Author's note
In tribute of the film 'Maleficent' coming out on DVD, I am now working on the story that introduces her, 'Sleeping Beauty'. So read and enjoy!

Chapter 1: Gifts and Curse

As our story begins, a book on a desk opens up, showing what's happening. The narrator, me, spoke, "A long time ago, in the kingdom known as Ponyville far away, there lived a king and queen. They wanted a daughter for many years...and soon, after long waiting, their wished is granted. They had a filly, with a mane and tail that were both moderate sapphire blue with moderate violet and brilliant Rose streaks. They named her Twilight Sparkle for she was born in the twilight of the day and that she sparkles in her live with great joy. A holiday was soon declared throughout all over so that any pony, no matter the statue, will come and pay respect for the newborn princess. And thus, our story begins on this great day."

We now see a crowd heading to the palace to pay their respects to the newborn princess. They begin to sing joyfully while doing so.

Crowd: Joyfully now to our princess we come,
Bringing gifts and all good wishes too.
We pledge our loyalty anew.
Hail to the princess Twilight!
All of her subjects adore her!
Hail to the King!
Hail to the Queen!
Hail to the princess Twilight!
Health to the princess,
Wealth to the princess,
Long live the princess Twilight
Hail Twilight! Hail Twilight!
Hail to the King!
Hail to the Queen!
Hail to the princess Twilight!
Hail to the King!
Hail to the Queen!
Hail to the princess Twilight!

The crowd went inside the castle where the party is getting underway. The crowd gathers around the crib proudly as the couple in royal clothing watches on. One of them is a unicorn with a blue coat, a slate blue mane, and green yellow eyes. The unicorn himself has a yellow waxing crescent moon with a smaller waning crescent moon inside. His name is Night Light, the king.

The queen is another unicorn with light azure eyes, a moderate purple and light gray mane, a light gray coat and has three purple stars as a cutie mark. Her name is Twilight Velvet.

"Today on this great day, everyone all over celebrate the great birth. Night Light and Twilight Velvet even welcome their lifelong friend."

"From the kingdom of Canterlot, his royal highness, Lord Jack Silver and his son Benjamin Maregillian," An announcer said as two more ponies arrive on the scene. One of them is a Brown earth pony with a crown and a robe with yellow hair. His Cutie mark is a pirate sword. His name is Jack Silver, the husband of Princess Celestia and the lord of Canterlot.

The other pony is a brown coated colt with a spiky like brown mane, green eyes, a long tail and a red collar. His name is Benjamin Maregillian, AKA Ben Mare, Jack and Celestia's son.

"Great to see you again, old friend," Night Light said, shaking hooves with Jack Silver. "A great day, isn't it?"

"That it is, Night Light." Jack Silver said with a chuckle as Ben, holding out a gift for Twilight, looks at the filly in confusion. "Shame Tia can't make it. But she is busy with her own kingdom. My wife gives her regards."

"As I know she is."

Ben looks at baby Twilight who giggles at the stallion happily, blushing for some reason. It's like...the two were destined to be together even when the princess is still a baby filly!

"One day, Lord Silver and King Night Life, along with Princess Celestia, dreamt of the day when their dreams will be reunited. And thus as of today, they would announce that Benjamin Maregillian, AKA Ben Mare, Jack and Celestia's son and Twilight Sparkle herself will be betrothed. And so, the young colt brought his gift to her as he look unknowingly at his future bride."

"Huh. For a little filly, she looks cute." Ben said to himself quietly.

The announcer continues, "And now, from the Mystic Realm, the guests of honor, Rarity, Spike the Dragon, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash!"

Soon three ponies, with something on one of their backs, flew into the room using magic from the Mystic Realm, a land of Mystic Ponies. One of them is a purple mane light azure grey female unicorn with light blue eyes and three diamonds on her flank. Her name is Rarity.

On her back is a baby light purple Dragon with moderate sap green scales, a greenish gray underbelly, light lime ears and chartreuse green eyes. His name is Spike, the trio's friend. He likes riding on Rarity as it is no secret in the Mystic Realm that Spike has a crush on the mare.

The second pony is a pale yellow female Pegasus with a long pink mane and tail, cyan eyes. Her cutie mark is three butterflies. Her name is Fluttershy.

