"The Everfree Forest."

Dusk awoke with a start. His body suddenly ached all over and he felt like he'd fallen from the highest tower of Canterlot Castle. He felt a coarse but gentle hand touch his arm, followed by the sound of cooing.

"Careful now, Dusk. Your scar opened up. The doctors have done their best, but if you strain yourself, it'll open up again and it'll be beyond what modern science can heal." a familiar voice reached his ears. Slowly opening his eyes, he turned his head to see his sister and Parents beside him.

"Gleam...Nightmare moon, she's real. Celestia's in danger." he croaked out. Gleaming Shield just placed a finger over her brother's lips and shushed him.

"We know. She's made her presence known throughout Equestria. We're conducting a search."

"I know where she is." Dusk replied. Gleaming sighed, wishing that Dusk didn't have to involve himself in such a grave matter. Nevertheless, she had a duty to uphold and any information was greatly needed, regardless of who gave it.

"Where is she, Dusk?" The Captain asked, her despair clear in her voice.

"Leave him alone, Gleaming. Can't you see he's struggling to remain conscious?" Their mother, Twilight Velvet protested.

"More than his consciousness is at stake, Mother. He knows this better than any of us." Gleaming snapped in order to end the conversation and prevent more precious time from being wasted.

"Nightmare Moon will... be with the Elements... of Harmony. She'll be guarding... the one thing that... can send her back... to the moon. The Elements are in... The Everfree Forest." Dusk said between heavy breaths. Gleaming Shield rested her head on the bed beside Dusk.

"That's the last place I wanted to send my guards." she commented. Dusk said nothing in response to that. With a heavy sigh, she rose from her seat and leant over to kiss Dusk on the forehead.

"You did good, little brother. Leave the rest to me." she said, squeezing his hand before leaving him to their parents.

"This is crazy! How are we gonna find this ancient palace in a forest that contains creatures probably capable of eating stone for breakfast?" Rainbow Dash complained as she hovered above the group of ponies. Applejack led the way with Rarity right behind, Pinkie bouncing in the middle, Fluttershy crawling behind and Rainbow Dash bringing up the rear.

"Look, sugarcube. Barb said that the creatures don't go near that place. And they definitely won't now that Nightmare Moon's hauntin' the joint." she replied.

"Okay, then why couldn't Barb come with us?" Dash asked.

"She's still a baby Dragon, Dash; you really wanna be sendin' an infant into the forest?" Applejack retorted. Dash dropped her defensive stance and slumped.

"Oh... No, nevermind." she replied. Fluttershy, who had been quiet ever since Nightmare moon's debut began to speak up.

"I-i-it sure is scary out here. I feel like we're being w-w-watched." she stuttered. The other ponies looked around and to their surprise, glowing eyes were staring at them from all around. As they huddled together in fear, the trees suddenly appeared to form faces. While all the ponies began to let their fear overcome them, they suddenly heard uncontrollable laughter. As they looked over to the source, they saw Pinkie laughing at one of the trees.Rarity was flabbergasted more than anypony else as she thought she had been holding Pinkie during their moment of fear.

"Pinkie, what in Tarnation are you doin'?" Applejack scolded.

"Laughing at the tree, it's so funny!" she said as she giggled madly at the tree. The face on the trunk disappeared from view as if discovering that the shadow on your bedroom wall was just the shadow of a badly shaped tree branch. As proof of her tactic worked, the girls all began to laugh at various trees. The effects were the same. All the trees began to look like distorted versions of regular forest trees.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Rarity said with astonishment written all over her features. Pinkie giggled in response to this.

"Never underestimate the power of laughter, Rarity. Not only is it super powerful, it's super duper fun!" she began to squeal with joy before bursting out again in laughter. The others settled for a mild chuckle before yet another obstacle sounded in their path.

A Manticore burst through the bushes in a rampage. With the body of a lion and the tail of a Scorpion, this thing was hideous in Rarity's eyes. And she gave what she believed to be the appropriate response.

"FFFFFFU-."

"Dusk, can you hear me?" a voice rang out in Dusk's dream state. He was floating in darkness, completely naked, or as those in Trottingham would say 'Tackle out'. His imaginary eyes cracked open and he looked around. A single bright light, like a dimmed sun floated in front of him.

"I can, Princess." he replied, blinking once. He closed his eyes and took in the warmth the presence of his one true Princess gave off. His dream had assimilated the pain in his body into his dream and he felt it all wash away like dirt in a shower.

"Dusk, you have to hurry. Your friends have gone to face Nightmare moon, but they can't do it without you. You have to be there in order to succeed in your endeavor." Celestia said. Dusk sighed.

"I have no friends. They're a hinderance to my studies." he said. Celestia seemed silent for a moment.

"Dusk, I'm going to tell you something I haven't told anypony before." she said. Dusk raised his head and opened his eyes once again, waiting for her to continue.

"Starswirl the Bearded refused to make any friends, just like you've chosen to do. In the end, he failed me because of that decision he made. I wanted him to progress beyond me, but he failed, and died as a result." she said. Dusk's face was unchanged. If there had been inspiring music playing in the background, it would have turned to a scratched record after Dusk's next words.

"That's a lie, isn't it?" he asked coldly. Celestia sighed.

"Okay, yes it is. But I have big plans for you, Dusk, and they all depend on you making friends. Understand?" she asked. Dusk groaned in annoyance.

