> The seed of the Shadows > by Arcden Haiser > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - The Tempest Night > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a dark night at equestria, darker then the day Nightmare Moon break free from it's prison. The weather factory had suffered an accident and a super storm was released all over equestria. All the menbers of the weather patrol, including the wonderbolts and the pegasus from the royal army were sent to try and stop it, but all enforces were useless. Back at Ponyville, to protect the citizens, princess Twilight Sparkle ordered to all citizens to seek shelter inside her castle, and so was done. After 15 minutes, all the rooms of the castle were filled with ponies, with exception of the library and the Cutie Map's room. "Do you think this storm will end soon?", asked the mayor to princess Twilight and Starlight Glimmer. "I don't know, we need to wait and see what happens," said Starlight, looking for Twilight. "We need to wait Raimbow Dash come back with news" Twilight said, right before they heard a BOOM from the front door of the castle. Twilight, the mayor and Starlight runned to the front door. When they got there, they found a blue pegasus breathing heavily and sweating. "RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight shouted,"What happened? Are you alright? Is the storm contained?", she asked. The blue pegasus raised it's head "the mission....failed, we couldn't stop it. All the units were ordered to retreat and look for shelter. I came as fast as possible," she said panting while trying to stand. Twilight rushed to help her friend. "Thanks," Raimbow said, still panting. "You must be exhausted, come, I will let you in the same room as the others," Twilight said, then turned her face to Starlight "I will let Rainbow in the room with the others and then I will come back," having said that she lit her horn, but right before she could, all the other menbers of the main six appeared. "I think I should go see if everypony is alright" the mayor said. With a nod from Twilight, she departed. "Darling, you look terribly exhausted, what happened?" Rarity asked, as all the others gathered around them. "It looks like the storm is still coming," answered Starlight. "Oh no, what about the poor animals back in my house?" asked Fluttershy, from behind Rarity. "They will be fine Shy," said Applejack,"they know how to take care of themselves, ain't Ah right?" she asked. "Anyway, I will let Rainbow in the same room as you girls, and I will be right back," but right after Twilight said that an enormous Thunder falled in the Everfree forest, along with a bliding light and a defeaning sound that made everyone cover their ears and close their eyes. The Everfree forest was dark and gloomy, with a frightening aura all around her, but that night it was nothing but a leaf in the wind, compared to the monstrous storm that was approaching. The storm looked wilder than anything that existed back in the forest. In the middle of the trees were the ruins of what was once the castle of the Two Sisters. Without warning, a thunder falled in the middle of the ruins, causing the earth itself to tremble. The thunder had fallen in the middle of what had been the throne room, but instead of a burnt mark there was a round object that resembled an all-black bubble, as black as the night. Gradually, the bubble began to fall apart, until she revealed an unconscious unicorn. His coat was black as charcoal, just like his tail. His mane was white with some small black lines. As he started to awake his eyes openned slowly, revealing emerald green eyes, but it's pupils resembled the ones of a snake. As he fully wake up, he tried to stand. After being in all fours, he quickly scanned the area around him and asked, almost like a whisper "Where am I?" He started to walk, being carefull not to fall, when he heard a growl. As he raised his head, his eyes went wide with the image he saw. Right there, in his front was standing an wolf, bigger than anyother, which appeared to be made of sticks and wood. Their gazes locked with eachother. The black unicorn tried to step back, but when he tried to, the wolf striked. The unicorn tried to dodge to the right, but the wolf managed to strike a blow with its claws right at his side. He fell to his knees, but without time to think of the pain, he stood up and turned back to where the wolf had jumped. His knees trembled as he saw the wolf standing besides him, looking directly to him, ready to strike again. Once again their gazes locked with eachother, but this time the unicorn's eyes were filled with fear, his heartbeat increased just as a race car. The wolf jumped once again, and at inchs from the unicorn, another thunder falled, filling the entire room with an blinding light. As the light faded away, the wolf was nowhere to be seen, but, in it's place, the ground around the black unicorn was filled with sticks and peaces of wood. The sight of the unicorn began to blur, he began to scold and fell to the ground. A few centimeters from the floor, all the shadows that were in the room became one just