"We don't need anything from you Rarity!"
"Yea! And we never wi-" Rarity's dream was violently interrupted. A face, the face of a nightmare, flickered in Rarity's mind. Though the nightmare was beautiful, its beauty was only skin-deep.
"No!" She shouted as she popped up from her bed, drenched in sweat.
"That's the fourth time this week, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle moaned.
"Sweetie, please let me go back to sleep." Rarity pleaded.
"Rar-it-y! You promised you'd go with me. Now you keep having 'trouble sleeping'. The Sisterhooves Social is in two hours and-"
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity's face was screwed with frustration. Her eyes flashed dangerously.
Sweetie Belle looked appalled as she ran away, tears streaming.
But Rarity did not even care.
Lately she had found herself not caring about others. Her generosity was being slowly strangled, oh so slowly, until it would be gone. And Rarity had found herself avoiding her friends.
Are they even your friends? Her thoughts questioned.
Yes, She answered. They are.
But Rarity found her own words hard to believe.
"Hey, Rarity?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friend. She could tell something was wrong, and her brow creased with worry. "You okay?"
It took a moment for Rarity to answer. "Hm? Oh, yes, I'm... I'm fine." She smiled reassuringly, or at least tried to.
You know you're not. But what would she care? What would anypony care? You are nothing. But you have the potential to be something great. To be a queen, more worthy than Celestia ever was or ever will be.
No, no, you won't. Last time I let you... Controlled me, somehow, I hated it. You hurt my friends...
Which is something you do not possess. Friendship never lasts forever. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but they weren't even your true friends in the first place.
"I don't believe you!!!" Rarity screamed, and accidentally, aloud. At Twilight.
"What?!?" Twilight's expression turned abruptly from confusion to fury. "Fine! I was just trying to help! Which you need-"
"I'M FINE!"
"... No, you're not. And you know what? I don't even know why I try with you. You can be so... so..." Twilight didn't finish and cantered off in a huff.
See? What did I tell you... Don't you think she should be more understanding? More caring? But wait. There is a solution. It is not very far from your grasp...
She is our ruler.
She is our queen.
The others were weak. But she is strong.
Her name will ring through generations and generations. She shall be remembered forever.
Hail, Queen of Nightmares. Hail, Nightmare Rarity.
"Where-" Rarity found herself in darkness. She was cold, and alone.
"Shh."
"What-"
"Shh."
"Why are you-"
"Shhhh..."
By now Rarity grew quite frustrated. "Stop shushing me!"
"Quiet. They must not hear us."
"Who? What? Who are you?"
"Do not ask me who I am. They want you to be conscious when it happens. But that is the problem. That is why we failed last time. You saw what was happening, and fought us. But not this time. This time will be different. We no longer need your will and consciousness. Those will be discarded."
"Wait... You're the nightmares... I thought we got rid of you! You left me! It was over..."
"Ah. That is where you are mistaken. You never got rid of me! You and your so called friends merely delayed me. I lead the nightmares. Because of your princess, I lead them alone, without help from my sister Sekhmet!" The Nightmare showed her face. She was a shadowy, smoky figure of a mare. Her eyes were piercing ice when she was angry, and her mane swirled in a way that made Rarity drowsy.
"You're... You're Nyx!"
"Oh, so you know me. Do you know what I felt when me and my subjects were cast into nothing? The shame to of have been defeated by measly ponies? To have my sister cast into eternal prison by your ruler? Oh, but the tragedies back then shall be nothing compared to what will happen soon. Thanks to you, dear Rarity, our dreams are becoming reality."
Rarity gasped as she was pulled back into real life, awake in her bed, sweating once more. And she was afraid.
Scrolls upon scrolls piled up near the doorway. They were letters, Rarity knew it. They were from her friends, if she had any of those anymore.
Rarity had not come out of her house for two weeks now. Ponies were starting to worry. Rumors that the social white unicorn was in hiding. But she was not in hiding, at least from them. She was hiding from the nightmares, avoiding the outside world. Rarity no longer slept at night, which led to hallucinations. Hallucinations of Canterlot Castle in flames, Celestia bowing before the nightmares, surrendering herself.
Wait. Celestia was not bowing before the nightmares. She was bowing before Rarity. Nightmare Rarity.
Perhaps those images were of what will happen. What should happen. Wait... Should it happen? Rarity did not even know anymore.
She paused. Where was she? Her home. Yes. Surely that was where she was. Surely. Her name was... Wait. She had forgotten. How could she have forgotten? Her memory was leaving her. She... Whoever she was... Was losing consciousness.
Suddenly she did remember something. Nightmares... Apparently this was their doing. She was sure of it. It was the only thing she was sure of. But it did not give her any comfort as she faded...
Deeper... Deeper... Very slowly, it seemed.
Yes... Yes... The time has come. A strange voice that, somehow, sounded like her own, yet different.
Then she saw her reflection. A beautiful mare with a dark coat, and a violet mane with white streaks. And the mare laughed as she began to set Ponyville aflame.
And that was the last thing the mare without memory saw before she plunged into blackness.
