Twilight, Wayfarer, and the others had gathered in the clearest spot in town that they could find. Forming a circle, the Element bearers looked to Twilight for instructions.

"Alright, Celestia gave me this spell to summon Discord from wherever he might be, hopefully it works."

The six of them began to gather magic and focus it into their necklaces and Twilight's crown. The wind around them began to pick up as the gems began to glow. then they were gently lifted into the air and a stream of rainbow lights began to flow around them, connecting the Elements to each other. Spike hid behind Wayfarer's legs as Twilight's eyes glowed a brilliant white and the rainbow began to spin in a vortex at the center of their circle. After a few seconds of howling wind and flashing colours, the whirlwind began to dissipate. Then everything stopped, the only sound left was that of Discord strumming at a few keys on a baby grand piano and muttering to himself.

"No, no, that won't do. That's-" When he realized what had happened, Discord stopped and spun about to look at everyone. "Oh well if this isn't a pleasant surprise!"

"Discord," Twilight said with a modicum of displeasure. "We need to talk."

"Oh why certainly Twilight!" Discord snapped his fingers and the piano disappeared to be replaced with a table and set of fine china. Twilight found herself teleported to the opposite side of Discord as he started pouring tea.

"So how is Pinkie Pie these days? She still throwing parties?"

"Discord, enough!" Twilight shouted, jumping up onto the table so she could get to eye level with him. "We have a crisis on our hooves!"

"Oh, you mean the vines everywhere?" Discord asked, gesturing to the plants in question. "I was going to say that I liked the new flora you introduced to Ponyville, but I could see how an aggressive non-indigenous species could reek a little havoc."

"Yeah, the same sort of havoc you are known for!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying right up into Discord's face. "Admit it! This is your doing!"

Discord looked around at all the accusatory faces and then started to sputter in mock hurt.

"Wait, you think that I- oh, OH, how could you?" Discord's eyes got big and watery as he gave a puppy dog like pout in Fluttershy's general direction. "Blaming me for some supposed wrongdoing? I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

"W-we are friends Discord!" Fluttershy pleaded. "It's just that, well, who else could or would do something like this?"

"Such baseless accusations!" Discord cried out, laying the back of his arm across his eyes and leaning his head back in a very dramatic manner. "After all the hard work you all put into reforming me, you really think I'm so untrustworthy that I'm your first suspect when rotten fruit hits the fan?"

"Oh please," Applejack said, snorting and stomping at the ground. "This fits your bill to a T! Even you gotta admit that this stinks of your rotten fruit!"

"Hmph!" Discord snorted as he dropped the fake tears and scowled at the farm pony. "I'll have you know that I've been in my studio since yesterday! Any and all chaos I've wrought has been in the privacy of my own home! Maybe if you earth ponies used that green hoof you're always so proud of on that forest, it wouldn't feel the need to start taking over your town. Now if you'll excuse me," Discord added as he turned and started to walk off with his nose held high in the air. "I have better things to do than stand around and have hooves pointed at me."

"Wait," Twilight said, hurriedly jumping off the table and galloping over to stand in Discord's way. "The vines aren't the only problem. Luna and Celestia have gone missing."

Discord's ears perked up at that. "Really now? Well that explains why the sun and moon are having a tug of war with the sky right now. But as I said, any and all chaos caused by me in the last twenty four hours was confined to my own private quarters. So if you plan on blaming me for that as well-"

"I wanted to ask you if you would help us," Twilight said simply, yet genuinely. Everypony looked a little shocked at this sincere request to the lord of chaos, and almost half looked sure that Discord would refuse. "If you really aren't the cause of all this, than help us set it right and find the princesses. Please?"

Discord looked down at Twilight and scratched his chin with a curious expression. Eventually he sighed and threw his hands into the air. "Fine, but only because you asked nicely, Sparkle Twilight."

With that, Discord took on a tan coat and matching deerstalker cap. From the coat he pulled a comically large magnifying glass and started scanning the ground with it. He kept his head and eyes low to the ground as he strutted forward, and didn't even stop when a house got in his way, he just walked right up its side. At the top, he turned the magnifier into a telescope and began sweeping the town with it.

