Nightmares and Dreamscapes

The night sky teetered back and forth slowly. Rocking like a boat on a stormy night.

Well, at least that's what Jay saw.

"Ohhhh my head..." he grunted sitting up.

Pain racked every cell of his body. A thundering pounding went away in his skull like a jackhammer and his left arm felt funny. One glance down at it revealed that it was considerably lower than his other arm and looked out of place.

"Dislocated.... of course..." Gripping his left fore-arm he pushed in, a mixture of a crunching and snapping sound echoing throughout the air followed by a pained scream.

He looked at his arm and wiggled his fingers. His smile was gone, replaced by a curious look.

"How did I end up here...." he tapped his chin for a few seconds before letting his composure drop, slumping over his own form and staring at the ground. "I remember now."

Trixie towered over him. Green smoke flowing from her nostrils as her piercing red eyes stared down at him. Her hat which was decorated with the skulls of the newborn and painted crimson with the blood of her totally morally right enemies laughed manically, bought to life by the pure evil eminating from her being.

A long tattered cape flowed behind her as one of her six legs pawed at the ground.

"Jayyyy." She hissed, making his skin crawl.

"You're garbage, and you'll always be garbage. You did nothing but show me hospitality and I took it and snuffed it out like the evil, heartless wench I am. Hold on a sec." She took a sip of a red liquid from her goblet of tortured souls.

"I no longer have the need of a meager creature such as you!" He voice boomed throughout the red tinted sky.

Jay gulped and adjusted his priest robes, his very being radiating beauty and passion despite the evil in front of him.

"Now, we can talk this out." He said very reasonably and passively. "Just please. All I want to do is help you!"

"NONSENSE!" The creature roared. "YOU'RE NOTHING TOO ME!"

Suddenly the ground split from underneath Jays feet. A burning light washed over him, the feeling of malice too strong for him. Millions of crimson tentacles shot up and grabbed him, beginning to drag him into the depths of the earth. Trixie began to cackle wickedly.

"I hope you enjoy leather. Cause' you're going to be my bitch!" Trixie taunted.

That was the last thing Jay heard before he was yanked down...

He suddenly straightened up. "That cheeky little horse..." he muttered scratching his head. He looked around at the area around him. Tracing his impact from the massive crater into the ground all the way to the broken treetops on his left. "So I came from that way, huh."

Jay sniffed the air, the smell of burnt grass, brushel and wood still fresh in the area. Turning slightly he sniffed the air again, this time picking up a chlorine like smell and multiple flowers under the smoky smell. Directing his nose the other way he sniffed again, this time the chlorine smell was stronger and coupled with the scent of ozone.

That was Trixie's scent.

And he couldn't pinpoint exactly where she was but she was far....

Jay let out a frustrated groan and shoved his hands in his pockets.

He stood out in the middle of the clearing, a lonely figure for all but thirty seconds before he pulled something out of his pockets. He did it slowly, cautiously, like a kid unwrapping his last piece of candy.

The glow of an orb filled the night sky...

Trixie used her horn to light the way through the cave. It was appreciated... it turned out that there were more twists and turns than the tunnels she had been in earlier. But she knew her efforts were not going to go unrewarded, the sound of a deep laughter echoing throughout the caves and growing louder and louder led her to believe that she had the right way.

After what seemed like at least another hour of trudging through the cave she saw a sky blue light illuminating the end of the tunnel. The gutteral laughter boomed just beyond the light, leaving the owner of the voice anonymous. This was it....

She was right beyond the light.

As she stepped through it was like the whole word transformed around her. The inky black darkness was now replaced by multiple blue crystals, the hue and sudden change in light nearly blinded her. But the laughter was louder than ever now, she bought away her hoof to see ... she didn't know what it was. What could only be described as a lizardman rolling on the ground laughing.

Then she noticed what was happening.

The father of the well-to-dos dressed like a women and walking around in high heels, singing a sapphire shores song with a look of terror plastered on his face. A beefy creature with the head of a jackal sat their and stared him down making sure he wouldn't stop what he was doing. The rest of the family was off in the corner, looking on at the father with a mixture of shame and humor.

