~Ghostly Giggle~
A full moon began to fall from its high perch in the sky and towards the lower horizon over the great land of Equestria. Night was halfway done and most of the equine nation was asleep. Nestled within a quite valley near the center of the land sat the small town of Ponyville. All the houses were dark and everypony was fast asleep dreaming their wonderful dreams while Princess Luna scoured the dreamscape for the few ponies that experienced the faint lingering magic of Nightmare Moon’s devices to scare ponies. She hated that she had caused the spell to exist forever, but thanks to Celestia the toll had been broke down and less nightmares have occurred in the thousand years since Nightmare Moon was sealing in the moon.
She passed through the dreams of an orange mare with a cutie mark of three apples. A peaceful dream of a filly with her parents in an endless field of ripe apple trees. They are in a better place now, don’t you threat.
Next was a white unicorn that seemed to have just set herself in her bed. Her dream was filled with a loud party filled to brim with ponies and flashing lights. Luna always loved to see dreams like these. Why don’t more ponies dream like this?
Luna came upon another pony in Ponyville, this one was familiar. A small orange filly pegasus with a fandango mane and tail. She rode on a scouter with her wings buzzing behind her through a large obstacle course. Standing off to the side Luna noticed three pegasi watching and cheering the young filly on. One had a rainbow mane the other two seemed to be a mix up of what the younger one looked like. The stallion was dressed in royal guard armor. I didn’t know he was her father.
Luna continued on her rounds as she left peaceful Ponyville and towards the larger city of Manehatten. As she left she didn’t noticed the presence that appeared in her absence. It slowly lingered through the empty streets of the town towards a building designed to look like a gingerbread house. It rose to the top floor and towards the bedroom there. It entered the room and observed the single pony there.
It was a pink coated mare with a darker pink mane that curled and puffed. Her hair seemed to defy gravity itself. She slept softly in her bright pink bed while half deflated balloons floated above her and around the various haphazardly placed part supplies. The presence noticed a cyan colored cannon with a single strand of green confetti hanging out of the muzzle. It turned away from the cannon and back to mare who continued to sleep. After a few lingering seconds it left the mare alone.
...
Pinkie Pie jumped happily through a field of cupcakes along a pink taffy road while it snowed rainbow sprinkled. She held her tongue out until it was coated entirely in the sweet snow. She continued to jumped merrily along before a low voice whisper out, “Pinkie Pie”
She stopped in her tracks and scanned the many cupcakes around her. She asked, “Who’s there?”
The voice came again, “Pinkie Pie.”
She couldn’t tell where. It seemed to come from every which direction; left, right, up, from the ground, from the cupcakes, from the cotton candy clouds raining chocolate, and from the computer screen. She shook her head as the voice faded and asked again, “Who’s there?”
She watched as the pink clouds turned brown and stopped to rain chocolate, but instead a thick black slug that clung to the ground and began to rot the cupcakes from the outside in. She scowled and looked to the sky, “Hay, why are you doing that to my cupcakes?”
The voice didn’t respond. Pinkie stood still as the taffy road turned green and she began to sink into it. She tried to fight back, but the taffy pulled back stronger. She struggled more and this time tendrils of black licorice rose from the green goop and wrapped her body. She squirmed against the bonds and screamed to be set free.
Freedom didn’t come as her barrel began to sink below the sea of rotten taffy. The clouds in the sky darkened to a coal black and blotted out the previously shimmering sun. They continued to rain down the black sludge onto the landscape. The sprinkles were dissolved away and the cupcakes were all but replaced with burnt rubble remains.
She screamed out, “Stop This!”
In response Pinkie heard a laugh. Not a joyful heartfelt one, no, a maniacal and evil laugh. She went to speak, but a strand of licorice reached up and wrapped itself around her mouth as she continued to be dragged blow the green slick. Only her head remained above as her mouth was consumed by it. Her body went numb as fear gripped her. She closed her eyes as she was fully consumed by the once taffy.
...
Pinkie awoke with a gasp. She breathed heavily as her heart beat against her chest, wanting freedom. She sat up and looked to her surroundings, she was in her room. It was still night. There were no clouds raining black sludge, no licorice vines reaching for her, and no green slime wanting to devour her. “It was just a bad dream.”
She rested her head back on her pillow, which seemed a bit wet from sweat. She closed her eyes and prepared to go back to sleep when a voice spoke out, “Are you sure?”
She sat bolt up and scanned the room. Everything was exactly as she had left it. She asked, “Who’s there?”
“You don’t know me?” The voice asked back.
