Memories and Melodies

A train zips through the Midnight Woods, heading towards the town of Ponyville. Four ponies wearing typical Hollowshade cloaks sit inside the first-class carriage of the train: Lyra Heartstrings, in her usual form with Midnight Melody currently taking a nap in the back of her mind, Nightshade Echo, filled with the excitement of meeting the bearers of the elements of harmony in ponies, Bon Bon, with the blade of Moonlight strapped on her back and Grey Wind, still lying on the couch with her hooves and left wing still bandaged.

Though Lyra suggested that her magic was not strong enough to cure her hooves and Grey Wind should rest a few more days to allow her hooves to fully recover before getting back to Ponyville, Grey Wind had insisted they should get back as soon as possible to introduce Echo and Midnight to their friends. Finally, Lyra had settled for using a stretcher to carry the grey Pegasus all the way back. So there they were, riding on the train back to Ponyville, and talking about their adventure two days ago.

The train ride back was uneventful. Midnight wakes up halfway through, and Lyra lets her take over for the rest of the train ride. Midnight tells her new friends about all the things she had known as a part of Nightmare Moon. Turns out the “Darkest Night” on the town almanac is precisely the time when Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, when part of Nightmare Moon’s magic escaped to the town of Hollowshade. Moreover, she had admitted that her power is slowly recovering ever since she started sharing her body with Lyra, and she’ll be able to detach from Lyra in the form of a glowing ghost not long after.

It is already nighttime when the four friends arrive at Ponyville, and Midnight returns her control to Lyra. The streets are already almost empty, and the four ponies attract not much attention on their way to the Golden Oak Library, even with Grey Wind lying on a stretcher carried by Lyra’s magic and the large crystal sword on Bon Bon’s back. As they get closer and closer to the library, Echo is becoming more and more uplifted.

“I can’t believe I’m going to meet the element of magic herself! This is so exciting!” She squeaks as she walks along her friends.

“Well, to my knowledge, Twilight has never met a bat pony before, so it is possible that she could be even more excited than you,” Grey Wind chuckles, “Speaking of which, how do you think Twilight would react when she sees us? One Pegasus lying on a stretch with one of her wings snapped, a bat pony, an earth pony carrying a magical sword, and a unicorn that has another mind living in her brain all after a short holiday?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Lyra smirks, “but I’m sure it is going to be PRICELESS. Hey, I know! Why don’t we show her what we got in our holiday by demonstrating what we gained?”

“Huh? What do you mean, Lyres?” Bon Bon asks.

“Oh, this is going to be the BEST prank ever!” An evil smile crawls onto Lyra’s face as she explains her plan to her friends.

“Well…I’m not sure if it is your own idea or the dark magic of Nightmare Moon already influencing you,” Grey Wind comments, “But that is one great idea.”

Are you sure about this, Lyra? I don’t want to scare your friend…

“Oh, we’re not going to scare her, Midnight,” Lyra replies, smirking, “we are going to SURPRISE her!”

Twilight Sparkle closes the book she had been reading since afternoon, and lets out a sigh. It’s almost a week since Grey Wind left for Hollowshade, and a part of her is a bit worried about the grey Pegasus. She is also concerned about Lyra, especially how she would react if she finds out what really happened to her parents. Though, they should be returning very soon. She may have to have a talk with Lyra about her mental status after she comes back.

Glancing at the clock, Twilight finds it pointing precisely at 9 o’clock. Time to call it for the day. Spike has gone for a sleep over with the Cutie Mark Crusaders at Sweet Apple Acres, so she is alone in the library tonight. Returning the book to the bookshelf, Twilight trots towards the staircase when suddenly a serious of haste knocks on the door breaks the serenity of the library.

Running towards the door and opening it, Twilight gasps. Lying at the door is none other than Grey Wind, her four hooves and one wing bandaged while her other wing is hanging limply at her side, an expression of pure agony on her face.

