A tall black mare adorned in blue armor stood on the raised platform in the tower of The Royal Pony Sisters' Castle. Her star-speckled astral mane billowed in an intangible wind as she gazed down at the six ponies floating before her, an air of confidence spilling off of her. Their bodies, having levitated off the ground from the power resonating from the Elements of Harmony, brought them into formation behind a purple mare, whose eyes glowed white with the power of the tiara atop her head. The purple mare's horn sparked, flashed the grey stone walls with momentary light and began the final stage of what was to come. Another flash of light, and a brilliant cascade of colors shot from each of the Elements and combined into a rainbow of pure magic. Nightmare Moon smirked, raised her head slightly, and sent a flash of her own magic from her horn, surrounding herself in a field of darkness.

"This trick shall not defeat me again!" she cried just before the rainbow crashed into the darkness about her and swirled around the barrier she had erected.

The rainbow grew in size. Doubled. Tripled. It grew until it engulfed the entirety of Nightmare Moon's platform and obscured her from view. The roar of the magic was deafening, and only continued to grow in power and volume until it stopped. Not even half a minute after the rainbow had bounded from the six ponies and their elements, it disappeared abruptly, leaving a disgruntled and exhausted alicorn in its wake. Exhausted, but whole. The glowing of the necklaces faded, dropping the six mares to the ground unceremoniously.

The first to regain her senses was the purple mare. She groaned and clutched her head as she tried to focus her sight before her. Her eyes fell upon the form of the alicorn and started, fear spread across her features. "Wha-what's g-going on? The El-Elements should have de-defeated you!"

"Ahahahah! You FOALS! Did you truly think that I would allow this to catch me off guard twice!?" the black alicorn returned, cackling darkly at the helpless group before her.

The other mares began to regain coherence, each donning the purple mare's look of shock and defeat. The orange-coated blonde earth pony was the first to speak up. "Twilight...! What happened?! 'Ah thought you said tha' Elements a' Harmony were s'posed to defeat Nightmare Moon!"

One, by one the others stood up and began to huddle together. A yellow pegasus donning a pink mane that hid part of her face cowered behind the rest of the group, shivering visibly in abject terror. The blue pegasus before her turned and tried to comfort the quivering ball of pony, her rainbow mane hiding the doubt in her own eyes. "Shh... Fluttershy, it's okay. I'm sure Twilight will think of something."

The pink pony with a shocking cotton candy pink mane shot up off the ground and growled at the towering alicorn before them. "That's right Dashie! Twilight will definitely bring this black snooty down!"

The last one to recover was a white unicorn that practically radiated fabulousity, her purple curled mane only slightly tousled from the fall. She held her tongue, unsure as of what to say to help the situation. Nightmare Moon simply stood there, staring harshly at the party as they regained composure. She bored holes into each of the ponies with her eyes causing them each to flinch away in response until her gaze met Twilight's. The lavender mare stared back nervously as her brain worked frantically.

Thoughts raced through her head a mile a minute. I could just blind her and run away with the girls in order to reformulate a plan and maybe find Princess Celestia to ask for her aid or a way to empower the Elements of Harmony but ohhhh where is the Princess when I need her is she even still in Equestria if not then how am I supposed to fight Nightmare Moon if the Elements don't work I never learned any combat related magic would I be able to defeat her on my own I don't want to get the others hurt...

"Twilight! Dear, we need your advice. Please tell me you have thought of something." pleaded the white unicorn.

Twilight turned to the others and took in their terrified looks. She was struck deep in the heart with guilt at having allowed them to come here with her to help defeat this evil and put themselves in harm's way. She hung her head in defeat and spoke slowly, "I'm sorry, Rarity. I... I can't think of anything. I don't have any spell that could help us out here... I'm so sorry to have brought you with me..."

