With my student having the time of her life,
The other Twilight was fairing far less nice.
And now the time had come for me to enter the fray,
And what a foalish part I would play.

Necropolis. If there was ever a more over the top place Twilight had seen in her life, it was definitely that. It could be described as a massive, hexagonal prism, though a bit roundish on the sides, almost like a beehive. Unlike Canterlot, it did not rest on any mountainside. Instead, it floated high in the air, suspended above a sea of green liquid and what she guessed was blood, one continuously filled by artificial waterfalls that dumped the liquids from the city's sides. Even at a distance of about a half a kilometer away, Twilight could still hear horrid cries and evil laughter emanating from its walls.

Twilight gave a gulp. "W-Well... I can't say I expected anything less from Nightmare Moon.”

Rotten-Belle turned towards her at that, a smile on her face. "Isn't it simply ghastly?!"

"It's as horrible as I remember!" Scootaweb beamed. "Awww man, I wonder if the blood geyser is still working!"

"And the Shrieking Shack!" Apple Doom grinned. "I hope we'll have time to visit!"

"Oooo, I should buy a new spellbook for Scarity while I'm here! She always loved that one little shop on the eastern end," 'Sweetie' smiled, before giving a slight sigh. "It sure is good to be home..."

Rotten gave a nod with a nostalgic smile. "Yeah! I can't wait to show you guys around." She then turned to Twilight, her smile sticking. "And you too, if Nightmare Moon is alright with you."

Twilight gave a shiver at that, a vision of Nightmare Moon chucking her off the far walls coming into mind. "Me begging you not to bring me to her isn't going to work, is it?"

“Sorry, but we're going to get our putrid-marks out of this!" Rotten added. "And our Twilight would totally want us to bring you here, anyway. It was her idea! Besides, I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

With that, she took another step forward, leading the way to a long, rickety bridge that was the only way Twilight could see up to the place, singing:

Big wheels keep on turning,
Carry me home to see this sin,
Singing songs about the dead lands,
One I'd die twice to have again,
And it’d be on a whim!"

"Well I heard the reaper sing about her,
While Twilight here puts her down,
Though I hope she'll soon come to remember,
That this gal don't need her around, anyhow!"

Sweet home Windy City,
Where the skies ain't never blue!
Sweet home Windy City,
Here I'm comin' home to you!
Let's make it true!"

"Awww man, I wish I brought my stupid guitar with me," Scootaweb pouted. "I learned how to play that awesome solo a few weeks ago."

"Maaaan," Rotten grunted. "If only we had someghoul who could play the honky tonk solo too... it'd be so awesome!"

"Oh, nothing," she said, shaking her head. "It's just I can say both of our worlds have at least one thing in common."

"Yeah, if it doesn't send shivers down our spines it isn't worth anything!" Scootaweb grunted.

"Speaking of which, Vinyl just got a new record with that Friday song on it! She said she's going to play it before Nightmare Night begins," Apple Doom grinned.

"Come on girls, let's go deliver our gift!" Apple Doom beamed, leading the way up the nearly quarter-mile precarious wooden bridge to the city.

"Sweet home Windy City,
Where the skies are never blue!
Sweet home Windy City,
Here I'm comin' home to you!
Let's make it true!"

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"For the last time, Prince Blackblood, I'm not giving you any more souls to eat!" Nightmare Moon growled, shooting daggers down upon a black figure that stood in her throne room.

It gave a disgruntled huff in response. "But your majesty, surely you can see the benefit in keeping one of your most important advisers fed-"

"No. Means. No!" she shouted. "Rainbow Death's already on my flank about the last two I gave you, and those were sinners from the other world! If she finds out what else you've been gorging yourself on, you are so screwed you might as well pack up your bags and head back to Null Space!"

