The cursed resident.

by Sylif Daring Doo

First published 13th of March, 2019

There is a building that existed before Ponyville was originally colonized, a strange structure was home to a family of unicorns, many believe this home to be cursed, but regardless of these beliefs, the family remained.

Before Ponyville was colonized many years ago, a building was constructed in secret by a family of unicorns trying to escape the hustle and bustle of Canterlot, this home is believed to be cursed by a malevolent spirit who attacks any who come close.

This belief is disproven however, as Rarity has lived here her entire life without any incident, she even had Carousel Boutique moved relatively close by, but there is one thing she doesn't know, nor truly want to know.

There was only one room she never entered, nor tried to enter, her grandfather warned her not to go inside, to keep the door locked and the Window barred, why this was, he never said.

The secret can't be that bad.....right?

[Some chapters may contain scenes from episodes that are out of order, but this is mostly to fit the story better.]

The 'cursed' home.

______*Ponyville, Equestria, 1:01 PM.*______

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, the water from the rain the previous night glistened on the blades of grass, the gentle breeze made the grass and leaves blow in the wind, the white clouds drifted peacefully in the sky, the cool air made the bright glow of the sun not as taxing on the body.

The people of Ponyville went about their lives happily and busily, and one mare in particular made her way back to her shop from the market, she had soft white fur, a long and styled purple mane and tail, her eyes were dark blue and she was a unicorn, she hummed a happy tune to herself as she walked.

This mare was called Rarity, and she owned a fashion shop called Carousel Boutique, she had aspirations to become a famous designer and was very skilled at making a suit or dress that fit her client perfectly, of course this did lead to some issues from time to time, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

Now, newer residents to Ponyville would assume that Rarity lived at her shop because of the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, but in truth, she lived in a larger and more mysterious building.

Rarity soon passed by her home and she gave it a glance, the walls were made of thick and sturdy oak wood that had been painted to a slightly redder shade, the building was large, at least a third of an acre in length, the second story of the home had four rooms, while the first floor had six rooms.

To those that lived in Ponyville long enough, the home was widely believed to be cursed, it had been like this for four or more generations, but no matter what Rarity said, the belief remained, and so she decided to stop trying to convince them.

Rarity walked to her shop and entered, it still had the faint vanilla scent from earlier and she took a short breath.

Heading to the sewing room upstairs, Rarity used her magic to open the door and put everything away without even looking, in mere seconds, the cloths and fabrics went onto shelves in the correct order, and the sewing thread was placed into a small drawer.

Once everything was put away, Rarity walked out of the sewing room and headed downstairs when she heard the door open. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chiq, unique, and mangifique." She greeted professionally. [1]

______*later that day, 9:00 PM*______

Rarity entered her home and closed the door behind her, she turned on the light, revealing her living room, it had a comfy gray couch, and a matching sofa next to it, there was a coffee table in front of the couch, a maple end table in the corner between the two, the carpet was light blue and the curtains were dark gray.

Rarity yawned and walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat before going upstairs, she opened her refrigerator and pulled out some leftover salad and a sandwich in a bag, it wasn't much, but it would have to do, after a few minutes, the food was gone and cleaned up afterwards.

She walked to the small hallway between the dining room and the family room, she then headed upstairs after turning off the lights, she made her way up the stairs carefully and soon reached the upstairs, the room that connected the four rooms was small with no decorations, there were four doors though, one door led to Rarity's room, another led a guest room, the third door led to an office that her grandfather used.

Then there was the fourth door, Rarity simply looked at it, her grandfather was always paranoid of this room, it got so bad that he wouldn't go upstairs anymore, so they moved him downstairs along with his office supplies, the door was locked, but Rarity had the key nearby on a small table, the door was just a plain wooden door with nothing special about it, other than the strange painted crow on the door, her grandfather always told her to stay out of the room, and to never go in.

Rarity just shook her head and walked to her room, too tired to care right now, she entered her room and closed the door.

Her room was of course the master bedroom, the walls had been painted a soft blue, it had a double bed with lavender sheets and blankets, the pillows were the same color as well, there was a small vanity mirror sitting on a table next to a moderately sized desk, there was a bookshelf holding Rarity's personal books, there was a large window door that led to a small balcony, the curtains were black, in complete contrast to the rest of the room.

There was also a door to the master bathroom, she walked into her bathroom and headed for the shower, it wasn't anything special, but it had the bath or shower function and that was good enough.

Turning on the water, Rarity stepped inside the shower and began to wash off her makeup and clean her mane up, her hair fell down her head and face, and the makeup washed away after a little work.

A few minutes later and Rarity stepped out of the shower, she looked very different without her makeup and her mane styled, but she wasn't concerned about that as she grabbed a towel and dried herself off quickly.

She used her magic and set the towel in the laundry basket, she then to walked to her bed and got under the covers, she rested her head on her pillow and closed her eyes.

______*the next day, 8:00 AM*______

Rarity opened her eyes sleepily and with a quiet groan as she shifted in bed, she blinked a few times before getting out of bed begrudgingly. 'I may be closed for today, but that's no excuse to lay around.' She thought as she walked to her bathroom.

After five or seven minutes, Rarity walked out of her bathroom and headed for the door to leave her room.

She walked out of her room and walked downstairs, then she walked to her kitchen and started to make some breakfast, the kitchen had a double sink, an oven and refrigerator, multiple cabinets, and the walls were gray.

After a few minutes, Rarity had just started to plate her food, which was simply eggs and toast, when a knock came at the front door, she blinked and looked over with curiosity. 'No one ever comes here.' She thought to herself.

Rarity walked to the door and unlocked it, she opened the door and saw three ponies she wasn't expecting, her parents and her little sister.

Her father was a white unicorn stallion with a brown mustache, mane and tail, his cutie mark was that of three footballs, he had blue eyes, his name was Hondo Flanks, but he was called Magnum far more often, he often wore a straw hat on his head.

Her mother was a pink unicorn mare with a mane and tail that were two shades of purple, her cutie mark was that of three cookies, one of which had a bite mark and crumbs, her eyes were also blue and she wore two golden earrings and a yellow ascot, her name was Cookie Crumbles, or Betty Bouffant.

And then there was Sweetie Belle, she was a unicorn filly with white fur, and a purple and pink mane and tail, she had no cutie mark yet, her eyes were a pale green.

Rarity was honestly surprised, she hadn't been expecting them at all today, but she had an idea of what they wanted. "Mom, dad?.....I wasn't expecting you, how are you?" She asked.

Magnum smiled. "We're doing alright, we were planning on going to Fillydelphia, but we heard the summer sun celebration was coming up, and that it was here in Ponyville, so we decided to come and stay in town for it." He explained.

Rarity nodded In understanding. "I see, well, I there are two open bedrooms here, it will at least save you the trouble of finding a hotel that isn't booked." She offered.

It was true, Rarity had heard about this event, and that whenever it happened the motels and hotels were always comepletely booked.

Betty smiled and walked up, she gave Rarity a hug. "Thank you, your too generous you know that?" She said.

Rarity chuckled a little. "Your family, it's the least I can do." She pulled out of the hug and let them all inside. "Do you remember where the spare rooms are?" She asked.

Magnum nodded. "Yea, do you mind if we take the room down here Sweetie Belle?" He asked as he looked at his younger daughter.

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Uh.....no?" She replied.

Rarity walked to the kitchen and took her breakfast to the dining room to eat, the dining room had dark brown wooden walls that were personally carved, the table was large enough for eight to sit and eat, she was soon followed by Sweetie Belle who looked up at her.

It was awkward silence for a few moments until Rarity spoke. "Is.....something wrong?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No, it's just that...you look a lot different when you don't style your mane." She stated.

Rarity nodded. "I suppose I do, why don't you go and check out the upstairs guest room? you always want to see it when you come over." She asked.

Sweetie Belle nodded and headed to the stairs, allowing Rarity to eat in silence.

______*upstairs*______

Sweetie Belle walked around, she had always been curious about the upstairs rooms, but she never really had a chance to explore them, she had seen Rarity's room once before, and doubted that her big sister changed it, she walked into one of the rooms and looked around, there was a desk, a few bookshelves and a few file cabinets, the walls were a cozy brown, it didn't take a genius to know that this room was an office mixed with a small library.

Sweetie Belle walked to the next room and opened it, there was a simple wooden dresser, an end table, a bed and a small desk, the walls were a plain white, and there was a single window with gray curtains, she walked out of the room.

She then walked to the last door, it was different from the others as it had a crow painted onto it, the door was also locked, but Sweetie Belle never knew why, Rarity never said anything after all.

"It is curious isn't it?" Rarity's voice said as it came closer.

Sweetie Belle looked and saw her sister walking over. "All the years I've lived here, and I've never been inside." Rarity stated.

"Why not?" The younger unicorn asked.

Rarity looked at her sister. "Because of our grandfather, he told me to never open this door, but he never told me why." She replied.

Sweetie Belle watched as Rarity looked to the small table in the room, she used her magic and a single key floated over, it was small and made of brass, Rarity looked at her sister again. "Want to see what's inside?" She asked.

The filly nodded eagerly and Rarity took a breath and put the key into the keyhole. "Let's see what our grandfather didn't want us to see." She said as she turned the key.

The door clicked and Rarity pulled the key out, she then pushed the door open gently, to the surprise of the sisters, there was a line of salt that got moved at the bottom of the door. "That's......odd." Rarity noted.

The sisters entered the room and looked around, the room was comepletely empty aside from salt lining the edges of the entire room. "What's with the salt?" Sweetie Belle asked out of curiosity.

"I'm not sure, but there isn't anything here, that's disappointing." Rarity said as she walked out.

Sweetie Belle took one last look around. "Yea, I guess your right." She said before walking out.

Author's Notes:

[1]i will absolutely NEVER remember that again!......wait, is that the actual greeting? or did I do it wrong?......WHATEVER!

So, I don't know if I got the names right for Rarity and Sweetie Belle's parents, if I did, hurrah, if not, no harm done right?

Hope you like this, this is a more recent idea I came up with recently.

The week before the celebration.

"I really don't know Sweetie." Magnum said.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle told their parents that they opened the locked door upstairs, and they asked if they knew why it was locked in the first place, but neither of them knew why, apparently their grandfather never said.

"I think what I'm most confused about is that salt line, and the iron bars on the window, what exactly was your grandfather trying to hide in there anyway?" Betty wondered.

Rarity shrugged. "I am not sure, but it is not important now, maybe he just wanted to scare us or something." She said.

Sweetie Belle took the time to walk away from the three older unicorns, she looked out the window and took a breath, and to her surprise, she could see it as though it were freezing. 'That's......odd.' She thought as she looked outside in silence.

Soon enough, Rarity walked over to her sister. "Are you alright?" She asked curiously.

Sweetie Belle looked at her sister and nodded. "Yea, I'm just wondering what grandpa was thinking, making that salt line and barring the window." She replied.

Rarity nodded. "I know what you mean, but I'll clean up the salt and remove the bars." She tapped her chin in thought for a second. "Well, I need to buy some new carpet for the floor anyway, why don't you go up and see if you can find something a while? grandfather was a master of hiding things after all." She said.

Sweetie nodded. "Sure thing, but I get first pick on anything I find." She replied.

Rarity walked to the stairs and headed up stairs to get ready for the day.

_____*ten minutes later.*_____

Sweetie Belle finally returned to the formerly locked room, she immediately began to search for any secret panels or holes in the floor, she used her hooves to feel over the wall carefully, but by the time she finished the first wall, she had found nothing.

"Nothing here." She muttered as she walked to the next wall.

Suddenly, the door to the room slowly creaked as it slowly closed on its own, Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as the door had no magical aura, and there wasn't any wind today, she placed her hooves on the nearby wall, hoping that her search would distract her from the door.

But as soon as she placed her hooves on the wall, she felt her body grow cold quickly and she shivered. "Why.....is it so cold?" She asked herself as she removed her hooves.

As soon as she did so, the cold vanished, Sweetie Belle gulped and catiously placed a hoof on the wall, but now there was no cold. "What is going on?" She asked herself quietly.

______*Ponyville, twenty minutes later*______

Rarity walked back home with the new carpet in tow, main advantage of having magic, you could lift things that were larger than yourself easily with enough practice.

Although, it was weirdly difficult to find pale blue carpet these days, even more so to find a store that it isn't sold out in, but she was happy, she found the carpet and that was good enough.

She walked around seven minutes and finally reached her house, she walked to the door and opened it, she saw her parents sitting on the couch having a conversation. "I really don't understand why it got so cold all of a sudden." Magnum stated, he sounded spooked.

"It happened so fast, there wasn't any warning." Betty replied, her tone the same as her husbands.

Rarity raised an eyebrow but paid no mind as she closed the door and headed upstairs. "Oh hey Rarity!" Betty said happily. "Do you need help?" She offered.

With a shake of her head, Rarity walked up the stairs. "I'm fine mother, just relax and let your back heal." She replied.

Betty had damaged her back by falling down some stairs at a hotel in Manehatten, so she wasn't supposed to go up any stairs, or do any heavy lifting or excessive magic usage.

Rarity walked to the formerly locked room and stepped inside, the room was empty just like before, aside from a very puzzled looking Sweetie Belle. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle looked at her sister and nodded. "Yea, but for some reason, when I put my hoof on walls, sometimes they feel ice cold, other times they feel like the same temperature from the rest of the house." She replied, she didn't sound confused, she sounded intrigued.

"Maybe it's just your imagination?" Rarity suggested.

Sweetie Belle blinked. "Maybe, but dad felt it too." She countered.

_______*the next day.*_______

Rarity was busy working at her boutique while her family enjoyed the town, it was very quiet today as she worked, but for once she wished it wasn't so quiet, because there was a feeling of unease around her ever since she opened the room.

She had replaced the carpet and threw away the old carpet, Rarity wasn't sure what to do with the room yet, but she had time to figure that out, one thing that did help with the boredom and on the income front, was that she was chosen to handle decorations for the town hall during the summer sun celebration.

Rarity was in the middle of one of her last minute orders when she heard a thud downstairs, her ears perked up in alarm and she set her sewing needle and cloth aside, she then headed downstairs to find the source.

The main show room was empty however, aside from the usual equipment, however, one of the ponyquins were toppled and the suit it displayed was on the floor.

Rarity put it back up and cleaned the suit off with her magic, and once things were back to normal, Rarity sighed. "Now how did that happen?" She wondered.

Just as she spoke, one of the vases holding flowers fell off its small table and smashed on the floor, making Rarity jump in surprise and shock at the random occurrence.

Before she could clean it up, the table itself was flipped upside down and the legs were smashed off by an invisible force, Rarity's eyes widened and she quickly bolted out of the building screaming.

_______*later, Rarity's house.*_______

Sweetie Belle grumbled as she sat on her bed, she was grumpy now because her hair was standing straight up and looking like she was electrocuted, she was also grounded for something she didn't do which didn't help her mood.

Earlier in the day, she had been standing by a case of flowers which then shattered suddenly by something unseen, of course Magnum and Betty thought she had broken it and grounded her, regardless of her protests of innocence.

So now she was alone in her room waiting for dinner to be done or to not be grounded anymore, the problem was that the air had become charged and caused her hair to stand on end. 'It'll take me forever to fix this.' She complained mentally.

Sweetie Belle laid in complete silence up until she felt her hair being messed with, she sighed. "Can you not mess with me any more today? I'm already grounded because of you." She said.

Whatever was messing with her hair stopped and the air immediately warmed up in the room. "Thanks." She mumbled.

It took about five minutes until Sweetie Belle realized that she had spoken to something that wasn't there, and that it had responded, she quickly looked around her room. "Are you in here right now?" She asked quietly.

As if on cue, the air grew cold and the filly felt something brush against her forelegs, she shivered at the strange sensation. "I'll take that as a yes." She whispered.

______*the next day.*______

Rarity stepped out of the shower with a slightly annoyed expression, yesterday during dinner, her plates and silverware had floated on their own and seemed to have minds of their own as they avoided the family, and if that weren't bad enough, her shampoo and soap were moving around in the shower.

Right now she was very annoyed because all of her brushes and combs were nowhere to be found, Rarity soon found them by her vanity mirror and walked back into the master bathroom after grabbing them.

Rarity soon set about fixing her mane and tail for the day. "Don't you dare mess with me right now." Soon enough, Rarity groaned as she realized how foolish that statement was. 'There's nothing there, why am I so on edge?' She asked herself mentally.

_______*meanwhile*_______

Sweetie Belle sat in her room in silence as she listened and waited for anything to happen. "If you are here.......knock once." She said.

For a while, there was silence, and just as Sweetie Belle went to get up and leave, a single loud knock came from the desk, Sweetie blinked in surprise and sat down again. "This......is incredible." She muttered. "Did we do something to make you angry?" She asked. "Two knocks for no and one for yes." She added a moment later.

Much to her annoyance, there was no reply, Sweetie Belle grunted and stood up, she soon walked out of the room and headed downstairs.

______*later.*______

While Rarity focused on her work for the upcoming celebration, Sweetie Belle searched the Golden Oaks library for information on her current predicament.

She figured it would be best to look under anything paranormal, but she had no idea where to start, so when she found a book called 'Your haunted home' she figured that would be a good place to start.

Sweetie delved into the book but was disappointed to find that the book was just a story, she continued her frantic search through the books and soon discovered at least one that looked like it might help.

The book, was called 'haunting ghosts and ways to communicate', which appeared to be exactly what was needed as she read.

"To determine if your house is truly haunted, you must first work to find proof, the easiest way to do so is find some friends. agitate the spirit and go from there." She spoke aloud to herself.

'But what do I do about one who is in my home?' She wondered.

Sweetie Belle searched for a long time, and eventually she found a chapter that seemed to be relevant. "Trapping a spirit?" She wondered curiously.

Inside the book were instructions that went into a disturbing amount of detail on how to trap a spirit, according to the book, ghosts and spirits were unable to pass a line of salt, silver or iron had the ability to disperse them for a time.

But what set Sweetie Belle on edge was some of the more severe methods of containment, one of which required the user to paint a crow out of crows blood, which reminded her of the door back at Rarity's home, according to the book, this was one of the most powerful seals for ghosts or spirits, only broken by the painted crow being defaced by any means.

She soon closed the book and returned it to where it was, she left the library with multiple questions running through her mind. 'So far, this is more annoying than anything else, so why did grandpa seal that room so heavily?' She wondered curiously.

______*later that day, Rarity's house, 7:00 PM*______

Rarity and Sweetie Belle were upstairs in the empty room, they had just replaced the carpet and were now sitting in silence. "So, what are you going to do with this room?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I am not sure, I don't need another bedroom or office, and I have all the work space I need in the Boutique, maybe I will just leave it empty for now, and think on it later." Rarity replied.

Sweetie Belle was about to reply when the door threw itself open and slammed against the wall, startling the sisters.

Rarity walked over to the door and examined it, the crow that was painted on it was broken by a large scratch down the center, she sighed. "I'll need to replace the door now." She muttered.

Sweetie Belle gulped, if the book from the library was right, then the crow was the strongest seal against ghosts or spirits, and now it was broken. 'That's not good.' She thought as she exited the room with Rarity. "Are you concerned that maybe we freed something?" She asked with curiosity.

Rarity closed the door and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Something strange did happen over in the boutique, so it's possible, that or we are both going crazy." She replied.

When the sisters reached the downstairs, they noticed that the front door opened and then closed by itself. "We are so haunted." Sweetie Belle remarked.

Rarity's left eye twitched and she seemed to just ignore it. "I suppose so." She replied.

Author's Notes:

I know this one isn't as detailed as the first, but that's because I just wanted to get a second chapter out for you guys/girls, sorry if it's lower quality.

Also, I didn't expect this story to be so well recieved, so thanks for that guys!

Spectral discovery.

______*Ponyville, three days later, the day before the Summer Sun Celebration, 10:03 AM*_____

The haunting had gotten worse over the past few days, while it was mostly just annoying at first, it was now getting stressful just to sit down in either the Boutique or the house now.

Rarity was currently finishing up on her last order for the day before focusing entirely on the celebration, and while her work was unaffected by the recent events, she was obviously distracted and acting a bit off.

Her thoughts were focused mostly on the events of a couple days ago, when that act of terror from their resident ghost had happened, while Rarity and her family were enjoying dinner, a loud bang came from the direction of the living room, and when they investigated, they discovered a hole in the ceiling.

The hole was from the empty room, but it didn't penetrate the carpet, and when they investigated further, they discovered that there was a hollow area built into the floor of the empty room, filled with a thin layer of salt, much to their confusion.

The rest of that evening had been spent removing the salt from the hollow area and cleaning up the mess from the hole, and then the next day, Sweetie Belle had explained to Rarity what she had learned about ghosts and spirits from the library, she explained that salt was like a barrier to them, they were unable to cross or touch it In any way, at least not without an object to use, which would explain why there was nothing in the room aside from the salt.

As for the iron bars, Sweetie said that iron could actually make a ghost dissipate for a time, making the window unable to be used as an escape route, unfortunately she said that she couldn't find a way to remove the ghost or spirit, and that the only thing she found was some strange spell that she didn't understand.

That had piqued Rarity's interest, and she had gone to the library to read up on the spell, as well as to double check Sweetie Belle's findings, what she discovered was quite interesting, the spell itself was called the Spectral Vision spell, and it would allow the caster to see ghosts or spirits, as well as easily communicate with them, however it was deemed useless by the author of the book, who stated in notes that he had used the spell multiple times and had never once seen a spirit, even in some of the most haunted locations in Equestria.

The spell had four conditions in order for it to be used however, the first condition was that the caster had to channel magic directly to the eyes in a very specific way, the second condition required the caster to have been affected by a ghost or spirit at least once in their life, the third condition was highlighted in red however, it stated that the caster has to have been present when somepony passed away, experiencing death was apparently the most important requirement, the fourth condition was by far the worst in her opinion, as it required the caster to actually use part of their soul and relive their most tragic memory as well as put their most treasured memory at risk, with the consequences being incredibly severe, the main one being the lost of that memory.

Truth be told? Rarity personally did not want to cast this spell, as there was no telling how dangerous it really was, but if this spell could help them with their ghost problem, she was willing to give it a chance at this point, she just needed to be absolutely certain that she didn't mess up.

However, right now she simply wanted to focus on the preparations for tommorow, she sighed as she finished the dress she had been working on, she set it aside and walked to over to her desk, she pulled out a list that contained the requested items for the celebration.

She found herself in a much better mood when she finally started on her work. 'I have a good feeling about tomorrow, so long as Sweetie Belle doesn't break anything, it should go perfectly.' She thought to herself optimistically.

______*Rarity's house.*______

Sweetie Belle looked down at the book she had brought from the library, it was currently on the Spectral Vision spell, she scrunched up her face a little when she saw the requirements state that she needed to have been present when somepony passed away. "What does that mean?" She wondered aloud.

Soon, she remembered seeing her uncle off at the Manehatten train station, and he passed into a whole other city, plus she traveled all the time to other towns and cities with her parents, so that should count. "Not sure why this is a requirement......he must have liked traveling I suppose." She muttered as she closed the book and set it aside.

Sweetie Belle then closed her eyes and focused on her magic, while it was true that she was a late bloomer, as her parents and Rarity told her, she was still very capable of channeling her magic, she just didn't usually need to do so.

Channeling magic was a bit strange for Sweetie Belle, she was used to feeling her magic build up, but sending it somewhere specific that wasn't the horn tended to feel incredibly uncomfortale.

She grunted in slight pain as her magic enveloped her eyes, she would normally stop at this point, but the book had said not to stop because of the initial pain, she pushed on and soon she felt a sinking feeling overtake her for a brief moment before going away, and then a moment later, Sweetie soon found a pounding headache for about ten seconds before it too vanished, just before she could do anything else, her magic severed itself from her eyes and she sighed in dissappointment.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and gasped, startled by what she saw, the world around her seemed to be shifting around and warping at all times, her eyes widened and she soon heard voices. "Why doesn't dad talk about grandpa?" Sweetie Belle's younger voice asked.

"It's just hard for him to talk about, he loved grandfather very much, and doesn't want to talk about him right now, the best thing to do is let him grieve without interruption." Rarity's younger voice replied.

Sweetie Belle took a cautious step forward and the world around her seemed to stop warping, she heard more voices and stopped to listen. "Grandfather was a strict stallion, he made it quite clear who made the rules in this house, and knew exactly how to punish you if you broke these rules, it was difficult to live here for a while, at least until I learned these rules." Rarity's voice said.

"But the one rule that he enforced more than all the rest, was to never, EVER open that door upstairs." Rarity explained.

Sweetie Belle remembered this conversation, and almost mouthed her reply. "Why was that?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

"I don't know, I never opened it as I never had a reason to do so." Rarity replied.

Sweetie Belle gasped in surprise as the world shifted once again, returning her to where she was before she cast the spell. "Wh.....what was that?" She asked herself as she worked to calm her racing heart down.

She walked over to the couch and sat down, she took a few deep breaths and after a minute or two, she finally calmed down enough to process what had happened. 'What was that all about? and why did that spell make me relive that conversation?' She wondered.

Soon, Sweetie Belle got off the couch and decided to walk around the house. 'If it worked, I should be able to see the ghost or spirit now.' She thought to herself.

Unfortunately, she had searched the entire house but was unable to find the ghost, she eventually gave up with a sigh and headed to the living room, she then picked up the book and headed for the library to return it.

"That was disappointing." She mumbled.

______*later that day.*______

Rarity was in a much better mood now than she had been earlier, she had met a unicorn mare by the name of Twilight Sparkle, and the baby dragon named Spike, she discovered that the mare was in charge of making sure the preparations were comeplete, Rarity had explained that everything was ready on her end, she just needed to set it up quickly and then she was done, of course, it didn't help that she was using Twiligjt as a sudden model for a few designs, but it didn't take too long anyway.

Twilight did seem stressed out, and hearing that things were running smoothly did seem to help, if only for a moment, she then left saying that she needed to check on the rest of the preparations.

After that, Rarity had set up everything in the town hall with the help of Sparkler and Flitter, working together, they had everything ready in a half hour, then another five minutes of double checking to make sure nothing was wrong.

Rarity was hoping for a few hours of quiet relaxation before going to bed for the night, but when she heard that Pinkie Pie, the towns resident party organizer, was setting up a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for Twilight Sparkle, she decided that it might be a nice change of pace, she might end up regretting the inevitable headache tomorrow, but it could be worth it.

And that's how she ended up at Pinkie's party, and from her perspective, it appeared that Twilight was about to have a heart attack when the light came on, but to her credit, she did seem to recover quickly enough for her to not freak out when Pinkie showed up right next to her in an instant.

Rarity did watch with a puzzled expression as Twilight drank from the hot sauce bowl instead of the punch, which she discovered the hard way.

Twilight downed at least three cups of punch before she stopped panting from the hot sauce, after which she asked why there was a bowl of hot sauce next to the punch, Pinkie then explained rather rapidly that a bunch of ponies in the party loved to eat spicy nachos and apologized for the mixup.

Spike seemed far more eager to enjoy the party than Twilight, as was evident by the mare retreating to the upstairs bedroom while the dragon stayed downstairs to have fun.

Rarity herself only stayed for thirty minutes and only played one or two party games, she then said her farewells to anypony who walked up and headed home.

The walk home was quiet and peaceful, the cool air and pleasant breeze helped her to think on what to do when she got home.

And it was on her walk that she realized something that hit her like a brick, she had comepletely forgotten to ask Sweetie Belle if she wanted to go to the party, to this she sighed sadly and her walk home was now less enjoyable to her as she thought on this the whole way.

______*Rarity's house, 9:00 PM*______

Rarity was in the living room reading one of her romance novels to pass the time, she had already read this one before but that didn't stop it from being enjoyable.

Her parents were out in the town at the moment, enjoying a night out, apparently Ponyville was very relaxing compared to the cities they usually visited on business.

Sweetie Belle was in bed by now for once, she had seemed rather down when Rarity returned, which didn't help her mood at all, now she felt even worse for not bringing her sister along for the party.

Rarity set her book down and went into deep thought as she sat up on her couch, it took about five minutes until she finally moved, she stood up and walked to the center of the living room, she took a breath and channeled her magic as she closed her eyes. 'If I can talk to this ghost, I should be able to handle at least one of my problems before tomorrow.' She then channeled her magic to her eyes as instructed by the Spectral Vision spell, she felt her eyes sting in pain and she eventually felt her magic sever itself from her eyes unexpectedly, she opened her eyes and was startled as the world appeared to be warped and distorted in strange ways.

Somepony crying nearby woke her from her stupor and she looked around, she took a various step forward and she was transported to a room with her parents standing next to a bed that crying could be heard from.

Rarity walked over and her eyes widened. "I.....had almost forgotten this." She whispered to herself.

There was her younger self, crying into the bed while her grandfather lay in it, unmoving and not breathing, her younger self was a mess, her mane was flat and rough, her fur was dirty and her eyes were red from the crying.

Rarity didn't need to see her face to know how she looked, she now remembered this perfectly, it was in this room that her grandfather had passed away, and it was in this room that she watched it happen.

She had been in the room taking care of him, giving him his food and reading to him, he had a weak smile on his face as she read to him, enjoying the company as much as he could.

Rarity forced herself to look away, unable to watch anymore, and as she did, she noticed that the world changed until she was in her living room again.

With a sad sigh, Rarity walked upstairs and headed to her room, she closed the door quietly and cleaned off her makeup in silence, afterwards she simply laid down in her bed and closed her eyes.

______*the next day, 7:00 AM*______

Rarity opened her eyes and yawned, she blinked a few times and slowly got out of bed, once up, she headed into the bathroom and stepped into her shower, she turned it on and just stood still as the water soaked her, Rarity sighed and soon began to properly wash herself.

After about ten minutes or more, Rarity stepped out of the shower, she then quickly dried herself off with a quick spell, not in the mood to take her time today, she then walked to the mirror and she gasped in horror as she quickly backed away from the mirror.

Rarity panted as she slowly approached the mirror, she gulped and focused on what she was seeing now, her left eye had changed, instead of its normal blue, it was now an abnormally pale blue with a ghostly white mist like appearance to it, she hesitantly closed her right eye and was relieved that she could still see out of her left.

Rarity took a few deep breaths and focused more closely on her eye, it didn't look horrifying, but it was mostly unsettling to look at. 'Is this what the spell did?' She wondered.

Pushing these thoughts from her mind, Rarity focused her attention and energy to getting ready, she combed and brushed her mane until it was in its usual styled condition, she then entered her room and applied a very light coat of makeup before she finally turned her focus on her eye once again.

Rarity honestly had no way of hiding this, she did not wear contacts nor did she have any colored contacts to cover it up, she also didn't know any illusion spells so she couldn't use that to hide it.

After staring at her now disturbing left eye, Rarity sighed and walked away, if anypony asked, she could just say she tested a new spell and it backfired when she overlooked a small detail, that or she could just say that this was an unintentional side effect of a spell she cast to try and find out what was causing the weird occurrences that had been happening to her.

Rarity stepped out of her room and out of curiosity, she checked the formerly locked room, it was still empty and she decided to walk downstairs.

Once downstairs, Rarity set to making breakfast for everypony and decided on pancakes, she quickly made the batter and turned on her stove, she poured some batter on the pan and hummed quietly to herself as she cooked her breakfast.

Rarity heard a tired yawn and looked in its direction, she spotted Sweetie Belle walking down the stairs and rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Good morning Sweetie Belle."

"Morning Rares." Sweetie Belle replied tiredly, Rarity chuckled at the nickname, her sister almost never used it unless she was incredibly tired or just feeling lazy.

Rarity levitated a few plates and sets of silverware onto the counter. "I am making pancakes, how would you like yours?" She asked.

"Just regular today." Sweetie Belle murmured as she walked to the bathroom tiredly.

After about five minutes, Sweetie Belle came out of the bathroom and Rarity gave her a small stack of pancakes. "Butter and syrup are on the dining table." Rarity said.

Sweetie Belle nodded and walked to the dining table, clearly just hungry.

Rarity got the next pancake cooking and she heard a door open elsewhere in the house, indicating that her parents were awake now.

After about twelve minutes, Rarity had managed to make everypony their pancakes, thanks to the burner finally being at the desired temperature, she sat down with her family to eat breakfast, and they noticed the change to her left eye.

Rarity calmed them down and explained that she had used a spell called Spectral Vision, she explained the spell in detail and what it was supposed to do, she had to quickly assure her parents and Sweetie Belle that she was fine and was mostly just shocked at what had happened.

"Is it permanent?" Betty asked out of concern.

Rarity looked at her mother and gave her a small smile. "I'm not sure, the book didn't say anything about this." She pointed at her eye. "But if it is permanent, I'll just learn how to cast a small illusion for it or get contacts to hide it, of course I may get used to it." She replied.

"And your sure it doesn't hurt?" Magnum asked worriedly.

Rarity nodded. "It doesn't hurt, in fact, if i hadn't seen it in the mirror earlier today, I wouldn't have noticed it until you said something." She stated.

None of them even noticed Sweetie Belle unconsciously rub her eyes as they talked.

______*Ponyville, a few hours later.*______

The town was in a state of panic, Princess Celestia hadn't been there and a large Alicorn named Nightmare Moon appeared, stating that she had returned and would bring about an eternal night, she did seem disappointed when nopony remembered her, except for the new mare Twilight Sparkle.

Nightmare Moon then laughed manically as she disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, Rarity immediately sent Sweetie Belle home and told her not to leave.

Rarity herself went with four mares called Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they followed Twilight to the Golden Oaks library.

Sweetie Belle was personally confused as she sat in the living room, she was once again alone in the house while her parents were outside working on calming down who they could.

Sweetie Belle groaned out of boredom and rolled over on the couch, she had already been here for twenty minutes and still hadn't heard anything aside from the panicked screams of terror outside.

After another five minutes, Sweetie Belle stood up and decided that she was going to go outside.

Her hooves touched the ground as she got off of the couch and she stretched a little bit, she looked up and her heart stopped for a split second.

Walking around the family room was a tall creature with no fur, it's body was see through and it was at least five feet tall, it walked to the window and seemed to chuckle at the spectacle outside, it seemed comepletely oblivious to the fact that Sweetie Belle was watching it.

Mustering all of her strength, Sweetie Belle spoke with a raised voice. "Who are you!? how did you get in here!?" She demanded to know, though she was still terrified.

The creature simply looked around and then at Sweetie Belle, it apparently thought that she wasn't talking to it, and it looked back outside.

Mustering her strength once more, Sweetie Belle talked again. "Don't look away from me! I am talking to you!" She stated, slightly angry at being ignored.

The creature stared at Sweetie Belle with a now surprised expression, it mouthed a few words and blinked as it stared at her.

Sweetie Belle gulped. "W-well? who are you?" She asked again, her strength wavering as her legs shook and her body shivered.

The creature blinked and opened its mouth. "How?.....can you actually see me?" It asked, it's voice was feminine and soft.

Sweetie Belle nodded nervously, and the creature seemed to be at a loss for words, she soon spoke a few moments later. "My name?......I, don't remember it." The creature stated out of confusion, clearly she was bothered by not knowing her own name.

The creature walked closer to Sweetie Belle and seemed to look her over as she backed up. "As for how I got in here?.....I've been here for a long time, trapped." She replied.

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and spoke. "I uh......w-what are you?" She asked nervously.

The creature blinked and looked at its.......appendage. "I'm a ghost, it would seem." She replied. "But I used to be human." She added.

"Human?" She asked curiously.

The ghost nodded. "Yea, human.......do you, not know what a human is?" She asked curiously.

When Sweetie Belle shook her head, the ghost sighed and walked to a window. "Humans are a bipedal species with no fur, they have hands." She held her hands up. "That allow them to grab things, most human hands have four fingers and a thumb, they also have feet that have five toes, usually anyway, like me, most humans have hair on their head to help keep them warm." She then chuckled at something that happened outside.

"I'm surprised that you haven't heard of us, don't they teach you about other nations in school?" The ghost asked curiously.

Sweetie Belle blinked at the ghost. "I, if they do.....I wouldn't know." She replied honestly.

The ghost sighed and looked at Sweetie Belle, making her shiver slightly. "W-why were you doing all those things?" She asked nervously.

"Because I was bored." The ghost easily replied. "I also wanted to be able to move around freely, being stuck in a room, unable to really move or leave for six hundred years is horrible." She added casually, as though indifferent to what she just said.

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened at the time she mentioned. "S-six hundred years?" She asked quietly.

The ghost nodded. "Yea, trust me, not fun when the floor itself hurts you." She replied as she looked outside.

"But.....why are you staying? you could leave." Sweetie Belle asked.

The ghost shrugged. "I would, but I'm kind of cursed, I literally can't go very far from the house, I can get into the building right next to us, but not for long......huh, I wonder if that would work?" She seemed to ponder something quietly for a moment.

Sweetie Belle gulped as the ghost knelt down and stared for a few moments, she felt her heart racing. "W-what are you doing?" She asked.

The ghost clicked its non existent tongue and stood up fully. "You were about to go outside right?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle hesitantly nodded. "Um.....yea, I guess so." She replied shakily.

The ghost smirked. "Good, I want to test something, go on ahead, I'll just be a ride along." She stated before vanishing.

Sweetie Belle looked around frantically for a few seconds, looking for the ghost, after a few moments, she felt a chill overtake her and she shivered as she held her hoof. "W-w-why is it s-s-s-so cold?" She asked no one in particular.

'My bad, like I said, I'm a ride along, go on outside.' Came the ghosts voice from inside her head.

Sweetie Belle shivered as she walked to the front door, she opened the door and looked around the outside, ponies were running about frantically, clearly in a panic from Nightmare Moon appearing, she let out a breath that she could see, as if she was in a cold environment, she shivered as she walked outside and closed the front door.

Sweetie Belle currently felt as though she were frozen, and since the ghost didn't seem to be leaving, she could only hope that walking away would be enough to make the ghost leave.

Eventually, Sweetie Belle passed Carousel Boutique and she soon felt the cold going away. 'Not again!' She heard the ghost cry out.

Sweetie Belle was no longer shivering, she sat down next to the Boutique and sighed. 'What was that all about? and what was that experiment supposed to be?' She asked herself as she sat there deep in thought.

______*later that day.*______

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and opened the door, she walked inside the house and looked around curiously.

The ghost was nowhere in sight, but that wasn't shocking, she was a ghost after all, Sweetie Belle closed the door and heard a voice. "I'm sorry about that, but I was overly eager to leave this place." The voice of the ghost said from nearby.

Sweetie Belle looked and saw the ghost sitting on the stairs looking at her. "How exactly can you see me anyway?" She asked.

"I um......." Sweetie Belle paused and the ghost appeared ready to listen, she sighed. "I cast a spell called Spectral Vision, it lets me see you." She stated.

The ghost nodded. "I've been thinking ever since I got flung back here, and I remembered one of my names." She replied.

Sweetie Belle watched as the ghost stood up and walked over, she then sat down in front of the filly. "Until I remember my full name, you can call me Alecia." The ghost said.

"I......I'm Sweetie Belle." The unicorn filly replied nervously.

Alecia nodded, which was actually difficult to notice because of her transparent body. "Again, I really am sorry about haunting you and your family, but it was the only thing to do around here." She said quietly.

Sweetie Belle nodded slowly in reply, she wasn't sure what to do in this situation. "I uh......I guess I can forgive you." She replied quietly.

Alecia stood and crossed her arms, she then walked to the stairs and sat down. "So......can you tell me what I missed these past centuries?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I'm.....not the best with history." She replied.

Alecia didn't seem too bothered, that or she was good at hiding it. "Alright then, so what do you want to do until your family gets back?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle tapped her chin in thought. 'I guess.........maybe this will help me to calm down?' She pondered. "We could, talk about the differences in our species?" She offered.

Alecia didn't seem to like the idea. "If it's alright with you, I would rather not talk about my people right now, besides, you might find out whatever you need to know in a library or something." She said quietly, her eyes seemed to be deep in thought.

'This is awkward.' Sweetie Belle thought to herself.

_______*Later that day.*_______

Rarity walked into the house and closed the door, she took a breath and looked around, the house was intact and nothing seemed broken, the only thing out of place was a checkers board that was set up on the living room table. "Sweetie Belle!" She called out.

"I'm in here!" Her younger sister called back, giving Rarity a feeling of relief that her sister was alright.

Rarity walked to the dining room and froze, her sister was sitting at the table with a strange looking transparent creature, they both looked at her and they shared an awkward silence. "Uh.....are you okay Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked.

With a slight turn of her head, Rarity looked directly at her sister and blinked as another shock came to her.

Sweetie Belle's eyes were now similar to her own, her left eye was normal, but her right eye was now the same pale blue as hers, with the same ghostly white mist like look, but that meant......

"Did you cast the Spectral Vision spell Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes.

At this her little sister laughed nervously and looked away while rubbing her left leg, telling Rarity all she needed to know. "Why would you do something like that? you could have hurt yourself!" She said in a scolding tone.

Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity. "You cast it too." She pointed out quietly.

"Because I have a better knowledge of using magic, with your inexperience you could have easily damaged your eyes or even your horn irreparably." Rarity scolded.

At this, the creature stood up and walked out of the room, clearly seeking to avoid this. "And you!" Rarity snapped.

The creature froze and looked at Rarity. "Don't you dare go anywhere! we are going to have a talk right here and now!" The mare stated firmly and angrily.

The creature blinked. "You uh, realize I'm a ghost right? I could literally just avoid you all day." It said as though it were obvious.

"Yes, but doing so would make me WANT to seal you away again." Rarity sat down at the table and glared at the two. "So you had better have a good explanation, starting with who and what you are exactly." She said firmly.

The ghost sighed and began to hover just above the table. "Fine then.......i can't remember my full name just yet, but I do remember part of it, Alecia, as for my species, I am a ghost, fomerly a human." She then looked at Rarity. "I was trapped in that room for six hundred years, I couldn't leave or even move around that much." She paused and looked at Sweetie Belle. "I am also cursed, I cannot leave, I was barely even able to enter that building nextdoor and that was only for a few seconds at least." She paused when she saw Rarity's confused expression.

"Please tell me you know what a human is?" Alecia said hopefully.

When Rarity shook her head, the ghost sighed and explained what humans are. "Seriously, do they not teach you this stuff?" She asked.

Rarity shrugged. "I was not big on history or other races for most of my school years, Twilight might know however." She stated, her anger having subsided a little bit.

"As for why I'm here.......lets just say I had a disagreement with the owner after I became a ghost." Alecia said. "One thing led to another which led to me being sealed away in that room, I then spent six centuries in there until you two freed me." She explained in a bored tone as she hovered.

"You don't seem too bothered by being stuck here." Rarity pointed out.

Alecia huffed. "Again, six centuries, I'll take what little freedom I can get." She replied.

"Um.....do you know how to break the curse?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly.

Alecia rolled her eyes and looked at the filly. "Why would the person who sealed me here tell me how to undo it?" She asked curiously.

"Now, since you opened the door, I can only assume you were never told I was in that room, but if you know someone who does know the secret, they might know how to undo the curse, until then you are stuck with me." Alecia stated as she hovered over to the floor and let her feet touch the ground, she then vanished from sight.

Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity and leaned on the table. "So uh, how do we explain this to mom and dad?" She wondered.

Rarity took a deep breath and stared at the table. "They already know the house is haunted, that or they believe it was you playing jokes somehow......I will tell them that I handled it, but for now, I am going to bed, it's been a long day for me." She stated before standing up and walking out of the dining room.

Sweetie Belle sighed and stared at the wall opposite her out of boredom. "Now what am I supposed to do?" She wondered quietly.

'So Rarity's house is haunted, Alecia seems nice enough, Nightmare Moon is running around......maybe, and my parents are outside doing who knows what, why do I have a feeling that things are going to get weird around here?' She asked herself.

One thing that Rarity did not realize however, was that after Aleica left, Sweetie Belle's eye had returned to normal.

Author's Notes:

Here's another chapter for you all!

So now we meet the infamous ghost and have proven the claims of the town to be true, now the question is, what will happen now that they know about Alecia?

(As a side note, have any of you thought about the advantage of using both a tablet and a laptop/computer to write fan fiction? you can write on one, while using the other to double check and make sure you haven't forgotten anything, I've never done it, but I probably should!)

A revealing night.

______*Ponyville, a few days later, 1:30 PM*______

Rarity walked through through the Ponyville market, she was simply shopping for groceries today, her latest shipment of materials came today which was a relief, she had been running low lately.

The day was nice, the sun shined brightly but not too bright, and the clouds hovering overhead helped by giving some shade, there was also a slight breeze which helped the ponies to cool off.

Of course, the day wasn't perfect, Rarity's parents and Sweetie Belle had left town, and Alecia didn't seem willing to talk much this morning.

So Rarity walked in silence through the town, her down mood did seem to be noticed, but nopony spoke up about it, so about ten minutes later, Rarity had filled saddlebags and was walking home when she found Twilight looking around, seeing a chance to lighten her mood, Rarity trotted over. "Hello Twilight." She greeted.

Twilight looked at her. "Oh uh.....hi Rarity." She replied, she seemed distracted.

Rarity noticed this instantly. "Are you having trouble adjusting?" She asked simply.

Twilight nodded and looked around. "Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming to move so suddenly, I'm trying to find a bookstore, the library is a bit......outdated." She replied, trying to find the right words to say without sounding insulting.

Rarity smiled. "I'll show you where the bookstore is, I am in no hurry.." She said.

"Thank you so much Rarity, this town is like a maze." Twilight replied.

The two unicorns walked together and Rarity spoke up first. "Twilight, I was wondering if you might be able to help me with something." Rarity said.

Twilight looked at her friend as they walked. "Uh, okay, what did you need?" She asked curiously, hoping that it wasn't about modeling or something.

"I was hoping you might know something about humans, I've recently learned about them and I'm curious." Rarity said calmly.

Twilight blinked but kept on walking. "I'm no expert on them........but i can tell you what I know." She paused as she summoned a scroll from somewhere.

"Humans are a bipedal species with two arms, two legs, two eyes, ten fingers and ten toes." Twilight started as she summoned a quill and wrote what she said. "They lived one thousand years ago and died out before Nightmare Moon arose, there haven't been any descendants or hidden villages discovered, their usual lifespan is around sixty to seventy years, maybe more if they are lucky, for their height, humans are fragile, they bruise easily and are more vulnerable to poisons and toxins." She paused for a moment.

"Their hands allow nimble manipulation of devices that ponies struggle with, and they were known to be quite agile and quick on their feet." She looked at Rarity who seemed to be in thought. "That's all I really know, why the interest though?" She asked curiously.

Rarity shrugged. "As it turns out, my ancestors actually spoke with a human around six hundred years ago, I'm not sure what happened after that." She stated.

'Perhaps it's time for me to actually read grandfathers journal, it might help me to understand.' Rarity thought.

Twilight sent the quill and scroll away and they soon arrived at a Bookstore called Quinn's. "This is our local bookstore, I hope you find what you are looking for." Rarity said.

After saying farewell, Rarity went home while Twilight went inside the store.

______*Rarity's house, twenty minutes later.*______

Rarity sighed in relief as she sat down on her couch and relaxed, she had just spent the last fifteen minutes fixing the hole in her ceiling, and even though it had been cleaned up and the old ceiling had been removed already when her family was in town, she still had to find her tools and nails, and then she had to measure the materials and make sure she didn't mess up.

And while it wasn't very physically draining, it was the amount of magical exertion combined with holding up everything at once, and even though she was able to easily manipulate her sewing needles and cloths, doing the same for numerous nails and the plywood, it want a perfect fix, but it would have to do until she could get the proper materials or a handyman to fix it correctly.

Rarity rested her head on the couch and closed her eyes. "I think I'm going to miss the little kid." Alecia's voice said.

"You might not be missing her for that long, my parents have a tendency to leave her with me for a week or more at a time." Rarity replied as she looked in the direction of the ghost.

Alecia was currently looking out the window, watching as the ponies of Ponyville went about their day. "Don't they have a home?" She asked as she began to float, her expression was hard to read as she was very blurred.

"They do, but they have to travel a lot for work, unfortunately this led to my grandfather raising me and me practically raising Sweetie Belle." Rarity said as she rested her head again. "What about you? what was it like where you came from?" She asked curiously.

Alecia said nothing at first, but after a minute, Rarity spoke, her ears flat against her skull. "I.....I'm sorry if I brought up a sore-"

"I don't remember." Alecia said, cutting her off. "If I'm being completely honest here? I barely remember anything before those six centuries, all I know is how long I've been a ghost, one part of my name, my species and my family, other than that? it's a blank, unless I focus really hard on it." She explained.

Rarity sat up and looked at Alecia. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been a ghost?" She wondered.

Alecia seemed to shrug as she answered. "One thousand and thirteen years, four months, three weeks and two days." She said casually.

Rarity blinked as she stared at the ghost. "How can you remember that?" She asked curiously.

Alecia floated over and stopped next to Rarity. "I'm a ghost that was stuck in a room for over six centuries, not much else to do but to count the days." The ghost replied.

Before the unicorn could speak, Alecia spoke. "And no, I'm not in the mood to talk about my family, all human, good people, that's about the gist of it." She said before vanishing.

Rarity stood up and stretched, she walked over to one of the windows and looked outside, the town had calmed down considerably from the attack, but many were still wary, not that anypony could blame them of course.

This was part of the reason that her family left Ponyville, but she understood that much.

Rarity sighed to herself, 'It really is lonely here.' She thought to herself.

______*one week later, 1:13 PM.*_______

Rarity was currently outside of the Golden Oaks library along with Applejack, Twilight and several of the townsponies, there was a massive storm scheduled today and they needed to hurry as they pulled some smaller trees down and removed anything that could easily destroy something in the wind, such as a large sledgehammer.

While Rarity did of course complain about the storm, Applejack countered by stating that it had been a dry season lately and this storm was to make up for that.

More than once, Applejack caught Rarity simply trimming the tree instead of felling it, which had evolved into a heated discussion about how bad of an idea that was.

Rarity had countered by saying that knocking the trees down was a bad idea in of itself, as they were safer in the ground.

The two were about to go at each other again when Twilight stepped in. "Hey! get inside! the storm is getting too strong!" She said.

Rarity and Applejack were about to head to their respective homes when fierce winds, rain and lighting started to pelt Ponyville.

They looked and saw that Twilight was inside the doorway to the library. "Get in!" She shouted.

Applejack and Rarity immediately ran into the library and Twilight shut the door and locked it, she sighed in relief and looked at her two friends. "Are you alright?" Twilight asked.

Rarity and Applejack nodded. "Well, it looks like we're stuck here until the storm passes." Applejack said.

As she said this, Twilight got excited and suggested they spend the night, when they agreed, she pulled out a sleepover handbook, which exists for some reason.

Rarity was especially amused during truth or dare, where Applejack had to wear a dress for ten minutes, it was almost worth getting drenched and her hooves getting covered in mud for, after that, it was Twilight's turn.

"Alright Twi, truth or dare?" Applejack asked.

Twilight tapped her chin and shrugged. "Truth." She replied.

"Ok, is it true that you knew Nightmare Moon was going to show up?" Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded calmly. "Yea, I tried to warn Princess Celestia, but she shrugged it off......at least it worked out though right?" She wondered.

Rarity nodded before Applejack could respond. "It did work out, Princess Celestia has her sister back and Ponyville is returning to normal." She said.

Twilight nodded. "Alright Rarity, truth or dare?" She asked.

"Truth." Rarity said, not willing to risk another dare at the moment.

After taking a moment to think of a question, Twilight spoke. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but are the rumors true? that your house is cursed or something?" She asked, not wishing to offend.

Applejack was quiet as she waited for the white unicorn to answer, which she did. "In a way." Rarity replied, she held up a hoof to quiet them before they could speak. "My home is not cursed, it is haunted." She said.

Twilight was silent for a moment before blinking, she seemed to be amused by something but didn't want to say anything.

Rarity recognized the expression, she often saw it or even used it herself, she just laughed quietly. "Quite a claim no? but to answer your question, no it isn't cursed." She said finally.

The statement caused them all to share a short laugh, that was of course, until Rarity's next statement. "Seriously however? it is haunted." She said.

Before Twilight or Applejack could say anything however, all three of them gasped, but for different reasons, Twilight and Applejack because they watched as Rarity's left eye became a pale blue with a ghostly white mist like appearance.

Rarity had gasped because she watched as a ghost walked right behind Twilight and up the stairs, it was clearly a pony but she was unable to determine what kind. "Rarity, your eye!" Twilight said, her eyes wide.

