You are a creature of the night.

“What?”

Hmm... You are new. Perhaps you came to be in my absence.

“Where am I!?”

I believe it is I who should be asking you that question, beast. Yours is an impressive power, I can already tell, and it will be mine.

“!”

Oh? Is that recognition I taste? Ohohohoho, none of these little ponies I have visited have known my magnificence this night. Not until you. You are very intriguing indeed.

“You're--”

Oh, you need not speak my name, night beast; t'would be vain of me to allow you to when we are alone together. Neigh, when I reveal myself to all my lucid subjects, you may enlighten them with my title, since they seem to have chosen to forget their true ruler during my detention. Now, as delicious as this first meeting has been, I must release you from your slumber so that you may witness my glory alongside them, for the time has come at long last. We shall see each other again soon... Twilight Sparkle.

It would have been a cold sweat that Twilight started awake into if it weren't for her disguise. Instinctively, she looked to her side and saw that Sunset was asleep beside her. Her horn was marred with scorch marks from dark magic, but her rest seemed peaceful. Her eyes then turned to the window on her left, where the moon still hung in the night sky, the Mare in the Moon still silent on its face.

That can't be right... Twilight searched the dark room for a clock, or any sort of timekeeping device. Most ponies couldn't see too well in this dim lighting, but if there was one thing about her nature that she was grateful for, it was her night vision... which revealed that the clock upon the wall was not wound. She groaned in frustration. It would seem nothing was going to cooperate with her until they left Ponyville. Her glowing gaze returned to the unicorn slumbering next to her. “Sunset,” she said with a nudge to the mare's barrel.

The sleeping pony moaned her displeasure at being disturbed, but remained unmoving. Twilight sighed. “Sunset, you need to wake up. It's nearly sunrise.”

“mmmMh Clover no, you can't take their bits, we'll earn 'em ourselves...” She shifted closer to Twilight, leaning into her.

“Sunset!” The false unicorn wasn't very patient after the previous day, so she resorted to shouting rather quickly. It had the desired effect, as Sunset jerked awake at her name.

“Ugh, what the hay...?” She held a hoof to her forehead and looked around at the unfamiliar library. “Twilight? What's goin' on?”

Twilight spared a chuckle at the mare's disoriented state, despite her worries. “We're still in Ponyville, Sunset. I guess we dozed off after a while.”

“Ponyville?” The unicorn's bleary eyes narrowed in concentration, then widened in recognition. “Oh, horseapples! What time is it? Where's Spike?” She went to get up but winced in pain. “Why do I feel like my head's being hit by a hammer?” She looked back to the purple mare, who was decidedly not sinister-looking at the moment. “Oh yeah...” She shifted – slowly this time – to better examine her work. “Hmm...”

The lightly embarrassed Twilight Sparkle was once more concealed by the visage of a unicorn, and if it weren't for her horn, the illusion was flawless. Normal white eyes, no scruffy unruly fur, no black hooves... Sunset Shimmer nodded at her accomplishment, until her eyes were drawn to Twilight's mane. “Aren't those highlights normally hidden?”

Twilight's own eyes widened at that. “Oh! Yeah, I just do that myself.” A black cloud emanated from her horn and traveled along her mane, seeming to erase the pink and red that raced along it, leaving behind more indigo. It leapt from the end of her hair to her tail to do the same there, quietly fading from existence when its work was complete.

“Not gonna lie,” Sunset began as she rose to her hooves, mindful of her splitting headache, “part of me is extremely jealous that you can just make that stuff do what you want like it's nothing.”

The false pony's ears fell at the reminder of the nature of her power.

“C'mon now, Twi, that was praise! You saw how tough it was for me to control it earlier, and you hardly even need to think about it. That's impressive!” Her face was contorted in faintly exasperated concern at her charge's lack of self-esteem. “It even went right back to you without a fuss when I was finished! You got that magic eating right out of your hoof somehow girl, and any mage worth their weight in salt would give a foreleg to know how to do that.“

It wasn't that Twilight didn't recognize what the unicorn was doing, and she really did try to be flattered. She opened her mouth to say something, but a knock at the door brought the world around them back into focus. Teal magic unlocked it. “Come in!”

The door opened to reveal Spike with a lampshade on his head. “Oh great, you're both awake! Come on, it's time to watch the sunrise!”

