Prologue - Nightmare Revealed
Twilight Sparkle, alicorn princess, scholar of friendship, student to the Princess of Day, sister to the Princess of Love, savior of the Princess of Night, protector of all Equestrians, custodian of magic, and recently appointed guardian of the remnants of Nightmare Moon.
Twilight shook her head at the thought of the last one. How was she supposed to tell her friends... how was she supposed to tell her mother? She could decline, Princess Celestia had given her permission, but... there were consequences for that as well.
It was somewhat embarrassing to be held in such high regard by not one but all her fellow princesses that she could keep the nightmare from resurfacing indefinitely, but at least they had given her some time to make her decision.
Still one week wasn’t that long so her best bet would be to think about the whole situation on the train ride back to Ponyville. It was true she could make the same trip by flying or teleportation, but the time to think alone outweighed the haste in returning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was an unusually peaceful day in Ponyville. Sure, there were the usual day-to-day bits of excitement, like the Cutie Mark Crusaders making some mess or another or Pinkie getting excited over nothing. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise Twilight if Pinkie someday started hosting parties for the rising and setting of the sun every day. Of course, that thought made the young princess smile.
“Well well, what is it this time princess? Did you find another true love in a far off alternate universe?”
Twilight’s expression quickly turned dark as she met the gaze of one of her most dangerous enemies, “Discord, I’ll have you know that much like the last three alternate universes you sent me to for reasons as far flung as a royally enforced vacation or my personal favorite, because you wanted to see me being made ruler of the sea ponies, I do not want to go and you can’t make me.” Twilight’s expression remained stone as Discord smiled as he replied.
“That certainly was a lovely run on sentence my dear and I do believe you made most of those things up, but I’m afraid you’ve forgotten something.”
“And what pray tell is that you miserably imaginary hodgepodge of misappropriated animal parts.”
Leaning down so he was close to Twilight‘s ear, the draconequus grinned toothily before whispering “I don’t believe in seaponies.”
“Really now? Do me a favor Discord, go to the window. Look out into the town. Now see ponies!”
Discord burst into laughter. Not at Twilight’s joke, but more at the utter failure it had been as a joke. A fact that Twilight quickly admitted to by laughing along with her much more humorous friend.
“Honestly Sparky, you really know how to make this old soul smile. Now before I forget, why did you want to see me? Do you wish to confess your love for me? Was it my charming good looks, because if that’s the case you really ought to know, my heart already belongs to another.”
Twilight finally managed to stop chuckling after only a minute or so then turned to her obviously teasing guest, “I didn’t call for you at all. So perhaps you can tell me why you’re here and why you’re so fixated on my love life.”
“Oh that reminds me, Sun Buns and Lulu, wanted to see you. Love Cheeks is there too so I guess you could say I was inspired...”
“I see, I’ll go get the girls and-”
Discord quickly put a stop to Twilight with a snap of his fingers. He hadn’t changed anything but the possibility of an alteration was enough to make her give pause enough for Discord to speak, “No no no, my little princesses want you to come alone. Don’t worry; it isn’t anything... entirely dangerous... Or, well it doesn’t need the full friendship crew.”
“Well if you say so. Do you know why the princesses want to see me?”
Discord chuckled at the thought that he didn’t have intimate knowledge of the royal plans. “Of course I do Twilight, but Celestia threatened me with...” Discord pause a moment to shudder at the thought of his words, “Tedious mathematical equations if I told you the details.”
Twilight giggled at her friends aversion to well-ordered calculations. Still she channeled the element of kindness with her reply, “Well since I know you won’t tell me even if I offer to help, I’ll just be going... after I leave a note for Spike. He does tend to worry about me.” With a short burst of magic Twilight summoned a quill, ink, and paper and began quickly scribbling a note informing Spike of her whereabouts.
With the note displayed on her desk in her study and just as Twilight began focusing magic for a long-range teleportation she was interrupted by Discord, “Oh! Do you mind if I borrow some cheese while you’re gone?”
Twilight rolled her eyes as she shook her head, “Is it still going to be cheese when you bring it back?”
“More or less, you cheeky little minx.” Twilight smiled when Discord pinched her cheek. Then with the other hand, he snapped his claws sending Twilight to Canterlot Castle. “And now I‘m bored. Where‘s that cheese?”
Twilight appeared in Celestia’s private chambers without warning and began swaying from the unexpected spatial displacement. She didn’t even notice the princess after she shook her head violently to clear her nonconsensual teleportation addled mind. It actually took Celestia’s voice to return her former student to awareness of her location, “Hello Princess Twilight, I must say I was not expecting you so soon. Do we have Discord to thank for your hastened arrival?”
