Hello, ladies and/or gentleman; Sputnikmann here... making a note never to use that intro again.
Anyway, Friendship is Magic will be a three-parter, as I don't like making some chapters extremely longer than others. The original idea was part 2 being twice as long as the part 1, but I don't like doing that, so here it is!
Enjoy!
The time was finally here. The Summer Sun Celebration was finally beginning. Everypony in Ponyville was attending, as well as tourists from Manehatten, Canterlot, Trottingham and even as far away as Saddle Arabia.
Sonic was leaning against Rainbow, who was talking with Applejack. He looked around, smiling at the amazing work everypony put into their parts. He, himself had gone to other cities to watch the Celebration, but the crowded space of urban Equestrian locations made it hard to enjoy, and the decorations were mainly stuff that was bought from a party shop, the same being for the food.
This however, was astronomically different. The wide-open space of Ponyville and low number of ponies living there gave everypony that attended their own elbow space. The decorations were made from the finest materials, all delivered by Sonic. The food was made with rich spices and the sweets were made from very fine sugar.
Not only that; in Manehatten or Canterlot, nopony bothered to do any socializing. The only thing he ever got out of Manehatten was a sultry look from a random mare, and the ponies from Canterlot were all snobs; giving him disgusted looks that made him want to punch their perfect teeth out. In Ponyville, everypony was talking with everypony else.
Twilight Sparkle and Spike was talking with Pinkie Pie (although it was a one-sided conversation), Sonic, himself had recently had a conversation with Ditzy and 'Doctor' Hooves (where 'the Doctor' got that name, Sonic didn't know), Lyra and Bon Bon were speaking with Vinyl and Octavia, and Roseluck was speaking with Rarity.
Above all, he loved the feeling of knowing he had a hand in this. That made this experience complete. He knew that without the deliveries, the preparations might not have even been done yet, let alone ready for everypony to enjoy it. He sighed as he reached for another sweet roll.
As he took his first bite into his favorite pastry, his eyes; along with everypony else's, were drawn to the stage as Mayor Mare cleared her throat.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts," she announced. "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Everypony in the crowd went wild; yelling, screaming and hooting their approval.
"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!" she continued. "And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
Sonic saw Rarity readying the curtain and Fluttershy readying her birds in the corner of his eye
As the curtain opened, Mare happily announced, "PRINCESS CELESTIA!"
Noticing the amount of cheers (or lack thereof), Mayor opened her looked to the upper stage, only to find it empty. With that, a different atmosphere fell over the crowd. Ponies started whispering and chattering nervously.
"Remain calm, everypony." Mayor Mare said. "There has got to be a reasonable explanation for this."
Finally, after searching backstage, Rarity reappeared from behind the curtains. "She's gone!" she said. After a few more minutes of relative quiet, Sonic looked to Pinkie as she gave off a sharp yelp, pointing towards the upper stage.
Clouds began lowering themselves to the stage, swirling in a vortex-like fashion, slowly become translucent as they continued. Sonic looked to his sister, who held her hooves up defensively. "What?" she asked. "I had nothing to do with this!"
After a few seconds, the clouds slowly turned into a mist, bubbling like a potion over a fire. The mist, turning opaque again, dispersed quickly, revealing the form of an Alicorn. Her mane shimmered like the night sky, but flowed in an ominous fashion, bubbling like the mist she appeared from. Her eyes were a light shade of blue; her pupils were vertical slits like that of a cat inside her turquoise irises. On her flanks was the image of a crescent moon, surrounded by purple fog. On her head she wore a sky-blue helmet, the matching armor on her chest.
"Oh, my beloved subjects," the Alicorn cooed. "It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little, sun-loving faces."
"What did you do with our Princess?" demanded Rainbow Dash. She charged, but stopped when Applejack grabbed her tail with her teeth.
The Alicorn laughed. "Why?" she asked. "Am I not Royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" She moved to Fluttershy, who cowered behind her mane. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She moved herself to Rarity, who instinctually moved away from the threat. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"
Surprisingly, Twilight was the one who spoke next. "I did. And I know who you are." She said. "You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!"
Everypony gasped, Nightmare chuckled. "Well, well, well," she said, "Somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."
Twilight's confidence disappeared as the question was asked. "You're here to... to..." she stuttered, unable to finish the sentence.
Nightmare chuckled again. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last." She said. "From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"
She started laughing maniacally as her tail and mane started forming a vortex above her, lightning crashing down from the thick smoke that blocked out the sun. Suddenly, the Mayor remembered her current authority. "Seize her!" she ordered the royal guard, who had accompanied Princess Celestia to Ponyville. "Only she knows where the Princess is!" The guards did as they were told, charging at Nightmare Moon
"STAY BACK YOU FOALS!" the dark princess commanded, her eyes glowing with magic. Lightning struck in front of them, knocking them backwards. She laughed at the pitiful failure that was the guards' attempt to arrest her.
Fed up, Sonic jumped; tucking his legs in and ramming himself straight into the dark pony. "Whoever you are, 'Moony'; you're about to catch a real beating!" he proclaimed as he landed on the ground. His eyes widened as he saw a cyan aura surround his body. He felt himself become weightless as the Alicorn lifted him in front of her face.
