MLP: Equestria Part 5 The Nightmare’s nightmare
Author: Draconis187
Shining Armor came back the next day to help train Lyra and me to give orders properly. As much as I knew about giving orders, the commands I knew were for a different time and universe but I noticed that the basic principle remained: never show weakness, reluctance and never let emotions cloud your judgement. He also taught all of us some nice combat moves; he and I sparred a bit with him usually winning until I got the hang of the moves he taught us.
We also learnt that despite the guards having some of my power they could not change themselves like I could in any way; the only tech they had was the HUD, but I did show them how to use it effectively: such as using its facial recognition software, the scanning software to assist in searches amongst other functions. They were quick to pick up how the HUD worked and they said that it would make several minor duties simpler to perform.
Rarity was a little upset that she did not make the armour for us herself but to make it up to her I had her make some formal wear for Nightmare despite her constant protesting but I saw her blush a little as she was shouting: “I will never wear such a thing!”. Speaking of which, everypony was warming up to Nightmare and getting used to seeing her wandering around Ponyville either on her own, with me or with one of the guards (particularly Bon Bon). She still had that quick temperament, but most ponies understand that she used to being feared.
The following week Celestia and Luna came to visit and their guards brought parts of the blacksmithing equipment with like Tia said she would. We set up the forge in one of the tall towers that had good ventilation as we did not want smoke to accumulate in the room and cause suffocation. I had two anvils: one that stood as tall as my stomach when I was human and a smaller one that was on a nearby table for smaller objects; a stack of metal bars, plates and a few various sized blocks for raw materials; a water trough to cool the metal with (I was not going to use ice magic as the rapid change in temperature would cause the metal to become brittle); a few hammers of various sizes; a few pairs of tongs and a few aprons hung up in a cupboard on the far side of the room.
I walked around the castle in my human form wearing the AC garb, looking for Nightmare; I thought we could go to Rarity’s to see how far her outfit was. Sadly I could not find her anywhere in the castle. I found Lyra in the main hall giving some orders to some other guards. She really was taking her role as Captain of the Guard seriously. I walked down the steps and called to Lyra, asking where Nightmare was.
“Oh, she went to Sugarcube Corner with Bon Bon. She wanted to show Nightmare how delicious Pinkie Pie’s sweets were. I think she may want to warn Nightmare that Pinkie does tend to put hot sauce in a lot of her food.” Thanking her I decided to head for Canterlot for the armour that the Armourers made. As I entered the castle I met Celestia walking through the main hall, reading a scroll; ‘must be one of Twilight’s messages’ I thought.
“Greetings Michael, how are you?” I bowed to her. “There is no need for such formality, and siblings don’t bow to each other.” I shook my head.
“Sadly that is who I am Celestia, and nothing will change that I’m afraid. It’s just me showing my respect. I just came to check up on the armour.” Celestia nodded and told me that I can find them at their forge working as always. She asked if I needed anypony to show the way but I assured her that I would be able to find it (Thanks to my HUD). I made my way through the castle, several guards bowed to me as I greeted them, some of the maids were giggling for some odd reason ‘gossips’ I thought. I got to the forge to find the Anvils hard at work: the Steel Bearing was busy hammering away at what appeared to be a rather large white chestpiece on his anvil; Iron Heart was making boots by wrapping the metal around a form of heat-proof cast of a hoof; and Quick Fix was just helping out by putting the metal in the water trough. Bearing saw me and stopped working, walked up to me and bowed. It still takes some getting used to, all this bowing, and royalty crap. But I smiled all the same.
“So then Majesty, how can I help you today? Here to check up on the armour?” I nodded my head. “Well we finished them yesterday and forgot to tell any of the Princesses that you could come get them, I apologise. Come on we’ll get them loaded up and sent to you now.” I assured him that I would take it. “You sure? It is quite a heavy load.” I told him that I was a lot stronger than I look and he just laughed. “Oh, to be young again. We placed them in crates and marked them for you.” I thanked the Anvils for their work and went to the storeroom outside the castle where the Anvils store their completed works. There were five boxes: one said ‘Star Guard: Helmets’ on the packaging; one said ‘’Star Guard: boots’; another said: ‘Star Guard: Body’ and was the heaviest; one said ‘Lyra Heartstrings’ and the last said ‘Nightmare Moon’. A guard (Solar; unicorn) fetched a packing plaque (those low wooden plaques that forklifts pick up, not sure what the actual term is if you know I’ll change it if you tell me) with some metal straps and a trolley for them and asked if I needed any help, I thanked him for the offer but declined. I used a levitation spell to pick up the boxes one by one and placed them on the packing plaque which was on top of the trolley. After placing them I strapped them to the plaques and then the plaques to the trolley.
