Princess Celestia stared up at the moon as the time approached closer for the Summer Sun Celebration. She was expected in Ponyville, but she hadn't left Canterlot yet. After all, she knew what was coming. She watched as the four glittering stars approached the moon. Soon, Nightmare Moon would be freed. Soon, her sister would return...and, if luck and planning held, be freed from the darkness Celestia was unable to save her from.
As the four glittering stars moved behind the moon, the Mare in the Moon vanished from her place, and dark miasma gathered at the entrance to the throne room. Maniacal laughing filled the chamber as Celestia turned to face the cruel hand fate had dealt her.
Nightmare Moon rose from the miasma, her wings wrapped around her form as she floated up out of the ground. All at once, her wings spread, her legs shot out, and her head lifted, her laughter filling the air. "At last!" she proclaimed. "After 1000 years I'm free! It's time to conquer Equestria! This night...shall last...forever!" As lightning flashed in response, she brought her laughter to an end and began to stalk forward. "Now...who would dare to stand against me?"
Celestia steeled herself as she faced down against the being before her. "Luna! You don't have to do this!"
Nightmare Moon paused, blinking. Celestia saw her mouth 'Luna?' in confusion, then briefly shake her head as though clearing away confusion. She then let off a chuckle. "Oh, you dear sweet fool...I want to do this. This is the life I have chosen, and I will not be swayed!"
Celestia flinched back as Nightmare Moon crossed the intervening distance in the blink of an eye and a flare of swirling blue light, her face inches from Celestia's own. "And do you intend to stop me?" she demanded. "After all, you stopped me before, yes? Isn't that how this situation came to pass? What will you do now, hmm? Will you fight? Or yield to a foe so obviously superior? You've had 1000 years for your skills to decay from neglect...whereas I've only grown stronger from my hunger for power and vengeance!"
Celestia staggered backward, confused. Things seemed...off. Nightmare Moon's questions seemed...searching. It was less like she was reciting old news and more like she was confirming something she didn't quite remember clearly. And neither Luna nor Nightmare Moon had ever been this melodramatic. Luna preferred more ancient styles of drama, and Nightmare Moon saved her gloating for after she felt her victory was assured. "Luna..." Celestia began softly. "I won't fight you."
Nightmare Moon stared at her for a time. "...you won't?" she finally asked, disbelief and confusion filling her voice.
Celestia blinked, unsure what this meant, and responded the only way she could. "Umm...no?"
One of Nightmare Moon's eyebrows raised while the other lowered. Pulling back, Nightmare Moon proceeded to pace back and forth through the courtroom, muttering under her breath. Celestia was only able to pick up snatches of what she said.
"I was certain...tutorial level...PC...super character fight...but not fight? What..."
Without warning, Nightmare Moon rounded on Celestia again. "Just who are you, anyway?"
Celestia's breath caught in her throat as tears beaded in her eyes. Has...has isolation with naught but the Nightmare addled Luna's mind to the point she...has forgotten me? Struggling against the sudden despair, she managed to speak. "D...don't you remember, Luna? It's me, Princess Cele-"
"Princess?" Nightmare Moon interrupted. She suddenly smacked her forehead with one hoof and pointed at Celestia. "Of course! You're the 'princess in the other castle!' No wonder you don't fight me! You're not the hero, you're the hostage! Damn, I've wasted a lot of time here!"
Magic flared from Nightmare Moon's horn and surrounded Celestia in a cage of dark magic, blue lightning, and...green ones and zeroes? As Celestia tried to make sense of the cage, it floated up to suspend itself over the throne.
"I hope no one's noticed the delay..." Nightmare Moon murmured. "But where am I supposed to-" She froze as she caught sight of Celestia's itinerary. "Ponyville? Ah, that's where I need to be! That's where the heroes are." She turned back to Celestia. "Stay there and behave like a good little hostage, and I'll bring you back some cookies and milk or something." Nightmare Moon promptly vanished.
Celestia stared at where Nightmare Moon had been up to a moment ago, trying to make sense of things. As her guards entered and tried to free her - only to get blasted across the room by feedback from the cage - she expressed herself the only way she could think of to do so.
"The buck just happened?"
As Nightmare Moon reached Ponyville, she found a huge group of ponies gathered in the Town Hall. Good a place as any for the dramatic reveal, she mused. Better not use the '1000 years' speech, though. Third time, it won't feel anywhere near as dramatic to me.
As she phased through the wall in mist form, she heard a white unicorn proclaim, "She's gone!"
