Darkness Falls

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

This phrase is now one of my favorites, even if I never follow it. Revenge is a fragile thing, really. One can plan meticulously for months only to miss the perfect opportunity. One could also jump at the opportunity to get back at their aggressor. Then again, some ponies are like snakes. They lie under the radar and wait for said opportunity. They snatch it up as eagerly as a starving dog to rich meat. Sometimes it's a bit too much for those ponies and their pride gets in the way of the need to stay hidden and they take the 'honor' of being accused. They inadvertently condemn themselves to ruthless berating from bystanding ponies.

I saw myself in the mirror. Short. Lavender furred. Violet eyes and the horn. And the orderly, tri colored mane and tail.

I punched the mirror. Hard. Shattering the reflective surface. Cracks spiderwebbed across its face, a particularly large one slashing my face down the middle. My reflection returned to that of my true appearance.

I was much taller than the first Twilight. And more powerful, too. Compared to the old Twilight, old Twilight had about as much magic prowess as Sweetie Belle. I felt that I could... I could...

I don't know what I would do.

I sunk to my haunches. I had no plan of what I was going to do now that I was different. How would I go out in public? How could I learn my lessons in friendship?

That thought derailed the train. What would Princess Celestia say now that I was virtually Nightmare Moon?

Shh,

I was jolted. "You're back?"

i]Oh Twilight, I've always been here. Nightmare Moon laughed inside my head.

"What do I do?"

Make a plan. I had a thousand years to plan, whereas you have mere hours, days at the most. Nightmare instructed.

"That's right," I said to myself. "Spike is on his way back,"

You know how he is, too. Nightmare added. Blows everything out of proportion.

"Yeah." I laughed. "He's so paranoid."

I could practically see Nightmare Moon roll her eyes. Yeah. So paranoid.

"So you have a plan?" I asked the fractured mirror.

Mend it so we can talk better, Nightmare Moon commanded.

I lit my horn. Deep purple magic swirled around it, highlighting the curvature of it. The mirror was alleviated of its breaks, fragments jerkily moving back into place.

A mist befell the mirror. I wiped it away, revealing Nightmare Moon waiting for me.

I must say, she looked a little more than imposing. I could see why there was a holiday dedicated to her frightening might.

I hummed the Nightmare Night tune to myself.

"Hello?" Nightmare Moon said impatiently.

I snapped to attention. "Yeah?"

Her eyes steeled. "Excuse me?" she asked coldly.

I mentally cursed myself for being so stupid. "Yes, Princess."

Her eyes softened, just a bit. "I'll first teach you how to address ponies of varying importance. You may refer to me as Nightmare Moon. You must speak to me formally during our lessons. You will refer to all other ponies by name. Example. Celestia, Applejack, Surprise. You speak to other ponies as I did at the Summer Sun Celebration. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Yes, Nightmare Moon."

"Imagine that I'm -oh what's her name- Lyra."

Twilight drew herself up to her full height and glared down at 'Lyra'. Nightmare Moon had shifted to make herself look like said unicorn and was giving me doe eyes.

I faltered and smiled for a moment, but resumed my regal and aloof manner. "Lyra," I sneered.

"Wh-who are you?" Nightmare Moon asked innocently.

"None of your concern," I glowered at her, trying my best Stare.

Nightmare Moon shifted back and nodded in approval. She looked at me through half-lidded eyes. "Close. Try a little more stately."

A cold feeling settled inside me. It felt like I swallowed a bad egg. "Er, Miss Moon-"

"Nightmare Moon,"

"Nightmare Moon," I corrected myself. I cleared my throat and continued. "I think I read something about... about too much magical input where if you get too much power, you, erm, get sick."

"Alicorns don't get sick, Twilight Sparkle," Nightmare Moon said matter of factly. "Our natural defenses are too strong, even for this 'too much magical input'."

Downstairs, someone was knocking on the door.

I froze whilst Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes at my fear. "Oh please, Twilight Sparkle. You know the golem spell?"

"Y-es," I choked out.

"Do you still have that decoy of yourself in the closet?"

"I don't have a fake me,"

Nightmare Moon scoffed. "Really now? How come I can see it in your head?"

I rubbed my eyebrows, exasperated with the dark alicorn. "I really shouldn't try to lie to you,"

Nightmare Moon's face turned dark. "That is true."

Lighting my horn, I retrieved the life-size model of myself from its place deep within the bowels of my closet. "Do you know why I have this?"

Nightmare Moon shrugged. "It's not in here,"

I laughed dryly. "Now how do I do this?"

"Enchant it with the golem spell and pour your essence into the doll. That way, you will be looking through the doll's eyes but your real body will remain unconscious here."

"It's not a doll. It's a collectable model!" I pouted as I cast the spell.

Everything went black for a minute as I blindly cast myself into the lifeless toy. When I regained my senses, I held a foreleg out to examine. It was a soft purple hue instead of the near-black of my alicorn self.

They knocked on the door again.

With a brief backward glance at the mirror Nightmare Moon, I trotted downstairs to greet whoever was banging relentlessly on the door.

I opened it, only to see Cheerilee standing in the entrance.

"Can I help you?" I asked in a tone that would make Nightmare Moon proud.

She was taken aback by the new timbre of my voice. "Er, yes. Hello Twilight."

"Cheerilee. Is there anything you need?"

"I forgot this one book of mine on my last visit, it's a really big one called--"

I rolled my eyes and levitated the large tome. "Is this the book you're looking for?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Yes. Not yeah."

The mulberry coated mare shuffled her hooves. "So... yea- yes. I have students to teach," a trail of dust revealed where she cantered off to.

