> My Little Pony: Infinite Night [ENG]
>  by Claud Melchior
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> Foreword
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> Prologue
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“If somepony had told me, when i was a blank flank, that ill give a speak to a class at Celestia's School of Magic, i wouldn't have believed it, but …”


Twilight didn’t came further and forced herself to take a look at her notes. 


"I hope that I am up to the task because I can tell that all of you are and that the future of Equestrian magic is in good hooves." 


Lonely clapping interrupted the silence in the nearly empty seminar room.





"Wow. That was even better than the first ... eleven times ... "


After a cough, Spike forced a smile on his face and hoped that Twilight was finally satisfied with her talk. As exemplary as Twilight always tried to be, she also had the problem, that she’s never satisfied with herself, and it has not improved since she became an Alicorn and the fourth princess of Equestria. No matter how admirable it may be, going through the same speech eleven times in one morning gets even on the nerves of assistant number one. 


"Oh I don’t know, Spike. I'd like to be able to get through the whole speech without looking at the cards." replied Twilight 

"Come on, Twilight. You can’t be nervous about giving a speech to a bunch of magic students!"

"Oh, I'm not nervous, Spike, but I do have to set a good example, especially for magic students. Thats why this speech has to be ... " 


Twilight looked Spike with a raised eyebrow. He sighed. 


"... perfect?" 

"Exactly! Let's go through it one more time!" 


Twilight started with her speech from the start but Spike didn’t listen anymore and just layed down tiredly on one of the surrounding pillows. As it was Twilight's way, she didn’t even notice it and was already lost in her speech.
> Chapter 1
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One Hour later. The room was already filled with students and even in the middle of the lecture, more came to see Twilight, when she was at the part about getting a Cutie Mark at the same time. Fittingly, she illustrated it with pictures of the three fillies Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scooter Loo, which got their Cutie Marks at the same time through their connection to each other which resulted in their similar look.




"... Obviously, the long-term effects of the simultaneous acquisition of Cutie Marks has yet to be determined, but ..." 


Twilight drank a sip of water, but when she looked back at the canvas, the picture remained unchanged. 


"Hust, "... next slide please!" But when still nothing happened, Twilight glanced over at Spike. 


He fell asleep next to the slide projector but luckily he was awakened by Moondancer sitting next to him. When Spike woke up he panicked and grabbed immediately two slides from the stack.

Twilight continued her reading without noticing a holiday picture of Spike behind her as well as the picture of her and her friends appearing upside down first. 


"I can speak from my own experience that the power of Cutie Mark magic is very real, and in the instance of my friends and I it can be traced to a single event!" 


The picture changed. 


"Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor this Rainboom wouldn’t have happened. Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals, Applejack might never have realised that she belonged on her farm, and Pinkie Pie might have never decided to leave hers, It might be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to imagine what my life would be like. Without this rain boom I might not have gotten into Magic School, Celestia wouldn't have taken me in as her pupil or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends."


As Twilight spoke, her eyes flew over the rows of spectators. 

Then she noticed a familiar face between all the ponies. Surprised, she paused her speech and looked around. But when she looked around for the pony, it was gone. 

Twilight got confused but pulled herself together, forced herself to look at her cards and continued with the reading. 


"Yeah ... um ... The real question about Cutie Mark magic is, who it seems to effect ... "
> Chapter 2
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After the speech Twilight and Spike flew straight back to Ponyville. Twilight didn't say a word during the flight. Maybe because of the speech, where she had to look at the cards despite their (too) exemplary preparation, thought Spike. 


"Oh, come on Twilight that was not bad with the cards. The thing with the pictures was a lot worse and that was on my count!" 


attempted Spike to cheer her up, but the answer was only an... 

"....Hmm, did you say something, Spike?" "Twilight, what's up with you? Is it so hard on your mind that you had to look at the cards?" asked Spike worriedly. 

"What? No, no, that's not it! I think I've seen Starlight Glimmer in the crowd!" 


Twilight landed with Spike on the other end of Ponyville.


"Starlight Glimmer?" Spike repeated wondering, 

"I was sure I saw her, Spike, but when I looked again she was gone, I'm just worried about what she could be up to." 

"Nothing good I bet! I heard she wasn't very happy last time you saw her. "


Spike already knew who Starlight Glimmer was. Twilight and her friends told him about the event.

A unicorn who founded a village and wanted to make all the ponies equal by taking their Cutie marks and replacing them with the equal sign. Twilight and her friends weren't spared, and they were trapped in a room where she tried to brainwash them for two days. But Twilight and her friends undid their evil plan, the ponies of the nameless village retrieved their Cutie Marks and drove out Starlight.


"Forcing every pony in her village to have the same Cutie Mark wasn't right! We had to do something!" 
Twilight replied. 

"And now she's coming for revenge!" Spike concluded. 


But as a result, he saw a shivering Twilight in front of him, which remembered only too well the events in Starlight's village.





Spike immediately realized what he had done and hurried to Twilight. 


"Or she was just really interested in your speech." Spike said quickly to calm Twilight.

"Honestly, Spike, I'm not even sure what I saw." said Twilight doubtfully and looked at him uncertainly, "But as long as I have my friends I know everything is going to be alright!" 


Spike felt relieved after hearing that. After all, Twilight has proven in the past that she can quickly become paranoid about such things. Hopefully she is just a little bit paranoid as always because Spike knew that if she really saw Starlight Glimmer, it can only mean trouble!
> Chapter 3
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Twilight and Spike put their stuff down at the castle's entrance. Fortunately, Twilight was completely relaxed again, as if the conversation had not taken place. 


"Maybe I was more stressed about that speech than I thought." said Twilight. 

"Yeah … That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer's coming back with an evil plot for revenge!" 


Spike replied jokingly. They went together to the throne room.


"Well, if you say like that it sounds kind of silly." Twilight said, looking at Spike, who just stared at Flutter shy's throne, 

"Or it's totally true!" 


Spike exclaimed, startled. Because there she sat, Starlight Glimmer, who stared at the Duo with a nasty smile.




"Welcome home, Twilight!" 


said Starlight ironically, and took out a scroll and before Twilight and Spike realized what was happening, she activated the mysterious scroll, which conjured the Cutie Map.


Twilight and Spike ran quickly to the map. 


"What are you doing, Starlight?" said Twilight defiant. But Starlight just laughed. 

"I’d tell you. But I don’t want to ruin the surprise!" Starlight crumpled the scroll and threw it away.

"Won’t be needing that anymore." 


And with a evil laugh Starlight activated the spell and Twilight and Spike backed away as pink rings rose up from the map. Twilight shot a spell at it, but it had no effect, the mysterious spell began to stir up strong winds so that Spike would have been swept along if Twilight had not held him with her wing, and they watched Starlight open a portal as they have never seen before. A transparent semicircular ball with strange symbols and ticking sounds like a huge clock.


Starlight looked satisfied at her work. She did it. But she wasn't done yet. That was just the beginning of her plan.
Twilight and Spike watched in disbelief as Starlight began to levitate with her magic and flew through the portal. The portal closed behind her and the room became quiet, because nothing happened. Spike ran to the map. 


"Where did she go?" He asked, but Twilight didn't understand it either, She wants to take revenge and just ran away?

"I don’t know, Spike. but i think we'll better find out!" Twilight replied 

"I think we can start with this..." Twilight looked at Spike, who was already bending down to pick up the crumpled scroll.

"Spike, No! Don’t touch that!" 


But Twilight's warning came too late and Spike touched the scroll and in a matter of seconds the portal reopened and the scroll was dragged in. And so were Spike, who was holding the scroll. And Twilight, who was trying to hold Spike.

Screaming, Twilight and Spike flew through the magical tunnel, clinging to the scroll. But the flight was short lived. In front of them they saw light and before you understood what was happening, the tunnel opened in front of them and they continued to fall but now they were in the sky and saw a runway directly below them. Twilight remembered that she now had wings and braked her case. But Spike kept falling unhindered on the runway. Fortunately, Twilight was able to stop his fall with her magic just before he hit the ground. But at Twilight's landing, the two did not even thought about it. They just looked around in disbelief.





Around them, they saw buildings made entirely of clouds and Pegasi were flying around everywhere, so it could be only one place in all of Equestria.


"Cloudsdale?" Spike asked as he continued to look around. "Starlight doesn't even have wings! Why should she come here?"

"I don’t know, Spike. But it looked like she could fly with just magic. Keep your eyes open, we don’t know what she has planed!" 


Just as Twilight finished talking, a lightning-fast filly flew past them, who looked strangely familiar to the Duo.


"Isn't that Rainbow Dash?" Spike asked incredulously. 

"Did Rainbow Dash look really young to you?" Twilight replied concerned. "And I didn't see a Cutie Mark..." 


Spike took out a pair of binoculars and took a closer look at Rainbow Dash, but what he saw just surprised him even more. He saw little Rainbow Dash and little Fluttershy with two other fillies quarrel, which he recognized from an old story.


"We traveled back in time to when Rainbow Dash raced the bullies, who made fun of Fluttershy and performed her first Sonic Rain boom?" 


Spike concluded in surprise, but Twilight grimaced, not because she believed that It was stupid, but because it did not make any sense to her. 


"Spike, only Starswirl the Bearded could do something like that, and even his spell just went back a week! How could Starlight do more than the greatest Wizard in Equestria?!"


The rustle of a paper caught the attention of the Two. They looked at the floor and saw the scroll. Spike picked her up and after a quick look he showed it to Twilight 


"With this!" Spike replied coldly, and Twilight recognized the scroll despite the changes. 


She used it a while ago to tell herself in the past to not worry about the future. 


"Starswirl's spell, Oh no!" 


But Spike did not even think about the scroll anymore. 


"Come on, let's go!" He said surprisingly carefree 

"To where?" Twilight wondered. "To the race! I don’t want to miss the Rainboom."


But as careless as Spike was, he walked directly out of the runway and fell through the clouds, Twilight caught him with her magic, smilingly putting her clumsy assistant on her back and fly away.

Even when she felt it unnecessary, she was just as curious as Spike to see the unique event that led her and her friends indirectly together.
> Chapter 4
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Twilight found herself on one of the clouds serving as one of the spectator stands right before the start of the race. No sign of Starlight around and while this worried Twilight, she was blinding it out for the time being. 

Fluttershy gave the start signal and the race started. But Rainbow Dash and the two hooligans flew so fast and close by to Fluttershy that she lost her balance and fell off her cloud. Twilight wanted to fly after her but Twilight was immediately stopped by Spike, who taps her on the head and wags his finger. As cocky as that was, Twilight had to admit that Spike was right. Never change anything in the past and it annoys Twilight more that she had not thought of it herself.

The race was as Rainbow Dash always told. She led from the beginning, while the two bullies were close behind her. In one tight turn, one of them didn't turn in time and flew head first into a cloud column and got stuck. 

Rainbow Dash grinned with confidence. One was out and she had a good lead. But the second rowdy came out of nowhere and pulled past her with the words "See you later, Rainbow Crash!" 


"Hey!" 


said Rainbow Dash angrily and immediately started the chase. But after Rainbow Dash began the decisive dive to the last ring, Starlight suddenly floated out of her hiding place. 


"Aww, sorry about this!" 


said Starlight ironically, casting a spell on Rainbow Dash and just before she completed her first Sonic Rainboom, she got hit by Starlight's spell and she was stopped in mid air. 


"Hey, what's gives?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed angry.


Twilight and Spike didn't see it. But what they saw was that one of the bullies finished before Rainbow Dash. And while all the fillies were cheering around them, they both knew something bad happened. But neither Twilight nor Spike could have imagined what was going on at this crucial moment.





And as Twilight scanned the racetrack the other way around, she saw Starlight who still hold Rainbow Dash with her spell. 
Twilight flew to her.


"What did you do?!?" She yelled. 


But Starlight just looked at her relaxed and replied


"You are going to find out!" 


And if on command, the time portal opened over Twilight and Spike and sucked them in immediately.


"HAHAHA !! I DID IT!"


Starlight shouted happily after the portal disappeared. Everything went as planned and now she had prevented the event that lead to the loss of her beloved village. Twilight and her friends will never find together. Starlight floated away victoriously.

Although Twilight still has the scroll, if she uses it, she will feel the little extra change she but in it. Starlight Glimmer will always be ready intercept Twilight if she should come back to this point in time and prevent the Sonic Rainboom and her other self will bring equality and justice over Equestria at the same time. Starlight is ready to pay this price for an Equestria without Twilight and her friends, and she will! So come what may come, nothing will stop her!
> Chapter 5
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Twilight and Spike fell screaming through the time portal and landed on the Cutie Map. During the fall, the scroll flew out of Spike's backpack and before he and Twilight could realize what was happening, the spell was already sucked back into the portal and the portal disappeared.


"Oh no, Spike, what are we going to do now? We can’t go back without the spell!"


But Spike didn't answer and then Twilight realized why.


It was suddenly night and except for the Map, her entire Castle has disappeared, as if it had never existed. And on top of that they saw a completely different Ponyville. There were Moon Banners everywhere, and the otherwise lively village seemed abandoned. 


"Whatever happened, Spike, we need to stop Starlight and undo all of this!" Twilight said, half in shock.


"So what in Celestia's name happened?! I don’t get it Twilight. It's night, even though it's two o'clock in the afternoon. Your Castle is gone, and since when does every Pony in Ponyville worship Princess Luna?" Spike asked, pointing at the moon banners.


No matter how hard she tried, Twilight barely understood what happened, but she had no time to think, then suddenly she heard voices and saw shadows approaching. 

Twilight jumped into a nearby bush and pulled Spike with her magic without thinking.When Twilight carefully peeked, she saw five pony wings with bat wings and weird dark blue armor with the magical card that just came out of nowhere for you. 


"We have to get out of here!" whispered Twilight. Spike nodded and they sneaked away.


Ponyville never scared Twilight so much. A small village full of joy and lovely ponies, which she all came to appreciate over the years. Everything could not seem further away as Twilight and Spike sneaked through the dark alleys in the moonlight.


"We need to find out what happened, Spike!" Twilight said with a sigh, "We can never solve this puzzle otherwise." "If everything changed ... is it possible ...?" 


Twilight looked at Spike, he didn't have to say it, she already understood and started running. Four years they spent together in that tree, and as it was In front of them, this world felt even stranger.


The Golden Oak Library. This tall tree just stood there as if nothing had ever happened. No parties. No adventures. No Tirek, who once destroyed it.


"Is this still real?" Spike asked. 


Twilight didn't answer, instead walked slowly to the library.
Everything looked the same as Twilight remembered. The smell, the ambiance, the books. Oh, her old books, how much she missed them.

But as much as she wished to indulge in the beautiful memories, Twilight pulled herself together and focused to finding a potential resident. 


"Hello?" Spike called while going up the stairs, 
"Nobody here, Twilight!" he called down

"Good that no one is here. At least we can have some rest." Twilight said relieved, 

"What could have happened? " Spike wondered aloud. But in response, 


Twilight just gave him a book. 


"Let's find out!" 


Twilight said it with a touch of optimism and started reading all sorts of books like Spike, and even though no one said anything, Twilight and Spike agreed in silence that they needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. Because something terrible must have happened, and no one of them wanted to meet her.
> Chapter 6
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"Found something?" Spike asks discouraged. 

"No. It does not help us any further, this is not my old collection and I can’t find a history book anywhere, but then Spike found a band called The Moon Kingdom that had no Author. 

"Twilight look!" Spike said worriedly as Twilight hurried quickly to her assistants and looked into the book with him, and what she saw in the pictures made her growing panic almost unbearable.


She saw a picture of Nightmare Moon as she returned from the moon and banished Princess Celestia to the moon. 


