//------------------------------// // Nightmares and Dreamscapes // Story: So, You've Grown Wings // by Steel Resolve //------------------------------// Celestia flew towards her prey. The grin on her face was truly disturbing. She looked... almost possessed. Luna would not want to be in Nightmare's place at the moment, even if she had been once before. Celly had not wished to harm her, and had done little but defend herself, despite Luna's constant attacks and insults. Luna deeply regretted her actions in retrospect, but at the time she had only felt rage. How dare Celestia! Not only did she have the adulation of the kingdom, but she could have had the common courtesy to take Luna seriously when she had been trying to kill her! She could see now; upon reflection, Celestia would not have been able to attack her, even to save her own life. Nightmare, however... no, Luna did not want to be in her horseshoes right now. Discord began to laugh. It was a long, throaty laugh of a villain certain he had won the day. "Really, you and me? You can't be serious. Luna really, this is adult time. Why don't you go play with your dolls like a good girl?" Luna blushed, then glared at him in anger. "That is not smart of you, underestimating an opponent like that. No, not wise at all." Discord scoffed. He wiped a tear from his eyes, flicking it down to the ground, where it promptly turned a tree into a frog. "Forgive me Luna, I mean no offense. Well, perhaps a little. Okay, you got me. I am mocking you. In all seriousness though, Celestia can barely keep up with me, how in the world do you possibly expect to do any better?" Luna gave him a dazzling smile. "Who said anything about being in this world?" Her body began to take on the attributes of smoke as she glided forward towards him. Her smile stretched, and her body became nebulous. The mouth widened as a snake's maw would. It snapped at him, and around him. The dark, nebulous cloud enveloped the draconequus. The smoke finally cleared, and Discord looked around. He found himself sitting at a desk. Fillies and colts were furiously working on an assignment of some sort. The walls had crude drawings in crayon. The Equestrian Alphabet studded the top of the blackboard. He seemed to be far smaller than he remembered. He looked down at the paper on his desk. "For each positive integer n, there is a circle around the origin with radius n. Rainbow Dash starts off somewhere on the plane, but not on a circle. She takes off in some direction in a straight path. She moves √5/5 units before crossing a circle, then √5 units, then 3√5/5 units. What distance will she travel before she crosses another circle?" He glanced around the room curiously, not certain what to make of any of this. A ruler slammed down on his desk. He looked up at the offending wielder of the ruler. She towered above him; with a dark-blue coat, flashing eyes, and a mane that whipped about in a wind that was not there. In a voice that would accept no excuses, she said, "Eyes on your own paper!" The entire class turned on him, staring. He sank down in his chair. He looked at the question again, but could still make neither head nor tails of it. The eyes would not look away, and from the back of the room, the laughter started. It was one pony, but soon the others joined in, all laughing and jeering at him. The teacher looked down her nose disdainfully. “I see somepony forgot to study.” She huffed and turned around, settling back at her desk. The laughter would not stop, in fact, it rose to a roar that hurt his ears. He glared about himself in rage. Wait... none of this was right, why was he here? What was going on? His head felt... muddled. He looked at the teacher again. She looked... familiar in some way. Not in the sense one would expect to be familiar with a teacher. He... hated her? Why would he hate her? Luna... yes, he remembered now. The fillies and colts were tossing wads of paper at him. He had laughed at her, and she had done... something. Why was all this happening, it almost felt like a- “-a dream?” Luna laughed. “What have you done to me?!” Discord looked at her, half in anger, half in fear. The children began pelting him with erasers and pencils now. Discord roared in anger. He pointed at Luna. “You... how did you do it?” Luna tittered in laughter. “Welcome Chaos, to my realm.” ------------------------------------------------- Celestia flew at Nightmare with a speed that would have had Rainbow Dash truly impressed. Nightmare was, of course, pursuing Luna. She was not expecting to be confronted by the elder sister. She had expected the elder to be occupying Discord while Nightmare was free to tempt Luna into another merging of souls. This was not part of the plan... Celestia looked upon the physical manifestation of her sister's rage and hate with interest. She regarded the pony made of dark fire as a cat would look upon a small rodent. She grinned her best grin, the one she reserved for nobles who had annoyed her enough to be sent to the dungeon. Nightmare stared defiantly at the goddess. "Hello Celestia, did you enjoy your trip to the sun last year?" Celestia nodded graciously. "Oh yes, it was good to visit again. The heat does wonders for me. Perhaps you'd like to visit there yourself?" Nightmare did not respond. She only flew at Celestia, both forelegs extended as if she intended to rip the goddess in two with her bare hooves. Celestia met Nightmare's hooves with her own. The two struggled against one another, the irresistible force battering against the immovable object. Nightmare's mane flared up in a dark inferno, her eyes blazed in hatred. Celestia met the gaze coolly. "Do you know; I have always wondered how I might react to this moment. My sister has been returned to me, and yet I still feared she may one day walk the same path she did one thousand years before. Anger and hate are powerful emotions, seductive to the heart. I feel it pouring from you. Would you care to know what I feel for you?" Nightmare only struggled harder, dark fire flared up. It sent sparks from her hooves. "I could not care less for your feelings!" Celestia gazed upon the wretched creature. "I find myself feeling nothing... You are a product of hate and despair wrought from the mind of my sister. You caused her to attempt the deaths of countless ponies; myself included. I do not hate you. You must be stopped, but I will not do so from anger." Her horn flared up, and the heat of the sun flared from her eyes