//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 (Rewrite) // Story: Living Nightmare // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 15 ___________________________________________________________ As I feel my teleport spell fading from around me, I drop to my knees, before I collapse completely and just sob, screaming to the night sky’s silence around me. Stupid Luna! Stupid Twilight! I hate them! I hate them! I’ve lost everything. My parents, my brother and sister, my grandparents, my cousins, aunts and uncles, my home, they were all gone. I’d never see any of them again. And they’d lied to me, telling me I’d be going home, when they knew I can’t. That I’m stuck in this world, in this body, for the rest of my life. No, worse. Princess Celestia is over a thousand years old, not even thinking about the God-only-knows how long time she lived before having to banish her sister for those thousand years. I’m an Alicorn, like them. That probably means I’ll just keep living on and on and on, never dying. I give a dark smirk. I die in one world, only to live forever in another. Life sure likes being twisted sometimes. And yet you still trusted them. I stop my crying and look up, only to scream and backpedal. She’s standing there, looking down at me. How? How is she here? Wait. Where is here? I look around, before my chest tightens and my eyes widen in horror. I’m standing on rocky, white ground. Off on the horizon, I can see something I should not be able to. It looks like planet Earth, but that can’t be, Earth doesn’t exist here. So that means... Yes, child, she nods, giving me an expressionless look. That is the planet on which the pony race and other races live. No. No, I can’t have brought myself to the moon. I can’t. I can’t! “This has to be a dream!” I shout, shaking my head. “You can’t be here; you’re inside me! This isn’t real!” My scream of the last word is punctured by the very reality around me cracking, blue light shining through the cracks. She just smiles at me. This may be a dream, but everything else is not. I glare at her. I should be scared, I should be terrified being near her and seeing her outside her cage, but I’m not. I’m angry. I’m angry and sad and I just want to hurt her. I want to hurt her more than I’ve ever wanted to hurt anything in my life! So, now you know the truth, she leers at me. You’re never going home. You have nopony that truly cares about you. They just do what they can to make you happy so they can use you to trap the one pony they all fear, whether you want it to be that way or not. I just keep glaring at her. “Go back to your cage.” At once the world around us shifts. No longer are we standing on the moon with large cracks of blue light all around us. Instead we’re back in the darkness, with her behind glowing golden bars. She snorts. I never left here, you ignorant foal. I am trapped in here as long as your heart doesn’t fall to darkness. She smirks. Which I’m guessing it might soon enough. I am feeling much stronger from your hatred, even if I cannot tell whom it is aimed at. I snarl, pointing a hoof at her. “This is all your fault! You’re the reason I’m here, all because of your stupid wishes to make the night last forever!” Her smirks changes to match my snarl. Stupid wishes? How dare you, you mindless foal! I wish to bring the Eternal Night so that ponies will learn the true beauty of the night, leaving Celestia to weep as her day is shunned for being a stack contrast. “Oh, puh-lease!” I roll my eyes, before snorting. “Nopony would be around long enough to see whatever beauty you think they don’t already see! Night Eternal would kill everything, unless you have some plans for the plants to survive without sunlight!” She opens her mouth to answer, before glaring at me. And what is that supposed to mean? How could a child like you possibly know that? I snort. “I may be a child, but I’m not stupid! Plants need sunlight to live. Yeah, there’re a few plants that survive without it, but Equestria doesn’t have those all over the place. Ponies don’t rely on those plants for survival! You kill all you subject without years, maybe months once the food runs out. Hell, I could make Night Eternal actually work, while you’d fall on you fat flank!” She just stares for a moment, before shaking her head. And how would you make the night work forever them, hmm, little pony? What ideas of survival could a worthless creature like you, with no spine whatsoever possibly do what I cannot? I laugh coldly. “Oh, you really wanna know? Well, Twilight and the others taught me enough know what to do if I was ever stupid enough to try making Night Eternal, like you wanted.” She just scoffs. Alright little Miss Failure of an