//------------------------------// // Hidden past reviled // Story: The Nightmare Reborn // by vintage brony //------------------------------// “Those are the best hay fries ever! Kristoph we have to go back there soon!” Lunar said as he rubbed his stomach happily while the group walked through the town. “Sure, I mean its one of the only places in town so not much choice. But it was good, I'm glad we went.” Kristoph said calmly as he walked beside Lunar. “So what do you guys want to do next?” Nuudo asked them. “Hmm... wanna see if The Confectionery's Cumulus is open yet?” Evan asked as the craving for cotton candy overcame him yet again. “Sounds good to me.” Kidd said trying to put off an air of nonchalance while being giddy himself for the treat. The group made their way over to the bakery to see the door still closed and they let out a cumulative sigh of disappointment. “I really thought she would have opened up by now.” Evan said looking at the sun to check the time. “Well she's been closed for awhile now. Maybe she's not even in town?” Kidd tried. “Wait there are some ponies coming out the door. Maybe they're gonna open it up?” Kristoph said. “No... wait. Those are the ponies I got away from earlier today! The Flim-Flam Brothers!” Evan said worriedly. “What are they doing here? As far as I know Sweet Stratus isn't related to them. All her relatives are bakers. You don't think they broke in or something do you?!” Evan said as his pupils dilated and he started to get extremely worried. “Calm down mister crazy pony. I'm sure they have a key.” Kidd said trying to calm Evan. “Well where do you think they're going?” Hocus asked as they watched the two walk to a big machine and get on the couch it had. The machine spun around and headed to the market near the center of the town. “Come on lets follow them.” Evan said as his curiosity piqued. Before the others could argue how that was stalking he ran off hurriedly as he tried to catch up to them. “Um... does he always do that?” Kebert asked sheepishly as he watched him go. “What the meddling in others affairs thing or the following ponies part?” Kidd asked as he hovered in the air ready to catch up as well. “Uh... both?” “Well we're trying to make sure it doesn't become a habit.” Kidd said as the group made they're way to the market with Evan in the lead. “Those two are proceeding as planned. They've already bought enough barrels of apples to make cider for everypony in town. Soon they will all be infected.” Sombra said with a sadistic grin played across his mussel as he lurked in the shadows. He glanced over his shoulder at Nightmare Moon. “So how many do you think will fall under your influence? Enough to overtake Ponyville?” “Perhaps, I cant tell how many will be under my power as of yet. We will just have to wait and see how it unfolds. Hopefully I can get a hold on enough to get other potential hosts.” She replied as she watched the two minions work. “So you never explained the whole 'suitable hosts' concept to me. Seems rather odd that the princess of nightmares cant take over anypony she desires.” “Well if you cant figure it out for yourself then I shall just have to teach you like a colt on his first day of school.” She smirked once again at how angry he got from the remark. “Since the Elements of harmony separated me from my host Luna I was barely able to survive and my power continued to wane. Which is my I resorted to coming to you for the aid in finding a suitable host.” For without a host I will simply fade into magical energy and disperse throughout the world harmlessly. For I was born from Luna's resentment and her magic, without one or the other I cant exist. Luckily I was able to hold onto a small portion of Luna's magic. But I don't think you need this information. She thought but continued her explanation aloud. “A suitable host at this stage has to be someone who would be easy to influence, to give into their resentment or anger towards somepony else, even without magic. Thus the small magic at my disposal can make a difference in their thoughts slowly turning them to our side. But until I get a unicorn body with enough magic to rejuvenate my dwindling supply, I cant do much else.” “Don't you have magic of your own? You did come from princess Luna, she has a horn.” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “That is true but I don't have magic of my own, since I don't have a body of my own. When I was trying to overthrow Celestia previously I was relying on Luna's magic to do what I needed.” So she doesn't have magic of her own? That makes things rather interesting... He thought to himself as he turned to look at the brothers, both to watch their progress and to hide his growing smile. But as if she could read his mind she said, “Don't get any ideas, you need me to help you get back your precious crystal throne remember?” His smile faded to a stern expression as he continued to watch in silence. “So what exactly do you think this stalking trip will lead you? And by extension us?” Kidd asked as he flew beside Evan who was busy hiding behind a park bench. “I'm making sure they don't try anything funny.” he said in hushed tones while he pulled out binoculars and watched the two brothers. “What are they gonna try and do then? So far it looks like they're just shopping for groceries.” Kidd said as he gestured to a barrel full of apples the brothers purchased and placed next to their couch with magic. “Well they tried to run someponies out of business last town they visited, using that machine.” Evan pointed to it with a hoof. Before Kidd could counter argue further Evan shushed him with blind hoof flailing as he pointed to the brothers, who started to gather a crowd. “Ponies young and old!” Said Flam with a wicked grin. “Ponies small and tall!” Continued his brother Flim with a matching grin. Flam jumped off the machine and he made his way to the crowd that stood around the machine, his brother joining him soon after. “Say now any ponies here ever hear of cider?” Flam asked trying to sound nonchalance about it. When he was met with mostly murmured no's and shaking heads he acted as if he had taken a punch to the face. “Wow brother these here folk have yet to experience the wonder of this here machine!” Flam said looking over his shoulder to his brother who put on the same act. “Well brother of mine I do believe that is something that we can fix don't you agree?” “I do believe so Flim, so why don't we give them a demonstration of this here fabulous machine of ours!” Flam said as he levitated the barrel of apples from their place by the couch to under a giant opened pipe attached to the machine. Then the two shot some magic into a receptor on the machine to get it running. The barrel was emptied in a matter of seconds as the pipe sucked up the apples into the inner workings. Evan struggled to focus on the event unfolding in front of him as his mind wandered to the machine and how it worked. But he forced himself to regain control of his thoughts. The others simply sat and watched, becoming interested themselves. Kebert grew a bit worried as he thought, I don't want to be considered rude or anything... But the princess is counting on my right now. And I can't spend this time just sitting her and watching two ponies selling cider... He glanced around nervously as he was trying to get the courage to excuse himself from the group. But remembered that he still had no idea where this unicorn he was to be staying with lived! He facehoofed at the realization. I need to make a checklist or something... first the fact I forgot to ask for a place to stay from the princess in the first place, and now I forget to ask where Evan lives... He mentally sighed before returning from his thoughts. “Oh I had cider last time I met my friend in Ponyville! I'm gonna go try a cup!” Lunar exclaimed excitedly jumping in place while he talked. “I don't know if that's such a good idea Lunar. Last time they made cider it was the worst cider anypony had tried. I heard somepony even had rocks in her's.” Evan recalled remembering the newspaper that informed on these two's visit to Ponyville. “Oh like rock candy! I love rock candy!” Lunar said getting even more excited at the thought of sugar. “I think you need to calm down Lunar. One of these days your gonna explode from excitement.” Kristoph remarked as he held Lunar down with a hoof to his shoulder to stop his bouncing. “Well I doesn't look like their doing anything overly dastardly over there.” Nuudo said flatly even putting air quotes around the words 'overly dastardly' with his forelegs. “Think of it like a chemical reaction.” Evan began without taking his eyes off of the two unicorns as they began to put cider into a barrel. “We've already put the chemicals in the metaphorical tube, now its time to watch the fireworks.” Kidd grimaced, “Last time you handled fireworks you blew up your house and damaged mine. Remember?” Evan turned around quickly and faced him. “Hey that was an accident! And I've already repaired the damage! And only one fire station was called over this time!” He defended himself. This not only worried Kebert if staying with him was a bad idea but it alerted the brothers to their position behind the bench. Not that they were hidden well, the only one trying to hide was Evan and it was behind a bench with visible gaps between the planks. “Well why don't you ponies come on down and partake in some grade A cider!” Flam proclaimed to them with a devious grin on his face. As to not make a scene the group got to their hooves and made their way over to the rest of the brothers growing crowd. By this time the apples had already made their way through the inner workings of the machine and been squeezed into a separate barrel overflowing with cider. The brothers turned the machine off with another shot of magic and levitated out enough mugs for everyone. But before they filled them Flim went up to the barrel and his brother stood in front of him and tried to get everyone's attentions away from Flim. “Now allow me to explain what this