Author's Note

Warning. Potential Grimdark for this chapter.

Chapter 3- Familia Lunch *Potential Grimdark*

-The Night-mare in her soul-

Chapter 3- Familia Lunch

Nightmare Moon sat next to her mother as the two of them looked over the menus given to them by the staff of the selected restaurant. Taking the read over the limited options of vegetarian specific items, she placed the laminated booklet on the table. Looking across from her, she met the lavender eyes of one Celestia who examined her with her gaze. Feeling uneasy by pasteled haired adult, Nightmare looked over to her mother who was reading through the chicken section of the Mexican styled dishes. Just past her, hanging on the wall a television monitor displayed something that caught her eye. She couldn't hear what the people were saying in the news program, however Nightmare was able to make out some of the text rolling along the bottom of the screen. 'Channel 4 news: 6 year old child found dead near Lake Everfree. Detective Summer Strike leading investigation. Body identified as 6 year old Night Walker. Last seen-' Just as the news program was about to show the photo of the desist, a young woman in her late teens with pink skin and purple, pink and yellow hair walked up blocking the view. She wore a maroon blazer with a magenta plaid skirt, her hair in a long ponytail.

"Sorry I'm late, Principal Cinche wanted to go over a few things with the student committee before school ended." The young lady said as she took a seat next to Celestia. Looking back to the television the news program had been changed to a sports station showing college football (soccer).

"It's fine my darling niece, we were just looking over the menu anyways." Celestia said, passing one of the spare booklets over to the girl.

"Thanks Auntie." The girl said as she flipped through the pages.

Tilting her head for a moment, Nightmare tugged gently on her mother's blouse to gain her attention before subtly pointing to the woman. Looking between the two Luna slowly realized what her daughter was silently asking.

"Right, I forgot you two have never really met." Placing her menu down she gestured to the pink woman. "This here is our niece Mi Amore Cadenza."

Looking up from her menu, Cadance looked over to Luna and then the small girl sitting next to her. A small girl with silver hair, white skin and gold eyes looked at her with confusion. Giving the girl a small smile Cadance placed her menu down, giving the small child her full attention.

"Most people just call me Cadance. So what's your name, little one?" Cadance asked as she looked at Nightmare with glee.

Standing up from her seat, Nightmare walked around the table till she was standing directly in front of the older girl. Pinching the ends of her black dress, she pulled the outward as she gave a bow.

"I am Noche de Estella Moon, child of Luna Moon and student of Canterlot Elementary. It is a pleasure to meet you MI Amore Cadenza." Looking up from her bow, Nightmare’s vision was spun as her body was quickly pulled off the ground in a tight hug.

"Oh you are so cute." Cadance said as she squeezed the girl in her grip, getting a soft snort from Nightmare who looked to the others with a deadpan look as they wiped tears from their eyes as they laughed.

"Can you put me down please." Nightmare asked, her words falling on deaf ears as she was placed on Cadance's lap. "Close enough."

"Cadance her is your mother's and my niece, basically she's your cousin, Noche." Celestia said as Cadance patted me on the head.

"Doesn't that… I didn't know you had other siblings?" Nightmare questioned looking between the two sisters.

"It's a long story, let's just say this family is a lot bigger than the four of us." Luna answered with a saddened smile.

"My mother isn't here anymore." Cadance muttered as I looked up at her. "Speaking of mother's, I hope it's not rude to ask, but if she's your daughter Auntie Luna, why does she look so much like Celestia?"

'Okay, yes rude.' Nightmare thought as both Luna and Celestia let out a shared sigh.

"That would be because I donated one of my eggs so that young Noche here could be born." Celestia said, rubbing Nightmare’s hair.

"Sorry, I guess that was rude of me to ask." Looking down at Nightmare, Cadance had a pained look on her face.

"It's fine, you're not the first to ask. It was a gamble on whether it would work or not at the time, I couldn't be happier that it did. She's my little miracle." Luna said, giving her daughter a warm smile.

"So who's her father? I don't remember you ever dating." Luna cringed at Cadance's question.

"That's a bit of a touchy top-" Before shutting down her niece's second question, Luna was cut short as Nightmare popped her head up.

"Discord!" She said excitedly as she hopped off of Cadance's lap before running over to a tall man wearing a black suit, white shirt, bow tie and cape. His hair was short and white, his eyes yellow with a familiar line for the pupil, his skin a light blue.

Running over to the man, Luna and Celestia both stood from their seat as the young child greeted the man.

"Oh hello little one and whom might you be?" The man said crouching down to the girl as he took note of Luna not far behind her.

"I'm Noche. Are you Discord?" Nightmare asked with a wide grin as she looked up to the man.

"I'm afraid not little one, Discord was my brother, I am Jackpot. Jackpot Lulamoon the great and powerful." The man said as stood up, striking a pose.

