Inside the remains of the once glorious Castle of the Two Sisters, Nightmare Moon growled in frustration as she recalled how those six brats passed through her traps and obstacles with ease. Just how exactly were they able to go through each and every one of them so effortlessly?

The lunar alicorn scoffed, "No matter. The Elements are inert, they would be powerless against me."

One of her ears twitched and swiveled to an unknown sound, Nightmare whirled herself around with a look of alarm and defiance. Her wings flared and horn alight with teal magic, ready to fire upon the pony or creature foolish enough to think that they could ambush her.

"Who's there?! Reveal yourself now or suffer the consequences!"

Her slitted eyes swept the entire chamber, taking note of the nooks and crannies of the castle's ruins. After an entire minute without any form of reply, the fallen princess tentatively turned back to the Elements of Harmony, but kept her guard up just in case.

"Cursed woodland creatures..."

Hidden on the other side of a fractured wall, trying—and failing—to stop herself from giggling like a madmare, was Midnight. After taking a small detour to see Ponyville's town hall with her own two eyes, the former human had decided to go directly to the Everfree Castle to start thinking up of a plan on how she would reveal herself to the main characters.

Of course, she also didn't want to waste the precious opportunity of being able to see Nightmare Moon herself.

"What to do, what to do?"

After a moment of thinking, she shrugged her wings and threw caution into the wind. She was a corrupted alicorn herself, wasn't she? Maybe she could use this to her advantage and form an 'alliance' with her?

"I can get myself some Luna lore, too..." the former human muttered.

While that was all well and good, it was very unlikely that Lu- Nightmare Moon would see her as an ally. She would likely see another alicorn of similar standing as a threat and competitor in her path of taking over Equestria.

Then maybe she could just... yoink her helm and just... see where it goes from there? That could be some good practice for her flying skills.

"And it sounds pretty fun!"

That was all she needed to convince herself that it was a brilliant idea. All she had to do now was to figure out how to position herself so that she could swipe it from the fallen princess' head without it getting stuck partway. It would be preferable to have it in her grasp before Nightmare even realized it was missing, the former human thought.

Even if she would never outright admit it, Nightmare Moon seemed to be fairly on edge. Considering how the Mane Six had been plowing through her obstacles like they were nothing, it wasn't exactly unexpected, but it did limit Midnight's more grandiose plans, as she had to be careful not to alert the corrupted princess when sneaking around.

"Maybe another time."

Nodding to herself, Midnight leapt from her hiding spot with the help of her wings to a higher position just beside where the lunar alicorn was standing. She then proceeded to silently make her way down to a pile of debris that formed a small, obscured pocket in the otherwise open area.

With a magically silenced landing, the alicorn straightened her posture and took a readying stance. She braced her wings just enough to boost her up and above Nightmare's head. The alicorn took a deep breath to calm her excitement, and powered the leylines of her wings, causing them to glow brighter.

A moment of silence passed, only broken up by Nightmare Moon's frustrated mutterings.

Midnight opened her eyes sharply, both glowing an eerie cyan light. The excess magic throughout her body flashed and faintly illuminated her form.

She grinned, revealing her fang-like canines, and chuckled to herself.

"Three... two..."

"Those illusions should stall them for some time."

Nightmare Moon grunted as she stomped a hoof on the ground, causing it to crack.

"Those pathetic little foo- gah!"

"YOINK!"

Just then, a purple blur zipped right over her head. Whatever the thing that passed her was so fast that she wasn't able to react in time before it could do anything. Nightmare briefly staggered and shook her head to recollect herself.

She immediately fired up her horn with a spell prepared and swept the area for the thing that dared to ambush her. After a moment of scrutinizing the derelict room, the fallen princess noticed that she could feel a faint cool draft going through her starry mane.

At first, she thought nothing of it. There was a potentially greater threat that she needed to focus on right now, so a slightly stronger-than-average gust of wind was none of her concern.

It didn't take long, however, for her to feel a sense of... nakedness around her head. The corrupted alicorn tried to ignore the feeling to no avail, as her mind kept nagging her to do something about it.

Whilst still staying vigilant, she carefully raised a wingtip to brush her own head, trying to calm that frustratingly persistent need to inspect it.

Her helmet wasn't there.

Her eyes narrowed into mere lines as fury and panic flooded her mind. Nightmare quickly raised her hooves to her head, hoping it was merely a mistake, or perhaps just her feathers touching the wrong spot.

Unfortunately, her Helm of Shadows was well and truly gone.

