Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.

She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony.

Fearing that simply defeating her sister would not stop the evils of the world, the eldest sister endeavored to assure that her kingdom would be safe from all evils of old forever; to do this, she used the elements to seal her sister in time, and called forth a great deluge to flood her kingdom.  Her subjects were teleported to the hills and mountains to live out their lives.

The eldest sister, saddened by the loss of her younger sister, sealed herself away, and vowed to control the passage of night and day herself; hidden from the world above, watching from the shadows, awaiting the day her sister was freed.

For the day Nightmare Moon returned would mark the beginning of the return of all the evils the sisters had fought so hard to defeat.

"Huh..."

The lavender unicorn looked down at the book before her, scratching her chin.  "Elements of Harmony... where have I heard of that before...?"

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"There you are, Twilight!"

Twilight Sparkle stopped upon hearing her name.  She had been trotting back towards home when she had heard it, and turning around, she saw the source of the voice; none other than Twinkle Shine.  She smiled a bit at the pony.  "Oh! Hi, sorry girls, I gotta catch up on some studying!"

Twinkle sighed, looking to her friends.  "Does that pony do anything besides study...? It's like she's more interested in books than she is in friends!"

Twilight Sparkle continued to trot on, ignoring further comments.  "I've heard of the Elements of Harmony before, I just know it..."  She continued until she stopped to look out at the ocean.

It didn't often occur to her, in fact, she couldn't remember ever actually caring about it.  But somehow, at this moment, it really did, and she could see it as plain as the nose on her face.

Twilight's home; Canterlot Island.  It is said to be the biggest, most populated island in all of the Equestrian Sea, although she didn't know how true that was; after all, she had never left the island before.  Indeed, much of the island seemed more like a mountain than a common land mass.  A lot of the city was perched on the hillsides, although there was an artificial mass that was placed above the water; supported by several underwater beams, supports, trusses, and other architectural marvels.  As such, it was a major hub for trade, and considered the capital of the Equestrian Sea (although most islands operated independantly, the remaining vestiges of the Equestrian Treatise kept them very closely knit together.)

She continued her trot into the city, staring at all the ponies as they went about their business.  Today was a particularly busy day; the Summer Sun Celebration was drawing near.  Legend foretells that on this day, one thousand years ago, was the day that Equestria sank thanks to the heroic sacrifice of the solar princess.  Naturally, this time of year, a lot of ponies were looking to make their names, sell their wares, and so forth.

Twilight trotted towards her home; a modest little apartment, seemingly beneath her noble status, but it was a gift from her parents, and it accommodated everything she needed.

She opened the door, almost immediately noticing a loud 'whack!'

"Spike?"

"Owww..."

"Spike! I need my copy of Predictions and Prophecies! Wh... what's that?"

Spike groaned and looked to a broken box.  "Well, it WAS a gift for Moondancer..."

"Spike, there's no time for that sort of thing! We've got to get to work!"

Spike stood up.  "What? Work on what? Are you finally joining Shining Armor's naval crew? Do we get to go on sea adventures and fight pirates?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.  "No, Spike.  Just find the book."

Spike went to work, checking the various bookshelves.  Twilight's apartment was by no means small, but the telescopes, laboratory, workshop space, and study area seemed to threaten to consume much of it.  Her bedroom was the only place not marred by various instruments, doodads, and books, really.  He climbed a ladder and started looking around.  "Aha! Found it!"  A magenta glow wrapped around the book, pulling Spike from the ladder along with it, towards Twilight.  The dragon dropped off and fell on his rump as the unicorn opened it and read.

"E... E... E... I know it's in here somewhere... Aha! Elements of Harmony! See: Mare on the Moon... huh..."

Spike quirked his brow.  "Mare on the Moon? Isn't that some kind of old Pony's tale?"

Twilight flipped through the pages.  "Mare on the Moon! Myth of old pony times, na na na na rule equestria hu hu huh huh imprisoned in moon... ah! Legend has it, on the longest day of the thousandth year since the deluge, the stars will aid in her escape.  At which point, she will begin her quest to awaken the evils of old, and bring about night time eternal! Spike, do you know what this means!?"

