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It was time for the sun to rise and declare a new day, but the moon was still in the sky. The land that was supposed to be illuminated with the light of the sun was instead dark as the heart of the one who made it so. It was only a few minutes after the disaster found at the summer sun celebration. The ponies hoping to see Princess Celestia raise the sun were met with a dark being threatening to bask them with eternal night.

One lavender pony was determined to see this stopped. She quickly ran to her temporary home in hopes to find a way to stop this dark tyrant. She abruptly entered the library, unbeknownst to the four shadows that followed her. The mare carefully trotted up the stairs into her room. She slowly lifted the sleeping dragon from her back into his little bed. He swiftly sat up and started to mutter.

"We have to stop Nightmare-er ugh." He quickly fell back asleep into his bed. The lavender pony used her magic to cover him with his blanket.

"You've been up all night Spike." She said with sincerity. "You are a baby dragon after all." She swiftly galloped down the stairs and started to rummage through her mass quantity of books. Whatever she found that had no important information was carelessly thrown across the room.

"Elements, elements, elements. How am I supposed to stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?" She asked herself as her search quickened.

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony?!" Came a brash and arrogant rainbow pegasus. "And how did you know about Nightmare Moon? Are you a spy?" Her accusing glare was interrupted as an orange mare pulled her away from Twilight.

"Simmer down Sally, she ain't no spy." She said as she turned to Twilight. "But she sure knows what's goin' on, dontcha Twilight?" Twilight looked at her for a moment and noticed that surrounding her were the other ponies she had met through the day. She gave a small sigh.

"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her." She looked up with a concerned face. "But I don't know what they are, where to find them. I don't even know what they do." She looked at the four ponies standing around her. "I would like it if you could help me find a book about them."

The four ponies agreed in unison then spread across the library in search for the book. After a few minutes of searching a soft voice of a yellow pegasus called out. "I-I think I found it. It's called 'The Elements of Harmony: a reference guide'." Twilight quickly walked to the yellow pegasus and looked over the book.

"Yes, this will do." She started to skim the pages in search of information. "Where did you find it?" She asked with interest.

"I-it was under 'E'." Responded the shy pegasus. Twilight looked at the book with amusement, thinking that after this is done she will have to reorganize the library to her liking. She found an entry in the book and read it aloud.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery." The five ponies looked at each other in confusion. "It is said that the last known locations of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now known as the Everfree forest." The mention of the dark forest brought fear to the five ponies.

"D-do we really need t-to go into the forest?" Asked the nervous yellow Pegasus.

"If the elements are really there, then yes. I'm not telling you to come with me. I'm not asking either. I'd much rather do this on my own." Twilight said to the group of ponies around her. "But I would like for you to show me the way there."

It was a dark night in Fillydelphia. It seemed that the only thing that illuminated the town was the overcompensating amount of colorful strobe lights coming from a certain downtown apartment. The music was blasting and causing the apartment building to shake in its foundation. This loud anomaly was, of course, due to the latest party of Pinkie Pie.

She was celebrating the coming of the longest day of the year. Not really anything to throw a party for, but she takes any opportunity she can get. She was seven hours into her festivities when a loud knock came from the door. Obviously not loud enough as the music easily drowned it out. The knocking got louder and louder, but not quite loud enough to be heard. The knocking stopped and was replaced by the rattling of keys. A few seconds later a gruff, annoyed stallion walked into the room.

He walked up to the giant speakers and quickly unplugged them from the socket. He then turned off the strobe lights and turned on the apartments primary lighting.

"PINKAMENA PIE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Pinkie backed away in surprise. He only uses her full name when he's angry. " It is three in the morning and I have over twenty complaints about loud music and distracting lights coming from this apartment complex." He stared angrily at Pinkie as she took off the lamp cover from her head.

"Most of these complaints aren't even coming from this building! Most of them are coming from the complexes on the other block! I told you that I give three strikes, and this little incident has given you a lot more than that!" Pinkie put on an innocent smile and tried to calm down the landlord.

"But its the Summer Sun Celebration today! Why wouldn't there be a reason to party?" She asked. This seemed to upset the landlord pony even more.

"First of all, the celebration isn't being held here! It's in Ponyville this year. And second, since we're not celebrating anything. A lot of us are trying to sleep!" He opened one of her kitchen drawers and pulled out the key to her apartment.

