//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: Diamond's Revelation // Story: Reflection of Nightmares // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// It didn't take the filly long to start rummaging through the journal. “Nightmare War? What is this, a dumb story she came up wi…” Diamond trailed off as her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She had flipped another page and found a colored photograph of something quite disturbing. Something no filly should have in a journal. It was unmistakably Scootaloo, but the familiar-looking orange coated pony looked far from happy with a clearly bloodied, broken bone clearly protruding out of her leg! Diamond started sweating and threw the book several feet away from her while resisting the urge to gag or throw up. It took her a good two minutes before she had calmed down enough to keep reading. “Is this what mother meant when she said curiosity bucked the cat?” Despite this, she started reading the excerpt under the photo. Day 122: Our platoon got into a pretty nasty scuffle. At least that's what our lieutenant called it. Three Nightmare Soldiers dead and several others in custody. One got loose and caused all of this to my leg, screaming about some dark queen nonsense. She was dead before she hit the ground and then they gave me actual medical treatment. For once. It was strange because I didn't even cry. Maybe it's the weird serum making me stronger. It really does help me buck harder, almost like an earth pony or better even. But I guess I'm really not above getting hurt. They said I'd be good and healed in two weeks. I thought they were joking but they have some seriously good healers here. Diamond blinked in shock. Thinking back, she could definitely see which Scootaloo was the stronger of the two. And apparently a serum had something to do with it.  “Li- like a drug…” The children of Ponyville Elementary were no stranger to the word. They knew they were bad but Diamond doubted most of her classmates really knew what they actually were. She had once asked her mom and the answer she got wasn't pretty. Suffice to say, Diamond Tiara wanted nothing to do with drugs, but supposedly Phoenix felt different. Diamond flipped toward the beginning of the journal and figured it was best to start there. That's how books worked, after all. Day On- 1: They told me it was bet- best if I write things down. To get it out and stuff. Whatever. Been a couple of months since Canterlot fell to darkness. “WHAT?! WHAT THE HAY IS THIS?!” Diamond screamed uncaring who heard her. Her head jerked up and she spotted Canterlot Castle looming in the distance. It was there, safe and sound. Phoenix had to be crazy! But then she slowly remembered back when the weird filly was first introduced to the class.  “Oh… oh yeah.” “Good morning, class!” There was a brief pause followed by the class chanting their own good morning to the teacher. “Good morning, Miss Cheerilee!” “Right, I suppose you’ve all been wondering why we’ve waited so long to begin and just who this new student is.” There was a collective nod followed by several murmurs. Diamond glanced behind the teacher to spot a strange looking filly with a slightly damaged wing. A filly that looked awfully familiar. She had tried to find out what Miss Cheerilee had discussed with mother, but was shushed on the grounds that it was private. At least now the mystery might be revealed. “Of course. I had requested that Princess Twilight be present for the discussion, but she’s far too busy. So I’ll describe it as best as I can.” What followed seemed like some massive joke, but the giggles and snorts of various children soon died down when Phoenix finally revealed herself to everypony. A series of gasps followed while the children looked back and forth between the two clone fillies. Diamond could vaguely recall something about dimensions and magic mirrors as the explanation for how Phoenix got to be there. She could barely wrap her head around it, but one thing that did stick out, there was apparently more than one Equestria with Phoenix being the proof. An Equestria that had some awful problems if her journal was to be believed. Diamond wanted to stop right there. She was going to drop the journal on the ground and just head home to forget about it. But she couldn’t. Something about Phoenix’s story compelled her to keep reading to the point where the filly eventually ended up sipping hot cocoa in Sugarcube Corner as she read Phoenix’s life story. It was simply too addicting and she just couldn't put it down. “I must say, Diamond, your father must have been worried to send Fancy after you. I don't think I've seen that butler of his out of the house in ages.” Diamond blushed and nodded to Mrs. Cake. “Uh, yeah, he gets pretty busy. Um, I'm not