Absolute Nightmare

by Total Geek

Rating: teen
Tags: Daring Do, Sunset Shimmer, Adventure, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other
Length: 27739

In an alternate Equestria, a conspiracy against the crown awakens an old foe and unleashes chaos across the land. Ponies will have to band together and fight back or be consumed by the spreading evil.

In an alternate universe, the twin nations of Equestria and the Crystal Empire have ruled side by side during a thousand year period of harmony. The Crystal Empire, ruled by Princess Radiant Hope and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, has grown significantly since its early days as a single, if impressive, city. In Equestria, meanwhile, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have shared a peaceful reign together since their defeat of Discord a millennium before. They even run a successful magic school together, and have two highly gifted personal protégés, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle.

However, the peace cannot last forever. The Grand Equestria Pony Summit is approaching, and scores of ponies are arriving just to get a chance to see all four princesses together at once. In the shadows, a group of ponies has plans to awaken an old enemy long forgotten. Should they succeed, lives will be lost, bonds will be broken, and old wounds will be reopened.

Can the power of friendship win in a world where no one can be trusted? Not even yourself?

Published 2016-04-09 03:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-04 23:26:47 UTC

2. Recurring Nightmares

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria…

Chaos reigned.

The land of Equestria had been founded by the unification of the three pony tribes of Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi. Soon after, the young alicorns Celestia and Luna were appointed as the rulers of the fledgling nation. Since they, as alicorns, possessed the defining qualities of all three tribes, they were not only considered the most impartial and trustworthy party, but also symbolically represented the new union.

When the sisters first discovered their ability to raise and lower the sun and moon, their authority and their role in Equestrian society were cemented. They were benevolent and peaceful leaders, presiding over a period of peace in uncertain and volatile times.

Everything changed when Discord attacked. On that day, ponykind received a grim reminder. Harmony was fragile, and the safety and peace they had become accustomed to was shattered the moment Discord arrived and turned the expanse of the San Palomino desert into rocky road ice cream.

Within weeks Discord had dethroned the princesses. He ruled a chaotic version of Equestria where the laws of physics no longer applied. Ponies would awaken to find their homes coats had changed colors or their homes had been turned into potatoes.

Amidst the chaos, Celestia and Luna worked hard to ensure hope was not lost. Everyday, despite all the madness going on, they would continue to raise and lower the sun and moon as they always had. Often, Discord would bring both celestial bodies out at once or send the sun spinning across the sky, but the sister would always set it right.

The draconequus' reign over the land lasted for a decade. Then, one night as Discord slept, hanging upside down in his surreal version of one of the royal castle bedchambers, he had an unusual dream.

It began just like one of Discord's usual dreams. He was skating across a ice rink of shaved ice. Adoring crowds of ponies cheered for him. They all had tie-dyed coats or giant bodies or three pairs of wings or any number of changes Discord felt more aesthetically pleasing. After his performance, three Discords raised up scorecards reading 10/6, ∞, and a doodle of a fish.

Then, as Discord was taking a bow, the crowds and the rink were blasted away with a roar of sound and a flash of searing heat and light.

Discord found himself standing on a black scorched mark on an endless white expanse. Looking up, he saw the two dethroned alicorns descending from the sky, six shining gemstones orbiting around them. The gems began to glow with a blindingly bright magical light. Discord tried to run but found himself unable to move his feet.

The alicorns fired an enormous blast of rainbow-colored magic at Discord, who could do nothing but raise his arms feebly in defense. He closed his eyes and waited for what came, but after a few moments of nothing, he opened his eyes to see himself in a new location.

He was standing in his twisted reimagining of the royal throne room in the Castle of the Two Sisters. The twin thrones had been melted together to form a cushioned recliner. The tapestries hanging from the walls depicted notable events in his life, from his takeover of the Crystal Empire to his invention of the gyro sandwich.

Sitting on his throne, idly reading a comic book, was a tiny black jackalope.

“Hello, Discord.”

“Er, hello, jackalope boy,” said Discord, still shaken up. “Did I imagine you or…”

The jackalope jumped from his seat and hopped toward the door. “Oh, I'm just a visitor. Let's take a walk.”

Discord stood confused for a moment, before grabbing the question mark that had appeared above his head and using it as a backscratcher as he followed the little critter out of the room.

The door lead to a spiral staircase made of xylophone keys, stretching up into oblivion. As the two headed upwards, their footsteps played famed composer Maestro Overture's “Requiem.”

The jackalope began, “What you just saw, Discord, wasn't a nightmare. I would know. That was a vision. The former princesses have found something that can end your reign over this land.”

“Those gaudy trinkets?” Discord asked incredulously, a candy necklace version of the gems he'd seen appearing in his claw.

“They're called the Elements of Harmony,” the little creature explained, speaking the last four words with a mix of disgust and unease.

“Ugh, harmony?” Discord said, covering his mouth as if he were about to vomit. “How could a few rocks stop the god of chaos?” He popped a candy Element into his mouth.

“They possess an incredible ancient magic. Enough to stop even you. However, I can help you.”

Discord let out a hearty laugh, rolling back down several keys. “How could a little fuzzball like you help me?”

The jackalope smiled. “Let me give you a preview.”

The staircase collapsed into a slide, sending the two speeding back down to the tune of “Flight of the Parasprite.”

They landed back in the white void, Discord standing several yards away from where he had been, seeing himself cowering before the alicorn's attack, the whole scene currently frozen in time.

The little jackalope ran up to the frozen Discord, then exploded into a cloud of black smoke, engulfing him. Time started moving again, and the magic from the Elements of Harmony was batted away by the rapidly growing and changing chaos god. Celestia and Luna were blasted back, and before they could react they were grabbed by the now huge and monstrous beast. He began to crush the life out of them, and after a few moments, the whole scene faded away, leaving the little jackalope sitting calmly on the ground.

Discord's jaw was literally on the floor. A crank appeared on his cheek and he quickly turned it, rolling his jaw back up. “…I'm willing to hear you out.”

The tiny creature hopped over to Discord and extended a paw. “Allow me into your mind, and you will have so much power that you'll look back on yourself as you are now as if all you knew were parlor tricks.”

“What's your name, little guy?” Discord said, bending down and putting his paw in the jackalope's.

“Oh, just call me Nightmare.”

The two shook on it, and Discord woke up the enormous beast he had just seen in his dream.

Discord's rule before that night had been by no means benevolent or harmless. Ponies were hurt and the overall state of chaos proved harmful to the mental states of many. A few ponies were actually driven to madness. However, Discord was nevertheless more of a trickster than anything. He made it rain blueberry pies and set of firework displays in quiet museums and duplicated ponies just for fun.

After he accepted Nightmare's deal, however, his sense of humor became notably more sinister and even lethal. He set flaming timberwolves loose in small towns, turned lakes and streams into oil, and created enormous tornadoes filled with carnivorous sea creatures.

The princesses soon returned, equipped with the Elements of Harmony. Their battles with Discord lasted several weeks until eventually they were able to seal him away in stone after a battle that melted the San Palomino dessert. His stone form was placed in the Canterlot statue gardens, and after a thousand years his terrible reign was forgotten by the common ponies.

However, while his stone prison froze his physical body for a millennium, he spent the entire time fully conscious. Nightmare, still in his mind, was trapped with the insane chaos god for the whole thousand years as well. He was still able to access the dreamscape that united all ponies in Equestria, however, and he soon began a plot to regain his freedom.

After one thousand years, in the early morning of the opening day of the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, his plan finally came to fruition.

While Nightmare's sinister plan played out in the castle gardens, high in the clouds above Spitfire and Soarin lay together on a small cumulus. They were both basking in their afterglows, their flight suits draped over their backs.

After a few minutes laying in content silence together, Soarin spoke up. “Well, I'm up for the day.”

Spitfire chuckled and gave Soarin a light shove. “I hope you've still got enough energy left for today's performance.”

She moved over to the edge of the cloud and looked over to stadium. She found herself going over the day's routine in her head, and promptly gave herself a mental kick. At that moment she had a bigger issue to think about, and she knew she was just trying to focus on anything but.

Soarin slid next to her and admired the view. After a few awkward minutes, he voiced what they were both thinking about.

“So, do we have something, or were you just looking for a little extra adrenaline?”

“Well… We have something, I suppose,” Spitfire said, not turning her head.

“But what?”

Spitfire hesitated, glancing around the Canterlot landscape, and then noticed the flash of lights coming from the statue gardens.

“What's that?” she asked quickly, pointing with her hoof.

“Spitfire…”

Spitfire hopped off the cloud, taking flight and speeding over to the lights, leaving a confused and somewhat irritated Soarin laying alone. He sighed and took off after her.

When he reached her, her expression was now one of panic. Soarin briefly worried that she had indeed only flown away to end the conversation, but as he looked down into the gardens he adopted a similar countenance.

Princess Celestia was ensnared in a strange spell circle. Around her standing in circular marks around the circle were six large ponies whose bodies appeared to be spewing out magic. The area was littered with guardsmen, unconscious save for two.

Soarin looked over to Spitfire for some instruction. She was pulling on the hood of her Wonderbolts uniform. She gave him one quick glance and then rocketed down. Soarin took in a quick, deep breath and then shot down after her, leaving his suit floating slowly down after him.

Before Spitfire could reach Princess Celestia, Twilight noticed her and struck her with a burst of magic, sending her careening off course into the labyrinth, getting stuck halfway through a hedge wall. Before she could then deflect Soarin, he sped by and crashed into Celestia.

The six ponies prepared attacks but were struck with a magic shockwave as Celestia was ripped from the spell circle. The tendrils holding her down strained for a moment, the blue light of the glyph growing in intensity, before they shattered, knocking Celestia out of the circle entirely. The circle exploded into a shower of blue embers, sending out a second, even stronger shockwave.

The Nightmare-enhanced ponies were blasted back, their hooves digging trenches in the dirt. Shining Armor and Cherry Fizzy were thrown back with enough force to lift them off the ground. Spitfire, having just pulled herself from the hedge wall, was immediately pushed back into it.

The smoke that had emerged from Discord's mouth, however, was completely unaffected, and continued forward to a new target. Soarin wasn't even able to recover from the crash before the black vapor forced itself down his throat. As it changed vessels, a funky, multicolored light shown through the smoke, and the strange magic emitted unusual noises as it travelled. The horror and tragedy of the moment was undercut by a chorus of bells and whistles, screams, explosions, animal sounds, and accordion music.

Soarin floated up into the air, unassisted by his wings. His eyes glowed with a pure white light.

Reality began to collapse around him. Spitfire tried to scream out Soarin's name, but instead the sound of a trumpet came from her mouth. A nearby statue turned into a pile of black pepper. The trees in the statue garden were draped in snake skins. Princess Celestia was transformed into a tiny figurine of herself, except for being eye searingly pink. Shining Armor tried to call out Celestia's name, but instead Spitfire's intended call came out.

The surge of chaos magic wasn't just felt in the gardens. All across Equestria bizarre things were happening. In Appleoosa, an apple fell from a tree and exploded like a grenade when it hit the ground, leaving the Appleoosans scrambling to stop the fire spreading through the orchard. The Rainbow Falls were turned to blood. In Vanhoover, all the clouds over the city became porcelain inscribed with dirty limericks written in a long dead language before plummeting to the ground. In San Flanksisco, all the window panes were turned to silk. In Ponyville, all the trees were draped in skinned snakes. On and on, across Equestria, chaos reigned once again.

Soarin floated back down as the surge slowed to a stop. His six lieutenants stared with anticipation. Shining, Cherry, and Spitfire stared with dread. Then, Soarin spoke.

“Hello, Equestria! Oh, it is good to be back!”

Spitfire shook off a dumbstruck look and stepped forward. “Soarin? Is that you?”

Soarin vanished and instantly reappeared beside her, a leg draped over her. “Naw, toots. I'm a little fella called Nightmare. Remember that name! It's gonna be big.”

Spitfire swatted Soaring's leg away and scrambled backwards. “What did you do to him?”

Nightmare flipped over, floating upside down, but his face remained as if he hadn't moved. “Welp, being an entity made from all of the negativity of every dream of every pony ever certainly has its perks, but sadly corporeality isn't one of them. So, I tend to borrow.”

He disappeared again, his smile remaining for a moment, then reappeared before his appointed six ponies. He adopted a serious, regal attitude, and a crown materialized on his head. “Well, my loyal subjects, you have served me well. You have worked hard to free your king, and I thank you.”

The crown turned into a propeller hat and he flew over to Sombra, greeting him with a friendly noogie. “Especially my main man right here. Waited a thousand years for this day!” He gave the black stallion an exaggerated, cartoony kiss.

He then flew upward, now wearing a general's uniform. “Now go! Spread chaos! Destroy order! Get freaky!”

Lightning Dust flew away into the night sky. Sombra turned to shadows and did the same. The four remaining unicorns teleported away in bright flashes, revealing that the colors of their magic had all changed.

Nightmare turned his attention back to Cherry, Shining, and Spitfire. “Now, where were we?”

Shining Armor angrily stomped the ground. “What did you do to Twilight?”

Nightmare chuckled. “Well, you see, I needed six ponies to reverse the spell cast by the Elements of Harmony.” Noting Shining's confusion, he sighed. “Jeez, do you ponies not study history or something? Elements of Harmony? Fine, well let's just say I needed six ponies. Twiley was of a rare breed, somepony able to be my Element of Dark Magic. I know, I know, it's two words, but after finding a decent word for anti-loyalty I was done with it.”

Shining couldn't be more lost.

“Anyway! I needed myself a villain but she was pretty solidly in the good guy camp, so I did the logical thing. I engineered some childhood trauma, a little pushing from my star student Sunset, and she was putty in my hands.” At this he melted into putty and fell into a puddle on the ground with a plop.

Immediately reconstituting, he shook Shining's hoof vigorously enough that Shining's entire body was shaken up and down. “Of course, I've got to thank you for your help. I'd never have gotten away with it if you weren't so unbelievably oblivious!”

Shining angrily fired a beam of magic, but Nightmare was already gone and standing before Cherry.

“Any input from the red shirt?”

Cherry thought for a moment and then inquired, “Wait. If you were trapped in that statue all this time, how did you interact with Twilight and Sunset and those other ponies?”

“Give the stallion a prize!” Cherry was suddenly equipped with a mortarboard and diploma. Nightmare continued in the same tone that parents used to explain the birds and bees to their colts and fillies. “You see, the minds of all creatures, from ponies to draconequui, are connected through the dreamscape. Even imprisoned in stone, I was able to traverse the dreamscape to interact with the minds of other ponies in their sleep. And, well, a little inception goes a long way.”

“…What?” asked Cherry, officially more confused than Shining.

“I'm gonna level with you. I only get like half the references I'm making.” Nightmare popped over to the giant stone Discord, reclining on his giant snout. “Now that I think about it, sharing a brain with this bozo for a thousand years might have had a bigger effect on me that I thought,” Nightmare said, wearing a big rainbow wig and spinning a noise maker in his hoof.

Nightmare flew back down toward the three ponies, looking at them like a predator looks at his prey. “I'm afraid the Q&A is over, sadly. We've got lovely parting gifts though.”

Shining fired another spell, but Nightmare casually swatted it away.

“I'm sorry, but conversion is mandatory,” he said, stifling laughter.

A blast of gold magic fired from one of the castle towers, striking Nightmare and sending him crashing into one of the snake skin-covered trees.

He rose out of the tree, a ball of energy charging around his hoof, laughing wildly. “Well, well, well. And here I thought today couldn't get any better!” He fired an energy beam toward the tower, blowing it to pieces and sending chunks of stone falling downward.

Nightmare flew toward the tower, and Spitfire took off after him only to be telekinetically grabbed by Shining Armor.

“I have to go save Soarin!”

Shining dropped her onto the ground. “There's nothing you can do now. We have to go get the princesses. They'll know what to do.”

Shining and Cherry ran into the castle and Spitfire, after a moment of deliberation, reluctantly followed them.

The trio was galloping through a hallway headed for Princess Luna's room when the floor opened up under them. Shining and Cherry fell into a heap on the dusty floor underneath. Looking up, they saw Spitfire simply flying above the hole. Shining had never been jealous of Pegasi before that point, but there was a first time for everything.

An orange hoof reached out to help them up.

“Flash Sentry?”

After their defeat of Discord, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia worked hard to reunite the shattered nation. Discord's imprisonment had reversed his influence on the landscape, but not on the ponies themselves. Having their homes and cities returned to normal did nothing for those who had lost loved ones or were driven insane by the mad king.

There was a population boom soon after Equestria was freed, as young couples celebrated their survival of the darkest time in written history. Therapy cutie marks were incredibly common in those years. Great feats in science and exploration came about, and the discovery of new lands led to a surge in trade.

The Crystal Empire began a movement to expand its territories, having been swiftly overtaken by Discord due do its small size. The wise Princess Amore refused to encroach upon the nearby yak territories, but just years after the Discord conflict ended, she was killed under mysterious circumstances.