The lizardman wiped away a tear from his eye and waved a big, clawed hand in the air. "This is too great! Make him dance to!"

The Jackal creature growled and the father instantly began to bob up and down.

It was by now that one of the timber wolves in the area had noticed her. It stood up and let out a loud howl, catching everything's attention. As if one single being everything in the cave turned to stare directly at her. Their yellow eyes fixated on her.

The lizardman rolled over and looked at Trixie.

Then he began to laugh again. "Bahahahaha! This is the champion you have!? Oh, OH make it stop!"

Trixie glanced at all the creatures as the laughter finally began to die down. The lizardman picked himself up off the ground and lumbered over to her.

Everything that led up to this moment seemed to go obsolete at once. As the lizardman towered over her, she all of a sudden wished she had done things differently and stayed at the rock farm.

"Ah'm Grudge. And you're....."

Trixie glanced at the family in the corner, each one of their eyes pleading and begging for help. With a deep breath she steeled herself and glared at Grudge. "The great and powerful Trixie." she said softly.

"Huh?" Grudge leaned in.

Seemingly out of nowhere pink smoke went up in his face, blinding him. "THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!"

Grudge cursed as he stumbled away from her, holding his eyes and shouting out of anger. "WHAT IS IN THAT SMOKE!?"

"Cayenne pepper!" Trixie exclaimed.

Grudge sent out a blind swipe, which Trixie gracefully dodged. As she landed under him she sent out a powerful blast of magic that caught him under the chin. Grudge let out a roar of pain as his head was whipped back by the sheer power of the beam.

Seeing her chance Trixie slowly traced the beam down his body and focused on the gut. Suddenly it intensified, sending Grudge flying back and into the murky, blue water.

He picked himself out of the water, his yellow eyes burning with ferocity. He stood as if he didn't just take one of her strongest moves to the face. "Ah guess we started...." he growled.

Trixie sneered.

"Ah got this one boys, just sit back and watch!" Grudge yelled out to the audience.

Suddenly he moved forward, crouching on all fours and running across the ground like a.... lizard. Before Trixie could get a spell off he whirled around and caught her in the side with his tail, the force of the swing and his weight was enough to send her through the air and a couple feet away from him.

By the time she hit the ground he was already making his way over again.

Trixie reached into the satchel and threw another smoke bomb, right in front of his eyes again.

Grudge let out a shout of pain and rolled over, exposing his stomach again. Trixie looked at him, and then looked up, a large smooth crystal hung from the surface, dull enough to not stab through him and just crush him. She blasted the crystal, instead of coming loose though the beam bounced off of the surface, and into another crystal, and another, and another, this continued until the beam hit a spectating vulture, which squawked in surprise while the other animals watch apathetically.

Trixie blushed brightly. "Woops."

THWACK.

Her light frame was not enough to withstand a punch from Grudge. She went cartwheeling into the air, stiffly staring forward blankly like some kind of video game character.

She smacked into the ground and skidded across the smooth ground, a digital ringing sound following her.

Managing to focus she caught herself with her magic, using her telekinesis to come to an abrupt stop just inches away from a rockadile who smacked its jaws down hungrily.

She rolled back on to all fours, slightly woozy from both blows she had taken. If the fight kept up like this she would only get a couple more good hits in before she was done with, two more hits and it was over for her. Trixie's legs suddenly gave out. One more hit and she was done. for.

"Awww, wittle pony can't keep up with the big baddie?" Grudge taunted as he sauntered over.

Trixie reached for another smoke bomb but Grudges shadow fell over before she could. Suddenly his hands clamped around her sides and lifted her into the air. He bought her to face to face level and smiled maliciously.

"Ah had a little CRUSH on a girl once." As he said this he began to tighten his grip around Trixies sides. Within seconds he was effectively squeezing all of the air out of her lungs, leaving her gasping and wheezing for precious, precious oxygen. "But ah managed to squeeze it out."

"LAME!"

