//------------------------------//
// Hope to the Hopeless, The Brightest Shadow 
// Story: The Substitute Demon 
// by Reykan 
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	Cimmerian sat there for a long time with the smaller alicorn. She had first chattered excitedly, laughing at the smallest things and giggling like a mad woman. Then the other shoe dropped and she began to sob uncontrollably. She cried and babbled tearfully, likely the first words of apology she'd been able to deliver to anyone since the Nightmare first took her.

The stallion felt torn in this instance. Twilight was throwing some apologies that sounded extremely personal, but at the end of the day Cimmerian was the only one she could deliver these words to. While it felt like it wasn't his place to hear these words she wouldn't be able to deliver them to anyone else Thus he kept silent, allowing her to vent decades of tears and misery into his barrel. He wrapped her up in his wings like he'd done Tia and Cadance, letting the purple alicorn achieve the first sense of safety, the first sense of support in too long a time.

"..and Cadance. Oh Celestia, poor Cadance, she was so nice, and I just couldn't stop it, and then it threw her out with the changelings and I thought she was going to die and..."

Cimmerian pulled her closer, whispering reassurances and stroking her mane. After nearly half an hour of senseless babbling the mare began to peter out and Cimmerian rocked left and right slightly, the motion nearly putting her to sleep. As much as he'd have loved for her to fall asleep like that, the last thing he wanted was for her to doze off without getting a chance to say anything. In the worst case, she'd think it was a hallucination and be even worse off.

"Twilight, I need to talk to you, okay? I have some things to ask you and some things to pass on to you while I have the time."

"Time? Oh r-right, dream. I, I got carried away, and I, oh gosh, I don't even know you and-"

"It's fine, Twilight," he gently reassured. "You've been alone for a long time, but we're working on helping you. The changeling hordes aren't working well anymore and while I won't tell you why, it was something I did. Celestia and your friends, the bearers, are currently safe. Some of the changelings are also recovering in spite of what's been done to them. Right now the most powerful of the queens are with me, and both know the creature that is doing this is the same type that attacked Luna years ago. Even Trixie knows it's not you. You remember Trixie? She's with Cadance now, they're learning from a queen how to use the array to communicate, to use it to their advantage. It's not just some horrible curse the Nightmare put on them."

Thinking for a moment, he brightened. "Oh, and I met a purple drake with green fins while in Equestria. He's working with us too, and next time I see him I'll talk to him about what happened to you, okay? Anything you need me to say to- ah, let me just..."
The stallion grinned as he set the mare down, conjuring a memory-scroll like Luna had taught him.

Twilight's eyes widened at the sight, recognizing the spell.
"A memory scroll? Luna taught you that spell? I could never get it to work right!"

"I'm a bit closer to Luna than we'd like, but that means I'm a natural with dream-spells. It's why I can meet up with you like this. She's better at it, don't get me wrong, but because of how my mind works, I find it easier to find individuals and navigate the real world based on the dream-realm. Now, you have a lot of friends that haven't heard from you in a while, give me a few lines to deliver!"

Twilight sucked in a breath, a smile blooming on her face as she realized what he was using the memory scroll for.

"P-Celestia, please forgive me for failing you. I know there's nothing in the world that can make it up to you but..."

Cimmerian winced but began writing the apologies down anyway. He wanted something more, something like well wishes or requests that they be happy, but he didn't have the heart to cut off the mare. She needed this badly.

"-and I'm sorry girls, for putting you through that. I don't know why, I don't know why I let it convince me it was for the best. I knew you wouldn't really be harmed by the spell though, not physically, and I never really thought about how horrible it would be to wake up years later to realize things had...had changed without you. Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry. Spike, I'd love to tell you to watch out for the girls, but I can't. I can't ask anything of you after what I've put you through. I can only hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me in your lifetime."

After filling about eight of the memory scrolls, the purple alicorn finally seemed to be running out of names. She was pulling at straws by now, giving Cimmerian a good idea of why she was being so thorough.
'She thinks this will end only with her death.'

