Twilight smiled as she nuzzled into her snuggling pillow, drifting in and out of consciousness, her legs shifting about restlessly below the warm covers. This pillow had just enough fluff in it to simulate the size of another pony, and unbeknownst to her friends, she was an obsessive snuggler when she slept. She always had to have something between her forelegs, pulled up nice and snug against her belly if she ever wanted to fall asleep anytime soon. She’d stayed up into the late hours of the night, reading to her heart’s content after a long bout of researching exactly how Luna was able to access the dreams of ponies, though she did not have much luck. There was very little information on dreamwalking, and the only expert on the subject matter, Princess Luna, refused to divulge her secrets for whatever reason.
Twilight groaned as she rolled over, her eyes finding the clock on the far wall. I’ve only slept for four hours? she idly thought as the seconds hand on the clock ticked away. The sunlight tried to peek in through her window, but it was thankfully blocked by the blackout shades. She let her eyes drift shut again as she rolled back over, pulling her snuggling pillow closer. “Might as well catch a few more hours of sleep...” she muttered, licking her dry lips. The thought of getting up to get something to drink briefly crossed her mind as she pulled the sheets closer, but her hooves were heavy and the bed was wondrously warm. Twilight wasn't getting up, especially when she had just found the most comfortable spot of her pillow.
Moments before she was able to fall asleep, Twilight heard the distinct sound of claws clicking against the marble floors, getting louder and louder until they stopped right outside her bedroom door. Her ears flicked back, knowing exactly what was going to happen: he was going to open her door and wake her up. She blearily cracked an eye as Spike knocked on her door, so she lit her horn, unlocked it, then opened it for him. “What is it, Spike?” she asked in a rough voice, followed by an exaggerated yawn.
“Uh...” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Princess Celestia needs you right away, Twilight... Her message looks pretty urgent.” He held out an opened scroll in his claws as he scampered across the room to stand beside her bed.
“Like... death to all ponykind urgent or she can’t find her cake urgent?” Twilight asked, groggily pushing herself up with a foreleg. She rubbed her eyes with her other hoof, then stretched her wings.
Spike climbed up onto Twilight’s bed and held the scroll out for her to read. “Somepony stole Celestia’s tiara.”
“Huh?” Her heart dropped into her stomach as her ears flicked up. “What are you talking about?” She snatched the scroll from Spike’s claws. “What the... No. No! There’s no way that that could be possible!” she said, sitting upright in a flash. “Her tiara was stolen?” She whipped the sheets off of her and ran to her dresser. Lighting her horn, she picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her mane, hoping it would get rid of her bedhead. Moving it down to her tail, she pranced in place as her heart raced in her chest. “Spike, has Celestia sent you any other scrolls concerning this?”
“No, she hasn’t, Twilight,” Spike said. “I was woken up by the scroll just a minute ago, so I know as much as you do...” He rubbed his eyes with a claw and lay down on his side, pulling the edge of Twilight’s blankets over his back. “I’m gonna go back to sleep,” he mumbled.
“Ugh, Spike! How can you sleep during a catastrophe such as this?” Twilight asked, nearly on the verge of screaming.
“Because I know there’s nothing I can do,” Spike murmured, pushing some of Twilight’s blankets into a makeshift pillow. “You’re the one with the horn and the wings, after all...”
“...Oh.” Twilight paused, then took a couple of deep breaths to calm her nerves. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She trotted up to the bed and nuzzled his cheek. “I’ll try to send word if I’m able to help catch the thief.”
“Okay, just... don’t send any more scrolls for like, the next five hours, okay? I’m gonna be sleeping.” Spike yawned rather loudly, then smiled gently up at Twilight. “Good luck, though! If somepony was able to steal Celestia’s tiara, they must be pretty strong and skilled in magic—probably as good as you!”
