them that), the more she kept thinking about them, the more she began to believe that they really were memories, not dreams.

She sometimes thought of going back to the old castle in the Everfree to see if she can find even the tiniest fragment of Nightmare Moon still there, a small piece of her hoping beyond hope that she wasn’t destroyed by the Elements. But she decided against it, hoping to find more information herself before she tried that option.

Presently Twilight was wandering around town when she caught sight of a rainbow streak. Looking up she saw that Rainbow Dash was hanging out with a griffon, and she could tell that they were friends that had recently reunited. Twilight smiled at the two from the ground as they laughed at something one of them said, but that smile wavered when Pinkie Pie interrupted them with a strange contraption to get to their cloud.

She didn’t know how but Twilight could feel that the griffon was both uncomfortable and irritated at Pinkie’s presence. ‘Well I would be too if a stranger interrupted a moment between me and an old friend.’ She found herself thinking. Twilight wasn’t too surprised that the griffon - ‘I really need to know her name.’ - aggressively told Pinkie to leave the two alone after Rainbow left for something. As she was about to leave, the lavender mare suddenly clutched her head when a wave of images flashed through her mind.

“C’mon Twilight, is that the best you got?” called out a black-feathered, red-eyed griffon with a slightly gruff voice for his age.

“Yeah! No way you’ll beat us at tag if you fly that slow.” Said another griffon, this one looking like a female double of the first but with longer feathers at the back of her head.

A filly-Twilight pouted, her small wings buzzing after the two siblings. “Well this wouldn’t be a problem if I just had my magic.” She grumbled. The young Alicorn had caused a massive mess when she tried, and failed, a spell that was too advanced for her. As punishment, her uncle took away her horn for the day and would only get it back when she went to bed later.

Thus it was a moping filly that her griffon friends, the Branwen Twins, found and decided was their job to cheer up with a few games, like tag. Besides, she needed to start using her wings more often.

“Even if you had your magic we wouldn’t let use it, that just won’t be fair for me and Raven.” Commented the first griffon.

“Qrow’s right; you can’t be too dependant on your magic otherwise you’re a sitting duck.” Said the second. “We can’t use regular magic and even we know that!”

Twilight had to admit that they had a point. Her parents and even Summer learnt different forms martial arts, combat and flight - though the last one can be linked to the other two. That in mind and with newfound determination, Twilight smiled before she made a shocked expression. “Oh my gosh! A Void Dragon!” she screamed, pointing a hoof behind the griffons.

“What!? Where!?” they called out in fright, turning around to find the beast and not noticing Twilight coming up behind them.

“Tag, you’re it!” she said, tapping on Qrow’s shoulder before flying off.

He blinked in confusion until it clicked. “Hay! That’s cheating!” he yelled angrily, his sister flying away as well, snickering at how she tricked them.

“No it isn’t!” Twilight yelled back, laughing.

Twilight stumbled slightly but quickly regained her balance when the vision ended. “What was that?” she muttered, a little confused by the contents of her newest vision. “Did I used to have griffon friends too?” she wondered. Twilight looked around and noticed that Rainbow Dash’s friend was gone and Pinkie was bouncing away from her now wrecked contraption.

Not seeing anything that was of any interest at the moment, Twilight decided to return home to take notes of what she saw.

It was mid-afternoon when Twilight left the Golden Oaks Library to attend a welcoming party Pinkie had set up for Gilda the griffon, but was busy with the notes of her vision earlier. The lavender mare actually found herself quite excited to meet her and find out more about griffon society while making Princess Celestia proud that she made another friend, one that wasn’t even a pony at that!

Twilight was about to enter Sugercube Corner when a white and brown blur flew out, zooming just above her head. She looked back towards the blur, barely recognising it as Gilda and seeing her retreating to Whitetail Woods. Confused to why she was leaving her own welcoming party so abruptly, Twilight went inside and immediately walked over to Rainbow Dash and her other friends.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why did Gilda leave so suddenly?” she asks them.

Rainbow scoffs. “She just couldn’t take a few pranks and yelled at Pinkie for no reason, thinking that she was trying to make her look like a fool on purpose.” She said, the others nodding.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but was growing concerned. “Really? What exactly were these pranks?”

“Oh just some pepper in the vanilla-lemon drops, dribble glass, a spitting-snakes gag box, relighting birthday candles and she slipped on some cake frosting when playing pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. It was when everypony laughed at her she yelled at me for wanting to humiliate her.” Answered Pinkie.

One of Twilight’s eyes twitched slightly. “So you’re telling me that you set up a party to welcome Gilda to town so that she could feel at home when she’s here, but you pulled a whole bunch of pranks on her - regardless if she set them off herself - and effectively made her a laughing stock, right?” She summarized. The others nodded, though slightly uncertain of where Twilight was going with this, and her eye twitched again.

“Twilight? Are you alright?” Applejack asked.

Twilight quickly shook her head and gave her friends an apologetic smile. “No, I’m fine, but I just came over to tell you that Princess Celestia had just sent me some documents for me to look over as soon as possible, so I won’t be able to attend the party. Sorry.” She said, acting as though the previous conversation never happened.

The farmer had an odd look on her face, but Pinkie Pie spoke up. “That’s okay, Twilight. I’ll just have to make another party to make up for this one that you’re missing out on.” The party mare said excitedly.

“Alright then, I’ll see you girls there.” Replied Twilight as she left the bakery.

The others began to join in on the party, but Applejack remained in place. Rarity took notice quickly and walked up to her friend. “Applejack, is everything alright darling?” She asks. The fashion designer didn’t get a response for a few seconds, but before she could say something else, Applejack spoke up, though it was mostly to herself.

“...She’s lying.”

Twilight was indeed lying. She didn’t return to her home/workplace, but gallopped towards Whitetail Woods, after Gilda. Twilight didn’t exactly know why she was running after the griffon, but she was and that was all that mattered at the moment.

“Gilda! Gilda, where are you?! Gilda!” She shouted, hoping that she’d get a response. After several more minutes of this with only silence answering her calls, Twilight’s throat was getting sore so she decided to stop. She looked around the small clearing she was in and sighed, her head lowering. “This is hopeless, she’s probably miles away by now.”

