There's more than one way to live a Nightmareby Abaddon spiceChaptersChapter 1: lunar beingChapter 2: Luna?!Chapter 3: I'm back in blackChapter 4: No rest for the wickedChapter 5: Sweet dreams are made of these~Chapter 6: Daydream Chapter 7: Quests and copycatsChapter 8: What happens after questsChapter 9: Wait...what am I doing again?A Non-canon Valentine Chapter Chapter 1: lunar being"Ow" I groaned as a sat up, the last thing I remembered was. '...' "Okay, that's not a good sign" I grumbled as I opened my eyes. Grey. As far as my eyes could see, I was on a grey cratered surface. 'Am I on the moon?' I wondered, and as I tried to walk forward, something stopped me. I looked down. Chains. Huge black chains pinned my hooves to the moon sur- 'Wait, hooves?' I raised a eyebrow, and inspected the "hooves", dark black fur, and wore sliver scuffed up bracers. "I'm Nightmare moon aren't I" I groaned to no one in particular. "No actually I was talking to you" "No, 4th wall breaking. That's Pinkie's job" "Hey I'm stuck here for a thousand years, humor me" "Fine, you're Nightmare Moon, but let's just say your going to have a surprise when you get out" "Uh, what do you mean by that" "No spoilers" ;-) I groaned at that. I decided to stop breaking the 4th wall (for now) and I looked out at the bleak scenery. "1,000 bottles of beer on a wall, a thousand bottles of beer. Take on down, pass it around, 999 bottles of beer on the wall~" I sang. Maybe it may help pass the time. (A thousand years later) "I'm soooo bored" I groaned. I had tried everything, sing, dance (I gave up do to chain restraint), heck I even tried to see if Luna or the original Nightmare was in my head. No such luck. I couldn't even explore anywhere. There's probably nothing out there to explore, but heck! It beats staying still in these chains any day of the week. I groaned again and looked at the far away Equestria, in other HiE's you started straight-off in Equestria. I got the moon. Great. I pulled against my chains, I hadn't known how long its been, but it wouldn't hurt if- They moved. The chains moved. 'Hallay-frickin-louya!' I mentally celebrated, and then I started thrashing against the chains, and as one broke I felt the magic that was protecting me fade a little. Lets just say a thousand years of not eating anything, really hurts. "Ohhhhh..." I groaned, and then I clamped my mouth shut. 'This is going to hurt' I thought with a wince. Then I began breaking off the remaining chains. Thirst. Pain. Sound. Air... My lungs were contracting, as the vacuum of space was collapseing my ribs. With one last wild tug, I felt the last chain snap, and one thing completed me as I rocketed toward Equs. Rage I slammed into a meadow, (Faust knows where) and luckly it was nighttime, before I did anything though I gasped for air. "Sweet, beautiful air, how I've missed you" I choked out and then I looked down at the grass under me. I was a pony, pony+grass=Full. So, I shoved my muzzle straight into it, tearing and gobbling up bits of dirt with it. It was delicious. As I devoured the meadow, I caught a glimpse of a stream. Faster than a wonderbolt, I shot over there and immediately started guzzling the water. When I finally got my feasting and drinking under control, I looked down at my reflection in the stream. Black fur, teal slitted eyes, fangs, the whole Nightmare package, but upon closer observation I noticed some notable differences. Firstly, my armor was silver, not blue (like in the show), I also felt I was probably a lot taller to, as well as a lot thinner, but I could blame that on a certain thousand-year event. My armor was dented and scratched, and as I leaned closer to the water I could see plenty of scars and scratches on me. One notable one was a huge crescent scar on my right eye, "Run Simba" I said in the deepest voice I could muster and then broke out into a grin. When I did this, I saw my teeth, but instead of being only fangs, all my teeth were pretty sharp. I tilted my head at this. 'Aren't ponies herbivores?' I questioned and then opened my mouth so I could examine my back teeth. To my surprise, they were molars. 'I guess I'm still a omnivore' I thought with a shrug, and then looked again at my monstrous grin 'I look like I came out of a creepy pasta' I mused, and then decided to look around at my surroundings. As I scanned the torn up meadow, I saw a all too familiar mountain structure in the distance, and slowly a savage smile spread across my lips. "I think it's about time to let Equestria know that Nightmare Moon, is back!" Chapter 2: Luna?!I sped off toward Canterlot, a warm fire in my chest fueling me. As the castle got closer I went into cloud mode and slunk in. Shooting from shadow to shadow, I let an invisible smile grace my cloudy muzzle. 'This feels awesome' I thought with glee as I soon got close to the throne room. As I got closer I overheard one of the guards saying that court was finished. 'Typical Celestia' 'Excuse me?' Silence. I got no reply, I shrugged it off, 'probably nothing', and then turned my attention to the throne room. Strangely I heard voices, 'I thought court was closed' I wondered, then I sneaked in for a closer look. Inside was Celestia talking to- 'Luna?!' I nearly yelled before I clamped my hooves over my mouth, and I watched the two in disbelief. "Sister, do you think-" "Yes, Luna, tonight is Nightmare's return" "Do you think she will be vengeful?" Celestia let out a sigh, "I don't know Luna its been a thousand years, maybe..." I nearly snorted at this. They locked me up in limbo for a thousand years, and they think I'll just come back all goody two-shoes. I think I have had enough of this conversation. Screw it, I was locked up like a bad guy, then I'll be the bad guy. I decided and then I shot from the shadows like a bullet and tackled Celestia. As she quickly came to her senses, her magenta eyes shrunk as she looked into my snake eyes . "Hello sister!" I said with a madman grin, and I could swear I felt her heart stop for a second. A laser beam then caught me in the shoulder. I hissed as it knocked me off Tia and then looked at Luna, whose horn was smoking. "Looks like I forgot one" I hissed and then dove for her. She had readied another spell, but I quickly turned into my mist form, and fazed through the blast, then I appeared behind her. Before she could turn around, my metal bracer met the back of her head. With a Clang, she went down. 'Sorry Luna' I thought with a wince at the (now unconscious) alicorn. Then another blast got me in the back of the head. As I sailed towards a wall, I quickly went back into cloud mode, and instead of going splat, it was more like a pomf. No seriously, I swear I heard a pomf noise. Anyway, back to the battle, as I turned toward Celestia I saw she was glaring at me with a charged horn and tears running down her face. "What has happened to you sister?" She choked out and I quickly did a room sweep to see if Luna was awake. 'Was she talking to me?' Well since I was going to go villain until the elements of harmony blasted me, might as well give a badass line before I defeated her and shot off toward Ponyville. I let out a wild cackle, and sent a murderous glare Tia's way "My dear sister, reality is what happened to me" I snarled, and then I shot forward and uppercutted her, to which the spell she was charging shot up and hit the ceiling. Before she could act again, I gave her a hefty right hook and 'Crack' she was out like a light. I quickly put my ear toward her mouth, I heard breathing. 'Good, I didn't kill her' I thought with relief, to be honest I had thought I might have killed her when I heard the crack, but luckily she was fine. I quickly checked Luna as well, both were breathing and probably would be better after I was "defeated". As I dragged them (somehow) past the gaurds I put them in a guest bedroom, tucked them in, and got two washcloths, drenched and squeezed the extra cold water out, and applied them to both of their heads. Hey I might be acting evil right now, but I'm not heartless. "Good bye sisters" I whispered gently and then I shot off toward Ponyville. From there everything was a blur, Twilight saying who I was, the mane six banding together, trials through the Everfree, the whole shebang. As they finally made it to the old castle ruins, Twi saw the spark of friendship and right now a rainbow deathbeam was coming straight at me. I sat back and watched it, kind of like it was in slow motion as the seconds of my life ticked by. Maybe I would be healed and maybe I would be blasted to oblivion, 50/50 chance, so I let a small smile grace my lips as I felt the rainbow come down upon me. I felt like my blood had turned to lava, I collapsed and screamed to the heavens. 'Oh Faust, I'm going to die!' I mind screamed. But slowly, oh, so, agonizingly slowly, the pain went away, the rainbow lightshow soon stopped and I blinked the spots out of my eyes. I quickly looked down at myself, I had no more scratches or scars on my skin, and my armor was back to its formal glory. As I looked down at the passed out mane six bellow me I saw I had kept my height, 'yes!' I mentally hoof-pumped. Hey! I like being tall alright. Alright, back to the present, the sun somehow decided to take this very moment to rise up in its bright, and annoying glory. "My eyes" I hissed and covered my eyes with my wing. I guess in any world the sun is still a dick. I heard the mares groan and my covered eyes widened in alarm, so I shot into the rafters. In my rush my helmet fell off my head (heck if I know) and landed to the floor with a clang. The mane six had just woken up though, so I couldn't retrieve it. "Why looky ere Twi. Looks like we are the elements" Applejack said with a laugh. The girls laughed, and had a group hug to celebrate my death. Wow, that's actually kind of morbid of you think about it. (Anyway) Tia and Lulu popped up and talked to them, Twi told them they defeated me and I think I saw a flash of horror cross Tia's face when they said I was dead. As Celestia kept her facade, Luna soon teleported them to Ponyville. The moment they were gone they broke down weeping. Ok, I had to admit I felt really bad for that and then Tia saw my helmet and quickly picked it up and cradled it in her hooves. She was whispering something and Luna continued crying, and I couldn't take it anymore. Quick as a lynx, I hopped down and quietly approached behind them. As Luna and Tia's sobs turned to sniffles I wrapped my wings around both of them, and they both leaned into the wing hug. Tia leaned her head back "Thanks Luna, I needed that" she said as she closed her eyes. Luna perked up, "For what sister?" "The hug. It reminds me of Nightmare" she replied with her eyes closed and nuzzling into her sister's soft wing. "I thought you were hugging me" Her eyes shot open and she saw Luna giving her an alarmed stare, they both slowly turned their heads and were met with two slitted teal eyes. "Sup" I said with a grin, and then Celestia fainted. I then turned to a very pale Luna, "Was it something I said?" Chapter 3: I'm back in blackHouston, we have confirmed it, Poines. Are. Soft. I mean, I should have guessed that do to fur, but I swear their like life sized plushes! And to that, I wing hugged the sisters a little harder, honestly I ignored their conversation and just immersed myself in the plushness. Ok, just to be clear that sounded a lot better in my head. (Anyway) To be honest I think they started to notice it. 'Maybe it was when they both turned really slowly towards you' I heard the strange voice in my head say. 'Ok, firstly, who are you, and secondly WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHEN I WAS ON THE MOON!' I mentally screamed, only to be answered with nothing. 'Author we're going to have a talk about this' I mentally vowed. Somewhere, Abaddon was speaking to a pony. "So you'll do it?" "Eh, what the heck. The kid's got potential, but remember I don't do this for charity" the strange pony stated evenly. Abaddon set a single peice of paper on the table and slid it towards her. The pony looked it over, front to back. "That's it?" She growled, but before the pony could continue, the author decided to add one more thing to sweeten the deal. "I'll make you your own story" "Deal" she said with a grin, and extended her molten clawed hand. I returned my attention back to the sisters. To which, they seemed kind of pale, so it wouldn't be to awkward I greeted them. Ok. That could have gone better. I just stared at Luna, luckily she hadn't fainted, and then I looked down at Celly. "Uh, do you know how long she'll be out?" I asked, all I got was an extremely slow "no" headshake. 'You'd think she's seen a ghost' I huffed, and then I picked up my helmet and put it on my head. As I turned back my vision was filled with blue fur, "You're alive!" she RCVed and then full-alicorn force glomped me. Nightmare.exe has stopped working, please contact your administrator or restart your computer for more details. 'I have no idea what's going on' was what my brain said, and what I said was more along the lines of "uhhhhh?" Sadly though, this did nothing to lessen the alicorn bear hug that was crushing my neck. "Luna... air....please" I choked as blackness started covering the sides of my vision, the pressure stopped immediately and I quickly sucked in as much air as I could. All while Luna was spilling out hundreds of apologies, to be honest it was getting annoying. I put a hoof to her lips, "Luna, stop" I said calmly, and like magic she stopped. 'Stop and ye shall halt thy blabbering, thy sayth the Nightmare' I silently proclaimed with a smile. It fell immediately though, as I saw Luna sitting on the stone floor, sulking with her ears down. By pure instinct, I wrapped my hooves around her and pulled her into a hug. 'Ok, scratch that, sad Woona is a no' I mentally added as I hugged her a bit more. And then a question popped into my mind. 'Wait, if I control the night, and Celestia rules the day, what the hell does Luna control?' So to answer my curiosity, I glanced at her cutie mark. It was a sleeping moon with grey clouds. 'Ok, best guess is probably dreams' I decided and then turned when I heard Tia groan. Celestia woke up slowly, trying to shake the grogginess from her body. "Luna, I had the strangest dream" she mumbled as she raised to her hooves. "About what dear sister?" Celestia's eyes snapped open. That wasn't Luna's voice. She looked were the voice came from. She saw a very familiar elder sister towering over her, and having her little sister in her crushing grasp. "Hello, sister" the Nightmare said with a monstrous grin. "Ni....Ni...Night.....mare" she said as her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell forward into darkness. I snickered and Luna punched me, "you shouldn't have done that" she scolded, but I still laughed. "I know, but did you see her face" I said as I tried to coverup my snorts, Luna rolled her eyes. "I guess your back" she said with a sigh and I playfully pouted "Oh, my own sister not wanting me, oh, the inhumanity" I said with a dramatic sigh. Luna's ears shot up, "No I didn't mean that!" She panicked, but I wrapped a wing around her. "I was joking Luna" I said in my demonic Nightmare voice and once she heard what I said she let out a sigh of relief, and then jabbed me in the ribs. "Don't do that!" She yelled. "Do what?" I said smugly. "Your horrifying demon voice, I nearly thought you turned back, again" I could hear the worry in her voice so I cut the crap. "Fine, happy?" "Quite" she replied and then hugged me again, then she slowly turned her head towards me. "Your, thin." To be truthful I didn't know if it was a statement or a question so I just shrugged and answered. "I haven't eaten anything in a thousand years Luna, I'm quite sure I'm a bit thin" Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I didn't know! Neither did Tia! Please don't hurt her! We didn't mean to-mummph!" I put my hoof in Luna's mouth. "Okay, first off I'm not going to hurt any-pony, secondly I forgive both of you" I said a calmly as I could as I removed my hoof from her mouth. As I did this, Luna just looked at me in shock. When she finally got her voice back, I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "You....forgive me?" Her voice wavered. "Yes" I said calmly. This of course caused her to break down crying in my arms. 'Wow, I guess she's been really beating herself up about sending me to the moon' I thought as I patted her back, and let a mischievous smile grace my lips. "Come my dear Luna, join me, and together we will rule Equestria" I proclaimed with a savage grin. "NIGHTMARE!" Chapter 4: No rest for the wickedAuthor's Note Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated. School stuff. Enjoy Chapter 4: No rest for the wicked When Celestia finally woke up again, Luna explained everything to her (after restraining me from doing my demon voice) and we all had a family group hug. Actually, it was more of me and Luna doing the hug and Tia just going stiff. After talking a bit though, she eventually warmed up to me though (or is it warmed back up?), and soon the two decided to introduce me to the population nearby; AKA: Ponyville. Yeah, Tia and Lulu didn't get the memo on which town I just terrorized. To be truthful though, I think they took it rather well. They only screamed and ran for only ten minutes this time when we showed up. Then Luna had to calm them, and Tia gave a huge speech on that the elements purified me and how I was all reformed, and blah blah blah, good guy stuff. Boring. Mainly, because I knew it was just a bunch of horse marlakey Celestia was making up to calm the populous. On the upside though, the looks on Twi and her friends faces when Celestia mentioned I was her sister were priceless. So in all, it was a wonderful re-introduction if I do say so myself. 