"No... NO!"

Frantically, the fallen princess started to look around the ruined chamber with wide, uncontrolled eyes. The helm was incredibly important for her, especially at this time. Forged from the culmination of her negative emotions—mainly that of resentment and envy—along with forbidden magical knowledge, it functioned as the primary source of the powerful dark magic. Without it, she would essentially be... her former self.

"Weak, pathetic, spineless..."

She stomped a hoof on the ground in fury, releasing a small blast of energy. If she had her helm, it would have been more effective.

Just as the lunar alicorn started to recollect herself, her ears swiveled towards the sound of... laughter? That came from somewhere above her. Nightmare tentatively turned around with her horn lit, she may have lost a significant chunk of her power, but she was still an immortal alicorn.

The lost princess slowly looked up towards a standing column that had detached itself from the roof, and held back a reaction when she noticed what, or rather, who had dared to laugh at her.

Atop a vine-covered and cracked pillar, partially obscured by shadows from the pale moonlight, gleefully giggling to herself, was another alicorn mare.

She stood there proudly, with the Helm of Shadows held in her cyan magic as she condescendingly looked at her fellow alicorn.

The newcomer levitated the helm closer beside her face and shook it lightly.

"Looking for this?" she teasingly asked.

A whirlwind of emotions and questions emerged within Nightmare's mind. Who was this alicorn? Where did she come from? Why was she here? How did she get here? And what was she doing with her helm?!

Nightmare quickly dismissed these thoughts, however. She could ponder the existence of this new alicorn later. For now, whoever this alicorn was, she was a threat to all her efforts. Possibly even more so than those six mares going for the Elements of Harmony.

The fallen princess pawed a hoof on the ground and snorted. She flared her wings wide open, both as a threatening gesture as well as a way to prepare herself to fly after the intruder.

"Return my helm this instant, or I will ensure your destruction!" she bellowed as she glared right at the newcomer.

The other alicorn merely chuckled and waved a wing dismissively.

"Oh, I will definitely consider that!" she replied cheerfully, "Buuut..."

The intruder extended her wings, revealing their glowing leylines and showing off their sleek, deep indigo pinions. Without wasting any time, she flapped her wings and ascended into the unnatural night sky.

"Gotta catch me first!"

She looked down towards Nightmare Moon mockingly and stuck out a tongue. This only infuriated the corrupted alicorn even further, and she kindly replied by firing a concussive bolt of magic towards her adversary.

Despite the seemingly dangerous situation she was in, the other alicorn chuckled. Right as the bolt was about to hit her, she swiftly spun herself in the air and swiped a wing at the bolt as if it were a fly.

At first, the sound of an impact was heard, causing Nightmare to grin at the sight. Unfortunately, her smile did not last as long as she would have hoped. Mostly due to the fact that the bolt had seemingly disassembled itself right as the newcomer's wing made contact with it.

The wisps of teal energy that were once shaped in the form of a magical burst swirled between and around her primaries before they flowed right towards her already overflowing leylines.

The intruder sniffed in amusement, "Huh. Thanks for the boost, a-as-j-jjerkface!"

She added by briefly forming the letter 'L' with the feathers of one of her wings above her forehead before flying off into another area of the castle, excitedly laughing all the while.

Nightmare could only stare in utter bewilderment after the whole ordeal. Thankfully, she was able to quickly snap herself out of her reverie to pursue the mare.

"Get back here, you insolent wretch!"

With tentative steps, the six soon-to-be heroes of Equestria made their way into the chamber that contained the inert, orb-like forms of the five present Elements of Harmony. Seeing how high they were, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy carefully brought each Element down from their pedestals closer to their friends.

The personal student of the currently absent Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, stepped up to inspect each of them.

"The book said, 'When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.'"

Applejack was about to reply with a question, but refrained from doing so when she heard the sound of a loud crash and a strangely familiar voice throwing odd insults at... presumably somepony else. It seemed like she wasn't the only one in the group to notice, as the others had also turned their heads towards the commotion.

"Now what in tarnation was that?"

Rarity lightly tilted her head, "Twilight, did you not say that this castle had been abandoned for the past millennium?"

The student nodded, "According to the books, it should be. I have no idea why anypony would willingly go here beyond what we're doing now."

"Well, maybe they're here to ransack the place? Who knows what kind of stuff was left behind here." Rainbow suggested.

Twilight considered her words for a moment, tapping and rubbing a pastern below her chin.

"While that's entirely possible, I highly doubt a group of thieves would be willing to risk their lives going through the Everfree Forest for a potentially empty castle."