Before either one of them could react a blur tackled Grudge's face. As the figure which was none other than Jay wrapped himself around Grudges face two growling brown blurs took down the jackal heads guarding the Well-to-do's. Pan and Hex cheered as the mother comforted the father.

Trixie who was just now picking herself up and gathering as much air as her lungs could hold, watched in shock as Jay crawled on top of Grudges back and mounted him using the crystals jutting from his back.

It then dawned on her that he had been the one to grab the orbs earlier, in her haste to get away from the strange creature she had forgotten all about that.

"What are ya' waiting for!?" Jay shouted snapping her out of her thoughts. "Blast him!"

Grudge reached up and got a hold of Jays shoulders. He tried to pry him off with a yank but Jay tightened his hold and managed to hook a foot under one of Grudges crystals.

"Ah'll kill you for this!" Grudge shouted.

Jay shouted something back but Trixie began to focus on Grudges body. She envisioned him standing still and his reptilian skin peeling off like a flexible armor. Upon peeling off a giant needle with a long white string snaking behind it slithered into view. Suddenly the needle rushed forward and pierced the armor, going under and over. Every time it resurfaced she envisioned the armor getting weaker and weaker.

Now she imagined this again except with a light pink aura surrounding each step. She wanted it to happen, she would WILL it to happen.

Back in reality while Grudge and Jay were busy her horn had a spiral of light slowly slide around it. The spiral shot out, twirled around and shot forward. Nothing but a needle thin beam of light heading straight for Grudge.

Just as soon as the unruly gator noticed though the beam connected with his chest. His whole body tensed up instantly. He was at a loss of words, breath or anything really, he couldn't even move.

Jay used this moment to un-mount him, taking a spot next to Trixie.

He shot her a look before returning his attention to Grudge. "We'll discuss it later." he grunted.

Trixie sneered. "Fine with Trixie." she muttered.

"Alrighty, let's finish this." Jay began to walk forward with a cocky smile on his face. He cracked his knuckles slowly, popping each finger with a step.

Suddenly Grudges eyes widened with a growl. All at once, every yellow-eyed wolf, bear, manticore, any creature present in the room at the time all lunged forward. All aimed for Jay.

The strange man let out a yelp of surprise, just barely dodging the clamping jaws of a timber wolf. As he took a step back a group of screeching rhesus monkeys leapt onto him. Their constant shrieking and furry bodies kept him distracted while a bear lumbered over to finish the job.

Trixie went to get the nuisances off of him but a Jackal head dropped down right in front of her. With a mighty roar it bought a big meaty fist towards her skull. She instinctively bought up a magical shield, the useful barrier taking the brunt of the hit instead of her.

While the Jackal head began to pound away at her shield Jay was to busy throwing off screeching rhesus monkeys to notice the bear. Before the bear could do anything though a bright red heel smacked it in the face. The shocked bear looked at the heel then at the one who threw it, Mister Well-to-do.

"Uhhh dad." Pan started.

"Not now honey, remember when we had you and your brother take those classes?"

The bear crouched to all fours.

"The Piano lessons?" Hex asked.

The bear began to charge, already closing the distance between them.

"No, honey the other one!" The Mother yelped.

"Ohhhh!" Pan and Hex simultaneously said.

Just as the bear reached the Father Pan shot forward, she whirled around, packed her legs in tight and sent out a full powered buck to its gut. The bear doubled over with a pained roar.

"Cool!" Hex shouted.

BOOM!

A horde of screeching rhesus monkeys soared through the air as Jay let out a triumphant yell. Following off of the yell he threw his head back and roared.

The roar going unnoticed in all of the commotion would serve its purpose. While the Well-to-do's were currently keeping the other creatures busy no-one had noticed the eight foot spider currently creeping out of a hole in the crystals. It instantaneously targeted Hex, crawling along the wall just out of every bodies sight.

It was over Hex now, the kid close enough to the wall for it to snatch. Its giant, ruby red eyes focused on the kid. As it crept closer to him and crawled over another deep hole in the wall, it's fangs wiggling in anticipation it failed to notice the glowing green eyes peering out at it. A growl warned the spider who stopped and turned to face the hole, its legs ticking against the glassy surface of the crystals.

