Nightmare Moon is... Maleficent

"They're so ugly, you could almost feel bad for them," Nightmare taunted, the bitterness evident in her vocal tone. She knew that they were her nieces, but she loathed them because of Celestia's betrayal.

Discord nodded with agreement. He watched as Nightmare made countless faces to frighten the twins. The twins wouldn't scream or cry each time the alicorn made a face. In frustration, she rose her hoof and bared her teeth. She growled in the most menacing fashion possible, and then she chuckled throatily.

Twilight and Sunset froze as they heard the vocal growl. Then, they giggled at the face. Nightmare scowled, hatred evident in her eyes.

"I hate both of you, beasties," She muttered. She intended to sound nasty and menacing, but her cruel remark came out softer than intended.

Soon, she heard the breezies chattering about the mysterious sound. Nightmare looked to the door, and knew what would happen if she was caught. She loathed their drama. She swiftly strode away before they could find her.

Discord followed suit, and they hid behind the same trees. They watched as the breezies pulled the bassinet outside. They intended for the twins to breathe in the fresh air, but the twins were wailing. They were starving, but their incompetent guardians were oblivious to the fact.

Nightmare groaned as the noise continued. "The little beasts are going to starve with those three looking after them," She bemoaned as her hooves shielded her ears from the noise.

Soon, darkness surrounded the land. The moon and stars rose into the sky, and twinkled across the inky blackness like small, bright diamonds in the darkness. The trio of breezies begun to slumber in their new bedroom, but only the twins were awake and screaming as loud as ever.

An idea popped into Nightmare Moon's mind as she strode towards the window. She could smile at the twins' misery, but she didn't feel the urge to revel in their suffering. It was as if her old self tried to fight the darkness to emerge from the coldness of her soul. Her old self wouldn't make fun of somepony that felt miserable.

To the left, she saw two roses; one as white as the moon, and the other as gold as the sun itself. She figured that they would calm down the irritating little beasties. She levitated the flowers, and infused them with a calming spell. Discord snapped his fingers, and summoned milk. He poured the liquid into the roses. He then took the roses and gave them to the twins.

Nightmare Moon sighed with relief as the twins stopped wailing. Discord pushed the bassinet back and forth, and the twins closed their eyes. All of a sudden, a mysterious but unwanted warmth surged through Nightmare's heart as she looked to the sleeping princesses. She knew how adorable they were, but denied the soft spot she had for them. She couldn't believe that she was about to fall into her own spell.

Discord eyed Nightmare Moon, and tilted his head with perplexion. "Are you beginning to love them?" He wondered.

"No. And, shh," Nightmare objected as she placed a hoof to her mouth to hide the ghost of a smile that was on her face.

"I can see that you're denying-"

"Shush!" Nightmare interrupted coolly as she led Discord away from the cottage and towards the Wall of Vines.

"The forest is under attack," Discord explained as the vines caught on fire.

Nightmare chuckled as her magic surged into the Wall to fortify the vines. The vines thrashed about and threw several soldiers away from the forest. She cackled at their misfortune as the vines maintained their strength despite being burnt.

"Oh!" Discord spoke. "I shall go check on Celestia. Most of the soldiers retreated to the castle just now."

"Keep yourself hidden," Nightmare warned.

"I will... I promise."

"Good!"

Nightmare watched as the flames died away. The night was dark once again, which matched her current mood and her current moral alignment. She was evil, after all. But, in a sense, she was deeply hurt and anguished. She had built an intimidating barrier since the betrayal, and she didn't want the barrier to break down. She didn't know, that someday, the barrier would break down as a result of raising the twins into beautiful young mares.

She watched as Discord flew away from view and followed Celestia's vicious army. Nightmare strode into the Everfree, snuck into the meadow, and sat upon her beloved throne. She watched as the breezies moved away from her line of sight. They were afraid of her. The creatures still trembled under her watch and under her strict reign.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot Castle's living room, Celestia glared at the flames and watched as they mimicked her reflection's mane. Chuckling darkly, she whirled around to face her soldiers. Since the christening, she turned darker than before. She saw that the soldiers seemingly failed. She let the anger consume her soul and also let the disgust consume her heart. She also let the hatred consume her mind.