As I tried to pull the trolley and almost ripped my arm off! I pulled and fell on my backside; I saw the guards snigger behind their armoured hooves and I laughed as well. I looked at the crates, then the trolley and then decided to break off the straps that held the plaque to the trolley. One of the guards asked what I was up to and I told him I was going to carry it. He fell onto his back roaring with laughter while the other was on her side cackling like a witch. I smirked at them and at once my HUD lit up with the message: ‘MG: REX… INITIALISE’ I started to change quite dramatically right in front of the guards. My left and right arm split in three; my arms were lengthening and had almost completely spilt all the way down but stopped between my elbow and shoulder area which was thickening as well. As this was happening my soft human skin was turning from tan to a metallic grey metal alloy.
My face and shoulders were becoming flat and my shoulders were also getting broader. My torso was getting thinner and my back and head split a little. My changing arms were still attached to my shoulders which had detached with my back. My neck had widened considerably; my head and neck had attached themselves into a single part. The bottom half of my legs moved under my knees and were able to slide almost all the way up the upper parts of my legs. My legs as a whole also became flat and swelled in size. My toes became two large spikes that now rested at an angle, pointing directly at the ground. The soles of my feet became flat and as wide as my legs were but they were not long, they looked like large squares. At my knees three short tubes protruded, pointing in three, slightly separate angles. The back portion of my body now looked like a large, flat box; my two arms were railguns with three magnetic rails (increases the velocity the projectile is fired at). On top of the back section of each railgun was a radome with sensors ranging from infrared, UV to nightvision and sonar stored inside. My legs were weird: the lower half of them had concealed stilts to allow me to effectively ‘sit’. I had two hydraulic ‘toes’ on each foot which helped if I were to walk on rough terrain. I stood 8 feet high when I ‘sat’ but I stood at 10 feet when I actually stood up and walked. On the side of my head were the letters: ‘MG: REX V3.1’. My HUD showed: ‘MG: REX… ONLINE’. Ah yeah, time to rock!
Well the guards were shocked, judging by the looks on their faces. I couldn’t smile so I just waved at them and turned to the plaque. I picked it up with the railguns’ magnets and walked out. My HUD showed the crates were 1 ton total weight which made sense as to why I couldn’t pull it (My human form is not THAT strong, each form has its limits you know). As I walked through the castle grounds I saw ponies run away from me and I didn’t blame them, if I saw this bipedal tank coming towards me you can bet I would be running for my life or wetting myself, whichever came first. I met Luna walking through the park outside the castle and called to her, as she turned around she seemed shocked at first but after I wiggled my railguns and flashed my lights she understood what or who it was. As I walked up to her, my HUD noticed Celestia on the castle steps, looking straight at us. Thanks to the twin radomes my senses are more highly tuned, I can detect movement and sounds from much greater distances.
“Hi, is that really you Michael?” I nodded my head at Luna. “Wow, what is it called?” I turned my head to the right and pointed at the designation along the left-hand side of my head. “MG: REX? Is this what my sister said she saw when you crashed here?” I nodded again.
“Yep, just call this form REX. I came to check up on the armour. Sadly I could not carry them with magic nor could I carry it as a human so I changed into this which is better suited at heavy duty jobs.” Luna smiled at me.
“I believe I can help, there is a freight train heading for Ponyville in an hour, I’ll get you on the manifest so you don’t have to walk all the way to Everfree.” As I thanked her she extended her wings and shot off in the direction of the station. Making sure I had a firm grip on the plaque I moved on to Canterlot Station. The station was filled with many ponies running or flying around; some were moving crates; some just seemed to be waiting around for something. But I was too tall for the ceiling so I had to go around to the tracks to find a pony who could help. I got some scared looks from some ponies, others were curious since they have not seen this ‘creature’ before. Scanning the crowd I found a familiar face: Luna. She saw the ponies’ expressions and addressed her subjects.
“Fear not citizens, this is no monster. This creature before you is one of Prince Michael’s other forms. You have no reason to be afraid, rather you should be happy that your Prince has come here.” She then turned to me smiling very happily.
