//------------------------------// // Invasions of the Lovecraftian Variety // Story: Rearranging Perspectives // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// Rearranging Perspectives Chapter 11: Invasions of the Lovecraftian Variety ____________________________________________________ Princess Luna, Mistress of the Night, Mover of the Moon, Conqueror of the Dragon Horde, and many other titles beside, was anxious. The feeling was not alien to her, but it had been many centuries since she had last felt this way. However, she supposed she should not be surprised. Who wouldn’t be anxious when it came to confronting an entity that embodied your own Darkness and had already consumed you once? Therefore, Luna walked among the troops to keep nervous energy from building up and trying not to think too much about the being that she had hoped was gone forever. Luna’s walkabout eventually led her to one of the areas the cannons were being set up. While she didn’t think cannons would be much help against Nightmare Moon, her Sister had insisted. Speaking of Celestia, Luna could see her conversing with some mages. When Celestia had made it known that she was coming as well, Luna had felt a pang of annoyance. ‘It’s like she doesn’t trust me,’ She had thought to herself, but she knew her older Sister had her best interests at heart. It was painfully obvious to anypony who cared to look that Celestia was deathly afraid of losing Luna to the Nightmare once more. Luna supposed it could have been worse. Celestia could have insisted all of the Elements stood as bodyguards at all times. As it was, they were all in the camp somewhere. “Princess Luna!” Speak of the Devil… “Greetings, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna responded “How are you feeling?” Twilight asked and Luna barely suppressed a ‘humph’ of annoyance. Ever since they had arrived two days ago, Twilight had seemingly become an extension of Celestia. If one wasn’t checking up on her, the other almost certainly was. “As I told you an hour ago, I am perfectly fine,” Luan replied, perhaps a little more stiffly than usual. It was almost enough to make her cast an invisibility spell on herself. However, she knew if she did that, then Celestia would panic and she’d never be left alone for the next thousand years. Maybe she should go find Sam. With any luck, his presence would ward off her Sister as well as her mind slave and he wouldn’t constantly pester her. With that plan in mind, Luna escaped Celestia’s little purple clone and went off in search of her quarry. Eventually, she found him reading a book on the other side of camp. “Sam,” She said by way of greeting. “Hello Luna, what can I do ya for?” Sam asked while stretching out the kinks that had accumulated while reading “I was merely hoping you’d be able to keep my Sister and Twilight at bay for awhile,” Luna answered “I don’t know why those two are so uptight. If Nightmare Moon had any hostile intentions, she’d have almost certainly come out by now. She didn’t strike me as the kind to tiptoe around,” Sam remarked “Indeed, yet for the past two days, my Sister and Twilight have been pestering me almost constantly,” Luna grumbled “Well, with any luck, this whole thing will be over soon and then you can go back to only Celestia bugging you on a 24/7 basis,” Sam teased “You are so funny, I forgot to laugh,” Luna deadpanned “I try,” Sam quipped “Princess Luna!” One of the mages walked up “Yes? What is it?” Luna asked “The barrier is almost ready and the Purification sigils are in place. If you would follow me, we-” Suddenly everyone shivered. At that moment, a ghastly green portal opened up some distance away and out came a giant creature with tentacles and bat-like wings. “Well, there goes Chekov’s gun,” Sam muttered just before the camp burst into chaos. Cannons were being realigned; mages were hastily setting up warding and offensive spell barriers. For her part, Luna drew her favorite broadsword and charged off to meet the ancient being. Truth be told, she was probably more surprised than anypony else. She had been the one who had written and signed the treaty with the Old Ones! She couldn’t possibly think why Cthulhu would so casually disregard the treaty, yet here he was. Unless the Sun Eaters and their Master were involved, that is. If that was the case, Luna shuttered to think what they might have told the creature. “CTHULHU, WE GIVE YOU ONE CHANCE! LEAVE THIS DIMENSION NOW!” Luna ordered with the Royal Canterlot voice, but the behemoth ignored her and continued on towards Manehatten. Right into Celestia’s magically charged spear. Luna quickly followed up with a strike of her broadsword. The attacks in and of themselves were little more than minor cuts on Cthulhu’s massive body, but the magic that had been imbued in the blows was working rather nicely. Cthulhu made a noise of pain and annoyance as Luna and Celestia continued their assault. They