Moonlight Mirror

Chapters

1 My name is Moonlight Mirror
2 One week, zero friends
3 Let's manipulate
4 What is wrong with Moonlight?
5 Learning on the battlefield

1 My name is Moonlight Mirror

It was an especially dark night. Princess Luna had been doing her duties, protecting ponies in their sleep and Princess Celestia had been sleeping. The princess of the sun had been woken up, though, as a young filly, who had introduced herself as a villain, had trotted into the castle.

The young unicorn stepped into the throne room. She looked really calm, although she had a sinister look on her face. She was surrounded by royal guards. She had no intention of fighting them, she knew she could never beat them in battle. She walked slowly in front of the thrones of the 2 princesses, taking her time and enjoying the suspense in the air.

She was of a dark blue color, her mane was dark red and black, tied up neatly to the side by a small black bow. Her tail, which shared the colors of her mane, was flapping around freely behind her. She wasn't wearing anything but humble black shoes. She would have even looked intimidating if she hadn't been so young. Her body had developed so much that she could almost be called a mare, but she still remained a filly in the eyes of other full-grown ponies.

She stepped quite close to the thrones and raised her head, indicating that she looks down on the princesses where any other pony would bow down before them.

Princess Luna finally broke the suspense by asking: "Who are you and why have you summoned us?"

"Who am I? Well, i have no problem telling you about myself," The filly explained with a wide grin, "My name is Moonlight Mirror. And as for why i am here," she paused for dramatic effect... "i have managed to kidnap Twilight Sparke and her friends"

"Guards! Seize her!" Luna commanded in her Canterlot voice.

Spears were suddenly pointed at Moonlight Mirror from all directions, but she didn't even flinch, it only made her arrogant grin even wider.

"I wouldn't hurt me if i were you. That is, if you ever want to see the elements of harmony again."

"How do we know that what you are speaking is true?" Asked Celestia, who was finally awake enough to start being a part of the conversation.

"Just take a look." Said the filly and projected an image of Twilight, chained up in some dungeon, all of her hooves were chained together and her body was in some big cuff to prevent her from moving her wings. She had some golden ring on her horn, decorated with runes of some sort. She was fiercely trying to escape, using brute force.

"What have you done to her?" Shouted Celestia, who even swooped in front of the condescending unicorn, almost attacking her in her enraged state. The princess managed to stop herself from doing anything reckless, although her rage grew with each passing moment.

Moonlight Mirror gave the ruler a confused look and said arrogantly: "How stupid are you? I just told you and showed you. I kidnapped her."

At this point, Luna had to hold her sister back from annihilating the annoying little criminal.

Moonlight continued: "I want no power, I don't want to be the ruler of Equestria. I know I could never beat anyone in a fight, but right now, i can get anything i want from you two."

Luna quickly asked: "What do you want then?"

"I want a million bits, a forest with my nee house in the middle of it and I want to be left alone for the rest of my life. Never to be punished for the actions of today... Oh, and before you give your answer, give serious thought to the fact that it is the price you are paying for the elements of harmony."

"Why do you think Twilight Sparke won't free herself and her friends?" Asked Celestia "She is more than capable enough"

"Not without her magic. You saw the ring around her horn. I have spent many moons trying to figure out how to make these and I can finally do it. These absorb her magic, leaving her as helpless as an earth pony."

"What about the magic of friendship?"

"That's not a real thing. And even if it were, i have thrown the 6 troublemakers into separate dungeons. Anyways, i am losing patience, my dears, do you accept my demands?"

Luna pulled Celestia back to discuss these newly laid demands.

Moonlight pushed up one of the spears with her hoof, saying: "You can stop pointing these things at me, you know i'm not going anywhere."

As the guards lowered the spears, the two princesses turned back to Moonlight.

Celestia hesitated, but finally managed to say "We accept the conditions."

The filly laughed as she knew how hard it must have been for the princesses to accept that even if they could solve this, they would have to give their word that the criminal would never be punished. But that wasn't enough. She was like a child with a new toy. She could make the most powerful alicorns in the world do whatever she wanted. She had to see how far she could push them.

"Sorry, but the conditions have changed while you were discussing," she explained as she started to walk around the princesses, heading for the throne, "You see, I really like having an empowered feeling. And what better way to get that than having you two bow before me." She sat down on Luna's throne.

The 2 sisters were trying to stay calm, although their faces revealed that they were taken to their last limit. They slowly took postions to bow down before the little unicorn

A FEW HOURS EARLIER

It was an especially dark night. Twilight was sleeping in her castle. Sleeping so peacefully and unwittingly.
A quick moment later, Moonlight Mirror teleported to her room. It seems that she had been practicing silent teleportation for a long time as her entrance was completely silent and unnoticable. She hovered a golden ring onto Twilight's horn and then teleported them both out of there. She knew that this last move was going to wake the princess, but she was prepared.

They both teleported into a dungeon. The princess of friendship DID wake up, but before she could do anything, she found herself chained up. She tried to use her magic, but she just couldn't.

"Where am i? Who are you?"

"You are in a dungeon and I am your kidnapper. You are my way of blackmailing Luna and Celestia. I don't have much time to talk. I've gotta go and kidnap the other elements."

Twilight could only shout: "WAIT!" But the mysterious filly was already gone, silently teleported away.

Moonlight visited Pinkie Pie next as she would be the eastiest to kidnap. After all, she didn't even require a ring or a full body cuff to hold any wings. All she had to do was teleport in and out. And with a few quick skilled movements, the energetic pink pony was chained and helpless.

The evildoer visited Fluttershy and Rarity next, they also didn't pose a challenge and before long, they were also helplessly locked up.

The hardest one of all was Rainbow Dash. She never really slept well because she took naps all day. Also she was swift to escape or attack.

Moonlight transported herself to Dash's home, along with the full body cuff already with her. She hovered it onto Rainbow Dash, but right before she could lock it, the swift pony swooshed upwards and with a confused face, she asked: "who are you?"

Instead of an answer, Moonlight teleported them both to the dungeon she had planned for Applejack. She had made sure that Applejack's dungeon was the strongest and that the strongest of ponies couldn't break out of there. She had to use it for Rainbow Dash, because Rainbow's dungeon had an open ceiling that was made to aggravate her if her wings had been locked up.

She tried to lock Rainbow in some chains, at least lock up her hooves, but she was quickly pinned down by the colorful blue blur.

"Time to start explaining! Who are you and why are you trying to imprison me?" She asked fiercely

Moonlight didn't give a straight answer and promised: "Alright, I promise to tell you everything, just let go of me and let me stand up."

Rainbow hesitated, but her curiosity beat her sense of judgment. She let go of the dark colored filly and just like that, Moonlight teleported away like she hadn't promised anything.

The last one was Applejack. But that was going to be tricky. She wanted to keep all of the elements in different dungeons, but Rainbow had taken up Applejack's respective holding room. She just hoped that the strong apple pony wouldn't be strong enough to break that stone wall in Rainbow's dungeon.

She teleported to Sweet Apple Acres and just like the rest of the ponies, she took Applejack to her dungeon with a simple teleportation spell.

Just like the rest of the ponies, Applejack woke up when she was teleported out, but Moonlight was quick enough to cuff the earth pony's hooves before she could react.

And with the blink of an eye, Moonlight was gone, leaving Applejack alone in the dungeon. She looked around, trying to figure out how to escape. She could probably break the wall in a weak spot, but her hooves were cuffed.

"Can anypony hear me?" She heard a faint noise. It sounded like Twilight.

She loudly replied with a simple "YEAH!"

"Applejack?"

"Twilight?"

"How do we get out of here?"

"You mean you don't have a plan?"

"Not this time! I can't use my magic!"

"Darned! Is anyone else here?"

"Rarity on my other side! The dark pony said she was going to take all of us!"

Applejack checked the rest of the walls. She heard crying on one side, it must have been fluttershy. The walls and the floor was all made of rock, but there were probably quite thin walls between them. She started hitting one of her rear hoofcuffs on a rock, hoping to break the lock and bust herself out.

It took about a half an hour of constant kicking, but she managed to free her rear right leg. She used it to bust the wall between herself and Twilight.

She saw that the princess of friendship was bound and she had some ring on her horn. She rushed over to her as fast as she could and used her mouth to take off the ring.

