I went about twenty yards into the Everfree forest and immediately regretted my decision. The sun was already beginning to set and I didn’t want to move around the forest in the dark. I shook my head. I had to stay resilient. I marched further into the forest.

My stomach grumbled. Maybe I should have thought about eating before I left. I facehoofed. I probably should have remembered to take my bits from Twilight’s house too. I’ll have to fetch them later. I need to be alone right now.

I walked further into the Everfree Forest. Every inch was covered in plant life and Luna’s moon was now high in the sky. If I knew anything about edible plants, I would’ve eaten any plants I found on the spot. My stomach growled again.

“Quiet you!” I told my noisy stomach.

I reached a clearing in the forest. In the middle of the clearing, I could see a pile of berries in the moonlight. I cautiously walked over to the pile of berries. They were blueberries! I looked around. Why would anything leave a pile of berries in the middle of nowhere?

My stomach growled once more. I looked down at the berries and could almost taste the plump, sweet delicious fruits in my mouth. I took a closer look at the berries to see if I could find anything strange. Definitely nothing suspicious about a bunch of blueberries lying around in the middle of nowhere.

I didn’t really care much, it was stomach over brain. I took a bite of the pile of berries and my face immediately puckered up. My eyes teared.

“Sour!!!” I yelled. But at this point it didn’t matter, I was too hungry. I continued to munch down on my berries.

Suddenly, I heard a rustle of leaves come from behind me. My head immediately shot up. I looked from side to side to see any kind of movement. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow flash by and heard more rustling of leaves.

I looked over to where I heard the rustling of leaves last. I stared into the dark shadows. A pair of eyes opened. And another pair. And another pair.

I picked a spot at the edge of the clearing. If something really was about to attack me, I would teleport there in an instant. I stared directly into the three pairs of eyes. It felt like hours passed. I was too scared to look away from the eyes, too scared to blink. A cold drop of sweat rolled down my cheek. I was having a hard time trying to stop my body from shaking.

Finally, when I decided to loosen up, the eyes began to move. Three barking heads popped out and were rushing towards me. But it only had one body. It was a Cerberus! As it was about to pounce on me, I concentrated my magic and teleported away.

As the flash of light disappeared around me, I saw that I had only teleported five yards away from my original position. All three heads turned my way and growled. I yelped and started running for my life.

I thought about it as I was running. The berries were in a clear spot in the forest. Nothing would be able to escape from a sneak attack without some kind of special trick. The Cerberus, being a meat-eater, would place the berries there to attract prey. The three-headed dog would attack as the prey was distracted by the food. I mentally gave myself a facehoof. How could I fall for such an easy trap?

The Cerberus was hot on my hooves (heels). I tried to teleport again, but all that happened was sparks came out of my horn. I thought I mastered that spell? I definitely completed that spell before. How am I supposed to get away from this thing without teleporting myself out of sight!?

I looked back again and my eyes widened. The Cerberus was deadly close and all three heads were trying to get a bite of my tail.

“Whoa!!”I yelled. The ground in front of me suddenly disappeared. I fell forward with a splash into a river. My body screamed as the freezing cold water surrounded me. I resurfaced again shivering. I looked over to see the Cerberus on the bank of the river glaring at me. It slowly walked along the side of the river as I let the current carry me. The closest head leaned over the river to try to reach me, but it was no use. I was a good few yards away from the bank.

I swam to the other side of the river and climbed out. My body screamed again as the cold night wind attacked my body. I shivered all over and curled myself into a ball.

When the water had mostly evaporated from me and half of my body became numb, I looked up to see the Cerberus still sitting on the other side of the river. I turned my head to the side wondering why it wasn’t chasing after me.

That’s when it clicked. The Cerberus couldn’t swim! It was smart enough of trap me, but it still couldn’t go through some water. Weird, considering some dogs could swim.

It just stared at me with a look of defeat. No doubt it had let its prey get away. It let out a long, distraught howl and walked away.

I almost felt bad for the beast. It was just hungry like I was and looking for food. Still, better to be alive than dog food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At this point, I really wanted to turn back. The only problem was that I didn’t know which way was back. I just kept on trotting forward. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, but I couldn’t let myself doze off. If I fell asleep, there was no real way to be sure that I would wake up the next morning in one piece.

I looked forward to see a ruined castle pretty close. Only the bottom half of the castle looked to remain. The only thing standing between us was an old bridge and a bunch of fog coming from the bottom of a ravine. I put a hoof up to my head. Did I see this somewhere before?

I crossed over the bridge. I entered the first part of the castle. There was absolutely no ceiling. Vines and other forms of plant life were beginning to grow inside the ruins. Everything was pretty much dusty and grimy.