Now ruled by council, the Empire moved to incorporate lands considered sacred by the Yakyakistanis. The Crystal ponies argued that the lands were officially unclaimed, whilst the yaks argued that the lands were incredibly culturally significant to their population. Before long, war had broken out.

The news of war so soon after Discord's reign had a disastrous effect on the morale of the ponies of Equestria, and soon the Royal Sisters became involved, hoping to end the conflict both quickly and peacefully. It was their young student Radiant Hope, however, that ultimately brought the war to an end with a display of unprecedented levels of healing magic.

For the first time in Equestria's history, a pony had ascended to alicornhood, rather than merely being born as one like the princesses had been. Radiant Hope was made princess of the Crystal Empire, where she would rule alone for centuries until a young Pegasus named Cadance became the second pony to ascend to alicornhood.

In the meantime, not all was well with the Royal Sisters in Equestria. Princess Luna had begun to harbor some insecurities. She felt inferior to her older sister. Celestia even had a holiday celebrating her, the Summer Sun Celebration.

As her jealousy began to overtake her, she had an odd dream.

She dreamed of soaring across the night sky, pulling the moon into place behind her. Below her, crowds of ponies watched with eager eyes. Luna placed the moon high in the sky, covering the land with soft, beautiful moonlight.

The herds below cheered and applauded, bringing a proud smile to her face. She looked down at her grateful subjects, only to realize that not one of them was looking at her. She turned to find Celestia bearing down upon her, the blazing sun flying behind her.

Before Luna could react, she was cast down from the sky, burning and blinded, her moon turned to ashes. As she plummeted from the heavens, she heard a roaring ovation from the ponies below her, calling out Celestia's name.

Luna awoke in a cold sweat. That dream came to her often from that day on.

“Canterlot castle is full of secret passages like these,” explained Flash, leading the group through the dark halls.

“Princess Luna once told me these were her doing,” added Shining.

“I saw what was happening through a window, so I came to get you. I figured that using these passages will keep us out of sight of that thing,” Flash said, ducking under a low beam.

“So, what is the plan?” asked Cherry.

“We need to warn the princesses, and there is something in Twilight's tower we need to get,” said Shining. “Spitfire, you and Flash need to go warn Princess Luna. Flash knows where her room is. Cherry and I are going to go to Twilight's tower. We need to hurry; the sunrise display is starting soon, and who knows what Nightmare will do there.”

Meanwhile, in the clouds over the stadium, the Wonderbolts were arriving. Soarin was waiting there to greet them.

“Where is Spitfire?” asked a Wonderbolt named Blaze.

“Oh, she'll be joining us,” answered Soarin.

The clouds grabbed the Wonderbolts' feet and pulled them in knee deep.

Nightmare chuckled. “There's been a few last minute alterations to the show.”

“Spike? Are you in here?”

Shining ran into Twilight's tower, calling for the little dragon. Cherry entered seconds later, and almost immediately tripped over a stray pile of books.

They found Spike snoozing away in a little basket by Twilight's bed. Shining gave him an urgent nudge and before the little guy had even wiped the sleep from his eyes he was lifted onto Shining's back.

“What's going on?” Spike said, yawning a small puff of green fire.

Shining grabbed a quill and a pile of parchments on the way out and threw them into Spike's lap. “There's been an emergency. We need you to send a message to the Crystal Princesses.”

“What happened?”

“…Something has happened to Princess Celestia. She's okay, but she's unable to do the show.” Shining didn't want to worry the baby dragon.

Spike began writing. “What should I say happened to her?”

“Just say she was…incapacitated. And say 'Nightmare has returned.'”

“Nightmare?” Spike gulped. “That doesn't sounds good. What's Nightmare?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Shining lied, now galloping toward the stadium. His heart dropped when he saw it was already filling with ponies, and long lines were still being ushered in. He shared a worried look with Cherry. “The princesses will understand.”

Spike finished the letter and then burned it away with his breath, sending it to Princess Hope. He then stated making a copy for Princess Cadenza. “What's all this about? And where's Twilight?”

“Oh, Twilight is fine. She's… busy with the summit. And Spike? You can stop writing.”

Shining had seen the small green of Spike's letter being delivered. The two Crystal Princesses were sitting together in the stadium.

“Shining Armor! Cherry!” Spitfire called out, flying over to them, followed closely Flash Sentry.

“Did you find Princess Luna?” asked Cherry. “Where is she?”

“She wasn't in her room,” answered Flash. “We couldn't find her anywhere and we saw the stadium was filling up. If Nightmare is going to strike anywhere, it'll be there.”

“Spike, finish that letter after all, but send it to Princess Luna instead,” instructed Shining. “C'mon, we have to get over there.”

As the four ponies made their way over, the Wonderbolts flew into the stadium to thunderous applause. The crowds were surprised to see, however, that instead of performing complex aerial maneuvers, the Wonderbolts instead flew over the grandstands, showering them in candies, fruits, and small toys. The foals happily adapted to the unexpected development, and quite a few adult ponies also found themselves enjoying a fruit or a little candy.

Pony Joe caught a pear and took a big bite. His hungry smile immediately left his face, though, at the taste of it. He spat it out in disgust when he looked down to find the inside of the pear was completely rotten. He smacked an apple out of his young colt's hoof, and recoiled in horror when the apple splattered, revealing a number of razorblades.

All around the stands, ponies were panicking. The fruits were all rotten or wax or hard as stones or were filled with blood and meat. The candies tasted like sand or dirt, or glued the mouths of the ponies who chewed them shut, or popped violently when bitten. The toys were just as bad. There were noisemakers that made terrifying screams or ear-splitting whistles. Yo-yos wrapped around ponies legs, water guns sprayed all manner of toxic or disgusting fluids, and bouncy balls exploded at random, sending out little chunks of rubber shrapnel.

As the herd of ponies stampeded toward the exits in a panic, the Wonderbolts created the curtain of smoke that they had practiced so many times before. The Crystal princesses took off toward them, intent on stopping the menaces, only to be thrown back as a large Pegasus exploded through the smoke.

Lightning Dust tore across the field, a trail of electricity trailing behind her. A lightning-based alternative to the Sonic Rainboom cleared the smoke in an instant, sending thunderbolts crashing into the protective spells cast on the stands. The shield shimmered for a brief moment before shattering, sending blacked chunks of wood flying, and causing large sections of seats to collapse.

Soarin's body was waiting in the Royal Sisters' place of honor. He flew upward, wings extended just like the princesses did for every public sunrise or sunset display. The moon rocketed out of sight past the horizon, and the sun, glowing a very unpleasant looking crimson red, took its place.

Soarin and the rest of the Wonderbolts called out to the crowd, all with identical inflections.

“The princesses are gone! Long live the king!”

After being crowned princess of Equestria and having the sun itself made her domain, Princess Celestia had come to relish the praise and adoration she received from her subjects. The ponies had placed her high upon a pedestal, and though she would never admit it, she had come to see herself as such. She remained the benevolent and caring ruler she had always been, but in her mind she was on a level above all of the common ponies.

After a decade of seclusion after Discord's takeover, Princess Celestia was severely craving attention. When she finally regained her lofty position, she reveled in her regained veneration. She even established a holiday in her own honor, the Summer Sun Celebration.

Unfortunately, the problem with being placed on a pedestal is that it separates you from everypony else. Bathing in the love and worship of the Equestrians, Princess Celestia was completely unaware of the inner conflict plaguing her little sister.

Meanwhile, Princess Radiant Hope was having a hard time adjusting to her new role. Her situation was essentially a complete reverse of Celestia's.

Whereas Celestia was accustomed to the admiration of her subjects, Radiant Hope had lived a very solitary lifestyle up to that point. She had been a lonely child. She had played with fairies and other creatures nopony else could see. She had only ever managed to make one real friend, and even then she had lost touch with him over time. Her time as the princesses' student hadn't done anything to break her out of her shell either. Now she was the beloved ruler of a constantly growing empire. She was very much out of her comfort zone.

Whereas Celestia was born into her role, an alicorn since birth, Hope had earned her wings. Before she had been a simple, if talented, unicorn. Now she was one of three ponies in the known world with the collective powers of all three tribes, thrust into an exceedingly important and challenging position.

It didn't help that her time as a princess began when she ended a war. How would she ever follow that up? Would the other ponies expect her to continue to do amazing feats like that? She didn't raise the moon or sun or anything impressive like that. She simply had healing powers. Those didn't seem particularly helpful when it came to princess duties.

There was, however, one advantage that came from her humble origins. She was more perceptive of other ponies' feelings than most. It was for this reason that she became aware of Luna's growing darkness when her own sister didn't.

It was for this reason that Hope invited Celestia to the Crystal Center, the new name for the original settlement where the Crystal Empire began. Radiant Hope was still a simple pony at heart, and her choice of venue was a small fast food restaurant.

The two ordered a few crystal hayburgers, and then Hope got to business.

“Hello, Princess. Do you know why I asked you here today?”

“I assumed you wished to show me how the Empire was flourishing under your rule. How are you taking to your new role as princess?” said Celestia.

“Well, it's certainly a drastic change to get used to,” admitted Hope. “I like to think I'm handling my new responsibilities well, though.”

Celestia smiled, looking out at the bustling streets. “The Empire is definitely thriving. I knew since you began your studies with Luna and I that you were destined for amazing things.”

“Well, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Hope.

“The Empire?”

“No, no.” Hope grimaced. “I meant Princess Luna.”

“Luna? What about Luna?” Celestia thought back to see if her sister had alerted her to any problems, but then realized it had been several weeks since they had last talked.

“I think something is really troubling her. I write with her often, and lately she seems troubled. I think she feels her role as princess isn't as respected as yours.”

Celestia seemed genuinely shocked by this. “What? Why would she think that?”

Hope sighed. “You don't see what might make her feel that way? You do seem to garner more attention than her. I mean, there's even a holiday for what you do. Where's the Moon Celebration?”

Celestia's face adopted a crimson tint. "I hadn't meant any offense. I didn't establish that holiday, the citizens did. I never intended to outshine my sister in the ponies' eyes."

"You didn't mean to upset her, I know, but she is. She doesn't need an apology, Princess. She just needs her sister's support and to feel appreciated."

“I… I hadn't even realized. I can't believe it. I'm ashamed. How could I not realize this was happening to my own sister?”

Hope placed her hoof on Celestia's. “It's okay, Princess. We'll make this right.”

Hours later, in the princesses' new ruling city of Canterlot, Luna was having a new nightmare.

It began the same as all the ones before. The ponies cheering as Celestia interrupted Luna's display. The sun burning away the moon and casting Luna out of the sky. Luna, binded and ablaze, crashing to the ground.

This time, however, Luna did not wake up at that point. Realizing she hadn't hit the ground, she cautiously opened her eyes to see she'd moved to a new location. She appeared to lying on the surface of the moon itself.

A tall figure approached. It was a black coated alicorn, wearing several pieces of bright blue armor. Its mane resembled a shifting cloud of the night sky, stars sparkling within the blue mist. Its cutie mark was nearly identical to Luna's own, only being a different color.

“Hello, Luna. My name is Nightmare.”

“Nightmare?” questioned Luna. “That's not really the most assuring name.”

The alicorn looked offended. “Really? You would judge me by my name?”

Luna stood up, eyeing Nightmare warily. “My judgement may have been premature, but I am not one to so naively place trust in complete strangers, especially alicorns.”

Nightmare chuckled. “Oh, dear Luna, you know this is a dream. I'm merely taking the form that I feel will most effectively get my message across.”

“And what message is that?”

Nightmare turned, giving a better view of his body. “Why, that this is what you can be, if you are willing to let me help you.”

Luna raised up. “Help me? Why would I need your help for anything?”

Nightmare looked out toward the sun. “It seems you are feeling inferior to your sister. However, I believe we both know that you are the more powerful and more wise.”

Luna's indignation melted away, leaving behind uncertainty. “Celie surely didn't intend to—“

Nightmare gently placed a hoof on Luna's cheek. “Don't lie to yourself. She has actively sought to usurp your authority. If she continues to have her way unopposed, you will be left as nothing but a hoofnote in history.”

Luna looked up into Nightmare's eyes, tears welling in her own. “How can you help me?”

Nightmare smiled warmly. “I can give you the power you need to make yourself known. Just let me in, and nopony will ever be able to ignore you.”

Luna awoke with a start.

Celestia was shaking her. “Luna! Wake up, sister!”

Luna, still dazed, stood up on wobbling legs. “What in the world? What are you—”

She stopped dead when she saw the black smoke leaving her body and escaping out the window. She stumbled back and fired a spell into the cloud, to little effect.

“Sister, what was that?” gasped Luna.

“I do not know,” Celestia answered, embracing her younger sibling. “I had come to tell you the good news, but when I entered—“

“Good news?” asked the suddenly very awake Luna.

“Oh, yes. I just established a new Equestrian holiday: the Winter Lunar Festival.”

In spite of everything that had just transpired, a huge smile appeared on Luna's face. She reciprocated her sister's hug, squeezing her so hard that Celestia let out a small, sharp gasp.

“Celie, I love you.”

“I love you too, Luna.”

After journeying all the way to Canterlot after Starlight and having a personal audience with the Royal Sisters, Double Diamond just wanted a calm morning. He'd just made his way out of his hotel, planning on relaxing in a coffee shop, when the sound thunder and screams hit the air.

The crowds lining the streets panicked with no idea what was happening. Double Diamond was buffeted by the mobs of ponies as they galloped for shelter into buildings or for the city entrance.

Suddenly the ponies were given a reason for their hysteria. A Wonderbolt rocketed down the street, followed by a shockwave that shattered every window. Instead of littering the road with glass, however, the shards froze in place in the air for a moment, then rocketed for the opposite side of the street, threatening to cut dozens of ponies to ribbons.

Unicorns telekinetically grabbed at all they could manage, and those that could teleport or manifest shields did so; Pegasi took off into the sky, or joined the Earth ponies hiding behind cover or unicorns' shields.

Despite their best efforts, unfortunately, a lot of ponies suffered some deep cuts. A shard of glass struck a dark gray Pegasus in the eye, causing him to collapse, screaming, onto the ground. Double Diamond ran to help, putting a leg over him and helping him to stand. A light gold Earth pony in a Stetson ran to help as well, supporting his other side. A tiny gray colt called over to them from under a nearby archway, crying hysterically. The two Earth ponies lead the Pegasus over to him.

When they reached him, the little colt immediately ran to the Pegasus' side. “Thunderlane!”

Thunderlane forced a smile through the pain. “Don't worry, Rumble. I'm okay.”

The pony in the Stetson spoke up. “We need to get out of the city now! The train station is close. I think we can get Thunderlane there fairly quickly, but we need to move!”

“Yeah, we should definitely hurry,” said Double Diamond, looking out into the street.

The situation outside was deteriorating quickly. In the multitude of clothing stores, dresses and jackets were coming to life and attacking the patrons. The road leading to the entrance to the city had heated to molten rock. Pegasi trying to fly away were knocked out of the sky by cloudless lightning strikes or were sent plummeting to the ground when their wings vanished. The waterfalls around the city were boiling, which was bad news for the ponies who had, in desperation, tried to escape by riding them down the mountain.

Sweetie Drops and Daring Do had been in their hotel room when their window exploded. Looking out over the chaos, there was only one thought on Sweetie's mind.

Lyra.

“Daring, you have to get us out of here. We have to get to Ponyville!” She stomped so hard that the floorboards splintered.

“Ponyville?” asked Daring incredulously. “Why the hay do we need to go there?”

Sweetie grabbed her suitcase of spy gear out from under their bed. “Lyra is there!”

“Don't you think there are more pressing matters at hand?” As if to illustrate her point, a pair of Wonderbolts flew past the window, carrying a net full of foals.

“We have to get out of the city either way. This way we at least have an objective.”

Daring relented, grabbing Sweetie and flying out the broken window frame. She turned sharply into an alleyway and dropped her passenger onto the ground. The two made their way to the city wall by way of alleyways and smaller side roads.

“There!” Sweetie pointed to a small opening in the wall.

Daring sighed, picked her up a second time, and flew her out of the city, hoping sincerely that carrying ponies wasn't going to become a regular thing.

Meanwhile, Double Diamond and the other Earth pony, Braeburn, had miraculously managed to get the Pegasus brothers onto a train without incident. Braeburn had also ripped up his jacket to make some makeshift bandages for Thunderlane's eye.

“Thanks for your help,” said Thunderlane. “Who knows what would have happened if I had been stuck out in the open like that.”

“Do we have a plan? Where are we going?” asked Double Diamond.

Braeburn laid his hat beside him and tried to relax as the train made its way down the mountain. “Well, this train goes past Ponyville, then to Appleoosa. That's where I'm going. It's a tiny little town, and hopefully I can wait it out while the Princesses handle whatever that was.”

“That's as good a plan as any,” said Double Diamond. “I think we'll need to stop in Ponyville to get Thunderlane some medical attention though.”

