Rise of Nightmares

by 123Ricker

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Human, Alternate Universe
Length: 2696

In a different, more human version of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia, must discover the power of friendship, and save the land, and at the same time, prevent herself from strangling her fellow apprentice.

Book 1 of MLH:MIF
For over a thousand years, harmony has reigned in the Empire of Equestria, which has been led under the divine rule of Princess Celestia, and Prince Gaea. Since the Fall of Nightmare Moon, peace and prosperity have thrived in the kingdom, and all is right in the land. However, what should have been remembered, has been forgotten. Many no longer believe the old stories, and as such, have grown complacent. Darkness is staring to creep back into the land. Now, at the present day, young Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of Princess Celestia's, has discovered a tale that heralds the coming darkness. Can she rise to meet what is to come, or will she fail when she is needed most? And perhaps more importantly- WILL she be able to not strangle her new 'assistant'?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-29 08:53:09 UTC

Prologue

My Little Human

Magic is Friendship

Chapter 1

Over one thousand year ago, the mystical land of Equestria was ruled over by three siblings, two sisters, fair and beautiful both, and a brother, handsome and bold. Immortal they were, blessed to rule the land until it’s dying day. Each sibling played a part in the care of Equestria, for not one had greater duty than the other.

The oldest sister, regal and kind, and who’s hair gleamed and flowed like an endless rainbow in the sky, raised the sun everyday to bring to the land the warmth and beauty in needed to grow. She ruled during the day, and was beloved by all for her generosity and kindness.

The eldest sibling, strong and bold, but also kind and just, and through whose body flowed the five elements of nature, watched over the earth, helping it grow with his magic, and kept the people alive through his gifts. He ruled with his sisters, keeping peace throughout the land.

The younger sister and the youngest of the siblings, fair and shy, and who’s hair shone with the starry sky at night, raised the moon every night to bring darkness and beauty to the land, and giving rest to it so that it may give more the next day.  She was loved especially so by her siblings.

Together the siblings watched over the land, ruling with benevolence and grace, and a trinity of harmony was formed between them. Under their rule, the kingdom flourished, growing in both size, and in wealth, and for a while, all was right in the world.

However, darkness soon crept into the land. The youngest sister grew jealous of her siblings, especially her older sister, for while the people loved and played in her sisters day, and worked upon and celebrated her brothers earth, her nights were spent alone as the people chose to shun and sleep during her beautiful night.

Eventually the jealously grew so much, that one beautiful night, when she was supposed to lower the moon so her sister could raise the sun, she decided to keep the moon in the sky and bring night everlasting, refusing to yield to her siblings reign.

Chaos soon followed. The people panicked, for they could not work and grow upon the land with out the sun light. The two elder siblings pleaded and begged their sister to reconsider, especially the brother, whose heart was broken by his sister’s act.

But the younger sister refused to yield, for the bitterness in her heart had turned her into a being of darkness and evil, Nightmare Moon. Reluctantly, the elder siblings banded together, and harnessed the greatest magic of all, the Elements of Harmony. Using the Elements, they banished Nightmare moon into her own vessel, the moon itself.

The eldest sister took then took control of the youngest duties, for the brother could not abandon his watch over the land. Together, the siblings ruled over the land, and brought peace and harmony back to the land. But they always remind mindful the being trapped in the moon, the Lady of the Night.

“Elements of Harmony?” A young woman sat under a tree in the middle of a meadow near a stream, holding a book in her lap. Long, flowing magnata hair was draped down her back and shoulders, with two purple streaks in the center. On her she wore a purple sweater that covered much of her figure, and her purple skirt billowed out around her. Her feet stuck out of her skirt, which were covered in black stockings and slip on shoes. On her left hand, covering most of the front, was a couple of sparkles, purple and pink She stared up into the sky, deep purple eyes lost in thought. “Where have I heard that before…”

Closing the book, she got up, brushing her skirt as she did so. “Well,” She said, with a a confident grin on her face. “Might as well check the library.” She turned and ran towards the an exit of the garden, and headed towards a giant white castle, white from marble and stone. It’s tall, majestic towers were raised high into the sky, proud and imposing. The proud symbol of Equestrian power, and the capital of the land

Canterlot.

--------------------------------Meow------------------------------

‘Concentrate.’

Inside the castle,  man stood in the middle of a pond, his young body rigged in a stance. He wore a red long sleeve shirt, with a v neck at the top, and long black pants, which were rolled up. His feet were bare, and he wore long, full gloves on his hands. His brown hair was cropped back shortly, and his ruby red eyes were narrowed close in concentration. In his left hand, he held a wand, pointing it at a vase, which was standing on top of a bench a few feet away.

