Chapter 7

I must have chased that scent through the castle for ten minutes. I ran with my nose in the air and my face set like a birdkid on a mission, which I was. As I tore through the hallways, I must have heard at least three royal guards shout for me to stop, as if I cared. My footfalls mingled with the clops of their hooves striking the ground in a cacophony of sound as they gave chase. Still didn't care. I needed those cookies.

Maybe I should explain. Chocolate-chip cookies are my kryptonite. Seriously. I would sell my soul for a dozen of those suckers. Not the crappy store-bought ones, mind you. I'm talking about the real deal. Cookies homemade from scratch.

Anyway, back to the chase, not that it was much of one to begin with. I left the guards in the dust after just a couple turns. A life of running away from anything and everything will do that to you.

The heavenly aroma was getting stronger, now. I could almost taste those cookies. Turning a corner, I spotted a modest, barely noticeable door at the far end of the hall. I crossed the hall and threw the door open as soon as I reached it. The second my foot crossed the threshold, I located the source of the smell. In one corner of the room, which I later found out was the royal kitchen, I saw Pinkie Pie reaching into an oven and drawing out the tray, on which rested all that is good in this universe.

In retrospect, I probably should have waited more than one nanosecond before snagging one of the cookies.

Holy mother of freaking... I thought, as all the fires of Hell burned on my fingertips and tongue. In my head, I finished that sentence, but none of it could actually be printed anyway, so there's not really a point. It was totally worth it, though. Those cookies were at least as good as the kind my mom makes, if not better.

Pinkie Pie set the tray down on a nearby counter and turned to me. "you're supposed to let them cool off, silly!" she chirped, oblivious to my sarcastic eye roll. I neglected to point out that she had been holding the tray with her mouth, without any kind of protection, as her explanation would probably just make my brain hurt. Instead, I fanned my tongue until it cooled off.

"Don't worry, Pinkie. She does this every time someone makes cookies. If she hasn't learned yet, she never will." I just barely resisted the urge to scream like a little girl when Fang's voice rang out of a seemingly empty corner. I flipped him the bird in an attempt to hide the fact that he almost made me piss myself. Judging by the self-satisfied smirk he wore, it didn't work.

"Just for that, you get no cookies," I stated, expecting the issue to be closed.

Just then, the door to the kitchen burst open, and three royal guards entered, all severely out of breath. "The princess... has requested... that you meet her..." one of them managed to say in between gasps for air and wheezes.

i ignored his request at first, in favor of another chance to be incredibly aggravating. "Shouldn't Canterlot's finest be a little more... physically fit?"

The one who had spoken before seemed to take offense to that for some reason, and stood up straighter to answer. "Equestria hasn't had a credible threat to it's security in almost twenty years."

"Unless you count Nightmare Moon, rampaging dragons, and Discord."

"Celestia personally ordered us to keep out of all those situations."

"Gee, I wonder why. How does it feel to know that six mares are better at your job than you are?"

Finally, Fang cut in. "Okay, Max, why don't you stop antagonizing the guards and do what Celestia asked us." I watched the leader shoot me dirty looks out of the corner of my eye. Directing his next words at the ponies, Fang asked, "Do you mind leading us there, sirs? We don't know our way around that well."

Without another word, the guards stalked out, and we began to follow. At least Pinkie remembered to bring the cookies. Fang walked next to me in silence, and I couldn't help but stare at him. In the three days we had been in Equestria, Fang had spoken more than he had in the past month. Being here must have made him really happy for him to be opening up like this.

As we walked, I couldn't resist a little needling. 'So, when did you become such a diplomat?"

Instead of a sarcastic reply or rude gesture, like I expected, Fang simply turned and sincerely pleaded, "Max, can we please save the sarcasm for the evil megalomaniacs? Just stop pestering everyone for a minute."

