Nightmare Night chapter 16 underway... · 6:08pm Jun 11th, 2019
Three out of four/possibly five sections and 4200 words are already written; 7500 words seems the most likely total at this point. I'm aiming for a weekend release with Sunday being the most likely day. Sorry to take so long on this one, but work has been a diamond dog mother and then I was on vacation to Las Vegas for a couple weeks. How was it? Weather was spectacular, cool and even a bit rainy at times with the desert in full bloom. Unfortunately, I suffered a drought at the poker tables and went 0 for 8 in tournament entries for my worst-ever showing. Mixture of bad luck, bad play and bad timing feeding into each other. Suffered bad luck in general, including a broken phone screen. But at least I ate well.
I won't bore you with the details. And since I've made you folks wait so long, I figured a teaser was in order for the new chapter:
Prince Blueblood was beside himself.
That DREADFUL Discord! How could he could do such a thing to me? He asked himself over and over, the intensity of the nightmares the Chaos God had conjured still holding power from him; all his deepest personal fears brought to life. I am the Crown Prince of Equestria, and he treats me as little more than his personal PLAYTHING?
That he had in fact challenged Discord himself was lost on the Prince as he shivered uncontrollably beneath his old Royal Navy’s Admiral uniform like he’d just woken up from bad dream. He all but tore off the lock to his personal bar, desperate for some form of acceptable alcohol to soothe his frazzled nerves, only to find that the Chaos God’s tricks were not exhausted--every bottle of his personal cider stock had been converted back to apple juice, not fit for adult consumption!
“What? NO!” he exclaimed as he checked each bottle and turn and found that everything--even the gryphon rum and buffalo whiskey he so treasured and had such difficulty procuring--had been somehow un-brewed and de-fermented back into their base ingredients! The ales tasted like granola, and the rum was now just a mess of molasses with not an ounce of alcohol to their names.
In desperation for anything to calm his frazzled nerves, he went to his last resort--Lunar Moonshine, which he’d bribed one of Luna’s Night Guards to procure for him. Inside an arcanocite lockbox that only his aura could open, it should have been invisible to all magic and perfectly protected for it, but even that had been reduced to its base ingredients; a final humiliation on the night.
With that, he flung the bottle in his aura against the wall, shattering it, not caring about the mess.
No alcohol… no won bet… no wish… I was humiliated in front of everypony… Auntie is now in Discord’s clutches being used for Luna-knows-what… and I am now a laughingstock to all who SAW me! So how could this night possibly get any WORSE? He wondered as he looked at his haggard form in the mirror… which suddenly rippled hard and showed not the inside of his own private quarters, but the darkened interior of some kind of tailoring shop.
“Wha—?” Was all he got out before the edges glowed with a purplish hue and a series of glittering aural tendrils at least slightly reminiscent of Luna’s mane erupted and snared him by the forelegs and shortly the rest of his body, wrapping around him repeatedly before pulling him back towards the oval portal.
“What? NO!” he shouted, only to find the pull was inexorable; he could resist it with neither his hooves or his magic. He had no time to consider the implications as he was pulled right through the mirror and then unceremoniously deposited on the wooden floor of an unknown shop.
He knew not where he was as the sound of thunder and rainfall made itself known, but he quickly realized he wasn’t alone. “An Admiral’s outfit? Really?” a distantly familiar female voice asked in a mixture of amusement and disgust, its owner hidden in the darkness of the unlit shop. “Even if the epaulets weren’t grotesquely overdone, and the base colors incorrect—Royal Navy officer uniforms were midnight blue, not indigo!—the tunic should open to the right, not the left! Once I rule Equestria, I believe I will have to visit your tailor to punish them for such sloppy efforts!” she sniffed. “In any event, I find you quite unworthy of even such a poor imitation, my dear prince! So I will now relieve you of it!”
With that, her horn glowed in a powerful deep purple that caused him to levitate and the threads of his custom-made naval uniform to instantly unravel, just as quickly rewinding themselves around various sewing spools that orbited him, quickly stripping him bare and then depositing his naked form on the floor before her, in a moonbeam spotlight through one small break in the stormy skies outside.
“Much better. I do hate see such magnificent materials wasted on such a shoddy effort! But no matter. Such a fine physique you have, Prince Blueblood! Such a pity it is paired with such a pompous and ugly personality!” she proclaimed as the now-full spools restowed themselves in various shelves and drawers.
With that, her voice finally clicked, fresh memories of Discord’s final nightmare causing his insides to clench hard in both fear and revulsion. “Rarity?” Blueblood spat out in sudden recognition. “You dare to coltnap me right out of my own quarters? The Princess will have your head for this! Release me and return me home this instant, you uncouth, ill-bred sow!”
Ah, Blueblood. Of all the times to mouth off, this REALLY wasn't it. You'll find out his fate in the next chapter, along with picking up where we left off with Annie, Starlight, and Twilight... and of course, as promised, Spike, though I think folks will like how that story is told.
Release tentatively scheduled for Sunday, depending on how quickly I finish and how fast my prereaders get to it. Be looking for it this weekend!
Buddy, do you not remember what happened to you the LAST time you were around Rarity and made her mad?
5072982 Apparently not.
Whatever going to happen to him, Celestia probably is going to pardon it.
Interesting to see that Nightmare Rarity can simply pull Blueblood towards her. I wonder if tat power will be used on other ponies as well. I am of course looking forward to the next chapter very much.
A little after the fact, but let's get down to answering these:
5072982
Probably not. He's not the kind of pony to dwell on anything but his own perceived superiority. An education and humility lesson is very shortly to follow, however.
5073140
Well, on the one hand, The Nightmare is certainly Celly's enemy, but on the other, she's just enhancing Rarity's own rather inharmonious feelings towards Blueblood. The Nightmare can't turn those she possesses evil so much as bring out their inner evil.
5073427
In my headcanon, Rarity is good with mirror magic, and The Nightmare basically drew on that. Will it be used on other ponies? Very possibly!