" C'mon Twi, you gotta be able to fly in two days for the celebration!" I was in the Canterlot gardens with my wives and our friends, supervising Twilight's flight lessons. So far, she crashed into four clouds. three trees, a castle spire, and I lost count of how many times she face-planted the ground. " Stop flapping your wings one at a time, flap simultaneously!"

" I'm trying my best." She pouted while looking like a drowning animal.

" Your best is an idiot!" I took to the sky and showed her how it's done. " Remember Twi, flying is similar to swimming. Okay, let's start with the basics. To stay aloft, give strong, even flaps like so." Twilight mimicked my flaps and did a pretty good job keeping air-bourne. " Alright, not bad. Okay, now fold in your forelegs and scoop large amounts of air and rise higher in the air." I did those actions and rose higher into the air. Twilight had a little difficulty in getting some lift but after a minute she was able to get to my level. " Good, now lean forward with your wings spread out, and we'll glide down for a landing." I dove down towards the ground in a steady glide and came in for a soft landing. When I looked at Twilight, I saw her glide down and she was doing a pretty good job. But when she touched down, she tripped on her hooves and face-planted again. " And there we go again."

Dash came over and stared at the whole mess. " I don't see why I'm not the one teaching her?"

" 'Cause Dash, you would have been having her do barrel rolls and corkscrews."

" Yeah, because that's awesome." All of us rolled our eyes before continuing.

After a couple more hours and slightly more property damage, we decided to call it quits for the day. " Okay, you made some progress, now if we can just work on your landings, you'll be golden Princess."

" Thanks for the boost of confidence." She shook off the dirt from her mane and made her way over to the blanket we had laid out. " How many lessons until I can properly fly?"

" Well, seeing as how you and I got our wings later on in our lives, I'd say we should have started these lessons a few weeks ago. Hahahaha!" Twilight buried her face in her hooves while a few of us laughed our asses off.

After we had a good laugh, Luna went to cheer Twilight up. " Don't worry Twilight, my sister and I both have faith that you can do your part for the celebration."

" Do you really think so?" Twilight started to perk up at my wife's words.

" Of course. Tia hasn't stopped talking about how you doing this, will be making this year's celebration a happy one."

" Hmph right, as opposed to all the other years she raised the sun for the celebration. I remember seeing her for the first time at my first Summer Sun Celebration, and she was happy as can be." She finished with a smile, but it faltered when she saw Luna's somber look. " What?"

" Tia may never admit this, but she always hated this celebration."

" What!?" Was the collective question from everyone besides Jackie and me.

Rarity decided to inquire why Celestia hates the celebration. " Why would Princess Celestia not like the celebration? It's a wonderful celebration beloved by all."

" That may be, but for Tia, it was the day she banished me to the moon for a thousand years." A sad silence was met after she said that. " When the darkness took over me, Tia used the elements on me and sent me to the moon, and of course, took the potion I crafted."

" Hey, I'm grateful she took the potion. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here." I snuggled up close to Luna to give her a bit of comfort.

" Okay, that part, I'm thankful for. Though I do wish whatever made me into Nightmare Moon never happened." Wait, what?

" Luna, you saying you don't remember how you became that thing?"

" Well, sort of. I remember one day after no one showed up for night court and feeling extremely jealous of my sister. I went to confront her about it, but then I felt a sharp pain and blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the ruins of our old home with all of you surrounding me."

We all soaked in the information Luna told us and started to get a new perspective of the past. How is it that I never asked her this before now? " Well, circumstances aside, it carved the future you have now." She smiled and brought me in for a loving embrace.

" Thank you, dear." When she opened her eyes, she noticed the position of the sun. " Oh, look at the time, you'll miss the train home."

" Crap, you're right." I gave her a kiss before motioning everyone to the station. " We'll see you, Spike, and Twilight after the ceremony."

" I'll be counting the hours. Oh, I forgot to mention, Discord went to a pocket dimension for a small vacation, so don't get worried if he isn't home."

" Well, there goes poker night. With Scootaloo having a sleepover at the clubhouse and Dad visiting Austin with his buddies, I guess I'll teach the boys to use their weapons." Luna slapped me with her wing and Jackie slapped my leg. " What?"

" We keep telling ya, no training until their a bit older." Jackie scolded me while heading towards the train with the others.

" Alright, fine, no training of any sorts with the boys." Jackie nodded, satisfied with my answer, though she didn't see my mischievous grin.

With the moon full and the stars shining bright, I brought the boys out into the field when I knew their mama Jackie would be asleep and mama Luna would be patrolling dreams. I've actually led them on nighttime training sessions before, but this will be the first session with their new weapons. " Okay, boys, I'll get some targets set up, then you two can attack them."

" Okay, dad, but what are you going to do when our moms find out your training us with our new weapons?" Jack inquired as he did a few practice swings with his hammer.

" If you two keep this our little secret, I won't have to answer for anything," I told them while patting them both on the back.

" Okay, and when that fails?" Orion asked me while examining his sword.

" Better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission. Also, I'll be hiding out in the bunker at Herot, I heard they put in a pool table." I continued to set up the targets after giving my sons some much-needed life lessons. It took me thirty minutes to set up ten wooden targets in the shape of Draugr and a couple of trolls, each of them having a red or blue paint mark. " Alright, listen up boys. Orion, you attack the targets with the blue marks and then I want you to take down one of the trolls. Jack, when your brother's done, I want you to take down all the targets with a red mark and take down the other troll. And one more important thing, make as little noise as possible."

" How come?"

" 'Cause Orion, you might find yourself in a situation where you need to make as little noise as possible while fighting a horde of enemies. There might be some hostages near the fighting, and their survival depends on you killing the enemy quietly."