I was speechless. Fang had always been one for sarcastic mocking. Not only that, but I had never seen him act that sincere, except when we were making out, but that's another thing entirely. Instead of replying, I snatched a cookie from the tray on Pinkie Pie's back and lost myself in bliss. Pinkie Pie's cookies were a solid fifteen on a scale of one to ten.

I was just finishing off my fourth cookie when the guards leading us stopped. I kicked myself for not mapping out potential escape routes and looking around. The marble and stained glass had given way to white painted brick and wood. The door in front of us was a thick, wooden one that was much wider than regular ones. The whole place gave me a hospital vibe, which was not good. The flock doesn't do hospitals. I needed another cookie.

As I was opening my mouth to ask about the room, Sir Self-conscious turned and addressed us. "We'll wait here for the rest of the mutants and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to arrive. Princess Celestia has requested that everypony be present before entering."

Great, waiting, my favorite past-time, right next to listening to whitecoats monologue and getting caught in a trap. I decided nt to be the smart-aleck mutant Avian-American that I am and get information like a normal person. "Can't you tell us anything before we get in?"

Mr. Guardpony wanted to be uncooperative. He simply said, "The Princess has requested that we let her explain the situation when the others arrive."

"C'mon," I pushed, hoping to get anything at all from him. "You can't say any more than that?"

The stallion just stared straight ahead with a tight-lipped grimace. He didn't need to say anything, though, because I just put two and two together. We were in a kind of hospital, and on of us was hurt, badly.

"This is about Luna, isn't it?" I asked grimly.

"Princess Luna," came the automatic response. Then, "...Yes."

Just then, the rest of the flock rounded the corner, led by a few guards of their own. Shortly after that, the rest of the Mane Six arrived from the opposite direction.

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "Can we go in now?"

as an answer, one of the guards gently knocked on the door. A barely audible voice responded from within, and the pony pushed the door ajar.

upon entering, I found that my suspicions had been correct, unfortunately. The whole room smelled strongly of disinfectant. All four walls were white-washed, and the only furnishings in the room were a small dresser and a large bed. On it was Luna, unconscious and hooked up to a hear monitor and all the other hospital machines that make me extremely antsy.

On the side of the room across from us, a doctor who looked just like a pony whitecoat stood, talking quietly to a distraught Celestia. The princess was trying in vain to cover up her expression, but it was clear that something had her very worried. Her normally serene facade had slipped, and her eyes had a haunted look that I was all too familiar with.

Twilight was the first to speak up, due to the fact that the flock and I were trying to resist the urge to make a dash for the nearest window, preferably causing as much damage as possible in the short distance. After rising from an instinctive bow, the unicorn nervously began, "Is... is Princess Luna alright?"

The doctor stepped forward to answer. "Well, her vital signs are all stable, but she hasn't so much as twitched since we brought her here. Outwardly, she seems to be asleep, but she's shown next to zero brain activity aside from motor functions for almost a full day now."

"So what does that mean? Is she, like, a vegetable or something?" Gazzy questioned with all the tact and subtlety of a shotgun. Luckily, the doctor stepped in to calm everybody before they got too worked up.

"No, no, nothing like that. She's just... well... she's in a very deep coma, and we don't, uh..."

"They don't know!" Celestia suddenly spat ferociously. The worried expression from before replaced by a mask of fury. "They don't know what's wrong with her, they don't know what kind of spell the Nightmare used, they don't know anything!" The entire room was deathly silent, save for the steady beep of Luna's heartbeat monitor, as the dam broke and Celestia's tears began to fall. her countenance changed dramatically once again and she cried her eyes out in front of all of us.

"Princess..." Twilight murmered shakily, drawing nearer to her mentor.

The alicorn's head shot upwards and her eyes locked with her student's. "Twilight," she pleaded desperately. "My faithful student, surely in your studies you've learned about ancient magics the Nightmare may have used. Please, you must help my sister. I... I can't lose her again. I can't."

"I'll... I'll try."

