A Nightmare Night Kiss: Pt 2
This story contains scenes some may find shocking.
Rainbow landed in the midst of the gathering crowd close to the Ponyville town hall, where the distinctive form of Nightmare Moon was whispering into the ear of Mayor Mare.
“Rainbow Dash!” said a demure voice from behind her. “What’s going- Oh Rainbow, you don’t like well. Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Dash turned to find a yellow pegasus giving her a look of concern. She barely had time to recognise Fluttershy’s half-finished bat-pony costume, but immediately pulled her into a crushing hug.
“R-Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy choked. “Could you, if you don’t mind, if it’s not too much trouble, could you not squeeze me quite so hard, please?”
“S-Sorry,” Dash cleared her throat. She still felt so shaky. Fluttershy’s bright blue eyes looked over her with great concern.
“What’s wrong?” she insisted.
“Indeed, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, trotting up beside Fluttershy. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Dash looked at Rarity with a sinking feeling, thinking of Sweetie Belle. Rarity blinked, stunned. “Darling? Why are you crying?” A handkerchief rose to Rainbow’s face and dabbed at her cheeks. Dash was so distracted that she didn’t immediately react.
Before she could build up the courage to say anything though, the sound of a microphone being tested cut through the autumn air.
“Ponies of Ponyville,” came the mayor’s voice, magnified to cut over the happy chatter of the growing celebrations. Her voice was official and stern, garnering all attention. “It is my deep regret to inform you all that there has been...” she took a side-glance at Twilight. “There has been an accident. A very serious accident. In the interests of public safety, I hereby cancel this year’s Nightmare Night celebrations. Please return to your homes.”
Instant uproar, but Rainbow Dash heard none of it. Her head was buzzing.
“Rainbow Dash, do you know what this is about?” Rarity asked, giving her a suspicious look. “What kind of accident?”
“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, tentatively.
She couldn’t do it. Looking into Rarity’s concerned sapphire eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her that her sister was dead. She certainly couldn’t tell her the condition of the body. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“Dash, did you find Applejack?” Twilight landed beside them, tall and frightening in her Nightmare Moon guise. Dash shook her head jerkily.
“I... I searched the farm, looked in the house. I only found... Big Mac and Granny, they’re-“ She swallowed. Twilight’s eyes showed her comprehension.
“The whole Apple family... but you couldn’t find Applejack?” Dash shook her head.
“Twilight, what is all of this about?” Rarity asked. Twilight glanced at Dash, who avoided her gaze. Taking a deep breath, and with much hesitation, she explained.
Dash was glad that she avoided too much detail, for by the end of it Rarity was barely standing. Fluttershy herself had her mouth covered, her eyes going this way and that. Rarity’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but she seemed quite beyond the realm of speaking. With more courage than Rainbow Dash credited her with, Fluttershy recovered first.
“Rarity, I’m so sorry,” she said in a soothing though brittle voice. “I’m so sorry.”
“I... I... mother, father...” Rarity squeaked, her eyes wondering vaguely.
“It’s alright, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, a hoof over her shoulders. “I’ll take you home. Let’s get you some tea. You like tea.”
“Tea,” Rarity said, distractedly. “I... like tea...”
“Thank you, Fluttershy, Twilight said in a low voice. “Help her if you can.” Fluttershy set her face to the closest thing to a serious expression that she could without employing her stare, and led Rarity through the thinning crowd to her home.
“How could something like this happen?” Dash asked, firing up. The wave of fear and shock had begun to wear off, and as per usual with her, her temper began to rise to take its place. Unbidden into her mind sprang the image of Scootaloo’s mauled corpse crucified upon the tree, her organs dangling like grotesque Nightmare Night decorations. “I swear, whatever pony did this, I’m gonna-“
Twilight let her rant as the ponies around them moved away, disgruntled and angry about their mundane problems.
“I know, Dash. We’ll find out who did this, and we’ll make them answer for this. Come to think of it,” she seemed struck by a thought. “I’d better report this to Princess Celestia. This needs to be brought to her attention.”
“Good idea,” Rainbow snarled. “Tell her there’s going to be another murder when I find this guy.”
“I need to find Spike.”
Dash stopped scowling for a second to look puzzled. “Didn’t he say he was going to the candy offering?” At that moment, Mayor Mare ran up to them, looking panicked.
“Princess Twilight! The candy offering, they don’t know about this! They’ll be in the Everfree forest alone!” Twilight raised a hoof to shush her. The major flushed slightly and looked furtively around at the ponies staring in their direction.
“Don’t worry, mayor,” Twilight said, quietly. “Pinkie and Zecora were with them. I’m sure they’ll be fine until we can get there and bring them back.”