“You really seem to be smiling more Luna. It’s nice because you do have a lovely smile; it shines like your mane.” Luna blushed a little.
“Thanks, it’s all thanks to you, you know? You are one of the few but best friends I've had who treat me as a regular pony and not a princess. Oh yes, I got the next freight train to Ponyville to let you on. It’s that one over there.” She pointed to a long train with several open bed cargo platforms as well as containers. One of the ponies next to it waved at me. “Maybe you can tell me more about REX the next time I visit you or you come here.” I told her it was a deal and made off to the train.
“Ye, Michael?” He said in a Scottish accent, I nodded, “Right lad just clamour on ta that platform there an we’ll get cha to Ponyville faster than ye can say ‘Celestia’s big posterior’.” I climbed onto the platform, placed the crates down by my feet and I opened my back stilts and sat down. The train started to go about a half hour later. I saw both Tia and Luna on the platform waving to me, some ponies were doing the same so I waved back with both my right and left railgun (this was due to a glitch in a control algorithm, but I fixed it after leaving the station). The train ride was quite pleasant, I saw some of the countryside and I could see Ponyville in the distance. The ride was around 45 minutes but I enjoyed the ride. As the train arrived at Ponyville Station I saw some of my Star Guard (including Lyra) as well as Twilight and the rest of my friends waiting on the platform. Twilight told me that Celestia sent a guard to Nightmare Castle to go to the station and help with the cargo and she sent a letter to Twilight via Spike (he belches them out, I laugh whenever I see it and he always laughs with me afterwards) to come as well. As I was about to pick up the crates the Lyra told me that they will do it and were not going to accept no for an answer, so I had no choice but to let them all take it back to the castle. Seeing as I no longer needed REX I changed back to my human form. The ponies nearby didn’t seem shocked at all but then again all of Ponyville attended that party so they all know who I am and what I am capable of.
“How about we head to Sugarcube Corner Twi?” She agreed and so we set off for the best sweet shop in Equestria. When we got there we saw Bon Bon and Nightmare who had her head in a bucket. At first I thought she was throwing up but it turned out to be filled with water. She must have found out Pinkie’s special sauce the hard way. She glared at me when she saw me smiling but she turned it into a smile as well. Pinkie was coming out to greet us as well, with Surprise in tow.
“Hi Nightmare, are you enjoying yourself?” She pulled her head out to give me a very seething mad look. I’m glad looks can't kill in this universe but Nightmare may just be the first.
“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I AM ENJOYING MYSELF?! I thought my insides were on fire! Nopony warned me that this… creature puts such potent hot sauce in her food!” Pinkie Pie turned her head to the side, confused.
“Those aren’t mine Nightmare, I only do that to my own food and when I pull a prank on somepony. And I did neither; I wasn’t even told you were here. Surprise said we had some custom- SURPRISE!! Did you do this?” We all looked at her and she keeled over laughing.
“Yes it was!! I couldn’t help myself; you were such a tempting target. I'm sorry, but it was sooo worth it! Ha-ha!” Now Nightmare was giving HER that look. She then just sighed and shook her head.
We all went to Nightmare Castle. Nightmare was complaining about Surprise’s ‘prank’, she was threatening to give her nightmares for a week should she do it again.
When we got over the bridge I noticed the Star Guard were wearing their new armour. The armour looked similar in design to their Night and Solar counterparts except the chestplate section covered up to their throats. In the centre of their chests there was a diamond moon and a sapphire halberd crossing each other with three small stars in emerald, ruby and topaz above them. Their helmets reached their noses like Nightmare’s armour but the sides only covered up to under their eyes. The boots covered up to the top of their legs. In short they were almost entirely encased in armour but each pony had a jewelled version of their Cutie Marks on top of their armour by their rumps; the main parts of the armour were a very light blue colour while the small details like the joints and the saddle were silver. As the doors opened we were greeted by Lyra, who was wearing almost the same armour but the colour scheme was reversed; her helmet had a shorter, metal horn in front of her real one; her boots covered up to her knees but the main body was the same, right down to a topaz lyre on both sides of her rump.
