Once upon a time, in the country of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her alicorn magic 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 as well as the other inhabitants of Equis. 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 alicorn 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. Using the magic of the Elements, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

"The Princess had a sister?" Twilight said in surprise. "Why did..? Well, considering what happened, I guess it's not surprising she didn't say anything."

Corvo had been listening to his new younger sister as she talked to herself about what she had just read. 'Princess Celestia had a sister and she had to banish her? So, she pretty much lost all of her family a thousand years ago? Can't say I don't know what she's going through, but at least her family is alive. What was that Twilight said, Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon? Is this what Faust was talking about?'

"Hm, the Elements of Harmony. I could swear that I've heard of those before, but where?" she looked back at the tree that was behind her, where he was sitting against it. "I'm going to head over to the tower and look this up. Are you going to stay?"

"Nah, I'll head back with you," he said, standing up. He moved to her left, as he walked back with her. As they walked, they ran into Twilight's friends.

"Twilight, Corvo, there you are," Colgate said. "Moon Dancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You two want to come?"

Twilight hesitated. She wanted to go to her friend's party, but she couldn't get what she had just read out of her head.

Noticing her dilemma, Corvo said, "Twilight, I'll take the book and look up the Elements for you. You go to Moon Dancer's party. When I find out what they are, I'll head over and let you know."

She thought about it for a minute then, with a smile, nodded, "Thanks, Corvo. I believe the book I saw it in was called Predictions and Prophecies." Turning to her friends she said, "Sure, I'll go with you girls."

The three mares smiled brightly and all four of them galloped off.

He watched them leave, before turning around and started walking to the tower. He soon reached it and, after climbing up, he opened the door. He was surprised to see Spike standing right in front of him, a gift in his claws.

"What are you doing here, Spike?" Corvo asked.

"I was just wrapping my present for Moon Dancer. She's having a party you know," he answered.

"Yeah the girls just told me and they are taking Twilight over there. Before you go Spike, do you know where Predictions and Prophecies is?" he asked the drake.

His eyes widened in shock, "Sometimes I have to remind myself that Twilight's changed." He pointed to Corvo's right, "It's on the sixth shelf. I'll see you later." He quickly left the room, obviously eager to get to the party.

He quickly changed to his normal form and climbed the ladder. He wasn't completely confident he could climb the ladder in his pony form. Reaching the sixth shelf, he looked through the different books. When he found what he was looking for, he jumped to the floor.

He began flipping through it. "Elements, elements... ah here it is. See Mare in the Moon?" he said, questioningly. He continued flipping through book until he found the page he was looking for. "Here we go. The Mare in the Moon. She is a myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon." Corvo paused, 'Is that why the moon looks like that?' "Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring never ending night."

He was unsure about taking this seriously. However, remembering what Faust told him about the moon, he bookmarked the page and headed toward the castle's west courtyard.

Corvo walked as slowly as he could, so Twilight and Spike could enjoy the party as much as they could. Eventually, however he saw the party in the distance. As he got near, he watched as Twilight, Spike, and their friends talked, played games and just enjoyed themselves.

As he entered, Moon Dancer noticed him. She smiled and trotted over, "Corvo! It's good to see you again." Twilight turned toward him at Moon Dancer's call.

He smiled back, "It's good to see you too." As Twilight walked up to him, he held out the book, "I bookmarked the page you should read." She nodded and took the book in her magic. Turning back to Moon Dancer he said, "Sorry, I probably just pulled her away from your party."

"It's okay, I suppose. We spent a good few hours spending time together and I hang out with her outside of this, so it's not to big of a deal," she said.

After a minute, Twilight ran passed them. They looked back in confusion, as Spike walked up to them. "Hey, Corvo, the Princess wants us to head out to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration that's going to happen in a town called Ponyville. Twilight took off to prepare and didn't even listen to the rest of the letter. I'm going to go and help." He looked back at the mares. "If you all come to the castle, we'll say goodbye there." He walked off and started to follow Twilight.

Corvo winced, "Sorry, looks like I just took them from you."

Moon Dancer smiled sadly, "It's fine, Corvo. It's something the Princess wants you to do. Besides it's not like I won't see you again, right?"

