After checking that no one was using the room, the day's monarch entered, closing the curtains and locking the door before kneeling in front of the bed, finally letting go of her mask to whimper and cry.
Not too far from her, Blueblood watched her sob in pity before closing his eyes in anger and then turned away. "Are you enjoying this Nightmare! Seeing my aunt suffer pleases you?! Is that why you are showing me this?! You are pathetic!" He yelled at the darkness only to be a slammed into the ground for his troubles as Nightmare appeared in front of him pressing her hoof against his neck
"Watch that tongue, young man, before I rip it out," She warned before pulling away and pointing at Celestia once more, "You think she's so perfect and wise and lovable? Let's see if you can still say that after you see this."
"Another nightmare? You think it will be that easy to turn me against my own family?" To Bluebloods confusion, Nightmare only smirked at him before vanishing in a puff of smoke again. "Not this time, as my heir, you would see right past that. No, this right here, sweetie, is Celestia's true face."
Without warning Celestia began to scream to the four winds as her horn discharged a massive wave of magic, making the prince do a double-take at her actions as she kept sobbing for a bit longer before standing up and walking out of the room, marching back to the main hall, while everything else remained still.
"What…what did you just do?" Blueblood questioned as Celestia stopped to see her sister approaching her room occasionally sniffing. "I'm so sorry, Luna. I thought I learned when I sent you away" She put her right hoof on her cheek, "I tried, I really did, and yet once more, I doomed another loved one into an eternity of torment." She wiped a tear from her eye. The drop remained in the air as she advanced.
Blueblood regarded the tear still in mid-air without moving until his eyes widened in realization. "She froze time," He whispered to himself before feeling a hoof on both shoulders.
"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" The prince heard Nightmare's voice in his ear as he tried to push away only to be met by more purple fog. "How many times do you think she has pulled that trick?"
He kept swinging his hooves around, trying to find the mare in question, " On how many occasions do you think when she's been embellish as a brilliant strategist where in reality she only took a 'time out'?" Eventually, he hit something and found a door in front of him being lightly pushed open by Nightmare Moon, who grinned at him "And what line of thinking do you think she has when no pony is looking?"
Confused he watched as Celestia just kept weeping at his frozen version, while continuing to pet Owlowiscious "This isn't right, it wasn't supposed to be like this" Celestia confessed earning the attention of Blueblood "I wanted a star over but not like this, not this way" She cleaned her face before glaring at the prince "You may have his body, but you are not him! You are not the colt I raised!"
Her words cut deeply as the prince could feel a tear forming in his eye, "Auntie."
"Wait! It gets better," Nightmare remarked as she forced him to continue watching.
"I…I can make things right, I need to make things right! I'm not going to wait another thousand years! I will fix this mess, right here and now! One day is all I need," She proclaimed to herself before leaving the room, confusing the prince. "Where is she going?"
"Let's find out, shall we?" Nightmare encouraged him, appearing next to him, and pointing forward into the darkness. The prince remained wary of her but advanced regardless as she marched forward next to him.
Meanwhile at the refugee hideout
"Wait, wait, wait a minute. Let's back up a moment here." Dash pleaded to Witch-Twilight hovering next to her. "You are telling us that… that sleeping Nightmare Moon right there" She pointed at the mare in question, "Is the actual Nightmare Moon?"
"If we are going by technicalities, then princess Luna is the real Nightmare Moon," Witch-Twilight remarked as Luna picked up one of the children's pictures to carefully look at it before returning her attention to her copy unsure what to think.
Nephew, is this really how you see me?
"Our creator and the one giving you trouble are more akin to pieces of her magic, both recent and old residual ones. As you can see, ours is the most recent magic that the princess had."
"So, that is princess Luna with the face of Nightmare Moon?" Dash asked again, "Ok, now I'm confused."
