The Way to Friendship

by Snow Moonlight

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Death, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Romance
Length: 4511

A lonely, broken pony has to overcome the sudden friendships life tried to throw at her. But will she actually be able to make her heart resist the soft touch of the kindness of others?

Snow Moonlight was very smart, but she had lost everything. Her parents, her family, everyone who had mattered left her, transforming her into a ball of pure hatred toward others.

Isolated, in her little house at Ponyville, she hadn't seen the outside world for 12 years, since her parents died, fearing to be disappointed by life once again.

But she had to, at some point, face reality as she was forced to leave her house and face the sudden danger of the world... Herself.

Published 2020-01-23 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-01-24 08:16:57 UTC

Chapter 1: A Life-troubling Event

Author's Note

Okay so, I will be quick:
First ever story here,
Completely new,
Made a few changes to the world,
Basis of technology exist (fridges, TVs, that kind of thing) but nothing else. Phones are a distant dream, and computers? Are you stupid, Twilight? That makes no sense! Think, next time.

Chapter 1: A Life-troubling Event

Once again, she had woken up from a nightmare.

Every night, every minute of her subconsciousness was spent making her relive the most traumatizing event she had ever lived. The death of her parents.

Whenever she fell asleep, she would find herself a filly. She was completely powerless and frozen in place.

She was in what seemed to be a blurry street. Her parents, a beautiful mare and a strong stallion, stood in front of her, on the street, a few feet away from her, looking at the stallion who rushed at them with a knife magically held to the side.

Snow kept yelling at them, at her parents to run away or use their magic – her mother a Unicorn, her dad a Pegasus – , but nothing would do.

At the end of the nightmare, she looked at the two ponies lying on the ground, blood spilling from their open throat, their eyes fixed and precisely looking at her.

She would try to cry, but nothing came out. At that moment, the killer rushed at her. And sliced her throat as well.

This was when she woke up, like every night. She sighed as she tried to calm herself down, panting softly from fear and sheer sleep panic.

"Calm down, Snow... It is nothing." She raised her hoof to put it against her forehead, her headache making her head shake and buzz. "You just had a nightmare."

She slowly used her magic to pull the blanket away and started to walk out of her bedroom, still plunged into the dark night.

She walked inside of the kitchen in a silent move. Her horn started glowing a dark blue magic, and the fridge's – situated in the corner of the room – knob started glowing as well, and it opened slowly, with a little tingle, the bottles settled into the stages on the door of the cold container shaking and hitting each other softly.

She took a bowl of salad she had left her last evening, and she went to sit down onto the couch, making her fork and bowl levitate in the air as she took a bite, chewing silently as the salad leaves crackled into her mouth. It was the best~!

Her house was very simple. A kitchen/living room/dining room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It was all she had, and it was all she needed.

Her magic took hold of the controller of the TV in front of her and pressed into the "Power" button, as the TV flashed and started displaying early news, even though Snow already missed a little bit.

"-ess Celestia replied to this with a firm hoof. She wouldn't let chaos get in Equestria, and will not. Therefore, she called the Ponies of Harmony to be vigilant. If you ever witness abnormal hat-"

Snow turned the TV off and scoffed. "Chaos, uh? That would be fucking great in this world. Friendship, my ass..." She rolled her eyes and looked to the shut window, seeing a few sun rays get to her. "Celestia and her fucking sun..." She grumbled and kept eating as she made a book levitate from the nearby bookshelf, a book about dark magic. She opened it, and started reading, the pages flipping by themselves.

It took her a few hours to decide to stop reading. Her book was quite the one, and it was very entrancing. It was cursed. Quite fitting for a book about dark magic, right? When a book about dark magic was updated or created in the kingdom, this book would follow it, and get updated as well, with an infinite amount of pages, being why each time she finished a page, she tore it and made it magically disappear in the air. The book was heritage from her mother, who was a dark – even though very pretty – unicorn. And she would protect that book by all means.

*Knock... Knock... Knock...* She heard three distinct and slow knocks on her door. She stared at it, completely frozen, as the book fell onto the ground and betrayed her presence. Maybe it was a mistake? Maybe that pony was gone awa- oh yeh, no, they knocked again.

"Miss Moonlight... We would like to talk to you about your mother. This is the police." Even though the speech only should have set her on fire and made her panic, it was the stern, strict tone of the stallion which made her suddenly run around her place, gathering the necessary to leave the house. She was panicking. The outside world found her again. And they wanted to talk about her mother.

