Night of Nightmares (The True Dark Secret)

by ChaosSlayer

Rating: mature
Tags: Princess Celestia, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, Other
Length: 1776

A murderer is on the loose in Canterlot castle.

On a Nightmare Night, while everypony is celebrating, Twilght receives a letter from her mentor, which tells her of a very powerful pony loose within the Canterlot castle who is very keen on killing the Royal Family. The Elements of Harmony must travel to Canterlot castle and save the night.

Published 2012-05-07 18:24:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-07 18:24:01 UTC

Prologue

It was Nightmare Night. To most ponies, it was a time of fun - everypony wore interesting costumes and participated in parties while young fillies and colts walked from door to door to gain sweet candy, only to pay a part of it as a tribute for the evil Nightmare Moon. As far as Tycho Blast was concerned, it was all baloney - he was Princess Luna's guard, and although she was once a powerful monster, she never wished to harm anypony. She simply wanted ponies everywhere to admire her beautiful work, and her sister had to lock Nightmare Moon away.

Now, while everypony else celebrated in fear of Nightmare Moon, he, under the orders of Princess Luna, was guarding the true evil of Nightmare Nights, locked in a cage that preceded even the Royal family and held within it powerful runic magic, similar to the strength of Elements of Harmony.

"Don't you wish to leave now and party with others? Do you really think that I'll escape now? I've never managed in the last 1500 years, so why now?" said a vicious, hissing noise from behind the bars.

Tycho looked up from the book he was reading, 'Of Mice and Ponies', "My duty, under Princess Luna's orders, is to keep watch over you to make sure you don't somehow manage to escape today. Also, I'd rather not celebrate in a party with the theme of fearing my mistress." he said.

The dungeon door opened with a loud slam. Two figures walked through it, after which the door closed. For a moment, you could hear distant noises of party music.

"Good night Tycho. How is she?" asked Princess Luna, her majestic mane flowing behind her.

"She tried to deceive me to leave my watch, but I shall not, my lady." he said, bowing. Princess Luna looked into the cage with a sorrowful expression, and then looked back at Tycho.

"Tycho, I know you wish to serve me well, but tonight is a night of celebrations. I care not for whatever ponies think of me, and you should enjoy yourself. For one Nightmare Night, allow somepony else to guard her." said the Princess. Tycho put a bookmark in his book and bowed respectfully, "As you wish, Princess. Just allow me to get my stuff." he said, trying his best to hide his disappointment. Princess Luna nodded with a smile and teleported away. The figure that was hidden behind her was finally visible.

"Told you Tycho, you should lay off the work on Nightmare Nights." said the familiar face of his friend.

"Oh. So it's you Kepler. I thought you loved partying on Nightmare Night." said Tycho.

Kepler Riles walked around the table to face Tycho, "I do. But I want my best friend to enjoy that day at least once." he said.

Suddenly, a hoof shot out from between the bars and grabbed the side of Kepler's armour. Before Tycho or Kepler could react, the hoof retracted, pulling Kepler with it. Kepler's head smashed into the bars, blood exploding into the cage. His horn, forced by the impact, tapped one of the bars, causing the cage to open.

Kepler's stunned head dropped to the ground. The front hoof of the prisoner stepped down heavily, shattering Kepler's skull and killing him instantly. Tycho quickly charged a laser shot into his horn but the murderer, moving faster than it could be seen, grabbed Tycho's horn with her teeth and tossed him into the wall. Before his body could drop down onto the floor, she fired her hoof into his stomach, crushing his ribs into his lungs and pinning him to the wall.

"You really shouldn't have let your friend come that close to the cage... You got distracted. Although at least he died quickly. You, I shall leave here to die slowly and contemplate on how you caused his death. Have fun." said the murderer, moving her horn to his back hoof and slashing against it, causing a large wound. Now not only he'd lack air but also blood. Without air, he wouldn't shout. With crushed ribs, he wouldn't move. Now it was time to take care of the more important ponies.

Princess Luna appeared in a flash beside her sister, Princess Celestia, who was on the castle balcony, watching her subjects party and have fun.

"How was he, sister?" asked the sun goddess, rising a glass of wine to her lips.

"Tycho? Oh, he's a fine guard. Follows my every order spot on. Sad thing is, I fear he may be a bit of a workaholic. I've never seen him party, Celly, and that bothers me." said Luna.

"You know Luna, I feel that he may worry about honour." said Celestia.

"Oh?" spoke Luna.

