Embracing the Darkness

by BlueAzura

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Nightmare Moon, Trixie, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6
Length: 59885

Twilight Sparkle is left with a scar that will permanently change the rest of her natural born life.

After failing to stop Nightmare Moon in the ancient castle of the pony sisters, Twilight Sparkle is left with a scar that will permanently change the rest of her natural born life. As Twilight recovers from her ordeal, she finds that she is left with a difficult choice. Either live her life as a lie or sacrifice her innocence to protect the ones she loves. The path before her is set and she must now walk it alone. The sands of time continues ever onward, with everyone already trapped in its muddy depths. The sun will rise and the sun will fall. Waiting for its call, Death awaits for all.

Tags, rating, and characters can change.

Art created by:
http://cuteskitty.deviantart.com (top)
http://ventious.deviantart.com (bottom)

I just put the two together

Published 2012-02-07 20:49:20 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-11 23:44:49 UTC

Chapter 2

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 2

It was dark… so very dark. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself floating in a room completely devoid of any light. ‘Where am I? What was I doing before I got here…’ Panicking, she flailed her hooves about, trying to find anything solid to latch onto. Eventually, she managed to brush against something soft and she immediately grabbed it, holding whatever it was close. After a minute of mindless floating, Twilight suddenly realized. ‘Oh wait! I have magic… duh!’ Her eyes screwed shut as she concentrated on her horn, willing it to light. To her relief, her horn responded, sending a soft glow around herself. Twilight reopened her eyes to stare at the item she was currently holding. It was a small doll that looked remarkably like Princess Celestia, but to Twilight it was one word… safe. She felt like a filly again as she held the doll against her chest, but she didn’t care because all she knew was that she was safe.

Twilight slowly realized that her surroundings had changed. She was now sitting on what felt like a stone floor. ‘Stone floor now where did I…’ Twilight gasped as memories started to resurface, rekindling her mind on what Nightmare Moon did to her. The unicorn shivered, pressing a hoof on the spot where the vampony… ‘No. I can’t waste time thinking about that right now… I need to find out where I am first.’

Looking around, she immediately thought she had returned to the ruined castle. However upon closer inspection, she saw that it was a different place entirely. Before she could process anything else around her however, she heard the soft clip-clop of hooves behind her. Turning, she was once again face-to-face with an onyx colored alicorn. “N-Nightmare!” Twilight quickly backed away, clutching the Celestia doll in a vice-like grip. “W-what are you doing here?”

Nightmare Moon watched the frighten unicorn backing away from her, with a blank look on her face. “Well if you must know, I live here now.” Nightmare replied in a matter-of-fact tone, slowly moving towards the terrified pony. “Because you’re mine now.”

“You live here? But, where are we?” Twilight finally reached the far side of the room, her back pressing against the wall behind her.

“You don’t know?” Nightmare said in a sarcastically surprised voice. “Why, we’re in your subconscious, of course.” The alicorn finished, looming over the unicorn.

“M-my subconscious?!” Twilight was lost for words, but her mind was on overdrive. ‘My mind… Nightmare Moon is in my mind and by the sound of it she’s planning to stay!’ She continued her train of thought. ‘And what did she mean that I’m her’s? Oh sweet Celestia, what am I going to do? Oh… if only I read a book on how to fix this…’

“There are ways to get rid of me, but of course I’m not a foal to tell you how.”

Twilight’s head snapped up at the reply. “You can read my thoughts now?!”

“No… But, I can read it plain as Celestia’s day on your face.” Nightmare’s face turned into a smirk and glanced down, she then noticed the doll. “Well, well, well… what do we have here?” Her horn glowed with power as she wrenched the doll out of Twilight’s hooves. Twilight’s face instantly paled.

“No! Give that back, it’s not yours!” Twilight lunged forward, landing on her stomach as the doll was pulled away at the last moment.

“Hmm…” Nightmare Moon stared at it intently. “Your dedication to my sister must be to the point of obsession, for you to manifest this into your mind.”

“Hey! I’m not obsessed with the Princess and I would appreciate that doll back!” Twilight reddens, blushing with anger and embarrassment.

“Fine… here.” Nightmare’s glowing horn suddenly cut off, dropping the doll on Twilight’s face. “Anyways, just know that I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, Twilight.” Nightmare said, as she watched the unicorn scrambling to grab the doll. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the ground started shaking.

“W-what’s going on?” Twilight nearly lost her balance while trying to stand up.

“Well… it looks like you’ll be waking up soon.” The alicorn gazed around, as the walls started to crack and crumble. She glanced back, saying her final words. “I’ll be returning in the real world, to collect my prize in Ponyville. Soon… very soon.”

Her voice slowly faded out into nothingness, as Twilight was once again surrounded in darkness. Twilight tightly gripped her Celestia doll, feeling safe, as she felt herself fade away into the void.

“…”

“…”

“…ey”

“hey…Twi…”

“Hey! Twilight!” Twilight softly moaned, feeling as if a huge weight was suddenly lifted off her body. She heard the voice once more. “Hey guys! I think she’s awake!”

“Honesty, Rainbow, must you be so loud?” A second voice emerged. “You really must take a leaf from Fluttershy’s book and learn how to be a little less brash.”

“Oh, silly Rares, I thought we found out that Flutters wasn’t a tree already.” This voice was a high-pitch squeak, which sort of makes you want to eat something sweet. “Or a book for that matter.”

“Pinkie dear, I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Um… I-I like to be a tree… just to see what it’s like… I-If you don’t mind…that is…” This new voice was by-far, the quietest one out of the group and seems to almost blend into the background.

“That’s nice, Fluttershy, but right now I think ya’ll need to put a cork in it, can’t you see our friend need some sleep?” Twilight decided that it was time to speak.

“Ugh… too late, Applejack.” Twilight said, slowly inching her eyelids open. Her eyes quickly adjusted in the bright light, as everything came into focus. What she saw immediately was that she was in a hospital bed, with a group of ponies surrounding it.

“You alright there, sugarcube?” The apple-farming mare leaned in.

“I think so…” Twilight slowly sat up, with her back resting against the bed frame. “What happened?”

“Nightmare Moon captured you, dear, but Rainbow Dash managed to get you away from her.” The snow-white unicorn said, with a look of concern. “We thought you actually died, with all that ghastly blood covering you.” The room suddenly became quiet, only the sounds of the medical equipment and a small whimper from the butterscotch Pegasus could be heard.

“B-blood?” Twilight automatically placed a hoof on the spot where Nightmare Moon bit her, expecting to feel bite marks. But to her surprise, she felt nothing, just the smooth hairs of her coat.

Applejack noted the motion and she quickly added. “But when we checked, we didn’t find any sort of injuries on you.” She placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder and quietly asked. “Can you tell us what happened?” Twilight was torn, she wanted to tell them everything that has happened between Nightmare Moon and herself, but at the same time she didn’t want them to worry.

“I’m not really sure what happened either.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. She still felt a little guilty, but was determined to tell them sometime in the future.

Applejack saw the fire, flashing in the unicorn’s eyes before letting out a sigh. ‘She’ll tell us later then I guess.’ Just then, the doctor entered the room.

Rainbow went straight to the point. “Give it to us straight, doc, is Twilight going to be okay?”

The doctor cleared his throat, looking at his clipboard. “Ahem! Why yes, she’ll be just fine, a little low on blood but other than that, just fine.” The group all let out a sigh of relief as the doctor continued. “The results from the blood work all checked out, but it’s strange.” The group gave a worried look. “The blood on your coat, that we were able to retrieve, did indeed come from you Miss Sparkle. But after the examination, we found that you weren’t sporting any fresh injuries for the past week.” The doctor looked up from his clipboard at this. “Do you remember how your blood was able to make its way to the surface of your skin?”

“Uhh… no, not really, no.” Twilight shook her head, fearing that the doctor might know something.

“I only ask this because when we saw how low your blood was when you arrived, we thought it was some sort of new illness.” The doctor said as he eyed Twilight’s neck, as if trying to see through an invisibility spell. Twilight unconsciously placed a hoof back on her neck, jumping slightly when she felt a pair of hooves wrapping around her waist.

Pinkie Pie tightens her grip, giving Twilight a big grin. “Illness or not, we’re going to make sure to stay by your side so you’ll never feel lonely.” Her grin grew impossibly bigger as she said, “Because that’s what friends are for.”

“Pinkie…” Twilight’s eyes began to moisten, a small smile inching on her lips. One by one, the rest of the ponies joined in, adding their own warmth into the pile. The doctor gave a small nod, before leaving to give them some privacy. “Thank you… all of you…” Twilight’s eyes closed, tears now running freely down her face. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.” For once in her life she felt something she never truly felt before, true friendship.

“Whoa, Twilight… are you glowing?” Twilight opened her eyes to stare at the cyan mane Pegasus, who spoken out.

“You’re glowing too, Rainbow…” Twilight glanced around at the group. “In fact… we’re all glowing…” The ponies slowly retreated from the group hug, watching one another as the glowing intensified. There was a sudden flash of light, causing Twilight to shut her eyes. When she reopened them, she gasped from the spectacular sight before her. Everypony was floating, by an unknown force, as five jeweled necklaces materialized out of thin air. The necklaces gave a small twirl, before placing themselves around each of her friend’s neck. Twilight felt a sudden weight pressing on top of her head, looking up she saw a large gold crown nestled there, giving off a magnificent glow. But just as suddenly as the flash had appeared, the glowing ceased and promptly dropped the ponies back to the floor.

“Ugh… what happened?” Rainbow slowly sat up, with a hoof rubbing the side of her head. She took a quick glance at the necklace, hanging off her neck, before exclaiming. “Hey! Check out this awesome necklace!” The Pegasus immediately puffed out her chest in satisfaction. She then noticed the others were sporting their own necklace. “You guys got your own too? Sweet!” Her eyes flicked, from one pony to the other, before finally stopping at the purple unicorn. “Oh, cool! Awesome crown, Twilight!”

Twilight flicked her eyes back towards her crown before saying. “I-I don’t believe it… It’s the Elements of Harmony!”

The room was suddenly filled with a piercing scream. Rarity sucked in air as if she was a fish out of the water. "My goodness... oh my goodness!"

The cyan Pegasus swooped up close. "What is it, is something wrong?"

Instead of answering, the snow white unicorn sputtered, "M-m-my t-tail..." She leaped up and gave a whoop of joy. "My beautiful tail is back!" Sure enough, the once stump of a tail was now a long, shiny, beautiful one. Rarity gave the newly grown tail a hug. "Oh, I'll never take advantage of you ever again!"

The librarian gave an amused smile. "Well I think it's safe to say that the Elements are capable of regrowing hair." She suddenly remembered what she was going to say. "That reminds me on what's going on right this moment, don't you see?" The unicorn gazed around at her confused friends. "We are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony!"

Applejack spoke up. “Yah mean the same elements that were from that book of yours?”

Twilight nodded. “I believe so, Applejack… In fact, it makes sense if you think about it.” She brought a hoof to her chin. “While we were in forest, you all showed your true spirit, facing down all the trials put before us.” She looked at each of their faces. “Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty… I didn’t even realize that it doesn’t necessarily mean that the elements had to be those stone orbs.” Twilight suddenly felt ashamed, covering her face with her hooves. “I’m such a fool… to not see the answers practically given to me.” She felt hooves touch her, as the group once more entered into another hug.

“Now, don’t feel bad about that, Twi.” The farm-pony comforted. “After all we’re all in this together now.”

“Yeah! Don’t sweat it, Twi. We’ll be with you no matter what gets in our way, because we’ll never leave you hanging!” The head-strong Pegasus exclaimed.

“Even I must agree with Rainbow on this one, darling.” The alabaster unicorn chipped in. “For what kind of friends will we be, if we abandon you now, dear?”

“Hey!” The Pegasus cried out, followed by a small giggle from the group.

“Umm…” The butterscotch Pegasus, who was mainly quiet most of the time, finally spoke. “Even though there’s going to be a lot of hardship ahead of us… I know that with all of us working together and a little bit of kindness... we’ll be just fine.” The timid Pegasus retreated slightly. “Umm… if that’s okay with you…”

“Oh, Fluttershy…” Twilight wiped a tear from her eyes. “Of course it’s okay.” She tightens her hug. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The happy ponies were interrupted, when the pink pony in the group cried out. “Alright girls, there’s only one thing to do now… PARTY!” Everypony in the room burst out laughing, but it quickly died out, when the doctor re-entered the room.

“That party is going to have it wait ladies…” He looked a bit flustered. “Because we just got word that Mayor Mare is going to make a royal announcement to the whole town.” He gave a small huff. “I don’t really want you to move from the bed, Miss Sparkle. However, it being a royal order, we really have no choice.”

Rainbow’s face brightens at the news. “You hear that, girls?” She started moving to the doorway. “I bet that’s the Princess telling us that the Nightmare jerk is gone for good!”

Twilight glanced out the window and saw that the moon still stood, high in the sky. ‘I really hope you’re right, Rainbow…’ She quickly joined the group as they left the building, fear gripping her heart.

Chapter 3

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 3

By the time the group of newfound friends finally reached the town hall, the crowd was already making quite a ruckus. It wasn’t often a royal announcement meeting was called and everypony was eager to hear what the princess had to say. Twilight and her new found friends decided to huddle in the back, so as to avoid being separated.

“Whoa nelly!” Applejack cried out, as she almost tripped over a filly. “Whew! I reckon that the whole town is here by now.”

“Looks like it.” Twilight replied, eyeing the surrounding area.

“Yeah! It’s like a super-duper awesome fabu-tastic party!” The pink party pony cried out, dancing around in excitement.

“Oh my… there are so many ponies around… I’m starting to feel a little scared…” The butter cream Pegasus squeaked, trying to hide behind the braver Pegasus.

“I must agree, Fluttershy… With so many ponies milling about, there’re kicking up so much of that dreadful dirt!” The snow white unicorn cried out, trying to avoid as much dirt as she could possibly can.

“Man! When is the Princess getting here anyways?” The cyan Pegasus huffed, oblivious to the patches of dirt forming on her body. “I’m starting to feel so booooored!”

“Ah hold onto your apples yah jittery varmint.” The work-horse jokingly scoffed, turning her attention back to the lavender unicorn. “Hey, Twilight… You ok there?”

Twilight jumped at the sudden attention, blushing slightly. “Y-yeah everything’s fine…” Seeing that she wasn’t convincing anypony, she groaned. “I just have this bad feeling in the back of my mind is all…”

Before anypony else was able to say anything however, the crowd’s noise suddenly died down with the appearance of a brown mare. The Mayor briskly trotted to the podium, with an air of controlled urgency. Upon reaching it, she stood up onto her hind legs and faced the gathered crowd.

Mayor Mare cleared her throat and began speaking in a loud, carrying voice. “Good afternoon, everypony! It’s good to see that you have all arrived to witness your Princess of the Sun, deliver a message for us!” Amidst the cheering, she glanced up and saw a silhouette of a carriage, growing larger as it got closer. “Alright, everypony, let’s give our Princess our warmest welcome yet!”

The crowd redoubled their cheering, stomping their hooves as the gilded carriage came into view. It smoothly landed from just a few feet away from the elevated podium. Amongst the cheering and hoof stomping, Twilight’s heart soared. ‘Princess Celestia!’ In that instant, she once again felt safe from all the troubles in the world.

It was not to last, as Twilight gazed at the carriage, her warm smile slowly faded away. The Pegasus pulling the chariot was not the tall, strong, and proud equestrian guards of the sun. No, in fact, they were almost entirely different. The guards are indeed tall and strong, however everything else has changed. Their coat, instead of a pristine white sheen, was a dark gray smug. Their wings, which were supposed to be soft and feathery, were instead strange, black, leathery, draconic wings.

Twilight turned her attention to the large carriage that they were pulling. The linings, which she previously thought were gold, were instead silver, giving it a more menacing look. Each hub on the wheels had a large metal spike, protruding off to the side. The unicorn was certain that if anypony was foolish enough to go near those spikes while they were in motion, would surely skewer themselves. She moved her gaze back to the guards, as they began shifting.

Sickly yellow eyes glared into the quieting crowd, as one of the guards spoke in a deep gruff voice. “We have arrived, my Queen.”

“Very well…” An all too familiar voice oozed out from the depths, the door on the carriage opening. The crowd drew a collective gasp, as Nightmare Moon stepped out, gazing into the crowd with a cold glare. She slowly made her way to the podium, where the terrified mayor trembled and upon reaching it, she spoke. “Madam Mayor, thank you for having the townspony gathered here and to warmly welcome their new leader.” She finished, staring at the frighten mare with her draconic eyes.

“O-oh! I-It was no p-problem, P-princess!” Mayor Mare sputtered, slowly backing away, with her head low to the ground. “I hope that you can f-forgive us for not preparing for your arrival sooner.”

The goddess of the night gave a small nod at the mare, before turning her attention back to the crowd. “Citizen of Ponyville! As you may have guessed, Equestria’s seat of power has been shifted.” Nightmare gave a small smirk, as she continued. “From this day forth, I… Nightmare Moon, shall forever be your new queen and leader!”

The crowd was stunned into silence, as they slowly took in the horrible news. Then all at once, the ponies began muttering to one another, some were even coming close to panicking (“The horror, the horror!”). The alicorn paid no heed to them as she eyed the crowd, trying to see if anypony will dare rebel against her. Her eyes paused when they landed on a familiar looking group, but more importantly, a familiar looking unicorn.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Celestia’s little special task force…” The crowd immediately quieted. “Here to pledge your loyalty to your new queen?” Nightmare Moon slowly trotted to the six ponies, as the crowd slowly parted away from the goddess. “Or are you here to try to rebel against me once more?”

“That’s right, you big jerk!” The hot-headed Pegasus blurted out. “Because we have the just the thing that can stop you now!”

Nightmare ignored the loud gasps around her as her eyes narrowed. “Oh, really? Pray tell, what can you possibly have, that can stop an immortal goddess?” The alicorn’s eyes suddenly widen as she spotted the necklaces. “No… It can’t be!” ‘I thought I smashed those accursed elements…’

“Oh, but it is, Nightmare Moon!” Twilight spoke, striking a heroic pose with her friends. “Behold! The one thing that will truly stop you… The Elements of Harmony!”

The entire crowd, as well as Nightmare Moon, took a step back as the six ponies began glowing. They slowly rose a few feet into the air, as the necklaces began glowing in their respective colors. The glow around them grew, until it became a solid orb of white light. Light rippled across the sky, as the magic grew stronger and stronger with each passing second.

Twilight took in the scene before her. ‘We’re doing it! We’re really harnessing the powers of harmony!’ She gazed into Nightmare Moon’s face, seeing a look of surprise and a small hint of fear, she gave a smug grin. ‘Looks like this is the end for you Nightmar-’

*Thump-thump*

The entire orb flickered and Twilight briefly shook her head. ‘Ugh… W-what was that?’ Her eyes flicked around and once again, made contact with Nightmare’s turquoise eyes. ‘Is she using some sort of spell?’

*Thump-thump*

Thin cracks started to form on the outside of the orb, spreading across in a spider-web effect.

*Thump-thump*

Twilight gripped her chest, trying, in vain, to stop the overwhelming pain that she suddenly felt. Her breath became shallow, as she felt her magic slowly fade away.

*Thump-thump*

‘Ah… What’s happening to me?’ Her mind gasped, trying to drown out the dreadful noise in her ears.

*Thump-thump*

Twilight’s train of thought was quickly wiped away, only to have it replaced with an overwhelming urge to… protect Nightmare Moon? The orb of light suddenly exploded, sending a spectacular array of light into the night sky. As soon as the final rays of light dissipated into the darkness, it became deathly quiet.

“Ugh… What happened?” Twilight slowly sat up while rubbing the side of her head with a hoof. The unicorn froze, as her eyes slowly rose up to see a large dark alicorn standing before them, completely unharmed. She quickly found her voice. “N-no! What happen to the elements?” ‘Why didn’t they work?!’

Nightmare Moon let out a booming laugh. “HA HA HA HA HA! Now do you see, you foals?! Even with the Elements of Harmony, you still failed to thwart me and my power!” She continued laughing, as the surrounding crowd faces fell, their one chance of salvation… gone. 'That was close...' Nightmare’s laughter died out, as the nightmarish guards began to flank both sides of their leader.

“My Queen! Do you wish to execute these rebels, for defying you and your order?” Nightmare’s cool gaze watched the shivering group in front of her, deep in thought. ‘Good, Twilight’s transformation is already taking its effects on her.’ Her smirk reformed on her face. ‘She’ll make a fine addition to my ranks…’

“My Queen?”

“Humm?” Nightmare turned to the guard. “What is it?”

“Umm… your orders, your majesty?”

“Ah… yes…” The goddess turned her attention back to the group. “I believe attacking royalty falls in the lines of life in prison or the death penalty.” Nightmare Moon stood silently as she watched the ponies break down in despair. ‘What to do… What to do…’

“No! Who will take care of Sweetie Belle when I’m gone?!” The white unicorn cried out, tears running down her face.

“Big Mac can’t run the farm without me!” The farm-pony moped, her hat covering her face as tears fell to the ground. “My whole farm and livelihood will be ruined!”

“I can’t go now! I haven’t even pulled off my greatest stunt yet!” The speedster punched the ground in miserable defeat.

“You mean I won’t be throwing anymore parties?” The pink pony asked. Her poofy mane collapsed into long straight follicles, as tears started to form. “Who will take over in bringing happiness to everypony?”

“Who’s going to take care of Angel and the rest of the animals when I’m g-gone?” The timid Pegasus cried in despair. “I…I can’t g-go now…They n-need m-m-me.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, in fact, she couldn’t say anything. In her mind, she felt nothing but guilt. ‘I was the one that dragged them all into this… It’s my fault that this happened…’ She stood up, determination fixed on her face. ‘No! I’m not going to let this happen!’ Twilight purposely made her way to face Nightmare Moon, her friends watching her with wide eyes.

“Ah! If it isn’t, Twilight Sparkle… Anymore tricks you wish to play on your queen? I must admit, your attempts to defeat me, has been amusing to watch.” The alicorn’s smirk returned.

“Not this time, Nightmare Moon. If you’re plan on punishing us, put the blame all on me and leave my friends out of this.” Twilight stood tall, while ignoring the cries from her friends behind her. “I brought them into the forest and was responsible for them openly attacking you.” She lowered her head in submission. “Please… Please just take me and leave my friends alone.”

The goddess mentally rolled her eyes. ‘You’re already mine, Twilight… Although…’ She gazed at the ponies, who were too busy trying to convince Twilight to rethink her decision, in deep thought. ‘She is still changing and still too weak to serve me properly…’ Nightmare then suddenly thought. ‘Ah-Ha! That’s it! That’s what I’ll do…’ She took a step forward, which made the noisy ponies quiet immediately. “It’s seems that you are willing to hoof over your own life for the sake of others.” She slowly walked in a small circle, around the unicorn. “I wonder… are you willing to hoof over your freewill for the sake of your friends as well?”

Twilight looked up, tears running down her face. “I will do anything for my friends.”

Nightmare stopped and faced the unicorn closely. “Even renouncing everything that has to do with my sister?”

Twilight flinched. Princess Celestia meant everything to her. From the day she took her in as her protégé, to the days when she injured herself with a blotched spell, all the way to day where she sent her to that fateful night at the old castle, Twilight was always comforted by her teacher and lack for a better term, a second mother.

The thing Nightmare had asked her to do was a difficult choice, but she looked back into the faces of the ponies who just became her friends and she knew. ‘I can’t abandon them now… not even for you Princess… I’m sorry’ “Y-y-yes… I will renounce even Princess C-celestia if I have to…”

‘Good…’ “Very well then…” The goddess glanced back toward to group behind the unicorn. “Be grateful that your friend here is willing to take your places… You are free to go now…” She turned her attention to the crowd at large. “Let it be known that even your queen can show mercy to her subjects, if they remain loyal to me that is…” She looked back down at her prize. “Kneel.” Twilight quickly dipped her head low to the ground, fearing that Nightmare Moon might change her mind. “Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby sentenced to serve under my rule for the rest of eternity. Any orders you receive from me must be followed without question. Failure to do so will cause you to be punished… severely. Do you accept these terms?”

“I…I accept your terms, Nightmare Moon.” Twilight felt horrible, she just betrayed Celestia and her ponies to the eternal night. However, she felt a glimmer of hope. ‘At least my friends are safe from having to go through what I’m going through…’

Nightmare Moon gave a curt nod. “Very well then… Rise, Twilight Sparkle.” She waited until the unicorn was on her hooves. “As your first order from me, you will kill everypony that is attending here…”

“W-WHAT?!” Twilight couldn’t believe what she just heard. The crowd immediately took another step back, fear slowly seeping into their eyes. “I can’t possibly do that!”

Nightmare’s eyes narrowed. “I was under the impression that you will follow my orders without question…”

Twilight gulped, as she gazed into the crowd. Wherever she looked, the ponies immediately cowered in fear, covering their faces in the hopes to be spared. Even her friends took an uneasy step away, much to her dismay. She sighed. “I’m sorry, Nightmare Moon… But, I just can’t possibly do this…” The entire crowd let out a sigh of relief.

“Humm…It appears you require training if you truly wish to serve me…” Nightmare Moon began moving towards the carriage. “You will accommodate me to the castle, gather whatever you require and meet me here.” She looked over her shoulder. “You have one hour…”

The goddess of the night slowly made her way towards her carriage, deep in thought. 'It seems I must be careful with that girl, now that she controls the Elements of Harmony...' Her face turned into a scowl. 'I never thought I'll see those blasted elements again...' She closed her eyes softly. 'It's a good thing I was able to claim her before it was too late.' She gave a small smile at the thought. 'Once again sister, you have underestimated me. Now... I can never be harmed by the elements ever again!'

Nightmare continued to make her way towards her transportation, while one of her guards leaned in. “My Queen, permission to speak freely?”

“Yes Shadow, What is it?”

“I was just wondering… Were you truly expecting that unicorn to go on a mass killing-spree with the townsfolk?” Shadow flinched slightly, when Nightmare turned her head in his direction.

“No, I knew she will never do such a thing.”

The guard pony blinked. “Then may I ask… why did you give the order if you knew?”

The alicorn was silent, as she eyed the ponies around her fleeing back to their homes. Upon reaching the carriage, she spoke in a low voice. “Because she must understand that there will be a time, where I will give another impossible command... she must follow it.” She slowly entered the carriage. “For the sake of the night, for the sake of Equestria, for the sake of all living things in this world, she must. not. fail.” Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, suddenly feeling a million years older. 'Or we are all doomed.'

Chapter 5

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 5

The castle, for the most part, was silent. The once busy halls of the castle have been reduced to something close to a ghost town. Only the occasional guard or two would disturb the silence. Inside the throne room stood two guards, standing on either side of the door to the hall. They eyed each other uneasily, as they turned back to watch their queen pacing.

Nightmare Moon paid no heed to them, as she spun on the spot and began walking to the other side of the room for the hundredth time. ‘What in Equestria is happening to me?’ She made an angry snort. ‘Why did I talk so openly to that mare? Answering her questions… and even going so far as to comfort her!’ She reached the other side of the room and spun once more. ‘I am Nightmare Moon! The true goddess and ruler of the night! Yet here I am, bringing myself down to a level of a mere mortal!’ She stomped a hoof to the ground with a loud clang, causing the two guards to jump in surprise. After a couple minutes of uninterrupted pacing, the doors to the hall opened and a familiar navy blue Pegasus entered. The alicorn stopped and asked, in an irritated tone, “Did you complete the tasks that I have given you, Captain?”

The captain bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty, I have the numbers you have asked and sent Miss Sparkle to her room in the library.” He pulled his head up and said, “Apparently, she’s been living here since a very young age and has been the sun tyrant’s student.” He watched the goddess carefully and asked, “Was that the reason why you decided to give her your blessings?”

Nightmare turned her attention towards the guards standing at the doorway. “You two, leave us!” The guards scrambled out, to finally be away from their angry queen. “I had my own reasons, Valor, so now tell me the numbers I had asked for.”

Valor bowed again. “But of course, Master.” He raised his head and produced a scroll from under his wings. He unrolled the scroll and began reading off of it. “We have checked the armory and found most of the weapons there intact. The total numbers of guards that you’ve captured has equaled to only a fourth of the total Equestrian army.” He continued, “The castle staff and nobles have all been accounted for. All major cities and towns have received word of the change in command…” He continued reading down the list of all the major and minor things that were needed to run the kingdom. The Pegasus finally finished and began to roll up the scroll. “Lastly, the only vamponies to return to your side is Miss Sparkle and I.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes went wide. “You two are the only ones?”

The navy blue Pegasus nodded. “I’m afraid so, Your Majesty, I don’t know whether they have been hunted down or perished over the years.”

Nightmare Moon was for the first time ever, stunned. ‘My children… lost…’ She able to recollect herself and said, “Well… that is truly, a tragic loss.” She looked into the eyes of her faithful servant. “It looks like I’m going to need to rely on you more than ever now…”

Valor cleared his throat. “That reminds me, Your Highness, I believe I have found a suitable group of ponies that will be able to ward off your hunger for the time being.”

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. “Who are these ponies?”

“They are a group of fanatics, who worships only the night and I have found out that they are willing to sacrifice themselves to you, My Queen.”

“Humm… I suppose, they will have to suffice for now…” Nightmare Moon found herself trailing off, as the day without sleep finally caught up with her. “Excellent work, Captain, I am very pleased with your work.” She yawned. “But, I am much too tried right now and I wish to sleep. I’ll be in my chambers if you need me.” She turned into a dark cloud of smoke and quickly vacated the room.

Valor watched the cloud pull away, leaving him completely alone. He gazed around the throne room with a careful eye, making sure there weren’t any ponies listening in. Seeing that he was indeed alone, he pulled out a small gold medallion and pressed it against his hoof. After a few seconds of silence, a voice emanated from the medal. “Valor, is that you?”

“Yes, it is I…” He spoke calmly into the medallion. “Nightmare Moon has agreed to bring in the group that you’ve created and she doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“You have done well, Valor, I will expect to hear from you soon.”

“I expect that you will hold on to your end of the bargain for this.”

“Of course! You shall be rewarded and I will grant your wish, as was the agreement.” The medal became silent.

The navy blue Pegasus quickly placed the medallion back into hiding. He took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice. “I probably should’ve told them about Nightmare’s new pet…oh well.” He quietly left the room and back out into the lonely hallway.

Meanwhile… back at the royal library, Twilight was busy. “No…no…no…” She mumbled, as she pulled out book after book and throwing them away over her shoulder. “Come on… it’s got to be here somewhere…ah ha!” She grinned in delight, as she pulled a large book towards her. The Elements of Harmony: a Reference Guide. She channeled her magic and created a small orb of light in front of her. The unicorn rested herself upon her bed before opening the heavy book. ‘There’s got to be something the elements can do in order to reverse the effects of vamponies.’ She began riffling through the pages. ‘As far as I know, the elements are the strongest magical items known in Equestria. There just has to be something…’

…

Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours. Twilight gave a huge yawn, almost dislocating her jaw in the process. “Oww…” She muttered to herself, as she failed to hold back another yawn. 'Drat... so far, I can't find anything that will help me.' The unicorn moaned in discomfort, as she tried to block the rays of the sun with a hoof. ‘Wait… sunlight?’ She gasped and immediately jumped out of the bed. ‘It can’t be!’ Racing to the large glass door to the balcony, Twilight watched the sun slowly rising. ‘No, that’s not the sun…the moon?’ The need to sleep completely left her body, as she gaped openly at the moon. Looking past the moon, Twilight can also see the stars, twinkling in a soft glow.

“Glorious, isn’t it?”

Twilight turned to see Nightmare Moon standing beside her. “How is this possible?” asked Twilight.

Nightmare gave an amused snort. “What a foolish question to ask, Twilight. Celestia’s sun is only brighter than the moon because she doesn’t bother placing anything else into the sky.” The alicorn placed a hoof to her chest and proudly said, “While I have placed not only the moon, but also the many stars that you see before you. Naturally… being stronger than my dear sister, gives me the ability to make my moon shine just as bright.” Nightmare gave a smug grin when she finished.

Twilight continued to gawk at the goddess. “Then that means… the night will truly last forever?”

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. “You make it sound as if it’s a bad thing.”

Twilight’s ears immediately flattened. “O-oh! Of course n-not, Your Majesty!” ‘She talks so casually, I keep forgetting that she’s still Nightmare Moon.’ Her train of thought was interrupted when Nightmare Moon began laughing.

The goddess of eternal night held her sides, trying to hold back the sudden bubbly feeling in her midsection. After a few seconds of laughing, the alicorn was finally able to control herself. Breathing heavily, Nightmare Moon mentally facehoofed. ‘Damn-it… so this strange feeling only comes when I’m around this unicorn…’ She glanced down to see a thoroughly confused Twilight Sparkle. “Uhh… you will never mention this to the guards… or anypony for that matter.”

“Oh… alright…?” Twilight blinked. ‘What in Equestria was that?!’ They stood silently, until she suddenly remembered. “Umm… that reminds me… who’s the new captain and how does he know what I am?”

Nightmare was mentally thankful for the change in subject. “His name is Valor…” She turned back, facing the shining moon. “a very loyal pony… He has been serving me for over one thousand years.” Hearing the small gasp beside her, the alicorn answered, “Yes, he was the last pony I gave my blessings to… before my unfortunate imprisonment.” She turned to face the unicorn. “You and Valor… are the only vamponies left, it seems.”

Twilight’s mind was reeling. ‘Another vampony…?’ “But wait…” She flicked her eyes to the alicorn’s draconic ones. “What about the other guards? Aren’t they vamponies as well?”

The alicorn shook her head. “No, they were previously Celestia’s guards.” She made a smirk. “All I have to do is threaten their friends and families to gain their support… HA!” Nightmare barked out a laugh. “These fools are so easy to control, it’s almost sickening!” She was about to go into another episode and begin laughing uncontrollably again, but stopped when the library doors opened.

The captain of the guards entered, followed by a hooded pony. When the pair reached to two mares, Valor spoke. “My Queen, this is the leader of the group I have mentioned to you last night. They call themselves, the Night Shadows.”

The hooded pony took a step forward and bowed. “It is truly an honor to meet you, your majesty.” His voice came out in a loud whisper. “Never did I imagine that I will come face to face with the Dark Queen.”

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow at the strange pony. “And yet you hide your face before your queen. Tell me, why do you keep your hood up, leader of the Night Shadows?”

The pony bowed even lower. “Forgive me, Dark Queen, but I keep my hood up to insure that I am avoiding the accursed sunlight at all times.”

Nightmare almost snorted. ‘What a ridiculous idea to prove that you support me!’ She mentally sighed. ‘At least they are willing to assist me…I’ll play along for now…’ “Very well then, leader of the Night Shadows…” She pulled herself straight. “However, I will not be in need of your services for this week.”

Valor was taken aback. “But… My Queen! How will you sustain yourself if you have nopony to drink from?”

The alicorn waved a hoof. “No need to worry, Captain, for I have my meal right. here.” She reached a hoof out and wrapped it around the purple unicorn. “She’ll be able to sustain me for the whole week, Valor.”

“Her?!” The navy blue Pegasus burst out. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’

“M-ME?!” Twilight’s jaw fell to the floor. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’

Nightmare Moon paid no heed to the two, as she turned her attention back to the hooded pony. “I will call upon your services once the week is up, my loyal servant.”

The hooded pony bowed once again. “Very well, Your Majesty, my brethren and I will wait for your summons.” The pony turned and walked away, closing the door behind him as he left.

Valor watched the pony leave, before whirling to face the night goddess. “My Queen, you can’t be serious with this proposal of yours!” He stamped his hoof. “I highly advise that you rethink your decision.”

Nightmare Moon’s draconic eyes narrowed. “Do you have a problem with my decision, Captain?” She took a few steps forward and towered over the Pegasus. “Because as I recall… I am your queen and you are but a simple captain.” The floor began shaking slightly. “You are nothing more but a pawn to me and you will do well to remember your place!” The entire library began shaking violently. Books upon books fell to the floor, all the furniture crumbled to the floor, and the windows shattered by an unknown force.

Twilight slowly inched herself away from the angry goddess. ‘This. This is the true goddess of the night. This is Nightmare Moon.’

After a few uncomfortable seconds, the shaking finally shuddered to a halt. Nightmare breathed deeply through her nose, trying to control herself. ‘It seems my old self is still there, but it’s different now…’ The alicorn suddenly felt confused. ‘Normally, I would’ve felt some satisfaction in this, but now I feel only… guilt?’ She glanced down to see a shivering Pegasus and whispered. “Do I make myself clear, Valor?”