I looked outside of a window pane to see another part of the castle. A tower that actually had a roof.

I entered the top room of the tower. I looked up. Yep. Definitely a roof there. The top of the tower was a few flights above the forest ground. I had a better chance of surviving the night up here. I could actually fall asleep without having to worry about a beast coming up to me and eating me for a midnight snack. I shuddered at the thought.

I went over to the window and looked up at the moon. It was a crescent up in the sky. The tower was higher than the surrounding trees and it was a cloudless night. I had a perfect view of the moon’s beauty. I thought back to the situation I was in and sighed.

“Yes, it is beautiful isn’t it?” A voice said from behind me.

My heart skipped a beat and I quickly turned around. My eyes immediately fell upon a midnight blue mare. Her hair glimmered like a starry night. She had beautiful eyes of a teal color. What was most surprising was that she had both a horn and wings. I stood there in shock before I finally realized my impoliteness.

I bowed down. “I am humble to be in your presence, Princess Luna.”

“You may rise,” Luna replied. Her harsh Canterlot voice had disappeared. The Fluttershy treatment must have worked out well. Now that I got a second chance to look, I saw that she was much more attractive than her sister, Celestia. I shook my head. No bad thoughts now, Rave. She might be able to read minds too.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Night Rave,” Luna said.

I did a double-take. Maybe she could read minds. “You know my name?”

Luna nodded. “My sister Celestia told me all about you. A creature called a human from the planet called Earth that had been given a second chance at life. Brought to Equestria at your current age, instead of having to grow up once more. No real reason given as to why you were able to keep your memory of your past life. Tia also gave me a fairly accurate description of you. A jet black colt with a neon mane and cyan-colored eyes. A young adult unicorn with no cutie mark. Yes, I can tell this is you.”

“Yeah that just about sums me up,” I replied. “What exactly are you doing here?”

“Surely, you jest. This was the palace where I ruled hundreds of years ago before I turned on my sister.”

My mouth made a perfect circle as I realized where I was. That takes me back a long time. Back to the very first episode.

“But that still doesn’t answer my question.”

Luna sighed. “I like to come here once in a while to remember how everything was a thousand years ago. Before I spent my time on the moon.” Luna shuddered as she finished her sentence. “But pray tell, what brings you to my old domain?”

“I don’t really know how I got here. I was wandering around the Everfree forest to have some alone time. I wanted to spend the night inside where it was safe,” I answered.

Luna merely nodded and silence fell between us. My mind scattered to many different ideas. It wasn’t every night that you were able to be alone in a room with a princess. Whoops! Can’t let those thoughts enter my mind.

“By the way Princess, can you read minds?”

“Please, call me Luna. And no I can’t. Being away from pretty much anything for a thousand years, I didn’t really get a chance to hone that particular skill,” Luna said sadly.

“Oh, sorry,” I replied, “it’s just that your sister…”

“Can read everypony’s thoughts? I know. There is actually quite a simple spell to stop her from reading yours whenever she wants. I can show you sometime, if you’d like,” Luna said.

“It would be an honor, Luna.” Luna smiled. “But, my magic hasn’t really been at its best lately. I tried to teleport earlier this evening, but I only managed to move a few feet. When I tried again, nothing happened. I performed the Teleportation Spell before, but now… Do you have any idea what is happening to me?”

Luna shook her head. “I know much about the arts and crafts of wizardry, but nothing about losing the power. I know there are several plants and potions that can take away a unicorn’s magic. I don’t really know what to tell you since I only lost my power once and that was when I was sent to the moon. And even then, my power was only weakened.”

My ears drooped in disappointment. I really thought I could get some answers. I looked over to a relatively small rock on the ground. I tried to levitate it, but all that happened was a faint black glow appeared on the rock and quickly disappeared. I sighed. How saddening.

I lifted my head as a sudden idea appeared in my head. Hmm…. “Princess Luna, how were you like on the moon?”

Luna looked taken aback. A slight quiver of fear passed through her body. “I… I’ve never been asked that since I came back. I don’t know how I should answer…” Luna looked down to the floor.

“No no no! You don’t have to tell me everything!” I exclaimed, unaware that my question would cause such a reaction. “Just tell me. Did you feel… sad, lonely, or full of regret on the moon?”

Luna nodded her head. I thought back to the intro of The Beginner’s Guide to Magic.

Magic can be brought out to full potential through emotions. It is believed that a unicorn’s full capabilities are enhanced when faced with dangerous situations. A unicorn in an excited state may accidentally shoot out sparks if they have no previous training. It is important for a unicorn to learn concentration and control in order to take full advantage of their prowess.