"I have given you enough chances. This time, I'm kicking you out!" Pinkie stared helplessly as he dangled the key in front of her. Tears started to form in her eyes. "And don't think that puppy dog routine will work either. It's not going to happen. You have til' tomorrow to move out." The landlord pony started to walk out the door with the key.

"But this was the only apartment left in Fillydelphia! Were else would I go?" Pinkie said, almost in tears. The landlord stopped and turned around with a half angry, half sincere answer.

"The closest town around here is Ponyville. I've heard that Ponyville is a tolerant town. Maybe you should go there." With that the stallion left the apartment, leaving Pinkie in a depressed slump.

This was the fifth place that she was kicked out of this month. Maybe it was time to find someplace new, start again. She did have a choice to move to Ponyville. Something in her told her to go there, but for some reason she ignored it. Now the feeling had returned and she knew that she had to go to Ponyville. She packed up her party supplies in a small wagon then set off for Ponyville.

"So me and fluttershy loop-a-looped a round and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time." Rainbow dash said triumphantly, obviously proud of her achievement.

"Yes rainbow, I was there. And I'm very grateful, but we gotta-" She was cut off as a large beast came from the shadows blocking their path. The beast seemed to be a lion with the tail of a scorpion and wings of a bat. "A manticore!" Twilight yelled out in surprise. She looked at her companions with determination. "We gotta get past him!"

The beast lunged forward and swiped at the white unicorn. She swiftly dodged and gave it a quick buck to the face.

"Take that you ruffian!" She yelled out with triumph. The beast easily regained his balance and gave a terrifying roar. The force of the roar caused Rarities hair to frizz up. "My hair!" She cried with annoyance, shortly neglecting the angry beast next to her. She quickly regained consciencness and ran from the beast. The yellow pegasus gave a small "wait", but she was simply ignored.

The beast continued to chase the unicorn until a small force landed on its back stopping it in it's tracks.

"Ye-haw!" Yelled the confident farmer Applejack. "Get along little doggie!" The beast started shaking and bucking around to throw the orange pony off. As the beast moved past Fluttershy she gave another small "wait", which was again ignored. Eventually, the manticore gave a buck hard enough to send the mare flying. She flew past the rainbow pegasus with an, "All yours partner."

The rainbow pegasus gave a nod of agreement and flew to the beast. Fluttershy once again gave a warning that was once again ignored. She continued to fly around it, hoping that flying fast enough around it could disorientate the animal. This attempt deemed useless as the beast easily swatted her away with its tail.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, concerned over the safety of her friend. The manticore scrapped its paw against the ground ready to attack. The four ponies stood in a line also ready to attack. They were almost into the fray into battle when Fluttershy burst in front of them with a loud "WAIIIIT!" The mares and manticore stopped firmly in their tracks.

Fluttershy then turned to the animal and slowly walked towards it. The beast swiftly lifted its paw to strike the yellow pegasus. The other ponies shielded their eyes from what they expected to be disaster.

"Shhh, its okay." Said Fluttershy with a caring voice. The other ponies watched as the manticore looked at the pegasus pony in pain and showed her his paw. A large thorn had been lodged deep into his flesh.

"Oh, you poor, poor little baby." She said with a motherly tone. The other ponies stood in amazement at how Fluttershy could be so brave next to the wild beast. "Now, this might hurt for just a second." She gripped the thorn with her teeth and quickly yanked it out of the manticore's paw. In a fit of pain it grabbed Fluttershy and gave a loud roar.

"Fluttershy!" The other four ponies stood in fear as they were sure the manticore was about to attack their friend. To their amazement the large beast started to purr and lick the pegasus pony's face.

"Oh, you're just a little old baby kitty now aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are." The other ponies trotted past the manticore while it was showing its appreciation for Fluttershy.

"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked as she walked by them.

"I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little bit of kindness." Twilight thought about this for a moment and just couldn't hold back a smile. They five mares continued to walk through the dark forest, desperately searching for the castle.

"Ugh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Came the persnickety voice of Rarity. As she said this aloud they found themselves in a deeper part of the forest, much darker than the rest.

"I didn't mean that literally." Replied Rarity, as she struggled to see in front of her.

"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't even know it!" Twilight exclaimed. The next few minutes were spent calling out to each other and apologizing for running into some pony.

