The Next Generation

Chapter 4- Trapped in the Past

Over logs and between branches, Twilight followed the shadowy mist deeper into the Everfree. She’d only been this far into the forest a hoof full of times in the past, and each time filled with dread. Now, in this new form, it felt more comfortable than home.

Twilight’s mind was blank as she continued in pursuit. Her mind was focused entirely on following the mist. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed.

Finally, she found herself stopped, in the throneroom on the Castle of the Two Sisters. No longer restored, the dilapidated interior was the perfect mirror for the distraught Princess’s mind. Regal tapestries, once restored to proper glory,  had now been reverted to the tattered state Twilight first found them in. Her friends had helped with the restoration, but they were gone. There was nothing left to keep.

The mist was present, but hovered motionless before her in an amorphous cloud. It made no sounds, disturbed nothing. Had she not been able to see it, Twilight would not have known it was still there.

“It’s not fair!” She burst out to the mist. “Why am I so alone now? I didn’t ask for immortality. Why did Celestia curse me like this?!”

The cloud moved closer, enveloping the dark mare in it’s aura. Twilight could feel warmth wherever the cloud moved around her. It soothed her, comforted her in her distress. It was enough to make the crying mare smile.

“Thank you...But I still feel lonely. My subjects obey me, but I don’t think they actually love me. I’m just Princess Twilight to them.”

The mist then formed in front of her again, but the black cloud was replaced by a vision, a vision of something familiar to Twilight. It was Ponyville, back before Twilight was royalty. Ponies moved about in the streets, and the pegasi shuffled the clouds to create the appropriate weather.

“That’s Ponyville! It was such a beautiful town back then. Yes, I remember it well.”

The mist changed, and showed Twilight the time she first met anypony in Ponyville. It was at Sweet Apple Acres, before the industrialization. Applejack was introducing her entire clan, while at the sametime force feeding the poor unicorn all sorts of apple concoctions. Twilight giggled looking back.

“Oh, AJ! I forgot how funny that actually was. Spike never let me forget about the bulge I got after that.”

The next image was that of her introduction to Rainbow Dash, and the impromptu makeover she received as a result. Twilight guffawed at her ridiculous look.

“Thank Celestia Rainbow wasn’t in charge of decorations! Would’ve been done fast though.”

Speaking of decorations, Rarity was the next pony Twilight met. The one thing she remembered about that was how hard Spike had fallen for her. Twilight could have sworn she saw hearts in his eyes. “He never had a chance, but it was still adorable to him swoon all the time. She was pretty.”

Then there was Fluttershy. Sweet Fluttershy. Twilight had almost thought she was mute, until the yellow pegasus spotted Spike.

“She came such a long way since that day. Too bad she never got over her timidity entirely.”

Finally, there was Pinkie Pie. Good ol’ Pinkie. Looking back, Twilight had no idea how an Earth Pony did all of the crazy antics Pinkie did, or where she got all the time to plan those parties.

“You can’t help but love Pinkie. She loved everypony, and asked for nothing but smiles. I wish everypony could have that attitude. Unfortunately, not everypony does.”

Twilight stared into the past for hours, watching all of the happy times she’d enjoyed with her friends, and all of the hardships they had endured together. The magic of their friendship held them together through thick and thin. Not even an army of changelings could stop them.

Then time caught up with all of them. One by one, Twilight watched again as her friends faded away with old age, in the same order she had met them. AJ, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all succumbed to the fate that awaits all mortal ponies. Twilight knew she could help whom she saw, but she cried out to them, trying to comfort them all over again.

At the end of it all, Twilight sat in the castle, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Well,” she said with a sniffle, as she wiped the tears away. “That was the past. Nothing I can do now to change that now. Wish I could have.”

The mist showed Twilight another image, only this one she did not recognize. It showed her, in the normal royal attire she was now accustomed to, but instead of sitting on her throne in Canterlot, she was sitting in the Ponyville library, surrounded by her old friends. They were alive again!