"Just think of her as Luna, it makes things easier, although I would hardly consider that Tantabus Nightmare Moon. That other piece is just leftover magic merged with the emotions from an old confrontation." Knight-Fluttershy sighed and then looked out a window, "A fusion that resulted in that, strange semi-autonomous thing." She clenched her fist in anger.
"Semi-autonomous is a stretch Flutterknight. If I were to guess, I would think that she is closer to a parasite." Witch-Twilight clarified equally angered "All she ever did when she appears was deny Blueblood a chance to sleep by haunting him with nightmares and kept whispering in his ear each time he wasn't sure of himself, so she could keep feeding off his negative emotions to regain power and reclaim the memories that made her in the first place."
"Blueblood…why didn't you tell anyone?" Fluttershy whispered to herself as she looked at one of the pictures in pity.
"And once she remembered, the mare didn't waste time trying to complete her original plan, only worse."
"Only worse?" AJ repeated, "What could be worse than an eternal night?"
"Eternal darkness," Witch-Twilight was quick to answer. "This Tantabus might look like Nightmare and think she is the mare in question, but in reality she is just a monster, plain and simple, one with the mentality of envy as the only thing in her head, that is why she is doing all of this. She's just a cheap, twisted and toxic version of everything you have done. She envied your original plan, so she decided to recreate it with a 'better' version of eternal night." Witch-Twilight summarized while looking at Luna as she got even more unnerved.
"She envies you, so she will prove to be a 'better' aunt, to Blueblood."
"She is going to what?!" Celestia gasped in horror.
"And judging by how volatile that parasite is, maternal it not exactly what I picture when I think of her 'being an aunt.''"
"…I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her right now! If she dares hurt my nephew, I swear I'm going to…" Luna growled out while starting to flash white and was preparing to leave with her sister not too far behind when the pair of antropormorfic mares stopped them both. "Whoa there, I'm with you, princesses. Trust me, I want a piece of her as well, but first, we need to give back control of this place to Blueblood." Flutterknight kept holding both mares as Witch-Twilight used her magic to prevent them from spreading their wings.
"What do you mean, sugar cube?"
"That is what we were going to say next. She is also envious of Blueblood. For the love he has for his aunts. So when she took over, she also severed the connection he had to our Luna and covered the moon. So Blueblood had no choice but to establish a link with her, or rather, she is forcing him to stay linked to her and refusing to let him become Blood Moon. That is how she made this dome and all those nightmares. She forces him to make them; that is why our creator made us and this place. She's worried sick for Blueblood as much as you are. We don't know how much time left before he starts to snap. She needs to see him and know he's safe again. Do you understand what I'm saying? Our Nightmare Moon is begging you to save him and let her hold him in her arms again. She sent us to find you because she needs your help. We are her way of asking for help." Witch-Twilight explained surprising everyone with the revelation.
At that moment with Blueblood
After walking endlessly through a dark void, both prince and Nightmare finally find Celestia standing in front of a giant black door with some strange purple inscriptions on its frame, surrounded by dead weeds, spiky rocks and most impressive of all, a massive three-headed dog who appeared to be immune to Celestia magic.
"Hello, Cerberus" Celestia greeted the dog with neutrality as the dog just regarded her with curiosity. "Please don't intervene. I have business with your master."
"No, this can't be, she is not thinking…" Blueblood shook his head in horror as, by her command, the dog stepped aside and allowed Celestia in as she effortlessly opened the door with her magic and stepped inside, closing it soon after.
"I…I've seen enough," Blueblood stated, turning around preparing to leave as Nightmare kept taunting him. "Whatever is the matter, dear? Don't you want to see more of your so-called pure aunt? Don't want to see how she heroically…performs shady business? Hmm? If she's as perfect as you think she is, what are you so worried about?"
He stopped keeping his head low and away from the door. "This is exactly how that mare truly is, never owning to her own mistakes. She just feels bad and patches things up. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Like it makes everything ok!"