"Oh wait, I think I stepped in something." Said Applejack in an annoyed tone. Fluttershy looked over at where Applejack was and froze with fear. She quickly regained her senses and gave a shrill shriek.

"It's just mud." Applejack said right before coming face to face with what really made Fluttershy scream. She quickly backed away to join the group to see that they were surrounded with many distorted and twisted faces. Panic came about the group as they randomly galloped in hopes to escape this horrid place.

After a few moments of hysteria the ponies found themselves outside of the darker forest.

"Is everypony here?" Applejack asked as she looked around. She watched as the other ponies came out of the woods.

"I can't find Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash. "I think she's still in there!" Worry came to the four ponies standing there. They started calling out Twilight's name to find her.

"Don't worry, I made it out!" Came a familiar voice from the other side of the distorted woods. "I think I'm close to the castle, just try and find another way around these woods!" She yelled. The other ponies shouted in agreement and began to wander around the woods for another way across.

"That's strange," said a confused and tired voice. "I was sure that it would be day by now, but the moon is still in the sky." Pinkie Pie stared up into the blackness of the night in thought. She was currently on her way to Ponyville with her wagon of goods. She blew some of her currently straightened hair out of her face.

"Oh, maybe the princess is playing a little prank on everypony! I sure do like pranks, but I could never do something this good!" The sudden thought of pulling funny tricks on ponies put her in a better mood. She hoped to have high spirits when she arrived at Ponyville. She looked out into the distance and saw the town about a mile away.

To lift her spirit, she started to sing some of the songs she enjoyed as a filly. One of the songs included a merry tune about laughing at what scares you most. As she sung that particular song a strange sense came to her. It was the same feeling she had when she moved away from her families farm. The one that told her to go to Ponyville. It was the same feeling, but it meant something else. It felt as if she was supposed to be somewhere. Somewhere important.

Pinkie simply shrugged off the feeling and continued to skip down the road to Ponyville. She was sure that whatever was to await her in the new town would be something great. Maybe she would meet some new friends who liked her parties as much as she does. Upon this thought her straight hair started to curl back up.

Twilight walked through the archway of the ancient castle ruins with triumph. After her departure from the other ponies, she had helped calm a water serpent by regrowing his ruined mustache with her magic and finally found the ancient castle of the pony sisters. She trotted through the open hallways and stood in awe as she saw the five Elements of Harmony.

Finally, after her long trek through the forest she had found the ancient artifacts that would stop Nightmare Moon and bring peace back to Equestria. Twilight gathered the elements around her and began to feed magical energy into them. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, but she had to do it soon. While she concentrated on giving energy to the five stones a dark entity of power slowly started to envelop them.

Twilight regained her conscience as the elements started to lift from the ground. Unwilling to give up, Twilight lunged for the elements, only to be caught in Nightmare's teleportation spell. After snapping out of her confusion Twilight found herself in one of the old castle towers.

At the end of the room stood Nightmare Moon surrounded by the elements of harmony. Nightmare stood triumphantly, as she had secured the only relics of magic that could stop her. Twilight was not about to let Nightmare to defeat her. She defiantly scraped her hoof against the ground ready to charge at Nightmare. Her horn started to faintly glow.

"You're kidding..... You're kidding, right?" To answer her question Twilight charged at Nightmare with all of her speed. Thinking of this to be an easy fight to win, Nightmare also charged at Twilight. Right before the two collided with each other Twilight used her teleportation spell to get her right between the elements.

"Just one spark." She said as she lowered her head to continued to feed the elements her magic. The stone relics started to glow and shake with magical power. Nightmare quickly moved to the elements and threw Twilight back with a magical discharge. Nightmare now stood in the circle of the elements as they lifted from the ground giving off mass amounts of magical power.

"No...NO!" Nightmare screamed as the elements surrounded her. Twilight smiled in confidence and triumph. Just as the elements reached their peak they fell to the ground losing all of their magical output. Twilight then looked at the stones in fear

"But, where's the sixth element!?" She asked as Nightmare started to laugh. Nightmare brought up her front hooves and brought them down with enough force to shatter the elements into several pieces.

"You little FOAL, thinking you could defeat me!" Nightmare said as she slowly walked towards Twilight. "Now you'll never see your princess or your sun. The night, will last, forever!" She finished with a victorious laugh.

