//------------------------------// // Weird // Story: Mourning. // by Ssendam the Masked //------------------------------// John simply sat and watched Twilight from a distance. He could feel the magical power rolling off of her. If she wasn't the Element of Magic, he'd eat his metaphorical hat. The five she'd interacted with had also demonstrated that they had the potential to be the new Elements, all they needed were trials to form a proper friendship. Trials that Celestia had undoubtedly pre-ordained. Trust Celestia to plan for each and every single little detail that might come the way of her student and her new friends. Just like her to do that. Her battle plans had always been mindful of the civilian lives it would undoubtedly effect. Too bad her generals and that captain of the Royal Guard had... disagreed and made their own. He chuckled. Well, who am I do deny them a little... fun? He followed the pink earth pony to the library, in order to watch. Celestia wanted them to get together, right? Well, might as well speed up the process. He sank into the walls and lay dormant. Being quiet and untraceable was how he'd managed to sabotage many of the battle plans of the past and prevented many senseless deaths. A movement of a soldier to this particular place rather than that, organising this defence in that city rather than this... he'd known that he couldn't stop civilian deaths entirely, but at least he'd cut the innocent death toll to about a third of what it would have been had both sides been allowed to have their way. Genetic diversity in the future was important, after all, even if those who lived weren't the strongest of the time. He watched the party with a mild look of amusement. Only a couple of ponies really noticed that he switched the wine and the hot sauce for comedic effect. Those who did assumed that it was merely a trick of their eyes and got back to partying. He drifted away from the inquisitive Pinkie Pie as she tried to see him, an admirable feat in a mortal who didn't possess his medium abilities. Upstairs, he absently decided to send Twilight a message. Without many materials, he had to resort to more... terrifying ways to pass his message on. The party was in full swing when Twilight Sparkle shot downstairs, in a panic. Pinkie PIe came up to her, but the unicorn grabbed her. "Pinkie Pie, what have you done with my room, because it isn't funny!" Pinkie Pie looked at her. "I haven't touched your room, silly-billy. That would be intruding on privacy!" Twilight looked at her with wide eyes. "No, you must have done SOMETHING, because it's utterly inexplicable!" She gripped Pinkie Pie and dragged her upstairs. "Look!" Dripping down the wall in a curiously red liquid was an image of The Mare in the Moon, with the letters below stating DON'T BELIEVE THE PRINCESS. Pinkie Pie looked at it, then shook her head. "not one of mine. Maybe it's one of Dashies'?" Spike licked the liquid pooling on the floor curiously. "Huh, it's kind of metallic- tasting. Kind of nice." Twilight stared at Spike with mild horror. "Spike that's blood." He immediately spat it out. "UGH!" Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight, I would NEVER do a prank like this. Come to think of it, neither would Dashie. I would never make you uncomfortable intentionally." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Really," she deadpanned. Pinkie Pie smiled widely. "Really!" A tall, bipedal figure watched them reconciling with a smile on its face. Hopefully, Twilight would take the message as it was intended. He hadn't had enough time to use less objectionable materials. Now, on to waiting for the Nightmare. He couldn't know when she would come, but given her theatricality, he assumed that she would appear here, in the townhall, at midnight. Why here wasn't surprising- it was common knowledge that Celestia was going to be here. He smirked. How obvious, only the Nightmare would fall for it. For somebody all about dreams, Luna could be devastatingly unsubtle when it came to battle tactics. He remembered having to advise her against a charge that would have cost her about half of her force... he would have allowed it, had several towns not been in the way. Too much collateral for too little reward. His face hardened. I'm coming for you, Nightmare Moon... Later, the ponies were in the town hall. He waited, floating above them all. He couldn't feel Celestia nearby, but given how the Aether in the area was reacting... he grinned. The Nightmare had shown her face at last. With that, he tuned the rest of what was happening out. He genuinely couldn't be bothered with this, besides, he could always track the Nightmare down later. He had things to do to irk her. First, he slightly shifted the Aether's balance, so that she would have to come out facing backwards. Then, he put a banana peel down. HIs grin widened. Let's see how you'll react to this, Nightmare Moon... With that, he disappeared from mortal eyes and decided to watch the show. When the curtains were opened, and Celestia wasn't there, he didn't particularly care. All he had to do was watch a show. When the Nightmare appeared the wrong way around, there was a confused hush. "Tremble righteously, ponies- wait..." He could hear the confusion in her voice as she turned around... and she slipped on the banana peel. This time, there was a small chuckle of laughter. Quickly, he got the Aether and gathered it around his back, just so that he could do one last thing, in order to break her psyche. Nightmare Moon was secretly fuming. FIrst she was facing the wrong way, then this, this, this TRAP was placed down... this honestly couldn't get worse. Hello, Nightmare Moon. She looked up, into the frowning face of the trecharous Mourning. "You..." she growled. The figure spread his arms wide. Me. The one you KILLED. Around the front of his chest, blood blossomed and bloomed. He grinned at her squeamish expression. Does this bring back memories? Of how I swore REVENGE on you? Do you feel it? DO YOU FEEL MY BEING HERE? Nightmare Moon scoffed at me. "My soft older sister would have never ordered you to kill me! She loves me enough to imprison me, not enough to kill-" The Mourning held up a hand. You are right. I'm not allowed to kill you as you are now. But... should you get free, Nightmare... then you won't be safe. He grinned at her, and his teeth were stained red with phantom blood. Run, little Nightmare, run. I'M COMING FOR YOU.