The Shadow of a Dream

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For the average pony in Canterlot City, it was a day not unlike any other. The sun was shining bright in the sky, the birds were singing and flying through the air. All the denizens of Canterlot are blissfully unaware of the panicked discussions working their way through the most important ponies in the entirety of Equestria and The Crystal Empire.

A notice of High Alert had been received from the Crystal Empire, leading to a gathering of the Element Bearers, The new Prince Shining Armour, and the Princesses of the Sun and Moon. The Princess of Love having to remain in the Empire to maintain security and a state of calm amongst those currently at risk.

This gathering took place in one of the old war rooms lying near the base of the castle, all constituents sat on carved stone chairs around an even larger round stone table with a sun insignia carved in the centre, created after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. On that table lay an equally large map of the Crystal City with each and every reported sighting, of the Tyrant King Sombra, marked with a red dot.

For this meeting, a place of security was necessary as everyone in the room with a horn could sense a build-up of dark magic essence, which led the astral princesses to presume it to be some form of scrying from Sombra. So they moved from the usual briefing in the throne room to one of the only rooms big enough in the older wings of the castle built with latent anti-scrying wards in an effort to keep as much of an element of surprise as was possible. However as they would soon find out none of their precautions would have been necessary, and not for the reasons they might have suspected or hoped.

"As I am sure you are all aware," The Princess of the Sun began, "There has been an increase in latent dark magics around Canterlot, but unfortunately that is not the reason we have had to summon you here today."

"No," The Princess of the Moon Continued, "I am sure we would be able to deal with a small increase in natural dark magics on our own without having to rely on our greatest defence to swoop to our aid. What is far more pressing is the source of this increase, which we believe to be anything but natural."

"Yes," Princess Celestia resumed, "We have reason to believe that the increase in dark magic is related to recent sightings in the Crystal Empire, which is why we have Shining Armour here to provide the necessary insight."

"We understand there have been sightings," The Element of Magic, newly crowned princess and de facto leader of the bearers began, "But what exactly could have been seen that causes this level of dark magic to build up over here in Canterlot? The Crystal Empire is hundreds of miles away."

"Shining Armour if you please." Princess Luna Prompted.

"Of Course." Shining Armour turned to face his sister and the other Element bearers, "Over the last week or two we have seen a drastic increase in ponies reporting sightings of King Sombra."

At the mention of King Sombra's name, all six of the bearers gasped. This reveal then prompted the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, to exclaim in shock, "What!? But Spike totally launched Sombra into the Frozen North breaking him into pieces, how the heck could he be back after that!?"

"Truthfully, Miss Dash," Princess Luna picked up, "We have very little understanding of dark magic, and its function, but we are certain that resurrections will take a lot more power than has been detected, so we are unable to definitively say that it is Sombra that is causing the sightings and even the magic that we can sense, we cannot determine the source or the intent of such spells. However, our current hypothesis is that it is some form of advanced dark magic scrying spell performed by Sombra in order to anticipate our actions, leading to our meeting taking place in this war room, warded against many known spells dark magic or not."

Princess Luna would have continued with her explanation, if not for the interruption by one of the members of the royal guard, "Your Majesties!"

Slightly irate that she had been cut short Princess Luna responds, "This better be important lieutenant, what is so pressing you need to interrupt our meeting."

The guard, catching his breath, responds, "Yes your majesty, the build-up in dark magic has now led to incredibly large dark clouds blocking the sun in certain areas."

At the mention of the dark clouds, many of the ponies present felt their muscles tense, as they felt they could already tell what was coming. But despite this tension, the guard continued, "we have reason to believe that this is a prelude to an attack and that an immediate order of military readiness should be ordered."

Shining Armour felt his training as the former Captain of the Guard kicking in as he began to issue orders, "I approve that order, begin mobilising the reserves, also ensure that we have guardsponies patrolling the streets in order to lower the risk of a panic." On hearing this order Princess Celestia nodded, approving the order.

The guard then saluted and sprinted out of the room at the same speed he entered going to relay the orders given to him to those organising the whole guard. "Prince Armour," began Princess Luna, "I believe it shall be necessary for you to remain inside the castle organising the guard, while my sister, the bearers and I, shall begin to search for a possible enemy, and if one doesn't exist, we shall work towards extinguishing these clouds."

"Are you sure your majesty? Would it not be better for a detachment of guards to escort you?" Shining cautioned.

"Shining, as I have said before, when you married my niece we became equals, you can drop the titles." Celestia chided, with Shining blushing ever so slightly, "And while I may be committed to pacifism me and my sister are not as delicate as you seem to believe. I trust that we will be fine joining the bearers in looking for Sombra, assuming that he is here." Slightly embarrassed Shining Armour relented and began to seek guards outside to begin arranging a response.