He stood stoically, as he always did when he was on the job. Goodness, he was gorgeous to look at. He wasn't wearing his real armor, but ceremonial vestments that made him look even more magnificent than normal. His blue eyes staring unblinkingly down at the gradually growing crowd of ponies who filtered into the town hall, not with disdain, but concern. Nopony else would notice, but Cadence knew how to read Shining Armor's most subtle changes in expression like an open book. It came with being his special somepony and The Princess of Love. He was scanning them for a purple coat and dark blue mane. She knew how worried he was, as she could relate; Twilight was like a little sister to her, and the only pony that could outmatch her fears for her would be her actual brother, the white-coated stallion next to her.

Cadence gave the mass below another quick sweep with her eyes, and found that Twilight hadn't arrived yet. She figured that Shiny would soon turn his attention to the door so he wouldn't miss her, and thus changed her focus to studying the colorful crowd of earth ponies and pegasi. There was the orange one with the silly and cute hat hovering near the food. She cursed herself for forgetting the poor mare's name, but didn't dwell on it before looking for the others. She saw by the stage the quiet “pegasus” pony and her adorable choir of birds, and smiled. What she had read about Fluttershy had easily drowned her apprehension at the mare's true identity, and her gentle hoof would have made her the pink alicorn's favorite of the ponies if it weren't for Rarity. The two of them had held a riveting conversation about the virtues and sufferings of romance and some Canterlot gossip for the last few hours to kill time waiting for auntie Celestia. Cadence wondered if it would be too much trouble to have the demon pony become her personal designer or not. A conversation to be had with Celestia another time, when she wasn't utterly furious with the regent.

Instead of continuing to scan the audience, the alicorn turned her gaze to the lofty shadows of the ceiling. It didn't take long to spot the fabulously colored thestral that was hiding in the rafters. Now she was easy to remember; Rainbow Dash couldn't even be subtle in her own name. Her rose-colored eyes met Cadence's, and the alicorn smirked knowingly, winking at her. The thestral's wings flared and shuffled in discomfort at her being discovered, but she remained where she lay, going back to looking hungrily at the food table.

That was four accounted for, but the enigmatic fifth mare couldn't be seen in the cluster of ponies downstairs. That wasn't congruent with what Cadence had learned about Pinkie Pie (another really unambiguous name, she mused), so she had to wonder what could possibly be keeping her from the gathering. After all, it's the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration! Cadence wasn't sure what to think of the the pink pony otherwise without meeting her, but she didn't take her for a mare that would miss an event like this.

“Are you watching for her?” The hunk of a stallion to her left spoke to her for the first time in several minutes.

Cadence turned her head to him with a playful grin. “Shiny-hiney, you're doing a good enough job for the both of us already. I mean, goodness, you'd think she was your sister or something.”

He blushed at the embarrassing pet name, but to his credit, that was the only sign her teasing had worked. “I'm just really worried, Cadence,” he resumed staring intently at the door as he spoke. “The princess deliberately goes behind our backs and sends her here even when we insist on her staying in Canterlot, and now she won't even speak to us and no one has seen Twilight, Sunset or Spike all evening.”

Cadence draped a violet-tipped wing over the captain of the guard. “I know. It's eating me up too, and trust me when I say I am going to have some choice words with Celestia when sunrise is over. But Twily's got you nearly falling apart over her right now, so I'm confident she'll come out of this okay.” She returned to scanning the crowd and her eyes quickly went alight with glee at the sight of three little fillies sitting together at a table near the first-floor stage. “Oooh Shiny, look at them! They're so cute together!”

He chanced a brief glance at where his marefriend was not-so-subtly pointing with her long foreleg. “Yeah, uh, kinda cool how they're a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony all together, heh.” His mask of professionalism was betrayed by a nervous twitch in his cheek. Cadence knew exactly what was going through his head, because he knew exactly what she was implying. And as eager as she was about the concept, she also understood Shining wasn't quite ready for the commitment, so she never pressed the matter. She would wait patiently for their marriage, as she had promised. Those plans were taking awfully long to set in stone though, even for such a high-profile wedding in such a busy city. Ten months wasn't too ridiculous, but it was certainly close.

“There she is!” Shining Armor startled Cadence with his barely restrained outburst. He really was as worried as she thought.

The pink alicorn looked to the doors, and indeed, there was Twilight and Sunset, with Spike on-board... and Pinkie Pie, it looked like. How about that? “Since when did they know her, though?”

“Probably got introduced to her the same way we did,” Shining smiled at her as he thought about the scenario, “There's still some confetti in your mane by the way, honey.”

Perhaps saying she hadn't met the mare was a lie; technically yes, they had met her when they finally shook the guards and sat down for a bit in a lovely confectionery called Sugarcube Corner. She rolled out a literal welcome wagon that played music, shot out confetti and baked cakes for the two of them. So Cadence had met the other, smaller, more pink pony, but she didn't really know the mare.

