The Princess that Equestria Never Had

Chapters

A Long Night
Hoofing It (aka Not Every Chapter Title Will be Puns)
A Company of Seven
What Happened with the Timelines
Nightmare Night
A Walk Down Memory Canyon
Back Into the Woods
Farmward Bound
A Big Step Forward
The Ruse
Canterlot Reclaimed
Farewells
In Which Our Intrepid Heroine and Her Chimeric Companion Meet with a Zebra

A Long Night

Twilight Sparkle opened the door to the library, and she padded slowly in. Her head was lowered, her fur and feathers ruffled, her skin scratched. Spike, who had been putting the stray books away while she and the other ponies where having an adventure, watched her step on some books and kick others aside. He set the books down on the ground and walked with her.

"What's wrong, Twilight?"

"Ugh, everything went wrong today, Spike. Rarity needed help organizing her fabrics. It's such a mess in there, but she claims to know where everything is."

Spike's eyes shimmered and he smiled. "Rarity?"

Not hearing him, Twilight continued. "I helped Applejack buck apples, and then Rainbow Dash challenged me to a race across Equestria. She was leading most of the race, and we saw a lot of places I'd never had the chance to see before, but I think she let me win. So I guess not everything went wrong, but everything was tiring. Then Discord decided to play a little prank on Ponyville involving the thorns from the Everfree Forest and making one of the trees get really tall and sentient."

"I wondered why the books kept falling down. How did you and the others stop him?"

"The usual way we stop Discord since we set him free again: Fluttershy." She struggled on the stairwell up before slumping down to rest. "Can you give me a push? I've had a long day."

"Of course, Twilight," Spike replied and started pushing her up the stairs to her bed.

Twilight sighed. "It's days like this that makes me wish sometimes that I'd never been born." Seeing her horn start to glow, he stopped her, bringing her blankets up.

"Twilight, I'll take care of everything else tonight. You just get your rest."

She smiled. "Thanks, Spike. I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." She closed her eyes, and with a yawn, quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Twilight noticed when she woke up was that she was cold. The second was that it was still night outside, although she was sure it had to have been morning already. She tried lighting the candle on her side table, but found it wasn't there. "Spike? Did you take my candle?" Yet there was no response from the little dragon. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she got up and looked around the library.

The bedsheets were rumpled and on the floor. Several boards were broken or cracked, and there weren't nearly as many books on the shelves as there were the night before. She brushed off a thick layer of dust on the table she had seen Spike place the books on the night before, and sneezed. "Spike, where are you?" she wondered. Finding the door locked, she went back upstairs and jumped out the window in her room, only to find that she no longer had her wings. In a panic, she quickly made herself hover using her magic and began walking around Ponyville, trying to find anypony who had their lights on. "Hello? Is anypony here?"

As she walked around Ponyville, she noticed the shadows of heads of other mares and stallions peeking from their windows. She called out to them, but they hid quickly, obviously in fear of something. "What's going on? Why is everypony afraid?"

"Psst!" came a voice.

Twilight looked around, sure she'd heard a familiar voice. "Hello?"

"Psst!" came the voice again, from the slightly opened door of the bakery. Twilight made her way towards the bakery but was interrupted by a loud, somewhat demonic voice.

"WHAT IS THIS? SOMEPONY WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF US?"

This was a voice Twilight recognized almost immediately: it was the voice of Nightmare Moon, the form of Princess Celestia's sister whom had let jealousy rule her. But they'd stopped Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, bringing her back to her Princess Luna form. But that was years ago; why was Nightmare Moon still active so long after they'd defeated her?

"Princess Luna, what's going on? Why is everypony afraid?"

"PRINCESS LUNA IS NOT A NAME I HAVE HEARD IN MANY CENTURIES. I AM NIGHTMARE MOON! FEAR MY NIGHT!"

"Uh oh." Now somewhat afraid, Twilight started galloping toward the bakery, hoping to outrun Nightmare Moon long enough to get past the slightly open door. As Twilight passed, a pink hoof reached out and pulled her inside, quickly closing and locking the door behind them.

"What were you thinking, going outside when Nightmare Moon is most active?" asked the pink-maned pony with balloons on her flank.

"Pinkie, do you know what's going on? We stopped Nightmare Moon years ago. Why is she back?"

"What are you talking about? Nightmare Moon has reigned over Equestria for years!"

"But that doesn't make any sense. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, you and I used the Elements of Harmony to turn her back into Princess Luna!"

"What are the Elements of Harmony? And how does a stranger like you know our names?" Then Pinkie's eyes glittered and she smiled big with realization. "Oh wait, you're new here. I know everypony in Ponyville but I don't know yours! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. And never mind about the Elements and how I know your names. Hopefully I can explain later." Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Here was one of her best friends, with whom she'd spent so many adventures, not even knowing who she was. In fact, Pinkie had introduced herself almost the same way when they first met. Nightmare Moon hadn't been defeated, her wings were gone, and one of her closest friends was acting like they'd never met. Thoughts raced through Twilight's head, and soon came to a realization.

"Do you know where I can find Princess Celestia? I need to speak with her about a very powerful magic that I think only she can help with."

Pinkie's face darkened, her eyes sad. "Twilight, no pony's heard from Princess Celestia since Nightmare Moon came back. That's why everypony's afraid; anypony who can defeat Princess Celestia is too powerful for just anypony to fight. Shh, she's coming!"

Pinkie and Twilight hid under the windows, hoping Nightmare Moon wouldn't see them as she passed. Their hearts beat loudly with fear and caution, but Twilight managed to spend the time waiting to try and figure out where Princess Celestia could be. They held their positions until they were sure Nightmare Moon had finished her patrol.

"Pinkie, I'm going to try to find the princess. It'll take a while to explain, but she's the only one who can help fix this."

"I want to come with you. If there's any way to stop Nightmare Moon, it's gotta be better than this."

Twilight started to object, but stopped herself. Hadn't Pinkie helped defeat Nightmare Moon, along with the others? Then again, she'd have to keep explaining what was going on to the others as they joined the group. Not to mention that one pony can hide better than six ponies in a group. However, if gaining their trust was the only obstacle, then she knew what the most important stop was: Sweet Apple Acres to pick up Applejack, who embodied the element of honesty. If she said something, anypony knew they could trust her.

"All right, Pinkie, you can come." Pinkie started to say hooray, but covered her mouth, remembering just in time that Nightmare Moon could hear it and find them. "We're going across town to pick up Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, assuming they're all in their houses. You're here where you work, after all. After we gather them, we'll head to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack's barn will be big enough for us to find good hiding spots if Nightmare Moon finds us. And stay as quiet and as hidden as you can, okay?" Pinkie moved her hoof across her lips, a closed zipper appearing in their place and Twilight turned to the door. "Good. Nightmare Moon watches from the moon, so our best chance is to stay out of the moon's glow and off the roads as much as possible. Let's go."

Twilight slowly opened the door and peeked out, looking to both sides, but seeing no trace of Nightmare Moon. Before she exited the bakery, however, she went back in and grabbed one of the tablecloths, intending to use it as protection so that Nightmare Moon couldn't see them from above. They crept outside and started making their way across Ponyville, hiding in the shadows of buildings created by the light of the full moon.

Hoofing It (aka Not Every Chapter Title Will be Puns)

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie made their way through the shadows in silence. Peeking out at the moon from a building across the road from the clock tower, Twilight crept toward the tower, with Pinkie close behind. Pinkie suddenly stopped and then bounded in front of Twilight, revealing a very twitchy tail. Pinkie's face was panicked and she pointed her hoof to her tail. Twilight quickly remembered that Pinkie didn't know that she knew what it meant: something was going to fall, whispering "Your Pinkie Sense. Quick, to the clock tower!"

They hurried to the clock tower in the center of Ponyville and stepped inside the large glass door. Twilight glanced out the window just in time to see Nightmare Moon falling down and landing next to the building they were just at. They stayed silent and still for the next few minutes, watching with baited breath as Nightmare Moon investigated where they just were. Time stood still for the two mares as they waited, until Nightmare Moon flew off again. Twilight went over to Pinkie, whose tail had stopped twitching and unzipped her mouth.

"You're probably wondering how I knew about your Pinkie Sense, huh?" she asked. Pinkie nodded, showing in her eyes the confusion at how she knew about the Pinkie Sense and how she knew what exactly what a twitchy tail meant. "In the time I come from, the six of us have been friends since two days before Nightmare Moon returned and used mystical stones to turn her back into Princess Luna. Later I found out about your Pinkie Sense and didn't believe it could be real because I couldn't find any scientific proof of how it could happen. Then I finally accepted that some things can't be explained so easily and trusted your Pinkie Sense like everypony else in Ponyville."

Pinkie sat in silence for a moment, processing what she had just learned. "So you're a time traveler?"

"Sort of. I'll get into the details once all six of us are all together at Applejack's."

"That explains a lot more, too! Like how you knew the layout of Ponyville and why you weren't initially afraid of Nightmare Moon!"

"You're right; I guess it does. Let's go before Nightmare Moon comes back looking for us."

"Okay!" Pinkie exclaimed as she zipped her mouth closed again.

Finally exiting the clock tower, they continued their journey southeast toward the Carousel Boutique, being extra careful this time. Instead of moving uncovered, Twilight covered them with the tablecloth from the bakery that Twilight had enchanted so that, from above, it showed only the grass under them. As they neared one of Ponyville's restaurants, Twilight suddenly stopped and pulled Pinkie behind the restaurant. Peeking around the corner, she confirmed what she thought she'd seen just moments before: Nightmare Moon was looking for them in the grassy knoll across the river. Incidentally, she was also blocking their path to Rarity's boutique.

"Nightmare Moon is blocking the way to Rarity's," Twilight whispered. "We'll have to go around to the windmill first so we can get to the pet shop."

Pinkie nodded again and they waited until Nightmare Moon was looking the opposite direction before sneaking from tree to tree. After the first few trees, they looked back toward where they last saw Nightmare Moon, but as they hid behind the next building, the view was too obscured by the other trees. They made their way slowly once more toward the windmill, keeping a careful watch on the skies and on their surroundings

The rest of their short journey to the windmill, aside from shaking in their hooves over fear of Nightmare Moon finding them, was uneventful. They hurried into the windmill and closed the door to catch their breath.

"All right, we're almost there. At least the windmill doesn't have a giant glass door we have to worry about. Let's wait a few minutes and then hurry to Fluttershy's pet shop."

"Um, there's going to be a problem, Twilight."

"What is it, Pinkie?"

"If we don't want to get wet, the only way across the river for us non-pegasi is the bridge, which is way out in the open."

"I can fly," Twilight replied and tried spreading her wings, quickly remembering that she didn't have them anymore. She hung her head, saddened at the loss of the wings she'd grown used to. "Or used to where I come from."

Pinkie's eyes widened and she started bouncing. "You were a princess?"

"Yup. Once we get to Princess Celestia she can help bring things back to the way they're supposed to be."

Once again they headed on their way southeast along the trees, soon coming to the bridge.

"Pinkie," Twilight whispered, "see if you can climb this tree and check for Nightmare Moon."

Pinkie nodded and disappeared into the branches. From below, Twilight could see only the rustling leaves, so she kept watch on both sides of the bridge as she made the tablecloth float up to the top of the tree. Pinkie, with the higher perspective and the tablecloth obscuring her presence, looked as far across Ponyville, seeing no sign of Nightmare Moon anywhere. Satisfied, she descended once again and relayed that the coast was clear. In silence, the two crept silently along the side of the bridge, making sure their hooves made as little noise as possible.

Twilight stopped for a moment. "I just realized that Fluttershy's going to be scared out of her mind with Nightmare Moon galloping about like this. She'll probably have her door locked. How will we convince her Nightmare Moon's not near?"

"When this whole thing started I taught her a secret knock which only the two of us know that will mean that it's safe. Except since I'll be doing it in front of you, then you'll know too, but I guess that's okay since you already know so much about us and--"

Twilight put her hoof to Pinkie's mouth. "Let's just hurry before Nightmare Moon comes back." Pinkie nodded and they continued, Fluttershy's pet shop not too far away. Having cleared the treeline, they hurried to the pet shop's front door. Twilight nodded, and Pinkie started the knock. The knock sounded rhythmic, almost song-like as it progressed. Twilight looked to the sky, hoping the sound of the knocking wasn't within Nightmare Moon's range of hearing, but found herself smiling. Leave it to Pinkie to create something so good out of this chaos, she thought.

For a few seconds after Pinkie had finished the knock, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the door opened a little and a soft voice came from the darkened interior.

"Hurry inside, Pinkie."

Pinkie and Twilight hurried inside, closing the door behind them. Twilight's horn glowed with soft light, illuminating the room a little. Fluttershy hurried behind a piece of furniture.

"I thought you said it was safe!" Her voice came out quieter, her voice wavering in fear.

"It is safe. This is Twilight Sparkle. She's a time traveler who has to find Princess Celestia to bring things back to where Nightmare Moon was defeated long ago and she knows about you and me and Rarity and Applejack and Rainbow Dash and also my Pinkie Sense. I trust her."

Fluttershy peeked out from behind the furniture and slowly made her way toward them again.

"It's okay, Fluttershy. I'm here to help. Where I come from, the six of us defeated Nightmare Moon before her eternity of night lasted very long. We just need to find Princess Celestia so she can help us again. We're meeting up in Applejack's barn so we don't have to worry about being seen by Nightmare Moon."

"Oh, it'll be good to see her again! It's been so long since I've seen anypony other than Pinkie."

"How long has it been?" Twilight asked.

"Since the Summer Sun Celebration when she showed up," Fluttershy answered.

Twilight found she wasn't surprised that Fluttershy had stayed where she knew it was safe. She frightened so easily, after all.

"It's a good thing I have a safe way to Sweet Apple Acres," Fluttershy said.

"You do?" Twilight and Pinkie said in unison, there mouths agape.