After a long silence on the stallion's side, the door fell after a loud explosion noise, the people in the street being calmed down by the quite numerous cops. And that, made Snow unable to contain herself.

She suddenly launched herself toward the blocked window of the living room, and used her magic to blast her way out. She jumped through the cracked window, and gulped as her wings unfolded for the first time in 12 years, clumsily starting to fly away, getting the hang of it within seconds and flying at high speed to the Everfree Forest.

Her parents were both a Unicorn and a Pegasus. She was Snow Moonlight, the first child to be born as an Alicorn princess by inheriting her parents assets...

Chapter 2: Nowhere to Go

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: A Menacing Alicorn

"Zecora, I really... Really need help. I don't know what to do... And whatever I can do, I'm not sure an Alicorn on the run like this is a good thing," said a panicking Twilight as she sat down onto the couch, where the empty bowl of soup was put.

"Don't doubt yourself like this, you will come up with a fix. Whatever you may want, Zecora is the one who, give it to you, can't. You are the Alicorn princess, holder of magic. Only you can fix the problem, with the help of your friendship." Zecora sat down at the table as well, in front of her own soup bowl.

"But... Zecora, what- what if I'm not strong enough? That mare... At first, she was getting arrested for using dark magic, and then- she is reported to be an Alicorn? A dark Alicorn is much, much powerful than a pure one. She represents a danger to the whole Kingdom, if not the Empire too!"

Snow, still under the trapdoor, sighed, and decided to start walking through the tunnel she explored earlier. "I don't have time to trust that zebra. She will turn me in soon."

She used her magic to light her way in the dark – even though using dark magic should make her path darker –, trying not to step on a branch (WN: Yeh, a branch in a tunnel) or something.

After ten minutes of actual simple trotting, she came across a crossway. She saw three others paths she could take, and decided to take the one leading away under Ponyville. She remembered the way she got here, and it was this way. She then decided to keep trotting, until suddenly-

She heard a noise. Back into the tunnel she came from, past the crossway. Someone opened the trapdoor at Zecora's! And she decided to run, at this point, her hooves powered by her magic and making her go even faster.

She couldn't believe that the Zebra turned her in! She knew she couldn't trust her! She made the right choice to leave! She kept running, without a care in the world, only wanting to get to the end of that tunnel. And then, she reached it.

She looked up at the other trapdoor up above her head, her horn glowing slightly as it lifted up and lifted the carped it was under up.

She made herself levitate up, and her eyes widened as she looked around her own living room. This was her house. This trapdoor was the one she was scared to open when she was little and stopped thinking about it when growing up, how could she forget that?!

She landed onto the ground, next to her couch, and then sighed. "So, am I getting arrested right now?" She asked, three stallions and four mares looking at her, clothed with cop outfits, as one of them frowned and walked up to her, making a horn cuff levitate.

"Yeh. Snow Moonlight, with the power of the Dark Hunt decree, I hereby declare you under arrest." He said calmly, and made the cuff levitate towards her horn.

"Dark Hunt decree..?" She asked to herself, and frowned as she slowly backed away from the cuff.

"SMOKE BOMB!" One cop suddenly yelled as he dashed away from the trapdoor, a small, white sachet being thrown out and suddenly exploding, smoke filling the room.

Snow didn't know what to think. Everything was so confusing to her! Then, her hoof was pulled along by a mysterious person, and she was pulled back into the trapdoor. On the ground though, as she was pulled along, she could see her book. Her eyes lit up and before falling into the trap door, she magically took the book with her, making it levitate and holding it close to her chest, while closing her eyes.

"Wake up, young mare, the Dark Hunt they declare. I will explain to you what it is about, when we are in a place safe and out." Zecora frowned, and Snow smiled.

"Zecora! You are back! I... I thought you turned me in to Twilight." Snow slowly stood up, and frowned, as she started to instinctively run away in the tunnel, hearing the cops yelling orders above them. When she looked back, she saw Zecora blocking the trap door by tying it to a rope and a metal loop on the ground, it unable to open then, as she started running after Snow.

"We have to go to the Sister's castle, it is the only place we can settle," said Zecora as she ran beside Snow, the trapdoor distantly heard being forced as Zecora threw another smoke bomb, the two reaching the crossway.

Zecora pulled Snow along as she was blinded by the smoke as well. She was pulled into the a different tunnel, and when she got out of the crossway – and the smoke –, she kept running.