-
Despite Twilight’s encouraging words, Dash herself wasn’t fully convinced. Applejack didn’t seem to have been enough to prevent her own family’s massacre. Pinkie might be a formidably random pony, but what could arbitrary nonsense do against the kind of malice that murdered little foals? And Zecora, wise though she was, Rainbow had never seen her fight. No, Dash could not keep the fluttering of her fear at bay.
Flying high over the trees of the forest, the two of them headed directly for the statue of Nightmare Moon, the place of sacrifice for candy treats in her terrible name. To Dash’s relief, she saw no lights at the statue itself, and one along the path through the trees. A pony stood on the path with the lantern in their mouth.
“There they are!” Dash cried, zooming down.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight tumbled from the air, fighting to not fall too far or fast as she descended. Dash landed lightly on the ground, just in time to watch Twilight skirt a tree and land heavily next to her.
“You’re getting better,” Dash smiled. Twilight gave her a sharp stare. Both of them looked towards the lantern light and the pony holding it. Even in the dark, they recognised the striped mane of Zecora, although the black dress she wore made it seem as though her head were floating in the gloom. “Hey, Zecora!”
“Not so loud, Rainbow,” Twilight said, stepping forward. “Hey Zecora, we came to tell you-“ To Dash’s surprise, Twilight tripped and stumbled out of sight, her horn light fizzing out.
“Hey, Klutzlight Sparkle. This is no time to be fooling around.”
“Ugh, what is this?” Twilight groaned. “Feels like a sack of apples.” Standing up, she sparked her horn light again, and directed it downwards. She let out a shriek, and Dash leapt back. They both stared in horror for a full ten seconds at the thing on the ground, and then slowly, they both turned to Zecora. She hadn’t moved, even when Twilight had cried out; she just stood there with her lantern in her mouth.
Twilight approached, slowly, flickering her light onto Zecora’s face. Dash’s insides squirmed as she saw the blood on her coat, the rolled up eyes, and the taught jaw. As Twilight drew within a few feet, Dash saw a broken sign on the ground, smashed to pieces. The stake it had rested on stood slightly askew, dripping with dark red liquid.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
“Zecora...” Twilight sobbed.
“Twilight!” Dash gasped. “Pinkie Pie!”
“The trick or treaters.” Twilight breathed.
-
Through branches and shrubs they smashed their way, circumventing the long and winding path to the statue of Nightmare Moon. As they had seen, there were no lights there, but the statue, tall and ferocious, stood out against the starry sky like a patch of cosmic darkness. Although revolted by the action, Dash had pried the lantern from Zecora’s mouth and, wiping it off as best she could, carried it to the clearing. She raised it up to cast flickering radiance on the surrounding area, but could see nothing but grass.
“You don’t think that they ran back when whatever it was found them?” Dash whispered, hopefully.
“Maybe...” Twilight whispered back, directing her horn’s light this way and that. “We didn’t see them on our way here. Hey, do you hear that?”
Both Dash and Twilight paused to listen. Dash’s ear flickered once or twice as she registered a slight scuffling noise, like the movements of a small creature in the underbrush.
“Rainbow,” Twilight breathed. “There’s a pair of torches next to the statue. Do you think you could light one of them?”
“Yeah,” Dash whispered back. With careful tread, she moved towards the statue, her head suddenly filling with nightmare visions of a monster lurking beyond her lantern light. She knew that if there was something in the darkness, watching them, it could very well see them by their lights, but her entire body was tense. As she reached the statue, she noticed for the first time that the shape looked unfamiliar. She paused for a single moment to peer at it, trying to figure out the unfamiliarity of the statue’s form, but unwelcome thoughts of the creature in the darkness made her muscles ache to move.
Using the lantern, she lit the torch there, but then leapt back with surprise as the flame erupted. The lantern flew from her grip and smashed onto the floor. Owing to the proximity of several ornamental bushes, the lantern’s oil doused the dry leaves in flame, setting them all ablaze. The entire clearing blazed with orangey light, the statue lit from all sides and coating it in layers of flickering shadows. Then the horrible truth revealed itself with awful clarity.
Pinkie Pie was dead. Her cartoony hydra costume was torn to shreds, save for one of the long necks, which wound tightly around her torn throat, affixing her to the mouth of the Nightmare Moon statue as though from a gallows. Her face was swollen and bloated, her eyes having rolled upwards into her head.
Averting her eyes from this new and ghastly sight, the surrounding trees bore up another terror. The trees that bordered the clearing were ancient and tall, and each one was ornamented in a splattering of red dripping from the innumerable foals hanging from their lower trunks. Each one had been mauled in a fashion eerily similar to the cutiemark crusaders.
