She was on the edge.

Nightmare could feel the very thin line of magic that sat not a few feet in front of her, and she scowled. Raising her horn once more, she pummeled the barrier with magic for several long seconds. A frown creased on her lips as her magic disappeared, leaving behind a completely unharmed barrier.

"W-why can't I cross...?" She mumbled whilst sitting down. Her wings opened half way as she put a hoof to her chin and fell into deep thought. There was a large dome like shield over Ponyville that seemed to repel all forms of magic off it's surface. Not only that, but it was alicorn magic, meaning either Luna or Celestia had cast it. That left her wondering why they would come out here in the first place to do such a thing.

Such powerful magic for such a cruddy looking town.... Her frown deepened.

Ponyville was almost antique in stature. By design alone, the buildings looked like they were several decades older then they should be for the current era, and the surrounding lands were wild and untamed, save for closely guarded fields near the town's edge. The town seemed to have no guards or barracks for armies, and no castles were present either.

So why would they need such a powerful barrier? Nightmare stood and walked along it's edge, noting that the barrier came all the way out to the beginning of the Everfree forest, but never beyond that.

Perhaps to keep the beasts from their homes? No that can't be right, I am hardly a beast and I can't physically pass through it either....She tapped the magic wall a few times to see if there were any weak spots, but to her annoyance any sort of contact with the shield--magical or not--only seemed to temporarily make it stronger. Sighing in frustration, the alicorn began slowly angling around the shield instead, her next destination being Canterlot.

I'd hoped to get a voice before confronting the sisters, but I suppose there is a poetic beauty in silence, if anything it will unnerve them.

Nightmare grinned devilishly at the thought of seeing them beaten down before her might, the sun's body draped protectively over her lunar twin in a last ditch effort to save the poor mare from annihilation. They would not succeed, and she would show every pony, griffon, zebra, and minotaur that Nightmare moon was back for good.

As she walked around the shield, her ears flicked back towards the forest every now and again, a sound piercing the rather silent forest. Nightmare found it pleasing to know that upon exiting the castle, the surrounding creatures immediately felt her presence and were smart enough to shut up. She did not like obnoxious noise. Still, it seemed some of the beasts that lived within the forest had something dangling between their legs, else they too would have fallen silent.

Respect and obey me or die. This is my verdict to those who think opposition is a good idea.

The thought of killing something set Nightmare's neck hairs tingling with enjoyment. Oh yes, she would do many a great things to those who dared fight back this time. IF any stallion, mare, or foal chose to fight against her, they'd soon find themselves impaled from shoulder to hip on spears.

Rather nice lawn decorations, I think.

Smart ones would simply obey and be cast into slavery. Those with useful talent would be given proper ranks in her armies and any who showed true loyalty...Well.....Let it be said that Nightmare rewarded those who followed her previously. For a moment Nightmare paused, a sound she'd heard several times to her left had refused to abate and it was starting to bother her. She waited, listing as the sound rustled around in the brush, fell silent, and then continued to do so. It was smaller then her, moving closer, and had some form of stealth training.

Either it's a predator like me....or it's--

Her thought was cut short as a young timber wolf burst from the shrubbery nearly ten feet in front of her, snarling and chasing what looked like a small rodent of some sort. The critter was white and had a small puffy tail on it's rear end.

ah. A bunny....Why does it have a knife? Nightmare let her head tilt to the side in curiosity.

Looking closer as the two scurried around each other, Nightmare noticed the timber wolf had several small knifes embedded in it's head and one down near it's paw. The bunny, currently cackling and chattering a small battle cry, was wearing some sort of costume that resembled a fighter of sorts. a small bandoleer of knives was attached to it's chest and a set of black streaks were swiped under it's eyes. It also had an armored head band wrapped around it's forehead with a carrot engraved into the plate. The alicorn paused and watched with rapt attention as the two squared off for a moment, each one gauging the other's reactions before they lunged.

fancy that, the hunter has become the hunted it seems. Nightmare smirked as the bunny adeptly leaped right through the wolf's open maw just as they opened. When the wolf went to close it's mouth, it found a blade wedged between it's jaws and a bunny sitting atop it's back, just between it's shoulder blades. Flipping a knife up in it's tiny paws, the Bunny screamed in fury and drove the knife in between the two chunks of wood. The wolf yelped and then whimpered, scampering around and then right back through the brush, the bunny squeaking in triumph atop it's back.

