Bump-bump-motherfucking-bump! Man, Vinyl was a great artist!
It's been a little while since we tried going camping. My friends all know that I'm a pony now. By far, Lyra gave me the biggest reaction.
We went camping again, this time in a much safer place. It was a blast!
I've trained my magic pretty hard. Normal, everyday spells came naturally. I perfected those really quickly with Nightmare's help. I haven't learned any advanced spells, yet.
I collected all the gems I needed and hid them at the castle. I was worried that the deathroot would be ruined after all the time it's been taking, but it held up pretty well. It even tried attacking me again when I picked it up.
There were a ton of these gems. Some of them were a lot harder to get than others. I got some of them from Rarity. Most of the others I dug up on my own. Some of the rarer gems were in the Everfree.
It's been getting pretty cold, so I asked Rarity if she could make me a hoodie. I always wore one when it got cold. In fact, I'm wearing one while writing this sentence.
It was a little troublesome to get it just right considering I wasn't a human anymore. If it was loose-fitting or too big, like I usually like my shirts, it would drag along the ground and get ruined. I couldn't have that. On a list of things that I couldn't have, that was one of the things that I just couldn't have.
It absolutely had to have a hood, though. That was the only thing that was necessary. It could've been yellow with purple polka-dots for all I cared.
Actually it was black. A black outer material with a grey inner layer, just like my favorite hoodie back home. It also had thumbholes in it, but since I didn't have any thumbs, I didn't tell her to put any in. Screw you all, thumbholes are cool.
As I already knew it would, it turned out beautifully. I put it on and gave Rarity a hug. I didn't even care if she wanted one or not.
And I got myself a pair of sunglasses which I just keep on my head. I was as close to my normal human Earth appearance as I ever could've been, given the situation. Sunglasses were cool.
I hung out in the Everfree a lot. Nothing better to do. I always wore my headphones when I walked around. It was glorious. Either they were around my neck or over my ears.
'It's been a while since I've made an appearance.' she said to me, 'I think it's about time to give these ponies something to fear again.'
'Oh yeah?'
I felt a huge drain of energy. The sky darkened as she appeared in front of me. I could feel that she still had a small hold on my mind.
She looked at herself. "I'm... reborn."
"Yeah, that's great." I said without feeling, "Do whatever the hell you want. You know damn well that I can't do anything about it."
"I'll be right back."
"Yeah, yeah."
I laid on the ground and closed my eyes, putting my headphones on. There's my excuse.
One song... two songs... six songs... four songs... ten, 15, 12, 20...
I lost track of time, and lost count just after the second song.
I felt somepony shaking me. I opened my eyes to see Twilight's worried face.
"What's wrong?" I asked, pushing back my headphones.
"There's a big problem. Nightmare Moon just threatened Ponyville!"
"W-wait... what? Nightmare Moon?"
"Get up! We have to go, now!"
"What? Why?" I got on my hooves.
"We have to protect the town."
'She's still there?' "A-alright."
We both ran back to town. The sky above it was black. We approached Nightmare, who had a smile on her face.
"What are you planning to do, Twilight Sparkle?" she asked.
"We're going to stop you." she said.
"That's right!" said Rainbow, joining us.
The rest of the Elements lined up in front of her. Even Fluttershy showed up.
I gave off a sharp whistle. "Nightmare Moon, leave." I said, "There's no place for you in Equestria. Your time has passed."
"That's right!"
"Oh? Is that so? What if I refuse?"
She knew that she could stay here for as long as she wanted, and there was nothing we could do about it.
"Then we'll remove you ourselves." said Twilight.
"That's quite a boast without the Elements of Harmony."
"We don't need the Elements of Harmony to get rid of you again." said Rainbow.
"We beat you once, and we can do it again."
"Without your precious Elements, you're nothing." She used a spell to lift them all into the air. Everypony except me. She stared right at me.
"Put them down!" I shouted at her.
"Or what?"
"Or... or..."
"Or nothing!" she yelled, "What's wrong, child? Too scared?"
"Put my friends down!"
I fought her spell with my own, but got nowhere. She lifted me into the air as well, then dropped the others.
"I don't fear you."
"Oh?"