"I am aware, would you like me to explain?" Rarity asked, turning her focus to her friends, who seemed creeped by her eye.

Twilight nodded and Applejack shivered a little.

Rarity shifted a little and got herself more comfortable. "It started a week before the Summer Sun Celebration, my family came to Ponyville for it and were staying with me for the week, that night, I found my sister upstairs, staring at the locked room, I unlocked it and we both entered, disturbing a salt line that had been all around the rooms walls, unbeknownst to us, we had released a ghost into the house." She took a breath and continued.

"After a few days of this haunting, my sister had revealed that she found a spell in the library, it is called Spectral Vision, she had used it without telling me or considering the consequences." She sighed and shook her head. "Later, I used the spell myself and the next morning, I looked in the mirror and saw this." Rarity pointed at her eye.

"And seeing as nopony noticed this change makes me believe that the change only occurs when we see a ghost." Rarity explained. "From what I was told however, my eye is always like this at home." She added.

Twilight seemed thoughtful for a second before she spoke up. "Can I......see the spell?" She asked.

Rarity nodded and stood up. "Let me find the book." She said as she walked to the bookshelves.

It took a few minutes, but Rarity soon found the book containing the spell she cast, she opened it and flipped through the book until she found it, she then walked back over and sat down, showing Twilight the spell.

Twilight took the book and began reading it, her eyes darted back and forth along the page as she read, soon she looked up. "This spell......I don't like it, there's too much risk." She said as she closed the book.

Rarity nodded. "I am well aware of the risk I took, but when I cast it I was desperate to find a solution." She replied as she looked at Applejack who seemed to be lost in thought. "Now, let us get back to the game, I don't want to ruin the night anymore with all of this ghost talk." She said as she let out a small smile.

The rest of the night was far from perfect, and after a heated argument between Rarity and Applejack, Twilight had shouted at them, stating that they practically ruined the night with their stupid arguments.

A tree had also broken the window to the room, and Twilight refused to help get rid of it as she stopped caring how bad the night got.

Which meant that Applejack and Rarity were forced to make up and work together to get rid of the tree, once it was gone, Twilight cast a spell and the window fixed itself, the two then sat down and had a long talk, ending in an agreement to try and tolerate the other more.

In conclusion, the night wasn't amazing by any means, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

And in the back of her mind, Rarity felt like life in Ponyville just got a lot more exciting.

Author's Notes:

Here you go!

I wanted to do a short chapter at first, like 1k to 1400? but I decided not to do so.

So here's a chapter for ya to read, and I hope you like it, if not, thanks for the read.

Better days ahead.

_______*a week later, 9:00 AM.*______

Rarity opened her eyes to an invasive bright glare as she woke up, she groaned and covered her eyes with her right hoof, for some reason her curtain was wide open and sunlight shined through. "Wake up mare." Said a familiar ghostly voice.

Uncovering her eyes, Rarity turned and glared at the ghost holding the curtain open, even though Alecia was heavily blurred, she could bet the ghost was grinning. "What is with you today?" Rarity asked as she stood up.

"To be honest I'm just bored of doing nothing all day, you have no idea how boring it is not being able to actually leave the house." Alecia replied before reappearing at the door to the bathroom. "Now get up and get ready, I specifically remember you saying you had orders to fill." She stated before vanishing.

Rarity sighed as she walked to the bathroom to get ready for her day. "It's too early for this." She complained quietly.

After getting ready, Rarity went downstairs to get some food, on the way she noticed Alecia floating about, she simply grabbed a bagel from her fridge and put it in the toaster. "How exactly are you able to touch objects?" Rarity asked out of curiosity.

Alecia floated over to the kitchen and spoke. "Heck if I know, my only guess is that it has something to do with force of will, or something I can't understand." She replied.

"Why do you ask?" The ghost wondered.

Rarity stretched a little bit to help loosen her joints. "I was curious, it is not often one can talk to a ghost after all." She answered as the bagel popped up.

Alecia disappeared from sight and left Rarity alone as she buttered her bagel and ate.

Once Rarity was done eating and she had cleaned up, she headed outside and to the Boutique.

And now that she was alone once again, Alecia had only one thought on her mind. 'I wonder what would happen if Rarity came home and every single cabinet, door and drawer was open?' She wondered.

______*hours later, 5:12 PM*______

Rarity was walking through town with a more relaxed expression, she had finished working on a few orders and made incredible progress with another before heading to the Ponyville spa for the first time in a month

Apparently, working on the decor for the Summer Sun Celebration, having your family visit out of the blue, discovering your home really was haunted, defeating Nightmare Moon, living with a partial amnesiac ghost, a tree smashing through the window and long work days caused an incredible amount of stress, which really surprised Lotus and Aloe.

As she walked, Rarity noticed Spike our and about, he had a rapidly filling bag with him as he went from stall to stall, she decided to walk over and talk with the dragon.

Spike noticed her approaching and his expression went from a bored one to an excited one. "Hey Rarity!" He greeted.

Rarity smiled at him. "Hello Spike.....what are you doing?" She asked curiously. "And where is Twilight? I haven't seen her in a few days." She added.

Spike looked at his bag and shrugged. "Picking up groceries, Twilight's been in 'research' mode for most of the week now, I'm just making sure we have what we need." He replied.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "What is research mode?" She asked.

Spike rolled his eyes. "It's when she finds something that really catches her interest, she sorta just tunes the whole world out and focuses on what's she's researching." He explained, as if it were mundane to him.

"That doesn't sound healthy for her at all." Rarity commented.

Spike nodded. "It isn't, but I'm used to it by now, by the way, can I ask you something?" He wondered.

Rarity gave a half shrug. "Of course." She replied.

Spike scratched the back of his head as he spoke. "Well, you know how you gave me and the others a tour of the Boutique?" She started.

After a confirming nod, the dragon continued. "I was wondering, what's with the bedrooms? i mean, your house is practically right next to it." He asked.

Rarity understood what he was asking, and she replied easily. "Just in case, you see, the Boutique used to be a home, but I purchased it for my work, the two bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom are just in case I need to stay the night for whatever reason, I even have a spell on the building, it isn't perfect, but it keeps it mostly clean or helps keep food fresh." She explained.

Spike nodded and looked at the bag on his back. "Well, I have to get back, bye Rarity." He said as he ran off.

Rarity smiled and started to walk home, and on the way home, she ran into an all too familiar set of faces.

"Oh hi Rarity, wasn't expecting to see you outside." Said the voice of Magnum. "We're sorry about the surprise visit, we really are." Betty added.

Rarity nodded at her parents. "It's alright." She said before walking with them.

_______*Meanwhile*______

Alecia would sigh from boredom, but she was bored of that as well, she floated around the house aimlessly and with no idea what to do next.

She had already opened everything that could be open, and left them like that, she had also decided to put random things in random places, for instance, she put the butter in the cabinet for plates and bowls, and the small plates in the silverware drawer.

But as she floated aimlessly, Alecia pondered on how to cure her boredom, she had no way of breaking the curse, and if she had a stomach, she would have vomited at the thought of continuing to count her time as a ghost.

Most would assume that ghosts would have nothing to be angry about, but that's not true, at least in Alecia's case, her anger mostly came from boredom and being stuck in a house.

Eventually, Alecia felt her anger reach its limit. "Grrraaaaaaa!" She screamed out of frustration, she raised her ghostly fists into the air.

After she was finished, Alecia just grumbled and floated around, closing the cabinets, doors and drawers as she went, she tuned out the world around her and did this throughout the house.

_______*ten minutes later.*_______

Rarity was now alone walking through town, her parents had gone searching for Sweetie Belle, as they walked, her parents asked if she was willing to let her stay in Ponyville, her sister had liked the small town more than any of the other towns or cities she had visited.

And while Rarity was all too happy to accept, the choice was ultimately Sweetie Belle's, so while her parents searched for her sister in town, she decided to go back home, she had a feeling that her sister would want to check up on the resident ghost.

Rarity passed Rainbow Dash on the way home, and the Pegasus talked to her, mostly asking her if she was messing with Twilight and Applejack about the whole ghost thing, to which Rarity of course said that she wasn't lying.

"Prove it then." Rainbow Dash said as she hovered next to the unicorn mare. "Bring us all over at one time, and prove that there's a ghost, and heck from what Applejack said, it sounds like you can talk to them." She shrugged.

Rarity sighed as she walked. "This isn't up to me, it is up to her, I can ask if she's willing to prove this to you all, but that's all." She said.

"Go ahead then, I'll see you around." Rainbow Dash said before flying off.

Rarity just shook her head. "That mare." She mumbled.

Rarity eventually reached her house and walked to the door, she opened it and walked inside, she then closed the door and looked around.

Rarity noticed a familiar pair of saddlebags and sighed in relief, she then called out. "Alecia?" She said.

Soon enough, the ghost in question appeared in front of Rarity.......right next to her face. "Gah!" The mare cried out as she jumped.

Alecia laughed quietly, her blurred form floating in place. "Can I help you?" She then asked.

Rarity took a deep breath and spoke. "Did anypony come inside?" She asked, pointing at the saddlebags.

Alecia nodded and floated to the bags. "Yea, little girl, unicorn with white fur, claims to be your sister." She replied calmly.

The ghost then planted her feet on the ground. "it was a pleasant surprise when she got here, I wasn't expecting her at all, talk about surprises." She added, with an amused tone. "So, where's the family? and how long is the kid staying this time?" She asked curiously.

"First off, I didn't know they were coming." Rarity replied. "And second, they will probably come here soon, third? that decision is Sweetie Belle's, not yours, not my parents, not mine." She added.

Alecia nodded again. "Can I ask one last question?" She wondered.

"Of course." Rarity replied.

Alecia crossed her arms. "Who was that Pegasus you were talking with? and why did you seem fed up?" She asked.

Rarity blinked as she stared at the ghost in shock. "H-how did you see me talking with?.......I wasn't even near the house!?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged and pointed up. "I was on the roof, after a lot of experimenting, I learned that as long as I keep touching the house, I can go a short distance away." She explained.

Rarity nodded in understanding as she calmed down. "You must have very good eyesight to have seen that." She muttered. "Anyway, where is Sweetie Belle?" She asked.

Alecia pointed towards the dining room. "She's waiting for me to get back so we can finish our game." She replied before vanishing.

With that, Rarity walked to the dining room, she entered it and saw that Sweetie Belle was playing Game of Life......or rather, just trying to start it. "Perhaps I can help?" She offered.

Sweetie Belle smiled and ran over to Rarity, she hugged her excitedly. "Hey Rarity! and uh......" She blushed out of embarrassment. "Yea, I could use some help." She said quietly.

Rarity gave her sister a smile and walked over with her before sitting, she looked at Alecia. "How long were you trying to set up?" She asked, pointing to the open instructions and splayed cards.

Alecia shrugged. "A few minutes." She replied with a nonchalant tone. "It would have been faster if I could understand your written language." She added.

Rarity then looked at her sister who seemed to be calming down, she sighed and cleaned everything up, shuffling the cards and setting them down with her magic, she then ensured that the board was set up before speaking. "Alecia, do you know how this game works?" She asked.

Aleica shook her head. "Believe me, I tried to find a memory of this game, couldn't." She said as she leaned back.

"That's fine, I'll explain it." Rarity said as the three chose their pieces, Rarity chose the green carriage, Sweetie Belle chose blue, Aleica took red, both Rarity and Sweetie Belle chose the pink piece, while Alecia grabbed a blue.

After they were ready, Rarity explained the rules of the game, how to win and to play.

Eventually, the game ended with Rarity in first, Sweetie Belle in second, and Alecia in last, and while they were cleaning up, they heard a knock on the front door.

Rarity stopped doing what she was doing and walked to the front door, she opened it and saw her parents. "Rarity, is Sweetie Belle here?" Betty asked.

With a nod, her parents visibly relaxed. "Thank Celestia...." Magnum replied before staring at something in the house.

Rarity looked back and saw Alecia carrying the Life box to the living room. "I'm just going to assume the ghost.....Alecia was it? is still here?" Betty wondered.

Inside, Alecia noticed Rarity's parents staring. "They......can't see me can they?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not." Rarity said before looking at her parents. "She's still here, but she is annoying at worst." She replied.

"I heard that!" Alecia called out from the dining room.

Rarity let her parents inside and led them to Sweetie Belle.

And while it appeared that the filly was talking to somepony who wasn't there, they all knew the truth, she was talking to Alecia.

Alecia stood up as Rarity sat down with her parents. "This is family business I'm guessing." She muttered before vanishing.

______*the next day, 4:00 PM*______

Alecia laid back on the roof of the house, staring up at the bright blue sky, white clouds occasionally floated by, and even the occasional Pegasus flew by heading somewhere.

She sighed to herself and closed her eyes. 'At least with the kid here, I won't be as bored now.......at least, that's the hope.' She opened her eyes and blinked in wonder. "That's odd." She muttered.

Alecia stood up and watched as an unfamiliar blue whisp of smoke flew down at the house from the sky, it went right through the roof and went inside.

"Well, I wanted excitement." She whispered to herself before going down into the rest of the house, she saw the smoke slowly expand and take on a new form, at first it appeared to be a unicorn, but then it grew wings......and then it grew in size until it was at least double Rarity's height.

And then the shape gained color and became more clear, it was a mare as was obvious due to the muzzle, it's fur was a very dark blue, it's mane and tail were a wispy blue smoke and its cutie mark was a real crescent moon with a dark blue splotch behind it, the mare raised itself off the floor and looked around. "You mind telling me why you are in my room? Alecia asked.

The mare flipped around and her horn glowed furiously, her cyan cat-like eyes glared at the ghost. "Who are you!? and where.....wait, a human?" The mare seemed perplexed before returning to her threatening stance. "Where am I human?" She questioned.

Alecia crossed her arms. "First off, you barged into MY room, second, you can't hurt me even if you tried, so threats won't work." She stated.

In response, the mare fired a blast of magic from her horn, it simply passed right through Alecia and through the wall, with a sigh, Alecia shook her head as the mare stared in confusion. "I don't understand." The mare muttered.

The mare growled and marched up to Alecia. "What have you done human!?" She snapped angrily.

Alecia raised an eyebrow. "Me? nothing, and seeing as you don't have that eye and can see me, I can only assume you are dead." She replied.

The mare reached out and her hoof went through Alecia, she pulled it out and growled. "Impossible! I am immortal, I cannot die!" She stated, anger and confusion were clear in her voice.

Alecia shrugged. "And yet here we are, if you want to leave I won't stop you." She said before appearing at the door to leave the room.

The mare seemed skeptical, but followed Alecia as she led her to the front door, when they reached the door, Alecia leaned against the wall. "Here's the door, have fun out there." She said casually.

The mare scoffed. "Be grateful I wasn't able to harm you." She stated before lighting her horn, she tried to turn the doorknob but was unable to do so.

Alecia couldn't help but smirk inwardly as the mare grew increasingly frustrated, she attempted to turn the knob with her hoof but her hoof went straight through. "Just walk through it." The ghost stated.

The mare growled quietly and proceeded to walk out the door, Alecia walked to the steps and sat down. "That was fun while it lasted I guess." She mumbled.

It wasn't long however, until Alecia heard screaming, followed by the mare flying through the air in a familiar manner.. "Aaaah!" The mare cried out as she landed on the floor of the living room.

Alecia blinked and looked at the mare who stood up and glared at her angrily. "What was that!?" She demanded to know as she marched over.

With a shrug, Alecia spoke. "If I had to guess? I would say that it was the curse that keeps me trapped here, but I didn't know it could affect others." She replied as she stood up.

After some internal thought which lasted a few minutes, the mare spoke again, in a much more calm tone. "Where am I exactly?" She asked.

"We're in a house that's at least six centuries old, it currently belongs to a unicorn mare named Rarity, you can call me Alecia by the way." The ghost said as she crossed her arms.

The mare stared at Alecia for several moments before speaking. "My name is Nightmare Moon.....is this, Rarity? the reason we are trapped here?" She asked.

Alecia laughed quietly at the question. "No, I remember the people who did this to me, and she wasn't one." She replied.

Nightmare Moon stared at Alecia curiously. "Have you not discovered a way to get around the curse?" She asked.

"If I did, I wouldn't be here now would I?" The ghost replied as she walked to one of the windows, she then watched the outside world. "Right now I'm waiting on them to get home." She looked at the mare. "I advise that you hide until I break the news about a second ghost." She stated before looking outside again.

Nightmare Moon glared at Alecia. "Why do you call me a ghost?" She asked.

"You walk through walls, your magic doesn't work, your eyes are normal and you can see me, simple logic." Alecia replied.

Nightmare Moon sighed. "Where exactly should I hide?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged. "The room we met in, isn't it obvious?" She wondered as she looked outside.

The mare headed upstairs, complaining about annoying humans all the way, Alecia simply chuckled. "At least I'm not alone in this anymore." She muttered.

Author's Notes:

Here's another chapter for you guys, and things get back to normal........kind of, maybe....ok, not at all.

In this one, Sweetie Belle returned, Rainbow asks that Rarity prove Alecia exists, and more.

More haunting.

_______*Ponyville, Rarity's house, the next day, 1:21 PM*_______

Nightmare Moon groaned in frustration as she rebounded back into the house after her seventh attempt to leave.

"Why can't I leave!?" The Alicorn screamed.

Meanwhile, Alecia watched with a bored yet amused expression, she simply sat back on the couch, reclining, angering the mare even more with the physical action. "Another thing! how are you able to touch objects or even interact with them! while I cannot!" She snapped.

"Because I want to do it?" Alecia offered as she went back to staring at the ceiling.

Nightmare Moon's left eye twitched violently, she once again attempted magic, but it did nothing at all.

"Will you stop trying to leave already? I already told you, ghosts can't leave, at least to my knowledge." Alecia said as she closed her eyes.

Nightmare Moon looked at Alecia. "I would rather keep fighting this imprisonment than be trapped once again.....and stop calling me a ghost, I am NOT dead!" She demanded as she cast another useless spell.

Alecia just shook her head. "Just keep it down." She muttered.

The Alicorn attempted to get away from the house several more times, and at some point she tried to blow the house up, but they all met in failure, after a half hour of sulking, Nightmare Moon approached Alecia. "Why can't I see you properly?" She asked.

Alecia opened her eyes and looked at the mare. "I've been a ghost for a long time, and most of that time I was trapped, constantly weak and unable to do anything other than move my eyes, so as far as i can tell, It's a side effect." She answered.

Nightmare Moon looked around as she talked. "So, this is the home of one of the Element Bearers?" She asked.

"Sure, not that it matters to us, we can't exactly do anything with that information as ghosts now can we?" Alecia replied.

Nightmare Moon glared at the ghost. "I did NOT die, I am NOT a ghost, so stop calling me one!" She snapped, her eyes glaring daggers.

Alecia chuckled. "The sooner you accept the truth, the better off you will be, but whatever, keep your delusions." She said as she closed her eyes again.

_______*Meanwhile.*_______

Sweetie Belle walked through town, eager to truly explore it for once, usually when she came to visit, she never really got to go anywhere, this time however, she was determined to explore on her own.

So she walked through town, she was in the shop portion of town, where there were mostly stores or businesses.

Sweetie Belle hadn't been to this part of town yet, so she was looking around, examining every detail, however she stopped paying attention to where she was going, and ended up walking into somepony.

She and the other pony fell to the ground. "Oof." They both said.

Sweetie Belle looked up and saw a Pegasus filly with orange fur and an unkempt purple mane and tail, no cutie mark and purple eyes, her wings were very small. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" She asked out of concern as she stood up.

The filly stood up and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Yea, I'm alright......we uh, should really watch where we are going huh?" She said with a nervous chuckle.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yea....um." She paused for a moment before offering her hoof in a hoofshake. "I'm Sweetie Belle, and I'm sorry for bumping into you." She said with a small smile.

The filly returned the gesture and shook Sweetie's hoof. "I'm Scootaloo, and it's my fault too, I wasn't watching where I was going." She replied before stretching a little bit.

"So uh, Sweetie Belle? maybe you could show me around town? I'm kind of new." Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle scratched the back of her head. "Truth is, I only really know the market and a little bit of this part of Ponyville, so I won't be much of a guide." She said quietly.

Scootaloo didn't seem bothered by this. "Then let's explore together! we can save so much time that way!" She stated, her personality just screamed energy.

Sweetie Belle considered for a while, before eventually agreeing. "Let's go then." She said.

With that, the two fillies explored the town together, stopping at a few places to browse or even just rest.

______*Hours later.*______

Rarity sighed as she walked up to the front door of her house, it had been a long day at work, and she just wanted some alone time to cool off.

She opened the door and stepped inside, she closed the door and looked around, she saw Alecia sitting in the middle of the floor in the living room, she was about to talk when she heard another voice. "This house is far too small, how you did not lose your mind is beyond me." A hauntingly familiar voice said.

Rarity felt her heart pound while her eyes widened as the owner of the voice walked into the room, a very familiar Alicorn mare that she hoped to never see again.

Nightmare Moon was in her living room, looking around with an aggravated expression, she then looked at Alecia and paused as her gaze landed on Rarity.

Alecia looked over her shoulder and shrugged. "Better sooner than later I suppose." She muttered.

Nightmare Moon growled and her horn glowed, firing a magic blast at the unicorn.

Rarity cried out as the blast.......went straight through her? she waited for a few moments before opening her eyes, she looked around and blinked. "I.....what happened?" She asked curiously as she stared at the equally shocked face of Nightmare Moon.

Alecia stood up and floated over to Rarity. "Allow me to introduce our new ghost, Nightmare Moon." She said as she looked at the Alicorn. "This is Rarity, the owner of this house." She added.

Needless to say, Rarity screamed loudly for a good ten seconds before fainting, leaving Alecia to carry her to the couch.

_______*later that day.*_______

Rarity sat at her dining room table, silently sipping on some wine that she had hidden away for special occasions, only now she simply wanted to try to ease her mind, for what it was worth.

It was now seven fifty four and she had only woken up a half hour ago, Alecia had explained things as best as she could, but it was still a shock to learn that Nightmare Moon was now here in her house, Rarity took another sip and heard the front door open. "Rarity! I'm back!" Sweetie Belle's voice called out.

Rarity sighed and stood up, she walked to the front door and saw her sister, she smiled. "Welcome back Sweetie Belle." She said.

Sweetie Belle smiled at first, but her smile faded when she saw Rarity's face. "Are you ok? you don't look so good." She asked.

Rarity nodded. "I will be alright, I just had a long day." She replied simply as her sister closed the door.

Sweetie Belle gaze her sister a curious gaze as she walked to the stairs. "If you say so." She mumbled before heading to her room.

Rarity took the time to put her wine away and cleaned up, as she put her glass in the sink, she spoke. "Alecia, are you listening?" She asked quietly.

Not a few seconds later, Alecia appeared on the other side of the counter. "I'm here, what do you need?" She asked as she leaned on the counter.

"Do you think I should have told her the truth?" Rarity asked.

Alecia seemed to think on it for a moment before shrugging. "Look, I'll let you in on something, I had a little brother, I loved him, and I still do, but as much as we trusted the other, we still kept secrets." She then began to float up until she was over the counter. "She will find out eventually, i advise you to say something and give her a heads up, better than finding out from out of the blue like you." She stated.

Rarity sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "If my parents ever find out who's in the house, I'll never live it down......and they probably won't let Sweetie Belle visit again." She said with worry as she leaned her left foreleg on the counter.

"Look, I'll do what I can to help Nightmare Moon adjust, as well as to keep damage to a minimun, you just work on breaking the news to your sister." Alecia said before vanishing, Rarity sighed to herself once again as she walked to the stairs.

Rarity headed upstairs and stopped when she heard Sweetie Belle talking. "Is she alright?" Her voice asked.

Alecia could be heard next. "She is, like Rarity said, she had a long day." The ghost said.

Rarity stopped listening in and walked up, she headed for her room and opened the door, she entered her room and closed the door.

Upon turning around she felt her heart skip a beat as she stared into the cat-like eyes of Nightmare Moon. "Let's get one thing straight, we are still enemies, the only reason I will not be harming you is because i cannot do so, but once I learn how to interact with the physical world once again, you had best watch your back." The Alicorn warned before leaving the room.

Rarity took a few moments to calm down before walking to her bathroom, she then washed her makeup off and headed straight for her bed, she climbed under the covers and closed her eyes.

"Why me?" She asked herself as she drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

A bit shorter but still important nonetheless.

This is mostly because I didn't feel up to making another 4K word chapter for once.

History lessons with the supernatural.

______*the next day, Ponyville, 3:00 PM*______

Rarity once again found herself walking through town, this time however she was going to the Library to visit Twilight.

The mare had practically holed herself up in the library for a while, only occasionally leaving to get some air, she had stated that she was working on a project when asked what she was up to, but she refused to say any more.

Rarity had also done everything she could to break the news about Nightmare Moon being in the house gently, Sweetie Belle's response was simple and expected, she immediately evacuated the house and ate her breakfast outside, it took fifteen minutes to just get her to calm down, and another ten to get her back inside.

Sweetie Belle had simply cleaned up and then left the house, saying she would be back later.

Rarity was now walking to the Golden Oaks Library, hoping that talking to Twilight would help raise her spirits, or even to help her with the curse on her home.

A cool breeze blew through town and a low hanging white cloud zoomed by, Rarity blinked and watched as the cloud flew off into the distance, she simply shrugged and continued walking, saying hello to the ponies who greeted her.

After a few more minutes of walking, Rarity arrived at the tree, she walked up to the door and knocked on the door, she heard some talking on the other side but she couldn't make out what was said.

Soon though, the door opened to reveal Twilight standing on the other side. "Rarity! just who I was going to look for!" She said, moving to allow her friend inside.

Rarity noticed that Twilight looked tired, she had dark circles under her eyes and they seemed to be a little bloodshot. "Twilight dear, are you alright?" She asked out of concern as she walked inside.

Twilight nodded before yawning. "Yea.......just a little tired, regardless! I figured it out!" She stated with a large smile.

Rarity looked around and saw numerous books lying around seemingly haphazardly, there was a large blackboard with chalk lines making what appeared to be formulas and theories. "Figured what out?" She asked.

Twilight floated over a familiar book. "The Spectral Sight spell! it works but it has a terrible flaw, one that I have successfully fixed!" She stated happily.

Rarity blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What exactly does that mean?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

At this, Twilight happily went into 'lecture mode' to explain. "Normally, Spectral Sight requires that the caster relive their most tragic memory and risk their most precious one to act as a mental safeguard, but with the version I created, you can give the Sight to anypony without such risk.......and all it takes is a little magic!" She explained.

At Rarity's confused expression, Twilight cleared her throat. "Well......basically, by using some magic, I can give anypony the ability to see ghosts or spirits, sadly, I can't undo the old version......I'm afraid your stuck with it." She explained, she seemed to be upset that she couldn't help.

Rarity smiled. "Think nothing of it Twilight dear, I'm used to how my eye changes, as for the memories? I can't do anything about it......so why worry about it right now?" She asked.

Twilight lit her horn and the books started to go back onto the shelves, after they were all away, Twilight took a deep breath and looked at Rarity. "Can I ask you something?" She asked curiously.

"Of course, what is it?" Rarity replied, walking over and picking up a letter, it had the details of the new spell. "Who is the ghost in your house?" Twilight asked.

At this, Rarity sighed, she set the letter on Twilight's desk. "Unfortunately, there is another ghost in my home, making it two.......the first ghost is Alecia, a human who was cursed to be bound to the home forever, you......aren't going to like who the second ghost is." She stated.

After Twilight got over the initial shock of what Alecia was, she spoke. "Who is it?" She asked, genuinely curious.

Rarity looked right at Twilight, she waited a little before speaking. "Nightmare Moon." She stated.

At the mere mention of that name, Twilight's eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her hairs stood on end. "B-b-but that's impossible! we freed Luna!" She stated.

Rarity nodded. "We did, but nevertheless, she is there, and not exactly in a forgiving mood, personally I'm still shaken up about it, the air in my house is tense lately." She replied.

Twilight seemed to ponder this for a while before speaking. "Well......we can't just leave her there unattended, what do you think about us all going and seeing this for ourselves?" She asked.

"I have no problem with this, but I must warn you.....Alecia is a bit odd." Rarity replied.

_______*later, 5:00 PM*_______

Rarity stood outside her house with Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, at first, Rainbow Dash was by far the most skeptical out of them all, but they were all a little concerned about Nightmare Moon being there.

"I did forget to mention one thing however." Twilight said before they could go the front door. "I also have another spell, it's an old one, but it's supposed to reveal a ghost or spirits true self, of course, this was back when superstition ran wild, so it may or may not work." She explained.

"Assuming there is a ghost!" Rainbow interrupted as they headed to the door.

Rarity walked up to the front door. "Welcome to my home everypony." She said as she opened the door and let them inside.

After everypony was inside, Twilight lit her horn and began to cast her spell on them all, all they could feel was a slight tingle but that was it.

Once she was done, Rarity looked at her friends, they were looking around curiously. "Do you want me to call them?" She asked.

Rainbow crossed her hooves. "Sure, why not call Nightmare Moon here? nothing could go wrong." She said dismissively, she was sarcastic, but in truth, she seemed a little curious.

Rarity rolled her eyes, she then opened her mouth. "Alecia I'm back!" She called out.

Almost immediately a familiar female voice spoke up from the living room. "I'm dead Rarity, not blind or deaf."

The six mares looked and five of them were startled, Rarity was actually surprised as Alecia was no longer blurred out, she could actually make out the details of the ghost.

Alecia was laying on the couch looking up at the ceiling, her skin was a pinkish white. (basically she looks like a white female, I'm just describing it like this because I am too lazy to learn the actual color of skin.)

Her eyes were dark blue with a strange purple glow in them, her hair was a slightly faded dark red with purple streaks, she wore a pair of thick black pants of some kind, she also had a white shirt on, as well as a dark green shoulderless vest, her face was slightly rounded, her nose was small. "Thanks for the spell by the way, it's annoying not being able to see your fingers accurately." The ghost wiggled her fingers for emphasis.

Rarity looked around a little before Alecia spoke. "She's upstairs brooding, don't bother her right now." Alecia said.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. "Your a ghost?" She asked curiously.

Alecia nodded and promptly stared at the ceiling again. "You don't look like a ghost." The Pegasus stated.

Rarity sighed as the others gasped, Alecia had immediately disappeared from sight, and then they all jumped when they heard her behind them. "And you look like a child's art project, I wasn't going to say it, but it's true." Alecia countered as she walked through the Pegasus, sending an unnatural chill through her. "I have admit it though, the rainbow hair does look cool, even if you do look like a doodle." The ghost said as she turned to face the mares, crossing her arms, strangely enough, a spark of black electricity arced across her arms for a brief second.

"Alecia, leave the poor mare alone, she doesn't need you haunting her." Rarity said.

Alecia raised an eyebrow and looked at Rarity. "I've been stuck in this house for six centuries, and an opportunity to have some fun shows up, of course I'm going to take it!" She countered easily.

Twilight spoke up as she approached. "Excuse me, not to be rude......but could you tell me why your here? or what it's like to be a ghost?" She asked out of curiosity.

Alecia shrugged and began floating, she held her arms behind her head and closed her eyes. "Being a ghost is mostly boring, maddening at first, but I got used to it.......its different for everyone though, so I can't give you a general idea." She then looked up at the ceiling. "As for why I'm here? I was sealed away in a room for six centuries and unable to do anything execpt count the time." She looked at unicorn. "I heard about you Twilight Sparkle." She said, surprising the mare. "You love to learn new things like a scientist, but you also like to document your discoveries more like an archeologist."

Alecia then vanished and a second later was in front of Twilight's face, almost giving the mare a heart attack, while also sending a chill down her spine. "Let me ask you something, are humans considered common knowledge?" She asked.

Still recovering from the immediate shock, Twilight answered. "Um.....could you be more specific?" She asked.

Alecia sighed and walked through Twilight and spoke. "What I mean is this, is knowledge about humans restricted, or do people just see no need to learn about them?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

The other four mares talked amongst themselves while Twilight thought on her answer, and after a minute, she spoke. "As far as I know, it isn't illegal to learn about humans." She said.

Alecia shook her head and lifted herself off the ground so that she was floating a couple of feet in the air. "Disappointing, anyway, I can tell you have questions, so go ahead and ask, and all I want in return, is for one simple thing.......but that can wait." She said, she then held up her hand. "Two questions each, just to make sure you don't ask stupid ones." She added with a grin.

Before Twilight could speak, Rarity spoke up. "Do humans need to wear clothing? or is it just a choice?" She asked curiously.

"Of course the fashion pony asks that." Alecia muttered quietly. "It's both a survival and modesty thing, the human body can survive some strange eviroments on its own, clothing helps with the colder and wetter ones, modesty? that should be obvious as to why and I am done answering that question." She stated firmly as she closed her eyes, slowly floating around the group.

"How many humans were there back where you used to live?" Rarity asked.

Alecia shrugged. "I don't know the exact number, but they had three kingdoms, and they did take up vast amounts land.....so maybe?.......a few million give or take?" She estimated.

Twilight had been taking notes on a piece of paper with a quill she got from somewhere. "You misspelled kingdoms." Alecia pointed out from behind the mare.

Twilight once again jumped in surprise, she took a few deep breaths and examined her notes. "Ooh ooh! me next! me next!" Came Pinkie Pie's voice.

Alecia looked at the pink earth pony with a raised eyebrow, she then went back to floating around. "Alright then, what are your questions?" She asked.

The pink mare bounced over as she spoke. "Do humans have any interesting party games?" She asked eagerly.

Alecia smirked. "Unless you count ale pong, then no." She replied.

Pinkie paused for a moment before speaking again. "What's ale pong?" She asked curiously.

"It's a game played between two people, there are ten cups placed in a pyramid shape, every time you get a ball in, you have to drink, it gets harder as you go on." Alecia explained simply. [1]

"Why would it get harder?" Pinkie asked.

Alecia wiggled her finger back and forth. "Ah ah ah, that was your last question." She chided.

Applejack pulled Pinkie aside and started to talk to her while Rainbow Dash flew up to the ghost and looked her in the eye, the ghost just stared back, unmoving. "So.......who managed your weather? or did humans have magic for that?" She asked.

Alecia grinned and planted a finger on the pagasus' forehead. "No one managed it, they survived without it being controlled, and humans don't have magic." She then pushed lightly on Rainbow Dash's forehead. "By the way, that was two questions." She teased.

Twilight was about to talk when Applejack stepped up. "What was the currency for humans? Ah'm curious." She asked.

Aleica looked at the earth pony. "Similar to ponies, they used silver or pyrite coins, pyrite might not have been real gold, but it was incredibly common so they used it as the basic currency, silver was far more valuable." She stated calmly.

Applejack thought on her next question for a moment before speaking. "Why were humans split into three kingdoms?" She asked.

This question definitely made Twilight ready to write. "Cultural differences." Alecia said simply. "They each had their own cultures and the people often clashed with one another about it, so they divided the human lands into three, made three kingdoms and declared themselves independent of one another." She shrugged. "Not that it matters much now though." She muttered.

"Okay, my turn." Twilight said.

Alecia turned her attention to Twilight. "What is this, a game?......nevermind." She muttered.

"Do all humans look similar to you?" Twilight asked.

"No." Came Alecia's immediate reply.

The speed of the reply stunned Twilight for a moment, but she continued. "I see, then would I be correct in assuming that you had somepony enchant your eyes to look like that?" She asked.

"Next question." Alecia said, she no longer looked neutral and she actually seemed to be......upset? she wasn't even floating now. "I.....was just-" Twilight didn't get to finish her sentence before the ghost held a hand up, silencing her. "It actually doesn't bother me, but I would prefer not to answer that question right now, I'll give you your question back." She replied.

Taking the hint to change the subject, Twilight spoke. "What do most humans look like then?" She asked.

Alecia soon perked up a little at that, as she was now floating around just like before. "Black, brown, red or blonde, hair, as well as varying shades of them......age or too much stress can cause hair to go gray or white." She then stretched her limbs. "Skin color is similar to mine for most, but there are those who have pale or dark skin, but I personally haven't seen many of them." Alecia paused as Twilight wrote this down.

"The human male averages around five foot to six foot three or some crap, never cared to learn the specifics." Alecia continued. "The human female averages around five foot to five foot seven or eight." She stated.

Twilight wrote down her findings and much to the surprise of the five mares, Fluttershy spoke up. "I-if you don't mind me asking.......what kind of animals were in the human lands?" She asked.

"Boars, pigs, cows, deer, chickens, foxes, bears, wargs." Alecia replied.

Fluttershy seemed curious as the last species. "I've never heard of wargs, what are they? don't you mean wolves?" She asked curiously.

Alecia shook her head. "Wargs are cousins of wolves, giant creatures that are twice your size, wild ones are very hostile and protective of their territory, but if you befriend one? you have a lifelong companion." She stated before setting her feet on the floor.

Once Twilight finished writing down her notes, she looked up at Alecia. "I have one last question, this is completely serious and i would appreciate it if you answered it." She said.

Alecia thought on it for a moment before shrugging. "Nightmare Moon isn't a threat, she doesn't know how to interact with the physical world like I do, but with my help she'll be good to go in about.......a week?" She replied, apparently knowing the question.

"Why would you help her to be able to attack us without us being able to fight back?" Rainbow Dash demanded to know.

Alecia gave the Pegasus a cold glare, she appeared right in front of her face. "Every ghost has the right to know how to interact with the physical world, whatever she did when she was alive is irrelevant to me, am I clear?" She asked in a flat voice.

Rainbow nodded quickly and Alecia appeared in the living room, a smile on her face. "Good!" She said with a cheerful tone, apparently back to her more carefree self. "Now, if you don't mind, let me tell you what I want." She said.

Alecia was instantly over by a window and looked outside. "I want you to find the source of this curse, not unreasonable, considering I'm giving you firsthand knowledge of my old species." She stated calmly.

Twilight blinked in confusion for a moment, before she answered. "There is no such thing as a curse, maybe a spell with negative properties, but no curses." She stated.

Alecia looked over at Twilight. "Bullshit, a negative spell requires a constant source of magic from the one who cast it, so unless an immortal cast it, which they didn't, it's a curse bound to something, feeding itself to last until broken.....believe me, I know." She went silent again as her expression darkened, she then stared out the window.

Twilight lit her horn. "Fine, I'll scan for any magic, I should be able to detect anything keeping you here." She stated.

However, as soon as Twilight cast her spell, a powerful surge shot through her horn, she cried out in pain and cut the spell, everyone looked at her in concern, Alecia was indifferent as she looked over.

Twilight panted and took several deep breaths to calm down, after a minute or two, she spoke up again. "That......was weird." She muttered.

Applejack walked over and checked for any obvious injuries. "What was weird?" She asked.

"The exact second I cast my spell, there was magical feedback right away." She shook her head.

Alecia sighed. "So you found nothing? wonderful." She muttered quietly.

"Not necessarily." Twilight replied as she finally finished recovering. "I sensed something powerful, it was really strong but I wasn't able to pinpoint it." She explained.

Alecia nodded and returned to looking outside. "I see.....thanks for trying I guess." She said.

______*the next day, 1:00 AM*______

Alecia stood in the downstairs bathroom staring into her reflection in the mirror. "That spell did more than I thought." She whispered to herself.

The rest of the day had been alright, they talked for a while, mostly about what to do about Nightmare Moon, but it shifted to more lighthearted banter later on, they all left, and Rarity stayed to read one of her books.

Alecia stared into her own eyes and felt sadness as she did so, she reached for them and felt the skin under her eyes, she closed her eyes and sighed. "What do you want Nightmare? I'm not in the mood." She stated.

Nightmare Moon became visible, she was standing next to the door. "I am curious as to why your staring into your own eyes." She replied.

Alecia looked at the Alicorn. "That's my concern, now leave me alone." She stated before vanishing.

'I need some quiet.' Alecia thought.

Almost immediately she appeared on the roof of the house, she looked up at the sky and smiled. "At least the stars don't judge people." She whispered.

And for hours, Alecia simply stared at the sky, content to just sit and admire the stars.

Author's Notes:

[1]I have no idea if this is how the game is actually played, and I changed the name because......well, why not?

Here you go, another one! and this time you get a little information about this worlds humans, nothing special mind you, just some basics.

Spark of bravery followed by mischief.

_______*Ponyville, three days later, Rarity's house, 3:00 PM*_______

Alecia and Nightmare Moon watched in curious amusement as Sweetie Belle paced frantically, the filly had come home mumbling. "What do I do? what do I do?"

Of course, neither of the ghosts asked what was wrong, deciding to instead let the filly work it out, the only problem with this was that she had been doing this for thirty minutes, it was confusing for the first five, irritating for the next ten, and then amusing until now.

The filly seemed to be going on and on, and for another two minutes she paced and muttered quietly to herself, and the two ghosts were now taking bets on how long she would go on like this.

What were they betting you may ask? the only thing they had, dares and embarrassing stories.

Soon, after hitting the forty three minute mark, Sweetie Belle looked at Alecia and Nightmare Moon. "Can you help me?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon was the first to speak, giving a slightly confused expression. "I am not sure why you want ME of all ponies to help you, or what exactly you want?" She replied.

"I was invited to Diamond Tiara's cu.....uh......" She paused for a moment before continuing. "Her party to celebrate her getting her cutie mark." She explained. [1]

Alecia blinked. "So what's the problem?" She wondered.

Sweetie Belle sighed. "Isn't it obvious? I don't have one! almost everypony in my class has one!" She pointed out, frustration was clear.

"How are we supposed to help with that? and more to the point, WHY should we help?" Nightmare Moon asked, but before Sweetie could protest, the Alicorn mare held a hoof up. "In case you forgot, we can't leave the house, I can't interact with the physical world yet, and your sister is somehow responsible for this, and to that end, I have no desire to help her or give her any reason to bother me." The mare explained. "It may be selfish of me to say so, but I'm standing by it." She added.

Alecia shrugged. "And on top of that, what does it matter if you have a cutie mark?" She asked, upon seeing the fillies wide eyes at her statement, the ghost rolled her eyes and appeared next to Sweetie Belle. "I don't have one, and yet I have things I'm great at doing, if you ask me, you shouldn't put too much stock into cutie marks, if it appears hurrah, if not? whatever." She then walked in front of the filly and looked down at her. "Why are you so concerned anyway? you don't even know this Diamond Tiara, not that much anyway." She wondered.

Sweetie Belle went to speak again, but she stopped herself and thought on it for a while, she then looked at Alecia. "What do you think I should do? if she just wants ponies to be there, I should probably just avoid it right?" She asked.

This time Nightmare Moon spoke up. "No, you should go." The mare walked over and sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you'll be better off if you do go." She said.

Alecia looked at her fellow ghost. "I didn't know you cared." She said.

Nightmare Moon huffed. "I don't, but I am first and foremost a ruler, and it's my responsibility to ensure my subjects are safe and happy.......the latter comes second." She then looked at the filly. "Let me tell you the first thing I learned about pony society, when you are invited to a party, you have to attend unless you refuse then and there, or later if you tell them you'll think about it." She raised an eyebrow.

"Did you refuse or say you'll think about it?" The Alicorn asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No......but I don't think things are the same now as they used to be." She replied.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "Look, the decision is up to you, we aren't going to even try to convince you to go or stay." She crossed her arms. "Now, let's change the subject, earlier at breakfast you wanted to talk to us about something, what was it?" She wondered.

At the change of topic, Sweetie Belle seemed to calm down slightly. "Yea, I was just wondering if you could clarify a few things for me." She said.

Alecia motioned for the filly to continue, and Nightmare walked over to the window and looked outside.

"Ok......so how much weight can you lift? I mean, you don't have muscle." The filly wondered.

Alecia smirked. "Believe it or not, muscle has no relevance to me anymore, it's all a matter of energy, the more energy I use up, the heavier I can lift, and the older the ghost, the more power they hold." She pointed down with a finger. "I can't exactly prove it right now, but if i tried, I could probably drag the house a little."

Nightmare Moon gave Alecia a stare, comepletely doubting her. "And why do I doubt that?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged. "Because your a pessimist." She stated before Sweetie Belle asked another question. "Do ghosts sleep at all?" The filly wondered.

"Yes." The ghost replied as she let her arms hang at her sides. "Sleep is optional, I can't get tired, but I can be drained from using too much energy, time recovers me, sleep does give me a boost however, I'm guessing it's because then my mind rests when I sleep." She shrugged again. "Or its just coincidence." She added.

"Do you dream at all?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Alecia frowned for a split second before answering. "Yes, but it hasn't happened since I was sealed." She replied.

Nightmare Moon spoke up next. "And if we can dream, then it's only a matter of time before Luna discovers us while dream walking, she of course will want my destruction." She stated calmly.

Alecia looked at the Alicorn. "Your awfully calm about that." She observed, she appeared in front of the Alicorn. "You don't care if you get destroyed do you?" She asked.

Nightmare sighed. "Luna doesn't know how to harm a ghost, let alone destroy one, so I have time to learn to interact with the physical world." She stated.

Alecia stared deep into Nightmare's cat like eyes for a moment before speaking. "Your afraid of Luna, and why is that?" She asked.

Nightmare rolled her eyes and walked through Alecia and towards the stairs. "I am not afraid of Luna, she is weak compared to me." She proclaimed.

Aleica simply grinned. "And yet she's alive, and you are not." She stated before vanishing.

Sweetie Belle looked over at Nightmare Moon who seemed annoyed, judging by the twitching eye. "Are you.....annoyed?" She wondered curiously.

Nightmare Moon looked at the filly with a surprised expression. "No I am not!" She snapped, she then shook her head as she flew upstairs, muttering something under her breath.

Sweetie Belle blinked. "Huh.....she really did seem annoyed." She said to herself before going back to her thinking.

_______*Later, 4:13 PM*_______

Nightmare Moon watched in silence as Alecia stared into the bathroom mirror, the ghost hadn't moved for a long time, but a saddened expression was plain as day. 'At first, I brushed it off as her examining her face after not seeing it for so long, but now it seems like she's remembering something.' She thought.

While the Alicorn disliked hiding, she was curious as to what was causing the ghost to be sad, then she blinked and looked away for a moment. 'Wait....why do I care? I just need this girl to help me escape and learn how to touch things again, why should I care what she feels?' She questioned herself.

Upon looking back, and seeing Alecia looking at her with pained eyes, Nightmare sighed and walked to the empty room, her words from earlier haunted her. 'It's my responsibility to ensure my subjects are safe and happy.' She sighed. "What is wrong with me?.....must be this place." She muttered.

Soon enough, Alecia entered the room with a neutral expression. "Did you meet any humans?" The ghost asked.

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "No, i wasn't concerned with that, and now that I think about it, I was obsessed with eternal night." She replied.

Alecia sat down on the floor and motioned for the Alicorn to join her, and while cautious, Nightmare did sit down with the ghost. "Back in the kingdom......well, empire really, that I lived in, it was considered rude and creepy to watch someone from afar." She looked at the Alicorn. "But if you really want to know what's going on inside my head, I have been digging through my memories, I'm almost done actually. and I would rather tell everyone at once, so please be patient, I just need to work up the nerve to do so." She said.

"Are you afraid of that mare?" Nightmare asked with a perplexed expression.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "No, but these memories aren't easy for me to talk about, so I would rather get it out only once." She stated.

______*a few days later*______

Sweetie Belle walked into the house with a large smile, she spotted Rarity who looked like she was in a sour mood, mostly because Alecia and Nightmare had grins on their faces, she looked at the ghosts. "What did I miss?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged. "Simple mind games." She replied easily.

"Seeing as I cannot yet touch objects or anything physical, we have been.......teasing, your sister." Nightmare Moon replied.

Rarity gave the two a look that could kill........assuming they were alive, she then began to tell her sister what had happened.

_______*earlier that day.*______

Rarity had just gotten out of bed and stretched her legs to work out any stiff muscles, she blinked and rubbed her eyes before walking to the bathroom, she walked through the open door and turned on the shower to have it start heating up.

That was when she paused, she looked back and saw that the door was indeed open. "I could have sworn I closed it." She whispered before shaking her head clear. "Nevermind." She then opened the shower curtains and stepped into the shower, she closed the curtains and let the water soak in.

"Raaarrrityy."A voice whispered into her ear.

Rarity looked over her shoulder and saw nothing, she sighed to herself. "I must be losing it." She muttered.

After she was ready, she grabbed the shampoo and opened it, but just as she went to apply it, the shower curtains opened quickly. "We're haunting you!" Both Alecia and Nightmare Moon stated loudly.

Rarity reacted just as anypony could expect when faced with two ghosts that appeared as severed heads, she screamed.

______*later.*______

Rarity was now in the living room reading a book, her boutique was closed today and she intended to relax, she took a sip of her grape juice and set the cup down, she flipped the page and heard shuffling from the window behind her, she bookmarked the page before she set the book down and stood up.

Rarity walked to the window and looked outside, she saw nothing at all aside from the townsponies going about their day, she walked to her chair and sat down, she shook her head and picked up her book.

She opened it to her bookmarked page and screamed in terror as Nightmare Moon's head emerged from the page with a cry of fury.

Rarity immediately ran away and headed outside.

_______*the present.*________

"It was just harmless pranks." Alecia stated.

Rarity's glare intensified. "Says the one scaring me half to death." She angrily said.

Nightmare Moon shook her head and looked at the filly. "You seem to be in a good mood, what happened?" She wondered.

Sweetie Belle smiled and told the two ghosts and her sister about her day, how she and her friend Scootaloo stood up for Apple Bloom, their new friend and swore to help each other find their cutie marks together.

Rarity was proud and happy for her sister, while Alecia and Nightmare Moon were kind of indifferent, Sweetie Belle didn't seem to notice, and if she did she wasn't saying anything.

Alecia began to float around as she talked. "Do they know about me and Nightmare?" She wondered.

"Not that I know of......why?" Sweetie Belle replied as she watched the ghost.

Alecia chuckled. "It'll be a great way to mess with them on Hallows Eve." She stated mischievously.

Sweetie Belle glanced at her grouchy sister and looked at the ghost. "Maybe not, I don't want to scare them off." She replied.

"Fair enough." Alecia said before vanishing.

Author's Notes:

[1]If someone could show me how to actually spell the word/words, that would be appreciated.

.tsap seno desruc eht fo elaT

______*Ponyville, Rarity's house, a week later, 7:24 PM*_____

The house was quiet and dark, all of the lights were off, save one, Twilight was staying the night along with Spike, who was absolutely horrified of the two ghosts at first.

It had taken several hours to calm him down enough so that he wasn't actively avoiding them, and even then he was still wary, especially of Nightmare Moon.

Now though, the three unicorns, the two ghosts and dragon were all downstairs in the family room, the furniture was repositioned so that they could all sit around the single lantern on the table.

Most of the night was spent telling stories of all kinds, tall tales, family stories, funny ones, embarrassing ones even, so far, all but Nightmare Moon and Alecia had told a story.

And after enough convincing, Nightmare told them all a horrifying story, involving special effects and sounds from her magic, which, while able to be used normally, couldn't affect the physical world correctly, which gave them all a ghostly echo or appearance, adding to the scare factor.

Needless to say, after the Alicorn's story, the four living beings needed a break to calm down, leaving the ghost with a triumphant grin. "That was evil." Alecia said quietly as she sat on the couch.

Nightmare looked at the other ghost with a smirk. "I can't do anything to them physically, so I might as well scare them." She replied in a whisper.

A few minutes later, and the others returned, they took their seats. "So Alecia, what about you?" Rarity asked.

Alecia looked at the unicorn. "I don't have any interesting stories." She said.

"Over a thousand years old? and no story to tell?" Nightmare asked, clearly not believing Alecia. "I don't buy it, they may not be interesting to you, but they may be to us." She added.

Sweetie Belle looked between her sister and the Alicorn. "I can't believe they are agreeing." She whispered.

Alecia looked around the room, seeing them waiting made her sigh. "Well, what the hell? It can't hurt." She muttered.

The ghost floated up and then above the lantern and spoke. "Alright listen closely, cause you got me in a good mood." She stated before telling her story.

______*A long time ago.*______

The air was calm today as the light shone brightly over the lush green fields and forests, there were no clouds today and the air was warm, in one of many forests were a group of people.

Alecia ran through the forest, several sets of footsteps followed her as she ran, she looked around her environment quickly before she stopped moving, she then held her left hand up flat, and the footsteps slowed. "Captain?" A young male voiced said behind her.