"Mhm. I asked my digging animals to dig tunnels to several places in Ponyville, but I've been too frightened to use them. Pegasi don't do well underground, and there's always the risk of a cave-in."

"Where's the entrance to these tunnels?" Twilight asked excited that they didn't have to keep their eyes on all flanks anymore.

"Mine is right outside the back door. I've avoided using it since I never know when it's safe to come out."

"We should make sure it's safe, and then we'll go."

Fluttershy asked an owl if he could go on the roof to see if it was safe and return to tell them the answer. The owl nodded and flew out a window that Pinkie had opened. After a minute or so, the owl returned, confirming that it was safe to go out. Opening the back door, Twilight exited first, extinguishing the glow of her horn. Pinkie nudged Fluttershy out, who hurried to lift a large rock right next to the door, which turned out to be a fake rock. Pinkie took her place, and they descended underground, Twilight leading, her horn shining a light down the tunnel, Fluttershy behind her, and Pinkie taking the rear.

Author's Note

The map I'm using to determine the locations of the towers, houses, and other landmarks is this one: http://i.imgur.com/S7Kqn.jpg. I'd give more information, but the website it was posted on no longer exists.

A Company of Seven

Fluttershy trembled and stopped in her tracks as the stone covered the hole and Pinkie nearly bumped into her. "Wow... it's pretty dark in here..."

"Well, it is an underground tunnel. Here, I'll make it brighter." Twilight's horn glows brighter, lighting up twice as much of the tunnel as before, soon coming to a branch in the tunnels. "We should go to Rarity's boutique first. Which tunnel goes her way?"

"Stay with the right tunnel. The left one goes toward the Everfree forest because Rainbow Dash used to live in her house above the edge of the forest until Nightmare Moon got tired of Rainbow Dash not being afraid of her and bucked it out of the air," Pinkie answered.

"That's too bad. Does Rainbow Dash live in Cloudsdale now?"

"No, that's too close to the moon. Nopony in Cloudsdale leaves their homes anymore. Rainbow Dash has taken to living with one of us for a few days at a time."

"So that means she's either with Applejack or Rarity today. But you said the tunnel goes to the edge of Everfree Forest?" Pinkie nodded in confirmation. "Then that tunnel should be dug farther so we can get to Zecora's hut if we need her help."

Fluttershy and Pinkie stopped in their tracks. Twilight continued a few steps before she realized she couldn't hear their hooves anymore. She turned to face them. "What is it?"

"You... want to see..." Fluttershy began, but couldn't finish.

"You want to see Zecora? Are you crazy? Do you know how scary she is? I even wrote a song about her! Listen:"

But before Pinkie could continue, Twilight sang the song instead, using her own tune.

"She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out!"

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other, then at Twilight. "Sorry, I keep forgetting we're from different timelines. Where I come from, we became friends with Zecora. The ponies were only afraid of Zecora because she looked scary and nopony had the courage to actually talk to her. I was afraid of her for a while, too, actually. A zebra is closely related to a pony, after all, and she's not that different. Trust me; she can help."

"If you say so..." Fluttershy didn't seem convinced. Pinkie, however, had grown to trust Twilight's knowledge and decided that it was at least worth a try, placating her friend. They returned to the pet shop and gathered some of Fluttershy's digging animals, and Fluttershy told them to keep digging the tunnel to Zecora's and, after Twilight warned them of the blue plants, told them to stay away from any blue plants as well. They returned to the path they had been on before.

"What else has happened in Equestria since Nightmare Moon returned?"

Once again, Pinkie answered. "First one of the statues, a dragon with body parts of other animals, near the hedge maze came to life soon after Nightmare Moon returned and there was fear everywhere and he's been messing things up all over Equestria since."

"Discord. In my time he was released when some fillies were arguing. He's the embodiment of chaos. If we do the same things as we did in my time, we should be able to stop him quickly. I noticed Ponyville didn't seem to have any of his effects, though. If he's been messing things up all across Equestria, why is Ponyville untouched?

This time, Fluttershy was the one to speak up. "One time Discord decided to make it bright in Ponyville, and at the same time everypony was upside-down and couldn't step outside. Nightmare Moon came down and they talked. He turned everything normal and dark and scary again."

"Then he was interfering with Nightmare Moon's eternity of darkness. Anything else?"

"There have been rumors of a big purple dragon roaming around and damaging towns. Good thing he never got as far as Ponville."

Twilight paused a moment. "This big purple dragon didn't happen to have big green spikes and an appetite for jewels and gifts, did he?"

"Yeah. Did something like this happen in your timeline too?"

"Yes, it did. I hatched him and named him Spike. He's my assistant and one of my closest friends, but one time he got greedy and turned into a big dragon like that. Fortunately he had become infatuated with Rarity and seeing her with a gift he'd given her earlier made him remember that greediness isn't who he was. He turned back to normal soon. However, I don't think that will work again, since he hasn't seen Rarity yet to become infatuated over her. We'll have to stay away from him as much as we can."

Fluttershy's soft voice interrupted Twilight's. "We're getting close to the entrance by the boutique. We'll come out among the bushes at the base of one of the trees."

"Thanks, Fluttershy. I'm going to turn off the light so we don't alert Nightmare Moon. Stay close."

Fluttershy shivered and moved close to Pinkie as Twilight moved up along the roots of the tree. Pushing aside the bushes, Twilight looked around and saw Nightmare Moon in the distance, almost too far away to see. She lowered herself back into the tunnel, whispered that the path was clear, but to stay silent anyway just in case. The three ponies filed out in their usual pattern, and moved quietly to the door of the boutique. Twilight noticed that, unlike most of the buildings in Ponyville, the windows were boarded up,each board tight up against each other, and she was almost sure she saw light between the cracks. Pinkie knocked on the door, a simpler knock this time, and after a few seconds, the door, surrounded by the soft blue glow of magic, opened into darkness.

"Hurry inside," whispered a voice that Twilight recognized as Rarity's as the three filed in and the door closed behind them. Fluttershy shook, and they heard some shuffling around the dark for a few moments. Fluttershy gave a short cry as the lights suddenly came on, revealing that Rarity had placed pieces of fabric around the door to prevent light from coming through the cracks.

"I'd hoped that was you, Pinkie, otherwise I would have been in deep trouble. And welcome, Fluttershy. I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

"I thought I saw some light before we entered," Twilight said nonchalantly, forgetting for a moment that Rarity didn't know her yet.

Rarity looked at the unfamiliar pony, then at Pinkie and Fluttershy. "Who's this?"

"I'm sorry. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"She's a time traveler and she knows all of us where she comes from!" Pinkie blurted out.

"I see. Oh, but look at your fur and your coiffures! Did you roll around in the dirt and bushes before you came here?" She started brushing their fur and manes.

"Kind of. We were using Fluttershy's tunnels, and the entrance near the boutique came out through the bushes by one of the trees."

"Well, you won't see me going in those tunnels any time soon if I come out looking like you girls."

"You're going to have to," Fluttershy said. "It's the safest way to get to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres without Nightmare Moon seeing us."

"Why do we need to go to Sweet Apple Acres? It's safe here," quipped a voice from the top of the stairs. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy looked up and saw the light blue fur and rainbow-colored mane of Rainbow Dash coming down the stairs, Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo following close behind her. "And who's the new pony?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm from a different timeline in which Nightmare Moon and Discord were defeated years ago. In fact, the six of us have been close friends since the Summer Sun Celebration when Nightmare Moon made her debut."

Rainbow Dash flew down and hovered in front of Twilight, giving her a look of disbelief. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

Twilight sighed a little, but obliged. "You're Rainbow Dash. You used to live in Cloudsdale. You're friends with Gilda Griffon, and the thing you want above all else is to one day become a Wonderbolt, but your loyalty to your friends will always come first. You've also performed at least one sonic rainboom, a phenomena which occurred on the day all six of us received our cutie marks. You've got a long-standing rivalry with Applejack over which of you is the stronger pony."

As Twilight spoke, Rainbow Dash's expression slowly changed from skeptical to impressed, then back to skeptical. "Okay, there's no way you could have known all of that unless you're a spy or you're telling the truth. How do we know you're not a spy from Nightmare Moon?"

"Have you ever known Nightmare Moon to leave something as important as spying on somepony to somepony else?"

"Hmm. Good point. By the way, if we're gonna go, we should probably go soon. Nightmare Moon's heading this way."

"Quick, let's get to the tunnels!" The lights went out and Rarity and Twilight moved the fabric away from the door and opened it. Rarity quickly packed some brushes in some satchels so she could clean the others after they got out of the tunnels. Twilight led the way, followed by Rarity, the two young fillies, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie brought the rear as usual. They hurried under the tree and turned west toward Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie's curiosity got the best of her, and she peeked through the bushes, seeing Nightmare Moon land near the boutique, the door still open. She ducked back down, hoping she hadn't been seen, and followed the others.

What Happened with the Timelines

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie made their way quietly through the tunnel. Scootaloo, although very afraid, showed little of her fear aside from sidling closer to her idol Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was better at hiding her fear, having had years putting on an air of confidence to hide it. Sweetie Belle and Rarity stuck close together as siblings do, and Pinkie Pie had to keep pushing Fluttershy onward. Twilight continued in the lead, shining the light from her horn down the tunnel, when it started descending.

"What's going on? Why are we going down?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Suddenly there was the echo of soft thumping behind them.

"Stay still and be quiet! I'm turning the light down" Twilight said quietly, and they all waited in anticipation. Sweetie Belle and Rarity moved closer together, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash moved closer, and Fluttershy moved close to Pinkie. Twilight looked behind them, the light barely bright enough to shine a few feet in front of her, and started walking past them. If they needed to run, she wanted to delay their pursuer or pursuers as long as she could.

They waited with baited breath. Two tiny glints appeared, as the thumping grew louder. Twilight braced herself in preparation for a fight.

A small white rabbit appeared in the dim light. Twilight relaxed and turned her light up. "It's just Angel."

Fluttershy pushed her way past Pinkie and Twilight, a happy expression on her face. "Angel! What are you doing here?" Angel chattered for a little, then Fluttershy turned to the others. "Angel says we're about to cross under the river, after which we'll come across a fork in the tunnels. That's why we're going down right now. We need to go to the left to get to Sweet Apple Acres, and the right tunnel goes back toward the school and the center of Ponyville."

"Thanks, Angel. Let's keep going." Twilight moved back toward the front of the group.

"These tunnels are starting to feel cramped. Not to mention dirty!" Rarity said.

Sweetie Belle broke from her sister and walked behind Twilight. "What was your name again?"

"It's Twilight Sparkle. My special talent is magic, and I got my cutie mark the same day as your sister and the other ponies our age. A six-pointed star surrounded by six smaller stars."

There was silence for a moment as Sweetie Belle counted the stars on Twilight's flank. "I only see five."

"What?" Twilight turned and looked at her flank, seeing that, in fact, one of the smaller stars was indeed missing. "We should hurry, guys. Come on!"

They hurried through the tunnels toward Sweet Apple Acres, and came up through the floor of Apple family's barn. Angel squeaked, and Fluttershy spent a little time talking with him. After listening to Angel, Fluttershy explained what he had told her:

"Since the barn's floor was dirt, the digging animals didn't need to keep this entrance as secret as the others. Thanks, Angel!" she gave Angel a carrot which, unfortunately, had not grown well due to the lack of sunlight.

"Thanks, Fluttershy. And thank you too, Angel." The rabbit looked up at Twilight, expectant, and she realized he was expecting a gift. "Oh, I don't have a carrot to give you..." At this Angel frowned. "But I can give you a gift of my own!" Twilight's horn glowed as she made the carrot's size grow larger and more healthy, bigger than a normal healthy carrot would grow. "Rainbow Dash, take a quick flight to the top of the barn and look for Nightmare Moon. Don't spend too much time exposed, though."

"Sure thing," Rainbow Dash responded, and flew out the barn doors. She returned seconds later and told them that she hadn't seen Nightmare Moon.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash. Now someone needs to go get Applejack."

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!"

"Thanks for volunteering, Pinkie, but I was already planning on picking you. You're really good at being stealthy."

Pinkie saluted Twilight, and crept out of the barn, holding herself flat against the wall, a serious look on her face. Twilight peeked her head out the open door and saw Pinkie in a ninja outfit at Applejack's door. The door opened and Pinkie went inside. Moments later she returned to the barn along with Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh. As they came into the barn, Twilight wondered where Granny Smith was, but passed the thought from her mind.

Twilight directed everypony to sit or stand as she started telling her story. Rarity took out her brushes and started cleaning everpony's manes and furs, starting with the three fillies.

"All right, now that we're all together, I can tell you everything I know.

"I come from a timeline where we've all been friends since Nightmare Moon appeared at the Summer Sun Celebration a few years ago. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and I were able to defeat her with the Elements of Harmony. In this timeline, because I didn't exist to recognize the prophecy about Nightmare Moon's return before it happened. I also wasn't here to bring the Elements together to turn her back into Princess Celestia's sister Princess Luna. And because the Elements were never found, Nightmare Moon succeeded in bringing about an eternal night. And since in my timeline Princess Celestia had mysteriously disappeared with the sun's absense, it's probably safe to assume she's been gone since the Summer Sun Celebration in this timeline as well. Since the Elements were never discovered, Discord couldn't be defeated either, so he's running rampant as well.

"But something else concerns me. In my timeline, my brother married Princess Cadance, who was my babysitter when I was a filly. That still happened, I'm guessing, but Queen Chrysalis had taken on the appearance of Cadance, and Canterlot was taken by Queen Chrysalis's army of demon ponies. And since Cadance had been imprisoned in the tunnels under Canterlot by Queen Chrysalis, she couldn't use her power of love to protect the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies from King Sombra. So many things have happened in Equestria in my timeline because I existed."