As everyone gasped, Nightmare Moon took note of the Sun themed decorations. Must mean Celestia. What a perfect cue for me. Moving to the top of the visible room, she slowly took shape, cackling as lightning flashed.
As she took shape, a speech shaped in her mind of its own accord. Huh, she thought to herself. Better than trying to read the text box. Thinking no more of that, she began the speech about her 'subjects'.
As she spoke, she took note of six ponies that responded to her differently than the others. Each had a rather unique appearance, different from the seeming sameness of everyone else...except the Mayor. Alright. Elected official? NPC. Guardsponies? NPCs. Six ponies of unique appearance, two of each type? Definitely the heroes. One of them actually knows who I am? Party leader. Keeping an eye on her.
After dealing with a few guards, Nightmare Moon zipped out of the Town Hall...then promptly concealed her presence to follow the 'Party leader', the one called Twilight Sparkle. Following her, she watched as the group got the background information on how to fight her. Elements of Harmony? Nightmare Moon thought to herself. Well, isn't that interesting. But seriously, could it be any more obvious which of them represented which Element? They unconsciously straightened as 'their' Element was read off! ...then again, the Nordic and Greek influence on the mythology of this game is rather obvious, and neither of those myth sets were known for subtlety.
Having the information she needed, she moved to the Everfree Forest, setting up hurdles for the group to pass. Nothing too difficult of course, since this was plainly the introductory stage. She struggled not to roll her eyes at how heavy handed the sequence was at nailing down which mare was made for which Element.
Following the group into the Palace of the Pony Sisters, she was stunned to see that the Elements were just sitting there. How the heck can this game make any money if it's so short? she demanded silently. Seeing Twilight send the others off while she tried to activate the Elements, Nightmare Moon struck, warping herself, the Elements - and Twilight, since she leapt in after - to a high tower.
After a brief struggle, Nightmare Moon was once more standing over the Elements, and Twilight was plainly way underleveled to fight her. Following logic, she decided she would have to extend the quest so that the group could level up enough to prove a decent challenge, since the setting - and combat - felt more like an Action RPG than a fighting game. Raising the Elements above her head, she laid her enchantments upon them and scattered them. She laughed as she felt each Element seek out a distant part of Equestria, embed itself in the environment, and build from the environment a Guardian to test the heroes in battle against. She also felt one embed itself in the Everfree Forest, so the group would encounter the first such boss on the way back to Ponyville to formulate a plan.
In the meantime, Nightmare Moon returned to Canterlot Castle to begin solidifying her rule - for at least until the heroes came and unseated her - only to find the greatest threat to any would be conqueror.
Not the heroes.
Not the incumbents.
Not the revolting populace.
...the paperwork.
Can't wait until she realizes this isn't a game... Someone will probably get hurt before it happens, though.
Will the arcade characters ever show back up or is that a secret?
... I wonder how many "Villains" returned the crown as soon as they saw the paperwork?
Behold, the greatest, most evil force in all creation: bureaucracy!
Huh... Interesting deviation from the start. Now we wait to see how else Celestia reacts to our new NMM with her gaming mindset.
Which also brings me to wonder about the arcade machines we saw some time later. Would she try to talk to them? Dive in to them? We can only wait and see.
Well, well, well. That's different. I want to see the Mane Six's reaction to this.
And that's the reason why i think super villains are idiots. Why would you want to lead the world?!
This is the Horror THE HORROR!
No really. The only reason why i don't aim for a high position in life is the good damn paperwork.
To much work, not enough time to enjoy living the high life.
So, she's treating this like a video game, now? This aught to be good.
This is freaking brilliant. Well done, Tatsurou!
Can someone call button mash, he's the only gamer in equestria I know of.
6315906 Yikes, I hope it's not when she realizes there is no respawns.
...well.
This is new.
I bet this is what would have happened if it was originally meant to be a movie instead of a show. I greatly approve of this. (And not just because it means we have a ways to go before it ends!)
/
This is hulliouros 5 / 5 . Is there another chapter coming out ?????????????????????????????????????????????
See, now if the show itself had played out like this chapter, it would've been the epic adventure Faust had dreamed of.
...i don't get it. she thinks its a game, but how the fuck did she get here if it's not a game, because it's obviously not a game.
huh, this is actually better than the pilot episode. I wonder how they will get the elements now?
And maybe you can had Nightmare warp in The MLP villains to be the "boss characters".
