Nightmare's Return

by CanterlotGuardian

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Zecora, Alternate Universe, Sad, Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 11139

Nightmare Moon... returns?

This is the first story of The Nightmareverse. Now featured on Canterlot's Finest.

In times past, ponies would keep their fillies from being bad by telling them that if they didn't behave, Nightmare Moon would come back and get them. Of course, Nightmare Moon hasn't been back since the Elements of Harmony defeated her in Celestia's presence.

Twilight has had dreams of Nightmare Moon's return since her defeat, but she never thought they would actually come true. Then one day, she receives a rather odd visitor... And the chain of events to follow threatens to tear asunder everything that she holds dear.

(Takes place after A Canterlot Wedding. Also disregards events in the MLP graphic novels.)

Edited/pre-read by TheCloudtop and Chaodiurn. Featured four times, most recently on 22 July 2015!

Published 2013-03-06 23:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-22 22:02:12 UTC

When Your Whole World Shatters

“H-hello? Is anypony out there?”

Twilight’s hoof-falls were barely audible in the dark hallway. It was as though the walls were swallowing up every sound she made. Were she to scream… would the walls eat up that noise as well? She hoped not- or, more accurately, she hoped that she would not have a reason to scream in the first place.

She looked down the hallway, squinting to see anything that she could maybe recognize, something that would tell her just where she was. No such luck. It was blacker than night itself in that hallway.

Her horn flared a bright purple, as she mentally cast a spell to provide her with light. It seemed to not make any bit of difference, though, as it was just as dark then as it was before she began to use her magic. The light spell she was using, luckily, took almost no concentration to keep up, and it provided minimal taxation on her magical reserves. Thus, she wasn’t really worried about running out of magic, should she need it for something else later on.

She called out again: “Hello?” This time, her voice did not shake as much. “Can anypony hear me? Where am I?”

This time, she got a response. A sinister laugh echoed throughout the hallway- or, at least, she assumed it was a hallway. She had been walking for quite some time, so she could logically deduce that it was not a single room that she was confined to. That did not really matter at that point, though, for the laugh had chilled Twilight’s blood in her veins.

Figuratively, of course.

Twilight racked her brain, as the laugh continued to echo in her mind, though it had actually ended a few seconds earlier. She knew that she could recognize that laugh from somewhere… but where?

“I know I’ve heard that laugh before,” she said aloud. “It seems so familiar, and yet so distant…”

A voice came out from the darkness, and its timbre was much the same as the laugh she had just heard. “Of course, you recognize my voice, young Twilight,” it said. “I spoke to you directly, so many… moons ago.”

Twilight gasped in recognition. “Nightmare Moon!” she exclaimed.

The laugh could be heard again. “Yes… I have come to visit you again. My friend.”

“Ha,” Twilight responded, though there was no mirth in her voice as she uttered the false laugh. “Friend? After what you tried to do to me and my true friends? I would hardly use that word to describe the relationship between us-“

“I tried to do nothing to you,” the voice echoed, a bit more distant this time, “nor to your so-called “true” friends. My only goal was for eternal night to reign over Equestria. Would that be so bad, do you think?”

Suddenly, dark flames flared up all around Twilight, and she could see further in a dusky light. She saw a throne room, adorned with symbols that she vaguely remembered seeing in some ancient runic texts. The light played games with the shadows, causing them to contort into shapes and figures that Twilight could not recognize.

“You bring foul creatures of darkness to your throne room?” Twilight asked. She hoped her vocal inflection had come across as defiant, but from the look on her foe’s face, she had not achieved the intended effect.

“Foul creatures? What on Equestria would make you think that?” She smiled grimly. “Are your eyes playing tricks on you, student of my dear sister?”

This infuriated Twilight more than she thought she should have been. “Don’t you dare sully Princess Celestia's name by allowing it to cross your lips…” she growled. “You were cast out from her presence because of your deeds. Didn’t 1,000 years’ imprisonment on the moon teach you anything?”

Nightmare Moon laughed devilishly. “Oh yes, Twilight Sparkle, it taught me many things. More, in fact, than you could ever imagine.” The flames around her flared brighter, illuminating the whole room. Twilight gasped in shock as she beheld what she could not have seen before.

“It seems you are beginning to grasp the direness of the situation,” Nightmare said, grinning as she gestured to the five forms chained up to the wall of the room- more of a dungeon, Twilight could see now. “I have already incapacitated five of the six Elements. And now, all I need is you… for my work to finally be complete.”

She began to advance towards Twilight, and Twilight readied her magic in defense.

“It won’t matter at all,” Nightmare said, smirking. “Nothing you have ever worked for will matter at all after tonight… When my return to the world of the living will be complete!”

Twilight found herself lifted off her feet, and though she struggled mightily, she could not break the grip that Nightmare Moon’s magic now had upon her. She screamed a silent scream as she flew through the air, towards the only set of shackles that did not currently bind a pony to the walls. As soon as she had made contact with the wall, the chains snapped shut around her forelegs and hind legs, trapping her there. Again, Twilight tried to use her magic to unbind herself, or barring that, just to magic away the chains that held her.

She failed.

Nightmare laughed with evident mirth as she saw Twilight’s efforts to free herself. “Resistance is futile, young one,” she chanted. “Your friend Rarity tried much the same thing… I very quickly disabused her of that notion, as well.” In a mere moment, Nightmare Moon teleported herself across the room, going from being very distant to Twilight’s location to being eye-to-eye with her.

“And now… we begin.” She cackled as her horn glowed with an ominous light, and as she deftly dipped her head down to touch Twilight’s horn with her own-

Twilight’s eyes flew open and she bolted upright in her bed. She was drenched with a cold night-sweat that clung desperately to the individual hairs of her usually well-kept coat. Now, though, hairs were out of place everywhere from where she had been tossing and turning in the throes of her night terror. Her mane and tail were much the same way.

She looked around her in horror, her mind racing a million miles a minute. She had to take in her surroundings for a good five minutes or so, just in order to reassure herself that she was not in the dungeon that she had been in during her dream.

When she was sufficiently aware of where she was, she flopped back down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was still breathing quite heavily, and her heartbeat had not yet begun its descent to a normal resting pace.

A few seconds later, Spike poked his head out of his covers, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Hmm…? Twilight? Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not…” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “This is the third time in the past two weeks that I’ve had a nightmare involving… well, Nightmare.”

“Nightmare Moon again?” Spike already knew the answer to that question, though. The first time that Twilight had her Nightmare Moon dream, she had been nearly inconsolable upon awakening. The second time was not as bad, but just barely so. In fact, she was taking it remarkably well this time around.

“Yes,” Twilight said softly. “I fear she may be returning soon… Though for what, I know not.”