A lone howl echoed throughout the air. Soon followed by many more, so many that it nearly became deafening.

Uncountable pairs of eyes followed the present pair.

Multiple timber wolves jumped out with snarls and gnashing teeth, taking the spider to the ground.

Within seconds the room was suddenly filled with multiple timber-wolves rushing in from different entrances. Some came from the higher ground, others from the main entrance. Some even popped up from the pond, different creatures of the water held between their teeth.

Trixie peered out from under her shield. Upon witnessing the growing army she huffed. "Trixie is not playing second fiddle." she muttered.

The Jackal-head reared back for another strike. This time as it bought its fists down, Trixie dropped the shield and jumped to the side. The Jackal-head smashed its fist into the ground and gave the air a confused look. Suddenly a purple beam caught it in the side of its face, seizing up every muscle in its body. It fell over like a sack of bricks, hitting the ground with a thud.

Trixie turned and began to fire beams of magic like an automated machine. Taking out creatures of the everfree left and right with a surprising accuracy.

While Trixie, the Well-to-do's and the wolves took care of the others Jay turned his attention back to the still paralyzed Grudge. He sprinted forward, disappearing from his spot, the only trace of him even being their was a gust of wind kicked up.

Just as he closed distance he leapt forward and shot out his foot.

Suddenly he was being flipped through the air. With a grunt he slammed into the ground, seeing that Grudge was now standing over him and held a tight grip around his ankle. Their eyes met, Grudge's burning with a fury and Jays still as coy as ever.

"Ah'ma break those legs, then lets see if you still have all dat spunk in ya'."

Grudge tightened his grip but was suddenly hit in the back of the head by a thick beam of magic. Jay used this chance to kick out the other foot, catching Grudge right in the throat. As the lizard man let go to grab his throat another beam hit him in the back of his head, forcing him to lean over. Jay shot out both legs like a piston straight into his gut.

Grudge keeled over completely. Supporting himself with one arm as Jay rolled back up. Grudge went to swipe at him with his free arm but found it stuck. Shooting a quick glance at it he saw a pink aura holding it in place.

Before Grudge could right himself Jay shuffled forward and sent an uppercut right under his jaw. With a sickening crack Grudges head snapped up, the world spun around him as he fell to the ground. When he hit the floor the residing thud seemed to echo throughout the universe.

Jay moved forward to finish the job.

"Jay." Trixie said in a demanding tone. He looked up to meet her hard gaze. "Don't you think he's had enough...." she muttered.

Jay opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a swarm of bats with yellow eyes. They swooped down and shrouded him, eliciting a surprised shout from Jay followed by a couple choice words. Before Trixie could react she was swarmed too, attempting to put up a barrier between he and the tons of furry bodies shrieking at her.

They had gotten to close to her proximity. If she made a barrier she would just trap some inside with her.

The distraction didn't last long anyway as Grudge wrapped his tail around Jays ankle and yanked him down and out of the swarm. Jays head bashed against the floor stunning him for a second while Grudge reached over and grabbed Trixie's cape. Yanking her out of her swarm too he bounded, Trixie in one hand and Jay being dragged by his tail into the water.

Jay and Trixie were instantly submerged underwater. Jay first mistake was gasping for air, instead getting a lungful of water. WHile he choked and panicked Trixie managed to hold her onto her hat and breath and get a glimpse of what was going on.

Grudge who was a surprisingly good swimmer was pulling them to the deeper end of the water, obviously getting ready to drown them both. She tried to focus on a paralyzation spell but Jays thrashing and the increasing depth of the water was distracting her too much. Instead she opted to just blast him in the face instead.

A weak but effective blast connected right with his eyes, causing Grudge to shout out in surprise. Jay in all of his thrashing reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the orbs, he bought it up and bit into it, a light engulfing the water and causing a quite beautiful display as the light bounced off of the crystals.

They were in mid-air again, tumbling down one of the walls of the cave and being thrown back into the fray. As they crashed into a large crystal Grudge lost his grip of them both, each one rolling in a different direction from the other.

