Princess Luna looked out from her balcony, her horn glowing as the sun made way for the moon. On the balcony to the side of her, Princess Celestia’s horn was lit as well, golden as the sun set beyond the horizon. Luna could not help but smile at her sister – And, as always, Celestia smiled back. In the time since Luna had returned, their friendship had only grown – In part thanks to Twilight Sparkle, the mare who had reunited them.

“Sleep well, dear sister.”

“And good dreams, Luna.”

Luna turned and walked back into her room, ready to begin her nightly task of searching the dreams of ponies in the night, settling their fears and sorrows. She preformed this task every night, wishing only good dreams upon the ponies of Equestria. This had been her duty for eons, even before she had been banished. Her horn began to glow softly, a pale blue aura, as she closed her eyes softly. She felt the power surge through her veins, the power of the night.

In a flash, she opened white eyes. The whiteness faded as she flared open her wings, a shade of her own body. Around the Shadow Luna drifted ponies’ dreams. Some were fitful, some were calm. Every dream was different from the last. The shade, floating above the corporeal Luna now, could not help but to smile. These dreams were part of her magic – Ingrained in her nighttime, dreams followed the rising of the moon.

The shade drifted through many a dream, yet found few nightmares that night. Life was sweet in Equestria. A new princess reigned along with the others, and they were protected well by the Elements of Harmony. Sadness and fear struggled and tugged, but that happiness could not fade. Friendship reigned an era of peace.

The shade wavered as a piercing scream echoed through her mind. Perhaps fear and sadness are stronger than previously thought… Shadows around her horn, the spectral form of Luna disappeared, going directly to a nightmare in question.

The dream belonged to a unicorn of high power. He was part of Canterlot’s University, Luna realized. Studied shadows and how they formed, a true insight into power like Sombra’s. The nightmare was of interest to her as well. She could hardly see anything. There was simply the pony, running, darkness following behind them. She thought she could see something within his eyes – Something a little more than fear. Something familiar, although she could put no name to it.

In a flash, she was within the nightmare fully. She recalled the pony’s name, flying above him. “Shadow Craft,” she called out. “T’is a nightmare, nothing more!”

“P-Princess Luna,” the unicorn below cried out. He looked up – That was his mistake. Distracted, he stumbled, falling face over hoof onto the ground. He looked behind him and screamed as the darkness caught up to him. “N-NO! PLEASE!”

Luna began to dive for him, but recoiled as she touched the darkness with her hoof. She gasped in slight pain as she looked at her hoof. There, her hoof began to grow dark beneath her crystal shoe, slowly. Wide eyed, she looked back down at the unicorn below, recoiling slightly. “S-Shadow…”

The unicorn was surrounded by darkness. His tears dripped black off his face, and his pupils became slits of darkness against the whites of his eyes. Screams of pain and fear turned to dark laughs. Shadows seemed to curl from his mouth as he laughed. “P-Princess,” he practically giggled out, a lopsided grin taking place on his pained face. “I’ve been waiting… S-so long… to meet you again…”

Luna flew back further, trying to flee the dream – but she found herself trapped. She could not escape – Something was shielding her magic. She turned back to the unicorn, fear sparking in her eyes. Still, she had to remain strong. “W-what dost thou mean, Craft? What is the meaning of this nightmare?”

“Nightmare… Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare…” The unicorn closed his eyes softly, chuckling. Luna watched, eyes wide as he looked back up at her. His eyes, originally a deep purple, were now a golden color. Why was that color familiar?... “Surely you… remember me,” the pony said softly, his voice changing to a calm, soothing voice, one that could lead you into an idle sense of safety.

It simply made Luna that much more terrified.

“N-No, I know not what speaks now. I know of Shadow Craft, the pony who specifies in spellcraft which pertains to shadows and what causes them.”

“Shadow… Yes, he is a powerful unicorn… isn’t he?” Luna glanced around, worried as the darkness came closer to her. “Why so jumpy… Princess?... Scared of the dark?...”

“Who are you!? Answer me!”

“Princess… You know me ever so well…” The pony grinned a fanged grin. His horn shone a dark black, seeming to absorb the little light that remained around them. It was a familiar attack – One she had used… back before… With a gasp, Luna remembered. She remembered it all.

She wanted to forget.

“It’s time,” the voice cried out loudly, “for the world to be wrapped in the eternal lullaby of the night! Say goodnight, Princess Luna, as tonight shall be the final setting of the sun! Tomorrow… Tomorrow dawns… in darkness.” With a cool laugh, the darkness attacked. The last words she heard… “The nightmare has returned!!”

