//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - A new World, a New Stage // Story: Nightmare and Dragon // by alfonso_rd_33 //------------------------------// Well, we start our story as we see the figure and familiar rainbow mane of Rainbow "Daring" Dash flying scared as Princess Luna offered karmic retribution at her, electing peals of laughter from those she aimed to prank. "See? I told you all was going to be just fine, Princess. Sometimes a good scare helps beings to upwind." Said the brown Alicorn dressed in a red jacket, a red and white cap on his head reading “Fatal Fury” on the front in the white part and some weird denim clothing covering most of his flank as he looked at his companions for the night: Princess Luna, Spike costumed as, of all things, a dragon and Twilight Sparkle cosplaying as Starswirl the Bearded. "And of course sometimes being scared can be fun, if you let it be of course." Carried on Twilight Sparkle, as Princess Luna looked at the three of them. One, a hopeful soul, full of childlike naivete yet often the straight dragon to the shenanigans of his friends, other, a scholar through and through, as demonstrated by the historically accurate costume of Starswirl and finally the visitor of the other world, he was the easiest to read. He was a warrior, plain and simple, so the Princess said in her new "indoors voice". "So I have seen... You know, it has been hard for us to adapt to your modern world, you ponies are, as I see it, far more complex compared to those who lived before my exile... So I came, to turn this celebration from a party of fear to a joyous occasion, but I wanted to do it the way we used to do it before.” "And you discovered that it wasn't a memory of the suffering you caused, but merely an enjoyable terror time, right Princess?” Said Poncho as he looked at Spike, watching him starting to devour his sweet Nightmare Night treasure trove before saying… “Yeah, Nightmare Night is a happy time even if we all are scared on the day…. And the candy is always delicious." To this, all laughed as noticing the small wisdom the young dragon had imparted, as Poncho kept going… “Yes, Spike… I’ll say, I am impressed by the parallels between your world and the one I come from, I mean, celebrations, places, etc. I will admit from where I come the equivalent of Nightmare Night is not that popular, but this here was perfect… I mean, the costumes… the games… the unscheduled appearance of the Queen of Nightmare Night herself!” To this Princess Luna blushed, basking in the praise she was getting from the otherworldly Alicorn, yet Twilight noticed something strange about the words that he said, and so she pointed it out... "Huh...? How come your country does not celebrate Nightmare Night...? Is it something that was pushed by your leaders...?" "Goodness no Twilight, you see, it has to do with the country that 'civilized' my country... You see, back in the day, there were a bunch of countries 'discovering and civilizing' the world, the differences between them, most often were the religious drive behind the conquests, so for my country, the colonial country was not the same as the country Equestria seems to be more parallel to, still, we got a celebration around the same time Halloween is celebrated in that other country... This reminds me that I need to hunt for a certain chicken to get some help celebrating that other party, so I will be going now... Enjoy the rest of the night..." Said Poncho before bowing before Princess Luna, nodding at Twilight and hoof bumping to Spike, then he started walking away from them as well as doing a chicken call to attract the still costumed Pinkie Pie. Of course, as this was happening in Ponyville, in the ruin of the castle of the two sisters the wild magic of the Everfree Forest started gathering and swirling in a vortex of pure power, the dark and ominous energy threatening a massive explosion as it shifted into a tornado-like appearance. "Heh... Heh heh heh....! I am me again...! The accursed Elements of Harmony might believe that I was destroyed, but no... I am the Nightmare...! And I will not be denied...! " After that statement, the vortex of darkness started dividing itself, into at least ten small parts which started changing, forming themselves into bodies of ponies; pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies and even thestrals were formed from the unrestrained evil power, all the while as the remaining of it coalesced into its new shape, as the tall equine outline had both a horn and a set of pegasi wings… “Now, our age starts…!”