The room became silent as a grave once more as Princess celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and the godlike regent of the sun, broke down into quiet sobs right in front of us. Looking around, I saw the guards looking nervously at each other, unsure of what exactly to do. The other ponies looked like they were all about to rush in and hug the princess, with the exception of Twilight, who was already at Luna's bedside. the flock, my small army and invincible warriors, looked the same way as the ponies did. Me? I was trying my hardest not to bawl my eyes out.

No one moved for almost a minute, until Angel was the first one to break the deadlock and walk forward. She slowly approached the alicorn, who was now lying flat on her stomach, and knelt at her side. "No one blames you, Princess. This isn't your fault. Everyone is going to do the best they can and get back at the one who did this, but we need you to help us. We need you to tell us what the Nightmare is."

Wow. I mean, I knew she was a mind-reader and all, but there's a difference between that and being a freaking psychologist, but it sure worked. Celestia looked up at her with puffy, red eyes, sniffed, and drew herself up to her full height once again.

The princess just stood for a moment, composing herself, and began to speak in a wavering voice. "Alright, my little ponies, I suppose you all know the legend of Nightmare Moon by now, and I assume the flock already has some familiarity with it," We got some strange looks from the ponies for that one. "but there are aspects of that tale that I kept secret, things that I never even allowed to become part of the legend. What ponies don't realize is that Nightmare Moon was not just the embodiment of Luna's jealousy, but a separate entity. The Nightmare is what we call it. We don't know where it came from, just that it is a creature that predates us by a substantial margin. I've only seen its true form once. It is an amorphous black cloud that has the ability to possess ponies, and, apparently, machinery. We do not know why it does this, only that it gains a sadistic pleasure from turning ponies against each other."

So yeah, Equestria has eldritch demons now. Wonderful. "So that explains the Nightmare Moon fiasco," I mused, "but why is it back? I thought it got friendship cannoned by the Elements of Harmony."

I might be able to explain that," Twilight interjected, stepping forward slightly. "From what the Princess said, it seems to me that the Nightmare, however strange it is, is a living creature. Since becoming the Bearer of Magic, I've delved deeply into the lore of the Elements, and I have discovered that while the magical energy of the Elements exponentially increases the latent natural magic residing in even those without a horn..."

"For God's sake! Get to the point already!" I cut in with all my usual tact. Twilight shot me a look that could send an eraser running with its tail between its legs before continuing.

"Big rainbow light make scary black cloud go away but no make dead! Simple enough for you? The Elements can't kill. It goes against their nature, as I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted." Twilight's sarcasm was scathing, and I almost lit up at the prospect of verbally jousting with someone other than Fang. I opened my mouth to reply, but then I saw Fang standing in the corner, shaking his head ever so slightly.

Resisting the urge to be a smart-aleck just to spite him, I asked, "So if we can't use the Elements? How do we get rid of this thing?"

Twilight looked disappointed at the fact that she didn't know something. "Even I can't answer that," she grumbled, turning towards Celestia.

The alicorn, for her part, was barely listening to us. Instead, she was gazing sadly at her bed-ridden sister, mumbling to herself. When she noticed that all eyes were on her and looked back to us, she sighed. "I... I don't know. When the Nightmare possessed Luna, I tried everything I possibly could to help her break free. I used the Elements as a last resort, and they were never meant to be wielded by one pony. My incompetence forced Luna to spend a thousand years alone on the moon, with that... thing as her only company."

"So what you're saying is, we're screwed." I regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth, positive a sharp retort was coming. What I didn't expect, however was Celestia's head to lower even further. With a quiet sigh, the alicorn turned back to her sister and began stroking her mane, whispering soft words of encouragement.

Wordlessly, I led the flock out and the ponies, minus Twilight, followed behind us. When we were a sufficient distance away from the door, I turned back to them. "Okay guys, that settles it. We need to get the whitecoats out of here, possibly kill us an immortal smoke monster that ruins lives for kicks, and get back to our world."

