A cool breeze drifted through the Everfree Forest, and a sudden crack from a twig echoed through the thick biomass of the woods. A dark coated pony swiftly made her way through the Everfree, covered with a black hood which hid her features from unwanted watchers. Her breaths were drown out and harsh for she had been on the move for quite sometime, not wanting to slow down her trek to her destination. As she continued through the forest, a thorn from a bush suddenly drew her blood.
"Blast thee woods..." She whispered to herself angrily.
She took a moment to cast a healing spell on herself; her horn that poked through a hole on her hood glowed light blue hue. The gash on her side glowed the same as her horns as the flesh was melded back together.
She gave a satisfied grin before continuing her journey. After a few more minutes of traveling, she found what she was looking for. Taking a look at her map she nodded satisfactorily.
"Perfect."
In front of her was a wide, dark opening into a side of a small mountain. A cave that held something that she wanted desperately. Returning her map to her saddlebags, she took her first step inside the gaping maw of the opening. She was slowly surrounded by complete darkness as she entered all the way into the cave. She lit up her horn, casting a luminescent blue throughout the dark, humid cave. The cave looked vastly bigger on the inside, the roof of the cave being a good thirty to forty feet high. As she looked up, she was greeted by a army of bats, their eyes looking deeply into her. They let out a high pitch screech before bombarding her, leaving the cave behind them.
"Damn thee flying rats!" She yelled at them, her voice echoing throughout the cave.
After taking a moment to recover, she continued to make her way through the cave. Her stomach turning inside her, something about this place left her unsettled. After a moment she came across a long bridge that expanded out until it reached a circle platform. A light protruded from the roof, casting upon the circle platform. Taking a deep breath, she took her first step onto the bridge, followed by another and another. After getting a good ten steps onto the bridge, she looked over the side only to be greeted by a black, empty abyss. A audible gulp came from the cloaked mare.
"No turning back now..."
She continued across the bridge until she came up to the circle platform, a circle insignia laid on the ground before her. It showed a eclipse casting upon what she could only assume was Equestria.
"Luna..." Came a deep, disembodied voice.
Luna's pupils shrunk, and she let out a shriek. "Wh-who's there?"
"What brings one of the princesses of Equestria to my lair?" The voice asked, ignoring her question.
After a pause the tension was broke when Luna decided to finally speak up, "W-we read o-of a legend. A legend that told of thee granting great power to those who seek it, as long as they are willing to make a deal. What is thy deal?"
Another pause happened before a mystical cloud of energy that twinkled like the night sky floated above Luna. It shifted and morphed into the form of a mare.
"They call me the Nightmare!" The voice echoed loudly throughout the cave.
"Yes, we know. We have read of your legend, that is why we are here. Now answer our question!" Retorted the princess.
The disembodied voice grew quite before coming back, viciously saying with a poisonous tone. "If you really wish to know of the deal, then I will tell you, you eager little pony." The mare shaped cloud of sparkling lights shifted, and surrounded Luna like a vortex. "If you wish to have great power, for whatever you may need it for, then you must free me from this vile place. I've been trapped here for centuries, placed here by you retched ponies."
Luna turned around looking at how the cloud surrounded her, and then turned again, seeing the same thing on both sides. "How would thee tell of how to free thyself?"
"Simple really, I want to use your body as a conduit. Your innate magical energy will block out the enchantment that is keeping me trapped here."
Shocked by the answer the entity gave her, Luna shouted back with great force. "Never, our body is ours and ours only!"
The vortex grew more fierce as the voice continued to speak. "Don't fret my little pony, for you will still be you. All I need is to hide in your body until you exit this cave, the enchantment will be broken by the time we leave."
Luna's head fell, and after giving it some thought she decided on what her answer was. Raising her head once more, she told the vortex. "Fine, but only until we leave this cave, promise.?"
"Promise." The vortex said in a slight menacing voice, before enveloping Luna, raising her off her hooves and into the air.
"Grrr." the princess grunted as the entity lifted her off her hooves, pressing against her on all sides. Luna closed her eyes, only for them to open again when the cloud started to enter her via her mouth. She couldn't even let out a scream of pain as tears fell down her cheeks. She felt her body shifting, changing. Her bones cracked as they stretched elongating her, Her teeth reformed into sharp canines that could bite through steel with ease, Her coat turned a dark shade of ebony, then her irises turned serpentine, and finally her mane turned into the same cloud that was once the Nightmare that surrounded her.
She slowly descended back to the ground under her, and let out a crackling laugh. "Foolish pony, did you honestly think I would let you have your body after I have entered it? No, this will be the conduit of my reckoning. I will bring forth hell fire onto the ponies who have imprisoned me."
N-no, we will not let thee have control of our body. Luna fought internally inside herself for control of her body.
The Nightmare growled with frustration. "Quiet down you insolent fool, this is my body now!"
Never!
With great willpower, Luna was able to take control of her body again. "See, our body will be ours and ours only thy liar."
Your a strong one... But no matter.
The parasite within Luna fought back even harder. "No, thou will never take a hold of our body, it is ours."
Luna called upon her magic to suppress the thing within her, but at the same time it did the same.
You fool!
When they both called upon the magic within Luna's body, it had a backfire. The backfire shook throughout her body like a hurricane.
Grrraaa, "Grrraaa". They both shouted out in pain.
Luna collapsed to the ground, unconscious. It was only after a good thirty minutes that she finally woke up. "What have we done?"
The backlash from both of them summoning upon Luna's power melded their minds together, making them a completely new being.