Lyra took Nightmare to her room to get her armour while Bon Bon went to her room to do the same. While we waited I asked the kitchen staff to prepare dinner since the night fell just before we got inside. The table in the banquet hall has space for two at its head due to the fact that the castle originally belonged to Luna and Celestia but Nightmare and myself sat there now. The acoustics in the hall allowed one to hear perfectly across it (I still believe it was done by magic). Nightmare soon returned, she looked just as she used to when she wore that armour, she was smirking, proud to have her armour again. Bon Bon was with her, wearing her armour as well (this was the normal Star Guard armour), she gave Lyra a smile and the two went outside to talk a bit. Twilight wanted to talk to Nightmare; Dash wanted to race me as Starlancer again; Rarity went off to admire her handiwork on the castle with Spike following close by; Applejack went off to help make some apple based foodstuffs; Fluttershy wanted to go outside and see the animals; Pinkie and Surprise followed Dash and I, wanting to watch.
(Nightmare’s POV)
Twilight and I went to the room my statue resided, I saw one of the castle maids dusting the statue but I told her I wanted privacy. The mare bowed and left quickly. I walked up to the window to see the night, it was as beautiful as it has ever been: dark, and yet there is a certain air of peace around it. Twilight walked up next to me, also looking outside. I have been so obsessed with bringing eternal night I had forgotten how my nights look and why the day exists: to bring balance to the world.
“Nightmare, I need to ask you something.” I looked at her, whatever it was it clearly made her uneasy. “I noticed that your attitude towards a lot of ponies is a little harsh and yet you instantly change whenever you see Michael. Don’t take this the wrong way but, why is that?”
“I am not sure myself; he stirs some form of emotion in me that I can not explain. I can be yelling at somepony one minute and yet when I see him I feel… happy which is very strange. I am feeling happy right now, looking at the night I wanted to make last forever. I still wanted to do that, but now I don’t think it would have made me happy in the end.” I continued to look through the window. What would have happened if he never came here? Would I still have been a vengeful spirit that wanted nothing more than to bring misery to Equestria? Enough of this foalish thinking, I can not live my life wondering what MAY have happened. What matters is the here and now.
“I believe you may have found the magic of friendship that we all share with each other.” Twilight said, smiling. I shook my head. I did not respond. Could it be that she is right?
There was a knock on the door, I called to whoever it was to open. It was Bon Bon, she came to tell us the table was set and Lyra went to call Michael, Dash, Surprise and Pinkie while some of the other guards went to find the rest. Bon Bon, Twilight and I went to the banquet hall and met Rarity and Spike along the way. I wondered if Rarity notices that look Spike gives her whenever she is not looking. The rest of the group arrived just after we did, Michael had turned into Starlancer but both Rainbow Dash and himself looked exhausted. When I asked who won, Starlancer raised his hoof slowly and smiled.
We all sat down at the table to eat. We had apple pies; cupcakes; sandwiches; soup; punch; some gems for Spike and a variety of other foods most of which had apple in it somewhere thanks to Applejack. We all ate, drank and had a good time, we talked about one another, Starlancer told us of one of his adventures: searching for the leaders for a smuggling ring, I doubt any of us understood what that was but he described it with so much passion, he recounted each battle he had, every lead he got, dealing with bounty hunters and ‘lackeys’, getting ever closer to them and eventually cornering them. Fluttershy looked like she was going to be sick, honestly why didn’t she cover her ears? Once we finished I offered them to stay in the castle, and they all agreed. Rainbow Dash wanted to stay in one of the towers; Twilight wanted to be close to the library; and the others decided to head to a random room.
Starlancer and I walked to our separate rooms together. I wanted it this way as I was not sure about this strange feeling I was having about him. He seemed lost in thought until I bumped him with my rump and I asked him what was bothering him.
“Nothing really, just thinking. Can you remember when we first met?” I nodded and told him of course. “I would never had believed something like this could ever happen to me. I have new friends; a new home and a new life. My old life seems like it was just a bad dream. I owe it to you, you know?” With that he went to his room as did I. While I took my armour off I considered what he said, but how could I be responsible for his new life? Was it not Celestia that brought him here? I shook my head, climbed into my bed and went to sleep.
