Rainbow Dash finds Nightmare Moon's helmet and becomes the mare we all fear.
When Rainbow Dash finds Nightmare Moon's helmet, she becomes possessed by anger, hatred, and jealousy, she becomes the new Nightmare Moon, and wreaks havoc over Ponyville. Can her friends stop her, or will Rainbow be beaten by the ultimate enemy, herself?
Prelude: Nightmare Moon was at a loss for words. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, the night black alicorn mare of darkness knew that she would eventually meet her end. But, she had always thought that it would be at the hooves of an army, or maybe her sister, the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia, not at the hooves of six young fillies, most of whom were not even eighteen years of age! Nightmare Moon looked across the group of ponies, and despising all six of them.
Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter A pink party pony with a puffy, bubble gum pink mane and tail, and a trio of balloons for her cutie mark.
Fluttershy, the element of kindness A butter yellow pegasus with a long, flowing, soft pink mane and tail, long enough to hide behind, which-Nightmare Moon suspected-was its purpose, as she was the most timid of the group, her cutie mark was a trio of pink butterflies.
Rarity, the element of generosity, A white, slender, and graceful unicorn with a deep blue, curled mane and a tail that had once been of the same design, but for some reason, it was cut short, Nightmare Moon did not know the reason for this, but she pushed that trivial thought out of her mind, after all, that could hardly have anything to do with how the six fillies managed to get here. Upon the white unicorn's flank was a set of three diamonds which served as her cutie mark.
Applejack, the element of honesty, an orange earth pony, with a mane and tail the color of hay, a splash of freckles across her face, and a cowpony hat that was tilted slightly back, she was stronger than the other five fillies, and had a grouping of three apples for her cutie mark.
Twilight, the element of magic, Obviously, she was the leader of the group. A lavender unicorn mare with a special talent for magic, as shown by her cutie mark, a blueish-pink six-pointed star, with several smaller stars surrounding it. The unicorn's mane and tail were a shade of purple, with streaks of bright lavender. They were well groomed and had just a hint of being unkempt.
Finally, her eyes alighted on the youngest of the group, a pegasus named Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty. She was a sky blue pegasus with an aerodynamic, yet somewhat edged, form. She had a rainbow colored mane and tail, rose red eyes, and a rainbow colored lightning bolt serving as her cutie mark.
Nightmare Moon had to guess that Ms. Dash was no more than sixteen or seventeen years of age. It was because of this, that Nightmare Moon had assumed that she would be easy to manipulate, she had been mistaken when Rainbow turned down the offer to lead Nightmare Moon's team of flyers, the Shadowbolts, to help her friends.
"She will serve her role soon," a voice in the back of her mind told her. Suddenly, as the Elements of Harmony activated, and the multihued, rainbow blast came closer, and as it began to burn every fiber of her being, Nightmare felt like her mind was being shattered, no, it was splitting, all of the anger, hatred, and jealousy that had driven her to become Nightmare Moon was tearing itself away. But, she knew about the Elements, they didn't shatter minds, what was going on? Her answer came from the last place she expected, herself. "Now that you have been weakened, I can carry out the rest of my plan!" the voice was the same that she had listened to for all those years as Nightmare Moon, like a guide in the recesses of her mind. Only now it had become louder, and more real, like the voice was another pony standing next to her.
"What plans??" Nightmare Moon asked the voice, there was no response, "WHAT PLANS?!?" she demanded, still no response, as she was about to scream at the voice, suddenly she realized something, she was no longer Nightmare Moon, her night blue armor had been blown to pieces, and her form had become small and diminutive, she had been turned back into, Princess Luna! She did not see this change, but rather, she felt it, as she opened her eyes, she looked up and saw her sister, Princess Celestia, The regal, stark-white alicorn stood over her, her glistening, multi-hued mane flowing, whether there was a breeze or not, upon her flank was her cutie mark, a yellow sun, there she stood, regal as ever.Luna was so sorry for what happened, when her older sister Celestia forgave her, Luna felt something that she had not felt for a thousand years, happiness.
