Pinkie Pie turned around, only to realize that she is completely surrounded by thick darkness. It almost seemed like black, heavy clouds descended from the sky just to prevent her from seeing her surroundings. The pink mare squinted, and then blinked a few times, trying to make her sky blue eyes used to it, but it didn't work. "Hello? Is anypony here?" she asked. But, she didn't get any answers. The only sound she could hear was echoing of her own voice and the sound of her hooves hitting the ground as she was walking, not even knowing where to. Maybe she should stay where she is? She might get lost otherwise. Lost... Would it even make a difference? Wasn't she lost already? She had no idea how did she end up there. She remembered nothing. Nothing at all. Where was she before? What was she doing? There were so many questions, but there weren't any answers. And there was nopony she could ask. It was just her and the silent darkness was her only company. Even if somepony was there... would they even know? Where in the name of Celestia was she?! Was it... No, it can't be, right? It can't be Everfree forest. It just can't! What would she be doing there anyway? The only thing she could be doing there would be visiting her zebra friend Zecora, but she was quite sure that it wasn't the reason. Then, what is? Was it really the Everfree forest? If it was, she could bump into a tree or something. Because she couldn't see a thing. Maybe she should stop walking. Yes, that would be the best. Until the day comes. Or a miracle happens. When she stopped, she shuddered. Not just because she was getting slightly scared with each passing second. She shuddered mostly because of a chilling cold wind that suddenly started blowing. That just confirmed that she wasn't in somepony's house nor anything like that. But, she knew that already. After all, she could feel the soil, grass and even small rocks under her hooves. And she could also smell the nature. The moist grass, the trees...
She lied on the ground and curled into a ball, trying to keep warm, not worrying about getting dirty. "It sure is chilly here," she said and winced right after. Her voice was way louder than it should be. She wrapped her tail around herself, just like a little kitten. There wasn't any other shelter. At least she couldn't see it. It might be right next to her or it might be miles in front of or behind her. Where were her friends? Were they also here? Why would she go to a place like this completely alone? But, not a single pony answered when she called, so it probably meant that they weren't. They wouldn't just ignore her, right? They were friends! "I love them, and they love me," she said, not aware of the fact that she is gesturing with one of her hooves while she was talking to herself like this. She winced yet again at the sound of her own voice. So loud... Somepony or something might hear her. She leaned her head on the ground only to feel something poking her chin. Raising an eyebrow, she took the stray object and brought it closer to her eyes, trying to examine it, but with no avail. It was still too dark. Nevertheless, she could feel the texture. And the shape. It was hard, smooth, cold and round. "It's a... rock?" she whispered to herself. In that moment, all memories of her as a little filly forced their way into her head. A farm. Filled with tons and tons of rocks. Big and small. Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Heavy and light. In the middle of the farm stood an old house bounded by wooden fence. That little house in the middle of the murky, obscure rock farm used to be Pinkie's home.
It was an unbelievably sad place. Even the sky above it was sad. Without sun, loaded with grey clouds. On the farm, there was no talking. No smiling. No happyness. No laughter. Just a sea of rocks. Pinkie worked there, together with her older sister and two little sisters. Parents were stiff and conservative, sisters stone-faced, but their gloom couldn't be hiddden. She had been so sad at that time. Not because of the work she had to do. She could work, that wasn't a problem. But, because not a single pony in her family was happy. All they thought about was rocks. Simple, plain rocks. And almost nothing else. Pinkie didn't get the chance to think more, when something happened and made her jump up. Darkness was literally cut to pieces that disappeared one by one. It got cut by somepony's horn. And that pony was standing right in front of Pinkie. The pony was taller than ponies usually were. Her coat was as black as darkness she just tore apart and replaced by the sight of an old castle. On her flank, the mare had purple spots, that were fusing together as they were going toward her sparkling, translucent dark blue tail that was floating in the air, together with the matching mane, even though there was no wind at all. Her cutie mark represented crescent moon. The intruder raised her head and spread her long and dark feathery wings as much as it was possible. She was an alicorn. A winged unicorn. And that wasn't a common species in Equestria. Light blue mist surrounded her and became solid as it clothed her into an armor and a helmet. She opened her turquoise eyes with thin, sharp pupils and laughed out loudly, revealing her unnaturally pointy teeth. Oh, Pinkie would have recognized her anywhere. But, that didn't make her happy. She wanted to believe that it's just a trick played on her.
