The Prized Student

It was already nighttime when Twilight reached Ponyville, where the Princess was going to hold the Summer Sun Celebration. The mare would rather have stuck with her mentor, but the alicorn reassured her that she will be needed in the town, and sooner she met the other student, the better. Twilight learned as much about this mare, as possible.

Her name was Sunset Shimmer and her special talent was, akin to her own, magic. Twilight frowned, when the Princess told her, that Sunset did not like to make friends. Forming bonds between other magicians is the best and most practical way of learning. This was a lesson she had to learn too, so she reminded herself no to prejudge.

Walking on the streets of Ponyville, some old memories threatened to come to the surface, which she pushed down. Everything was different, some more so, some less. But she knew a place, which would never change, so she assigned that as her destination, before she went to the library to meet Sunset Shimmer.

Sweet Apple Acres was just like she remembered. The apple orchard, the barn, the house, everything was filled with sweet memories. This was the house, where one of her dearest friends, Apple Pie and her husband, Crafty Hooves used to live. The current members of this family were their direct descendants.

Although it wasn’t as quiet as she remembered. But that may be the fault of the oncoming celebration. Whatever was the case, as soon as she stepped out of the shadows, which covered the road, leading to the farm house, the three ponies turned to her. Two mares and a stallion, one of the mares looked really old.

“Can Ah help yah with anything, Sugarcube?” asked the mare, wearing a cowboy hat. She must be the current head of the apple family.

“Oh, hello!” Twilight greeted them. “This may sound strange at this hour but can you please give me an apple pie? I will pay of course.”

The three ponies looked at each other for a moment, before the blonde turned back to her with a grin on her face.

“Well of course, dear.” She said, gesturing her to come closer to one of the stands. “Can Ah ask what are yah doing here at this hour? The celebration’s going to be held at dawn.”

“Yes, I am quite aware, Miss…”

“Oh, sorry. Name’s Applejack. This is my brother Big McIntosh and our grandma, Granny Smith. And you are…”

The pony lowered her hood, uncovering a gentle face with intelligent purple eyes. She wore a silver helmet, but her purple mane with the two stripes were clearly visible. Applejack took in her facial features, considering her height also. She could see, that the mare hid a warriors build under that cloak. Her horn was also three times as long as Rarity’s.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said, extending a hoof, on which she wore more armor. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

From the direction of Granny Smith, a clear gasp was audible. Everypony turned in her direction, but the old mare didn’t seem to notice. She looked at Twilight with huge eyes filled with disbelief and hope.

“Is that you Princess?” Granny asked at last. Applejack, alarmed by the sudden revelation, took a few steps back.

The mare's smile became more gentle, as she lowered her head just a little to be approximately at the same height as the old pony.

“Please, Miss Smith. I am not a Princess yet. I just arrived home from my journey. Even though I am flattered and honored by your recognition, I would appreciate to hold this information among ourselves for a while. Is that possible?”

The old mare nodded and ceased the bow which she begun just a few moments earlier and sat back in her chair.

“What tha hay is going on?” Asked Applejack as soon as she found her voice.

“I must apologize for confusing you.” Said Twilight, her smile just as gentle as before. “As I said, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I am a former student of Princess Celestia and one of your family’s old friends.”

Applejack didn’t looked completely convinced.

“But Granny Smith just called you a Princess.”

The alicorn’s smile became brighter and she let out a small laugh.

“That is a common delusion in our era. I am indeed an alicorn, but being one of my kind does not grant me the title of Princess immediately. At first, I must learn. I am not officially crowned yet, but the offer has already been made.”

Finally understanding the situation, Applejack took on a smile herself.

“I see. This is an interesting day indeed. Having two of the Princesses students come to visit, one of them being an alicorn none the less. And yah said that yah were a friend of our family?”

“Indeed.”

While chatting a little over the pie they ate, Twilight’s heart was filled with a warm feeling. Just like back then, when she was young and the farm was smaller but just as energetic. She told them about the family members she knew back then and they promised to introduce her to everypony, as soon as the celebrations were over.

It took almost two hours to cease their chit-chat, but eventually Twilight stood up, saying that she had to meet the other student and she was sorry for keeping them from their work this close to the celebration. They reassured the alicorn, that she was always welcomed there and promised to meet her at the celebration at dawn.

As Twilight was heading back to the town, she couldn’t help but feel mad at herself for not warning the family about the return of Mare in the Moon. She refused to call her Nightmare Moon, after learning what led to Princess Luna’s downfall. She wanted to be sure that when the Princess of the Night would come back to herself, she will see at least one friendly face besides Celestia’s.

She just hoped, that Sunset Shimmer is ready to face what’s coming or at least she's quick learner. Looking up to the Moon she saw that the face of Mare in the Moon was gone.

She started to fear for the worse, so she spread her wings, feeling a moment of ease as the thin metal armor on her feathers let out a soft sound as the plates rubbed against each other. She felt safe inside her armor. It took half a century studying and hard work to enchant it the best way she could with rune magic.

She took off, cutting the air in her path, hoping that she wasn’t late. Knowing that the festival started at the town hall, she flew straight there. She wasn’t even close, but she already felt the presence of the other alicorn in the building. Her aura was disgusting. It wasn’t dark magic, but it was twisted enough to taste as such. It will take a great amount of time to turn it back to it’s original way.