'You just did say so yourself though?' 'Ah, ha! You're back bitch! Tell me your secrets of you ever wish to see the mindscape again!!' 'Seriously.' 'Yep, now I need a light, gum, tin foil, a mariachi band, and nuclear launch codes' 'What are you even- no, never mind I don't even want to know' Before I could extract anymore dialogue with the unkown voice, Tia quickly ushered me and Luna to the chariots, that were somehow right outside Ponyville (How did they? Story logic, don't question it) and we took off straight towards Canterlot. Two words to describe the place. Pony. Apocalypse. Actually, I think that's one word, like pony-apocalypse, get to the point. Fine, lets just think of it as Ponyville reaction 2.0. Seriously, it took a least three whole freaking hours to calm the citizens down (I fully believe that was your fault/ hush child.) the castle servants as well are terrified of me, and the guards attacked me. Bad move, and I figured out how to street fight. I'm comin for ya Johnnny. Back to reality though, I also got to meet Shining Armor, and we had an awesome Harry Potter spell battle, until Tia and Luna intervened. Then Tia explained everything and and Shiny took it begrudgingly, at least until they weren't watching. The minute their heads were turned, he sent me a "I'm watching you" glare, and I just snorted and gave him a "whatever" eye roll and then continued on my way. .... And totally didn't meet anyone else. ...What? Ok. Fine. I may have also met a certain pink alicorn as well. Who goes by the name of Mi amor Cadenzea. Yeah, I met fucking Cadence alright. You jelly? To be honest though, she is pretty nice. After she stopped cowering in fear, and Celestia finally got off her fat flank and introduced us, but yeah, she's nice. "So. Um, your my other Auntie..?" She squeaked as Celestia introduced us. 'Ok, I'll admit her timidness is so freaking adorable, definitely can see her with Shining Armor' I though with glee. I heard Luna give a dry cough and I realized I hadn't replied. 'Quick, brain think of something nice to say' "Greetings, niece." I said as I towered over her, and Cadence squirmed under my gaze. 'Wow, that totally comforted her, idiot' 'I'm going to give you five seconds to correct that sentence, before I find you, and give you a royal beat down' '....sorry' The voice was right though, she still was pretty, well, terrified of me. Now how was I going to change that? Hugs? Nah, Nightmare hugs are for immediate family only. Gifts? No. Conversation? That's what I'm doing. Topics? Heck, if I know. I got it! Bribes. 'Seriously?' 'Nah, I'll just wing it' I thought, and I heard a face-hoof in the back of my mind, but I was a mare on a mission! Ain't no voice in my head going to tell me what to do! So, I extended my wing like an offering hand. Cadence's eyes widened and I prepared my speech. "...Dear niece, would you like to accompany us? If your not busy, I would like to know more about you." Cadence blinked, once, twice, "uh, sure" she said. 'Babada! Babada! da! Cadence has joined the party' 'Is it to late to quit?' 'Oh hush, I'm not that bad' I silently retorted as Cadence finished the tour with me. As we continued on our way, I lightly pryed and soon actually found out how she became a alicorn. "You matched-up a broken couple?" "Yeah, I told you it wasn't that important" she said with a shrug and her ears folded down. Oh heck, naw! She is not going to be embarrassed off her frickin alicorn-hood. Flippin Twilight actually made the problem to get her ascension! And I'm pretty sure that it was just a ruse for merchandise! I extended my wing and rested it on her back. She looked up. "That's quite a tale, work on your storytelling and maybe it sound a bit more exciting" I said with a good-natured chuckle, and then I lowered my voice "Maybe then I'll tell you how Celestia and Luna got their Cutie Marks" Luna and Tia's ears shot up. "Okay, that's enough of the tour! Nightie needs to see her room, goodbye Cadence" Tia quickly explained and then immediately teleported Cadence elsewhere. Then Luna shot me a dirty look. "You promised" she hissed and I chuckled, "don't worry I wasn't actually going to tell her" I said causally and they both let out a sigh of relief. 'Okay voice, how did Luna and Tia get their Cutie Marks?' 'Going behind their backs, I- actually am quite proud of you' 'Info first, touchy feely later' then I heard the sound of pages being turned in the back of my mind. 'Alright, here we are, it was a summer day in young Equestria..... When I finally was in the privacy of my room, I burst out laughing with my internal voice. Ok, so here's the tale summarized. So younger Luna and Celestia went into the Everfree, one found a certain Joke flower and gave it to moi. In which I was turned into Nightmare Woon for awhile. Then, they both rushed around the castle trying to find a cure and fufil my duties. Let's just say they sucked at it. Luna messed up the sleep schedule, while Tia caught the moon on fire. Yes, I don't know how she did it either, but either way I had to fix it when Starswirl got me back to my original form. But, low and behold as I had Tia lift the sun for me so I could bring down the fiery moon, she got her butt mark, and Luna had to dream walk to get all the ponies back on schedule. Eh, I could see how they could be embarrassed by it. I then picked myself up and looked around my room. Dark purple lined the walls , and thick dark purple curtains covered the windows. Surprisingly the bed had dark blue bedsheets and a wooden intricate headboard with a battle carved into it, as it rested right above the bed. There was an oak desk in the corner with plenty of drawers and a full inkwell. On the far left side of the bed there was a fireplace, lined with gold that made it stick out like a sore thumb. 'Probably Tia's idea' I though as I quickly changed it to iron, "Much, better" I murmured and then continued on. There was a wardrobe, a weathered armor rack (that looked like it came from the original castle), an old looking chest, and a bathroom. I quickly went over to the chest and opened it, it was filled with mapping supplies, weathered graph paper, and moth-eaten star charts. "I could only guess what this was used for" I stated sarcastically and then went into the bathroom. It was stark white, a huge contrast to my darker room, with a jacuzzi for a bathtub and a huge shower with dozens of mane products. I looked down at myself, a shower wouldn't be that bad. So I took off my armor and stepped right in. It took me a few minutes to get it working, but it was totally worth it. I melted under the warm spray of the shower head, and I felt my eyelids get heavy, but I shook my head and watched the water turn grey with all moon dust that washed off me. I then quickly tried to scrub it all off, feeling quite filthy, and when I was finished I added some mane product that smelled like Jasmine to my mane and tail. When I finished, I grabbed one of the fluffy white towels on the rack near me, dried myself off, grabbed my armor and headed for bed. Today had been quite exhausting. Chapter 5: Sweet dreams are made of these~Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 6: Daydream Chapter 6: Daydream Celestia woke up. Her horn was tingling, telling her it was time to raise the sun. She slowly got up and stretched, and groggily went off onto her bedroom balcony and lit her horn. Many would think the princess of the sun would love mornings, but in truth she was kind of 'meh' about them. They weren't bad but they weren't good either, she just woke up and did them. As the sun rose, Celestia slowly began to feel more energized. She then inhaled the fresh morning air, and of course she couldn't help but let her mind wander. It had been at least a few days since her elder sister had come back, and she was glad for her return. But something always seemed, well... A little bit 'off' about her. It wasn't that she was evil again, no, it was more of like looking at a whole different pony. Before, she was restrained, dignified, and downright cold at times. Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered their childhood. Nightmare always wanted to be loved, to get attention for her hard work. The ponies though, favored her and Luna more, and not truly just them, even their parents gave more attention to them when they were younger. Celestia felt a ping of sorrow stab her heart as she remembered their parents. Here one day and gone the next. Leaving them with a newly developing kingdom on their withers. All those years and without help from anypony, her sister had fought fang and hoof just to keep the country running, and when all the ponies turned against her, she had just simply went mad. Celestia shook her head of those memories, 'No. We will help her. Always.' 'Just as sisters should.' She silently vowed. Her thoughts though, had put her in a melancholy mood as she headed to the kitchens for breakfast. Before she exited her room, she quickly went to her dresser mirror. She looked at her frowning reflection and quickly replaced it with her usual gentle smile. "Better" she murmured to herself. And as she turned around, Luna teleported into her room. "We need to talk." She said calmly. To any other pony she would look like she was just starting a conversation, but Celestia had known her sister for over a millennia. The way her ears were perked and her movements only slightly ridged. She was fully panicked about something. "What is it?" She said with a hint of concern in her voice. They had practiced these facades to near perfection, it was a perfect poker face for politics, but why was Luna using hers? "Nightmare" she said quietly, and with that one word, Celestia's blood turned to ice. She immediately cast a teleportation spell, and sent them both to a bunker room far under Canterlot mountain. It could only be accessed by telportation, and was armed with enough enchanted food and provisions to last for two whole years. It was first used as an emergency evacuation room, for if a foe could defeat both them, but soon was forgotten due to no need and or use. But, it was the perfect place if the sisters needed to talk in absolute privacy. "What happened." Celestia asked again, showing a lot more panic in her voice as she checked on the bunkers wards. Luna told of the dreaming events she had witnessed. "Do you think she is turning?" She asked when she finished the tale, and Celestia rubbed her head. 'Monsters, she could handle. Politics. Foals-play. Her elder sister?' The name of her just made her want to curl up under her bed. "I don't know. She's just not..ugh" she grumbled as she tried to make since of it. Her sister was not known greatly for her deceit, she was always a "charge-in horn blazing" type of mare. And unlike the name suggests she never had ever turned dreams into nightmares, truthfully she actually had taught Luna how to dreamwalk. Well, for any consolation, at least no pony else could listen in to this. Nightmare was lying flat on the ground with a large glass against her ear. As she crawled around she could hear the sounds under the ground clearer. 'You sure they're beneath me?' 'Yes, I'm sure, just a few more paces.... and stop.' When she stopped she could hear the sounds clear up into voices, then a question popped up. 'Wait, how can I hear them? There is at least half a mountain between us.' 'Alicorn hearing, plus your more predatory. Your senses are sharper than a normal pony or alicorn' 'Hey, can I also eat meat?' 'Yes, now hush, their getting to the good part.' As she listened in, she heard the rest of the conversation. Forest informed her when it had finished. 'So what do you think?' '.... It was interesting?' 'What? No, witty remark? No, random quote? Who are you and what have you done with Nightmare!' 'Hey, I can be serious you know' 'As serious as a pony that talks to a voice in their head?' 'Yes, plus I just want to inform you; There is no spoon' 'We're getting off topic. Now, what do you want to do now that you know they don't trust you.' 'Earn their trust, duh' 'Your making this difficult' 'Yeah, well I'm trying not to get banished, thank you.' Knocking interuppted their conversation, as Nightmare got up and went to the door she heard: "Room Service" As she opened the door she looked down at a lime green earth pony in a maid uniform. "Hello this is Royal room service, your.... Augh!" She yelped as she saw the dark alicorn towering over her. Nightmare just rolled her eyes (which made her cower more) and continued down the hallway. 'See! Just look at the servants reactions! Doesn't that irritate you?' 'Don't you want me to be evil? I thought you would like ruling through fear' '......Is it troubling if I sometimes wonder which of us is the evil one?' Nightmare shrugged and continued off to the kitchens, her "sisters" should be there about now. As she trotted in, she saw Celestia and Luna sitting and chatting across from each other. She soon came closer and sat at the head of the table, the conversation slowly died away and the room had gotten uncomfortably silent. So she decided to break it. "So.. Quite a lot has changed since I have been here, yes" "Uh yeah" "Yep" Silence. "So, when is day court?" "In an hour or so" Celestia bluntly replied and Luna nodded. 'Throw me a bone here! I got nothing but random shit/ Forest, help me!' 'They're your sisters. Not my problem.' Nightmare wanted to growl with frustration, but Luna spoke up. "Um, sister shouldn't you be resting?" Nightmare stared at her for a minute, "Uh yes, but I was hungry" she bluntly replied. Celestia's eyes narrowed. "And why have you not ordered anything?" Nightmare stared at her. 'HELP!' 'FINE!' Nightmare's face turned quizzical. "But where is the servant that we talk to?" Luna snickered and Celestia facehoofed. When she looked up she apologized. "I forgot you haven't been here for awhile. We don't have food couriers anymore, we have waiters that will give you a menu with options and you will select from that." She briefly explained. "Ah, thank you. I understand" and then she picked up a menu that was hastily placed near her. 'Thank you' 'You owe me big time' 'Whatever.' And then she scanned the menu, as she was looking through the categories and evil idea popped into her mind. A terrible idea. A horrible idea. A horrible terrible evil idea. "Oh, Celestia, where is the meat selection?" Nightmare asked innocently. Celestia paled (which is impressive because she has white fur) and smiled weakly. "Ah, it's on a different menu, Quick Trip please bring us the foreign dignitary menu" she sated calmly as she tried to suppress her disgust. Quick nodded his head and sped off, leaving the sisters alone. "So." Nightmare drawled as she put down the menu and rested her head on her hoof. "Plan to tell me why my entire existence is a foals tale?" From the plain "oh shit" looks on their faces, they had nothing, and a predatory smile worked its way onto her face. "So, who should go first?" They were trapped. Nightmare was innocently smiling and Celestia felt terror rush through her veins. 'She's going to kill us! She's going to kill us!' Her brain screamed, but on the outside she calmly smiled. "Well, the ponies rumors spread like wildfire after your *ahem* banishment, and soon it turned into a legend" she stated. The frown she received did nothing to calm her nerves. "Then why did you not correct them?" Just as she was about to answer, Quick had returned with the menu. "Ah, here you go your majesty." He said as he gave the menu to Nightmare. Celestia silently rejoiced at the intervention. 'Sweet Mother, bless you Quick Trip' But the festivities were cut short as Nightmare's slitted eyes focused back on her. "We will talk about this later." She said, with a tone that made Celestia feel like she had just proclaimed her death sentence. 'Bollocks' 'Was that really necessary?' 'Yes' I replied as I sent in my order. (I asked for sausage and eggs) 'If I want to be able to get their trust then I need to see what I did wrong in the past and try to correct it' I explained as we waited for the meal. 'You know she's terrified of you, right?' 'Well, I am pretty, well, off putting' 'That's putting it real mildly' Forest snarked and I forced myself not to roll my eyes. 'Eh, whatever, hey I think the food just came' I smelled the heavenly aroma of breakfast sausage and as Quick placed the plate on the table, I nearly dove-in muzzle first. Keyword: nearly 'What do you think your doing! Use your manners, and pick up the utensils you animal.' Forest interuppted and ultimately destroyed my train of thought. 