Wish Upon a Star

It was time, Luna had just left the room and only the Elements and Celestia remained inside the now dreaded prison. The room had gone almost silent, the only noises heard being the monster´s low growls and the ponies heavy breathing. The ambiance wasn´t nice, as it was filled with incertitude, the unknown of what was to come.

Nopony would even dare raise the question, but they were sure as Heck thinking the same thing ´Who would go inside first?´. From time to time the beginnings of bravery lit up inside their hearts, but it was the beast´s stare the made them doubt their courage.

It was all so surreal, not even the all mighty princess Celestia, or the fearless Pinkie Pie dared to even take a step. What was this beast?

Celestia had surely thought about the option of getting rid of the monster, but the fillies´ word won her over, they had explained Nemesis´ ability to remain peaceful and his good will... nopony of course would believe that, still, it had actually shown a bit of humanity.

The memory of the monster calling Twilight ´Stars´ would never leave the pony´s mind, and it would forever be the cause of her nightmares, but it was at least proof of rationality, that was the reason why they had decided to communicate with Nemesis.

Finally words were suddenly spoken, the owner of these being none other than the trembling princess, who had just taken a step forward, which was of course, noticed by Nemesis. "I will go first."

"Princess, I don´t think that´s a good idea, out of all of us, you seem to be the one that thing hates the most." Twilight stepped in front of Celestia, stopping her advance, as soon as she noticed the beast´s violent reaction.

She had a valid point, the Nemesis had seemed to take a special hatred on her, but... 'The creature doesn't have free will' How could a heartless monster react to such vague words? Maybe it was not as heartless as she believed, still, she would not be the one to go inside first.

"Pinkie..."

A collective gasp was the immediate answer to the princess´ sudden decision, while Pinkie simply placed a hoof on her chest saying a fearful and silent ´Me?´. Celestia nodded.

The party pony was shaking her head in a negative, praying for the princess to change her opinion; she had faced many things, laughed at the face of the most horrific things in existence and now, here she was wishing to be inside the belly of a Hydra instead of entering the cage of Tartarus.

"I am aware of you fear, but I am certain that even if you don´t succeed in communicating with this monster, you will at least calm him enough for the rest to enter safer, you are the Element of laughter after all." Celestia smiled warmly, trying to inflict confidence inside Pinkie.

"But princess," Said the pink pony, "you do know he has no lips, right?"

Celestia chuckled. "I know you will succeed, I promise you will be protected, I will not let him harm you and as soon as I notice something is wrong, you will be taken out. Are you up for the task? Who knows, you may even get a new friend."

Pinkie lowered her head, trying to control her lips from trembling, her mane was completely flat, and her eyes where doing their best not to look at the single white eye watching at her.

She weighted her options, the pros and cons, that´s when she felt several hooves wrapping around her.

"Don´t worry Pinkie, I´m sure you are up for the task, nopony would have your magic to make friends." Said Twilight, a smile formed on her face.

"Yeah, remember that bald donkey? He was sure hard but you nailed it!" Rainbow was next, followed by the collective nods from the rest of the group.

She had taken her decision, her mane had recovered her usual self as she placed the right hoof on her chest. "I will turn that big scary meanie into a friendly cutie in a yiffy!" The pink pony began to ready herself as she was being covered in a gold light by Celestia´s magic.

Cheers came from everypony inside the place as she disappeared from the place only to reappear inside the magical cage.

Pinkie had a big confident smile in her face, as she placed her gaze on what she believed was Nemesis´ face, but the growl wasn´t coming from there. The big grin was quickly erased as she began to lift her face, her eyes slowly making their way towards the real face.

Her heart began to pound faster, and only a few words were muttered by her. "This was a bad idea."

Suddenly, she realized were she was. The dark and scary cell of a caged monster.

Nemesis was already at full height, his eye staring at Pinkie; he was not moving, it would seem the beast was enjoying the scene as he prepared to gut his prey.

"Umm... Hi Nemie... I´m... uh, Pinkie Pie." The pony said, nervousness clearly noticeable in her voice. The monster did not move. "I... uh... brought you this."