The rest were about to add their two bits to the conversation, but were interrupted when two equine-shaped blurs dashed right past them from another room and began to zip around the open chamber. Beams of teal energy emerged from one of them, impacting the castle walls and causing the entire structure to quake.

"Return my helm this instant!"

"Too slow, grandma!"

Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden ruckus, Fluttershy quickly dove away to avoid getting caught in the altercation. Unfortunately, she was covering her eyes while doing so, and crashed right into Rainbow Dash. The two tumbled from the sky and fell right on top of Pinkie Pie, who was distracted by the surprise light show. The momentum from their impact threw the pile of three towards their companions. First with Rarity, and straight into Applejack.

A series of alerted yelling could be heard as all of them landed in a heap.

The only one of them who were left unscathed was Twilight, who had been lying down close to the Elements and avoided getting hit by the five-pony projectile.

The student looked up from her position towards the stack of dazed ponies with a look of bewilderment before quickly running up to them.

"Oh my goodness! Are you all alright?"

All she got were a few tired groans and grunts.

"Maybe not..."

Twilight turned around to look back towards the two blurs. It seemed like both of them had finally stopped, allowing her to see just what exactly they were. One of them was clear enough, Nightmare Moon was an easy pony to spot and recognize.

The pony hovering opposite to her, however...

"What the..."

She was an alicorn, that much was clear, but there was something strangely... familiar about the mare.

Twilight observed the other, newer, alicorn intently. The prophecy in the book explicitly stated that Nightmare Moon would escape from her imprisonment on this very night, it never said anything about a second alicorn coming with her.

"If you think you can get away with this unscathed, then you are sorely mistaken!"

Nightmare shouted with all her rage at the unknown alicorn. But, just as before, she only replied with a teasing giggle.

"Maybe if you asked nicely, I'd consider giving it back to you!"

Twilight's eyes shrunk into pinpricks when she heard the alicorn's voice. It sounded identical to her own!

The new alicorn seemingly noticed her presence, and turned to look at her. The two purple ponies held a brief staring contest before the taller of the two gave the other a smirk and wink.

Twilight didn't know what to think at that moment. Just who exactly was this pony?

The prodigy was not able to continue her train of thought, however, as the alicorn suddenly dove down towards her direction and swept her, along with her still confused companions and the Elements within her magic.

"WhoaaaAAAAA-!"

Twilight felt the wind whip through her mane as she flew alongside the strange alicorn. She held her eyes closed with her forelegs as her 'ride' maneuvered over and under the ruined debris of the abandoned castle, avoiding magical blasts and flying tackles from Nightmare Moon.

"Hey! It's alright! Open your eyes!"

Judging from where the voice came from, she knew that the alicorn had likely levitated her in front of herself. Twilight's mind screamed at her to ignore the urgent request and focus on her own safety, but her curiosity eventually overpowered her rationality, and the unicorn tentatively uncovered her eyes.

She was met with the sight of the unknown alicorn's face. For some reason, she found it nearly resembling her own, if a little more elongated around the muzzle.

The alicorn smiled, her eyes darted between her 'passenger' and her flight path.

"Hello there! Midnight Sparkle, big fan of your work! Or I guess your future work?" she shook her head and swerved to dodge a beam of magic, "Anyway! I've got Nighty here all under control, you gals need to deal with the Elements so you can blast her with a rainbow laser!"

Her name was also nearly identical to hers! Twilight filed away those thoughts for later, however, and focused on the obvious problem at hoof.

"I'm sorry, what?!"

The alicorn, now known as Midnight Sparkle, clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

"The six of you are the Elements of Harmony! Applejack is Honesty, Fluttershy is Kindness, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Rarity is Generosity, and Rainbow Dash is Loyalty!"

Twilight's head spun as she took in everything the alicorn was telling her. The student's mind recalled all of the obstacles they had passed on their way to the castle, and how each of her... alli- No! Her friends had tackled them with their own quirks and abilities. Every single obstacle passed had been solved by the specific trait they had that could be attributed to each Element.

And they all lined up perfectly with what Midnight said.

"But what about the sixth Element?!" the student yelled over the sound of rushing wind.

Midnight's smile widened, "You are! You're the Element of Magic, the embodiment of Friendship!"

The revelation smacked Twilight like a freight train at full steam. She was the sixth Element? Of course, going by the pattern of her friends and their own Elements, it made complete sense.

She was still utterly confused by the realization, however, and felt an odd feeling of anxiety well up within her.