had little hope of actually defeating Cthulhu, but if they could drive him out of the dimension, that would be enough. Luna spotted all of the Generals rushing towards Cthulhu, all weapons ready for action and the Elements of Harmony had the regalia. Soon thereafter, the report of cannons went off. Rainbow Dash got there first, performing a Sonic Rainboom and slamming her Laurence Hammer right into the beast’s belly with all the force she could muster. The great kinetic energy transferred by the blow was enough to make Cthulhu stumble. The Elements of Harmony then activated and while they were not strong enough to banish the Old One, they put him further off balance. The battle continued in this way for close to ten minutes. Cthulhu refused to stop, but the ponies and Sam were able to keep him from advancing. Unfortunately, fatigue was slowly setting in, and not in Cthulhu. Then, a blue-black cloud appeared and condensed into the form of Nightmare Moon. For a moment, Luna feared that Nightmare Moon would attack them, but these fears were quickly disposed of when the dark alicorn lashed out with lightning at the ancient creature. With the addition of the third alicorn, the tide was slowly turning in their favor, but Luna worried that it still wouldn’t be enough. Suddenly, an idea sprang to her mind. She quickly communicated her plan to the others and they agreed to give it a shot. The three alicorns broke off their attack and all the Generals fell behind Sam. Sam then lifted up Solaris and the three alicorns poured the raw energies of the Sun, Moon, and Darkness into Solaris while the Elements of Harmony crated a protective barrier. Sam then charged Cthulhu and with a magically assisted jump, split the monster right down the middle. While it would take an act of God to actually kill an Old One, Cthulhu’s physical form was vanquished and with it, his ability to manifest in that dimension for the next three thousand years. Everyone slumped slightly with relief. However, it didn’t last long. There was something of an elephant in the room. “What are you doing here, Nightmare Moon?” Celestia asked cautiously “Is it so hard to believe that I have no desire to see innocents die terrible deaths? I merely wished to help. Further, I could ask you the same question,” Nightmare Moon returned “Well, we’re here because I think you might be under some sort of botched mind altering spell and were setting up a large scale purification spell,” Sam answered “To eliminate any possible spells and if I posed a threat then eliminate me?” Nightmare Moon guessed “Exactly,” Sam replied “Then I will submit to the spell,” Nightmare Moon stated, much to the shock of most there. Sam was merely pleasantly surprised. Because the spell now only needed to cover a small area, it only took three minutes for Luna and Celestia to set up, as opposed to the two days it had taken to set it up for the whole city of Manehatten. Luna then activated the spell and it produced a blinding flash of light. Slowly, but surely, everyone regained their ability to see. What they saw weren’t what they were expecting. “I appear to have regressed into a filly...buck,” The now filly alicorn of Darkness swore as she looked at her hooves, “Wait a second, if I’m a filly-” Nightmare Moon quickly checked her flank “-BUCK!” Nightmare Moon didn’t have a Cutie Mark anymore. “My, what language,” Sam chided while smirking. Nightmare Moon shot him a dirty look. “Just because I have regressed in body does not mean I have done so mentally as well,” Nightmare Moon said sourly “Speaking of your mind, how do you feel?” Sam asked and Nightmare Moon took a few moments to asses her current state of affairs. “My mind is clearer than it has been in a while. It appears you were correct in your guess,” Nightmare Moon then looked at Luna, “And you don’t have to worry about ‘plunging Equestria into eternal night’. I have absolutely no desire to do something so monumentally stupid. That was Luna’s goal.” “Hey!” Luna protested “Besides, technically, it’s always night somewhere in the world, thus the night is already eternal, and ergo the whole thing was a moot point. Further, the realm outside the Sun’s reach is far greater, so even though I still have all your memories, I’m still not sure why you got so worked up,” Nightmare Moon remarked and by that point, Luna’s face was flush with irritation. “Shut up you little-” “Alright then, I believe we should begin packing up and heading back to Canterlot. In the mean time, I think it would be best if we had Fluttershy look over Nightmare Moon to make sure everything’s OK,” Celestia quickly cut in, but if one looked, they could see the ghost of a smirk playing across her face. As they approached camp, they noticed some kind of disturbance. Upon getting closer, one of the soldiers ran up to them. “Sirs and Princesses, we don’t know how, but all the ponies of Manehatten have suddenly reappeared!” The soldier