Twilight was about to leave and return home, but her ears perked up as she just caught the sound of sobbing. Curious, she creeped over to where it was coming from and moved aside the low hanging branch that blocked her view. What she saw was quite surprising.

“Gilda?” Twilight asks timidly, stepping closer to the crying griffon.

Gilda spun around, startled at the sudden voice, but frowned when she saw it was a pony. “What do you want?” she demanded angrily, though there was still some hurt in her eyes.

“I just wanted to apologize for what my friends did to you at the party.” Said Twilight, walking over to the griffon and sitting next to her. “And also tell you that I can see where you’re coming from in terms of yelling at Pinkie.”

That confused Gilda. “What do you mean?” she asks, rubbing her eyes with her wrist.

“Pinkie really doesn’t understand the concept of personal space most of the time from what I know of her, and I saw how she kept interrupting you and Rainbow from hanging out together. In her defence she just wants to be friends with everyone she meets, but I’m sure that if she just left you alone for a while this whole mess could’ve been avoided.”

“Plus there’ll always be someone who doesn’t want to be friends no matter what you do.” Gilda muttered.

Twilight gave the griffon a sympathetic look. “Speaking from experience?” She asks.

Gilda nodded. “Flight Camp was a tough time for me, being the only griffon there. Dash and I hit it off pretty quick when we first met, but the other colts and fillies were nowhere near as nice. They constantly called me names and bullied me, but luckily the instructors made sure that nothing ever got physical, and Dash was always there to support me. Though that also made her a target for being friends with a griffon.” She said with a sad smile.

Twilight smiled also. “Sounds like she was a very loyal friend.”

“The best I could ask for, seeing that she was the only friend I ever had that wasn’t a relative.” They sat in silence for a moment until Gilda spoke up again. “So… now what? Do you want me to go back and apologize or something?”

The lavender mare thought about it. “Maybe, but not right now. Give it some time for things to blow over before we do that.”

The griffon nodded in agreement as she stood back up, then a thought occurred to her. “Hey, you seemed to know my name - probably from Pinkie Pie - but I don’t know your’s.”

Twilight stood up too. “Oh, sorry about that. It’s Twilight Sparkle.” She said, offering her hoof for Gilda to shake, which she did. They shared another moment of silence until Twilight thought of something. “Hey, on an unrelated note, have you ever heard of something called a ‘Void Dragon’?” she asks.

Gilda’s eyes widened slightly, surprised by the question. “Uh, yeah. Can’t remember much at the top of my head, but stories that my grandpa told me say that they were some of the biggest creatures in the world. As large as any modern city, mostly made of pure energy that was contained by armor that looked a metal skeleton, and they got their name from being able to fly into and live in space.” She explained.

“Wow. That’s amazing. No creature that I’ve heard about could possibly match that.” Twilight whispered in awe.

“Yeah, they’re pretty awesome, but that’s all I can think of right now.” Gilda then smiled as she got an idea. “How about the next time I come to Ponyville to patch things up, I could bring some of my grandpa’s books with me?”

Twilight’s eyes practically sparkled at the thought of new books. “Really? That would be amazing!” she screamed in excitement.

The griffon chuckled. “I’ll be sure to remember, then.” She said, before pulling the unicorn into a hug, and action she happily returned. “And thanks for helping me out here, couldn’t have done it without ya.”

“It’s okay. What are friends for?” Twilight said, the two separating and heading back to their homes, both overjoyed that they made a new friend.

Neither griffon nor mare noticed the starry cloud that was hovering above them the whole time and continued following the lavender pony.

Chaotic Plots And Schemes

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Chapter 3: Chaotic Plots And Schemes

Twilight was in the royal archives of Canterlot Castle, hoping that here of all places there would be a book or two about Discord, King Sombra and the Crystal Empire.

“Argh! Nothing here either!” Twilight yelled, throwing away yet another book. Normally she wouldn’t treat books like that, but she’s been searching in the archives for five days straight and was too frustrated to care. “Honestly, it’s like somepony working for the princess or Celestia herself doesn’t want anypony knowing about these things, which is ridiculous!” she grumbled for a moment before her eyes widened when she registered what she said. “…Right?”

Hidden in the shadows, Nightmare Moon watched the lavender mare with worry. Despite the Elements instructing her to remain at the old castle, she couldn’t help but be close to Twilight; to watch over her, to make sure she was safe. Something that proved beneficial as she saw how well she made friends with Gilda several weeks back.

When Twilight first heard of Zecora, a zebra living in the Everfree Forest, she subsequently started to have a nightmare of her because of what her friends said about her, but Nightmare Moon soothed the unicorn’s mind with a dream of calmly talking to the zebra, getting to know her and showing the other ponies that she wasn’t bad (Nightmare had already gone to Zecora’s dreams to know that she was nice). It was a shame that the Poison Joke took effect the next morning and Twilight’s friends blamed Zecora for it, tossing the plan out the window, but they were able to sort things out and got along anyway.

Twilight sighed and stood up from the table she was sitting at and began putting the books she gathered back where she got them from. “Maybe I can ask the princess about this at the gala tonight.” She mumbled before leaving the archives.

Later that night and true to her word, Twilight nervously walked up to Princess Celestia as the white alicorn greeted the guests. She took a deep breath and made her presence known.

“Um, Princess Celestia, can I ask you something?” she asked.

“Why of course, Twilight. What is it you wish to ask?” Celestia said, wondering what her faithful student wanted to know.

“Well, I was wondering, what was the Crystal Empire?”

Celestia stared at the unicorn for a moment. “Where did you hear of that?” she asks.

“Well, back at your old castle when she thought that she’d destroyed the Elements, Nightmare Moon started going on about how she would rule Equestria through fear and make the ponies suffer, but I was too scared to notice any details.” She lied. “And somewhere in her monologue she mentioned the Empire and I got curious. But no matter where I looked I couldn’t find any books about it, so I was wondering if you knew anything.” Twilight explained.

Celestia was silent for a while before she sighed. “The Crystal Empire was a small kingdom in the Frozen North before the founding of Equestria. It possessed an immensely powerful artifact that protected it from evil. But one day, a black-hearted pony was able to reach the Empire and conquer it, twisting the crystals to his dark will and enslaving the citizens.”

Some more nobles and highly respected ponies entered the foyer and walked over to the two mares. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I have more guests to welcome. Perhaps we can finish this another time?” the alicorn asked.

