//------------------------------// // It's Me // Story: Five Nights in Equestria // by RandomHamster33 //------------------------------// Twilight, shocked, could only watch as the cage containing Foxy shattered into hundreds of pieces, breaking as if only made of glass. His eyes turned white, body twisting in unnatural ways. Metal cracked and splintered as he changed. His voice came out strained and sounding as if he was being ripped apart. “Twilight!” Princess Celestia’s voice reached near-cracking levels. Twilight’s head yanked back to her mentor. “Gather the other Elements! We need to get them from Canterlot!” The little unicorn could only nod shakily and sprinted upstairs, horn ablaze in a fire of sparkling magenta light. She vanished in a small blast of light. Meanwhile, Celestia turned to face the Nightmare—who was quickly finishing its gruesome transformation. Luna lay unmoving in her arms. Golden Freddy was nowhere to be seen. She could only assume he didn’t make it, as she didn’t see him exit. Perhaps he threw them out at the last moment? She was about to take off, when her gaze flicked to the deactivated animatronics in the adjacent corner. That was when Luna burst into life. She gasped several times. “Dear, it’s me!” the lunar sovereign cried out, sitting up straight. “Golden Freddy!” Celestia exclaimed, taken back. She released the alicorn. “Yes! Come on, we haven’t got all day!” Golden—Luna, Freddy, she didn’t know what to call him/her—sprang up, stumbling somewhat. Their voice coming out of Luna’s mouth was a mix between the two entities, creating a strange tone. She/he twisted their head slightly and Celestia nearly recoiled—black eyes with white pupils stared back at her. Throwing off the distraction and without another thought, Celestia’s magic gathered the other animatronics so they wouldn’t be left here in the Nightmare’s wrath. She transferred their bodies into a small device located within the gem of her necklace. Golden Luna turned and fired a blast from their horn, the magic looking like a mix between their respective colors. Then, horn glowing brilliantly, Celestia added to the spell, hopefully slowing down the creature somewhat. The two alicorns vanished in a twinkle a moment later. Celestia’s wings pounded against the air. Golden Luna fell almost immediately, not sure how to work wings at first. They quickly regained altitude, large blue wings pumping rapidly. The two alicorns met eyes. “So, what’s the plan, dear?” they asked, raising an eyebrow. “We have to get the Elements of Harmony from Canterlot. But I can’t leave Twilight and her friends here, nor can I leave the Nightmare here. It could destroy Ponyville,” Celestia responded, sharp eyes scanning for her student from where the two flew high up in the atmosphere, nearly on the verge of space. “Canterlot? That’s the city on the . . .” They trailed off, seemingly trying to figure out the correct word, “. . . Big rock, yes?” Celestia blinked in confusion before recalling that Golden Freddy most likely didn’t have the largest vocabulary, as with the other animatronics. He could, however, probably pull information from the minds of the creatures he takes over. That was the reason he knew where Canterlot was, but must’ve been unable to track down the word ‘mountain’ inside her sister’s head. “Yes, on the side of the mountain,” the solar goddess replied. “And I must ask—is Luna in there with you?” Golden Luna nodded. “Of course. Though she’s been knocked out of it, so I’ve inhibited her useless body. She does make for a nice magic power, however.” They tapped on their horn. “Is she going to wake up anytime soon? Can’t you do that?” “No, she’ll be out for another . . . fifteen minutes, I’d say. I can’t wake her up—that’d disturb the balance. I could really affect her head, you know.” Golden Luna cocked their head. “This mind stuff is very unappealing in some instances, wouldn’t you say?” “Fifteen minutes!” Celestia exclaimed, eyes widening. She completely ignored their snarky comments and continued. “We don’t have two minutes! We need the Elements of Harmony!” Golden Luna paused, then a small grin worked its way over their face. “Well, why doesn’t one of us go retrieve the Elements, and the other will go find those six mares?” Celestia’s wingbeats faltered for a brief moment. “I can’t trust you, especially when you are in my sister’s mind and body.” “But you trusted me enough to allow me to bring you into Foxy’s mind?” Golden Luna countered. “Well, yes, but that was under different and less dire circumstances.” “How is this any different? Come on, we could save so much time, dear! And maybe lives! I don’t know what this Nightmare wants to do with your ponies! I wasn’t in its head.” Celestia hesitated. It was true—she could lose her subjects, and that had happened enough when Luna was overtaken by the Nightmare. If she had to protect the Elements and get the Element-Elements—there was no way she could avoid something terrible from happening. And they certainly couldn’t leave the Nightmare alone in Ponyville! The solar sovereign sighed, “Fine. But if you backstab me, prepare yourself to be blasted with the Elements as well.” She jabbed a hoof at him. “Promise me you’ll not make me do that.” Golden Luna floated upright, placing a hoof over their heart. “Cross my cold, nonexistent heart.” She nodded. “Find the ponies. I must go to Canterlot to retrieve the Elements. I’m the only one who can break the spell surrounding them.” Celestia’s horn lit up, and she cast one final warning glare at Golden Luna. “Be good. Now go! Ponyville is directly below us.” And with that, she vanished. Twilight and her five friends galloped—with the exception of the two pegasi—through the streets of Ponyville. She wasn’t sure where to go, for she knew the precious Elements of Harmony were in the capital of Canterlot, but she had to try and find one of the princesses. A distant roar screamed through the air, startling the mares. “Is—is that-?” Fluttershy stammered, eyes wide as dinner plates. “I’m afraid so,” Twilight said in reply. She suddenly screeched to a stop. “Oh no! The other animatronics! They’re still in the library!” “No, they aren’t,” came Princess Luna’s voice, though it sounded a bit . . . off. Twilight and her friends’ heads shot around to see the night alicorn hit the ground in front of them, flapping her wings to slow her down. “Princess!” Twilight cried, about to run forward, but then stopped when she saw the black eyes staring back at her. “. . . Golden Freddy?” “Yes, dear, it’s me,” they replied. The demonic sounding voice grated the ponies’ ears. “Princess Celestia went to Canterlot to fetch the Elements.” “Get out of her, you monster!