"So how'd y'all get in a timeline where you didn't exist?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Thanks for asking. I think I was getting off track. Well, yesterday in my timeline was a particularly difficult day, and I came home to the Golden Oak library tired and weary. I said 'It's days like this I wish I'd never been born', and as it turns out I'd activated a spell I read earlier. I didn't understand it at the time, but it makes perfect sense now.

"When the time is gone
And the ponies sleep
All is undone
By the wish I shall keep.

"By saying the words 'I wish', I activated that spell with the condition that I'd never been born. When I woke up the next morning, the library was in the same dusty, empty condition it was in when I first arrived in Ponyville. Spike, my assistant, was also gone. I've been told he's grown up and has been hoarding gems in this timeline."

"Tell me about it, darling. I haven't been able to find many gems in a while because he's always gotten there first. Either that or I had to run and leave them behind. He's too fast.

"In my timeline he didn't grow up so fast. I'd hatched him as part of my test when I got my cutie mark, and has been a faithful assistant and a good friend ever since. Anyway, there's more, and this disturbs me the most. A few months ago I was able to create a new magic, and became an Alicorn and a princess. I'd gotten used to them by now, and tried to fly out the window, but they were gone! And in the tunnels, Sweetie Belle discovered that my cutie mark is missing a star." She turned and showed them her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Big Mac glanced at each other, fear in their eyes. The others looked confused. "This means that if we don't find a way to get me back to the my timeline, I'll stop existing in this timeline as well."

The ponies who looked confused now gasped in horror, finally realizing the full implications of the disappearances. Twilight lay down and hung her head, once again thinking over the consequences of her choices the day before, as she had continued thinking about them all day.

"Then it's obvious what we have to do," piped up Rainbow Dash. Everypony looked at her. "We have to get these Element thingies and stop Nightmare Moon and all the others."

"I'm not so sure, actually. The Elements of Harmony worked in my timeline, because Nightmare Moon had only been back a day. In this timeline, she's reigned for several years, and since you've all survived, and probably even gone up against her to fight..." at this Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, who smiled back sheepishly.

"That... didn't work out so well. I was at my house and went up against her when she came to me saying something about being too close to her. I was barely able to escape after she destroyed it. I'm awesome, but I know when I'm not nearly as good as another pony."

"There's another complication to finding the Elements as well; they're hidden in the ruins of an ancient castle in the Everfree Forest, the same castle where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to rule together.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, and each is embodied by one of us. Applejack, you're the Element of Honesty. That's one reason I wanted to gather here: I can always trust your opinion to be the honest truth. Fluttershy, you're the Element of Kindness. You're also really good with animals, and there will be many times during this journey that we'll need that. Pinkie Pie, you're the Element of Laughter. We'll need that, too, especially during this endless night. Rarity, you're the Element of Generosity. You've been fixing everypony's manes ever since we got out of the tunnel, and it's not just because you don't like dirt."

"It's true, I suppose. I'd give anything necessary for my friends."

"Rainbow Dash, you're the Element of Loyalty. You've remained close to your friends even when you've had chances to join the Wonderbolts if it meant leaving us behind."

"So what's the sixth element thingy?" asked Pinkie.

"The sixth element, unknown until we found the other Elements, was prophesied 'when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.' I'm that sixth Element: the Element of Magic."

"That's what you said your special talent is!" piped Sweetie Belle.

Twilight smiled. "That's right, Sweetie Belle, and that day we learned that friendship was the most powerful magic of all. Rainbow Dash was right earlier; we need to go to the Everfree forest, find the Elements of Harmony, and defeat Nightmare Moon. Once that happens, Princess Celestia will return along with the sun, and we can ask for her help on getting me back to my timeline before I completely disappear."

"Where is the princess now?"

"I can't say for sure, but when we defeated Nightmare Moon, the sun rose again, and Celestia returned along with it. Based on that, my current hypothesis is that every year during the Summer Sun Celebration, she flies into the sun so she can make it rise at the right time on the Summer Sun Celebration. However, the moon has to set before the sun can rise, and since the moon never set, she couldn't come back. The old castle in the Everfree forest might have a book in it about the traditions of Equestria that would tell us where we can find Princess Celestia."

This time it was Apple Bloom who piped up. "So how're we gonna get to the Everfree forest? Nightmare Moon's still out there!"

"Through the tunnels that Fluttershy's digging animals have been working on. There's a tunnel entrance near the Everfree forest that we've asked them to continue on farther into the forest. Once in there, we should be safer from Nightmare Moon under the thick branches. But you're not going, and neither should the other fillies. The Everfree forest is dangerous, even for big ponies, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Big Mac, I want you to protect them here at Sweet Apple Acres until we get back."

"Ee-yup."

Without warning, Pinkie's tail started twitching, then the twitching spread all along her body. When the twitching ended, everypony looked worried, but both Pinkie and Twilight showed the most concern.

"What in tarnation does that mean?"

"I don't know! That's never happened before," Pinkie wondered. "But whatever it is, it's gonna be a doozy!"

"That makes sense," said Twilight. "In my timeline, I spent a lot of effort trying to find an explanation for the Pinkie Sense, and it was a doozy when I finally accepted that there didn't have to be a logical explanation. Since I didn't exist in this timeline, that doozy never happened. Then there's only one thing I can think of that would qualify as a doozy-"

Suddenly there was a chuckle from above them, a chuckle which soon turned into a hearty laugh. Shivers went down the ponies' spines as they realized that Nightmare Moon had found them. Some were frozen in fear, while Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie went into defensive positions. Up in the rafters, Nightmare Moon had somehow found her way into the barn and stood. Her mane flowing, her eyes glowing with the brightness of a full moon, as she descended to the barn floor until she stood between the ponies and the doors. "Such foalish ponies. I destroyed the Elements years ago."

Nightmare Night

"Nightmare Moon!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle, her horn glowing and her eyes filled with fear and fortitude "How long have you been up there?"

"Long enough to know you plan to use the Elements of Harmony to stop me and bring my sister back," the former princess replied. "Too bad your mission will fail, as I destroyed them years ago."

All the ponies gasped as they realized their plan was now doomed to fail. Twilight, however, stood firm, knowing that the Elements would still work as long as the spirits of the Elements were near them. In her timeline Nightmare Moon didn't know that would work, so she guessed that the Nightmare Moon in this timeline didn't know either. She thought it more advantageous to keep it a secret for now.

"You can't stop us, Nightmare Moon! We'll find a way, even without the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight responded. Her words seemed to reassure the other ponies, all of whom grew more confident as they returned to defensive positions. The ponies who had hidden came out, cautiously looking out. "Big Mac, take the fillies inside and keep them safe!"

"Not another step!" As Big Mac started leading Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo out of the barn, lengths of Nightmare Moon's mane reached toward them, pulling them up off the ground. The four panicked, squirming against the mane to no avail. "I did say to leave before I changed my mind, did I not?" The Mare's horn glowed as she created cages in the rafters, placing the fillies and Big Mac inside them. "Thy and thy friends' insolence has removed that patience."

"What're ya gonna to do to them?" asked Applejack, turning around and preparing to kick. "If you hurt one hair in their manes, I'm gonna buck you into next week!"

"Fret not, Applejack. They'll only sleep dreamlessly. The six of you, however, will not be so lucky for opposing me." At this, Nightmare Moon's mane stretched out toward them, and to the Mare's surprise, the ponies fought back.

Applejack bucked and dodged the strand coming toward her. Pinkie Pie giggled as she dodged the strand coming toward her, jumping away at the last second every time as if it was a game. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew around, dodging the strands that went for them as well. Rarity swatted at the strands that came toward her with the brushes she'd brought. "Oh my, your mane does not look very good, Nightmare Moon. It looks greasy!" Twilight brought the biggest fight, blocking Nightmare Moon's attacks with shields, and throwing things at Nightmare Moon, which were blocked.

Twilight hoped the other girls would discreetly make their way back to the tunnel, but as she glanced around she realized none of them were doing so. As she fought the strands coming toward her, she remembered an incident where there were multiple clones of Pinkie Pie that came from the Mirror Pond, and had an idea. She teleported into the rafters and fired beams of magic at Nightmare Moon, the first few of which connected. Nightmare Moon stumbled and turned, furious that she'd gotten hit, but Twilight smiled and teleported away.

"Where did you go?" Nightmare Moon called out, annoyed to find that her foe had escaped her sight. The strands of her man slackened momentarily, which Rainbow Dash and Applejack quickly noticed and took advantage of. Rainbow Dash flew quickly into Nightmare Moon, knocking her off balance just slightly, and Applejack bucked Nightmare Moon's front legs, making her fall on her side. The other ponies celebrated at the favorable turn in the battle, but it was a short-lived success. Nightmare Moon dissolved into a mist, which moved around the five ponies' hooves.

"What's going on?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't know, but I cain't buck mist," replied Applejack.

"Girls, where did Twilight go?"

The five ponies looked around and found their new friend was nowhere to be seen.

"She didn't run away, did she?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I'm gonna have to have a word with her if she did!"

"Foals!" Nightmare Moon shouted as her man materialized from the mist. "I'm not done yet!" Her mane wrapped around each of the ponies' legs, who screamed at the sudden capture. Nightmare Moon completed materializing and lifted them up to the rafters into more cages. "As I have already mentioned, you will not be so lucky. Your nightmares will torment your sleep -- forever!"

It was about this time that Twilight teleported back. Three more Twilights teleported back next to her and spread out.

"Put them down!" all four Twilights said in unison.

Nightmare Moon paused a moment, unimpressed, as her horn started glowing. "Do you think that your clones will be able to save you?"

"I don't think they will," said one Twilight.

"I know they will!" exclaimed another.

"You're kidding." Nightmare Moon looked confused. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope!" said all Twilights in unison, smiling as they surrounded the Mare and started firing beams of magic at her. Nightmare Moon moved her attention from one clone to another, firing magic beams of her own until there was only one Twilight left, who looked worried. Strands of Nightmare Moon's mane wrapped around Twilight's legs and brought her up to another cage.

Twilight's horn lit up, intending to fire at the bars, but Nightmare Moon interrupted. "If you do that, you'll only hurt yourself." Twilight's horn stopped glowing and she lay down, starting to feel sleepy. "Why didn't you make a big monologue about your plan and what you did to stop our plan like they do in stories?"

"Because this is real life," Nightmare Moon responded. "Nobody actually gives monologues in real life. Even if I had told you that the dust is scattered around my old castle, it wouldn't change the fact that without the Elements the spark will never happen, nor the fact that you're stuck in this cage." Twilight's eyes closed "You put far too much faith in your abilities, young filly, but I admire your tenacity. Your fate shall be the same as the little ones."

Nightmare Moon flew up to the rafters and watched the ten cages before laying down and resting from the battle. She never noticed the hole that lead to the tunnels, nor did she realize that she had only defeated two Twilight clones and had caged a third Twilight.

A Walk Down Memory Canyon

The original Twilight Sparkle walked quietly through the tunnels, having escaped underground while Nightmare Moon was distracted by her clones, and breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan had worked, although there was a lot of things that could have gone wrong at the time she thought of it, it seemed almost too risky to even attempt. It appeared that luck was on her side during the battle, and she hoped it would last for a while longer.

Remembering a point during the battle where she'd caught a glimpse of the flank of one of her clones, she looked at her own. As she had feared, using so much magic during the battle had caused another star to disappear from her cutie mark. Time and not using her powers were both of the essence, and she didn't know for sure how long she had left before her flank was once again blank. She made a note to do as little magic as possible until the next star disappeared, after which she could estimate how much longer she would have until the small stars had all disappeared. How the large star would disappear, however, was still a mystery, so she might have to wait longer still. Regardless, it was in everypony's best interest to bring back Princess Celestia quickly. Twilight was sure Princess Celestia would know what to do.

She reached the intersection the group had come to before where the tunnel branched off toward the Everfree Forest. Hoping Fluttershy's burrowing friends had worked quickly, she turned down the tunnel. If they weren't quite close enough, Twilight knew she would have to use some magic to dig herself out. It would be risky, but using that small amount of magic might have less of an effect than waiting for the tunnel to be completed.

It wasn't long before she met up with Angel and the other burrowers. Although she couldn't understand what he'd say, she knew that he could understand her, and asked him to estimate how many more minutes it would take by stomping his foot. After a dozen stomps and counting, it occurred to her that she might have to dig up anyway. She waited for him to finish and told him so. He frowned and crossed his arms.

"Okay, I won't dig up. For one thing, I don't know how to dig it so that it won't collapse on me." Angel looked satisfied, and Twilight continued. I'll go back to the pet shop and make my way into the forest from there. It should be the safest." Angel looked a bit worried. "Don't worry, Nightmare Moon won't catch me. She's too busy watching us to make sure we don't get out of our cages." Angel looked behind Twilight, realizing that she was alone. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Fluttershy and the others were captured by Nightmare moon when we fought back. It's okay; they're all asleep and I used a clone to distract Nightmare Moon. Fluttershy will be all right."

Twilight started making her way back to the pet shop, and turned her head back. "Keep digging. If you do happen to finish before I get back, leave a trail from the tunnel's exit to Zecora's hut. I'll meet you there." With that, she left Angel and Fluttershy's burrowing friends to their work and started once again on her way to the pet shop.

Reaching the entrance to the pet shop's tunnel, Twilight pressed her hooves against the fake stone and pushed it out of the way. She climbed out and put the stone back, making her way toward the forest.

As she had expected, the walk toward the forest was uneventful, but that didn't mean Twilight would be careless. She still peeked around every tree, just to be safe.

