The Fall of the Night

by Stahl

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5739

The Elements of Harmony didn't work on Nightmare Moon and now she rules Equestria as a tyrant. Now ponies must rise to stop the tyrant whonow rules Equestria. Rebellions will come, but all except one will fail.

The Elements of Harmony didn't work on Nightmare Moon and now she rules Equestria as a tyrant. Now ponies must rise to stop the tyrant who now rules over Equestria. Rebellions will come, but all except one will fail. This is the story of that rebellion against the evil tyrant that now rules Equestria.

The cover art was done by nikohl on Deviantart!
Edited by ocalhoun!
Pre-read by Fire Gaze the Alchemist!

Published 2014-04-09 13:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-15 22:28:50 UTC

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

Snow sat limply on the Castle of Canterlot. Winter had stayed late in Canterlot, even if the other cities were in the season of spring. Most ponies would be astounded that Princess Celestia had not brought spring yet, even if it should have come two days ago.

Little did the citizens of Canterlot know that Princess Celestia could not bring the next season. She had not been seen since the return of the tyrant who now ruled the land. The tyrant that had caused the land an eternal night, or, as most ponies would call her, Nightmare Moon: the princess who had betrayed Princess Celestia to cause an eternal night and was banished to the moon. After her one thousand years on the moon, she had returned.

Nightmare Moon sat upon a pure black throne. The throne, among many other things, was different than before. The room had been white with a little bit of gold, showing the ponies that the princess of the sun had stayed there. Now it was dark blue with white stars lining the ceiling and walls. A large moon hung overhead, radiating light in the throne room. Upon her throne, Nightmare Moon wore a smug smile on her muzzle.

One of her guards trotted into the room. The female guard wore something similar previous royal guards that occupied the castle. Now it was painted black instead of the golden color Celestia had her guards’ armor. The guard’s yellow coat contrasted with the armor’s color, as did her mane.

“My lady,” the guard began, “a few ponies would like to see you now. May I send them in?”

Nightmare Moon nodded, and the guard trotted out of the room and soon three earth ponies trotted into the room.

The lead pony had a pink coat with a yellow mane to compliment it. Her cutie mark was a single stalk of corn. She had bags under her eyes, but looked more confident than the two ponies that were with her.

The stallion to the mare’s left had a grey coat with a white mane. He looked more angry than anything. His teeth were bared and he gave their new ruler a death stare. The final pony was a mare with a red coat and a yellow mane. She tried to hide behind the lead mare. This was one of the places she did not want to be, and if she were never come here again, she would be the happiest mare alive.

“My lady,” the lead mare began as the three ponies bowed to Nightmare Moon. “We need to ask you if you can stop your eternal night.”

Nightmare Moon glared at the three ponies and stomped her hoof on the throne. “You want me to stop my eternal night? After I have worked so hard to give it to you! After I spent one thousand years on the moon! You want me to stop all that I have worked for?”

“Well, it’s not that we don’t like it, but our family is starving. Our crops are dying due to the lack of sunlight and we don’t get any bits if we don’t sell our crop,” the lead mare explained. “We need sunlight to survive. Please bring the day back! Please, Nightmare Moon!”

Nightmare Moon looked to one of the guards in the room. “Take them away,” she ordered.

“Please, think of the lives you could save if you brought back the sunlight!” the mare pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Four guards approached the trio of farmers.

“No stop, please! We need money for our family,” the lead mare said again.

The guards approached them slowly. They readied their horns and other weapons. “We’re going to ask you to leave,” one of the guards said.

The stallion charged at a guard. The guard fired a magical blast of energy at the charging stallion. It hit the stallion square in the face, knocking him back to his companions.

The shy mare galloped over to the stallion’s side. “Are you okay?”

“It’s just a small bruise.” The stallion tried to stand up, but fell back to the ground in pain.

“We promised our family that we wouldn’t go back until we got the sun back!” the lead mare yelled to Nightmare Moon.

“If that’s the case, then don’t go home. Guards, take them to the dungeon. Oh, and do be a little rough with them.”

