//------------------------------//
// The Nightmare under the Moon 
// Story: The Awesome Spider-Dash: Origins 
// by Flufux 
//------------------------------//


Minisode
The Nightmare under the Moon


While most citizens of Canterlot could feel safe under the security of the vibrant metropolis' artificial light when the night set in...there were some places where that light didn't illuminate. One such place were the docks, where workers had to work tirelessly at ungodly hours with only the glow of their flashlights and the shining surface of the full moon above to help them see what they were even doing.

At the moment, a pair of dockworkers were hauling quite a large number of crates with the 'CelestiaCorp' logo printed on them from an open shipping container onto a truck waiting to take the cargo to CelestiaCorp Tower. Neither of them had the faintest idea of what was in the crates, but frankly, they couldn't care less about that. The two of them had been working all night and were both just waiting for their shift to end so they could finally go home and get some sleep. 

One of the workers, Goldengrape, yawned loudly after picking up yet another one of those endless boxes, and in an extremely tired voice asked, "So...Amethyst, is this the last shipment, because I don't think I...(yawn)...can keep going...any longer?" 

His coworker, Amethyst Star, had a hint of relief in her tone when she answered, "Sure thing, but not before those geeks at CelestiaCorp get their delivery of whatever the heck are in these boxes...which will be done a lot faster if you stop moaning and help me get these things loaded up?"  

Even though she tried to sound authoritative, there were signs in her voice that she was just as tired as he was.

Goldengrape groaned, "Fine...I'll do my job, but when I get home I'm gonna sleep for a month and then try to negotiate for something better than the night shift."

"Aw, quit being such a baby!"

"Yes, mom," he sarcastically answered, making Amethyst roll her eyes.

Still, despite their bickering, they did manage to get the job done in the end. While the boxes were not only heavy, but also numerous, the workers' shear stubbornness was enough for them to pull it off. And with yet another productive day of harsh labour about to draw to a close, the only task left was now to get the delivery over to CelestiaCorp...and that job fell to Autumn Leaf, the driver. 

Only...he seemed to have fallen asleep at the wheel while he was waiting for the workers to load the truck with the crates he was supposed to deliver. Not really a good statement to make for a young truck driver.

When Amethyst noticed that he wasn't moving, she shouted, "Autumn Leaf! You're up!"

He didn't respond.

"Come on, Leaf! Wake up already!" 

When he still didn't show any signs of having heard her, Amethyst groaned and began to make her way over to him.

However, she stopped in her tracks when a gruff-sounding male voice called out, "Stop right there!"

Both Amethyst and Goldengrape immediately began to look for the owner of that voice. Neither one of them recognised it, and the poor lighting of the docks made it hard to see who it was. 

That was when three strange figures, two big burly men and one comparatively smaller guy, emerged from the shadows and made themselves known. However, as they all hid their faces behind masks, it was impossible to make out who they actually were.

The two big guys had big muscular arms and black metal masks covering their faces, making them both look intimidating and imposing....though given the fact that they stood one step behind third smaller person who was with them and had positioned themselves on either side of him made it clear they were just his entourage...his main muscle, so to say.

The leader though, while quite a bit smaller in size than his henchmen, was every bit as intimidating in appearance, given that he was dressed in some kind of padded red and black armour and with a helmet that hid his face behind a darkened one-way glass visor with a slightly purplish tint. And while the other two were armed with a handgun and a crowbar respectfully, he opted instead for some rather unusual weaponry. 

Strapped to both of his wrists was a pair of slightly oval-shaped mechanical gauntlets that seemed to be based on some kind of advanced technology. Needless to say, whatever they were, you wouldn't find them in your average gun store. 

After having made their presence known, the strangely-dressed mercenary looked at the dockworkers and commented, "Well, isn't this convenient? Here you have already packaged our goods and prepared a truck for us. Now stay out of the way and we'll take it from here."

Goldengrape, who was a bit too tired to notice that the new arrivals were clearly armed, tiredly asked, "And why should we do that? For that matter, who are you people?"