The Everfree Forest, as she had always known it, was dark even during the day, but in the eternal night, it was understandably darker than usual. The trees contorted strangely, their canopies sparse and withering. She continued down the path, soon coming to a cliff side. She remembered the time the cliff had suddenly broken off, and she hadn't had a good grip on the ground, so she kept sliding down. Applejack had held onto her until she'd told her to let go. Twilight had thought Applejack was crazy at the time, but, trusting her, she let go and was caught by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Although the cliff was currently still intact and unbroken. She wondered why that was; if the cliff was going to break off naturally, wouldn't it have done so already? She looked over the edge and found the path that Applejack had used to get down the cliff side and took that down into the valley below.

As she followed the valley, she suddenly remembered the next trial they had gone through: a distraught manticore that had a thorn in its paw. It seemed highly unlikely that the manticore would still have a thorn in its paw from three years before, but it would still be best to play it safe. Fluttershy had demonstrated her talent with animals at the time, having been the only pony to consider the possibility that the beast wasn't just violent but needed help. She hid behind trees and rocks, searching for signs of the manticore's presence, but all she could see were old tracks. The manticore appeared to have vacated this area a long time ago, so Twilight did the same and continued on her way.

She came closer to a patch of trees with dense canopies, and it became so dark she could barely see her hoof in front of her face, and recalled that this had also happened before. After they'd passed the manticore, the six had come to this dark area. And in this dark area was a grove of scary-looking trees that had frightened everyone! Everyone, that is, except Pinkie Pie, who laughed at the scary faces and sang a song about what her grandmother had told her about facing her fears when she was a filly. Twilight caught herself smiling and giggling at the memory. The darkness seemed to brighten a little as she laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle came across a river. Looking up and downstream, she gradually recognized the surroundings and remembered that she needed to cross this river. She stepped into the cold water, but noticed something odd downstream. The water humped up as it flowed against the current. She backed up onto dry ground as a large purple dragon with a mane and mustache, both the color of fire, ascended from the river.

"What do we have here?" he asked, sounding somewhat high-pitched and sophisticated. "A single pony traversing the Everfree Forest alone?" He brought his head closer to Twilight's and spoke quietly. "And how have you evaded Nightmare Moon long enough to do so?"

Twilight sat on her haunches and told him what she'd told the other ponies back at Applejack's farm. "And so I need to get to the ruins of the castle of the Royal Sisters so I can get the tools necessary to stop this eternal night." The serpent didn't seem to have much motivation to let her cross, however. Then Twilight got an idea. "You know, I bet you would like a friend of mine. She's a connoisseur of fabulosity, and she would just adore your lovely luminescent scales, your expertly coiffed mane, and your fabulous manicure. She would especially love how your beautiful mustache ties it all together." Twilight smiled as the serpent's smile grew larger.

"Ooh, when can I meet this friend of yours?" He rested his head on his hands.

"She's... occupied now, but if I get to the castle and back, that will be enough time for her to finish."

"Then allow me to help you!" The serpent made a bridge with his body. Twilight thanked him and crossed, thinking of the first time she'd crossed this river. He'd been missing one half of his mustache, thrashing about in the water, and he'd told them the story of tacky purple mist. Rarity had cut off her own tail in order to repair his mustache so that he would be calm so that they could cross.

Twilight stopped suddenly and gasped, realizing that her path was so easy now because all the obstacles had to have been because of Nightmare Moon. She didn't realize their connection until she remembered what the serpent in her timeline had said about a purple mist, the very same color of mist that Nightmare Moon could dissipate into. Was it possible in Twilight's timeline that Nightmare Moon had overheard the girls' plan and had created obstacles to slow them down? Given Nightmare Moon's abilities, it wasn't that far-fetched.

Twilight hurried on her way, toward the fallen bridge, not sure what to expect. Would the bridge still be up? Or, like the manticore, would it be down because the time that has passed? Or will it be down because of Nightmare Moon? If it was one of the last two, she wouldn't be able to tell which it was without more details. As she reached the chasm, she saw several things. First, that the ruined castle was just on the other side, just as she remembered it. Second, that the bridge was down. Third, that the chasm would be too far to leap across. Finally, that there was no strange mist or other ponies on the other side dressed in dark, sinister uniforms. With little else to go on, she guessed that the bridge's rope had naturally been untied from the post on the other side of the chasm and that the odd ponies in costumes of whom she'd only gotten a slight glimpse in her own timeline were Nightmare Moon's creation. Wishing once again that she still had her wings, she used her magic to tie the rope back to the post.

As she walked across, she remembered what the odd ponies resembled: the Wonderbolts, the aerial performers that Rainbow Dash idolized, although they were distinctly different from the Wonderbolts. They must have told her something appealing to her pride in being the fastest flyer in Equestria, but Rainbow Dash didn't go with them in the end. Her loyalty to her friends trumped achieving the quick way to achieving her dreams.

Entering the old castle, Twilight found the statue in the middle of the courtyard where she and her friends had found the Elements the first time. The Elements were not in their places, but their shards lay strewn at the base of the statue where, just as she had boasted, Nightmare Moon had destroyed them. She searched the old castle's rooms, looking for a bag to hold the shards. Finding one in the library, she put it on, returned to the courtyard, and placed each shard in the satchel, using her magic because picking them up one by one in her mouth would have taken hours.

Then she sat on her haunches and sighed. Twilight had planned to bring the shards back to the barn and release them, where the shards would circle around her friends like they had in her timeline, and be restored. What proof did she have that this would even work? Last time her friends were with her and conscious. Last time the spark that produced the sixth Element of Harmony had ignited inside her when she heard her friends coming up the stairs, and she was glad to hear them. Would just remembering them be enough to ignite the spark this time?

It was worth a try.

Back Into the Woods

If remembering her friends was going to work, it would take more than just remembering their first journey together. Twilight closed her eyes and started recalling everything she could think of about her friends. Mare Do Well, the Grand Galloping Gala, the Equestrian Games, Discord, Cheese Sandwich, the Flim Flam Brothers, King Sombra and the kingdom of the Crystal Ponies, saving Princess Cadance and stopping Queen Chrysalis, the Breezies. She thought back to as much as she could remember, hoping it was enough.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she found that the five Elements had already reformed, but were still in their spherical forms, although the spheres now had the faint colors of her friends. Perhaps it was working after all.

"Okay," she began, "I know this is crazy. I'm talking to the Elements of Harmony, but there's something I need to know, and I have no idea how else to find out. The prophecy stated that when all five elements were brought together, a spark will ignite and reveal the sixth Element, the Element of Magic. I see the Elements of Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Kindness, but I don't see Magic. Do you know where I can find the sixth Element?"

She hung her head. "What am I doing? Even though they're magical, I'm still talking to rocks! That's something only Pinkie would do."

Suddenly something sparked inside her. "Of course! Just like the incident with the parasprites when we all thought Pinkie was out of her mind asking for instruments instead of helping us figure out how to stop them in time for Princess Celestia's visit to Ponyville! It doesn't matter if it's crazy as long as there's a chance that it'll work! And I guess it's also similar to how Fluttershy calmed the Manticore and befriended Discord. The rest of us would never have thought that any of that would work."

"Although now that I think about it, the sixth Element in my timeline didn't appear the exact moment the spark ignited in me, but soon after. How did I put it? "When the sixth Element is ignited by the spark in us all" or something like that. And as far as I know, it appeared out of nowhere above all of us. It's not enough for me to know and believe it; all of them have to believe it too. I have to go back to the barn!"

Hurriedly, Twilight gathered up the five orbs, put them in her satchel, and started on her way back. She'd barely left the castle when she remembered that Fluttershy's burrowing friends were still digging toward Zecora's hut. Twilight was sure Zecora could help her, at the very least provide some insight on her vanishing cutie mark, which, now that she thought about it, was nearly opposite the problem that Applebloom had had when she'd taken a potion that gave her the cutie pox. Getting Zecora's opinion was getting to be a more attractive option, and she started on her way towards Zecora's hut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had taken a while, having had to find a way up the first chasm she'd encountered (not the one with the bridge), but she'd finally managed her way back up onto stable ground. From the precipice she turned her head, trying to find a landmark that would help her find Zecora's hut. Not finding one immediately, she followed the path back to where she had left the tunnel. Hopefully by now Fluttershy's burrowing friends would have dug closer to Zecora's hut. Twilight started making her way back to Fluttershy's pet shop, the place she could get to the easiest where she knew there was a tunnel entrance.

As she made her way back toward town, she found herself looking up at the moon. Its surface was smooth, and the craters that had given the image of the Mare in the Moon for a thousand years had vanished the night that Nightmare Moon had returned. In her timeline, it was comforting to know that ponies all across Equestria would never have to fear the Mare in the Moon. Now, however, a shiver ran down her back, as this timeline is exactly what it would have been like if she and her friends hadn't stopped Nightmare Moon several years before.

A long, snaking shadow passed in front of the moon, paused, and disappeared as the figure snapped. She'd recognize that figure anywhere: Discord. She knew it would be pointless to try and hide from the master of chaos, so she just stopped walking as the chimeric dragon appeared near her, wrapping around her body.

"My my, what do we have here? A pony who isn't afraid to go out at night? Whatever could have given her so much courage against Nightmare Moon?"

"Hello, Dischord," Twilight said nonchalantly with a somewhat annoyed expression on her face, and Discord unraveled and stood beside her, scratching his chin.

"I don't recognize you, and since I was released a few years ago I've gotten to know each pony in Ponyville, and many in Equestria. How do you know me?"

"I'm from a different timeline, so it doesn't surprise me that you don't recognize me."

"Ah, I'd wondered why I could detect some of Princess Celestia's magic on you! She hasn't been seen nor heard from since the night Nightmare Moon returned and I was freed."

"You can sense magic?" Twilight's eyes lit up momentarily before realizing that he'd said Princess Celestia hadn't been heard from since the Summer Sun Celebration. "You said she hasn't been seen or heard from. Since you can sense magic, would you be able to find her?"

"Now, just telling you just like that wouldn't be fun, would it?" When Discord said "that", he'd snapped his fingers and shrunk down, standing on Twilight's shoulder. "You'll have to play a little game to answer the riddle first. When--" he began his riddle and teleported them to somewhere else, she interrupted him, angry. She'd forgotten how annoying the non-reformed Discord was.

"I don't have time for riddles. My wings have disappeared, my cutie mark is disappearing, and I have to find a way back to my own timeline before I disappear. You're the master of chaos. Can't you move between timelines?"

"Believe me, child, I wish I could. Just imagine all the chaos I could bring about in more than just this one! This single timeline where the only chaos I can bring about is limited by how much Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra will allow in their kingdoms..."

His face darkened, and although Twilight couldn't be sure, she thought he was genuinely sad that he wasn't free to do anything he wanted.

"In my timeline you would sometimes fake being sad or sick to try and get us to play along. I don't think this is one of those times, is it?"

"You'd be right. By the way I never got your name."

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Why should I want to help you out, Twilight Sparkle?" he asked, with a slight grin, and Twilight was taken aback. She hadn't counted on him asking why he would want to help her, and she hadn't thought of the reasons why other than that he had powers she didn't, especially the one about being able to sense magic, which she never knew about before this encounter. Why did, she want him to help?

"Because I'm afraid that if I teleport using my magic I'll have less time to get back to my timeline because I'll disappear faster. Because I have no idea where to look for Princess Celestia, and can only guess, and although it's been helpful so far, guessing can't get me all the way. Because in my timeline," she continued, taking a risk on whether or not this Discord had the same desires as her Discord, "you were willing to give up your evil ways because you've never had friends before."

Discord kept silent for a moment. "Is having friends really worth giving up so much power? I don't like being limited by the other rulers; why should being limited by friends be any different?"

"Because they all have powerful magic, it's true. Magic even more powerful than Celestia's at times. But the strength I find when I'm with my friends is so much more powerful than any of theirs. My friends and I defeated them all in our timeline."

Discord shook his head. "You keep saying this is a different timeline, but parallel timelines cannot have one with a pony living and one with a pony not living. This is a separate universe, dear."

"Whatever it is, I need to get back to my own. Who knows what'll happen if I'm not there to help the ponies of Equestria?"

"Tirek..." Discord said quietly.

"What was that? I didn't hear that."

"Oh, nothing. Just an expression."

Twilight looked at him, almost sensing that he wasn't being entirely truthful, but decided not to bring it up. She felt sure that whatever he was hiding could be brought to light later on.

"All right, I'll help you," he told her, returning to his larger form. "It'll be fun to mess with all of them again. Which ruler shall we start with? Nightmare Moon? Queen Chrysalis? King Sombra?"

"None of them. We should go to Zecora's hut first. I have a feeling she'll know something about my disappearing cutie mark."

Discord looked at her cutie mark. "Is it really disappearing? A six-pointed star surrounded by three evenly-spaced stars. No, wait, there's a fourth. It's just really faint."

"Okay, it's been almost an hour and a half since I started keeping track. Which means we have four and a half hours before all the small stars are gone and the big star starts disappearing, and I have no clue if it'll disappear all at once or one point at a time." Her words seemed calm, but her nervousness showed through how unsteady she said them. Now was not the time to wast time freaking out. She had to figure this out.

Farmward Bound

At Twilight's request, Discord teleported outside Zecora's hut and above the trees to look for Nightmare Moon. He quickly returned with an all-clear, and the chimeric dragon and Twilight slipped quietly out Zecora's door. As soon as it closed, there were some clicks of locks. As they slipped behind the large mask and started making their way down the tunnel, a thought occurred to Twilight: Nightmare Moon could turn into mist; locking doors would have no purpose if there was a crack anywhere in the building and Nightmare Moon was determined to enter.

In other words, once Nightmare Moon discovered the tunnels (and there was no knowing when that could happen), there would be no safe way to get around Ponyville.

"We should hurry back to Applejack's barn before Nightmare Moon returns there so we can distribute the Elements of Harmony to my friends."

Discord stopped in his tracks. "You have the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes, they-" Twilight started, and then remembered once again how Discord had been imprisoned the first time. She stopped and turned to face him, his arms crossed.

"You wouldn't happen to be thinking of imprisoning me again, like I was for a thousand years, would you?"

