Chapter 5: Bombardment
Before either Pinkie Pie or the Nightmare could react, the entrance of the Hall of Knowledge had slammed shut and locked, a marble slab rose out of the floor to cover the door to the Staging Room, iron bars materialized and closed off the corridors, and the lighting had turned an even deeper shade of purple. Twilight Sparkle glared at the other two ponies in the nave. “Neither of you is going anywhere until I figure out what’s going on here.”
Technically, of course, this wasn’t necessarily true; from her practice sessions with Rarity, Pinkie Pie was pretty sure she could leave whenever she wanted by waking up in the real world. However, doing that now would probably result in Twilight believing whatever the Nightmare told her about the incident. “Okay. What do you want to know?”
“How did you get here?”
“Short answer? Imaginary friend powers.”
“Uh-huh,” Twilight replied skeptically. “And the long answer?”
“I Pinkie Promised that I’d figure out a way in here, which allowed me to access more of my imaginary friend powers.”
“Surely you aren’t going to believe that!” The Nightmare interjected as she attempted to return her coat to its original black color. Her ethereal mane had quickly reacquired its deep blue tint, but her head remained stubbornly white, which meant that she still bore an uncanny resemblance to Princess Celestia.
“I’ll decide what to believe later,” Twilight snapped. She returned her attention to Pinkie Pie. “So what exactly was the point of trashing everything?”
“Um... didn’t I say it was to get your attention? I definitely should have mentioned that.”
“That’s why you were sent here?”
“What? Oh, no. I was sent here to deal with the Nightmare. You know, because I grew up in your head.”
“And... what, you wanted me to witness your confrontation?”
“No, we already did that part. I just wanted you to see what I saw when I took her helmet.”
“And that is...”
“That she looks like Celestia, obviously.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? That was the plan?”
“Uh, actually, there wasn’t a plan. Nopony knew what was going on in here, so I’ve been winging it.” Pinkie Pie paused, and suddenly broke into a fit of giggles strong enough to have her rolling on the floor, clutching her barrel as she attempted to regain her breath. “Heeheehahaha! Winging it!”
“She’s a madmare,” the Nightmare declared. “There’s simply no other explanation.”
“No, she isn’t.” Twilight replied wearily. “She’s spent some of her time here as a pegasus, so she probably just thinks her unintentional pun was amusing. Besides, the way you keep trying to get me to preemptively dismiss what she has to say is just as suspicious. Why do you look like Princess Celestia?”
“Mere coincidence. Blast it, how am I supposed to get this... gunk off?!”
“I got it from the Art Studio, which means it came from Twilight’s mind, so she can make it go away whenever she wants,” Pinkie answered.
“I wasn’t talking to you, you cheeky little foal! And give me back my helmet!” A blue aura surrounded the silver headgear and lifted it off of the earth pony’s head, but it abruptly disintegrated and was replaced with a pink aura as Twilight took the helmet herself, as a parent might confiscate a toy from two squabbling foals.
“Not until I know what’s going on,” the unicorn said, her irritation growing somewhat. “Pinkie, why did you take the Nightmare’s helmet? You aren’t the kind who’d play keep-away with somepony else’s things, even if it’s a pony you don’t like very much.”
“Eh, it was a spur of the moment thing. I figured it was enough payback for the trap.”
“Trap?”
“Yeah, she was out in the Dreamfields laying traps or something. I think she thought one of the Princesses was going to come in here to save you or something.”
Twilight Sparkle shot a glare at the Nightmare. “You were laying traps in my mind?”
“It... it was just a security measure. And given that I caught an intruder with one, I’d say it was justified.”
“But you didn’t think anypony could enter Twilight’s mind when she wasn’t sleeping.” Pinkie’s eyes went wide as she had a sudden realization. “Oh! I bet you found Twilight when she was asleep! After all, if Luna knew the spell, so would you, right?”
The temperature seemed to increase as the unicorn’s glare morphed into a scowl. “You told me that you’d been lying dormant in my mind since our confrontation in the old castle.”
“I... I was speaking poetically,” the Nightmare said. “My mist form isn’t visible when I don’t have a host, so I had to search you out. It was only after I had entered that I began waiting for an opportune moment to make my presence known to you.”
“I see... and when, exactly, were you planning on telling me about those traps?”
“At the end of your proposal, if there was time.”
“If?” Twilight clearly did not like the implications of the qualifier.