Pinkie took a brain shaped cupcake out of nowhere, and extended her trembling hoof towards Nemesis, who was simply staring at her. She never noticed when the smile left her face and when it was replaced with wide open eyes and a downed expression, still she would have to try.

"I know you are not the...the monster everypony believes." No movement, and her hoof was getting tired. "Who... who knows, maybe you will turn out to be the friendliest pony... erm... in Equestria." Her face did its best to release a smile.

After a few silent seconds, she lowered her hoof, her heart pounding more relaxed than before. "I guess you don´t like cupcake, it´s okay, not everypony have to like the same things." Nemesis made no movement... it was really unsettling, but at least Pinkie felt more relaxed.

"Hey! Maybe if you could stop being so meanie you could come out and I could throw you a party!" Finally she got a response, which came in the form of a calmed groan, Pinkie sighed in relief at the sudden reaction. "You see, everything´s okay!"

Nemesis began to walk towards her only stopping when he was only two steps in front, this placed the group on their hooves and Celestia began to start the spell to bring her back outside, just in case Nemesis decided to attack... he did not.

Pinkie had in front of her a giant golem staring at her, she was certainly scared, but the beast had responded positively. The pink pony wasted no time in releasing a confident smile.

The group had taken notice of this, and instantly let go of their guards, as they began to release small grins. Not too long passed before they silently cheered at her.

"Congratulations on your first step to being friendly!" Pinkie exclaimed, placing her hoof on his knee, Nemesis moved his leg to get rid of the touch, Pinkie gave a small jump, but it did not take away her newly formed confidence. "One step at the time I guess."

It was a relieving sight for everypony. They all were more than sure that this would end badly, but Nemesis was responding quite well. ´Everything is going fine´though Twilight. ´What is worst thing that could happen?´

As good as it was all going, Pinkie had decided to try again with the cupcake, which she pulled it out of her mane once more. "Here, maybe you should take a bite on this!" With those words she began to walk towards the monster, her face holding a wide smile, signal of her success... At least until she tripped with a stone on the floor, sending the food flying right into Nemesis´ face.

SQUISH!

Now everypony had their eyes wide open, as they waited for the monster to make a move, Pinkie meanwhile was laughing nervously.

"He he, sorry..." A growl was heard. "I guess I got too excited..." Another louder growl. "At least you can still lick it from your face, right?" The groans were getting louder. "Right?"

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Pinkie screamed as the enormous figure launched himself for the kill, but before Nemesis made it to the scared pony, she disappeared from the cell.

Pinkie reappeared outside, trembling badly as she was sitting on the floor, silently muttering. "Never again..."

"Pinkie! You ´kay?" Asked applejack, placing her hoof on her shoulder, the party pony gave a silent nod, before she talked with watery eyes. "I was so close..."

Twilight turned her gaze to Celestia, who was shaking her head with a grim expression. How could they be surprised? It was the most obvious thing that would happen. They had all silently decided to let this go... until something unexpected happened.

Licking was heard coming inside the cell, making the group turn their gazes towards the small jail and in time to spot Nemesis licking the sweet from his fingers, after he had grabbed it from his face and he was actually enjoying it. However, everypony was simply staring at the scene, not knowing what to think of it, then Twilight spoke.

"Okay... Who´s next?"

Luna was sitting on the bed inside her room, watching herself in the mirror in front, thinking deeply. She had her balcony doors closed, a pair of dark blankets placed on them to stop the passing of the sunlight from entering her room, darkening it in the process. It had enough light to be able to see clearly, though.

She had not told this to her sister, but she was actually present inside Nemesis´ dream. She had felt curious about the monster´s memories, making her pull a spell inside the dream realm, forcing him to dream about his past.

Luna didn´t know how to take all of what she saw.

The giant thing strapped to the table, the scientist looking beings opening his skull, the two black armored soldiers.... the figure with the black shades.

Was Nemesis something else before? At least she now had an important answer, the monster was certainly not from their world.

With a shake from her head, she changed her thoughts, this time focusing on what happened just an hour ago, the humiliation. Luna had always thought of herself as the definition of darkness, the figure that stroke fear in the hearts of many, but Nemesis had just shown her, there were worse things outside.

This thought made her shudder, then an idea crossed her mind just in case they managed to befriend the monster... nightmare night was close, and she could have just found her ace for this year.

