//-------------------------------------------------------// a Nightmare to Remember -by mari tech- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: a Shot in the Dark //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: a Shot in the Dark Mari tech awoke to the sounds of the cockatrice cawing the morning. She woke up with excitement for it was nightmare night and her last day in hell, she would have to carry out her plan at night to be successful. Our hero had to remain calm the entire day and attend celebrations, she thought it was a bore because she had to attend 145 times in her life. It was getting real repetitive and awful. as she went into town she got stopped by her lifelong friend Trailblazer who had a reddish-grey coat and a black and blue mane and also had a cutiemark of a cloud with fiery lightning. “Morning Mari tech great day for nightmare night” trailblazer said. “Definitely is great for a nightmare night, see you at the party” Mari tech said. Mari tech sighed knowing this would probably be the last time she sees her best friend. She continued throughout the day acting normal, having fun, and partying. It was 10:00 pm and it was time to escape so Mari tech opened her window, grabbed her stuff and headed to sector z where her chance to escape was. “It’s finally time to see the real world” Mari said to herself Mari climbed the fence, ran through a minefield without fail by using a explosive detection spell, and cut a hole through the 2’’ thick steel wall. Mari finally found what she was looking for, the warehouse of sector z,1. she cautiously looked through the crates but not finding what she needed. She kept on searching crate by crate but not finding what she wanted. Mari thought it was time to give up and admit defeat even though this was the farthest she got in 10 attempts. Mari then saw out of the corner of her eye a gray-blue glimmer beaconing to her. “I finally found it, I FOUND IT” Mari yelled After she yelled a alarm went off signaling an intruder in the building, so Mari rushed to the grayish-blue orb and grabbed it. This was the artifact that provides the bridge between Equestria and Hell. “It’s time for me to go, see you ponies never” Mari proclaimed After what seemed like an explosion went off, Mari was gone never to be seen in hell again. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Nightmare in Ponyville //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Nightmare in Ponyville “Come on Spike we have to get to the princesses at Canterlot” the purple and pinkish alicorn said “dDon’t worry Twilight we will be there in time” the small green spiked purple dragon said A massive explosion was heard in the middle of the field outside of ponyville. Twilight sparkle looked to where the explosion was and saw that the ground underneath it was completely scorched. Twilight then heard what seemed like screaming and saw a pony body fall from the sky. Twilight rushed and flew to the pegasuses rescue and caught her. Twilight has never seen a pony like this before and saw that this new pegasus was completely knocked out. After 3-4 hours Mari tech came through and saw herself in a large bed in what appeared to be a tree-like structure. As she woke up she saw her rescuer walk in the door. “Hope you had a good nap” Twilight said “Wh..who are you?’ Mari tech asked afraid “My name is Twilight Sparkle and i am the one that rescued you from becoming a small crater in the ground” Twilight chuckled “But… but why did you save me, you have no idea who I am and if i’m dangerous or not” Mari tech argued "Because that's what friends do and besides I relieved you of your knife and your saddlebags and put them in my room so i know you can’t hurt me” Twilight announced “but I could still use magic, how do you know if I can’t still hurt you?” Mari questioned “Magic? but you're a pegasus, pegasi can't use magic” “But I can, watch” Mari tech proceeded to levitate a nearby vase, move it around the room, and put it back where it once was. “See I can do magic” "But how? you don't have a horn” “The same way that my people do, just focus on what we are doing” “Your people? You're not from around here are you?” “I guess you could say that” Mari tech shrugged Mari proceeds to jump off the bed and onto the floor revealing her cutiemark and other little details about her. “ You definitely aren’t from around here” “If only you knew” Mari proclaimed “I would like to know first….. what are you?” //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: Lets go and Meet the Ponies //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: Lets go and Meet the Ponies Mari tech woke up to the sound of some animal she never heard of before. She tried to see what it was but it got spooked and flew away and left a couple blue feathers where it was perched. “Huh weird animal” Mari went down to get breakfast and was greeted by a rainbow of 5 other ponies who apparently came to see the new pony in town. “HI WELCOME TO PONYVILLE MY NAME IS PINKIE PIE” the pink poofy maned energetic pony said Mari tech got knocked back with the force of the pinkie pony jumping at her. “Oh um hi pinkie i am….” “MARI TECH, OUR FRIEND