The Darklands

Due south of Canterlot, for about two days by hoof, sat a little town nestled against the edge of the Everfree Forest.  It was in this town, Ponyville, that one of the most remarkable unicorns that had ever lived...Lived: Twilight Sparkle, great, great, great, great grand niece of the First Archmage- Starswirl the Bearded.  Of course, she herself didn't know of her relation to the most powerful unicorn that had ever lived and neither did her family.

But both Princesses knew, of course.  And if they knew, then much darker, quieter forces knew as well.

It was on this day, the seventh mark of the one-thousandth and twenty-eighth year, that Twilight Sparkle lay comfortably in her bed in the library; blissfully unaware that dark forces were transpiring against her.  Soon, she would awake to a nightmare from which there was no escape.

And that soon was now.

Gasping as if she had awoken from a bad dream, Twilight Sparkle threw herself up in bed, her eyes darting around wildly to make sure she was safe.  When she had determined this to be true, she fell back against the bed with a groan.

"Spike?  Can you see if we have any medicine for a headache?" Twilight called weakly.

Nothing stirred in the library, forcing Twilight to her hooves and off the bed as she checked Spike's favorite place to sleep.  Strangely enough, a small basket was in it's place- one big enough to fit Spike if he were still a baby, but it would only do to carry small objects now.

Shrugging the oddity off, Twilight figured that he must either be in the kitchen downstairs or outside- off doing something.  Despite her incredibly painful headache, Twilight stumbled down the stairs and into the bathroom to relieve herself.  After finishing her business, Twilight turned to wash her hooves; staring into a broken mirror.

It was shattered, only small slivers of the reflective glass laying in a pile in the sink.

That must have been one hell of a party... Twilight Sparkle thought as she carefully levitated the glass out of the sink and into the wastebasket before turning on the sink to wash her hooves and teeth.

No water came out.

Curious as to the odd occurrences that were happening, Twilight twisted the knobs a bit harder, for some reason figuring that the water would kick on if she just...

Not a chance.  The knob snapped off of the sink and hung in Twilight's magical grasp as she sighed and set it on the counter before trotting out of the bathroom and into the foyer.

The comforting sight of books lining the shelves filled Twilight's vision and she smiled.  In retrospect, she could care less what happened to her home as long as she and Spike were safe along with the precious literature.

But Twilight had no time to read at the moment.  She silently thanked Pinkie Pie and the other ponies for cleaning up after themselves and trotted into the kitchen for some breakfast.

Humming quietly, Twilight Sparkle began opening cupboards without looking, only stopping to do so after she felt nothing in her magical grasp.

Only because nothing lined the shelves.

Cocking her head and raising an eyebrow, Twilight Sparkle couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her- and that something was terribly, terribly wrong here.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she sidestepped a deadly bolt of magic that whizzed past her head and slammed into the floor, leaving a blackened and burnt circle in its wake.  Twilight turned to face her attacker only to be tackled to the ground.

Using every ounce of strength she had, Twilight grunted and threw her opponent off of her being, tossing it into the wall.

Trixie hit the wall with a thud, sliding down along its side and landing with a pained grunt.

"T-Trixie?!" Twilight Sparkle asked mostly to herself; her voice filled with shock and slight horror.

"Do with Trixie what you will...Just make it quick..." the blue showmare muttered silently, her breath coming out in rasps from her meeting with the wall.

"Trixie, what are you doing here?  Why did you attack me in my own home?!"

Trixie lifted her head and stared at Twilight Sparkle as if she were a complete and total idiot.  "You're home?!  Trixie does not see your name on the contract anywhere!"

"Trixie, this is my home!  I've lived here for years!  Just ask anypony around town and they'll tell you that Twilight Sparkle has always lived here!"

Trixie's eyes lit up in shock as Twilight finished her sentence.  Thinking that she had beaten her opponent, Twilight smirked.

"D-Did you say your name was...Twilight Sparkle? As in the Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie asked quietly- so quietly that Twilight almost didn't catch it.