“Well, it’s not eternal night all across Equestria yet, is it?” Spike said, no discernible hint of sarcasm in his voice. “So technically, she has that one really big reason to come back.”

“That is true… But why would she pick now to do it?” She sat up and swung her legs around so they were hanging down off the side of the bed. Spike always found it funny when she did that; it made her look like Lyra sitting on the park bench. “The Elements are still around, and we’re more powerful now than we were even back then, when we defeated her the first time.”

“She doesn’t know that, though, does she?”

“I wouldn’t put anything past her, Spike.”  Twilight hopped down off the bed, all four legs making contact with the wooden floor, making soft “pomf” noises as they impacted. She stretched a little bit, trying to get the last bit of blood flow back to her limbs, as they had locked up on her during her marathon tossing and turning session.

When she was done doing that, she walked over to a door and opened it. The night air flowed in, and Twilight closed her eyes momentarily in silent appreciation of such a simple, and yet so pleasurable, sensation.

“You’ve always loved that, haven’t you?” Spike asked. Again, he already knew the answer to that. Twilight had told Spike multiple times of her love for the cool night air. Spike had always thought that she would like the morning air better, with her being Celestia’s student and all, but not one single time had he ever voiced this to her. He dared not see her reaction to that sentiment.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, maybe a bit sheepishly. “You know, Spike, you and I have been through so much… More than I have with any of my other friends, and I’ve known them just about as long as I’ve known you.”

“Well yeah, that’s because you were there when I hatched, silly.” Spike laughed a bit. “Oh, what a day that was. I was safe and snug in my egg, and all of a sudden- bam! The shell gets rocketed out from around me, and then there I am, sitting on a little bit of egg-shell that was left underneath me. I’m seeing all these ponies that I had no idea who they were, much less what they were. I mean, I was only about ten seconds out of my egg, mind you.”

Twilight giggled as she remembered the scene he was recounting. The day that she got her cutie mark, as well as being the day of Spike’s hatching.

“And then…” Spike paused for a second, as though trying to figure out what would be just the right thing to say in that particular situation. “I saw you.”

“What’d you think, then?” Twilight asked, her curiosity taking over her.

“I can’t remember exactly. It was quite a while ago. But if I knew myself, and if I was anything back then like I am today, it was probably something like, ‘Wow, did she do that? That’s amazing…’”

Twilight giggled softly for a second. “It really was amazing, but I had no idea what I was doing. And then when my magic went out of control, I turned you into a giant dragon…”

“Yeah, you know the funny part about that? I guess it was because it actually wasn’t an aging spell that you put on me, but I didn’t actually remember anything about that until Celestia used some spell to show me what had happened. Man, I got big, and really quickly too!”

Twilight was about to say something, but she cut herself off before she could even start, and her smile faded into a frown. “And now all I’m thinking about is those nightmares again. I just can’t get them out of my mind…”

“Then send another letter to Princess Celestia, and let her know about your fears.”

She sighed. “I already have. Multiple times. In fact, I think Celestia’s getting kind of annoyed with me sending her so many letters. It’s always a variant of the same response every time, too: Nightmare Moon is not returning, so don’t worry about it.” She shivered a bit. “I can’t help but feel, though, that it really and truly is going to be happening soon. I just can’t shake this dread…”

Spike sat down beside her and rested his head against her leg. “You’ll think of something. I’m sure of it. You always think of just the right thing to do in every situation. Like that one time when-“

“Spike.” Twilight looked down at Spike, and her assistant looked up at her as well, just in time to see a familiar gleam creep into Twilight’s eyes. “I have an idea.”

“I kinda figured that,” Spike retorted. “That’s usually what it means when you get that light in your eyes. So what’s your idea?” He stretched as he finished the last part of his sentence.

Twilight smiled. “We’re taking a little journey.”

“Hope it’s not too long. I don’t want to miss my afternoon nap again today.”

She stuck her tongue out at her assistant. “You’ll be able to sleep all you want on the way there and back. Besides… you never have liked the Everfree Forest, have you?”

Twilight approached the old-looking shack with deferent hoof-steps. She didn’t really expect Zecora to be mad at her for showing up unannounced, but still she wanted to be respectful to the zebra shaman. Zecora had taught her so much about magic and about life lessons in general, and Twilight felt she owed her quite a bit.

Naturally, Zecora didn’t feel that Twilight owed her anything, but- as Twilight thought- that was probably why they got along so well. It wasn’t like Zecora was lording anything over her.

She knocked on the door a bit more quietly than was probably necessary, but she also had Spike to think about. He had taken Twilight’s advice to heart, and had fallen asleep shortly after they had departed for the Forest. His face was pressed up against the clasp of the bag that Twilight had slung over her shoulder before leaving, which meant that he’d have a decent-quality impression of Twilight’s cutie mark on his forehead when he woke up.

She’d gotten the bag as a Hearth’s Warming gift from Derpy a few years back, and she loved it so much that she’d been using it for just about everything ever since.

She could hear Zecora coming up to the door. “Who is at my door this eve?” came the voice from the other side. “If you’re a boogeypony, I suggest you leave!”

Twilight chuckled a bit. “No boogeyponies out here, Zecora. It’s just me. Twilight.”

She could hear laughter as the door opened up from the inside. “This I know, my dear friend. It was all a joke in the end.”

Twilight stepped inside Zecora’s hut and closed the door quietly. Zecora turned to ask why she was being so quiet, but before she could say anything she noticed Spike asleep in her bag.

She smiled. “The young one it seems could not stay awake, though it was quite the long journey to make.” Twilight nodded in assent and took the bag off gently, placing it down softly near the door. Spike always did like the softness of the moonlight, and if it helped him to sleep better, then what was Twilight to deny him that?

By the time Twilight had turned her attention back to Zecora, the zebra had already gotten out two of her special cups and filled them up with a very aromatic tea. Twilight’s eyes glistened as she walked over to the table; she’d had Zecora’s tea many a time before, and she knew how good it was. She carefully picked up her cup with her hooves and took a sip, as it was still hot. She closed her eyes and smiled, as the dual tastes of apples and cinnamon trickled down her throat as she swallowed.

“How does my concoction taste?” Zecora asked. “I hope my talents have not gone to waste.”

Twilight smiled. “They most certainly have not, my friend. Your tea is just as good as always.” She looked over at Spike, still sound asleep in her bag. Suddenly, something occurred to her. “Hey, Zecora. Why are you up so late, anyways? I would figured you’d be asleep by now.”

“I have never had much need for sleep,” Zecora responded, “for I enjoy the night, so dark and deep.”

The mention of the night brought back the images of Nightmare Moon into Twilight’s mind, and she shivered involuntarily. Zecora noticed this, being as watchful as she was.