"I, I hope to see Celestia again when this is all over. I know it may not be possible, and I hope you all place stopping the Nightmare ahead of my own safety. Girls, I-I miss you so much, same to Cadance. I can't imagine how horrible this has been to her, and I miss her so much. Just hearing that everypony's safe, I...Spike, I wish you hadn't been involved, but I know better than to hope the Nightmare took mercy on you. Please, sun and stars, I want to apologize, Mr... Mr... who are you?" the mare asked with an embarrassed blush.

"You can call me several things," Cimmerian answered. "Nightmare's Nightmare, N^2, Mr. Night. Sir would be fine as well."

"No names, thank you for not giving that. I want to think I could resist her, but we still share a brain. She's bad at figuring out science and magic, but specific information like names and places she can still pull from me. 

"It's fine, that's one of the reasons I was cautious about approaching you before now," Cimmerian said with a smile. "She's seen me though, so hiding isn't necessary anymore. At least, not as necessary as it was. You said she's probably going to search you for information right? Well, how about we tell her that there's a group of four hundred changelings moving to Canterlot from the north? Oh, and don't forget about all those minotaurs that are in the Everfree Forest. Those guys will be hitting you soon. Can't forget about the griffons that are using Apploosa as a staging ground. Around seven hundred of those guys there, I think."

The mare's eyes widened in shock.
"Why would you... oh, oh!"

"What? I'm serious! There's not a bunch of thestrals moving towards you. I mean, I wouldn't send my own followers on such a suicide run, not without a proper plan at least," the alicorn said, waving the mare's words away. "How is Luna doing, by the way?"

"She, the Nightmare's trying to use an array on her. It's not working and if I gave it some thought I'm sure I could-"

The stallion once more cut her off.
"Don't even entertain the thought, Twilight. Even the mental exercise could hurt. Now, I want to ask you something very important. After this is over and you're free, what are you going to do?"

"Over? I, I don't really know. I haven't thought about much, but...oh stars I can't see ponies forgiving what happened, even with the Nightmare being the actual culprit. It was Twilight Sparkle that ruined Equestria, it was Twilight Sparkle that drove the griffons out of their homeland, it was Twilight Sparkle that, that linked every pony she could to hive-crystals."
"I'm not getting out of this alive, Mister. I appreciate what you're doing, what you've done for my friends, but-"

"I know I didn't hear that," Cimmerian muttered, scowling at the purple pony and causing her to take a step back.
"I know I don't hear you giving up, that I don't here you planning your own death. Here's your homework, Twilight. You owe this world at least fifty years of hard labor to help undo the damage caused by the Nightmare. After that fifty years, I won't stop you. If you want to end your life, you may. But for now, I want you to focus on what you can do to help those in need. Once free, what will you do to help them? What can you do to provide shelter for the homeless, to provide food for the hungry? What can you do to heal the sick?"
"I'm not blind, Sparkle. I know people are going to be calling for your blood. We don't always get what we want though. You will have to disappear from the world for a time, but you will not be thrown to the screaming masses to sate their bloodlust. For the first few years, you will likely spend most of your time with the changelings who know better. More so than the ponies that are now slaved to the hive-crystals, they understand what it's like to not have control of yourself. More importantly, they follow my orders. From now until the time you see the world through your own eyes again, I want you to plan what you can do to make this world a better place. That is your penance."

Twilight stared at the alicorn for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was saying. To live that long and focus on making the world better, by the time-
Then it hit her, the reason for the work. Depression was something she'd read about so many years ago, and even the most joyful of ponies could make bad decisions during the worst bouts. He was giving her time to heal from it, time to recover from the darkness that even know clouded her decisions. After fifty years, the likelihood of her following through with her ideas...it would be a completely different mare who made that decision.
"I, I understand. Thank you, Mister. I will do my best to, to think up ways to help ponies while I'm waiting."