(Michael’s POV)
I woke up on the floor of a strange castle, alone. I walked over to the nearby window to see outside so I could get my bearings, this castle was FLOATING!? I swear, I could see islands in the distance, all surrounded by a purple mist as if it were some kind of ocean. I turned my attention to the castle I was in, I put my HUD into map mode and started to explore. I started to notice some similarities between this castle and another, so I checked the only two castles I knew of: Nightmare Castle and Canterlot Castle. I found out that this castle resembled Nightmare Castle in structure but not in atmosphere, that was for damn certain. This castle was dark, cold and then there were the dead, torn bodies everywhere. Some looked like the staff, while others looked like members of the Star Guard; I saw Lyra’s body well, her torso at any rate, her head was 4 feet away still wearing her helmet, I almost threw up. The walls were covered in blood, tables broken, somepony’s head was attached to the wall by a sword which ran… right through its mouth. I found my way outside the castle to find that some of the grounds were intact but like inside the castle there were more dead ponies, some had either Solar Guard or Lunar Guard armour. I made my way through the rest of the grounds: there were craters; scorched earth; bloody feathers everywhere and some… bug wings. That could only be a changeling! I looked further and saw Celestia’s body: blood all over her; her horn was torn off almost from the base; her wings were missing several feathers; one of her legs were bent the wrong way; some of her bones were protruding from the skin and she what part of her body was not covered in blood was covered with cuts, bruises and scars.
This was a very grim scene, so much death. I've seen entire battlefields covered in the bodies of the fallen but you never get used to it. As I was going further into this wasteland of death I faintly heard somepony, but it was hard to make out. I found the direction the source was coming from and raced off, maybe they can shed some light onto this tragedy. As I was getting closer the voice sounded familiar, I swear it sounded like Nightmare but she sounded like she was crying which was not like her. I came to a hill with a broken trebuchet on top and walked over it. The first thing I saw as I went over the hill was more death, but this time I saw changelings as well, all bloody and mutilated. That sobbing grabbed my attention again and it was definitely Nightmare crying. I saw her on the floor, her armour either broken or missing a few pieces, she was bleeding from a wound in her left side, and whatever part of her armour that did remain was scratched and cracked. She on top of a body just crying uncontrollably.
“Nightmare? What happened here?” She did not look up, but she did respond.
“We were not prepared for Chrysalis’s army. Discord turned them into blood-thirsty monsters, they could not feel pain so not matter what we did they kept going on. Luna was… eaten, the changelings’ bloodlust made them try to consume on our flesh rather than love. I lost everypony, Twilight and her friends tried to get the Elements but Discord sealed them in stone ‘Poetic Justice’ he said, Celestia fought Chrysalis but lost, her body is back over the hill.” She pointed with a bloody hoof but still did not look up. “I lost Michael, Bon Bon, Lyra, everypony. I even miss Pinkie Pie and Surprise. All of my friends are gone and I was not able to stop it from happening.” Wait, did she say she lost me? I walked closer to her and recoiled when I saw the body she was laid over, it was me but as Starlancer! I placed my hand on the side Nightmare’s face, and got her to look up at me. She smiled so brightly I swear it would have put the sun to shame, her eyes sparkled like her mane, and she jumped at me, hugging me so tightly I thought I was going to pass out or have my ribs broken.
“Michael?! But you’re dead, no wait a minute. Of course!” She ran off, with me following closely. She was heading to the edge of this island, I tried to call her back but she would not listen. She came up to the edge and just stared, I caught up just after her. She just looked on and turned back to me and sighed. “Thank goodness. It is just a dream, or in this case, a terrible nightmare.”
“Hold on Nightmare, this is a dream?” she nodded. All of a sudden her armour repaired itself; her wounds healed and the battlefield vanished and was replaced by the grounds outside Nightmare Castle.
“Correct, we are in the Dream World and in my dream to be precise. Each pony’s dream is an island in the endless Dream Sea. I am capable of moving between them but I don’t usually dream, let alone have nightmares. It is strangely ironic. What is also strange is that you are here or to be more specific in another pony’s dream, it may be our close proximity in the real world or maybe it is something else.” I just shrugged my shoulders and sat next to her. Nightmare laid down and placed her head on my lap. “Just promise me this: don’t leave me… p-please. I don’t want to lose my friends.”
“Don’t worry Nightmare, I promise.” I gave her a hug and she just smiled at me while we spent time together in the Dream World. We talked of a few things like what I plan to do regarding Chrysalis and Discord. I ended up telling her that we could worry about it when we wake up. It was beautiful in its own way, creepy but beautiful.
I awoke the next day in my room with Nightmare smiling at me. She was already dressed in her armour and then went out my door so I could get dressed as well; I put on my AC garb. I began to think about the current threat to Equestria: Chrysalis and Discord, even though we have not heard anything from the borders I know that something is going to happen but the question is, when? Are they free or are they still prisoners?