“Y-yes, My Queen, I understand perfectly.” The navy blue Pegasus quickly left the room.

Nightmare Moon sighed. ‘I feel that there are two parts of me now, but how is this possible?’ She stood rigid. ‘I must find out the reason behind all of this…’ Hearing a small noise off to the side, Nightmare turned to see the purple unicorn moving away from her.

Twilight, seeing that the alicorn had noticed the sound, dived into a mountain of books. ‘For the love of all that is good in this world, please tell me that she didn’t see me!’ She let out a small squeak, when a familiar starry mane wrapped around her.

Nightmare gave a small smile at the amusing sight of the unicorn. “And where do you think you’re going?” She slowly pulled the frighten unicorn towards her. “Releasing all that anger… has left me quite hungry.” Her lips parted and slowly brought the unicorn’s neck closer.

"No wait-!" Twilight gasped when she felt the fangs pierce her skin. ‘Oh Celestia, it hurts…’ But she kept her mouth shut, so as to not invoke Nightmare Moon’s wrath.

After a minute of drinking, the Nightmare Moon finally released the unicorn. ‘Ah… simply delicious.’ She licked the remaining blood off her lips. “Thank you for the meal, Twilight, now as a reward you will be given your very own.” The alicorn’s horn lit up and threw open the library doors. Standing at the entrance was a trembling mare, who yelped in surprise when the doors opened. Nightmare Moon strolled up to the pony and said, “You are one of the maids for this castle, yes?” The timid pony nodded. “I suppose the Captain sent you over, yes?" Another nod. "Then you have no doubt seen that little show… did you enjoy it?”

The pony backed away. “N-no please, your majesty, I saw nothing I-I swear!”

The alicorn quietly lifted the frightened pony, via magic. “Save your breath, little foal, you will make a fine meal for my servant.” She floated the pony and dropped her in front of the unicorn. “Here you are, Twilight, breakfast.”

Twilight, who didn’t move during the whole time, faced the earth pony lying before her with wide eyes. She watched the pony cower away from her, fear plastered on her face. Twilight spoke in a low voice. “I-It’s okay, I’m not going to do that to you.” Twilight turned to stare at the alicorn, determination fixated on her face. “I won’t drink her blood, Nightmare.”

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. “Are quite sure about that? It has been about two days now and you haven’t had a single drink since your rebirth.” She leaned in. “You must be thirsty by now, yes?”

*Thump-thump*

Twilight suddenly gripped her chest. The hunger had never been a problem… until now. Twilight, for the most part, was able to push it into the back of her mind simply by studying the elements. But now that Nightmare Moon reminded her on what she is, the hunger came back a hundred times greater.

*Thump-thump*

“Gah!” The unicorn gasped, visibly shaking. Twilight wanted nothing more than to get rid of the pain, but she doesn’t want to hurt the mare in front of her either. The vampony could feel herself slipping. ‘No… NO! I can’t… I won’t!’ She snarled and hunched over in defiance, earning a frighten squeak from the earth pony.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. ‘Just give in already, Twilight. This is a battle you’re not going to win.’

“No… I’m not going to give up, Nightmare.” The unicorn muttered. She slowly sat up straight, panting with exhaustion and pain. Twilight gave the surprised goddess a weak smile and turned to the maid. “You can go now.” Not wasting a second, the pony scrambled to her hooves and bolted out of the room.

The Dark Queen watched the pony run with wide eyes. ‘How is this possible?!’ She turned to stare at Twilight, who was still smiling. ‘None of my children were able to withstand a day’s worth without blood, let alone two!’ Her mind went into overdrive, trying to figure it out. ‘In fact, she should’ve gone insane with the urge to feed. So how she is still able to control herself after all of this?’ Hundreds of questions swirled in Nightmare Moon’s mind until she finally stopped at one conclusion. ‘Even if she’s capable of holding herself back… she’ll still give in at the end.’ She smirked. ‘I’ll give her about another night or so before she breaks.’

Twilight sat patiently and frowned when she saw the smirk, forming on the alicorn’s face. ‘I just beat Nightmare at her own game and yet she can still smile?’ She jumped slightly, when the queen began laughing again.

“Ah… well done, Twilight!” said Nightmare, slowly clapping her front hooves together. “I must admit… I was truly surprised, my little vampony.” She gave another smirk. “However, you are fighting a losing battle and I will not make it any easier for you.” Her smirk turned into an evil grin. “In the end you will become a monster like me, Twilight.” ‘I could just order her to drink, but… torturing her is a lot more fun.’ The alicorn’s eyes glinted. ‘I will be the one to break you, Twilight!’

Twilight saw the glint pass through the queen’s eyes and in response, narrowed hers. “If that’s true…” If anypony was able to see the two at that moment, they would’ve sworn that they saw sparks flying between them. “If that’s true and I’m going to turn into a monster… so be it. But, I’m not going down without a fight!”

Chapter 6

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 6

It was raining. The Pegasus from Cloudsdale had pulled out all the stops, as heavy raindrops fell from the sky in a curtain-like state. The citizens of Canterlot all took refuge in their homes or under the covers of their local coffee shop. The palace was no better, as the rain bounced off the backs of the guards. They huddled closer to each other, trying to preserve body heat.

A guard, who was standing on a tower battlement, sneezed. “Guh… it’s bad enough that we have to serve that evil witch, but now we have to stand out in this blasted rain!”

His partner nodded, as he whipped his mane away from his eyes. “Agreed, but what can we do? Now that the Princess is missing, I doubt we can do anything to stop her. I even heard that the Elements of Harmony didn’t work on her.”

The first guard sneezed again. “Yeah… I wonder what really can stop her now…” He glanced back at his partner. “That reminds me, what happened to your brother that went missing when Nightmare Moon attacked the first day?”

The second guard lowered his head, not sure if his eyes are wet because of the rain or his tears. “I still haven’t heard anything, but neither did any of the other families. At this rate, we’ll never know…”

The first guard patted the sad pony’s back. “I’m sure he’ll turn up sooner or later. Just don’t give up hope and I know things will get better.”

The other guard smiled. “Thanks.” They stood silently, trying to keep the rain out of their eyes and back.

*Boom*

The second guard flinched slightly. “Hey, did you hear that?”

*Boom*

The first guard nodded. “Yeah, it sounds like somepony broke something back at the castle.” He looked over his shoulder, trying to stare through the curtain of rain. “But, that doesn’t make any sense. We’re at the farthest towers and it’s raining.”

The other guard shuddered, dislodging some of the water out of his mane. “In that case, I’m not going anywhere near the castle right now. Nightmare Moon must be really angry with something… or somepony.”

“Yeah, I really feel sorry for whoever’s at the receiving end of that…”

The alicorn in question currently stood in the center of the throne room. She breathed heavily through her nose, as she stared at the broken remains of what was once the jewel encrusted throne itself. Nightmare continued to stare at the chair for about a minute, before letting out an angry cry. “GAAAAAAH!” She picked up the remains of the chair with her horn and launched it into the air, before crushing it to dust. The goddess flicked her eyes around until she spotted a group of frighten ponies, huddling in a corner. “Clean up this mess and get me a new chair! I’ll be in my chambers. But, I don’t want anypony disturbing me, understand?!”

Not seeing if they answered or not, Nightmare Moon quickly teleported into her bedroom. She found herself looking out of her window, still seething with anger. ‘A week! I’ve wasted an entire week trying to make her complete when I could’ve used that time to train her!’ She picked up a chair, which was unfortunately in the room, and smashed it against a wall. Nightmare Moon eyed the broken remains, trying to find some relief from it. However, the longer she stared at the chair the more she felt guilty. ‘I shouldn’t have done that… The pony must have put a lot of work into making that chair. I think I should write a letter and apolo…gize…’ Her eyes widen in horror. ‘What in Equestria was I thinking just now?!’ The alicorn quickly pulled a pillow towards her and screamed into it. ‘How?! How is she still capable of holding back? This is completely unheard of and just plain crazy!’

Nightmare began remembering the past few days, only to remind herself of her complete and utter failure to change a single mare. ‘I don’t understand… I’ve tried everything to the point where forcing her is the only way!’ She pulled her face from the pillow. ‘But… I just can’t bring myself to do it either! I can’t force another pony to do something that she doesn’t want…to…’ Her eyes widen in horror, slamming her face into the pillow again. ‘And another thing, these… these feelings and thoughts has gotten worse! They will not stop tormenting me!’ The alicorn suddenly felt something snap. ‘It’s her fault that I’m like this… It’s. All. Her. Fault!’ Letting go of the pillow, Nightmare Moon cried, “That’s it… I’ve had enough! Guards!”

The doors to her room burst open and a pair of guards rushed in. “Yes, your Majesty?”

“Bring Twilight Sparkle to me… immediately!”

Inside the now repaired library, Twilight Sparkle awoke by a loud pounding noise. ‘Ugh…’ “What now?” She slowly pulled herself out of her bed and begrudgingly opened the door. ‘So hungry…’

A large hoof reached out and began pulling the purple unicorn down the stairs. “Miss Sparkle you have been summoned to the Princess’s quarters. You will come with us… immediately!”

Still being pulled by the hoof, Twilight almost tripped. “Wait! What’s going on?” Her mouth began salivating at the sight of the pony’s neck in front of her. ‘No! Keep it together… Keep. It. Together!’ She began shaking, feeling as if her throat was a scorching desert… on fire!

“We do not know.” He continued, completely oblivious at the sight of the shaking unicorn. “All we were told is that we need to bring you to her.” No further words were spoken, as the guard continued to pull Twilight to the queen’s chamber.

‘Oh… please just hold out… I can do this… I can do this…’ Twilight repeated the words over and over in her head, not even noticing that they were already standing in front of the door. “Huh?” The unicorn whipped her head to the left and right. “We’re here already?”

“Yes, Miss Sparkle…” The guard lifted a hoof and knocked on the door. “My Queen, Twilight Sparkle has arrived.”

“Enter…” The voice that came out was a low, hissing whisper.

Twilight gulped, as she slowly inched the door open. As soon as the unicorn’s tail passed over the threshold, the door slammed shut with a bang. Twilight, still shaking from the noise, lowered herself down into a bow. “Y-you wanted to see me, Nightmare Moon?”

Nightmare Moon didn’t even blink when she said, “You’re leaving, Twilight, tonight.”

The unicorn whipped her head up in surprise and the thought of the hunger momentarily left. “Leaving? You mean like out of the castle?”

The alicorn nodded. “That is correct. I’m sending you back to wherever you came from… Ponyville was it?”

Twilight’s mouth fell open. “But…but why?” ‘Am I dreaming right now?’

Nightmare Moon made an angry snort. ‘Just looking at you makes my blood boil.’ “Because I seem to have made a mistake in making you my servant and I no longer need you anymore.” The alicorn turned her back at the unicorn. “You are a complete failure and I wish to not waste my time with you any longer.” ‘I want you to be gone… away from me. Far away!’

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Is this really happening?’ She never felt so happy about failing in something in her entire life. ‘I can go home and see my friends!’ She smiled slightly. “I understand, Nightmare Moon. I’ll go and pack my belongings then.”

“No need. I’ve already prepared your things, Twilight.” The alicorn whirled around and faced the unicorn. “In fact, just go… right now.” Nightmare Moon ignited her horn and she felt herself pour all of her magic into the mare. ‘Go away and take your curse with you!’ With a bright flash, Twilight Sparkle disappeared. The room immediately became deathly quiet and the alicorn let out a sigh of relief. ‘At last… that accursed unicorn is gone!’ Nightmare Moon broke the silence with a laugh. “HA! Gone! Thank the almighty creators! She’s finally gone!” Her laughter died down, when she heard the soft knocking of hooves at her door. “Come in! Come in!”

The door slowly opened and standing in the doorway was a familiar navy blue Pegasus. “My Queen, are you alright?” Valor raised an eyebrow when the goddess of the night giggled.

Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Valor, I’m alright… In fact, I’m perfectly happy right now!” She threw her hooves into the air. “Don’t you see, Valor? She’s gone, she’s finally gone!”

The captain of the guards blinked. “You sent Miss Sparkle away?”

“Yes, captain, I’ve sent Twilight back to Ponyville.” The alicorn stood up straight, her giddy feelings already fading. “Now I can truly rule Equestria with an iron hoof, Valor.” She began walking to the direction of the throne room, followed closely by the captain. “Come! We have much work to do!”

Valor leaned in slightly and asked, “Does this mean that you will need another pony to drink from, Master?”

Nightmare Moon paused. “Humm… you’re right, Valor.” She began walking again. “Have the Night Shadows brought here to the castle.”

The navy blue Pegasus bowed his head. “At once, your Majesty.” He turned and began walking towards the castle gates, a small smirk forming on his face. “Perfect.”

Author’s Notes: I would just like to apologize for the short chapter, but I just couldn't see it ending properly anywhere else...

To those who wished to see the "fight" between Nightmare Moon and Twilight, don't lose hope. I will be uploading the "battle" between the two at a later date. The only reason I won't post it right now is because... I don't really want to center 2-4 chapters on their "fight", you know what I mean? It really won't have any story progression and so... completely pointless. However, I will post it as a bonus chapter or something...later.

Chapter 7

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 7

There was a bright light. Followed by…

*Thump*

*Crack*

“OW!”

Twilight winced in pain, as she landed headfirst into something hard. After a waiting few a minutes to stop the spinning sensation in her head, the unicorn pulled up into a sitting position. She briefly shook her head. “Oww… that’s going to leave a mark…” Reaching up and rubbing the tender spot on her head, she winced. “Yeah, I’m definitely going to feel that in the morning.” Realizing how she ended up hurt in the first place, Twilight leaped to her hooves. ‘That reminds me… where am I?’ Looking down, the unicorn found herself standing on top of a now broken table. ‘Huh… I guess that explains why it hurt.’ The next thing she noticed was the smell of old paper and when she ignited her horn, Twilight found herself standing inside the familiar Ponyville Library. She couldn’t help but smile. “I’m home…”

Twilight’s happy moment didn’t last long, as she heard a heavy accent emanating from the stairs. “Alright! Whoever’s down there… give yourselves up! I got a pair of apple bucking legs and I ain't afraid to use them!” The voice became louder, as the owner quickly cantered down the steps. “If you’re a thief, get ready to feel what my apple trees feel every…” Her words as well as the orange mare herself skidded to a halt, as she spotted a familiar purple unicorn. Applejack’s mouth hung open, as she stammered out, “T-T-Twilight?!”

“Applejack!” cried Twilight, running up and giving the work horse a tight hug. “It really isn’t a dream after all!”

Applejack lifted a shaking hoof and after giving the unicorn a quick pat on the head, spoke in a shaking voice. “I-I don’t believe my eyes… Twilight is it really you?” The earth pony pulled away and held Twilight at hooves length. “When we didn’t get any replies from the letters we sent, we thought something bad happened to you, sugarcube!”

Twilight shook her head quickly. “I’ve been trying to send letters since the day I arrived at the castle, but Nightmare Moon’s goons won’t allow anything in or out.”

The earth pony frowned. “Well that’s a mighty shame…” Her frown quickly turned upside down. “But, that’s okay! You’re finally back to where you belong, sugarcube.” Applejack finally released the unicorn. “That reminds me, how did you end up here in the first place? I didn’t hear the door open.”

Twilight smiled gently. “Nightmare Moon teleported me here.” She winced at the memory. “Rather suddenly too…” She then remembered. “But wait, how did you end up in the library, Applejack?”

The work horse smiled. “Oh, that’s an easy one. The girls and I all agreed to take turns at keeping watch over the place while you’re gone.” Applejack lowered her head a little. “Spike sometimes comes back here to get some shut eye, but most of the time he just sleeps at our places.” She looked away. “Poor fella… said that it just hurts too much to stay here for too long.”

Twilight felt as if a sharp knife went through her heart and spoke in a low voice. “Spike…”

After a moment of silence, the orange mare’s face lightens. “But now that you’re back, I’m sure he’ll be feeling better lickety split!”

Twilight was about to agree with her friend but was interrupted, when a rusty metallic smell assaulted her nose. The metallic smell of… blood.

*Thump-thump*

Twilight gasped, quickly looking around for the source. She soon found it in the form of a small cut on the side of her friend’s shoulder. ‘Oh, no…’

*Thump-thump*

Hearing her friend gasp, Applejack tilted her head slightly. “You alright there, sugarcube?”

*Thump-thump*

Twilight tried to drown out the noise from her chest. “A-a-a-a-Applejack y-y-you’re b-b-b-b-bleeding!” She pointed with a hoof, visibly shaking. ‘Oh, mighty creators, not now please. not. NOW!’

*Thump-thump*

“What?” The earth pony turned and saw the cut. “Well shoot… I guess I cut myself when I was running down here.” She turned and began walking towards the library’s kitchen. “It’s no big deal, Twi, just slap on a quick band-aid and I’ll be all set!”

*Thump-thump*

Unnoticed by her friend, Twilight fell to her knees. ‘No… please no! I can’t… I won’t! I…I…’

*Thump-thump* *Thump-thump* *Thump-thump* *Thump-thump*

‘no…no… No… NO… NOOOOOOOO!’ Her prayers fell to deaf ears, as Twilight’s world turned red.

Applejack suddenly felt a pair of hooves wrap around her. Turning, she saw the purple unicorn leaning into her. “Twi? What’s wrong, sugarcube?”The unicorn didn’t respond, as she leaned in closer. “Twilight?” The earth pony shivered slightly, when she felt the warm breath of her friend on her neck. “Okay, Twi, you’re sort-of scaring me now…” The purple unicorn continued to ignore her, as she slowly pulled her lips back and presented her fangs to the earth pony. “Now what in tarnation are you…” She couldn’t finish, as she let out a gasp of pain.

Twilight kept her eyes open, as she stared into earth pony’s emerald ones. She saw her friend’s face twisting in pain and fear. Her ears perked up when Applejack spoke. “S-stop…”

With a great heave, Applejack threw the vampony off her while yelling. “Get off me!”

Twilight felt herself crashing into a bookcase. The sudden jolt caused the books to fall in a great heap around her. She could already feel the thirst retreating, but she didn’t care about that. ‘It’s over… I’m a true monster now…’ The unicorn felt tears running down her face. ‘and I hurt one of my best friends…I’m so sorry.’

Applejack stood stock still; pressing a hoof to her neck, where she could still feel two small indents in her skin. She spoke in a low voice. “So… this was the secret then, Twilight?”

Twilight pulled her face from her hooves, tears still streaming down her face. “W-what?”

The orange pony didn’t move. “I had my suspicions… but, I never thought it’ll be something like this.”

The unicorn stared in bewilderment. “W-what are you saying, Applejack?”

The apple farmer gave Twilight a hard look. “I knew you were hiding something back at the hospital.” Before letting the unicorn speak, she continued. “When you made such a big deal on the blood and that neck of yours… I just knew something was off…” Her face turned into a scowl.

Twilight flinched at the earth pony. ‘She’s angry at me… which is understandable.’ She gave her eyes a small wipe. ‘But, it doesn’t explain why she’s acting like this. If anything, she should be running away from me…’ She braced herself and muttered. “I know you’re angry because I hurt you and if… if you don’t to be friends anymore… I understand.”

With her eyes narrowing, Applejack slowly approached the shivering unicorn. “Oh, I’m angry alright.” She brought herself face to face with the vampony. “I’m angry you didn’t say anything before you went ahead and made a meal out of me.” The apple farmer pulled away. “Then maybe I could’ve helped you sooner!”

Twilight blinked. “Huh?”

The orange mare gave a small smile. “Twilight, I’m your friend and if my friends are having a tough time with something…” She placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “I’ll always be there to help.”

Twilight’s mouth fell open. “You mean you’re only mad because I didn’t tell you that I was going to feast on your blood?”

Applejack flinched slightly, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Well… I would’ve been a lot more understanding if you really needed it…” Her eyes went narrow. “You only did it because you really needed the blood right?”

Twilight grimly nodded. “I’ve been holding the hunger back for about a week now and it only gotten worse over time.”

The earth pony’s eyes widen. “A whole week? Well shoot, it’s no wonder you couldn’t help yourself.”

The unicorn threw her hooves in front of herself in a surprised manner. “Whoa, whoa, whoa… Are you telling me that you know exactly what I am and how I would react?”

Applejack gave an awkward smile. “Well… to tell you the truth, I pretty much know about everything that is to do with vamponies.” Seeing the shocked expression on her friend's face, she averted her eyes and muttered in a low voice. “I’m…well… sort-of a… vampony hunter…”

Twilight threw herself away from the earth pony. “What?!” She slammed her eyes closed. ‘Oh, horseapples! She’s going to tell me that she’s going to kill me now. I just know it!’ She braced herself for the incoming attack… It never came. Instead, the unicorn slowly pried her eyes open to see the gentle smile still on her friend’s face. “Are… are you going to get it over with?”

Seeing the look on the purple mare’s face, Applejack started laughing. “Ha ha ha ha! Aww… sugarcube, you don’t have to worry about whether you’re going to live or not.” She gave another gentle smile. “I’m not going to hurt you, Twi.”

The unicorn let out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding. “That’s a relief. I thought hunters of any kind will just kill their targets no matter what.”

Applejack’s face went dark. “Well… during my training, I was taught that all vamponies were blood thirsty killing machines… that will stop at nothing to end all of ponykind.” Her face brightened. “But, after seeing you getting along with our friends so well… I don’t really think that’s going to happen anytime soon. You’re a good pony and I trust you.”

Twilight smiled gently. “Thanks.” After a few seconds of awkward silence, she asked, “How long were you a vampony hunter anyways?”

The earth pony grimaced. “Since the day I turned seven… It was more of a side job anyways. I never in all my years fought with any vamponies or even heard anything close to them.” She waved a hoof absentmindedly. “So over the years I thought vamponies was just a bunch of hooey and just a waste of time at the farm.” She gave a weak chuckle. “Until now that is.”

Twilight’s eyes widen at the information. “But, wait… what about Apple Bloom? Is she…?”

Applejack shook her head. “No… I was supposed to teach her, but I thought teaching how to run the barn was a better idea.” Her eyes narrowed a little bit. “That reminds me, how are we going to break it to the others?” She pressed a hoof to her chest. “I mean I know what you are and what you have to go through, but I don’t think the others will take too kindly on this.”

The unicorn’s eyes turned to stare at the floor. “Yeah… I have a feeling Fluttershy won’t even come near me when she finds out.” She shuddered at the thought of seeing her friend’s reactions after finding out. ‘Get away from me! Monster! Freak!’

Seeing the depressed look on Twilight’s face, Applejack reached up and patted the unicorn’s shoulder. “Now don’t fret, sugarcube, I’m sure they’ll understand if we explain.”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, all I have to do is tell them that I turned into a monster and I will need to drink the blood of other ponies in order to survive… easy…”

The farm pony sighed. “Yeah… I see your point…” Applejack cleared her throat. “Now I don’t really like doing this…” She sighed again. “But, we could hold off tell them until you feel comfortable telling them yourself.” The work horse smiled. “I’ll try to cover for you if things get a little close.”

The unicorn stared in surprise. “You’ll really do that for me?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What part of you being my friend don’t you understand?”

“Oh…” The two stared at each other before bursting out in laughter. After they were able to breathe again, they closed into a tight hug. “Thank you, Applejack. I don’t know what I’ll do without you and the others there to help me.”

They broke apart and Applejack said, “Think nothing of it, sugarcube.” She turned and began walking up the stairs. “Now I’m going to wash my neck and get some shut-eye. All this talking made me really tired and we’re going to need the energy in the morning when we tell the others you’re back.”

Twilight winced, as she remembered the injury she caused. “I’m really sorry about that, Applejack.”

The earth pony looked back over her shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, Twi… Just make sure you give a warning if you’re going to do something like that again.”

The purple unicorn nodded. “Fair enough…” She tilted her head. “Wait… again?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “What, you think you just need to drink one time and be set for life?” She shook her head. “I don’t really want to put the others on the 'dinner plate' so I’ll just have to tough it out.” The earth pony stamped a hoof. “I’m also a vampony hunter and I can handle it and keep you in check.”

Twilight gasped. “I can’t possibly do that to you!” The thought of turning one of her friends into a blood bank, sickened her.

Applejack gave a warm smile. “Now don’t worry about me, sugarcube. Worry about how you’re going to find a way to tell the others.”

The pair entered the bedroom and while she was setting up the spare bed, Twilight asked, “If we weren’t friends and I did that to you… what would you do?”

The earth pony slipped into the covers of the bed, yawning. “Why, I would have to kill you then.” She rested her head against the pillow. “No blood sucking varmint is going get away with that, not when I’m still kicking.”

Twilight gulped, regretting ever asking that question. “Oh… okay then.”

The room entered at state of silence, as the heavy storm still raged on outside.

The atmosphere in the castle has almost gone a complete one-eighty, as the castle staff milled about and cleaned with an uplifted attitude. Nightmare Moon leaned into her new throne, as she took a deep breath. Watching the staff cleaning, she couldn’t but smile. ‘Well, well, well… It seems they finally understand who the ruler of this place is now.’ Some of the staff took notice of their queen and waved their hooves in greeting. Nightmare waved a hoof in response. ‘I don’t know why, but I finally feel as if they love me now.’ The alicorn tilted her head in confusion. ‘Which is strange… I don’t think I have done anything different from what I normally do.’ She gave another warm smile. ‘That’s it! It’s because I removed that dreadful unicorn from the castle! Once she was gone, everypony started to love me.’ Nightmare Moon’s ears perked up when the large double doors to the hall opened.

Valor slowly made his way towards the alicorn, bowing once he reached the bottom of the stairs. “My Queen, I see you are in a good mood in this wonderful night.”

Nightmare Moon gave a quick nod. “Yes, captain, it seems that this place is finally warming up to their leader.” She then noticed a hooded pony entering. “Ah, you have returned, leader of the Night Shadows?”

Standing beside the navy blue Pegasus, the hooded pony bowed. “Of course, anything the queen wishes it shall be received.”

The alicorn leaned forward. “I have already heard from Valor that you have a total of twenty ponies at hoof, correct?”

Standing up, the hooded pony nodded. “That is correct, Dark Queen. They are all ready to serve you in any way possible.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Very good, you may go now.” She turned to the captain. “Have them stationed inside the barracks, Valor.”

The Pegasus gave a quick salute. “At once, my Queen.” He turned and left, followed closely by the hooded pony.

The two walked in complete silence, as they made their way towards the castle gates. The rain has finally let up and stars could be seen, twinkling in the night sky. Once they were clear of the front gates and into the empty road, the hooded pony spoke. “Do we carry out our plan now, Valor?”

The captain shook his head. “Not yet, we still need to convince Nightmare Moon that you and the others are safe to keep near.”

The hooded pony groaned. “Why do we have to wait? I’m sure she’ll never see it coming and we are sick of waiting now.”

The navy blue Pegasus sighed. “I know, brother, but we just have to endure it a little while longer.” He lifted his head towards the heavens. “We’ll finally be freed from this once and for all.”

Twilight let out a loud gasp, clapping a hoof to her chest. She leaned into the back of the bed, breathing in and out in quick succession. ‘Oh, what a horrible dream…’ She shivered, as she remembered an image of herself standing on a pile of dead bodies. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the dead ponies were the drained corpses of her friends. The unicorn visibly turned green when she saw herself drinking into neck of the apple farmer. She watched in horror, as the vampony dropped the limp Applejack and faced her with blood red eyes. The monster gave a toothy grin. ‘Oh, don’t worry about you’re pretty little neck, my dear… You’re next!’ The last thing she was able to see before waking up was the scarlet eyes…

Twilight leaped out of the bed and while running towards her bedroom mirror, she whispered. “Please don’t be red. Please don’t be red. Please don’t be red…” When she reached the mirror, Twilight was expecting to see two sparkling purple eyes. But as she leaned in, her heart stopped. The unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be seen. In fact, she could only see the room, reflecting back at her. Hearing a small cough to her side, she turned to see Applejack walking up to her. “Applejack, what happened?”

The farm pony raised an eyebrow. “Did you already forget what you are now, sugarcube?”

Twilight gulped. “I didn’t expect the 'no-reflecting' thing to be actually true…” Turning back, she placed a hoof on the mirror trying with all her might to see herself. When the mirror failed to grant her wish, her face fell. “I guess I’ll just have to accept it and move on…”

Applejack solemnly nodded. “It’s the easiest way to spot out a vampony in a large crowd so be careful, Twi.”

The unicorn took a deep breath. “Right… well it’s finally time to get together with the others… I missed them.”

The earth pony turned and began walking towards the main part of the library. “Well, why don’t you just mozy on down and do it!”

Following right behind the orange mare, Twilight tilted her head in confusion. As she stepped off the last stair she asked, “What does that mean…” She couldn’t finish as the room suddenly burst into life.

“Surprise!”

“AH!” The unicorn threw her hooves in front of her at the sudden bright light in her face. When she took a peek, the unicorn was greeted with a familiar sight. All of her friends where there, grinning at her with happiness and excitement. All of them began to hug and greet her all at once. The library was filled with the cheery noises of all the ponies, as they talked and laughed with each other. Twilight hasn’t moved at all during the entire time, as the unicorn was stunned into silence.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Rainbow Dash leaned in. “Uhh girls… I think we broke her again…”

Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Don’t worry, Dashie, I got this.” With a hop and a skip, she landed squarely next to the frozen Twilight. “Hmm…” She gave the unicorn a critical scan with her eyes before suddenly sticking her tongue inside the mare’s ear.

“EEEEEEEK!” Twilight flew for what felt like ten feet into the air before landed squarely on her back. When her eyes were able to focus again, she saw a snow-white unicorn leaning over her.

“Pinkie, I think your methods need some umm… improvements.” Rarity shot the party pony an amused look. “Honesty, Pinkie, that was simply a disgusting thing to do to a lady.”

The pink pony rubbed the back of her head with a hoof and stuck her tongue out. “Hehehe… oops!”

The alabaster pony grabbed Twilight by the hoof and pulled her upright. “Are you alright, dear?”

Shaking slightly, Twilight nodded. “I think so.” She flicked her head into each of the pony’s faces. “I don’t believe it… How did you know that I came back so soon?”

Pinkie Pie thrust a hoof into the air, waving it in a wide manner. “Oh! Oh! I was the one that told everypony that you came back! Everypony except Applejack because I had a feeling you’ll be here in the library… and you were!” The pink pony proceed to hop around the room singing, “Twilight is back~! Twilight is back~! Twilight is baaaack~!”

While the rest of the ponies were distracted by the party pony, Fluttershy took a few timid steps forward. “It’s so good to see you again, Twilight. I hope life at the castle wasn’t too hard for you.”

The purple unicorn leaned forward and gave the butterscotch Pegasus a tight embrace. “I can’t say it was bad there…” ‘It was worse… so much worse.’ She felt warmth all around her, as the others realized what the pair were doing and joined in. “But, if I had to choose… I’ll forever keep this place in the number one spot.” 'Speaking of number one... where's my number one...'

Their group hug was interrupted when they heard a small cough. “Uhh… I know you miss her and all but… can I say hi to her now?” The ponies broke apart and Twilight was able to make out a small purple dragon standing off to the side.

The unicorn couldn’t stop from crying out. “Spike!” The two began running towards each other, colliding in a great hug in the center. Twilight felt tears running down her face. “It’s good to see you again, little brother.”

The baby dragon tightens his grip. “It’s good to see you too, big sis.” After a few heart wrenching minutes, Spike pulled away and held the unicorn in front of him. “I can’t believe it… did you really finish your training with Nightmare Moon and you’re here to stay?”

Twilight nodded. “Yup” ‘Even if I didn’t do anything really…’ She gave the dragon a little noogie. “See Spike? I told you I’ll be quick.”

Spike gave the purple unicorn a friendly push. “Yeah, yeah… you did say that.” He gave a big warm smile. “We’re a family again.”

Twilight gave her eyes a quick wipe. “It’s good to be back…”

The warm atmosphere was interrupted, as Pinkie Pie jumped in-between. “Hey, Twi, remember that surprise I promised you back before you left?”

“Oh?” The unicorn completely forgot about that! “Oh, yes! What was the thing that got you so excited, Pinkie?”

“Hehehe…” The pink pony gave a toothy grin. “It’s right over here!” With a quick dash behind a door, Pinkie emerged with a large metal object on wheels.

Twilight stared at it, her eyes slowly widening as she spoke. “Pinkie… is that?”

Rainbow Dash fluttered next to the unicorn. “Yup, that’s Pinkie’s party cannon.”

The unicorn’s eyes were filled with horror. “You’re setting that off in here?!”

The party pony gave an energetic laugh. “Don’t worry, Twilight, I managed to perfect it just the other day!”

The cyan Pegasus rolled her eyes. “Yeah… and the day before that, you almost set Ponyville on fire remember?” Twilight’s eyes went even wider at the statement.

“That only happened because I mixed up the frostings and the sprinkles.” Pinkie reached behind the cannon and pulled up a piece of string. “With a little bit of duck tape, it was all fixed!” Her face turned into a beacon of excitement. “Here we go!”

Twilight instantly paled and was able to find her voice. “Pinkie wait!” It was too late, as she watched the pink pony in horror. The party cannon let out a tremendous explosion, as it filling the entire library with a cloud of confetti. Having her eyes shut just before the cannon went off, Twilight slowly inched her eyes open. Gazing around the room, her jaw fell open. The once clean and bear walls of the library were now filled with all manner of party decorations.

Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere and gave the unicorn a friendly slap on the shoulders. “Well… what do you think?”

Twilight gave the pink pony an empty look. “I’m just glad you didn’t set the tree on fire!” ‘I don’t know what I’ll do if that happened…’

The party pony threw a hoof over her stunned friend’s shoulder. “Oh, you’ll have plenty of times to do that later because it’s yours!” She began to hop away. “Think of it as a welcome back present. But enough with the chit-chat, it’s time to party!”

The purple unicorn stood rooted to the spot, staring into the back of the pink pony. ‘If you think I’m getting anywhere near that thing, you must be out of your mind!’ She was interrupted by a scaly hand gripping her hoof.

Spike gave the unicorn another warm smile. “Come-on, Twilight! They’re starting the party without us!”

The unicorn responded with her own smile. “Right behind you, my number one assistant!” The pair reached the other of ponies and began dancing. The sound of laughter and music floated gently in the morning breeze and into the still-night sky.

Author’s Notes: If you were hoping for a “Super Twilight” that can do anything she wants… yeah… that’s not going to happen. (Sorry!) I just have to say that at that part, she was basically starving herself at that point. (That’s why it must. Be. Done!)

Chapter 8

Really sorry for the lack of updates… One thing lead to another and it caused a massive delay. However, I’m finally back and ready to go!

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 8

“And that’s the last one.” Spike the dragon victoriously slipped the final book back in its proper place. He took a set back and as he was gazing at all the books, he proudly exclaimed, “Two thousand eight hundred fifty seven books cleaned and organized into perfection!” The baby dragon dusted his hands. “And this is only the bedroom… I got to make sure the rest of the library is done before Twilight gets back.” As he was turning to leave, Spike noticed a small red book on top of the unicorn’s bed. “Huh… I guess I missed one.” As Spiked picked up the book, he realized it didn’t have a title. “That’s strange, where did this come from?” Not wanting to waste anymore time, the baby dragon promptly opened it and began reading a line.

“Through my experiment, I was able to produce some results! It seems I’m capable of holding off the pain for an entire week before I need to go to Applejack again. That reminds me… I’ll have to meet up with her soon and I’m not going to be looking forward to that.”

Spike did a double take. “Wait a minute… pain?” He was barely able to register the word before the purple unicorn burst in.

With a panicked expression, Twilight ran up to the shelves and began pulling books after books over her shoulder. “Oh… where is it? I knew I forgot to do something before I left!” The books were already forming a large pile behind her.

“Twilight?”

Ignoring the voice behind her, Twilight gripped the sides of her head. “It’s not here! What if somepony took it and starting reading it?” Her panicked voice steadily rose. “What if they already finished and took it to the mayor?!”

“Twilight?”

She gasped. “If that happens then that means that they’ll probably already be calling the authorities and if they called the authorities they’ll be right outside the library!” She continued her panicked monologue for a good twenty seconds until Spike couldn’t take it any longer.

“Twilight!”

The unicorn gasped and twisted her body to stare at the baby dragon. “Huh?”

He held out the small red book. “Was this the thing you were looking for?”

