Chapters Equestria Alternate: The Nightmare Republic
1000 years ago, Princess Luna's jealously over Princess Celestia made the Princess of the Night transform into the wicked beast known as Nightmare Moon. Luckily, Celestia managed to banish Luna on the moon for over 1000 years thanks to the Elements of Harmony. However, Celestia's current student Twilight Sparkle noticed signs that the Mare of the Moon may come back after so long in there. When she showed this to her teacher, she instructed her to go take part in preparing the Summer Sun Celebration, but Nightmare did come back as Twilight predicted. While Nightmare was adoring her eternal night and terrorizing everypony, Twilight and the rest of the mane six decided to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters to find the Elements of Harmony to stop Nightmare Moon. After overcoming some obstacles, they thought they were doomed the moment Nightmare supposedly smashed the Elements when in reality, they discovered THEY represent the elements as they formed and began to take down Nightmare Moon once and for all. Or so they thought........
In the midst of the dark room of the old castle, Twilight sparkle bellows to Nightmare Moon in determination, "Your reign of eternal night will be over, Nightmare Moon!"
As she and her friends powered up in an attempt to stop her. Then a rainbow came out of them and was coming towards the dark Alicorn herself.
Nightmare Moon's blood froze, and her legs locked for an instance, but suddenly, her dark lips stretched into a wicked, toothy grin, and regained posture.
And with a foul laugh, she said, "I don't think so, Twilight Sparkle, the night shall never end."
Purple light illuminated her horn, small shafts of lightning bursting forth, and a coil of purple smoke channeled through her horn. She raised her head up high and thrust forward with a fierce screech. A serpentine trail of smoke and purple lightning erupted forth, encircling the group.
With a loud crack, the amulets split in half, and fell to the stone floor with a light clang. Before any of them could react, they were thrown through the walls, shaking the very interior of crumbling castle, and scattered rock and dust all about in the next room.
They slowly picked themselves up, collapsing immediately. They gasped for air, and their muscles burned painfully. Nightmare Moon trotted nonchalantly into the dank, dark room filled with stone and old bones.
A loud bang echoed through the castle's labyrinthine hallways, and six, gold-shafted spears with leaf shaped blades appeared, suspended above the ground. They each gazed at the eldritch weapons with awe and fear, and then came a familiar voice trailing like a rolling breeze in spring. The spears shifted direction instantly, facing Twilight and her friends.
The moment lasted like a heartbeat, and it was over, their lungs filled with fire. Directed by some outside force, the spears drove themselves toward Twilight and her friends, tearing through fur and soft flesh. Warm, streams of liquid poured from their wounds, collecting into large, sticky crimson puddles around them.
Their faces paled, and their blood became as icy water.
"Well guys, I think this is it then, I love all of you and I'll see you in the afterlife." Fluttershy said weakly, and she smiled one last time, and nodded her head.
Tears stung their eyes, and their hearts ached.
"No!", they screamed, but one after the other, and quickly, light left their eyes, and only darkness passed before them.
"I never made it to the Wonderbolts, but I think I might in my next life. Lets hope-" Rainbow's head rocked back before she could finish. Pinkie simply cried as her mane and tail deflated like a balloon.
"Please help us, anypony!", she yelled one last time before soon dying as well.
"Only the two of us are left, Twilight. I think we should join them." Applejack says as she then turns to where she first saw Nightmare Moon, but realized she's not there anymore. "Nightmare Moon!" She exclaimed, "You may have killed us, but believe me, your reign of eternal night will be put to an end, but not by us. We promise you that. All of us......".
She soon of course joined the five after that short speech. Twilight soon had her turn to cry, but then before she died, her vision began to get blurry. She saw what looked like a long blue pony walking by and looking directly at her.
"Help...us...please." Twilight's words barely left her lips as her head nodded, and darkness passed over her.
The last thing Twilight ever heard was a familiar mare cackling loudly as she drifted out. When she passed out, the blue pony she saw then noticed the cracked Elements on the floor and picked them all up. She smirked, bending down toward Twilight's ear, and whispered with a hiss
"Certainly."
With haste, the blue pony yanked out the spears with ease, tossing them aside, clattering against the ancient, stone floor. With demonic strength, she hoisted up all six bodies, and carried them into a large, round empty room. She placed each of the bodies in six, separate rings of volcanic ash spread about the room.
"Now," the pony said, "let's bring you all back to life." She laughed as a large ball of glowing dark blue light ascended from out of her chest.