"OUT! I WANT OUT!" Rainbow screamed at the top of her lungs, as she placed herself against one side of the cage.

She had tried to get the monster´s admiration and attention by performing a trick inside the cell. She did not hit Nemesis a single time, but he clearly didn´t take the pegasus´show off too good. She had done nothing to anger him, he just found her annoying... well, maybe just a few ´I bet your ugly face can´t do this!´ were said.

Nemesis wasn´t doing anything dangerous against her, he was just taking his adamantium claws out, one by one to mess with her. Applejack took notice of the beast´s intention and could not control her laughter, Rainbow´s face was just too gloriously funny.

Twilight and Celestia, however, were wondering if this was the first sign of sense of humor from Nemesis... a wicked, completely disturbing sense of humor.

"Stop laughing AJ, he also scared you to death, remember?" Rainbow scoffed, her face holding a frown, however Applejack chuckled once more.

"Yeah! But your face is funnier."

Rainbow grunted before she directed her face towards Twilight and the princess. "Look, could you just get me out of here?"

Twilight released a small sigh as she started her spell, meanwhile Celestia found herself deep in thought, she had noticed it ever since she arrived. Nemesis would not take his sight from her, even with distractions coming from Pinkie or Rainbow, the beast had his eye stuck on her.

He was taunting her, daring her to come inside with him, inside a cage he knew Celestia would never escape.

At least she had learned something else from him, Nemesis was very sensitive, this could be the result of past trauma... an interesting thought.

As much as her face was trying to hold composure against Nemesis taunting, deep inside she was scared to death of the monster. Her gaze quickly shifted from her tormentor and towards Rainbow, who had just been teleported outside. She was certainly shaken up, but she was safe nonetheless.

Celestia imagined what could happen if she was to set foot inside, she knew Nemesis had been holding back with the mane six, but it was a fact that he has just been waiting for her to take the dumb decision. Soon her train of thought was cut by a certain purple alicorn.

"Princess, I don´t think Fluttershy or Rarity should enter, not yet at least; maybe it is time form me to try."

Celestia hanged her head and released a deep sigh. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I do." Twilight answered, her face showing no fear and determination, Celestia couldn´t help but to release a small smile.

The sounds of hooves made their way to the cage, as the young alicorn princess prepared herself to enter the prison. Her forehead was sweating and her throat was having a hard time trying to swallow. Her mind was racing with the infinite possibilities, the infinite outcomes of her decision, but it had to be done.

Suddenly, after a loud ´PUFF!´Twilight disappeared and reappeared inside the place, Nemesis made no movement. The alicorn used all of her courage to look into the creature´s eyes, she could feel her heart accelerating as she waited for any kind of reaction, soon enough it came.

"Stars." Nemesis said calmly.

Twilight made no movement whatsoever, she was completely frozen. The voice of this creature was even more terrifying than anything she had ever heard and only one word came to her mind... dread.

Twilight had hoped no reaction would occur, but much to her dismay, Nemesis began to walk towards her, she, however did not see danger, but rather calmness.

The sounds of steps stopped once the monster was in front of Twilight, her face now confidently staring into his eye.

Finally, after a few moments, Twilight decided to speak. "Nemesis, is it?" The creature growled and the alicorn took this as an affirmation. Noticing the calm ambiance, she decided to push forward. "I have never seen anything like you, are you from any place outside Equestria?"

Nemesis kept still for a few seconds before he shrugged in response. He didn´t have short memory, but rather payed more attention to the most important things... at least important to him, as such, he really couldn´t care about his other worldly predicament other than the fact that he had seen a lot of weird things. Twilight found his answer interesting.

"You don´t know? Do you remember how you came here?" She asked, Nemesis nodded slowly. "Was it magic?" The beast nodded, he wasn´t even sure what was the thing that brought him here. Twilight thought about this for a moment, she remembered all the knowledge she had acquired about tribes, cultures and species across the planet Equis, but the creature in front did not resemble anything she had ever seen before, with this in mind, she came up with two theories: 1.He came from another world.

2.He was bio engineered, created inside a lab.

As much as she tried to keep the second option away from her mind, it would actually explain his appearance, but that didn´t let out the possibility of a different world out. It didn´t take her long to come up with a question he could answer.

