//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Living Nightmare // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 14 ___________________________________________________________ I hummed a tune I'd heard Pinkie singing at one point as I walked down the road to Sugar Cube Corner. School ended an hour ago, an hour spent with the crusaders, trying to figure out my special talent along with theirs and now I was heading there before the Cakes worried. The time had passed not too fast, but too slow for me in hospital. A short time after I woke up, I got visits from the six mares who’d been looking after me the last six days, along with other ponies I’d met during my time in Equestria. Mr. and Mrs. Cake and their twins, Derpy and Dinky, all the Apples, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Miss Cheerilee, Twist, Pip, practically every pony I’d met. Throughout those two days though, I had one visitor who never left; Luna. She stayed with me all throughout the two days I had in hospital, then seemed sad when she left to return to Canterlot as I was being let out. Pinkamena had stayed in Ponyville for a while, living with Pinkie and the Cakes as she tried to get used to being her own pony instead of simply being trapped inside Pinkie and having to watch from within. She even started her own business, dealing with rocks and was planning on going to Canterlot and being a professor on rocks, which had made me laugh at first, before Twilight told me it was a real study and I apologized to Pinkamena for laughing. Funnily enough, we had winter come early because Rainbow Dash didn't want Tank to hibernate. Pinkie had left just yesterday to go spend Hearth’s Warming with her family, taking Pinkamena with her. That was going to be one interesting Hearth’s Warming present for Pinkie’s parents, learning they had another daughter that had been there the whole time. The Cakes had told me they’d let me stay even though Pinkie was gone, having grown to like me during the time I’d been in Equestria, staying at their place once a week. Oh, yeah. Hearth’s Warming is interesting. It’s basically what the ponies call Christmas. Their Halloween, Nightmare Night, had been interesting, though a lot of fillies and colts had come over to Applejack’s farm, where’d I’d been staying that night to give me some of their candy. I’d told them they didn’t have to, but they did it anyway and then left. AJ just told me to go with it, so I did. Like I was going to complain; free candy. And meeting Luna that night had been fun. She’d gotten me to join her in playing some pranks of the ponies of Ponyville, leaping out of bushes and scaring them. It had been fun. I giggled as a few snowflakes landed in my mane and I flicked them away. I’d never gotten to see snow at Christmas and right now I was getting that chance. My little brother and sister were going to be so jealous when I got back home and told them I got to have a real white Christmas. It had been almost four months since I’d first woken up as a filly, but I was okay with how long it had been. The princesses had said it would take time, so, as much as I just wanted to go home right away, I had to wait, so I tried my best not to be impatient about it. Sending someone across dimensions couldn’t possibly be easy, even for Alicorns who raised and lowered the moon and sun every day. I did still miss my family, but I knew I’d get to see them again. The Princesses wouldn’t lie, not about this. I pushed into Sugar Cube Corner, only to find Mr. and Mrs Cake weren’t at the front counter. I frowned. That wasn’t right. Every time I’d come after school they were there, either serving a customer or just waiting around for customers. “Hello?” I called, using my mane to take off my saddlebags and then the dark-blue scarf and green vest Rarity had made me for winter. “Mr. and Mrs Cake?” There was no answer. “Pound...? Pumpkin?” I squeaked, worried as to why the store was so quiet. “Stellar!” I jumped, whirling around to see Twilight hurry through the doors, a white and yellow striped scarf around her neck, boots on her hooves. She stopped and smiled sheepishly as I curled up a little. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Mr. and Mrs Cake were invited to spend time with some of their relatives in Manehatten during Hearth’s Warming” Twilight’s words sifted through my mind before they clicked and my ears drooped. If Pinkie and the Cakes were gone for the holidays, I didn’t have anywhere to stay tonight. The Princess of Friendship seemed to know what I was thinking because she came over and put a wing over me. “They asked me if I’d look after you during the holidays.” I looked up at her, shocked. She winked. “Princess Luna will be happy to see you again, too. She and her sister always come over for Hearth’s Warming.” I grinned ear to ear. I really like Luna. She was almost like another mum to me, but not quite. I really enjoyed being around her. Over the last four months she’d visited my dreams and helped me master my Dream Walking powers. Though she was less than pleased when I used it to give Diamond Tiara a few nightmares about becoming a blank flank or getting lost in the Everfree Forest, but Luna caught me, so I stopped after four. ... Okay, six. ... Fine, eight. ... Alright, alright, twelve, but no more than that. ... Well, maybe one more, thirteen being a lucky number, but after that I stopped. Luan's Stare in the Dream Realm made Fluttershy’s look like nothing. It had meant I had to apologize. I grabbed my things with my mane, returning them to my back and followed Twilight out, though she stopped for a moment, her horn glowing as she magically locked Sugar Cube Corner, since it wouldn’t be in use until the Cakes got back. With that done I followed Twilight through Ponyville, but became confused when we didn’t turn down the path leading to her castle. I stopped, raising an eyebrow. “Uh, Twilight?” She stopped, turning back to look at me. “Why aren’t we headed for your castle?” I asked, pointing a hoof in its direction. She just chuckled. “Actually, we’re going to my parents house. Shining Armour and Cadance will be there too.” She frowns slightly. "Wait. Why in the hay did we put up all those decorations if we weren't staying...?" She groaned, facehoofing. "Come one. Spike's waiting for as at the train station." I’d become curious at the mention of Twilight’s parents, but shrank down at the mention of her brother and Princess Cadance. From what I’d heard from Luna, and after secretly visiting his dreams, Twilight’s brother thought of me the same way a lot of ponies still do. That I’m just her, a monster planning on bringing eternal night. Luna had caught me spying though, and told me not to do it again, so I never got to see what Princess Cadance thought of me, but it was probably the same as Twilight’s brother. I felt a wing wrap around me and looked up to see Twilight giving me a warm smile. “Don’t worry. Once they get to know you like we have, I’m sure they’ll love you too.” Her words were kind, but they didn’t help lessen my worries. I followed Twilight to the train station, where the stallion giving the tickets took a look at me, then nodded. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Sometimes he seemed nice, the times the crusaders and I had been around the station, but then there were times I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, like now. Twilight and I got on a train, heading for a cart. As we walked through the train, I noticed a lot of ponies that weren’t from Ponyville. Many of them either looked at me with hate in their eyes or fear. My ears remained flat against my head as we walked on. When we reached our cart, I was thankful to get in as Twilight closed the door with her magic. In here I didn’t have to endure all the stares from the other ponies. I sat by the window, looking out at the station. I saw a few ponies I knew walking on it, including Dinky and her mother. I waved to them, feeling happy again as they smiled and waved back. As I watched something weird happened though. A blue box with the words Police Telephone Box appeared behind them. They turned around as a door opened and a brown Earth Pony stallion with an hourglass Cutie Mark stepped out. He smiled at them, then looked to me and winked, before heading back into the blue box, Derpy and Dinky following after him. Somehow there was something inside it, I could see it from where I was that there was some kind of room in the box. The doors closed and, as I watched, it seemed to fade away, leaving nothing behind. “What are you looking at, Stellar?” Twilight’s voice caused me to jump and I looked behind me to see her looking out the window, curiosity on her face. I looked back out at where the box had been, then shrugged, thinking I’d just imagined it. The train started moving and we both sat down for the trip. ___________________________________________________________ We stepped off the train and I stared around in awe. Canterlot was HUGE! I’d never seen a place this big before. There was a carriage waiting outside the station, which Twilight led me to. As I got in, I couldn’t help noticing the dark stares of several ponies and what happiness I’d gotten during the trip while Twilight and I had talked vanished. A few minutes later the carriage stopped outside a house that looked like a lot of the other houses, big square and white. The only real difference with the house we’d stopped in front of was that It had Twilight’s Cutie Mark and two other pictures which I gussed to be Princess Cadance and Twilight’s brother’s Cutie Marks; a crystal heart