//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Empty Crib // Story: Heir of the Nightmare // by Polaris501 //------------------------------// Canterlot Castle One hour and three minutes after the Return of Nightmare Moon Nightmare Moon WHERE ARE THEY!!!! A trail of wreckage followed in the Nightmare’s wake as she searched Canterlot Castle for clues to the location of the Elements of Harmony, the one thing that could defeat her now. After dealing with Celestia, she had immediately scanned the castle for their presence, for the element’s power signature should have shone like a beacon in the darkness. They weren’t there. Growing worried with the lack of their dominating presence, the tall mare then began searching through the sun princesses’ room, looking for any indication of where she had hidden the powerful artifacts. Papers littered the floor, books ripped open, and desks overturned. Nothing. Nightmare knew only too well the elements poised a threat to her, having once used them herself and being on the receiving end of their power as well. It had not been a pleasant millennium. It had come as a surprise to her that Celestia did not have them with her, leaving only a mystery to where the dreaded gems might be. She did not know why, but the fact that they weren’t in the castle was maddening to the lunar alicorn. What’s this? A single paper with a few choice words caught the draconic eyes’ attention, and picking it up in her magic, she quickly scanned it, her eyes darting across the page, it said; To HRH, Princess Celestia of Equestria Greetings your majesty! Preparations are under way for your imminent arrival in our fair town. Thank you so much for hosting the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration here in Ponyville! Everything is falling into place smoothly as you have requested and your guards arrived earlier than expected, but no harm was done. The Books and Branches Library has been set aside for your personal protégé while she stays here, and I also report that I gave a list of all of the ponies in charge of the festivities so that she may begin organizing the event in earnest. Thanks again! Sincerely, Mayor Mare of Ponyville That usurping ingrate! She made a HOLIDAY of our banishment!! For the SUN of all things!!! It grated Nightmare’s fangs that her sister had embraced so willingly her solo rule of Equestria, but the enraged alicorn was able to pick up a piece of useful information from the hated missive. Celestia’s personal protégé In the years before her banishment, Nightmare remembered that the white alicorn had been fond of being a strong patron of education, and had been entertaining the idea of her own private school. However, the black alicorn knew that it was nearly impossible for Celestia to take on a full time apprentice with her duties and that it wasn’t in her character to single out one pony above the rest. What made this one so special? Mulling this over in her mind, Nightmare grinned as she decided to kill two birds with one stone. If this pony is so important to Celestia, he or she is bound to know where the wretched mare has hidden the elements, plus, crashing Celestia’s precious celebration will be an excellent way to introduce our new reign. Her malevolent laughter, filled with malice, echoed off the empty castle walls, Nightmare searched through the other papers until she found the location of the town and where the celebration was to be held. Satisfied with her findings, she pushed open the balcony doors with her magic roughly, causing their frames to crash in protest off the castle walls. Nightmare Moon opened up her wings, and with a joyous relish she sailed off into her glorious night, leaving the forsaken castle behind. The hunt for the elements had begun. Ponyville Town Hall Nightmare Moon As her magic created a cyclone of a seething mass of stars, Nightmare could hear the delicious sounds of fearful squeals and screams coming from her new subjects. Appearing with a flourish of her powerful magic and a flap of her mighty wings, the crowd of ponies below hushed quickly upon seeing her. Casting her searching eyes around the town hall, she addressed them. “Oh my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious little sun-loving faces.” “What did you do with our princess?” a cyan-pegasus yelled at her, but before she could fly up to where Nightmare could swat her down like the insolent fly she was, a tan earth pony with a comically large hat seized the pegusus’s rainbow tail in between her teeth, halting the pegasus’s flight. “Whoa there nelly!” Nightmare had to laugh at the pitiful effort, her cold voice was alone in the crowded building as she spat at them. “Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” A pudgy pink earth pony was the next to speak up, Nightmare immediately disliked the mare from the way she spoke with familiarity and the lack of respect. “Ooh ooh! More guessing games! Uuumm, Hokey Smoke? How ‘bout, Queen Meanie? No, Black Snooty! Black Snooty!” Before the enraged alicorn could shut the childish pony’s foalish mouth, the tan mare once again intervened and stuffed an apple in the offending mare’s mouth, muffling her annoying voice. At least somepony here has some common sense. Nightmare suddenly drew closer to some of the ponies, watching in delight as their faces were the picture of abject terror at her proximity. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” “I did!!” Nightmare looked quickly at the pony that spoke up and was shocked by the visage before her. It was a lavender unicorn that had a purple mane with pink highlights, and she was staring up at Nightmare in utter defiance. She looks just like my foal……. NO!! She’s dead! We’re sure of it! This mare is a unicorn anyway!! The foal was an alicorn! Quickly reaching out with her magic, Nightmare’s divided thoughts were clarified as her scan verified that the mare only possessed unicorn magic. As Nightmare recovered from her shock and her cold demeanor reappeared on her features, the lavender unicorn continued unaware of the black alicorn’s pause. “And I know who you are! You’re the Mare in the Moon! Nightmare Moon!” The crowd gasped as Nightmare regarded the unicorn before her in pleasant surprise. “Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I’m here!” The purple mare backed up and whimpered pathetically at Nightmare’s spiteful declaration. “You’re here to…to…” Forgetting the unicorn when she began stuttering in fear, Nightmare’s scornful laugh reverberated across the room as her glee let loose and she set forth her first royal declaration. “Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forward, the night, will last forever!!” Letting her magic loose in her euphoria, her mane filled up the room in a tremendous hurricane of force, lightning flashing across the room and causing the small ponies to shirk in fear. Her laughter was interrupted as she heard another mare yell out. “Seize her!! Only she knows where the princess is!!” Broken out of her manic reverie, Nightmare looked down into the crowd for the heckler but instead spotted three royal guards flying at her, their faces carved in grim determination. Reaching out with her magic at the magical storm she had caused, her eyes lit up in a powerful glow as she attacked. “Stand back you FOALS!!!” Her lightning thundered out towards the incoming pegasi, striking them and hurling the unconscious guards into a feathered mess at the base of the walls. Nightmare knew she had made her point and wrapped herself in powerful magic that caused a tornado of wind to fill the room with a dramatic display of power as she left the ponies to their wailing. Snaking through the air at a speed most pegasi couldn’t match, the tendril of magic went out into the town, renewing her search for the elements. She flew out to the edge of the town so she could gather her thoughts and plan her next move. The letter she had read earlier detailed that Celestia’s student had been given residence in the town library, which by its name she deduced was a tree. Flying back into the town, she soon spotted the library and flew up to a nearby window where she spotted the ponies within. There inside were ponies she recognized from her earlier interaction, a white unicorn, two pegasi, and two earth ponies. And the lavender unicorn. She knew of our return and she is here in the library! That unicorn must be Celestia’s protégé! The unicorn was speaking, and Nightmare heard the tail end of the lecture she was giving to the other five mares. “…..it is said the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.” Celestia left the Elements in our castle? That’s strange……..but no matter, I’ll find them soon enough and destroy them. Not needing any other information, she flew off into the direction of where the castle was. She couldn’t find it. Nightmare looked on in shock at the state of the lush fields that once surrounded their castle, it had turned into an overgrown jungle. The forest dominated her view and Nightmare could barely see through the mist, and the thick canopy of trees covered up any sign of the castle. How was she supposed to find the elements in this mess? The black alicorn, disguised as a magical mist, pondered over her situation. She needed to find the elements as fast as possible, but searching the forest would take too long. Nightmare then spotted Celestia’s protégé leading the other five to the edge of the forest, and realized that the locals might know where the castle is. Deciding to follow them, she watched the group as they paused at the base of the cliff. We don’t need all of them. Losing a few might prove beneficial later. Acting quickly, she divided herself up and dove in the cracks of the cliff, digging into the weak spots, causing the mountain to have a landslide. Nightmare pulled out and observed the group. The