Sheepishly looking away from her mentor Twilight tried to smile as she replied, “That’s right Pri- Celestia. So why did you need to see me?”
Celestia smiled warmly as she ushered Twilight out of her chambers and began their descent down the long spiral staircase of her tower. “Twilight, this is a matter of both national security as well as your future. I’m sure you remember when I first sent you to Ponyville and you cleansed my sister of the monster known as Nightmare Moon.”
“Of course Celestia, but that was years ago. What does that have to do with this?” Twilight looked up at her teacher with a questioning gaze while continuing the slow descent toward the bottom of the tower.
“Everything.” The emphasis on that one word was far from as dramatic as Celestia would have liked, but seeing the disappointment in the younger princess’s eyes sent her back to her explanation, “The Elements of Harmony cannot kill. They can rebuild, remove illness, banish, and imprison, but they cannot kill.”
“So... What did they... not kill? Wait! Is it Nightmare Moon? Has she-”
The elder alicorn quickly silenced her protégé with a gentle hoof touching Twilight‘s lips. Shaking her head, Celestia continued, “Yes and no. Something of the monster did survive, but it is... not what it once was. The Elements stripped it of its power and... well I suppose you will see it soon enough. Do show some decorum though; she can be a little self-conscious of her appearance.”
“She?”
Celestia smiled at her student’s question. Twilight had always been an inquisitive filly and it brought her great joy to see that she was still just as curious. “Yes Twilight, she. Luna is a mare, Nightmare Moon was a mare, and there is nothing in this creature’s past that would suggest anything other than it being female. Also she has a very feminine voice, though...”
After a long moment of silence Twilight spoke hoping to get more out of her teacher, “Though what, Princess?”
“It is nothing you need to worry about. What you should worry about is your choices.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. Now things were getting interesting. Why had Celestia brought her here now or at all for that matter? What were the choices she was expected to make? Seeing the confusion in Twilight’s eyes, Celestia elaborated, “You must choose the destiny of Nightmare Moon’s remnants. I can no longer in good conscience keep it imprisoned here, yet I cannot set it free. Because you were partly responsible for its creation you must decide if it should be destroyed or if you will take her under your own care.”
Twilight was speechless. She had been given authority over another life as if she were a... god. Celestia however smiled at the sight of Twilight’s brow furrowing in deep thought. The elder princess had already decided the fate of Nightmare’s leftovers and all this was just a test.
It was true that Twilight was no longer her student in the same way as before, but Celestia would always be there to teach her when she needed to learn.
The rest of their journey to Canterlot castle’s sublevels was spent in quiet contemplation. The only sounds were the clop of each hoof-fall on the stone floors and the opening and closing of the occasional door.
At least that was until they neared their destination. Twilight’s ears perked at the familiar laughter of the princess of the night and the voice of her old foalsitter, “Please Aunt Luna, stop teasing her.”
Twilight was surprised that Cadence was there. After all, what business did the princess of love have with all this? That last question lingered in her mind until Celestia opened the last door and the princess of friendship saw it... the last remains of Nightmare Moon. Cadence and Luna stood in a small room with nothing of note aside from a window that looked in on another room that looked as though it belonged to a foal. And there, in the middle of the foal room, was a expertly sewn plush doll made in the image of Princess Celestia wrapped in a blue magical aura that made the doll dance as if it were a marionette.
The scene seemed nothing more than adorable until Twilight heard a soft growl. She scanned the room beyond the window until her eyes fell on a pair of bright yellow orbs staring out from under a pile of stuffing and torn apart plush dolls. The youngest princess in the room stared as a small dark blue filly burst from the pile diving at Luna’s impromptu puppet and leveling her horn as if she were a charging bull with her nearly black mane and tail fluttering behind.
Luna quickly lifted the toy out of the filly’s reach teasingly playing a kind of telekinetic keep away with a now fervently growling little pony flapping her tiny wings in an attempt to gain more elevation as she jumped.
Twilight stopped herself. Wings and a horn meant... ‘No,’ she told herself, this foal could not be an alicorn. Her mind wheeled without ceasing looking for an explanation until her train of thought was derailed by her mentor’s calming voice.
“She’s not an alicorn. As I told you before, she was stripped of her power by the Elements of Harmony. She is something... different-“
“A blank slate.” Luna quietly interrupted as she let the plush doll fall into the waiting hooves of the filly below, “It’s something we haven’t seen since we helped our sister turn Discord to stone.”