The figure gave a gulp. "S-She already knows! A-And you know very well I can't go back there! Surely, the wise Princess Nightmare Moon could find a way to-"

Nightmare Moon gave another sigh. "Noghoul likes a brown noser, Blackblood. I'm sorry, really. I sympathize with your position, but you wouldn't be in it if you didn't act like such a glutton in the first place and conserved what you had! You don't see the Slendermare asking for souls, now do you? That's something I just can't and don't want to give you. You're going to have to find some on your own... and do it discreetly." Her eyes then narrowed. "And if I find out you've been eating anymore souls of the innocent, I'll kick your gooey flank myself." After that, she waved a dismissive hoof. "Besides, Death tells me you don't even need them. She says they're like a drug to you, not a food source, and she's never lied to me before."

"She's lying to you about this," he growled. "But I will... do as you ask, your majesty," he sighed, before sauntering towards the exit of the throne room.

"By the night," she groaned, turning towards her royal aid when she was sure that he was gone. "Is there anyone who isn't Blackblood that wants to see me, today?"

"Actually, yes," the aid said, him a chupacabra like creature with glowing, red eyes. "Three young ghouls who say they have a gift for you."

At that, Nightmare Moon bounced slightly on her throne, clapping her hooves as her mood turned one-eighty. "Oooo, presents!" she smiled. "I love presents!"

The chupacabra gave her a chuckle. "Speaking of which, how's the new broomstick I got you working out?"

"Fast as a speeding bullet," Nightmare Moon smiled. "The Nimbus-2000, what a beast! I don't know where you found one of those babies."

The chupacabra dragged a claw across the ground, simpering in embarrassment. "Eh, you know me; I find a lot of stuff out at the tar bars."

The moon goddess gave a slight grin. "Ever resourceful." She then quirked an eyebrow. "Now I feel guilty, though. Anything you want for Nightmare Night? No offense, but I'm not really certain of your personal tastes."

The chupacabra shrugged slightly. "Meh, don't worry about it, I'll think of something." He then chuckled slightly in embarrassment. "Oh by the way, I forgot to give you the name of the person who gave our guard the message: it's Scarity's sister, Rotten-Belle."

The moon goddess raised an eyebrow. "One of the Element's sisters is here to see me? Well, that's kind of weird." She then gave a shrug as well. "Ah well, go ahead and see them in."

"My lord, your guests have arrived," one her elite guards, them looking very similar to her counterpart, Princess Luna's, shouted form the hall.

With that, three young ghouls entered, them who the night princess immediately recognized as the spider queen Shelob's daughter and the sisters of two of the Elements of Fear.

"Hail to the night!" the three shouted, their voices laced with awe at being in her presence as they gave three tiny bows.

Nightmare rolled her eyes, giving them a slight smile. "No need for formalities, girls. What's up?" She then quirked an eyebrow, noticing what Scootaweb was dragging behind her. "Wait a minute... is that my student?!" she gasped, immediately fluttering over to the trio, nervous looks coming on their faces. "Uh, girls... why is Twilight wrapped up in web?"

At that, Nightmare Moon quirked an eyebrow before taking a closer look, immediately noticing that who they had in the web was far from dead. "By the night... that's not her! What in the world…"

"Nope!" the three beamed, their fear immediately lessening. "It's actually a gift from your Twilight!"

"So wait, that's the living Twilight from the other side?!" Nightmare gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. "W-Why did my student..."

Scootaweb gave a slight huff. "Dawww... we thought you'd be pleased with this..."

At that, the moon goddess' look of incredulity slowly morphed into an evil grin. "Ooooh, I'm more than pleased girls."

"Hehehe," she cackled, loving the look of fear that was coming upon the mortal mare's face. "Go ahead and unwrap her. I don't want my guest... immobile."

With a cheeky smirk, Scootaweb immediately did as she said, leaving Twilight Sparkle on the ground, her shivering in a little ball of fear.

"On your feet, Element of Magic," Nightmare Moon growled, glaring daggers at her. "You have a lot to answer for!"