I decided to get busy on the forge and make some weapons, while on my way there Lyra came and wanted to help out. I did not have a problem with it so the two of us headed up to the Forge Tower. Lyra was a quick learner when I explained the basics of blacksmithing to her. I wanted to make the hidden blade weapons from AC for both my human side and Starlancer while Lyra wanted to make her own sword and she told me that the other guards wanted weapons too. While I was hammering away at a thin piece of metal that was going to be one of the blades I told her that they just need to tell me which ones they would like and I would make them. Lyra smiled and said that a griffon named Gilda had volunteered to be our blacksmith and should arrive in the next few days.
After a few good hours I finished the hidden blades for both forms. Putting them together was simple if you knew the mechanics behind it. Sadly I accidentally wound up the spring mechanisms too tightly the first time around because when I tried to reveal the blade it shot out with so much force it actually shot straight out of wrist guard and impaled the wall behind me and missed Lyra by inches. For the second attempt Lyra decided to be outside the tower where she said she felt safer, but I couldn’t blame her though. Luckily this time the blade stopped at full extension instead of becoming a blade missile but it gave me an idea: to be able to change the force the blade comes out so if I needed to I could shoot them out. Lyra made a katana with large serrated ‘teeth’ along the one side and the blade was 1’ 11” long. She wanted the teeth to come out when the blade was out but to retract into the blade once it went into its sheathe. Since she had already made the blade, technology would not help me out so I decided to use magic instead. We used an old katana sheathe to see if the spell worked and the teeth retracted as the blade made contact with it and extended when it was not. We made a proper sheathe for it and Lyra flew out the window so she could show the others.
I took the two pairs of hidden blades down to the armoury. On my way down I met one of the guards who informed me that Nightmare and Bon Bon went to Ponyville again. I thanked him and carried on down to the lower levels of the castle. The armoury comprises of an entire floor of weapons, but they are sealed inside secret drawers which are either in the floor or the walls, so if anypony other that myself, Nightmare or one of the Star Guard were to come in they would see an empty room. I placed them both inside one of the drawers, picked up my halberd and then went off to Ponyville.
I found Derpy Hooves flying around and went up to her, asking if she had seen Nightmare or Bon Bon. She sadly did not know and was apparently using a potato sack as a mailbag? I shook my head, thanked her and made off to Twilight’s library. When I got there I found nopony home so I went to Sugarcube Corner. I landed near the door and saw Surprise humming a song while eating a cupcake. She waved at me smiling away as she usually does, I went up to her an-
“Hi, how are you? Looking for somepony, cause you look like you’re looking for somepony, so who is it? Huh, huh?” Sweet Celestia, sometimes I wish there was only one Pinkie Pie. I told her I was looking for Nightmare. “Oki doki loki, I saw her heading towards Rarity’s Boutique with Bon Bon, and she was smiling and laughing with her. I wasn’t sure who it was when I heard her voice because it didn’t seem like her. Hope you find her!” She flew off. Shrugging my shoulders I went off to the Boutique.
When I entered I was greeted by Bon Bon who was not wearing her armour. Looking inside I saw she had taken it off and placed it on a mannequin. I asked Lyra where Nightmare was and she said she was busy with Rarity upstairs. Bon Bon went up to the staircase and yelled, telling the ladies I was there. I heard Rarity say that she is not finished yet so I had to wait a little longer. I walked up to the bottom of the staircase and yelled to them that I would be going to see Rainbow Dash while I waited for them to finish up. Bon Bon said she’ll come and call me when they were ready; thanking her I went out the Boutique and went to the cloud Dash loves to nap on.
I found the white cumulus just outside Ponyville; I changed to Starlancer and flew up to greet her. She was laid on her stomach reading a book with the title: ‘Daring Do and the Ark of Friendship’ and Dash’s wings were at attention, but with an odd twitch. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me.
“Hey Starlancer, how are you?” I pointed at her book. “Oh this? It’s a book about a Pegasus Pony called Daring Do who has a lot of adventures all around the world. I first read one of these while in the hospital, it’s a looong story.” She and I chuckled, I pulled up a cloud next to her and she read aloud for me. This Daring Do reminded me of Rainbow Dash in so many ways: they were both adventurous; they were stubborn; they seemed to have the same manestyle, except Daring Do’s was a greyscale rainbow instead of a normal rainbow; Daring seemed to relish any challenge just like Dash. She had a compass rose for a Cutie Mark and her coat was golden yellow/mustard colour. She was searching for the ‘Ark of Friendship’ in the Griffon Empire, trying to stop her long time enemy: Ahuizotl (some weird, ugly blue creature with a hand on the tip of its tail) from destroying the Ark, which would cause total chaos throughout Equestria. As she read I could hear how much she enjoyed the book: every so often her reading would get faster and my HUD showed that her heart rate increased as well.