A unicorn guard pulled out a sword from the side of his armor. “As you command, my lady.” The guard chuckled to himself a bit.

The guards charged at the trio of farmers. The guard with the sword slashed at, and hit the stallion. The stallion fell to the ground in pain and tried to grasp at his cut neck with his hooves.

“Maize!” the shy mare shouted out. She looked at his body. “Maize! Please wake up! Please!” The stallion, Maize, does not respond. Tears roll down the mare’s cheeks.

“Do you want us to make this bloodier than what it is?” a guard asked.

The lead mare growled at her assailants. The guards charged again.

“Enough!” Nightmare Moon shouted. “I will not have more bloodshed in my throne room! Just take them to the dungeons!”

“But, my lady, they are resisting and‒”

“No, I said enough! Now take them to the dungeons!”

“Y-yes, my lady.” A guard took a hold of Maize in his magical grip and began to take it somewhere else. Two more guards went up to the mares and hit them in the muzzle with the blunt part of their weapons, causing them to get knocked unconscious. They, too, were taken away, but not to the same place Maize was taken to.

A pony trotted into the room. Nightmare Moon looked over to him. This one she knew quite well. This pony’s forest green coat and wings matched his light brown armor. His teal mane peeked out under his helmet. And his bright green eyes contrasted the rest of him. His cutie was a golden bit with two blue wings coming out of it. The stallion that entered looked confident; he had an air to him that made him seem like he could do anything.

“Hello, my lady.” The pegasus bowed to Nightmare Moon. “How have you been today?”

“Oh, it’s just the usual, Wing Beat. A few ponies today came in and demanded me to give them the day back. And I ordered them to the dungeons.” Nightmare Moon laughed, as did the green pegasus, Wing Beat.

“What foals, thinking that you would give them something that you despise,” Wing Beat said between laughs.

“Indeed. Almost like when the ‘Elements of Harmony’ tried to stop me. They thought they could, but when the ‘elements’ hit me, they did nothing to me.”

“You still shouldn’t laugh like you are, my lady.” Wing Beat looked up at his ruler with a worried glance.

“Surely you don’t think that I can be defeated by some mortals,” Nightmare Moon scoffed.

“No, I don’t, my lady. But not all of us are immortal like you are, and I’m sure that there will be rebellions. There’s no doubt about that. Some ponies, like the ones in here earlier, will not want you as a ruler, and do not respect the night like we do.”

“Well, Wing Beat, I want you to deal with any rebellions that come to pass.”

“I will, my lady,” Wing Beat, told her. “Any and all rebellions will be crushed by my hooves.”

“Good, I wish to see all rebellions crushed by your hoof.” Nightmare Moon told her subject.

Wing Beat had predicted the near future. Rebellions were sure to happen, but one would rise above the others and defeat the tyrant that now rules Equestria. This was the beginning of the end.

Chapter 1: Ponyville

Chapter 1: Ponyville

A stallion in a worn, brown cloak trotted over a small knoll. He studied the area surrounding the hill, and in the distance, he could see the lights of a small town or city.

I wonder what town that is. Maybe I can get some food and sleep in an actual bed there. Night pulled back the hood of his cloak. His pale blue horn shining in the moonlight. He proceeded to trot toward the town; in a hurry to get something in his empty stomach.

The distance between the knoll and the village was short, as was the trot. He trotted into the village. Despite it being dark out, ponies were still out and about, unlike how Canterlot had been. Canterlot barely had anypony trotting the streets, no matter what time of night it was.

Unlike Canterlot, this place seemed unaffected by the new ruler of Equestria. Almost. There still were a few ponies that stayed indoors and when they did go out, they’d try to stay in the light whenever possible. While most here, traveled through the night without fear.

The village reminded Night of back when he was happy. He may not have been the richest of foals on the streets of Canterlot, but he and his best friend had great times. Granted, they had to steal from other ponies just to stay alive, but it was one of the happiest times of his life.

