Nightmare's Redemption

by ninjanaut1000


CH.4 Unknown variables

========== TWILIGHT’S POV ==========

I groggily sat up in bed rubbing the tiredness from my eyes. Hopping off the bed I sluggishly walked over to the window and parted the curtains. I smile as I feel the warmth of the sun, only to still feel oddly cold. I open my eyes only to see that the sun was on the horizon. Strange. I look over at my clock, it read ten o’clock. In a fit of panic, I scramble over to my desk to get some paper and pen to send Princess Celestia a message to see what was going on.

“SPIKE!” I hear the padded clacking of his clawed feet speedily making his way over. “I need you to send this.” I levitate the letter over to him, With a burst of green fire the message was sent. We sat there for 10 minutes waiting for a response, Nothing. I start to panic more while spike looks at me confused.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” Spike asked. Becoming nervous he asks “Is Equestria in danger again?” I turn towards him.

”YES, THE SUN HASN’T RISEN!” He immediately calms looks over to the window and back to me.

“Uh, Twilight, That’s because it’s still cresting over the horizon, you know, sun rise. You are panicking over nothing, I’m going back to sleep.” He turns back over to my door.

“Spike, one last thing. What time is it?” he glances at the clock.

“It’s half past ten.” he stops and turns towards me. “Uh, is your clock wrong?”

“No, you know me. I always keep a schedule, which means I always have to keep my clocks as accurate as I can. Now you understand why I’m going crazy right now. It’s 10:30 and the sun is still on the horizon! We need to get the girls. You go get Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. I’ll get Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Tell them to meet here with the elements. From there we'll go see if Shining and John know anything.” we quickly made our way to their respective houses and gave them the news. when the last of us arrived at the library we gathered around the central table.

“You probably noticed we have a problem. It’s almost noon and the sun hasn't risen. I had sent a letter earlier to Princess Celestia to see what was going on and we haven’t gotten a response. I can only assume something has happened the Princess. So, now that all of that is said, I think it would be best to go to John and Shining over at the Temporary encampment and see if they know anything.” I give a quick glance around and get a nod in return. “Alright, let’s head out.” I lift spike onto my back and turn towards the door. After a short walk we arrive at the far side of the base.

“Okay girls, let's split up. Rainbow and fluttershy, take to the air and call out to us if you spot one of them or if you see us signal to you. Applejack and Pinkie pie, you two check the mess tent and the surrounding area. signal to Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy if you find them. Rarity, Spike, and I will check the barracks." Splitting off we head over to our respective areas.

“Spike, you go with Rarity and ask around if anyone knows where either of them are, I’m going to look for their tent and see if they are there.” Rarity nods and heads off with spike, I turn and head over to the multitude of tents and look for anything distinguishing. Five minutes later I find the correct one and head in. A few feet in spot a roll of paper, It's the letter I sent. I glance around the tent and freeze as I see John and Celestia snuggled up to each other. They both must have been sleeping like a rock if my letter hadn’t woken both of them. I turn towards the door as I hear my brother.

“They’re over here.” he says, I hear everyone’s hoofsteps a few feet away.

“They? What do you mean?” Rarity asks as Shining enters, with her and the rest coming in shortly after. I hear a snort and a half asleep ‘hmm’ from my left. Celestia looks over and we make eye contact.

“Morning Twilight” She says with a tired smile. She blinks away the sleepiness from her eyes, looking over she sees everyone else, “Oh, Hello my little ponies, What brings you all here?” She asks with a hint of curiosity.

“Well, something was wrong with the sun and I sent you a letter asking if anything was wrong and never got a reply back” I levitate the letter over to her.

“Twilight the reason the sun isn’t up because it morning.” she chuckled.

“You do realize it’s past noon right?” I say. She blinks. craning her neck she looks over at the magic powered desk clock.