"But Friendship is bothersome! There are dates you have to remember, like birthdays. Then you have to find out what they like so you can get them gifts for Hearth's Warming. It's a vicious cycle!" he complained.

"Dusk, if anypony can manage and remember dates, it's you. Please, Dusk. At least do it for the sake of Equestria. You know what'll happen if the land is shrouded in Night forever. Unfortunately, my sister remains ignorant of the consequences." Celestia said.

"I would help if I could, but my scar has been opened up again, thanks to Nightmare." he replied.

"What do you think I've been doing while I was talking with you? I've been healing your body through your dreams. Naturally, I shouldn't be able to do that, given that dreams are my sister's domain, but you're different, Dusk. We're connected." she said.

Dusk huffed at the mention of their connection. "You must have been so disappointed when I hit puberty and didn't have a wet dream about you." he teased. Celestia was silent for a good long moment.

"Little bit, yeah. Then again, you didn't have a wet dream about anypony, so I figured you were just impotent." she retorted.

"There's no such thing as Impotent, it's just laziness." Dusk replied.

"Dusk... Don't try and deviate from the topic at hand. Save your friends, save Equestria. If you don't, I'll never be free." Celestia's light faded to black and Dusk woke up. His body didn't hurt like it had last time and he felt his magical energy restoring itself. His magic burst out in waves as he yelled at the top of his voice. The metal bent in so many places and the wood snapped into little shards. The entire room was being forced away from him, including the bed which had been crushed against the stone floor like a can against an Elephant's foot.

An explosion could be heard from outside Dusk's room and as his parents rushed in to check up on him, they saw that the entire wall had been blown outward, everything squashed to the sides and the state of the bed, but the only thing missing was Dusk himself.

Rainbow Dash struggled to get up. Her sides hurt and her vision was blurry. After having gone through the fairly simple journey to the palace of the Alicorn Sisters, they faced Nightmare Moon herself. The stones had proven themselves about as useful as Rarity's magic against the Nightmare before them.

"Dammit! Why didn't they work? Did we have to say something? Was there an incantation or whatever?" she cried. Applejack was thrown over to beside the angry pegasus, sliding the last few feet.

"A-ah don't know... Sugarcube...*cough*... but we gotta... make do with what we got." She replied as she struggled to get up like her Pegasus Comrade. Applejack looked around the hall. All but Fluttershy had taken a beating, even Pinkie Pie was down for the count. The abnormal Earth Pony was just no match for an Alicorn.

"Can you still fly, Dash?" Applejack whispered. The rainbow pegasus checked her wings and nodded.

"Yeah, what's the plan?" Dash whispered back.

"If you can fly circles around her and git her distracted, I'll run on in and buck her right in the face. With any luck, that'll knock her out cold." both mares nodded as they confirmed their roles in the plan. Dash shot off, making rainbows around Nightmare Moon's field of vision.

"That's very pretty, young pegasus, but it won't be enough to stop me." Nightmare declared. She ducked her head to see under the ring of rainbows and found one of her opponents missing. There was an uneasy sound, then the crashing of the window behind her. It took the Alicorn mere seconds to figure out what had happened. She laughed as the image of Applejack missing her mark entirely entered her mind's eye.

"This is so sad, I almost feel sorry for you all. Nevertheless, my night will reign supreme regardless of your wishes, or excuses." she declared once more.

With glass in her leg, Applejack knew she wouldn't be able to try anything like that again, especially now that the enemy knew the tactic used to distract her.

"Darn it! We need a miracle now!" The cowpony cried out. Nightmare Moon decided to teach Applejack the harshness of reality. Miracles don't happen. With nearly everypony bruised and battered, just one pony remained unharmed, Nightmare excluded. Fluttershy had remained in place, trembling in fear from the get go. The fallen Princess stepped casually toward Fluttershy, intent on making her into an example.

"No, stop!" Applejack cried out, Rainbow Dash went to try and stop Nightmare, but the Alicorn just swatted her away with a burst of magic from her horn.

"I'm going to show you all that Miracles don't happen in the real world. If anypony can save this little mare before I kill her, then I'll be proven wrong, but that doesn't seem likely. The realisation hit them all. Nightmare Moon was going to kill Fluttershy and they were all too badly beaten to even move. They all cried out, pleaded for her to stop, but it was too late, the punch had begun its trajectory...

Suddenly, a burst of purple flaming magic broke through the floor between the fallen Princess and the petrified Pegasus. Following quickly afterward, the body of Dusk shine appeared through the rubble and his fist collided with Nightmare Moon's face, forcing her back and away from Fluttershy. His shirt was missing, leaving only his pants and a bare chest. His scar had been exposed, showing what remained of the damage Nightmare Moon had done to him before. Instead of a single scar running down his ribcage, now another one ran across from it, turning it into a giant 'X' shaped scar.

"Well, well! You're stronger than I gave you credit for, little Stallion." Nightmare goaded.

"It's Dusk!" Fluttershy cried out with absolute relief flooding her voice. Dusk stood ready to kill, his magic burning around him and acting like furious tails, whipping at the air. His eyes burned with a white intensity. The room filled with a single word as Dusk roared like a dragon into the sky, not caring who heard him.

"NIGHTMAAAAAAARE!!!!!!!"

Author's Note

Bring on the THUNDAH!!!!! AHAHAHAHA!!!

And as a Spoiler gift for you all, I'm going to completely change the way the Elements of Harmony act. I'd like to see Sky Bound draw what happens, lol.