She chanted, "Quod si omnes mortui sunt, tempus est ut omnes vivificabuntur. Nunc ergo veni, et animas vestras, ut renatis contendunt. Tamen revertere ad me, ut sint aliquid, et pugnat. Et post haec revertentur vivificabat!"
Next, six pieces came out of it and was placed into the wounds of the dead six, causing them to glow blue as well.
"Have fun coming back to life. Until then, sweet dreams my creations." She shut the door with a quiet snap and the room was filled with silence.
But not all is as it seems. After all...
...Death is not the end, but the beginning as there are fates worse than death......
Author's Note
I had this story in my head for a long time, but I never managed to create it until now. So what do you guys think about this?
Equestria Alternate: The Nightmare Republic
Have you ended wondered about Death? It ain't always pretty dying, but the ones who die say it's faster than falling asleep, ones who survive it say it was "peaceful", and many other things, but can reincarnation exist? Lets find out...
After the mane six have died, they all wake up in a very large black void with nothing but themselves that they can see without light. Their chests was splattered with their blood but also has a long line on it to show where the spears have stabbed them.
"Where are we? This doesn't look like Heaven or Tartarus at all." Twilight said as she looked around and could only see her friends due to the bright, purple light coming out of her horn. She hoped there would be some way out, but everywhere she looked look infinite and the same except with her friends at least.
"I don't know, Sugarcube," Applejack replied, noticing her hat is gone, "But if we're not dead or alive or whatever, we gotta get out of here. Remember, Nightmare Moon must be stopped, one way or another."
"Don't you see where we are and what happened to us, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash pointed out, "We lost the Elements to Nightmare Moon's spell, she then killed us with those spears and now we're here. I don't think we're alive anymore."
"Rainbow Dash and Applejack do have some points." Rarity stepped in, "We are dead, but it doesn't look like we're in Heaven or Tartarus. My best guess is that we're in a coma after the impalement and due to us being the Elements, we all managed to meet in one mind. But we must escape out of here."
While they were all were busy discussing their plan, Pinkie then noticed something in the distance. It was blue, big, glowing and coming towards them very fast from a distance. She then walked to her friends and questioned, "Um guys? What's that?" She points to the giant blue ball coming right at them. Twilight then says, "It looks like a-" but before she could complete their sentence, they were all struck by it, causing them to feel like they were burned severely by 1000 blazing suns.
When they actually woke up, they were in an extremely dark room and couldn't see anything this time. But as they looked at their hooves, they noticed how they were much longer now like if they grew taller overtime in the "coma" they thought they were in. Not only that, but their fur was much more darker than it was before, as if Somepony tended to dye their fur colors to black, but their manes and tails were also darker but flowing like an Alicorn. They also were now able to see stronger and at very large distances. Soon WAM came open the double doors as the blue pony from before came, but was limping or drunk as she wasn't walking straight and started to almost fall to her left or right. The blue pony was........... Nightmare Moon.
She smirked very with glee. "Ah, my creations have finally awakened." she said to the six, "I think you all wondering what happened to you all. Well for one, I wasn't actually responsible for the spears. I think I know who did it, but I'll tell you all later. Now's the time to show you all your new forms now." She showed them all a long mirror and they all gasped. The reason why they looked like Alicorns cause they have BECOME Alicorns. Their forms look very similar to that of Nightmare Moon herself when comparing the eyes, facial structure, size, pose and form. But what makes the new mane six and Nightmare still different is that the six still have their own fur, mane, tail, and eye color but darkened, along with having different cutie marks and the six having no armor like Nightmare has.
Moon also noticed this and chuckled. "Oh yeah," She said, "I just finished creating those as gifts for your rebirths." Her horn glowed very bright purple again and a large amount of mist swirled around the six and during this, they felt something hard but cold get hold onto their faces, hooves and then the rest of the body. When the mist cleared, they gasped again when they saw they now have full armor very alike to Nightmare's, except theirs have their cutie marks on the neck plate. They were about to say something, but noticed their voices was also corrupted and as loud as the Canterlot Voice.
They all finally spoke together, "What did you do to all of us, Nightmare Moon?!" They all soon took a deep breath and decided to not yell due to it hurting their throats a bit as they haven't drank anything in a while.