" That, and the fact you don't want us to wake Mama Applejack so she can chew your butt a new one."

" I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer." I gave both their heads a shake before heading over to the fence with Jack. " Okay, show me what you got, son!"

Orion gave me a nod before running towards his targets. His first two targets were placed close together by two feet, so when he got close, he sliced both their heads clean off. He didn't stop there, he used his momentum to run through a target through the gut and sliced upward, making the target look like a half-sliced hotdog. With his last two targets, he sliced the legs off one while taking the head off the other with the same swing then plunged his sword into the one with no legs. With the Draugr taken care of, he set his sight on his troll. He pulled out his sword with a reverse grip and sent an energy blast at the base of the troll, making it start to fall forward. While the behemoth started to come down, Orion got underneath where its head would land and readied his sword. Once the head was in striking distance, my boy sliced the head off just as the body slammed on the ground. With that done, he looked at me while sheathing his sword. " How was that Dad?"

" Not bad, but next time, try and go for an instant kill." Orion rolled his eyes before heading over our way. " Even though they were dummies, the one that had chopped its legs off would have wailed in pain, sounding off the alarm." When he came over, I gave him a one-armed hug. " I'm just messing with ya, you did a great job and you've shown some impressive moves out there." Orion chuckled while I gave him a noogie.

I turned my attention to Jack and motioned him towards the field. " Alright, Jack, show us what you got."

" You got it Pops," He told me while doing some fancy moves with his hammer. Instead of running towards his targets, he launched himself in the air and dive-bombed his targets, kinda like a game of whack-a-mole. A couple of his targets wound up launched in the air and then were smashed into the Everfree with his hammer. All that's left is the troll. For that, Jack took his hammer and smashed one of its knees and made it fall to the ground. With it on the ground, Jack took the spike of his hammer and used it to plunge a hole in the back of its head. After that, he removed his hammer from the troll and proceeded to lean on it while shooting his brother a smug look. " I believe I had the fastest time on that."

" Maybe, but I had the best style." They both started to argue over who attacked their targets better while I just watched.

" Enough!" The boys quite their arguing and gave me their attention. " You both did a good job taking down your foes and that's what matters." I gave them both a pat on the back and started clearing some of the rubble. " Now how about you two do something helpful and help me get rid of this before either of your mamas has a fit?" The boys let out a small grumble before helping me clean up all the destroyed targets. " Okay, let's put this stuff deep in the forest, no one will ever know you two made a mess."

" Hey! This was your idea Dad!"

" Hey, I'm not the one who made a big mess out of the field." I laughed at their expressions of annoyance while we headed deep into the forest to dump this crap. We walked a good five miles into the woods and placed the targets in an abandoned fox den. " Okay, remember where we put this stuff." And with that, we started heading back.

While we were heading out of the woods, I kept felt a strange presence creeping around us. Every time I felt a disturbance, I looked around but all I saw were plants. Finally, Jack broke the silence. " Hey, Dad, do you think we're being followed?"

" Yeah, I do. But I don't really hear or smell anything. Maybe your old man's just getting paranoid or som-" Before I could finish my sentence, something grabbed me by my ankle, and started dragging me back into the forest. When I looked down at my foot, I saw that I was being carried off by a fucking vine. " Hey, get the fuck off me you damn weed!" I chopped off the weed with my ax and regrouped with my boys. " Okay, I'm not paranoid and the forest tried to eat me. Shit, I didn't realize it was Wednesday already?"

" Um, Dad, we're not out of the woods yet," Orion told me while pointing behind me.

When I turned around, I saw a cluster of what seemed like thousands of vines, snaking their way towards us. " Oh shit!" I grabbed the boys and ran out of that forest. As we kept running, the vines would follow us and more seemed to sprout out from the ground, joining in the hunt. " Oh fuck! Boys, we need to get airborne!" We lept from the ground and burst through the canopy to reach the skies. Once we were out of the forest and a safe distance away from those vines, we landed on a cloud to catch our breath. " Fuck."

" What the Hell were those? They looked like something aunt Rainbow Dash showed me, though didn't look like tentacles." I slapped Orion upside the head for admitting to looking at porn before observing our situation.

" I'm not sure what those were, but whatever they are, they need to be dealt with." I made to get off the cloud, but one of the boys was holding me back. " Okay, whoever's holding me better let go, this is no time to be playing games."

" Ugh, Dad." I looked over to Jack, only to see him stuck to the cloud. " I think we landed on a cloud made of flypaper."

All three of us struggled for a good minute or two before the cloud busted from our efforts. Before I could contemplate what the hell has been happening so far, Orion taps my shoulder. " What son!" He pointed over to my right where the most disturbing thing had caught my eye. " Oh." Somehow, the sky was being dominated by both the sun and moon, with one side looking like the day, and the other side night. If it weren't so devastating, it'd be beautiful.

A million thoughts kept slamming into me after seeing all of this. Is the Everfree rebelling? Are Celestia and Luna having another spat? Did someone fuck up at the weather factory? As these thoughts kept running through my head, Jack brought my attention to him. " Dad, those vines are taking over the farm!"

All our attention was directed towards the farm where the vines started to creep over to the house and over the orchard. " Oh hell no! Boys, wake the family, I'll try and stop these weeds." Jack went off to the farmhouse while Orion went to our house. With the boys rousing the family, I went for the nearest cluster of vines and started raising hell. " Alright you overgrown crabgrass, taste the cold!" I aimed my ax in the middle of the cluster and fired off a beam of ice, freezing the roots in place. With the vines immobile, I plucked a large boulder out of the ground and chucked it in the middle of the cluster, shattering the invasive plants from destroying our home. " Get off my property you damn weeds."