Alecia looked back at the others, three male humans wearing similar outfits to her own brown jacket and light leather pants, the only difference was that the three males each had a different colored eagle on the backs of their jackets.

The first of the group was a six foot male with short black hair and a small mustache, he had wrinkles on his forehead and had hazel eyes, he was up there in years, but was still very fast, his name was Vigo.

The second man in the group was six foot three and had balding brown hair, his almost pale skin contrasted with his dark green eyes, he had a rounded head and only had eight fingers, missing his right index and his left pinkie, his name was Karl, but most called him Eight.

The last man was five foot seven tall, he had slightly tanned skin and had brown eyes, he had blonde hair that had recently been cut to a barely three inches long, he had smooth looking skin and was the youngest of the males, his name was Frederick.

"Why are we stopping?" Frederick asked.

Alecia blew a bit of her red hair out of her eyes. "We lost the trail, and you are going to find it." She said calmly.

"But captain!..." He was cut off as Alecia raised her hand, silencing him. "Your my student Frederick, and it's time for a lesson on tracking." She motioned for him to follow and he did so.

Alecia knelt down to the ground, nothing but leaves were in sight. "What are we supposed to see here? there's nothing but leaves." Fred wondered.

"The leaves are both friend and enemy in forests Frederick, they can give away your direction, as well as to help you track your prey." She said as she pointed at small portion of leaves that were crushed. "These leaves were crushed by a boot, which means that he went this way, now, find the next clue." She ordered as she stood up and back up.

Frederick took a few moments, but he eventually found the path and pointed them in the direction. "That way." He said.

Alecia patted her student on the back. "Let's get moving then boys." She said before running in the direction of their prey.

"Who were you chasing?" Rarity asked out of curiosity.

"A criminal, he assaulted several citizens before resisting arrest, nothing more." Alecia said. "Now don't interrupt." She added as she continued.

The chase went on for an hour, but the group eventually caught the man and arrested him, they brought him back to the nearby town.

Alecia waited outside of the guard station with Frederick as the others went inside to deliver the criminal to the guards. "Captain, can I ask you something?" Fred asked.

She looked at him and nodded. "What is it?" She wondered.

Frederick seemed nervous, but he spoke anyway. "I uh.......well I was wondering, about the Lost Legion, what's it like?" He asked.

Aleica chuckled. "Don't be so nervous rookie, the boys will sense it and pick on you for weeks." She rolled her eyes at the panicked man. "I'm joking by the way." This did little to ease his mind.

"It's not that bad actually, we are just scouts and trackers, we don't do much frontline combat if any, we stick together though, we don't leave anyone behind and we cover each other's backs." She looked up at the clear sky. "We also take care of one another, despite our differences we are like one big family." She looked at Frederick.

"You have nothing to worry about, just try to learn about how to fit in, don't butt in to the brawls, and most importantly, repay the trust we give with your own, loyalty is a big thing with us." She stated.

Frederick nodded and crossed his arms, waiting for the others to come back out.

It took a few minutes, but Karl and Vigo finally walked out. "He's in the guards custody now." Vigo said.

With that, Alecia nodded. "Let's get going then." She said before started to walk.

The three men followed her as they headed towards the current headquarters of the Lost Legion. "I thought we operated out of the capital?" Frederick said out of bewilderment.

"The Legion doesn't operate out of just one place, our HQ is where we say it is, it pisses off the higher ups, but they can't do anything about it." Karl stated calmly.

"Isn't that inefficient though?" The rookie wondered, he held his hands up when he got a glare from Vigo. "Hey, I'm just curious." He said defensively.

Alecia shook her head with a smirk. "Vigo." She said simply, her voice betraying no emotion.

"Yes captain?" The older man asked.

Alecia chuckled. "Seven." She stated calmly.

Frederick was about to ask what that meant when he recieved a quick slap to the back of his head, he flinched and held his head. "Gah!" He exclaimed as he looked at Vigo. "What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Captains orders." Vigo said without any further explanation.

Aleica simply stifled a laugh as the group walked, after a few minutes, Karl eventually explained that 'seven' was a response order, meaning 'slap the newbie' to those that knew the order.

The group walked for around fifteen minutes, but they soon reached the current HQ for the Lost Legion, which was just an old barracks compound that they inhabited.

Alecia looked at the three men. "Your all dismissed, do whatever." She said before heading for the main building.

The barracks had three buildings and two towers, the main buidling had two stories to it, with three rooms on the first floor, one for storing equipment, one that was designed for managing the barracks, complete with ledgers and a desk with papers and quills to write with, the last room was small, but had the stairs for the second floor.

The second floor only had two rooms, one for planning and tactics, and the other room was another storage, but this one was for documents, papers, maps and writing supplies.

The other buildings were the mess hall, and the bunks for the troops.

Needless to say, the compound wasn't large enough for them all, and the troops had put up tents to act as additional sleeping quarters.

Alecia entered the main building and closed the door, she immediately headed for the planning room upstairs, she passed a few soldiers talking on the steps and crossed her arms. "Ahem, mind letting me through?" She asked.

The soldiers looked at her and one of them, a blonde haired woman stood up. "Sorry Alecia, didn't know you were back." She said.

The soldiers stood up and moved out of the way. "Thanks, see you at the brawl?" Alecia asked as she headed upstairs.

"You know it Captain." One of the men said.

Alecia walked to the planning room door, she heard raised voices on the other side and opened the door.

Inside were two men, one of them was tall and old, gray hair, short beard and tired blue eyes, he had darker skin that bordered on dark brown, he was obviously on edge and tense, he was the head of the town guard, Stephen. "Good day Commander." He said before walking to the door and leaving.

The other man was Commander Cory, a young six foot four man with scruffy brown hair and pale skin, he had brown eyes and wore black trousers, he wore steel boots on his feet and had a dark blue shirt and a black vest, and while his facial expression was neutral, his eyes betrayed his irritation, he glanced over and he visibly brightened when he saw Alecia. "Ah! my favorite captain!" He said, he was excited as he walked around the map table and looked down at the map.

Alecia closed the door and walked over. "The guard still giving us problems?" She asked.

Cory nodded, he frowned for a brief second but it was replaced by a smirk. "Of course, but we always have that problem." He stated.

The commander then looked at Alecia again. "How are the troops?" He asked.

"Eager to get back into the wild, but patient." She said.

Cory placed a finger on a forest on the map and looked at Alecia. "We won't be here much longer, we're being sent to the southern front." He stated.

Alecia raised an eyebrow. "Why? we don't belong on the front." She wondered.

Cory shrugged and crossed his arms. "Don't ask me, we're heading back to Arness soon and after that, it's to the front." He replied.

Alecia nodded and walked to the door to leave, but Cory's voice stopped her. "Alecia." He said.

She turned and looked at her commander, he looked back at her with a small smile. "What is it Cory?" She asked.

"Don't forget to visit your husband, you haven't talked in a while." Cory stated teasingly.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "If i have time, I'm still pissed at Douglas." She said before leaving the room.

______*The present day.*______

Alecia said nothing to break the silence that dominated the room after she finished her story, she looked around at the surprised expressions and scoffed. "What? surprised I was in an army? that I was married? I am one hell of a charmer after all." She bragged as she appeared behind Rarity, startling the mare. "Don't be so surprised, I am over a thousand years old you know." She stated as she floated around lazily.

The surprise soon faded away and Twilight was the first to speak. "Do you mind if I ask what Douglas was like?" She wondered.

"He was a merchant." Alecia said. "We were married for five years when I joined the Lost Legion, the first time I came home seven months later, I learned he had an affair with another woman, we argued for a while, I got sent out again." She sighed.

"He was a good guy though, he had heart and knew how to cheer people up, he had his downsides, but doesn't everyone?" Alecia then grinned and looked at Twilight. "What about you Sparkle? any lucky guy?" She teased.

Twilight felt her face heat up as she stammered. "N-n-n-n-no! there's no 'lucky' guy!" She blurted out, she immediately covered her mouth, much to Nightmare Moon's amusement.

Alecia smirked and floated above Twilight. "Ah, no lucky guy......so I'm guessing there's a.....mare you have eyes on?" She said in an amused tone.

Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "No!" She denied adamantly.

While Sweetie Belle and Spike remained ignorant to the joke that Nightmare was howling in laughter about, Rarity could only sigh and feel pity for her friend, as well as concern for both herself and Sweetie Belle.

Why? because they have to live with the ghosts of course, and they love to torment the living in their own way.

Author's Notes:

I felt that Alecia deserved a little more backstory this time, and while the 'present' scenes may feel rushed, I am happy with how they turned out. (Grammar issues and autocorrect changes not withstanding.)

Nightmare Moon's breakthrough.

_______*Ponyville, four days later, Rarity's house, 7:00 PM*______

Nightmare Moon sighed to herself as she stared out into the thunder storm, it had been interesting earlier today, as Sweetie Belle, with permission from her big sister of course, brought her friends over.

This normally wouldn't have been a problem, except that the three fillies were exceptional at causing headaches, and while Nightmare had been shocked to learn she could have headaches, she was also intrigued and wanted to look into it more.

Alecia had been insufferable however, as the entire time the fillies were in the house, the other ghost had been rearranging things randomly and had even spent a good twenty minutes holding two fingers behind the head of each filly.

And while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom couldn't hear or see them, Sweetie Belle had been fighting herself in trying to avoid laughing at anything that Alecia did.

Nightmare had also been observing Rarity's routine for a while now, and while the white unicorn was wary around her, and always kept her eyes open just in case, she had noted several things through out the time she was trapped in the house.

First, Rarity always went to the bathroom for at least ten minutes after waking up, and sometimes longer, she then cleaned herself up by brushing her mane and tail and styling it to her usual look, as well as applying her makeup for the day.

Second, on days where her shop was closed, Rarity would either spend most of the day cleaning up the boutique, relaxing at home and spending time with her sister, or spending the day out with friends.

Third, Rarity had slowly become used to seeing Nightmare Moon in her house, she was obviously still shaken by the warning she was given, but she didn't outright avoid Nightmare at all times.

Fourth, Rarity was fond of gossip, but unlike the Nobles who used it for personal gain, she used it as a means for conversation or as a temporary cure for boredom.

'Any one of her habits could be used to get my revenge, once I can interact with the physical world again that is.' Nightmare thought to herself as she stood in silence, looking out at the storm once again.

As she looked out, Nightmare began to ponder what she would do when she was free. 'When or if I get out of here, what exactly am I supposed to do? I can't exactly bring about eternal night like this.' She looked at her hoof and sighed.

'Then again, why should I bother with eternal night anyway? that was always Luna's ambition and now we're seperated, even if I did find her I don't know if I could merge with her again.' She then looked up at where the moon should be, and as she stared in the direction of her former prison, she felt.......sadness.

"Why am I feeling this?" She asked herself in a whisper as she walked away from the window.

Nightmare Moon shook her head as she walked out of the empty room and into the hallway, she looked and saw the door to Rarity's room open, the room was dark and unlit.

Walking to the room, Nightmare let her thoughts drift aimlessly, she looked around the dark room, there was nothing on the floor except for the furniture. 'If I did take over Equestria.......what would happen? riots and resistance? maybe even a revolution.' She shook her head slowly and walked to the bathroom, she looked into the mirror and saw only herself, her ghostly mane no longer billowed on its own, it simply hung limp and started to lose form, her cat like eyes, which once glowed brightly, were now dull. "What's happening to me?" She asked herself quietly.

Nightmare Moon stared into her reflection, something that should have been impossible but was made possible through magic, she chuckled sadly. 'So this is what became of the mighty Nightmare Moon? not even a shadow of her former self, a ghost clinging on for no reason?........no wonder Rarity and Sweetie Belle don't fear me.' She told herself as she stared.

Seeing her withered reflection however, Nightmare Moon felt something bubbling up within her, she was started at its sudden appearance, but she soon recognized it and allowed it to burst forth, it was anger.

Anger at her failure, anger at the Element Bearers for doing this to her, anger at Celestia for allowing it to come to this, but most of all, she felt anger at herself.

So instead of continuing to stare into the mirror, Nightmare Moon made a decision. "Stop mocking me!" She shouted, she threw her hoof at the mirror, expecting it to go straight through like normal.

But instead, her hoof smashed into the mirror and she widened her eyes, she stared at her un injured hoof as glass fell and broke on the floor, she then looked at the mirror, seeing herself in a shard of glass, she saw her eyes once again shining bright in all of their glory, she then realized what she has done. "I.....broke it." She blinked. "I broke it." She said again.

Nightmare Moon then decided to test her newfound abilities, she lit her horn and tried to cast a spell.

And to her absolute shock, the mirror was soon repaired, she was frozen in a stunned silence for several moments before she grinned. "YES!" She shouted.

Just then, the lights came on in the bathroom and Nightmare Moon looked over, she saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle, they were obviously curious about what had happened, and then Alecia appeared behind them.

"What happened?" Rarity asked immediately.

Nightmare Moon looked at her hoof one more time before reaching out and grabbing a comb that was on the sink counter, she looked at Rarity with an evil grin. "The villain learned a new trick." She stated before setting the comb down with her magic and grabbing Rarity in her magic.

"Ah!" Rarity cried out as she was lifted into the air.

"Stop! let her go Nightmare!" Sweetie Belle pleaded.

Nightmare Moon ignored the fillies cries as she walked into the center of the bedroom, as she walked her mane returned to its usual glory and she felt most of her power return. "Nightmare, I'm glad you figured it out and all......but is this really necessary?" Alecia asked curiously.

"Stay out of this Alecia, this is personal." Nightmare growled, she lowered Rarity down to her eye level and stared. "I'm not going to kill you Rarity, that would arouse too much suspicion and if I am going to be honest with myself? I would rather not kill you at all." She then gained a malicious grin. "However, seeing as both Luna AND Celestia probably know I am here, and the other five are out of reach." She then levitated Rarity over to the vanity mirror and sat her down on the stool, the mare struggled and tried to get away but the Alicorn's magic was too strong.

Sweetie Belle tried to intervene but Alecia stopped her by standing in the way. "You can't harm a ghost, just stay out of it, it's between them." She stated calmly.

"I think it's only fitting I make good on my previous threat, with an alteration of course." Nightmare Moon grinned mischievously and cast a spell on Rarity.

Rarity closed her eyes and braced for pain, but realized that it didn't hurt, she opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror and she nearly died of a heart attack.

With one spell, Nightmare Moon had simultaneously cut both Rarity's mane and tail to a very short length, and undid all of her work, as well as colored it black and a very dark green.

And for the second time since knowing the two ghosts, the scream could be heard from The Golden Oaks Library.

Sweetie Belle, while upset at the situation, did not know what to think.

Alecia thought that Nightmare Moon was a genius as far as revenge pranks go, and laughed for a good ten minutes.

______*The next day, 10:21 AM.*______

Nightmare Moon looked over at Rarity with a sly grin, the mare was obviously grouchy and refused to speak to either ghost, and after she had woken up this morning, she discovered that her mane and tail had become red and purple, she wasn't as angry about this color, but was still furious as was evident by the large scowl on her face.

Alecia still found it funny especially since Rarity had learned that hair dye remover was useless, and was stuck like this until Nightmare Moon decided to fix it, and with how amused the Alicorn was, it wasn't going to happen soon.

The house was quiet for a while, it got so quiet that Nightmare was falling asleep on the couch, which was strange considering she was a ghost and didn't get tired.

Around ten forty, there was a knock at the door, followed by the familiar voice of Twilight, so while Rarity answered the door, Nightmare Moon and Alecia stepped into the dining room to talk.

"So I have to know." Alecia started, she placed her hands on the table. "How did you do it? the prank I mean?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon smirked and gave a small chuckle. "It's simple yet brilliant really, a small series of charms and jinxes." She looked up and nodded at Alecia.

The two appeared in Rarity's room and Nightmare continued. "The first charm is attached to her bed, if somepony were on it for say......five hours? it will then send a signal to the others." She pointed at the bathroom. "The second charm is on the door to the bathroom, if it receives the signal from the first, it will prepare the jinxes." She continued.

"The first jinx is actually in both the shower and mirror, the mirror will fool the eyes to think nothing has changed at first, but when Rarity looks up at the mirror again after taking a shower, she will notice the color change." She explained.

"The second jinx however is a little more complex, it requires a signal from all of the others but it will slow down her hair regrowth." The Alicorn explained.

Alecia nodded in understanding. "So the shower is ultimately the color changer right?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Yes, why?" She asked.

Alecia grinned and looked at the Alicorn. "First off......that is amazing and I applaud your effort." After the Alicorn gave a fake bow, the other ghost continued. "Secondly......how long are you going to hold it up for?" Alecia asked curiously.

Nightmare Moon shrugged. "It should only last for about three days starting tomorrow, besides, this is far too amusing to end today." She said.

Alecia nodded, she then walked to Rarity's door and went to walk out, she then stopped and looked to her side for a few moments before looking back at Nightmare. "Wait......the curse holding us here feeds itself right?" She said.

Nightmare blinked, but didn't interrupt Alecia. "And I'm guessing it also maintained the magic of that old seal on the door to my room." She continued.

Nightmare nodded, but then she froze. "No.....you don't think that?......" She trailed off.

"What if the curse is feeding your prank?" Alecia asked.

The two ghosts were silent for a good three minutes, but Nightmare eventually spoke. "Let's not speak of this to anyone." She said.

"Agreed." Alecia said as the ghosts vanished.

Author's Notes:

Nightmare's prank was inspired (Not taken) from the story If wishes were ponies.

I felt like making a chapter without much plot or story, just wanted to have some fun with this one.

An enlightening visit.

______*Rarity's house, the same day.*______

Rarity was grouchy today, that much was obvious to anypony who saw her, but who could blame her? she was basically attacked by the ghost of Nightmare Moon, and was being pranked by said ghost who cut off most of her mane and tail as well as coloring it with magic.

And since Rarity didn't know how to counter or dispel the magic, she was stuck like this, she had hoped Twilight could help her be rid of the aggravating magic.

Twilight had cautiously scanned the magic used, but her reply was not helpful in the least. "The good news is that this spell is temporary, it should wear off in a few days, the bad news is that it would seem that the spell was specifically designed to not be dispelled." She explained.

Rarity sighed sadly but nodded. "I see, thank you." She said as she rubbed her forehead.

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked, at her friends sigh, she spoke again. "This was Nightmare Moon's work wasn't it?" She asked, pointing at Rarity's cut hair,

Rarity simply nodded. "Yes, it was her 'revenge' for what we did." She said.

Twilight looked around for the Alicorn. "I don't think she will do anything, she's far too amused with this prank to do another that she can't enjoy." Rarity stated.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Came Nightmare's voice from behind Rarity.

Rarity jumped in surprise and turned around to face the ghost Alicorn. "Will you stop doing that!" She snapped.

Nightmare grinned evilly. "Why should I?" She teased. "After all, since I won't be attacking you, I need some way to torment you on a day to day basis." She said before walking over to the living room. "Don't let me stop your conversation." She said.

"And if this is private?" Twilight asked, glaring at the ghost.

Nightmare Moon just smirked. "Don't worry, I can tell when something is private, I'll be back." She said before vanishing.

Rarity looked at Twilight. "Let's go over to the boutique , we can talk in private there." She said.

In the dining room, Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "That went well." Alecia said from the table as she laid on it, staring at the ceiling.

"They obviously do not trust us, otherwise they wouldn't mind talking here." Nightmare stated.

Alecia nodded. "Of course they don't, you did try to bring about eternal night after all.......which is impossible I might add." She replied, closing her eyes.

Nightmare Moon raised her eyebrow. "I am aware that the entire world cannot be night......I am no fool." She paused to think for a moment before speaking again. "What were the days and nights like in Human lands?" She asked out of curiosity.

"We would get real nights in the winter and real days in the summer, but we would get evenings and mornings the rest of the time, in short it was never really dark or bright, just bright enough to survive." The ghost stated.

Nightmare thought on this for a while until the door opened. "The filly is home." She said.

"She has a name you know." Alecia replied......she then looked at the Alicorn with a curious expression. "Why have you been avoiding her anyway?" She asked.

Nightmare scoffed. "That is my business, stay out of it." She said before vanishing.

Alecia rolled her eyes and closed them. "Whatever you say." She muttered.

_______*At the boutique.*_______

Rarity and Twilight were in the main room of the boutique, Rarity herself was standing by one of her designs, thinking on how to improve it, she did this while listening to Twilight.

"Anyway......I should probably tell you what I came to tell you in the first place." Twilight said, she had just finished talking about a project of hers, not that Rarity truly minded, it gave her something to focus on other than the two ghosts that tormented her.

"It did seem urgent, what was it about?" Rarity asked.

Twilight took a deep breath, as if calming herself. "The princesses are coming to Ponyville to see you." She stated, quickly bracing herself.

At the mere mention of this, Rarity froze and looked at Twilight in surprise. "WHAT!?" She exclaimed, raising her voice.

Twilight flinched and her ears folded back for a moment, but she spoke anyway. "I only found out myself today, they didn't say why but I'm certain it has to do with Nightmare Moon." She explained.

Rarity took several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down, but even as she tried to do so, she couldn't help but to consider how bad things could go from here, especially if Nightmare Moon did something stupid like attack them.

While Rarity processed this information, Twilight spoke. "I know this is sudden, but think about it Rarity, the princesses might have a way to help." The mare said.

"Will they even WANT to help?" Rarity asked, she looked at her friend. "After all, if they do anything to help Alecia, they help Nightmare Moon, who I know they aren't fond of in the slightest." She added.

"Furthermore, there's also whatever magic that prevented you from finding the source of the curse." Rarity sighed. "Thank you for telling me Twilight." Rarity said, looking at her friend with a smile. "At least I have a heads up." She added.

Twilight nodded. "Of course, if they let me, I'll try to go with the princesses when they arrive, I can at least try to keep things calm." She stated.

The two then walked out of the boutique, Rarity closed and locked the door behind her and they walked to her house.

As they approached the large home, Twilight stopped outside and looked at her friend. "I have to go back to the library, good luck." She said.

Rarity nodded at her friend who turned to walk away, she looked at her front door which seemed much more menacing now that she knew what was inside. "Oh and Rarity?" Came Twilight's voice.

The white unicorn turned and looked at Twilight. "Yes?" She asked, curious as to what her friend wanted to say.

Twilight smiled. "I like your mane, it looks nice." She said.

Rarity blinked at the statement, confused. "Uh, thank you darling." She replied as she walked to the door.

"That was odd." She whispered to herself as she walked inside.

Once inside, Rarity was surprised to see her couch and sofa levitating in the center of the room while going in circles, with Aleica laying down on the sofa upside down, and Sweetie Belle just watching in awe.

Rarity closed the door and walked over to Sweetie Belle. "What is going on here?" She asked out of confusion.

"Alecia is bored again." Sweetie Belle whispered. "I didn't believe her when she said she could levitate these with her mind, but she can." She replied.

Rarity looked up at Alecia. "And why should I believe that this isn't Nightmare Moon doing this?" She asked the ghost.

Alecia opened her eyes and looked down at Rarity. "Damn, you caught me red handed." She held her hands......down? "Oh wait, they can't be red." She grinned. "Nightmare's sulking upstairs." She said, closing her eyes.

"Regardless, put my furniture down Alecia, the last thing I need is somepony walking in and seeing this." Rarity said firmly.

Alecia sighed and the furniture floated back to their original positions. "You are no fun." Alecia said before appearing near the unicorns. "So what's so important that you had to hide it from your favorite ghosts?" She asked.

Rarity looked at the ghost. "Nothing that concerns you Alecia, I don't mean to be rude but it is personal." She stated, her firm tone indicating that she wouldn't budge.

Aleica shrugged. "No problem." She crossed her arms and looked up. "I'll be upstairs if you need me." She said before floating up.

The two sisters watched as Alecia floated upwards, and then Sweetie Belle spoke after the ghost was gone. "I'll never get used to that." The younger unicorn said.

"Neither will I." Rarity said.

______*the next day, 03:00 AM*______

Ponyville was quiet at this hour, there was no wind, no clouds, just the dark morning covering the town, the moon illuminated the town with its soft glow.

And while Rarity and Sweetie Belle slept, Alecia read in the study, and Nightmare Moon sat on the roof, staring at the moon, she closed her eyes and sighed to herself. 'The one thing I missed about the moon.....the silence.' She thought.

As she sat in peaceful silence, Nightmare Moon felt something familiar, she opened her eyes and the moon lowered, she sighed and went back inside. "Oh well, all good things I suppose." She muttered to herself.

Nightmare Moon was soon in the empty room, she walked out of the room and headed downstairs, she walked to the couch and laid down. "Maybe some sleep will do me some good." She whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. 'Heh.....I'm dead, and I'm still tired.' She thought to herself.

_______*Later, 1:02 PM*______

The house was empty today, as Sweetie Belle had school and Rarity had work, although strangely enough, there was no one outside anywhere, the townsponies quickly rushed inside and rufused to come outside, this was exceptionally bizarre for the otherwise predictable town.

"I don't get it, what would cause the entire town to go inside in a panic?" Nightmare Moon asked curiously, she stood at the window looking out at the town.

Alecia shrugged. "Mating season?" She suggested from her place on the couch.

Nightmare Moon looked over her shoulder and stared at Alecia. "First off, I have never had that problem before, secondly no......mating season was a few months ago......or was it IN a few months?" She said as she gained a thoughtful expression.

Alecia closed her eyes. "Eh, not my problem really, and it isn't yours either." She stated putting her hands behind her head.

"And why exactly is it NOT our problem? if the townsponies rushed inside they could be under attack, and while I'm certain WE would be fine, what of the rest of the town?" Nightmare Moon asked.

Alecia opened her eyes and sighed. "Even if that did happen, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it because of this curse." She said.

Nightmare groaned in frustration and threw her head back, she then proceeded to ramble and angrily mutter to herself for a good ten minutes.

Alecia meanwhile had closed her eyes to drift off to sleep, Nightmare's angry ramblings were strangely calming.

Eventually after another five minutes of Nightmare Moon pacing, the Alicorn spoke. "Why is the curse affecting me if it was meant for you?" She asked.

Aleica opened her eyes and looked at Nightmare. "My guess? the curse is meant to prevent ghosts or spirits from leaving, but also to keep them from coming in......how you got in here is beyond me, the only thing I can even come close to guessing is that you unconsciously latched onto Rarity when you were defeated, and got flung here after a week or so." She replied, she then closed her eyes.

Nightmare tapped the floor with a hoof and her thoughtful expression returned. "That still doesn't explain-" She was cut off by sound of the door opening, she looked over and froze.

"Welcome back Rarity." Alecia said from the couch, she looked at the door and blinked. "Who're they?" She asked.

Rarity stood in the doorway with none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna behind her, she looked at the two who's eyes were locked on Nightmare Moon, and vise-versa. "Alecia, these are the Princesses." The unicorn mare said, her tone of voice indicating that she was just as surprised as Nightmare.

Aleica blinked and looked at Nightmare Moon. "Mind introducing me?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon's gaze narrowed as she spoke. "The tall white one is Celestia, Princess of the sun." She then looked at Luna. "The shorter dark blue one is Luna, Princess of the Moon." She explained, she practically spat their names in hatred as she spoke.

Rarity stepped between the two pairs and spoke. "This is Alecia." She said, pointing at the ghost on the couch. "She is-" she was cut off as Luna spoke.

"A human? it has been a long time since we have seen one." Luna stated, she seemed surprised.

Alecia frowned at the statement, she quickly stood up and crossed her arms. "I'm not human, so don't call me that....I am a ghost, nothing more." She stated firmly, she had a more aggravated tone than usual when called human.

Before Luna could say more, Celestia interrupted. "Perhaps it would be better if we stayed on topic?" She suggested.

Nightmare Moon was the next to speak. "Right.....lets start with the obvious 'why are you here' and get that out of the way." She stated.

Rarity was about to speak when Celestia stopped her. "If I may Rarity? i am certain that my sister wants us to be alone to talk with Nightmare Moon, but I believe that you want to ensure no damage comes to your home should things get out of hoof." She gave a reassuring smile and then looked at Nightmare Moon. "But let's consider this house neutral ground for now hmm?" She suggested diplomatically.

As Celestia suggested this, Nightmare Moon and Luna glared at each other, one with hatred and one with caution, soon though, Nightmare huffed. "Fine, no point damaging this place anyway." She said.

Luna reluctantly nodded but didn't take her eyes off the Alicorn. "Very well." She added.

And with that, the room settled into an uncomfortable silence, the tense air could almost be felt, this went on for a while until Rarity cleared her throat. "I'll uh.....go make some tea." She said before slipping away to the kitchen.

Alecia watched with interest as Luna and Nightmare Moon glared, Celestia apparently seemed unwilling to participate, instead deigning to be the neutral one, while she was curious, Alecia wasn't going to say anything to break the silence.

Celestia thankfully broke the silence after a few tense moments. "Nightmare Moon." She said.

Nightmare looked over at Celestia. "What?" She asked.

"You wanted to know why we are here correct?......the answer is simple, to find out why and how YOU are here." Celestia answered.

At that, Alecia spoke. "Good luck, we haven't the faintest idea about that, we were just theorizing when you showed up." She stated.

"One theory I thought of was that I unconsciously latched onto Rarity in an attempt to survive the Elements assault." Nightmare continued after a moment of thought.

Luna looked at Aleica. "And how do you fit into this?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged and sat down on the couch. "I was stuck in the upstairs room for six centuries, unable to move, stuck with just my thoughts." She absentmindedly started to float just over the couch. "I've been helping Nightmare here to better understand the position she's in." She explained.

"And you decided to help a lunatic bent on bringing eternal night to the nation because?" Luna asked, she obviously was angry but refused to act on it.

Before anyone could react, Alecia was in Luna's face staring her down with her dark blue eyes that glowed a strange purple. "Every ghost deserves the right to interact with the physical world, what they did in life is irrelevant." Her voice turned cold and angered, the complete opposite of her usual indifference.

Luna seemed genuinely shocked by what just happened, as did Celestia and Nightmare, who both thankfully recovered. "Alecia." Nightmare said.

The ghost looked back and saw Nightmare shake her head. "Whatever." She said, returning to her usual self.

It took a few moments before Celestia spoke. "Nightmare Moon.....if I might ask, what do you plan to do if you get out of here?" She asked.

Nightmare looked at Celestia and sighed. "Truth be told? now that I've thought on it more and have actually cooled off for the most part? I have no idea." She stated. "There isn't much for a ghost to do now is there?" She said sarcastically.

"You would be surprised what a ghost can do." Alecia interrupted. "Possess someone about to have a good time?" She grinned. "It'll be awkward for certain, but totally worth it." She teased.

Nightmare shook her head. "Can we stay on topic here?" She looked at the two sisters. "Look, all of this talk is irrelevant so long as I'm stuck here, so you don't have anything to worry about on my front." She stated.

"Well, other than driving Rarity insane." Aleica added.

After Alecia spoke, she realized that both sisters were looking at her, as if they had seen a ghost.......or at least a metaphorical one. "What is it?" Alecia asked with confusion.

"You look familiar." Luna stated simply.

Nightmare Moon perked up and her head snapped to Alecia who seemed confused. "Yes she does." Celestia added. "In fact, she looks a lot like-"

"Hey!" Nightmare interrupted, the three looked at her. "Can we talk in private for a moment?" She asked as she walked off to the dining room.

Alecia blinked but shrugged it off. "Must have known a human I guess." She muttered as she laid back and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later in the dining room, Nightmare finished talking to Celestia and Luna. "You haven't told her? why not?" Celestia asked.

Nightmare Moon looked at Celestia. "For one it isn't her business, and secondly, i haven't gotten around to it." She stated.

"With how you interrupted us, she probably knows that you are hiding something.......that or thinks that you knew a human a long time ago." Luna stated.

Celestia nodded. "Which you did." She commented.

"Anyway!" Nightmare snapped. "Don't say anything about it, this is something that I have to handle." She stated.

Celestia and Luna shared a look but nodded. "I suppose this couldn't hurt, but it is a good sign you don't want to upset your friend." Celestia said.

Nightmare looked at the solar Alicorn. "We aren't friends, we're just stuck in this house together, nothing more." She denied.

Celestia gained a small knowing smile and simply nodded. "Of course, now let's return shall we?" She said before walking back to the living room.

After a few moments, they were all in the living room, Rarity had finished the tea and had cups out for herself and the princesses.

Alecia floated in the center of the room in silence, ignoring the conversation in the room around her as she kept her eyes shut, this went on until Celestia's next sentence. "Twilight told me about her experience trying to detect the source of this curse, using this knowledge I did my own magical scan fo this place and discovered the source." Celestia said.

Alecia looked at Celestia as she explained. "The source itself was quite a surprise to discover.......the bones of a unicorn buried in what is now the Ponyville park." She stated, Rarity paled at this news while Nightmare seemed mildly disturbed.

"Of course, there was a powerful spell designed to inflict pain on any trying to discover it, but you knew that....didn't you Alecia?" Celestia asked as she looked at the ghost.

Both Rarity and Nightmare looked at Alecia with confused expressions, but neither said anything. "I did.....in fact, I can tell you whose bones those are, why they are there and how I know this." Alecia stated.

Celestia motioned for Alecia to continue and the ghost complied. "Those bones belong to Rarity's ancestor, Crystal Cut, a powerful sorcerer that had the rare ability to see the dead naturally, we were friends until his death, unfortunately his son Dark Amber went mad with grief and blamed me for his fathers death." She flipped around and stared at the ceiling. "He gathered a pair of his fellow wizards and formed the curse, they trapped me in the upstairs room while I slept and sealed me away." She looked at Celestia as she returned to floating around.

Celestia nodded. "This makes sense then, what I discovered is that the curse is threefold, with three layers holding it in place." She took a sip of her tea before continuing. "The first part of the curse is actually the house itself, a powerful bloodline spell was cast on this house, trapping ghosts or spirits inside, so only somepony from the casters bloodline can remove it." She explained.

Luna looked at Rarity. "In short, you have the power to release the curse on the house, if you can find the right spell." She stated.

Celestia then continued her explanation. "The second layer is more simple and is another bloodline spell, it prohibits the desired target of the curse from leaving a specific area without the permission of the bloodline, in this case, Ponyville." She explained.

"So what you are saying is." Nightmare interrupted. "Is that if the first layer is broken, and if need be the second, I'm free?" She asked curiously.

Celestia shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately no......the third layer of the curse prevents that comepletly.......the final bloodline spell." She sighed. "This one is by far simply demented, and it perplexes me to no end." She took a brief pause and continued.

"The final part of the curse is tied to Alecia's bloodline, it prevents all ghosts or spirits from moving on or even leaving what is now Ponyville." She stated, Nightmare Moon and Alecia both froze at this statement, and they looked at each other.

"You didn't happen to have a kid did you?" Nightmare asked.

Alecia shook her head. "Douglas never wanted a kid, besides the humans are gone if I'm not mistaken, so it wouldn't matter." She shook her head.

Silence reigned for a short while until Alecia spoke again. "Unless my brother had a kid of course." She said.

"Your brother?" Rarity asked.

Alecia nodded. "Yea, Watson, he was a good kid, and the last time I saw him he had a fiancé." She shrugged. "Again, humans are extinct, I'm not getting my hopes up." She stated.

Celestia seemed to ponder this while Luna spoke up. "If I may ask......what is your full name? or is it just Alecia?" She asked curiously.

"My name is Sonya Alecia Forge, of the Schattenreich." She replied, using a new language the others didn't understand, though Nightmare seemed far more thoughtful of this. [1]

Rarity blinked and looked at Aleica. "What was that word?" She asked, curiosity and confusion were evident in her voice.

Celestia and Luna looked on with interest as Alecia replied. "My people were from the Schattenreich.......or Shadow Kingdom in the common tongue, we derived the name from an old saying our old allies used to say." She cleared her non existent throat. "hüte dich vor den Menschen des Schattens......beware the people of the shadow." She explained.

"Staying on topic here, it isn't impossible for you to have a living decendant, I will begin a search for any possibilities." Celestia stated, opening the front door with her magic.

Alecia shrugged. "Sure thing, go for it." She said. "You know where I'll be." She muttered.

Luna looked at Nightmare Moon again, the other Alicorn didn't look back at her, but the smaller princess didn't seem to mind. "Farewell Rarity, thank you for your hospitality." Celestia said with a smile.

Nightmare snuck a glance at Celestia, she saw that the solar Alicorn had a strange smile that told her she knew something else, but seemed unwilling to say what it was.

Before the ghost could say anything, the two princesses left the house, leaving the three alone.

Alecia glanced at Rarity and smirked. "Nice hair by the way." She teased.

Rarity grumbled as she blew a stray piece of neon green hair out of her eyes and walked off. "Ugh, I should have asked about breaking this curse." She complained to herself.

It was just then that the door opened and Sweetie Belle walked inside, she noticed the thoughtful expression on Nightmare Moon's face, the frustrated face of her sister with neon green hair, and the amused expression of Alecia. "Um....am I going crazy or were the princesses just here?" She asked awkwardly.

Rarity sighed. "Well, good news and bad news Sweetie." She then began to explain everything that happened to her sister.

Alecia looked at Nightmare who was still lost in thought. "You alright over there?" She asked.

Nightmare looked at Alecia and for a moment she swore she saw someone else......but she quickly shook it off. "Uh, yea, I'm alright." She replied, walking to the window.

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm always available, just a reminder." Alecia said before vanishing.

_______*later*______

It was around twelve o'clock, the others were sleeping and Nightmare Moon was asleep on the couch, leaving Alecia alone and awake once more.

Moving through the house, Alecia entered the downstairs bathroom and turned on the lights, she closed the door and walked in front of the mirror, she then began to stare into it deeply, but mostly her own eyes.

She quickly checked the couch and found the the Alicorn was still asleep on the couch, she then returned and breathed deeply as she closed her eyes.

After a minute, she opened her eyes and looked at her reflection, her expression saddened at the sight.

Her hair had become a very vibrant bright red and her eyes were now bright blue, they no longer glowed purple and her skin no longer had black lightning dancing on it, she sighed sadly and rubbed her eyes, she cried silently for a good five minutes until she looked up all she could see was her usual faded dark red hair with purple streaks, and her dark blue eyes with a purple glow.

Alecia shook her head and shut the lights off, she then walked out of the room and kept quiet as she returned to the empty room and laid down in it. 'Why am I torturing myself? those days are over, this is who I am now, I should just let go.' She thought to herself.

Aleica turned her head and saw the moon shining directly into her room. "Night everyone." She muttered before closing her eyes.

Author's Notes:

To those of you who are confused, the name of the previous chapter was changed because I realized it didn't have anything to do with what happened then.

Just wanted to clarify that.

[1]Kudos to anyone who gets this.

A necessary talk.

______*???*______

I slowly opened my eyes and blinked slowly, my body still asleep and waking up for the day ahead of me, I yawn quietly and force myself to slowly sit up, I rub my eyes and then I stretch my limbs, yawning again.

I then threw the covers of the bed off and slid to the edge of the bed, I rub my eyes again as i lowered my feet to the floor, it was cold and smooth, I breathe softly and stand up fully before slowly walking to the door.

I open the door and walk out and toward the bathroom, I head to the bathroom downstairs quietly, I reached the door and opened it before going inside.

After I conclude my business in the bathroom, I walk back upstairs and into the bedroom, i walk to the bed itself and look down on the sleeping form in the bed. "Hey, come on get up." I say.

A groan comes from the bed. "What time is it?" Asked a voice.

"Daytime, and you need to wake up quickly." I say.

The form in the bed shifted and looked at me, my eyes widen as I stare into a pair of cold green eyes. "No, you need to wake up Alecia." Said the voice of Douglas.

______*The present.*_______

My eyes snapped open and I immediately shot up, I quickly check the empty room seeing nothing but the door, the carpet and windows, as well as the lights and the ceiling, I sigh to myself as I float downstairs, ending up in the living room, I floated to the bathroom and checked the mirror.

To my shock and surprise my hair was once again vibrant red and my eyes were bright blue, I blink and rub my eyes, they then returned to normal promptly, I shake my head and lean on the counter. 'Why am I having nightmares now of all times?' I wonder.

I eventually gave up trying to figure it out however, as I headed for the roof and sat on it, staring at the sky, ignoring everything else around me.

I close my eyes. "Whatever." I say to myself as I sit in silence.

_______*Ponyville, Rarity's house, 7:00 AM.*______

Rarity's house was quiet in the mornings, this was normal

The house was quiet once more, Nightmare was reading a book downstairs and Alecia was still on the roof.

Sweetie Belle was still asleep in her room and not a sound aside from the birds singing could be heard within, this peaceful silence was not to last however as the house heard a loud scream coming from Rarity's room.

The little filly awoke to this scream and shot up out of bed, she quickly rushed to Rarity's room to see what the problem was and found that Nightmare was already entering the room.

Sweetie Belle rushed to the door and opened it, she stepped inside the room and looked at Rarity........she had to stop herself from falling over from laughter.

Rarity's hair was now back to it's original color, however it was now also incredibly long and covered her from head to hoof, she could barely be seen.

Nightmare however did NOT have any moral obligation and howled in laughter, clutching her head as she did so and it seemed like she was actually crying from laughing so hard.

"Ha ha, very funny Nightmare.....now undo it!" Rarity snapped in anger, her voice was muffled behind all the hair.

Sweetie Belle internally was laughing, but externally she was a rock......a rock with a smile but still, a rock.

Nightmare managed to calm herself down enough to speak, after a good two minutes. "Ok.......ok uh, so here's the thing Rarity, this wasn't me." The Alicorn said, she was very amused by the situation.

"If not you, then who would do this to me?" Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle finally spoke up and walked closer. "Well.....unless Alecia can use magic and just hasn't told us yet.....why not tell us what happened yesterday?" She suggested.

And so Rarity did, she explained the situation with Zecora, a zebra that lives in the Everfree Forest, and how she and her friends followed her to stop Apple Bloom from speaking with her. "It was strange though, Zecora did seem concerned that we walked into those flowers, but why should she be?" Rarity wondered.

Sweetie Belle noticed a smirk on Nightmare's face, but said nothing of it. 'She must know what happened, but why won't she say anything?' Sweetie Belle wondered.

Before anyone else could speak, another voice entered the room. "What did I miss down here?" Alecia's voice asked.

Sweetie Belle looked over at the window and Alecia appeared before her eyes. "It's Rarity, she-" She went silent as Alecia looked at Rarity.......after a good minute or two of staring, the ghost broke out into hysterical laughter.

Rarity merely growled and looked in the direction of the laughter. "This isn't funny Alecia! how would you feel if this happened to you!" She snapped out of anger.

Alecia thought on it for about five seconds before shrugging. "I wouldn't feel anything because I'm a ghost, but this is just hilarious." She floated over. "On the bright side, your hair is its normal color." She remarked.

"Very helpful, it's so helpful that I am dying of laughter." Rarity said flatly, sarcasm was evident, she then walked forward and tripped over her mane.

Nightmare used her magic and lifted the mare up. "You had best go to Twilight Sparkle, she may have this problem as well." She stated.

Rarity took a few cautious steps forward and nearly tripped, she sighed. "Sweetie Belle, can you help me get to the library?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle walked over to her sister and walked with her, helping her to slowly make her way down the stairs.

Alecia looked at Nightmare. "Was that your doing?" She asked.

Nightmare chuckled but shook her head. "As much as I wish it was, no." She quickly checked and saw the two sisters by the stairs. "When they leave, I'll tell you what it was." She whispered before vanishing.

Alecia smiled as she headed back for the roof. "Looking forward to it." She thought.

_______*a couple of days later, Friday, 8:15 AM*_______

Sweetie Belle walked through the house and headed downstairs, the smell of hot pancakes wafted through the air and she took it in, the faint smell of blueberries was also mixed in as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

She heard chuckling in the kitchen and recognized the owner as Nightmare Moon, but she also heard a frustrated grumble from her sister. "What's wrong Rarity? you don't like your hair color?" The Alicorn ghost asked.

Sweetie Belle peeked around the corner and saw Rarity's now bright yellow mane, she stifled a giggle at the sight. "Don't you know it's impolite to listen in on a conversation?" Nightmare Moon asked as she looked over her shoulder at the filly.

Walking to the kitchen, Sweetie Belle nodded. "Morning Rarity." She said.

"You are lucky Sweetie Belle, school was supposed to start a half hour ago, but a weather mishap caused damage to the school so they shut it down for a while." Rarity stated, she looked at her little sister, she seemed very tired. "Good morning." She added as she took a pancake off the pan and started another.

Nightmare Moon rolled her cat like eyes and flipped a page on the book she was reading. "Fortunate for you, they did away with the old methods of schooling, it was never cancelled unless the teachers were sick, believe me, it isn't fun going to school in a blizzard." She sighed and shook her head. "Bloody morons." She whispered.

"So Rarity." Sweetie Belle quickly said before the others could talk. "Any luck finding that spell?" She asked.

The older mare sighed. "None so far, I've asked Twilight to see about talking with Princesses Celestia about any spells that could undo the curse, but no luck in the library so far." Rarity explained.

Sweetie Belle nodded in understanding and Rarity passed a plate of pancakes to her, the filly began to butter the pancakes and put syrup on them.

The kitchen was quiet for a time as Nightmare Moon read her book, Rarity made breakfast and Sweetie Belle ate, Alecia was nowhere in sight but none of them said anything.

It was about two minutes until Nightmare Moon spoke. "Filly, what do you want?" She asked. "Before you say anything, I have noticed you glancing at me for a while now." She added.

Sweetie Belle looked at the ghost who continued to read. "Do you know the spell to help us?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Of course I do, but it's useless because i can't break the curse." She replied calmly, she glanced at Sweetie Belle. "Perhaps you should consider your question more carefully filly." She stated.

Rarity watched with interest as her little sister thought for a while, and after a minute she spoke. "Do you know a spell that CAN help us break the curse?" The filly asked.

In response to this question, Nightmare Moon closed the book and looked at the small filly, she gave a strangely proud smile. "Ah, the right question." She stood. "I know many that can help, but the correct one is the Clarity spell." She started.

"When cast properly, it will give the recipient knowledge of what they seek, it won't give all of the answers, but it will point you in the right direction." She continued. "Cast improperly, this spell will cause the recipient's mind to go numb for hours and maybe even days." She smirked. "It's basically risk free since I know how to cast it correctly." She boasted.

"Except for the fact I won't allow you to cast it on my sister, and I don't trust you enough for you to use it on me." Rarity said grumpily.

Nightmare shrugged. "Suit yourself, if you change your mind you know where to find me." She said before teleporting the book and herself elsewhere.

Sweetie Belle looked at her sister who sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Rarity? are you alright?" She asked out of concern.

The white furred mare nodded and smiled as she ate her pancakes. "Of course." She said before eating.

Sweetie Belle kept her eyes on her sister for a while and after a few minutes she spoke. "Hey Rarity? can we spend the day together? you need a break from everything, between searching for a way to break the curse, taking care of me and yourself, working and dealing with two ghosts, and having your hair change every day, the poison joke fiasco.......you really need a break." She stated.

Rarity nodded with a tired smile. "That......sounds nice actually, I haven't just enjoyed a day out in a while now." She replied quietly.

Sweetie Belle smiled and got up from her place. "Great! let me know when your ready to go!" She said before rushing off.

Rarity watched her sister hurry upstairs and could only laugh quietly to herself, she finished eating and then cleaned up, as she washed the dishes she reminisced about her time as a filly, eager and free of the burdens of everyday life, she could only smile at the memory of going to the park on beautiful days with her parents, just enjoying her time in the sun and having fun.

Soon after everything was cleaned up, Rarity headed upstairs to her room, and once there she quickly washed up in the shower and dried off which took about fifteen minutes including tidying up her now short mane.

And upon looking in the mirror, Rarity decided to do something with her mane, she took a brush with her magic and brushed.

This process only took four minutes, Rarity then left her room feeling much better.

______*Sweetie Belle's room.*______

Not much could be said about Sweetie Belle's room, it was the room that her parents stayed in for their visits, it used to be Rarity's room when she was growing up, and it once the art room for her grandmother, a kind mare who appreciated art and hung the paintings she loved most in this room.

The only painting remaining however was a highly detailed painting of a Canterlot sunset, it was old and faded, but it was surprisingly still intact considering its age.

It was also her grandmother who helped Rarity find her love of art, in a different way of course but that wasn't the important part.

Unfortunately for Sweetie Belle, she had no memory of her grandmother, as she was born after her death, sometimes the filly wished that she was just a little older, so that she could have at least one memory of her grandmother.

Secretly, Sweetie Belle also wished that she could talk to her now, even if she was a ghost or spirit, she wanted to talk to her and know how she would feel about how things are now, the little filly knew better however, knowing the the old mares spirit would never have peace if she watched over her grandfoals.

Sweetie Belle eventually sighed in relief as she finished her homework for the day and stretched, she just got off her bed when the door opened, she looked over and saw Rarity in the doorway. "Hey Rarity." She said. "You look better." She added.

Rarity smiled, her mane now partially covered her right eye and the rest of her mane rested on her neck. "Thank you, are you ready to go?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle nodded and followed her sister downstairs, as they neared the front door Rarity spoke. "We'll be back later! don't break my house!" She called out.

The two unicorns then walked out and headed for the park, eager to enjoy the day together.

_______*Ponyville Park.*_______

Sweetie Belle and Rarity walked through the park together, they got a couple of stares but they passed quickly.

Rarity seemed to be in much higher spirits now, and even looked a lot more energized than usual, she still didn't want to get muddy or such, but it was a definite improvement over breakfast time.

"It's a nice day today don't you think?" Sweetie Belle commented.

Rarity nodded in agreement, she had a small smile as they walked, she didn't say anything as she took in a few breaths of fresh air.

"So um, how's work been?.........I uh, I'm curious." The filly asked awkwardly.

Rarity glanced at her sister out of concern, the filly was obviously anxious and seemed to be unsure of what to say or do a tthe moment, taking a deep breath she spoke. "Work is fine, but Sweetie Belle......is there something bothering you?" She asked, leading them to a bench to sit on.

Sweetie Belle reluctantly got onto the bench and sighed, she took a deep breath and then looked at her sister. "Rarity, do you ever regret opening that door?" She asked.

Rarity was surprised by the question, but she didn't let it show much.......she thought about it for a while and then replied. "I did at first, especially when Nightmare showed up." She said. "But in truth?......I don't regret it at all, even with this stupid prank." She said, referring to her mane.

Before Sweetie Belle could speak, Rarity continued. "I don't know if you know this, but before we opened that door my life was dull, it became repetitive and boring, somehow, having those two in the house made my life much more interesting." She finished.

Sweetie Belle looked away for a moment and then back at Rarity. "But you.......I mean, do you ever even sleep? you are always so tired, you've had dark circles under your eyes for the past week now." She said out of concern. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked.

Rarity was silent as she thought on this for a while, she sighed after a minute. "I could be better." She finally replied. "Before you say anything, i AM sleeping like I always have, but either way I'm tired, the only thing I can guess is that with everything going on, my mind or body can't rest for some reason." She sighed and then got off the bench. "Come on, let's not ruin our day like this." She said, regaining her smile.

Sweetie Belle was slow to get off the bench as she followed her sister, but at the back of her mind, she couldn't get the feeling out of her head that something else was going on.

________*Rarity's house.*________

"I won't do it." Nightmare Moon stated.

"Come on, I am asking here." Aleica replied.

Nightmare sighed, the two of them had been in this argument ever since the two unicorns went outside. "No, it wouldn't matter anyway." She said.

Alecia shook her head. "Just do it, so we can end this stupid argument." She said.

When Nightmare went to say no, Alecia groaned. "Just hit me damnit! you have wanted to hit me ever since you got here, so just get it over with." She stated.

With a defeated sigh, the Alicorn walked over and sighed. "For all the good it will do me." She muttered to herself as she lit her horn and fired a blast at the other ghosts chest.

To Nightmare's surprise, Alecia got blasted back and flew out the building with a cry, about five seconds later she came back due to the curse and almost went through the wall to the dining room.

Alecia managed to stop herself and hovered down to her feet. "There, that's better." She said as she turned around.

Nightmare's eyes widened and she tensed up. "What in the name of Tartarus?" She asked, she motioned the her nose.

Aleica raised an eyebrow and felt her nose, she then felt under her nostrils and felt something odd, she held in fingers in front of her face and her eyes widened at the shocking sight of red liquid. "What the fuck?" She muttered as she stared at the blood.