Twilight, ecstatic with joy, used her regained magic to lose the chains on both her and Applejack. Then they went their separate ways, Twilight busting walls with her magic and Applejack with her strength.

Soon enough, they had busted out every single one of their friends, excluding Rainbow Dash. Her wall was very strong and unbreakable by any pony.

Twilight soon came up with a plan. She and Rarity teamed up with magic beams to break down the wall while Applejack bucked the wall and Pinkie Pie used her hair as a drill. Fluttershy was at the other wall of Rainbow's dungeon, telling Rainbow to stay back.

The plan commenced and it seemed pretty useless, but over the span of a minute, they were able to fracture the wall and after another minute, make a hole big enough for Rainbow to fit through.

The spectral pony came through the hole to meet her friends. They all hugged eachother, joyous to see eachother again.

"It's awesome to see you all again, but does anypony know how to get out of here?"

"By tapping the walls on my part of the dungeon, I've made certain that there is an exit there, quite a thin wall." Said Pinkie

"You been spending a lot of time with Maude lately, haven't you?" Answered Rainbow jokingly, but then flew right at the wall that Pinkie pointed to, shattering it to little pebbles.

"Let's go, i wanna make that filly pay!" Said Rarity furiously as they all stepped out and saw that they had been in the side of a mountain, just outside of Canterlot.

"She said she was going to see the princesses. So that's where we're going as well!" Said Twilight before they all galloped off.

The Princesses of sun and moon were just about to bow before the condescending, young unicorn filly, when the front door of the throne room suddenly shot wide open, revealing the elements of harmony, all of them with enraged looks on their faces. They had the same goal. To make the criminal pay for her actions.

The two princesses both looked back and were very relieved to see that the ponies were okay. Their eyes narrowed and their faces formed grins while Moonlight Mirror's grin suddenly turned into trembling fearful face as she saw her worst fear come true.

She quickly bolted off the throne and was just ready to teleport herself away when Twilight used her horn to hover the magic absorbing ring that was just used against her, onto Moonlight's horn while she was still in the air.

The dethroned villain didn't see that coming and as she couldn't use her magic anymore to teleport herself away, she fell down onto the floor.

She would have galloped away, but she had nowhere to go. By the time she picked herself up from the fall, she was surrounded by the six ponies she had mistreated along with the 2 princesses.

The filly, who was so high and mighty just moments ago, layed down on the floor as a trembling mess. "please don't hurt me!" she whimpered as she knew that there was no escape from punishment.

"We aren't going to hurt you. But we need to have a serious talk," said Twilight Sparkle before reaching out her hoof to help the pathetic unicorn up.

As Moonlight stood up, Twilight indicated her to come along. The rest of the ponies stayed there in the throne room.

Once they were out in the hallway and there was nopony around, Twilight asked:
"I just want to know why you would do something like that, maybe we can help you."

"I did it so that I could get some things in exchange for giving you back to the princesses. A million bits and a forest with a house in the middle of it. So I could spend the rest of my life alone, without ever having to meet anypony else."

"Why wouldn't you want to meet anypony?"

"Because I don't want anypony to become my friend. And friendship is nothing but disappointment wrapped in loads of etiquette and rules. I don't need that"

"I think you have a very wrong understanding of what friendship is. It is the strongest force on this land, and it has saved Equestria many times. Like right now."

"I wasn't a threat to Equestria. I just wanted reward for my hard work."

Twilight gave Moonlight a bit of an annoyed look before opening the throne room doors again. "Guards, keep an eye on her in the hall, we need to think of how to reward her hard work"

Moonlight had never felt so ashamed or helpless in her life. 6 guards came to the hall to watch her evet though she couldn't do anything with that ring around her horn.

The doors closed and the 8 powerful ponies were left inside to discuss her punishment.

It felt like ages when the door opened again and she could go in to see the 2 sisters on their thrones and the others in front of them in a straight line.

Moonlight walked as slowly as before, but she clearly wasn't enjoying the suspense anymore. Her head hanged low to hide her defeated face.

"Moonlight Mirror," formally stated Twilight, "You have mistreated every single pony in this room. All because you couldn't understand friendship and because you were too invested in other types of magic."

"But..." Moonlight started to object, but she could read the room that she should stay silent.

"We have discussed it and we have come to an agreement. Your horn will stay locked in your own magic absorbing ring until you graduate the school of friendship."

"The school of friendship? Can't you just throw me into some dungeon?"

"Alright, let's throw you into a dungeon for the weekend if you insist" said Rainbow Dash

As the rest of the ponies laughed, Moonlight stared at them in horror. She was thinking of how she was going to have to go to the school of friendship. She had avoided and hated friendship for all of her life. And now she had to study it?

Twilight stepped forward and put some kind of a spell on the ringed horn of Moonlight. "There, now only the 8 of us can take it off"

Moonlight turned around and galloped out. She made it to the hall when she lied down on the floor and started crying. Her career as a villain had lasted so little, yet the punishment was so huge.

It seems like she was going to have to redeem her actions by listening to what they taught at the school. But she had no intention of learning. And definately no intention of letting this go. She had to play it subtle, but she longed for payback.

She wiped off her tears and walked back into the throne room. "When do I start?"

"In a couple of hours," answered Twilight, "First thing you need to know is sleeping at night"

2 One week, zero friends

Moonlight Mirror walked to the headmare's office. She had suffered through 6 days of this horrible place where everyone was super friendly and the classes were all about different parts of friendship. She hated everything about the school. But it was the only way she could get her magic back.

She was slowly starting to get used to sleeping at night and being awake during the day. What she hadn't gotten used to, was opening doors with her hoof. Some doors already had dents in the shape of her horn. As the matter of fact, the main purpose of her horn right now was to keep her from bumping her head into doors.

Twilight heard the already iconic *slam* followed by "damn it! I hate that Sparkle so much!" And so she knew that Moonlight Mirror was at the door.

Twilight giggled, opened the door with her magic and said: "Come in, Moonlight" loudly so the filly outside could hear her.

Moonlight frowned and without saying a word and sat down in front of Headmare Twilight's desk. "Why do you want me now?" She said with an annoyed tone.

Twilight continued the conversation way more enthusiastically: "What do you mean? This is the end of the first full week for you at the school of friendship! Tell me all about that you have learned."

"Alright! I have learned that it is annoying as all hell to live without magic. You'll probably need to get new doors just because you refuse to let me use my magic."

"You know very well why you can't use your magic." Twilight admonished her in a strict voice. "But I meant, what have you learned about friendship?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing!?"

"How could I, noone wants to be a friend of the pony who kidnapped most of the teachers of this school."

"But you have been doing your homework assigned to you by your teachers?"

"Nah."

"Why?"

"I think it's stupid. Friendship cannot be taught, it is too easy."

"Is that why you can't handle it?" Twilight grinned

That is when Moonlight lost her cool. She pushed all the papers off of the desk, making a mess on the floor. "Nopony, not even a wannabe princess," she said derogatively "talks to me like that!"

Twilight stayed calm and simply said: "A month of detention for that. And you are to report to the guidance councelor Starlight Glimmer every day after school."

"What if i don't?" The self centered filly asked while standing up and walking to the door.

"That's not an option. We'll make sure you get there."

Moonlight just groaned and walked right into the door again. "Damn it why won't you give my magic back!?"

"Because last time you used it to kidnap 6 ponies who represent the elements of harmony and blackmailed the rulers of Equestria!"

"That's all in the past."

"It was less than half a moon ago!"

"That's a matter of opinion. I am a changed pony now."

"No, it's not and no, you're not!" Twilight helped Moonlight out again by opening the door for her.

The filly walked out to find professor Rainbow Dash outside. The spectral pony greeted her: "Hey, Moonlight!"

"What do you want, Rainbow Brash?"

"Nothing, I just wanna talk to ya."

"I don't really want to talk." Moonlight started walking to the dormitory she was assigned to.

"No problem, I'll do all the talking," Rainbow started flying on top of the filly, "You know, you are my favorite villain so far."

"Okay" Moonlight started to trot to get away from the conversation.

Of course, Rainbow kept up with her. "I get why you are so frustrated at us. We took your magic."

Moonlight was already galloping as she became more frustrated. "You say you understand, but you couldn't begin to truly get it."