Night wandered through the small village. His stomach growled. Night entered the middle of the town. Wooden stalls littered the area. One stall that stood out to him was a stall selling the biggest and juiciest looking apples he had ever seen. He walked up to the apple stall and looked at the earth pony mare behind it.

He could barely make out her orange coat and blonde mane in the darkness, only a nearby torch lit the area.

“How can Ah help ya?” she asked in an accent.

“I’d like to have an apple please,” he meekly said. He hoofed over several bits and she gave him two apples. “I only asked for one.”

“Ah gave ya two since you’re new here an’ all.” She smiled.

“How’d you know that?” Night knit his eyebrows and slightly tilted his head.

“First off, Ah’ve never see ya here before a few minutes ago an’ secondly, you have one of them Canterlotian accents. Oh an’ the name’s Applejack.” Applejack offered a hoofshake.

“Oh, thanks. My name’s Night.” He accepted the hoofshake.

“It’s no problem. Just think it as a small ‘Welcome’ gift. Since you’re new here an’ all, I’m wonderin’ if ya have a place to stay. ‘Cause if ya don’, there’s a nice inn up thata way.” Applejack pointed a hoof to her left toward a few buildings.

Night nodded a ‘thanks’ and continued toward the buildings Applejack pointed out earlier. He soon reached an inn, which went by the name of Celestia’s Sun.

He entered through the doorway and inside stood a pink mare at the main desk.

“How may I help you?” the mare asked.

“May I have a room?”

“Sure thing.”

Night hoofed over the cost of his room to her and she gave him the key to his room.

“It’s down that hallway‒” she pointed a hoof to her right, “‒and is the sixth room on the left.”

Night made his way down the hallway until he reached his room. He flopped down onto his bed and sighed. What am I gonna do?

><><><><><

Nightmare Moon stared down the pony that stood before her. “Star,” she addressed. “Ponyville has been resisting the presence of my new rule. According to the ponies I have stationed there, they have been disobeying the rules I have set for them to follow and have been showing me a great lack of respect. I need you and a small group of your guard to travel there and show them who is really in charge.”

Star grinned. “Of course, my mistress, but what would you like me to do to the ones who resist?”

“You may take care of them however you see fit; just don’t kill too many. I do need subjects to rule over, otherwise, my rise would have been for absolute nothing.”

“Yes, my mistress. I shall gather together some of my soldiers and we’ll make our way to Ponyville.” Star exited Nightmare Moon’s throne room and took off his midnight blue helmet and ruffled his light blue hoof through his bright yellow mane.

“This assignment sounds fun. Much better than staying here in Canterlot, these nobles don’t do anything of interest.” He sighed. “But Ponyville on the other hoof, it sounds like it’ll be interesting there.”

Star trotted through the Castle of Canterlot toward the new home of his friends. He reached a set of doors that were incrusted with gold. He knocked on the door.

A dark blue unicorn with a purple mane answered the door. "What do you want, Star?" she asked calmly.

"Midnight, we have a job to do."

She looked at him, her calm face never changing. "Where at this time? Is it the castle again?"

"Nope. We're going to Ponyville." Star chuckled. "You ready to have some fun?"

><><><><><

Crash!

“Huh?” Night shuffled around on his bed. “What was that?” he mumbled. Night sat up and looked toward the door. The door just stood there, unmoving. “Probably wasn’t anything.” He stretched out his back and shot his hooves in the air. “Might as well get up now though.” He looked out the window. “Too bad it’s only night now. It makes it extremely difficult to tell what time it is by just looking at the sun… er, moon.”

Night stood up and proceeded to ruffle up his gray mane. He pushed down the clumps of his pale blue fur that had been sticking into the air.
He continued into the hallway and then to the lobby. The lobby looked much worse than it had looked the previous night. The door that led outside had been broken off its hinges and random bobbles from the front desk littered the area around it.

Night approached the scared-looking mare at the front desk. “W-what happened?”

The mare jumped backed at the sound of his voice. She glanced up with her hooves covering the majority of her eyes. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was the costumer from the night before and not one of the newer ponies in town.

“Thank Celestia,” she mumbled. “Now, how may I help you?”

