Before That Fateful Night

Chapter 1 – The Day of the Summer Sun Celebration

“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

“You two should see the look on your faces!” Discord exclaimed with a huge grin on his face, not even the faintest trace of glee was missing from his voice. “Oh… What a laugh! Twilight Sparkle, the former wielder of The Element of Magic and Queen Moon, in love. With Celestia banished, Equestria having been struck by the carnage of war, and the Elements of Harmony scattered across the land it will be oh so easy to spread my chaos.”

“Enough of that Discord,” Nightmare Moon began, seething with rage. “What have you done with Moon Beam?!”

“Oh, does the queen miss her precious dolly?” Discord asked, chuckling openly and without fear. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much; you will find her, maybe.”

“How dare you call her that?!” Twilight asked, raising her voice to nothing short of a bellow, all the hairs of her Byzantium coat practically standing on end with her rage. “She isn’t a doll, she is our daughter!”

With both Nightmare Moon and Twilight’s horn glowing with black magic, Discord felt the killing intent they had in store for him in their attack. Knowing that his fun was about to be cut short, he felt like he should make a quick move of his own.

With a quick wave, he sent a small white flare of magic in the direction of Nightmare Moon. Whatever spell Discord had just used was too quick for her to dodge and with an overwhelming bright flash, she vanished.

Twilight froze, and with a crackle, the black magic that had been building around her horn had dispersed. It took a moment for her to recover before she could find her voice, and when she did find it, all she could do was shout at the top of her lungs. “LUUUUUNNNNNAAAAA!!!!” She turned her head in the direction of Discord, only to find her eyes being engulfed by a bright flash of white light.

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

A Certain Lavender colored Unicorn found herself waking up with a start. After letting out a rather loud yawn, she got out of bed and stretched. But before she could start the normal proceeds of her day, she had to add an important entry into her life’s journal. And so she made her way up to the writing desk in her bedroom, and used a magically conjured key to unlock one of the desk’s drawers.

After pulling open the drawer, she used her magic to levitate her journal out of it and placed it along with her key onto the top of the desk. She sat down comfortably in front of the desk, used her magic once again to levitate a pen and opened the journal to the nearest blank page. After letting out a sigh, she began to write, but not with much enthusiasm.

Dear Journal

I had that dream again. ‘The Dream’ of course, the one that constantly reminds me of that night where me and my love were forcibly separated and I was thrown into a whole new life thanks to the magic of Discord. Oh how I miss you my queen, my dearest Nightmare, my Luna.

It has been exactly one year since the day I ‘arrived’ in this world. I, Twilight Sparkle, have somehow been thrown back in time, but it is however not as simple as that. While most methods of time travel are depicted in that, when you are sent to this new time, you are exactly who you were before being sent, both in body and mind. But whatever magic Discord used on me was not like that at all.

As it would turn out, all the memories I have gathered throughout my life up to that point, were somehow placed into the body of a younger version of me. So, putting it in simple terms, my current body had lived for about 11 years, but I had about 13 years of memories. Now that a year has passed, my current body has about 12 years of growth, but my memories express 14 years.

I would not usually go into that much detail about my year long predicament, considering I already covered it all with the mass of previous entries made on this subject. However, because it has been exactly one year, this entry is special, because if I might be so bold to say, this day is very special.

Today is the day I first go to Ponyville, this is the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, this is the day I meet the other wielders of The Elements of Harmony, this is the day I first meet the love of my life, Nightmare Moon. How I know this for sure is simple, I have already experienced this day before. I know what is going to happen.

While it would seem that the day I meet my love is something to celebrate, I can’t help but feel that it is not. I have been living my life for the past year, but not in trying new things, instead, I have been trying my hardest to mimic the actions I had taken to get to where I was in the life where I have my love.

I admit I cannot perfectly mimic everything, for I have done things slightly differently than what I had done before. And while I have, to this day, had the same experiences that I had in my other life, I can’t help but feel nervous every morning, fearing that something will happen. Something that will lead my life in a different direction than what I intend, away from the embrace of the one I love.