“My friends! They’re alright! But how is that possible. They all died.” Then it hit her. “Is that the future? Can I make that the future?”

The mist moved towards Twilight, helping her back onto all fours. “You know how to bring my friends back, don’t you? Please tell me how! I want to be with them again.”

The mist enveloped Twilight once more meshing itself with her mane. The princess stood more confident now. She felt a new power inside her, no doubt from her new assistant.

“I will bring my friends back. I won’t be alone any more. I swear it, as Nightmare Nova!”

All the ponies in the crowd were very scared, and Midnight sighed. The mayor had no idea what was going on, and the frightened crowd wasn’t helping.

“What’s going on?” Wish asked quietly.

Midnight sighed, “I really don’t know, sis.” She said, pulling her shivering sister close.

A sea green pegasus pony’s eyes narrowed and she flew up towards the mayor. “Why’d Princess Twilight ditch us!? What the heck is going on?” She demanded, the ponies in the crowd murmured in agreement.

They all wanted to know. The mayor sighed and mournfully shook her head. The pegasus rolled her eyes.

“Well, if you're not gonna do anything. I’m gonna go  and find her myself!” She yelled.

Midnight blinked, she was about to protest, say that finding the Princess should be her job, but before she could a green stripe of pegasus magic sped past her.

Sighing for the hundredth time that night, Midnight titled her head towards Wish in a way that said ‘follow me’, and silently trotted out the door.

Midnight smirked as she saw the sea-green pony again. Her blue and silver star cutie mark was brightly showing in the night, for some reason. The mare sighed in frustration.

“Where in the wide realm of Equestria could she be?” She asked herself.

Midnight coughed, not out of sickness, but as a way to make herself known. The pegasus swirled around and started a little, but then smiled.

“Oh, well it looks like somepony was brave enough to come help me.” She said, nodding smugly.

Midnight rolled her eyes, “yes I’m going to help you, but it’s only because I am Princess Twilight’s new student. She’d probably be furious with me if I didn’t.” She admitted.

The pegasus laughed and smiled brightly. “Great! My name’s Neon Glow. But everypony just calls me Neon. So where should we start?” Neon asked, batting her eyes.

Blushing, Midnight smiled. “Well, we can start at my house. I live in her old library, and there’s still a bunch of books there. Something like that would probably help us”

Neon beamed again, and Midnight smiled. At least this pony seemed relatively normal, with no odd quirks as she could tell. Except for that weird cutie mark, which was glowing like a beacon in the night.

“Awesome! Well, lead the way….uh…” Neon blinked, and she smiled an awkward smile.

Midnight giggled. “My name’s Midnight, and the shy one is Wish.” She said.

Wish nodded and smiled. She normally isn’t this shy, Midnight thought worriedly. The afternoon’s events must have worn her out.

“Okay, Midnight! Let’s go!” She said, flying just slightly ahead.

When they reached Midnight’s house, Neon’s eyes began to widen. The thought of somepony living inside a tree was just so strange, but then again, she lived in the clouds so she knew it wouldn’t be fair to judge.

“Well this is the place! Lemme just unlock the door, last time I left it open, Princess Twilight broke in….long story, ah there we go!” Midnight smiled as the door swung open.

With a giant yawn, Wish trotted inside after her sister. It was way past her bedtime, Midnight noticed as she looked at the clock. The poor filly was probably very tired.

“You can go up to bed if you want too, Wish. The big mares can handle this.” Midnight told her sister jokingly.

Wish only rolled her eyes she was in no mood to argue, so with heavy and tired steps she trotted up the stairs and slammed the door of her bedroom, making her sister wince from downstairs.

“So….she’s your sister right?” Neon asked.

Midnight nodded, “yeah she is. She’s usually very energetic, but she is only a filly. It’s almost midnight, she usually goes to bed way earlier than this.” Midnight replied, still a bit anxious about her sister.

Neon’s grin was wide and Midnight didn’t really understand why, but the pegasus just began to laugh. Her laugh faded as she saw the other mare’s confused expression.

“What?” Midnight asked.