two pegasi flew above while the others tumbled down, the two flyers quickly grabbed the pink earth pony and the white unicorn, but the other earth pony and the lavender unicorn kept falling. She then saw the earth pony stop herself by grabbing onto a root with her teeth, but the unicorn continued her descent until she hung over the cliff, barely keeping from plummeting below. The tan earth pony let go of her root and quickly got in front of the unicorn, hooking their hooves together. Nightmare could see them trade words but didn’t pay attention, for she then saw the two pegasi fly down below the unicorn, who then let go and allowed them to catch her. Cursing silently, Nightmare followed them along the path until she spotted a manticore sleeping on the trail up ahead. Forming some of her magic into the shape of a thorn, Nightmare plunged the conjured thorn into its paw, waking it up, roaring in pain. Nightmare flew silently into the underbrush and waited for the six mares to catch up. When they did, she saw them stop in surprise at the manticore, and Nightmare watched in utter enjoyment as they fruitlessly battled the beast. The manticore lunged forward in its anger and the white unicorn reared back and kicked it, yelling obscenely at it. Unimpressed, the manticore just lowered itself and roared back, sending the white mare away in fright. The beast chased after the fleeing unicorn until the tan earth pony jumped onto its back and rode it like it was some kind of rodeo event. Nightmare amusingly watched as the manticore sent the earth pony flying, and the rainbow pegasus flew up to it and used her Pegasus magic to envelop the beast in a whirlwind. It seemed to have some effect until the large beast lashed out with its tail and swatted the Pegasus onto the dirt in front of the others. The Pegasus returned to its feet and four others joined her in charging at the manticore. Nightmare watched in cruel anticipation until a loud shout interrupted her fun. “WAIT!!!!!!” The timid pegasus, which Nightmare had ignored, stopped the others before calmly cantering up to the beast. Nightmare’s mouth would have gaped in utter astonishment if the mist she was currently in would have allowed it. The weak mare gently ripped out the thorn she had placed, and after roaring promptly, causing the others to yell in concern of the pegasus’s wellbeing, the beast picked up the mare and groomed her! GROOMED HER! I cannot believe this! Of all the…has so much changed that beasts have become….kittens? Nightmare paused, she knew a lot could change in a thousand years but not an animal’s instinct to devour pony as prey. Something else was at work. Kindness. With a sudden feeling of anger that consumed her being, Nightmare realized that these six mares were undoubtedly the team Celestia had chosen to wield the elements against her, led by the sun princess’s personal student. As the mares went around the beast, Nightmare quickly flew down the path. She searched with malice in her heart for her next setup. Sensing the trees that surrounded the pathway, she quickly infected them with dark magic that would distort their appearance and cause them to radiate fear towards the ponies that looked at them. Not waiting to see the results of her enchantments, she flew off quickly again down the pathway, flying over a river and cutting off a serpent’s mustache in spite as she passed. Nightmare’s anger grew as she anticipated the battle to come, and her draconic eyes finally settled upon a stone mass across a deep chasm. It would have indeed taken Nightmare a long time to find the castle with trees sprouting through the lower hallways and the walls covered in plant growth, camouflaging it. Reaching out with her magic, Nightmare searched for the elements before the meddling mares could arrive. She couldn’t find anything. Again!? But they must be here!! Nightmare could sense the lingering magic of the Tree of Harmony below the castle, in its cave where she and Celestia discovered it years ago, but the elements themselves she could not detect. Nightmare flew up to the ruins of the front entrance to the castle and materialized, her black form overshadowing the gate. Flinging them open with a burst of magic, she proceeded to search the castle, starting with Celestia’s old room. They’re not here! But where….. The black alicorn’s internal tirade trailed off as her draconic eyes locked onto the doorway to her old room. She hesitated, not wanting to stop her search but wanting to see what had become of her foal. Did she dare? What would she find? Bones? Dust? A bloody smear? With dread filling the remains of her heart, Nightmare gently pushed open the door and stepped a thousand years into the past. The room was a sorry sight, whatever wood remained had long rotted and animals had made homes in what was once royal furnishing. Nightmare could barely recognize the room where she lived for years. What captivated her