"Of course not. You'll see us again when we're finished." 'Hopefully,' he thought. "I'll see you girls later." He started heading back to get ready for the trip. As he walked, he remembered something, 'Did Spike say Ponyville? That's where Vinyl and Octavia said that they live. I wonder if they are there now.'

After about an hour later the three of them were on a chariot about to leave. In that time, Corvo found out that Octavia had another recital to do, so she, and probably Vinyl, wouldn't be in Ponyville. Seeing them off was Gleaming Shield, Lemon Hearts, Colgate, Twinkleshine, and Moon Dancer.

"See you when we come back, BSBFF," Twilight said to Gleaming Shield. The others all looked at Twilight weirdly, wondering what in the world she had just said.

"Take care Twily," Gleaming said. She glanced at Corvo and whispered, "Take care of her."

"Of course," he whispered back.

Twilight looked at Moon Dancer. "Sorry for bailing on your first party Moon," she apologized.

She smiled, "It's fine Twilight. I know how you are when it comes to Princess Celestia. Besides we'll hang out some other time."

"I'd like that," she said. She then looked over to her other friends, "I'll see you girls later."

"See ya!" Colgate said.

"Bye!" Lemon Hearts said.

"Later!" Twinkleshine said.

"We're ready to go, gentlestallions," Corvo told the pegasi guards. They started galloping forward and flapping their wings. When they had gained enough speed, the guards pushed themselves off of the ground and began flying.

As they flew toward Ponyville, Spike spoke up, "Twilight you took off before I could read you the rest of the letter." He unfurled the scroll and began to read. "My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends?" he said confusedly. "Why would she tell you to make friends when you already have some?"

Twilight blushed slightly, "I haven't told her about Moon Dancer and the others."

"And she hasn't noticed?" he asked.

"She's the ruler of Equestria and raises the sun and moon. She's too busy to notice if I have friends or not," she said.

'I highly doubt that. I'm pretty sure that she noticed that you have friends. There's something more to this,' Corvo thought. "Well, it won't hurt to make some new ones. More friends just mean there's more fun you could have," he said.

As they descended into a rural looking town, she said, "I suppose you're right. But before that we need to deal with the Nightmare Moon situation."

As Spike sighed, Corvo looked over his shoulder and read more of the letter. "Well you'll be happy to know that she's arranged for us to stay in a library," he told her.

She smiled, "That sounds wonderful." When the chariot landed, they exited and turned to the pegasi. "Thank you, sirs," Twilight said to the guards. Corvo gave a short salute and Spike bowed his head slightly.

As they turned around, they nearly ran into an earth pony mare. She was completely pink. The only part of her that wasn't pink were her eyes and her cutie mark. She had light cerulean eyes and her cutie mark was three balloons, two of them were blue and one was yellow.

"Hello miss," Corvo said.

The mare suddenly jumped into the air with a loud gasp. Then somehow, while in the air, she launched herself forward and disappeared from their sight.

The three of them stared after her, before shaking off the shock. "Uh, so Spike. Where are we headed first?" she asked.

"Oh, um, let's see." He pulled out another scroll and looked at it. "Summer Sun Celebration official overseer's checklist. First off is the banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres. It's that way," he said.

As they began walking through the town, Corvo thought, 'I wonder if that was that Pinkie Pie mare, Vinyl and Octavia told me about. I don't want to jump to conclusions just because she has pink fur, but that behavior fit rather well with what they had described.' A sudden shout interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeehaw!" came a voice.

Looking around Corvo noticed that they were on a farm. 'I need to pay attention when I'm walking.' Turning his attention to where the shout had originated, he saw an orange mare with a blonde mane and wearing a type of hat he'd never seen before, running toward an apple tree. When she was close to the tree, she whirled around and bucked it. The apples in the tree fell into the buckets she had placed around it.

Twilight took a deep breath, "Alright, let's go." They walked over to the country mare, and she said, "Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle--"

The mare took Twilight's hoof in both of hers and started vigorously shaking Twilight's hoof. "Well, howdy there, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' you acquaintance. Name's Applejack and we here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends." When she got a good look at Twilight, her eyes widened slightly at the sight of her bandage, but she kept silent on the matter.