At that, Twilight slowly rose to her hooves, her heart thumping like no tomorrow in her chest. "L-Look, Nightmare Moon... I know you're not the same Nightmare Moon as the one in my world... I don't want any trouble, can you please just-"

"Twilight Sparkle!" she roared, hovering above the ground with glowing, white eyes, her voice giving Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot a run for its money, it actually blowing the three crusaders back some. "I have long since waited for this day! Retribution is at hand for your transgression against my counterpart!" She then gave an evil cackle, turning towards the three crusaders. "What do you think is a good punishment, girls?!"

"All good suggestions," Nightmare Moon mused, taking menacing steps towards the mortally terrified mare. "Yet I think I know the best punishment there could be!" She then gave her a wicked grin. "For your sins against my counterpart, I have no choice but to..." She gave a warm, hearty chuckle. "Send you back to where you belong. Possibly with a gift basket."

"Nope," Nightmare chuckled. "I don't know why my student thought I'd give a crap about what her and her friends did to my counterpart, but I'm not her." She then turned back towards Twilight. "Sorry about that, I just couldn't resist a good scare. It is what my world is all about, after all." She then did a little gleeful dance, it best resembling moonwalking. "And I still gots it, too!"

"So... you really aren't the real Nightmare Moon," Twilight said, still panting. "B-But how is this-”

"Possible?" The moon goddess cocked her head. "Well, it is her holiday, after all, why wouldn't a version of her be here?"

At that, Twilight shook her head incredulously. "I don't understand... what are you?"

Nightmare Moon gave another hearty laugh before heading back over to her throne. "Now why would I want to go and spoil a mystery like that for a mind like yours? Wouldn't that take the fun out of figuring it out for yourself?"

The lavender mare glanced away from her at that, taking a deep breath. "I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover, can you?"

The moon goddess gave a shrug. "Nope, but don't worry about it." She then glanced towards the three crusaders, quirking an eyebrow. "Seems like you three have some apologizing to do. Dragging her here in a web, saying that she's going to be crucified? What makes you three think I would have wanted that? My Twilight didn't say so, did she?"

At that, the three glanced away from her, their faces laden with guilt. "T-Twilight didn't actually say that she wanted us to bring her to you... she actually just said to show her around."

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "I don't think she meant with free web transportation... and where is she, anyway?"

"We’re not sure," Apple Doom said. "She just told us she wanted us to ponynap Twilight. W-We thought you would have wanted us to ruff her up a bit before bringing her here..."

"Ack, you kids have been watching too many cliche movies these days," Nightmare Moon groaned. "Scaring is caring is this realm, not... total douchebaggery. That's Prince Blackblood's job."

"Though I have to say your scaring could give a pony a heart attack," Twilight grunted between gritted teeth.

Ignoring the comment, the moon goddess continued with, "alright, so my student didn't say what she was doing." She then tapped her chin with a hoof. "Hmmm... curiouser and curiouser. I'll have to send her a letter later..." With that, she turned back towards the three crusaders. "Anyway, I want you three to return her back to her world, ASAP."

Appledoom gave a sigh, a frown forming on her face. "I guess this means we're not going to get our putrid marks, after all.”

Nightmare Moon gave another laugh at that. "And so the mystery is revealed. That's what you brought her here for?!" She then gave a deep sigh. "Girls, I can't help you find your lot in life. That's something you have to find for yourselves." Noticing the look of utter disappointment on their faces, Nightmare then gave a slight smile. "Though if you three were smart enough to actually be able to kidnap the Element of friggin' Magic of all ponies, I'm sure that what you seek isn't too far down the winding road."

At that, the trio gave bright smiles. "Right, we'll bring her back home immediately!"

They then turned towards the purple mare. "We're really sorry about this, Twilight..." Rotten said, screwing a hoof into the ground in shame.

At that, the purple mare took a deep breath. "Well... there wasn't any permanent damage done..." She then gave a slight smile. "And who doesn't like to be scared when Nightmare Night comes about?" After that, she turned towards Nightmare Moon, her tone heading down the serious road. "Before I leave, however, I think it'd be important to tell you that I think I know where your student is..."

