Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/
The situation back at Ponyville could never been more frantic as Celestia and Luna, after regaining their power teleported the severely injured guards to Ponyville’s hospital as many onlookers saw them quickly take to the skies as they quickly made their way to the campsite by their old castle. They both hoped nothing too bad happened, but when they saw the writhing bodies of the guards, and Applejack while Pinkie Pie was waving them down.

“Pinkie Pie what happened? Where’s Twilight, Rarity, and Spike?” Celestia asked the mare.

“I don’t know! Last I saw them they ran deep into the Everfree Forest after I distracted Fear.”

“Luna! Get these ponies some medical attention; I’m going to look for Twilight and her friends.”

“Right!”

Leaving her sister to take care of the injured Celestia headed out into the forest all the while using her magic to track down Twilight’s Mana. After a minute or so of running she felt her former student’s mana and immediately headed in that direction. It was faint at first, but grew stronger as she got closer; pray the higher beings have mercy on all that stood in the princess’s path. Eventually, she ended up at the dead end and saw the two ponies sitting the ground with looks of defeat.

“Twilight!”

The purple mare at first didn’t respond, but after a short delay the princess saw her former student look up with puffy red eyes. She had been crying in this isolated part of the forest and it made Celestia’s heart ache to see her like this, however, she isn’t the only one in tears. As she got closer she can tell Rarity was crying as well, but she did not look up at her upon her approach. This could only mean one thing; they have failed to protect Spike.

“C-Celestia?”

Hearing her near weepy voice further drilled the guilt she had in not making sure the nightmare was out of commission. She said nothing but brought both ponies together with her wings in her own version of a comforting hug.

“Say nothing more Twilight, I’m taking you both back home,” Celestia whispered gently as she charged mana to her horn and in a flash of light teleported all of them out of the forest.

/

Meanwhile in the Nightmare Realm, Fredrick and Applebloom are still having a friendly, yet weird conversation, “So…that’s why you wear masks?” she said confused.

The nightmare chuckle slightly before responding, “Indeed dear Applebloom I have no other simple answer then that.”

Applebloom still remained confused, “If you say so, but if you ask me I still don’t quite understand.”

“I suppose that you have yet to reach that level of understanding, but I guess that’s fine right now.” Fredrick said. This remark earned an angry reaction from Applebloom. However, before she could speak her mind Fredrick placed his finger on her lips, “Hold on to that thought my dear it appears we have more company.”

True to his words a black pair of wings appeared in the room and unfolded themselves to reveal a burnt Fear and the baby dragon Spike. As the wings folded themselves back into position on Fear’s back, Fear immediately collapsed face down to the floor earning a small fit of laughter from Fredrick, “What’s the matter Fear? Two princesses were too much for you?” The burnt nightmare could only grunt in response due to being too tired from the fight, “I’ll take that as a yes, but no matter we have a new guest! Spike was it? Please come over here and join the conversation; we have much to talk about.”

Applebloom saw that Spike was eyeing the nightmare with looks of confusion and surprise. She could guess that Fredrick wasn’t what he was expecting as Lord Nightmare. To be fair, she felt the same way. You would think someone with a dramatic title like that to be much scarier than the gentleman he was talking to this entire time. Spike, from what she can tell agreed with this as he took a seat next to her. Applebloom filled him in on what she learned from the Nightmare Lord himself, but as she did Spike’s face changed from a look of confusion to one of rage, “You’re doing all of this just to get somepony’s attention?!”

“Not just anypony Spike he’s say’s that the pony he’s looking for is friends with my sister,” Applebloom said.

“If that’s true then that means it could be either Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity or even Pinkie Pie! Grr, if you need help so bad then why couldn’t you ask them yourself instead of causing my friends to suffer!”

“Uhh…Spike does he look like the sort of guy that would just walk up to somepony and ask for help?” Applebloom said with a deadpanned tone.

“No, but he’s apparently a type of guy who sends monsters to do his dirty work!”

Fredrick, despite the anger directed toward him only laughed in response much to Applebloom’s surprise, “Dear Spike, you do realized your friends are currently in a challenge of my design and made with my rules, so in other words I’m actually playing fair.”

“Fair!?! You send that burnt up monster after us!”