"That's nice, but you see--"

Applejack let go of Twilight's hoof, "So, what can I do for y'all?"

Twilight's foreleg was still shaking from the force that Applejack had shook her hoof with. Spike grabbed her foreleg and stopped it from shaking. He then snickered behind his claws.

Clearing her throat, Twilight said, "Well, I'm here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. You're in charge of the food, correct?"

"We sure as sugar are. Would you three care to try some?" she asked.

Twilight glanced at Corvo and Spike. They shrugged, and she said, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

Applejack darted off and started ringing a triangle. She then shouted out, "Soup's on everypony!"

The ground suddenly began to shake and they looked behind them. They were shocked when a bunch of ponies galloped toward them and carried them over to a table that was surrounded by several trees. Standing around them were an incredible amount of earth ponies.

"Now, allow me to introduce you to the Apple family," Applejack said, gesturing to the ponies surrounding them. She started listing the ponies off and, as she did, they left down an apple treat that resembled their name and/or cutie mark. As she started to slow down, she took a deep breath and said, gesturing to a red stallion that was bigger than any pony he had seen, other than Princess Celestia of course, "This is my big brother, Big McIntosh, or Big Mac as we call him." She then gestured to a small yellow filly, "My little sister Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. Up'n'attem, Granny Smith, we got guests."

They looked over to see an elderly, green mare with a white mane and light orange eyes, was sleeping in a rocking chair. She snorted and woke up. As she got up, they could see that her cutie mark was a pie. She got up from the chair saying, "Wha..? Soup's on? I'm up, here I come, ahm comin'."

As the elderly mare got up, another mare with a crimson coat and light green mane walked over to them. Her eyes were dark green and her cutie mark was three apples like Applejack except that each one of her's was a different color. They were green, red, and yellow apples.

As she got close, Applejack said, "And that's our Ma, Honeycrisp."

"It's nice to meet you all, though you may have to remind me on a few since you went by so fast. I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is my little brother Spike, and this is my big brother--"

"Raven!"

Everypony looked at Applejack's mother.

"You know him Ma?" Applejack asked.

Honeycrisp nodded and asked, "You are Raven right?"

"That is my name, yes, but how did you know?" Corvo asked.

"You don't remember? It's me Honeycrisp. You saved me eight years ago," she said.

The Apple families eyes widened. "This is the stallion?" Applejack muttered.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but this is the first time I'm meeting you. Plus, I only arrived in Equestria about two weeks ago," he said.

Confusion spread across her face, "But that can't be. You look exactly like him and your name's Raven."

"He's telling the truth," Twilight chimed in. "He only arrived in our country fairly recently. I know because I was there when he got here." She thought for a minute, then asked, "Did he have a last name or something?"

The red mare shook her head, "He didn't, or at least he didn't tell me what it was." She lowered her head, "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Corvo smiled reassuringly, "Not at all, Mrs. Apple. I was just surprised is all."

She smiled somewhat shyly, "That's good. Please, call me Honeycrisp. I believe you were going to taste the food we were preparing for the celebration."

Corvo nodded and reached for an apple. He froze after taking a bite of it.

"Is somethin' wrong mister?" came a young voice.

Looking down, he saw the little filly from before looking at him with worry in her eyes. After swallowing, he smiled, "Nothing's wrong, Apple Bloom, right?" She nodded. "This is just the best apple I've ever tasted." A smile spread across her and a few other ponies faces when he said this.

Applejack blushed, "Ah'm sure ya'll are just exaggeratin'."

He shook his head, "Not at all. I lived in an industrial city for my whole life. The fruit we got there were nowhere near as good or fresh as these. I mean, there's no telling what they do to them when they ship them and your's are from right off the tree."

Honeycrisp smiled, "Thank you for the compliment. We take great care of our apples. Don't we everypony?" All of the Apple shouted in affirmation.

Corvo chuckled to himself as he realized what she said had two meanings for them. They took care of each other, as well as their farm.

Him, Twilight, and Spike started eating the treats that had been placed in front of them. Once they finished, they said goodbye to the Apples and left the farm.

As the three of them walked through Ponyville, Spike looked at the list. "That's the food taken care of. Next, is the weather." He looked up at the sky, "There should be a pegasus named Rainbow Blitz clearing the sky."

