Nightmares

by A Madman With a Box

Prologue

A low chanting echoed through the abandoned halls of the Castle of the Regal Sisters. The abandoned halls rang with the eerie verses and the empty throne room echoed with the low sound. In the catacombs below the Castle, in a room freshly hewn from the hard rock beneath the Castle, a throng of black-robed Ponies congregated around three black pillars, seemingly made of obsidian. As one, they chanted:

“The Brotherhood is many. And The Brotherhood is one. The Brotherhood is many. And the Brotherhood is one”. A single Pony stepped from their midst, seemingly at random. “This one will be the sacrifice,” they chanted. Another Pony stepped forward to join the first. “This one will open the pathway”. A third and final Pony stepped forward. “This one will retrieve the sanctuary,” the Brotherhood chanted.

The Pony designated as the sacrifice stood in the centre of the three pillars, and drew a knife with his magic. His hood fell back, revealing sickly white fur and a horn that appeared grafted on.
“My blood will feed the Artefact. May the ending of my life bring about the return of the true Queen” he shouted, and plunged the knife into his chest. Blood spurted onto the pillars, the red standing in sharp relief to the black glass. The pillars began to to spark with electricity and hum. The air in the room became colder, and wind whistled through the caverns.

The second Pony stepped forward, stood at the edge of one of the pillars and pressed his forehead against its smooth, black surface. The hum increased in volume, and the fur of the Brotherhood stood on end. Forks of electricity began to flicker between the pillars. The body of the sacrifice began to smoke and blacken; the smell of burning fur filled the room. The humming reached a crescendo, and the pillars released a blinding flash, bathing the room in searing light. A faint groaning noise echoed through the room. When the light faded all that remained of the sacrifice was a scorch mark on the floor. A swirling vortex materialised in the centre of the pillars, and the groaning continued.

The final Pony stepped forward and stood before the vortex. He unpinned his robe at the front and allowed it to fall to the side. His fur was the same sickly white as the sacrifice’s, and he too appeared to have a horn grafted onto his head. On the side of his body were two scars, in the same position as the wings on a Pegasus.

“The Nightmare will rise again!” he screamed, and threw himself into the vortex. A second flash of light illuminated the room, even brighter than the first. There was a single loud groan, sounding mechanical in nature, and when the light cleared the pony and the vortex had disappeared, leaving only a cloud of smoke.

Comments

[Cynical Brony]

Artifact*

[SpartanCommander]

I hope it's Nightmare from Danny Phantom. It would be interesting he's not good or evil only Fear itself.