“What happened here? This place looks like a stampede of minotaurs came through here.”

“Some of Nightmare Moon’s guards are in town. They say that they’re ‘spreading the word of the Savior of Equestria’.” She gulped. “They came in here and trashed the lobby up for no reason.

“Their leader looked to be the worst of them all. The way he grinned ‒” she shivered “‒ gave me chills.”

“L-leader?” Night took a step back. “What did he look like?”

“His armor made him hard to see, but I was able to make out his blue coat and blonde mane.”

Night tossed down the key of his room onto the mare’s desk. “Thank you for letting me stay. I’m gonna have to go now.” Night rushed out the door and into the dark street.

Of all the ponies, why does he have to be here? Night galloped through the darkened streets of Ponyville. He reached the edge of town and stopped. I was hoping that I would’ve been able to stay a bit longer, but now Nightmare Moon has ruined something else for me.

“Stop right there!” a deep voice behind him shouted.

Night whipped around. A unicorn holding a torch who was wearing midnight blue armor approached him.

“Commander Star has issued an order stating: ‘Nopony is allowed to leave Ponyville until they learn proper respect for the new queen’. I’m going to have to make you turn around and travel your way back to Ponyville, unless you want to face the commander, that is.”

Night glared at the guard.

“I said you have to turn back, citizen! Don’t make this hard on yourself!”

Night pondered his decisions for a few seconds and made up his mind. He started ambling back towards Ponyville. He got rather close to the guard and his horn lit up in a blue glow. A dagger shot out from under his cloak and toward the guard.

The guard jumped back. Causing the dagger to miss its mark and bounce off his armor.

Night cursed to himself. His hoof shot up to the guards face and it hit him across the muzzle. His dagger proceeded to come back around to him.

“It’s a fight you want, eh? Well I’ll give you the fight of your life!” The guard’s own horn lit up and he pulled out a sword. “A sword verses a dagger. I believe we can both see the obvious outcome here.” The guard smirked.

Night’s dagger rushed toward the guard’s neck. The guard’s sword swung up to block the attack. Night grunted and tried another attack with his dagger, this time going towards the base of the guard’s horn.

The dagger hit its mark, but did not enter the horn. Instead it only cracked the base of the horn. The guard screamed in pain. Blood streamed down the guard’s forehead and into his eyes, mouth and nostrils. The horn itself now had a large crack in it. Blood oozed from the fresh wound.

Wincing at the pain he was feeling, the guard stood back up. “I’m not dead yet,” he seethed through his grinding teeth.

Night rushed at the guard and slashed his dagger at the guard’s horn again. The guard ducked out of the way and fell to the ground. He proceeded to roll away from Night. The guard's horn flared up for a spell. Night rushed toward the guard, who now lay on the ground and had a glowing horn. He slashed his dagger at the guard’s horn again.

Unlike his last attempt, this one hit. With one final blow, the horn was severed off its owner’s head. An explosion that originated from the guard’s head lit up the night’s darkness.

Chapter 2: Fate

Chapter 2: Fate

A gray stallion galloped toward his commanding officer. “General Star!” he shouted. “There was a large explosion near the edge of town!”

Star turned toward the messenger. “An explosion, eh?” He grinned. “Maybe Ponyville is a bit more interesting than I thought. Midnight, take some of the soldiers here and follow after me.”

He waved a hoof at some of the pegasi guards. “Come with me.” He flared his wings and jumped off of the ground and into the air, and the pegasi he motioned to follow took off after him. “Meet me at the site, Midnight!” he called back.

He flew over Ponyville, and soon he found himself at a large crater in the ground and the form of a single pony near it. Star flew down to the ground and surveyed the area.

A white pegasus approached him. “Sir, there’s only one body. Does that mean that it was only a misfire and one of our guards hurt himself in the explosion?”

Star made his way over to the body and blinked in surprise. “No, this pony here is definitely not one of our soldiers. In fact, he’s the exact opposite of one of our soldiers.”

The guard’s face fell into confusion. “What do you mean by that, sir?”

