Nightmare returned to her back seat body watching as Don slipped into what he called his “good guy routine.” Though at the beginning of their agreement she thought the free time to be a waste, she soon found ways to fill her time. Analyzing Don’s senses for things he might miss, altering his body’s various functions to work at greater rates, and her latest project, trying to figure out where these strange emotional responses were coming from.

And speak of the devil, there it was again. Don had run into Applejack and was supposedly feigning a nice conversation with the mute. Nightmare had already seen his memories on what he did with the mare’s sister but that was not what interested her right now. It was the strange feeling of guilt and empathy he seemed to have, emanating from somewhere deep within him.

Just what is this? Nightmare thought. Perhaps he was right that something bled over from his time as a pony. Don did not break away from the conversation, giving Nightmare the time she needed to find the source of the strange emotion. On she walked through the halls of the fortress that represented Don’s mind, turning this way and that until she finally came upon a set of double doors. Unlike the rest of the building, these doors were strangely ornate, fine wood with inlay gold contrasting against the dark stone bricks and poor lighting of the rest of the fortress.

This seems out of place, yet at the same time… it feels like it should be there. A quick glance at the lock on the door showed another strange thing. Entangled around the doorknobs was a snake, scales of black and red making it stand out against the bright door. That, however, feels like it was made by someone else. The crack of the door leaked light, the strange emotions with it.

Is it possible… She reached for the handle, the snake simply sitting there hissing. The instant her hand touched the door though, it snapped, biting her hand. The world around her began to blur as something overcame her.

"Wha... what is this?" She muttered, looking around weakly at the now blurred landscape.

"Why are you even bothering trying to help this fool?" Nightmare turned and gasped to see an exact copy of herself, only this one looked gray and her eyes were pure, glowing red.

"What do you mean?" Nightmare questioned her clone. She chuckled darkly before sauntering her way toward her.

"Why are you trying to help that weak excuse of a man? You know you don't need him. After all, who will show the ponies the beauty of the night with you taking a back seat like this?"

Nightmare opened her mouth to speak only to find her seriously considering her words. Why do I feel like I need Don? The dark Nightmare stalked around her other self, her grin only growing.

"Get rid of him."

Yes... I should.

"Show the world the majesty of your night."

Yes, I will show them it's beauty!

"And... kill anyone who dares to deny you."

"Yes, I..." Nightmare's words faltered. Wait... no! I want to show the ponies the night in all its splendor. Not kill them!

"Why do you falter?" Her clone questioned. "The ponies must be shown how foolish they are! And if they can not see that, then we should remove them. Permanently."

Nightmare gripped her head as her clone seemed to hiss in annoyance. "We... no, I don't even know what you are."

The clone chuckled. "I am you. A mirror image. Don't act like you weren't aware. Your bloodlust against those who wronged you is rather clear."

Bloodlust? No... it's justice... right? Nightmare shook her head, her head spinning as she considered the others words. I hated Celestia because of how she outshone Luna, but... without her I have no reason. Luna abandoned me... but does she even know I still live?

"Why do you question your true nature?" The clone hissed. "You were created from jealousy and spite, and that is what you will always be. Embrace it. Embrace what we are!"

I... I was made from anger. For a moment, the image of Don, battered and broken after his fight with Jason flashed through her mind. "But... that isn't all I'm capable of feeling."

"What?" Her clone spat as she stood up straight, glaring.

"I may have formed out of anger, but that does not define me. I am not just Luna’s rage, and I am not you."

"Bitch!" Her copy screamed. "You dare defy me?!"

Despite how her clone raged, Nightmare only smirked in return. "Oh please. If you had any control over me, you wouldn't have bothered speaking." The clone took a step back, growling in anger. "Now begone evil spirit! You may have tried to push me further into darkness, but you have only made me realize how far I have fallen."

The copy screamed in fury before disappearing in a puff of smoke and Nightmare found herself back in the throne room. For a moment she looked around confused before taking a seat, taking a few calming breaths.

I... I have allowed my anger to blind me. She shivered somewhat at the thought of the clone, her eyes shining like the blood of those she so carelessly murdered. I... became a monster claiming to be spreading joy.

