Rebirth of a Nightmare

Chapters

Dream of a Nightmare (rewrite)
Dark memories (rewrite)
It was only a nightmare (Rewrite)
The Elder Wizard (Rewrite)
The Stranger of the Everfree Forest (Rewrite)
The Meeting with Twilight Sparkle (Rewrite)
Escape from the Castle

Dream of a Nightmare (rewrite)

Dream of a Nightmare (remake)

It was night now. All that I could hear were a few cars driving right by my house. The insects and the animals were making noises that could be heard from inside my house. I was at my desk doing some math homework that's due on Friday of new week. Honestly, this math can be hard to understand. It was like taking calculus in college. I was in Discrete Math. Some of my friends would always have hard times when trying to follow all the stages to get the right answer. You need to understand the basics of math.

My mom and dad hardly think about me. Ever since I was a kid, they hardly saw anything in they even cared about. I was like a nobody to them. My mom dropped out of high school, while my dad was able to graduate on time. Least he had some commitment in getting his high school diploma.

Dad doesn't really think about my education either. It's like it's a waste of time just being in school learning new things that could help a person out in the long one. He's....I don't know. He's just messed up. Dad is an alcoholic. One time he almost caused a huge accident on the interstate, and he was drinking WHILE driving. The police gave him about three years being bars. Then is comes out like he were a brand new man. Yeah right. That was a complete lie to me.

Sometimes, they would just ignore me. Even when I had a hard time in school, they still wouldn't want to even help me in my problems. That's how many teenagers at my high school feel about their parents. I'm one of the lucky few that's so far continued to pass the necessary classes to graduate high school.

I'm thinking of majoring in mathematics. Math is essential to be successful in life. Without it, everything would not be what it is now. Math comes into financial stuff; such as paying the bills for the house, buying food, construction, basically...its used in everywhere.

It's 11:39 PM now. I seriously need to get some sleep to refresh myself for tomorrow morning.

I took my clothes off and put on my pajamas. I've been the one who's been paying for the cloths I wear during the day and night. My parents wouldn't care if I wore worn out cloths to go to sleep. I even bought the covers for my bed to stay warm when it's cold. That's how my parents treat me. Heck, I have a job that helps me make money to buy the necessary things to keep me going. Does it help that I have a job? Absolutely. Though, it’s not enjoyable.

I work at McDonald's. It's the only place that makes a lot of more business than the rest of the other fast-food restaurants where I live. But it still helps me make money, I give it that much.

I honestly just wish I could be something else. Not a human, but an animal.

What I've read on the Internet is about what happens when a person passes away from this world. Some theories point out people would just go to heaven or hell. But there was one theory that seemed to have attracted my attention for quite awhile.

That theory would be about reincarnation.

Some believe that when you die, you would be reborn into new form in life. Instead of being reborn as a human, you are turned into an animal. I personally believe that reincarnation does exist. If it's true, I wouldn't mind leaving this world. My parents suck and a few of my friends are hardly what I call "friends" for that matter.

Sure. Education is important. But there are points where I just wish I could just leave everything behind me and just enjoy being in a new life for myself. I think that's how a lot people feel now these days. Life can sometimes be unfair in many cases. Trust me. I've been there when it comes to getting my parents to actually look at me directly in the face. It never works like I plan it to be.

Turning the light off, I got into my bed and wrapped myself in the covers to keep me warm.

I just...I just want to have a different life for a change. I don't want to have to worry about what my parents may think of me. I want to live in a different world.

I want to be the animal I want to become. That would be a horse. Horses love to roam free in the wild. They're the most beautiful animals that I've seen when I was a small kid during a field trip back when I was in middle school. It was something that I didn't forget after leaving junior high to make it to high school. That memory is still strong in me. But that's just a dream that'll never come true. If it were possible, I think I'd me more than happy to leave this world to make it to world where there's nothing but peace and harmony. Hehe. Wish that was true in this world. But it ain't. It will NEVER be true when when I'm old.

I said one thing before falling asleep. "I wish I could become the animal that I always wanted to become, and that I'll never have to think about being in a life where people see me as a shadow. God, please. I want to be happy for once in life. Please..." I closed my eyes and embraced the abyss of darkness.

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Something felt strange. I didn't feel like I was in my bed anymore. I started to think I may have fallen right out of the bed and was on the floor. That rarely happens to me when falling asleep.

Getting on my feet, I noticed that I was in a forest. I also noticed that it was foggy. It wasn't dark, I could still see a little further from where I was.

“Am I dreaming?” Normally I wouldn't even know I was dreaming because I would never remember a single event about where I was in a dream.

Continuing to venture off in the forest, I could tell that all the trees were dead. None of them had a single leaf attached to their branches. This place looks kind of creepy for the most part. Reminds me of a movie I saw in the theater about two friends trying to find their way back to the car, but were suddenly killed by an unknown creature that lived in the forest.

Voices could be heard while walking deeper into the forest. The voices were both feminine and masculine. There were multiple voices I could hear. None of them sounded angry. I could not fully understand what they were saying. They were speaking in gibberish. It didn't sound like a language I had ever heard of.

I crossed my arms and was still wondering why I was in this place, also wondering why I haven't woken up yet.

Okay. I should be starting to wake up at this rate. Either that, or my mom would already be shaking me up to see the morning sun coming over the horizon. She always loved to wake me up to see the sun slowly peeking over the edge of earth.

What's taking so long? This is really getting annoying. So far, I'm still not finding any exit from this 'horrifying' forest that's not really scary. For kids, yeah. For me? No.

I heard something from the right. Turning my head, I noticed a small pond just a few feet from where I was standing. Getting to the pond, the water was pitch black. It was like someone had dumped ink into the water. There was no sign of any ducks or anything.

Sitting down, I decided to put my hand in the water. I just hope I wasn't going to regret doing this. It's a dream. It's not like it's real or anything.

Putting my hand in the water, I could feel pain. The water was cold. Cold to where you could freeze to death in seconds. I jolted my hand out of the water to not have it freeze up.

“Phew. Least I was quick about it.”

I could hear another noise.

It sounded like someone was in pain. Crying was what I was hearing. I couldn't make out who it was. But someone here was crying. I was getting up to see who was making those crying noises.

I stopped to notice a black figure that was lying on the ground. I was able to make out what it was. It looked like a horse. But this one horse seemed to be....unique in its appearance.

Although it was black, its mane and tail were a blue purplish and were flowing. There was no wind I could feel. Seems it was flowing magically. The other thing I noticed was it had some kind of marking on its flank. It looked like a splash of purple with what looked like a blue crescent moon on it. I couldn't make out its eyes, but they looked a lot bigger than what a normal horse was born with. Its eyes were.....looked kind of like a lizard's eyes. The color looked maybe blue.

There was something else that was on the ground right next to it. Torn up armor. The color of what remained left of it was either blue or silver.

The horse didn't pay any attention to me. It was still crying. Getting closer to it, I saw what looked like bruises all over the horse. Who could do such a thing to an animal? Though this is just a dream, it wasn't right to see such an animal be hurt this way!

I was slowly walking towards it. I didn't want to move too fast, otherwise it might try to run away from me. I noticed something else. It had wings and a horn! If I remember correctly, this would be an alicorn horse. They were fictional creatures that ancient civilization once thought to roam free in the world. I think it was the Ancient Greeks who told of such a creature. Granted that, I remember they had pegasi as their animal, but I think the alicorn was also part of Ancient Greek culture.

"Hey," I quietly said. The horse froze instantly. Eyes were dilated upon me speaking to it. It turned its head to look at me.

