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[cr. 2026-09-15T05:29:45H, 2026-10-08T23:13:48H]
"The Nightmare Within"
a young Twilight accidentally observes a weird foreign pony known as Starlight Glimmer conspiring with Princess Luna to banish Celestia. realizing this is her time to prove herself, Twilight resolves to stop the plot, and tracks down Starlight, figuring that without any friends at the ready it will be easier to talk to Starlight than to try to face Luna. with a bit of doing, Twilight ends up blackmailing Starlight into being her friend, having convinced Starlight that she will be in a world of trouble if Celestia actually finds out that Starlight tried to get rid of her, but as long as she becomes friends with Twilight her secret will be safe.
Luna realizes that the plot failed and gets angry at Twilight because one unicorn in this world being crafty enough to hatch a scheme was one thing, but a complete nobody stopping it is just insulting; she can't believe that conflicts between ordinary ponies have become more important than difficult royal matters neither of the ordinary ponies are supposed to be ready to understand.
Twilight and Starlight end up having to fight Nightmare Moon with nothing but their knowledge and abilities. the fight is grueling. in the end, Celestia sees that they have won and congratulates them as heroes, appearing completely unaware of Starlight's secret. Twilight presents Starlight with pride, but after Celestia leaves, she narrows her eyes at Starlight, making sure Starlight remembers who is in charge and who is guilty and still needs to prove herself.
Twilight and Starlight's relationship is set down as unsteady and fraught, with Twilight on one hand forgiving and mentoring Starlight and standing by her in tough times and on the other feeding into her pre-existing problems with hope and self-acceptance that will come to light later.
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:: cr. 2026-09-15T05:29:45H
