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// Twilight's Nightmare 
// Story: A Royal Nightmare 
// by StormLuna 
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A new day had arrived in Canterlot and just like she had every day for more than a thousand years, Twilight arrived in the throne room and plopped down on her throne.  When she first started, she always sat there in a regal stance but as time went on, she began to slouch a bit but now, she arrives in the throne room with her mane and tail so unkempt it barely has it's normal wavy appearance.  

Spike would soon arrive and see how Twilight was sitting, leaning back with her legs spread apart and drinking coffee out of a cup with writing on it, one that read, "I should've let Starlight win." 

Spike gasped, "What?  Why in Equestria would you be using a cup that reads that?"

Twilight was in a less than stellar mood and yelled, "Because I should have!  Had I done so, then maybe she would be the one cursed with this job!" 

Twilight then flipped on the news and would not be impressed by what she saw.  They were covering protests going on back east by ponies who wanted to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic.  She sat up and leaned forward as the report went on and the rage began to build with in her.  She growled, "So they want to abolish the monarchy do they?"  She stomped a hoof on the floor before yelling, "Maybe I should abolish their lives!  Maybe I should turn them into cat food and sell it to the Abyssinians!" 

Just when Twilight thought things couldn't get any worse three ponies came barging in through the throne room doors.  Twilight was not thrilled when this happened and yelled, "Where the hay is the royal guard?  Why the hay hasn't he shown up for duty yet?"

Spike replied, "I don't know, maybe he called in or something."  Twilight's glare deepened and Spike continued, "Look, it isn't my job to check your messages!" 

Twilight snapped, "So help me Faust if he did, I'm having griffon wings for supper!" 

She then heard a female voice, "Like, what do you mean you'll have griffon wings?"

Another female voice added, "Ewww....gross!  You're really going to eat meat?"

A male voice finished, "Uh-what?" 

Twilight turned her attention to the three ponies in front of her and gave them a deep glare, "Who the hay are you three and what the hay do you want?"

The unicorn stepped forward and said, "My name is Izzy." 

The earth pony did the same, "My name is Sunny" 

The stallion turned his attention way from his portable gaming console and added, "My name is Hitch." 

Twilight looked at the three with a great amount of disdain.  She had grown to despise what ponykind had become, too much tech, no magic, so much materialism and an overall lack of intelligence.  She let out a groan, "Ugh, ok I know what your names are but what the hay do you want?"

Izzy was the first to say anything, "Well you see, I like kinda got this tennis ball stuck on my horn thingy and I can't get it off.  I don't know if you like might know who a good surgeon is to remove it cuz I wanna get it off, y'know?"

Twilight let out a screech of frustration, "You're a unicorn, use your magic to remove it you ditz!" 

Izzy protested, "I would but I can't.  My magic isn't like good enough!" 

Twilight grabbed the tennis ball in her aura and ripped it off her horn.  She snapped, "There, happy!" 

Izzy pouted, "No cuz now my horn looks boring!" 

Twilight began to hyperventilate, "I can't do this anymore Spike, I just can't!"  She used her magic to create a paper bag to breathe into.  After a full minute the next young mare would speak, "Princess, are you ok?  You look really messy." 

"Really messy?"  Twilight screamed, "I'll show you really messy!" 

Twilight flared her horn up in anger but Spike would be quick to swat it, "Whoa Twilight, calm down!  See what she wants."  

Twilight grumbled, "Fine, what do you want Sunny?"

"Well you see, I'm having serious problems in school.  I'm learning about you and your old friends in history class and I have a question, was Fluttershy the one that ate animals because if she was, that wasn't very loyal!"

Twilight again flared her horn up in anger and screamed, "She LOVED animals you idiot, she didn't eat them!"  She stomped her hoof into the floor and snorted, "What the hay is wrong with you?  EVERYPONY knows Fluttershy loved animals!" 

She then noticed that the young stallion with them was holding something in his hooves and tapping on it.  Twilight grabbed the object from him and yelled, "If you want an audience with me, you'll PAY ATTENTION, not be wasting my time by messing with whatever this is." 

Twilight slammed the device up against the wall and shattered it.  He yelled, "My gaming console!  My dad spent 2,000 bits on that thing and when he finds out you broke it......" 

"I don't care what your daddy will do colt," Twilight screamed "now what the hay is it you want?"

Hitch replied, "Well uh, I was wondering if I could have some money because there is a new video game I want and now I need a new portable console too." 

Twilight grabbed him in her aura and screeched, "Get a job, get a job, get a job!  Ugh, I'm so sick and tired of ponies begging me for money!"  She then threw him against the wall and yelled, "At least the Abyssinians know how to manage their money!  At least they don't beg their king and queen for money!  Ugh, why couldn't I rule Abyssinia instead?"

Izzy asked, "Like what is Abyssinia and could you like get me a new horn accessory?"

Sunny added, "Yeah and could you make my teacher pass me no matter what?"

Twilight again began to hyperventilate as she lit up her horn and fired a beam of energy towards the arm of her throne, causing a red button to appear.  She broke down into a manic cackle, "Ooooh, soon you won't have to worry about that anymore, none of it!" 