"It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you," I cooed to it. It started to shake. It was like it was thinking I was just lying to it to make it think I wasn't going to hurt it more.

"W-who… who a-are you?"

It talks! Maybe introducing myself might make it easier to calm it down, "My name is Ada. It would seems you are in my dream. What happened to you? You're injured." It looked down with a sad expression on its face.

"I… I was killed by some ponies years ago. This is… where I live now. In… damnation ." It was killed by ponies? How's that even possible? And why would it mean that it was living in damnation?

"Wait, before I ask some other questions. What's your name?" The horse looked at me once again.

"My name is.... Nightmare Moon. I-I once lived in a world that is called Equus… it's also known as Equestria. A....a place where ponies live...in peace and harmony." It started to sob once again. She covered her face with her hooves.

I got closer to Nightmare and placed my hand on her shoulder to keep her company. I could feel something in her. I don't how I was able to feel what she was feeling. There was nothing but pain and anger mixed together. She was suffering in my dream.

"You don't need to cry anymore. I'm not leaving you here." I didn't get a chance to even talk due to her wrapping her arms around me, crying her eyeballs out. I sensed more pain coming from within her.

I squirmed to get an arm out to try and stroke her mane. It was a success. She started to calm down a bit. Least that's good to know.

"W-why… do you care about me? I was once an evil demon that once tried to bring eternal darkness to Equestria!! How can some..." She tried to figure out what I was.

"I'm a human, Nightmare Moon," I told her.

"How… can a human care about something that was created out of jealousy?!"

"I don't like seeing animals hurt like you are. No one deserves to suffer like this. I felt a lot of pain radiating off of you. But I'm here to help you get back to normal," I told her.

"That's easier said than done. I'm.....forever ever trapped in this hellish place. I'll never......get another chance to redeem myself from my....from my past mistakes." She didn't let go of me. Nightmare didn't want me to leave her. And I didn't want her to think I would abandon her like she was no importance to me.

"Maybe there's a way to escape this place," I said firmly, "Nothing's impossible. Are you able to get up?"

"N-No.... my body is hardly functioning to even stand on all hooves. You can't lift me up. I'm too heavy to even have some pony… to assist me." Her expression saddened more.

I'm trying to think how I could get her out of here. As soon as I was trying to think of a way to get her to stand up, the pond started to glow. The color went from black to a bluish color. There was something written on it.

"Is this the animal you want to be reincarnated into?"

"Will you try to make things better for this poor soul?"

"The road ahead is far from over."

"Do you want to leave everything behind and start a new life in the where Nightmare Moon once lived in?"

"The choice remains for you to choose. We do not decide who gets this chance. You are the one who decides how you want to live your life, Ada."

Nightmare Moon saw the writing too. She wasn't moving anymore. She was frozen in fear, her eyes frozen in place looking at the strange writing. Only I could decide whether I take her place.

She's committed crimes against her race in her world. Then again, she want to have a second chance to redeem herself. Hmmmm...

This is a not a difficult choice to think about. I didn't want to see her suffer anymore. My parents mean nothing to me. I don't have friends and life on earth is just messed up.

I think I made my decision.

"I do."

"Your wish is granted, Ada. You will be turned into the creature that once tried to bring great pain to the ponies that inhabit the land in Equestria."

"You will not be a filly. You'll be a full grown mare."

"The adventures you will have will greatly change the way you look at life from a different perspective."

"Is there anything you wish to say before you enter Equestria, Ada?"

"I have nothing else to say." Everything lit up like a flashlight and then my vision went black.

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"Ugh... My head. I....I don't feel so good." I groaned. I could hardly move my body… I guess my wish came with a price. I tried opening my eyes, but what felt like the sun's light caused me to shut my eyes tight like a drum. My temples are hurting. This is really starting to annoy me.

I just wanted to help Nightmare Moon. I really hope I didn't develop the same physical injuries she had when I discovered her in my dream. If I'm really her now, would this also mean I would develop her personality, powers, and her memories? If that were case, I would have to be careful in knowing how to get used to being an alicorn.

I no longer felt pain from both sides of my head.

Hopefully my eyes should get adjusted to the sun light. I opened my eyes to notice that I was in a field. The field consisted of flowers, grass, bunnies and butterflies. This place must've never been disturbed by anypony. Hehe. Looks like I'm starting to adapt to speaking in the language of the equines of this world.

I inspected myself to notice that there were no signs of any physical injuries to my new body. I noticed that I am wearing armor on my chest area, hooves, and I also had the helmet piece that Nightmare once had in her possession.

YES! It really did come true! I'm finally an animal I always wanted to become! No more human me now! Hahah. This feels so great to have earth behind me and to be welcomed to a whole new world that might be better off than earth.

No longer will I have to deal with parents that don't really appreciate who I am. And I don't feel sorry for them now. They went their wrong path in life. I shouldn't even be thinking about them anymore. They mean nothing to me.

Now I need to get on all hooves. It was difficult to know that I had to walk on all fours and not on two legs. I had to balance myself to not fall on my side.

Of course, I wasn't even a human anymore. I'm an equine horse that has great power that can be used as a weapon or a power that could be used for peaceful purposes.

Hmm. I need to know more about this place. But where would I go that would help strengthen my knowledge of this world? If this place was what Nightmare had described to me with a little information, then I need to find the best place to read about Equestria.

"You will find the knowledge that you seek in the Royal Sisters' Palace, but be warned. Danger lies ahead of you, Nightmare Moon."

"Are you one of the voices that I met in my dream?"

"Yes. I am. But you mustn't worry about who I am. You could say I will merely watch over you. Should you go to the former place where Equestria's rulers once reigned, or will you decide to pick an alternate plan to learn about this world?"

"What other places can I go to?"

"You may enter Ponyville if you want. But that is your decision, not mine."

"Why are you wanting to even help me? I understand that I made the decision to take Nightmare Moon's place to redeem herself, but why is that you want to assist me? I can handle this all by myself. Not like I'm a kid or anything."

"If that's what you wish, then I will remain silent during your time living in Equestria."

"Thanks. Now, please leave me in peace. I have much to learn of this world and its inhabitants."

"Verily."

Finally... at least that voice is gone. Why does it feel like I can sense something is about to not end well for me? Or is that just a coincidence?

Giving a shrug, I decided to see what it feels like to be in a different body. Kind of hard to know that you have to rely on trying to keep your balance while walking on all fours. This really reminds me of how when a child is welcomed to the world, it has to learn how to walk, talk, blah blah blah. I think I get the picture.

While getting myself to understand the ways of walking, I was curious to understand how to fly with these wings. Extending them seemed to be natural for me to do. Looking to my left and my right, I could tell that I look very intimidating with my wings stretched out.

Then I wondered what my horn is capable of doing? I understood that's where mostly all the power would be stored in an Alicorn. Same would go with a regular unicorn. But since I'm an alicorn, I would be superior over the unicorn race… or any other race it seemed.

Maybe I should go this village the voice had once told me about before I told it to shut its trap to let me focus in understanding this place thoroughly. But there would be a slight problem when doing so.

Nightmare Moon had said that she was a villain that had once tried to take over Equestria. The outcome of me going to Ponyville would not end well. How hard is it to go and visit a village that's full of ponies? First, I know they would be scared of me. Second, they'll problem try to call in the police or whoever is in charge of protecting them from certain disaster. Finally, they would take me to their so-called leader or leaders to interrogate me.

This would complicate things more expected.

How do I charge my horn up to release power? Might need to learn how to do that when it comes to understanding the antonym of Alicorns.