As if planned they all crashed into the ground at the same time, only a few feet away from each other but back in the battle.

Jay coughed up sputters of water as he struggled to get up, his grin gone and replaced by a twisted scowl of pain.

Trixie shook the excess water off of her, sending droplets everywhere. By the time she finished Grudge was already up, a wicked smile stretched across his muzzle. "Pathetic..." he growled. Shooting a brief look at Jay he whacked him with his tail, sending Jay into a wall which knocked a bunch of crystals loose.

"Absolutely pathetic, you had me right there. All you had to do was let go of your stupid little morals for ONE SECOND!" Grudge began to breath heavily. "BUT YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU'RE TOO GOOD FOR THAT! YOU AND YOU STUPID LITTLE HORSEY LIFESTYLES MAKE ME SICK!"

Trixie's readied her horn but Grudge lunged forward, right in front of her within a second. The sudden change in advantage caused Trixie to freeze up, leaving her to his mercy.

"Well..... let me tell you something. When you live such a soft lifestyle you ain't ever ready for the hard times..." he growled. His big, scaly hands lifted over above Trixie's head. Splaying out his claws he smiled even wider. Trixie was too paralyzed by fear to do anything, his furious yellow eyes were keeping her in place. Something about them was so terrifying...so hypnotizing.

He bought his claws down.

All of a sudden a large crystal bashed into the back Grudges head sending him reeling forward and missing the swipe by a long shot. This broke Trixie out of her trance, letting her move back and asses the situation. He whirled around and roared but found another crystal the size of his head crashing into his face.

"Oh shut up!" Jay shouted picking up another loose crystal and chucking it.

This time it caught Grudge on the shoulder sending him moving a step backwards.

"People like you and me ain't ever gonna have the easy life again!" Another crystal connected with grudges snout, a sickening crack following its shatter.

"We're not supposed to!" This time a crystal connected with his gut.

"We're supposed to sit back and take it like a bunch of hardasses!" A crystal crashed into his groin, sending him reeling over and gasping for air.

Jay stopped at the foot of his head. Grudge rolled over and pleaded silently. Jay held a crystal the size of his body over his head, staring down at Grudge with a crazed look. "NOT blame others for it!" He bought the crystal down.

Two things happened. First the crystal shattered into billions of pieces but not before practically breaking Grudges face in a million different places.

And second, every yellow-eyed creature in the cave stopped fighting simultaneously. All at once they began to slip from their trances, Jays wolves backing off at the site of this.

The Well-to-do's backed off of the manticore they had been ganging up on.

It then became apparent to Grudge the cave had gone silent. The link had been broken, he no longer could keep up his link with the creatures of the everfree.

Which meant.

Upon opening his eyes albeit slowly and painfully, Grudge nearly messed himself. Jay and Trixie stood over him, Jay 's jester smile still being worn and Trixie's purple eyes staring at him with disdain. Multiple bodies of the creatures were behind them, staring directly at him with a lack of yellow in their eyes.

"Uh.... I spose' it ain't too late to talk it out?" He manged to sputter out.

Before he could react a cockatrice slid into his view and cawed right in his face. Grudge let out a scream but was quickly frozen, engulfed in stone and forever giving a silent scream.

"Well..." Jay said folding his arms. "That was kind of underwhelming." he muttered.

"How so?" Trixie incquired.

"Well I mean we had two whole chapters leading up- Waitaminute. We need to have a chat!"

"WE don't need to do anything. Trixie needs to get the family out of here and to ponyville right now. Celestia knows what else is gonna attack them."

"Nothing. They're good guys really. Just you know, circle of life and all. Speaking of bottom of the food chain, where's Book?"

"Right in my satchel."

"Well give him back." Jay quirked an eyebrow and leaned forward. "Unless you want me too take him by force."

Trixie chuckled softly and flashed him a cocky smile. "We both know that's a fight you're not going to win." She purred.

Jay went to lunge forward but was stopped by the clopping of multiple hooves. Both of them straightening up like a kid caught stealing they turned to face the Well-to-do's.

"That.Was.AWESOME!" Hex shouted.