“A-AAAAH!” With a start, Luna awoke, gasping for breath after her scream. She realized she was back in her room – She had fallen asleep…

She quickly slipped off her shoe and heaved a sigh of relief. Her hoof was perfectly fine. The spot of darkness had faded away. Just like a bad dream…

She continued her duties through the night, her mind fitfully aware of the nightmare.
*~*~*~

Twilight stood, wings flared, at the entrance to her castle. It was dark in Ponyville, as Luna had yet to lower the moon. Twilight simply gazed at the castle, sighing. She was truly happy, but so much was starting to happen. She was ready – Her fight with Tirek had shown her that. She was ready to claim her role as the Princess of Friendship, teaching everypony she could about what friendship could really do. There was only one thing that plagued her mind.

Could her friends say the same?

All those years, safe behind the castle walls, she sang softly.

All those years made me who I am today.

Under my mentor’s wing

And now, the ponies sing

Praise the Princess Twilight…

But what will those praises mean?

Flapping her wings, Twilight rose up around the castle, coming to rest on the balcony. The stars shone above her, the only audience to her song. What is to come of my friendships?

Can they past this test?

It’s a trial, nothing more

But what’s the future got in store?

There’s just so much to learn that I don’t know…

She sighed softly, folding up her wings and turning to the inside of the castle. It had a royal apartment, where she had been resting lately. Books rested on shelves, the only ones she could salvage from the remains of her home. She began to trot inside. How could we ever know?

She glanced at the scroll resting on the table by her bed, recently received from the Princesses. It listed her duties as the new Princess of Friendship – Nothing far greater than she had been doing already. However, her friends now had roles to play as well. Courts were to be held. Matters of state discussed at Canterlot. How can we meet the mark?

How can we run a court?

The stakes so high, I must confess

I’m afraid that we’ll fall short…

But now, it is our duty

To be our very best

So the Elements of Harmony

Will put our friendship to

The test!

With a bright smile, she blew out the candle. Dawn should be coming soon – She had woken early enough to see it. Soon, all of her friends would be here to discuss the matter of holding court. All of them had a say in it, and all of them would face any threat to the Elements, Equestria, and friendship itself.

For now, however, she trotted back to the balcony, looking out over the horizon. “Any minute now, the sun’s gonna rise… All of my friends will wake up and come here, and we’ll all hold court… We’ll all take on the duties allotted to us as the new Powers of Friendship… I just hope we can all handle it.”

She watched in awe as she awaited Celestia’s sunrise, something she had always loved to see…

But the time for sunrise came and went.

Twilight watched with a growing sense of fear as the moon stubbornly stayed in the sky. “Why hasn’t Celestia raised the sun,” she asked herself, glancing at the clock. She tapped on it once, checking the time.

10 minutes. 15 minutes. A full half hour passed, and yet the moon stayed. “Oh no…” Twilight gulped. “I get the feeling something really bad is happening…”

Before her eyes, Twilight’s feeling became a reality. All in an instant, the moon went out, and all of Equestria fell into darkness.
*~*~*~

Twilight ran through town, her horn ablaze with light. Ponies ran in terror, bumping into others and buildings, frenzied. Ponies screamed in the darkness, their fear contagious. The few unicorns in Ponyville all ran with their horns alight, trying to provide any sort of light for the others. A few earth ponies had managed to find matches and lamps and candles, allowing for small bits of light.

Twilight glanced up at the sky, hopeful that at the very least the stars remained – But above her, there was no sign of the sparkling lights. Even the stars had gone out.

“Ah!” Twilight gasped as she fell over. Somepony ran past her, having ran into her at first. “H-hey!” A bit shaken, Twilight stood only to be bustled about again as ponies ran this way and that. Her eye twitched slight as she felt the aura around her horn grow brighter.

Somepony screamed. Somepony bumped. More screams. More bumps.

“EEEENOOOOOOOUGH!!!” In a blaze of fire, her horn lit up. She flapped her wings, rising up slightly. Everypony around her stopped and watched. Concentrating, Twilight used the same spell she had that night of Hearth’s Warming Eve, creating a flaming heart above Ponyville. She dropped back to her hooves, glancing up. It would stay for another 2 hours.

“Everypony,” she said, the attention of the ponies around her finally grasped. “I’m just as scared as you are. I don’t know what’s going on. What I do know, however, is that running around willy nilly won’t help anypony!” Everypony glanced around and nodded, turning back to Twilight. “Now, what we need to do is organize ourselves. Madam Mayor!”

The requested mare stepped forth, albeit a bit shyly. “Y-Yes, Princess?”

“Please, Mayor. We’ve been friends for a long time. No need for formalities.” The mayor nodded. “Now, I want you to organize everypony in Town Hall. Get them off the streets. Get the Earth Ponies to make their lamps. Get the Pegasi to hang them up, and get the Unicorn’s to help and keep the flames going. There should be enough lamps and candles in there to help us see.”

Just like that, everypony was organized. Madam Mayor sorted everypony out, doing exactly as Twilight had instructed. Twilight nodded, glancing around. Now, if she could just find –

“TWILIGHT!!!”