“She will strike you upon no sympathy. *She will kill you for taking her away from her beloved sister.”***

What the buck? Did that voice just say that I was going to be killed by somepony of these lands? Who would try to kill me? And why did this voice sound… stranger than the previous one? Perhaps I'll have contact with this anonymous pony later...

Why is it that I can sense something not right right now? It feels like....darkness is rising from the ground. I can feel the dark taint all around me.

Maybe I should leave this place, for now.

Dark memories (rewrite)

Dark memories

It feels like over an hour since I came to Equestria. The animals have not yet have fear in their souls when encountering me. The sun was still in the air, radiating warmth for the plants and animals to feel safe and warm. I seem to enjoy the Sun's promise of warmth. This sun was more different than the sun that keeps planet earth from freezing to an icicle. It felt....like something was controlling its every movement. Like a powerful figure has the power to raise it and lower it every day. Don't know why I was thinking like that.

I started to gallop to see where Ponyville was located. Getting on a hill, I noticed small structures from afar. The buildings were made out of wood and what looked like hay acting as the roofs, other buildings had wood for the roofs. I could see ponies walking casually in the streets of the village. Some were just talking to one another, few were buying fruits and vegetables from the stands that sold the said food, and I could see a few colts and fillies enjoying their time hanging out with one another. All of them just moving colors from where I was standing in the distance.

Ponyville seems to be a peaceful place to live in. There was something else that I could feel that was mysterious in the village. Almost as if there was somepony that was involved in defeating Nightmare Moon. The name slowing coming to my mind: Twilight Sparkle.

Part of me says I should try to find her in the village. Then again, the other side of me says to not be so stupid to just walk into Ponyville and cause a mass panic to the ponies who live there.

Pondering for a while, I decided that maybe I should venture into the Everfree Forest. If there are books in the palace, then it'll help me learn about my surrounds and even the history of this world. I do love history. So, this'll really make me want to understand the beings of this world. Maybe going to Ponyville will have to wait some other time. Right now, I need to learn if I want to understand this world more better than what I do now.

I started to go down the hill, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. It felt so awesome… now I can see why horses are always full of energy. Their muscles are able to help them run like the wind. And, of course, fight against other animals that would try to kill them. With me as an alicorn, I would be far better off than any regular horse on earth.

Breathing in and out, trying to catch my breath from suddenly sprinting down an incline, I could see what looked like a forest coming toward me. This must be the Everfree Forest. This forest was far more different than the one I was in. The trees seemed to show what looked like faces of pure horror. Almost like they were telling me "Don't try to pass, you'll fail while doing so." Or "You will die by the creatures of our forest. Turn back while you still can."

Seriously? Trees aren't even scary. I’ll give them credit, but that's not gonna stop me from uncovering so many secrets in Equestria.

For some reason, I felt curious to see what was in the forest, not feeling scared in any way. Trotting in the forest, I felt more darkness around me. I wasn't sure why this place had such dark taint to it. Being in the fields, there was bits of darkness I sensed, but this place has ten times more of the darkness. The forest feels like it's a living, breathing creature.

It temps creatures to enter its domain, wanting to show itself to travelers who are lost as a peaceful guide, and to show those lost ponies a shortcut to get to their destination. I could feel it trying to talk to me. It hungers for blood. This is the place where anypony would want to end up dead. The smell of blood is what I could smell a mile away.

The plants was something that caught my eye. A lot of them were orange, red, yellow, purple, gold, and even green. Just by looking at them, I could say were probably poisonous. I must be careful when walking in these parts of the forest.

It feels like I'm being watched by something.

Turning around, I saw six yellow eyes staring right at me in the bushes. Then, I could hear the sounds of growls coming from said bushes.

Something tells me these unknown animals are warning to kill me.

Very well. I will have a pleasure killing them without mercy. I need to concentrate. Try to understand the power you posses Nightmare.

I closed my eyes and started to breathing in and out. Focus. Just focus.

Something in me just sparked. Energy was what I was feeling. I opened my eyes to see the creatures slowly backing away from me.

"GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!"

My voice caused several branches and even caused some of the trees to fall down. The ground shook upon me speaking.

The wolves, for that matter, were starting to shake like a bunch of spooked chickens. Now they see I'm not so defenseless.

I focused on their every movement. They weren't thinking of charging at me. I could smell their fear coming off of them. Fear is something I'm starting understand in this world. I see why Nightmare Moon was considered a being that every last being was afraid of. Nopony would there try to strike her down. And now these "timberwolves" will now see that the nightmare has.... come back. Hehe... Wait, no! Don't think like that! That's not who you are!

Alright, I need to really start trying to concentrate my power to fire at the Timberwolves. Try to learn how to use your horn. Focus… just focus.

Suddenly, a white beam of magic went right at the Timberwolves and were ripped to pieces. Not only that; it also caused a mass amount of smoke to billow from the ground. I couldn't see anything. My ears were ringing. Chances are I must've made one big boom that could be heard from every part of Equestria.

I had to close my eyes due to dirt still swirling around me, holding my breath from inhaling the not so clean air.

Minutes have passed since I killed the timberwolves. As I opened my eyes, I was absolutely in shock to see what my powers did to the hostile animals.

I didn't just destroy the wolves, I also caused a giant hole to be formed where the bushes had once existed that hid the wolves. Slowly trotting to see how far the blast went, I felt my jaw just drop almost to the ground. It looks like the magic had gone all the way through the end of the forest! The trees in this area were gone. Anyone who was in this part of the Everfree Forest was surely wiped from the face of Equestria. It was like a nuclear bomb just came in and just vaporized everything in my direction.

The forest was silent, it felt quiet. It was like the animals that inhabit the forest did not want to make a single sound that anypony would hear with their ears. Seriously. It felt like it was population zero now.

Guess I should really learn how to not go so far in trying to practice magic in this world. Now it's the time I really get to the Royal Palace of the sisters. I just hope that there is something worth reading in their. And I hope that it's easy to just find maybe a library room in the building.

The sun has already gone down. I was beginning to wonder if this palace was still around. Come to think of it. How old was it? Surely it would still be standing to where you could possibly still see maybe parts of it towering over the trees.

Even after it's been forty minutes, the animals were still not making any sound. They must be paranoid from what I did to those timberwolves with my not-so-stable magic. I don't need to blame them. When you learn something new, it might cause people or, well, ponies to not look at you right.

Continuing in my quest, I could see a large superstructure just a mile away. I could see a tower that still stood strong with no signs of damage to its stone brick exterior. There was two wooden doors that might be the front entrance to the building. There was also two statues that were on sides of walkway. The one on the left was a tall horse that showed great pride in its composure. The one on the left showed a smaller horse that was giving a more or less smile to the bigger horse. Both were Alicorns by their appearance. I'm thinking these two are representing the rulers of Equestria.

The door had a seal that had written on it. I wasn't able to fully verify what the words meant. Dirt covered it from me reading it. I used my hoof to dust away the dirt to understand what the words that were on seal were trying to say to me.

Seal of the Royal Family of Equestria

Ah! So this is Royal Sisters' palace. Finally, I get a break from trying to find where it's located.

As I opened the doors, the interior was not what I had imagined in my head. Dust littered everywhere. Cracks could be seen from the floor to the walls. Most of the doors were no longer part of the entrances that kept ponies from seeing what was going on from the other side.

There were many banners of the sun and moon that had fallen from the wooden beams of the castle and were on the floor. I also found where the armory was located. Dozens of old armor uniforms remained intact after the many years of them being forgotten. Getting closer to the uniforms, the material used for them looked to be gold! Gold is considered an important metal in my world. Amazing how a civilization would use gold for its troops.