The both of them, a dozen of minutes later, saw the end of a tunnel. Zecora swiftly shifted in position and opened the trapdoor as she jumped up and landed on the ground. Snow lifted herself up with magic and put herself next to Zecora, before looking around with sudden wide eyes.

"Welcome to the Tree of Harmony, my dear friend pony." Zecora smiled and Snow looked around the huge cavern, and most importantly, at the crystal tree proudly standing at the back of the cavern.

"This... This is so... Nice to look at..." She smiled, and slowly walked toward the tree, her eyes becoming lidded, and her walking monotonous.

"No, don't go toward it, you are going to get hit!" Zecora yelled at her, but Snow didn't seem to be there anymore.

"No... Nice... Look at..." Her horn glowed darker and darker, and the street started glowing as well. A step later, she put a hoof onto the tree, and her eyes became normal again, as she gasped, the tree suddenly glowing with a dark aura, her magic starting to flow up, absorbed by the Magic Element of the tree, followed by a sudden cry of pain from Snow.

Zecora pulled her quickly away from the tree, Snow falling to the ground, and gasped a bit out of lingering pain. "Fool, the tree is powered by friendship, it will try to destroy your dark magic. It can know about your emotions, and also your motivations. Don't try to approach it too much or it will turn your mind to mush, before making you come to it, so the magic of Friendship can beat."

Snow groaned and stood up, huffing, wobbling a bit. "G... Got it..." She said as she shook her head, clearing her mind as she looked at the tree. "Friendship again... Fucking great." She scoffed as she looked back at Zecora. "So? Dark Hunt? What is it?"

Zecora sighed and sat on the ground. "A new decree, by the princesses it was created, and it says that all dark magic must be suppressed. The princesses have been leaving you alive, but not anymore they want you to thrive. The Princesses can't arrest me, as I have been so good to Ponyville, but they will do everything to have your kill..."

Snow looked down, not knowing how to react. She then raised her head and smiled, as she forgot something. Her magic was constantly glowing! And so, she looked around, and saw the book in the air.

She put it on the ground, smiling as she opened it. "I think I saw something about... There! You said that the tree would "turn my mind to mush"? Without the annoying enigmas, what does it mean?" She asked with a smile, Zecora chuckling.

"The tree will control your mind to get your magic close, so it can use its own to take you those." She pointed to her horn, dark magic still glowing and bubbling at her horn.

"Mhm... Hey, what if I do that?" She looked toward the tree and smirked, her horn glowing more aggressively as she made herself ready, her hooves firm on the ground. "What if I blast the tree?"

Zecora opened her eyes wide and went in front of Snow, frowning. "Then Equestria will be lost, destroying the tree comes at a cost." Snow rolled her eyes and her horn stopped glowing completely, the book not influenced anymore.

"Come on, it is cool! Baddies are not that bad!" She rolled her eyes, and suddenly, the trap door on the ground fired open, and a stallion walked out, his horn glowing menacingly.

"Freeze! Snow Moonlight, you are under arrest! Don't move or resist! Zecora, get away from her or you will be considered a criminal as well!"

Zecora frowned, and stepped in front of Snow. "I am in no way a criminal, and she is, as well, not at all. Dark magic doesn't make you bad when you have it, it only makes you a prey to the princesses, as they see fit."

It made Snow snort, and she stepped in front of Zecora. "If he wants to consider me a villain, then so be it. But he will regret it." She frowned, before opening her eyes wide, as she saw two majestic figures fly down into the cavern.

"Good morning, miss. I believe you are the Alicorn we are looking for?" Princess Celestia landed on the ground, next to Twilight Sparkle.

"Zecora, we will talk about this later. For now, Snow Moonlight, yet another time: you are under arrest. We are two Alicorns. Even if you have dark magic, you can't do anything against us." Twilight said with a frown, and Snow smirked.

"I just want you all to confirm. Am I a villain? I just want confirmation." She said with a malicious smirk.

"Yes, you are one. You wield dark magic, and that makes you dangerous, even more as you can therefore use the Fear magic of King Sombra..." Celestia stated, the horns of the two Alicorns lighting up.

"Good. Thank you." Snow's horn started glowing as well. "So... What do I do? Do you want me to destroy the tree?" She asked, as suddenly, the two Princesses's horns stopped glowing. "I see I have your attention..."

Author's Note

Hey, so, basically, I really thought to myself fuck it, and decided to make her a villain. I mean, they all have think she is, right?

