//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Stories // Story: Homecoming // by Bahamut0 //------------------------------// "So Sunset? How did you wind up meeting Twilight?", Starlight asked. "Well it all started earlier this year.", Sunset said as her mind recounted the event of how her life had gotten to this point. "One night, I returned to Equestria from the human world. I had come to see what had changed since I left, and I saw that Princess Celestia had replaced me with a new personal student. Twilight. When I was Celestia's personal student, I was greedy and power hungry. And I threw fits when I didn't get what I wanted or if things didn't go my way. So during my brief return, I stole Twilight's element of harmony and took it back to the human world and replaced it with a fake. Sure enough, Twilight caught on and followed me to the human world. She won back her crown by being voted as the Fall Formal Princess. However, I was a pretty sore loser back then. So I threatened to smash the portal to Equestria if she didn't hand it over. A struggle broke out to get the crown, and I wound up putting it on my head. But I couldn't control its power. It turned me into a monster, and I tried to raise an army of teenage zombies by enslaving students with my magic. However, Twilight and her friends' counterparts in the human world managed to stop me by awakening their own magic. After that night, everyone saw my true colors. It wasn't easy, but I managed to move past that and soon enough I began to have friends again. Aside from Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy, no one would even look at me. But there was one who decided to talk to me." "Really? Who?", Starlight asked. "Burst. You know, the alicorn with dragon wings. Everyone seemed to think less of him for it, but he still talked to me despite it. He believed no one deserved to be alone. Just like Twilight's friends.", Sunset said with a smile. "Soon enough, everyone began to like me. And eventually I found my special someone." Sunset then nuzzled Gold. "Isn't that right Mr. Rise to the occasion? Turns out he's from here too." Gold smiled. "That's my line.", he said as he nuzzled her back. "And since we've met, things have been a lot brighter." "That's so sweet!", Starlight beamed. "By the way, have you run into my counterpart yet?" "Uh huh." Sunset nodded. "Our Starlight was being manipulated by a bad guy called Paradox Truth. Fortunately, Burst and the guys put a stop to him. AND your counterpart scored a boyfriend in the process. His name's Shadow Thunder." "Shadow...", Starlight thought with a smile before her mind snapped back to reality and she had a light blush on her face. "Anyway, I suppose it's my turn. I was the head of a village that had given up cutie marks. And using my magic, I replaced their cutie marks with equal signs that also repressed their personalities. Twilight and the others investigated, and I also took away their cutie marks too. They had discovered what I had done, and the villagers soon turned against me. A chase happened and Twilight and her friends got their marks back. But I escaped and plotted revenge. I made my way into Twilight's castle and stole a time ravel spell to prevent them from ever getting their cutie marks. All because I lost a friend because he got his own cutie mark and left me behind. But I was selfish. Each time I altered the past, Equestria suffered a horrible future. One where we were at war with King Sombra, one where the changelings had taken over, and..." Starlight then turned to Nightmare. "One where you won. The point is, I made things worse for everyone just to hold onto my own happiness. Then Twilight showed me the future that awaited because I altered the past. There was nothing left of Equestria. Twilight showed me how I was wrong, and since then I've been her student." Starlight was then interrupted by Nightmare blowing her nose. "That's the saddest story I've ever heard.", Nightmare said as she cleared her nose. "Yeah. What you've done makes out stuff pale in comparison.", Sunset said. "But in the end things got better for you right?" Starlight nodded. "I guess that's true." "I guess I should tell my story next.", Nightmare said. "Speaking of your story...HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?", Starlight asked. Nightmare let out a small giggle. "My story begins at my second defeat. When I was separated from Luna." "Whoa whoa whoa! SEPARATED? I thought you were destroyed by the Elements of Harmony?!", Starlight asked. "I was getting to that. The Elements have the power to seal and purify, but they can't destroy. After that night, I was little more than a pile of magical mist. I felt like I had been torn away from my mother." "Wait. You see Princess Luna as your mom?", Starlight asked. Nightmare nodded. "I was born from her jealousy of Celestia, and her magic made me come into existence on that fateful day one thousand years ago. I wanted Luna's subjects to love her, and to have her gain the same love as Celestia." Nightmare's ears then folded. "But I ended up only hurting the both of them. I caused Celestia to lose her sister for a thousand years, and Luna to be all alone on the moon. She wouldn't even talk to me during our time on the moon. Back to the story. One day, Burst and a friend of his got sucked into Equestria by overloading the portal. Twilight showed the tow of them around Ponyville and they even met with the princesses. It was only a day, and Burst and Inferno soon returned to their world. However, Burst had no idea that I had picked up on his power. And when he left, he left behind quite the amount of residual magic behind. Not to mention it was incredibly strong. I decided to follow them and absorbed the residual magic. When I arrived in the human world, a duel monsters deck materialized. I decided to pick up where I had left off, and I recruited a duelist who had a grudge against one of Burst's friends. I even showed up in Burst's dreams once, but he was asleep there. I had him to thank for my new life. So I sought to make him mine. I planned to bring eternal night to the human world and to have Burst by my side. I hadn't expected to run into him the next morning. I also enrolled in his school, and got close to him. However, my ally Dark Ice attempted to destroy Burst and his friends when they foiled on of his plans. Thankfully, Burst stepped in just in time and I gave him quite the scolding for trying to destroy them. But after that, he told me a truth I had been blind to. If I did bring eternal night, everything would wither away and freeze without the sun. The world would become a barren ice ball and everyone would be sentenced to a slow and horrible fate. At that moment, I realized Equestria would have suffered that fate as well. Celestia KNEW that would happen, and that's why she used the Elements to imprison me and Luna on the moon. Gold gave me some advice to try and make a new life here. I was reflecting on his words while I returned to Burst's home. I was living with him at the time. He and Ace had defeated Dark Ice, and Burst returned home. I was glad to see him safe. But later that night...I had nightmares." Tears began to fall from Nightmare's eyes. "Nightmares about what would have happened if I had won, but the worst one was the one I had when Luna and I returned from the moon. I tried to talk to the ponies there, but they all ran away from me. The final part of the nightmare was that I was alone on the moon. I screamed that I was sorry! That I didn't want to be hated, that I didn't want to be alone! It felt so real that I was crying and screaming what I said in my sleep and woke up Burst. He snapped me out of it and woke me up. I decided that he deserved to know the truth. So I told him about my past, why I had come to his world and how I was revived. After that, I was sure he would hate me. How could he love a monster like me? But then...he did the opposite. He held me tight and said that he didn't hate me. That he didn't care about my past and that I could start over in his world. But the thing that touched my heart the most was that he told me that as long as I had him, I would never be alone. I didn't feel like sleeping on my own, so Burst let me share his bed. And from then on, I've had sweet dreams. Ever since, I've loved him. He was the first one to not be afraid, and the first to love me as well. Not to mention Celestia and I both have the pleasure of having him.", Nightmare finished with a smile. She then noticed Starlight bawling her eyes out. "Th-that's so beautiful!", she sobbed. "I've never seen a deeper love than that. But I have to ask. How did you originally plan on snagging Burst?" "I was going to lure him. Slowly but surely until neither of us could stand the waiting anymore. Then I'd seal it with a kiss and make him mine. All under the ale glow of the moon.", Nightmare said with a mischievous smirk. "But I've got to say, the way it actually unfolded was much more romantic." "I can imagine that being a scene out of one of Rarity's romance novels.", Sunset said with a giggle. The group shared a laugh. "Speaking of Burst. I wonder how he and Spike are doing?", Starlight asked.