"C'mon, my little pony, wake up.~"

I slowly opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness of the room. I jumped back, and pressed myself against the wall of the room while still on my bed. A smiling princess Luna stood in front of my bed, trying not to laugh.

"What do you- OH! Luna! Good...uh...morning?"

"No, it is still night. I just woke you up, because I wanted to walk to you."

"About what?"

[I bet it's something very private and important...]

{Oh yeah, it is! Wink wink, nudge nudge.}

Ha, I have to agree with Blaze on this one, if you catch my drift.

What are you guys even talking about? Seriously...

"Well...about our relationship."

[Woah woah woah! Stop the train, what's she just say?]

"Oh...Um...What, uh, what about it? I mean, we're good, uh, friends and all, right?"

"Yes, but that is exactly the problem, Faint. I wanted to be...More than..Oh sweet Celestia, this is embarrassing..." I saw Luna's face turn a purplish color, which I deduced meant she was blushing.

"I see...Why would you want that, princess?"

{Dude! Don't question it! Remember my motto: Fuck first and ask questions later!}

[Blaze! Watch your language!]

{Dude, we're old enough to cuss. Besides, it's not like 'mommy' is around anymore!}

[...Touche.]

"Well...You're like me in so many ways...You're kinda socially awkward, ponies don't tend to accept you as easily as others, you're very smart, you like dark colors...I could go on and on." Now I felt my cheeks start to burn, but with my black fur, she couldn't see my blushing cheeks.

"Why...Thank you, princess. I...I think I'd like that too, considering it..."

"So is that a yes?"

I nodded, and she made the most adorable squee!~ sound I've ever heard, one that could compare to Fluttershy's squee! She also dived into my bed and glomped me, with more strength than Flutters. I smiled as she snuggled up against me as we laid on the suddenly most comfortable bed in Equestria. As the night went on, I felt my eyelids start to droop, as Luna continuously watched over the sky from our place on the bed. I gave her a small kiss on the cheek, and passed out into a deep sleep, filled with dreams of my past, and my future.

"...And I was all like, I love you, Faint, and he was all like 'oh really? I love you too!' and then we kissed and-"

"Uhn.....Ugh..." I groaned, waking up for the third time in a span of twelve hours.

"Oh! Gotta go, 'Tia! He's waking up!" I heard hoofsteps approaching me, and I turned my head to look for the source.

[Dude...I'm still tired...Go back to sleep...]

{I agree with Night on this one...Just go back to sleep...}

Man, you two really need to pony up! Don't forget, you can just go to sleep anyway. Faint doesn't need to be asleep for that.

{Oh. Right.}

[G'night then!]

"Faint? Faaaaaiiiinnnt?~ Wake up, Faint.~" I opened my tired eyes as much as I could, to see Luna looking at me with bedroom eyes as she trotted over to me.

"Hey...Luna...*yawn* How's it...Uh...Going?" She giggled, and kissed my cheek.

"Time to get up, silly. You've got a long day ahead of you!"

"But...why? I just wanna...*yawn* Sleep."

"Well, you have to talk about the events during the Manehattan incident, and talk about that one creature you said you saw...Calyptico, I think you said his name was. We need to know as much as you can remember. That way, we can take it down, and prevent something like this from ever happening again."

"Ooooooooooooohh....Okaaaaay..." I groaned as I pulled the covers off of me.

Then Luna immediately began to look depressed.

"What? What is it? My mane messed up? That's nothing...I can fix-" I was cut off, as Luna brought a mirror over with her magic. Upon looking into said mirror, I saw what has caused all the hubbub. My wings were gone, and my mane changed. It was in a rainbow-dash style, but much shorter. I could feel my eyes widening in horror, my jaw dropped, and my heart began to race.

"L-L-Lu-Luna? Wh-What happened to me?!"

I have no idea!But it's bad!

I began to panic, and I began to frantically move around the room. I couldn't really even begin to comprehend what could've happened during the night...and then I pieced it together.

Calyptico had been at work.

"Okay, okay, Luna, this had to be Calyptico's doing...I mean, who else would do such a thing, right?" I paid no attention to Luna though, and how she said nothing, as I began to curse Calyptico using my colorful vocabulary.

"Faint...I'm...Sorry."

"-Kill him as soon as I-Wait, what?" Luna interrupted my thought process, and I turned towards her. "You're sorry? for what? You didn't-"

"I did. Well, Me and 'Tia did. We...we thought that since you would be giving your speech in Ponyville, you should look more like them...we also figured it would make them want to listen to you more, if you didn't look so much like royalty. We do know that they saw you when you were an Alicorn, but even still. This appearance is also accompanied by a small lie...you are now my protege, much like Dusk Shine is to Celestia."

"Whoa..Okay, I understand, but- Wait a second, who is Dusk Shine? What happened to Twilight Sparkle being Celestia's star pupil?" Luna stared at me for a second, seemingly confused. She thought about it for a second, then finally started to speak, while I became VERY confused.