'Fine, whatever you say, mom' I snarked back and elegantly picked up the knife and fork and began to cut and eat the sausage. Celestia soon quickly excused herself for day court and after awhile Luna told me she needed her rest and went off to retire to her chambers. I finished up my plate and Quick picked it up and left the room. I was left in the dining hall. All alone. This was going to be a long day. Author's Note No I'm not dead, just trying to put a it more character into the characters. Chapter 7: Quests and copycatsI was walking down the corridors. It had been an hour since breakfast and I just decided to wander the halls. Hey, it wasn't like I had anything better to do anyway. So I was just exploring, Yes, I know the cliché of the main character getting lost in Canterlot castle; but seriously, it's quite easy to navigate. Especially if you have a built-in navigator. 'Ok now take a left here, and the library should be on the right' Turns left, meets another corridor. 'Huh? Maybe it was the other corridor' See, totally fine. 'Seriously? Come on! That's it. Where the heck are some gaurds so we can just ask directions?' 'No, trust me. I got castle blueprints right here. Now we just need to backtrack to the middle and-' 'Wait. When did we get castle blueprints?' 'It was just lying around here. What's the big deal?' 'Check the back.' '.........Castle of the sisters? What the- ohhhhh.' 'Yep' 'ohhhh' I heard a face hoof, 'I'm an idiot' Forest muttered, and a smile spread onto my face. 'I know you are, but I put up with you anyway' I thought back sweetly. '...shut up' she growled. I raised my foreleg to muffle my laughter. 'Hey, how did you know I was looking at the wrong map anyway?' Forest asked in confusion. ''All my memories are from the past. There would be no way I would know the layout of a castle I've never been to.' I replied. '... you know. It frightens me how logical you are.' 'Aww, thanks Forest. And you know what, let's just go back. We can plan what to do in the safety of my room' 'Hold up. Your room? 'Hey, I walked there, washed there, slept there, it's my room.' 'Yeah, yeah, whatever greedy Gus, but I want you to remember that we individual mind voices have rights too!' I rolled my eyes and teleported to "my" room. When I appeared there I saw it was clean, my armor was on the rack, and the bed was made. "Looks like she did her job" I said gleefully. 'What are you happy about?' 'She still cleaned the room, even though she's terrified of me. She conquered her fear!' I thought as pinkie pie grin spread across my face. 'Or, she was afraid of getting torn to pieces if she skipped the Nightmare Moon's bedroom' Forest replied nonchalantly. I swear I felt my mane deflate when I heard that. 'Well, ain't you a little bag of sunshine' 'At your service' and as I heard that I could only imagine Forest doing an over exaggerated bow with a mustash, monocle, and a top hat. The image improved my mood a bit. "Yeah, whatever" I mumbled as I went to the bathroom, so I could do my "business". Once down with that, I layed down on my bed and dove into my thoughts. 'So what do you think we should do?' 'Hmm, I don't know, but by fanfiction rules I think we should go on an adventure' 'Really?' 'We are on chapter seven, Nightie. Chapter Seven! This story has an adventure tag, not slice of life! Heck! We haven't even broke the 2000 words limit yet!' 'Fine! Keep your pants on! But we can't alarm my sisters about our little life adventure, thing, whatever' 'I can only guess you have an idea?' *cue mission impossible music* 'Seriously' Forest deadpanned. Nightmare ignored her though, and slid on her armor, which made audible clicks as it attached. As the helmet slid on, she only replied. "We've got 19 hours and 57 minutes. I'll get Bellerophon into your system by then. Just stay alive. I'm not going to lose you." 'You know what, fuck it. What do want to do?' "Every search for a hero must begin with something that every hero requires: A villain." she sagely replied, and then ignited her horn, and then they were gone. They appeared in the badlands. 'Okay. Quotes aside, why are we here?' 'There's a certain changeling queen I want to check on before my niece has a wedding' she thought back and then sent out a life detecting spell. Behind a few of the rocks to the left, there were multiple life forms. And they seemed to be in some sort of scuffle. 'How much you want to bet, that's them.' 'Twenty bits says your wrong' 'Your on.' With a smile, she dove over the rocks to see four changeling drones facing some sort of mutant killer scorpion. To no surprise, the scorpion was winning. Nightmare dove into action and sent a powerful bolt of magic that struck the scorpion dead on. It screeched in pain and then whipped its head around so it could focus its new offender. As she dodged the creature's massive writhing tail, she continued firing magical blasts. The beast raised its claws and tried to no avail to end her with them. As she eventually wore it down, she charged forward and drove her whole hoof through the scorpion's head, fully killing it. (Duh) As she wiped her bracer off in the sand only one thought went through her head. 'You owe me twenty bits' '......You fight and kill a giant Death scorpion, and that's the only thing you can think?!' Nightmare tilted her head, and thought for a moment. 'Yes' ...what is wrong with you!?' 'What?' 'Your the good guy, you aren't supposed to kill stuff. I'm the one that's supposed to goad or trick you into killing things or embracing the dark side. How can you be so fine with this?!' 'Oh forest, forest, forest, I never said I was good.' Nightmare thought and turned so she could confront the drones. They were gone. 'Dammit!' She silently cursed, and then sent off another life detection spell. It directed her to four strangely identical rocks. 'Seriously' she deadpanned. "Alright, I know you're here. Drop the disguises. I just want to to talk." She stated mater-of-factly at the four stones. All at once the stones burst into flames and three changelings were in her face hissing at her. Three, the fourth one was lying on the ground with its hooves over its head. Nightmare was startled of course, but getting turned into an alicorn, being trapped on the moon, living with mythological creatures, getting hit with a rainbow deathbeam, and searching for a species that can shape-shift, it really trains your "Fuck it, and move on" instincts. So she decided to use her newly honed skills. "Ok, nice to meet you too. Now can I meet your leader" she replied calmly. The three looked at her with "da fuck is wrong with you" written clearly across their faces, the fourth one gave her a weak smile. Nightmare just shrugged, "Just take me to you queen. I just want to talk" she repeated. The drones eyed her and chittered among themselves. The fourth one though looked at its chattering hive mates and then slowly made its way toward her. Once in front of her it just sat down and tilted its head, Nightmare tilted her head back, and they just stared at each other. "So what's your name?" The drone stared. Nightmare waited. "t?!h&$ ~€£d#*" the drone replied. "Uh, in Equestrian please." The drone cleared its throat. "I, uh, am thorax" he replied with a sheepish smile. "Nice to meet you Thorax, I'm Nightmare. Pleased to meet you." Nightmare replied smoothly and the drone looked at her strangely. "Why do you do that?" "Do what?" Nightmare asked in confusion. "Why are you so nice? And you weren't even fazed by our fangs." He replied. Nightmare rolled her eyes. "You mean these" she replied and gave him a bladed smile, and Thorax's eyes widened. "Whoa. I didn't know ponies had fangs!" Nightmare chuckled, "They don't, but you can say I'm, well-, a little different" she replied with a wink, and the changeling blushed. 'Huh. What did I do?' Nightmare wondered, as she saw the changeling's reddish cheeks. The other three took this as an opportunity to butt-in. "The queen agrees to meet you, but not here. Follow us." They replied in unison and then started trotting in a direction. Nightmare nodded and followed, with Thorax tailing behind her. They eventually came to a massive cave structure and stopped at the opening. The three changelings turned and spoke again. "The queen will meet you shortly" and then they flew off. 'Wow. Nice place, could use some lighting though.' 'Yeah, some sun roofs would look nice' 'Forest your back! I was worried that I broke you.' 'Yeah. You were joking about earlier, right?' Nightmare shrugged, 'Hey I'm keeping my options open. Plus, if I do take over the world. Don't I need a co ruler?' 'really?' 'Really, really' Nightmare thought back with a smile, then she heard the buzzing of wings. As she turned her head she saw a lanky, medium sized, teal haired changeling. Of course this only brought one idea to mind. 'Chrysalis?!' In the show, Chrysalis was at least the size of freaking Celestia, for pete's sake. Now the mare in front of her was a least as big as Cadence or Luna at best. "Your majesty, I presume" Chrysalis gave a snort. "Your guess is as good as mine" she replied sarcastically. Nightmare tilted her head, "New royal?" Her head shot up, sarcasm forgotten "Uh, what?" Nightmare rolled her eyes, "Your new at the whole royalty thing, aren't you." She stated plainly. This wasn't the Chrysalis she saw waging war at a wedding. This was a teenager that had no idea how to rule a kingdom, Nightmare would know. Chrysalis lowered her head, "Is it that obvious?" Nightmare shrugged her shoulders, "eh, put some more spunk in it. Like you own the place" she said, giving the best advice she had. Chrysalis took a deep breath, "I am Queen Chrysalis, Ruler of the changelings!" She said in a commanding tone. "Now that's a ruler!" Nightmare exclaimed with a clop of her hooves. "Heh, whatever" Chrysalis said with a smile smile working onto her mouth, then she shook her head. "Hey! What do you want anyway!" She snapped, her fiery demeanor returning. "Eh, just wanted to see if you wanted to be friends or not?" Nightmare replied nonchalantly. Chrysalis tilted her head confused, "What?" Nightmare shrugged, "You heard me, want to be friends?" She stated. "Are you an idiot or something!" Chrysalis exclaimed, and Nightmare tilted her head. "No species wants to even be near us, much less be friends! So if this your sorry idea for a joke- Chrysalis bared her fangs- then your going to be sorry." She growled. Nightmare raised up her hooves angrily, "Woman, calm the fuck down! I wasn't joking! So stop your freaking war rant right freaking there! And be my god damn friend!" She roared. Chrysalis stared for a minute. Then she burst out laughing. 'What the- "That was hilarious!" She exclaimed as she continued her laughing fit. 'Nightie, are you sure she is sane?' Forest asked concerned, about the giggly changeling below them. 'Nope' she replied as the changeling's laughter episode eventually subsided. As Nightmare helped her up, she still snickered. "Do you know how freaking stupid what you said was" she said between snickers. Nightmare rolled her eyes, "Bitch please. That was mild stupidity." She said with a scoff. Chrysalis's eyes sparkled, "Finally someone that doesn't get easily flank hurt!" She said excitedly, and then pulled Nightmare closer. "Do you have any idea how careful I have to say things so my people so they don't get depressed or do exactly what I say" she said exasperatingly. Nightmare nodded, "Preach woman, I know the feel" she replied, fully remembering having to comfort Luna whenever she made a bad joke. Chrysalis eyed her surprisingly "So, your royalty too?" "Yep" She replied bluntly. Chrysalis nodded her head, "Yes, your from that horse species, or whatever" Nightmare nodded back, "The term's ponies, but I technically don't care" she replied, then she repeated why she had gone here in the first place. "So, friends?" She said with and extended hoof. Chrysalis slapped it out of the air. "Huh-" Before Nightmare could react Chrysalis had tackled her and put her in a headlock. "Bitch! We're not friends! We're besties!" She said with a good-natured snarl, and as she tightened her hold, Nightmare smiled. Now this was someone who could have some fun. Author's Note Just testing the waters. Chapter 8: What happens after questsAfter finally getting out of the headlock, I chatted with Chrysalis for awhile, and as it was starting to get dark out, we said our goodbyes. "Adios! Chryssie!" I yelled as I left the cave opening. "See ya, Nightie!" Chrysalis yelled back with a wave. 'For a changeling she wasn't so bad' Forest mused as we continued out into the Badlands. 'Agreed, but for now let's go home.' I thought back tiredly. I of course invited Chrysalis to join as a special guest at Cadence's future wedding, since she explained to me that her folks were going through a food shortage. I told her on a little "surprise" I was planning for the wedding and of course she wanted to help me as well as get the buffet meal of a lifetime. Soon, the greatest prank in Equestrian history will be born. But, that's a story for another chapter. Nightmare tried to teleport, but due to her fatigue she had missed her mark. Instead of being in her room, she was now on the outskirts of Canterlot. "Eh, close enough" I mumbled tiredly, but as I walked closer I noticed something. "Hey, where is everyone?" Two hours ago Luna had woken up early from her rest, as she sat up she let out a large yawn. Her rest luckily, had been peaceful, a sweet ambrosia to the stress of her returned elder sister. Not that she disliked her, no, actually when they were younger, Nightmare was her favorite sibling. From telling her stories, to pointing out constellations, and comforting her in her darkest times, they had grown close. As Nightmare soon became Queen though that all changed. Luna shivered as she remembered those dark times, gone was her proud, jesting sibling, replaced with a cold and heartless monster. Young and naïve, she still had followed her sister and listened to her as she twisted her mind with dark magic. She manipulated her into immobilizing Celestia's guards, and even used her as a shield in her battle with Celestia. Luna growled at her ignorance and her corruptive sister. 'Why wasn't she blasting down the demon in which had torn her life apart?' Cloths. The word snapped Luna out of her vengeful thoughts. No, not just random cloths, but washcloths. She remembered when she had awoken from Nightmare's attack in the throne room, and had expected to see herself in a dungeon, but instead was greeted with the interior of a guest suite. Strangely to her confusion she felt something damp on her head, as she reached her hoof up and grabbed it she pulled it off and saw it was a washcloth. 'But how could this be? If there truly was nothing left of her, why this?' These questions plagued Luna's mind and she furrowed her brows, 'something prevented her from killing us, and I'm going to find out what' she thought determinedly. And with that, she teleported to her elder sister's room. It was found empty. Things went downhill from that. Alarms blared. Citizens were escorted to evacuation shelters. Guard patrols tripled. The City walls were quickly fortified, and the entire city went into high alert. Luna stood at her sister's side over watching the city during these events with a hardened scowl on her face. "I guess I was a fool for trusting her Tia" she said dejectedly, with her eyes facing the floor and Celestia rested her wing on her. "It's alright. But you never know, it could be a misunderstanding" she offered innocently, and Luna looked up at her quizzically. Her second oldest sister detested Nightmare, was she really believing she was innocent? Celestia sighed at her sister's confusion, "Yes, I know me and Nightmare don't always get along on the right hoof, but I truly think she is different" Luna turned her head and saw a dark form teleport onto the outskirts of the city. "I hope your right Tia" she mumbled, and then unsheathed her sword. "Hello, Anypony? Hello?" Nothing. 'Something's wrong' 'No dip Sherlock. Where the hell is everypony?!' "Hello, sister" The words were cold and empty, it was as if they were caught in the middle of a horror movie and the audience was shouting don't turn around. Nightmare of course ignored them and turned around. She was met with a deadeyed Luna and a sword to to her throat. Of course she said the most logical and most carefully picked words. "Ok, what the hell are you doing?" Luna tilted her head "uh, what?" She said obviously confused. Nightmare groaned and directed around her "I go out one time to get some fresh air and this is what I come back to. Seriously!" She snapped and Luna readied her weapons. "We evacuated everyone so no one would be hurt" she replied confidently but what happened next stunned her. "I'm to fucking tired for this" Nightmare grumbled and walked past her. Walked past her. Walked past her. Past. Nightmare Autumn Moon never walked away from a fight. 'Who the Tartarus are you and what have you done to my sister' Luna's brows furrowed, and she teleported herself in Nightmare's way again. "You will not pass me creature." Luna said steely as she raised her sword and readied her defense. Nightmare blinked. 'Okay, am I missing something?' 'Don't worry, I'll look at the dialogue above us' '...' 'So, what is it?' 'Bawhahahahahaha!!!' 'Uh, forest?' 'HAhahaha- Oh my fucking Gods, that is priceless' 'What?!' 