After her adventures in the past, Princess Twilight finds that she can't put the Alicorn Potion down. She wants to be able to find the sources of more potential problems that were locked away a thousand or so years ago before they arise. Of the two known sources of it, she picks Discord over Zecora, rightly afraid the wise zebra would notice her spiral into addiction and decline her request. When even Discord warns her of the potential problems the potion might cause, she ignores his cautions almost out of spite, and he relents. Twilight journeys into the past again...

At the advent of her Cutie Mark's appearance, little Luna disappears into the Moon shortly after moving it on her own, as Celestia had done with the Sun in her time. The perpetually-cheerful filly returns without her trademark smile, leaving Celestia to wonder what her sister saw up there. Luna mutters about an "eternal night" stretching over alien landscapes, and nightmares so powerful they seem to be almost living things, compelling Celestia to look for herself. All she finds, however, are pale gray rocks and ashen dust.

King Sombra and Empress Crystalline Spectra once reigned over the Crystal Empire as a couple. She was loved as the representative of the Clans of Light, and he resented as that of the diminishing Clan of Shadow. However, so long as he had her to share love with, he didn't care what the Crystal Ponies thought of him. That was until the day she died, and their subjects blamed him. The power of the Crystal Heart begins to fade, and King Sombra fears that his love, now unreturned, will run dry.

For a prince or princess who loves their parents, ascending the throne is a rather bitter business. Even for those who see love as a commodity and a food. Adding weight to the blow for Princess Nympha is the fact that she received this news from a foreign emissary who also claimed responsibility. Having not grown into rationality, the new Changeling Queen develops a hatred for ponykind that festers for generations.

Princess Twilight Sparkle is rocked by all that she is learned. She just has to tell somepony. But first, she has to wake up...