There was also wooden spears that were also attached to the manikins. I'm actually surprised the wood hasn't been eaten by termites. The spears must be protected by magic to prevent something like that from happen.

From behind me was a different type of armor for ponies to wear and protect themselves. The armor was the color of purple with a mix of black. Even more weird was the center of the chest piece.It looked like a reptilian eye was in the circle of the chest plate. Hmm. I think there were two different types of solders that once protected this place with their lives.

Venturing off again, I was in what I believed was the throne room. The roof was hardly intact. The carpets that connected to the staircases were no longer clean. The thrones that the rulers would sit also suffered greatly from years of no protection over mother nature's time making this place unrecognisable. There was also a bridge that connected both thrones to make it more easier for each ruler to talk to. Though it showed signs of needing massive repairs, it still fights for its survival.

Something happened here. It didn't feel right to me. There was conflict in this room. Dark conflict.

I could hear a voice scream to the top of its lungs, loudly echoing against the countless corridors and rooms in the castle.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess will be ME!"

I winced my head in the air from the sudden high pitch screech. I had to use my hooves to keep anymore sound from trying to bust my ear drums.

The voice was gone, at least for now. I put my forelegs back on the ground. This place has a dark history. A VERY dark history that shouldn't even be brought up to the next generation of children.

My eyes were watering for no reason. Why was I crying? I… I didn't do anything!

"Luna! I will not fight you. You must lower the moon, it is your duty!"

There goes a different voice. This one spoke with authority. Authority that had more power over somepony. It sounded like it were in horror but was trying to keep its composure together.

I started to shake from all over. My legs felt like rubber. Than, I collapsed in a heavy sob.

"I'm sorry. I-I… forgive me dear sister. Please forgive me. I'm not evil! Just give me the chance...to..redeem myself." Why was I talking to myself aloud? This wasn't right. I don't even have a sister! I was an only child.

"Dearest sister. Have mercy on my soul. Please.....sniff... I didn't mean it. I never meant to fight you!" Now I was screaming to the top of my lungs. I covered my face with my forearms and just continued to sob in the middle of the throne room.

I felt nothing but pain, sorrow, and rage take over me. These emotions are making me feel so different now. I felt like I was being tortured by these voices.

Who are these voices?? Why were they fighting against one another? And why am I crying because of said voices?

Raising my head to see if anything else might happen, the moon's rays penetrated through the holes of the throne room and were coming in contact with me only. The moon. It was.... I don't know why it was focusing its time on me. Why does thou light shine upon me? For what purpose does it serve? Does thou want thee to be happy?

Why am I speaking in Old English?

My heart started to beat uncontrollably.

I need to leave. I can't stay in this room anymore. I need to find another room before the voices start to flood into my mind. Getting up and rubbing what tears remained on my face, I galloped out of the throne room to find where the library was probable located.

Where is the library? Rushing from room to room, I couldn't be able to find where it would be.

A couple hours after searching, I could see what looked like a symbol on a side of a door that looked like a book. That must be the library. I could be able to gain access to a variety of books that tells me about the sisters and the history of Equestria.

I got into the door and shut it behind me with my hind legs.

"I'm sorry that you went through in what you heard, Ada." This voice was different. It didn't sound like the voices that I heard the throne room. Looking up ahead of me stood a saddened Nightmare Moon.

"Nightmare..." I slowly said. She looked at me with sympathy. She knew I had an unpleasant time in the throne room. I noticed that her injuries from her body were all gone. She had the same armor I had on my body. What looked different about her was her body. It glowed light blue and I could see right through her like a window. Was she...

"I'm merely just a spirit now, Ada. Nopony else would hear or see me. Only you are able to do that." Her voice, it sounded… motherly.

I walked toward her. She didn't move. She remained in the same position when I first got my eyes fixed on her.

"Nightmare, what....what were those voices that I was hearing in the throne room?" While giving my question for her to respond, her expression changed from being somewhat happy to sad.

"The first voice you heard was my good sister. Her name would be Luna. She is Princess of the Night and one of the rulers of Equestria. The other was Celestia. She is....the Princess of the Sun. She too is the second ruler of Equestria." She said with no emotion in her voice.

"What happened here?" She began to explain to me about how a thousand years ago her younger sister Luna was seeing ponies not appreciate her night. All they would do is stay indoors and never think of just stepping outside in the middle of the night. Celestia who was the elder sister of Luna would be one who was very much appreciated by having the sun give warmth to her ponies in her land.

Luna saw this as a stab in the back by her elder sister. Celestia was getting all the attention for herself. Nightmare added that one night, Princess Luna refused to lower the moon for Celestia to raise the sun. That's where everything change from there on. When Luna refused, her anger and rage had caused her to transform her into no other than Nightmare Moon herself. Nightmare Moon was winning the fight up until Celestia had used six gems that went by the name of 'The Elements of Harmony'. The Elements were powerful enough to blast Nightmare Moon to the moon for over a thousand years.

Long after that event was over, everything was perfectly fine.

One day, there was going to be a festival called 'The Summer Sun Celebration'. This was the day in which ponies would see Celestia come to Ponyville to watch her raise the sun for her ponies to see.

It did not happen.

Nightmare Moon was telling me how she was able to escape the moon to come back to Equestria to bring eternal darkness to the land. Unfortunately, that plan clearly failed. There were six ponies that were able to defeat Nightmare Moon and reform her back to Princess Luna.

Rainbow Dash: Element of Loyalty,

Pinkie Pie: Element of Laughter,

Fluttershy: Element of Kindness,

Applejack: Element of Honesty,

Rarity: Element of Generosity,

Twilight Sparkle: Element of Magic.

I wasn't turning my head the other way. I was absolutely paying full attention to Nightmare Moon. She was born from all that Celestia put Luna through. The anger, hate, sorrow and jealousy were the emotions that caused Nightmare Moon to be born from within Princess Luna. Now I understand why Nightmare Moon was in my dream. She believes she was in hell and I was probably like an angel from heaven that decided to give her a second chance at life.

It meant that I would take her place of being Luna's inner-ego. Nightmare would still be here with me. Just not in physical form, only in spiritual form.

"Y-You.....brought me back to see what Equestria looks like after what had happened to me three years ago. It was you that ended my suffering in Tartarus." she started sobbing and then sat on her haunches.

I felt something from her… something I never felt from being an only child on earth: Sisterhood.

If we're biologically related to one another. Then this would mean… I'm now her sister! And so would Celestia and Luna!

"Hey, it's going to be okay, sister." She flinched from me just saying that last word. That word must have rattled through her mind. Was it really hurtful just by saying that one word? She's probably having lost memories coming back to haunt her again. And I believe those memories will later be put into my mind.

I had the sudden urge to hug her in my embrace. Which, incidentally, was what I did. I was surprised that I was actually able to hug her. I thought it was impossible to actually touch a spirit that was not solid, but whatever.

I wrapped my wings around her to provide her with more comfort from me. She accepted my comfort and latched onto me. Now she was crying in my chest. She kept crying for over the next couple minutes. Nightmare didn't want to let go. She didn't want me to leave her alone in this castle.

I gently stroked her mane with my hoof. It seemed to calm her down temporarily, but it was short lived. She was over emotional. She couldn't get a grip of herself. All the pain she suffered from being in Tartarus was coming out of her, shaking violently without much control of the agony that was stuck inside of her.

"I'm here, Nightmare." I cooed in her ear, "I'm here." Now she was beginning loosen up. She let go of me just a little bit to look at me directly in the eyes. In her eyes, I could see her saying sanctuary that was filled with love and compassion. Something that the Elements didn't give to her when she was ultimately erased from Equestria.