The purple unicorn stared at the book in the dragon’s outstretched claw. “Why yes, that’s exactly what I was looking for.” Her eyes widen in horror. “Y-you didn’t read my private journal now, did you?”

Spike, completely forgetting what he read, dropped the book as if it was a poisonous snake. “Oh geez, I didn’t know it was something I wasn’t supposed to read!” He threw himself down in front of the unicorn. “I-I didn’t even get to read a single page completely, I swear! I-I’m so sorry, Twilight! Please don’t be mad or worse…disappointed in me! I hate it when someone says ‘I’m not mad… just disappointed’ it drives me crazy!” He looked up at the unicorn with large pleading eyes. “Please don’t be disappointed in me, Twilight, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Twilight blinked several times at the frightened dragon before giving a small smile. “Oh, Spike, it’s alright…” She gave a warm reassuring smile. “I’m not mad or disappointed in you.”

Spike stiffened slightly in surprise. “R-really, you’re not mad?” His eyes widen, hoping, praying.

The unicorn let out a tiny giggle. “Oh, Spike… I can never stay mad at you for too long because…” She gave the baby dragon a small noogie. “Because you’re my little brother and my number one assistant!” Twilight’s horn ignited and lifted the red book off the floor. “You said you didn’t even finish reading a single page right?”

The purple and green scaled dragon nodded in guilt. “Yeah…”

Twilight quickly hid the book inside her bedside table. “Then it’s perfectly fine and no harm was committed.” She gave her assistant a small nudge with her shoulder. “Come on, Spike, how does getting something for lunch sound?”

The baby dragon’s face lit up slightly. “I’d like that, Twilight.”

As the two left the bedroom, Twilight gazed over her shoulder and added. “Oh yeah, when we get back make sure you clean up the mess before the girls show up.”

Spike’s face visibly fell. ‘But you were the one that made that mess… oh well.’ He sighed. “You got it, Twilight.” ‘I could’ve sworn I forgot to ask something…’

Completely oblivious towards the dragon’s reaction, Twilight said, “Atta boy, Spike! When you finished with your chores you might be able to hang out with Rarity when she gets here later.”

Spike’s claw immediately shot up to brush his topmost scales. “Rarity is coming?” He quickly began brushing himself off of imaginary dust. “How are my scales, any of them bent?”

Twilight giggled at the sight of the nervous dragon. “Let’s go, Romeo, before you start asking which tuxedo you want to wear.”

The baby dragon’s face lit up at the thought. “That’s a great idea, Twilight! You can totally use that mustache spell you learned a couple days ago.”

The unicorn gave an amused smile. “Let’s not overdo it, Spike.”

…

“Sup, Twilight!”

“Howdy, Sugarcube…”

“It’s good to see you again, darling!”

“Woo-hoo party time!”

“Umm… am I late?”

“Hi girls, come on in and no, Fluttershy, you’re right on schedule.” It was late in the afternoon and five ponies entered the library.

Twilight, who was leading the group inside, was almost hopping with excitement. “This is going to be so much fun! I never had a slumber party before, you sure that it’s going to rain tonight right?”

Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest. “Yup! The weather team is going to make a really good one because we missed last night’s shower.”

The purple unicorn nodded, pulling up a notepad and giving it a check with her quill. “Good! Pinkie, you bring the games?”

Pinkie Pie produced a large box from out of nowhere. “I sure did! I wasn’t really sure what slumber party games you wanted… so I brought everything!”

The snow white unicorn opened the saddle bag that she brought and lifted a gilded box. “I also brought my makeup kit and I’m quite excited to see Rainbow Dash in a dress.” Rarity gave the Pegasus an evil smirk. “I can hardly wait.”

The cyan Pegasus grunted, staring daggers at her unicorn friend. “It’s only because I lost the pie eating contest against Pinkie.” She crossed her hooves over her chest. “How was I supposed to know that she’s capable of eating a whole pie in one bite?”

The party pony smile sheepishly. “Hehehe… sorry about that, Dashie, and I know how much you hate losing…” Pinkie Pie hopped up to her moody friend and playfully poked her in the nose. “But… a deal’s a deal and you Pinkie swore it too!”

Rainbow Dash grunted again. “Yeah, Yeah…”

Applejack walked up and gave the cyan Pegasus a playful smack on the shoulders. “Don’t feel too bad, Sugarcube, when ya’ll are done I’ll let you try out my special apple turnovers.”

The Pegasus’s mood lifted slightly. “Are they the same ones you made three days ago?”

The farm pony chuckled. “They sure are and you can even have the first bite.”

Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof into the air. “Sweet! Those turnovers were just plain awesome!”

Applejack rubbed the back of head with a hoof. “Aww thank you kindly, Sugarcube.” She looked up and noticed the purple unicorn was staring at her from the corner of her eye. “Is something wrong, Twilight?”

The unicorn flinched slightly at the sudden attention. “N-no nothings nothing wrong, Applejack, really.” Twilight suddenly became very interested in her notepad. “I was just making sure everything is in order.”

The ponies accepted her explanation expect the farm pony, who instead narrow her eyes. “Uh huh… Twilight can I have a word with you in private?”

Twilight’s twitched slightly. “Oh… sure…” She gazed at the other ponies. “You go on ahead and have fun, we’ll be right back...”

The two ponies entered the upstairs bedroom before the earth pony whirled around and cried, “Alright, Sugarcube, spill it.”

The librarian flinched. “W-what do you mean, Applejack?”

The farm pony’s eyes became two angry slits. “You darn well know what I’m talking about, Twi!” She pointed a hoof that the unicorn. “You’ve been avoiding me for the entire week.” Applejack gave a snort. “Well… trying more like.”

Twilight backed away from the earth pony. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you, Applejack. I-I was just trying to give you some space.”

Applejack waved a hoof in the air. “We both know that’s a big old lie.” She placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Come on, Twi, you can tell me what’s going on.”

The unicorn didn’t reply, but instead twisted away from the hoof as if it shocked her. Seeing the look of confusion on the farmer’s face, Twilight said, “S-sorry, it’s just that… just…”

“Just…?” Applejack pressed on.

Twilight gulped, fearing on what’s going to happen next. “It’s just that… I don’t know if I can really trust you anymore…”

The orange pony did a double take. “What’s making you go and saying something like that?” Her face turned from anger into a hurtful expression.

The unicorn bit her lips. “It’s just feels like I barely know you anymore… In fact, I don’t know you at all.” She turned away slightly. “I thought you were just a simple farm pony from a large… really large family and to find out that you’re a vampony hunter was just a big shocker for me.” She let out a small sniff. “I… I just don’t like the fact that such a secret was hidden from me…” Twilight faced her friend with tears in her eyes. “I know I’ve kept my identity a secret just as you had and so I can’t be really saying this. But, it’s just that I’m… afraid. Afraid, of the future, that something terrible is going to happen to all of us, and afraid that in the end it’ll tear our friendship apart.”

Twilight’s face became angry and gave a frustrated stomp. “I hate keeping secrets from our friends because it just feels like I’m just living a false life, run by lies and deceit! What will happen if I attacked one of our friends? Or once I finally do tell them and it’s too late… that I waited too long. I-I-I can’t even trust me anymore…” The unicorn let out a large sigh. “I hate the fact that I’m just so afraid of telling the others about what I become. I just… just wish I can be as brave as you or Rainbow and just be done with it, but…” The librarian fell onto her haunches. “I just… can’t! There’s so many things, hundreds of questions, so many different scenarios could happen and I could pick the worst thing to do.” She covered her face with her hooves. “I don’t know what to do anymore… I’m completely lost.”

The truth of it all was that Twilight was just too afraid on how her friends will react when they finally find out the truth about her. For the past week she had been trying, time and time again to share her secret towards her friends, but it ultimately fails at every attempt. This not only becomes extremely frustrating to the unicorn, but it also mentally hurts her to lie constantly. Applejack had kept her word and made sure to intervene whenever the unicorn backed out at the last minute. This however, just causes the librarian to feel even more guilt for having such a loyal friend. So in order to salvage what little relationship they had, Twilight decided to isolate herself from the apple farmer as much as possible. It had worked at the time, but the earth pony soon began noticing her behavior and attempted to find out the reason. It pushed Twilight into an even deeper point of isolation and the loneliness was starting to affect her. Spike came to the rescue by suggesting throwing a slumber party for her friends. It took a great amount of effort, but the unicorn finally caved in. She knew that Applejack will be among the ponies to arrive and decided to make amends. However, she had no idea on how to approach the situation properly and so her fears had gotten the better of her once again. It was only after the apple farmer cornered her is where she just couldn’t take it anymore.

Applejack, who has been silently listening to her friend, walked up and sat next to the shivering unicorn. She wrapped a hoof around her friend’s shoulder before saying, “I didn’t realize how much trouble this was causing you.” The orange pony gave a sad smile. “I guess I’ve been focusing too much on the vampony and not the true pony inside, where it mattered…”

The unicorn finally broke down and began crying into the farmer’s shoulder.

The earth pony held the crying mare in a warm hug, rocking back and forth. “There, there… Let it all out, Twi…”After a few moments of crying, Applejack waited until the sobs turned into quiet sniffling and gave the librarian a small squeeze. “Feeling better, Sugarcube?”

The purple unicorn nodded, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. “I think so… it’s just so confusing, I don’t know what to think anymore.”

The earth pony pressed a hoof to her own chin. “Hmm… the way I see it is that you’re having trouble finding out if the others will accept what you are, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I can think of multiple ways that it’ll just mess up and ruin everything. In fact, I thought of so many… I feel completely scatterbrained right now.”

Applejack rubbed the side of her head. “Yeah, I figured that out once you started that little rant of yours.”

The librarian gave a weak chuckle. “I did kind of flew off and went everywhere, didn’t I?”

The farmer nodded. “But, I sort of understand where you’re coming from.” She paused for a moment, thinking on what to say. “You ever once thought that what you’re doing is actually good for them?”

The purple pony eyed her friend in confusion. “W-what do you mean?”

“What I mean is that SOMEtimes it’s better for your friends not knowing the truth.” Applejack flinched as she spoke. “Well… you can tell some of the truth… but, not the whole truth.” She gave the unicorn a look. “You understand where I’m getting at, Twi?”

Twilight pressed a hoof to her chin, deep in thought. “Sooo… what you’re saying is that I should tell them the truth, but only partially?” She raised an eyebrow. “What’s that going to do?”

The earth pony frowned. “Think about it, Twi, if you can tell them some of the truth now then maybe it’ll be easier to tell them the rest later and only when you’re ready. I know bottling something up for too long will make anypony go crazy.” Applejack gave her friend a warning look. “But, you have to make sure you tell them soon because it’ll only be worse if you hold it off for too long.”

The unicorn mentally rolled her eyes. ‘If I’m not already too late to begin with…’ She gave a small frown. “But, Applejack, I’m not really going to get any progress and be right where I started.”

Applejack sighed. “I know, Sugarcube, it’s just that you won’t be able to move on with your life if you don’t get this off your chest.”

The purple unicorn stared at her own hooves. “Yeah…”

The two sat side by side for a while before the apple farmer said, “Tell you what… you said yourself that you can’t really trust me anymore because of the fact that I’m a vampony hunter right?”

The librarian gave a guilty nod. “Yeah, the fact that you’ve been ‘trained’ to kill monsters like me scares me…”

Applejack gave her friend a sympathetic look. “Hey now… don’t go calling yourself a monster, Sugarcube.” She gave the unicorn a light pat on the back. “Because I don’t think for a single second that you’re a monster, Twi.” Her face turned into a warm smile. “And that’s the honest truth.”

Twilight’s face broke into her first true smile in days. “Thanks…”

The earth pony clapped her hooves together. “Right, well then…” She stood up. “Now I’m going to start from the beginning… or what I believe was the start of it all.” Seeing the look of confusion on the unicorn’s face, she added, “I’m going tell you everything on my family history… or what I know about it. That way, I’ve got nothing to hide from you, Sugarcube.”

The purple unicorn’s face lit up at the anticipation of finding out new knowledge about her friend, but was interrupted by a loud noise downstairs. “Maybe we should hold that off until after the party, huh?”

“Oh shoot… you’re right, Twi. We’ve been up here for what, an hour?” Applejack stood up and proceeds to walk towards the door. “Let’s go, before the girls start worrying and send somepony up.” She was about to open the door, but felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she gazed at her friend in confusion. “What’s wrong, Sugarcube?”

Twilight fidgeted slightly, feeling as nervous as Fluttershy. “Umm… if it’s not too much to ask…” She lowered her head in shame. “It’s been a week and I’ll need to…feed…”

The apple farmer shook her head. “I still don’t know how you’re capable of holding it off for an entire week, Twi.” She turned and placed a hoof on the librarian’s shoulder. “Just promise me that you won’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

The vampony felt uncomfortable from the show of acceptance from her friend, but knew it was the only way. “Don’t worry about me, Applejack; I’ll be able to handle myself.” She reached forward and wrapped her hooves around the earth pony’s neck. The farmer stiffened slightly at the touch, but remained still. ‘Well… here we go…’

In an almost trancelike state, the unicorn felt her lip parting as she drew near her friend’s neck. She hovered just inches away from her destination, breathing in the strong sent of grass and apples. The vampony hesitated, but was brought back into focus by her friend’s voice.

“It’s alright, Sugarcube.”

Reassured by the calm pony, Twilight leaned in again. Her fangs easily pierced though the tender flesh and she immediately felt the warm blood entering her body. She went slowly at first, but the taste of the blood overwhelmed her and she began to drink deeper. After for what felt like an eternity, Twilight was finally able to wrench herself away from her friend. “I-I’m so sorry, Applejack! I couldn’t control myself and-and-and…”

Applejack held up a hoof to stop her stammering friend. “Don’t worry about it, Twi. I told you that I knew what I was getting myself into.” She turned and began walking towards the bathroom to clean herself up. Before she was able to make it halfway however, the pony stumbled and almost found herself on the floor if it weren’t for a reddish aura surrounding her body. Seeing the overwhelming look of worry on the unicorn’s friend, the apple farmer gave a weak smile. “I’m not fooling anypony, am I?”

Twilight shook her head. “Honesty, Applejack, we both know we can’t keep doing this in the long run.” She gently lowered the earth pony to the floor, releasing her magic.

Slowly rising up onto her hooves, Applejack said, “I’ll be able to manage for a little bit longer…” She held up a hoof before letting the librarian speak. “and nothing is going to change my mind.”

Twilight frowned and let out a sigh of defeat. “Alright… I promise I’ll figure out a way to make this easier for you.” She moved forward and supported the farmer with her shoulder. “Let’s get cleaned up and see our friends. I bet they’re worried sick.”

…

After a couple of minutes in the bathroom, the two made their way downstairs to see the library in a complete mess. But before they could say anything, Twilight felt a body slam her from the side. As her vision cleared, she saw Rainbow Dash, wearing a large frilly dress and face completely covered in makeup. “Where have you guys been!?” She jumped around and placed the unicorn in front of her. “Call them off! They’re crazy I tell you, crazy!”

“Aww… Dashie~!” Pinkie Pie popped out from out of nowhere. “Rarity and I were just about ready to work on your mane!”

The cyan Pegasus covered the top of her head with a hoof. “Oooh no! You’re not going to mess with the only remaining cool thing on me!”

The snow white unicorn walked up with a smirk on her face and spoke in a sing song voice. “Sorry, dear, but you Pinkie swore~!” She was about to pounce on the frighten Pegasus, but was halted by a purple hoof.

“I think you had about enough fun messing with Rainbow, Rarity.” Twilight eyed her friends with a stern look.

The party pony’s face fell slightly. “But-but-but…Twiliiiiight!”

The alabaster unicorn patted the hyperactive pony on the back. “Twilight’s right, honey, we went a little too far and I for one can show mercy to my friends.” She turned towards the cyan Pegasus and held out a hoof. “Truce?”

Rainbow Dash slowly emerged from behind the librarian and pressed her own hoof against the unicorn’s. “Truce.”

The moment didn’t last very long, as a purple dragon ran up to the group. “Hey guys, you ready to dye Rainbow's mane black?”

“No, Spike, I think they’re done having fun with Rainbow for tonight.” Twilight patted her assistant on the head, ignoring the shivering Pegasus behind her.

The baby dragon’s face fell slightly. “Aww… really?” He sighed with disappointment. “Alright then…” Spike’s eyes widen suddenly and pointed at spot on the unicorn. “Twilight, what is that?”

Looking down, the unicorn instantly paled at the sight of a red smug, hidden from her previously.

Spike leaned in. “Is that… blood?” He looked up in alarm. “Are you hurt, Twilight?”

Seeing the look of concern on all of their faces, Twilight nervously backed away. “O-o-oh? I must’ve cut myself coming down here…” She gave an unconvincing laugh, eyes swiveling back and forth. “It’s nothing serious…” For a moment she thought it had worked, but the cyan Pegasus had other ideas.

Rainbow Dash gave her friend a suspicious look. “You’re not hiding anything from us are you?”

Twilight gulped. “N-no, w-what makes you say that?” She felt herself panicking. ‘Not good-not good-not good!’ The unicorn was saved by an orange hoof extending between the two.

“Now now, Sugarcube, if she’s saying that it’s nothing then it probably means nothing.” Applejack gave a stern look.

Rainbow Dash faced the apple farmer and raised an eyebrow. “Ooookay… if you say so…” As the group disbursed to do other things, the Pegasus was deep in thought. ‘Something’s not right here…’ She eyed the purple unicorn from the corner of her eye. ‘My heart tells me that I should trust her, but my gut tells me otherwise.’ The Pegasus frowned. ‘She’s hiding something for me and it looks like Applejack is in on it too…’ She continued watching her friend trying, in vain, to see past the act. ‘I’m going to find out what you’re hiding, Twilight…’ She grunted. ‘Nopony can hide secrets from the Dash…’

Chapter 9

I know there are things in this world (Earth) that ponies can’t eat. However in Equestria, ponies can eat pretty much anything (except meat of course).

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 9

Twilight let out a huge yawn. ‘Oh… I have to remind myself to never mention the Apple family’s history ever again…’ The unicorn let out another huge yawn, before slipping out from under her covers of her bed. She slowly left her bedroom, careful to keep the noise level down in order to not wake her sleeping friends. As she was making her way downstairs, the unicorn’s memory from last night started to resurface.

…

It was already well past midnight and all the ponies in Ponyville were fast asleep. The heavy rainfall had ended and a dense fog took its place. The only remaining sources of light came from the bright moon overhead and a small candle inside a large tree. Twilight stared at the orange pony in front of her in anticipation, her eyes sparkled in excitement. ‘I finally get to know my friend a little bit more!’

Applejack cleared her throat. “Alright, let’s try to make this short and simple…” She cleared her throat for a second time. “I don’t remember everything that my granny told me, but I’ll try to tell it the best I can.” The purple unicorn leaned in slightly. “It all started around eight hundred years ago… with my Great, great, great, great, great, great, great… GREAT Grandpappy, Appleseed.” She drew in a breath. “He started a family and from there, bought a nice piece of land to start a farm.” The apple farmer waved a hoof absentmindedly. “For about forty years he stayed at that farm, nurturing, growing, and apple bucking. Eventually, his family grew too big for the farm and a lot of them moved away to start their own farms. Some of them continued to be apple farmers, but most of them decided to grow other things.” She pressed her hooves together as she counted. “There was the Almond family, Avocado family, Banana family, Cherry family, Orange family, Coconut family, Lemon family, Mango family, Olive family, Pear family, Peach family, Plum family, and… I darn forgot the rest.” The earth pony gave a guilty grin.

Twilight, whose mouth fell open in awe, quickly asked, “Do you mean to say that your however-many-great grandfather started all the tree farms in Equestria?”

Applejack shook her head. “We weren’t the first, but we were the biggest out of all the others.”

The librarian nodded. “Of course, continue…” ‘This is so exciting!’

The orange pony gave a shrug. “Nothing much happened after that, we continued working and growing until the entire family was spread out all over Equestria.” Her face darkened as she said, “But after about two hundred years, there was a… problem.”

Twilight’s eyes widen in curiosity. “W-what happened?”

Applejack sighed. “I don’t really know if this was true or not, but there were reports of attacks happening all over Equestria.” She looked up and eyed her friend carefully. “This was about the time when the word ‘Vampony’ started coming up.”

The unicorn leaned back in surprise. “Was your family involved in this?”

The earth pony gave an amused chuckle. “Our family was the biggest out of all the others… What do you think will happen?” She looked down with a sad expression. “My granny always told me that we lost a lot of family members that day… I guess since you’re real, she was telling the truth…”

The purple mare patted her friend on the shoulder. “Applejack, I’m so sorry…”

The farmer gave a sad smile. “Don’t be, Sugarcube, this wasn’t your fault.”

Twilight gave a knowing look. “I guess this was the time when your family became Vampony hunters, right?”

The earth pony nodded. “Yup… from what I can remember from granny, it was the Apple family that mostly took the responsibility, in hunting down the ones who attacked us. Since then, all the Apples had to go into training to fight.” She gave her unicorn friend a soft smack on the shoulder. “But, that was hundreds of years ago and since then, there weren’t any more attacks. This whole ‘Vampony training’ mostly became a family tradition and we don’t actively look for them anymore.” Applejack gave a warm smile. “So don’t be scared with what I might or might not do to you because chances are... I’m not going to do anything bad, Twilight.”

The librarian smiled. “Thanks for telling me all of this, Applejack. It doesn’t bother me as much anymore and my head feels so much clearer now.” She stood up. “Who knows…? I might be able to build up the courage to tell the others soon too.”

Applejack grinned. “That’s the spirit, Sugarcube! I’m sure everything will turn out just fine…” She held out a hoof. “But, we’re not done here yet, Twi.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Huh? But, I thought you told me everything I needed to know about your family.”

The orange mare gave a sly grin. “You wanted to know everything about my family… that includes everything that my family has to do in order to raise a farm!”

The purple unicorn paled. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’

…

Twilight let out another great yawn. ‘Short and simple? I didn’t need to know the one hundred steps in order to keep a tree growing straight… or the four hundred ways a tree can grow the wrong apples…’ Another yawn. ‘Although… I now know everything that I need to know in order to start my own apple business…’

Not looking were she was going, Twilight smacked headfirst into a door. Cursing under her breath, she opened the door with her horn and proceeds downstairs into the library’s basement. Upon reaching the last step, the room lit up and a few machine started to buzz to life. Looking around, the unicorn surveyed all of the tubes that ran in different directions, making sure that everything was working properly. Satisfied with what she saw, Twilight proceed to walk towards the end of the room, where a small glass cup stood. When she reached the cup, her horn lit up with magic and twisted a small valve open. Looking above and around her she watched, as different colored liquids ran this way and that. The process took about a minute and the results found it pouring into the waiting glass cup. Twilight stopped the process and lifted the cup in front of her, gazing at the now reddish liquid.

Artificial blood… Twilight mentally thanked all the doctors and scientists for this disaster… or a miracle to her. The truth is artificial blood was considered a colossal failure in the medical field. The whole thing sounded good in theory… create as much blood a doctor can ask for in a safe, easy to transfer, and completely compatible to any patient’s blood type. The ending results didn’t even come close to actual real blood and so the entire project was abandoned. Twilight poured hours upon hours of work, reading up all the medical books in the royal library, in the hopes in finding a substitute for blood... and this was her answer. Pure willpower didn’t cut it anymore and she simply needed something in order to hold off the hunger. After her… unfortunate incident with her apple friend, she immediately converted her basement into a lab of some sort. There, she was finally able to produce this ‘artificial elixir of life energy’, praying for it to work. To her delight, it did and now all she has to do is drink it once every day! The fake blood could never completely displace the hunger out of her mind, but it can suppress just enough for a ‘certain vampony’ from going crazy of hunger.

“Well, down the hatch…” The unicorn lifted the cup to her lips and drank, pulling a face of disgust as she did. The only downside to the artificial blood is the fact that it tastes like the most disgusting thing ever… “Bleh!” Twilight sputtered and attempted to remove the dreadful aftertaste in her mouth without throwing up. ‘Ugh… awful, simply awful!’

“Twilight?”

The unicorn froze, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as she slowly brought her gaze to the staircase. Standing in the doorway was a wide awake cyan Pegasus, who was staring directly at her. “R-rainbow, what are you doing in here?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I was going to ask you the same thing…” She turned her attention at the equipment. “I noticed that you weren’t in your bed and so I came down to check up on you.” She pointed a hoof at the rows of liquids. “What is all of this anyways?”

Twilight was a little crossed at the nosy nature of her friend, but that was the last thing on her mind right now. “Oh? I-it’s just my lab equipment…err… sciency stuff! You wouldn’t understand it, Rainbow.” She gave a nervous grin. ‘Sciency stuff?! That’s the best you can come up with, Twilight?’

The Pegasus frowned. “Sciency stuff huh?”

The unicorn gulped, still grinning. “Uhh…yup!” Her left eye twitched, fearing the worst.

Rainbow continued to watch her friend carefully, before finally shrugging. “Works for me.” She immediately turned and left the room.

“Huh?” Twilight stared, completely dumbfounded at the sight of her retreating friend. ‘That…that actually worked?!’

‘Nope. You can’t fool me, Twilight. I know something’s up, but I just don’t know everything yet.’ The Pegasus’s face scrunched up in concentration as she slipped back into her sleeping bag. ‘Okay, what do I know…? The first thing that’s obvious is that it’s something that she doesn’t want anypony to know. Next, the only pony who seems to know anything about it is AJ because I didn’t see anything like her reaction on the other girls.’ She let out a frustrated grunt. ‘Grr… Just what kind of secret will keep her from telling us and keeping us in the dark?’ Her eyes widen suddenly. ‘What if her training with that big nightmare jerk did something to her? Did… did she really become a spy?’ She felt herself sweat a little. ‘She’s probably here to find all our weaknesses before stabbing us in the back!’ Realizing just how absurd that sounded, she mentally facehoofed. ‘Come on Rainbow… This is Twilight we’re talking about here. She’ll never betray us like that, even if she tried! ... I think...’ She grew still when the same unicorn entered the room. Rainbow watched her friend silently slip back into the covers of her bed with a sigh of relief.

After waiting impatiently for about ten minutes, Rainbow Dash relaxed when she finally saw the steady rise and fall of her sleeping friend. ‘Alright time to check out that weird basement of hers…’

…

After much stumbling around, hoof hitting the coffee table three times, and a steady stream of curses, Rainbow Dash found herself standing in front of the door into the library’s basement. ‘Alright… let’s see what’s going on with this place…’ Opening the door with a hoof, Rainbow quickly ran in before shutting the door behind her. When the Pegasus reached the bottom of the stairs, she leaped back in surprise as the entire room lit up again. Still a bit shaken at the sudden change from dark to light, Rainbow scratched her head with a hoof. ‘Well, she was right about one thing… I don’t understand any of this junk…’ She then noticed a small glass cup, sitting alone at the end of the room. ‘Hello… what are you?’ As she got closer she noticed there was a little bit of reddish liquid still left inside it. ‘Wasn’t she drinking this when I got here?’ She gave the cup a quick sniff only to find it completely odorless. Making sure nopony was watching she lifted the cup with a hoof. ‘If Twilight can drink whatever this stuff is I’m sure it’s safe for me too…’ Rainbow gave a smirk. “Well… bottoms up!”

…

“Bye girls, it was so much fun last night! We should do it again real soon!”

“Goodbye and yes, we must do this again at another time, darling!”

“I had a great time too, Twilight. But, I have to get back home and feed all the animals now.”

“Weeeee! That party was terrific! See you soon, Twilight!”

“Rainbow, I’ve got to ask… Why were you in the restroom for so long, Sugarcube?”

“Yeah! I heard a lot of different sounds and the toilet flushing… Were you having a bathroom party without us, Rainbow~?”

“Guh… I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

Chapter 10

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 10

“Spike, I’m heading out now!” Twilight left the library in a hurry, eager to meet and greet her friends.

“See you later, Twi!” Spike waved goodbye before shutting the door behind him. “Now… What was I going to clean again?” He didn’t have much time to think as he was interrupted by a loud tapping noise from upstairs. “Huh? What was that?” Quickly making his way upstairs, he opened the door to the bedroom to find it completely empty. “That’s weird… I could’ve sworn…” He flinched in surprise when he saw a pony standing out on the balcony. Upon closer inspection, Spike noticed a familiar rainbow mane. He opened the door with a claw and quickly asked, “What’s up Rain-OOF!”

Rainbow Dash held a hoof to her lips and said in a quick whisper, “Shhhh! Not so loud!” Making sure the coast was clear she lifted herself away from the baby dragon. “Sorry about that, Spike. Is Twilight home?”

As he was climbing back up to his feet, Spike shook his head. “Nope, she just left to see the others… What’s going on?”

The Pegasus looked around nervously. “You sure nopony is here?”

The purple dragon sighed, waving a claw at the shelves behind him. “Nope, just you, me, and all these books.” Really curious about his friend’s attitude now, he asked, “Okay. What’s going on, Rainbow?”

The cyan Pegasus eyed the dragon carefully before saying, “Can you keep a secret from somepony?”

“Yeah, no problem! But, who are we hiding this from?”

Rainbow looked around the room again. “I’ll tell you, but you’re going to have to Pinkie Swear not to tell anypony.”

Spike raised an eyebrow as he did the motions with his claws. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." He crossed his arms together. “Alright, so who is it?”

“Twilight.”

The baby dragon’s eyes widen in alarm. “Twilight? Why, did something happen between you two?”

Rainbow turned her gaze to the floor. “No, nothing happen between us… It’s just…”

Spike pressed forward. “Just…?”

“I think she’s hiding something and I need your help in finding out just what it is, okay?”

The assistant raised his eyebrow again. “Why are you so curious about what she’s hiding?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t stay put anymore and started hovering around the room. “I don’t know… But, it just feels like she’s hiding something really big from us.” She turned her attention at the dragon below her. “Don’t you ever get that feeling of uncertainty around her?”

Spike placed a claw to his chin. “Hmm… now that you mentioned it… Yeah, I do feel something is off around her.”

The Pegasus flew up into the dragon’s face. “See? You’ve got to help me figure this out!”

The purple dragon took a step back. “Alright, alright! I’ll help you.”

Rainbow flew up into the air in triumph. “Yes! Now tell me… what does she normally do during the day?”

Spike started to count off his fingers. “Well… in the morning she gets up and goes to the basement for about ten minutes. Next, she eats breakfast, reads some books, makes me clean the library, reorganize the quills, restocks on ink, read more books…” He continued on, explaining how his unicorn sister went about her day, in careful detail. “Lastly, she goes to bed and sleeps really late into the night.”

Rainbow Dash, having almost fallen asleep, jerked awake. “Huh, that’s it? Nothing out of the ordinary or anything?”

The assistant shook his head. “Not that I know of, no.” He tilted his head to the side a bit. “Actually…”

The Pegasus looked up in anticipation. “Yeah?”

He gave a slight shrug. “The only thing I’ve been noticing lately is that she’s been waking up way earlier then what she normally did back at Canterlot.” Spike gave a thoughtful expression. “In fact… I think she’s been having less and less sleep for the past few days.” He suddenly looked upset. “I hope she’s getting enough sleep… I’m worried about her.”

Rainbow face softened at the sight of the caring dragon. “It’s alright, little guy. I’ll find out if there’s anything wrong with her, okay?”

The baby dragon gave a small smile. “Thanks. But, isn’t it better just to go to her yourself and ask her these things?”

The Pegasus gave one of her cocky smiles. “That’s just way too easy for it to actually work, Spike.” She lifted herself up into the air. “Besides, I bet I can figure out what’s her deal in just ten seconds flat if I really tried.” Waving a hoof of goodbye, Rainbow Dash flew out in a flash of colors.

Turning back to finish his chores, Spike muttered under his breath, “Yet you still had to come to me for help…”

Twilight Sparkle was walking near the market section, when she noticed the cowboy hat standing out among the sea of ponies. Careful to avoid bumping into anypony, she slowly made her way towards the apple stand. “Hey, Applejack!”

The orange pony was busy with a customer when she heard the shout. Noticing who it was, she waved and said, “Well howdy there, Sugarcube! What brings you here?” She quickly scooped up one of her best apples and passed it off to the purple unicorn. “Here you are, Twi, on the house.”

The librarian gave a grateful smile. “Thanks, Applejack! I was just passing by and saying hello that’s all.” She gazed around at all the ponies milling about. “Wow… there sure are a lot of ponies out and about right now.”

Applejack finished off an order from another customer before she gave her forehead a quick wipe. “Whew! It’s as busy as the country fair around these parts!” The earth pony suddenly noticed a crowd was forming at the center of the town. “Hey, Twi, what do you make of that?”

Twilight turned to stare at the still forming crowd. “There must be some sort of show going on or something.” She turned towards her apple friend and gave a smile. “Want to go see what all the fuss is about?”

Seeing the majority of ponies had turned their attention towards the crowd, Applejack quickly flipped her ‘open’ sign to ‘close’ and said, “Right behind you, Sugarcube.”

By the time the pair reached the large group of ponies, it appears the whole town has arrived to see what was going on. Everypony stood side by side, quietly talking amongst each other.

Applejack pointed a hoof off to the right. “There’s the others… come on, Twi!” They quickened their pace, weaving around ponies, in an effort to see their friends faster.

The pink party pony noticed their arrival and began bouncing up and down in excitement. “Hey girls, are we having a giant party right now?” Pinkie Pie gave a confused expression. “Which is weird… because I throw the parties around these parts and this isn’t mine...” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Okay! Who’s trying to take over my job… was it you, Rarity?!” She pointed a hoof at the snow white unicorn in a threatening manner. “I’m keeping my eye on you!”

The fashionista faked a gasp. “Why, Pinkie, why in the world would I take something you love so much away from you, darling?” Rarity flicked a loose strand of hair into its proper place. “What kind of Element of Generosity would I be then?”

Pinkie Pie placed a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… you’re right… and Fluttershy is too nice to do something so mean…” She gasped and pointed a hoof at the cyan Pegasus standing beside her. “I bet it was you, Rainbow Dash!”

The Pegasus was taken aback. “No way, I’ll never do something so un-cool, Pinkie!” Rainbow took a quick peek at her purple friend. ‘She’s not acting strange so far…hmm…’ She was yanked away from her thoughts, when the same unicorn started to speak.

Pointing off into the distant, Twilight said in a matter of fact tone, “Why don’t just ask the pony that’s standing on the stage, Pinkie?”

The whole group turned to see a bright azure colored unicorn, wearing a matching hat and cape, throwing her front hooves into the air and proudly exclaiming, “Behold! For I am… The Great and Powerful TRIXIE!” A large assortment of fireworks shot up into the air before exploding in a brilliant lightshow. The crowd ‘oohed' and 'aahed’ as the unicorn continued. “Watch and be amazed! As the world’s most powerful unicorn, gives you the greatest show in all of Equestria!” More fireworks lifted off from the ground for added effect.

‘Geez… putting it a little thick at the end there?’ Twilight lifted an eyebrow at the overenthusiastic unicorn, who began yelling something about a Ursa Major. Her friends agreed.

Completely forgetting her current mission, Rainbow Dash spoke, “I’m going to see just how ‘Great and Powerful’ she really is!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rain-” The librarian couldn’t finish because the proud Pegasus had already flew off. “bow…”

The apple farmer began making her way towards the front of the stage. “I’m going to see for myself as well… all her boasting is just putting me on edge at the moment.”

“But, wait-”

“I too wish to see just how ‘Great and Powerful’ she really is, to boast herself in such an unladylike manner.”

“Not you too, Rarity…” Twilight let out a large sigh. Glancing to her left, she asked, “Are you going to join them, Fluttershy?”

The butterscotch Pegasus shook her head. “Oh no, no, no… I much rather just stay here and not get involved.” She let out a small squeak at the thought of being watched by the whole crowd.

The purple unicorn nodded. “What about you, Pinkie? Are you-” She turned to see that her party friend had disappeared. “going…” Twilight let out another sigh. “I’m going back to the library… see you later, Fluttershy.”

“Oh! See you later, Twilight.” Fluttershy waved goodbye to her friend before turning her attention back to the stage.

“Spike?” Twilight Sparkle called out into the darken library. “Spike?” She perked her ears trying to hear her assistant’s call, but still no response. “Huh… he must’ve gone to watch ‘The Great and Powerful’ Trixie’s show.” With her horn lighting up, she lit all the enchanted candles to life. Noticing that the shelves were clear of dust, Twilight smiled. ‘At least he finished his chores… so I’ll just let him off the hook this time.’