The last of the trio to come from the Mystic Realm is a light blue female Pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and tail, pink eyes and a marking of a cloud and a rainbow shaped lightning bolt on her flank.. Her name is Rainbow Dash.

"Hey folks! What's up?" Rainbow asks, doing a pose as if doing so for fans. Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy chuckles while rolling their eyes. That mare is just a showoff!

The Mystic Realm ponies go over to the crib where Twilight is at. As she smiles at them, Fluttershy smiles, "Awww, look at her."

"Yes, yes, indeed. She is cute." Rarity remarks with a light chuckle, smiling at little Twilight.

"You know, I feel like I would've been her assistant, brother, son, whatever in another lifetime." Spike comments, making the ponies look at him, "Oh; Not that I'm saying that I ain't happy with this one, though!"

"Yeah, she's awesome." Rainbow remarks with a shrug while looking at Twilight. "If she has wings though, Twilight would be one awesome flying buddy."

Rarity shushes Rainbow. Then her group turns to the royal couple, doing curtesy (though Rainbow did so in annoyance). The white unicorn said, "Your majesties. Rarity: Each of us shall give the filly a magical gift. No more…no less. "

"Three shall the number thou shalt count…and the number of the counting shall be…three." Spike said, doing some sort of weird voice thingies.

Rainbow gave Spike a weird look as she asks, "Huh? Spike…what are you getting at?"

"Four…shalt thou not count. Neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five…is right out!"

"Uh, Spike?" Fluttershy ask Spike, getting an uneasy by what the Dragon is saying,

Spike didn't respond as he kept on doing, speaking oddly, "Once the number three, being the third number be reached…then--."

Rarity interrupts Spike, "Spike, darling….we were about to give the baby our gifts."

"Oh…sorry. Got carried away, I guess."

Rarity turns to the crib gently, getting out her necklace with has one of the Elements of Harmony, in this case Generosity. She activates it, waving magic around Twilight while saying, "Little princess, darling. For my gift, it shall be the gift of beauty." As magic appears over the little unicorn, a crowd behind Twilight sings.

One gift, beauty rare
Full of sunshine in her hair
Lips that shame the red red rose
She'll walk with springtime
Wherever she goes

Once Rarity's gift was given, Fluttershy smiles as she put on her own element, the Element of Kindness, as she spoke, "Tiny princess, for my gift, it shall be the gift of song." Soon the necklace glows brightly as magic was waved onto Twilight.

One gift, the gift of song
Melody her whole life long
The nightingale's her troubadour
Bringing her sweet serenade
to her door

Now it's Rainbow's turn. The mare put on her Element of Loyalty, grinning as she flew over. The Pegasus said, "Hey, princess. For my gift, it shall be..."

But before Rainbow could finish, the castle doors blew open by a gust of wind. Everyone gasps in alarm as thunder and lightning appears in the room followed by a huge smoke cloud. What is going on? Two figures appear in the room, standing menacingly at everyone. One of them is an Alicorn, a Winged Unicorn but her wings are missing. She had one purple eye shadow, something to accent her otherwise utterly black appearance. In addition, she was clad in her regal armor: elegant horse shoes, a chest plate with a crescent moon, her neck plate, and the sleek helmet. Her name is Nightmare Moon.

Now, here's some history involving Nightmare Moon. She was once known as Princess Luna, Celestia's sister, which also makes the mare Jack's sister-in-law. Of course, Luna's heart soon became full of darkness and hatred. 1, because she felt jealous towards Celestia when the ponies loved her more (in Nightmare Moon's POV) as well as finding true love. With makes the second reason worst as Luna was betrayed by her former lover King Sombra, who also cut off her wings, and thus, the Alicorn was unable to fly since.

Princess Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and tried to take the Mystic Realm, where she and Celestia were originally found, over but was stopped and banished.

Now the second figure is a griffin with golden eyes with a gray light purple around them eyes, a coat of moderate orange amber with darker wings and a white head. Her name is Gilda, Rainbow Dash's former friend until she shown what a bully she is.

"Hey lame-os," Gilda remarked with a chuckle to the shocked ponies.

"Why it's...it's Nightmare Moon!" Fluttershy gasp in shock and fear at the dark sister of Celestia.

"What does that old bat want here?!" Rainbow demands angrily at Nightmare Moon.