For a moment, Nightmare stood there and blinked slowly, her brain unwilling to process what she had just seen. closing her eyes, she shook her head gently and smiled.

perhaps discord is still about the world, I'll enjoy toying with him.

Nightmare looked ahead of her and found that the shield was finally beginning to curve ever so slightly to the right, giving her more room between her and the forest. Spreading her wings out at her sides, she braced herself and leaped into the air, her wings beat firmly at her sides as she gained altitude. Once well off the ground, Nightmare turned and faced ponyville.

It is so small, I could obliterate it in a single spell, yet where would the fun in that be? I'll save you all for dessert. Cackling loudly, she veered around and faced Canterlot. Her smile grew as she started getting closer to the mountain.

Soon...i will have my---

"URK! GAH!"

Nightmare's smile vanished as a searing pain reverberated through her body, from the tip of her horn down to her hooves. She seized up in mid air, her wings snapping closed and her body slowly beginning to free fall towards the ground. Her legs refused to fold closed, frozen in half tucked positions as she brayed and whinnied in frustration as the ground loomed closer and closer.

Crap! What just happen--- With a fierce cry of anger, Nightmare collided with the ground and......

.....
....
W-what?.....Why didn't that hurt?

taking a moment to gain her bearings, Nightmare looked around. The area before her was just a field, no abnormal markers or strange magical resonances. The only odd thing was that her vision seemed distorted somehow. It was like she was looking through purple hazy fog or....wait...Nightmare looked down and almost smacked herself with a hoof, if she had one.

I've become smoke....Okay, that isn't so bad. I've done this many times before, no problem. I can just fly over the ground towards uuurrrrg.....ow! ow! what the---OW!

For reasons unknown to Nightmare, every time she tried to head closer to canterlot, a serious pain grew in her chest until it was unbearable and she had to float backwards. The puddle of Nightmare sat in the grass, almost pouting. small tendrils of herself whipped around and cut a few stalks of the tall wheat down in retaliation.

WHY!? Why can't I move forward? The glob of darkness boiled in anger and sifted quickly to the right and tried again.

pain. unbearable pain.

OKay the left then!

pain. unbearable pain.

Aaaag....why...is it...refusing my advances.....WHAT is refusing my advances....dammit....Floating to the ground once more, Nightmare tried to reform herself into a physical form, only to frown and sigh as the spell sputtered and failed. Although darkness was what made her, Nightmare groaned as her vision blurred and she burbled into a tighter glob.

Dammit...used too...much...energy. Need to...sleep.

As she drifted off, Nightmare felt a small tremor nearby, but thought nothing of it. Nothing would dare mess with the blob of the night.

Nothing....

"Momma! what is that?"

"Hmm? Looks like a blob of some sort..."

"Oooh cool, can I keep it?"

"Um, sir honey, jut uh...put it in this jar okay?"

"Okay! I'mma name you Squidlet!"

Nightmare groaned and shifted onto her side, or what felt like her side. She was rather snugly fit together in her bed. The sheets were rather nicely tucked around her in all directions, just the way she liked it. Her movement was a little constrained but that was alright. Nightmare was a nester, she liked being in small spaces.

Blearily looking around for a moment, she admired the nice tall glass walls of her bedroom, and the forest debris that floated just to her left.

Mmm...my bedroom never had leaves and twigs in....---

Nightmare was jolted awake as her entire form rocked back and force suddenly. Looking around more clearly she was immediately aware that something was very, very wrong.

Where the heck am I!?

Shifting to look up, Nightmare felt her anger double. She was in a mason jar. Not only that, but she was sitting in the back of a wagon that had a bunch of store equipment and some fruit crates. A grey coated pegasus mare was flying the cart in front, hooked into a harness. Nightmare Moon felt the jar tilt suddenly and she hissed when a large shadow fell over her prison.

