A New Nightmare

by LittleAngelStocking

Chapter Thirteen - Haunted

Spike couldn’t remember actually ever going into the Everfree forest – he had a couple of times, but never this deep. And the ponies weren’t lying when they said it was creepy. The thick canopy of leaves blocked out the moonlight, occasional breaks in the green would open up, allowing the faintest hint of light in. The trees were gnarled, and the branches creaked eerily in the wind, and the plants were all ugly and dead looking.

Twilight progressed forward without a word or complaint, ignoring him when he tried to talk to her.

An icy mist covered the forest floor, but Twilight didn’t seem to care. She didn’t care when she got sliced up by brambles either, she just continued forward without a flinch.

Spike lightly touched Twilight’s chest-piece with a claw. It made a slight ‘ding’ noise, and he quickly tugged his arm back as though Twilight would scold him, but she didn’t say anything.

“Where are we going?”

Twilight didn’t answer.

Spike’s attention was drawn by a hoot, and he looked up. “Is that Owlowiscious?”

But before Twilight could react, the owl swooped down, sweeping past her head. She blinked, stepping back, but then continued forward, her walking pace quickened to a trot.

The owl turned in the air and flew back towards them. Angel Bunny was riding the owl, and Peewee was clutched in his talons. When he dove past, Angel jumped off of his back and onto Twilight’s, and he started tugging at the armor with his tiny paws.

“Angel?” Spike blinked, and the rabbit gave him a glare, pointed at the indigo piece, and continued trying to tug it off.

“Hey! Cut it out!” Twilight cried, rearing back and nearly knocking Spike off.

Owlowiscious swooped down again, dropping Peewee behind Twilight. The baby phoenix grabbed her tail in his beak, and tugged back, using his wings to try and stay in one place.

Twilight broke into a gallop, and Owlowiscious followed, swooping down in front of her in vain attempts to stop her.

“GET LOST!” she shouted, lowering her head and swishing her tail, in an attempt to shake Peewee off.

Spike wrapped his arms around her neck, trying not to get thrown off. Finally, mid-run, Twilight managed to kick Peewee off, and jerking her head back enough to startle Angel, he fell off as well.

“Twilight, slow down!” Spike cried.

“Shut up!”

Spike obeyed, and buried his face in her neck.

After a good while, Twilight slowed to a trot, breathing hard. “I think… I lost him…” she wheezed, really only talking to herself.

Owlowiscious was nowhere to be seen, he probably couldn’t get to this part of the woods; the trees were thick, the gnarled branches blocking any flight-paths.

The mist was higher and thicker here, and Spike squinted trying to see. He noticed the sound of Twilight’s hooves on the grass changed to the sound of hooves against wood, and he guessed they were on a bridge.

The passed back into forest, and mist seemed to clear away. “Where are we?” Spike asked, not really expecting a response, but it came:

“The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.”

Spike looked up. “Woah…”

Ahead of them was a large, ancient, crumbling castle. Vines had managed to curl into broken windows and blocks had fallen out of the walls.

Spike poked her shoulder. “Why are we here?”

She didn’t answer, and Spike hung his head.

Twilight headed past the front gates and eagerly walked up the crumbling steps, and into the open door.

Spike noticed a change in Twilight, she seemed… different. He just couldn’t figure it out – the way she was walking seemed more… uptight? Regal? More like Rarity, or a snooty Canterlot pony.

She almost seemed to actually sparkle.

At least, the chest-piece did.

Twilight closed her eyes, letting her hooves guide her. She had only been here once before, but she knew this place like it was home.

You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?

The Elements of Harmony!

But where’s the sixth?

The spark didn’t work!

But that’s where you’re wrong!

No, no!

She looked up at the pedestal in which the five elements had been held. She licked her lips, and looked out the window out at the tower where she and Nightmare Moon had fought. There is where she must go.

She took a step forward, preparing to leave, when a shout from behind her stopped her in her tracks.

“Twilight, stop!”

It was Shining Armor. She turned around, Shining Armor stood at the entrance with Pinkie, Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack with him.

Twilight winced, Spike was about to speak but she silenced him with a spell. Why she did it, she didn’t even know.

“Twilight, are you holding Spike hostage?” Rainbow Dash said menacingly, and Spike shook his head furiously.

Shining Armor took a step forward, “Twily, what are you doing here?”

Twilight was silently panicking, what should I do what should I do?!

“I…” she struggled for the right words, swallowed and started: “Just… just go back! Leave!”

“No,” several ponies said at once, and Twilight gritted her teeth.

“Don’t make me do something I’ll regret!”

“Twilight,” Shining Armor started slowly. “We want to help you… just come on with us, the Princess will help you.”