"There's a reason those who follow me often call me Father, Twilight. I want you to be happy, I want everyone I know, and even those I don't know to be happy. If you find yourself unable to continue moving forward when you're free, talk to me. I'm willing to listen. Remember also, that the stronger your hope, the more trouble you cause the Nightmare. If you start believing you won't survive, that's a form of hopelessness and it will give it strength. The more trouble you cause it, the easier it will be for us to free you. The easier it is for us to free you, the sooner we can do so. The more you despair, however, the harder it becomes for us. That's why I need you to focus on your future. You have one, no matter what you or the Nightmare may say."
Cimmerian leaned down and nuzzled the mare's cheek and kissed her forehead, giving her a warm smile.
"We've learned a lot about healing alicorn's too. I'm sure that even if you get hurt, we'll have you back on your hooves in a week or two. Cadance was hurt badly during the raid a while ago, and while she was only one of a few that were hurt or killed, it was pretty bad. There was bone and muscle showing in several places, but with the changelings and our knowledge of how love empowers alicorns, the bones are no longer visible. She'll be back on her hooves in no time. A month at most, though it's more likely to be a week or two."

"That's...kind of good to hear? Not that she was hurt, but- no, never mind. I need to ask you Mister. I need to know, what do you want? I know Celestia always wanted me to love and follow her, my friends wanted me to be there for them, what do you want? What do you need from me?" Twilight asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Cimmerian asked, leaning over the mare.

Twilight nodded, bracing herself and closing her eyes.

Instead of making a request though, Cimmerian once more picked her up, holding her close and wrapping his wings around her.
"I want you to be happy. I want you to go to bed early or stay up late because you want to. I want you to have fun with your friends. I want you to talk to Celestia, the two of you spending time together like you used to. I want you to live, Twilight Sparkle. I want you to wake up each day with a smile on your face and hope in your heart."

"This is all very touching, but could you explain to me what in Tartarus you're doing in my host's dreams?!?"

Twilight cringed, clinging tightly to Cimmerian as a larger version of the mare walked into view. In spite of the Nightmare's hostility, the stallion smiled.
"Ah, Nightmare, or as I've heard so many times, the Mad Queen. Truly an honor to meet you at last. I'm afraid my guard introduced herself before I could last time. Are you truly so ashamed of your true form that you hide behind that façade, or do you not have a form of your own? Are you really nothing more than a parasite?"

"You dare mock my power?" she growled, stepping closer. "Mock the power that has laid low the most prosperous country of Equis?! I am the Nightmare, and I will see this world burn, you pathetic fool!"

"Oh yes, your power, the power that you stole from another, because without this mare here you're nothing more than a wisp of magic," Cimmerian said with a smile. "That's what Nightmares actually are, right? Just little wispy things that couldn't move a blade of grass under their own power. That's why you target the alicorns. They have what you don't. Power, or even more importantly to you, control."

The Nightmare lunged, attempting to gore him with her horn. The world twisted, and the mare found her horn stuck into a log while the stallion called to her from a short distance away.
"Really? Attempting to gore me in the dream realm? I've already heard from Celestia what you actually look like, so why do you keep up the disguise? You're a withered thing, helpless without the armies you've slaved to your cause. You started feeding too soon, you were so certain your plan was flawless. Funny how that works, huh? As they say, no plan survives contact with reality."

Wrenching her horn out of the fictitious wood, the mare whipped around and glared at him.
"Who are you to take what is mine? Twilight Sparkle has given her body to me, and I will use it as I please! Her mind will fall soon enough. Why do you resist me?"

"I am whatever my children need me to be, Parasite," he said, spitting the word with venom. Cimmerian placed Twilight on the ground and moved forward, meeting the Nightmares gaze with equal intensity.
"I am their shield, I am their sword. I am their father, their brother, their protector, their ruler. I am the Alicorn of Shadows, and you are encroaching on my territory!"

With a shout of rage and a blast of wind from his wings, the Nightmare was thrown backwards into the darkness. She shouted a few more choice words about the stallions ancestry before the voice cut off, her momentum carrying her right out of the dream.

"You...you threw her out," Twilight muttered in awe.