“If you fail to persuade the Princesses—which would appear to be a foregone conclusion if this little stunt is any indication,” the Nightmare responded as she threw an accusatory glance towards Pinkie Pie, “—you might very well need my immediate assistance. Indeed, the possibility was high that I would not have a chance to inform you of my plans before the trap was sprung by an intruder, which, I remind you again, is precisely what has happened. That my original intent of using them to alert you while you were dreaming proved not to be germane to the issue is ultimately irrelevant.”
The unicorn turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie. “Do you have anything to say to this?”
“Um, yes, actually. Did you finally get the hang of lucid dreaming?”
The Nightmare groaned. “More palaver! I submit that if this earth pony was truly as well-intentioned as she implies, she would provide you with forthright statements, rather than a stream of non sequiturs.”
“My question is totally, completely, 100% sequitur! Back when I was her imaginary friend, she was never lucid while she was dreaming, which means that she wouldn’t be behaving rationally enough for a warning to make any difference. And trying to wake her up wouldn’t work, either, since the only pony who can wake up Twilight Sparkle from inside her head is Twilight herself, and why would she decide to wake up if she didn’t think she was asleep in the first place? She only wakes up when her subconscious decides she’s had enough sleep, or if something or somepony in the real world interrupts her. You’ve been living in her head for months, if my Pinkie Sense is anything to go by. There’s no way you couldn’t know that! That means that the reason you’re giving for setting traps in the Dreamfields is a big ol’ load of hooey, unless Twilight can do lucid dreaming now.” Pinkie Pie turned to her friend for a confirmation or a denial.
The unicorn sighed. “I can’t. And furthermore, I still don’t behave particularly rationally in my dreams, because the rules keep changing.”
“I still say that making an attempt to alert you would be a reasonable effort. After all, many ponies occasionally achieve lucidity by accident. In any case, I still would be notified, and I am quite capable of confronting Celestia on my own.”
“Actually, you still haven’t explained why you look like her,” Pinkie Pie retorted.
“I believe I did. It is a phenomenon known as ‘coincidence.’ It’s certainly a far more believable scenario than the Princesses sending you into Twilight Sparkle’s mind without a plan.”
“She has a point,” Twilight said. “Do you have a better explanation?”
“Well, yeah,” Pinkie replied. “The Nightmare’s appearance can’t be a coincidence, because she’s a shapeshifter.”
“What— No, I’m not!” the Nightmare protested.
“What do you call it when you turn into mist, then?”
“That’s... merely an incorporeal form. Just because I have multiple forms doesn’t mean I have control over what those forms look like.”
“Luna didn’t have trouble doing it on Nightmare Night. Since you were together for a thousand years, I figure that means she learned it from you, or you learned it from her. But we don’t have to get all snippy about this, since you taught Twilight how to do it. So,” she said, turning to her friend, “how much control do you have over your appearance?”
“Uh... well, it’s just a matter of converting excess magic into mass or vice versa, so theoretically I should be able to transform into any shape, if only for a limited time, but at the moment, I have a lot of difficulty pulling off any shape that isn’t some variation of ‘unicorn.’”
“And why’s that?”
“That’s simple enough: Nightmare told me that I just needed more... practice....” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened.
“Well, isn’t that interesting? Now, I’m just a simple country earth pony,” Pinkie Pie said as she strolled over to the Nightmare with a noticeable swagger, “but it seems to me that one thousand years would give a pony an awful lot of time to practice.”
“Whatever your perception may be, you have still not offered an alternative that is superior to my explanation,” the alicorn replied icily.
“Hmm....” The earth pony paced around her opponent thoughtfully, squinting her eyes and occasionally cocking her head to the side.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the Nightmare to become irritated. “Have you anything to say, or not?!”
“Actually... I think I do.”
“You think you know what’s going on?” Twilight asked.
“I wouldn’t say that I know; it’s more like a hunch, really. But my hunches have had a pretty good track record lately.” The earth pony walked back to her spot between the Nightmare and Twilight, and began to relate her theory—no, wait, her hypothesis.
“Well, the Nightmare obviously thought that one of the Princesses would come into your head, because she got really, really offended when she realized that I was here all by myself, like I wasn’t any sort of threat to her, even though she knows perfectly well that I used to live here when I was your imaginary friend, since she’s spent the past few months getting you obsessed with how I got to the real world. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m feeling kind of offended myself. I mean, even in the real world, my imaginary friend powers are nothing to sneeze at, but she just went and launched, like, a massive snot rocket all over them. You know, the runny-nose kind that are all slimy and germy and gross and—”
Twilight Sparkle looked mildly nauseous as she cut off her friend. “Okay, first of all, that’s disgusting, and second, you’re getting off topic.”
