Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

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“Everypony get close to me!” Luna shouted as the Serpent lunged at the group. Everypony did as the princess asked and jumped next to or on top of her. Acting fast, the lunar princess quickly teleported the group out of harm’s way as the colossal serpent crashed into the dirt. A few seconds after the beast made impact the group reappeared a fair distance away from the impact zone, taking breathes of relief as the serpent began burrowing itself into the ground. Luna herself was surprised by the sudden attack, but was glad that she was able react in time.

“I everypony all right?” she asked.

Everypony nodded as they looked on as the last of the serpent disappeared beneath the ground. However, they knew it wasn’t done with them yet. Any predator that starts off their attack without warning isn’t going to give up so easily. Luna channeled her magic to her horn and began to move her head side to side in a sweeping motion. Not surprisingly, she picked up the large nightmare as it was moving underground.

“That’s not good.”

“What is it Luna?” Shining asked.

“It’s waiting for us to make a move.”

“It is? Why?”

“The varmit can’t see us while it’s swimming in the dirt. I remember Twilight spouting out once that there are some creatures that can sense movement,” Applejack added.

“Indeed, but as long as none of us make any movements then it won’t know where we are,” Luna said.

“Then what do we do now? I don’t want to stand here all day, we need to do something,” Rarity said.

“Well as long as we’re standing here we can form a plan, but uh…does anypony have any ideas?” Pinkie added.

Luna began to rack her brain, clearly they cannot take that thing on head on, and it was impossible to reposition themselves as they can’t leave this spot without instigating an attack from the nightmare. Its mouth can cover a wide range, so running is out of the question. Flying is a possibility, but the only one that can do that is Luna herself. In addition, there is a chance it might sense the air pressure the moment she takes off. After some more brainstorming Luna developed a plan, it was risky, but she’s going to have to spend some magic in order to bait the nightmare.

“I have an idea,” she said finally as she got the attention of her allies, “We’re going to bait the nightmare into coming out and in order to do that I’ll fire a magic missile as far away from us as possible.”

“I see now, once the magic explodes in that location then the nightmare is going to attack that area!” Shining exclaimed.

“Exactly, once it’s baited out then we’ll have an opening.”

“An opening for what?” Rarity asked.

“We’re going to ride that nightmare!”

“Excuse me what? Am I hearing you right princess? We’re going to ride that varmit?” Applejack said with disbelief.

“Sounds like fun!” Pinkie added.

“It’s crazy, but due to the size of the beast we’ll have to bring the fight to the monster if we’re going to survive this encounter,” Luna began to charge her magic in her horn, “I suggest that once we teleport onto the monster that we hold on for dear life as there is no doubt it won’t notice us as it burrows back into the ground.”

“What about the dirt? Won’t that push us off anyway?” Rarity said.

“I got you covered there, shield magic is what I’m good at,” Shining responded quickly.

“Now is that settled, I suggest you prepare yourselves!” Without warning Luna fired the magic missile out of her horn. The arcane projectile flew a great distance away from the group before falling down and exploding on the ground. At first nothing happened, but then the ground began to shake before suddenly a large mouth erupted from the dusty earth wide open and eager to consume prey. This was the opening Luna was hoping for as she quickly teleported the group just as the creature reached the peak of its underground lunge. Before the nightmare knew it, the group was sitting pretty on top of its flat head.

“Did it work?” Applejack asked as she looked around their new surroundings.

“Yes, but surprisingly the creature isn’t going back into the dirt as I thought it would.”

“It doesn’t seem to know we’re on top of its head,” Shinning added.

“I think that’s because it’s looking for us,” Rarity said.

“You may be right, it hasn’t moved since we teleported onto it,” Luna said as she took a couple of steps forward on the monster’s head, but after taking a test trot the creature shook a little. This surprised everypony, but after a few moments of waiting nothing happened, “That was a close one.”

“I’ll say, this big snake nightmare thingy must think we’re some small itch or something,” Pinkie added.

“If that’s the case Pinkie, I hope that it doesn’t need to scratch this spot as the last thing we need is a rub down,” Applejack said.