“AH!” Twilight recoiled, but couldn’t help but smile. “Pinkie Pie! I’m glad I found you…”

“Oh my gosh, Twilight,” the bubbly pink mare said. “What the hay is up with the sky? Did Princess Luna schedule a solar eclipse today? Oooo, or maybe she’s playing a reeeeally intense game of hide and seek!”

“No, Pinkie, I don’t think she’s playing hide and seek. I think something may be wrong.” Pinkie gasped in disbelief. Twilight quickly spoke, heading off whatever tangent Pinkie was undoubtedly about to go on. “I need your help to find everypony and bring them to Town Hall. We’ve got to keep everypony organized. If something’s gone wrong, everypony in Equestria could be affected. We need to make sure at least Ponyville is safe.”

Pinkie saluted, smiling. “Okie Doki Loki!” Twilight watched Pinkie jump up, practically disappearing above the clouds. Wide eyed, Twilight continued watching to see Pinkie dragging Rainbow Dash down to earth by her hoof. “I found Dashie!” Pinkie giggled brightly.

“P-Pinkie, let go of my hoof!” Dash glared at Pinkie, pulling her hoof out of her friend’s grasp. She turned to Twilight, her face worried. “Twilight, you know what’s going on? Pegasi from here to Cloudsdale have been dropping out of the sky with how scared they are.”

“I don’t know, Rainbow. I’m just glad you’re here.”

Rainbow smiled. “I’ve flown here from my house so many times, I knew it like the back of my hoof! Y’know, even though I can’t SEE the back of my hoof up there. It’s pitch black!”

“Hoo-ey! Y’can say that again.” All of them turned to see Applejack trotting this way with Fluttershy. “It’s darker than Tartarus out here! Thanks fer the fire, Twi.” She trotted up quickly, panting. “Ran up here as fast as ah could t’find y’all.” She pointed to Fluttershy, smiling. “Found Fluttershy here walkin’ on the same path. Gotta say, was glad she had a lamp. My matches were runnin’ out fast.”

Fluttershy gently sat the lantern down by everypony’s hooves, smiling softly. “I’m lucky I even have this… It gets dark in my house and some of my critters are scared of the dark.”

“They’re probably not the only ones,” Rainbow said softly, rolling her eyes with a small smile.

“Now we just need to find Rari-“

“Found her already, Twilight!” Everypony turned again to see the baby dragon running ahead of Rarity. He took a deep breath as he reached them, panting. “I-I’ve been – huff – keeping my fire – huff – going since I woke up!”

Rarity rubbed his scales, smiling as she let her horn join in the light. “Wittle Spikey – Wikey here managed to fish me out of the crowd as though I were a ruby under the ground. Oh, I’m ever so grateful.” She kissed him lightly on his cheek, causing him to practically swoon. “Now, Twilight, what should we do?”

Twilight looked around at all her friends. “We need to get to the – Our castle. There, we can hold a private court and sort out what needs to hap-“

“T-twilight, wait.” Spike held his mouth slightly, and in a blast of green flame appeared a royal scroll. Twilight caught it with her magic quickly and scanned over it.

Princess Twilight and Friends

Something dreadful has happened to Luna. She won’t answer her door, and darkness surrounds her mind. I cannot raise the sun, and I cannot raise the moon either. Equestria is in danger once again, and I fear Luna is at the heart of it. I must request that you – All of you – come to Canterlot immediately. Together we can solve this and return light to Equestria.

Princess Celestia

“Change of plans, girls. We need to get to Canterlot, and fast!”

“Train’s not runnin’,” Applejack said. “The whole town’s in a panic.”

“Speaking of the town…” Twilight looked at all her friends closely. “All of you, go ahead to the castle. I’ll meet you there – I need to talk to the ponies in town and organize them.”

Everypony nodded and ran off, surrounded by their various light sources. In a flash, Twilight appeared in Town Hall, upon the stage that long ago held Nightmare Moon.

It was pitch black inside. “Huh,” Twilight said, bewildered. The light from outside should have… It can’t have worn off already! “Madam Mayor?! Anypony?” Twilight spun around as dark laughter surrounded her. “Show yourself!”

“Show myself,” a voice seemed to whisper in her ear. She gasped, turning again, seeing nothing but blackness beside her. “Why, Princess,” the voice continued, “you’re looking… right at me…”

Twilight lit up her horn, but gasped suddenly as the darkness wrapped around it. Her eyes widened as pain shot through her horn. “Up up… No… Magic…” Twilight gasped as she felt it – Almost like ice running down her spine, causing her to shiver. She tried to stand strong, but shadows grabbed her hooves, locking her in place. “No escape… Just… darkness…”

“W-who are you?! What are you?! Why have you done this to Equestria!?”