"Shush, Rainbow Dash. She'll hear you." Rarity said quietly to Rainbow in concern. If Nightmare Moon were to hear her, who knows what that wicked Alicorn would do?

"Well let her hear me!"

Spike nods in agreement as he said, "Yeah, she's not welcome here."

"Ugh...save me from the stubbornness of both Pegasi and Dragons!" Rarity groans, slapping her head with her own hoof. "Your loose tongues will get you both into trouble someday."

"We'll see about that, Rarity."

"Fine."

"Well, well, well; this is quite the royal occasion, King Night Light. And I can see that every pony has come. Royalty, nobility, the gentry and...ha ha ha ha...how quaint." Nightmare Moon said. She notices her former Mystic Realm friends watching from nearby, making her grin wickedly and in amusement. "Even the rabble had arrived along with their pipsqueak assistant."

"Pipsqueak," Spike yells out angrily. He would've charged her if Fluttershy haven't grabbed his tail, keeping him back in time.

"I feel a little bit insulted that neither Gilda nor I were given an invitation."

"You're not welcome here, Nightmare Moon." Night Light said sternly to Nightmare Moon. No one would dare invite a monster who tried to take over the Mystic Realm, out of jealosity towards her sister and anger towards her ex-lover Sombra.

"That's what I was gonna say, too." Rainbow remarks in agreement.

"Yeah...you're not wanted here!" Spike yells out to Nightmare Moon angrily.

"Spike," Rarity and Fluttershy exclaims in alarm by Spike's outburst.

"Bah! I'm surprised they invited you lame-os here!" Gilda exclaims to the trio with a nasty sneer. "They would invite any loser nowadays!"

"I wasn't inv..." Nightmare Moon said, acting in pretend surprise at first. Then, as if feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward, she chuckles. "Well, well, this is awkward...for a moment, I thought our invite was an oversight of such. Well, in that case, Gilda and I must be on our way."

"Then you're not offended, Nightmare Moon?" Twilight Velvet ask Nightmare Moon hopefully. The others doesn't feel her hope as they suspect that there's something else going on here than apologizing for coming uninvited before leaving.

"Why no, dear Queen Twilight Velvet; in fact...to show you what a good Alicorn I am, I will also give a gift to your foal." Nightmare Moon said. She steps forward, causing Rarity's group to block the crib. That nasty Alicorn is up to something! Nightmare Moon stood in the center of the room, speaking to everyone else, "Listen well, all of you! The mare will grow up to have beauty and grace...but..."

Nightmare Moon then uses her magic to show am image of a book with wires on it, saying, "But before the sun would set on her 16th birthday...she will prick her hoof on a wire from a black book..." Then the Alicorn shows an image that horrified everyone, even the royal couple: an image of Twilight, grown-up, lying still in a bed, "...and die!"

"No!" Twilight Velvet gasps in horror as she gallops over to the crib and pick up her crying filly. Nightmare Moon laughs wickedly: her gift is that of a curse!

Jack, having had enough of Nightmare Moon's gloating, drew his sword at the crazed corrupted form of his 'so-called' sister-in-law, silencing her laughter as she gasped in shock and surprise.

"How dare thou?! How dare thou draw thy blade upon me, Jack Silver," Nightmare Moon hiss angrily at her brother-in-law. She is still anger by how her sister married this former pirate!

"'I, too….shall bestow a gift…on the filly'? Well, how about I show ye how I bestow gifts to my enemies, Nightmare Moon!" Jack snaps at Nightmare Moon angrily.

Jack slashes at Nightmare Moon who moves to dodge his attack. Rainbow cheers him on, "Oh yeah! You teach her a thing or two, Jack!"

"Rainbow," Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy exclaims to Rainbow in alarm. Now their friend is making things worst!

"Nopony…pirate or not, nopony dares threaten me and gets away with it!" Nightmare Moon snaps, dodging the next blade. This is the second time any Equestrian pony would dare raise a blade on her, since her former lover Sombra!

"Ye break into the house of me closest friends without an invitation, ye insult their guests, you threaten their filly with dark magic and death! Oh…I have chosen my words carefully, Nightmare Moon." Jack snaps at Nightmare Moon sternly. "Perhaps ye should have done the same when ye came here."

"You're making a very big mistake, Jack Silver. You're gonna throw your life away for this. This is madness!" Gilda exclaims to Jack, getting alarmed by this.