"But we see the potential in you, even if we have to make you study something you just can't handle."

"Why do you all think I can't handle friendship? It is the easiest thing in the world!"

During their run, they had made it to the school's dormitory.

Rainbow said with a smirk: "I thought the easiest thing was walking through doors."

That reminded Moonlight that she couldn't open the door without using a hoof and she slowed down, so as not to break the door as she crashes into it.

Rainbow laughed out loud as the debunked villain crashed into yet another door. "I'll make you a bet. If you can make a single friend this weekend, i'll unlock your horn. But if you fail, you have to start doing homework. The other teachers have been complaining about you."

Moonlight couldn't believe it. Finally somepony was cutting her some slack. Although the risk was great, the reward would be even greater. "Deal" She extended her front leg to shake Rainbow's hand, which was greeted by Rainbow's. They shook hands and Rainbow said:

"Meet me Sunday evening at my classroom. And bring your friend."

"Make it Saturday, who would need 2 days to make a friend."

They both chuckled at eachother and Moonlight trotted inside as she started to think how she could make Rainbow Dash believe that she had made a friend. She didn't want to be a sellout so she wouldn't try to actually make any friends.

Later that night, Moonlight was in her dorm room. It was dark, only lit by a single candle. She had requested a smaller, private room. She had had some tedious negotiations, but she was finally in a small dark room, alone, just like she wanted.

Nopony had been to that room, except for her. The interior was one with dark blue walls, matching her own coat. There was only a bed and a table on the furniture's side. There were 16 shoes by the door, all the exact same models.

Another great annoyance was writing with her mouth, but she was slowly getting better at it. Right at this moment, she was writing up a scheme about how to make Rainbow Dash believe she had made a friend. She finally fell asleep at her desk.

The next day she didn't wake up till noon. She slipped into her black modest shoes and headed out. She had a few plans worked out. The first one was to pay someone to pretend being her friend. That shouldn't be too hard to do.

Moonlight walked through Ponyville, trying to find somepony who would want a friend. But everypony in the town already seemed to have quite many friends. She kept looking until the pony she was looking for crashed into her. With her scooter. A young orange filly with pink hair.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!?" Moonlight shouted at the little one, who was just picking up her scooter

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Answered the smaller filly.

A bulb lit up in Moonlight's head as she got an idea. "Hey, i think that now you owe me a little favor for knocking me over like that. You have to come to Twilight's school of friendship tonight and pretend to be my friend."

"I really don't think you should lie like that and make me go there. It just doesn't seem fair."

Moonlight didn't like how the little one didn't fear her. But what could she do without her magic? Plan B had to go. And in this case, plan B was plan A.

"I'll give you 20 bits to come and pretend to be my friend."

"20 bits? Really? Well, it is a pretty sweet deal. I accept."

"Great! You'll get the money tonight after you have convince everyone to be my friend."

"Okay. My name is Scootaloo, by the way."

"I honestly couldn't care less about your name. Just be there!"

Moonlight went to a quiet place to eat and celebrate the immideate success that her plan had.

In the evening, Scootaloo came as instructed, she was promised 20 bits after all. Moonlight was already waiting for her at the front of the school.

"What took you so long?"

"You said tonight, that's a pretty broad term."

"Shut up now and let's go in."

They walked to the classroom and Rainbow greeted them from her desk. "So, introduce your friend there."

Moonlight thought for a second, trying to remember her name. "This is....uhhh....."
She finally remembered and announced the name very triumphantly, "Scooter Lou"

Rainbow tried to hold back laughter and said: "Okay, tell me about her."

"Well, she... Likes scooters. That's in her name: Scooter Lou.... ummmm.... She is very fast on her scooter. Her favorite colors are orange and pink. She likes different emblems... That's why there is an emblem on her flank."

Rainbow was laughing out loud and once she could finally speak again, she addressed her little friend: "Scootaloo, be honest. Why are you here?"

"She promised me 20 bits."

"Little snitch!" Moonlight hissed at Scootaloo

"Ohhh" Rainbow said, with a very overdone surprised tone, like she had just exposed Moonlight. "Scootaloo, you can skedaddle. Then you'll be home by your bedtime"

Scootaloo left, leaving Rainbow alone with Moonlight: "I wasn't expecting much, but that was, like, reeaallllly low. But it looks like i won the bet, huh?"

Moonlight had thought about such a situation and she already had a plan: "No, the bet was for the whole weekend. I'll find a real friend tomorrow."

"Fine, but this is your last chance! Screw up again and I win. Now get out."

Moonlight rushed to the library to do some research for tomorrow's plan. This was going to be even dirtier than today's.

It was not even Sunday morning yet, when Moomlight Mirror already headed out. She loved the dark, she could blend in with her surroundings so well because of her dark colors.

She had done some research about the apple family and she was ready to force someone to be her friend. She had chosen a pony called Apple Bloom as her victim.

She galloped to Sweet Apple Acres to get there before the sunrise. When she finally got there, she didn't have much time. She sneaked into the house and upstairs, she luckily found Apple Bloom's room quickly.

She snuck into the young filly's room and as swiftly as she could, Moonlight shoved a piece of cloth into the mouth of the filly and shoved her in a bag, which she then ran away with as quickly as possible.

She had just kidnapped the little sister of the Apple family's well known hero, Applejack. She galloped as far from the farm as she could with Apple Bloom in the bag on her back. Then she finally put down the bag and let the little filly out once she was too tired to run on.

After being let out, Apple Bloom angrily snapped at her kidnapper: "What in tarnation do you think you're doing? Mah sis is gonna get you so hard for this!"

Moonlight quickly answered: "Yeah, but it will be worth it for me. Now listen! I also have your grandmother, Granny Smith. If you want to see her again, you aregoing to have to do just one thing for me first."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"You have to pretend to be my friend to Rainbow Rash."

"Wait... Hold on a minute," Apple Bloom was confused, "You kidnapped mah grandma, then me and told me ta pretend ta be your friend..."

"That's right."

"Instead of actually findin' a friend?"

"I don't do friends and I don't plan to. Ever"

"You think ya can't handle friendship?" Apple Bloom smirked

Moonlight became outraged: "WHY DO YOU ALL THINK I CANNOT HANDLE IT!? " She screamed.

"You make less sense than a harvest in midwinter. But I guess I'll do it. I mean, what else can I do?"

"That's right. Now come on, we have to go and fool Rainbow."

Moonlight was lucky that Apple Bloom had believed her, in fact, Granny Smith was as fine as ever, sleeping comfortably back in Sweet Apple Acres. But Apple Bloom didn't see through the bluff and followed Moonlight to some place near Cloudsdale.

Moonlight asked some random pegasus to check if Rainbow Dash was up there. After a few minutes, Rainbow came down, looking really confused.

"How in Equestria did you get a friend overnight?" She asked, still pretty tired as the sun had just come up.

"Well, we just bumped into eachother in the middle of the night. I asked Apple Bloom to be my friend as I needed one. And she accepted."

Rainbow was very sceptical, still obviously not trusting Moonlight. "Apple Bloom, what were you doing up in the middle of the night?"

Apple Bloom didn't know what to say. She thought that if she wasn't believable enough, something would happen to Granny Smith. "I... uhhh... I lost my sleep and i wondered if I'd be more comfortable sleeping in the CMC clubhouse. So i was headed there when i bumped into her."

Rainbow Dash was surprised that Apple Bloom could tell a story. That made things much more believable. But she still wasn't satisfied. "What have you 2 done since then?"

Moonlight was way more prepared than yesterday. She answered almost immediately: "She's been telling me about the Apple family and the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Moonlight rambled on with her fake backstory and after a whole lot of questions, Rainbow finally started to believe her.

She finally said: "Okay, I'll tell the others tonight. They will be very pleased."

Rainbow flew off and so Moonlight told Apple Bloom: "Don't tell about this to anyone. By the time you are home, your grandma will be back home safely."

Moonlight galloped off and once Apple Bloom couldn't see her anymore, she headed back to the schoolhouse to get some sleep as she had pulled an all-nighter studying about the Apples.

Moonlight woke up when it was evening. Someone was knocking on her door. She went to answer it to find headmare Twilight.

"What do you want?" Asked Moonlight

"Come with me, we have all heard how you made a friend today." Twilight answered with a smile.