and a shield with the purple star from Twilight’s Cutie Mark inside it. Twilight smiled at me as she hopped out the carriage and waited for me to follow. “I’m sure this will be a great Hearth’s Warming for you, Stellar,” she said as we started up the path towards the door. I hope Twilight's parents like me. ___________________________________________________________ Shining Armour glanced at the filly Alicorn sitting with his sister by the fireplace. Like him and the rest of the family, they were both wearing Hearth’s Warming jumpers. Despite what the princesses, his wife and Twilight herself had told him, he wasn’t going to simply let his guard down around the filly. Her innocent act could easily be just that, an act. Twilight had told him how Stellar Nova had ended up in hospital due to a spell that had done a great thing for Pinkie Pie and left her magically drained, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t part of a plan. True, the moment she’d arrived she’d been nervous and quiet when his parents and Cadance had introduced themselves, but he couldn’t tell if it was true or not. She’d warmed up to Cadance shortly after and opened up quite a bit. She laughed, joked and told stories of all the adventures she had with her friends the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the four of them tried to find their special talents. That, admittedly, had caught him off-guard. He hadn’t expected her to say she didn’t know what her Cutie Mark meant and was still unsure as to whether that could really be a trick, or if she was being sincere. And her cosiness with Luna was quite confusing. The way Luna looked at her when the filly wasn’t looking, you’d think she saw her as a daughter and not a filly physical incarnation of the being that had taken her from her sister for a thousand years. He felt a nudge at his side, pulling him from his thoughts and turned to see Cadance giving him a sour look. “Are you still suspicious of her?” He rolled his eyes. “Along with being a Royal Guard, Captain of the Empire’s Guard at that, I’m also it’s prince. I have to think about possible threats, don’t I?” Cadance's sour look became sourer. “If she was a threat, then yes.” She closed her eyes, sighing. “But, tell me, honestly, looking at her right now, do you feel she’s given you any reason to suspect that of her?” Shining Armour looked to the filly sitting with his sister... and blinked in confusion. She... she was crying. The filly was crying. “Stellar, what is it?” Cadance asked, seeing it a second after Shining, getting up and going over, joined by Velvet and Luna. The youngest of the Alicorns only sniffled, her head down. “She misses her family,” Twilight said quietly as she glanced back to the filly under her wing. “This is her first, as she calls it, Christmas without them.” “I-I want my mummy,” Stellar sobbed, tears flowing down the marks left by their predecessors. “But, she was acting so happy before,” Shining said, cocking an eyebrow. “Why is she getting upset now?” “I think she was trying to pretend she was happy,” Celestia said quietly as she walked up next to her sister. “So many ponies have been so kind to her she didn’t want them to worry, so she ignored how much she really misses her human family.” “Hearth’s Warming must have been too much for the poor dear,” Velvet said, her eyes solemn as she watched her daughter trying to comfort the sobbing filly. “Why haven’t you told her?!” The angry voiced caused them all to turn to Shining Armour, who’d gotten up from his spot and was glaring at all the other mares, save his mother and wife. “T-told me what?” All save Shining, Cadance and Night Light and Twilight Velvet winced at the small voice. Cadance now shared her husband’s angered expression. “What? Four months and you haven’t told her? None of you?” Twilight and Celestia hung their heads, while Luna looked close to breaking down. “Well, if you’re not going to, we will,” Shining said, walking over, his previous thoughts on the filly forgotten as he prepared to tell her a truth that had been hidden from her for too long; a truth she had a right to know. “Stellar?” The little filly looked up at him, sadness mixed with anxiousness at his expression. Catching himself, Shining smoothed his face and gave as best a warm smile as he could. “What do you think is going on with you and your family?” The filly wiped her eyes, then returned her dragon-like eyes to look in his. “Th-the princesses are gonna send me home... it’s just... taking a while to get the spell right.” Shining sighed, both in sadness and exasperation as he turned to glare at the three princesses in front of him. “I realize you’ve been trying to spare her, but isn’t keeping the truth from her crueler than telling it to her?” “Truth?” Stellar looked from Shining to the other