Pinkie slowly removed the covers from her body as she jumped to the wood floor. She stood on four hooves as she spoke to the voice she remembered from her dream, “Why did you do that to my dream?”
“I just thought you were having too much fun.”
“What’s wrong with having too much fun?”
“That is it exactly.”
“Huh?” Pinkie asked as she now stood in the center of her room next to a slightly bent party hat with pink five point stars.
“You are always having tons and tons of fun.”
Pinkie yelped as a balloon exploded behind her. She turned and faced the small bits of blue rubber as they landed softly on the golden yellow rug of her room.
“It makes me sick to see you so gleeful.”
“Why is that?”
She didn’t get a response, all she got was a cupcake flying up and smacking her in the face. She reeled backwards and ended up on her back, white frosting and pieces of chocolate cupcake smearing her face. She got back up on her hooves and using her leg brushed off the cupcake. She spoke a bit louder, “What was that for?”
“I want to have a bit of fun.”
“Oh,” Pinkie began to speak, “Why did you just say so. What do you want to do? I want everypony to feel happy.”
Pinkie watched as the small white party hat with pink stars floated into the air. She stared at it mesmerized, not noticed the green mist that began to collect around her. The voice spoke out, “I want to play a game.”
“What kind of game? Scoots and ladders?” Pinkie asked pulled the board game box out of nowhere. She quickly tossed it to the side with a clattered and pulled out a chess board, “Chess? My friend Twilight loves chess. I prefer checkers though.” She tossed that to side as well and produced now a red cup and turned it over dumping several dice on the floor as she asked, “Yahtzee?”
Looking down she now saw the green smoke. She turned to room and watched as the entire floor was engulfed by the strange smoke. She looked back to the floating hat and asked, “What’s this stuff?” She poked the cloud of mist. It parted away and moved away from her.
The voice spoke, “Just the start to our little game.”
The mist quickly moved from the floor and clouded around the party hat in a small ball of green. Pinkie took a tentative step away from the ball and asked, “What game?”
“A game you will surly love.”
Pinkie didn’t catch the tone behind the voice. There was a flash of lightning in the room. Pinkie closed her eyes against the offending light. She rubbed them as she spoke, “What game?”
She opened her eyes to see she was no longer in her room. She was now in the middle of some forest. The grass around her was a wondrous royal blue. The trees that surrounded her were tall and leafless. Their bark was pure black and their branches sharped to points on the end. The moon hung high in the sky surrounded by a dazzling sea of stars. Bluish gray clouds rested on the horizon. She turned in circles observing the strange place. She stopped and asked aloud, “Where am I?”
“In our place to play,” the voice returned to her. She watched as a small stallion walked into the clearing. He was an earth pony, and probable the same age as Apple Bloom was. His coat was a yellow-green color and his mane and tail were a lime green. His mane was spiked and hung over his gray eyes. His tail was of the same fashion, it reached a few inches from the tall blue grass of the forest floor.
“What sort of place is this?” Pinkie asked looking to the edge of the large clearing the two of them stood in.
“It’s a fun place to play that is what it is,” the colt said now a few feet away from the pink mare.
Pinkie turned back to him and asked, “So what’s your name?”
He stopped and answered, “My name is Ikto.”
“Nice to meet you Ikto my name is Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie held her hoof out and the colt took it and shook. She asked, “So what kind of game would you like to play?”
“A fun one, nopony really likes to play with me, but it is my favorite game.”
“Ok,” Pinkie said with a jump, “What is it?”
“Well we can’t play it here, follow me and I will show you to where we can.”
He turned and walked into the forest. Pinkie reluctantly followed. She caught up to him and asked, “So how did we get here, we were in my room and now we are here. I know I am good at appearing out of nowhere, but not this good.”
Ikto looked over his withers and explained, “I have a unicorn friend that teleported us here.”
“Where is he?” Pinkie asked looking around.
“He…He was very taken aback by the spell so he went back home to rest off a headache.”
“I hope he feels better, what’s his name?”
“Loki.”
“Do you live in Ponyville because I don’t know you or Loki and I know everypony that lives in Ponyville?”
“No…well not really. I just moved last night.”
“Well then I will have to give you and Loki and welcome to Ponyville party when we are done.”
“That would be nice.”
The two continued to walk in silence though the forest along a slightly worn path. They soon approached another clearing, this one smaller than the first one. Ikto stopped and turned back to Pinkie. She stopped and looked down at him. She asked, “So what sort of game is this, the excitement is driving me crazy.”