Neon guffawed. “Heh, you said it was almost midnight, Midnight! Get it?” She laughed again and slapped her thigh.

Midnight rolled her eyes, that one never got old. Waiting for Neon to calm down, which took a while, she walked over to one of the older bookshelves and began to sift through it.

“I think I saw an old storybook that seemed to be something like our own predicament somewhere...I think it’s called The Mare in The Moon.” Midnight murmured, using her magic to float the random books.

Neon’s eyes widened. “Oh, I used to love that story! My mom always said that Celestia was a little mean, I mean who puts her sister in the moon for a thousand years! But, I guess since everypony needs sunlight-” Neon’s rant was cut off by Midnight.

“Aha! I found it.” She exclaimed as she blew the dust of the old book.

The book seemed to be centuries old, for the cover was falling off of it, and Midnight had to be very gentle when she levitated it. She smiled as she flipped the cover open, yes this was the story she had needed.

“Wow, do you think Princess Twilight had this before she was even a Princess?’’ Neon asked.

This was a very good question, but Midnight shrugged since she really had no idea which books belonged to Twilight, and which ones had belonged to the town’s library, she hopped that this one happens to belong to the latter.

“I hope not. I don’t want to get into trouble if I end up breaking it….now lets see. It says that the way the mare got into the moon in the first place was because she became overcome by darkness...But I’m not sure that our Princess would go y’know, crazy...hm, this certainly is puzzling.” Midnight said.

Neon sighed, she was becoming impatient. “Hay! Maybe if we ask some of the ponies in town if they’ve seen her, maybe we’ll find better answers!” She suggested.

Midnight beamed. “That is an excellent idea. I believe we should go in the morning though, that’ll at least give everypony’s minds a rest. You're welcome to stay in my guest room if you like, it’s right beside Wish’s room. That’s upstairs.” Midnight said.

She had no idea why she was inviting this strange pegasus to stay the night, she normally only did that with stallions on her risky one-night-stands. But something about Neon’s cheerful attitude in a situation that certainly wasn’t cheerful made her more trusting of the sea-green mare.

“Wow that’s really nice of you! Y’know, you might try and seem like you’re better than the rest of us...but I think you’re alright Midnight. G'night!” Neon called.

She sped up the stairs before Midnight could even answer. Blinking in surprise, Midnight blushed profusely, but smiled. She went up the stairs and to her bedroom.

The dream began with a dark hallway, or a room, Midnight couldn’t tell. She thought that she’d fallen asleep, but it felt like she were still awake. The room was completely and eerily silent, and as Midnight moved she couldn’t tell if she was walking on anything solid.

Feelings of fear began to creep through her as she began to run, why she was running she had no idea. She just had that feeling. The feeling that something, that everything was wrong.

She screamed as a strange wailing noise erupted from the darkness and her dream changed.

Now the dream showed Ponyville, a whole bunch of ponies were gathering around her. They were saying something about a Princess, and how something wasn’t right...Were they talking about her? What was going on?

Midnight screamed with terror in her eyes and launched upwards out of her bed. Her forehead had little beads of sweat on it, and she had no idea why. The memories of her nightmare were quickly fading away.

Shivering, Midnight stepped out of her warm bed and onto the cold floor. She hadn’t forgotten what she was about to do today, and it frightened her. She did not want to talk to the whole town, just to find out where Princess Twilight was.

Don’t we have ponies for this kind of thing? Isn’t that what the royal guard is supposed to do? She asked herself. But this thought sparked an idea.

“OF COURSE! Why didn’t I think of this sooner!?” Midnight happily exclaimed. She rushed out the door and down the stairs.

Waking everypony up in the process. Wish grumbled as she trotted down the stairs, her once silky and straight mane now in a tangly bedheaded mess. Neon on the other hoof, just looked very confused. The pegasus was an early riser, but the sound of Midnight’s hooves had startled her.

“What’s goin’ on, sis? Why’d you have to wake everypony up?” Wish asked.