Spike rubbed the back of his head.  "Uh... more time to sleep?"

"Take a note, Spike! We have to contact the royal council!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... And let me get this straight... you want us to give you access to the navy to stop these..."

"Humans."

"HUMANS... from invading Canterlot?"

"Yes."

"... All for Lyra's movement to form an anti-human naval regiment?"

"...."

"All opposed?"

"Aye!"

"The Ayes have it.  Thank you for your time, MIss Hearstrings."

Lyra waved her hooves in the air.  "You're all making a big mistake! The humans are coming; I can feel it in my bones! They'll invade, and THEN you'll be sorry!" With that, Lyra was dragged out by two royal guards.

Blueblood sighed and put a hoof to his forehead.  "Ugh... where do these ponies come from?"

Another council member, one Smarty Pants, held up his chart and read it over.  "According to this... it says she came from the Apple Islands."

Blueblood balked.  "Apple Islands? Isn't that the place we've decided to hold the Summer Sun Celebration this year? Is their home full of ponies who are this... crazy?"

Fancy Pants sighed.  "Blueblood, I assure you, Miss Lyra is a unique case..." Of course, he didn't know if he believed this or not.  Still, generalizations are bad.  "This year's Summer Sun Celebration will mark the 1000th anniversary of this tradition.  The Apple Islands are located particularly close to what the historical records suggest was the sight of the battle of the Regal Sisters.

Blueblood sighed.  "Must we really stick to the tradition of hosting this thing near that place every 100 years? Why can't we have this year's Summer Sun Celebration on Filly Isle? It's much more sophisticated, and has a lot more... exotic sights..."

Fancy Pants rolled his eyes.  "Blueblood, need I remind you that that was the location of LAST year's Summer Sun Celebration? It's rare we hold this event in the same place twice in a row, and that's usually reserved for special situations such as heroes or tragic events..."

"Boys, can we just finish this up?"

The council ponies looked to one Cadence, who was rubbing her forehead.  "We've got one more meeting; it's an emergency meeting brought to us by none other than Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight Sparkle!? Velvet's daughter!?" Shouted Blueblood.  This earned him a glare of daggers from Cadence.

"Yes, THAT Twilight Sparkle.  She claims to have an emergency that can't wait, about the fate of the island.  She's very educated and graduated top of her class from the School for Gifted Unicorns, so I think it wise we give her a little time, wouldn't you agree?"

Fancy Pants nodded.  "Indeed, Blueblood.  If there's anypony who knows what she's talking about, it would be Twilight Sparkle, the well-educated daughter of the famous navigator, explorer, and writer, Twilight Velvet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"An evil pony from the moon is going to enslave us all!"

Blueblood looked towards Fancy Pants with a smirk on his face.  Fancy Pants did not respond, although he was masking the strong desire to facehoof.  Luckily, Cadence spoke up.

"Uhm... Twilight, can you please elaborate for us?"

Twilight's horn glowed and levitated various documents and notes from her saddlebag.  "I've been doing research when I discovered that an old legend foretells the escape of Nightmare Moon from her lunar prison on the last day of the thousandth year, and that she'd bring about eternal night! Empirical evidence suggests that that would be this coming Summer Sun Celebration, and that her coming will herald the return of ancient evils, the rise of a lost kingdom! We have to act NOW!"

Blueblood was stifling a laugh.  "M-Miss Sparkle... even if we were to consider doing this... what would you have us do? And please, tell me the 'humans' aren’t going to be involved in any way."

Twilight quirked a brow.  "What? Humans? What is the Humans?" She shook her head.  "Not important! It says we need the Elements of Harmony, so I think we should look for those! We need the navy, every ship ready for battle, ready to evacuate, ready for ANYTHING!"