below him, and wrapped him like a blanket, until it formed a black bubble around him. After the light faded, everyone opened their eyes and uncovered their ears. "Is everyone all right?" asked Twilight. "Ah'm allright sugarcube, it will need more than a little thunder to scary mahself" Applejack responded. "TWILIGHT!!" someone screamed. Applejack jumped so high that she nearly hit her head on the ceiling. Everyone turned their heads to their backs, seing a little purple dragon running right into their direction yelling "Twilight!Twilight!Twilight!" Applejack, that had just recovered from the fright she had, put a hoof in front of the little dragon, stopping him, and said "hold on lil one, where is the fire?" The purple dragon stopped and as he caught his breath, Twilight asked "Spike, what happened?" Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash turned to face Applejack and said "'more than a little thunder', uhn?", a little grin in her face. "Shut up Dash," Applejack said, a little blush in her face. Rainbow Dash started to laugh as crazy only to be cutted by Twilight that was wainting for spike to catch his breath, "Rainbow!" As Rainbow stopped laughing, Spike answered "It's the Cutie Map, after that great thunder it started to glow like crazy, and it's showing many cutie marks, all at the same time, and all in the same place." "Well, this already happened before," interjected Applejack. "But never like this, besides there are some cutie marks that you should see for yourself, come on," Spike gestured to all 7 ponies to go with him. Shortly after, they arrived at the room of the Cutie Map, and it was just like Spike described. The map was glowing, and all 7 cutie marks from Starlighg and the main 6 were being showed, together with another 4. The ponies' eyes went wide as they recognized the cutie marks as being the ones of Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Prince Shining armor. "Spike," said Twilight "sent a message to the princesses and to Cadance and Shining Armor, tell them what is happening and ask them to come as quick as possible." Spike made a sign of continence as he picked two scrolls and wrote in them as fast as he could. He wrapped them up and, with a breath of green fire, sent the two letters. Only a few seconds later two flashes of light appeared in the room. As the light faded, it revealed 3 alicorns and 1 unicorn. "Twilight, we came as fast as we got your letter", said Princess Celestia as she got closer to the map. At the same time another thunder falled. "Where exactly the marks are?" asked the princess, turning her face to Twilight. "They seem to be in the everfree forest right in the..." Twilight said right before the glow of the map vanished, and the cutie marks disapeared. "What happened?" Princess Luna asked as she got closer to her sister. "I don't know, it just stopped," answered Twilight, a look of confusion in her face. "Maybe the storm influenced it," Rarity said. "I don't think so. This map is made of pure magic. A storm wouldn't do that, even one of this magnitude", Twilight said. "I don't think it was a mistake too, but it started right after that big thunder fall" Spike added. "You don't think that...." Fluttershy started, but then shook her head with fear of what she had thought. "We don't think....what, darling?" asked Rarity, as she turned to face Fluttershy. "No it's too horrible for me to say" Fluttershy said, almost like a whisper. "What is too horrible for you to say Fluttershy?" Celestia asked raising an eyebrow. "Well, the Cutie Map only glow when somepony needs help, right," Fluttershy stopped, looked at everyone as they nodded, then restarted, "and it started to glow right after that big thunder fall," she stopped once again, gathering courage,"and stopped right after this last one. You don't think that somepony needed our help, but now...." she stopped once more shooking her head as the worst case scenario appeared right in her mind. When everyone realised what Fluttershy was trying to say, their eyes went wide with fear. Somepony needed help, and it could be barely alive, Twilight thought to herself. "We have to go," Celestia said snapping everyone from the horrible image. "Twilight, where the cutie marks where gathered?" Celestia said, as she turned to Twilight, a tone of authority in her voice. Twilight imediately turned to the princess and nodded. "Spike, you were the one that better saw where the cutie marks where, could you show to us?" Twilight asked, turning to Spike. The little dragon made an nod with the head and pointed to a spot in the map, "They were all gattered right here" he said. "But this is...." princess Luna interjected as she got sight of the place where Spike's claw was pointing at. "The castle of the Two Sisters" Cadance completed. "Wherever it is, somepony can be hurt, or worse" Celestia statted. "Luna, give me a hoof here". "Yes sister", Luna replied. "We will teleport everyone to the castle, so be ready for anything" Celestia said to everypony, as her and Luna's horns lighten up. In a flash of light, all the ponies disappeared. Right at the outside of the ruins, a flash