The Everfree Chronicles: Altered Chances

"When All Hope is lost my friend, look to the stars for I am looking down upon you in my favor, and remember that no matter how far we are apart we will always be together, in this life or the next."- Last Words Nightshade heard in his head before Nightmare Moon was defeated.

Canterlot Dungeons, Black Cell, Midnight

The sounds of dripping water and the march of heavy plated hooves echo throughout the halls of the prison, the tall tell signs of life was that off screams from prisoners, the squeaking of mice and the heavy thuds of armored hooves on stone. This place was hell...and this cell I was placed in is even worse than the last one I was placed in. No beds, no windows, not even a light source, only a leaky roof for water and a bucket to go to the bathroom but heaven knows that it was most likely never cleaned out so it is most likely filled with bile and waste from the previous occupants of the cell.

I awoke in my cell to find out that I was not lying down on the floor, I was suspended in the air being held by chains and leather straps, my hooves connected to shackles which were linked to the floor and ceiling effectively leaving me suspended in the air while the straps kept my body pinned to the wall so I couldn't try to squirm or move, in essence I was trapped like a bug under a hoof. The irony was I did the same thing to timber wolf that tried to have me for dinner once, instead of leaving it in the cell I instead turned it into sawdust and wood chips, it deserved it after all I am not a meal for some feral wooden beast. But at least I put its destroyed body to good use, now it sits proudly as my side table near my bed, its head is a mantle piece over my door, it is such a beautiful sight to beheld.

Everything in the room is blurry and distorted, the cell to my eyes is like a dark glob of lavender slime, hard to look at for prolonged periods of time and impossible to make things out instantly. After a few minutes of the disorientating darkness slowly fading away, I can faintly hear the sounds of moaning and groaning from outside my cell, slightly growing in so intensity and in tone, the barely heard sounds of dragging hooves and the groaning of somepony that had just received the worst beatings of their life, the groaning and moaning only getting louder as it got closer to my cell until finally my cell door swung open, two guard ponies walk in along with a prisoner, dragging the poor pony inside, chaining that said pony up like me than finally walking out of my cell, but unfortunately for me I was unlucky to be partially awake as one of the guards came over to me and with full force bucked me in the ribs, bruising them along which earned a cacophony of ragged and bloody coughs, the guard-pony smirking to himself before leaving the cell and locking it up tight before resuming his march. That bastard is going to die when I get out of here.

I look over to my apparently new cell mate, a Pegasus, a female by the way she looks, the curves on her body, and the fact that she is currently groaning out for help which falls on deaf ears beside my own. Hearing her moan in pain pulls on whatever heartstrings I have left in my heart since I lost Nightmare Moon and was exiled, so any sympathy I had was only given to those that have rather earned it, or that they need it to survive and keep going but this mare, she has qualified for both of the requirements. The pegasus had survived a terrible ordeal that has stain her coat red with blood that has already stained the ocean blue color, her wings looked like they were beaten to the point of nearly being broken.

"If you can hear me...just nod yes, if you can't do nothing...but I just want you to know, you must survive this...for whatever crime you have committed it was nothing compared to mine, you are going to be allowed to live, I will be killed off for my crimes against Equestria, so endure and when those bastard guards try to harm you, just say my name...I will do the rest." my blessed voice that Nightmare Moon gave me along with many other gifts and abilities that it is best to say otherwise note worthy and hard to learn singlehoofedily without first understanding how to find and learn it. The mare in the cell nods her head yes wearily, her breathing slightly labored but otherwise gradually returning to normal, after a while I heard her voice for the first time, and most likely...not the last time.

"Who...who are you....and what crimes have you committed to say that you will suffer the ultimate price for your deeds?" her voice was so beautiful, sounding like something out of an opera that I once heard while I was just a foal so many years ago. I looked into her eyes, those adorable gentle emerald eyes staring into my own, trying to find answers that she won't find just by a simple look, but from only experiencing what I have endured.

"My name is Nightshade...and to what my crimes were, lets make a list shall we? First off was murder of another pony at the kind age of 7...served Nightmare Moon, broke out of prison, assaulted four royal guards, put anti-magic cuffs on Celestia when she was interrogating me, and basically in essence tried to bring the eternal night to Equestria. In all I have been a very...very naughty pony but than again from my point of view those were nessecary to bring the eternal night and all its beauty to everypony." I said with the deep monotone voice I had when my other self was speaking, which is good since it would most likely scare her into not trying to pry so deep into my life.