"Who is 'Twilight Sparkle'? I do not remember that name...Maybe she was someone you know, but she or he is not the pupil of 'Tia. Look, if you haven't met Dusk, you will. When we go to Ponyville, you will give your speech about the events of the Manehattan incident, talk about how we're going to try our best to prevent it, and tell the ponies not to worry. then, we shall go to the Ponyville library, and discuss with Dusk Shine about the finer details of the Manehattan incident."

"A-Alright...I still...Ah, nevermind. Let's just...Get this over with." I busted open the doors of Luna's room with a powerful buck, and accidentally sent two of her personal guards flying. "Oh! Sorry."

"Faint, please do try to be more careful! We need ponies who can help us in bad situations."

"Yeah yeah, okay." I walked down the hall, past Celestia's room, and stopped.

This isn't me! This is NOT how I exit a building! At least, not the castle.

Agreed.

I smirked, turned tail, and ran back down the hall, past Luna and a barely awake Celestia. I turned into Luna's room, ran as fast as I could, and jumped off the balcony.

"Faint!" I heard Celestia and Luna shout my name at the same time, as I plummeted to the ground. At the last second, I teleported to the front of the castle, and calmly walked down to Luna's sky chariot.

A few moments later, me and Luna were on our way to Ponyville, as I mentally prepared myself for the speech, and to have to talk about what happened in Manehattan...

Do not worry, Faint. We got this. Just stay calm, and try to remember as much as possible.

{Yeah, we got this...but I think I like sleeping all day, and will do it for this day. See ya tomorrow!}

[I'm...surprisingly agreeing with Blaze on this one! this will be like a small break for us. See you later.]

You both are just lazy...I guess I can keep us out of trouble by myself for a bit.

Hey! I'm not that stupid!....Ah, who am I kidding.

I sighed, and watched as we landed in the center of Ponyville, where a stage was set up, complete with a podium. I also saw ponies begin to gather around, until I thought that everypony in Ponyville was here. We landed behind the stage, and Luna urged me to hurry up and get myself ready. I took deep breaths, as Mayor Mare talked about what was going to be said, and introduced the Princess sisters, who introduced me.

"We, Princess Celestia and Luna, rulers of Equestria, would like to thank you all for attending this important town meeting. We, at this time, would like to introduce our guest speaker, Faint Darkness!" A loud applause started up as I walked up to the podium, wondering why Celestia gave me the last name of Darkness. I shrugged it off, and started to speak.

"hello, Ponies of Ponyville. My name is Faint...Darkness, and I am glad to be here today. I know some of you may not know me, and may have just seen me, when I was around here before. Yes, my appearance has changed, but I think this haircut looks good, no?" I smiled, as the audience chuckled.

"I am here to reassure you all, that the events that happened within the Manehattan Incident will not happen ever again, to anypony anywhere. We are going to find the one responsible, by the name of Calyptico, and make sure he cannot harm anypony else. We promise! So do not worry, you all are safe. We will make sure of that. I hope you all understand that what happened is a truly bad experience, that no pony should have to suffer through. Thank you for listening. I also hope you all have a great day, and make sure to live life to the fullest!" I ended, as the crowd cheered and applauded, and I walked offstage again, glad that that didn't take too long, and that it was over with.

I met with the princess' behind the stage again, both of them smiling warmly. Luna, though, gave me a hug and was the first to speak.

"You did great, Faint. I told you it wasn't gonna be that hard."

"I have to agree with Luna, Faint. you did very well."

"Thank you both...Now, time to go meet...Dusk Shine?" I let go of Luna, and backed up.

"Yes, it is. do you not remember him?"

"Um...No, I remember Twilight Sparkle." I saw a flash of recognition play on Celestia's face, but she played it off. Like a pro.

"I...Do not remember a 'Twilight Sparkle', but maybe she was a friend of yours from before."

"Ugh, whatever...Let's go." I started to trot towards the library, annoyed by the princess' pretending like they don't remember Twilight. Probably some prank, or something. We finally arrived at the library a couple moments later. I knocked on the door, and nearly fainted when I saw that there was a...MALE version of Twilight Sparkle, standing in front of me when the door opened. I gasped, and realized this must be Dusk Shine. I shook my head in disbelief, not able to even comprehend what I was seeing. It was...inconceivable!

"Hello! I am Dusk Shine, protege of Princess Celestia, and Element of Magic. I'm guessing that you are Faint Darkness, protege of Princess Luna?" he put out his hoof, and frowned when I couldn't shake hooves. I was still mystified. When I did finally start to speak again, my words were jumbled, and I stuttered.

"B-B-Bu-But wh-what about T-Twi-Twilight Sp-Sparkle? Wh-Where is she?"

"um...Who is Twilight Sparkle?"

"She...I...Celestia...Uh..." Then, I did what my name implied.

I Fainted.

Author's Note

I really wasn't even gonna continue this story, but..I decided to. I don't know why! But, (finally) here is the next chapter of ILTBD! :D I hope you all enjoy, and give feedback...Let me know if I really should find a way to end this story within another one or two chapters, or continue it on. Meanwhile, I'm gonna go play Portal.

~F.A.D.

-p.s. Faint Darkness from the past, You're lucky I decided to update this for you. You lazy bastard.