Equestrian Wild, 1 Month After the Nightmare Universe
The Nightmare stands over his oldest foes, and he dispatches them one by one. You are the Nightmare.
“HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
“AAAAAHHHHH!!!!”
“You took EVERYTHING from us!”
“GRAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!”
“But if that’s the way your kind wants to play, FINE!”
“I’ll see you in Tartarus Varmit!”
“No More Running!”
“NOOOOO!!!!”
“It’s time for YOU to live in fear for a change!”
“Why?! Why?!”
“Cause now that our dreams are dead!”
“Hoody…please…”
“All that’s left is a Nightmare…”
You stand over them and laugh to the heavens.
“THE NIGHTMARE HAS COME!”
“No…”
The blade goes through you again as you look into the eyes of the Princess of Love.
“The Nightmare is gone…”
You open your eyes and gasp as you wake up in a cold sweat. Your hair is damp, and despite the cool night air, you are burning up.
“It’s OK, It’s OK. I’m not the Nightmare, he’s gone. I’m not the Nightmare…” you say as you try to get your breathing under control. To confirm this you look around your location. You are in a tent that you purchased in one of the outlying towns at a trading post. Your daughter Nightshade is beside you in her sleeping bag with a smile on her sleeping form.
Your breathing becomes more controlled as you place a hoof over your chest wound which aches in pain.
“Uggh, you stupid thing, it was just a dream, now heal already!” you angrily whisper to it. It’s been a month since the other world’s Cadance stabbed you and the wound never fully healed, even after the Doctor’s care. That’s just the nature of Orichalcum, the magic nullifying substance that can kill the gods themselves.
Deciding not to wake your daughter, you stealthily exit the tent and walk to a nearby stream. Guided by the moonlight, you are able to traverse the trees that surround your camp right to the brook. You take a sip of the cool clear water before dunking your head in to cool off. You then puts some cold water over your delicate chest scar to numb the phantom pain. After having finally calmed down, you look at your reflection in the water.
The changeling with the wet orange hair staring back at you is the same one you’ve seen all your life, though the Orichalcum caused scars over his eye and chest make it known that he’s seen better days.
“Heh, all I need now is a big winding red tattoo over the right side of my body and then I can take on the gods of Mt. Olympus,” you chuckle to yourself, remembering one of your favorite games. You continue to stare at your reflection before a sigh escapes your lips.
“I’m not the Nightmare,” you tell your reflection. “I’ll never be the Nightmare. I’m a good bug…I’m a good bug.”
The smiling form in the water momentarily changes into a hideous four eyed, sharp tusked, horned monstrosity as you flash back. You strike the stream and disrupt the image.
“I’m not you…” you say weakly before turning around and heading back.
As you head back to your tent, thanks to your wet form, you begin to feel a chill.
“Brrr. It must be Fall already. Good thing I got Nightshade that coat back at the outpost, the last thing I need is her catching a cold.”
You walk back into your tent and see that she has not stirred. You stroke her mane lovingly as a smile comes to your face.
Nightshade knows how to dream-walk and enter other’s dreamscapes, but you had forbidden her from coming into yours for awhile, and for good reason. You would never forgive yourself is she saw what the other you did.
“Sleep tight my angel, I’ll have the bad dreams so you won’t have to.”
You then lay down on your own sleeping bag, and before you nod off, you meditate and enter your own mindscape. While normally a chaotic mess, there is a place where there is nothing but a bed and someone you owe your life to. Like Nightshade, the Alicorn on the bed is dark and mysterious, but unlike Nigthshade, this one might not wake. The mare formerly known as Nightmare Moon has also seen better days. Shrunken in both body and power, she lies upon the bed, breathing shallowly, but thankfully in a consistent matter.
“Hey Selena, you doing any better?”
She does not answer you, just like the other times.
“Well I think you’re doing better,” you say with a forced smile before sighing.
“I had the dream again. The dream where I was HIM. I wish I had your power to dream-walk so I could just seal these nightmares away.”
The prone mare says nothing.
“I mean, I know that I will never become him, not just because of the Doctor, but because you and I promised each other we wouldn’t,” you say as you place your hoof over hers.
“I know this, but I still dream of it. I don’t know, maybe it’s because there’s noling around to get it off my chest to. I mean, you’re in a coma, the Doctor and Derpy left me behind again, and Cadance…” you wince remembering what she did, “she’ll never remember it. And I just can’t go telling our Cadance or anyling else because I don’t want to horrify them, or they think I’m dead.”
You sigh once more as you look at the floor.
“I haven’t really talked to anyone besides Nighthshade or the occasional backwoods merchant for a month, and I can’t tell them what happened either. Also, I don’t know who to trust, and when there’s large groups you don’t know who’s who. Anypony could be an enemy…anypony,” you ponder as you rub your chest.