"Ok, enough!" Blueblood glared at her in frustration, "What the hell is all of this?"
"A thousand years Blueblood! One THOUSAND years. On the moon! Away from everyone for so long that ponies didn't know if you truly even exist. A millennium of her procrastinating and doing nothing to fix the problem. She cast her own sister away, what's stopping her from doing the same to you the very second you step out of line?"
She forced him to look back at the door. "For pony's sake, what guarantee do we have that she isn't preparing this scenario right now?" She bellowed out before showing him small snips of Celestia's memories in the form of floating broken mirrors spinning around him, depicting Celestia as she made her way to a cliff's edge. "Just look at this, look at it, and tell me if she still can be trusted?"
"You know why I'm here" Celestia stated authoritatively to the void in front of her
"I can't allow his soul to leave this place…" A booming voice replied to Celestia as glowing eyes appeared from the darkness and glared at her.
"This…this isn't real" The prince mumbled to himself, "It's just another nightmare."
"…I will not leave empty hooved…" Blueblood kept hearing pieces of memories as she stared down the giant eyes.
"If you truly wish to set him free…" Suddenly the eyes appeared in front of Blueblood, "…what, do you offer in exchange?"
From the surprise, Blueblood took a step back. They both were back in the castle's ruins in yet another room, an abandoned library judging by the books scattered around the two. In the corner sat two big picture frames, one showing Celestia's image, still pristine despite its age, while the other held Luna, reclaimed by nature and covered by fungus. Blueblood was only able to tell because one of her hooves was barely visible near the bottom.
"It isn't fair, don't you think?" Nightmare regarded the portrait of Celestia with a stern eye "We work so hard. We try our best to be accepted, but she will always get the glory no matter what we do." Her gaze turned into a glare before a burst of magic set the portrait aflame. "Why is she the only one deserving of the attention?! What does she have that I don't? If others gave me a chance, I could prove to be a princess just as good as her. No, I can even be an even better princess."
She smiled sweetly and slowly walked toward Blueblood, who only looked down, trying to calm down and reason out his situation, "As well as a better aunt, I can grant you a real future and take all that pain and fear away." She asserted, slowly lifting his chin to look her in the eyes, "Would you be willing to give me that chance?"
The prince stared at her with anger, but beneath that, she could see insecurity and fear "I...I already have a future…"
"Do you?" She waved her hoof around, and the door to Tartarus reappeared and opened, "Care to indulge me by finding out what kind?"
" I told you, I don't want to see more."
Losing her patience she growl in frustration "You stubborn, naive little colt, don't you see I'm trying to save you?!" She forcefully grabbed his right hoof and started to drag him inside "Those mares don't deserve you, I see you for what you are, and I see potential, they see what you are, and see danger and a treat! I have the evidence right there to prove it, and yet you still refuse to see reality?
"I said no."
"I'm done with tolerating your tantrums. You will see that mare for what she is, young man, whether you like it or not, now move it!"
"No!" The prince yelled in anger and anguish, shooting a beam of light at her chest that forced her to let go and take a step back from the suddenness of the attack. Not wasting any time, the prince turned around and fled from her as quickly as possible while Nightmare kept looking in his direction.
"Brave…yet pointless" She sighed, and then light shined out from her horn, summoning hundreds of chains from the ground that ensnared Blueblood and slammed him into the ground immobilizing him instantly. "Please don't get the wrong idea dear, I might love you, but that doesn't mean I'm above disciplining, rebellious behavior." She calmly walked forward as he tried to wriggle out of his restraints until Nightmare was right in front of him with a smirk. "It's almost cute watching you struggle. It seems that you keep forgetting something important, Blueblood, heir, or not you are still merely a prince." She leaned in closer to him. "While I'm your goddess." her horn glowed even brighter, and her eyes began to shine white as well. "A fact that I will be more than happy to teach you if you keep testing... my... patience."