"Yeah you guys were all like BAM, POW!" Pan pumped her hooves in the air the emphasize.

"Then we got to fight!" Hex began to jump up and down.

"Yeah and we got to hit a bear!" Pan shouted.

"AND YOU!" Both of them shouted pointing at Jay. "You were so cool!" Hex shouted.

"But really stupid." Pan said leaning back.

"You're welcome...." Jay said through gritted teeth.

"Now kids, don't point." The Father said. Both parents trotted over to Jay. "We sincerely thank you for your help Mister...."

"Jay, it's just Jay. I ain't got a last name..... not anymore."

"Hmm?" They both had managed to just barely catch his words.

"Nothing, It's just Jay."

"Well Mister...Jay. Once again thank you for your help."

The parents suddenly turned on Trixie who flinched. "And you...."

"...."

"All those stories you told us were certainly true!" The Mother gushed.

"I must say they were. You handled yourself better than we thought." The Father added. "And to think we doubted your abilities. But you quite obviously let us get caught so you could find the evil-doer right!?"

The two leaned in and gave her a hopeful look.

She looked back at Jay who gave her a knowing smile.

"Y-Yeah. Trixie had to figure out who would dare nab the family under her protection."

"HAHA!" The Father beamed. "Risky move but clever!"

"I knew even with our kids here that they would be fine." The Mother cooed.

"Yes, yes quite."

"Yes, well. Just make sure to pay Trixie extra for her services." Trixie said with a coy smile.

"Oh, we went bankrupt months ago!" The  Mother smiled widely. "We just hired you because we needed protection."

Trixie's face went blank as a slate. Her emotionless eyes twitching slightly. "You- you what?"

"Yup, lost everything after the whole Tirek deal. We were actually going to start anew in Ponyville." The Father rubbed the back of his head. "Out kids don't know yet but they never really cared about money just about making friends."

By now Jay was laughing to himself in the back and shoving his middle-finger at her.

"I'm sorry Trixie but we didn't have any other way."

".... You know what, Trixie is strangely okay with this." Trixie said. She shot a glance at Pan and Hex who were dancing around each other while some animals watched. "Trixie doesn't know what it is, but Trixie doesn't feel upset right now." She turned and stared at the petrified Grudge. "Not one bit...."

Jay and Trixie sat under the night sky, glad to finally get some relief from the commotion. They were back in the clearing where it had all began, the Well-to-do's fast asleep and most of the animals back in their rightful places.

The two sat in silence. Trixie sat upright on a log while Jay splayed out across the grassy ground, leaning his head against the log for support. He yawned and stretched out his arms, smacking his lips lightly. A dying fire cackled softly off to the side of them, leaving them with nothing but the sound of their thoughts and the sound of the forest.

"Trixie is sorry for the way she had acted earlier...." Trixie suddenly said breaking the silence.

Jay shifted towards her and gave her a quick look of surprise.

"Didn't know you were the 'sorry' kinda type..." he muttered.

"Yes well... don't get used to this kind of treatment. Trixie didn't know what to think with somepony like you around." Trixie sighed heavily and reached into her satchel. She pulled out the book and stared at him. "There more Trixie figured out about you the more you..."

"Scared ya'?" Jay said shifting towards her. "Freaked you out? Made your fur brown? Yeah, you don't know how often I hear that."

Trixie stayed silent and stared at the book briefly. A quick flash of pink light and she tossed the book on Jays chest.

"Soooo good to be back..." The book cooed. Soon after that the book began to snore.

Jay furrowed his eyebrows. "Dude's gettin' old..." he muttered to himself before putting the book off to the side gently. Jay turned back to the night sky. "We'll head to Ponyville in the morning, ain't too far." he simply said. Trixie looked back up at the sky as well.

"Why... did you come back?" Trixie asked.

Jay stayed silent, staring off into the distance. Suddenly he shifted and faced Trixie again.

"I wanted my forest back of course..."

Trixie let a soft smile grace her lips. "Of course." she repeated. As they both turned back to the night sky they let the unspoken agreement hang in the air like a golden trophy.

They had made a pretty good team back there...