The armor of Nightmare Moon had been left where it lay, nopony had any desire to take it, the only intact piece was the helmet, and even that was beaten and even bent in some places, to anypony else it appeared to be nothing more than the remains of a once-feared suit of armor, dead weight. But, if somepony stopped and listened to their senses, they might feel a strange tingling sensetion coming from the hunk of midnight blue metal, if they were to move closer, they would hear a strange sound, like the distant slithering of a thousand snakes, and if that pony were to come closer still, they would hear the slithering stop, and a single voice, as black as a starless night whisper "You are not worthy, mortal foal!", and then, that pony would never be heard from, ever again.
Chapter 1 As night falls on the Everfree Rainbow Dash was bored. None of her friends had needed help with anything, cloud busting had been done in a snap, and she still hadn't received a letter back from her idols, the high-flying stunt ponies, The Wonderbolts. This left her with nothing to do but wait. She had planned to keep busy doing work around Ponyville, but there was no work to be done. Fluttershy didn't have any critters that needed herding, Applejack didn't need any apples harvested, and Rainbow's biggest fan, Scootaloo, was with Sweetiebelle and Applebloom, trying to get their baseball cutie marks. Not even Rarity needed any help, and if Rainbow was going to Rarity for help, she was definitely bored. "can't think of anything to do," Rainbow moaned out of pure boredom. Then, she had an idea, "I hear that the bogs and springs in the Everfree forest are wicked good places for stunt flying over," yes, that would be a good way to pass the time until night came and she could prove that the Sonic Rainboom would be 20% cooler during the night. ffffwwwwWWWAZOOooooommm!!! Rainbow had never felt so alive, the rumors were true, the bogs and springs were amazing places to practice flying! As she spun and twisted, she could feel the hot air giving her a lift to her flying. Then, as the sun just started to dip beneath the tallest mountain, Rainbow decided to practice her Sonic Rainboom, "Not because I need it," she thought, " it's just that, I can never be too awesome, am I right Squirt?" Rainbow then realized, "Oh, yeah, right. Well, time to Dash!" she said as she took off. (never saying that again) Rainbow thought to herself as she soared off, going faster and faster. Suddenly, she clipped her wing on a stray branch,"OW!" Rainbow yelled,"Yaaaa!" she screamed as she spiraled downward, her balance thrown off. She tried to right herself, but, it didn't feel like she was falling anymore, but like she was being pulled down, towards a castle ruin that seemed strangely familiar. CRASH! Rainbow crashed into the ruin and passed out. As Rainbow opened her eyes, she realized that she was in the temple of the royal pony sisters, where they had defeated Nightmare moon, sitting in a heap was what remained of her armor, by now, it was nothing more than a pile of rusting scrap. No, wait, there was one armor piece that hadn't seemed to change, the one piece that wasn't blown apart, the helmet. "Rraainboowww," Rainbow Dash stared at the helmet, "did you just talk?" she asked. "Yes, and I want to help you," the voice was like a thousand shadows at once, but then it changed into Rainbow's own voice. "Help me with what?" she asked in response, already slipping into a state of comfort. "Everything, if we work together, all of your dreams could come true. Just imagine it, you, the leader of the Wonderbolts, every stallion and mare will respect you, every foal and filly will want to be just like you. You could be the hero of Equestria. I even see a handsome colt in this future, a Wonderbolt, by the name of Soarin,". As the helmet spoke, Rainbow reached for it, in an almost hypnotic state, the offer was just too tempting to resist, this helmet was offering to help her with everything, and more, who would Rainbow Dash be to decline such a generous offer?She picked up the beaten helmet, not even noticing that she had been away from Ponyville for hours, and the moon was high in the night sky by now. She placed the beaten, night blue helmet on her head. As soon as she did this, the moon went from tonight's current crescent shape, to being full, and suddenly, she felt a seething, overpowering, thought-consuming emotion, hatred. "GGRRRRAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Rainbow dash screamed, as waves of dark energy emanated from her body, fueled by rage and hatred, against Celestia, against her friends, against herself, against all of ponykind. Suddenly, she felt, tired. Rainbow became exhausted, the blast of energy had taken a lot out of her, and fell over into a deep slumber, as the the temple crumbled around her.
