A Different Tale

The next day had come around and Twilight and Dinky had spent the day looking up information on Nightmare Moon. They had discovered how to activate the elements of harmony and how Nightmare Moon would get out of her moon prison. Apparently legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring everlasting night. How the stars aided her was a mystery, maybe they were like a keyhole that magic could easily unlock.

As for the elements of harmony, there was 6 different elements but only 5 were actually know, they were laughter, kindness, loyalty, generosity and honesty. The sixth element was a complete mystery that nopony knew about. Apparently, they needed a spark that activate the known elements to cause the 6th elements to appear.

''Well, that's annoying. How do we make a spark?'' asked Dinky, after reading a book that told her about the elements of harmony. ''It's not like we can wait for a bolt of lightning to strike.''

''Uh. Unicorn?'' said Twilight, looking up from 'predictions and prophecies'. She allowed a bunch of sparkles to erupt from her horn, as she stared at her older sister with frustration.

''Oh yeah...'' mumbled Dinky, awkwardly. ''I forget. You'll have to do the spell, as my magic is so limited. Should we start heading to mom's? She did ask that we come for dinner because she didn't see us that often anymore. Plus we can meet Sparkler and her daughter that way.''

Twilight nodded in agreement, as she began to organize the books back onto their correct shelves. It was pretty easy despite they only living at the library for the night, Twilight had an amazing memory and was able to find a book within instants just by looking at the name of the shelf. Once all the books were on the correct shelves and in their right positions, she turned to her older sister. ''Lets go. I can't wait to have some of mama's baked and buttered muffins.''

''Yeah, we've only been able to have them if we've come here for our school breaks. So better savor them, right?'' said Dinky in agreement, with a broad smile on her face.

The sisters grinned at each other and left their temporary library home and walked through the streets of Ponyville. Everypony was decorating the streets, preparing for that night. It was going to be the longest day of the year tomorrow and they were going to be up all night, so most fillies were asleep at that moment in time, as they couldn't stay up as long as their parents or the rest of Ponyville at that.

Truth be told, Twilight was going to be sent to bed after their dinner. Everypony in her family agreed that the two fillies of their large family had to be sent to bed, to conserve their energy for staying up all night to watch Celestia rise the sun. Even if Dinky and Twilight both knew that Celestia might not be rising the sun, because of the dreaded princess of the night returning. But still, their family didn't need to know that as it could put them in more danger.

They eventually arrived out a cottage that was on the outskirts of Ponyville. The cottage was pretty large but it had to be with how many ponies lived there. The cottage, itself, was a beautiful cream color with a beautiful red door. Dinky was the one to walked up to the door and knock on it, as Twilight just stood back. She hadn't lived in the house properly since she was a foal, and the only times she had been inside was when she and Dinky had school holidays.

The door opened to reveal Derpy Hooves, with her husband, Doctor Whooves. The Doctor was a brown stallion with a spiky brown mane and blue eyes. It was actually a wonder on how their foals were unicorns when Derpy was a pegasus and Doctor was a earth pony, it was a mystery indeed. To most at least, the family could easily explain Sparkler and Twilight. It was Dinky that would be a hard point to explain.

Basically, Sparkler was adopted just before Dinky was born. Dinky was born to Derpy and another stallion, who was indeed a unicorn. At first, Derpy believed that her colt was the one for her, till he dumped her. She then later meet Doctor and realized that her two daughters needed a father. They would have had their own foal, however, if Twilight hadn't been born because of Dinky's summoning magic. Once Twilight was born, they couldn't give her up and took her in, naming her after the time of day she had been 'adopted' at.

''Hey, girls. Just in time for mommy's special muffins.'' grinned Derpy, smiling at her two daughters. ''Come in, time to introduction you all to the new family member. Sparkie, bring your daughter up so she can meet her aunts, will you?''

Sparkler, a pink unicorn with a purple mane and eyes and a cutie mark of 3 diamonds, nodded and gently spoke to a small 3 year old filly with a blue coat, purple mane with a small whitish-purple streak similar to Dinky's, and purple eyes that matched her mothers. The pair walked up and Sparkler was the one to speak. ''Okay, Dinky, Twi. This is my little daughter, Tootsie Flute. 3 years old and she seems to have a idol in a mare by the name of Lyra.''