Midnight abruptly changed course upwards, causing the ponies and magical artefacts in her aura to briefly lag behind as the momentum forced them forward. Nightmare Moon quickly followed suit as her target flew through a gaping hole in the roof.

The younger alicorn levitated her 'passengers' closer and addressed Twilight yet again. A glance at the Elements showed quickly growing cracks beginning to form along their stone-like surfaces.

"Alright, I'll teleport you and the Elements to that room over there!" she pointed a hoof towards a ruined tower with a staircase connected to one of its upper entrances, "The Elements will fall and shatter, but they should start floating around the five of you when they do!"

Another glance at the Elements. They were glowing now.

Midnight turned back to see the six mares within her magic, their expressions ranging from sheer terror to resolute determination.

"You all got that?!" the alicorn shouted.

With a series of hesitant nods, Midnight powered her horn and pictured the interior of their destination. She had taken a good look at the place during her game of cat-and-mouse with Nightmare.

CRACK!

With a bright cyan flash, the Mane Six, along with the Elements of Harmony, landed on the cold stone floor of the tower. Midnight could see the flash of her teleportation magic peeking through the open windows of said tower, and silently sighed in relief.

"Now..."

She turned her head back towards her pursuer. Nightmare was still chasing her even now, but it was clear she was starting to get exhausted.

Midnight continued to bait the corrupted princess through and between the ruins of the castle's once-beautiful spires, giving the Mane Six some more time to deal with the Elements.

She could hear another magical bolt being fired from behind, and decided it was the perfect time to test out a mid-air roll.

Just when the bolt was close enough, she swiped it with a wing. Like before, the bolt was reformed into wisps of magic that were absorbed by her exposed leylines, energizing her.

"Curse you and your forsaken abilities!" Nightmare furiously shouted.

"You're a very generous mare, you know that?!"

She yelled back at the fallen princess, causing her to fire another blast. Unsurprisingly, Midnight caught it again, this time with the glowing sole of her shoes. The Helm of Shadows levitated closely to her chest, occasionally hitting her peytral as she moved around in the air.

The new alicorn briefly turned towards the tower that held the six heroes, and saw Twilight signalling her from a window. The tiara for the Element of Magic could clearly be seen on her head.

With a nod, Midnight channeled her magic into her wings, making their leylines glow brightly in the night sky. She then directed herself towards the Mane Six, leading a rage-blinded Nightmare Moon along.

She tucked in her wings as she passed through the entrance, before unfolding them again to abruptly stop herself. The air trapped by her wings caused thousand-year-old dust to briefly obscure the area.

The shining and, dare she say, sparkling forms of the Mane Six could be seen levitating on one end of the room. The necklaces and tiara were even more ornate and beautiful here compared to the show, Midnight found.

There was as small, itty bitty discrepancy that she could see with them, however. Instead of the vibrant golden colors that she had expected, the metal that held the Elements' gems were a shade of dark purple. A color not too different from her own regalia.

Midnight's hopes of uncovering the reason why were swept away when Nightmare Moon finally caught up and flew past the entrance. She turned back to the Mane Six and pointed a hoof at the angry and quickly approaching lunar alicorn.

"Rainbow laser! Rainbow laser NOW!"

The six mares held each other's hooves and closed their eyes. The glow from the sheer power of the Elements almost blinding the two non-bearers present.

The harmonic magic surrounding them culminated into a massive spark of energy, obscuring the Bearers, with only their silhouettes faintly visible to a spectator.

And then it came, the Rainbow Laser of FriendshipTM. Midnight quickly moved out of the way, but kept her eyes locked at the sight. Oh how incredibly lucky she was to witness this with her own eyes! It was even more magnificent in perso-pony.

If only she had her phone with her...

'If the portal's somewhere in Canterlot, I think something could be arranged.' the alicorn thought with a devious grin.

Two magically-infused rainbows spiraled from the top of the heroes and rose into the air in an arch. Nightmare Moon had slid to a stop after realizing what had happened, and was stunned in place as a wave of colorful light engulfed her very being.

All she saw and heard was a whirlwind of rainbows, followed by an irritatingly familiar bout of maniacal laughter, before everything went dark.

Author's Note

I am very sorry for taking so long to release this chapter. Would you believe me if I said I scrapped the first two concepts?

Anyway, here we see Midnight doing... things... and causing mayhem as she does so. Next chapter will be her proper meeting with the Mane 6 and the princesses. What do you think will happen?

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the Land of Equestria"