"Ghosts......don't have blood right?" Nightmare asked. "What is going on?" She asked.

Alecia put the blood to her lips and tried to taste it, sure enough, it was real. "I wish I knew." She replied. "What the hell is happening to me?" She whispered.

_______*Later that day.*_______

Rarity was now in her boutique, she had decided to spend some time tinkering with her designs for the day, Sweetie Belle had split up with her after their talk and wanted to check some stuff out she had said, and while she had been looking forward to spending the day with her sister, Rarity found herself respecting her sisters wish to be alone.

After a couple minutes, Rarity stopped drawing lines for her design and looked up at the clock, she saw that it was now eleven fifty three at night. "Has it really been that long?" She wondered as she put everything in its proper place and walked out of the room.

Rarity entered the main room of the boutique and yawned, she looked outside and saw that it was raining, she sighed and went to grab an umbrella.

Walking over to the small supply closet, Rarity opened the door and pulled out a simple blue umbrella, but just before she could open it, she hear a deafening crash of lightning.

Rarity sighed to herself and put the umbrella away, she closed the closet and headed upstairs to get some sleep in her room, not willing to risk the severe weather outside.

She soon reached her room and opened the door, it wasn't as cozy as her room in her house, but it was good enough for tonight, Rarity climbed into the bed and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep even as the storm raged on.

The night was long and filled with thunder and lightning, the wind howled and the rain poured down on the town of Ponyville, for many it was a sleepless night, as for Rarity, it was a particularly restless night as well.

_______*?*_______

Two blue eyes opened to a dark void surrounding them, a deep breath taken echoed endlessly, becoming quieter as it went on, the owner of the blue eyes looked around out of confusion, there was nothing, no light and no object, no end to the dark void was in sight.

Another deep breath came and echoed just like the last one, and soon, the owner of the eyes had an idea form in their mind. "Where am I?" They asked.

The words echoed just like the breaths, only this time, there was a response. "Your end......." Came a voice.

The eyes looked around for the source of the new voice, but saw nothing. "What do you mean?" They asked.

In response to the echoed question, a blinding light shined in front of the eyes, and with it, came the form of a unicorn, it was black and had no expression or eyes, and it seemed to be approaching slowly. "The curse......" It echoed loudly.

The owner of the blue eyes felt their head pounding all of a sudden, and the voice continued as the figure got close enough that the blue eyed one could see their face. "This curse." It echoed.

The dark figure slowly raised its face and stared with cold lifeless green eyes, it's face decaying and pale. "This curse shall be your end!" It boomed, the words echoed endlessly with no signs of growing silent, and it then repeated itself, the words overlapping and becoming deafening.

And with a gasp, two blue eyes opened wide to see the walls of the room in the boutique, Rarity took a few deep breaths and cleared her throat. "Just a dream....just a dream." She muttered to herself.

Rarity slowly got out of the bed and yawned, she immediately headed for the bathroom to clean up, she showered, washed her mane and fur, and after a while, she looked herself in the mirror and she smiled as she saw her mane to be in its original color. "That's a relief." She muttered.

Rarity then froze as she saw something she didn't notice before, she examined it closely and spotted the offending mark, it was a single strand of green hair, her eye twitched unconsciously and she immediately cut it off using her magic.

After she cut off the strand of hair, Rarity noticed that another strand of her hair became green, and she sighed. "Curse that ghost." She muttered quietly as she left the bathroom.

Rarity walked down the stairs and entered the showroom, she sighed as she headed for the front door. "I hope Sweetie Belle is alright." She muttered as she opened the door, only to see heavy rain pouring down hard.

Rarity blinked and closed the door after hearing hail hitting the walls. "I guess I'm stuck here for a while." She whispered as she walked to the couch and sat down, she yawned again and rested her head on the couch.

"Some more sleep couldn't hurt I guess." Rarity muttered as she closed her eyes.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait.

So I felt that Rarity and Sweetie Belle deserved a chapter to themselves, more specifically Rarity but otherwise the chapter was both of theirs.

.eramthgin eht fo noissefnoC

______*Rarity's House, 2:01 PM......(Where else?)*______

Today it was only Alecia and Nightmare Moon in the house, Rarity was still at the boutique and Sweetie Belle was somewhere else entirely, so while the thunderstorm raged on outside the ghosts played cards to pass the time.

"Full house." Alecia stated, revealing three fours and two fives.

Nightmare smirked. "Straight." She stated, revealing four, five, six, seven and eight.

After the hand, Nightmare shuffled the cards and drew up a new hand, as did Alecia. "Do you mind if I ask why Luna and Celestia seemed surprised to see me?" Alecia asked, discarding a seven.

Nightmare sighed as she discarded a two and a four for two new cards, she then replied. "A thousand years ago the nation of Equestria traded with the human kingdoms, or at least one of them, we were interested in their culture, arts and technology, and they were interested in our medicinal knowledge and supplies, as well as our abundant crop yields." She explained.

Alecia nodded. "I know, plagues and famine were a big problem, it sucked, but that isn't what I meant." She replied, looking up at Nightmare after discarding an eight and drawing a new card.

Nightmare threw away a three and grabbed a new card and spoke. "Neither of them have seen a human for over a thousand years probably, it was probably just a surprise." She dismissed. "Flush." She stated, revealing a two of hearts, five of hearts, King and Queen of hearts, and ace of hearts.

Aleica smirked. "Straight flush." She stated, revealing her three to seven of clubs. "Not the way they stared at me, they seemed they recognized me, and the way that you dragged them away?" She looked at Nightmare Moon. "You reacted similarly when you calmed down, you know something, so spit it out." She stated flatly and shuffled the cards. "Also, not human, how many times do I have to repeat myself.

Nightmare Moon said nothing as Alecia started to slowly draw her hand, she stared at the deck intently and then started to draw her hand, saying nothing.

Alecia maintained her stare for a while and took note of the Alicorns strange behavior. 'Whatever it is, she must think it will bother me to know, or she can't bring herself to talk about it.' She noted.

Before Alecia could speak, Nightmare set her hand down and sighed. "The truth is, I did rule for a while.....three years to be precise, and in that time I had an apprentice, a human." She stated calmly.

Alecia set her hand down and listened to Nightmare's story. "You look almost exactly like her, so that's why Luna and Celestia seemed so surprised to see you." She explained.

The Alicorn ghost then went into more detail about the past.

_______*One thousand years ago.*_______

The city of Evergreen, capital of Equestria and home to the royal sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, it was midday and the gray clouds hung high above the city, Day court was now in session, the nobles and commoners both stood in the court listening and giving petitions of their own while running the nation.

The people of this city lived their everyday lives as usual, working and going from one place to another, traders visiting the city sold their wares and purchased others in the interest of selling them elsewhere, wine, silks, gems and gold traded hooves quite often, the city itself was prospering lately, thanks to a large mine discovered where great seems of gold and iron were found.

Evergreen was also very safe, it's local guards kept the peace while the Equestrian military handled the threats of the nation, and the Royal Mage company were always training to combat any threats that the military could not face alone.

In this city however, moved a single being, who wandered the streets slowly and in a daze, this being was known as a human, a female one to be more precise, and as she moved through the city, she recieved many stares from the citizens, her movements were slow and shaky, and her breathing was sporadic, sometimes steady, sometimes short or pained.

This being wandered aimlessly for a long time, her legs burned in pain and she felt lightheaded, eventually the woman stopped walking and collapsed in the street, the only noise she heard was a call for help and then darkness.

_____*the present.*_____

"I am going to guess she told you all of this?" Alecia asked.

Nightmare Moon nodded. "That and I looked through her mind once with her permission." She replied.

______*later.*_______

The woman grunted and groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, her limbs still burned from pained but it had calmed down considerably, she breathed normally and was very tired, but she kept herself awake.

Looking around, the woman noticed that she was in a white bed in a light brown room with a single window, a table and nothing else, she saw no people nearby and rested her head. "Am I alive?" She whispered to herself.

A few minutes passed with nothing happening, and the woman started to fall asleep to wave off her tiredness, but she soon heard a door open followed by strange footsteps, she looked in the direction and saw a creature she didn't recognize.

It was a quadruped that seemed similar to a horse, but it was smaller and had a horn sticking out of its head, it had light yellow fur with a white and blue mane, large green eyes and was wearing a helmet made out of copper. "Good to see you awake, I was afraid your injuries were severe." It spoke in a light female voice that seemed compassionate.

The woman was immediately concerned and had a look of panic on her face. "What are you?" She immediately asked without thinking.

The creature didn't seem bothered by the question, if only confused. "I am a Unicorn, of the Equestrian species." She replied. "My name is Rally, a city guard." She replied.

The woman seemed to breathe a little easier while keeping her panicked expression. "Are you in trouble?" Rally asked.

The woman looked at the unicorn with a curious expression. "Not that I remember, why?" She asked.

The unicorn replied. "You were beat up pretty bad and had many injuries, among them were very long scars on your arms and back from unidentifiable sources, and your head was bleeding at the back." She explained.

The woman slowly reached and felt the back of her head, she felt a very tender and sore spot just above the tip of the spine. "How bad was it?" She asked quietly, her voice was raspy due to her dry throat.

"It wasn't fatal, but it was bad, you may have a concussion from the injury though." She replied. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" She asked.

The woman went to say it but stopped herself because of one factor.......she didn't know. "I.......don't remember." She found herself saying out of surprise.

Rally sighed. "That's unfortunate, but may I ask if you remember anything at all?" She asked.

The woman just shook her head sadly. "I can't recall anything before I was walking through..........where am i?" She asked, realizing a big question she had forgotten about.

"Evergreen, Capital of Equestria." Rally replied simply.

The woman looked at the window, staring blankly for a time before the door opened again, she looked and saw a blue furred unicorn with blue eyes walk in. "Come now miss Rally, you must leave." The unicorn said, clearly female.

Rally nodded. "Of course Doctor." She then walked out of the room and left the woman alone with the new unicorn.

The woman stared at the blue furred unicorn. "Who are you?" She asked curiously.

The unicorn's horn suddenly lit up and the curtains closed by the window, and she shimmered, her body shifted and grew larger, as well as growing wings.

The woman stared in shock as the unicorn was replaced by a larger one with wings. "We apologize for our deception, but twas necessary in order to question thee." The unicorn stated. "We are Princess Luna, Alicorn of the Moon." She introduced.

The woman blinked. "I'm uh........I don't know." She replied honestly and with confusion, she then realized something. "Wait, why would you want to question me personally?" She asked, now concerned.

Princess Luna replied. "The reason is simple, thou turned up wounded and almost dead and we wish to know why." She spoke calmly yet firmly.

The woman blinked. "Well uh, I don't think I can answer that, I literally don't remember anything except wandering the city aimlessly." She replied.

Princess Luna approached slowly and looked the woman over. "Does anything feel familiar at all? even if it is something small?" She questioned.

The woman looked at her hands and then around the room, but her eyes landed on the night sky, or more importantly what was in the night sky. "The stars." She said, gaining a strange sense of familiarity. "I feel like I........have seen these exact ones once before." She mentioned.

Luna looked out the window and saw the stars in the sky. "It is not uncommon to find stars you have seen before." She replied before looking at the woman. "May we ask about the markings on thine neck?" She asked.

The woman blinked in confusion and stared at Luna. "I have markings on my neck?" She asked out of curiosity.

Luna nodded. "Indeed, they are most curious, we have never seen the like, perhaps this may reveal a clue to your memories." She said.

The woman shook her head. "I doubt it, besides I may have a concussion......whatever that is." She replied quietly.

Luna was about to reply when she seemed to space out for a moment, she then looked at the woman. "We must leave you now, but know that no harm shall come to you here." She stated before teleporting away.

The woman blinked at the surprising act, but didn't say anything, instead she simply looked out the window, deciding it would be better to recover rather than run off.

Time passed by slowly as the slow and quiet ticking of the clock was all that gave the quiet room any noise, it's ticking felt like a soothing melody to the fatigued human as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The only sound to be heard before she slept was that of a door opening.

______*That Night.*______

The woman was wide awake in the room, it was quiet again, only the muffled sounds of the outside world and the rest of the hospital gave off noise, that and the clock of course, Rally had fallen asleep in the bed next to her's and had revealed that she was assigned to guard her until further notice.

The human was of course confused, after all she didn't know her past, her family or even her name, the only thing she did know was that she didn't have any memory of anything before wandering.

Just to pass some time, the human counted the cracks in the ceiling, of which there were five small ones and one slightly larger one, but once she grew bored of that and counting the walls, she looked outside.

Adding to her increasing confusion however, was a strange dark blue light coming from somewhere beyond a nearby building, she squinted but couldn't make anything out of it, she then pulled the covers off and got out of bed, her legs felt weak but she still managed to walk to the window.

The woman stared out at the city but the source of the strange light remained a mystery, no one was outside either so she doubted anyone could tell her what was going on, that was when she noticed another strange light, but this one was coming from the room and was dark purple, she blinked and looked back, seeing nothing, the light wasn't there, she shook her head and looked outside again.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Rally asked from behind her.

The woman turned and saw a sleepy Rally looking at her. "There's a strange light coming from over there." She said, pointed at the light.

Rally got up and rubbed her eyes, she walked over to the window and looked out, her face turned to one of worry. "I don't know what that is, it's probably nothing but you need to get back to bed." She ordered.

The woman's legs felt like they would give out any moment now, so she did as she was told, Rally looked back out at the light which was now slowly disappearing before looking back at the human. "Has anything come back to you?" Rally wondered.

The human shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She replied simply.

Rally nodded. "Well there's plenty of time to worry about that when you recover, for now try to get some more sleep, I have to keep watch." She replied.

The human stared for a moment before speaking. "I'm not tired right now, so can we just talk for a while?" She asked.

Rally seemed a little disturbed but decided to agree. "Fine." She replied.

______*a few days later*______

The days passed by quickly, after the end of the first day the hospital staff named the human a Jane Doe due to her missing identity, Rally for some reason refused to use it even though it made conversation easier.

By the second day the human was able to walk easier with the help of a crutch or a cane, that or Rally supporting her, the unicorn had also explained that the light she had seen came from the markings she had mentioned before.

The third day they had heard about a new ruler from Rally's younger brother and sister when they brought her non hospital food.

And by the fourth day the human was able to walk fully without problems, this was also the first day where she actually saw what she looked like because she has asked Rally if there was a way to see what she looked like.

And now that she was staring in the mirror, the human didn't know what to think, she had black hair that went down just below her shoulders, she did indeed have markings on her neck that were purple, her eyes were purple as well, she was told these were not normal for her kind, so she was a little confused.

Thankfully she was leaving today and the hospital staff happened to have some leftover clothes from some past patients, and after Rally was assured that they were washed, the human changed clothes from the hospital gown, the new clothes were just plain brown pants and a shirt, they weren't much but they were better than nothing.

Rally led the human out of the hospital and took in the fresh air. "Feels good to be out of there." She muttered, clearly not talking to anyone but herself.

"Yea." The woman said quietly.

The two simply stood outside the hospital awkwardly, neither one speaking for a while.

Rally looked around. "So uh......want to get some food?" She offered.

"I think the hospital food made me lose any desire to eat." The human stated.

"How about we walk around?" The unicorn suggested.

The human shrugged. "I'd probably just get lost." She said.

Rally shuffled a little, clearly anxious. "Umm.....any ideas?" She asked.

"Other than investigating the new ruler thing? no." She replied easily.

Rally seemed to be visually concerned about that. "I don't know, it might not be a good idea." She said.

"Why?" The human wondered.

Rally took a deep breath, seeming to calm herself. "It's.....hard, to do anything when it comes to the royals, Celestia and Luna are intimidating enough on their own, but the fact that you have to put yourself through endless waiting just to have a chance to talk to them?.....not worth it." She said. "In my own personal opinion of course." She added quickly.

"That doesn't mean we can't talk to the people and see what they have to say." The human replied.

Rally was about to counter but stopped herself......she seemed to consider her options before sighing. "Alright fine, you win." She relented.

With that, the two began walking towards the source of the light, talking to whoever was in the way, of course it didn't help that every single person they talked to didn't want anything to do with them.

They kept on walking forward, passing a group of guards along the way who seemed scared of something, but they barely let it show.

Rally even seemed on edge the closer they got to what she called the Palace, and when she stopped walking along, the human looked back at her with concern. "You alright?" She asked.

With a deep breath, the unicorn moved forward. "Yea, I'm alright......I just don't think getting any closer is a good idea." She said.

The human nodded. "Regardless, aren't you curious to see what happened?" She asked.

Rally shivered a little for some reason. "Not really." She replied quietly as she walked alongside the human towards the palace.

The road to the palace was massive, the stone streets leading to it were lined with visitors and guards, carriages and chariots, there were even a few robed unicorns here and there, observing everything silently.

"Who are they?" The woman asked, pointing at the robed unicorns.

Rally gulped and led the human forward. "Warrior mages, deadly, the best of the best when it comes to combat, don't tick them off." She said in a distressed tone.

The palace itself was grand, it's large domed towers stood tall and the massive structure they were connected to served as the center of Equestrian government, the structure was at least three hundred feet long and one hundred feet high, the banners of the nation flew high, one was of the sun, and an Alicorn with white fur and a cutie mark of the sun stood under it.

The other banner had the moon, and an Alicorn with dark blue fur and a cutie mark of the moon stood under it, according to Rally, these banners represented the royal sisters and their respective alignment, there was a third banner with the sun and moon on it, which was the common banner for the nation.

The woman tried to talk to some people to find out what happened a few night ago, but no one would talk to her, they wouldn't even talk to Rally, which was surprising since she was their kind.

The woman looked at Rally who seemed stumped but before she could talk a male voice was heard. "Private Rally Lightwing!" The voice was commanding and sounded angry.

Rally immediately turned to face the voice. "Captain Iron? I thought you were at the front?" She said out of confusion.

The captain was a large black furred earth pony stallion with no mane or tail, as well as a large scar across his muzzle and wore heavy looking iron armor. "I see you still have yet to learn military discipline private, I will make sure to note that." He said, he sounded annoyed and yet not annoyed.

Rally said nothing in reply as the captain continued. "You have been reassigned, report to the barracks immediately for your new orders." Iron said calmly before walking past them and away from the palace.

The woman watched the captain leave, and heard Rally sigh. "I guess this is where I leave you, sorry uh.......well, you know." The unicorn stated.

"I'll manage, thanks for everything Rally, if I ever see you again, I'll be sure to have a name." The woman said.

Rally chuckled a little at that. "Sure thing, goodbye human." She said before walking off.

The woman simply watched in silence as Rally left, she didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling in her gut about this.

_______*hours later*_______

The woman sighed as she looked up at the sky, the dark moonlit night gently illuminated the streets and buildings, it was quiet now as almost everyone was inside for the night, apparently afraid to be outside.

The human had been wandering the city for a long time, occasionally stopping to let her legs rest, she looked up at the moon and then turned down an alleyway, she walked down it and found herself in a maze of alleys, she blinked and looked around, there were several pathways to go down, and they all looked the same, she crossed her arms and sighed. "Maybe i should just go." She muttered to herself.

"Go? so soon? why would you go and do that?" A creepy voice asked from the darkness.

The human immediately looked in the direction of the voice, she spotted a light blue Pegasus stallion with a brown mane emerge from the shadows of an alley.

"I think she's scared, scaredy cat." Another creepy voice said, this one belonged to a red unicorn stallion with an orange mane.

"I don't think she likes us boys, I wonder why." One final voice said from behind her, she turned and saw a brown unicorn stallion with a dark blue mane emerge.

All three had creepy grins on their faces, and it was clear they weren't friendly, so the human did the one thing she could think of, she quickly ran down an alley in an attempt to get away or find help.

Her attempt was in vain however as a large wall of stone rose from the ground and cut her off, she stopped and looked back, she saw the three ponies staring at her with malicious grins, the brown one's horn was lit up.

And then In one swift motion, the Pegasus flew forward quickly at the human, he pulled his hoof back and then threw it at her, but thankfully she managed to dodge by falling over.

The Pegasus didn't seem to have a problem though, as he used the stone was to propel himself back at her rapidly.

The human felt the world slow down around her, and at the moment all that seemed to matter was surviving, she put her hands out in a vain attempt to stop the Pegasus. "Stay away from me!" She cried out.

To her shock and the shock of the ponies, a quick bolt of purple light rocketed out of the humans hand and impacted the Pegasus, sending him flying through the stone wall and out onto the street.

The human stared at her hands in shock, wondering just what exactly happened. "Did I......do that?" She whispered.

She looked at the two remaining ponies who's horns were lit up, she quickly stood and aimed her hands at them. "Go away!" She shouted.

As if on command two bolts of purple light shot out of her hands and one hit the red unicorn, throwing him into a wall, the other one missed and the brown stallion seemed angry as he shot a small volley of magic bolts at the human.

The human's eyes widened and she braced for the coming impact.....but it never came, she opened her eyes and saw that she was shielded by some wierd barrier. "What in the world?" She wondered.

"If it does what I want." She muttered, she aimed the unicorn. "Leave me alone!" She cried out, and just as before a bolt shot out, this one moved very fast however and impacted the unicorn in the chest.

The human decided to run out of the alley, eager to get away, but just as she turned around, a very large figure blocked her way, she looked up at the figure and saw two cyan cat like eyes looking straight through her, she froze on the spot, completely terrified to do anything right now.

The creature was silent, it was definitely an Alicorn but it seemed to be more than that, it also wore armor which made it much more intimidating, it then spoke in a calm voice. "A human that can use magic, I did not think it was possible." The alicorn said.

"Who......who are you?" The human asked.

The Alicorn spoke. "I am Nightmare Moon, ruler of the night." She declared, her tone was one of authority and power, she was obviously not one to mess with.

"W-what do you w-w-want with me?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon's horn lit up and suddenly the three that attacked the human vanished. "You intrigued my predecessor enough for her to personally visit you, and now I see why." She then teleported the two of them to the street. "What I want, is to know how you can use magic, when your species can not." She replied.

The human watched as Nightmare Moon looked towards the palace. "I have an offer to make you, in exchange for allowing myself and my mages to study and learn how you can use magic, I will allow you to stay in the palace until we have our answer, including food and shelter of course." She looked back at the human. "And if that is not enough, I will also put someone to work discovering your identity......discretely." She added.

The woman blinked as she contemplated the offer, on one hand, it would give her a place to stay for a while, but on the other she had no idea what these....studies, could mean. "If your answer is yes, go to the palace gates and tell the guard the moon is bright, if your answer is no, don't go to the gates at all until the end of tomorrow." She stated before teleporting away.

______*the present*______

Alecia put the cards back on the shelf and looked at Nightmare. "So, what was her answer?" She asked, looking back at Nightmare.

The Alicorn ghost chuckled. "Her answer made me like her instantly." She stated before continuing her tale.

_______*the past.*_______

Nightmare Moon waited in the observatory and soon the door was opened behind her. "Your highness, you have a visitor." Said the voice of a palace guard.

"Let her in." Nightmare said.

Nightmare Moon turned around and saw the guard door to the room, leaving her with a familiar human female. "I see you have chosen to accept my offer." She said calmly.

The human sighed and walked a little closer. "Actually, I came to tell you that I decline." She replied, no hesitation in her voice.

"Oh? and why is that?" Nightmare Moon asked.

The human crossed her arms and took a breath. "It feels wrong, it feels like I'm getting more than I'm giving and that doesn't sit right with me, if your going to offer food and shelter, as well as information about a forgotten past, you should make the other side of the offer more balanced." She pointed out.

"So the issue we are having right now is the offer itself?" The Alicorn asked.

The human nodded. "Right, as it stands, i have to decline." She replied.

Nightmare Moon smiled. "Then perhaps a different offer would intrigue you?......if you would hear it out of course." She said.

The human thought on this for a short time before nodding. "Alright, I'll listen." She said.

Nightmare Moon turned and looked outside. "As it stands, you have no place to stay, no food and no income, in short you will die unless you turn to crime." She started, she peaked over her shoulder to look at the human. "And since you will not accept my previous offer, allow me to amend it." She said, looking outside again.

"As before, you would allow myself and my mages to study you to discover how you can use magic, you would be given a home here in the castle, with food, shelter and even a small income, in addition I will even take you on as my apprentice, which means you will learn magic and other various things, but you will be in my service, you will be a novice Mage publicly and will be expected to perform the same duties as a novice Mage." She turned and looked at the human.

This left the room in complete silence for a while, many minutes passed by until the human spoke. "I suppose I don't have a choice, I don't know if I can trust my own kind or not after all." She replied, she then relaxed her arms and spoke. "Thank you for your offer." She said, bowing slightly.

Nightmare Moon walked up to the human and lifted her head with her hoof. "None of that, when we are alone, you don't have to bow to me, publicly you should show the utmost respect, now.....we must find a name for you." She said, beginning to think.

The human said nothing, not knowing of any names beyond a few, the room once again fell silent, and the only noise to be heard was the door opening and a maid bringing in the tea and then leaving.

Nightmare Moon had been walking around in deep thought, and whenever she seemed to get stuck she would glance over at the human, and after about ten minutes had passed she finally spoke. "Dark Glyph, that will be your name." She stated.

The human thought on it for a while.......but eventually just shrugged. "Better than nothing I guess." She said, still mentally saying the name to see how she felt about it.

Nightmare Moon nodded and turned to face her apprentice. "You may change it at a later date should you desire, but it is better than calling you nothing but Human." She said.

Glyph looked at Nightmare Moon. "So, what now?" She asked.

_______*the present.*______

"You weren't good with names were you?" Alecia asked.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "It was the best option I could think of at the time and I didn't know any human names." She stated.

Alecia sighed. "So, what next?" She asked out of curiosity.

"No offense, but I would prefer not to go into more detail right now, I'll tell you more some other time." Nightmare said before vanishing.

Alecia rolled her eyes and laid back on the couch. "I'll hold you to that." She muttered.

______*Canterlot, meanwhile.*______

Celestia and Luna were in their private conference room talking about important matters of state, of course this was ten minutes ago and Celestia had just dropped the bombshell on her sister.

"WHAAT!?" Luna shouted. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT NIGHTMARE MOON RULED EQUESTRIA ALONGSIDE YOU AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!?" The lunar Alicorn snapped, anger was clear in her eyes.

Celestia took a sip of her tea and used her magic to repair the broken table before answering. "Yes, Nightmare Moon did in fact rule Equestria with me, in my defense however, you were in a bad mood the night before and said things would be different starting tomorrow, I simply thought the change was you being serious about it, and it was working." She said calmly.

Luna grumpily sat down again. "And the fact that she....I wanted to bring about eternal night wasn't enough of a giveaway?" She asked skeptically.

Celestia sighed and set down her teacup. "To be perfectly honest, that didn't come up until a month before I banished her to the moon." She replied.

Luna raised an eyebrow, her curiosity seemed to be piqued. "How long did Nightmare Moon rule for exactly?" She asked.

Celestia seemed to think on it for a moment, in truth she didn't want to answer because she knew what the reaction would be. "Do not stall Tia, tell me now." Luna demanded.

The solar Alicorn sighed and took a final sip of her cup. "Four years." She said.

Almost instantly, a roar of anger combined with a powerful spell, saw to the end to the top of the oldest tower in Canterlot Castle, which was now little more than a pile of rubble.

Far away, Nightmare Moon felt an unnatural shiver run down her spectral spine.

Author's Notes:

Ugh......ok, I'll be honest, being away from writing when I have chapters started has been driving me nuts.

Hopefully I'll remember to actually write and not forget again, but anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Semblance of hope.

______*Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library, a week later.*_______

"You did what?" Twilight stood in the center of the library, talking to Princess Celestia, who decided to stay in town for a short time even though it was in shambles thanks to a parasprite infestation, and right now her left eye was twitching.

Inside the library was Twilight, Spike, Princess Celestia and Rarity, and they were discussing a very particular subject. "I helped Rarity weaken the curse on her home." The Princess said again, making Twilight's eye twitch and giving the young unicorn a displeased look.

"What's wrong Twilight? this is a good thing isn't it?" Rarity asked.

Twilight looked at the mare. "I'm fine with that for the most part, I'm just having trouble believing that curses exist." She replied simply.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Even though I gave you a book on counter curses and the fact that you sat through an hour of curse theory every other week for two years?" She asked.

Twilight sighed. "Princess, I'm sorry but I've always believed that curses were fake, so I never did any real research on them." She said apologetically.

At this Princess Celestia did not speak, instead she changed the subject. "Either way Rarity, you should probably mention this to Nightmare Moon and......Alecia?" She asked, unsure of the other ghosts name.

Rarity nodded and turned around to walk to the door. "Thank you for everything Princess, it means a lot." She thanked before leaving.

After the mare left, Twilight look at her teacher. "Princess, aren't you concerned that Nightmare Moon might do something?" She asked.

Celestia looked at her student and smiled. "She is still bound by the second layer of the curse Twilight, she cannot leave Ponyville and neither can Alecia, but at the very least she will be satisfied for a while." She replied simply. "Another important thing to remember is that Rarity won't be going crazy on us for a while now." She added with a smirk.

Twilight masked a laugh and spoke. "Have you discovered anything else about the......curse?" She asked, still hesitant to use that word.

Celestia nodded. "Not much I'm afraid, all I could find were records of the curse from the Wizards who assisted Dark Amber, apparently they weren't even allowed to put failsafes in place for the curse, in fact they say that Rarity's ancestor even threatened them should they try to break the curse themselves." She replied.

Twilight watched as Celestia walked to a bookshelf. "Do you remember the Canterlot archive?" She asked randomly.

Twilight blinked and raised an eyebrow at the odd question. "Yes? why?" She asked out of confusion.

Celestia pulled a book off the shelf and sighed. "In these books, it states that the archives are the largest collection of knowledge in history, but the human kingdom of Trinka had one that was larger centuries ago......and they claimed there was another archive somewhere else that was even larger." She shook her head. "It shames me to know that knowledge of those kingdoms has been all but lost." She said, she looked at Twilight. "May I ask a favor of you?" She asked.

Twilight seemed to be spaced out by thinking about the largest collection of books ever, before replying. "Yes Princess?" She replied.

"If Alecia or Nightmare Moon are willing, can you try to write down any knowledge you can acquire about humans or this......Schattenreich?" She asked.

Twilight nodded. "Of course....no problem!" She replied, seeming enthused about the prospect, until she remembered something. "Wait, Alecia doesn't know a lot about her old culture." She replied, somewhat deflated.

Celestia tapped her chin and then spoke. "Anything she knows will be good, after all there is no one alive who knows anything about those kingdoms, and I know very little." She said.

Twilight walked over to her desk and her horn lit up, she opened a drawer and pulled out a checklist, a few scrolls, a pair of quills and a few jars of ink. "I'll see if I can talk Alecia into sharing what she knows, starting with what I learned on a visit one day." She said aloud.

Celestia smiled as she watched her student prepare multiple things at once. "I am needed back in Canterlot, there is no rush necessary Twilight, take your time, after all we do not know anything about Alecia, and Nightmare Moon may not be willing to talk." She stated.

Twilight looked at her teacher and bowed. "Goodbye Princess, good luck in Canterlot." She said.

______*Rarity's house.*______

Alecia and Nightmare were in the living room with Sweetie Belle who was listening in on them as they talked. "Alright, we need to find out what caused me to bleed." Alecia said flatly as the stared at the Alicorn ghost.

"And what part of 'I am not blasting you with magic again', did you not understand?" She asked as she stared into the other ghosts eyes.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "We're ghosts, we can't die again, so either shoot me or I'm hitting you." She replied.

Sweetie Belle looked at Nightmare Moon who looked very annoyed. "I only hit you through dumb luck, you can try all you want, you won't hit me." The Alicorn taunted.

Alecia raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "As you wish." She then appeared in front of the Alicorn and punched her hard in the nose, Nightmare Moon immediately recoiled and held her nose. "Ouch!" She cried out.

Afterwards, Alecia watched the Alicorn ghost for a while and then sighed. "No blood, it's just me then." She stated.

In response, Nightmare Moon fired a magic bolt and hit Alecia in the face. "Now we are even again." She growled before vanishing.

Alecia wiped her face and noticed some blood, she sighed. "Ok, so I can bleed now, good to know." She muttered as she walked to the family room.

Sweetie Belle was silent as she observed, for one a ghost just bled, another thing was that the two ghosts who were normally inseparable seemed to be fighting at all times for some reason.

"Sweetie Belle, we aren't fighting, me and Nightmare are just having a disagreement." Alecia said, as though reading the filly's mind.

The door then opened and Rarity stepped through, she seemed tired and yet happy. "Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called out before rushing over.

Rarity bent down and hugged her sister for a short time and then stood up. "Where are the ghosts?" She asked tiredly.

"Seven continents over." Alecia joked as she looked over from staring outside.

Rarity looked at the ghost and spoke. "Princess Celestia was here today, she helped me to break the first seal, you should be able to leave the house now, you just leave Ponyville." She replied.

Alecia rolled her eyes and walked over to Rarity, she chuckled. "Oh if only it were that easy, but I'll humor you." She said.

Rarity followed Alecia out of the house and they walked for a while, and Alecia crossed her arms. "Alright, getting pulled back in three."

One.

"Two."

Two.

"One."

Three.

Alecia blinked as she looked back at the house. "Odd, maybe I'm not far enough." She walked to the boutique and was followed by the two unicorns.

Rarity waited outside the boutique and soon enough, Alecia walked out and had a perplexed look on her face......which soon changed to a grin. "Time for some fun." She rubbed her hands together evilly and looked at Rarity's house, she chuckled mischievously and vanished.

Rarity blinked and looked at her sister, who stared at her with wide eyes. "What have I done?" She asked herself.

Sweetie Belle soon giggled and started walking. "I don't think she will do anything bad, she's probably just happy to be free." She said.

Rarity walked alongside her sister and looked around for Alecia. "True, but she may get fed up with not being able to be seen." She replied out of concern.

"Or she wants to prank the hell out of your friends." Said the voice of Nightmare Moon, causing Rarity to Yelp in panic and jump away, she then proceeded to breath heavily for a while in order to calm down.

Sweetie Belle had frozen from the initial shock but recovered quickly. "Don't do that Nightmare." Rarity said as she finally spoke.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. "Don't do what? my usual antics? talk? be visible?" She asked teasingly.

Rarity growled. "You are just like Rainbow Dash, i swear." She muttered to herself as she walked.

"Alecia will probably come home eventually, she just wants to enjoy herself after all." Sweetie Belle said as they walked together.

"Speaking of coming home." Nightmare Moon looked at Rarity. "What have you been doing in that boutique of yours? you spent three nights in a row over there, only coming by to eat and check on Sweetie Belle.....we aren't foalsitters after all." The ghost questioned.

Rarity sighed. "If you must know, I have been busy making the dresses for myself and the girls, they are for the gala coming up." She answered.

Nightmare Moon held in a laugh and said nothing, remaining a neutral expression despite perfectly understanding how boring it was, and how high the mare's expectations were for it.

"Well, just don't be in Canterlot for too long Rarity, ok?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Rarity looked at her sister and nodded. "I promise I won't be there for too long, and before you say anything I will try to get some sleep." She said with a small smile before looking forward, she spotted Alecia looking around curiously, as though she didn't know where to start. "I'm going home to sleep, if you need me you know where I will be." She replied tiredly.

______*the next day, 9:00 AM.*______

Nightmare Moon stood in Rarity's room, it was very dimly lit and the mare's breathing was the only sound to be heard.

'Perhaps I have been too hard on the mare, she only did what she thought was right.......which was correct because I was crazy, but now I'm dead......am I? or am I just an illusion?' She asked herself as she looked down at the sleeping mare.

"Why are you able to sleep so soundly with two ghosts in the house, one of them being a former enemy?" She asked herself quietly.

Her question went unanswered however as the mare still slept quietly in her bed Nightmare Moon sighed and flew up to the roof, she arrived quickly and she sat down on the tiles. "Need to think?" Alecia's voice asked.

Nightmare looked at the ghost who looked different, and she raised an eyebrow, Aleica's hair was a very vibrant red now, and she no longer had black lightning dancing on her body. "Yea......and you? what's with the make over?" She asked.

Alecia looked at the Alicorn, her bright blue eyes stared directly into Nightmare's teal cat like eyes. "This is what I looked like as a human, I was.....reminiscing." She said quietly as she looked back and stared at the town.

"Good memories?" Nightmare asked softly, not wanting to offend.

Alecia laughed quietly and looked up at the sky. "Yea, good times." She replied with a small smile.

Nightmare said nothing and simply went back to thinking, the roof grew silent very quickly, and neither ghost spoke.

______*The Afternoon, Ponyville*______

Rarity walked to the train station, carrying several suitcases and bags of luggage with her, she was followed by Sweetie Belle, Nightmare Moon and Alecia. "How long will you be gone?" Alecia asked.

"A few days." Rarity replied tiredly, she had slept for a good long while but had woken up only recently, thankfully everything was already packed and ready to go.

Sweetie Belle spoke up next. "Who am I staying with until then? because I don't think Alecia and Nightmare Moon count." She asked.

"I hired Derpy's daughter Amethyst Star to watch you until I get back." Rarity replied.

Alecia floated ahead of Rarity and closed her eyes as she floated with her back facing the ground, she was back to normal now, and there was no trace of her old self remaining right now. "Does she know about us?" She asked.

"No, and I would appreciate it if you could keep your antics to a minimum." Rarity said, glaring at Nightmare Moon specifically.

Nightmare rolled her eyes. "I would never scar a child for life." She replied in a fake innocent tone.

"Just don't do anything drastic." Rarity said to herself, hoping for what felt impossible.

Alecia floated above Rarity. "No promises." She stated as they neared the train station, spotting Rarity's friends waiting at the station.

Rarity walked over to her friends and accepted the train ticket from Twilight, she noticed that some of their gazes were pointed at the ghosts, but none of them said anything.

"Is everypony ready to go to Canterlot?" Twilight asked, getting a nod from the others, she sighed in relief. "Let's go then, don't want to be late." She said.

Nightmare Moon spoke up and what she said surprised them all. "If you manage to talk to the Sun lover, give her my thanks for her part in our partial freedom." She said before turned away. "Or don't, she doesn't need a ghost's thanks anyway." She said before taking flight and flying off.

Alecia watched and then looked at the mares and baby dragon. "See you when you get back I guess." She said before vanishing from sight.

Rarity bent down and gave her sister one last hug. "I'll see you in a few days, please behave for Amethyst." She whispered that last part.

Sweetie Belle returned the hug. "I will, now go before you miss your train." She replied quietly.

After that, Rarity and her friends boarded the train and a few minutes later it departed for Canterlot, Sweetie Belle stayed just to see her off, and when the train was gone, Nightmare appeared next to Sweetie Belle. "So, what are you going to do now?" She asked.

"Go home? maybe read a book, don't know yet." Sweetie Belle replied.

Nightmare sighed and walked with the filly. "Well if you need me, I'll be going through Twilight's library." She said, before Sweetie Belle could protest, the Alicorn vanished from sight.

The filly sighed. "Where's Alecia when you need her?" She asked herself quietly.

______*Ponyville cemetery.*_____

No one ever entered the cemetery except for the caretaker or those who were burying and mourning the dead, of course, this was just how the living saw things.

The truth was that a cemetery is........exactly as quiet as the living see it, just with a few more visitors a year, including one cursed ghost.

Alecia remained absolutely silent in the graveyard, she walked through the graves and eventually found herself staring at a pair of very familiar names, Crystal Cut and Dark Amber, her eyes saddened and she knelt down. "Hey Crystal, I don't know if you're still around or if you can even hear me anymore.....but I wanted to say I'm sorry I wasn't around to guide you through the afterlife." She paused and sighed sadly. "I know this apology doesn't mean much, but you deserve it, more than anyone." She said quietly.

Aleica said nothing for a time, as though waiting for a reply, she eventually spoke again after ten minutes. "Dark Amber, I don't know how you died, I don't know when you died, and I don't really remember your face that well anymore, and I want you to know that I don't hate you for sealing me away, I was angry at first, but now I can see exactly why you hated me, so I don't blame you, all I can hope is that you lived long, if you can hear me at all, I think you should know all of this." She closed her eyes and placed her hand on the tombstone.

And so she remained, the ghost did not move or speak, Alecia stayed by those tombstones for hours as the day passed by slowly, and later, she finally stood up and walked away in silence.

She had enough of visiting her past for one day.

Author's Notes:

Quite the time jump right? no? either way works, so anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter,

Facing fear.

"A wise man once told me, Do not fear your past, it makes you who you are, the only thing you should fear is what follows you to the present, as you never know what has changed."

"I was told many things by many people in my life, but one thing above all others rings clear even now, Sacrifice can mean much, and affect even more, it can spark hope, it can cause anger or hatred, it can drive others to incredible acts, but what must be remembered above all else are four words......was it worth it?"

______*Ponyville, Rarity's house, a week later.*______

Sweetie Belle had left for Canterlot on a school field trip, Rarity was home and was disappointed with the Gala, but she was no longer extremely tired and seemed to be feeling much better, but it didn't help that Nightmare had a knowing grin on her face, which meant that she knew exactly what would happen. "That's what you get when you raise your hopes too high." The Alicorn teased.

Rarity had of course wanted to counter that with an obvious fact, but chose not to do so, feeling it was out of line.

Alecia had watched the following arguement with interest, finding it amusing to watch a unicorn argue with the ghost of her former enemy about something so trivial.

"Hey Alecia." Nightmare said, getting the ghosts attention. "Have you ever been to the Gala?" She asked.

"No.....I only ever went to one formal party at the Emperors castle and that was an awards ceremony, and the war-" she stopped herself immediately, which did not go unnoticed by the others, she looked off in the distance, quiet all of a sudden. "What war?" Rarity asked.

Nightmare noticed that Alecia didn't want to talk, so she did it for her. "Last time we talked about your past, you said something about the Lost Legion going to the front lines right?" She asked.

Alecia looked at Nightmare and glared. "I did, and I would prefer not to talk about it." She stated flatly, clearly annoyed.

"Aren't you the one who said that it didn't bother you anymore?" Nightmare replied.

At that, Alecia paused, she sighed and crossed her arms. "Whatever, I'll tell you when the kid gets back." She said before vanishing.

Rarity and Nightmare waited a while before talking. "Are you sure provoking her is a good idea?" Rarity asked.

"It isn't, I'm just tired of dancing around the details." Nightmare stated before walking away.

Rarity watched as Nightmare walked outside, but did notice a slight pause in her movement, it seemed odd but she decided not to question it.

Rarity then walked out of the house herself, heading to her boutique to get to work.

Nightmare meanwhile, felt a shiver run down her spine as she felt an odd presence on the air, it did not belong, that was for certain. "What was that?" She asked herself quietly as she walked.

Rarity looked up at the sky and noticed something rather odd, a floating spot of pink in the sky, she raised an eyebrow and had a confused expression on her face, but she did not investigate, hoping it was just an error and that the weather team was just pulling a prank.

If only she had any idea of just how wrong she was.

_____*Canterlot, two hours later.*_____

Sweetie Belle looked up at the sky which seemed to be altered in a somewhat amusing yet scary way, the sky itself was now a myriad of different colors like orange, yellow, blue and brown, there were pink clouds raining chocolate in every direction.....and in some cases the chocolate appeared away from the cloud and flew towards it.

Right now she was on a balcony of a relatively stable house, the school field trip had hidden there when everything happened.

The city was rearranged strangely, shop doors faced walls, windows faced the ceiling and some roads led into walls that were actually doors, and doors that were actually walls or windows.

The strangest thing however was that some of the birds were flying upside down......as in their wings were upside down and they were attempting flight.

Sweetie Belle jumped in surprise when she felt a hoof touch her shoulder, she spun and looked at who did it and saw Scootaloo looking at her with concern. "Are you okay Sweetie Belle?" She asked.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself down a little, Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yea I'm alright, I was just startled." She replied, dodging the question that she knew her friend wanted answered.

"Cheerilee said we are going home before anything else happens, so lets go." The young Pegasus said.

Sweetie Belle nodded and followed Scootaloo to the staircase, the room they were in was old and looked weathered from time, the only light came from the outside and one dimly lit candle in the corner, they had almost reached the stairs when they heard an eerie laugh echo upon the wind.

"Leaving so soon? the party has JUST begun!" Declared a voice filled with deviousness and smugness, scaring the fillies into being still.

Scootaloo was the first to break free of her fear and she charged at the stairs, only to be stopped by an invisible wall, she fell backwards and rubbed her head. "What the?-" She was cut off when a pop could be heard behind them.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked back and saw none other than Discord floating behind them, he was a draconequus, he had a pale yellow lions paw, the left yellow talon of a brown eagle, the right wing of a purple bat, the right wing of a blue bird, the body of a brown horse, the head of a gray pony with an ivory deer antler on the right, a turquoise goat horn on the left side if his head, a single long fang, yellow eyes with red pupils, a black mane and he had the white furred beard of a goat, he had the right leg of a green lizard, the left leg was that of a goats hoof, and he also had a red snake tail with a white tuft of hair at the end. [1]

Discord looked down at the fillies with a grin. "Well well well, what do we have here? a pair of fillies stuck in a bind?" He said with a perplexed expression as he stroked his beard, staring at them.

The god of chaos and mischief seemed to noticed something and leaned down, staring intently at Sweetie Belle who was petrified in fear. "Curious." He muttered.

Scootaloo got up and immediately got in between Discord and Sweetie Belle. "Don't come any closer!" She snapped.

Discord narrowed his eyes and snapped his talon, and Scootaloo was suddenly transparent. "What the!" The Pegasus said in shock before glaring at Discord, she went to speak but found herself unable to do so.

"Those eyes of yours.....they are those of one who sees the dead." Discord observed. "Dark stuff, haven't seen that in a long time." He mused.

Sweetie Belle backed up only to bump into something, she froze and looked back, seeing Discord looking down at her. "Nothing amusing about the dead, they just linger on and on helplessly until they resolve whatever it was keeping them around." He picked the filly up in his magic. "Then again, you have found two unique individuals.....perhaps I should pay them a visit?" He wondered as he dropped Sweetie Belle.

The young unicorn suddenly spoke as Discord turned around. "You can't!" She blurted out, she immediately covered her mouth as Discord looked back at them.

"You....care? about those ghosts?" He noted, he then gained a devious grin. "Then lets see how they react to some sudden breathing syndrome." He said before teleporting them away.

Once the three of them were gone, a voice called out. "Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle? are you up there!?" Apple Bloom called out.

______*Ponyville*______

Sweetie Belle cried out as she fell to the ground, she thankfully landed on something soft, she groaned as she got up, realizing that she had landed on a pillow for some reason, as she stood, she only had one thought on her mind. "I need to warn them." She said to herself.

Ponyville was a mess, pigs flew, houses spun in the air, the ground snored and the ponies seemed to be utterly drained from something.

"Sweetie Belle?" Alecia's voice asked curiously.

The filly looked back and saw the ghost looking at her. "Alecia! Discord is free! He's looking for you!" Sweetie Belle said quickly.

Alecia was about to talk when she saw something behind the filly. "Sweetie Belle, go." She ordered flatly.

Sweetie Belle turned around and saw Discord behind her, he had a knowing grin on his face. "No." She whispered, she looked at Alecia. "Run!" She managed to say before being teleported away.

Discord chuckled. "Nightmare Moon, interesting decision, I will be honest, I wasn't expecting you to care enough to try and send her away." He said before teleporting the filly back.

Nightmare Moon stood behind Discord and narrowed her eyes. "Leave the girl out of this Discord, I don't care what you want with us, let. her go." She demanded.

Discord grinned and snapped his fingers. "Patience my dear Nightmare." He said as Sweetie Belle was teleported into an invisible box above him, she was panicking and attempting to get out.

Alecia crossed her arms. "You don't belong here Discord, why don't you just return to where you came from and leave us be?" She asked indifferently.

Discord laughed as he looked at the ghost. "I don't belong? speak for yourself! You defy the natural law in a very cruel way after all." He taunted as he stepped forward.

"What is he talking about!?" Sweetie Belle called out.

Alecia remained silent as Discord's grin grew. "You never said anything? Oh this is just PERFECT!" He chuckled darkly. "Shall I tell the filly? of your betrayal?" He teased.

"Be quiet trickster." Alecia said as she appeared before Discord and threw a punch at his face, only for his head to wrap around her spectral arm. "Tsk tsk tsk." He said, shaking his finger back and forth. "Now now human, you know the law, you may not harm any living being." He mocked.

Alecia growled and vanished, appearing behind him and kicking him in the back, Discord fell forward and promptly turned into a paper version of himself, he rose up from it holding his hands together as though he were rising to the sky, he then opened his eyes. "Of course, that doesn't apply to you does it?" He smirked.

"What is he talking about Alecia?" Nightmare asked as she stepped up.

Discord laughed as the ghost said nothing, instead she just glared up at him. "Shall I tell them? or will you speak up? last chance to be truthful after all." He taunted.

Alecia looked down at the ground, saying nothing, Sweetie Belle and Nightmare stared at their friend with wide eyes, wondering just what she refused to tell them.

Discord however was all too happy to speak. "Since you will not speak, I will.....you see young one, your 'friend' betrayed your trust.....in fact she still does it even now." He remarked.

Sweetie Belle looked at Discord and considered everything, he was the god of chaos and mischief, he loved to toy with everyone like puppets, and he seemed to get a kick out of watching others suffer. "You're lying!" She snapped.

Discord grinned widely. "If I was, Alecia wouldn't be so silent now would she?" He pointed out, making the filly pause. "Her betrayal is simple and cruel.....it also spits in the face of the natural law, for every single moment of her existence-"

"SILENCE!" Alecia shouted before throwing an arc of black lightning at Discord, which he easily dodged. "Even now she tries to hide it." He taunted.

Discord appeared behind Sweetie Belle and spoke. "Alecia is slowly draining the life force of your sister, eventually she will die and Alecia will live once more." He said, making both Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon freeze.

Nightmare stared at Alecia who for once, seemed unbelievably angry, though she didn't try to deny the accusation. "Alecia?" She asked.

The ghost looked at Nightmare and her eyes said everything....what Discord said was the truth. "If it means anything, I didn't realize it until recently." She said as Discord laughed.

"Nothing causes chaos quite like this huh human!?" The god of chaos shouted. "Perhaps you need to take a deep 'breath' and think about what you've done!" He said with maniacal glee before snapping his fingers.

Alecia went to throw another bolt of black lightning but found herself unresponsive, she felt incredible pain shoot through her body and cried out, falling to the ground, her body colliding with the dirt, she suddenly found herself choking and writhing on the ground.

Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon watched in horror as Alecia struggled on the ground, now flesh and blood, Nightmare also realized that she was human again, because she looked like she did before on the roof.

Discord laughed. "What better suffering is there than life? and looking like you do, you will be constantly reminded of a time long gone, farewell you three! I hope you enjoy each others company, because you are linked to her now!" He finished before teleporting away with a last evil laugh, echoing on the wind.

Nightmare was the first to rush to Alecia, but as soon as she took her first step, she suddenly felt intense pain through her whole body for a moment, she grit her teeth and kept moving, not caring one bit that she was living again as she walked to her friend.

Alecia looked like she couldn't breathe, she grabbed at her throat and choked in pain, Nightmare used her magic and did a quick scan of Alecia, she found nothing wrong which could only mean one thing.

Sweetie Belle fell from her prison and landed hard on the ground, she ran over to Alecia and knelt down, she clutched the gh-human's hand away from her throat. "Come on Alecia, breathe!" She said.

"She must have forgotten how to breathe." Nightmare said, the Alicorn then moved Alecia's hand away from her throat.

Alecia looked at Nightmare, her vision blurred and her pain rising, she tried to speak but was unable. "Breathe you idiot! remember how to breathe! That's an order you hear me!" The Alicorn ordered.

The human choked a few more times before falling silent, her fell back and her eyes closed, he struggling stopped and all at once, Sweetie Belle felt her heart break. "No....no no no no no!" She cried as she shook Alecia.

Nightmare was silent as she dropped down to her knees, she closed her eyes. "Don't die Alecia." She begged.

"I'M NOT DYING YOU IDIOT!" Alecia snapped as she looked at Nightmare. "I mean, Nightmare." She rested her head back on the ground. "I'm just.....tired, for once." She added. [2]

Sweetie Belle hugged Alecia and cried silently, and the human looked at the filly. "Why are you crying over me? I was dead before after all." She asked quietly.