Moonlight grinned and followed Twilight. They headed to Twilight's office where the other 5 ponies were already waiting, accompanied by the sixth, Starlight Glimmer.

Moonlight walked in and said: "So, Rainbow bet me that i couldn't make a friend and I did. So now she has to take off my ring." She pointed her horn at Rainbow Dash.

Twilight sat down at her desk. "Hold on, Moonlight, first of all we have a question for you."

"Alright, what question?"

Twilight lost her smile and calm look and shouted: "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

Moonlight didn't know what to say, she just stared at all of them with a blank expression. She knew that Apple Bloom had ratted her out.

"How could you think any one of us could ever trust you after something like that?"

Moonlight stuck to her story, not willing to admit defeat again and just said: "I have no idea what you are talking about." She looked around and saw angry faces all around the room. It kind of reminded her of the time her magic was taken from her.

"That's all I needed to hear. You're expelled" said Twilight quietly.

"So you admit defeat. None of you could make me friendly. I told you there was no magic in friendship."

"There is magic in friendship. But there isn't any magic in you."

Moonlight turned around, ready to leave. But as she thought about how she could never have her horn magic back, she faced them again.

"Fine, I confess. I forced a filly to act as my friend so i could get my magic back. I kidnapped her, I lied again and again and again. But you don't have a reason to expel me. According to the bet i had with Rainbow Rash, I have to start studying now."

Rainbow immideately asked: "Wait, what did you just call me?"

"Fine," continued Twilight, "You'll get one more chance. And you can start by apologizing to everyone you have mistreated with this trick."

"I hate apologizes" Moonlight walked out of the office with her head hanging low and she headed to Sweet Apple Acres.

3 Let's manipulate

Moonlight Mirror had just finished all her classes for the day. Last night had been painfully humiliating for her as she had had to apologize to the Apple Family for something she didn't think was wrong.

As she walked out of the kindness lesson, professor Applejack accompanied her to see that she made it to the guidance counselor's office. She had to go and speak to Starlight Glimmer every day after class.

Applejack walked silently with Moonlight. While nopony liked her, Applejack didn't even try to soften their relations. If anyone had asked how she felt about Moonlight, she would have simply answered that she hated her.

Honesty was probably Moonlight's least favorite lesson. She just didn't find a way to use honesty to her own advantage.

Finally they were at Starlight's office. Applejack opened the door and led Moonlight inside, before leaving herself.

"Hello, Moonlight, how are you doing today" Asked Starlight politely.

"Fine." Moonlight answered shortly.

"Are you worried about anything?"

"No."

"Uhm, okay," Starlight answered, a little clumsily, "why don't you tell me what you learned today?"

"Kindness."

"Why don't you be a bit more specific." Starlight tried to get Moonlight talking

"It's good for finding friends."

"And how do you feel about learning about kindness and friendship in general?"

"Fine"

Starlight started to feel a bit more uncomfortable and asked what she was thinking: "Is there a reason you don't want to talk to me?"

"Yes."

"And what is it?"

"I feel that this isn't a safe place to talk. You are just going to report everything i say to Twilight and the others and so I can't be completely honest with you."

Starlight thought for a second, but then asked: "What if I promised you that i won't tell anyone about anything you tell me in this room?"

"That would be fine."

"Then you have my word. What you tell me, doesn't leave this office."

Moonlight sighed and then said: "Alright, then I'll be honest with you. I hate everything about this school. Most of all, I hate the faculty. Especially Twilight Sparkle. This is all just too overwhelming. I have avoided friendship my whole life. And now i have to master it."

"Whoa, thank you for being honest. It means a lot to me that you'd trust me like that. How about you try to find at least one positive thing in each day to begin with."

"Alright, I'll do that. Thank you for not looking like you judge me."

"I'm not judging. I was in the same position just a little while ago. Except i didn't really hate anyone as much as you do."

"Thank you. Are we done here?" Moonlight stood up

"I think so. Unless there is anything else you'd like to share."

"Actually, I think I can tell you something else. Soon, I will start to love going to this school."

"Oh yeah?" Starlight said with a relieved smile, "Why is that?"

"Because i will get my revenge on Twilight Sparkle."

Starlight's eyes widened in shock. "W-what do you mean by 'revenge'?"

"Well, i believe that i can trust you enough to tell you... I managed to make a copy of the magic absorption ring before all of this happened. One that would wrap itself around the horn and never come off. I am going to use it against Twilight Sparkle tonight and make her just a pegasus. Just like she made me an earth pony." She laughed with an evil tone while Starlight just looked and listened in horrific shock.

Starlight had promised not to tell anyone about anything Moonlight had told her. But this would be putting Twilight in danger.

Moonlight thanked her and left, hitting her head on the door before getting out. Once she was in the hallway, she couldn't stop giggling to herself. The first part of her plan had worked and Starlight was at an impass.

Starlight had spent the better half of the day, wondering what to do. She wanted to find Moonlight to try and talk her out of it. But Moonlight was nowhere to be found. Her stress only rose as she saw the sun starting to set. She had to warn Twilight.

She ran to Twilight's office, luckily still finding her in there. Twilight looked a tad confused by the sudden entry.

"What's the matter, Starlight?"

"Well, it is very complicated. Moonlight actually opened up to me."

"That's great!" Cheered Twilight

"Just wait. She made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone about what she told me."

"Okay, it is good nevertheless. She seems to trust you then."

"But there is something I have to tell you. But if I do, I'll betray her. What should I do?"

"That is a really tough one. Do what feels right."

"Neither one of them feel right"

"Should I maybe inv..." Twilight couldn't even finish the sentence when she was interrupted by Starlight.

"She will ring your horn tonight."

"Really? I thought she had learned to be better than that."

"What will you do now?"

"If she does enter my room, then the story is true and I can bust her. I'll set a trap for her tonight."

Starlight, still worried, left the office while Twilight was already packing up stuff as well.

The darkness of the night had overrun Equestria. Moonlight had an evil grin on her face as she walked into Twilight's home. She knew that noone but her would be awake at this hour, but she suspected that there might be some trap that she might fall into.

She was carrying a small bag with her teeth. She was after revenge and this bag contained just the right thing to get her started.

She hummed quietly as she finally made her way to Twilight's room. She shut up as she opened the door and snuck in slowly, so as not to make any noise.

Right when she was in the middle of the room, she bumped into some magic forcefield. As she did, the room became lit by magical lights.

As she tried to run toward the door, she found herself trapped in a magic forcefield as well.

She was facing the door as she heard an enraged shriek shouting: "MOONLIGHT!"

Moonlight did her best to put on a worried face as she turned around to face Twilight.

"Have you still not learned a single thing?" Twilight started to monologue her, "Did you lie when you said that you were seriously going to start studying? I can't believe that I trusted you enough to give you other chances. This time, you have blown your last chance!" She had an almost sad tone hidden in the rage, because she had hoped to reform Moonlight and it seemed that it would be impossible.

"I'm sorry, but..." Moonlight started, but was immediately cut off.

"No! You are not going to talk your way out of this one! You are out of this school fore..." Moonlight interrupted her.

"SHUT UP!" Twilight stayed quiet for a second, but it was mainly because she was speechless due to Moonlight's rudeness.

"I'm sorry," continued Moonlight, "that I broke into your room in the middle of the night."

She turned around again, and said "I'll just take this and leave. Goodbye forever, Twilight Sparkle." She managed to speak in a really devastated tone. She grabbed her little bag with her teeth and started to walk towards the exit.

"No, you are not taking that thing anywhere!" Twilight used her magic to yank the bag out of Moonlight's mouth to see the weapon inside. "Who knows what damage you could do with this..." she emptied the bag, only to find a single card, "...card?"

Moonlight stated: "You probably shouldn't read that. It has some outdated info."

Twilight picked up the card and read the poor mouthwriting that made up "Twilight, thank you for believing in me. And I'm sorry for everything I've done. As long as I have your faith, I believe that I can truly change."

As Twilight read it out loud, her voice got quieter and quieter. "M-moonlight... I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be. I know now that you are just saying that."

"I feel awful"

"Tell it to one of your friends. YOU still have some of those."

Moonlight was really proud of her acting skills and she was internally celebrating that one of her plans had finally worked. Twilight started to trust her more and felt bad in the process. Of course this plan wasn't as grand as kidnapping the main 6, but at least this one worked.