to strike the dark pony. Nightmare reared back in pain. Her face was scorched with flame. "I hate you, you arrogant excuse for a princess. I should have killed you when we escaped. Luna fought me, she fought me! She demanded we send you to the sun instead! Now, I will correct that error." The dark flames grew in size, around her the light just seemed to be sucked in, as if she was leaching the life from the daylight. Celestia calmly regarded the pony which just had threatened to kill her. She began to glow, softly at first, but soon the soft light grew blinding. The sun shined from within her, in all its glory. Where the light touched the dark fire burned with white-hot flame. Nightmare's fire was extinguished; she looked upon her tormentor with pain filled eyes. She did the only sensible thing, the only possible thing she could: She fled. ------------------------------------------------- Discord covered himself in embarrassment. He was dressed only in a pair of boxers. He could not quite reach his power in this world. It was removed from the natural chaos he could touch in every atom in the physical world. He was a god; he had no need to sleep! This dream realm was alien to him in nearly every way that mattered. He found himself quite out of his element here. However, there was something... yes. He felt it inside Luna, herself! In every pony, a spark of chaos existed, a potential if you will. He tapped it, and was flooded with power. He laughed, a long deep laugh. It grew louder and lower in tone, for he was growing ever larger with every second. The fillies and colts scattered as he outgrew the confines of the room. His head crashed into the ceiling. He continued to expand, his body destroying the building he was emerging from. He began stomping about in his glee, trying to catch Luna under his cloven hooves. He let out a loud roar as he regarded the city of Canterlot. Yes, this would do nicely. He began thrashing his fists about leveling buildings. A fanfare sounded out. Luna was on the ground, playing a flute of some type. He looked closer. No... it was not a flute, but a knife of some sort, with holes bored into it. He barely recognized her in that green outfit, nice trim though, very flashy. Still, if she thought she could stop him with a pleasant tune, he would happily disabuse her of the notion. He raised a hoof, ready to smash her into paste. He stumbled as the ground shook under him. A massive... metallic lizard rose from the ground. Luna took off and landed inside an opening inside the mechanized monstrosity. The lizard struck a pose, and raising one hand, made a gesture Discord knew well. Come at me if you dare. Luna's voice resonated from the giant mech. "HAVE AT YE, CHAOS!" The mech flew forward with rocket boosters aiding its charge, striking Discord in the chest. He was pushed backwards into a building, crushing it under his weight. He swung on the mech, smashing his fist into the head. "Do you think you can keep me here in this dream forever Luna? I have to say I am impressed, in your own element you are nearly as chaotic as I. Perhaps you'd like to join me on a romp one day?" Luna scoffed from within her mech. She backhanded him in a furious attack. "I have heard these lines before Chaos, Nightmare offered to lend me her power to aid in your destruction. It seems you inspire little loyalty being so capricious." Discord smirked. "I expect nothing of the fools I tricked into this little charade. You think me some mastermind whose scheme is falling apart do you? My plan is not so complex Luna. I want to be free. So far, it's been one hundred percent effective." Luna paused in her assault. "You cannot be serious! You took the very first opportunity upon your release from stone to wreak havoc on the land! You tainted the elements of harmony, and the bearers! How can your aim be anything but a conquest?!"!" Discord slammed both fists against the chest of the mech. "I spent two millennia trapped in stone Luna, do you even have half an idea what that is like? Oh, right, I guess you do. Forgive a god if he gets a little stir crazy!" Luna stumbled back; the mech was taking damage badly. "Enough! Friendship cannon, activate!" Six lights began to power up upon the sixth light, a beam of rainbow poured from the chest of the mech. Discord dodged, and the beam seared past him. It tore through buildings, into the air beyond... and left a hole in the night sky. Sunlight poured through it. Discord goggled at it a moment, then grinned and flew straight at it. He saluted as he flew through it. "See you on the other side Luna!" Luna exited the cockpit and gave chase. "Chaos! We are not done with thee!" ------------------------------------------------- Discord flew from the nebulous cloud of Luna's magic. He glanced around, seeing no sign of Celestia. Wait... no, that was Nightmare fleeing her now. Luna reformed from mist and charged at him. "You will not escape me, Chaos!" Nightmare reached him, Celestia hot on her heels. Discord chuckled. "Well now, it seems we're all evened up again. Really, though, this is pointless, you cannot beat me." A voice rose from the distance. He knew it well, for he'd spoken with her often, trying to break her hope while he twisted the minds of her friends. He had laughed at her as he made her watch helplessly while he turned her home into a chaotic hell. "We'd like to weigh in on that Discord!" Twelve alicorns joined the two he faced. Worse, the jewelry he had come to fear in their last encounter adorned six of them. The bearers and elements joined the royal pony sisters in surrounding Nightmare and Discord. This was it, the worst-case scenario. He'd be turned to stone again, and Nightmare would be returned to the ether from which she was born. He had nothing to lose any longer, and neither did she. They had tried their best. Discord let out a sigh. "Well, the jig is up. Plan B?" Nightmare paused, looked at her approaching doom, and nodded. "Plan B it is." She shifted to mist and enveloped Discord. An ominous rumbling began. Flashes of light speared from the black cloud. The earth shook; the sky darkened, and a blood-red moon appeared in the sky. Thunder roared as the sound of hellish laughter washed over the group. Nopony knew what to make of this. Pinkie Pie looked around in panic. "Gals, the GM just bumped up the challenge rating! Roll for initiative!" Everypony looked at her in confusion. She grunted in frustration. "Just get ready! Something big is coming!"