"Trixie, you know my name.  I mean, given that it was a few years ago, you seemed so upset that forgetting my name would be the last thing you ever did.  Now, what are you doing in my house?  Answer me before I call the Royal Guard!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!  No, you can't call the Royal Guard!  That's bad, that's bad! That's very, very bad!" Trixie shouted, leaping to her hooves and barreling towards Twilight, who was unfortunately too slow to move out of the way.

As Twilight felt the breath force itself from her body, her eyes tracked the blue unicorn pony as she slid to a stop in the middle of the foyer, flaring her horn and grabbing several books in her magic.  Twilight realized that, curiously enough, Trixie no longer wore her signature cape and hat.  Instead, her moonlight-white hair spilled over the side of her head and battered her cheek and neck every time she turned her head to read a new section of a book.

"Trixie, what the hay is going on?" Twilight asked after she had managed herself onto her hooves and taken up the space next to Trixie.  Without warning, Twilight found herself kissing the cool, crisp pages of a book that Trixie had shoved in Twilight's face.

When Twilight's magic enveloped the book and Trixie's had left it, the wide, begging eyes of a blue unicorn mare stared into Twilight's from behind the book.

"What is this?" Twilight asked, turning over the book to read the cover.

Predictions And Prophecies.

"Read it." Trixie ordered flatly, and so Twilight did.

Turning the book back over in her magic, Twilight began reading at the top of the page.

and she will bring upon sunshine eternal.  Legend also has it that before her return, a powerful unicorn under the name of Twilight Sparkle will appear to pass judgement on the land, either leaving them be or bathing the world in a sea of crushing light and causing chaos in her wake.  This unicorn's decision will ultimately lead to either Burning Star's return, or the continuation of peace and harmony for the Darklands.

Twilight stood bewildered, staring at the writing before her in utter confusion.

"Wait, what does this all mean?  'Sunshine eternal'?  Don't you mean nighttime eternal?  And who is Burning Star?  What happened to Nightmare Moon?" Twilight Sparkle questioned, her mind doing cartwheels- trying to figure out just what exactly was happening here.

"What do you mean 'What happened to Nightmare Moon'?  She's the Queen, of course!  And if she catches word that you're here she'll have you killed to prevent Burning Star from coming back!" Trixie replied.

Twilight's head sputtered and stalled at what she had just heard.  "Nightmare Moon is the ruler of Equestria?!  What happened to Princess Celestia?!  Where are the Elements of Harmony; we can stop her and-" Twilight began worriedly before Trixie interrupted the purple unicorn.

"Of course!  The Elements of Harmony, why didn't I think of that?  Burning Star wouldn't be able to withstand their power and she'd be trapped in the sun again!  Twilight Sparkle, you're a genius!" Trixie shot back, hugging the incredibly confused Twilight Sparkle tightly before dashing off to write a letter.  Twilight, the ever curious and hopelessly lost unicorn that she was at the moment, had no other choice but to peer over Trixie's shoulder as she wrote.

My dearest teacher,

My continuing studies on pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!  For you see, the mythical Mare in the Sun is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal light!  Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true, and I believe I have the key.  You see, the legends also say that, long ago, Burning Star was defeated using the mythical Elements of Harmony.  It is my belief that if we manage to find the elements, we can prevent Burning Star from returning! I await your quick response.

Your faithful student,

Trixie Lulamoon

This was seeming all too familiar to Twilight Sparkle.

With a sharp exhale, Trixie sent the letter on its way to where ever it was destined for and turned her attention back to Twilight.  "Oh please, oh please, oh please!  You just can't doom Equestria to eternal light!  You can't, please!"

"Whoa, slow down, Trixie.  Who did you write that letter to, and what's wrong with light?" Twilight Sparkle asked.  "What the hay is going on here?"