“Huh, Guess you’re right.” her horn glows and it suddenly become brighter outside. Moving a hoof she nudges John. “John, you need to wake up.” John mumbles something and pushes his face further into her chest. “John, It’s noon, you need to get up and get ready. We also still need to brief everyone.” That woke him up like a bucket of ice water. To the amazement of everyone in the room he managed to sit up and vault over the princess in one fluid motion. When he landed he paused. It took him a moment to register all to ponies in the room.

==========JOHN’S POV==========

‘SHIT I’M BEHIND SCHEDULE!’ Was the only thought running through my mind as Sprung up from the bed and over Celestia, whom was still laying on the cot, Glancing at Twilight and the gang as I turned towards the back of the tent, didn’t think much about it. Stopping at the trunk by the Desk about to open it, everything caught up. ‘Wait what’s Twilight and the rest doing here?’ I thought to myself.

“What brings you guys here? Forget that, I was going to round you up here anyway for a briefing on what’s going down in the next few hours. I’ll have Shining take you down over to the situation tent while I get dressed because there are only two people I comfortable changing in front of. Both of which have seen me naked, Your brother and Celestia. I’m Pretty sure you don’t want to be on that list, so I’ll meet you there when I’m ready.” I look over to Celestia who is now standing, “Your welcome to stay and chat while I change or you can head out with the others, It’s up to you.”

“I’ll stay because there is one thing I would like to discuss.” she turns toward Twilight and Shining “I’ll Meet you there when we're done.” Shining nods and turns towards the door motioning for the rest to follow. Celestia and I watch as they slowly file out giving us both a respective wave or nod. Upon the door closing Celestia turns towards me, “I wanted to talk to you about your nightmares. I think I know of way to get rid of them, But it all rides on her.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Who?”

“My sister.” I pull my stealth suit I use for Ops on. After I zipped and clasped everything I sat down and pulled my boots on.

“Does Nightmare have the ability to do that?” She shakes her head.

“Not Nightmare Moon, But Luna can. I would tell you but I think it would be best if you asked her yourself when you meet. It would give you more to talk about. Now we should probably make our way over, we have many ponies waiting.” I grab my Utility belt and give a quick check of my Equestrian government issued M9, not to be confused with my Beretta M9 back home. The Equestrian variant uses magically charged crystals as rounds instead of normal bullets. Holstering the gun I grab a few mags of stun rounds (Blue crystals), Tranq rounds (Green crystals) and lethal rounds (red crystals). I slip them into their respective pouches. Exiting the tent we see a few more guards rushing over to the situation tent for the briefing. Upon walking in, everyone rises and salutes. Stopping at the small podium, I look over the group gathered. I nod.

“At ease”, looking over to my left I check to make sure my team is accounted for I look back forward, "As you may or may not have heard, I received a message from Nightmare Moon requesting a meeting. Now, I know a lot of you will object to me going under the likelihood that it would be a trap. For all intents and purposes, it could be exactly that. I have a plan for that. I’ll head out two hours before the rest of you so it will give us plenty of time to chat. When you arrive, Captain Armor, The Elements, and The princess will take lead. The rest of you will follow closely behind. Everyone will get into position in the throne room. That is when and where we will apprehend Nightmare Moon. Once that is done. The Princess, and my team and I will escort Nightmare back to Canterlot and place her into a holding cell. While we do that the rest of you will tear down, pack-up, and make your way back to Canterlot. Any questions?” I scan the crowd, nothing. “Alright, Dismissed.” I make my way over to the mess tent to fill up my canteen before I head out. Once finished I exit the tent and head south.

An hour had passed since I left the base. I lift my left hand and snap my fingers to open my 3D topographical map/ compass hybrid, that’s when I noticed something strange. Since I am team leader, I need to know where the rest of my team is. So my team has F.o.F. trackers built into their field suits that display an ID on my map. Two of three are at camp, mine is where it should be, and the Third was stationary several miles north, near canterlot. I spread my left hand out more to zoom in. Ghost’s call sign shows up. “Nightshade shouldn’t be there. That changeling has some balls to try to replace her. I’ll Deal with that once Nightmare has been dealt with.” I take a swig from my half-empty canteen and Open a private Channel to Phoenix.

