Hard Truths

Celestia rarely had good dreams these days. Despite being known as the wise, loving, dependable leader of Equestria, many of her decisions haunted her. Even if she never let it show in the presence of her little ponies, there was no escaping herself in dreams.

And as the moon shone high above, the princess of day found herself in yet another nightmare. It was one of her more repetitive ones, and it was the one she hated the most.

Deep inside the dreamscape, Celestia found herself battling against Nightmare Moon. The sun princess's entire body hurt, so much so that she wanted to stop and just give up. The mere thought of her hurting her little sister the same way caused her to hesitate every time she went to strike the dark mare.

Nightmare Moon was not unaware of this, and used it to her advantage at every turn. "What's the matter, sister," she taunted, spitting out the word 'sister' like it was venom, "can't handle a little sibling rivalry?"

Gasping as Moon blasted a beam of pure black magic at her flank, scorching it and obliterating the cutie mark there, Celestia turned to look at what had once been her sister. "Luna, please stop this! It doesn't have to be like this, we can work this out!"

Nightmare Moon ignored her desperate plea, instead rearing on her hind legs and bashing her sister across the face. Blood covered the walls and floor as Celestia stumbled away, coughing up the dark red liquid, her jaw broken.

**No, it can't end like this!, she thought desperately. It was then she realized what she was standing on. *No. Please don't think of such a thing. I can't do that*, she begged her mind, which was already forming the plan.

Sadly, Celestia could only watch in what doctors called an out of body experience as her horn slowly lit, and the panel slid back, revealing those oh-so-dangerous gems. The same gems she and her sister had once used together to stop the evil Discord. The ones they had bonded over during their search to find them.

While Nightmare cackled evilly above what she thought was her defeated ex-sister, Celestia's magic slowly lifted the Elements of Harmony. The sun-raising alicorn was forced to watch as the Elements began to spin around her. Faster and faster, until her eyes glowed white and she began to raise from the ground.

Nightmare Moon realized too late what was happening. She turned to run, but the rainbow had already formed, and it hit her square in the chest.

Celestia could hear Moon screaming, screams that made her picture the flesh being peeled from the dark alicorn's bones, of her organs being burned as her sister was vanquished from the inside out. She wanted to cover her ears, to drown it out, but she couldn't move, she didn't even have the capacity to blink. It was like the world was slowly fading around he-

  "Sister!"

  Celestia bolted awake at the sound of slamming doors and Luna yelling at the top of her lungs. Glancing around, she realized she was back in her room, and had only been having another nightmare.

  Breathing out a sigh of relief, she turned to look at the princess of the night, who was completely sane and alright. "Oh, Luna, you frightened me. What is it?"

  While Celestia was collecting herself, Luna had began pacing the room. As soon as her sister had questioned why she was here, Luna said, "Sister, there is a huge emergency going on!"

  Celestia breathed another sigh of relief as she stood, hopping off her bed. "Lulu, you know the Elements will deal with whatever the problem is. If it is so big as for you to be bursting in here, I take it we lack the means to stop whatever it is ourselves."

  Luna shook her head, a grave expression on her face. "No, sister. The Elements must never know about this. For they have returned, and with them, that family."

  It was like somepony had hit Celestia with a brick wall. "Are you sure?" she whispered, fear edging her voice. At Luna's nod, Celestia slumped down to the floor like she had just had her feet bucked out from under her. "Tell me what happened," she told her nightly sister simply.

  Luna took a deep breath, going to stand near the one window in the room, looking down on the whole of Canterlot as she began. "Late this evening I felt a disturbance in the wall separating the upper and lower parts of the city. I immediately rushed to the Guardian's Balcony, and when I looked down, I could see the twisted magic only one them could have. As I watched, a gray light suddenly lit Greens Square, and when I used the telescope to get a closer look, I could see a pony falling down the mountain, and the barely distinguishable shadow of the phantom. I've already had the Night Guard deal with it, but I fear this is not the last we'll see of either."

  Celestia, who had been listening in horrified rapture, took several minutes to gather the strength to stand. Clearing her throat, she told her sister, "We both know what this means. We have to be prepared for it when the Summer Sun Celebration happens in two weeks. I want you to recruit more Night Guards, since the bat ponies are probably just as aware as to what's happening, and I will again make the society we long ago disbanded. Even if the battle goes our way, they will not all merely disappear. Also, I'll be hinting at Twilight to be extra careful in the coming weeks. Even though the Elements may not help much in this particular fight, I cannot completely overlook them. Now, we should go and prepare. There is much to do, and little time to do it."

  With a defeated sigh, Luna left her sister's bedroom, Celestia right behind her.

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  Nightmare's eyes flashed opened as she looked about in a panic, the recent events that had happened still fresh in her mind. Coughing, she dragged herself away from the water, worried that her pursuer was still behind her.

  As her muddled brain tried to pull itself together, Nightmare glanced about groggily, taking in everything she could. From what she could gather, she was in the middle of a large grassy field. On her left were large, towering mountains, on her right, across the river, was a thick woodland.

  Casting her thoughts about, she tried to remember if she had ever actually seen a full map of Equestria, and if so, where she might be on it.

  Nightmare then dredged up the memory of her eleventh birthday. It was just a few months before her mom had left. In the Stalker household, birthdays were not a very spectacular thing. A few seemingly useless presents and a cupcake. Of course, even though she was young, Nightmare was a Stalker, and she didn't care for having expensive, easily breakable toys.

  Nightmare's brain was directing her to the part of her birthday where her godmother was handing her a large sheet of paper. "Happy birthday, squirt," Disco had said. Upon examining the paper closer, Nightmare had realized it was a map of Equestria.