The other two looked up and saw that there were still clouds in the sky. "Well, it's still cloudy so what's he doing?" Twilight said.

Corvo's ears twitched as he heard sound of rushing wind. Turning his attention toward the noise, his eyes widened at what he saw. He quickly jumped forward and pushed Twilight out of the way. Just as she landed back on the ground, he was knocked to the ground by rainbow blur.

Twilight quickly got up and turned around. Seeing Corvo and another stallion on the ground, she rushed over to them, "Raven! Are you okay?"

He got up dazedly, "Yeah, I'm fine." He glanced down at his body, 'That was a strong impact. How is it that I'm only slightly sore from that? If that had happened in my world, I'd have several broken bones, at least.' He looked at her in concern, "What about you? You didn't get hurt when I suddenly shoved you did you?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm okay. What about the stallion that crashed into you?"

"I'm fine," he said. As he stood, they saw that he was cyan with a blue-red-yellow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud for a cutie mark. His rainbow mane and tail zigzagged outward. "Sorry about that," he apologized.

"Are you Rainbow Blitz?" Twilight asked.

"The one and only. Why, have you three heard of me?" he asked. He then noticed her bandaged eye, "Whoa, something happen to your eye?"

Twilight flinched slightly, "I'd rather not talk about it right now. We heard that you are supposed to be clearing the skies. You were flying kind of low for that weren't you?" she asked. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Raven Armor, and that's Spike. The Princess asked us to check on the weather."

The stallion waved her off, "Ah, that's not a problem. I can do that quickly. Right now I'm practicing."

"What are you practicing for?" Corvo asked.

"The Wonderbolts!" he exclaimed. "They are going to perform at the Celebration tomorrow and I'm going to show them what I can do.

"The Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked with skepticism, though Corvo could tell it was feigned.

"That's right!" Rainbow exclaimed, excitedly.

"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?" she questioned.

"Yeah, that's them!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Please, the Wonderbolts wouldn't accept a pegasus that can keep the sky clear for one measly day." Corvo glanced at her and knew exactly what she was doing.

Rainbow Blitz narrowed his eyes, "Hey, I could clear these clouds in ten seconds flat."

Twilight smirked, "Prove it."

He quickly took off and started smashing the clouds. As he went, Corvo counted to himself how many seconds were going by. As soon as he reached ten, the pegasus took out the last cloud.

"Loop the loop, and wham! What'd I tell ya. Ten. Seconds. Flat," Rainbow Blitz boasted. "I'd never leave Ponyville hanging." Twilight stared at him, her mouth hanging open slightly in surprise. Corvo and Spike were rather surprised as well, at how fast the stallion moved. Noticing her face, Rainbow Blitz snickered, "You should see the look on your face. You're a riot Twilight Sparkle. Can't wait to hang out more." He then flew off, most likely to continue whatever training he was doing.

"That was so cool!" Spike exclaimed.

"It was very impressive," Corvo said.

"Better not let him hear you. He seemed to have a rather big ego," Twilight said, a slight smirk on her face.

Corvo smiled back as they headed to their next destination. They reached the town's square and entered town hall.

"The next thing is the decorations," Spike said, as they walked inside. "Beautiful."

Twilight looked around, "Yes, the decor is coming along very nicely. This will probably be quick. Very beautiful."

"Not the decor, her!" he said. Following his line of sight, they saw an alabaster unicorn. Her purple mane and tail were curled several time and her cutie mark was three blue gems.

She was facing away from them, looking at several different ribbons. "No, no, oh! Absolutely not," she muttered to herself.

Spike began fussing with his scales, "Are my spines straight?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and approached the mare. "Good afternoon--" she began.

"Just a moment, please. I'm 'in the zone', as it were," she requested. Bringing a large red ribbon over, she wrapped it around the pole. "Oh, yes. Sparkle is always marvelous, is it not? Rarity you are a talent. Now, uh, how can I help--" When she saw Twilight, her eyes widened and she looked like she might of screamed if she hadn't stopped herself. She cleared her throat, "Um, darling, I hope that I'm not being rude, but what happened to your eye?"

Twilight winced, "I-I don't really want to talk about it."