Cadence ran a hoof through her mane – gently; let's not ruin the styling now. If that morning was anything to go by though, then Pinkie Pie was a very friendly individual, and her being in Twilight's presence without any real reason could only mean one thing. “Shining Armor, do you think--?”

“That they're friends?” The guardstallion finished her sentence. He eyed the bouncing pony with a gaze that could pierce through metal it was so scrutinizing. “I dunno... She struck me as somepony who would get in your face if she wanted to and never leave.” He shrugged. “Then again, none of us can exactly say we know what Twily looks for in friends, so maybe?” His ears perked up at the sound of someone snickering, as did Cadence's. They both looked to the ceiling to find the thestral was laughing into her hoof like a madmare, staring down at the false unicorn as she led the way into the crowd. “What's so funny to her?”

The double doors to town hall stood open for Twilight, Sunset and Spike to enter once more, and awaiting them now inside was almost the entire population of the village clustered together on the ground floor. Royal guards now ringed the interior of the building and stood flanking the balconies above, save for the leftmost one, where Twilight spotted her brother and Princess Cadence looking upon her. A smile and wave, and she got the same in return from both.

“Aw man, you missed the best part though, Twilight! Me and Pinkie were playing bulls-eye with cupcakes and one of the ponies volunteered to be the target for a little bit!” Spike had been animatedly re-enacting his antics with the pink mare on her back since they had left the library. “I got two right in their mouth, but Pinkie got five. She's good.”

The pony in question had not left the purple mare alone since she emerged from the room, either. She bounced alongside her as they walked into the crowd. “Gosh, it's so rare that I get to play with someone else who can overhoof stuff! I've tried throwing overhoof with an actual hoof; it doesn't work out very well, so I usually don't ask anypony to play those games.”

“Interesting, yeah.” Twilight couldn't care less. “Sunset, why can't we just go in the back and wait there for the ceremony?”

Sunset's face turned to one of faint guilt for but a moment before she responded, “Because until your presence is absolutely required, the princess doesn't want you to waste a single opportunity to mingle.”

Twilight caught the unicorn's expression, but thought nothing of it, instead turning her head back forward. “Of course. Because I haven't suffered enough today— yaagh!!”

“Twilight!?” Sunset's horn flared with magic.

“A spider! There's a spider right in my face getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!”

What looked to be a large hairy spider was now hanging before the false unicorn. A mad high-pitched cackling could be heard echoing through the hall as she scrambled to cower on the floor.

"...Twilight, it's not real." Spike had regained his balance on her back and stood to inspect the arachnid.

"Huh?"

The purple mare uncovered her eyes to look at the eight-legged horror. Indeed, on closer inspection the sewing seams could be seen under the false hair. Glassy red beads stared blankly into nothing, and the legs hung limp from the body. In her peripheral vision Twilight saw a cyan blur descend from the ceiling, and she redirected her eyes to see none other than the thestral pony Rainbow Dash, guffawing as she hovered to the floor.

"Aw man, that was priceless!" The rainbow-maned mare struggled to keep her laughter under control as she ambled to the group. "'Sup, purple? I thought you'd be hangin' out with the princess by now."

That's what I thought too. "Did you just... prank me?" Twilight rose, incredulous.

"Hay yeah! Were you scared?" Rainbow's pearly white incisors gleamed in her self-assured grin, already certain of the answer.

Twilight started to deny that proclamation but was cut off by Pinkie Pie. "You totally got her good, Dashie! She was all like 'WAAH!!', and then she curled up into a ball on the floor and everything! Nopony pranks 'em like you do, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm awesome." The thestral drank in the praise with a satisfied smugness.

"Rainbow Miriam Dash!"

All the bravado (and color) drained from her face at the sound of her full name, however. There was only one pony who would use that weapon. "Uh, hey Applejack! What's goin' on?" She turned to the approaching farmpony, who trotted over from the catering table with heavy hooves and a frown.

"Are y'all antagonizing our guests?"

Nervousness oozed from the cyan pony like a bad odor. "Um... maybe?"

"Don't you smart-mouth me, lady! Ain't nothin' nice about treatin' somepony you never met like that! I thought you knew that already."

"But I was--"

"I ain't hearin' no back-talk outta you about this, and you can see five apples taken out of yer allowance this month!"

"No way!!"

"Yes way! Now go on over and help serve ponies." Applejack pointed a hoof back to the table, which Rainbow trudged toward with her ears hung low. The earth pony looked back to Twilight and company with an appeasing grin on her face. "Sorry 'bout that. That there was Rainbow Dash. She doesn't normally behave like that with strangers."

