Author's Notes: I have chosen to post his here in the hopes of garnishing more attention and interest for it. I hope that my fellow Pony enthusiasts will enjoy it.
Disclaimer: The characters appearing in this story are the property of Hasbro and the Hub, based on the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic written and produced by Lauren Faust. The author of this fanfiction claims no ownership of any characters appearing in this story, with exception to the six OCs he has created with the help of some insight from fellow Pony fans on certain things. The rest are not mine and will never be mine despite my growing attachment to all things Pony.
The magical realm of Equestria exists in a happy carefree dimension. It is a beautiful land of hope and love, friendship and magic, the citizens of this land are not unlike you or I… But there is one fundamental difference between them and us. The citizens of Equestria are magical talking ponies.
Equestria was created by two powerful ponies, Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna – for a time there was peace in Equestria, using her magic Celestia was responsible for bringing the sun to the heavens while her sister – Princess Luna – was in charge of the moon.
But as time wore on Princess Luna began to grow jealous of her sister's popularity. The citizens of Equestria would frolic and play during the day, but only ever slept during the night. Eventually Princess Luna's jealousy transformed her – twisting her into a dark and dangerous entity calling herself – Nightmare Moon.
Celestia tried to bring her sister back from this all-consuming darkness, but Nightmare Moon bore little resemblance to her lost sibling. And with a heavy heart she banished Nightmare Moon into the moon. But eventually – the alignment of the stars was perfectly in tune and Nightmare Moon escaped – determined to plunge all of Equestria into permanent night.
Princess Celestia had foreseen this – and so tasked her most favorite student a simple mission – she was to go out and make some friends.
This mission seemed wasteful to her student who had learned that in order to prevent Nightmare Moon from succeeding she needed instead to find the Elements of Harmony – unfortunately upon arriving in Ponyville from Canterlot Twilight Sparkle failed in her self-appointed mission to learn about the Elements of Harmony.
Nightmare Moon escaped and imprisoned Celestia – she was determined to punish all of ponydom for her long years of banishment, but a group of ponies – brave and stalwart – decided to help Twilight Sparkle in her quest to retrieve the Elements of Harmony and thwart Nightmare Moon.
They were Applejack – a down to Earth, hard working Earth Pony in charge of Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash – a fast and high flying Pegasus Pony who dreamed of one day joining the Wonderbolts. Pinkie Pie – a fun loving party gal who enjoyed singing and making up songs – as well as having a sweet tooth. Rarity – a Unicorn Pony who made dresses for all the residents of Ponyville and lived fashionably. And Fluttershy – a kind hearted timid creature who was friends with all of the little woodland creatures.
Together this band of young foals managed to reach the resting place of the five Elements of Harmony and successfully thwarted Nightmare Moon's plot – in doing so they brought Princess Luna back to her right mind and body – the younger Princess repented and left with her sister Celestia, but that is far from the end of this little tale.
The spectral essence of the being once known as Nightmare Moon found herself tumbling through an inky black void – her existence had been tied to the dark and overwhelming jealousy of the young Princess, but as time went on she had changed. She had become a being in her own right – using the young Princess' body like a parasite until she exhibited a soul all of her own.
Nightmare Moon was darkness – she represented the eternal opposite of the balance that allowed all of Equestria to exist in harmony – she represented evil. Evil was an alien concept to the ponies of Equestria – there were dangerous animals living in the Everfree Forest, but these were not inherently evil or good. They were just animals after all.
True evil did not exist in the realm of Equestria – for Celestia and Luna had created the place with joy in their minds and hearts – using godlike abilities no other pony had ever demonstrated before or since.
And there were ponies before – not as many, but they had existed – these ponies were the progenitors of the pony race. After all – everything can't simply spring from nothing. However – the concept of Evil was not represented in a land such as Equestria – no, that concept existed outside of the Equestria realm in a small plane of existence known as Centurious.