While I sliced a stalk of five, Jackie came over with the kids and the rest of the Apple family. " Honey, what's going on? It's three in the morning and both the sun and moon are out, and what's with all these weeds?"

" I wish I had the answer for you, babe, but so far I'm just trying to keep these damn things from taking over the farm!" I got rid of some more vines that started to grab around my waist. " Where's Mimir? He might have the answer to some of this."

" I got him right here Dad." Scootaloo came over with Mimir in her hooves.

" Good job Scoots, now grab a knife, trowel, or something to get rid of these plants." Scoots nodded and went off to find a cutting tool. With everyone fighting the vines, I brought Mimir to a vine that's been chopped off. " Alright, Mimir, what can you tell me about these weeds."

" Hmm... they look like Hel Bramble, a weed that is commonly found in Helheim. Usually, these plants would serve as food for reavers and damned souls, but without the cold winds of Hel, they seem to be growing wild and aggressive."

" Great, we got a bunch of supercharged Hel-weed, but what does that have to do with the sky?" I pointed Mimir skyward to observe the madness that is happening.

" I haven't the slightest clue for that, but you may want to go to Canterlot and talk to Luna and Celestia about that."

" That sounds like a plan." I put Mimir around my belt and headed towards Jackie. " Honey, I'm heading up to Canterlot to see what's going on with the sky. Hopefully, Lulu will know what's going on and this can be resolved quickly."

Jackie brought me into a hug before looking me in the eye. " Just promise me you'll come home safe."

" I might get a dent or two, but I'll come home for some lovin'." I gave her a deep kiss before opening a portal to the front of Caterlot castle. As soon as I went through the portal, I went searching through the castle for either my lunar wife or Celestia. I started my search in the throne room, thinking I might find at least one of them, but I didn't. I then went for Luna's old room to find her, and maybe get a quickie while I'm at it. Unfortunately, she was not there. My next stop was the kitchens to see if Celestia was chowing down on a cake. But, she wasn't there, so I went roaming around the halls for them, but before grabbing myself a scone and a coffee.

After thirty minutes of searching, I decided to ask one of the guards where they are or where they went. " Hey, G.I. Schmuck, any idea where I can find the Princesses?"

" Your highness. I'm not sure how to tell you this," In my experience, that phrase is something you never want to hear. " but both Princess Luna and Celestia, they just vanished."

" What!" I grabbed the guy by his throat and pinned him to the wall. " What do you mean they're gone!? What happened to them, who took them, why aren't you answering me dammit!?"

" Brother, there's no need to strangle him!" I calmed down from my rage and dropped the guard. " That's better. Now, what exactly happened here, my good man? Surely there must be something that can tell us what happened to the Princesses?"

The guard cleared his throat before answering. " No one is quite sure where they went or who might have taken them. Right now, we're all trying to keep the populace calm while we continue the search."

" ( Sigh) Alright, can you at least tell me where Twilight is?"

" Princess Twilight and Lord Spike have left for Ponyville when we received word that the Everfree is taking over. If I may speak plainly Sire, this is turning into a shit show."

" Granted and you're right. To be honest, I don't know how it can get worse."

" I hear you, I just hope the Princesses don't notice the two giant holes in the castle before we have a chance to patch it up."

"..........There are two giant holes in the castle," The nodded at my statement " and we have two Princesses unaccounted for, and you didn't think those two coincide with each other?" He had a thoughtful look on his face before shaking his head no. " Tell you what, you show me one of those holes, and then take a break. But while you're on that break, I want you to think of this. ' Use that thing on top of your shoulders for more than just a hat rack'." The guy nods to me again before leading me to one of the holes. " Certainly not dealing with a lot of brainpower here."

" Nah."

I observed the hole that was in the middle of the hallway and I have determined that this is where Celestia was dragged down into, what with the smell of cake and eucalyptus shampoo. As I examined the hole, I saw that there were no visible marks on the sides of the hole. I thought it might be a machine that did it, but I saw that the hole was a bit wider the deeper it went, reminded me of the weeds I'd pull up around the farm. " That's it!"

" What's it, brother?"

" This hole was made by a plant! And what's attacking out of the Everfree as we speak?" It started to dawn on Mimir at this point. " Exactly!"

" Well, what should we do now?"

" Seeing as Twilight is over in Ponyville, I say we head back there and see if she and the others can help us." I stepped away from the hole and opened up a portal, leading us to the front of the library. When we went through, all the girls, the kids, and Spike were huddled around Zecora while she fished in a cart that looks like it was carrying everything from her house. " Hey everybody." They all turned to me as I came up and Brought Jackie in my arms. " I assume that Twilight has informed you all about the situation so far?"

" Yeah, a bunch of weeds is taking over the town, messing up the clouds and messing with everyone's magic, and the Princesses are gone. Yeah, I think we got it," Dash told me with an irritated tone of voice.

Mimir then steered the conversation. " For the most part that's true, but allow me to enlighten you all with some new information. The vines that are taking over are actually Hel Bramble, a plant that is usually found in the realm of Helheim. Normally, they wouldn't be any bigger than a shrub bush, but since the raging cold is not here, they're growing at a fast pace. As for the Princesses, the Hel Bramble is responsible for that as well."

" What? How can a plant be responsible for kidnapping the Princesses, but no one else?" Twilight inquired while bits of her hair started fringe.

" I Don't know, but what I do know, is that we need to head to the source of the bramble if we have any hope of finding them." I pointed in the direction of where all the bramble had been originating from, the Everfree forest.

" But the forest is large and filthy," Rarity expressed her disgust for the forest. " Where would we even begin to look?"

" That...is a good question. Mimir, any suggestions?"