"Moonlight. Let me make it up to you somehow."

"I don't think that's possible right now." She walked out of Twilight's room as she was no longer held there.

A wide, unbreakable smile spreaded across her face once she was alone. She galloped to her hideout in the Everfree forest.

She had a shack in the forest, quite small, but cozy enough for her. She knew that Twilight would mentally suffer for longer if she didn't see her for some time. So her plan was to hide in her shack for a week or so, letting Twilight boil in guilt and shame.

Moonlight was running out of supplies in her shack after a week. So she decided to show her face again in Ponyville.

She strapped herself into saddlebags and went to the market to buy some groceries.

She filled her bags halfway. Then she decided to pay Twilight a visit. She went into her dorm room on the premise of packing up her stuff.

She left her door opened and started to pack. Just as she had predicted, she soon heard Twilight's voice at the door: "Moonlight, please forgive me."

Moonlight wiped her grin off her face before turning around and starting her act. "Try to put yourself in my shoes. Everyone hates you. So much so that even you start hating yourself. Then you somehow find one pony who believes in you. You feel yourself starting to be more open and vunerable. Then it turns out that the pony was faking it, she hates you and thinks you are a worthless piece of junk!"

"I don't think that. It doesn't matter. I know I could never understand all that you are going through. But I really want to. And I want you to forgive me. It is true that I didn't believe in you before, but I do now."

"You are such a good liar that I almost believed that."

"I'm not lying, Moonlight. What can I do to make you forgive me?"

"Give me back my magic. Then you show that you trust me enough."

Twilight thought long and hard, just staying silent at the door of Moonlight's room.

"Fine. After reading that letter, i believe that your motives are pure."

Moonlight smiled, although she would have liked to scream and cheer of ecstatic joy.

Twilight used her magic to slide off the ring on Moonlight's horn.

Finally, Moonlight could use her magic again. She used it right away to open every single door in the dormhouse at once to make up for all the times she had run into doors.

"I forgive you" Moonlight stated.

"Thank you. And if you so wish, you are still welcome at the school of friendship." Twilight walked away, worrying about whether or not she had made the right decision.

Moonlight just lied down onto her bed and sighed in relief and delight. Her plan had worked even better than expected. Now that she had her magic back, some true revenge could start. She decided to stay in the school so Twilight would trust her even more and, at some point, consider her a friend.

But now she had so many options. She just had to make another grand plan.

4 What is wrong with Moonlight?

"Why did you lie to me?" Starlight still mistrusted Moonlight. And rightfully so. The last time, they talked, Moonlight had lied to her and put her in a really uncomfortable situation.

It was the afternoon of the next day and Moonlight was in Starlight's office once again. She was in the same position as a week ago, but this time,

"I didn't lie. I thought it over and decided that I shouldn't ring her. I realised that I would probably just be in some prison had Twilight not believed in me."

"Alright..." Answered Starlight, still suspicious and not really convinced, "Let's drop the subject for now. Tell me, what did you learn from all this."

"I learned that you can't be trusted. As soon as I told you a secret, you blabbed about it to Twilight."

"I had to. You were a threat to her." Starlight was getting upset.

Moonlight, clearly enjoying how she could derail the counselor so easily, kept teasing: "I wasn't a threat. I was an interesting topic for you to talk about."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!"

"Cool down and I'll come back when you're ready to talk to me instead of yelling." Moonlight laughed and left the office. She always felt good when she could get someone upset.

Moonlight was walking down the hall, heading toward her room. She was humming to herself, when she suddenly saw something terrifying. Her door was unlocked. It was never unlocked, meaning that someone must have been in there.

She teleported herself inside to catch a possible intruder in the act. And so she did. On her bed was an aqua blue pegasus with pink hair that was quite neatly combed to the side. The filly had a bow on her tail to make it prettier. Her cutiemark was of a telescope. She didn't seem to make much of a fuss about the sudden entry of Moonlight.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Asked Moonlight, pointing her horn at the intruder.

"I'm Shiny Shrewd. How do you not know me? We are in the same class, we see eachother every day."

"And why have you broken into my room?"

"Well, I am here to offer you a deal. I want us to become friends."

"And what's in it for either of us?"

"Well, my dear Moonlight," Shiny Shrewd stood up and jumped off Moonlight's bed, "I have kept my eye on you ever since you came to this school and I really like to analyse ponies and their behavior. I want to be your friend so I could analyse you even further."

"And why would I want to be your friend?"

"Because you would gain a partner. I wouldn't tell anyone about any of the 'grand plans' that you have been working on. And I'd probably even help you with some of them."

"Okay, but how can I trust you?"

"I haven't told anyone about your schemes and you'll see that I won't. Ever. I am way too fascinated by you to rat you out."

"Fine! Then Twilight will also see that I am making progress. Progress meaning friends."

"I am glad that I could talk you into being my friend."

Moonlight opened the door and said: "Yeah, me too. Now get out!"

Shiny Shrewd stood up and said "Wow, you really don't care about anypony but yourself, do you? That is fascinating." as she walked out. Moonlight slammed the door behind her.

Shiny shrewd took out a notebook from underneath her wing and wrote down some stuff about her new friend. Then she slid the notebook back under her wing and continued with her day.

The next day was professor Applejack's honesty lesson. Moonlight walked into the classroom and took her usual place at the very back of the classroom, in the farthest possible place from the teacher.

As the lesson began, Applejack came to the back of the class and said: "Well, Moonlight, ah heard that you made a friend yesterday. Why don't ya go sit with her right now?" She pointed to Shiny Shrewd seated at the front of the class.

Moonlight growled and went to sit down at the front of the class. She then took out her notebook and started to scribble down totally unrelated stuff. Of course, she wrote it all in code so noone but her could ever understand it.

Shiny Shrewd couldn't get her eyes off Moonlight during the entire lesson. She just scribbled down everything Moonlight did and how she did it.

At one point in the lesson, everyone had to say one honest thing about somepony else. Most of the things said were honest compliments or maybe a few suggestions. When it was Shiny Shrewd's turn, she stood up and said: "Moonlight, you are a fascinating pony."

Next, Moonlight was up. She stood up and said: "Shiny Shrewd, you are creepy and weird." Then she sat down and started scribbling again.

Most of the ponies in her class didn't even mind how rude Moonlight was. They were used to it. Actually, creepy and weird was one of the nicest things Moonlight had ever said to anyone.

Applejack stepped up to Moonlight and said: "Now ah shouldn't stick mah nose in your business, but have ya ever been to Fluttershy's class?"

"I was honest, wasn't I?"

Applejack rolled her eyes and themed the lesson about how to not honestly say everything that comes to mind, referring many times to Moonlight while making examples.

After the class was over, Shiny Shrewd still followed Moonlight around. She wrote all of Moonlight's actions down into her little notebook.

Even when Moonlight went to the guidance counselor after class, she insisted that she could be allowed inside.

When neither Starlight nor Moonlight had any objections, she took a seat right next to the latter.

"So... I guess I made a friend today." said Moonlight, a bit unsure of her words.

"I can see that. How did you manage to do that?" Starlight was still pretty upset and her voice was cold and unwelcoming.

"She broke into my room and begged me to be her friend."

"What?" Starlight was very confused, "Why?"

"It turns out that I am interesting to observe."

Shiny Shrewd just kept writing down every single move that Moonlight made.

"Okay, I guess that weird ponies land weird friends... Did you find anything positive about today?"

"Yes, I actually didn't hate Applejack's class."

"Why is that?"

"I showed her how wrong honesty can be."

Starlight was losing her temper again, tolerating the sight of Moonlight less and less. "Don't get me wrong, but what is wrong with you."

Shiny Shrewd mumbled happily: "I know exactly what is wrong with her," She got a weird look from both of the other ponies. She awkwardly said: "Oops, did I just say that out loud?"

Starlight saw an opportunity and asked: "Would you like to share your knowledge?"

Shiny answered loyally: "Only if Moonlight is okay with it."

Moonlight smirked and said: "You have only watched me for one day. I don't care if you tell the headmare. Although Starlight probably will."

Starlight growled: "I wasn't going to, but since you asked for it..."

Starlight teleported herself out and back in along with Twilight.

Moonlight smirked and told her new friend: "Alright, go ahead."