keeping you up am I?” Out of all of the ponies in Ponyville, Mrs. Cake had always been one of the kindest to her. Despite her often bratty behavior and negative disposition toward other ponies. The mare in question was busy polishing up a few of their tables while she slowly mopped around them. “Oh, no. We do close soon but you're fine. Heh, that must be a pretty good book?” “Uh yeah. Pretty interesting.” She wanted to say terrifying but she didn't need other ponies suspicious of what she was doing. She had enough of a bad rap as it was. She flipped a few pages and found a peculiar entry about something called The Nightmare Signal. Apparently it can only affect unicorns and does so via strange, dark magic. Phoenix had written about its effects as those still with their horns intact would wander around aimlessly, killing without abandon. Diamond had to stop reading after a particularly disturbing entry when Phoenix and her platoon landed upon an infected town of what she labeled as “Nightmare Infected Unicorns”. What followed was a gruesome and fairly detailed description of a rather messy battle. Phoenix claimed she had tried to free a few from the dark queen’s influence by severing their horn but was forced to “put them down” when that failed. Diamond Tiara started to feel sick to her stomach. How could anypony live in such a place? Thoughts of horrific alternatives, such as suicide, kept bubbling up to greet her mind. It all seemed so hopeless to her. “H- how did she live li- like that?” she whimpered to herself. Tears began to spill onto a few of the pages as pity swarmed through her body like a sickening plague. Sighing, she decided to try and calm down and focus on something else in the book. After a while, she tried to hoof through it to try and find more information on the strange serum that Phoenix kept mentioning. It took a while, but eventually, she narrowed it down to one section on a military airship. It was all there laid bare for her to read. What she found sickened her to her very core. Phoenix had quickly lost track of time and as she wandered Ponyville, wondering if she should even bother entering the forest. Debating on if it would be worth it, her memories started to wander as well. Back to that horrible night. Scootaloo sighed and slumped into her bed. It had been several weeks since she took the serum and it never seemed to get any easier. Every day was more training. Every day they would push her harder and harder, trying to see just how much she could take. She understood the reasoning why given the circumstances and considering just what was in the serum. Thinking about it made her shudder deep down, but she couldn't deny that it definitely packed a serious punch. It made her faster, stronger, possibly smarter but it also landed her the previously unobtainable ability of flight. She had flown and not just a little bit, in record time she had started to outfly adult pegasi who lacked the weird drug. Still, she could sense that very few on the vessel really trusted her. She was a strange lone filly who was now buffed by an extremely experimental, almost desperate attempt at a serum. But she didn't care. If anything the drug gave her hope that maybe they could win the dumb war and finally kill Nightmare Moon. That alone was worth enduring all the torture and the intense training regiment. Still, something about the whole thing really bothered her. Just as she considered all of this, her doctor came in, muttering to himself. “Hey, doc? “Huh? Oh, uh, yes yes. What's wrong?” “I didn't really consider this until now but…” “But what?” “Is this the only place testing the drug? You know… in the army?” The stallion considered her words for a while and slowly shrugged. “It wouldn't shock me to learn that other camps and army depots have attempted this, but as far as I know we are the only ones. Why?” Scootaloo’s eyes widened in shock. “It's just… wouldn't it make more sense if there was a kind of backup in case--” “ALL HOOVES TO THE MAIN DECK! ALL HOOVES TO DECK!” Scootaloo shared a frightened glance with the doctor before running along past him while using her wings to propel herself as fast as possible to the main deck. Before she could even decipher what was going on, however, a massive explosion of bright orange fire hit the front of the ship causing everypony to topple over while the metal contraption buckled and moaned from the sheer pressure of it all. Phoenix moaned while her vision seemed to double over and over brought on by a forceful bump to her head. “CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA, PREPARE YOURSELVES TO BOW BEFORE YOUR BELOVED QUEEN. YOU LOT WILL HAVE THE HONOR OF DYING BEFORE HER HOOVES! PREPARE FOR DEATH!” The voice was unmistakably one of Twilight Sparkle which quickly woke Scootaloo up from her stupor. She looked around and spotted a multitude of adult pegasi all panicking and flying off of the ship in random directions. Disobeying orders and defying the army in favor of saving their own skin. “ABANDON SHIP!” one pegasus stallion yelled and Scootaloo could only watch in horror as he flew off into the distance, only to be shot down by an arrow from the dark queen’s army. An arrow which then promptly exploded upon impact causing blood, guts, and pieces of pony skin to go flying in all directions.  