"Nightmare Moon, I knew it!" Twilight said flatly, 

"But why, Twilight?!? You stopped her back then!" Spike said, confused. 

"I was not there when it happened and my friends did not ... Nightmare Moon defeated Celestia and has been ruling Equestria ever since, so I'm finally sure what happened! "


Twilight turned to a picture where Nightmare Moon brought the eternal night and an army of bat ponies came from the moon. Then came a picture of a defeated Chrysalis, one where Nightmare Moon's flag got raised on top of the Crystal Kingdom. After that one, one where Cadence was caught. But then they saw a picture of Nightmare Moon enchanting plants with a zebra.


"Why should Nightmare Moon enchant the plants?" Spike wondered. Twilight thought for a moment, 

"Plants need sunlight! Logically, they would all die if it's night forever. The spell must have changed that. Fascinating." 

"And all because of Starlight and that Scroll!


But Twilight didn't listen but just walked up and down. "The Scroll ..." she thought loud, coming up with a thought, a very vague thought, but the thought grew and grew and Twilight got the idea she needed all this time! 


"I got it! Spike, me and my friends never had the Map that sent us to Starlight's village, so she never had a reason to steal the scroll!" Twilight exclaimed in delight. 

"And that means that?" Spike asked in confusion, 

"That, Spike, means, that will be back soon, because Starswirl's Scroll is still here!"


Without further explanation, Twilight grabbed Spike with her magic, opened the balcony door and flew out into the night.
A light breeze blew through the library, flipping the pages of the book to the last image of a little filly giving Nightmare Moon a rose while ponies came celebrating out of a dungeon behind her.
> Chapter 7
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"Can you tell me what you're up to, Twilight?" Spike asked. 

"Starlight has never stolen the scroll in this time line! It's still in the library at Canterlot Castle. We can go home soon!" she called through the wind.


The duo quickly left Ponyville behind and was in Canterlot after a short flight. But unlike Ponyville, Canterlot was anything but abandoned. There were a lot of ponies on the streets and Nightmare Moons were soldiers everywhere. Getting unseen in the castle seemed hardly possible.

But she had another idea. "Spike, I need your help!" she said determinedly.

Twilight managed to land unseen in an alley near the castle. Spike stepped outside immediately began his part of the plan. He ran to the guards in front of the castle and shouted 


"HELP, HELP AN CHANGELING! I SAW A CHANGELING!" 


Panic broke out immediately around them, and while the guards tried to keep things in order, Twilight seized the opportunity and slipped unseen through the gate.

Her plan was simple. Spike distracts the guards and Twilight gets Starswirl's spell from the castle. She knew exactly where to look because the library had its own section only for Starswirl's books and spells. And by the way, she knew the castle so well, since she had spent half of her life here. But before she went on thinking about her great idol and her time in the castle, Twilight noticed that the castle was almost empty.

Apart from a few statues, there was nothing left, and the thick layer of dust on the floor was proof, that this place had been abandoned for a long time.

Please do not let it be true! Twilight thought desperately as she raced through the empty corridors. But when Twilight came to the library, she found it as empty as the entire castle.


She expected this because why should someone leave all the valuable books behind, if one already clears the whole castle.

But it was too much despite this foresight and Twilight burst into tears. It was her only chance to put the past right again and return home. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, her esteemed mentor Celestia and all her other friends. She will never see them again!
She and Spike would spend the rest of their lives in this new present, and the very thought almost drove them out of their minds.

She did not know how long she was lying there and cried eventually Twilight gave a jerk and went to the library. Maybe something was overlooked. Maybe she can find a secret closet with something important. Perhaps ...
She heard the rustle of paper as she passed an empty shelf. There was a lonely piece of paper. She took a closer look at the find.


To the 7th Command

Immediately clear the castle of Canterlot and bring all the items to the Palace of the Night. Special priority is given to the secret closets. Command directly from the queen.

General Tempest


She had brought everything away and according to the document that was already 3 years ago. She's smarter than she looks, Twilight thought as she walked out from the library defeated.

What should become of her and Spike? Twilight wondered. She saw no other options. Maybe they should crawl into the Badlands, where no one can find them. Or in the ice desert of the Crystal Kingdom ...

Twilight heard a sound that brought her out of her thoughts. She stopped and listened, but she could not tell what it was. It wasn't steps or voices. She was sure. She kept walking toward the exit and the closer she got, the more clearly she could hear the sound. Definitely wild ringing bells.

Twilight looked carefully out of the gate of the castle. There was nobody to see. The alarm bells continued to ring. They take the “changeling threat”  very seriously thought Twilight. She just hoped that Spike was fine.


“WE FOUND THE CHANGELING!”


Twilight looked up startled and saw three guards flying down from the roof of the castle, standing between her and the entrance, but as if that was not enough, guards were now coming from everywhere and formed a circle around Twilight.

And as if that was not enough to be surrounded by a bunch of angry guards who look like they just want to tear Twilight to pieces, two of them made way for a big guard with particularly magnificent armor which has to be the captain. And as if that was not enough, he held a chained spike with his magic, which he ruthlessly threw at Twilight's Hooves.


"Surrender, Changeling! There is no escape!" screamed the captain.


Twilight's heard her heartbeat. She had to find some escape route but she could not think of anyone. But as the captain took a step towards her, Twilight got a short-circuit reaction and she tried to teleport herself and Spike away.

But as soon as her horn began to glow, she got hit a lightning spell from the captain and fell to the ground. She blushed. She just saw how the guards bent over her in surprise. 


"... it does not change ... is it possible that it ...." She didn't hear the rest.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




When Twilight woke up, Spike immediately fell in her arms. 


"Twilight, thank Celestia you’re fine. I feared the worst!" said Spike with tears of joy in her eyes. 

"Well, good that you're fine as well, Spike. Where are we now?" asked Twilight, half dazed. 

"They put us in this cage and are bringing us to Nightmare Moon!" Twilight was immediately awake. 

"Oh, no!" 


Twilight looked around except for the guards around the cage, she only saw trees, but she recognized this spot. They were deep in the Everfree Forest. 


"There is only one place where they could bring us ... and we are almost there!" realized Twilight.

"Any ideas on how we can get out of here?" Spike asked, but in reply he got a little snort from behind him. 


Twilight and Spike turned around to see the captain walking behind the carriage staring scowling. “Stay ... alive...? " Twilight slowly replied.

When the Castle of the Two Sisters was in sight, it was far from what Twilight had expected. 

The castle offered her a horrible picture of darkness in her eyes. It was shrouded in a purplish light, which made it look more frightening than it certainly was, whereas the great building and the three Great Towers in the middle of the castle, in their deep blue, carried the darkness of the night itself. And at the top of the highest tower was a huge glowing crescent moon. 

She just could not stop screaming internally in her anger. Everything just went wrong, what could have gone wrong and now they were helpless at the mercy of Nightmare Moon. But her anger faded moments later as she realized how hopeless things are for her and Spike. She sighed. Nightmare Moon will surely throw her and Spike in the dungeon where they'll never get out again, and that will surely be the end of their adventure.


After a few, for Twilight eternally long, minutes the carriage stopped finally at the gate of the castle.

The guards formed a circle around the carriage as the captain walked to the cage and opened the cage. 


"Your ride is over, Princess!" 


Twilight and Spike silently followed the captain's instructions, and as soon as they came out of the cage, they instantly got chains attached all over them. 

"Just to make sure. Move on now, you little troublemaker. The queen is waiting!" 

With all the guards behind the Duo, Twilight and Spike followed the Captain into the palace. When she entered the castle, Twilight and Spike initially saw complete darkness. But then, one after another, blue shining torches lit up to their sides, illuminating the lobby in an unreal blue light. The captain led the way through the empty entrance hall and led them upstairs to the throne room.

Twilight would have found the way herself as she knew the castle of the two sisters pretty well after all the events, that happened here and even when everything looked different, it was, essentially the same castle where she and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony. But that didn't matter anymore as the Duo entered the throne room with the guards. Nothing mattered in her eyes anymore.

The queen looked curiously at the prisoners who were brought to her and she could throw her guards herself into the dungeon for this.
They actually brought her a highborn alicorn in chains like the worst criminal as well as her little dragon! Nightmare Moon rose from her throne and stalked slowly toward the captain, and when he looked up at her as proudly, like he is about to get promoted, she had the utmost trouble not to lose her temper.


"I demand an explanation, Captain! Why do I see here the first Alicorn, that Equestria has seen in years, in Chains with her pet?!?" 


The captain immediately lost his confidence. 


"Well um ... my queen, ... she broke into the old Castle of Canterlot while ... the dragon sounded alarm ... and half ... Canterlot ....panicked."


The captain kept getting smaller as Nightmare Moon came closer and closer while speaking, staring more and more furiously. 


"So, a bigger disturbance and a break in into an empty castle. And that's IT?!? THAT'S YOUR REASON TO PUT A HIGHBORN ALICORN IN CHAINS!?! AWAY WITH YOU ALL! SHOULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS EVER HAPPEN AGAIN, YOU'RE WILL REGRET TO BE BORN! The guards bowed quickly and ran out of the throne room to avoid annoying their queen even further. And where there were a handful of hardened soldiers before, only Twilight and Spike remained in her shadow, chained and panicking internally, while Nightmare Moon looked at them calmly.


A huge black alicorn with a mane, as deep dark blue and glittering as the night sky. But it was not her look or her elaborate silver armor. It was these piercing, scary, green eyes that scared Twilight so much even when they looked at Twilight almost lovingly. She used a quick spell and Twilight and Spike were instantly released of their chains.


"Excuse me for all those inconveniences. Sometimes I think these barbaric yaks could be more civilized than my guards. But allow me to make up for it. Come, you and your dragon and be my guests, princess .... well ....?" 


"...Twilight Sparkle." finished Twilight her sentence still half in shock.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Twilight how could you be so stupid! With that look Nightmare Moon was staring at her, she could have turned a basilisk into stone! 


"Queen Nightmare Moon, ... did I say … anything ... wrong?" Twilight asked  very careful, forcing an uncertain smile on her face.

"GUARDS!" Nightmare Moon screamed in response.


Two of her Bat Pony Guards ran up. But even before their guards even entered the Throne room, the Queen screamed, 


"BRING ME TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"


A princess and a dragon come into her castle and the princess introduces herself as Twilight Sparkle, the sister of rebellion leader Shining Armour ... which she threw herself in her dungeon not even a month ago!!! That just screamed like the butt of a bad joke, Nightmare Moon thought dumbfounded.

And yet her instincts say, that there has to be more to it. Because this Princess and Twilight Sparkle look weirdly similar. She had to get to the bottom of it. 


"Why did you call yourself that, Princess?" asked Nightmare Moon.


Spike took the initiative. 


"It seems to me a big misunderstanding..." 

"QUIET, DRAGON, I talked to the Princess!"


Heavy clunking footsteps became louder behind the queen.


"I'll find out who you really are! And I can guarantee you one thing: You are not Twilight Sparkle! Because she is Twilight ... Sparkle?!?"


Nobody said anything. Nightmare Moon looks confused from one pony to another. Twilight looked speechless at the other pony. No doubt! That was her who lay there dirty in chains. With the difference that this Twilight had no wings. 


"Okay, I'm tired of those lazy tricks. You two will tell me now what's going on here!" Threatened the Queen.

"No, you'll tell me what's going on here!" 


came abruptly in response from the other Twilight. 


"Why do I see myself over there?! Have you mirrored me to fool my brother or just for your own amusement, you miserable monster!" 

"Unfortunately, just for my own amusement, because it's so much fun to have two identical annoying ponies that can not shut up!" Nightmare Moon replied surprisingly sarcastic. 
"Take her back to the dungeon. I've heard enough!"


As the two guards dragged the second twilight away, the Queen build up in front of Twilight and Spike, who watched everything silently.


"My patience is hereby finished! You have 10 seconds!"

"We are time travelers." Came quickly in response from Twilight.


Nightmare Moon leaned over Twilight contentedly. She had her right where she wanted her.


"Future?" 

"Alternative time line."

"How could you travel through time?"

"A magical scroll."

"I want to see it!"

"It was sucked into the time portal."

"The magic map in Ponyville?"

"Just provided the energy for the spell."

"Did you made the spell?"

"No, it’s from Starswirl the Bearded."

"Never heard he made such spells."

"A unicorn named Starlight Glimmer rewrote the Spell. Everything was her fault! "


The queen lent back satisfied. 


"Was that so hard?" asked the Queen sarcastically, but then Nightmare Moon came a thought. "You don’t have the spell and you did not make it, does that mean you two are stuck here?" 

"Kinda." Twilight replied, 

"Thank you, Princess, that has really answered a lot of questions but there's still the problem what I'm doing to do with you two. To be honest, I do not know it yet, I'm will have to make my mind about all this."


Nightmare Moon stamped her hooves three times. Immediately her two guards ran in.


"Take the princess and her pet to the good cell of the dungeon. You treat them well, they get three meals and ..." 


Nightmare Moon told her guards a list of other conditions, and Spike was amazed that Nightmare Moon treated her prisoners so well, but Twilight didn't listen, and came up with an idea.


It was totally nuts and dangerous at best but she still had something in her hooves against Nightmare Moon. A last attempt to find a way home and not end in the dungeons of this castle.
She had to change the circumstances.


"Maybe all this is not necessary." Nightmare Moon broke off her listing and turned to Twilight. 

"What's is it now, princess? As I said, I need some time ..." 

"That's not what I’m talking about." Twilight replied fast. 

"So then what?" Nightmare Moon replied curiously.

"I've been thinking and I don’t think there's a way for me and Spike to return. So I can make the most of it." 

"What exactly do you mean?" The Queen asked expectantly. Twilight took a deep breath. 

"I was Celestia's student. I was the best student I've could have been for all these years, maybe ... maybe I could become your student." 

“MY STUDENT?!?” Nightmare Moon exclaimed in disbelief. 

“HER STUDENT?!?" Spike exclaimed in disbelief, 

"Not interested! I don’t need a student. "Take these two out of here! I've got enough!” 

Nightmare Moon turned annoyed and wanted to go but Twilight still hasn't played her trump card. 

"Not even the Element of Magic?"


Nightmare Moon stopped, turned slowly, and glared at Twilight. 


"What did you just say?" she asks menacing with an almost deadly undertone. 

"I was asking if you would not accept the element of magic as your student?" Twilight said, eying Nightmare Moon with new self-confidence.

"First the time travel story and now THAT! Are you actually claiming that you ARE the Element of Magic!?" 
Nightmare Moon asked as she became more angry with each word.

"Yes." Twilight said confidently, withstanding Nightmare Moon's visibly rising rage.
"And I can prove it! Take me to the Shrine of the Elements and I'll show you. The hidden Element of Magic."


Nightmare Moon fought visibly with herself as Twilight looked innocently at the floor. But then Nightmare Moon’s expression relaxed. 


"Fine, Sparkle. Show me the element!" 


Twilight smiled victoriously.


" Thank you, your Majesty. Will you take me to the elements now?" Twilight asked Nightmare Moon carefully. 


But the Queen just turned away. 


"The shrine is here, Princess." Nightmare Moon shot a magical bolt of lightning into the ground in front of her, then a stone slab lifted from the ground and moved to one side, then the shrine of the elements in front of them rose from the ground. 


It looked exactly like Twilight remembered, a simple, stone shrine with a large pedestal and a short column with a stone ball at the top, and supports with pedestals for each of the Elements of Harmony with the little difference that they are  no longer there. At least the visible ones.

Because there is no pedestal for one of the Elements. It was hidden inside the shrine and also their only chance to prove their story to Nightmare Moon and not to land in their dungeon. 


"Well, princess. I'm waiting," 


said Nightmare Moon tense as Twilight stepped in front of the shrine while Spike, Nightmare Moon and her two guards were watching every move of hers.