"Oh, my mistake." Nightmare said trying to hide her disappointment as she gave a half smile. "I just thought you were dad, sorry."

Walking up to her daughter Luna’s face held a frown as she patted her on the head. "Mr Lulamoon… " Luna said in a sad tone as she picked her daughter up.

"Luna, we're family you know you can call me Jack…" Jackpot said, clasping his hands. "So I'm guessing this is?" Looking at the child Luna gave a cautious nod. "She has his eyes… sorry, I didn't know you would be here."

Taking in a deep breath Luna closed her eyes before letting it out. "If you want, there's still space at our table." She offered glancing back at Celestia and Cadance.

"I would love to, I really would. However I'm only here to pick up my wife's order. Perhaps another time… say over the weekend, we could introduce the kids?" Jackpot suggested with a shrug and a smile.

"I think… I think we can make that work. Thank you… Jack." Luna looked up at Jackpot with a small smile as he handed her a small business card with his address and phone number on it.

"I will look forward to seeing you there, Luna Moon." He said as one of the workers handed him his to-go order. "And I look forward to seeing you too, Noche Moon."

With that the man exited the restaurant as Luna stood there holding her daughter for what felt like a long moment before returning to their table.

"Okay, so what just happened? Who was that?" Cadance asked, looking over at the door and then back again to Celestia.

"Jackpot Lulamoon, Noche's uncle from her father's side." Celestia explained sitting back down in her chair. "Noche must have mistaken him for her father."

"But surely she would have known it wasn't right?" Cadance asked.

"Noche has never met her father." Luna said, placing Nightmare down in her seat. "He disappeared just before she was born."

"So how did she-" Celestia placed her had on her niece's shoulder while shaking her head. "Sorry… I'm not leaving a very good impression are I?"

"Nope, but I think it's fine, you're young." Nightmare said with a smile throwing Cadance off. "Besides I make bad impressions all the time and I'm younger than you."

"Let’s just find a new topic, shall we. So Cadance, how's the babysitting going?" Celestia asked as their waitress arrived to take their orders.

_____***_____

In the far distance on the edge of town, a small child with thestal eyes looked out at the treeline next to the park. A deep growl humming through the forest as a red ball bounced deeper into the woods.

"Come on Shifter, you're the one that kicked it in there, go get it." Another kid yelled as he waited on his friend.

"Yeah yeah, I'm getting it." Shifter said as she climbed through the brush entering the forest.

Walking through the trees, the young girl struggled to find her ball. The wind slowly picked up as dead leaves swept up around her before settling back to the ground. Squinting her eyes she spotted the ball laying under the edge of a fallen tree covered in moss.

Making her way over the low growl of the forest circled around the child. Looking back to see how far from the park she was, the little girl began to panic as the area around her had changed. Turning her head in each direction Shifter could see no signs of the park which she had just come from. Picking up her red ball, she froze as the low growl came from right above her. Looking up the little girl shrieked as the leaves as a large set of sharp teeth lunged at her.

The faint scream of the girl fading at the edge of the forest as a red ball flew out of the tree lining and into the park.

"Took you long enough Shifter," The young boy said, picking up the ball. Looking up at the forest the boy looked around. "Shifter?!" He called as a circle of leaves slowly floated down the treeline, his friend nowhere in sight.

"Okay kids, come on. It's time to go." One of the parents called as the small boy ran over to his parents.

"Light Finder, where's Moon Shifter?" The boy's father asked, looking at the empty park.

"She went into the forest to get the ball back, but she hasn't come out yet and I can't find her." Light Finder said with a worried look on his face as the father looked over to the forest.

"Stay here with your mother." The father said as he ran over into the forest.

Running through the trees the man called out for the girl, his heart pounding as a terrible feeling formed in his gut.

"Shifter!" He called out as the wind picked up through the trees. The air being his only reply as he spotted a small body lying on the ground in a pile of leaves.

"Shifter!" The man cried as he ran over to the non-moving body of the little girl. Getting closer to the girl a wet splash caught his ears as he looked down to a puddle of blood coming from under the girl.

"Noo…" reaching over to the still child he reached for her shoulder as her body rolled over. The sight terrifying the grown man. Lying before him was a burnt mangled little girl with grayish blue skin and white hair. Her neck, wrists, ankles and stomach covered in a coiling sizzling burn mark, her arms and legs twisted in an inhuman manner. Her jaw ripped open with her tongue stretched from her mouth. Her eyes, two hollow holes, crisp around the edges with black ash inside.

Backing up quickly, the man pulled out his cellphone, quickly pressing the emergency call button as it dialed the local authorities, a low growl hummed through the forest as leaves began to lift up in the air. A large set of teeth opened above his as wet blood dripped from its Jaws. Feeling droplets run down his forehead, the older male looked up as the figure above him lunged down. His scream transmitting to the other end of the call.