'They think you pulled some sort betrayal or something- ahhahahaha!' I deadpanned as Forest continued laughing like a deranged hyena. Is that really the reason that I'm dealing with this crap? Seriously? I sighed. Leave to alliance with changelings one time and this happens, me and my family really have to work on our communication skills. Enough of that though, I have a Luna to deal with. Luna watched as her sibling stood still for several minutes and tensed when she let out a sigh. "Do you really want to do this?" My voice was calm, but I channeled all of my "Do you seriously want to mess with me look" into my eyes, and locked onto Luna. She squirmed under my gaze and her sword wavered, I thought I had won as her eyes started to shift, but then she shook her head and charged at me with a battle cry. She sprinted at me, sword flailing wildly. I stood there. She got closer. I stood there. She dove. I sto- yeah how about no. Hey I'm crazy, not an idiot. I dove to the side, sword narrowly grazing my hindquarters. 'Spell for summoning weapons?' 'On it' I continued weaving and leaping away from Luna's attacks. 'Hurry up!' 'Yeah, yeah calm down. How about this spirit weapon spell?' As Luna nearly decapitated me, I replied. 'I don't fucking care! Just do it!' I mentally screamed. My horn glowed and a crescent moon battle axe appeared. I immediately used it to block Luna's sword arch, and stunned her as well. "Here we freaking go" I said with a grin. I parried, blocked, and striked, our weapons clashed in the empty street. Each strike I put in was countered with one that had full intent to kill, a dance of death some may say. I truly prefer samba. I used my battle axe to knock Luna back down the street. Now having some distance,I decided to try to talk her out of it again. 'Yes, because that worked so well last time' 'I'm sweating buckets man, I can't parry her forever' "Luna, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!" I yelled and she snorted. "How would you know imposter" She replied coldly. I don't know why but for some reason, those words stung a little. I ignored it though and continued on. "I am Nightmare. What will it take for you to believe me?" I pleaded. This was getting out of hand/hoof, I was on the verge of collapsing, if Luna was going for a combo breaker I was screwed. She thought for a moment. "Alright." she conceded, "What's your middle name?" she said with a smug smirk. 'Forest, cheat sheet.' 'Autumn.' 'Thank you' 'Wait a minute. Autumn? That's my middle name, really?' 'Strangely, yes, but don't worry, it looks like even before your banishment you disliked it, so I think you'll be fine' I sighed and looked at a smug Luna, "You know I dislike my middle name" I grumbled and Luna's smile got smugger. "But, then how will I know your the real Nightmare, hmm." I really wanted to smack her, but I seriously was way too tired. Alicorn bodies are supposed to be durable dammit! 'It could be just me, but I think Chrysalis drained us a bit too much' 'Yeah, we'll have to talk about that sometime' I finished up and then took a deep breath. "My middle name is Autumn" 'God damn Fluttershy would be proud' Luna squinted and leaned a little. "What was that?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "My middle name is Autumn" I mumbled a little louder. Hey it wasn't that I was ashamed or anything, my mouth was tired, yeah. Totally legit reasoning. Luna's smile faded, "Alright sister, if you truly are peaceful then why did you disappear?" She continued on. I rolled my eyes "I told you about three times, I went for a walk" I answered semi-truthfully. 'Technically I'm not lying' 'True' Luna was scrutinizing me. 'She'll see that I'm honest and we'll be off, scot free' I mentally assured myself and Forest. She slowly opened her mouth. "Alright sister, but your coming with me" 'Shit' 'Shit' Author's Note Will get to better stuff soon. Chapter 9: Wait...what am I doing again?So there I was. Kicking the cobblestones behind Luna. There was no life around us, me and Forest were lyin low and keepin our traps shut, shit had gone down and we didn't want no trouble. Well I guess that was mostly me, but you get the picture. Occasionally, the broad would look back, tryin to make me talk. Forest, ah course was no help whatsoever, flippin out in my noggin, and such. So I had ta improvise, as I continued spouting my answers she eventually gave up. It was evening now, the street lights came on, a alley cat knocked ov'a a can somewhere, only a thin silence separated us. The streets were dead, no life anywhere, wheth'a that was a blessing or a curse was soon to be decided. Luna eventually walked me up and thru the castle, takin me up to the kingpin, the high order, the big cheese. Celestia. Her boys were shuffling around a bit once they caught sight of me, her main lackey Shiny was standin by her side with a shit-eating grin on his muzzle. Bloody coppers all ov' em! Celly's got the fuzz eating right out of her hoof! She of course had her arse on her throne and was lookin down at me, her fine hair flowin, magenta eyes glinting like daggers in the torchlight. "Something wrong?" she said in a smooth tone, like some pop would be say'in to his kid before he new somethin was wrong. I shook my head, best not to piss her off now, so she won't have a reason to be off'in me. Luna walked up ta me, and smacked me upside the head. "U're Lyin! Spit out the truth!" She snapped. "I ain't done nothing" I stated again a-matter-of-factly, there'd be no way in Tartarus I'd let her know I was dealin with the Changeling gangs down south. Loose lips sink ships, mate, and I ain't anywhere near the ocean. Celly, now more intrigued, wasn't buyin my word. She looked down and examined her golden horseshoed hoof, "I welcomed you Nightie" she said nostalgically, and then turned to face me eye to eye. "I fed you, I gave you a place to stay, you and I were family" she drawled and lifted her hoof and motioned around her, "And this is how you repay me? Lyin ta me." she stated flatly with a sigh. I was tense. I was only gone a few hours and everything had went to Hell in a hand basket, "I was jus takin a stroll Cel, nothin more and nothing less" I stated again. I wasn't countin on serving time anytime soon, that Luna gal had worked me ov'a enough, I didn't have the energy to deal with sunbutt the mighty. Cel stared at me awhile, her eyes narrowing to see if I was lyin or not. After a few tense moments she gave a nod. "A'ite Nightie, I'll believe ya." She said finally, but before I could crack a smile she shot back a cold glare. "But, if you be messin with my ponies.." she drawled and slammed her hoof in the ground, leaving a macsive indent with a spiderweb of cracks. "You get the picture" she finished with a toothy grin. I nodded stiffly, and then two of Celly's eye candy clones got up and ushered me out. What really happened Nightmare quietly followed Luna back to the castle, as they walked she tried to ask where she had went. Nightie just shrugged and mumbled off vague replies. After awhile, Luna just rolled her eyes and dropped the subject. Eventually, they made it to the throne room. Celestia was sitting on her golden throne surrounded by her guards, whom snapped to attention once the pair walked in. Shining Armor was at Celestia's side as they strode up to the throne, he cast a cold glare Nightmare's way. Luna caught this, with a cold glare sent his way, turned to see her sister's reaction. Her anger morphed into concern as she saw her sister's unfocused eyes. Slightly more worried now, she walked closer, "Nightmare..." she said worriedly, and tapped her lightly on her shoulder. Nightmare collapsed onto the floor. Celestia sprang into action. Hold up. "What! I slammed into soil and looked up, I was in a valley. 'Okay what the hell is going on?' 'No idea, but I suggest we try are best to survive til the end of the chapter' "Yeah sure, wait what?!" And then a horde of zombies burst over the hilltops. *cue action music* You are trapped and a ravine and Zomb-ponies have appeared from the north, what will you do. Will you: Hide Run Or try to reason ..... Nightmare Moon chose run. As I sprinted in the opposite direction I nearly slammed into a one-eyed skeleton pony. I nearly stopped to apologize, but then his flaming eye focused on me. "Do you want a bad time~" he drawled and I snapped my head forward. "NOPE!!" I yelled back and shot off across the valley. *cue megolvania* Huge bones slammed into the areas around me, and I saw a portal open in front of me. Before thinking anything of my decision I jumped through. ... and smacked straight into the control panel of a space ship. Nightmare then took this moment to raise her forehooves to the heavens and cry. 'This is going to be that chapter that has nothing to do with the storyline, isn't it' she thought with tears continuing to stream down her face, and somewhere in the back of her mind she felt mental pat. 'I'm afraid so' "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She cried to the heavens Somewhere in a galaxy far far away A certain dark mare looked over to her Sith Lord ally. "I sense a disturbance in the force" she said worriedly and he nodded in agreement. As Nightmare finished her hysterics she- "Hey! I'm not hysterical! Do you know how long it's been since we've updated?! Do you?!" She turned to look at the- "Hey!!" *tap tap* "Don't you freaking change the subject, these people want a story and- What's that? Don't you dare- The Royal hospital was in chaos, doctors swarmed over the unconscious alicorn, some putting IV's in her, other's yelling to their comrades for diagnostics. All the while, the two royal sisters observed with mouths agape. "Get some mana packs ASAP! We got a got a severe magic depletion over here!" one of the doctors yelled to a scrambling nurse. And the list didn't just stop there. "She has infected shrapnel in her foreleg!" "Her lungs are full of dust!" "This is one of the worst cases of malnutrition I have ever seen!" "Why, this is the worse condition of dental hygiene!" "How long has she been alive!!!" and so on. "Why" Slowly, Celestia turned toward her trembling sibling, and heard her speak again. "Why didn't she tell us?" Luna said again, her head was whirling with emotion. Anger, for not checking for Nightmare's injuries, Betrayal, for Nightmare never telling her, Frustration at herself for attacking her, Pain, that she was too blind to notice something was wrong with her sister. Celestia cautiously extended her wing toward her unstable sibling, and rested it on her back. She flinched at the sudden contact, but soon returned to her original position, letting out a deep sigh as Celestia pulled her close. Celestia shook her head, "It wasn't your fault Luna." she stated, not as a opinion but as a fact, and before Luna could argue she raised a hoof to silence her. "She told no one of her condition, much less even showed it. This morning she was so good that even I believed nothing was wrong with her" she said with a good-natured chuckle to lighten the mood. It was immediately silenced though, once she looked over to her elder sibling. She seemed so... peaceful, oblivious to the chaos around her, the IV's, the wires, the constant erratic drones of the vital monitors. Occasionally, Celestia would see a slight twitch of one of her hindlegs, and some movement beneath her eyelids as if she was looking around. 'Now what could you be thinking, dear sister' she wondered. "Nope! Nope! Bad Xenomorph! AGH!!" Nightmare shouted as she sprinted down the corridors, a Xenomorph hot on her tail. She then tripped over a fallen table and fanfare began to play. You've acquired plasma shotgun Nightmare suddenly found she was holding some sort hybrid between a pump shotgun and a Halo energy rifle, and of course immediately pumped it an blasted the xenomorph to its hive queen in the sky. Slowly, now speckled with the blood of her former foe, a cruel, mad, smile worked its way onto her lips. And then these words were spoken. "I wonder how big a kill streak I can get with this thing?" And whole ship got dead silent. The operating room had calmed down considerably, after awhile only the occasional rushing in and out of the nurses disturbed it. Luna watched over her sibling, Celestia soon had to return to her duties, and Cadence had stopped by earlier once she heard what had happened. Suddenly, Luna felt a unearthly chill run down her spine, like some elderlich horror was about to be released, but she shrugged it off. It was probably one of the sanitation ponies. DIE! DIE! DIE! Nightmare yelled with an insane grin, as she was mowing down the annoying mushroom people of this pretty gumdrop land. One of the fleeing mushroom folk tripped and fell, only to be towered over by the huge equine creature. The small being's eyes shrunk in terror once it came eye to eye with the barrel of the creature's weapon. "This is for every time you said my princess was in another castle, bitch" the creature snarled, and with a pull of the trigger, the mushroom's head exploded. Coated with blood and finished with burning down the Mushroom Kingdom, Nightmare let out a sigh of contentment. Today was a good day. Today was a horrible day. Day court was stuffed full with pony nobles, begging for Nightmare's head. "I had to cancel my spa appointment because of that brute!" "Why is she not behind bars?!" "I don't care about your petty squabbles, I am a Blueblood. You hear me, A BLUEBLOOD!" Celestia sighed, and used one of her hooves to rub her temples, one would think the almighty sun goddess would not get migraines. They thought wrong. Celestia quietly thanked her mother once one of her soldiers announced court to be finished, once all the nobles had filed out, Celestia slumped down on her throne, and buried her head in her mane, trying to make the memory go away. Quick Quill, one of her best advisors offered her a cup of coffee. "Busy?" he asked and Celestia just let out a mumbled "mmm,hmm" through her blanket of mane, and quietly accepted her coffee, Hazelnut, her favorite. Quill nodded, years of being her advisor had trained him for this, and he looked down at his reports, "It looks like you have a bit of free time, would you like to visit your sister?" he asked innocently, and Celestia peeked a bit out of her rainbow mane. Not having heard on her sibling's condition in awhile, she gave a small nod. "I'll put that right on your schedule, your majesty" As the repetitive beep of the heart monitor droned on, the fallen form of Nightmare began to stir. First it was a twitch, then there was a kick. Slowly, her eyes opened revealing two bloodshot eyes, that quietly began to survey the room, her muzzle restricted due to an oxygen mask, she let out a hoarse growl. By some falt in the cosmos, a nurse decided to enter that room at that time. As the nurse stood there frozen in horror, slowly a smile worked its way upon Nightmare's face. 'Perfect' Author's Note I live!!!!!!! A Non-canon Valentine Chapter A Non-canon Valentine Chapter Roses are red, Celestia loves cake. I know it's been awhile since the last update. But, it's Hearts and Hooves day, I should give it my best That, and Forest just won't let me rest. I care for my sisters and hope they understand that I just went for a walk that went out of hand. I've been on a adventures only me and Forest knows And all have been done without a single YOLO. But I digress, I still have a point to declare- ... Thorax what the hell are you doing here? Ok, whatever, I care for my Woona and Tia's has my heart. If someone dares hurt them I'll tear them apart. That seems kind of violent and some may agree But if you actually believe that, you don't know me. I hope they can forgive the crimes that I've done And look at me now as the mare I've become. Chrissy says hi, and it's been a blast She's still kind of dopey from getting fucked in the- Oh, Tia its great to see you come stop by I'm doing quite well, ok and goodbye I wonder how Shiny's relationship with Cadence been getting I still can't wait for that Faust damn wedding. The doctors say that I shouldn't strain myself So I'm stuck in bed trying to defend my poor health. But Luna lent me a quill, some parchment, and ink And now I'm writing all the rhymes I can think To try and make a nice poem for you My sisters, my friends, and sweet viewers too. I wonder if Thorax is going to be alright His breathing is heavy and his cheeks are alight. Maybe It's because I'm holding him down with my wing Or it could be the sappiness leaking out from this thing. Oh, damn it, I'm getting way off track well I guess I'll thank my sisters for always having my back Except for that time when Luna tried to run me through, Or that time you both sent me to the moon Or I guess the time you told a legend about me Glorified as a villain for an eternity But the past is past and I'm happy that I'm out But could you please keep the servants from screaming out loud Ugh, I hate being sappy and I wish I was through. But, I just want to say I still love you two. Though you both used the elements and put me through hell, here's my thoughts in a moon-themed nutshell. I guess I deserved it, I tried to cause eternal night And you two both did what you deemed right And though I spent a thousand years alone I'm so proud on how independent you've grown Tia, I know I sometimes I seem mean But someday I think you'll make a great queen And Luna, sweet Luna, your future's so bright One day you'll be able to rule over my night I'll say again I'm so proud of you two Because one of these days it will only be you. One of these days my story will come to an end and if there's a sequel it all just depends One day you'll both understand just what I mean But I'll just keep writing my poem... That you'll never read.