TWILIGHT TOLD US A BIT ABOUT YOU” pinkie pie interrupted “Please excuse pinkie pie my dear, i am rarity” a white purple maned unicorn said “Ah'm applejack pleased to meet chya” a orange earth pony said “I’m.. i’m fluttershy” a yellow pink maned pegasus shyly said “I’m rainbow dash we should hangout some time” a cyan rainbow maned pegasus said bravely “Wow uh.. pleased to meet you all” mari tech proclaimed “Would any of you girls like to go to sugarcube corner and get some breakfast?” twilight asked “What’s sugarcube corner?” mari tech questioned Pinkie pie gasped “you’ve never heard of sugarcube corner? Wow you must really not be from around here are you” Mari tech shaked her head slowly. “Wow we need to take you there they have so many good foods like cake, candies, ice creams, cakes, and did i mention that we have cakes” the pink pony said with enough energy to last for years “Why yes you did darling you mentioned it 3 times already” rarity said “ oh okie dokie loki” pinkie pie said satisfied “Sounds good let’s go” mari said excitedly The girls traveled about a half of a mile to sugarcube corner when lunchtime came around so there where a couple ponies sitting at tables, none of them took any mind the the nightmare in ponyville. All of the ponies sat down at the tables and each had their sugary sweets. Mari tech was surprised about the massive amounts of sugar used to create these candies and sweets. “Wow we don’t have these kinds of sweets where i come from” Mari explained “Wow really? thats pretty wierd” pinkie said “Well where i come from we have sugar restrictions on how much sugar a recipe can use” “That’s pretty strange” rainbow dash said “Well to me, this world is pretty strange” “Oh, i get your point” The 7 ponies finished their lunch and headed to their homes. twilight took mari home with her. The two walked in the door and where greeted by the small dragon. Afterwards twilight asked a amount of questions that could bore a bureaucrat. “So what is it like in your world?” twilight asked questionably “Like in what sense” “Let's start off with government” “Now that's a good question, our government is held by a king-like pony but doesn’t have absolute power so that the nightmare can abuse his authority, we also have a set of pony rights to life, liberty, and happiness.” “Wow that’s pretty interesting, how about the community?” “I can go on and on about the community, please be more specific” “How about some information about the regular pony” “Ahem nightmare” “Oh sorry, nightmare” “The normal nightmare is a lot like a what you call alicorn, except we are not taller and doesn’t show a horn, yet we still have powerful magic which is driven by a nightmares 3 cores, mine happen to be lust, heat, and darkness. A nightmare can have the following cores upon creation, greed, wrath, lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, envy, pain, darkness, heat, cold, and some rare ones.” Twilight was dumbfounded at this new information on the nightmare, but she hasn’t even scratched the surface on nightmare-ology. “Wow thats a lot of information to hold onto” twilight says as she scribbles on her notepad “Yeah nightmares i would say are pretty advanced in a lot of ways like medicine, engineering, science, military, magic, and a lot” “It sure seems like it” twilight said wanting to know more 9:00 pm. mari tech and twilight head off to bed. Twilight was anxious about the next day to get more information about nightmares. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: What Truly is a Nightmare //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: What Truly is a Nightmare The morning came by quickly and Mari tech awoke to the sounds of the same blue feathered creature yesterday. Twilight and spike already made breakfast, and twilight recommended finding a job that suites her. Being a jack of all trades she thought of going for a medical position, an area she was very skilled at. Mari went to the job board to find a medical job. She didn’t find anything worthwhile on the board so she went back to twilight’s home. “I didn’t find anything worthwhile on the board” Mari said sadly “Well why don’t you go to the Ponyville general hospital and see if they have a position open?” “Ehh sure i’ll go over and check” Mari went to the hospital and checked with the mare at the counter. “Hello and welcome to ponyville general hospital, how may we help you” the white mare with bubblegum striped mane and the red cross cutiemark said "Hello i’m actually looking for a medical position” “Why we have a couple openings, we have part-time nurse, medicine manufacturing, surgeon, and check-up doctor.” “I think i will go with part-time nurse and if at all possible, medicine manufacturing.” “Sure we can do that, one question, how is your medical skills?” “I have been practicing advanced medicine for 30 years” “really? you don’t look that old” Mari chuckled “yeah you wouldn’t believe my age” “Really? I'm interested now” “145” “What that’s impossible! You aren’t an alicorn” “True, I’m a nightmare” “What’s a nightmare?” “Old race of ponies with an advanced civilization. I can go into it more if i have a job” “Well consider