" If I still had my shoulders, I would be shrugging them right now. I have no idea where the roots would be."

" Perhaps, I can be of some assistance." Zecora came over with a vial with a purple liquid inside. " This potion, when combined with alicorn magic, will turn white and reveal the secrets to our dilemma." She handed the potion over to Twilight and took a step back.

Twilight laid the potion on the ground and blasted it with a little of her magic. Once the magic stopped, the liquid went from purple to a milky white. Once it was white, Twilight brought it to her lips and took a swig. After a moment of nothing happening, Twilight spoke. " It doesn't seem to be wor-" She stopped talking after her eyes started glowing white and she went stock-still.

At first, we were all in a panic and thought something went wrong with the potion. After five minutes of nothing happening, we just started staring at her, waiting for something to happen. After a while, I started to get impatient. " Here, give me that thing." I took a hold of the potion and took a swig from it. While I waited for this stuff to kick in, I tried to identify the taste. " Zecora, next time, add some-"

" -Kahlua. What the hell?" I found myself in an unfamiliar hallway instead of outside the library. " Great, now where the hell am I?" I started making my way down the hall to see if I can find a way out of here. " Heeelllooo, anybody here?" Off in the distance, I could hear a door opening and then slamming, so I went to investigate. When I rounded the corner, I was met with Luna heading right for me with an irritated look. " Luna! Oh, man am I glad to see," My words were caught in my throat because the next thing I knew, Luna was going right through me as if I were a ghost. When I turned around to see she just kept on going, a single thought came to mind. " What the fuck?" I shook off my surprise and followed her down the hall.

As I followed her down the hall, Luna went and started talking to herself. " Not a single petitioner for night court in months, and she says that it's no big deal? Easy for someone that has the court to herself and is adored by all our subjects." She then let out a snort that I've only seen her do twice in our marriage and both times I felt sorry for whoever was the target of her anger. " Well, we'll just see how she feels when I come bursting in and disrupting her precious day court." As I was listening to her rant, I started to realize where and more importantly when I am.

" Wow, so this is what the old castle used to look like? Damn, even then it was a dump." I kept following her to see exactly how this whole Nightmare Moon thing started.

As we kept going I noticed that her angry ranting turned into contemplation. " Maybe...maybe I just need to show everyone how much fun our night can be? Then maybe, our court will have some business." She stopped in her tracks and nodded with determination. " So be it." She turned back around and made her way back to where I believe her chambers were, no doubt to draw up some plans for her subjects.

" That's my girl." I went to follow her to see what she had in mind, but something stopped us both in our tracks. Out of nowhere, a creature resembling a floating brain with tendril dangling from its body crashed through the nearest window and stared down at Luna with its one eye.

" What in the hell is that thing?" The creature made a lunge for her but Luna was quick to dodge out of its way. She then aimed her horn towards the thing and fired her magic, blasting the thing like a water balloon. " Yeah! That's what I'm talking about Babe! You show that thing who's boss!" Even though I knew she couldn't hear me, it felt nice to cheer my Lunar wife on.

As Luna was catching her breath, another one of those creatures came through the same window and blasted her with some kind of sludge-like substance while her back was turned. " Aaaahh!" The sludge had some sort of paralyzing effect on her as her movements started to become sluggish. " Uggghhh, someone, please, help." No sooner had she said that she fell unconscious. Once she was out like a light the creature then latched onto the back of her neck and started infusing itself with her. I wanted to go over and do everything in my power to git that thing off of her, but my efforts would do next to nothing at this point.

I kept starring at her for what felt like an eternity, waiting for any sign to indicate she was okay. A moment later, Luna started to stand up. I went over to check to see if everything was alright, but when I did, I recoiled at what I saw in her eyes. Instead of the blue eyes that I've come to love seeing every waking moment of my life, I saw instead greenish-blue eyes with a slitted pupil like a reptile, the eyes of the first enemy I've fought in this world. The eyes of Nightmare Moon. " Nooooo-"

" -Ooooo!" I found that I was back in front of the library, startling everyone in front of me. I fell to my hands and knees and started babbling. " It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. Something made her do it. Something made her do it." While I kept ranting, Jackie and the kids came over to comfort me.

" Honey, what's wrong? Who's not at fault?" Jackie asked me while holding head in her foreleg.

" I saw how it happened, I saw how Luna became the Nightmare. It wasn't her fault."

" Um, Joe, I hate to tell you this, but I saw how she became Nightmare Moon. She tried to pour that potion in the water supply and almost killed Celestia. I know it's not what you want to-"

" You don't have the whole story!" I yelled, stopping Twilight from pissing me off any further. " I went back further, further than when she attacked Celestia. I saw what made her a monster."

" Well, are you going to keep us in suspense, or are you going to tell us what it was?"

" I don't know what it was Spike, but maybe this will help." I pulled up a screen with my magic and let the others look at what I just saw. As the memory played out, everyone started to get clarity on what really happened. When the creature I mentioned showed up, Mimir let out a gasp. When the memory ended, I asked him, " You know what that thing is, don't you?"

" I do Brother. Those creatures are what is known as Nightmares. A creature that causes others to have horrible dreams and then feeds on the fear the victim is emitting. They've also been known to take over the bodies of its victims, usually, those who have influence over others such as kings and queens, and in this case, Princess Luna." While Mimir kept describing the creature known as a Nightmare, my anger towards it rose even higher.

" So, history was wrong about the whole Nightmare Moon thing?" Twilight then realized that the image she saw was only half the story and she looked a little down about her accusation. " I'm sorry Joe, Applejack, for accusing Luna."

" It's fine Twi, but you can apologize to Luna in person when we find her."

" Wait, you two didn't find out where the Hel Bramble originated from." Twilight and I looked between us, saying we didn't have an answer for Spike. " What was the point of drinking this stuff then?"

