A Story Never Told

I hadn't leaned much. I knew the borders of the neighboring kingdoms, the personal quips of a scholar trying to study Alicorn magic, and some of the more well-known denizens of Tartarus, and about the terrible system that was vaguely comparable to old railways.

I had learned one valuable thing about the Elements, however. The Elements gave their bearers a powerful resistance to harmful magic. This resistance was so tenacious that there was even a documented case of the bearers of the elements leaving their own universe -without the Elements- and still being effectively immune to the hostile magic there. In fact, touching an Element, even once, gave a permanent measure of resistance. There were even cases of bearers having this resistance before even coming into contact with the elements, the resistance apparently reaching back in time. Although there were ways to reduce this resistance, namely by reducing the unity of the bearers, only a powerful being would ever be able to harm them with magic.

Before I could fill my head with any more useless knowledge, the door opened. I sighed, not at the interruption, but at the entree.

Pinkie Pie enter the room, "Hiya, Rekie! I had a hunch you'd be here!"

"You aren't being very surprising," I said calmly

"Not to you, maybe. I said I'd meet you at the surprise party, but I never said who would be surprised. You are going to help me set up a surprise party for Twilight!"

After she spoke, she began to pull tables and foods out of a small sack. As she did so, space warped. I suddenly understood why I couldn't identify her abilities earlier.

"C'mon, lazybones! Help me out! Even I can't set up something like this alone in an hour! The other guests will be arriving anytime now!"

I began to set up tables, plates, and various foodstuffs that would spill if stored in a small bag like the one Pinkie was using. Despite me doing almost nothing to actually speed the process, the work began being done at roughly twice the speed once I started helping. After about twenty minutes, ponies began arriving. I decided to not try to scan them all, as they continued filing in for some time. However, I did notice Fluttershy and Applejack arriving to the party.

About half an hour later, Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted, "She's coming! Turn out the lights, this is gonna be a good one!"

The lights were shut off, and a moment later, the door opened.

"I swear spike. All the ponies in this town are crazy! I'm glad to finally get a moment of—"

"SURPRISE!"

"Ugh"

***

Twilight seemed to be enjoying the party more than I had expected. Yes, she was having trouble enjoying anything with the end of the world impending, but Pinkie threw really good parties. I was impressed. Eventually, Twilight and a group of five other ponies, including Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie approached me. The two other mares were a white Unicorn with an amethyst mane, elegantly styled. The second one was a rough looking blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane. An athlete.

Name: Rarity

Race: Unicorn

Age: 2.04 * 10^8 half lives of carbon-15

Intelligence: 980.6 Rellings

Language: Equestrian

Basic Abilities: Class 2 Sorcery

Name: Rainbow

Race: Pegasus Pony

Age: 1.96 * 10^8 half lives of carbon-15

Intelligence: 1050.3 Rellings

Language: Equestrian

Basic Abilities: Flight

"These are my friends. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity."

"I've already met Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie"

Applejack spoke, "Shoot, ya could've told us ya knew Twilight here. Would've made mah life that much easier"

"I didn't then. I just met her earlier today"

Twilight interjected, "I realize I don't actually know your name. We didn't have time for introductions last time we met"

"My name's Recumen"

"Huh. That's weird... I've never heard of that name, and I'm versed in all pony cultures. Could I have missed one? Could I just be forgetting—"

"I'm not from any culture you know. I'm from very far away. It's hard to explain, really. I'll do my best after the Summer Sun Celebration is over. Right now, I'm helping Twilight with some book-related stuff. It's not urgent, but I would like to speak with her later"

Rainbow Dash spoke up for the first time, "Ugh. Another egghead. One was bad enough"

Her remark earned glares from everyone else present, even Fluttershy. I decided being nice was not the best tactic.

"Oh, and being a jock is any better?" I got surprised glances from everyone except Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be merely enjoying the whole thing.

"Now that was not cool. If this weren't a party, I'd beat your face in right now!"