of light appeared, making every animal close to it runaway. As the light fadded, it revealed twelve figures. "Is everyone ok?" Twlight asked. "We are alright sugarcube," Applejack answered. "We don't have time to lost," princess Celestia said while lighting her horn and entering the ruins, "we need to go." With an collective nod, they all entered the ruins. Twilight, Rarity, Shinig, Cadance and Luna's horns lit as they started to walk. Only a few seconds later they entered the throne room. As she stepped in, Applejack noticed something wrong. "Wait," she said. "What happened, darling?" Rarity asked as she and all the others turned to face Applejack. "What all those sticks are doing here?", she asked as her hoof pointed to the ground where many sticks layed. As she said that, everyone started to look to the ground, seeing sticks all over it. Some were broken and others had burn marks. "What happened here?" Luna asked as she walked forward. "I think this is what's left of a Timber wolf," Twilight statted. "But what could do that to a Timber wolf," Applejack started, "it would need to be extremely strong". "Or know how to use magic," Starlight stated. Meanwhile, Luna continued to walk, looking at the place where she tried to conquer Equestria a thousand years ago. Without noticing, she walked over something sticky. Stopping, she ducked her head to see what it was, but when she got sight of it, she screamed and runned back to where the others were. "Luna what happened?" asked Celestia, a look of concern in her face. Almost like a whisper Luna said "blood" "What did you say?" Celestia asked as she got closer to her sister. Again, Luna said almost like a whisper "blood" "Sister I can't understand you," Celestia said, "could you repeat what hap-" "BLOOD!" Luna yelled, "I saw blood! Right there" she said as she pointed a shaking hoof to where she was standing before. Twilight walked to where the princess pointed, and with the light of her horn she saw what Luna said. Right there was a pool of fresh blood. Twilight stepped back with horror, but shooked it out quickly. As she raised her head, she created a small ball of light, that floated and lit up the front of the room, where the throne should be, but in it's place was some kind of black bubble floating in the middle of the room. As Twilight caught sight of that she turned her head back and said "guys". Hearing Twilight all the ponies turned to face her. As they did they saw the round object floating right behind her. "What is that", Starlight said as she started to walk, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie bouncing. "Uh-uh, I know, it's a piñata" Pinkie said, while everyone shook their heads ", or some kind of super dooper complex spell to protect somepony." Everyone looked in disbelief of what the pinkie pony had said. "What?" she asked while shrugging. "Well, she can be right," Twilight said, this time everyone looking at her "maybe whoever needed help casted this spell to protect itself from the timber wolf", she continued as she stepped towards the bubble, in that moment she heard her brother yell, "Twilight! Jump!" Whitout thinking Twilight jumped, while some sort of black spike stroke the ground where she was standing. Suddenly, a white bubble involved her, and took her back to the others. "Thanks" she said, turning to her brother wich horn was lit. "You need to be more careful" he said as his horn's light faded away. At that moment the spike started to change it's form to one that ressembled water, and then disappeared as it became one with the bubble. "What was that?" Cadance asked as she got closer to Twilight. "I think it is what Pinkie said. Some kind of self-defence spell, but I never saw anyone like that", Twilight explained. "But where is the pony that casted the spell?" Starlight statted, while looking around, searching for any sign of an unicorn, "I can't find anyone here". As she said that anothe thunder falled, and filled the throne room with it's light. The light let the ponies see what was inside the bubble, and what they saw shocked everyone. Right inside of it was a pony, in fetal position. As she stared, Fluttershy got sight of something right at the pony's side. "Look," she said pointing a hoof "there is something on his side". And in fact there was something, a cut of the size of a knife was visible right at his side. "Well, that explain the blood." Rainbow said. "Rainbow!" Rarity shouted. "What?" she shrugged. "She is right Rarity," Twilight started "now we know from where the blood came and who we came to help. Now we only need to figure out how to get him out of that bubble" she said as her horn lit up, her eyes closing as a purple aura started to spread all over the bubble. When it involved a little more than half of it, Twilight felt something growing inside of her heart. It was fear. A fear that was growing bigger and bigger each second that passed. She yelled as her eyes shot open and she falled to her knees, the purple aura vanishing together with her horn's light. "TWILIGHT!" the girls yelled as they runned to where she was. Gradually Twilight regained consciousness. As