I hope you know what you're doing, thought Spike.
Twilight began to use her magic. She didn't even know what she was doing. She was just trying to touch the Element with her magic. Twilight hoped that was enough and did not need the other Elements to bring make it appear.
And she was lucky. Although this Element was not what turned into her crown, it was the same Element nonetheless. 

She could clearly feel it and it obeyed her magic.

Everyone starred up where the element of magic came over the shrine and flowed directly on Twilight's hoof. A six-sided, purple-shining star crystal in the form of her Cutie Mark. The Elements changed their shape as they linked with her and her friends a long time ago. Holding her Element in its original form in the hoof gave her such an unreal feeling that she wanted to throw it as far away as possible. But she did it, and as she expected, the shine of the Element in her hooves faded. Without the other Elements, the Element of Magic is powerless, but that didn't matter.

Clapping hooves pulled her out of her thoughts. As she turned around, she saw Nightmare Moon clapping and smiling with joy. 


"I'm impressed, little Sparkle. Actually, I never wanted a student, but I think I can make an exception to the powerful Element of Magic. See yourself from now on as my new student." 

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Twilight said humbly. 

"It is not necessary to thank me," said Nightmare Moon imperiously, "and you will no longer call me your Majesty, you call me your Master from now on, and one more thing, my new Student will not call herself something like Sparkle. 
From now on you should be named as ... Twilight Moon." 

"Of course, ... Master," said Twilight, bowing deeply to Nightmare Moon.

Princess Twilight Sparkle bowing to Nightmare Moon. That was something that Spike will never forget.
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




An hour later, Twilight and Spike sat in Twilight's new chamber, specially decorated for her in the most beautiful purple. A purple double bed with a large mirror, a bedside table with a silver lamp on it. And there was also a basket for Spike. Also in purple.


"We are finally alone. Would you please explain to me what this was all about?!?"


Spike was still working on the events that took place before, because even though he said nothing because of his fear of the capricious queen, Twilight questioned everything he knew about his best friend in just a few minutes. She has always put Celestia above everything else, and now she offered herself as Nightmare Moon's student, probably the most powerful villain and on top of that Celestia's sister in her evil form. She and her friends defeated her long ago, and she even convinced Nightmare Moon to accept her as her student.


"Spike, I know that was very strange, but I had a good reason. The library in Celestia's castle was empty. There was a note that said, that everything had been brought away. Here. Nightmare Moon has the scroll somewhere and I had no choice but to do that."

"I think I understand Twilight now. But I don’t think, that you can just look for anything in her library that you want." replied Spike. 

"I'll be able to soon enough, Spike. I'm Twilight Moon now!" said Twilight and winked at Spike.


Spike could not resist a giggle. Twilight had a plan and hearing it gave Spike definitely reason for optimism.


"Besides, I'm sure we're not going to have such a bad time here, right? I mean, she's been chasing an army of servants around just to give me the most beautiful room possible, and I think it can show itself!" 

"Maybe you're right, Twilight ... yawn ... but first I need a bit of sleep after all of this." 


I feel the same way Spike, thought Twilight, layed down on her huge new bed and fell asleep immediately.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Loud knocking woke Twilight up. Twilight rubbed her eyes and first had to realize where she was. Someone knocked on the door again. 


"Yes?" Twilight asked, still half asleep. 


The Door slowly opened and Nightmare Moon looked through.


"I hope you had a restful sleep, my new student."


Twilight was immediately awake. 


"Oh, um ... of course, he was very restful." said Twilight, trying to put on a smile. But she earned only an amused haunting look. "... ehm ..., Master." added Twilight quickly, 

"Wonderful, Twilight Moon." 


Nightmare Moon smiled as she walked to the window and opened it with her magic. 


"I ordered a little Breakfast for us. Will you be ready soon? Such a pleasantly fresh, cloudless night sky tonight that you just have to enjoy!" 


Twilight walked to the window.


"Seems a bit early for breakfast to me. Can’t we wait at least until sunrise?" asked Twilight half asleep.


But Nightmare Moon's answer was just a annoyed look.


"Oh excuse me. Silly me. I'll better be off then." Said Twilight and pulled back quickly.


Nightmare Moon glanced at Spike, who snored peacefully in his basket and didn't hear any of it.


"Well that’s going to be something!" Thought the Queen loud and slammed the window.


The heavy gate opened and revealed a small round training area.

In this small arena, built of dark blue material like the big towers, there were almost no stands for spectators and only one entrance. It was a place that Nightmare Moon apparently claimed for herself. Twilight was sure of that. They were all alone here. No guards or servants far and wide. Not even Spike was allowed to come along and watch as much as he begged for it. They were now facing each other in the arena. 


"Well, Twilight Moon. It's time. Show me what you can! "said Nightmare Moon defiantly.

"As you wish, Master. What should I show you? asked Twilight uncertain.

"Show me a simple arcane spell!" 


Twilight just stood rooted on the spot while Nightmare Moon looked at her expectantly. What in Celestia's name is an arcane spell? Twilight wondered. She will certainly be disappointed, she was sure but she can’t allow herself to lie. Otherwise everything would get worse. 


"Master, I've honestly never heard of an Arcane spell before." 


Great, Nightmare Moon thought sarcastically, not even heard of it. But maybe she was taught in a different direction, Arcane spells are almost forgotten, but fortunately, there are other spells.


"Okay, let's try a summon spell." But Twilight shook her head to the annoyance of her master. Nightmare Moon hacked on, "I'm sorry, Master, but ..." 

"An energy hit?" Nightmare Moon was getting angrier and louder. 

"No, not even." 

"Magic fire?" Nightmare Moon came closer and closer to Twilight, but Twilight didn't realize it. only looked down ashamed. 

"No, Master." 

"Shape shifting spell?” Nightmare Moon literally yelled at Twilight. 


Twilight replied with lowered eyes, but when no further question came, Twilight looked up. Nightmare Moon stood so close to her that she could see nothing but her angry green eyes.


“Can you at least heal yourself when I'm done with you?"


Nightmare Moon whispered menacingly, 
Twilight swallowed and shook her head slowly, expecting so many bad punishments, but she didn't expect her right hoof flying in her face. 

Twilight fell to the ground and saw only stars but Nightmare Moon lifted her into the air with their magic and threw her with a scream against the wall of the arena. 


"YOU ARE NOT MORE THAN A WASTE OF TIME!!!" 


But Twilight didn't hear it. She lost her consciousness on impact.


Spike was nervous. He had been waiting for Twilight in her room for hours now and did not even have anything to pass the time. He had a bad feeling since Nightmare Moon had forbidden him to participate in their training with Twilight. 
He also didn't dare to follow them secretly. After all, he didn't want to get Twilight into trouble. But they’re away for a long time now. He just hoped that everything went well and they just trained a bit more because it was going so well. Just stay positive thought Spike.

But those thoughts vanished instantly when the door opened and an injured Twilight collapsed in the doorway. 


"TWILIGHT! What in Equestria's name did she do to you?" 


Twilight had a huge hoof print on her face and scratches and injuries everywhere. She didn't answer. 


"Twilight, please say something!" said Spike desperately, and when Twilight still didn't answer, Spike dragged her into the room and carefully placed her on the floor in front of the bed, then Twilight started to cry. 

"Oh, Spike. That was the dumbest idea I've ever had, I don’t even want to know what she's doing to do with us now, now that I have disappointed her." said Twilight crying. 

“Don’t worry, you didn't!" Nightmare Moon suddenly stood in the doorway, Twilight screamed, ducked to the floor and covered her head with her wings. 

"Twilight Moon, I would like to talk about it." Nightmare Moon said softly and sympathetically. But Twilight shivered on the floor. 

"It is not a good time right now, your Highness. Come back later!" said Spike coldly.

"Not in that tone, little dragon. I decide the right time. And it has to be now." Nightmare Moon replied quietly as the Queen turned to the frightened Twilight. "Twilight, I want to apologize to you for my behavior." 


Twilight slowly lifted a wing so she could see Nightmare Moon with one eye. "You want to apologize ...? I don’t believe you!" Whimpered Twilight and retreated under her wing again.

Nightmare Moon was not angry, but rather sad. 


"Twilight, It’s true. It's not your fault, it’s Celestias." Twilight stopped crying and stood up cautiously,

" How can it be Celestia's fault?" she asked suspiciously. 

"I'll tell you. Come."

"But Twilight shook her head and took a step backwards but Nightmare Moon picked up Twilight with her magic and laid her gently on her bed.

"I'll heal it if you let me." 


Twilight nodded briefly and Nightmare Moon touched her injury with her horn and began her magic. The pain vanished amazingly fast.

"Celestia has this habit of turning the most diligent unicorn into a student to brag to the nobility, what a special and talented student she has, even though she didn't do anything except for testing them. you weren't the first one." 

"That can not be right!" replied Twilight 

"Celestia has been such a good teacher, she taught me so much and took so much time just for me!"

"Think about it for a second, Twilight Moon. Did she really? Or did she just put a pile of books in front of your nostrils and didn't have to do anything anymore because you took care of everything yourself to not disappoint her. I'm sure you had nightmares about it."


Not only nightmares, thought Twilight. But that doesn't  say anything about Celestia, it was not her fault after all! A pretty sophisticated lie! She didn't spend much time with her and in the end Cadence raised little Twilight but she ruled all over Equestria. How much time can she spend on other things? She thought it was the best to just play along.


"How was Celestia to you, back then?" Twilight asked curiously.


The pain vanished completely.
Nightmare Moon didn't seem to have expected this question because she spent a long time thinking about an answer.


"Distanced is probably the best thing to describe it, even though we defeated Discord and Sombra together." She shrugged. "Guess even sisters split apart after a few thousand years. At that time she also taught me the way you did, but someone else taught me the right magic. Starswirl the Bearded. He was a really good teacher unlike her. Well, until he disappeared. My sister was always just there to look good. She never cared about her students like: Do ​​what you want, you do not need me."

"Starswirl taught you magic?" Twilight asked curiously. 
"That's pretty cool, but back to Celestia, I think it depends on you how yourself learn best." 

"That's right, but you can’t learn everything from a few books while the teacher is busy with "better" things.” Nightmare Moon explained with air-quotations.

"Well, I think you mean with" better things "ruling Equestria?" Twilight replied, gesturing.

"My dear student. You will find that in the future we will spend a lot of time together, even though I rule more than Equestria, just because I have simplified the paperwork and believe me, I can now do what she could so in a day with one paper, "said Nightmare Moon insistently. "Does it still hurt? " she changed the subject.

"No, the pain has stopped. Thank you, Master ... " replied Twilight

"No, you do not need to thank me, it was just the right thing to do and I assure you from now on it will never happen again!" Nightmare Moon said seriously. 

"But let's just put that topic to rest. There is something I want to show you. You like books, right?"
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




"I don’t know this part of the palace at all, Master." Twilight said as Nightmare Moon led her and Spike through a completely unknown part of the palace. 

"I've just had this part of the palace built recently because I needed more space." answered Nightmare Moon

"More space for what?" Spike asked, but the Queen did not answer but stopped in front of a big gate, she casted a spell, and the gate opened to reveal the enormous hall beyond, and Twilight and Spike fell in amazement.


In front of them was a huge hall with thousands of books in seemingly endless bookshelves. Here they were. Among all these books were certainly those from Canterlot. They got one step  closer to home. Twilight did it, inside Spike rejoiced. 


"Welcome to my little book corner, Twilight Moon.” said Nightmare Moon playfully. 

"You are allowed to read everything you want and you can come here as your heart's content. I'll leave it open for you." Twilight beamed with joy.

"Thank you, Master." said Twilight cheerfully, 

"Oh, nothing to thank for, my student. It’s the least thing i can do." Nightmare Moon said and smiled at her. 

"Go ahead, Twilight. I'm in the throne room if you need me." 


Twilight walked into the library, followed by Spike while the Queen turned and left them alone.

Twilight felt like in a fairytale. Nightmare Moon's library was gigantic. So many books were not even in the library of the Crystal Kingdom and that’s was already huge. She could spend a lifetime reading and learning here. But she pulled herself together. They were looking for Starswirl's scroll to finally get home. 


"Twilight, look there." 


Spike pointed to a small door that reads "Starswirl the Bearded" Department. 


"That's it, we can go home soon, back to our castle and to our friends." 

"Twilight, the number with Nightmare Moon student was the best thing you could have done!" Spike said approvingly, hugging his friend as hard as he could.


Finding the scroll in the department was the easy part. Because now Twilight and Spike sat in front of the scroll and had no idea what they had to do now.

Starswirl had recognized the dangers of time travel back then and put a kind of safety check in the scroll so that you couldn't only travel back more than a week. But Twilight didn't know how Starlight had managed to get around his system. After all, they traveled back decades to Rainbow Dash's first rain boom.


"What does that mean you can not change the spell?!?" Spike asked in disbelief. 

"Starlight did it, too." "I don’t know how and I have never dealt with time magic before. And I cannot start and change something. It can have dire consequences if we use the spell!" said Twilight. 

"Don’t worry, Spike! I can fix this! Please get me all the magical books about time magic you can find. Looks like I’ve got work to do! "
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



The first week was the hardest for Twilight. Nightmare Moon had not understated her statement that she and Twilight will spend a lot of time together.

Nightmare Moon almost never moved from Twilight’s side, which made Twilight learn more than she could ever imagine. However she manages to rule her kingdom like this, is Spike a mystery, but most of all, it annoys him that Twilight couldn't been able to work on the spell very often.

Of course, Spike was never allowed to attend the training and Nightmare Moon didn't care much about him at all. 

And whenever they could, Twilight and Spike went to the library and continued working on Starswirl's spell. There were almost no books about time magic and those that found them contradicted each other in many places. Every wizard understood time magic differently. To the annoyance of Twilight, as it unnecessarily complicated her project and she progressed very slowly. 

Adding that the training with Nightmare Moon demanded everything from Twilight meant she was often too exhausted to continue to work on the scroll.

Nobody was allowed to leave the palace "for their own safety", which meant that Spike never had much to do but eating gems and read books he didn't understand, hoping to escape from Nightmare Moon.

Because sometimes you can really doubt the nature of the Queen and sometimes you can even doubt that you will survive the next night under this moody alihorn.

But after all, Nightmare Moon kept her word and there were no more incidents with Twilight. Although he and Twilight noticed that the queen sometimes had some issues to stay calm. Sometimes a lot. And one time she exploded, hitting one of her guards, causing him to fly through two walls.

Twilight had many questions for the other Twilight, but she and Spike agreed not to go to the dungeon. It would only question Twilight's role and the last thing the duo needs is a suspicious Nightmare Moon.




Not much happened In the second week except that Twilight was able to rewrite a part of the spell and to impress Nightmare Moon with her progress. And Spike landed in a pit during one of his trips in the palace and had to be released from the guards while Nightmare Moon laughed at him.

More nights went by and Twilight and Spike slowly lost the feeling of daytime.




But in the third week, Spike noticed something about Twilight. He gradually got the impression that Twilight was starting to settle in this place. Twilight was treated the same way as Nightmare Moon and she seems to get used to it. Twilight began to read other books and raved about all the special spells that Nightmare Moon taught her. But every time she told Spike what she learned to do new things, like magic healing or illusion magic, it shivered Spike down the spine. Twilight used to be so excited about Celestia when she was still a filly.

But Nightmare Moon began to behave differently as well if a storm started to slow in her. She was always so happy in Twilight's presence, and she occasionally started to give  Spike some gems. She also got less and less angry and it seemed like Twilight and Nightmare Moon were starting to get along. Like a master and his student.

He just wanted to return home. Back in Celestia's Equestria of Harmony. Away from this eternal night and its moody queen. And as fast as possible! 