“Well as long as we’re here maybe I can influence the creature to help us? This nightmare we’re on is a high leveled one, many people fear this creature in the waking world and that is the reason for its power and size.”

“Wait…so the more ponies fear one specific nightmare the more powerful that nightmare becomes?” Shining said with confusion.

“That is how nightmares work Shining Armor. They feed on fear and grow in power because of it. This creature is merely a shadow of the actual beast or idea that spawned it. As long as we don’t fear the beast we should be fine.”

“Wait there is different levels of nightmares?” Rarity asked, “How many levels are there?”

“There are several categories, but I’ll explain this another time. First let’s see if I can get it to listen to me,” Luna began to channel her magic again and this time she pointed her horn to the creature’s head and began to flow a soft flowing beam into the creature, “Oh great beast of the wasteland…listen to me. We wish to cross the wastelands and we’re hoping that you’re willing to take us to our destination.”

Once she was done speaking her message the creature’s head began to move. It was confused by the sudden message Luna gave to it. The group hanged on for dear life as the creature looked for the source of the voice that spoke to it. This wasn’t the reaction Luna was hoping for as the beast grew angry and aggravated from pure frustration.

“Luna, I don’t think the nightmare wanted to listen to your message!” Shining yelled before putting up a shield as the serpent began diving down into the earth.

“It must be too strong willed! Mental suggestion only works if the willpower is far weaker than average. It must be a proud nightmare!”

“I didn’t think a wild animal would have a sense of pride! This is crazy!” Applejack shouted as she and Rarity held on for dear life.

“Weee!!!” Was all Pinkie had to add to the situation as the group finally hit dirt and already the group found themselves sliding slowly away from the head of the creature.

“Ergh!!!We better think of something fast or else we’re going to slide off and get buried by tons of dirt!” Shining shouted as he strained against the force of the impacting dirt.

“We need to force it to surface! A little jolt of magic to the brain should be enough to do the trick, but if I overdue it then I may accidently destroy the nightmare.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Applejack said.

“Not when you have over tons and tons of dirt over your head!” Shining yelled.

“This is going to be difficult with all the shaking, as I need precise aiming and control in order to do this correctly.”

“Just do it!” Pinkie shouted, causing the princess to snap into action as her horn glowed with magic.

Carefully, she emitted a small beam like pulse into the creature and in response the monster violently shook as it felt the signal like beam enter its brain, “Not strong enough…” Luna tried again, but with a stronger pulse and in response the nightmare began to corkscrew through the dirt which not only threw off the princess’s focus, but also had the others tumbling around in Shining’s magic bubble shield. The colt in question was doing his best to keep the shield grounded to the nightmare, but found his power waning as the extra effort drained him faster than holding up the shield itself.

*Whoaoahhh!!!*

“It’s going nuts!” Applejack shouted among the small declarations of pains as she both friend and shield wall.

“You could say that again!” Rarity added.

“This would be more fun if I wasn’t smashing my face into everypony!” Pinkie exclaimed before slamming into Luna who despite the impact held strong against the g-force.

“Hold strong my ponies! Just one more pulse should force this nightmare to surface!” Luna shouted as she charged up one more pulse and fired it into the nightmare’s head. As she expected, it was the last shot she needed as suddenly the direction of the serpent shot upward. Everybody held on for dear life as the monster finally shot out of the dirt and the darken skies on the Nightmare World can be fully seen again. At the same time, Shining’s magic shield finally expired and everyone was thrown off the wild serpent. Thinking fast, Luna teleported everyone back onto to the ground in order to avoid hitting the ground hard. Once on the ground and away from the monster the group took the time to gather themselves as they watched the monster thrash about in the distance.

“Is everypony okay?” Luna asked as she watched the nightmare carefully; hoping that it isn’t preparing for a counter attack.

“I’m fine, but I think my brain still rattling from that crazy rodeo,” Applejack said.

Luna looked over to Rarity who was dusting herself off, “A little bruised over here, but we’ll be fine Luna. Right Pinkie?”

“Everything is won’t stop moving…” Pinkie said as she clumsily walked around.

“What about you Shining?”

“Don’t *gasp* worry about me. I just need to take a breather!”