Don't forget to save it when you get there.

Shut up, Voice.

"Any suggestions?"

Iggy and Gasman both raised their hands.

"Blowing up their camp is Plan B, I promise."

The hands lowered.

"Didn't that lady mention they were opening the portal again in a week to let the rest through?" Nudge asked.

I thought back for a minute. "Yeah, you're right. How long have we been here now? Two or three days now?"

"Today's the third day, Max," Gazzy piped up.

"Geez, three days already. Alright, we're gonna have to take on about fifty flyboys and their whitecoat handlers, take down an eldritch demon, and force said whitecoats to run away right when they get reinforcements. You guys are gonna have to give me some time on this one."

"I say we take 'em on right now!" a scratchy voice rang out. I turned to see Rainbow Dash crouched, wings spread, looking like she was ready to take off. In fact, she did just that. As she shot past me, I snagged a handful of her rainbow-colored tail, stopping her in a way that probably made newton roll over in his grave. Rainbow looked over her shoulder, an amused look on her face. "Who are you? Applejack?"

Her joking tone faded when she saw my scowl. "Don't ever underestimate these people. I can't say much about the Nightmare, but the whitecoats and flyboys will kill you if you cross them. We need a plan and some massive firepower before we take them on. The Elements would probably help."

Rainbow dropped back to the ground and walked back to her friends. I turned to take the flock back to our rooms, when Applejack yelled after me. "Now hold on just a minute!" I spun sharply and glared at her, not in the mood for more delays. The farmer was undeterred, and continued. "How in the hay do ya'll know so much about us? Ah don't recall any of us tellin' ya'll about the Elements."

Crap. I should probably stop tossing out random information; I'm better than taht. Luckily, I'm a very convincing liar. Practice makes perfect an all that. "Celestia told me the basics, alright? Now if you don't mind, I need to figure out a way to save your world and mine."

With that, I stormed off down the corridor, not caring if the flock was behind me or not.

The Nightmare stood, raising her arms and striking an imposing figure among the mass of floating machine parts. She had taken one of the eraser units apart piece by piece, a grotesque display made worse by the fact that she left the grown skin on the machine as it was disemboweled.

With a gesture, she floated one of the pieces towards her. After observing it for a moment, the creature willed a part into existence with a flash of light. The piece was identical to its counterpart down to a molecular level. She continued this with the next piece, and the next, and so on. Steadily, the pace increased as the Nightmare learned more about the complicated machine and how it worked.

After about ten minutes, the process was complete. The Nightmare now had two full sets of parts. With a flick of her wrist, the creature manipulated each piece into its proper place. Soon, two identical eraser units stood side by side.

The Nightmare allowed herself a moment to smile to herself. now that she had memorized the inner workings of the strange robotic creatures, it would be much easier to create full units, instead of one piece at a time. She raised her arms again, feeling the magic course through her. Her claw-like hands glowed with a dark blue light, and there was a blinding flash as the Nightmare released the power she had been building.

When they finally cleared their eyes, the various whitecoats that had gathered gasped when they saw what the Nightmare had created. The monster allowed herself a self-satisfied smirk to cross her muzzle as she observed the line of over one hundred brand new machines that stretched from one end of the clearing to the other.

One scientist, however, was not gawking at the machines at all. She was simply staring at the Nightmare with a carefully guarded expression. With a wolfish grin, the Nightmare sauntered over to the whitecoat, halting just in front of the woman.

"Please, Ms. Carpenter. I wish only friendly feelings between the two of us. After all, in exchange for your resources, I am offering your people safe haven when I take over." The female scientist said nothing, and simply glared at the Nightmare. "Hmph. No need to be so bitter. I was just reprimanding you for speaking out of turn."

The Nightmare turned and began to walk away, when she stopped an looked back over her shoulder. "Oh! I almost forgot. Gather your underlings and tell them to pack their things. We invade Canterlot at dawn tomorrow."