Suddenly, the restraints tightened, and it felt like the gravity around Blueblood was increasing, making the chains heavier by the second. The prince's mind went into overdrive as his adrenalin spiked, and his fear started to sink in. He desperately tried to think of some way to escape, eventually looking at the still-burning painting and coming up with an idea as he closed his eyes and charged his horn. Making Nightmare increases the pressure on him.
"Don't bother teleporting, those restraints will follow suit the moment you try, besides you know I'm right, I can see it in your eyes. You never once asked yourself what will happen to you after you're done cleaning your predecessor's messes. Tell me, did you ever wonder why you wanted wings in the first place? Admit it Blueblood, deep inside, you envy those mares just as much as I do, and you crave a taste of the same power that they enjoy every single day. Tell me, what's so wrong in seeking it out?"
Blueblood's horn stopped shining, and Nightmare ceased feeding the magic into the gravity spell, dissipating its effect instantly. "You are right," Blueblood whispered
The mare started to smile again "Do I finally get through to you?" She quickly dismissed the chains as he nodded.
"The idea of being an alicorn is…enticing. And been Blood Moon felt nice, the rush of power. The sense of confidence and freedom it granted me, I felt like I could do anything."
"Right?" She chirped out, pleased while eagerly helping him rise to his hooves clean dust away from his shoulders and chest. "And there is nothing wrong with wanting to have that sensation in our life. It's Celestia, that's the problem. She's afraid of our potential. She will only shackle all that which she can't control. And we are better than that, right?" She extended her hoof in expectation.
"Right, l already decided that no one will ever control what I can and can't do ever again." She nods eagerly at Blueblood's proclamation, "Not my father, not my aunts" He reciprocates the gesture grabbing her hoof before glaring at her. "And certainly not monsters like you!"
Surprised, Nightmare didn't have time to react as Blueblood pulled her forward into a hug while tipping them both off to the side, grabbing one of her wings with a free hoof as they both fell into a hole in the ground that seemed to go on forever until they reach a river of lava with a platform positioned in the middle of it and giant roots running along the ceiling. Blueblood turned to use Nightmares' body as a cushion, absorbing the impact. Dazed but able to rise, the prince took advantage of Nightmare having to recover from their impact by rushing to one of the four giant mirrors that stood on the edge of the platform and jumping through its surface, leaving Nightmare behind as she glared at her reflection in the mirror he just escaped through. Her fury boiled over, and she screamed out, "BLUEBLOOD, YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!! YOU HEAR ME?! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU RUN I WILL ALWAYS GET YOU!" Ready to give chase when suddenly the mirrors all burst into flames and from them, earth pony soldiers clad in dark armor stepped through and charged at Nightmare with their long axes, forcing her to stop and summon a dome of magic around her to protect herself from the attacks, as more and more warriors from the three tribes appeared and charged with a lethal assortment of weapons.
"Bringing a nightmare to life now, dear? I'm touched. Even in your defiance, you just keep trying to be like me. Perhaps I will not be so severe with your punishment once I'm done playing with your toy…"
Suddenly, the entire platform shook violently as pillars of fire started to burst from the river below. From the magma, two tall pillars rose and formed an arch where an even more massive unicorn clad in the same type of dark armor, cape, and longsword fell out onto the platform with a gaping hole in the middle of his chest."…soldiers?"
Behind the corpse, a giant bicorn* stepped out of the portal, his mane and tail were made of pure fire. He was clad in melted golden plate armor with a rough emblem of the sun etched into its breastplate. Two prominent fangs were hung down past its snarling mouth, and most disturbing of all, the torso, arms, and head of a human knight with equally melted armor sat, seamlessly fused with the Bicorns back, with each breath the creature took, flames could be seen from its mouths on the exhale. Both of the knight's arms ended in wicked lances. Each one fused to the knight's arms by the heat surrounding the creature. The points of said weapons smoldered white-hot and left a fire trail as they dragged the ground.**
"You again!?" The Nightmare shouted at the rider.