"What?" Celestia bellowed as she stood tall. She gave them a menacing glare as she grinned darkly. "Why haven't you killed my sister? I expect you to maim her!"

The captain shook in her gaze as he began to explain the situation. "Majesty-" He started, but Celestia cleared her throat and interrupted the sentence.

"I am Queen Celestia! Don't just call me Majesty! That title offends me! I am Queen Celestia, Her Imperial and Glorious Majesty! I am the Queen of Equestria! I am the Queen of the Sun," Celestia retorted haughtily.

"Forgive me, Queen Celestia," The captain repented. "Well, we couldn't destroy the vines. The wall is indestructible! We can't even find Nightmare and her demonic minion!"

Celestia sneered as she stomped her hoof and slammed her hoof into the nearby china. The china flew across the table, and crashed into the undying flames. "Nothing is indestructible! Not the Wall! Not Nightmare Moon! Not Discord!" She lectured.

Just as she slammed her forehooves onto the table, she smirked darkly as she stared at the bloodstained dagger. "Bring me the strongest metals, and forge them into the strongest and most dangerous barriers! Get the miners to work! Get the young colts to train for wars! I don't care how old they are! I only care about killing my sister for the sake of my daughters," She demanded as she levitated the dagger to her mouth. She slowly licked the dried blood off the blade, and smirked darkly.

Although the captain was disgusted by the manic behavior, he led his soldiers out of the room anyways. The sight of the ruler licking the blood made him cringe and shudder. Had the queen gone way off the deep end already? The castle seemed darker and more evil than ever.

Discord watched from a distance as he peered into the window. He felt ill to his stomach. He sensed the bile preparing to rise up his throat. He had never seen anypony lose his or her mind just enough to lick blood! He snapped his talons and summoned a wooden pail. He vomited into the pail. He didn't want to observe that behavior ever again! Nightmare Moon would be irked by the sickening behavior.

When he finished vomiting, he snapped his talons, and the wooden pail disappeared. He peered into the window once more. Celestia stared into the flames, and stood still as she watched the strangely soothing movement of the malicious embers.

Discord flew back to the forest, and entered the meadow. He stood before Nightmare Moon, relieved that he was away from the enemy's current residence.

"What?" Nightmare hummed.

"Celestia seemed to darken with rage, hatred, and vengeance. She still envied you. Well, she wanted you dead," Discord began. He spoke of what happened the whole time over there. He even mentioned the moment where Celestia licked the dagger, and commented on the alabaster alicorn's growing paranoia.

The dark alicorn's nose scrunched with disgust. She narrowed her eyes dangerously as she stood tall. "My sister has always been an envious coward!" She complained.

"I know. She makes me feel disgusted at her cruelty. If the curse takes effect someday and we have to break the curse ourselves, then we'd be dragged into the castle. Well, I don't want her to jump out from the shadows and murder you if you ever go to the castle. She can be quite scary."

"All I can do in my free time is think of my wings. They... they're gone forever." Nightmare's back muscles ached at the mention of her wings, causing her to wince in agony. "You know me. My wings were big, although not as big as Celestia's. They were stronger than her wings. I have lost my flight because of her betrayal!"

Discord nodded. He only looked to his friend with sympathy, and placed his lion paw to his chest. He bowed before her as he would do a queen. He felt as if he had lost the old Luna to the darkness forever. It was all because of that one fight against the invader. If only he didn't fight against the pony, then everything would be just fine. He always seemed to be the bearer of bad news. When he fought the pony instead of surrendering, he only brought darkness to the forest instead of newfound peace.

Well, there was peace, but, the draconequus was the reason why Celestia was told to avenge the late ruler. He could see why the mythical creatures were so hated by the Equestrians. Anything bad would happen, but the pesky Equestrians would place the blame onto the creatures instead of accepting responsibility for their own actions! They should have swallowed their pride.

But, then the Wall wouldn't be there. Celestia would have maimed Luna out of envy. The whole Equestrian kingdom would place enough blame onto the Everfree Forest to spark another war.