"No," she answered. "The Discord I know would rather stay with his friends than to risk being imprisoned again. And you've helped me so far, so there's no reason to imprison you. If you continue to help me, we won't have any reason to imprison you."

"We?"

"I can't harness all the Elements myself, although I've never tried. Maybe I could, but it would probably take a lot out of me, and I don't want to risk that in my current slowly-disappearing condition. Also, if my friends in this world haven't grown the way they have by this time as they did in my world, then you also don't have much to worry about. It took a lot of concentration for us to imprison and subsequently release you on probation."

"Hm. Why should I trust you?"

"I'll be honest, to you and myself: I need you more than you need me right now. I'll do all I can to make it up to you, but time isn't on my side, so I'll need some help coming up with something."

They hurried back to the barn in silence (at least for a while) after Discord nodded his assent.

"I never knew there was a system of tunnels under Ponyville."

"Fluttershy and some of her animal friends started working on them soon after Nightmare Moon returned a few years ago. They connected many buildings in and around Ponyville since then."

"And Nightmare Moon doesn't know they exist?"

"No, they've escaped her knowledge for years, but I'm concerned she might suspect something after realizing I disappeared." A grin appeared on Discord's face, and Twilight didn't need to look behind her to know what he was thinking. In this world, he hadn't changed much from a few years ago, after all. "And if you want to keep that information as a bargaining chip to make sure I don't imprison you..."

Discord gasped in feigned hurt, still smiling. "Why, Twilight, I'm hurt. Why in Equestria would I do that?"

"I trust you to do the right thing, Discord, but old habits die hard."

After that, they continued in silence until they reached the tunnel entrance at Sweet Apple Acres. They stopped just before the entrance, and listened, but all they could hear was the trouble sleep of the nine ponies trapped among the rafters. Twilight plodded out into the open, finding that Nightmare Moon had yet to return.

"Okay, we have to move quickly. We need to get the Elements to Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity, and then wake them up. Something tells me that Nightmare Moon will be able to tell when somepony wakes up from the nightmares she sets upon them."

"That's all right. When she comes back I'll just give her a big piece of my mind for limiting my power."

"No! Princess Luna is Nightmare Moon's host body, and if you do that you might harm the princess! We can only save her by separating the two with the Elements of Harmony. That's how it worked in my world. When they're separated, you can find Nightmare Moon and confront her then."

"Hmph. All right then, I'll wait longer. Which pony gets which Elements?"

Twilight opened up her satchels, spilling out the five Elements onto the barn floor. She told Discord, based on the symbol engraved on the stone orbs, which Element went to which pony. As Discord flew up and set each Element by the proper pony, Twilight asked him to search the magic and see if there was a way to wake them up. He then came down and told her a way which might work.

"There is a flaw in the design of the cages," he began, "but it's a kind of flaw that I cannot exploit. I just don't have the right kind of magic for it. It requires a very dark and gloomy kind of magic."

"Dark and gloomy, like living on the moon for a thousand years?"

"That, or a similar kind of darkness. A somber kind, if you will, that currently resides in a far-off and forgotten kingdom."

"Somber... King Sombra? So my brother and Princess Cadance's protection spells didn't work against him. That makes sense, considering Cadance was weak when Spike and the six of us went to the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies. Oh no! Cadance! I wasn't here to recognize that she was being impersonated at her wedding, so the queen of the changelings was able to take over Canterlot. What happened to her? But Princess Celestia was with us then in my world, and she hasn't been seen here since Nightmare Moon returned. Who was put in charge of Canterlot, then?"

"Calm down, Twilight. I was at that wedding, or at least I was among the shadows. I'd detected some strange magic and was curious. At the time, Nightmare Moon was presiding over the wedding, although she was clearly reluctant to do so. Your brother and Queen Chrysalis (disguised as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, of course) were married, and as soon as they'd said their vows she revealed herself. Nightmare Moon wasn't impressed, and when she learned of the Queen's plans, she said," at this he transformed into a likeness of Nightmare Moon and used a falsetto voice, "'As long as you don't interfere with my plans' and left. We never learned what happened to the real Princess Cadance. We only learned about the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies after Sombra returned and his crystalline evil spread throughout Equestria. Chrysalis confronted him, and he reined in his power so that Canterlot wouldn't be overrun by his magic."

"The evil queen imprisoned Cadance in the abandoned mines under Canterlot. Everypony's forgotten about them. But we need Sombra's magic to wake them up, right?"

"That's right, but I doubt he'll be willing to help. By the way, you sure calmed down quickly."

"I've had a few years to practice calming down when I get excited. It comes with spending so much time with my friends. And we don't need King Sombra's help. I learned from Princess Celestia how to emulate his magic when my friends and I went to the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies to stop him. My cutie mark will disappear faster, but it's a sacrifice I have to make right now. I'm the only one that can do it."

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. The last time she'd tried this, she had a crystal to focus the power onto, but this time she'd have find a new focus point. She chose the center beam of the barn's roof; it was as good a focus as any. As she concentrated, the glow of her horn slowly turned from purple to black, flashing with sparks. Purple wisps of magical smoke seeped out from between her eyelids, and soon her horn was covered with billowing purple and green smoke. A very dark, almost black ribbon of magic streamed from her horn to the beam, engulfing each cage with the dark magic.

Quickly the cages fell, dropping all nine ponies to the ground and the hay below them. The sudden kick woke them all up.

"Oof!" said Rarity as she tumbled off a hay bale. "How's my mane? Is it messed up?"

"Nope", replied Big Mac, who had tumbled expertly down a stack of hay bales, having had years of practice as a colt. Applejack tumbled down after him.

Pinkie Pie, in true Pinkie fashion, realized she was falling and concentrated on stopping herself from hitting the ground, hovering a few inches above the ground. She set herself down and trotted toward the others, smiling.

Rarity noticed her sister and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders falling, and frantically caught them in her magic, letting them down softly.

"Thanks, big sis!"

As they gathered together once again, some yawning, but all glad to be done with their nightmarish slumber, Twilight interrupted them.

"I know it's good to be reunited, but this is important, so listen up." All the ponies turned to face her, getting quiet as they heard the urgency in her voice. "Nightmare Moon discovered I had tricked her, and as you can see is gone. I'm afraid she knows you've all woken up, so I'm sure she'll be back any minute now. Big Mac, take the Cutie Mark Crusaders into the house. They're not safe here. The rest of you, gather up the Elements. We'll need them to defeat Nightmare Moon when she comes back." She paused and smiled. "I'm so glad to see you all again."

A Big Step Forward

Each pony brought an orb toward Twilight and stood behind it. Twilight reorganized them, placing the proper Element in front of her friends.

"These are the Elements of Harmony. They're not very impressive now, but trust me, this is only one form. When all six are used together, they'll turn into jeweled necklaces for you."

"I only see five," said Rarity.

"You're right. When your Elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element: the Element of Magic. That will turn into a jeweled crown for me. Each jewel will resemble your cutie mark. Speaking of which..." Twilight turned her head and looked at her cutie mark; there was now only one small star remaining. Replicating King Sombra's dark magic had taken a lot out of her. She guessed she had fewer than twelve hours before she had to return to her own world or to take the potion Zecora had given her.

All the ponies concentrated on their Elements, and Rainbow Dash was the first to look up. "Nothing's happening!"

"Now, Rainbow Dash, something's bound to happen," replied Applejack "Twilight says it will, and I have no reason to doubt her."

Rainbow Dash nodded, and immediately Applejack's Element started hovering above the ground, glowing orange. Rainbow Dash's Element also hovered and started glowing red. "What the hay?"

"That's it, you two!" exclaimed Twilight. "Keep going!"

"I dunno what I did."

"I think you demonstrated honesty, the Element you represent, by trusting I was telling the truth. You each need to believe that you are your Element. Fluttershy, you're the Element of kindness, as shown by how well you treat your animal friends. Pinkie Pie, you're the Element of laughter, throwing parties and making sure all your friends are having fun. Rarity, you're the Element of generosity, offering to make dresses and outfits for your friends at little to no cost. And Rainbow Dash, you're the Element of Loyalty, which I think you demonstrated by standing by your friends when others might doubt."

The ponies all smiled and thought on what Twilight said, finding it all to be true. One by one, each element started hovering and glowing: pink for Fluttershy, light blue for Pinkie Pie, and purple for Rarity.

Lavender smoke seeped quickly through the crevasses and materialized into Nightmare Moon, standing between the ponies and the door. "NO! I BROKE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"

Twilight turned toward the nightmarish foe, smirking. Each Element started rotating, increasing in speed around their necks. "The Elements of Harmony can't be destroyed so easily, Nightmare Moon. These stone orbs are just one of many containers. They have stronger containers tonight: my friends!" As she spoke, the sixth Element, a stone orb with a six-pointed star, came in through the opening at the top of the barn and hovered over Twilight's head for only a second before it and the other Elements wrapped around each pony's neck - or rested on her head, in Twilight's case - shone brightly with a pure white light. Each pony was lifted off the ground in a circle. Just like how they defeated Nightmare Moon in her world, Twilight had her eyes closed as the magic of friendship swirled around them. A swirled rainbow of color shone from the six ponies, toward Nightmare Moon, and wrapped around her. Nightmare Moon kicked and reared back at the magic, protesting loudly, somewhat afraid of the magic she'd experienced once over a thousand years before. The rainbow wrapped around her in a whirlwind, and Twilight opened her eyes, shining bright with magic.

Twilight suspected that her friends would faint from the sheer amount of power, like they had in her world when they defeated Nightmare Moon the first time. Twilight, however, had grown in endurance in the past few years (teleportation, for example, was easy now compared to the first time she tried it) and found she was able to watch what happened. Soon after the whirlwind wrapped around Nightmare Moon, it tossed out her armor and dissipated, leaving Princess Luna lying unconscious on the barn floor. Twilight plodded over to the princess and looked over her weakened form.

How sad. An alicorn overcome with jealousy, imprisoned in solitary confinement in a cold place, transformed into such a horrible being, then reduced to a helpless figure. Whatever Nightmare Moon was, it must have fed off her negative emotions at first, then sapped what energy it could from its host as it became the dominant personality.

Morning light shone through the windows of the barn, and Twilight smiled. Princess Celestia had returned with the sun, and sure enough appeared through the door of the barn not long after.

"Welcome back to Equestria, Princess Celestia." Twilight started toward the Princess, then remembered that this Celestia wasn't the same Celestia she knew, and wouldn't know her as her faithful student. Twilight bowed to the ground.

"Thank you," the princess replied, and moved toward Twilight and her sister. "You defeated Nightmare Moon?"

"Yes, but not by myself. I had help from my friends."

"You may rise," she said, and Twilight stood back up. "What is your name? I know all the ponies in Equestria, but you I've never seen before."

Twilight told the princess her name and how she ended up in this other world: the spell she didn't understand, the accidental wish, her disappearing wings and cutie mark, meeting her friends, the battle with Nightmare Moon that she had just barely escaped, the trip to the castle ruins to gather the Elements, meeting Discord, Zecora's potion, waking up her friends with King Sombra's magic, and finally the defeat of Nightmare Moon. It was quite an adventure, one that could fill ten chapters of a book, she imagined.

"You mentioned Discord. He's actually helping you?"

"Yes, at least he's pretending to. So far he's been more beneficial to me than I to him, since every time I use my magic my cutie mark disappears a little more. See?" Twilight showed Princess Celestia her cutie mark, now with only five white spikes emanating from behind the magenta six-pointed star. "Fifteen minutes ago, there was a sixth white spike, and a small star at the tip of one of the others."

"Where is he now?"

"Right here, Princess Celestia," the chimeric dragon chimed in, popping in from seemingly nowhere. "I chose to hide among the rafters and watch what was going on before I revealed myself. It was a bit of a shame to not get involved, but what a delightful show you girls put on! Oh, and Twilight, I've thought of a way for you to reciprocate my help. Remind me of it later."

The other five ponies awoke at about the same time, and Rainbow Dash, like her counterpart in Twilight's world years before, complained of a headache. Then they all saw Princess Celestia and bowed to the ground.

"Princess Celestia!" cried Rarity. "It's wonderful to see you! I mean, we've seen you every year you've come to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, but to see you're well after such a long absence... well..."

The princess with the ever-flowing mane smiled and chuckled. "It's wonderful to see you, too, Rarity, and all of you. Your friend Twilight here tells me you defeated Nightmare Moon." They all nodded and agreed.

"It's a bit of a shame, though, that I won't be able to have fun with Nightmare Moon in return for limiting my powers." They all turned to Discord, who they hadn't noticed until now. He introduced himself to them, and Fluttershy was the first to go up and greet him, a smile on her face. He was the first dragon (well, it was close enough) she'd seen up close that wasn't a picture in a book. Twilight introduced Discord to her friends, starting with Fluttershy.

Princess Celestia walked over to her little sister, who was still curled up on the floor, although she'd become conscious again soon after the ponies. "Princess Luna." The younger princess gasped and looked away. Celestia knelt next to her and, with a gentle hoof, lifted her muzzle up a little. "It has been over a thousand years since I've seen you like this: your gentler self. It's past time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister; I watching over Equestria during the day, and you to protect them from bad dreams and other mischief during the night. Will you accept my friendship, little sister?"

Princess Luna's eyes welled with tears, and embraced her sister, more than grateful for her forgiveness. "I'm so sorry, for being jealous and for misunderstanding my purpose! I missed you so much, big sister! It was very lonely up there."

Princess Celestia smiled as tears welled up in her eyes as she returned her little sister's embrace. "I've missed you too."

It was a touching scene, to say the least. Each pony's eyes welled up with tears, even Twilight, even though she'd seen this scene play out almost exactly the same a few years before. Pinkie Pie blew her nose in a handkerchief and started sobbing, buckets of tears pouring comically out her eyes until she had an idea.