“Yeah, okay.” Twilight sighed, disappointed that she didn’t learn more, a feeling that Celestia didn’t notice as she was already walking away.

One week later...

It was a calm, warm day in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle and Spike were on their way to visit their friend Applejack at the farm-pony’s home, Sweet Apple Acres. Everything seemed fine until she felt something cold and wet fall on her head, stopping the unicorn in her tracks.

“That’s weird, it’s supposed to be a clear and sunny day.” She thought out loud, feeling a few other drips. Twilight looked up and instead of a grey cloud above her, she saw a pink one. “What the-“ was all she got out when the cloud started raining a brown liquid over her.

Ignoring Spike laughing at her unamused expression and the fact that she was getting drenched, Twilight carefully brought out her tongue, curious to what the brown liquid was. She took a few tentative tastes when she was able to confirm that the rain was chocolate milk. Feeling that it was drifting away, Twilight used her magic to clean herself and pull off a piece of the cloud, bringing it to her muzzle. She took an experimental lick and then bit into it, confirming it as cotton candy.

“Cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain?” she thought out loud. “Why does that seem familiar?”

Spike stopped laughing and smiled at her. “I don’t know, but what do you think’s next? Soap roads?” he joked. Twilight giggled a little but yelped when another vision flashed in her mind.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeee!” a filly alicorn Twilight screamed in glee as she slid down the now soapy floor of one of the Crystal Palace’s corridors.

“Be careful Twilight!” Nightmare Moon called out to her daughter in concern. “Don’t get in anyone’s way!”

“I won’t mommy!” Twilight cheered back as she shot down another corridor.

“Oh, don’t be such a worry-wart, Moony.” A serpentine creature next to the black alicorn said. He was mostly covered in brown fur until it reached a red dragon’s tail with a turf of white fur at the end, had a lion’s paw and an eagle’s claw acting as his right and left hands respectively, and his legs were those of a green dragon and oxen (right and left respectively). His head was that of a, for lack of a better word, misshapen pony with irregular red and yellow eyes, a short beard, and had a deer antler on the right and an antelope antler on the left.

“Well excuse me for worrying for my youngest child’s safety, Discord.” Nightmare shot back at the embodiment of chaos.

“Oh, pish-posh! I assure you, there is no way your little Twilight will get hurt from what I do.” Discord said confidently. There was a light thud heard in the distance, followed by a squeaky “Ow~”

The self-proclaimed god looked back down to Nightmare Moon, feeling the full force of her glare. He chuckled awkwardly and snapped his eagle talon, causing the floor to turn back to normal. “Maybe that’s enough fun for one day?” he said whilst rubbing the back of his with his lion paw.

“Argh, you’re unbelievable!” she snapped, storming off to treat her daughter.

Twilight shook her head to clear it of the sudden flashback. “Okay, that was different.” She mumbled to herself.

“What’s that, Twilight?” her dragon assistant asked.

“Just another vision.” She answered with a sigh. They heard some commotion ahead and took notice of Sweet Apple Acres in total pandemonium; apples so large the trees bent over, rabbits with unnatural legs, and popcorn exploding everywhere. With a feeling of great urgency, the two ran to the farm to help bring order to the chaos.

After the situation at Applejack’s farm was taken care of, Twilight and her friends were called by Princess Celestia to get to the castle immediately. The six mares arrived as quickly as they could, barring open the doors to the main foyer where the princess waited.

“Princess Celestia, we came as fast as we could.” Twilight said.

“Thank you, Twilight, thank you all.” Celestia called out to the mares.

“Is this about the weather, and the animal’s weird behavior? What’s happening out there? Why isn’t my magic working? Is there-“ Twilight’s rapid questioning was ended when the princess raised her hoof.

“Follow me.” The white alicorn said simply before turning around. The Mane Six followed her down a hallway of stain glass windows in complete silence until she continued. “I’ve called you all here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I’d defeated long ago, has returned. His name… is Discord.”

They heard Fluttershy timidly scream at one of the windows with Discord’s image, covering Twilight’s gasp from her recognition of the name of the creature from her vision just earlier today.

“Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony.” Celestia went on. “Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness.” She paused when Twilight raised her hoof. “Yes, Twilight, is something the matter?”

“Um, no offence Princess, but wouldn’t ruling for an eternal state mean that he reigned over Equestria without beginning or end?” the unicorn asks nervously. “B-but that doesn’t mean that someone else can’t make it end.” She added hastily with a nervous chuckle.

Celestia stared at her student for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Right you are my student, but as I was saying: Luna and I saw how miserable life was for earth-ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike. So after discovering the Elements of Harmony we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone.”

“All right, Princess!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, thrusting her hoof in the air.

Celestia turned down the hall and ushered the mares to follow. “I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever. But since Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken.”

“No longer connected?” Twilight wondered out loud.

“This is Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are kept inside since all of you recovered them.” The princess said, ignoring Twilight’s question. “I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord, before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos.”

“But why us?” Twilight asks. “Why don’t you-“

“Hey look, we’re famous!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, interrupting the unicorn. Everyone turned to the pink pony and looked at the stain glass window of them all defeating Nightmare Moon, and it made Twilight feel a pang of guilt.

“You six showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe.” Celestia said. “Although Luna and I once wielded the Elements, it is you who now control their power.” Oh, how wrong she is. “And it is you who must defeat Discord.” She finished with her wings flared.

Twilight looked between her friends, unsure of what to do. One part of her was telling her that stopping Discord was top priority, but another was far more hesitant for some reason. However, the first part won out. “Princess Celestia, you can count on-“

“Hold on!” Pinkie interrupted, again. “Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate! Rain!”

Twilight quickly zipped to Celestia. “Don’t listen to her, Princess. We’d be honored to wield the Elements again.”

The princess nodded and walked up to the vault, inserted her horn into the “key hole” and used her magic to unlock it. The doors opened and revealed a gem-covered chest sitting on a pedestal.

“You can keep the Elements, I’ll take that case.” Rarity said.

“Have no fear ponies.” Celestia said with a smile. “I have total confidence that you will defeat Discord… with these.” She opened the chest only for it to be empty. The Mane Six gasped and Celestia dropped the case in shock, Twilight was surprised that a part of her was relieved.