"Ahem..." Shiny Shrewd got to the right page on her notebook and started talking, "The question was, what is wrong with Moonlight Mirror. From the data I've collected, she is a sociopath. She loves to manipulate others, lie to them, get others fighting, light the world up and simply watch it burn. She has no empathy and she won't care about anypony else. But as I saw today in honesty class, she loves being at the center of attention, but hates when she is mocked or spoken of with a bad word. It seems that she is actually pretty vunerable when it comes to..."

As Moonlight listened, her face got pale and her jaw dropped. At this point, she had had enough and she stated it with a loud: "ENOUGH!" She was clearly very upset and didn't want to be exposed any more.

Starlight was clearly enjoying all of this, Twilight was fascinated by all the data that was supposedly collected in one day.

Shiny Shrewd stayed quiet and Moonlight told her: "You stay away from me in the future. I knew this was a bad idea."

Moonlight teleported herself out of the office. She was upset and needed to be alone. She went to her small cabin in the Everfree forest.

She knew that she had to have her revenge on Shiny Shrewd as well. After being humiliated and exposed like that, there was no other choice than payback.

She spent the rest of the day plotting her revenge. And by nightfall, she had come up with a plan so evil that nopony else would have dared to do it to somepony, who had only been a minor inconvenience.

She searched up a couple of spells that she needed and then she teleported back to the dormitory. She teleported from room to room until she found Shiny Shrewd, sleeping in her room.

One quick spell after another and Shiny Shrewd was in the middle of the Everfree forest along with Moonlight. Before the pegasus could wake up, she was already blindfolded and tied to a tree.

Moonlight cast one last spell, rendering Shiny's wings useless and then she teleported herself out of there. She knew that even if Shrewd would be fast and get out of her ropes right away, it would take her at least a week to get home.

Moonlight settled in at her dorm room and slept peacefully, knowing that somewhere out there, was a pony fighting for her life just to get back home. All because she had messed with Moonlight Mirror.

Moonlight slept in the next day and was late for her laughter lesson. But professor Pinkie Pie didn't mind. This was the first day that she ever saw Moonlight laugh. She thought that it was because of one of her jokes, but only Moonlight knew the true reason: Shiny Shrewd.

Moonlight hadn't felt better since the time she had been at the Canterlot castle and it had seemed like everything was going her way.

After the class ended, she didn't need to go to Starlight's office. Twilight had sent her a message to meet her in the headmare's office. She knew what this was about. Shiny Shrewd had gone missing and she was probably the main suspect.

So she trotted to Twilight's office and took a seat, wiping her smile off her face before entering.

"Ah, Moonlight, I'm glad you came. Do you know why you are here?"

"Is it because Shiny Shrewd didn't come to school today and since I am the one who has a history with kidnapping ponies, you suspect that I have taken her?"

That sentence was met with a suspicious glance from Twilight. "That is oddly specific. I would have asked you if you know anything about why she is missing."

"Ohh..." Moonlight suddenly realised that she had just dug a hole for herself and fallen right into it. "Well, I don't know where she is."

Twilight picked up on the sudden realization of Moonlight and asked "Moonlight, what did you do?"

"Nothing." Moonlight answered, a bit nervously and started taking a few steps back instinctively. No good excuse came to mind, no fake backstory, nothing.

"Alright, I can't make you confess. But she can."

Fluttershy stepped into the room. She stepped in front of Moonlight and gave her
THE STARE.

Moonlight got more nervous by the second and finally snapped, yelling out loud: "All right!! She humiliated me so I took her to the Everfree forest, tied her up and left her there. Now shut your eyes!"

Twilight panicked: "You WHAT?! Can you just live ONE MOON without kidnapping somepony? Are you out of your mind?"

"B-b-but i had to-"

"Enough! Take me to her and then we'll discuss punishment"

Moonlight obediently took Twilight to the Everfree forest, where they found Shiny Shrewd, who had just managed to break her way out of her binds and was trying to fly with her useless wings.

"Shiny Shrewd! Are you okay?" Twilight ran to the missing student.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Except for my wings." Shiny Shrewd showed Twilight her weak and soft wing that was clearly unusable.

"Moonlight!" said Twilight angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll fix it." Moonlight shot some magic with her horn at Shiny and fixed her wing.

"Let's go back to the school." said Twilight before teleporting all 3 of them back to her office. She quickly slid the magic absorption ring onto Moonlight and explained. "You'll wear it until we come up with a punishment."

With her head hanging low, Moonlight walked out of the office and sat down in the hallway.

She was there for an hour or so, she saw all of the mane 6 going into the office and heard them debating her actions pretty loudly.

She was invited in and she once again had to face the terrifying council who she had grown to fear.

Twilight stated: "Moonlight, now you have a choice. Your punishment is either to spend the rest of the moon in your magic absorption ring, grounded in the school or you can let Shiny Shrewd tell all of us about everything she has seen about you and what she has concluded. She won't share anything without your permission"

Moonlight had a hard dilemma. Neither option was very appealing. She hated the ring so much that she couldn't spend the rest of the moon in it. But then again, she would be much more vulnerable when all of the mane 6 knew her weaknesses, sore spots and who knows what else that crazy Shrewd had seen about her. But then again, the moon had just started. What should she do?

Everyone was waiting for her to make a decision. Applejack and Rainbow Dash couldn't get their eyes off Moonlight.

"I choose... the second option"

Applejack groaned and threw 5 bits at Rainbow Dash, which she caught mid-air.

Shiny Shrewd stepped forward and started reading from her notebook.

"I already covered that she is a sociopath, loves to manipulate others at any cost, has no empathy, loves attention, but only the good kind..." she skipped through pages of her book and finally stopped "Aha! This is where I left off."

She coughed and started to lecture everypony about her discoveries regarding Moonlight: "It seems that she is actually pretty vunerable when it comes to her own self-image. She is not easily thrown off by others, but when she is, she has a complete mental breakdown. She has come into class with cried out eyes quite many times..."

Moonlight blushed and avoided eye contact with anyone. "...Especially when her magic was taken from her. Nothing can quite throw her off like some plan not gone her way. If you watch closely, you can still see the shame in her eyes and trembling in her knees. That is because she has failed at yet another plan..."

Everyone stared at Moonlight, which made her even more uncomfortable. "...She blocks herself off from others because she is too afraid of getting hurt. I theorize that she has been thoroughly humiliated and hurt by her former friends and she now blames friendship instead of those specific ponies.
Because she has managed to block herself off, she isn't comfortable with having anyone knowing anything about her. If you look at her right now, you can see that she is extremely uncomfortable, because she cannot hide anything or block herself off from us. Her mindset is exposed and she hates the fact that we are that much closer to understanding her.
So to summarize: very self-conscious, afraid of getting hurt, loves manipulating everypony around her, probably because of some trauma she had in the past."

In the end, Twilight turned to Moonlight and asked: "Is this more or less true?"

Moonlight, whose weaknesses had just been listed out to her enemies, didn't respond directly, only ordering: "Take the ring off my horn now!"

Twilight didn't argue with her and slid the ring off. She noticed that Moonlight was about to cry so she allowed her to leave.

Moonlight stormed out of Twilight's office with the mane 6 staring at her, almost sympathetically.

"She will probably want to get revenge for this. So stay alert." said Shiny Shrewd and trotted out of the office herself.

"She is one weird pony." said Applejack.

"Which one?" Asked Rarity.

"That Shiny Shrewd. I've already gotten used to the nuisance." Answered Applejack.

"She is not a nuisance!" Exclaimed Twilight, "Just a very special pony lead to a very wrong path."

"10 bits say that Moonlight still has some old friends trapped in a cave somewhere." said Rainbow, while addressing Applejack, but noone argued with her.

"I need to help her. And with more than just keeping her in my school. I need to start tutoring her personally." Decided Twilight.

Rarity simply wished her "Good luck"

The rest of the mane 6 left, Rainbow Dash mumbling: "I bet that she'll give up on her in a moon."

Applejack mumbled back: "You're on!"

That was the last that Twilight heard before she was left in her office alone, thinking of ways to make Moonlight embrace friendship.

5 Learning on the battlefield

Moonlight stayed as far away from Shiny Shrewd as possible. She sat in the opposite side of the class and just tried to avoid the pony altogether. In just 2 days, she had gone from a stranger to a friend to an enemy.