I don’t believe in love at first sight, it didn’t happen before, and it certainly won’t happen this time. No, after today, after I meet Nightmare Moon, I will have to continue this façade, and continue mimicking the life I had already walked once before. If it all works out, if I once again gain the love that was ripped from me, then and only then can I begin to change.

As always, I will continue this entry after I am finished for the day. And if you see that there is no more written past this point, you are free to assume the worst.

After letting out another sigh, this one resounding with an air tense nervousness, Twilight started putting away her supplies for writing closed the drawer. After using her magic to once again hide her key to the drawer, where she, and only she, could be able to conjure it from its hidden location, she picked up her saddle bags.

She then placed her journal in the saddle bags, because today she had to take everything important with her, because she knew that she was going to be leaving her home in Canterlot, and will be going to the town of Ponyville shortly. To everypony else, it will be her first ever visit. But to Twilight, it will be her second ‘first ever visit’.

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

A very nervous Lavender coated unicorn mare and an enthusiastic baby dragon found themselves on a ride through the skies on a chariot pulled by two male pegasi. While the unicorn, Miss Twilight Sparkle, was making a face in mock frustration, the baby dragon named Spike held a piece of parchment with his two tiny claws. The chariot getting ever closer to their destination as Spike began to read from the parchment.

“My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony’s life than studying. So I’m-“He had begun reading aloud, however the listener wasn’t quite down to Equestria and didn’t really register what she was hearing. All she could think about was what she had to do for the next several hours, how she was about to relive probably one of the most eventful days of her previous life. She just couldn’t stop thinking, how would she be able to go through this very stressful day without losing herself and messing up everything she had been working for the past year.

She thought about how she was about to once again meet her best friends ‘for the first time’ and how the slightest mistake could ruin her chances of getting her true love back. Her thoughts wound about like this for a small period of time before she finally snapped back from her trance to hear Spike finish reading the letter she had received from Princess Celestia. “-make some friends!”

Twilight groaned. She just couldn’t shake the jitters that had been building up after she woke up that morning.

“Look on the bright side Twilight!” Spike began, his voice showing that he was tons more excited than Twilight. “The princess arranged for you to stay in the library, doesn’t that make you happy?!”

Even though she wasn’t really happy in the slightest, she was snapped out of her stupor and began to feel slightly better, because she had just remembered her response to Spike’s enthusiastic outburst. “Yes!” Twilight began. “Yes it does. You know why?! Because I’m right! I’ll check on the preparations as fast as I can… Then get to the library to find proof of Nightmare Moon’s return!” It always was a pick-me-up for Twilight if she could remember her responses word for word.

Spike wasn’t all that satisfied with Twilight’s revelation. “Then… when will you make friends like the princess said?”

“She said to check on preparations…” Twilight had begun her reply, they were now about to touch down in their destination, the town of Ponyville. “I am her student, and I’ll do my royal duty. But the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.” As Twilight finished, the chariot touched down.

The two pegasi chariot drivers gave a whinny announcing their arrival at their destination, to which Twilight quickly hopped down and politely said, “Thank you, sirs.” To which they both gave slight nods of appreciation.

Twilight began to feel her nerves getting to her again now that she was back in the distantly familiar town of Ponyville, but manages to keep up her enthusiastic façade. As Spike managed to maintain his enthusiasm saying, “Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!” Twilight felt her stomach bottoming out as she saw a familiar pink pony with a mane and tail that looked like cotton candy came trotting up to them.

Twilight’s nerves were practically on fire, as Pinkie Pie came to a stop right in front of them, not even noticing that Spike was saying, “Come on Twilight… Just try!”

Twilight felt pressured, she felt like any words she dare utter will cast her into oblivion. So reluctantly, Twilight began to speak. “Uh… Hello?”

Pinkie jumped quite a few feet into the air and let out a huge gasp, perhaps she was trying to jump up to moon and at the same time, trying to suck in enough air to support her for a lifetime of floating in space. As quickly as Twilight was getting her sense of déjà vu, Pinkie Pie was already running off into the distance.