"It's just an assumption," Twilight said, raising a hoof. "But I think she wanted to take my place on the other side for some reason..."

"Hmmm," the goddess pondered, surprising Twilight by not outright rejecting the idea. "It's possible. She has expressed interest in visiting the other side of the gates before. But taking your place? No offense, but that sounds a bit farfetched. But just in case..." She turned towards one of her bat-winged guards. "Hey Moonwalker, can you do me a favor and grab Blackblood for me? I think I know how to get him out of my mane for a bit."

Yeeeehahhh!" he sang, throwing a salute before moonwalking out of the throne room, Nightmare Moon clapping her hooves in glee as he left.

Cause this is thriller, thriller night,
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike!
You know it's thriller, thriller night,
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight!
SHAMONEIGH!"

"And THAT is a guard for you!" Nightmare Moon grinned, her chupacabra aid glancing at him with a slight bit of envy. "He even taught me how to moonwalk. I love him!"

"Uhhh, girls," Twilight whispered to the PMC. "I think your princess might be a bit insane."

The mortal mare gave a slight smile. "She... isn't what I expected, that's to say the least. Though who's this Prince Blackblood?"

Apple Moon and Rotten shrugged, though Scootaweb opened her mouth. "I've heard Rainbow Death talk about him-"

"Long story short: she's Death," Rotten-Belle explained. "The grim reaper for both worlds."

Twilight's mouth nearly fell off her face at that, though she quickly composed herself and gave a slight chuckle. "I need to remember not to tell Dashie about that... her ego is already big enough not knowing that her counterpart is death itself."

Scootaweb gave a shrug at that. "Anyway, Deathie hates Blackblood. She says he's always stealing souls away from her. That he doesn't even belong here."

"They say he's an Eldritch Abomination from Null Space," Scootaweb explained. "You know, the space between spaces? Apparently, Cthulhu and the other monsters there thought he was too douchey for even their standards and actually kicked him out! Exiled him! Deathie’s always saying he desires nothing but power and souls.”

"Wait, what? Cthulhu is real?!" Twilight gasped. "I guess those Lovecraftian novels I read weren't just stories..."

"Yeah," Rotten nodded. "You know, I heard he was kicked out the same time the Slendermare was, another Eldritch Abomination."

"I do!" Nightmare Moon grinned, her apparently ease-dropping. She then gave a slight chuckle. "It was actually kind of funny..."

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The massive tentacle-mouthed monster that was Cthulhu stood menacingly before the city of Necropolis, him so tall he could peer at the highest towers of its top. In one of his hands, he held Nightmare Moon before his eyes, and in the other, the Slendermare, his black tendrils licking at the cool night's breeze.

The moon goddess quirked an eyebrow. "So uh... wait, you want me to let the Slendermare live here?"

Cthulhu gave a frantic nod, his tentacles swishing about. "Yes, please... I'd really appreciate it. I'm sure he'll be a great asset to Nightmare Night if you can keep him on a leash. A really thick one... with a shock collar."

At that, Cthulhu gave a deep sigh. "Ugh... I'm going to hate myself for admitting this... but..." He then leaned closer to the moon goddess. "He freaks me out," he whispered.

"Ugh," Cthulhu groaned. "It's not funny! You have no idea what it's like to live within the same dimension as him." He then took a deep breath. "For the last month or so I've found him standing outside my castle in R'lyeh peering up at my bedroom window every god-forsaken morning!" He then gulped, glancing at the Slendermare with terror. "He just stands there... MENACINGLY! Please help me," he whimpered. "What sort of horrible minds could conceive of such a beast is beyond me!"

"Yeah... what sort of horrible minds," Nightmare Moon chuckled. "But yeah, I'll take him off your freaky fin-like hands for you. As a matter of fact, everyghoul here likes being scared, you big sissy!"

