//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Eight - Me, Myself and Her // Story: A New Nightmare // by LittleAngelStocking //------------------------------// “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US?!” The Queen shrieked, trying to ward the hex off with her own magic. And despite her being an alicorn, neither she nor Twilight has practiced such magic – healing and such. She shook with fury, and great wings rising she dove off of the platform and stopping inches from the pink bubble. “LIFT YOUR CURSE, WHELP!” “What?! Trixie is no whelp!” the unicorn harrumphed. “…And curses don’t exist.” “STOP!” Dusk screeched, and dove at Trixie. The body slam knocked the wind out of the blue unicorn, and for a moment the glow in her horn seemed to fade, but with a snarl of rage Trixie re-lit her horn, and a blast of telekinesis shot back at Dusk, knocking in her back. The alicorn stumbled a few meters, and was promptly dive-bombed by Rainbow Dash, only increasing her pain. “NO!” With a glow of Shining Armor’s horn, a pink bubble expanded around him and the others, deflecting the soldiers away. “Get up!” he tugged Trixie to her hooves. With a glare, her lit horn intensified – and so did Dusk’s pain. Conflicting thoughts of both rage and understanding danced in her mind; all at the same time until it all seemed like an endless stream of unintelligible voices until she couldn’t stand it! She watched Shining Armor hold up the small bubble effortlessly, while the mindless guards continuously bounced off of it, trying to get in. Shining Armor had been able to hold a shield around the entirety of Canterlot and repel an army of Changelings for a little while; he could handle a few soldiers. “R-release your spell!” she hissed at Trixie. “A-at once!” she wanted to make threats, to splatter this unicorn all over the wall, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Stand down!” She told the brainwashed morons, who did exactly as she bid. She swallowed hard, near tears from the sting – it didn’t really hurt so much as it stung and burned. Trixie looked about to answer, but Rarity plugged her mouth with a hoof. “She’ll stop once you promise to calm down and let us speak reasonably!” A reasonable request. “Alright! We wanted nothing more than to speak with you!” Dusk almost sounding like she was begging, and this gave all eight ponies pause. Everyone looked expectantly at Trixie, who groaned in frustration. “…Fine.” The light of her horn winked out, and with it the burn. Dusk sighed in relief, making a mental note to find out where Trixie learned such a foul trick. “Let us converse,” Dusk said, standing up straight with a wince. “Lower your shield?” “No.” Shining Armor said. “We’re fine how we are.” “Very well then,” with an annoyed flick of her ear Dusk stared straight into Shining Armor’s eyes, alternating between the others. She couldn’t find Fluttershy; the poor mare was probably cowering behind somepony. “Why have you come?” Nopony answered for a long time. Trixie broke the silence, “To destroy you and bring the sun back!” And if the Princesses don’t return make me the Princess of all of Equestria, Trixie thought hopefully to herself. She’d told herself not to get her hopes up, but she could dream, right? “Yeah!” Rainbow Dash cried. “Let us out of here, Shining! I want to kick her flank!” “Hey! Both of you!” Cadance kicked Dash’s leg, and then quickly turned to Dusk. “What they meant was we just want to…” Cadance took a moment, studying Dusk’s feelings. The look on her face, her posture – Cadance’s special talent was love, but she could sense other emotions as well. “…Possibly reason with you. Princess Dusk,” she added with a small bow. “I mean no disrespect, but… Ponies are freezing out there. Starvation will follow. Perhaps we could come to an agreement?” Come on, Twilight! I know you’re in there somewhere! Think logically! Dusk looked slightly taken back, Princess? She called us Princess? It sounded… somehow more satisfying than Queen. Less foreboding. She considered Cadance’s proposal. She recalled her conversation with Celestia. And Spike… “You want us to bring the sun back,” she said more so to herself than the Princess. Everyone except Trixie nodded rapidly – Trixie was getting more and more flustered. This wasn’t how she wanted this! Trixie stomped her hoof. “There shall be no agreement! I want to face this fiend alone!” “Give it a rest!” Rainbow Dash muttered, placing a hoof on the shield and causing a small shock wave to ripple across the surface. Dusk lowered her head, eyes studying the floor, her mind working on overdrive. She didn’t quite know what to do any more, the request was so simple: raise the sun. That was it. That was all she was asked. And yet why couldn’t she bring herself to do so? It would everything better; she told herself – ponies would start to like her, appreciate her. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach. Monster. That’s all that we are now, and all we will be. Can we really do the right thing? Her mind roiled in confusion and hurt, who was she? A jealousy-driven tyrant, or a benevolent ruler? A cruel and insecure monster, or a simple scholar with many friends and her whole life ahead of her? Was there two of them? Or just one? “Dusk… I think you can do the right thing.” Cadance said gently. Dusk looked up, chewing the inside of her cheek. She stood there for a long time, processing what had been said. No you can’t, you’re a fool. A selfish, arrogant fool, she told herself. Everyone makes mistakes though, she thought suddenly. We can be better. You can do better. “Sunshine, sunshine…” she took a staggering step forward. “…Ladybugs awake,” Cadance said, stepping up to Shining Armor’s barrier. “Clap your hooves and do a little shake,” they said in unison; their hooves meeting through the shield. “T…Twily? Is that you?” Shining Armor murmured quietly, and Dusk gave him a weak, almost tentative side-ways glance and smile. “I’m… unsure.” She replied regretfully. When she was One with Luna, she really was one with her in every sense of the word. Not simply two different personalities occupying the same body, but a single mind made of two. And it was this realization that hurt the most: the Night Mare was nothing but that – A nightmare. A mindless, bodiless mass of wrathful emotions that merged with another to make a whole. All alone, there was no whole. At least not for it. It. Yes, there was no she when separated from another. There was no he; it was it. Dusk felt alien, some part of her deeply wanted to go to Celestia and cry her heart out into the white alicorn’s warm fur. And the other half of her wanted to do just the same with Luna. Dusk was taken by surprise when Trixie violently kicked the shield where Dusk’s hoof still lingered. “Enough chit-chat!” The unicorn hissed. “Face me!” “Trixie!” Everypony shouted. “No! I came here to fight for Equestria! Bring down this shield, and let me at her!” “No.” Shining Armor told her. “It doesn’t need to come to violence, Trixie.” “The Elements are useless as you said,” she growled. “Violence is the only way to solve this!” “Perhaps we should sit down and parley?” Dusk suggested hopefully, not eager to fight. She was tired, and she couldn’t decide whether these ponies were friend or foe any more. Despite everything, she still had no idea whether she even cared about them – she almost did, but at the same time she didn’t. It was confusing, and she didn’t want to do anything she’d regret but at the same time she wanted to squash them! Trixie glared daggers at her, trying to think of something to say that would make Shining Armor lower the shield. “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Rarity replied. Applejack nodded in agreement, “Yes, it does.” “…And wouldn’t it be so much easier if the shield was lifted?” Trixie added. Shining Armor hesitated a moment, before looking Dusk in the eye. “You won’t attack?” “You have our word,” Dusk promised. Shining Armor nodded, and took a deep breath before the magical barrier winked out. Trixie shuffled nervously on her hooves, waiting for just the right moment… “Guards! Have our chefs prepare a good big meal! Come, my guests… shall we go to the dining quarters?”