she tried to stand she felt a pair of hoofs at both her sides helping her. "Thanks", she said as she tried to regain her balance. "Are y'all alright sugarcube?" Applejack asked "Yeah, I'm fine" Twilight aswered as she finally recovered ballance. "What happende back there Twilight?" Celestia asked "I don't know how to explain, at first it was alright, but then..." she stopped. " 'Then...', what Twilight?" Shining Armor interjected. "Then I started to feel fear, but not like when you do something wrong and is scared that when someone found, they will punish you. No. It was like it was growing inside of me, like it was feeding of me" Twilight said as her friends and family looked with concern to her. "It's alright Twilight, we are here," Celestia said with an smooth voice, then changed it to one of authority, "but we still need to find out how to get this pony out of that bubble" "I could do some research back at the castle, but I would need the bubble together to do it," Twilight said. "Very well" Celestia said as she turned to face Luna. With a nod from both of them, their horns lit and in a flash of light they all vanished together with the bubble. In the blink of an eye Twilight saw herself, together with her friends, the princesses and the black bubble back at her castle, but not in the Cutie Map's room. The princesses had teleported them to the library of the castle. "I thought that it would be better if we teleported us to the library, since it has more space and you can do the research more easily," Celestia speaked. "Thank you, princesses," Twilight said, "now I will start searching-" "No, you won't," Shining interjected "you won't do anything until you have some rest. What if the same thing happens again, or worse. And there is no one around to help you?" Shining said, concern in his face and in his voice. Twilight openned her mouth to reply when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. As she turned her face to the side she saw Celestia besides her. "Your brother is right Twilight," she started "if anything happens to you we won't be able to help, besides, I think you should go have some rest, just as everypony here" she looked to all the other ponies in the room. "Tomorrow me and my sister will be back to help you to deal with this problem, but now I think we all need to rest", with that said everypony nodded. Twilight ducked her head, a frown on her face, but nodded too. "Now if you will allow us, we have to take care of some matters back at Canterlot so that we can come back tomorrow" Celestia and Luna said as they started to walk away of the group and into the middle of the library. "We have to go too Twilight, but we will come back tomorrow" Cadance said as she hugged Twilight. With that being said both four ponies lined up in pairs, and in two flashes of light they vanished. "I am exhausted" Rainbow said, as she started to fly towards her room. "Me too" Pinkie said, shortly before speeding in the direction of the room and shouting back to her friends, "the first bed is mine!" The others chuckled as they heard that. They waved good night to each other and went to their rooms. The monstrous storm had finally came to an end as the night sky started to clear. The stars were shining as a box full of jewels. At the castle, everypony was sleeping, as if nothing had happened. Back at the library, the black bubble stayed, without showing any sign of change since it was taken there by the princesses. As the time passed, the moon appeared in the sky, shining as a disco ball. One of it's beams of light struck the bubble, which began to disappear showing once again the black unicorn. Slowly, he started to regain consciousness, and started to stand up. He then asked, almost like a whisper "where am I ?" He looked around and, in the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of the enormous bookshelves behind him. He trotted forward to them, stopping in front of the first one. His horn lit as the first book of the shelf was involved by a dark aura and floated to him. He read the title "Equestria's History - Vol. I". Slowly the book openned and he started to read it, without noticing a pair of green eyes looking at him from the shadows. > Chapter 2 - After the Storm > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight found herself floating in the middle of nowhere. There was only darkness as far as the eyes could reach. Twilight tried to look as far as possible, hoping to find somepony, but it was useless. As time passed Twilight tried to understand where she was, while calling for help, but it never came. "Hello? Anypony here?" She asked many times, but all without any kind of answer. Twilight started to feel something. Something from deep inside her heart. She felt fear, and as time passed the fear grow stronger, until a blind, black light appeared and involved Twilight, making her close her eyes. When she oppened them, she saw herself in what seemed to be a throne room, but one that she had never been before. The walls were black, with shades of deep red and deep blue, next to several stained glass windows, all showing different moments