"So...you are the ones these guards have been talking about...the supposed royal guard of Nightmare Moon...and why would you care for what the guards do to me...I have earned their wraith and anger for my crime of killing a royal guard..." her voice saddened by the fact that she thinks that I say that she is weak to help herself, doesn't matter at this point as I hear the heavy thuds of armored hooves marching down the hall, stopping at our cell to go to my cellmate.

The two guards look over at me quick, thinking I am still knocked out they grin and give each other a high-hoof before undoing the shackles and moving her to the shackles in the center, the ones I used to be in before they placed me into the back shackles...those center shackles have only two purposes, interrogation or...rape. Without even moving my head I slightly open my eyes to see what was going on but by the sounds of her half hearten pleas for them not to do the act they are about to partake in falls in deaf ears and only to get in response a rough kick to the gut to render her helpless against their advances...but they are not alone in this cell and my anger has only just passed the boiling point.

"If you act like a good little mare and do as you are told nopony has to get hurt but if you make one sound or call for help you can kiss that whore mouth of yours goodbye, so shut up and take it." said one of the guard-ponies, a dark blue stallion wearing the sun tyrant's royal armor, fitting how scum like him gets into the royal guard that works for a tyrant that banishes her sister to the moon just for wanting everypony to look up to the night sky and enjoy it's calming appearance.

I was within earshot of those words, taking advantage of a prisoner is one thing, but doing this to somepony that probably had a family back home was just plain horrible. As I heard the faint whimper of the mare trying to say no I saw the faint glint of metal shining me in the face, the exposed blade of a sword...and not to soon was the blade drawn from its sheath as it was slowly pressed against her mouth, her body facing me as I saw her eyes bloodshot and filled with tears, the blade menacingly inching towards her lips and pressingly lightly against it, drawing a very shallow cut equivalent to a paper cut.

"We said be quiet little mare otherwise those pretty lips of yours will have to be cut off or sewn shut so you don't say a word to anypony, you got that?" said the other guard, his body facing my general direction but was obscured by the other guard and the mare, I could partially see his body but what kept my gaze was the sword slowly tracing lazily around her lips leaving behind a faint red trail of blood, only making me more and more enraged but I kept it in check until it was the right time...

"Enough screwing around and lets get this over with, our shift ends soon and I rather not get caught by our replacements." now my plan swings into motion.

Just as soon as the two stand on their rear legs, the one levitating the sword lets it haphazardly land on the floor, neither of them paying me any attention as they try to mount my cellmate, forcing themselves upon her. Not on my watch. My horn glows a dark violet even with an anti-magic ring on my horn the magic still courses through my body but at a reduced height of power, the aura surrounds the swords grip as it floats into the air, gently tapping it against the closet guard's helmet, as he turned around he is greeted with my face grinning right at him evilly as the sword is thrusted into his face, killing him near-instantaneously while his partner dropped down onto his rear-legs in both disgust that his friend just died in front of him and that his blood was spraying out everywhere on two ends, and that his only weapon was floating in his face. The last thing that went through his mind other than that sword of his, was how the hell did a unicorn that had their magic abilities cut off by the enchanted shackle placed on his horn.

As the glow on my horn dies down, the mare was struggling in her shackles, still trying to break free and most likely trying to get away from me since I just killed two guards with ease with magic that should not have even been available to me in the first place, most likely in her eyes I am a demon in disguise.

"Calm down lass, if you keep struggling the new guards will hear you and both of us will die in this cell tonight, but that is not your destiny, it is my destiny to die not yours. I will free you from the shackles than teleport you away from this cell and from this keep, to where I will send you, you will be safe and you will have food and a bed to sleep in, just promise me that you will keep your head down and on your shoulders, just promise me that you will not die do you understand me." The sounds of distant thuds was my only warning that the new guards were coming and that I had to move fast to spare this one pony from death's early reach.

She was crying for reasons I do not know of but she knows that if she stayed that she would be killed immediately and without any remorse from the guards or from Celestia the tyrant herself. I had to say soothing words and the promise that she will be kept safe to finally get her to stop sobbing.