machine can do!” He began. But Nuudo refused to pay him any attention. He focused on Flim and what he was doing behind his brothers back. He squinted his eyes to get a good view but Flim was leaning over the barrel. His horn began to glow an eerie blue which took the form of a fog that entered the barrel. Changing the color of its contents for a split second before returning to the amber color the cider had previously. No... that cant be it can it? The... Seeds of Nightmare? That means she's back! I have to warn them! He thoughts quickened as he began to leap into action, literally. He jumped towards the barrel and knocked it over with one swift kick from his hindlegs and turned on the brothers. The look of anger mixed with astonishment on their faces confirmed his suspicions. “Hurry! We have to capture them before they get away!” Nuudo yelled to his friends who only looked with agape mouths at his actions. “No time to explain! Just do it!” So putting their faith into him hoping he wasn't going insane and knocking over ponies cider for no reason they went to aid him. Hocus used his wings to fly beside Flam who was charging at Nuudo and tripped him with a foreleg, him and Nuudo then held him down. Flim seeing this as a bad sign for him turned and tried to get away from them as fast as he could. But Kidd flew beside him and rammed into his side causing him to tumble and lay in a heap. Evan grabbed him in his magic and held him down. Nuudo then pulled out a bottle and uncorked it, letting a drop of a black liquid fall into Flam's right eye. Who soon stopped struggling and lay there motionless except his breathing. So he moved on to Flim and did the same task to him who now mimicked his brother. The whole group let out a collective sigh of relief before rounding on Nuudo. “So why did we just beat up and knock out these two barbershop ponies!?” Kidd asked flying to look down on him angrily. “How many ponies are you gonna knock out hu?” Evan asked getting a little mad himself at what he did. So he's done this before? What kind of ponies are these? Kebert wondered to himself though kept it to himself. They all looked to Nuudo for an answer but he returned a determined and mad expression. “Come on, we need to get them over to my house first. I'll tell you all there, it would cause a panic.” He said almost as calmly as Kristoph but with a slight shaking in his voice. Before they could protest he grabbed up Flim and placed him on his back before heading off wordlessly. The others conceding for now assured the crowd that had seen the whole affair it was nothing to worry about and took Flam. Making their way over to the Broken Joystick. Those simpletons! How can they not even infect even one other pony!? Who were those seven ponies who took them down so easily? Did they know what they stopped or was this some kind of random coincidence? Nightmare could hear Sombra chuckling quietly behind her at the scene they had witnessed. She rounded on him in a second. “And what do you find so humorous?!” She yelled at him not caring who heard them. He simply kept smiling at her defeat and said, “Looks like your Seeds of Nightmare aren't nearly as capable as you make them out to be.” “I think you fail to realize what this means for us! Not only are we back to the beginning we have no idea who is still within my capabilities to control! I put a lot of my current power into those two! Enough to take over this town! That makes my time much shorter and puts a huge dent in our plans!” “Well you need to find a unicorn to refresh your self. Because I need my throne just as much as you need yours. And I wont have it slip through my hooves again, especially for something so foolish.” Before she could assault him further with another insult bombardment someone walked into the alley they were in. Sombra turned into a crystal hiding behind a garbage can while Nightmare turned to face the other pony. “Hey there Sweet Stratus! Its been so long since I've seen you around!” The stallion said. So that's this mare's name, Disgusting. She thought as she looked at him approach. “Me and your sister have been looking for you everywhere!” He said as he closed the distance between them. Wait I've seen his face before. She thought as she remembered seeing his face in pictures around this mare Sweet Stratus's home. This must be the earth pony who she holds so much affection for. I must give him some thanks as if it were not for him and Sweet Stratus's sister I wouldn't have a body in the first place. A devious smile grew on her muzzle as she cantered up to him pleased to have someone to vent her frustration on. This shall make me feel better... “So what are we doing here? And why did we just pony-nap these two?” Kebert asked while he watched uncomfortably as Nuudo restrained the brothers in the cells he used for Evan, Kidd, and Hocus. “Yeah Nuudo what the hay are you doing with them?” Hocus asked letting his anger drip from his voice. Lunar gasped, “Language!” “Filthy casual...” Hocus mumbled quietly as he crossed his