Whatever Thunderlane was going to say was drowned out when the train behind theirs exploded.

Twilight's love of magic began at a young age. As a filly, she was transfixed when she first witnessed the Royal Sisters perform the sunrise at a Summer Sun Celebration. It was at that moment she dedicated her life to the study of magic. By the time she was of age to attend the Royal Sisters' School for Gifted Unicorns she had read more books than most ponies read in a lifetime.

However, ever since she was very young, she was plagued by constant nightmares. She dreamed of horrific disasters and sinister monsters. She dreamed of rejection, abuse, and hatred. Mostly, she dreamed of the end of the world.

Her nightmares drove her to avoid sleep, and books were the perfect way to achieve that. She'd stay up for days, and then when she inevitably succumbed to sleep, the nightmares would terrorize her until she jolted awake. Her life became a blur, a confusing, tiring trudge through the years.

In spite of that, however, her studies went well, and soon she was granted an opportunity to apply to the School for Gifted Unicorns. She merely had to pass an entrance exam. She studied hard in preparation, but sadly she missed her chance when she crashed from exhaustion. Remarkably, she slept peacefully, a long, relaxing, dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, she slept right through her entrance exam.

Her parents were able to convince the school to reschedule her exam to a later date. The nightmares seemed to have stopped, and Twilight felt better than she ever had before.

On the day of the exam, just minutes before it was to begin, she met a young orange filly, just a little older than she was. She introduced herself as Sunset Shimmer.

“You look a little anxious, small fry,” said Sunset.

Twilight looked down nervously at her hooves. “This is just such an important day. My whole future will be decided by what happens in there.”

Sunset leaned down and whispered, “Wanna know what you'll be doing?”

Little Twilight gasped. “But, but, it's supposed to be a surprise!”

“Oh, I can tell you're ready for this school. Besides, I'm the personal protégé of the Royal Sisters, so you can trust me.” Sunset winked.

Twilight's eyes grew wide. “Whoa! Really?”

“Oh yeah. I know them better than anyone,” Sunset said, voice full of pride. “Now, all you'll need to do is hatch a dragon egg. You can do that right?”

“Hatch a dragon egg?” Twilight's eyes somehow got even wider.

Sunset laughed. “You can do that right?”

“I… I think so.”

“Well, now that you know what you'll be doing, there shouldn't be any reason to be nervous.” With that, Sunset left.

Minutes later, Twilight was standing before a dragon egg, eagerly watched by her parents and a trio of teachers acting as judges. She breathed in and out deeply a few times, stepped forward, and aimed her horn.

Outside the classroom, Princess Celestia was waiting expectantly. Feeling a powerful surge of magic, she entered the room, and immediately realized her high expectations had actually been a little low.

Twilight was floating in midair, surrounded by a shining aura of pure magic. She'd lifted the teachers into the air and turned her parents into houseplants. She'd also managed to not only hatch the dragon egg, but caused the newborn reptile to grow to giant size, his head sticking out of a newly formed hole in the ceiling.

Princess Celestia calmly stepped forward and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight snapped out of her magical trance and looked up to the princess embarrassed as her parents turned back to normal, the teachers were released, and the dragon shrank back to his natural size.

“Twilight Sparkle?” began Princess Celestia. “That was one of the most impressive feats of magic I've ever seen. You are clearly an immensely talented unicorn. If you'd like, my sister and I would love to personally help you train your abilities.”

Twilight looked like she might faint. “You want me to be your personal student? But, I thought Sunset was already your student.”

Twilight couldn't quite read the princess's expression upon hearing this, but it wasn't wholly positive. “You've met Sunset Shimmer? I see. Well, Princess Luna and I can certainly handle two students. Would you like that?”

Twilight affirmation was both instantaneous and incredibly high pitched.

Chuckling, Princess Celestia pointed down at Twilight's flank. “Oh, and Twilight?”

Twilight looked down, and squealed with joy as she saw her brand new cutie mark. It was a pink six-pointed star, surrounded by five smaller shooting stars, all flying toward the larger center one.

Her joy at being made a personal protégé of the Royal Sisters was short lived however. That night her nightmares returned. They somehow seemed even worse than before. She'd surely have been forced to drop out had it not been for Sunset's support.

Eventually, Twilight decided to tell Sunset about her nightmares. Sunset's response wasn't what she had expected.

“What do you think it means?”

“Er, what?” Twilight stammered. “They're nightmares. I don't think they mean anything.”

“If you've had nightmares of some terrible event ever since you were little, you don't think that means anything? Did you know the princesses can have visions of the future in their sleep? What if this is something like that?”

Twilight was speechless.

That night, her dream was different. It began the same, with Canterlot on fire. A huge evil beast was ravaging the city. The four princesses fought with the beast, and as with every time before, one by one, they were defeated, their bodies falling from the sky.

Then, for the first time, the beast noticed her. It slowly approached her, the world shaking with each of the monster's steps. Twilight tried to flee, but her legs wouldn't move. She closed her eyes and braced herself as the beast raised an immense foot, prepared to crush her.

The impact never came however. Twilight felt a hoof gently caress her cheek. She opened her eyes to see a tall, regal looking, black alicorn.

“Hello, dear child.”

“Who are you?” asked Twilight.

“I am a harbinger of doom and of hope.”

Twilight looked uneasy. “Um…”

The alicorn laughed a soft, pleasant laugh. “I'm here to warn you that what you have seen will come to pass. I'm also here to tell you that you can stop it.”

“Me? How could I…”

The alicorn gently shushed Twilight. “You have more power than you know. With my help, you can unlock that power and save the world from that evil.”

Twilight actually smiled. After a lifetime of suffering, she had a reason for all of it, and she would be the one to prevent all of the terrible things that had plagued her mind for years. “What do I need to do?”

“I have been imprisoned so that I cannot help you. I will need you, with the help of my other followers, to set me free, so that I may empower you to defeat the Beast. There is one catch, however.”

Twilight smile faded a little. “A catch?”

The alicorn looked down at her sadly. “I wish it could be another way, but in order to save Equestria, to save your family, you will have to make a sacrifice. Princess Celestia will not survive the conflict.”

After they recovered from the Sonic Thunderclap, the Crystal Princesses flew into action.

Princess Cadenza attacked the rogue Wonderbolts, shooting them out of the sky with powerful magical blasts. Princess Radiant Hope flew to aid the ponies being attacked in the streets.

Princess Cadenza brought her attention to Lightning Dust. Lightning was triumphantly doing laps around the field. Princess Cadenza struck her with a spell, sending her crashing into a castle wall. She prepared a second attack, but Lightning Dust turned into actual lightning and shot straight through her before she could do anything. The blackened pink princess fell, unconscious, onto the field.

Princess Hope cast down healing spells onto the screaming populace fleeing the city. Ponies found their wounds and burns healed instantly. She flew across the city, treating every injury she saw, until she found herself suddenly trapped in a transparent bubble.

The source of the trap was a passing Nightmare-possessed Wonderbolt. The white-maned Pegasus landed atop the bubble and looked down sinisterly. The bubble began to shrink, but Radiant Hope, looking sadly down at the suffering ponies, charged a spell and vanished in a flash of blue light.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor and his companions were making a beeline for the train station.

“What's happening? What was that? Where are we going?” Spike had asked about thirty panicked questions in the past minute.

Shining chose to answer the last one. “We're evacuating.”

“Uh, we've got a problem,” said Spitfire, rolling out of the way of a flying cart. She pointed toward the train station, and the five watched as the last train departed.

“Spitfire, fly in close to me. I've got an idea.” Shining strained, magic radiating from his horn, and then they all vanished in a flare of pink.

They appeared in one of the cars of the train. Shining stumbled over to a seat, looking like he might throw up.

“Whoa, you can teleport multiple ponies?” Spitfire asked, impressed and a little disoriented.

“Yeah, but it takes a lot out of me,” Shining said, dazed.

“Shining!” Spike called out.

The ponies looked out the window in time to see the train ahead of theirs go up in flames.

Shining jumped into action. He was the captain of the royal guard, and that meant that even as drained as he was, he was prepared to respond to a crisis. He telekinetically grabbed everypony in reach and pulled them in close. He surrounded everypony with a magical shield, and then he blasted out the side of the train car and leapt out, carrying everypony with him.

A layer of overglow appeared over his horn, and his falling shield began to slow, carrying the group down to a forested area at the bottom of the mountain.

Several ponies screamed in alarm and Shining looked up just in time to see a flaming train car crash into the top of his shield. It began to crack, but with a second layer of overglow he managed to hold it together until they hit the treeline. About ten feet above the ground he collapsed and blacked out as his shield broke and his cargo fell to the forest floor around him.

Shining woke up lying in front of a crackling fireplace.

Yawning, he stood up and began to inspect his surroundings. He was in a pleasant-looking living room. As far as furniture went, there was a couch, an old rocking chair, and coffee table covered in photo albums. The walls were covered in dozens of picture frames. Looking into the hallway, it seemed that was the case with every wall in the house.

Inspecting the pictures, he was shocked to see they were all of him. His time in basic training, his childhood, the O&O games he played with his friends at Canterlot Academy… Most of the scenes were times he hadn't taken any photos at all.

“What the hay…”

“Oh, hello there.”

The voice came from an older unicorn. In the back of his mind, Shining noted that aside from his black color, the newcomer looked identical to his father.

“Where am I?”

The unicorn sat on the couch and invited Shining to do the same. “Oh, this is your mind.”

Shining sat beside him. “…I'm in my own mind?”

The stranger chuckled. “Well, it's better than being out of it. Trust me.”

Shining's eyes grew wide with a realization. “You're Nightmare.”

Nightmare smiled an unsettling grin. “That's me. Now, we have a lot of work to do.”

The room erupted in flames around them.

“Let's get to it.”

3. Dream On

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna approached the ancient crystalline tree. At the end of each of its five branches rested a hexagonal gemstone, each a different color. On the trunk were depictions of a sun and a moon, matching the princesses' cutie marks; at the center was a large six pointed star.

Princess Celestia flew up to it and channeled golden magic into the star. It opened up to reveal a gemstone similar to the others, though in the same star shape as the compartment that held it. Golden auras enveloped it and the other gems, and the six stones began to orbit the two sisters.

Celestia spoke.

“We have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria. Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here.”

A little over a thousand years later, Sombra approached the same tree. At the end of each branch was a recess, matching the gems that had they had held a millennium ago.

He stepped forward, shaking a small chunk of timberwolf out of his mane. The Everfree Forest that contained this tree was filled with dangerous flora and fauna that discouraged visitation from most ponies. However, despite his outward unicorn-like appearance, Sombra was an umbrum, a shadow pony, and that came with enough magical power that he had made it to the tree with ease.

Among these powers was the ability he needed for his current task. As he charged his spell, his eyes glowed green and purple magic flowed from them and bubbled around his horn.

Dark magic erupted from his horn, an unpleasant mix of black, green, and purple, and shot straight into the star shaped mark in the center of the tree. From that point outward, the tree began to darken to a sickly gray. As the darkness reached the ends of the branches, the recesses began to fill with black crystal.

The star opened, revealing a black, six-pointed crystal star. The dark duplicates of the Elements of Harmony were enveloped in Sombra's red magic and floated into a burlap sack he had carried with him.

As he departed, green vines began to rapidly climb the now dark tree.

Princess Cadenza woke up on a hard stone floor. She had just a moment to contemplate how odd it was that ponies could wake so calmly from nightmares when she noticed the Pegasus standing before her, and all thoughts turned to survival.

“Good morning, Equestria!” Nightmare, in the form of Soarin, yelled enthusiastically. “Howdy, Dancing Queen! Do you like the accommodations? Want a drink? A snack? Continental breakfasts are available in the lobby.”

Cadenza examined the room. It was immediately clear, though she had never been there, that it was a cell in the castle dungeon. The floor and walls were made of stone and a castle door, almost definitely enchanted with numerous defensive and anti-magic spells, appeared to lead into the larger dungeon area. There was no window, and the only source of light came from gas lights on the walls.

“Nightmare!” demanded Cadenza. “What are you doing?”

Nightmare let out an exaggerated gasp and blushed until his face was literally glowing red. “You know who I am? Little old me?”

She stood up, legs wobbling. She couldn't see herself, but if she could she would have seen that her coat and mane had been burned and blackened by Lightning Dust's attack. “I've heard from Princess Hope about what you did to Discord and tried to do with Princess Luna. You're a manipulative monster.”

“Oh, you are too kind!” Nightmare said, looking flattered.

“What do you want from me?” Cadenza said through gritted teeth, her horn flickering weakly with a light blue aura.

Nightmare licked his hoof and tapped it against her horn. The magic immediately faded. She scrambled backwards but hit the wall behind her after a just few frantic steps.

“Oh, I just want to chat,” he said, a pink cupcake popping into existence in his hoof. He took a bite and mumbled under his breath. “Nightmare Cadance? Broken Heart? Hmm, I could focus on the music aspect…”

“What are you talking about?” Cadenza was becoming increasingly panicked, and her voice attempted to be aggressive but unfortunately wavered far too much to do so.

“Oh, I just think you'll make a wonderful queen. Oh, and don't worry, I don't torture people.”

Cadenza screamed in agony as her right hind leg snapped in two places.

Nightmare laughed uproariously. “See? Far too heavy-handed, too cliché, and frankly. Not. Enough. Fun.” He tilted his head more and more with each of those last four words, and when he was done his head was completely upside down.

He laughed a delicate but crazed giggle. “Hmm, you know, I've already got six independent agents in the field, and you do look like a fun little meat sack. I think I'll just add you to my little fledgling hive mind. After all, it's so important to support local businesses. Too bad though, I had a great name planned.”

Cadenza cowered against the wall as Nightmare approached. He was actually skipping, even doing a little twirl as he sang a little song under his breath.

“Da dum dum. Don't touch me please, I cannot stand the way you tease…”

Daring Do and Sweetie Drops were panting as they entered Ponyville. Daring had flown from Canterlot to there, and Sweetie had raced down the mountain below Daring using a collapsable snowboard included in her briefcase of secret agent equipment. They'd actually managd to beat the trains there, since those had to wind their way down the mountain. However, Sweetie had had to gallop from the base of the mountain to Ponyville on hoof, so she was almost as winded as Daring. Despite her physical exhaustion, she pressed on, running through Ponyville looking for her marefriend.

Daring, glad she'd had the foresight to throw on a big green sweater to cover her cutie mark before fleeing Canterlot, dropped to the ground to give her tired wings a rest. She looked back toward Canterlot and saw Wonderbolts approaching the town. Her heart dropped as she noticed a second group flying toward Cloudsdale. Most of the Pegasi who had managed to escape had flown there.

“Everypony run! Evil Pegasi are attacking!”

The voice had come from Sweetie, currently squeezing her way through a small crowd, but it was totally different than her usual speaking voice. Daring stood confused for a moment before realizing that it was probably something she was taught as a secret agent. Then she began to run, realizing that the small town was about to be under attack.

Panic broke out almost instantly. Ideally that could have been avoided, but considering the attackers were a beloved Pegasus flight team gone bad and with strange new reality warping powers, it was probably the best option. Daring wasn't sure what had happened to them, but her current assumption was possession. She'd witnessed it far more often than most ponies, and she was seeing some telltale signs.

Daring tried to catch up to Sweetie, but she was like a mare possessed. (Daring noted the irony in that observation.) Sweetie found her target trotting through the park and pounced. The poor mint green unicorn never saw it coming. Although, considering she was now receiving a passionate kiss from her marefriend, it didn't seem like she was upset by the tackle.

“Bon Bon?” Lyra asked as soon as her mouth was free. “What's going on? Why is everypony freaking out?”

As if to answer for Sweetie, a river of molten chocolate erupted out of the doors and windows of the local bakery, Sugar Cube Corner. Ponies took to the skies or climbed on whatever they could or ran into buildings to avoid the scalding chocolate torrent. The ponies in the streets didn't know it, but luckily the couple who ran the shop survived by virtue of having been in the walk-in freezer at the time. A blue-coated, blue-maned stallion wasn't so lucky, and was swept away in the boiling liquid.

Sweetie pulled Lyra up off the ground and the pair began running from the chaos. Their brief makeout session had allowed Daring to catch up.

“Bon Bon, who's this?” Lyra asked, motioning with her head toward Daring.

“That's Daring Do.” Bon Bon said flatly, leaping over a hot pink briar patch that was rapidly overtaking a large portion of the park.

“Sweetie Drops!” Daring hissed, looking around to see if anypony else had heard.

“Daring Do? Wait. Sweetie Drops?” Lyra looked more confused at this than she did upon seeing the conical roof of the town hall spin off the building and grab a herd of school ponies with a blue tractor beam.

“It's a long story,” Sweetie said, ducking under a flying sofa. Oddly, it seemed to be being carried by a flock of flying quills.

“It's really not,” said Daring. “I'm Daring Do from the books, which aren't fiction but are really based on my adventures. She's a member of a secret anti-monster agency, and her name is really Sweetie Drops.”