The white unicorn nodded, "Of course darling. If you aren't comfortable talking about it, you don't have to explain. My name is Rarity. Did you want something?"

"We're just here to check on the decorations. Which are wonderful, by the way," Twilight said.

"Why thank you darling. I worked very hard on them," Rarity said, smiling. "But, um, why are you checking on them exactly?" she asked, squinting at them. "I don't believe I've seen you around town before."

Corvo stepped forward, "We aren't from Ponyville. We were sent from Canterlot to--"

He was interrupted by her gasping. "You're all from Canterlot? Oh, I'm so envious. The glamour, the sophistication. It's always been my dream to live there. You simply must tell me about it sometime. I'm sure we'll all become very good friends," she said.

Twilight smiled, "That would be nice, but at the moment we still have some things to take care of. Some other time, perhaps?"

"Of course, don't let me keep you from your work."

The three exited the building and started walking through the town. Spike was on Twilight's back because he hadn't move when they had started walking.

He sighed dreamily, "Wasn't she wonderful?"

"Easy there, Romeo. What's next?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, it's the last thing, music," Spike said.

As they walked, they suddenly heard several birds singing what sounded like a fanfare. They followed the sound and found a bright yellow pegasus with a pink mane flying in front of the birds.

She seemed to be conducting them, as, after a moment, she asked the birds to stop and she flew to a blue jay, "Excuse me, sir?" The bird gave his attention. "I mean, no offense, but your rhythm, was just slightly off. Now follow me please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three--"

At that exact moment, Twilight said, "Hello!" The pegasus yelped in fright and the birds scattered. Twilight's ears flattened, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or your birds. Me and my brothers, were just checking on the music and it sounded wonderful." She paused and waited for the mare to say something. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She paused again, "What's your name?"

"Um... I'm Fluttershy," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?" Twilight asked.

"Uh, My name is Fluttershy, she whispered even quieter.

Twilight was about to say something, when Corvo stepped forward. "Let me try, Twilight," he said. She nodded and stepped back.

He began to walk toward the mare. When he was about eight hoofsteps away, she flinched slightly and Corvo froze. He stayed where he was and sat down on his haunches, his forelegs held out to his sides. He just sat there and waited. After a few minutes, she looked up at him. When she did, Corvo smiled comfortingly at her. She immediately hid behind her mane when he did. He continued to wait until, after a few minutes, she glanced up again and took a few steps forward. As she moved toward him, Corvo kept his smile.

Before she actually reached Corvo, Spike walked out of the bushes. "What's taking so long?" he asked, rather impatiently.

At the sound of the voice, the pegasus mare froze and turned toward Spike. When she saw him, her eyes widened and a broad smile spread across her muzzle as she lifted herself off the ground, "A baby dragon!" She darted forward and nearly bowled Corvo and Twilight over. "I've never seen a baby dragon before. He's just adorable."

"Well, well, well...!" Spike said rather smugly.

"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons were able to talk." She fluttered in the air, "That's just so incredibly delightful I, I just don't even know what to say!"

Corvo stood next to Twilight. "That was unexpected," he whispered. She nodded her head in agreement.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"It's Spike," he answered. "Twilight already introduced herself, but she's my sister and that's my brother Raven Armor," he said gesturing to his siblings.

Twilight waved and Corvo bowed his head.

The mare glanced over and smiled shyly, "Hello, everypony. I'm Fluttershy." Her smiled widened again, "Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?"

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Absolutely everything," she said, somewhat eagerly.

Twilight sighed and levitated Spike to her back. "Do you mind if we walk while the two of you talk?" she asked.

The two nodded, and they all started to walking. Twilight and Corvo were heading to their temporary residence as Spike and Fluttershy began talking to each other.

Tuning them out, Twilight turned to Corvo, "What was it that you were doing earlier?"

"You mean with Fluttershy?" he asked. She nodded. "I've dealt with shy people before. Granted most of them were children, but I figured it would still work. I get as close as they are comfortable with and then sit on the ground, while keeping my hands to my side."

"Wouldn't putting them behind you back be better? You know, because they'd be even farther away from them?"

"Maybe for some, but putting your hands, or hooves, behind your back could put them more on edge because they won't know if you're hiding something behind your back," he explained.