"Rainbow?!" Twilight asked desperately, the lavender unicorn mare had been searching for their friend for almost two days.
"Twilight," Pinkie Pie asked "did you find her yet?" The pink pony of party was so worried that her usual puffy pink mane and tail had straightened out, a true sign of her worried state.
"No, I haven't, I'm sorry Pinkie, but Celestia received my letter, and she said that she would send help as soon as possible,"
All of Ponyville was searching for Rainbow Dash, who had disappeared the day before. They first found out that she was missing when the Scootaloo went out to watch her practice and couldn't find Rainbow in any of her usual napping spots. Ponyville was on high alert, pegasi searched the clouds and mountains, while earth ponies searched the ground. Fluttershy was getting help from her animal friends, and even the Wonderbolt Soarin, who had arrived early that morning with a response to Dash's fan letter, was out searching the border of Diamond Dog territory.
Soarin had arrived a few hours ago, with a response to the letter from Rainbow Dash, The Wonderbolt's biggest fan. But Rainbow was more than just a fan, she was a lead pony in the Wonderbolt's Military Academy, as well as the winner of the Cloudsdale Best Young Flyers competition 1000, and was even a VIP with the Wonderbolts at the Grand Galloping Gala.
(Although,) Soarin thought (I don't know if that even counts, since the Gala was a disaster and a half that year.) Soarin is still scared of kangaroos to this very day.
There was one more thing special about that brilliant blue mare. Although, Soarin had a hard time admitting it to anypony, even to himself. He had always, kinda-
"Hey, Soarin!" The pale blue Wonderbolt's thoughts were interrupted by a White unicorn mare with a cobalt and cyan striped mane and tail styled like something out of a neigh-nga graphic novel, on her flank were a pair of bridged eighth-notes, her large, purple sunglasses almost blinded Soarin with the glare from the sun they caused as he turned to look at her.
"Vinyl! What is it, did you find her?" Soarin asked anxiously, hoping that it was good news.
"No, but the princess has sent a squad of Canterlot guards to help, look up!"
Soarin did, and was almost blinded a second time by what he saw, a Celestail Army battle chariot. It should be noted that the battle chariots are known to cause momentary blindness in the light of the day. That is what makes them so deadly in battle, as soon as they arrive on the battlefield, they have a momentary advantage.
Once Soarin's eyes cleared, he could see the chariot clearly. It was almost twice as big as Princess Celestia's own chariot, and was heavily armored, in fact, it was completely enclosed. Small windows in the gold and white Behemoth allowed arrows and magic to be fired out during battle, but the vehicle was mostly used for troop transport. On the side was emblazoned the symbol of the Celestial army, an orange and yellow sun. The chariot was pulled by four heavily armored pegasi, in addition to having the standard armor, they had armored horseshoes, knee plates, light armor on their wings, and a plate on the front of their helmet designed to provide more head protection. (Plus), Soarin guessed, (they also prevented the pegasi from accidentally swallowing bugs mid-flight).
"Come on Soarin!" Vinyl said, "We should go meet up with them when they land!"
Soarin didn't need to be told twice, he and Vinyl started going in the direction of the chariot, back to Ponyville. (Maybe somepony else found Rainbow.) Soarin thought hopefully.
Turns out that Vinyl and Soarin weren't the only ones who had had the idea to meet up with the chariot. When they got back to Ponyville, almost everypony was meeting up with the soldiers from the battle chariot. The only one who wasn't there was Pinkie. She claimed that she already knows what happens because she "read the chapter beforehand", whatever that means. As the troops filed out of the chariot, Soarin felt a surge of hope, if anypony could find Rainbow Dash, it had to be the Supreme Canterlot Paladins (SCP for short, wait, AUGH! MEME ALERT! MEME ALERT!). "Alright troops!" The squad leader-a green and brown earth pony mare with a light green, buzz cut mane-said "We are going to go out there, just like we practiced, and we are going to find that missing pony, wherever she is! And Private Thundercloud,".