Chapter 1: lunar being"Ow" I groaned as a sat up, the last thing I remembered was. '...' "Okay, that's not a good sign" I grumbled as I opened my eyes. Grey. As far as my eyes could see, I was on a grey cratered surface. 'Am I on the moon?' I wondered, and as I tried to walk forward, something stopped me. I looked down. Chains. Huge black chains pinned my hooves to the moon sur- 'Wait, hooves?' I raised a eyebrow, and inspected the "hooves", dark black fur, and wore sliver scuffed up bracers. "I'm Nightmare moon aren't I" I groaned to no one in particular. "No actually I was talking to you" "No, 4th wall breaking. That's Pinkie's job" "Hey I'm stuck here for a thousand years, humor me" "Fine, you're Nightmare Moon, but let's just say your going to have a surprise when you get out" "Uh, what do you mean by that" "No spoilers" ;-) I groaned at that. I decided to stop breaking the 4th wall (for now) and I looked out at the bleak scenery. "1,000 bottles of beer on a wall, a thousand bottles of beer. Take on down, pass it around, 999 bottles of beer on the wall~" I sang. Maybe it may help pass the time. (A thousand years later) "I'm soooo bored" I groaned. I had tried everything, sing, dance (I gave up do to chain restraint), heck I even tried to see if Luna or the original Nightmare was in my head. No such luck. I couldn't even explore anywhere. There's probably nothing out there to explore, but heck! It beats staying still in these chains any day of the week. I groaned again and looked at the far away Equestria, in other HiE's you started straight-off in Equestria. I got the moon. Great. I pulled against my chains, I hadn't known how long its been, but it wouldn't hurt if- They moved. The chains moved. 'Hallay-frickin-louya!' I mentally celebrated, and then I started thrashing against the chains, and as one broke I felt the magic that was protecting me fade a little. Lets just say a thousand years of not eating anything, really hurts. "Ohhhhh..." I groaned, and then I clamped my mouth shut. 'This is going to hurt' I thought with a wince. Then I began breaking off the remaining chains. Thirst. Pain. Sound. Air... My lungs were contracting, as the vacuum of space was collapseing my ribs. With one last wild tug, I felt the last chain snap, and one thing completed me as I rocketed toward Equs. Rage I slammed into a meadow, (Faust knows where) and luckly it was nighttime, before I did anything though I gasped for air. "Sweet, beautiful air, how I've missed you" I choked out and then I looked down at the grass under me. I was a pony, pony+grass=Full. So, I shoved my muzzle straight into it, tearing and gobbling up bits of dirt with it. It was delicious. As I devoured the meadow, I caught a glimpse of a stream. Faster than a wonderbolt, I shot over there and immediately started guzzling the water. When I finally got my feasting and drinking under control, I looked down at my reflection in the stream. Black fur, teal slitted eyes, fangs, the whole Nightmare package, but upon closer observation I noticed some notable differences. Firstly, my armor was silver, not blue (like in the show), I also felt I was probably a lot taller to, as well as a lot thinner, but I could blame that on a certain thousand-year event. My armor was dented and scratched, and as I leaned closer to the water I could see plenty of scars and scratches on me. One notable one was a huge crescent scar on my right eye, "Run Simba" I said in the deepest voice I could muster and then broke out into a grin. When I did this, I saw my teeth, but instead of being only fangs, all my teeth were pretty sharp. I tilted my head at this. 'Aren't ponies herbivores?' I questioned and then opened my mouth so I could examine my back teeth. To my surprise, they were molars. 'I guess I'm still a omnivore' I thought with a shrug, and then looked again at my monstrous grin 'I look like I came out of a creepy pasta' I mused, and then decided to look around at my surroundings. As I scanned the torn up meadow, I saw a all too familiar mountain structure in the distance, and slowly a savage smile spread across my lips. "I think it's about time to let Equestria know that Nightmare Moon, is back!"
Chapter 2: Luna?!I sped off toward Canterlot, a warm fire in my chest fueling me. As the castle got closer I went into cloud mode and slunk in. Shooting from shadow to shadow, I let an invisible smile grace my cloudy muzzle. 'This feels awesome' I thought with glee as I soon got close to the throne room. As I got closer I overheard one of the guards saying that court was finished. 'Typical Celestia' 'Excuse me?' Silence. I got no reply, I shrugged it off, 'probably nothing', and then turned my attention to the throne room. Strangely I heard voices, 'I thought court was closed' I wondered, then I sneaked in for a closer look. Inside was Celestia talking to- 'Luna?!' I nearly yelled before I clamped my hooves over my mouth, and I watched the two in disbelief. "Sister, do you think-" "Yes, Luna, tonight is Nightmare's return" "Do you think she will be vengeful?" Celestia let out a sigh, "I don't know Luna its been a thousand years, maybe..." I nearly snorted at this. They locked me up in limbo for a thousand years, and they think I'll just come back all goody two-shoes. I think I have had enough of this conversation. Screw it, I was locked up like a bad guy, then I'll be the bad guy. I decided and then I shot from the shadows like a bullet and tackled Celestia. As she quickly came to her senses, her magenta eyes shrunk as she looked into my snake eyes . "Hello sister!" I said with a madman grin, and I could swear I felt her heart stop for a second. A laser beam then caught me in the shoulder. I hissed as it knocked me off Tia and then looked at Luna, whose horn was smoking. "Looks like I forgot one" I hissed and then dove for her. She had readied another spell, but I quickly turned into my mist form, and fazed through the blast, then I appeared behind her. Before she could turn around, my metal bracer met the back of her head. With a Clang, she went down. 'Sorry Luna' I thought with a wince at the (now unconscious) alicorn. Then another blast got me in the back of the head. As I sailed towards a wall, I quickly went back into cloud mode, and instead of going splat, it was more like a pomf. No seriously, I swear I heard a pomf noise. Anyway, back to the battle, as I turned toward Celestia I saw she was glaring at me with a charged horn and tears running down her face. "What has happened to you sister?" She choked out and I quickly did a room sweep to see if Luna was awake. 'Was she talking to me?' Well since I was going to go villain until the elements of harmony blasted me, might as well give a badass line before I defeated her and shot off toward Ponyville. I let out a wild cackle, and sent a murderous glare Tia's way "My dear sister, reality is what happened to me" I snarled, and then I shot forward and uppercutted her, to which the spell she was charging shot up and hit the ceiling. Before she could act again, I gave her a hefty right hook and 'Crack' she was out like a light. I quickly put my ear toward her mouth, I heard breathing. 'Good, I didn't kill her' I thought with relief, to be honest I had thought I might have killed her when I heard the crack, but luckily she was fine. I quickly checked Luna as well, both were breathing and probably would be better after I was "defeated". As I dragged them (somehow) past the gaurds I put them in a guest bedroom, tucked them in, and got two washcloths, drenched and squeezed the extra cold water out, and applied them to both of their heads. Hey I might be acting evil right now, but I'm not heartless. "Good bye sisters" I whispered gently and then I shot off toward Ponyville. From there everything was a blur, Twilight saying who I was, the mane six banding together, trials through the Everfree, the whole shebang. As they finally made it to the old castle ruins, Twi saw the spark of friendship and right now a rainbow deathbeam was coming straight at me. I sat back and watched it, kind of like it was in slow motion as the seconds of my life ticked by. Maybe I would be healed and maybe I would be blasted to oblivion, 50/50 chance, so I let a small smile grace my lips as I felt the rainbow come down upon me. I felt like my blood had turned to lava, I collapsed and screamed to the heavens. 'Oh Faust, I'm going to die!' I mind screamed. But slowly, oh, so, agonizingly slowly, the pain went away, the rainbow lightshow soon stopped and I blinked the spots out of my eyes. I quickly looked down at myself, I had no more scratches or scars on my skin, and my armor was back to its formal glory. As I looked down at the passed out mane six bellow me I saw I had kept my height, 'yes!' I mentally hoof-pumped. Hey! I like being tall alright. Alright, back to the present, the sun somehow decided to take this very moment to rise up in its bright, and annoying glory. "My eyes" I hissed and covered my eyes with my wing. I guess in any world the sun is still a dick. I heard the mares groan and my covered eyes widened in alarm, so I shot into the rafters. In my rush my helmet fell off my head (heck if I know) and landed to the floor with a clang. The mane six had just woken up though, so I couldn't retrieve it. "Why looky ere Twi. Looks like we are the elements" Applejack said with a laugh. The girls laughed, and had a group hug to celebrate my death. Wow, that's actually kind of morbid of you think about it. (Anyway) Tia and Lulu popped up and talked to them, Twi told them they defeated me and I think I saw a flash of horror cross Tia's face when they said I was dead. As Celestia kept her facade, Luna soon teleported them to Ponyville. The moment they were gone they broke down weeping. Ok, I had to admit I felt really bad for that and then Tia saw my helmet and quickly picked it up and cradled it in her hooves. She was whispering something and Luna continued crying, and I couldn't take it anymore. Quick as a lynx, I hopped down and quietly approached behind them. As Luna and Tia's sobs turned to sniffles I wrapped my wings around both of them, and they both leaned into the wing hug. Tia leaned her head back "Thanks Luna, I needed that" she said as she closed her eyes. Luna perked up, "For what sister?" "The hug. It reminds me of Nightmare" she replied with her eyes closed and nuzzling into her sister's soft wing. "I thought you were hugging me" Her eyes shot open and she saw Luna giving her an alarmed stare, they both slowly turned their heads and were met with two slitted teal eyes. "Sup" I said with a grin, and then Celestia fainted. I then turned to a very pale Luna, "Was it something I said?"
Chapter 3: I'm back in blackHouston, we have confirmed it, Poines. Are. Soft. I mean, I should have guessed that do to fur, but I swear their like life sized plushes! And to that, I wing hugged the sisters a little harder, honestly I ignored their conversation and just immersed myself in the plushness. Ok, just to be clear that sounded a lot better in my head. (Anyway) To be honest I think they started to notice it. 'Maybe it was when they both turned really slowly towards you' I heard the strange voice in my head say. 'Ok, firstly, who are you, and secondly WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHEN I WAS ON THE MOON!' I mentally screamed, only to be answered with nothing. 'Author we're going to have a talk about this' I mentally vowed. Somewhere, Abaddon was speaking to a pony. "So you'll do it?" "Eh, what the heck. The kid's got potential, but remember I don't do this for charity" the strange pony stated evenly. Abaddon set a single peice of paper on the table and slid it towards her. The pony looked it over, front to back. "That's it?" She growled, but before the pony could continue, the author decided to add one more thing to sweeten the deal. "I'll make you your own story" "Deal" she said with a grin, and extended her molten clawed hand. I returned my attention back to the sisters. To which, they seemed kind of pale, so it wouldn't be to awkward I greeted them. Ok. That could have gone better. I just stared at Luna, luckily she hadn't fainted, and then I looked down at Celly. "Uh, do you know how long she'll be out?" I asked, all I got was an extremely slow "no" headshake. 'You'd think she's seen a ghost' I huffed, and then I picked up my helmet and put it on my head. As I turned back my vision was filled with blue fur, "You're alive!" she RCVed and then full-alicorn force glomped me. Nightmare.exe has stopped working, please contact your administrator or restart your computer for more details. 'I have no idea what's going on' was what my brain said, and what I said was more along the lines of "uhhhhh?" Sadly though, this did nothing to lessen the alicorn bear hug that was crushing my neck. "Luna... air....please" I choked as blackness started covering the sides of my vision, the pressure stopped immediately and I quickly sucked in as much air as I could. All while Luna was spilling out hundreds of apologies, to be honest it was getting annoying. I put a hoof to her lips, "Luna, stop" I said calmly, and like magic she stopped. 'Stop and ye shall halt thy blabbering, thy sayth the Nightmare' I silently proclaimed with a smile. It fell immediately though, as I saw Luna sitting on the stone floor, sulking with her ears down. By pure instinct, I wrapped my hooves around her and pulled her into a hug. 'Ok, scratch that, sad Woona is a no' I mentally added as I hugged her a bit more. And then a question popped into my mind. 'Wait, if I control the night, and Celestia rules the day, what the hell does Luna control?' So to answer my curiosity, I glanced at her cutie mark. It was a sleeping moon with grey clouds. 'Ok, best guess is probably dreams' I decided and then turned when I heard Tia groan. Celestia woke up slowly, trying to shake the grogginess from her body. "Luna, I had the strangest dream" she mumbled as she raised to her hooves. "About what dear sister?" Celestia's eyes snapped open. That wasn't Luna's voice. She looked were the voice came from. She saw a very familiar elder sister towering over her, and having her little sister in her crushing grasp. "Hello, sister" the Nightmare said with a monstrous grin. "Ni....Ni...Night.....mare" she said as her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell forward into darkness. I snickered and Luna punched me, "you shouldn't have done that" she scolded, but I still laughed. "I know, but did you see her face" I said as I tried to coverup my snorts, Luna rolled her eyes. "I guess your back" she said with a sigh and I playfully pouted "Oh, my own sister not wanting me, oh, the inhumanity" I said with a dramatic sigh. Luna's ears shot up, "No I didn't mean that!" She panicked, but I wrapped a wing around her. "I was joking Luna" I said in my demonic Nightmare voice and once she heard what I said she let out a sigh of relief, and then jabbed me in the ribs. "Don't do that!" She yelled. "Do what?" I said smugly. "Your horrifying demon voice, I nearly thought you turned back, again" I could hear the worry in her voice so I cut the crap. "Fine, happy?" "Quite" she replied and then hugged me again, then she slowly turned her head towards me. "Your, thin." To be truthful I didn't know if it was a statement or a question so I just shrugged and answered. "I haven't eaten anything in a thousand years Luna, I'm quite sure I'm a bit thin" Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I didn't know! Neither did Tia! Please don't hurt her! We didn't mean to-mummph!" I put my hoof in Luna's mouth. "Okay, first off I'm not going to hurt any-pony, secondly I forgive both of you" I said a calmly as I could as I removed my hoof from her mouth. As I did this, Luna just looked at me in shock. When she finally got her voice back, I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "You....forgive me?" Her voice wavered. "Yes" I said calmly. This of course caused her to break down crying in my arms. 'Wow, I guess she's been really beating herself up about sending me to the moon' I thought as I patted her back, and let a mischievous smile grace my lips. "Come my dear Luna, join me, and together we will rule Equestria" I proclaimed with a savage grin. "NIGHTMARE!"