“What troubles you so, if I may know?”

As much as Twilight didn’t want to tell her, she knew that it was the entire reason why she had come to Zecora that night. So, she swallowed deeply and began from the beginning, first relating the story of how the Elements had defeated Nightmare Moon (though she was sure Zecora already knew all of that), going up through the beginning of the nightmares, and finally ending with that most recent appearance that had prompted Twilight to make the journey into the Everfree Forest to see Zecora.

Zecora listened patiently as Twilight poured her heart out to her, only speaking when she was sure that Twilight had said her full piece. “It makes sense that you would be here, with your heart being in so much fear.”

Twilight sighed. “I just didn’t know who else to turn to, Zecora. You’ve been so helpful in the past, giving me wisdom when I needed it most. And… well, I need it pretty badly right now, too.”

Zecora nodded thoughtfully. “It seems to me that Nightmare Moon, may not even be returning soon.”

That was good news for Twilight. At least Zecora was saying this with a level head. “Why do you think that, Zecora?”

“Nightmare Moon has lost her power, thanks to you and your friends in that hour. You banished her to Celestia knows where, and since then she’s remained there.”

“But that’s the thing, Zecora. Nightmare Moon is no more, or so we thought anyways. The Elements of Harmony combined to turn Princess Luna back into the way she was before she became Nightmare Moon. So technically, Nightmare Moon shouldn’t exist anymore… should she?”

“If what you are saying is right, then peace should have already come to the night.”

“But it hasn’t…” Twilight sounded like she was about to be on the verge of tears. “It hasn’t been that way at all. At least, not for me.”

“Let me ask you a question, then. Has this same dream come to any of your friends?”

Twilight was about to answer in the negative, when she realized that Zecora had a point. The others hadn’t said anything about Nightmare Moon coming to them in their dreams, but they might be just as scared as she was about it. They might not want to talk to her about it at all.

“Have any of them come to you about it, Zecora?”

“None of them have come to me, but some of them are still scared, you see.”

“Not any of the Elements. Though some of the other Ponyville residents might still be…” Twilight looked up at Zecora, a steely determination suddenly filling her eyes. “I knew it was the right decision to come to you. Thank you so much!”

Zecora smiled. “It is always a pleasure to assist; it is how we Equestrians peaceably coexist.” Twilight smiled and walked the few steps to Zecora, hugging her tightly; Zecora returned the gesture, still smiling. Twilight dropped down onto all fours, and was about to go and get her bag to leave when Zecora stopped her. “Before you leave this night, I have something I want you to try.”

Twilight turned to face her again. “Oh? What’s that?”

Zecora walked over to her potions cabinet and got one out; she nodded, and Twilight levitated it over to her with her magic. “This is a potion I made, that might be to you an aid. Drink this when you get home tonight, and no dreams will come to you to fright.”

Twilight smiled graciously. “I was going to ask you if you had something like this… Thank you so much. Let’s hope it works for me.” Still holding it above her head, she went over and put on her bag, slipping the potion into a side pocket. She smiled at Zecora and walked out the door, Zecora waving at her as she left.

A few hours had passed by the time Twilight got back to her library home. Spike had stirred a few times on the journey back, but eventually he’d gone back to sleep each time, just like Twilight had thought he was going to do. Twilight smiled as she levitated Spike over to his bed, placing him inside and covering him up snugly with his favorite blanket.

“He’s really out cold…” Twilight said softly with a smile. “It’s almost like that one night when he stayed up all night at Pinkie’s birthday party-“

A thought occurred to her suddenly, which caused her to stop in dumbfounded shock. “Oh no! I can’t believe I forgot all about it! Scootaloo’s birthday party was tonight! Oh no, I hope I didn’t miss it…” She bolted out the door, running headlong in the direction of the Cake’s bakery, which was where the party was being held at.

As she got closer to the door of the bakery, she could see wild lights waving all about inside. That, coupled with the thumping music emanating from behind those closed doors, reassured her greatly that the party was indeed still in full swing. She slowed down to a walk and, trying to catch her breath from running all the way there, opened up the door.

Naturally, she was greeted immediately by Pinkie Pie.

“Welcome to the party, Miss Latey-Pants! Oh!” She found herself suddenly enveloped in a giant hug. “Twilight! We were all wondering if you were ever going to show up! Good thing I convinced Vinyl to keep this party going for a bit longer!”

Twilight smiled a bit. “Sorry about that, Pinkie. I actually completely forgot about the party. I had gone out to see Zecora for something and… well, I guess the time just got away from me.”

Pinkie was looking at her oddly now. “Wait, wait. You only go see Zecora when you have something really heavy weighing on your mind… Hold on a second.” She bounded off in the direction of the refreshment table, and she came back not with drinks, but with Applejack and Rarity. Twilight smiled at them each in turn.

“So, sugarcube,” Applejack began, “Pinkie here tells me that ya’ve been to see Zecora.”

“How is she, by the way?” Rarity interjected. “I have not spoken to her hardly at all in quite some time…”

“She is… well, about the same as she always is,” Twilight responded, smiling. “And yes, I did just come back from visiting her. I had to speak to her regarding a particular issue I’ve been having to deal with lately.”

“Issue?” said a familiar voice from up above her. “You haven’t told any of us about any issue, have you?” Dash looked to the others for confirmation, and got what she was looking for. She turned her attention back to Twilight. “So...? ‘Fess up: why haven’t you come to any of us about this, but you’re more than willing to go to Zecora for advice?”

Twilight’s face fell, and they could all tell she was probably about to cry. This caused them all to glare at Rainbow Dash, who adopted a “What’d I do?” look on her face.

“It’s fine, really…” Twilight said, her voice down low. “I kinda figured you’d react like this. I mean,  you all were such a big part of it all, and for me to keep it from you… It seems wrong somehow-“

She suddenly found herself being pulled out the door by Rainbow Dash, and the others were following her looking a bit confused. As Dash forced her out the now-open door, she saw that Fluttershy had joined them, and wondered for the briefest of moments where in Equestria she’d come from.

As quickly as Dash had started dragging her, she stopped once Twilight was all the way outside. The door closed, muffling the thumping bass lines coming from inside.

“I’m confused about something,” Pinkie said, trying to clean out her ears with the tip of her hoof. “What exactly were we a part of? Or did you not tell anypony that yet?”

“She hadn’t said yet,” Rarity responded. “But you will tell us… won’t you?”

“Of course I will…” She looked down at the ground, ashamed of her actions. “I just thought… well, I thought it was just so silly and stupid, that none of you all would take it as seriously as I’ve been taking it…”

Applejack stepped up and placed a comforting hoof around her shoulder. “Now why on earth would ya think that, sugarcube? We’re your friends, aren’t we? So whatever has got you so down in the dumps, maybe we can help ya out with it? Ever thought of that?”