“Sticking to the wilderness is rough, but I can’t stay in any town yet because I can’t afford to have anything go wrong. I can’t fight at my full potential because you might…” you shake your head as you can’t say the word. “Not only that, but this stupid wound keeps opening up. Nightshade, bless her heart “borrowed” a staple gun and some bandages in case I open up too much…”
You look to her again.
“But thankfully that hasn’t happened. I’ve bought a few supplies for Nightshade and I to help with roughing it. She has her own inventory now, courtesy of the other world, and she keeps track of her own things, except for food, I’ve put her on a diet. She wasn’t happy at first…actually scratch that, she’s still not happy about it, but it’s necessary living out here. Her inventory only had a few items within it and apparently the majority of it was filly clothes, I guess HE kept thinking he could buy back forgiveness. On the plus side though, now I have two Boomsticks for emergencies."
If that got through to her, you can’t tell.
“She wants to go back and see her friends, and I hate myself more and more when I tell her she can’t. At least she understands somewhat. Out this far gossip is slow but I’ve gotten a few rumors about the Crimson Knights. Nothing big has occurred thank heavens, but there have been secret recruitments. I’ve still got that list of names of the Generals from the other world, and chances are their counterparts are in similar positions, but we’re in no shape to hunt them yet.”
You place your other hoof over hers.
“I wish the Doctor would come back. He knows things, and now I know more than ever how important they are. He knew Grandbuggy somehow. He said so himself. Grandbuggy never told me about him though, and I feel like there’s always been a conspiracy over my head. I mean, even my Grandmother knew the Doctor, so what is going on?”
Still she says nothing, so you brush her hair out of her face.
“Selena, please wake up. I need someone to talk to, someone who understands. I need your help so that I won’t make stupid decisions. I need you back. I’m lost. So please, please just wake up.”
Despite your pleas, she does not awaken.
You sigh once more.
“One of these days you’ll answer. You just need your strength back. Maybe if I ever run into Quacksilver again he can do something, or maybe I can get a shadow magic transfusion or... something. I will fix this, I swear,” you say with a squeeze of her hoof, before you stand back up.
You begin to walk away, but look back.
“Oh, and tomorrow I’ll be helping Nightshade with her magic. Twilight taught her quite a few things, but she hasn’t been practicing since we left. I’m sure I’ll get hurt in the process. Hope that gets a laugh out of you somehow…” you say with a weak smile.
You turn around and then exit your mindscape before falling asleep, and thankfully, it is dreamless.
The Next Day
After having a light breakfast, and an even lighter one for Nightshade to which she complained about, you packed up your campsite and you had her do her magical lessons that Twilight taught her. Thanks to a month of no practice, she was rusty, but because she’s Nightshade, she was able to pick them back up fairly fast.
Her levitation spell was good, she picked you up about 20 feet and dunked you in the stream by accident, and so was her “Magic Missile” as you called it, which knocked you backwards into a tree.
“Why did Sparkle teach you that spell?” you asked.
“Twilight said that any unicorn in Ponyville that doesn’t know how to fire offensive magic is just asking for trouble,” she explains.
You kind of have to agree with this since that town seems to be a beacon for all things disastrous and chaotic.
Nightshade then showed you a trick you’d only seen her do once, where in a flash of green flame, she was able to make her wings disappear and reappear. She did the same thing with her horn and you got to witness your daughter as every incarnation of pony. Although this still confuses you as she is clearly part changeling, but you have no idea how you and Selena created her. You decide to put these thoughts aside as you witness your daughter as an earth pony falcon kick a tree in half.
“Good job sweetie, you’re even better at that then me,” you praise, before Nightshade sweeps her head around, becoming an Alicorn again.
“Sweetie! Where? Are Scootaloo and Applebloom with her?!” she asks excitedly before looking around.
“No, no, baby, she’s not here, I was just calling…” you begin your explanation before seeing Nightshade’s happy face fall as she looks to the ground, “Never mind…”
“Daddy, when are we going to go back?” she asks sadly.
“Not until your mother and I are healed Nightshade" you half truth.
"I-Is she any better?" Nightshade asks.
"She's...comfortable Nightshade" you say hesitantly.
"Oh...well how come we don't go to a town and have a witch doctor heal her or something?"
"Because towns are dangerous honey, they always lead to confrontation, and we can’t exactly fight in our condition”
“But I could fight for you, I’m strong enough. Princess Luna said so!”
You shake your head no as you place your hoof on her shoulder, “Nightshade, that is the last thing I want from you.”
“But I’ve done it before, I kicked the Hydra in the nards!” she whines.
“I know baby, and I still thank you, but I’m still wanted by all of Equestria, you aren’t. And I don’t want that to change. The last thing we need is a bounty on you as well.”
“Fine…”she huffs as she kicks the dirt, "I just wish mommy was better."
"So do I sweetheart, so do I..."
Wanting to avoid this conversation longer, you try to cheer her up.
“Alright honey, any other tricks you want to try?”