Because Spike fears that Twilight might make wrong decisions when the time comes.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Go on Twilight! You can do it!" Nightmare Moon fired at her student. 


Twilight was using her magic but nothing was happening.

She had to admit that this time the spell she demanded from Twilight Moon was a bit trickier than any before. Better to say, a magical star bolt was one of the mosts difficult spells she knew. But Twilight Moon should not master it. She just wanted to know how far she came to find out the limits of her power so she can learn from herself how far her magic goes. Especially if you don’t know what kind of magic it is. Starswirl herself had taught her this method a long time ago.

But something surprised Nightmare Moon. Because her pupil was conjuring now with all her strength for what feels like an eternity and still didn't stop. Twilight must have far more potential than expected. And in her present, she was treated by Celestia like a golden doormat. Almost ironic thought Nightmare Moon amused.

Nightmare Moon's cheerfulness turned instantly into panic as Twilight's horn suddenly began to glow white and formed a glaring circle from the bottom, which began to spin quickly and spread upward until the spell formed an incredibly fast-moving cone of light that completely covered Twilight.


As much as Nightmare Moon was blinded by the blazing light she still looked spellbound at the spectacle. Twilight just shaped a real star bolt. How by the eternal night was that possible?


"MASTER! HELP! I’M LOSING CONTROL!" screamed Twilight.

"RELEASE IT UP TWILIGHT, FAST!!!" screamed the Queen through the roaring noise of the spell.


Twilight  took all her strength and shot up this frightening spell. A dazzling cone of light shot into the sky, and with a silent bang, the eternal night became broad daylight so that the queen had to raise her wings in front of her eyes and still got flashed. But that was not all because now it started to get hot. 


"TWILIGHT MOON, ON THE GROUND!" Nightmare Moon shouted in panic, knowing that the most dangerous part was coming. 


In a deafening bang, the blast reached the ground and pressed the two Alicorns to the ground, ponies screamed all over the palace. Windows shattered and the earth trembled.


As the queen pulled the wings away from her face, she saw a huge ball of light hovering over the palace. Although her eyes hurt, Nightmare Moon looked in it directly. Stunned by what just happened.

The light began to fade and little by little the night reconquered the sky until the world was again shrouded in darkness as if nothing had ever happened.


"Twilight Moon!" Nightmare Moon ran to her student. 
"Please hold on, my student, I'll help you!" said Nightmare Moon worriedly, touching Twilight's chest with her horn, and it began to glow as Nightmare Moon gave Twilight her energy. Twilight woke up. 

"Nightmare- I mean Master. What happened?" asked Twilight half dazed,

"Twilight, you're fine, I was fearing the worst." said Nightmare Moon with relief, hugging her half-dazed student.


Spike did not believe his ears, 


"How can Nightmare Moon demand such a thing from you, and how did you made such a spell?!?" 

"I do not know either, Spike! So far, she has always had me doing spells that matched my abilities!" replied Twilight uncertain.

"Why don’t we just ask her then? I just want to hear from her why she...!" 

"Spike, she saved me!" Twilight interrupted her assistant. 
"The spell took too much of my energy. She gave me hers just in time."

Spike paused and for a moment did not know what to answer. 
"I did not know that, Twilight. But thank Celestia, you are ok. I just hope that nothing will happen to you." Spike sighed. 

"It won’t, but you're right, let's ask Nightmare Moon, what it was all about!"


In the throne room, Nightmare Moon was in a heated debate over the incident with three highly decorated ponies. 


"Ah, my student. I just wanted to send someone to you. Dear ​​Gentle-ponies and Hippogryphs, this is Twilight Moon. Your new superior."


Twilight and Spike looked confused as much as the two ponies and the hippogryph looked confused to them! Superiors?
The pink pony wanted to say something but a look from Nightmare Moon silenced her.

And an awkward silence settled over the throne room, the queen jumped up and screamed "SALUT!" Lightning fast, the chiefs lined up in a row and saluted a confused twilight.


"We are terribly sorry for or misbehavior, princess. General Tempest. At your service." The dark red unicorn introduced itself quickly.

"I promise you for all three of us that this will never happen again. Air Marshal Silver Quill. At your service!" continued the hippogryph.

"From now on, we will threat each and every one of your commands like an order from the Queen herself. Admiral Sea Swirl. At your service." ended the Pink Earth Pony this strange apology.

"Not quite, please!" Nightmare Moon admonished "But that would be all for now!" 


With a brief bow, the chiefs left the throne room swiftly.


"What was that all about?" asked Spike, obviously confused.

"My chiefs of staff wanted to get Twilight out of the palace because they thought Twilight was too dangerous. But that should hopefully settle it!" said Nightmare Moon amused.


She turned to Twilight and her expression became serious. 


"But now to the spell. I know what you want to say but first I have to tell you how proud I am that you have exceeded all my expectations by conjuring a master spell that you weren't meant to master. It was a test for your limits but I never thought that the spell itself was your limit. Forgive me for underestimating you abilities. Furthermore, I believe that you are ready. Would you and your pet please follow me? I have a present for you. Even two actually."
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Twilight and Spike silently followed the queen's request, who led them to an empty wall in the throne room. A spell later a secret door opened, revealing what appeared to be Nightmare Moon's trophy chamber. The two followed the queen through her secret chamber. Many podiums were placed in the room on which all kinds of magic artifacts were displayed and the Duo even recognized some.


Is that Trixie's unicorn amulet and this the book for the manifestation of inspiration?" Spike asked pointing to the objects. 


"How do you know about these magic objects?" wondered Nightmare Moon. "This amulet was confiscated by an antique merchant and this obsessed book was found here in the palace during reconstruction. These objects are too dangerous for normal ponies."

"Look, Spike, there's more," said Twilight surprised, pointing to the broken mirror, the portal the that led into the human world. "Did you destroy the portal?" asked Twilight.

"We will certainly do a lot together, my student. But playing with the fabric of the universe won’t be one of them," said The queen in a final tone.


Nightmare Moon waved off. "But maybe you two are interested to see my most important artifacts?" She stopped and pointed to a pedestal on which rested a golden statue and a scepter with a blood-red gemstone.


"Over there is the Idol of Boreas with whom I could unite the griffins as their leader. And there the Blood stone scepter of the dragons. When the dragon lord resigned last week, I gave myself the form of a dragon and won the Gauntlet of fire for the throne. You had to see their faces when the dragons found out who just became the new dragon lord." 


Nightmare Moon chuckled.


"Now we know why you were in such a hurry the moment when Spike started to glow so strangely." said Twilight. 

"Yes, it was an exciting week for  us all. This way you Two." Nightmare Moon led the Duo into the next room.

"Here are my trophies of my defeated enemies. Astonished in awe of your Queen, who never shied away from battle, even when...."

"BY THE PONIES OF EQUESTRIA!" 


The queen turned around in surprise and looked into the frightened faces of Twilight and Spike, who saw it a little differently with her "trophies". 


"Is that Discord?" Spike asked in shock as he pointed to a pedestal holding the stone head of the draconequus. 

"Queen Chrysalis ... or what's left of her..." Twilight pointed to the wall where her wings hung.

"Hmm. I think there might be an explanation needed" estimated the Queen. 

" Oh really?!?" replied Spike sarcastically, catching a grim look from Nightmare Moon.

"Yes really! And on your part! Because I can not understand why it’s so bad for you! Discord was too dangerous and Chrysalis attacked the wrong prey. Same goes for Sombra, Tirek and the Storm King over there. I think his name was Bob or Basil or something!" She pointed to a silver crown, a gold pendant, and a wooden stick with an inserted white crystal.
"Did you have tea parties with these awful creatures or am I getting it wrong?" Twilight and Spike looked at each other. 

"Only with Discord ..." said Twilight hesitant. Nightmare Moon looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

"And why do you have tea parties with the spirit of chaos in your time line?" asked Nightmare Moon expectantly. 

"It turned out that he only needed friends who accepted him for what he is and so he became relatively sociable." Twilight explained to Nightmare Moon.

"Huh ..." came from the Queen dumbfounded.
"Then he should have made these friends when he had the chance to!" 


Twilight already imagined Nightmare Moon's answer, but when she actually said it, Twilight's runed cold down the back. 


"Let's just leave it all for another time." said the Queen.


She passed the last podium without saying a word. Maybe for the better. Twilight and Spike didn't necessarily want to hear what happened to the owner of the golden crown of Equestria.

Nightmare Moon walked to the only empty wall in the room, casted the same spell and beckoned Twilight and Spike inside.


"This is my secret workshop where I try to create my own magic artifacts. You’re allowed to feel honored. You are the first to see this place."


Twilight and Spike looked around fascinated. In the room was a small stone table, a shelf filled with all kinds of appliances and a mirror. Twilight noticed the covered, pony-shaped object in the corner. Certainly her present. She expects a dress.


"Well, Twilight and Spike. You're both here, because Twilight, even when almost destroying us, has done more than well with her magic. That's why I've decided to give you this little thing now because I believe that no one will come close to you with bad intentions." 


While Nightmare Moon spoke, she moved the gift between her and Twilight.


"Twilight Moon, in my most secret chamber, I present to you, as a sign of my trust for you and for your dragon, something that you can truly call yourself Twilight Moon."


Nightmare Moon finally revealed her gift and Twilight's jaw dropped.

A beautiful silver armor with the most beautiful ornaments that Twilight had ever seen. The armor was reduced to the bare essentials as well as Nightmare Moon's armor. A helmet, a breastplate and short hoof guards for all four hooves. Everywhere stars were engraved in the form of their beauty spot and in some places amethysts had been embedded. The purple sparkle of these gems made this armor look almost unreal. But above all hung Twilight's view of the breastplate. In the center Nightmare Moon embedded her Element. It covered almost the entire breastplate and glowed just barely noticeable.


"How do you like my student? I made it myself. Twilight?"
But Twilight did not answer as she continued to stare fixedly at her armor and gently wished her hoof over the Element,
"You like it?" Nightmare Moon asked again.

"Beautiful, Master." Twilight replied spellbound, 

"I was hoping you'd say that." Nightmare Moon said in delight. But before you put it on, you need a spell from me. Hold still for a moment.


Nightmare Moon Horn began to glow. Twilight was lifted into the air and Nightmare Moon's spell began to circled around Twilight, entering through her chest.


"How do you feel now?" Nightmare Moon asked expectantly.

Twilight thought. "Not different." 

"Well then. The spell unlocks the benefits of the armor. It weighs nothing for you and the memorial stone in the helmet will help you to memorizing. But the highlight is the energy storage! Made out of your element! Come, try it! I can’t wait to see how you look like in it!"


That was the strangest thing Twilight had ever experienced. Seeing herself in an armor like Nightmare Moon's and Nightmare Moon right next to her was an indescribable experience. She, the evil queen who brought the eternal night, and Twilight, who has been holding off Nightmare Moon as her student for almost three weeks to return to her world and undo her present. She certainly had her evil characteristics and she can be easily irritable that she felt especially at the beginning. 

But she had been more for her in this short time than Celestia in all these years. Celestia never took the time to help her with her spells. Nightmare Moon taught her all of the magic herself, even when she had a kingdom to rule and sacrificed almost all of her time to her. No matter how small Celestia's praise was, it has always been such an honor for Twilight to even stand in front of Celestia. But now she started to get other thoughts about her. Like a facade that starts to crumble. 

And when Nightmare Moon put her hoof on her shoulder and looked at her almost maternally, Twilight could not help but smile.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Twilight sat silently in her new armor with Spike in the Starswirl the Bearded section and worked on the spell. Nobody said anything, even though the glances both gave each other said more than enough, and the even scratching of Twilight's feather made them both just more nervous. 


"What was that supposed to be?!" Spike broke through the unbearable silence. 

"I really don’t understand what you mean by that." Twilight replied focused in her work. "Oh no?!?" Spike exclaimed furiously. 

"She gives you such a gift in her so-called most secret chamber and you do not know what I mean?!?" 
Twilight stopped writing and turned to Spike. 

"And what does that mean now?" Twilight replied annoyed. 

"That you let her turn your head around, that's what it means!" 

"Spike," Twilight said quietly, "I know what she was up to with this armor, but I also find it a bit sad that it's the most beautiful gift anyone has ever made me, do you understand me there?" 

"Well, somehow yes, Twilight," Spike hesitantly admitted. 

"Okay, and now I have to concentrate! I have a lot to do before we can get home!"


As soon as Twilight got back into her work, she heard Nightmare Moon shouting through the library, 


"Twilight Moon. Are you here?" 


Twilight sighed, hiding the scroll in its usual place and attempting to step out of the section, but when she opened the door, she was startled, as Nightmare Moon was already standing right behind the door,


"I thought you were here, my student." said the queen amused. 
"I know it was a hard day today but I still wanted to teach you that one spell you asked me for. If you do not mind.” 

"Of course not, Master." Twilight replied quickly. 

"Since your dragon may now be privy to everything, he may now be present at our lesson, if he wishes." came unexpectedly from Nightmare Moon. 

"Why am I allowed to join in everything now?" Spike asked skeptically. "Simple, Spike. I want to try to trust you like Twilight."


Admittedly Spike thought Twilight's magic training would be much more exciting. But after all, he can now mentally support Twilight and take care that something like the star bolt does not happen again.



He has never seen the spell Twilight is learning. Nightmare Moon literally bends the magic beam around her and throws it back to Twilight. A bow around Twilight later it lands again at Nightmare Moon and repeat.

Must be an exciting spell and it has something in it, to see a normal magic beam that does not behave like a magic beam. But only after two hours, this becomes monotonous because the only thing that changes, is sometimes the size of the spell.


"May I ask you something personal?" Nightmare Moon asked cautiously.

"Of course, Master, what do you want to know?" 

"I hope it's not too early for that, but I'd like to ask who the other elements, your friends, were." Twilight almost lost control of the spell. 

"Concentrate, Twilight Moon, do not lose control!" admonished Nightmare Moon. Twilight focused again on the spell and got him back under control. "In combat, you have to pay more to more things attention than just a spell. Be always of that." 

"Of course, Master." replied Twilight.

"But if you do not want to talk about it, it's fine. I was just curious." 

"No, no, Master, I like to talk about it." Twilight replied hesitantly. 

"Well, if so, who were they?" 

"Well, the element of laughter was Pinkie Pie." 


The queen broke immediately the spell and began to laugh. 


"The Pink Earth Pony of the Pie Family?!? Never!" Exclaimed Nightmare Moon in disbelief.

"You know her?" Twilight asked in surprise. 

"The whole Pie family was involved in the reconstruction of the palace. She is the complete opposite of the element. Who else? Spitfire the traitor, as the element of loyalty?" Nightmare Moon asked, still laughing. 

"The element of loyalty was Rainbow Dash. " replied Twilight. Nightmare Moon stopped laughing in and started to thinking. 

"Rainbow Dash ... I've heard that name somewhere before. Please continue." 

"Flutter Shy was the element of kindness." 

"Never heard of her." 

"Apple Jack was the element of honesty." 

"Almost the entire Apple family rebelled against me. All captured and banished on the other side of the world." 

"By Celestia, why?!?" Spike exclaimed, shocked. 

"Because, my dear dragon, they didn't like my moon apples." 

"Sounds ridiculous,  but then: These ponies love their apples." Spike thought out loud. 

"So true!" agreed Nightmare Moon, eying. "And the element of generosity?" Nightmare Moon turned back to Twilight.

"Rarity." Nightmare Moon looked at Twilight in astonishment. 

"White unicorn with purple, perfectly styled mane and tail? Very good with everything about fabric and clothes?" Drama queen?" 