The filly looked at Alecia with watery eyes. "Is it wrong to cry when you think a friend died?" She asked tiredly.

Nightmare sighed and laid down next to Alecia. "So, this really is what you looked like before you died?" She asked.

Alecia slowly sat up. "Yea, I uh.....no, it isn't actually, this is what I looked like when I was human." She replied.

"You aren't human now?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

Alecia rolled her eyes and poked the filly's head. "I am right now, but for now, lets just get past Discord being back, then I'll talk." She replied, standing up.

Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon stood up, looking around at the changed town. "Alecia, do you still have magic?" Nightmare asked.

Alecia shook her head. "No, I figured out how to do that a week ago, and I'm also certain that my blood wont be able to break the curse." She replied.

Nightmare summoned a small vial. "Better safe than sorry." She said.

Sweetie Belle immediately looked away and focused on everything else, but soon Alecia called. "Let's go! we might be able to find your sister or one of her friends." She said.

And with that, the two former ghosts and filly headed for Twilight's library, knowing that when strange things happen, that's where they go first.

______*To be continued*______

Author's Notes:

[1] This is probably the only time i will ever describe Discord like this, so dont get too used to it, also, yes....i ripped this right off the wiki, dont judge me! its a pain to describe his appearance otherwise.

[2] I wonder how many people will get this one.

First time with a to be continued, and with such a big cliffhanger too!

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Problems.

______*Ponyville, twenty minutes later.*______

Alecia sat down on the steps to Rarity's house, along the way the three of them had run into some suddenly very hostile ponies, a few of them were unicorns which made it difficult to get here, Alecia felt panic taking hold a lot but she managed to keep moving in order to keep her friends safe.

The town was in utter panic and chaos, Discord had easily made everything impossible to understand and dangerous to boot.

Sweetie Belle was extremely worried about Scootaloo, for she had no way of knowing if her friend was safe, she was also extremely scared and mostly hid behind Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare herself was exhausted, her magic stores were depleted due to them not naturally replenishing for a few months, and she also worried about Sweetie Belle, who did not deserve to die because of Discord's cruelty.

Out of the three however, Alecia was the most calm even though it didn't seem that way, she looked at the others and memories of her past flooded her mind, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, I don't know what Discord's plan is, or if he even has one, but out of the three of us, I have the most combat experience, so I'll take lead." She looked at Nightmare who didn't object to it.

"We need to find Rarity, its possible that Celestia summoned her and the others to Canterlot, if we make our way there we can join forces to face Discord.

Sweetie Belle quickly spoke up. "What about everyone is Ponyville!? we can't just leave them!" She asked.

Nightmare sighed. "The filly is right, we can't leave this place or Discord will be unopposed here." She added.

Alecia nodded in agreement. "Alright, we'll try and help who we can, and make our way to the library, there has to be something there that can help." She said, standing up.

"Oh I agree! Head to the library and research your enemy! a humans mind is intelligent when given direction is it not?" Asked the dreaded voice of Discord.

Alecia saw that Sweetie Belle hid behind Nightmare Moon and pointed at the house, the human turned around and saw Discord had become part of the house, he moved along its surface as he spoke. "While I do commend your efforts, I cannot allow you to interfere in these events, so I need a distraction!" He declared loudly.

Discord suddenly appeared and looked at Sweetie Belle, but it was obvious he wasn't actually there. "Damn projection magic." Nightmare muttered.

Ignoring the Alicorn, Discord spoke. "I could make you fight this filly, but that would be straight cruelty, no fun at all." He then looked at Nightmare.

"No, too cliché to make them fight you, an overused enemy after all." Discord mused. "And making you fight a copy of Sunbutt is no fun..." He stroked his beard in thought.

Finally the god of chaos looked at Alecia and grinned. "Ah, perfect, not too cliché, not exactly original but still effective and interesting." He then placed his talon on the human and grinned. "Face your past!" He shouted before vanishing, leaving a glowing mark on Alecia's forehead, she gripped her head and cried out in pain.

Nightmare attempted to get closer but Alecia held her hand out. "Stay back!" She ordered as she shined as a beacon of dark purple magic.

Alecia closed her eyes and felt a memory surface, it played in her mind for a few seconds before her eyes shot open. "No.....NO! NOT HIM! ANYONE BUT HIM!" She screamed as she fell to her knees and an orb of magic shot away from her by ten feet.

Nightmare's horn ignited in a furious display of magic, she sensed an explosion spell approaching and she immediately threw up a shield around the three of them, thanking a mysterious boost to her magical reserves.

The predicted explosion went off like a blast strong enough to level several buildings, the shield just barely survived the blast and Nightmare lowered it as the smoke rose, not willing to risk any more magic.

Alecia looked in horror as the smoke cleared thanks to wind magic, and a cloaked figure stood before them, standing six foot seven tall, and hidden by a black and gray cloak, the figure was intimidating and had an aura of immense power about it.

Sweetie Belle looked at Alecia who seemed to be in shock, completely unaware of a strange staff laying beside her. "Alecia, who is that?" She asked, getting no response from the human.

Nightmare prepared herself for battle by donning her old armor and preparing a few spells, but the figure seemed to be focused on Alecia. "It has come to this Alecia, after many years we finally face each other in our final battle, unfortunate, that the circumstances allow no mercy." The figure spoke in a calm and even tone, it was male but it was accompanied by a strange whisper.

Alecia stood slowly and mindlessly grabbed her staff, she blinked and looked at it, it was dark brown in color, with purple and gray runes on its surface, the handle was made of a strange dark gray material that neither Sweetie Belle nor Nightmare could identify. "Master Kor'Fel, we have done this before, I......I killed you." She said with deep remorse and guilt.

Kor'Fel moved some of his cloak and revealed a sword, he drew it and gripped it with two hands. "We shall see if you are ready." He spoke, unfazed by Alecia's words.

Alecia shook in fear and Nightmare spoke. "Who is he Alecia?" She asked.

The human gulped and looked at Nightmare, fear was evident in her eyes. "My master, he taught me everything I know about combat, I.....barely survived last time we fought." She said.

Kor'Fel spoke and interrupted the three. "Prepare yourself my child." He said before moving swiftly towards Alecia.

Alecia panicked and got into a defensive stance to defend herself, and Nightmare fired a few magic blasts at the cloaked man.

Kor'Fel nimbly dodged and used his sword to deflect a blast right at Nightmare, she threw up a shield and it impacted hard, breaking it instantly, the man landed softly on his feet and stood up as though nothing happened. "Our home, beautiful and sacred, humanity's greed will see it burn to ash." He spoke, preparing to charge again. "I will slay every human to protect my home, even you my child." He spoke, his voice slightly remorseful as he charged again.

Alecia stiffened and just as Kor'Fel neared, she jumped back and swung her staff, aiming for his legs, but he simply hopped over and swung his sword down with one hand.

In a swift motion, Alecia blocked with the handle of her staff, the two clashed and Kor'Fel spoke. "Excellent recovery my child, but as you know, you will need more than that to defeat me." He spoke as he used his now free hand and it glowed dark purple, and Alecia's eyes widened as a powerful arc of black lightning shot out of his hand and impacted her, she flew back and crashed into the ground.

Nightmare's eyes widened at the sight, but she shook her head clear and she growled, she ignited her horn and cast a powerful spell.

Kor'Fel looked at Nightmare and watched as ten orbs of magic appeared around him and Nightmare, he said nothing as three of them flew towards him, he dodged them easily enough at first, but they instantly flew right at him, changing direction like it was nothing.

The spell was called Puppet Orb, Nightmare was controlling them with nothing more than her eyes, and they were rapidly increasing in speed.

Alecia winced in pain and slowly stood, she looked up and saw Nightmare fighting Kor'Fel, who was dodging the magic orbs Nightmare used, though a few did impact, though as the ones chasing him exploded, the ones surrounding Nightmare vanished.

Kor'Fel landed on the ground and swiftly charged Nightmare, he made it halfway before the remaining orbs impacted his back, seeming to reach him instantly.

Alecia was dumbfounded, she gripped her staff tightly and moved closer slowly, Nightmare spoke. "He's gone, no one could survive that blast." She stated.

"Do not be hasty Alicorn." Kor'Fel spoke from behind Nightmare, who barely had time to look over her shoulder before being electrocuted by black lightning, she screamed in pain and Sweetie Belle watched with absolute terror.

Alecia tightened her grip and Nightmare fell to the ground, Sweetie Belle ran up to her as Kor'Fel approached Alecia once more. "Please get up! Alecia needs you Nightmare!" The filly pleaded.

Nightmare winced and barely managed to look at Kor'Fel, who had lost his cloak.

Kor'Fel had dark gray skin, raven black hair and dark green eyes, he wore dark gray armor that was masterfully made and looked like it would not hinder him in the slightest, it had silver running across its surface and was smooth, to Nightmare's eyes however, the armor was enchanted, not only that but it made any of the enchantments of old look like they were designed by a child.

Kor'Fel's face was even and calm, showing no emotion in the heat of battle, he gripped his sword again, which was made out of a strange dark purple metal, the hilt was that of black leather, and there was a strange rune on the blade which was unreadable to Nightmare. "Alecia, prove to me that you were paying attention all these years, show me that I trained a worthy disciple." He said, as though trying to give her a reason to fight.

Alecia looked at Nightmare and took a deep breath, she steadied her hand and held her staff behind her back, placing it above her shoulder and looking right at her master. "Nightmare, thank you for helping, but this is my fight, keep Sweetie Belle safe." She said in a calm yet commanding tone.

Kor'Fel watched as Alecia approached slowly, and he slowly stepped forward, eventually beginning to circle her, and her him, neither spoke a word, and after what began to feel like forever, they moved, Kor'Fel charged in a very different way than before, he held his sword in both hands with his left hand being the main as opposed to his right.

Alecia suddenly dragged her feet slowing herself down, but she used the momentum and threw her staff with all her might and a shout, it flew swiftly and spun rapidly as it did so, Kor'Fel dodged by sliding and then swung his blade in a diagonal fashion, Alecia jumped back and then threw a punch at her master, who sidestepped and swung his blade again.

The sword just barely missed Alecia's arm and she ducked while sending a kick upwards, Kor'Fel jumped back and he seemed to hear something behind him, he quickly rolled to the side and Alecia's staff flew back to her, she held her hand out and caught it easily.

As Kor'Fel stood up, they both returned to where they started, only this time the man charged instantly and Alecia held onto her staff this time.

Alecia twirled her staff as they approached, she did it very quickly and Kor'Fel did not approach any more, instead he kept his distance, and watched as the staff sparked with magic, flames soon engulfed the staff and Alecia charged, swinging the staff in an impressive display of spins and jabs, and as she swung her staff, the tide turned as the man failed to avoid the attacks, taking blow after blow, but Kor'Fel finally managed to block one directly and he used the blow to leverage momentum, he jumped back using the momentum and just as he landed he jumped up high with magic, enhancing his jump, he shined with magic and eight magical blades formed a barrier around him.

Alecia cursed under her breath and magical blades appeared above Kor'Fel, they all soon launched into the air and swiftly came down, making her dodge frantically or risk getting impaled, the eight blades themselves soon spun rapidly and then aimed directly at Alecia, they launched at incredible speed and the human fell to the ground in order to avoid death, having to throw her staff aside, she flipped over on the ground and her eyes widened.

Kor'Fel stood over her with his blade ready. "You are indeed worthy, I will see to it that you are honored accordingly." He said.

Alecia let a tear fall from her face as she spoke. "I am sorry master, but that wont be possible." She said before Kor'Fel gasped in shock, he looked down and saw that Alecia's staff had become a magical blade, and pierced his heart.

As Kor'Fel dropped his blade, he spoke. "Do not let our people die my child, you know this war is wrong, you can change things." He looked up at her with a small smile. "You no longer need my guidance......goodbye my child." He said before fading away.

Nightmare and Sweetie Belle looked on in shock and relief, but when they heard crying, they walked over to Alecia.

Alecia cried and fell to the ground, her staff and the sword of her master vanishing, she covered her eyes and cried uncontrollably, her heart once again shattered.

Neither Nightmare Moon nor Sweetie Belle spoke, instead they just sat with their friend as she grieved, unwilling to say anything to the human.

Nightmare looked up at the sky. 'I don't know how, but Discord will pay for this, I swear it.'

It took about a half hour, but Alecia eventually calmed down enough to travel, and the three made their way to the library.

Strangely, they did not encounter anything else until they reached the library, there they found Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy, Spike was sitting in the corner and there was no sight of Rainbow Dash.

"What the hell did we miss while you girls were out?" Alecia asked out of curiosity.

Twilight looked over at the three and her eyes widened. "How are you alive!?" She asked, rushing over, seeming to forget about what was going on for a while.

Alecia cleared her throat. "Douchebag, god of chaos? thought it would be amusing, details later." She stated.

Twilight nodded but had a look that said they would talk later, she then took a deep breath. "Ok, we need to defeat Discord before he causes more trouble." She stated.

"Not to be rude Twi, be how are we gonna beat him without Dash?" Applejack asked.

Rarity nodded. "We can't find her anywhere, and we need the Element of Loyalty to use the Elements." She added, giving her sister a hug. "I missed you." She whispered.

"Same here." The filly replied.

Nightmare chuckled before looking outside. "We don't have much time, I will search for the annoying one, you come up with a plan." She said before teleporting outside and flying off.

Alecia watched as the Alicorn flew off, she sighed and looked at the others. "I should probably......what are you doing?" She asked Twilight who seemed to be doing something with a strange golden necklace.

"The Element of Loyalty glows brighter when its near you, fascinating." The unicorn noted.

Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Is it possible she could cover for Rainbow?" She asked.

Alecia looked at the filly. "Why do I have to fill in for the hothead?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's better than doing nothing right?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Alecia sighed. "Whatever." She whispered to herself as Twilight attached the necklace to Alecia's arm, still amazed by her being alive again.

With that, the six went outside to face Discord, Twilight seemed absolutely certain that they could not fail.

_____*Ponyville, ten minutes later*_____

They failed miserably, apparently the Elements require the specific bearers to work, or they only work when the six embody the Element they represent and are in harmony with each other.

Either way, Alecia wanted to get a drink and some food, and then for some reason she kissed Twilight on the cheek, stating it was for an 'experiment' when in truth she just wanted to see the reaction, which she found lacking because of Discord.

"Another reason to hate the prick." She muttered as she laid back on the couch in Rarity's house, she found that she missed feeling things, and that Rarity undervalued her couch....or that her sense of touch just enjoyed anything that wasn't pain.

Nightmare Moon soon entered the house through the door and Alecia spoke. "Welcome home." She said calmly.

"I'm surprised you didn't change clothes." The Alicorn said suddenly.

Alecia shrugged. "Why? no point, I cant feel things as a ghost, and as long as I wore it once in life, I can look like it as a ghost, so why should I change?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. "So you've been wearing the same exact thing for centuries?" She asked.

Alecia paused and slowly took a drink as she thought on it, she eventually spoke after a while. "Pretty much." She replied before sitting up, letting the Alicorn sit down.

Nightmare walked up and sat down next to Alecia who said something surprising. "You wont leave will you Nightmare? If the last barrier is broken?" The human asked quietly.

Nightmare Moon huffed. "And leave you and the filly alone with Rarity?" She asked as though insulted. "Not a chance, someone has to be the voice of reason around here." She stated.

Alecia smiled for once and gave Nightmare a quick hug before standing up and walking away. "Thank you, that means a lot." She replied, she then looked outside and blinked. "Huh." She said.

Nightmare Moon looked outside and saw that the sky was clearing up, and that everything was returning to normal. "They beat him." She said quietly.

Alecia chuckled. "Hey, since the bad guy was defeated." She held a hand out. "Care for a dance?" She offered.

Nightmare rolled her eyes at Alecia's antics but decided to humor her. "Fine, but it will be awkward considering we are Alicorn and human." She replied as she walked up and took Alecia's hand.

Alecia smirked. "Don't underestimate me." She whispered as they started to dance slowly.

Nightmare was certain that they would be fumbling around, but Alecia was surprisingly good about keeping her feet where they should be.

"How did you get so good at dancing?" Nightmare asked out of curiosity.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "Stupid royal balls back in the Empire, as a captain I had to learn so I wouldn't embarrass my people, politics and all." She answered.

"I personally picked it up from Luna, who had a passion for it." Nightmare answered.

Alecia smiled a little as they danced. "I noticed that you both share a similar beauty, you pick up anything else from her?" She teased.

Nightmare narrowed her eyes. "I am a manifestation of her deepest desires and inner strength, so yes, unfortunately I owe most of who I am to her." She replied.

"Don't get mad at me, I was just curious." Alecia said.

Nightmare gave a smile of her own. "I am not mad at all." She replied, her horn ignited and a spell hit Alecia.

Alecia growled. "I thought you said you weren't mad." She accused as she stopped dancing.

Nightmare smirked. "I'm not, consider that a little gift." She said.

Alecia was about to ask what the Alicorn meant when she realized that she was a tad shorter, she looked down at her hands and saw a hoof instead, her eyes widened and she looked at Nightmare. "You evil little!-" She was cut off however as Nightmare Moon kissed her.

All of her instincts told Alecia to get away, but instead, she just went with it, even as she felt her body fade away.

And soon, Alecia was a ghost once more, she looked human but wasn't, her skin once more had black lightning dance across it, her eyes were dark blue with a purple glow, and her hair was faded dark red with purple streaks once more. "It was good while it lasted Nightmare." She said as she opened her eyes. "Wait what?"

Both Alecia and Nightmare Moon were shocked to discover that the Alicorn was no ghost, but was flesh and blood, Nightmare looked at her friend in shock. "Why am I still alive?" She asked.

Author's Notes:

So I changed how the Discord thing went, basically, this chapter works with the idea that Twilight lost hope in Canterlot but found it when she saw Ponyville, and then helped her friends to return to how they should be, everything works basically the same from then on.

So I know I said this already, but I had no idea that this story would be this well received as it was, and it means a lot, thanks to everyone who reads this.

Fun fact: The original idea I had for this story was similar to how this one started, this story was supposed to be about Rarity accidentally waking the spirit of an Earth Pony soldier who lost his memory and having to live with him making things awkward.

Ps. If you want to hear about some old or scrapped ideas of mine, go ahead an ask, It can be about any stories I posted or even didn't post, its up to you though.

As always, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Aftermath.

______*Ponyville, Rarity's house.*______

"Why am I alive?" Nightmare asked.

Alecia blinked and walked up to the Alicorn, she looked deep into her eyes and then poked her chest. "Hmm....flesh and blood, regular breathing, alive, but how?" She asked herself.

Nightmare slightly shivered since she could feel an unnatural cold coming from the ghosts hand, she pulled away and spoke "I don't know how I am alive, but I think Discord had something to do with this, a cruel joke on his part, all we can do now is work on breaking the curse." She said.

Alecia crossed her arms and floated in the air. "You still have my blood on you?" She asked curiously.

Nightmare nodded and produced said vial with her magic, still filled with the red liquid. "I will use this and try to break the curse, better than doing nothing." She said as she opened the door.

"It won't work, but it might weaken the curse, good luck, I'll see you later Nightmare." Alecia said before vanishing.

Nightmare's gaze saddened and she closed her eyes. "Here goes nothing." She whispered before teleporting away.

Alecia appeared up on the roof of the home and sat down, she looked out towards Canterlot and stared at the shining city in silence, not even a thought entered her mind as she allowed herself to stop thinking for once.

______*Ponyville Cemetary*______

Nightmare Moon stood over Dark Amber's grave and held the vial in her magic. "If this works, every ghost and spirit in Ponyville will be free, and your curse will finally end." She said as she dropped the blood over the grave, and as the blood soaked into the earth, Nightmare cast a curse breaking spell, aiming for the last barrier of the curse.

And while the spell was cast perfectly, it did little to the barrier, only a slight dent in its potency, Nightmare Moon sighed to herself. 'Alecia was right, it didn't work, it must be linked to her brothers bloodline specifically then, but the likelihood of any surviving members of his bloodline are next to none.' She thought to herself before shaking her head.

Nightmare then walked away from the grave and out of the graveyard, deep in thought. 'The only hope we have of finding any living descendent slides with Celestia, and that is not reliable, I can't trust that she will help considering our past.' She paused at the entrance to the graveyard. "But if she knows I'm alive, she won't have any reason NOT to help Alecia, as I won't be a factor anymore." She said quietly before walking towards the town.

'My best option right now is to talk with her student, she can help me to figure something out......hold on, I'm alive, which means.' She looked around and saw that the townsfolk were staring at her in shock, she narrowed her eyes and continued walking, ignoring them. "I should have worn an illusion." She said to herself.

_____*The Golden Oaks Library.*_____

Rarity laid back on the couch tiredly, having been exhausted from using the Elements with her friends to defeat Discord, she looked around the room, Fluttershy was leaning on Applejack in the middle of the room, Pinkie Pie had collapsed and passed out in the corner, Twilight was obviously just as tired as the rest of them but refused to rest, and Rainbow Dash had dragged a cloud inside to sleep on.

If it weren't for the circumstances, Rarity would have smiled, the only thing that did worry her was that she had no idea where her sister was, and that she didn't have the energy to look for her even if she got up.

Twilight seemed to be searching for something in her books when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Twilight said tiredly, stumbling as she turned around.

Rarity immediately stood up, forcing herself to move. "No, don't, I'll go, you need to rest." She stated while walking.

After a short while, Rarity made it to the door and opened it. "Hello?" She asked before looking at who opened it.

Nightmare Moon stood in the door way menacingly, or it was just her eyes, either way, Rarity greeted her. "This is a surprise." The unicorn said quietly before letting her in. "How are you feeling?" She asked politely.

"I am alive again, which is more than can be said for our friend." Nightmare replied, and from her dejected tone, it was clear who she was talking about.

Rarity's eyes widened. "You mean Alecia is?...." Seeing the sad nod from the Alicorn, Rarity held in tears, she took a few deep breaths and worked on calming herself down.

Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon approached Twilight Sparkle, she was careful not to step on anything or either Applejack or Fluttershy.

Twilight looked up at Nightmare and put the book she was holding in her magic away. "Um.....hello Nightmare Moon?" She said, unsure of what to say.

Nightmare breathed and relaxed herself as she spoke. "I need you to send a letter to Celestia." She said simply.

Twilight could only blink in response. "What?" She asked out of surprise.

"Must I repeat myself?" Nightmare asked impatiently.

Twilight shook her head clear. "No no, not necessary, I was just....surprised." She said before using her magic to float a scroll and a quill over.

"Am I to assume Spike sends the letters through dragon fire?" Nightmare asked, raising an eyebrow, seeing Twilight nod, she spoke again while taking the items. "When there is time, send this for me." She said while simultaneously writing her letter.

Meanwhile, Applejack watched Nightmare while trying to shield Fluttershy discreetly, she didn't speak but Rarity did that for her. "How is Sweetie Belle?" The mare asked.

"I don't know." Nightmare replied calmly, Rarity saddened at the news. "She went to find her friend Scootaloo, but she never came back, she might be back at the house now though." She added before closing the scroll and sealed it, she then passed it to Twilight. "Here, I need to check on Alecia." She stated before teleporting away.

A soft groan came from the cloud and a voice followed. "Am I going nuts, or was Nightmare Moon here?" Rainbow asked sleepily.

"Rainbow." Applejack said.

"Yea?" The Pegasus asked.

"Go back to sleep." The farm mare said with irritation before laying her head down.

Rainbow peeked over her cloud and then grunted. "Fine." She said before laying her head down again.

"Is it just me though, or was the backlash from the Elements a lot rougher this time?" Rarity asked her friends.

Fluttershy nodded. "It did take a lot out of us this time." She whispered tiredly.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her eyes, putting Nightmare's message with her report to Princess Celestia. "I think we all just need some sleep, I have a futon and a spare bed upstairs, and if need be I have a cot somewhere around here." She yawned and sleepily made her way to the stairs.

"Twilight wait." Rarity said, walking over, the tired unicorn looked at her friend, clearly dead on her feet. "Why don't you just go upstairs and get some rest? I'll make sure everypony gets some rest." She said, even though she felt exhausted, she still chose to do this.

At first the lavender unicorn didn't reply, but eventually nodded. "Sounds good." She said nothing else before heading upstairs.

Rarity looked back at the others and saw that they were all asleep, she shook her head and smiled a little before walking to the storage room behind the stairs, where she found a cot and some blankets.

Using her magic, Rarity lifted Pinkie Pie and placed her on the cot and placing blankets on all her friends, she rubbed her eyes and walked to the couch, she used her magic and turned off the lights before falling asleep.

______*Meanwhile*______

"Are you sure you are alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.

An annoyed sigh came in response. "Yes, Sweetie Belle, for the third time, I am fine, I'm not feeling vertigo now, and I am not hurt, a little cramped, but not hurt." Scootaloo said in reply.

Sweetie Belle looked down and chuckled nervously. "Yea, I guess, but considering this? I think I'm justified in asking that." She replied.

Both of the fillies were stuck up a very large tree on the border of the Everfree, during his mayhem spree, Discord had given Scootaloo flight of a sort, but he gave her no control over it, so when Sweetie Belle managed to grab hold in an attempt to stop her flight, she got pulled along for the ride and when the magic ended, they ended up at the very top of the tree in a tangled mess of branches, leaves, tree sap and being stuck together with said sap, unable to break free.

"So, how long until somepony comes to help us?" Scootaloo asked. "Are you sure your uh......friends? will be here?" She asked, not sure of what to say.

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I know it's crazy, but I wasn't lying when I told you they would help out, they will be here." She replied in her own annoyed tone, she had told her Pegasus friend that she had two ghosts living in her sisters house that she befriended.

"Well, do you blame me for being skeptical?" Scootaloo asked, barely shifting her head, making Sweetie Belle right fore hoof turn with her.

Sweetie Belle shifted her head a little to look at her friend. "No, but I wish you would have a little more faith in them." She replied before moving her head back to a more comfortable spot.

Scootaloo huffed. "Imaginary ghost friends are something that little foals come up with, not for-"

"We are imaginary now are we?" Came an authoritative voice from nearby. "Not very nice are you little filly?" The voice was feminine but commanding.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle managed to look to the right and saw none other than Nightmare Moon flying next to their tree. "Nightmare Moon!?" Scootaloo cried out before trying to break free.

The Alicorn raised an eyebrow. "You took advantage of Discord's return to come back haven't you!" The young filly snapped.

Nightmare sighed and lit her horn, her magic silencing the filly as she cleared the sap off of them and slowly pulled them away from the tree. "In a way, yes." She stated before looking at Sweetie Belle. "Your sister is at the library sleeping, I will fill you in on the rest later." She said before looking at an angry Scootaloo. "And you little filly need to learn some respect for your elders." She said as she gently lowered the white unicorn filly to the ground and removing her silencing spell.

Scootaloo crossed her arms and glared at Nightmare Moon. "Now, I will forgive your rudeness and lower you back to the ground, or you can stay up in this tree and either try to get down yourself, or wait for hours or possibly days until somepony comes and helps you." The Alicorn stated calmly.

Sweetie Belle could not make the conversation up from the ground, so she just had to watch and wait. "Come on, hurry up." She thought.

Scootaloo glanced at Nightmare Moon but eventually sighed. "Alright......can you please get me down from here?" She practically forced herself to say.

Nightmare smirked in victory and lowered the filly down to the ground and flew down to land, when she did so she spoke. "Now, I don't know if you two are aware, but Discord has been defeated, so everything is returning to normal, but try to keep things quiet for a while so the town can properly recover." Nightmare said before turning around and walking off.

Sweetie Belle started to follow Nightmare, but after a few steps, she looked back at Scootaloo. "You coming?" She asked.

The Pegasus stiffened before blinking and looking at her friend. "I uh......yea." She said, catiously following, she caught up to Sweetie Belle and whispered quietly. "If only to keep an eye on her." She said.

Sweetie Belle shook her head as she walked. "Whatever works for you." She replied.

The walk back was mostly uneventful, the townsponies still avoided Nightmare Moon with obvious fear, and they seemed angry that she had two fillies following her, but they eventually made it back to the house. "Alecia! we're back!" Sweetie Belle called out.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "Fair warning, she wasn't happy when I left." Nightmare said while waiting.

Sweetie Belle looked at Nightmare. "What do you mean? why was she mad?" She asked.

"Probably this." Came Alecia's voice, Sweetie Belle turned around with a smile.....that promptly dropped and she ran up to her ghostly friend. "How did this happen?" Asked the filly.

"Discord probably, she became a ghost again, and I kept my life.......it's a cruel joke on his part." Nightmare said as Alecia remained silent.

Scootaloo was confused, as Sweetie Belle and Nightmare were talking to a wall. "Why are you talking to a wall?" She asked.

Nightmare sighed. "Right, I forgot you can't see the dead, Sweetie Belle....show your friend your eye." She said calmly.

Sweetie Belle turned around and Scootaloo saw her now pale blue right eye with white mist. "What......what is that?" The Pegasus asked, her voice filled with slight fear.

"Spectral vision." Nightmare answered for the filly. "It allows the caster to see the dead for the rest of their life, but at the risk of a random memory, Sweetie Belle and Rarity cast it on themselves before Twilight Sparkle made her improved risk free version, the rest of the details Sweetie Belle can fill you in on later." Nightmare explained.

Alecia looked at Scootaloo. "That kid looks a lot like Rainbow Dash now that I think about it." She said. "If that mare were younger anyway." She added for clarity, she then looked at Sweetie Belle who was looking at her. "I'll be fine, it's no big deal." She said even though she did feel hurt. The ghost then ruffled Sweetie Belle's mane.

"But still.....Alecia, you were alive again! I'm sorry this happened to you." Sweetie Belle said, a sad look in her eye as she looked down.

Scootaloo could only watch as a conversation unfolded, seeming to be one sided, but whenever she began to doubt the reality of her situation, something unseen would do something, whether it was ruffle her friends mane, or flick a small pebble.

Sweetie Belle eventually looked at Scootaloo. "Do you.......want to see her?" She asked curiously, standing up.

At this, Scootaloo thought more about something than ever before, weighing the pros and cons of this situation, on one hoof, if it worked, it meant that her friend wasn't crazy, or at least as sane as could be considering who she was friends with at the moment, and she would be able to see ghosts, which was possibly an upside, on the other hoof however, if it didn't work then it would mean that Sweetie Belle was seeing things and quite possibly crazy.

Eventually Nightmare sighed. "Think it over and decide some other time." She said simply.

With that, Scootaloo said farewell to her friend and left, clearly being given much to think about.

Alecia leaned her head back on the wall. "Look, me being dead isn't the issue right now, the real problem is life, everyday life that can do anything at the drop of a hat." She stated calmly. "Now, I think we should just let things get settled down, and then worry about everything else, breaking my curse isn't a priority after all." She added.

Nightmare was the next to speak. "Except for the fact that you are draining Rarity's life away with proximity." She countered.

"Why does that happen anyway? can't you stop it somehow?" Sweetie Belle asked, trying to come up with something as she paced around.

Alecia shook her head sadly and rubbed her eyes, she looked at the white furred unicorn filly, the girl who had been her friend since they met. "I never wanted that, something about me drains her life force, which is why she is always so tired, as for stopping it? I wouldn't even know how." She replied, holding her hand in front of her face. "I should have told you the second I figured it out, I......I-I'm sorry." She lowered her head and hand, she closed her eyes.

"Don't be sorry, you didn't know it was happening." Sweetie Belle said in a compassionate tone, she knelt down and placed a hoof over where Alecia's right hand was. "Please stop hurting yourself over this and try to relax, if you don't, you won't ever find out how to stop it from happening." She said with a smile.

Nightmare Moon nodded and walked to the window, where she stared outside in deep thought. 'Truthfully, the only one who has to worry is me, because I have no way of knowing how Celestia and Luna will react to me being alive.' She looked back and saw Alecia standing up before following Sweetie Belle with a hint of reluctance, the sight made her smile a little.

'It is not much, but this is worth the risk I think.' She thought to herself before closing the curtains.

______*Canterlot*______

Celestia was alone reading in her private study trying to relax, she took a sip of her tea and continued reading the report on major events outside of Canterlot, and just as she finished reading about a small dragon sighting in Fillydelphia, the door to her study was violently thrown open followed by a loud voice.

"She hath returned!" Luna shouted, almost using the Royal Canterlot Voice, Celestia barely reacted and sipped her tea again, she set the scroll down and spoke. "Who has Lulu?" She asked curiously.

"Nightmare Moon! I should have known that she was scheming to return to life somehow! she cannot be trusted!" Luna practically shouted each word, thankfully Celestia had a strong soundproofing spell up that she cast the second her sister entered the room.

Celestia took a deep breath and stood up, she looked at her sister. "As startling as that news is sister, are you certain? Discord may have pulled some pretty severe pranks on our ponies, and they may just be reporting them as-" Celestia did not finish her sentence as a pair of scrolls arrived through dragon fire. "Ah, Twilight's report.....and what is this?" She asked herself as she looked at the second scroll.

The second scroll had a basic seal, instead of Twilight's, but if she sent it it had to be important. "Read the report sister, it may reveal the truth." Luna said, oddly calm now.

Celestia nodded and opened the first scroll from Twilight, she quickly read it over and was in fact pleased with it, but saw no mention of Nightmare Moon, she then set it down on her deck and then opened the second scroll, and she instantly understood.

Luna raised an eyebrow as Celestia passed the scroll to her, and she read it for herself.

'Celestia, Luna, if you are wondering who wrote this it was me, Nightmare Moon, I'm certain rumors have spread about me being alive, and I have written to inform you it is very true, Discord may have believed that this would be amusing, but I do not think so, if you wish to discuss this, you will have to come to Ponyville because I will not risk leaving while the curse remains, as for the Element Bearers, do not be concerned about them, they are alright, tired but alright.

Sincerely, Nightmare Moon.'

"Sister, I will go." Luna stated firmly.

Celestia set the scroll aside and looked at her sister. "And do what Luna? confront Nightmare Moon? you have not fully recovered yet and it's possible her strength has fully returned." She said, curious about her sisters intention.

Luna walked to the door and opened it. "I shall visit Ponyville, and I shall learn of her intentions myself, your student may be of assistance." She replied as she left the study.

Nightmare's Nightmare Night.

Author's Notes:

I actually finished this on the 29th, but I wanted to wait for today.

As the name suggests, this is the Nightmare Night chapter, so I will say this right now.

I apologize if I get any of the costumes wrong, but I really don't want to look into the episode and memorize them all.

Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN/HALLOWS EVE!

_____*Ponyville, the next day, Rarity's house, 2:00 PM.*_____

Rarity was in her living room with Nightmare Moon, Sweetie Belle and Alecia, she laid down on her couch and said nothing as she stared at the silent ghost in the room.

At first everything seemed to be getting better, but once she stepped inside her house, Alecia told her everything, that being her unintentionally draining her life force just through proximity, not once however did Nightmare Moon speak, nor did Sweetie Belle.

Discord's little joke apparently made Alecia realize a lot of things, it also opened everyone's eyes to much, and judging by the fact that Sweetie Belle didn't react to the ghost's explanation, that meant that she either heard about it from Discord, or had it explained to her the previous day at some point.

After a few minutes however, Alecia spoke. "Well? won't you say anything?" She asked.

Rarity got off the couch and stretched a little. "Am I the only one being drained?" She asked, surprising the ghost.

".....As far as I know? yes." Alecia replied.

Rarity looked at her. "And it's caused by proximity correct?" She asked.

Alecia nodded sadly, and Rarity sighed. "The answer is simple then, we have to keep our distance until we can do something about this situation, and since it obviously doesn't affect me when I sleep in the boutique, I can start staying there." She replied as she walked to the family room.

"But Rarity......." Alecia said, unsure, she then took a deep breath and spoke. "This is YOUR home, I'll go, I've been cooped up for six centuries, I think it'll do me some good to sleep elsewhere." The ghost said.

Nightmare looked at Rarity. "It's possible we are overreacting, after all it is possible that Discord's defeat stopped the life drain on you." She suggested.

Sweetie Belle spoke up next. "That's right! he did seem angry about that so maybe it isn't a problem anymore?" She added hopefully.

Rarity and Alecia shared a look for a moment before sighing. "We will give it a couple of days then, besides, you may be right and we are just overreacting." She said before walking into the family room.

______*A week later, 5:29 PM.*______

Nightmare walked through the town with a perplexed expression, she knew the pink mare was odd, and she also knew that she was a party planner and enjoyed them greatly, but never before had she considered the mare strange enough to ask for her help practicing a retreat.

She was doubly surprised when the pink mare was at the agreed location with a group of foals and shouted.

"Nightmare Moon! RUN!" She shouted before running away with the foals, leaving Nightmare Moon confused and slightly concerned, not for herself mind you, but for the pink mare's mental health. 'Why would she invite me if only to run away the moment she saw me?' She wondered.

After that the Alicorn simply decided to walk around to better acclimate herself, having never properly explored the country town.

The town was decorated passionately with pumpkins, skeletons, mummies, zombies, witches, many of the townsfolk were dressed up and wearing what appeared to be costumes.

After a half hour, Nightmare Moon had managed to find a resident of the town that didn't hide from her, and discovered what was going on.

Today was known as Nightmare Night, a holiday to celebrate the supernatural, wear costumes and go trick or treating, and then a thought came to her mind. 'If Luna shows up, how long until things go wrong? what will she do? or attempt to do?' She found herself wondering.

Nightmare briefly considered the possibility that she had been pranked or something, but decided against it as no one seemed to be laughing, and after a while she stopped thinking about it, simply finding herself enjoying a relatively peaceful walk.

That thought itself made Nightmare stop walking, she looked up at the sky, knowing that Celestia would be lowering the sun soon, she chuckled to herself as she almost unintentionally cast the spell to raise the moon. "Old habits die hard i suppose." She said before walking again. 'The last time I went for a walk like this was a thousand years ago, and my friend.......' She shook her head and sighed. 'No, I can't think about that now, the past is the past, I can't change it.' She told herself.

For a few minutes however, Nightmare was unable to stop her eyes from tearing up, so she kept to herself in the park.

_____*meanwhile*_____

Rarity walked to the living room and noticed Alecia looking outside again. "Sweetie Belle is excited for Nightmare Night this year." She stated, slightly spooking Rarity.

"I wish you would stop doing that Alecia." Rarity said as she steadied her heart.

Alecia turned around with a smirk. "I have to unsettle you somehow, if I don't do it, who will?" She asked.

Rarity sighed. "You do realize that I don't need to be-" She was cut off as a knock came from the front door.

The unicorn walked to the front door and opened it with her magic, on the other side were Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "Hello girls, what brings you here?" She asked.

"Actually I wanted to talk to Nightmare and Alecia a little bit before we go get ready for tonight, everypony else just tagged along for some reason." She said, looking at her friends.

Alecia looked over at them. "Nightmare isn't here, but why did you want to talk to me?" She asked.

Rarity pulled her friends aside and allowed Twilight to talk to Alecia. "I just wanted to clarify a few things with you while I can, about the humans." She said,

Alecia raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest?" She asked.

"Well......I think it would be tragic if humans weren't remembered in any way, most species don't believe your kind existed, and unfortunately there are barely any surviving records, I just want to preserve what I can." She answered truthfully.

Alecia blinked and crossed her arms, gaining a calm expression. "Some other time, I plan on enjoying Nightmare Night this year......speaking of which, here's a fact, humans celebrated Hallows End, a more mild and somber night then this one, but very meaningful." She explained. "It was created to celebrate the fallen dead after the great battle of Gallows Gorge, in which two great armies of humans fought for days, but the last clash ended the battle In a stalemate." She added.

Twilight seemed to pratically absorb the knowledge in her mind for later use, but before she could speak, Rainbow Dash spoke. "Oh pony feathers." She said.

"What is it?" Rarity asked, everyone now looking over.

Rainbow Dash sighed to herself. "Nightmare Night is the perfect night for pranking and scaring others, Alecia would be perfect for it, but nopony can see her!" She complained, now kind of bummed out.

Alecia raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that anyone see me tonight right?" She asked, shocking them all with her statement.

"I'm sorry......what?" Rarity asked in a strangely calm voice.

Alecia rolled her eyes and walked to the steps, she sat down before speaking. "It's not that big a deal, it's just that tonight specifically, ghosts and spirits can be seen by everyone, once a year isn't much to talk about after all." She said with a shrug. "Either way I should be able to help out with pranks, it'll give me something to do." She stated.

As Rainbow seemed to mentally celebrate having a pranking buddy for the night, Alecia grinned. "But I am soooo going to scare you all, you have been warned." She said.

"I'd like to see you try." Rainbow Dash dared confidently and with a smug expression.

The only reply that she got was a large grin without words, and the look in the ghosts eyes practically screamed 'challenge accepted'.

A few more minutes later and the other mares left the house, Rarity looked at Alecia. "I'm going to go find Sweetie Belle, will you be alright until I get back?" She asked out of concern.

Alecia smiled. "Dead....can't get worse Rarity, I'll manage." She replied before vanishing with a haunted laugh.

______*later, 7:13 PM*______

Rarity smiled as she finished helping Sweetie Belle with her costume, she was going as a mummy this year and needed help getting the wrappings to stay on.

Rarity herself was going as a Witch, complete with the pointy black hat, black robe and dark purple highlights, and even though she wasn't a fan of black, Rarity had to admit that the outfit turned out great.

Nightmare Moon was working on a costume upstairs, or a disguise as she put it, and Alecia was floating in the living room, claiming that she could look different In a single second.

Rarity looked at Alecia. "Are you ready?" She asked the ghost.

Alecia looked over at the mare and nodded. "Yea, give me a second to change." She closed her eyes and vanished.

For a few moments both Rarity and Sweetie Belle looked around for their friend, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Judging by your expressions, I'm guessing that Alecia is finally getting ready?" Nightmare's voice asked.

Sweetie Belle and Rarity looked at the stairs and they shared a look of surprise, Nightmare's 'disguise' was that of a dull gray Pegasus with a silver colored mane and a cutie mark of a full moon with the Mare In The Moon on it, cyan cat-like eyes, pointed ears and short fangs. "Nightmare Moon? is that you?" The filly asked in wonder.

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Of course it is, well? what do you think?" She asked, slowly turning in a circle.

"You look great Nightmare." Rarity replied with a smile, her sister nodded eagerly and with a large smile of her own as she ran up to get a closer look.

Nightmare could not help but let out a smile as she watched Sweetie Belle look her over, apparently checking to see if she was hallucinating. "You are not seeing things Sweetie Belle, this is no illusion, it is a special spell that I use to avoid unwanted attention." She explained.

"Can you teach me!?" The filly asked eagerly and with barely contained energy.

Nightmare glanced at Rarity, who simply chuckled and kept herself from laughing, the now Pegasus looked at the filly. "It is a difficult spell you realize, and you need to work on your magic, but you should be able to cast it one day." She stated.

Sweetie Belle practically bounced with joy and soon Nightmare Moon spoke. "Now, where is Alecia at I wonder?" She asked no one in particular.

"Yea yea I got it." Said the voice of the ghost as she appeared nearby, the others looked at her and were surprised at her choice.

Alecia's costume was not what they expected in the least, she wore dark brown leather pants with gray vine patterns all over, a gray hooded tunic with a dark brown leather chest piece over it with matching gray vine patterns, sleeves all the way up to her wrists and the same leather acting as arm and forearm guards, she wore a pair of boots that were dark gray in color.

The largest change was her normal features, her hair was gray with faded red highlights, it was now shoulder length as opposed to its usual length of just above the jawline, dull purple eyes with a faint gray mist in them, and she no longer had black lightning dancing across her body, but most of all, she looked very much alive, if not for the slight transparency of her body.

The ghost had a large grin on her face. "What? surprised at my change?" She asked teasingly.

"Well.......it's a little overwhelming." Rarity said first.

Nightmare nodded slowly. "Yes, very intimidating, it looks great on you though." She said with a nod.

Alecia looked at Sweetie Belle who looked at her with a stunned expression, she chuckled before grabbing her hood and throwing it over her head. "Come on, if we stay here we will miss out on all the fun." She said before walking to the door.

Sweetie Belle watched with curiosity as Nightmare spoke. "She's right, let's go." Said the Alicorn.

______*Ponyville, ten minutes later.*______

To say that Alecia turned a few heads was an understatement, the townsponies were shocked to discover that ghosts were real when they asked about her, but some seemed to be relieved at the news, Rarity explained this as the rumor that her house was haunted has been around since before her grandfather married her grandmother.

After a while they met up with Twilight who was dressed up as Starswirl the Bearded, who Alecia promptly asked about briefly before leaving to find Rainbow Dash, of course, that was after Nightmare Moon stopped Twilight's lecture mode by saying that he was a very skilled wizard a thousand years ago.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle went off to enjoy the night together and searched for things to do, Nightmare Moon decided to stick around Twilight for a while. "How are you enjoying the night so far?" Nightmare asked out of curiosity.

"It's been fun, I haven't enjoyed a holiday this much in a very long time." Twilight replied.

Nightmare Moon took in a deep breath of the cool night air and sighed, she looked up at the stars and smiled. "Luna has done a fantastic job with the stars tonight hasn't she?" She said as she walked with the Element of magic.

Twilight looked at Nightmare Moon. "Don't you have the same powers as Luna?" She asked curiously yet cautiously

Nightmare Moon nodded and looked at Twilight. "Yes, but we do have spells unique to either of us." She answered before looking forward again.

Twilight took a deep breath, deciding to push her luck a little further. "Now that you're back.....are you going to return to ruling?" She asked hesitantly, not wishing to anger Nightmare Moon.

"No, I've had my share of that, and from what I've heard, things have only gotten worse in Canterlot." Nightmare Moon replied before blinking. "Speaking of Luna." She whispered.

Twilight looked up and saw Luna flying down with her Night Guard and in her chariot, and Nightmare was passive through it all, the unicorn meanwhile was shocked as were many locals at the princess's sudden arrival.

Luna soon landed and sent her guards away, she then promptly greeted the town In her Royal Canterlot voice, Twilight held her ears and Nightmare sighed. "Of course Celestia forgot to mention that little detail." She said to herself.

The two walked over, one with the intention to get her to stop using the loud voice, and the other with the intention to say hello.

Luna noticed Twilight and Nightmare approaching and almost used the Royal voice, but Nightmare held her hoof up. "You don't have to use that voice Luna, it hasn't been used for centuries." She said with slight irritation.

Twilight, still feeling her ears slightly ringing, rubbed it a little to help ease its pain. "I apologize, I am still not accustomed to modern society." Luna replied as she looked around, the townsponies seemed to go back to enjoying their night.

"Well, not using the Royal Canterlot Voice would go a long way in catching up.....so how has your night been?" Nightmare asked.

Luna looked at the Pegasus and immediately recognized her. "Twas good, Nightmare Moon." She said in a tense voice.

Nightmare rolled her eyes and went to speak, but just as she did, Pinkie Pie could be heard. "NIGHTMARE MOON! RUN!" She shouted, she was seen running away with a pack of fillies and colts with her.

Luna's expression saddened as she sighed. "It would seem that even here, the ponies of Equestria fear me, but why would the Element of Laughter run from me?" She asked, the question was not directed at anypony.

"Don't know, she's been doing that all day whenever she saw me." Nightmare replied.

Luna glared at Nightmare who shrugged nonchalantly. "Alright I get it, I know when I'm not wanted.....might as well go see what Alecia is up too." She said before flying off at a relaxed pace.

Twilight looked at Luna who watched Nightmare intently before calming down. "Do you....hate Nightmare that much princess Luna?" The unicorn asked.

Luna looked down at Twilight and sighed. "I.....do not know anymore, I will never forgive her for taking years of my life away, but she has paid for her crimes in more ways than one." She said, unsure of what to decide. "Let us change the subject. I do not wish to discuss the Nightmare." She stated, as though it were her final word on the subject.

______*Elsewhere, ten minutes later.*_____

Nightmare greatly enjoyed the show that Zecora put on, telling the tale of Nightmare Night, and while the Alicorn was completely certain that it was far from the truth, she had to admit that a yearly tribute of candy was tempting, she shook her head and looked up at the sky, but just as she did she noticed a dark cloud move across the sky, and on top of it was a prismatic maned mare wearing a Shadowbolt costume. "Well now, someone did like the Shadowbolts after all, liar." She smiled and got up off the bench and took flight.

"Let's see what she's doing." She muttered as she flew closer.

As Nightmare grew closer to Rainbow Dash, she saw Alecia down on the ground talking to Rarity, curious, she hid nearby and watched, close enough to hear them.

"How's your night been Rarity?" Alecia asked in a calm tone.

Rarity smiled. "It's been great so far, Sweetie Belle and myself won a few prizes at the local games, saw Zecora's show and went trick or treating for a while, then she found her friends and went off with them while screaming that Nightmare Moon was back." She rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie has a strange way of finding fun for others, but doesn't she realize it is a bit rude?" She asked.

Alecia shrugged. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but the holiday does seem to revolve around Nightmare being the villain who strikes unless appeased with tribute, maybe it's a game?" She suggested.

"It must be, otherwise she wouldn't be-GAH!" She cried out as a bolt of lightning zapped her, not fatally, but enough to cause a sudden jolt, it was followed by hysterical laughing from Alecia and Rainbow Dash. "You two!" Rarity growled before walking off in annoyance.

Rainbow flew down and Alecia held her hand up. "One down!" She said.

"Four to go!" Rainbow replied, high fiving the ghost.

Nightmare stifled a laugh as she silently flew up to the cloud that Rainbow had been using as the two discussed who to target next, she landed on the cloud silently and carefully aimed it, and with one swift motion, made the cloud shoot lightning at Rainbow, it struck and the mare yelped loudly in shock as she jumped.

Alecia looked up at the cloud and grinned. "Nice one Nightmare! but it doesn't count as mine!" She shouted.

Almost instantly, Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Nightmare on the cloud, she flew up with her incredible speed and glared at her for a few seconds, she soon grinned. "You ain't half bad, you know that?" She said, landing on the cloud.

"What do you mean?" Nightmare asked, confused.

Rainbow placed a hoof on Nightmare's shoulder. "Anypony that enjoys a prank like that is good, but the fact that you didn't actually hurt me? that's proof enough for me." She said as she repositioned herself and started to move the cloud.

Nightmare lifted herself off the cloud and looked at Alecia who floated up. "What did she mean by that?" She asked, still confused.

Alecia shook her head. "Whether or not you can be trusted, you are dense sometimes." The ghost replied teasingly before vanishing with a ghostly and evil laugh.

Nightmare Moon simply floated in the air for a while before blinking. "I.....can be trusted?" She asked herself curiously.

______*later.*______

Nightmare Moon had discovered Pinkie's reason for running off screaming all the time......it was fun apparently, and it was a game of sorts, one that could use some refinement, but a game nonetheless.

Apparently they had to avoid 'Nightmare Moon' while trick or treating, and then they would place their tribute at a statue of her that was In a small grove nearby.

'Flattering, yet somewhat concerning.' She noted.

After a while, Nightmare Moon found Twilight who said she needed to find Luna and explain everything to the Alicorn, they searched for her quickly and thankfully the lunar Alicorn was not very difficult to find surprisingly.

Luna did not appear to be up for conversation, but after Twilight explained why they were running away, Nightmare finally spoke up. "It's getting close to tribute time, better get going and be ready for them." She said before spreading her wings and hovering. "After all, who better than the original to do the scaring?" She asked before flying off.

Twilight and Luna watched Nightmare fly off again, but this time Luna didn't seem very hostile. "Perhaps I should go as well, if only to keep her in check." She said before flying off, Twilight headed to the statue on foot, taking her time as she made her way.

_____*around ten minutes later.*______

Nightmare found it a simple task to conceal herself within the statue, but just for extra flare, she darkened the surrounding area a little more, to give the area a much needed intimidation effect, but not enough to scare them away,

Soon enough, a bunch of fillies and colts arrived at the statue site, led by a few mares and stallions, just as they neared the statue, Nightmare sprung into action, she used her spell and made the dark blue mist appear in the statues eyes as she spoke in an eerie voice, sending chills down the spines of the fillies and colts, as well as the mares and stallions. "Doom and terror stalk your town, gloom and fear abound, a tribute worthy you need, an offering from thee in need." She declared dramatically as she manifested in front of the statue in all her glory, her dark azure armor adorned her body, and her eyes shining bright in the night.