Luan gave a sigh of relief as she returned her attention to the nightmare as it too recovered as it slowly got up and turn its head at the group. Luna could feel the hate emitting from the beast as it flashed red for a moment before giving out a deafening roar that warped into a disturbing scream. Everypony had to cover their ears to lessen the volume of the scream, but did little as the nightmare’s head spilt open to reveal its true nightmarish form; a multi eyed being with a rotating spilt mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.

“You got to be yanking my chain! That thing has another look to it?!” Applejack shouted.

“A much more disgusting look if you ask me,” Rarity added.

“That’s a nightmare’s true face, the most powerful form it could take at this time. Stay here, I will deal with this creature personally,” Luna said as she walked off to face the monster alone. The other ponies were unsure about this decision, but let Princess go as they guessed she has an ace up her sleeve.

“Go get ‘em princess!” Pinkie shouted out before falling to the ground.

Luna smiled to herself as she heard Pinkie’s encouragement. The monster eyed her as she took to the air and flew up to the monster. Her brows are furrowed and her mouth was frowning, she was completely disappointed with this creature, “Great Nightmare! I only asked for your cooperation, and compassion in helping us reach our destination, but instead you attacked us and in turn forced us to retaliate! Now here we are, and as the Princess of the night I’ll here by hand out your punishment personally!” As Luna finished talking the nightmare was already upon her with its mouth wide open and ready to consume her whole in one bite. However, the mare just sighed to herself as her vision went dark when the light of the land was blocked out by the monster’s closed mouth, “You don’t even plan on listening to me don’t you? Fine, let me show you why I was given this title in the first place.”

Channeling her magic Luna took a couple of calming breaths before releasing a wave of magic that both pushed the monster back and forced it’s mouth open. As light returned to her vision, the princess was greeted with a rain of broken teeth; a result from her large magic pulse wave, “YOU WILL LEARN RESPECT WYRM!” Luna shouted in her old canterlot voice before flying at the monster with great speeds. Immediately she began to fly around the nightmare and bombarding it with high powered magic beams and blasts.

The nightmare tried snapping at the flying mare or falling on her, but such tactics proved to be ineffective due to her smaller size and quick maneuverability. To the spectators in the distance all they can see is the real life equivalent of a giant monster movie as the Princess flew around a like a fighter plane. Some of them winced as she managed to blast one of the monster’s eyes which caused it to roar in pain. Seeing that it was losing the battle the wyrm tried to burrow in the ground again, but Luna wasn’t done with the serpent yet.

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING? YOU HAVEN’T BEEN PUNISHED ENOUGH!”

Using magic based telekinesis, she grabbed the colossal nightmare by the tail and with some effort managed to pull it out of the ground. She let it go after yanking it out and as a result it caused the spectacle of an oversized nightmare to be sent flying through the air before landing on the ground with an earthquake inducing slam. Everypony was stunned by the power of the princess as she dived bombed the monster and essentially dive kicked the once intimidating beast in the stomach so hard its head and tail popped up from the force of the impact.

Luna then proceeded to jump and slam onto various segments of the nightmare’s body. Each impact was backed up with magical force which added to the overall damage. She continues to do this until she reached the head of the monster. Once she did, she made a mighty leap into the air before doing a flip and dive bombed the creature with the speed of a comet. It all happened in a flash and before anypony knew it, the nightmare was gone and the only thing that was left of it was an oversized crater in its place.

Everypony stared mouth agape and eyes wide open as the lunar princess flew out of the crater and calmly walked towards the group while wiping off some dirt from her body, “Sorry everypony I lost my temper for a bit there. Are all of you okay?”

“Y-Yes, but Princess Luna I didn’t know you had such power within you!” Shining managed to say.

“Oh that? Yes, my sister and I are very powerful, but we seldom use our power unless we really need to. As you can see before you, the results can become a bit messy,” Luna looked back to the lake sized crater and rubbed the back of her head, “Probably the same reason why Canterlot so easily fell to the changelings despite my sister’s presence. Not only did they surprise her, but she also held back to avoid causing collateral damage to the kingdom.”

“That…explains a lot,” Pinkie said.