"It-it was a temporary measure," Cimmerian said, breathing heavily. "You'll sleep well tonight, Twilight, but she will be back. You will need to find the strength to keep pushing her back, to keep resisting her. The good news is I don't see this lasting another year, much less four months. After three decades in this hell, can you hold out until we can reach you?"

Twilight stared at him for a few moments, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she considered his words. After a time, she nodded.
"I'll try."

Cimmerian shook his head.
"A wise little monster once said 'Do or do not, there is no try.' I want you to give this your all, Twilight. Feed it random ideas that don't help it, tell it about the troop placements I mentioned, or make up your own. Make dealing with you too painful for it to want to do so. It's almost over, and you can sleep for the next few years if you really need to. I won't stop you. Until you're free though, I need you to fight. You have a reason to now, will you pick up your sword and move forward?"

Twilight's stare slowly melted into a cautious smile. She nodded, standing up and giving her wings a slight flare.
"I will."

"That's what I want to hear!" Cimmerian shouted in approval, giving her his biggest smile and standing tall before her. "Watch for us, Twilight. You'll know when the time has come. The Nightmare's reign is coming to an end. The last push is coming."



<-(0)->
 


Cimmerian blinked as he came back to his own body, a grin on his face. He'd been fairly successful if he did say so himself, but he felt a bit tired from pushing the Nightmare back like that. A weight on his back caused the smile to fade a bit as he felt a gentle nibbling on his neck. Looking to his left he could see Pandinus smirking at him, so he knew exactly who was on his back.
"I thought you said you'd keep her from messing with me?"

"I did. I kept her from nibbling anything more sensitive than your neck," Din replied, the smirk never leaving her muzzle. "If you're ready for a meal, we can head out anytime. I'm certain there's still some breakfast left, or we can have it sent to the war room. As much as I'd love to stay here in a warm nest all day, there are things to be done."

Cimmerian flexed his wings and rolled his shoulders as he stretched and hopped out of bed, Zelus somehow keeping her place and giggling childishly from her position. She nuzzled him again and began purring as the group headed out.
"War room, we've got a ton of stuff to catch up on. And Zelus, if you're going to be doing this you're going to at least help, Got it?"

Zelus hummed and affirmative before continuing to purr, never loosening her grip on her makeshift ride. Not long after they arrived in the war room, a few ponies walked in, setting out several large servings of food for the ruling party while Gleam walked in behind them.

"Finally decided to stop putting this off?" she said with a sigh. "It's only going to get worse if you keep finding other things to do, Cimmerian."

"Sorry, Gleam. More to this than just rescuing the pony princess. I talked to someone important last night, but had to kick her bully around a bit. That left me a bit tired. I'm also going to be taking a nap later to try and contact the Minotaur chieftain. Would be nice to know what's going on over there."

Gleam nodded.
"I understand there's more going on. I still need a bit of your time, Lord Cimmerian. I've got the most urgent things right over here. After we finish this stack, you can take your break and find the minotaur chieftain."

The group dug into both the meal and the backlogged administrative work. Many of the most urgent required Cimmerian's direct approval or expertise, as anything less that was important had already been checked over by the changeling queen or Gleam. A request to build an actual school which he quickly approved while setting a few hours aside to choose an actual location in a few days. A request for a residential zone to be set up, where the residents could build their own houses if they wished. After a bit of deliberation, that one was put off for the moment. It was cramped as it was and most housing was going to be quantity over quality at the moment. Quality could be sorted out once the refugees could go back home.