*Thump-thump*

The unicorn suddenly gripped her chest. ‘Oh no… Move quickly, Twilight.’ She quickly descended down to the bottom of the basement and while ignoring all the equipment around her, she made her way to the end of the room.

*Thump-thump*

“Gah!” The unicorn gasped at the sudden pain, flaring up in her chest. Panicking, Twilight nearly tore off the valve that kept the liquid in place and waited impatiently for her artificial blood. ‘Hurry!’

*Thump-thump*

Losing any form of patience at this point, Twilight lifted the glass cup to her lips before it had completely filled. ‘Bleh! I forgot about that…’ She could feel her body attempting the reject the liquid by coming out the same way it entered, but she held it off at the last moment. Taking a deep breath, Twilight held on to the oxygen for a moment before letting it out with a large sigh of relief. ‘That was way too close for comfort… I’ll have to be more careful now and keep tabs on it.’ She tilted her head in confusion. ‘But, it doesn’t make any sense…’ Her train of thought was interrupted when she noticed that she had left the valve open and the artificial blood began spilling onto the floor. While she was busy cleaning up the mess, Twilight picked up where she left off. ‘I drank this in the morning… so why did it suddenly flare up like that?’ The librarian made a small grunt. ‘I guess I’m still changing on the inside and I’ll still require more blood… I’ve got to make a note on that…’

Having the basement finally cleaned, Twilight emerged to find the library exactly the way she had left it. She walked over to a table and after sitting down on the hardwood floor, the unicorn lifted a large book from the bookshelves. ‘Now, that showmare said something about an Ursa Major… I wonder what they could be…’

…

After reading for what felt like an hour, Twilight closed the book with a yawn. ‘Well… that was a good read.’ Placing the book back into its proper place, the purple unicorn looked out the window to find it already dark. ‘Wow. I must’ve gotten really into that book, but where’s Spike?’ Giving her hooves a quick stretch, Twilight muttered quietly to herself, “Where did that trouble maker get to?” As soon as the last word left her lips, she heard a frantic knocking at the front door. ‘That must be him now.’ Opening the door with her horn, Twilight asked, “Where have you been this whole time, Spike?”

Spike, clearly tried out from running, stammered between breaths, “T-Twilight *ha*… you’ve gotta *whew*… h-help!”

Surprised at the state of her little brother, Twilight asked, “Why, what’s going on?”Before the baby dragon could say anything, a loud booming roar echoed across the sky. “W-what was that?!” Not looking to see if the dragon answered or not, Twilight quickly took off to the town’s square. Noticing that a large shadow covered the sky, she skidded to a halt to stare at the terrifying sight above her. Standing in the center of the town stood a tall, clearly angry, Ursa!

“Run for your lives!”

“The horror! The horror!”

Frantically looking around, Twilight watched, as ponies ran in all directions screaming at the top of their lungs. ‘Is this really happening?’ She felt a claw sharply pulling her towards the celestial bear.

Speaking in a panicked voice, Spike yelled, “Come on! I think somepony’s in trouble over there!”

Not wasting any more time, Twilight set out in a full on sprint. ‘I really hope nopony got hurt!’ When she reached the town’s abandoned market area, the unicorn found herself staring at the side of the great beast. ‘Oh dear sweet Equestria, if left unchecked… it’ll destroy the whole town!’ She then spotted an azure unicorn, who seems to be preparing in facing off the Ursa. ‘Is she crazy? She’s going to get herself killed!’

“W-watch and be amazed! As The Gr-great and Powerful Trixie, defeat this mighty foe!” The showmare’s eyes squeezed shut in concentration, as her horn lit up with power. The air above the Ursa started to ripple with an invisible force, as the unicorn summoned a thundercloud out of thin air. Breathing heavily, Trixie shouted, “Ha! Take that, you foul beast!” The thundercloud, for lack of a better term, was pathetically small and didn’t look as though it can keep itself afloat. It did however, managed to let out one bolt of lightning before disappearing. Unfortunately, it did little to no damage to the Ursa and only caused it to get even angrier. The celestial bear stood up onto its hind legs and let out another mighty roar directly at the showmare. “Uh oh…”

The Ursa, clearly unhappy now, raised a paw into the air before bringing it back down with a great swing. But before it was able to strike the azure Pegasus, it found that its paw was stopped by a large magenta aura covering it. As soon as the Usra registered that attack had failed, the aura started to cover the rest of its body. Twilight’s eyes were closed in concentration, as she slowly lifted the extremely heavy bear into the air. The citizen of Ponyville began noticing the events that was happening above their heads and stopped, staring in awe. Twilight, feeling her strength weakening, redoubled her efforts and began floating the celestial bear away from the town. As soon as the Ursa was cleared, Twilight casted a small sleeping spell on it, causing it to fall into a deep sleep. By now, the aura on her horn grew twice its size and small amounts of sparks flew off from the tip. ‘Almost there…’ When she felt that the bear had finally entered back into its home, Twilight released her magic with a small sigh of relief. ‘Whew… it looks like our troubles are finally over.’ She didn’t have much time to recollect herself, before the whole town surrounded her with cheers and congratulatory shouts.

“That was amazing!”

Twilight turned to see a cyan Pegasus floating above her. “Oh, it was nothing, Rainbow.”

Still impressed of her friend, Rainbow shouted, “No way was that just nothing, Twi!” She flew down and gave her unicorn friend a friendly smack on the back. “You beat that thing like it was just a baby!”

Smiling slightly, Twilight answered, “Because it was a baby, Rainbow.”

The cyan Pegasus was in the middle of pumping a victory hoof into the air, before she stopped to stare at her friend. “Come again?”

The librarian gave a small shrug as she said, “That wasn’t an Ursa Major, Rainbow… that was an Ursa Minor… a baby Ursa.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the purple unicorn wide eyed. “Then what the hay does an Ursa Major look like?”

Twilight simply shook her head. “You don’t wanna know.”

Meanwhile, while everypony was crowding around the unicorn that saved them, they all failed to notice an azure colored unicorn fleeing into the forest. Panting heavily, the one known as The Great and Powerful Trixie muttered to herself, “Trixie cannot believe that she has been bested by that purple fake!” She pulled herself upright only to find out that her hat and cape were not with her. “Curse them! Thanks to those two haybrained idiots Trixie has lost her beautiful cart and clothes!” The unicorn gave an angry stomp. “Trixie will show them… She will show them all, that she is truly the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria!” Without another word, The Great and Powerful Trixie took off in the direction where she saw the Ursa Minor float away.

With her breath coming out in shallow gasps and her hooves hurting from the hike, The Great and Powerful Trixie found herself standing at the mouth of a large cave. “If that purple fake is capable of defeating an Ursa Minor... then Trixie will have no problem taking down an Ursa Major!” Not wanting to waste another minute outside, the azure unicorn entered the darken entrance.

…

Back in Ponyville, everypony had already finished cleaning up the mess that the Ursa had created and were settling back into their homes. The feeling of excitement and terror had died down and a sense of peace now filled the area.

Inside Ponyville’s library, a small baby dragon was still hopping in joy. “I still can’t believe just how powerful you really are, Twi!” He began punching into the air in front of him. “Heck… I bet you can beat an Ursa Major if you really wanted!”

“Spike, stop it!” Twilight blushed slightly at his kind words. “Look… I’m flattered and all, but it’s time to go to bed now.”

Before the dragon was able to say that he wasn’t tried at all, Spike let out a huge yawn. “Yeah… you’re right… I’m totally beat from running that whole time.”

The purple unicorn giggled. “If you didn’t come running to me from the very beginning, somepony could’ve gotten seriously hurt.” Twilight walked up and gave a soft pat on her assistant’s head. “You’re as much as a hero as I am, Spike.”

The purple dragon’s face lit up with joy at her words. “Really? Thanks!” He gave a sly grin. “Does this mean I get to sleep with it on?”

Twilight rolled her eyes in amusement. “Oh… alright, but just this once!”

“Excellent!” Spike rubbed his claws together in anticipation. “Number twenty-five, here it comes.”

The librarian giggled before she ignited her horn. After a tense moment and a flash of light, Spike found himself wearing a large curly mustache. “Awwwww yeah!” He gave his new facial hair a quick twirl in his claws. “Thanks, Twilight!”

Twilight simply giggle on how silly her assistant reacts whenever she casts this spell. “You’re welcome, Spike.” She turned and began walking up the steps to their bedroom. “Now, it’s time to sleep.”

…

Twilight jerked awake by a loud knocking noise. Looking at her bedside clock, she realized that she only slept for about ten minutes. ‘Ugh! I didn’t sleep for even an hour!’ She made her way to the front door in a very sluggish manner. Opening the door with a hoof, Twilight asked in a grumpy tone, “What do you want?” Slumped on the ground was a familiar looking azure unicorn. Her sides and face were covered in scratches and cuts. Bits of leaves and sticks stood out all over her slivery mane.

Opening one of her eyes, Trixie gasped, “You *ha*… whoever you are *huff*… we’ve got a major problem!”

“Trixie, what in Equestria happened to you?” Twilight openly gaped at the sorry state of the unicorn.

Painfully rising on her hooves, the showmare said in a weak voice, “Trixie did not mean for this to happen, but you must help Trixie!”

The librarian tilted her head in confusion. “Why, what’s going-” The ground and air suddenly shook when a mighty roar echoed across the sky for a second time. “on… oh no…” Twilight stared at the azure unicorn with an icy glare. “You didn’t…”

Trixie flinched slightly at the stare. “Trixie has already apologized to you…” She shook her head. “But, this isn’t the time or place!” Grabbing the librarian with a hoof, she began dragging the unicorn out of the library. “You’ve proven your worth by defeating that Ursa Minor… now go and defeat that!” Trixie finished, pointing a hoof to the edge of the Everfree Forest. The showmare nearly fell to the floor when the purple hoof was pulled out of her grip. “What did you do that for?”

Twilight stood rooted to the spot, staring in pure horror at the towering beast before her. “Trixie… That’s… That’s a-a-a” Standing more than five times the height of an Ursa Minor, stood a very large and very angry Ursa MAJOR!

The azure unicorn began yelling into Twilight’s face. “Now’s not the time to space out on Trixie whoever you are!” She threw a hoof behind her. “Please tell Trixie you have a plan to stop this thing!”

The librarian briefly shook her head before yelling back, “First of all… the name’s Twilight and second… are you completely insane?!” She waved a hoof at the celestial bear. “I can’t beat that thing!”

Trixie looked surprisingly shocked. “Then what are we to do then, Twilight?”

Running a few steps forward, Twilight channeled all of her magic into her throat before releasing it out in a shout, “Attention! Citizens of Ponyville! There’s going to be a rampaging Ursa Major upon us momentarily! I highly advise you to… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

Turning back around to the showmare, she grabbed a hoof and began running. “Come on, we’ve got to help evacuate the townsfolk!”

By the time the pair finally reached the market area for the second time of this night, everypony was already in the middle of fleeing the town. Trixie found herself slumped on the ground, once again out of breath. “T-Trixie does not know how you can still keep running, T-Twilight.”

Ignoring the showmare’s comment, the purple unicorn quickly used her horn to levitate a large group of senior citizens toward the opposite direction of the rampaging Ursa. “Hurry up and help me with that group over there, Trixie!” The purple unicorn was still busy barking out orders when she heard a cry behind her.

“Twilight! There you are… what in tar-nation is going on?” Applejack skidded to a halt just a few feet away. “Why is there an even bigger version of that there Usra Minor attacking us?”

The librarian shook her head. “We have Trixie to thank for that, but now is not the time! Help me get everypony out of Ponyville!” The apple farmer gave a quick nod before taking off.

“Yo, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash flew up to the purple unicorn, followed by Rarity. “You want me to send word to the royal guards?”

Twilight nodded gratefully. “Yes, Rainbow, fly as fast as you can and tell them of this catastrophe!” The cyan Pegasus gave a quick salute, before disappearing into the night sky. “Rarity, I need you to find Fluttershy and make sure that the area near your boutique is cleared.” The snow white unicorn nodded before taking off. ‘What a disaster… two creatures that are both capable of destroying this place…both at the same night!’

Speaking of the Ursa… it was now beginning its assault on the town, smashing building after building as if it was looking for something… or somepony. The Ursa paused when it noticed a very familiar azure colored pony. The celestial bear let out another ear splitting roar before suddenly charging the unicorn with a velocity of a train at full speed.

Trixie can only watch helplessly, as her hooves locked up in sheer terror at the oncoming Ursa.

Twilight, while busy assisting another pony, could only watch in horror and shout at the top of her lunges, “Trixie, run away! MOVE!”

The showmare simply trembled on the spot. “Trixie can’t… too scared…” She shut her eyes so as to not feel the finishing blow… it never came. But instead, felt a pair of strong hooves pull her away the Ursa’s path. Taking a quick peek through her eyelids, Trixie can only see the color orange.

Applejack, having pushed the showmare out of harm’s way, spoke in an irritated tone, “What part of move don’t you understand, Sugarcube?”

Trixie can only stare at the apple farmer in shock. “You saved Trixie, even after everything she has done to you and your friends?”

The earth pony stood upright with a gentle smile on her face. “Of course I’ll save you, Sugarcube…” Applejack tipped her cowboy hat with a hoof. “Even if you did went off like a big old showoff-y jerk… I’ll still help anypony that’s in need!” She held out a hoof. “The name’s Applejack…”

The azure unicorn, still surprised at the farmer’s compassion, reached a hoof out to take the outstretched one. But before they were able to touch, the apple farmer suddenly found herself propelled off to the side and into a building with a loud crash. With a force like that, it’s only safe to assume that the earth pony would’ve died on impact or seriously injured. “Applejack?”

The Ursa Major, having backhanded the pony that got in its way, lazily glanced at the spot where the earth pony disappeared in the wreckage, before turning back at its intended target. It let out another roar.

Twilight, who watched the whole thing, could only stare at the recognizable shape of her friend’s hat off in the distant. “Applejack…?”

*Thump-thump*

‘It killed her! It killed her in cold blood!’ “Applejack?”

*Thump-thump*

Tears welled up in her eyes, as Twilight screamed, “APPLEJAAAAACK!” She felt nothing now, as she watched the world turn red...

*Thump-thump*

The Great and Powerful Trixie can only watch helplessly, as the giant bear raise a paw into the air to deliver the final blow. ‘It looks like this is the end for Trixie… goodbye.’ She squeezed her eyes closed for the last time.

*Boom*

With the force of a building falling on top of a piece of glass, the paw crashing onto the ground caused a large shockwave to ripple across the town. After the heavy winds finally died down, there was only silence.

“Is Trixie dead?” The Great and Powerful Trixie cracked an eye open only to see a large semi-translucent paw hanging over her. “What in Celestia’s mane…” Looking down lower she gasped, to see a purple unicorn holding off the paw with what looks like only with her back! “T-Twilight!? W-what are you-” The azure unicorn let out another gasp when she finally noticed the librarian’s eyes… deep, bright, blood red eyes.

Realizing that it failed to kill the unicorn, the Ursa rose onto its hind legs and let out a threatening roar. Completely ignoring the fact that a ten story high Usra Major was yelling at her, Twilight simply turn her body to glare at the celestial bear. Confused of the fact that the unicorn wasn’t afraid at all, the Usra tilted its head to watch the unicorn. Seeing the look of hesitation was all what the unicorn needed before she ran across the space between the two, faster then what anypony could deem possible. Before anypony could react, the purple unicorn leaped into the air, giving a roundhouse kick directly into the bear’s gut. The moment of impact caused the air to tear and ripple, as a huge shockwave blasted out in all directions. The Ursa doubled over from the sudden pain, bringing its face closer to the ground. Landing back onto her hooves, Twilight launched herself back up while giving the exposed face an explosive uppercut. But, she wasn’t done. The unicorn pulled a couple of front flips before stopping just above the celestial bear. She extended one of her hind legs and smashed the top of the Ursa’s head with a tremendous axe kick. The force of the kick caused the Ursa to smash face first into the ground, creating a wave-like effect across the rest of the body to follow suit.

When the ground had finally stopped shaking and the cloud of dust lifted, the Ursa Major was left whimpering and hurt. It can only watch the small purple pony walking closer and closer, with animal fear gripping its mind.

Twilight’s ruby eyes glared coldly into the Ursa’s red and yellow ones, and spoke in a low voice. “I never want to see you anywhere near my home ever again.”

The Ursa Major flinched when the unicorn’s horn lit up, but it soon realized that the same glow was covering its paws and face. Twilight’s face had a blank expression, as she covered the rest of the bear’s body with her magic. Lifting it as if it weigh nothing more than a cardboard box, the unicorn threw the ten story high celestial bear out and over into the middle of the Everfree Forest. The moment she felt that the Ursa was gone, Twilight Sparkle felt herself blacking out and falling into the darken void.

Chapter 11

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 11

Twilight felt herself running blindly in complete darkness. How and for what reason, she didn’t know. All she did know was that something was near her and she didn’t want anything to do with it. The unicorn drew in short gasp of air in the hopes to evade an invisible foe. For what felt like an eternity, she skidded to a halt when two red eyes suddenly appeared in front of her. “Go away, whoever you are!”

The red eyes gave a small chuckle and spoke in an amused tone, “Aww… is the unicorn afraid of little old me?” The eyes floated a bit closer. “I’m flattered, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight felt her body tense up. “Who are you and how do you know my name?” Lights suddenly appeared all around them, forcing the unicorn to cover her face with a hoof. When she felt that her eyes had adjusted, Twilight carefully opened them to see that the red eyes had disappeared. “Hello?” Another chuckle rang out from behind and turning, she found herself face to face with… herself? Leaping away in fright, Twilight yelped, “Gah! Don’t do that!”

The second Twilight merely giggled. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She extended a hoof out and said cheerfully, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Eyeing the hoof like it had a poisonous snake on it, the real Twilight asked, “Do I know you?” She started to feel herself sweating a little bit.

The second Twilight frowned, letting the hoof fall back to the ground. “You mean you don’t really know?” She tossed her mane back with a smile. “I’m you, silly!”

It was the librarian’s turn to frown. “But, that’s impossible because I’m still here and you’re over there.” She gave her hoof a small stomp. “I can’t be in two places at once so that means that you’re just an imposter.”

The ‘not’ Twilight faked a gasp. “Why, Twilight, that hurt my feelings!” She pressed a hoof to her head and struck a dramatic pose. “To think that I could be so cruel!” The unicorn started giggling like a madpony. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t have any friends before I came to Ponyville!”

Twilight glared at the unicorn. “You mean my friends and how do you know so much about me?” She started to feel impatient. “No more lies this time!”

The second Twilight gave a weary smile. “I know everything that is to do with you because I’m really you!”

Turning around, the real Twilight began walking away. “I don’t have time playing games with somepony that likes to lie all the time.” She got about ten steps in before she suddenly felt a hoof grabbing her shoulder in a viselike grip.

Speaking in a cold voice, the fake Twilight whispered, “Then you and I are not so different from each other.”

Twilight winced at the pain and found that she couldn’t move her hooves anymore. Trembling slightly, the unicorn nervously asked, “W-what do you mean? I don’t make a habit of impersonating other ponies.”

The fake Twilight gave a dry chuckle. “That is true…” She released her hoof and slowly began walking away. “But, that isn’t the point…” With her back still facing librarian, the fake Twilight stopped and said, “You’re as much as a liar as I am…”

Twilight’s eyes widen and said, “What? I never-” She was interrupted when the fake Twilight threw her head back and began laughing.

Wiping a tear from her eyes, the unicorn said, “What?! Were you seriously going to say that you ‘never did something of the sort’?” Her cheery attitude was suddenly replaced with a darken expression. “Then what are you doing to your friends exactly?”

Twilight was lost for words. “Well… I uhh…”

The ‘not’ Twilight grinned, exposing two sharp fangs in the process. “Do you finally understand, my foolish friend?” Her eyes slowly changed from the soft lavender into sharp ruby red. “I’m glad you’re not going to make this too difficult for me.” The surrounding light began fading. “Oh, by the way… you owe me for saving you and your friends back there…” Before disappearing completely into the darkness, the vampony said, “I’ll be coming by to collect my payment soon, Twilight.”

The ground beneath the unicorn’s hooves vanished suddenly, causing Twilight to scream out in terror.

…

Twilight woke with a loud gasp. Lying on what appears to be a bed, the unicorn quickly scanned her surrounding area. ‘I’m in the hospital again…’ The unicorn froze when she felt something move at the foot of her bed.

Slowly rising and rubbing her eyes with a hoof, a pink earth pony spoke, “Twilight?” Pinkie Pie suddenly found herself wide awake. “You’re up! Girls, wake up!” Soft groans could be heard all around them, as pony after pony woke from their slumber.

“Oh my… please don’t yell too much…” Fluttershy yawned softly. “Twilight still needs her rest.”

While the party pony was busy apologizing, the snow white unicorn spoke quietly, “You’ve given us quite the scare there, Twilight.” Rarity gave a small smile. “When we felt the ground shaking from that Ursa’s attack… we feared the worst, dearest…”

Twilight gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me, Rarity, I perfectly fine.” Everypony was startled, when the purple unicorn gasped. “Applejack! What happened to her?” She flicked her eyes into each of her friends’ “Is she alright?”

“You girls mind keeping it down? I’m trying to get some shuteye over here.” Pulling her bed currents away with a hoof, Applejack turned slightly on her own bed to face the purple unicorn. “Hey Twi, I’m glad you’re alright… I was worried.”

With tears forming on her eyes, Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “You were more worried about me than with yourself? I wasn’t the one who crashed into a building and survive!”

The apple farmer began chuckling herself, but was stopped short with a wince of pain. “Hehe… well… not without getting beat up more then what a raging bull can dish out first mind you.”

“And that’s exactly why you need your rest, Miss Applejack.” The same doctor as before entered the room. “It was just short of a miracle that you were able to make it out of that with only a few broken ribs and a leg.”

The orange pony simply grinned. “I’ll have to thank that owner for putting up a mattress store there later, doc.”

The doctor merely shook his head at the cheery farmer. Turning, he gasped at what he saw. “Miss Sparkle, please! You mustn’t move out of your bed so soon!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion, jumping off the bed. “Why, what’s wro-” She heard a loud thump, as if something hard landed onto the floor. Twisting to get a better view, Twilight found herself wearing a large cast on one of her hind legs. “Why is there a cast on my leg?”

The doctor, who had his mouth hanging open, sputtered, “D-did you cast some sort of healing spell just now?”

Feeling her leg slowly cramping inside the cast, Twilight quickly removed the bandages with a flick of her horn. “No, why?”

The pony doctor could only stare in amazement. “Miss Sparkle, when you entered this hospital… that leg was still broken.” He quickly reached over and grabbed her charts. “In fact, you shouldn’t have been able to move that leg for at least a month.” The pony looked up in excitement. “If this is some sort of effect from a medication or anything of the sort, you must tell us! Oh, the amount of ponies we could save from the loss of a limb… it could be around the thousands!” Quickly pulling up a quill and paper, the doctor began scribbling notes down. “So, Miss Sparkle, tell us how you were able to produce something so amazing!”

Twilight shifted nervously at the stares from everypony in the room. “Umm… well… it wasn’t because of medical supplements…”

The doctor was slightly taken aback. “Oh? Then was it some sort of new spell?”

The unicorn could feel sweat forming on her forehead. “No, I already said I didn’t use a spell…”

Lowering the piece of paper slightly, the doctor frowned in confusion. “Then… what did you do in order to recover so quickly?”

Feeling like she was backed into a corner, Twilight tried to come up with an excuse. “Umm… you see it’s…uhh…”

“Training!”

Perking her ears up and following everypony’s eyes, Twilight made out the top of a rainbow colored mane. “Huh? Rainbow?”

Squeezing her way past the doctor, Rainbow Dash quickly stood next to the purple unicorn. “It was probably something to do with that special training you did with Nightmare Moon at the time, rrrrright?” She quickly jabbed the librarian’s side. “Something only a goddess could teach, Twilight?”

Quickly catching on but still confused, Twilight quickly added, “Oh, well… yes! It was a very special technique that Nightmare Moon was able to teach me while I was away training.”

The doctor frowned in disappointment. “Oh, horsefeathers… if it’s truly something only the Princess could teach… she’ll never share it with the medical divisions.” He left out a sigh of defeat. “Very well, Miss Sparkle, since you seemed to have completely recovered from your ordeal… I have no choice but to release you early.” The pony walked away with his head hung low.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight whispered into the cyan Pegasus’s ear, “Thanks for covering for me, Rainbow.”

Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow and whispered back, “Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, Twilight. You’re going to tell me what’s really going on between you and Applejack…”

Twilight suddenly went pale. “B-but, nothing happening between us…”

The cyan Pegasus let out a frustrated grunt, speaking in a harsh whisper. “Stop trying to play dumb, Twilight!” She turned and glared at her friend. “I don’t want to hear anymore lies!”

The librarian flinched at the stare, but suddenly remembered the voice.

“Then you and I are not so different from each other.”

Twilight suddenly felt angry. ‘No… there’s nothing similar between you and me!’ She felt her muscles clenching. ‘I may be a liar… But, I’m going to fix that right now!’ Still feeling blind rage towards those mocking red eyes, Twilight stood up straight. “Fine, Rainbow…”

Taking a step back in surprise, Rainbow asked, “Do you really mean that, Twi?”

The purple unicorn simply nodded. “Yes, I’m going to tell you everything… In fact… bring the other girls as well. I need to speak to Applejack first, alright?”Leaving the confused Pegasus behind, Twilight sat on the edge of her friend’s bed. “You okay, Applejack?”

The orange smiled weakly. “I’m going to be alright, Sugarcube. What’s the deal between you and Rainbow?”

Twilight’s bit her lower lip. “I’m going to tell them everything, Applejack.”

The farm pony simply grinned. “Good. I was getting tired of covering your sorry behind, Twi!”

The librarian chuckled. “I owe you so much…” She was interrupted when her friend waved a hoof in the air.

Wincing at the motion, Applejack quickly said, “Ahh! Don’t worry about that, Twi!” Her lips quickly became a smirk. “I was happy to help a friend of mine out, Sugarcube.”

Leaning in, Twilight gave the orange pony a soft hug. “Wish me luck, Applejack.”

“Break a leg, Twi.”

The unicorn snorted. “Apparently, I already did.”

The apple famer rolled her eyes in response. “Then you won’t run into any trouble… You should trust your friends more often, Sugarcube.”

Twilight smiled, preparing to take her words to heart. “I will.”

Leaning back into her pillow, Applejack yawned. “Now, get out of here and let me get some shuteye.”

Still with a smile on her face, Twilight turned back to see her other friends watching her. The snow white unicorn stepped forward and asked, “Rainbow Dash said that there was something you wanted to tell us, dear?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not here, Rarity. We need to go somewhere a little more private… meet me at the library in ten minutes.” With that, the purple unicorn turned and left the hospital without another word.

Twilight got about twenty steps out of the hospital before she smacked herself with a hoof. ‘I can’t believe I just told them to see me at the library! Now, I have no choice but to tell them everything!’ With her head hanging low to the ground, the unicorn slowly began walking in the direction towards her home. ‘I just basically dug my own grave… good job Twilight.’ Not looking at what was ahead of her, Twilight bumped into another pony. “Oh, pardon me!” Looking up with an apologetic look on her face, the unicorn found herself face to face with a pair of hard yellow eyes.

The guardpony waved the apology away with a hoof. “It’s alright, ma’am. Just make sure you don’t cross the roped off area.” He gestured the yellow rope behind him.

Twilight craned her neck to see what was going on and gasped. It looked as though a war broke out in the middle of Ponyville. Large piles of splintered wood and debris lay scattered in random places. “What happened?” asked Twilight, as she watched large groups of soldiers cleaning up the area.

The guard raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t hear or see an Ursa Major attacking this place?”

The unicorn blushed when she realized her mistake, but quickly corrected herself. “I mean… how did that happen?” She pointed a hoof off into the distant.

Following the pony’s hoof, the guard turned to see the deep imprint of what looked like a colossal bear in the dirt. “Oh yeah…that…” He turned his head to face the unicorn again. “We actually don’t know what really happened here. The only thing we do know is that apparently from eye witness reports, the Ursa was ‘thrown out’ of the town by magic.” The pony shook his head. “I find that extremely hard to believe… because I‘ve never met any unicorn that’s capable of lifting an eighty ton beast into the air.”

Twilight felt herself grow colder by the minute. “Oh, well… thank you, sir. But, I think I’ve seen enough and I really think I should be going back home.” The unicorn began slowly backing away from the guard.

Watching the unicorn retreating, the pony nodded and called out, “Just be sure not to wonder around too much in the dark, it’s dangerous!” She didn’t answer, but instead she spun on her hind legs and ran away. “What’s up with her?” Shrugging, the pony turned back to survey the area for any possible trouble makers.

Twilight was breathing heavily when she burst through the library’s front door. ‘I don’t remember ever stopping that Ursa… I only remember yelling Applejack’s name before blacking out.’ She narrowed her eyes slightly. ‘What exactly happened?’

“You have me to thank for, my little friend.”

The unicorn immediately whipped her head back and forth, but found nopony there. Twilight then realized that it was the same voice in her nightmares. ‘Wait a minute… when you told me that I 'owed you’, does that mean that you were the one that stop that Ursa?’

“Correct, you were in the middle of a very dangerous place…” The voice seems to reverberate all around her, growing louder with each passing minute. “and I still need you alive, my dear.”

Clutching the sides of her head with her hooves, Twilight grunted, “G-get out… I don’t want you here!”

“Twilight, is that you?”

The unicorn gasped at the new voice only to see a baby dragon standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Spike-oof!” Twilight had the wind knocked out of her when the assistant ran directly into her chest.

Still holding his pony sister in a tight hug, Spike looked up with tears in his eyes. “Where have you been this whole time, Twilight?!” He hiccupped from recently crying. “When I heard the Ursa yelling, I looked and saw that you weren’t in your bed!” The baby dragon tightened his grip. “When you didn't come back I…I thought something terrible happened to you!”

Seeing just how much her unexpected departure had affected the dragon, Twilight felt her own tears filling up in her eyes. “I’m so sorry about making you worried, Spike.” Wrapping a hoof around her assistant, she brought the baby dragon in a tighter hug. “It happened so fast… when Trixie-” The purple unicorn gasped. “Trixie! What happened to her?”

Spike looked at her confused. “Wait, Trixie? Why… what happened?”

‘She’s possibly the only one close enough to have seen me attacking the Ursa up close!’ Panicking, the unicorn said, “She was the one who brought the Ursa Major into Ponyville in the first place.” ‘If she goes and tells the authorities what I did…’ She suddenly felt herself calming down. ‘Wait… that guardspony said that he didn’t really believe what I did was possible. Then that means that they’ll probably think that she’s making the whole thing up!’ The librarian felt a fresh wave of panic. ‘But what if they do believe her, come by and ask questions!’ The unicorn was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn’t even realize that the baby dragon was shouting at her face.

“Twilight!”

“Huh?” Twilight looked up in surprise. “What was that, Spike?”

The assistant pointed a claw at the top of the stairs. “If she really did bring an Ursa Major to the town… shouldn't we arrest her then?”

Twilight’s mouth fell open. “She’s upstairs at this very moment?”

Spike simply nodded. “Yup, she came some time ago really banged up, asking if she could rest here until you came back.” He folded his arms over his chest. “She looked like she really wanted to talk to you when she mentioned your name too.” The dragon made an angry grunt. “I can’t believe she’s the cause of so much destruction to our home.” Turning, the purple dragon began making his way to the front door. “Don’t worry, Twi, I’m going to get some guardspo-oof!” Spike suddenly found himself on the ground, with a hoof covering his mouth.

Still holding the hoof securely in place, Twilight said in a hard whisper, “No, Spike! We are not going to call anypony to pick her up, do you understand?”

Removing the hoof from his lips, he asked, “Why not? Shouldn’t she be turned into the authorities?”

The librarian quickly shook her head. “No, I can’t have her leaving this library.” She gazed at her assistant with pleading eyes. “I need you to promise me to keep her existence a secret, Spike.”

Pulling himself back to his feet, the purple dragon answered, “Alright, alright! I won’t tell anypony, honest!”

Twilight gave a grateful smile. “Thanks Spike.” There was a moment of silence before there was a loud knocking noise from the front door.

The baby dragon raised an eyebrow. “Were you expecting somepony?” He turned to see that his pony sister had turned completely white. “Twilight?” He yelped in surprise when the unicorn screeched.

“I’ve completely forgotten that they were coming!”

Spike scratched the top of his head in confusion. “Wait… who?”

“The other girls are here!” Twilight started hyperventilating in pure ‘panic mode’.

“Rarity and the others are here?” The assistant’s face lit up. “I’ll let them in then…”

Twilight felt the world slow down, as she extended a hoof out to stop the dragon. “Nooooooooooo!” But it was too late, as she could only helplessly watch her assistant opening the door.

‘That’s it… I’m doomed.’

Chapter 12

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 12

(Now with 20% less cliffhangers)

Twilight nervously rubbed her hooves together as her assistant served tea and cookies to her friends. The unicorn could feel a bead of sweat running down the side of her face as she turned her attention to each of their faces. She jumped in her chair when a cup appeared in front of her face. “Oh! Thank you, Spike.”

The baby dragon nodded. “Do you want me to go upstairs?”

The purple unicorn shook her head. “No, it’s best that you hear this too.”

Happy to finally be able to ‘hang out’ with the grownups, Spike immediately pulled up a chair next to the alabaster unicorn.

The librarian took one more look into each of her friends’ face and took a deep breath. “I-I’m pretty sure that you’ll all wondering what this is about, right?” They all slowly nodded, causing the unicorn to feel even more nervous. “This is… uhh wow… how do I explain this…” ‘Just say it! Spit it out!’

The butterscotch Pegasus decided to help her frightened friend. “Umm… maybe you can start at the part when you decided to hide whatever it is from us?… if you don’t mind that is…”

Twilight could already feel her resolve slipping. “Uhh well… it all started back when we were looking for the elements...”

Rarity couldn’t help but speak up. “Why, darling, that was quite some time ago wasn’t it?”

The purple unicorn nodded, already feeling the guilt forming inside her. “Yeah…it happened when we got separated back at the old castle.”

The whole group jumped when Rainbow Dash stomped on the table with a hoof. “Wait… you saying that something happened to you when we weren’t there?” The cyan Pegasus began rubbing her mane furiously with her hooves. “Gah! I knew we were too slow in saving you!” She lowered her head in shame. “This was my fault wasn’t it?”

Twilight’s eyes widen in surprise. “No, Rainbow, there was absolutely nothing you could’ve done to prevent this from happening!” She placed a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “So please don’t ever blame yourself for this.”

It was Pinkie Pie’s turn to speak. “But, what the hay happened anyways? I need to know first.” She stared intently at the librarian.

The purple unicorn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Okay… here goes…’ She opened her eyes. “I’m a vam-”

*Thump-thump*

Twilight suddenly gasped, clutching her chest with a hoof. ‘Not now! Why is it so soon?!’

*Thump-thump*

“Twilight, is something wrong?” Rarity leaned forward, concern written on her face.

The vampony couldn’t help but stare at the exposed neck of her friend, looking tastier by the second… “I-I-I…” She immediately threw herself away from the group, smashing painfully into the bookshelves.

Everypony stood up. “Twilight, what’s wrong with you?” asked Rainbow Dash, taking a step forward.

*Thump-thump*

Still holding on to her burning chest, Twilight quickly sputtered. “I-I n-need to get into the b-basement!” Without another word, she bolted towards the door leading to the library’s basement. Smashing the door aside and taking the steps three at a time, Twilight rushed to the familiar end of the room.

*Thump-thump*

This time however, Twilight did indeed tear off the valve in her huger-crazed state. Not even caring about how the liquid tasted anymore, the unicorn took shot after shot of the artificial blood. It wasn’t until she could feel the liquid sloshing around inside her stomach that she finally stopped with a gasp of air. Coughing slightly, Twilight placed a hoof to her chest and felt the pain slowly disappearing.

“What the hay was that all about?!” Still breathing heavily, the unicorn turned to see that everypony had followed her downstairs to watch her. Rainbow took a step forward and asked, “What exactly are you drinking every day, Twilight?”

Not knowing how the cyan Pegasus knew about this, Twilight quietly said, “Artificial blood…”

Rarity gasped, looking both surprised and slightly disgusted. “Why in Equestria are you drinking something so revolting, Twilight?”

The purple unicorn lowered her head in shame. “Well…I needed a substitute for the real thing…”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “What the heck do you need to drink real blood for? In case you didn’t know, ponies don’t drink blood.”