"My name or who we work for isn't important. Just call me Shocker. And as for why you should do what we say..." he then aimed one of his gauntlet-thingies at a nearby shipping container and pressed a button, sending out a highly concentrated beam of compressed air that hit it with such force that it tore a hole right through the solid metal of the container. "...well, that will be your head if you don't."

While Autumn Leaf had slept through most of the things that were going on around him, Shocker's sonic blast made about as much noise as a gunshot, and woke him up instantly. It took a little bit longer for him to make sense of what on earth was going on though.

Amethyst and Goldengrape were a bit more up to speed on the situation, and if they weren't awake before, they sure were now. Since neither of them were in the mood of getting shot, beaten, or pulverised by Shocker's blasters, they raised their hands in a surrendering motion and slowly backed away from the trio.

With a small chuckle, Shocker noted, "Good choice. I like your survival instincts." 

He then tapped a finger at his ear, activating some kind of communicator in his helmet, and reported, "Kingpin, this is Shocker. I have the cargo. Tell me where you want it and I'll bring it there right away." 

A voice from the other end responded, "Great! Then take it to the parking lot under Mistmane bridge, switch trucks with the one I got waiting for you there, then take the merchandise back here, and please, do me the itty-bitty favour and get it done BEFORE I LOSE MY PATIENCE!"

After wincing a bit from the loud tone his employer used at the end of his sentence, Shocker straightened himself out and replied with, "Right away, sir."

"Fantastic! Now GET ON WITH IT!"

...and then the line went dead.

Shocker took in a deep breath, then addressed the henchman closest to him, "You, take the wheel!" then he looked at the other, "You, make sure every crate is accounted for! If we lose just one, the mission is a bust and the boss will not be happy."

With only a quick remark of, "Right away, sir," they didn't waste a moment before getting on with their respective tasks. Though they looked tough, the two of them followed Shocker's words mostly out of fear rather than loyalty...even if that fear actually didn't come so much from him, but from the person he worked for.   

The henchman with the gun let out a warning shot into the sky, then aimed it at the truck driver, a message that was very clearly spelled out as 'get the hell out or I'll blow your brains out'...while the other one approached the shipping container to see if the workers had missed something, the two workers in question wisely backing away from him as he walked by them.

Suddenly, Goldengrape felt something bump him on the head and then land on the ground next to him. After wincing a bit from the impact, he looked down to see what it was. From his first glance, it looked to be some kind of orange metal ball. 

Curiously, he picked it up to take a closer look. 

From a closer inspection, he got even more confused, as the strange object appeared to be shaped like a Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin and glowed with a faint green light from within. It looked harmless enough, but he did wonder why anyone would throw it at him...and who threw it in the first place. 

However, looks turned out to be very deceiving.

With no warning given whatsoever, the pumpkin-shaped object exploded right in Goldengrape's face, killing him instantly and sending anyone anywhere near him reeling from the powerful shockwave the explosion caused. 

Amethyst Star took the brunt of it, and soon ended up on the ground screaming in agony. Her eardrums were probably permanently damaged, and she had noticeable minor burns on her back and left arm. 

She was lucky to be alive though. 

While the others were not really close enough to the blast to suffer any major injuries, an explosion, unlike what Hollywood would have you believe, was not something safe to be around. The booming noise alone was enough to make even Shocker's ears ring...and he was wearing a suit specifically designed to protect him from harmful vibrations. 

The only one who had some more protection from the blast than that was Autumn Leaf, who was still sitting in the driver's seat of the truck. However, he was in such a state of shock that he couldn't force his body to do anything other than stare wide-eyed with a slack jaw. 

Then...he heard a beeping...and it was coming from inside the truck.

Autumn Leaf slowly turned his head around to look at the source of the beeping noise, and when he saw that it was another pumpkin-shaped explosive just...sitting there in the passenger seat, he could do nothing but stare at it. 

Then the entire truck, along with Autumn Leaf and the truckload, went up like a bonfire while sending shrapnel everywhere. With the bomb connecting to not only the car's gasoline supply, but also whatever advanced technology were in those boxes, the blast was even bigger than the last one.  

The handgun-wielding mook was sent flying off his feet by the explosion. However, being as tough as he was, he managed to get his bearings together surprisingly quickly and had gotten back up on his feet not long after. 