In Canterlot, in the highest tower of the grand castle, sat a regal alicorn whose coat was jet-black, glossy in the torchlight.  Her brow furrowed and her eyes glared at the parchment before her as she reread it just to make sure she was not mistaken.

As she finished the letter for a third time, a sinister grin crept onto her face as she reached for a quill to pen her reply.

Yes, everything is going just how I have planned...

"You're Nightmare Moon's star pupil?!" Twilight shouted in terrified disbelief.  She silently dared- nay, begged Trixie to take back what she said; to have all her friends come out and say it was all a prank.  But Trixie remained steadfast, her eyes glimmering with hope and fear, but lacking any and all dishonesty that might have been hidden.

This was not the Trixie Twilight Sparkle knew.

Perhaps she learned her lesson after all?  No, wait...That still wouldn't explain why Nightmare Moon ruled...Spike, I've a feeling we're not in Equestria anymore...

"Wait, Spike!  Where is Spike?!  I-I saw his basket by the foot of my- your, bed, but he wasn't there!" Twilight blurted out to Trixie, hoping for an answer.

Trixie simply hung her head in shame.

My dearest, most faithful student, Trixie,

You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply *must** stop reading those dusty old books!  My dear Trixie, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I am recalling you to the castle in order to show you the other, more important, joys in life.  A great stallion once said 'All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy'.  While I'm not quite sure what in what context he was speaking, the message remains the same- one must balance work and relaxation if they are to be at the top of their game.  I have already dispatched a chariot, and it should arrive soon.  Please be prepared, and do not keep me waiting.*

I do not wish to miss a single moment from my most faithful student.

Your loving ruler, teacher, and friend,

Queen Nightmare Moon

As she set the quill down and blew onto the ink in order to help it dry faster, Nightmare Moon wondered briefly if

"You what?!" Twilight screamed.

"I'm sorry, Twilight!  I thought it would be best for him, he wanted to go so badly!"

"No, no, no!  No he didn't!  He was just saying that because he felt unappreciated!" Twilight continued, her eyes blinking back tears as her hooves itched to beat Trixie into a bloody pulp.  Everything was making sense to her now.

Trixie explained that Spike was her dragonling assistant she had earned after hatching him from Nightmare Moon's School for Gifted Unicorns- the similarities were uncanny! She also said that she had been so busy in all of her studies that eventually he began to grow distant until he found a book on his kind and decided that he would move out of the pony world and live with his own kind.

But then Trixie told Twilight the unthinkable.

Spike was no longer that cute, caring little dragon that they had both known and loved.  Now, he was a horrible beast known as Spike the Impaler who held one of the highest seats in the ancient dragon council, and without objections he could order every single dragon to attack Equestria.

But something was off.  Twilight realized that she must be in some alternate reality, where Nightmare Moon banished her sister, Celestia, instead of the other way around all those years ago.  Either that, or this world was a darker reflection of their own- where everything was reversed.  It would certainly explain why Trixie was being so helpful and caring, but then why wasn't Spike's personality different?  Trixie had described him perfectly, to the letter, up until he left and became ruthless.

Twilight was almost on the verge of cracking the code when a small pop sounded right next to her, breaking her thoughts.  Trixie grabbed the newly arrived scroll in her magic and quickly unfurled it.

Twilight saw that her eyes were focused, searching for something.  Suddenly, Trixie's face lit up with fear and she incinerated the letter before dashing upstairs.

"Trixie, what was that all about?  Where are you going?!" Twilight called.  She was getting sick of this whole situation.  She just wanted somepony to tell her everything about this world so that she could get back home where she belonged.

"We have to leave, now!" Trixie shouted back, tossing a rather large and full-looking burlap sack over the railing that Twilight just barely managed to avoid being crushed by.  A moment later, Trixie came dashing down the stairs and picked up the sack in her magical grasp before darting to the door, where she stood waiting for Twilight to follow.

"We have to leave, now!" Trixie exclaimed in worry.

Twilight reluctantly but hurriedly followed the frightened mare out of the library and out of the town.