"Ma'am?" Said a dark grey pegasus with a black, spiky mane.
"Hatchet brand cologne does NOT attract mares, so don't bother trying to hit on anypony here! Now wash it off!"
It was at this point, that a large bucket of water was dumped on the afore-mentioned pegasus, and he stood there, dripping wet and embarrassed, but still at attention.
(Wow) Thought Soarin, (he's got skill, I wonder if I could stay at attentio-).
RRR-rrr-RRR-rrr
Soarin's thoughts were interrupted yet again, not by Vynill, but by a strange noise, like a weird saw, he turned around and say a blue box fading into view. Once it had stopped fading and was now completely solid, a light brown earth pony colt - with a spiky brown mane and tail, and an hourglass cutie mark - wearing a suit stepped out, coughing as smoke drifted out from inside the box.
"Everypony," said the brown colt, whom everyone knew - more or less - as either "The Doctor" or "Clockwork"
"Doctor," Said Twilight, "While I want to know where Rainbow Dash is, why is the inside of the TARDIS smoking?"
"That's my fault!" Said a male voice from inside the Time And Relative Dimensions In Space machine (hehe, TARDIS, get it?). Suddenly, out stepped a light green unicorn colt, with a disheveled, black and white mane and tail, soft, blue eyes, a pair of rectangular glasses, a splash of freckles across his face, and a cutie mark which resembled a large, 3,000 page, hardcover book. His most defining feature, however, was his necklace, a silver chained amulet, with a solid gold sun on the front, set in the sun's center was a perfectly circular, polished, orange glowing fire ruby.
This pony was one of Twilight's friends, and possibly one of the most interesting and yet, normal ponies in Ponyville.
"Sorry," said the colt, "I guess it wasn't a good idea to try to use the TARDIS's power source to charge up my iHoof," he rubbed the back of his head with an ash-covered hoof, blushing slightly.
"Damn it Bookworm!" Said The Doctor, "I told you that your iHoof would start shooting lasers! But did you listen, of course you didn't! *sigh*However, I suppose you did save us from those cyberponies,".
"I would argue with you, but I'm only supposed to be making cameo appearances, and if I stay too long, I will distract us from the storyline. So, Doctor," Said Bookworm, taking out a packet that read "Rainbow's Nightmare: script","you, Doctor, will take everypony into the Everfree Forest to look for Rainbow Dash," he finished reading the paper and put it down on a desk in the TARDIS,"and I'll just blend into the crowd!" He then walked over and joined the group of ponies.
"Ooookaay," Said the Doctor "Erm, Twilight, you just get your friends and I'll take you into the Everfree Forest to find Rainbow. The rest of you, stay here."
Twilight had gathered her closest friends to come with her into the Everfree forest. She also had The Doctor (well, no duh), and Soarin coming with them. The Supreme Canterlot Paladins had offered to come as well, but Twilight had politely refused. She had said that it would be rather difficult to keep track of her friends AND the Supreme Canterlot Paladins all at once. Also, they would draw less attention from the creatures in the Everfree Forest if they didn't have the guards flanking them, not that Twilight and her couldn't handle the creatures, but all those ponies together with spears and magic would draw the attention of entire hordes of manticores, or packs of Timberwolves, and that is attention that nopony needs. So, the guards had remained in Ponyville.
"Um, Mr., um, Doctor, sir?" Asked Fluttershy, in the eerie silence of the forest, her voice was so loud that it startled everypony, except, of course, The Doctor, "If you don't mind me asking, why couldn't we just take the, um, the blue box that you travel in all the time, I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but don't let that prevent you from answering, I mean, if you want?"