" Maybe another sip will take us back further. Hey, Zecora, will the potion still work if I add a little something to it?" She nodded her head, giving me the go-ahead to add a bit of flavor to this concoction. " Good to know." I took out a flask from my pocket and poured a little Jack Daniels in a cup that Spike had given me. I poured some potion into the cup and raised it for a toast. " Bottoms up." I downed the whole thing in one go and waited for it to take effect. " Well, that certainly tastes-"

Let me know if this joke is funny or not.

" -Better than the first swig." I looked around to see that the potion had taken effect again, though maybe adding alcohol was a bad idea since everything around me looked like a combination of Wonderland and an ether binge. " Damn, I hope this isn't permanent."

" Don't worry, it's just until you get some answers." I looked to my left to find Discord standing right by me. " How's it going?"

" Discord, when did you get back from vacation? We could use your help with the Bramble."

" Yes, I bet you do, but you see, I'm just a figment of the potion you drank. And this," He gestured all around us. " is when I ruled over the land of Equestria."

As I looked around, I could see how this would be a world created by Discord. " Well, if that is the case, then how come you can see and hear me?"

" I'm the Lord of Chaos, need I really say more?" Something then caught his attention. " Listen, I'd love to stay and chat, but the Princesses have arrived to encase me in stone with the elements, so if you don't mind, I need to get into position." He went over to a throne on top of a hill and started to brood menacingly.

Just as fast as I got there, I returned. Spike then came over. " So, did you find anything that might lead us to the Princesses?"

" No, no I didn't, but I do have some ideas to sell to the guys that made Monty Python." I looked over to Twilight to see that she was still looking into the past, probably a more detailed version of what I just saw. " Well, since Twilight is still in a trance, I think I'll take another swig, see where it takes me this time." I grabbed the vial and drank a good portion of it. " Alright, before I space out again, boys go ahead and tell Mama what I've been teaching you at night on those vines."

" And what exactly does that mean?" Jackie asked me while raising an eyebrow.

" I'd love to tell you, but I-"

Know what, I think this is pretty funny.

" -Think the potion is about to kick in." I now found myself in a cave at the bottom of a trench. " This better be it, otherwise I'm just gonna start torching the forest." I looked behind me to see what I might find, only to pause at what was in front of me. " ( Whistles) Now that is a tree."

The tree in question looked like a willow/oak tree combination made entirely of crystal. Carved on the trunk of the tree, was a carving of the sun and below that a crescent moon. In the center of the tree where the trunk meets the branches, the symbol of a star was present, kinda looked like Twilight's Cutiemark. On the branches, five multi-colored jewels that I was quite familiar with were embedded at the ends of each branch. All in all, it was a beautiful sight. " Guess this is where they originally had the elements."

" Do you truly believe the elements will be safe here with the Tree of Harmony, Lord Elrond?" I turned around to see who was speaking, only to be shocked to find that it was Faust herself, along with a man who looked like a regular person but with pointed ears.

" I believe so, Lady Faust. The tree connects this realm with Yggdrasil and the other realms. The elements keep any and all beasts at bay and lie's just underneath your new home. Yes, I do believe the elements will be safe here." The guy then chuckles at the carvings on the trunk. " I see you've added your own addition to the tree."

" Can you blame a mother for leaving a little gift for her children?" Faust walked over to Elrond and gave a curt bow. " I'd like to thank you and all those in Alfheim for providing these crystals to protect this realm."

" It is our pleasure to help those who would help others. Now come, it's nearly time for tea and you know how my queen gets when I'm late."

" Of course, let me just," She reached into her saddlebag and retrieved the Key to the Realm between Realms, and brought it towards the tree. Once the key made contact with the tree, the bark had morphed into a doorway and a portal to one of the realms had opened. Unfortunately, the gate had led to Helheim, blasting the two with a powerful blast of winter cold. While the two of them fought against the wind trying to change the portal, I saw what looked like a tumbleweed made of Hel Bramble come through the portal and shatter against a nearby rock, littering the ground with the seeds inside. While I watched the seeds sink into the earth, Faust opened up a portal leading to a realm filled with crystal plants and bustling with elves. " Sorry about that, still trying to get used to this thing." They both exchanged a laugh before heading through the portal.

When the portal closed, I expected to wake from my trance and head over to the source of these things, but suddenly, a rift had opened next to the portal and out stepped a man with a look of mischief permanently on his face.

" Well, well, well, it looks like someone left some Hel Bramble for me to play with." He bent down and grabbed a few seeds that haven't taken to the earth yet, and worked some magic into them. " This ought to give these ponies a little future excitement." He then planted the seeds and let out a low chuckle. " Have fun my little ponies, courtesy of the master of tricks and lord of chaos himself." With his work done, he opened a rift and laughed while making his exit.

For the third time today, I woke up to see everyone looking at me, ready to hear some answers, Though Jackie was giving me a disapproving look. I looked around to see that the ground was littered with pieces of Hel Bramble and the ground looked like it had seen an earthquake. " I take it the boys showed you what I've been teaching them?"

" Yes, and even though Luna and I told you not to teach them with those weapons, I can see how it can come in handy." She went over to the boys and brought them into a hug. " I'm proud of you boys for fending off those plants while we tried to make a plan."

" Thanks, Mama," They both said as they returned the hug.

" So... does this mean I'm not in trouble?"

" Nope, I'm still mad that you lied to Luna and me." Well, guess I'm sleeping on the couch for a bit.

" Okay, this is getting boring, did you two see anything that can help us or not!?" Dash shouted at both Twilight and me after kicking a vine into the woods.