All the while the same live message continued to echo through the doomed ship. “ALL HOOVES TO THE MAIN DECK! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! ALL HOOVES TO THE MAIN DECK!” Considering her options, Scootaloo sighed and started running upwards, through various staircases while the soldiers around her panicked and fled as more and more explosions rocketed the ship back and forth. As she ran the ship forced her from side to side, with a particularly large explosion caused her to go smack dab into a metal door. She felt her skin break and saw blood explode in all directions, but still, she kept moving. Hoping upon hope that they could salvage the situation. A few minutes after this the message from the captain ceased, even while the dark army continued their relentless assault. Something didn’t feel right. Swallowing a small hiccup, Scootaloo finally found the captain's quarters and banged the door open with one massive push. “Captain!” She looked around and spotted the captain’s chair, turned around facing the battle. Scootaloo gulped and quickly ran over. “Orders capt--” She started and then promptly screamed. There, sitting in the captain's chair was none other than a large pegasus stallion in army garbs with a massive knife sticking out the center of his chest. Blood pooled around the wound and it was very clear that he was very much dead. She backed up and quickly tripped over something on the ground. Glancing over she spotted a massive microphone that their captain had no doubt been using minutes ago. “This is it… we’re all doomed,” she said in defeat. She considered her options with suicide being the primary one. The captain clearly saw what they hadn’t a moment ago. They were all doomed and it was better to end their lives now then become some mind-controlled slave or worse. Still, there was something deep within her that refused to give up. She knew it was downright stupid, but the weird feeling was a part of her. She couldn’t just give up. So, she sighed and brought up the microphone to her muzzle. “att-- “ she started but quickly cleared her throat so she could speak louder. “ATTENTION ALL SHINING PHOENIX CREW MEMBERS. THIS IS SCOOTALOO, UH, ACTING CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP. THE CAPTAIN IS DEAD. ALL MEMBERS ARE TO ABANDON SHIP IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT: ALL CREW MEMBERS ARE TO ABANDON SHIP!” With that said and done, she turned to the main controls. The entire thing looked vastly alien to her. With large knobs, levers, buttons, lights and tons and tons of other little contraptions, she couldn’t even begin to fathom their purpose. But she didn’t need to know anything about how to fly a ship in order to use a steering wheel. There was one massive one with some speed controls right next to it. She smiled. “Gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve tried yet,” she said while surveying the battle. Off in the distance, she could see a massive airship with tons and tons of brainwashed Nightmare Guards swarming about. The Shining Dreadnought was absolutely no match for it in a one on one battle, let alone with a ship that was missing half of their crew or more. But a battle wasn’t part of her plan; she doubted even a quarter of their canons were ready and loaded anyway. No, she had something much bigger in mind. She reached for the steering wheel and turned it gently to the right, aiming the ship straight for the Nightmare Vessel. With a loud moan, she could hear the Shining ship creak and churn to life while its engines tried to keep up with its new captain's commands. With that set in motion, she closed her eyes and gave a silent prayer that her plan would work. “WHAT’S THIS?! YOU DARE DEFY OUR GREAT QUEEN! WITH THAT PITIFUL VESSEL THAT YOU CALL AN AIRSHIP. YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR MISDEEDS! ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!” Scootaloo then quickly cracked her eyes open and promptly bucked the speed control forward as far as the lever would go. Cranking it from slow all the way to maximum speed. Almost instantly lights started whirling and warnings sirens began to blaze from the main controls, warning its captain that the engines would likely burn out in due time. But Scootaloo didn’t care. The engines didn’t need to last anyway. The filly watched as the dark vessel got closer and closer. The nightmare soldiers paid her passing interest, that was until they noticed just what their captain was up to. The Shining Dreadnaught was aiming right for them at a blazing speed, and it wasn’t stopping for anything. “WHAT IS THIS! SOLDIERS! BLAST THAT THING OUT OF THE SKY! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! KILL THEM ALL! DESTROY IT BEFORE-- OOF” Finally, the engines on the Shining ship ceased movement forever. The two ships collided with the Shining Dreadnought going at near breakneck speeds. Thankfully Scootaloo had been prepared and held onto a bolted down chair. She felt the ship moan and creek and saw explosion after explosion detonate on the nightmare ship’s main deck. The windows to the captain’s quarters broke under pressure and that’s when she made her final move. She extended her wings and swiftly jumped through the new opening before flying downward toward a random ravine that she could spot. The smells of dirty metal and burning ash quickly gave way to fresh open nature. Within minutes she had landed into a deep and dark canyon. She looked up and saw both ships falling out of the sky with burning flames and pegasus ponies falling out of the sky. One thing began to haunt her thoughts, though.  Not everypony on board had been a pegasus. Diamond slowly shut the book for the final time.  She was seated on a public bench just outside of Sugarcube Corner. She had promised the Cakes she would head straight home, after refusing an escort from one of them. But after reading that, how could she even think about home?! She finished the book from front to back, all the while feeling quite ill. Everything she had read gone beyond the realm of possibility and seemed completely unnatural. Her home was the opposite of harmony but somehow worse than simple chaos. She had made fun of others before, cracked jokes, bossed others around and could at least admit to herself, if not out loud, that she could often be downright short with adults. Maybe even rude. But at that moment all she could feel was pity. The loss of one's parents was never a laughing matter. Diamond had the good sense to at least never go that far when poking fun at others. She wasn't some crazy monster.  Even if I sometimes feel that way… she thought with a little sigh. But to lose everything? Not just your guardians but your town, your sun and everything else that you hold near and dear. And then, just to survive, you had to keep living in some nightmare place that just kept getting worse and worse. What did one say to something like that? “I'm sorry,” she said rather lamely.  No, sorry would never cut it. No amount of apologies or talking or even hugs or gifts would likely ever make Phoenix feel better about what she had to live through.  It was then that another thought occurred to her. Did she tell anypony else about all of this…? She very much doubted it. Why would anypony tell others that they had gone so far as to kill somepony? She'd be outed as some freak. Even in self-defense, murder was pretty much unheard of in Equestria. How Diamond felt about the whole ordeal was tough to say. It really sounded like Phoenix had no choice in the matter. Kill or be killed. I could never do that… Diamond thought with an inward shudder. Killing was just wrong down to what made ponies what they were. I'm really glad Nightmare Moon was stopped. I wouldn't have survived her… world. However, it works. Diamond lacked the proper words and terms for how Phoenix's plane of existence should be described. At that point, Diamond was exhausted. She was no closer to finding Phoenix and now she felt super guilty to boot. A mixture of sadness and pity continued to bubble around in her head. She rubbed her hoof on the journal and considered her options. The proper thing to do, she figured, was to turn the thing into Miss Cheerilee and let all the grownups handle it. It was definitely a tantalizing option and made the most sense. But Phoenix didn't want others to know. This is her secret, it’s her right to keep quiet. Diamond was a lot of things, but would never out somepony like that. Not again anyway. The pink filly shuddered and sighed to herself. "I should just head back and forget the dum-- the book." It's not a stupid book. It's her sad life story. Or a horror story, she thought with a shudder. Diamond wasn’t sure which one was worse. Her mind made up, Diamond turned up to leave when she felt something poke her shoulder. She whirled around and spotted a strange-looking stallion decked out in what could only be described as royal armor poking her shoulder. "I'm sorry to bother you young miss, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."