"Well, my dear Fluttershy," replied the Doctor, "It is because, the TARDIS has, per lack of a better word, a mind of her own. If I were to punch in the coordinates to where I found your rainbow friend, then that is most likely NOT where we would land,"
"Then how did you find her in the first place?" Soarin asked, confused by how The Doctor was stating all of this so matter-of-factly.
"Sheer blind luck," answered the pony time lord.
Soarin simply stared, wondering how a pony of science such as The Doctor could believe in something as, UN-scientific as luck. Soarin then decided to just drop the conversation and talk to Twilight at the back of the group instead.
"Do you think Rainbow is okay?" Soarin asked, more than a note of concern present in his tone.
"I hope so," Replied Twilight, "If I know Rainbow, she's alive, but seriously hurt. So we should still hurry,"
"And Soarin," Twilight continued, "can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure," Soarin answered, "what is it?"
"Well," Twilight "Listen," she sighed, "I know about, how you feel about Rainbow,".
"What?!?" Soarin asked, and started blushing furiously, "How do you know?"
"It's kind of obvious," Twilight replied, "you can barely say more than ten words to her without having a mental shutdown, and it's impossible to miss the way you look at her,"
Soarin was blushing furiously,"Ok, but why are you telling me this?"
"Because," Twilight answered, the purple unicorn turning her head to look Soarin in the eyes "I am curious, if any one pony should be worried out of their heads right now, it should be you," Twilight seemed to look at Soarin with an expression of both concern and confusion. "So, why aren't you?"
"Well," responded the blue-maned Wonderbolt, "I'm not panicking, because, well, I just know that she isn't dead."
"How, how do you know that she isn't dead?" Responded Twilight.
"I-" Said Soarin, " I can just FEEL it, I can just feel it in my heart. I know that sounds really cheesy and sappy, but it's true, every word of it."
"I don't think it sounds sappy," replied the Element of Magic, " I think it sounds sweet, just, don't say that to Rainbow Dash, she may be kind of weirded out."
"Yeah, I know, that's kind of why I run in fear when I see her sometimes." Replied Soarin, even with his thick, white coat, he knew that anypony could tell that he was blushing furiously.
Any further conversation to be had was cut off by The Doctor at the front of the group. "We're here!" He yelled, as the seven ponies crossed the rickety bridge that led to the Castle of the Royal Pony sisters, or what was left of it.
It was rather easy to find Rainbow Dash in the ruin, especially since the castle had nearly been leveled. When they found Rainbow Dash, she was unconscious, lying in a pile of rubble with a beaten, dusty, faded purple helmet on her head.
"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!" Said Pinky, bouncing up and down with excitement, "THISCHAPTERWASSOOOOOOWORTHTHRWAIT!"
"Pinky," said Applejack, "what in the name of Celestia's mane are you talkin' about sugar cube?"
"I'm saying that this chapter was worth waiting for, I'm sooooooo glad that it's finally out!" Answered the pink pony of partying.
Applejack decided to just drop it, (It's probably jus' Pinky bein' Pinky), she then walked over to Rainbow Dash and looked at her. "We should prob'ly get this helmet off." She said.
"No time," said Soarin, "we should get her back to Ponyville, RIGHT NOW!" He didn't wait for a response, he picked up Rainbow Dash's unconscious form and began flying back towards Ponyville, the other four ponies following close behind.
The Hospital had been quiet that day, like most other days. In a peaceful little town like Ponyville, there were very few times in which more than three or four ponies needed serious medical care.
Nurse Redheart walked down the hallway, pushing a cart of medical supplies in front of her. She was a white earth pony with a light gray mane and tail. She wore a nurse cap adorned with a red cross, which had a pink heart in each corner. She always found this rather fitting, as her cutie mark was the very same symbol. A coincidence that made her smile a little each time she thought of it.
