Eternal Nightmare

by Jgame

Chapter Four

I found the group about to enter a very thick patch of trees in the Everfree Forest.

“Ugh,” Rarity said in disgust, “my eyes need a rest from all that icky muck.”

The darkness of the forest canopy enveloped the party.

“Well, I didn't mean that literally,” Rarity said.

I casted a spell, one that was simply known as 'Waking Nightmares'.

“That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't know it,” Twilight Sparkle complained.

There was a bump sound, followed by Rarity hastily apologizing.

“Oh wait, I think ah' stepped in somethin',” Applejack said.

Fluttershy screamed.

“It's just mud,” Applejack said before she began to scream as well.

Excellent. The Waking Nightmares had begun to kick in.

The Waking Nightmares were an infamous spell created millennium ago, who the creator was was unknown.

What was widely known were it's effects. The victims of the spell would be subject to hallucinations, having objects or ponies become distorted to the victims and causing mass panic and fear. I was later told that in this case, the trees were distorted.

The victims screamed.

All the victims, minus one.

Pinkie Pie was laughing at a tree, and making ridiculous faces accompanied by silly noises.

“Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!” Twilight said, in full panic.

Pinkie Pie gave a joyful smile at Twilight. “Oh, girls, don't you see?”

“When I was a little filly and the sun was doing down...” Pinkie Pie sang.

“Tell me she's not...” Twilight Sparkle trailed off.

“The darkness and the shadows would always make me frown...” Pinkie Pie continued to sing, now with an accompanying choreography.

“She is.” Rarity sighed.

Pinkie continued the song.

I'd hide under my pillow,
from what I thought I saw,
but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
to deal with fears at all...

“Then what is?” Rainbow Dash asked.

She said: “Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall,
Learn to face your fears,
You'll see that they can't hurt you,
Just laugh to make them disappear.”

Pinkie Pie skipped along over to a tree and said, “Ha! Ha! Ha!”

A collective gasp went through the group.

So, giggle at the ghostly
Guffaw at the grossly
Crack up at the creepy
Whoop it up with the weepy
Chortle at the kooky
Snortle at the spooky

“And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks that he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna...

Laaauuugh!”

I watched as all of them were soon overcome by fits of laughter, rolling on the ground and clutching their sides as Pinkie finished her song.

I shot out those stretch of woods as if the monsters of Tartarus themselves were on my heels.

That spell had been refined and molded for one thousand years, the finest wizards of every era attempting to find a counterspell to resist the effects of Waking Nightmares, but still broken by nopony.

Broken by nopony until tonight.

My ears were still ringing from Pinkie Pie's song.

---

I dashed into a clearing and sped over a stream when I heard a snip.

A moment afterwards, I heard a scream of horror as a sea serpent with an odd half shaved moustache gazed in shock at his reflection, with some hair slowly sinking underneath the water.

“Oh no! My magnificent moustache!” the sea serpent cried.

The river began to go from still water to a raging rapids as the serpent began to sob and thrash about.

Apparently in my haste, I had sliced the moustache. While an accident, it's sobs of pain over it's appearance put my mind more at ease.

The rapids would no doubt slow the down Twilight and her friends.

Twilight and her friends.

No. They were just a group of ponies with a common enemy. Nothing more.

I left the sea serpent to his loud sobs, my mind not quite as relaxed.

---

After mere minutes of travel, I could see the castle of the royal pony sisters, separated only by a chasm with dense fog shrouding the bottom. A shoddy rope bridge connected one side of the chasm to the other.

Of course, not a problem for me as I could fly, but for earth ponies and unicorns it be a much more different story. I took a mental note of that as I flew over the chasm, eager to once again see the castle of my sister and my former self.

The castle was not as I remembered it.

The bricks had eroded, the front room without a ceiling, yet the Elements of Harmony were still there. But even then, the Elements were made of simple stone, and the Elements and the pedestal it rested on had been subject to the same wear and tear as the castle had.

As I examined the Elements closely, I found numerous cracks. Not large or numerous enough to be immediately noticeable, but enough that it had confirmed what I had suspected.

The Elements were broken.

And, as I noticed with a smile, there were only five.

The sixth, of course, had been used wastefully by my sister.

All had been according to my calculations.

It did not matter if Twilight and her group of imbeciles had shrugged off challenge after challenge.

If I had not been noble and taken them on directly, they would not have been able to even set hoof in the Everfree Forest.

My patience had been well rewarded, it seems. The stage is set for their “triumph”.

Of course, I needed to give my favourite actors one performance.

A shame they didn't have a chance to read the script, I thought as an idea began to form in my mind.

I quickly went outside, shutting the door as I did, and cut the ropes connecting one side to another, so that it hung uselessly on Twilight's side of the chasm.

Then, I simply used the rest of my bought time to flesh out the final act.

---

Sure enough, Twilight had 'triumphed' once again, arriving a few minutes later.

“There it is! The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony! We made it!” Twilight said excitedly, breaking out into a run.

“Twilight, wait for us,” Applejack called out behind her.

“We're almost there!” Twilight said just before she took a ghost step onto the broken bridge. “Woah!”

Rainbow Dash effortlessly pulled Twilight Sparkle back to safety. “What's with you and falling off cliffs today?”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

Pinkie Pie pouted. “Now what?”

Rainbow Dash stretched out and flexed her wings. “Duh.”

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie Pie said.

Rainbow Dash dived underneath the fog.

Quickly, I split myself into three illusions.

I viewed the world through the eyes of the middle, as I carefully eyed the other two athletic stallions that I had conjured.

The both of them were identical, with black coats, dark blue hair, and white ears and wings, complete with purple sports gear with a white lightning bolt as an insignia.

I looked down at myself, to find that I was an almost perfect female version of them, except I was a much lighter colour than intended. Yet, it would have to do.

A moment as Rainbow Dash came back up through the fog, I quickly moved it in order to conceal my three selves.

As Rainbow Dash landed with the rope of the bridge caught between her teeth, I called out to her. “Rainbow...”

Rainbow Dash dropped the rope on the ground and looked over her shoulder.

“Rainbow...”

“Who's there?”

"Rainbow Dash..."

“I ain't scared of you! Show yourself!”

“We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flier in Equestria.”

“Who?” Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled.

“Why, you, of course.”

“Really? I mean... Oh yeah, me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? 'cause I've been trying to get in with that group for like, ever.”

“No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us,” I said as I revealed myself from my foggy hiding place with my two puppet-illusions in tow, “The Shadowbolts. We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon, will be in all of Equestria, but first, we need a captain, the most magnificent-”

“Yes.”

“Swiftest-”

“Yes.”

“Bravest flier in all the land.”

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, “It's all true.”

“We need... you.”

“Woohoo! Sign me up! Just let me tie this bridge rope real quick and we have a deal.”

“No! It's them or us.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled from across the chasm.

I quickly elevated the fog to block the view of Twilight and the stranded group, which also had the effect of silencing any further noise.

Rainbow Dash looked at the ground, agonized by the decision that I had shoved her into.

“Well?” I asked.

“You...” Rainbow Dash answered.

This went better than expected, I thought to myself.

“Thank you! For the offer, I mean,” Rainbow Dash said as she tied the ropes she had previously left lying around, “but I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no.”

Never mind, it went exactly as expected, I thought to myself again, as I dispelled my illusions, reverted to my misty form, and retreated back to the foggy shadows.

Comments

[Abbgy]

This is interesting

Its nice to see NMM's POV.