She bounced in place as Ikto talked, “Get ready for a fun game Pinkie.”
She stopped and watched as the colts eyes flashed white and she watched him begin to grow. He was as tall as her in a few seconds. His mane and tail grew in size. His coat began to fade and she began to be able to see through it. His mane and tail followed his coat and became translucent. The lights in his eyes faded and exposed empty sockets and a pony skull floating in his head. She could see the rest of his skeleton floating in his transparent body. His legs and the bones within them faded and formed what looked like tentacles. He floated over to a shocked Pinkie and spoke in a voice that sent a chill down her spine, “Ready.”
“W-What are you?” Pinkie stammered to ask.
“I think you know the answer,” Ikto spoke as he lifted his right front tentacle to just under her chin. She reeled backwards and fell down onto her haunches as the ghost pony floated towards her. As he closed the gap he went to reach for her again, but was stopped by her beginning to laugh. He pulled his tentacle hoof back and coked his head to side confused.
Pinkie’s eyes were shut as she laughed out loud and ended up rolling on her back. Ikto floated in front of her and watched the spectacle. He spoke, “What are you doing?”
Pinkie stopped instantly and perked her head up. She looked at the ghost confused and asked, “Why aren’t you going away?”
“Why would I be going away you were just laughing for no reason?”
Ikto floated closer to Pinkie as she stood back up. He circled around her as spoke, “My Granny Pie said that if you laugh at ghosties they will go away.”
“That may work on the little ghosties, but not on me,” Ikto corrected as he stopped in front of the mare and lifted a tentacle up. He brushed it against her cheek. Pinkie jumped back as small flakes of snow formed on the tips of her coat the ghost had touched.
“Then what are you?”
“My name is Ikto and I am the ghost of nightmares.”
“Nightmares?”
“Yes, why do you think that stuff happened to your candyland dream earlier?”
“You did that,” Pinkie shouted with an accusing hoof.
“I needed you to wake up so we could play,” Ikto explained as he floated towards Pinkie. She moved to back away, but found herself rooted where she stood. She looked down to the ground to see that the roots of the trees around her had wrapped around her hooves and cemented her in place. She fought against her bonds to no avail. She stopped her squirming and faced Ikto. She asked, “W-What game?”
“The game that never ends.”
There was a flash of lightning and the sound of thunder. Pinkie shut her eyes to the light and opened them to find herself somewhere else now. Her hooves were no longer bound, but now she was standing in the middle of a dark room. Ikto’s voice rang out from all around her, “So who would you say is your favorite friend?”
She looked around as she spoke, “I like all of my friends equally?”
“Which one do you like to hang out with the most?”
“All of them.”
“Play with?”
“All of them.”
Pinkie heard a grunt of angry. A single naked bulb turned on. Pinkie got a full view of the room. She gasped and stopped the urge to vomit on the spot. Plastered on the wall before her were five ponies. She looked away from the ponies nailed to the walls with their chest opened with their intestines hanging loose. Pinkie felt a force beginning to turn her head around. She fought against the pull. Ikto spoke out, “What’s the matter.”
“Stop it!”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to look.”
“But we want you to.”
Pinkie froze, the pull also did. That voice wasn’t Ikto’s. Against her better judgment Pinkie turned to face the five ponies on the wall. The one on the far left had an orange coat with a blonde mane stained with dried blood. Her right front leg and been ripped clean off leaving torn muscles handing from where the leg use to be. Following the line to the right the next pony had a once elegant white coat now with bruises and scratch marks. Her mane and tail were ripped to shreds of their former glory. Her horn was broken as well and hung barely attached to the other portion rooted to her skull.
The pony in the center had golden yellow coat. The wings that were on the pegasus’ back were broken off leaving the bare bone jutting out her sides. Her tail had been ripped off. The next pony had a cyan coat, her wings were still attached, but hung limp. Her right eye was missing from its socket and her once vibrant mane now was a single shade of blood red. The last pony had a lavender coat. Her wings and horn had been removed and were placed inside the cavity were her organs once sat. Multiple stabs wounds with dried blood around them decorated the surface of the mare’s body.
Pinkie watched as the head of the body of Rainbow Dash moved and the left eye opened to expose the magenta iris. Her mouth opened and spoke in her voice, “Why would you look away from your friends Pinkie.”
“No!” The mare shouted turning away from the corpses and lowering herself to the ground. She covered her ears with her legs as Rainbow continued to speak, “We would never look away from you Pinkie, please you have to help us.”
“You’re not Rainbow!”