“Grey Wind! What happened?” Twilight exclaims as she lights up her horn and pulls her friend inside the library and lifts her onto a sofa.

“Twilight…! Run! They are coming…” Grey Wind mutters under her breath before closing her eyes and passing out on the sofa.

“Grey Wind? Grey Wind! Are you alright? What are you talking about? Who’s coming?” Twilight shouts, frantically checking the pegasus’ injured body.

Suddenly, the lights in the library go off, leaving the first floor in complete darkness. Alarm bells ringing in her head, Twilight staggers back and bumps into a bookshelf at the sudden change of light environment, before lighting up her horn and nervously glancing around.

Did the electricity go off again? And what happened to Grey Wind? She looks like she has been injured badly…

“Heh heh heh… We meet again, Twilight Sparkle…”

Twilight gasps as she hears the voice behind her. Turning around, she screams and jumps back as she finds herself face to face with a dark green unicorn mare. Her mane bears alternating streaks of light cyan and dark green, and is glittering like the stars in the night sky. Her cutie mark is a golden lyre embedded by a crescent moon, her eyes bear ember color, with line-like black irises. Twilight has only seen that kind of irises on one other creature except for Spike.

Nightmare Moon.

“Ly-Lyra…?” Twilight mutters, her voice trembling, “what happened to you? Why do you look so much like…”

“Mistress Nightmare Moon? Thought you’d never asked, my dear Twilight,” Lyra throws back her head and lets out a maniacal laughter, “We met Mistress Nightmare Moon on our journey. She has showed us how weak we were. We have accepted her blessing, and we will inherit her will! We shall bring eternal night to Equestria, starting from you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight’s eyes widen in fear.

“That can’t be true! We defeated Nightmare Moon!”

“The Mistress is smarter than you, Twilight Sparkle. She has been hiding for a long time. And when you freed Luna from her control, you just returned her power to her!” Lyra smirks.

“No, no…” Twilight backs up from the dark green unicorn, searching her mind desperately for any possible solutions, “Lyra, don’t be controlled by her! You need to fight back!”

“Oh, I’m not controlled, my old friend, I assure you I’m acting on my own intentions.” Lyra smirks, “and that goes the same for killing you.”

Seeing no way to talk rational thought with Lyra, Twilight’s eyes scan the floor for any escape routes, until her gaze fixes on the library door. Whether intentionally or not, Lyra is blocking the staircase but not the door. If she can run there, then-

“Don’t you even think about it, Twilight,” Bon Bon walks into the door of the library, a large blue crystal sword held in her mouth, “you are not going anywhere.”

Turning around, Twilight notices the open window in the kitchen. If she can jump out of the window—

A hissing sound can be heard as a pony flies into the window. Although similar to a Pegasus, the pony that just flew in has longer ears and leathery wings, with two fangs sticking out of her mouth. Twilight has read about this kind of pony born from pegasi influenced by dark magic. A bat pony has blocked the window, hissing at the lavender unicorn.

“Your life ends here, Sparkle,” Lyra smiles.

“P-Please, Lyra, you don’t need to do this,” Twilight pleads as the three ponies slowly surround her and force her into a corner of the library. Backing up against the wall, she finds no way to escape as the three ponies corner her.

“Any last words, Twilight Sparkle?” Lyra smirks, her horn glowing with dark green light as a green magical sword forms above her.

“I----I…” Twilight takes a deep breath, gathers her courage and glares at Lyra, “You won’t succeed! Even if you kill me, the other elements of harmony will defeat you! The Princesses will defeat you! You and your mistress will never win!”

The words seem to have irritated Lyra, as she frowns and raises the sword above her head. Twilight closes her eyes and grits her teeth, expecting the pain of her throat cut open any second.

……Until Lyra bops her on the nose and the lights in the library switch on.

“Gotcha!” The three ponies, along with Grey Wind who has just quitted faking her death on the sofa shouts out in unison.