‘Focus on the vase.”’The voice said again, coming from his right. It had a halting, beautiful lit to it, all most unreal. ‘Remember what I taught you. Visualize the vase, and where you want it to go.’

Sweat poured down the young mans face, stinging his eyes and dripping down to the pond. Yet he focused only on the vase, just as he master instructed. The vase glowed with a red aura, and floated into the air ‘Good, now… Cast the sp-‘

Something in front of him flashed before his eyes,  something purple and pink. He blinked, losing all sense of concentration.

And sending him straight into the pond below.

The water was freezing as he fell in to it, jarring his senses. Gasping, he came to the surface just in time to see who had broken his concentration. “Who?!?” Eyes widening in recognition, he growled angrily at whom he saw running away from him. “ Son of a…” Swimming towards the edge of the pong where his boots lay, he quickly pulled them on, and ran after the culprit. “ You better pray to Celestia that I don’t catch you!!”

He ran through streets, corridors, and every which way, knocking over some people and manuvering around others. heading further and further into the castle. He saw them take a turn towards one of the towers, and followed in pursuit. The culprits were opening a tower door. He quickend his pace. Almost there.

Just as he was about to reach it, however, the door slammed in his face. Nose throbbing, he backed away, holding it gingerly. Shock gave way to anger, and he ran towards the door, and burst inside, running up the stairs.

Bursting into the room, Fiery Comet yelled at the top of his lungs.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!!!!!”

Chapter 1

AU: Alright…. Here we…Go.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!”

Twilight Sparkle didn’t even have to turn around to see who it was. She sighed, closing the book in her hands, and put it back into it’s spot on the shelve.

“Spike? Any luck yet?” She called out to her assistant behind her, not even turning around as she pulled out another book.

“Not yet!” A young voice came from above her, on one of the higher bookshelves.

The tower they were in was one giant library with books lining every shelve, and each seemed to go on forever, going as high as the ceiling. If one took a closer look, one could see that every book was ordered alphabetically, in perfect condition.

Twilight frowned, and put her book back. “This is going to take forever.” Her frown deepened, then a small grin lit her face. “Alright.” She took a step back, took out her wand an old, brown looking thing and waved it at the books.

Immediately, books started to fly off the shelves, covered in a purple aura, and flew by Twilight, who briefly looked through their contents before sending them on their way.

“No, no, no, no, n-“

“Twilight Sparkle!!” The voice said again, this time a little less loudly. “What is wrong with you? Do you know what you just did?!?!”

Twilight just ignored the voice, her attention focused on finding-

“Found it!!” Spikes voice yelled down from the shelves above. Smiling excitedly, Twilight stopped her spell, which caused several dozen books to drop around her… including on Comets head.

“Ow!! Oi,  I repeat, What is wrong with you!!” Comet yell at Twilight, who still seemed to be ignoring him.

She  turned towards where Spike was and waved her wand, and the book came shooting down from the shelve.

Along with one surprised and annoyed Dragon boy.

“Ow!! What the heck Twilight?!?” Spike picked him up off the ground, glaring at Twilight, who was too bust looking through the book to care. He looked about 10-11 years old, with short, green, spiky hair, and purple and green scales covering his body. Out of  his lower back grew a long, scaly purple tail with green spines.

His emerald green eyes glared at Twilight, who looked at him, and then gestured at the books around them. “Well go on, Spike.” Spike grumbled and started to pick up the books, but then he saw Comet. “Whoa… Comet are you oka-“ Comet just shook his head, and stared at Twilight, who was flipping through the book.

His face was one of such annoyance that Spike, fearing for his own life, wisely  started to back up and went about picking up the books.

Twilight flipped through the book, muttering to herself “Elements of harmony, Elements of Harmony… Aha!!” Twilight exclaimed.” The Elements of Harmony… See Lady of the Moon?”

“Why are you looking up that old story? It’s just fiction!!”

“Lady of the Moon? But that’s just an old fairytale.”

“Stop ignoring me!”

Twilight just looked through the book, mumbling to herself. “Ah!! Here it is. The Lady in the Moon.”

While Twilight read the passage aloud, Spike looked at Comet questioningly, who was still glaring at Twilight. He opened his mouth… then thought better of it, and went back to work. Comet just continued to glare at the back of Twilights head, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

“Spike, take a letter!” Twilight put the book away, and started to pace. “Dear Princess Celestia-“ Comet growled as Twilight continued to ignore him. He watched her pace, his anger growing to even greater heights. ‘That arrogant little… ARGH!!!’ “Twilight, would just listen to me!?!”

“please and Thank you.’ Got that Spike?” Spike nodded, and inhaled deeply, his chest seeming to inflate a bit. Then he exhaled, and from his mouth came a burst of green flame. “Good, now we will just-“

“Twilight Sparkle, Will you just LISTEN TO ME!!”