Celestia's throne room....

CRASH!

The roof exploded sending rubble and pale moonlight everywhere. The thundering explosion had been none other than Celestia herself, crashing through the roof full force. Her pristine white fur was now caked in dirt and soot. Multiple burns and brusises racked her body, effectively proving to get the best of her as she couldn't move.

Her golden armor was dented and dirty now, The chest plate and helmet so riddled with holes and openings they were useless and her right leg piece missing.

One of her wings was twisted so that both of them faced to the right now... she was lying on her back. And even if the left wing hadn't been twisted the right one was bent at an angle in several different places.

A shadow washed over her, blocking the moonlight out. Nightmare Moon touched down softly next to Celestia, the only thing indicating she had taken any hits was a single dent in her chest piece.. Without even paying any attention to her she trotted over to the throne with a big, goofy smile on her face.

"This is going to be an amazing ruling place don't you think sister?"

Celestia said nothing, instead opting to stare at the sky blankly.

"Hmph. No answer sister? We thought thee to be the talkative type, you know with all those events you've been hosting and such." Nightmare Moon paused. "Oh my, We seem to be fixing the problem."

Celestia slowly rolled her eyes too look at her.

Nightmare Moon smiled. "Luna finally seems to be accepting us."

Celestia closed her eyes silently, turning her head away from the abomination in front of her.

Nightmare Moon sauntered over to the throne and plopped down on it. A loud boom could be heard outside, jolting Celestia but not getting her to move.

"You're probably thinking about how the Elements have already noticed all the noise or how their castle alerted them to my presence. And about how they're on their way too take care of us. Tartarus you may even be thinking about how all of Equestria is rallying behind them, already ready to help their benevolent ruler." Nightmare Moon looked at the night sky, her smile growing wider.

"But we have bad news for you."

"The army isn't just here."

A hand full of royal guards swarmed around an unconscious Shining Armor and a barely conscious Candance. They stood in the throne room of the crystalline palace, watching with stoic faces as the front doors were pounded on repeatedly. Suddenly the doors flew open, revealing a writhing, black mass.

Multiple shouts of orders filled the room as guards took different places, their spears primed and ready.

"Steady!" a blue crystal guard shouted.

The mass shot forward suddenly, revealing itself to be multiple ravenous changelings.

A collective yell from the guards filled the throne room.

"They're everywhere."

The Ponies and the Buffalo of Appleoosa fired off another row of pies. The incoming griffons clad in blue armor all squawked in surprise as the pies connected with their faces, taking them out of the sky. Braeburn shouted something to the sheriff but before anything could be done Diamond Dogs sprouted up from the ground, grabbing different residents and pulling them into the earth.

"This is a full scale invasion sister."

Ponies in Fillydelphia fled as an army of multiple species marched through the streets. A group of rowdy Minotaurs burst through

"And of course... I took out as much of your help as I could."

"And just how did you get in here?" Discord demanded staring at the ponies in robes all around him. "Nopony, and I mean nopony except for Pinkie Pie have gotten in here before.... and maybe that mailpony." he opened the window of his house to see the mail pony floating right on by, they waved at each other before he returned to them.

"Hmm, something tells me plot device is incoming." Discord muttered stroking his beard.

"It's hopeless Tia. And your precious little elements aren't on their way, they've blocked off the town like a bunch of cowards. Nopony goes in nopony goes out."

Celestia stared forward silently, looking up at the moon. "You can tell them to come out now. I know they're there." she said softly.

Nightmare Moon's eyes widened. "We're surprised you can still talk. Let alone sense somepony else...."

She clapped her hooves twice twirling one in the air shortly after. "As they say 'the jig is uh up' is it? Come on out you two."

A low, throaty chuckle echoed around the room as all of the torches were lit up simultaneously. But it was off, instead of the warm, orange glow taking the room it was taken by a sickly green. The green flames let Celestia's and Nightmare Moon's shadows dance against the throne room walls.

"What in my mothers name..." Celestia tried to get up but instead let out a groan of pain, falling back over and struggling against the ground.

"Oh Tia, two good friends of yours would love too see you."