“Oh well.” Pinkie chimed. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swivel straw.” She joked.

“The Elements, they’re gone!” Twilight exclaimed, shocked.

“That chamber is protected by a spell that only I can break.” Celestia said as she paced between the walls. “This doesn’t make sense.”
An amused laughter echoed in the hall. “Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?” a bodiless voice asked.

“Discord, show yourself!” the sun princess demanded, but only more laughter came as a reply. Suddenly, one of the stain glass images of Discord started to move and speak.

“Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you.” He said as he traveled to the other windows. “It’s quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn’t know about that, would you? Because I don’t turn ponies into stone!”

“Enough!” Celestia shouted. “What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?”

“Well, I’m just borrowing them for a little while.” He said in a playful tone, which wasn’t entirely untrue. The very second after Discord had broken free, he was confronted by Magic and Kindness, who asked for his aid in creating a body for Nightmare Moon. Discord decided that it would be best if their physical bodies were much closer to her, so when they agreed to the logic behind it, he ‘stole’ them from the vault and to the old castle in the Everfree Forest.

“You’ll never get away with this, Discord.” The princess almost growled, pawing at the floor. Twilight was a little shocked at the hostility Celestia was showing; she’d never seen her mentor this angry, ever, and it made her a little uncomfortable.

“Oh I’ve forgotten how uptight you can be, Celestia. It’s really quite boring.” He said, idly looking at his claws.

“Hey! Nopony insults the princess.” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, rushing at Discord. But it was for naught as she simply slammed into the glass.

“Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent.”

“That’s right! I’ll always be loyal to the princess.”

“We’ll see about that.” Discord mocked.

“I can’t believe we’re wasting our time talking to a tacky window.” Rarity remarked, Discord appearing in the window behind her.

“Ah, the beautiful Rarity representing the Element of Generosity, if I am not mistaken.”

“So you know who we are, big deal.” Scoffs Applejack.

“Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack.” Discord says, making his image larger.

“You seem to know our strengths, too.” Twilight commented. Discord looked at her and he froze for a split second before regaining his ‘cool’ and teleported to another window.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful of the Elements, Magic.” ‘Speaking of which, it seems he wasn’t lying about her being alive.’ He said and thought, surprised and relieved that his favorite niece is alive and well, but still confused as to why she was a unicorn. But alas, he had to keep up the ‘villain’ role so he continued. “Fluttershy’s is Kindness and Pinkie Pie’s is a personal favorite of mine; Laughter.”

“Stop stalling, Discord. What have you done to the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia demanded.

“Oh so boring, Celestia. Fine, I’ll tell you, but I’ll only do it my way.” He began moving through the windows as he told his riddle. “To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of these change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan, than find the Elements back where you began.” By the end Discord had left and the stain glass he first appeared from went back to normal.

“Can we go home now?” Fluttershy timidly asks.

“What do ya reckon he meant ‘twists and turns’ and endin’ back where we started?” Applejack wondered.

“Twists and turns… twists and turns…” Twilight muttered to herself as she walked over to one of the regular window. When she peered out of it, her eyes widened and she turned to the others. “Twists and turns, that’s it! I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth.”

Celestia nodded her head in agreement. “Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves.”

“Thanks, Princess, we won’t let you down.” Twilight said before she and her friends ran off to the gardens.

Once the Mane Six were out of earshot, Celestia sighed. ‘Something’s not right, it seems too easy… but I could be over thinking it.’ She walked over to the window Twilight was at just a moment ago and gazed at the maze. ‘He might try to tell her something, but hopefully she’ll remain faithful and believe his words to be lies.’ The six ponies were now in view and the sun princess stared intently at Twilight before whispering to herself.

“I swear to you, Twilight, that no matter what the costs, I will not let you travel down the dark path your parents did.”

A while later, Discord teleported to a random hall in the old castle in the Everfree Forest and wondered to the throne room after he dealt with the situation at the hedge maze in the Canterlot gardens. He used his powers to make the Mane Six the opposite of what they represent; Applejack – liar, Pinkie – angry, Rarity – greedy, Fluttershy – cruel and Rainbow Dash – traitor. Despite that Fluttershy was the most resistant to Discord’s temptations and caused him to force his power on her whilst the others needed words alone. He was quite put off that it was because she’s fine being a pushover.

Discord felt a little bad about what he did the mares, they seemed to be the only friends Twilight has had since the Empire was sealed away in that pocket dimension his brother found.

He soon made his way to the throne room and pushed open the old, rotten doors and entered the chamber, seeing an interesting sight. In the center of the room were six cloaked figures - five with gold necklaces, one a crown - standing in a circle with both palms stretched out above a glowing, white dome. And inside the dome was the purple, starry mist of Nightmare Moon.

“About time you showed up. What took you?” Loyalty brashly asks.

“Well excuuuse me for being busy in making your bearers their opposites and thusly turning them all against each other.” Discord shot back. “But I must give Twilight credit for doing her best to keep them together.”

“Can you not argue please? I kinda want my body soon rather than later, if you don’t mind.” Nightmare Moon scolded.

“Sorry.” They said.

“So what exactly do you need me to do?” Discord asked.

“I’ve thought about it and concluded the best way to do this.” Magic began. “You will fly above our circle and when I give the signal, release a continuous beam of your chaos-magic down on the dome. Whilst that is happening, we will collect and alter the atoms and molecules from the surrounding area, and put them together to form Nightmare Moon’s bones, organs, veins, nerves, muscles and skin; in that exact order. We’ll leave the fur and feathers last. I don’t actually know for certain how much of your power we’ll need, so just keep pouring it out until I say so.”

“Well that sounds exhausting on my part.” The draconequus muttered.

“You’re not the one who’s about to be built from scratch and will feel it, so don’t complain!” Nightmare snapped. “Now get up there and let’s get this over with. I want to hug my daughter with my own hooves as soon as possible.”

“Alright alright!” Discord shot back, flying into position above the dome. He charged his magic between his palms into a sphere of pure energy about the average size of a pony.

Magic was silent for another minute before shouting, “Now!”, signaling Discord to fire his magic down on Nightmare Moon. The Elements put more power into the complex and intricate spell to form Nightmare Moon’s body from the atoms and molecules from the environment.