"We've met." Sunset deadpanned, her half-lidded glare squarely on the thestral, now halfheartedly passing out food.

"Well, ain't that somethin' else! I can't rightly recall another time a visitor could say that about her." Her muzzle curved down into a frown. "What'd she do?"

"She fell on me." Twilight chirped up. Applejack's face went pale. "But it was an accident, so I forgave her." She leaned to Sunset's ear and whispered,"that's what I was supposed to tell her right?"

"I can think of a lot of worse things to say, I guess..." The unicorn responded.

"Like what?" Pinkie squeezed her head between theirs.

Sunset fumed. "Like the thestral is somehow less irritating than a certain earth pony who insists on being in my presence!"

The pink mare giggled. "You're right, that is a lot worse!"

One could swear steam was whistling out from Sunset Shimmer's ears, but the sound of songbirds singing fanfare in harmony interrupted all chatter before the conversation could continue. All eyes on the ground floor looked to the center stage, where a beige mare with a mane grayed with age stood. As silence fell, she cleared her throat and began to speak:

"Fillies and gentlecolts! As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Thunderous stomping applause and cheers filled the building.

"So that's the mayor. Wonder where she's been all day?" Spike pondered out loud.

The older pony resumed her speech, "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the first and longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."

All eyes now rose to the veiled central balcony, where the unicorn guards' light spells pointed. The curtains behind it were pulled back by the demon mare Rarity.

"Princess Celestia!"

The birds began their fanfare once more, but instead of excitement in the air, a collective gasp of shock came forth from the audience.

The balcony was empty.

Cadence was very angry now.

She didn't show that to the ponies down below, of course. "Everypony remain calm. Auntie Celestia might have dozed off, is all. We'll go check on her." She turned away and motioned for Shining to follow.

Once they were out of earshot, she dropped the false serenity, and her face contorted into rage. "So help me, Celestia, if you are actually going through with this, I'll...!"

Shining armor was no less angry. "I'm not going to condone what you're about to say, but I probably won't be around to stop you from acting on it."

"Trust me, sweetie, I would not want to be around me when I have an earful for a pony either." They stomped down the corridor to the most ornate door in the building. What they found behind it would determine whether being mad was all they needed to be. Magenta magic enveloped the entire door, and it took all of the captain of the guard's restraint to not rip the whole thing off of its hinges as he pushed it open. Nopony put his little sister in danger, not even his ruler.

He entered first, and a quick scan of the office revealed what they had dreaded:

Princess Celestia was nowhere to be seen.

"Horseapples." He slammed the door shut as he exited, and barked at the guards in the hallway. "Search the entire town! The princess must be found immediately!"

"This can't be good."

"Ooh, ooh! Maybe she's playing hide-n-seek!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight took note of the guards beginning to move to the exit. Her eyes darted all around the hall, looking for... something! She didn't know what. But her increasingly nervous gaze locked onto her brother and her former foalsitter emerging from the central balcony.

"Princess Celestia isn't where she said she'd be, everypony, but there's probably a reasonable explanation for this," Shining Armor explained to the ponies.

Pinkie Pie popped up behind them both, startling the pair. "Oh, I love guessing games! Wait, don't tell me!" Her hoof morphed into a hand once more as she scratched at her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hmmm... You're the new princess!" She pointed her finger at Shining.

"Amusing, but that title falls to me."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It laughed as the room darkened until it was nearly pitch-black, and a luminescent blue smoke began to emerge from the floor. The floorboards cracked and warped, raising and reforming into a dais of sorts, upon which the glittering mass of blue coalesced. Ponies gasped and shrieked in horror as they watched it morph and change. Most of it became solid black. Wings emerged from the back of the emerging pony, as a great spiraling black horn burst from the head. Cyan armor graced its long hooves and covered its chest, on which the breastplate sported a crescent moon scored with a scar of dark magic. And on the head opened a bright blue reptilian eye, itself scarred.

Twilight looked on in horror. It was her. The Mare in the Moon.

"The Dark Mare...!"

She stood tall, relishing in her freedom, her wild mane and tail of stars undulating in magical currents. She opened her eyes again to look upon the quivering ponies.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been far too long since I've seen you precious little, sun-loving faces."

Author's Notes:

Here's Black Snooty.

This is it. This was where what I now call the great hiatus happened. An shameful six months of nothing, only broken when I sat down and wrote the next chapter (which you can safely skip) in like two hours.

-N

*may not actually show up at the same time next week.