The sun had been up for only two hours and already Twilight Sparkle was so absorbed in her books that the rest of the world had ceased to exist for her. Lately she had noticed some disturbing omens in Equestria… the most disturbing of all being this frank foreboding feeling of unforgotten familiar foes.

That alliteration was very redundant, she mused to herself…

The book she was reading was about Equestrian Astronomy, but oddly enough the last two paragraphs she was reading seemed strangely… fictitious. Yes. The book, without warning, had shifted into fanfiction about Starswirl the Bearded's secret romance with Princess Luna.

"Wait a minute, this isn't right…" she said aloud while slightly blushing.

"Oh my dear, I don't think it's ever been so right…" said a voice behind her.

Twilight jumped and yelped in surprise. The world around her suddenly existed again.

"Discord! I didn't give you permission to invade my residence!"

The large gray and brown hybrid animal thing was visibly blushing as he now held the book he had been reading over Twilight's shoulder a moment before.

"Oh come now, Twilight Sprinkle, do friends need permission to invade their friends' residences?"

A donut with pink and purple sprinkles appeared in his hand suddenly and he took a bite while still reading and blushing. Shortly that same book was surrounded by purpley magic sparkles as it levitated out of his grasp and onto the bookshelves right on the border of Fiction and Non-Ficton.

Twilight Sprinkle… I mean Sparkle… let out an exasperated sigh…

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Oh, I've just come to talk stars with a fellow enthusiast of the cosmos," began Discord, "I mean, just look at those twinkling little dots of villainy and treachery!"

His tone was rather joyful as he mentioned villainy and treachery. Wait… about what? The stars!?

"Villainy? The stars are villainous?" said Twilight.

"Oh yes. Look at how menacing they are! Especially that one."

Discord pointed to a particularly large celestial body.

"You mean the moon?" asked Twilight.

"Yes, that's the one. Who knows what dastardly plans were hatched on its wretchedly scarred surface…" said Discord.

"Are you suggesting that things live on the moon?"

"Not live. Lived. You and I both know that it was home to a particularly prickly princess," said Discord.

"You mean Luna? I wouldn't think she's specifically dastardly…"

"Really? I thought you were good at math, Professor Sparkle."

"Math?"

"Of course. Thousands of years of solitude and banishment… could that really be overcome by five minutes of apology? What would you be doing after all the bitterness and anguish you felt culminated in a hundred times a hundred life sentences on the most barren and lonely prison conceivable?"

In a poof there was a cauldron before Discord with questionable green contents that glowed eerily as he stirred it with a large wooden spoon.

"Don't you think all those feelings would be… stirring up to form some magnificent culinary concoction…"

With a poof the cauldron disappeared to be replaced with a three tier cake with white frosting being crowned with an intricately detailed figurine of Celestia with an apple in her mouth.

"…of revenge?"

"Discord, Luna is reformed," said Twilight as she used her own magic to dispel the disturbing cake.

"Besides," she continued, "if she had been planning to overthrow Celestia since her return, wouldn't she have done so by now? Like during one of the many disasters that has occurred since her return?"

"Reformed," said Discord with obvious disgust, "such a patronizing word."

"Regardless," he continued, "watch her eyes next time you see her. They may seem a bit…"

Pause for dramatic emphasis…

"…shifty."

These were Discord's last words as he made a door appear right next to Twilight's front door and shifted out himself, leaving Twilight to ponder on the fact that the darkest omen may have just happened.


Twilight found difficulty forgetting that strange conversation. Even after a whole season passed that dull feeling of anxiety still nagged at her.

As such, the tiniest of alarms went off in her head when she was summoned to by Princess Luna into the Everfree Forest.

Spike had belched out the note just moments before as she was puzzling over it.

Twilight Sparkle,

Equestria is in great danger! You must meet me at the Tree of Harmony and bring your five friends. Make haste, there is no time to lose!

Princess Luna

It was odd to receive a note from the Celestia's sister. It was all the more suspicious after Discord's ambiguous warning from before. Still… Discord's loyalty had failed during Tirek's invasion whereas Luna's loyalty was impeccable post-Nightmare Moon. Obviously the latter was more trustworthy.

Thus, during a particularly stormy night, six ponies dashed against the rain to a familiar place few ponies knew existed.

Well, five of them dashed… one skipped.

When Twilight and Apple Jack and Rarity and… you know all of them already if you're reading this fic…

When the "mane six" arrived at the alcove that contained the Tree of Harmony, there was Luna waiting for them and a box with six key-holes. Didn't they already open a similar box?