Twilight nodded in understanding, "I see your point."

They eventually reached the library, which was actually made inside of a tree.

Corvo stared at the building as they walked toward it. 'Rather cruel irony for books to be stored inside a tree,' he mused.

As they reached the door, Spike finished his narrative. "That's everything that's happened to me. Well, except for today. Would you like to hear about today?" he asked.

"Oh, that would be wonderful," she said.

Somewhat hastily Corvo said, "Well, we've reached where the three of us are staying." Opening the door, he said, "If you want to continue talking to Spike, you're welcome to come inside. You don't mind do you Twilight?"

She shook her head, "Not at all. She can come inside if she wants."

"I'd love to keep talking to him," Fluttershy said excitedly.

The four entered the building and looked around the room they were in. It was pitch black and they couldn't see anything, except indistinct shapes.

"Where are the lights?" Fluttershy asked, sounding frightened.

Suddenly the lights were switched on revealing a huge crowd of ponies standing around them. As soon as the lights were on all of the ponies yelled, "Surprise!!"

All four of them jumped in astonishment at the sudden shouts. Corvo felt a slight tug on his clothes. Looking back, he saw that Fluttershy was hiding behind him, clutching the end of his coat and shaking.

"Oh, Fluttershy, I'm so sorry!" a voice called out. Suddenly the pink mare they had saw earlier bounced over to them. "I didn't know that you were with them," she said, a worried expression on her face.

"I-It's okay Pinkie. I was just surprised is all."

"I think it's safe to say that all of us were," Corvo said.

The mares face split into a smile, "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! I threw this party for the three of you. So, you were surprised?"

"Incredibly. Especially since library's are supposed be quiet," Twilight said.

The pink mare giggled, "What kind of welcoming party is quiet? I mean seriously, talk about boring. Y'see, I saw the three of you when you first arrived remember?"

At that question the three had the same thought, 'Kind of hard to forget that kind of greeting.'

Pinkie continued, "He was all 'Hello, miss' and I was all *gasp*, remember? I've never seen any of you before and if I haven't seen you that means that you were new in town, 'cause I know everypony in Ponyville. And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends."

"Hang on, just because I'm new here doesn't I don't have any friends," Twilight said, slightly indignantly.

Corvo placed a hoof on her shoulders, "I'm sure she didn't mean it like that, Twilight. Right, Miss Pie?"

Pinkie giggled, "My name's Pinkamena Diane Pie or, as everypony calls me, Pinkie Pie, not Miss Pie."

Corvo stared at the pink mare with a blank expression on his face. As Pinkie smiled, he just stared at her. After a minute, her smile faltered and she began to sweat slightly as he remained expressionless.

She turned to Twilight, "Um, uh, well, h-he's right. That's not what I meant. I just meant that you don't have any friends here."

"Alright, I guess that's fine," she said, still rather upset.

"A-anyway, because of that, even with each other, I thought that you might get lonely. That's when I had an idea and that's why I gasped. I figured I would throw you a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville. Now you have even more friends!" she exclaimed. At that moment, the other three ponies they had met that day stood next to Pinkie.

"Well, thank you for this. It looks very nice," Twilight said, walking over to a table with refreshments. She grabbed a red bottle and started pouring it into a cup. After she finished, she started drinking and suddenly froze. Her face began to flush, her eyes started watering, and steam seemed to come out of her ears. Suddenly her mane and tail changed to fire and she took off upstairs.

"Aw, she's so happy she's crying," Pinkie said.

Spike picked up the bottle Twilight had filled her cup with. Turning it, he saw a fire on the bottle. "Hot sauce," he said.

Pinkie reached over and tipped the bottle onto a pastry that was on the table. She then grabbed it and tossed it into her mouth. Everypony looked at her slightly disconcertingly. She looked at them, "What? It's good."

The others smiled at the pink pony as Corvo approached the table. "What are these?" he asked.

The five ponies, especially Pinkie, gasped at him. "You've never had a cupcake?" the party mare practically shouted.

"Cupcake? I've had cake before, but not cupcakes," he said. He grabbed one of the pastries and took a bite. Corvo was amazed by the taste. "That's really good."