  Now, just because she wasn't interested in many things, did not mean Nightmare didn't have an adventurous mind. She still had dreams like every other eleven year old. That night, she had stayed up till one in the morning studying that map and hoping for a chance to explore all these places. She wanted to show the world how tough and brazen she was, and go places normal ponies feared to.

Some dream this turned out to be, Nightmare thought bitterly as she started to walk, having finally regained her hoofing. It wasn't until she was several yards from the riverbank that Nightmare realized she was limping. She assumed she must have hurt herself when she had hit the river after her fall. It had been the same impact that had knocked her out. Honestly, Nightmare wasn't even sure how she was alive.

  The call of a bird made her shake her head clear. She registered that she had gotten off track, and still had no idea where she was. Sending her thoughts back to her birthday again, she tried to think about the map. There had been so many places, and to her young eyes, it seemed like adventure waited inside all of them.

Ok, let's see, since I'm not in the Frozen North, the current must have pulled me into the Silver Lining River. Now also considering I'm not standing in the desert, that must mean it didn't send me into the Everfree River. Which would put me at...oh, of course, I'm near Las Pegasus and Applewood!

  Having figured that out, Nightmare stopped to consider her next move. She knew she was supposed to find the Pie family rock farm, but where was it? Certainly not near a place like Las Pegasus. The only rocks available there were in the mountains, but there was no way they could live there in the winter, and she got the feeling it was a year round working farm. So where was the closest town that could possibly have everything a rock farmer could want?

  Ponyville.

  Glancing back and forth from horizon to horizon, Nightmare noted that the ocean was to her right, so that meant she would need to go left to get there.

  Doing just that, Nightmare started to walk. It was going to be a long way there.

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  You know how there are some really stupid ideas out there that ponies have no choice but to do to survive?  Nightmare was doing one right now. The unicorn had been walking all day, and was just too exhausted to continue. With the sun going down, it would be foolish to anyway. Although perhaps not as foolish as making camp in the Everfree Bogg.

  Unfortunately, there was nowhere else for Nightmare to go. She certainly wouldn't risk continuing her journey, not at night, especially in the Everfree. Even she had heard a couple tales about this place, none of them good. So, she pulled up a few fallen branches and some really big leaves and ferns, and scraped together a little lean-to.

  Huddling inside, she attempted to make a small fire, but everything here was wet. It looked like she'd just have to make due with one of those leaves as a makeshift blanket.

  Shivering, Nightmare wrapped herself in one and laid on the ground. Her freezing body was storing all her heat inside, leaving her soaking wet skin to defend itself against the cold.

  Meanwhile, her mind was trying to think of places she had seen on the map around Ponyville that might be perfect for rock farming. Nightmare remembered something about a gorge and a ridge, but that was about it. By using process of elimination, Nightmare decided to try the ridge. Rumbling Rock was the name, she believed, and it seemed to her a more likely area, for living in a gorge would spell almost certain doom, especially during flooding season. Not that a place called Rumbling Rock Ridge could be any better.

  Just as she was starting to drift to sleep, Nightmare heard something snap outside her lean-to. Stiffening, she tried to sit up as quietly as she could in the sucking, muddy ground, and stared off into the darkness around her. Nightmare's nerves were steadily building, and she wanted to get up and run, but knew that would be a huge mistake. Running from a crazed predator was not the answer. Her parents had made sure she knew that after the Liquor incident, since most stallions there were like wild predators.

  Thinking of her mother and father brought a twinge to her heart. She knew she would never see them again. She just hoped the same couldn't be said about Disco.

  Nightmare became aware she was letting her thoughts drift again. Growling under her breath, she stood silently. No way was she going down like this. She'd survived growing up in a a place that was only second to Tartarus, getting abused constantly, fighting off crazed ponies, and living after losing everything to fucking ghosts. No way in hell was some Everfree creature gonna end her.

  Letting out a battle cry, Nightmare rushed from the lean-to, raising a hoof to strike. Sadly, the thing outside the shabby shelter was not just a mindless brute.

  Nightmare heard something squeak just before she was lifted off the ground and thrown into a tree. Dazed, she looked up to see...a yellow pegasus?

  "Huh?"

  Both appeared equally startled by this course of events. The pegasus looked frightened out of her mind, but also had a mixture of confusion, anger, and what could only be described as an apologizing expression on her face. It was a very interesting sight.

  Scrambling to her hooves, Nightmare brushed off a piece of mud-covered branch. "What in the hell are you doing out here at this time?"  Nightmare snapped, not appreciating the scare.

  The pegasus let out another squeak and hid behind her mane, crouching down and shivering in fright. Sighing, Nightmare facehoofed and started over. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. You just took me by surprise is all. I thought you were some kinda nasty critter."

  The stranger peeked out a little, and her shivering reduced. "It's o-o-o-ok," she stuttered, still very intimidated by Nightmare, who sighed and facehoofed again.

  "Look, yellow, I mean no harm, ok? I'm just a traveler who got hurt and had to stop after overexerting myself for the night."

  Before Nightmare could even blink, the pegasus was all over her. "Oh, you poor dear. You should come to my cottage! It's much too cold out tonight, you could die if you sleep out here! I'll just find Sir Fluffs-A-Lot really quick, and then we can go."

  Staring in confusion, Nightmare watched the stranger flap around real quick. After a few minutes, she let out an, "Aha!", and then produced a small bundle of fur that Nightmare was pretty sure was a rodent of some kind.

  The black unicorn finally opened her mouth to speak, but the pegasus stopped her before she could. Fluttering over, she grabbed a hoof and started pulling Nightmare toward Ponyville.

  The teenager began to wonder if she should be scared of this mare she was pretty sure had mood swing issues.