yourself hired” Both ponies shaked hooves and Mari went on her way back to Twilight. Mari walked by many other ponies, none she took interest in. She thought of finding a special somepony to spend their life with because she knew she would outlive any of the ponies in town, even Twilight. Mari dwelled deeply on that thought. When Mari got to twilight’s house which she decided to call home for now, Twilight was at a table reading on books about nightmare myths. When Mari spoke twilight jumped. “Hey Twilight i’m back” “OH CELESTIA…. oh sorry you scared me” “Sorry, and who’s Celestia?” “She is one of the rulers of Equestria” “One of?” “Yeah there are 4 princesses and two rulers. the other is Luna who is Celestia’s sister” “Who are the other two princesses” “Me and princess Cadance” “You’re a princess?” Twilight flexed her wings to prove that she has the powers of all 3 races of ponies. “Ok ok you don’t need to show off” Mari smiled “Well it is an amazing feat, but aren’t you an alicorn because you have the build of an earth pony, the wings of a pegasus, and the magic ability of a unicorn?” “ Well i am on a technical scale but my race would be nightmare, it’s an entire race of its own” “Oh i see then” Twilight shifted uneasily “Twilight are you ok” Mari said noticing her expression, her atmosphere, and her movements Twilight was in her own world for a sec “wait what?” “Twilight you are anxious, i can tell” “H-how do you know?” “Social psychology degree. Got it in my 6th year of college” “6 years?” “Well we usually go to about 30-35 years of college” “Wow that must cost a lot” “No not really, it’s all paid for by our government” “That's amazing, we have to pay a lot for college” Both Mari and Twilight sat in silence for a while until Twilight decided to break it. “So what do nightmares do for fun?” “Mainly sports, but i’m not a sporty pony” “I figured” Mari decided to ignore that. “Other than that we have magic duels to see who is more dominant” “Sounds like fun, maybe we could have a duel, i haven’t had one since Trixie” “Are you sure? Because nightmare magic is dangerous and unstable” “Oh i’m sure i’ll be fine” “Ok if you say so” Both ponies went out into the streets and into a small field. Mari tech used her magic to make a small arena. “Thats pretty impressive” Twilight said smartly “That’s just the beginning” Mari tech retorted After that statement both ponies got into position to duel. they both counted down. “1” “2’ ‘3’ “DUEL” After those words were said Twilight released a ball of pure energy at Mari, it didn’t affect her in any way. “How is that possible?” Mari Tech chuckled and did strange movements with her hooves. One by one huge beams of fire wooshed past twilight almost hitting her, after a couple beams Mari threw what appeared to be a small pineapple like ball made of magic, after 3 seconds the ball exploded knocking Twilight 5 feet back. “First one to get knocked back, i win” “Wow that was impressive, i can’t believe you shrugged off a mana blast” “Nightmare’s have a passive 75% magic resistance” “Aww no fair” Mari chuckled and the arena fell back into the ground again. Both Mari and Twilight went back home. Twilight seemed to be excited for some reason. “Twilight you seem excited” Twilight was caught off guard “Huh-what? oh it’s just because Celestia is visiting me tomorrow.” “Wait she is? Well you should send that letter about me to her so she is prepared and is not caught off guard” “I doubt she will be caught off guard but if you want me to then i will” Twilight walked into the other room to get the letter, when she got back she gave it to spike and sent it to Celestia. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: The Hospital //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: The Hospital Mari woke up from her peaceful slumber. Today was the day Mari would start her new job as a part time nurse and medicine production. She brought her saddlebags filled with all sorts of advanced medicines and recipes to create them. She hoped that she could get these medicines in production because she knew it could save a lot of lives. Mari entered the hospital and checked in with the same pony that has that bubblegum colored mane. Mari went into the backroom, put her stuff in her personal locker, and put on her nurse outfit. which really was just a small tiara that has the red cross on it, she didn’t really like the small hat thing and hoped to exchange it for a lab coat or something. As she was putting her stuff away the pony that she checked in with came in. “Morning Mari Tech glad to have you here, by the way i am nurse Redheart. but you can just call me Redheart.” “Nice to meet you, you can just call me Mari, i’m fine with that” As she said that both ponies shook hooves. “I noticed you brought a saddlebag with papers and pill bottles, might i ask what they are for?” “Yes you may, they are advanced medicines where i come from, and the papers are the recipes for the creation of them, i was hoping i could start a production of them here” “The medical team will need to look at them but i think they could get patented under your name.” “Thank you, these medicines would save many