Twilight looked more depressed than ever before. “Because… because I’m not a pony anymore… I’m a monster…”

Fluttershy poked her head out from behind the snow-white unicorn. “But, you’re not a monster, Twilight… you’re a-” She stopped when the purple unicorn quickly shook her head.

“No, it’s true... I’m not a real pony anymore…” Twilight looked up with tears in her eyes. “I’m not a real pony because… because I’m a vampony now…”

Silence. The entire room became so quiet only the low buzz of the machines around them could be heard. Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow. “A vam- what?”

“A vampony…” Twilight looked away, not wanting to see the looks of their faces. ‘They’re going to leave you now…’ She suddenly felt a body smashing into her. Clearing her eyes from the sudden attack, Twilight was suddenly faced with a sea of pink.

Pinkie Pie, who appeared to have jumped into her friend, said in a happy voice, “So you were that special pony that I felt a while back!” The party pony leaned back with a satisfied look, smacking the top of her head with a hoof. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!”

The vampony could only stare in shock. “But… how could you possibly know anything about vamponies, Pinkie? There weren’t any recent sightings of a vampony in ages!”

The pink earth pony gave a big grin. “Oh, that’s easy!” She began jumping around the room. “I simply sensed it a while ago!”

Twilight tiled her head in confusion. “You… sensed it?”

Rarity decided to step in. “It’s what we’ve come to call… Pinkie sense, dear.” She leaned forward and quietly said, “It’s best not to delve too deep into the matter, Twilight.”

The purple unicorn looked around in shock. “You mean… you’re all not really surprised that I’m a vampony?!”

The snow-white unicorn shook her head. “Of course I’m surprised, Twilight!” She flicked her mane back. “But I simply cannot let something so juvenile and insignificant get in the way of our friendship!”

Twilight still had a shocked expression on her face when she turned to the cyan Pegasus. “What about you, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash folded her hooves over her chest when she said, “I don’t even know what a vampony is, Twi!”

“A vampony is said to be the true creature of the night.” Rarity answered curtly. “They are said to have superpony strength, the ability to see in the dark, and apparently sparkle like gems during the day!”

Twilight stared at the unicorn with a blank look on her face. “I most definitely do not sparkle like a gem, Rarity.”

The alabaster unicorn looked somewhat disappointed at her statement, but jumped when Rainbow Dash yelled, “Does that mean that you’re a superhero or something?!” She flew up and grabbed the unicorn by the shoulders. “That means you were the one that stopped the Ursa Major from destroying Ponyville… That’s so awesome, Twi!” The cyan Pegasus released the unicorn and began punching invisible enemies as if she was in a middle of a huge fight.

Twilight really didn’t know what to do with her Pegasus friend at this point and instead asked, “Shouldn’t you all be like… afraid of me?”

Fluttershy appeared to have left her hiding spot because she spoke quietly from the side, “Are we supposed to be afraid, Twilight? Because I can try to be afraid if you want me to… if you want that is…” She finished with a gentle smile on her face. “I like your fangs by the way…”

The unicorn didn’t realize that with her mouth hanging open, she had inadvertently exposed the one thing she was careful in hiding. “I thought for sure that you were going to be one of the ponies that’ll be the most affected by this, Fluttershy.”

The butterscotch Pegasus gently shook her head. “Not really, because I take care of vampire bats all the time and they don’t hurt or scare me, Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled and placed a hoof on the librarian’s shoulder. “And if one of my friends happened to become something similar… I can definitely without a doubt… trust that you won’t hurt us.”

Twilight looked at all of her friends in a daze. ‘What’s going on? Rainbow Dash thinks I’m a superhero, Rarity sounds as if I came right out of a fantasy romance novel, Fluttershy thinks I’ve become something close to a bat, and Pinkie… well… I don’t even know what to think of her!’ The unicorn suddenly noticed that a purple dragon was staring at her intently. Everypony in the room seems to have noticed this because everything became quiet again.

The assistant took an uneasy step backwards. “Does this mean that you’re not the real Twilight anymore?”

The purple unicorn felt herself turn cold. The one creature in the room she wanted the most to understand her… was moving away from her. “But…no, I’m still me, Spike…” She could feel her heart breaking already. “I’m still the pony who hatched and raised you when you were just an hatchling.”

Spike pointed an accusing claw at the unicorn. “How do we know that this isn’t some sort of trick or something? You even said that you were a monster a minute ago!”

At his words, Twilight felt as if an ice cold knife was stabbing her in the chest. She wanted nothing more but to run away and never turn back, but stopped when her friends came to her rescue.

The pink pony bounced over to the baby dragon with a slight frown on her face. “How could you say something so mean, Spiky?” She gave a knowing smile. “You’ve been hanging out with Twilight for how long and you didn’t even notice anything?”

It was the snow-white unicorn’s turn. “I much agree with Pinkie on this one, Spike.” Rarity gave the library assistant a stern look. “Did Twilight do anything that will make you believe that she isn’t the pony we see here?”

Spike nervously gulped at the sudden verbal attacks. “Well… no, she never did anything that the Twilight I know wouldn’t do…”

Rainbow Dash hovered over the group and said, “Besides, isn’t having a super cool vampony better than having a boring egghead?”

“Rainbow, not helping…” said Twilight, glaring daggers at the now sheepish Pegasus.

Stealthily making her way to the dragon’s side, Fluttershy said, “Even if Twilight did change, do you ever feel her love for you go away?”

The baby dragon looked deeply into the eyes of the butterscotch Pegasus before turning back to the purple unicorn. “Alright… I’ll give you a chance.”

Twilight smiled, grateful to get anything from her assistant. “Thank you, Spike, you have no idea how happy I am to see that I still didn’t lose you.”

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Geez… now I just feel really awful about this whole thing…”

“You and me both.” The unicorn replied, walking up and giving her assistant a tight hug. One by one, everypony joined in and added their warmth into the pile.

“Yay! I love group hugs!” Pinkie Pie said. “Once AJ gets out of the hospital, we should totally throw a-”

“Let me guess… a party?”

The party pony gave what appears to be a genuine surprised gasp. “Yes! How did you know, Twilight?!”

The purple unicorn shrugged. “Lucky guess…” She suddenly felt something wet on her hooves and noticed that a large puddle of artificial blood was beginning to form. “Oh, shoot!” Quickly grabbing a towel from the laboratory sink, Twilight began cleaning up the mess.

While she wringing the towel over the sink, she noticed that all of her friends including Spike had started to assist cleaning up as well. Twilight couldn’t help but smile. ‘Applejack was right… I really should trust my friends a lot more.’ She watched, as Pinkie Pie playful slides across the wet floor like it was an ice ring. ‘I still can’t believe they accepted the fact that I’m a vampony so easily…’

“That’s because they’re all ignorant to the fact that you’re a very dangerous monster now, Twilight.” A cold voice spoke quietly. “Deep down… you know they will never truly accept a monster like you…”

The librarian gasped, looking around to see if anypony noticed the noise she made. When she confirmed that none of her friends had heard her, Twilight went back to her thoughts. ‘You’re wrong… they accept me for who I am and not because they feel sorry for me or anything.’

The voice simply chuckled. “You can keep trying to fool yourself about all of this, but it won’t change anything…”

The purple unicorn snorted in anger. ‘You’re the one trying to trick me right about now and for your information... I proved that I’m not a liar like you!’ The pause told Twilight that she had just won a small victory and she couldn’t help but smirk.

“This isn’t over, Twilight.” The voice hissed angrily. “If anything this is just the beginning of a losing battle. And guess what!” The voice began slowly fading away. “I know that I’m going to come out on top in the end!”

Twilight grimaced. ‘Not if I have anything to say on it!’

“Twilight?” The unicorn turned to see Rainbow Dash looking at her. “You’re making a really angry face there…”

“Oh!” Twilight quickly relaxed her muscles. “Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

“Thinking about fighting that Ursa again, Twilight?” asked Rainbow, a sly grin appearing on her face.

The purple unicorn rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty certain that the Ursa will never come back to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash.” She quickly shook her head. “And I don’t plan on fighting one any time soon… if not ever!”

The cyan Pegasus floated over to a chair and sat down. “But seriously, Twi! Why did you even bother hiding something so cool in the first place?” Rainbow placed a hoof to her chest. “If I was able to become something that will give me superpony powers, I’ll defiantly tell everypony in Ponyville the first chance I can get!”

Twilight frowned. “You don’t understand, Rainbow.” She finished cleaning up the mess before joining the Pegasus. “Being a vampony is not all fun and games… There are some negative effects in becoming one.”

“I suppose the need for blood is one of them, dear?” Rarity quickly joined the conversation. “I can only imagine how awful it must be to drink something so revolting.”

The librarian nodded. “I really want to avoid drinking real blood as much as possible because it’s just feels wrong doing it…”

The snow-white unicorn smiled. “And that’s exactly the reason why you’re still our Twilight, darling!” She placed a comforting hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “You even went as far as to find a substitute in order to protect those around you…” Rarity gave a genuine smile. “You really are a good pony, Twilight.”

Twilight’s smile lasted for only a few seconds before a frown took its place. “The artificial blood isn’t turning out so great, Rarity. I used to be able to drink it once every day for an entire week before I’ll need the real deal.” She looked away slightly. “The hunger seems to be getting worse and worse no matter how much of the stuff I drink.”

“You mean this stuff?” The pink party pony lifted up a glass cup filled with a reddish liquid. “Since you drink this stuff all the time it must mean that it tastes really good!” She was about to tip the liquid into her mouth, but was stopped by a cyan hoof.

“Trust me, Pinkie… You don’t ever want to drink that.” She turned back to the purple unicorn. “So the fake blood is just not helping anymore?” Rainbow Dash placed a hoof to her chin. “That doesn’t sound good does it…”

“It most certainly isn’t!” The snow-white unicorn gasped. “How will you be able to handle the thirst, dear?” Rarity suddenly realized something. “But, Twilight… whose blood you were drinking before telling us all of this?”

Spike decided to join in at this point, having finished cleaning the remaining mess in the sink. “Yeah, I’m kind of wondering about that as well.”

The unicorn paled slightly. “Oh… well…” She suddenly felt nervous again. “It was… Applejack…”

Rainbow Dash simply nodded. “Yeah… I figured something was going on between you two.”

Rarity gasped. “But, now that our dear friend is in the hospital, what are you going to do in order to get your supply of blood, dear?”

Twilight sighed. “I don’t really have a plan at this point… I could go to the hospital and try to get some blood from there…”

The snow-white unicorn couldn’t help but ask, “But, Twilight, aren’t there steps and procedures that must be done in order to receive such a thing?”

The librarian nodded. “That was the reason why I never went to the hospital in the first place. I can’t just simply walk in and say ‘I’m going to need some of your blood supplies because I’m a vampony!’.” She pressed the sides of her face with her hooves. “What am I going to do?” Everypony in the room became silent, as they all tried to figure out the answer to the unicorn’s problem.

*Thump*

“Oww!”

Everypony suddenly turned their attention towards the door leading out of the basement. “Who put this coffee table in the path of the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

The cyan Pegasus dangerously narrowed her eyes. “Is that who I think it is?” Before anypony in the room could say anything, Rainbow Dash flew past everypony in a blur.

By the time the rest of the group reached back out into the main room of the library, Rainbow already had the magician pinned against the bookshelves. Still looking a bit dazed at the sudden attack, Trixie furiously yelled, “What are you doing?! Unhoof Trixie at once!”

The cyan Pegasus pressed the azure unicorn harder against the shelves. “I already heard from AJ that you were the one that brought the Ursa Major into Ponyville!” She shook the mare slightly. “And she almost died because of it!”

Wincing at the pain, Trixie struggled to say, “T-trixie had already a-apologized to Twilight for doing that!”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t convinced. “That still doesn’t let you off the hook… not by a long shot!” She raised a hoof into the air preparing to strike the unicorn, but was pushed aside by Twilight. Picking herself off the floor, Rainbow furiously asked, “What are you doing, Twi?! Can’t you see that bringing the Ursa to attack Ponyville was probably her plan the whole time?!”

“That’s enough, Rainbow!” Twilight yelled, hovering over the shivering magician. “It’s true she brought the Ursa into Ponyville, but she already admitted that she was wrong in doing so!”

The cyan Pegasus eyed the purple unicorn in surprise. “You’re not going to actually believe her are you?!”

The librarian twisted to see the look of fear in Trixie’s eyes. “Yes, I do…” She turned to face her Pegasus friend. “I only saw the truth in her eyes when she fell over my doorstep.”

Rainbow’s rose colored eyes stared deeply into the unicorn’s violet ones, trying to see if there was anything false in them. Seeing nothing but the sincere truth in her eyes, the Pegasus sighed in defeat. “Alright… I'll believe you, Twilight…” She glared at the azure unicorn. “But, if I see you stepping out of line again…” The Pegasus smashed her two front hooves together. “Do you understand?”

Trixie paled slightly, shielding her eyes from the cyan Pegasus. “Trixie understands… please don’t hurt Trixie!”

Twilight turned and stuck her hoof out. “Don’t worry, Trixie… nopony is going to hurt you.” She turned back to her Pegasus friend. “Rrrrright?” The cyan Pegasus simply crossed her hooves together with a humph.

The Great and Powerful Trixie accepted the hoof and pulled herself upright, regaining some of her old composure. “Right… well Trixie is grateful that you were able to call off the village’s watchdog.”

“Why you little…” The cyan Pegasus started to move forward, but was halted by a hoof.

Twilight gave out a long droned out sigh. “Trixie… you’re not making yourself really welcomed here at the moment.” The unicorn had a flat look on her face when she asked, “So what was the thing that you wanted to speak to me about?”

The azure unicorn nervously rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… Trixie does not want to admit it but…”

“Yes…?” The librarian pressed on, lifting an eyebrow in the process. “Admit what, Trixie?”

The Great and Powerful Trixie suddenly threw herself at the purple unicorn’s hooves. “You must teach Trixie on how you were able to defeat that Ursa Major!”

Twilight took a step back in surprise. “You want to what?” It obviously looked very difficult for the azure unicorn to bow in front of another pony because she immediately sprang back up.

Slightly blushing with shame, Trixie quickly said, “Trixie hates to admit it, but you are truly greater and more powerful than Trixie.” She stared directly into the purple unicorn’s eyes. “Trixie would want to know how to magically enhance one’s self… like what you had done to fight the Ursa.” The unicorn pointed a hoof dramatically into the air. “In all of Trixie’s years of traveling… Trixie had never come across anypony that could possibly do what you have done, Twilight!” She lowered her hoof back to the ground. “So… that is why you must teach this trick to Trixie, so that she may surpass you someday and become the truly Great and Powerful Trixie!” If there were fireworks in the room they would’ve went off by now.

The purple unicorn can only stare. “Okay, I’m flattered that you think I’m ‘great and powerful’…” She gave a quick shrug. “But, this isn’t something that you can teach to another pony.”

The azure unicorn looked taken aback. “But… why not? Trixie can more than handle whatever training you can dish out, Twilight!”

At this point, Rarity leaned in and said in a quiet voice, “I think you need to tell her, dear…”

Twilight nodded glumly. “Yes, you’re right, Rarity” She turned her attention back to the waiting magician. “I’m technically not a unicorn anymore, Trixie.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie lifted an eyebrow. “Trixie does not follow… not a unicorn?”

The librarian nodded. “That’s correct… because I’m now what you call a… a vampony now.” The azure pony merely stood still, making an unreadable look on her face. “Trixie?” Everypony jumped when the magician started to laugh. Slightly blushing in embarrassment, Twilight quickly said, “I know it sounds like a joke, but I’m not kidding here!”

Still clutching onto her sides, Trixie quickly said, “No, no, Twilight!” *HaHaHa* “It’s not that… it’s just…” *whew* “It’s just… Trixie can’t believe it was that simple!”

Twilight lifted an eyebrow in confusion. “Simple? What was so simple?”

“That I was finally able to find a vampony in all these years!” the azure pony quickly answered before flopping to the ground in another fit of laughter.

The purple unicorn leaned back slightly. “Wait… you were looking for somepony like me?” Twilight waited impatiently for the magician to stop laughing.

Finally calming down after about a minute of laughing, Trixie wiped a tear from her eyes and said, “Yes, Twilight…” She stood back onto her hooves. “Trixie have heard and read many stories about your kind.” The azure unicorn stomped the floor with a hoof. “They all thought Trixie was crazy… all thought that vamponies never existed and said that Trixie was wasting her time…” She pointed a hoof at the purple unicorn. “But, proof! Proof that vamponies really do walk among us in this world! Oh, Trixie would love to see the looks on their faces…” The unicorn grinned at the thought. “Trixie will give anything just to rub it into the faces of all the ones who laughed at Trixie!”

Twilight had just about enough with the unicorn before her. “Well… if that was all you needed to know, Trixie, you can go now…”

The azure unicorn gasped. “But, you must tell Trixie on how to become like you first!”

The purple unicorn leaned away. “Wait… you want to become a monster like me?”

Trixie narrowed her eyes. “What? No! Do you not understand what you have become?” She dramatically pointed a hoof at the librarian. “You’ve taken the next step into a new level of power, Twilight Sparkle! And being the Great and Powerful Trixie, I must take the step as well and become…”

“A blood thirsty monster that likes to hunt down innocent ponies?” asked Twilight, a blank look on her face. “Honestly…being a vampony has been nothing but trouble!”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy tapped the unicorn’s shoulder with a hoof. “I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit for what you are now…” Seeing the blank look on her friend’s face, she continued, “You haven’t done anything bad to another pony, Twilight.” She lowered her head slightly. “You used your powers to save everypony in Ponyville, remember?”

The unicorn turned her gaze to the floor. “That is true…”

“Not just once, my dear…” Rarity carefully added. “But, twice… in one night!”

Rainbow Dash also couldn’t help but add, “Yeah! You totally need to lighten up with this whole vampony thing, Twilight.”

“What Rainbow Dash is trying to tell you, Twilight…” The butterscotch Pegasus said in a warm voice. “is that you need to see that being a vampony is not at all bad as may you think.”

Twilight looked at each of her friends before saying, “But… all those old stories about vamponies always said that…”

“That is true, Twilight…” Fluttershy interrupted. “But, you need to remember that those were old stories and what you need to realize is that those vamponies are not you.” The Pegasus smiled. “You are, Twilight Sparkle… a vampony who is kind and loving to her friends…” She gestured at the azure unicorn with a hoof. “And those around you…”

“I couldn't have said it better myself, Fluttershy!” The snow-white unicorn beamed at her purple friend. “I truly believed that we would’ve lost a life from that Ursa attack if it weren’t for the fact that you stopped it, darling!”

“It took me thirty minutes to reach Canterlot and back…” The cyan Pegasus playfully smacked the unicorn on the back. “So if you weren’t there to stop that thing before I got back, it would’ve destroyed at least half of the whole town!”

After hearing all of her friends telling her that being a vampony is actually a positive thing rather than a negative one, Twilight could help but smile. “Thanks girls… it means a lot to me to find out that you all still care.”

*Ahem!* “Now that you had your moment…” The azure unicorn interrupted. “Trixie still likes to add that being a vampony is a true gift, Twilight Sparkle.”

The librarian nodded. “I suppose you’re right about that, Trixie…” She looked up suddenly. “But, I can’t teach you on how to become a vampony.” Twilight saw that the magician was about to speak, but quickly added, “I can’t change anypony into a vampony because… only Nightmare Moon could do such a thing.”

“The new Princess?” Trixie narrowed her eyes. “How does a simple librarian know such a powerful pony?”

Twilight sadly lowered her head. “Well… I was Princess Celestia’s student, but not anymore… In order to protect my friends, I now have to follow Nightmare’s bidding forever.”

The azure magician could only stare at the unicorn in astonishment. “And yet you are here in Ponyville?”

The purple unicorn nodded, a smirk forming on her face. “I was able to beat Nightmare Moon in her own game and not transform into a vampony for an entire week.” She gave a small chuckle at the memories. “Seeing the Princess losing it was almost unreal.”

The pink party pony bounced into the conversation. “You played a game with Black Snooty?!” Pinkie Pie looked mildly jealous. “I want to join you guys when you play again, alright-y Twilight-y?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, clearly impressed and ignoring the party pony. “Not bad, Twi… That’ll show that Nightmare jerk not to mess with us!”

“But, it still begs the question…” Rarity placed a hoof to her chin. “How are you going to deal with the blood problem, dear? You said that our dear friend Applejack was the blood donor, correct?”

Twilight nodded. “But, she’s stuck in the hospital now…” She was interrupted when the butterscotch Pegasus placed a hoof on her own.

With a hint of hesitation, Fluttershy said, “If you really need to drink… you can have some of mine…” She suddenly became nervous again. “If…if you want that is…”

The purple unicorn stared with her eyes wide open. “I can’t possibly drag you into this as well!”

The timid Pegasus gave a guilty smile. “I already donate to the hospital from time to time… to help other ponies in need.” She gave the purple unicorn a reassuring pat. “I’m sure they’ll understand if I donate to my friend instead.”

“And I as well.” Rarity placed a hoof to her chest. “Even though I’m a little sensitive to the thought of giving my blood in such a way… I’ll be happy to know that it’ll be used to help my friend in need.”

“Are you sure? I sure there are other ways to…” Twilight was beginning to say.

“No, no, Twilight.” The snow-white unicorn interrupted with a smile. “I insist that you accept, dear. The thought of you basically going hungry is simply too much for me to bear, darling!”

“Oh! Oh! Is this a game?!” Pinkie Pie popped in from out of nowhere. “I want to play ‘Give Blood to Twilight’ too!”

Completely baffled but completely curious, Twilight turned to the cyan Pegasus and asked, “What about you, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash looked as if she wanted to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Lifting an eyebrow, Rainbow quickly said, “Well… duh! Of course I’ll help you out, Twi!” She pumped her chest out in pride. “I’ll never leave anypony hanging!” The cyan Pegasus suddenly deflated. “Uhh… What exactly do you do in order to drink somepony’s blood?”

The purple unicorn used a hoof to lift her upper lip, exposing her two sharp fangs. “Well…I have to bite them first and then drink the blood from the wound.”

“Oh… my…” Fluttershy shivered slightly at the thought. “Do we really have to do it like that, Twilight?”

“Yeah, Fluttershy’s right…” Rainbow’s face almost took on a small shade of green. “Can’t we… I don’t know… give it to you in like a cup or something?”

Twilight was about to open her mouth to deny the Pegasus, but suddenly paused. Placing a hoof to her chin and scrunching her face up in concentration, Twilight slowly said, “You know what… that might actually work…” After a few minutes of thinking, the librarian suddenly smacked the top of her forehead with a hoof. “Gah! I’m such an idiot!”

“Why, darling, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked, looking at the unicorn with confusion written on her face.

“That whole thing with me biting AJ… could’ve been completely avoided if I did what Rainbow just told me!” Twilight grabbed a hoofful of her mane and gave it a tug in frustration. “I could just simply store the blood in a safe place for when I really do need it…” She grabbed the cyan Pegasus and gave her a hug. “Rainbow Dash… you’re a genius!”

After she was released by the unicorn, Rainbow Dash blushed slightly in embarrassment. “No problem, Twi…” Her face melted back into its cocky smile. “I know it’s hard to ask the smarter pony questions, but don’t hesitate to do it again from time to time!”

Twilight playfully rolled her eyes at the cyan Pegasus before turning back to the room at large. “This is great! I finally have a perfect solution in dealing with all of this stress!”

“I’m very happy for you, Twilight…” Fluttershy gave a huge, yet polite, yawn. “But… I think it’s time for me to get back home. Angel and the other animals will probably be very worried right about now…” With her eyes slightly drooping, Fluttershy opened the library’s door and softly closed it behind her as she left.

The butterscotch Pegasus’s yawn appears to be contagious because Rarity tried and failed to hold back her own yawn. “I must agree with Fluttershy on this, dear…” The snow-white unicorn yawned again. “But, a lady must have her beauty sleep… or it will simply be a disaster in the coming morning!”

“I have to go too!” yelled Pinkie Pie, her bounce became slightly lessened with each hop. “I need to make sure I have everything ready for the big party later…” She threw open the library’s front door and yelled over the top of her shoulder. “And you’re all invited!” The party pony disappeared in a whirl of pink and balloons.

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash sighed, giving her hooves a quick stretch. “I’m going to hit the hay if you don’t mind guys.” With a wave, the cyan Pegasus flew out of an open window in the second floor.

“Honestly, she could’ve just used the front door like any normal pony would do…” Rarity slowly shook her head as she walked out. “I’ll come by to give you my *ahem* gift later, Twilight… Ciao~!”

After waving goodbye to her unicorn friend and closing the door, Twilight turned back to the library to see Trixie sleeping in a chair. ‘She must be really tired because of the past few hours.’ She her head a quick shake. ‘Everypony looked so exhausted… but I’m not even tired.’ The librarian spotted a few books on the floor and lifted them into their proper places. ‘It must be because of me being a vampony… guh… there’s no end to all these surprises is there?’ She glanced over to where the azure pony was sleeping. ‘Speaking of surprises…’ The purple unicorn walked up to the sleeping magician at shook her gently awake. “Trixie, hey…wake up.”

“Guh? Wha?” The Great and Powerful Trixie lifted her head off the table with a bit of drool on her face. “What’s going on?” She looked around the room to see that everypony had disappeared. “Where did everypony go?” The magician blinked a couple of times. “Trixie is surprised that they left without asking Trixie for an autograph.”

Supporting the azure unicorn with a shoulder, Twilight lead the still drowsy unicorn into the guest bedroom and said, “I’m surprised that you even showed up in my house in the first place. I thought the very first thing you’ll do is run away for bringing that Ursa to the town.”

Trixie flinched slightly, but regained her composure and said, “Well… the thought had crossed Trixie’s mind…but, Trixie still owes her life to that apple farmer and you…” It proved very difficult to say the next line. “So… Trixie will only say this once… Trixie… thanks you… for saving Trixie, Twilight…” She gave a huge yawn and slid into the covers of the guest bed. “But enough of that… Trixie would like to get some sleep now.”

Twilight still had a smile on her face when she closed the bedroom door behind her. “You’re welcome, Trixie…”

Reentering the main room of the library, the purple unicorn spotted her assistant curled up and snoozing in one of the bookshelves. She felt her heart swelling at the sight of the sleeping dragon. ‘I still didn’t lose my number one assistant because of my new form.’ Twilight slowly lifted her baby brother with her magic and carried him into their bedroom. After tucking her scaly friend into his basket, Twilight leaned in and gave the baby dragon a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for still believing in me, Spike…”

Spike twitched and softly mumbled in his sleep, “Of course, my lady… I’ll save you from that foul beast…”

Twilight quietly giggled before hopping into her bed. “Goodnight, Spike…” ‘Goodnight everypony… and thank you.’

Chapter 13

To those that were patiently / impatiently(you know who you are) waiting for this update. You will find the reason below in the comment section.

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 13

“Thanks again, Rarity… I just wish I can make it up somehow.”

“Now now, Twilight, I’ve already told you that I wanted to do this for you haven’t I?” The snow-white unicorn stepped out of the library, wearing a small band aid around one of her legs. “Please understand that I am willingly giving you this so you won’t have any health problems, darling.” Still seeing the guilty frown on her purple friend, Rarity rolled her eyes and said, “If you really want to make it up to me…”

“Yes?!” Twilight’s eyes lit up, leaning forward in anticipation.

The fashionista rolled her eyes again. “Drop by the boutique later so I can fashion you up a dress for when we go to Pinkie’s party.” She pressed a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… I say around three o’clock tonight?”

The librarian gave a happy grin. “I’ll be there!” She was about to turn back into the library, but stopped when she heard the fashionista giggling. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh!” The snow-white unicorn pressed her lips together, trying to stop the laughter from escaping. “It’s nothing, my dear! *snicker* It’s nothing at all!” She turned and quickly ran away from her confused friend. ‘She’ll realize her mistake later…’ Rarity smiled to herself, as she made her way towards her home. ‘For such a smart pony… she sure is easy to fool!’

Twilight watched her giggling friend disappear into the crowd. Shrugging, the librarian retreated back into her sanctuary and closed the door with a smart snap. ‘It must’ve been a personal joke or something.’ She took one look at main room before turning her attention to the basement. The familiar buzzes of the machines around her were quickly pushed out of her mind when she reached the newly added refrigerator at the end of the room. Gripping the handle with her magic, Twilight opened the refrigerator to happily gaze at her friends’ generosity. ‘I still can’t believe my friends did this for me…’

To a common pony, it’ll look like the refrigerator was simply cooling a few medical bags filled with donated blood. But, to Twilight… it was as if the cooler was holding her friends’ very soul, immeasurable in value and impossible to replace.

Twilight lifted an eyebrow. ‘Is it strange to think like that?’ The unicorn quickly shook her head. ‘Of course I should think like that! … My friends went through a great deal of trouble to help me and I should treat their gift with respect!’

The librarian’s thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly felt a familiar burning sensation in her throat. ‘Hmm… I can test to see if the artificial blood will work now…’ The purple unicorn used her magic to summon an already filled glass towards her. It didn’t take long for the usual look of disgust to appear on her face. “Bleh!” Twilight shuddered. ‘Never could get used to that…’ She stood rooted to the spot, as she waited for the fake blood to cool her throat. After waiting for over two minutes, Twilight could still feel the awful pain. ‘… As I thought…’ She sadly lowered her head. ‘It looks like I’ll have to drink real blood from now on…’ The unicorn turned her attention back to the cooler. ‘I might as well get this over with…’

After she floated the cup into the sink, Twilight realized something as she opened the refrigerator. ‘Wait… who’s blood do I drink first?’ The vampony stared at the medical bags, feeling completely lost. ‘Do I drink Pinkie’s because she was first one to donate blood to me or do I start with Rainbow’s because she always wants to be first?’ The unicorn nervously chewed a hoof, panic slowly rising. ‘Rarity was really forceful when she wanted to give the blood… and I can’t simply forget Fluttershy because that would be rude…’ She threw back her head in frustration. “Gahh! Who do I choose?!”

After giving much thought, too much thought honestly, into the matter… Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it! I’ve had enough!” She reached in and grabbed… all of them! “They’ll all be the first! There!” The unicorn carried the bags over to her lab table and began hooking them so they will all funnel into a single tube. When she was finished with her work, the vampony was left with a glass filled with the thick red liquid. Twilight smiled and momentarily lifted the cup above her head. “Here’s to all of my friends.” The unicorn closed her eyes when she felt the liquid running down her throat, immediately feeling the burning sensation disappear. What she didn’t expect was the feeling of her horn suddenly erupting with magic, flinging the surprised unicorn straight into the roots of the tree.

…

The purple unicorn jerked awake by the yells of a baby dragon. “W-what? S-spike, is that you?”

The scaly dragon gave one final tug, successfully pulling his confused older sister out of the clutches of the tree. After patting some dirt out of the unicorn’s mane, Spike asked, “What the heck made you think smashing yourself into the library was a good idea?!” He began looking over the unicorn to see if there were any cuts that needed to be taken care of, but was surprised to see that the unicorn didn’t show any signs of injuries. “I heard a huge explosion coming from the basement, only to find you stuck inside the roots.”

Twilight shook her head to dislodge even more dirt out of her mane. “I honestly don’t know what happened… one minute I was drinking blood and the next my horn suddenly overloaded with magic.”

Spike lifted an eyebrow. “But, you never lost control of your magic before…” The dragon began scratching his head in confusion. “The only time you did lose control was during that exam of hatching me, right?”

The purple unicorn nodded. “That’s correct, Spike, I’ve been very careful on how much magic I use and only go beyond the norm whenever there’s an emergency.” She pressed a hoof to her chin. “I wonder what caused such a strange phenomenon…” Her attention suddenly shifted to the clock on the wall. “Wait! What time is it?”

Spike, already cleaning up the mess the unicorn had created said, “Almost three, why? Do you have something to do, Twilight?” He didn’t get a response. Instead, he was sent spinning when the purple unicorn dash past him in a blur. Still trying to hold his lunch in, Spike muttered to himself, “I guess that’s a yes then…”

…

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Rarity!” Twilight burst into her friend’s boutique, sweat covering her brows. “There was an incident at the lab and I didn’t realize that I lost track of the time!”

Rarity was still slightly surprised when she said, “Oh, it’s quite alright, darling.” She quickly floated a fresh towel to the purple unicorn. “You really didn’t have to come in such a rush, Twilight.”

The librarian graciously accepted the towel and began dabbing her forehead. “I know… it’s just that I really don’t like being tardy in anything…”

The fashionista nodded. “I understand what you mean, darling…” She clapped her hooves together. “But, now that you’re here… we could start on that dress of yours!”

The purple unicorn let out a sigh of relief. “I’m just glad I could pay back somepony!” Twilight threw her hooves into the air. “I tried to convince the other girls that I wanted to do something for them, but they all refused!” The thought just dawned on her. “Wait a second… if I’m here to get a dress for... myself…” The librarian slowly turned her head in the direction at the alabaster unicorn, wide eyed.

Rarity gave an awkward grin, coughing into her hoof slightly. “Ahem! ... Yes, well… shall we get started, dear?” She floated a long measuring tape over to her frozen friend and began taking notes. The more the fashionista worked, the more she realized that something was off. “Oh my…”

“What?” Twilight snapped back into attention. “What’s wrong, Rarity?” The snow-white unicorn didn’t reply, instead she started vigorously measuring her entire body again. “Rarity?”

The fashionista took a step back and began glaring, with a critical eye, at the unicorn. “It doesn’t make any since…”

“Rarity!”

The snow-white unicorn jumped at the sudden noise, looking at her friend in surprise. “Yes, dear?”

Twilight couldn’t take the suspense any longer. “What the hay going on… I’m going crazy over here!”

Rarity blushed when she realized that she didn’t explain anything to her friend. “Ah, yes… Forgive me, Twilight…” She placed a hoof to her chin. “But, it seems that you’ve gotten bigger, dear…”

The librarian could only stare. “Are you saying that I became fat?”

The alabaster unicorn quickly waved a hoof. “Oh no, no, no! I didn’t mean getting fat bigger!” She pointed at the unicorn. “No, you grew!”

The purple unicorn raised an eyebrow. “That’s not possible because I already…”

“Yes, yes, I know, Twilight.” Rarity interrupted. “That’s why I wanted to make sure that your measurements were true or not.” She brushed a stray hair aside from her face. “Hmm… I wonder if you being a vampony would have anything to do with this.”

Twilight’s ears flattened at the thought. “I really hope that isn’t the case because how am I going to explain this to everypony?”

The snow-white unicorn tried to give a comforting smile. “The growth was very little and I’m sure they’ll accept you just the way you are, my dear.” Rarity grabbed her friend and began dragging the saddened unicorn to the back of the room. “But, enough moping around… I’m sure you’ll feel much better after trying on some of my new dresses!”

…

It was late in the afternoon when Pinkie Pie’s party finally ended and Twilight was slowly making her way towards her tree-home. Only the sound of her hooves and her new dress could be heard, as she made her way through the town. ‘Trixie looks as though she finally turned over a new leaf.’ She smiled at all the achievements her magician friend had earned. ‘There was the town apology, where she publicly apologized to the whole town and agreed to help with the town’s restoration.’ She remembered how it brought a tear to her eyes when the whole town graciously accepted her apology, even setting up her own lodgings. ‘There was the time at the party when she apologized to my friends…’ The unicorn could still feel the warm sensation in her heart when Rainbow Dash shook the azure unicorn’s hoof. ‘Rainbow still has the look of unease around Trixie, but I’m sure that will pass soon enough... Frankly, Trixie's attitude still needs a little work, but time will simply iron that out as well.’

“Do you ever stop talking?!”

Twilight flinched at the harsh voice in her head. ‘Well, for your information, I was just simply thinking to myself. You’re the one listening to my thoughts.’ The purple unicorn knew that this was going to a problem later.

“Yeah? Well… I don’t really have a choice here unfortunately. All I can do is sit here and listen to an annoying unicorn talking about her so called friends!”

Twilight ignored the voice and entered her home. Making her way towards her bedroom closet, Twilight slipped out of her dress, hanged it, and finally flopped onto the bed with a sigh. ‘I’m going to have to find a way to get rid of this voice in my head.’

“I heard that!”

‘… or at least stop it from hearing my thoughts…’

Twilight could feel her eyelids growing heavier by the minute, only to have them snap wide open when she felt a sudden chill run down her back. ‘W-what was that?’ Her sudden chill was replaced with a wave of happiness, only to find out that it wasn’t her own. ‘What are you doing and why are you so happy all of a sudden?’