"Well, he's under your command. And Nightmare Night is the night in the memory of you being Nightmare Moon. Even now tales of your evil self are used to scare young ponies into listening to their parents. I think that Tycho feels rather... uncomfortable partying on the anniversary of his mistress' 'shame'." answered Celestia, walking back into the throne room.

"I thought that's how he may feel... but even when it's not Nightmare Night, it's the same." said Luna.

Celestia sighed, "Well, you can't just change anypony... By the way, Luna, you've done a great job with the sky tonight. It looks better than ever. Truly, I am impressed."

"Oh, it's nothing. Tonight everypony is outside, so it's my job to make this night most beautiful." spoke Luna, sounding flattered.

The two guards stationed in front of the throne room looked to their right. Celestia raised her brow.

"Halt!" shouted the one on the right, aiming his spear towards whatever they were looking at. His partner followed.

Then it happened. In less than a second, a huge, dark shape flew across the corridor, sweeping both guards away with it. Celestia spat out the wine she had in her mouth, ran up to the door and looked to the left. Both of the guards were completely crushed under a gigantic piano.

"What the-" Celestia managed to say before she was kicked back into the throne room with so much force that she crashed into the throne, all bones in her wings shattering.

"Hello Celestia, Luna. Remember me? You locked me up. That wasn't nice." said the tall figure standing in the doorway.

"Oh fuck... Luna, cut this night short!" said Celestia as the figure started galloping towards her.

Luna nodded and turned to look at the sky. Her horn flared and just as the moon began to move, the murderer teleported in a flash. She appeared right in front of Luna and, with the momentum of her gallop, tackled at Luna's throat with her horn. The horn tore right through the throat and the force of the tackle pushed Luna back.

At first, Luna was surprised. Then, she tried to grab her throat with her hooves. There was a huge hole right through the middle. Luna tried breathing hard to grasp for air, but the oxygen kept escaping. She felt woozy in the legs and dropped onto her knees.

Celestia was already breathing heavily. There was a lot of power in the murderer. Normally, it would really take a lot to defeat a deity. She still could not believe it though...

"Oh, poor Celestia. You don't know how it is possible that I have this much power, do you? Well, let me tell you. The runes in the cage... after seeing them over and over during all the time I was in that cage, I understood them. They were just like an ancient language. All I needed to do was change some symbols, and I managed to make a little storage space for all the magical energy they drained from me. And tonight... I made a withdraw from my deposit." she said, grinning like a maniac.

"You'll never be able to leave Canterlot castle... don't think the runes were the only means of defence. Luna already put the moon in motion. The Nightmare Night will soon pass, and with it, your influence." said Celestia through her clenched teeth.

The murderer frowned and moved the sharp edge of her horseshoe down Celestia's stomach. Blood started gushing out very fast.

"Don't think you're in any position to talk like that Celestia. You shouldn't make me angry. Really, you shouldn't. Also, you may abandon your hopes." she said, before turning around and walking out onto the balcony. Celestia's horn fired up and from her mane flew out a quill and parchment. She quietly dipped the quill in the blood and started writing.

The murderer closed her eyes and let off a sigh. Her horn started burning with a bright magical light. After a few seconds, she cut off her magic and opened her eyes again.

"There. Now the moon is stopped. I don't think this is a problem anymore." she said, smiling. Celestia quietly put the quill back in her mane. If she was to die here, at least her student would know what's going on. She rolled up the parchment and started to send it.

Within seconds, the murderer turned around and fired a bolt of lightning at the parchment in the very moment of sending. Just after being struck, the letter disappeared. Celestia's eyes widened.

"Seems like the blood loss clouded your judgement Celestia. You contacted your pupil about me? You mean the pupil which is the final key which needs to be destroyed in order for me to escape this castle? Genius, pure genius. I was going to contact her myself, but oh well, you've done that for me. By the way, my Identity Bolt erased whatever bad stuff you may have written about me. So no, your student won't know who I really am." she said.

"Wha- how do you know about the Keys?" said Celestia, feeling fear for the first time in a long time.

"Oh, I know a lot of stuff. Gossip, reading, listening attentively... I also know who are the first keys to destroy." she said. Then, she touched Celestia's horn with her horn and let out a tiny explosion.

Celestia's body felt as if tons of electricity were charged through her. She convulsed, the dropped lifelessly onto the throne. The murderer then walked up to Luna and did the same.

"First two keys are dead... thirteen more to go. Let's hope she gets here soon." she said, the darkness of the night covering her psychopathic grin.

(OOC: I'm bored and got a little writer's block, so here's a small project - a very gory murder mystery story)