Twilight sighed, and turned around to finally greet her ‘visitor’… and almost burst out laughing

Fiery Comets appearance was usually one of confidence and arrogance. V-neck red shirt, black jeans, rune covered full length gloves, cropped, spiky brown hair, scale leather boots, he was looked like one of those popular young wizards one saw in Canterlot magazines.

Right now, however, he looked like a cat that had been thrown in to a swimming pool. His clothes were soaked, sticking to him like a second skin, and sticking out of his hair was what looked to be a frog. The frog croaked, and Twilight giggled.

Comets face, however, was the icing on the cake. The poor guy looked like he was about to blow a brain cell, a huge tick developing in his head.

The sight almost made her burst out laughing. She composed herself, however, and stared at him with exasperated amusement, raising an eyebrow at his appearance. “Can I help you, Fiery Comet?

Comet snarled, his white teeth showing. “Can you help me? CAN YOU BLOODY HELP ME!?!? Twilight, do you have any idea what you have done!?! You have ruined hours of work and practice! I was this close, THIS CLOSE,” He put his fingers together in emphasis, “To mastering the Teleportation spell!! And you… You just had to run by and ruin my concentration!” He started to pace back and forth. “Now I am going to have to explain to Prince Gaea what happened, and he is going to assign me fifty essays on the importance of Fauna! Well?” He turned back to Twilight. “How are you going to- STOP IGNORING ME!!

Twilight, having gone back to her book, looked back at Comet with a exasperated look in her eye. “Are you done yet? I have way more important things to worry about than the fact you need better concentration. So please, go one your way.” She waved her hand in emphasis, shooing him away. “

Comets vision went red, and the tick on his head grew two times bigger. He opened his mouth, ready to yell… then smiled evilly

Spike watched warily as Comets posture changed. He seemed more relaxed, losing all sense of anger. He then turned, and walked towards a bookshelf. Spike watched as he pulled a book, and seemed to look through it. If his memory was correct, it was A history of Saddle Arabia. He stopped at a page, and looked down at it, seemingly entranced. He then grasped the end of a page. Spikes eyes widened, knowing what he was about to do. He opened his mouth to shout, but-

Rip.

Spike froze, staring in horror at what Comet had done. He then heard a book drop to the ground, and cringing, he slowly turned around to see Twilight- and promptly took a step back, terrified.

Twilight was staring, wide-eyed and filled with horror and shock, at Comet, who was grinning smugly, with a open book in one hand, and a torn page in the other. Comet, seeing that he had gotten her attention, smiled wider, and dropped the page on the ground. He then grasped the book in both hands- and before anyone could do anything,- bent the books spine.

Twilight flinched, her eye twitching, her hands clenching into fists. She took a step forward… and froze as Comet pulled out his wand, and pointed it at the books pages.

The two stared off, purple meet ruby red, anger and horror meeting smugness and confidence. Twilight was breathing hard, staring as Comet prodded the book with end of his wand. Her mouth opened, and she spoke, slowly, calmly, but with a underlying layer of anger. “Put... the book… down.”

Comet smile grew, and he said, “Certainly,” and threw the book behind him casually. The thump echoed throughout the silent room.

Spike stared, watching with horrid fascination as Twilight seemed to inflate with anger, and yelled in alarm as she drew her wand and pointed it at Comet, who smiled, and pointed his at her.

The tension in the room grew, with Twilight and Comet staring at each other with anger, and poor Spike between them, looking franticly at them both. “Hey now… lets not overreact and make an even bigger mess-“ His eyes widened as a familiar sensation filled his gut, and he opened his mouth and burped, a stream of green fire shooting out, along with a scroll, bearing the mark of Equestrian Royalty.

The noise broke the tension, as both of the would-be combatants turned to look at what had caused the disturbance. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she smiled, all sense of anger leaving her eyes. “That was fast!! Go on, read it Spike.” She put her wand away, and hurried over, sparing Comet a look of hatred. Comet just stared back, looking nonchalant.

Spike picked himself up, dusting off his scales. He grabbed the scroll and opened it, breaking the seal. He cleared his throat, and read the scroll aloud. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, while I appreciate your concern about the coming Summer Sun Celebration,” Twilight blushed and smiled, shooting Comet a smug look, who was listening with surprise, “ I believe that you need a vacation.”

Silence filled the room…, which was then promptly broken by laughter. Twilight stared gob smacked at Spike, who looked like he was fighting back a chuckle, and then looked at Comet, who was rolling on the floor, laughing like he had ingested Laughing Mushrooms.

Spike read on, “And I need you to bring Fiery Comet with you.”

The laughter abruptly stopped.

“WHAT!?!”