Blueblood openly burst into a fit of laughter.  All the other council members, save for Cadence, who was carefully looking over the notes, simply either stared at Twilight or, in the case of Fancy Pants, was glaring at Blueblood.

"M... Miss Sparkle... I.... I thank you for the laugh but... but the Elements of Harmony? Mare in the Moon? You realize these are all old legends, right? There are no 'Regal Sisters', and whatever there was of Ancient Equestria was lost when the ocean flooded the land!"

"B-But Councilpony Blueblood, I--"

"Alright, we'll call it to a vote.  All for amassing a military effort to fight the Mare on the Moon, say Aye."

Nopony responded.

"All opposed?"

"Aye!"

"But--" Twilight tried to speak.

"All for amassing a search for the fabled 'Elements of Harmony?"

"But honorable Council members, I--"

"All opposed."

"Aye!"

"The ayes have it.  Please, Miss Sparkle, leave before I laugh myself to death."

Twilight bit her lip, blushing furiously in humiliation and defeat, and turned, storming from the chambers.

"Well, I was surprised.  I thought nothing could top Lyra's human invasion... we may need to tell Lady Velvet her daughter may need to be committed."

"Blueblood, there's no need for that kind of behavior..."

Cadence simply stared at the notes, looking up to the doors where Twilight had tread out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike sat on a chair in the lobby, sucking on a sapphire, savoring the taste.  Gems were like candy to him; he couldn't get enough! He was just about to take the biggest, crunchiest bite out of it, when the door slammed open, and Twilight stepped out.

"Twilight? You're back! What did--"

Spike stopped, noticing Twilight sniffling and rubbing her eyes, letting out a choke.

"Oh... Twilight...."

"Th... they laughed at me Spike!" She said, sniffling again and trying to wipe tears from her eyes.  "They laughed at me, told me I was wrong... they didn't even look over my notes! They... they... even Cadence just... sat there..."

Spike blinked.  "Cadence? You mean your old foal sitter?"

"Did somepony mention me?"

The two turned about to see none other than Cadence standing behind them.  The pink unicorn was very well-built; her frame one of beauty and grace, a mature mare who took perfect care of herself.  She was the very image of beauty.  "Twilight, I want to apologize for how cousin Blueblood acted towards you.  It was unfair and very unbefitting a member of the Council."

Twilight choked and sniffed a bit.  "... I... it's not your fault..." She really did want to say something else, to unleash her frustration on Cadence... but she couldn't.  Her old babysitter didn't deserve that.  It wasn't her fault Blueblood was a jerk.  He always had been; the only reason he was on the council was, from what she had heard, a lot of bribing and blackmail.

"Twilight... I want to make this up to you..."

Twilight's ears perked up.  "W... will you help me find the elements?"

Cadence grimaced some.  "Well... I think you've been reading too many books Twilight.  I think you need to see more of the world."  Twilight hung her head and deflated.  "B-but don't take it that bad! I meant that in a good way! I have a job for you!"

Twilight sighed.  "I'm listening..."

Cadence smiled.  "The committee’s original liaison for the Summer Sun Celebration recently... " Cadence grimaced once more.   "... disappeared... out in sea... with rumors of being attacked by a giant octopus BUT THAT MEANS... that means that we need a new liaison! And I want you to do it!"

Twilight furrowed her brows.  "Don't you need committee approval for that?"

Cadence grinned.  "Leave that to me, Twilight.  Blueblood owes me a favor, and I'm sure Fancy Pants will be on my side after that display."

Twilight sighed.  "Fine... I'll do it if the vote passes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"All for making Twilight Sparkle the Summer Sun Celebration Liaison in the absence of the previous say Aye!"

"Aye!"

Blueblood didn't speak.  He looked over to Cadence who glared daggers at him and mouthed a few threatening words.

'Do you want to let them know about what happened in the Filly Isles?'

"Aye!"

"The Ayes have it!"

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TO BE CONTINUED... Next Chapter: Chapter Two - Twilight's Asylum Theory Estimated time remaining: 45 Minutes