Nightmare

by pennello

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna, Adventure, Discord
Length: 4089

An evil mare calling herself "Phoenix Flame" has appeared with one goal - to smother all of Equestria in flame! can twilight and the rest of the main six stop her?

An evil mare calling herself "Phoenix Flame" has appeared with one goal - to smother all of Equestria in flame! can twilight and the rest of the main six stop her?

Takes place before Season 4. Cover art by me.

Published 2013-05-07 02:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-01 10:29:31 UTC

1. A "normal day"

It was a sunny afternoon, without a cloud in the sky, and unusually hot for the time of year. Lots of ponies were out and about, whether they were lying on a cloud reading the latest Daring Do novel, caring for their animals, bucking apple trees to prepare for cider season, or trying to earn their cutie marks for the hundredth time.

Twilight Sparkle was going shopping with Spike.

She needed to buy a few things, such as extra quills, more parchment, some spare ink, and a dandelion daisy sandwich for lunch, so she was heading out to the town square. It was bustling with ponies running on all sorts of errands.

"Okay Spike, we need to get quills, parchment, and ink. Not to mention lunch!" said Twilight cheerily. "Remember to tell me if you spot something we need."

"But Twilight, how am I supposed to see with all these ponies crowding around us! It's like all of Ponyville is at the market today!"

"You're right Spike. It does seem as if the whole town is here today."

"And why does it smell like smoke? And is it just me or is everypony else going in the other direction?"

By now Twilight and spike were approaching the edge of the crowd.

"I don't know Spike, maybe it...um...Spike?

"What?"

"Look."

In front of them was a fiery version of what the town hall used to be. The fire was quickly spreading to the other houses, licking them and turning their yellow colors into ashy blacks. Behind the crackling flames, if you listened closely enough, you could hear someone laughing. Now to any normal pony, this would sound like the works of their imagination. But to Twilight Sparkle-Alicorn princess, former student of Celestia, and first class egghead-this was not nothing.

I hear somepony laughing-What if that pony is in danger! though a very troubled Twilight.They might need my help. I'll go help them!

"Spike, there's someone in those flames. I just know it. I'm going to go help them."

"Are you sure, because that sounds dangerous"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Fine," replied a reluctant Spike. "Just make sure to use spell one-hundred four"

"Of course I'm going to us spell one-hundred four. without it, I would catch on fire!"

With that Twilight cast spell one-hundred four onto herself and leapt into the flames.

Now, you may be wondering "what the hay does spell one-hundred four do?" Well, spell one-hundred four makes the thing or pony you cast it on fire proof. Anyway, back to the story!

Twilight peered through the flickering flames, eager to find out who could possibly be in trouble. After what felt like forever she finally found the source of the laughter...

...she couldn't believe her eyes.

The tall, laughing, alicornian mare in front of her was a deep red with majestic golden armor and a cutie mark of the sun. Her eyes were magenta, looking like those of a dragon, and her mane looked like fire, pulsing and shifting silently.

Twilight could see that this mare did not need her help, so she decided to ask the mare one question, one that was very important to her, considering that she had never seen this pony around Ponyville and that she was an alicorn.

"Who are you?" Twilight questioned suspiciously.

The mare repled.

"Oh, Twilight Sparkle, how wonderful to see you!" The mare's voice was cold and smooth.

"Tell me who you are."

"If you really want to know who I am, you need to know my intentions."

The mare teleported next to Twilight.

" I plan on setting fire to all of Equestria, getting rid of every single living thing, and rebuilding my own kingdom from the ashes."

The mare smiled, knowing that she had scared Twilight, And continued revealing herself to her.

"My name is Phoenix Flame, and I am going to destroy the world."

Twilight just stood there for a few seconds, rigid in shock, before she started flying away.

"Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!"

Twilight burst out of the flame, picked up Spike off of the ground, put him on her back, and sped towards the library at speeds that challenged Rainbow Dash!

"Twilight!?" Spike asked. "What's going on?!"

"No time to explain Spike! we need to get to the library and warn Princess Celestia!"

"About what?"