“Yes I am Pinkie please; I don’t know how much longer I can last like this. My eye hurts.”
Pinkie whimpered at the last statement. She shouted, “Stop it Ikto, this isn’t funny.”
“Ikto isn’t her Pinkie,” Pinkie knew that was Twilight’s voice now. She didn’t turn as the corpse of her friend spoke to her back, “It is only you and us, you have to save us, we don’t have much longer.”
Pinkie shook her head no, “Stop it, you aren’t my friends.”
“Yes we are sugar cube.”
“Stop it!”
“Please darling we need your help.”
“No!”
“Please Pinkie. But…you don’t have to if I would be a burden.”
“Quit it!”
“Why should I?”
Pinkie looked up to see the ghostly figure of Ikto floated above her. She looked up with pleading eyes, “Please stop it.”
Ikto rubbed his chin with a tentacle and hummed as he thought. After a few seconds he lowered his muzzle to the scared pink pony and spoke coldly, “No.”
Pinkie whimpered as all her friend’s corpses behind her all spoke out for help. She held her legs tighter to her head to drown out the voices. Ikto smiled as he watched the mare crumble. His glee was cut short by a commanding voice from behind him, “Stop it right now Ikto!”
The ghost turned around to see a pony he had not seen in a long time. The tall mare had a dark sapphire coat and azure eyes that held a menacing glare. Her mane and tail flowed in an eternal none existent wind and looked like the night sky. He looked to her and asked, “Nightmare Moon it has been a long time has it not been?”
“That is our old self,” Luna spoke out, “We are no longer that mare of darkness, but why is it you still existence. You should have been destroyed when she was destroyed by the elements of harmony.”
“That is where you are wrong.” Ikto corrected as he floated away from the pink mare. The corpses behind them had become silent and went limp again. Pinkie watched as the ghost approached the Princess. Ikto continued, “When you were banished all of your nightmares were set free and we have been going all across Equestria since that day causing the pain we were made to cause. It has been fun causing ponies harm, not physical, but the metal and emotion is so much sweeter.”
“I have grown powerful over the years; I was wondering when you were going to find me. All of your nightmares know of your mission to rid the land of us. You have taken down Phobia when she tried to get that little filly as well as Phantasm when he held that stallion in that endless maze during the changeling invasion. There are more of us, you know that. Too many to get rid of. You may strike me down, but you will never get all the others.”
Luna stepped closer with her horn ignited with her magic, “You know very well there are only a dozen of you. Not only have I taken down Phantasm and Phobia, but also Pang and Ruin as well. And I know exactly where Loki and Vice are. Ikto, you and the rest of the nightmares will be done with sooner than you think.”
“That is if you can defeat me Nightmare.”
The room quickly changed and the three ponies now found themselves on a circular platform high up in the sky. An eclipsed sun shone in a blood red sky. The platform was made of a crack black rock with signs of fire and magical blasts. Luna stood in the center while Pinkie lay on a small platform floating just off of the main one. Luna watched as a larger figure appeared out of the darkness. She was greeted with a towering black spider with green arcane lines crossing its surface. Eight gray eyes stared down at the Princess who flared her wings. The spider opened its maw to expose sharp white teeth, along with a green sludge that dripped from the fangs and to the stone floor. They landed with a sizzle and bore small holes into the dark rock.
Luna quickly fired a blast from her horn at the head of the spider. Ikto screamed and stammered backwards. Luna took flight and floated towards the spider as it gained its ground and turned to the Princess. It aimed at her and a jet of flames erupted from its mouth. Luna ducked below the stream of orange flames and flew towards the spider. Firing another blast she took out one of its eight legs. It landed to the ground in a puddle of the green sludge that began to dissolve the ground.
Pinkie stood up on her hooves, her eyes brimmed with tears from the earlier horror. She watched as Luna curved for a large arch above the spider that was Ikto. He spun a leg backwards and hit Luna in the middle of her maneuver. She was sent spiraling and crashed to the platform. She slid closer to the edge. Looking over she say a dark gray cloud cover that blocked out the ground below, if there even was ground. Picking herself up she fired another blast, which Ikto dodged as he charged the Princess.
Pinkie went to move, maybe to help the Princess but she couldn’t. Looking down she saw that the ground had clamped down on her hooves and held her to the spot to observe the battle. She watched a Luna fired another shot to which the spider dodged as he closed the gap. Luna quickly jumped off the platform and banked to the right. Ikto stopped and turned to follow the night Princess. Luna stopped and fired another bolt which hit the spider square in the face. He stopped and held one of his legs up to his face; two of his eyes were gone. He hissed and spat more flames at the Princess. Luna dodged these and made for a landing on the platform.
