//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen - Queen Nightmare // Story: A New Nightmare // by LittleAngelStocking //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon stood in the center of Canterlot, looking at all the terrified ponies surrounding her. She was sure every pony in Canterlot was here, everyone had watched as Nightmare Moon had finished off both Celestia and Luna. She couldn’t have said it better; it was glorious. Needless to say, she was very pleased. “Ponies of Canterlot,” she started, unable to keep the triumph out of her voice. “We doubt We need to tell you that We are your new Queen. We are…” her eyes flashed. “Nightmare Dusk! Bow to Us.” She reared back, stomping a hoof on the ground hard, lighting flashed behind her. There was a long silence. “WE SAID BOW TO US!” Broken from their collective trance, the quivering noble-ponies bowed. One noble, was brave – or foolish enough to step forward. “You can’t do this!” he cried. He was a white stallion with a golden mane – Nightmare recognized him from Twilight’s memories. A distant relative to Princess Celestia, Prince Blueblood. “We can’t?” she narrowed her eyes menacingly. “Aren’t We already?” “You can’t because – because you are a fraud!” he huffed. “You aren’t royalty!” “You’re right,” she said. He blinked, doing a double-take. “Wait, I am? Wait, of course I am!” “Of course,” she replied. “In fact, We think there is no better place for you than in the castle with Us.” She paused, watching the shock and excitement and fear creep onto his face. “We have already gotten you a room – in the dungeon! I’m sure you will find it most homely, it hasn’t been used in ages and is full of nice little bugs and cobwebs! Guards! Seize him.” “Wait, no!” he cried, backing away as the guards approached, and Nightmare Sparkle halted them. “Do you have anything else to say to Us?” she flared her wings. “N-no.” He reluctantly but not hesitantly bowed. “No? No what?” “…No your Majesty.” Nightmare smiled, a chuckle broke past her lips, which turned into a deep laugh. She laughed, and laughed and laughed. “Remember this hour, my little ponies! I am Queen Nightmare Dusk!” ~~ “I can’t believe this.” Shining Armor put his face in his hooves. The six of them were sitting in the Ponyville library, grim and silent, having awoken there. “We… lost.” Pinkie traced circles in the ground with her hoof, shaking her head, as if to deny to herself that it was true. “No!” Rainbow Dash and Rarity cried. They glanced at each other, and then Rainbow said, “We haven’t lost! At least… we won’t lose again! I mean, she cheated! She knew we were more powerful so she put us to sleep!” she beat her hoof against the ground, feeling confident with herself. “Oh dear, I hope Spike is alright,” Rarity whispered. “We all do,” Applejack added quietly. Fluttershy was crying softly. “This is all of my fault! I found Twilight in my chicken coop, and sh-she was acting strange, but I didn’t see that something was seriously wrong!” she covered her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. “This is all my fault!” Applejack put a hoof around her shoulders. “Now, that ain’t true! It wasn’t your fault; nopony is to blame here but Nightmare.” Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Applejack, sobbing into her chest. Angel jumped onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, and gently stroked her mane. Shining Armor rubbed the bridge of his nose with a hoof, “I’d take us to Canterlot immediately to alert the Princess, but my cart left. Something must have happened…” the captain zoned out, deep in thought. “I could fly there! They don’t call me fastest flyer in Equestria for nothin’!” Rainbow Dash said, leaping into the air. “We have to use the elements of harmony!” Pinkie looked up in a rare moment of seriousness. “We have to save Twilight!” “Dear,” Rarity started; “I don’t think the elements will work without Twilight… and… the enemy basically is Twilight.” The silence was cold and empty. “I want Twilight baack!” Pinkie burst into tears. There was a knock on the door. They all looked up, but the door opened before anypony could react, and a very sweaty, extremely exhausted looking Cadance practically fell in. “Cadance!” Shining cried, rushing over to his wife. “Are you okay?” he held her in his hooves, and she gasped for breath. “I… flew all the way…” “From Canterlot?” Shining stared at her; she nodded and turned to the other five. “You’ve got to… help Celestia! She’s in… grave danger!” All five ponies were on their hooves in an instant. “The Princess is in danger? We must get to Canterlot!” Rarity cried. The others shouted in agreement. “How do we get there?” Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye. Everypony went silent. “The train,” Applejack said. The all galloped out the door, but Applejack stopped and turned to Shining Armor and Cadance. “You comin’?” Shining Armor looked conflicted, when Cadance replied, “Go with them. I’ll catch up, I promise.” The captain nodded slowly, then gently set her down and stood up. The two galloped off after the others. ~~ “Assistant, come forth!” Nightmare Dusk trotted up to the throne, keeping a regal posture. She poked her head around to the back, the baby dragon was gone. “Ah, so he left.” She closed her eyes, thinking of a possible way to find him. He couldn’t have gone out any of the doors – she’d magically sealed them. But there was that massive hole in the wall now, courtesy of her blasting Celestia through it. But no, there was a very long drop into the city – unless he could climb walls? Nightmare pondered this, could he climb walls and ceilings like some other lizards? “What are We pondering for?” she asked herself and her horn begun to glow. A magenta ball of light formed at the tip of her horn, and hovered down to where Spike had hidden behind the throne. Then, a pale pink trail formed, pretty much mapping exactly where he’d gone. She followed the trail with her eyes. He’d gone over to the door where Cadance had gone, and had realized he couldn’t get through, and then he had ran to the center of the room. Paced, and headed for the big double-doors. Sealed as well, he had gone for the massive hole, and probably got discouraged from jumping. He had backed away, and his trail lead right