forelegs. Evan walked up to Nuudo who had been in silence since they left the park. “Hey whats up with this? We wont be mad... - He looked at Hocus before turning back - I wont be mad.” He corrected. “You might after I tell you what this means.” He said flatly as he put on the special shackles on Flim and hoisting him up to his place beside his brother. By now they were starting to stir from their semi-conscious state. Being even more aggressive then when he interrogated Evan he began. “So where is Nightmare Moon!?” Kebert was amazed he knew, nopony had been informed besides the 'higher ups' of the royal guard, the element holders, the princesses, and himself. How did he know? “Do you remember who it was that planted the Seeds of Nightmare in you?” Nuudo said as he gazed intently at their eyes, seeing them clouded over faintly with a hint of blue. The brothers realized that they were being held captive and proceeded to try and force their way out, even trying their hoof at magic. Not fazed by their struggles Nuudo continued. “Nightmare Moon has planted the Seeds of Nightmare in you two and we need to know what she is planning! We have no idea what will come next! You have to tell me something!” They only chuckled as they relaxed in their harnesses, accepting that they were defeated. “You know nothing and that shall go unchanged.” They said in unison. “Regardless if we were defeated...” Flam began. “...The princess of the night shall reclaim her throne.” Flim finished. Then the brothers began to show looks of worry and fear as they began to sweat. “No! We are sorry we failed!” “Please no! We didn't mean to do it! It was them!” Flam said as he again began his struggles to free himself. Their eyes glazed over and they started writhe in pain. “We have to do something!” Kebert said frantically “Their in pain!” “Sadly there is nothing we can do...” Nuudo said as he averted his gaze trying to block out their howls of pain. “What of course there is!” Evan said to him. “And what would you have me do Evan!?” Nuudo yelled. Shocking everyone. “Its my fault that this is happening... But there is nothing to do. The Seeds of Nightmare give Nightmare Moon a special connection to those under the Seeds influence. She is punishing them for their failure.” He said trying to stop the shaking in his voice. “What do you mean its your fault? And how do you know so much on this? I've never read a book about this.” Evan said as he put a hoof on Nuudo's shoulder. He shrugged it off before continuing, “Because I worked for a group that was well on their way to reviving Nightmare Moon!” He shouted as he shut his eyes tight. Stomping his hoof on the wall in frustration. “That was their main goal. Everything I did for them was all for that final disastrous goal... But I quit... I couldn't be part of it anymore. Not after meeting you guys. It would be hurting you more them helping me.” When he finished he slumped to the floor with everyone's eyes on him. Hocus went up to him with a fierce look on his face and pulled Nuudo up and shoved him against the wall and pinned him there with his forelegs. Nuudo didn't fight back or even pull his head up, which hung limp on his chest. “What is wrong with you!” Hocus yelled in his face. Nuudo didn't reply, he couldn't. “I said what is wrong with you!” Hocus yelled again. “What do you want me to say!?” Nuudo yelled back. “What can I say!?” “Don't say anything! - He let go of Nuudo who got to his hooves - Do something about it!” Hocus said as he pointed to the brothers who were breathing heavily but were alive. “If you knew this much you must know a way to fix it.” He continued calmly. “Sitting their feeling sorry for yourself isn't gonna do a thing.” Kebert was having a battle in his head. This pony helped to bring back Nightmare Moon! He is part of the cause of Luna's fear and worries! But he can help... he is a good pony. And he made the right decision in quitting. And having someone with inside knowledge can come in handy. And these ponies did do well in the fight at the park and they handled the crowd well... maybe they could be this town's response team? I shall have to write Luna to get a second opinion. Some time later... Evan opened the door to his home and ushered in Kebert ahead of himself. “Well this is the place, you can take the couch now if that's fine. Restroom is down the hall and kitchen is through there.” He said giving an abbreviated tour of his home. “The couch shall be fine thank you. And again thanks for welcoming me into your home on such short notice and all.” Kebert said with bags under his eyes. “No problem, its what friends are for.” Evan said with a yawn. Then made his way to his room, “Night.” “Good Luna night to you as well.” That made Evan stop and look back, “I haven't heard that expression before.” “Its just something that seems appropriate don't you think?” Kebert said looking out a nearby window at the moon as it made its way through the sky. “Hmm yeah... got any others?” Evan asked growing curious despite the tired look in his eyes.