For its part, the rider ignored Nightmare and started to walk towards the mirror that Blueblood escaped through until Nightmare blocked its path. "Oh no! you will not get to him this time. He is mine now! Do you hear me?! Mine!"
With a murderous glare, the bicorn focused on Nightmare as it flames grew stronger "Niiiiiighhhttmare!!!"
As the fight continued, the prince kept running in the void until an explosion behind him sent him flying forward until he crashed into the ground and looked back in confusion.
What the hell is going on back…no, now is not the time to get sidetracked. Focus!
Finally, reaching the end of the tunnel, the prince exited into the cold of a desert night where there was only sand around for miles in every direction he looked. The only feature he could find was a dried out, very dead tree in the distance. The tree was big enough for him to rest underneath its roots after finding a hole big enough for him to remain unseen and letting him catch his breath and organize his thoughts. I need to fix this, calm down, think of what Pudding Head taught you. Analyze, assess, and think outside the fireplace. What do I know? I'm inside my head. I'm fighting a hyper-powerful Freddy Kruger who wants to adopt me, and my family and friends are trapped here. No biggie I can fix this, just need to think.
The prince tried to rationalize his situation, but the fear in his heart was still there and the memories he witnessed, making it harder for him to concentrate. Not realizing that said emotions were making everything around him colder.
Auntie…what did you do back there?
The prince start to shake from the cold
Sensing his distress, the interpretations, and the sleeping Nightmare gasped, before approaching the group with more urgency. "We are running out of time."
"What happened?" Fluttershy asked her counterpart in worry.
"It's Blueblood. His mind is in turmoil, which means this nightmare…" Witch-Twilight showed them an image of the city outside as snow started to fall
"…will become even more dangerous very soon" Luna finished in realization and stepped forward with determination. "You are right, Mage-Twilight, the time to act is now. I'm with you."
"Me too," Garra answered, followed swiftly by her sister, who nodded.
"I think we have a grasp of the situation now. Let's work together," Twilight told every one of them with a smile.
"Yeah! It will be like when we helped princess Luna but with Blueblood this time," Pinkie cheerfully replied.
"Good, because what we need you to do requires a lot of trust." Futterknight pointed at the sleeping mare
"That's right. Earlier, you said that Luna's counterpart is the key to our victory. What did you mean by that?" Celestia approached the slumbering mare, intrigued.
"The monsters that the Tantabus made are all enchanted so as to provoke fear in you and grow stronger from it. As you are right now, it will be impossible to get closer to her. And the further we go from our creator, the easier it will be for the parasite to control us."
Witch-Twilight explained before she tapped the bed.
"But if we work together, we can cover each other's weaknesses. All you need to do is fall asleep in this bed, and Nightmare can provide you with a portion of her magic so the monsters can't feed off you, and the Tantabus will be unable to control us."
"And in doing so…, we will become ponies of shadows?" Rarity questioned unsure about the idea.
"It would only be temporary, and until we bring said magic back to Blueblood, we promise that you would be in complete control the whole time." Witch-Twilight clarified, "Please, we want to help; you can trust us."
Everyone kept quiet, still not entirely sure of what to do until Fluttershy and Luna stepped forward. the latter regarded her counterpart with a seriousness burning in her eyes. "I still have my reservations, but if my nephew trusts you, so will I." She then laid down and closed her eyes on the bed.
Fluttershy only smiled, remembering a small memory of hers "I'm not afraid" She follows Luna's example and lays down, the rest of the group followed suit and tried to relax as much as possible.
"Thank you, everypony," witch-Twilight smiled in gratitude. "Don't worry. The process will be quick and painless" As she said that, the mane and tail of the sleeping Nightmare started to move and cover the group's foreheads with her hair as stars in it moved towards the entire group.
"I will go tell the others, the plan is a go, and to get ready. Tonight the nightmares roam free."