“He used to work for Nightmare Moon, but he betrayed us. What a foal.” Star spit onto the ground near the unconscious body. “I’m going to have fun with him.”

Midnight approached Star. “Star,” she began, “how do you think he got here? I had believed that we had dealt with him.”

Star looked over to Midnight. “It must be fate that he survived, and that we met him here.” He smirked. “I’m getting chills just thinking about what fun we’ll have.”

“You don’t want to get too rough with him. You could break him like you did with that one captain back in Canterlot.”

Star chuckled. “Good times,” he mused. “Midnight, pick ‘em up with your magic and follow me.”

A dark blue glow surrounded Night’s limp body and he was lifted into the air.

><><><><><

Night slowly opened his eyes. A dull aching filled his head, as well as the rest of his body. He tried to move a hoof up to his forehead, but it was stopped by a tight leather strap.

“W-what the…?” He tried to move his body, but it too was strapped to the hard chair he was in. Night concentrated on his horn and tried to conjure up a spell. A splitting pain flew through his head. “A horn-blocker, eh?” he said between pants. He took a quick glance around the dark room.

Night violently shook his hooves against the straps, but to no prevail. He stopped and closed his eyes. Okay, Night. You gotta think of a way to get out of this.

A door opened, and Night looked up from where he sat. Two figures walked into the room, and the door closed behind them.

A horn flared up and light filled the room.

Star smiled. “Welcome, Night.”

Night glared at them. “What do you want from me? If you want me to join back up like the goody-four-hooves you two are, you already know my answer.”

“Now why would we want a traitor back in our ranks? You know our mistress’s punishment for treason‒Tartarus, you know first hooved.” Star’s face inched toward Night’s. “I just wanna know how you survived.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Oh, but it is my business. Since only a few of us knew about the orders to kill you, it means that we have another traitor among us. I have an idea, but I need to confirm my theory about him.”

“And what if I don’t know who saved me?”

Star turned away and walked over to a metal table. “Knowing you, I’m sure you asked who saved you, and I do have my ways of finding things out.” His head lowered and he picked up a knife in his teeth. He moved back toward Night.

Night’s eyes widened and he tried to move his body away at the realization of what Star was going to do.

“Midnight, hold down that ear.” Blue glow surrounded one of Night’s ears. Star positioned the knife to Night’s right ear. “Now, are you gonna tell me who helped you?”

“Never,” he spat.

Star brought the knife closer to his ear. “Have it your way.” The knife cut into flesh, slowly making its way through the base of Night’s ear.

Night’s body wreathed in pain, as a scream escaped his mouth. He tried desperately to get away from Star, or to at least move his ear away, but the straps and magic held him tight.

After about a minute of cutting, the ear fell onto the floor. “Now wasn’t that fun?” Blood oozed out of where his ear used to be.

“Now, what to take off next? I could take off the other ear, but that’d be a bit repetitive. The tongue? No, we still need you to tell who betrayed us. Oh, I know, that horn of yours.” Star dropped the knife and walked back to the table. He gripped a hammer in his mouth and walked back over.

“I remember hearing two things about a unicorn’s horn. One: it has thousands of nerves in it, which makes going through Tartarus feel painless whenever it is broken.”

Night whimpered at the thought of the pain.

“And two: it’s one of every unicorn’s worst fears to lose their magic.” The hammer was raised into the air. “Tell me how it feels when you’re going through the worst pain of your life.”

“Wait! I’ll tell you!”

Star paused, and the hammer lowered. “Get on with it then.”

“The doctor told me it was a green pegasus, but the pegasus never said his name.”

“I figured as much.” Star turned to Midnight. “Let’s go, we need to send a message to Nightmare Moon.”

Midnight nodded, and the two exited the room.

Night sighed and gazed around the‒now dark‒room. How am I gonna get out of here? If only I had my magic. Wait… could I possibly overcharge this horn-blocker? It’s gonna hurt like Tartarus, but it’s worth a shot.

He closed his eyes to concentrate on the feat he was going to try to accomplish. Pain rushed throughout his head as his horn lit up, and his body convulsed in pain.