Twilight quickly recovered from her déjà vu induced trance, coming back with memories of what she said next. “Well that was interesting alright!” And she began walking in direction of their next destination, and Spike let out a sigh and started following her.

The pair found themselves walking in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight was still really nervous, but felt much more confident than she had earlier. As they made their approach to the front gates of their destination Spike was reading off another piece of parchment. “Summer Sun Celebration Official Overseer’s Checklist: Number one, Banquet preparations, Sweet Apple Acres!”

They were just passing through the entrance as they heard a loud cry of “YEEEEEEEEHAAAWW!” from behind them. They both turned around sharply and they were both kind of spooked, even Twilight who had already experienced this before.

An orange coated mare with a blonde mane and tail wearing a hat and had a cutie mark of three apples could be seen charging towards a tree. She drew herself to a stop, giving the tree a powerful buck that knocked all its apples loose and into some buckets down below.

Twilight gave a sigh, and followed up by saying, “Let’s get this over with…” sounding rather off put, but she was actually rather proud of herself, she had yet again remembered what she said and did down to the smallest detail. And so she made her approach to the familiar athlete of a mare to give her a formal greeting.

“Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Her greeting was calm. Her greeting was dignified. Her greeting was met with a nostalgia inducing hoofshake.

“Well howdy doo Miss Twilight! A pleasure makin’ your acquaintance!” she began, giving Twilight the most powerful hoofshake of her life. Well… Twilight’s already gone through it before but… Oh well… “I’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin’ new friends!”

“Friends… Actually I… Uh…” said Twilight, still on the receiving end of the hoofshake, her voice wobbling from the vibrations.

Applejack finally parted from the hoofshake and asked, “So… What can I do you for?” while Twilight was still wobbling her forehoof, not aware that Applejack had already let go.

Spike stopped Twilight and giggled, to which Twilight frowned. “Ahem… Well I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you’re in charge of the food?”

Applejack gave a quick reply of “We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?”

“Well as long as it doesn’t take too long…” But Applejack didn’t even wait to listen to all of Twilight’s response.

Here it comes…

“SOUPS ON EVERYPONY!” Applejack cried out while giving a chime (of some sort) a quick ring. The response was immediate, and the response was fierce. A horde of ponies came running out and picked up Twilght and Spike along the way.

They found themselves at a picnic table, and Applejack enthusiastically pitched her sale. “Now… why don’t I introduce yall to the Apple family?” Whilst gesturing her hoof to the large crowding of ponies surrounding them.

Twilight, who legitimately did want a way out of this situation, but knew she couldn’t do anything to corrupt her future went along and said her remembered lines. “Thanks… but I really have to hurry.”

“This here’s Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala(?), Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apple, Apple Fria(?), Apple Cinnamon Crisp-“ Each person named while they placed a pastry on the table. Applejack took a big breath then continued, “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, AAAND Granny Smith”. And pointedly shoved an apple into Twilight’s mouth as she finished. “Up and at ‘em Granny Smith! We’ve got guests.”

Granny Smith got up and mumbled off something unintelligible as she walked up to them. Applejack resumed. “I say, you’re already part of the family!”

Twilight spit out the apple and without even thinking about what to say next said the first words that came naturally to her in this situation. “Ah Ha Ha! Okay… Well… I can see the food situation is handled so we’ll be on our way!” And she made a gesture that she was going to leave.

Devious Apple Bloom and her puppy eye technique was her defeat, even if she had already seen it. “Aren’t you going to stay for brunch?”

Twilight was already more than inclined to stay, but knew she had to her act to maintain and proceeded to reply with, “Sorry… But we have an awful lot to do.” Too which she got the reaction she was expecting, a cry of “Awww…” from the lot of ‘em.

In mock frustration, she gave her finalizing statement. “Fine…”Which earned her the Apple Family’s happy cries of celebration.

I missed this crazy town!