The voice didn’t reply, but instead began speaking to itself, “She’s here! She’s here! My Master has finally arrived, but wait…” The voice paused. “Something’s wrong…”

The purple unicorn had already jumped out of the bed and was in the middle of running downstairs when she asked, ‘Wrong? What’s going on?!’ The unicorn yelped in surprise when she tripped over something soft at the bottom of the stairs. Shaking her head to dislodge the stars out of her vision, Twilight found herself staring face to face with the unconscious form of the goddess of the night herself. “N-n-nightmare Moon?!” Taking a few frantic steps away from the still alicorn, Twilight could feel the fear already welling up inside her. “W-what is she doing here?!”

“Get a hold of yourself, Twilight!” The voice inside snapped. “Can’t you see that our master needs help?!”

The librarian could only stare in surprise. “Help? She doesn’t need-” She gasped when she finally noticed a hilt of a golden knife, sticking out of the goddess’s back. Blood slowly leaked out of the sides of the wound, filling the whole library with the stench of iron. “W-what happened to her?”

“Oh, for Equestria’s sake!” The voice was almost screaming at this point. “Get over there and stop the bleeding!”

Twilight felt completely lost, as she frantically rushed over to the fallen goddess. When she saw how bad the wound looked up close, the unicorn found herself slipping. ‘O-okay okay, uhh… I read at least fifty different books on how to medically treat a w-wounded pony… uhh… umm…’ The librarian started to hyperventilate with the stress. ‘Ah ha! Uhh… c-c-chapter one… w-what was chapter one again? …AHHH! I don’t know what to do!’

“Twilight, calm down!” The voice was able to momentarily snap the unicorn back to reality. “Just listen to me and follow my instructions, understand?”

Twilight shook her head briefly, taking large deep breaths. ‘O-okay, I’m listening!’

…

After several minutes of intensive stress and gut wrenching moments, Twilight was finally able to stabilize the fallen mare. Taking a deep breath and expelling it with a sigh, the purple unicorn slumped onto a chair. ‘I’ve never done any kind of intensive medical applications to another pony… I’ve read all about it in books sure, but when it came down to the real deal…’ The librarian shivered slightly. ‘If the voice didn’t help me at the time… Nightmare Moon could’ve died and it would’ve been my entire fault…’ All she received for her thoughts was silence, which confused the unicorn. ‘Hello?’ She glanced around the room, in the hopes to confirm the whereabouts of the voice, but found nothing. ‘That’s strange… where did-’

*Crash!*

Twilight leaped ten feet into the air before realizing that the noise came from the guest bedroom but more importantly, the place where Nightmare Moon was currently resting. Teleporting into the room with a flash, the unicorn found that the goddess has indeed awakened.

With her eyes still closed and franticly wrestling with the bed sheets, Nightmare Moon cried, “You’ll never have my head you treacherous fiends!” Twisting her wound onto the mattress, the goddess cried out in pain.

Fearing that the alicorn will hurt herself even further, Twilight gently placed a hoof on the mare’s shoulders and said quickly, “It’s alright, Nightmare Moon, nopony is going to hurt you anymore!”

The goddess of the night flinched at the touch. “Wait… That voice…” The alicorn opened her turquoise eyes to stare into the unicorn’s purple ones. “T-twilight Sparkle?” She narrowed her draconic eyes dangerously. “Are you going to betray me like all the others?”

The librarian was taken aback slightly. “N-no… the thought never crossed my mind.”

Nightmare Moon grimaced when she sat up from the bed and tried to flutter her wings, realizing that she was wrapped in bandages. Staring at the white fibers in complete surprise, the alicorn looked up and asked, “Y-you’re the one that saved me?” The goddess leaned away slightly. “You have enough power to defy your own transformation and yet you decided to assist me?”

It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised. “You mean… you never found out?”

The goddess of the night narrowed her eyes again. “Found out about what exactly?”

The purple unicorn suddenly felt nervous. “I uhh… Well…” Feeling extreme stage frightened at the moment, Twilight decided to just blurt it out in a rush. “I-drank-and-finished-the-transformation.”

Having caught a piece of what the unicorn said, Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. “Come again? I could’ve sworn that you said…” Her eyebrows slowly met in the middle in concentration, as she spoke under her breath, “But… that’s impossible…”

Without so much as a warning, Twilight felt her body being lifted towards the night goddess. ‘Oh no, not this again!’ She slammed her eyes shut in the hopes of this experience to be a little more bearable. But after several seconds of uneventful floating, the unicorn decided to try and take a small peek at what the alicorn was waiting for. The librarian soon found that the queen of darkness wasn’t sinking her sharp fangs into her neck. No, instead Nightmare Moon’s face was mere inches from her own. Blushing slightly on how close they were at the moment, Twilight flicked her eyes upwards to see that their horn tips were almost touching. “Uhh… Nightmare Moon?”

Receiving only silence from the dark alicorn, the purple unicorn decided to try and see if she could free herself. The very first thing she did was move her head a little, just to see if she could even move her body. She immediately regretted when the two horns touched, because she was about to feel an unbelievable amount of pain.

Thousands, if not, millions of different images suddenly flooded into her mind, like a fire hose turned up full. At first it seemed impossible to make heads or tails of it, but the images slowly started to make a pattern and it filled Twilight with an immense amount of dread and sadness. The poor unicorn couldn’t handle the amount of information and was reduced to curling up into a tight ball, in the hopes for the images to stop.

Meanwhile, the goddess of the night opened her eyes once more. ‘Well, well, well… it seems this unicorn wasn’t a complete waste of time, but… how odd…’ As her vision refocused, Nightmare Moon soon realized that she was staring at a trembling ball of purple fur. “Oh my goodness! Are you alright?” Panicking, the black alicorn quickly casted a soothing spell and gently placed the shivering unicorn on top of a pillow. “Please tell me you didn’t touch my horn while I was feeling for my magic within you!”

Taking short gasps of air, Twilight shakily raised her head off the soft pillow. “W-what was that all about?” The unicorn was a bit intimidated by the facial expression on the goddess’s face. ‘Why does she look so worried about me and when did she even start caring?’

Still staring at the unicorn as if she’s the most fragile thing in Equestria, Nightmare Moon asked, “How much did you see?” Seeing the look of confusion on the unicorn, she pressed on, “Did you understand anything from the visions?”

Twilight lifted a hoof and began massaging the side of her head. “I… What?”

The alicorn was losing her patience. “Your vision!” She pointed at her own horn, an angry frown appearing on her face. “When you made contact with my horn, you were briefly given a vision of the future.” Nightmare Moon grabbed the unicorn’s shoulders and stared deeply into her purple eyes. “I need to know whether you saw the end of Equestria or not!”

The librarian was stunned. “I-I didn’t see or understand any of that!” She wrapped her hooves around herself in a hug. “There were so many things… so many images… I couldn’t focus on anything.” The unicorn felt tears running down the side of her face. “I don’t know why…but it makes me feel so sad…” 'And what did she mean by the "End of Equestria"!'

The goddess of the night sighed weakly. Reaching forward with her hooves, Nightmare Moon pulled the crying unicorn into a stiff, but still tight, hug. “I’m sorry you had to see all of that… there are some things in this world that a pony should never see.”

Twilight couldn’t explain it, but she suddenly felt protected and snuggled into the onyx colored coat with a happy sigh.

Remembering just who was holding her at the moment, the unicorn yanked herself away from goddess. “Okay! Just what the hay is going on with you?” She pointed at the alicorn with a hoof. “Why are you suddenly acting so nice and caring towards me? Don’t you hate me or something?” Watching the goddess carefully, the unicorn’s mind went into overdrive. ‘The first thing Nightmare did was teleport into my house with a knife in her back.’ *cringe* ‘Next, she wakes up and starts yelling at me… now she’s giving me a hug?’ Twilight felt her head was starting to spin. ‘She’s confusing the hay out of me with this rollercoaster-like attitude of hers…’

Nightmare Moon lifted an eyebrow. “Hate you? Why would I hate my own subjects?” She began pacing around the room, wincing whenever she would turn and aggravate her wound. “I may have been impatient and rather rude to you, however I would never hate my own children.” She whirled around to face the unicorn. “But, enough of this! We have a much bigger problem to deal with at this time!” The goddess pointed a hoof towards the window. “Do you not see that monstrosity rising in the distant?”

Following the pointed hoof, Twilight turned to see a mixture of orange and yellow light off in the distant. Confused on just what the alicorn was implying, Twilight asked, “Are you talking about the raising moon in the distant?”

The alicorn gave the unicorn a blank look. “That isn’t my beautiful moon you little foal…”

Twilight lifted an eyebrow. “If that isn’t the moon then it can only mean…” The unicorn gasped, rushing to the window. ‘Could it really be true?’ Opening the window with a bang, Twilight stared out with her jaw hanging open. Sure enough, it was indeed the bright sun rising in the far distant. ‘Princess Celestia… you truly have returned...’

“I wouldn’t stand in the light for too long if I were you, child…”

The purple unicorn turned and gave the goddess a quizzical look. “Why, what’s going to-” She couldn’t finish her question because she found herself falling to the floor with a loud thump. “Ugh… guh… what?” Twilight slowly lifted herself slowly off the floor. “Wha… what happened?” As she was busy lifting herself back up, the unicorn didn’t realize that doing so will place her head directly into the sunlight and she immediately felt her legs grow numb again. “What’s happening to me?”

Nightmare Moon gave a tired sigh, as if she already given the explanation multiple times already. “As I already mentioned to you during the summer sun celebration, you are now a vampony and with it… comes with a few… complications.” The alicorn gave a small nod at the direction of the sun. “I did say to you that the sun will make your body much weaker should you stand in it.”

Twilight pulled herself slowly back up again, carefully avoiding the yellow rays of the sun. “If the sun can do something like that to a vampony… then why are you perfectly okay with it?” She pointed at a spot on the alicorn. “The sun’s shining right on you and you look perfectly fine.”

The goddess glanced down to see a patch of light is indeed on her neck. “Do not let this fool you, child.” She lifted a hoof into the light, gazing at the hoof solemnly. “I am only capable of doing this because I have trained… and made myself stronger against this bothersome light.” The alicorn dropped her hoof back to the floor. “You will be able to deal with this eventually…” Making her way towards the door to the main part of the library, Nightmare turned her head and said, “But enough talking… it is time.”

The librarian timidly followed the goddess, hoping that her number one assistant wouldn’t wake up and find a god walking around the library. “Time? Time for what exactly?”

“To leave of course!” The alicorn gazed at the unicorn as if she was crazy. “Wasn’t a knife in my back a big enough hint for you?” Nightmare Moon tried to flutter her wings again, only to let out a frustrated grunt, when she realized that she couldn’t at the moment. “Celestia’s army is probably making their way towards Ponyville as we speak! We must be away from this place before all shadow is consumed by the light.”

Twilight’s jaw fell open. “Leave?! But, I can’t just leave my home and friends behind!”

One of Nightmare Moon’s eyes twitched. “There is no time to argue with me right now, child!” The alicorn gave an angry stomp. “If they find you, they will have your head!”

The unicorn instinctively placed a hoof to her neck and gulped. “B-but Princess Celestia will never give the orders to kill another pony!”

“That may be true…” Nightmare Moon stared directly into the unicorn’s eyes. “But, we are not ponies anymore, remember?” Ignoring the stunned look on the unicorn’s face, the alicorn cough slightly and said, “My last injury has significantly drain my energy and I will need to feed. I have already looked into your mind and know that you have some of your friend’s blood in store.”

“Y-you read my mind? But-” Twilight tried to speak but was interrupted.

“You will bring me blood to drink this instant! We must hurry and be away from this place posthaste!”

Still with a dazed look on her face, Twilight stumbled her way to the refrigerator in the basement. She was about to pull a random bag out, but then the unicorn suddenly remembered. ‘Wait a minute! I’m not going to just hoof over my friend’s blood to somepony like her!’ The librarian gritted her teeth. ‘I may be sworn in to serve and be loyal to her… But, this is just one thing that I cannot let her take!’ Her eyes flicked around until she spotted a lone cup on a table. ‘I guess it’s my turn to donate for the cause!’

…

After impatiently waiting for that troublesome unicorn, Nightmare Moon finally spotted said unicorn emerging from a door. “It’s about time you arrived…” The alicorn tapped her hoof impatiently. “Quickly, we are running out of time!” Ignoring the look of annoyance on the unicorn’s face, the goddess yanked the floating cup away with her magic. “This shall aid me restoring my powers quicker.” Her face was full of smug confidence before taking a large gulp from the cup.

Nothing could’ve prepared the two when the goddess suddenly exploded with energy. Arcane lightning lashed out from Nightmare Moon’s body, striking the floor and ceiling. Thankfully the house was already enchanted so it could never catch on fire. However, the books weren’t so lucky. Twilight cried out when book after book was struck by the raging storm, a few of them even disintegrating upon impact. ‘I have to stop her from destroying everything!’ Thinking quickly, the unicorn summoned a large bubble shield around the alicorn. ‘What in Equestria is going on with her?!’

After several minutes of waiting, the torrent of electricity finally disappeared. The sudden disappearing caused the unicorn to faultier, dropping the goddess and shield onto the floor. Shakily raising herself off the floor, Nightmare Moon coughed and weakly asked, “Wha-What did you do to me…?”

Trying to put out the burning books around the library, Twilight quickly replied, “I didn’t do anything to you, Nightmare Moon. Now help me put out these fires… My precious books are burning!”

The goddess suddenly lunged straight for Twilight, pinning the unicorn to the floor with her hooves. “Lies!” Her whole frame shook when a small electrical discharge ran over her body. “You placed something inside the blood didn’t you?” Nightmare Moon’s eyes flashed red with anger. “Answer me or I will squash that tiny, insignificant, life of yours into oblivion!”

If Twilight wasn’t afraid of the goddess… she was now. “I-I-I didn’t want to g-give my f-friend’s blood to you… so I-I gave my own blood!” The unicorn turned one of her legs to show a band aid. “S-see?”

Nightmare Moon leaned away slightly. “Your own blood? But, what could possibly cause such a-”

*Thump-thump*

“Gah!” The alicorn pressed a hoof to her chest, moving off of the unicorn at the same time. “This feeling…! I’ve felt this before…!” The goddess let out a cry of pain, curling up on the floor and taking deep breaths. 'This could only mean one thing!'

Twilight scrambled to her hooves, wondering what the hay is happening to the god before her. “Nightmare, are you-” She gasped when she notice the alicorn was changing before her very eyes.

Nightmare’s onyx colored coat slowly took on a deep shade of blue. Her long flowing mane and tail retracted, braking apart into normal, azure colored, hair strands. Finally, her sharp fangs began to dull and flatten back to their respective places.

With one of her eyes a normal pony's and the other still stuck in its draconic form, Nightmare Moon spoke, “So… this was your plan all along sister?” The goddess’s horn lit up with magic, producing a misty ball of light. Grunting with fatigue, the alicorn summoned a glass vial and filled it with the unknown substance. Closing the top off with a cork, Nightmare Moon shoved the vial into the unicorn’s hooves and said, “You are the only one with any sort of chance of making it out of here now…”

Scrambling and nearly dropping the vial onto the floor, Twilight asked, “What? But… what about you? What’s going on?!”

With her breath growing shallower by the minute, Nightmare Moon pointed at the glass vial and said, “There isn’t much time to explain-” *Thump-thump* “What you now hold… will explain everything to you!” She pointed towards the library’s exit. “Go! You must be the one to escape or all hope will be lost!” The changed alicorn spoke her final words before slipping into unconsciousness, “The night… must live…on.”

Chapter 14

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 14

‘How did this happen to me?’ Twilight edged under an awning, diving into a dark alleyway to avoid the bright sun. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Taking slow deep breaths, the unicorn readjusted her saddlebag so it wouldn’t slip and fall. ‘Alright… just remember your plan, Twilight…’ The purple unicorn peered out into the main street to see if there were anypony watching her. Convinced that the coast was clear, Twilight sat down and pulled out a small checklist out of her bag. ‘Okay… Pack food and supplies?’

*Check*

‘Have the thing that Nightmare Moon gave me?’ Twilight rummaged through the bag until she was able to pull out the glowing vial.

*Check*

‘Leave a letter to Spike and the girls that I had to leave for emergency reasons?’ She could already feel the guilt, forming deep within her heart.

*Check*

‘And last but not least… find out if Nightmare Moon was telling the truth or not…’

…

Twilight Sparkle rolled up the parchment and stuffed it back into her bag. ‘That’s my biggest problem… how the hay am I going to find out if she was telling the truth or not?!’ The unicorn began rubbing the sides of her head, hoping for some inspiration to spawn. ‘If Nightmare Moon was lying and I go to Princess Celestia in pony, there wouldn’t be any problems. I could explain to her that during the search for the elements, I was unfortunately turned into a vampony.’ The librarian threw her head back and groaned in frustration. ‘But, if Nightmare Moon was telling the truth and I go to the Princess… she’ll probably arrest me on the spot!’ Twilight felt herself shiver for a moment. ‘She’ll probably banish me, or throw me in prison, or banish me and throw me in a prison in the place she banished me to!’ The unicorn felt herself grow cold. ‘Or, if she really wanted to… she could have me ex…executed…’ She quickly shook her head. ‘No, Princess Celestia would never order such a thing to happen… but the chance is still there…’

After brain storming, creating different scenarios, and thinking up a large amount of possible (mostly negative) outcomes, Twilight was left with only one option. ‘Nightmare Moon said that Princess Celestia was coming here with an army… that means I have to be out of Ponyville before they get here.’ She didn’t like the next part of the plan. ‘When I know that I have a clear path to run away to… I have to come back and… find out from the guards.’ The unicorn sighed. ‘Asking the guards in my current state is out of the question… so a disguise is going to be needed.’

The librarian frowned. ‘This plan isn’t foolproof… in fact it’s extremely dangerous! But, I can’t just simply leave and cause a giant misunderstanding with the Princess.’ Twilight stood up and dusted herself off. ‘Right, I first need to get to the Everfree Forest.’

…

After waiting impatiently for the coming army well into the night, Twilight finally spotted a group of soldiers marching their way towards Ponyville. Pulling a pair of binoculars out of her bag, the unicorn focused her sight onto the group. ‘Well… that’s definitely the Princess’s royal armor…’ The purple unicorn pursed her lips. ‘Hmm… there doesn’t seem to be a lot of them… must be a recon group or something.’ Her frown suddenly turned into a smile. ‘They’re still a little far away, but this is perfect! I can get the information from them before the Princess even gets here!’

Twilight was finally beginning to find hope in all of this mess, but that was quickly dashed away when she noticed one of the guards. ‘Is that? It can’t be…’ Focusing the on the pony that was apparently leading the group, Twilight felt one of her eyes twitching. ‘Well, this just complicates things even more now…’

…

Valor marched through the middle of the town, wearing Princess Celestia’s royal armor and ignoring the confused looks on all of the pony’s faces. ‘Hmm… having been critically wounded, she wouldn’t have gotten far…’ His mind trailed off when he noticed a very familiar looking purple unicorn, walking into what looked like a large gingerbread house. ‘Ah… perfect.’ He quickly pointed a hoof at a random mare. “You there!”

The earth pony flinched at the sharp voice, but quickly rushed to the armored pony. “H-how can I help you Mr. Guard?” Following the Pegasus’s pointed hoof she turned in the direction of the bakery.

Still holding his hoof out, Valor said in a stern voice, “That building over there… what is it?”

“Oh! That’s Sugarcube Corner one of the most popular places in Ponyville.” The mare sighed in relief, briefly believing that she was in trouble. “A lot of the townsfolk get their sugar fix over there.”

“I see…” The navy blue Pegasus nodded. “Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be going now.”

“W-wait!” The earth pony held up a hoof to stop the pony. “I just have a question… has Princess Celestia truly returned to remove the Dark Queen from her throne?” She gestured to the crowd of ponies at large. “Everypony is talking about how the eternal night disappeared and the sun finally returning.”

Valor gave a small smile. “You are correct, citizen. Princess Celestia has indeed returned and is currently cleaning up the mess that Nightmare Moon created.” He respectfully nodded his head at the pony. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few loose ends to tie up.” Leaving the earth pony behind, Valor waved down one of the Pegasus that came with his squad. “Inform the others that I’ll be inside Sugarcube Corner, but continue your search.” He watched the soldier salute before quickly taking off in the direction of the bakery.

Upon entering the building, Valor’s eyes were immediately assaulted by all the colors of the rainbow. ‘How can anypony stand so much color in one place is beyond me…’ He seemed to have entered to what looked like a huge party in full swing. An unimaginable amount of streamers lined the walls and windows of the building. Hundreds upon hundreds of balloons polluted the ceiling, making it extremely difficult to even know what color the ceiling was to begin with. Loud music echoed out from a record player, forcing the Pegasus to flatten his ears in order to keep his eardrums from popping. All of this… plus the addition of half of the town, made it very difficult to find a purple unicorn.

‘I better finish this quick before-’ He wasn’t able to finish his train of thought because the next thing he knew, he was staring into two large blue eyes. Taking a quick step back, Valor found himself staring at a pink earth pony.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?” Ignoring the disapproving frown on the Pegasus’s face, Pinkie continued, “Wow! We’re having a lot of new faces coming to Ponyville now and that’s just awesome because I love seeing new faces in Ponyville but we never seem to get a lot of those until now! First there was my friend Twilight then there was Trixie and now you mister! By the way if you haven’t been welcomed then let me be the first to tell you that you’re welcome to come back to Ponyville whenever you want! If you need to find anypony don’t hesitate to ask because I know everypony whose anypony around these parts! Apparently we needed additional pylons but it’s all good because I can just use cheats! Also did you hear? They say that Princess Celestia came back, isn’t that just awesome!? You’re in luck because we’re just about to play pin-the-tail-on-the-human and in case you didn’t know this party is to celebrate the return of the Princess! It was kind of scary having to live in eternal night but at the same time it’s kind of fun because I could throw night parties as much as I want no matter how long because the sun wouldn’t be back. I didn’t really mind the moon taking the place of the sun but it’s not really fair for the sun because it wants to come out once in a while you know? By the way is Princess Celestia okay? We didn’t hear what happened to her for a while and everypony was getting really worried. Also what happened to Black Snooty? Is she still making thunder wherever she goes? I heard from Gummy that the eagles were coming and that we need to throw the ring into the fire mountain to save the day!”

This was where the Pegasus couldn’t take it anymore. “STOOOOOOP!” There was a loud screeching noise before the record player suddenly stopped, causing everypony in the building to stop and stare. Breathing heavily, Valor threatening pointed a hoof at the pink menace. “Not another word from you, Pink Pie, or whatever your name was…!”

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to correct the pony, but quickly remembered what he had said and kept quiet. Everypony in the room decided to take a calculated step away from the guard and began muttering amongst themselves.

Feeling the much needed space in order to breathe in this rainbow death trap, Valor felt himself calming down. “Forgive me for my sudden outburst… but I’ll need to speak with the one called Twilight Sparkle.”

The pink earth pony tilted her head. “Twilighty? Well… why didn’t you say so silly?” Pinkie hopped away, pushing a frozen purple unicorn out of the crowd. “Here you go! I’m going to get your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party all set up in a jiffy. Oh! And here’s your invitation!” The party pony reached around, pulling a card out from out of nowhere with her mouth. “Mmmf mfm mfmmf mm!”

Valor reached out and took the card with a hoof. Flipping it over, the Pegasus read the fine printed words: “You’re courteously invited to Valor’s welcome party! Make sure you bring your friends and the rum!”

“… How did you-” He looked up to see that the strange pony had disappeared. “do that…?” Valor shook his head. ‘This town is full of crazy ponies…’ Glancing up to see a purple unicorn, the blue Pegasus suddenly remembered his mission. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, it’s been a while hasn’t it?” The guard pony gave a sly grin. “I’m surprised you’re even capable of hanging around with so many ponies… thirsty?”

The librarian narrowed her eyes. “I’m surprised you’re even here… wearing that particular armor.” The unicorn eased away slightly, still eyeing the gold plated steel. “Aren’t you supposed to be Nightmare Moon’s captain? Why are you wearing that?” At Twilight’s word, the crowd of ponies took another step back.

With a scowl quickly forming on his face, Valor replied, “Things have changed, Miss Twilight.”

“Sparkle.”

The Pegasus lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Just call me Sparkle.”

Valor gave a short snort. “Very well, Sparkle… As I already told you, things have changed and I’m following Princess Celestia’s orders now.” He pulled out a scroll from a hidden compartment inside his chest plate. Opening it with a flourish, Valor began to read, “By orders of Princess Celestia of Equestria… I am to escort Twilight Sparkle and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony… to Canterlot castle immediately.” The equestrian guard held the scroll out to the librarian. “You can read it if you don’t believe me.”

The librarian snatched the parchment away, still carefully watching the Pegasus. “I’ll be the judge of that.” One look at the scroll told her everything. ‘Yup, that’s Princess Celestia’s hoofwriting alright… I’ve read far too many notes and letters to know the difference.’ The unicorn turned and began walking away. “Girls… we’re heading out to Canterlot.”

Following the librarian out of the bakery, Rainbow Dash leaned in and asked, “By the way, what was the emergency that you needed to do, Twi?” Seeing a cold smirk appearing on the unicorn’s face, admittedly spooked the Pegasus a little. “Twi?”

The purple unicorn patted her friend on the shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, Rainbow. I’m sure that Twilight is going to be taking care of it soon.”

The rainbow mane Pegasus nodded. “If you say so, Twi…” Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks. “Wait… what?”

…

Sitting on top of a hill overlooking the town, Twilight watched herself and her friends walking in the direction of the hospital. ‘Valor seems to be gathering up the girls to take to Canterlot. I really hope this will end well…’

*Several minutes ago, at a hill near the Everfree Forest*

There was no mistaking it. That messy mane, that navy blue coat, that barely visible but still noticeable cutie-mark… Valor… captain and loyal servant to the moon goddess, was leading a group of soldiers towards Ponyville. But not just any soldiers… these are from Princess Celestia’s own forces!

Twilight’s jaw was left somewhere on the ground. ‘Valor?! But, how? Why?!’ She had to double check, even triple check, in order to confirm it. ‘Isn’t he supposed to be Nightmare Moon’s captain? What the hay is he doing with Princess Celestia’s soldiers?’ She felt her heart sink to the bottom of her gut. ‘There’s no possible way for me to get the information out of the rest… if he’s going to be around.’ The unicorn remembered when she had first encountered the blue Pegasus. ‘He’s probably going to sense me if I go anywhere near him!’ The purple librarian gripped the sides of her head. ‘No, no, no… what am I going to do now?’

“Perhaps… I can assist you, my dear.”

Twilight gasped. ‘You! Where have you been the whole time while I was with Nightmare Moon?’

The voice inside Twilight’s head merely chuckled. “Oh my… did you really miss me? I’m flattered.”

The unicorn’s cheeks briefly flashed red. ‘You… you know what I mean!’

The voice chuckled again. “Alright, alright, I was… occupied with something.”

Twilight frowned slightly. ‘Weren’t you really excited when she teleported into the library? Also, what could possibly occupy you when you’re “Master” started to change?’

The voice’s tone seemed to have darkened considerably. “You wouldn’t understand…” The voice decided to change the subject. “But, enough… you said that you wanted to know whether or not you’re a wanted criminal?”

Twilight’s ears flattened. ‘I…I wouldn’t put it like that, but yes.’ She looked over in the direction of Ponyville. ‘With Valor there… I won’t be able to safely gather the information that I’ll need to clear this whole thing up.’

The voice turned to a more upbeat tone. “Well then say no more because I’ll simply go in for you.”

The unicorn lifted an eyebrow. ‘And how exactly are you going to do that?’ She didn’t get a reply, but instead was given an image of complicated spell. ‘Isn’t that the cloning spell that I learned a while back?’

The voice somehow gave a short clapping sound. “Bravo! Give the unicorn a prize!”

Twilight impatiently groaned. ‘I don’t have much time to play games with you! If you really are me you’ll know I’m not capable of pulling this spell off.’

“Wrong, my friend.”

…

The purple unicorn lifted an eyebrow. ‘Would it kill you to just cut to the chase and stop being so cryptic?’

The voice sighed. ‘Fine… I really don’t have a lot of things to do here and I was bored. Here’s the problem… you’re not able to pull the cloning off because the process needs you to split your mind in two places at once.’ It continued, ‘Creating the clone is simple, however fully controlling it is a different story. You’ll probably have two Twilight Sparkles moving and talking at the exact same time, rendering the whole thing completely useless.’

Twilight tapped the ground impatiently. ‘I already know all of this… so why are you telling me?’

If the voice was able to roll its eyes, it would have done so right about now. “This is where I fall in you blockhead! You can create the clone, but have my mind split off and take its place. With the spell lasting only temporarily and the bond that we share, you’ll be able to have your answer with Valor and the others.”

The unicorn weakly sighed. ‘This plan is all well and good, but why are you helping me?’ She began pacing back and forth. ‘As I recall… you were pretty clear that you wanted me out of the picture. So why should I trust you with something this important?’

It was the voice’s turn to sigh. “I know what I said before and I plan on keeping my word, but this isn’t about me anymore. This is about us… and what Nightmare Moon ordered us to do. I am but a humble servant to our master. And I or rather we were given a direct order. I have to listen to her… no matter how much I detest you.”

Twilight grunted. ‘So what you’re saying is that you’re going to help me from now on?’

“Yup.”

‘… Just like that?’

“Well… as soon as we find out what Master gave us, we’ll see from there. Besides, you don’t have much of a choice but to trust me now.”

Twilight’s mind retreated back in itself in order to evaluate the voice’s statement, only to find out that… she was right. Nightmare’s warning for the coming army has come true, Valor’s appearance with said army can only mean trouble, and the only one capable of assisting her now is… the voice.

“I’m still waiting over here you know…”

The unicorn jumped, completely forgetting that the voice was still there. Quickly collecting herself and taking a deep breath, Twilight thought, ‘Fine… let’s just get this over with, voice in my head…’

“Now that just won’t do, my dear.” The unicorn could almost feel the pouting lips at this point. “I may have no tangible body to prove it, but I still have a mind and emotions just like you.”

Twilight pursed her lips. ‘Well… Twilight Sparkle has already been taken so-’

The rest of the sentence got caught in Twilight’s throat, when the voice cut her off. “We’ll split it… You can have Twilight and I’ll take Sparkle… Fair?”

The unicorn made a small grumbling noise. ‘Ugh, fine! We’ve got to get you down there before Valor notices that we’re not there.’

*The present*

Twilight shivered when a cold breeze blew past her mane. ‘Since I have nothing to do at this point, I might as well try to figure out just what the hay Nightmare Moon gave me…’ Pulling the vial out once more, the unicorn held it out in front of her. ‘Hmm… it’s not really a liquid nor is it gas… I’m getting a weightless liquid vibe whenever I look at it.’ She watched the contents of the vial swirling and spinning without any sort of means to move it. The scientist within her wanted to just pull out a notepad and begin writing down notes, but there just something about it that she couldn’t quite grasp. After mesmerizingly watching the liquid gas for a few minutes, Twilight sighed in defeat. ‘Yeah… I have no idea what this thing is. The only thing I do know is that it came from Nightmare Moon’s horn, but I never read anything that comes remotely close to something like this…’

After failing to see if her magic could make any sort of reaction to the liquid mist from the outside, Twilight couldn’t take it anymore and began carefully removing the cork out of the vial. The unicorn gently shaved off a sliver of the unknown substance before pressing the cork back on. ‘Okay… I could control this thing however I wish, but it won’t react no matter how much magic I put in it.’ Her eyes slightly became crossed when she brought it closer to herself.

Without so much as a warning, the glowing mist broke out of Twilight’s magical hold and planted itself directly into the unicorn’s horn. “Gah!” Twilight gasped, pawing her horn to see if it was still there. Thankfully, the liquid gas seemed to have done nothing to her and she was left sitting on grass. ‘Well… that was anticlimactic…’ She stood up and slipped her saddlebag back on, not noticing a pair of glowing eyes watching her in the shadows.

The eyes continued to watch the unicorn making her way towards the deeper part of the forest. It turned to stare into another pair of eyes to ask, “Are you sure that she is the one?”

“Of course I’m sure! I sensed something very powerful and very familiar a few hours ago coming from her!” The second pair of eyes hissed back. “We’ve got to report this to our leader immediately.” The two eyes gave a quick nod in agreement before disappearing into the night.

Chapter 15

Sorry for being late... There's just too much homework right now...

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 15

Twilight jerked awake when she heard a loud hissing sound followed by a loud smack. ‘Somepony is here with me!’ Throwing her sleeping bag aside and summoning a large bubble shield, Twilight cried, “I know you’re in here! Come out so I can see you!” The unicorn flicked her eyes around the cave that she was recently sleeping in, trying to find the intruder.

Meanwhile, two voices seemed to pay no attention to the unicorn and processed to fight amongst themselves. “Why did you hit me you fool?!” There was another loud smacking sound. “Oww! What was that for?”

“Because fool, you had to go and make that hissing sound!”

“It wasn’t my fault that a rock decided to fall on my hoof! Besides, she didn’t wake up until after you hit me and making more noise you idiot!”

“Don’t call me an idiot when it’s your fault the whole plan was ruined, you flea bitten varmint!”

“Oh, its name calling now is it? Well then- hey wait… where did you come up with that?”

“Oh? I heard it at the hospital a little while ago. There was an earth pony that was trying to get inside a wheelchair by herself, but fell over in the process. She was yelling and throwing what I assume were curse words all over the place, not bad huh?”

“Ehh… that’s not really my style, however it does kind of work for you I guess.” They were too busy exchanging different variations of curse words around, they didn’t notice that the unicorn was hovering over them.

“A-HEM!” The two figures hunching in the shadows, turned to stare at the purple unicorn. Twilight glared at the two creatures in front of her, carefully taking notes on their appearance. At first glance they could’ve been mistaken for a pony… if they happen to stand in the dark and very very far away. However with the light still emanating from her horn, the librarian saw a very strange sight indeed.

Their coats were a dark greenish black from top to bottom and looked more like an insectoid shell rather than actual flesh. Both of their eyes where the same shade of aqua blue and seem to have no hair to speak of. The most noticeable thing on them however were the bug-like wings and sharp horn on their forehead, making them look almost like a grotesque version of an alicorn.

“Changelings…” Twilight lifted an eyebrow. “What are changelings doing so far away from the hive?” In all honesty, she doesn’t know where their home was situated. However, she did read a book that assumed that the hive was supposed to be somewhere near Whitetail Woods.

One of the two changelings tried to stammer out words while the other frantically looked around for a way to escape. “Uhh… we were just happened to be passing by and err… we stumbled into this cave and umm…uhh…” Both changelings gave a sheepish grin. “We were actually getting ready to leave and… GRAB HER!” With an almost unnatural amount of speed and agility, the first changeling lunged at the unicorn. With a loud smack, the changeling found itself bouncing against the bubble shield the unicorn had placed upon herself.

Surprised at the sudden hostility, Twilight nearly tripped over her hooves as she backed away. ‘They’re attacking me! What the hay did I do?’ She watched the changeling that attacked her slowly rising off the ground, while the other slowly began flanking to the right. ‘Great… now the other one is blocking the only way out of this cave… Think Twilight think!’ The unicorn wasn’t given much time to think before the first changeling lunged once more, landing a heavy buck to the shield. ‘By the makers, this changeling can pack a punch!’ The librarian winced when her shield suffered another blow. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back the creature for long and decided to change tactics. ‘Wait for it… NOW!’ The bubble shield suddenly disappeared, causing the assaulting changeling to lose its balance and fall to the floor. Grinning with her results, Twilight poured her magic into her horn and teleported away with a flash.

With a pop and a flash of light, Twilight found herself back in the Everfree Forest. Glancing over her shoulder, the unicorn could still make out the cave far out in the distant. ‘At least I made it out okay…’ She then suddenly realized, “Oh shoot! I left all of my things back there!” The unicorn’s ears flattened on top of her head. “I can’t leave something so important behind, not after all that I went through…”

“Well then… perhaps we can assist you?” The voice was cold, sharp, with traces of hostility within it. “We would also like it if you would come quietly and without a fuss.”

Twilight slowly turned to the direction directly in front of her to see… eyes… many, many blue eyes. “… Oh ponyfeathers…”

Meanwhile at Canterlot Castle, the Element bearers and their escort have arrived.