She then stuck her tongue out at the Eldritch Abomination, him blushing fiercely.

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"Oh I'm so never going to ever let him live that down," Nightmare Moon grinned, before tapping her foot impatiently. "Now where's Prince Blackblood..."

Yeeehahh! Here he is!" Moonwalker called, leading the menacing looking being into the throne room.

Out of everything Twilight had seen in the Nightmare Realm, nothing could compare to him. He was an Eldritch Abomination in every sense of the word. His body was pony-shaped, but that's about the only thing he held in common with her kind. It seemed to be made entirely out of black goo, and sticking out of that goo was a series of eerily pony-like, blood-shot eyes. However, they were not alone. Accompanying them were a number of jagged, sharp-toothed mouths, their teeth dripping with saliva.

He was sickening to say the least. However, the throne room guards didn't seem to be that frightened by him...

Here he is!
The biggest douche in the universe!
There is no other douche,
Bigger than him!"

"Ugh, must they sing that offensive, childish song every time I enter the throne room?" Blackblood groaned.

"Yeah, that's completely unprofessional and rude, guys! Whose idea was that anyway?" Nightmare Moon said, nodding her head in mock-stern agreement before she blinked over to Twilight's side. "It was my idea," she whispered, giggling.

Twilight rolled her eyes as the insane princess turned to face the abomination. "Anyway, hello again, Prince Blackblood. Sorry to call you back here so soon after you just left. However, I'll cut to the chase: I have a mission for you."

"A mission?" he said, cocking an eyebrow, his twenty or so eyes lusting for approval.

Nightmare nodded. "Yeah, I need you to escort this other worlder back to the other side of the gates. Now, you can shapeshift right?"

Blackblood nodded, quickly mimicking her appearance before changing back. "For a limited time, yes."

"Perfect," Nightmare smiled. "Anyway, my student might be over there, right now... doing stuff.” She then turned towards Twilight. “And this… this is her counterpart."

The dark goddess then turned back towards Blackblood. "I want you to retrieve my student by any means necessary. I don't want her wondering around there, if she really is. She could get hurt, and I could never live with myself if I didn't do something to stop it." Nightmare Moon then turned towards the 'real' Twilight. "Could you do me a huge favor and help him with this?"

Twilight nodded with a slight smile. "I'll help him retrieve her." She then gave a chuckle. "You know, you remind me a lot of Princess Celestia."

"I will carry out this mission to the best of my abilities!" Prince Blackblood said, his many mouths grinning. "You have my word, your lovely subject will be returned to your waiting, caring hooves."

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "You really need to work on the fine art of kissing flank, Blackblood. Don't make it so obvious." She then turned back to the PMC and Twilight. "Anyway, I'm really sorry about all this, Twilight, but hey, it's not every day a mortal gets to visit the Nightmare Realm. How did you like it?"

"You really deserve something more than memories though," Nightmare Moon pondered, before turning towards Blackblood. "Can you get Darksong to give her a few of our spellbooks as souvenirs?"

"Awesome," she said. "Whelp, it was nice meeting you, Twilight. However, you'll have to excuse me. Nightmare Night only comes once a year, and I've got a lot to prepare for." She then smiled slightly. "I'll see you... out there."

With that, the quintet said their goodbyes before exiting the throne room, Nightmare Moon smiling as they left.

"Aren't you little worried about sending her to the other side with him?" her chupacabra advisor asked.

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "Princess Celestia's student should be able to handle him if he tries anything, and he knows what will happen if he touches a hair on her mane."

"Don't worry, he won't pull anything," she said confidently. "Trust me on this. He may be a douche, but he isn't that stupid." She then gave the doors a wary glance. "I hope."

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As the five-pony and ghoul party walked down the blood-soaked streets of Necropolis, the many mouths of Blackblood grinned wickedly for a brief second, a pondering forming in his ponderer.

The Nightmare Before Nightmare Night

by Silent Bob

Sweet Home Necropolis