//------------------------------//
// Demons Of The Past And Those That Will Come To Be 
// Story: A Nightmare in Equestria 
// by Imperium Bedlam 
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"Guards! Find my sister immediately!" Celestia's once calm demeanour was filled to the brim with worry, for as long as she could remember Luna had never screamed like that. Luna had always been the harder to scare of the two, with her always playing nasty pranks on Celestia. She wanted so badly to see what was wrong, but she could not leave her ponies behind.

Speaking of which, pones stood all around the highly decorated room. Some were covering their ears from the onslaught of noise while others had shock and fear etched onto their faces. Twilight, the one currently closest to Celestia, looked up to her with wide eyes, "What do you think happened to her Princess?"

"I do not know Twilight," Celestia moved her stern gaze over the crowd, "but whatever has caused my sister to scream like that must be taken care of immediately. Attention my little ponies!" her body gave its best to give off the picture of calm, but there were holes in it and the ink had smudged, "due to unforeseen circumstances I am forced to declare this party over, all besides the Elements of Harmony are to return to their homes immediately!"

The ponies all trickled out of the room, nervous whispers being exchanged and murmurs of some horrible creature that could scare an Alicorn washed through the crowd. Celestia just watched them calmly, ordering her guards to make sure everypony got home safe and sound, until two of them rushed in. "Your highness! We bring disastrous news!"

Celestia glared at them slightly, silently ordering them to keep their voices down, "It's Princess Luna your highness! We do not know what is wrong but she has been taken to the medical ward. We found her staring at nothing while babbling the wor-" he was cut off as Celestia turned away, headed towards the medical ward with the speed of a sprinting Earth pony, yet she looked to be walking while the Elements struggled to keep up behind her.

When they were outside the door however, Celestia stopped stock still. The Elements just tilted their heads in confusion as they heard that somepony was singing something.





"What is going on Celestia? Why did you stop?" I was getting very worried at this point, in all my years under Celestia's tutelage I had never seen her like this.

"Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkamena Diane Pie, you are all to return to the throne room to await further instructions." Celestia replied, a stern look on her face as she gazed upon the door that gave way to the owner of the voice.

"B-but princess, we want to see how we can help Luna." I stammered out, to which Celestia replied with a stern glare. Silence reigned for a few moments as we sat in silence, me cowering slightly under my mentors gaze.

Before she sighed, and relented, "Very well Twilight, you and your friends may enter, but what you see or hear must not leave the confines of the room and you must all promise me one thing."

The elements and I looked to each other, all giving silent nods while we each held the same sombre expression "Anything princess, you know you can count on us."

"No matter the cost or whatever you have to do, you must avoid sleep." And with that she gently opened the door, the words of the song becoming clear to all who gazed upon the figure draped in a bed sheet, staring at a wall.

"One, Two, the Nightmare's coming for you." sang a beautiful voice, the words filled with both worry and fear. Me and my friends slowly moving into the ward one by one.

"Three, Four, better lock your door." it continued, as we got closer we could hear a faint dripping noise.

"Five, Six, grab your torches and picks." the singing seemed to envelop everything besides the dripping. It was all I could hear and all I wanted to do was run away, but my inquisitive side got the better of me as I slowly moved around the bed the figure was on.

"Seven, Eight, gotta stay up late." my expression darkened as I came upon the view of Luna, her face pale and her hair drooping down her body as she stared at the wall. 'Who, or what, could have caused this?'

"Nine, Ten..." my gaze came across the source of the dripping, her fetlocks had cuts zigzagging across them, and as I watched a scalpel hovering in a blue field slashed across them once more. I gasped and looked up at the Princess once more, uncomprehending of why she was doing this, and I saw her stare right back at me with dead eyes while she stared right back, finishing the song.

"Never sleep again." I don't know why, but I screamed. My eyes rolling back into my head as I passed out. I always hated the sight of blood, I'd had no idea I would soon be seeing a lot more of it.





I found myself raising an eyebrow as the flame changed colour right in front of me. Where the flames of the furnace would usually burn red until I had stepped inside, they had instead glowed a sickly green. "What?"

Then I was forced to cover my eyes with an arm from a small explosion that originated from the flames, along with a small thud. I slowly moved my arm away from my face and noticed the flame was completely gone, and instead there was a large stone tablet. "What?"

I carefully looked over the small assortment of items with a hint of suspicion, carefully moving closer to them and picking them up one-by-one and placing them on one of my workbenches. "Lets see now, an odd glass orb with some shitty green stuff in it." It only just fit in the palm of my hand and while it looked useless, I thought I could throw it at someone as an escape tactic or something, not that I needed an escape tactic.

"Next, the tacky jewellery." I picked up a small diamond this time, a faint hum of words echoing around the room.

“I am the protector of the innocent, warrior of the weak, call upon me for assistance and I shall come. Call for the Gravity Shifter and I will make those who harm others beg for mercy as they are crushed at my feet. Hold this gem close to thine heart and I shall be at your side as a fellow warrior!”

I blinked slowly, manoeuvring the gem between the tips of my claws and carefully placing it down beside the orb, "So that's what these are, summoning items." My grin grew wider as I looked down at the two objects, some of the leftover muscles in my face tearing slightly from the sheer width, "I think I'll have some fun with this."

My grin never left my face when I picked up the last object, unlike the others it was just a stone. What it was made out of though, I had no idea. I carefully looked over the symbols on the side, turning it over occasionally. My smile faltered slightly as I moved the stone to my regular-gloved hand, the clawed one reaching down to the desk as I carved in some notes.

I'm not really as dumb as I seem y'know? I went through that spy phase as a kid too when I was.... the old me, at least I think I did. The code part always stuck with me though due to the challenge it would always provide. My claw scratched along the width of the table as I went through each and every symbol, "This is very similar to a pigpen cipher, in fact I feel as though I've seen these somewhere..."

My eyes widened and my claws dug into the table as realisation hit me, "Bionicles? Who would write out a message in Matoran?" I had no idea what I was saying but it sort of made sense.

My eyes roamed over the stone once again, replacing the symbols with letters as the message slowly formed, and I was absolutely dumbstruck, "What an asshole."

I scoffed and put the stone next to the others on my now ruined desk, looking over them with an unsettling smile. "I suppose I should give something in return." I looked over the room for a few moments, trying to come up with something that would work, though the answer was obvious.

I reached up and grabbed one of the gloves dangling from the ceiling, the blades without even a hint of wearing from time. I let a chuckle escape my lips as I got to work, grabbing a large amount of them and one by one I stitched in the same message, 'Burn Me'. I made sure it wasn't  just a summon though, some of them had the words stitched in black while the others were red. I would help anyone who got a red one, and have my fun with anyone who got a black one. Either way, something is gonna end up dead.

I found myself laughing loudly while I sharpened the blades, sparks flying in all directions as I somehow sharpened two blades at a time on the whetstone-plated wall. I gathered all of them up on another desk before lighting the fire once more, hoping that I could will the flames into the green colour. It somehow managed to work as the leaf-coloured flames licked at every surface. My laughing only seemed to escalate as I threw the gloves in individually, watching them burn to ash instantaneously.

By the end of it I was gasping for air, with a workshop deprived of  half of its gloves. "Now," I panted, willing the flames back to normal, "time to get some information the only way I know how." My laughing had been reduced to giggles as I calmly stepped into the flames, almost relishing in the feeling of my flesh searing and falling apart.

My jaw unhinged and fell off, melting with the rest of my body, but I still kept my smile. I couldn't even remember why I once feared this, and I didn't care either way, because night was descending and it was time for the Nightmare to play.