Cimmerian was under no delusions about where most of the griffons would rather be once the Nightmare was defeated. Many had homes they'd been driven from, many of them had lost land that had been in the family for years if not generations. The griffons were a proud people no matter which way you sliced it. They'd want to go home when this was all said and done.
'Most of them will at least. I'm certain I'll have a few that will stay, maybe a few families that don't want to move while kids are being raised. After that, it may be a few families that decide they want to raise the kid where they already have a home set up, not where the kid will be sleeping outside while the family repairs their old house. No, I have no doubt that we won't lose everyone that lives here once the crisis is over. The thestrals will likely stay, the ponies will stay, in fact many more may move here once things settle down. They seem to like congregating around alicorns and right now this place has three of them. Soon it may be four, at least until Celestia and Cadance have recovered. Most of the changelings will stay, Amare will likely go with Cadance back to the Crystal Kingdom when this is over. Din is a no brainer, Zelus...I don't know. Zelus really wants in on what Din and I have, but-'
The stallion looked to his side. More specifically, the queen currently tucking herself far under his wing as possible. Only at her worst did Pandinus ever become that clingy, and that was right before she'd molted, before she had an actual hive to call her own. He looked over to the other queen and frowned. Din never got like this, it was specific to Zelus. The only thing he could think of was that it wasn't his love, it was the method.
"Din, did either of you think it could have been the fact my love wasn't focused at Zelus that caused her addiction?"

Pandinus nodded as she absentmindedly scanned another report.
"We've actually been discussing it while we sleep. I wanted to do tests on the love she harvested that night, but we ran into a problem. She ate it all."

"That's not possible," Cimmerian said. "You said it yourself that there's usually more than you can harvest at any given time, especially during uh, a peak. She was there for one, wasn't she?"

"Well there wasn't. In fact, it was about what an infiltrator would normally pull from a pony they were feeding on the old way. I don't know why, but despite the fact that i could sense so much love through our connection, she only managed to harvest a small percentage of it. The combination of a changeling being loved and the personality being loved getting changed out during harvesting also made it addictive, made it almost toxic. I'd like to experiment with that, find out if it's true, but that would require..." the mare trailed off, giving the older queen a meaningful look.

Cimmerian nodded in understanding.
"Thank you for not going through with that. Is she recovering? She's still clingy, but not as badly as she was. She was almost desperate at one point."

"I'm right here you know..." Zelus muttered, nipping him sharply.

"Did you hear something, Din?" the stallion asked in mock curiosity. "I swear I heard something, like a leech that won't let go of me or something. Or maybe it's a mosquito, a blood sucking little thing that just bit me? I should find it and squish it."

The group gave a chuckle at that but Zelus pouted, looking torn between returning to her comfortable place and distancing herself to ease back the teasing. Cimmerian chuckled a bit more at her deliberation, answering the question for her by pulling her in with his wing.
"We're teasing, Zelus. Nothing is meant by it. Think of it as something else to learn to be able to coax different emotions from those around you. Right Din?"

"Yes, it's surprising how you can change someone's emotions by talking to them. It's fun sometimes, as well, tasting as their emotions roll around as they try to ponder out what you said."
Pandinus giggled, shoving the unicorn near her gently.
"You're most fun to tease when it comes to Shadow Weaver, you know. Sometimes you burn with a bit of lust, other times it's irritation, still others it's love."

Gleam turned a bit darker as she blushed at the comment, causing Zelus to perk slightly. 

"Interesting, I will need to practice that," the armored mare muttered.

Cimmerian pushed away the final piece of urgent administrative paperwork before noticing the papers in front of Zelus. He stopped short, looking between her and the papers for a moment before finding his words.
"Are those..."

"The papers you asked the orange mare to retrieve, yes. I haven't had a chance to give them to you though. After the first night and, and the things that followed I wasn't sure when it would be a good time to bring them up," Zelus mumbled, pushing them in front of the stallion.

Cimmerian picked them up, shuffling through the files for a few moments. It...wasn't what he was expecting to see at all really.

"Brick and Opal are orphans, so no one's going to be looking for them... Rose is...oh hell Rose's dad is a guard, stationed at Canterlot. Of course it couldn't be simple. Disappeared from a family friend while they were watching her. Great. Any idea who it was who grabbed the foals, Gleam?" Cimmerian asked, turning to the unicorn.

"No, Cimmerian. I think the small group responsible for that were among those who didn't make it, but otherwise I didn't know about them until we were leaving Equestrian soil," the unicorn answered nervously. "By then it was either bring them along or leave them in the wilderness."

"It's a bit difficult explaining to people that we're the good guys when my followers started out kidnapping foals, Gleam. What about the, ah. Steady's mother was part of our group, wasn't he? Why was he supposed to be sacrificed? I can't see a mother willing to do that to her child."