This realm had existed long before Equestria was born – here creatures of unspeakable power cantered across the lands – until the coming of a dark nameless entity who festered as a cancer would upon the realm. Centurious was transformed into a realm of pure evil – controlled by a ruthless tyrant who employed brutish creatures as slaves.
His name was Tirac. And long had he observed the creatures of Equestria through mystic arts – now he drew the creature that had been Nightmare Moon to his side with his magical power – a smile curled on his dark lips.
Nightmare Moon reformed into a slightly shorter form – wispy tendrils of black energy flickered across her mane and her eyes slowly took in the strange sight before her.
"Greetings, Nightmare Moon," a dark toned person informed – his voice was deep and tainted by evil.
"Who are you? And where am I?" Nightmare Moon demanded flapping her wings slightly in agitation.
"This is the realm of Centurious, a place outside of Equestria's boarders." The speaker laughed slightly and emerged into the light – he was a massive looking four legged beast with dark red and purple fur – twin horns jutted out from a strange and unnatural head and his face resembled that of a simian. "And I am Tirac, my species is known as Centaur," he informed smoothly.
"Why have you brought me here?" Nightmare Moon asked unafraid by the alien nature of this odd mixture of 'monkey' and horse.
Tirac chuckled and his clawed hand stroked something beside him on the armrest of his throne. "I have summoned you to my realm so that I may learn more of Equestria and spread my influence into its enchanted realm. Surely you wish to punish those wretched ponies for what they did to you?" he suggested a cunning smile spreading across his lips.
"You take me for somepony gullible enough to fall for such an obvious trap," Nightmare Moon informed with a cruel smirk on her equine lips. Before Tirac could react the winged pony lashed out with her own brand of magic and sent him stumbling backwards from his throne.
"Impossible!" Tirac cursed. "None are a match for my power!"
Ignoring the feeble words Nightmare Moon approached the throne and discovered the source of Tirac's power. It was a small satchel squirming and writhing with dark energies – stolen energies if Nightmare Moon was any judge of such things. Nightmare Moon laughed as she tapped into these energies and absorbed them – gaining the power within.
"My rainbow of darkness!" Tirac shouted angrily charging the pony. "Give that back to me!" he ordered.
"Your Rainbow of Darkness!" Nightmare Moon snapped irritably.
Tirac balked at the power coursing through the Pegasus unicorn's body. "I am its master," he stated coldly. "It will not obey you."
Nightmare Moon broke into a wild deranged laugh that shook the very foundations of Centurious' realm. "You are a paltry and weak minded tyrant who understands nothing of the power you wield," she told him icily. "This is no mere Rainbow of Darkness. This is the essence of Equestria that my foolish sister and I purged from it during its creation. The evil had to go somewhere, thank you, Tirac, for holding on to it for us. Now I will prove to my dear sister Princess Celestia and my former host Princess Luna, just what real magic is," Nightmare Moon said. With a flurry of wind and a swirling of dark magic she exploded into a brilliant rainbow of light and vanished from Centurious.
Tirac felt his realm collapsing around him as Centurious' light was completely snuffed out. "This can not be happening," he stated darkly. "Scorpan, Scorpan!" he shouted for his retainer.
An ugly gargoyle came rushing into the room his expression afraid as the cries of the dieing could be heard. "You summoned me, my master," he stated bowing to one knee.
"We will not be destroyed with our realm. The ponies shall pay for this, Scorpan, open a portal to Equestria immediately!" he demanded.
"But, Tirac? Your power?" Scorpan flinched as he was struck across the face.
"Has been stolen by the ponies!" he lied. "We must reclaim it and rebuild Centurious. Now, open the portal!" Tirac bellowed.
Scorpan nodded and quickly waved his arms in the ancient way of his people. Within seconds a shimmering doorway of darkness appeared.
Grunting Tirac charged forward.
Scorpan was quick to follow after him. And not a moment too soon – for once they passed through the threshold of the doorway between realms Centurious collapsed into non-existence and all of its denizens perished.
