Fabula Nova Equestria

Chapter 1

The Intruder

Author's note: Please note this story basically forgets that season 2 Of MLP FIM Ever Happened since I wrote this before the second season ^^' I'm reuploading it cause well, I wanted to continue it and retry this story! I hope you all enjoy!

It was a normal night just as any other in Equestria. Most of the ponyfolk asleep with the occasional few who were awake, such as the night guard at Canterlot, or the hard-working pony Rarity. One particular pony who surprisingly wasn't up at this time was Princess Luna. She was fast asleep in her bed since her sister felt she needed to relax some before taking over the night once more in Equestria.

In the castle itself the night guard, or evening shift, had been patrolling the castle walls as usual. The leader of the guard was captain Leo, who even though was Celestia's most trusted guard, felt that he needed to watch over the evening shift since he felt this was the most vulnerable time for the Princess's. He was taller than Luna, but shorter than Celestia with a short buzzed blue main, with a scar on his left eye.

Leo was patrolling the walls as usual, watching to see if anyone dared enter Canterlot under his watch. Though, something else stuck out to him as he looked to main entrance into the castle castle. Two of his guards were napping on the job.

"YOU TWO!" he bellowed out as he trotted to the two pegasi.

"*Snort* Y-Yes sir Cap'n!" one immediately exclaimed, snorting due to the fact that he was snoring.

"S-Sorry sir I-It won't happen again!" the other perked up as he straightened himself.

"Dammit! You are Equestria's royal guard! You are elite soldiers chosen for the Princess's personal protection! If I see you two napping again I'll clip your wings!" he yelled at the two who just saluted and stood straight.

"Y-Yessir!" they said in unison.

The captain sighed as he turned around to continue his patrol, but quickly noticed that one of his messengers was bolting to him.

"Captain! Urgent news!" the unicorn guardsman yelled as he trotted up to him.

"What is it soldier?"

"Strange lights have appeared around Equestria! 6 in total!" the soldier reported.

"Do we know where?"

"Most of them in or around Ponyville! One was spotted at the outskirts of Everfree, another by the Carousel Boutique, another seemed to be inside the library, another by Sweet Apple Acres, and one in the sky by a pegasus's mansion" Leo looked to the soldier then raised an eyebrow.

"And the sixth?" he asked.

"East of Ponyville from the looks of it! This one was much brighter than the others!" the soldier said saluting him.

"All right…tell this to the Princess, she'll know what we need to do next" he commanded getting a quick "yessir" from the messenger who ran off into the castle.

Leo turned to look at the two at the front entrance who both stood straight.

"You two! Stay here and be sure to report of any suspicious activity!" he commanded to which both gave him a "Yessir."

"The last thing we need is something to happen here in Canterlot" and just after Leo had said this, light filled the front entrance of the Castle. The three royal guard covered their eyes from the bright rose-colored light and as soon as it came, it vanished.

"Wh-What in the world?" one of the guard said lowering the hoof in front of his eyes and as soon as his vision cleared, he saw standing in the courtyard was a rather tall unicorn mare who had a pink mane where the bottom half was hanging over her left shoulder while the rest was brushed to the right. Her coat was a very light pink color and her cutey mark was that of a lightning bolt. Though, she also had a strange mark in the middle of her chest that had black arrows and a red-eye in the center. Leo and the other guard could soon see her but both simply raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you? And why are you in Equestira?" Leo asked sternly as he stared at the pink maned pony, who just simply raised an eyebrow.

"Answer!" Leo bellowed out, of course getting a negative response, the mare reached her head back and pulled what was a saber of some sort out of her holster, taking a defensive stance.

"Have it your way…" Leo answered as he soon started to charge at the mare.

In the castle, Luna, Princess of the night, lay fast asleep, dreaming peacefully of her and her sister sharing the kingdom. As she dreamed, she began to see images of ponies flash before her eyes. Six of them all together, three mares and three stallions, had entered her dreams and each of them having a strange black and red mark on their bodies. One mare in particular stood out to her. A pink maned mare who had the strange mark on her chest and was surrounded by roses. Then, the images and dreamed suddenly vanished.

"Luna…" a deep voice called out to the Princess in her dream. The Princess turned to face the source in the blackness.

"LUNA…" the voice boomed louder, making the Princess turn to look all around her again to find that she could find who was calling her name.

"LUNA!" at last Luna looked behind her to find that a large black stallion with a long red flowing mane wearing black armor was looking down at her. It stuck it's hoof out and soon a black essence flowed from it to Luna, enveloping her body as she struggled to get free. She even tried to scream but it was no use since she couldn't speak in this nightmare. Then as she looked to the black stallion, it's eyes glowed bright as a wicked grin formed across it's face.

"THE NIGHTMARE SHALL RISE AGAIN!"

Luna gasped for air as she shot up in her bed, covered in a cold sweat. Her eyes darted around the room, seeing she was safe in the castle and sighed.

"I-It was just a dream…" she whispered as she uncovered herself, getting up to walk over to the mirror. Luna looked at herself, seeing a messy haired princess looking back with bags under her eyes. She sighed and turned to walk out of the room, heading to her sisters bedroom.

"Maybe Tia can comfort me…" Luna said to herself and proceeded down the hallway. She approached her sister's room to find the door open, and as she walked to the door, a messenger unicorn briskly walked out in front of Luna.

"P-Pardon me your majesty!" he excused himself and quickly dashed down the hallway. Luna tilted her head as she watched him leave, then proceeded into the room. As usual her sister wasn't in bed and was instead on the balcony. The younger monarch walked out on the balcony to see her sister looking toward Ponyville.