I heard somepony coming towards us so I looked over my cloud to see who it was. It was Bon Bon, she told me that Rarity was done. Dash put her book inside her cloud and came with us. We got back to Carousel Boutique and saw Rarity standing outside with Nightmare who was wearing the new dress that she protested she would never wear. The dress was a light teal; she wore white socks with aquamarine shoes; her mane and tail were untouched since it was comprised of gas; she had a silver tiara that had a ruby in its centre and an emerald on either side of it; the dress’ frills were a pale blue. She looked at us nervously.
“How do I look?” my jaw was near the floor. She looked amazing, Rarity had done it again.
“YOUR MAJESTIES!! COME QUICK!!” We looked to see were the voice was coming from and saw a brown Solar Guard Pegasus come flying down to us. He looked terrified. “The Northern perimeter has been breached! Changelings are overpowering the stationed troops and we need your help! One of the other guards has gone to Canterlot to warn the Princesses.”
Nightmare and I looked at each other. ”Nightmare, go get your armour. Bon Bon, go get Lyra, the rest of the Star Guard and my other weapons. We will all meet at the Northern perimeter. LET’S GO!!” We all went our separate ways. Nightmare went back inside; Bon Bon flew off to Nightmare Castle; Dash and Rarity went to tell Twilight and I went with the guard to the perimeter. Nightmare joined me soon after I left.
I could see smoke off in the distance, near the base of Mount Dragonshy. I could see a large number of changelings attacking the stationed guards, some were already dead. Nightmare fired a few lightning bolts to get the changelings’ attention. I fired a few flash freeze spells, trying to cause as much confusion amongst the changelings as possible.
The guard were not making it easy for the changelings I’ll give them that, it seemed to take three changelings to take down a single guard. Once I got close to a changeling I bucked it, hard. I felt its face fracture as my hooves made contact and I sent it flying into another changeling, knocking them clean out of the air. Once Nightmare and I landed, I assessed the situation: not good, for us. For each changeling we beat, another three appeared to take its place. There was no denying it: the changelings were out for blood. Too bad for them I know my way around a battlefield. Nightmare looked a bit worried.
“Nightmare! We just need to hold on until the reinforcements get here! Until then, keep them out of the sky and I’ll take them out on the ground.” She nodded and proceeded to fry off a number of changelings’ wings with a well placed thunderbolt. The changelings on the ground charged at me but I was ready for them. I bucked one into a group of them; jumped over one and bucked the one behind it and then kicked it with my front hooves. The Solar Guard were also continuing the fight alongside us: the Earth ponies were bucking and stabbing with their weapons; the Unicorns were casting spells at the changelings and some were using their magic to heal some of the other guards; the Pegasi guards were assisting Nightmare in the air. The expressions in the guards’ faces were something I knew could always change the course of a battle: hope.
”No need to worry, the cavalry has arrived! Out of the way chumps!” It was Rainbow Dash’s voice. I turned to see her and the Star guard all suited up; there was Twilight and the rest of our friends rushing to help as well; there were also some more Solar Guards and Lunar Guards. One of the Solar guards, upon seeing this yelled one hell of a battlecry and I yelled: “CHARGE!” Lyra threw my Starblade and my hidden blades to me; I turned back into my human side, caught them, put the armbands on and continued my assault. The reinforcements brought some more weapons for the guards who either lost them or just did not have any. The changelings kept up their assault, only this time they were the ones who were losing. I tore through a changeling’s body with the Starblade while throwing my Halberd into a group of them, creating a changeling kebab out of them. Nightmare electrocuted some more changelings to the point where they exploded and their blood rained on the battlefield. Lyra was shredding changelings with her katana, slicing and quite literally dicing them, she cut off the one’s head, stabbed another through its chest and then cutting the first one’s head vertically before it touched the ground. She was frighteningly efficient and brutal.