Also, WN: Writer Note.

Chapter 4: A Mare In Charge

"Don't do that, there is no need to. We can answer whatever request you have, but if you eliminate the tree of Harmony, you will have nothing left to protect yourself." Princess Celestia frowned, and Snow smirked.

"Why is the Dark Hunt proclaimed only now, and why am I hunted because if a simple hereditary sign. They are my requests," said the Alicorn, as Twilight stepped forward.

"The Dark Hunt is meant to get rid of all dark magic users. All around Equestria, people are getting hurt because of fanatics of chaos, and dark magic users in general. This is why we decided to take down every single dark magic entity, to clear the kingdom of the chaos it brings."

Snow raised a brow, and scoffed. "So... If I understand well... You want to get rid of a type of magic just because it is powerful..? I mean, that's the subtext of what you say... Or maybe it is because it is more powerful than you? Is that the core of friendship? If it is more powerful than you, then kill it? Because it seems cool that way. I really wanna make friends." She frowned sharply.

"No, this is not what I meant. Dark magic is dangero-," started Twilight, not able to finish.

"Dangerous to you! Dark magic is nothing but a hereditary trait! Oh my God, two books have been cursed with dark magic, we need to get rid of 10% of the population! What are you going to do, uh? Send me to Tartarus because I like Discord? Or maybe because I dislike the princesses? What a fine monarchy it is. Democratic as fuck!"

Snow started to have a more and more aggressive tone, her horn glowing progressively menacing. Twilight frowned and made her horn glow as well. A fight of Alicorns? Nope.

"Twilight, stop. Fighting magically is of no use... Go bring your friends here. We need the power of Friendship."

"Oh, you are going to try and kill me, or banish me into the Abyss?" Snow smirked. She was more and more sure of what she wanted to do. "You know what? I am treated as a villain, I might as well be one!"

She smirked more and suddenly started to rush toward Twilight, her horn glowing with a sudden blast of magic toward the little Alicorn, as another ball of magic surrounded her, and engulfed her into another place as the magic disappeared, Twilight growling and stomping her hoof down onto the ground.

"The blast was a bait!" She suddenly yelled, her horn glowing uncontrollably.

Somewhere unknown...