The dark mare gasped, grunted, hissed and even for split-seconds at a time, screamed in pain as each and every cell, muscle and tendon were formed and stitched together. Discord cringed at the scene, a little uncomfortable witnessing his sister-in-law going through such a painful process. He idly wondered if she’d choose to go through childbirth for a third time than this.

Luckily it only took just over half an hour for the spell to be complete. When Magic called for Discord and the other Elements to stop, they lowered their arms and allowed the residual magic to either finish off the spellwork or fade away. Soon, Nightmare Moon was revealed in all her former glory, with the exception of her armor.

She stood silently for a few seconds, taking a deep breath and releasing it, before collapsing to the ground. The Elements and Discord rushed to her side and breathed a sigh of relief when they found that she was only unconscious.

“Oh my, the poor dear must be exhausted from that ordeal.” Muttered Kindness.

“Can’t say I’m surprised; being remade from the atomic level would put all kinds of strain on you. But don’t worry, I’m sure a day or a few hours of rest would be enough for her to get back on her hooves.” Loyalty assures the soft-hearted Element.

“While I am not sure of the timing, Loyalty has the right idea. Nightmare Moon must have rest for the future ahead.” Honesty’s wise and aged voice informed the group.

“I’ve got this.” Spoke Discord as he snapped his talons, causing the dark mare to be laying on a bed rather than the hard ground, and disappear before the Elements could say anything else. “She’ll be fine in her old room for now.”
Magic nodded. “Very well then. Now for the next part of the plan.” He said, the others fading away as their physical constructs floated to Discord.

“Yeah, yeah. Put the trinkets in the reference book, let them try and fail to ‘beat’ me, make Twilight lose all hope, give her some time to be alone, coo her come with me back here, take her to Moony and wing it from there. Simple.” The draconequus tiredly droned.
“Just making sure.” Magic replied as his corporeal form too faded and floated into Discord’s grasp. Discord merely huffed before teleporting himself to the Golden Oaks Library.

Discord sat on his throne as he gazed upon what had become of Ponyville. Checker patterned hills were just about everywhere, buildings and similar structures floated above the ground and almost every road was now covered in soap-water. Every now and then a quartet of buffalo wearing pink tutus would dance from side of town to the other, a stampede of transformed rabbits would do something similar, as well as some random ponies that flailed their limbs uselessly as they drifted through the air.

He thought back to what happened only about an hour earlier that brought him to this moment. Just as they planned, Twilight and her friends who she struggled keeping together finally arrived at the library and found the Elements of Harmony. She tried to defeat him by having Spike replace Rainbow Dash as the Element of Loyalty. It didn’t work. After that the four mares that Discord encountered in the hedge-maze abandoned Twilight as she wallowed in defeat and despair.

The self-proclaimed Spirit of Chaos may have cheered in victory, but he felt sorry for Twilight losing her friends. Regardless, he gave her some time to be accustomed to her current situation before he’d look for her and bring the lavender mare to the old castle and Nightmare Moon.

After another moment of thought, Discord sat up straighter and muttered, “This should be long enough.” He was about to go find her until Twilight’s own voice caused him to turn his throne around, seeing her with the Elements… and surrounded by her friends, all looking and acting as they did before he influenced them.

He idly gazed a few paces behind them and saw the spectral forms of his ‘allies’. His eyes asked for an explanation, but all they gave him were shrugs, their body language saying, “Don’t look at us, we’re just as surprised as you.”

Before Discord began the banter that would no doubt end with his second imprisonment, one final thought crossed through his mind. ‘...Bollocks.'

Revelations and Story-Time

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Chapter 4: Revelations And Story-Time

It’s been a week since the mess caused by Discord, and everything was just as it was beforehand. There were no incidents or problems of any kind in the little town of Ponyville; all was peaceful and quaint, the townsponies mingling about without a single worry. Everything was perfect… and that, was Twilight’s problem.

There wasn’t a Friendship Problem for her to solve and fix, it was past noon, and she was starting to panic. She went to her friends who were having a picnic for help, telling them her woes. She did not expect them to practically laugh at her problem, though they did tell her that she was just overreacting and that it wasn’t something to worry about. They then offered her to join their picnic, but she politely declined and left to find a Friendship Problem as though her life depended on it.

Currently, Twilight was arguing with her reflection in a puddle that was made by a mix of stress-sweat and some fearful tears. So into her “argument”, she didn’t notice a figure coming up behind her until they spoke. “You know that if you talk to yourself, ponies will get the wrong idea.” Said a strong, feminine voice.

Twilight yelped and jumped into the air, falling onto her back on the ground. “Ow…” she groaned.

“Oh dear, are you alright?” the unknown mare asked, her voice sounding like a mother worried for her child. A voice that was also familiar…

The disgruntled unicorn opened her eyes to see who was with her… and froze. Even upside down, she could easily recognize the black coat and tall frame of the alicorn that tried to plunge the world into eternal night. “N-N-Nightmare Moon!” Twilight screamed, rolling away and scrambling to her hooves. She tried to run, her stressed mind temporarily forgetting about her magic, but she was lifted off the ground by dark-teal magic.

“Calm yourself, Twilight. I promise that I mean you and this town no harm.” Nightmare Moon said, turning the mare in her grasp around, looking at her with pleading eyes. Seeing the sincerity in her cat-like eyes, Twilight calmed down and noticed a difference in the alicorn’s appearance. Most notably she wasn’t wearing her armour, and her mane and tail didn’t have their ethereal look either, both having a violet colouration.

“W-what do you want from me?” Twilight finally asked the dark mare.

“I just want to talk.” She replied, looking around. “But somewhere a little more private.” Before the smaller mare in her magical grasp could so much as yelp, they were gone in a flash of light...

=][=

Golden Oaks Library...

Spike was sweeping the floors of his and Twilight’s workplace/home, humming one of the songs that the girls had done a while back when a bright flash momentarily blinded him. Blinking the spots out of his vision, the young drake squinted his eyes in the direction of what he knew was a teleport. They then widened when he witnessed his sister/mother-figure placed on the ground by the villainess Nightmare Moon, who gazed around the library calmly.

“Aagh! Nightmare Moon!” Spike screamed, sprinting up the stairs to find some parchment and send it to Princess Celestia, calling for her help.