"Yeah, that sounds like the right Rarity," Twilight replied confused, 

"My indoor decorator, I'll meet her in 20 minutes.”
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




It sounded like the right Rarity, but the pony who was waiting for the Trio in the throne room was in no way like the Rarity she had known for years. A snooty pony with tied mane in a uniform with Nightmare Moon's Crescent.


"Ah, Queen Nightmare Moon. Thank you for taking the time to discuss the new design I’ve planned..." 

"No changes. The usual as always."  cut Nightmare Moon her off.


Rarity sighed. This pony knows no changes. 


"Let's leave the aesthetics aside, Rarity. I wanted to introduce you to someone. This is Twilight Moon, my student and her dragon Spike." 

"It is such an honor to meet the student of our Queen and her dragon, of whom one hears so much but knows so little." Rarity bowed low. Nightmare Moon looked at Twilight with an insidious smug.

"Twilight Moon has actually heard a lot more from you. She told me you were best friends in another dimension. But unfortunately I have other things to attend to and I have to leave you for now."


Nightmare Moon left the room grinning. Well thanks a lot! Thought Twilight annoyed.


"Best friends in another dimension?!? She didn't really mean it, did she?" Rarity asked with an unsettled laugh.
Twilight sighed. 

"Yes, she did. Where I come from, we have known each other for years."

"Wow. Who would have thought that!" Rarity marveled. 

"But let's not talk about it, I'd rather wonder how it came about that you're working for Nightmare Moon now?" Rarity waved. 

"I do not work directly for her Majesty. My boutique in Ponyville gets regularly the order for the interior of the palace." 

"Also in my "dimension" you have a boutique, actually three. Through the Sonic Rainboom you found your passion for fashion, dresses and gemstones." 

"Three boutiques?!?" Rarity asked impressed. 
"One night maybe. But I do not know what that Sonic Rainboom should be, of which you speak, and gems never interested me personally. I started working on fabrics and clothes when I was very small and ended up getting my cutie mark."


Rarity pointed to her flank where instead of her usual three jewels there was a spool of thread and needle." I see, but in the end not far from the Rarity of my world." said Twilight. 


"Indeed? Well, then, let me ask how the other Rarity ... "


She paused when she saw the Queen running with a guard.


"Rarity! Spike! My guard will accompany you to the Tower for your protection! Twilight, you come with me! " called Nightmare Moon in turmoil.


She ran, followed by Twilight.


"Wait, Master? What is going on?" asked Twilight at the race.
Nightmare Moon stopped, turned and looked at Twilight with that dangerous, piercing look. 

"Your brother is here!" She said shortly.

"My brother? You mean Shining Armor?" Twilight asked, puzzled.


Nightmare Moon did not answer but guided her to a nearby balcony. Twilight did not see anything conspicuous at first. But there she saw countless armed ponies marching out of the forest. And right at the top was a white unicorn with a blue mane.


"Incredible, isn't it?" Said Nightmare Moon hatefully. 
"Lured my armies to the other end of Equestria and then just show up here in and beliefs that I surrender!"

The ponies formed in front of the palace, provoking with all sorts of gestures, shouting curses and insults at the Queen.
"Twilight, I want you to teleport to Ponyville and wait for me there, you're not ready for this!"


Twilight thought she heard a hint of worry in her voice.


"And what will you do?" Asked Twilight tense.


Nightmare Moon's answer was to jump off the balcony and attack alone with an impressive battle cry.

Twilight had to leave her one thing: this evil alicorn does not show his enormous courage.

She watched fascinated as her master dived toward the army. But just before Nightmare Moon crashed into the first line, Twilight saw Shining Armor pulling something out of a bag and pointing it at the queen. Seconds later, Nightmare Moon was sucked into the object with a whirlwind before it even reached the army.

This immediately burst into cheers while Twilight got a panic attack. 


"That's not good!" She thought loud, 


These sun warriors will surely burn down the palace and with it the spell! Better not to be in the palace right now!

Twilight teleported to Ponyville in the hope that the spell was hidden well enough.
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




When Twilight arrived in Ponyville, she startled and immediately jumped to the side. And where she stood one second ago was a black crater. 

When she saw where the shot came from her breath caught. 

Around her were about twenty grim sun-warriors, scowling at her.


"So, that's the mysterious Twilight Moon everybody's talking and nobody knowing!" Twilight turned around and did not have to guess who that voice was from. 


She recognized her brother's voice immediately.

And there he stood. Shining Armor. In his captain's gear.

Damn good doppelganger thought Twilight annoyed. Your situation is getting worse and she has no idea how to handle it.


"Finally, we also have the tyrant's disciple!" Shining Armor proudly proclaimed as he and his soldiers headed for Twilight, bracing themself for the fight, "Celestia will return soon, and harmony will ..."


He stopped suddenly and ordered his soldiers to stop. The surprise was literally written in his face. 


"Twilight? Is that really you?" He asked, suddenly unsettled.


Twilight's head was working at full speed. What to do? What to do? What to do! Then came the idea!
She took a deep breath and removed her helmet. 


"YES, ITS IS ME, BROTHER!" She called back.


A murmur went through the ranks of the Sun Warriors.


"What happened, Twilight?!? How did you free yourself and why do you wear an armor like hers!?! And are those wings?!?"

"THESE WINGS WERE HER GIFT TO ME. SHE SHOWED ME WHAT KIND OF PONY YOU REALLY ARE AND SHOWED ME THE WISDOM OF THE SUPERIOR ALICORNS! YOU ARE ONLY FOLLOWING CELESTIA'S LIES AND HAVE ALL OF THESE PONIES FOLLOWING YOU INTO AN USELESS BATTLE!"


Twilight could hardly believe that she was yelling out. Although she realized that her little speech does not work for all enemies, but it definitely worked with Shining Armor. The poor stallion looked like he was about to collapse.


"HOW LONG CAN YOU TERRORIZE EQUESTRIA?!? THE GRIFFINS AND DRAGONS ALREADY FOLLOW OUR MASTER! WHEN YOU “LIBERATE” THE PONIES, CAN YOU THEN ALSO TAKE ON THEM?"

"Twilight approached the Sun Warriors. "CAN YOU ALSO TAKE ON ME, WHO CREATED A NEW SUN ON BEHALF OF OUR MASTER?!"


Twilight thought he heard someone giggling.


"THIS WAR WILL END NOW. IF YOU SURRENDER, I GIVE MY WORD THAT NOTHING HAPPENS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!"
Whatever you just did, Twilight, it works, she thought, relieved. Shining Armour and his Sun Warriors were clearly at a loss as to what to do next.

"I WOULD ALSO ADVISE IT!" Called Nightmare Moon, appearing in a magical mist behind the confused Sun Warriors, while behind them the guards of the palace take a stand.


Visibly beaten and unable to retreat, the Sun Warriors gave up, to the cheers of Nightmare Moon's guards.
Twilight looked at her brother, who is being led away. He looked completely destroyed. No wonder: His rebellion has failed, and that through his own "sister." Maybe you should talk to Nightmare Moon about his fate .... NO, thought Twilight determined, this was not her brother, she can only help her brother if she fixes the past and for that she has to stay in her role ....


"Twilight Moon?" Twilight returned mentally, not realizing that the Queen was suddenly standing next to her. 

"Master, I did what you said ... wait a minute: were not you sucked into a magical object?"

Nightmare Moon started to laugh. "It takes more than that to catch the Queen of the Night!" She pointed out, 
"But let's stay with you, how did you do that?"

"I found myself in Ponyville surrounded by Sun Warriors as if they knew I was coming. But when Shining Armor thought I was the other Twilight, I … improvised?" explained Twilight.

"Improvised?!?" asked Nightmare Moon laughingly. "I hunted him for years and could not break his will to fight, and you're just making big talk and he's crouching on the floor! You just have to show me how to do that!"


Nightmare Moon calmed down and looked at Twilight brightly. "My student. You can really be proud of yourself. You have ended the rebellion and thus brought the long-awaited peace in Equestria. Ponies no longer need to fear raids by these rebels. And you did that in a moment, which I could not achieve in years of fighting. Twilight you are a more than worthy Alicorn and you are truly worthy of a kingdom of your own."


After Twilight and Nightmare Moon got back to the palace, with several prisoners and cheers from the guards and palace residents, Twilight was relieved to find that none of the Sun Warriors had stormed the palace and Spike was fine. The scroll was safe for the time being. From there, Twilight calmly smiled and waved, gratefully accepting all the congratulations from the ponies, pretended to be tired at the right moment and retreated to their room with Spike.
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




"What happened in Celestia's name, Twilight? I heard fighting outside the palace and you were nowhere to be found!" Spike exclaimed.

"Thanks for looking after me, Spike. I was also worried that the Sun Warriors would storm into the palace and do something to you. And Master sent me to Ponyville to "safety," as she said, but in Ponyville there were 20 of them and Shining Armor!" 

"Shining Armor?" Spike repeated questioningly. 
"Did you catch him?"

"Not directly. But he could not bear to see his sister on Nightmare Moon's side and collapsed." Twilight said dejectedly. 

"What's up, Twilight, that's good, so nobody can harm us anymore ... for the time being." 

"That's not it, Spike. I feel like a monster in this armor."

"Twilight, you had to do that, even if it does not make it any better!" tried Spike to comfort her. 

"But to make sure we can undo everything, we have to go on. And then all this never happened." 

" ... then it never happened ... Do you think this is just behind us, even if the harmony should be back, I can still do that spell and everything else she taught me. I wonder if something like this can ever really be over?"


Spike didn't know the answer. He had only intended to return and everything will be as before. But he had never thought of how Twilight would handle it, since she has to endure far more than him. 


"I don’t know it either. But at least we have to try it. Maybe not for us but for the rest of Equestria and for all the others who suffer under Nightmare Moon." 


Twilight said nothing, just staring thoughtfully at the floor.


"You're right, Spike, let's just fix this."


Twilight threw himself exhausted on the bed. She just did not have the strength for further discussion with Spike. The only question Twilight asks is if she really can do something for it that she betrayed her own brother. If he is her brother at all. Why does time travel make things so complicated?

She was about to fall asleep when someone knocked on the door. Reluctantly, Twilight got up and opened it, just to see a servant in a dress for her.


"Is not that a little early for a victory gala?" She replied sarcastically, The servant shrugged. 

"We told her Majesty as well, but the gala to honor your victory will begin in a few hours."


Really now?!? Thought Twilight, took the servant's dress off and slammed the door.


"What's going on?" Spike asked. 

"Get ready, the gala in my honor will be in a few hours."


Twilight replied, aghast, and threw herself on the bed again.
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




"Twilight, I don’t think that's a good idea!" Spike said urgently as he ran after Twilight.
No, Twilight's mood has not improved at all on the thought of spending the rest of the night with dignitaries and other important people.

"Spike, we'll just show up for a moment and then go back upstairs. I really need my rest after such a day! Or night! Or whatever!" said Twilight annoyed. 
"So the servants said in the palace garden, right? Well, where is it? It is completely new to me that there is one at all."

"Well, you've been in the arena and in your room most of the time," Spike replied, 
"I know where he is and we're on the right track, it's behind this gate."


The duo stopped in front of the heavy wooden gate. The guests could be heard through the gate. Twilight took a deep breath and prepared herself mentally.
Then she opened the gate with her magic.


Twilight and Spike glanced at a giant ice sculpture of Twilight Moon standing high on the defeated Shining Armour.

Only then did the Two realize the many guests in the garden.


"Isn't she overdoing this a bit?" Spike looked questioningly at Twilight. 

"Yes, no doubt!" Twilight said with an eye cup. "Look how many guests are here! How could they all come in such a short time?!?"


As if on command, a speaker stood on a small podium on the other side of the garden. 


"Dear guests, I present you, Lady Ember from the Dragonlands."

The guests started to clap, even if nothing seemed to happen. Then one of Nightmare Moon's magicians teleported on the pedestal and Lady Ember appeared shortly thereafter. 

A very petite dragon noticed Twilight. Barely bigger than a pony and anything else about her did not remind her much of a huge, fearsome dragon. But her instincts seemingly made up for that because she spotted Twilight instantly. 


"Princess Twilight Moon! It's my privilege to meet you in person." 


Ember bowed low in her direction as the other guests turned to look at her, some following Ember's example and bowed, and many others gathered around them in a matter of seconds, congratulating her and thanked her right away. 

But before Twilight could say anything, she heard the gate opening behind her.

Twilight turned around as the ponies around her quieted and gazed to the stairs, but she never saw this coming!

Nightmare Moon stood before her with a radiant smile, without her armor and in a silver ball dress?!?


Gracefully Nightmare Moon stalked down the stairs to the puzzled pony crowd. 


"Master?!?" Twilight said still stunned. 

"Don’t act so surprised! The fight is over!" Nightmare Moon laughed and closed Twilight's mouth. 
"I would like to give a toast!" she called into the crowd.

"On Princess Twilight Moon. A brave princess who found to me from another world and has managed to defeat the devious Shining Armour without a fight, not even shying away from the overwhelming power of the enemy. May this be a feast remotely worthy of such a fearless heroine as her!"

"ON PRINCESS TWILIGHT!" the other ponies shouted as applause. 

"Well ... um ... thank you all for this ... surprise!" Twilight said hesitantly. 

"Surprise?!?" Nightmare Moon exclaimed amused and laughed. 
"Do not say that you did not expect this! But that's not important, because now the celebration can really start! 

"The crowd cheered, then parted and the celebrations began.

"And? What do you say? "Nightmare Moon looked expectantly at Twilight, 

"Oh, excuse me ... I have yet to get used to seeing you without your armor." Twilight still wondering. 

"There is also a reason that I always wear it. It's a part of me, created with the same spell. But enough of that."
Nightmare Moon waved off "Tonight, it's all about you, so have fun."


A pony stepped to Nightmare Moon. 


"Well, if you excuse me ... Miss Maledicta, Quid agis? Immortality adeptus? Infigo ..."


Twilight never heard that language before. But she did not care much about it at the moment and turned away with a shudder. That was certainly a scary pony. Red mane matching her red eyes and her pale fur wrapped in a black cloak. 
She could be a vampire thought Twilight amused.

She went for a walk around the garden and if possible avoided the other guests. She could not see Spike anywhere. He probably went back to her rooms.
Maybe it would be better if you just ...


"Excuse me, princess? I could not stand to admire your dress. It fits in nicely with your mane."


Twilight turned around with an ocular scooter, a pony in a suit in front of her, certainly one of the nobles, but she had enough of that today.


"Thank you, well ..."

"Ayn Wye, my name. I'm really pleased to meet you, princess." he answered.


Ayn Wye kept talking but Twilight smiled and only nodded sometimes. That's exactly what she wanted to avoid, but somehow she could not take her eyes off him. This mane style was not really her taste but it looked really good on him. His voice sounded so pleasant that Twilight could probably listen to him forever. And this perfume. Whatever that perfume was, it smelt fantastic.

Ayn stopped talking and looked expectantly at Twilight. 


"What was it all about again?" Twilight asked drenched, 

"Can I invite you to a dance?" repeated Ayn.

"But I can’t dance," Twilight replied. 
"That does not matter, I can show you." 


Twilight grabbed his hoof and together they headed for the dance floor in the middle of the garden.


"Twilight?" She heard Nightmare Moon shouting behind her. 

"I really do not want to bother you, but I have to talk to you!" 

"Can that wait?" Nightmare Moon heard promptly in response. 

"I beg you, it's important!" Twilight groaned morosely. 

"It's really a bit awkward right now, I just wanted to ..." 

"Now!"


Twilight didn't want to make Master angry so reluctantly she walked with her to an undisturbed corner of the garden.


"May I ask what that was supposed to be?!?" Twilight broke out angry. 

"If it's not important, I'd like to go back to Ayn." 

"No, and you can thank me later. You certainly will not embarrass us with this wannabe. I have already noticed his love portion from 3 meters away. You must have inhaled quite a bit." Twilight was confused. 