“Wraith, I need you to keep an really close eye on Nightshade, She has been replaced by changeling.” a few seconds later

“Reading you loud and clear, Are you sure you don’t want me to just take care of it now?” he replies.

“No, when we all meet up and deal with Nightmare, I personally will make an example of it and make it realize how stupid it was to try to replace my personnel. I just need you to make sure it doesn’t go disappearing before then. This will be the last of my communications till we regroup.” re-adjusting my course I start moving again.

“Got it, See you at the castle, Wraith out.” Forty minutes later I arrive at the castle. The sun running its final pace down the sky, starts to set. ‘The others only have about hour and a half of daylight left to get here.’ I mutter. Entering the castle ruins I start my search for Nightmare. Wandering down several hallways I enter a large room and look around.

“So this is the throne room.” I mumble to myself. I start looking at the collapsed support pillars and check the ceiling for weakness and possibility of collapse. Nodding in Satisfaction, I resume my search for Nightmare. I walk down a few more corridors admiring the surviving tapestries and occasional painting. Passing by the occasional room I hear slow, deep breathing with the occasional snore. Slowing down I make my way over to investigate the second to last room. Peeking my head in I glance around and see Nightmare. Looking back over I spot a small table next to a small improvised kitchen. Slowly making my way over to the table trying not to disturb her I sit. Leaning back in the chair I look back over to the counter and see a coffee press. I quietly get back up and decide to make some coffee while I wait. ‘I’m sure she won’t mind’ I think to myself. A few minutes later and a steaming cup of coffee I sit back down and take a sip. Within a few minutes, a snort and movement, Nightmare slowly gets up and walks over to the counter. She pauses and looks at the already made coffee with confusion. “Did I make that in my sleep” I hear her mumble.

“Good evening.”, I sip my coffee, “I hope you don’t mind, but I made myself some coffee.” She jumped and spun towards my direction completely caught off guard by my presence.

“WHO DARES...” Her expression shifting from anger to surprise, “oh...I didn’t think you would actually come.”

“Well, we all initially thought it would be a trap, but I was pretty much able to rule out the fact that it would be really stupid of you to try something like that. So here I am.” I take another sip of my coffee.” by the way, apologies if I invaded your personal space.” I motion to her room.

“No need to worry, I never really specified where to meet in the castle. It was more of an error on my part.” levitating her cup of coffee she takes a sip and visibly shudders, ”This is really strong.” She lifts the creamer and pours some into her cup. “Creamer? She asks.

“Nah, I always drink it black. Adding stuff just ruins the taste for me. SO, how you wanna do this?” I ask “A Q&A, or you want me to talk about myself, or a mix of both? I honestly don’t care which.”

“It would be best if we just talked about ourselves and see where that takes us.” she responded

“I guess I’ll start. Names John Stone, I’m Equestria’s only human. The scientific name for our species is homo sapien. I come from a planet called earth. I’ve been here for somewhere around five years, Two years in I was somewhat forced to join the guard. After my Guard training I was moved to the stealth Ops and went through even more training after my current C.O. noticed my skills. I’ve fought in a few wars, mainly just as support. the wars, if you could even call them that, were more on the lines of Disputes that would turn violent because other people don’t understand why certain things are done like they are. The diamond dogs and changelings are the biggest problems still.” I shudder at the thought of the changelings hoping it would go unnoticed, ”Anyway, getting a bit sidetracked. Have any questions? I told you everything that I found was really relevant about me that would make sense given my situation.”

“I do, but I believe we will have to postpone this meeting. It seems we have a lot of unwelcome guests.” She gets up and walks out the room.

I put my earpiece in and open a comm channel to my team “She knows you arrived and is heading in your direction. What the hell is going on? why did you get here so fast. You need to double time it to the throne room and try to get into a defensible position. I’ll try to stall her for as long as I can.” I rush out the room to catch up to Nightmare.