My Little Pony My Little Pony, ah, ah, ah, ah! *Music Starts*
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Coming of the Shadow Ponies, Part One: Rainbow of Darkness
Nightmare Moon exploded into existence once more within the realm of Equestria – specifically the location of her defeat at the hands of the six ponies that had tapped into the Elements of Harmony – laughing she trotted through the door of the old ruin.
Glancing about at the Everfree Forest and the denizens that she could sense with her new power – she glanced skyward at the slowly moving yellow orb currently spreading its light across the land.
Nightmare Moon's lip curled. "She still has her defenders, the Elements of Harmony are equal in strength to this new power I have absorbed," she said to herself. "But if I were to claim those baubles I could taint their essence and make them dark, yes turn them from Elements of Harmony into Essences of Discord." Nightmare Moon noticed a stream nearby and moved towards it. "Water, the basic element that all creatures in existence possess and require to live, perfect, if my 'sister' can possess her defenders then I too shall possess allies," she said.
Nightmare Moon's horn began to glow with dark energies and a jet of water burst out of the stream.
"Sugar, spice and everything nice, that's what little ponies are made of," Nightmare Moon muttered under her breath as her power drew other elements from around the forest into the jet of water. "But we'll need something far more, in keeping with my desires to purge this land in darkness and keep the sun away forever! Moonbeams, shadows and everything wicked, that's what my little ponies will be made of," she stated infusing the water with her magic.
The jet of water began to spiral into six familiar looking shapes, beams of moonlight intertwined with the liquid, the shadows of the surrounding forest elongated and also intermixed with the shapes being created, flickering from her mane the 'Rainbow of Darkness' infused wickedness and evil into the six beings.
One by one they changed from something formless into something resembling ponies, they looked like ponies, they opened their eyes like ponies, but there was something strangely sinister about them.
"I don't like this coloring," the dark brown pony with the gold mane on the left stated as she glanced at herself. "Fix it!" she barked.
Nightmare Moon glared at her. "You are ordering your creator!" she snapped.
"Well d'uh, we want to look good, not like cheap knock-offs," the pony informed with a sneer.
"Perhaps a tad too willful," Nightmare Moon observed softly. "But that can be fixed," she added preparing to blast the ungrateful brat into oblivion.
"Can't do that," the pony warned.
Ignoring her Nightmare Moon unleashed her dark energies upon her creation intending to erase it and start over from scratch, but what happened instead wasn't the intended action.
The pony started to giggle as she was tickled by the tendrils of dark energy leaping off Nightmare Moon's mane. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I… I told you, hee, hee, hee, that wouldn't work," she said in between a fit of giggles.
"What is this?" Nightmare Moon questioned in surprise.
"We're ponies now," the red Pegasus with the dark grey and black mane told her as though it should be obvious. "You can't just unmake us, you don't have that kind of power."
"I am Nightmare Moon! I have all the power of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as well as the new energies I stole from that centaur creature in the other realm," Nightmare Moon spat.
"Yeah, see, thing of it is, when Celestia made Equestria she made it so nobody could unmake any of her creations," the red Pegasus explained. "Since you made us in the image of those creations then technically only Celestia herself can unmake us."
"RAH!" Nightmare Moon cried frustratedly. She stopped the tickle fest with the other pony and spun around so she could think clearly.
"So, you gonna fix my coloring or what?" the ticklish pony asked. "And how about giving us some names too?" she suggested.
"The coloring stays!" Nightmare Moon snapped. "As for your names, that can be arranged," she consented with a slight nod of her head.
"Oh good, because I'm not liking this nameless-ness we've got goin' for us," the pony said with a dismissive flick of her tail.
Nightmare Moon ground her teeth together in frustration. "You each represent the opposite of those six ponies who are currently in the possession of the Elements of Harmony," she stated. "Therefore your names shall reflect these identities."
"We're copies?" the dark purple unicorn with the white and silver mane demanded.