"Love portion, do you mean his perfume ... " 

"It's magical, yes. These are the especially handsome stallions who are trying their best to land with someone of importance, even with such tricks." 


Twilight couldn't really argue against it, Nightmare Moon seemed to know what she was talking about. And since the effect had subsided, she was able to think clearly again. 


"Oh, ..." came disappointed from Twilight, but this time Nightmare Moon was confused. 

"What “Oh”?!? You're a princess, have you never dealt with such lovers?" 


Twilight remained silent. Nightmare Moon, too. 


"Oh, surely there would have been someone who got on your nerves. And if it was just someone who fell in love with you just because you're a princess." Twilight was still silent. 

"I do not believe you, really nobody? "


Twilight sighed. 


"I do not remember anyone ever interested in me. Well maybe ... there was this Flash Sentry but he is in another world. The one whose access you have destroyed. But I do not think that really matters. I also looked completely different in their world. Perhaps... "

"No, Twilight, you are not ugly!" Nightmare Moon interrupted her immediately. 

"Maybe it was just coincidence, or maybe the ponies in your world do not know what a good catch is." 
Nightmare Moon winked at her and Twilight could not help but smile.

"It always felt like something was missing in my princess life. Maybe it was something like that." 

"You once told me that for a long time you almost only smiled and waved for the ponies, maybe Celestia kept the hoof on you and no one came too close to you, at least in this regard. But unfortunately I can only speculate. "
Nightmare Moon hugged Twilight with her wings. 

"I hope you’re not upset about it. And always remember that I'm here for you! Even with those things." 

"Thank you, Master, I really appreciate it." Nightmare Moon finally let go. 

"Guess I should retire to my chamber now!" Twilight said wearily, 

"Just go ahead, Twilight, leave the rest to me."


Nightmare Moon left Twilight and went to Ayn ​​Wye, who was still hoping for a dance. 


"You are Ayn, right? May I ask who invited you? 

"Nightmare Moon asked with a threatening undertone, Ayn swallowed,

"Well, you know, Your Majesty, I ... well ... I just do not have my invitation card with me .... " 

The Queen raised her eyebrow "I can not remember issuing invitation cards." 


She whistled twice and immediately two guards came running in. 


"Be important enough for an "invitation card" and you'd better not come here again till then. And if I see you again in near 
Twilight, then I expect the courage to do that without the love portion! I banned that stuff for a reason!" 
Nightmare Moon turned to her guards, "escort him outside! "


That Nightmare Moon still remained quite fair at the whole, surprised Twilight. But she began to realize how tired she was and just went straight to her chambers.

Spike was already sleeping peacefully in his basket. Twilight threw himself on the bed. Even though she would like to sleep, she still went through the matter with the admirer. Nightmare Moon seemed to let her be more princess than Celestia. Didn't she even say something about her own kingdom? Maybe these things are part of it and Celestia withheld it from her? Maybe also for her best? Who knows. 

Twilight finally fell into the long-awaited sleep.
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



When Twilight woke up, she still felt the night before and didn't get much sleep ether. She moaned quietly and sneaked out of the rooms to not wake up Spike.

Apparently she was already expected in the throne room. 
"Twilight, there you are! I just wanted to send somebody for you." 

Nightmare Moon looked fine after the long night yesterday, which made Twilight a little jealous, and next to her she noticed another pony. 


"What is it, Master?" Twilight asked sleepily. 

"I want to introduce you to Lily Orchid. An art critic from Canterlot." 

"Princess Twilight Moon, pleased to meet you." She hoped it did not sound rude, sleepy as she was. 

"You may now also tell what you have told me, Mrs. Orchid," Nightmare Moon told the Critic.
The mouse-gray Pegasi cleared his throat. 

"Six years ago, I saw the pony that matches the description of Starlight Glimmer!" 


Twilight was instantly awake. 


"She called for help as she ran across Canterlot, screaming “someone has to do something about it and someone has to stop it” just after the eternal night came and since almost everyone was frightened, she did not have a lot of attention and if so, then they just laughed at her. Then she ran away and was never seen again, not in Canterlot and as far as i know nowhere else either, but I can be mistaken!"

Twilight's head was working at full speed. Why should Starlight do that?!? Yelling for help in Canterlot? That makes no sense ... unless ...

Insight struck like a hammer. 


"She is still there!” Twilight whispered. but she did not have time to explain.


She jumped out of the nearest window and flew out in the night.

She still had a long flight ahead to Starlight's village. Why didn't she thought to look there?!? She is guaranteed to be there in that cursed village! She did this all for that!


As Twilight approaches the village, she saw a single light burning. It came out of the house at the end.
She landed at the other end of the tiny village as a precaution. Nightmare Moon was a good master. Twilight's senses were sharp and she was now prepared for anything that might lurk here.

But she did not see ponies anywhere and after looking at the other houses it was obvious that no one lived here anymore. Except for the house at the end. Like someone trying to keep a broken dream alive. Twilight walked cautiously through the village. Watching out for every little noise that the abandoned buildings made with the wind until she reached the last house. She saw something moving and got ready to fight. The door opened. And then she actually stood in front of her! That one pony responsible for this whole disaster!


"Are you the time-traveling princess?" She asked. 
"She told me you would come one day!" 

"WHO SAID THAT, STARLIGHT!?!" screamed Twilight angry. 

"The other Starlight!" said Starlight blankly, Twilight frowned. Other Starlight?!? 

"Come in, princess! We have a lot to talk about!"


Starlight waved you into her house. Twilight hesitated at first but then followed Starlight into her house. She was not the same pony as she was three weeks ago. She could not harm her. So let's see what she's up to!

In her living room a small fire burned in the fireplace and that was probably the most comfortable in the room. Simplest homemade furniture adorned the room. Many apparently makeshift repaired. She sat in one of the two patched chairs and offered Twilight the second one, which she sat tensely on.


"I'm glad you finally arrived. I am tired of living alone and isolated on this land. Nice armor you have there. Is it from Nightmare Moon's army?" 


Twilight did not answer.


"Well, not important anyway. You're here for your revenge, right? But I'm not the Starlight who did this to you ..." Twilight jumped up!

"PROVE IT!" She screamed.

She could see Starlights heart stopping for a second. But she gathered herself and replied calmly, 
"I can’t. But I ask you to listen to what I have to say and if you still want to take your revenge, I will not stop you." 


Twilight eyed her counterpart suspiciously but slowly sat down again.

Starlight continued with her story.


"I founded this village, took the ponies cutie marks and everything else you probably already know. We did not get much news from the outside world but suddenly the sun didn't rise. Then we heard about Nightmare Moon's return and her bat ponies. Because the plants all died without sunlight, we lost our harvest. But even with these new moon plants, the others began to leave the village. I was also about to leave when I suddenly stood before myself. Can you imagine what it was like to meet myself?" 


Twilight nodded but did not say anything.


"After the first shock, the other Starlight told me what happened and that I was to blame for it in the future.You and your friends took away my village and as revenge I destroyed your friendship through this time travel and was even so obsessed with it to not return myself. But when Nightmare Moon came down from the moon, everything got out of hand and now I'm living here alone because of what I've done for almost six years and I've been waiting for you to give you this." 


She used her magic to grab a small box that was above the fireplace and handed it to Twilight.


"All alone for those six years? What about the other Starlight? "Asked Twilight.

"Shortly after her sudden arrival, she left the village in the middle of a sandstorm and I've never seen her since." 


Twilight opened the box. 
There were three papers in it. The first was a letter for her.


To Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I'm so sorry for what happened. I do not even remember what madness drove me to travel through time just to destroy your friendship. But I was wrong in more ways than that. Since your friendship was the only one that was changed, I'm sure that was the reason why Nightmare Moon could even return. So much was destroyed by the eternal night, and Nightmare Moon's reign brought such grief over all the ponies.

I had a very long time to think and I had to admit that I alone was to blame. I never thought your friendship was so important to our world but it is and I destroyed it. The only thing I can do is tell you how to change the spell to undo everything. If you still have the spell but in case I have also left instructions for a new one. I can only hope that you can undo my missteps because i could never ask for forgiveness.

Do not waste your thoughts on me. I'll go where I can’t hurt anyone anymore.

Starlight Glimmer


Twilight looked at the other papers. On the one were vague descriptions of the time spell and how it was set up. But on the last one, she could not suppress her joy. She had the solution. An exact description of how Starlight changed the spell.


"Did you find what you were looking for?" Starlight asked 

"Yes, I did!" Twilight replied joyfully, "I'm finally able to return home!" 

"I am glad that I was able to do something good after all," murmured Starlight, 

"But when I travel back, everything will repeat itself!" Twilight thought aloud. But Starlight's answer was just a tired laugh.

"Princess, I had a lot of time and little distraction to think about all this. The village should not have happened at all. I realize now that all ponies are the same in the end, even though they are so different. I do not even understand why I even took ponies cutie marks."


Starlight stood up and looked Twilight straight in the eye. 


"Thank you for listening to me. If you still want to take your revenge, go ahead! I stand for the deeds of my other self!"


Twilight didn't answer. But Starlight stood still and probably expected the death blow. 


"No! You're not the Starlight that did this to me!" 

"Up for definition." came back from Starlight.


To Starlight's surprise, Twilight laughed. 


"By definition, I'm sitting as a unicorn in Nightmare Moon's dungeon!" 


Starlight laughed carefully and began to relax again. 


"Well, I have to go now, I have a spell to complete!" Twilight picked up the letters and headed for the door. 

"Good luck, princess," she heard behind her as she left Starlight's house and immediately headed back to the palace, where Twilight had work to do.
> Chapter 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




When Twilight arrived at the palace, she stormed into her room, woke up Spike and ran with him into the library. While Spike woke up slowly, Twilight began to write immediately. She eradicated many of her changes and replaced them with Starlights. But at such a pace that her feathers broke every minute and Spike was hardly able to find new ones.

She put the last point. It was done. The spell is ready and she can finally go home. All that she had to endure for this spell was behind her now.


"You did it, Twilight. I knew you could!"


Twilight and Spike hugged each other for joy.

But then a strange blue light began to shine in the room. It came from Starswirl's spell. The duo looked at the source of the light and froze in shock.

Nightmare Moon's symbol glowed inside the spell. The scroll began to magically float and disappeared before their eyes.
Twilight and Spike continued to stare into the air, where the spell was a moment ago. Then they both started running. Please do not let that be true, both thought!

But in the throne room, their worst fears were confirmed that they saw Nightmare Moon sitting comfortably on her throne. And she hold the spell in her hooves!


Twilight and Spike stood rooted on the spot and didn't know what to do. Everything in Twilight screamed to run but she couldn't. She knew exactly that she could not escape.

A minute passes that felt like an eternity. But Nightmare Moon read calmly and ignored her. Twilight cautiously took a step in her direction.

The queen looked up. Twilights blood froze as their eyes met. But Nightmare Moon lowered her eyes again and went on reading the spell. Twilight noticed a drop of sweat trailing along her temple.

What is this?!? Why isn't she saying anything?!? She gathered her courage together.


"M ... master? ..." Twilight asked stuttering.

"Stop the act! I knew it from the start!" Came abruptly in response.
Twilight and Spike looked at each other questioningly.

"So you knew what I was up to? But why the trap? Why not destroy the spell right away?" Twilight chipped cautiously,

"Because it doesn't matter if you complete the spell now or make a new in a few years, you would have done it anyway ... but that's not important right now." 


Nightmare Moon put the spell aside and looked Twilight straight in the eye. 


"Much more important is, whats going to happen now?" 

"How can anything go on after my betrayal?" Twilight asked carefully. 

"Betrayal?!?" Nightmare Moon frowned. "Betrayal is a tough word for this whole thing, let's just call it ... a choice." 

"A choice?!?" Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow at the same time. 

"Yes, Twilight, a choice you'll make on your own." While Nightmare Moon spoke, she used her magic to grab the scroll and give it to  the puzzled Twilight. 

"But before you decide, I have something important to show you."

Twilight and Spike slowly moved to the queen, but Nightmare Moon held her hoof in front of Spike. 

"I'm sorry, Spike. But what I'm going to show Twilight is only for the eyes of an Alicorn!" 

"What was your speech about: "Trusting me as much as Twilight?!?" Spike crossed his arms furiously. "I'm not sure I'm sitting around here, while you put your nonsense in her head!"


Twilight whispered to him to stop too late, Nightmare Moon just looked at him dumbfounded, 


"Put nonsense in her head?!? Please, that you think so low of me, Spike. But you don’t mind eating my gems, but as you wish!" 

The queen turned to Twilight. "Twilight, if you hold the opinion that your dragon can guard such a grave secret, then he should accompany us." 

"I assure you that my dragon will keep the secret to himself." Although Twilight didn't sound very confident, Nightmare Moon said nothing. She just started to do her magic. 

"Hold your breath and no matter how much it hurts, do not exhale!" 


Twilight and Spike both did not understand what was happening but did as ordered, and Nightmare Moon teleported them away.
> Chapter 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




A teleport has never taken so long for Twilight. And when she finally arrived, she immediately felt like her lungs were going to explode. Everything about her body started to ache and burn, but she could still hold her breath. Twilight fell to the ground in pain. But after endless, painful seconds, the pressure eased and the pain faded slowly.

Only then did she realize how boiling hot it is and also how it quickly became cooler.

After a minute, the temperature was normal and she was able to breathe normally. Only then did she dare to open her eyes. 

It was pitch dark so Twilight made light with her horn. They were in a small room of red rock and there was a seemingly arcane symbol engraved on the floor.

She noticed Spike next to her, who was just as bad of like her. Only Nightmare Moon stood with her back to the duo and used her magic. Twilight noticed that she was shaking. Once she completed her spell, Nightmare Moon collapsed, breathing heavily. Twilight responded immediately and gave her some of her energy.


"Thanks, Twilight. Give Spike a bit, too." Twilight did so immediately, and now that Spike felt visibly better, Twilight could focus on something else.

"Master, where are we?" 

"Not in Pony land. Is that accurate enough for you?" She heard 

"No, where exactly are we?" 

"On a world our ancestors called the red world. It's somewhere between the pony world and the sun," 
Nightmare Moon explained, 

"I really hope this has a good reason!" Spike noticed half dazed behind them. 

"Oh yes, little dragon, it has!"


Without further explanation, Nightmare Moon used her magic to open a secret door that revealed a narrow tunnel and walked through it, followed by Twilight and Spike. 

Suddenly, Twilight stepped on something metallic. She picked it up and saw a small gold bracelet in the dim light of her horn. Looking at it, she noticed Celestia's cutie mark. 


"Must have been Celestia's. Take if you want." Nightmare Moon shrugged and kept walking.


At the end of the corridor they stood in front of a stone door. 


"If it's not too bright, you'll get a view that normal ponies could never even dream of." Nightmare Moon opened the door expectantly, the trio was blended by glaring light. 


But despite the light, Twilight was the first to step out of the corridor and saw behind a glass wall down from a mountain, a desert of red sand and rocks,without  plants, animals, or life. Twilight has never seen such a lifeless place, but the sky fascinated her even more. There was none. She looked straight into the emptiness of the stars, a sight that wouldn’t let her go.


"Beautiful, isn't it?" Nightmare Moon commented next to her. 
Twilight nodded, 
"But unfortunately, even such a sight can get boring after 1000 years." 

"Is that the pony world up there?" Twilight asked in astonishment, pointing in the starry sky, 

"Yes, that's it." said Nightmare Moon.

"I thought it was eternal night everywhere! But the other side is brightly lit!" noted Spike.