Alicorn. What would you do? I laugh again. “Well, for starters, I’d make sure the plant-life could adapt to no sunlight and I’d make sure of that before even thinking of forcing the sun never to rise. Unlike you, who just did it without a second thought. Did you even think about what would happen after you defeated Celestia and made the night last forever, or did you think things would just work themselves out on their own?” She opens her mouth, before closing it, looking shocked and agitated. I just snort. “Yeah. Didn’t think so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired of seeing your face!” ___________________________________________________________ I slowly open my eyes and push myself up, looking around. I’m in some dark alley way. I don’t bother getting up, I just stay there, sobbing, screaming to the night as the snow mocking falls lightly from the sky. I have no idea how long I stay there, just letting the snow fall around me. The jumper Twilight’s mother had given me had become ragged during my outburst. While a part of me wants to not care, it had been Twilight’s mum that had given it to me. She hadn’t known about Luna and Twilight’s lies. She doesn’t deserve my dark thoughts. I place a hoof on the jumper’s front, my tears starting again. Twilight’s mum. I’ll never see my mum ever again. My tears burst forth anew as I realize she had to deal with my death four months ago, not knowing I’m still alive, here, in Equestria. I growl as I think of Celestia having known and purposely kept it from me. She isn’t innocent in this either. Yes, she hadn’t erased my memories after I learned the truth before, but she’d known I can’t go home, just like Twilight and Luna had known, so she is just as guilty. Come to think of it, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, even Pinkamena all knew too, Pinkamena because she’d been inside Pinkie when she’d learned the truth, so would have learned it along with her. They’re all guilty. They all kept the truth from me and did their best to make sure I didn’t find out. Those strange looks I’d seen on their faces whenever I mentioned Earth and going home, those had been because they knew. I shiver, pulling my legs and wings closer to my body as tears start to trickle down my face again and I suddenly notice the cold. I have nowhere. I don’t belong anywhere. I’m nothing. “Told you she was responsible for that explosion.” “Knock her out.” I glance up, not knowing there had been other ponies nearby and see something flash in front of my eyes. It feels like magic, almost like the spell Luna had used to put me to sleep my first day in Equestria. I back up, shaking my head, feeling my jumper tear as I get out of somepony’s grip. The spell is nowhere near as powerful as it had been that day. In fact, it’s pretty weak. Whichever unicorn had cast that spell, and I can somehow tell it was a unicorn’s magic from the feel of it, they aren’t very good. “She’s resisting the spell?” a stallion’s voice says, in a tone that reminds me of Diamond Tiara. “How? My magic is of royal blood! It has no compare!” “Move aside, prince,” a female voice says and I hear the magical aura of another horn. “I’ll get her.” Without thinking, I make my own horn glow with its dark-blue aura and feel my body tingle as I teleport. ___________________________________________________________ A moment later I drop to the ground again and, for a second, wonder if the spell had gone wrong, when I notice the sound of ponies chatting in hushed voices and the sound of a bell tinkling several times. I open my eyes and looked around, blinking. I’m in a small alley, much brighter than the last one. A little away I can see a neon sign I recognize as the one from Pony Joe’s Doughnut Shop. Ponies are coming out of it, all looking up at the sky with different expression, some impressed, other confused, some concerned and other baffled. I get up, looking down at my jumper and feel my heart sink a little. It’s torn down the front, ruining the picture of the me that Twilight’s mother had sewn on it. I light my horn and try to repair it. It works a bit, but it won’t stay together for long. I’m as good at it as Rarity. I growl at the thought of that mare and shake my head, wiping her from my thoughts. Signing, I decide I’ll ask Joe if he’ll let me stay the night. He has a room in the back, he’d told me when he’d been visiting Ponyville. Twilight hadn’t understood why, but the crusaders and I had followed him to Zecora’s house and watched him enter. Scootaloo had thought he was just going for some tonic of some kind, but I’d noticed the smile Zecora had worn when she saw it was Joe standing outside her door. It was a smile I saw Mr. and Mrs Cake wearing