Twilight bit her lip as her ears flicked down. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She fluffed her wings a couple of times, then lit her horn. “I’ll see you soon, I promise!” she said, right before she teleported away. Reappearing in Canterlot’s throne room, Twilight panted, her chest heaving up and down. “Phew! Not gonna do that again anytime soon...” she muttered to herself. Her legs trembled from the exertion, for she had never before teleported such a long distance. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Twilight looked to the right, trying to find her old mentor. The throne was empty, but when the sounds of hoofsteps graced her ears, she looked to the left and spotted two guards trotting towards her.
“Princess Twilight!” one of them said as they came to a stop before her. “Thank Celestia you’re here.” Both of them bowed before her, their muzzles nearly touching the impeccably-polished floor.
“Oh? Is it really that bad?” Twilight asked, lifting up the guard on the right’s head with a gentle hoof and a warm smile. “So... do you have any leads as to who the thief might be?”
The guards glanced at one another. “Uh... I think Princess Celestia would like to fill you in with the details. I would not like to anger her, especially in a situation such as this; she has much to worry about.”
What does he mean by that? “Oh, okay then.” Twilight nodded towards the doors on the far end of the throne room. “Take me to her at once. Her scroll said that she needed to see me immediately.”
“Yes, my princess!” one of the guards said. He took the lead, trotting towards the open doors. Twilight fell into step behind him, the second guard doing the same behind her. Thankfully, Celestia’s bedroom was just down the hall, so they made quick time.
Twilight lifted a hoof to knock on Celestia’s bedroom door, but paused, remembering all the times when she had just walked inside when she was just a filly. As those fond memories drifted through her mind, she simply pushed open the door and shut it behind her, ignoring the surprised gasps from the guards she left behind. “Princess?” she asked softly, spotting her mentor sitting at her desk.
Celestia glanced over her shoulder. “Ah, Twilight!” A small smile slipped onto her face as she stood up.
Twilight’s ears flicked back as she trotted up to her with a wide smile. Standing up on her hind legs, she wrapped her forelegs around Celestia’s neck and nuzzled her in a way that only very good friends would: ferociously. “I came as soon as I heard, Celestia,” she murmured, letting herself fall back down to her hooves. “Your message actually caught me sleeping, to be honest,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.
“I am sorry to hear that, but I needed you right away.” Celestia turned back around and placed the tip of her wing on Twilight’s rump, guiding her towards the desk. “There is a secret that only Luna and I know, and it has been hidden so well for so long that I fear even uttering it.” She let out a deep sigh as her head hung low. “When you and your friends defeated Nightmare Moon, the evil one’s essence was not completely destroyed. It left my little sister, yes, but it somehow found a way to survive. It is not a mortal being, but an evil spirit. I do not know how it managed to steal my tiara, but nevertheless, I need you to retrieve it for me.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide at that. “Uh... what?” She cocked her head to the side as her eyebrows furrowed. “She wasn’t destroyed? But I thought...” Her shoulders slumped. “If you’ve known that Nightmare Moon still exists, why don’t you and Luna end her for good?”
“It is... not that easy. We have not been able to find her, and after over a year, we were not able to find even a trace of her.” Celestia sighed softly. “We still keep an eye out for any signs of her, but so far, we have not seen or heard anything... until now.”
“I see... Do you know where she is now? And why are you having me get it? For something so valuable, if I had a tiara and someone stole it, I’d want to be the one to get it back,” Twilight said.
“Yes, I know where it is, and the Yak’s royal family is here to renegotiate our trade deals for something more in their favor, so I am afraid that I cannot spare my sister, either. I need us both to deal with them, as they are a very rambunctious bunch. I know that you know that even the smallest of misspoken words could set them off, and that is something I do not want to happen, especially in my home. I would have asked for your assistance in this matter, but this situation requires me to ask my most trusted friend... you,” Celestia said with a sigh. She sat down and rubbed the front of her right foreleg with a hoof.
“I’m flattered, really,” Twilight said, letting a small smile slip on her face. “But instead of retrieving your tiara, wouldn’t it be easier to make a new one? Surely it’d be safer to let her keep your old one in lieu of fighting a powerful magical being, right?”