I ignored the frantic gestures from the other ponies "Normally, I wouldn't beat up a girl, but under the circumstances... You wanna take this outside?"

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash was quite angry now

Once outside, Twilight felt the need to establish a few rules.

"Okay. This fight will go until one participant either yields, or is knocked unconscious. Injury is not allowed. Causing an injury to the other participant or a member of the audience will be grounds for immediate disqualification and loss. Now, Recumen, you go over there, and Rainbow Dash over there. Good. Now, on my mark, get set, GO!"

Rainbow Dash rushed me immediately. I quickly dodged to the side, and rapped her on the side of the head, a blow meant to aggravate. All of the audience was impressed by my quick movement, even Applejack, who had seen my physical speed and coordination the day before.

Rainbow Dash, after looking at me for awhile, began to fly in a tight circle. For no apparent reason, air began flowing along with her, creating a small tornado. The vortex began sucking in the air around it. I began pushing through my horn, desperate for something painful, but not deadly. After a second, a small bolt of electricity erupted from my horn  and struck Rainbow Dash in the face.

"Hey! No magic!"

"Then why can you use your wings? Stop stalling and fight"

She rushed me again, and although I dodged to the other side, she was still ready. Although she was clearly aiming for my face, she struck me squarely on the horn.

The pain was nearly blinding. There was a time I wouldn't have been fazed, but I stumbled before regaining my footing. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash was already making another vortex around me, the air current pushing me off the ground. I tried to fire another lightning bolt, but the pain heightened to unbearable levels, and I blacked out.

I had been unconscious for three seconds.

"Alright, Rainbow Dash wins! Now, let's get back inside and stop beating each other up"

I got up, and Rainbow Dash flew over to where I was.

"That was pretty awesome. Every other unicorn I've hit there has been on the floor screaming. Where did you learn to take that kind of pain?"

"Experience, mostly. I do feel like screaming, though. Why is my horn on top of my head, right in the most vulnerable spot? It's incredibly inefficient"

"Probably because most unicorns don't spend much time fighting me. So... You wanna go get something to drink later?"

"You do realize that this exact situation was what I was aiming for the moment I insulted you, right?"

"I kinda figured. Pretty cool, though. I've never seen a unicorn move that fast. You're like lightning!'

***

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I did get a chance to speak to Twilight about the little bit I'd found, and Twilight was hopeful that we'd be protected against a direct assault from Nightmare Moon because of the magic resistance, but other than hot sauce being confused with soda, nothing else of interest happened.

The interesting part began as we went to the Summer Sun Celebration proper.

Pinkie Pie was sitting next to me, "Ooh. This is so exiting!" she whispered the next bit to me, "This is my favorite part!"

"Pinkie. This is much more exiting when you are quiet!"

"Oh! Sorry!" She yelled the last word, and got several glares from around the audience.

The mayor began speaking:  "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."

The curtains opened, revealing... Nothing. Disconcerting, considering Nightmare Moon had probably been released only seconds ago.

Rarity was the first to speak, "She's gone"

Pinkie Pie chose this moment to whisper to me again, "She's probably just hiding. I hear she's really good"

Then, a bluish vortex appeared, and when it dissipated, revealed a black Alicorn in armor. Nightmare Moon.

Name: Nightmare Moon

Race: Alicorn

Age: 1.29 * 10^10 half lives of carbon-15

Intelligence: 12057.4 Rellings

Language: Equestrian

Basic Abilities: Class 9 Sorcery, Flight, Immortality

Other Notes: If you do that again, I will kill you.

I hadn't made that note.

Nightmare Moon spoke, "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces"

The resulting uproar was significant, but interestingly, there were only two people who said 'Nightmare Moon' at all. The leading voice, however, was Rainbow Dash

"What did you do to our Princess?!"

Nightmare Moon seemed more amused than offended, "Am I not good enough for you? Although it is good to see that the Mentis Order still survives," she looked directly at me, "Nopony can stop me. You will never see your precious sun again. For, this day forward, the night will last FOREVER!"