“Hey! Nightmare, Wait up!” she slows and turns around.

“Yes?”

“Wanted to ask If you wanted to Schedule another meeting on a later date or finish after those others have been dealt with?” She pauses for a second.

“A later date would be better. It would give us more time to better prepare. How about two days from now at sundown?”

“Works for me.” Won’t really matter in the end anyway. I mutter “Status update?”

“Most of us are in position. The princess and elements are getting into position.”

“That’s good enough. We are at the last bend before the throne room’s side entry. Get ready.” Emerging Through the doorway Nightmare’s horn becomes alight with magic.

“SHOW YOURSELVES AT ONCE OR FACE MY WRATH!” She shouts. A cacophony of ‘poofs’ and ‘puffs’ of spells being cancelled and dozens of guards spread around the room. She looks at all the amassed guards with a smirk watching as some visibly flinched while others tensed in preparedness to deal with Nightmare. Looking towards the throne room doors Nightmare playfully says, “Don’t think I don’t know you are there Celestia. You and your precious little Elements should join the rest of these imbeciles.”

The throne room doors open wide. Princess Celestia and the elements alongside my team walk in. I walk towards the nearest guards and turn towards Nightmare.

“Don’t take it personally, But I set this all up. A chance meeting with Nightmare? A perfect time to set up the operation to capture you and lock you in a warded cell for Treason. Only that will happen though is if the elements don't work.”

“And what make you think I will let you or them try to stop me?” Nightmare asks.

“Well, the quicker and easier you let us do our job, the more lenient your sentence will be.”

“As tempting as that is, I will have to decline. I think ruling over an empire would be better.”

“I’m tired of waiting, Let’s get this monster!” A guard angrily shouts, stepping forward he fires a bolt of magic at Nightmare. She easily deflects it back towards him with more speed and power throwing him back several feet into a pillar with an audible crunch.

“YOU DARE ATTACK ME!” She screams. summoning more magic Nightmare lobs a few more bolts of magic towards the guards. Small clumps of guards that got caught in the magic explosions were being thrown back. I turn and duck behind a pillar shouting for them to get into cover. I pull out my M9 and load the stun rounds into it. Everyone starts scrambling while Nightmare fires more magic bolts towards the guards, more getting injured in the process. There was a sickening crunch and a yell in pain as one guard was unlucky enough to have part of a pillar collapse onto his lower half. Two guards immediately started to get him out from under it. I fire a few rounds but see them dissipate and absorb into her shield. I look towards Celestia and the Elements only to see another half pillar collapse onto a guard crushing him underneath. What was left of his lower half that wasn't crushed, convulsed a bit as a pool of blood was forming under him before going still.

“Get them ready for my signal!" I shout to the elements, "I’m about to do something stupid.” Looking on my belt for the small pouch with magic suppression rings and noticing the pouch isn’t there. I peek around the Pillar and spot them and a torn pouch in a small hole where some of the rubble caught it.

“Scratch that, Something extremely stupid.” Pulling off my boots, I move around the pillar and sprint at nightmare while occasionally dodging magic crossfire. I body check her hard enough to make her stumble but not fall. Swiping a wing at me, she manages to knock me down. Nightmare charges her horn with magic, readying to blast me with magic. But I was faster. I lunge up and grab her horn, I could feeling the magic grounding through my body and out my feet. Her magic explosively discharged and I get thrown back from the backlash. I struggle to get up, my entire body feeling as though it was struck by lightning. I notice her stumbling and shaking her head.