"His mother didn't make it through the trip. He was, it was either list him as a sacrifice or leave him behind, and I think a few of us held out hope that it wouldn't be too bad, that if we failed we'd find a better place to live at the least," Gleam answered mournfully. "It didn't turn out that way."

Pandinus picked up the sulking unicorn and nuzzled her.
"You did find a better place to live, right? The foals are safe, the ponies here are safe. We're all going to be fine now. You're as much a part of my hive as I'm a part of your community. That's what we decided, is it not?"

"It's all going to work, Gleam. I thought I already told you that," Cimmerian chided her with a smile. "I want you to find out if there's anything official I need to do to go about adopting them, unless there's someone else who wants them. That means you're going to help me take care of them, Din. Think of it as practice for when you have your own kids in a bit. I won't have Mirage taking care of my children the entire time, you and I will be working with them as well. Hopefully this crisis ending will make it all easier on everyone. I'm not going to assume things will get easy, but there will definitely be less worrying about death and the end of the world. I'll also have to see if I can find her father. He'll either be among Heart's soldiers, or under the control of the queen...hopefully."

"I'll see to it, Cimmerian," Gleam said with a wan smile. "I think that was the last of the important things, so if you'd like to go find the minotaur chieftain, we can take a break. If you take too long, we may need to wake you though. About two hours is all we can spare right now, as we still have dinner coming up.
"With Hearth's Warming right around the corner as well, I'd also like to get something set up for the foals, a bit of a play or something. I think a holiday celebration would be nice about now. A bit of familiarity for the thestrals and griffons. They had their own holiday for this time of year, The Burning. Something about the griffons uniting during the great freeze to keep warm, they celebrate it every year now with a large bonfire in the middle of winter."

"Oh crap, I almost forgot about my acorn!" Cimmerian shouted with a stomp of his hoof. "I need to get my Christmas tree set up. I know things got kind of ridiculous around Nightmare Night, but this time we'll try to get a full ceremony with the different holidays being explained. It's nice to know where your friends are coming from. I'll do Christmas, which is my race's winter holiday, we'll find a griffon to do the Burning, and a pony for Hearth's Warming. Maybe Tia would like to do it?"

Gleam seemed a bit off-put by the casual mention of the god-princess of Equestria, but quickly overcame it. Having seen the mare playing patty-cake and tag with the foals at every chance she could get, Gleam's idea of Celestia being unreachable was quickly put through the grinder.
"I'm certain she'd love to. If you ask her, you may get the actual version, not the poppycock they feed everyone these days."

The stallion frowned for a moment, digging through the memories Luna had on the topic. Finding memories of the original Hearth's Warming, he blushed deeply before shaking his head.
"You don't want the actual version, Gleam. Let's just say it wasn't just friendship that they discovered that day. Activities keep the body warm after all, and the ponies found a very fun activity to keep themselves warm while finding a special kind of friendship."

Zelus looked confused for a moment as Cimmerian rose to leave, so Din filled her in.
"They fucked each other for warmth. I heard from Cadance that hate-sex can be quite interesting. Sometimes it turns enemies into close lovers. Not very often, but it does happen. Still, to hear that the basis of pony society was based around hate-sex...I think it would be best if that was kept between the four of us. Five if we include Celestia."

"Agreed." Cimmerian called back as he walked out the door. "I'll talk to you all later. Go take a break, Gleam. I know you work on this stuff way too much. If you can, find a helper or three. Heck, ask Tia for help. I'm sure she has a few ideas about organizing this mess."

With that Cimmerian made his way back to the bedroom. He reclined on the bed, just beginning to doze off when a presence made itself known. He opened his eyes, finding Din curling up beside him on the bed.

"I can control the hive just as well from here," Din answered his unspoken question. "Zelus is currently seeing to her hatchlings, but she'll likely show up soon. I'll keep her away from anything sensitive, I promise."

Cimmerian nodded, closing his eyes as he drifted into the dream-realm. He had a minotaur to find.