"Well... do you need anything from me?" Nightmare pressed, and interrupted Discord's thoughts.

"What? No," Discord answered.

"I thought you needed something. I don't think we can do anything but sit in darkness and wait until the twins pricked their hooves and fell into an eternal sleep." Nightmare mused as she thought of what could happen to the twins someday.

"Are you going to revoke-"

"I won't revoke the curse!" Nightmare lost her composure.

"Fine. Just watch as they die right before our eyes."

Nightmare nearly cringed at her friend's sarcasm. "Don't say it," She warned. "Let's see what happens."

"Do you have feelings for your nieces?" Discord interrogated.

"You asked me once, but, the answer is no."

"I thought you did."

"You are sorely mistaken." Nightmare smirked at Discord.

"I'm not stupid," Discord retorted, offended. He wanted to say that he saw the twins as his own daughters, but he didn't want to incur his friend's wrath and hatred.

"Fine. Leave me alone for the night. We shall visit the cottage in the morning. I'm getting bored."

Discord walked away. Nightmare Moon took comfort in being alone as she looked to the skies. Still, the dark clouds blotted out the beauty of the night. That was all because of her glum mood. If only she didn't feel the need to ruin the beauty with the clouds, then she would be able to stargaze without a problem.

Night swiftly passed as Nightmare took naps from time to time. As morning came, no light shone into the Everfree Forest. She enjoyed the darkness that came with being evil. She simply grinned as she stood and strode out of the forest and into the woods with Discord.

They hid behind the bushes as they glanced at the cottage. Nightmare Moon nearly chuckled, but swallowed the laughter down her throat. "Look at the cottage. No chaos at all," She commented. "There should be chaos."

Discord was reminded of his childhood. Sometimes, he would pull pranks on the magical folk in the Everfree Forest. He would laugh with amusement each time the prank scared them out of their wits. Nightmare Moon was to be his partner in crime... sort of. He smiled at the notion of playing pranks. This time, he wanted Nightmare Moon to play a prank on the breezies. "Go ahead," He hinted.

"I'm going to prank them," Nightmare reminded him. She was now racked with laughter as she thought of the perfect prank. She had to forcefully restrain her laughter in effort not to be discovered by the pesky trio.

Inside the cottage, the trio of breezies were drinking tea and playing chess. Silver Moon felt a droplet land into her silvered mane, and scowled at Moonflower. "Is this to get even with me?" She interrogated.

"I resent no insinuation. I resent no insinuation!" Moonflower retorted crisply.

"Then quit bickering," Night Blossom scolded.

Several more droplets fell onto their heads. "I said no magic!" Moonflower shouted.

"We didn't do it!" Night Blossom reminded her.

"Don't you dare lie to me, you greedy pigs!"

"You bloated, foolish goats!" Silver Moon lashed out.

"Shut up!" Moonflower scolded. "Or, I'll make sure that you never talk again!"

Outside, Nightmare watched on as the chaos continued in the cottage. Thunder boomed inside the cottage. Rain poured onto the breezies. She was racked with laughter once again. "Oh, come on!" She told Discord. "That was funny!"

"About the curse..." Discord mentioned. "You said that you aren't going to revoke it. Are you trying to be cruel to your nieces?"

Nightmare scowled in response. How dare he ruin her day? "Quit it. I'm trying to get back at my sister!" She affirmed. "She was the reason why I cursed the twins, remember?"

"You hate Celestia, and so do I," Discord pointed out.

Nightmare only chuckled as she looked away. How dare he think about saving his little friends? Well, Sunset Shimmer reminded the alicorn too much of Celestia because of the light coloring. For a strange reason, Nightmare favored Twilight Sparkle over the other twin. "I can let one live, and the other will not survive to see the day after the sixteenth birthday," She whispered.

"Are you playing favorites?" Discord wondered. Although he liked the twins, he favored Sunset over Twilight. Perhaps that was because Sunset reminded him of a younger and kinder Celestia.

"No," Nightmare denied.

"Whatever."

"Silence, please."

Discord sighed as he looked away from his friend. He continued to look at the window. He liked the twins, and somehow, he imagined Nightmare to be a distant mother figure.