“NOW! DO IT NOW!” I shout. Looking down, I open my small med pouch and I pull out a small tube full of painkillers and take a capsule. Looking back up I see twilight and her friends blast Nightmare with rainbow magic. When the beam stopped we all watched as Nightmare Stumble around Drunkenly with the occasional spasm. Her coat flickering between midnight blue and black. she tried to launch more magic but only managed to miss every shot. When she finally collapsed I made my way over to check her condition. I put my hand on her neck feeling a small tremble she barely manages to look up. I whisper sorry to her as Her head slumps down and she succumbs to unconsciousness. Standing back up, I hear sobbing. looking over I see Celestia being comforted by Twilight and her friends. Remembering one last thing I needed to do. I draw my pistol and load a magazine of Tranq rounds.

“GHOST! FRONT AND CENTER!” Watching as she scrambles over and stands at attention. Everyone looking at me and her. I aim my pistol right at her forehead.

“Where is the entrance to your hive?” I calmly ask. I look into her eyes,” And don’t even THINK about lying.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She says with confusion. I lift up my left and and open the 3d map and zoom in on the lone signal.

“You sure as shit should know. One chance left.” I pull the hammer back. At that point Twilight and her friends start shouting to put the gun down and that she says she doesn’t know. I ignore them as their shouts became more panicked and Celestia had a more calm expression as she observed what was going on. “I’m going to ask one last time. WHERE IS THE ENTRANCE!”

“I DON-” was all she could get out before I pulled the trigger and hit the changeling square in the head. Twilight screamed as Nightshades body slumped over and the changeling's disguise failed. At seeing the changeling, Twilight became less panicked. Holstering the pistol, I walk over to the still guard on the ground by the pillar he was thrown into. Not feeling a pulse I grab my knife and cut the straps holding his armor on. I roll him on his back and put my ear to his chest. I hear a faint pulse and a wet crackle with every breath. Shining armor and several other ponies start to gather with concern. Noticing this, I look up.

“Shining, here, now.” I motion him over, ”MEDIC!” I shout. The thundering of hooves answers my call.

“Quick Pulse reporting sir!” he says.

“You guy’s really need to get your shit together! He’s got a weak heartbeat and rales is present. Shining, I need you to scan for any broken bones and minor injuries.” I look over to the other pony,” You, check for a pierced lung or any internal bleeding and stabilize him. Deal with that first, then treat anything else present. If he dies, Both of you will be present to explain to his family why he didn’t make it.” They nod.

”Good, I’m going to go get a magic suppression ring on Nightmare.” I move over to give him better access and stand. I go and pick up the small pouch and rings. Kneeling down I lift nightmares head so it rested on my thighs. Opening the clasp I slip the ring on her horn. After checking to make sure it was secured I see a few small cuts from when she fell and a few small scorch marks on her side. Unclipping the small Med pack from my belt I pull out a few alcohol swabs and bandages. After cleaning the cuts I look over the rest of her. Not seeing any more I carefully roll her over and give a quick look. Finding nothing I shout to Shining.

“Shining, Update on the guard.” He turns and shouts back.

“He is awake and stable for now. Bleeding is slowed. A few ribs are broken, but nothing else. We will need to get him to Ponyville General as soon as possible though to get that punctured lung taken care of.”

“Get him out of here. My team and a few guards have this taken care of. The rest can head back to camp and start packing the unneeded supplies. We’ll pack the rest and head back to canterlot tomorrow.” Shining, Quick pulse, and the injured guard disappear with a flash.

“You three! You get to deal with the Changeling and any other injured guards” I put the last of the magic suppression rings on its jagged horn. "I’ll check back in with you before heading back to base to make sure it is properly detained. From there assist with anything that needs done. Twilight and the rest. you guys can go head back home, there isn’t really anything else here that is required. Twilight, If you want to stay with Princess Celestia then I won’t stop you. We all know she could use the company.”, Celestia smiles a bit a that,” And last but not least, Princess Celestia. What should we do about getting your sister back and what sector of the dungeon should we put her in?”

“For transportation, We’ll just take an empty car on the morning train with the rest of the guard. As for her, I want her in the spectral ward. That way the padded, heavily enchanted room would help restrain her magic. It would also make visits easier and faster for everyone that needs to be involved.”