"I said theres no time to explain! Good, we made it to the library!" Luckily for Twilight, the library was not on fire yet. Twilight dashed through the door, grabbed some parchment, a quill, and some ink with her magic, and jotted down a quick note to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

An Alicorn by the name of Phoenix Flame has come to Ponyville with the intention to smother it in flames along with the rest of Equestria and kill EVERYTHING! We need to take action against this villain immediately! Please reply as soon as possible!

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

"Spike, I need you to send this letter to the princess immediately!"

"On it, Twilight!"

"Huh? What's this? Oh. I see. I'll just throw it into the trash"

"It's been ten minuets Twilight, I don't think the princess is going to reply!"

"Lets just send her another letter."

"We've already sent her seven. Let's face it, the princess isn't going to reply."

"Then what if she's in trouble! We need to make sure she's all right! I'll go see her in person!"

"Okay Twilight."

"Now lets go get the rest of our friends!"

"Okay Twilight."

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed the story so far!

2. Empty castle

"Thanks for coming, everyone!" stated Twilight. "We might need to use the elements of harmony if the princess is in trouble."

The mane six were in Twilight's personal carriage, which was heading to Canterlot. Everyone had gotten settled, so Twilight was starting to tell them why they were there. Everyone was curious why.

"Umm... Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly."Why would the princess be in trouble?"

"Ah wanna know why too Twi', Stated Applejack.

"Well, I'm about to tell you, but I need to start from the beginning. As you all know there is a fire in Ponyville."

Everyone nodded except for Rarity, who pretended to dramatically swooned before promptly getting up and dusting herself off.

"I ran into the source of of the fire, and it was a mare named Phoenix Flame. She was basically the opposite of Nightmare Moon, and she wants to watch the world burn and let everything die. I tried to contact the princess-"

"-But she didn't answer any of your letters like you asked her to, so you were worried and decided to visit her in Canterlot to see if she was alright!" interrupted Pinkie.

"Pinkie, how did you know that?"

"Duh silly filly, I read the first chapter of this fanfiction!"

"Okay then...That is why we are all here," said Twilight, unsure of what Pinkie Pie had just said.

Rarity concluded, "So basically we are going to Canterlot to make sure the princess is okay and to get her help defeating this 'Phoenix Flame'."

"Correct." Twilight replied.

"Wow!" Rainbow Dash remarked. "That was a lot faster than the train, we're at Canterlot already!"

"Okay girls, lets go and meet with the princess!"

"I wonder why it's so quiet in here. I haven't even seen any royal guards!" remarked Fluttershy.

The mane six had looked around for Princess Celestia but the only thing they had found that was even close to giving them a clue to where she was was a half eaten banana cake in the royal kitchen.

"It feels like a ghost town," Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight, are you sure we checked all of the rooms in Canterlot castle?"

" I'm one-hundred and ten percent sure that we checked all the rooms, at least the ones I would expect Celestia to be in."

Applejack responded saying, "Ah think we should check the ones that you wouldn't expect the princess to be in."

"Good idea Applejack!" chirped a cheery Pinkie Pie.

"When you are done, come back here, to the throne room and wait for the rest of us. Now, let's split up and search the castle."

So the mane six split up and searched the castle, in hopes of finding Princess Celestia, or at least a hint of where she could be, and if she was safe.

Rarity was given the opportunity to look around Princess Luna's section of the castle. The two royal sisters shared a throne room (it had been enchanted so that the decorations would change at night and it would be more fitting for the princess of the night), but her wing of the castle housed her bedroom, her office, and other things that she did not share with her sister. Rarity was at the moment, looking around Luna's office.

"Why are you in my office?"

Princess Luna was standing in the doorway, which was behind where Rarity was standing.

Rarity stubbled back, being startled by Luna's voice since she did not know of her presence.

"Sorry, your h-highness," Rarity said as she bowed to the lunar princess, thinking, Why did I agree to this! I don't want to get in trouble for snooping around the palace!

"I-I was...um...well...me and the other element bearers were really worried, because Twilight sent Princess Celestia a letter and she didn't reply when Twilight asked her to, even though Twilight is probably just overrea-"

"You are not to be punished for being concerned about my sister."

Rarity gave a sigh of relief. "have you seen Princess Celestia today?" she asked.