“Spike, wait!” Twilight called out, grabbing his tail in her magical grasp before he was completely out of sight. She then brought him back down to the foyer, the baby dragon staring at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Twilight, what are you doing? Nightmare Moon’s right behind you!” he cried.

Twilight sighed. “She’s not here to hurt us. She just wants to talk.” She said, gently placing her no.1 assistant onto the floor.

“Talk? What in the world about? How’s she even here anyway? I thought she was destroyed when Princess Luna was turned back to normal when you and the girls used the Elements of Harmony on her.” Spike asked, calming down as he went on.

Twilight blinked, curious herself. “Now that you mention it…” she looked towards Nightmare Moon, who was looking through one of the bookshelves. “How are you here? We thought you were destroyed.”

Nightmare Moon turned to the smaller mare and even smaller dragon. “I promise to answer all your question that I can, but we must address some more pressing matters first.” She walked up to them and looked directly into Twilight’s eyes. “Tell me why you were acting the way you were when I found you, and don’t even think about lying.” Her tone was stern and left no room for argument.

Twilight was at a loss. Here was a past enemy of Equestria asking, more like demanding, that she tell her why she was sulking on the bench in the park, giving her the ‘Mom-look’ that compelled her to answer truthfully. ‘Oh, what harm could it do?’ Twilight thought to herself before speaking. “Well, I’ve been going around town looking for any friendship problems anypony may have, but there weren’t any. I’m due to give Princess Celestia my weekly Friendship Report, but there aren’t any problems to solve or report, and I’m running out of time!” she said, starting to panic slightly as she remember her earlier predicament.

Spike groaned. “You’re still worrying about that?”

Before Twilight could retort, Nightmare Moon spoke. “So if I understand this correctly, Celestia commissioned you to resolve “friendship problems” in town and has you give her a report about it every week. Correct?” she asks, getting a nod in response. “Well then, just tell her that you can’t do it this week.”

“What?” Twilight and Spike said in unison; the former in mild shock and the latter in curiousity.

“Tell Celestia that there weren’t any problems this week and thus you’re unable to make a report. Maybe tell her that you were getting stressed and you couldn’t focus or think properly. Or something like that.” Nightmare Moon finished with a shrug.

Twilight thought about it for a few moments, then realised that she was right. “Alright, I guess I could do that. Spike?”

The aforementioned dragon nodded before getting a quill and parchment from seemingly nowhere, writing down everything that Twilight told him to, which was what Nightmare Moon suggested. After making sure that it was what she wanted and that it didn’t mention anything about their ‘guest’, Twilight had Spike use his special fire to send the message, catching Nightmare Moon’s attention.

A minute passed in silence until Spike belched out the Princess’ response. Twilight immediately caught it in her magic, unfurled it, and begun reading aloud:

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I feel I must apologise to you for the stress that I had involuntarily put you in, so I’ve decided that once I’ve set the sun and my sister raises the moon I will be coming to your home so that we discuss this issue and resolve it together. It may also be a good idea for you to invite your friends over as well. Best they be aware. I’ll see you all tonight.
Signed, Princess Celestia.”

“Sundown, huh? That gives us plenty of time.” Nightmare Moon said after Twilight was finished, moving towards the kitchen. “I’m going to make us some tea and hot chocolate, maybe even get some snacks. You two get yourselves comfortable; you’re gonna need to sit down for what I’m about to tell you.”

Twilight and Spike glanced at each other before shrugging, doing as the alicorn suggested. After getting comfortable, Nightmare Moon returned to the main room with a tray holding a tea kettle, cups, a mug of hot chocolate, and some biscuits. She set the tray down on the table in the middle of the room and sat next to it. As she floated over the hot chocolate to Spike and poured the tea for herself and Twilight, Nightmare Moon spoke.

“Before I begin, I’d like to get something out of the way; that being my name.” The small dragon and unicorn looked at her curiously. “What I mean is that ‘Nightmare Moon’ is not my true name, and even then I didn’t have it for long. So from now on, I would like for the two of you to call me Nyx.” The two blinked at that, but nodded. Nightmare Moon, or Nyx, took a deep breath before beginning her explanation. She told them of how before Twilight and her friends ‘defeated’ her, the Elements of Harmony themselves spared her from being destroyed, as she would’ve been as a being born from darkness. They learnt that while she was in her astral form, she kept watch over Twilight since she moved to Ponyville, keeping to the shadows and out of sight. She told Twilight of how she was why the young mare’s nightmare about Zecora turned into a dream where the two simply talked.

Nyx also told Twilight that she was very pleased with how she comforted Gilda when she fled the party, causing the lavender unicorn to lightly blush. Whether it was from the praise or mention of said griffon, she wasn’t sure; but the thought of it being the latter made smirk slightly. She then told them that when Discord was freed, the Elements enlisted his aid to create a body for her as she did inhabit Princess Luna’s body, but further detail on that was for another time. And finally, she told them of how she had remained in the old castle in the Everfree Forest to get herself used to her new body before finding Twilight, which brought them to the present.

When Nyx was finished, Twilight spoke up. “Wait, if the Elements have a will of their own and for some reason don’t like Princess Celestia, why haven’t they done anything like telling me and the girls about this themselves?”

The dark alicorn frowned. “I’ve asked myself that same question since they spared me, with no clear answer. The only reason that seems to make sense is that they’re waiting for something; that something needs to happen first before they take any real action. I believe that they are capable of freeing Discord any time they wish, but don’t think it’s the “right time”.”

Twilight hesitated for a second, but finally asked the question that has plagued her since her first night in Ponyville. “Well, now that you’re here, I have to ask something.” Nyx raised an eyebrow. “When we were in the castle, you acted strange around me; kept calling me your “little star” and asked me if I knew Discord and other things. So I have to ask: why’d you act like that?”

Nyx took a small sip of her tea before putting it down with a somewhat saddened expression. “I...I thought you were my daughter.” She admitted, shocking the unicorn and dragon.

“Y-you had a daughter?” Spike asked, stunned.

“Yes. She and Twilight look perfectly identical, even have the exact same name, though my daughter was an alicorn like myself and her cutie-mark even had the pink star in yours, but it was in a purple fireball.”

“H-how?” stuttered Twilight. “I mean, how can we look so similar?”