in equestria's history. None about the light moments, when harmony had won against darkness, but about the most darkness and hopeless moments, the rise of Nightmare Moon, Tirek's strike against the two sisters, discord's kingdom of chaos, and right above the throne was the image of king Sombra. After seeing that, Twilight felt a shiver ran down her spine, she turned back but saw nothing. When she turned again to face the throne she saw a black shadow sitting in the throne. It had the form of a unicorn, but it looked like it was made of fire, as small black flames floated from different parts of the shadow. "Kin-King Sombra?! But how? We defeated you. How can you still be alive?!" Twilight said, confusion and fear in her voice. The shadow stayed in the throne, without any kind of reaction, his green eyes staring at Twilight. Seeing that she wouldn't get any response from the shadow, Twilight started to walk towards it, but when she started to walk she felt something beneath her hooves. She ducked her head to see what it was, but when she saw it, her eyes were filled with horror. She flinched back, her face with an expression of horror. Right there, in the groud, lied the lifeless body of princess Celestia. Her body had uncountable scars, her wings were without any feather, her mane and tail were no more in her body. Twilight turned back, trying to avoid the sight of the dead body of her mentor, but what she saw was even worst. Her family, her friends, everypony that she cared of were there, their bodies just like Celestia, horrible scars all over their bodies. Once again Twilight felt fear inside her heart, but this time it was stronger, like it was trying to take control of Twilight. In that moment she heard a laugh coming from behind her. She then turned slowly. The shadow in the throne was laughing, his eyes were burning with a green fire, his body like a big ball of dark flames, and the more he laughed the bigger were the flames. Twilight flinched back, fear spreading all over her body. The shadow moved it's hoof and stared at Twilight, his eyes looking directly at Twilight's soul. He smirked as he saw the fear spreeding inside her. With a move of his hoof he hit the ground, making the earth shake. Immediately shadows from all the corners of the room gathered above him. The shadows fused with it other and took the form of a monster. One that Twilight never saw, and wished never to saw again. The beast was 5 meters tall, with blood red eyes and a pair of twisted horns in it's head. It stared at Twilight, who was pretrified with fear. He laughed once again, and ordered in a muffed voice, "Kill her". The beast jumped in Twilight's direction, it's mouth wide open showing millions of sharp teeths, while Twilight screamed, "AAAAHHHHH!!!!" Twilight waked up in her bed. She was sweating and breathing heavily. As she looked around she found herself back at her bedroom. "A nightmare," Twilight said to herself, "but it felt so real. Maybe I should talk to princess Luna about it." Twilight hopped out of her bed, after another look on her bedroom to have certain that it wasn't a dream, she went out and walked to the stairs. When she reached it she saw all her friends in the library. "Good morning every-" Twilight started but stopped as she saw that her friends were all staring at something. With a flap of her wings she went down the stairs. When she landed she turned her face to where her friends were staring, and froze at what she saw. A black unicorn was sitting in front of one of the bookshelves with an opened book floating in the grasp of a black aura. Suddenly he closed the book, rose and walked to an empty space on the shelf. The book then floated and slid into the empty space, where once it was. With a sigh the unicorn started to search for more books when he got sight of 7 ponies and a baby dragon, all staring at him. Suddenly he found his face nose-to-nose with a pink pony. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. Who are you? What are you doing here? Where are you from? Are you knew in town? That means I need to throw a part of welcome to you! Do you like cakes? Of course you -", Pinkie stopped as she was pulled back to where a white unicorn was standing, a blue aura around her tail. "Pinkie, dear," Rarity started, "you can't run in the face of other ponies without warning, this is not polite", she said as Pinkie crossed her hooves. "Sorry for my friend," Rarity said as she trotted towards the unicorn, "she can get a little excited when she meets somepony new. My name is Rarity and-" "I know" He interjected, while all the others frozen in place. "You know what, dear?" Rarity asked raising an eyebrow. "I know you. You are Rarity the element of generosity" He said, then turned his head to Pinkie. "You are Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter", and then he turned to the others standing behind. "You are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Princess Twilight, the elements of honesty, loyalty, kindness and magic" He said shortly before he turned to Spike and Starlight "You are Spike the number 1 assistant of Twilight, and the