Lyra looked at the two ponies as if they'd just had a casual conversation about vacationing on the moon. Sweetie looked at Daring as if she'd very very much like to buck her in her face, but regrettably had to focus on not dying. Daring looked forward.

The trio reached the edge of town and began galloping down a dirt road.

It took Lyra almost a full minute to manage speech again. “I don't… You are… she just…” It wasn't coherent speech, but it was speech.

Sweetie sighed. “Lyra, I know we have a lot to talk about, but can we focus on staying alive for now?”

Daring spoke up. “Guys, sorry about the trouble in paradise, but I think we're gonna wanna find a safe place to hide. Look.”

Approaching from the south was a tornado. However, rather than reached down to the ground from the clouds, it appeared to be slinking across the ground like a snake. Even stranger and more upsetting than that was the rows of razor sharp teeth spinning around the mouth of it.

It was ripping whole apple trees, roots and all, out of the nearby orchard and then chewing them up. As the trio leapt a fence and ran to a farm for shelter, Daring was forced to admit something. In her adventures she'd seen ancient curses, bizarre creatures, mind control, evil spirits, and so much more. However, after all of that, she was still completely unprepared for a belching tornado.

A small group of ponies were gathered together in front of the farm house when the three reached it. Daring reasoned that three of them, an elderly green mare, a large red stallion, and an orange mare, were related, given they all had apple-themed cutie marks. There was also a cream-colored filly without a cutie mark who bore a resemblance to them.

In addition there were three other mares, all with musical cutie marks. However, they all seemed unrelated other than that, and Daring guessed they were probably simply musician friends rather than family. One was a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane and purple sunglasses. Another was an elegant looking Earth pony, whose coat and mane were each a different shade of gray. The third was a pale blue Earth pony, with long, curly, gray-blue hair with streaks of bright blue.

“We're heading to our storm shelter,” the orange farmpony screamed over the roaring winds. “You three can join us. It's not safe out here!”

Sweetie, Lyra, and Daring shared a look and then joined the seven other ponies galloping toward their shelter. Daring and Sweetie both felt a tinge of failure. They'd fled Canterlot and made it to Ponyville safely, but ultimately all they managed to do was start a panic and then run for cover.

Mayor Mare had woken up to find the trees of Ponyville full of dead, skinless snakes. Presumably this was the work of a particularly malicious prankster or perhaps somepony trying to make some sort of statement. Of course, the general populace would have freaked out over this, so the weather patrol was called in early to clear it up.

Among these ponies was Ditzy Doo, a gray Pegasus mare and Ponyville's best mailmare. Ditzy suffered from strabismus, a medical condition that gave her a wall-eyed appearance. This unfortunately gave her some issues when it came to things like depth perception. As a result, she preferred not to fly within Ponyville, for fear of crashing into things. It was because of this that her hooves were hurting more than most of the other Pegasi who had helped clean the trees. After finishing her job, she rested her hooves by laying on a bench in the park.

She was still laying there when the sun rose, a little abruptly and with an odd red tint to it. Other ponies began to wake up and step out into the streets, a little confused about the unusual sunlight. Some ponies reckoned that it was caused by some strange abnormality in the atmosphere, while others assumed it was an intentional display by Princess Celestia, perhaps to show off for all the ponies that were visiting Canterlot. Whichever was the case, most ponies weren't worried by it.

The bizarre sunrise led to a few minutes of speculation, but ultimately the morning was a quiet one. Ditzy soon hopped off her bench and made her way to the Ponyville Post Office, ready to begin her shift. She knew that around this time her little sister, Dinky Doo, would be making her way to school. Her sister was adorable little ball of energy, a unicorn filly that shared Ditzy's yellow mane color, but who had a light purple coat. She was the most important thing in her older sister's life, and Ditzy would do anything for her.

Ditzy was sorting through her fourth bag of mail and eating her nineteenth muffin of the morning when she heard a pony scream something from outside the post office. She couldn't make out what the mare said, but whatever it was, it brought about dozens of screams from other ponies.

She ran out onto the street to see what was going on, and found the streets filled with screaming ponies running for cover and several Pegasi doing sweeps over the small town, leaving contrails of gasoline and blueberry scented neon green smoke.

The thoroughly confused Pegasus stood in the doorway, looking left and right over and over as if an answer as to what was happening would make itself apparent that way. After a few moments, rivers of steaming chocolate came bursting out of the nearby bakery, only raising more questions but at least giving Ditzy something to do.

She instinctively flew upward, avoiding the deadly concoction but slamming straight into the sign hanging from the front of the post office. She clumsily corrected course and landed with a thud onto the roof of her workplace.

Worry over what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the owners of the bakery, briefly crossed her mind, but that, and every other concern in her now slightly bruised head, was overridden almost instantly by a single thought.

Dinky!

She immediately leapt into action, taking flight and soaring at breakneck speed toward the Ponyville schoolhouse. This was a fortunate decision, as just after she left the gable roof it folded in on itself like a book slammed shut.

Ditzy's flightpath was more than a little irregular, but she was managing to avoid crashing, which was impressive for her. All around her Ponyville was going crazy. The three mares who ran the flower shop were currently being held in the vines of a large, singing begonia. Hoofer Steps, the pony who ran the town dance studio, was dancing wildly and uncontrollably, smoke rising from her. A yellow Pegasus stallion flew by several feet above Ditzy, followed by a ladybug the size of a small bear.

Ditzy wished she could help them, but she knew realistically there wasn't much she could do. Besides, finding Dinky was currently her biggest and only priority, and she wasn't going to slow down for anything.

She came to a screeching halt, almost crashing through the window of a small house, when her off-center eye caught sight of the familiar purple and yellow of her younger sister. She was with her classmates and her teacher, Cheerilee, running through the streets just like all the other ponies.

Before Ditzy could even call out her sister's name, the roof of the town hall began to spin, breaking free from the rest of the building with a cacophony of loud snaps as wood splintered. The windows all shown with a bright blue glow and the makeshift UFO flew toward the foals. Ditzy rocketed toward Dinky, screaming her name, but before she could reach her, or Dinky could do more than look up, the flying structure was pulling in the schoolponies and their teacher with a beam of blue light projecting from its underside.

Ditzy rocketed toward it, the roof spinning like an upside down top, but it paid her no mind, flying off toward Canterlot and knocking Ditzy out of the sky like a bug. She came crashing down into a flower cart, and in seconds she was back on her hooves, shaking off the dirt and plants. She had seen what had happened to the flower ponies.

She looked up at the thing that had stolen her sister, briefly considering going after it. She knew, however, that she wasn't nearly as fast a flyer as that was, and she also knew that it was very unlikely that she'd even be able to follow it for long before beginning to drift off course.

Instead, she took off down the street to the home of Ponyville's resident timekeeper. He was an eccentric stallion, and everypony referred to him simply as the Doctor. Over the years, Ditzy had become one of his closest friends. Given his somewhat off-putting nature, she as also one of his only. In spite of this, though, even she found him rather enigmatic. He was great at finding solutions to seemingly impossible problems, though, and so he was currently Ditzy's best hope.

She came bursting into his home to find him humming and woking on an unusual device, not a care in the world. The interior of his house was filled with strange and impressive looking machines and gadgets, and Ditzy always found herself thinking that his house didn't look like it could hold all that it did based on its exterior.

“Doc!”

His head jerked upward, apparently unaware until that moment that anyone had walked in. “Ditzy? What's the matter?”

Ditzy's mouth fell open, her look of shock made all the more effective by her mismatched eyes. “Do you not hear what's going on outside?”

The Doctor's ears perked up, and his eyes widened when he heard the panicked screams. “My word! What's going on out there?”

As he made his way to the door, Ditzy answered. “Some weird Pegasi showed up and now everything is going crazy! Things are coming to life and there was a chocolate river and…”

Her voice trailed off as the Doctor stuck his head out of the doorway and exclaimed, “Great whickering stallions!” His face was covered in ketchup, which would have been funny had Ditzy not just witnessed what she had.

He wiped his face with a nearby rag, and she continued. “They took Dinky! And like a dozen other foals! What do we do?”

The Doctor trotted over to a table covered in books and began to flip through several of them. “Hmm, I'm sure there's something in here…”

Ditzy looked over his shoulder and saw pages filled with mountains of tiny text and complex diagrams. “Doc? What are you looking for?”

“I'm sure I've seen it in one of these books. Hmm, I think it was Sun— no, Star…” He flipped his way through a dusty, purple tome. “Aha!”

He trotted over to a nearby coat rack and threw on a brown pinstriped suit jacket. “Come along, my dear. We're going to Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” Ditzy asked. “We're going to go save Dinky?”

“No, no, dear. Well, not like that. Come along!”

Ditzy shook her head. She never really knew what the Doc had planned, but it always seemed to work out in the end. She took a deep breath and followed him out.

The last train train to make it safely out of Canterlot continued its winding journey down, passing through tunnels built into the mountain. After several tense minutes, the ponies inside began to calm down, sufficiently reassured that their train wasn't about to explode like the ones behind it.

Double Diamond and his new friends renewed their conversation, having spent the past few minutes anxiously awaiting a fiery death. They had until that point only established their names, Braeburn's hometown, and that Thunderlane and Rumble were brothers.

Double Diamond began. “…So, uh, it looks like we're okay for now.”

Rumble looked up to his injured brother, his expression making it clear that he didn't think Thunderlane qualified as “okay” at all. Thunderlane forced a smile for Rumble's sake.

Braeburn quickly came to the rescue. “Don't worry, we'll get you all fixed up when we get to Ponyville. Heck, when this is all over, I even bet Princess Radiant Hope will be able to heal your eye right up with her magic.”

Rumble looked a little reassured by that, and Thunderlane's smile adopted a hint of genuineness.

“So, we never really got to introduce ourselves properly,” said Thunderlane. “Who wants to start?”

“Well, I'm Double Diamond.” He cringed, realizing he'd already made that much clear. He pressed on. “I'm a professional skier. I travel around a lot, looking for new slopes to, er, ski on.”

Double Diamond wasn't the most socially gifted pony, but luckily Braeburn stepped in to cover for him for the second time in the past minute. “Well, like I said before, I'm from Appleoosa. You probably haven't heard of it. It's a brand new little town. We Earth ponies built the entire thing over the course of the last year.”

Thunderlane whistled, impressed.

“The town's got an expansive apple orchard, and I'm the pony in charge of it.”

Thunderlane had just whistled, so he complimented Braeburn with a simple nod as he began his own introduction. “We're from Ponyville. I'm a member of the weather patrol and Rumble here is in school, of course.”

“Thunderlane is gonna be a Wonderbolt!” declared Rumble.

A faint blush developed on Thunderlane's face. “Well, maybe. I'd love to be a member, but I'm not sure I've got what it takes.”

Rumble looked completely taken aback by that statement. “No way! You're the fastest pony in all of Ponyville!”

“Well, second fastest, officially,” corrected Thunderlane. “Rainbow Dash is faster.” Seeing the lack of recognition from the Earth ponies, he clarified, “She's the head of the Ponyville weather patrol. She can actually perform a Sonic Rainboom.”

“I thought that was an old mare's tale!” said Double Diamond, clearly quite impressed.

“So did everypony else, myself included, until we saw it happened. She did it last year at a contest held by the Wonderbolts. As you can probably guess, she won, and was actually supposed to perform at the show this morning.” He looked up toward Canterlot. “I don't guess that matters now.”

Rumble's mood wasn't soured by that. “And Thunderlane finished in second!”

“Third, Rumble,” his older brother corrected.

“No, second!” assured the little Pegasus. “The mean lady who finished second got disqualified so you got it!”

“Uh, guys. You might want to take a look at this.” Double Diamond pointed out the window.

The train had just exited the last tunnel and the disaster that had befallen the little town of Ponyville came into view. In less than a minute the train would be passing right by it. Judging from the it's increasing speed, it had no intentions of stopping.

Braeburn jumped from his seat and galloped over to one of the train doors. He threw it open, and rushing winds filled the car as the terrain outside sped by. Braeburn's Stetson flew off and out the door, but he caught it with his teeth and slung it into an overhead luggage compartment.

“C'mon, guys! We've gotta save what ponies we can!” he screamed over the wind.

Double Diamond jumped up and ran to help. Thunderlane also began to stand, but Rumble pulled him back into his seat, and he relented, looking worriedly out the window. Across the train, other ponies realized what was going on and similarly opened doors and windows, prepared to help.

The train tracks skirted by a comparatively small portion of Ponyville's perimeter. There would only be a brief window of time for ponies to hop on, and a small crowd was already forming, ready to do just that.

The train reached the town and the Ponyvillians hopped on. A brick red stallion hopped into the door Braeburn had opened, followed soon after by another stallion in a colorful sweater. Across the train, other ponies were hopping through the open doorways as they passed by. Pegasi landed on top of the train, or flew into windows that the passengers had raised.

In virtually no time at all, the train reached the station where it had intended to stop, and the ponies who had been waiting to board had to leap into action to make in onboard in time. A light green mare with a pink and white mane jumped aboard through the entrance by Double Diamond and Braeburn, and another green mare, this one with a pepper for a cutie mark, made it in next, pulled into the train car by Braeburn.

A brown Pegasus stallion in a wheelchair cart ran for the train, and might have made it, if a Nightmare Wonderbolt hadn't turned his attention to the station. Stone spikes began to shoot up through the wooden platform, and one of them stabbed through one of the cart's wheels, pulling the cart into two twisted pieces. The stallion would have fallen forward and gotten a face-full of spikes, but before he could, his wings puffed up and he took to the air.

Double Diamond ran to the next car, the caboose, and opened the rear door, allowing the Pegasus a way in. When he landed, Double Diamond helped him move to a seat.

“Double Diamond.” The white stallion said, sticking out a hoof for a shake and hoping that for once he could have a non-awkward introduction, the situation outside notwithstanding.

The other stallion blew his black and purple mane from his eyes and opted for a hooftbump rather than a shake, inciting a light chuckle from Double Diamond. “Stellar Eclipse.”

Double Diamond's warm smile turned to a panicked frown when he looked out the window and saw that the Wonderbolt hadn't taken its focus off of them. Stellar Eclipse noticed it as well a moment later, as did a number of other ponies on and in the train. They all braced themselves for what he had planned (the few ponies still unaware looking around in confusion), but before he could do anything, a jasmine-colored blur tackled the Wonderbolts out of the air and into a tree.

The blur was a Pegasus mare that Thunderlane and Rumble recognized as Sunshower Raindrops, an aggressive member of the weather patrol. The fiesty Pegasus got in a few good hits on the Wonderbolt, but then she got ensnared by the suddenly sentient branches of the tree. She fought her way through them, landing several more kicks on the laughing stallion, but in moments the branches overcame her, engulfing her like a cocoon.

Her effort wasn't in vain however, for by the time the bloodied but giddy Wonderbolt freed himself from the tree, the train was out of sight.

Shining Armor woke up on a warm wooden floor. He had just a moment to contemplate how odd it was that pain could vanish so quickly after waking from nightmares when he noticed the crowd of ponies around him, and all thoughts turned to protecting them.

“Wake up!” he screamed, shaking the sleeping pony lying nearest him. Those that had already fallen asleep jolted awake, quickly adopting a look of alarm, while the ponies that were still awake jumped up, unsure of what was happening to cause the outburst.

He took a moment to observe his surroundings. They were in a small cabin, a green, smokeless fire crackling in the fireplace. A dozen or so ponies were there, sitting in chairs or on benches and beds. After a moment, he recognized them as the ponies he'd pulled out of the train with him before it went up in flames.

Spitfire was laying nearby, her Wonderbolts outfit removed and laying in a heap in a dusty corner of the room. Flash Sentry was helping bandage the foreleg of a burly gray Pegasus, apparently having found a first aid kit somewhere in the cabin. Spike was stirring from a nap in front of the fireplace; Shining noted that he was almost certainly the source of the fire. Cherry Fizzy was sitting on a bench between two other well-built Pegasi stallions, each a different shade of brown.

Taking up the entirety of one of the cabin's two beds was a white unicorn stallion that Shining recognized immediately; he was wearing what must have been an expensive and regal suit, before it had become dirtied and torn by the events in Canterlot. An Earth pony mare with a similarly disheveled dress and mane, both cherry red, was more considerate with the seating, and shared the other bed with three other ponies. Those ponies were a Crystal pony mare in what appeared to be a mailpony uniform, a pink Earth pony mare with a cherry blossom branch for a cutie mark, and a brown Pegasus stallion with a build similar to the two sitting by Cherry Fizzy, but with a blond mane.

An Earth pony mare dressed for much colder weather was sitting in a chair near the door. Another, this one an eye-catching mix of white, pink, and purple, was sitting on the floor, glumly playing with the propellor of a beanie hat lying in front of her. A blue Earth pony stallion with a bandana around his neck sat in a chair close by, looking at a pair of broken sunglasses with a similar expression.