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pointing a hoof angrily. She shot forward less than a second later and tackled them to the ground. “Luna was knocked unconscious! She’ll be up soon, you imbecile! Now get off!” Golden Luna snarled, kicking their back legs to dislodge the brash pegasus. Dash spread her blue wings to avoid hitting the ground and hovered above the other five once again, a glare focused on the alicorn. “Now, as I was saying,” they continued with a glower, “we have to hurry. The Nightmare—” “The Nightmare!?” came all the mares’ cries of incredulousness. “Yes, the Nightmare! Now be quiet! Anyways, for the second time, tell me what you ponies usually do when this sort of thing happens!” “W-well, first we get the Elements!” Twilight began. “And we fire ‘em up!” Rainbow added. “Then we use our friendship to blast ‘em back into oblivion!” Applejack yelled. “And finally, we throw a big party~” Pinkie Pie quipped. “Well, technically next we get a stained-glass window in Canterlot Castle depicting our heroic events,” Rarity finished with a small toss of her head and a charming smile. “Okay. Well, Celestia should be here soon with the Elements,” Golden Luna said. “We’ve just got to hold off the Nightmare Foxy while she’s gone.” Applejack gulped. “It’s a bit too late fer that.” The ponies turned around and saw the huge figure standing where the library was. Well, maybe not anymore. Two glowing eyes turned towards them. “Oh my goodness,” Rarity gaped, jaw dropping open. “Ponies! Did you miss me?” came the evil question. Nightfox took a step forward; the ground shook beneath his massive foot that was as wide as the road, at least. He was almost as tall as the cloud layers. “Uh, now would be a good time to panic,” Fluttershy squeaked. “No! We can’t panic,” Twilight stated firmly. Then, screams broke out across the town. “Well, not us.” Nightfox roared, the massive shock wave hitting the ponies and making the two pegasi jet backwards, landing in the bushes. The five others managed to stay in their positions, though manes and tails were astray—much to Rarity’s disappointment. “Gah! What’re we going to do?” Dash asked as she proceeded to scramble out of the bushes, “I don’t think we can fight that thing.” “It’s comin’ right at us!” AJ declared, backing away just slightly. “We might want to run,” Twilight murmured. Nightfox started a full out sprint towards them, jaws open. “Yeah, might!” Rarity screamed, turning around and fleeing. The rest followed immediately. Golden Luna, however, paused, unwilling to leave the fight. “Golden Freddy! Come on! We can’t fight that!” Twilight shouted back. She said a few quick words of encouragement to her friends and galloped back. “I beat it once,” they said. “I can hold it off, and hopefully Celestia will get back soon. Meet with her somewhere.” Twilight stamped her hoof. The Nightmare would be upon them any moment. “You’re being stupid! Why be the hero?” “Hero? What’s that?” “It’s what you’re trying to be! Now come on!” Twilight grabbed them and yanked them along behind her until they decided to run. “Twilight! I have the Elements!” The two ponies looked up to see Celestia descend from the heavens, eyes focused on them. Twilight’s face burst into a grin, until she caught sight of the movement from the side. “Princess Celestia, watch out!” she screeched. Celestia turned her head and was preparing a spell just as the giant hand batted her out of the sky with enough force to shatter bones . . . if she’d been anything but an alicorn, that is. She was shot across the wide expanse as a white blur. The Elements fell from her magical grasp and Nightfox swiped them from the air. “No!” Twilight cried, eyes widening. Her horn blew up and she teleported herself to where her mentor had fallen. Golden Luna was abruptly left alone with the Nightmare, who was busy eating the Elements with impunity. “Now, nothing can stop me,” Nightfox snarled, grinning. He set his pupiless gaze onto the most definitely smaller alicorn by his feet. “Well, first of all, how dare you eat those, and secondly, what a cliché thing to say! You really think these ponies will actually let you take ov—” Golden Freddy spat blood out of their mouth. It was odd, actually getting hurt and having physical damage done to you that required medical attention. The alicorn clambered to their hooves. Getting a huge foot to the head hadn’t done much for Luna. “Puny thing,” Nightfox laughed. His large hand swept downwards to pick them up and was rewarded with an angry blue-and-gold blast of magic. He recoiled, surprised at first, but then smirked. “Oh, Luna, how silly. Thinking you are anything without your sister. She doesn’t care about you. She just wants the attention all to herself.” Golden Luna tilted their head. He knew that the princess had been taken over by this, but had not known the circumstances—she’d been keeping him out of that part with a mental block. So, needless to say, these words didn’t affect him. “Okay then,” was all Golden Luna said. Nightfox roared in outrage and attacked. Twilight bent by the white alicorn’s side, horn bright with a healing spell. Celestia shifted uncomfortably, eyes blinking open. She was faced with her student’s caring eyes. “Twilight, my faithful student,” she greeted with a smile. Celestia sat up, drops of blood rolling through her usually snow white fur from a cut on her forehead. “You can stop. I’m fine.” She shook her head. “Dark energy is hard to fight. I should have been paying more attention.” “It wasn’t your fault,” Twilight responded. “You had to get the Elements to us as swiftly as possible.” Celestia stiffened. “The Elements!” She looked over at her student. “Did it get them?” “. . . Yes, it did.”