She wished that she could be outside searching for Rainbow Dash, but she was needed at the hospital in order to keep it running and treat anypony who had hurt themselves while searching for the rainbow maned mare. Despite this consolation that she was needed here, Nurse Redheart still wished that she could be searching for Rainbow. She had become well acquainted with the daredevil pegasus. After all, Rainbow had visited the Ponyville Hospital numerous times, so many in fact, that Nurse Redheart had taken to making a list of how many times Rainbow Dash broke or injured certain body parts.
SLAM!
DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING!!!
Startled, Nurse Redheart dropped a vial of Penicillin that she had been putting away. Wrenched away from her dwellings on the past, all her thoughts were now focused on the present. As the vial shattered on the floor, she ran out the door to the storage room, and galloped into the waiting room as fast as her legs would carry her.
DINGDINGDINGDING!
Soarin hammered on the bell over and over, like some mad pony trying to crush it. Just as he was about to give up and try searching for a pony with medical experience, he turned to The Doctor.
"Hey, Doc," Soarin said, shoving his face up to the The Doctor's, "can you help her?!?"
"Damnit Soarin," The suit wearing pony replied, "I'm a Time Lord, not a doctor! It's just in my title, I always thought it sounded good."
It was at this moment that Nurse Redheart came galloping into the waiting room at full speed. Upon seeing Rainbow Dash in Soarin's hooves, she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank Celestia," she said, "I'm so gla-"
"She's hurt, badly," yelled Soarin, "we need you to help her!"
"Okay," Replied Nurse Redheart, she looked closely at Rainbow Dash, who was breathing heavily and crying in her unconscious state. "Come with me!"
Nurse Redheart led the group of equines to one of the vacant emergency rooms.
"I know this seems extreme-" began Nurse Redheart, but she was interrupted by Rarity.
"Why, it's hardly extreme," the fashionista said, "I hardly know the first thing about medicine and I can tell that Rainbow is in dire need of emergency care!"
As they hooked Rainbow up to some of the room's medical equipment (to get data on her condition and to keep her stable), a small group of ponies gathered, the group consisted of the Canterlot Supreme Paladins, and Applejack's immediate family. The first of the Apples was Granny Smith, a very old, orangy-yellow mare, with her white mane tied up in a bun and an apple pie for her cutie mark. There was also Big Macintosh, a strong, red stallion, with a blonde mane and tail, both cut short, around his neck he wore a large workhorse collar, and sitting on his flank was a large, bright green apple. The third and final of the Apples was Applebloom, a young filly with a cream colored coat, her rose-red mane was adorned by a large, pink bow, her tail was the same color as her mane, and unlike her big siblings, she had no cutie mark.
Also amongst the group were two creatures that were not ponies. The first, was a 1000+ year old Draconequus, he had the head of a pony, two large, green eyes with pupils of varying sizes, his large eyebrows were also of different sizes, his head was adorned with a goat horn on the right side, and a deer antler on the left, he had a single fang in the right side of his mouth, a snake tongue, and a white goatee, to match the color of his eyebrows. His body was even more strange than his head, he had a buzz-cut, black mane, and a body that was light brown towards the front, and got darker in hue and went from fur to scales further down his form. He had the right wing of a bat, the left wing of a pegasus, the left claw of an eagle, the right paw of a lion, his right leg was that of a lizard, and his left leg was that of a goat. The end of his snake-like tail was adorned by a little white tuft of hair, and unlike everyone else in the room, this being, named Discord, stood upright on his hind legs.
"Well," he said in a voice almost as crazy as his body itself was, "I just want to say, that this is not my fault."
"Of course it wasn't, you are much more creative than this," said the second being, in a voice that was not heard, but was, felt, per lack of a better word. This entity was more equine in appearance than Discord, but he was still most definitely NOT a pony.
This new being was tall, as tall as Celestia herself, and his "coat" was pure white. He had no mane, and his tail was not comprised of hairs, but of solid black tentacles. He wore a pitch-black suit, with a white, button-down shirt underneath it, and around his neck, he wore a blood-red tie. His cutie mark was a red circle with an "X" going through it, and it looked like it had been carved into his body, instead of forming on him like everypony else. But this pony's most defining feature, was his face. What was so strange about his face? The fact that he had none! Where this pony, known widely as Slendermane, should have had eyes, a nose, a mouth, cheeks, eyebrows, eyelashes, and a chin, there was just a single, emotionless, blank, head.