"No. The last time we saw her was last night when she lowered the sun. I did not see her when she raised it, though since the sun is in the sky, she obviously did raise it. But I wouldn't blame her if she stayed in her bedroom to raise the sun for once, she was feeling quite grumpy last night because of all the imperfections in the world, which is silly if you ask me."

Rarity's sigh of relied was replaced with a sigh of dismay.

Princess Luna continued. "However, I believe that I may be able to give you a clue about where Tia could possibly be." With that Luna used her magic to materialize a letter out of thin air. "I found it on my bedside table when I woke up for a...how can I put this...restroom break"

The letter read:

Luna,

Meet me at the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters at exactly midnight tonight. you are not to bring any other ponies with you, or else I will get rid of them. if you do not come there will be some...problems.

-P.F.

"Thank you your highness!" praised Rarity gleefully. "This is just what we need! If you let me borrow the letter I will show it to the others.

"Wait!" Shouted Luna (but not in the royal Canterlot voice). "I have two requests."

"What are they, your highness?"

"First of all, please, call me Luna."

"Okay, what else Luna?"

"I would like to join you in looking for Tia."

"Okay, I suppose. Let's head over to the throne room, it is where we are going to meet the others. I'll fill you in on the rest of the story while we walk."

3. Making some progress

Twilight had finished searching around the Canterlot library in hopes of finding Princess Celestia, which she did not, and was waiting for the others. So far Rainbow Dash, who had checked outside, Fluttershy, who had checked Discord's section of the castle, Applejack, who had checked around a few parts of Canterlot, and Pinkie Pie, who had somehow inspected the fourth wall, had returned to the throne room. None of them had seen anypony.

Rarity was returning to the throne room, for she had found all she needed, and was satisfied with the clues the pony she found had found. Both her and the other pony had made their way to the throne room, after Rarity had explained the situation to the other pony.

"Rarity! You're back!" Twilight exclaimed when she saw Rarity, sounding stressed. Then Twilight noticed Rarity had come with an acquaintance whom she had not expected to see. "Princess Luna?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

Luna answered Twilight's question. "Rarity ran into me during her search and told me everything, and I want to help you find Tia. Not only that, but We have a clue to where she disappeared to."

"And that is..." Rainbow Dash questioned.

"A note from the Phoenix Flame who had stirred up trouble in Ponyville, saying to meet her at the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters at exactly midnight with no other ponies or else."

"Great!" Shouted Pinkie. That means we can meet her at midnight and tell her to stop playing with matches! Wait! We'll have to go without Phoenix Flame knowing we are there so Princess Luna doesn't get in trouble or something! I'll get my mustaches and my trench coats and-" Pinkie was cut of by a hoof to the mouth from Twilight.

"So I guess we'll go with you-"

"-Ih nicihse!"

"...yes, I suppose in disguise, to confront Phoenix Flame with the elements."

At that Fluttershy mumbled "um, theres a small problem about that..." Nopony heard her.

"Okay then."Said Appejack. "Lets go!"

"-in a moment," Said Luna.

"Why?" everypony asked.

"Well, nightfall is in about ten minutes, And to raise the moon I have to be in one spot. I can't be on a moving platform, like a train, or else I won't be able to get a steady grip on the moon with my magic. And since it is almost time to raise the moon, we need to stay here until I do so."

"Lets go as soon as the princess raises the moon!" shouted Applejack."

The mane six sat down on the floor to wait for princess to finish raising the moon. soon ten minutes passed. Then eleven. then Twelve.

Twenty minutes passed without any sign of daylight falling when Princess Luna re-entered the throne room with a somber look on her face.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked.

Luna replied.

"I cannot raise the moon."

Everypony gasped (except for Rarity, who swooned-this time for real.)

"When I was Nightmare Moon, Celestia could not raise the sun, because I refused to set the moon. Well, we seem to have the same problem here. Celestia is unable to set the sun, so I cannot raise the moon."

"So now it is even more important that we stop Phoenix Flame because if we don't, the world will dry up!" Rainbow Dash commented.

Everypony conscious replied with a hefty "YEAH! LET'S DO THIS THING!"

The mane six (including Rarity, who had been woken up by the tremendous yeah) and Princess Luna headed to twilight's carriage, prepared to take the short trip home and get ready for battle.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all squeezed into twilight's tiny carriage, and Luna Tried to follow them, only to find that she was too big to fit in.