Chapter 4: No rest for the wickedAuthor's Note Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated. School stuff. Enjoy Chapter 4: No rest for the wicked When Celestia finally woke up again, Luna explained everything to her (after restraining me from doing my demon voice) and we all had a family group hug. Actually, it was more of me and Luna doing the hug and Tia just going stiff. After talking a bit though, she eventually warmed up to me though (or is it warmed back up?), and soon the two decided to introduce me to the population nearby; AKA: Ponyville. Yeah, Tia and Lulu didn't get the memo on which town I just terrorized. To be truthful though, I think they took it rather well. They only screamed and ran for only ten minutes this time when we showed up. Then Luna had to calm them, and Tia gave a huge speech on that the elements purified me and how I was all reformed, and blah blah blah, good guy stuff. Boring. Mainly, because I knew it was just a bunch of horse marlakey Celestia was making up to calm the populous. On the upside though, the looks on Twi and her friends faces when Celestia mentioned I was her sister were priceless. So in all, it was a wonderful re-introduction if I do say so myself. 'You just did say so yourself though?' 'Ah, ha! You're back bitch! Tell me your secrets of you ever wish to see the mindscape again!!' 'Seriously.' 'Yep, now I need a light, gum, tin foil, a mariachi band, and nuclear launch codes' 'What are you even- no, never mind I don't even want to know' Before I could extract anymore dialogue with the unkown voice, Tia quickly ushered me and Luna to the chariots, that were somehow right outside Ponyville (How did they? Story logic, don't question it) and we took off straight towards Canterlot. Two words to describe the place. Pony. Apocalypse. Actually, I think that's one word, like pony-apocalypse, get to the point. Fine, lets just think of it as Ponyville reaction 2.0. Seriously, it took a least three whole freaking hours to calm the citizens down (I fully believe that was your fault/ hush child.) the castle servants as well are terrified of me, and the guards attacked me. Bad move, and I figured out how to street fight. I'm comin for ya Johnnny. Back to reality though, I also got to meet Shining Armor, and we had an awesome Harry Potter spell battle, until Tia and Luna intervened. Then Tia explained everything and and Shiny took it begrudgingly, at least until they weren't watching. The minute their heads were turned, he sent me a "I'm watching you" glare, and I just snorted and gave him a "whatever" eye roll and then continued on my way. .... And totally didn't meet anyone else. ...What? Ok. Fine. I may have also met a certain pink alicorn as well. Who goes by the name of Mi amor Cadenzea. Yeah, I met fucking Cadence alright. You jelly? To be honest though, she is pretty nice. After she stopped cowering in fear, and Celestia finally got off her fat flank and introduced us, but yeah, she's nice. "So. Um, your my other Auntie..?" She squeaked as Celestia introduced us. 'Ok, I'll admit her timidness is so freaking adorable, definitely can see her with Shining Armor' I though with glee. I heard Luna give a dry cough and I realized I hadn't replied. 'Quick, brain think of something nice to say' "Greetings, niece." I said as I towered over her, and Cadence squirmed under my gaze. 'Wow, that totally comforted her, idiot' 'I'm going to give you five seconds to correct that sentence, before I find you, and give you a royal beat down' '....sorry' The voice was right though, she still was pretty, well, terrified of me. Now how was I going to change that? Hugs? Nah, Nightmare hugs are for immediate family only. Gifts? No. Conversation? That's what I'm doing. Topics? Heck, if I know. I got it! Bribes. 'Seriously?' 'Nah, I'll just wing it' I thought, and I heard a face-hoof in the back of my mind, but I was a mare on a mission! Ain't no voice in my head going to tell me what to do! So, I extended my wing like an offering hand. Cadence's eyes widened and I prepared my speech. "...Dear niece, would you like to accompany us? If your not busy, I would like to know more about you." Cadence blinked, once, twice, "uh, sure" she said. 'Babada! Babada! da! Cadence has joined the party' 'Is it to late to quit?' 'Oh hush, I'm not that bad' I silently retorted as Cadence finished the tour with me. As we continued on our way, I lightly pryed and soon actually found out how she became a alicorn. "You matched-up a broken couple?" "Yeah, I told you it wasn't that important" she said with a shrug and her ears folded down. Oh heck, naw! She is not going to be embarrassed off her frickin alicorn-hood. Flippin Twilight actually made the problem to get her ascension! And I'm pretty sure that it was just a ruse for merchandise! I extended my wing and rested it on her back. She looked up. "That's quite a tale, work on your storytelling and maybe it sound a bit more exciting" I said with a good-natured chuckle, and then I lowered my voice "Maybe then I'll tell you how Celestia and Luna got their Cutie Marks" Luna and Tia's ears shot up. "Okay, that's enough of the tour! Nightie needs to see her room, goodbye Cadence" Tia quickly explained and then immediately teleported Cadence elsewhere. Then Luna shot me a dirty look. "You promised" she hissed and I chuckled, "don't worry I wasn't actually going to tell her" I said causally and they both let out a sigh of relief. 'Okay voice, how did Luna and Tia get their Cutie Marks?' 'Going behind their backs, I- actually am quite proud of you' 'Info first, touchy feely later' then I heard the sound of pages being turned in the back of my mind. 'Alright, here we are, it was a summer day in young Equestria..... When I finally was in the privacy of my room, I burst out laughing with my internal voice. Ok, so here's the tale summarized. So younger Luna and Celestia went into the Everfree, one found a certain Joke flower and gave it to moi. In which I was turned into Nightmare Woon for awhile. Then, they both rushed around the castle trying to find a cure and fufil my duties. Let's just say they sucked at it. Luna messed up the sleep schedule, while Tia caught the moon on fire. Yes, I don't know how she did it either, but either way I had to fix it when Starswirl got me back to my original form. But, low and behold as I had Tia lift the sun for me so I could bring down the fiery moon, she got her butt mark, and Luna had to dream walk to get all the ponies back on schedule. Eh, I could see how they could be embarrassed by it. I then picked myself up and looked around my room. Dark purple lined the walls , and thick dark purple curtains covered the windows. Surprisingly the bed had dark blue bedsheets and a wooden intricate headboard with a battle carved into it, as it rested right above the bed. There was an oak desk in the corner with plenty of drawers and a full inkwell. On the far left side of the bed there was a fireplace, lined with gold that made it stick out like a sore thumb. 'Probably Tia's idea' I though as I quickly changed it to iron, "Much, better" I murmured and then continued on. There was a wardrobe, a weathered armor rack (that looked like it came from the original castle), an old looking chest, and a bathroom. I quickly went over to the chest and opened it, it was filled with mapping supplies, weathered graph paper, and moth-eaten star charts. "I could only guess what this was used for" I stated sarcastically and then went into the bathroom. It was stark white, a huge contrast to my darker room, with a jacuzzi for a bathtub and a huge shower with dozens of mane products. I looked down at myself, a shower wouldn't be that bad. So I took off my armor and stepped right in. It took me a few minutes to get it working, but it was totally worth it. I melted under the warm spray of the shower head, and I felt my eyelids get heavy, but I shook my head and watched the water turn grey with all moon dust that washed off me. I then quickly tried to scrub it all off, feeling quite filthy, and when I was finished I added some mane product that smelled like Jasmine to my mane and tail. When I finished, I grabbed one of the fluffy white towels on the rack near me, dried myself off, grabbed my armor and headed for bed. Today had been quite exhausting.
Chapter 5: Sweet dreams are made of these~Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 6: Daydream Chapter 6: Daydream Celestia woke up. Her horn was tingling, telling her it was time to raise the sun. She slowly got up and stretched, and groggily went off onto her bedroom balcony and lit her horn. Many would think the princess of the sun would love mornings, but in truth she was kind of 'meh' about them. They weren't bad but they weren't good either, she just woke up and did them. As the sun rose, Celestia slowly began to feel more energized. She then inhaled the fresh morning air, and of course she couldn't help but let her mind wander. It had been at least a few days since her elder sister had come back, and she was glad for her return. But something always seemed, well... A little bit 'off' about her. It wasn't that she was evil again, no, it was more of like looking at a whole different pony. Before, she was restrained, dignified, and downright cold at times. Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered their childhood. Nightmare always wanted to be loved, to get attention for her hard work. The ponies though, favored her and Luna more, and not truly just them, even their parents gave more attention to them when they were younger. Celestia felt a ping of sorrow stab her heart as she remembered their parents. Here one day and gone the next. Leaving them with a newly developing kingdom on their withers. All those years and without help from anypony, her sister had fought fang and hoof just to keep the country running, and when all the ponies turned against her, she had just simply went mad. Celestia shook her head of those memories, 'No. We will help her. Always.' 'Just as sisters should.' She silently vowed. Her thoughts though, had put her in a melancholy mood as she headed to the kitchens for breakfast. Before she exited her room, she quickly went to her dresser mirror. She looked at her frowning reflection and quickly replaced it with her usual gentle smile. "Better" she murmured to herself. And as she turned around, Luna teleported into her room. "We need to talk." She said calmly. To any other pony she would look like she was just starting a conversation, but Celestia had known her sister for over a millennia. The way her ears were perked and her movements only slightly ridged. She was fully panicked about something. "What is it?" She said with a hint of concern in her voice. They had practiced these facades to near perfection, it was a perfect poker face for politics, but why was Luna using hers? "Nightmare" she said quietly, and with that one word, Celestia's blood turned to ice. She immediately cast a teleportation spell, and sent them both to a bunker room far under Canterlot mountain. It could only be accessed by telportation, and was armed with enough enchanted food and provisions to last for two whole years. It was first used as an emergency evacuation room, for if a foe could defeat both them, but soon was forgotten due to no need and or use. But, it was the perfect place if the sisters needed to talk in absolute privacy. "What happened." Celestia asked again, showing a lot more panic in her voice as she checked on the bunkers wards. Luna told of the dreaming events she had witnessed. "Do you think she is turning?" She asked when she finished the tale, and Celestia rubbed her head. 'Monsters, she could handle. Politics. Foals-play. Her elder sister?' The name of her just made her want to curl up under her bed. "I don't know. She's just not..ugh" she grumbled as she tried to make since of it. Her sister was not known greatly for her deceit, she was always a "charge-in horn blazing" type of mare. And unlike the name suggests she never had ever turned dreams into nightmares, truthfully she actually had taught Luna how to dreamwalk. Well, for any consolation, at least no pony else could listen in to this. Nightmare was lying flat on the ground with a large glass against her ear. As she crawled around she could hear the sounds under the ground clearer. 'You sure they're beneath me?' 'Yes, I'm sure, just a few more paces.... and stop.' When she stopped she could hear the sounds clear up into voices, then a question popped up. 'Wait, how can I hear them? There is at least half a mountain between us.' 'Alicorn hearing, plus your more predatory. Your senses are sharper than a normal pony or alicorn' 'Hey, can I also eat meat?' 'Yes, now hush, their getting to the good part.' As she listened in, she heard the rest of the conversation. Forest informed her when it had finished. 'So what do you think?' '.... It was interesting?' 'What? No, witty remark? No, random quote? Who are you and what have you done with Nightmare!' 'Hey, I can be serious you know' 'As serious as a pony that talks to a voice in their head?' 'Yes, plus I just want to inform you; There is no spoon' 'We're getting off topic. Now, what do you want to do now that you know they don't trust you.' 'Earn their trust, duh' 'Your making this difficult' 'Yeah, well I'm trying not to get banished, thank you.' Knocking interuppted their conversation, as Nightmare got up and went to the door she heard: "Room Service" As she opened the door she looked down at a lime green earth pony in a maid uniform. "Hello this is Royal room service, your.... Augh!" She yelped as she saw the dark alicorn towering over her. Nightmare just rolled her eyes (which made her cower more) and continued down the hallway. 'See! Just look at the servants reactions! Doesn't that irritate you?' 'Don't you want me to be evil? I thought you would like ruling through fear' '......Is it troubling if I sometimes wonder which of us is the evil one?' Nightmare shrugged and continued off to the kitchens, her "sisters" should be there about now. As she trotted in, she saw Celestia and Luna sitting and chatting across from each other. She soon came closer and sat at the head of the table, the conversation slowly died away and the room had gotten uncomfortably silent. So she decided to break it. "So.. Quite a lot has changed since I have been here, yes" "Uh yeah" "Yep" Silence. "So, when is day court?" "In an hour or so" Celestia bluntly replied and Luna nodded. 'Throw me a bone here! I got nothing but random shit/ Forest, help me!' 'They're your sisters. Not my problem.' Nightmare wanted to growl with frustration, but Luna spoke up. "Um, sister shouldn't you be resting?" Nightmare stared at her for a minute, "Uh yes, but I was hungry" she bluntly replied. Celestia's eyes narrowed. "And why have you not ordered anything?" Nightmare stared at her. 'HELP!' 'FINE!' Nightmare's face turned quizzical. "But where is the servant that we talk to?" Luna snickered and Celestia facehoofed. When she looked up she apologized. "I forgot you haven't been here for awhile. We don't have food couriers anymore, we have waiters that will give you a menu with options and you will select from that." She briefly explained. "Ah, thank you. I understand" and then she picked up a menu that was hastily placed near her. 'Thank you' 'You owe me big time' 'Whatever.' And then she scanned the menu, as she was looking through the categories and evil idea popped into her mind. A terrible idea. A horrible idea. A horrible terrible evil idea. "Oh, Celestia, where is the meat selection?" Nightmare asked innocently. Celestia paled (which is impressive because she has white fur) and smiled weakly. "Ah, it's on a different menu, Quick Trip please bring us the foreign dignitary menu" she sated calmly as she tried to suppress her disgust. Quick nodded his head and sped off, leaving the sisters alone. "So." Nightmare drawled as she put down the menu and rested her head on her hoof. "Plan to tell me why my entire existence is a foals tale?" From the plain "oh shit" looks on their faces, they had nothing, and a predatory smile worked its way onto her face. "So, who should go first?" They were trapped. Nightmare was innocently smiling and Celestia felt terror rush through her veins. 'She's going to kill us! She's going to kill us!' Her brain screamed, but on the outside she calmly smiled. "Well, the ponies rumors spread like wildfire after your *ahem* banishment, and soon it turned into a legend" she stated. The frown she received did nothing to calm her nerves. "Then why did you not correct them?" Just as she was about to answer, Quick had returned with the menu. "Ah, here you go your majesty." He said as he gave the menu to Nightmare. Celestia silently rejoiced at the intervention. 'Sweet Mother, bless you Quick Trip' But the festivities were cut short as Nightmare's slitted eyes focused back on her. "We will talk about this later." She said, with a tone that made Celestia feel like she had just proclaimed her death sentence. 'Bollocks' 'Was that really necessary?' 'Yes' I replied as I sent in my order. (I asked for sausage and eggs) 'If I want to be able to get their trust then I need to see what I did wrong in the past and try to correct it' I explained as we waited for the meal. 'You know she's terrified of you, right?' 'Well, I am pretty, well, off putting' 'That's putting it real mildly' Forest snarked and I forced myself not to roll my eyes. 'Eh, whatever, hey I think the food just came' I smelled the heavenly aroma of breakfast sausage and as Quick placed the plate on the table, I nearly dove-in muzzle first. Keyword: nearly 'What do you think your doing! Use your manners, and pick up the utensils you animal.' Forest interuppted and ultimately destroyed my train of thought. 'Fine, whatever you say, mom' I snarked back and elegantly picked up the knife and fork and began to cut and eat the sausage. Celestia soon quickly excused herself for day court and after awhile Luna told me she needed her rest and went off to retire to her chambers. I finished up my plate and Quick picked it up and left the room. I was left in the dining hall. All alone. This was going to be a long day. Author's Note No I'm not dead, just trying to put a it more character into the characters.