Everypony in the room turned to the newcomers, the guards pulled out their spears and advanced on the two, but were stopped when Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stepped in front of them.
"PUT YOUR WEAPONS AWAY, NOW!!!" Yelled Fluttershy, her eyes went crimson with anger, and they seemed to burst into flames, startling everyone in the room. When Fluttershy suddenly returned to her shy, timid nature "please?"
"Yeah!" Added Pinkie, "Nopony hurts my male-draconequus-friend and gets away with it!"
"It's ok Slendy, I'm not gonna let them hurt you." Said Fluttershy, as she turned around and nuzzled Der Großmann for comfort, and his pale white head seemed to turn an ever so faint crimson where his cheeks would be. "tHAnk you, Pinkie Pie and fluttershY, for protecting me and discord." He said.
"Why in the name of Celestia's beautiful flanks are you two protecting those two, things?!?" Yelled Private Thundercloud, who had been staring at Nurse Redheart very intently, another interesting thing was that his wings were slowly unfurling, and it wasn't from anger.
"ENOUGH!" Yelled Twilight, who had removed her saddlebag and unfurled her wings, revealing her royal status.
"P-Princess Twilight?" Stammered the leader of the squad of guards, she immediately bowed respectively, and the rest of the guards followed suit. "A thousand years of apologies, your highness, please forgive us, but I did not recognize you with your saddlebag covering your magnificent wings, please, I beg for your forgiveness, I-"
"There is no need to beg, your mistake only proves that the disguise worked, which is exactly what I was intending." Said the lavender Alicorn, "However, you are not to harm Discord or Slendermane, as they are my friends, and to harm them, would be to make an enemy of me."
"Of course, your highness."
"And there is no need for formalities, in fact, I wish to be treated like any other unicorn unless I say different. That means you refer to me by a much casual name, such as Twilight, Ms. Sparkle, kid, filly, those kinds of terms."
"Of course, your high-, I mean Twilight."
"And private Thundercloud!" Said Twilight.
"Yes?" Replied the rather perverted pegasus.
Twilight's coat turned as white as Celestia's, and her wings, mane, and tail burst into flames, "Nopony talks about Princess Celestia like that!"
After they treated Thundercloud's wounds, they turned their attention back to Rainbow. All except Pinkie, who glared demonic, flaming, blood-daggers at Thundercloud.
"Let this be a lesson to you," She said, "we are keeping this story clop-free, got it?"
Everypony gathered around Rainbow Dash, and looked at Nurse Redheart, waiting for any kind of good news.
"Well," Nurse Redheart began, "physically, she is fine, but I did some quick brain scans, and from what I gathered,"
"Yes?" All the ponies asked simultaneously.
"From what I gathered, her brain activity is off the charts, no normal pony, even the bearer of the element of loyalty, should be able to possess such high levels of brain activity. It's almost like she has two minds, that are both working well into overdrive." Explained the pony of medicine.
"Maybe we can get Princess Celestia to help." Suggested Rarity.
"No," Sard Twilight, "she said that she has a ton of royal business to attend to."
Princess Celestia sat in her room, drinking a nice cup of tea. After taking a sip, she put the cup onto her desk and started up her computer.
"Okay," She said, as she put on her headset, "let's do this."
The screen suddenly showed a magnificent landscape, with forests and mountains and canyons and caves and oceans and deserts. And across the top of the screen, a very famous word appeared, MINECRAFT.
"Well," thought applejack, "what 'bout Princess Luna?"
At the word "Luna", Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open.