The filly nervously walked up to Dinky and Twilight, mumbling softly. ''H-hewwo, aunwie Twiwight, winky.'' Her voice, while young and foalish, held a tone of a flute, just like her name. ''I...I'm happie to meew woo.'' She then hopped back into her chair at the table, causing Sparkler to giggle a little.

''Sorry about that, girls. She's a little shy. Though, she loves mom's muffins. Then again, considering how much mom bakes them, anypony could start to love them. Even the scariest of ponies might love mom's baked muffins. Now, sit down. We need to catch up.''

The sisters nodded and took their places at the table. Twilight levitated her muffin and bite down on it and chewed for a few minutes. She then stopped, with a smile, and asked. ''So, Sparkler, what do you wanna catch up on?''

''For starters, your studies.'' said the pink mare, causing everypony else at the table to nod.

''Oh. Dinky, you tell them about your studies first.''

''Fine. Well, I'm still Celestia's prodigy and I'm practicing teleportation at the moment, though it's still very weak and I do end up burning myself every now and again. However, I can now summon various big cats and have managed to summon a...d-dragon....without having to lose control of my powers before hoof.''

''Still scared of dragons?'' asked Derpy, with concern in her voice.

''Yea....but I'm not having nightmares anymore. It's been so long since my magic caused them to appear at random......and now, if I summon them, they are in my control and won't attempt to attack me or Twilight. That was always my biggest fear, them managing to hurt Twilight. She was so small at the time and very vulnerable.''

''Not anymore.'' Twilight pipped in, not liking being called weak.

''I know, I know, little sis.......I was only a filly back then and easily frightened. I don't like being scared of dragons but I have no choice in the matter. Come on, tell them about your studies. I have told them about mine.''

''Fine. My studies have been better then Dinky's for a few reasons. One, I have a big arsenal of spells involving teleportation of objects and myself, light spells, gravity spells, echo spells. I could even do full body transformations, if I wanted too, I could change into a cat.''

This seemed to interest Tootsie Flute, who's hooves immediately landed on the table as she tried to get into Twilight's face. ''Do it, do it. Pwease!''

''Okay, okay!'' cried Twilight, wanting the younger filly to get out of her face. She instantly shoved her muffin into her mouth, and hopped off her chair as she chewed her meal. She landed carefully on the ground and focused on her magic, her horn sparked a little then shocked into a beautiful aura of magenta light. The same light wrapped around her body, as she felt her pony ears change into a pair of cat ears, her tail shrank and lengthened out as well as lost it's beautiful array of colors. Her pupils thinned out and changed into dagger-like eyes. Her mane vanished as she felt herself grow smaller and smaller, till she was a little, purring, lavender kitten with violet eyes. ''Meow!''

''Wow!'' cried Tootsie. ''Twat's so coow. Mama, mama. Did woo see? Aunwie Twiwight turwed inwo a kittwen!''

''Yes, I saw, sweetie and it's amazing. But you'll hurt Twilight's hearing if you keep shouting.'' said the young filly's mother as she pointed to Twilight, who was holding her cat ears painfully. ''You see, cats have sensitive hearing so if you keep shouting, she may never be able to hear again.'' Once the filly said sorry, Sparkler turned to Twilight. ''Sorry about my daughter's shouting, even though she's shy when she sees something she likes, she instantly yelling.''
Twilight changed back to normal and nodded. ''It's alright, I just wasn't expecting her to ask me to demonstrate.''

''Still though, you do seem to have a big potential. Transformations spells aren't easy.''

''I know. I only recently figured 'em out but I hope that I'll be able to change into larger creatures as well soon.''

''Yeah, now, Tootsie, Twilight. It's time to go to bed, if you wanna stay up to see Princess Celestia raise the sun.'' A small whine came from the foals in the room, causing Dinky to giggle a little as Sparkler continued. ''You don't want to sleep through it, do you?''

''Fine...'' came the joint reply as they walked upstairs to their rooms. The mares and stallion in the house giggled.

Dinky then turned to her parents and older sister. ''I hope you read my letter about the events of tonight. I didn't tell Twilight that I was telling you but I need backup support here in Ponyville while we head into the Everfree Forest after Nightmare's return. I want you to keep everypony safe and warm till we get back. And to tell them that everything to alright.''