After school, Moonlight got a message to go to Twilight's office again. She redundantly did. At this point, she was wondering, why she even bothered. Why did she still go to this school? Why did she put herself through all of this?

Of course, she knew the answer, but it still seemed pointless. She trapsed slowly into Twilight's office, although she really didn't want to go.

"Moonlight, come in, have a seat!" said Twilight.

Moonlight took a seat in front of Twilight's desk. She didn't respond with anything, just followed the orders.

"I have decided to make you my personal pupil. So you could really learn friendship. I think you aren't really learning anything here, are you?"

Moonlight thought that this was some trap set by Twilight, so she started talking about how much she participates in every class and does every homework. Twilight laughed and interrupted Moonlight by saying: "But I still think that learning by book isn't for you, don't you think so?"

Moonlight quietly nodded. She started to see a golden opportunity in this. An opportunity to get close to Twilight and earn her trust.

"So I'll take you under my wing. Not long ago, Starlight was in the same position."

"And she has made one annoying friend, aside from you - the ponies that offered their friendship to her on a plate." Answered Moonlight quite arrogantly. It was clear that she didn't care for Starlight much and that she was easily annoyed by anyone even mentioning Starlight's name.

"That's enough, Moonlight," admonished Twilight in a strict voice, "Starlight is my good friend and I won't let you talk trash about her."

"Sorry, not sorry." responded Moonlight, still with her arrogance.

"Too bad. But we can't waste time on apologies right now. We'll do them later when you actually mean them. Right now, you have to learn a friendship lesson."

"Alright, what do you have in mind?"

"The very first lesson anypony needs to learn: how to even make a friend."

"Nopony wants to be my friend."

"I doupt that. You just haven't tried."

"Ugh, fine, let's get it over with then."

"Come on, Moonlight, making friends is a wonderful experience!"

They headed outside and walked toward ponyville. Twilight skipping happily and Moonlight trapsing behind her. Twilight explained to Moonlight how she just needs to say something nice to get the conversation flowing.

Once they arrived, Twilight said: "Alright, Moonlight, pick a pony that you would like to be your friend."

Moonlight looked around, seeking if somepony seemed like in dire need of a friend. Everypony seemed the same to her. Overly happy and bright. But then somepony caught her eye. A zebra. "How about her?" She pointed to her choice.

"That's Zecora, she is very wise. Go say hello. That's how it all starts. With a simple greeting. But of course there are technically other ways of getting acquainted..."

Moonlight had had enough of Twilight's rambling and so she just went to the black and white pony-like creature.

"Hello, my name is Moonlight Mirror." She said once she was next to the zebra.

"Ah yes, of you I have heard,
But sadly by no good words
Enough of that, Zecora is my name,
It's a pleasure to meet you and I trust you feel the same"

Moonlight gave Zecora a weird look and asked: "What's with the rhyming?"

"It is just how I speak, young filly,
Even if you think I may sound silly."

"No, I actually like it. It makes you sound more dramatic."

"Why, thank you, for the compliment, sweet,
Even though drama is not what I seek."

Moonlight went through the checklist in her head: she had introduced herself, she had said something nice. Now she had to make the zebra her friend. "Would you like to be my friend?"

Zecora chuckled and answered:
"Only if friendship is truly what you want,
Not just to fool Twilight and keep her mouth shut"

Moonlight thought it over. Zecora was going to be the coolest pony she'd meet anyway. She was different and her rhyming made it enjoyable to be around her. She actually liked Zecora, she hadn't judged Moonlight, even though she knew of her actions. She hated the fact that she actually wanted a friend. She had to answer so she said: "I do, I actually want to be friends." Her own eyes widened in realization as she said that.

Zecora simply chuckled and answered: "I have no doubt that you're telling the truth,
Trying to hide your feelings, in your fiery youth."

"So what now? I haven't really been friends with anypony for a long time."

"Now you tell Twilight what you have managed to do.
Make her feel like she could be proud of you.
And my cottage is always open for my friends.
Come over any time, if you want to talk to me again."

"I will." Said Moonlight and trotted off to Twilight.

"So? How'd it go? How'd it go?" Twilight was really excited and impatient.

Moonlight had a bit of a confused, maybe a bit defeated face. Like she had just gone through a tough rejection. She wondered if she might be breaking under the influence of Twilight and the others. "I made a friend." She said with a sad and thoughtful voice.

Twilight sighed in a relieved voice and said: "I am so happy for you!" But as soon as she looked down on Moonligh's face, her happiness was replaced with concern, "Why aren't you happy? What's wrong?"

Moonlight had been doing her best to hide her emotions so having Twilight see right through her, threw her off her game and she quickly responded with: "Nothing. Mind your own business!!!"

Twilight wasn't even shocked anymore by Moonligh's rudeness. She instead switched the topic and said: "Alright, I just wanted to help. The next friendship lesson is all about helping eachother. I want you to go to Zecora's home today to see if you can help her with anything.

"Alright, I'll go." Moonlight started walking away.

"And I'll ask Zecora if you actually went there!" Twilight added as she could already see through Moonlight's next move.

"Dammit!" Moonlight mumbled as she changed her course towards the Everfree forest.

Moonlight trotted for quite a while before she finally reached the hut in the middle of the forest. Zecora had arrived just minutes before her. Moonlight knocked on the door and she was greeted by Zecora.

"Ah, Moonlight, glad to see you found your way.
But I would like to ask one question, if I may.
Are you here because Twilight sent you here?
Or are your intentions truly sincere?"

"Twilight sent me, but I didn't mind coming. She said that I have to ask if I can help you with anything."

"There is nothing I need you to do.
But if you'd like, I can simply chat with you."

"Sure, I'd actually like that. What would you like to talk about?" Moonlight stepped into the hut filled with potions and masks.

"Tell me honestly, dear Moonlight
Why aren't you putting up more of a fight?
You were at the mercy of Twilight before,
But your horn is not ringed anymore.
You haven't fled or run away.
Why did you choose to stay?"

"I want to learn friendship."

"That is what you say,
But is it really that way?"

"Yes!" said Moonlight with an irritated tone. "I am just not used to all of the friendship stuff and trusting anypony and all that."

"I believe you, try to calm down
And continue with a smile, not a frown."

"Alright, Let's change the subject."

"Very well, nevermind what has been said.
Let's think about things that lie ahead."

"The future?"

"If a good pupil is what you want to be,
You should make friends besides me.
I would start with your teachers at first.
If you can't make friends with them, you must be cursed."

"Nah, they all hate me."

"But why is it so, you may ask
Because it is what you have made your task.
If you try your best to befriend them,
You will succeed in the end then."

"So you seriously think that's what I should do? Bury the hatchet between me and the mane 6?"

Zecora nodded:
"Seems to me like you get it loud and clear.
Now, i have some errands to run, not very near.
I'll be picking some berries for my pouch,
So whenever, feel free to let yourself out."

Zecora exited her hut, leaving Moonlight behind. Moonlight had some time to think back to what Zecora had advised her. She didn't dismiss the idea, because Zecora was obviously quite smart. But Moonlight had a more fun idea. She grabbed a random potion from the top shelf of Zecora's shelf and left with it. She had no idea, what it was, but she knew exactly what she was going to do with it.

At the end of the day, after school was over, Twilight came into the castle to find Moonlight waiting for her at the front door.

"Hey, Twilight!" said Moonlight, "I thought that I would bake you dinner as a thank you for pushing me into making my first friend today."

"Aww, that's so nice of you. Did you go to Zecora's house?" Twilight asked as they walked towards the dining room together.

"I most certainly did. And she gave me some good advice too. She said that I should start my friendmaking by making friends with my teachers. Meaning the 6 of you."

They arrived at the dining room, where a quite good-looking meal was there, waiting for Twilight.

"This looks so nice, Moonlight." Twilight walked to the window of the room to look outside. She seemed to be deep in thoughts. Moonlight followed her to see what Twilight was worried about.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just practicing a new spell."
Upon a second look, Twilight's horn was indeed lit up as she was doing some spell.

Soon, Teilight dismissed it and they both returned to the table and sat down and started eating. Each time Twilight sipped her drink, Moonlight started to giggle, unable to control herself. But she always played it off as remembering an old joke. They both ate and drank until the table was empty.