While they had so far survived the attacks without any major injuries, Shocker and his flunkies were pretty rattled by it and all three of them were frantically looking for whoever it was that had attacked them. So far, they couldn't see anyone.

That was until they heard the demented laugh of a madwoman coming from above...

When the three of them looked up to see where the laughter was coming form, they finally caught a glimpse of their attacker. 

She appeared to be standing on some kind of winged mechanical contraption that glowed blue at certain parts, making it easier to distinguish in the dark of the night. Shocker's best guess would be that it was some kind of advanced attack glider, yet it had either been custom-made or heavily modified judging by the fact that the front of it was shaped like the head of a gargoyle. Speaking of which, whoever was piloting the thing appeared to have a thing for Halloween, judging by the fact that she was wearing what amounted to a Halloween costume. She hid most of her appearance underneath a tattered dark purple robe, but her blue glowing eyes were shining through her intimidating hood. And while it was difficult to see in the darkness, she also appeared to wear some kind of armour underneath her cloak. 

Her voice, while being distinctly female, was exceedingly menacing and showed signs of gleeful sadism, "Hahahahahahah...Isn't it beautiful? The glorious orchestra of explosions, Mhmhmhmhmhhaha!"

Shocker was not amused, and both he and the henchman with the handgun aimed their respective weapons at her. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?! Who're you working for!?"

"Working for? Mhmhmhaha, Why, am I not majestic enough for you? And here I thought breaking the law meant that no one had any power over me."

"We work for the Kingpin, and if you try to get in our way...you're as good as dead!"

"Heheheh, the Kingpin? So dear old Rex finally loses it and gives himself a name like that, who would have guessed? Hahahaha! Well then, allow me to pass on a message to him from me. Please tell him that his rule over this city's low-lives is over, that his little empire will soon amount to nothing, and that when I come for him, what is left of him will fit inside a coffee cup! And best of all, when he's gone...there will be new throne, and I will be the one sitting on it! Mhahahahahahahahahaha-HAHAAAHAHAHA!" 

Shocker had heard enough. It was obvious that whoever this person was, she was clearly insane, and was better off dead than alive. Besides, the lunatic had made her intentions perfectly clear, and taking care of one of his boss' problems could score him some extra cash if he was lucky. 

So, without wasting any time, Shocker fired both of his blasters at the interloper. And, as she was a bit too occupied laughing at her own jokes, she didn't have time to react before the blast hit her right in the face and sent her falling off her glider.

However, not only was her armour built to withstand concussive attacks like that, but the glider also had an auto-pilot system that she had personally modified to suit her own needs. And as soon as the glider detected that she had fallen off it, it had swooped down and positioned itself at just the right place for the woman to land back on it with grace. 

Through the shadow cast by her hood, a wicked smile could be seen as she looked upon her opponents. Then she quickly reached into her cloak and pulled out another pumpkin-shaped metal orb and threw it at them. 

This one was different though, as instead of releasing a fiery explosion, it split open to unleash a couple dozen bat-shaped razor-sharp boomerang-like objects that flew straight towards the mercenaries. 

Shocker deflected the ones headed towards him with a blast from his shock-blasters, and one of his minions managed to leap out of the way before it hit him. The other one though was caught completely off guard and was hit by five of them at once. With one of them hitting him straight in the heart, and another catching him in the throat...he was dead before his body hit the floor.

The assailant didn't relent though and swooped down till she flew barely half-a-metre above the ground while heading straight towards Shocker...and he responded to that by trying to blast her in the face again.

However, this time she was ready for him and used some kind of hidden function of the glider to launch herself three metres up into the air while still propelling herself forward, dodging his attack expertly while leaping above his head. Also, as the glider was still in motion even without its owner on it, it moved fast enough to knock Shocker's feet out from under him. Then the madwoman landed back on it as gracefully as before. 

She was not the only one to land on it though, as the remaining mook managed to leap up and hitch a ride on it as well. By holding onto the hem of her cloak, he kept himself from falling while he moved his other hand, which was holding onto his handgun, to score a close-range head-shot. Only, before he could pull the trigger, she grabbed him by the wrist and immediately moved his hand out of the way, making him fire several rounds into a shipping container in the background instead. 