For example:
Kindness: Gilda (Or someone of equal meanness)
Laughter: Discord (joyful laughter vs sadistic laughter)
Generosity: The Sirens (I'm really just grasping at straws for Rarity's Boss) or maybe corrupted Greed Spike
Honesty: Flim and Flam
Loyalty: either Lightening Dust, Some shadow bolts, evil spitfire, or…. IDK….. Derpy?
Magic/Friendship: Twilight's pool of Boss Potentials is unfair. Everyone wants to pick a bone with her! But here are some of my choices: Trixie (Equal in name, not prowess), Sunset Shimmer (Maybe a mix of Pre and post EQG; It'll give her a reason for coveting the element), Tirek (If you're using a game format, I noticed the second to last bosses in any game seem to be even more difficult than the final), or Starlight glimmer (You know, Communism).
it would be funny when the mane 6 reaches the "Boss levels" that the ponies that were warped in be all "AH! HOLY CRAP! How did I get here?" since technically, the mane 6 haven't met any of them yet.
But yes with this new twist you basically opened up a whole new world of possibilities on how you want to story to be told.
Good luck! and I hope you update soon!!!
An awesome new development. Great job.
.... I wonder how Nightmares going to react to the revelation that Celestia is her sister...
This has become a completely different Gamer Luna fic, heh.
Nightmare, Nightmare, Nightmare. You got too Wrong Genre Savvy for your own good. *shakes head*
I expect Nightmare Moon following proper game villain etiquette: they treat very well their cautive Princesses. I look forward to the next interactions of Nighmare in Equestria.
Will Nightmare "clock out"? (Enough of being the bad guy today *frees Celestia* Good night Sam Celestia.)
Also, there's something obvious Nightmare has missed: the screen. If she believes she's in another game then there should be a screen where she can see the player, just like the player normally can see her.
Finally, even if it's a more serious topic I'm wondering what happened to the Luna personality.
Ha I was sort of right, she was Genre savvier than before due to her work in the games. Too bad she kinda...the wrong genre savvy =w=;
Oh well what could possibly go wrong? I HAVE DOOMED US ALL!!!
I bet there gonna be quite a few sequal games for nightmare challenge luna got game that gonna be hilarious with added game crossovers?
Something seems off here. Like everyone else has pointed out, it should be obvious she's not in a game, but the fact that there doesn't seem to be any remnant of Luna. I would venture to guess that she's a hybrid data/living clone of the real deal. Or something like that.
Don't get me wrong, this is hilarious as all get out and well played. I can see this being how it would work out, but I have to agree with Celestia. "What the buck?" There's a disconnect right now for me and it really feels like there's something REALLY amiss.
OK, this...this right here...You just made me the happiest guy alive!! Nightmare being in-the-know to how this whole thing is "Supposed" to work, and then pulling the Element Scattering bit...plus then dealing with the legal paper work...you are freaking WONDERFUL!!! I cannot wait to see how this goes! Thanks so much and best of luck!
Is this the beginning of the pwny verse crossover or is it the introduction of the first villion to the pwny verse alsow you dont usualy end this unles Tireick dies.
This chapter IS a reversion of Sword Art Online.
AH! AHAHAHAH!
Ah, video game humor.
6316234
This chapter has nothing to do with PWNY, and this story is far from over.
If nightmare Moon cannot see a screen, she thinks she is could be in a MMORPG, as there is but one playfield but tens, hundreds, or even thousands invisible viewpoint cameras floating through the volume?
As for which system she would be running on? that might be TerrorByte down in the old magic research laboratory under the castle.
And here I thought it would be the standard first and second episode, but with NMM being stripped from Luna, and reinjected back into the datanet to be coredumped back into Ralphs lap in the arcade. You really dont want to know the complicated way to do that, it uses quantum mechanics.
We are the accountants that say Eh, and we want, a beaureucracy. With comfy leather seats and desk and wall of filing cabinets and everything.
6315945
To quote an excellent comic where a student villain shouts "One day, I will rule the world!" only to be corrected by a professor with that exact argument, "One day, I will RENT the world!"
6316114 *Sees a black hole pop up in the middle of Nowhere* NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!
P.S. Yes, the place is named Nowhere.
6316240 lofl, I just had a dream last night of that show, but kirito, red samurai guy, agil, and leafa were classes from swtor, and in that game.
GAME OVER.....
NM: bravo good game you nearly had me their ok lets reset for the next load out...
......
NM guys??.....Respawn.......LOad .....START!!!!!
.........