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

And so, she made it through her day. It was tiring, stressing, and difficult because today happened to be one of her more active days of communication. Not often did this scholar get out during the past year. She had been busy with her studies, though to her advantage, she had already done them, so in the time that she wasn’t doing so, she had been researching more about the Elements of Harmony in secret.

So, much to her satisfaction, she did not have to communicate and interact with others all that much and ruin the timeline leading to her desired future. She had instead been researching how to control the powers of the Elements of Harmony so that incase Nightmare Moon didn’t prepare the protection she had last time, she would still be able to weaken the Elements’ magic enough so that they do not destroy Nightmare.

She now found herself lying in her bed, the sounds of Pinkie Pie’s ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party down below. For a while now she had been up there, using her alone time to brood over what was about to happen in a few short hours. Her thoughts spinning about, she couldn’t focus on anything but what the future held and what a relief it will be when Nightmare finally ‘kidnaps’ her like she had done before.

Her thought patterns were however interrupted when Spike suddenly walked into her room. “Hey Twilight! Pinkie Pie’s starting pin the tail on the pony! Want to play?”

Twilight, being rather nervous, only half mocked the frustration in her reply. “NO! All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!”

Twilight’s bad mood didn’t put a damper on Spike’s spirits and responded, “It is the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up or else they’ll miss the princess raise the sun. You really should lighten up Twilight. It’s a party!”

As Spike walked out of the room, Twilight muttered unintelligible gibberish, flaunting a frustration that wasn’t really there. And after the door closed, she couldn’t hold back a sigh.

Twilight, knowing what was soon to happen, couldn’t help but say a few words to herself, hoping that talking about it, even if only to herself, would be enough to relieve her nerves. “Oh Luna, Moonbeam, Cherry, Cloudy, I hope that by the end of the day that I will be one major step closer to reuniting with you all again.”

Twilight took a glance at the moon and sighed again. “Oh how I love you all… I promise I will not fail.”

Twilight’s train of thought was once again interrupted by Spike, this time bursting through the door. “Come on Twilight! It’s time to watch the sunrise!”

Twilight was very nervous going into the town hall, but she knew that she had to do it, and so found herself standing there, closely eyeing the spot where her true love will soon appear. Sure enough, she was distracted by Pinkie Pie. “Isn’t this exciting?! Are you excited?! ‘Cause I’m excited! I’ve never been so excited! Well… Except for the time I saw you walking into town and I went ‘gasp’ but I mean really, who can top that?!”

If Twilight had a response – which she didn’t – well… She didn’t get a chance to utter it, as the music began to flare and spotlight began to shift. The spotlight made its way to an older looking mare standing in the hotspot of the room, and she began to speak. “Fillies and Gentlecolts! As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration.” Her greeting was met with cheers from almost everypony.

The mayor continued, “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land. The very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day! The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria… Princess Celestia!”

The curtains on the Balcony above were pulled back, and much to everyone’s confusion, Princess Celestia who they had been expecting to be behind them, was not there.

“This can’t be good!” The words felt like poison as they left Twilight’s mouth. Even for the act, she couldn’t help but kick herself for saying such a thing when she knew what it signified.

Worried mutters were scattering like wildfire amongst the crowd, and the mayor felt she should try to douse the fire before it grew wild. “Remain calm everypony. There must be a reasonable explanation.”

Pinkie was next to talk, but Twilight didn’t register it, she didn’t register anything for that matter, she knew what was coming, and she was waiting with bated breath.

It felt like an eternity, an agonizing eternity, but finally all the talk was gone, and she could see it, the purple haze on the balcony top where her Luna was about to appear. And as it expanded, she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t do anything, she just stared as everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

And then, she finally came into view, Nightmare Moon was visible, in front of Twilight’s eyes, gazing down upon everypony, and Twilight was staring deep into her eyes. Twilight’s heart was pounding like mad, her mind was racing, and she was slipping off into a daze.

Oh how I have missed her. The way her mane billows like smoke in the wind. The way her armor shines in the moonlight. The way that her bodies very frame commands respect. The way her lips feel pressed against mine. The way our tongues entwine and dance. The way she-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!