when they looked at each other. As I take a few steps forward, I stop, thinking. Joe and Twilight are good friends. If I stay the night, he might tell Twilight where I was, and I don’t want to go back to that lying pony. I snort and turn the other way, heading down the road. I’d find somewhere else to stay. If worst comes to worst, I’d just scare a pony into letting me stay the night and keep quiet about it. Lots of ponies still think of me as her anyway, so it’d probably work. ___________________________________________________________ “I say, Princess Stellar, is that you?” a high cultured, yet kind voice says. I stop, glancing behind me to see two tall white unicorns. It takes me a moment to recognize them. "Fancy Pants? Fleur Dis Lee?" I look at the two unicorns, not having expected to meet them. The stallion looks at my, then my torn jumper, before looking up at the sky, then back to me. "Not the best of nights, I take it?" he asks cautiously. I snort, looking away, tears welling in my eyes. "Um, Princess?" Fleur says, stepping forward, a look of concern on her face. "If I may ask... why are you crying?" I turn my head, glaring at her, causing the two to back up a step. "Why? WHY? I'll tell you why! The ponies I thought care about, who promised I will be going home, lied to me, just to keep that monster that took Luna away for a thousand years trapped within me! They told me I'd be able to go home, but I can't! You wanna know why? I'm DEAD! Back in my world, I died and now this life is all I have! I've lost my friends, my family, my whole life and THEY LIED ABOUT IT, JUST TO KEEP ME HAPPY AND THAT MONSTER LOCKED INSIDE ME!" At this point I drop to the ground and start sobbing, letting it all out when I thought it was already all out before. I hear hurried hoofsteps and feel long forelegs wrap around me. Looking up, I see it's Fleur. She's looking down at me sadly, whilst Fancy Pants is wearing a mixed look of pity and anger. "The princesses just...? And to a foal? I... what could have possessed them to...?" He shakes his head and walks over, putting a hoof on Fleur's shoulder. "Come, Fleur. We'll bring her with us. She deserves to be with ponies who she can trust for the holidays. We can at the very least be that for her and give her a Hearth's Warming she should have." Fleur nods and her horn glows, lifting me up and onto her back. I snuggle into her fur, still sobbing, but feeling a warmth from the unicorn under me. It makes me feel a bit better. ___________________________________________________________ “Any sign of her?” Twilight asked the five guards that bowed to them. It was two weeks after Stellar had found out the truth and caused an explosion that had destroyed her parents’ house. She had wept with them and Shining at the thoughts of all the memories that house had held from their foalhoods, but she quickly put those emotions aside for later. Finding Stellar was more important and besides, she and her mother, when they’d sensed Celestia casting the teleportation spell, had used their own magic to bring as many family mementos from the house as possible, including photo albums, framed pictures, keepsakes and so on. Twilight sighed as she remembered the way Stellar had looked at her after finding out the truth. It had torn through her heart, filling her with more guilt than she’d ever experienced in her life. Her reaction had been horrible, though Twilight couldn’t really blame her. Learning that the ponies who had been taking care of you were hiding the fact you’d never see your family ever again... Well, she felt they’d deserved far worse than simply losing a house. Thankfully, news had gotten to them that Stellar had been found by Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee and she was staying with them When Luna had learned this, she’d left right away to speak with Stellar. On her return, however, she was an utter mess. When Twilight had looked into why, going over to Fancy Pants’ estate herself, she understood why and it broke her heart. Stellar had refused to speak with her, leaving Fancy Pants and his marefriend to explain the filly trusted none of them, would gave reason for Luna’s behaviour when she’d returned. The coldness from the normally warm stallion showed he and his mare also did not agree with how Stellar’s situation had been handled. However, the days to come were far worse. Three days ago, Fancy Pants’ estate had been attacked by a mob of ponies in the night, leaving the two ponies bruised, but otherwise okay. But that was the good news. The horrible news was that, in the unseeing chaos, Stellar had been taken and now was missing. Twilight and Cadance had been doing what they could to comfort Luna, who