“Huh? Oh, right. Anyway, she also got really ticked off when I mentioned the possibility of you making her a body of her own. I mean, she even went and did the Royal Canterlot Voice thing. Then she said she had something better in mind, or something like that. I wasn’t really sure what that meant, since she was doing that really quiet bad-guy muttering thing that mustache-twirling villains do when they’re making vague references to their evil plans.”
“And the fact that she was muttering to herself proves that I shouldn’t trust her?” Twilight asked skeptically.
The Nightmare’s momentary burst of confidence upon hearing this question was crushed moments later when Pinkie Pie answered, “Don’t be silly. You shouldn’t trust her because she’s been lying about her real intentions.”
“What?!”
“Think about it: she set up traps to catch one of the Princesses while you were asleep. And, because you don’t really think straight while you’re dreaming, she could fight Celestia—specifically her, since she didn’t mention anything about confronting Luna a while back. She told me she had contingency plans for both, so I’m guessing she would have held Princess Luna’s consciousness hostage in your brain to try and force Celestia to show up. Well, that, or she was gonna send her back with a message that said Princess Celestia was a big bedwetting doody-head or maybe something else that wasn’t very nice. Anyway, if the Nightmare wins the fight, she gets something ‘better’ than her own body as a prize: Celestia’s body. Then, she wouldn’t have to spend any time earning anypony’s respect, because she could just steal Princess Celestia’s life, and pretty much everypony loves her, except for the ones that don’t. In other words, I guess what I’m saying is that the Nightmare looks like Celestia because she wants to be Celestia.”
“This is utterly absurd!” the alicorn cried. “Even if I wanted others to believe I was that condescending elitist, it would only be because it’s a convenient shortcut to getting things done.”
This seemed to confuse Pinkie Pie, who scratched her head and scrunched up her nose. “Really? So what are you gonna do?”
“This has already been answered for you: Celestia’s errors need to be corrected.”
“That’s what Twilight wants. What are you gonna do?”
“I... er... I will ensure that proper respect is paid to those who have earned it.”
“That’s what Luna wanted. What are you gonna do?”
The mare began sweating, which finally caused a few strands of her black coat to emerge from beneath the white paint. “I... um... well... that is....”
The earth pony’s smile wasn’t exactly smug, but it had that I’m-gonna-win quality that made ponies who were losing so ticked off that they didn’t need to use bug repellent. “You haven’t thought that far ahead, have you? Because taking over Celestia’s body has been your goal the whole time.”
At this point, Twilight Sparkle interjected herself into the conversation once again. “This is an interesting theory, Pinkie Pie, but why would the Nightmare go to all that trouble? Why not just enter Celestia’s mind?”
“My point exactly!” the Nightmare exclaimed with a relieved look on her face. “There is no reason to assume that my actions were not a good-faith effort.”
Pinkie Pie didn’t even blink: “Luna told us that the Nightmare can’t do anything without her host’s cooperation. If she tried to go straight into Celestia’s mind, she’d get absolutely clobbered, because Celestia controls everything that goes on in her own head. But if the two of them faced off in somepony else’s mind—more than likely yours, since it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to go to the trouble of setting up traps in your dreams if the Nightmare wanted to do it in Apple Bloom’s head—that would be a different story.”
“But why would she want to face Celestia while I’m dreaming? I can’t help her then.”
“You’re in charge, remember? If Princess Celestia entered your mind, she and the Nightmare couldn’t fight without your permission—but would you really give it?”
“Well... no, not unless all the other avenues had been exhausted.”
“But what if you were in the middle of a dream? Would you be willing to let the Nightmare just do whatever she wanted if you were too busy dealing with giant mutant three-toed sloths who were trying to flood Canterlot with chocolate syrup?” Twilight Sparkle had had that one multiple times when she was a filly.
“Uh... I guess... well, maybe. I mean, it’s... it’s not so bad,” the unicorn replied as she tried to process this information. “I’d be happy to keep Princess Celestia in my mind while the Nightmare got everything taken care of.”
“And how long would that take? What would she be taking care of?”
“Well, she’d be helping me take care of Equestria, I guess.”
“So, it would be for a really long time, then.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“Which means that it would basically be like a role reversal thing for them.”
“You could put it that way.”
“Do you really think the Nightmare would risk the chance of Celestia getting you to change your mind the same way she got you to change it?”