There was initial surprise from them all at first, but pretty soon the fillies and colts seemed to be even more excited and offered their buckets to Nightmare, the mares and stallions seemed on edge as they waited, but Pinkie seemed to keep them from doing anything, silently telling them to wait and see.

Nightmare mentally smiled as she counted them all, not moving at first. 'Twelve in total, seven fillies and five colts, twelve baskets.' Her horn lit up and she scanned the contents of the buckets, she eventually decided.

All at once, one piece of candy from each bucket lifted into the air, held by Nightmare's magic aura. "Hmm.....thy tribute is....." She trailed off in an unsure tone, using her diplomacy to hide her expression, she unwrapped a small chocolate coin and deliberately ate it slowly to give off an air of suspense, the chocolate was very good, no too sweet and not too soft, and just as she finished it, she used her magic to transform back into her Pegasus form. "Worthy." She declared with a satisfied smile.

The response was heartwarming to be sure, if the cheering fillies and colts were anything to go by, the adults didn't seem to approve however, as they gave Nightmare mock glares, silently revealing that they usually took the 'tribute' and split it to avoid the kids eating all the candy.

Nightmare saw a familiar Earth Pony filly approach, she was dressed as a vampire with the fake fangs to match. "Does this mean Nightmare Moon won't be scaring the town each year?" She asked, she seemed upset at the idea of losing the local tradition.

The Alicorn knelt down. "Nightmare Moon will be satisfied until next Nightmare Night, for each year her hunger returns, and then you must hide again, until then you are safe." She replied.

The answer seemed to satisfy the fillies and colts, as they eagerly ran off with their candy in tow, as well as the mares and stallions.......and Pinkie Pie.

Nightmare smiled as she sat down and laughed to herself quietly. "Luna, Twilight, come join me, there is no reason to hide." She said, looking at the pathway out.

The ponies in question soon emerged and Nightmare spoke again. "You know, I haven't enjoyed myself this much in a very long time." She said as she passed a few candies to each of them.

Luna sat down across from Nightmare and Twilight in between them, acting as a mediator. "Nightmare Moon, what exactly is your plan, now that you are alive?" The lunar Alicorn asked.

"Enjoy life, ruling a nation sucked, as much as I tried to help I only made things worse, I believe you and Celestia can do better than I can." Nightmare replied simply.

Luna rolled her eyes. "You did not seem to mind attempting to take over when you came back, what happened?" She asked.

"I died, that gave me time to think, as opposed to being stuck on the moon alone with my thoughts and anger, I had three individuals in particular help me realize that I was being irrational." Nightmare said as she chewed on some gum.

Twilight spoke next. "I know I still don't fully understand how friendship works, but I am glad that you found friends Nightmare Moon." She said with a smile.

The Pegaus nodded. "I suppose I have, but there is one important thing I would like to get out of the way." She said, standing up.

Luna raised an eyebrow while silently preparing magical defenses just in case. "And what would that be?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon held out her hoof to Luna. "Truce?" She offered.

Luna blinked, completely caught off guard, having just been expecting an attack after gaining Twilight's trust. "A what?" She asked.

"You heard me." Nightmare replied.

Luna stared at Nightmare's hoof for a while before standing up, she sighed to herself. "Very well, if the Elements and Tia are giving you a chance, then so shall I, but should you harm any of my little ponies, I will claim vengeance." She declared as she shook Nightmare's hoof.

Twilight smiled at this and stood up, and while the two Alicorns walked off, she wrote her report to Princess Celestia, she finished it and teleported it back to the library, unfortunately for her, just after she teleported it, a noise came from the trees behind her, the unicorn looked back with concern for a moment being shaking her head. "I'm going nuts here." She said to herself as she looked forward......into two dull purple eyes. "Boo!" Said the ghost of Alecia.

Twilight jumped back in fear and panted as Alecia laughed madly. "Will you stop that already!?" She snapped.

Alecia slowly managed her laughing down to a point where she could speak. "Don't worry, I just need to scare Rainbow now, see you Sparky." She said before vanishing.

Twilight sighed and quickly caught up to Nightmare Moon and Luna, saying nothing of the incident.

The rest of the night however went very well, some fillies and colts offered additional candy to both Luna and Nightmare Moon, they accepted the offer graciously and even participated in some of the games and ate some of the food, and when it was finally time for Luna to return to Canterlot, Nightmare saw her off and then walked to the center of town.

Rarity and her friends were there, as were Alecia and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Nightmare joined them and they all talked about their night, it seemed like this was a very successful night for everyone, even the ghost of the group, who both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were both shocked and amazed with.

However, just as everyone seemed ready to head home, Alecia spoke. "By the way, Rainbow Dash." She looked up at the Pegasus.

Rainbow looked at Alecia. "What?" She asked.

Alecia grinned widely and crossed her arms as she leaned up against the fountain. "I'm still going to scare you, I got everyone else, so it's just you." She stated ominously.

"Well.......it won't be Nightmare Night then?.....Ha!" The Pegasus laughed smugly.

Alecia didn't lose her grin. "Well, why would I care? you live in Ponyville, so I can strike at any time." Twilight shrugged, as she joined in. "Technically all Rainbow has to do to avoid you is leave." She added.

"And where is the fun in that?" Alecia asked before vanishing, laughing manically, "I wish she would stop doing that." Rarity said to herself.

Nightmare nearly laughed at Rainbow Dash's expression, it was one of pure horror, knowing that now, at some point, Alecia was planning to scare her, and since she was a ghost, it was near impossible to stop her considering that Rainbow sleeps on a cloud most of the time, and lived in a cloud house.

In short, the prismatic mare only spoke two words, two words that made her regret inviting the ghost to go pranking.

"Ah buck."

.raw nettogroF

______*Ponyville, Golden Oaks library, two days later, 1:00 PM*______

Things went back to normal around the town quickly, the ponies got used to seeing Nightmare Moon around, though they treated her with caution, it was an improvement over outright fear.

Today was very cloudy and mildly cold, apparently the dark clouds and gloomy weather today was to make up for too much nice weather lately, and so many of the townsponies stayed indoors today.

Inside the library things were quiet, Twilight sat ready by some chairs and cushions and with a few long scrolls and plenty of quills and ink, Nightmare Moon sat on a cushion and was waiting on Alecia to begin.

Rarity and Spike were here as well, with Sweetie Belle at school, they along with Nightmare Moon were waiting for the ghost to tell her story.

Alecia floated around the room lazily and spoke as she did so. "Alright, where do you want to begin?" She asked no one in particular.

Twilight raised a scroll absently with her magic. "I think a good place to start would be to continue from where we left off." She replied easily.

Aleica frowned a little, but spoke anyway. "Very well, but before you know one story, you must know another." She said before telling her story.

______*Many years ago.*_____

The past of our world is shrouded in mystery, but if any knew of our origins, it was the people of the Shattenreich, or Shadow Kingdom, originally a mighty kingdom of dwarves, this land was rich and prosperous, magnificent structures such as fortresses, monuments and statues were built and maintained by the people, forges large and small created objects of great beauty, as well as unmatched weapons that never dulled.

The dwarves use of shadow magic drew the ire of their neighbors however, and eventually a war broke out across Equis.

The Shadow Dwarves as they were known, fought alongside their allies, the mighty dragons, against the whole of the world In a war that spanned two centuries, in this war, many civilizations fell and rose, some fell again, others thrived, but out of all races of Equis, only one had the decency to stay out of the war, and eventually sided with the dwarves, the Elves.

The Elves of Equis were graceful beings, who were known to be beacons of hope and light, as well as wise, their immortality gave them insight beyond the normal scope of mortals, and their armies were highly trained and equipped with armor and weapons just as magnificent as the dwarves.

Nearing the end of the war however, the dragons cut ties to their long time friends and allies, they took any willing dwarves with them into hiding, and then vanished, it was at this time that the dwarves and Elves were nearly spent, for even as powerful as they were, the two races were hopelessly outnumbered by their enemies.

In the final days, both Dwarves and Elves stood side by side in the last stronghold they held, they faced down against the last three races in the war against them, the Naga, the Satyr, and the Centuar, but thanks to the near indestructible walls of the Dwarves, and the enchantments of the Elves, they managed to buy time for one final act.......a gamble to save their peoples from extinction.

Using the Core of Shadow, a magical artifact older than the Dwarves themselves, the two races merged to become something greater than either, a race strong enough to fight back and reclaim their homelands, they became known as the Shadow Elves, they had the appearance of an Elf, with dark gray skin and a natural affinity for Shadow magic which they inherited from the Dwarves.

With their newfound powers, the Shadow Elves overcame their foes, and with the Core of Shadow, they were able to retake their homelands, and merged them to become one kingdom, as the years passed, the Shadow Elves defeated the Naga and Satyr, the Centaur race had somehow become extinct before they could invade.

The Shattenreich kept to itself after the wars, they returned to their lands and rebuilt, they could never go back to how things were, but they were able to try and move on, generation after generation.

Thousands of years passed by, and the Shadow Elves met a new race, it was undeniably young, but they showed promise, they met the human's of the third kingdom, who became allies and learned from them, mostly language and medicinal properties of herbs and various plants or weeds.

And that, is where the Lost Legion comes in, two hundred years after the founding of the alliance, many humans did not speak their language, and tensions were high, our company was created to ease those tensions, and almost everyone in the Lost Legion spoke the native tongue of the Shadow Elves, and many of us had family amongst them.

______*The present.*______

Twilight cleared her throat, interrupting the ghost. "May I ask a question?" She wondered.

Alecia nodded, the which Twilight asked. "Does this mean you are half Shadow Elf?"

"No, I grew up estranged from my family, the only one I ever really spoke to was my brother, so I grew up around the Shadow Elves, and one of their traditions is something similar to an adoption, so In short, I have two sets of parents." Alecia explained.

Twilight had a look on her face that said that her curiosity was piqued, but Nightmare Moon interjected. "Perhaps we should continued with the story?" She suggested.

Aleica nodded and continued telling her tale, while Twilight made a quick note to ask more later on.

______*centuries ago.*_____

After the Lost Legion got called to the front, we made sure we did some research on our enemy, it was the Diamond dog tribes just outside our borders, the war itself was nearing its end, and Commander Cory believed that we were sent just so we would do something other than peacekeeping.

It didn't take any longer than a week to finish up the war, and we were soon on the road again, where we belonged, no rules, no public image, we could be ourselves and enjoy life, it never lasted but nothing good does last forever after all.

One night we were visited by an imperial messenger, he gave us news that we were to report to the capital immediately and to prepare for a war, many of us were confused as we had just ended a war, so we were curious as to who we were fighting.

By the end of the week, Commander Cory and myself were invited to a ball at the palace where we would get our instructions, and while I was reluctant to go, I still went that night for Cory.

It was there that we heard from General Gratham, an older man who was still fit for battle, he told us exactly who we were fighting, and both me and the Commander were shocked at the news.

The Empire had gone to war with the Shattenreich, and we were being sent to fight our friends and family.

It took all my strength to keep from rampaging over this news, and when we gathered the Lost Legion and told them, there was no laughter, no joy or music, only the grim and defeated march of soldiers who had to do the unthinkable.

There was of course a very long debate on whether or not we should betray the Empire, but we knew we could not, because our families were on both sides of the conflict, and there was no way out of it.

So we marched, our footsteps like a sad drumbeat, we were silent as the grave as we made our way to what would soon become the first frontline against our people, the human village of Renma.

_______*The village of Renma.*_______

Alecia looked around at the now empty village, once full of life and love, now cold and empty. "Where is everyone?" Asked a blonde haired woman from behind Alecia.

Commander Cory walked forward and looked around, she sighed and looked at the blonde woman. "Either killed, captured or released." He said.

Alecia looked at the blonde woman and said nothing as the woman bit her lip and clenched her fist. "We don't have a choice, let's go set up in the village, it's better than doing nothing." She said as she walked towards the village with supplies on her back.

"All right everyone, you heard the captain, let's get moving!" Commander Cory said, he and the rest of the Legion moved into the village with their supplies.

Alecia led a group to the large tavern in the village, while the Commander led the rest of the officers to the town hall, the rest of the Legion spread out throughout the village.

The tavern, along with the rest of the village was relatively intact but empty, aside from some intact tables and chairs, and a large pile of broken chairs and tables strewn about the room, the tavern was in good shape.

Alecia and the others got to work setting the building up as the mess hall for the company, it took an hour or two, but it was done eventually, they had the broken wood set outside for firewood, they had cooking equipment to replace the broken or missing things in the back and they had plenty of bedrolls for them to sleep on.

Alecia looked around the tavern to see if anything was missing or broken, and she sighed in relief when she saw there was nothing to worry about, the only trouble was an old hanging chandelier that some of the troops were taking down.

She walked to the nearby stairs so she could examine the upstairs when she heard a voice call out. "Captain Forge! Captain Forge!?" Called out a familiar male voice.

Alecia walked over to the owner of the voice, it was her student. "What is it rookie?" She asked.

Frederick gave a salute. "Commander Cory wants to see you." He answered.

Alecia nodded and headed for the door. "Don't salute me." She reminded him, he quickly dropped it and walked with her to the town hall.

Out in the village, the soldiers of the Lost Legion were hard at work preparing for the coming war, they put up tents, they moved rubble, they readied themselves for battle, and if it wasn't for the enemy they had to fight, Alecia would have been so proud to see this efficiency. "Captain? are you alright?" Frederick asked out of concern.

The village hall was hardly fortified when they reached it, in fact it was untouched on the outside, giving the impression it was abandoned, Alecia looked at Frederick. "I can make my way from here, go and help the others." She dismissed him and headed inside the village hall.

Alecia walked through the hall and noticed the officers working on setting the lobby up for briefings, she headed for the mayors office and as she neared the door, she heard voices on the other side, not bothering to listen in, Alecia walked inside, she saw Vigo, Cory, Karl and lieutenant Hailey, a five foot woman with dirty brown hair, one pale eye and one blue eye, she had the typical jacket of the Lost legion, but with a faded yellow colored rim on the jacket.

"We will be deployed throughout these lands, the Imperial military will use our knowledge of the Shattenreich against them, they will also spread us out so that we cannot do anything to help the Shadow Elves, as much as I hate to say it, we truly have no choice but to fight our friends, and they know it." Commander Cory said grimly.

"I don't believe that." Alecia said as she walked in, drawing the attention of the other officers and her commander. "We do have a chance to help our people, it may not be an easy one, but we have to do something." She said, no doubts were in her words, for she truly believed what she said.

"How? we will be watched every step of the way, and we have to do whatever they say or we will surely be killed." Vigo asked.

Alecia approached the table which had maps of the regions closest to the human borders. "We know this terrain, the Empire doesn't, we use that to our advantage, burn or hide these maps and then lead them onto the more dangerous paths, we may be forced to fight our friends and family here in the Shattenreich, but I will be damned if I don't do something to fight back." She stated.

"This is treason, you all know that right? if we are discovered, our families back in the Empire will die." Hailey stated.

Karl sighed. "My family is dead anyway, I have nothing to lose from this." He replied.

"Then it's decided, I'll inform the troops of Alecia's plan." Cory said, with agreement from the others, he left.

_____*The present.*_____

"I am surprised that a lieutenant, a commander, a sergeant and a colonel listened to you." Nightmare said with some surprise.

"Why? Captain is the highest rank after all." Twilight asked, pointing out a fact as well.

Alecia rolled her eyes as she floated around. "Not with humans, Captain was under those ranks, and to answer your question Nightmare, I had been offered promotion many times before, and I always declined, so it just got to the point where everyone would follow my orders and plans if Cory didn't object." She said before continuing.

_____*The past, The Village of Renma, that night.*_____

Everyone was in the town square right now, all taking places around a fire they had lit, Alecia was the only was seperate from it, she crossed her arms as she leaned against a wall on a house close by.

Alecia watched as everyone silently talked to one another, she took in the sight of all her comrades and tried to burn them all into her mind, she was silent as she did this, not wishing to speak.

Some shuffling near her caused Alecia to immediately ready herself for a fight, she slowly looked around the corner to see what or who was coming, expecting an Imperial soldier to show up uninvited and unwelcome.

What she saw caused her to relax as she sighed to herself, she crossed her arms and waited for a few seconds before speaking. "Long way from home aren't you?" She asked as the newcomer came around the corner.

The newcomer was a middle aged man with light brown hair, brown eyes and had a kind look on his face and in his eyes, he wore a light gray cloth tunic that held a black cross on its front, simple black pants along with simple brown robes, he was quite startled when Alecia spoke. "Ah!...... you startled me." He said as though it weren't obvious.

Alecia looked at the man. "Judging by your lack of weapons and your reaction, would I be correct to assume you are a priest from the order of the black cross from the first kingdom?" She asked.

The man nodded in confirmation. "I am, I came here at the request of your commander, he mentioned that he would need someone who had a calming presence." He explained.

Alecia nodded. "Well, you came to the right place father, but right now we have something important going on." She said, motioning to the rest of the company.

The priest bowed his head in understanding. "Of course, I will remain silent, and speak with your commander later." He replied.

"Thank you father......what was your name again?" Alecia asked.

"My name is Julius, and what is your name?" The man asked politely.

Alecia smiled. "I'm Alecia, and welcome to the Lost Legion." She said before heading over to the others.

When Alecia reached the others, she leaned against a wall belonging to what was once a home, and soon enough, the troops sung a deep melody, beginning with some vocals, then continuing with a song sung in the tongue of the Shadow Elves.

"Dark days ahead......the dawn has gone.....

War has come......to these lands....

Our people die.....we linger on.......

Greed rules all......the peace has died.......

The fires spread.......all for naught......

The sword will fall.....upon this land.....

This betrayal.......cannot be for.got.ten.......

Our hearts ache.....our souls suffer.....

They lost their way.......and we pay the price....

And from now on......we will await our end....."

______*next week, first day of the week*______

The Lost Legion had been active in the Village of Renma, they had finished turning it into a base of operations four days ago and were now being sent to the front.

And just as Commander Cory predicted, they were all being split across the war, many of the Lost Legion already recieved their orders and were sent out a few days ago, and now it was Alecia's turn.

"Captain, are you sure you don't need me to go with you?" Frederick asked out of concern.

Alecia smiled at her student and rested a hand on his shoulder. "The path I am leading troops on is dangerous, besides, you have your own orders." She looked around and saw lieutenant Hailey prepare to depart, she sighed. "Frederick listen, between you and me, just follow orders, don't go risking your life for something the rest of us are doing." She said.

Frederick seemed surprised at his teachers words, and spoke up about it. "But why? I want to help!" He asked, clearly offended.

Alecia shook her head and removed her hand. "Because you don't know these lands as well as the rest of us, look, just survive ok? that will be more than enough to help." She said before walking off.

"Be safe kid." Alecia muttered under her breath as he walked to the stable.

When she reached the stable a few minutes later, Alecia walked up to a pale brown warg that was laying on the ground and staring at her as she approached. "Hey Ripper, up for a run today?" She asked the warg.

The warg stood up and Alecia opened the gate to let him out, he slowly walked out and followed Alecia outside, where she climbed onto his back.

Alecia gave the warg a scratch on his neck and spoke. "Alright buddy, let's get moving." She said.

Ripper immediately started to charge in the direction Alecia gave him, moving swiftly and very soon they were out of the village and headed towards the front.

The trip was long and they had to stop to eat and rest a few times but they quickly arrived at the front eight hours later.

Alecia looked around the army camp that was set up and sighed as she rode in, she noticed there were some wary glances aimed at Ripper but she paid no mind to it. "Don't go eating anyone while we are here Ripper, we won't be here long." She whispered.

Alecia found herself set up in a tent made for two, she had Ripper sit outside while she dropped off her supplies, which were just some field rations, a few pouches of water and a first aid kit, she then headed outside the tent and saw a familiar face approaching her. "Hello father, I wondered where you went." She said.

Julius smiled at her, his calm demeanor was the direct opposite of the rest of the camps. "After I did what I could for the Lost Legion, I felt that this was the appropriate place for me to be." He answered. "It would seem we share a tent, that is fortunate." He noticed as he gestured to the tent.

"Yes it is, it's good to have a friendly face around isn't it?" She chuckled before walking over to Ripper. "Don't eat him." She said to the warg who stared directly at the priest.

_____*Four months later.*_____

As Alecia predicted, the Imperial army sent her on a stealth mission the next day, she had to lead a team into the nearby mountains, on the way to a Shadow Elf town, five team members died due to an 'accident' and the rest of the mission went off without a hitch, the town was taken quickly and Alecia watched as the Shadow Elves were killed before her eyes.

The next few missions didn't go so well for Alecia, she had no opportunity to help the Elves and she was even forced to kill some of them, and with each one killed, she felt her heart break a little more.

The war was brutal on both sides, but unfortunately for the Elves, the Imperial Army held no regard for the sacred traditions or locations, they burned through everything as they continued their march through the Shattenreich, some missions took weeks to finish, some took days, and they were all just as gruesome as the last.

Alecia was now heading to the city of Kintar, or more specifically a large shrine built nearby, a face from her past has been tearing apart the Imperial lines and Alecia knew exactly who it was.

So with grim determination, Alecia headed for the shrine with her trusty staff in hand, the sunlight shined bright on the land, in stark contrast with the horrific events unfolding in the war.

It didn't take long to reach the shrine, but Alecia could feel eyes watching her, as though she wasn't to be disturbed, she approached the shrine and saw a lone figure meditating in front of a statue.

Alecia approached slowly and when the figure raised its head and spoke, she did not react. "Alecia, my child." The voice of Kor'Fel said before standing and facing Alecia, his face was neutral as he spoke. "You have grown so much in these past few years, it fills me with pride, knowing that my student is more skilled than ever." He said, a satisfied smile crossed his lips before returning to their neutral state.

"Master......I have done horrible things, if you have any mercy left in your heart......fight to kill me, as you have with so many humans." Aleica replied gripping her staff tightly.

Kor'Fel's expression fell to a grim one, but he spoke as usual. "It has come to this Alecia, after many years we finally face each other in our final battle, unfortunate, that the circumstances allow no mercy." He said.

Alecia got into an offensive stance. "I won't hold back." She warned.

Kor'Fel drew his sword and shifted into a battle stance. "We shall see if you are ready." He replied calmly.

Neither moved for a while, but after what felt like minutes, Kor'Fel spoke. "Prepare yourself my child." He said before charging swiftly to engage Alecia in combat.

______*The present.*_____

"This seems familiar." Nightmare Moon remarked.

Alecia nodded. "The battle I had with my master went the exact same way in the past as it did recently, with some notable differences of course." She replied.

_____*The past.*_____

'After my battle with Kor'Fel, myself and the rest of my company were reunited after a month once the Imperial Army whittled down the Shadow Elves army to a few remaining strongholds.

We had relocated from the village of Renma and took up residence in an occupied Fortress, all Imperial Troops garrisoned there quickly left and we were left alone for the most part.

But the sieges were long and grueling on both sides, and for all their power, the Shadow Elves had no means with which to fight the Imperial Army, who had more numbers and tactics to boot, where the Elves relied on ambush and stealth tactics, as well as superior archers, but with the shields and siege weapons on the Empire's side? it was almost impossible for them to lose.

Two months later and we finally reached the last city of the Shattenreich, their capital city of Sardethar, home to the Core of Shadow, and since the Imperial army wasn't taking any chances, the Lost Legion was called into action, we were charged with seizing the Core for the Empire, so we prepared, in our own ways.

I made sure that Julius was nowhere near the battle, and then when the time came, we charged with the Imperial army,

We climbed the walls quickly, fighting and taking down the defenders and assisting each other, but not once did we stop moving towards the Core, which lie in the center of the city, held on a single pedestal amongst all others.

Just getting to that chamber was hard enough, but when the guardians attacked us we almost all died to them.'

______*The siege of Sardethar .*_____

Alecia cried out in pain, she landed on the ground hard and groaned as she slowly rose to her feet, the guardians of the Core of Shadow were stone golems created by powerful magic and were currently tearing the Lost Legion apart, Alecia growled and swung her staff at a golem as it approached, she struck it hard in the head which caused it to break, only for it to begin reforming again.

Alecia looked around her, she saw Karl and Vigo trapped by four golems, Lieutenant Hailey was protecting Frederick and three others with another soldier from four more, Cory was unconscious as several golems fought the Lost Legion.

Seeing all of this, Alecia dropped her staff to the ground. "It's hopeless, no backup, no help......no hope." She looked at her friends. "This is the end.....for all of us." She said to herself.

A golem approached Alecia with heavy steps and reared back its arm at her, and the woman simply looked towards the Imperial Army, seeing them overwhelm the defenders, knowing that they would have the core?

And just like that, something inside of Alecia snapped, she quickly dropped to the ground and rolled away from the golem, who gave chase to her.

Alecia quickly got up and started to run as fast as she could, she knew she couldn't flee the battle or last longer in a chase than a golem......but she did know one thing for certain, she was not going to let those bastards have something that sacred.

Alecia ran towards the core which shined in purple light above its pedestal, as she ran, more and more golems tried to stop her, but her training allowed her to avoid their attacks and she soon reached the core, she looked at the entrance and saw a few members of the Legion standing there with wounds. "For the Shattenreich." She said before grabbing the artifact firmly, it's powerful magic rippled and flowed madly in her touch, and soon Alecia began to feel very different, she screamed in absolute pain and so did the Lost Legion.

And just as the artifact stopped, it crumbled, and then Alecia dropped to the floor unconscious.

Unbeknownst to her or the Lost Legion, but all the remaining Elves, living or recently killed, vanished without a trace.

_____*The present.*______

"Wait, you absorbed an ancient artifacts magic? and then killed off an entire species?" Twilight asked out loud.

Alecia shook her head sadly. "Yes and no, you see I triggered something that the Elves and Dwarves did long ago.....I merged the two species, but it only affected the Lost Legion, because the Imperial Army I saw as an enemy.....the only thing I don't understand is how I did it, it should have been impossible." She replied.

Nightmare was the next to speak up as she stood up. "Either way, I think we covered enough for today, what do you think?" She asked.

Alecia nodded in agreement. "Yea, we can continue this another time." She replied before vanishing.

Nightmare sighed and walked out of the library after thanking Twilight for the tea.

Rarity looked at Twilight who seemed disappointed that they stopped so abruptly, so she decided to say something. "Maybe this is for the best? it can't be easy for Alecia to relive these memories." She said, trying to rationalize this.

Twilight waited a few before sighing. "You're right, but this is more than I expected, so I'm happy, we need to hang out again sometime Rarity, just us and maybe the girls?" She asked.

Rarity nodded in agreement. "Perfect, I think we could use a normal outing for once." She said with a smile, she then said her goodbyes and headed for the boutique to get to work.

Author's Notes:

Not much I can think of to say here, so I just hope you enjoyed this little blast into the past.

Hearths Screaming Eve.

Author's Notes:

A little early but in the right month at least, so I hope you enjoy.

______*Ponyville, Equestria, Hearths Warming Eve, 12:00 AM*_______

Sweetie Belle walked through the cold town of Ponyville, the town was busy putting up decorations, going from place to place and swiftly finishing preparations for the holiday, she thanked her sister mentally for the winter hat and wool boots that helped to keep herself warm.

The cold weather was accompanied by snow, and quite a bit of it, a few inches to be precise and it was obviously bothering everyone in town, they were shivering even as they walked around with smiles and laughter as they enjoyed Hearths Warming Eve.

Sweetie Belle shivered slightly as she walked, the young filly was heading for Sugarcube Corner to meet with the other crusaders, Scootaloo said that she wanted to talk about how they could get their cutie marks.

'Just so long as it doesn't involve a really high place.' She told herself as she walked, not willing to relive the last time they tried for cutie marks in skydiving or cliff jumping.

Sweetie Belle shivered a little when a cold breeze blew by, she kept walking in good spirits however in spite of the cold, she walked past a pair of unfamiliar unicorns, a mare and a stallion who had a different air about them, she paid them no mind while staying out of their way.

"Can you believe this town? they actually believe in ghosts, it's that Nightmare Moon character, she made them all crazy." The stallion whispered.

Sweetie Belle paused upon hearing this, she looked back at the two who stopped walking, the mare leaned in a little to speak.

"I heard it was some mare called Rarity, the townsponies here think her house is haunted, and that she can see and speak to the ghost, crazy is what she is." The mare whispered.

Sweetie Belle frowned and looked down, she heard the stallion say something that made her bite her lip. "And did you hear that nonsense they were spouting a little bit ago, they claim that the very same ghost was visible and that they could speak to it on Nightmare Night."

Before Sweetie Belle could say or do anything that she would probably regret, a familiar voice stopped her. "Isn't it a little too cold to be standing still in the snow?" The filly looked up and saw a dull gray Pegasus mare with a silver mane, normally she would not know who this mare was, but the glowing cyan cat-like eyes and cutie mark were a dead giveaway.

"Nightm-" Sweetie Belle was cut off when Nightmare shook her head, she then leaned in to whisper. "Because of the holiday we have a lot of visitors, useless as it is im going by the alias of Silver Wing."

Sweetie Belle nodded in understanding. "So are you excited for the tale of Hearths Warming?" She asked curiously.

'Silver Wing' shrugged. "I'm not a fan of pageants or stage plays, never have been and apparently it reminds Alecia of the boring performances she had to sit through." She sighed and looked at the filly. "Who knows? I'll talk to our dearly departed about it, either way we agreed to spend the day together." She then looked around for something. "I should go look for her, I'll see you around Sweetie Belle." Nightmare said before walking off.

Sweetie Belle then made her way to Sugarcube corner, wanting to get out of the cold and into someplace warm, and deep down, she wanted to get as far away from those two ponies as fast as possible.

The young filly soon reached the sweet shop and stepped inside, she smelled the welcoming scent of hot sweets and looked around for her friends, she soon spotted a familiar light yellow earth pony filly with an oversized red bow in her hair, she walked over to join her and carefully avoided bumping into anypony.

Sweetie Belle sat down at the table with her friends. "Did I miss anything?" She asked curiously.

Scootaloo who sat in the corner shook her head. "Nothing important." She replied before looking at Apple Bloom. "So, it's your turn to pick an idea, what do ya got?" She asked.

The earth pony filly tapped her chin in thought, pondering the options until she looked at her two friends. "Well, actually I was thinking, why don't we take the day off from crusading? we probably won't have time to do anything anyway, my family has plans for today anyway." She stated.

"Yea, Rarity wants to spend the day with me after she finishes prep for the show tonight, besides that, I'm not sure." Sweetie Belle added.

Scootaloo sighed, visibly bummed about her friends replies. "That's fine, I guess my parents want to spend the day with me too now that I think about it." She said with slight disappointment.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other with a pang of guilt, the unicorn filly looked at Scootaloo and spoke. "You know.....I don't think Rarity will mind you joining us tonight if that's ok with your parents." She offered.

"And my family would love to have you over.....so long as you don't jump the chicken coops again." Apple Bloom added, slightly giggling at the memory of Scootaloo ramping over the chicken coops and angering the birds.

Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo laughed a little at the memory of a dozen chickens running around in circles for ten minutes, the Pegasus in the group then spoke. "Thanks girls, I'll ask." She said, seeming to be in much better spirits than before.

After the three friends had a few treats, they left Sugarcube corner and went their seperate ways, the cold weather didn't change thankfully, so it wasn't any worse, Sweetie Belle walked back home and shivered in the cold air, wishing that the weather had gotten at least a little warmer.

A long breeze of cold air rushed at Sweetie Belle and she braced, the cold wind was soon gone and she kept moving on. "If she wasn't a ghost, I would trade places with Aleica to get out of the cold." She muttered.

_____*Elsewhere.*_____

"I think you've broken her." Nightmare Moon stated calmly.

Alecia looked at the disguised Nightmare with a raised eyebrow. "Who?" She asked.

"That rainbow maned mare, the one you threatened on Nightmare Night?" The disguised Alicorn said.

Alecia grunted and turned her attention back to her book. "Rainbow Dash, what about her?" She asked curiously.

Nightmare removed her disguise and motioned to the outside. "I've been keeping an eye on her ever since that night, she's slowly getting more and more paranoid, it started off as a quick glance to the side, then behind her, and now she's freaking out about when you are going to scare her." She explained with a chuckle.

Alecia smirked. "There's no better terror than letting ones fear get the best of them, and then scaring them when they think they are safe." She replied calmly.

"And I thought I was evil." Nightmare muttered.

Alecia chuckled and stood up, she set the book down and looked at Rainbow Dash who flew around frantically under the guise of helping with preparations. "I think it's high time I deliver on that promise, don't you agree?" She asked with mischief on her mind.

"Agreed, but how to do it?" The Alicorn pondered.

Alecia crossed her arms. "Leave that to me, just enjoy your day." She vanished with a maniacal laugh echoing on the winds.

Far off, Rainbow Dash felt an unnatural tingle on her spine and found herself dreading what was coming even more, she wouldn't let it show of course.

______*Later that day, 6:02 PM*______

"I hope you enjoy our show tonight Sweetie Belle." Rarity said as she gave her sister a hug, they were currently in the town hall which was renovated into a temporary theater.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I will!" She then tapped her hoof in thought for a moment before speaking. "Nightmare and Alecia might be watching too, they might enjoy it." She pointed out.

Rarity smiled as her sister went into deep thought. 'She really cares about them, those two pranksters that cause me no end of trouble, I guess it would be wrong to say that they haven't grown on me, I might hate their crude jokes and pranks, and as selfish as it is, I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything.'

"I need to go get ready Sweetie Belle, go and find a seat." Rarity told her sister, they quickly walked off and went to get ready for the show.

Sweetie Belle found herself In brighter spirits than she was a second ago, she had absolute faith in her sister, and in her friends, she was certain they wouldn't miss it.

______*a little bit later.*______

Sweetie Belle smiled and watched the show by Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spike, they represented the three pony tribes, Unicorn, Earth pony and Pegasus respectively, and Spike was the narrator.

She looked over her shoulder at where Nightmare and Alecia were going to sit, and sure enough she saw them watching, Alecia had a bored yet amused expression while Nightmare seemed pleased, especially when the arguing scene rolled around.

Sweetie Belle turned back to watch the rest of the show, and a few minutes later, when the curtain finally pulled back and Spike declared it over, she joined the audience in applause.

Alecia in the back though, simply stared at Rainbow Dash who seemed to notice her, the Pegasus seemed to be concerned that the ghost would try something here, but instead Alecia simply nodded before walking to the door.

Nightmare followed Alecia out as the audience slowly began to filter out of the building, leaving the six mares and dragon to get out of costume. "Hey, can I ask you something?" She wondered quietly.

"Sure." The ghost replied casually.

Nightmare was silent as a couple walked by, she waited until they were outside and in the air before talking. "Why did you take such in interest in that rainbow maned mare?" She asked out of curiosity.

Alecia raised an eyebrow. "I took a liking to her, what about it?" She asked.

Nightmare flew over to a cloud and landed on it, Alecia floated just next to it. "I want to know if something is bothering you, you act strange when it comes to her." She replied.

Alecia chuckled. "Nightmare Moon, jealous of a Pegasus mare? I never would have thought." She teased with a grin.

"I am not jealous of her, I am simply stating that you don't act like yourself around her, and I want to know why, so stop dodging the question." Nightmare stated with annoyance in her voice.

Alecia stared at Nightmare Moon for a while before sighing and putting her arms behind her head as she laid back. "She reminds me of who I used to be, when i was alive that is.......loyal, brave, brash and a prankster." She said somberly, she then looked at the Alicorn with a mischievous smirk. "She's also very attractive.......in pony standards." She said.

Nightmare shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Your unbelievable." She stated.

Alecia chuckled. "Alright, I got to get going, see you later." She replied before disappearing.

Nightmare flew off the cloud and looked down at the town, she noticed Twilight and the others walking to the library, and she chuckled. "Of course." She whispered to herself before flying above them, trying not to draw attention.

_____*A few minutes later, Golden Oaks Library.*_____

Rarity walked with her friends to the library, they were all in good spirits because of the show and she doubted anything could ruin it.

"So, why did you want us to go to the library?" Rainbow asked, hovering down next to Twilight.

Twilight looked at her Pegasus friend. "First, we agreed to it, second, Princess Celestia said that she made progress in finding a living decendant of Alecia's, I'm just waiting for the letter." She replied, she then looked forward at the library as the approached it. "If you don't want to come with, you don't have to." She added.

At that, none of them spoke as they got close to the library, and just before Twilight could open the door with her magic, Rainbow beat her to it and left the door hanging open when she bolted in to get out of the cold. "What the!?" The Pegasus exclaimed.

The other five mares and Spike quickly stepped inside and stared in confusion as they saw Alecia floating in the center of the room, she was hanging in the air limply but she didn't look normal, her hair was dull gray and her skin had white mist flowing away from her, she wore a dull gray shirt and matching pants that were torn at the rims. "Alecia?" Rarity asked.

Alecia's head looked up from its limp position and she turned her head to face the others, her eyes were a lifeless blue and her face was battered. "Are you alright?" Rarity asked out of concern.

The ghosts face contorted into one of anger and her eyes darkened. she vanished from sight only to reappear in front of them instantly, she then let out a blood chilling screech that was deafening.

Rarity, the five mares and Spike all screamed in terror as Alecia screeched for a few moments before vanishing, the mare then looked around frantically for Alecia but she saw nothing but the terrified faces of her friends.

"What was that about!?" Rainbow snapped, her anger did not mask the terror that her eyes showed.

Applejack looked at the mare. "Ah don't know.....maybe we should-" She was cut off as laughing filled the room, starting low and then devolving into uncontrollable.

Alecia soon reappeared in the room, rolling on the floor laughing hysterically, she looked normal again, with her faded dark red hair with purple highlights, to the black lightning arcing across her skin, along with her usual outfit.

Everyone in the room stared at Alecia with anger until they heard a laugh from outside, Twilight looked outside and spoke. "Nightmare Moon! was this your idea!?" She snapped.

Sure enough, an undisguised Nightmare Moon soon came into view with a large grin. "I'm innocent, I was just following you seven." She answered.

Alecia meanwhile had managed to stop laughing to say two words. "Got you!" She declared happily before returning to full blown laughing.

While Alecia laughed and Nightmare stifled her own amusement, the six mares and the one dragon quietly seethed in anger for a while until Rarity eventually spoke. "Are you done yet?" She asked.

"It isn't funny anyway." Twilight added.

Rainbow crossed her forelegs and huffed. "It is funny when you startle someone, but not when you scare them half to death." She said with annoyance.

Alecia stifled her laughing and looked at Rainbow. "Alright, I'm done." She paused and snickered as she replayed the image of their looks of terror. "You can stop worrying now." She laid back down on the floor and looked at Twilight. "So, what did I interrupt?" She asked.

Twilight looked at Alecia skeptically for a few moments before Spike belched, she looked at the dragon and saw a scroll in his hands, and a little green fire vanishing, the dragon opened it. "It's from Princess Celestia." He said before reading it aloud.

"Dear Twilight, I am happy to tell you that I have finally discovered the last decendant of Alecia's bloodline, a Pegasus mare named Feral Wing, she is a corporal in the Lunar Guard, she is on leave to Fillydelphia right now and has been informed of the situation, she will be returning to Canterlot in a few days where she will then head to Ponyville, I trust that you will inform your friends about this, and that you all allow miss Feral Wing time." Spike finish her reading and looked up.

Everyone in the room looked over at Alecia who fell silent, she simply stared forwards and didn't move an inch. "Alecia, are you alright?" Twilight asked, stepping a little closer.

Alecia took in a breath and looked at the mares and dragon, her face had spectral tears falling down them, she wiped her face and lowered her head. "Damn it Markus, I said I wouldn't let you make me cry again." She said quietly to herself.

She looked up again and more tears fell. "There's actually someone alive.....family, I can't believe it." She continued.

Nightmare Moon stepped forward by a few steps. "Alecia, this is good news, you'll be free." She stated.

Alecia looked at the Alicorn, not bothering to wipe away her tears. "Is it though? I'll be leaving you all behind, I have no idea what you will do without me holding you back, it'll break Sweetie Belle's heart, and on top of that I have no idea what will happen if I leave Ponyville, and that terrifies me." She admitted before sitting up.

"Alecia, with all due respect, none of us know what will happen, but you have been trapped for so long as a ghost, you have a chance for freedom, I think you should take it." Rarity said, stepping up.

"Yea! it can't be fun at all being stuck in one place for five centuries!" Pinkie added as she stepped up.

Alecia chuckled at the pink mare's antics. "Six centuries, not five." She corrected with a small smile.

Fluttershy walked up and spoke. "Your um.....your family must be waiting for you right? m-maybe you should, try?" She offered timidly.

Alecia stood up and looked at the mares and dragon. "I need some time to think, I'll leave you be." She replied simply before vanishing from sight.

After that, the six mares, the Alicorn and dragon talked for a while before most of them headed home, and one of them to bed, and eventually it was just Rarity, Nightmare Moon and Twilight.

Nightmare Moon sighed and started pacing. "How are we supposed to break this to Sweetie Belle?" She asked. "That filly loves Alecia like a sister, how are we supposed to tell her that Alecia might be leaving forever?" She added.

"If anypony is going to tell her, it should be me." Rarity stated. "It will hurt, and she might hate me for it, but she'll understand." She said as she shook her head.

Twilight looked at Rarity and Nightmare Moon, she saw that they were hurting and spoke up. "Listen, we don't know what's going to happen, all we can do now is wait and see." She said with a calm attitude and rational voice.

Rarity nodded, she looked at both her friends. "You're right, what matters most right now is that we be there for the both of them, that's the best thing right now."

_____*Ponyville Outskirts, five hours later.*_____

Alecia stood at the border of town and stared at the outside world, she could see Canterlot in the distance, seeming so close yet so far at the same time, she sighed to herself and sat down, she stared at her hand for a while until she heard a pop behind her. "Nightmare, what do you want?" She asked.

Nightmare Moon approached her friend and spoke as she walked. "I was worried that a good friend of mine was going to do something stupid, and you know what?" She asked.

"What?" Alecia wondered in a disinterested tone.

Nightmare walked in front of Alecia and looked her right in the eye. "She's doing something stupid." She stated with no hesitation.

Alecia sighed in annoyance and stood up. "I don't need this right now Nightmare, i swear I don't." She said flatly, clearly not in the mood to talk as she turned around.

"Alecia.......you need to knock it off." Nightmare said with an authoritative tone, making the ghost look at her. "You are letting yourself fall into a pit of self pity and are acting like a child." She declared in the same tone.

The ghost turned around fully and glared directly at Nightmare for a while "How dare you! you have no idea how painful it is to be around as long as I have! so yes I'm reluctant to pass on!" She slammed her first into the invisible Barrier. "And then no matter what, I end up breaking a little Filly's heart, and I can't handle that again." She shook her head. "So sorry, you are stuck with me around ." She stretched a little and stared at a Nightmare Moon. "See you at home." She said before vanishing.

Nightmare Moon looked up at the moon and then at Canterlot. "What am I going to do with that ghost?" She asked herself quietly.

The game.

A common saying in both war and prison is that a hobby will keep you from going mad because of routine, anyone will find anything of even the slightest interest and work with it until they are either done or bored of it.

When I was alive I had my own hobby, I often rode my warg around on either scouting missions or just for fun, I would fletch my own arrows or train the troops, I even took on an apprentice that I taught to be a tracker.

But after I died, I had nothing to do to pass the time, so I just wandered aimlessly through the world and I eventually found a family of Unicorns, things were fine for a while, they seemed interesting enough so I watched them with great interest.

Little did I know this family would prove to be both my greatest problem......and bring me two very special friends, I would not be where I am now, without them.'

______*Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library, Two days later, 12:37 AM.*______

"Three." Aleica said calmly, she was currently playing poker with Nightmare Moon, Rarity and Twilight, the latter of whom was still reading a book on the game of poker, the ghost discarded three cards and was given three by Nightmare.

"Bet." Alecia said, placing four bits into the pot, she looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "How are you still reading that book?" She asked curiously.

Twilight looked over at Alecia. "It's a good read, this game is surprisingly complex, there are so many different things to keep track of and-" Nightmare Moon cast her magic to close Twilight's mouth shut. "Could you please be quiet? all you are doing is stalling the game." The Alicorn stated easily, releasing her magic.

Twilight grumbled in protest as she set the book aside. "Fine, two." She said, repeating a similar process to Alecia, she looked at her cards. "Call." She said with a barely hidden smirk, she then threw in four bits.

"Out." Rarity said instantly set her face down cards near the center pile.

Nightmare took a sip of her tea, she then set the cup down. "Call." She said, throwing in four bits.

Alecia grinned. "Alright, let's see em." She said, revealing her cards. "Flush." She said smugly, revealing a five, six and eight of clubs, as well as a ten and Jack of clubs.

Twilight sighed. "Three of a kind." She said, revealing three fours.

Nightmare's eye twitched. "Damnit." She said, revealing two twos, and three fives.

Alecia chuckled as she pulled all the bits in the pot to her pile. "The eternally damned thank you for the money." She joked before grabbing all the cards and shuffling them.

"Where did you even get forty bits?" Rarity asked out of curiosity.

Alecia shrugged. "You would be surprised at what people drop on the ground and forget, or throw away." She replied while shuffling the cards.

"What do you even need the money for?" Twilight asked, somewhat annoyed because she was down twelve bits already.

"What the dead do with their money is their business." Alecia replied with an amused expression as she dealt the first hand.

Nightmare looked at her hand and avoided a sigh with her poker face, all she had was a king high, she looked at the others and saw their facial expressions, Twilight was annoyed and Rarity seemed pleased, the only one she couldn't understand was Alecia, who was entirely neutral. "Some would say it's impossible to beat a ghost at poker." Nightmare said calmly.

"Two." Twilight said, once she saw her new cards she put six bits in the pot. "Raise." She added. "It can't be impossible, poker is a game of chance and deception, even a ghost can't avoid that rule." She said calmly.

"Unless of course Alecia can see through the cards." Rarity added. "Call." She said, adding six bits.

"Three" Nightmare said, getting three new cards and being mildly pleased by what she got. "Ghosts cannot see through cards, believe me I know." She said. "Call." Another six bits.

Alecia nodded. "One." She replaced one card. "I can go through walls though, if that counts." She then put her card down. "Out." She stated.

Twilight smiled. "Well, I hate to say this, but straight flush." She stated, revealing the two to six of hearts.

Rarity sighed. "Four of a kind." She revealed four sevens.

"Two pair." Nightmare dejectedly revealed a pair of nines and a pair of aces.

Twilight took the pot and shuffled the cards. "We need to do this more often, it's fun." She said.

Nightmare rolled her eyes. "She says after winning her first hand." She teased, she then noticed Rarity yawn. "Hey Rare, you alright?" She asked out of worry.

Rarity nodded, even though she had dark circles under her eyes, she felt fine. "I didn't get a lot of sleep these past couple of nights, I think I only got ten hours of sleep since Hearths Warming Eve." She answered.

Alecia sighed. "Well, if that isn't it, then I'll seperate myself from you for a while." She said.

Nightmare chuckled. "Unless she falls asleep before Twilight finishes shuffling." She joked.

Twilight stuck her tongue out at Nightmare and dealt the cards. "Who knew? the bookworm has a sense of humor." Alecia joked as she grabbed her hand.

Rarity sighed and took a drink from her tea, she then put out four bits. "Bet." She said. "So Alecia, I haven't asked you yet, how are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm alright, nervous about meeting my brothers descendant, but alright." The ghost said as Nightmare folded. "Three." She got three new cards. "Call." Another four bits in the pot.

"What do you think she will be like?" Twilight asked. "Out." She set her cards down.

"Full house." Rarity said, revealing two fives and three sixes.

Alecia sighed. "Full house." She said, revealing two fives and three fours, she watched as Rarity took the small pot and shuffled. "I don't know, if she's anything like my brother she will be curious, he always was a little odd." She replied.

"How so?" Rarity asked before dealing a new hand. "If it's not a problem." She added.

"Markus was a unique individual, we never saw eye to eye on a lot of things for a long time, mostly because I grew up in the Shattenreich." Alecia replied. "But he always had some way of knowing what was going to happen." She added.

Nightmare blinked. "Three." She took three new cards. "Was it premonitions? Human's did have a few psychics among them when I was ruling." She asked. "Bet." She added four bits to the pot.

Alecia shook her head. "No, the Shadow Elves believed that Markus was a herald for the future, and that he wielded magic greater than premonitions." She explained. "They would never explain more than that though, so it's possible that Markus was the first human to have magic, and that his child was the first to actually use it." She stated.

Alecia looked at her hand. "Two." She replaced two cards and put all of her bits with the others, it was only eight. "All in." She said.

Twilight looked at her hand. "Call." She said, putting eight bits in. "I don't want to tell you how to talk to others, but you should at least attempt to be civil with Feral Wing when she gets here." She stated.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "First she needs to be able to see me, there's no point in even trying otherwise." She replied.

"Three." Rarity took three and then put eight bits in. "Call." She said. "It is possible that Princess Celestia gave her the ability when she was in Canterlot." She pointed out.

"Two pair." Rarity said, revealing two threes and two fours, her other card was an eight of clubs.

Nightmare smiled. "Three of a kind." She said, revealing three eights, she also had a two and three of diamonds.

"Straight." Alecia said with a grin, revealing the ace of clubs, with two and three of hearts, and four and five were spades.

Twilight smiled happily as she revealed her cards. "Royal flush." She said with a smile, revealing the damning ten, Jack, Queen and King, as well as the ace of diamonds.

The other three groaned and Alecia fell through her chair and onto the floor. "Damnit!" The ghost called out.

Twilight pulled in the bits and Nightmare shuffled the cards with an amused expression. "That's why you never go all in." She teased.

Alecia sat up. "Stuff it." She said before standing up, Nightmare had dealt all the cards by now.

"Bet." Twilight said as she put in four bits.

Rarity looked at her hand. "Three." She said, she then pushed four bits in. "Call." She added.

"Call." Nightmare said, pushing in four bits.

Alecia watched the game unfold as she sat back down. "Three of a kind." Twilight said, revealing three sevens, an ace and a king.

"Straight." Rarity said, showing the ace to five.

Nightmare grumbled. "Pair of threes." She said.

"Why did you go in with a pair of threes?" Alecia asked.

While Rarity collected the pot and Twilight shuffled the cards, Nightmare looked at Alecia. "That's my business." She stated with an evasive tone.

Rarity yawned and looked at the Alicorn. "I know the game isn't over, but I am really tired." She said, she then grabbed the cards that were dealt. "One more hand." She added.

"I'm thinking of calling it a night soon anyway." Twilight said. "I need to be up early to talk to Corporal Feral Wing when she gets here." She said.

Rarity replaced three cards and put six bits in. "Raise." She yawned again and looked at Twilight. "I think she might appreciate just being called Feral Wing, adding her rank makes this all sound very formal." She said tiredly.

"So Rarity, how do you like having your mane back to normal finally?" Nightmare asked with some amusement, pushing all eight of her remaining bits in the pot.

Rarity looked at Nightmare and glanced at Alecia who seemed amused as well. "Believe it or not, I had gotten used to my changing mane color and having it short." She replied.

Twilight traded in four cards and pushed eight bits in. "Full house." She revealed two sixes and three sevens.

"Two pair." Rarity said, showing two sixes and two eights, as well as the remaining seven.

"Full house." Nightmare said, revealing two jacks and three queens, she took the pot.

"Well, good night, I'm going home." Rarity said, standing up and putting her bits into her saddlebag.

Nightmare gathered her bits in a pouch and teleported it and Rarity's bags back to the unicorns house, she stood up. "That was a fun game, we definitely should play again.....maybe with some more people though." Nightmare said.

Twilight nodded. "See you tomorrow, and Rarity?" The white unicorn looked at her friend with a tired expression. "Get some sleep." She said with concern.

Rarity nodded with a tired smile and left the library with Nightmare Moon and Alecia. "I feel like I'm dead on my hooves." She commented, referring to her tired muscles aching.

"Believe it or not, being dead on your hooves feels a lot like floating in water." Nightmare said, she picked the tired mare up and carried her on her back. "I can walk!" Rarity protested.

Alecia floated lazily next to the two ponies. "And you're exhausted, about to fall asleep on your feet and swaying because your legs don't work right." She rolled her eyes. "I could possess you if you wanted?" She offered. "You could walk home and get into bed on your own as long as you don't mind freezing from the inside out." She added.

Rarity stared at Alecia for a minute before sighing and hanging her head. "Nightmare Moon, i accept your generous offer to carry me." She stated.

