Chapter 6
Daybreak was approaching, and so were the Nightmares. Twilight and Discord were in their new Nightmare forms. Their coats were just as black as the other Nightmares', but they possessed a simple pony's body, no horns or wings upon them. Twilight's mane had become a magenta pink (like her streaks that she usually had), and deep purple streaks, and had a light curl to them. Discord looked like his old unicorn disguise, completely black with his coat and mane, and a pair of golden yellow eyes.
"There's no turning back you know." said Twilight to Discord, as they exited the castle and walked into the town. Discord looked away and said, "I'm well aware princess. Just let me worry about finding Fluttershy so we can leave this place and never ever come back." Twilight dropped the subject. She knew Discord could be a lot of things, a lot of unpleasant things, but for all his faults he cared deeply about Fluttershy and his friendship with her. She could see how hard it was on him, having his first friend taken right before his eyes and was now trying to bottle up his feelings. For now she'd leave it alone, but after this was over, she'd need to discuss it with him. A his friend and the Princess of Friendship. They continued to stroll through the town, looking at the many homes that made up the town, not a store or establishment in sight. The houses themselves looked nearly identical, with their smooth stone walls, their neat tile roofs with brick chimneys, and the shingles around the windows. But the houses had their own little touches that made them stand out from one another. Like different colored roofs, flowers growing outside the house and other such things. Queen Amalthea had told them that there was an empty house in town that they could stay in temporarily, and that if anypony asked, they were servants who grew up in the castle and retired to live a more simpler life. Showing them that the queen didn't have much creativity when it came to cover stories. But the had little to no options and were just gonna have to roll with it. They stopped at the plain, empty house and stepped inside.
"This place could use some more appealing decor." said Discord, running a hoof over the dusty fireplace mantel. "I'm thinking clashing zig-zags, creaky floor boards, maybe a potted plant that ties the room together in the upper ceiling." Discord continued to muse over the chaotic changes that he viewed would improve their temporary living space. Twilight on the over hoof, was feeling tired, and curled up in a far corner of the room, trying to get some rest. She'd need it for tomorrow night, if the two of them were to blend in with the other Nightmares.
"Hey now, I was in the middle of a conversation." said Discord, miffed that somepony was ignoring him. He was the one who did the ignoring. Twilight groaned.
"Please Discord, let me get some sleep, in fact, why don't you get some sleep to?" Discord crossed his arms defiantly, but left Twilight alone. He looked out the window at the star filled sky. 'Oh Fluttershy, where are you?' he asked silently. How long would it take to find her? And when they did find her, what if she was still mad at him? He hoped that wherever Moonlight Eve was keeping her, she was safe.
In the golden cage, Fluttershy was crying in the far end, keeping her distance from Eve. The Nightmare took a small step to the shivering pegasus.
"Fluttershy-" she began.
"Go away! I want to go home." shouted Fluttershy from under her hooves. Eve frowned.
"Come on Fluttershy, can't you put that behind us?"
"How can I?!" Fluttershy turned to face Eve, her eyes narrowed angrily, but they were still wet with tears. "You stole me away from my friends, from my home! And now you've locked me up in this cage like a prisoner. Do you have any idea what that's like?!"
".....I do...." replied Eve. Fluttershy was silenced by this, her anger fading away as she saw Eve lowering her head sadly. "You remember about our time together, in the meadow when we were fillies, right?" Eve asked quietly.
"Yes." Fluttershy was puzzled, where was Eve going with this?
"I was a failure of a Nightmare. Everypony said so, and reminded me constantly of it. 'Oh, there's Moonlight Eve!' 'The poor dear is so frail, she'll be trampled before she can learn to trot.' 'What kind of Nightmare is afraid of the dark?' 'She's nothing but an annoying crybaby.' 'Who'd ever want to be friends with her?'" Eve's eyes glistened. "I've heard all the insults, and I believed them all. It became almost unbearable, all I wanted was to run and never look back. But where could I go? There was no place else for me, and I could never leave Aestas forever. Even with all those rotten Nightmares, this place is my home. But one day, during the nightly ride, I was lagging behind and accidentally strayed off the path and entered your dream." The ponies' eyes met.
"You know the rest of course. You were my first and only friend, and because of you, I gained a bit of confidence, I felt happy, and I ignored what everypony else thought. But it couldn't last. Queen Amalthea found out, and told me we couldn't be friends. I had to end our friendship and never see you again, or else I would get punished. Leaving you was the hardest thing I had to do. I was alone, nopony cared about me, nopony wanted to ever be my friend. I thought about you all the time, and I vowed that when I was older, I'd find a way to see you and we could be together again." Fluttershy knew she should be wary of the pony, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for Eve. In a way, they were the same. They'd both been ridiculed and felt so lonely growing up. But she had her friends now, and Eve had nopony except her.
"Eve..." she said quietly. She wanted to let Eve know that everything would be alright, but at the same time, she was still upset that she'd disguised herself as a normal pony and kidnapped her. Eve turned her back to Fluttershy.
"I didn't want it to be like this, but I had no choice. All those ponies, those friends of yours had taken my place. They made you forget all about me. I would be nothing, and I couldn't accept that." Fluttershy could hear Eve's voice cracking full of sadness as she tried to get out what she'd been wanting to say all these years.
"How can anypony accept being abandoned? Tossed aside by the pony you care about without a second thought! Which is why I decided to bring you here, to my home. Or rather, far outside my home. Think about it, just you and me, two lonely ponies together again as friends, living in an eternal dream. Free from worry, strife, and all the other troubles of the other world." Fluttershy shook her head.