one who beat King Sombra, and you must be Starlight the student of princess Twilight", after saying that he turned to face Twilight and bowed in respect. "Your highness" Twilight blushed, but caught herself, "please, you don't have to bow, I don't like formalities." "I'm sorry, your hig- " "You can call me Twilight" She interjected. He rose his head and nodded. "Alright mister... What is your name?" Twilight said, looking at the unicorn, who blinked. "Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself", he said. "My name is Nightmare Lock", he said while stepping a little back and putting his right hoof in front of his body, then bowing his head. The girls looked at each other with the mention of the name Nightmare, but Twilight looked at them and shook her had, telling them not to do anything, specially Dash. "Well, mister Nightmare, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked. "On truth, I don't know" Twilight frowned as she heard that, "I don't remenber of much thing. The last thing I remenber is wakin up in the middle of the night right here. I got sight of those bookshelves and I couldn't resist not to read one of them, and so I started to ready one after the other until I ended all of them and saw you staring at me." Twilight and her friends were looking at him in disbelief. "Alright," Starlight chuckled and started to trot in his direction, "we like jokes, but we want to know the truth." "I'm telling you the truth", he replied. "Well, that is impossible. No one can read all those books in one day, not even Twilight. And you are saying that you read everyone in one night?" she asked, criticism in her voice. "Look, I am not lying, and I can prove," he said, "second shelf, fifth shelf starting from the floor, third book, The elements of Harmony and the Magic of Equestria - by Star Swill the Bearded. You can check it if you want." Nightmare said. Starlight got close to where Nightmare had said and with her magic she pulled the book that was pointed. When she read the tittle she gasped. "You are right!" She said, shortly before turning to face him. "How did you know?" "I said it already. I read all the books", Nightmare replied. "This is amazing" Twilight said, almost like a whisper. "Uhm, Twilight" Fluttershy said, getting tha atention of all the ponies, what made she flinch. "What is it Fluttershy?" Twilight asked "Where is that black bubble of yesterday?" "I was going to ask that." Spike said, as all the others nodded. "What are you talking about, the bubble is right th-", Twilight started but froze, as she didn't found the bubble. She looked frantically to all the sides of the room trying to find it, but the bubble was nowhere to be seen. "Where is it?!" Twilight screamed as she runned from side to side of the room. "Hold on sugarcube," Applejack said as she stopped Twilight, "it must be somewhere here." "Twilight?" Raimbow said, as everyone turned to her. "What is it Rainbow?" Twilight asked "I don't want to be the one telling the obvious, but, wasn't there a pony inside that bubble?" Everyone is eyes oppened wide as they caught what Rainbow was trying to say, then turned to Nightmare. "There is only one way to know" Twilight stated as she got closer to Nightmare. "What?" He asked confused. "Uhm, could I take a look at your left side, please?" Twilight asked, the most politely ever possible. "Uhm, of course?" He answered, a little unsure about that. He turned slowly to the right, showing his left side. As he stopped, Twilight got close and started to search something. As she ducked her head, she got sight of what she was searching for. "Guys, come here" she said. Shortly after, all the others gathered around Nightmare. Twilight then gestured to a spot at Nightmare is side, right under his left armpit. When they turned to face it they saw a wound, like a big slash. But it didn't look as a recent one, but as an old one. On truth the mark was more a scar than a wound. Suddenly the room was filled by a blinding light. As the light faded away, it revealed the image of 4 ponies. "My sincere apologies for our delay Twilight" Celestia said as she, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor trotted in the direction of the group. "Twilight, I know that now isn't a good moment but we couldn't let Flurry back in the Crystal Empire alone, so we needed to bring-" Shining started, but stopped as he cought sight of the black unicorn in the middle of the group. "Who is your friend Twilight?" Cadance asked, as she walked to the unicorn. "Hello, my name is Prince-" she started, but was cutted by Nightmare. "You are princess Mi Amore Cadance, wife of Shining Armor, the older brother of prince-, Twilight. And the former ruler of the Crystal empire." He said as he bowed in signal of respect. Cadance froze from the sudden discharge of knowledge. She blinked a few times and stepped back due to the shock. Nightmare quickly raised his head and tried to apologise but found a pink filly on top of his head. He chuckled and said, "and you must be Flurry Heart." Flurry Heart hopped from his head and started to fly around him, but was caught in a white bubble that floated towards Shining and Cadance. "Sorry for this. My daughter can be a little hyperactive sometimes" Shining said as he put Flurry on his back. "It's alright" Nightmare replied. "So, will you introduce your new friend to us?" Luna asked as she got close to the group. "Of course!" Twilight said as she trotted to the royal sisters. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadance, Shinning, this is Nightmare Lock" she said. An awkward silence started as the name Nightmare was said. Twilight chuckled nervously while she waited for a reaction of the royal ponies. "I know what you are thinking," Nightmare interjected while walking to the royal sisters, making them snap from their shock state, "but I am not related to Nightmare Moon." "My apologies Nightmare, it's only that I didn't expect to find another pony with this name." Celestia said "It's alright your highness", he said. Princess Celestia nodded and turned to Twilight, "I think we have some work to do, don't we?" She asked. "About that" Twilight started as Celestia rose an eyebrow, "I think you should see something." She said while turning to Nightmare. "Could you please show your left side, again, Nightmare?" She asked "Alright, but I still don't get it" He said while turning to show his left side. Twilight gestured for the princess to get close and look to where she was pointing. She pointed to a spot under Nightmare's left armpit, where the scar was. "What is it sister?" Luna asked as she got close to Celestia and Twilight. When she saw the scar she jumped back, as she remenbered the pool of blood on the ruins. "Princess Luna," Nightmare asked while turning to Luna and getting close to her "are you alright?" "Yes, I am. It is only that I remenbered of something." She answered "Well, I think that this part of the mystery is solved, but we still need to know what happened in the castle, and how he got there in the first place." Celestia said shortly after turning to Nightmare. "Nightmare, could you please tell us what happened last night?" "I am sorry your highness, but I don't remenber of much thing. Only that I waked up here in the middle of the night." He said, his ears drooping. "It's alright, but yet we need to find out what happened last night" she said. Suddenly a little growl caught everyone is attention. They turned to Twilight whose face was bright red. "What?" She asked a little ashamed, "I didn't eat anything since I woke". Most of the ponies laughed hearing it. Celestia chuckled, and Shinning tsked because of his sister, while Nightmare stayed calm and stopped the hilarious moment saying "It was my fault that you couldn't have your breakfast, so I will fix it. I am going to cook the best breakfast that you ever had Twilight" He proudly stated. This time only Dash laughed of what was said, but quickly received a sharp gaze from Applejack. Nightmare frowned from the laugh, but stopped as Twilight got close to him. "This isn't your fault Nightmare, and I know you want to help, but," Twilight stoopped while putting a hoof on her neck. "But?" Nightmare asked raising an eyebrow. "Not wanting to be rude, but, I don't think you know how to cook. You have got amnesia, and I don't think there was some kind of recipe on those books." She stated. "Twilight, I may not have all my memories, but I still remember some things about myself, that I can guarantee. And I know I'm a good cook. Now, if you could gently show me where is the kitchen, I will make you your breakfast. I insist." He replied. Twilight sighed, but nodded, "Spike could you show the kitchen to Nightmare?" "Alright" Spike said. As he walked to the door he gestured for Nightmare to follow him. "If you all want, I could make breakfast for everypony" Nightmare said. "This sounds as a good ideia for me." Cadance stated as she, Shinning and Flurry started to walk towards the door, following Spike and Nightmare. "Well, I don't intend to decline an offer made by a gentlecolt" Rarity stated. "Ah think this is a good idea, too" Applejack said. "If it isn't any trouble for him" Fluttershy said most like a whisper. Rainbow and Pinkie didn't said anything, in place of it they departed as fast as a bullet train in the direction of the kitchen to see who would pick the first place. The others started to walk to the door with Twilight and Luna right behind them. "Princess Luna, may I ask you a question?" Twilight asked "Of course Twilight" Luna replied "Well, last night I had a dream, and King Sombra appeared in it." She started "King Sombra? What would he be doing in your dream?" Luna asked in confusion "It was most like a nightmare. He was there, and we were in a throne room that I never saw, and you were all dead, and I tried to fight him, but a monster appeared and tried to kill me, I shouted and waked up." Twilight said as fast as Pinkie, maybe even faster. "Wow, wait Twilight" Luna started, "I can't help you if you don't calm down and tell me exactly what happened." She stopped and waited Twilight to nod. "Now, could you start from the commence?" "Alright," she took a big breth and started, "I was floating in the middle of nowhere, when...."