" I did." Twilight came up and went into lecture mode. " From what I could gather, the forest has been kept in check by something known as the tree of harmony, it is also where the elements of harmony were kept. When the Princesses took them to imprison Discord, the tree kept the forest at bay on its own. Now, the magic of the tree has stopped, allowing these vines to take over." Everyone started to look worried after hearing that. " But I still don't know how these Hel Bramble got here, or where the tree is."

" I do." I made my way past the others and headed for the forest with everyone but Zecora following. " The tree is somewhere at the bottom of the canyon where the old castle is." I unsheathed Frostbite and sent out a frost wave toward a patch of advancing Hel Bramble, freezing them in place. " As for the Bramble, Faust brought it here by accident when she opened a portal to Helheim. She meant to open a portal to Alfheim to have tea with a man named Elrond but somehow the key went on the fritz."

" Hold on Brother, did you say Elrond? As in the Elf king of Alfheim?"

" I suppose so. But that wasn't even the weirdest part. After Faust and Elrond left for Alfheim, someone came through a rift made by his own power. He took some of the seeds and used his magic to make the seeds do his bidding."

" Who do you think did it darling?" Rarity asked while avoiding a vine trying to wrap around her leg.

" Well, Rarity, just before he left, he called himself the master of tricks and lord of chaos. So I think it's safe to assume it was Loki, the god of mischief."

" Isn't that the same feller that made Discord?"

" He is, and I think he's the reason why the plants took Celestia and Luna as well." They all let out a gasp before following me further into the forest.

The trek through the forest was a lot like our first one when we first met, except this time, we had Spike and the kids coming with us, we were out to save both the Princesses and we're returning the elements. What could go wrong? " Okay, Dash, Scoots, I want you two up there and yell out if anything big is coming our way."

" Sure, Joe." Dash gave off a salute before zipping into the air.

" On it Dad." Scoots gave me a hug before following Dash up in the air.

" Boys, Spike, be ready for anything, and I do mean anything." The boys and Spike nodded and got their weapons ready.

" What do you mean by be ready for anything?" Twilight asked as she came up on my right side.

Pinkie then popped her head out of a large flower. " Yeah, it's not like we don't know what's already in the forest." The flower then went ahead and closed around her. When I looked to my left, Pinkie was waiting for me to answer.

" I know we have a pretty good idea of what's in here, but I have a feeling that Loki did more than just mess with the seeds. I mean, he placed the seeds next to a tree that acts as a home for the elements and doorway to the other realms. I'm just saying, it's best to be a bit more cautious." The girls saw the logic in my thinking and we pressed forward.

After a while, we reached a little swamp area after deciding for a shortcut. " C'mon, we can cross here." Twilight lept onto a rock path by the edge and started making her way over until the rocks started moving that is. " What the?" The rocks rose up from the water to reveal a cragodile, a crocodile with a skin made of rock. " Aah!" Twilight lept off the beast and now it started heading right for us.

" Scatter!" The girls got behind me while Dash and Scootaloo came in for a landing. Spike and my boys came up to the front with their weapons. " Spike, go for the eyes. Jack, I want you to start hammering away at its skin. Orion, find a weak spot."

Spike went and let loose a couple of arrows at the animal's head. One made its way into the Cragodile's nose and the other one put out the right eye, this caused the large reptile to let out a roar of pain. While its jaw was open, Jack came over and smashed Earthquake across the croc's mouth, now Gummy isn't the only reptile with no teeth. With the croc writhing in pain, Orion landed on it's back with his sword at the ready. With careful aim, Orion plunged Nightfall into the spinal cord, ending the life of the rocky beast.

With the Cragodile dead, Spike and the boys cheered over their victory over the creature. " Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Spike shouted while putting Jack and Orion in a double headlock. " Jack, that move with your hammer was awesome."

" No, no, what you did with your bow was pure genius," Jack told Spike while giving him a slap on the back.

" Uh, hello, I was the one to finish it off," Orion told them both.

While the three of them celebrated the kill, I looked to the girls to see that some of them looked frightened at what just happened, especially Fluttershy. " Hey, are you all okay?"

Jackie was the first to recover from the shock. " Yeah, we're all fine. It's just a shock to see our boys take down a living thing." She then walked over to our sons and brought them in for a hug. " But I'm glad to see that they're okay." Jackie let out a tear of joy knowing that our boys were safe.

Rarity then went up to Spike. " Spikeypoo, I usually don't condone this sort of thing, but you did it to protect us." She went ahead and nuzzled her cheek with his. " Now that's what I call a noble dragon."

While Spike and Rarity were having their moment, the rest of the girls came over to congratulate the boys, though Fluttershy did give the dead croc a sympathetic look. " Before we keep going, let me do something with this croc." I grabbed a few non-Hel Bramble vines and tied the dead croc up high in the tree. Hey, it's been a while since I had some gator balls. " Okay, let's get going." We proceeded on our way to the Tree of Harmony.

While we kept walking through the forest, the vines would come out of the brush and try to ensnare us. Luckily, they're quickly cut down by either Frostbite, Nightfall, or Jack's claws. Occasionally, we'd come up against a vine that tried to spray us with some kind of paralysis spray. Luckily for the rest of the group, the boys and I are immune to the spray and took care of the problem.

Soon enough, we reached a familiar chasm to a familiar castle. " There it is. The place where it all started," I told the girls while staring across the chasm.

" Feels like only yesterday I saw you leap across to save Dash from those Shadowbolts," Jackie said aloud, getting me to smirk and causing Dash' cheeks to tint pink.

" So where is the tree supposed to be anyway?" Dash asked after recovering her color from her cheeks.