While the two princesses and the bearers moved to the central long straight road running through the centre of Canterlot. This cobbled street, usually full of vendors from all over the world trying to make a name for themselves in the most prosperous city in all Equus, was completely barren, were it not for the dark clouds that cover the skies it would have been the strangest thing that they all saw that day. However, today was only going to get more confusing for most of those involved.

It began when the clouds began to cover their path along the road and the very distinct sound of steel grating against the cobbles beneath their hooves, this sound put all ponies present on edge ready to engage any potential enemy as they stopped in place. What had come, however, was not necessarily the enemy they were expecting. As the grating noise grew louder they began to hear the sounds of metal-covered hoof falls hitting the same cobbles, and then the clunking of a suit of armour. The closer this noise drew the more they felt their muscles tense.

It felt as if all the noises were right on top of them before they saw even a fraction of the creature bearing down on them, all they saw first was a long deep blue horn coated in the telltale turquoise hue signifying magic use, the fact that this didn't match Sombra's likeness confused all but one of the ponies present, the dawning realisation from the Night Princess caused her to mutter, "Nay... I-It Canst not be". The only one there who heard her was her sister stood directly next to her, which caused Celestia to turn her head for a brief moment out of concern for her sister.

However this brief distraction doesn't slow the reveal of the so-called villain that they must face and the next step they took revealed the next piece of the puzzle that was a set of pearl white teeth shining through the darkness, these teeth unsettled the onlookers as they were not the teeth of a pony despite the muzzle that they rested inside, they were clearly the sharpened teeth of a predator, each and every tooth looking sharper than the last. To further the feeling of discomfort the arrangement that these fangs gave was that of a wide grin.

And then to further the fear that was beginning to form in the backs of a few of their minds, a pair of turquoise eyes joined the mouth and still lit horn in the fog, and what made these eyes stand out from the rest, was their unquestionably snake-like pupils, shining like solitary stars in a sea of darkness, locked onto the ponies that they were moving towards. This visage caused Princess Luna's breath to hitch, putting the pieces together before those around her. But that was impossible, it had to be, she had no body to inhabit... did she not?

But it was at this moment that their obscured opponent finally revealed herself fully, to the shock and gasps of all those gathered. As the one revealed was none other than The Queen of Nightmares and Misstress of Darkness herself, Nightmare Moon, covered from horn to hoof in intricately carved blue plate armour, heavily decorated with all of the phases of the moon, the centrepiece on her chest being an eclipsed sun covered by the moon, her headgear more akin to a crown with no faceplate or head covering merely a trim piece following the curves of her head with five spikes coming out near the horn, allowing her astral mane, full of galaxies, nebulae and moons to flow far behind her body, giving her an aura of majesty and dominance over all those present, and acting more as a cape than a mane. The sword by her side, whose hilt was enveloped in the same glow as her horn, was as equally ornate and moon covered as the armour she wore. The sword would more accurately be called a claymore with a crescent hoof guard, with engravings going all the way up the blade to the tip and easily sharper than any of the weapons in Canterlot City.

However, the appearance of Nightmare Moon instilled barely any fear when compared with what she held within her magic aura, it was a brown cloth sack roughly the size and shape of a head... and it was dripping, dripping a dark red liquid that many hoped to be some sort of sauce, but the realist in all of them knew that it wouldn't be. The Nightmare held the bag high next to her as if to show off her accomplishment, but any boasting that she could have done was cut short by an angered cry of outrage by the Nightmare's former patron, Princess Luna.

"HOW DAREST THEE RETURN FOUL NIGHTMARE!?"

This shout snapped the elements out of their stupor as they banded close together prepared to use the elements, but they were once again disrupted by the Nightmare when the only response they received was a short laugh, followed by more of her grin. But Celestia noticed she was unravelling the knot on the red-stained sack that she had, and what emerged was what they hoped that they wouldn't see, it was the decapitated head of a pony, however, the pony that it was defied their expectations. The head that was pulled out had a dark grey coat and an even darker mane, it was instantly recognisable as the head of the pony who was the biggest potential threat no more than 2 hours ago, former Tyrant of the Crystal Empire, Sombra. But there was one major difference this head now lacked its characteristic red-tinted sharpened horn and in its place was a hole, exposing the brain matter that linked to it.

The nightmare then held up the head and turned to look at it, seemingly admiring the effort she put into claiming it for herself. After a few seconds of her self-indulgence, she then floated the head over to the hooves of the one who imprisoned her on the moon more than a thousand years ago, in what was a thinly veiled challenge. She then stared deep into Celestia's eyes, grinned and turned her back and then began to walk away.