had broken down upon Stellar’s vanishing and was in no condition to aid in the search that Celestia and Shining were leading. After some time, when Luna had become slightly less of a wreck, Cadance had joined in the search as well, leaving Twilight to comfort the lunar mare and continuing organising the search and keeping the kingdom from panicking when they learned a member of the Royal Family had gone missing. Though, she thought darkly, that wouldn’t be what some ponies would think. To them, it would mean the monstrous Nightmare Moon had escaped and was now at large and would no doubt try to spread more panic, doing their best to discredit any who tried to say she wasn’t that mare anymore. Rarity was also aiding in the search, while Sweetie Belle stayed with Spike in the castle. Twilight knew Rarity saw Stellar almost like a second little sister and had been glad to let her friend join in the search. The guards all rose, the lead guard, a white coated unicorn stallion saluting. “Princess, we regret to inform that we have lost her trail.” Luna’s sobbing grew stronger and Twilight hushed the blue Alicorn sitting next to her, rubbing her back, glancing at the guard over Luna’s shoulder as she asked, “Are you sure?” After Stellar had gone missing, many guards had been sent to follow her residual magical trail. It was something all ponies had. If you knew the spell, you could track a pony until you found them by following the magic residue left in the air. But Stellar had used so much magic when she caused the explosion that destroyed Twilight’s parents’ house, there had been hundreds upon hundreds of magical trails identical to hers, with no way of discerning which was the real one and which were all just background. Since the search had begun, each group of guards had followed one of the many trails, everypony hoping it was the right trail, only for it to putter out, revealing it hadn’t been her true magical trail. However, yesterday evening, the group in front of them had found a trail that didn’t putter out and had kept going. This had been good news and they’d sent message to the castle to inform Twilight and the other princesses, mainly Luna, that they might have finally found Stellar’s trail. The guard nodded. “Princess Celestia was following the trail with us. However, several miles after following it, her residual magical ended.” Twilight’s expression drooped. “Another false trail?” The guard shook his head, slight worry in his eyes. The guards were trained not to show emotion, but Twilight was able to see it, worry about what he knew. “No, Your Highness. Those trails puttered out. This one just stopped.” “You mean, it simply disappeared?” Twilight asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. The guard shook his head. “No, Your Highness. It was covered up.” Twilight felt Luna stiffen, and she asked, “Were there any clues?” The guard nodded. “Yes, princess. We found this in a dumpster several blocks down from where the trail ended.” He nodded to a Pegasus guard, who stepped forward and pulled something from the bag draped around his shoulder, gently laying it on the floor in front of the princesses. Twilight gasped. It was Stellar’s Hearth’s Warming jumper and it was torn. Now, such a thing could easily been excused as Stellar tearing it off herself in anger, but the tears looked like they’d come from somepony else as she pulled away from them. According to Fancy Pants and Fleur, Stellar had been wearing it when the estate was attacked. “That means it was left behind by the ones who foalnapped Stellar!” Twilight was so focused on it that she didn’t notice Luna had gone quiet. The guard nodded. “The guard have even had to look into false ransom notes sent, saying Princess Stellar would only be freed when the princesses agreed to give her a far worse punishment.” A guard of the far-right, an Earth Pony, snorted in anger. “Some even suggested her punishment should be to have her wings and horn taken and her magic drained.” Twilight’s face became one of disgust. Did the ponies they were talking about really feel that way? Had they really suggested something so barbaric and heartless, thinking it was not only the right thing to do, but that the princesses, or any pony with a shred of decency would agree to it and follow through? “They will pay.” The cold voice made them all turn, only to take unified steps back as Luna rose to her full height, her wings extended wide, her eyes filled with cold hatred. “If they think they can do that to my foal, they are sorely mistaken!” All present shivered at the venom in her voice as she flashed with blue light and vanished. “Celestia help the fools that took Princess Stellar,” one of the guard muttered.