Before he could break out of her grip, she grabbed the back of his head and pulled his neck back so far that it snapped, ending his life in the process. And with him dead, she carelessly threw his body aside while turning her attention back to Shocker.

The seasoned bounty hunter may have been hit in the legs by a metal vehicle moving about as fast as a car, but he was not letting that stop him from getting back up on his feet. He was a stubborn and persistent person to say the least.

Though seeing Shocker struggle a little to stand up straight, the cloaked woman asked, "Oh, you poor thing, did you hurt your little legs?" in probably the most condescendingly childish tone she could muster.

Shocker glared at her and shouted "Just shut up already!", then took another shot with his right blaster at her.

She was prepared for that one too, and responded by pointed her index finger at the mercenary like a child pretending their hands were pistols. A strange response to be sure...if she hadn't installed plasma blasters into her gloves, letting her shoot a concentrated beam of superheated blue plasma out of the tip of her finger. Her aim and timing was perfect, and she managed to hit Shocker straight in the barrel of his shock-blaster the very moment he fired it, causing a chain reaction that made his own weapon blow up in his face. 

With the full force of his own blaster turned against him, Shocker was slammed into a container behind her so hard that it instantly knocked him unconscious. While any other person probably would have died, the mercenary's protective suit managed to save his life.

"Well, that was almost too easy..." the cloaked woman noted in a slightly bored tone. 

Amethyst Star, the only one beside the attacker herself who was still alive and conscious, was trying desperately to limp away from the chaos despite the overwhelming pain she was feeling throughout her whole body. The event had left her scared out of her wits, and all she wanted was to be out of it as soon as was humanly possible.

She had no such luck though, as she was soon yanked off the ground by a powerful hand that grabbed her by the back of her neck. And she soon found herself staring right into the attacker's nightmare-inducing face. 

She had big blue eyes with pupils that were slit like a snake's and accentuated by surprisingly feminine violet eyelashes. Underneath her purple cloak it was now apparent that she was wearing lavender armour, which included a helmet that had a slightly regal theme to it. Her skin, or what looked like her skin, was unnaturally pitch black, and her chin and nose were especially pronounced. Also, her long pointed ears seemed more like something a wild animal would have. The most disturbing part of her appearance though was the extremely unnerving Cheshire grin she had that showed a lot of sharp teeth and pronounced fangs. 

Either she was not entirely human...or she was wearing a very advanced and expressive mask. The latter probably being a bit more likely. 

And seeing those devilish eyes stare right into her soul, Amethyst let tears form in her eyes while she was too frozen to move a muscle.

Then, the mysterious woman asked, "Little child, would you please do me one little favour?"

The hapless dockworker was too terrified to respond, which the attacker took as a 'yes'.

"Give me a name."

The dockworker managed to croak out, "Um...Ama...Amathyst...Star..."

"No, not your name, my name."

"B-Bu-But...I...I d-don't kn-know i-it..."

"Well of course you don't, not even I know that."

"Y-You...d-d-don't?"

"I know the name of the woman hiding under this mask, I know the human who bares it during the sunny days I sleep through. But she is not me, for when the moon rises and the darkness comes out, I wear this mask and turn into a demon of the night. A demon with no name, and who, pray tell, gives names to demons?"

"I...I don't-"

"Those who fear them, such as yourself, of course. Now tell me, what do you fear? What are your nightmares filled with? And what word does my mask speak into your dreams? Tell me."

"Uh..."

"Tell me!"

"I cannot-"

"TELL ME!!!"

Amethyst finally blurted out, "G-Goblins...I fear goblins, and you look...like a goblin!"

The masked woman's smile grew even wider, "Mhmhmhm-hehehehehehahahahaahaha-HAHA! Goblins!? Yes, I like that. Then that shall be the name of the demon. From this moment forth, I am the Goblin of the night, the...Nightmare Goblin! Mhmhmhm-heheheheh-ahhahahahahhaha-HAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAA!!!"