Moonlight's plan was simple: she had taken a potion from Zecora before. And now she had put that very potion inside Twilight's drink. She couldn't wait to see what the potion would do to Twilight.

"Well, it's getting late, we should go to sleep" said Twilight as she was already moving towards her bedroom.

They wished eachother a good night and then retired.

A loud scream woke Twilight up from her sleep as soon as the sun rose. It was Moonlight. Not even a minute later, Moonlight galloped into Twilight's bedroom.

But Moonlight didn't look the same. Her dark blue coat had been recolored into a light blue one. Also her hair, that had just the night before, been dark red and black, was now 2 shades of pink. Even her cutie mark had changed from a silver mirror to a golden one.

"What did you do?!" Moonlight shouted angrily at Twilight, clearly not fond of her new lighter appearance.

Twilight, having just woken up, didn't find it very funny. Sure, she giggled a bit at first, but was able to stay serious. And with a quite serious tone, she answered: "Taught you a lesson. And to do that, all I had to do, was switch our drinks last night."

"You are a psychopath!" Shouted Moonlight, who took offense to Twilight's action.

"Come on, Moonlight, you did this to yourself. And Zecora told me that the effects will wear off in a couple of days. Besides, you look cute like that."

"That's the problem! I don't want to be cute!"

"You should have thought of that before you tried to make me drink that."

"How did you even know that I would do that?"

"Zecora noticed that a bottle was missing and told me. I thought that I could teach you a valuable lesson about your pranks that way. The worst that could happen was nothing."

"You're sick!" Moonlight stormed out and headed to her room. She locked the door and closed the drapes. She couldn't let anyone see her like this.

*knock* *knock*

"Moonlight, open up! It's Rarity. I've come to see what I can do about your appearance."

Moonlight opened the door with her magic while staying hidden under her blanket.

"Come on, Moonlight, you can't stay hidden there. And you know that you can trust me when it comes to fashion."

"Do you promise not to start laughing?"

"I promise."

Moonlight pulled off her blanket, revealing her bright new body to Rarity.

Rarity looked at her, deep in thought, she walked around Moonlight's bed, which was like a tiny stage right now. She finally smiled and said: "But what do we really need to change? You look absolutely adorable!"

"That's the problem! I am supposed to be dark and unlikable. Not adorable!" Moonlight jumped off her bed and in front of Rarity.

"But you should try being likeable and adorable for a couple of days now that you have the chance."

"I don't think I could."

"Let me help you. There is only a couple of things we need to do first."

"Like what?"

"Come on, let's go to the boutique!"

"I can't go out like this."

"Come on, Moonlight, think about it, nearly everyone in Ponyville is cute and cuddly. Judging by your looks, you'll fit right in and nopony will even notice you exist."

"Hold on, I have a better idea." Moonlight stepped a bit closer to Rarity and started to concentrate on a spell. After a few moments, she teleported them both into Rarity's boutique, a meter above the ground so they fell as soon as they arrived. "Sorry about that, but I have never actually been here so the spell required a bit of guesswork."

Rarity simply dusted herself off and fixed her hair. "Well, at least we're here." She started looking around and taking things that she thought would look good on the new Moonlight. She quickly gathered a few things like shoes, dresses and bows. "Try some of these on, dear."

Moonlight took off her regular black shoes that didn't match her coat any more and took off her bow, letting her hair go. She put on some shoes that Rarity gave her. They were white and had lost of little decorations on them.

"Are you sure these are good?" Moonlight asked insecurely.

"Absolutely! You are simply fabulous!"

"I feel ridiculous. And i don't think I want any more clothes. Just the boots are fine."

"Alright, but I have another surprise for you! We're going to the spa!"

"First of all, I am not going outside as long as I look like this. Secondly, I won't go to a spa."

"Foolishness! Of course you'll come to the spa! Don't worry, it will be completely confidential that you ever went there."

"I'm not really the spa type..."

"Oh, pish posh! You'll love it. And besides, nopony will recognize you like this."

"Alright. Let's make it quick." Moonlight teleported the both of them again, this time onto the roof of the spa, before correcting her mistake and taking them down to the entrance.

Rarity trotted in like usual, but Moonlight dragged her hooves in embarrassment.

"Good afternoon, miss Rarity" said the spa ponies Lotus and Aloe in sync.

"Good afternoon. I have a friend here, who has yet to discover the wonders of going to a spa. We need to fix that. With the full package. For both of us. I haven't been pampered by you for 3 whole days and I also need to relax."

"Alright, we will just need her name for the books and we can begin." said Aloe as she got ready to write it down.

Moonlight, terrified that someone would ever find out that this was actually her, quickly said "My name is... Sun...light? Yeah, Sunlight Mirror."

As Aloe wrote that name down, Lotus asked: "Are you related to Moonlight Mirror?"

Moonlight didn't give a straight answer, but instead asked: "How do you know Moonlight?"

"Miss Rarity has told us much about her. So you know her?"

"Yeah, she is my cousin or something." Answered Moonlight lazily before being shown in by Lotus.

Moonlight, followed by Rarity went ahead to get everything the spa had to offer.

Rarity walked home along with Moonlight. The sun was soon beginning to set and the sky had an orange glow. Moonlight's hair had become a bit curlier, complimenting her new look.

Rarity, a bit frustrated, asked her companion: "Why did you have to humiliate me like that?"

Moonlight was not much more relaxed and just had to ask: "Which one do you mean by that?"

"ALL OF IT! Starting with the fact that you called the spa a mudhole, cannonballed into a hot tub, insulted all spas at every chance you could, hit both employees when they tried to give you a hooficure, fell asleep during the massage and broke the hooficure table along with some equipment. Need i go on?"

"No. I was there. And I already said I'm sorry."

"No, you didn't!"

"Damn, you called my bluff." Moonlight smirked.

"You are a monster! A psychopath! A..."

Rarity would have gone on, but as they were about to arrive at Twilight's castle, Moonlight interrupted her: "Look, I may be all of those things. And calling me names really doesn't get to me anymore. But before you go on to annoying me, I'm sorry for ruining your day at the spa."

Rarity calmed down a bit, knowing that it was as close as she was gonna get to an apology from Moonlight.

"It's alright, Moonlight, I know that you were just overwhelmed. After all, this was the first time at a spa for a pony who kidnaps others for fun."

Moonlight smirked as they finally arrived at Twilight's castle. They bid eachother farewell and Rarity walked to her home as Moonlight entered the castle. She trotted to Twilight's room and once she saw her, she stated: "Twilight, I learned 2 friendship lessons today."

Twilight turned around from her desk and faced Moonlight. She looked as excited as ever. "Really? Tell me!"

"First lesson was that it is okay to pull pranks on others as long as you are sure that you yourself are in the clear."

"Moonlight, I don't think that was the lesson he..."

"And the second lesson is that in times of trouble, a true friend helps a friend in need. Even though their actions may be useless or maybe even cause more trouble, it shows that they care."

Twilight was very troubled "That first lesson is all wrong. The lesson was that when you prank others, you think how you would react in their shoes. I was trying to teach you about empathy..."

Moonlight had a blank expression on her face as Twilight told her about what the lesson was supposed to be.

"But the second lesson was a pretty good one. It was one of my most important lessons when I was learning friendship, the last lesson I learned before becoming a princess:
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend."

Moonlight was at a total loss: "What in Equestria are you talking about? Are you having a stroke?"

"It's from a song that we sang with the whole town"

"And you're saying that I am the crazy one." Moonlight mumbled.

Twilight didn't even notice as she was taking a trip down the memory lane.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go now. I have to find 100 bits for the damages I've done to the spa"

Twilight mumbled calmly: "Yeah..." before realizing what Moonlight's words meant. Her eyes opened wide as she turned around and stared at Moonlight as she shouted "WHAT!?"

"Ask Rarity, she'll tell you an over-exaggerated version of the real story. Long story short, I am broke because I broke a few things. I gotta get to bed."

Moonlight was a bit worried about getting a hundred bits, and for a reason. All her savings combined only made 30 bits that she could set aside to pay her dept. She had to get a job.

But while Moonlight was worried for a reason, Twilight had no reason to panic, as she had no dept. Yet she was probably tenfold more worried. It seemed like her bedroom light didn't even go out that night.