“I have, but… I know that you all have your own problems that you have to deal with, and-“

“Darlin’ your problems are our problems, too. You’re one of our dearest friends, and besides that you’re the most important member of the Elements. Remember that? You’re the one who’s holdin’ this all together. So just come out with it already. What’s botherin’ ya?”

Twilight swallowed deeply as she faced the friends she should have come to all along. “It’s… these dreams that I’ve been having. Three times in two weeks, and every time it’s the same basic theme…” She paused to collect herself, then finished her thought. “Every time, it ends with Nightmare Moon returning to rule Equestria again.”

There was an almost deathly silence over the group for a few moments, only broken by the sound of Rainbow Dash bursting into wild laughter.

“Oh… oh wow… Th-that’s what you were worried about this whole time?” She had to stop her actual words due to now laughing so hard, she couldn’t get anything out. The rest of the ponies in the group were glaring at her, but she was too busy cackling to even notice.

Rarity was the first to speak after the outburst. “Rainbow Dash…” she said chidingly, “you know better than to laugh at our good friend like that. Though-“ She shifted her attention back to Twilight. “-Dash does have a point. Why on earth would you be worried about that? You saw just as well as we did, how the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon for good. That’s that.”

“Yeah! And even if Nightmare Moon did return, why couldn’t we just use the Elements again and seal her away this time too?” Pinkie was bouncing up and down as she normally did when forced to stand still for a long period of time against her will. Of course, nopony was actually forcing her to do this, but she wasn’t thinking about that at that point.

“I’ve thought about all of that…” Twilight admitted, “but still I can’t shake that feeling. I know it’s highly improbable, though I wouldn’t say impossible because statistically speaking, nothing is impossible… which is honestly what really gets me. It’s not impossible, which means it is possible, which means-“

“Sugarcube,” Applejack interjected before Twilight could get off on one of her rants that involved big smart words that nopony besides her- and maybe Derpy, who usually was able to freely converse with Twilight when she was around for one of her faux-intelligentsia discourses- were able to understand, “ya gotta listen to us. We ain’t just hopped off the apple cart yesterday. And I think deep down, ya know that too.” She took a breath to collect her thoughts a bit further. “So what did Zecora say when ya went ta talk ta her?”

“Well… she said pretty much the same thing that you all did. That I really shouldn’t worry about it because of the work that the Elements did-“

“And she’s absolutely right!” Rainbow butted in, apparently done with her laughing fit at Twilight’s initial pronouncement. “We kicked Nightmare Moon’s flank that night! There shouldn’t be any doubt that she won’t be coming back. I mean, has Princess Luna disappeared any time lately? Nope. And why is that? Because she’s not Nightmare Moon anymore. She’s just Princess Luna again. So there, problem solved.”

Just then, Derpy stuck her head out the door. “Hey, Rarity! You… comin’ back in, or am I gonna have to *hic* drag you in…?”

Rarity flushed a little bit at Derpy’s words. “Oh my… I’d completely forgotten that I was supposed to be designated pony for Miss Hooves tonight… If you all will excuse me.” She turned to leave, but not before placing a comforting hoof on Twilight’s foreleg. “Don’t you worry about a thing, darlin’. Nightmare Moon isn’t coming back. That much, I can promise you.” She smiled kindly at Twilight, who did her best to return the gesture. With that, she slipped inside, calling out to Derpy to come back to her as she entered the party room. The music grew louder for a moment with the opening of the door, then fell back down to a dim roar as it closed again.

Rainbow turned to look at Twilight again, as she’d turned around to make sure Rarity got inside ok. “Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to get back in there and party some more! Anypony else comin’ with me?”

“Oh, you bet!” Pinkie started hopping up and down again though pretty much everypony could tell this time it was from excitement about getting back to the party. “I’ve got to greet more ponies, and plus there’s this mare that’s been eyeing me from across the party all night. I wish I knew her name. She looks so much like me. She’s a pegasus, though…”

Pinkie led the way, with the others following closely behind her. Even Twilight went in with them, in spite of her true want to go back to the library and go straight to sleep. She’d come out to wish Scootaloo a happy birthday, and she was going to make sure she wasn’t going to leave without doing that.

Although, if she’d really be honest with herself, she was more concerned about not having another nightmare that night, than anything else.

Almost four hours later, the door to Twilight’s library opened up silently. Twilight stumbled inside, closing the door gently with her magic. She’d spent way longer at the party than she’d expected herself to be there for, but she wasn’t intoxicated in any way. Not that she didn’t want to be, though; in fact, she caught herself drinking quite a bit with Rarity and Derpy throughout the night, who at one point had disappeared only to return about half an hour later not wanting to say anything about where they’d been or what they’d been doing.

For some reason, though, she couldn’t even catch a buzz, even though the Apple family had donated some of their best distilled hard apple cider for the occasion- not for Scootaloo herself, or at least it wasn’t intended for her. Rainbow Dash had naturally slipped her a glass or two, just to see if she’d like it. She did.

Twilight yawned as she started to ascend the stairs that would take her up to her bedroom. As she walked quietly, so as not to disturb Spike’s beauty rest, she thought she heard somepony walking around in her room, but she assumed it was probably Spike just getting up to close the window he habitually left open, or maybe he had to go use the little dragon’s room.

Whatever it was, she paid no serious mind to it.

When she got to her room, she turned the doorknob and went inside. She went straight over to her bed and flopped down onto it. She sighed in relief as she snuggled down into her mattress. She was just about to let the deep, beautiful darkness of sleep wash over her when she heard the door open.

“Hrmm…?” she muttered sleepily. “Spike…? Is that you…?”

After a moment came the reply: “This little dragon you keep here is not the one who wants your ear.” Immediately, Twilight recognized the voice and her eyes snapped open. If she was tired at all before, now she was back awake.

“Zecora?” she asked, sitting up and propping herself up against the backboard of her bed. “What on earth are you doing here at this time? And why are you in my house to begin with? I don’t remember giving you permission to come in. How long have you been here?”

“So many questions…” Zecora muttered. “Too many, if you ask me…”

Twilight was about to respond, when something occurred to her, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Hold on a second… Zecora has never not rhymed when she speaks. You just said two sentences back-to-back, and they didn’t rhyme.”

The thing that called herself Zecora smiled. “Oh, darn. I didn’t think I’d slip up this soon. No matter. You would be better off knowing what I truly am, anyways.” A green light enveloped her, coming from the ground up as it completely encased her. When the light had gone away, a very familiar form stood before Twilight, grinning.

