Luna had brought us to the throne room to explain what happened. Apparently, somepony was able to transport our subconscious minds to a kind of prison. It was illegal for anypony, even the Princesses, to manipulate other ponies in this way. It was nearly impossible for her to trace where the spell was cast, but we immediately concluded it was the evil mare that stole the Elements of Harmony.

"So now that we know for sure that this evil pony is responsible," I began. "Just how are we supposed to find her and stop her from achieving her evil deed?" I looked to Twilight and asked, "How does tracing a spell usually work?"

She thought for a moment to reflect on her studies, then responded, "Every spell done leaves a kind of residue called AE (Arcane Energy) only detectable by high-level unicorns. The tracing spell, however is only effective on minor spells and from a smaller scale." Dusk looked at her, absorbing this new information.

"So it's hopeless," Dusk plainly stated. "We can't find her, she'll succeed." At this, Fire smacked him hard at his head and reprimanded him.

"You idiot, there's always a way." Fire walked over to Luna and asked, "Is there any way we can find out more about our enemy?"

Luna shook her head. "All we can do now is wait. Hopefully, we won't have to wait for long." She looked at the Mane 6 and and then at us, and finally, said, "I trust that you all will be patient. Such is a virtue, and may reward us with some answers."

"YOUR MAJESTY!" A white, armor-clad pegasus ran up to Luna, out of breath. "I have news of an intruder!" All of the ponies in the room turned to the soldier, waiting for him to deliver the message.

"Well?" Luna queried. "What of this intruder is so interesting?"

"He claimed to know Prince Shadow." The soldier pointed to me with his wing and continued. "He also looked almost exactly like him, too, Your Majesty. Except he gave a very dark vibe."

I ignored anything else anypony in the room said and flew out of the room instantly. I found myself flying towards a dozen of Royal Guards surrounding a dark figure, spears ready for any signs of hostility. I instantly dived down to the middle of the guards at which they collectively jumped back.

Ire and rage built up within me as I immediately recognized the figure. I landed hard on my hooves, causing a small explosion; the Royal Guards around us jumped back to avoid the flying debris. I then tackled my evil clone to the ground, and lowered my horn and charged an attack.

"Wait, please, I-" the clone began, but I immediately cut him off.

"You dare to enter Canterlot  after what you did? You must be insane. Now you have about 5 seconds to tell me WHY I SHOULDN'T DESTROY YOU RIGHT NOW." I could actually see fear in his eyes; it felt good.

"Calm down, that's just what he wants!" He responded instead, catching me off guard.

"What? Who is 'he'?"

"I- I can't say. I've only come to send a warning. And to aid in any attempts to retaliate."

"NO! You will tell me who you work for!" I made my horn's aura start to crackle threateningly like lightning. "Do I have to force the answer out of you?"

"Please, I'm only a messenger! Only following orders! I was forced to fight you, if my master wasn't so lenient, I wouldn't be here."

"LIAR." I simply said, not realizing I was yelling.. "AND FOR COMMITTING ASSAULT AGAINST A PRINCE OF EQUESTRIA, YOU SHALL PAY!"

I brought my horn down to his face. He was pinned down with no way to escape. He was trapped by my rage and want for revenge. Before I could cast the lightning spell, I found myself caught in a dark blue aura and heard a familiar voice calmly speak.

"Prince Shadow, that is enough. We will get our answers and whatever information he plans to give us later." Luna trotted over to a Royal Guard and said, "Take the intruder away, we will interrogate him later when Celestia returns."

I watched as my clone was escorted back to the palace, where he would be imprisoned in the underground. I turned to Luna, and spoke flatly, "You should have let me deal with him."

Luna shook her head. "If I had, you would have killed our only link to the whereabouts of the Elements."

"He tried to kill me!" Luna tilted her head. I sighed and continued, "He's the evil clone that attacked me in the dream prison. I can't trust him at all."

"Shadow," Luna moved towards a small mirror pool. "Come here, you need to see yourself."

I obliged and looked into the the pool, and was about to rudely retort when I noticed my eyes. My eyes were red with rage. They were legitimately a dark, firey red that had the look of one with the intent to kill all in his path. I blinked hard twice, looked again, and noticed they had changed back to their natural blue.

"Do you remember what your clone said?" Luna asked. "Anything relevant to you specially?"

I thought for a moment, try to recall what he said when I didn't cut him off. "He said... to keep calm. It's what 'he' wants. Do you have any idea who might be after me?" Luna pondered this and I continued. "What entity feeds off of rage and hate for power?"

At this, Luna looked up realizing something. "SHADOW!" I looked up, startled at her outburst. "QUICKLY! WE MUST LOCATE AND TELL CELESTIA OF OUR FINDNNGS!"

"What? Luna, what do you mean? Do you know who is behind this?" I asked. "Who sent-" I was caught off when she simply answered.

"He's back." Luna said in a whisper. "The Nightmare has returned, and he's after you and your powers." Next Chapter: Training Estimated time remaining: 6 Minutes