"Hey mom, is it supposed to hiss?"

Nightmare was looking up into the face of a young unicorn foal. She was similarly colored like her parent, but with an off shaded coat of light purple. She was currently tapping the glass with a hoof gently, but to Nightmare it sounded like a cannon was going off repeatedly right next to her.

STOP THAT, FOAL!

The foal squeaked and back pedaled into the crate. Her eyes widened in fear and surprise.

"M-MOM! I think...I think I caught a genie!"

Ooh...if Nightmare had eyes, they'd be rolling right out the cart.

"Hmm? Dinky, is it doing something?"

The mare angled her head back and Nightmare noticed that the mare's eyes were slightly off, like she'd been hit rather hard once and one eye had gone off on it's own agenda. She eyed the jar with a hint of curiosity and a good helping of worry.

"M-mom, it spoke to me!" The foal squeaked in both surprise and happiness. the mother raised her brows.

"Huh, here let mommy see it."

Nightmare was unceremoniously tossed about and jostled and the foal managed to half levitate half carry it to her mother, who graciously had a gentle touch. She eyed the jar and held it out at arm's length.

"Hello? Anyone in there?"

Nightmare sighed and for a moment contemplated staying silent just to spite the foal, but then she realized something rather bluntly. The foal had heard her....so, that meant that ....

Release me from this prison.

For several seconds the pegasus stared at the jar, her expression a mixture of confusion and shock as she looked closer. Night grinned inwardly. so she could hear the alicorn....good, she would use that to her--

"Dinky, you used the jar I said not to, this is for peaches."

"I did? Oh...sorry... momma..."

Nightmare screamed silently in the jar, and whirled around the tiny confines in anger. A tiny tornado of rage.

LET.ME.GO!

"M-momma! You're making it angry, see--OH!"

Dinky gasped and whimpered as Derpy suddenly lost her grip on the jar and it slipped out of her hooves. Nightmare screamed for an entirely different reason now. Her power was too condensed for her to break out of the jar and the lid had been magically sealed, so if she had no way to get out on her own, then the only way to escape was by someone opening it for her.

CATCH ME YOU ARSE OF A--POMF!

Above her, Dinky clamped her ears tight against her skull as the jar fell below the cloud cover and out of sight.

"U-um....I don't think we need that jar mom, that wasn't a very nice genie anyway." A hoof connected softly with her head and Dinky hummed as her mother smiled warmly.

"That's my girl. We can always get another jar."

Nightmare was plummeting faster and faster towards the ground. Imagine a face that has seen so much crap recently that their expression is stuck on "screw my life" permanently. That would be pretty close to Nightmare's expression right about then. She was so done with her situation that as the ground become clear she merely opened her eyes and sighed.

Well, if anything is good from this blunder, it's that I will be free.

She looked down. She grimaced.

Down below her, was a large, forest covered mountain range that spanned for miles. No area around her was familiar to her memories. Either Canterlot was just around the corner of these mountains...or she'd been asleep for quite the flight. Further thoughts were demolished as the jar collided with a tree trunk and the jar exploded into thousands of shards that flew in all directions. A nearby group of birds took off as the glass explosion erupted around the forest. To her credit, Nightmare moon remained mostly calm as she was thrown from the prison and into a thin but sharp tree branch that split her smokey body in twain. One piece of her landed in a nearby bush, and the other landed at the base of the tree she'd crash landed into. She remained mostly calm because the landing was expected.

She did not expect to instantly revert back to her solid form, with only half of her body present and accounted for, however. She groaned and lifted her head from the ground, looking for her rump. She found it stuck tail end out of the bushes to her right.

*sigh* Well at least it doesn't hurt...for some reason.

Her wings were luckily attached to her upper half and Nightmare half flopped, half flapped over to her other piece, feeling all the bit like a fool for how humiliating this would be in front of others. As she got closer, the other side of her suddenly burst into little blobs of shadow and quickly started reattaching themselves to her in appropriate places. She breathed a sigh of relief, worrying that it wouldn't have been so simple.