"You're just a pathetic little afterimage. If you're smart, you'll leave Equestria before you're destroyed for good."
Her eye twitched.
She threw me through the air, and I collided with a building. I fell to the ground.
"Phil!"
I stood back up, but didn't move, partly because it hurt to move at all. She walked over to me.
"Leave him alone!"
Nightmare rounded the six of them up with a spell, and looked back at me.
"I'm going to destroy you myself." I whispered.
I received a powerful blow to the face, and blacked out.
I woke up in the hospital. I could feel Nightmare's presence in my mind again.
'You'll destroy me yourself? If I didn't know any better, I may have taken that as a threat.'
'I don't care, Nightmare. I just do not care.'
I saw Nurse Redheart looking at me. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so. I feel sore." I had a few bandages around me, but there weren't any casts.
"You're lucky that all you got were a few bruises." she said, "Do you remember what happened?"
"I got punched." I sat up against the bed frame. "How long was I out?"
"A day."
"Is everypony else ok?"
"They're fine."
"Good." 'That was pretty fun. Did you have fun?'
'It was ok. I had a lot of fun attacking you.'
"Did you take care of me?"
"That's right."
"Danke ms doktor. Am I allowed to leave?"
"Princess Celestia has asked me to keep you here until she returns."
"Celestia's here?"
She nodded. "Yep."
"Alright."
"How old are you, if I may ask?"
"I'm 17. Why?"
"Well, you seem danger prone. Celestia told me that you were actually the human I've seen around Ponyville. You brought a blood covered pegasus here, and then you suddenly showed up with all those burn marks, and now this. The more we know about you, the better."
"Oh. Alright."
She asked me a few general questions about my health, like allergies or any sicknesses.
"Alright, good. You seem fine to me. Just stay here until the Princess returns. I need to care for other patients."
"Alright. Guess I'll see ya around."
"With what's been happening with you recently, I don't doubt that."
She left me alone in my room.
'Nightmare?'
'Yes?'
'I... I think I actually am scared of you.'
No answer.
'You made me feel so useless. I hate that. I hate it so much. Please don't do that again.'
'I'll make no such promises.'
'I thought you'd say that. Go ahead and try to cast eternal night over these ponies without me. You can't, and you know that. At this point, your chances of succeeding are dwindling. I don't remember if I said this before, but without a human, giving up will spare you an embarrassing defeat.'
I'm planning months in the future already. I've already gotten my entire journey mapped out in my head. I don't remember what I have for breakfast, or what day it is, but I know how to win.
And the best part, she knew nothing about my plan. Wanna know how I knew that she can't read my mind? She wouldn't willingly stay in my mind if she could. Any more detail and I wouldn't be allowed in Equestria anymore.
She remained silent.
'If I were to take a guess at what you were thinking right now, how close do you think I could get it?' I asked.
'You're a child. You don't frighten me. You're weak.'
'I'll never be your equal, Nightmare. Just as you will never be mine. Lets call it a truce. I have no intention of making you my enemy right now.'
I didn't care what she wanted now. I grabbed my music from a nearby table, and listened to it until the door opened again.
"Hello, Princess."
"Hello, Phil. Are you well?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"That's wonderful."
"Thanks. What happened?"
"I've been told that after you were attacked, Nightmare gave a display of her power, attacking Twilight and her friends. Thankfully, none of them were hurt. You were the only one to receive such a harsh beating."
I shrugged. "Did you bring the Elements?"
"Don't worry. They're here already."
"We can't do anything without them. We need some other way of protecting ourselves."
"Unfortunately, there are very few things that could help us."
"Very few?"
"Not many things have the power to even hinder Nightmare Moon, let alone stop her. She's very strong now, close to rivaling my power."
"What could stop her? Can you think of anything?"
"I... don't know. There may be something, but maybe not."
"Celestia, if there's a chance that I could keep my friends out of danger, then I'd do whatever I could to make it happen. Please... tell me something useful."
She looked uneasy. "At the moment... only one thing comes to mind. It's a rumor at best. I can't guarantee that it would be true."
"Tell me."
"There's a gem, far north in the Crystal Empire, called the Ancient Gemstone. It's said that it possesses magical powers that rival the Elements of Harmony."