princesses. “What’s he mean?” “No, Shining Armour!” Luna said, her voice and expression becoming frantic. “Don’t say it.” “You didn’t see what happened the last time she found out,” Twilight said, then clamped a hoof over her mouth as all eyes, even Celestia’s were on both her and Luna. Celestia looked to her younger sister, who withered under her gaze. “Luna, what does she mean “the last time she found out”? Does this mean Stellar has learned the truth before already?” Luna did not meet her sister’s eyes. “Please, Tia. I cannot bear what happened to her. I don’t want that happening again?” “What are you all talking about?” Stellar asked, seeming both annoyed and worried. Celestia’s eyes widened in horror, as did Cadance’s when they understood what the other two Alicorns meant. “Luna,” Celestia asked, her voice hollow and fearful, “please, please don’t tell me you did that. Tell me you didn’t erase her memories?” “Well, yeah,” Stellar answered, taking Celestia and Cadance by surprise. “I had a really bad dream when I first went to Applejack’s, so they erased it from my memory because it did something bad to me.” This only caused Celestia’s eyes to sadden as she looked to Luna. “Why...?” “She became like a doll, Celestia!” Luna almost shouted, choking as she fought back sobs. “She wouldn’t respond to anything. After Nightmare told her the truth, it was like she’d died. I couldn’t bear that.” “So you waited four months and didn’t think once to tell her then yourself?” Cadance demanded, her nostrils flaring. “She may be a child, Luna, but hiding behind a lie like that is just horrible!” “Lie?” Stellar shrank into Twilight’s wing a little more, her eyes starting to brim with tears again, these of worry. “What lie? What are you all talking about?” Cadance took a deep breath, sighed and looked to Stellar, her eyes sad. “Stellar... you can’t go home.” The air, which had been comfortably warm by the fireplace, suddenly went cold. Stellar remained still for several moments as those words and their implications processed through her young mind, before her eyes widened with horror. “Wh-what?” Celestia sighed and moved closer, ushering Stellar out from under Twilight’s wing and under her own. “When you came to our world, you came not physically, but spiritually.” The worry and horror on Stellar’s face was mixed with slight confusion. “Huh?” Celestia shook her head. “You body did not come with you, Stellar. Only your spirit came to Equestria.” Stellar blinked as she slowly understood the words, a few tears starting to push their way out her eyes to slide down her cheeks. “How?” she asked in a voice barely a whisper. Celestia closed her eyes. “During your operation, there was an accident, resulting in you losing a lot of blood and your brain becoming very badly damaged by the blood.” Stellar started to shiver. “Wh-what happened?” Celestia turned, unable to look the young pony in the eye. “You died.” Stellar was silent for several moments, her body still as a rock, before sobs started to escape her. “B-but I’m n-not dead. I-I’m here. I-I’m alive.” Twilight stood, not meeting Stellar’s gaze, unable to bring herself to. “Your spirit was just leaving your body when Nightmare Moon was casting a spell at that same moment to give herself a body of her own. But this magic was unstable, and reached out blindly through the dimensions. It found your spirit and pulled it into Equestria, merging it with Nightmare.” “But your heart was pure and innocent,” Cadance continued for her. “That innocence was so powerful, so vast, it overpowered Nightmare’s dark hate and trapped her deep within the very body she had created for herself, leaving her helpless to do anything to stop it.” “And leaving you as the dominate spirit,” Celestia finished. “The one in charge,” she added when she saw Stellar hadn’t understood. Stellar looked down at the floor, saying nothing for several long moments. “S-so... I... I can’t go home? Ever?” Shining Armour noticed Luna wince, as if Stellar’s question had physically injured her. Celestia nodded solemnly. “You will be the pony you are now for the rest of your life.” Stellar didn’t make a sound, just looked into the fire for a long time. When she next spoke, it was both in sadness, and anger. “Where do I go now?” Shining took a step back at that, suddenly wondering if he should have refused to raise the barrier spell he had around the house when Celestia had asked him to. It was to keep those who might try to harm Stellar out, but now it might just hold them in whilst Stellar unleashed a Nightmare Moon shaming rage. “... I... would be looking after you.” Stellar’s head snapped to look at Luna, who winced. “Why?” Luna looked away, unable to meet the eyes of the filly glaring at her with both confusion, and the hurt of feeling betrayed. “Night— The mare that body was created by... she came from me. In a sense, that body was born from mine.” Stellar’s eyes narrowed. “Born? Like, a baby is born from their mummy?” Luna could only give a small nod in response. Stellar was still, her eyes fixed on Luna. "You... You're my mummy now?" Everypony started backing away, Celestia moving closer to her sister should she need to defend her. Stellar remained where she stood, the fireplace behind her, glaring at Luna. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” The screech that rang out was so loud the windows shattered as everypony dropped to the ground, their hooves over their ears. Stellar’s eyes shone with a bright white light, her mane billowing like angry snakes. Waves of magical energy pulsated from her, pushing them all back with each one. “MUUUUUUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” The sorrow-filled cry was followed by a sound like rumbling thunder, before a huge explosion of dark-blue light blinded them all. ___________________________________________________________ Rarity and Sweetie Belle were walking down the street towards Twilight’s house. Once again, their parents hadn’t been able to make it for Hearth’s Warming due to their travels around the globe. She would have gone with Applejack to see her relatives, but they had gone to Apploosa. That was a bit too much more dirt than Rarity was willing to deal with right now, even on Hearth's Warming. This had left her worrying about how Sweetie Belle would feel, not being with anypony aside from Rarity for Hearth's Warming, Rarity had remembered that Twilight had told her it was okay and she needn't have worry, offering that the two of them were welcome to spend Hearth’s Warming with her and her family. After thinking about it for most of the day and not wanting Sweetie Belle to feel too down with it just being the two of them, Rarity had decided that they would join Twilight and her family. It would also mean Sweetie Belle would have somepony around her own age to play with, since Stellar was going to be staying with Twilight over the holidays as well. Besides, over the last four months, Rarity had become quite fond of the little Alicorn herself. She was so sweet and still sometimes timid, she couldn't resist liking the filly. Plus, over that time, she'd gotten so close to Stellar she even thought of her almost like another little sister. Twilight’s house wasn’t far now. It was two blocks down and easy to spot. It was the only house surrounded by Shining Armour’s shield spell. Rarity assumed that was to stop ponies who still didn't agree with Stellar's not being banished to the moon from getting inside and taking her away. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A sudden screech rang out, causing the two unicorns to jump, then put their hooves over their ears. “Rarity, what is that?!” Sweetie Belle’s voice could barely be heard. Rarity didn’t answer, recognizing the voice and seeing the dark-blue light shining from the windows of Twilight’s house “MUUUUUUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” That heart-breaking scream was followed by a sound like rumbling thunder. However, no sooner had that sound been heard, then Twilight's whole house was engulfed by a huge explosion of dark-blue light, Shining Armour’s shield spell shatteringlike glass. Rarity winced as she sensed the unbelievably huge surge of magic emanating from the light. She’d never sensed any magical surge this powerful before. She pressed herself and her sister to the ground as the shock wave radiated from where the explosion was, a beam of dark-blue light shooting into the sky, blasting a hole through the clouds. There was a flash of golden light from behind them and Rarity glanced over her shoulder to see Twilight, Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armour and Twilight’s parents all pressed against the ground, along with a large assortment of random things that didn’t make sense to her, but that she didn’t pay attention to for the time being. For over a minute the waves continued. When it finally settled and the light had faded, Rarity stared, her mouth hanging open as she stared where Twilight’s family’s home had been, past tense. Now, where the house had stood, there was just a large crater, which was still smoking. Slowly she and Sweetie stood up and turned around, only to take a step back in shock. Luna was crying; full out sobbing, her hooves over her eyes. “I’m sorry, Stellar!” she was wailing, her body jerking with each sob. “I’m so, so sorry!” She fell into her sister’s embrace, her wails echoing through the air. Many ponies started coming out of their homes, having wondered what had been going on before, their eyes widening first at the crater, then at the sobbing princess in the middle of the street.