"Please...please get me out of here. I don't want to die here and I don't want to be some cheap fuck to these guards, please just get us out of here..." she was looking at me, crying deeply and almost loud enough to drown out the sounds of the growing louder hooves quickly approaching us, I knew what I had to do to save her, but I had one last thing before I go out to meet my end, I just hope she is watching my death when it happens...

"Than farewell my little dove, farewell and take care of yourself and your new home, there will be two pets their to take care of and protect you from harm. The Everfree forest is not a safe place at night so stay indoors at all times when the beautiful moon is out but be cautious during the day for they might be out to hunt you down. Fare thee well Sapphire Bloom, and take care." as I said her name, her jaw slightly opened up in protest and to ask how I knew her name, I figured it out by looking into her eyes and by using a memory recall spell on her as my horn was already glowing because it still held the prison keys in its aura, the perfect way to not get caught by her pleading eyes.

"Good bye" was all I said as my horn grew brightly in intensity and brightness until it finally engulfed her in its violet aura and just as quickly as the light appeared it was gone, leaving behind only a smoking ring of ashes and molten slag from the shackles. The two dead bodies still there except slightly burnt and the blood now completely dried into the floor, the two new recruits was standing there with their mouths open, their eyes open and red from both fear that they are next and rage that their friends are dead, killed by a prisoner shackled to the wall and his horn locked. I looked at them and only said this simple sentence to them, "Just take me to the damn site so I can finally meet the end, and don't worry I will be a good boy...not much of a good boy than I already am at this point in time." my smart ass remark earned me a rough kick to the face, knocking me out while I still had a stupid grin on my face.

Canterlot Courtyard, Afternoon, Execution Platform

It was mid-day in Canterlot, the sun was bright and the air felt humid and overly hot, standing outside the main gate to the palace stood two guards, the two watching a group of ponies setting up the execution platforms, each one build seperately for those that are going to be condoned to death today, eight wooden platforms for seven condemned ponies and one condemned gryphon. On every single platform held a different means of execution, four of them held a single slab of stone along with a large executioners axe, while the other three held a noose. As the sun slowly rose to the top of the sky a row of guards and prisoners slowly marched out of the dungeons, each prisoner with their heads looking down, hung low with great shame in thier sunken eyes while one gryphon was looking around with a smile on his face as if everything in life was a joke, while me on the otherhoof looked around until I locked my gaze on the certain group of ponies, six ponies standing next to the sun tyrant.

My gaze slowly shifted from each pony starting with the pink one, slightly bouncing in place but than stops abruptly when she caught my gaze and I could have sworn that her bouncy pink curly mane deflated...kinda creepy on how quickly it changed. The cyan and orange mares looked like they have seen a ghost since both looked so pale, my guess is that for what they are about to see will make them lose their lunch and anything else they have eaten in the past hour or two, the white mare simply looked away and was covering her ears with her hooves, seemingly trying her best to block out the sounds that will soon be made. The last two in my opinion were simply a sight to see as the yellow one was shivering in a heap on the floor, in the opposite direction from everything, the purple one was talking to Celestia, seemingly talking about us seven that are going to die. I just give every single one of them a piercing glare, hating all of them for ruining everything until the line stops infront of the princess, Luna was no where to be found in the crowd of ponies, not even amongst the other nobles and high born ponies. To my guess she wants to hear our last words and any other sign of begging for our lives, she might hear it from the others but not from me, the gryphon on the other hoof looks like he will escape death for reasons of insanity...or he might kill himself because he looks like he lost a few screws to that head of is.

"My little ponies, on this day we are here to meet out justice to these seven who have committed vile acts against Equestria and to its citizens. For those who are about to meet their judgement if you have anything to say in your own defence say it now or forever hold your peace." Celestia was looking at all of us, at certain ponies she gives piercing glares while at only two she gives a stare of pity but when she came to my gaze, all I could possibly tell was that she was expecting me to talk or say something.