Nyx sighed. “For a while a thought that the universe was playing a cruel joke on me, but after remembering something that the Element of Magic said, I’ve started to believe that you actually are my daughter, and something happened to you after I was banished to the moon.”

Twilight stared in stunned silence. In an instant, the dreams and visions she’s been having suddenly made sense. They were memories - her memories - of a life once completely forgotten. If she truly was Nyx’s daughter from a thousand years ago, someone must’ve turned her back into a foal and kept her preserved with powerful magic. And whether she liked it or not, Celestia was the prime suspect.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Spike spoke. “But how do we know if that’s true? I mean it’s not like there’s a spell that can determine someone's exact age with a strand of hair, for example.” He said with a shrug.

Twilight got a large smile as an idea struck her. “Spike, you’re a genius! There is such a spell and I just happened to learn it last month!” she squealed, using her magic to pull out a strand of her mane.

“Of course I am.” Spike said proudly, puffing out his chest, causing Nyx to chuckle.

Twilight stared hard at the strand of hair floating in front of her face, closing her eyes and taking deep, calming breaths, before her horn started to glow brighter as she begun the spell. A minute or two later, her eyes opened, wide in surprise.

“Well, Twi? How old does it say are you?” asked Spike, both him and Nyx being curious.

“.........One-thousand twenty-two years, eight months and two weeks...” Twilight muttered, looking up to Nyx’s eyes, seeing them as wide as hers. Why not? This only meant and confirmed three things:

Twilight was born over a thousand years ago, not twenty-two. Something happened to her that resulted in being raised by the ponies she thought were her real family, most likely because of Princess Celestia. Her biological mother was - once - the fearsome Nightmare Moon, and she was sitting right in front of her.

Not ten seconds after she finished speaking, Twilight was enveloped in a tight but not uncomfortable hug. In fact, it felt warm and soothing; the kind only a loving mother could give. “Oh, Twilight… my little star… it is you.” She said, barely above a whisper.

“Mom…” Twilight found herself saying just as quietly, even returning the embrace. She didn’t know why she said it, but when she did it felt natural - felt right. After about a minute, the truly reunited mother and daughter were interrupted when Spike cleared his throat.

“I really hate to interrupt, but it’s almost sunset.” He said, gesturing to the window and fading light.

Twilight reluctantly left the embrace and spoke. “Okay. Spike, could you go and gather the girls and bring them back here while mom and I… figure something out?”

“Sure thing Twi!” Spike said with a salute before making his way to the main entrance. He was just about to grasp the door handle when there was a knock on it.

“Twilight, are you in there?” a voice called out through the door, one they recognised as Rarity’s.

Aforementioned unicorn began panicking about how her friends would react to seeing Nightmare Moon, but a small flash to her right caught her attention. When she look there, her jaw dropped. “Well? Aren’t you going to let your friends in?” Nyx teased with a coy smile.

Twilight shook her head clear and motioned for Spike to open the door. He did so and greeted the rest of the Mane Six as they walk in, closing the door behind them.

“Twilight, we’ve been worried sick ever since you ran off this morning and we couldn’t find you anywhere!” said Rarity, being just a tad overdramatic.

Rainbow Dash however quickly noticed the unfamiliar pony standing next to Twilight. “Hey Twi, who’s this?” she asked. The pony was a unicorn mare with a tan/brown coat and thick, copper/brass mane and tail tied with multiple bands in a way that made them resemble scorpion tails, her eyes were cyan-blue and her cutie-mark was a polished dark blue shield with silver trim.

Nyx smiled at the group before introducing herself. “Hello everyone, I’m Nyx Scorpos, I was a senior student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when Twilight was a freshman and tutored her every now and again. I was in town and decided to catch up from the little time we spent together.” She lied easily.

Applejack just barely felt that this “Nyx” mare was lying, but a voice that reminded her of an wise old stallion told her to let it slide for the time being, that she’ll know the truth in time. Oddly, the farmer found herself listening to the voice in her head in ignored the lie for now.

“Well it’s a good thing you guys are here, Princess Celestia will arrive any moment to discuss something.” Twilight informed her friends, getting curious looks from them. After a quick run-down on what’s going on, the sun had set and a minute later Celestia teleported just outside the door.

Quickly being introduced to Nyx - and being none the wiser to her true identity - the solar princess gestured for Twilight to begin. The lavender unicorn told her friends and teacher(aunt) of how she was stressing out from being unable to find a friendship problem to solve for her weekly Friendship Report. Twilight admitted that after failing to get help from her friends, said mares looking a little guilty, she got even more stressed and probably would’ve caused a problem herself just to have something to fix, if Nyx hadn’t shown up. Managing to weave a believable backstory on the spot, Nyx said that she has an autistic little brother who can’t handle stress very well, and was thus able to use her experience to calm Twilight where they made it back to the library and sent the letter to Celestia they brought them all to the present.

After some time thinking, Celestia decided that from now on Twilight would only have to send her reports if and when she had something to report. She even included the other Element Bearers in on it. Almost immediately, the small group started to make their report about being more trusting and believing of your friends, to always take their problems and issues seriously. Happy with what has transpired, the solar alicorn made her leave after bidding her goodbyes, followed by the other mares, leaving Twilight, Spike and Nyx alone again.

The silence was broken after a moment when Spike loudly exhaled. “Phew, I thought for a second there that the Princess was gonna see through your disguise.” He commented to Nyx, who shifted back into her true form.

“Well, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you tell me a bit about my past? Maybe they’ll jog my memories and I’ll be able to actually remember them.” Twilight asked her biological-mother. Before the dark alicorn could answer though, there was a knock on the door.

“I got it.” Spike said, walking to the door and wondering who it could be so late as he didn’t remember the girls bringing anything that they could forget. He opened the door… and blinked twice in surprise at what he was seeing.

A griffon. A young, female one at that; most likely a teenager. Her body was composed of various shades of bluish-grey: the feathers around her lower-jaw and throat were the lightest, the top of her head and area around her eyes was darker, and the rest of her head and neck was somewhere in between. The lion-fur and tail was the same shade as the top of her head, bright yellow eagle-like hands, and her wings and end of her tail were the darkest parts.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Spike finally asked, “Uh, can I help you?”

The griffon smiled brightly and grabbed one of Spike’s hands, shaking it enthusiastically. “Hey there, I’m Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby, I’m here to deliver a package to Twilight Sparkle from Gilda, the mayor said that she lives here.” She said in one breath.

