Court of Nightmares

Nightmare was taking the time to check up on her simulacra. Their boring lives was almost like watching the actual mares’ memories again, that is until Pinkie Pie popped up. She had made her simulacra to be near perfect copies and yet the pink one always seemed more withdrawn around her simulacra than in the memories. It had been a month since her return and she was half way to getting Twilight.

Just three more and she will be mine.

She had spent the last two weeks getting her pets ready to retake their places in Ponyville. Today was the last day her simulacra would be out and about, maybe Pinkie would finally stop trying to convince Twilight her friends were being replaced by aliens. Even if she wasn’t technically wrong.

♦♦♦

Next day

Rarity was getting settled back in her own workshop, it was surprisingly hard after crafting her castle and the outfits for her larger self. Her queen’s simulacra had managed to make things easy for her, seeing as it didn’t need to rest, and completed all the back orders perfectly. Though now that she thought about it, she didn’t need to rest either now.

Flutterbat was having a much easier time readapting to her previous schedule. She still loved her animal friends and they loved her back. Angel bunny hopped in and seemed to notice a difference in her. He threw a carrot at her head, Flutterbat ducked down and the carrot flew over her head. He knew something was up.

Rainbow Dash was relaxing like there was no tomorrow. Two weeks of guarding a mostly empty castle was boring and hard work. Rainbow decided to look at her clock and saw it was 12:37 pm. She had a photo shoot in a little under an hour. Ten minutes later, Rainbow Dash was in a penthouse Canterlot. Half an hour later Photo Finish was setting up for her photo shoot.

Ze others musht never find out about zis.

Spike was basically living his life on autopilot. When it came to Twilight’s experiments he was fully awake and trying not to get killed by some form of magical reaction. Having Starlight help provide a magical shield was a good thing too. When he was on autopilot, his mind was on his mistress.

Pinkie knew something was up with Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Spike, but Twilight demanded proof that they were aliens if she was going to do anything. So she investigated. Her investigation led her to the Castle of the Pony Sisters, then to a big hole in the Dragon Lands.

Something was wrong and she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Night noticed the pink mare snooping around the edge of the hole she left in the ground and scooped her up.

♦♦♦

In the throne room of the Castle in the Sky (Name subject to change), Pinkie Pie beheld Nightmare Moon.

“Hi Black Snooty! I should throw you a welcome back to the living party!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“My name is simply Night, and I was never dead,” Nightmare said impassively as she wondered if Discord made an unconscious soul bond with this mare while he was in the statue. She decided to check.

♦♦♦

Time froze as a deity council was called. Deities from all over Equus gathered into the Castle. Discord, Day, the Elementals, Harmony, Time, Space, and many more came. Conversations were struck up

“Nice place you got here Night. It would be a shame if something happened to it,” Discord commented, a hint of anger in his voice.

“Nice to see you too, Discord,” Night informed the chaos god.

“I know you’ve touched Fluttershy, Night” Discord spat, pointing a rubber chicken at her.

“Hmm, yes. I may end up taking all of Harmony’s mares by the time I’m done,” Night said.

“And may I ask why you are taking my champions?” a voice like a beautiful choir asked. It was Harmony, creator of the Elements.

“Oh just a whim, a dream and a desire,” Night said whimsically.

“Oh and what is this desire, sister?” a voice like the gentle caress of a mother asked. Night turned and saw her sister, Day.

Night blushed and mumbled, “I may have fallen for Twilight Sparkle.”

This silenced all conversation as everyone heard the eldest goddess admit she had fallen for a mortal. Now none of the other gods and goddesses were strangers to loving a mortal, but Night had always been the only one that had never done so. In trillions of years of existence, Night was the only one that didn’t fall in love with a mortal or semi-mortal. Even Discord was struck silent; the god of chaos was still for once in his life.

“And you can’t get to Twilight without taking the rest of my ponies, as per my rules,” Harmony concluded, breaking the silence.

“Yes, sorry about that Harmony,” Night apologized. “As for why I called this meeting, Discord, did you make a soul bond with this mortal?” pointing to Pinkie Pie.

“What!? I have never made a soul bond!” Discord said.

“It’s true he didn’t make a soul bond with me,” a cheery voice said.

The gods were silent once again as they all turned to see Pinkie Pie waving at them all, seemingly unaffected by the time freeze. When they all blinked, the entire throne room was covered in party decorations. Both Time and Space decided that was an excellent time to stare at Discord and the pink mare dancing around him. The rest soon followed, only to find that there were more than one Pinkies in the room.

“Can anyone tell me how this is possible?” Night asked.

A chorus of ‘Nope’ answered her. Night sighed and tried to figure out how to deal with the mare.

“I am so glad my artifacts aren’t directly connected to me,” Harmony muttered. Several gods and goddesses were thinking of changing their artifact policies to match.

“Anyone willing to help me take her?” Night asked. Many eager deities raised their hands. a chance to gain teh favor of Night was rare after all.

♦♦♦

24 subjective hours later

Hundreds on younger gods lay on the floor; gods of war, partying and other assorted things lay defeated at the party hands of Pinkie Pie. The elder gods looked in shock and Discord was rolling on the floor laughing.

“I honestly did not think that that would happen,” Night stated. The other gods could only nod in silent agreement. Night waved her hand and the younger gods felt like new. “It would appear that no willing deity can tame Pinkie Pie, so I will be closing the council soon, you have an hour to catch up and say your good-byes,” Night declared.

The various younger deities spoke with each other; it was rare that a council was called. The elder deities spoke with each other at length about what Night was doing, they all approved and snickered at the challenge Night would have to go through for her prize. Even Discord was no longer sour about Night touching Fluttershy.

“Oh and do be careful around Flutterbat, Discord,” Night warned. “She bites now.”

Discord was amused, but not a fool, “I’ll be sure to remember that. By the way, what does she like now?” he asked.

“Domination, Rainbow Dash, and she’s one of the original thestrals now,” Night rattled off. “Probably a few more things but it’s no fun with spoilers.”

Discord smiled and said, “You know me so well.”

Night waved her hand again and the council was ended and time started back up. Every deity vanished back to their domains. Night looked tiredly at the pink mare still bouncing around the throne room. Then she had an idea and decided she had nothing to lose.

“Pinkie Pie, do you wish to join me?” Night asked.

“Okie Dokie Loki,” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“You do realize there will be a lot of sex involved in this castle correct?” Night said.

“Yeppers, I haven’t cut loose in a long time!” Pinkie said. Night shrugged and prepared to return to her domain to rest.

“Don’t tell anyone about this and go back to Ponyville,” Night said as she left to rest.

What happened next would give even the deities she had just beaten nightmares for the rest of their immortal lives. Pinkie’s smile split her face. Her head reversed on her neck and she proceeded to devour herself, like a demented pac-man, from reality, only to pop back up in her room at Sugercube Corner. Night was regretting setting up those scrying spells in the throne room and went to sleep it off.