The rest of the trip back to Rarity's house was quiet, out of respect to the sleeping town.

Author's Notes:

Felt like this story could use a simple chapter where not much goes on, it has been a while since we had a chapter like this after all.

Hope you liked the chapter.

Edit: So I didn't realize this until a little bit ago, around 11:00 PM for me. But the entire chapter looked like this.....oops?

A meeting of fate.

______*The next morning, Rarity's House, Ponyville, 10:01 AM*______

Rarity groaned as she awoke to the sound of the front door knocking, she sighed dejectedly and opened her eyes, not even bothering to shield her eyes from the light she sat up. "Who knocks on somepony's door at this hour?" She asked herself while she got up and off the bed.

Rarity rubbed her left eye as she walked to the door to leave her room, she heard the knocking again and she grumbled under her breath, barely audible to any other but with just as much annoyance in her voice, she left her room and walked to the stairs, she heard Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon complaining about the time in their own seperate rooms, she reached the stairs and headed down them slowly, her tired mind made her tired body go slow.

Another knock came at the door when Rarity reached the bottom of the stairs, she sighed. "I'm coming." She said, hopefully loud enough to hear from the other side of the door, she walked right up to the door and opened it with her magic, on the other side of the door stood a Pegasus mare with lavender fur, a short and unkempt blue mane and tail, pale gray eyes and a cutie mark of a wing and a large brown claw, her wings also had gray coloring an inch from the tips, the Pegasus also wore a necklace with an old silver coin attached to it, she stood in both a calm and nervous way.

"Can I help you?" Rarity asked, her expression was both tired and annoyed at the same time, indicating that all she wanted was to go back to bed so she could catch up on sleep.

The Pegasus opened her mouth and spoke. "I'm sorry to disturb you miss, my name is Feral Wing, I was told to come to Ponyville, a mare named Twilight Sparkle sent me here." She introduced herself.

Rarity nodded tiredly, she was about to speak when she did a mental double take on what the Pegasus said, she then sighed. "Right.....come on in corporal." She replied, allowing the mare inside.

"Please, call me Feral." The Pegasus said, walking inside the house.

Rarity closed the door and blinked, she then rubbed her eyes and walked to the living room. "Can I.....get you anything? tea, coffee, water?" She offered politely yet tiredly.

Feral shook her head. "No I'm fine, I'm sorry about coming here so early, I would have been here later in the day but I woke up early." She apologized.

"No no.....it's probably for the best, why don't you get comfortable? i want to know exactly what you were told." Rarity replied, walking over to and then sitting down on her couch.

Feral nodded and walked over to one of the chairs, she sat down on it and looked at Rarity. "Well, I was told that there was a bloodline curse that only I could break, when I asked why that was, Princess Luna explained that a human ancestor of mine was trapped here through blood magic, when I asked exactly what was going on, I was told that my ancestor is here as a ghost, I was skeptical at first but when I heard the entire town saw her as well as Princess Luna, I couldn't deny it." She explained.

"When I got here, Twilight Sparkle the librarian cast a spell that she said would allow me to see and hear the ghost, I wasn't told much else except to come here." Feral continued, now looking at Rarity expecting a reply.

Rarity sighed and stretched a little to help herself wake up. "Well, you're in the right house, the ghosts name is Alecia, she changed a lot around this house, including Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon?" Feral Wing asked, tensing up a little. "She knows....Alecia?" She asked curiously yet cautiously.

Rarity looked at Feral and nodded. "She also lives here, Alecia helped her to cope with being a ghost until Discord revived her for whatever reason." She explained. "Nightmare Moon has come a long way since she and Princess Luna were seperated." She added.

Feral Wing said nothing, instead she gained an expression of deep thought, she maintained this silence until she heard someone walking down the stairs, she looked up and then to the stairs, she waited for a moment until she saw a little unicorn filly with white fur, a pink and purple mane, she had one green eye but her right eye was instead a pale blue with ghostly white mist, she was just as tired as Rarity and she walked in sleepily. "Good morning Sweetie Belle." Rarity said.

The filly made a grunt like sound and looked up, she blinked and stared at Feral Wing in surprise. "Um." She started, thankfully Rarity spoke quickly yet calmly. "Allow me to introduce you two, Sweetie Belle, this is Feral Wing Alecia's decendant." She then looked at the Pegasus. "This is Sweetie Belle, my sister." She said.

Feral Wing watched as Sweetie Belle's eyes widened in realization of something, the filly quickly lost her tired expression and seemed to gain boundless energy as she quickly darted upstairs.

"She's a little......energetic." Rarity stated.

_____*upstairs.*_____

Nightmare Moon and Alecia's room, which was once sealed off from the rest of the world, was now just a normal bedroom, the walls were repainted dark blue on the bottom half of the walls and the upper half was painted gray, the carpet was now dark purple and the door was replaced with an oaken one, there was a queen sized bed in the room along with two end tables, one for each side of the bed, there was a spruce desk and chair in the corner along with a small matching bookshelf next to it, there was one addition to the room that both roommates were certain they would keep, it was a phonograph that sat on a black cabinet, but instead of a gold or brass horn it had a silver one.

The bed had a metal frame that it stood on, dark gray sheets lay under a warm black blanket and a thick dark blue comforter, the pillows were soft and the pillow cases were dark gray, perhaps the only oddity on the bed was the ghost with vibrant red hair and bright blue eyes, laying on the bed with her head hanging off the edge opposite the pillows.

Nightmare Moon sat at her desk reading while she and Alecia listened to a song on the device, and thanks to the soundproofing spell that Nightmare placed, no one outside the room would hear it. "You know Night, it's moments like this that make being dead easier." Alecia said as she listened to the music.

"Yes, it is good music......what kind of music did the humans or elves have?" The Alicorn asked out of curiosity, bookmarking the page she was on then setting the book down.

Alecia opened her right eye and looked at Nightmare Moon. "Well.....the elves loved harps and flutes, but they also had a few drums, but they mostly sang." She replied. "Humans on the other hand, got themselves a bunch of trumpets, drums, violins, a few tubas, and very very few pianos from Equestria." She added. "But one thing I wanted for years and yet I could never find in decent condition was a genuine dwarven horn." She chuckled and then sighed. "Those things had such amazing quality, the sounds they made were unequaled and they were unbelievably rare."

Nightmare looked at her friend. "I'll believe you......by the way, if you hate humanity so much, why do you make yourself look like that?" She asked out of curiosity.

Alecia shrugged. "I like how I used to look, it reminds me of better days." She said.

Nightmare nodded in understanding. "Perhaps you would like to be aware that we aren't alone." She said, her horn lit up and the phonograph stopped playing, the door knob then lit up in magic and turned.

The door opened and in the doorway stood Sweetie Belle, her hoof where the door knob was, she looked inside the room. "Um.....am I interrupting something?" She asked.

Alecia shook her head and her hair returned to normal, becoming faded dark red again and her eye color darkened, her hair gained purple streaks and her eyes had a purple glow to them. "What is it?" She asked.

"Um......Feral Wing is here......right now." Sweetie Belle said.

Nightmare Moon looked and watched as Alecia fell silent, the ghost sighed and sat up. "Well.....time to meet the great great something grandniece." She said before standing up and putting her hands in her pockets, she then walked out of the room with Sweetie Belle.

"I'm not missing this." Nightmare said, standing up and following Alecia out.

Sweetie Belle noticed that Alecia had gained a sad expression, she walked a little slower and walked next to Nightmare Moon. "Is she going to be alright?" She asked.

Nightmare nodded. "Yea, she will be, I think she's just nervous, don't worry Sweetie Belle, it'll be alright." She said reassuringly, her words served to help calm the filly, as she visibly relaxed.

______*downstairs.*______

Rarity and Feral Wing had continued discussing various topics since Sweetie Belle rushed up the stairs, they talked about places like Canterlot, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, and Feral's old station at the Badlands border.

They also talked about a few other things, one among them being the Nobles in Canterlot, apparently Feral Wing was something of a prankster, she always played jokes on the nobles, including but not limited to flour covered tree sap globs.

"It's one thing to listen to a noble drone on and on about really stupid stuff, but it's another thing entirely to watch them complain or speak while either covered in sap or bald." Feral chuckled. "They will NEVER catch me in the act though." She said, gaining an amused smile.

Rarity nodded, while she was a little annoyed that she had to deal with a third prankster, she was glad to hear that she didn't go after those who didn't deserve It, though she may have been biased, having heard how she shaved Prince Blueblood bald in his sleep. "How in Celestia's name did you get away with that one anyway?" She asked.

Feral Wing laughed evily and her eyes gained a mischievous spark to them. "THAT.....is a trade secret, known only to the royal guard." She stated with amusement.

"It would be possible if you used a numbing jinx." A voice stated.

Rarity and Feral Wing looked at the stairs and saw Nightmare Moon standing by them with Sweetie Belle. "Aren't jinxes a form of magic?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The two entered the room and Nightmare went into an explanation. "A Jinx can be bound to an object for conventional use, but if one can use magic, it is very simple to do, jinxes are in fact magic, but of a more mundane variety of hexes." She then walked to the opposite chair and sat down while Sweetie Belle ran up to her sister and sat next to her.

"Well, thanks for ruining the secret." Feral Wing stated with a mock glare, but she didn't hold it for long as her amused expression returned. "So um......is Alecia joining us?" She asked curiously.

"Soon, she had something she wanted to do." Nightmare replied.

Feral Wing looked at Rarity and Sweetie Belle. "So, what was it like, the first few weeks having a ghost around?" She asked, just as soon as she finished speaking, Feral felt something ice cold grab her shoulders and she cried out in shock, she jumped up, spreading her wings and spinning around, only to see nothing, she flew around the chair and saw nothing again.

Feral Wing looked at Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Moon, none of their horns were lit and they were all holding in laughs, she was about to say something when she heard a voice behind you. "Behind you." It said.

The Pegasus jumped in surprise and flipped around to come face to face with a grinning ghost, she jumped a little and the laughter of Nightmare Moon and Sweetie Belle filled the room, Rarity sighed at the ghosts antics. "That is basically what it was like." Rarity said.

Feral Wing took a breath and landed, she folded her wings and looked at the ghost. "You must be Alecia." She said, her voice was slightly shaky.

Alecia gave a mock bow and laid back in the air, she floated and let out a short laugh. "Yea......I, whew, that's me, your ancestor as I haunt and laugh." She introduced herself and looked Feral Wing over.

"I'm Feral Wing, but you know that already.....um, I uh, wow......I have so many questions." She said, mentally debating what to say to the ghost.

Alecia smiled and watched Feral Wing's internal debate, she then set herself down on the ground and crossed her arms. "You really are my brothers decendant." She said.

Feral Wing paused and looked over at Alecia with a confused expression. "What do you mean?" She asked with curiosity, she sat down in the chair again as the ghost leaned against the wall to the next room.

"You have his eyes, you have his curiosity and his love of discovery, the similarities are many, but those three I can recognize anywhere." Alecia said before vanishing and promptly appearing in front of Feral Wing, the Pegasus was startled but didn't move away when Alecia placed a hand on Feral's head and on the left side of her face. "You aren't like other Pegasi are you?" The ghost asked.

Feral Wing's eyes widened and she pulled away from Alecia, she stared into the ghosts eyes for a while until she spoke. "No, I'm not, I've always had a.....ability, I um......i freeze things." She said hesitantly.

Alecia rested her hand on her knee and looked at the nervous Feral Wing, she sighed. "My brother Markus had powers too." She started, this seemed to get the attention of the young Pegasus. "He had the power to know things before they happened, when he was ten he predicted that he would meet his sister.....me, seven years later we met, we didn't get along very well but i grew to love him, he told me of his abilities and while I was skeptical, I was willing to give him a chance to prove it." She chuckled. "And he did, he did." She muttered.

"What was he like?" Feral Wing asked.

Alecia smiled. "He was.....inquisitive, he never seemed to want to stop learning and always hounded me about my habit of ignoring history and studies on monsters or such, he was the first one to try and stop me from joining the army....if only I had known just what I was getting myself into." She shook her head sadly before continuing. "I loved him though, him and his wife Red, in short, my brother was a kind and gentle soul, smart as hell and with a good sense of humor." She said, she then stood up and walked to the nearby wall and leaned on it, she fell silent as she went into thought.

Feral Wing got up off the chair and looked over at Alecia. "Can.....can you tell me about his wife?" She asked quietly.

Alecia nodded. "I don't know much about her past, I was never around much to get to know her very well, so I can only tell you what I do know.....she was a fiery one, had a quick temper and we butted heads a lot, she had a good heart though, her kindness gave her the motivation to become a healer, patched me up a few times before we argued and.......well, let's just say I grew to care about her as my sister the more I saw her." She stated, she smiled before continuing. "She loved Markus to death, that much I know, she was nice enough when we weren't arguing and she was also very beautiful, I miss her a lot." Alecia said in fond remembrance, she fell silent as she mentally reminisced.

Feral Wing heard movement and she looked to her left, Nightmare was walking over. "Maybe we should continue this talk another time?" She suggested, she froze and the Alicorn stared at Feral Wing. "It's not possible." Nightmare Moon said.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle watched as Nightmare knelt down and stared at Feral Wing's neck, or more importantly, what was around it, the Alicorn lit her horn and her magic gripped the coin, the Pegasus immediately protested. "Give that back!" She snapped.

Nightmare Moon paid no mind as she turned the coin over, on the one side was a crecent moon and on the other side was an orb with flames behind it, a marking that was all too familiar to the Alicorn. "This is her coin." The Alicorn whispered.

Feral Wing stopped and looked at Nightmare who glared at her in an intimidating manner. "Where did you get this?" The question came out as a demand, one that Feral was quick to answer.

"I was told it was a family heirloom! dating back to the years you and Princess Celestia ruled together." The Pegasus answered immediately.

Nightmare Moon looked at the coin again and huffed. "They didn't even maintain my craftsmanship, disgraceful." She lit her horn and without seconds the cuts, scratches, dents and decay were gone, and in the place of an old and shoddy coin, was a shining silver coin with a cobalt trim. "Where.....did this coin come from?" Rarity asked, not wishing to be out of the loop.

Nightmare Moon rose to her full height and returned the coin to Feral Wing. "I made it, it was a gift to my student Dark Glyph, the first and only human to wield magic." She explained.

"From what I heard, years after your banishment Glyph managed to find out who her parents were, well, all but their names, she found this out because her father's sister had wiped out the Shadow Elves." Feral Wing added. "At least, that's what the journals say." She added.

Rarity, Nightmare Moon and Alecia all fell silent at those words, they all then came to the same conclusion, Nightmare Moon was the first to speak up about it however, and her words cut straight through the silence. "MY APPRENTICE WAS ALECIA'S NIECE!?"

Author's Notes:

Dun Dun DUUUUNNNN!!!

Well, that was dramatic, maybe.

One last chapter before the new year, here you go guys, enjoy.

Results.

______*Ponyville, Rarity's house.*______

The living room of the white unicorn fashionista was quiet after Nightmare Moon's shouting, none of them wanted to be the ones to speak up while the Alicorn calmed down, and were it not for the currently deceased in the room, the silence may have continued for a long time. "I never thought Markus would have the guts to become a father, but he proved me wrong didn't he?" Alecia said, she now floated lazily across the room, circling above Nightmare Moon and Feral Wing.

Rarity stood up and looked at Alecia. "Can we not have your teasing for just a few hours Alecia? there is something very important to take care of after all." She stated calmly, she then looked at Feral Wing. "Is it alright if we get back on track now?" She asked.

With Rarity's words, Feral Wing and Nightmare Moon nodded, they both looked at Alecia who now seemed tense. "Is something wrong Alecia?" The Alicorn asked, the ghost looked at her friend and sighed. "I'm fine, just a little......uneasy, don't get me wrong, it'll be nice to be able to leave Ponyville after six centuries but I don't think I'll be able to move on." The ghost replied before shifting herself to be upright, she then landed on the ground and crossed her arms. "But I'll be damned if I don't even try to leave this town......no offense." She said, looking at Rarity.

"None taken." Rarity replied, brushing off the comment as she understood the ghosts eagerness to leave the town after so long, she looked at Feral Wing. "Do you understand how we have to break the curse?" She asked, fully willing to explain it if necessary.

Feral shuddered and nodded. "Yea......it's a little counter blood magic right? a little of my blood and the curse is gone?" She replied, sounding unsure.

"If you're having second thoughts about this, we won't hold it against you, right?" Sweetie Belle spoke up, looking at her sister, the Alicorn and the ghost.

"Of course we won't hold it against you, I felt just as nervous when my family's part of the curse was broken, there's no hurry." Rarity stated.

Feral shook her head. "No no, I would rather get it over with, so how does this work exactly?" She asked, looking at Nightmare Moon with a notable amount of nervousness.

Nightmare turned around and walked towards the wall by the stairs and spoke. "It's very simple actually, we go to where the curse is maintained, then we simply pour a few drops of blood, a unicorn or magic user like myself casts the curse breaker spell and that's that, no real complications aside from a very specific requirement." She explained, not willing to go into absolute detail about how to break a blood spell.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "Funnily enough, when I was alive for a short time, Nightmare tried to use my blood to break the curse, didn't work and we ended up back at square one." She shrugged and quickly appeared by the front door, she leaned on it and noticed Feral Wing's surprised expression, she grinned. "Don't look so surprised kiddo, Discord the douche has a way of pissing people off, including sudden revivals." She shook her head as she closed her eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

Feral Wing looked at Rarity. "Where exactly is the curse being maintained from? is it far?" She asked out of curiosity.

"The Cemetary, naturally." Rarity replied, she then stood up and looked outside. "We can break the curse later when it gets dark, the last thing we need is the ponies here seeing us break a blood curse in the middle of the day and spreading rumors." She then looked at Feral Wing. "You can stay here tonight if you need somewhere to sleep, there's a spare bedroom over there." She said, pointing to a door at the far end of the room.

"Well, I had been told I would be bunking with Twilight Sparkle for the duration of my visit, I'll be alright." She then raised an eyebrow when she heard Nightmare snickering behind her. "What's so funny?" She asked, turning around to face the Alicorn.

Nightmare Moon now had a large grin on her face, but the reason for it was unknown, at least until she spoke. "Considering she'll probably talk your ear off when she learns what we now know, I wish I could see your face when it happens, then of course I'll suffer a barrage of questions about Glyph and how she was able to wield magic." She replied with some mild amusement.

"Hey, where did Alecia go?" Sweetie Belle asked, making the others in the room look around for the resident ghost.

Nightmare sighed. "She might be on the roof again, she seems to like it up there for some reason." She said before walking to the door and opening it. "Il go look for her, you three can do whatever you want." She said nonchalantly before walking out, closing the door with her magic and flying off.

Nightmare Moon quickly flew up to the roof of Rarity's house, but when she got to where Alecia usually sat, the ghost was nowhere to be seen. "Come on Alecia, where are you?" She asked quietly.

_______*Elsewhere in Ponyville, late that night.*______

Alecia walked once again through the quiet graveyard, it was again devoid of the living when the ghost arrived and Alecia didn't blame anyone for it, because who else but the dead go to a cemetery this late at night.

Alecia walked in silence and out of sight, she prevented herself from being seen by anyone and she soon reached her destination, she faced the grave and knelt down to it, she closed her eyes and places a cold spectral hand on the stone, it was so old that even her ethereal touch could move it a little, and while the writing was faded and body likely completely gone by now, Alecia could feel whose grave this was, Dark Amber, the unicorn who imprisoned her for six hundred years.

Alecia shifted her body and sat in front of the grave, her legs crossed and her hands on her knees, she looked at the grave with a solemn expression, and her eyes, which usually held great amusement in them, now seemed dull and aged. "Well Dark Amber, it looks like it's almost over, your efforts to seal me away forever will finally be cast aside, and I'll be free....." She paused and sighed.

"Free to do what? to pass on? to simply move from the afterlife to the next life if that even exists?" The ghost pondered as she looked at the grave, her expression softened. "But I suppose you'll be free too right? I know your still here, watching me like a hawk, but with your curse gone, you won't have any reason to stay, and I'll be honest with you, like I always have been." She took a deep breath before speaking once more. "The fact that you haven't even attempted to speak to me in all this time, is actually pretty annoying, I thought that after being around for as long as I have I would have grown enough to not be bothered by the silent treatment." She shook her head and stopped talking.

Alecia straightened herself out and spoke, her voice now level and serious. "Nightmare, Rarity and Feral......I'm guessing it's time?" She asked as she quickly vanished and reappeared standing up, she put her hands in her pockets and looked forward.

Nightmare Moon stood in the front of trio, Rarity stood on her left and Feral Wing her right, the Alicorn nodded and walked over to the grave, Rarity and Feral Wing soon followed her and the four were now standing around the grave of Dark Amber. "This is where the curse is being maintained from, are you ready Feral Wing?" Nightmare Moon asked.

The Pegasus nodded nervously and walked closer to Nightmare Moon, who lit her horn and looked at the Pegasus, she nodded and Feral Wing held out a hoof, she looked around and braced herself for what was about to happen, she winced when she felt a sudden cutting motion on her arm and almost pulled back reflexively, but she was able to stop herself from doing so thankfully.

Nightmare closed her eyes and focused on the spell she began to cast, her horn glowed intensely and the fresh blood floated over to just above the grave at the same time the cut on Feral Wing's arm was healed and the blood was absorbed into the ground, this was soon followed by a faint sickly green glow from the grave which set off alarm bells for Alecia.

Nightmare Moon breathed deep and the glow from her horn grew stronger, the glow from the grave soon went silent and the Alicorn opened her eyes, she finished her spell by releasing her magic she had built up, the magic shot into the earth without making any holes or craters, and in a few seconds a single runic circle appeared on top of the grave, which soon vanished from sight and everything seemed to calm down for a moment.

"Did it work?" Rarity asked, looking around and all over Alecia but seeing nothing different.

Alecia shrugged. "I'm not sure, let's head to the barrier and find out." She replied, easily vanishing from sight and appearing behind the three. "Meet me at the side of Ponyville facing Canterlot." She said before vanishing again.

Nightmare Moon sighed and looked at Rarity. "Well, let's hope for the best." She said, the white unicorn nodded in agreement and the Alicorn cast a teleportation spell, her horn lit up and soon she disappeared with both Feral Wing and Rarity.

______*Ponyville.*______

Nightmare Moon looked around for her friend and quickly spotted Alecia near where she knew the barrier was, she walked over with both Rarity and Feral Wing beside her, the ghost was pacing back and forth constantly even as they approached her. "Well Alecia?" Nightmare Moon asked.

The ghost in question looked back at Nightmare and the two mares, she sighed and looked forward. "I've been stuck in this town for six centuries, stuck in a room built to trap me and I heard so many things happening around me, the sounds of family having fun, love being in the air, child scolding, love and hate......more than a few nights of sex." She shook her head.
"But no one ever even tried to help, they never opened that door, until Rarity and Sweetie Belle."

Nightmare Moon walked up to Alecia's side and stood next to her. "I think it's time that you finally left Ponyville, if anything this is at the very least an opportunity to explore the world, and since you are a ghost you can basically go anywhere you want." She stated.

Alecia couldn't help but chuckle a little at the thought, she sighed again and looked at Canterlot. "Well, now or never." She whispered to herself before lifting her foot and put her foot forward past the barrier, she took a deep breath as she did so and waited for a short while expecting to be flung back any second now, she closed her eyes and waited.

The world was silent for a few minutes, Alecia took a few more steps forward and she soon opened her eyes, she looked around and saw that she hadn't been flung back into Ponyville, she looked at her left hand and blinked, she opened and closed her eyes a few times and looked to Canterlot.

"Am I......free?"

Author's Notes:

This is not the end, freedom opens many doors.

Freedom and stress.

______*Ponyville*______

"Am I.....free?" Asked the voice of Alecia, her voice was filled with confusion and uncertainty as she looked at her friends.

Rarity smiled and nodded, but deep within she hurt for she knew that Alecia was unlikely to stick around for long, the ghost often talked about leaving the town and exploring the world to see what changed, and as much as Rarity wanted her to stay, she could not bring herself to even try.

Alecia looked to Canterlot with a longing gaze, she felt the desire to explore fill her once more, to see the world without any ties to hold her down, she smiled as she let her excitement build up, she looked to her friends and descendant.

Feral Wing found herself feeling a little disappointed, she had hoped to talk with her ancestor more, to learn about the past and her family, but she couldn't think of anything to say in this moment, so instead she decided to be silent, and hope that the ghost would return or seek her out to talk more.

Nightmare Moon however felt the worst, she felt like she was losing her friend, and while she understood what she was doing when she performed the counter curse, it didn't mean that she was ready just yet, so she simply stared at Alecia's now bright blue eyes which seemed to have a mischievous spark to them, as though she were alive once more.

Alecia grinned and put her hands behind her head, resting them on her bright red hair. "Well, it's been fun everyone, but I have six centuries to catch up on, I'll see you around." She stated with mischief in mind before vanishing from their sight, laughing evilly as she did so.

The three equines sighed and Rarity started to walk home. 'I need to break the news to Sweetie Belle In the morning, I know she'll be hurt but something tells me that Alecia will come back some day, once she's ready.' She took a shaky breath and kept walking.

Feral Wing looked to Nightmare Moon who had a strangely neutral expression on her face, she stared for a few seconds before taking flight and heading for the Golden Oaks, leaving the Alicorn alone in the fields.

Nightmare Moon stared at the mountain city for what felt like hours, she did not move from her spot for a long time and then she unfolded her wings, she flew towards Rarity's house with her mind practically blank, she felt no emotions as she flew, she didn't even know why this was, but it was going to drive her nuts if she either didn't figure it out or ignore It.

_______*That night, Rarity's house.*_______

Rarity sighed as she opened her front door, she walked inside and before heading upstairs she checked to see if Nightmare Moon was coming, sure enough she spotted the Alicorn standing outside looking up at the moon, she walked to the stairs and soon as she took her first step she heard a voice upstairs, she couldn't make it out but it made her wary as she quietly headed upstairs.

The voices spoke some more and then fell silent for a moment as Rarity reached the top of the stairs, thankfully the stairs didn't creak and she was unheard, she walked through the upstairs and soon she came to a realization, that the voices were coming from Sweetie Belle's room.

Rarity put stealth aside and hurried to her sisters room, she opened the door and watched as Sweetie Belle, who was under her covers gave a tired wave to Alecia as the ghost vanished from sight, Rarity felt her stress fade as she realized that her friend was just saying goodbye to her sister. "Rarity? are you alright?" Sweetie Belle asked with concern.

"I'm.....fine." Rarity said, unsure if she was lying or not. "What about you? I know Alecia was your friend and I want to see if you'll be ok." She added while walking up to her sisters bed and sitting down on it.

Sweetie Belle gave her sister a concerned look and then signed sadly. "It's not going to be the same without her around, she always had a way of cheering us up, even when it looked and felt like she did it to hurt us we always laughed in the end." She rested her head on her pillow and gave a quiet laugh. "Though, you have to admit, Nightmare Moon's prank on you was hilarious." She said.

Rarity smiled and stroked her sisters mane, she remembered her reaction to the first day she was under the hair alteration jinx, she let out a quiet giggle. "Those two are quite the pranksters aren't they? they could give Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash a run for their bits." She stated.

Sweetie Belle laughed and then the sisters began to talk to each other, they didn't even notice when Nightmare Moon watched from the doorway for a moment before walking away.

The Alicorn in question walked to the door that led to her room, she was about to grip the knob in her magic before she sighed, she turned around and walked up to the door leading into the study, she opened the door and stepped inside, she looked around at the bookshelves and took note of how many old books there were, some were weathered while others were dusty, many were missing parts of the books but out of them all, only one was in perfect condition.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow at this and gripped the book in her magic, the book was sturdy and was two or three inches thick, the cover was blue in color and was blank, she opened the book to the first page and read the text.

'Alexandrite Belle.' The name made Nightmare raise an eyebrow, she heard a voice behind her. "That was my Grandmother's journal." Came Rarity's voice.

Nightmare Moon turned around and set the book on the desk, Rarity's expression was a soft one, without any trace of anger or disbelief. "I apologize, I shouldn't have-" The unicorn held a hoof up and Nightmare fell silent.

"It's alright, you were simply curious." Rarity walked up to the journal and closed it. "Grandfather never talked about her, and my mother and father never truly explained who she was to me." She added. "When Grandfather passed away and I inherited this house, I read this journal and I understood everything." Rarity looked at Nightmare Moon and levitated the book back to where it once was. "Alexandrite Belle died giving birth to my uncle in Manehatten, it's why I always enjoy visiting the city, while I do have a lot of business offers up there, I always find time to visit him." She explained.

Nightmare Moon looked at Rarity as the mare sighed and walked over to the chair and sat down in it. "What is his name?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

"His name is Azurite Belle, he is an Earth Pony who works in the courts, my father might claim to care about his entire family, but he has always loathed uncle Az." She sighed and leaned back in the chair. "From what I can tell from reading her journal, Alexandrite and Grandfather had a massive fight when he learned she was pregnant, he claimed that she was out of line and that he wanted nothing more to do with her, so she moved out and they divorced a week later, from what I can tell from reading her journal, Grandmother moved in with her lover and lived happily until she was put into the hospital, she said that she wasn't going to survive the delivery, even though the doctors tried to cover it up." She explained before shaking her head.

Nightmare Moon sighed. "So your Grandfather felt betrayed, so he didn't let you know about your own grandmother because of that?" When Rarity nodded the Alicorn shook her head. "I'm sorry to hear that." She stated.

"My Grandfather was a strict stallion when I was growing up but wasn't a bad person, he taught me so much when I was growing up, he raised me to have a love of the arts, he put me through school and later college." She sighed sadly but with a small smile. "And while he never talked about Grandmother, I knew he cared for her." She added.

"What about your parents? what did they teach you while you grew up?" Nightmare asked, Rarity lost her smile.

"I learned quickly that they were far too busy exploring the world anod going on business trips to actually raise me, don't get me wrong however, I love my parents greatly, but there are only so many 'weekend long trips' you can handle before you get the hint that they can't raise a filly." Rarity stated, she then sighed sadly. "And while they did attend any big event like my birthday or my first fashion show, they were gone for so many many years in general that I had difficulty knowing who they were." She continued she pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a tired yawn.

"And now?" Nightmare Moon asked, curious about what her friend would say.

Rarity rested her hoof on the arm rest of the chair and looked at Nightmare Moon. "They do spend more time with me and Sweetie Belle, and I mean they show up a little more than they did while I grew up, but aside from the occasional weekend with us or the odd week that Sweetie spends with them it is basically the exact same thing." She stated. "They didn't learn from their previous mistake, if anything they simply changed who they let raise their daughter and that someone is me." She stated as she took a long breath to calm down.

Nightmare Moon looked into Rarity's eyes and she could easily see the stress on the young unicorns face, her eyes had gained a look that made her think that she was much older than she really was, there were dark bags under her eyes which were barely covered by dried up makeup, but the only thing that Nightmare was able to see was disappointment, exhaustion, love and pride, there was no sign of anger or resentment in Rarity's eyes. "Why don't you take a couple days off? use them to unwind and relax?" She asked.

Rarity huffed. "And who is going to take care of everything? because while I can easily handle the few orders I have right now with no trouble, I have to take care of my boutique, handle whatever comes up that needs the Elements of Harmony, I have to take care of Sweetie Belle, help her with a school project coming up, cook food, pay bills AND take care of the house." She stated. "It's a lot to handle Nightmare, and that isn't even counting everything else, i cannot ask any of my friends to help with that, it is not fair to them at all." She stated.

Nightmare Moon went into deep thought for a while before speaking. "What if I take care of Sweetie Belle for a few days?" She offered, Rarity raised an eyebrow at this. "I.....or rather Silver Wing, start work next week today, and with Alecia going off to see the world, I quite literally have nothing to do, if anything I can help take a little pressure off." She added.

Rarity sighed and leaned forward. "Can you reliably get up before eight AM?" She asked, with Nightmare's nod she continued. "If she asks, can you help her with the project?" Another nod, Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Can you cook?" She asked, actually kind of curious.

Nightmare smirked. "I watched the royal chefs cook food for a few months and I watched you and your sister cook, how hard could it possibly be?" She asked with confidence.

_______*The next day, 8:10 AM*_______

Nightmare Moon grumpily sat at the counter next to a highly amused Sweetie Belle as Rarity made waffles, the white unicorn mare occasionally glared at the Alicorn as she cooked on a new frying pan, the once pristine pan that Nightmare used was now charred and stained irreparably and in front of said Alicorn sat a plate of black disks and thin black bricks, they used to be pancakes and toast, but Rarity claimed that they could be used to build and that Nightmare was NOT allowed to cook until she learned how to do so.

"I swear, the heat wasn't THAT high." Nightmare claimed, making Sweetie Belle giggle.

Rarity huffed. "Oh of course, you had it just low enough to summon a fire elemental." She stated with annoyance.

Sweetie Belle laughed and held her chest as she did so, sliding off her stool and landing on the carpeted floor, all the while Nightmare Moon groaned and face planted the counter. "This is embarrassing." She mumbled.

Author's Notes:

Welp, there you have it, Alecia is free and off to explore the world, and now Rarity, Nightmare Moon and Sweetie Belle have to get used to life without the spectral prankster in their lives, while Rarity also discovers a similarity between Nightmare Moon and her sister, one that she loathes incredibly.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, cause it was fun to make, see you next time.

Of Sisters and Mysteries.

Author's Notes:

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

_____*example*______

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_____*Ponyville Market.*_____

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

______*Two weeks later, Ponyville.*______

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

______*hours later*_______

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?"

Who you gonna call?

Author's Notes:

To those who get the joke in the title.....I regret nothing and the name shall remain.....FOREVER!

Ps. If any of the names of characters aside from the main characters are the same as the ones in the tv show/movies/comics are purely coincidental.

______*Canterlot Castle gardens, a few moments later.*______

Nightmare Moon stood next to Celestia undisguised after a teleportation by the Solar Alicorn, the gardens were serene as always, the grass was green and the flowers bloomed, little critters ran or flew around and the statues stood tall and proud, even the addition of the statue of Discord didn't ruin the garden.

There were three benches surrounding a fountain in the center of the garden and an open hallway leading into the castle was off to the side, covering two sides with masterfully carved pillars and columns standing six feet apart, giving the gardens a much more natural and pleasant feel to them, Nightmare Moon nodded her head in approval and looked up at the sky, the sunset glow gave the sky an orange and dark blue coloration. "Whoever the gardener is does a good job." The former villain observed.

Princess Celestia smiled and walked over to a bench to sit down. "It was a team effort actually, Luna sometimes tends to the statues in her free time, I personally planted a few flowers, and quite a few of my little ponies have tended to the garden itself, I think the result was worth it." She replied with a pleased tone before she looked at Nightmare Moon. "But that isn't why I brought you here." She added as she sat down on the left side of the bench.

Nightmare nodded and joined her fellow Alicorn on the right side of the bench. "So, what do you need my help with? I've already told you I won't be ruling again, so it can't be that." She asked, some confusion in her voice, but with a tone that said she was serious.

Celestia chuckled. "As much as Luna and myself would love the help, no.....this has to do with a certain ghost, one I believe you are friends with." She stated, she sounded amused but hidden underneath it was a level of tiredness. "Alecia has been very.....active." She paused for a second. "Around here lately, and she has been causing quite a bit of chaos in the castle for a week and a half now." She explained with both mirth and annoyance.

Nightmare raised an eyebrow in confusion. 'Why did Alecia stick around for that long? she can't have seen everything she wanted to see within a week could she?' She wondered before looking at Celestia's eyes with curiosity. "What did the lunatic do?" She asked without hesitation.

Princess Celestia sighed and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well......I should start from day one I suppose." She muttered.

_______*A week and a half ago, Canterlot Day Court.*_______

Princess Celestia sat at her throne as she always did when Day Court was in session, today she had her nephew Prince Blueblood attending, he sat at the bottom of the stairs to her left, and she was glad that he was more tolerable today, she did love her nephew but there were days where even she lost her patience with him.

Today was overall a good day, she was able to talk to Luna after breakfast today about a possible visit to Ponyville, just to try and relax for a day, then her sister went to her room to rest and then she opened Day Court, she was also glad to receive a letter from Twilight last night.

She was surprised to discover that Day Court wasn't very busy for once, only a total of twenty seven scheduled appointments, it was unbelievable and for once Celestia had to admit it to herself, she privately wished that Day Court wouldn't be so boring or short today just so she could take her mind off the upcoming wedding.

Apparently the universe agreed as a very familiar red haired ghost floated into the throne room from the main door, Celestia managed to keep an eye on Alecia while listening to the noble speaking, he was explaining his plan to close a few schools in Fillydelphia then upgrade them with up to date policies and equipment, as many were in disrepair.

Princess Celestia watched as Alecia floated up behind the noble speaking and the ghost grinned, she raised her right hand and opened and closed it as if she were speaking through it, she matched pace with the noble and had a large smirk on her face.

Thankfully, Celestia had over a thousand years of experience on her side, she made no visible reaction while mentally laughing at the absurd situation, she also noticed a few of her guards subtly staring at the ghost with cautious gazes, she heard the noble finish explaining her plan and she spoke with practiced calm. "Have you gained the support of the school board mister Pots?" She asked with an even tone.

Winston Pots, the noble nodded. "I have their approval, but they desire your consent before we go ahead with our plan." He stated calmly.

Princess Celestia nodded. "Education for young fillies and colts is important, and you wish to improve the schools, you have my consent mister Pots, I look forward to seeing the results." She stated.

The noble bowed and walked away, Alecia meanwhile crossed her arms and stared at Celestia, her eyes had a look that said 'challenge accepted' and the ghost grinned widely as though an idea came to her, she waved and disappeared, leaving the throne room ghost free.

The day court continued as normal for two hours, and by the time there was only five noble's left, Alecia had returned, she floated over to the noble that was furthest from all the others, this noble was a unicorn and the ghost held her hand over the unicorns horn with a large grin.

Celestia watched with interest and some dread as she maintained her neutral expression, and then suddenly the unicorn noble's mane stood on end as though she were being electrocuted, but she didn't seem to notice at first, only when her pale yellow fur stood on end did she notice and then her eyes went wide, she looked around the room but no unicorn or Celestia's horn was lit up, she took a step back and Alecia didn't move.

The noble's mane and fur slowly went back to normal and she shivered, letting out a cold breath which could be seen, the other noble's took notice of this but Celestia quickly worked to soothe them. "It would seem we have a sudden magical hotspot, I think it would be best for us to adjourn for today, lest something else happen." Celestia stated calmly.

Thankfully the noble's seemed to be placated by this but were disappointed by the news, after promising to hear them next time Celestia cancelled Day Court and walked out of the throne room from the back door near the throne.

'What is she trying to pull?' Celestia asked herself as she walked.

_____*That night.*_____

Princess Celestia visited the kitchen with the mindset to see how the royal chefs were doing because dinner was late, but she wasn't expecting to find them running around the room trying to grab flying ingredients and pans, it was actually quite sad yet amusing to watch and for the second time today, Princess Celestia had to fight the urge to laugh while doing so in her mind.

The ringmaster behind this chaos was of course Alecia, who stood in the center of the kitchen with her arms crossed and facing away from the Princess, one of the chefs, a unicorn stallion with a gray mane and tail with a dark green coat and pepper shaker cutie mark, spotted the Alicorn and ran up to her. "Your highness! I am so sorry for the delay, but everything we try to touch flies away!" The chef apologized, his voice had a soft Prench accent.

"It is alright chef Peppercorn, why don't you gather your fellow chefs and wait outside to rest and calm down? I will deal with this and then let you know." Princess Celestia said, the chef nodded in agreement with a tired sigh before heading off to gather his fellow chefs.

Alecia turned to face Celestia and wore the biggest grin, as though she was silently saying 'I win' to the Alicorn, her bright blue eyes were filled with mirth and mischief.

Princess Celestia waited until the chefs left the room, the ingredients and pans still flying around, albeit at a slightly lower pace, she waited for a minute and then spoke. "How are you enjoying your freedom Alecia?" She asked calmly.

Alecia shrugged and floated around lazily with her body in the air, chest facing the ceiling and back to the floor. "It's amazing, you have no idea how liberating it is to explore the world without restriction, it's almost like being alive again." She said as she floated around, still allowing everything to float around.

"As happy as I am that you are free, the castle staff do need to eat, so if you could return everything to its proper place, I would be grateful." Celestia said.

Alecia sighed dejectedly and set everything down on the counters, she looked at Celestia and after a few seconds she grinned. "I know that look, you were amused in both the throne room and here, you're just too polite to laugh when others are around." Her grin widened. "I'm going to stick around for a while, I'm having way too much fun to leave now." She then vanished into thin air while laughing.

Princess Celestia sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Great, as if Lulu's pranks were bad enough, now I'm going to be pranked by the undead." She shook her head and took a few seconds to compose herself, she then walked out of the kitchen to tell the chefs that they could return to work.

______*The present.*______

"And that was just day one?" Nightmare asked with amusement clear in her voice.

Princess Celestia groaned. "Yes, and she found more and more creative ways to prank us, though at the very least she took a few days off from it, spread out of course." She replied with an exhausted tone.

Nightmare stifled a laugh at the mental image of Celestia screaming in frustration before shaking her head clear of her thoughts. "So, tell me more." She said.

_____*Nine days ago, two days after Alecia's arrival.*_____

Princess Celestia sat in her private study reading some of her personal books, Day Court went by smoothly today and Alecia had yet to strike, making the Alicorn wonder if she wasn't going to be pulling anymore pranks.

Celestia turned the page of her book, a romance comedy novel that her assistant Raven Inkwell recommended, she levitated her cup of tea over and put the cup to her lips, she took a brief second to appreciate the aroma from the tea and took a sip, her gag reflex instantly kicked in when a foul taste entered her mouth.

Celestia spat out the tea and stared at the cup for a second, she narrowed her eyes and levitated the cup back to the tray. 'Odd, I usually enjoy jasmine, why is it suddenly so foul tasting?' She wondered.

Celestia stood up and walked over to the tray and examined the tea in the pitcher after taking off the lid, it looked alright but she knew it would taste horrible, she closed the lid and sighed, an idea coming to mind. "Was this your doing Alecia?" The Alicorn asked.

A chuckle came from the center of the room and Alecia appeared. "Yea yea, you caught me red handed." She said, she held up her transparent hand. "Oh, well.....you caught me dead in the act at any rate." She stated.

Celestia took a deep breath and looked at the ghost who had a smirk, she also heard a stifled laugh outside her study. "I see you recruited Luna for this one, tell me, how did you do it?" She asked.

Alecia grinned. "Luna distracted Raven by talking to her, and I poured flour into the tea and quickly mixed it in." She shrugged. "It's very clear that Nightmare gets her love of pranks from Luna, she's a natural." The grin on the ghost grew as she floated up close to Celestia. "How would you like to get even?" She asked mischievously.

Celestia stared at the ghost with disbelief. 'I am over a thousand years old, I will not be drawn into or be made a victim of this childish endeavor, besides, Alecia is the perpetrator here.' She argued in her mind, with her decision made, she spoke. "Let's get her." She whispered. 'Crap! that's not what I wanted to say!'

Alecia nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then, after Day Court." She whispered before vanishing.

Celestia sighed. "What have I done?" She asked herself before returning to her book.

_______*the next day, after Day Court, two hours before Night Court.*_______

Celestia entered the dining hall where Luna was waiting while reading the morning paper, she walked up and took a seat next to her sister who looked over at her. "Good evening Tia." Luna said.

"Good evening Luna, did you sleep well?" Celestia asked.

Luna nodded. "I did." She replied calmly.

Soon enough, one of the servants entered the dining hall with a trolley, he wheeled it up to the table and carefully passed a couple of trays between the sisters, he then set up the utensils and napkins and then walked out of the dining hall.

In the evening, when both Alicorns ate together it was always just them in the large room, Celestia was grateful for this because it allowed her and Luna to talk in private without staying up all night or day to talk with the other, it may have been quiet most days but it was a welcome change compared to the daily duties of running a nation.

Celestia took the lid off her tray and set it aside, she looked down at the items for her dinner, there was a green salad and there was also a large bowl of vegetable soup, she looked over at Luna and saw that she also had a salad, though her sister had a pair of apples and cooked fish. "I thought you might like to know, I was able to set everything up after all, we can take our weekend vacation in two weeks." She stated.

Luna smiled and took a large bite out of one of the apples, she chewed it for a few moments and swallowed. "That is good, after all I do have words I wish to give the Nightmare that I could not say on Nightmare Night." She stated before continuing to eat.

Celestia rolled her eyes and after taking a couple spoonfuls of the soup, she spoke again. "I hope you are not going to do anything rash Luna, Nightmare Moon has done nothing since she came back to life, I do not want to have to step in if you two start a fight." She said, hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

Luna huffed as she finished off the first Apple and started on her salad. "You worry too much sister, I simply have things I wish to say to her, if a fight breaks out, it will not be my fault." She stated.

Celestia continued to eat her soup and after two minutes the soup was almost gone, she then spoke up again with a thoughtful expression. "Technically Luna, Nightmare Moon is a part of you, she has your memories and is in essence your other half." She allowed mirth to show in her eyes as she looked at her sister. "So if she starts a fight, by all rights, you did too." She teased.

Luna grumbled as she chewed on the last piece of her second Apple, she cut a piece off from her fish. "Please, we are nothing alike, we do not even share a body anymore." She countered before eating her fish, she then paused and as she swallowed, her ears started to tear up and she started panting.

Celestia watched as Luna suddenly cried out in alarm and let out a small breath of fire, the lunar Alicorn then quickly gripped a pitcher of water and greedily drank from it, after two minutes Luna managed to get herself under control and she looked at Celestia, glaring daggers. "WHAT DID THOU DO TO MINE FISH!?" She shouted in an accusing tone.

"Who? me? I did no so such thing dear Lulu." Celestia said defensively, though her mouth twisted into a smile. "I mearly told the chefs that you asked for something spicy tonight." She explained innocently.

Luna's right eye twitched. "Do not lie to me TIA, you were never good at it." She said as she glared. "I know the taste and burn of Seven Hydra Fire Sauce anywhere and YOU told me that you got rid of it all last week." She stated.

And just then, Alecia made her entrance, laughing heartily and sitting at the table, realization dawned on Luna and she sighed. "I should have known." The lunar Alicorn muttered.

Alecia laughed for half a minute before calming down and looking at Luna. "Don't go blaming Celestia, she didn't lie to you, she did tell the chefs about you wanting something spicy, I just mixed in the hot stuff while they weren't looking." She said with a grin before standing up. "I can't wait to try out some more ideas of mine." She chuckled before vanishing.

Luna looked at Celestia and the two sisters shared a look for a moment. "What have we done Lulu?" Celestia asked with worry.

"We have successfully enabled a ghost that is almost as old as us to, as the ponies say these days.....go crazy." Luna replied bluntly.

______*the present.*______

Celestia shook her head with regret. "If only we knew, there was only two more pranks, but she struck both Luna and myself the same day, Alecia never said why, but she held out from any big pranks for three days." She said.

Nightmare raised an eyebrow at the mention of the time gap. "What happened exactly?" Just as she finished speaking, she heard a familiar voice.

"Alecia has a twisted sense of humor, that is what happened." Nightmare Moon and Celestia looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Luna walking over. "Your friend pulled simple practical jokes on us for three days, I do not know where she got the items, but she pulled every single one." She sighed and stood in front of the bench.

"Perhaps we should walk?" Celestia suggested as she got off the bench, Nightmare soon followed suit, and soon the three Alicorns started to walk around the gardens. "Alecia had fun with her jokes, she would pull stunts in both Day and Night Court, in the kitchens, the dining hall, our personal studies and chambers, nowhere was off limits, and by the fourth day she approached us." She stated.

Luna sighed and facehoofed before continuing to walk beside the two larger Alicorns, the memory still fresh in her mind.

______*four days ago.*______

Princess Luna walked with her sister through the halls of the Castle, she had remained awake for a long time, and Luna
was getting agitated. "It is impossible to fulfill my duty in the Dream Realm! we have to do something about that ghost!" She complained with anger and frustration.

Thankfully Celestia was the voice of reason. "Sister, I understand but we cannot trap Alecia, she was just freed from a curse not long ago, besides, she cannot remained amused by pranking is forever." She stated.

"Oh no, I could be amused forever.....you know, me being dead and all." Aleica's voice cut into the conversation as she appeared before the Royal Sisters, Luna growled and the ghost rolled her eyes. "It's alright Princess, I just wanted to tell you that I won't be messing with anyone for couple days, so you can relax." She stated.

"Why should we believe a trickster like you?" Luna asked with a skeptical tone with hostility in it.

Alecia shrugged. "Believe me or don't, not up to me, if you need me I'll be in the library." She said before vanishing.

Celestia looked at Luna who seemed ready to burst in anger. "Luna calm down, there is no sense getting angry over this." She stated as she continued to walk.

Luna twitched in place but followed Celestia anyway, they walked for about ten minutes and in that time Luna calmed down a lot, they entered their private chambers and Luna looked around cautiously for any tricks.

"Luna, there is nothing to fear, let's just take this time to relax, you could use it before Night Court starts." Celestia suggested, she walked over to a chair.

Luna watched as Celestia stared at the chair for a moment before speaking. "If there is nothing to worry about, prove it." She stated, happy to test her sisters confidence in herself.

Celestia nodded and moved to sit down, but as soon as she sat down she heard the chair creak, she quickly teleported off the chair and stared at it, while Luna smirked. "So, I am not the only paranoid one here after all." The lunar Alicorn stated.

Celestia looked at Luna. "You should take some time to get ready for Night Court, it starts in three hours." She advised.

______*the present.*______

"We were.....paranoid for those days, and it turned out that it wasn't a prank." Luna stated with some shame.

Nightmare looked at Celestia who simply sighed. "So for a couple days, nothing happened at all?" She asked.

Celestia nodded and looked at Nightmare Moon. "Yes, absolutely nothing happened to either of us or anyone else in the castle, Alecia kept her word, but since we were so paranoid we could not relax, which led to us being unable to really sleep." She shook her head. "Alecia said that while she was sad to hear that we didn't trust her to keep her word, it was hilarious to hear that the co-rulers of Equestria were checking under the pillows and mattresses for whoopie cushions." She stated with embarrassment.

Nightmare Moon chuckled. "Yes, I can see why that would amuse her, so what was the last prank?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

______*Yesterday.*______

Princess Celestia awoke with a tired yawn, she opened her eyes slowly and breathed deeply, she blinked a couple of times and slowly got off the bed, a few moments later she stood to the side of the bed, she stretched her limbs and yawned again, she rubbed her right eye and looked to the outside world, she saw that the moon was still up but it was lowering. "Time to raise the sun." She said quietly as she walked to the balcony doors, she opened them by hoof and stepped outside.

Celestia lit her horn and felt the warmth of the sun fill her, she smiled at the sensation. 'Over a thousand years I've been doing this, and I still enjoy this part.' She thought to herself as she willed the sun to rise, it took a few minutes as usual, but soon the sun was in its place and Celestia extinguished the light on her horn.

Stepping back into her room, Celestia closed the balcony door and walked to her personal bathroom, she opened the door and stepped inside, she walked to the mirror so she could splash some water on her face to help with some eye crust, she rubbed her eye as she walked, once she was done she looked up and into the mirror and she froze.

Her face had been painted along with a little bit of her body, dark purple lines started from her eyes, facing away from her nose and went back to her ears, they then curved around her ears went up to her ear tips, the purple lines also formed a strange eight pointed star around her horn, dark blue lines were painted on her face as well, they started from the tip of her muzzle and went up to her eyes, they connected and split again, going from between her eyes down the sides of her muzzle and then ending where her chest began.

Though the biggest change was easily her mane, where it usually flowed in an endless wind of magic, it was now flat and dyed ocean blue. "Alecia......of course." She muttered before turning on the water, she splashed some water on her face and saw that the paint didn't vanish, she quickly turned on the large bath tub and stared at her reflection, waiting as the tub filled. 'I will admit, while I don't like the look, I have to appreciate the level of detail Alecia put into this, she even managed to avoid getting any paint on my horn.' She thought to herself.

A few minutes later and the tub was filled, Celestia was about to enter the tub when her bathroom door burst open. "Tia! the ghost hath gone too far!" Luna's voice shouted as she barged into the bathroom.