Stepping out of the chariot, Valor turned to the six mares and said, “You are to meet with the princess; however, she is busy at the moment and will not be able to answer your questions.” The Pegasus pointed a hoof to the entrance of the castle. “She will be in the main throne room, speaking with many of the noble houses. You will stay and behave yourselves until she has completed her work.” Without another word, Valor turned and marched away. The six mares began moving to the castle’s main entrance, with Pinkie Pie pushing the chair-ridden Applejack as if it was a push-cart derby, and the others following behind.

Twilight “Sparkle” narrowed her eyes, thinking. ‘I still can’t believe he’s capable of defying our master so easily…’ She turned her attention towards the castle to see a large amount of sun warriors standing at attention. ‘It looks as if the amount of guards around here have tripled in size… however that begs the question, how did Princess Celestia stay in hiding this whole time?’ The unicorn pondered over this question. ‘And that’s another thing… Why was she hidden in the first place? If I was Princess Celestia, I would’ve just used overwhelming force to take control again…’

“Yo Twi!” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s face. “The other girls already left for the throne. What’s taking you so long?”

“Huh?” Sparkle quickly shook her head. “Oh, sorry… I was just thinking about something…” Following her rainbow mane friend in a slow trot, the unicorn continued to juggle questions in her mind. By the time the unicorn reached her “friends”, the other girls were already waiting in front of the large doors to the throne room.

Seeing the sixth and final pony, the two guards opened the door and shouted, “Presenting, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony!” The six mares quietly entered the spacious room to see the princess of the sun, speaking to a small crowd of ponies.

“And when we reestablish Equestria’s wealth back to its former state, we will have completely restored any damages Nightmare Moon may have caused.” The group of ponies responded by clapping their hooves in the most snooty way possible. Princess Celestia leaned closer to the guard next to her and ordered, “Please have your stallions escort the nobles back to their homes and also prepare the morning’s headline.”

The guard gave a quick nod before signaling the other guardsponies with a silent hoof wave. As the guard was busy monitoring the nobles, he noticed a smaller group of ponies standing near the back of the room. “T-twily?” He watched the purple pony jump at the sudden attention before turning her sight towards him. “What are you doing here?”

“Shining Armor, is that really you?” Sparkle tilted her head slightly, speaking with a blank look on her face. “I suppose you were with Princess Celestia while she was in hiding, correct?”

Shining Armor blinked. “Yeees?” He lifted an eyebrow, confused as to why the unicorn sounded as if she was accusing him. “I needed to make sure that the Princess was safe at all times.”

Rainbow Dash walked up beside her friend and tapped the purple unicorn on the shoulder. “Yo Twi, who’s that?”

Rarity walked up to stand on the other side of the librarian. “I also want to know why you would know such a dashing young fellow, darling!”

“He’s my B.B.B.F.F…”

They both lifted an eyebrow. “… Which is…?”

“Big Brother Best Friend Forever…” Sparkle shifted her vision onto the alicorn princess. “He’s also the captain of the royal army.”

“Wow!” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared and pressed her face against Sparkle’s own face. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had a brother?!” The party pony bounced around in excitement. “We definitely need to throw at least two more parties before the night ends!”

“Two?” Rarity gave a confused look. “I could understand why you would want to throw a party for Twilight’s brother, but what’s the second one for?”

“For Sparkle, of course!” The room became completely silent. “What?” Pinkie looked around, confused. “Is two parties too much?”

‘She knows?! HOW?’ Sparkle decided to immediately change the subject. “So… yes! Shining Armor is my older brother, but I haven’t heard from him for a while… until now.”

Shining gave an apologetic smile, still questioningly watching his sister. “Sorry about that L.S.B.F.F, but I was given strict orders not to send any sort of message to anypony. Also, L.S.B.F.F means Little Sister Best Friend Forever.” He gave a short nod to the other ponies present. “It’s a pleasure meeting all of you and I’m sorry for sounding rude, but who are all of you?”

Princess Celestia, who had been quietly watching this whole time, finally spoke, “I’ve sent an escort to pick up Twilight and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” She gave a small regal nod at the six mares. “I trust that these are who they are, my faithful student?”

“Yes…” Sparkle narrowed her eyes slightly. “But, how exactly did you know that we were going to become the Element bearers?”

The Princess gave a gentle laugh. “Oh, Twilight…” She stood and walked to stand in front of the group of mares, with Shining Armor tailing not too far off. “I asked you to make friends… nothing more.” The alicorn looked up at the sudden opening doors of the throne room to see another group of ponies entering. Everypony watched, as Valor and his squad of guards entered, escorting a very timid and very scared looking blue alicorn.

“Nightmare Moon?!” Rainbow Dash immediately jumped up and made to charge at the goddess, only to be halted by the gentle glow from Princess Celestia’s horn.

“Your loyalty to protect Equestria and your friends is admirable, Rainbow Dash.” Princess Celestia gently placed the Pegasus back to floor, moving forward to meet the newcomers. “But, I highly doubt my sister will be much for a threat to the kingdom anymore.” She leaned in and gave the terrified alicorn a small nuzzle. “Welcome back, Princess Luna.”

The former Queen of Darkness’s expression change from fear to comfort and returned the gesture. “I missed you big sister!”

“I missed you too little sister… it’s been far too long.”

Sparkle silently watched between the stunned expressions on her friends’ face and the natural looks on the pony guards. ‘It seems that every soldier knew that this was going to be happening… even Shining…’ She felt the gears in her head turning. ‘A lot of pieces seem to be falling into place, but I’m still missing… something.’ The unicorn gave a small sigh. ‘Oh master… what has become of you?’ The librarian focused onto the navy blue Pegasus that called himself Nightmare Moon’s captain, rage beginning to form in her eyes. ‘How could he just stand there and let this happen to her? We were supposed to protect and carry out the plan that she trusted us with!’ Her train of thought was interrupted when the same Pegasus spoke.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you, your Majesty, but we still have a problem to deal with…” Valor waited for the sun goddess to look up before continuing. “It has come to my attention that Nightmare Moon’s presence and power still exist in this world.” He turned and stared directly at the purple unicorn. “Isn’t that right, Miss Sparkle?”

The unicorn suddenly felt very cold, noticing that everypony in the room was looking at her now. Sparkle had completely forgotten that Valor knew what she was and mistakenly trapped herself. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She watched Valor slowly shake his head, a smirk forming on his lips.

Princess Celestia stood up once more, an unreadable look on her face. “Shining Armor and the rest of the guards are to leave us. Valor will remain.” She nodded to Twilight “Sparkle” and her friends. “The Element bearers, except the Element of Magic, are to leave as well; Shining Armor will escort you all to Twilight’s old room. That is an order.” Shining Armor gave a cautioned bow before he began ushering everypony out. He looked over his shoulder at his sister, with confusion and worry written on his face. “You should go to your room and rest as well, Luna.” The goddess of the night nodded before quietly disappearing in the shadows.

Sparkle helplessly watched, as the large throne room doors close with a loud echoing thud. The only ponies in the room that remained were herself, Valor, and Princess Celestia. “It’s g-good to see you again, Princess…” The unicorn gave a twitchy smile. “I trust that you were doing well during the time of your absence?”

Princess Celestia gave a slow nod before turning to the Pegasus guard. “Is it true? Has Nightmare Moon…”

Valor gave a curt nod. “Yes Princess, she has.”

The sun goddess sighed. “I have hoped that this wouldn’t have happened.” She looked over to the shaking unicorn. “But sacrifices must be made to win this battle.”

Upon hearing those words, it finally clicked in Sparkle’s mind. “Sacrifice?” The unicorn felt her legs tensing up. “You knew this was going to happen?”

Princess Celestia lifted a forehoof up. “I know how it sounds like, but I shall explain.” She stood up and began pacing around the room. “I knew about the prophecy of my sister’s return was going to be at the time of the Summer Sun celebration. I sent you to Ponyville so you would meet up with the other possible candidates for the Elements of Harmony.” The two non-alicorns silently watched the goddess walking around the room. “Knowing Nightmare Moon, I knew that she would try and stop you and your friends from reaching the Elements by any means necessary. That being said, I also knew that she will attempt to claim one of you in the hopes to forever freeing herself from the Elements’ influence and power. However, the power of the Elements goes much deeper than magic alone. It becomes a part of you and that was what caused Nightmare Moon’s downfall.” The alicorn ceased her pacing and sat down on her throne. “The plan was for you to vanquish Nightmare Moon by simply banding together with your friends and using the Elements. The part where she claims one of you was supposed to be a very distant backup plan… something that I believed will never come to pass. I’m sorry to say that I miscalculated on how this was supposed to play out.”

The Princess gave a reassuring smile. “You have done what most ponies could never accomplish and I’m proud of you. I know that you’re now a vampony, Twilight, but do not lose hope… for there is a cure.”

“To which I would like to happily claim now, Princess.” The navy blue Pegasus stepped forward. “I have fulfilled my end of the bargain and you must now fulfill yours.”

The Princess gave a weary sigh. “Very well…” Igniting her horn with a bright yellow flash, she popped a small bottle, filled with a sort of golden liquid, into existence and floated it over to the Pegasus.

Snatching it out of the air, Valor placed the bottle under his wing for safekeeping. “Thank you, your Majesty.” He bowed. “I’ll take my leave…” Walking away with almost a spring in his step, the Pegasus guard left the two mares without another word.

The teacher and student sat quietly for about a minute before Celestia cleared her throat. “You have been very quiet this whole time, my faithful student. Tell me, is there something on your mind that you wish to talk about?”

“Stop calling me that…”

The alicorn perked her ears. “Stop calling you what, my faithful-”

“That! Stop calling me that!” Sparkle jumped to her hooves. “I’m not your faithful student and I never will be!”

Princess Celestia leaned back in surprise. “What has gotten into you, Twilight?” She stood up as well. “If there’s something troubling you, I’ll be more than happy to help!”

The unicorn narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Oh, I think you helped me quite enough now.” She menacing pointed a hoof at the goddess. “You lied to her and she trusted you!”

The alicorn was completely baffled. “I don’t understand, please, who are you talking about?”

“Twilight!” The name echoed around the room. “The only reason she had to go through all that pain was because of you!”

The goddess of the sun finally understood and narrowed her eyes. “Who are you? No, you don’t have to answer that. I know who you are…” Princess Celestia stiffened her legs. “You’re the dark presence that invades everypony’s mind whenever Nightmare Moon gives her blessing to.”

The purple unicorn stood her ground. “Oh, so you know about that, huh?” She gave a mocking laugh. “Funny how you would call it to be a “dark presence”, while I would like to call it a pony who knows the truth!”

“Enough!” The regal mask of the Princess cracked. “You will tell me what you have done to the real Twilight before I rid your foul presence from this world!”

Sparkle laughed as if the Princess just made the funniest joke ever. “As if she will ever come back to you if she knew about this.”

Princess Celestia gritted her teeth. “I never wanted Twilight to experience what countless others had to go through and I know that she will forgive me for this.” The alicorn was about to launch herself at the vampony, but hesitated when the pony began to laugh.

It started as a low giggle, grew to a fit of laughter, and finally to a cold multi-layered chuckle. Still with her voice acting as if it was ten different voices at once, Sparkle spoke, “Oh, I’m most certainly sure she will forgive you, Celestia.” She almost laughed again when the Princess’s eyes widened, confused as to why Sparkle agreed with her. “You’re Princess Celestia… the most beloved ruler in all of Equestria! A leader who loves her ponies and a goddess to boot, doing everything she does for the good of this land! All you have to do is explain to Twilight that she had to go through such suffering because she’s the only one that can do it… You’ll tell her that because of her actions, the "Nightmare" is finally over and she will be considered a hero! She’ll dive right back into your hooves, believing that she’s making a difference in this world!” The unicorn gave an angry stomp, leaving a spider web patterned crack on the floor. “Except… I know the truth and I plan on showing her that this whole world is a big fat lie!”

“YOU SHALL DO NO SUCH THING!” The alicorn’s voice shook the entire castle, using what many ponies have come to know as the Royal Canterlot Voice. “YOUR DARK PRESENCE HAS BEEN A PLAGUE IN THIS WORLD FOR TOO LONG AND I PLAN ON FINALLY ENDING IT ALL!”

Sparkle stared at her hooves, slightly shaken by the amount of force behind the goddess’s voice. ‘Twilight is not going to be happy with me and I could already feel the spell wearing off…’ She looked back up to stare at the angry alicorn with a smirk on her face. “But this is definitely going to be worth it!” Lowering herself low to the floor, Sparkle uncoiled like a spring directly at the Princess. The alicorn was caught off guard with the fact that the unicorn struck first, but quickly defended herself by blocking with her horn. With their horns locked, the goddess watched the sparkling purple eyes turned into a deep blood red. “This is payback of what you’ve done to my master!”

Chapter 15.5

Who gives a test that you have to pass with 80% or you fail the whole class all-together? An evil person I tell you... an evil person!

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 15.5

Twilight didn’t know how long she was held against her will, but seeing the yellow rays of the sun shining above her cage was a pretty good hint. Cage… did she mention that? No, it’s nothing to be afraid of… really! It’s not like it’s more like a pony-sized green cocoon, made out of some unknown substance from who knows where on a changeling. She also wouldn’t care that she was completely submerged in some green slime, that both allowed her to breathe and suppress her magic… definitely doesn’t need mentioning at all… nope! Okay, enough fooling around… this is downright bucking disgusting! The unicorn decided to flail around in the green gloop for the hundredth time, trying and failing to find a way out of this mess.

The large changeling, that was carrying the unicorn on his back, looked over his shoulder. “Will you please just stop? You’re not going to get out of that until we say so… Do you want me to drop you or something?”

Twilight would’ve voiced her opinion if her lungs weren’t filled with green slop. ‘Yes! If it means this thing will break open when it does, then drop me off a damn cliff!’ The unicorn continued the struggle in her “prison” for a good minute or so before she grew unnaturally still.

The changeling let out a great sigh of relief and muttered under his breath, “It’s about damn time… I thought she’ll never stop!” However, as soon as the words left his lips, the unicorn began flailing around once more. ‘… I’m just going to keep my mouth shut…’ He didn’t know it, but the changeling was carrying two Twilight Sparkles within one body now.

No words could really explain what Twilight felt, as the mind known as Sparkle reentered her mind. Actually… there were plenty of words, but she couldn’t stop and think about it. "Hey there Twilight did you miss- what a second… WHERE THE BUCK ARE WE?" Twilight winced at the sudden headache she just received. "I leave for a few hours, only to come back and find you inside a monster’s belly?!"

‘No!’ Twilight quickly answered back. ‘It’s more like a cocoon if you wanted to know.’

"What? Since when did you turn yourself into a bug and decided that metamorphosis was the way to go?"

The unicorn vigorously shook her head. ‘I’m not a bug! This is more like a cage made to look like it’s a cocoon for your information!’

"What? Ohhhhh…" The message appears to have finally sunk in. "Ohhh… OHHH… oh…" Sparkle chose the next few words carefully. "So… what are you’re saying is that you got captured by some unknown creature-"

‘Changelings.’

"You got captured by a few changelings and now we are stuck in some makeshift prison… Being transported far away from where we once were."

‘Yup… that sums it up pretty nicely.’

Sparkle let out an imaginary sigh. "I can’t believe I fought Celestia… only to find myself stuck in another life threatening situation." Her voice immediately changed into a much happier, more sarcastic, tone. "Oh, but wait! I’m not alone this time… No, this time I have a unicorn that has complete control over the body and has no idea on how to defend herself… hurray for me…"

Twilight was only able to get two words out of Sparkle’s rant. ‘You fought the Princess?! Are you crazy?!’ One of the unicorn’s eyes began twitching like a madmare. ‘You were supposed to find out if Princess Celestia was going to forgive me or not!’

"Yeah… about that…" There was a pause as if Sparkle was rubbing the back of her head. "I might’ve made you the most wanted criminal in all of Equestria… because almost everypony in the castle saw our little brawl…"

Twilight could feel her blood pressure rising with each passing second. 'Anything else you would like to add, Sparkle?'

"Now that you mentioned it…" Sparkle paused again as if she was twiddling with her hooves. "I kind a… sort a… kind a, sort a… blew a large hole on the side of the castle…"

If Twilight wasn’t able to suppress her anger at that point, she would’ve probably burst into flames. Apparently, Sparkle must’ve felt the raw hatred beginning to form because she quickly added. "The good news is that the Princess already knew that I wasn’t the real you and she’s all for forgiving you!"

That seemed to have cooled the mare down. ‘Really?! Princess Celestia has forgiven me and she’s willing to take me back in?’

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, partner of mine." Sparkle cleared her throat. "I should mention that your perfect little princess is not as perfect as you may think she is."

‘Huh?’ Twilight lifted an eyebrow questionably. ‘What are you talking about?’

Sparkle’s next few words came out fast and unrelenting. "When your precious little princess sent you to Ponyville to oversee the preparations, didn’t you find that whole thing just odd? And when I say odd, I mean the “overseeing the preparations”."

Twilight’s ears gave a small twitch, suppressing the urge to flatten on top of her head. ‘Well it did seem a little strange, but-’

"Not only did she send you away with some out-of-the-blue request…" Sparkle interrupted. "Didn’t she also say that your claim on the return of Nightmare Moon completely “silly” and that you should stop reading those “dusty old books”?"

And… the ears are down. ‘Well, I uhh… she probably had her reasons...’ Twilight felt like she was backing into a corner.

Sparkle’s voice progressively grew colder and louder. "When Nightmare Moon returned to Equestria once again, didn’t you wonder what ever happen to Princess Celestia during that entire time? She could’ve stopped Nightmare Moon with a simple flick of her horn. She had a thousand years to grow stronger after all." She was shouting now. "But no! She decided to run away and let a barely-adult unicorn face down a goddess! Forget about the army and the entire goddamn kingdom behind her back, yes! We should send Twilight Sparkle to do it!"

The unicorn wilted under Sparkle’s shouting and new questions began cropping up in her mind, even though she didn't want them to. Twilight could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes because she knew that Sparkle’s words actually sort of make sense… Why did Princess Celestia send her to a place she neither know nor even cared about? It's true that she had made great friends at Ponyville, but that was by pure chance...right? There's also the question as to why didn’t she use the royal Equestrian army. Isn’t protecting the land from dangers like Nightmare Moon their job? Why was Twilight the one that had to research and find the Elements of Harmony, when Princess Celestia already used and knew about it? She could’ve at least mentioned it or even give a tiny clue to help her out. When she was captured and drained of her blood from Nightmare Moon… why didn’t the Princess save her when she called for help?

‘P-please… why are you telling me this?’ The tasteless green liquid around her suddenly tasted very salty, for the fact that her tears are now mixing in it. ‘Do you like seeing me suffer like this?’

Sparkle let out a very tired sounding sigh. "No… I don’t enjoy seeing you get hurt, Twilight. The status quo has changed and you are me after all…" Another sigh, "What I’m trying to tell you is that Celestia used you so she could get her so called “sister” back. This is the harsh, cold reality and there’s no getting around that, partner." Sparkle suddenly felt compelled to give the crying unicorn a hug, cursing the fact that she doesn’t have a body to do so. "I know that this is a lot to take in so I’ll just stay quiet and leave you to your thoughts."

‘No, wait…!’ Twilight felt uncomfortable asking this, but she knew that she had to. ‘Can you please tell me what exactly happened back at Canterlot, between you and the Princess?’

"Hmm? Alright… if you really wanted to know what happened… Heck, this will just make it easier for me." The voice disappeared, only to be replaced with a flood of images and sounds.

The experience felt completely alien to Twilight and she soon began feeling dizzy, nearly losing her nonexistent lunch. She realized that Sparkle wasn’t going to verbally tell her, but instead show her everything through her eyes and ears.

…

While the two Twilight Sparkles were busy fighting and conversing with one another, the changeling that was transporting the “prisoners” shivered slightly. ‘By the makers… she finally calmed down a little.’

True to his promise, the changeling hadn’t spoken a single word and kept quiet. However, that didn’t stop him from feeling the wave of emotions coming from the mare on his back. Honestly, it didn’t feel like a wave… it felt like a damn tsunami! From the beginning it was pretty normal… She started with the understandable fear, she then went to a mixture of fear and disgust, next went into a completely emotionless state for a few seconds, and finally went completely haywire with a side of craziness. Surprised, annoyed, confused, fascinated, disappointed, angry, nervous, embarrassed, back to an unbelievable amount of rage, excited, hostile, shocked, grief, exhausted, concerned, wary, determined, and finally ended off with calm. He never, in all of his years as a changeling, knew of such a pony capable of pumping out so many emotions at one time. It… almost felt as if there were two ponies on his back.

‘No…no…!’ Glancing over his shoulder, the changeling could make out the silhouette of the lone unicorn. Lone. Single. Meaning not two or more ponies… just one! Quickly shaking his head, the changeling mentally slapped himself. ‘What am I doing? Why am I making such a big deal out of this? All these strange feelings and emotions in my body… this is driving me crazy! I haven’t acted like this since…’ His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates when he finally realized. ‘Oh no, not this again.’ The changeling immediately quickened his pace. ‘I have to get to the hive in time before it’s too late. The queen would know what to do… she always knows what to do!’

...

Princess Celestia watched the sun rising in the distant with a blank look on her face, thinking. She was perched on the newly formed balcony off to the side of the throne room; the pieces of rubble and glass have already stopped falling from overhead. The alicorn mentally sighed when she turned her attention to the large crowd of ponies around her; doctors and royal guards clamoring to get her attention. Most of the ponies made an effort not to fall out of the large hole on the side of the castle, but they still managed to push and shove one another. "Please, Princess!" One of the royal doctors shouted. "I would highly recommend, and I speak for all of us here, that you should go and have an examination to see if you were injured or not!"

"Thank you for your concern, doctor..." The alicorn looked down and gave a gentle smile. "However, I believe that I would just need some simple bed rest. It has been a very busy day."

One of the guardspony spoke up in a deep booming voice, "Don't worry, Princess." He pointed a hoof to the many Pegasus guards flying around outside. "We will find the traitorous bitch and bring her back to pay for the crimes against the crown." The smirk on the pony's face vanished, when a hoof come flying into his face. Picking himself off the floor, the guard shouted, "What do you think you're doing, Captain?!"

Shining Armor, already pressed onto the ground by four guards, roughly shouted, "That traitor you're talking about is my sister!" He wrenched a hoof out to point at his fellow guard. "She would never betray us! Twilight would never try to overthrow or attack the Princess!”

The guard that Shining punched immediately grinned. "That wasn't what you and I saw about an hour ago, Captain." His comment was rewarded with the pained expression on the pony’s face.

“Enough!” Princess Celestia’s face hardened into a cold stare. “I would not have my guards acting like a bunch of little foals in my castle!” The force in her commanding voice made everypony in the room immediately flattened to the floor. She slowly turned her gaze to each of the ponies on the floor before she spoke. “Lieutenant…”

The pony that was punched stood up carefully. “Y-yes, your Highness?”

“I would just like to remind you that the ponies out searching right now, is a rescue party. This is not a mission to hunt down my supposed traitorous protégé.” The alicorn’s cold stare morphed back into its neutral state. “I want to make this fact be known to all the soldiers out there, understood?”

The lieutenant quickly nodded, shuffling away as he did. “I understand completely, Princess. I’ll do just that right away!”

Celestia gave a small nod before turning her attention to her captain. “Shining Armor…” She waited for the white unicorn to slowly stand. “Your actions towards your fellow pony are inexcusable and we will be discussing your punishment at a later time.”

The snow-white unicorn grimly nodded. “Very good, your Highness…”

The goddess of the sun gave a smug grin. “On a side note, I’m proud that you would stand up for your sister’s honor, Shining.” She leaned down and whispered, “Honestly, I would’ve slapped him myself if you hadn’t already done so.”

The unicorn chuckled. “If I knew you were going to do that, I would’ve just stood back and watched.”

Princess Celestia gave an amused chuckle and playfully nudged the soldier away. Standing up straight once more, the alicorn spoke, “I would like everypony here to remain calm and return to your normal schedules. As you can see, I am perfectly healthy and uninjured from the recent attack. I will just have a few words with some of my subjects and will be retiring for the rest of the day. You are all dismissed.” And with that, the goddess of the day disappeared with a swish of her mane and tail.

As soon as the princess was gone, Shining Armor dropped his smile and began walking away from the others. ‘Why did you do that Twily?’ Trotting down a lonely corridor, the captain sighed heavily. “I know you Twilight… you’ll never do something so crazy.” The unicorn froze when he heard the soft clip-clops of hooves ahead of him. “Who’s there? Identify yourself immediately!” Perking his ears and lowering himself in a defensive stance, Shining waited for the unknown pony to show his or herself. What he didn’t expect was the form of the midnight-blue alicorn of the night, walking towards him. “Oh, Princess Luna, forgive me.” He gave a small bow. “I thought you were resting in your room.”

The alicorn timidly pawed the expensive carpet, looking away as she spoke. “We were, but hearing the loud explosions tends to draw one’s attention.” She attempted to hide her face with her mane, only managing to hide one eye. “We hope that we did not frighten thee with our presence.” She looked extremely nervous all of a sudden and almost looked as though she was about ready to run. “If we are not wanted here… then we shall leave.”

“No, wait!” Shining saw the alicorn taking a step back before quickly blurted out, “I need to ask you a question.”

Princess Luna’s face brightened at the sight of a curious soul that wished to speak to her! “Yes? We shall hear thy question and answer to the best of our ability.” The alicorn of the night sat down and smiled gently, waiting.

“The purple unicorn that you were with before you were brought to Canterlot Castle,” the unicorn quickly asked. “Do you know what happened to her? Her name is Twilight Sparkle and she’s my sister.” He began mentally praying. “Do you know where she is right now?”

The alicorn’s smile slowly turned into a frown. “We are sorry, but we have no memory of a unicorn with the name Twilight Sparkle.” She rubbed her chin with a hoof. “However, the name sounds… so familiar…” Her confused expression was quickly replaced with a look of great pain and agony. Princess Luna gripped the side of her head as she screamed, flopping onto the floor like a fish out of the water.

“Princess Luna!” Shining rushed forward; trying to see if can calm the alicorn down. “What’s happening?!” He skidded to a halt when the princess sat up suddenly, looking as if she wasn’t writhing in pain just a few seconds ago. The corridor was dead silent now and the only sound came from the captain’s slow breathing. “Princess… are you alright?” When he didn’t get a response, the snow-white unicorn decided to approach cautiously. “Princess?” He jumped back when the goddess began moving again.

“Shining Armor…” The way the goddess called the pony’s name was a ghostly whisper and sent chills down the nervous captain. Closing her normal eyes for a moment, Princess Luna reopened them to reveal very different draconic ones. “You are the brother of Twilight Sparkle, yes…?”

Shining gasped, jumping into a defensive stance once more. “Nightmare Moon! What did you do to my sister and the princess?” He stomped a hoof angrily. “Answer me!”

“Listen to me… I don’t have much time…” The voice of Nightmare Moon continued, ignoring unicorn’s angry glare. “Your sister is safe for the moment and I believe that she will return some time in the near future.”

The unicorn visibly sagged with relief. “Oh, thank Celestia.” He opened his mouth to ask the whereabouts of his sister, but was interrupted when the goddess lifted a hoof.

“However, the time of turmoil and chaos for your sister will continue… She will need your help.” The alicorn grunted in pain, already feeling herself slipping. “Speak with the other Elements of Harmony and make sure that they will support your sister when the time is right. Also when she returns, you will be given a choice… and it will be up to you whether she lives or dies. My last message to you.” Nightmare Moon grunted again, closing her eyes and pressing a hoof to her temple. When she opened her eyes again they have returned to their normal form.

“Ugh… What happened?” Princess Luna shook her head back and forth, turning her gaze toward the unicorn. “Does thou have a question for us?”

“Uhh…” Shining didn’t know what to say at this point. “No… never-mind…” He bowed, quickly backing away and ignoring the confused look as he did. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, your Highness.” With that, the unicorn turned around and ran as if he had just seen a ghost. When he knew that he had made significant distant between himself and the princess, Shining Armor sat and began pondering what the princess had said. ‘What just happened? Does this mean that Nightmare Moon is returning?’ The unicorn slowly shook his head. ‘And what did she mean that I have a choice to have my sister live or not, is this some kind of sick joke to her?’ He let out a hopeless sigh. ‘Agh! Her message was too cryptic to understand. At least I got one thing out of her little crazy message. Twily… please make it back safely. I’m sure you’re afraid right now, but don’t worry… your BBBFF is going to help you.’ With his newly formed resolve, Shining Armor set off to meet up with five particular mares.

Chapter 16

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 16

Celestia’s sun had disappeared over the horizon by the time the changeling and his “package” entered another forest.

The trees were much taller here than the ones in the Everfree, reaching as tall as a fully grown dragon and obviously the most dominate plant-life for miles around. The trees were not only tall but also very wide; each tree trunk was big enough to comfortably hold Twilight’s entire tree-home. The trees’ bark was very smooth and pale, giving the trees an almost ghostly look about them. The forest was a place of whispering thoughts, quiet daydreaming, but most importantly… solitude.

As the changeling journeyed deeper into the forest, the darker everything got and it soon became pitch black. Oddly enough the trees were still visible, giving off a ghostly glow as if it was releasing extra energy. The changeling however didn’t seem to care because he suddenly took a left and entered a hidden entrance on a side of a random tree. Showing no signs of slowing down, the changeling descended a long spiraling staircase and finally burst into a room filled with light. He had to blink a few times to readjust his vision before taking in the sights.

The room, for lack of a better term, appears to be an exact copy of the throne room back in Canterlot; however everything about it appears to have been changed to their polar opposites. The tall pillars and pearly marble floor have been replaced with obsidian and almost seems to absorb light itself. The carpet was dark purple with silver designs made into it, weaved in a delicate manner that reached all the way towards the throne. The throne itself was a mixture of silver and an unknown type of black metal, matching with the entire room but still able to stand out from the rest. The only thing missing from this room was the fact that there are no windows, but considering that this particular throne room was several feet underground, there’s really no surprise there. In place of the windows however were large stone goblets, filled to the brim with dark-blue flames. The room had the feeling of royalty to it and many would have stopped to admire it, but the changeling really could care less at this point.

Twilight felt her whole world shifting as the changeling unceremoniously dumped the unicorn onto the floor. Another thump beside her indicated that her bags were dropped next to her as well. ‘We finally stopped… What’s going to happen to us?’

“Pfff… don’t look at me! I have no idea what sort of crazy thing the changelings have in store for us.”

‘I just hope it doesn’t have to do with forcing us to become slaves, where we’re forced to forever supply the changelings with love for the rest of our lives…’

“That will be… problematic if that’s the case. uhh… You wouldn’t happen to know how the changelings eat love, do you?”

‘Wait! Shh! I think I can hear somepony talking.’

The changeling that delivered the unicorn ran forward and fell into a deep bow. “My Queen, I have returned with a pony the scouts captured during their mission.” After a moment of pause, the changeling could hear the sound of a tall figure slowly moving towards him. Slowing raising his head, the changeling took in the sight of his glorious queen.

The changeling queen was tall, just a head shorter than the current ruler of Equestria, sporting both a sharp horn and bug-like wings. Her mane and tail however didn’t flow like the way the goddess of the sun did, but instead hung limply around her in a cerulean-colored mess. Like all changelings, the queen didn’t have any fur on her body but was instead covered in dark gray, almost considered black, chitin armor. The queen also had a large number of holes drilled through her hooves just like all the others. The thing that seems different with this changeling appears to be only her size, the green chitin on her back, and the fact that she has hair.

Taking her green eyes off of the changeling bowing before her and instead towards the captured pony, the queen spoke, “You have done well my child. Now… release the prisoner so that I may see my prize.” Nodding quickly, the changeling rushed back the cocoon-like cage and gave the shell a quick swipe with his sharp horn.

Twilight felt her cage suddenly release and proceeded to roll out the cocoon with a sickly splat. The unicorn coughed for several minutes, trying to clear all of the green liquid out of her lungs, and sucked in huge gulps of air at the same time. “Where-” *Cough* “…Where am I?”

“You are in a forest that is in-between the White Tail Woods and the Smokey Mountains, however many of your kind confuse it to be part of one or the other. You may call it the Forgotten Forest and it is home to the changelings. My name is Queen Chrysalis and you are one of the many others that we have captured over the years.” The queen of changelings studied the purple unicorn with unblinking eyes. “You will make a fine slave to feed love off of for many years to come.”

Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as all the color drained from her face.

“… Well… it was nice knowing you, Twilight.”

‘Even though our time together wasn’t that great, it was nice knowing you too, Sparkle.’

The unicorn yelped when the changeling that carried her here suddenly doubled over and slumped to the floor. Twitching and whimpering as if he was in intense pain, the changeling weakly lifted a hoof toward his queen. “Please my Queen, I need… help…!”

Chrysalis stared at her servant in shock, quickly rushing to stand before him. “What in Equestria happened to you?” Her horn began glowing in a brilliant green aura as she checked to see what was wrong with her subject.

“Please… make the pain… go away…” pleaded the changeling, tears slowly falling to the floor. It appears that the changeling have been holding back some sort of pain for quite some time, only now losing control and letting it all out in one great swoop.

“Shhh… It’s going to be okay… Your queen will handle this.” The queen gave her servant a gentle pat on the head. The changeling smiled gratefully, closing his eyes and letting the queen’s magic wash over him.

Twilight silently watched the whole scene play out before her, confusion clearly written on her face. ‘What do you think she’s doing?’

Sparkle groaned as if she was slapping her forehead with a hoof. “Do you really want to watch them or do you want to escape, now that they’re distracted…?”

The thought just crossed her mind and she mentally facehoofed herself. ‘Oh yeah… Teleporting is out of the question because we don’t know where we are exactly.’

“Then quickly, to the door… Get that flank moving, girl!” However, before she was able to take a single step, the changeling queen stood up straight. Unfortunately for Twilight, it appears that the queen was very quick and efficient in her work.

The queen’s eyes narrowed slightly when she cut the magic from her horn. “This… this doesn’t make any sense… unless…!” Her eyes flashed dangerously as she rounded about to face the unicorn, who was still on the floor. “You!” Chrysalis didn’t give her a chance to scream before she lifted the unicorn into the air by the neck. “You did something to make him remember! What have you done and how much do you know?!”

Struggling for breathe, Twilight gasped, “I-I don’t know what you’re… talking about!”

Chrysalis roughly threw the unicorn to the ground, who grunted in pain as she landed. “Liar! You will tell me everything you know before I send your pathetic soul to the gates of Tartarus!”

Hurt and still gasping for breath, Twilight tried to crawl away from the crazy queen. She was able to move about an inch before a hoof kicked her in the chest. Groaning and coughing in pain, the unicorn could feel her vision already slipping. She could feel the sensation of something pooling around her and realized that it was her own blood.

“Twilight! Get up! She’s going to kill us at this rate!” Sparkle’s voice sounded angry and panicked at the same time, knowing full well on what’s going to happen next if the unicorn doesn’t do something.

‘I can’t… too much pain… I just need to sleep a little… bit…’ Twilight could feel her vision and breathing slowly growing weaker by the minute.

“Oh, for the love of… then stand aside and do not resist me, Twilight!”

‘What are you-’ Began Twilight, gasping when her vision suddenly turned red, just like many nights ago… But something was wrong.

Queen Chrysalis silently watched the unicorn slowly bleed out before her. ‘I needed her alive, but I seemed to have injured her more than I should have. Perhaps I was too rough with the pony…’ The queen shook her head, turning away as she did so. ‘No, it had to be done… for the safety of the hive, the ponies must never know.’ She only was able to take ten steps before hearing a low growl behind her. Whipping her head back, the queen gaped openly at the unicorn standing back on her hooves! “How… how are you still standing?”

The unicorn didn’t respond, but instead began thrashing her head back and forth as if she was trying to toss water out of her eyes. Her growls turned to dark snarls, almost like a rabid timberwolf, as her entire body violently shook. Without warning, the pony threw her head back and let out a screeching wail as if she was a deranged banshee. The sound could be heard echoing throughout the entire hive, waking everything within it. Most of the changelings looked around confused before realizing that something was happening to their queen. And that she was in mortal danger.