The unicorn didn’t respond right away—at least not verbally. Then again, the sudden chill that blew through the Hall of Knowledge from no discernible origin, further scattering the papers that littered the floor, would have made any answer redundant.
“Would you let her live?” Twilight Sparkle finally asked the Nightmare with a stone-faced expression.
“I... I’m not sure I comprehend your meaning.”
“Princess Celestia. If you fought her, and you had the opportunity to show her mercy, would you let her live?”
“I should think that scenario rather unlikely, given the amount of power necessary to—”
“Answer my question!”
“Ah, well...” the Nightmare seemed to be racking her brain for an adequate response. Eventually, she settled on a qualified rejection: “If the situation you describe actually came about, I believe that the mere fact of Celestia’s entrance into your mind would be adequate evidence that she poses too great a threat to our plans to allow her consciousness to continue existing.”
Twilight Sparkle listened carefully to this justification, but it was abundantly clear that she found it wanting: “‘Our’ plans? ‘Our’ plans?! You don’t have any plans, or you would have been able to answer Pinkie’s question! Well, now I’m asking you: what exactly do you plan to do in Celestia’s body that I can’t accomplish with your assistance?”
“I... I can....”
“She can be Celestia,” Pinkie Pie stated, “but you would never even want to try.”
“Is that it? This is all just an elaborate plan to... to commandeer the Princess’ body?!”
The Nightmare was sweating profusely now. “Well, uh, as you said, this is a symbiotic relationship. We’re helping each other reach very different goals—”
“We agreed that nopony was going to be hurt unless it was necessary!”
“But... but you saw how intransigent Celestia was being....”
“That doesn’t justify trying to destroy her consciousness!”
Even though the Nightmare’s appearance hadn’t changed, she somehow seemed a lot smaller than she had five minutes ago. “She probably would have invaded your mind anyway.”
“Only because you would have forced her hoof, and even then, she’d only be doing it because she wanted to help me! You... you just don’t get it! It doesn’t matter that we’ve been arguing. It doesn’t matter that she won’t help me. It doesn’t even matter that I’d do a better job of ruling Equestria! Princess Celestia... she’s my friend... one of my best friends... and you wanted to kill her. You’ve been trying to murder my best friend and you tricked me into helping you!”
Pinkie Pie had seen Twilight get angry before; the unicorn’s initial attempt at studying her Pinkie Sense had proven so frustrating that she briefly expelled a considerable amount of raw magical power, creating the illusion that she had burst into flame for nearly five seconds. But this... this was nothing like that. This was... well... it was scary. Twilight Sparkle’s facial expression suddenly shifted from “indignant” to “neutral.” For nearly a minute, she just stared at the Nightmare, as if she was waiting for the alicorn to react. For her part, the Nightmare couldn’t seem to do anything but stare back into her ally’s eyes, which now looked as cold as they’d been on the night of her argument with Celestia. Speaking of which, the room’s temperature had dropped considerably, and soon all three ponies could see their breath fogging in front of them. Pinkie Pie briefly considered trying to break the silence, but she held back when she looked at Twilight’s face once again. The unicorn’s eyes, though they might have possessed a calculating gaze, were starting to water up. Eventually, a single tear escaped from its duct and ran down the side of the librarian’s muzzle.
And then all Tartarus broke loose.
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Is this where I'm supposed post one of those oh-so-clever macros about a brilliant shitstorm is gun b gud or something?
To be honest, I thought that the Nightmare would end up being just another imaginary friend of Twilight, in the image of Celestia. Great chapter, looks like the nightmare is in for a world of pain.
...wow.
> And then all Tartarus broke loose.
My prediction exactly, so I can't add anything more. Except maybe this: Take cover Pinkie!
You cliffhanging foal of a nag.
Suddenly, in the physical world: BOOM.
I think we're about to see precisely what a mind that is likely the most powerful non-Alicorn on Equestria is capable of doing when it gets mad. I don't think it will be pretty.
I actually thought that the Nightmare was Luna's imaginary friend that she made up to replace Celestia.
1110545 The last line pretty much tells you to.
static.fjcdn.com/comments/+_282a59415992130e69ed94253d24fae3.jpg
Neat~!
I have to say that the Nightmare's arguments are valid, they are just not what Twilight wants to hear. I would suggest a hasty retreat from Twilight's mind lest the Nightmare be destroyed.
F#$^%#@ CLIFFHANGERS
Wonderful chapter.
You know those moments in the Ace Attorney games, where the main character proposes something that seems completely absurd and just goes along with it for awhile until they reach the conclusion of, "wait a minute... it does make sense!"