“Honestly, he didn’t look like that when I first sent him out, but I do believe your two Princesses did that to him,” Fredrick said, “Besides, all I told him to do is to beat any guard or pony within an inch of their life that gets’s in his way.”

The fact he said it so nonchalantly caused Applebloom to panic, “What!?! You mean that charcoal monster lying on the floor could have hurt mah sister and her friends! I thought you said they weren’t going to get hurt!”

The nightmare sighed at Applebloom’s outburst, “Great…just great. Here I thought we can have a nice friendly conversation, but no you have to go and ruin it.”

“What else are you not telling me?!”

“Other than the fact I’m trying spare you from the gruesome details of what I do. There is in fact something else I left out in my explanation of the challenge.”

“What would that be?” Spike asked.

“That I give free medical care to those who are critically injured and to a lesser extent bring life to those who have expired,” Fredrick replied with a deadpan tone.

Both Applebloom and Spike were nearly struck speechless by this bombshell of information, but the young filly continued the conversation, “Wait you mean that even though ponies may get hurt in your challenges you send somepony to fix them up?”

“Of course! I may be untrustworthy to some…okay to nearly everyone outside the nightmare world who knows me, but it doesn’t mean I’m not thoughtful person. I’m aware that somebody may get hurt and that’s why I send my best doctor to fix them up,” Fredrick replied.

“Hold it! Just who is your best doctor?” Spike asked.

“Heh…funny, I believe dear Applebloom already met him. Isn’t that right?” Fredrick said.

“Wait, I did?” Applebloom said in confusion.

“Now Applebloom, don’t tell you don’t remember Paranoia?”

Applebloom started thinking for while trying to remember who Paranoia is. It took a few moments, but she was finally able to remember who Paranoia is, “Oh yeah, he’s the weird but really nice bird guy…wait he’s a doctor?!”

“The best, though he may get too excited during surgeries.”

“Wait…what do you mean by too excited?” Spike asked with suspicion.

“Err…that’s not important my little friend. All you need to know is that he excels at what does that’s all,” Fredrick responded..

“Sure…whatever.”

“Now… before we proceed any further in this conversation. I wish to ask a favor of you Spike,” Fredrick asked.

“Whatever it is I won’t do it”

“Aww…don’t be like that. Don’t you want to tell your friends that you are alright? Come on, you know you want to…”

The baby dragon continued to be stubborn on the subject but Applebloom gave it some thought and spoke out, “It won’t hurt to send a message back to our friends Spike. Besides, I really want to tell my sister that I’m okay.”

The baby dragon did not respond to her request.

“Please Spike…”

“You heard her Spike…do you really want to let her down?” Fredrick said.

Applebloom can tell that her friend was struggling with his inner morals about the entire situation, but in truth they have so much to gain from this deal while giving comfort to their love ones. Granted they are still prisoners, but so far it hasn’t been so bad.

“Well? What’s your answer?”

“…Fine, you win. What do want?” Spike asked begrudgingly.

“Good boy, I’m glad that you are ‘willing’ to help me in my request. To repay your kindness I will allow you and Applebloom to send a message to your friends”

“Whatever…what do you want anyway?”

“It’s simple, just like you I want to send a message to your friends, but only to one in particular”

“And who will that be?”

“You should already know by now, but if you don’t then let me enlighten you. I want you to help me send a message to Miss… Twilight Sparkle”

/

After being brought to Ponyville Hospital Twilight and her friends took the time to compose themselves while the Princesses checked on the royal guards. The hospital itself was in utter chaos however as Doctors and Nurses rushed down hallways carrying the near unconscious bodies of the Royal Guards who attempted to stop Fear. Twilight and her remaining conscious friends could only look at them with faces of pity knowing full well they did all they can. Applejack was taken by a spare doctor to check on her injuries after her short lived battle with fear. After half an hour the group found enough strength in themselves to check on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. It didn’t take long for them to find their room and when they opened the door they found Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sleeping with Doctor Grey Suture by their bedside monitoring their vitals. They heard him mutter a few things, but couldn’t make out what he said. It wasn’t long until the grey pony noticed their presence, “Hey how are you girls do-oh…”

Twilight couldn’t blame the doctor for stopping cold in his tracks. They looked terrible, well except for Pinkie, and it didn’t help that they were short two members of the team, “So, how’s Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?” the purple mare asked.

“Well unlike our recent new additions they’re going to make a full recovery.”