When the fleeing mare faded from sight, I retreated back to the bathroom.

Nightmare Moon regarded me frostily. I refused to glance over my shoulder. I’ve heard too many Slendermane stories to fall for that one.

“What?” I finally asked after thirty seconds of a staring contest.

“Oh nothing,” she said innocently. “Just the fact that you ignored each and every word I said in the past twenty minutes.”

“Excuse me?”

She gave me a look that would turn Fluttershy to stone. “There were no venomous phrases spat. No quivering townsfolk.

And for Faust's sake, get out of that ridiculous doll!”

I sighed and returned to my body. Now that I was as tall as the darkened alicorn, she wasn’t quite as intimidating. But she was still a sight to behold, starry mane being tossed in the perpetual ethereal breeze that all alicorns-

“Nightmare Moon, why isn’t my mane like that?” I asked her, truly puzzled by this conundrum.

“That, my dear Twilight, is much more simple a question than asking why it’s like that,” she chuckled. “When you use a massive amount of power at once, you begin the slow transformation to the godly level of an alicorn,”

A realization struck me cold. “Does that mean that, if I am correct, the Elements of Harmony will change?”

“Yes. But they will be weaker and the conversion will take much longer. Yours faster because you were the lost Element of Magic,”

“Were?” A feeling as if my internal organs were dripping into sludge inside me told me I didn’t want to know.

“But of course. Alicorns can’t wield the Elements. That’s why Celestia and Luna can’t use them anymore.” Nightmare Moon said gently, as if the slightest disturbance could tear me like wet tissue paper. She put a hoof to her chin, pondering. “But perhaps, since you had yours… accelerated; you may still control the Element. Tell me, Twilight. Do you feel still kindred to the Element of Magic?”

“I- I’m not sure. I haven’t seen it in a while. Since Discord, actually.”

“Hmm,” Nightmare Moon mused. Then her cat eyes made contact with my own “Begone. Go practice high-level magic or something.” She waved me off.

I left the bathroom and did as I was told.

I woke up to the sound of hushed murmurs. My ears pricked, but I kept my eyes closed and breathing even.

“What should we do? Twi ain’t here and we can’t use ‘em if she’s not!”

“I’ll tell you what we should do. Pound her ‘til she tells us where Twilight is!” A sound of hooves cracking followed this statement.

“Rainbow Dash, it doesn’t quite look like her. Remember, Nightmare Moon was black and had a cerulean mane like Princess Celestia’s. This… this imposter has no mane and is a dark purple. The armor’s not even right. But I have to admit, those diamond sparkle just like-“a gasp was to be heard. “Twilight’s cutie mark! Rainbow Dash, check her flank. I swear, if we catch those ruffians that did this to her…”

Something touched my flank and I made the mistake of flinching.

“Twilight?”

I opened my eyes a crack and saw a pair of concerned-looking teal eyes peering back into my own.

“Twilight, we’re mighty sorry this happened to you. Them pranksters are gonna regret knowing the name Applejack after the whoopin’ I’m givin’ ‘em.” The orange farmpony apologized.

I merely glanced down at myself; nothing appeared different. But then it hit me.

In a moment of incredible word association, I muttered the best thing anypony could say in my predicament.

“Oh,”

“That’s it? ‘Oh’?” Rarity asked incredulously.

“Yes.” I stood up to my full height and glowered at the ponies so oblivious to my suffering. “And that’s Twilight Sparkle to you,”

“Twilight? Are you- HOHMYCELESTIA, SHE HAS WINGS?” Rainbow Dash scrambled away.

The others shied away except Pinkie, who looked deadly serious.

“Twilight… how could you? I thought we were friends,” she whispered sadly, mane deflating a bit.

“Pinkie? What in tarnation are you talkin’ about?” Applejack said in surprise, recovering her Stetson and placing it back in its rightful place atop her head.

“Applejack, she betrayed us.” Pinkie said softly.

“What?!” They all yelped.

I chuckled. “It had to come out somehow, didn’t it, Pinkie?”

“What… you…” Rarity’s jaw dropped.

“I’m going to tell you the truth. Over the past few weeks, I’ve become the town laughingstock. In case you haven’t noticed.” I

snapped to a cowering Fluttershy.

“I was mocked relentlessly so I took comfort in the only place where I could be at peace,”

“Your mind,” Pinkie finished for me. She turned to the rest of my ‘friends’. “Don’t you see? Nightmare Moon can’t really be killed. She can only jump from body to body. When we defeated her, who was the closest to her?”

“Twilight.” Rainbow Dash answered, dumbfounded.

Pinkie nodded. “Exactly. I suspected the whole time. Every time I was by her, my belly would get floppy and my nose would get cold. That means something-bad-is-possessing-our-friend.” From seemingly nowhere, Pinkie whipped out a copy of The Equestrian Bible. “The power of Celestia compels you!”

“It doesn’t work like that, Pinkie Pie.” I informed the pink pony madly waving a bible in my face.

“It doesn’t?”

“No. And this isn’t Nightmare Moon; this is me. So I strongly suggest you all leave and never come back,” I said frostily.

“Twilight, we can’t do tha-“

“I said GO AWAY!” I roared, flaring my wings.

Fluttershy screamed and flew away with Rainbow Dash in tow. Rarity galloped out with Pinkie.

Applejack remained behind. Shivering with fear, but still.

I will never forget the words uttered from her mouth for as long as I live.

“Twilight, you're my friend. Ah know the real Twi Ah'm friends with is still in there somewhere. Ah'll fix this, Ah swear on my daddy's grave." Then she ran away in a blur of blonde and orange.