" The vision told me that it should be at the bottom of the chasm. The question now is, how do we get down?" As if to answer Twilight's question, we heard Pinkie take a tumble down a set of stairs that have been carved into the rock.

Pinkie picked herself up and shouted up to us. " We take the stairs silly." We chuckled at her antics and followed her down.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we had our first glimpse of what the vines were doing to the tree. The bluish-white glow that Twilight and I saw in our visions had been taken away, leaving it grey and less vibrant. The vines surrounding the tree oozed with a sickly green and made the tree even worse than it should. " By the gods, this worse then I could've imagined." At the bottom of the tree by the roots, there laid two coils of vines with a very familiar scent. " Those vines, that's where Celestia and Luna are!" I made my way toward the vines to free my wife and sister-in-law.

As I made to take off the vines, a large one wrapped itself around my waist before chucking me across the cave. " Aaaagghhhh!"

" Dad!" The kids came over to check on me while the others were doing their best to avoid the Bramble.

" I'm fine, no need to worry about me." Suddenly, the vines around the tree started shifting away from the trunk while the tree opened up, revealing a doorway. " That over there we might have to worry about." Instead of the bright glow the door was meant to project, the door radiated a red glow before us.

" Wh..what's happening?" Fluttershy asked as she looked at the door in fear.

" The tree is opening a doorway to one of the other realms, and from the looks of it, the Bramble is using the tree to call for help," Mimir explained while he watched the whole thing.

" Exactly what kind of help is it calling for Head?" I soon got my answer as three figures lept out of the tree and started looking around. The creatures looked like a hybrid of a man and a deer, they looked starved to death and their eyes glowed like hot embers from a fire, worst of all were their teeth. instead of flat teeth to match with their heads, the teeth were long, sharp, and stained with blood. It took me a minute but I was able to identify the beasts. " Wendigos."

When the three of them spotted us, the lead wendigo let out a roar that sounded like a mix of an elk cry and a man's wail. Once the cry sounded, the two wendigos with it charged at the girls. " No!" The boys and I attacked the charging wendigos before they reached the girls and Spike while Scootaloo started zooming between the three beasts, distracting them while we took care of them.

" Oh my goodness! What do we do?"

Twilight turned to the others with a determined look. " We have to return the elements to the tree. It's the only way to reverse this." The girls went about removing the elements from their jewelry while we took care of the wendigos.

I held off the lead windigo while Jack and Orion took care of his friends. Unlike the countless monsters and villains I've faced, these guys actually made me bleed with their claws and teeth, and worst of all, their cold nature messed with my healing so I just kept bleeding. " If you think a few wounds are going to stop us, think again!" I wolfed out on the wendigo and started biting back. Fucker tasted like a month old dead deer that's been left in a snow storm. " Not to sound pushy or nothing, but could you girls please hurry up!"

" Don't worry Dear, Twilights' almost got it." Jackie pointed over to Twilight that went and got attacked by a bunch of vines. " Uh... we might need a minute."

Jack went and caved in the head of the wendigo he was fighting with Earthquake before looking their way. " It's alright Mama, we can take care of these things." As if to prove my son wrong, the tree opened up again, letting out another creature. " Me and my big mouth." The creature in question was an old hag dressed in rags that have been decorated with bones. Her face was covered with the skull of some kind of horned animal and she carried a staff with a deer antler atop it.

Seeing a new player on the field, I ripped the wendigos head off before giving this new threat my full attention. " Head, what are we dealing with now?" I asked Mimir while making him face the hag.

" That Brother is a Revenant. A dead being that has been consumed by both dark and wild magic, turning it into the creature you see before you."

Orion went and tore open his wendigo's jaw apart before looking at the Revenant. " Nah, that thing doesn't look so tough." The hag directed her attention to Orion before unleashing a toxic wave of magic toward him with her staff. The magic made the earth rise slightly and raised a foul scent into the air. Before the magic could hit him, Orion dodged out of the way before sending an energy wave at her with his sword. " Take that you old witch!" Orion's smile faded when he saw that the hag used her magic to become intangible before zipping over to him. Once she came within striking distance, she became tangible and struck Orion across his chest, sending him over to the cave wall. " Ugh, I take it back, she's pretty tough."

The Revenant then made her way to me to strike at me, but when she became tangible again, Spike shot an arrow at her, stunning her for the moment. I then grabbed her by her headdress and started punching her repeatedly. After I felt satisfied with giving her a good throttling, I took her head with both hands and snapped her neck before throwing her to the ground, turning the Revenant into dust. When I looked over to the others, they all had slacked jaws. " Twilight, if you don't get those elements in the tree in the next two seconds, I'm gonna shove this staff up where the sun don't shine!" I told her while holding up the staff with the antler pointing at Twilight's flank.

This got her to gulp a mouthful of air before she levitated the elements over to the branches. Once the elements made their way to the branches, the crystal of the tree encased the elements back into place. Twilight then placed her element in the center of the tree, causing a chain reaction to the other elements. Once all the elements were in place, they started producing a light that started to spread throughout the entire tree. As the light kept spreading, the vines around it started to unravel themselves from the tree. Once the tree had reached its limit, it sent out a powerful wave of energy destroying the vines as well as the remains of the wendigos, " There, the elements are in, now please throw that thing away." I gave her a satisfied smirk before tossing the staff into the woods.

" All you needed was the right motivation." Before any more could be said, our attention was brought to the two coils of Hel Bramble that haven't disappeared yet. Slowly but surely, the Bramble started to vaporize, revealing two familiar alicorns.

" Luna!" Jackie and I screamed while running to her.

" Mom!" Our kids yelled while joining in the group hug.

So the moment wouldn't be awkward. Twilight brought the girls, Spike, and Celestia in for the group hug. " It's good to see that you're both okay. Tell me, what was it like being in those vines?"

