‘’Well, fuck.’’
The Nightmare stared down at the corpse of its former host. Or, more accurately said, what remained of the corpse of its former host. The bombing was supposed to stun Luna enough to allow the Nightmare to take control, not fucking blow her straight to the gates of Caepasia’s Kingdom!
Not that she felt any particular attachment to the dead alicorn. But well, it was an alicorn. Those were quite hard to come by, especially in this day and age. As in, the death of her former host had caused the global alicorn population to drop by 20%.
Terrific.
Nightmare let her gaze roam over the scene of chaos and destruction that was the stage and front row of the Million Mare March. Death was everywhere, limbs were everywhere, blood was everywhere. In other words, an average Tuesday during the (First?) Equestrian Civil War just a millennium ago.
Time does fly when you’re stuck on the Moon. Now, is there someone here worth possessing or do I have to fly over to Ponyville?
Possessing Twilight Sparkle would be a mite more difficult than taking control over Luna. Prime reason for that being that Twilight Sparkle, while definitely insane, had a decent support structure. Luna did not.
Still, anything was better than being the equivalent of a very spooky cloud.
Nightmare’s gaze flitted over gruesome scenes that would turn the stomach of anyone that hadn’t seen half as much battle and conflict as the Nightmare had. It looked like no one was quite ready to do any sort of helping anyone but themselves, so the cloud of stardust that was her current form was not noticed at all.
In the corner of her eye, Nightmare saw a flash of purple. She turned left and saw… well.
Definitely not the most mangled pony she’d ever seen, but that was admittedly a very high bar.
The injuries that Rarity had sustained were, to put it simply, belligerent and numerous. With modern treatments, it might theoretically be survivable, but it would be very painful. It might be a more cruel fate to keep her alive than to just end her suffering right now.
And for the services she’d provided Luna, and thus Nightmare, in setting up this evening, Nightmare was prepared to do that. The fact that killing one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony would also - temporarily at least - prevent those things from banishing her again was just icing on the cake.
Wait…
Nightmare began to think, as she loomed over Rarity.
She is one of the Bearers, which means she has a connection to the Elements of Harmony. She’s also a decently powerful unicorn which, combined with her Bearership, might theoretically be enough to ascend her to Alicornhood. By possessing her, I am inside one of the Elements of Harmony, which means they could never gather again to banish me, as a new one can’t form until the old one has left this world. And even if my possession would cause Rarity to be counted as ‘departed from the world’, then her body would still have enough residue Harmonic energy that the Elements should not be able to affect me, at least not in the same way they did when I was possessing Luna.
Sometimes, Nightmare thought rather smugly, my genius is almost frightening.
With that decision made, she descended and wrapped her cloud form around Rarity’s body.
Everything went dark for a moment, and then Nightmare was inside Carousel Boutique, an irate Rarity standing in front of her.
‘’You!’’ she shouted. ‘’What are you doing here!? You’re responsible for all this!’’
‘’Me,’’ Nightmare agreed. ‘’I’m here to possess you, and yes I am. Though I must admit this was not my first plan.’’
I should have invested in a back-up plan. Oh well, too late for that now.
‘’Possess me!?’’ Rarity’s eyes shone with fury. ‘’I should think not! I would rather die than let you take charge over my body.’’
‘’My dear,’’ Nightmare gave the unicorn her sharpest smile, ‘’currently, I am the only thing that is keeping you from succumbing to your myriad wounds. If they get here in time, a highly specialised team of doctors and healers might be able to stabilise you so you don’t die immediately, and by some miracle you might even live longer than forty-eight hours, but you will be crippled for the rest of your life.’’
Rarity took a step back, visibly shaken by this information. Nightmare couldn’t blame her, not really.
The other mare rallied after a moment, though Nightmare could already see it was a futile attempt to delay the inevitable. ‘’You’re lying!’’ she called out.
‘’I speak nothing but the truth,’’ Nightmare said simply. ‘’Unless I possess you, you will die.’’
Rarity maintained her glare. ‘’If you possess me, I’ll die anyway,’’ she snarled.
‘’Incorrect,’’ Nightmare returned. ‘’You participated in evicting me from Luna yourself. My possession will not destroy your soul or mind, it will simply make both unable to interact with your body.’’
‘’A fate worse than death.’’
‘’I wouldn’t be so sure of that.’’ Nightmare glared back at Rarity. ‘’I’m not a monster, whatever you might think,’’ she said, ‘’but this won’t change anything. Celestia will introduce some reforms, everyone will be happy, and the oppression will continue.’’ She drew herself up. ‘’I had to step in and assert my rightful place.’’
‘’As sole ruler of the world?’’ Rarity practically spat the words.
‘’As protector of all ponykind,’’ Nightmare corrected. ‘’All four tribes should live together in peace. Is that not Harmony?’’
‘’It is, but your ways of achieving it are anything but,’’ Rarity countered.
‘’Might I remind you it was Celestia that ordered Ek’ Batlam and Maretuk to be razed during the Equestrian Civil War? I, on the other hoof, never sacked any city.’’
Nightmare didn’t care to debate any longer; while time moved slower inside someone’s mind, it did still move, and there was only so long she had.
She lunged forward, horn aglow, and bount Rarity to the ground with chains. ‘’I’m afraid you are now under new management, my dear.
There was no one watching, as everyone was far too busy with saving their own skin. As such, no one noticed the cloud that had been hanging around the form of one Rarity Belle for the past minute or so.
Then, the cloud began to dissipate. As it did, more of Rarity’s body became visible.
Her coat had gone from white to black; her mane was such a dark purple it was almost black, except for the stars that sparkled in it; she had grown in size until she was roughly the same size as Celestia; and when her eyes opened, they were shaped like diamonds.
The emergency services were slowly arriving on the scene; the injured were being carried off one by one as firefighters set out to douse the fires and the police tried to restore some semblance of order to the scene.
All that stopped when Rarity rose from the ruined floor of the stage, as all in the area turned instinctively to look at her.
For a moment, a tentative silence hung in the air as the crowd and Rarity stared each other down.
Then Rarity chuckled, before speaking in a voice that was far different from the one people knew her by. ‘’Well, that could have gone worse.’’
And the Second Equestrian Civil War began.
Author's Note
I am back.
This was not how I expected to return. Do not expect more content soon. I cannot guarantee anything.