"My, my, my…" she said. "A lot has changed since I was banished. I remember a time when we had to worry about Diamond Dogs and Quarray eels. Now we have walking, smart-mouthed rats!" she gently lowered Sonic close to the ground, before dropping him a few inches up above. Sonic fell and landed on his face with an audible SMACK.
Seeing her brother hurt was the last straw as Rainbow broke loose of Applejack's grip. With the added tension from being held back, Rainbow shot forward like a bullet, closing the distance between her and Nightmare in milliseconds. Before she made contact, however; Nightmare laughed before transforming into the mist of her mane and flew out the open door. "COME BACK HERE!" Rainbow yelled, giving chase.
Sonic, who was finally managing to get his bearings, got up and ran after the mist; running into the Everfree Forest without noticing. As he caught up it, he saw Nightmare's glowing eyes looking back at him, before speeding up ahead of him. Not wanting to get outshone by a cloud of smoke, Sonic sped up as well; passing a Manticore, a river serpent and over a bridge; which promptly collapsed. As he came to the massive doors of an equally-massive castle, he stopped; readying himself for whatever may be behind the door.
Hovering directly under the ceiling in her mist form, Nightmare Moon watched as the rat opened the doors of her once great castle and slowly walked in. After a few seconds of looking around, she saw him visibly relax and speed into a light stroll. She saw him stop in awe as he came before the pedestal of the Elements of Harmony. If she had a mouth in this form, she would have scowled, the pedestal bringing terrible memories back. Remembering her hatred towards this room, she moved to her old bedroom, which had been marked by the passing of time.
Though the walls were moldy and cracking in places, her room was relatively intact, with the exception of the massive hole in the ceiling. Following the glow of her moon's light shining through the hole, she saw a large green gemstone lying conveniently in the centre of the floor. Her horn started glowing as she attempted to levitate the gem, but something repelled her magic and caused the gem to glow.
"Interesting." she said to herself. She closed her eyes as she attempted to scan the artifact, hoping that its magic-proof barrier would not stop this. "This energy signature, it is unlike anything I have encountered. It is… familiar, very familiar. It's not Pony magic, but something different, something foreign…" her eyes widened and she gave an evil smirk as her thoughts moved to the rat, "something blue."
Sonic had visited the Everfree Forest before. He didn't like it, per se; but he often used it as an obstacle course for him to practice with. But he had never noticed this castle before. He had read legends of the Mare in the Moon, and how she and her sister lived in a magnificent palace in the Everfree Forest, but he thought they were just that; a legend. He never believed in the 'Elements of Harmony' or in 'The Mare in the Moon', or even in the 'Castle of the royal Pony sisters'. But here he was, standing in the very castle he had refused to believe existed his whole life.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked a voice echoing through the main hall.
Recognizing Nightmare's voice, Sonic turned around, trying to pinpoint the sound's origin. "Show yourself!" he yelled.
"This castle once belonged to my sister and I," Nightmare's voice continued. "But time has taken its toll on it."
"Where are you?" Sonic asked, desperately trying to find Nightmare.
An ominous wind blew through the hall, clouds swirling around the pedestal he had passed earlier. When the clouds dispersed, Nightmare was revealed to be hovering above the pedestal, a pair of saddle bags on her back, her expression unreadable. "All of the damage was natural," she said calmly. "All but one…" she reached into her saddlebags and pulled out an abnormally large gem. "Catch." She said, tossing the gem to Sonic.
Not trusting his enemy, Sonic sidestepped out of the gem's path, which harmlessly fell to the floor. Nightmare gave an annoyed huff. "Nice catch." she said sarcastically.
"I am not taking anything you give me, lady." Sonic said. "How do I know this isn't going to explode when I touch it?"
Nightmare rolled her eyes. "If I had wanted you gone, I would've killed you in the forest or just impaled you with a magical spear now." she said. "I found this gemstone in my old quarters, and it repelled my magic. Its energy signature matches yours, so I want to know if I would have any use for it."
"And why would I help you?" Sonic asked.
"Because I see no point in going to such lengths to kill a miserable rat." She said. "Again, you would be dead already if I wanted to kill you. I just want to know what that… emerald is."
Sonic pondered on this for a moment. 'She does have a point.' Sonic thought. 'She is supposed to be an all-powerful Alicorn princess, so she could've killed me earlier, and my attack earlier did almost nothing to actually hurt her…"
After a few seconds, Sonic finally sighed. "Fine." He said, reaching down to grab the emerald. "Strange," he said, examining the gem. "This looks… so familiar, but I've never seen this thing before…" Suddenly, pain shot through his head, images and visions flooding his mind. He closed his eyes and gave a scream of absolute agony. Tears flowed down his face as he opened his eyes, the irises and pupils disappearing; leaving the glowing whites alone.
So, yeah. That's about it for this chapter, still longer than I would've preferred, but... whatever.
Expect the next chapter in a couple of days, as I had cut another hundred words or so from this one; but I'm not making any promises.