“Well now, Twilight Sparkle… Now, things start to get interesting.”

Looking For A Distant Light

Twilight stared at the creature before her. That was the best term that she could use for her; she wasn’t exactly a pony, Twilight knew. She had something else mixed in. Changeling. She was the queen of the Changelings, after all. Her eyes were met by those of her visitors, a spark flaring to life in those green irises.

Her fangs poked out from her tight-lipped smile, and Twilight knew that she couldn’t be up to any good. Still, she didn’t dare look away.

“Why did you choose to take the form of Zecora?” she finally asked, finding her voice after her initial bout of shell-shocked silence.

“The zebra fascinates me,” Chrysalis replied, not losing her wry grin. “And besides that, I was following you ever since you and your little dragon left your house to go out into the Everfree forest. The whole way there, I was above you. While you talked with her, I stood outside her hut, watching you try in desperation to get answers about your problems. And while you came back, I was not too far behind you.”

“Were you following me all the way to the party?” Twilight asked with some trepidation. She feared what Chrysalis’ answer was going to be. What more havoc could she wreak if she had seen some of the other ponies that were at the party? Maybe it would give the Changelings even more ammunition in their constant war against the ponies, more forms they could morph into in order to fool the unsuspecting populace.

“There was no reason for me to do so. I simply stayed here until you returned, then assumed the form of your zebra friend before you entered.”

Twilight’s brain was starting to work again, and even more questions were flooding her mind. She wanted to ask them all at once, but she didn’t want to turn Chrysalis off from the conversation. Maybe if she kept the Changeling queen talking long enough, she could figure out how to get her out of her house and back on her way.

She had no way of knowing whether or not this plan would work, but it was the only thing she could come up with, so she had to go with it for the moment at least.

“Do your changelings know you’re here?” She regretted the question almost as soon as she asked it. Of all the questions that she could have proposed to Chrysalis, that one had to be the first one…?

Chrysalis smirked. “Of course they do, and they’ve taken the proper safety precautions to guard until my arrival back in our homeland. My Changelings know everyplace I go, and vice versa. We are never without our connection.”

“I thought you were expelled, though, after Princess Cadence and my brother’s wedding… How did you get back here?”

The Changeling queen’s grin faltered for a moment, as the unpleasant memories of her defeat at the hooves of Shining Armor and his powerful spell that ricocheted herself and the Changelings away from the Canterlot royal hall. She didn’t let this get at her for very long though, and after a moment or two, her grin was back as though it had never left.

“That was a very unfortunate setback, and one that I admit I had not thoroughly planned for. After our defeat, we went back to our home to plan our next attack.” She sighed, slipping her fangs back inside her mouth. “That attack never happened, though.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked, still trying to buy time.

“We were too weak, and our numbers were decimated in the attack. Thanks to the pink one using you as… some kind of rapid-fire spell machine, my Changelings were defeated far quicker than I could have ever thought possible. I had hoped to bolster our forces by the time the planned attack was to be carried out, but obviously that didn’t happen.”

Curiosity overtook Twilight at this point. “How exactly did you plan on creating the new forces you needed for the attack?”

The look in Chrysalis’ eyes now was one of pity, as though a teacher was looking down upon a student who just couldn’t quite grasp the subject matter at hand. “How do you think it happens? I give birth to them. I’m not called queen of the Changelings for nothing. It’s not just a title.” She tried to put on the sneer that had been on her face for the first part of the conversation, but it just didn’t seem- to Twilight, anyways- to come as easy as it had.

She decided not to press the issue at the moment. Instead, she slipped out of her bed and stretched a bit, yawning. She knew she had to sleep but at the same time, thought it rather impossible with Chrysalis standing in her bedroom.

“Can you at least tell me why you’re here?” Twilight asked after a moment. “As far as I was told, you and your Changelings were banned from Canterlot and its surrounding areas- which, may I remind you, includes Ponyville- after your failed attempted coup d'état at the wedding. So you’re automatically taking a huge risk in coming here to see me.”

Chrysalis finally let her wry smile fade away, and a depressed frown replaced it. It was only then, that Twilight noticed that the queen looked to be very tired like she was. She wasn’t manifesting any other kind of outward symptoms besides the tired look in her face and eyes, but Twilight recognized it immediately. She knew what it meant; she was having to deal with the same thing herself, at that particular moment.

“Is everything alright?” Twilight asked in spite of herself. Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered why in Equestria she had asked that. This was an evil queen who was standing in her room, and here she was, asking her if she was ok. Have you lost your mind, Twilight? This is totally not what you need to be doing…

Chrysalis’ face shifted back into its normal smug façade. “Did you really just ask me that, Twilight Sparkle?” She laughed condescendingly as she faced Celestia’s protégé head-on. “You’ve grown much too soft, even more so since we last fought.”

Twilight backed up a bit, defensively. “I’m not soft. And even if I was, it’s still better than what you are…”

An almost seductive smile crept over Chrysalis’ face. “Oh really, now? So you know sooo much about me, do you?” She started walking towards Twilight at a slow creeping pace. “Tell me, then… What am I?”

For some reason, Twilight found herself getting a bit flustered at the way Chrysalis was looking at her. Did she have some sort of mind powers or something else that Twilight didn’t know about? As it was, she was barely able to choke out her answer: “You’re… a devil…”

“Oh? Is that so? Well then, I guess that makes my Changelings my demons then, doesn’t it?” She kept on coming towards Twilight, still with that look on her face. “And maybe you’d like to meet my demons again… You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

Twilight looked desperately around for anypony to come save her. She saw nopony, though. Not even-

“Where’s Spike?” Twilight cried out a bit pitifully. “What did you do with him?”

“Me?” Chrysalis asked with an innocent tone. “Why on earth would I want to do anything to your pitiful little dragon? It’s not like he is of any threat to me at all…” She grinned again. “Nothing like you. He is small, weak. You, on the other hand… could probably pose a pretty big threat to me and my work, if you were to actually want to do anything about it…”

The rage in Twilight’s eyes was becoming more and more evident by the minute. If Chrysalis expected her to believe that she hadn’t done anything with Spike, then the Changeling queen was more of a fool than Twilight had expected her to be. She had to have done something with Spike… didn’t she?

“Your Changelings took him, didn’t they?” She spit those words out with as much venom as she could muster, though they ultimately fell short of the rage that she was truly feeling inside. “If they harm him in any way…”

“You’ll do what?” Chrysalis said tauntingly. “You’ll do nothing, because you never could do anything. You’ve been relying for far too long on your book-reading to get you by in life. You’ve never tried to put any of that into application. And that is why even your unicorn counterpart- what was her name? Rarity, I believe- is stronger than you  when it comes to that. Simply put, any unicorn in Equestria will eventually turn out to be better than you, because of that simple fact.”