How odd would it be to ask a doctor in this era that he has to stitch an alicorn goddess back into one piece, heh....

Humor aside, it still took her body twenty minutes to reform. In that time, Nightmare perused her surroundings. She was in an ancient wood forest that was atop an unknown mountain range. She was unable to ascertain where Canterlot was located and the sun's position was currently obscured by the dense canopy, so she'd have to exit the forest to find her bearings. Around her, the forest had fallen silent and appeared to stay that way so long as Nightmare remained.

After verifying that she could once again walk, The tall mare craned her head above her. The canopy above was ridiculously dense. It made her question the actual age of the trees around her. Almost a split second later, Her horn lit and she snarled, her magic lashing out and clawing deeply into the wood of the nearest coniferous tree.

If I want answers I get them! She thought as her magic deeper and deeper into the ancient trunk. a few seconds later, Nightmare felt the tree groan as its load bearing weight began to lean into her cutting. The ground trembled violently as the inner core of the behemoth trunk snapped with an explosion of force, sending shrapnel in all directions at deadly speeds. Nightmare reflexively erected a shield, and was promptly reminded why nature is scarier than the powers that lay claim to the land.

She was now staring at a one foot thick, thirteen foot long splinter, that had burst from the tree's main core and smashed into her shield, cracked the surface like it was a glass panel, and the extremely sharp tip was now just ever so gently prodding her nose. The rest of it was outside her shield, but the force and speed at which it launched, managed to shove Nightmare a full eight feet back into the foliage.

And the tree wasn't done with it's fireworks display. It hadn't even begun to fall yet. Nightmare felt her neck fur stand on its end as the tree basically roared all around her. Wildlife bolted, anything from the smallest field mouse to the large deer and bears took off at a death sprint in all directions.

Away from the tree. Craning her head up, She was surprised to find something she didn't expect to see. Debris, lots of it, was falling towards her and to the ground around the tree. One might think by debris, such things as small twigs and pine needles, maybe even a couple large branches were coming down.

No. Whole trees were coming down. Nightmare realized all to late that with the canopy being so dense, the branches above must have connected and grown together over time. Effectively creating a layer of thick, tree-like branches that acted like a connector to each tree. Those connections were now crumbling as the ancient timber changed direction suddenly and without warning.

Deafening explosions of dirt, ground foliage, and rocks as large as her head rained around her. The mare herself was staring in silent awe as the tree tilted further and further from its original position. it was going rather slowly for all the destruction it was causing so quickly. Her eyes watched the chaos and bursts of dirt as the tree roared it's last and finally pitched on its side.

Towards her. Nightmare would later recount this tale to any pony, with the description of herself as a poise and calm alicorn, walking among the destruction as it happened, the tree falling behind her in thunderous symphony, heralding her arrival into this world.

The reality was far less graceful.

Nightmare sucked in her breath, spun on her hooves and took off with a shriek that sounded very closely to that of an ancient equine from the paleo-pony era. She whinnied as loud as she could as the towering ancient obliterated the landscape with its fall. Smaller trees were ripped from their hold in the earth and flung forward and around the tree, its canopy connections to them taking them along for the ride.

Nightmare ducked, jumping, and dove through the woods as trunks four or five times larger than herself careened out of control and every which way. If she ducked one branch or rock, another took its place. For all her skill in combat and her prowess on the battlefield, Nightmare realized nature still could beat the stuffing out of her.

or is it shadow blobs now? she thought as a deer suddenly landed in her path, a frightened doe screaming some random name, probably her fawn. Nightmare had little time to react, leaving her only choice to leap over the creature. She managed to do so even as the doe stared at her in wide eyed terror. As the mare leaped the living hurdle, she bit back a curse as a large tree crashed in front of her. It cut off her landing space and the alicorn's front shins smashed into the tree trunk and she felt them detach into smoke once more.

Aahhh fuck me! she snarled mentally. her body was tossed into the surrounding bushes and dirt, tumbling head over rump down a smaller hillside before her shoulders smacked into a solid boulder, stopping her abruptly. She groaned, opened her eyes and wished she hadn't. the whole forest was coming down around her. the canopy's strength taking half the forest down in a swath of movement akin to a domino pile.

