On The Island

by Nerdz

Rating: teen
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Nightmare Moon, Drama, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 1099

MY LITTLE DESCENDANTS SIDE STORY. Towards the climax of My Little Descendants, Nightmare Moon makes an unexpected appearance. How exactly did this happen?

Towards the climax of My Little Descendants, Nightmare Moon makes an unexpected appearance. How exactly did this happen?

This is an MLD side story that shows what was happening on the Island, as the name suggests, during the first half of chapter eight. If this is your first descent into this alternate universe, I'd recommend at least glancing over the main story, as this will make no sense without it.

Published 2016-05-30 20:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-30 20:10:01 UTC

Villain's Rise

"I don't like this!"

Nightmare Moon slammed her hooves down on the rotting wood of a table at the center of her apartment, interrupting a card game between two of the three other ponies in the room. Three pairs of startled eyes glanced at the dark mare.

"What's her problem?" a short yellow Unicorn mare muttered, glancing between the Changeling mare and Unicorn stallion before laying a card face up on the growing pile on the table and taking another card from the deck, then waiting on the stallion to do the same..

The dark Alicorn ignored her three companions as she paced around the room. "I don't like not being able to keep an eye on them!" she paused at a widow to glare out past the shimmering barrier in the direction of the Equestrian continent, just out of sight over the horizon. "Something's happening over there; I can sense it."

"You can't be thinking what I think you're thinking." the Changeling dropped the file she used on her hooves and stretched where she laid across the arms of her chair. "You are! You're thinking that they're going good!" the mare laughed. "Everything will go according to plan. They're our children, after all; what else could they be other than evil."

She turned her head to look at the game. "What're you two playing?"

"Ninety-nine." the stallion replied, not looking up from his cards.

The Changeling hummed as she leaned deeper into her recline. "Deal me in the next game."

"We're moving onto Scotch Bridge after this." the yellow mare added.

"M'kay, I like that game better anyway."

"I'm serious!" the Alicorn shouted as she whirled around, stomping her hoof, angrily punctuating her sentence. "You lot were there during that 'screen chat' or whatever it was Friday; don't tell me you saw nothing off."

The Changeling sat up in her seat while the Unicorns slowly laid down their cards.

"They...were acting a bit odd..." the ex-queen admitted.

The gruff stallion whispered a reply. "I suppose..."

"Flare's never spoken to me like that before." the fiery-headed mare huffed.

"Exactly!" the ancient mare waved a hoof dramatically. "They've..." she turned back to the window, some of the anger leaving her face, sadness replacing it. She sighed. "They've been exposed to the poison of 'goodness. I just..." her voice lowered, too quiet for the others to hear. "I don't want my daughter to make my mistakes."

In her minds eye, the Alicorn saw two fillies playing, one with hair pale as the moon, coat a darker shade, the other dark as night with hair colored with the purple of a nebula. The scene was the pure image of happiness. The fillies grew older, the lighter girl's pallet becoming darker as she aged, while the darker's only real change was her hair's shift from purple to blue. The memories flew faster and faster, the lighter girl's smile fading over time until her happiness was more rare than any jewel, a constant look of exhaustion etched across her features.

Finally, the darker filly stood alone as the sun began to rise, having complied to her friend's final wish, eyes closed, her face tear stained with an emotionless expression. Her eyes opened slowly, rage twisting across her face as she screamed into a dark sky, power surging as she stopped the moon's descent. Her mane, which had hung limply on her neck, sparked into indigo smoke that clouded around her head. Her eyes burned with the fury of a dragon. The fury that landed her imprisoned on the surface of the moon.

Nightmare blinked away a tear, her face hardening. "No good deed goes unpunished." she muttered bitterly.

She turned to her companions. "The power of 'good' is corruptive and strong. So many have fallen for it's illusion. But the 'good' only seek to destroy the hearts of the 'bad'. There is no good. Not here, not in Equestria, not anywhere."

Sombra scratched at the stubble on his chin. "Can the resist it? Are they strong enough? Shade can, I'm almost sure-"

"They all have to. If even one falls victim, they could spill the plan to a teacher or guard, or even to one of the Guardians." Chrysalis muttered.

"They grew up here." Sunset Shimmer pointed out, "Evil is all they know. T-they'll manage."

Nightmare sighed. "We can only hope."

A loud crack resounded outside. An earthquake followed seconds after, rocking the Island down to it's very core. Screams rose from the street as ponies stumbled over cracking streets and rushed for cover to avoid being crushed by crumbling pieces of desolate buildings.

"What's happening?!" Sunset screamed as she tried to regain her footing after being knocked over by the shock waves.

Nightmare Moon grunted as she pulled herself to a window. Her eyes widened. "They did it." she whispered as the wild vibrations ended.

"What?" Chrysalis pulled herself to her hooves.

"They did it!" the dark Alicorn shouted, whirling around, her eyes filled with malicious intent. "The barrier's been shattered!"

The other villains stared at her, dumbfounded.

"We're...free?" Sombra whispered in disbelief.

Nightmare let out a cackle as she took wing. "You three!" she shouted her companions, "round up everypony! I'm headed out! We'll return with the Elements. I'll use Magic to corrupt the others, then we can use them to take back Equestria!"

"You," she pointed to Chrysalis, "you'll wield Deception!"

"You," she turned to Sombra, "Greed."

"Cruelty!" she pointed to Sunset.

"And my daughter shall wield Betrayal, after pulling off this heist!"

"But that still leaves one Element." Sombra reminded, "Negativity."

Nightmare rolled her eyes. "Talk among yourselves, figure out which of your children is the most negative."

She turned and flew out the window and soared over the Island. "Listen up, everypony!" she shouted, gaining the population's collective attention, "Remain where you are until somepony comes for you! The barrier as been broken!"

Cheers rose from the ground.

"And tonight, we rise!"

Author's Note

So, I realized too late that not everyone who reads My Little Descendants has actually seen Disney's Descendants, so a lot of you were probably confused when Nightmare showed up in Equestria. This oneshot is greatly inspired by the villain's view of the coronation scene in the movie, which I left out of the main story, as the cutting between locations would be too confusing to write, let alone to read.

I made a few references to Wicked, which I've been obsessed with for about the last month or so...did anyone catch them?:derpytongue2:

I love comments! They cure writer's block!