"O-okay, Princess Luna. You really scared me really good," she said, and scratched the back of her head with her hoof, trying to hide the fear she was slowly starting to feel for some reason. "But, it's not Nightmare Night yet," she reminded her. There was no need for Princess Luna to disguise that way just like that. There was something unsettling about that. Pinkie could just feel it. Nightmare Night was the only day in the year ponies would dress up into something scary. And, for the last Nightmare Night, Princess Luna disguised as her former alter ego "Nightmare Moon," that used to control her and that ponies used to fear. Especially when she escaped from the moon, where her older sister trapped her to stop her from completing her goal. Bringing the eternal darkness. The other mare burst into loud laughter, showing her teeth yet again. "Luna? Princess Luna?" she asked mockingly. She reared up, showing her strong, but elegant body. Then she got down, strongly hitting her front hooves agains the ground, creating a pale blue spark. "I am not Luna. I am Nightmare Moon!" Pinkie felt a shiver going down her spine. It can't be. It can't be her. She was standing right in front of her, but Pinkie still couldn't believe. Nightmare Moon escaped after a thousand years of being trapped inside of the moon, but she was defeated and Princess Luna was restored! Why would Nightmare Moon even exist now? There was also another important question. How to defeat her? Pinkie managed to defeat her once. But, she wasn't alone that time! She was with her friends and they used the Elements of Harmony. Pinkie's element, Laughter wouldn't be enough alone. It was too weak. She started slowly retreating backwards, only to see Nightmare Moon again when she turned to look behind.
The shock made her jump on one of the branches of a tree that was standing nearby. Nightmare Moon just laughed again, visibly amused by her little prey's reaction. "Don't come near me!" Pinkie yelled. But for Nightmare Moon, that wasn't enough. She wanted Pinkie to suffer more. Physically, but more importantly, emotionally. She turned toward the castle and shot a powerful magic beam out of her horn. It was enough to make the old castle fall to thousands of pieces. Some of them were as small as pebbles, but others were bigger than a common carriage. Pinkie's eyes widened as she realized what castle was it before it got destroyed. It was the Castle of Two sisters. Old castle where two rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to live, before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon. The chunks of it were now flying in the air. Pinkie jumped off a tree and tried to run away and avoid at least big and heavy pieces. But, they were everywhere. Even "Pinkie sense" couldn't save its owner, because of amount of pieces and Pinkie was soon trapped under them. For some reason, they didn't crush her to death, but it did hurt her quite a lot and made her stay unconscious for who knows how long.
After that, she slowly opened her eyes to see that she was trapped. Under pieces of castle that once belonged to Celestia and Luna. Nightmare Moon just destroyed it without hesitation, as if she didn't even remember how long did she live there. After countless of tries Pinkie barely wiggled out of her improvised prison and leaned the injured head on the ground. She was sure that she broke a rib or two in a process. She was getting dizzy because of strong headache she was feeling. Everything around her was spinning. From the ground to cloudless grey sky. She could feel hot blood dripping down her forehead, ribs and legs. She couldn't move at all. "Ouch," she whispered and closed her eyes, trying to relieve the headache she was getting. With help of her trembling front legs, she gently rubbed her temples. But, not more than ten seconds passed and she was lifted from the ground. By magic. "Don't fall asleep just yet, foal. I'm not done with you. I have to show you something," Nightmare Moon said while levitating Pinkie in the air. Pinkie tried to fight it as hard as she could, but she was too weak. She didn't have enough strength even to raise a hoof. She had to close her eyes. The headache wasn't disappearing. Nightmare Moon soon dropped her on the floor, making her yelp loudly. The purpouse of this was probably to wake her up more.
"Stop it," Pinkie said quietly. She tried getting up, but her shaking legs wouldn't accept her weight. "Don't think you will get away with this." Nightmare Moon picked up one of the new rocks. The one that was actually a piece of a castle "We will see about that," she said and threw it in front of Pinkie. For some reason, Pinkie's eyes locked on it and memories returned yet again. A rock. Rock farm. Unhappy family. Unhappy life. Her lower lip trembled as a proof that Pinkie was trying to stop herself from crying, as she looked back at Nightmare Moon. Except that she wasn't looking at tall armored black mare. She was looking at pink mare with sky blue eyes. Straight dark pink mane was weakly falling over her face. "Who... who are you? Where is... she? Where... Where is Nightmare Moon?" Pinkie asked. She knew the answer of her first question, but she couldn't believe her own eyes. "I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie," the mare answered in a dull voice. "But.. that's me," Pinkie whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. She didn't know why. They just did. It was probably because of the memories and because of the fact that she was just looking at someone who could replace her if she wanted to. "And that's me as well," the other mare answered, playing with one of the pieces, before she put it right in front of Pinkie's face. "A rock. It's a rock. Isn't it beautiful?" she asked, opening her eyes wide. Pinkie shook her head. "No, it's ugly," she said. "It's a rock! Rocks aren't ugly! Rocks are beautiful," the clone got out between intervals of maniacal laugh. Pinkie put her front leg in front of her face. "No! Leave me alone!" "ROCKS!" Pinkie moved her leg and put her hooves over her ears. "I am not listening to you." The mare threw the rock and hit Pinkie right in the forehead. "Ow. Don't do that. Please," Pinkie begged. "ROCKS!" the mare yelled crazily. A mountain of rocks fell from the sky. Right on Pinkie.
In her bed, Pinkie Pie woke up covered in sweat, screaming from the top of her lungs.