//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: A Faceless Nightmare 
// by Phantomslayer230 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Discord all stood in awe at the creature that was before them. None of them had ever seen or heard of Nocturne. Or anything like him for that matter. The only encounter they've had that even comes close to this is their battle against King Sombra, and he was dead. Or at least, everyone thought he was dead. The group continued to stare at the smokey figure. And Nocturne stared right back. After what seemed like hours, the silence was finally broken by Nocturne. Who surprisingly was laughing. His laugh was deep and menacing, like his voice. What started as a slight chuckle soon grew into to the loudest and most demonic laugh any of the royals had ever heard.

"HAHAHAHAHA, what is it? Never heard of me before?"

Celestia, being the first to regain her composure, stepped forward to confront Nocturne.

"Why? Should we have heard of you?"

"I thought maybe there was chance you could have. Though I'm not surprised you haven't. After all, the last time I was here was eons ago." He motioned toward Celestia and Luna as he continued to speak. "After all the two of you were still sitting in a crib."

"Are you saying you came to Equestria before? And when you did my sister and I were mere foals?"

"Why yes. But I must say I'm surprised you parents didn't tell you about me after all the trouble I caused. Then again, those two maggots were never good rulers."

The entire room was filled with one combined 'gasp' before falling into silence again. However Celestia's rage was beginning to boil over.

"How dare you..........HOW DARE YOU" Celestia yelled as she stomped her hooves into the floor so hard she punched holes into the tiles. "How dare you insult my mother and father! You are a criminal. A monster and an abomination! I will have your head on a platter for what you have done! And so help me I will send you to the depths of hell for what you have.... *MMMPH*" Celestia's yelling was halted when Nocturne clapped his hand around her muzzle.

"Oh shut up you worthless wretch. I speak the truth and if you can't handle it, then get out of my way."

With that Nocturne lifted Celestia and threw her against that wall in the back of the room. With a loud CRACK she slammed into the wall and fell to the ground. She sat there motionless. However as Luna examined her sister she noticed Celestia's chest would slowly rise, and then fall. She was alive. Unconscious, but alive. 

"No that she's out of the way, lets get down to business." Nocturne turned to Twilight and began moving toward her. "I have plans for you Ms.Sparkle."

As Nocturne approached Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Discord stepped in front of her. Cadence was the first to speak. "If you want Twilight, you'll have to go through us."

Nocturne glared at the royals for a short time. After a few seconds he simply shrugged and said, "Fine." With a flick of his wrists, Luna and Discord were thrown in different directions. Discord flew to the side wall, and smashed into one of the many stain glass windows. Luna was thrown to the back wall next to her sister.  Now Cadence was Twilight's only line of defense. She look like she was ready to fight, and her wing was draped over Twilight's back.

"You will not harm my sister in law. If you want to get to her you'll have to kill me first."

Nocturne sighed. "I can't kill you princess. I have other plans for you. Now.......beat it." With that Nocturne lifted arm and used the piece of metal on his wrist to strike Cadence on the head. With that she fell to the ground unconscious. Shocked, Twilight examined Cadence to see if she was alright. She had a small cut where she was struck and it was bleeding slightly.

Twilight was crying now. "Why are you doing this? Why are you here? Why are you hurting ponies? What did we do to you?"

Nocturne  was silent for a few moments but soon he let out a soft chuckle before speaking. "YOU haven't done anything but interfere with my plans. As for what I'm doing and why? Only one word can explain my motives...........revenge."

Twilight perked up a bit due to curiosity. She sat on the steps leading to the large throne where Flash was still lying. As Twilight sat, Nocturne explained his past to the young alicorn.

"If you recall Twilight, I have been here before. And I knew Celestia's parents. You see, almost 3000 years ago. I came to Equestria. I was looking for power. A position of authority. And I was willing to do anything to achieve my goal. So, I went before the Celestia's parents. They saw me as a beast who would only take advantage of their generosity. Hehehe, I guess they were right. I attacked Equestria. And gained power by feeding on the fear of others."

Twilight pondered all she was hearing. He gains power be feeding on fear. That would explain a few things. Like how he acted when he was disguised as those other ponies. He was trying to scare me. But it doesn't explain why he is just now returning. Or where he even went for 3000 years.

"*sigh* but all that was ruined by the rulers and the unicorn known as Arcane Constellation. I should have known that a unicorn with his magical prowess would find some way to stop me."

Arcane Constellation, where have I heard that name? "And how exactly did me manage to do that? You seem to have over powered even the strongest magical beings Equestria."

"hehehe, I see what your doing Ms.Sparkle. Flattery will get you nowhere, I'm not that gullible."

"W-what are you talking about?" Twilight was trying desperately to hide her nervousness from Nocturne, but to no avail.

"I apologize princess, but I have already said to much." Nocturne grabbed twilight around the throat and lifter her into the air. "Now I thinks its about I........put you to rest." 

Nocturne laughed as his grip tightened around Twilight's neck. She could feel the strain on her windpipe making it hard to breath. Soon her sight began to fade. But before Twilight lost consciousness, Nocturne released her from his grasp, and Twilight fell to the floor. Once She caught her breath, Twilight look up to see what happened. Nocturne was clutching his right shoulder with his hand, and Twilight noticed a faint trail of smoke coming from his shoulder. As Nocturne turned around Twilight turned her gaze to the other end of the room. There, in the middle of the room, stood the unicorn guard who had been knocked out when Nocturne first entered the room. He was panting, his head bleeding quite a bit, and a soft gold aura surrounded his horn.

"Back away from the princess monster." The guard spoke in a weak yet stern voice.

Nocturne turned around was stood there silent, staring at the now conscious guard. While he was distracted, Twilight crawled her way over to Flash who was still out cold on the broken throne. Twilight quickly examined him. He was bleeding a bit here and there and right foreleg looked to be bending the wrong way. However Twilight evaluation was cut short when she heard a short yelp and an pained scream from behind her. Twilight turned to see Nocturne stabbing the guard who had saved her. The metal block on Nocturne's wrist has extended into a long blade with lots of curves and such. The blade had stabbed compleatly through the guard was stained red. Well it was colored red before, but now it was even more red. Nocturne spoke as he held his blade in the guard pony's chest.

"I really wish you hadn't done that. I was hopping that the purple princess would be my blade's first victim." Nocturne then withdrew his arm blade and collapsed it back to how it was before. "Although, I suppose the other one is still fresh." He turned his gaze to Twilight, who lowered her head onto Flash's chest in fear.

"Now then," Nocturne extended his other blade, which was still clean. "Back to business." Nocturne flew forward at an extreme speed, poised and ready to kill. However before his blade made contact with his target, there was flash of baby blue light and Nocturne found his blade imbedded in the now even more broken throne.

Nocturne looked around in confusion. As he searched for how his prey escaped, he noticed a pink alicorn. She was laying on the ground, with her head up, and the same baby blue color surrounding her horn. Nocturne chuckled, and walked up to the pink alicorn. Upon reaching her he brought his fist down on her head, knocking her out for a second time. 

"Wherever you sent them won't matter. I will find them in time. Until then, it's time to put my plan into motion."