She shook her head, her gaze now firm. I will have time to more heavily weigh my actions later. That... thing is manipulating Don. It's suppressing his conscience all while feeding him this bloodlust.

A hissing whisper echoed from the hall that had lead to the door. "He is beyond saving. Why do you care?" Nightmare paid the voice no thought, though she responded anyway.

"Don is... my friend. My only friend right now. If he is being manipulated, I will make sure to remove this."

As Nightmare walked toward the throne, the voice hissed back. "You will fail." This didn't stop Nightmare though as she tapped back into Don's senses.

"Don. We need to talk. This is urgent."

* * *

Well you couldn't have picked a worse time. The wedding is starting. Night had been oddly quiet for the past day or so since my meeting with Chrysalis. Though I was curious why what she found was so urgent, if it wasn't immediately life threatening it would have to wait.

"It is? How long was I... look, nevermind. There is something going on."

Is it going to kill me in the next twenty four hours?

"Well no, but-"

It can wait. This is the one chance we will likely get to take the green nest.

I could feel Nightmare's worry before she sighed. "Very well. But this can wait no longer than that." I gave a small nod before returning to the task at hand.

Everything was set. Blueblood had been informed of the plan. Legion, disguised as a pony, Zecora, and myself waited in the audience of the wedding for the moment of truth. I could feel the presence of my own changelings, scattered throughout the crowd. They were to turn into Chrysalis’ changelings before picking up Zecora and I in a fake abduction. Once out the door, they would take us to where we needed to go, Legion following my group. After all, no one is going to suspect someone being carried away by changelings is actually in on the plan.

Before Chrysalis could begin the invasion herself though, something interesting happened. Suddenly the doors of the chapel slammed open and in walked the ragged looking Cadence from the caves along with Twilight who I had not seen since coming to the castle. So that’s where she’s been. Figures she would be smart enough to tell the difference between a fake princess of love and the real one.

Chrysalis was quick to adjust her plans though, chuckling evilly before dramatically shifting to her real form. The shield outside fell as changelings swarmed into Canterlot. While Chrysalis clashed with Celestia, a set of holed hooves picked me up and carried me out of the chapel. I made a small show of ‘struggling’ against my ‘captors’ until we were out of sight.

I cast my sound dampening spell around myself and the four changelings as Legion floated up next to me. “Overlord Dominus. Our queen’s forces have already overwhelmed the soldiers guarding the vault. By the time we reach it you will be free to move about without fear of your true self being revealed.”

“Good. Also, unless Chrysalis asks specifically who these changelings are,” I nodded at my guards who were carrying me “Don’t say anything.”

“Acknowledged.”

As we passed through the halls of the castle, we came across a few instances of ponies either running for their lives from changelings or trying to fight them off. No one gave us a second glance as we made our way down to the vault. At the entrance, the two guards that had been guarding it were already encased in a green slime. Gross.

“Yet effective.” Nightmare quipped. “They are asleep inside of those pods.”

I just shook my head as my guards put me down. The other three came down the opposite hallway, apparently having already dropped Zecora off at Blueblood’s. We all walked in through the vault’s blown apart doors, glancing around inside as we could see changelings scurrying about. Sitting in the center of the room was the green nest, emitting green gases that stunk worse than dragon dung.

“Eugh!” Nightmare cringed. “Why does that thing smell so horrible?!”

That’s the green minions for ya. They just love their stink. I held a hand to my nose as I turned to Legion. “Alright, do your thing.”

Legion stood there, practically frozen as black energy began to charge around his horn. Once he had gathered enough of it, he aimed toward a spot on the ground nearby, a portal opening up. A bunch of brown minions waited on the other side, ready to grab the nest. Wasn’t long before the nest was gone, off to the spawning pits with the rest of them.

Easy enough. “Alright Legion, that’ll do. Now let’s-” Suddenly a loud boom of magic shook the entire castle before a wall of purple slammed into all of us, sending us careening out of the room. The magic burned into my left side as I gritted my teeth in pain before suddenly all that was left was a dull ache and the sound of wind whistling in my ears.