“You mean lock me up? Ha!” Twilight scoffed, turning her nose up in a not-so-Twilight fashion. Spike cupped his hands over her mouth and somehow managed to break past the spell. “You guys, she doesn’t mean it!”

Twilight shoved him to the ground. “Of course I mean it!”

Rainbow Dash prepared to dive, and Twilight turned and brought a hoof down on Spike’s chest. “Any of you move an inch – a single inch and this scaly beast is in for it!”

Nopony moved – and Twilight picked an alarmed Spike up with her magic and oh-so-slowly backed away. “Nopony move a muscle,” she threatened, then, with a flash of magenta light she and Spike were gone.

“We have to go after them,” Rainbow cried and prepared to dash off when Shining Armor grabbed her tail in his mouth.

“Wait! Rainbow!” he spit out her tail grimacing. “She could be anywhere! Do any of you know where she could have gone?”

All five mares looked at each other. “The tower.”

~~

Twilight and Spike reappeared in the big tower room, Spike dropped to the ground momentarily stunned and Twilight smiled widely, eyes twinkling.

She galloped to the massive, somehow unbroken windows on the other side of the room. The entire room seemed almost untouched by time, whereas the rest of the castle was cracked and crumbling; while this one didn’t look necessarily new, it wasn’t falling apart either.

Spike sat up, rubbing his head and looking at Twilight. “Uh… I don’t hold it against you!” he called. Either she didn’t hear him or simply didn’t care – probably the latter.

Twilight closed her eyes, horn glowing. The entire room seemed to glow with magical energy. Her entire body pulsed with blinding light, and she opened her eyes – glowing white.

She curled up slightly, lowering her head. There was a deafening noise – thunder? And the ceiling broke away, a bright blue light piercing right through it and enveloping Twilight. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them – they looked normal again. She looked around, seeming to realize what was happening. She begun to thrash and shout; “Wait! No! I – I don’t want this!”

Twilight struggled, but then succumbed. She curled up, and Spike got to his feet. “Twilight!” he took a running leap, attempting to pull her down, but the magical energy deflected him; blasting him into the ground.

There was one final explosion of power, and the lights faded. Everything went quiet.

Spike was lying on his stomach; he groaned and lifted his head. He opened his eyes, just in time to see the massive lavender hoof stomp down in front of him, practically paralyzing him with fear. Said hoof was wearing a horse-shoe not unlike Celestia’s, only this one was dark, dark purple, nearly black.

Spike’s eyes slowly traveled up that slender purple leg, up to the chest, wearing that same chest-piece, only the color had gone the same as the shoes, and instead of a turquoise crescent moon it had a familiar pink starburst. His eyes dared to look even further up her neck, and finally into her draconic, purple eyes and that cruel sneer upon her face. Her violet mane swirled around her as though underwater, the pink stripe moving freely. Stars danced across the wavy violet surface.

Spike wanted to run, run far away and never look back and yet he remained rooted to the spot, quite literally frozen solid within her stare.

She cleared her throat, shocking him out of his trance. She smiled at his fearful expression, and spoke in a familiar voice, Twilight’s voice: “Hello there, little Spiky-Wikey,” her use if his nickname both scared him and infuriated him. “It is so good to see you.”

He attempted to back away on all fours, but she held a hoof on his back. “You’re not going anywhere,” She said. It came out casual, almost soft.

“After all,” she drawled. “We need an assistant, and We distinctly remember you saying you refused to leave Our side…”

“I – I don’t want to leave T-Twilight’s side!”

“Ah, but are We not Twilight? She is I, I am her. We are One, now.”

“Twilight!” a shout from the other room, and both Spike and the Twilight-thing looked towards the entrance. Shining Armor galloped in, and then stopped abruptly, skidding to a halt. Rarity crashed into his backside, and Fluttershy crashed into hers, Pinkie, and finally Applejack followed suit. Rainbow Dash would have laughed from her place in the air, but her eyes were frozen to the lavender alicorn, looking at them all with a cold smile.

Shining Armor studied the monster with a look of complete shock, her eyes, her armor, her twisted Cutie-Mark, a combination of both Nightmare Moon’s and Twilight’s. A dark purple night sky, with a pink starburst in the center.

He pawed at the ground, shocked expression going furious. “You monster!” he charged.

Nightmare Moon seemed more amused than anything, and simply yawned as he leaped at her. He was easily deflected, flung to the ground. She chuckled, “Element of Magic, anypony? Ah?”

“Beast!”

“Monster!”

“Ruffian!”

“Jerk!”

“Meanie-head!”

All five mares charged at her in much the same manner, and she smiled a cruel, icy smile. She jumped up into the air, massive wings holding her aloft, she closed her eyes and all five mares and Shining Armor stopped. They all backed away, staring. “Shhh,” Nightmare whispered an eerie echo. “Sleep,” she said softly horn glowing.