"Indeed...." A soft, raspy voice spoke. It was old...too old. In fact it was so old Celestia had thought she would never hear it again.

"No..." She mewled softly.

Tirek stepped into the green light, a crooked smile on his withered face. "Celestia. I thought you were above kissing the ground."

Celestia tried to get up again, this time glaring at Tirek the whole time. The withered demon watched her silently with amusement. Finally Celestia gave up collapsing again.

She let out a heavy breath as what was really happening set in on her.

"It's not over yeeet~!" Nightmare Moon sung.

"No it isn't." Celestia perked up at the voice, her eyes widening ever further.

"In fact my children and I are just getting started." Chrysalis said with a flip of her mossy, green mane. She trotted into Celestia's view and gave her a beaming smile.

Celestia's breath hitched, if these guys were free just because of Nightmare Moon who knew what else she had done.

"H-How... The Elements beat all of you." Celestia managed to get out.

"Well..." Nightmare Moon started. "It's a really long story, one that involves a lot of planning."

"W-Why would you all join forces, you each want very different things! Tirek and Chrysalis cannot co-exist, without love there is no magic! There would be nothing for you Tirek!"

"Oh whatever!" Chrysalis said flippantly. "He's going to be good enough as it is."

Celestia gave them a confused look.

Chrysalis smiled maliciously. "We've got a master plan! And it is soooo wonderous!"

"And Tia, oh Tia, we're afraid we cannot let you know that plan as it is a secret after all. But uh, we'll let you in on phase one."

Suddenly a sharp pain overtook Celestia's body. It was so sudden and powerful that it nullified all the other pains in her body. The sun-goddess let out a long shriek as every cell of her body was wracked with pain.

Tirek stood just a few feet away from her. His mouth wide open and sucking in her magic eagerly.  Suddenly the magic disappeared, leaving Celestia's limp body to drop. The goddess was silent, too silent for Nightmare Moon's liking.

The nightmare froze. "Is she..."

Chrysalis felt around Celestia's neck for a second then stood back up. "She's alive....unfortunately."

A smile cracked on Nightmare Moons face. "Good, don't want her gone too early now. We still need her."

Tirek who was considerably bigger and beefier now clenched his fists with a growl. "This isn't enough!" he shouted.

"Patience Tirek, you'll have a lot more coming your way. Once our plan takes off and it WILL. You'll have as much magic as you want and Chrysalis will have as much love as she wants."

"But I want more now!" Tirek growled.

Nightmare Moon glared at him. Tirek froze in his spot, his face contorting in pain. "A-A-ALRIGHT!" he shouted. Chrysalis watched as Nightmare Moon let him go from whatever influence she had on him, Tirek dropping to the ground with a thud and pained breathing.

"Go out and join your brothers for now. The plan will not be set in motion until tomorrow morning."

Tirek all to eager to get out of their teleported off somewhere. Chrysalis stared at Nightmare Moon before speaking. "What did you do to him?" she asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Just a little insurance to make sure he didn't turn on us Chrysalis." Nightmare Moon turned and looked at the moon.

Chrysalis's eyes narrowed. "What kind of insurance?" she asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry about it, you have your children to stay. Tirek has nothing but promises to go on and he oh so loves to break promises. Worry not, for we have no plan to use the insurance on you."

"Mhm..." Chrysalis hmphed. "You're still going to raise the sun for these.... ponies." She said the last word with so much disdain it sounded toxic.

"Obviously." Nightmare Moon simply stated.

"But why? I thought you wanted eternal night so the ponies could love you."

Nightmare Moon turned away from the night sky and stared down at the ground. "While it's true that we desired to be loved for the ongest time we are no longer eager for their love. For now we desire something else, something that no amount of fear could ever give us."

"And what is that?"

"Companionship.... We do want love but we want love from a reputable source."

The words hung heavy on the air as Chrysalis let them sink in. She stared at the unconscious Celestia one more time before slinking off into the shadows.

Nightmare Moon looked back up at the moon. She let the moonlight bathe over her as she smiled maliciously. "And companionship we shall obtain."