She spat on the ground. “Why do you think I’ve hated Celestia for so long? She makes all of her students weak sheep, unable to function out in the real world. They’re too dependent on knowledge to feel important, and who do they get that knowledge from? Celestia, of course.”

Twilight’s rage built up more and more by the second, and her eyes began to glow a pale grey-green color. “Do… not… talk about Princess Celestia like that…”

Chrysalis smiled coyly. “Or you’ll do what? That’s my point, Twilight. You can’t do anything. Not to stop me, not to stop Nightmare Moon when she returns, not-“

Almost immediately, Twilight’s eyes returned back to normal, and she visibly recoiled. “Wh-what did you just say? D…did you just say something about Nightmare Moon’s returning?”

Chrysalis grinned again. “Well, that got your attention, now didn’t it? As a matter of fact, that is the reason why I wanted to come to you to begin with. See, the truth is-“

A very familiar voice came from behind Twilight: “The only truth you need to know, is that you are not supposed to be here. And I have just the thing to remedy that.” Before either of them could even react, a solid bolt of energy flashed past Twilight and struck Chrysalis straight in the chest. She reared back and readied a blast of her own, but a second bolt struck her before she could even get all the way readied. Enraged, she spread her wings and pivoted, flying out the window. She barely avoided the third and fourth magic bolts as she flew away, crying curses as she sped towards the horizon.

Twilight turned and looked at her savior, though she already knew who it was. She smiled when she saw the familiar white form that stood in front of her now, and she couldn’t help but think that it had been an eternity since she’d smiled like that. Her encounter with Chrysalis had taken that much out of her.

She bowed in deference. “Princess Celestia… thank you.”

Celestia looked concerned as she scanned the horizon, but she managed a brief smile for Twilight’s benefit. Her horn glowed briefly, and Twilight could sense the surge of power that always accompanied Celestia’s use of magic in the area. It was active for only a moment or two, before the glow died down, and the magic level in the area began to equalize itself again.

“Okay…” Celestia said softly. Seeing the inquisitive look on Twilight’s face, she continued: “I was casting a spell to make sure that Chrysalis or her Changelings weren’t still in the area. It appears she has fled for good… for now.”

Twilight tried to force herself to relax, but she simply couldn’t get her muscles to de-tense. Just then, a small purple face poked itself from around the back part of Celestia’s hind leg, and Twilight couldn’t help but let out an excited squee.

“Spike!” she shouted gaily. “You’re alive!”

“Well yeah…” Spike muttered. “Why wouldn’t I be…?”

Twilight rushed over to him and hugged him close to her. Her outburst of emotion surprised even herself. Spike blushed faintly, but embraced her back.

“Your assistant here came and got me, as soon as he saw that Chrysalis had come back,” Celestia explained. “That is why he was not here when you returned. It had nothing to do with Chrysalis or her Changelings harming him in any way… though I cannot blame you for thinking that. You had no knowledge to the contrary.”

Twilight looked up at Celestia, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye. “I… I didn’t know what to do. If you hadn’t have shown up… I don’t know what would have happened.”

“I understand,” Celestia replied with a kindly smile. “It was hard enough for you to take on Chrysalis the first time, and that was with the other Elements at your side. Having to face her one-on-one is probably something you wish not to repeat. It is good fortune that Spike was able to get to me when he did, so that nothing of harm would come to you.”

It was only then that Twilight remembered something that Chrysalis had told her. “Chrysalis mentioned her, you know. Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia’s smile faded. “I heard her say that, right before I intervened. I wonder why, though... Did she know something about her that you or I did not?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “She never got around to telling me why, before you came along and saved me.”

Her smile returned, and she laid a comforting hoof atop Twilight’s head, ruffling her mane affectionately. “If I had to take a guess, Twilight, she was simply using Nightmare Moon’s name to scare you into doing something that she could later take advantage of. As far as I can tell, she failed in that regard.” She looked around outside, but saw nothing except the placid night sky. “Would you like me to dispatch a few of my guards to keep watch over you tonight? Just in case she comes back, I mean…”

Twilight smiled. “No thank you, though I appreciate the gesture. I’ll be fine, I think. If I have to, I’ll ask Fluttershy or one of them to stay here with me tonight.” Celestia nodded and gave Twilight one last quick hug, before taking to the air and flying out the window.

She looked down at Spike. “Did you and Celestia get in through the window?”

Spike nodded. “We didn’t want Chrysalis to notice us before Celestia was ready to blast her.” Twilight nodded; that much made sense. Suddenly, she swooned on her feet, her eyes closing rapidly. Spike hurried to help her over to the bed, and with his help she made it. She collapsed on the bed and in moments was soon asleep.

Spike walked over to his bed, feeling very much tired himself. As he settled in, though, a voice echoed through his head, one that chilled him to the bone.

“Soon, my young one… You will all know the new world that she will bring upon you…”

Someone Who Could Save A Life

As daylight broke the next day, Spike’s eyes opened slowly. As he did so, the events of the previous evening came rushing back to him, and he suddenly found himself wanting to tuck himself into his covers, burrow down as deeply as he possibly could, and never come back out.

He thought about those deadly green eyes, and how they seem to look straight through Twilight, as though she was looking not at her face but into her very inner being. He thought about the smirk on her face, as though what she was talking about was some sort of cosmic in-joke and Twilight just happened to be out of the loop.

More than anything, though, he thought about the voice that he had heard inside his head after Celestia had left. What did it mean? It was so odd. The voice had almost sounded like Chrysalis’ regular voice... and yet it had a much more sinister timbre behind it. It was almost as though somepony else was talking through her, simply using her as a channel, and-

“Hmm? Spike...?”

Spike looked up at Twilight’s bed and smiled. “Hey there,” he replied softly. “How did you sleep? You know... after all that?”

Twilight rubbed her eyes sleepily, though Spike figured that to be more of a side-effect of her just waking up than anything else. “You know something? I actually slept better than I thought I would. You’re right, though... Last night was really... something else.”

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Spike asked, a concerned look coming over his face. “You’re acting awfully calm for somepony who’s just had quite possibly the most harrowing experience of their life happen to them, and only a few hours ago at that.”

Twilight had to smile at Spike’s concern. “Yeah, you’re right. That would be something to be concerned about, if I were at all calm about this situation. I think, though, that a more appropriate term would be... in shock.” This made Spike feel a little bit better, at least. Maybe she hadn’t come completely unhinged, like she had when she thought that she had nothing to write to Celestia about and went just about permanently insane as a result. Only Celestia’s own explanation had been able to back Twilight away from going in the deep end for good.