"Elements or no elements, I will stop you Nightmare!" Twilight shakily stood up unsure of her words as the only things that could stop the mare of evil were deemed useless.

"Will you now?" Nightmare asked, amusement emanating from her voice. "I would love to hear just exactly how you plan to do it!" Twilight took a step back, unsure what to do.

"If you ask me, I think I'll make an example of you." Nightmare said as she menacingly approached Twilight. "I want my subjects to know what happens when you disobey my will!" A dark entity of magic started to form around Twilight. Fear was shown through her eyes as the darkness started to phase through her body. She could feel as her insides became colder. The lavender mare struggled to keep her conscious as the world started to fade away.

"I've......failed." With those two words to come from her mouth, she fell to the cold stone ground. Her body started to grow colder as the look of fear was still in her eyes. Twilight Sparkle was now dead.

"Do any of ya see Twilight anywhere?" Asked the concerned voice of Applejack. They had arrived at the castle ruins and were now looking for the lavender unicorn.

"Are you sure she's here? Maybe she hasn't made it yet." Replied the brash voice of Rainbow Dash. She was flying all around the castle looking for the missing mare.

"She was much farther ahead of us," Applejack replied. "There is no doubt that she would be here." They continued to search until the small voice of Fluttershy spoke up.

"I-I think I f-found her, she's in the tower over here." She said as she pointed out the window to the eastern tower. "She's n-not moving a-and she f-feels cold."

The four mare quickly headed toward the tower, hoping that the worst is not what they would find. Upon entry of the chamber they found the purple form of Twilight laying on the ground.

"Twilight....... Twilight. Are you okay?" Asked Applejack as she slowly walked towards the unmoving unicorn. "Twilight?" She put her hoof on Twilight and gently shook her. "Twilight, wake up."

The unicorn continued to lay there unmoving. The other ponies grew worried. Fluttershy covered her eyes as Applejack started to yell.

"Twilight, this ain't funny! Get up, we need to stop Nightmare. We need to stop......" The farm pony tried to clear her throat as she started to sob. She wanted to think that her friend was alright, but she knew the truth. She was dead. Possibly the only pony in Equestria who could have stopped Nightmare Moon was dead.

The other ponies around her also began to cry. Fluttershy and Rarity held their head in their hooves as tears streamed from their faces. Even Rainbow Dash had trouble holding back her tears.

"We should have been with her." Applejack said between sobs. "If we would have stayed with her, this wouldn't have happened." The four ponies sat around the still form of Twilight in sadness. Applejack looked at the ponies surrounding her.

"Come on y'all, we should get her back to Ponyville." The other mares quietly agreed and helped lift Twilight off the ground. Applejack looked up through the hole of the tower into the night sky.

"A'hm sorry we failed you Twilight." She said as she held up the unicorn's body. Things were going to be very different in Ponyville.

"So this must be Ponyville." Came a bright and bubbly voice. She stared up into the sky to see that it was still night. Even if it was a small prank the princess surely wouldn't keep the moon out for this long. She continued on her way down the streets of the small village.

"Where is everypony? Wasn't the Celebration being held here?" She looked around to see doors and windows shut tight, as if to keep out some horrible creature. Pinkie stopped at the edge of town. She saw four mares come out off the woods that lay at the edge of the village. They seemed to be carrying a purple ish unicorn. Pinkie quickly walked up to them.

"What happened here?" She asked. "I thought the princess was coming here to lift the sun and........who's that?" Pinkie pointed her hoof at the motionless unicorn they had been carrying. Applejack gave a small, sad sigh.

"Her name was Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. She tried to stop an evil mare named Nightmare Moon to bring back the day." Apple jack gave Pinkie a sad, tearful look. "An' we failed to be there for her." Pinkie looked at the unmoving mare and the sad looks coming from the others.

"No, that's terrible." She said hesitantly. "Is there anything I can help you with?" The farmer looked at the ground.

"Not much you can help with. We just need to get her back to the library. We have a baby dragon that needs to see her" As they trotted off towards the library, Pinkie felt something in her chest. It felt as if someone had stabbed her heart.

Heartache.......... She has never felt this Pinkiesense before. Her heart did sadden when she left her family, but this feeling was different. It was as if it was trying to tell her something.

Something important.