Midnight blinked and turned around, she had no idea that she had woken up her two houseguests. She had actually forgotten that Neon had stayed the night, but the sight of her had reminded her. .

Blushing in embarrassment,  Midnight sheepishly smiled. “Oh, I’m so sorry girls, it’s just that I’ve remembered somepony who we could ask for help, although the response might take a while, since he’s very busy...But I think it’s a good idea nonetheless.” She explained.

This made Wish’s eyes widen, she had gotten a good idea about who her sister was talking about, and Neon looked between the two sisters in confusion.

“Huh?” Neon asked.

Midnight laughed along with her sister. “It’s our brother! Northern Lights!” Wish said happily with a little hop.

Neon smiled along with them now, the confusion slowly lifting from her face. “Oh, I get it. Your brother huh?” She replied.

Midnight nodded. “Yes, he’s been training in the Royal Guard for quite sometime now, and I’m certain they’ll know how to handle this.” Midnight replied.

Although she had no idea if her brother would even get the message on time. She could only hope.

“There I’m done! It’s just a simple note, saying that we’re all very worried about Princess Twilight, and that everypony is wondering where she is.” She said looking over her letter once again.

Neon chuckled, “Wow, you are very literate.” She said, somewhat sarcastically.

Midnight rolled her eyes, “yes, and a romantic.” She replied, making Wish giggle.

“I hope the letter gets to him on time, but we should probably go and ask the towns-ponies if they’ve seen anything. You two coming?” Midnight asked.

Neon smiled brightly along with Wish. “You bet! Just let me go to my house and get something, and I’ll meet you guys in the center of town!” Neon replied.

“Oh, alright then we’ll see you.” Midnight replied.

She smiled as Neon rushed out the door. Wow, that pegasus is certainly flighty. Midnight thought with a small smirk at her own joke. When Neon had sped by her, Midnight had caught a glimpse of her cutie-mark, and it no longer had its strange glow.

“I like her! We should invite her over more, don’tcha think?” Wish asked.

Midnight nodded and smiled too, it seemed that she was indeed making friends. Or at least one friend, and that was a start.

Ponyville was a bustling chaos, everypony was very spooked, and Midnight had to be careful. Some of the ponies were stampeding, and Midnight rolled her eyes. This wasn’t that bad. If all else failed, they at least had Princess Cadence, who, Midnight thought, was a lot better at ruling a kingdom.

Poor Wish had to sidestep away from the rushing ponies, and Midnight had to scoop her up in fright, for sometimes she hadn’t realized that somepony was coming towards her. Neon was the only one who didn’t have to worry about the ground, and she was getting impatient.

“Aw, c’mon you guys! What? Is a bunch of stampeding ponies too much for ya?” She mocked, but with a playful wink.

Midnight rolled her eyes, “ha ha, very funny. If you haven’t noticed, neither of us have wings.” She replied snarkily, trying not to step on a scared pony.

Neon just laughed in a cheerful comradery, and the three of them finally made it to the Sugar Cube-Corner club. The doors were locked, and there was a closed sign on the door.

“Well, that’s just perfect.” Neon mumbled.

The closed sign didn’t hinder Midnight’s confidence however, she had already walked over to the door and knocked, loudly.

After a while of loud, obnoxious knocking, a pony opened the door.

She was very plain looking, a bright pink pony with a red mane that was long, but not styled very nicely. Although, her eyes were a pretty bright blue.

“What!? Didn’t you ponies see the closed sign?” She asked rudely.

Midnight stomped her hoof, “yes we did. But this is an emergency, and I am the Princess’s student, so I have to find her. We were wondering if anypony in town has seen her?” She asked.

She wasn’t very patient, but the pony was even less. “No, I haven’t. This is a bunch of bull, and I am in no mood to deal with it….But I thought I did hear something near the EverFree, you could try over there.” She said, slamming the door closed right after.

Midnight sighed, she was so much help. Although, the tip was a good one.

“Well….at least it’s something.” Wish said.

She looked at Midnight hopefully, and Midnight smiled. Yes at least it was something.