Spike was about to say something else, when he heard a small clutter from downstairs. He silenced himself immediately, and pointed in the direction of the stairs. Twilight nodded silently, confirming that she had heard the disturbance, as well. Spike could tell that they were having the same thought: what if Chrysalis had come back for them?

Twilight got out of bed slowly, so as not to potentially cause another fainting spell like the one she’d had the evening previous. Her steps were unsteady at first, but as she regained her balance she began to move more purposefully. She and Spike descended the stairs quietly; on the off-chance that their unwanted guest from the night before had returned, they did not want to prematurely let on to the fact that they were aware of her presence.

When they were downstairs, Twilight held up a hoof to her mouth, mimicking a silent “shush” motion. Spike gave her a deadpan look of sorts, as if to ask her, “What, do you really think I’m going to be a loudmouth and screw this up?” With that, Twilight turned her focus once again to-

“Why is she in the kitchen?” Twilight asked with the barest of inflections, and in a whisper so soft that Spike almost didn’t hear what she said. He simply shrugged in response, trying to stick as close to the original protocol as possible. From what Celestia had told him the night before regarding the Changelings, their hearing was their most valued asset- aside from their shapeshifting, of course. And even Spike recognized that if the Changelings’ hearing was that acute, then the sense of their queen was undoubtedly so, as well.

Twilight held up a hoof, signaling for Spike to stop, and he did so. She seemed to be readying herself for something, more than likely to confront her guest. She did a silent count to three, then burst into the kitchen, magic at the ready. Spike was only a step or so behind her. What they both saw there, confused and bewildered them.

“There’s nopony here!” Twilight exclaimed. “I know I heard noises, and you did too, so... where in Equestria did they go?”

“C-can she turn invisible?” Spike asked, stuttering a bit. “We already know she can turn into anypony that she wants... Maybe she’s got more powers than just that at her disposal.”

Twilight allowed herself to shudder. “If she does... We certainly do have our work cut out for us.” Just then, her ears perked up. “Somepony’s removing one of the books that’s in my library! Maybe she’s out there now!”

Spike gave her an odd look. “So... now you can hear when a single book is being taken out of a single shelf? I couldn’t even hear when Rainbow Dash crashed into the library and knocked all of the books out onto the floor.”

Twilight sighed in near-exasperation, though most of it was directed at the situation in general and not at Spike himself. “First of all, you weren’t even there when Dash lost her sense of direction. I’m the one who told you about that after the fact. And second, you’re underestimating me again. This is my library, and my books. I know this tree better than I do anyplace else, and I’m including my old home in that. Call it ‘book sense’.”

“Book sense? Is that anything like spider-sense?”

Twilight was about to respond, when the utter nonsensicality of his statement hit her. “Um, Spike... What on earth are you talking about?”

“Oh, it’s this comic book that Fluttershy showed me the other day. It’s called Spider-pony. You really should read it sometime; it’s-” The look on Twilight’s face shushed him right up, and his face flushed a bit red, embarrassedly.

“Now,” Twilight continued, “to the library!” They turned around and, since the library was right outside the kitchen, pushed the door open bravely. Twilight readied her magic yet again, and when they stepped hoof (and claw) into the living room, they were surprised to find-

“Celestia?” Twilight asked in shock, her mouth falling agape. “Wh-what on earth are you doing here? I thought you left last night...”

Celestia smiled warmly at her. “You did. However, your assistant informed me that you might say something like that, and so I took it upon myself to stay the night anyways. Besides that, the castle does tend to get a bit stuffy at times. It is always good to get a little change of scenery every once in a while.”

Something still wasn’t clicking in Twilight’s mind. “But, I saw you leave through the window and fly off. When did you get back downstairs? And besides that, wasn’t the door locked?”

“My dear student... you are not the only unicorn in the room who has mastered the art of the teleportation spell.” Twilight’s mind went blank for a moment; how on earth could she not have thought of that before? “And besides that, the door was unlocked when I got in. I took the liberty of locking it for you; I did not want any other... unwanted disturbances to your slumber. I saw last night that you were quite in need of it.”

Twilight smiled a bit sheepishly as she remembered. “Yeah, I was pretty tired. That whole thing with Chrysalis didn’t help out at all, either...” Just then, a thought occurred to her. “Why did she choose Zecora as her disguise? Anypony else would have served just as well.”

“I believe it was because she knew that you had just gotten done visiting our Zebrican friend. She knew that Zecora’s appearance wouldn’t cause much alarm, even as unexpected as it was. That way, she wouldn’t arouse any more suspicion than she had to.”

“But... how did she know? Was she following me?”

Celestia sighed, her smile long-since faded. “It is entirely possible that she was following you the whole time. In that case, she may have also been to visit some of the other Elements, or possibly even a few of the other Ponyville denizens.”

Twilight gasped audibly. She hadn’t even considered that possibility. “I’ve got to go ask and see if that actually is-”

Celestia held up a hoof, and Twilight obediently fell quiet, though her exasperation and desperation at the situation was still evident. “Do not worry yourself with such matters. I will go and check on everypony else. You need to stay here and get your rest. I can tell that you are not yet recovered from last night’s events.” She smiled again. “Watch over this place with diligence, my student. And you, Spike, help her out as much as she admits, maybe even a bit more if the situation calls for it.” Before either of them could speak, there was a bright flash of white light, and with that the princess of the sun was gone.

Twilight looked at Spike. “You know, there’s one thing that I still don’t get.”

“What’s that?” Spike asked.

“What book was Celestia getting out when we heard her?” She took a quick glance around the room. “All the bookshelves appear to not be disturbed, and it doesn’t look like any of my usual books are missing.”

“This assumes you know every single book in your library, what they look like and everything, in addition to where every single book is at all times, which when it comes to Dash coming in and crashing and making everything go kaboom... You probably don’t, do you?” The look that Twilight gave him was one of mixed pity and bewilderment, and Spike immediately amended himself: “Oh yeah, that’s right. You do know where everything is. Even know technically, I’m the one who’s supposed to be keeping all of this-” he motioned around the library- “in order, you’re the one who’s actually doing it, and doing it much better than I ever could, at that-”

“The alicorn book...” Twilight’s voice was so soft, it could barely be heard, but Spike recognized it and fell quiet for a moment. When it was clear that Twilight was not going to be saying anything else without prompting, he continued: “What do you mean by that, Twilight?”

“You know I have a lot of books on a lot of subjects, right?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “That’s the understatement of the century, right there.”

Twilight half-heartedly tossed him the evil eye before continuing: “Well, one of the subjects that I have been researching more enthusiastically than others, is the subject of alicorns. Where they came from, what causes them to form... Everything about them, basically.”

“And Celestia took your alicorn book?” Spike asked. “Just for clarification.”