Dash’s body felt numb, but she was dimly aware of the movement in her own bowels as her head involuntarily jerked forward, and she vomited over the forest floor. Coughing and wretching, her eye was caught by something on the edge of the clearing. Dash’s senses were wobbly at best, but her hearing was suddenly rising to clarity. Over the crackling of the flames and breaking branches, she heard again the scuffling sounds, and a new noise. A series of short, pathetic gasps and squeaks coming from...
Dash’s hair stood on end. A dark shape was moving very slightly on the margins of the blazing light, shifting slightly like a predator stalking prey. As though sensing it was being watched, the creature rose, or raised its head, or something, and directed glowing green eyes directly at Dash. Dash felt herself pierced by those eyes. The creature turned and moved slowly towards her. Dash couldn’t have moved; her muscles seemed to have frozen.
As the creature reached the edge of the light, however, it paused, as though unsure of passing out of the shadows. But enough radiance reached it to see its shape, that of a pony, and of the dripping, bloody maw. The bush blaze suddenly roared with greater life, and the creature darted into the darkness. Rapid tread disappeared into the distance. Still, the feeble gaspings and whimpering persisted. Dash approached the place where the creature had been, and realised that however bad things were, they could get worse. For here was irrefutable proof of it.
“Oh Celestia!” Twilight cried, leaping forward. Her disguise had melted away, leaving only Twilight, diminished and frightened, unmanned by this most terrible of the awful surprises that night had so-far produced.
“Dinkie,” Dash muttered, her voice breaking.
Dinkie lay feebly at the foot of a tall, ominous tree, her body shuddering, both of her front hooves trying desperately to staunch the flow leaking from her throat. Her eyes wondered, seemingly aimlessly.
“It’s... cold...” she gasped, wetly.
Twilight bent over her, crying in desperation at her powerlessness to help, and Dash knew that she was powerless to help.
When she had been a filly, she remembered taking a trip to the ground below from Cloudsdale. It had been her first time, and her father had taken her to see Canterlot for the annual raising of the sun. Everything had gone perfectly, until they had come across a fox hunting a rabbit. Startled by their appearance, the fox had run away, leaving the rabbit feebly stirring.
Dash had pleaded with her dad to make the rabbit better. Her dad had promised to. He told her to stand away whilst he tried.
Dash had not seen what had happened, and it was only years later that she realised what her dad had done to help the rabbit. The snapping sound seemed to echo over the years.
“Twilight,” Dash said, huskily. Twilight didn’t seem to hear her. She was crying in earnest now. “Twilight,” Dash said, louder.
“I’m useless,” Twilight sobbed. “I’m... I’m nothing. I can’t do anything.” She looked up at Dash, her face eloquent with despair. “I’m a princess. I’m supposed to be able to help ponies. So why can’t I help her?”
Dash put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Go back to Ponyville.”
“W-What? B-But-“
“Go back,” Dash said, firmly, her throat still dry. “Go back and make sure nothing else happens.” She tried for a smile. “You’re a princess. You can do that.”
Twilight stared at her tearfully, and Dash could see the thoughts working in her mind. “But... but what are you...?” the question died on her lips.
“I’ll help her,” Dash said, swallowing the rising bile in her throat. Twilight was smart, and she knew what Dash meant. Dash put a hoof to Twilight’s mouth as she tried to protest. “I’ll help her,” she said, firmly. “Go. You don’t have time to hesitate, Twilight. I’ll be right behind you.”
Twilight blinked fresh tears from her eyes, looking down at the half-dead filly. Then she turned and ran, her crying echoing into the night.
Dash sincerely wished that she could do the same thing. But if she left Dinkie like this, she would never be able to live with herself.
She raised Dinkie as gently as she could against the tree, and pressed a hoof under her chin to help stop the flow of blood. Dinkie’s wandering eyes fixed on Dash’s magenta ones for a moment, and she raised a trembling hoof. Dash gently lowered it, brushing Dinkie’s mane.
“I’m so sorry, kid,” she whispered. “But don’t worry, you’ll wake up in a moment. Everything will be okay.”
“I... I’m i... in...” Dinkie spluttered.
“It’s just a nightmare,” Dash said, her voice as light as she could make it. “Just a stupid nightmare. You’re going trick or treating when you wake up. Won’t that be fun?” She pulled Dinkie into a close embrace, setting her hooves into place. “Just close your eyes and wake up, okay? One. Two...”
Dinkie’s body convulsed once, and then twice. Then she was still.
Dash felt the ball of fear and regret surge in her throat again. Alone and unable to affect anyone else’s courage, she let it pour out now, and cried unrestrainedly into Dinkie’s mane as the shadows closed about them.
- To be Continued