“No! Must… resist!” Rarity hissed, taking several steps forward. Pinkie took a step forward, before falling onto her side. “No… Twilight…”

“Mustn’t... listen!” Rainbow was on the ground now, “Can’t! Let her win! Cheating...”

“No!” Shining Armor hissed, struggling to stay awake. “Got to save my sister…”

“Oh... no, no…” Fluttershy murmured, eyes lidding. Angel came out of seemingly nowhere and tugged on her mane, eyes wide in panic, trying to wake her up.

“I won’t fall for your tricks!” Applejack said, eyes already closed, and with a final spark of Twilight’s elongated horn, all of them disappeared.

Spike panicked. “What did you-“

“Hush, they will wake up in the library,” Nightmare Moon smiled. “If they are smart, they will continue on with their lives. If not, they will come after me. And We will punish them.”

Spike glared at her. “You’re a monster! A lying, sick, twisted-“ before he could finish his sentence, Nightmare Moon stuffed a hoof in his mouth. “We dare you to finish that sentence.” She removed her hoof, and Spike was silent.

“That’s a good boy! Now-” but before she could finish, there was a blast of magic, and Luna appeared in the air above them.

“NIGHTMARE MOON!” the Royal Canterlot Voice knocked Spike back several feet, but the Twilight-thing seemed unfazed.

“Ah, and Our beloved sister appears to save the day!” Nightmare drawled, and Luna landed in front of her, taking in the appearance.

Her face twisted in rage. “I DEMAND YOU RELEASE TWILIGHT SPARKLE AT ONCE!”

Nightmare Moon cocked her head, and said: “Dearest Luna, We are your friend!”

“You are no friend of mine,” Luna spat.

“Oh, you’ve no use for Us now?” Now it was Nightmare moon’s turn to be angry. “After all We’ve done for you?!”

“You got me imprisoned for thousand years!”

“No. You got Us imprisoned for one thousand years. We only wanted to help.”

“Silence!” Luna stomped a hoof. “I refuse to continue this pointless arguing! Release Twilight, now!”

“Luna, dearest, look above you!” she motioned towards the moon, visible through the massive hole in the ceiling. “Eternal Night Luna! Is this not what We wanted?”

“As long as Celestia is still here, Sol will still rise!”

“Ah, but she shall not be here for long, Sister.”

“I am not your sister, fiend!” Luna spat. “I never was!”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “That’s not what you were saying a thousand years ago. ‘Oh Nightie, you’re such a good friend. I hope one day we can rule together without Celestia!’” Nightmare Moon was obviously taking great pleasure in watching Luna tremble. Luna pawed at the ground.

“Enough of this madness! You’ve got one chance to free her, or I shall end you!”

“Dearest, We can see you plan to end Us anyway,” Nightmare Moon sneered. “Why should We listen when We are obviously more powerful?”

Luna’s horn glowed. “Then I shall end you now.”

“Ah, but We wouldn’t,” Nightmare moon shook a hoof in the air, “This is her body, as well as mine. Kill me, she dies too.”

The glow of Luna’s horn faded, and her expression went uncertain. Then she scowled; “You are lying! You’re just trying to defend yourself!”

“Go ahead then. Kill Us.”

“Luna, don’t!” Spike cried, “What if she’s telling the truth? Don’t hurt Twilight!”

“I don’t intend to,” Luna said, never taking her teal eyes off of Nightmare Moon’s newly acquired purple ones. “The Elements of Harmony rid me of you, and they shall rid Twilight of you as well!”

Nightmare Moon laughed. Not a booming or threatening laugh, but not a giggle either. “Now, how will that work? We are the Element of Magic. Only together can all six elements work.”

Luna held back a gasp, as the reasons for the possession of Twilight became all too clear.

“You – you!” her wings unfurled, horn glowing. “How dare you!”

“Luna, calm yourself,” Nightmare Moon said in a terrifyingly motherly tone. “We can still be together, can’t we? You and Us, together – rulers of the eternal night sky. Together, Moon and Stars.”

Luna lowered her eyes, seeming to think. For a split second Spike was afraid she would listen, agree, but he quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. Luna would never do that.

Luna closed her eyes, and then opened them, glaring into her evil counterpart. “I shall never betray my friends!”

She charged. Nightmare Moon ducked, and as Luna sailed over her head, the blue alicorn dove down, hooves digging into the lavender one’s sides.

Nightmare Moon attempted to buck her off, but and Luna flew off gracefully. “Fight me!” she yelled, and the Twilight-thing joined her in the air, massive wings causing a rush of air that once again knocked Spike back.

Luna levitated up the bits of stone ceiling rubble, holding them besides her, sharp ends held towards Nightmare Moon like daggers. Luna had no intention of killing this thing – not if it meant Twilight would suffer the consequences as well. No, she needed to somehow incapacitate her – knock her out, injure her badly enough to render her helpless – anything.