Chapter 7: Quests and copycatsI was walking down the corridors. It had been an hour since breakfast and I just decided to wander the halls. Hey, it wasn't like I had anything better to do anyway. So I was just exploring, Yes, I know the cliché of the main character getting lost in Canterlot castle; but seriously, it's quite easy to navigate. Especially if you have a built-in navigator. 'Ok now take a left here, and the library should be on the right' Turns left, meets another corridor. 'Huh? Maybe it was the other corridor' See, totally fine. 'Seriously? Come on! That's it. Where the heck are some gaurds so we can just ask directions?' 'No, trust me. I got castle blueprints right here. Now we just need to backtrack to the middle and-' 'Wait. When did we get castle blueprints?' 'It was just lying around here. What's the big deal?' 'Check the back.' '.........Castle of the sisters? What the- ohhhhh.' 'Yep' 'ohhhh' I heard a face hoof, 'I'm an idiot' Forest muttered, and a smile spread onto my face. 'I know you are, but I put up with you anyway' I thought back sweetly. '...shut up' she growled. I raised my foreleg to muffle my laughter. 'Hey, how did you know I was looking at the wrong map anyway?' Forest asked in confusion. ''All my memories are from the past. There would be no way I would know the layout of a castle I've never been to.' I replied. '... you know. It frightens me how logical you are.' 'Aww, thanks Forest. And you know what, let's just go back. We can plan what to do in the safety of my room' 'Hold up. Your room? 'Hey, I walked there, washed there, slept there, it's my room.' 'Yeah, yeah, whatever greedy Gus, but I want you to remember that we individual mind voices have rights too!' I rolled my eyes and teleported to "my" room. When I appeared there I saw it was clean, my armor was on the rack, and the bed was made. "Looks like she did her job" I said gleefully. 'What are you happy about?' 'She still cleaned the room, even though she's terrified of me. She conquered her fear!' I thought as pinkie pie grin spread across my face. 'Or, she was afraid of getting torn to pieces if she skipped the Nightmare Moon's bedroom' Forest replied nonchalantly. I swear I felt my mane deflate when I heard that. 'Well, ain't you a little bag of sunshine' 'At your service' and as I heard that I could only imagine Forest doing an over exaggerated bow with a mustash, monocle, and a top hat. The image improved my mood a bit. "Yeah, whatever" I mumbled as I went to the bathroom, so I could do my "business". Once down with that, I layed down on my bed and dove into my thoughts. 'So what do you think we should do?' 'Hmm, I don't know, but by fanfiction rules I think we should go on an adventure' 'Really?' 'We are on chapter seven, Nightie. Chapter Seven! This story has an adventure tag, not slice of life! Heck! We haven't even broke the 2000 words limit yet!' 'Fine! Keep your pants on! But we can't alarm my sisters about our little life adventure, thing, whatever' 'I can only guess you have an idea?' *cue mission impossible music* 'Seriously' Forest deadpanned. Nightmare ignored her though, and slid on her armor, which made audible clicks as it attached. As the helmet slid on, she only replied. "We've got 19 hours and 57 minutes. I'll get Bellerophon into your system by then. Just stay alive. I'm not going to lose you." 'You know what, fuck it. What do want to do?' "Every search for a hero must begin with something that every hero requires: A villain." she sagely replied, and then ignited her horn, and then they were gone. They appeared in the badlands. 'Okay. Quotes aside, why are we here?' 'There's a certain changeling queen I want to check on before my niece has a wedding' she thought back and then sent out a life detecting spell. Behind a few of the rocks to the left, there were multiple life forms. And they seemed to be in some sort of scuffle. 'How much you want to bet, that's them.' 'Twenty bits says your wrong' 'Your on.' With a smile, she dove over the rocks to see four changeling drones facing some sort of mutant killer scorpion. To no surprise, the scorpion was winning. Nightmare dove into action and sent a powerful bolt of magic that struck the scorpion dead on. It screeched in pain and then whipped its head around so it could focus its new offender. As she dodged the creature's massive writhing tail, she continued firing magical blasts. The beast raised its claws and tried to no avail to end her with them. As she eventually wore it down, she charged forward and drove her whole hoof through the scorpion's head, fully killing it. (Duh) As she wiped her bracer off in the sand only one thought went through her head. 'You owe me twenty bits' '......You fight and kill a giant Death scorpion, and that's the only thing you can think?!' Nightmare tilted her head, and thought for a moment. 'Yes' ...what is wrong with you!?' 'What?' 'Your the good guy, you aren't supposed to kill stuff. I'm the one that's supposed to goad or trick you into killing things or embracing the dark side. How can you be so fine with this?!' 'Oh forest, forest, forest, I never said I was good.' Nightmare thought and turned so she could confront the drones. They were gone. 'Dammit!' She silently cursed, and then sent off another life detection spell. It directed her to four strangely identical rocks. 'Seriously' she deadpanned. "Alright, I know you're here. Drop the disguises. I just want to to talk." She stated mater-of-factly at the four stones. All at once the stones burst into flames and three changelings were in her face hissing at her. Three, the fourth one was lying on the ground with its hooves over its head. Nightmare was startled of course, but getting turned into an alicorn, being trapped on the moon, living with mythological creatures, getting hit with a rainbow deathbeam, and searching for a species that can shape-shift, it really trains your "Fuck it, and move on" instincts. So she decided to use her newly honed skills. "Ok, nice to meet you too. Now can I meet your leader" she replied calmly. The three looked at her with "da fuck is wrong with you" written clearly across their faces, the fourth one gave her a weak smile. Nightmare just shrugged, "Just take me to you queen. I just want to talk" she repeated. The drones eyed her and chittered among themselves. The fourth one though looked at its chattering hive mates and then slowly made its way toward her. Once in front of her it just sat down and tilted its head, Nightmare tilted her head back, and they just stared at each other. "So what's your name?" The drone stared. Nightmare waited. "t?!h&$ ~€£d#*" the drone replied. "Uh, in Equestrian please." The drone cleared its throat. "I, uh, am thorax" he replied with a sheepish smile. "Nice to meet you Thorax, I'm Nightmare. Pleased to meet you." Nightmare replied smoothly and the drone looked at her strangely. "Why do you do that?" "Do what?" Nightmare asked in confusion. "Why are you so nice? And you weren't even fazed by our fangs." He replied. Nightmare rolled her eyes. "You mean these" she replied and gave him a bladed smile, and Thorax's eyes widened. "Whoa. I didn't know ponies had fangs!" Nightmare chuckled, "They don't, but you can say I'm, well-, a little different" she replied with a wink, and the changeling blushed. 'Huh. What did I do?' Nightmare wondered, as she saw the changeling's reddish cheeks. The other three took this as an opportunity to butt-in. "The queen agrees to meet you, but not here. Follow us." They replied in unison and then started trotting in a direction. Nightmare nodded and followed, with Thorax tailing behind her. They eventually came to a massive cave structure and stopped at the opening. The three changelings turned and spoke again. "The queen will meet you shortly" and then they flew off. 'Wow. Nice place, could use some lighting though.' 'Yeah, some sun roofs would look nice' 'Forest your back! I was worried that I broke you.' 'Yeah. You were joking about earlier, right?' Nightmare shrugged, 'Hey I'm keeping my options open. Plus, if I do take over the world. Don't I need a co ruler?' 'really?' 'Really, really' Nightmare thought back with a smile, then she heard the buzzing of wings. As she turned her head she saw a lanky, medium sized, teal haired changeling. Of course this only brought one idea to mind. 'Chrysalis?!' In the show, Chrysalis was at least the size of freaking Celestia, for pete's sake. Now the mare in front of her was a least as big as Cadence or Luna at best. "Your majesty, I presume" Chrysalis gave a snort. "Your guess is as good as mine" she replied sarcastically. Nightmare tilted her head, "New royal?" Her head shot up, sarcasm forgotten "Uh, what?" Nightmare rolled her eyes, "Your new at the whole royalty thing, aren't you." She stated plainly. This wasn't the Chrysalis she saw waging war at a wedding. This was a teenager that had no idea how to rule a kingdom, Nightmare would know. Chrysalis lowered her head, "Is it that obvious?" Nightmare shrugged her shoulders, "eh, put some more spunk in it. Like you own the place" she said, giving the best advice she had. Chrysalis took a deep breath, "I am Queen Chrysalis, Ruler of the changelings!" She said in a commanding tone. "Now that's a ruler!" Nightmare exclaimed with a clop of her hooves. "Heh, whatever" Chrysalis said with a smile smile working onto her mouth, then she shook her head. "Hey! What do you want anyway!" She snapped, her fiery demeanor returning. "Eh, just wanted to see if you wanted to be friends or not?" Nightmare replied nonchalantly. Chrysalis tilted her head confused, "What?" Nightmare shrugged, "You heard me, want to be friends?" She stated. "Are you an idiot or something!" Chrysalis exclaimed, and Nightmare tilted her head. "No species wants to even be near us, much less be friends! So if this your sorry idea for a joke- Chrysalis bared her fangs- then your going to be sorry." She growled. Nightmare raised up her hooves angrily, "Woman, calm the fuck down! I wasn't joking! So stop your freaking war rant right freaking there! And be my god damn friend!" She roared. Chrysalis stared for a minute. Then she burst out laughing. 'What the- "That was hilarious!" She exclaimed as she continued her laughing fit. 'Nightie, are you sure she is sane?' Forest asked concerned, about the giggly changeling below them. 'Nope' she replied as the changeling's laughter episode eventually subsided. As Nightmare helped her up, she still snickered. "Do you know how freaking stupid what you said was" she said between snickers. Nightmare rolled her eyes, "Bitch please. That was mild stupidity." She said with a scoff. Chrysalis's eyes sparkled, "Finally someone that doesn't get easily flank hurt!" She said excitedly, and then pulled Nightmare closer. "Do you have any idea how careful I have to say things so my people so they don't get depressed or do exactly what I say" she said exasperatingly. Nightmare nodded, "Preach woman, I know the feel" she replied, fully remembering having to comfort Luna whenever she made a bad joke. Chrysalis eyed her surprisingly "So, your royalty too?" "Yep" She replied bluntly. Chrysalis nodded her head, "Yes, your from that horse species, or whatever" Nightmare nodded back, "The term's ponies, but I technically don't care" she replied, then she repeated why she had gone here in the first place. "So, friends?" She said with and extended hoof. Chrysalis slapped it out of the air. "Huh-" Before Nightmare could react Chrysalis had tackled her and put her in a headlock. "Bitch! We're not friends! We're besties!" She said with a good-natured snarl, and as she tightened her hold, Nightmare smiled. Now this was someone who could have some fun. Author's Note Just testing the waters.
Chapter 8: What happens after questsAfter finally getting out of the headlock, I chatted with Chrysalis for awhile, and as it was starting to get dark out, we said our goodbyes. "Adios! Chryssie!" I yelled as I left the cave opening. "See ya, Nightie!" Chrysalis yelled back with a wave. 'For a changeling she wasn't so bad' Forest mused as we continued out into the Badlands. 'Agreed, but for now let's go home.' I thought back tiredly. I of course invited Chrysalis to join as a special guest at Cadence's future wedding, since she explained to me that her folks were going through a food shortage. I told her on a little "surprise" I was planning for the wedding and of course she wanted to help me as well as get the buffet meal of a lifetime. Soon, the greatest prank in Equestrian history will be born. But, that's a story for another chapter. Nightmare tried to teleport, but due to her fatigue she had missed her mark. Instead of being in her room, she was now on the outskirts of Canterlot. "Eh, close enough" I mumbled tiredly, but as I walked closer I noticed something. "Hey, where is everyone?" Two hours ago Luna had woken up early from her rest, as she sat up she let out a large yawn. Her rest luckily, had been peaceful, a sweet ambrosia to the stress of her returned elder sister. Not that she disliked her, no, actually when they were younger, Nightmare was her favorite sibling. From telling her stories, to pointing out constellations, and comforting her in her darkest times, they had grown close. As Nightmare soon became Queen though that all changed. Luna shivered as she remembered those dark times, gone was her proud, jesting sibling, replaced with a cold and heartless monster. Young and naïve, she still had followed her sister and listened to her as she twisted her mind with dark magic. She manipulated her into immobilizing Celestia's guards, and even used her as a shield in her battle with Celestia. Luna growled at her ignorance and her corruptive sister. 'Why wasn't she blasting down the demon in which had torn her life apart?' Cloths. The word snapped Luna out of her vengeful thoughts. No, not just random cloths, but washcloths. She remembered when she had awoken from Nightmare's attack in the throne room, and had expected to see herself in a dungeon, but instead was greeted with the interior of a guest suite. Strangely to her confusion she felt something damp on her head, as she reached her hoof up and grabbed it she pulled it off and saw it was a washcloth. 'But how could this be? If there truly was nothing left of her, why this?' These questions plagued Luna's mind and she furrowed her brows, 'something prevented her from killing us, and I'm going to find out what' she thought determinedly. And with that, she teleported to her elder sister's room. It was found empty. Things went downhill from that. Alarms blared. Citizens were escorted to evacuation shelters. Guard patrols tripled. The City walls were quickly fortified, and the entire city went into high alert. Luna stood at her sister's side over watching the city during these events with a hardened scowl on her face. "I guess I was a fool for trusting her Tia" she said dejectedly, with her eyes facing the floor and Celestia rested her wing on her. "It's alright. But you never know, it could be a misunderstanding" she offered innocently, and Luna looked up at her quizzically. Her second oldest sister detested Nightmare, was she really believing she was innocent? Celestia sighed at her sister's confusion, "Yes, I know me and Nightmare don't always get along on the right hoof, but I truly think she is different" Luna turned her head and saw a dark form teleport onto the outskirts of the city. "I hope your right Tia" she mumbled, and then unsheathed her sword. "Hello, Anypony? Hello?" Nothing. 'Something's wrong' 'No dip Sherlock. Where the hell is everypony?!' "Hello, sister" The words were cold and empty, it was as if they were caught in the middle of a horror movie and the audience was shouting don't turn around. Nightmare of course ignored them and turned around. She was met with a deadeyed Luna and a sword to to her throat. Of course she said the most logical and most carefully picked words. "Ok, what the hell are you doing?" Luna tilted her head "uh, what?" She said obviously confused. Nightmare groaned and directed around her "I go out one time to get some fresh air and this is what I come back to. Seriously!" She snapped and Luna readied her weapons. "We evacuated everyone so no one would be hurt" she replied confidently but what happened next stunned her. "I'm to fucking tired for this" Nightmare grumbled and walked past her. Walked past her. Walked past her. Past. Nightmare Autumn Moon never walked away from a fight. 'Who the Tartarus are you and what have you done to my sister' Luna's brows furrowed, and she teleported herself in Nightmare's way again. "You will not pass me creature." Luna said steely as she raised her sword and readied her defense. Nightmare blinked. 'Okay, am I missing something?' 'Don't worry, I'll look at the dialogue above us' '...' 'So, what is it?' 'Bawhahahahahaha!!!' 'Uh, forest?' 'HAhahaha- Oh my fucking Gods, that is priceless' 'What?!' 'They think you pulled some sort betrayal or something- ahhahahaha!' I deadpanned as Forest continued laughing like a deranged hyena. Is that really the reason that I'm dealing with this crap? Seriously? I sighed. Leave to alliance with changelings one time and this happens, me and my family really have to work on our communication skills. Enough of that though, I have a Luna to deal with. Luna watched as her sibling stood still for several minutes and tensed when she let out a sigh. "Do you really want to do this?" My voice was calm, but I channeled all of my "Do you seriously want to mess with me look" into my eyes, and locked onto Luna. She squirmed under my gaze and her sword wavered, I thought I had won as her eyes started to shift, but then she shook her head and charged at me with a battle cry. She sprinted at me, sword flailing wildly. I stood there. She got closer. I stood there. She dove. I sto- yeah how about no. Hey I'm crazy, not an idiot. I dove to the side, sword narrowly grazing my hindquarters. 'Spell for summoning weapons?' 'On it' I continued weaving and leaping away from Luna's attacks. 'Hurry up!' 'Yeah, yeah calm down. How about this spirit weapon spell?' As Luna nearly decapitated me, I replied. 'I don't fucking care! Just do it!' I mentally screamed. My horn glowed and a crescent moon battle axe appeared. I immediately used it to block Luna's sword arch, and stunned her as well. "Here we freaking go" I said with a grin. I parried, blocked, and striked, our weapons clashed in the empty street. Each strike I put in was countered with one that had full intent to kill, a dance of death some may say. I truly prefer samba. I used my battle axe to knock Luna back down the street. Now having some distance,I decided to try to talk her out of it again. 'Yes, because that worked so well last time' 'I'm sweating buckets man, I can't parry her forever' "Luna, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!" I yelled and she snorted. "How would you know imposter" She replied coldly. I don't know why but for some reason, those words stung a little. I ignored it though and continued on. "I am Nightmare. What will it take for you to believe me?" I pleaded. This was getting out of hand/hoof, I was on the verge of collapsing, if Luna was going for a combo breaker I was screwed. She thought for a moment. "Alright." she conceded, "What's your middle name?" she said with a smug smirk. 'Forest, cheat sheet.' 'Autumn.' 'Thank you' 'Wait a minute. Autumn? That's my middle name, really?' 'Strangely, yes, but don't worry, it looks like even before your banishment you disliked it, so I think you'll be fine' I sighed and looked at a smug Luna, "You know I dislike my middle name" I grumbled and Luna's smile got smugger. "But, then how will I know your the real Nightmare, hmm." I really wanted to smack her, but I seriously was way too tired. Alicorn bodies are supposed to be durable dammit! 'It could be just me, but I think Chrysalis drained us a bit too much' 'Yeah, we'll have to talk about that sometime' I finished up and then took a deep breath. "My middle name is Autumn" 'God damn Fluttershy would be proud' Luna squinted and leaned a little. "What was that?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "My middle name is Autumn" I mumbled a little louder. Hey it wasn't that I was ashamed or anything, my mouth was tired, yeah. Totally legit reasoning. Luna's smile faded, "Alright sister, if you truly are peaceful then why did you disappear?" She continued on. I rolled my eyes "I told you about three times, I went for a walk" I answered semi-truthfully. 'Technically I'm not lying' 'True' Luna was scrutinizing me. 'She'll see that I'm honest and we'll be off, scot free' I mentally assured myself and Forest. She slowly opened her mouth. "Alright sister, but your coming with me" 'Shit' 'Shit' Author's Note Will get to better stuff soon.
