The Midnight Zone

Celestia sat down on her throne. “A thousand years ago, me and my sister Luna, had come to rule Equestria. I controlled the day, as I do now, and Luna controlled the night. As sun and moon, we maintained harmony.

“However, as I assume Twilight knows, Luna grew envious of how much the ponies loved my day.”

“Yes!” said Twilight.

Celestia nodded. “I tried to reason with her…”

Twilight noticed Celestia’s horn glowing, followed by her world swirling, and she had a brief sensation of spinning around in awkward directions, with no up and no down. Twilight was just starting to get nauseated, when she and her friends were suddenly laying on some grass.

Twilight looked around. She was on a hill that was located in between Ponyville and Canterlot. She recognised it perfectly. Rarity and Pinkie were looking at her with the same confused expression. How in the world do we know exactly where we are despite ever being here before? Twilight tried to say something but quickly found that she was mute, and couldn’t change that.

Sitting on the edge of the hill were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“…but Luna wouldn’t listen.” Celestia’s voice wasn’t coming from the Celestia sitting on the hill; it seemed to be coming from inside of Twilight.

“Look, do you see any ponies out at night?” asked the Luna on the hill. “See anypony enjoying my beautiful night? No! They spend all their waking hours in the day!“

“But the night is beautiful!” protested the Celestia on the hill. Twilight became even more befuddled. “And just because the ponies aren’t awake to witness your night, it doesn’t detract from its beauty!”

“Oh, but it does! How can something be beautiful if nopony is there to see it?”

“I’ve offered you the job as Minister of Dreams!”

Twilight and her friends looked at each other.

“I’ve already told you!” spat Luna. “Dreams are deceptive! They're not something I’d ever want to be associated with!”

“As you can see,” said the Celestia from the present. “Luna rejected my offer. And on that night, she refused to lower the moon.”

Twilight’s world spun again, and then she had landed in the courtyard of Celestia’s castle. As she watched, Celestia parried a curse that Luna sent, before launching her own. Twilight looked at her friends again, before her world was set spinning.

“Eventually, Luna backed me into a corner…”

Twilight looked on, as Luna cornered Celestia in a dark back alley. Celestia pulled out some runes with engraved marks on them. She used her horn, and the runes arranged themselves in a circular manner.

“…and I was forced to use the Elements of Harmony against my will to stop her.”

The runes all shot light from their cores, and Celestia powered up her horn, and there was an explosion of light.

“Once she was banished, I quickly realized that the Elements were too much power for one pony alone, and so I hid five of the six, and used magic to hide the last.”

Twilight’s world swirled one last time, and she saw Celestia hiding the runes. They were inside of a book that was magically suspended on a stone altar, hidden somewhere in a deep dark forest.

And then she was back.

Twilight stood back up wary of another spinning transition, but none came. She was back in Celestia’s tower in Canterlot.

“The Elements of Harmony are a curse if they are used by only one pony,” Celestia finished. “And it’s such a shame too. All the good that could have been done with them.”

Celestia looked wistfully at Twilight and her friends. “The Elements needed six holders.”

Twilight gasped. “There are six of me and my friends!”

Celestia nodded. “And your Cutie Marks and personalities match up. One of The Elements of Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, and Friendship perfectly encapsulates one of your friends.”

“Wow!” said Pinkie. She seemed to be happy again.

Celestia seemed to be considering something. “The Elements of Harmony were not created by me, although I’ve taken to hide them, and protect them from evil.” Celesta paused, and frowned. “They are also what Midnight Moon is most definitely searching for.”

Rarity gasped. “So you need us to defend them!”

“Almost. I need you to get the Elements first, and use them to free my sister from the evil that’s infested her. Remember, the last Element will reveal itself after the others have been united.”

There came a sudden explosion, and Celestia jumped up. “Luna is coming!”

“C’mon!” Twilight yelled to her friends. “We have to meet back up with the others and get the Elements.”

There came a second explosion, and the spell that Shining Armor had put over Canterlot shattered. Pieces of the shattered shield fell out of the sky, and rained down on Canterlot, a deadly rain. Ponies were waking up and freaking out.

“Celestia!” said Rarity. “When we leave, if you don’t deal with Midnight, all of Canterlot will perish!”

Celestia seemed to be fighting an incredible internal battle. “I’ll hold her off,” she said finally.

Twilight nodded. “Let’s go!”