Twilight’s ears perked up. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She called out, making her way to the main entrance.

Gabby reached into her satchel and pulled out a large, thick object from it, handing it over to the unicorn. “Here you go ma’am.”

Immediately ripping off the packaging paper with her magic, Twilight stared in wonder at the tome in her grasp. Slightly thicker than her hoof, the worn black leather bindings mystified the scholar, the silver flower-patterns embroiled along the cover’s edges and the spine standing out greatly. However, what was truly eye catching was the stencil-like image of a dragon made from small pieces of thin metal that took up almost the entire cover, enchanted to not rust.

“This must be the book Gilda said she had when I asked her about Void Dragons.” Twilight mused before looking up at the griffon. “Do you have a place to stay, Gabriella? It’s getting late and you’re welcome to stay the night.” She offered.

“Thanks, I hope you don’t mind. And you can call me Gabby.” The post-griffon said as she entered the library foyer.

“Do you want anything to drink Gabby? We still have a few biscuits on the table there.” Spike asked their guest.

“Just some water will be fine, thanks.” Gabby replied, sitting on a cushion near Nyx as Spike went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She turned to Twilight and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what did you want that book for? You have plenty of others here.”

Twilight sat across from her mother, opening the book to the first page as she answered. “Yeah, I have plenty of books in my library, but none of them had so much as a reference to what I’m looking for.” Turning a couple of pages, she found something odd to her. “That’s weird, I didn’t think this was a story book.”

From her position Nyx couldn’t tell what book it was, but when she heard Twilight mention Void Dragons and that it was a story book, she instantly knew. Then an idea struck her. “Why don’t I read it to you? If it’s the one I think it is, this book was one of your absolute favorites.”

“Really? Well, if you’re offering.” Twilight gave the book over to Nyx who waited for Spike to sit down after giving Gabby her drink. When he did, she began to read…

(A/N: read this like the story-book opening in the first episode and each line is a "page")

Long ago, in a time forgotten by most, there was a mountain that stood taller than any other, believed to pierce the heavens themselves. Bald Mountain, it was called, and it was rife with mystery.

One day, a grim day occurred. Bald Mountain shook and trembled before the stone came asunder.

And from the rain of stone, great wings of metal and flame.

Following the wings, the great and terrible beast that owned them.

Within Bald Mountain rested a being ancient even then, one of great power and fury that could devour suns.

This being was Mag’ladroth, the Void Dragon. It’s large and powerful wings caused immense winds that tore even the oldest trees from their roots.

Why it awoke was never known, only that it sought the destruction of all matter of life in the world, it’s terrible breath of aetherial flames burning and aging all it touched into nothingness.

Seeing their inevitable doom, the magi from across the world and all walks of life came together to seek a salvation. They needed something with a beast’s ferocity but a scholar’s intellect. Something that knew how to defiantly face impossible odds and not give in. One with power and weapons beyond their imagining.

They made the preparations to summon such a being, and succeeded. However, instead of a single warrior, their saviour was a race.

The Kingdom of Man. Man heard the cries and pleas of the people, and took the challenge of vanquishing Mag’ladroth.

Man brought to this world from theirs their hulking monsters of metal and weapons the breathed fire and spat metal that roared like thunder.

Man unleashed their instruments of mass destruction upon the Void Dragon, the battle against the ancient beast long and grueling, the lands remade in effect of the blows delivered.

It was when Man utilised their vessels in the void that brought Mag’ladroth’s end, shattering its body of living metal into countless Shards.
Man sought to collect these Shards, for they still held great power, as “payment for their services”. But they could not get to all in time.

Many dragons believed Mag’ladroth to be the god of their race, and wished to possess its power, to become more like it, fusing themselves with the Shards.

They were not the only ones. Others, whether intentional or not, also discovered and fused with Shards and gained a fraction of Mag’ladroth’s power.

Because the stars seemed to burn brighter in the night sky at this time, Man, being the greater authority, gave these beings the name C’tan, meaning “star god”.

Due to the number of dragons finding Shards and becoming C’tan, Man also named them as the Void Dragon sub-class, as they were the most common and bore similar attributes.

All other C’tan were starkly different from each other, many of the variables being the environment of where the transformation took place, the race of the being that became the C’tan and the being themselves prior to fusing with the Shard.

After many months most of the C’tan were destroyed, trying to fight against Man, while the rest went into hiding or left this world for another.

Knowing that there were still Shards to be found and the hiding C’tan could become a threat, Man gave the people of this world the capability to create Tesseract Vaults, constructs designed to imprison any C’tan.

With their deed done and spoils claimed, Man left the world and its people to rebuild it however they sure fit, creating the world we now know.

Nyx stopped reading and took in the awed expressions of her audience. “Wow… to think something like that could even exist.” Twilight breathed.

“Indeed.” Nyx agreed. “Now then, we’ve all hard a long and rough day, so let’s get to bed.” The pony, dragon and griffon before seemed read to object, but were halted when they simultaneously yawned.

“I guess I am pretty tired after flying here all the way from Griffonstone.” Gabby muttered, trying to stifle another yawn.
Twilight glanced at the nearest clock and widened her eyes. “Woah, I didn’t notice how late it’s gotten. Maybe we should go to bed.” She then asks Nyx and Gabby, “You two don’t mind sharing the guest room, right? I’m pretty sure we have two spare beds.”

“I’m perfectly fine with the arrangements.” Nyx answered.

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.” Added Gabby.

Smiling, Twilight led the alicorn and griffon to the guest room on the second floor while Spike went straight to theirs. Once there, Gabby immediately took the far right bed and barely muttered a “Goodnight” before falling asleep from exhaustion. As Twilight was about to head to her room, Nyx embraced her with a wing.

“Thank you for letting me read that story to you, Twilight. It reminded me of when your father and I did it when you were younger.”

“You’re welcome, mom.” Twilight replied, returning the hug with a foreleg. When the mother-daughter pair separated, they wished each other sweet dreams and went to their respective beds and happily slept the night away.

Mother Moon, Father Shadow

by MatCor1337

The First Piece Of The Puzzle

Visions Of The Past?

Chaotic Plots And Schemes

Revelations and Story-Time