“All those were just a prank?!” Twilight exclaims. The five ponies are currently sitting around the center of the living room, with Grey Wind still lying on the sofa.

“The best prank ever!” Lyra shouts, having returned to her usual form.

“Sorry to have scared you, Miss Sparkle, but that was so much fun!” The bat pony exclaims, “Nightshade Echo, pleased and honored to meet the bearer of the element of magic! Call me Echo!” She extends a hoof towards the lavender unicorn, who hesitantly accepts it and shakes it.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Echo,” Twilight smiles at the energetic bat pony, “but what happened to you girls? What took place in Hollowshade that resulted in…” her gaze switches between Grey Wind’s bandages, Lyra’s now significantly longer horn, and the sword on Bon Bon’s back, “…all this?”

“I…kinda hurt all my limbs during battle…” Grey Wind smiles sheepishly.

“And I got a crystal sword,” Bon Bon adds.

“…What?” Twilight casts a puzzled glance at the two ponies, “that’s…a lot to take in. And what happened to you horn, Lyra? It wasn’t this long last week, right?”

“Well…” Lyra scratches her head, “it’s kinda a long story, and it’ not just my horn and my new power. I’m now sharing my body with a shard of Nightmare Moon. Midnight, say hello to Twilight.”

“You WHAT?!” Twilight shouts as Lyra closes her eyes and reopens them, her jolly personality turning 180 degrees into a much shyer one. Upon seeing the lavender unicorn, the mint green unicorn winces back and whispers:

“It’s…nice to meet you, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I’m Midnight Melody.”

Twilight’s eyes roll back, looking like she is on the verge of fainting.

“We-well, I can explain, Ms. Sparkle…” Midnight hastily continues as she sees Twilight’s reaction, “well…”

Twilight could only listen to the whole story in awe as the mind that is living in Lyra’s body tells her the whole story. Occasional gasps are made as the story reaches the climax, namely how the ponies defeated the last bit of lingering power of Nightmare Moon.

“Then I found myself inside Lyra’s mind, and we found the star lyre before Lyra teleported us out of the temple. Two days later we come to you. That’s pretty much the whole story,” Midnight finishes her story as she closes her eyes and returns the control to Lyra.

“…Wow…” Twilight rubs her chin, finally calming down, “that’s certainly a lot you girls had accomplished. Maybe I should write to the Princesses and tell them about all this…”

“Don’t bother,” Grey Wind interrupts, “we’ll visit Canterlot soon anyway, after, well…” She glances at her bandaged hooves, “My hooves are strong enough to carry me all the way to the castle.”

“Definitely,” Twilight nods, “That was one astonishing adventure you girls went over. Rainbow would be so jealous of you girls. . Looks like the elements chose you for a reason, Grey,” she smiles.

Turning to her other friends, she continues:

“Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll take Grey Wind upstairs and get her some rest. She needs enough rest to recover. Echo, wasn’t it? Would you mind if you sleep in the library tonight? I’ve never met a bat pony before and I have a few questions,” she smiles at the bat pony.

“Oh, certainly not, Miss Sparkle! It’s an honor!” Echo exclaims, her wings fluttering in excitement.

“Then I guess we should return home and get some rest as well,” Bon Bon suggests as she stands up, “come on, Lyres.”

“Alright, Bonnie. Bye, Twilight!” Lyra waves at her friend as she leaves the library.

“Bye, Lyra! And do come to the library tomorrow! We need to further discuss your power!” Twilight waves at the mint unicorn.

“I won’t forget, Twilight!”

After Lyra gets back to her house, she directly heads for her bed and jumps onto it before switching the lights off.

Darkness falls upon the room, but this time, Lyra does not feel scared anymore. She knows that even in the darkest of the nights, her friends will look out for her, and she has got one of her best friends right here inside her mind.

Pulling the sheets over her, Lyra whispers:

“Good night, Midnight.”

Good Night, Lyra.

The end.