The Two Sisters

"Tampered with?" Asked Discord, "how so?"

Twilight was about to answer when a loud boom shook the night air outside. A blinding flash of light followed and everyone in the group shielded their eyes from the windowless window frames.

"What the hell was that?" Hitch swore, getting up and trotting to the doorway. Looking around he didn't exactly spot anything out of the ordinary at first, until he looked up and noticed the moon.

"Uh.. hey guys, you might want to see this," he said in disbelief.

The rest of the gang got up and went outside, looking up Izzy let out an audible gasp.

"Woah ho hoahhh!" She exclaimed.

"Ummmm.. Sunny? What is this?" Zipp asked.

"I have no idea.." Sunny said, not really knowing how to respond.

The moon, once plain and filled with craters, now glistened with a dark blue aura. The picture of some type of unicorns head, imprinted on its surface. Everypony turned to look at Twilight who was equally surprised by these sudden turn of events. She turned and looked at the group.

"Don't look at me, for once I don't know what this is or what's going on. Remember I told you I have no memories of anything before I was activated?" She stated.

Sunny nodded and turned to look at Discord who was actually tapping his fingers together as though he was innocent.

"Eh heh heh..." he chuckled nervously.

"What? Discord do you know something about this?" Sunny questioned him.

The draconequus gave a short 'pffft' and waved a claw dismissively.

"Whaaaat? Who me? Nahhh. I don't know what's going on, do you know what's going on? Because I sure don't," he said. Poofing a cup of tea into existence and nervously dumping sugar into it.

However before Sunny could call him on his bluff, the wind began to pick up and howl, leaves blowing everywhere as lighting filled the sky. The group of ponies huddled closer and watched as swirling dark clouds filled the sky and a very loud laugh pierced the night, followed by an evil sounding voice.

"Hahahahahaha! Fools!! You thought getting rid of magic would banish me!? How incompetent do you think I am!? I RULE your nightmares!! I AM the darkness creeping in your bedroom at night!!"

The voice was followed by flash of a dark figure, tearing through the night sky. Everyone looked up in fear at the creature. Well.. everyone except for Discord that is. Who promptly began backing away into Sugarcube corner. The winged figure divebombed toward the ground and hit it with such force, it left a small impact crater in the creatures wake. As the wind died down however, Sunny could see that this creature was a pony. A... rather large one. In fact, it almost looked like..

"I.. am Nightmare Moon!" The pony said, raising her head slowly as her wings spread and she bared her fangs at the group. However, Sunny and the gang weren't as terrified of this evil mare as Nightmare Moon thought.

"Uh..." Zipp deadpanned, "are we.. supposed to be scared? No offense miss.... Nightmare Moon? But you aren't the scariest thing I've seen."

Nightmare looked completely taken aback and shocked by this.

"What do you mean I am not the scariest thing you've ever seen!? I HAUNT YOUR DREAMS!!!" She yelled.

While all of this was happening however, Sunny was busy flipping through her father's journal, looking for the name. After reaching near the end, she found a single page dedicated to Nightmare Moon.

"Nightmare Moon-
Black and dark blue evil alicorn. Bat pony wings, vampire-like fangs, dressed in ancient Equestria armor. Said to be a myth attached to the disappearance of Princess Luna. Further investigation required."

Sunny looked up to see Nightmare Moon now raging at the other 4 ponies.

"I'm sorry Nightmare, we just don't find you all that scary," said Hitch.

"But your armor and mane are super cool!" Said Izzy smiling.

Completely taken by surprise, the dark alicorn fumbled over her words.

"Wha- but- how- eh.."

She backed away slowly as her ears folded back. Instead of a look of anger, her face now showed a look of fear and confusion. It was like they didn't even care she was evil. Sunny spoke up.

"Princess Luna"

Nightmare Moon turned to face the apricot earth pony. "We do not go by that name any longer!" She snarled.

"You did a long time ago though, didn't you?" Sunny asked stepping toward the large alicorn. Nightmare Moon was backed against a wall of a dilapidated building. This was NOT how she had expected things to go with her return.

"You know nothing about me little pony!" She snapped at Sunny. Sunny, however, didn't flinch.

"Why are you so angry Luna? What happened to you that made you turn to the darkness like this?"

Nightmare Moon panted, fangs still bared at Sunny and the group. Discord had poofed away the moment the dark alicorn had arrived, and the spirit Twilight was watching from afar curiously. Nopony had ever asked her that before.

"You.. you could never understand! You're like that fool Celestia!! Showing compassion to your enemies is a flaw of weakness!!" She stomped the ground and snorted, glaring at Sunny. Sunny stopped moving forward when she was about a couple feet from Nightmare Moon.

"No, it's a sign of love Luna. Something Celestia didn't show you enough of, am I right?" The earth pony looked up at the alicorn, eyes shining softly with understanding.

"I.. I.." Nightmare Moon was at a loss for words. The darkness inside her told her to resist this pony's advancements of kindness, but there was a light... deep inside trying to escape.

"N... noooooooo!!!!" She screamed, her voice distorting from the deeper evil one, to a softer more sorrowful sounding one. "I will NOT let you break me!"

Sunny then did something rather unexpected. She wrapped her hooves around Nightmare's neck, and gave her a hug.

"I will be your friend Luna, you don't need the darkness."

Nightmare Moon was too shocked to throw this pony off her. Why would anypony just give love unconditionally?? It was absurd. The alicorn felt her heart soften and even as the darkness commanded her to hit the small pony hugging her, she couldn't. Slowly, her wings folded and a sound escaped her muzzle, one that nopony had ever heard Nightmare Moon make. She whimpered.

"I... I.. why are you being so nice to me when I'm nothing but darkness and evil?" She asked, voice breaking as tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. Sunny broke the hug and smiled up at her.

"Because that's the magic of friendship Luna."

Slowly, one by one, the features of Nightmare Moon began to melt away. Her eyes returned to their normal pony state, no longer slits. Her fangs receded, and her armor fell to the ground. Her body shrinking a bit and changing color. Now standing before them, was Princess Luna.

"Welcome back Luna," Sunny said smiling. The rest of the group smiled as well and went over to the Princess of the Night, each one giving her a much needed hug as they began to conversate and laugh. Sunny smiled and watched the group huddled around the now smiling Princess Luna.