Shining realized, counting himself, he'd only saved fifteen ponies (plus Spike.) Guilt washed over him thinking back on how crowded the train had been, but he shoved that feeling to the corner of his mind. He had more important things to deal with.

“We can't fall asleep,” Shining said to the crowd of drowsy ponies.

“Why?” asked the bandaged Pegasus skeptically.

Before Shining could answer, the white unicorn— Prince Blueblood, thought Shining, unable to do so without tinting the name with more than a little distaste— spoke up, sounding a little shaken. “I actually wouldn't be opposed to that.” He shuddered at what he had just experienced during his sleep.

Virtually all of the ponies who had been sleeping agreed, either through nods or grunts.

Shining answered the Pegasus, noting somewhat incredulously that Prince Blueblood, of all ponies, had helped him make his point. “A dark force calling itself Nightmare, the same being that possessed the Wonderbolts and attacked Canterlot and the train, is entering everpony's dreams. Based on what I just experienced and what happened to the Wonderbolts, I think it can take control of ponies who succumb to the bad dreams it creates. It's in the best interest of everypony here that we not fall asleep while that monster is loose.”

The Pegasus went to argue, but shut his mouth when he saw one of the Pegasi sitting by Cherry, specifically the one who had been asleep, shoot him a glare.

“Where are we?” asked Shining.

“It's some old cabin in the woods below Canterlot,” answered Flash. “We carried you after you passed out, and when we found this place, we saw it as a good place to hide out.”

Before Flash had even finished his statement, Shining stood up, his legs wobbling a little, and made his way to the cabin door. He exited to the woods outside and looked around, but saw nothing noteworthy in the forest or in the sky.

Grunting through the pain of using magic so soon after nearly overchanneling, Shining erected a pink protective bubble around the cabin. He grit his teeth and his eyes began to water, but his horn continued to glow, and a ripple passed through the bubble, followed by the whole structure shimmering out of sight for a brief moment. Exhausted, the stallion hobbled back into the cabin.

“I've cast a protective spell over the cabin,” he explained to the concerned ponies. “It should also prevent anypony outside from being able to see or hear us.”

After allowing Shining Armor a few minutes to recover, the ponies gathered together in a circle to introduce themselves. All but Prince Blueblood that is, who not only refused to leave his comfortable seat, but insisted upon going first.

Shining didn't listen to a word of it. Every member of the royal guard, and indeed virtually every royal servant or staff member could attest to the Prince's remarkable abrasiveness. He was surely talking up his royal importance (which was minimal), his blood relation to the Royal Sisters (which was incredibly distant), and how charming he was (not enough alcohol in all of Equestria!)

His introduction took the better part of ten minutes, and by the time he finished, everypony seemed as done with him as Shining Armor was.

The next pony to speak was the mare with the cherry red mane. She had discarded the matching dress and tossed it into the corner with Spitfire's Wonderbolts flight suit. She spoke in an accent similar to that spoken by cowponies, but with a hint of sophistication, like one might expect of a Manehattanite.

“Well now, I'm not sure if I can follow an introduction like that, Prince Blueblood, but my name is Cherry Jubilee.”

The majority of the listening ponies gasped at her name, Shining Armor included. None of them had met her personally, but everypony was aware of her products. Shining was particularly fond of her Cherry Jamboree energy drinks, which he drank to stay alert during his O&O games.

She seemed a tad surprised by the recognition, but she continued on about her cherry company based out of Dodge Junction. Shining missed most of what she said, as he'd become curious about the pink and purple mare, still sitting in the corner and playing with the propeller on her beanie. She hadn't spoken a word ever since she got on the train, and she refused to leave her seat to join the others. Shining didn't know what to think of her, but he found her cutie mark, a screw and a baseball, to be very unusual.

Next was Spitfire. Judging from the looks she was receiving, her status as a Wonderbolt made her very suspicious with the other ponies. She spoke with complete professionalism.

“Hello, everypony. I am Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. The only Wonderbolt, as I'm sure you're aware, not to fall victim to Nightmare.”

One of the beefy Pegasi, the one with the basketballs for his cutie mark, eyed her with obvious distrust. Fury rose in Spitfire, and she jumped to her hooves, retreating into drill sergeant mode. The Pegasi jumped up as well, but Spitfire refused to let him get in a single word.

“What! You don't believe me? Do you realize those ponies were my friends? Do you know what it is like to see your friends overtaken by evil, to see them attacking you and countless other ponies?” She jabbed him in the chest hard with her hoof, sending him sprawling back onto his flank. She pressed her muzzle up against his and growled, “I hope you never do.”

Everypony in the room was staring at her. She sat back in her place, her face void of emotion, and stated simply, “Who's next?”

Next was Flash, and Shining was of course familiar with all he had to say. Flash was probably one of Shining's favorite guardsponies to work with, despite his rookie status. He was loyal, hardworking, and refreshingly enthusiastic among the older guards, who tended to become somewhat apathetic over time. He was also surprisingly competent on the job, given his otherwise clumsy and emotional nature.

After him came the Pegasus who had angered Spitfire minutes before. He and two of the other Pegasi seemed to be very close friends, and they introduced themselves together. The Pegasi in question revealed his name to be Hoops. His darker brown friend with a dumb-bell for a cutie mark was creatively named Dumb-Bell. The third Pegasi, the shortest of the three and with a gray coat rather the brown coats of his friends, was named Score. His cutie mark depicted a trio of hoofballs. They didn't have anything particularly interesting to say about themselves. They were all members of the Cloudsdale weather patrol, they had been best friends since foalhood, and they had an obnoxious sense of superiority.

Next was the only Crystal pony among them. Her name was Mercury and she was a mailpony in the Crystal Empire. She was apparently the best mailpony in all of the empire, but considering the source Shining took it with a grain of salt. Regardless, the other ponies vouched that she was very fast on her hooves, as she was the one who scouted ahead and watched for danger as they made their way through the forest after the crash.

Shining Armor came after her and decided simply to give basic facts like his career and his hometown. He avoided everything related to his personal life and his family, considering what happened to his sister. He felt a sudden wave of several complex emotions hit him at the thought of Twilight, and he shoved them away to join his guilt.

The pony in the bandana was next. His name was Fashion Plate, and the energetic stallion was a writer for Cosmare magazine, a fashion magazine stationed in Canterlot. The blond Pegasus stallion was also in the journalism business. His name was Big Shot, a freelance photographer who specialized in wildlife photography, but usually sustained himself by snapping pictures of celebrities. Shining idly acknowledged him to be a rather attractive stallion, but of course had no plans of acting on that, given his newly rekindled relationship with Cherry Fizzy.

Cherry was actually the next to speak, and as his exposition reached the point that he and Shining Armor had broken contact, Shining was shocked to realize how little he had reconnected with his old flame, particularly considering the events of the previous night. Cherry's military career had taken him all over Equestria, and even out of it. Cherry had actually been in a serious relationship with a griffon until recently.

Shining reflected on all of this as the next two ponies spoke on themselves, missing most of what they had to say. The pony in the bomber hat and thick winter jacket was March Gustysnows. She had been in Canterlot to represent her hometown of Whinnyapolis in the summit. Her Whinnyapolitan accent was thick enough to cut with a knife, and it gave her an almost sickeningly sweet atmosphere. The pink pony was, matching her cutie mark, named Cherry Blossom (how many Cherries were there in Equestria?) She was a professional wrestler, and a few of the other ponies, as well as Spike, actually recognized her. She and Big Shot had actually met before, but she had a pretty negative outlook on paparazzi, and that extended to him.

Spike was the last to speak, and just as Shining had, he kept Twilight out of it. He simply stated that he did jobs for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and that he'd done so since he born in Canterlot. The other ponies met him with either wonder or trepidation or a mix of both. In particular, Big Shot and Fashion Plate both seemed utterly fascinated in him.

As the ponies broke into separate, more casual conversations, Shining made his way over to the silent pony in the corner. She didn't look up from her little hat as he sat down beside her, but he began talking regardless.

“Hello there. What's your name?”

The mare didn't respond.

“Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Nothing.

Shining sighed. “Did something happen in Canterlot? Did someone hurt you? Did something happen to somepony you know?”

At that last question, the mare kicked her hat across the room and into the wall. She started squealing a high-pitched, ear-splitting shriek and began bucking and jumping wildly. Shining would have sworn, if he hadn't know better, that she was beginning to rise into the air. He placed a soundproof bubble around her, his horn still stinging from the use of magic, and soon she tired herself out and fell limply to the bottom of the bubble, crying.

He dropped the shield and placed a hoof on the poor mare's shoulder. Slowly the conversations the other ponies were having recommenced. Even more slowly, the mare's tears began to cease. After she had cried herself out, Shining stood up to give her her space, but before he could go join Cherry Fizzy, she spoke.

“Screwball. I'm Screwball.”

Hours had passed since the Royal Sisters' sunrise ceremony had taken a dark turn, and the capital city had returned to a state of relative calm. Relative being the key word. Though the mass hysteria and brutal attacks had ended, the city itself had adopted a wildly chaotic appearance. Towers had been reshaped into spirals and corkscrews, streets now twisted to climb up walls or plummet twenty pony lengths, and the city, usually a mostly uniform mix of vibrant white, purple, and gold, had become recolored into a hodgepodge of blinding and clashing colors.

Despite this, the city was a ghost town. A hill of ashes outside the city walls was all that remained of the casualties of the day. Virtually all of the survivors had already been integrated into Nightmare's hive mind, and were exploring the castle and the buildings, giving the maniacal overlord the full lay of the land.

With nothing else going on, the silhouette of an alicorn flying toward the castle was quite conspicuous, but luckily nopony was outside to see her. Around the princess of the night orbited six gemstones. Princess Luna scanned the castle with her magic sight, sensing all the sources of magic, and seeing alicorn magic and chaos magic together in the tallest dungeon tower, she set course for there.

With a powerful blast of magic, impressive had it been from a unicorn but foal's play from an alicorn, she created a huge hole in the side of the tower. Inside was the surprisingly imposing form of Soarin standing over a burnt and bloodied Princess Cadenza. Princess Luna roared internally at the sight, and landed in the tower with a loud and purposeful thud.

“Why, if it isn't Loony Lulu!” said Nightmare excitedly. “Remember me? Well, I was a bit taller and my hair was a bit longer… Hmm, just imagine me a bit bigger and with blood dripping from my teeth!” The mental image was enough to make Luna cringe in spite of her rage. “Mmm, Cloudsdale cuisine. You know, Pegasus doesn't taste that bad. Bit gamey…”

“ENOUGH!” Luna roared with the full force of the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. She stomped her forehooves, cracking the stone floors and sending dust cascading down from the ceiling. “You have terrorized this land for the final time, foul beast! You will pay for your crimes, and you will never harm another living being again!”

The Elements of Harmony circling her began to pick up speed, creating a colorful spinning ring. A sphere of bright light radiated around her. The star-shaped gem, the Element of Magic, stopped in place in front of her, and the other elements settled around it and began to channel energy into it.

“Wait, wait! I wanna get a good quip in! Hmm, should I go referential? An 'I'll be back' or a 'Strike me down, et cetera, et cetera?' Maybe something punny?”

A rainbow-colored surge of magic erupted from the Element of Magic and began to encircle Nightmare in a multichromatic whirlwind.

“Whoa, whoa! Hold your horses! …Oh haha, that has to be how you go out, doesn't it, ya dolt.”

The brilliant tornado completely engulfed him. After a few seconds, it dissipated, leaving Soarin lying on the floor, awake but utterly exhausted.

The elements clattered to the ground, and Luna immediately turned her attention to the injured alicorn beside her. “Cadenza?” She shook the unconscious princess, gingerly but urgently. “Cadenza? Cadance!”

Princess Cadenza's eyes flickered open. Nopony called her by that nickname other that Radiant Hope and, infrequently, Luna and Celestia. “Luna?”

“Oh, Cadance!” Luna nuzzled the younger alicorn and then helped her up onto her hooves. “Are you okay?”

“I… I'm fine,” she stammered, “Just a little weak.”

Luna helped her toward the hole she had made. “Can you fly?”

“I think so,” she said, opening her wings and standing on her own as best she could. “Luna?”

“Yes?” Luna spread her wings and gathered up the elements in her telekinesis.

“What's black and blue and red all over?”

“What in the—” Luna's eyes grew wide in realization and she turned to Cadenza just in time to be struck by a blast of magic and thrown against the wall.

“You don't really grasp the whole hive mind concept, do you?” Nightmare taunted.

She launched more magic at Luna, the arcane energy arcing around her body and feeling like fire everywhere it touched. Luna forced her eyes open despite the pain, and in a truly impressive display of will, the six elements vanished in flashes of blue light. Her horn glowed a second time, but this time it seemed the only effect was that her eyes glazed over briefly.

Before she could cast any other spells, Luna's horn popped off like a cork from a wine bottle. Nightmare caught it in her hoof and examined it casually. Then, she slid her own horn over as though it was simply laying on her forehead rather than part of her skull, and attached Luna's horn next to it, the two horns positioned like a goat's.

“Fun. I'd start a collection, but since pretty soon I'll be everyone and everything, it seems weird to decorate this skin suit any more than anyone else.”

As Nightmare set to work on Princess Luna, Soarin was fleeing down the tower, certain that as soon as his adrenaline ran out, he'd pass out. He was barely managing to stay on his own two hooves as he galloped down the long stairway, but his fatigue was too great to rely on his wings at the moment.

He was able to make his way down the tower without encountering anypony, but as he made his way through the spacious castle halls, he soon had to skid to a halt and hide behind a pillar to avoid being spotted by two passing unicorns.

“Okay, I've got a good one. How do you fit fifty fillies—”

“With a blender.”

“Ugh, yes. Oh, but how do you—”

“With chips.”

“You know, dead filly jokes are a lot funnier when you aren't telling you to yourself.”

“Ah, the tragic downside of our eternal reign.”

The two unicorns walked in silence for a bit, but as they turned down a corner, the first spoke again.

“What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?”

Sighing, Soarin walked out from behind the pillar and straight into another pony. He would have screamed, but the other pony pressed a hoof against his mouth and shushed. Soarin almost began crying at the prospect of having to endure what he just had a second time, but the strange pony merely gave him a warm smile and motioned for him to follow her.

He stood in place for a moment, weighing his options, and then trotted after the gray, wall-eyed Pegasus.

The Apple family's storm shelter was simply a small wooden room buried in the ground. The only things in the way of furniture were two benches which lined the longer opposing walls. It was on these that its current occupants were sitting. On one side sat the Apple family and Lyra, and only the other sat Sweetie Drops, Daring Do, and the trio of musicians. Daring and the musicians, familiar with Lyra and Sweetie and their passionate love for each other, all expressed concern at Lyra's insistence on sitting as far away from her marefriend as the enclosed area allowed.

Introductions had already been handled. The elder green mare was Granny Smith, the grandmother of the other three ponies and the official owner of Sweet Apple Acres. The large red stallion was named Big McIntosh, though it seemed all who knew him well preferred to call him Big Mac. He did the majority of the actual manual labor and farm work alongside his sister, the orange mare, Applejack. She was also in charge of most of the advertising and sales for the farm, which was fitting given her older brother's less than talkative nature; most of what was said about Big Mac actually came from her. The little cream-colored filly was their younger sister, Apple Bloom. She was an adorable and sweet little filly, though she was energetic to the point of annoying at times.

The three musicians were all friends rather than family, as Daring had guessed, and they were also friends with Lyra and by extension Sweetie Drops. The mare with the curly mane was named Rara; actually, it was Coloratura, but she insisted on being called Rara. She was Applejack's marefriend, which was why she and her two friends had been present on the farm. Applejack had urged her to sing for them, and her voice was beautiful. Rara mentioned that she preferred Applejack to play accompanying guitar when she sang, but it was in the family home at the moment.

The unicorn was named Vinyl Scratch, though apparently she was more famous under her stage name, DJ PON3. She was actually even less talkative than Big Mac, and her friend and roommate, the other Earth pony, Octavia, had spoken on her behalf. Octavia was a cellist, and she possessed an air of refinement more typical of a Canterlot resident than a Ponyvillian. Daring would have guessed that they were marefriends as well, but according to Sweetie, they were only friends. However, she had also said they probably had some feelings they were oblivious to.

On the subject of unaddressed feelings, the only acknowledgement from Lyra that Sweetie Drops even existed was a loud grunt when Sweetie introduced herself as Bon Bon. She was sitting up on her flank, with both her hind legs and forelegs crossed. It was an honestly painful looking way to sit, but it did a good job of expressing her anger.

They only had the sounds to go by, but the tornado had been gone for a few hours. However, after that there were noises of explosions, and then of thunder, and then of some absolutely atrocious piano music. There had currently been about twenty minutes of silence, but they were still wary about leaving.

Their conversations had turned into idle chitchat, and Daring was mostly sitting quietly and dwelling on the unspoken animosity between Lyra and Sweetie.

“Rara, you should sing em that song you've been writin',” encouraged Applejack.