"Were there beings like you from where you come from?" Nemesis nodded. "Then that would mean you have never seen anything like us?" The monster had seen unicorns before while on Asgard, during the battle against the other heroes, but he´d never seen, however a unicorn with wings, he shook his head in a negative.

Twilight lowered her head for a few moments, processing the newly arrived info, then after deep thought, she sighed. "Poor thing, you most be lost, away from your home." Her last word was accompanied by the young alicorn placing her hoof on Nemesis´ leg, surprisingly to everypony outside, the beast did not shove it away.

As the rest of the group stared expectantly at the scene, Twilight lost herself in thought, her eyes closed, as her head hung low, at least until Nemesis spoke again.

"Stars..." She lifted her head, her eyes staring again into his face, a look of infinite compassion drawn on her face, then she noticed it, the permanent frown in the monster´s face was almost vanished.

Now with this out of the way, she decided to ask the next question. "Nemesis..." She took her hoof off his leg, "was everypony in your world like you?"

He stared directly into her eyes, before letting out a grunt, as he turned his face away from her, Twilight took this as a no. Then the next question came.

"They did something to you, didn´t they?" Nemesis grunted a little louder, then turned around. The alicorn took this as a sign of silence, but she still tried. "Nemesis I need to know what happened to you." The beast growled, almost as if he was warning her to stop, Twilight did not listen. "What do you remember, a lab? Somepony twisting you? I need to know."

"Roaaaar!" Nemesis finally snapped, as he turned around to face Twilight once more, although this did not scare the little princess.

"I know you want to avoid it, but it is necessary for all of us to know about you!" Outside the room, Celestia could notice the face Nemesis was holding, his frown, his teeth grinding. It was more than obvious he did not like to talk about this.

"Twilight! I think it is enough!" The princess of the sun replied, only to be ignored by Twilight.

"Just tell me what happened! How did the place look like? What was the name of the scient..." The alicorn gasped as Nemesis collided his fists unto the ground and just a few centimeters away from Twilight, who was now freaked out.

Before anything else could happen, Celestia reacted and took Twilight out of the cell.

Without wasting any moment, Celestia took hold of the young alicorn, her face showing a frown. "What did you think you were doing, Twilight!?"

"I... I am sorry, I was just..." Her words were cut short by Celestia.

"Don´t you understand he could have hurt you?! Sometimes it is better to be prudent, the answers will always come in time!" As soon as she finished her words, the princess pulled Twilight into a warm embrace.

"I am sorry princess, I just got carried a little away." Twilight exclaimed, her eyes shot to hide the embarrassment.

Not too long passed before Celestia finished the hug and looked into Twilight´s eyes. "Just think more next time." After those words, she turned to face the rest of the group. "We are finished for today, our luck was greatly pushed and now we must persist, we shall continue as soon as this beast cools down."

"Roaaar!" Nemesis replied at the princess´ words, Celestia simply gave him a look (although, she soon regretted it.).

With this out of the way, everypony went out of the cell blocks, not a single word was spoken. Nemesis simply watched as they went out, his eye soon became lost in the darkness.

Outside the cell blocks, Twilight was deep in thought. She felt sorry for the beast, at least until something came to her... Flash Sentry.

The look of disgust and hatred began forming inside her face, as she remembered his death. Celestia took notice of this and leaned closer to her.

"Anything wrong?"

"I just remembered something, something that had just placed the life of that... monster in a thin line." Her face turned towards the entrance of the blocks, then turned her eyes towards the princess of the sun. "Princess, could you send a few guards to search for Flash Sentry?" Celestia´s face grimaced. "Princess, please, I need to know where he is!"

The princess of the sun sighed. "I will send a few guards to the Everfree forest, right now, just do me a favor and keep your mind away from this problem, Twilight."

"I... I will try." With that, Twilight advanced forward to meet with her friends, leaving Celestia behind.

Unknown to everypony, there was one interesting thing she didn´t inform the group. While Twilight was inside, the princess of the sun noticed how Nemesis´ eye was no longer focused on her, it seemed as if she had completely vanished from his existence.

The center of all his attention was suddenly... Twilight.