//------------------------------// // A Nightmare; Prelude To The Day Of Black Sun // Story: When The World Bets Against You // by Tie RoamingHooves //------------------------------// The human’s words stung. What she’d said had hurt.. badly. Not because of what was said, but it was the very sound of her voice. A stolen voice, coming from a stolen body. The voice of Twilight, her student, friend, and surrogate daughter was painful to hear. It was as if the universe was mocking her. She got to hear her voice but didn’t get to be in her presence. Celestia couldn’t help but to look at it as if the human were Twilight. She wondered why her mind was torturing her like this but then had on a realization. She deserved it. No... She deserved much, much, more punishment. Not only had she let her emotions cloud her judgement... but she had let her emotions completely control her actions. Her emotions had hurt the one she was trying to save... Life can be so cruel sometimes... but this... this is just unfair; So, so unfair. The sun goddess grit her teeth as she tried to look at the big picture. Just the act of imagining it from Twilight’s perspective made Celestia want to inflict pain on herself more so than she already did. That, however, is something reserved for Twilight and Twilight alone. The princess gagged when she realized what she’d done. She tortured another living creature! It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what she had done until now... but at the same time it was. It’s more like she became aware... but was never unaware to begin with. It was like she was only a spectator inside of her body but at the same time she was the one piloting it the whole time... Thoughts shot left and right in the princess’s head jumbling into an unbearable canphony of raw noise. She clutched her head in her hooves trying to shut out some of the noise in her head. What in Faust’s name is happening to her? Suddenly one voice gained dominance over the many who still continued to wail in her skull. What is happening me... well... us, is punishment... It was her own voice except it sounded as if there were multitudes of herself speaking in unison except for one who stood out from the rest of them all. While the other voices were monotone and neutral, the leading voice sounded as if she were constantly shifting between every know emotion. Anger, jealousy, happiness, sorrow, etc. were the most prominent one but between the shifts were variations or mixtures of the emotions. Well, ha ha ha... oohhhh, it’s only the beginning at least. There was a pause. It’ll start with something you failed to do in the first place. The laughter died down and stopped. The voice in her head gave a somber sigh before continuing again. You will get to think. The word think was punctuated by an excruciating increase in volume that. It was like being punched in the stomach and having the air forced out of your lungs. ... And think... The accursed word resonated and echoed in her mind. In addition there was a sudden but momentary sharp pain in her head. ...And think... More pain. ...And think... It hurts so much... ...And think... She couldn’t take this... ...And think... ...but she had no choice. She was only a prisoner in her own mind. There was then a pause. There was still a fracus of noise in her mind but at least none of the thoughts bore that word. If you're wondering how or why this is happening, heh heh... The voice shifted from one of amusement to one of disgust and cruel sarcasm. ... Then I hope that a meer fact will answer those questions. No matter how kind and fair you are... The voice scoffed. ...You, Celestia, are the only pony alive who can be cruel enough to do this to themselves. Then came the mad laughter that slowly faded into the background of endless thoughts leaving the sun goddess on the floor curled up in a ball. Suddenly the door shot open. “Your Highness, there’s a situation in th-... Your Highness?” Celestia paid the guard no mind. All she could do was think. Princess Luna sat on the throne. Night court is the most annoying and pointless duty she has. Ponies usually waited to voice their complaints until the day but sometimes a pony wants an immediate response to something and ends up arriving to Canterlot on a late night train. A lot of times, this being one of them, those same ponies feel that their solution is the only solution and you became less than a pony if you were inclined to think otherwise. “I understand you have your concerns about the rising crime rates in Trottingham but the presence of the Royal Guard isn’t going to fix anything. In fact, it is impossible and with the search f-” A sudden chill shot down her spine and she jupmed to her hooves. That chill was compounded with an overbearing sense of dread and fear. Another Nightmare!? Where?! Luna gave herself and her mind a once over and determined that she didn’t have a Nightmare let alone... her Nightmare. Alicorns have a complicated mind but its compounded as time goes on. All alicorns end up developing some kind of multiple personality disorder in their lifetime to help cope with their longevity. Each personality is used to deal with certain situations but go unnoticed by the afflicted and don’t cause gaps in memory like it would in mortal ponies. Sometimes though, something happens that would cause further splitting such as stress or sudden trauma. When this happens and said alicorn were to have a mental breakdown, then a variety of things can happen but usually the other personalities become aware of the dominant one and see it as unfit and try and gain control in any way. When it does start trying, it will begin to eat at at the sanity of the afflicted for an untold amount of time. There is no time frame for this meaning the loss of sanity could happen in a day or over a few thousand years. When one does and it is particularly violent and impure, it is called a Nightmare. If a Nightmare is among any of the personalities vying for control, it can be sensed by other magically adept beings. It is usually just an aura around the afflicted that can only be described as feeling... wrong. Celestia, Cadence, and herself were the only alicorns left in this realm. Luna didn’t have it and Cadence was too young to have it which left...... No. This is bad. Really, really, bad. Of all the times an Element of Harmony could go missing, it had to be now. The Elements were the only thing that could purge a Nightmare. If it gains hold of her sister, there may be no stopping her... Ashley shot to her hooves. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. Just something in the air felt... wrong...