After she has spoken the seven of us gathered up into a group and spoke to each other, hearing out what we all have to say, trading information about what we have done to deserve to get the death penalty. The gryphon appearently stole over 5,000 bits worth of gems and killed a muesum guard and evaded capture for three months before getting caught again stealing from the same muesum. The two pony twins on the otherhoof are assassins that failed to kill the pony general Stonewall, so those two are gonna die. The grey unicorn mare's crime was the practice of necromancy and for graverobbing three dead ponies, not the smartest thing to do, should have tried to find me and use the old graves at the castle for her practice. Then their was that group of ex-special equine forces, they tried to sell the remains of Nightmare Moon to somepony outside of Equestria but instead it was a sting operation and all three are now going to hang for trying to sell something ancient and potentinally powerful. Those remains I know of, and I also know that they are now in my possession, I told the ghost to find Nightmare Moon or any remains in case she ever gets defeated and to return them back to the castle, in hopes of one day that if I am ever strong enough to resurrect her from the beyond.

I gave one last glance around the six around me, their would have been eight of us to be killed but one was spared at the last minute by me, and most likely a second would be spared if one of them played their cards right. Giving my final glance at the six element holders, snorting in anger at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, a blank stare at Fluttershy, a slightly confused look on Pinkie Pie who is slightly jumping still which makes me wonder how much energy she has, I sad glance at Rarity since I held a small crush on her than lastly a full blown glare at Twilight Sparkle for knowing exactly what she has done to me. "Yes, I have something to say, along with us six who are about to meet our maker in hell." shouting loudly while also keeping my gaze onto Celestia. "What I have to say is that those two guards that I just killed had no honor for what they were about to do to my friend, and that you should have known better than to leave my unattended. Another thing princess, that offer you gave me when I first got captured, well you can take that offer and shove where the sun never shines!" I said while cackling almost insanely, trying to see who gets detered which the only few that did were the guards and that purple mare which just scowled at me, if I had any claws I would give her the one claw salute that I heard was so famous for being an overly rude gesture and also meant 'Go Buck Your Self'.

"I will not sell myself to the enemy just because your sister wanted something that she could not have, I found a way for it to work and you just had to ruin it! Five years of research for allowing plants and crops to survive the night wasted! Because of you I am forever seperated from her, I can never be near her again...I can never know her answer...all because of YOU" I said roaring at the top of my lungs and everypony present knew at that moment that I held something close to Nightmare Moon until one of the guards coughed than started laughing. His laughter earned himself his own spear to hit himself upside the head knocking him out.

"Do not...think just that you have de-clawed a lion that it is still not dangerous to leave it in a cage." I said smirking and smacking the guard again before throwing it over the cliffside. "He won't be needing that anymore, should have shown a captive that is stronger than him some respect." I said glaring at anything my eyes could look upon, my hate was only intensified when they came upon Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia since those two are the ones responsible for ruining everything.

"And also I want to be set to swing in the wind not lose my head since I want my body to look good in a wooden box when this is over, rather not have two boxes that are seperate for when my parents come to weep over my corpse that will be nothing more than worm food for when this is over." I said solemnly knowing I will die but was hiding a grin from everypony except that the grey mare saw it and tried to whisper something only to get my tail flicking her in the face which held a small enough note, she took it and quickly looked it over before kicking my rear leg out, exactly what it said to do when she finished it.

That signal was also a sign for the guards to move over to the platforms to be executed, the gryphon got the rope lasso along with me and the grey mare, the other five were sent to the block to lose their heads. Us three received our new and very tight rope necklaces, mine a little tighter than it should have been since my guess was that the one doing my rope was pissed off that I just killed two guards while locked up and knocked out another in public with his own spear. The grey mare, her name I heard when she barely talked about herself, Glitter Mirage, all grey body, sterling silver mane and tail which when I saw it moving in the wind it had a slight glitter, sparkly appearence which to me was beautiful and at the same time makes me wonder if she applied any cosmetics to herself before she got arrested and jailed...maybe I will never know. The gryhpon who goes by the name of Raven Fang, he was once part of a noble house back in the Gryphon Kingdom, but he for some reason lost it all when his family went into debt to a rival house, for my mind I just think he got tired of the spoon fed life and wanted an adventure. He most certainly found one.

As I turn my head to look at the other 5 ponies, three of them looked at each other than at me than said something that I could not understand, most likely another dialect I never heard of as they all closed their eyes and looked at the basket that would later catch their free falling heads. The other two were crying that they were about to die and they had so much to live for, basically praying and trying to bargin for their lives which fell only on deaf and royal guard ears, the princess was not listening to them.