"Yes my little sister?" Princess Celestia said as she turned her head to see her little sister with a smile.

"Tia-I-I mean…Sister, I had a very strange dream…" Celestia looked back to Ponyville and opened her left-wing, inviting Luna to sit next to her, which Luna did, causing Celestia to close her wing around her.

"Tell me about your dream Lu-Lu" the Princess said with a smile, getting a blush from Luna.

"Well…first it was normal, just a dream of me and you taking care of Equestria, when I suddenly see these ponies faces that I've never seen before" Luna recalled looking to the sky. "Especially this one mare who had a pink mane, and a strange mark on her chest" Celestia looked to her sister in concern, wanting to know more about her dream.

"Then…the dream turned into a nightmare" Luna whispered as she shivered. "It was black all around, and a voice started to call my name. I turned to face it when it called me…but whenever I looked, it wasn't there…" Luna then looked up to her sister and leaned against her. "I finally saw it, a large black stallion who enveloped me in darkness…and before everything turned black, he said to me the Nightmare shall rise again…" Luna cringed at the last part as she remembered the grin on that stallion's face.

"Tia…what does it mean?" Luna asked, but noticed her sister was now deep in though. "Tia?" Luna asked again.

"Hm? O-Oh forgive me Luna…" Celestia said with a smile and unwrapped her wing from around her. "I'm sure it was just nothing more than a nightmare Lu-Lu…so please don't worry and get some sleep" Celestia told her sister and looked to her with a reassuring smile. Luna found Celestia's reaction a little…odd, but she didn't want to question her since it was rather late.

"Yes…I'm sure you're right…" Luna whispered and turned to face her sisters bedroom, but as she did a messenger burst through the doorway onto the balcony.

"Your majesty! There's an intruder!" he reported causing both of the sisters to look at him surprised. "It's a pink maned mare with a strange black and red mark on her chest!" Luna looked wide-eyed at the messenger and ran up to him.

"Where? Where is the intruder?" Luna demanded causing the poor unicorn to cringe.
"F-Front courtyard!" he answered. Luna then with a mighty flap of her wings took off into the night sky.

"LUNA!" Celestia yelled, but her sister was already flying around the castle. "Come! We must make haste!" with that the elder of the two with the messenger trotted into the castle to head for the entrance.

Luna had flown to the other side of Canterlot, looking to the ground for the entrance.
"There!" she said once she saw the lighted area where two ponies were staring at each other. She recognized one as Leo, but the other was the so-called pink maned intruder. Luna couldn't get a clear view exactly, so she descended down towards the place of interest, landing behind the two guards standing at the entrance.

"What's going on?" Luna exclaimed, causing the two guards to turn and fumble into a salute.

"M-My lady it's dangerous for you! An intruder has engaged Captain Leo!" the one on the left of her reported.

"A-Actually Cap'n attacked her first" the one on the right chimed in, causing Luna to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"She pulled a weapon out!" the other retorted.

"But the cap'n was yellin at her!" soon the two started to bicker at each other about who started the fight, and Luna just groaned moving away from the two.

"Let's just stop this!" she said looking out to see the captain and the intruder fighting each other, Leo now with a weapon of his own held in his mouth. The two were charging at each other, but the pink maned intruder had the upper hand. With swift moves she dodged the captain and bucked him in the side, knocking him off-balance which in turn caused him to topple over and drop his weapon.

"Nrgh! Clever filly aren't ya…" he spat as he slowly stood up, but stopped as he found a blade in his face being held in the mare's mouth.

"STOP!" the voice of Luna caused the mare to turn to face the princess, which Leo took advantage of. He swooped the feet from under the mare and bucked her across the pavement. Leo then went to grab his weapon and charge, but stopped as Luna quickly moved in between him and the mare.

"Princess! This is an intruder who is very dangerous!" Leo yelled as Luna stood in his path.

"Because you attacked her first!" Luna yelled and glared at him. "Now I ordered you to stop!" with that, Leo simply grunted and turned around. Luna sighed in relief and turned to find the mare struggling to get up. She quickly walked over to her and kneeled down beside her. "Please…tell me your name…" Luna asked as she looked to the pony who looked up to her with hazy eyes.

"L-Lightning…" she whispered causing Luna to smile.

"I'm Luna…but forgive me…I have to do this…" Luna whispered and with a flash of her horn, the mare fell unconscious to the ground. "At least this is better than struggling to the infirmary…" she said smiling.

"Indeed it is…" the voice of her older sister called from behind her. Luna turned to see Celestia approaching to find the mare unconscious on the ground. "You knocked her out?" Celestia asked raising an eyebrow.

"No I put her asleep since she seemed…tired" Luna said gazing at Lightning. Celestia looked to her sister, seeing the glimmer in her sister's eyes.

"Leo, take this mare to the infirmary" Celestia commanded.

"B-But your majesty, she's an intruder!" Leo responded in disbelief.

"Are you disobeying a direct command?" Celestia raised an eyebrow as she looked to the captain, daring him to challenge her.

"N-No your grace…" Leo defeated walked to the unconscious Lightning, lifted her onto his back and carried her into the castle.

"He can be quite a pain sometimes…" Celestia said with a smile and looked to her sister. "Now come…we'll talk with her in the morning…you need some sleep…" with that Luna nodded and followed her sister into the castle. Luna stopped and looked back to see Lightning's weapon on the floor. She quickly ran back and grabbed it with her magic, then trotted in after her sister.