“That’s good; we could use some good news after all that has happened.”

“Sounds like it. C’mon let’s take this outside, these two need their rest and the last thing we want right now is to disturb them.” The group didn’t argue with the doctor and exited the room, once outside he continued the conversation, “Well girls, you picked an interesting time to visit as you can already tell this is biggest amount of mass injury caused by a single person. Doctors and nurses running all over place to make sure everyone is properly checked up on and treated well. Heck I’ve been pulled away from your friends a couple of times just to fix some of those guys.”

Hearing this didn’t fill Twilight with much confidence, “But you did manage to do the surgery right?”

Grey looked slightly hurt from this question as if they doubted his ability, “Well if you must know it was a big success. Like I promised she will fly again all she needs to do right now is rest.”

Hearing this filled the group with a sense of relief, “Thank you Dr. Grey! It means so much to hear that.”

“Think nothing of it. I was just doing my job” he replied.

However, before the conversation could continue Nurse RedHeart ran towards the group, “Doctor!” she yelled.

“What is it?” he asked.

“We have a patient in dire need of surgery for the lower part of his body!”

“How bad is it?”

“His lower spine and his two back legs are shattered!”

“*Crap* Okay prep the patient for surgery I’ll be right there as soon as I can.”

“Right!” Nurse RedHeart said before taking off.

The Grey pony turned back to Twilight and her friends, “Sorry, we have to continue this conversation another time, but in the meantime you stay in the room where your friends is sleeping,” He said before taking off down the hallway.

Twilight nodded and with Pinkie and Rarity walked back into the room before finding places to sit. None of them spoke a word to each other as no one had anything significant to say. However, the silence was broken when a familiar green flame floated into the room and dropped off three scrolls, and for a short moment nopony took any action until Pinkie snatched all three from the air.

“That fire…it was from Spike!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise.

“And lookie, we got scrolls! One for Applejack, one for Twilight, and one for Rarity!”

Hearing that there was a scroll for her caught Twilight’s attention, but not as quickly as Rarity who already seized the scroll meant for her, “It’s from…Spikey-Wikey,” Twilight noticed that the light in her friend’s eyes returned.

“What did he write?” asked Twilight.

“He says he sorry for making us worry, even more so for me. He also mentions that he has met the master mind behind all of this mess. He describes him as some sort of ‘weirdo’ so to speak.”

“Well that doesn’t give us much to go on, did he say anything else?

“Sadly no, the rest of the letter just says how much he likes company.”

“Oh! Maybe he wants to have friends!” Pinkie added randomly.

“Somehow Pinkie I don’t think that’s the case,” Twilight said.

The conversation about the two letters continued causing the group to almost forget about the scroll meant for Twilight. However, she was reminded when Pinkie brought it up, “Oh hey! I almost forge this one is for you Twilight!”

“Oh right, thanks for reminding me Pinkie, so let’s see who wrote to me,” the purple mare said as she opened up the scroll and began to read the sender’s name, “It’s from Lord Nightmare…” Twilight finally said earning gasps from around the room.

“What does that vile man want? Does he want to rub our failures in our face?” Rarity said angrily.

“Or maybe he wants to wish us good luck!” Pinkie said optimistically

“Hold on, I’ll read it out loud,” Twilight said.

Dear Twilight Sparkle (and Friends),

It’s been Two days and two nights since I first issued this challenge to you, and so far I’m a little disappointed in your performance in dealing with the Nightmare Brothers. As a result of this poor performance I’ll offer you an easy way out of this challenge. I will return those who have been taken by the Nightmare Brothers and end the challenge…under one condition however. You Twilight Sparkle will have to stay with me in the Nightmare World, and I know you’re asking yourself, why would you agree to those terms? Let me put things into perspective…I know you don’t want your friends to be put through further harm, and I also know Fear just wiped out a small army worth of Royal Guards. As far as I know you’re running out resources to help you out and the last marked one is your friend Fluttershy. Trust me when I say this, if you couldn’t handle Panic or Fear then you won’t have a chance against the eldest brother Paranoia. If you are wondering who he is then I’m very surprised since you already met him before; you and your friend Rarity. I’ll give you two days and two nights to decide whether you accept my agreement, but no longer. If you don’t accept then the challenge will continue as normal. How will I know that you accepted my agreement is simple, just sign the dotted line at the end of this scroll. Once you accept my agreement the scroll will be transported back to me, and I will send another scroll with directions on where to meet. I hope you consider this proposal thoroughly for your friend’s sakes at least.