After a few minutes of pouring all his magic into his horn and thrashing in pain, he stopped. The pain’s too much, damnit. Night sighed and closed his eyes. How am I gonna get out of this? If I stay too much longer, Star’s gonna come back and torture me until I fall over dead.

There was a rattling at the door, and it slowly opened. Two ponies filed in and closed the door behind them. A horn flared up, and light filed the room.

Night’s mouth dropped to the floor when he saw the two ponies that stood before him. One was Applejack, while the other was a lavender unicorn mare. There were bags under the unicorn’s eyes and her darker purple mane was unkempt. They both appeared a bit shaken as they saw blood trickling from where his ear used to be.

“Wha-what’re you doing here?”

Applejack was the first to speak up. “Ah was goin’ up ta Ponyville, when Ah saw some of them no-good soldiers sent here pick up somepony an’ walk off with ‘em. Ah followed ‘em ta see who the pony was. When Ah saw that it was you, I went ta find mah friend here ta help ya get out.”

The unicorn undid the straps that held me down and took off the horn-blocker.

“Thank you, and I’m Night, by the way.”

“You’re welcome, and I am Twilight Sparkle.” Night arose from his seat, and the two of them shared a hoofshake. She turned around and glanced back at Night. “Follow me if you don’t want to be captured again.” She then proceeded to walk out of the door.

Applejack looked at Night with an apologetic expression. “Sorry ‘bout her. She’s just been really under a lotta pressure after we failed to beat Nightmare Moon.”

“Y-you tried to defeat Nightmare Moon?” Night stammered. “H-how did you even have a chance?”

“Let’s wait ‘till we’re in a safe place before I tell ya that. It’s kinda of a long story.”

Night nodded, and the two filed their way out of the dark room. Twilight had a decent head start, but they soon caught up to her.

“So, uh, where are we going?”

Twilight frowned. “We’re going to Applejack’s orchard. Not too many soldiers go out there, and when they do, it’s not for long.” She then shut her mouth and continued on. Night followed her through Ponyville. To Night’s relief, they did not see any of the soldiers. The citizens were cowering inside of their homes; only a few were brave enough to venture out.

Just the day before, Ponyville had been bustling with life, but since the guards came, many of the ponies were too scared to come out. Most of the ones who did come out were abused by Star and his men, even their homes were not safe.

The trio soon found themselves at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack led the way into her house, and they settled down in the main room.

“Why is Nightmare Moon after you?” Twilight glared at him. “What could she want with some random pony like you? I’m actually quite surprised on the fact that she has not come after me yet.”

“I’m not just a ‘random pony.”

“Then who are you?”

“I used to work under Nightmare Moon as a captain.”

Twilight’s horn lit up and a purple glow surrounded Night. He was then lifted up into the air and Twilight gave him a hard glare. “You say you used to work for Nightmare Moon. How do we know that you’re not still working for her?”

“Well, the fact that I have a missing ear now and that I was tied up against my will in a basement kinda proves that I’m not exactly working for her anymore.”

“And how do we know that’s not an act? As far as we know, you were sent after us: the ones that tried to take out Nightmare Moon after she was brought back.” The levitation field around Night seemed to tighten.

“Now, y’all calm down!” Applejack interjected. “Twilight, let ‘em out of your magic, and let ‘em tell us his story.”

My what? Is she wanting to know why I quit working for that tyrant?

Twilight’s levitation field disappeared and she dropped Night into the chair. Her gaze still was hard. “Tell us, Night. Give us a good reason why you quit working for Nightmare Moon.” There was a hardness to how she said his name.

“I was deluded at first. She brought me into this feeling of security; one that I was not used to before that. I began to realize how she really was. How… tyrannical she was, especially after the farmer incident. After I failed to convince my friend to come with me, I left.”