“Pesky little pony princess… Don’t you get it yet?...” Out of the darkness came a face. Twilight gasped at the pony before her.

Madam mayor smiled, her eyes black and her body dim. “I am one… We are many.” The darkness lifted, all but her restraints, revealing all the ponies of Ponyville, shrouded in the same darkness. “Two princesses under our control already… And now a third to join the fu-un~” The mayor laughed, her voice soothing and sweet, but horrifying all the same.

“I’ll not be controlled by you!” In a desperate attempt, Twilight tried her magic again. She tried to fight back, any light spell she knew – But none helped. The darkness began to set in again, closing in on her. She closed her eyes and cast one last spell. In a wave of blackness, she was gone.
*~*~*~

Applejack glanced at the others as she stopped pacing, worried. “How long’s she been gone now?”

“Half an hour, Darling…” Rarity frowned, turning away from her ‘throne’ in the castle. “Do you think something’s gone wrong?”

“If you haven’t noticed yet, Rarity, something’s ALREADY gone wrong,” Rainbow said, pointing out the window.

At said window was Pinkie, watching the outside closely. “Um, guys? You might wanna come see this!” Everypony trotted over quickly and looked outside. “Lookie! Up in the sky!”

Looking up, they saw what remained of Twilight’s fire spell. The fire was fading, being attacked by the darkness. In one fell swoop, the fire was out. The outside world became shrouded in darkness.

Behind them, Spike held open Fluttershy’s lantern, a burst of green flame lighting the wick. Everypony gathered around the green light, concern filling their faces. Applejack was the first to clear her throat. “Somethin’s obviously happened. We gotta go find Twili-“

“GAH!” Everypony turned to where Spike was, watching him keel over in pain. He burped, a blaze of fire releasing from his mouth. However, there was no letter inside. Instead, the fire swirled around in the air for a spell.

“Ponyville has fallen.”

Everypony gasped, together exclaiming, “Twilight!”

“I can’t stop it. Darkness taking me over. Get to Canterlot. Celestia and Luna have fallen. Only you can stop this. Counting on you all. Save Equestri-“

The voice cut off suddenly. The fire surrounded them all. “W-what’s happening,” Fluttershy squeaked out in fear.

“Everypony, stick together!” Rainbow Dash huddled close to the others.

Together, they shut their eyes and stuck close. The fire surrounded them. When it dissipated, they looked around, wide eyed.

They were in Canterlot. More specifically, in Celestia’s bedroom. “What in tarnation!?”

Rarity gasped. “We’re in Celestia’s bed chambers! Oh, the regality!” Everypony glared at her. She cleared her throat softly. “O-Of course, this could be under much better circumstances…”

"Twilight must've used her magic to make my fire send us ALL here, just like her letters!" Spike cheered, smiling. "Way to go, Twilight!"

“E-everypony?” They all turned to see Fluttershy staring out the window. They joined her and gasped.

Canterlot was completely shrouded in Darkness. Ponies walked along the streets in a daze, and their fur was black. The only source of light was their eyes, a thin sliver of teal in each one. Spike shook his head, trembling slightly. “This is… W-what’s happened to Equestria?!”

Rainbow Dash flew up. “We saw the letter from the Princess. We need to get to Luna, pronto!”

“W-what can we do,” Fluttershy said, trembling. “Twilight’s gone…”

“That don’ matter.” Applejack stood tall, nodding slightly. “Even without Twi, we need t’do our best to help Equestria. Ain’t that what our new castley thrones symbolize?”

“I quite agree, Darling. We must do all we can for others.”

“WOOHOO!” Pinkie giggled, surprising everyone. She had been rather quiet. “Darkness, 0, Harmony, uuuh… 6! Yeah, cause we’ve got Spikey here too!”

Spike looked at them all. “M-Me? What can I do?”

“W-well, you really helped us out in that comic, at least…” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m positive you can help today, as well.”

“Don’t forget,” Rarity said. “You still have a throne, same as the rest of us!”

“Proud to have you by my side, Spike.” Spike smiled up at Rainbow Dash as she tussled his spikes.

“Alrigh’. Let’s go find Luna!” With a unified shout, everypony galloped – Or, in Pinkie’s case, bounced, and in Spike's case, stumbled – out of the room.

And were all quickly met with a wall of Darkness. "Whut tha-"

“You… troublesome little… Elements…”

“Who said that?!” Rainbow flew up high, trying to find a way around the darkness.

“Little pests… need to be… swatted down…” Rainbow Dash gasped as the darkness surrounded her.

“Let Dashie go,” Pinkie cried up, trying to jump up to rescue her friend.

“So… bright…” The darkness latched onto her in mid air as well, snaking itself around the others. Everypony quickly began to struggle away from the darkness. “So… terribly… BRIGHT.”

Everypony screamed as the darkness claimed them.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Notes:

OwO I'm gonna enjoy this, I think