//------------------------------// // First Blood // Story: Rise of the Guardians // by Thorn231 //------------------------------// In the Canterlot Gardens, a single stone statue of a multicreature stood alone. It was the stone form of Discord, the evil creature that had tortured Equestria so long ago, He looked sad and lonely,,, Meanwhile... In the top towers of Canterlot, Luna banged through her door and entered her room. She had just returned from raising the moon. She was tired and hungry, so she laid down on the bed and ate a quick meal that a Royal Guard had brought to her. She sighed as she drew the covers around herself. It seemed so long ago when she was evil, and the Elements of Harmony ahd revived her. Then, she and her sister Celestia had never been closer. She smiled to herself, as she still didn't know what had caused her so much anger and grief. She fell asleep. In her dreams, she was running down a hallway, her eyes wide and her mane a mess. She tore into a room and saw her sister lying the middle, dead. Horribly dead. Standing over her was a huge dragon, with no legs and red eyes. Its back had four long tentacles leaking from it, and it mouth was a gold piece of armor. It opened that mouth, and hissed "Princess Luna. Turn into Nightmare Moon and join us! Do not resist, as this world will shortly become ours!" With that, it vanished. Luna felt something behind her, and saw a giant blast of ice coming straight at her... "NOOO!!!!!" Luna wailed as she tore upwards in bed. She laid her front hooves on her sheets, and breathed slowly and carefully. She did not know what had happened. Suddenly, she felt a cold thing grip her hooves. Her breathing became faster, more strained, as she struggled to move, Suddenly armor sprang up on her back, and she cried out as her back arched. Her blue coat slowly turned to black, then her cutie mark burst into a dark crescent moon. A dark helmet appeared around her face, and her eyes turned from sapphire blue to a dark evil black. Her tail transformed into a flowing river of darkness, and she stood up, no longer Princess Luna, but now... Nightmare Moon!!! She laughed, and said "Nightmare Moon has returned!" Her first thought was to go straight to the throne room and confront Celestia, but she knew that her sister could easily overpower her in a fight. She decided to enlist some help... She flew down to the gardens behind their castle, and found the statue of Discord standing on its pestedel, still frozen. Her horn glowed as she blasted the statue with fiery magic. After a few minutes, the stone cracked and fell apart to reveal Discord! The evil creature uncurled from his posistion and yawned, before scratching his back with his dragon claw. "Where am I?" He asked. Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes before saying "I revived you. I am Nightmare Moon, the Mare of the-" Discord cut her off by saying "Yeah, Yeah yeah. I already know that you are the Mare of the Moon. Why did you release me?" Nightmare Moon moaned. Why had she released this idiot? "Because, I need your help to defeat Celestia and rule Equestria!" Discord rolled his eyes and said "Whats in it for me?" "I'll give you a part of Equestria where you can rule and spread chaos and disorder." Was the curt reply. "Deal!" Discord cried. Suddenly there was a shout "Who goes there?" The two villains turned to face a Royal Guard. Shining Armor. He was out on his watch, even though his wife Princess Cadence had attempted to reason with him that he should stay inside. He replyed that he couldn't put aside Canterlot's saftey even for her and thier unborn children, then gave her a kiss and left. Shining aimed his spear at Nightmare Moon and said "Princess Luna?" Nightmare Moon growled and said "I am no longer Luna! From now on, call me Nightmare Moon, Mare of the Moon!" With that, she gave a evil laugh and dark lighting crackled around her for extra drama. Discord sighed and said "My name is Discord, and I am the Embodiement of Chaos!" Shining shouted "I don't care who you are! Get away from Luna so I can give her to Celestia for purifying!" Discord snapped his claws. Instanltly, Shining Armor toppled to the ground, writing in pain. "Kill him," was Discord's only response to Nightmare's questioning. The dark mare turned to the immbolized captain, and grabbed his spear from his hoof before aiming it at him. "No princess! Twily... told me you were good!" Shining moaned through his pain. Suddely memories flashed in Nightmare's mind. From first meeting Twilight Sparkle all the way to when Shining married Princess Cadence. The memories faded. Nightmare heisitated for a few moements then whispered "Forgive me Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle. Forgive me Tia..." With that, she plunged the blade of the spear into Shining Armor's throat, killing him instanly. Discord smiled and released his pain magic, "Good clean kill Nightmare," Blood was leaking from the dead stallion's throat, when suddenly there was a loud choking sob. Nightmare turned to face Cadence! The pink alicorn had come to make sure her husband was alright, when she saw Discord and her aunt Luna standing over his body. Blood continued spouting from the wound, and Cadence's eyes filled with tears. She sat down beside her dead husband and cradled his body gently in her forehooves. "Cadence..." Nightmare tried to say, but Cadence turned her head to face her and shouted "Leave me alone you inpony beast! You are nothing but a monster! Stay away from me!" With that, she went back to sobbing over the body of her husband. "Let's go Nightmare." Discord growled, flapping his wings and using his chaos powers to teleport them away. "NOOO!" Nightmare cried when they got to a deserted area in the Everfree Forest. "Why did I do that?" Nightmare sobbed, as she laid on the ground. Discord growled "Its time to be a serious villain Nightmare! You shouldn't be crying over the body of a victim!" Nightmare dried her tears and growled at herself for feeling sadness. She was a mythical villain! She shouldn't be sobbing over the body of her victims! She got up on shaky legs and said "Let's get out of here before the rest of the Royal Guard or worse, Tia herself find us." Discord nodded before the evil duo disappeared in a flash of purple light, leaving Cadence's crys echoing through the castle...