"Eve, you know very well that that's not how it works." she said.
"Why can't it be?!" Eve demanded, anger edging her voice. "Why can't we do it? Why? Why?!" Eve broke down into tears.
"For the same reason you couldn't leave your home, I care about my friends, and you Eve. Please do the right thing, and send me back home." Fluttershy wasn't lying as she spoke, trying to plead with Eve, her fillyhood playmate. She needed to understand that what she was doing wasn't right. Eve didn't say anything, instead she turned to Fluttershy, her face hidden by her mane.
"You really want to go home?" she asked in a tone that sent chills down Fluttershy's back. "Not if I can help it." She tossed a hoofful of dust into Fluttershy's face once more, her head reeled as she began to lose contentiousness.
"What did you do?" asked Fluttershy helplessly.
"It won't harm you, by the time you wake up, you'll forget all about your friends." said Eve in a calm tone. Fluttershy's eyes widened, a wave of sleep threatening to take over.
"No..." Fluttershy whispered. She fell, reaching a hoof toward Eve before collapsing into another deep sleep.
"I'm the only friend you could ever need." Eve said, believing this to be true. Not realizing how misguided her actions were. To her it didn't matter, nothing mattered, because she had what she wanted. Her best friend forever and eternity.
Twilight let out a very long yawn. She felt a bit drowsy, getting up and ready to start the night. Discord was snoring on his side of the room. 'How is it I was able to sleep through that?' Twilight wondered to herself. She trotted to him, and shook him by the shoulder.
"Rise and shine Discord! We have a long night ahead of us, and we need to get moving." said Twilight. Spike was a heavy sleeper back home, so she had a bit of practice in waking up ponies who weren't in a waking mood. Discord shooed her off with his hoof, grumbled and turned to his side. Twilight tried to lift him into the air with a spell, but remembered she didn't have her horn. She let out an aggravated sigh and took Discord by the back leg (because his tail was too short) and dragged him out of the house. It was then, that Discord finally chose to wake up and move about on his own.
"I can wake myself up, thank you very much." he said. Twilight rolled her eyes, wondering how Fluttershy could put up with somepony like him.
"Hey, I haven't seen you two around here before!" The two turned to the speaker. A female Nightmare, with fire red mane and eyes. She looked at them suspiciously.
"Who are you?" she inquired. Twilight spoke for the both of them, using their cover story.
"I'm Dawn and this is my...er brother Dusk. We grew up in the castle, and thought it would be better to live an easier life with the rest of you." she cracked a nervous smile. Discord lowered his eyes, there was no way she'd believe a flimsy story like that. The nightmare smiled.
"In that case, it's great to have you here." she said. Then again, the gullibility of ponies never ceased to amaze him.
"My name is Starla, I'm the whose who if you catch my drift." she winked at them as if they were sharing a personal secret. "Have any questions, feel free to ask me." Twilight and Discord weren't entirely sure what to make of her, but the willingly followed her, as she led them to the other Nightmares.
"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet some new ponies!" said Starla enthusiastically. The Nightmares turned to Starla and saw the new Nightmares that she was introducing.
"This is Dawn and her brother Dusk, they're from the castle!"
"The castle?"
"That mean's they've lived with the queen."
"That Dusk fellow looks kinda cute." The Nightmares welcomed them with open hooves. One of the Nightmares, another girl with short pink and yellow mane walked up to them, shaking their hooves.
"Nice to meet you Dawn and Dusk! My name is Starburst, and let me tell you, it's nice to meet somepony new." Twilight and Discord quickly learned that Starburst was a chatter box. She went on and on, introducing them to all the Nightmares.
"That's Constance, Coal, Bellatrix, Cassandra, Lexie, Ganymede, Magellan, Andromeda, Nova, Calypso, ...." Discord tuned out her endless chatter as he scanned for Moonlight Eve, but there didn't seem to be any sign of her. He bit the inside of his cheek. She was probably reveling in how clever she was, and having a perfectly pleasant time with Fluttershy.
".....and of course you've met Starla, but, somepony seems to be missing." Starla rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh.
"Moonlight Eve, ugh, that lazy pony has been lagging behind lately, and I'm tired of having to wait for her to show up before we can ride out! Starla seemed to have some kind of distaste for Moonlight Eve. 'Join the club.' Discord thought. 'We should just leave without her, at the rate she gallops, we'll be here until midnight."
"Wait! I'm here!" Moonlight Eve came galloping toward them, out of breath. "Sorry I'm late."
"Well it's about time slowpoke." said Starla, lifting her head up in a snooty fashion.
"I said I was sorry." Moonlight Eve noticed Twilight and Discord and looked at them curiously.
Hello, have we met?" she asked. Their eyes widened, had they been discovered? Luckily Starla stepped in, covering for them.
"Very unlikely Eve, Dawn and Dusk are from the castle, someplace a Nightmare like you isn't worth even mentioning." said Starla. Some of the Nightmares laughed at Starla's mean joke. If it weren't for the situation they were in and the fact that she was a dirty, no good kidnapper, Discord would almost feel sorry for her.
"Now that everypony is here, let's head out!" The Nightmares lined up on the a shining, milky white path that cut through the grass, Moonlight Eve was way in the back with Twilight and Discord.
"And...go!" The Nightmares galloped down the path, the nightly ride had begun.