Twilight’s gaze was still hard as a rock. “How could you just realize that she was a tyrant? She blocked out the sun! She staged a coup d'état and succeeded! She either killed or imprisoned all of the Royal Guard! She‒”

“Twilight!” Applejack interjected. “Ah understand why ya don’ trust ‘em. Even Ah’m havin’ a hard time trustin’ ‘em, but until he does something to betray our trust, then we should give ‘em the benefit of the doubt. An’ anyway, would a soldier of Nightmare Moon openly say that they used to work fer her?”

Twilight stopped and though for a moment. “I guess you do make a point.” She then turned to Night. “Sorry for exploding on you about that. It’s just…”

“I, uh, I think I understand. Now, Applejack, you mentioned that you tried to defeat Nightmare Moon. How are you even still alive?”

“Twi thought we were somethin’ called the Elements of Harmony, so we tried ta stop Nightmare Moon. After we failed, she just let us go. Ah don’ even know why she did that.”

“I-I thought that if I gathered the elements that we would be able to defeat her, but, obviously, I have no idea where the elements are.” A few tears fell down Twilight’s muzzle. “I… I failed Equestria.”
She then looked up at Night. “But you were in Canterlot recently, right?” He nodded. “How are things up there? It can’t be that bad, right? I tried to get up there myself to see what has happened, but Nightmare Moon put up an anti-magic barrier around the city and the train refuses to travel there now.”

“Mainly, things went to Tartarus. Quite a few nobles and Royal Guards tried to rebel after Nightmare first took over, but with… uh… my help, they were overwhelmed. A few of the nobles were even taken as prisoners.”

“Who were they?” Her face had changed from hard to worry.

“Why? Do you know a few nobles or guards?”

“She was originally noble born in Canterlot,” Applejack explained.

“Do you know of what happened to the nobles Night Light and Twilight Velvet, and Shining Armor, the former captain of the Royal Guard?” She now seemed more desperate than worried now.

“Ah, well, I don’t believe that I heard of Night Light or Twilight Velvet, but that captain brother of yours, I believe he’s now a prisoner for Nightmare Moon.”

“A-a prisoner?” She sighed and gulped. “How are the dungeons up there? I know how they were when Celestia was the ruler, but, well, you know that I haven’t been able to get back up there.” A few tears traveled down her muzzle.

Night winced. “Last I checked, that pony who captured me, Star, was in control over the dungeons, and he’s one sick buck.”

Twilight glanced toward the ground. Applejack moved over to her and put a hoof around her. “It’ll be okay, Twi.”

Twilight wiped the tears from her muzzle and put on a determined look. “Now then, how are we going to fight back against Nightmare Moon?”

Both Applejack’s and Night’s jaws dropped nearly to the floor.

Night regained his thoughts, and nearly shouted at Twilight. “There’s no way we can beat her! She has an army! What do we have? A few ponies?”

“Just about all of Ponyville are wanting away with Nightmare Moon. I bet that just about all of Equestria is against her. Nightmare Moon needs to fall. We need to get Celestia back upon her rightful throne.” Twilight’s face looked determined as ever.

“But Celestia is in a coma!”

Silence filled the room.

“W-what?” Twilight looked like she was going to die of shock.

“You heard me. Celestia is in a coma. Nightmare Moon was too much for her. After Nightmare Moon defeated her, she just… hasn’t woken up yet. At least, that’s how she was ever since I left. I can’t say too much as of right now.”

Twilight’s face returned to the determined face she had only seconds before. “Well, it looks like we will have to rebel.”

“How? Celestia is in a coma! We have no chance in this!” Night argued.

“How else are we going to stop this eternal night? Crops are failing, and prices of food are going up. Soon, ponies will be starving to death under her leadership. Do you want thousands of ponies to die?”

Night closed his eyes. “I… fine. I’ll be a part of your little rebellion.” He smirked. “I’m ready to get a bit of revenge.”

Twilight turned toward her friend. “You in Applejack?”

Applejack nodded. “Well, since Ah can’ really do mah job when we’re havin’ night twenty-four seven, I guess Ah’ll have ta.”

Twilight smiled. “Then it’s settled. We’ll stop Nightmare Moon. We have to.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. I'll be posting a blog post tomorrow with quite a bit information in it. See y'all then!