The group nodded, allowing Dinky to simply sigh with relief and nod herself. They all knew that the events of that night weren't going to be pretty but they knew that they needed to keep everypony safe no matter what the cost. The only thing they didn't know was how they were gonna make the spark to ignite the elements of harmony, it was gonna be very hard but they could only hope that they'll manage and bring back day and night as it's suppose to be.

Nighttime came and as the clock struck 5, everypony gathered in Ponyville's town hall to watch the celebration. Everything was amazing. Dinky had to give it to Screwball and Pinkie for decorating the place so beautifully.

Twilight and Dinky stood in the center of the room as Screwball ran over to them with a tray of chocolate muffins levitating above her head. Pinkie wasn't too far behind, probably because she wanted one of the muffins but didn't want to ask at the same time. ''Hey, Dinks. Twily. Doesn't everything look amazing!''

''Yea, it really does.'' said Dinky, with a smile. She levitated one of the muffins off Screwball's tray and gave it to Pinkie, who slowly ate it with a small smile. The two fillies then ran off. ''Well, I'm glad that Twilight has a friend. All the fillies in Canterlot just ignore her or hate her for her intelligence and magic level.''

''Most fillies ignore Pinkie due to her cold attitude, so personally I'm glad that your little sister gave her a chance, after all Pinkie's not had the best of lives.'' said Screwball, sadly as she took one of the muffins and nibbled on it.

''What do you mean by that?''

''Well, you see, she was raised on a rock farm. Nopony was allowed to smile. As for her older and little sisters, Marble was kind but she was pretty much mute if I could call her that. Limestone has a temper about everything and as for Maud, I don't know how to describe her so you would have to meet her yourself if you ever wanted too.''

''I see, so when your parents adopted you, life became a bit happier for her. I mean, she's smiling now.''

''Yeah, if anything, Pinkie idolizes me, she wishes that she could have my magical abilities and everything but over then a few random things, she isn't any different to a normal earth pony.''

''It must be nice to have a little sister who idolizes you. Twilight's nice and kind and all, but she does not make a idol out of me. In fact, she is often annoyed about how far behind I am compare to her in our magical studies. The best that I can do is summon objects and animals, it's actually kind of sad.''

''Looks like everypony has a difficult life...'' mumbled Screwball, not revealing what she meant by that though. ''Hey look, Sweetie Belle's gonna be singing soon. Looks like the Princess is arriving. It's so exciting. Pinkie, come here. Princess Celestia will be arriving soon.''

The two fillies walked over and stood next to their sisters as Ponyville's mayor walked into the light and began to talk about the summer sun celebration. They didn't listen to in until she said. ''It's time for us to welcome the pony who brings us the sun and moon each day, Princess Celestia!''

Sweetie Belle took that as her cue and began to open her mouth until a pony cried out. ''She's gone!'' And everypony glanced at the balcony that the princess was meant to arrive on. She truly wasn't there and it scared all the ponies in the room.

Dinky winced, and glanced down at Twilight, who simply nodded. They looked up at the sky behind they and saw the moon, the mythical mare was no longer there. Now, they were terrified, especially as a faint blue smoke became to arise on the balcony.

The smoke shifted and molded until finally, a black alicorn mare appeared on the balcony. Her mane was made up of swirling star-filled blue mist and her cutie mark was a moon. Her teal eyes processed dagger pupils. Her appearance gave it away immediately, she was Nightmare Moon, the mythical mare in the moon and the former younger sister of Princess Celestia.

''Oh, how long as it been since I last saw your faces. 1000 years, if I'm not mistaken. Well now, dear subjects, I have returned to see your sun-loving faces once more.'' cried the black alicorn, with a thick smirk on her face.

Scootaloo growled and began to fly at Nightmare Moon. ''What have you done to the princess!?'' She yelled as Applebloom gripped hold of her tail.

''Simmer down, Nelly.''

''Oh, don't any of you know who I am. Didn't you recall the legend, didn't you see the signs?''

''We do.'' cried Twilight and Dinky in proper unison. ''Your the mythical mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!''

''Oh, somepony who remembers me. You must also recall my motive.''

''Y-your...here to...'' Dinky hesitated, nervously.

''Remember this day well, ponies for it'll be your last. Because from now on, the night will last forever!'' Nightmare Moon gave out a evil crackle as her mane turned into thick smog as she block the spell that allowed the sun to rise everyday. She also stopped the moon from falling. Everypony gasped in shock as the sisters just looked at each other, worriedly.