"It seems we may have to take a different mode of transport to reach Ponyville," She said.

"How about the Friendship Express?" Suggested Pinkie Pie.

Rarity replied "That sounds like a fabulous idea!" all the other ponies gave nods of approval.

"To the Friendship Express!"" shouted Applejack.

"Discord? There you are."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there. Hey! Fluttershy was just here looking for you!"

"About that…the element holders have...rebelled against me."

"They have?"

"Yes, they have. I need you to, how can I put this lightly, kill them."

"Kill them? I may have been an evil tyrant using mind control to enslave all other ponies, but killing! even I wouldn't do that."

"Too bad. It is my order and you must obey me."

"Even Fluttershy?"

"Of course Fluttershy!"

"okay then..."

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. Hope everypony Enjoyed!

I planned on making this chapter longer, but i think the end has a good enough cliff hanger for now

3.5(april fools).Then it gets confusing

Princess Luna and the mane six rushed out to the train station. As they were walking, they saw a fireball strike across the sky.

'What the hay is that?" Said Fluttershy in a harsh voice.

The thing landed in front of the group. Suddenly, it transformed into ~~SOLAR FLARE!~~ PHOENIX FLAME!

"I heard you talking because I blackmailed spike into giving me Rarity's Skype address that he uses to stalk her so that I could listen to your conversations! You shall pay for trying to defeat me!"

rarity screamed "OH NO! NOT THE SKYPE! NOT THE SKYPE! NOW YOU KNOW ALL MY CONTACTS! MY MARY SUE BOYFRIEND WILL NEVER FORGIVE ME FOR GIVING AWAY HIS SKYPE ADDRESS! ALL OF THE LADIES WILL FLOCK TO HIS GORGEOUS BLACK AND RED ALICORN BODY!"She then promptly fainted.

"She has an awful oc Mary sue boyfriend?" Asked rainbow dash to herself. "Omg! Ive always wanted one of those!" with that she flew off to the library to blackmail spike again. they say that you could hear her shout "screw flutterdash! rainbowsue for the win!" as she triple rainboom'd to his castle that was even bigger then canter lot even though no pony noticed it. This made Fluttershy cry tears of happiness.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Pinkie Pie?

"So I can feed my subjects- er… satisfy my bloodlust," Phoenix Flame replied.

this made applejack say, "Wait, you're not actually a crazy gal named phoenix flame, are you?"

soon after, Luna said,"Wait, you're not actually a crazy girl named phoenix flame, are you?"

"Thats exactly what ah said!"

"Oh shut up, your just a background pony," Hissed fluttershy.

"You actually found out about my true form. Fine then, I shall reveal it."

Suddenly, there was a flash of green light which enveloped Phoenix Flame, until you couldn't see her at all. Lightning crashed, and when the fire went away…

...Sunset Shimmer was standing in front of the group.

"Huh?" Twilight said. "I expected you to be queen chrysalis or something."

"Ugh. Fine," sunset replied. The green fire appeared again and soon, queen chrysalis was standing there.

"As queen of the changelings I have decided that the best way to feed my subjects is to create fear and then kill them all so that I don't have to worry about feeding them in the first place. Soon everyone will be gone, and I shall rule the whole world!

"Seems pretty *bleep* confusing to me," said luna in a monotone voice.

Pinkie pie responded to this by saying "cmon, this story is rated everyone! don't swear! use emoticons like me or something, see?:pinkiehappy: you have to do it like that."

"Okay then.." queen chrysalis said. then she looked at the group and said, "c'mon, do something, this is boring."

"Twilight was like, "You do something. I have no Idea what to do."

everyone just sat there doing nothing.

Fluttershy was fantasizing how she would be so happy without rainbow dash going goggly eyes over her all the time. Pinkie pie was eating her hair because she was schizophrenic and thought it was cake. Applejack was thinking about how her life sucked and that she needed to ditch her life in Ponyville and become a bounty hunter. Rarity was drooling on the floor in her sleep, Luna was humming lullaby for a princess, and twilight was staring at a wall.

"this is about as boring as being stuck on the moon for thousand years being mad at your stupid sunbutt sister"The queen of the changelings mumbled. Princess luna just kinda glanced up at her and looked away, before doing a double take and saying, "Wait, what? How did you know about that?"