“I haven't finished that song,” said Rara. “Besides, I wrote that with your guitar playing in mind.”

“Aw, Ah'm not that good. Nothin' compared to your singin'.” Applejack blushed lightly.

Her marefriend placed a hoof on her chin comfortingly. “AJ, you've gotten really fantastic with your guitar. I'm proud and I want these ponies to hear you play as much as you want them to hear me sing again.”

“Vinyl!” chastised Octavia. “Turn down your music. We can hear it coming out of your headphones. How you haven't gone deaf by now…”

Vinyl responded by turning her music down by the most minute degree. Octavia facehoofed and slowly dragged said hoof down her face, but didn't press the issue further.

Apple Bloom, in spite of her bubbly personality, had spent most of the time looking toward the door with a look of anxiety and fear. Big Mac had his foreleg around her, but it sadly wasn't doing much to comfort the scared filly. Meanwhile, Granny Smith was talking his ear off about potential damage to the barn and how they would make up for the uprooted trees and if there was time to plant new ones and a multitude of other topics that probably did nothing to ease Apple Bloom's spirits.

Daring, still feeling the weight of Lyra and Sweetie's silence pressing down on her, decided to take a risk and do something proactive.

“So, Lyra. Bon Bon told me a lot about you. How did you two meet?” She winced as she said Bon Bon but she couldn't use her real name in front of the other ponies.

“She saw me perform at a student concert in Canterlot. Said she liked my music, gave me a gift card to her candy shop,” she answered dismissively. “That's what she said. Dunno if that's true. Maybe she was giving those out to everypony. Who knows, really.”

One could hear a pin drop in the hush that followed. When somepony spoke again, it was Sweetie. “I'm sorry Lyra. I didn't mean to hurt you. You know none of that's true. Your music was absolutely divine.”

“I thought I knew a lot of things. Clearly, that's not the case.” Lyra never looked at Sweetie, instead reclining with her nose upward and her eyes closed.

Sweetie wished desperately that Lyra would just look at her. “Lyra, come on. You know that I had to do what I did. It was for a good cause, and it was bigger than either of us.”

“You know, I never thought there was anything bigger than us. I guess that was just another thing I was wrong about.”

Sweetie glared at Lyra. Daring began to worry for everypony present. “You know that isn't what I meant. Have you given a single thought on how I feel about this? This has been torture for me!”

“And yet you did it.”

Sweetie screamed in anger and kicked the door open. “I'm going out to see what's happening. Stay here.” That last statement sounded oddly threatening for what it was.

Lyra's eyes shot open, and she looked toward the open door, her face betraying her concern. She buried that concern back under her anger, but she also stood up and galloped out the door. “Wait! We're not finished here!”

Daring flew out after them, hoping to help but also a little happy to the leave the little room. She felt very much the outsider among all the close friends. She didn't expect to see Applejack following close behind her.

“What are you doing?” Daring asked, looking around at the wrecked landscape.

“Ah thought you might need some help. Plus, Ah needed to check the farm…” She trailed off as she examined all the damage. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of trees had been uprooted and torn apart. One tree had crashed through an upstair window of their farmhouse. Several fields had scorch marks where crops had been. Perhaps the oddest change was that many of the remaining trees had oranges where they had earlier had apples.

Sweetie ran all the way to town, Lyra shouting after her the whole way. The Wonderbolts had reshaped Ponyville in much the same way that they had done in Canterlot, and just as with Canterlot, they had flown off for the next town, leaving behind a multitude of possessed ponies. Those that had yet to be turned were being “educated” in the Ponyville schoolhouse, while those that had were roaming the streets.

Sweetie fled into her candyshop and slammed the door behind her. Lyra charged the door, knocking it straight of its hinges, an impressive display of strength from a unicorn, had it not been for all of the damage already done to the property.

“Sweetie Drops!” Lyra screamed, the name tasting like bile in her mouth.

“Lyra, leave me alone!” the Earth pony yelled back, throwing a pack of jelly babies at the panting unicorn.

The bag bounced ineffectually off of her chest. “Really?”

“Lyra, I am sorry. I'm really, incredibly sorry. I don't know what to do.”

Daring and Applejack entered the shop, and were immediately met with the bickering marefriends staring daggers at them.

“This is really not a good time,” growled Lyra.

“Sorry, but given the tornado with teeth and the molten chocolate flood, it seemed worthwhile to make sure you were okay,” said Daring.

Applejack gave a confused look. “Chocolate?”

Nightmare ponies had begun to surround the building, but they never got a chance to attack.

Crazed wildlife began to flood into the town from within the Everfree Forest. Swarms of ravenous parasprites flew into the town and began consuming the food from the shops and carts and the flowers from the gardens and the flower shop. Ferocious timberwolves began to prowl the streets, eyeing the ponies with hungry eyes. An enraged manticore stalked after a pink-coated mare, licking his lips.

The Nightmare ponies did their best to fight off the beasts, but for once they seemed to be at a disadvantage. They used their powers to light parasprites on fire or trap them in cages, but the little pests continued to multiply rapidly, beyond what the ponies could handle. Everytime they blasted a timberwolf apart, it reformed moments later. Even the manticore was proving to be more resilient than they expected.

Their conflict raged on for several minutes, but came to a halt when a brilliant purple flash lit up the sky. Twilight Sparkle floated above the ruined town, suspended simply by her magic. Her coat had become a deeper, darker purple, her mane resembled a star-filled night sky, and the two color streaks in her mane glowed brightly, like the tails of comets. Even her cutie mark had changed. The pink six-pointed star shone just like a real star, and it was surrounded by a multitude shooting stars, streaks of light all soaring toward the larger pink one.

Her familiar raspberry aura blossomed around her horn, and she set to work fixing the problem seemingly effortlessly. All of the surviving parasprites were pulled together into a huge ball and then encased in a crystal shell. A small magic shockwave burst from her horn, and a matching one hit the crystal, sending it hurdling toward the horizon. All of the timberwolves were lifted into the air with her telekinesis and then torn apart. Before they could even begin to reform, each individual piece of wood burst into white hot flames. She dropped them, and they were ashes by the time they hit the ground. The manticore flew up to attack her, but was blasted right back down, now de-aged to a cub. The little furball, jarringly resembling a kitten, save for the scorpion tail and bat wings, scampered away, whimpering.

By then, all that remained of Daring, Applejack, Lyra, and Sweetie in the town were the hoofprints leading into the Everfree.

1. Welcome to the Nightmare

The sun hung high over Canterlot as Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer watched the crowds of ponies entering Canterlot. Packed trains stopped briefly at the station to spew out more ponies than they looked like they looked like they could hold and then moved on to allow the next train to do the same. Pegasus after Pegasus landed at the various check-in points at the perimeters of the city. The streets were filled with bustling herds of tourists and visiting delegates.

Sunset turned to Twilight. “Doesn't this seem a tad extreme? The summit is like three days of boring meetings and negotiations for the visiting delegates. Why are all the tourists here?”

“They're probably here to see the princesses,” Twilight explained, standing up. “It's so rare for all four princesses to be together, especially for a public event like this. Princess Cadenza and Princess Radiant Hope sometimes don't even attend the Summer Sun Celebration or the Winter Lunar Festival or even the Grand Galloping Gala.”

Twilight grabbed a nearby scroll with her magic and began to read it for the tenth time in the past two hours.

“Oh, and there's the Wonderbolt performance preceding Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's opening sunrise tomorrow,” she added as an afterthought.

Sunset took one more look out of the window of Twilight's ivory tower and then trotted over to her friend.

“Are you really reading that again?” the orange unicorn asked the purple.

“It's such an important day!” Twilight said, not taking her eyes off her checklist. “With all the tourists here, and all the princesses and the representatives, everything has to be perfect!”

Sunset placed a hoof on the scroll and brought it down onto a nearby table. “Don't worry, Twilight. Everything will be fine. Especially with Spike and I helping you.”

Twilight let out a deep breath and calmed down for all of three seconds, before adopting a look of confusion.

“Wait. Where is Spike?”

The two friends searched through the piles of books filling Twilight's tower, calling out his name. A large heap of books on a chair toppled over, revealing a yawning Spike.

Twilight trotted over to her young dragon assistant. “Spike, why were you still asleep? It's midday!”

Spike dusted himself off and hopped down onto the floor. “Sorry, Twilight, but last night was exhausting. I was helping you get ready until three in the morning.”

Twilight's response died in her throat as Spike coughed out a plume of green flames. A scroll appeared out of the fire and Twilight caught it with her magic and read through it as Sunset approached.

“Come on, Sunset,” Twilight said, heading for the door. “That was Kibitz. We're meeting up with some classmates to check all of the preparations for tomorrow.”

Sunset and Twilight galloped out, leaving Spike to begin reshelving the mountains of books littering the tower.

Yet another train entered the Canterlot train station, and yet another crowd of ponies emerged from it, rushing to find something to eat or a place to stay.

Among these ponies was Daring Do, archaeologist, bestselling novelist, courageous treasure hunter, and, if her papers were to believed, a simple mailpony by the name of Phantom Tornado. She wore a beret, her identifiable black and gray mane tucked inside, a puffy green sweater and a long black skirt that covered her cutie mark and tail.

She and the rest of the crowd were herded into lines that led to security checkpoints. Royal guards stood at the exits and each pony would have to be approved before being allowed into the city. Daring wasn't worried. The princesses were aware of her appointment there.

She made it through the checkpoint without issue and entered the city, currently no less crowded than the cramped train station.

The city was abuzz with activity. Many storefront windows were lined with ponies excitedly looking at all of the designer fashions. Restaurants had lines of waiting parties that stretched the whole perimeter of the buildings. Parents carried their foals, sometimes two or three of them, on their backs for fear that they would get lost in the mass of ponies. The skies were filled with so many Pegasi that they had developed an impromptu system of aerial lanes and intersections to avoid collisions.

Daring slid her way past a group of Earth ponies in Stetsons and saw her destination: Pony Joe's Donut Shop.

Daring scanned the room as she entered the shop. It appeared much less crowded than most of the fancier restaurants, which was good considering the relatively small number of tables. Three burly Pegasi with sports-related cutie marks sat at a table by the window, making short work of an extra large box of donuts. A brown-maned unicorn with a bowl and spoon for a cutie mark was having what seemed like a very pleasant conversation with somepony who Daring assumed was Pony Joe. A pink unicorn with an exceptionally curly purple mane was sharing a meal with an off-duty guard, still in uniform. And there was mare Daring was looking for: a mare with pink and blue curls, sitting alone at a table in the far corner with a box of donuts waiting on the table in front of her.

“Sweetie Drops?” Daring asked, sitting down across from the mare.

Sweetie nodded, took a donut from the box, and slid the box over to Daring. “I take it you're 'A.K. Yearling.'”

“That's what it says on my books.” Daring said, opening the box. A photo was taped to the bottom of the lid. She took it and a chocolate donut and then slid the box back.

The photo showed a black-maned unicorn with a bright red horn standing at the outskirts of a dark wooded area.

“The pony in that picture, if he is a pony, is Sombra. He's got an extremely extensive criminal record. Thefts, assaults, and there are even a number of murders that were almost certainly committed by him.”

“What do you mean 'if he is a pony?'”

“Well, that's the odd thing,” Sweetie said, grabbing another donut. “He appears to be a simple unicorn, although with an unusual horn, but his record goes back centuries. If all the crimes attributed to him are his, then he's got to be somewhere in the vicinity of a thousand years old.

“He's had multiple aliases, and he's lived all over Equestria. In fact, given the lengths of time between some sightings, he's probably spent a decent amount of time living outside of the kingdom.”

Pretty much any other pony would be stunned by that information. Daring just rolled with it. Frankly, with a line of work like hers, that wasn't even the strangest thing she'd heard that week.

“Where was this picture taken?” Daring asked, reaching over for another donut.

“That's the Everfree Forest. If your books are to be believed, you're rather familiar with that area.”

The gold-coated Pegasus rolled her eyes. “Nopony enters the Everfree Forest for fun. And nopony smart enters it alone.”

Sweetie Drops smirked. “Didn't you go in alone in Daring Do and the Legend of—”

“Well, yes, but—”

“And again in Daring Do and the—”

“Okay, okay!”

Daring pressed on in spite of Sweetie Drops' chuckling. “So we're going to go track this guy down in the Everfree? Why did we meet all the way in Canterlot?”

“Oh, we're not going to the Everfree. We're going to stay in Canterlot and make sure Sombra doesn't show up.”

“Wait. You called me, a professional treasure hunter, in to help you and your little organization with a 'matter of crucial importance,' and it's to stand around in Canterlot and look for baddies?” Daring said, standing up to leave.

Sweetie reached out and put a hoof on Daring's shoulder. “Calm down. We called you in because we're clearly dealing with something very strange here. And in four days, if Sombra hasn't shown up, we can go track him down.

“But all the princesses are here. There are nobles, and business leaders, and governing officials from every major city in Equestria. There are even representatives from Yakyakistan and Griffonstone. Security here is crucial.”

Daring Do sighed. “Let's get to work.”

“First we will make sure that the Wonderbolts are fully prepared for tomorrow's performance, then we need to check the catering, and then see to it that all of the meeting rooms are prepared and that there are no conflicts with the scheduled times for each event, and then after that comes the…”

Kibitz, royal scheduling advisor to the Royal Sisters, lead the group of young unicorns toward the Canterlot stadium, completely unaware that his words were falling on deaf ears. Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle walked close behind him, lost in conversation. Behind them were Minuette and Lemon Hearts, and bringing up the rear was Moon Dancer, meekly alternating between watching Twilight and Sunset and staring at the floor.

Moon Dancer wasn't a very social pony, usually preferring the company of a book to that of other ponies, but she had come to see Twilight as a kindred spirit. They were both very studious and inquisitive, and they had established a good rapport with each other during classes and study breaks.

However, Moon Dancer had so far found herself unable to ask Twilight about spending time together outside of class. The young student didn't usually have any issues talking with other ponies, but Twilight seemed to be joined by the hip with Sunset. Sunset appeared to be a nice enough pony, but she was a bit too brash and overbearing for Moon Dancer. She didn't particularly enjoy the prospect of interacting with Sunset even just to talk to Twilight, and she was almost certain that any time spent with Twilight would also include her best friend as well.

Moon Dancer was shaken from her thoughts when the roar of the Pegasi performing their maneuvers hit her ears as the group entered the stadium. The Wonderbolts were practicing their routine for tomorrow morning's performance, and Moon Dancer marveled at the routine. She wasn't really a fan of Pegasus aerial shows, or really any athletic displays, but the Wonderbolts were doing maneuvers she'd only read about and she found it fascinating to see them performed live.

The Lamassu Ascending Spiral! The Rainshower Slow Roll! The Artumeas Tailslide! The Icaranian Sun Salutation!

After performing the latter two, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia's favorite techniques respectively, they all flew side-by-side skyward, the vapor trails they left behind forming a curtain of smoke concealing the platform where the Royal Sisters would be waiting to lower the moon and raise the sun.

The smokescreen was promptly blasted away by an explosion of sound and color. A rainbow-colored ring of light erupted from the center of the blast. Moon Dancer briefly became worried the shock wave would damage the grandstands, but as soon as it reached them it dissipated as the glimmer of a protection spell appeared where it hit and raced down the circumference of the wall surrounding the field.

The source of the blast was a Pegasus, now spiraling upward towards the other Wonderbolts, a rainbow trailing her. When she met up with the rest of her team, they all shot back down through the multicolored tunnel she'd created. Coming out on the other end, they pulled up and landed on a semicircle of cloud lining the front half of the princesses' platform.

Applause broke out from the watching unicorn students. Moon Dancer was the one exception, eyes wide and lost in awe.

A Sonic Rainboom!!

Those were supposed to just be an old mare's tale! Moon Dancer had just watched a legend become real right in front of her eyes! This was incredible!

The Wonderbolts flew over to Kibitz and the students, and the unicorns broke off to go speak with the performers. One with a coat and mane the color of fire, apparently the leader, landed before Kibitz. Moon Dancer was still standing behind him, trying to shake herself from her wonderment.

“A fine show, Miss… Spitfire, is it?” said Kibitz.

“Yes, sir. Captain Spitfire. I take it from your applause that the performance was acceptable?”

Kibitz sputtered out a flustered “Yes, well, of course. A fine, fine show. Of course.”

Moon Dancer, mostly recovered, looked around for Twilight and saw her and Sunset speaking with the Pegasus that had performed the sonic rainboom. Her mane was, fittingly, rainbow-colored as well, and she noticeably had a different flight suit than the others, cyan with silver accents rather than blue and gold.

Moon Dancer made her way over to them, having just found enough incentive to risk a conversation with Sunset.

“—make turns like that in my sleep!” the Pegasus was saying. “In fact, last month I—”

“How did you do a sonic rainboom!?” blurted out Moon Dancer. She stuck out her hoof and added in a much softer tone, “Oh, um, hi. I'm Moon Dancer.”