"IDIOT!" I shouted over the roar of the crowd, "If you bring eternal night, Equestria will freeze, and we will all die. There will be no food, and you will be the last one to die of starvation!"

Rather than being fazed, Nightmare Moon began laughing, the blue mist around her mane and tail flowing, "If you ponies can't survive a little darkness, you should not have shunned me in the first place! I don't need food to survive, my banishment is proof enough of that. If eternal night kills the ungrateful ponies of Equestria, so be it. I will create a new empire, and I do not need anypony who cannot survive in  it."

Although it seems obvious in retrospect, this is when I realized that Nightmare Moon was not just tainted with resentment and anger. There was a genuine mental illness behind this madness. I also realized exactly what the problem was.

'You aren't even Princess Luna, are you? You are a parasite, controlling the body and mind of the Princess to bring about your own ends!"

There was a brief internal struggle behind Nightmare Moon's eyes. Bingo.

"If your talents were not so valuable to me, I would strike you down for your insolence! However, you are correct. I am a parasite, and I am in control of the most powerful body in the entire world!"

This was when I decided to run.

***

"Are you really a member of the Mentis Order?" For some reason, this seemed to be the most important thing to Twilight at that time.

"Actually, no. I am telepathic, however. I assume the Mentis Order was an ancient group of telepaths?"

"Yes. I'm so exited that you exist, though! I'm so exited to learn about how to—"

"I'm not exactly keen on teaching," I was beginning to get annoyed

"You do realize that's how the Mentis Order died out, right? To picky with apprentices. The last master died before he could teach more than the basics to his apprentice"

Applejack interjected, "Ah think we should get to the matter at hoof, sugarcube"

"Right. There is only one thing that ever defeated Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony. We need to get them, and use them"

Rarity spoke, "That seems like a long shot, but it beats freezing to death and starving, and Recumen so graciously put it"

Rainbow dash spoke next, "And it was so awesome how you insulted her in front of everypony, and she didn't dismember you. Not even a little"

Rarity responded, "It's horrible to think that Celestia's sister has been on the moon for a thousand years with that thing in her head. How awful!"

Twilight brought the conversation back on track, "Anyway. The Elements are supposed to be located in the old castle of the two sisters, deep in the Everfree Forest."

"The Everfree F-Forest? But it's haunted!" Fluttershy was trembling

"We'll be with ya, sugarcube. All of us. Together" Applejack put out her hoof, which was met with six others, although Fluttershy was understandably hesitant.

***

After a long, involved, and mostly boring journey, we finally reached the old castle.

Rainbow Dash spoke, "This castle looks pretty big. What part of the castle were the Elements supposed to be in, again?"

Twilight responded, "The book didn't say. Hopefully they won't be tough to find"

Luckily, once we entered the castle, there were several stone spheres on pedestals in the entry hall. Each sphere had a picture of a crystal on it.

I spoke, "Look out. If those are actually the Elements, there are undoubtedly protections on them"

Rainbow Dash flew over to one, and promptly picked it up without incident, placing it on the ground in front of us.

"What protections? Fluttershy, help me get the rest"

After gathering them all together, Twilight began counting them out loud, "One, two, three, four, five. Only five. We need six!"

At that moment, blue smoke came in through the windows, which coalesced into Nightmare Moon.

"Ha! You think you can defeat me?" She fired a blast of energy, destroying the stone spheres, and knocking over Twilight. Apparently, the elements did not protect themselves, "You will never see the sun again! Give up!"

Twilight got up, "Never! You may kill us all here, but together we stand here against you, as friends!"

At that moment, a sixth stone sphere appeared over Twilight's head, and descended, forming a crown. The stone fragments gathered into amulets around the necks of the other five ponies, but not me. Figured.

As Twilight began speaking, Nightmare Moon looked my way

"I may not be able to touch the bearers of the Elements, but I can still harm YOU!"

everything went black.