"Everyone knows you were stuck on the moon for a millennia, suck it up. If anyone is to know more then anyone, its me."

"And why would you know more?"

'Because I was there with you," chrysalis said casually, before realizing what she just said and covering her mouth with her hoof.

this new development caused applejack to say, "Wait, that means that you're…NIGHTMARE MO-"

"Wait, that means that you're…NIGHTMARE MOON!" Applejack was cut off by pinkie pie.

"facehoof," said Applejack. "I don't even care anymore." She then proceeded to walk into the sunset and move to cloudsdale.

"GAH," said queen chrysalis. "I can't even hold up one measly disguise." Before anyone knew what was happening, Blue smoke had enveloped The changeling, and her skin became darker, as well as her holes disappearing. Her eyes became blue, and her hair turned to armor. The blue smoke became her hair, and she had fully transformed into nightmare moon!

"So…yeah. I'm nightmare moon, and Ive come to take over, yada yada yada, be afraid, I'm gonna eat you. Lets skip to the good part, shall we. I hear you girls can cook up a mean battle."

suddenly, rainbow dash crashed into nightmare moon.

"GUYS IM BACK!" she shouted. nightmare moon groaned. so did fluttershy.

"I thought you had gone to kiss rarities boyfriend,"said fluttershy flatly.

"Oh I did," rainbow dash said. "It was really fun. He wasn't my type though, far too athletic and handsome. Oh! I got the deus ex machina jewelry!"

"How will we make it work?" asked pinkie pie?" were missing applejack?"

Luna said, "I have an Idea. I used to be the element of honesty, So I could be applejack."

"Okay then," everyone replied.

Pinkie pie, fluttershy, and rainbow dash all put on their necklaces. Twilight sparkle levitated rarity's onto her neck. Luna put on applejacks necklace, and twilight put on her crown. Then they floated up into the air and blasted nightmare moon with pure rainbow juice. when the wreckage cleared away, another princess luna was lying on the ground.

"Huh?!" said the first luna. "Oh no! If there are two of me, that means that one of us cannot exist, meaning that Im going to dissa-"
she was cut of by her body disappearing.

"Good job twilight," said pinkie pie in princess celestia's voice.

"Huh?" asked twilight.

"Allow me to explain myself," pinkie pie said again before transforming into princess celestia."Ive been testing you to see if you will be a good princess and have decided that you are fit to take my immortality and become my successor."

"Okay then," said Twilight sparkle. "But if you're princess celestia, then wheres pinkie pie?"

"She's been…taken care of," replied princess celestia.

pinkie pie coughed. she opened her eyes and saw colorful hallways filled with tons of creatures.

she rasped, "where am i?"

suddenly all of the creatures turned to look at her. they were bipedal and were wearing all sorts of clothes. because they were still, she finally got to read a sigh behind them: "welcome to bronycon 2014"

the creatures stood still for a moment before screaming with delight and mobbing her.

"Okay then, so what are the perks of being immortal?" asked twilight.

"You will outlive everyone you love."

"Okay then."

"Everything will change around you."

"Okay then."

"Ponies will worship the ground you work on."

"Okay then."

"It ail be inappropriate for you to be seen at fast food restaurants."

"What? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

twilight shot up. she was sweating all over. her friends and princess luna were leaning over her.

"Wha-what happened?" she asked.

"You passed out due to stress, darling. we've been trying to wake you up for the past three minutes." said rarity."we were all worried about you.

twilight looked around. only now did she notice that applejack was missing.

"Wheres applejack?" she asked.

fluttershy replied, "She walked in to the sunset because she was upset with her life and moved to clouds dale."

Author's Note

*Cough*april fools*Cough*

Okay then. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I think that its a crime that your longest chapter is your april fools one. On to important stuff!

First of all, I am really sorry this hasn't updated in close to a year. Really. While I will do my best to update this more frequently, don't expect too many updates too fast. I am a kind of slow writer.

Also, I GOT A PROOFREADER! my stories should be much more…bearable now.

also, I put a reference about how I messed up on the names last time in, see? See? oh never mind.

p.s. New cover art coming soon!