lives.” “No problem, well you better start your shift and start checking up some patients, after that you could meet the rest of the medical team” “Sounds good i’ll get started right away” Mari said as she open the door with her magic “Wait Mari, how did you open that door? You’re not a unicorn” “I'll tell you all about it after i check up on some patients” Redheart was confused about that ordeal and decided to put it off until Mari’s shift was over. Mari went from room to room checking on patients, most were surprised to see a new a nurse. Nopony knew that she was a nightmare, to her it didn’t matter if they knew she was or not. It’s not like she has a trail of fire and setting things ablaze, which she totally could do but it would be against her calm nature. After checking up on the last patient she went to the break room, there were a group of ponies sitting in assorted chairs, drinks in hoof or magically held. When she entered the room most of the ponies welcomed her to her first day and wanted to know more about her. “So what exactly are you?” Redheart asked “I would be considered a nightmare pony, i am basically a alicorn except i don’t show a horn and i am not taller” “What exactly is a nightmare?” “A nightmare is a  “mythologic” pony that has raw unstable power, nightmares have 3 cores that power the nightmare and feeds its magic and strength. My cores are, lust, heat, and darkness. there are a lot of different cores, there are the basic ones, lust, envy, greed, gluttony, wrath, pride, sloth, heat, cold, darkness, and pain. There are some rare ones that don’t come up often, like my sister has a life core.” “You have a sister?” “Yup, she was the older sister, I loved her to death, i’m just sad I had to leave her behind” “Well we are all sorry for your loss, I hope you get to see her someday” “No way in hell am i going back to hell, she will have to come to Equestria, it’s kind of a one way trip” “Oh i see, well I hope you enjoy your stay in Equestria” After that sentence from Redheart and most of the ponies went back to working or stayed in the break room. Mari decided to try the coffee, it was only 10:00 so she might as well try. When Mari took a sip of the black coffee she thought it was tasteless but still nice, even though it feels cold she can tell it was probably scalding hot. Mari decided to check out the medicine production part of the hospital, which was just around the corner. When Mari entered the medicine production area there was nopony there, Mari thought this was strange and wandered around, taking stock on what they have, and looking at their medicine recipes. She decided it was best to leave the room and go back to checking up patients on the opposite wing of the hospital. Mari spent about 4 hours checking on patients and the occasional minor surgeries. She decided it was time to head home and see twilight. When she arrived back home nopony was there. curious she look around the giant tree library. After finding absolutely nothing she decided to read one of twilights books, she grabbed a book on advanced and master spells and enchantments. It was an interesting read to say the least. A couple hours went by and twilight still didn’t show up so Mari decided to go to the park. As expected, not many ponies where out. Mari laid against one of the trees in the park and dozed the evening away. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Nightmare in Hell //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Nightmare in Hell oct/ 30/ 1998 A day before nightmare night, when the boundary between Equestria and Hell becomes blurred. My last escape attempts have failed, sometimes extremely, but i have a different plan, a plan that could not possibly fail. As i was reviewing my plans my mother walked in. “Mari Tech it’s time to come down for dinner” the red and white mare said. “I will be down in a sec” the grey-ish coated blood red and black maned pegasus with a blood drop with wings cutie mark said. “I will never get used to her, even after 145 years” Mari tech mumbled Mari tech stuffed her plan sheet underneath her heat-proof bed. She went down to have dinner with her parents and acted as normal she she could with the excitement in her with finally escaping hell. Dinner went undisturbed. Mari tech said goodnight to her parents and went to bed. Our protagonist levitated her saddlebags filled with stuff she needs to survive in Equestria including her medical kit, assorted advanced medicines, some bits, and a hunting knife in case of emergency. Mari tech reviewed her plan one last time before putting it in her saddlebag and placed next to her window. Mari tech went to sleep peacefully for it would be her last time sleeping in hell. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: Come Hell or High Water //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: Come Hell or High Water After a very brief explanation of what she is and where she came from Twilight was awestruck about her new discovery. “Yeah that’s pretty much the jist of it” mari said “That's… that's really amazing i never knew about this whole other race” Twilight said with her mouth dropped to the floor “Yeah from my understandings you have books and little bits of knowledge of what we are, most of it like how aggressive we are, which isn’t true” As Twilight finished her notes she was about to send it to Celestia before Mari stopped her. “Don’t send it yet i don’t want anyone to know what i am yet… in due time” Twilight was caught off guard by what she said. “Are you sure?” “Yes but for now i need to lay low, i had to go through a lot to escape hell and they might look for me here” “If that’s what you need then i will delay the letter” Mari and Twilight went to the kitchen and saw the small dragon cooking. the small dragon saw the nightmare and recoiled in fear. “WHO ARE YOU” the small dragon screamed” “It’s OK she means no harm” Twilight reassured spike “Well if it’s what you say. Need anything to eat?” “I will just take a tomato sandwich” mari asked “Sounds good i will take a salad” Twilight asked The three sat down for dinner in peace reminding Mari of when she ate dinner at her own home. Nopony said anything the entire dinner. Mari then went upstairs and grabbed her bag and fished out a pill bottle labeled “ revibrium anticate” and popped one pill in her mouth, she would not have to take the pill for a long time now that she took one to ease her system to this new environment. Mari tech then searched through her bags only to find she forgot the one thing she needed “alpha blockers”. Mari then started to panic as Twilight entered the room. “Mari are you ok?” Twilight asked lightly Mari jumped at the voice she heard behind her. “No it’s not ok I forgot the one thing i needed which are alpha blockers” “What do those do?” Mari blushed as she said “It enables me to.. um.. you know…..” “Oh I get what you mean” twilight blushed back “But why do you need it i’m pretty sure you are able to without medicine” Twilight questioned “It’s because my outside temp is different from my body temp, so my outside temp could be 97 degrees but my inside temp could be 6,000 degrees” Mari tech explained “Wow that’s pretty cool, I never thought any ponies temp could be that high” Twilight awed at this new information “Yeah it’s what it is for my people but the only reason that nightmares need alpha blockers is because not every pony's body is the same temp” Mari tech explained Mari tech exited the room and went to her bed to sleep in this whole new world for the first time. //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 7: The Princess //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 7: The Princess Today was the day that princess Celestia would be coming, hopefully she got the letter about nightmare in ponyville. as Mari got out of bed she heard the door open. “Hi Mari tech good morning” Twilight said excitedly “Oh morning Twilight, and also you can just call me Mari” “Oh ok, the princess should be here soon and the hospital called and said you don’t have to come in until next week” “Ok cool, so more time to spend with the princess” At about the time Mari finished her sentence she heard somepony at the door. Twilight went to open the door and a tall alicorn mare with beautiful white fur and a pink, green, blue flowing mane came into the room. “Hello princess Celestia” “Hello my faithful student, i was getting excited to see this new nightmare, a race not seen in equestria in 3,000 years” the tall mare said “Oh she’s in the guest bedroom, i’ll get her right now” The door opened and Mari was using healing magic on one of her wounds. “Mari are you ok?” “Huh-what, oh yeah just some mana burn” “Mana burn?” “When you have an excess of magic and your body keeps producing mana, you start to get tears in your skin to bleed out the mana” “Wow sounds like you don’t use magic a lot” “Not as much as i should be “Well the princess is here” “Oh sweet’ Both mares went down to see the princess. “You must be Celestia?” “Indeed i am and i am honored to meet the first nightmare in 3,000 years” “I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me” “Why yes i do, after all you are the first for so long” Mari just noticed that Celestia was getting closer with each sentence. "I don’t mean to be rude but why are you getting so close to me?” “I am? Oh terribly sorry” Celestia moved back some Mari decided to ignore that. “Well want to eat some dinner with us?” “I would be honored” Twilight went into the kitchen to start dinner. Minutes later Spike and Twilight came to the table and saw mari and celestia talking. “And that’s how i found the infinity orb and escaped hell, and that’s when Twilight saved me from becoming a small crater.” “I’m impressed you actually escaped and survived being thrown into equestria” “Well i couldn’t have done it without Twilight over here” “it was no problem mari, i would’ve done it for anypony” mari got up from the table and walked over to twilight and gave her a hug. both ponies blushed. “Thank you so much” “Really it’s fine” Mari, Twilight, and Celestia chatted the evening away. Twilight and Mari said goodbye to Celestia. Celestia then went back to her castle in canterlot. Mari had always wondered about equestria, and now she is here she feels alive and happy for once. Mari went to bed peacefully.