My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic
Chapter Five
The Hunt Begins
One week after "Magic Duel"
It has been a thousand years since the pony napping of prince Glaciem, and ten months after that night Discord killed the parents of Celestia and Luna. But thanks to the elements of harmony, Discord was defeated, and Celestia and Luna were dubbed the rulers of Equestria. But for Luna, the pain of losing her parents, topped with ponies everywhere shunning her night, was too much for the young Alicorn to bear on her mind.
She fell to evil due to her anger and jealousy, and after a heated fight and with a heavy heart; Celestia banished Luna to the moon. Celestia, though her heart heavy with sadness, reigned the kingdom justly and wisely. But for the thousand years she ruled, she never gave up hope for finding Glaciem. She told her guards to keep a sharp lookout for anything that resembled the winter prince.
But the Glaciem she knew seemed to be gone forever, his heart encased in a seemingly impenetrable block of ice built from rage, sadness, hatred of his master, and the leaders of the cyber-Equosian leadership who he had struck down. Glaciem was trained to be a powerful envoy of destruction, devoid of any emotion outside of anger and hate. He was so rarely seen however, that his presence became nothing more than a myth that eventually found its way into the lives of ponies across Equestria, and eventually into Nightmare night itself.
They say don’t stay out too late… Or the "Beast of the Everfree forest" Nick-Named Diablos will find you.
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The moon shone its bright lights across the Equestrian Landscape as a Purple scaled dragon looked enviously toward the town center. Dozens of fillies, Mares, colts, and Stallions- all dressed up in a plathoria of costumes- wandered to and fro, gathering their holiday sweets, and here he was stuck inside.
"Spike!" A mare's voice called out from Ponyville's golden oak Library impatiently; "Have you seen the fur colorization spell yet?! I thought I had it up here!"
Spike grumbled in frustration, Twilight had been looking for a full hour for this spell with no luck driven by the dissapointing results of last year's Starswirl the Bearded costume; this year she decided to go out as something everypony would be able to recognize. Spike understood why Twilight was doing this; "But does it have to take forever?" he growled under his breath.
It had taken Spike most of the week to get Twilight out of the dumps. Granted she was depressed for a good reason. Ever since that scroll she received about three days after her second bout with Trixie detailing that the crystal empire had been assaulted by an unnown enemy force, A female draconequus which did most of the damage and a black alicorn stallion which seemed to fit the description of an ancient Equestrian myth.
"I have been looking for the past hour Twilight! where was the last place you had it?"
As if on cue; Twilight's voice came from the upstairs once again this time in a much happier tune "Don't worry Spike I found it, I'll be down in a minute!"
This "Minute" felt like an hour to Spike, who was anxious to start filling his belly with enough treats to make a candy factory owner blush.
A sudden knock at the door stirred Spike out his candy filled fantasies. Walking over to the door Spike grabbed the bowl full of candy in one hand and grabbed the doorknob with the other hand; The door opened with a groan and revealed four ponies.
The first of the four being his pink and bubbly friend Pinkie pie in a potato costume; Spike barely kept his laughing under his breath. That was Pinkie Pie for him, never stopping to make everypony laugh even on Nightmare Night.
Second was Pip in his pirate suit from last year, looking just about as eager to receive candy as Spike was to get out there and start getting his own stash of Nightmare Night Sweets.
The final two were two ponies that prieviously to Nightmare Night, Spike had never seen around Ponyville before. The eldest of the two ponies was a Polar White alicorn , she was about the same size of Princess Luna, just a few inches horter. A streak of Blue running through both her mane and tail, her light blue eyes fixed on the young dragon; giving him a somewhat confused yet somewhat interested look.
Right next to her was a black pegasus colt, who looked to be about the same age as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. His hooves and flank were painted a cherry red color. His mane was done in a mohawk of red and black, his tail rolled up. His red eyes were also fixed on Spike, but unlike the white female, this one's ruby red eyes had a nervousness to them; A shyness that wouldn't compare to Fluttershy, but would still be noticable.
"oops...I forgot to introduce our new super-duper friends." Pinkie Pie announced in her typically overly estatic tone of voice as she bounced up and down as if the ground had become molten lava . "This is Silver and Lucus, they just moved here from Canterlot this morning. They said they wanted to live somewhere more quiet and out of the way so they came here! and I invited them to come trick or treating with us, hope you don't mind? im so super-duper excited because now I get to throw my "welcome to Ponyville" party I have been wanting to try!"
"Not at all Pinkie, In fact maybe we can get to know each other better" Said Spike as he heard hoof steps descend from the upstairs.
"hey Twilight! nice nightmare moon costume!" Pinkie exclaimed with the usual grin on her face
"Thanks Pinkie!" Twilight sputters feeling proud that she had not even stepped out of the library and already her costume was much more recognizable. Only to be reminded of what had happened in the crystal kingdom.
Suddenly the reason Pinkie and her friends came to visit Twilight resurfaced itself in Pinkie's mind embarassing her mentally. "I almost forgot to ask but do you two want to tag along with us? it would be so great if you both came with us!"