As soon as she finished her sentence the guards returned. “You three, wait a minute. Celestia, do you think you have the energy to teleport us all back to base?” She nods.

“Alright everyone gather up and get ready to leave. Once I’m back with Nightmare we’ll teleport back.” Walking over to Nightmare, I carefully attempt picking her up. Realizing she is out cold, I throw caution to the wind and use more force to get her head and forelegs over my shoulder. Successfully doing so, I rejoin Celestia and the rest. Arriving at the base I tell those guards to get a prisoner detail setup and constant security watching that changeling till the morning. After I got that all dealt with I walk to my tent with celestia in tow. While I’m walking, many of the Surrounding guards look at Nightmare with astonishment and horror. Entering my tent, I set Nightmare down and walk to my table and start packing my things.

Celestia walks in and says, ”You know we don’t have any more spare cots and these are the only three here.”

“I don’t mind sharing.” I say.

“Good, Then you and I can share and Nightmare and shining can have their own cots.” She says matter of factly.

“I meant with Nightmare. She’s not staying with you based on the fact that if she wakes up she could strangle you to death. So I will share with her so then your life isn’t at risk. I also would be able to keep a much better eye on her.” I look up.

“I would much prefer If you would just share with shining or me. That way there is no risk of anyone getting hurt or killed.”

“This isn’t up for debate, Celestia. I’m doing this for two main reasons. One, If she tries to escape, Which I doubt, I will know Because of the fact that she has both a magic suppressor on and dealt with massive magic backlash. So she would have to climb over me. Second, if she wakes up, I want her to see a somewhat familiar face so she doesn’t panic and end up hurting herself or someone else.” I state.

“Very well. Now that you explain it that way it makes more sense. I’ll see you in the morning.” removing her regalia, she settles onto the cot.

Shining walks in visibly exhausted. Unclipping his armor and letting it fall to the floor with a clang he crawls on to his cot.

“Hey Shining. We got company for the night.”

“M’kay.” He mumbles with a small nod.

“And I’m not talking about Celestia.”

“Who then?” he asks.

“Well since you're too oblivious notice. Nightmare will be with us for the night. Since we don’t have a proper cell or way of containment. Also seeing that she is as strong as Celestia is even more reason why she is with us. That and the fact she is still unconscious.” Shining bolted upright.

“WHAT!?” He panics.

“Calm down, Nothing bad will happen.” Probably shouldn’t have said that, But too late for that now, ”Seeing as she has been out of it for about an hour she will probably be out for several more. Besides, See this rope.” I point to her hooves, “ I tied her hooves together so she can’t run off too easily and If she wakes up, I can handle it.”

“If you say so.” Shining lays back down, rolls over and promptly falls asleep.

I turn back towards my cot and check Nightmares bandages before adjusting her more towards the other side of the cot.

“You care about her don’t you.” I hear Celestia say in a low tone.

“I’d watch what you say Celestia. While I do feel sympathetic toward her, saying that I love her is going to far.”

“I never said you loved her, I was simply asking a question. From observing you both back at the castle cleaning her injuries and bandaging them, and here now with checking them over; I can see that you care, Because no one else but me would give her the time of day to do that without being ordered to do it.”

“I guess you’re right. I feel a bit sympathetic because all she was doing was trying to get revenge on her older sister because of a petty mistake made over a thousand years ago. Then in the end here she is now, unconscious and being treated as an enemy of the state. Public enemy number one. This whole situation is absurd just from the circumstances. Family tries to get revenge on family, but in the end, all they get is eternal imprisonment for treason.”

“You do know I have final say in the ruling. So I could easily dismiss the charges, sure ponies wouldn’t be happy, but they would just have to deal with whatever ruling is decided.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Good night, Princess.” I lay down and prop myself up on a pillow next to Nightmare.

“Good Night, John.”

“Good night, Nightmare. If you can hear me.” I whisper and close my eyes.