"Well, duh, what kind of cupcakes wouldn't be good? They wouldn't really be dessert's if they weren't any good," Pinkie said.

"Uh, sugarcube, you do know that there are desserts that aren't very good, right?" Applejack said.

"Then they aren't desserts," Pinkie said, rather firmly. They all rolled their eyes at the mare's seriousness toward desserts. The ponies and dragon went their separate ways and began to enjoy the party. Pinkie approached Corvo, "Do you think she'll be back down? I threw this party for her too."

"Probably later," he said. "There was something she wanted to check, so she might come down after that." He looked at the pink mare, "So, you're Pinkie Pie."

"Yeppers. You've heard of me Corvo?" she asked.

"I met some ponies... that knew... you," he slowly said. He stared at Pinkie in shock. He grabbed her foreleg and pulled her away from everypony else. Making sure that nopony would hear their conversation, he asked, "How in the Void do you know that name?"

Pinkie tilted her head to the side, "The Void?"

He silently cursed himself. "Never mind that. Where did you learn that name?" he questioned.

She giggled, "I heard somepony call you by that name."

"Nopony has called me that," Corvo said.

"See! You were just called it again," she said, pointing at nothing.

He stared at the mare in complete confusion, when what Octavia and Vinyl told him entered his mind. That Pinkie was one of the most random ponies ever and that trying to understand her would drive you up the wall. He took a deep breath, "Alright, I still don't understand where you heard that name, but please keep it a secret for now. It's going to get out anyway, but I would like to not draw any more attention to myself than what's already on us."

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she said, making movements with her hooves that matched what she recited.

"Thank you," he said.

"So, who was it that told you about me?" she asked.

'You know my name, but not that?' he questioned to himself. "Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody mentioned you," he answered.

"Oh, oh, I know them. They are musicians that live together as roommates," Pinkie said. "Vinyl runs an amazing night club and Octavia is an amazing cellist, though that kind of music always makes me sleepy."

"Yes, Vinyl told me about her club and I plan to go sometime. I've heard Octavia play when I was in Canterlot," he told her.

"That's great!" she said. She glanced off to the side and gasped, "Oh no, we're running low on punch." And with that, she darted off to refill the punch bowls.

"That mare doesn't sit still does she?" he asked nopony in particular.

"Not really darling," somepony spoke up.

Turning around, Corvo saw Rarity standing next to him. "Hello, ma'am," he said.

"Please, call me Rarity, Mr--?" she asked.

"How rude of me, I never introduced myself. My name is Raven Armor."

"It's nice to be formally introduced to you Raven Armor," she said. "I must say, I've never seen clothes like those before."

"Yes, well, I'm from very far away," he said. "The design is from my home, but they were made by a pony in Canterlot."

"Who were they made by?" Rarity asked.

"Fine Point ma--" he was interrupted by Rarity squealing.

"Those were made by Fine Point!?" she exclaimed.

"Yes. Have you heard of her?"

"Anypony who calls themselves a fashion designer has heard of her. I mean, she makes dresses for the Princess," she gushed.

"Well, like we mentioned when we met, the Princess sent us. So, when I went to the castle to visit Twilight, I happened to meet her and she took a liking to the design," he said. 'Not a total lie. She did rather like the design and asked if she could see if other ponies would like them. Didn't see the point in denying her. I just hope it isn't a waste of her time.'

"Will you introduce me to her?" Rarity asked.

"I suppose I could talk to her and see," he said.

The white mare squealed again, "Please let me know what she says." She then walked away, giggling to herself slightly.

As he watched her go, Spike walked up to him. "Have I gotten too used to the Canterlot ponies or are the ponies here rather... eccentric? I mean, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Moon Dancer didn't act like this," Corvo said.

The drake shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, but Pinkie kinda seems like an even more upbeat Colgate. Didn't really think that was possible to be honest. What were you talking to Rarity about?"

"I told her I would see about introducing her to Fine Point."

"The Princess' designer?" Spike asked.

"That's right. Apparently she's one as well."

"She's so talented," he said wistfully.