gaze however, was the upturned stone slab, revealing a set of stairs. Twilight She paused there and debated leaving it as it was. Nightmare had long decided that her foal was dead, and looking at what remained was not going to help what sanity she held onto. She descended anyway. Luna lit her horn and looked ahead as the faint light revealed bits of the stairwell. Moss covered the walls and spiders scurried away from the lunar alicorn. The stairwell ended after descending several hooves below her room, and Luna halted again before she stepped into her foal’s tomb, not truly willing to face the pain that would inevitably come. But….for her daughter….she would make the effort. Luna took those final steps and lit up the room as she fully stepped inside. Desolation greeted her tear-filled eyes. The walls and ceiling, which she had once painted for her small foal to see had faded to nothing, the gray stone revealed underneath. No paint adorned the walls, not a shred of the love she had put into this room remained. Where once stars and flowers were was nothing but cold hard stone, the paint peeling away with time. The floor, which had once been padded with soft flooring, only had plant undergrowth that reeked of decay and animal droppings littering the floor. The toys that her foal had played with were all gone, destroyed by ponies or by time, the mourning mother could not tell. The crib. Luna stood there a long time, staring at the remains of what once held her pride and joy. It was a heap of rotting boards and it had fallen to the hard floor, Nightmare could see that rats and other filth had created a nest where once her child slept. The silver plate was crumpled and she couldn’t make out the name she knew was inscribed on it. My beautiful star, Twilight Andromeda Sparkle It might as well have been a tombstone. She stepped up to the crib, and gently tossed away the garbage until she could see what was underneath. Nothing. No bones, no dust, no trace. Nothing remained of her beloved daughter. Sadness overcame her, grief filling the last remains of her broken heart, and the weeping mare fell to her knees, not caring for the filth staining her coat, just wanting to be near the child she still mourned. She cried, her tears wetting the empty crib. Twilight….oh my Twilight…..I am so sorry……please, wherever you are……please forgive me… Luna knew she could not stay there long, if she did, she would never leave. And so she left, leaving the empty crib behind her, watching as darkness swallowed it once more. Her heart too, stayed there. Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters Nightmare Moon Fate, it seemed, had a sense of irony. Nightmare was observing her opponents carefully, for some previous moments past Nightmare, using dark magic illusions, had whispered sweet nothings into the cyan-pegasus’s deaf ears, but the foalish filly refused and had rejoined her friends. Friends. That didn’t sit well with Nightmare, she could see the bonds forming, it would power the elements, and they would send her back to the moon! No. She would never go back. Never. She watched them carefully as they discovered the elements, and Nightmare seethed in anger at the sight of them, her nostrils flaring in utter hatred! They were right where she and her sister had put them, a pedestal that could be stored underneath the castle to store the elements. She studied them closely, no wonder she couldn’t sense them, they seemed drained of magic, dormant, and dead. No magic. There were only five, without the sixth, they were powerless. Victory was upon her. Nightmare watched carefully as the five mares left the lavender unicorn with the five dead stones. Now, while they’re separated! The elements are ours for the taking!!! She appeared in a whirlwind around the rocks and swiftly gathered them up, as she powered her spell to teleport, she heard the unicorn cry out. “The elements!” Before Nightmare could react, the mare jumped into her spell just as Nightmare teleported. With a flash of light, Nightmare reappeared in the throne room of the castle, where she took the elements and went to the platform where the ruined thrones sat while the weak mare sputtered and coughed from the teleportation. Nightmare started to laugh at the poor mare in a cruel manner, her laughter driving spikes of fear into her opponent. This? This was her sister’s prize student? Nightmare looked down at the mare and saw she was pawing at the stone, as if preparing to charge. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding right?” As soon as the words slipped from between her fangs, the unicorn started galloping at her. Reciprocating the action, Nightmare took absolute joy in toying with the mare, assured that victory was upon her with the elements dead! As they charged, Nightmare lowered her head, intending to impale the unicorn on her sharpened horn. Any moment now…… Right before the unicorn met her death however, she teleported in a flash of purple light that temporarily blinded Nightmare’s sensitive eyes. As the tall alicorn recovered, she turned around to where she saw the elements surrounded in the glow of the unicorn’s magic! “Just one spark….come on…come on!!” Not willing to take any chances, Nightmare quickly dissolved into her purple mist and teleports her way back in front of the mare, materializing and breaking the unicorn’s concentration. With a cry of pain, the purple filly flew back from the magical backlash, but Nightmare could see the elements glowing with power, it seemed to be working! “No!!No!!” But then the magic faded. Laughing like a demon possessed, Nightmare reared back and brought her hooves crashing down on the dead elements, shattering them into small fragments. She heard the unicorn cry out in despair. “But where’s the sixth element?” Nightmare couldn’t stop laughing, for with the elements finally broken, nothing remained to stop her. She turned back to the unicorn and spoke in a voice laced with poison. “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun. The night will last forever!!” The lunar alicorn let loose her magic in her euphoria, the dark magic rolling over the remains of the castle, lightening flashing through broken windows. She could barely heard the sounds of the other five mares approaching. The lavender unicorn spoke up again, her voice defiant and determined. “You think you can destroy the elements of harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong! Because the spirits of the elements of harmony are right here!” The elements activated. The black alicorn could only stare in shock as the elements that were surely destroyed began faintly glowing with an inner magic. “What?!” So bewildered by this turn of events, she barely heard what the unicorn said next, Nightmare was trying to figure out why the gems had suddenly come to life. She had destroyed them, hadn’t she? “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt represents the spirit of honesty! Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire, represents the spirit of loyalty! The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” With each utterance from the unicorn’s mouth, the elements formed around one of the five mares and formed a necklace bearing the resemblance of their respective cutie-marks. But magic was still gone. “You still don’t have the sixth element! The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare was beginning to hate how defiant this insolent unicorn was, but the pure magical energy that now permeated the air was destabilizing her own magic, preventing her from acting in any form or fashion. “But it did, a different kind of spark! I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you, the spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all, are my friends!” With a light as bright as the sun, the Element of Magic appeared above the unicorn, its power radiating so intensely that Nightmare had to look away and shield her sensitive eyes with a wing. “You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the…the spark that resides in the heart of us all. It creates the sixth element, the element of magic!” Nightmare could only watch in complete horror, terror gripping her, as the six mares began glowing and the elements began connecting together, gathering their awesome magic. NO!!!!! WE WILL NOT GO BACK TO THE MOON!!!!!! The midnight alicorn knew how the elements worked, they found the source of something that was disharmonic, and corrected it. They acted like any other energy, from positive to negative, from harmony to disharmony, balancing it. To escape the rainbow beam that was about to be unleashed on her, Nightmare reached out to find something else nearby that also was disharmonious, the tree, the castle.. ..Anything! One thing shared Nightmare’s malady. Not knowing what it was and not caring, since the beam had already begun to form, Nightmare reached out to the magic of the elements and redirected it. Normally, others couldn’t do this, but half of the elements had once been wielded by Nightmare herself, and with the elements already under the strain of the magic, all it would take was a little misguidance to redirect the beam so that Nightmare could escape. Transfixed by the pure power of harmony that filled her senses, Nightmare watched in increasing levels of fear as the beam ascended high above her. And then collapse on itself. A bright flash Screaming mares Nightmare couldn’t watch anymore and turned away as the light blinded her. Then it stopped. Nightmare opened her draconic eyes, fearing she would see the moon. What she did see was just as shocking. Collapsed on the floor in various states of discomfort, the six mares were all near unconscious from the power they had just channeled. But one of them was different. The lavender mare laid still on the stone floor. With wings. It can’t be…….