//------------------------------// // Nightmare // Story: Something About Her // by LightningBass94 //------------------------------// Her hooves made a loud, echoing clatter as they walked along the gunmetal grey marble tiles. It was the only sound to accompany the soft wind. The sky was black and devoid of life, but in the distance she spotted Equestria, far up in that forboding sky. Beyond the large square of marble, there was dust; dust and rocks, nothing more along the horizon as far as she could see. Her hooves refused to stop. She was forced across the marble board by some unseen magic. On the other side was an obsidian throne. She imagined that was her destination. Steeling her resolve, she stopped fighting her hooves and followed them much quicker toward the throne. It was raised above a chipped block of obsidian, and the entire thing seemed to have been carved from a single block. Just like everything else, the throne was empty. Trixie too felt empty, and at that moment wanted nothing more than to have that emptiness washed from her. She stared into her reflection in the obsidian only to see her lifeless eyes staring back. What had happened to her. Where was she? Why had she been sent here and by whom? Who was she? In this empty place, she couldn't be sure anymore. She was devoid of emotion, a shell of who she once was. Black lightning struck the obsidian and changed everything. Trixie remembered herself as she stared up into the glowing eyes of her princess. It was Princess Luna. She was wearing armor that Trixie silently prayed to Celestia was for effect as it made the night princess look like Nightmare Moon. Subconciously, she knelt to the ground in a slow bow. Nightmare Moon scowled down at her. "This shall be thine first lesson, Beatrix!" She boomed. Her voice was cold and heartless, and it echoed through Trixie's very soul, sending chills down her spine. The princess didn't wait for a response before she continued, "All magic is measured in intelligence and will. Intelligence determines how much information about magic one can retain. Will determines how much magic power, known as mana, one has!" Trixie knew all that already, but she dared not interrupt. "One must channel one's thoughts into one's horn and will them into reality to perform any magic; however, one must have even more will in order to use illusion magic!" Nightmare Moon jumped from her throne and landed softly on the tile, her muzzle inches from Trixie's. Her fiery eyes seemed to be gazing straight into her very soul. Her blue armor glinted with the low light provided by Equestria above. "Thine will must be stronger than any other to use illusion magic on them." She spoke quieter now, but her voice still carried an air of ferocity that chilled Trixie to the bone. "Anypony with more willpower than thou will see through any illusion thou throw at them. Thou must reach into their minds and battle their will with thine own. We have devised a course for thou to take, the reason we did not want a filly. If thou survive through the night, thine willpower will have grown exponentially. Thou shall face all thine worst fears, and thou must dispell them with pure willpower. If thou perform as expected, thou shalt be in a state of lucid dreaming. If thou shalt fail," Nightmare Moon sneared a toothy, almost demonic snear, "Thou. Shalt. Die." She cackled and disappeared. With her went the throne and the marble. Trixie was left completely alone with the rocks. She heard that evil voice once more. It boomed through her ears as a purple, magic smog covered the upper atmosphere. "NOW THINE NIGHTMARE COMES TO LIFE!" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! "Oh buck!" Trixie thought. She knew that stomp anywhere. It had plagued her in dreams akin to this one for years. Of course, the princess of the night would know all about that. Ignoring her teacher's words, she decided not to face the ursa just yet. She turned on her hooves and ran in the other direction in a full gallop. She looked behind herself at the sudden absence of stomps only to run into something hard and scaly. "Oomph!" She slowly rose to her feet to see an excessively large draconequus upon a large throne of pony bones. He gave her a toothy grin and chuckled loudly. His rotten breath wafted over her. If she weren't so terrified, she would have gagged. She quickly identified the draconequus as Discord; however, this was not the reformed Discord she had come to know as Fluttershy's lover. This wasn't even the weakened and insane Discord that the elements of harmony had defeated. This was the Discord that nopony had seen for even thousands of years before the royal sisters defeated him, the one she had read about as a small child. This was King Discord. He sneered at her. She was frozen in fear. His red eyes, set in yellow orbs roamed across her body. "What do you want, snack?" He asked. His voice sounded younger and more cruel thaan she was used to. A crown of bones set atop his black, greasy mane. His tail twirled around her body and the tip rubbed against her cheek. The dragon scales sliced her delicate skin. She gulped and stuttered, trying to put on a brave face. "T-T-Trixie has come to defeat you!" Discord gave a hearty laugh. "Really? Where is this Trixie?" He picked her up with