Rainbow wasn't sure what was happening, she just felt agony, searing pain, she couldn't see anything, but she could hear screams and shouts from outside as she stood up. She tried to tell them, whoever "them" is, to run, to get away as fast as possible, but she couldn't, when she opened her mouth, nothing came out but hissing. Rainbow didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to think, who was she hurting? Why couldn't she speak? What was her name? Who was she? No matter how hard she tried, she could not remember anything, Rainbow eventually passed out from the pain.
Nurse Redheart screamed, she screamed in pure terror. One moment, Rainbow had been lying on the operating table, and the next, she was floating in the air as all of the shadows in the room seemed to be drawn towards Rainbow's body. The shadows in the room seemed to form around her, and they became absorbed by her, going into her body. Her wings started growing, and her body seemed to get bigger, as she soon grew to the size of Celestia herself. A long horn tore its way out of Rainbows forehead, causing blood to trickle down her face, but it soon stopped, and the blood on her face seemed to be soaked up into her body, like a sponge soaking up water. Around her, shadows swirled like a hundred small tornadoes. The shadows soon formed around her head, hooves, and torso, and soon, Rainbow was clad in a suit of armor, midnight blue. As the transformation completed, her coat went from a striking sky blue, to a solid black color, her cutie mark changed color as well, as the multiple colors contained within the rainbow lightning bolt changed to multiple dark shades of purple. Her mane and tail underwent the same transformation, but after the change in color, her mane and tail started to float and wave softly, like Rainbow Dash was underwater, and soon, they changed from being hairs on her body, to pure, magical, energy, floating around her. The transformation complete, Rainbow bared a striking resemblance to a mare whom had almost taken equestria, Nightmare Moon. Rainbow landed on the operating table, and looked at everyone through a pair of terrifying green eyes, eyes that contained the pupils of no pony, but instead, the pupils were slitted, like those of a reptile, like those of a very, very, very pissed off reptile.
"Well well," spoke Nightmare Moon in a voice that was as cold as ice "It's so good to not be dead, I would ask you all if you agree with me, but I know how much you enjoy your lives, pointless as they may be." She stepped down from the table and circled around the seven ponies who had found her host body. She stopped next to Rarity, and continued her monologue.
"Aaaah, Rarity." Nightmare said to the white fashionista unicorn, "isn't it strange, that you have always considered me uncouth and dirty, and now I am a royalty? I suppose you should choose your words more carefully next time, hm?"
"What do you mean, YOU are not uncouth? I never said anything of the sort to you, I simply assisted in activating the Elements of Harmony to defeat you and save Equestria." Said Rarity, desperate to not be struck down by the being before her.
"You don't get it do you?" Said Nightmare Moon, "You have considered Rainbow Dash to be uncouth, have you not?"
"I suppose so, y-yes." stammered Rarity,
Nightmare moon stood up to her full height "Well," she reared up on her hind legs, "I am Rainbow Dash, and she is ME!" Nightmare moon yelled as she brought her front hooves down with a mighty CRACK of thunder, everyone quickly ran out of the room and locked the door, even though they knew that it would do nothing to stop the enemy of the sun.
When they got to the waiting room, they took a moment to catch their breath. "What're we gunna do?" Asked Applebloom, a look of concern growing on her face, close to tears.
"Ah reckon ah don't rightly know," replied Applejack as she tried to comfort her sister, "Rainbow's been a great friend, and Ah can't hurt her, Ah jus' can't."
"Well," said the leader of the paladins, "I'm going to try to hold her off and protect the princess, Troops, Battle formation: Golden Barricade!"
"But that one is just throwing me at them to buy some time for retaliation!" Complained Private Thundercloud, "I am not going to be the cannon fodder!"
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
Thundercloud crept through the empty hallways, fully knowing that he could round a corner and be dead in an instant, slain by the savage embodiment of Celestia's sister. As he passed a window, he looked out and saw the moon, a sight that sent shivers down his spine. (I've never been more terrifi-)
Thundercloud heard something, he stopped dead, standing still as stone, he knew that there was something right behind him. Slowly, carefully, praying that he was wrong as to who, or what, it was, Thundercloud turned around.