"This... We... We guess that this is what has to happen." The new being that was previously Luna and Nightmare made her way out of the dark menacing cave. The moons light fell upon her as she exited the cave, looking up to the moon she said. "This is what we have to sacrifice in order to destroy our sister, then so be it. From this day forth we shall be known as Nightmare Moon, and we will bring forth night eternal!" A flash of lightning erupted behind her, as she let out a maniacal laugh.
A enormous black bomber plane was heading straight towards the city of New York. The man piloting the plane was none other than Steve Rogers, Captain America. He had just got out of a strenuous fight against the Red Skull, and was now trying to stop his nefarious plan of destroy the eastern sea board.
Captain America looked deeply into the white clouds in front of them, the sun leaving them with a beautiful glow. After a short moment, he called his base via radio. "Come in, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?"
"Captain Rogers, what is you-" A voice from the radio was cut off by a feminine one.
"Steve, is that you are you all right?"
"Hey, Schmidt's dead." Replied the Captain.
"What about the plane?" Corporal Carter asked.
Steve was trying his best to fly the plane, pressing the needed buttons to keep it steady. "That's a little bit harder to explain."
"G-Give me your coordinates, I'll secure you a safe landing site." Said Carter.
Looking at the monitor showing the interior of the plane, Captain Rogers replied with, "There's not going to be a safe landing, but I can try and force it down."
Stuttering, Carter replied with. "I-I-I'll g-get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do."
The Captain replied quickly. "There's not enough time, this things moving to fast and it's heading for New York." Taking another look at the sky before him, he continued to say. "I got to put her into the water."
Desperately, Carter pleaded with Rogers. "P-Please don't do this, We have time, We can work it out..."
"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die." After another pause, The Captain continued his statement. "Peggy... This is my choice." Rogers grabbed a piece of a photo of Peggy, and placed it upon the dash of the plane. Leaving it there as a way to be closer to her, the one he was leaving behind.
Pushing the pilots steering device straight forward, the plane took a nose dive to the icy sea below. As the plane sped up on it's decent, he took another look at the photo of Carter. "Peggy?"
"I'm here..." She answered.
The ice filled sea came into view, and Rogers told Carter. "I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."
Carters voice grew pale from it's previous self. She sounded like she was right on the verge of tears. "All right... A week, next Saturday from today at the Stark Club."
"You got it."
"Eight o'clock on the dot, and don't you dare be late." Demanded Corporal Carter. "Understood?"
"You know I still don't know how to dance." Replied The Captain.
"I'll show you how... Just be there."
"We'll have the band play something slow..." Rogers ultimate destination was now right before him, just a couple moments away. "I'd hate to step on you-" The audio from the radio died off, and Captain America finally crashed into the cold arctic sea.
Inside a infirmary, the doctors and nurses were buzzing around like mad ants. On top of a hospital bed, covered in bandages and hooked up to a heart monitor was a white pony with a golden blond mane, and light blue eyes.
Looking at the frail state of the stallion, a nurse asked one of the doctors. "Where did you say they found this pony again?"
"Ponies just said he appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the castle, and they also said he just collapsed as soon as he appeared." Replied the doctor.
"How strange, what could have happened to him?"
"No idea, all I know is that he is lucky we got to him when we did."
Another nurse ran up the the doctor and told him. "Doctor, we got more injured solders coming in, we need your help."
"I'll be right there, give me a minute." He looked at the nurse next to him, "Look over him, will you?"
She gave him a nod, and he was off to help the new batch of recently wounded solders. She took another glance at the stallion on the bed, and said to herself. "Say what you want about him, but he is quite the looker."
Suddenly, the stallion winced a little in his sleep, and the nurse let out a small shriek. He was having a nightmare, and after a moment of him looking like he was in great pain, he shot up in bed. "Peggy!" Feeling a sudden pain in his gut, he fell back down on his back. Looking around a bit dazed, he met eyes with the pony nurse that was beside his bed. "W-What, I'm I still dreaming?"
"The mare got a bit closer to him, after her heart slowed down after the sudden shock. "No, your in a infirmary in the Castle of The Two Sister's."
Blinking a couple times, the captain said. "Yep, definitely dreaming." Feeling a migraine coming on, he brought his hand to his face, though it was not what he was expecting. He hit his head with his new right hoof, and sent even more pain through his head. "Ow, what the..." He waved his hoof in front of his eyes, and they then shrunk in size. He shot up again in bed ignoring the pain. "What the heck is going on!" He waved both his hooves in front of him now.
The nurse from before put her front hooves on his chest, and brought him back down into a resting position. "Easy now, you can't be pushing yourself like that just yet."
"W-What do you mean, what's going on?" Rogers asked desperate for a answer to this madness.
"Well, I should be asking you that, you kinda just appeared out of nowhere. At least from what I've heard." Replied the mare. She stepped back from the bed, giving the stallion some space.
"Last thing I remember I was crashing a Hydra bomber plane into the arctic sea... Now that I think about it, this must really be me having one of those coma dreams. Yeah, that's it."
"Think what ever you want sir, but the fact is that your here in this infirmary, and your going to be here until you make a full recovery."
Looking at the bandages he was covered in, his torn up suit, and the heart monitor next to his bed. He decided to just go back to sleep and forget this ever happened. "I'm gonna go back to sleep now horse lady, hopefully I wake up in the real world next time. Maybe I'll be lucky and I won't be late for that dance I promised Peggy."
The nurse just rolled her eyes and thought that this pony must have lost a couple of screws in his head when he suffered his injuries.
Before the Captain drifted back to sleep, he thought only of Carter, and how he was going to live up to his promise.