It was here that nightmare huffed, watching the impending destruction as it barreled toward her. She had enough time to re-position her rump, cross her foreleg stumps and mentally grumble.

I hate nature.

The Alicorn was promptly covered by said nature in a resounding crash that was heard for miles around.

***_*_***

Nightmare regained consciousness some unknown hours later, albeit with a splitting headache, and several new hair and tail accessories. Twigs, branches, leaves, and a smattering of other debris had lodged themselves in her mane and tail. A sharp stick was poking precariously close to her tail base, and she elected to remove that pesky problem first before assessing her situation.

She was underneath an unknown amount of timber. It was dark enough that she could tell it had taken a lot more time to rebuild her body. She was also made aware of something else rather quickly. She was hurting all over. Her hind legs were underneath a rather large trunk, and they were screaming in protest at the weight. She frowned at this, partially due to the fact that so far, no pain had made itself apparent when the other situations had taken place. Even when she was in pain from the barrier near Canterlot, it had been a mind pain, more of an internal pressure that made her feel like her horn was being squeezed.

This pain was physical. Nightmare slowly checked all her appendages, just to make sure they were all in working order.

okay, wings one and two, working but stiff, very stiff, i'm stuck on my back so that is no surprise, but i'll need to get them stretched out. Forelegs are sore but present and working. Neck and head, sore but to an acceptable level. Make sure to kidnap a masseuse pony.

When she went to flex her hind legs, pain erupted in her left side. It wasn't her leg that hurt, it was her hip. Nightmare grasped her left side and hissed as she felt the swollen muscles underneath. Parting her fur, she could tell it was inflamed and rather irritated.

something is either sprained, torn, or broken, and that is no good. However that begs a question. She sat up and looked herself over.

How am I just now being hurt physically? She thought. Wreathing her horn in magic, she bit back a snarl as she teleported fifty feet straight up, and her hip screamed in protest at the movement. she reappeared still surrounded on all sides by wood and loam, only this time her mind reacted faster, and she created a shield around her self. Gritting her teeth, she pushed out with the sphere of magic, watching as it disintegrated the nearby branches, shrubbery, and dirt, effectively creating a circular space big enough for her to lay in.

Which she immediately fell to her right side and screamed. Something was definitely broken. Nightmare groaned and slowly lifted her left wing. Using it to gently poke and prod her form, she found the point at which something hadn't formed correctly. Or, to be more correctly, a piece of her hip was simply not there.

This bothered Nightmare greatly, and she looked around and tried to see if any blobs of herself hadn't come back. The sphere of wood and dirt told her nothing new. She scowled and pawed at the smooth surface beneath her, the heat of her magic had burned and smoothed the branches and dirt into one solid surface.

I may have made it impossible for the blob to return to me...dammit.....or... Nightmare felt her eyes widen as a new idea hit her. she pulled her forelegs under her, closed her eyes, and gently cast her magic, sensing for her own well spring.

What she found made her worry spike.

Nightmare hadn't just lost part of her hip, she'd lost part of her being, her existence!

No, no this is bad, if i can't get that back, i'm not whole! How could this happen?! she let her magic go, and found her breath coming in short bursts as she panicked.

I cannot face the sisters like this! I have to figure out what is going on! she stamped the earth with a hoof and then regretted it immediately as pain vibrated out from her leg, and down her body. but pain was good, it helped her focus and not panic more. She slowly but surely got her breathing under control, and then she closed her eyes once more and started to process everything she'd known since her awakening.

Okay, she'd woken up in the old castle, with no one around, and no regalia from her previous existence. That removed the idea that she had been summoned by a would be pony or other significant magic user. Plus, to cement this issue, there hadn't been any sign of magic even being used in the area.

Nightmare simply...arrived there.

But why? if she wasnt summoned it would be pointless spell casting, as she wound't be anchored to any point of power. Nightmare came from the other side of dreams, the other side of Luna. If she wasn't anchored to Luna any longer, she should have simply faded away into nothing the moment her conscious reformed.

And yet she hadn't.