Chrysalis felt as if she was watching a horror movie coming to life before her very eyes. She watched as the pool of blood around the unicorn seem to grow a mind of its own, snaking up the unicorn’s legs and reentering the body through a wide gash on her side. Even as she watched, the queen could see the wound closing as if it was never there to begin with. The unicorn let out another screech into heavens, bits of the ceiling falling to the floor because of how powerful the shout was. The queen suddenly realized that she has been shaking the entire time and that her hooves wouldn’t move, even when she told them to. ‘Am I… afraid? Why does she feel so… familiar?’ She gasped, old memories resurfacing in her mind. ‘No… it can’t be! Can it really be true? Is she-?’ Her suspicions where confirmed when the unicorn brought her head back down to glare at her with red eyes. Deep, blood red eyes… the eyes of a vampony. The changeling queen shuddered when the unicorn opened her mouth and let out a demonic hiss, fangs glinting off of the lights in the room. Black mist appeared out of nowhere and began swirling around the vampony as if she was drawing in the power of shadow itself.

There was a moment of silence before a low rumbling could be heard and felt, growing larger with each passing second. The vampony whirled to face the doorway, the black mist dissipating, as a huge group of changelings burst through. They poured into the room like a large wave, attempting to find the biggest threat in the room. But, it was too late.

Immediately establishing the new arrivals as a threat herself, Twilight lunged forward and snatched a changeling at random. Ignoring its cries of distress, the vampony proceeded to snap the changeling in half, the snapping of bones and chitin armor was heard by all. THAT got the rest of the changelings’ attention and they all rushed forward to stop the crazed beast.

Time seems to slowdown as Queen Chrysalis stood back and watched in awe; too busy taking in the awesome might of the vampony. It was mesmerizing. The vampony dodged and weaved between flying hooves, occasionally finding an opportunity to break one of the hooves as if they were made of sticks. The changelings took the hint and immediately backed away, deciding to change tactics in fear of losing their limbs. Half of the group took to the air while the other half rushed to surround the unicorn. Not letting them get into position, the unicorn rushed forward and caught the changelings in front of her with a blood-crazed snarl. One by one, changelings flew in random directions, impacting the walls and ceiling with a sickening crunch. No matter how hard they tried to catch a glimpse, the unicorn will disappear and reappear in a different spot, taking down another group of changelings as she did. Throwing caution to the winds, the changelings dog-piled on top of the unicorn; attempting to do something… anything that could possibly stop the unstoppable creature. For a moment the plan appeared to have worked, but the vampony had other plans. Igniting her horn in a bright red glow, Twilight threw everypony away with a powerful blast of air. When the dust settled Chrysalis finally blinked, only to witness a pile of unconscious changelings on the floor. What had been an army of changelings, have been reduced to nothing more than a dozen in five minutes.

There was a moment of pause, where everypony in the room froze to take a quick breather and to regroup. The vampony had her hooves spread out and crouching in a territorial stance, hissing unspoken death sentences to anypony that dared to come near her. Queen Chrysalis glanced around, taking in the destruction of her glorious throne room with weary eyes. She noticed that the fire of fight has left her changelings’ eyes and all of them weakly slumped to the floor. ‘Almost all of my brothers and sisters are still alive but… what are we going to do? How are we going to stop something as powerful as this?’ The changeling queen and her remaining minions stood and waited for the end. Waited for the blanket of eternal sleep to embrace and wicks them away to finally rest.

They waited… and waited. The wait only lasted about a minute, but even a minute was too much for Chrysalis. ‘Why does she pause when she clearly has the advantage?’ The queen squinted to look at the vampony closer until…

*Thump-thump*

‘There! Did she just flinch?’ The changeling queen stood still with bated breath.

*Thump-thump*

“Gah-ahhhh!” The purple unicorn suddenly cried out, gripping her chest as if she was just stabbed in the heart. The vampony let out another pain-filled scream and fell to the floor, twisting and turning the whole time.

Queen Chrysalis gasped and yelled, “Go now! Stop her before she realizes what we’re doing, but do not kill her! The hive will need her alive at all cost!” Her remaining changelings all nodded before rushing after the fallen unicorn. The supposed final-stand never happened, but instead they found the unconscious body of the unicorn on the floor.

…

She didn’t know where she was, but she was definitely becoming increasingly annoyed by the bright light in her face. “Ugh… alright, alright… I’m up… I’m-” Twilight’s words turned into a gasp when she opened her eyes to see where she was. Changelings! Changelings everywhere! And they were all looking at her as if she just murdered a bunch of innocent kittens! Gulping nervously, Twilight looked down to see what was binding her. It was the same green slime that she was submerged in before, only now it had harden and was holding everything but her head in place. ‘Okay… a little help here, Sparkle?’

“Ugh… five more minutes mom…”

‘Wake up!’

“Ah! Okay, okay, okay! What’s happening? Where the heck are we? What did I…” Twilight flinched when Sparkle suddenly made a Rarity-worthy gasp. “What... what have I done? …”

The way Sparkle asked herself was so full of despair, Twilight suddenly became very tense. ‘W-what did you do?’

Sparkle seems to be acting extremely nervous now. “I… I never thought that I’ll lose control over my own powers, my own domain… and yet here I am.”

Twilight could feel a bead of sweat running down her face. ‘Okay… now you’re scaring me. Tell me what happened.’

Sparkle took in a shuddering breath. “We were dying and I couldn’t let that happen, I could never let that happen. So I did the only thing I could… I released your vampony powers. All of it…” She chuckled weakly. “I can’t believe just how powerful you have become in such a short amount of time. It was incredible… You’re incredible, Twilight.”

The unicorn could feel her cheeks heating up in a blush. ‘Okay… admiration and flank-kissing aside, would you mind telling what happened after releasing my powers? I’m guessing it had a lot of similarities with the Ursa Major incident, correct?’

“Yeah… you would be correct to assume that, but… there were some complications that I couldn’t ever have foreseen.” Sparkle cleared her throat with a nervous cough. “Long story short, we or rather… I lost control. And rather than escaping, I proceed to attack a large amount of changelings. I also think I might have killed a few of them during that time…”

Twilight could feel herself turning green. ‘Are you saying that I… I k-killed somepony?’ She immediately had the urge to regurgitate whatever that was in her stomach right about now and place it directly on the floor.

“No-no-no-no!” Sparkle interrupted the unicorn’s train of thought. “I said that I was the one that did it! You were unconscious the whole time so you couldn’t have taken a part in any of it.”

Twilight felt tears running down her face and didn’t even care that hundreds of changelings were there to witness it. *Sniff* ‘I appreciate the fact that you’ll take the blame, but you and I both know that that’s not true.’ She really wished that she could have a hoof free to wipe her eyes. Her wish was granted in the form of a small handkerchief, softly dabbing at her eyes. Flinching away in surprise, Twilight looked up to stare at the looming figure in front of her.

“Hold still…” Queen Chrysalis re-lifted the piece of cloth with a green glow of her horn. “That must feel very uncomfortable right about now.” Ignoring the look of pure confusion on the unicorn’s face she resumed wiping her snout, much like how a mother will do to her foal. “I have many, many questions for you.”

…

Twilight didn’t know what was happening, but she was currently walking beside a changeling queen as if they knew each other for years, taking a tour of the hive with said queen, and the whole time she was several hooves underground. She stole a glance at the changeling queen, quickly noting that she was currently carrying her saddle-bags from before and she left her back completely exposed to the unicorn. ‘I don’t understand… is she testing me to see if I was going to attack her or not? And that’s another thing, why isn’t she mad at me for attacking her drones?’

“I’m drawing a blank over here too, Twilight.” Sparkle’s voice was very calm when she next said, “What we do know is that the Changeling Queen has some sort of plan for us and I think we should play along for a little while… Just until we could find a way to escape, alright?”

‘Y-yeah… let’s do that.’ The unicorn flinched and leaned away when a group of changelings hissed at her in a threatening manner.

Noticing this, Chrysalis hissed right back at the offending servants. “If I see anymore of you acting untoward to our guest, I will personally punish every single one of you!” The changelings immediately backed away in surprise and scampered away, for lack of a better term, with their tails between their legs. Making an uninterested grunt, the queen continued down her path and turned her attention to the unicorn beside her. “Apologies, shadowed one. I still have trouble controlling their behaviors even after all these years. How are you feeling right now?” She turned sharply into a wall and walked right through it, which the unicorn found out that it lead to a secret cave system lined with blue-flamed torches.

The purple unicorn was still completely baffled that the queen, who she personally attacked her entire army by herself, was even defending and asking about her well-being. Seeing that the queen was waiting for an answer, Twilight quickly answered, “I’m…I’m fine…” Her ears flattened on top of her head, still intimidated by the large changeling. The odd pair continued their long trek down the cave for a few minutes before Twilight finally asked, “Uhh… where are we going?” She cringed slightly when Chrysalis gave her a look, taking on a very Fluttershy-like persona. “I-I mean if you want to tell me that is…”

The queen gave an amused snort. “There is no need to be afraid, shadowed one. You are not in danger in any way while you are with me.” She gestured the cave walls with a hoof and Twilight began noticing that the walls were covered with a massive amount of complicating looking runes. “These will protect us from anything that will bring harm to us.” Giving the runes an approved nod, Chrysalis moved deeper into the cave. “I just realized that I haven’t gotten your name, shadowed one.” She glanced at the unicorn expectantly.

“Oh…oh! My name is Twilight… Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight Sparkle…” Queen Chrysalis tested the name on her lips. “The time that signals the end of the day and will also lead the world into the beginning of the night… not bad.” The changeling’s eyes lit up when she saw their destination. “Ah-ha! We have arrived!” She expressed her excitement by pointing with a hoof.

Following the hole-filled hoof, Twilight was able to make out a large steel door with a picture of a crescent moon painted on it. Not too keen on finding out what was behind the door, the unicorn followed the changeling queen at a slow pace. What she saw however, made all of her worries melt away. Books! And judging on how tall the shelves went… a lot of books for that matter! There were so many books as far as her eyes can see that it brought a small tear to her eyes. “This… this is… amazing!”

Chrysalis walked up to a table and placed the saddles-bags onto it before turning around. “I see you are a pony that has a passion for pursuing knowledge.” She gave a small smirk. “I suppose that will make things a little bit easier on my part. But for now you may rest here for the day, as we have many things to discuss during the night. There is a sofa over there that you can use to sleep in and my servants will deliver food once you have awakened.” She lifted a small dusty bell off of a stone pedestal. “Ring this whenever you need something and my brothers and sisters will answer.” She walked past the unicorn and made for the door.

“W-wait a minute!” Twilight waited for the changeling to turn before yelling, “Just what the heck is going on around here?!” When the changeling queen didn’t answer, the unicorn pressed on, “You ponynap me, drag me into a forest I never heard about in my entire life, threaten to make me into a slave that will forever feed your changelings love, and nearly killed me when one of your changeling fell into some unknown illness! You haven’t even yelled or shown any type of anger at me for killing some of your changelings when I went completely crazy!” She was panting for breath at this point. “Not only did you not care about anything I did in your home, but you also gave my own place to sleep in? Have you’ve gone completely insane?!” After finally letting go of everything that was on her chest, Twilight’s leg gave out from under her and she slumped to the floor.

Chrysalis, who had remained silent the whole time, finally spoke. “For what I am planning, I will tell you later after you have eaten and well rested.” She held up a hoof to stop the unicorn from speaking. “The changelings that you have assaulted are all still alive, some more injured than others but they will survive.”

Twilight felt like a terrible weight was lifted off her soul. “They’re still alive and going to live? What a relief!”

The purple unicorn would’ve been at ease if Sparkle hadn’t decided to add her own remark. “Even the one that I snapped in half? Wow… these guys are made of really strong stuff!”

The unicorn felt her heart turn into a block of ice. ‘You did what?! Okay Sparkle, I’m going to have a few words with you…’ Sparkle groaned.

Queen Chrysalis nodded. “That is correct, Twilight Sparkle. Although one of my brothers will have to rest of a considerable amount of time before he is able to move again.” She turned once again to leave. “As to why I have done all of this for you…” The changeling looked over her shoulder. “Many years ago, I used to be a shadowed one as well… and you are the key in bringing them back. We all need you, Twilight Sparkle.” With that final statement the changeling queen left, closing the metal door behind her.

Chapter 1

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 1

The Everfree Forest was always a place of mystery. Plants grew completely unchecked, unyielding, and just plain wild for miles. The clouds create and move themselves without any sort of wind to push them. The animals grew in strange ways as well, even devouring each other in order to survive. Life seems to run on “autopilot,” without any sort of help. The land here constantly move, creating all manner of noise that never seems to end.

Tonight however, all forms of life were silent. Not a single creature made any movement from their homes. They dare not make a single peep, as they cower in fear from the overwhelming presence outside, which was saturating the very soil. The creatures didn’t know this, but they haven’t felt this presence for over a thousand years. Yet instincts told them to remain hidden, for whatever was out there will surely destroy them. This veil of silence however, was suddenly lifted, as a torrent of wind blew out, howling from the ruins of an old castle. In the yowls of the wind, another sound emerged, a shout from a small frail voice.

“The Elements!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, as she leaped into the whirlwind of black mist, in which she disappeared in a small flash.

“Twilight!” Five different voices cried out, but to no avail, as the purple unicorn was already gone.

“Where did she go?!”

“Twilight!”

“Where are you?!”

Somewhere in another part of the castle, there came a brief flash of light, before depositing Twilight Sparkle back to the cold stone once more. She coughed a few time, before looking back up and gasped.

“Muhahaha.” Nightmare Moon laughed, as she floated the five Elements of Harmony around herself. Twilight’s face quickly turned into a scowl as she prepared to charge the alicorn, stamping her hoof into the ground. “You’re kidding… You’re kidding right?” Asked Nightmare Moon, in pure disbelief.

Twilight paid no heed to her words as her horn flared up with magic, quickly setting off into a gallop at the mare. The alicorn quickly recollected her thoughts and began to gallop toward the unicorn in response. The glow on Twilight’s horn grew brighter as the pair raced towards each other, closer and closer until… Poof! Twilight was surrounded by a bright light before disappearing and reappearing next to the five Elements of Harmony.

“Just one spark…” Twilight muttered to herself, leaning her head down, with her horn re-lighting. “Come on… Come on!” The Elements started to take on the glow of her horn, while Nightmare Moon turned herself into a cloud, rushing at the unicorn. The alicorn reappeared in front of Twilight at the exact moment the Elements shot an arcane bolt of lightning, launching the unicorn backwards several feet.

“No… No!” Nightmare cried out, as the Elements began discharging bolts of electricity. However, as soon Twilight believed that it had worked, the orbs quickly fizzled out and died.

“What? But, where’s the sixth Element!?” Twilight gasps, as Nightmare Moon began cackling with glee, raising her front hooves into the air and smashing the Elements into pieces. ‘No! The Elements!’

“You little foal! Do you truly believe you have the power to stop me?” The alicorn shouted in a booming voice. “Nopony can ever be as powerful as I, not even my dear sister of the sun.” Nightmare Moon spat out the word “dear” as if it was poison.

“S-Sister?!” Twilight sputtered, with her jaw hanging open. ‘That can’t be true!’

“Ahh… So she didn’t even bother telling you now, did she?” Nightmare’s face turned into a scowl. ‘You would think she would tell her such information.’

‘No… she didn’t tell me anything…’ “It… it doesn’t matter that you’re related and more powerful then the Princess.” Twilight said, rising up on her hooves. “Because I made it my solemn duty, as Princess Celestia’s protégé and student, to protect Equestria and to stop evil mares like you!” She finished, striking a defiant pose and glaring into the alicorn’s draconic pupils.

“What’s this? You’re my dear sister’s student?” Nightmare asked, lifting a brow. ‘It’s no wonder she knew about the Elements and judging from what I can sense from the unicorn, she is quite powerful… I can use her…’ Her thoughts were interrupted when said unicorn yelled out.

“That’s right! I’ve learned everything to do with magic thanks to the Princess and I intend to bring you down.” ‘Even though I have no idea what to do… now that the Elements are useless.’

“Bold words, from a bold mare, tell me… how much do you know about me then?” Nightmare asked, with a small smirk forming on her face. She began to weave her magic slowly around the room.

“What… What do you mean?” Twilight was taken aback, Nightmare pressed on.

“I’m asking how much do you truly know about me and my powers.” Draconic eyes slowly narrowing.

“N-Not much… I only found out the legend of the ‘Mare in the Moon’ today.”

‘Today only?! You must be joking…’ Nightmare caught herself from rolling her eyes. ‘Celestia basically threw her into the shark tank with nothing to defend herself with… What is your gain in this entire charade sister? … Bah! I’ll figure it out later, but for now… It’s time to take my prize.’ “Well it’s seems that you are unaware about the true powers of the night.” Nightmare’s mouth turned into a smirk once again as she said. “But don’t worry, you’ll be joining it soon, whether you like it or not!”

“W-What does that mean…?” Twilight said before she realized her mistake. The entire room has grown dark, as a veil of shadow surrounded the two. Twilight slowly backed away as she watched helplessly, as the shadows closed off the soft rays of moonlight, plunging them into complete darkness. The only source of light now was Nightmare Moon, as her starry mane reached out and wrapped itself around the now terrified unicorn. “No! Let me go!” Twilight screamed, flailing her hooves about, as she was lifted towards the alicorn. The unicorn’s eyes slowly widen with terror, as she was brought face-to-face with the dark queen.

“I haven’t been fed for over a thousand years... I’m going to enjoy this.” Nightmare Moon grinned. Twilight’s pupils shrank to the size of a small pea when she noticed the alicorn’s teeth, two sharp fangs.

“No wait-!” Twilight couldn’t finish, as the vampony lunged her face forward, sinking her fangs into the neck of the unicorn. “AH!” Twilight cried out in pain, suddenly losing all feelings in her hooves. Nightmare drank deeply, as she held the unicorn close to herself with her front hooves. “Ah…ah…n-no…” Twilight weakly muttered, her sight slowly darkening as she felt herself slip away. “P-princess… please… h-h-help me…” The last of her strength disappeared, as she felt her mind fade away into the darkness.

Nightmare Moon felt the unicorn’s body go limp before finally releasing her hold, leaving her floating in her mane. She watched the now unconscious unicorn carefully, deep in thought. ‘…I don’t know if it was the hunger lasting for a thousand years... But that was by far, the greatest tasting blood I’ve ever come across in my existence.’ Nightmare licked her bloody lips. ‘Astounding… Her very blood is laced with pure magic… it’s too bad I can’t continue, not without killing her right now.’ The vampony’s thoughts were interrupted, when she felt five creatures approaching her shadow prison. ‘It’s about time the others showed up.’ Nightmare grimaced, lifting the spell and straightening her body out.

“Hold on sugarcube, we’re coming!” Shouted Applejack, as she and the others galloped into the room. They all gasped, screeching to a halt when they saw Nightmare Moon, standing in a triumphant stance, with a certain purple unicorn in her mane. “Twilight!”

“Let her go you big jerk!” Rainbow Dash yelled, launching herself at the alicorn.

“Fine… take her then.” Nightmare answered, tossing the unicorn at the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow was taken a back for a moment, before she quickly caught the limp body of her friend, racing back to the group. They drew another gasp, when they saw the blood covering Twilight’s neck, but relaxed when they saw her sides slowly rising and falling as she slept.

Applejack quickly looked over the blood, trying to see if there were any injuries. Thankfully, there were none and she turned her attention back to the alicorn. “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Nightmare Moon’s smirked, watching the confused looks in the group. “You’ll find out soon enough.” She flared her wings out as she continued. “I don’t have time to deal with you foals, as I have a castle to seize.” She finished and with one great flap of her wings, lifted herself into the night sky before taking off.

“Oookay… that was weird.” Rainbow broke the silence, watching the retreating form of the alicorn, disappearing behind some clouds.

“I know what you mean, darling.” Rarity agreed. “But, we must get our poor friend to the hospital as quickly as possible.” She quickly added, moving towards the unconscious unicorn.

“Rarity’s right ya’ll.” The farm pony jumped to her hooves. “With all that blood, there’s no telling what Nightmare Moon did to her.”

“Damn-it!” Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted. “If only we found them sooner, then maybe we could’ve saved her from… whatever she did!” She stomped the stone floor in frustration.

“I hear yah, Rainbow, but it’s too late now and we need to get her back home.” Applejack drew a collective amount of nods and agreements before they set off back into the forest.

Author’s Notes: Yes I know what you’re thinking and no, it’s not based off of a “certain book”. That being said, let’s try and not mention that “certain book” in the comments.

Moving on…

I just like to warn you all that I was never good in English class (but I wish to be). That being said, I know there will be grammar and spelling errors at some places. I will attempt to stamp them all out before I post anything. However, if you find the grammar and spelling errors to be annoying, I apologize in advance.

Chapter 4

*I own nothing, but the experience and story*

*Ponies go to Hasbro*

Embracing the Darkness

By: BlueAzura

Chapter 4

The streets of Ponyville were empty. Not a single pony could be seen as far as the eye can see. They were all afraid. Afraid from a single unlikely source and the source in question, was quietly making her way towards a large tree. Twilight glanced from building to building, watching, as pony after pony quickly slammed their doors and windows as the unicorn drew near. She sighed. ‘I guess this is what I deserve…’ She pressed on, ignoring the cries of fear from the ponies around her. Twilight looked up and seeing the bright red door of her library, her face lit up. Setting off in a gallop, she quickly opened the door and slammed it shut behind her. “Whew…”

“Surprise!”

“AH!” Twilight screamed, covering her eyes from the sudden lights around her. When she opened them again, she saw that all of her friends were there, greeting her with a warm smile. She was stunned into silence.

After a few minutes, Applejack coughed softly. “Uh… you think we broke her?”

“It almost looks to be that way, darling” The snow-white unicorn leaned in.

“Oh no! If we broke Twilight, how are we going to explain to Black Snootie about this?” The party pony jumped in, waving a hoof in front of the unicorn’s face.

“She will probably… *meep* … get very angry.” The trembling Pegasus said, glancing around a corner from where she hid. “I think we were too loud to begin with…”

“Na! We were just too good at our surprise that’s all!” Rainbow Dash trotted to the side of the stunned Twilight. She began patting the unicorn’s head, while saying. “It’s okay, Twilight… I have that effect on most ponies.”

That seems to snap the unicorn out of her dazed expression, as she gazed into each of the ponies faces. “I don’t understand…”

Rarity gave a confused look. “Whatever do you mean, dear?”

“I… I thought you never wanted to see me anymore, now that I’m basically Nightmare’s goon.” The unicorn’s face fell at the thought.

The farm-pony gave a small chuckle. “Honesty, Twi, I thought you were the smarter one around here.” She continued. “Even though you’re joining Nightmare Moon now, we’ll never leave you, sugarcube.” She finished with a smile. “Because we’re your friends remember?” The ponies around gave a round of nods and agreements.

Twilight whipped a tear from her eyes, before saying. “I guess I overreacted a little bit, didn’t I?”

“A little bit? Dear, you can contest with Rainbow Dash with that sort of reaction.” The alabaster unicorn said with a smug grin, earning a ‘Hey’ from the Pegasus in question.

While the group was busy giggling, a small voice came from upstairs. “Hey guys, how long are you going to make me wait up here?” Twilight’s ear twitched, her eyes widening.

Pinkie Pie groaned in despair. “Aww! Spikey! You ruined it!” She turned her head in the direction of the stairs.

Following her gaze, Twilight turned to see a small purple dragon standing at the bottom, looking right at her. Green eyes met purple, as the dragon sputtered. “T-Twilight?”

“Spike!” The unicorn galloped towards the baby dragon, warping him in a tight hug. “I missed you sooo much!”

“I missed you too!” said the assistant, tears running down his face. “When the others arrived, I thought you were going to be with them…” He pulled away to stare into the unicorn’s eyes. “When you weren’t with them… I thought I lost you…” He couldn’t continue, as more tears ran down his face.

They remained in their tight hug for a few minutes, recollecting themselves. “Oh, Spike… I’m so sorry making you worry about me.” Twilight gave another hug. “But please, don’t cry… I’m never going to leave you.” She felt a sharp stab in her heart, realizing too late, that she has less than an hour before she had to leave again.

Seeing her friend stiffening, Applejack said, in a quiet voice. “Don’t you worry about Twilight, sugarcube.” She gave a forced smile. “I’m sure the Princess will let her visit from time to time, so you’ve got to stay strong for her ‘till then.”

The baby dragon gave a confused look. “Visit?” His eyes widening, looking back that the purple unicorn. “You mean you’re not staying?!”

Twilight gulped, steeling herself to give the news. “No, Spike… I’m afraid I won’t be staying here for much longer.” Spike was about to say something, but she interrupted him. “Nightmare Moon defeated us and to order to protect my friends, I gave myself in permanent servitude to her.”

The dragon gasped, looking from one pony to another, trying to see if it was a joke. Seeing the sad expressions in each of them, he sighed. “Do you know when you’ll be come back?”

Twilight slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Spike…” She leaned in and gently nuzzled the side of his cheek. “But I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can.” She gave a gentle smile as she, reluctantly, pulled away from the hug.

The silence that followed lasted only a minute, when Pinkie Pie yelled. “Alrighty, everypony! We only have about twenty minutes to party, before Twilight has to leave! Let’s go! Chop-chop!” She bounced in place, while the other ponies stared at her in disbelief. “What?”

“Pinkie… I know you like to be fast, but come on! How do we set up and throw the party, when we only have twenty minutes to spare?!” The speedster, asked in amazement. “We barely had enough time to set up the first surprise!”

“I must agree with her, Pinkie.” Rarity chipped in. “We simply don’t have to time to prepare for the party, dear.”

The party pony’s face visibly fell, a small frown taking shape. But before any of her friends could comfort her, a giant grin popped back on her face. “OOOOH, I just had the best-est idea ever!” She began dancing and laughing on the spot, earning herself many blank stares.

“Uhh… care to share what this idea of yours, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, slightly fearing the mentality of her friend.

“Nnnope!” Pinkie cried out, honking the unicorn’s nose. “You’ll see it, after you come back!” She gasped. “It will be your surprise present!” The party pony then proceeds to bounce all over the room, while miraculously keeping everything intact.

“You… You are so random, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash laughed, while the other ponies quietly giggled.

‘Well… that’s one thing I’m not going to miss…’ Twilight thought, feeling a ghost of guilt, pass through her body. ‘I just don’t get you, Pinkie…’ Her thoughts were interrupted, when the butterscotch Pegasus tapped her shoulder.

Fluttershy squeaked slightly, when Twilight turned her attention towards her. “Umm… What are you going to do now… now that we only have a few minutes left?”

Realizing the current situation she was in, Twilight sighed. “I guess I’ll just pack the things I need…” She slowly made her way upstairs to her bedroom, her friends sadly watching her go. When she reached her room, her horn lit up and began levitating her things into a suitcase. Glancing into a mirror, she realized that she still had her element resting on her head. She lifted it slowly off, staring at the purple jewel the whole time. ‘I guess I don’t need you anymore…’ The crown gave a sad twirl, as it nestled into the suitcase. The case closed with a loud snap, as Twilight lifted it up into the air.

Twilight reemerged from her room to see her friends, quietly waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “So… this is really happening isn’t it?”

“Oh… don’t feel too bad, sugarcube.” The farm-pony said, giving her a soft smile. “I’m sure it’s not going to be all bad at that fancy castle.”

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Twilight was drawn in a tight embrace. Rarity smiled gently. “We’ll make sure to send you letters as much as we can, dear.”

Rainbow Dash was busy looking everywhere but the unicorn. “Y-you take care of yourself… Y-you got that, Twi? I won’t forgive you if you hurt yourself…” She sniffed and began rubbing her face, furiously with a hoof.

Then Fluttershy gave a gentle hug and said. “We’ll take good care of Spike while you’re gone, Twilight.”

Pinkie Pie, who long since calmed down, quickly said. “Make sure you tell us when you’re coming back, so I can prepare for you’re welcome back party!”

Twilight couldn’t help, but smile. “You got it, Pinkie.” She turned her attention towards a lone figure in the room, sitting quietly in a chair and looking out into the night sky. Her smile disappeared.

Twilight slowly began to move forward, only to stop, as the baby dragon said. “I guess this really isn’t a dream…” He turned to face her. “Isn’t it, Twilight?”

“No, this isn’t a dream, Spike.” She slowly shook her head. “As much as I want this to be a really bad dream…” She took a deep breath. “I’ll just have to be a strong mare and finish Nightmare’s training as quickly as possible.

Spike made a weak chuckle. “If the training involves reading a book, you’ll be back here in no time.” The pair quietly giggled at the joke. Spike stood up and closing the distances between the two, he gave the unicorn a tight hug. “I’ll miss you, Twilight.”

“I’ll miss you too little brother…” Twilight said. She leaned in and gave the assistant, a small peck on the cheek. “You be good to the others, alright?”

Spike nodded enthusiastically, but then frowned suddenly. “Just promise me that you’ll write soon, okay?”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry, Spike, I plan on sending letters every day.” ‘If Nightmare Moon would even let me…’ She frowned, as she reluctantly pulled away.

The door to the library opened and the suitcase floated out, via magic. Twilight followed closely behind. The unicorn looked back, to see her friends staring miserably at the ground. She pressed her lips and closed her eyes briefly, trying to gather some courage. “When I said that you were the best thing to ever happen to me, I meant it.” She opened her eyes and smiled. “I’ll never forget the time we spent together.” With that, she turned and began trotting away, into the deserted streets of Ponyville.

The goddess of the night was impatient. She stood tall, quietly surveying the empty streets, she grunted. ‘What’s taking that unicorn so long?’ She was about to send one of her guards after her, but noticed the unicorn appearing around the corner. ‘Sigh… Better late than never…’ She paused. ‘Wait… when did I become so… forgiving?’ The alicorn briefly shook her head before saying. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle… I was wondering when you were going to show.”

Twilight flinched at the sight of the alicorn. “F-forgive me, Nightmare Moon, I was saying goodbye to my friends.” Having magic as her special talent, she sensed Nightmare Moon’s magic flare in anger. The magic briefly snarled at her before disappearing, causing the unicorn to shiver. ‘Best to not get on her bad side so soon…’

‘There’s that feeling again…’ “Very well…” She said with a sigh. “Come! We are wasting my glorious night away!” Nightmare Moon spun on the spot and entered the carriage, followed by a very timid Twilight. As soon as the door closed, Nightmare lazily waved a hoof towards the guards, signaling them to move. The carriage lurched forward, causing the unicorn to nearly fall off her seat. Twilight took a glance out the window to see Ponyville, as it quickly shrank away. After a few minutes of flying, she let out a weak sigh.

Nightmare, who was watching the unicorn the whole time, leaned into the back of her seat and said. “You know… I’m surprised at you.”

Twilight jumped and stared at the alicorn. “S-surprised? Why are you surprised?”

The goddess eyed the Everfree Forest before she turned her head and answered. “I’m surprised you never asked me on what I did to you, back at the old castle.” She eyed the unicorn closely.

Twilight paled. “W-well… I didn’t really want to think about that too much…” The truth is she was burning with hundreds of questions, but was too afraid she might step out of line.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. “Do you truly believe you can lie to your queen that easily?” She smirked. “It’s not every day, when a pony is blessed with the powers of the night.”

‘It didn’t feel like a blessing, that’s for sure…’ She finally found enough courage and took a chance to ask. “So… are all the stories about vamponies true then?”

“Well… what can you tell me about vamponies, Twilight?”

The unicorn quickly cleared her throat, eager to share knowledge. “Well, for starters, I read that they can only move during the night.”

Nightmare shook her head. “That was merely a sad attempt, to make the ponies afraid of going out into the night.” She waved a hoof absentmindedly. “We can travel in both the day and night… However, we are weakened considerably, during the day.”

“Okay… How about a vampony can’t enter another pony’s home, without permission?” Twilight asked, soaking up all the information.

“That too, is false.” Nightmare rolled her eyes. “Another petty attempt to bring fear into the hearts of ponies, also before you ask, yes, we can enter ‘hallowed’ ground as well.”

“Right…” ‘Everything I’ve read in books so far has been a lie…’ “Does holy water actually work?” Twilight waited, expecting Nightmare Moon to claim that false as well.

“It isn’t really water, nor is it holy.” Nightmare turned to the window again. “It was created and used by my sister in order to weaken me.” The alicorn’s face made a scowl at the memory. “Ponies believed that since it came from a god, the liquid was holy. But no, it is merely the rays of the sun, turned into a liquid.”

“Liquid sunlight?” Twilight was in awe. “I never expected I’ll learn so many new things… D-do you sleep in a coffin?” She asked, in an excited tone.

Nightmare Moon’s lips twitched. ‘So now she’s interested in vamponies… what a strange mare…’ “I’ll tell you some other time, Twilight.”

“Oh…” Twilight pressed a hoof to her chin, trying to remember anything else about vamponies. Her cheeks grew red when she asked. “Do… Do ponies only change into vamponies when they’re v-virgins?” Nightmare stared at Twilight, with a face that screamed: "Are you kidding me?" The unicorn turned away, her face scarlet. “N-never mind…”

After a few minutes of silence, the alicorn collected herself and said. “N-no, ponies doesn’t have to be… that… in order to become a vampony.” She leaned back into her seat and said. “Although… There are certain things that must be done in order to become one.”

“Like… what kind of things?” Twilight asked, leaning in.

“It all really matters if I want one of my subjects to change or not. I am the very first to ever appear in this world… I was born a vampony and the only one who can convert others.” Twilight’s eyes widened at her statement. “The first thing that must be done is to cut out any forms of light, since the world of light is my sister’s realm. Second, I must make the connection, by biting and drinking their blood.” Nightmare Moon’s turquoise eyes met purple, as she said. “Lastly, the pony that is to transform, must drink the blood of another pony in order to be complete.”

Twilight was stunned. ‘So it’s true…’ Her eyes began to moisten. ‘Everything that happened at the ruins, matched perfectly with what she said.’

The truth is… Twilight had been trying to convince herself over and over, that she was still a normal pony. She just couldn’t grasp the situation because it was just so unreal to her. Vamponies! For as long as she knew, vamponies were just fictional creatures. Creatures that for the most part, was used only for scary stories and such. She read countless books on the history of Equestria, only to find nothing remotely close to a real vampony. But with all of the overwhelming evidence against her now, she couldn’t deny it any longer. ‘I’m… I’m a monster now…’

Nightmare Moon watched, as tears ran down the unicorn’s face. ‘At one point, you were trying find out everything that is to do with vamponies and now you cry before your queen.’ She turned away and said. “If it makes you feel any better, you don’t have to kill the pony you drink to transform.”

Twilight turned away, rubbing her face with a hoof. “I’m sorry, your highness, it’s just a little bit too much to take in.”

The alicorn nodded. “Fair enough…” She was about to continue, but was interrupted, when the carriage began to dip.

“We have arrived, my Queen.” The carriage was pulled onto the royal airstrip, stopping at the entrance of the castle.

Nightmare Moon exited and was greeted by another pony. “Welcome back to the castle, your highness, I take it your tasks has been completed?” The pony looked back at the carriage, to see Twilight exiting out of it. “Who’s that, your majesty?”

“This is Twilight Sparkle, Captain.” Nightmare pointed a hoof at the unicorn. “You are to escort her to one of the spare rooms in the castle and return to me at the throne room when you are finished here.” The alicorn swiftly entered the castle.

The captain of the guard faced the unicorn and said, in a curt voice. “Hello, Miss Sparkle, I am here to take you to your room.” He turned and began walking away.

Twilight took notes on the stallion as she followed. He was a tall Pegasus, with a navy blue coat, a somewhat messy-styled silver mane, and a large pair of black feathery wings. His cutie-mark was a large shield with a menacing red eye in the center.

As they were nearing the stairs to the upper floors, Twilight spoke. “Umm… Is it alright if I just sleep in my old room, in the royal library?”

The guard pony was taken aback. “You lived here before?”

Twilight shook her head. “Actually I’ve been living here since I was a filly and I used to be Princess Celestia’s personal student.” She flinched slightly at the last statement.

“Humm… very well.” He changed direction, moving towards a familiar ivory tower.

After several minutes of awkward silence, the guard asked. “Did you ever have your first drink yet?”

It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised. “I sorry, but w-what did you say?” ‘I could’ve sworn he said…’

The guard stopped. “I asked if you completed your transformation yet, vampony.” He turned and faced her, waiting.

“N-no, I was only changed today.” Twilight leaned away. “W-who are you?” ‘And how do you know what I am?!’

Instead of answering her, the pony turned and began walking again. Twilight followed behind the guard pony, taking very careful steps. After several more minutes of walking, they finally reached the large doors to the library.

The navy blue pony turned once more, to face Twilight. “You are to remain here until the Master decides to summon you.” He began walking away. “Your personal belongings will be delivered in the meantime… Have a good night, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight watched him go, having more questions than answers. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’