Celestia let out an irritated huff " I can tell you this, it was not very pleasant."

Before she went into detail, the tree started acting up again. A bright light emitted from the elements before it started moving down in a rainbow trail towards the trunk to the roots. Once it made it to the roots, a flower started to grow where the light stopped. Twilight approached the plant and gave it a careful prod, this made the petals open revealing a crystal box with a single keyhole.

" I don't get it. What's in here, and how are we supposed to open it?"

I walked up to the box and brought Mimir's focus to the box. " What do you think, Head?"

" I can't be sure of what's inside, but that keyhole looks familiar. Brother, do you have the key with you?" I reached around my belt and brought out the key for everyone to see. " Good, now, place the key into the lock, then we'll see what's inside." I nodded before placing the key into the lock and gave it a turn.

Once the key turned, the key sank into the box and caused it to glow a brilliant array of colors. Behind the box, the elements from the tree also started to glow with the light of their own color. Soon, the box shot out light into the air that was quickly joined by the other elements. The lights came together and formed a shape. The shape was that of a pony, but the image was blurry and no details could be made. After another moment of watching the light show, details started to show. The most noticeable thing about the image was that it was tall as Celestia and had an eggshell white coat. The next thing to come to light was the mane and tail which were an autumn red. The next two things that made us all do a double-take, was the appearance of a horn that was much larger than Celestia's, and a pair of wings that nearly reached my wingspan. The icing on the cake was the appearance of an inkwell and feather Cutiemark adorning her flanks. We each had to take a moment to collect ourselves, as we were a witness to the holographic image of the creator of Equestria, Queen Faust.

When she opened her eyes, everyone bowed, save for Celestia, Luna, and me. " Please, there is no need to bow." Her voice was that of the sweetest muse and seemed to come from all around us. When everyone stood, Faust looked at all of us with her motherly gaze, but when she spotted Celestia and Luna, tears started to fall. " My precious angels, look how much you've grown."

Celestia and Luna approached the hologram of their mother and did their very best to not openly weep in front of everyone. Celestia was the first to say something. " How is this possible? We were told you had been killed by a frost giant."

" Who told you that?" I brought Mimir into her line of sight. " Oh, Mimir, what happened to your body?"

" Bit of a long story lass. It's good to see you again."

" It's good to see you too. And to answer your question, Tia, my body was destroyed by the giant, but my spirit lived on in the elements that a dear friend of mine made to protect this world." Faust then brought her attention to me. " Hello again Joseph, it's been a long time. I see you still have my ax."

" It's good to finally meet you face to face." I smiled her way before gesturing to my wings. " I never did thank you properly for the gifts you gave me. Now I have that opportunity."

" There is no need for thanks, as long as you use my gifts for the good of this world, then I have no regret in giving you my ax and powers." Her attention was then brought over to my kids as they came up to meet her. " And who are these three little cuties?"

Luna went and answered while she stood next to me while Jackie also came up towards us. " Mother, these are our children. Jack, Orion, and Scootaloo. Kids, meet your other grandmother." The kids said their hellos making Faust smile even wider. Luna then went to introduce us, as her family. " Mother, this is Applejack, my wife and herd mate. And you already know Joe, he's our husband." Faust was overjoyed to see that her youngest daughter had a family.

" I don't mean to butt in, but what's the box for?" Mimir asked while trying to keep his tears in.

" Right sorry, ehem. The box is a gift for the new princess, it'll also one day open up the Bifrost."

" Okay, but how do we open it? Do we just give the key another turn?"

" I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that." Before we could ask what that meant, Faust spread out her wings and bright heavenly glow made its way onto her.

After she gave us the message, the light from the key and elements canceled out. The image of Faust started to disappear much to Celestia and Luna's disappointment. Before she vanished completely, she blew her daughters a kiss goodbye before she vanished in an explosion of light. As we watched the specks of light float around the cave, Mimir broke the silence. " That mare always had a flair for the dramatic."

I made to grab the key back, but it wouldn't budge. " I guess that's where I'll leave it for now." I decided that we had enough excitement for one day...or night, I haven't checked the time yet, and I opened up a portal to Ponyville. " C'mon, let's go home and get ready for tomorrow." We all went through the portal and headed back to our own homes.

The next day in Canterlot, right after the celebration.

I was sitting down on one of the many benches that surrounded the local park and I was telling Celestia and Luna what I saw in my first potion induced vision. " So you see, the reason for Nightmare Moon, was because of a creature called a Nightmare."

Celestia brought Luna into a hug after hearing the end of my story. " I'm sorry Luna if I had known what had happened-"

" It's alright Tia, you didn't know and I was being controlled, so I couldn't really tell you anyway." Luna returned the hug to Celestia. " Oh, before I forget. Joe. Jackie and I have agreed that the boys can continue their training. But since you lied to us, you'll be sleeping on the couch for a week." Crap!

As I was watching the nice sisterly moment, and dreading my week on the couch, I had a disturbing thought. If the vines could make those monsters come through the tree to stop us, who's to say it didn't do that earlier, and if so, what other monsters could be lurking in that forest?

" Hey, Dad. Jack and me are about to race Scoots and Aunt Dash around the gardens. Wanna be the referee?"

" Sure, why not." I got up from the bench and followed my son toward the gardens, pushing my earlier concerns to the back of my head.

Author's Notes:

I'm very sorry for the long delay, but this was a two-part episode and I had to come up with a whole bunch of this on the fly. Also, I got my job back so that explains the delay.

Other than that, tell me how you felt about the chapter in the comments below, it usually helps the story along.

Clip.

https://youtu.be/3kd1wZgE784

https://youtu.be/GVRNMpz7s8Q