Princess Celestia, Alicorn of the sun, co-ruler of Equestria and champion chess player, a mare who lived over a thousands years and gained great patience and tact, laughed at the sight of her sister, unable to hold her laughter back.

Luna was fuming with rage, that much was clear, but the rest of her is what caused Celestia to laugh, her mane, once majestic, filled with an image of the night sky, was dyed a bright pink, while her body was covered in lines and zigzags of rainbow paints. "This is no laughing matter Tia! we are a laughing stock!" She shouted.

Celestia managed to close the door as she laughed, unable to help herself, she continued for a good minute before managing to get some semblance of control. "Luna, come on, I'll help you wash it off." She chuckled before covering her eyes with her hooves, hoping to clear the image of her sister from her mind for now so she could help, but it didn't work and she simply lowered her hooves.

Strangely enough, whatever Luna saw upon looking at Celestia changed the lunar Alicorn's mood drastically as she laughed happily at what she had seen.

Celestia raised an eyebrow and looked in the mirror, she sighed at the sight of two large black circles which were now around her eyes, she looked at her hooves and saw that there was black ink of some kind on them. "Let's just clean up so we can perform our duties." She stated with irritation.

_______*The present.*________

The three Alicorns stopped at the statue of Discord and Celestia looked at Nightmare Moon. "Now you know why I desire your help, as harmless as these pranks may be, they have caused us to be.......ineffective lately." Celestia stated calmly.

Nightmare nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll talk to Alecia, I'll see what I can do about these pranks." She said before looking at Luna. "Do you happen to know where she is right now?" She asked with curiosity.

Luna nodded. "She said she was going to the library, you might find her there." She replied.

Nightmare nodded again and lit her horn, her form shifted into that of Silver Wing. "No point walking around undisguised if I can help it." She whispered to herself before following Celestia out of the garden as Luna stayed behind.

______*thirty minutes later.*_______

Nightmare Moon walked into the Castle library and looked around, there were stacks and rows of books all over, but the main area where she stood was mostly clear, she walked into the library and heard a familiar voice instantly. "Nightmare Moon, I'm honored."

Nightmare chuckled and turned to face the owner of the voice, she ended up staring into the ghostly face of Alecia, whose bright blue eyes shined brightly. "It's good to see you again." The ghost said.

"Same here Alecia." Nightmare said before taking a step back. "How did your travels go?" She asked with curiosity in her tone.

Alecia shrugged. "As expected, the old kingdoms really are gone, I did some more exploring and found that the Schattenreich was completely reclaimed by nature." She replied, she was nonchalant but Nightmare recognized disappointment in her voice. "Checked out the griffon lands.......not much to say really, they are pretty desolate there." She added.

"After that you figured that you might as well torment Celestia and Luna for over a week?" Nightmare asked with a raised eyebrow, the ghost chuckled at that and put her hands behind her head.

Alecia grinned and took a deep breath, she released the breath and then spoke. "Yea, that's fun......but not as fun as Ponyville if I'm honest." She turned around walked towards the library. "If you have room for the deceased, I would like to go home." She said with a little bit of hope in her voice.

Nightmare Moon smiled. "I know that Rarity will love having you back, and so will Sweetie Belle and I." She stated with confidence and surety.

Alecia smiled and looked at Nightmare Moon. "Well then, in that case I will see you back in Ponyville." She replied before vanishing, without a single laugh for once.

'Now to go tell Rarity our friend is home.' She thought to herself.

.tneduts dna rotneM

Author's Notes:

Go go gadget backwards name!...I regret nothing...that is up for debate because I am in a good mood right now.

So here you go, enjoy another backstory chapter because I haven't done one in a while.

_____*Two days later, Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library, 11:01 PM*_____

The inside of the Golden Oaks was quiet, the lights were off with only a few lit candles strewn about the room and a lantern in the center lighting the main part of the library, outside the tree however a powerful storm raged on outside and trapped all but one inside the tree.

Twilight Sparkle was the one to suggest they spend the night in the library, but because of the storm no other person dared to object, the others inside the large tree were Nightmare Moon who was visiting when the storm started hours ago, Feral Wing who was spending her days in Ponyville before being reassigned elsewhere, Spike who lived in the library along with Twilight.

There was also Alecia, who felt like hanging around tonight, having nothing better to do knowing that Rarity and Sweetie Belle preferred to sleep through storms.

The five of them passed the time by reading some books, playing some games like monopoly or poker, the former they just played until they were bored which lasted around eleven rounds, the latter of the two took a while to explain to Twilight that poker is not bad in general if you don't gamble, even though they decided to use potato chips for the betting aspect of the game, using up three bags worth of decently sized chips in the process.

The poker game eventually ended with Alecia losing first and to everyone's surprise Spike won easily, apparently he understood when and where to use a poker face and when to fake annoyance or joy, suffice it to say that they ended poker quickly.

By the time it was midnight, the storm had worsened and none of the five dared to leave the apparent safety of the room, Alecia though seemed to be indifferent to it all and for good reason, after all a storm cannot hurt the deceased in any way.

As time in the library passed by and everyone spent that time doing various things, Alecia simply decided to close her eyes and try to sleep, not that it was necessary but she liked to nonetheless, she was just about doze off when she heard Feral Wing speak. "Hey uh...Nightmare Moon?" The question sparked Alecia's interest and she opened her eyes, she looked and soon spotted her descendant sitting in the center of the room looking at the Alicorn.

"Yes?" The Alicorn asked, lowering her book to look at Feral Wing.

Feral Wing rubbed her leg nervously. "Could you...tell me about Dark Glyph? I would like to know more about her." She asked curiously but with a hopeful tone.

Nightmare Moon seemed to pause as though she weren't expecting it, she sighed to herself and closed the book she had, setting it aside so she could talk without interruption. "What exactly do you want to know about her? I knew her for only three years before my banishment." She replied with an even tone, not even sounding annoyed.

"Well, you did tell me the story of how you met and how she became your student, maybe you could continue from there?" Feral Wing suggested, Twilight meanwhile had lowered her book and Spike gave the unicorn her notes and quill, as well as an inkwell.

Nightmare Moon nodded in agreement. "Very well, I suppose it would be correct to say that it was very awkward for the woman those first few weeks, she may have had confidence when she spoke to me to revise our terms, but she lost a lot of it the next morning." She stated. "I of course attempted to assure her that I wasn't expecting immediate results, as her species doesn't normally have magic." She shook her head with a sigh. "As it turns out, Glyph was quite prone to imagining the worst case scenario for everything, at least at first." She stated before beginning the story.

______*A thousand years ago, Evergreen City, the Castle.*_______

Nightmare Moon walked through the elaborate stone halls alone, Celestia was currently presiding over her day court as usual and Starswirl was...somewhere, she didn't really care what the unicorn was doing at the moment.

It had been a week since Dark Glyph became Nightmare Moon's student and the human was making...some progress, while she wasn't able to cast any spells or use magic bolts like she did against those criminals, the human was capable of at least feeling and interacting with her magic.

The reactions that Dark Glyph got as the Lunar Alicorn's student were varied at best, Celestia was pleased and seemed to like the human a lot, Starswirl saw her as more of a mystery to solve even though he approved, the castle staff never said a word about it and the guards didn't seem to mind.

Then there was there were Warrior Mages, the robed unicorns didn't like anyone on the best of days but they seemed to absolutely despise Dark Glyph, one of them even spoke in disgust when it came to the human, if they weren't a necessity for the security of the city, Celestia would have disbanded them years ago, perhaps the only upside was that no Warrior Mage attempted to do anything about the human, they also made no effort to try and get rid of her.

The worst of reaction however came in the form of the ruling class, Nobles who acted like Nightmare Moon's choice of student was an insult, they were the most persistent in their attempts to get rid of Dark Glyph, they always did so with the arguement that it wasn't befitting a Princess to take on a 'hairless ape' as her personal student, regardless of magical potential, and even though Nightmare was always a step ahead in dealing with them, she had managed to catch some of them scheming to implement a silent law, one that they could use to get rid of the human.

Nightmare Moon and Celestia were quick to put an end to that, the whole fiasco ended with five noble's tried for treason and subversion, the families were dishonored and denounced, leading to a rapid decline in family wealth and they lost a lot of credibility, there hasn't been a single attempt from the nobles to get rid of the human since, and even the spies that Nightmare Moon posted stated that there was no suspicious activity to report.

And although Celestia told her that she needed to relax and believed that the danger had passed, the Solar Alicorn also suggested that Dark Glyph be assigned a personal guard for protection, and Nightmare Moon agreed with her sister, as such she did some checking for available candidates and found two that she could choose from, both were acceptable and seemed to be perfect for the job.

The first candidate was a Pegasus Stallion colonel called Thunder Skies, he was an odd one to be sure, three years in the military and yet he didn't seem to have changed at all, he could be serious but most of the time he was a gentle soul, which of course did make the Alicorn curious as to why such a person would become a soldier.

The second candidate was the unicorn that Dark Glyph seemed to like, private Rally Lightwing? yes, that was her name, only half a year in the military and disliked by her commanding officer, but she was still one of the best choices in this situation, mostly because of her background.

Just yesterday Nightmare Moon spoke with them both, questioned them about everything she could think of, even things that were unorthodox to gauge their reactions, after she was done questioning them both she found that she was unable to choose one over the other, so she did the next best thing and offered them both a job as Dark Glyph's personal guard.

Celestia mentioned that she was surprised that she only chose two guards, saying that she half expected at least four to six, to which Nightmare countered stating that she knew what she was doing and to trust her judgement.

Speaking of Celestia, the Solar Alicorn was actually a little wary around Nightmare Moon, which wasn't without reason because the drastic change in her sister was concerning at best, though this was just what Nightmare Moon thought her sister was thinking.

Nightmare Moon eventually reached Dark Glyph's quarters, this part of the castle was on the second floor near the back, it wasn't a particularly busy part of the castle, mostly because of Starswirls experiments and their tendency to explode, if it was up to her, Nightmare never would have allowed her student to live in this part of the castle, but this was the only available room that wasn't near a crowded part of the castle.

Nightmare knocked on the door and moments later it opened to reveal Thunder Skies, the Pegasus saluted and allowed entry to the room, upon entering the room Nightmare saw a sight she had gotten used to seeing, Dark Glyph sat on the floor next to her desk in the corner which had a chair, she was sitting on the soft carpet with a thick wool blanket on top of the carpet, her legs were crossed and she had five books surrounding her while she read a different one.

Dark Glyph wore a simple outfit, simple yet warm for the cold weather, baggy black pants and a dark blue sweater along with a heavy pair of gray winter boots complete with fur trim.

The strange thing about this setup was that there was a small wooden table top next to Dark Glyph with a pitcher of water, three glasses of water, a small tray of fruit and a hourglass, now this wouldn't be very strange if you factor in Rally and Thunder, but when this is the usual setup even when Dark Glyph is alone? then it's a bit strange.

Nightmare Moon attributed this strange habit to her students subconscious, as though it were trying to restore some semblance of who she once was, soon enough the human looked up from the book and her eyes widened. "Oh! uh, hello Princess, what uh...w-what can do for you?" Glyph asked while setting down her book and getting up, a slight hint of red on her cheeks from embarrassment.

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. "I came to remind you that we had a lesson an hour ago, seeing as you forgot again from the looks of things." She said, gesturing to the setup that Glyph liked. "Where is Sergeant Rally?" She asked, not having seen the unicorn yet.

"She is up at her old unit gathering her things and finishing her last duties there." Dark Glyph replied. "She said she should be back later today or tommorrow morning." She added.

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Very well, come, I want to get this lesson in before Night Court starts." She said, turning to leave the room, she opened the door and left the room, followed by Thunder and Dark Glyph.

"So...what's the lesson today?" Dark Glyph asked, rubbing her left arm unconsciously, having singed it a few days ago in Starswirl's lab when the elder unicorn was testing her.

"We will be going over the basic telekinesis spell, you should be able to cast it easily now, but I want to be certain, if all goes well today I will teach you how to use those magic bolts so you can defend yourself." Nightmare stated.

The rest of the walk to the usual training room was quiet, the only sound to be heard was the walking of the trio as they made their way through the castle, they did pass a few of the castle staff on the way to the training room but none spoke or got close to them.

They eventually reached the training room and entered it, the room itself was actually a classroom of sorts, used by the Warrior Mages to teach initiates, but it would suffice for the lessons that Nightmare Moon wanted to teach, Thunder stood watch outside the room while Nightmare and Dark Glyph entered.

There were seven rows of five desks with chairs facing a huge blackboard and a large desk in the room, all the desks were made of oak as were the chairs, there was also a large cabinet off to the side of the room holding supplies for lessons, Nightmare walked over to the cabinet and opened it with her magic, she then searched the cabinet while her student waited patiently, standing by the large desk.

"Where did they put that...ah, here it is." Nightmare said to herself as she levitated a large black orb to the desk, she then closed the cabinet and walked over to Dark Glyph. "Here you are, now I want you to levitate this orb." She instructed.

Dark Glyph nodded and took a deep breath, she held her hand out to the orb and a second later, her hand glowed a soft lavender with an odd pale blue shimmer, the same aura soon surrounded the orb but it didn't rise. "Come on...come on." The human muttered as the markings around her neck glowed purple.

Nightmare watched for five minutes as Glyph attempted to make the orb rise, she kept her expression neutral even though she stood behind the human, and even though on the outside she had no emotion, her thoughts were different. 'I know you can do it Glyph, you're ready.' She mentally cheered her student on, though she said something else. "It is only an orb, just reach out with your magic and pick it up as though you were using a hand." She stated.

Glyph grunted from exertion and Nightmare could see a bead of sweat form on her head, the Alicorn had seen enough and was about to tell her student to take a break when it happened, the black orb rose into the air and Glyph smiled, the human then made the orb fly around the room not losing control at all, her grip was incredible.

Nightmare Moon smirked and lit her horn, she fired a small magic dart which sharply poked Glyph, and to the Alicorn's surprise the human merely looked at her with the orb still in her magical grip. "That was a mean trick." The human noted before returning the orb to the desk.

"Of course, I had to test your focus." Nightmare replied as she watched Dark Glyph magically grab and pick up the orb a few times. "You have progressed much in one week, impressive for one who does not remember using magic before." She praised.

Dark Glyph blushed a little at the praise even as she offered a theory. "It's possible my subconscious is helping with that, the possibility that I've used magic before would be in line with that theory...of course it could just be because I have a good teacher." She said, her blush disappearing.

"Perhaps." Nightmare replied simply as she levitated a pencil out and onto the large desk. "Next, I want you to levitate multiple items at once, you will find it is much more difficult than a single item." She instructed.

Glyph reached out with her magic again and gripped the orb, her markings once again glowed as she strained to pick up the pencil, another two minutes passed and the pencil was soon grabbed, then the orb flickered for a second before returning to normal, at this point Glyph was straining heavily.

Nightmare decided that now would be a good time to test her students limits and levitated a pencil out from the desk, she then magically lobbed it in such a way that Glyph would notice, and she smiled as she watched her students aura surround the pencil and stay in the air, a few seconds passed of the orb flickering and then returning to normal.

"I think I have seen enough." Nightmare stated with a flat tone, her student levitated the items back to the desk and afterwards the human breathed heavily as she released her magic, the markings dimmed. "It is clear to me that you have never used magic before you came to Evergreen, if your magical stamina is anything to go by." She spoke with and even tone which made it impossible to read.

"That's one...theory crossed out." Dark Glyph replied in between breaths, she looked at Nightmare Moon. "What now?" She asked, her tone told the Alicorn that she was willing to attempt whatever lesson she was faced with, but her body and magic said otherwise.

"That is all for today, you must regain your strength, this lesson took too much magic out of you for you to continue." The Alicorn stated. "If you wish, you may join me in the Night Court." She added before watched her student walk to the door. "You should eat however, don't think I don't know about that bad habit." Nightmare Moon added, referring to Dark Glyph's habit of forgetting to eat, one that the Alicorn noticed on day two.

"Alright." Glyph replied with a roll of her eyes, walking out of the room.

Nightmare Moon returned the pencils to the desk and opened the cabinet to return the orb, as she levitated it over she stared at it. 'To think that she could lift this thing like she did, and with two other objects at that...I should really thank the Warrior Mages for coming up with this thing.' She thought to herself as she returned the orb and closed the cabinet.

______*Ponyville.*______

"An orb of draining." Twilight muttered, getting a confused look from Feral Wing, Spike and Alecia. "It was a device that the Warrior Mages used to train and improve their members, for all intents and purposes its inert, but when somepony grips it with magic, it puts a drain on the users reserve that's very intense, add that to the fact that it's very difficult to grip with magic and the drain doubles for every additional object? it's quite the clever device...of course they were all outlawed and destroyed, and the method for making them was erased and is remembered by two...three individuals." The unicorn explained, correcting herself near the end.

"Correct, and for the next week I had Dark Glyph practice with it, after the third day she recruited Rally to train with her on that exercise, they both expected me to be against it but I was not, after all a guard should be capable of defending their charge and since Glyph was my personal student, she was a high value target for assassins." Nightmare stated.

Nightmare Moon then took a breath before speaking. "The lesson for the magic bolt was mostly uneventful, it was a success once Glyph figured out how to throw her magic, I instructed her to work on that for a week but she mastered it in four days, she spent the remaining three days learning about pony culture and about her own people, she even joined me in Night Court some days." She chuckled. "Those nobles threw a fit whenever she did." She muttered with a quiet laugh.

"So my niece was awesome and a quick study? that does sound a lot like Markus and Callie." Alecia remarked with a smile.

Both Twilight and Feral Wing's ears perked up at the mention of the unfamiliar name. "Who's Callie?" They both asked as one, which was kind of creepy.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "Markus' wife, my sister in law, she was a former sword maiden from the Order of the Black Cross, I liked her immediately." She explained with a smirk. "She wasn't bad looking either." She added with a fake dramatic sigh.

Nightmare Moon's hoof met her face and she spoke. "Damnit Alecia." She complained, even though she was the one who missed the ghost the most, she still couldn't understand her humor.

"So uh...aside from Alecia's apparent crush on her brother's wife, what was Glyph like, personality wise?" Feral Wing asked, trying to change the subject before it could get any weirder.

Nightmare Moon, Twilight and Spike all mentally thanked the Pegasus as the Alicorn spoke. "She was shy and hated crowds for a long time, but to those who knew her like me, she was very lively for a bookworm much like someone we all know." She glanced at Twilight who glared at her as she winked. "She had a lot of weird habits but one of them was a recklessness streak, she wasn't very stubborn and was pretty open minded, she was clever when it came to problems or solutions." She explained as she tapped her chin.

Before anyone in the room could speak, Nightmare continued talking. "Let's see, she liked reading almost as much as Twilight does, she liked to come up with strange setups for study sessions, she was fond of Blaze Torch, one of Celestia's students, she hated snow and avoided being outside when it snowed as much as possible, she liked a soft rain and disliked intense heat, though she didn't really mind the cold too much, hmm...I'm also pretty sure she had a crush on Celestia, though I don't know what happened there." She then looked at Spike. "Maybe I could find out?" She whispered quietly.

A deafening crash of lighting struck outside and Feral Wing jumped in fear, while Spike latched onto Twilight who breathed deeply, Alecia chuckled at the misfortune of the living while Nightmare blinked and sighed. "Perhaps we should call it a night?" She suggested, looking up at Feral Wing who was latched to the ceiling light.

Everyone agreed.

Invitation.

*One week later, Ponyville fields, 2:15 PM*

It was another peaceful day in Ponyville, the sun was shining above a clear blue sky with a few scattered white clouds floating about lazily, all in all it was a beautiful day for a picnic.

Which is exactly what Rarity and her friends were having, they had all been swamped with work lately and today was the perfect chance for them all to catch up with recent events, Rarity herself had brought some dinner rolls...and Nightmare Moon who was bored.

Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Applejack brought the rest of the food however, Pinkie brought a box of small cupcakes, one for each of them and one for Nightmare strangely enough, Applejack brought an apple pie and Twilight brought along a variety of fruits and veggies.

Spike was here as was Alecia who decided to 'get some air' even though she didn't need it, the dragon brought along a few gems for himself to eat if he didn't feel like eating the other food and Alecia brought nothing.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had both brought a cooler of cold water bottles, some juice boxes and bottles of iced tea, which was very much appreciated on the hot day.

Rarity smiled as she idly sipped from a juice box she grabbed at random, she watched as her friends talked and enjoyed the picnic they had planned a few days ago, Twilight was both a part of the ongoing conversation and not a part of it, as she was occasionally glancing down and reading the book she brought with her. "What are you reading Twilight?" The white unicorn asked out of curiosity.

Twilight looked up from her book and looked at Rarity with a smile. "Oh, it's a book that Princess Celestia sent me after I asked, it's Ancient Relics and Magical Tools of the Warrior Mages, Volume One." She explained before flipping back a page and showing it to Rarity.

On the page was a detailed illustration of an Orb of Draining and a very detailed description of its purpose and function. "It obviously doesn't show you how to make it, but that's for the best really." Twilight said excitedly. "Most of these Relics and Tools are designed for a much more brutal time, so I really hope they are all gone." She stated.

Nightmare Moon chuckled and looked over at Twilight from across the picnic blanket, the Alicorn was disguised as Silver Wing and wore a large grin. "It's funny hearing YOU of all ponies wanting an artifact to not exist." She grinned, her statement got an amused laugh from the others and Alecia simply smirked as she floated around the group.

Twilight blushed and hid her face behind the book out of embarrassment, she spoke quietly soon after. "O-o-only because they are dangerous." She muttered quietly, which only served to make the others laugh more, all except for Rarity.

Rarity opened her mouth to silence her friends but she stopped herself when she heard Spike belch, she looked at the dragon and saw that he was holding a scroll in his hand. "What is that Spike?" She asked, not recognizing the seal on the letter.

Everyone quieted down and listened as Spike opened the letter and read it aloud. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, you are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and...Shining Armor!?" The dragon paused for a second before continuing. "Ps...I am eager to hear your thoughts on that book I sent you when you have time...your mentor, Princess Celestia." He read off, he then looked at the others but more specifically at Twilight. "I didn't know Shining Armor was getting married." He commented.

Rarity looked at Twilight who wore an agitated expression and her eyes were narrowed. "Twilight, are you?-" She was unable to finish that sentence as Spike belched out two more scrolls, she looked at Spike and waited as he opened the more plain looking scroll.

"Dear Nightmare Moon/Silver Wing, you are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor." Spike cleared his throat and continued. "Ps...Luna and myself would like to discuss something important with you the next time you are in Canterlot...your sister? Celestia." Spike read off from the letter, after he was done with that one he set about to opening the last one while Nightmare Moon read her letter over, confirming that Celestia didn't actually know what their relation was anymore, hence the question mark.

Once Spike opened the last letter he began to read it off. "Dear Twilight, I know you must be confused or even overwhelmed by the news of your brothers wedding, but I would like you to relay these requests to your friends." Spike cleared his throat and began reading off the requests. "For Rarity, I would like you to design the wedding dress for the bride, you will of course be paid for your time and services, and you may bring your sister along should she wish to go." Spike read.

Rarity had to conceal the large grin that she felt was coming, she still had a large joyous smile on her face at the prospect of designing a Princess's wedding dress. 'I need to ask Sweetie Belle if she wants to go, and if not I need to find somepony to watch her because I really don't trust Alecia to do it.' She started to plan out what she was going to do and went through a checklist for who could watch her sister should she stay in Ponyville.

"For Rainbow Dash, I would like you to perform the Sonic Rainboom at the ceremony, exact details will be explained should you accept." Spike continued.

Rainbow Dash grinned. "Awesome!" She stated enthusiastically, it was obvious she was going as she would have a chance to show her stuff at a Royal Wedding.

"For Applejack, I would like you to cater the wedding, you will be paid well for your time and efforts of course and should she wish to go, you may bring your sister...ps, as a personal request can you bring me one of those delicious apple pies? I must admit I have been craving one ever since the Summer Sun Celebration." Spike read off.

Applejack looked eager, it was obvious she was going but her expression was thoughtful, she was clearly thinking on what her family could do with the extra bits and potential business. "It would be nice to get some extra bits so we could replace that old plough or maybe even Granny's hip." She whispered to herself before devolving into sounding muttering.

"For Pinkie Pie, I can think of nopony better to bake the wedding cake and help plan the reception, just like your friends you will be paid for time and efforts, I cannot wait to see what you come up with if you accept." Spike read.

Pinkie nodded eagerly, she was going, that much was obvious just by reading her expression, she said nothing and waited as Spike read off the next part of the letter.

"For Fluttershy, I would like to ask you if you could train your birds to sing for when the bride comes down the isle, I will understand if you choose not to however, but you are still invited to wedding regardless." Spike read off.

Fluttershy was silent as usual as she watched Spike read the letter, it was difficult to tell what she was thinking because of her mane hiding her eyes when she slunk behind it.

"I shall await your reply, Princess Celestia." Spike read off before setting the letter down and grabbing a bottle of water, he then started to drink it as everyone else went to talk, but not before Twilight burst.

"WHY DIDNT HE TELL ME HE WAS GETTING MARRIED!?" Twilight shouted, causing her friends to recoil just like the nearby ponies who were also enjoying the day, Alecia of course didn't flinch and Nightmare was quick to recover, they all then watched as Twilight angrily paced. "I am his sister! you would think that he would at the very least remember to write a letter, saying that he was engaged...or that he was even dating! or just to check up on me!" Twilight groaned as she rubbed her head. "Calm down, calm down, be happy for him first, kick his flank later." She told herself in an attempt to calm down.

Nightmare rolled her eyes and stood up, she looked at Alecia. "Hey Alecia, do you know where Sweetie Belle is?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alecia looked down at Nightmare with an offended expression. "Nightmare! you say that like I wouldn't know where one of my best friends is, and you implied that I spy on her!" She accused with an offended voice and expression, she soon grinned however and put her arms behind her head and spoke. "She's at Sugarcube Corner with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo talking to a filly and colt, named Peppermint Twist and Rumble respectively." She answered before closing her eyes.

Rarity and Applejack stared at Alecia with raised eyebrows. "How would you know that?" They asked as one, they shared a glance before shrugging it off.

Alecia chuckled as she floated. "I never said that Nightmare was wrong." She replied before vanishing from sight, leaving the seven ponies and one dragon alone.

"I don't know if I should be angry or relieved that she's keeping an eye on those three." Applejack said, as she shook her head with sigh.

Rarity nodded in agreement. "Regardless, I must go home and pack, I will need my supplies as well, could you help me Nightmare?" She asked the former villain.

The Alicorn in question rolled her catlike eyes at the request. "I'll go and let Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom know to come see you and Applejack, after that, I need to head to Canterlot and see what Celestia and Luna want, see you all in Canterlot." She said before opening her wings and flying off towards Ponyville.

"Of course she leaves the packing to me." Rarity complained before helping her friends to pack up the picnic, as they packed up, Rarity noticed that Twilight had an aggravated look on her face the entire time, but whenever she glanced up she would put on an awkwardly fake smile.

Rarity was tempted to say something to Twilight but decided against it and focused on packing up, it didn't take very long and soon enough they all went their seperate ways to get ready to leave for Canterlot.

*The train, a few hours later.*

Nightmare Moon sighed as she stared out the window from her seat, she was alone in the surprisingly empty train, for some reason there was a distinct lack of travel for the railway lately, at least that is what she learned from overhearing a conversation between the conductor and the driver.

Nightmare was not the only occupant in the train of course, as the Element bearers were all onboard, along with Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as well as a few other passengers, Alecia refused to go to Canterlot, saying that she despised weddings, and further prodding only led to an explanation of how she almost missed Markus' wedding when she was alive, and just how much she loathed it.

As Nightmare sat alone in the train car, listening to the chatter in the other car closer to the front of the train, the Alicorn was reminded of how much she enjoyed Alecia's company, because while the ghost did have a habit of driving her mad, she had many stories to tell and kept things from becoming very dull, the thought of the ghosts antics brought a smile to Nightmare's face as she looked back outside.

Nightmare Moon's expression went from content to neutral and then to worried in the span of a few seconds however, as she stared at the city of Canterlot which stood just as proud as ever, but with one difference.

The entire city was surrounded by a massive magical shield.

Author's Notes:

Welp, we all knew that this was coming one way or another.

I am sorry about the longer chapter times for this story, but as I grow closer to the Canterlot Wedding I can't help but feel my drive fade, and there is a reason for it.

The reason is a simple one...I am bored when it comes to working with or around the Changeling Invasion, because I used it so much and it's grown stale for me, but I'll get through it, don't worry about that.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this admittedly short chapter.

Preparing for trouble and an important meeting.

*Canterlot Train Station*

To say that Canterlot felt different would be an understatement, because with the massive shield, the heavily guarded checkpoint and the general emptiness of the city, it actually felt like martial law was in place, thankfully this was not the case but it certainly felt like it was, so in truth the city felt kind of cold and distant now.

It was due to all of this security that Rarity was glad that Nightmare Moon prefered to be in the guise of Silver Wing so much, because she was certain that if the Alicorn wasn't hiding she would be attacked on sight by the soldiers who fortified the station.

So as Rarity and her friends were escorted to the castle as they were instructed, Twilight followed her brother with a mind to scold him, as much as Rarity understood that Twilight was angry at her brother for not telling her he was getting married earlier, she also hoped that the angry mare wouldn't do something she would regret.

Rarity distracted herself however by looking around the city as they walked through it, seeing the intricate architecture brought a smile to her face as she focused on one of the reasons she loved the city so much, she felt her worries slowly fade away as she walked but she still felt concern for her friend.

The walk was actually very boring as they made their way to the castle, with none of the guards speaking and the group of friends not talking it was a quiet affair even as they approached gates to the castle.

When they were finally inside, the escort halved and they were led to the throne room, where they met Princess Celestia and reunited with Twilight who seemed a little more tense but no longer glaring at her brother...at least not as much, once the last noble left the courtroom a couple minutes later, everyone seemed to visibly relax.

It was then that Princess Celestia explained why the shield was up and why security was doubled lately, apparently they recieved a warning and a threat of an imminent attack, and they were busy trying to prepare for it, the Solar Alicorn assured them that they were safe in Canterlot when she saw the looks of fear and worry spread, she then ordered a maid to show them to their rooms, though she did speak up before they all left. "Twilight, Silver Wing, would you wait for a moment?" Celestia asked.

Spike looked at Twilight and the unicorn nodded to him, the dragon then followed the others out of the throne room, and once the doors closed, Princess Celestia spoke again. "Would you all give us some privacy please?" She said, referring to the guards and Shining Armor, who all saluted before leaving the throne room in a timely manner.

Once the throne room was empty aside from Celestia, Twilight and Silver Wing, the Solar Alicorn breathed a sigh of relief, her horn lit up and a golden wave passed over the room. "You may release your disguise if you wish Nightmare Moon, we will not be interrupted." She stated.

Nightmare Moon released her disguise and as she did so, Princess Luna entered the room through the door to the left of the throne. "What happened to not being interrupted?" The former villain asked with a raised eyebrow.

Another flash of her magic later, and the door that Luna came in from shimmered with a golden aura for a moment before Celestia spoke up. "I believe that we should all be present for this conversation." She explained cryptically before standing and walking down the steps from her throne, she walked with a casual pace but retained an air of authority. "Firstly, I would like to say that I am glad that you decided to come." She said, referring to Nightmare Moon.

"Secondly, I would like to address a growing concern here in Canterlot." Celestia said as she reached the bottom of the steps, her calm expression shifted to one of serious thought and concern. "This attack has been troubling me ever since I received the news, whoever it is has given no indication of their motives or reasoning, they have made no other threats or demands and have left no trace whatsoever to follow." She explained. "So while I am quite sure we are safe, I would like the two of you to keep your eyes open for any suspicious activity while you are here, these weddings always bring out the worst in ponies after all." She said with a tired voice.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the comment and looked at her mentor curiously. "Princess?" She asked with a worried tone.

Luna then spoke up for the first time since entering the room. "My sister is merely tired from the stress this wedding has brought on." She replied calmly. "We have much to do lately to calm things down ever since, well...you." The Lunar Alicorn said, directing the end of her sentence to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes with both a lack of amusement and a lack of annoyance. "Thank you for reminding me of my death." She said before looking at Celestia, Twilight shivered but the Princesses did not. "Now why did you want to talk to me?...you never gave me much of a reason in the letter." She asked her former self and Celestia.

Celestia nodded and looked at Twilight. "Twilight, I understand you are frustrated, because if I am not mistaken you brother failed to inform you of his engagement and this wedding until recently." She said with a compassionate tone, and Twilight's surprised expression revealed that the Princess was right on point. "But I ask you to please give him some leniency because of the threats, now I think you should go find your friends, they must be worried about you." She said.

Twilight nodded and walked to the main door to leave the throne room, Nightmare and the Princesses waited until the unicorn was out of the room before talking. "Now, what's this about?" The former villain asked with a slightly impatient tone.

"Very well, right down to business then." Celestia said before walking back up the stairs to the throne, she talked while walking. "We have recieved the full report of Feral Wing from her time in Ponyville, and I must admit we are...concerned about you." She said, causing the former villain to raise an eyebrow.

"Why are you concerned, and about what exactly?" Nightmare asked.

Luna took a breath before looking directly at Nightmare Moon. "We have recently uncovered ancient documents that detail the fall of the Human Kingdoms." She stated.

"Are you serious?" Nightmare asked with both suspicion and awe, though she kept the former hidden from her voice as she looked at Luna. "Tell me, what do these documents say?" She asked.

"The writings claim that the downfall of Humanity was not due to a war or a plague." Celestia stated ominously.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. "So what? they starved?" She asked, though when the Solar Alicorn shook her head, the former villains confusion grew as she looked to Luna for an answer. "Did something happen where they were incapable of reproduction?" She asked, but when she recieved no answer, she sighed and took a step back as she turned around and walked away until she was ten feet away. "Alright, just tell me, what killed off Humanity?" She asked.

With a deep breath, Celestia spoke with a flat tone. "Every Human in the three Human Kingdoms all vanished at once, all at the same time, and the rest who weren't in the kingdoms died of old age years later." She answered.

Nightmare froze in place. 'That sounds...far too familiar for my liking.' She turned to face the other Alicorns. "That is not possible, how does an entire species just vanish?" She asked.

"Nopony, or even no one alive knows the answer to that question, there are no documents or written proof of any sort that show that the Human Kingdoms were still standing when you came to power." Luna replied before taking in a breath and letting it out.

Nightmare Moon looked at Celestia who merely shook her head. "But then... that means that Alecia is literally the only one who would have any idea about that, if she does know what happened, it wouldn't be difficult for her to lie about her years as a ghost and conceal the truth, but it's not like we have any way of getting her to talk." She said.

"Indeed, which is where our concern lies, because if Alecia had anything to do with Humanity's disappearance, then we are both concerned about the safety of everyone on Ponyville, particularly you, Rarity and her sister." Celestia said before walking to a window and staring out it. "I do not know if anything will come of this, and it is possible that we are concerned over a mere coincidence... but I believe you can understand why this is so... troubling." The Solar Alicorn said, lowering the wall for a mere moment, revealing just how worried she was in her tone of voice.

"I believe that Alecia cares about us, regardless of how much she tries to hide it behind her apparent boredom and apathy, if she didn't care, she wouldn't have come back after all." Nightmare reasoned before nodding to Luna. "If you don't mind, I think I should return to my pupil and the others." She said before turning around and walking to the door to leave the throne room.

"Nightmare." Celestia's voice interrupted Nightmare as she went to open the door, the dark Alicorn looked over her shoulder at the Solar Alicorn who merely looked at her with a smile. "I'm proud of you, you really have grown these past few months, and I am trusting you to teach young Sweetie Belle properly, just as you did before with Glyph." She said.

Nightmare nodded and faced the door, she placed her hoof on it and paused, she looked over her shoulder at Celestia with a thoughtful expression. "Celestia, are you aware that Dark Glyph once had a crush on you?" She asked.

Celestia's face slightly reddened as she looked at the window again. "I... yes, those few years we spent together were... wonderful." She said, her voice was a mixture of both happiness and sadness. "In case you were wondering, she passed away peacefully, after many years serving as both royal advisor and magic instructor... It was her idea to start a magical school which eventually became my school for gifted unicorns." She looked at Nightmare again with a sad smile.

"She never stopped believing In you Nightmare, we may not have spoken about you many times, but she always regarded you as a friend and as always, her Mentor." Celestia said before looking outside, a small tear falling down her cheek as she did so.

Nightmare did not reply as she left the throne room, she merely walked the halls disguised as Silver Wing and when she eventually found her room, which was obviously very luxurious and elegant, the first thing the disguised Alicorn did was check everywhere for anyone in the room, finding nothing, she closed the blinds and curtains, she locked the door and climbed onto the bed.

And then, for the first time in a long time, Nightmare Moon, the bringer of Eternal Night, allowed herself to cry.

Author's Notes:

Ok, so I think you all deserve some explanation as to why this chapter is late... I'm sure I've said it before, but in case I haven't or you forgot, I am very bored of the Changeling Invasion.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great part of the story, (the show and many other stories) but it is stale for ME to write with, not really an excuse but it is true nonetheless.

Another thing is just a general bad habit of forgetting to write or lack of desire to write at all, not just this story, but... I'm kind of falling out of love with writing Mlp stuff, which is why I enjoy writing Righting Wrongs so much and even some stuff on Quotev.

Anyway, if you read this nonesense, thanks, if not... no harm done, see you whenever I get the next chapter out... I should be able to write more after the wedding though, because I can get closer to maybe, finally... doing some stuff with Tirek, assuming I feel up to going that far.

A wedding to remember.

*Canterlot, Equestria.*

"So Miss Moon, please help me to understand the events that led to this point." A calm and composed voice said, belonging to a middle aged unicorn stallion with green fur, a short yellow mane and tail as well as a Cutie Mark of a piece of paper with a quill writing on it.

Nightmare Moon sat across the table from the stallion, for once she was not disguising as Silver Wing, instead she simply made herself the same size as an ordinary mare, her cyan cat-like eyes bore into the stallions brown eyes for a few moments before she sighed and rubbed her temples with her forehooves. "Ok, so it was the day before the wedding, and I spent most of the day keeping an eye on the fillies, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, Applebloom, Applejack's sister, and Scootaloo, a friend of the the others." She explained.

The stallion wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Where were the four of you that day? and was anypony aware of your activities?" He asked, his voice and tone were neutral, almost unreadable.

Nightmare Moon nodded and thought back to the day. "Yea, I was asked to chaperone the fillies for the day until it was time for the rehearsal." She stated before starting to recall the events.

*Two days ago.*

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Rarity asked with worry.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes, she was disguised as Silver Wing once again, she had saddlebags on and was getting impatient. "For the last time, it's fine, I'll keep an eye on them, I won't let them do anything stupid, so please stop panicking and go, you have very important work to do." She said.

Nearby, the Cutie Mark Crusaders waited impatiently for Rarity to stop worrying and let Silver Wing go, but so far there has been no luck, the three fillies each had a small pouch of bits to spend on anything within reason, which was probably the source for Rarity's panic.

Finally though, Rarity relented. "Alright, but if there is any problems, don't hesitate to come get me, Applejack or Rainbow Dash alright?" She said, she left after Silver Wing nodded.

Once they were alone, Silver Wing walked over to the fillies. "Alright, let's get going before she comes back to stall again." She joked, earning a snort from Scootaloo and a stifled laugh from Sweetie Belle, Applebloom however sighs.

Silver Wing led the three fillies out of the castle, they passed a few guards and maids along the way but there were thankfully no interruptions, after about ten minutes the mare and the three fillies were walking through the streets of Canterlot. "So, where to hmm?" She asked.

"Hmm... how about that place?" Apple Bloom said after a few moments of silence, Silver Wing looked to the filly and followed her gaze until she saw a store for alchemy supplies named The Silver Cauldron.

"Very well, let's see what they have." The mare said, she led the three fillies into the store where they split up to look around and browse, though Sweetie Belle stuck close, looking at the more bizarre ingredients.

About ten minutes passed before the four left the store, the only one to buy anything had been Apple Bloom who bought a few vials and various ingredients for potion making or whatnot.

Next was Scootaloo's choice, she had dragged the group into a sports shop where she quickly bought some replacement wheels for her scooter and a new helmet.

And finally, Sweetie Belle brought them to a rather interesting store, it was a music store that also had various antiques for sale, it took several minutes but the filly finally bought an older music record and an interesting copper goblet with three inlaid emeralds around the outer rim.

*The present.*

"So Miss Moon, you spent the day chaperoning for the three fillies, but what about the rehearsal? were you present?" The stallion asked calmly.

"No, I had no personal involvement in the wedding itself, I didn't find out what happened until the following morning." Nightmare stated truthfully. "From what I was told, Rarity had a conversation with Twilight a few hours after that incident, I don't know the specifics myself but it was clear they both needed space." The Alicorn explains.

The stallion nodded and wrote down on his notepad. "And what of the wedding? what was your role in all of that? accounts are varied and inconsistent because of the panic." He asked, curiosity and patience were written all over his face.

"Well, at first I was just a bystander, I figured it would be better to not cause confusion and panic so I let Celestia handle the Changeling Queen, and if it wasn't for that power spike that Chrysalis gained, the invasion probably wouldn't have happened." Nightmare replied truthfully.

The Stallion hummed. "What happened after the Princess was captured?" He asked blandly.

*The previous day.*

Nightmare kept a low profile as Silver Wing near Rarity and the other Element Bearers, she took a deep breath and watched as Chrysalis gloated because of her victory over Celestia, the Changeling Queen formed a solid magical dome over Cadance who didn't have the strength to break it open.

"Nightmare, now would be a good time to do something." Rarity whispered.

"Celestia is stronger in terms of raw power." The disguised Alicorn stated quietly. "If she couldn't beat Chrysalis in a contest of raw strength I won't be able to do anything." She explained.

Rarity looked at Nightmare with wide eyes. "Then... is there nothing we can do?" She asked.

Nightmare glanced from Rarity to Chrysalis who looked out to Canterlot City triumphantly, and just as Nightmare was about to speak, she heard the stifled sobs of a filly, she looked to her right and she saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the latter of the three was crying and her friends looked ready to cry as well.

"I... I have an idea, it's not a good one but I might just work." The Alicorn whispered.

Rarity nodded. "What is it?" She asked, trying to be discreet.

Nightmare bit her lip as her mind waged a war within itself. "I'm in the middle between Luna and Celestia in terms of overall power, but I have one ability neither of them have, and I think you remember it." She whispered, and upon seeing the white unicorns confused face, Nightmare spoke. "I can take another's body for a host and gain increased powers, but it's not exactly a good idea." She explained hesitantly.

Rarity looked around and Twilight spoke up in a whisper. "No way! we can't risk that! if it's a permanent thing, then that means we will need to use the Elements in order to seperate you!" The purple unicorn hissed in objection, her friends silently nodding in agreement.

"Like I said, bad idea." The Alicorn retorted.

"Can you win?" Rarity asked quietly.

Nightmare looked at Rarity and saw the mares eyes, they were aflame with nothing but determination and defiance, a look that the Alicorn didn't see in her before. "... Rarity... this could be perm-"

"Can. you. win?" Rarity asks persistently.

Nightmare stared at the mare for a few moments before looking at Chrysalis. "I can..." The Alicorn sensed that there was no deterring the mare and stood up to stretch her limbs non threateningly before sitting down, she spoke with an air of finality. "Rarity... will you be my host?" She asked, holding a hoof out to Rarity.

Rarity glanced at her friends who were silently begging her to say no, none of them wanting to lose either of them, the unicorn smiled before looking at Nightmare. "Yes." She stated without hesitation as she tightly gripped the Aliicorn's hoof.

With that single word, Nightmare Moon turned into mist and flowed rapidly into Rarity, the white unicorn changed rapidly before the eyes of everyone paying attention or watching, her pristine white fur darkened to a charcoal black and her bright blue eyes changed into the shining cyan cat-like eyes of Nightmare Moon, her mane and tail colors became a deeper purple and her horn changed into a more crystalline blue.

"My Queen! the hostages!" A Changeling Called out before being pinned to the wall by a bench.

Chrysalis turned to face her hostages and was greeted with the sight of one less hostage and one who she recognized as the dress maker but darker. "Really? a darker color? that will not scare me little unicorn." The Queen stated as her Changeling's charged at Rarity.

Rarity, or of you want to be technical, Nightmare Rarity's horn lit up in a furious blaze of magic and magical bolts fired from her horn, the bolts flew through the air and each one hit their mark, rendering several Changelingms unconscious, behind her, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight and Pinkie Pie fought off the remaining Changeling's before promising to return and leaving, presumably to get the Elements of Harmony.

"Just you and me now Chrysalis." Nightmare Rarity remarked, her horn lit up and the remaining hostages and the fillies were covered by a blue protective barrier. "You beat Celestia, but I wonder how you'll do against me?" She wondered, more to herself than anything.

Chrysalis growled and her jagged horn lit up, a small volley of sickly green magical bolts flew towards Nightmare and before they reached, the bolts suddenly began to circle the altered unicorn for several moments before launching at random times and high speeds, Chrysalis also threw in some more magical bolts for good measure.

Nightmare Rarity conjured several small magical shields resembling mirrors that blocked all the shots, and not only was Chrysalis surprised, the unicorn was also shocked but for a different reason.

'Woah, a willing host is so nice to work with, you've been holding out on me you know that Rarity?, why didn't you tell me your magical control was absurd?' Nightmare questioned mentally.

'You didn't ask.' Rarity replied, Nightmare could feel the smirk on the mares face.

"Let's change the playing field to be more... appropriate." Nightmare Rarity grinned and her horn lit up once more, Chrysalis readied herself for an attack but to her surprise the room as well as the outside darkened, everyone able to do so looked outside and saw that the moon was now in the sky and it was full.

Nightmare Rarity's grin grew in size and she cast a series of spells in quick succession, the first spell fired a small barrage of magical bolts at Chrysalis who was able to block, the second conjured magical spikes to erupt from the floor, forcing the Changeling to go into the air, and the third spell created a large dome of magic with numerous holes, Chrysalis formed a shield quickly as hundreds upon thousands of small magical darts threw themselves at her over and over.

Nightmare Rarity teleported out of the Changeling Queen's view and unleashed a beam of pure white energy from her horn, it impacted the magical shield surrounding Chrysalis with a notable boom, the possessed made teleported again and fired another beam, repeating the process several times.

Chrysalis growled and cast her own spell, and in an instant the shield surrounding her expanded and then broke apart into around a thousand magic bolts, the bolts of magic then fired in every direction, Nightmare simply formed a quick barrier that blocked several shots and allowed her to not be harmed.

Nightmare Rarity took a deep breath and lit her horn once more, the room grew brighter and the possessed mare bathed in the moonlight, she felt its power surge through her and she let out a breath of relief as a plan formed in her mind. 'Try not to blow up the castle Nightmare? I would rather you not get arrested for destruction of Royal property.' Rarity said with a hopeful yet tired tone.

'Unless you want to fight the Changeling Queen, I kindly ask you to shut it.' Nightmare countered.

Nightmare lit her horn and formed a few magical shields and blocked the furious blasts that Chrysalis was sending her way, though as she focused on her defense, Nightmare failed to notice the magical shackles quietly slithering towards her from behind.

Nightmare Rarity grunted as the ruthless attacks of Chrysalis pounded away at her shields, she did not relent however as she slowly built up her reserves for a final spell to put an end to this fight. 'Nightmare behind you!' Rarity called out.

The possessed mare looked over her shoulder and immediately teleported away, she fired another beam of pure white energy and Chrysalis was forced to block this one as it was aiming for the connected to Celestia's cocoon, Nightmare smirked as she discovered a weakness and a perfect distraction for her plan.

"Whatever you are thinking mare, it will not work." Chrysalis growled.

Nightmare rolled her eyes and teleported away, she appeared a few feet away from a window opposite Chrysalis and fired one more beam of energy at the cocoon connector for Celestia's cocoon, she then unleashed her spell at her intended target, a massive beam of white light flew at the same destination as the other two and Chrysalis formed a powerful shield to block it, the beam impacted and drilled into the shield viciously for a few seconds before splitting apart, it soon faded and Nightmare panted from the exertion of using so much magic at once.

Chrysalis grinned in triumph when she noticed that she was alright, she lit her horn up and gripped Nightmare Rarity, she threw the possessed mare into a wall and magical chains flew quickly and pinned her to the wall, the Changeling Queen laughed maniacally as she flew up to Nightmare Rarity's face. "You may have fought better than Celestia, but in the end I still win! that last attack of yours did nothing but cause your downfall you stupid mare!" She taunted.

The overconfident Changeling laughed even more gleefully as Twilight and the others were brought before her, defeated and tired, all the while though, Nightmare had a smirk on her face, and she soon chuckled.

Chrysalis heard this however and faced the quietly laughing mare, she flew up to her and glared. "What is so funny mare?" She questioned menacingly, her horn flared to like and the chains tightened, making the possessed mare wince. "Your precious Princess Celestia has been defeated, the city is overrun, Princess Luna doesn't even know what's going on and your strongest spell did nothing!" She taunted with a grin before it turned into a frown at the smile Nightmare didn't lose. "So what could you possibly have to smile about mare?" She questioned, her tone threatening.

Nightmare didn't lose her smile even as Chrysalis tightened the chains again. "Y-you... are such an idiot." She whispered. "Did...d-did you think that I was aiming for you?" She asked mockingly.

Chrysalis' eyes widened as realization struck her like a sack of bricks, she flipped around just in time for Cadence to rest her horn on Shining Armor's own, the result was a explosion of magic that slammed into all the Changeling's, they recoiled in pain before being magically raised into the sky forcefully and then launched away.

Nightmare fell to the ground as the magical chains faded away. 'I must admit Nightmare, that was a good plan.' Rarity commented.

The possessed mare rolled onto her back and chuckled while grinning. 'If I'm totally honest, I had no idea that would work.' She admitted as she stared at the ceiling.

Nightmare Rarity stood up a few moments later and walked to a window, she looked out to the city and noticed a very open and empty roof, she teleported to it without a word and conjured a blue blanket that she laid down on, she rested her head on a conjured pillow and stared at the stars. 'You know Nightmare, this is going to come back to bite you especially with you abducting my body.' Rarity warned.

Nightmare gave no reply and instead just looked over the night sky, she soon heard her friend speak up again. 'Then again, I'm not sure I mind that much, just don't make a habit out of it.' Rarity said quietly.

*The present.*

"So you teleported on the roof of Renholm's Diner and just... went stargazing?" The stallion asked.

Nightmare nodded. "And slept, we slept for a good long while before waking up, when we did we awoke to the sight of Twilight Sparkle and her friends looking down at us." She answered.

The stallion nodded and wrote this all down. "What happened next?" He asked.

Nightmare stretched and sighed. "We went back to the castle, I seperated from Rarity... I checked on the fillies, and then I was called here, that's it." She stated.

The stallion nodded and stood up. "Very well miss Moon, your account matches that of many witnesses and statements and clears up much of the confusion, you are free to go, I apologize for taking up your time." He said before leading Nightmare Moon out of the interrogation room.

Nightmare Moon left the guards station and was greeted by Rarity, Sweetie Belle and a unicorn guard. "So... how did it go?" Rarity asked curiously.

"Well, I'm not being arrested, I'll tell you more later ok?" The Alicorn replied.

Rarity nodded. "Alright, come on, let's go find some food, we did miss breakfast after all." She said, leading the way to the rest of the city.

Sweetie Belle followed between her sister and the former villain, she was still shaken by the invasion but the knowledge that she wasn't losing a friend and mentor was very calming for her, she didn't speak the entire trip, and Nightmare didn't prod her to do so.

'Well, that could have gone worse.' Nightmare thought to herself.

'Yes it could have, for instance you could have forgotten to sever the mental link.' Rarity replied with irritation.

'... crap.'

Author's Notes:

So uh... no excuses, no bullshit, I will openly admit that I was taking a long break from Fimfiction, it's not that it's a bad site, but I was tired of writing Mlp stuff, even Righting Wrongs didn't give much relief for that.

So I kinda stayed on Quotev to write for a while, it helped a lot and I finally felt ready to finish this chapter up, I hope I'll be able to finish this at least before the year ends, I might end up cutting a large segment out though, because when I put enough thought into it, I realized that the ending I originally planned wasn't very good, so uh... yay, I have more thinking to do about an ending.