“Rainbow Dash,” responded the Wonderbolt, forcing an awkward smile and shaking the blushing mare's hoof. “The rainboom is actually kind of my specialty. I've been doing it since I was a filly. It's how I got my cutie mark.” Rainbow, sporting a huge grin, pointed to her flank only to realize that her cutie mark couldn't be seen with her flight suit on.

“Oh, that's incredible! Did the Wonderbolts recruit you because you can do it?”

At this, Rainbow was the one to blush. “Well, actually, I'm not really a Wonderbolt. Not yet. I won a contest last year to perform at this show with them. I will be one someday though! Soon!”

This didn't do anything to lessen the smile on Moon Dancer's face.

Sunset spoke up. “Hey, Rainbow. Who's he?” She motioned to a nearby Wonderbolt stallion, light blue with a darker blue mane.

“Oh, that's Soarin. He's kinda Spitfire's second-in-command.”

“He's kinda hot,” said Sunset. “You two ever…”

Rainbow's blush returned, stronger than ever. “No! I, mean, I, uh—”

Spitfire called out for the Wonderbolts to regroup for a final run-through, and Rainbow Dash flew up to meet them so quickly that the wind from her takeoff sent Moon Dancer's glasses flying.

After checking on the statuses of twenty-two different conference halls and banquet rooms, even Twilight was beginning to get tired. Her hooves were starting to ache from all the walking, and the only things she'd eaten that day were some cupcakes that Sunset had taken when they were meeting with the caterers.

They were crossing a courtyard between building when Sunset nudged Twilight. She pointed to a group of royal guards on the other side of the courtyard.

“Hey, isn't that your brother?” Sunset asked her lavender friend.

Twilight's face lit up. “Yes! It's Shining Armor!”

Sunset slid over to Moon Dancer. “Hey, could you do us a favor?”

Moon Dancer slid her glasses up her muzzle, a little flustered. “Uh, what favor?”

“We need you to distract Kibitz so Twilight can go over and talk with her brother.” Noting Moon Dancer's uncertain expression, she added, “Come on, bookworm. It'd mean a lot to Twilight.”

Moon Dancer sighed, then ran up to Kibitz. “Mr. Kibitz, sir? I have something I need to talk with you about.”

Sunset motioned to Twilight and the two galloped across the courtyard.

Shining Armor seemed to be leading the royal guard in their drills, but upon seeing Twilight the stallion dropped everything and ran to meet her.

“Twily!” Shining called out, magically lifting his helmet off, his horn glowing pink, just a shade lighter than the color of his sister's magic aura.

“Shining!” Twilight said, running into his embrace. “It's been so long!”

Shining Armor chuckled. “It's been like two weeks, Twily.”

“Yeah, well that's too long,” said Twilight. “If you weren't always so busy with your dumb old captain duties…”

“Well maybe if you weren't so busy being some special royal protégé!” Shining Armor retorted.

The two siblings broke out into a fit of laughter.

“You must be Sunset Shimmer,” the beaming white unicorn said. “Twilight's told me all about you.”

He reached out a hoof for a shake but Sunset gave him a hoofbump instead. “I've heard a lot about you too. Captain of the guard, great brother…” She looked him up and down. “…a real fine stallion.”

Shining let out an awkward chuckle and said, “So, er, what brings you two here?”

“We're helping prepare for the summit. We're with Kibitz and some of our classmates,” Twilight said, looking back to their group. Moon Dancer had her copy of the schedule out, having apparently found many questions to ask about it. Minuette and Lemon Hearts were sitting in the grass, probably to rest their tired hooves. “How about you?”

“Just running drills with the guard. Security has got to be on point for the next three days. There's a lot of really important ponies here, and the crowds are huge. Hopefully the tourists would leave after the Wonderbolt performance.”

“Personally I like all the tourists arriving. I don't usually get many opportunities to meet new ponies,” said Sunset. She eyed an approaching guard approvingly. “Speaking off, who's he?”

“I'm Flash Sentry, ma'am,” said the guard, a light orange Pegasus. He turned to Shining Armor and whispered something in his ear.

Shining nodded and turned back to Twilight, giving her another quick hug. “Twily, Sunset, I've got to get back to work. It was great to see you both. Love you, Twily.”

“I love you too, big brother!” Twilight smiled.

Sunset waved goodbye to Flash. “See you around,” she said with half-lidded eyes, and then turned and walked away with Twilight, swaying her hips.

“Weren't you interested in Soarin like two hours ago?” asked Twilight.

“Who says I'm still not?” responded Sunset, nudging Twilight with her flank.

“I think Kibitz noticed we were gone,” said Twilight, meeting the old unicorn's disappointed gaze.

“Well, let's just say we were checking on the status of the security for the summit.”

“Good job out there, Rainbow Dash. Keep flying like that and you'll be an official Wonderbolt in no time.”

Rainbow Dash already had something of an ego. She liked to think of it as just being aware of how awesome she was. Regardless of what anypony called it, her head was getting a little big hearing all of this. Compliments from her heroes, the Wonderbolts? She was admittedly feeling a little cocky. Compliments from Soarin specifically? Well, she was over the moon. Not that she'd admit that to anypony.

She finished packing away her flight suit into her locker, idly wishing she could wear it around Canterlot, and turned around to find the locker room emptied, save for a green Pegasus. Rainbow recognized her instantly. She wasn't a Wonderbolt, but that wasn't for lack of trying.

“Lightning Dust,” Rainbow spat out, as if the name tasted bad in her mouth.

“Rainbow Crash,” Lightning said with a smirk. “Been a while.”

“This area is for Wonderbolts only,” Rainbow said, whipping Lightning with her tail as she passed her on the way out.

The orange-maned mare followed Rainbow Dash out, rubbing her nose with a hoof. “Well, you stole my spot on the team, so I think I have more of a right to be here than you do.”

“I didn't steal anything. You were reckless and you endangered every other contestant. You don't deserve anything to do with the Wonderbolts.”

“I'm banned for life, you arrogant little brat!” Lightning roared, jabbing a hoof into Rainbow's chest. “I had talent! My dream was to fly with the greatest Pegasus team in Equestria and I had the skills to make it! But then you and your stupid friends took all of that away from me!”

Rainbow slapped her leg away. “You think that's my fault? You were the one who completely disregarded the safety of everypony there. You were the one who actively sabotaged your competition. You were the one who almost hurt my friends! Don't blame me and don't you dare blame them. This is on you.”

Lightning Dust was so furious that Rainbow half-expected steam to come out of her ears. The enraged Pegasus reared back, wings extended, and thundered, “Do you think you're here because of your talent? You're only here because of your pretty little light show! You're a pathetic little weather pony and the only impressive thing about you is what you leave behind when you fly away!”

A flash of anger ran across Rainbow Dash's face, but it just as quickly vanished as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Well, even if that were true, I'm the one who'll be flying with the Wonderbolts and you're the one who'll be sitting in the stands.

“And now you can watch the 'pretty light show' as I fly away.”

Lightning Dust stood there fuming as the honorary Wonderbolt rocketed away, leaving a rainbow trail as promised.

Lightning screamed and kicked a hole in a nearby wall.

“We'll see who's flying with the Wonderbolts tomorrow, you pretentious little…” She couldn't even think of a strong enough word, so she just ended it with a loud growl.

“Trixie, are we ready?”

A blue unicorn wearing a long purple cape emblazoned with stars emerged from around the corner of a nearby building. The wind was blowing her cape up, revealing a cutie mark of a wand emitting a crescent of glittering magic.

“Tonight's the night, Lightning,” the newcomer said with a grin. “He's just arrived, and he has them. We're ready.”

After hours of walking around Canterlot on the lookout for Sombra or other signs of trouble, Daring Do and Sweetie Drops decided to take a break. Luckily they managed to find a decent restaurant that miraculously had some available seating.

Daring stood up from her seat in the waiting area when a waiter approached to lead them to their table. “Come on, Sweetie—”

The tricolored mare jumped up and cut Daring's statement short with a swift kick to the knee.

The waiter gave the pair a smile and motioned for them to follow him. “Come on, you two.”

After a moment, Daring realized how that must have sounded. Her cheeks reddened, her face looking a little odd since she was still wincing from the kick.

After the two took their seats in the veranda behind the restaurant, Daring immediately inquired, through gritted teeth and using a few very crude words, as to why Sweetie Drops had just randomly assaulted her.

“You almost used my name. My real name.”

“You have fake names?” Daring asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You're one to talk,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes.

Daring didn't change her expression, and after a few moments Sweetie sighed and explained.

“The agency I work for is top secret. The only ponies aware of its existence are the Royal Sisters, the agents, and a very select group of consultants we recruit for our most important missions. You're lucky enough to be among those.

“Sweetie Drops is my real name. It's also the name I can only use when talking with other members of the agency.

“A couple years ago, there was a major changeling invasion in Manehattan. We were called in to track down the changelings and stop the invasion before the public ever found out about it. We failed. I'd rather not go into details, but the whole operation went south. I was forced to adopt a new public identity.

“I'm now known to most as Bon Bon. I run a simple candy store in Ponyville. Just a boring old pony, blending into the background.”

The waiter showed up again to give them their drinks. After he left, Daring spoke up.

“So, no one knows your name? Everyone you meet, all your friends, call you by a name that isn't yours? You can't tell anyone? What about your special somepony? Do you have one? A spouse or a colt- or marefriend?”

“Bon Bon” stared down into her drink, stirring it absentmindedly with her straw. “Yeah, no one knows. And, yes. I have a marefriend. Her name is Lyra. She's a musician. She plays the lyre, and her music is so beautiful. She doesn't even use magic! With just her hooves she makes the most beautiful songs you've ever heard.”

She looked up to see her new Pegasus friend had also become rather interested in her tea. “So, um,” she went on, “how about you? Anypony special in your life?”

Daring looked out into the crowds of ponies passing by. “No, nopony special. Actually, nopony at all.”

“Nopony? Really?”

“I'm used to living under an alias. My situation is worse, though. Or, well different,” she corrected. “Differently bad, I guess. You live in a bustling little town with a marefriend and all your friends. I know it must hurt to hear them call you by some fake name, like they don't really know you, but really, they do. Even if they don't call you Sweetie Drops, it's Sweetie Drops they know. It's Sweetie Drops that Lyra fell in love with.”

Sweetie was smiling the biggest smile, wiping away a few happy tears that were threatening to run down her cheeks.

Daring continued, “My life isn't like that. The ponies I'm most familiar with are usually thieves or killers or trying to set off a volcano or something. All enemies, no friends. The only reason I have an alias is to have a name to put on the cover of my books.”

“Why do you do it?” asked Sweetie. “If you've got to live some secret life, why do you write about all of your adventures and market it as fiction?”

“To get the truth out,” was the simple response. “For one thing, I've seen amazing things. Ancient cities and feats of magic most people wouldn't believe. Plus, most of what I uncover is from civilizations long past. It's all things that ponies today have never heard of, and all too often, it's stuff there's no written record of at all. I have to make their stories told.”

“Wow. That's—”

“Wait! Sweetie, have you noticed that guy before?”

Sweetie turned to look into the crowd. “Which guy?”

“Stallion. White. Snowflake cutie mark.”

“Oh, him. Yeah, I think I've seen him a few times today.”

Daring stood up. “I think he's been following that mare. The purple unicorn. Cutie mark's hard to describe; it probably represents magic. He's been a few ponies behind her all day.”

The Pegasus leaped over the railing and trotted through the crowd toward the white Earth pony. Sweetie Drops tossed some bits onto the table and hopped the fence too.

Within seconds the two had maneuvered their way through the mass of ponies and made it to the stallion in question. Sweetie flashed a badge (Canterlot Guard Special Investigations Unit) and the pony calmly let them escort him into an empty alleyway, but not before taking one more glance into the crowd to locate the heliotrope unicorn.

Daring began the interrogation. “What's your name?”

“Double Diamond,” the stallion replied, in a voice neither mare could place, but which led both of them, upon trying to describe it, to think of the same word: “righteous.”

“Why were you following that mare?”

“I think there's something wrong with her. Something evil. Like, dark magic.”

Whatever they'd been expecting, it wasn't this.

Sweetie found her voice first. “Why do you believe that?”

“Well, I'm a professional skier,” Double Diamond began. “I was skiing in the Crystal Mountains when I happened upon a house all by itself. I would've ignored it, but then I saw black smoke begin creeping out of the windows.

“I figured there was a fire, so I ran over to help. But when I got there I saw that the smoke was magical, and it was all around that mare. She was asleep and this black smoke was just flowing out of her. Or, into her. It was hard to tell.

She was talking in her sleep about nightmares and Canterlot and the Royal Sisters. So, I followed her here to keep an eye on her until tomorrow. I'm hoping have an opportunity to discuss this with one of the princesses during the summit.”

“Well, today's your lucky day,” said Sweetie. “We're taking you to them tonight.”

Being a member of the royal guard was a stressful job, and being the captain was obviously even moreso. Shining Armor had quickly taken to unwinding with a drink after his shifts. Just as quickly, he'd taken to Fuchsia Fizz's as his bar of choice.

It was there, sitting at the bar gulping down his second mug of hard cider, that he ran into two old friends.

“Shining Armor?” called out two stallions at once. One was an earth pony with a tan coat, a black mane, and a pair of cherries for a cutie mark. The other was a brown Pegasus with a bright blue mane and cutie mark of a blocky stylized… something.

“Cherry Fizzy? 8-bit?” Shining said, a big smile on his face, a little lopsided from the alchohol.

The pair lead Shining to a booth, Cherry having to keep him from stumbling on the way. Cherry ordered a light cider, 8-bit ordered a root beer, and Shining ordered a water at the behest of his friends.

“Shining, you really can't hold your alcohol can you?”

“Hey, this is the hard stuff!” Shining said indignantly. “It's got like bourbon, or, or gin, or something.”

8-bit chuckled. “Do you usually drink like this?”

“No, I just needed to, uh, wind down tonight, I guess.” Shining said, gulping down water. “There's all the stress, ya know, with the summit, and there's Twilight, and…”

“Your sister?” asked 8-bit. “What's wrong with her?”

“She's just, like,… You know, it's just that I don't see her much anymore. I'm the captain and she's one of the princesses' special students, and I just don't trust the other one.”

8-bit and Cherry waited for clarification, but Shining just stared ahead drinking his water. After about fifteen seconds of awkward silence, Cherry waved a hoof in front of Shining's face. “The other one?”

“The sisters' other student. Like, their other special one. 'Progé'.” Shining said, slamming down his mug hard enough that the ponies nearest them jumped.

“Er, you mean 'protégé?'” asked 8-bit.

“Yeah, her. Sunset Dimmer… Shimmer!”

“So, what's wrong with Sunset Dimmer-Shimmer?” said Cherry, earning a chuckle from 8-bit and uproarious laughter from Shining.

After his laughter finally died down, Shining answered, “She's just so, so, ya know… she's a troublemaker. She troublemakes.”

“I wouldn't worry about Twilight,” said 8-bit. “She's a smart girl. She isn't like you were in high school,” he added with a wink.

“Oh, you went to high school together?” asked Cherry. It just occurred to him that they hadn't even shared names, but in their defense, Shining made for quite a distraction.

“Yep. We're both Canterlot Academy alumni.” 8-bit gave Cherry a quick hoofbump. “Name's 8-bit, by the way.”

“Cherry Fizzy. Nice to meet you.”

“How do you know Shining Armor?” 8-bit asked, finishing the last of his root beer.

“Oh, we met in basic training. We both served on the guard for a while, but while he moved on up the chain of command, I became a soldier. We didn't see each other as often after that so we ended up breaking up,” Cherry explained matter-of-factly.

“Wait, you two dated?” 8-bit turned to Shining. “You're bi?” 8-bit wasn't upset by that fact, though he was a little peeved that Shining hadn't ever shared that with him.

Shining, who had spent their tangent of the conversation staring at his reflection in the small amount of water still in his mug, again burst out into wild laughter, apparently having thought of an even funnier joke than “Sunset Dimmer-Shimmer.” He eventually managed to calm down enough to share it, giving a little wave and sputtering out “Bi-bi!”

8-bit and Cherry sat dumbstruck for a moment before they burst into incoherent laughter and joined Shining in his hysterics. Soon, they were being escorted out of the bar with tears in their eyes.

“We've got to keep this night going,” 8-bit managed to get out. “Hey Shining, you ever play Oubliettes and Ogres with your boy toy here?”

Cherry, remarkably, managed to laugh even harder at that. “Oubliettes and Ogres? Shining Armor, you dork!” He gave Shining an affectionate shove, and the intoxicated stallion went stumbling forward.

Shining whooped. “Party at my house!”

Double Diamond was a simple pony. He was from a small town, and as a professional skier he spent most of his time in mountain cabins and hotels. He definitely wasn't the kind of pony one would expect to see standing before the princesses of Equestria.