NM: This isnt a game is it.........OHHHH FUUUUU
6316085 unless, as others have thought, she thinks this might be an MMORPG, then there wouldnt be a 'screen' persay as each PC would have their own perspective to follow...
6316330 ...You mean Klein?
6316330 What does "swtor" mean?
6316313 *trying to plug hole* shitshitshit! It won't close damn it we need something big and moldable to fill it.....Twilights clop collection!
6316394 Star Wars The Old Republic, and thanks for the klein comment
6315945 we need a flower trio emote
Another epic chapter well done, hehehel, awesome job!
This was hilarious!
6316394 Star Wars the Old Republic.
6316247
O_O MY HERO!
XD Out of all the Stories you've written so far- this one has got my Heart the Most if I'm to be honest. I'm glad you didn't just end it with her returning home- I want to SEE how this will end now that's she's so properly indulged in a world of Video-game mechanics- only to find herself now in Cartoon/TV Mechanics. However- .... I have yet to actually see why she hasn't realized the similarities between her and Celestia- or anyone else. Being a Pony I mean- and being Stylistically similar to these Creatures. Surely- she is going to be over the top- and more than not confused as she's lived her 'entire life' as a Character- but she also can't deny the similarities- or the lack of a screen from which she, or the Heroes are being viewed- like in an Arcade.
..... Basically- we all know that Nightmare Moon isn't stupid. She should have figured it out the moment she landed- at the first sight of CELESTIA- her freaking POLAR OPPOSITE in CHARACTER DESIGN..... Also- Does this mean that Luna (who has been trapped inside Nightmare Moon- or perhaps just 'co-existing' inside of her) remembers their life as it truly was? And- has been waiting to remind Nightmare until now? Until they returned home?
"You can't kill that many people and not expect a mountain of paperwork."
6316502
Three points to say.
One, she knew she was going back to the world she came from, and as a villain. She expected it to be populated by ponies, and - given how blatantly evil her design is - she expected a polar opposite goody two shoes counterpart she'd have to fight...which is why she's surprised Celestia refused to fight her.
Two, the Luna point will be addressed.
Three, the 'screen' issue will be addressed.
...actually, three will be addressed just before two.
6316527 is that a quote? What from? It sounds... glorious.
Why do I feel like Nightmare will look at the world's "code", realize it's flawed, and then go to the Tree of Harmony to rewrite it to make it more of an RPG? Making spawn points, cut scenes, and Armor/Weapons shops all across the "in-game map".
6316595
Ah- so it's not a matter of her not realizing it- it's just she's just not acknowledging it in bold for those readers who skim through stories and 1 in the morning (I am SO sorry) and is just basically doing what she knows best to do?
And- ..... As for the other 2 Points- I already have theories for how you plan to have them go- but.... Nothing is exactly coming to mind.....
..... Unless your going to just like- say that this was all a Video Game Luna has been playing the whole freaking time. XD
6316634
Nothing so ham-fisted and shark jumping as that.
I have a bit of an idea regarding the "lack-of-a-screen" issue. So far in her life, all the games she's been in have been arcade games (maybe a few rare exceptions). She knew the "world" she came from was going to be very different, since no character she'd ever met (even famous ones) had ever heard of her or what game she might be from. Therefore, it makes sense for her to think that her game must be very new or very rare (thus why no one's heard of it). My guess is that she's going to think it's either some sort of new third-party console system or (my preferred idea) some sort of online game with global multiplayer.
Actually, while typing that I had an even better idea. She's been on the web a few times, so she's got an idea of what's out there. She might think it's one of those new games created for live-streaming sites like Twitch, where the streamer controls the main character and the viewers (via the chat system) control various helper characters. That could also rationalize the different "play styles" of our Mane Six. While Twilight is "controlled" by the streamer who wants to complete the game and keep everything on track, Pinkie's actions are dictated by the trolls who just type random commands to see what happens. And RD's moves come from those people who just enter "Attack. Attack. Attack." without any actual game strategy, and Fluttershy doesn't contribute that often due to laggy connection or something. Of course, none of it's actually a game at all, but this could be how NMM rationalizes everything and explains the lack of a screen (since computers and multiplayer and text controls and whatnot).
Or I've overthought everything and there's a much simpler rationale for why there's no screen.
6316601 na, it's an actual fact.
You gotta consider the witnesses if there are any, your alias, paying the shmuck for the hit.
Even if its illegal, ya still have to go through legal paperwork. Ignore it, and it multiplies.
*shivering *
And you don't want THAT!
That is why you don't want to be the ruler, just the puppet master controlling the ruler