Both Luna and Celestia were unfortunately acquainted with many corpses in their time before and slightly after the unification of Equestria, in the many wars that took place with the surrounding kingdoms. However the same could not be said for the six element bearers that upon the reveal of this trophy, the faintest of hearts, Rarity and Fluttershy, almost immediately fainted. Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack, when being confronted with their mortality grew incredibly tense and felt unable to move, Twilight began to unleash the contents of her stomach upon the cobbles, staining them, and Pinkie Pie had the tamest reaction of them all, her mane and tail appeared to deflate and become straightened in seconds.

As Nightmare was walking away, Rainbow was barely able to get her nerves under control to release a shout of, "W... Where are you going!?" This caused Nightmare to halt in her exit to turn her head and stare Rainbow down. This caused the prismatic mare to wilt under her gaze, and upon seeing that, the dark mare's smile seemed to widen even further, leading to a hearty laugh as she turned back around to walk into the darkness that she had created, disappearing and leaving no trace of her presence other than her trophy left at the hooves of Celestia.

The Nightmare Never Ends

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Nightmare Moon awoke with a start, this start being a hefty drop of water impacting her nose. As she awoke she began to feel pains all over her body, from dull aches to hash cuts.

For the Nightmare, this didn't make sense, this feeling of pain and dampness on her nose shouldn't be happening. She should have been dispersed by The Elements of Harmony and should be dead, but she wasn't. Strangely it was the pain that she felt that gave her the most comfort, because it truly said to her, that she was alive, and that she had her own body.

She was no longer a spirit.

This sentence flashing through her mind sent a shiver up her spine while also giving her an even bigger question, how?

However, to her at that moment, that question was not important. What was important was what. More specifically what am I going to do? Because she entered the battle with the element bearers fully expecting one side to be wiped out, she made her peace with that fact, but now here she was her own pony with a past coated in the blood of misdeeds, and probably one of the most recognisable figures in all of pony history, where is she to go from there?

It was at that point she began to get up and observe her surroundings, fortunately, her catlike irises allowed her to see in the incredibly dark room she found herself in, a few torn pennants and banners upon the wall, unlit torches held in their sconces, and strange faintly blue cracks spiralling out from where she laid.

The most pressing issues were all of the cuts and scrapes over her body, so she decided that the banners in the room could be done without and returned if needed, so she lit up her horn for the first time and took one down to fashion it into some form of bandaging for the more nasty injuries.

After spending a few minutes on that, and comparing herself to a mummified corpse, she began to explore more than just the room she woke up in. The sole way out of this room was a spiral staircase only going up, and having nothing better to do, Nightmare followed them upwards.

As she moved upwards her mind wandered back to her first thoughts, how, how was she alive, with her own body no less. She couldn't think of any way besides some necrotic ritual, but even then there should have been more magical residue than what there was when she awoke. But once again there wasn't enough time to ponder that question, as she had reached the top of the stairs, and looked out onto one of the many stretching hallways in all of the castles Celestia has any say in.

It was at this point she had a choice to make, left or right. After pondering this decision for a second she went with the left, a decision that would turn out to be the right one when she turned the corner, right into one of the armouries whose contents weren't transported to Canterlot when the switch of capitals was made. That made this room a veritable treasure trove of armour, weapons, but most importantly a disguise, as in this room there were a few cloaks, allowing her to hide the vast majority of her body without the need for magical concealment.

After a quick inspection Nightmare was able to find a pair of saddlebags that she could use, alongside a cloak and one of the swords that were in the best condition, as a millennium of decay and rust didn't do this armoury any good when it came to its stock. Unfortunately, there wasn't any armour that would fit her or would be in good enough condition to wear.

After assuring that the sword she had appropriated was hidden under the cloak she had wrapped herself in, she then donned the saddlebags she found and moved onwards out of the armoury feeling far more secure than she had when she woke up. The only thing left was to disguise her mane and eyes, which was no simple feat, but for a creature who lived in dreams, the magic of an illusion was not beyond her.

The ability to make her iris more round and to whiten her sclera were not beyond her abilities, deciding to keep the turquoise irises as they were comfortably familiar to her. She was even able to shorten and dull her horn making it even easier to blend in given her height was enough of a giveaway. All she needed now was something sufficiently reflective to square away any inconsistencies in her disguise. She also began to feel a sense of urgency as the new hallways she moved down had windows, or where glass windows used to be. She could tell that the sun was rising and so were the chances of someone discovering her, as she could no longer rely on the cover of the night and the shade to hide herself inside.

With a renewed vigour she trotted quickly through the next door at the end of the hallway and into a room that looked like one of the old dining rooms, however, something was different. This was a room that Nightmare remembered from her time as Luna's shadow, it was the dining room in which both celestial rulers ate their meals together as the duties passed over from day to night or vice versa. From this recognition, she now knew where she was and where she needed to go to get from directly under the noses of the Elements and the aforementioned princesses.

