Nightfall looks through her countless books on the history of Equestria.

“What am I looking for? Why am I even doing this?” she asks herself. She feels that when she sees it she’ll know, she's just unsure of what the heck she is doing back at her family’s old private library…. It felt like she was called there by something unknown to her,something big. A lot of these old books on magic were first editions made by StarSwirl the Bearded, the most renowned wizard in all of pony history. She furiously looks through a book called “The Elements of Harmony” and comes across a passage she has read many times but never understood.

“The elements when combined, are the most powerful things known to ponydom.”

"Okay, yeah I get that”- Nightfall says to the book “but what about this?” she points to a specific part

“The light will return someday”

“Light… What the heck is that?!” She looks out at the Moon that has been up in the sky for as long as she can remember...she is in deep thought…. She gets up and flies around in the room for a moment after hours of research on “the light” . Her batlike wings working as best as she could make them. She leaves the family library, locks it up, and heads into town.. She always loved Canterlot. She would usually go shopping or get a snack, but tonight is different.
She is going to see the Nightmare herself.

Hours later after finishing A LOT of paperwork she goes up to the receptionist desk and places the 23 forms of paper that she had to fill out on it.

“Okay, I finished it all”

“Wow! That’s a new record. Only 3 hours!” the receptionist says “I think we can squeeze you in for an appointment with Nightmare Moon in *looks at some papers* let's see here… Tuesday, 5 weeks from now”

“5 weeks! I need to see her now!” Nightfall was getting very mad.

“Well, I’m sorry, the Princess is a busy mare.”

“Just forget about it, I’ll solve the problem myself.”

“What problem!?”

Nightfall just walks out of Canterlot Castle without saying another word.

She walks through the town square and is stopped by one of her old school mates, Dark Storm. “Oh no… this guy.” she thought to herself. She had always had mixed feelings about him, like one would have mixed feelings about bungee jumping off a bridge or going to space or perhaps eating potentially poisonous fish.

“HEY NIGHTFALL!” he yelled across the town square. He then flies over to her.

“Oh, hey Dark Storm. I haven’t seen you in years.. How have you been?” she was screaming on the inside, she didn’t have time to small talk, she needed to solve the mystery that she somehow found herself in.

“I’ve been pretty good! I work for the princess now, and hey, didn’t I heard you were studying to be a professor at the school of ma-”

“Yeah, that’s all great, Storm, but I really gotta get going.” He then flew right in front of her, his batlike wings shinning in the light of the moon.

“Where are you heading? Maybe I can give you directions, I’ve been around all of Equestria, you know.”

That was a good question where was she going? She had absolutely no idea. She just knew that the light needed to happen. What was the light? She still didn’t know.
“I’m just gonna head home, it’s been a long night.”

“How’s about I trot home with you? A nice mare like yourself shouldn’t be out all alone and it’s not like we are complete strangers.”

“I would rather be alone right now Dark Storm, thanks anyways.”
She then ran away from him, not because she was scared, but because she really did not want to talk to him or anyone for that matter. It was becoming clear to her that the light might be some sort of conspiracy and she needs to keep it to herself.

Nightfall ran. At first to get away from Dark Storm, but then to something. She had no idea what to. She just knew to run. She ran across Canterlot, through some of the neighboring cities, and found herself at some sort of forest. At some point she had started flying, she couldn’t remember when. She knew that she had just done hours worth of travel in what felt like such a short amount of time, but she couldn’t believe it. She was lead through the forest by whatever force had brought her there and eventually found a castle. She had a key with her. The key to her family library. It fit the keyhole for the castle... She went inside, it was in awful condition.

“Is this the old castle of legend?” she said to herself outloud.

“It is.” said a deep menacing voice. Nightfall turns around and right in front of her is the dark ruler of all of Equestria, Nightmare Moon.

“Princess! I am so happy to see you! A lot of strange things have been happening to me lately!”

She was very childlike at this moment. The Princess was a motherly figure to all, and everypony that she talked to would react the same way. Was that part of a spell she put on her ponies to make them more compliant? The princess was too old to remember, too old to care.

"Nightfall, you were chosen for something important. I have ruled over this land for one thousand years, but now, it’s somepony else’s turn, and I’m sorry, but everything you know is about to change.”

“Wha- Why me? A thousand years?! Princess this is giving me more questions than answers.” Nightfall is very confused at all of this.

“You know that key? It was Starswirl's.”

“But, it’s been in my family for generations!”

“That just means you were meant to do this Nightfall.”

“After I changed, that old wizard never trusted me, so he hid the key to my old castle.”

“Changed? Your Castle? Nightmare Moon, I have no idea what you are talking about!”

“We don’t have much time, she’ll be her any second now.”

“Who?! Princess, I am very confused.”

“Nightfall, I can’t explain everything to you, not everything needs to be explained.”

“But I want to know, I NEED to know.”

“Sometimes knowledge hurts, Nightfall believe me, and sometimes it's best that we don’t get what we want. If one thousand years alone have taught me anything, it’s that.”

“But Princess I-”

Nightfall couldn’t finish what she was saying, there was a burst of brightness, a beautiful white mare with colorful hair almost like Nightmare Moon herself was flying in the sky and behind her was a huge ball of light rising up into the air, fire perhaps? There was a lot of screaming in the distance. Nightmare Moon seemed to unaffected by this. It was so bright, it was too bright. Nightfall couldn’t take it, but she knew at that moment what it was.

“This is the light. It’s what I read about it’s so…. bri-”

And there she was, a beautiful white mare. She flew in through the window. She brought warmth into the room -too warm

The last thing Nightfall saw before she passed out was Celestia and the sun.

Author's Note

Hey! You made it this far! Yay! So this is for the 2016 batpony writing contest and I thought wouldn't it be cool if Nightmare Moon had won and then Equestria changed dramatically? I know this ending isn’t an actual ending- it’s more of a beginning, so I will probably make more of this latter on. Anyway THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! Seriously. I appreciate it a lot! Any feedback would be appreciated.. :)

update- ..... Apparently I wasn't accepted in time for the contest... ~~I feel like an idiot.~~
Update again- meh, I'm not too disappointed anymore.