The Gameverse (Mare in the Moon)

"Research is good, I agree - let's hasten into the library." agrees Zahra, hurrying inside to ransack the library for useful information. It wasn't as detailed as her own collection but a general knowledge search may be just the ticket.

Spoiler:

Copper shuffles into the library himself...

"Okay, probably have to gather a lot of stuff to get anything useful if for some reason a legitimate conflict destined to be repeated was relegated to MYTH... Come on, rural library: surprise me.

Research:

Colter brings himself to his hooves, shaking his head. "Ow... That hurt." At the dragon's question, he shrugs. "All I know is that I needed to be here. Anyways, thanks for the help... Um..." Colter says, obviously oblivious to the dragon's name.

Sharptooth, he says with a bow, at your service. He looks up and adds, No, seriously, I am here to serve. I am eager to see what you six have in store. Any way I can be of help, I will do it. Now, we were looking in the library? he asks.

The combined efforts of Zahra and Copper can easily find seven or eight different books about Nightmare Moon, mostly in mythology and the like sections that don't quite reveal anything more than the myth of Nightmare Moon, however with quite a bit of searching, Copper comes across two books with his more thorough glances. One of the books is "Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide", half tossed aside from a struggle, and another is the list of the 6 ponies present at that point in time, however the druid's name seems to, to only Lightfoot's eye as he's the only one who has seen it previously, been colored a soft Reddish-orange, and Zahra's name is backened by black and colored a light pink.

Thoughtful Heart staggers in, groaning. "Ugh... T-those mares did a number on me. Especially that wall-eyed pegasus. I don't remember what I was doing at all, and before they started attacking me, they said that was what they planned on doing..." The overseer glances at the dragon, yelping and hiding on top of a bookshelf, shaking in his horseshoes. "D-D-DRAGON."

"Ack!" Wormwood jolted at the overseer's sudden surprise. He looked up at the Overseer where he was perched on a bookcase. "It's all right, he helped us fight off the possessed pegasi! He's here to help!" He said, trying to calm the pony down.

The overseer is stammering out the word dragon over and over, a bit of his telepathy leaking out images of a purple and green dragon chasing after him as a foal after seeing a single-gem horn ring gift from his mother.

Bright Idea starts giggling at the pictures that have just entered her mind...

Copper sees the images and the panic and tries his best 'casual conciliatory' tone...

Oh overseer, you don't need to worry about this dragon. They aren't all the same individual you know, you've surely met enough beings to know that. Besides, you aren't just a kid anymore, and you're surrounded by rather alert ponies. Isn't it more important to speak freely, now?

...I'd like to do something to help you, but you have to be willing to step forth and say what that might be, first...

Spoiler:

Zahra doesnt say anything, silently walking off into another room. The sound of running water issues for a moment, then she returns the room, a filled bucket held between her jaws. Without ceremony, she walks over to the panicking overseer, lifts the bucket over his head, and empties its contents over his head.

"Get a grip, little foal, this panic aids the nightmare's goal. It's good to fear an angry drake, but here's a friend, no need to quake."

edit:

The overseer babbles in shock at the water, now soggy as he shakes his head. "R-right, not that dragon, or the dragons I've read about. Got a bit of a phobia." Thoughtful smacks himself on the face a couple times lightly. "O-ok, so, Nightmare Moon. Came, right? Mind's still a bit screwy from getting knocked out."

"She came alright," replies Bright, "And she's a huge jerk who doesn't answers questions important to the progression of Science!"

"Those sorts of questions would be....."

Zahra gives a sidelong glance to Bright Idea, and grins.

"What do we address? The questions of science, and nothing less! Nightmare Moon, what was the nature of your sealing? When you were trapped, what was the feeling? What was your technique, to make your bonds weak?" she begins, enthusiastically, miming holding up a microphone to Thoughtful, looking expectantly for Bright Idea to join in, before she looked foolish.

"And are we still allowed to use lights, so we can brighten up the eternal night?" continues Bright Idea. "Then there is the matter of Celestia, but I think we all assume the moon bested her. Where could she be? A place that we can't even see? These questions are all important to scientific development!" The earth pony then leans close to Zahra and pretends to whisper, although she still speaks clear enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Although I do not think our new leader is that benevolent." She gets slightly giddy with herself and lets out a small chuckle and happily trots on the spot, impressed she actually came up with that line on the spot...

"Why, at times she's even quite malevolent!" finishes Zahra, in the self same stage whisper, "But we ask these questions all same - science is for life, not just a game."

While it doesn't send the zebra into giggle fits, it's not hard to see she's just as impressed by the impromptu performance.

The unicorn stared at the two mares for a good few moments, in shock, before bursting out into laughter and grinning. "Few, t-thanks I sort of needed that... Right, Nightmare Moon. Er.... I think that we're going to need to look- Oh, hey you have it." Heart opens the Reference guide and, scooting away from the dragon, flips through it carefully. The note with everypony's names on it glows a soft blue for a moment as the "Bright" in Bright Idea turns that color.

"But... how will the plants survive without light?" Wormwood asked, late to the show. He wasn't quite certain what to make of the questionnaire, but while he wasn't the most scientific of ponies (at least compared to present company), he did have questions he'd have liked to ask the mare of eternal night...

Lightfoot is distracted by the list of names, and the changing colors thereof.

The unicorn chuckles once again, visibly relaxing now as he flips through. "Elements of Harmony... Used long ago during multiple instances to seal away or encapture villainous ponies and creatures. The known elements are Kindness, Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, and Loyalty." With each word, Lightfoot can notice that the scroll itself seems to glow various colors, pink, orange, purple, blue, and red in that order. "The 6th element is unknown, but the last place they were found was in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters deep within what is now known as.... The Everfree." The unicorn shakes his head and gulps. "W-well... I can't force you ponies to go there.... Er, and dragon."

"I'm not sure we have the luxury of not going. If necessary, I could risk the forest alone while the rest of you research the sixth element; and just return with them as soon as available... But ideally I think everybody who can go should probably find a map and head off sooner rather than later... Nightmare Moon is probably still sleepy from having just returned to the waking world after 1000 years..."

Copper then turns and sees the fear in Thoughtful's face...

"All the same, I couldn't ask you to come with us, overseer. You've been a great help and pretty brave. Just count on the rest of us now."

Lightfoot snaps back to attention when he hears the phrase "go... alone..."

"Alone?" asked Lightfoot. "Unacceptable, sir! Nopony goes into Everfree Forest alone! Which is why I'm going with you! Oh, and dear overseer, would you too terribly mind if I take this scroll? The colors on it are... quite strange..."

The "Light" in Lightfoot seems to glow a soft red as Heart blinks. "What? The checklist? Er, sure. Don't know why the colors are changing..."

"Mr. Overseer, if you could send any new findings to us while we're out, I'm sure we would be very grateful." Colter turns to Lightfoot. "Lightfoot, do you mind if I join you and Copper? I believe we'll be better off the larger our group is."