"Madness; Madness; OH…I'll show you…MADNESS!"

Then Jack used his hind legs to buck Nightmare Moon and Gilda away, as the two villains were sent flying towards the doors of the castle. Then Nightmare Moon got up and shook her head, regaining her senses before she glared at Jack in vengeance.

"Thou shalt pay dearly for this humiliation, Jack Silver. A curse upon thee and a curse upon thy colt," Nightmare Moon promises furiously to the one who dared attack her. "I swear that before the day of the Princess's sixteenth birthday is over, thou shalt suffer, Jack Silver…thou and all thine descendants. Starting with thy precious son, Benjamin..."

Ben, gulping in fear, spoke, "Uh-oh."

"Guards…seize her. Seize that foul monster!" Night Light exclaims furiously while pointing to Nightmare Moon.

"This is far from over, Night Light. Soon…the whole kingdom shall pay for neglecting to invite me to this occasion." Nightmare Moon exclaims furiously. The Royal Guards prepare to attack her but she uses lightning to knock them away. "Stand back, fools!"

Soon an explosion occurs, causing most of everyone to cover their eyes. As all is clear, Nightmare Moon and Gilda are now gone, the wicked laughter of the Alicorn echoes all over. Everyone was in shock and fear while the royal couple looks at their daughter. Knowing Nightmare Moon, she won't rest until her curse and vengeance is complete!

Rainbow on the other hoof grins to Jack, saying, "You sure showed her a thing or two, Jack!"

"Rainbow, I think that Jack's interference only made it worse." Fluttershy said seriously to Jack. What he did made her sister-in-law outraged, enough that she will make sure that Jack and Ben will pay.

"I'm afraid that Fluttershy is right, Jack Silver. You've made quite the enemy out of Nightmare Moon, and she will never rest until you have paid the price for humiliating her like that." Rarity said to Jack seriously.

"If that be the price I pay for punishing her for her trespassing and her insults, then so be it, Miss Rarity. I don't fear her and I will pay any price for defending my friends." Jack said sternly to Rarity. He doesn't fear Nightmare Moon and will welcome death if the wicked Alicorn does come back.

"Even if that price is more than you could bear?"

"Aye...except if that cost were my only son, Ben."

Rarity clears her throat, walking to the couple while saying, "King Night Light, Queen Twilight Velvet, it's okay. Rainbow Dash didn't give her gift just yet."

"Then the curse can be undone?" Night Light ask Rarity, hoping that maybe Rainbow could undo Nightmare Moon's wicked curse.

"Hey, wish that can be easy." Rainbow groans, shaking her head sadly.

Rarity sadly nods as she said, "We got great powers, but Nightmare Moon's are greater than ours. There's nothing we could do to stop the curse or defeat her."

"But, no worries; It can still be change, right Rainbow?" Fluttershy ask Rainbow with a smile.

"What, but..." Rainbow begins to protest in concern. She doesn't know if she herself could change the curse. What if the Pegasus pony mess the attempt up?

"Rainbow, darling, not to worry," Rarity said, patting her friend on the back in assuration.

"Right, do your best. I believe in you." Fluttershy said to Rainbow lightly.

Rainbow sighs in concern then trots up to Twilight. The mare rose her pendant up, hoping for the best. The Pegasus pony said, "Sweet princess, if through this wicked Alicorn's trick by chance your prick your finger on a wire of a black book like Nightmare Moon predicts, there is still hope in this, the gift I give you. With this gift, you won't die, but be put into a deep sleep. One way, and the only way you shall awaken is when true love's kiss break the spell."

Spike pulls on Rainbow's tail, getting her attention. She said, "And Rainbow..."

"Yes, Spike?"

Spike begins whispering, "Maybe you can throw in something extra special so that will really be enough to break the spell."

"Thanks, Spike." Rainbow said in agreement. She threw in something extra special, though said the last part under her breathe so that no one could hear her.

For true love conquers all.

Author's note
And thus, the curse and gifts are in place. In the next chapter, in hopes to save Twilight from the curse, Rarity makes a plan that would result in the unicorn's disappearance for a few years, though Nightmare Moon is a bit upset and frustrated at that. Read, review and suggest.

Some bits of the new 'Maleficent' film are referenced.