"Well they don't appear to be in Ponyville," he said, causing everyone to groan in agitation.

Next, Discord teleported back to the ground, now wearing a doctor's outfit and stethoscope. He placed the headset in his ears and ran the chest piece along the gravel.

"I also don't hear any tell tale hearts talking. In fact," Discord tossed the stethoscope away and placed an ear directly on the ground. "I don't hear any talking at all. Guess we can rule out the possibility of the Princesses being taken to the mole ponies' underground labyrinth."

Like a lightbulb going off, Wayfarer got the hint that Discord was trying to pass on. 'The Princesses aren't underground... so their disappearance and these vines have nothing to do with the Shadows! I don't know whether to be relieved or even more worried.'

"For ponies sake!" Applejack shouted. "If you're not going to be helpful than you can just skedaddle! We ain't got time for your nonsense!"

"Nonsense?!" Discord yelled back. "I'll have you know Miss Applejack that Mole Ponies are a very real- WHAOOHOHO!" Discord pulled his head up, and a vine came with him as it tried to burrow into his ear. He grabbed hold of the blackened plant and yanked it out, shaking his head around. "Well that felt weird."

Applejack rolled her eyes and started to walk away. "C'mon y'all. We ain't get'n anything out of this one."

"Hold your horses!" Discord declared, placing the vine lose to his ear. "I think it's trying to communicate with me."

"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie cooed in wonder. "You can understand the Everfree Forest? Are you a tree whisperer?"

"Hush Pink One!" Discord said, pointing his talon at her. "And I shall speak for the trees!" Turning his head in concentration, Discord started to 'listen' to the vine, nodding in understanding even as it flailed about and tugged at his ear. "Uh huh. Yep. Of course. Oh, Naturally! Alright, I've got it!"

"It told you where to find the Princesses?" Fluttershy asked excitedly.

"Of course not Fluttershy!" Discord said as if she's asked him the stupidest question in the world. "It's a vine, it can't possibly communicate with anyone, no matter how hard it tries. Now if it was a mushroom that'd be a different story. No, I just came up with a brilliant idea."

"Oh, joy," Rainbow Dash bemoaned.

"These vines are obviously the cause of your problems," Discord pointed out, tugging on the plant. "If you follow them back to the source, you might just find what you're looking for!"

"How in Equestria are we supposed to follow this eyesore of a mess?" Rarity inquired. "The Everfree Forest is dense enough on a normal day, but now? It'll be like trying to find the end of a ball of yarn twenty five miles long! And there's a hundred other threads of the same colour mixed in!"

"Oh trust me," Discord said smugly as he started knitting some of the vines together as if they were yarn. "It'll be much harder than that. But why don't you ask someone who lives in the forest for help? Like your zebra friend?"

The vines Discord was knitting formed an arrow that pointed over at a bramble of thorns. Out from the entanglement, laden with what looked like all of her belongings was Zecora.

"Zecora!" Twilight shouted as she and the others left Discord behind and rushed to the shaman's side. They began lifting things off of her sides and helping her out of the harness attached to a severely over packed wagon. Zecora herself looked very tired and weary, as if she had to fight tooth and nail just to make it out of the forest alive. She collapsed as soon as she was free of her burdens and look sadly up at Twilight.

"From my home, I was forced to flee," she said, casting a glance back at the forest. "This wood grows too dangerous, even to me."

"Zecora," Twilight began pleading. "You know the Everfree better than anyone, do you know what's causing this? What the source of these vines is?"

"The source of our troubles, I know not." The group gave a sigh of dismay at this, unsure on how to proceed. "However," Zecora continued with a smirk as she picked herself back up."That will not stop me from looking with all I've been taught." Zecora went back to her wagon and began rummaging through the many potions she had with her.

"This plant, I've never known in my life. Which makes me think it was born in times of strife. To find it's center in this forest frontier, one needs to see with eyes most clear."

From the clutter of her wears, Zecora pulled a vial of some unknown purple liquid.

