Return From Erebos

Sunset Shimmer looked across the 'sea' of ponies as she entered Town Hall. More like a pond, really. A pond of ponies. Hmm... Maybe just a puddle. Yes, that was more like it. A puddle. A puddle of ponies. After all, the entire town was here, yet fewer ponies were in attendance than even the sparsest gatherings in Canterlot. Yet in a way, it was good that there were so few in attendance for this year's Summer Sun Celebration.

After all, less collateral damage when the Nightmare bitch came back.

"Hey, Shimmy!" Sunset jumped as the pink menace from earlier attacked her eardrums with high-pitched death sounds. "Are you excited? I'm excited! I've never been so excited! Well, except this one time where-"

"Cinder." A small, purple dragon with green spines poked its head out from behind Sunset's long, fiery mane.

"-I saw you and I was all-- Ooo! A dragon!"

"Burn."

"Huh?"

As the little dragon opened its mouth, green flame shot forward at Pinkie Pie and licked her fur. She screamed dramatically and bolted off, much to Sunset's pleasure. She grinned without even turning her head to watch. It was much more fun imagining the flames rolling over the pest. She raised a hoof up to her shoulder. "Pound it."

"Boom," the dragon said with a low chuckle, bumping his fist against against her hoof before disappearing back behind her mane. Just as she set her hoof down, the mayor walked forward to start the proceedings.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts! As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Applause and cheers rang out from everypony in the audience. Even Sunset Shimmer gave a few stomps, though she was doing it more for appearance's sake than for the festivities. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"

Sunset yawned and looked outside. The stars were more interesting than some boring speech by an old mare. Especially with how fast they were moving. Toward the moon. Her eyes widened, her fatigue forgotten with the realization of the true events about to take place.

"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land. The very pony who raises the sun and moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." The mayor paused, allowing the excitement to build among the audience. "Princess Celestia!"

Everypony erupted into applause. The choir birds, led by some butter-yellow pushover, began to show off their singing voices as the curtains flew back to reveal...

Nopony.

The curtain puller, who also designed all the 'decorations', rushed back to see if she could find the princess as the crowd murmured amongst themselves. Where was their ruler? Their sun-raiser? Their good, wise, bringer of harmony?

"She's gone!" The crowd gasped, but Sunset just rolled her eyes.

"Makes sense..." Sunset muttered. "Celestia knows the Nightmare's coming back tonight. She's probably out searching right now."

"Remain calm, everypony. There must be a reasonable explanation," the mayor assured them, not quite at ease with the situation as she tried to make herself out to be.

"Ooo! Ooo! I love hide-and-seek!" Pinkie shouted, completely oblivious to the general mood. "But nopony gets the better of Pinkie Pie!" Like a blur, she zoomed back stage to try and find their missing princess. Unfortunately, she was now too far away for Cinder to give her another torching, much to Sunset's irritation.

Suddenly, she rushed back into the crowd, screaming her lungs out as a dark purple mist followed closely behind. Like a fog spewing out of a cave, it billowed forth onto the stage until it began to coalesce, taking the shape of a pony.

"Well, what do you know? Celestia failed." Sunset could no longer suppress a grin. "Looks like I get to show the Princess what I'm made of after all."

*****

"Okay. The Queen is counting on you, Twilight. So no mess-ups! Everything has to be fine. I'm back in the Waking Realm, so my magic shouldn't act all funny. I mean, it never did weird things before Erebos, so it shouldn't do weird things now that I'm back. Yes, that has to be right. Everything's going to be fine. I made it in here okay, didn't I?" Twilight stopped pacing the floor. "Then again, the only other time I tried to cast a spell was the day my magic went haywire..." She looked at herself in the mirror. Shrouded by a black cloak, nearly all of her was hidden from view, save the ends of her legs. A hood covered most of her head, but her horn prevented it from shrouding her frazzled eyes. She shook her head and tried to put on a winning grin. "The Queen is counting on me! Nothing will go wrong!"

She gulped. "I hope..."

Just then, a loud bang startled her out of her thoughts. A bright light shown from the doorway, surrounding a poofy-maned pony. The pony looked directly at her. "Hey, there! Have you seen Princess Celestia anywhere?"

Twilight's fears immediately died, replaced by a calm anger. She chuckled darkly. "Yes, actually. Yes. I. Have."

'Here goes nothing...' she thought to herself. As her horn lit up, she  began to dissolve into a dark mist from the hooves up, all the while quietly laughing until her head dissolved as well. The intruder started screaming once she began to move forward. 'So far, so good.'

