Author's Note

In the episode "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" Princess Luna says she created the tantabus so she could punish herself for becoming Nightmare Moon, and for the things she did as such. But, I have some questions for you to consider: What if the tantabus wasn't an original Princess-Luna invention? What if tantabi existed before the princesses? What if it was a tantabus that was responsible for Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon, and another was responsible for corrupting King Sombra? And, what if one of them was to target Twilight Sparkle next?

Chapter 1: The Visit

What could only be described by the inhabitants of the Everfree forest as a black floating flame or will-o-wisp started its journey from the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. From there, it floated through the forest until it was between two trees at the edge; and there it peered out, setting its sights(?) on a small village inhabited by ponies.

More times than it had wanted, ponies, most of which had come from this village, had invaded the will-o-wisp’s long-time abode; and the dark spirit had decided it was time to take action against these invaders. But, which of them could it attack, perhaps possess, so that it could destroy these invaders, and keep them, or any other pony for that matter, from invading its home again?

There was the pink pony with neither wings nor horn. That one had this strange, irritating whinny, sometimes accompanied by a snort, that would infect the other five. But, she wasn’t the leader.

There was the other wingless, hornless pony, the orange one. Something in her voice made her unique from the other ponies, and she had this habit of telling things precisely as she saw them. But, once again, she was just a subordinate.

Among the winged ponies, there was a blue one. She, while wanting to join another team, was clearly happy to be part of her present one, and was still just another subordinate.

The other one, the yellow one, unlike the blue one, was very timid. She took care of animals on the edge of the forest, as well as her friends. But still, she didn’t lead the group. Most likely because she was so timid.

Then, there was the white pony with a horn. She seemed obsessed with making cloth coverings for herself and other ponies. And, she was always giving things away. As easily as she could lead a group, she was not the leader among the six invaders.

There was that one pony that had always had a horn, but now had a pair of wings to go with it. Only she could be the leader of the invaders. Only she could make the perfect target. Only she, who was so obsessed with books that she’d invade the ruined castle that the black flame called home just to read more of them, would be the one he could choose to possess so he could destroy the group of six.

The spirit returned to the ruins it called home to consult with another one, one who had successfully seduced an alicorn a thousand years ago, but had been stuck with that alicorn on the moon for that time. Communicating with that other will-o-wisp, he learned how to invade the mind of an alicorn, to carefully modify the alicorn’s thinking until he could take control of it.

It took a few days; but, when the spirit had decided he had learned enough, and had made plans to take over the purple alicorn’s mind, again he proceeded out of the ruins to the edge of the forest. But, he could only watch from the shadows until nightfall. After all, ponies were active during the daytime. And, the spirit’s dark form was a stark contrast to the daylight. It would be too easily detected.

Finally, as the sun set, and ponies returned to their homes and their beds, the black spirit made its way out of the forest and into the village of the ponies, searching until he found the home of the purple, book-obsessed pony with wings and a horn. And, outside the window he waited, until the light in the room was extinguished, and it could put its plan into action.

It had been a week since she’d earned her wings, and the purple alicorn was just getting used to them. She had to wonder about her current predicament. On the first day, she’d had such complete control of her wings, she’d even been able to make an explosion that had produced a star-shaped cloud over Canterlot. So, what had happened to that control? Had her wings suddenly atrophied overnight? One day she was flying all over the place. The next day, she couldn’t hover over the ground to save her life. How could this have happened? Why? And, if these wings were a gift of the magic of friendship, why was she having so much trouble with them?

What a frustrating week it had been. Over and over again she’d crashed. But, at least after that second day, she was getting a little better. But, she was still far from how well she’d done on that first day. Oh, well. She’d just keep on working until she got back there, and hopefully she wouldn’t atrophy again.

And, looking back on the week, she couldn’t ignore how helpful her friends had been. And, she had to wonder to herself, did these new wings mean she could use alicorn magic now? She could use magic anyway, having been a unicorn up until that day when she’d rewritten that spell from an old hero of hers, Starswirl the Bearded. But, was there another change in store for her? Had she reached her full potential?

So many questions, such as these, were running through her mind as she retired to her bed that night, after another day of flying lessons that had interrupted her reorganizing her library home for the umpteenth time since she’d been reassigned to Ponyville; and those lessons felt more like they’d been intended for falling than flying. It took her a few minutes before she was relaxed and comfortable enough to finally fall asleep.