reported “But what did it? Was it beating Cthulhu or purifying Nightmare Moon?” Twilight wondered “The world may never know,” Celestia remarked and then went to try and restore order to Manehatten. ########################### Luna was looking forward to falling into bed for the few hours she had before she had to raise the Moon. Old Ones, returning city populaces, pestering sisters, embodiments of inner Darkness turned good and into a filly, these things were enough to take it out of even an alicorn of the highest level of stamina. As it was, she was trying to use the train ride to sort her thoughts, but she found it impossible. Just as she was about to give it up, the door to her car opened and Nightmare Moon entered. “I believe you and I need to have a talk,” She said simply “What’s there to talk about? You’re your own pony now, unless you break a law or something, I have no say in what you do,” Luna remarked, really only half paying attention. “I’m the alicorn of Darkness and a filly. Further, I know you can’t be comfortable with me around at the moment. There’s plenty to talk about. Also, a new name might be in order. After all, I can hardly go walking around as the feared Nightmare Moon,” “Perhaps you are right,” Luna conceded “I do have a few suggestions. First, it should be relatively simply for me to stay at Twilight Sparkle’s library in Ponyville. Go to school there and whatnot to keep a cover. It also has the bonus of satisfying Celestia’s rabid need to teach everypony the wonders of friendship. I’ll be exposed to plenty of the stuff whist in Ponyville,” Nightmare Moon suggested “I don’t see Twilight having a problem with it,” Luna responded mildly “I wasn’t aware I was talking to Twilight,” Nightmare Moon snarked “Are you trying to annoy me? Because you’re succeeding,” Luna grumbled “I don’t need to try. I know exactly how you tick,” Nightmare Moon replied with a smirk “Then what exactly do you want?” Luna growled “I want to talk,” Nightmare Moon answered calmly and this was enough to push Luna’s annoyance into anger. “Well what do you want to talk about?!” She shouted “I want to talk about how you view me now,” Nightmare Moon responded in that same calm voice. “You wish to know how I view you?!” Luna slipped into the Royal Canterlot Voice, “You are a pest! An annoyance WHO I CAN’T STOP THINKING OF AS A LITTLE SISTER! I DON’T UNDERSTAND! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MY DARKNESS AND THERE YOU ARE, NOT DOING ANY BUCKING THING! WHY DO I FEEL THIS WAY?!” “I’m small, have a resemblance to you, am a young filly; know everything about you, among other things. Take your pick,” Nightmare Moon replied “WHY DON’T I HATE YOU?! YOU ARE THE REASON I WAS LOCKED AWAY FOR A THOUSAND YEARS! YOU ARE THE REASON CELESTIA HAD TO FIGHT ME! YOU ARE THE REASON SOME ARE STILL AFRAID OF ME!” Luna bellowed “I may have all your memories, know how you felt at that time, but that’s just data. The Heart is so much more than that. Only you can really answer why you feel the way you do,” Nightmare Moon remarked “Where in Tartarus did you get such a cheesy line?” Luan asked “Sam’s dream on the way to Manehatten,” Nightmare Moon answered simply “Very well…I will think harder on recent events. I wish to do so alone,” Luna said and Nightmare Moon obligingly left the car. On the other side of the door, Nightmare Moon spotted Celestia with her ear pressed up against the wall. Nightmare Moon cocked one eyebrow at the Solar Ruler. “Sounds like the two of you are progressing nicely,” Celestia remarked, which caused Nightmare Moon’s eyebrow to become in danger of vanishing into her teal blue mane. “I heard the comment about my ‘rabid’ need to ‘expose’ ponies to friendship.” That got Nightmare Moon to move along. She made her way to the car where the Mane 6 and Sam were currently in and made her desire for a new name known. “How about Nyx, after the Greek goddess of the night?” Sam suggested and Nightmare Moon thought about it for a moment. “No…it sounds unoriginal for some reason,” Nightmare Moon remarked “How about Black Skies?” Rainbow Dash suggested “I think that sounds depressing. It makes me think of a night sky without stars or a thundery night,” Nightmare Moon replied “How about Shadow?” Rarity asked and everyone else in the car shot her looks that said ‘really?’. This continued on for the better part of a half hour, the Mane 6 and Sam coming up with various names and Nightmare Moon rejecting each in turn. Then, just as they were running out of ideas, Sam struck gold. “Maybe Nephthys?” Sam supplied “It sounds good, is there anything attached to it?” Nightmare Moon asked “If memory serves, Nephthys was the Egyptian goddess of the night as well as birth and death,” Sam answered “I like the symbolism. Very well, from now on, I shall be known as Nephthys,” The newly dubbed Nephthys declared and the rest of the train ride was spent discussing Nephthys’ living arrangements.