Twilight slowly moved her gaseous form forward over the stage. Ponies all across the room gasped as they saw her make her way in front of them. She began to coalesce her body before them, taking on her original shape as she looked over the crowd. All of them wore stunned or frightened faces, except for one who merely grinned, as though she not only expected but welcomed the current event.

'That must be her. Sunset Shimmer, student to Princess Celestia.'

When she finished, she stepped forward into the center of the stage. The room seemed a little bit bigger than before, now that she had reformed, but that was probably because she was getting a little stage fright. But she knew that with how nervous she was, everypony else was far worse. Her black cloak seemed to have grown a little bit, covering all but her muzzle and the ends of her hooves, but it was still an attire she knew the ponies were wary of from her time in the Realm of Dreams, and she had just popped into existence from a dark rolling mist.

It was time to put the fear of the Night into them.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts," she began slowly, watching the crowd's expressions carefully. "You may have been expecting to see Celestia, your 'good, wise, bringer of harmony.'" As she continued, she watched as their faces slowly turned from awe and fear to blank confusion. "But it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this, the longest night of your lives."

As Twilight's eyes passed over Sunset, she found the vibrant mare snickering. What was she laughing at? Shouldn't she be more concerned that her mentor was nowhere to be found? As as she looked over the others, the only responses she received were bored or irritated stares.

"Hahaha! I get it!" laughed a blue pegasus with a mane like the rainbow. "This must be one of the princess's pranks! I hear she's one of the best!" Only Sunset burst into laughter with Rainbow, while nervous titters echoed across the rest of the room. "Oh, buddy, this was a good one! But, uh, the joke's kinda wearing thin. Where's the princess?"

"Have you seen the sunrise yet?" Twilight asked. "Doesn't it strike you as strange that the moon still hangs in the sky? The princess isn't here!"

"This ain't funny, little filly!" shouted an orange pony in a well-kept stetson. "The joke's already old, so go and get Princess Celestia! Foals these days..."

'Little filly? Twilight's eyes widened. Now that somepony mentioned it, her voice did sound a little higher. And she remembered feeling like the world was bigger.

'No...'

She vanished from sight, stepping through the shadows back to the room where she first entered and looked at herself in the mirror. She could barely see herself under the cloak, which had only come down to her knees just a few minutes ago. The hood, which had previously allowed most of her face to be seen, now completely shrouded all but the very tip of her muzzle. In a moment, she ripped the cloak off her body.

Stubby little legs.

Big, round eyes.

A horn that barely peeked out from behind her mane.

And a flank that...

*****

"Geez, this prank's gone on long enough! Where's the princess, already?! I'm startin' to get mad!" Rainbow grumbled.

"Now now, Rainbow," Applejack chided. "Ah'm sure the filly's gettin' her right-"

"oh come on! damn it to the sun!"

The group exchanged a glance. Then they glanced back up at the stage as a fluffy purple filly strode out from backstage with a scowl. Several members of the audience cooed and aww'd. Even more so when she stamped her hoof in frustration. Sunset burst into mirthless laughter. "Aww, wook at the cute, wittew Nightmawe up thewe on stage! Isn't the way she tantwums just adowable?"

"Silence!" Twilight shouted, her voice suddenly explosively loud. Every ear flattened as the crowd cowered back from the outburst. "Look around you! It's still nighttime, and the princess is gone. Do you still think this is a prank? The fancy of a benevolent ruler? If so, you are all fools! Ignorant, despite all the signs! All of you, except one." Twilight pointed into the crowd. When every eye followed, they landed on Sunset Shimmer. "That mare knows what's happening. So when the sun doesn't rise anymore, you can all go to her and ask why daylight's never coming back!"

With as malicious a grin as a little purple fuzzball can produce, the filly vanished from the stage as though she had never even been there, her hoof pointing at Sunset until the very end. Sunset watched with growing nervousness as more and more ponies turned away from the stage and toward her.

"What was she talking about?"

"This isn't a prank?"

"Hey, isn't that the mare from Canterlot? The one who was suppose to oversee the celebration?"

"What's happening?"

"Why isn't Celestia here?"

Sunset backed away slowly as all the ponies began to close in on her. "H-hey, I don't know what she's talking about!"

"Where's the princess?"

"If you did something to Celestia..."

"What did you do to the Princess?!"

"Where's Princess Celestia?!"

Sunset suddenly found herself against the wall of the building, surrounded by an angry mob of ponies, but it wasn't the crowd on her mind.

'When I find that little Nightmare, she's going to be in a world of hurt...