A few seconds later, she awoke, or so it seemed to her, to see the two sister princesses staring at her from just beyond the foot of her bed. Alarmed, and a little disgraced, Twilight jumped up out of her covers. She then sat human-style on her bed and started straightening her mane with her front hooves as she asked, “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, why didn’t you send me word that you were coming?”

The two alicorns looked at each other, then back at Twilight; and the white one answered, “We didn’t want to disturb anypony else. You see, we’ve come with some alarming news.”

Twilight froze for a second, then pulled her front hooves free of her mane and put them under her again, before asking, "What news is that?”

This time, it was Princess Luna who answered, “I have been doing research into friendship and research into magic, and …”

When the nighttime princess trailed off and said no more, Twilight rose to all fours on her bed. Raising a front hoof to reach out to the two princesses, she asked, “And, … what?”

Again the two alicorns looked at each other, then back to Twilight. Then, the nighttime princess took a step toward Twilight and said, “Well, I … haven’t been able to find a connection between the two.”

Twilight Sparkle took a moment to process what Princess Luna had said to her. She, the princess of the moon, had been doing research into magic and research into friendship, and couldn’t find the connection? But, weren’t they the same?

Twilight looked down and started tapping the bedding in front of her with her front hooves, as though she was operating a typewriter or a calculator. She scratched her chin, then did some more tapping, evidently trying to visualize this new information. Finally, she looked up at Princess Luna and, tilting her head, asked skeptically, “Are you sure about that?”

This time, both princesses took a canine-style sitting position in front of Twilight; and Princess Luna said, “I’ve run the tests over and over again, and I haven’t been able to find a connection between magic and friendship.”

Then, Princess Celestia added, “I’m sorry to have to order you to do this. But, until we can explain this new finding, I have to order you to stop your studies regarding the magic of friendship. Please, Twilight, for our sake, and for yours, you have to discontinue your studies on this subject.”

Now, Twilight felt a tear leak from one of her eyes as she said, “B-but, this doesn’t make any sense. I know that friendship is magic. Princess Celestia, if it hadn’t been for the combined magic of my five friends and me, I wouldn’t have been able to free your sister, Luna. It was the magic of friendship that allowed us to defeat Sombra. It was the bond I shared with my friends that allowed me to rewrite Starswirl’s spell; and because of that, I earned my wings. You know as well as I do that friendship is magic.”

At this point, Princess Celestia rose to all fours, pointed a front hoof at her student, and said, “I’m sorry, but you have your orders. Please, do this … for us!” And, with that, as Princess Celestia repeated those last two words, the two sister alicorns drifted away from the purple one. Yet, mysteriously, they remained visible, apparently shrinking until they disappeared after Princess Celestia’s fifth repetition of the words, “for us.”

Watching the two alicorn princesses shrink away, Twilight Sparkle was immobilized; but, she wasn’t sure why. Was it from shock at the news they’d delivered? That was most certainly a factor. Was it because it had been delivered by two ponies, at least one of which she’d looked up to? Most definitely another factor. But, there had to be something else. If she couldn’t study friendship and magic, then what was there left for her to study? She needed answers, and she needed them now. But, her source for those answers was fading away, and she had to do something before they were gone. So, mustering everything she had, she crouched as though to pounce on something, then took a running leap off of her bed.

But, her heroic effort was in vain. The two princesses had disappeared.

In despair, she pointed her head to the ceiling and cried out, “No!”

A split second later, she was sitting up in her bed, panting.

From the main floor, her faithful assistant called out, “Twilight, are you alright up there?”

But, the purple alicorn was unable to answer. She took a few seconds to compose herself again, to slow her breathing, to think about the message the sister alicorns had given her. Could it be true? Was there really no connection between magic and friendship? Could all of her experiences, all of her studies on the subject, have been a lie? But if it were so, why had she never detected it? Why? No, there must be another explanation. Friendship and magic were the same thing, she knew it. She knew it! But, … the two princesses seemed so sure.

With this last thought, another question rose in Twilight’s mind: What was she feeling right now? Was it grief she was feeling? No, that couldn’t be it. After all, nopony had died. Was she feeling sick? She wasn’t nauseated, although she was feeling unusually cold. And, she was also wet, which she attributed to sweating. But, feeling directly under her, the sheet she was sitting on was especially moist, and sticky. Sniffing under her covers, she realized she’d wet and messed herself in her bed. Certainly this was a good reason to feel ashamed, if she wasn’t feeling sick. She was feeling something, she just wasn’t sure what it was.

Eventually, she fell back into her bed, hid herself under her covers, and started sobbing.

With a feeling of mirth, the black spirit thought to himself, Step one: complete.