As Sweetie Drops and Daring Do (or as he knew her, Phantom Tornado) introduced the princesses to both him and the problem at hand, he looked around the elegant throne room, finding himself unable to meet the alicorn princesses' gaze.

The walls bore a number of stained glass windows. Some depicted scenes from Equestria's history, while others featured simple patterns and panels all of the same color; Double Diamond assumed the latter were placeholders should later events prove significant enough to earn depiction in the royal hall.

One window showed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing to either side of a bearded unicorn in a long cloak and tall pointed hat. A crown floated above each of the princesses' heads, surrounded by a magical aura matching the one emitting from the unicorn's horn. Above the trio were three ponies, one of each tribe, and above them were the sun and the moon, the sun surrounded by the same aura around Princess Celestia's horn, the moon surrounded by the same from Princess Luna's.

The princesses of the Crystal Empire each had a window of their own as well. Princess Radiant Hope was depicted, wings outstretched, over a field of ponies. Rays of blue light shined down upon them, and the ponies looked toward the alicorn with looks of hope and joy. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, meanwhile, was shown with her wings held high over her head. She had a small pale blue heart on her chest, and a much larger version of the heart floated between her wings, projecting light in all directions.

The only other notable window showed the Royal Sisters flying above a bizarre looking beast. It was some gargantuan monster, judging from how it dominated the window and dwarfed the princesses. The beast was a solid gray, and the princesses, the celestial body associated with each shining behind them, were blasting the creature with multicolored beams of magic. Double Diamond had no idea what event that was supposed to represent.

The princesses called him forward. The sisters were sitting on twin thrones situated on a circular platform. The platform was golden, save for a silver crescent on the edge, upon with rested Princess Luna's throne. Princess Luna's throne sat upon the golden portion. In his anxiousness, Double Diamond didn't recognize the pattern as representing the sun and moon. To either side a crystal throne had been constructed, the one on the right emblazoned with a heart and the one on the left with open wings. Both were empty at the moment.

Double Diamond stepped forward and bowed. He'd never been in the presence of royalty, and he hoped he was behaving correctly. After a few moments he heard Sweetie Drops clear her throat and he jolted back up, and directed his gaze at the windows again, embarrassed.

“Double Diamond,” began Princess Celestia. “Please tell us everything you can remember about the incident you shared with these two.”

“Yes, your highness. Well the mare's name is Starlight, if she was being honest when I overheard her,” said Double Diamond, suddenly very self-conscious about his accent. “When I first saw her, she was covered in this thick black smoke. It was pitch black, and it didn't even really seem like it was smoke. It seemed kinda solid.

“She was asleep, and she was tossing and turning like she was having a nightmare. She was speaking really calmly though. She talked about coming to Canterlot and “letting him out.” She also talked about you, Princess Celestia.”

The sisters shared a worried look.

He continued, “And then, after it was all over, the smoke flew away. It was like it was alive. It just flew up into the sky and disappeared. Then Starlight woke up and then the next morning she left and set out on her trip here.”

“And you followed her here without her knowing?” asked Princess Luna.

“Yes, I just couldn't stand by and let something bad happen. So I followed her here hoping to meet with you and warn you both. I know you can handle anything she could do, but I didn't want anypony to be hurt by whatever she was planning or whatever that smoke was.”

The sisters shared a hushed conversation. Then, turning back, Princess Celestia asked “Is there anything else you can remember, Double Diamond?”

“No ma'am,” he replied, performing a much shorter bow than his first.

“You three may leave,” said Princess Luna.

The three gave one more bow before departing. In the hall they passed two unicorns, one purple and one orange and red, being led by an older cream-colored one. Meanwhile, in the throne room, the princesses had called over a nearby royal guardsman, telling him to increase security in the statue gardens.

Sunset Shimmer wasn't a fan of formal dinners. She didn't like eating tiny portions with one of ten forks, and she didn't like wearing frilly dresses, and she really didn't like having to listen to boring dinner conversations. She was willing to suffer all of that tonight, though, for a chance to dine with all four of the princesses (oh, and Twilight, too.)

The six mares were sitting around a round table in the Royal Sisters' private dining room. Unlike almost every area of the castle, this room wasn't filled with gold trim or ornate statues or detailed stained glass windows. It was a simple marble room, and the only pieces of furniture were the table and chairs, and a large china cabinet against the wall. Two flags, those of Equestria and of the Crystal Empire, hung on opposite walls.

The princesses of the two kingdoms conversed about policies and foreign relations while the two unicorns watched, sipping from their tiny bowls of cucumber soup and marveling at the foreign rulers and their beautiful crystal coats. Equestria and the Crystal Empire were essentially sister nations, but it was very rare for any of the princesses to actually visit their neighboring state. Twilight and Sunset had only met either of the Crystal Princesses a hooffull of times.

Princess Luna directed the conversation to the subject of their guests. “These two young mares are our personal students. They are both very talented at magic, and their grades are superb. They are both destined for great things, I can assure you.”

Sunset and Twilight introduced themselves by name to the Crystal Princesses. They talked at length about their studies and the more notable and impressive feats of magic they had performed, until Sunset steered the conversation to a new subject.

“Princess Radiant Hope, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, would you mind if I asked you a somewhat personal question.”

“What would you like to know, dear?” said Princess Radiant Hope.

Both of her teachers shot her stern and disapproving looks, but Sunset pressed on. “If you don't mind my asking, how did you two become alicorn princesses?”

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both seemed to be deciding whether to apologize on Sunset's behalf or berate her, but Princess Hope held up her hoof, her patient and motherly smile never leaving her face, and began her story.

“I was born over a thousand years ago in the Crystal Empire, back when it was a single city. It was a beautiful city though, and it was ruled by the kind-hearted and benevolent Princess Amore.”

“No relation,” Princess Mi Amore interjected.

Princess Hope continued. “She ruled the Empire with love and care. She actually was responsible for the very first Crystal Faire. But then, when I was still young, tragedy struck.

“Princess Amore was assassinated. The empire awoke one day to find her dead, killed by an unknown assailant. Nopony knew who the culprit was, and nopony ever found out.” A darkness crept across the princess's face, but in an instant her bright smile returned. Sunset wondered how much of her sunny disposition was genuine.

“After that, the Empire was ruled by a council of elected officials. I, meanwhile, had moved to Canterlot to study under the princesses. I was where you are now, a thousand years ago, and look at me now. Your destinies truly will be remarkable, I believe.” This brought a smile to the students' faces. However, Sunset's carried none of the warmth that Princess Hope's did.

“You see, I had displayed exceptional skill in healing magic. It's how I got my cutie mark, in fact.” She proudly displayed her mark, an odd golden symbol, showing two snakes curled around a staff, topped with wings. “It is a caduceus, a symbol of medicine. I had displayed the ability to heal almost any injury or illness.

“Then came the next misfortune. The council ruling the empire decided to expand its territory. This soon had brought them into conflict with the neighboring nation of Yakyakistan. Before anypony realized their mistake, war had broken out.

“Many ponies and yaks died in the war. It lasted for three years. Then, finally, the princesses were able to talk the yaks into agreeing to meet to discuss the possibility of a treaty. I went with them, and I ended up trapped in the middle of a battle when things went south.

“It was there, in the middle of war, that I discovered the true scope of my abilities. Seeing all the violence and death around me, something in me awakened and I projected a burst of magical energy that enveloped the entire battlefield. I could do nothing for the dead, but all of the wounded, no matter the extent of their injuries, were instantly healed, pony and yak alike. The Yakyakistan royalty were eager to speak with us after that.

“And that feat of magic is what earned me my wings,” she finished.

Sunset and Twilight sat there wonderstruck.

Princess Mi Amore spoke up. “I guess it's my turn now. My story isn't nearly as impressive though.”

Princess Hope patted her shoulder reassuringly. Princess Mi Amore began, “I was found as a filly by Earth ponies. I was a Pegasus, and I was an orphan. To this day I have no idea who my parents are or where I came from, but the Earth ponies raised me as their own.

“Living alone near our village in an old cabin was an evil enchantress by the name of Prismia. She possessed a powerful magical artifact which amplified the negative emotions she carried. Soon the growing darkness inside her drove her to cast a wicked enchantment which drained the love and compassion from all the ponies in our village.

“I knew I had to do something, so I went to her cabin to confront her. I was a Pegasus and so I could do no magic myself, but I had to try. Luckily, when I entered the cabin, I realized that the magical necklace Prismia wore which amplified her negative feelings could also amplify my positive ones.

“I have the ability to spread love wherever I go. I'm literally able to create feelings of love and cooperation with my magic. This is an almost unheard of ability. With the necklace enhancing my abilities, I was able to inspire love in Prismia. The ability to create love where it had never existed was impressive enough to earn me my horn.

“Soon after, I was adopted by Princess Hope and taken to live in the Crystal Empire. By then it had grown to the huge empire it is today. I ruled alongside Radiant Hope, first as her daughter and pupil, then as her equal.”

The table was silent for a few moments, nopony sure how to follow those stories. Then the waiters came bringing the next course in the next tiny bowls, and the conversation turned once again to the food.

“Princess Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset's tower was similar in dimensions to Twilight's, but instead of resembling a library, it instead looked like a lived-in dorm. Which it was, really.

Shet stood in front of a full-length mirror she had just enchanted. Her reflection wore an ornate crown up her head and long, full alicorn wings on her back. Her reflection's hoof held a long golden scepter topped with a tiny recreation of her head.

She was savoring her self-appointed fantasy title. “Princess Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer, Her Royal Highness. Princess Sunset Shimmer, beloved ruler of all the light touches.”

Sunset, in spite of herself, twirled, admiring Princess Sunset's royal gowns.

She jumped in shock when the door behind her flew open. A tall, dark figure stepped through the doorway, eyes glowing red in the shadows.

“Hello, dear,” greeted Sombra, dark magic flickering around his horn.

Shining Armor awoke to the sound of urgent constant knocking on his front door.

He slid out of bed, trying not to wake up Cherry. Oh, right. That happened. They had been playing Oubliettes & Ogres with 8-bit until around midnight. Then, 8-bit left for home and they… kept playing.

Shining made his way across the floor, avoiding the games he'd left lying around and the creaky floorboards, and slowly opened the bedroom door with his magic, only to hear “Who the hay is knocking at this hour?” Shining facehoofed. He made it downstairs and to the front door without issue.

Whoever was knocking hadn't stopped since they'd began. Opening the door he saw the familiar face of a blue and white unicorn mare. “Minuette?” It was one of Twilight's friends.

“Shining Armor!” said Minuette, urgency in her voice. “You have to get to the statue gardens now!”

“What is it?” said Shining, wiping his eyes.

“You've got to stop them! Sunset's in the gardens, and Twilight is going—”

“Who is it?” called out Cherry from the top of the stairs.

Shining turned and answered “It's one of Twilight's friends. Apparently there's an emergency in the gardens. Sunset is doing something and Twilight's there.”

Suddenly, there was a flash of white light, blinding Shining's darkness-adjusted eyes. When his vision returned he turned to see the source of the light, only to find an empty doorway.

“Minuette? Are you okay?” Shining looked out the door and down the street both ways, but didn't see any sign of her.

“Come on, Cherry. We're heading to the gardens.”

Twilight lay in her room, reading Advanced Elemental Magical Practices by moonlight. Spike was already asleep, curled up in a basket by her bed, but she was too anxious about the coming day to even consider sleeping.

She was just finishing the chapter on advanced heat protection spells when something outside caught her eye. Standing up and approaching the window, she saw Sunset being led away toward the Canterlot labyrinth by a large, black unicorn. Even from her tower she could see his piercing red eyes.

In mere minutes Twilight was bolting through the castle halls toward Princess Celestia's room. When she arrived she threw the doors open without a second thought.

Celestia jolted awake. “Twilight!”

“Princess Celestia, I am so sorry for this but Sunset is in trouble!” Twilight pointed out the window toward the labyrinth and the statue garden, where the faint lights of magic spells could be seen.

Immediately, Celestia was out of bed and next to Twilight. A golden magical glow appeared around her horn, and it grew to form a bubble around the two. They disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a small cloud of smoke in their wake.

They reappeared in front of the entrance to the castle labyrinth, a huge hedge maze on the edge of the statue gardens, an outdoor area filled with stone sculptures of ponies and other creatures. The area was dominated by a huge statue of a ferocious beast appearing to be made from an amalgam of different animals. The beast's body ran the full length of the labyrinth, effectively forming a wall, his head and the tip of tail inches apart, forming an arch over the entrance.

Unconscious royal guardsponies were scattered around the gardens.

Celestia and Twilight had teleported just outside of a circle formed by five ponies. Sombra was one of them. Removing the cloaks hiding their faces, three more of them were revealed to be Lightning Dust, Trixie, and the unicorn Double Diamond had identified as Starlight. The last unicorn was Sunset Shimmer.

“Hello, Celestia,” said Sunset. “We're thinking it's long past time for a revolution.”

“Sunset Shimmer! What do you think you are doing?” Celestia roared, her voice so forceful and booming that Sunset's flame-colored hair was blown back. Neither she nor Twilight had ever heard it before, but they both knew from their studies that this was the traditional royal Canterlot voice.

Celestia stepped forward, her golden flames of magic crackling on her horn. She never got to do whatever she had planned, however, as she was struck from behind by a blast of magic.

A blast of magic from a unicorn couldn't possibly cause any real harm to an alicorn, but it did cause her to drop whatever spell she was planning to use. Celestia turned to face her attacker.

“I'm sorry, Princess Celestia,” said Twilight, her horn still glowing a bright pink. “This isn't anything personal.”

The look of betrayal in Celestia's eyes said otherwise. Rage melted away into sorrow and disbelief. For the first time in their lives, her two students saw their princess cry.

Twilight stepped forward, completing the circle of ponies. A magical glyph, shining a deep blue, appeared under them, with the six traitorous ponies standing in circles lining the outside and Celestia standing in the dead center. Tendrils of energy raced up Celestia's legs, forcing her to her knees. A few raced up to her horn, forming a cocoon blocking all magic.

Trixie brought forth a large burlap sack. She opened it and six black gemstones floated out and each flew through the air to rest above one of the six rebels. Each gem then changed color and shattered to pieces. The shards then reformed into gem-studded silver necklaces, or in Twilight's case, a tiara.

Celestia's expression was a mix of fear, betrayal, and confusion. “The Elements of Harmony? How did you…”

“These aren't the Elements of Harmony,” explained Trixie. “Though, they do have the same source.”

Sunset smirked. “We can thank dear Sombra for that. All this power, and it only cost us one tree. In situations like this, you've got to expect a few broken eggs.”

Celestia's eyes grew wide. “No! You can't have… Do you have any idea what you've done? Why would you do something so foolish?”

“It's a simple lock and key scenario. We couldn't get the key so we made a duplicate,” said Sombra, looking toward the immense statue circling the labyrinth.

Celestia went from fear to sheer terror. “No! You mustn't! Do you have realize how many will die if you do that?”

“We're just setting our friend free,” said Lightning Dust.

Before Celestia could question that statement, Shining Armor and Cherry Fizzy galloped into the garden.

Shining charged up for an attack, but then stopped dead when he saw his sister. “Twilight! What are you doing?”

“I'm sorry Shining. This has to be done.” Twilight began to float into the air, and the others followed suit.

Flashes shot out from the five necklaces, sending out light copies of the gemstones. Two ends of a grayscale rainbow emerged from Starlight's gem and flowed through each of the other's before both ends met in Twilight's gem.

Shining tried to cast a spell, but it disappeared instantly in the magical maelstrom created by the ritual. He called out for his little sister, and kept firing spell after spell futilely into the storm. Tears stung his eyes and were promptly blown away as they reached his cheeks.

The black and white rainbow shot out from Twilight's gem and flew into the mouth of the stone leviathan. Starting from where it hit the beast's mouth and traveling back down the rays of light, the rainbow began to turn a deep, dark black, as if the light had become shadow. As the darkness hit each pony, they were engulfed by it, and it brought about a physical change in them.

Although none of them grew new wings or horns, all six ponies grew to an alicorn-like size. Their coats and manes all darkened in color, save Starlight's coat, which lightened to such a pale purple that it brought to mind the visual of an off-color bone. The streaks in Twilight and Starlight's manes began to glow, as did Sombra's red horn. Crystals grew around Sombra's hooves and formed pieces of armor. Sunset's hair flickered and shifted like fire, Trixie's resembled smoke, and Sombra's mane moved as if blown by the wind, its ends simply fading away like shadows. Elecricity crackled in Lighting's mane and coat, and lights twinkled in Twilight's, like stars in the night sky.

Celestia screamed over the storm of magic, “No, you can't! You must not release Discord!”

Twilight, her voice unnaturally clear over the roaring winds, answered simply. “We're not releasing Discord. We're releasing Nightmare.”

The rainbow dissipated, the six ponies floated back to the ground, and for a moment everything was calm.

Then a surge of black magic shot out of the stone Discord's mouth and toward Celestia.

Sunset smiled a sadistic grin.

“All hail the queen.”