Chapter 9: Wait...what am I doing again?So there I was. Kicking the cobblestones behind Luna. There was no life around us, me and Forest were lyin low and keepin our traps shut, shit had gone down and we didn't want no trouble. Well I guess that was mostly me, but you get the picture. Occasionally, the broad would look back, tryin to make me talk. Forest, ah course was no help whatsoever, flippin out in my noggin, and such. So I had ta improvise, as I continued spouting my answers she eventually gave up. It was evening now, the street lights came on, a alley cat knocked ov'a a can somewhere, only a thin silence separated us. The streets were dead, no life anywhere, wheth'a that was a blessing or a curse was soon to be decided. Luna eventually walked me up and thru the castle, takin me up to the kingpin, the high order, the big cheese. Celestia. Her boys were shuffling around a bit once they caught sight of me, her main lackey Shiny was standin by her side with a shit-eating grin on his muzzle. Bloody coppers all ov' em! Celly's got the fuzz eating right out of her hoof! She of course had her arse on her throne and was lookin down at me, her fine hair flowin, magenta eyes glinting like daggers in the torchlight. "Something wrong?" she said in a smooth tone, like some pop would be say'in to his kid before he new somethin was wrong. I shook my head, best not to piss her off now, so she won't have a reason to be off'in me. Luna walked up ta me, and smacked me upside the head. "U're Lyin! Spit out the truth!" She snapped. "I ain't done nothing" I stated again a-matter-of-factly, there'd be no way in Tartarus I'd let her know I was dealin with the Changeling gangs down south. Loose lips sink ships, mate, and I ain't anywhere near the ocean. Celly, now more intrigued, wasn't buyin my word. She looked down and examined her golden horseshoed hoof, "I welcomed you Nightie" she said nostalgically, and then turned to face me eye to eye. "I fed you, I gave you a place to stay, you and I were family" she drawled and lifted her hoof and motioned around her, "And this is how you repay me? Lyin ta me." she stated flatly with a sigh. I was tense. I was only gone a few hours and everything had went to Hell in a hand basket, "I was jus takin a stroll Cel, nothin more and nothing less" I stated again. I wasn't countin on serving time anytime soon, that Luna gal had worked me ov'a enough, I didn't have the energy to deal with sunbutt the mighty. Cel stared at me awhile, her eyes narrowing to see if I was lyin or not. After a few tense moments she gave a nod. "A'ite Nightie, I'll believe ya." She said finally, but before I could crack a smile she shot back a cold glare. "But, if you be messin with my ponies.." she drawled and slammed her hoof in the ground, leaving a macsive indent with a spiderweb of cracks. "You get the picture" she finished with a toothy grin. I nodded stiffly, and then two of Celly's eye candy clones got up and ushered me out. What really happened Nightmare quietly followed Luna back to the castle, as they walked she tried to ask where she had went. Nightie just shrugged and mumbled off vague replies. After awhile, Luna just rolled her eyes and dropped the subject. Eventually, they made it to the throne room. Celestia was sitting on her golden throne surrounded by her guards, whom snapped to attention once the pair walked in. Shining Armor was at Celestia's side as they strode up to the throne, he cast a cold glare Nightmare's way. Luna caught this, with a cold glare sent his way, turned to see her sister's reaction. Her anger morphed into concern as she saw her sister's unfocused eyes. Slightly more worried now, she walked closer, "Nightmare..." she said worriedly, and tapped her lightly on her shoulder. Nightmare collapsed onto the floor. Celestia sprang into action. Hold up. "What! I slammed into soil and looked up, I was in a valley. 'Okay what the hell is going on?' 'No idea, but I suggest we try are best to survive til the end of the chapter' "Yeah sure, wait what?!" And then a horde of zombies burst over the hilltops. *cue action music* You are trapped and a ravine and Zomb-ponies have appeared from the north, what will you do. Will you: Hide Run Or try to reason ..... Nightmare Moon chose run. As I sprinted in the opposite direction I nearly slammed into a one-eyed skeleton pony. I nearly stopped to apologize, but then his flaming eye focused on me. "Do you want a bad time~" he drawled and I snapped my head forward. "NOPE!!" I yelled back and shot off across the valley. *cue megolvania* Huge bones slammed into the areas around me, and I saw a portal open in front of me. Before thinking anything of my decision I jumped through. ... and smacked straight into the control panel of a space ship. Nightmare then took this moment to raise her forehooves to the heavens and cry. 'This is going to be that chapter that has nothing to do with the storyline, isn't it' she thought with tears continuing to stream down her face, and somewhere in the back of her mind she felt mental pat. 'I'm afraid so' "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She cried to the heavens Somewhere in a galaxy far far away A certain dark mare looked over to her Sith Lord ally. "I sense a disturbance in the force" she said worriedly and he nodded in agreement. As Nightmare finished her hysterics she- "Hey! I'm not hysterical! Do you know how long it's been since we've updated?! Do you?!" She turned to look at the- "Hey!!" *tap tap* "Don't you freaking change the subject, these people want a story and- What's that? Don't you dare- The Royal hospital was in chaos, doctors swarmed over the unconscious alicorn, some putting IV's in her, other's yelling to their comrades for diagnostics. All the while, the two royal sisters observed with mouths agape. "Get some mana packs ASAP! We got a got a severe magic depletion over here!" one of the doctors yelled to a scrambling nurse. And the list didn't just stop there. "She has infected shrapnel in her foreleg!" "Her lungs are full of dust!" "This is one of the worst cases of malnutrition I have ever seen!" "Why, this is the worse condition of dental hygiene!" "How long has she been alive!!!" and so on. "Why" Slowly, Celestia turned toward her trembling sibling, and heard her speak again. "Why didn't she tell us?" Luna said again, her head was whirling with emotion. Anger, for not checking for Nightmare's injuries, Betrayal, for Nightmare never telling her, Frustration at herself for attacking her, Pain, that she was too blind to notice something was wrong with her sister. Celestia cautiously extended her wing toward her unstable sibling, and rested it on her back. She flinched at the sudden contact, but soon returned to her original position, letting out a deep sigh as Celestia pulled her close. Celestia shook her head, "It wasn't your fault Luna." she stated, not as a opinion but as a fact, and before Luna could argue she raised a hoof to silence her. "She told no one of her condition, much less even showed it. This morning she was so good that even I believed nothing was wrong with her" she said with a good-natured chuckle to lighten the mood. It was immediately silenced though, once she looked over to her elder sibling. She seemed so... peaceful, oblivious to the chaos around her, the IV's, the wires, the constant erratic drones of the vital monitors. Occasionally, Celestia would see a slight twitch of one of her hindlegs, and some movement beneath her eyelids as if she was looking around. 'Now what could you be thinking, dear sister' she wondered. "Nope! Nope! Bad Xenomorph! AGH!!" Nightmare shouted as she sprinted down the corridors, a Xenomorph hot on her tail. She then tripped over a fallen table and fanfare began to play. You've acquired plasma shotgun Nightmare suddenly found she was holding some sort hybrid between a pump shotgun and a Halo energy rifle, and of course immediately pumped it an blasted the xenomorph to its hive queen in the sky. Slowly, now speckled with the blood of her former foe, a cruel, mad, smile worked its way onto her lips. And then these words were spoken. "I wonder how big a kill streak I can get with this thing?" And whole ship got dead silent. The operating room had calmed down considerably, after awhile only the occasional rushing in and out of the nurses disturbed it. Luna watched over her sibling, Celestia soon had to return to her duties, and Cadence had stopped by earlier once she heard what had happened. Suddenly, Luna felt a unearthly chill run down her spine, like some elderlich horror was about to be released, but she shrugged it off. It was probably one of the sanitation ponies. DIE! DIE! DIE! Nightmare yelled with an insane grin, as she was mowing down the annoying mushroom people of this pretty gumdrop land. One of the fleeing mushroom folk tripped and fell, only to be towered over by the huge equine creature. The small being's eyes shrunk in terror once it came eye to eye with the barrel of the creature's weapon. "This is for every time you said my princess was in another castle, bitch" the creature snarled, and with a pull of the trigger, the mushroom's head exploded. Coated with blood and finished with burning down the Mushroom Kingdom, Nightmare let out a sigh of contentment. Today was a good day. Today was a horrible day. Day court was stuffed full with pony nobles, begging for Nightmare's head. "I had to cancel my spa appointment because of that brute!" "Why is she not behind bars?!" "I don't care about your petty squabbles, I am a Blueblood. You hear me, A BLUEBLOOD!" Celestia sighed, and used one of her hooves to rub her temples, one would think the almighty sun goddess would not get migraines. They thought wrong. Celestia quietly thanked her mother once one of her soldiers announced court to be finished, once all the nobles had filed out, Celestia slumped down on her throne, and buried her head in her mane, trying to make the memory go away. Quick Quill, one of her best advisors offered her a cup of coffee. "Busy?" he asked and Celestia just let out a mumbled "mmm,hmm" through her blanket of mane, and quietly accepted her coffee, Hazelnut, her favorite. Quill nodded, years of being her advisor had trained him for this, and he looked down at his reports, "It looks like you have a bit of free time, would you like to visit your sister?" he asked innocently, and Celestia peeked a bit out of her rainbow mane. Not having heard on her sibling's condition in awhile, she gave a small nod. "I'll put that right on your schedule, your majesty" As the repetitive beep of the heart monitor droned on, the fallen form of Nightmare began to stir. First it was a twitch, then there was a kick. Slowly, her eyes opened revealing two bloodshot eyes, that quietly began to survey the room, her muzzle restricted due to an oxygen mask, she let out a hoarse growl. By some falt in the cosmos, a nurse decided to enter that room at that time. As the nurse stood there frozen in horror, slowly a smile worked its way upon Nightmare's face. 'Perfect' Author's Note I live!!!!!!!
A Non-canon Valentine Chapter A Non-canon Valentine Chapter Roses are red, Celestia loves cake. I know it's been awhile since the last update. But, it's Hearts and Hooves day, I should give it my best That, and Forest just won't let me rest. I care for my sisters and hope they understand that I just went for a walk that went out of hand. I've been on a adventures only me and Forest knows And all have been done without a single YOLO. But I digress, I still have a point to declare- ... Thorax what the hell are you doing here? Ok, whatever, I care for my Woona and Tia's has my heart. If someone dares hurt them I'll tear them apart. That seems kind of violent and some may agree But if you actually believe that, you don't know me. I hope they can forgive the crimes that I've done And look at me now as the mare I've become. Chrissy says hi, and it's been a blast She's still kind of dopey from getting fucked in the- Oh, Tia its great to see you come stop by I'm doing quite well, ok and goodbye I wonder how Shiny's relationship with Cadence been getting I still can't wait for that Faust damn wedding. The doctors say that I shouldn't strain myself So I'm stuck in bed trying to defend my poor health. But Luna lent me a quill, some parchment, and ink And now I'm writing all the rhymes I can think To try and make a nice poem for you My sisters, my friends, and sweet viewers too. I wonder if Thorax is going to be alright His breathing is heavy and his cheeks are alight. Maybe It's because I'm holding him down with my wing Or it could be the sappiness leaking out from this thing. Oh, damn it, I'm getting way off track well I guess I'll thank my sisters for always having my back Except for that time when Luna tried to run me through, Or that time you both sent me to the moon Or I guess the time you told a legend about me Glorified as a villain for an eternity But the past is past and I'm happy that I'm out But could you please keep the servants from screaming out loud Ugh, I hate being sappy and I wish I was through. But, I just want to say I still love you two. Though you both used the elements and put me through hell, here's my thoughts in a moon-themed nutshell. I guess I deserved it, I tried to cause eternal night And you two both did what you deemed right And though I spent a thousand years alone I'm so proud on how independent you've grown Tia, I know I sometimes I seem mean But someday I think you'll make a great queen And Luna, sweet Luna, your future's so bright One day you'll be able to rule over my night I'll say again I'm so proud of you two Because one of these days it will only be you. One of these days my story will come to an end and if there's a sequel it all just depends One day you'll both understand just what I mean But I'll just keep writing my poem... That you'll never read.