Giving one last look around at my fellow prison mates than to the six mares and the two princesses, Fluttershy was crying on Rarity's shoulder, Rarity was straight up crying a waterfall, Pinkie was sobbing with Rainbow Dash, Applejack was trying to look away while Twilight Sparkle was busy trying to convince the tyrant not to kill all of us but instead force us to do community service for many years hopefully to change us. Yea good luck with that plan little miss harmony bringer. Celestia was giving me the gaze that said she won and that I have lost while Luna was trying not to cry but we both know that we share a link that only Celestia faintly knows of, a link that was made when we first met while she was Nightmare Moon, a link that will now be severed by a quick drop and a sudden stop.

"Can we get on with it already I don't have all morning for this crap, I have a beautiful mare waiting for me on the moon and I am not the kind of gentlecolt to keep a mare like her waiting." I said deeply and only to those that were close enough to hear it, the gryphon was laughing at me and his reward was my magic pushing him off the wooden platform and chocking him out earlier than intended, the guards not moving but instead openning the trap door, lifting him up and dropping him back down. The mare next to me had tears in her eyes before she fell down and the rope snapped tightly from the tension and from her erratic movements at her chances of trying to break free. When it was my turn to drop I look at Princess Luna with a heavy heart and heavy eyes. "Farewell Maiden of the Night, I will see you again in the night lands." I said before dropping down the door and the sound of the rope cracking from tension filled the courtyard. As soon as I dropped I only had a few seconds to look at the two mares that were trying to look at me, Princess Luna the formerly Nightmare Moon, my marefriend, and Glitter Mirage, the mare that has a dark and shadowy future ahead of her, her eyes slowly glazing over as she slowly loses all breath from her lungs before stopping all body movements and staying still.My body swinging back and forth before finally my body gives up in its fight to survive, my hooves slightly twitching before stopping completely, my eyes rolled to the back of my head while my lips formed a faint grin before fading away, my corpse slightly moving in the sudden breeze.

As soon as I died that last sound I ever heard was the sounds of 5 axes coming down onto the heads of five different ponies who all yell at the same time "I HOPE IT IS AS HOT DOWN IN HELL AS THEY SAY IT IS!", than their heads roll off into the baskets, the unicorn executioners quickly covering up the wound to prevent the blood from spilling everywhere all over the platform and the courtyard. Moments later the bodies were removed from the platforms and carefully placed inside the prepared coffins that were waiting by each platform, waiting for its deceased cargo and ready to take them to their final destination to be layed to rest.

There was a brief moment of silence after the remaining ponies were executed, the sounds of family members crying as they watched their children die infront of them, even my own family was watching, they were the ones that was crying the loudest out of the families, all of them weeping and holding onto other family members. Soon one by one they all leave, going home for the next day will be the funeral.

Everfree Forest/Ponyville Outskirts, Next Day, Early Afternoon

Whitetail Forest is a part of the Everfree Forest, a safe haven for the woodland critters and any pony that travels within its safe white oak tree paths, white petals from small flowers along the path flow in the wind, the sounds of creeky wooden wheels and the soft shuffle one hooves on the dirt floor can be heard for miles as the sounds bounce around the trees. The slow shuffle of hooves come from the ponies of the families of the deceased, all of them wearing black dresses and suits, soft sobbing and snuffles can be heard from within the different families.

Within the shuffling of hooves and weeping ponies, eight carriages being pulled by a member of the family of the deceased, each carriage carrying the body of the executed. My body is in a white casket, despite my wishes to be placed in the one that I have picked out, the casket within Nightmare Moon's castle but they denied that request since they said it was to dangerous to get it and that I do not even deserve that last request...bastards.

The slow march towards my final resting place took many hours to get there, the caravan of the dead and the families finally reach the last destination, Whitetail Forest Graveyard, a small graveyard with only 15 tombstones with a recent addition of eight open graves. Each carriage unloads its precious payload as the families move over the graves, the pastor says a few words as each casket slowly is lowered into the ground, the soft playing of bagpipes can be heard in the distance, the wailing and sobbing of ponies and the lone gryphon family. One by one the families leave the graveyard, weeping that their little colt or filly will never come back home to say good bye and go on with their lives.