"It can not be night everywhere." Nightmare Moon explained.  "When I created the eternal night, I didn't realize that. The moon stays on one side and the sun on the other. And that's the result. The north and south melted, while the west froze and the east burned. Do you want an advice? Be careful what you wish for!" 


Twilight wanted to say something, but Nightmare Moon turned away and headed for the next tunnel.

Twilight and Spike followed her again through what seemed to be an identical corridor as the previous one and ended up in front of a massive stone gate. 


"Are you ready?" Nightmare Moon asked softly, the duo realizing that she did not want to be here. 

"Whatever is behind this gate, we'll ready for it!" Twilight replied firmly. 


Nightmare Moon looked at her expectantly. "We’ll see about that!"

Then she used her magic and the gate moved slowly to the side. Curiously, Twilight and Spike looked through and saw a hall whose walls were marked with strange symbols. On both sides were even, dark pits, which created a straight path to the end of the hall. There, Twilight and Spike saw a pedestal with a pony-sized goblet of stone. 


"Everything for that?" Spike did not mean to insult with his question, but Nightmare Moon's gaze told a different story.

"ENOUGH!!!" She threw Spike with her magic into the next pit, Twilight got a shock but then wondered about the sound of bones from the pit, she hurried to the pit and saw Spike lying one meter down, unharmed in a pile of pony bones!


When Spike first noticed Twilight's shocked look and then realized the bones, he began to scream. Nightmare Moon lifted him with her magic from the pit.


"QUIET!!!" Spike fell silent immediately, "Spike, I do not want to hear any stupid comments anymore, let alone about things that deserve far more respect than you can possibly show! Was that clear?" 
Nightmare Moon's fury left Spike no choice but to nod silently. 


Satisfied enough with the answer, She carefully placed him on the ground and they walked together to the goblet.


The goblet itself was apparently made of clay and as red as the rest of the room. When the trio stood around the goblet, they saw in it a clear, green liquid. 


"What is that, Master?" Twilight was a little frightened of the answer as Nightmare Moon took a deep breath, 

"The reason for my eternal life!" Twilight and Spike did not see this hammer coming. 

"Eternal life?!? What?!?" Twilight did not believe her ears." 

“Yes, Twilight, Spike, what you see here is nectar, the potion of immortality, destined only for Alicorns, so that their rule never ends."


Silence settled over the hall as Twilight and Spike processed what they just learned. 


"Why only for Alicorns? Could not everyone live forever with this potion?" Asked Spike. 

"Interestingly not, you live long and healthy but not eternal, this only happens with an Alicorn, and after all those thousands of years, there are only two ponies left. Me and Celestia. And we were the only ones who, to my knowledge, drank it." 

"Only you and Celestia drank it? Why not others?" 

"Righteous question, my student, because if you think for more than a second about the consequences, such as the impossibility of a normal love, the imprisonment in obligations and the unimaginable demise of everyone you once knew, it does not sound so great anymore. We should always be there for the ponies as their protectors and leaders and so little Celestia and little Luna were brought here and drank this stuff because mom and dad wanted it that way and then we learned that we had to do that because our parents were too cowardly for it!" 

"Wow, that certainly was not easy." Spike received a nod of approval from Nightmare Moon, 

"I would prefer if we go back now, this place brings too many unpleasant memories." said Nightmare Moon suddenly.
The duo nodded in agreement and they silently made their way to the first chamber. As they passed the bones, Twilight could not help but asking. 

"Master? What's the matter with those bones?" Nightmare Moon stopped.

"Do you really want to know that?" Nightmare Moon asked with a tortured look, the look almost stopping Twilight, but her curiosity won and she nodded slowly, 

"During the ritual, the priests thought it would mean balance to take life for giving life." 

"I don’t feel well." Came only from Spike but he could still keep his gems in. 

"Unfortunately, the only thing this accomplished were nightmares for me and Celestia ... little Nightmare Moon with nightmares, ironic isn't it?" 

"I've never read anything about such pony sacrifices. How long ago was it? "Asked Twilight still in shock. 

Nightmare Moon thought hard, "I don’t know. There wasn't a calendar back then. I don’t even know how old I am. Come on now! I don’t want to stay here any longer!"


Nightmare Moon went on, unaware of the mind bomb she'd just dropped. Twilight and Spike stood shocked and tried to understand it. Older than their calendar?!?


"Come on!" Nightmare Moon called. They followed her to the first room.


There, Nightmare Moon used her magic and a few seconds later they were back in the throne room of the palace.


"I'll go to my room with Spike. That was a lot!"

"And that’s going to be a lot more!" replied the queen. 

"Twilight, I dare to guess that under Celestia you will suffer the same fate if you're not careful." Twilight frowned. 

"But that's quite a guess! Why should she do that to me?" "You are her student, an alicorn and naive. Reason enough to 
give you obligations. For example, paperwork, diplomatic relations or even wars. And with the nectar you will be able to pursue your tasks forever as you have learned. If you really return to her, I advise you to be careful. Unless you want to be like us." 

"And what are you going to do now?" Twilight asked defiantly.

"Nothing! I gave you the scroll to choose! Above all, think about if Celestia was really there for you." 


Nightmare Moon hugged Twilight,


"Because i'm here for you! I've never thanked you for helping me to find the inner peace, that I never thought i had in me, and for me, Twilight, you are never less than the princess you really are."
> Chapter 24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Twilight and Spike sat in Twilight's chambers. Nobody said a word.


"Twilight? What will you do now?" Spike asked after a while.  

"I don’t know." came only from Twilight. "I’m still thinking about the nectar. I just can't believe it." 

"I have to think about the pony world, split between day and night and how many ponies had to suffer the consequences." 

"But what if we return? Will I be a princess again just smiling and waving or being respected as I am here?" 

"When you talk to Celestia, I'm sure you'll take it all seriously and will surely recognize your new abilities."

"Like destroying a city?!? Celestia would be deeply disturbed if I demonstrated something like that. Maybe even banishes me from Equestria. And Spike, I believe her. Something tells me that Celestia would persuade me to drink it to help Equestria." 

"That's not true and you know it!” That's Nightmare Moon again, washing your brain. Do not forget the trophy chamber and she didn't treated you always well!" 

"Then why didn't she destroy the spell? She trusts me so far, putting the existence of her world in my hooves, hoping that I'll make the right decision." 

"Maybe she’s not aware of that fact?" said Spike. 

"Maybe she is? She's not stupid, Spike. Maybe she's even better than Celestia. With us she can continue to improve and maybe create a new harmony. I would be by her side as a true princess and it would put an end to this  "smiling and waving." Maybe it would be even better ... "

"I'm not going to let you destroy the spell!" Spike stood up defiantly. 

"CAN YOU STOP ME?!?" 


Spike froze as Twilight jumped up and stood in front of him. Spike meant to see a glance of Nightmare Moon's temper in Twilight's eyes. 


"Twilight, I just want it to be like it used to be." 


He tried to calm her down. 


"Where all the ponies were happy, I don’t even remember the sun shining on my scales." 


Twilight look became softer. 


"Celestia was certainly not the best teacher. But you've outgrown yourself and how often did you save Equestria when she could not?" 

"You're right, Spike, I'm sorry for that." 

"You don’t have to apologize, Twilight."


Twilight and Spike hugged each other, smiling. 


"It’s just all of this!" Spike said. "I really wish our friends were here. 
Everything would be so much easier to bear." 

"Our friends ... "Twilight said thoughtfully," Pinkie's muffins have always been so special and as annoying as Rainbow Dash can be, she's always on our side." 

"I saw Rainbow Dash. She was one of Nightmare Moon's guards."  said Twilight. 

"It broke my heart that Rarity treated me like a stranger." Spike said sadly. Twilight burst into tears and hugged Spike harder. 

"I miss them so much, Spike. I just don’t know what to do." 

"It’s ok, Twilight!" Spike comforts her.

"Let's just go back. Then we will be with our friends and then we'll solve everything else later." Twilight looked at Spike with still watery eyes and nod.


She suddenly got a strange feeling. She looked around the room. So far everything was normal. But why did she suddenly felt like ... And there it was! For a second, barely noticeable in the corner of the open window, a little blue haze passed. 

Hardly anyone would have noticed. But Twilight's training paid off.

Twilight pushed Spike away. 


"I just remember that I was the one who was there for my friends all the time and they never for me!?! All these ponies are not real friends and it was me alone who saved Equestria!" Twilight unobtrusively pointed her eyes at the window.


"WATCH ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU, YOU USELESS REPTILE!!!!" Twilight roared. "I HAVE ENOUGH OF YOU AND YOUR KNOW-IT-ALL, SPIKE. I WILL TEACH YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO SERVE AN ALICORN!!!" Twilight set off a spell and the whole room was bathed in white light. Twilight jumped to Spike and teleported away together.

They turned up in Ponyville at the cutie mark map. Spike landed rudely on the floor. 


"Can you tell me what that ..." 

"RUN!", 


came only from Twilight and they ran the last few meters to the map. Twilight yelling at the guards to move away from the map and started instantly casting the spell when the duo jumped on the map.

The spell formed the same ring waves as the last time Starlight used it, and above them appeared the time portal. Two seconds later, Nightmare Moon teleported in front of them. 


"Twilight?" She called, glancing around, seeing her eyes panic as she saw Twilight and Spike on the map.

"Twilight, what are you doing?!? Please don’t do anything you'll regret later! "Nightmare Moon cried desperately! 

"Why didn't you trust me, Master?" Twilight exclaimed disappointed. 

"I could not help it, because when you leave, you make this world and everything I've achieved undone!" 

"You've terrified the ponies for a long time!" Spike shouted. 

"I have. But I've seen my mistakes, Spike. Twilight, why do you want to return to Celestia? You know what's going to happen," replied Nightmare Moon. 

"It's not because of Celestia. You've shown me how little she really cared about me, and I believe you about the nectar, but I can’t overlook the aftermath of the eternal night and ignore it, and all the ponies who have lost everything!" 

"I have already rebuilt everything! The ponies are happy and able to live safely under my care." Twilight knew that 
Nightmare Moon was lying. Nobody can rebuild such devastation.

"I miss my friends, Master." Twilight said sadly, 

"What are friends, Twilight? You just find new ones, it always happens in life!" Nightmare rejected Moon Twilight's argument. 

"No, not those ... I'm sorry, Master."


Nightmare Moon closed her eyes. She just could not change her mind. Despite everything that she did for Twilight. But she will not let you destroy everything!


"Me too!"


Nightmare Moon's horn began to glow, and a second later unleashed such a powerful spell that shrouded everything around you in dazzling light.


Twilight and Spike stood in the magic of the map and watched speechlessly. The time spell didn't care about the destruction around it but Twilight quivered inside. She would rather destroy her than really give her the choice. As friendly and caring as she has become, in the end she was just Nightmare Moon. What a snake and she hasn't fallen for it only because of Spike!

After what felt like an eternity, her magic subsided and Nightmare Moon collapsed exhausted. She saw Twilight and Spike standing in the same place completely untouched.


"No! That can not be! What is this witchcraft?! "Nightmare Moon cried desperately.

"I thought you had changed. But in the end, we are who we are! Isn't it?"


Nightmare Moon ran to the magic and struck against it, stopped by an invisible wall.


"Twilight, please do not go!" She pleaded.

"Farewell, Master."


Twilight looked away. These tears were not real, she told herself. She activated the spell and she and Spike floated up to the portal. When Twilight almost reached the portal, she looked back one last time, and when her eyes met, this time Nightmare Moon looked away and was devoured by a bright light.
> Chapter 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The time portal opened and Twilight and Spike fell through.

Twilight caught Spike with her magic the same way she did the first time. 

And they landed in exactly the same spot. Spike breathed in relief. 

They are in Cloudsdale. The nightmare was over and they could leave everything behind.

At least Spike thought, until he looked at Twilight, who was breathing heavily.


"It feels like I've made the worst mistake of my life! Maybe it was?" Twilight asked herself in panic.

"Twilight, everything's alright, you did the right thing." Spike tried to calm her down. 

"Then why does it feel so wrong?" Asked Twilight, close to tears. 

"It wasn't! She did not shy away from destroying us and gave us just the illusion of a choice, and I'm glad you choose to go. I feared all the time that you pushed me aside, just to be the princess you've always been for me."

"Spike, I would never do that." Twilight responded with tears in her eyes as Spike hugged Twilight in the arms. 

"It's not over yet, let's take care of Starlight first." said Spike.

"You mean I should take care of Starlight!" Twilight corrected.

Twilight looked over the edge of the cloud and saw Starlight fly to a small cloud and disappear into it.

"Speaking of the Devil. How about we scare her a little bit?" Twilight suggested.

" What do you mean?" Spike replied, 

"Well, I'm Twilight Moon!" she winked."


Twilight used an illusion spell to adjust her eyes, mane, tail, and teeth to resemble Nightmare Moons. 
Yes, that did indeed looked frightening. 


"Hop up, Spike And now quiet." Twilight used an invisibility spell and they disappeared. Twilight flew slowly and silently to Starlight's cloud. Spike saw Rainbow Dash's race start in the distance.


The fillies came closer and closer and as Rainbow Dash pasted them and set for the decisive dive, Starlight floated out of her hiding place with a nasty grin.

But before she could even do anything, Starlight got a powerful punch in the stomach, lost control of the levitation spell in pain and fell through the cloud. Twilight made herself and Spike visible again, grabbed Starlight with their own magic and made her float up through the cloud. Starlight looked up in confusion, her eyes consumed with pain and her heart immediately slipped into her tail. There was a monster in front of her that looked like Twilight!


“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” screamed Twilight.


A quick look at Spike, who looked just as scared let her see through the trick.


"Yeah sure ..." Starlight tried to get out of Twilight's spell, but when she realized how strong it was, her self-esteem left. 


Something is wrong with Twilight. She can never be so strong! Twilight just looked focused at her and waited. Starlight's further attempts failed miserably and she had to watch powerlessly as Rainbow Dash performed the Rainboom and won the race.

Above the trio the time portal opened immediately and they got all sucked into it.
> Chapter 26
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



After the landing, Spike immediately kissed the ground. 


"We're back! Everything is just as it was before!" Spike shouted overjoyed, Twilight released the illusion and regained her normal look. 

"I KNEW, IT WAS ONLY A CHEAP TRICK! " Starlight shouted to Twilight. Twilight just looked unimpressed. 
"YOU MAY HAVE REPELLED MY PLAN, BUT IT WILL NEVER BE OVER ..." 

"QUIET!" Twilight shouted, throwing Starlight at the wall with her magic. 


When Starlight hit the ground, she lost consciousness.


"Twilight, that was not really necessary." said Spike surprised. 

"It was! This mad mare wanted to erase my past!" Twilight hissed coldly. 

"Twilight, ..." 

"Write a letter to Princess Celestia!" interrupted She Spike quickly. "We have to talk about what happened!" 

"But just talk, right?" Spike asked cautiously. 

"Of course! What else?"


Spike did not answer, looking for a blank scroll and quill. When he found both, Twilight began dictating:


"Dear Princess Celestia,

I've traveled through time and done extraordinary things, some of which must be discussed as quickly as possible, as they are critical about the fate of Equestria. I ask you to come to Ponyville as soon as possible!

Princess Twilight Sparkle "


Spike immediately sent the scroll.


"It sounds so strange to me when I call myself Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said thoughtfully, 

"What do you think Celestia will say about all this?" Spike asked. 

"We'll know soon enough!" Twilight replied.


As if on command, Spike spit out a scroll from Princess Celestia. Twilight immediately grabbed it with her magic and hurriedly read Celestia's answer. Spike watched with growing concern as Twilight began to shake with rage all over. The scroll went up in blue flames. 


"TOO BUSY?!?!?!? I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!" Twilight yelled in rage."SPIKE !! SCROLL AND INK !!!"


Spike hastily brought her the desired objects.