I read that section to help me find out how I was able to teleport for the first time. I didn’t really much for the next section since I didn’t think it would ever apply to me:

But just as a positive boost is added with positive emotions, it is obvious to understand that negative effects occur with negative emotions. A unicorn in a depressed state will most likely lose most of his/her magical capabilities. If a unicorn allows this state to be extended for a long period of time, his/her magic may be lost forever. However, if a unicorn channels his/her energy through…

It all made sense. This has been the saddest I’ve been since I entered this world. My magic wasn’t becoming worse, my emotions were stopping it from having any effect. And Luna’s decrease in power on the moon probably wasn’t because of Celestia, it was because she had to spend the next thousand years all alone and her last memories would be of ponies running away in fear.

Wow, talk about overkill. First everything that happened in Ponyville and now I could lose my magic forever? I dropped my head in anguish.

No doubt Luna could tell there was something wrong. She came in closer and said, “You look distressed Night Rave. Would you care to tell me if there is something wrong?” I looked into Luna’s eyes. They were full of concern.

I sighed. “Well you see…” I told Luna everything. About Ditzy, Manzanilla, Rose, Twilight kicking me out, Applejack’s farm, and how everypony thought about me.

It felt good to tell somepony all that I’ve been through. It felt like a weight had been taken off my chest. When I had finally finished, Luna had a glum look on her face.

“I can see why you seem so miserable. Although you must understand, this is partially your fault.” Luna said,

“I KNOW!” I yelled, allowing my temper to take over. Luna stepped back in fright.

I realized what I just did and dropped myself to the ground. Tears streamed out of my eyes and made dark spots on the dry bricks below me. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed, “So much has happened to me, I don’t know what to do any more. I’ve never felt more alone in my entire life!”

Luna wrapped a leg around me to try to comfort me. She sighed. “I can understand what you’re going through. And I do understand, you weren’t in a right mind when you went with Rose. You cannot be completely blamed for your actions. I know it’s rough, but you must push through. When I was on the moon, I would always think of the pony’s hatred and fear towards me and the cruelty of my sister, Tia. It wasn’t until I came back to Equestria and was taken by the effects of the Elements of Harmony, did I realize that Celestia had done what was best. And it turns out, the ponies have learned to accept me as their princess again.”

I sniffled and managed to stop my tears from falling. “But you had a thousand years. Almost everypony from then has died, other than Princess Celestia. And my actions happened today. Nopony’s going to forget this anytime soon.”

Luna nodded. “That may be true. But you could be surprised by how forgiving some ponies are. There are ponies in Ponyville with an unwavering loyalty that can forgive you and understand what happened last night. I was utterly shocked when I had returned. The ponies had brought on happiness and joy when seeing me, instead of fear and misery.”

“Again, thousand years. Maybe I should just move to another town. Start off fresh like somewhere in Manehattan or Trottingham.”

Luna shook her head. “I do not believe that is needed. You are clearly in a dark stage in your life. But you must keep on fighting. You had even gone through the pains of death! There aren’t many challenges higher than that. Sometimes life is like a dark tunnel. You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel. But if you just keep moving, you will come to a better place.”

I shook my head and got up.

Luna looked at me and made a comforting smile. “Now, don’t you think it’s time you head back to Ponyville?”

I just nodded.

Luna nodded back. “Well I hope to see you soon Night Rave. You certainly are a strange pony. Now this might feel weird, I’m not used to teleporting other ponies just quite yet.”

I closed my eyes and waited for her to cast her spell. I felt a slightly warm feeling around my body. And then a burning sensation. It grew really hot, it felt like somepony had placed a steam iron on every inch of my body.

And all of a sudden, the pain vanished and was replaced by the refreshing night air. I checked myself for any signs of burns. There was nothing. Off in the distance, I could see the roofs of Ponyville in the night.

I took a deep breath of the night air. I was going to make a fresh start. But not any place else. A new start, right here in Ponyville. It’ll take a while to get things back to the way they were, if it could ever reach that point.

But Luna was right. I looked up in the sky and watched the moon shine in the starry night. I had gone through a lot more than the average pony, or human. I even died once! No matter what challenges, faced me ahead I was ready to take them head on. A new feeling of determination rushed through my body. It could possibly have been newfound confidence or maybe it was just late at night and I was tired. But I definitely felt ready for tomorrow.

I felt a warm sensation returning onto my flank. I looked back and gasped.

My cutie mark appeared!!! It looked like a rainbow flower within a flower in a flower. There were many colors on my cutie mark. It had a bunch of overlapping shapes and ovals. At first, I thought it looked really cool, but when I thought about it…

“What the hay does this even mean!?!?”

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