They made her look like she was a nobody. That she was nothing but a mere shadow to everypony. I was the only pony that cared for her and I was now her sister that wants to keep her from being hurt by anypony.

I'm her angel.

Her savior.

Her sister.

This was reminding me of my former parents. Treated me like I was a shadow that would be ignored from time to time. And those ponies were…

No. Don't think like that, Ada. Don't give into vengeance. That will lead only to more pain and sorrow.

Think about your sister.. that's what's important now.

Keeping my sister safe.

It was only a nightmare (Rewrite)

It was only a nightmare

The night has ended. A new day has come to land of Equestria. Nightmare Moon has begun to look at me as a true sister that cares about her. All her sorrow was washed away from last night. I have yet to have any new memories come flying towards me. I guess that might be good for the most part.

I was reading tremendous amounts of books from the library. Most of the knowledge I found is quite useful for me to remember.

Alicorns had all three races in them. Unicorn, pegasi, and earth pony. Unicorns get to use only magic, Pegasi are able to use their wings to fly, and earth ponies have to use their strength of their body to survive on ground.

This was interesting for me to understand these races. The alicorn seems to surpass all three races. Making it the most powerful species known to Equestria.

I've found a book about how to safely use magic without causing massive damage upon me using my magic. An alicorn's magic is more unstable than that of a regular unicorn. It requires time and patients to slowly understand the process of thinking of what magic an alicorn would want to have. Heck, it even speaks of how to teleport to a destination you try to think in your mind! Now that does make things easier for me. I don't need to always walk to get where I want to go.

Nightmare Moon actually gave me a book that had what looked like years ago, pictures of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Almost every picture that was in the book showed them having a good time with one another. There wasn't any sign of Luna acting mischievous or upset in the pictures.

Continuing to examine through the book, I noticed there was one picture of Luna looking… I don't know. She was smiling happily, but at the same time, she looked angry.

Her left eye seemed to show signs of rage. The eye shape looked too reptilian. Her coat color in this picture was not a light blue color. It was more of a darker shade of blue. Maybe two or three coats darker than the other past pictures I've seen. She was trying to hide something when this picture was taken. And I believe this was almost near the time when she was turned into Nightmare Moon.

Probably shouldn't look at this anymore. It may give me an unpleasant memory of what had happened during that time period.

After a couple hours of learning new stuff in these old books, I started to tell Nightmare Moon more about who I was before I came to this world. I told her about how my parents didn't appreciate in who I was as a eighteen year old teenager living in their house. I even told her about how I wished I was to be reborn into a different form that was not a human, but a horse.

She seemed to understand what life was like for me in my world. Nightmare spoke of how Luna was kind of like me. For Luna, she was just a shadow to everypony around her. Celestia only had pride for herself and for her subjects. I can see why Luna wasn't happy with how everypony including her sister treating her. She only wanted ponies to appreciate her night. Next thing you know she's turned into Nightmare Moon and gets blasted to the moon for a thousand years.

When Nightmare was on the moon, she said that she only felt regret of taking Luna away from her sister. But her regret evaporated long before she escaped the moon. Her lust for vengeance only made her get erased and sentenced to eternal torture in Tartarus. But I have given her a chance to redeem herself. Only problem is she is in spiritual form where nopony would be able to see her. I was the only one that could see and hear her.

Sisters… the word still echoed in my head. How I was like an older sister to her.

Sometimes I wish I had another sister on earth. But, I was an only child. Life can sometimes be unfair for many people. Plus, life is short. Life can be taken away in fraction of a second. So, a person or pony must enjoy what life has in store for them.

The one thing I know is I'm an immortal being that lives forever. One of the books that read said that alicorn ponies are the only creatures that are able to live forever. However, it spoke of a creature that goes by the name 'Discord'. He's an immortal being, too. He's known for his 'chaotic' behavior in this world, dubbed as the Spirit of Chaos. That does seem to fit his character. After all, his name is 'Discord’.

His history was very… strange. He committed some of the most chaotic evil that nopony had ever seen before. Even though he did things differently than an average villain; forcing ponies to do things they would never do and tricking them, turning them in their opposite selves… even creating chocolate rain from cotton candy clouds. It was all nonsense, but still destructive.

It wasn't until Princess Luna and Celestia had used the Elements of Harmony to turn him into stone. The book had said his body was placed in Canterlot's garden, only to be looked at as a chaotic looking statue that Celestia had hired a sculpture pony to make.

Hehe. The more I was thinking about Discord, the more I think of him as little boy screwing things around with his parents. I gave myself a chuckle just thinking about him. Guy must have some of the most craziest of ideas that I would never even imagine of.

Another book spoke of different places all across Equestria. What I found interesting about it is how some of the city's names are almost identical to the ones that were on earth. Manehattan was the city they call "The city that never sleeps'. Of course, that's what the state of New York is like. . Same name. Different world. Even Fillydelphia is similar to the state of Philadelphia. There's a city called Stalliongrad. It just like saying Stalingrad. Though that city on earth was renamed after the death of Joseph Stalin, who was once the Soviet leader of the USSR. She seemed interested to learn about human history as much as I was about Equestrian history.

It's very strange to know that Equestria seems to have mimicked some of the names from earth. Wonder if both worlds are somehow connected to one another? What was it that scientists called again? Parallel universe? Maybe it was alternate universe. Seeing a world that's the same, just showing alternate reality. No. That wouldn't make any sense. Then there's the multiverse theory. Maybe Equestria is one of the billion or trillion worlds that are in different universes that mankind has yet to even come close to finding.

Another place that I had read in book was a place called the Crystal Empire. It was place that was made entirely of crystals, hence it’s name. It's also an ally to Equestria's rulers. The one who ran the Empire was actually a unicorn that went by the name Love Heart, a unicorn that brought pure joy to her subjects. It actually spoke of a successor after she died in office. The name of the successor was not named in the book, but it did speak of Love Heart's daughter that would take her place once she died.

"The books I've read so far are very helpful to understand, Nightmare Moon," I exclaimed. "I seem to understand more about what Equestria is like now. Even more than I had expected."

"Glad that you understand, Ada." Nightmare gave a cheery smile to me. She didn't even have any signs of anger from her words. I must've did an excellent job in helping her from last night. There is just something that I still want to know: what will happen if I were to meet Luna and Celestia personally? Okay. That does seem stupid to even think about now. They would probably try to kill me. What would happen to Nightmare Moon if that were to suddenly happen in the future?

She might..... I don't know. Maybe she would just feel everlasting pain to see somepony who is now her sister be killed by the ones she would also call sisters. Since all of us would share the same blood.

I don't want that to happen to my sister. I'm not sure if I would be known as the big sister to Nightmare. Since clearly she would be more older than I am. Or are we the same age as one another? I wouldn't be eighteen anymore. That's for a human, but an alicorn lives throughout the ages of every other living thing on the planet. I'm guessing that we might be the same age.

I care about her. She's the pony that I want to protect with every fiber of my being, and I would not sit idly by to see her get hurt by another pony. I refuse to let that happen to her. I'd sacrifice myself if it were to come to that point.

Getting on all fours, I stretched my wings out to getting the blood flowing back in their veins. I seriously need to learn how to fly with these things… although that might wait some other time, along with the magic part that I have yet to understand.

"Want to walk around for a bit, Nightmare?" She gave a quick nod to me as we walked in the castle. There are a lot of rooms than when I walked came here last night. I saw picture frames that contained some pictures of the princesses. One of the pictures had Royal Guard soldiers saluting Princess Celestia, while another picture showed Princess Luna flying up in the beautiful night sky she had created just from where you could see Canterlot from the air.

