Chapter 1-Twilight Sparkle (EDIT IN PROGRESS)

A lavender unicorn with a navy-and- pink mane trotted through the halls of “Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns”, muzzle buried in a book.

“ What’s this about a ‘mare in the moon’?” she muttered. “‘On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape?’ ‘Elements of harmony?’ I have to warn the princess!”

She headed toward her mentor’s quarters, still keeping her muzzle in the book- and nearly crashed into three other unicorns.

She halted, looking them over.

‘Let’s see: Twinkleshine is the white one with the light pink mane and tail, Minuette is the light blue one with the two-toned blue mane, and Lemon Hearts is the yellow one with the sky blue mane, right?’ thought Twilight.

“Hello, Twilight!” said Twinkleshine. “Moondancer’s throwing a get-together in the castle courtyard! Wanna join us, socialize, make friends, that kind of thing?”

“Er- thank you for the offer, but I would prefer not to,” replied Twilight, inwardly cringing at Twinkleshine’s incorrect word use.

“But why?” asked Lemon Hearts, “It’ll be fun!”

“I have a lot of studying to do.”

Twilight’s voice turned into strange mutterings about the legend of the ‘Mare in the Moon,’ which got her a very strange look from the three unicorns.

“Um- Twilight..?” began Minuette. “The mare in the moon is just an old mare’s tale…”

However, the purple mare was not listening. She was heading for the library to pick up her assistant, then she would have to speak to her mentor. Again, she was not paying attention to her surroundings- and knocked another pony over.

This time it was not a unicorn, but one of the earth pony servants- an older mare, though she looked like she was beautiful in her youth. Since she was still distracted, Twilight forgot one of the biggest rules for the unicorns, gifted or not: don’t go near the earth ponies, for they are inferior and no more than slaves. She helped the earth pony up, and was about to talk, for the mare’s eyes were filled with experience, but she caught herself. The unicorn half-heartedly apologized, then trotted away.

‘I don’t understand it. The unicorn headmaster said earth ponies are inferior, and Celestia said not to talk to the slaves, but why not? Surely they have their own stories to tell. But if Celestia said it, she must be right.’

The mare pushed her thoughts away and trotted into the library- the one place in the school she felt at home. She tossed her saddlebags down without looking where they landed...

“Spike?” she asked, “Where are you?”

A smallish violet dragon with green spines down his back got to his feet, though he seemed kind of woozy.

“What hit me?” he asked.

“There’s no time to explain, Spike. I need a certain book- ‘Foresight and Prophecies’- and I need it as soon as possible. I’m almost done with my research project, but I need that book for the final touch.”

“All right, I’ll get it. I think it was up here.”

Spike climbed up a ladder and got down a large volume from the topmost shelf- and lost his footing.

Twilight Sparkle caught him and the book with her magic, then placed both gently down in front of her.

“Let’s see here- elements of harmony, elements of harmony- ah here we are. See ’Mare in the Moon’? What?”

She flipped further through the book until she got to the page she was searching for.

‘The Mare in the Moon, now thought to be a myth from olden times. Said to be a powerful pony, possibly a sorceress, who wished to rule Equestria. Eventually defeated by the Elements of Harmony and locked in the moon; legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will seek to bring darkness over all the land…’

“Darkness over all the land..?” repeated Twilight. “Spike! We must warn the princess-take a letter!”

The little purple dragon got a quill pen and parchment as Twilight began to speak.

“My dearest teacher, my studies on magic and prophecy lead me to believe we are on the brink of disaster. The so-called ‘mythical’ Mare in the Moon is actually the dark sorceress Nightmare!  She plans to return to Equestria and may destroy us all! Something must be done to prevent the prophecy from coming true! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Got it,” said Spike.

“Please send it.”

“Now? But the Summer Sun Celebration is next week! Won’t she be busy?”

“We have no choice- the Summer Sun Celebration is the day the prophecy comes true!”

“All right, I’ll send it,” replied the dragon as he used his firebreath to send the letter off,  “But if she doesn’t respond right away…”

At that second a new letter appeared in his claws.

“Told you!” smirked Twilight as she picked up the letter with her magic.

It read:  ‘My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle, you know I value your diligence and trust you wholeheartedly, but you really must take a break from constantly reading those dusty old books. I am sending you to Ponyville as an exchange student. You must try to make some friends! That is my imperial order. Pack your things, my dear student. You leave tomorrow. Your teacher, Princess Celestia.’

“If that is what she commands, I must obey,” said Twilight. “Spike, pack your things and I’ll get mine. Tomorrow we’re going on an… adventure, I guess.”

Though the lavender unicorn wasn’t looking forward to this, she knew Celestia had her best interests at heart.

‘But that doesn't mean I have to like it,’ she thought, ‘I suppose we’ll stay a little while, then come back here. We’ll see.”

The next morning, Twilight and Spike loaded into a flying chariot, and headed off to Ponyville.