“Dearest, you cannot harm Us!” Nightmare drawled. “Not like that!”

“LESS TALK, MORE FIGHT!” Luna screeched, one of her rubble weapons shooting towards Nightmare Moon like an arrow.

This actually startled the mare; she hadn’t actually expected Luna to do anything. She sent a blast of magic forward, it didn’t affect the stone but it did knock Luna back enough to cause her to lose concentration and drop everything.

“We’ll give you credit, We weren’t expecting that,” Nightmare purred, Luna struggled to her hooves.

“I won’t rest until you’re gone!”

“Funny, isn’t it? You sensed my presence all along and yet you still waited until it was too late to take action. That’s why it took me so long – I knew I had plenty of time, and breaking her was quite fun. And now We are one.”

“No, you aren’t one!” Luna shouted. “Twilight’s in there somewhere, just like I was! She has no control!”

Nightmare Moon landed in front of the admittedly smaller alicorn, eying her up and down. Luna glared, silently weighing her options. What if she tried to lift something from behind and knock this thing out? No, no – she would see her horn glowing. She glanced at Spike, who was watching them from behind a pillar. Could she somehow get him to help her?

She couldn’t think of a way how that wouldn’t alert Nightmare. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when a hard, horse-shoe clad hoof struck her in the side of the face. She fell to the ground, stunned.

Nightmare Moon lowered her head, staring deeply into Luna’s eyes, horn glowing magenta. “We said, you have one more chance to join Us! Will you accept? Together we may overthrow the Sun!”

Luna lowered her eyes, deep in thought. Her brows knitted on concentration, and then she looked back up; scowling. “Never.”

A jagged rock hit the back of her head with incredible force.

“Luna!” Spike cried. The sapphire colored alicorn gasped in shock, legs buckling and vision growing hazy. “No! No-“

It struck her again, in the same spot. Luna blinked, vision fading, and then collapsed completely.

“When you awaken, you shall have one more chance. We are merciful.” Nightmare Moon raised her head, and turned to Spike who tried to hide behind the pillar. “Come, Assistant! We have much to do this night!”

“What? No!” suddenly, a magenta aura grasped his tail and tugged him up, “hey!”

He was held upside-down in front of her, squirming.

“You said you refused to leave Our side. We hold you to that,” she smirked. “now!” she tossed him unceremoniously into her back. “Hold tight, little one! We shall be off!”

“Wait, no! Woah!” he instinctively clutched her neck, as she took off into the air, and with a glow of her horn and a burst of magic they were gone.

~~

“Come on Luna,” Celestia paced anxiously in the throne room. “Shining Armor, anypony!”

“Auntie, are you alright?” Cadance stepped up to Celestia, and Celestia gave her a little smile.

“Don’t worry about it, Cadance. I am fine.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Cadance urged gently. “Shining Armor is capable of protecting Twilight, and Twilight is more than capable of defending herself.”

“I know. But… that doesn’t make me worry any less,” Celestia rubbed the bridge of her nose with a hoof.

“I’m sure it’s… it’s…” the smile faded from the pink alicorn’s face, and her eyes slowly trailed towards the door.

“Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Celestia looked at her. Cadance had a special talent for spreading love, and one of her talent ‘quirks’ was the ability to sense emotion. At least, very strong emotions.

“It’s…” Cadance ruffled her feathers, wings unfurling slightly. “Hate. And a lot of it.”

No. Celestia looked at the big double doors with wide-eyed anticipation. If She was coming, the guards would alert her – wouldn’t they?

Don’t jump to conclusions Celestia, she thought, her expression turning neutral. Cadance glanced at her. “Should I call the guards?”

“They’ll alert us if something’s wrong.” Celestia shook her head, and Cadance furrowed her brow. “But didn’t you say Nightmare moon could possess ponies, or somehow magically influence them?”

Celestia opened her mouth, but then closed it. “Well… yes. Actually-“

She never got to finish the sentence; the throne-room double-doors blasted open, thrown off of their hinges and hitting the opposite walls.

“My Celestia, so wonderful to see you again.”

Comments

[Darth Arcaneus]

Well it seems Twilight has gone to the dark side. Shouldn't her name be something like Nightmare Dusk or something along those lines?

[shyguy7829]

Well, now.

[StarshythePegasus]

AJ: Beast!
Rainbow: Monster!
Rarity: Ruffian!
Fluttershy: Jerk!
Pinkie: Meanie-head!
Nightmare: HOW DARE THEY CALL US THOSE NAMES?!?!?!?!?!
Me: Don't look at me....
Nightmare: *looks in my direction*
Me: Eek.... *runs away laughing evilly* MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

[King of Kings]

[PixelMoon]

NIGHTMARE NOVA!