There were several statues that resembled past government officials that once served in Equestria's government. There were also statues of high ranking military leaders that were present in the hallway we were walking in. Each one had stone-cold expressions on their carved faces. These leaders must have showed great strength during their time protecting the beings of Equestria.

There wasn't much to besides that to look at. The castle seems remain anything but presidential. I'm actually surprised that the ceiling hasn't decided to give in to crash right on top of me. Seems the material the builders made seems to have pass the test of time. Few buildings on earth would've have already crashed back to earth for nature to swallow in one big gulp.

Nightmare was wanting to tell me something, but was stopping herself before she would say anything. I wasn't really sure if I should be the one to speak and maybe break the ice. She seemed to be quieter than what I had anticipated. Was she starting to be shy all of a sudden, or maybe these hallways were bringing back bad memories? I hope that's not the case.

We were making our way to one of the exits of the castle. The door had already been open… strange. Did somepony decide to venture off in the Everfree Forest and decided to come to the castle? I didn't hear anypony coming in. And I don't think it were any animals that made their way in here. Probably a gust of wind was what caused the door to open up.

Suddenly, without a chance of talking, I started to get a throbbing pain in my head, nearly unbearable to fight against or ignore. I had no choice but to sit on my haunches to wait for it to disappear. Nightmare came to my side for being concerned over my sudden collapse. Why was getting a headache at this point? I felt a cold sweat and my heart rate was increasing fast.

"I don't....feel so..." Everything I was seeing was spinning all around me. What's going on? Everything around me went black as I could feel somepony shaking me to wake up. I believe it was a Nightmare that was now shocked to see that I just collapsed in the hallway.

"Ada! Please wake up?!"

"Ugh." Gah... my head hurts... who's voice is it that I'm hearing?

"Don't keep your sister waiting, Ada. She's needs you more than ever."

"Wait a minute, you're that voice from the other day, correct?"

The voice did not respond back.

I was starting to hear different voices again. These voices did not sound like adults. More like children. They were screaming for somepony to help them. But I could not see them.

"Mommy! Help me!"

"I don't want to be eaten by the monster!"

"Somepony! Anypony! I want my mommy and daddy!!"

These are fillies and colts screaming for their parents! What is the cause of them being in great fear?

"She is coming. Do not let her find you in the shadows of darkness."

I could see dark blue dot from distance trying to get to me. It wasn't running. And I didn't see it as a threat. I could see it had wings on the sides of its body and a horn sticking out of its head. I think this might be Princess Luna. She hasn't seen me yet. Better to find an exit before she spots me.

This place was completely dark. What is this place? Could I be in a dream once again? But how would Luna be here? Maybe I was reading way too much about her and looking at the pictures of when she was very young.

"She can feel the presence of shadows, but she does not know the reason as to why it has awoken from its great slumber."

"Run Ada! Run! Never stop!"

That sounded like Nightmare! Frantically running, I could see a pentagon door that had light from the other side of it. This must be my ticket to getting out of here. Before I could get a chance to even set hoof in the door, the light from it started to grab onto my legs and eventually made me unable to see what was going on.

Everything went black. I couldn't hear or see. Was I ever going to wake up?

The light started to dissipate all around. My eyes were adjusting for me to see where I was. Took a while to get my eyes to not make me feel dizzy. Finally, I was able to see where I was. For some reason, I wasn't in the hallway anymore. Turning my eyes to the left and right, I discovered I was in a room. The blinds were preventing the sunlight from penetrating in the room I was in. Furthermore, I felt like I was placed on a bed. I seemed to have been tucked right into the covers to keep me warm. I also noticed that I didn't see Nightmare Moon in the room with me.

Where'd she go? She must've carried me and placed me on this bed to see if I were to wake up.

"Nightmare? You there?"

Nothing happened.

I called out again, "Nightmare? Hello? Sister?"

Still no response from her.

Getting out of to my bed, I approached the door to see if maybe she were trying to maybe scare the living life out of me. I'll play along with her secret game.

Once I opened the door, I checked to see if Nightmare was going to try and do a jump scare on me. She wasn't in the hallway. Where is she? It was like she just decided to disappear and never come.....back.

I gasped and started galloping to find if Nightmare was still here in the castle.

"Nightmare! Where are you?” I looked around, hoping for some miracle sign of where she wandered off to, “Answer me Nightmare! This isn't funny the slightest!!" Shouting her name wasn't effective enough to find here. There was no sign of her to be seen.

Oh Celestia. Please. Tell me she didn't just disappear when I woke up.

Turning around, I tried to see if maybe she was in the room I was in. Peaking in the room, there was no sign indicating she was there.

"Nightmare.... Come on, I'm right here!" It was no use. Nightmare was not here anymore.

Looking down to the floor, I felt like I wanted to scream to the top of my lungs. There was nothing to even think about. I felt magic building up in me. It was waiting to be released. It was calling for me to just give myself up to it. This magic depended on the pain and sorrow I was going through.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER!" I let out a loud raging roar, it shattering any windows that managed to remain intact over the many years of it’s existence.

"None of this real. You are still dreaming, Nightmare. Allow me to remove the rage and sorrow that has been filled within your body."

I felt my emotions suddenly drained out of me. The rage and sorrow was replaced with warmth and comfort. I was feeling calm again. I took in deep breaths and exhaled to calm myself a little more than expected.

"Why have thou cometh to help thyself?" I don't know why I was wanting to speak in Old English again… it seemed so, natural.

"Because I'm the one who watches over you. I do not upon any circumstances want to see you go more into unleashing your rage while you're still sleeping. Try to understand in what you are, Nightmare. There's more to you than meets the eye."

The voice was hard to tell if it were feminine or masculine. Why was it hidden it's real voice? Was it probably wanting to show itself somewhere in the near future? Maybe not here. But somewhere in which would be the right time to speak to one another in person....I mean, pony.

I felt myself starting to feel dizzy once again. Everything started to fade into black, while my legs gave in for me to fall to the floor.

My eyes shot open to see that I was in a different room now. It wasn't the hallway I was in from when I had first passed out mysteriously. Neither was it a bedroom. I was in what looked like in the living room type area of the castle. The furniture itself was surprisingly clean with no dirt on them. The paint that was covering the walls has not lost any part of its color or was frayed from aging decay, the walls were covered in a dark blue color.

I felt like I was sitting on something under my belly. Looking down, I realized that I was on a couch, feeling very comfortable to be lying down on it. I also noticed that I had two blankets keeping me warm.

Alright. This must not be dream anymore. It has to be real.

Getting the covers off and getting off the couch, I tried to see if could relieve my fear and find my sister. I noticed that there was something blocking the door…

Nightmare Moon was the one who was guarding the door. Sitting down with her head leaning back against the wall, sleeping without a sound.

I put my hoof on my mouth to prevent her from possibly hearing me giggle at her. She looked so adorable the way she was sleeping! Maybe I shouldn't wake her up. She may need the rest to regain her energy.

Before thinking of going back to sleep to recover more, I saw that there was another couch that was from the opposite side of the living room.

I decided to carefully lift Nightmare from the ground and tried to place her on my back. She didn't even wake up. That's quite surprising. I'd expected that she would've awoken after I got her on my back. I was finally able to gently place her on the couch for her to be a bit more comfortable. Looking around to see if there were any other covers, I saw at least two more covers that were in the center of the living room. Grabbing them with my hoofs, I placed them on Nightmare Moon.