Corvo rolled his eyes and started to enjoy the party that had been thrown for the three of them. He tried more of the treats, played some of the games that Pinkie Pie had brought, and met some more of the ponies of Ponyville. Corvo met a mare named Cheerilee who was the teacher for the foals in the town, a stallion named Thunderlane that was part of the weather team, and many more as the party continued into the night.

After a couple hours, Corvo walked up to the building's bedroom. He found Twilight laying in the room trying to find something on what she had read about before, but the party downstairs and the sounds of everypony having a good time kept distracting her. It seemed like she wanted to join, however she just couldn't ignore what she had found out. When he closed the door to block out as much noise as he could, Twilight turned toward him.

She smiled, "Hey, how's the party?"

"Great. You should really join," he said.

Sighing, she said, "I'd like to, but this just keeps nagging at me. Like it's something important that could happen tonight."

'If this is what Faust was talking about, you're more right than you realize,' he thought. "Twilight if it does come to fruition, the Princess won't let anything happen and I'll do anything to protect the ponies of this world."

A smile spread across Twilight's muzzle, "Alright, I'll join the party." She got up and headed downstairs, joining in the fun with everypony.

As dawn approached, the party ended and everypony headed to town hall. As they all waited, Pinkie suddenly showed up next to Corvo, Twilight, and Spike.

"Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited-- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went *gasp* but I mean really, who can top that?" she said, quickly.

Just then Fluttershy's birds began to sing a fanfare and a tan earth pony mare with a gray mane walked onto the stage. When she reached the center, she raised her voice, "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Everypony cheered at her proclamation. "In only a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate the longest day of the year."

As the mayor continued to talk, both Twilight and Corvo looked at the moon and saw four stars moving slowly toward the moon. As the mayor finished her speech, the stars went behind the moon and the image of the mare that was on it disappeared. Worried expressions crossed their faces and they returned their attention forward, just as the mayor announced the Princess.

The birds let out another fanfare and Rarity opened the curtains, only to reveal an empty balcony. Rarity gasped in shock and the crowd began to murmur to themselves.

"This can't be good," Twilight muttered.

"I'm afraid you're right," Corvo said.

"Remain calm, everypony, there has to be a reasonable explanation," the mayor called out, trying to keep the ponies from panicking.

"Oh, Oh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" Pinkie said, looking around.

"She's not here!" Rarity called out.

"Ooh, she's good," the pink mare said, obviously impressed. She suddenly let out a shout of fright.

A cloud of sparkling blue mist, suddenly appeared on the balcony. Spinning, the cloud pulled itself together and revealed a tall black furred alicorn.

"Oh no. It's Nightmare Moon," Twilight whispered to herself. Spike fainted and fell off of her back.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. I haven't seen your precious little sun-loving faces in so long," she said.

"Where's our Princess!?" Rainbow Blitz shouted. He began to charge toward the alicorn, but Applejack bit down on his tail and held him back.

"Hang on there, partner," she said.

Nightmare Moon chuckled, "Why, am I not royal enough for you?" Her eyes narrowed slightly and she frowned, "Don't you know who I am?"

Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in excitement, "Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty--" Thankfully, before she could say anymore, Applejack shoved a cupcake into her muzzle, effectively silencing her.

The dark alicorn looked around with a displeased look on her face. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" she asked, as she neared Fluttershy causing her to flinch back and her birds to take off. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" she questioned, getting in Rarity's face.

"We did. And we know who you are," Twilight spoke up.

"The Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon," Corvo finished. Everypony gasped at this.

Nightmare Moon sneered at the two. "Well, well, well, so there are ponies that remember me. Then you two know what I have planned," she said, smiling wickedly.

"You're here to... to..." Twilight gulped, unable to finish. She glanced at Corvo, who was staring at Nightmare Moon.

The alicorn chuckled evilly, "Remember this day, little ponies, because it is your last. From this moment forth, the night shall last forever!" She began to laugh maniacally, as her mane and tail began to swirl above her and lightning curved out of it.

A feeling of dread and fear washed over Twilight. The day was going to disappear and the Princess was gone. What could they do? That's when she remembered how the book mentioned artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. Suddenly, a gray blur charging forward got her attention. Looking in its direction, she was shocked to see Corvo rushing toward Nightmare Moon.

"Raven!" Twilight shouted, scared for what might happen to him.