Ikto charged her again. Luna quickly gathered magic as he closed the gap. He fired another blast of flames; quickly Luna blocked the inferno with a shield. Ikto pushed more into the fire. Luna knelt down on one knee to keep the fire at bay. Forcing her magic she began to bend her shield. The flames quickly shot out and back towards Ikto. He screamed in agony as the flames burned him. He stopped and stammered backwards, tripping over his missing leg and fell down on his back. He held two of his legs up to his burning face.
Luna quickly jumped up and landed on the spider and produced a blue sword of her magic. She walked on the spider and slammed the sword right in the middle of his abdomen. Ikto hollered in pain. With a flap of her wings Luna landed right in front of his face. Ikto looked down to small pony through what was left of his vision. Luna spoke, “You think you are powerful, but you forget who you are battling with. I may no longer be the wicked mare Nightmare Moon, but I am still her. I have the same powers and abilities. I was the one who created you nightmares. And I know all of your weaknesses.”
Luna’s horn ignited once again with magic. Ikto was bath in her aura. His form slowly changed back into the small yellow-green coated colt. He looked up to the Princess with pleading eyes. He watched as she produced another sword of pure magic. She lowered it to the neck of the colt and in one smooth motion decapitated the pony. His body dissolved into mist that lingered before fading away.
The solar eclipse faded away and the sky was left black and featureless. Luna looked over to the pink mare that had watched the entire ordeal. She addressed the pony, “Are you ok Pinkie?”
The mare watched as the platform she sat on moved towards the main one before fusing with the black rock. Pinkie saw that her hooves were freed of their prison. She quickly galloped over the Princess. Luna draped the pony in her wing as Pinkie asked on the verge of tears, “What was all of that?”
“A long time ago, when I fell to the jealously that became Nightmare Moon I had created twelve servants called nightmares to haunt the dreams of the ponies of Equestria. That is where I got the name Nightmare,” The two of them now appeared in the small room Pinkie had seen her friends, only this time the corpses were nowhere to be seen, “That ghost was one of the twelve. Every since you and your friends freed me from that evil side of me and I gained the power I lost I began to hunt down the twelve ghosts that seemed to still be doing what I created them for. I have stopped five of them now.”
They now stood within the clearing blanketed in the royal blue grass and the black barked trees. Luna continued, “I am so glad that I stopped Ikto when he came upon your dream, I’m so sorry for what he did to you, but just remembering that it was all a ploy of his to torment you.”
“It felt so real.”
“That is Ikto’s power. He’s a trickster that just wants to play games and cause ponies harm, but not physical.”
“And what about the other nightmares?”
“They each possess a power different form each other, but don’t worry yourself about them,” the two ponies now appeared on a road of pink taffy surrounded by endless fields of cupcakes, “they are my creations and I will get rid of them all.”
“So what did you do with Ikto?”
“He was just a shell of magic that I gave life to. I took that magic away so that the life could no longer live.”
“So you killed him.”
“He was never really alive to be killed Pinkie.”
“What do we do now?”
“You,” Luna stepped away from the earth pony and looked her square in the eye and ordered, “Wake up.”
...
Pinkie awoke with a start and looked to the area around her. She was back in her room. The sun was beginning to rise and bathed her room in its warming rays. The sweet smell of Mr. Cake beginning to bake wafted up into her room. She hummed with the sweet smell. She went to leave her bed, but was stopped by the sound of something hitting the wooden floor softly. Stepping on all four hooves she looked to the floor right below her to see a small object. She picked it up with a hoof and brought it up to get a better look at it.
She held in her hoof a small scroll of paper. She placed it on the bed and unrolled the parchment. Written on it was a small message writing in cursive of a unicorn’s magic.
Begin to break the elements, only they can stop us, start with the weaker ones. We will soon come to your aid with the stronger ones.
~Loki
Pinkie quickly picked up the lettered and rushed out of Sugar Cube Corner and towards the only pony she knew who could help her, Golden Oaks Library was her destination.
...
Two presences watched as a pink mare rushed down the streets of an awakening Ponyville with the piece of paper in her mouth.
“It seems he has failed.”
“It would seem so.”
“Should we tell the others?”
“We must, epically since Luna has taken five us down already.”
“We can’t be stopped now.”
“We are to close.”
“I’ll bring in someone to make sure they begin to crack, we must work on breaking that seal.”
“Let’s go before someone notices us.”
The two presences faded into nothingness.