I noticed that she was forming a smile on her mouth. She must be feeling the warmth from the covers I gave her to stay equally warm like me. Or she could be feeling the love I was giving her. She's all I care about. Sisters stay together till death, maybe even beyond that if there was the possibility. Though we are immortal, there might be a possibility that I or her could die. But I'm not going to let that happen to me or her.

Without compromising my plan, I trotted over to the opposite side of the room where my couch was, slowly getting on it, and placing the covers back on me.

I'm not sure if it was day or night out. But, it wasn't a problem for me. As I closed my eyes, I whispered quietly where maybe Nightmare would be able to hear me.

"Goodnight, my dearest sister."

The Elder Wizard (Rewrite)

The Elder Wizard

It's amazing how many books there are in this castle. Most of the books remained intact over the course of them being locked away in several different rooms in the castle.

Nightmare Moon was trying to help me out in finding a good spell book for me to understand how to properly use my magic. We've been unsuccessful in finding the book case that would contain magic spells for unicorns and alicorns alike.

How many book cases are even here? It reached to the top of the roof at different points while just walking in the library. Only a few bookcases have fallen; the books they contained were damaged assumingly both by old age and when the bookcases fell over.

You'd expect that there would be signs telling where the magic aisle was located. I do believe that maybe the signs have probably disappeared a long time ago. Surely Nightmare might be able to discover where the spell books are located.

As I continued to look, there was a strange statue that was in front of me. I could tell it was a stallion just by looking at the muzzle. It would appear that it had a long beard, a starry cape, and even a matching wizard hat on top of its head.

Looking to see who this stallion may be, I saw a gold plaque that was just underneath the statue:

'Starswirl the Bearded'.

What it also said was he was a very powerful wizard that changed the rules and limits of magic-casting. His role was to create spells that had good intentions, and he worked closely with the Royal Sisters. Unfortunately, most of the spells he created ended up becoming what is known as dark magic. He was trying to only make light magic that was practically impossible to do any harm to anypony in Equestria.

In addition, the dark spells that he created were put into a book that still remained a mystery of where it is located, but it's rumored that it could've been placed here in the Royal Sisters' Palace.

Starswirl was never seen again after he finished all the spells he created. Many believe that he's not dead. He might still be alive and is just waiting to return to make more spells for future gifted unicorns like himself to perfect. I wondered if this guy did something that he regrets to this day? Maybe… but who am I to judge of what he did back then? I didn't come to this world when he was around.

Giving a shrug, I continued looking around to find maybe at least one book about magic spells. There were books about history, science, the Royal sisters of Equestria, really advanced-looking math, different animal species that live in Equestria, etc.

How hard is it to find books that are just about magic?! It shouldn't even be this hard. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to find books filled with magic that I might not have a problem to learn as an alicorn to understand and take time to harness. Especially of one the most renowned wizards used.

I lost track as to where Nightmare Moon was. Feels like we're trying to find a needle in a haystack. Did the designers add a map layout to this place? This is possibly one of the biggest libraries that was ever made in this world. I've been to libraries in my world, but this one is just too big for even the best ponies to get around.

As the old saying goes, 'Knowledge is power'. But I think there's way too much knowledge in here. This place could be used for college students in my opinion. That's how many books are in the library.

Continuing to go further down the aisles, I felt something faintly cracking underneath my hooves. Looking down, I noticed that there was a crack encircling my left forehoof. It continued not just from there, but spread out in all directions from where I was standing.

My blood went cold. Was it about to collapse?!

I froze in place; I don't think I'll be able to gallop away before it collapses.

Finally, the floor collapsed along with me going down into a big, black hole.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! NIIIGGHHTTMAAARREE!!!"

I.....ow....my head.

What......what the buck...just happened?

I couldn't see anything to save my flank! It was nothing but darkness all around me.

Oh, wait. Now I remember. The floor I was on collapsed right under me and also made me fall to maybe the bottom of the castle.

"N-Nightmare?” I coughed out some of the dust that got in my lungs, “You- ugh..." I could hardly talk. I must've really hit the bottom hard. I'm surprised I'm even alive! A normal human would've died upon impact. Seems like alicorns are stronger to withstand hitting the ground at high speeds. Felt like I hit a brick wall that was reinforced with steel from inside of it.

I tried to move my body, but it was painful to even move my legs. My whole body was screaming to be released from all this rubble on top of me. My wings were the ones that are probably in more pain than the rest of my body. I think I might have broken bones now.

Great. That's just great! I'm at the bottom of this place and I'm not sure Nightmare even knows I'm in this mess.

Is this how it's going to end for me? I'm gonna die in the darkness? Nightmare won't even know until she finds a hole in the floor of the library. And I'm not even sure she heard me scream before falling down here.

"S-Somepony..." Coughing out more dirt. "Anypony....h-help me."

There was a sound of hoof steps coming from in front of me. I wasn't sure who it was.

"N-Nightmare? Is.... is t-that you?" I called out.

There was no sound again. Was I just imagining things? It sounded so real. Noises that are not that far wouldn't be making anypony think they are hallucinating.

There it was again. I could hear the sound of bells shaking in unison. The hoof steps were also being heard again. It was getting louder, louder, and louder as it was coming to me. I know Nightmare Moon doesn't have any bells for her armor or for mine. It wouldn't make any sense as to why you would need bells for yourself.

Unless it were to help you wake up or tell the owners of a house that the newspaper has arrived. Which, of course is hardly even used anymore on earth.

I could hear breathing now. Not from me. But from the individual who might be looking down at me.

Who is this pony? And why would he/she be under the castle? Could it be another spirit that's like Nightmare Moon? If that were the case, I would've already seen the pony. Maybe it was wanting to know if I was a threat to it.

"Lost you are, it seems." The voice sounded wise and very old.

"Y-You could s-say that.” I slightly laughed out of nervousness, “I can s-sure use some h-help getting all the rubble off of me though..."

"Be patient, you must. Don't struggle. I shall help you get back on your hooves." I felt lighter all of a sudden. He must be lifting all the rubble off me.

I tried to move my body again, but I had to withdraw due to having a sharp sensation of pain all around me.

"Injured, you are. Stay still, it will be over in a minute or two."

I felt myself being levitated off the ground. The bruises I sustained were disappearing and I could feel my bones starting to reconnect to one another. There was no pain. Only bliss.

The anonymous pony then gently placed me back on the ground.

"Great thou art, for thou art powerful."

Now he was speaking in Old English as well...

"Who are thou to help thyself from falling down in this place of darkness?" Suddenly, I was now speaking in Old English. This seems to be more natural to me. Perhaps I should speak in this language.

"Aren't thou Nightmare Moon, hmm?" he asked.

"My name is Nightmare Moon," I replied.

"Likewise. My name is Starswirl, Starswirl the Bearded."

Wait. Starswirl the Bearded? No way... how is he even here? So it is true. He still lives to this day.

"Ah. Thou are surprised? Surely thou must be. For thy eyes don't lie." He gave a chuckle.

Yeah, he was right about that! This guy must have a spell that makes him live forever!

"Hehe. Yeah.” Looks like the Old English talk wore off… but not entirely. “For I am surprised that you are standing here before me. Why have you come to this place, Starswirl?"

He shows himself to be the wizard of mystery, at long last. The statue had every bit of detail on him just like I see him now. His eyes, for the most part, looked golden. More like a darkish color of gold. Though old, he still showed that he could walk without needing a cane.. if elderly ponies were even able to use them. His coat was dark gray. His mane and tail were light grey, almost white. His beard and hooves were a snow-white color.

For his appearance and magic, he is a unicorn... A very powerful unicorn indeed.