It didn't take Twilight two seconds to come up with her answer which was fueled by both show her new costume to her friends and to give Spike the candy trip he had been begging for almost two hours.
"We would love to!"
Pinkie's smile widened when she heard Twilight's response. Ever since last year Pinkie had always somewhat enjoyed Twilight's presence on Nightmare night, almost like in a way Nightmare night seemed incomplete without Twilight next to her. Just like Nightmare night seemed incomplete without Rainbow dash playing harmless pranks on the ponies of Ponyville, or Applejack's running of the apple bobbing game, it had become part of the holiday for Pinkie; and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Come on! Zecora is about to lead the ponies to the nightmare moon statue! and I don't want to be eaten because I didn't give her any candy!" Pinkie says.
"Yeah, let's go!" demands Spike as he and the two younger ponies dashed off towards the town center.
Twilight couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as she, Pinkie, and Silver dashed off after the three young candy happy trick or treaters. Spike normally had far better manners than he just demonstrated but when Nightmare night comes around; his manners evaporated like a mud puddle on a july day. A part of Twilight wished he could control himself on nights like this but part of her realised that he still young and as bad as this was, she knew it could be much worse.
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"To quiet..." Nemesis thought to himself as he and his master marched through the moonlit meadow, eventually he found himself underneath a thick canopy of trees but as thick as they were they failed to stop the cold evening air from periodically billowing against their faces and making the long grass sway lazily with the trees that surrounded them.
"Master...about the amulet..." Nemesis began to speak up looking down upon his chest and seeing the alicorn amulet; It's crystal emitting a strong crimson glow, His helmet fusing his real speaking voice with that of a demonic voice.
"Why was it so important we had to turn half of the crystal kingdom on it's head?"
The Draconequus suddenly halted, contemplating some sort of answer to tell her apprentice. For the past twelve hundred years she had shaped him into an unstopable warrior, But until the alicorn amulet came along making it easier for her to keep her apprentice in the dark about her true motives,slowly corrupting his soul to the point where even Nemesis doubts there is anything left of the old pony he used to be.
After all, he hungers for the destruction of harmony.
"Harmony..." Nemesis hissed to himself. "it's nothing but a lie" He growled to himself as he slowly felt frustration consume his heart. For all he cared everypony who thought it was real was a misguided soul that must be set straight. Everypony that ever showed him any enth degree of love or respect was subsequentially ripped from his life before it's time.
"so why should I believe in Harmony, Friendship, or love again? none of it gave my life any lasting meaning! why think highly of something if it never really stayed around long enough for me to even realise it's there!" Nemesis screamed under his breath as he felt the cold, icy grip of sadness envelop his heart. The very same coldness that fueled his powers as well as feed the Amulet that he bore on his chest. "Every-pony I ever cared for
"Because as strong as you are my apprentice..." Rixa began "There are missions like the one I am about to give you that will put your strength to the test, and may I remind you that the amulet is so powerful that every dark magic user from here to the crystal empire would be practically begging to have it for themselves."
The spiritual coldness that Nemesis felt envelop him earlier suddenly melted in an inferno of angry passion. She still doubted the power he possessed even after his many centuries of loyal hunting and fighting. Nemesis heaved a sigh and decided for the good of his own mental health to turn his attention to his master’s response, especially of the mission she had mentioned.
"What mission?"
"I want you to give me the amulet; I need to know that you don't need to rely on its powers. Then go to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters...I sense something there that could threaten us." Rixa explained, hoping her apprentice would buy the story she layed out.
Rixa did need some knowledge; she knew the other apocalyptic spirits would not accept her due to their "Survival of the fittest" mindset; as long as there was more than one contender for the throne of war, Rixa would not be seeing the immortality and the enhanced abilities of the Spirit of war.
Nemesis, concentrating more on the mission than anything else, envelopes the amulet in his red aura and levitates it over to the awaiting female draconequus who clutches it in her lion paw.
"What will I be facing, mistress?" asked Nemesis, curiosity plaguing his mind.
“I can’t say for certain…but I can tell that it will test your strength. Now go!” Said Rixa in a neutral tone as she and Nemesis caught something in the corner of their eyes. Whatever it was Nemesis was certain; there was a lot of them, most of them sounding young and eager, and they appeared to not be in too big of a hurry to wherever they were going.
Normally Nemesis would not give a single ounce of attention to the group. Why should he? They aren’t out hunting for them or vice-versa. But there was one pony carrying up the rear of the group that seemed vaguely familiar to him, not so much the pony but the dragon who sat on her back. The purple dragon from the Crystal Empire, the very same that accompanied the violet unicorn that took his necklace, the one of the few things that made the past worth remembering to him; taken by her and her friends! This dragon had to know where she was, And he was determined to find out, No matter what.
“My powers my not be as great as some other dark magic users! But Celestia help those that take that necklace from me!” Nemesis growled in a barely audible tone, as he dashed forward into the brush.
Rixa smiled a wicked smile…
“Exact your revenge my apprentice…it has never been your physical capabilities that I have questioned.”