She had all the magical strength of an alicorn, the body to prove it, and the well spring to--.....Nightmare paused as her magic ran over her wellspring once more. Something wasn't correct there. Sure the missing piece was standing out like a sore pinion, but there was something else wrong that she hadn't noticed.

Had her wellspring shrunk? It was noticeably smaller than when she'd been in the castle. It had shrunk! But how? That wasn't physically possible! an alicorn's wellspring, in theory should only get bigger as time went on, so why was her's depleted?

depleted....losing energy...Nightmare gasped as it hit her.She was losing energy! She had no anchor to feed from and therefore was slowly fading away again! That was why her hip hurt, and that was why there was a chunk missing. To keep her alive, she'd absorbed some of her wellspring to keep her safe!

Princess Luna had kept her essence alive by giving the Nightmare her anger, hate, and malice, all her negative emotions kept the entity going, but now....

Now Nightmare was disconnected.

I still need a source to live from...I still need an anchor...dammit! She dug her horn into the wood and snarled as the realization hit her.

i'm...i'm not immortal. She growled and felt her horn light up as it burned a hole into the wood. After a couple minutes of snarling, growling, and basically pouting, Nightmare sighed and opened her eyes. She had to set her priorities, it seemed.

step one, she had to find a source to feed from, and in her current state, it didn't really matter what she fed from, it just had to have life energy. Step two, she would have to gain a voice, hopefully from the same source. if not, she could always steal one. It would need to be a pony species though, as she did not fancy a griffon's screechy language or a minotaur's bellow for her regal vocals.

She was brought out of her musings as a sound hit her ear drums. She flicked her ears up at the ceiling of her circular room, and flinched as an explosion rocked the small confines. The alicorn blinked in surprise, and then flinched again as another one sound off, this time even closer. She bared her teeth and lit her horn defensively. Something was coming towards her, and it was powerful. If the indication of power level was based solely off the way her entire enclosure shook when a third explosion went off, this time even closer. The wall even cracked slightly.

As she sat there waiting, a new sound reached her. Voices.

"I told you, Will, There is nothing out here! Can you stop for five seconds and look around you? You're fifteen feet down in a pile of trees for crying out loud!"

A new voice, younger than the first and far more desperate popped up, seemingly on the outside of her circular wall.

"And i know what my horn felt, someone out here was casting powerful magic, so you can shove it. This wasn't a natural disaster. I couldn't get a read on the type of magic cast, but underneath me is a magic signature, it's weak, but i think some pony got trapped nearby in the debris! We owe it to our badges to do what we are trained to do!"

Nightmare's mind went into over drive. Nearby were two sources of life. Judging by the commentary on badges, they were some form of military or soldier. She knew that the moment they laid eyes on her, they'd freak out and cry wolf. Nightmare moon was probably still fresh in the equestrian mind, after all. She'd either have to hide her form, or kill them. Killing them would leave her with a very small amount of life force to steal before their souls drifted into the ether realm. It would also leave her without new knowledge of her whereabouts. That wasn't okay.

Option b however, would leave her weaker than she liked to admit. Shape shifting took a lot of power, but it looked like it was her only option at the moment.

The ear splitting crack that danced across her enclosure, emitting light and noise from the outside made the decision even more acceptable.

Here's hoping this works! Magic surged out of her horn and covered her form. Her wings vanished into her diminishing body and her mane and tail shrunk into a dark purple shade. Her fangs slowly disappearing under her lips, while her coat took on a lighter color of gray. lastly, her rear gained an image of a black silhouette of a snarling dragon's head.

As the outer wall of the shell she'd made solidified, her blurry vision witnessed the wooden room crack open with another explosion of magic, ruffling her mane and making her shut her eyes.

Her mind felt the sudden drop of energy as her soul weakened, and nightmare whimpered in pain. A gasp above her made her realize she'd been spotted.

"O-oh my god!"

She managed to whisper out a single word as foreign magic gently gripped her body and pulled her out of the debris.

"...Help..."

Author's Note

Cheese has a funny way of telling the soul it needs to keep up the pace, otherwise we mold o>O