Twilight emptied the whole inkwell over the scroll. But before Spike could ask what she was doing, Twilight put her hoof on the scroll and conjured a message.

Before Twilight rolled up the scroll, Spike caught a quick glimpse of the news. The scroll was completely black with ink except for a thin line that formed the symbol of Nightmare Moon and written under it: Come or you'll never see the sun again!

Twilight gave him the scroll.


"Send it!" She ordered.

"Twilight, I do not think that's a good idea ..."

"SEND IT!" Screamed Twilight.


Spike sent the scroll without hesitation. Something in Twilight's eyes scared him. He just hoped that Celestia could calm her down.

Luckily for Spike, Twilight slowly began to calm down again. 
One minute passed. 
There was no answer from Celestia so far. Twilight began to step on the spot impatiently. Spike scratched the back of his head. 


"Twilight? Do you think that you ..."


Celestia and Luna teleported into the throne room before Spike could finish.


"Twilight! What was this stupid message about?!?" Celestia's annoyance turned to confusion when she saw Twilight. 
"Since when do you wear an armor? she asked. 

"Why were you too busy!?" Twilight asked back. 

"Important paperwork, because after all, I rule about Equestria and you know that's why I rarely have time." Twilight almost thought this answer. 

"And if I'm writing to you that I've traveled through time and need to talk about what's happening, is that less important to you than some paperwork?!" Celestia waved her hoof. 

"Please, Twilight, that's not  the first time you traveled through time..."

"I was stuck for almost a month! In an Equestria of the night, dominated by Nightmare Moon!" 


Celestia and Luna looked at each other in astonishment. 


"And all thanks to her there!"


Twilight nodded to the unconscious Starlight. 


"Wow, that sounds like you've been through a lot! I'm sorry I did not take it seriously." 

Celestia's shamed look was excuse enough for Twilight." But in the end, this adventure was a valuable insight." 

"What insight, if I may ask?" Asked Celestia curiously. 

"You tell me!" 


Twilight pulled out the bangle and threw Celestia in front of his hooves.

Celestia picked him up and the princesses eyed him attentively. Luna didn't recognize anything special about the small, primitive gold bracelet, but Celestia froze the blood in her veins. She remembered the bracelet and where she left it thousands of years ago! 


"Where did you find it?" Asked Celestia shocked. 

"Where you probably lost it, on the red world!"

"Sounds like a very interesting place ..." 

"Don’t play with me! I know about the nectar and its effect! The only question I have is what you really meant to do with me?" 

"What's that question, what am I planning to do with you? You always wanted to be like us."

"Then Nightmare Moon was right! You would let me drink the nectar to step in your place forever!!!" Twilight exclaimed angrily. 

"That's absurd, the nectar was our burden and we would never force such a thing on another pony!" The royal sisters were baffled. 

"And I am supposed believe that? You have never been able to protect Equestria! I've saved Equestria countless times!" 

"I do not know what Nightmare Moon put into your head, but I'll always protect Equestria, even from you!" cried Celestia decided!


Twilight laughed.


"You can not! I'm not your little Sparkle anymore! I do not even need to use my horn for magic! Whatever happens now, I will not continue to smile and wave!!!"


Twilight raged inwardly. All these years for a hoof full of lies! Tied forever to this world just to watch over this land. But to outlive friends, family and acquaintances?!? She will never pay this price! She had only returned for her friends and not because of her! To Tartarus with Celestia! She will never give her the chance for that!

Twilight attacked Celestia and Luna with a powerful spell of magic. As fast as lightning, the siblings pulled up a common protective shield, which just barely stopped the beam.


"Focus, sister!" Cried Celestia over the noise of the spell.


They combined their magical powers and transformed the shield into their own magic beam, pushing Twilight's spell back piece by piece. Celestia and Luna gave it all and although Twilight was losing the showdown slowly, she stayed calm. The magic beam approached her slowly. But when the spell almost reached Twilight, she grabbed the energy reserve in her element and struck back! Now it was the royal sisters who were almost overwhelmed! 
Twilight grinned victoriously.

There she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. But she did not see the spell coming from the side. 
Twilight blackened. The overwhelming power of Twilight's spell suddenly disappeared and Celestia and Luna's magic beam hit the mark. 

Twilight was thrown against the wall of the throne room and a fall later he lay motionless on the floor.


"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted and ran to her, followed by the two sisters. 


Spike pulled Twilight's armor off and listened for her heartbeat, a stone falling from his heart as he heard it.


"She's alive!" Spike said relieved. 

"Spike, please!" Celestia pleaded with watery eyes. 

"What happened to Twilight? It could never have been her!" 

"That's what Nightmare Moon did to her, she's not the Twilight we all knew!" 


Spike felt terrible for not seeing it coming.


"NO! I do not believe that! Twilight would never do such a thing!" Celestia looked at the unconscious Twilight, then she cast a spell and tried to touch Twilight with her horn. But Luna stopped her. 

"Sister, no!" Luna warned. 

"Please, I need to know what happened to her!" Celestia pleaded, Luna could not stand Celestia's look and reluctantly moved away.


She watched with the others as Celestia held her horn on Twilight's forehead and scoured her memories. 


"I see darkness ... Nightmare Moon ... Starswirl's time magic ... She was terrible to Twilight ... I knew it! She is under a spell! ... "


Celestia suddenly recoiled from Twilight. Her face reflected stark horror!" 


"What did you see, sister? " Luna asked carefully, 

"A spell that can destroy entire cities!"


Silence fell over the throne room. No one knew what to do with Twilight. 


"Oh yes, she can do that too!" Spike noticed and caught a stunned look from the two sisters. Celestia whimpered while staring at Twilight.


Luna walked over to Starlight. 


"I hope you give us clarity on this matter ..." 

"No!" Celestia interrupted her sister. Celestia threatened Starlight. 

"I've seen enough of what happened and you'll do anything to fix it or you'll spend the rest of your life in the depths of Tartarus! Do you understand me?!?"


Starlight nodded in shock.


"I will give you, Spike and Twilight new memories and block Twilight's abilities! I do not care what you did! But you'll help me get my Twilight back! "Luna had never seen Celestia like this. Starlight just nodded in shock."

"Sister, ... " 

"No, Luna! There is no other way! 

"Celestia blocked." We have to talk about what happened!" 

"You still want to talk?!? She almost destroyed us!" 

"And you want to change her memories, you know that's not a good idea!" 

"Please, ... I just want to have our Twilight back." 


Luna wanted to argue, but Celestia's desperate look silenced her. 


"Spike, can I ask you for it, too?" 

"The spell should only give her the armors power!" 

"And you're sure of that?" Celestia asked back. 

"Well, no. But she has ... "Spike did not know either, 

"If you're sure it's the right thing to do, then I'll do it." Spike said, 

"Thanks, Spike." Celestia turned to the still unconscious Twilight. 

"What now?" Luna asked. 

"Shhht! I’m thinking ..." Celestia hissed hard. 

"I think I have a story together! It does not make any sense, but you've experienced it so it will seem as real as as this moment! And Luna please take the spell and this armor!" 


Luna did as I said and the royal sisters got on the map while Spike and Starlight dragged Twilight to the table. 


"She has to be awake for the spell to work!" Celestia stated, 

"Luna, I'm preparing the spell, if I say go, give Twilight enough energy to wake her up!" Luna nodded uncontrollably. Celestia began to do her magic. 


Her horn began to shine. 

Luna gave Twilight as much energy as she could, Twilight moaned sleepily and stood up slowly.






At that moment, Celestia released the spell, and within seconds the whole castle was brightly lit. 

Twilights, Starlights and Spikes memories of the journey were changed in an instant. It was suddenly not a month but not even a day. 
A crazy adventure through all the time lines that always came from a single point, as it really couldn't be. From Nightmare Moon to the Flim Flam brothers, Twilight and Spike have all encountered many bad guys in their own time lines, while Starlight always sabotaged Rainbow Dash's rain boom, making the time lines possible. 

And after countless attempts, Twilight finally convinced Starlight to ignore her past. So Starlight did not destroy the scroll and let the rain boom happen.

They came safely back to their world and the time spell was sucked before their eyes in the time portal and is lost forever.
> Chapter 27
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Spike happily kissed the ground. 


"One castle of friendship, check!" Behind Spike the door opened 

"What, in Equestria was that?" He heard Rarity ask in the room. 

"Is every pony ok?" Flutter shy asked worriedly. 

"Can you do it again?" Pinkie squealed excitedly.

"One group of fantastic friends, check!" 

"Yes, Spike, it looks like we're home." Twilight happily concluded, 

"Uhm, what's she doing here?" Applejack asked Starlight with a suspicious look, 

"Well, that's a long story." 


Twilight put her hoof on Starlight's shoulder. Starlight did not know what to make of it, after all, she had just tried to destroy Twilight's existence, so she just smiled sheepishly.

Starlight's embarrassment quickly became nervousness, which now waited her the throne room for the decision of the Main Six. 

The muffled voices from the throne room and her constant ups and downs only made you even more nervous, but you could not let it either. She could in no way estimate what will happen now. Will they take you to Canterlot to Princess Celestia to judge her? Or maybe worse? Starlight gave herself a jolt and stopped, but she couldn't resist to take a worried look to the door.


"I mean, I knew my rain boom was awesome, but I never thought that all of Equestria depended on it!" 

"Or on us!" added Pinkie Pie Rainbows statement. Rainbow Dash barely believed Twilight's story. But in the past, even crazier stories of Twilight have come true. 

"I think it's more than that!" Twilight continued. "Friendship connects all of Equestria and undoing one group of friends made his magic less powerful." 

"I can not believe you could just travel through time like that!" Applejack was still processing Twilight's story, just like Pinkie Pie. 

"That Starlight must be pretty magical!" She exclaimed, 

"She obviously has more talent for magic than almost any pony I've seen! My magic couldn't stop her. I had to convince her to stop on her own! Once i realized that, everything fell into place!" 

"But ... If she's as powerful as all that, we can’t just send her on her way, can we?" Applejack said uncertainly. 

"Actually, I kinda have something else in mind!" Twilight replied calmly.


Spike opened the door and waved Starlight in. She swallowed and sighed. The decision was probably made. Starlight entered the room, staring at the Main Six.





"I know there's no excuse for what I did," Starlight began, "But I want you to know that I'm ready for whatever punishment you think fair." 

"I've been thinking  a lot about how badly Equestria forth without just one group of friends, because even when one friendship dies, the result can be disastrous." explained Twilight. 

"I know first hove how true that can be." Starlight said sad. 

"And that's why I asked you here! If you're willing to learn, I'm ready to teach you what I know and you'll have the power to make Equestria an even better place!" Twilight announced joyfully.

"How do I start?" Starlight whispered to her uncertainly.

"Starting is easy, all you have to do is make a friend ..." explained Twilight "... and you've got seven of them right here."




Starlight never thought that the day would end so that she would become the official pupil of Twilight and even life in her castle.

Feeling even more guilty for what she did, she was determined not to disappoint Twilight and be the best student she can be. Although the other ponies were much more restrained, they too welcomed her despite past events. Starlight went to bed in her new room feeling as peaceful as she had ever been in her life.

For her, a new chapter had begun today, which could mean something like becoming a completely new pony. Who knows what she will experience and learn with Twilight and her friends? But whatever challenges she may face, she knows that she has the greatest friends at her side and with them she will be able to overcome any obstacle.

Starlight's thoughts slowly calmed down, eventually giving way to a good night's sleep. She could not notice what happened after that. 

A shapeless figure, patiently waiting for her sleep, began to scour her consciousness.

Starlight did not wake up even as the figure went deeper and ultimately found what she was looking for and then withdrew from Starlight's consciousness.
> Chapter 28
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Luna opened her eyes. She was on the observation tower of the castle in Canterlot. No one was here except her and Celestia, who was staring at her nervously.





"And?" Celestia asked expectantly.
"It worked. Neither Starlight nor Spike nor Twilight remember what happened. And the sealing on Twilight's magic holds and she didn't notice a difference." 

"What a relief." Celestia breathed in relief.

"Now we finally have this story behind us and we ..." 

"Do you really think this will ever be over?!?" Luna snapped at Celestia. 

"Sister, you manipulated Twilight's memories to make her forget that she is Twilight Moon! Are you aware of what consequences this can have?!? If Twilight ever found out what really happened, she will destroy us all!"

"I know it was not right. But I could not bear that she suddenly was a completely different Pony and even turned against us!" 

"Can not blame her if she knows about our secret."


Celestia's face darkened at Luna's comment.


"Alright! Then tell me something! What was this spell?!?" 

"The spell?" Luna raised an eyebrow in question. "You mean the star bolt. A spell created by Nightmare Moon during her exile to destroy everyone who gets in her way! " explained Luna,

"So you can do that awful spell too?!? " Celestia asks after. 

"No," Luna said with a shrug, "Nightmare Moon never finished it." Celestia slowly calmed down. And she came up with a thought.

"How could Nightmare Moon work on such a spell if she was trapped on the moon?"


Luna looked at the moon.


"Do you think you are the only one with a kingdom? My kingdom is small and hidden. But my subjects can survive in a place where no other pony can! And even though my body was bound in the moon, my mind wandered freely across the surface. That's how I was with them the whole time."


Celestia looked dumbfounded at her sister. "You may think siblings should know each other after thousands of years," she finally said. 


"Are you comparing us to normal siblings?" 


Luna replied with a chuckle. Celestia also had to smile. Luna put her hoof on Celestia's shoulder. 


"Sister, what matters is that after all of that you were ready to forgive me." 

"Will you forgive me, too?" Celestia asked, touched. But Luna turned away.

"I'm not the one who has to forgive you." Unpleasant silence spread between the royal sisters.


Luna's eyes fell on Twilight's Moons armor, which lay hidden in the corner. 


"What are we going to do with that?" Luna nodded to the armor.

"Can we destroy it?" Celestia asked 

"How Nightmare Moon's approaches those things, presumably not." Luna says appreciatively. 

"Then we just get rid of the thing differently. Can you please do that for me?" asked Celestia.


Luna nodded. 


"Thank you sister. I could not bring myself to look at this junk again! "Celestia went to the door," If you excuse me, I'll try to find some sleep." 

"Sweet dreams, sister." Luna said goodbye with a forced smile that vanished as soon as Celestia closed the door behind her.


Luna scowled at her task and thought. Where can this armor disappear unnoticed? Throw in a ravine? There it will be found someday. Keep it hidden? Hardly possible! Bury it? But in a really good place! Luna found that she does not really care.

It was Celestia who could not face the truth. Not her! And it is her burden alone! So Luna decided how to proceed and teleported to the castle of the two sisters. 

She looked around. No pony far and wide. This is going to be good enough, as hardly a pony goes to these ruins, deep in the dangerous Everfree Forest. Many memories were buried here over the millennia. 

Many of her own as well, thought Luna. How fitting to bury some more in this place.





She teleported back and took the armor to the ruins this time.

Luna did not want to go through the castle and relive her memories. She preferred to go around the castle and get to the other end. There, Luna began digging a pit with her magic.

In a short time she was deep enough and Luna put the armor in with her magic.

An armor like the one she once wore, Luna thought. She saw her mistakes when she was defeated. But Twilight is not stupid! If she switched to Nightmare Moon, then maybe more has happened than just a spell. Maybe even a good 
Nightmare Moon ... nonsense, thought Luna to herself!

Nightmare Moon would never see her own mistakes!

Luna took one last look at the armor and then poured down the pit.





Then she filled the pit and let grass grow over the spot, until everything looked exactly as if nobody had touched anything.
Luna looked at her work with mixed feelings.
Maybe Nightmare Moon is not the only pony that doesn't learn from her mistakes.
Maybe it doesn't mean anything at all.