to… ah! Nightmare Dusk stepped up to one of the fancy potted plants on either side of the main doors. She couldn’t help but admire him; he’d managed to bury himself without disturbing the plant itself, and there was only a little bit of dirt around the pot as evidence. She turned towards the big double doors, “Oh dear. It appears Spike has gone. We shall look for him elsewhere.” She magically opened the double doors, paused, and then loudly slammed them shut. There was a long pause, before the pot shook a bit. It fell over, cracking slightly and Nightmare smiled at the startled, muffled cry from inside. She watched the dirt move away, Spike’s claws working like perfect little digging tools. Spike crawled his way out, and slipped, face planting. He pulled himself up off the floor, shaking his head and finally noticing her. He let out a startled, almost girlish squeal and tried to run, only to face plant again. Amused, Nightmare placed a hoof on the tip of his tail and watched him run in place. “Twilight, I- Nightmare! I meant Nightmare!” Spike clamped his claws over his mouth in horror, closing his eyes and tensing. When she did nothing, he opened his eyes, peeked up at her, noticed she was no longer restraining his tail, and made his big escape. He dashed for the door, but two brainwashed guards blasted in and blocked it, as if reading Nightmare’s mind. He skidded to a stop, and then attempted to go for the other door. Nightmare let him get within a few feet of it before enveloping one of his legs in her telekinesis and pulling it back. Spike face planted for a third time and struggled furiously as she dragged him towards her. He dug his claws into the floor, and they made nasty screeching sounds that made Nightmare wince and flatten her ears. When she pulled him across the red carpet (Which she intended to make purple,) his claws tore right through it, ripping the fabric in long, messy cuts. Nightmare wondered if she should file his claws, or simply remove them completely just to be safe. He could seriously do some damage if he really wanted to. But they could also be useful… She slid him in front of her, and rolled him onto his back. Squirming, he turned his head, pressing one cheek into the floor, trying to avoid her gaze. She pressed a hoof into the side of his head; turning his face and forcing him to look at her. He froze, staring into her purple eyes. She studied his emerald ones; she could see many things in them. Fear, hurt, confusion, and anger the most prominent. This delighted her. She said nothing, continuing to stare into him. His anxiety seemed to rise with her silence, he’d stopped squirming. Finally he found the courage to speak: “Where… where is Princess Celestia?” “You don’t need to worry about it. She’s gone.” “Gone?! Whe-“ Spike was hushed by her hoof. “Does it really matter now?” Nightmare chuckled, “she’s gone now.” Spike didn’t answer; he looked away refusing to look her in the eye again. She unpinned him and stepped back. “Rise, Assistant. Don’t bother running – you know it’s pointless.” Spike stood up, he looked about to bolt, but then sighed and hung his head. “Guards!” Nightmare called, and within a moment every brainwashed guard near enough to hear her shout was at her side. “Yes, my Queen?” “We want all of you to find every pony who works in the castle! Bring them here – every cook, maid and servant We want here. And any guards with free will also be brought here. Now go!” The guards obeyed without a word, scrambling out the door all in one big mass. “Now come, Assistant! We have much to do, as We said.” Spike shot Nightmare a bitter look, and crossed his arms turning away. He was stuck with her, but he wasn’t going to listen to her. “Come along, that is an order.” She stomped a hoof for emphasis. “What are you going to do?” Spike huffed. “Throw me out that big hole in the wall?” “We are perfectly capable of doing it, if you wish. It’s quite a long fall, is it not?” Spike practically froze. She wouldn’t… She picked him up by the back of his neck in her mouth and held him over the edge. “AH! OKAY, OKAY! I’LL DO WHATEVER YOU SAY! PULL ME BACK INSIDE!” Nightmare stepped back and dropped him to the floor. “That’s what We thought.” She turned towards the throne. It was much too brightly colored – as was the rest of this dreaded castle. She focused the magic in her horn, closing her eyes. This was going to take a lot of energy… Her horn glowed bright magenta, pulsing with light. Magical sparks flew off her horn, and she closed her eyes in concentration. Tendrils of magic seeped down from the glow of her horn, and each shot off to a different destination. The carpet slowly started to knit itself back together where Spike had torn it, and then the color started to fade, turning from bright red to dark purple. The throne underwent similar changes, going from a bright color to a dark one befitting a Queen of Darkness. All around the castle colors changed to Nightmare’s will, colors darkening, statues changing, becoming gargoyles. There was only one place she couldn’t seem to change. The stained glass windows. She strained her magic, before giving up. She could just break them and have them replaced. The glow of her horn faded, and she sucked in a deep breath, sweat poured down her face. Panting, she couldn’t help but chuckle. “The day We can out-do two Princesses, but remodeling wears us out! We suppose We are a little rusty,” She looked around, admiring her handy-work. She’d even fixed the big hole in the wall, something that took more effort then she’d realized. The walls had gone black, and the ceiling as well. Not completely black, just so dark blue it looked black. Midnight blue. Stars were scattered across the walls and ceiling, and pink nebula stretched across the wall. “The horsehead nebula,” she informed an awestruck Spike. “Part of the Orion constellation. It matches our new mane,” she flipped her swirling mane proudly. The throne had changed not only in color, but in design as well. The color had turned into mixed black and magenta, with silver lining. The back had changed, big black bat wings extended from the sides, and the etchings on the back had changed to form constellations. Something she was proud of. Spike hated to admit it, but this was all kind of pretty.