“In theory, yes, but Nightmare Moon cannot be allowed to keep my tiara. The gem embedded in it holds an unmeasurable amount of power. Every morning after breakfast, I deposit a portion of my energy into it in case of an emergency. Some gems are capable of containing magical power like that, and after the fiasco of the changeling invasion, I knew I had to figure out a way to prevent such an attack from happening again. And now, if something like that happens again, I will be ready. My sister and I believe that since Nightmare Moon is in possession of so much magical energy, she might be planning to use it to make herself a new body.”
“Woah...” Twilight’s vision glazed over momentarily. “So you’re sending me to go find her? Alone?” she asked as she blinked a few times, feeling her mouth go dry. “And if it comes to it, do you want me to... kill her?” Her ears flicked down as she let her gaze drop down to the floor. “I... I don’t know if I could do something like that...” she murmured. A couple of moments passed in silence before she felt Celestia’s wings fall across her back. Celestia tugged her in close, then nuzzled her head, humming softly.
“No, little one, I would never ask for you to kill somepony for me,” Celestia said softly, feeling Twilight’s heart racing against her breast. She wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s back and held her close, swaying from side to side ever so slightly. Folding her wings back to her side, Celestia let Twilight go and took a step back before sitting down again. “The most I would require of you is to secure my tiara and if needed, trap Nightmare Moon. She cannot be allowed to escape and wreak havoc across Equestria. Is that understood?” she asked, her voice slightly stern.
“Yes, Celestia.” Twilight stood up and let a confident grin slide onto her face. With her ears perked up, she fluffed her wings once and asked, “So where am I going?”
“To the Castle of the Two Sisters... the place that I once called home.” Celestia stood and walked over to the window, watching as the rain poured down in sheets, beating against the windows. “I need it back as soon as possible, Twilight. The fate of Equestria rests on your shoulders.”
Again? Great... “I understand,” Twilight said. She licked her lips and cleared her throat. “I will leave immediately, but...” She mindlessly dragged a hoof across the floor as her ears flicked down again. “Could you teleport me there? I expended most of my energy teleporting myself here.”
“Of course, Twilight.” She turned and stepped up to her former student, then touched the tip of her horn with Twilight’s. Her horn lit up in a brilliant glow for a few seconds, then Twilight disappeared in a flash of light.
Twilight groaned as she realized where she was: right in the middle of the Everfree Forest. She felt a ton of rainwater cascade down her back and neck, soaking into her fur and ridding her body of its warmth. Flicking her mane to the other side of her neck, Twilight lifted a sodden wing up above her head, shielding her gaze from the heavy rain. She walked forward, the ground beneath her nothing but foul-smelling mud. As she emerged from the treeline, Twilight gazed upon the ruined castle from across the courtyard. It was filled with weeds, vines, and even more mud. I’m gonna need to take a hot shower after this is done...
As she stepped into the courtyard, taking care to not slip, she felt the rain come down even harder, somehow making it underneath her wing and making her back prickle with each impact. Twilight groaned as she squinted, the rain making it hard to see ten hoofsteps in front of her. Looking down, she spotted a small river of rainwater trickling down the path, making the cobblestones much too slippery for her to walk upon. She lit her horn, then teleported in front of the double doors of the castle.
Standing beneath the awning, Twilight shook herself free of most of the water, much like a dog would after taking a bath. Unfolding her wings, she held them in front of her, water dripping down from the tips of her feathers. With a roll of her eyes, she flapped them a few times, doing her best to let them dry. “Okay Twilight, you can do this...” she said to herself, eyeing the doors in front of her. She lifted a hoof to push them open, but as soon as the tip of her hoof graced the aging wood, the doors swung open wide, making her take a step back in shock.
Four dark blue legs met her gaze. Her eyes going wide, Twilight nervously looked up to see none other than Nightmare Moon standing before her in all of her glory, her wings spread wide. “Hello, Twilight Sparkle... I’ve been expecting you!” Twilight heard her say. Before she could even think to use a spell to defend herself, Nightmare Moon’s horn lit up in a brilliant flash, and the entire world went black.