Spike saw her hoof moving towards the button and gasped, "Twilight, you're not really going to launch that thing are you?"

Twilight broke down into a cackle, "Oh yes Spike, all 187 of them!   Hee-hee-hee, now these three will have no problems and I won't have to deal with this anymore once the cobalt bombs hit!" 

Spike went to stop Twilight but it was too late, she slammed her hoof on the button and launched the bombs.  Their three visitors looked on in shock wondering what it was Twilight did.  They had no clue what cobalt bombs were but they knew that whatever Twilight did, it likely wasn't good. 

Finally a blinding flash and explosion blew out the palace windows. 





"AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Twilight woke up screaming in her study tower and terrified Spike.  Twilight sat there in her bed screaming for a good five minutes before Spike was finally able to calm her down.  "Twilight, it's ok.  You were just having a nightmare." 

Twilight continued to breathe heavily as she replied, "A horrible nightmare Spike!  Princess Celestia wound up punishing me for not going to Moondancer's party!  She sent me down to Ponyville to set up her festival and forced me to make friends with some of the ponies down there!" 

"Alright, what is so bad about that?"

Twilight continued to be frantic, "Well I befriended them, we had to go and defeat Nightmare Moon.  After that, we had to defeat this weird creature named Discord that escaped his stone prison!  Then I had to stop my brother from marrying the queen of the changelings and save my old foal sitter!  After that, King Sombra came back and then Celestia punishes me for fixing Starswirl's spell by making me a princess." 

Spike commented, "That sounds like a weird dream." 

"Ooooh, that's not all.  Then we had to stop the Everfree Forest from eating Ponyville, then we had to defeat Tirek because that dumb mutt Cerberus can't stay put.   Then I had to face off against this crazy unicorn that stole cutie marks and perfected Starswirl's time spell.  After that, Cadence's baby broke the Crystal Heart and we had to save the Crystal Empire.  Then the unicorn that stole my cutie mark had to save me from Chrysalis. Then I unleashed the pony of shadows before opening a friendship school where some psycho filly stole these artifacts and nearly drained all the magic from Equestria!" 

Spike suggested, "You know maybe you should stop."

"Oh no, I can't stop now.  Then Discord betrayed everypony by freeing Sombra from the ether and then teaming up Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek and they stole Grogar's bell to become real powerful and somehow in the end, us and a lot of different creatures saved Equestria and then Princess Celestia punished me, again!  She retired and made me take over Equestria and I grew to be a re-color of her that everypony hated!" 

Spike commented, "Twilight, it is ok.  It was just a dream, nothing else." 

Twilight had calmed down somewhat but continued, "Well then I wind up living for over a thousand years and Equestria becomes a land where only I have good magic and technology and materialism become the norm."  She took a deep breath before finishing, "And then I have three of the most annoying ponies ever come bug me in the throne room.  One had a tennis ball stuck on her horn, another asked me to make her teacher pass her because she thought some pony named Fluttershy ate animals and then there was this disrespectful colt who expected me to give him money after breaking some weird device he called a gaming console."  She finally calmed down entirely as she finished, "Well I wasn't myself so I launched a large number of things called cobalt bombs to destroy the world.  Right as the first one hit, that is when I woke up." 

"Wow Twilight, that sounds like a really bad dream.  Not so much of a nightmare but a night terror." 

Twilight let out a slight laugh, "It was and all that happened because I skipped Moondancer's party.  Well I'll make sure that never happens.   We're going to her party today!" 

Spike exclaimed, "Yes and I can give her the presents we have for her!" 

"The teddy bear and the portrait?  I'm sure she will love them."  Twilight yawned, "Alright Spike, let's get some more sleep.  I don't want to be tired at Moondancer's party."

Spike nodded and the two tried to get some more sleep.  As Twilight laid there trying to resume her slumber, she truly hoped that by going to Moondancer's party, that she could escape the punishment that Celestia would give her, that along with all the horrors that would follow. 


TEN HOURS LATER


Twilight and Spike were walking through Canterlot when they ran across some of Twilight's "friends."   For the first time Twilight was actually happy to see them and would be more excited when Twinkleshine asked, "There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?"

Twilight exclaimed, "Yes, I'd love to!  Come on Spike, let's get to Moondancer's party!"  

Spike replied, "Well it's about time you hang out with your friends!  I know Princess Celestia will be thrilled!" 

The two followed Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Minuette to Moondancer's party and out of all of them, Moondancer was the happiest to see her.  While Twilight was discussing advanced magic with Moondancer she thought to herself, "Thank goodness!  Now I'll never have to put up with immortality, moving to a backwater town, taking over for Celestia and most importantly, Izzy, Sunny and Hitch!  I'm free from that fate!" 



Several days later Nightmare Moon cast Equestria into eternal darkness but Twilight didn't panic or even care that much as she had escaped the fate from her nightmare.  Rather than battling Nightmare Moon, she and her friends befriended her.  Because of that friendship and how welcoming and accepting they were of her, Nightmare Moon realized Equestria needed sunlight for plants to grow and to keep things warm.  In the end, she was a loving ruler who did what was best for Equestria and much to Twilight's relief, she never sent her to Ponyville.