“Well I want to try flying, but the Filly Fooler never got a chance to teach me thanks to the Mare Do Well incident…but Ms. Twilight was starting to teach me how to teleport. I never actually got to try it out though.”
“Oh, well I can only barely help you there, I’m not too good myself,” you admit.
“Don’t worry daddy, I got this,” she says with a wave of her hoof before she scrunches her eyes together in concentration as power begins to build up in her horn.
“Don’t hurt yourself Nightshade, it’s a lot harder than it…” you begin before being cut off by a large flash as your daughter disappears.
“Nightshade!” you call out in alarm before hearing her voice cheer from behind you.
“I did it! I did it! Oh my gosh, did you see me daddy? Did you?!” she squeals in excitement.
“I sure did, great job honey!” you congratulate and give her a hug.
“Oh My Gosh, I can’t wait to tell Ms. Twilight! Watch me again daddy, watch me again!” she yells before powering up again with you still holding her.
“OK, but be careful honey, you don’t want to over…” and once again you are cut off. This time however, the white flash overtakes your eyes and you feel your body contort into nothingness.
After feeling your body rematerialize, you aren’t sure whether you’ve gotten your sight back again as all you see around you is white. Your body is cold and you realize why after a few blinks, you are completely surrounded by snow as a storm billows around you. After this realization, you realize that there is a sharp pain in your chest.
“Arrrrggghhhhh…” you grunt out as you fall to the snow covered ground as you see your Midnight Colored Blood dripping onto it. Your wound has opened again.
“DADDY!” you hear your daughter yell as she steadies you.
“Ugh, what happened Nightshade?” you ask her.
“I don’t know, I just closed my eyes, everything went white and then we were here and you were hurt again!” she says scared.
You grunt in acknowledgement before saying,
“Honey, get the first aid, quickly!”
“Right!” she yells as she dives into her Inventory. You look at your wound and see that it it’s only the top layer that’s open, but it’s still bleeding and hurts.
“Got it!” she yells as she jumps back out. “Hold still, this is gonna hurt!”
“Hold still for wha…”
*Cachunk* *Cachunk* *Cachunk* *Cachunk*
You look down and see that Nightshade has put four staples into your chest, holding the wound together. You look up to your daughter, then back to your wound, then back to your daughter, then back before screaming at the top of your lungs to the sky.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! MOTHERBUCKER!”
“It’s OK daddy, I mediced you,”
“I MEANT I WANTED THE BANDAGES!!!” you roar while your chest still throbs.
“Oh, right!” she says as she dives back in. When she comes out, she is wearing her coat that you got her, along with a scarf, snow boots and your fake beard for warmth, making her look like a very short stallion. You wrap up the wound, not even taking the staples out. You then pat her on the head.
“Thanks Nightshade, great job…” you lie so as not to hurt her feelings. You then eat some Orange Buffo-Bombs to get a sugar rush and numb the pain, but the cold still hits you. In your inventory you pull out the only warm piece of clothing you have, Your Nobody Cloak.
With the cloak on, the wind and snow don’t pierce you as sharply, but you’ve got to get somewhere warm and fast as your reopened wound has left you feeling weak.
“Alright Honey, can you teleport us back?” you ask.
She tries to gather magic, before holding her head “I don’t think so daddy, my head kind of hurts after doing that.”
“OK, so that option is out, I could try, but I need to know where we are. But all there is is snow, snow and more…hey what’s this?” you say as you spot a set of hoof tracks. They lead south into the storm, but they come from the North. Following them backwards, you crest a hill and see a massive dome over a sunlit city of shiny buildings made of crystal.
“What in the Buck?” you ask aloud as you see lots of movement within the city.
“Maybe we should go there daddy, the sun if over there,” she says through her fake beard.
“I don’t know, this seems oddly like the beginning of a horror movie, maybe we should see where the tracks lead,” you say with a shudder.
You turn around and from your vantage point and you see the prints lead down to what seems to be a train.
“Oh thank Luna, there’s our ticket out of here,” you say before spotting 7 figures against the snow.
“There’s a group coming this way daddy.”
“I see them honey, hang on a second,” you say as you activate your Sight Beyond Sight Telescopic View, causing you to feel even more weak.
In your view however, you see 7 ponies you’d rather not see at the moment. You unzoom and cry aloud.
“OH COME ON! REALLY?!”
“Who is it Daddy?” asks Nightshade.
“It’s the Deadly 6 and Shining Armor! They haven’t spotted us yet, but they’re coming this way,” you say as you hold your wound in pain, and in doing so, you realize you’re dressed as the Hooded Offender, “and the hits keep on coming,” you growl.
You and Nightshade both weigh your options.
Either run for the Mysterious Spooky Looking City, Fight the Elements of Harmony and the Captain of the Guard that hates you in your weakened state, or freeze to death. None of these options are good, and you both know who to blame as you both yell to the storming sky.
“BUCK YOU LADY LUCK!!!”
WHAT DO?