I looked around to see we were flying through the air, changelings of all varieties flipping head over tail around me. I made the mistake of looking down, seeing the landscape of Equestria quickly moving far below us.

What the hell just happened?!

“I believe the guard captain managed to get the shield back up somehow.” Nightmare stated calmly yet quickly. “It sent everything that was not a pony sky rocketing toward the badlands by the looks of it.” I managed to stop myself from turning so much as we sailed into some land that looked like it had been dead for years.

I can see why they call it the badlands. Any ideas how not to be crushed upon impact?!

“I’m thinking!” Nightmare snapped. “No shadows to manipulate up here… shapeshifting won’t work with your body… most of the changelings, including your own, seem to have been knocked out… that leaves little choice unfortunately.”

When does our job ever do?

Nightmare chuckled dryly. “We’ll have to let out a huge blast of magic right before we hit the ground. I’d suggest using your left arm for this since it has already been damaged and there’s no sense in crippling both.”

I pulled my arm from where I had been keeping it attached to my side, the movement causing the burning sensation to return temporarily. I could see the skin had been blackened lightly by the shield. Damn. I do not react to pony magic well.

“I believe the added damage is due to the nature of the magic. It was being powered by love, as cliche as that sounds.”

So what? I’ve got an allergy to love energy?

“That’s a way of putting it. I’d explain it in better detail but we’ve got more important things to deal with.”

Right. I began charging everything I had into my left hand, Nightmare doing the same as our energies combined into a swirling cloud of purple that coated my entire arm. Once we were all charged up, we held back waiting for the right moment.

“Hold…” The ground was coming up fast. “Hold…” I could already imagine the sound of all my bones breaking at once. “Now!” I threw my left arm at the ground, a magical explosion going off. I was both blinded and deafened by the blast, completely disoriented to everything except the pain I felt in my left side. I felt myself hit the ground before I blinked away the spots in my eyes and rolled over, groaning.

Well… I’m alive.

“Your left arm has severe magical burns, along with your left leg though it isn’t as bad. We are both completely dry on magical energy and we are in the middle of nowhere.”

Hey, try to look at the positives. I pushed myself up onto my feet, though I leaned heavily on my right. I took a glance around to find I was in the center of a massive crater. Looks like we made quite the mess.

“Yes, but what else is new?” I chuckled out loud, perhaps feeling a little loopy from all the energy I just let off. I limped my way out of the crater, holding my left arm to my side so as to not agitate it further. All around me were changeling bodies, some picking themselves up while most didn’t move. Three of my own changelings quickly found me before bowing.

“My liege, numbers two, five and six are with heavy injuries. What are your orders?” I glanced about, watching as the other changelings all headed in a single direction, deeper in the badlands.

Chrysalis did mention her nest was here. Perhaps she’s calling them all home. I looked at my own changelings. “Will they survive without some kind of medical attention?”

“No, my liege. They can’t even move on their own right now.”

“Than leave them. We have more important things to do. Besides, more can be created.” They bowed before taking up positions surrounding me, all of us beginning our slow walk toward the changeling nest. At our speed it took about an hour but we found it, a cave lined with black chitin-like plating and covered in the green slime I saw earlier. Chrysalis was at the front, watching over all of the changelings. When she saw me she rose an eyebrow before approaching.

“And here I thought you were still back in Canterlot, all snug.” She looked over my guards, a hint of disgust forming in her eyes. “And just what are these?”

“These are my elite guard. Modified changelings given to me by a friend of mine in another dimension.” She gave me a ‘you must be crazy’ look that I was quick to ignore. “As for being safe in Canterlot, looks like that shield of theirs is smarter than they are.”

She opened her mouth and said something else but whatever it was it sounded muffled. I noticed that wasn’t the only sound dying off as my vision began to blur. Nightmare called out, but I was already falling forward. I was unconscious before I hit the ground.

Author's Note

Almost forgot! I got some art from a good friend of mine, Jsyrin, and it's going to be the cover art from now on. Go check out his work, cause not only does he draw, but he also writes!

Jsyrin's FimFiction
Jsyrin's DeviantArt