There was something on his back. It looked like an old book. The cover was leathery blue with an elaborate golden border and lock on it. What's he doing with an old book on his back?

"You seem to be curious as to why I have this book with me. I’m afraid I cannot say exactly… but it holds magic no-one should touch; it’s much too powerful for anyone.” He stopped speaking in Old English just like I did, for now.

"You mean.... That's the book that's been rumored to be in the Royal Sisters' palace? That book?" I was trying to process this new information. I was thinking that maybe the book would have been destroyed to prevent power hungry ponies from using it for evil deeds. I wouldn't dare try to even think of having temptation to take Starswirl's book away from him. Wait! I must tell him who I am. How will he react? He knows that I'm the Mare of the Moon. He wouldn't just give me his book like this.

Taking in a deep breath, I told him who I was. "Although you see me as Nightmare Moon, I'm not really her. I've been reincarnated in her image," I confessed. "My name is Ada. I was once a being that would be known as a human, or in science terms, Homo sapiens. I'm not from Equestria. The world I come from is known as planet Earth."

His eyes were closed. He didn't say anything. But I could tell he listened to what I was saying. Then, without even thinking of what he might say next, he starts to… chuckle?

"I knew you were different when I saw you, Ada. I might be old, but I can sense who's who." Now I'm starstruck. He knew this whole time??

"Why, I know you are now a sister to Nightmare Moon. And you have changed her in the matter of just two days. Many would fail to try to change the Mare of the Moon for who she is. But you have been successful in ridding her of the hatred and sorrow that was deep inside her heart."

"How do you even...?" How does he know this stuff? Does he read minds or something?

"Remember the voice you heard when you first came here, Ada? Do you not recognize it?" He smiled and looked at me.

"Wait, you...that...you mean...?" I couldn't talk… or I just couldn’t find the words to say.

"Yes, Ada. I was the voice you heard at the beginning of your new life here in Equestria. I heard your wish to become a creature you always wanted to be. The voices from the pond answered your wish to help Nightmare Moon redeem herself? That was also me."

My jaw dropped to the ground.

"What?! T-that was you… you, Starswirl the Bearded...??? " I sat down, and I could hear him laughing softly at my dumbfounded reaction.

“It is a bit of a surprise… and I see you have heard of me before.” He glanced up at the hole that I fell through in thought. “And you fell through one of the traps I set up so long ago… at least you know where I am now.” Starswirl looked back at me. “I see you’ve been though a lot recently, as I haven’t seen a human in many, many moons.” (I thought he would know what a human is, just only the basics of them occasionally “coming to Equestria like falling stars” but it was very rare, and they did often get transformed into ponies.)

This is something I never saw coming. Words could not describe how he was the one who answered my wish. He wanted to help me. Not just me. He wanted me to also help Nightmare Moon at the same time. And to make it easier was for me to become her sister.

My mind is blown away.

"I do believe you were also wanting to find a book that contained magic spells, yes?" I merely nodded. There were no words coming out of my mouth.

The book that he had on his back was now being levitated towards me. I slowly extended out my forelegs to grab onto it. The seal that was on the blue cover contained an alicorn that had a gold coat and it showed great power towards me.

There was something that was written under the seal.

Umbra possidet, lux perstat

I looked up to notice Starswirl giving me a smile. "That book is all that you need to learn about dark and light magic, Ada. But be warned. The spells that are in my book are more powerful than any other spells that ponykind has seen before. I was the only one who tried to master these spells… but I made a grave mistake in trying to master them.” He held his head down for a moment before his golden-yellow eyes glanced back at me with the same smile as before. “But I sense you will master the spells far more than I would."

“Aren’t you supposed to be a master of magic?” I asked. That last part that he said confused me… how would I master something that one of the said greatest wizards of pony history wasn’t able to complete? "I'm merely new to magic that this world has to offer. How are you certain that I could master these spells, Starswirl?"

"I know you can do this, Ada. You just gotta believe in who you are. My spells may be difficult for me to use, but I see you as my successor in both kinds of magic." He slowly backed away and was disappearing into the dark. "May you be successful in your training, Ada. Use the time to your advantage. Only then you will become the most powerful alicorn that Equestria has ever seen. Good luck. And may the night aid you in your quest to becoming what I could not." His voice echoed in my head.

There was a light I could see on my right side.

"Go to the light. It is your exit, Ada. There you will meet up with Nightmare Moon. She's worried about you. Don't keep her waiting," whispered Starswirl.

Nodding, I placed the book on my back and galloped over to the light. While doing so, I could see I have entered the throne room. It was also sunny now.

"Nightmare? Are you here?" I asked.

My ears perked up when the sound of door was creaking open from behind me. Turning around, I could see Nightmare Moon's eyes go wide and she tackled me to the ground, causing the book on my back to fall right off of me.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy there, Nightmare! I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." She just wasn't letting go of me.

"Where were you? You didn't hear me in the library! I thought you left me!!" She snuggled against my chest trying not to cry a river of tears. Geez. I thought all her pain was gone from two days ago.

"Relax, Nightmare. I got a book that.....I found in another part of the castle." I pointed my hoof at where the book was now on the floor. She turned her head to where I was pointing. When she did so, her pupils were contracted to where I wouldn't be able to see them.

She looked back at me and said, "Is that......"

Nodding my head, I said, "Yes, it is. Starswirl the Bearded's spell book." I didn't want to tell her about what really happened when we got separated. I might tell her that I met him in pony… er, in person.

Nightmare let go of me and allowed me to stand back on all fours. Doing so, I walked over to grab the book with my hoof. Now I just need to figure out how to open it. There was no key to unlock it. But perhaps there is another way to open it: magic.

"Magic is a powerful tool, Ada. It's like an animal. You must control it. I had resisted dark magic many times back when I was young, but I know you will master both sides of magic. Concentration is most important to understand taming magic. Just don't kid yourself. You were born from the night that was created out of jealousy, pain, and sorrow by Princess Celestia. Those three emotions will keep you sane. Take my advice seriously. That's what I will continue to teach you over the course of your life in Equestria."

Smiling, I told Nightmare that we would leave the castle for maybe an hour or two. She seemed to understand that it was time to learn magic outside. Wouldn't want to blow this castle off the face of Equestria. That's something I wouldn't want.

I'm gonna need a saddle bag to keep the book from slipping off my back. Surely there would be a few in the armory room for me to take with me. I might also need to make a hoodie so that nopony would get to see my face. They would alert the Princesses and everypony in Ponyville. I must be cautious in my surroundings.

Now it's time to take in some inventory.

"One more thing. Allow me to give you a temporary disguise, Ada. It's to ensure you are safe when walking into the fields where you were placed in before. This may cause you to black out… but Nightmare will still feel you as a sister even when I'm done. Don't worry. Everything will go according to your plan."

I felt a sudden headache just hit me. As I looked down to look at my forelegs, I noticed that the upper part of my legs were turning to dark purple, while the lower part remained midnight black. The purple color was still spreading all around me. The armor had disappeared, replaced with a black cloak that covered my wings. I also felt a sudden pain around my body where I couldn't bear it any longer.

I blacked out like Starswirl had warned me.

"Ada!" Nightmare shouted but her voice was being tuned down while entering the void of darkness.

"You'll be fine, I promise. It's merely temporary. That is the opportunity I am giving you. By the time your current appearance wears off, you will know magic and how to change back at will.

"Good luck, Nuray."

The Stranger of the Everfree Forest (Rewrite)

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The Meeting with Twilight Sparkle (Rewrite)

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Escape from the Castle

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