Celestia wore a pensive expression as she continued where her sister left off, “Discord caused all manner of blank slates, Pegasi without magic to fly or alter the weather.”
“Earth ponies with no connection to their world..” Luna added quickly as Twilight considered the magic she held cosest to her heart before finally speaking.
“Or a unicorn who cannot bend arcane forces to her will... so why is she an alicorn?”
Celestia smiled warmly as Luna rolled her eyes seeing the answer as something the lavender princess should have figured out already. Still it was Cadence who answered Twilight in a soft tone, “Because Aunt Luna is an alicorn and Nightmare Moon was an alicorn.”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she fully understood what this filly was, “But that means she is Luna’s daughter. Shouldn’t she take care of-”
Twilight had only seen Celestia’s anger three times before but they were memorable enough experiences that she knew what was coming, Celestia’s disappointment was worse than any amount of scolding and Twilight cringed wishing she had not said anything at all. She felt as though her wings were going to squeeze themselves into her barrel when she heard the warmly comforting tone of her old mentor, “Luna is not this creature’s mother. If parents should be determined for this foal then her parents are Nightmare Moon and the wielder of the element of magic who ripped her out-“
“This one smells something... familiar,” The sudden voice of a filly silenced Celestia as the four alicorns turned toward the foal’s play room. Twilight instantly noticed the throat torn out of the Celestia plush. She was about to speak when the filly spoke again, “Does the Sparkle come to taunt us as well? This one will tear the Sparkle into tiny strips for Nightmares’ coming. Darkness, fear, and death await the usurper.”
Twilight was silenced that the foal could remember her along with the fact that it could smell her. With mouth agape she looked up to Celestia questioningly.
Celestia smiled in a way that brought some confidence back to her protégé and spoke with her student’s best interest at heart, "Take a week to consider your choice, but do not take this responsibility lightly. This creature’s life hangs in the balance. Will you take it in and raise it, or will you deem it unworthy of existence and see it destroyed? Now go back to Ponyville, speak with your friends and remember that I trust you to make the wisest choice.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight’s thoughts were suddenly brought to the present as she heard the screech of metal on metal as the train slid to a stop in front of Ponyville Station and her five closest friends waiting for her. Twilight smiled at the thought that Pinkie had likely sensed her imminent arrival and informed the rest. She knew now that her friends’ advice would be vital in making her decision for the good of Equestria.
After Twilight had left them Luna looked to her sister with concern in her eyes and voice, “Tia, are you sure we can trust Twilight to make the right decision? It seems like such a burden for one so young.”
Celestia’s warm laughter filled the room. She knew it would not assuage Luna’s fears entirely but still she spoke with confidence, “If I did not believe she would make the right choice then I would not have asked her to make it.”
In Twilight’s castle however things are becoming far more dangerous than previously anticipated.
Spike cried out as the giant cheese monster began chewing on his leg. Fortunately for him Discord had used softer cheeses and the chewing simply felt like somepony was encasing his leg with a twenty pound piece of brie.
Fluttershy was far from as amused with the situation as Discord, “Now Discord, what do you think Twilight will say when she sees this mess?”
The spirit of chaos smiled as he began rubbing his chin and hiding one arm behind his back, “I don’t know, perhaps something like,” Then with a flourish Discord revealed his right arm now covered in a crude puppet imitation of the lavender princess. He then continued putting on a decidedly un-Twilight-like impression of Twilight., “Darn it Discord, how many times do I have to tell you to not make a mess in my bedroom? Wait why is there cheese on the ceiling? Ah! The cheese is eating me like it no doubt ate Spike!” Then switching back to his normal voice he concluded, “Then after about twenty weeks she will thank me for showing her the intricacies of the digestive process of cheese.”
Fluttershy then gently planted her left forehoof on her face before finally replying, “Please, just let Spike out before he suffocates.”
Author's Note
Let's chew the fat a little. One I love long silly names and ridiculous titles, feel free to sue me... silly boring people.
Two, I love comments, but there is a special place in my heard for comments that involve more than emoticons, feels, and "D'aw"s. Feel free to call me a little selfish.
Three... I like cakes... also the Cakes... which have nothing to do with this story...
Four, back to comments, constructive criticisms are welcomed with open arms. Non-constructive criticism makes me sad but that is something we all have to be willing to accept when we publish anything on the internet so... yeah...
Five, thanks for reading all this and if you got this far, I'll see you at the next chapter.