Sincerely,

Lord Nightmare

Sign Here

………………………

Silence filled the room, for no pony knew what to say. For Twilight, her mind is beside itself, her first initial thought is to reject his agreement, but she knew if they fail to stop Paranoia then they would lose Applebloom, Spike, and Fluttershy forever. However, if she would go through with this agreement Applebloom and Spike would be returned to them, and Fluttershy would be left alone, but then that would mean giving herself up to Lord Nightmare, and being stuck in another world for the rest of her life.

“Twilight…you don’t have to accept his terms,” Rarity said, breaking Twilight from her thoughts.

“Yeah! I mean sure we did terribly so far, but who knows? Maybe we can beat Paranoia,” Pinkie added.

“I don’t know girls. I mean the last nightmare he sent at us took out a small army worth of Royal Guards and even held his own against Princess Celestia and Luna!” Twilight said negatively.

“At least until they went full-power, then Fear didn’t stand a chance!” Pinkie said.

“I know, but we barely know what Paranoia is capable of. I mean Rarity and I only had a taste of his power.”

“Twilight! Don’t you remember? We still have Celestia and Luna to help us out. And maybe even your sister-in-law is willing to lend a hoof.”

Twilight and Rarity looked at Pinkie in surprise. They hadn’t even considered asking Princess Cadance for help, “You know what? I think that might actually work!”

“I agree it does sound like marvelous plan,” Rarity added.

“If Fear had trouble against Celestia and Luna then I doubt Paranoia can handle the combined power of three Princesses, especially when they go all out.”

“And your brother could help out as well! Although, considering what happened to the last batch of royal guards, I think he’s gonna act more as cannon fodder…” Pinkie said.

Hearing this offended Twilight as she angrily responded, “Hey! My brother can handle himself!”

“Your brother’s pride aside Twilight, I believe now that we a chance to win. Everything the Nightmare Brothers did no doubt will cause security efforts to double even more so, and after reading Spike’s letter I believe we can do this!”

“Your right, it is too early to give up now. Our friends are still counting on us and we’ll be doing everyone who helped us so far a disservice if we didn’t stop them now,” Twilight said now filled with confidence.

“You’re welcome Twilight, but we have to prepare ourselves for the worst as there is no doubt that won’t like your rejection of the deal.

“Okie dokie then, now that we got a plan we should probably get some sleep. There is no sense to burning ourselves out.”

“You’re right Pinkie, although, the hospital may not let us sleep here again.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Maybe because the hospital is extremely busy right now, and I don’t think they have the time or space to let ponies sleepover.”

“Oh…right…well let’s meet up tomorrow!”

“Wait what about that scroll sent to Applejack?” Rarity asked.

“Nothing I can do about that right now. The ponies in the coats are looking her over and who knows how long that’s going to take. I’ll give it to her when she is wide awake again.”

“Okay then, just make sure she gets it the opportunity shows up.”

“Okie dokey!”

With that said Pinkie bounced off at her own pace with Rarity following behind. Twilight stayed behind to look over the scroll one more time before promptly ripping it into two, and throwing it into a nearby waste bin, “Sorry, but I have to decline your offer Nightmare,” she said before leaving with renewed conviction.

/

The Hospital remains busy even after Twilight and her friends left. However, despite the all the commotion Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s room remains quiet and still, but as they slept a blissful slumber a figure watches the shy Pegasus from the shadows. The figure slowly walked towards her bed and stopped by the side. The figure extended his arm and slowly caressed Fluttershy’s hair, “Such innocence…” the figured said slowly, “Milady, how I wish my incompetent brother didn’t harm you, but at the same time I’m glad he did. Because if he didn’t then I wouldn’t have got to meet you…” The figure then stopped his current action and focused his attention to a nearby waste bin. He slowly moved towards the waste bin, and eventually stopped right in front of it. The figure reached into the bin and pulled out the two pieces of the scroll addressed to Twilight, “My, My, looks like your friends wish challenge me milady…how…foolish,” The figure then started to melt into the floor and before completely engulfing himself in the shadows he spoke one last time.

“Fortunately, Milord always gives second chances…”