"This potion, when drunk, would give you such a vision, but only when given one important provision."

"Provision?" Twilight asked. "What do you mean?"

"This potion, you see, can show you an answer, of where you may find a source of this cancer. But only when blessed by in Alicorn's power, will this substance allow you then to scour."

Twilight seem to get the message, but several other faces still looked confused.

"So I use Alicorn magic on this potion, and then when I drink it, it'll show me what we need to know?"

Zecora smiled and nodded, and all confusion on the faces of Twilight's friends vanished, save for Wayfarer's.

"How..." He started to ask. "No, strike that, where did you get this potion, and how did you know that it only works with an Alicorn when there's only four of them?"

"Who cares about that?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Go ahead and zap it Twi, and let's see if it works!"

Twilight nodded and started pushing magic into her horn. Wayfarer continued to stare at Zecora for a bit while she looked back at him with a knowing smile. Then Twilight's horn ignited with a magic that definitely did not look like her own, drawing Wayfarer's attention back to her. She then sent a small blast of eerie black and green and purple energy at the vile, and its contents changed from purple to white.

"While it is now burning bright," Zecora explained as Twilight cautiously lifted the potion. "You will be gifted with sight beyond sight."

Nodding again, Twilight took a large swig of the potion, smacking her lips after bringing the brew away. For a moment, nothing happened.

"Uh, Zecora?" Twilight started. "How long does this –"

Suddenly, Twilight's eyes shot open and began glowing bright white. The potion's magic taking effect as it altered her perception of reality and brought her mind almost completely from her body.

When the intense energy behind her eyes finally faded, Twilight blinked several times and looked around. She was no longer in the middle of a vine ridden Ponyville, surrounded by her friends, but now she was alone in the center of a throne room that looked as though it had been abandoned for years.

"H – hello?" Twilight called out. "Where am I?"

"So, you've finally come," came a cold yet very familiar voice from behind one of the two thrones at the end of the hall.

Twilight swung about, her eyes darting up to the raised area where the seats of power stood, and was shocked to see Princess Luna staring intently down at her.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight said in both relief and confusion as she took a few steps forward. "Where are we? Why did you and Celestia disa-"

"Not another step!" Luna yelled, causing Twilight to freeze in place. "You had your chance. We could have ruled together, but no, you betrayed me! You betrayed all of them!"

"B- betrayed?!" Twilight squawked. "Luna, what are you talking about?"

"You are alone now," Luna said, causing even more hurt confusion for Twilight, who was at a total loss at understanding what Luna was talking about. "Everyone we've ever known or loved is dead now because of you! You've allowed misery to take everyone thus far, save for me!"

The air seemed to grow thick with dark magic as Luna punctuated this last sentence by bringing her hooves down hard onto the stone floor, causing it to crack all around her. The cracks continued up the stone wall behind her, until it reached the stain glass window and shattered, revealing the daytime sun.

"And now," Luna said dramatically as she rose into the air. "You've allowed even me to be taken."

Outside, Twilight could see the moon rising up from the horizon alongside Luna, until it began to obscure the sun and cause a solar eclipse. When the last of the sun disappeared behind the moon, every bit of light in and outside of the castle dimmed dramatically. From every shadowy corner, and even from the moon itself, tendrils of darkness lurched forward and begin to envelop Luna until she was wrapped tightly in a ball of dark energy that crackled and glowed with malefic intent.

Twilight could only look on in shock and terror as the sphere exploded, revealing an altered princess of the night behind. Luna's coat was now jet black, her hair like a cold and lifeless night sky. Her eyes shot open to reveal snake-like irises, and she laughed maniacally enough to show that her teeth had become sharp and jagged.

The dark alicorn descended until she stood proudly in front of the twin thrones. Snickering, she looked down at Twilight as the younger princess felt all warmth and life leave her body.

"Nightmare Moon," Twilight whispered faintly.

Again, Nightmare Moon chuckled, and briefly her turquoise eyes turned bright yellow before turning back.

"I am a shadow," she proclaimed. "The true self."