"Hey! You know what this calls for?" she started.

"A party," Twilight responded, "but that's going to have to wait. We don't have much time to figure out how to get me back to my own world."

Celestia stood, and Luna stood beside her. "There is a book in the Canterlot library that may help you. What became of Canterlot while we were away?" Discord told them the same story he'd told Twilight not long before. Luna looked aside, ashamed at not protecting Canterlot, but Celestia reminded her that it was Nightmare Moon, not Princess Luna, who chose not to protect Canterlot.

"This is grave news indeed. In order to gain access to the library, we'll need to defeat Queen Chrysalis. Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, turning toward her, "how did you defeat the Queen of the Changlings in your world?"

"Actually, I never did. It was the combined powers of my brother Shining Armor and the real Princess Cadance. Their combined love was too much for the changlings to handle, and they got pushed far out of Canterlot."

"I haven't heard of Shining Armor nor the princess since the wedding," said Discord. "I couldn't detect their magic soon afterward. I hate to say it, but perhaps the worst happened."

"Then we shall need all the power from the Elements we can gather," proclaimed Celestia.

"That will probably work," replied Twilight. "We never had the chance to gather the Elements before it was too late. We were captured and brought to the throne room, where we saw the rest. But Princess Celestia, the strength of my brother's love that Queen Chrysalis had absorbed made her stronger than even you in my world. I'm worried that both you and the Elements may not be enough."

"It will have to be enough, Twilight. The combined magic of the Elements, our alicorn magic, and Discord's magic is very powerful."

"Me too? After all the chaos I wreaked all those years ago?"

"It's necessary, Discord. We must set those differences aside for a little while. We have very strong foe to confront."

The Ruse

"So how are we going to get into Canterlot without Chrysalis realizing we're there?"

"I fear it's too late," replied Twilight. "She's very clever. She deceived everyone, even Shining Armor, the stallion who should have recognized something was very different with his future wife. The sun hasn't been up for long, but Equestria's been shrouded in night long enough that even a few minutes of daylight is enough to rouse her suspicions that something happened to Nightmare Moon."

"What if we were to have Nightmare Moon lead us into Canterlot as prisoners?" asked Rainbow Dash. "If Princess Luna can imitate Nightmare's mannerisms, we might be able to get put in the Canterlot prison long enough to gather information about any possible resistance groups that could help us."

"It will have to be a perfect imitation," answered Celestia "if Chrysalis is as clever as Twilight believes."

"I could teleport you all into the prisons there, just to quicken things up a bit," suggested Discord. "Twilight doesn't have very long before her cutie mark is gone and has to take Zecora's potion."

"That would be fastest, but has its own risks," responded Princess Luna. "Nightmare Moon was a large part of who I was for over a millennium. I'm sure I can imitate her long enough, but first we should bring the moon up again. It may make the Queen of the Changlings more susceptible to our ruse if Nightmare Moon defeated my big sister's final grasp at regaining control."

Princess Celestia nodded, and lowered the sun so Luna could raise the moon again. The land was once again covered in darkness, and although the rest of the ponies in Equestria had rejoiced at the sun's return, they now fled back into their homes, fearing Nightmare Moon had once again defeated their beloved Princess. The princesses and the Mane 6 all gathered together. Discord cracked his knuckles and started doing his magic.

First he transformed Princess Luna into the image of Nightmare Moon, replacing each piece of armor that had fallen off in the rainbow whirlwind where it had been before, stretching her features so the alicorn was the same size as her larger counterpart. Once that was done, he put shackles on Celestia's legs and shrunk the six ponies down. He levitated the ponies on Celestia's head and suggested they hide in the princess's flowing mane to minimize detection.

"The only way to get to Canterlot by land is the train," said Celestia "It wraps around the mountain, so we should go to the side of the mountain opposite the city to avoid suspicion."

"Ooh, a train! I have just the thing." Discord smiled and teleported them all to the other side of the mountain, then made the Discord Express appear on the tracks near them.

"Discord!" shouted the miniscule Twilight, and Discord leaned an ear toward her. "Unfortunately, we can't use the Discord Express. It would ruin our surprise. You have a very important job here, though: distracting the changlings once we start battling their queen. She set hordes of them upon us last time, but this time we have the advantage of already wearing the Elements of Harmony. I don't know how long it will take to start battling her, so stay near the castle for when it does."

"Very well, Twilight. Too many things out of the ordinary won't help at all." He changed the train into the regular train that ran up the mountain and got into the engine, putting on his conductor's hat and transforming into a stallion to add to the illusion. "All aboard!"

"I don't like this, Twilight," said Applejack. "I know our options are limited, but ain't there a better way for the princesses to regain control of Canterlot?"

"You mean a more honest way?" Twilight asked, and Applejack nodded. "I know what you mean. We're being very dishonest by doing this plan, but I couldn't think of anything that had the smallest chance of working."

"What about just goin' in, wranglin' up the changlings, and then usin' the Elements against their queen?"

Twilight shook her head. "There are too many of them. Hundreds, maybe thousands. In my world, when the six of us tried to get to the Elements, we were blocked by dozens of the. They took on our appearances and we had to fight them off, but more and more of them came. We were surrounded and brought back to their queen, helpless against her. Our disadvantage then was not having the Elements of Harmony close enough, and we were lucky the love between my brother and Cadance was stronger than the power she'd sapped from my brother. She would have won - did win in this world - if it wasn't."

Applejack sighed. "Then I guess for now we're hog-tied. I'll go along with it fer now, but if I think of an honest way -"

"Tell me right away." Twilight smiled and put her hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "I'd expect nothing less from you, Applejack. I'll try to think of something too."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped into the train car behind the engine, and it started moving along the tracks. Soon, they'd reached the train station at Canterlot. Discord exited the engine and personally opened the door for the princesses. "Presenting Nightmare Moon and the defeated Princess Celestia!"

The guards at the train station looked at each other, bewildered at not receiving word beforehoof of a prisoner transport, much less the princess. These guards were not changlings, but ponies that had decided that obeying their new - but farm from benevolent - ruler for a time gave a less undesirable outcome for them and their families.

Princess Luna put a scowl on her muzzle. "Where is Queen Chrysalis? We wish to keep the former princess in a more secure prison than the sun."

"So that's where she was this whole time," said Fluttershy.

"But how did she get there?" wondered Rarity.

"It makes sense if you think about it," answered Twilight. "When Celestia banished Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago, she was imprisoned on the moon until the stars were in position for her escape. It makes sense that Nightmare Moon would have banished Celestia on the sun in revenge."

Soon the Queen of the Changlings herself made her way to the train station, obviously annoyed at the interruption and sudden responsibility of imprisoning a princess. Following behind her were her personal guard of changlings.

"So, Princess Celestia has returned, and subsequently been defeated once again," she said, confronting her. "I wish I would have had the chance to fight you hoof to hoof, but it seems you've been weakened too much. Bring her to the bedchamber next to mine and post two dozen guards. We'll see what to do with her soon enough." She turned and walked back up to the throne room.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna glanced at each other, and the six minuscule ponies did the same. They hadn't accounted for the possibility that Chrysalis would want such a close eye on the Princess.

"We shall remain here in Canterlot until we are satisfied with her imprisonment," replied Luna before Chrysalis could get out of earshot.

"Very well. As long as you don't bother me too much."

It was a long walk up the steps and into the castle wing where the bedchambers were. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia stepped into the room, and Celestia knelt in the center of the room, acting very well in her role as prisoner. Luna stood near the door, her features showing the callousness of jealousy and revenge, hiding how much she actually cared about her sister. Twenty-four stallions made their way into the room two by two, separating after they entered to surround Celestia from all sides.

Twilight peeked out from her mentor's mane, watching each guard to see if she recognized any of them, and if any of them would be resistant to Queen Chrysalis. They all wore the same armor, which obstructed their cutie marks. One of the last two sentries to enter the chamber, however, she thought looked familiar: a pale orange pegasus with a deep blue mane and tail, although his rank was higher than in her own world. "Is that Flash?"

"Princess Celestia," the stallion in question spoke, and he was indeed Flash Sentry. Twilight felt herself blush, glad that the hairs of Celestia's mane were thick enough to hide her blush from her friends. Her friends from her world and Canterlot High knew, of course, but she figured this was one thing she didn't want to distract them with.

"Flash Sentry," she responded weakly. "You've risen in the ranks, I see."

"That happened when the Captain went missing. Another stallion took his place, and I was given his position."

"What happened to Canterlot while I was gone?"

He told of Nightmare Moon's rule in Canterlot after her return, and, unexpectedly, the ponies reacted much the same way they had in Ponyville: retreating into their homes as much as they could. He told what he could of the wedding, and how Nightmare Moon had relinquished control of Canterlot to Queen Chrysalis while she dealt with the more bold ponies in Ponyville. The changlings and their queen continued their reign of terror as small factions rose up in secret, planning to overthrow the queen. He told of the joy that spread throughout the city as the sun had returned, albeit briefly, but the queen took this opportunity to feed off the sudden surge of love, and all the ponies who had left their homes to celebrate the return of the princess retreated quickly back when the changlings came. Celestia listened to his words, but detected he knew more than he let on, or was safe saying.

"Are all the guards here loyal to the Queen of the Changlings?" asked Princess Celestia.

"We serve the queen as we are loyal to Equestria." Princess Celestia smiled and stood up. Some of the guards moved to defensive or attack position, but Flash waved his hoof, and they relaxed. Princess Luna removed Nightmare Moon's helmet, smiling as well. Something in the way he responded showed that he was among the resistance in the capital city. "Welcome back to Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Princess Luna put the helmet back on, and went to the window, looking for Discord. His curiosity had gotten the best of him while waiting for the battle against Chrysalis to begin, and he had been standing outside the window for some time.

"Is it time?" he asked, entering the room, and Princess Celestia affirmed his suspicions.

Inside Celestia's mane, the ponies had heard everything that had been spoken. The six ponies had gathered together, but Twilight turned her head at Discord's voice. Soon they realized they were growing, and jumped out of the flowing mane, increased to their true size before they hit the floor. Discord had already removed Princess Luna's armor and returned her to her original size, and had removed Celestia's shackles. Celestia rose the sun once more, and bright sunlight streamed in through the windows. It was time to start fighting.

Canterlot Reclaimed

The next few minutes were spent deciding their attack strategy. Twilight suggested that while Discord had fun with the Changelings outside the castle, the princesses and the royal guards make sure that the path to the library remain clear, while the six ponies would go to the throne room to fight Queen Chrysalis.

"I cannot allow young ponies to go up against such a foe alone," Princess Celestia asserted. "If she is indeed stronger than she was in your world when she defeated me, I fear you six will have no chance against her."

"With all due respect, Princess Celestia," replied Twilight, "you know the power of the Elements of Harmony."

"We know your concern for the ponies of Equestria, big sister," said Princess Luna, "but perhaps Princess Twilight knows what she's doing. She has had many experiences in her world that could not have happened here, and brings unique knowledge with that experience."

"Actually, I can only give a best guess. The Elements are very powerful, and we were able to defeat many difficult enemies, but as I said, we couldn't get to them before the Changelings overcame us and brought us back."

"Perhaps I can suggest an alternative which may satisfy both our concerns," answered Princess Celestia after a few moments of thought. "When I defeated Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago, I used all six Elements. As you may recall from the old pony's tale of the Mare in the Moon, the sixth Element could only appear after a spark ignited the five. I am able to use the Element of Magic, and for all you've grown in the past few years, my magic is ancient and strong. Would you be opposed to going with Princess Luna to the library while your friends and I opposed Chrysalis?"

This posed a challenge to Twilight. Would she decide to take the safe road and have Princess Celestia's more powerful magic defeat Chrysalis with her friends? Or would she trust in the strength of the magic among her friends and herself to be strong enough against the Queen of the Changelings?

"Maybe it's been a while here, but the Princess Celestia in my world knew that the bonds of friendship through the Elements create the most powerful magic there is. It's the kind of magic that can transform a unicorn into an alicorn princess, and the kind of magic that causes Equestria and the Tree of Harmony to thrive. I'll stay with my friends. Also, I have no idea where to begin looking for the book that will help me get back to my world." As she spoke, her friends gathered behind her, supporting their friend.

Princess Celestia smiled. "Very well, Twilight. I trust your judgment. Go; Princess Luna and I will keep the path to the library clear."

Princess Luna lowered the moon as her older sister raised the sun, no doubt signaling to Chrysalis that Celestia had broken free of Nightmare Moon's power. The six ponies were the first out of the chamber door, and turned toward the throne room. Then the guards, followed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight couldn't be certain, but she thought she heard Discord ask Celestia if she wanted to join him around Canterlot, believing it would be more fun reclaiming her city alongside her. Twilight shrugged it off and focused on the task at hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Princess Celestia," said Discord, "a moment, if you would."

She broke from the guards, and Princess Luna held back as well.

"Continue on with the royal guard, little sister. I'll join you momentarily."

Princess Luna nodded, and continued with the guards. She remained at the rear of them as Flash Sentry led them. They encountered few changelings along the way, although Luna noticed that they encountered more as they moved closer to the library. Did Chrysalis know where they were going and sent more to try and stop them? or was it just coincidence, and the increased numbers were because they were on their way toward a different part of the castle for some other reason?

A group of six changelings guarded the library door. The guards overpowered them and quickly ran them off down the hall. Flash moved toward the princess. His face was stoic, although Luna thought she detected caution, not as a precaution as a result of his position in the guard, but caution toward her. Whether or not it was, she understood why anypony would be wary of her. Only hours before, she had been the terrifying villainous Nightmare Moon, bringing with her eternal night and inflicting nightmares among all who opposed her. It would take longer than a few hours for somepony to completely trust her again.

"Princess Luna, the doors to the library are tightly locked. We considered the unicorns among us to fire their magic at them to break them, but we decided to ask you first. There might be a strong magic in the locks to protect against such entry."