his tail and brought her closer to his face for further inspection. "She surely must be larger and more powerful than you to have the gall to attack me!" He raised a brow. "Surely you don't believe you could defeat me?" He looked on at her with amusement until she disappeared. He could not see or feel her caught in his tail anymore. His eyes went wide. He lowered his tail to see her some distance away. She had a smirk on her face. "Discord, you're all talk and no bite!" Her horn glowed. Discord opened his gnarly mouth to protest, only to realize he had no teeth. He let out a shriek. This little mortal pony was somehow beating him at his own game. He disappeared and reappeared behind her. He was going to swipe his talon at her until he realized it was gone. The small chicken that had replaced it clucked and ran away. He let out a roar before he was hit with a magical blast to the forehead. Slowly, he began to change into the animals which his body consisted of, the dragon being just an egg. Trixie laughed loudly. Caught in her illusion, Discord had begun trembling and wimpering on his throne. It all disappeared with a POOF! She silently thanked Fluttershy for showing her the real Discord. It made defeating his youthful facade that much easier. She started to feel better about the whole ordeal. "How many things could I honestly be afraid of?" She chuckled and turned around to come face to face with...herself? No. Not herself. Her irises were red, set into black, souless orbs. Her horn was at least three inches longer and had a sadistically sharp point to it. She wore a tattered, black cloak that barely concealed...WINGS! She was an alicorn? No. The wings were that of a bat's, though they were blue, just like her fur. She wore a leather harness around her barrel, chaining her to the neck of two other ponies she identified as grown-up versions of Snips and Snails. They looked bloodied, beaten, and starved. Bat Trixie's horn glowed red, and a burst of pure magical energy was shot at Trixie from point blank range. Too late, Trixie realized that her adversary still wore the Alicorn Amulet. Laying on the ground, entire body aching, she whispered out the question, "Who are you?" Bat Trixie sneered. "I'm you. Well, I'm a better you." She chuckled madly. She looked a bit feral. "I'm you if you had never taken off the Alicorn Amulet. You would have so much power! Trixie is ruler over all Equestria!" She raised to her hind hooves, inadvertently tugging forward on Snips and Snails' necks. She didn't care. Now, if I kill you right now, I can take your place in the real Equestria!" That made Trixie laugh. "You're just an illusion! You're a figment of my imagination!" She slowly walked up to her sadistic counterpart. "You can't take anypony's place." She whispered into the bat pony's ear, "I. Am. You." She backed away, Alicorn Amulet in hoof. "W-What? No!" Bat Trixie started to fade away. "Nooooo!" Trixie smirked. That had been too easy. She stomped on the amulet and began walking in what she believed to be the direction of the stomps. No better time to face the beast, she supposed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Ursa Minor was waiting for her, laying down with it's paws under its chin. When it finally saw her coming, it growled and raised to its haunches. Trixie wasn't stupid. She knew she was much too terrified of the drooling, celestial beast to focus on doing anything to it, so she instead cast an illusion on herself. She was mere paces away from the creature, and it towered over her. She gulped loudly and closed her eyes to concentrate better. Her horn began to glow brighter and brighter. Sweat dripped from her brow, but after awhile, her brow was gone. She had been replaced by none other than an Ursa Major. The Minor's eyes went wide. This, it had not forseen. Seeing the expression, Trixie smirked. It turned into a low, menacing growl. The Minor flinched. "Go to your room!" She shouted, the illusion automatically translated the speech into Ursa. "Go to your room!" She repeated, "You've been a naughty boy and Mummy is very cross!" The Minor hung its head, turned and walked away, disappearing after just a couple steps. Returning to normal, Trixie let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that worked. Those would have been horrible last words!" The voice came from behind her. It was a quiet, caring voice. "Thou have passed the test Trixie. We apologize for scaring you." Trixie turned around to face a, now normal, down trodden princess, slightly ashamed of her actions. Trixie ran to Luna and wrapped her up in a hug. Luna's eyes shot wide open. "No Princess! Thank you!" She cried. Tears of joy ran down her face. "I learned so much! I even know now how to combat my one, very real, fear all thanks to you!" Luna smiled and returned the hug. "We are thankful that thou have forgiven us, now wake to thine Twilight, Beatrix Lulamoon." There was a flash, and all went black. Trixie recognised the familiar blackness of the back of her eyelids. She slowly opened them to see her sleeping marefriend next to her. The corners of her lips pulled into a small smile and she pulled Twilight into her barrel. She closed her eyes to sleep the rest of the night away, confident that her next dream would be much more peaceful.