"You are superior to the original in every way, my dear," Nightmare Moon bragged. "In fact you are nothing like Celestia's ponies, so I think you'll need a fitting group name… I shall call you, my Shadow Ponies," she said.
"Shadow ponies, could you be any more un-original?" the red Pegasus asked rolling her eyes.
Nightmare Moon glared at her. "Your name will be Shadebow Dash," she told her with a satisfied smirk when Shadebow Dash seemed to bristle at the name.
"Shadebow?" she repeated. "What kind of name is that?"
"It's better then mine," the earth pony who'd spoke up before said.
"How could you possibly know your name already when she hasn't told it to you?" Shadebow blurted in bafflement.
"It's Rocky Road, isn't it obvious? Look at my Shadow Cutie Mark," Rocky Road said turning to show off her flank and the twin scoops of ice cream there.
Nightmare Moon stared incredulously at Rocky Road. "But…" Shaking her head she decided to ignore the odd ability of the pony to read her mind. "We'll call you Diamond Clash," she said instead turning to address the dark blue unicorn with the red, dark pink and green mane.
Diamond Clash grinned. "Simply brilliant," she said. "I heartily approve."
"Of course you do," Nightmare Moon muttered. "Now for you," she said turning to eye the dark purple unicorn pony who'd spoken up before.
She smiled sweetly at her creator. "Whatever you decide will be fine with me, mother," she said her smile turning into a mischievous smirk.
"Oh no!" Nightmare Moon complained. "You will be Midnight Gleam, and you are special, for a Shadow Pony. I gave you a small portion of my essence's power so that you would be a match for my 'sisters' beloved pupil, the one who proved instrumental in defeating me before."
"I know," Midnight Gleam said levitating a chunk of stone from the ruins nearby. "I'll be sure to let my cousin know who to thank for her new family member when I show up in Ponyville," she added laughing wickedly.
Nightmare Moon sighed. "On to you," she said turning to the last remaining Earth pony who was colored a dark green and had an orange mane. "It was difficult deciding on your name, I had many choices, however I feel that Rotten Apple suits you quite nicely."
Breaking into a slow grin Rotten Apple nodded her head and her bright blue cowboy hat bobbed in time with the motion. "Got to admit that there is definitely a catchy name," she said.
"You should see some of the other choices she had," Rocky Road said popping up without warning above Nightmare Moon.
"Don't do that!" Nightmare Moon snapped.
"I can't help it, you based me off of that other pony, and she's utterly broken!" Rocky Road complained.
"What do you mean, broken?" Nightmare Moon couldn't help but ask.
"You do not want to see inside of her mind, it will haunt you. Forever!" Rocky Road whispered before skipping off back to her spot next to the others.
Nightmare Moon shook her head trying to understand what just happened and failing miserably. "Ponies," she grumbled. "You, of course being the last pony to receive a name, shall be given a most suitable one indeed," she told the silver Pegasus pony with the black mane.
"N'uh uh," Rocky Road said sticking her tongue out at the Pegasus.
"If you interrupt me one more time!" Nightmare Moon threatened her eyes twitching slightly.
"Nya!" Rocky Road stuck out her tongue at her creator. "Take it, I beg you," she pleaded in an almost sincere tone of voice.
"Shutterfly!" Nightmare Moon decreed ignoring Rocky and whirling back to face the Pegasus pony.
"You're going to stick me with that?" Shutterfly demanded.
"Why yes, is there something wrong with it?" Nightmare Moon asked in a false tone of cheer and concern.
"You're right there's something wrong with it!" Shutterfly shouted angrily. "You're going to call me something better than that or else!" she ordered.
"Or else what?" Nightmare Moon said rising up to her full imposing height.
Shutterfly's eyes widened and instead of saying anything she just stared at Nightmare Moon, hard.
"Let it go," Rocky Road insisted.
"But this name is a joke!" Shutterfly snapped.