"Really?"
She nodded. "It's said that the caves that it reside in are vast, much larger than the one I sent you into. I've never found any records of its discovery, nor of its location. I've always believed it to be just a rumor."
"That's good enough. Danke." I got out of the bed.
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. Maybe practice magic some more. If I'm unable to keep her from my friends, then what use am I?"
"Don't say things like that. You're more useful than you think."
"But... I'm not, am I? If I had power, real power, then I could've done something. Right now I'm useless."
"You are not useless."
"I don't know."
"Hey, tell me if you're going north. You'll need all the help you can get."
I went to Twilight's house, thinking about what I could've done differently. Celestia was probably right, but I still felt useless. I didn't like feeling like this. It left a knot in my gut, and it made me depressed.
She rushed over to me. "Phil! You're ok!"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I was so worried about you."
"Yeah, well... st... Hey, Twilight?"
"What's the matter?"
"Am I... useless?"
"Of course you're not. Why would you think you were?"
"When Nightmare Moon attacked you, I couldn't do anything. At all."
"That doesn't mean anything. I couldn't do anything either."
"I know. I just didn't like seeing you and everypony else like that."
"Hey, it's alright."
"Yeah, I know it is."
She wrapped her arms around me. "Cheer up. I'm ok. You're ok. Your friends are fine."
I returned the hug. "Thanks."
After a little while, she pulled away. "Better?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Hey, do you think you could teach me some more advanced spells, now?"
"Well, it all depends on what you want to learn."
"There's one spell I've set my sights on ever since I saw it. Teleportation."
"That's quite advanced."
"You can do it, can't you?"
"Of course I can."
"Show me."
Her horn glowed, and a bright flash of light covered her. She reappeared a few feet away.
"Whoa..."
She gave me a book.
"Read that."
"Thanks, Twilight."
I opened the book, deciding that I wouldn't rely solely on Nightmare for this one.
I read through it more than once, studying it in and out. It stated that beginners would have a lot of trouble, but it would eventually get easier.
After I was sure that I was good, I discussed how to do this with Nightmare. After about a half hour of non-stop discussion, I talked to Twilight again.
"I think I got it."
"Really? Alright, show me what you've learned."
"Alright." I tried to cast the spell, but nothing happened. "What the..."
I tried again with no results.
"Don't strain yourself." said Twilight, "You're not going to get these on your first try."
"It's harder than I thought."
"That's why it's advanced."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Keep trying. I'm sure you'll get it. You mastered a few of these spells faster than I did."
"Thanks. I'll get it down. I think I'm gonna go hang with Pinkie or Rainbow or something for a while."
I gave her a big smile, then took off. Man, these ponies always knew how to make me happy. I should do something nice for her sometime. Maybe I'll get her a nice dinner.
I went to Sugarcube Corner and got some heroine and/or cupcakes.
Oddly enough, I didn't feel up to hanging with Pinkie right now. It just felt weird. Even though she made me feel awesome, I took off pretty quickly.
"Weird..." I muttered to myself.
Must be all this stuff that's going through my head. I couldn't focus on happiness right now.
I didn't know what to do, so I wandered around town.
'Have you ever heard of the Ancient Gemstone?'
'No. Will that stop you from pursuing it?'
'No.'
I put on my headphones. I was bored again. I shook my head.
'I'm having a hard time determining where you truly stand. With the incident in Ponyville, and the talk at the hospital, I'm more confused than ever. I can't tell with you.'
'I trust you. But that trust has its limits. I consider you as both a friend and a foe. Some day, we'll face off. You and I will be pitted against each other for a final bout, and when the smoke clears, just one singular being will be standing over the other. We'll be connected no further. I can predict each and every little thing, except one. The true outcome of that battle. Until that point Nightmare, we're friends. I'm willingly going along with you. For power. For fun. Equestria is completely at my mercy. And I... am at your mercy. I'm a servant. I can never hope to match you, no matter what kind of gemstone I acquire, what kinds of spells I learn. I'm nothing to you. I know my place. Do you know yours?' Whoa, unexpected speech.
'My place is in Canterlot, ruling Equestria.'