Whitetail Forest Graveyard, Midnight

Cold winds blow into the graveyard as the soft sounds of flapping wings fill the air, the gentle thudding of hooves on soft grass as the pony landed near the tombstone in the middle of the seven others. The muffled pitter-patter of hooves slowly approachs the middle tombstone, next to the marble slab is a small vase filled with fresh purple flowers, a deep shade of indigo and lavender petals, the petals that have fallen off of it and landed on the grass has resulted it to die. As the pony moved closer to the slab she looked over at it and silently read it.

Here Lies Nightshade Umbraspark,

A loving son and perfect student,

Exile ofPonyville,

Protecter of Nightmare Moon,

Born 21st Fall's Apex ~ Died 5th Summer's Rise

May No Pony Disturb Your Eternal Rest.

"So...Nightshade Umbraspark...no wonder why Nightmare Moon choose you...thy ancestory dates back to Starswirl the Bearded, thee was once a good unicorn unitl thee lost it all, thy choice in joining her was a drastic one, but We understand your desicion...but we do not understand why did thou not take thee offer our sister has offered to ye...We do not understand." said the Princess of the Night, seemingly asking the tombstone why I did not take the offer when I had the chance. After a short pause she lets out a small sniffle and a single tear falls down from her muzzle and it lands on one of the nightshade flowers, the plant gives off a dull purple glow before it fades and goes back to normal.

Looking around to make sure nopony was watching or listening in, and being satisfied that nopony is around she continutes."We are sorry that We did not help you sooner...I will dearly miss you my friend, even though We were not ourselves, what we felt for you was real...if only it did not have to end on such a distasteful note. We will miss you...my lovely Nightshade." she said choking up the last words, trying hard not to lose control over herself but slowly breaks down and starts weeping over the grave of the only friend she had and the only pony that understood her even when she was Nightmare Moon, and had fully accepted her for being who she was.

Wiping clean her tear stained face she sniffles one last time before turning around and looks one last time at the tombstone, "Farewell my love, and may your rest be peaceful and your night be eternal..." after giving her last goodbye she gracefully leaps into the air and flies back to Canterlot, not wanting to let anypony notice that she was gone.

A Few Minutes Later

The trees rustle in the wind as quiet sounds of clopping can be heard approaching the graveyard, a bandaged hoof can be seen out from the bushes along the edges as a mare slowly trots out of the woodwork, an ocean blue body with bandaged wings and wrapped body slowly leaves the concealment of the bushes. As the pegasus limps towards the tombstones the faint whispering sounds in her head slowly grows in volume.

Come closer...We need you...Time to fulfill your oath....Just say my name...I will do the rest...You will be executed for the crime of murder...Farewell my little dove...I love you my little Bloom, we will set you free...do not give up hope...murderer....killer...exile...my name is Nightshade....Nightmare Moon....

The pegasus shakes her head to clear it from all the voices from her past and from a while ago, knowing that soon her future will be better than the past that ruined her life and her status has a noble, hoping that for what she is about to do will be redemption for herself and her family. As she gets closer to my tombstone, the sounds of clawing and scraping can be faintly heard, the sounds of something trying to claw its way out of a trap, the closer she got to the tombstone the louder it got until the sound stopped with an abrupt eep and somepony cussing as loud as they could possibly can.

The other two tombstones were next to mine each of them different from the others. My two allies that chose the noose.

Here Lies Greaves Heavyweight Here Lies Beatrix Lalumoon

Gryphon son to the deceased king Reus Daughter of Lily Lalumoon

Knowing that the dead are trying to claw their way out, Sapphire quickly backpedals away from the slabs of marble, fearing that the zombponies will get her as she quickly fleas back to the safety of the old castle that was given to her by her savior, the imfamous Nightshade.

As the injured pegasus limps away from the graves a gryphon claw slowly appears out from the ground than next to the gryphon a grey hoof, slowly and carefully the two rise from their graves moaning and groaning until finally they completely climb out, the grey mare coughing a bit while the gryhpon only laughs at her than at himself, both looking like fresh corpses and looking like real zombies. Moments later a silver aura appears on the grass above the coffin than suddenly being blown outward with an explosive force, and out climbs out a familiar figure. Me.