The dark Alicorn spoke with no tone of aggressiveness, "I simply brought you all back to life. After your deaths, I figured this was too early of blood spilled so fast, so I resurrected you all using a dangerous spell I made. It's different to the one I used to turn some loyal Royal guards into Batpony guards cause you all weren't alive or even guards. So I was forced with the only way to bring you all back: I had to take six small pieces of my own corrupted soul and put them inside your wounds. It worked as your wounds patched up at the cost of leaving hideous scars on your chests and that the soul pieces turned you all like me. It also explains why I walked as if I was weak as it's gonna take a while for my soul to regenerate. But hey, at least you all are still alive now."
The new Nightmare six couldn't say a thing. They were just speechless. They were speechless that Nightmare Moon, the evil tyrant Alicorn that wanted to bring havoc on Equestria had given up pieces of her just to revive the ones that planned to defeat her. Soon, Fluttershy asked in her quiet but still corrupted tone, "But what happened to our Elements?"
Nightmare Moon replied, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. They're alright. You all thought I actually destroyed when in reality, I just only shut them down. But now they're as corrupted as you all as they're connected to you six like your new souls. I call them now the Elements of Nightmare. Anyway, I suppose you all are wondering who I think might've killed you all, right?"
The Nightmare Six all nodded, but the dark Alicorn sighed. "Alright," Nightmare said in a sad tone, "I'll show you but you all won't like it. Follow me out of this room." She proceeded to the room where the mane six have died in with them following her and they see the bloody golden spears on the floors along with their own blood around each spear, but now all dried up. They heard Nightmare mutter, "I can't believe SHE did this to them. She really is a monster." but they ignored it. Nightmare simply sighed, shed a tear, picked up one of the spears and cleaned the blood off it. "Look." was all she said. The six soon gasped again but Twilight yelled loudly, "NO!". Etched onto the golden spear was the shape of a sun, a familiar cutie mark.
And thus, their new life begins........ As the new Elements of Nightmare.
Author's Note
Ooh, another cliffhanger, right?
Equestria Alternate: The Nightmare Republic
Chapter 2: How long were they dead?
Nightmare Moon simply shed a tear as she soon dropped the golden spear back into the pile with the rest of them. "I'm sorry," she said to her Nightmare Six, "but it's true. You see now why I resurrected you all?" Twilight at first punched a wall with her strong hoof but then she heard Nightmare and calmed down.
"Why would she do this to us?" Twilight asked in a sad tone. Her friends hugged her in order to comfort her. "Maybe this is all a dream and we gotta wake up."
"Sorry Twilight Sparkle," Nightmare Moon said to her, "but this dream is reality. We all must face it. But don't worry," Nightmare began petting her mane, "You're safe with me."
Twilight was going to plan to swipe the hoof away but then noticed something. "Nightmare Moon? I got to ask...... how long were we dead? Cause it felt like just only for a few minutes, but we look older now."
Nightmare smiled weakly, "Cause you all are. You see, that spell was so complicated, it took forever for you all to come back alive, but I treated you all during your recovery. How long? Uh........... several years."
They all gasped and yelled together, "Several years?!" They began hesitating and pacing hard, wondering what might've happened to their friends and family. Applejack wonders about her family and the farm, Rarity about Sweetie Belle and her own family, Twilight about Spike, Pinkie about everypony, Rainbow about Scootaloo, and Fluttershy about her animals, even Angel.
"I told you," Nightmare replied, "The spell was complicated. It took that long for you all to get your wakeup calls. What about your families and friends, you may ask? Well you all can go to Ponyville and see what has happened to them, but if it's not good, come back here to discuss on some things. I even got some names to fit you all."
"We'll be back, Nightmare Moon." They all said and they then simply ran out of the castle, ran past the remains of the obstacles they encountered long ago, and then out of the Everfree Forest to a sight of Ponyville. All of the windows and doors were shut as if the small town was abandoned. However, Twilight saw a light in her home at the Ponyville Library, so she knows the ponies are still around. "Alright everypony," the new purple Alicorn said, "Split up and reunite at Town Hall to find out what happened to our kin and friends." They all nodded and ran off in different directions.
When the purple dark Alicorn approached the front wooden door to her home, she simply knocked on it and waited. And waited. And waited. After waiting for too long, she simply touched it to reveal it was open. "That's odd," , she said in her mind, "Usually Spike would lock the door. Oh well." She simply walked in to see the place seems all clean until she noticed Spike in her room upstairs simply putting a book back where it belonged. "Spike!" She yelled with a smile on her face to see her #1 assistant still alive, but also a little bit bigger as he is a dragon after all.