“Well, technically, she took one of my alicorn books. I actually have six, all of them written by the same author. Pennyfeather the Wise, ever heard of him?”

Spike scratched his head, thinking. “Wasn’t he like some sort of protege of Starswirl the Bearded or something? I know you’ve mentioned him at least once in passing before...”

Twilight nodded. “Well, kind of, anyways. He was more of a contemporary of Starswirl. They studied together at the royal university of Canterlot. Pennyfeather taught Starswirl just as much as Starswirl taught him, though, and it was Pennyfeather’s studies of the ruling alicorn family of the time- ironically, the same one that rules at this very moment- that provided the basis of alicorn studies for generations of ponies to come.”

“And yet still, ponies claim that we know nothing about them...”

She scoffed. “That’s because ponies don’t want to take the time to read up on them.” She sighed and went into the kitchen, opening up cupboards at random. “There’s nothing good to eat here. You want to go out to eat, Spike?”

He nodded, his stomach rumbling. “We haven’t eaten yet today, you know.”

“Well of course I wouldn’t take a catnap. I’m not a cat. I’m a dragon.” He and Twilight continued to banter back and forth as they got ready to leave. As they walked out the door and shut it behind them, though, the air shimmered near the door, and a tall form became visible once again.

Chrysalis smiled. “Find out all you want to about your precious little alicorns, Twilight. It will not save you in the end.”

Twilight sat down at the table that the waiter had pointed them to, and Spike took the other seat. While they pored over the menu and Spike jabbered pointlessly about a certain marshmallow-colored pony, Twilight’s mind was more occupied by more pressing matters, namely the situation with Chrysalis, and just why on earth Celestia would have wanted that book.

“It was the fifth book out of the six!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, a bit too loudly for proper restaurant talk. “At least it would have made a bit more sense if she would have taken the first book! Who on earth starts with a book that isn’t the first one in the series?!”

“You all talkin’ about Daring Do again?” Twilight looked off to her left a bit. Rainbow Dash was standing there, grinning expectantly. “Well? Are ya?”

Twilight couldn’t help but get caught up in Dash’s enthusiasm about her favorite literary character, and she smiled a bit. “Hi, Dash. Unfortunately, no, we’re not talking about Daring Do this time. I was referring to... well... her.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t have looked more confused if her life depended on it. “Um... who, now?”

Twilight sighed exasperatedly. “I’m talking about... her. Chrysalis.”

The lightbulb came on in Dash’s head. “Oh. Yeah, her... Heh, I probably should have known that’s who you were talking about. Celestia came and visited me just before I came over here. She was asking about her, and if anypony odd had come to visit me lately.”

Twilight wasn’t going to ask before that, but now that Dash had brought it up, she couldn’t help it. “Well... have they?”

“What, has anypony odd come to visit me? Not really odd. Gilda stopped by for a visit the night before last. But...”

“But... what?” Twilight prompted.

“Well, it was kinda weird, actually. Usually, she and I like to just kick back and reminisce about all the awesome times we’ve had over the years. This last time, though... it was like she’d forgotten all about them. Like, she could kind of remember vague details, but nothing specific. That was really weird, to me. Usually, her memory’s sharp as a tack.” Twilight couldn’t remember much about the little bit of Gilda that she’d seen, but she’d heard Dash talk about her plenty, and that was one of the most consistent things that Dash had brought up about her.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide just then. “Wait a second... You don’t think... Do you?”

“It’s entirely possible.” Twilight’s eyes roamed for a second, looking for anything that seemed to her to be out of place. When she couldn’t see anything that fit her paranoid descriptor, she continued: “Did Celestia mention anything about what happened to me last night?”

“She didn’t go into too many specifics, but yeah she mentioned something about her coming to visit you, and something about Nightmare Moon that I didn’t quite understand... I had just woken up from a nap right before she came to me.”

“Yeah... Apparently she thinks that Nightmare Moon is going to be returning soon.” Dash looked at Twilight oddly for a second, as though she was expecting Twilight to clarify that she was just joking about that. When no such pronouncement was forthcoming, Dash burst into raucous laughter. The other patrons looked at her condescendingly for a moment before turning back to their meals, some of them making the cyan pony their topic of conversation for the time being.

“What is your problem?” Spike asked a bit harshly. He had just been able to get to his sandwich, and he was not particularly keen on the thought of his meal being interrupted by a loudmouthed pony.

“She doesn’t have a problem,” Twilight said in a scolding tone. “Though I will admit, there isn’t much of a reason for you being that loud, Dash.”

“I... I’m sorry... but... I just thought you would have disabused yourself of that notion the first time. Remember? That big, long conversation we all had when you first told us about those dreams you’d been having? You still actually think that could be true?”

“I know what you all told me, and deep down inside I feel like it’s true, but... I’m just thinking, why in the world would Chrysalis be talking about it?”

“Um, maybe because she just wants to throw you off? She might be planning something, and wants to use this to throw you off from getting on her trail.” What she said made sense, but it didn’t fill in all the holes.

“That may be true, but that’s not how all of this started. Remember, I’d been having these dreams for weeks before last night. So how in the world would Chrysalis have known about the dreams?”

“Maybe she has telepathy. You already know she can use magic like a regular unicorn can. Why couldn’t she be a telepath as well.” Twilight was shocked at how much sense Dash was making at the present. Usually, it would have been Applejack that would have been bringing these points up.

“We don’t really know anything for sure,” Twilight pointed out. “This is all pointless conjecture at this point.”

“Celestia doesn’t seem to think so. She was all on-fire about some book she’d gotten from your library, I think.” Twilight nodded. “It was that alicorn book, right?”

“Yeah. Did she say why she wanted it?” In response, Dash looked down at the ground a bit and shifted uncomfortably. Twilight fixed an intense stare on her. “Rainbow Dash... You are going to tell me, aren’t you?”

“Well... I want to... but Celestia told me not to tell anypony else. And besides, I don’t know everything about it. And it really doesn’t make sense to me, anyways.”

“What was she talking about?” Twilight asked, her curiosity now piqued more than ever.

“Something about Chrysalis being Cadence’s sister.”

Your Heart Is Full of Broken Dreams

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Everything's Gone (But the Pain Carries On)

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No One Will Hear Your Cries

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Interlude - Canto I: Just A Fading Memory

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Interlude - Canto II: So Out of Reach

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Interlude - Canto III: I Am With You

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When You Feel Like It's Over

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Look Up and See (Love Has A Face)

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Slowly Fading Away

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I'll Be Your Hope

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Lost in the Rain Again

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In A World So Cold

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I Am Here

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Can You Save Me Now?

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You're Not Alone

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Epilogue: Red

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