"Trust me, the alternatives are much worse," Rocky Road whispered in Shutterfly's ear.
Twitching slightly Shutterfly's expression gave in. "Fine, I'll use the name, but I still won't like it!"
Nightmare Moon sighed. "How does Celestia handle them?" she asked under her breath. "If we're done with the overreacting it is time for you to journey to Ponyville, where you will steal the Elements of Harmony from the six ponies currently in possession of them. Once they are in my possession I will use my newfound abilities to taint them and re-make them into the Essences of Discord, thus allowing me to create eternal night for all of Equestria and trap my 'sister' Princess Celestia within the prison I specially created for her!" Nightmare Moon reiterated with a triumphant evil laugh.
"Sure she will," Rocky Road muttered aside to Midnight Gleam. "Trust me, don't hold your breath for that."
Midnight Gleam shot Rocky Road a confused look. "How could you possibly know we're going to fail before we even try?" she demanded.
Rocky Road shrugged her haunches and started skipping away.
"She is so random," Shadebow Dash complained.
"I don't know, I think she has potential," Diamond Clash said tilting her head to one side. "But we've simply got to do something with her mane."
"Why are you still here?" Nightmare Moon shouted. "Get going!"
"We're goin', we're goin', sheesh, some pony's got her tail in a twist," Rotten Apple grumbled.
Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she set about readying the party she'd started preparing roughly five minutes ago – her tail had twitched a little earlier – so that had to mean that something was going to be falling any minute now.
Pinkie couldn't let that stop her from getting the party ready, she just knew it was going to be important. Making sure the cake batter was finished and ready for the oven she continued to hum while her tail flicked back and forth.
"I just know they're going to love it," Pinkie said. "Now, where did I put that punch bowl?"
Meanwhile – on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest a large dark vortex opened in the sky – crashing down with a loud thud Tirac shook his head clear of the cobwebs and glanced around.
Scorpan came tumbling out of the sky a second after him and tangled himself in the tree branches nearby. "Master, we've finally made it," he said.
"Yes, you've done well, Scorpan," Tirac praised. "I have tried numerous times to reach this place with my magic and always failed. How is it that you managed to successfully open a portal to Equestria?" Tirac wondered suspiciously.
"I followed the trail left by your Rainbow of Darkness, Master," Scorpan explained while he got himself clear of the tree and slowly descended to the ground.
"Interesting," Tirac mused. "Now, Scorpan, our first task will be to amass some servants," he stated.
At that moment the ground churned in front of them and three creatures stuck their heads out – they were Diamond Dogs and they were searching for jewels to collect. "Why'd we let that pony go again?" the leader wondered.
"Don't start that again!" the shortest diamond dog said slapping his paws over his head.
"Sorry, I forgot," the leader said with a shake of his head.
Tirac smiled. "Greetings, my new servants," he said to the trio.
"What?" the leader said glancing up into the face of Tirac.
The Diamond Dogs began to tremble at the sight of Scorpan and Tirac.
"Uh, no gems around here," the burly looking one said with a nervous laugh. "We go now."
"I would prefer if you stay," Tirac insisted raising his hand. "Scorpan."
"Yes, my master," Scorpan said tapping into his limited magic and ensnaring the trio of Diamond Dogs with mystical leashes.
Tirac smiled darkly. Wordlessly he took the three leashes and sent a burst of dark magic coursing through them into the Diamond Dogs – each one of them began to squirm and writhe as their bodies were mystically changed into massive forms surrounded by flames. "These will do nicely," Tirac stated.
"Hellhounds are far more useful then Diamond Dogs," Scorpan said with a wicked laugh.
"Now, to teach those ponies a lesson and reclaim my Rainbow of Darkness!" Tirac declared releasing the leashes. "Fetch."
Baying at the sky the trio of Hellhounds dashed off into the Everfree Forest.
And above Tirac a dark storm cloud slowly began to form as he started laughing wickedly.
To Be Continued…