"Good thinking, Flash. We'll see what we can do."

Luna made her way to the front of the group, her ears picking up the whispers of one stallion to another. She momentarily glanced in his direction, and for just a second she was greeted with the eyes of about half the guards watching her as she walked. One unicorn, with dark brown fur and a crimson mane, quickly faced forward, daring a quick glance to her. She assumed this was the guard that had been whispering what was no doubt the thoughts of most of the others. Luna reached the front of the group, and faced the locked doors.

"I know what you're all thinking," she said, closing her eyes and lowering her head. "It wasn't very long ago we - I - brought fear upon you all. Darkness, nightmares. Regrettably, I hadn't been myself for over a thousand years." At this she turned toward the group. She had expected some to still be afraid, but nopony was. "I had forgotten my purpose as a princess of Equestria: to protect ponies as they slept, from nightmares and those who would harm them. Including themselves. My sister has already forgiven me, but I know that with how I've treated many, others may not be so quick to forgive. I would understand if anypony still has qualms about trusting me - "

"Princess Celestia trusts you," interrupted the unicorn that had whispered just moments before. "That's enough for me to trust you."

Princess Luna smiled and turned back toward the door to the library as a window lit up with the rainbow of many colors. Luna galloped toward the window and looked out toward the throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Princess Celestia's little sister turned the corner with the royal guards, Celestia turned toward Discord.

"What is it, Discord?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to join me as I have fun with the changelings around the city," he replied. Normally he would cause himself to do odd things as he spoke with somepony, but this time he made no such effort. "They've lived under fear for so long, it would do them well to be reassured by their beloved princess, long lost to them."

"What you say is true, Discord," she replied, "but can I trust you not to harm the ponies?"

"After how I acted a thousand years ago and I was imprisoned by you and your sister as a stone statue, I understand why you ask. Twilight assured me that if I cooperated here, then I could have more fun without being limited. I think I'll start with King Sombra. The ponies in Canterlot and Ponyville have only just begun to be free from villainy, and my chaos wouldn't be welcomed."

Celestia smiled, her voice sounding slightly amused. "You've become more compassionate, Discord. Is Twilight so powerful that she can calm a draconequus like yourself without resorting to imprisoning him?"

"It's funny you should say that, Princess. According to her, she's known me for a long time in her world." Discord looked at his wrist, where a watch with a sundial appeared. "Oh, look at the time. We should get going if we want to distract as many changelings from protecting their queen as we can. Would you like to join me?"

Celestia agreed, and they started flying around Canterlot, careful to stay out of the view from the windows in the castle after they remembered that Chrysalis might see them. They didn't want Chrysalis to leave the throne room before Twilight and the other ponies reached it to keep her occupied. The changelings quickly noticed them, and transformed into the images of various individuals, including those of Princesses Celestia and Luna, Nightmare Moon, Discord, and other citizens of Canterlot. One transformed into the image of their queen, but other changelings near it argued with it, and it changed into Discord instead.

Discord had paused fighting the changelings as he watched the scene unfold, as Princess Celestia fired bolts of magic toward the false images of herself and her sister. He smiled as he thought of an idea.

"You'll want to stop attacking the changelings for a while, Princess. You're about to be a queen. Is there a place we can go where the changelings can't reach us for a few seconds?"

"There is a series of abandoned tunnels deep below Canterlot. It's been so long since somepony used them, nopony remembers them." Discord nodded and teleported both himself and Celestia to the caverns underneath the castle. Once there, Celestia spoke up again. "Why am I trusting you to do this and not do something horrible to me?"

"Because it'll be so much more fun to mess with the changelings than with you, Princess." He quickly turned her into Chrysalis's image and teleported them both back up to where they were, although he kept hidden to see what would happen.

As he suspected, the changelings had stopped fighting while they were in the caverns and most had been looking for where they went. The rest continued their search for the ponies of Canterlot to absorb their love as was their purpose when they attacked Canterlot in the first place. Then some looked into the sky where the disguised Celestia was floating down.

"Progress report," she said.

The changelings bowed to her, then one spoke up. "We were fighting Princess Celestia and the draconequus, but they just disappeared a few moments ago. We're still looking for them as we speak."

"Once you find and capture them, bring the Princess to me. I have plans for her."

Suddenly, from the castle behind Celestia there was a bright multi-colored light. Celestia turned and trained her eyes on the windows, trying to see what was going on, but Discord appeared and prevented her from taking too long. He quickly turned the changelings into pieces of fruit with faces on them, and turned Celestia back to her original form.

"Thank you," she replied, her colorful mane flowing again. "The queen is too forceful."

"No time to chat," said Discord, his expression suddenly serious. Emanating from the castle was a globe of magic, picking up all the changelings as it passed them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Darling, are you sure this is going to work?" asked Rarity as the six ponies made their way toward the throne room.

"Not 100% sure," answered Twilight, "but it's got to. Even if it weakens her just enough, we'll have the upper hand."

"Hold on a sec," interrupted Rainbow Dash. "How sure are we talking? Closer to 100% or closer to 50?"

"Closer to fifty. I'm about 70% sure it'll work flawlessly."

"That's a lot of room for things to go wrong," said Fluttershy, but she spoke this quieter than her usual speaking voice, and nopony heard her. It didn't matter, however, as everypony was thinking the same thing.

"Changelings up ahead!" said Pinkie Pie. "30 knots and closing!"

That's not the right unit of measurement, Twilight thought, but let it slide.

Everypony braced themselves for battle. Turning the corner, they saw two changelings. They changelings noticed them and transformed into copies of Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack started galloping toward them, but two bolts of magic shot past them, hitting the changelings before they stopped transforming. They turned to look at Twilight, who now had a serious look on her face.

"Save your strength for large numbers of them and for Chrysalis. We'll need it."

"Your cutie mark will disappear faster if you keep using magic," said Fluttershy quietly. Twilight turned to her and asked what she said, but in reply Fluttershy just pointed a hoof at Twilight's cutie mark. There were now only four white spines behind the magenta six-pointed star.

"Oh no. I forgot about that. Thanks, Fluttershy. Okay, new strategy: fight any changelings we come across. I have to reserve my magic as much as possible."

It wasn't long before they reached the throne room, the doors guarded by two of the royal guards and two changelings. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went for the changelings, Rainbow on the left and Applejack on the right. The guards seemed confused, but joined the two girls after seeing the others walking calmly toward them, sunlight streaming through windows the guards couldn't see but glinting off the Elements of Harmony. Once the changelings were subdued, the guards opened the doors, and the eight of them stepped into the elongated room.

Chrysalis was standing near one of the windows, and turned her head as she heard the door open. She started walking toward them, capturing the two guards in fiery green circles. "I assume you six are the reason the sun is up and my changeling army is getting disorganized. I knew something was amiss when Princess Luna, disguised as Nightmare Moon, brought her sister here."

"How in tarnation could she have figured that out?"

"Her eyes didn't have slits for pupils like they did at my wedding."

"The only reason you were able to marry my brother and took over Canterlot was because I wasn't there to recognize that something was wrong with my foalsitter!" cried Twilight, and she started running toward Chrysalis. Applejack bit on Twilight's tail, stopping her from running far.

"Simmer down, Sally."

Twilight stopped struggling and calmed down. She glared at Chrysalis. "What happened to Shining Armor?"

"You don't want to know what I did with Princess Cadance?"

"I know what you did with Cadance. You imprisoned her in the abandoned caverns under the castle, where she would have stayed because you never sent me down there and I rescued her. What happened to my big brother?"

"He and Cadance reunited after I was done with him. The last I saw of him, he was descending into the caverns, unable to fight."

A fire burned within Twilight, a burn more intense than when she uncovered Chrysalis's plan in her world. Then, she still had a chance to save her brother and sister-in-law, but here, they were gone forever. In this world, she could only bring justice to the one who had crossed them.

"Come on, girls. It's time for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance to have justice."

They gathered together, but it wasn't long before Twilight recognized that they were vulnerable to an attack from Chrysalis. Sure enough, she looked down and saw a ring of green fire gathering around them.

"Scatter! She'll capture us!" Five of the ponies left quickly, but Fluttershy was too afraid to move away in time. The circle closed around her, and a dome started appearing. Rarity and Twilight simultaneously levitated her off the floor before it closed completely.

"Not many have been able to escape that. Either you're lucky or you've experience my magic before somehow."

"I'm not from this universe. A strange magic transported me here, and you were defeated there. Attack her!"

Twilight teleported her friends in a circle around Chrysalis. Rarity started levitating nearby objects and throwing them at Chrysalis. Rainbow Dash flew, and Applejack and Twilight galloped toward her. Pinkie Pie fired off her party cannon. Fluttershy, not sure what to do, stood where she was, giving The Look towards Chrysalis. Chrysalis dodged each of their attacks, ducking when Rainbow Dash flew at her, and stepping aside from the ponies who were galloping toward her or firing bolts of lime green magic at the projectiles. After a few minutes of attacking and dodging, Chrysalis suddenly stopped: she'd accidentally looked at Fluttershy, and was paralyzed from the effects of the Look.

"The Elements! Now!"

As they had a few hours before against Nightmare Moon, their combined energies filled the Elements, which glowed with the colors appropriate to each pony, hovering above the floor. Their eyes shone white with power. Fluttershy was the last to activate her Element. She broker her gaze from Chrysalis and had barely enough time before Chrysalis was able to regain her senses. Unfortunately for Chrysalis, it was too late to counterattack, as a ball of rainbow-colored magic swirled around the six ponies, ever expanding. The sphere pushed away from them, pushing away changelings that had gathered to watch the battle, and pushing the Queen of the Changelings against the wall.

The sphere of magic kept spreading, sending the changelings out of and far away from Canterlot, to the far reaches of Equestria. The force of the magic pushed Chrysalis to her limits, the pressure of the magic pushing the power she'd taken from Shining Armor many months before out of her.

Chrysalis fell to the floor, defeated and weak, as the glow of the Elements died down and all six ponies were set back on the floor. Celestia and Discord transported into the throne room, and soon Luna and half of the royal guard that were with her entered through the door. Twilight told them to take the weakened queen to the dungeons looked at her cutie mark; she only had three white spikes left, and one of them was nearly faded.

"Congratulations, Princess Twilight," said Princess Celestia, smiling. "The strength of the magic of friendship is very powerful indeed."

"It seems like it's just as powerful as the magic between two ponies who truly love each other. The same kind of thing happened in my world when Shining Armor and Cadance touched horns after they were reunited."

"Would you like us to look for them and bring them to you when we find them?" asked Discord.

"No. If you are able to find them, they won't know me, although they'd be grateful. I only have a few more hours left. We should find that book."

Farewells

The ponies and princesses walked down the halls back toward the library, soon arriving with the rest of the guards that had remained there.

"Did you discover what that light was, Princess Luna?"

"Yes. That light was the magic that defeated Queen Chrysalis so we could reclaim Canterlot."

The guards cheered, then Flash interrupted the cheering. "What do we do about the locks?"

"When Nightmare Moon was about to return," said Princess Celestia, "I placed these locks on these doors. There are several books in this library that can be very dangerous if somepony evil were to get their hooves on them. I do not know, however, if anypony has tried to tamper with them."

"I have been looking through my memories as Nightmare Moon about these doors. The memories are blurry, but as far as I can tell she tried once and never again."

"Nightmare Moon could turn into a mist and teleport," said Twilight. "Couldn't she have traveled through the cracks or teleported inside?"

"I had not anticipated the mist, but there was a spell to protect against teleportation."

"So how are we gonna figure out if somepony else tried to open the locks?" asked Rarity.

Twilight remembered something she'd learned earlier that day. "Discord can detect magic," she said. "Perhaps his ability includes figuring out who may have used magic to interact with objects?"

Princess Celestia looked surprised. "How did you know about Discord's ability?"

"He told me on my way from your old castle after I'd retrieved the five Elements."

"Did I hear my name?" Discord appeared near them. Most of the ponies were surprised to see a draconeqqus suddenly appear next to them, but the three princess were not. Princess Celestia told him about the locks and asked if he could detect if Chrysalis had tried to open the locks from months or years earlier.

"Well, I've never had reason to find out if I could. Couldn't hurt to try." He concentrated on the locks, his bird claw on his goatee. "I see no evidence that Chrysalis would have even attempted to open the doors," he said as he turned back toward the princesses. "It seems that she didn't believe that anything in the library would be useful in her conquest of Equestria."

Princess Celestia thanked him, and turned her attention on the locks. The locks popped open and fell to the ground as the chains dissipated. Two guards opened the doors, and the ponies and Discord entered the massive library.

The five ponies' mouths opened widely, having never seen a library so large. Pinkie Pie's jaw literally hit the floor, but used her hoof to close it again. Rarity wasn't as focused on the books (although she could see several had beautifully crafted bindings) as she was on the carpets and tapestries (although they were dusty, having spent so long uncleaned). Rainbow Dash flew up to the upper shelves and looked from title to title. "So how're we supposed to find the book we need? There must be thousands!"

"The book we need is not one of the books on the shelves," replied Princess Celestia.

"Wait, if it's not here, then why did we come here?"

"I didn't say it wasn't here. Little sister, if you would like to join me." Princesses Celestia and Luna raised their horns, and several books were pulled from the shelves. One by one, a page was removed from each book and laid on a table near the group. As each page was removed, the book was replaced. Twilight wanted to help, but felt all she could do was return the books to their places; she didn't know which books had the necessary pages, nor did she know what order the pages needed to be in. Fortunately, Princesses Celestia and Luna placed each page in its proper place among the others.

When all the pages were amassed on the table in a neat pile, Discord decided to be helpful and put a binding on it. Celestia thanked him and opened it, leafing through the pages until she found the spell necessary for sending someone to a different universe.

"Are you ready to go back home, Twilight?" she asked.