The others gasped sharply, all of them turning their gaze back to the dark figure before them. Nightmare Moon now grinned menacingly at the huddled group below her. "Is that all you foals have? You came at me hoping that some magic lost for a millennium that could barely banish me that one time?" Her eyebrow raised at the question and when their heads sunk further she laughed again. "Hah! That's rich! Oh you poor pitiful foals. So, tell me. Do you have any last words before I end your pitiful existences?"

All but Twilight shuddered as sobs began to overcome them. Even Pinkie Pie, the pink mare, was crying, her poofy pink mane straight and dangling over her face. Twilight looked back at them again, stricken with grief as she watched her new friends break down, expecting their impending doom. She steeled her face and turned back to Nightmare Moon, determination in her eyes, her resolve firm. "I won't let you hurt any of these wonderful ponies! I got them into this and I'll get them out!"

Twilight lowered her head in concentration and her horn started to glow causing light to fill the cold grey room and banish the darkness of night. Nightmare Moon stepped back slightly, preparing for whatever the little lavender unicorn could throw at her. The unicorn's horn flashed and the alicorn brought back her shield from before, but when the light faded she was alone with the small lavender mare. Twilight gasped and clutched her horn as she recovered from the exertion needed to teleport a group of five ponies such a long distance. She had sent them back to the outskirts of Ponyville, their home, and left herself there so Nightmare Moon wouldn't be able to find where her magic took her friends.

Nightmare Moon quickly shook off the shock of Twilight's insolence and beamed, filled with mirth. "I'm amused that you would selflessly sacrifice yourself for those foals you met only hours ago. And such raw power! Teleporting not just one but five ponies at once! You are powerful. I shall have to see that you don't have the chance to oppose me in the future." Nightmare Moon's horn began to radiate a dull darkness as she prepared her next spell to end the lavender mare when Twilight stood taller, taking a stance of brave defiance, prepared for what was to come.

"I don't care what you do to me, Nightmare Moon, but I shall NOT let you harm my friends. I know you won't be able to find them since you can only trace the caster of a spell. I go knowing that my friends will be safe!"

The alicorn broke her spell and cackled fiercely. "Oh! You pathetic foal! Do you think I care about those pitiful ponies?! With Celestia gone you're the only one with enough power to even think of trying to stop me and you're nothing without your so-called friends! Ah, I am feeling generous." She walked slowly over to the only other being in the room, her armored hooves clacking on the cold stone floor. "It is the moment of my joyous return after all." She walked around Twilight, the young unicorn watching her nervously, her determination faltering. "I think I may spare you. I've always wanted a pet."

Nightmare Moon smirked and Twilight blanched, trying to move away from the incoming Queen. Nightmare Moon released another bellowing laugh and reached out towards Twilight with her gaseous mane and slowly started to envelope the unicorn. Twilight screamed, trying to get away, but the alicorn was too powerful and the unicorn too exhausted. The mane reached her neck, engulfing her. Terror filled her eyes while Nightmare Moon continued to laugh, and consume more of the unicorn until, with a final screech of fear, Twilight disappeared into that flowing body of stars.

Looking around once more, the alicorn took to the air on her powerful wings and flew off toward the site of where she would construct her new palace to rule in darkness once again.

Author's Notes: Hey guys! Peppy here. Just wanted to let ya know how excited I am to finally be writing for you guys here at fimfiction (and anywhere else I deem necessary to publish this). This is my first fanfic and, in fact, the first piece of literature I've released to the public at all. Please don't be gentle when commenting cause I want to know exactly what i did wrong so I can improve on it in the future. I'm probably going to be doing short but frequent updates while I'm not at work or being distracted by the great pieces of art that everypony is shoving at me on here but expect at least 1-2 chapters a week. If I don't post anything you guys can yell at me to get my flank in gear hehe. Here's to a (hopefully) long and interesting story for you guys! Hope you enjoyed!

Editor's Notes: Hi, I'm Dr.Jekyll... and I'll be your editor today. Not much to say. Didn't need to fix or change much of anything in this chapter. As of editing this, there are already twenty-four chapters so enjoy! Well... twenty-two chapters. The other two don't count.