This entire chapter.
1110545 No, this is more likely where you cry out with rage over a cliffhanger, damning the author for being so good at writing and promising him to hunt him down if the next chapter doesn't get done soon. You know, the usual.
Welp
Looks like Pinkie is going to have to save the Nightmare from Twilight. Sure the Nightmare deserves everything that's coming to her but the long term trauma to Twilight from murdering another sapient being in a rage just wouldn't be worth it.
Very dramatic and the big reveal. All well executed and very enjoyable. Nice work, I look forward to chapter 6
1110599
Did you get that from Upheaval: Breaking Point?
Your prereaders were right, perfect place to end the chapter.
Even though it's an evil, evil cliffhanger.
1110634 - That was my running theory throughout this chapter. Celestia made Discord, Twilight made Pinkie Pie... Luna made Nightmare Moon, but my thought was though she had gained sentience and quite a bit of power, she wasn't corporeal. She was stuck inside a pony's mind and wanted to take over Celestia's body to have one of her own.
A fixation on Celestia, plus the entire missing the crucial element, a corporeal body.
And at this point, Nightmare tries to snap Twilight out of it, and this is all she gets in reply:
There is no Twilight, only Z̷̷U̧̕U̧͏̷̨́Ļ̶͠
1110753 No, don't intend to read that one. I originally typed "son of a bitch," then decided to half-assedly ponify it.
1110697
YES, that's exactly what this chapter was!
1110656
The Nightmare can't escape - Pinkie could, but only by leaving the mind and returning to the physical plane. Other than that, all exits are sealed, and all Tartarus is breaking loose. The Nightmare is -screwed-.
scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5494-1338655800908.gif
Another great chapter, I thought you said this was going to be the last.
Is your "last" last chapter an epilogue or is it a regular chapter?
1110836 - No, it got split into two chapters because it was so long (and because there was a natural chapter break in the middle --- one never passes up the opportunity for a sadistic cliffhanger).
Wow, I'm really enjoying this story!
I thought I read somewhere that this would be the last chapter. How many will there be?
*grabs popcorn and a beanbag chair* nightmare is ******
Gah! Grrr! Cliffhangers....
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/22463__safe_scootaloo_animated_sweetie-belle_hearts-and-hooves-day_oh-come-on.gif
1110865 - Right now, I'm planning for six, though I haven't decided if the epilogue will get its own chapter yet. I'm playing that one by ear.
1110634
That's what I've been saying since chapter one: 845833 !
And for the next
movechapter I summon Hotblooded Pinkie!i.imgur.com/vc3vN.jpg
“Well, isn’t that interesting? Now, I’m just a simple country earth pony,”
I'm liking where this is going.
I DEMAND MOAR
The Nightmare is actually very easily flustered. I originally had an image in my mind of some kind of Doc Scratch-esque manipulator.
1110718
It's kind of hard to call her a sapient being when she's a disembodied magical parasite. Difficult to say it was ever alive at all.
Why is it those last two paragraphs gave me an image of the 10th Doctor?
Fragging cliffhangers...
But I want to know what Tartarus looks like, Kwakerjak!
So upload the next chapter fastfastfast!
*is vibrating up and down*
That is all.
Journcy Out.
If I was in Twilights mind right now I will be saying this. "F^ck, F^ck, RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY."
Ow! Right in the cliffhanger!
Ok, ok... Constructive criticism...
Nope. Nothing comes to mind. You seem to be doing a good job.
I was half expecting Pinkie to start breaking out into 'Objection's and 'Take That's >_> Looking good!
And the sheep hits the fan. Awesome chapter, I was getting huge Phoenix Wright vibes from reading this. Pinkie yelling Objection! after each of the Nightmare's arguments...
Well, right now, my mind is full of f*ck.
Aw, man, cliffhanger!
Loved this chapter. The confrontation was brilliant.
Well Nightmare isn't going to exist in 5 seconds. Those not in Twilight's mind are going to walk in on her drooling in the mirror while it's all Iwa Jima in her head.
1110781
What the buck is that? Is that even a word or is it some kind of reference? `
1110782
just wondering who it gets if I change the number
1110834
was that really in the show
uh wow, moon's lack of planning backfired... poor nightmare moon, i think shes about to learn a new world of suffering.
1111038
mm, she has plans, she can hate and lie, she can communicate and she has goals/wishes for her own future; I would call that alive.
1111433
>Hasn't seen Ghostbusters
Get the hell off my internets!