"Luna, we're all here!" said Twilight.

"Hey look, another box!" squealed Pinkie Pig… I mean Pie.

"Didn't we already open one of these and get superpowers!? Does this mean we'll get more!?" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the box examining it from all angles.

"Please listen, there isn't much time," said Luna, and twelve ponies eyes went from the shiney box to the alicorn princess—that is, the midnight blue alicorn princess, not the purple one.

"The stars will soon align in such a mystical and inexplicable manner that great magical energy will be released granting our old foes the ability to return," said Luna.

The six ponies were either shocked or confused by this announcement, depending on their individual level of intelligence.

"That's right," continued Luna, "Chrysallis, Sombra, and Tirek will return all at once. Though the elements were enough to defeat them before, it is doubtful they have the strength to stand up to them together. That is why the Tree of Harmony has given us a new gift to deal with this imminent crisis."

All twelve pony eyes returned to the shiney box.

"But we don't have the keys for this one," said Twilight.

"Dear Twilight, you yourselves have become the keys. You are now all fused with the elements of harmony, and just by your touch alone the gift will be opened and Equestria can be saved," said Luna.

"Well gracious me, I'd wish we'd been this prepared for all the other disasters," said Apple Jack.

"I know, it almost seems too easy!" said Rarity as she trotted up to the box and put her hoof on it. The box glowed in response to her touch.

Apple Jack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy followed suit.

"Too easy…" whispered Twilight under her breath.

She took a good look at Luna's eyes.

"Twilight, is everything ok?" asked Fluttershy.

"Twilight?" echoed Luna.

Twilight saw in Luna's face only nobility and purpose, just like what she had often seen in Celestia's own countenance.

"Let's do this," said Twilight as she stepped forward and resolutely put her hoof on the box, joining her friends.

The reaction was almost immediate. The box brightened significantly and light filled the cavern.

Then the light faded.

The storm outside seemed to be immediately drawn into the cavern, as if all of mother nature began to focus on that one spot.

The box began to emanate thick darkness.

"Wooo, exciting!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"No, wait, somehtin's not right!" said Apple Jack.

But the rushing wind made it hard for them to hear each other's concerns.

However, Twilight heard one thing above all the calamity.

It was laughter. Luna's laughter.


Shortly after the storm passed, Luna returned to her castle in Canterlot.

Celestia was looking out on the night. It was unusual for her up to be up past sunset like this.

"Sister, is something wrong?" asked Luna.

"That storm seemed unnatural. But it is passed. I shall retire and leave the night to you again, Luna," said Celestia as she turned away from the night.

Celestia returned to her quarters, but she had sensed something significant happen during the middle of that strange storm… as if something important disappeared. Her immediate thought was to get Twilight on the case so she could sleep soundly. Just that thought alone helped her to start drifting off. It could wait til the morning, surely.

She didn't know how long she had been asleep when a clop came at the door.

Normally she would have been annoyed but after that strange night, she got up almost immediately.

"Come in."

The door opened and Luna stepped in. At least, Celestia thought it was Luna. The royal chambers were dark and veiled in shadow because Celestia had not risen the sun yet.

"Sister?" asked Celestia.

"Sister," came the reply. It was Luna.

"What is the matter?" asked Celestia.

"Your naivete has long astounded me," began Luna, "for all the things you sensed, you never sensed this coming."

Luna tossed a bag on the floor in front of Celestia. Two objects bounced out. One was a blackened unicorn horn with a red tip, the other a pair of silver shackles.

"These relics… what are you doing with these?" said Celestia as her suspicion rose.

"The stars have aligned sister. That which was sealed shall now be unsealed… again."

The horn on Luna's head began to shine and the objects began to move. A dark cloud formed around the horn and the shackles and each began to slowly take form.

"Luna, what is happening? Sombra and Tirek are returning! Quickly we can still stop them!"

Celestia leapt from her bed and readied her magic. She was distracted, however, by how her sister did not move.

"Luna?" asked… no pleaded Celestia.

"Do you still blindly see me as your sister? I brought them here. Do you think I will then turn and banish them again?" said Luna.

But Celestia would not believe it. Instead of directing her magic towards Luna she began to focus her energy on preventing the forming Tirek and Sombra from taking shape. Her magic surrounded the dark forms and began to shrink the swirling clouds.

It was then that Luna's magic struck her. It wasn't a powerful blow, but one strong enough to break her containment of the dark masses.