But before she moved to keep hidden, she needed one last thing, she needed sustenance, or more specifically a way to get that, and she knew where the treasury was. And while she couldn't consume the contents of that treasury, if her disguise was sufficient she could use the contents to get herself some sustenance. So now that she knew where she was she was able to navigate her way to this treasury, a left, a left, and a right, and there she was standing in front of what used to be an immensely reinforced room and door, now fallen victim to the brutal passages of time.

She was easily able to push the door open and out of her way only to see a disappointing amount of money compared to when it was the main storage location of all the crown's bits in the princessdom, however it was more than enough to fit into her saddlebags and to make her way out of the ruins and through the Everfree Forest.

While the forest was known to be immensely dangerous to any of the creatures that pass through it, many of those creatures, however, weren't a nigh immortal being of the moon. So she made her way out of the back of the ruins through the foliage to stay hidden from anyone that may be making the journey to the ruins that day, if there even were any, it helps to be safe than sorry, however.

Now for most ponies trying to make their way through the Everfree forest off the beaten path was suicide, in all but name, but as was mentioned before, most ponies aren't an extremely powerful paragon of the moon, so Nightmare was able to rely on a little lunar magic trickery. What she was able to do was use her stronger magical connection to the moon to ensure that she was always moving north, even while the sun was rising, she was able to utilize the trace magicks to make her way through the thick of the forest.

The one thing she didn't anticipate however was the complete lack of any and all creatures as she made her way out of the worst of the brush, it seems as if the inhabitants of such a forest knew that they stood no chance against her. As if they could sense her aura, and stayed out of her way, she wasn't complaining, though, as it made her escape far easier. If only it weren't for how overgrown this forest became, she might've been out by now, the sword she had borrowed coming in incredibly useful slashing the vines and outreaching branches.

After a few hours of chopping her way through the forest, she came across a clearing and at its centre a river and, as luck would have it, it was flowing in the direction she was walking, giving her an easy path away from Ponyville and into other regions of Equestria. But before she continued on her path, she took a break and sat by the river, and used the time to truly ponder her existence.

Questions like, why do I have a body or why am I alive? She obviously was the result of some spell or another, but who did it and why? What purpose would resurrecting Nightmare Moon serve if they weren't there to immediately curry favour with her? Was it some form of a cruel practical joke from the heavens or did she serve an even greater purpose that she herself couldn't foresee? As she began to fall deeper into thoughts, she felt them begin to consume her and her breathing and heart rate begin to increase. What am I supposed to do after I get a new life, what if someone finds out?

She wasn't conscious of the amount of time she spent overwhelmed by her thoughts, but as luck would have it she was snapped out of her thoughts by a sharp pain in her snout. It seemed that in that unknown span of time she had laid down with her head and snout suspended directly over the water, this aforementioned snout being the perfect target for a duck swimming down the river. This duck took a few quick snaps at her snout before swimming off further down the river.

This small gesture of hostility surprisingly calmed Nightmare down just enough to look at her situation in a new light. The sheer audacity, confidence and indifference, to who she was, shown by this duck made her think to herself, "So what! So what, if I don't know why I'm here! I am Nightmare Moon, I don't need someone to tell me what to do! I can live for myself, and that is just what I'll do!" With this newfound confidence, she shot up to her hooves, full of a newfound purpose. She thought that if she was brought back it was to wreak havoc most likely so, in part to spite those who she believes attempted to recruit her, and in part to atone for the harm she lead in the past. She was going to lead her own path of justice and retribution against those who choose to harm the innocent creatures of the world.

The first port of call of this harbinger of justice was to follow this river along to find some sort of town with rail or road connection to make her way away from Ponyville and the Capital as soon as possible. So with a renewed vigour she once more began a trek through this forest, but this time along, her trek became more of a calm walk thanks to the fact that she was mostly out of the forest by now and the river that she remained by kept most of the bushes and branches, she needed to cut through, out of her way.

While walking down this impromptu path she used this time to use the water as a mirror to subtly adjust her disguise to hide under the radar as much as she could. The pupil could be rounder, sclera white enough, adding a few light reflections to her eyes and all of the small details nopony would even think about when creating an illusion, one of the bonuses of being one of the longest working illusionists, she presumed.

And finally, after one or two more hours of walking she saw it, right there in the distance, a small village no bigger than ponyville, the typical thatched rooves, the taller bureaucratic building near the centre including a bank, a forge and armoury, fields of strawberry bushes, and ponies, many, many ponies just going about their day, blissfully unaware of who had just all but entered town. And at this moment, Nightmare Moon allowed herself to feel that one bit of satisfaction: she wasn't out of the woods yet, but at least she was out of the Everfree Forest, and into greener pastures.

And so, she began to walk forwards, into town.

The KnightMare

by Derpsterette

The Shadow of a Dream

The Nightmare Never Ends