Twilight was firing spells off at them (Pinkie was carrying and using her like a minigun); Dash used her Sonic Rainboom to stun and then confuse them as she left a rainbow in her wake; Surprise was using the party cannon like a normal cannon, firing cannonballs at changelings on the ground; Rarity and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen since they aren’t fighters and Applejack was using a large hammer to beat some sense into the changelings.
The battlefield was being strewn with corpses from both sides but now the tide was starting to turn. I saw Applejack give a hammer uppercut to a changeling and by doing so severed its head from the rest of its body; I sliced vertically downwards, which cut one of them clean in half and fired one of the hidden blades out of the armband, killing another instantly. Nightmare fired more lightning from the skies again which obliterated a group of them into a bloody paste on the ground. I fought my way through the changelings to get my halberd back. We were slowly changing the tide of the battle in our favour.
The changelings were starting to retreat bit by bit. Some surrendered but we were unsure whether we should kill them or release them. Once all the changelings were dead, captured or had fled, I looked out onto the battlefield. The earth was covered in many large black scorch marks from Nightmare’s lightning; even some trees weren’t spared, they had either been uprooted to be used as clubs by some unicorns or were destroyed. We lost a number of ponies, many more were brutally injured; I had gotten a few scratches; Nightmare was had a few feathers missing; Twilight had a scar on her left eye which forced her to keep it closed; AJ had broken her hammer, was missing a large chunk of her mane and her hat was ruined. War, it never changes no matter who or what you are. This seemed like a preview to what is to come: Hell on Equestria. I went up to one of the ten captured changelings to interrogate it.
“Now you listen here: you WILL tell me where Chrysalis is or I will rip off your head with my hands.” It and its friends shook their heads. I sighed and then proceeded to grab the changeling by its head and in one movement I twisted its head until it ripped off its shoulders.
“Is there anypony else who wants to try my patience?” They all shook their heads. I picked another changeling and walked up to it. “Now then, where is Chrysalis?”
Chrysalis had left the continent and was on an island off the coast of Manehattan. After I told everypony, we decided to execute the changelings so Chrysalis would never know that we knew where she was. I went off to Canterlot to speak with my half-sisters.
There was much tighter security at the train station once I got to Canterlot, which made sense since we were now officially at war. I found Celestia and Luna wearing their usual attire, giving orders to their guards in the central plaza. One of the guards at the back nudged another one and then they all moved so I could pass through. I went up to Celestia and Luna who looked worried.
“A couple of hours ago, the post at Mount Dragonshy was attacked by changelings. We lost a good number of guards and it would have been a massacre if my friends and I were not there to help.” Celestia nodded her head.
“Twilight sent me a message shortly before you arrived, informing us of the situation. I also understand that you got Chrysalis’ location from a changeling, correct?” It was my turn to nod. “I have already sent a scouting party to find out if the information is correct. There is only one island off Manehattan’s coast: the Alcanteraz Prison facility. It has been abandoned for 50 years now and mainly serves as a tourist attraction. We are preparing for an attack as soon as the party confirms your suspicions. We have also requested for assistance from the Griffon Empire to assist in the attack.” Celestia said.
“Celestia, are there any records of the previous wars and threats Equestria faced stored in the Archives?” Luna nodded at me. “Then may I check the Archives please? We may need them.” Celestia and Luna nodded. Luna showed me to the Archives. On our way Luna turned to me and asked.
“Do you know what it is you are searching for?” I shook my head.
“In truth I'm not sure myself. What I do know is that as much as the guards are trained, they did not look like they have seen a battle of that scope. The coming battle where we attack Alcanteraz will be far larger so I'm looking for anything that can help give them an edge like blueprints for a weapon or something.” Luna then turned and went to another building.
“This building is known as the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. The entire building is dedicated to his spells and drawings. He sadly went mad in his old age and before long nopony would listen to his ramblings and he died alone. This building contains the culmination of his entire life’s work; you are welcome to search through it.” Luna said. I thanked her and walked inside.
There were shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls across the entire three floors! I started to search for anything that this Starswirl could have left behind in his madness. I found a number of spells but they did not have anything to do with combat in any form. I was about to give up until my HUD lit up and highlighted a large book I had not looked through yet. It had no title but was incredibly dusty; after I blew it off and nearly coughed myself to death I opened it.
There were designs for some contraptions that would make Leonardo Da Vinci jealous. After reading through, I could see that a few had military purposes so I took the book and left for Nightmare Castle.