However, her smile turned into a frown when Spike simply replied, "What are you doing here? You were gone forever. You can leave now."
Twilight was confused. Why would Spike even say something like that? It's something he wouldn't say. "Leave why, Spike? Did something happen while me and my friends were gone?"
"Of course yes, Twilight." Spike replied while now looking at her with an angry face. "While you and the pony gang was gone, I had to tend to myself. Most of the books here aren't the ones from long ago as thieves came in and stole a majority of them, forcing me to need to work with other ponies or steal bits to buy new books. Of course it was hard to find a job around here as everypony became harsh after Nightmare Moon let it be eternal night. I even had to murder some thieves since I had no other choice. So now leave cause it hurts how after so long, you now came back at the right place at the wrong time." He then simply pointed at the door.
Tears began to form in Twilight's draconic eyes. "But Spike please listen. I can explain. You see, Nightmare Moon-" but before she could continue, Spike grabbed her by the neck, opened the door to outside and threw her out like if she was trash.
"Face it Twilight. No one is happy that you or your friends have been able to save Equestria from Nightmare Moon. And if you're saying it's Nightmare's fault, then why don't you and them just join her?!" Spike asked angrily as he simply slammed the door shut and walked back upstairs.
Twilight then began to cry heavily as she then ran back to Town Hall. There she saw her friends waiting, tears also in their eyes. "So you all got nothing but hate from the rest of your friends and family?" She asked between cries. They simply nodded.
Rainbow explained, "I-It was horrible! Scootaloo, the filly I cared a sister and leader of my fan club turned it into a "I hate Rainbow Dash" club. They simply told me to leave and began throwing stuff like apple cores and other junk at me, forcing me to leave."
"Speaking of apples," Applejack intervened, "M-m-my family hates me! During our recovery, the apple orchards died off quickly due to a plant disease only I knew the cure to and thus, they lost the barn, their belongings, and Granny died of old age and Applebloom and Big Mac blame me for it. I simply left crying before I heard anything else bad."
Rarity's face was a bit dirty to her makeup getting wet by her tears, "Out of all of the worst things that could, this is the Worst. POSSIBLE. THING! The boutique is a mess, the dresses were all awful and old, cobwebs and spiders were everywhere and worst of all, I found Sweetie Belle dead in the kitchen. Cause of death was that the stove exploded and she got caught in the blast radius. I-I." She simply dropped her head down before saying anything else.
Fluttershy was in a puddle of her own tears but also had some signs of scratches on her, but her wounds seemed to have healed due to being immortal and durable as Nightmare Moon. "T-t-they....... hate me! All of the animals simply attacked me while Angel was the worst out of all of them. I tried calming them down, but it didn't work. I thought they would kill me until I realized what I was again."
Pinkie simply said not much but, "When I walked around, all the windows and doors closed, especially at Sugarcube Corner, so I know none in Ponyville wants us there." until her mane and tail drooped more than usual.
Twilight stopped crying for a bit. "Lets go back to Nightmare Moon like she said. Come on girls." They all simply nodded, picked themselves up, and walked back into the Everfree Forest. When they approached the castle ruins, they saw Nightmare Moon at the entrance waiting for their arrival.
"Nightmare Six? Is that all you? I was able to see what happened to you all by looking into your minds by a spell. But don't worry, I'm not like them. I care for you all like you all were my daughters as you all sort of are."
No longer need to hate or be afraid of her anymore, the Nightmare Six simply ran to her, hugged her long legs and cried on them. Nightmare manage to free her front hooves and used them to grab and hug them all. "We're sorry for leaving you, Nightmare Moon. We're sorry!"
"That's ok, girls." Nightmare simply said, now looking much better. "My soul finally healed and now I am better than ever now. So you want me to escort you all to your rooms I made in the castle?"
They simply had huge smiles on their faces and said altogether, "YES!" Nightmare Moon nodded and gestured them to follow her. They did and she led them to a hallway and nearby was six rooms with their cutie marks on each door. "I managed to spawn comfy beds for you all to sleep in," Nightmare explained, "I'll be on all night (pun intended) to fix up the entire castle. When you all wake up, you'll see this place like it was before me and my sister abandoned it. Good night my creations." She then kissed them all on the forehead and walked off to continue fixing up the place. The Nightmare Six smiled, went to their rooms, took off their armor, and fell asleep on their beds.
"Yes," Nightmare Moon said after they all fell asleep and she left them, "Thing are going according to plan......"