"Uh... I hate teleportation... Where did I crash..?" She looked around, her eyes dazed and blurred, as she wobbled down onto the ground, only able to see a dark, holed figure walking in front of her before going unconscious, tired down by such a use of magic...

~~~~~~~~~~~

When she woke up again, she quickly started to look at her surroundings frantically, a bit panicked. How could she had fallen asleep in here?! It was a cave, a very deep, obscure cave, only enlightened by shiny green substances on the ground, looking a bit like saliva and slime mixed.

"Don't be so scared, child..." A voice then rang in the cave, echoing on the walls and ringing in her ears as she shrunk a bit. As powerful as she was, she was scared. "I am harmless... To you."

As the voice corrected itself, Snow looked up, the voice becoming more focused. A creature then started to crawl out of a small crackle on the wall, a dark and holed one. It took Snow half a second to realize who was coming to her. Queen Chrysalis.

"Queen Chrysalis..?" She started to softly back away, her horn glowing. She knew that if she wanted, she could obliterate Chrysalis, but something in the back of her mind told her that she might be useful in order to finally overthrow Twilight and her Friendship...

"Yes, it is me indeed..." Chrysalis landed slowly onto the ground, looking at Snow with a smirk and a psychotic look, her head twitching some. "Love... Finally... Given to me in a golden plate..."

"You did say you were harmless so..." The dark glow of her horn vanished and she approached the Changeling. "I mean, you don't have a kingdom anymore, and nobody loves you. Even I don't." She smirked.

"Don't be so arrogant, young pony... There is always love in everyone..." She smirked and opened her mouth, using her powers to start the process of stealing Snow's love to feed off it, before realizing that after a few seconds, no love came out of her, and this time, it was Chrysalis who shrunk.

"I told you. You have nothing, I have magic. So bow down." Snow smirked and chuckled, as Chrysalis grumbled and bowed down in front of her. "Good. My plan is to overthrow the Princesses. Any idea?" Snow turned around and started to wander in the cave, looking at the walls and the ways to break in. She wouldn't want any intruder.

"I already tried... The power of Friendship does everything... They get beaten, and then they do a miserable little speech, and they get back up stronger than ever!" Chrysalis growled in frustration, and Snow chuckled.

"Then we have to divide them... To convince them not to use the Elements... Not to use their friendship." Snow smirked and used her magic to make Chrysalis get up on her hooves. "I think your society-dividing ability might be of use, Chrysalis..."

Twilight's Castle, a few hours after the disappearance of Snow.

"We have to get her!"
"We can't let her escape like this!"
"What if she tries another thing on the Tree?"
"What if, What if she kills one of us?!"

Twilight was in panic. A dark magic powered Alicorn? It was not good. She could easily match the power of both of the Leaders of Equestria, and if she could do that, it meant that she herself was in danger.

"Please Twilight, calm down! We will get her! But your magic always works better when you are calm and thoughtful!" Spike frowned at her, his little wings flapping behind him as he tried to follow Twilight while she circled around the magic table of the Great Hall.

"I know, I know! But this is bad! Even worse than Sombra ruling Equestria! This time, this Alicorn could rule everything! If she managed to wipe us away, she would be able to tear everyone apart..."

"Ooor, if you get her with your friends by surprise, she could be in trouble!" Spike grinned at his idea before suddenly, a knock could be heard at the door.

Twilight and Spike exchanged glances before Twilight went to the big double doors of the castle. "Yes, do you need something?" She asked with a forced smile as the Pegasus behind the door jumped at her, panicked.

"Princess! We need help! Manehattan is in trouble! Sombra is back again!" This sent Twilight into panic again, shaking. "You need to get there with your friends and help us! Only I was able to get out of his grasp!" Twilight looked at Spike and sighed, nodding and frowning determinedly at the Pegasus.

"We will get there. Spike, you stay here to watch the castle with Starlight." Twilight walked outside, and Spike walked to the Pegasus, smiling.

"Thanks for having gotten us. You will be greatly rewarded for your act." He grinned, and suddenly fell to the ground without a noise as the Pegasus walked inside with him.

"Oh, I will wait impatiently for my reward, little dragon..." She smirked as a flash of green magic engulfed her and left, Chrysalis standing there as she started to absorb Spike's love for Rarity and all his friends as she used her magic in the meantime to create a vision bubble onto the table. "It has begun, my L-Lord." She still had trouble calling someone else that. "I suggest you do something about Sombra. He is supposed to be in Manehattan..."

Snow sighed and facepalmed herself, before looking around at the cave. "Welp, let's do it then..." Her horn suddenly glowed, and a crackle appeared in the cave. Not in the wall, but in space itself, as she started to easily break the seals containing the Abyss. And at some point the crackle exploded, and she was thrown a few yards away, smirking as smoke appeared around the cave.

His voice then started ringing in the cloud. "Who is the unconscious creature who decides to free the Mighty, the One and Only, the-"

"The King Sombra who will do whatever I tell him to if he doesn't want to go back into the Abyss..." She stopped him and growled, her magic suddenly glowing again as the smoke disappeared slowly, Sombra falling down onto the ground and grumbling. He looked at Snow and raised a brow.

"Who are you, arrogant brat? Don't you know who I am?! I mean- Yes, you did say my name... But how dare you stop me in my sudden burst of power?" Snow smirked and chuckled.

"Bow down to me, and you will be given Manehattan. You will also be able to win against the Elements of Harmony. The Queen Chrysalis is at work, taking over the Castle of Friendship and stealing love. Your job is to distract the ponies who beat you every time. Put up your best fight. If you succeed in wasting their time long enough, then I will get you out of the Abyss again to rule your Empire. But if you succeed in wasting my time... Then goodbye..."

As she said that, her horn glowed, and Sombra tried to say something back before he suddenly was teleported away, into an alley of Manehattan. "Now, onto the main show..." She smirked as she used her magic again, groaning in pain as he body started to change slowly, taking the appearance of Starlight Glimmer. She looked at herself, and at her horn, as she slowly made her magic become clearer until it appeared as pure magic.

"My Lord, the castle has been overthrown. Everything is ready for your arrival..." She heard in the still open vision bubble, seeing inside it two cocoons, with Starlight and Spike inside them, with Chrysalis standing in Starlight's room with the cocoons at her hooves.

"Put these in the cave you used to trap Cadence. You are powerful enough, right?" She smirked, and Chrysalis nodded, as the vision bubble disappeared and she started laughing. "i didn't know being in charge felt so great!!" She grinned at herself, loving her new voice as she used her magic to teleport away, into Starlight's bedroom...

Author's Note

Comment and follow, it's always nice to have feedback~!