"Yes," she replied, and turned to her friends to say good bye, but Pinkie Pie wasn't smiling. She looked sad, and suddenly Twilight remembered what Pinkie had suggested after the two alicorn sisters were reunited, and turned back to Celestia. "Wait, I forgot! We still need to have a party to celebrate your reunion with your sister. I promised her we'd have it before I left."

Pinkie grinned a wide grin. "Not just the reunion, Twilight. There's so much to celebrate! Defeating Chrysalis! Celestia and Luna being able to rule together once again! Ooh, and a going-away party for you, Twilight! I won't let you leave without a party!"

Twilight looked at her cutie mark, the purple star with two white spikes emanating from them; at least three hours left before she started disappearing herself.

"Do you think you'll have enough time to celebrate before returning to your world, Twilight?"

"I should be able to, but I can't put it off for too much longer."

"Yeah!" cried Pinkie Pie. "Let's go to the courtyard!"

"She doesn't already have the decorations put up, does she?" asked Discord as the guards and the rest of the ponies left the library.

"Not likely," responded Twilight, "but I don't doubt that she'll have plenty of decorations up in no time. She is the best party pony in this part of Equestria, after all. We shouldn't just leave the book here, though."

"How very true, Twilight," said Princess Celestia. "What is written in this book is very powerful magic and would most definitely doom Equestria if it were to fall into the hooves of those who wish to do evil."

Twilight put the book in her satchel, and the three Princesses made their way outside to the courtyard, where, sure enough, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were just putting the finishing touches on the decorations. The sun was low in the sky; Celestia lowered the sun the rest of the way as her younger sister raised the moon. Off to one side was a DJ booth, where Vinyl Scratch, the DJ Pon-3, was sorting through her discs. Pinkie Pie rolled out a big cannon and fired it, confetti going everywhere.

"Hey, everypony! Let's start this party! Let's celebrate the return of Princess Luna, the freedom of Canterlot, and last but certainly not least, give Twilight Sparkle a huge going-away party before she leaves us for her own world!"

It was the greatest party ever experienced in this version of Equestria. Twilight was sure this party, consisting of three different celebrations, could rival a party planned by both Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich in her own world in spectacle, loudness, and how much the ponies enjoyed it. Throughout the next two hours, several ponies encountered Twilight, thanking her for her help after she gave a quick explanation what had happened. Zecora even showed up; most of the ponies were afraid of her. Twilight remembered what it was like for Zecora before everypony became friendly toward her despite her differences, so she greeted the zebra warmly, and many other ponies did the same.

"When my eyes beheld the morning light,
I knew your task was set aright.
Yet here you are, with disappearing mark.
The potion I gave you; did it not work?"

"Actually, Zecora, I haven't needed to use it yet. In fact, I was planning on bringing it back to my world just in case it's ever needed. There is a version of you in my world who could make the potion if the need arises, but there are some fillies I know who are very eager to earn their cutie marks. I assume the effects of the potion are temporary. In my world you brewed it to give a rooster back its voice, and that makes me think it's temporary until circumstances are fixed naturally."

"The potion lasts a few days,
But fillies' minds are easily swayed."

"I know what you mean, Zecora."

Soon it came time for Twilight to leave. Not wanting to leave without saying good bye to her friends, the other Princesses, and the ponies she hadn't met but were grateful to her nonetheless. She approached Vinyl, and asked her to stop the music so she could say farewell to everypony. She nodded and stopped the music, handing her a microphone.

"Attention, everypony," she started, feedback in the speakers, but Vinyl compensated quickly and motioned for Twilight to move the mic a little farther away from her body. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I wasn't supposed to exist in this world." She told them about the spell that sent her to this world, and how her wings and most of her cutie mark had disappeared. She spoke of meeting her friends, retrieving the Elements of Harmony, and defeating Nightmare Moon. She spoke of the ruse that got them into Canterlot, and her and Applejack's qualms about not finding a more honest way. "But now, regrettably, after being in this world for less than a full day-night cycle -- relatively speaking, of course -- I have to leave. I'll admit, it was both fun and worrysome to relive some of the events that happened to me a long time ago, even changing a few that I was never able to experience in my world. It makes me sad knowing that you all will never see me again after all I and my friends have done for you." The other five ponies got up onto the stage with her, and Twilight turned to them. "And even the six of us don't have the same connection in this world as it does in my world. It took a very long time to get where I am with my friends there, but the five of you have only known me for a few hours.

"Discord wanted me to remind him later of the reward I promised him before he agreed to help. I'll admit, he helped us a lot more than we helped him. What is it you wanted, Discord?"

Discord walked up to Twilight. "It's something very shiny and very powerful, but the link among it and the other Elements interests me. I'd like that crown."

"You'd like the Element of Magic? I was actually planning on giving it to you for a while, as long as you don't use it to cause irrevocable chaos. I know that's your tendency, but the Discord in my world values his friendship with us, especially Fluttershy, over his love of debilitating chaos. You're the same Discord as the Discord I knew a long time ago, so I don't doubt you can become a good friend of the other five ponies here. I will give you the Element of Magic, as long as you remember that these friends are much more fulfilling than the very powerful magic you have. In my world, after you broke free from your thousand-year imprisonment, my friends and I had to turn you back to stone, but Princess Celestia later wanted us to revive you and reform you so that you could use your powers for good instead of evil."

"I've never really considered them to be evil, just fun."

"When things get too chaotic, they're only fun for you. Nopony else likes so much chaos, and view it as evil. I believe in you, Discord, although you may still need some supervision for a while."

Princess Celestia approached Twilight. "Princess Twilight, are you sure this is the proper path?"

"You and Discord are the only two I know who can handle the Element of Magic. You wielded all six against Nightmare Moon, and Discord has very powerful magic, and I can't give it to you, Princess Celestia. I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't keep my promise, even if he and I aren't technically friends yet. Farewell, everypony."

Twilight gave the microphone back to Vinyl, and asked the two other princesses and Discord to come with her. The four of them went back inside the castle. Twilight lifted the crown off her head and put it on Discord's as the two sisters watched to make sure he didn't do anything they wouldn't like. Twilight lifted the book out of her saddle pack and set it on a nearby ledge, asking the two sisters where to find the spell necessary to send her back to her own world. They flipped through the pages, pausing at certain parts. Eventually, they turned away from the book.

"Equestria is indebted to you, Princess Twilight," said Princess Luna. "It will be sad to see you go after how much you've changed this world in such short a time."

Twilight bowed. "There is still somepony that needs to be stopped: King Sombra. In my world, he was kept away from the Crystal Empire by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, but since neither of them have been heard of since their unsuccessful wedding, there was nopony to stop Sombra long enough to retrieve the Crystal Heart and defeat him forever. You'll need shadow magic to find the hidden passage that will lead to it. I haven't encountered any other threats to Equestria in my world."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna focused their magic on Twilight when she was ready to leave, beginning the spell. Twilight closed her eyes, reminiscing on the times in her world and in this one. Here eyes started to water behind her closed eyelids, sadly knowing she would be unable to help this world any longer, but joyfully returning back to a world where she wasn't disappearing.

When she opened her eyes, she was back in her bed in the Gold Oak library. It was dark outside, as it had been when she left the other world. She called out quietly to Spike, but there was no response. She got out of bed and looked at her cutie mark, but her wings were in the way. Forget the cutie mark; the wings were the first to disappear, and she finally had them back. She fluttered around the library for a few minutes, giggling and grinning before returning to her bed and falling asleep quickly.

It had been a very long day.

Author's Note

If you would like to read my thoughts upon finishing this work, head over to ao3. I don't want to take traffic away from FiMfiction, but one of the rules was not to post meta or stuff that isn't actually part of the story. Since I don't want to take the chance, I'll link it here instead.

In Which Our Intrepid Heroine and Her Chimeric Companion Meet with a Zebra

Author's Note

I'm not sure why I thought such long a title would be clever. My idea was that it would be a nod to chapter titles in many works of classical literature, which usually started with "In which" and outlined the basic plot elements for the chapter.

In Which Our Intrepid Heroine and Her Chimeric Companion Meet with a Zebra

"So, to Zecora's hut then. Care to board the Discord Express?" At this, Discord held out his bird claw toward a lopsided train car that had been a tree only moments before.

"Couldn't we just teleport?"

"Oh, don't be too uptight, Twilight. This train car is nearly as fast as teleporting, and much more fun! I don't know where Zecora lives, however. You'll have to give directions."

Twilight sighed and got into the train car as Discord teleported into the conductor's seat, a conductor's hat suddenly appearing on his head. She told him how to get to to Zecora's and soon they were getting near it. She warned Discord about the blue poison joke plant and how it played jokes on those who came into contact with it. "When my friends and I went through it, my horn became floppy so I couldn't use my magic, Rarity's hair got messed up, and Fluttershy's voice got really deep."

"Hmm, sounds like they took away something that was dear to each of you. Not to worry, Twilight. I can simply cover them up." At this the Discord Express stopped. He took a bag of black seeds and threw them ahead of the train toward the blue plants. Soon black, thorny vines sprung up in their place, laying flat on them. "Ta-da! Plunderseeds. That should keep the poison joke away for a while."

"I hypothesized that the effects were a result of an allergic reaction, but now that you mention that, I'm wondering if the poison joke can somehow detect what each pony's most proud of. Here's her hut."

They approached a large, gnarled tree about the same size as the Golden Oak Library. It looked creepy, but Twilight knew that inside the scary exterior was a warm interior decorated with many odd potions, ingredients, books, and decorations, all indicative of Zecora's nature as a shaman. The decorations - large ceremonial masks hanging from the ceiling and a dreamcatcher hung on the door - appeared to be mementos from the far-off land which used to be her homeland. Twilight stepped off the Discord Express and knocked on the door.

"Zecora? Are you in there?"

There was silence for a few moments, then the zebra spoke, her low voice muffled by the door.

"Somepony knocks on Zecora's door
When all others lie afraid on the floor.
Who is brave against Nightmare Moon
To seek assistance from Zecora's boon?"

"Zecora, my name is Twilight Sparkle. My cutie mark is disappearing, and I need your help."

There was a click as the door was unlocked and opened a little.

"Hurry, Twilight Sparkle, do come inside
Before the Mare takes another ride."

Twilight and Discord hurried inside, and Zecora closed and locked the door again before turning to her two guests.

"Neither of you have I seen before;
How can I help Twilight and Discord?"

Twilight told the zebra the quick version of what's happened: the spell that made her wish to not be born come true, what happened to her friends, her disappearing wings and cutie mark. She also told of the time in her world when Apple Bloom got the cutie pox by mixing a potion using Heart's Desire, and how that was resolved with the Seeds of Truth, and asked if there was a way to get her cutie mark back before it completely disappeared.

Zecora thought for a moment, and gave a slight nod.

"Your wings have gone, and three stars as well;
Three left, and a big one at risk from your spell.
Six spikes of white and a purple star
Should leave apart, as they currently are."

"Are you saying I've got fifteen hours until it completely disappears because the white lines are individual pieces? That's a relief. But what about when it's completely gone? What happens then? Do I disappear immediately? Do I have another hour and a half before it's too late?"

"The length of time I can only guess,
But you must, regardless, fix this mess!"

"If I were to have the potion that Applebloom made, would it bring back my cutie mark long enough if I can't fix it in fifteen hours?"

"I don't know the potion your filly friend made,
But there's one similar which to you may aid.
The main ingredient is Heart's Desire,
But more amethyst flower I still require."

"Discord can get them quickly, right?"

Discord smiled and clapped his hands in feigned excitement. "Oh, goody, I can be useful!" His smile turned into a less joyous and more serious expression, crossing his arms. "But you have fifteen hours. Why the hurry?"

"The sooner we get the potion, the sooner we can get back to my friends, and the sooner we can defeat Nightmare Moon so that you can have more freedom to cause chaos."

"Hmm, an attractive proposition. These wouldn't happen to be what you're looking for, would they, Zecora?" He held out his lion's paw, which now held several purple flowers. Zecora came closer, inspected the flowers, and, after expressing gratitude, took them in her mouth and started mixing the ingredients in a bowl. Discord turned to Twilight. "Wouldn't asking me to make the potion be faster than asking for the flowers?"

"Probably, but fifteen hours is a long time to begin with, and the potion might extend that length of time."

"So why are we here in the first place? Wouldn't this be wasting time?"

"Not necessarily. Fluttershy's had her digging creatures dig tunnels all throughout Ponyville, and they're currently digging the tunnel to Zecora's hut, which we can use to get back to Applejack's barn, which then can be used later on for other needs. They should be getting closer any time now."

They waited as Zecora worked on the potion, during which time there was a soft knock on the door. Twilight peeked through the window and was glad to see Angel. She hurried to the door, unlocked it, and reunited with the bunny.

"It's good to see you again, Angel. We should hurry before Nightmare Moon has a chance to see us." Angel nodded "Where's the entrance to the tunnel?" Angel hopped to the large ceremonial mask resting on the largest root of Zecora's tree, slipping behind it. Twilight risked using her magic, shining a dim light behind it. Sure enough, there was an entrance to the new tunnel behind it, curling under the root. Twilight smiled. "Good job, Angel. When Fluttershy gets back, I'll be sure to let her know that I said you could get an extra treat. If she says it's all right, that is. She knows animals better than I do, after all." Angel smiled, but frowned slightly, not disagreeing with her final statement.

Suddenly there came a cry coming from the west, a cry of anger and embarrassment. "You foal! You think you can outsmart me?" exclaimed the bellowing voice of Nightmare Moon. Angel scurried underground and Twilight hurried back into Zecora's hut, locking the door quickly behind her. Zecora doused the lights and covered the windows. Evidently they'd heard it too.

"Nightmare Moon discovered she's been guarding a clone instead of the real me!"

"Twilight Sparkle, you have been bold and brave.
Take this potion when your cutie mark you crave!"