She could tell, that inside the hall two ponies were battling. One was obviously the alicorn. The other was surprisingly strong for a unicorn, maybe at the level of a mediocre Battle Mage, but nowhere near her opponent. She was lucky that she felt the incoming shot before it was cast. Bursting in on the window, she landed right in front of the exhausted looking unicorn, spread her wings and created the strongest shield which she could manifest in that short amount of time.

Magical circles appeared, six to be exact, creating a purple barrier just the moment when the attack of Mare in the Moon was cast. The two spell collided and after a few minutes, cancelled each other out.

“Oh, and who might you be?” Asked the dark alicorn with interest in her voice.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She answered as calmly as possible. “You don’t need to introduce yourself Mare in the Moon.”

The alicorn’s face lit up. Twilight could just assume that the recognition felt good to the other pony. Somehow she doubted that, beside maybe the Princess’s student, anypony recognized her here in their shocked state.

“Another one who knows me!” Exclaimed the dark mare of the night. “Pray tell, do You know my purpose?”

Twilight tried not to lose her composure, but her feathers shivered for a moment.

“But of course.” She said finally, fully aware that everypony was looking at her direction. Currently she was these little ponies protecting figure in the absence of the Princess and she will NOT let them down. “Your purpose is to eradicate daylight so ponies could enjoy the wonders the night can offer. Am I right?”

A grin stretched on the other alicorn’s face.

“Precisely! Finally! Somepony who bothered to look at both sides of the coin!”

Twilight resisted the urge to take a deep breath. She took a moment to measure the other ponies. Most of them were scared and confused.

“Indeed I did.” She finally answered, fully aware that what she was going to say may as well be the catalyst of terrible events. “But sadly I can’t agree with you.” The frown on the other alicorns face was anything but encouraging. “What you’re doing right now is going to cause the downfall of Equestria and the suffering of every being in it. I can not allow that to happen.”

Mare in the Moon’s eternal mane started to swirl around the air, so did her tail. Her expression was grim, her magic ready to strike, but she did not do anything. Yet.

“That is surely an unfortunate thing to hear, for I can not allow somepony as strong as you to be on the opposing side of my reign. Surrender yourself in peace, or face me on the battlefield!”

Twilight sighed, but didn’t do anything. Reaching out to her magic, she summoned several magical circles and their number was increasing in every moment.

“I feared we might reach this conclusion.” She said in a sad but firm voice. “Though I hope we can agree that this town will not be fit to our battle.”

The dark mare looked around, seeing the scared faces of her little ponies, who may not love her as their ruler, but she wanted to earn their love and respect. The other alicorn by the name Twilight Sparkle was right. They can not battle here. For a moment, she didn’t want to fight the other mare. She seemed decent and powerful enough to make a very strong ally and she did not wear any crown, which means she wouldn’t threaten her monarch. But Twilight refused her offer and she didn’t believe in second chances.

“Wait!”

Twilight turned her head to the side, not daring to fully lose sight of the other alicorn, but she could already see Sunset Shimmer walking up to her right, but remaining behind her wing, which was still held out protectively on her side.

“You musn’t fight!” Said Sunset, looking deeply into the lavender alicorns eyes. “We need you!”

“Don’t stand in the way of her destiny.”

Twilight resisted the urge to shake her head, trying to chase away her mentors words. She didn’t know what was Celestia thinking, when she decided that the unicorn’s role was to defeat Mare in the Moon. It would just get her killed! Maybe the Princess knew something she didn’t?

This was bad. This was out of her control. She glanced back at Mare in the Moon, who was watching the unfolding scene with a curious expression, but was still ready to attack in any moment.

“You are Sunset Shimmer, right?” she asked finally and ignored the other pony’s shocked expression. “It’s okay. Go back to the library.” This was the most subtle way she could tell the other mare to go look for some solution without exposing the unicorns potential to the dark alicorn. “Everypony go to somewhere safe and stay inside!”

The alicorn of the night wasn’t offering any objections, so she took this as a signal of agreement. Sunset was, in contrary to almost everyone except a mare named Rainbow Dash and Applejack, resistant to stay at her side and fight, but the alicorn of magic was hearing none of it and ordered them to run as fast and as far as possible and don’t ever stop when they can’t even see the town hall.

When finally everypony cleared out and just the two of them remained, Mare in the Moon spoke first.

“I would have liked to have some witnesses, but I have to agree. It would put them in grave danger.”

Twilight said nothing as they started to circle around each other. The dark queen cocked her head to the side for a few moments. She couldn’t help but notice the young mare’s different approach. She was understanding to some level, smart to more some and dutiful for the rest. She truly would have made an excellent ally.

“Tell me.” She said, stopping her movement. “Are you my sister’s student?”

“I was.”

“Are there others?”

Twilight horn started to faintly glow with a teleportation spell, which Mare in the Moon mimicked.

“I’m afraid, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

The dark alicorns lips stretched to a smile, which was nothing like her previous grins. This seemed genuine.

“I see.”

Then they both vanished in a brilliant flash of light.