Celestia had finally had it. She leaped forward and tackled her sister with her horn burning bright with dangerous magic intent on subduing and punished. But Luna only laughed as she was pinned beneath her sister's hooves.

It was no longer Luna's voice.

"Hahaha, you really are adorable Celestia. You still hold your magic back from your own sister?"

It was now clearly Chrysallis pinned beneath her. It had been Chrysallis all along. But Celestia would have little pause in a righteously burning this villain who was not her sister.

Her magic showered down on the changeling queen which produced a most interesting reaction.

Chrysallis cried in both pain and delight! She was not only crying at the pain but also laughing maniacally.

Celestia did not understand and only increased the power of her barrage.

But it was too late, for behind her the forms of Sombra and Tirek had taken shape. Celestia sensed it all too late.

She turned quickly and blasted away the creeping, gaunt form of Tirek and turned toward Sombra, but the dark unicorn had already made his move. Red crystals sprung up from the ground and held Celestia in place, and black crystals sprouted on her horn, effectively silencing her magic.

"Man, the old hag still packs a bite," said Chrysallis amidst giggles.

"Masochist," came the grinding voice of Sombra.

"Indeed," gasped Tirek as he rose from the place corner of the room where he had been blasted to. He strode towards the captured Princess.

"You twisted creatures will never learn! The elements of Harmony will reseal you again and again until you get tired of these feeble attempts of villainy!" cursed Celestia.

"Oh so poetic," said Chrysallis as she nuzzled against Celestia, much to the latter's disgust. "too bad your chief janitor Twilight Sparkle has already been taken care of."

"What?" said Celestia.

"You won't believe that either, will you?" said Chrysallis.

"No matter," said Tirek as he stood before Celestia, "a promise is a promise."

Tirek opened his mouth and did what he does best: eat magic.

GRRRAAAWWWWW! That may not be the best onomatopoeia for eating allicorn magic. Maybe a "THWOOOOOOOOP!" No?

Regardless, Celestia was soon drained of all her power.

Tirek himself gained significant physical size as a result of this feast.

"Eck, Sombra, I tasted some of your blasted crystals in that one," complained Tirek in a somewhat more powerful voice.

"Picky," replied Sombra.

Celestia collapsed on the ground as the crystals around her feet and on her horn disintegrated.

Suddenly the door to the royal chamber opened again. The three antagonists turned to see who was joining the party.

"Oh dear, am I late?"

It was Discord.

"Discord, you miserable turncoat. How convenient for you to be late," said Tirek.

"Convenient? Phooey! I missed the good part. How are you feeling, oh mighty princess!?" Discord addressed the defeated Celestia and with a flick of his wrist presented her with a familiar bouquet of flowers. Since she didn't respond, he simply dropped the flowers next to her limp form.

"So, we're on to the next part of the plan, right? What are we doing with her again?" asked Discord.

"Moon," growled Sombra.

"Oh right, that's my job, isn't it? I'll be taking this," he picked up the form of Celestia with relative ease.

"Say bananas!" exclaimed Discord, and with a salute, flames shot from his feet and he blasted off like a rocket, breaking through the roof and shortly becoming a mere speck of light in the sky moving toward the moon.

"Finally, Equestria is ours!" shouted Chrysallis, "I've always wanted to say that, but maybe with 'mine' instead of 'ours'…"

"No," said Tirek, "there is still much opposition for us. That is why we must stay together until all of Equestria is subdued. After all this is said and done, we can divide up the spoils to however we see fit."

"Well, I'm betting I'll get stuck with Ponyville," said Chrysallis, "though I don't mind so much. There's plenty of love and general good feeling mush there to feed me and my subjects for quite a while."

"Crystal!" hissed Sombra.

"Of course, the Crystal Kingdom will be given back to you where it rightfully belongs," said Tirek, "which leaves me Canterlot."

"Oh? Aren't you forgetting someone?" said Chrysallis.

"Discord? He gets the last pick as the least of us. We'll give him the Everfree Forest. It seems like his sort of place anyways," responded Tirek.

"No, I meant… her," said Chrysallis.

"She will be satisfied with whatever I say. She fears me, and rightfully so."

"Well, if you're that confident, let's get started then. No point waiting for her."

The three strode out onto the balcony of the royal chambers, the same balcony that Celestia rose the sun from each morning. Before them was all of Equestria.

Tirek finished with one last declaration:

"There will be no sunrise for Equestria. A new era has begun!"