“Now that I think about it, you princesses hold a lot of magical power. If this what you and Celestia can do without restraint then I can see why you hold back so much,” Applejack added, “I mean, the entire kingdom must be nothing but stacked cardboard to you two.”

“Well that is one way of putting it. My sister and I are among the most powerful ponies in equestria, but it doesn’t mean we’re infallible as our track record shows.”

“Yeah, there is discord after all. I can imagine that crazy mish mash of a man giving you two a hard time,” Rarity said.

“Indeed, it was only through training and practice that we have reached this level of power. Becoming an alicorn only just boosted our power further.”

“Wait if becoming an alicorn makes you more powerful, then how much powerful is Cadence? How powerful is Twilight?” Shining asked.

“Uhmm…as for Cadence, all I can say is that she can easily make sure you wouldn’t be able to find love again if you break her heart.”

“Yikes…good thing I don’t plan on doing that, but my masculinity has taken a hit from that fact. What about Twily? I mean I already knew she was gifted, but how much powerful is she now?”

“I don’t know,” Luna said as she earned puzzled looks from everypony, “Twilight has been a mystery for my sister and I as we watched her progress so far. As of now her body still needs to adjust to its new state as an alicorn which made it hard to read Twilight Sparkle’s current magical power. However, I do remember my sister saying that she holds great potential so take that as you will.”

“That’s crazy, so Twilight is pretty much a wild card at this point?” Applejack said, slightly stunned hearing this from the lunar princess.

“Indeed, makes me glad that my own darkness possessed you Rarity and not Twilight herself. Er, no offense.”

“None taken your highness, but it does beg the question what Lord Nightmare wants with Twilight,” Rarity said, “Considering that he gave us the run around just to give us back Applebloom, Spike, and Fluttershy before taking Twilight is raising a lot of alarms.”

“Which is why we don’t have time to lose. Shining, does that map still point us to Lord Nightmare’s mansion?”

The white colt eyes widen with realization as he used his magic to pull out the parchment and open it up. Thankfully, the display still showed them which direction and as if to add to fortune it would seem that the wild wyrm ride knocked off many miles off their journey to the mansion.

“Look likes we’re much closer to our location. Believe it or not, that Wyrm may have unintentionally helped us,” Shining said as he pointed out the distance marker on the map.

“Interesting, we only have five more miles to travel in order to reach the mansion,” Luna said as she looked up from the map and tried to spot the mansion in the distance, but was unable to see it.

“I can’t see it!” Pinkie shouted, “Is it invisible?”

“Perhaps, but for now we must rely on the map for guidance. Not only it can lead the way, but it also can help us spot any threats coming our way.”

“Yeah, the last thing we want is to run into another nightmare of that size again,” Shining said, “Just what level of nightmare was that thing?”

“A high grade nightmare.”

“No surprise there. If I ran into the varmit in real life I probably having nightmares of it too,” Applejack said.

“Indeed, these kinds of nightmares are powerful, but if I were to compare it to Fear…there is no contest. The nightmare brother himself I believe could have easily defeated this nightmare with low amount of effort,” Luna’s words held great impact among the group as they stared at her with horror.

“So that horrid monster…that violently grabbed my neck. Can easily take that giant serpent with little difficulty?” Rarity said while slightly trembling.

“As I said, nightmares take various forms. Bigger doesn’t mean stronger and which is why we should avoid running into them as much as possible. One brother is a problem, but should we run into all three of them plus Lord Nightmare then we might as be serving ourselves up on a silver platter,” Nopony said anything after this. It was a terrifying and awful fact the ponies had to deal with. It was an inescapable truth, but this will not deter them from saving Twilight. They need to outsmart them and in order to do that they need a plan. This is something Luna knew as well, “But we must not be discouraged by this. Overwhelming odds or not we must save Twilight, but we cannot do this by simply rushing in. We must be smart against our enemy if we’re going to succeed, so as we walk towards our destination we must figure out a plan. We’ll pool in what we know about the enemy and perhaps we can give ourselves a fighting chance.”

Nopony argued with her logic and as they looked upon her they held faces filled with determination. Nothing was going to stop them from saving Twilight as they all began to walk towards their destination. Powerful nightmares or not, they’re going to get her back or break themselves trying.

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