Our Haunted House

by Iridescence T Wind

Nightmares and Zecora.

"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
-Ayn Rand

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Nightmares... That was what this was, the only explanation as Soul went through horror after constant horror. He knew not what pulled the strings, instead blaming it on his own guilt. Though there was at least a few anchors that kept him sane amongst the horrid scenes of death and decay that attacked him so. His arms blasting fire as well as his head as he protected his anchor, his hope. A Basket containing the few faces that his mind wasn't able to bring into clarity of the chaos, a small filly who he had cared for, a Zebra who spoke in rhymes, as well as a various assortment of creatures who lived in the Everfree forest. Though a persistent voice whispered sweet nothings of power that could be gained if he harvested them. He ignored them and endured as a demented looking Ursa minor charged him from out of nowhere in his nightmares and he continued to fight.

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Outside Zecora's hut.
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The moon was now clearly in the night sky when Twilight arrived at Zecora's hut. It was rather faster to get there then in the past considering how the way to the hut and Soul's previous homestead had been literally carved through the Everfree forest leaving a path of solid wood trees to block the dangerous creatures from entering. Even then though Twilight maintained her guard, after all things could climb the trees, reach over them, or perhaps even just go through them, with ease. A once smooth pathway was a bit more rugged without their previous owner's care though enough travel on the road would take care of that in months to come. That is if a lot of ponies did travel the path.

The 'Homestead' as Soul had once called it still had it's equestrian members and it's resident Sea Serpent, Steven Magnet, though it's more animal like members had fled back into the forest shortly after Soul had left. No doubt to search for the user of forbidden magic and rejoin him. The castle, however, was left untouched. Even the princesses didn't want to claim it, mostly due to it's nature of being centered in the Everfree forest. However, that wasn't to say it was left completely unchanged. Guards were now around the Homestead in case, by some poor chance, Soul came back. This as a side effect also allowed the residents of the Homestead to live without much fear from the occasional random animal that would try to vault the tree walls that had been constructed prior to Soul's departure.

Bringing her mind back to the present Twilight approached Zecora's tribal hut, still complete with decorations from her far away home, and knocked on the door. It took only a few moments for the Zebra herbalist to answer, though instead of greeting Twilight inside she closed the door behind her and gestured toward the nearby pond, quietly answering Twilight's greeting, "Ah, Twilight I greet you Hello; though I hope this visit is mellow. Quite busy we have been, so let us please try not disturb the song who dwells within."

It was a well known fact that the filly Soul had been taking care of was under Zecora's care, Twilight assumed she had gone through the proper legal paperwork though the truth was a mystery best left for another day, "Zecora, I wanted to ask for your advice on something in regards to Equestria's safety as of late..."

They trotted over to the pond, the quiet sounds of the local frogs making an ambient noise gathering in volume as Zecora readied her response, "What troubles you Twilight dear, to confide in me your fears? Shouldn't your friends be first to hear, instead of first coming to me here?"

Twilight sighed, "I need a different view Zecora, while ordinarily I would turn to my friends for such matters, I think that you're much more open minded then they are about these matters."

Zecora raised an eyebrow, seemingly pulling a cup full of hot tea from nowhere and passing it to Twilight before getting her own, "What matters are grabbing you like a vice, that I could solve with my advice?"

Twilight nodded her thanks, taking a sip before it cooled and started the conversation up again, "It's about Equestria's safety, I've been researching Soul's universe though I can't help but feel something is missing from what I have been researching..." she cut Zecora off before she could respond, "It's the abilities these 'Pocket Monsters', as they are sometimes called, use. They are extraordinary, to say the least, even a turtle like species of theirs at some point would be able to spew a beam of energy made of pure sunlight as a destructive attack. Yet all attempts to translate some of their various arsenals that the Dex offers has come out with minimal results. A gout of flame turns into a small little spew of embers, an beam of ice turns to a string of hail..."

Twilight looked down to the pond at her own reflection glimmering in the moonlight, "I've been trying to master these spells and abilities and convert them so that we would be better prepared for in case any other... monster. Showed up with hostile intentions... But, that's why I'm here, I was hoping to see if you would join me in my search for a solution."

Zecora took a sip from her own tea, judging Twilight's words and formulating a response, a minute later Zecora put her cup down and started, a tone much more serious, "And what of the child whose task is most Grim? The reaper of souls who's knowledge here is but slim?"

"Soul Light?" Twilight asked, getting a nod of affirmation from Zecora, "The princesses have their guards seeking him out all over Equestria. They said that they were going to bring him in for judgment of his actions and crimes."

Zecora's calm look flustered into a frown with slight anger, "What crime is it that he has commit, to rescue you and your friends shouldn't make a ruler throw a fit."

Twilights voice took on a slightly harsher tone, "Soul used magic that erased the Souls of those he fought Zecora, that's worse than murder. Murder being a crime that hasn't happened in hundreds of years let alone this black magic which hadn't been used since the rise of Nightmare moon a thousand years ago!"

Zecora responded in turn no mirth or welcome in her eyes as the topic took a grim turn, "Do you punish a bee for it's sting, or the weather here for spring? You're ignoring the deeds that Soul has done, rescuing those who side bears him shun. Restoring the sight of a filly blind, and helping those who were in a bind." it was Zecora's turn to cut off Twilight before the purple mare could begin to retaliate verbally, "I would suggest talking to those of the Homestead, before making a decision that I think you will dread. Goodnight, and as they say, don't let the real monsters bite." Zecora rose from her seat on the mossy ground and went back inside, leaving Twilight to stare at the pond's reflective water, mulling over what Zecora had said.

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Meanwhile In The Realm of Nightmares...
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The realm of nightmares was a black horrid place in comparison to it's sibling realm of dreams. Few creatures willingly called this place home as horrors of all sorts of imaginations often flooded here after being 'cured' by the princess of the Night or forgotten about by their respective dreamers. to say this was a place of violence and death would be an understatement, though there was still a ruler of this realm who farmed these nightmares for a day long planned in the future. That ruler didn't like those who messed with her realm.

The crude tugging was coming from a red orb overlapping a smaller purple orb was rather infuriating, to say the least, the fact that the creature so casually tugged nightmare and yet more nightmares into another soul would of been amusing if it weren't for the careless sloppy manner which the spirit, a snake she realized, shoved it into the smaller one. So she took control of both, subjecting the red one with tortures and horrors from around the realm though little did it affect the emotional output from the red orb. First there was confusion, then anger, then malice as the orb fought back and devoured the nightmares, interesting. She proded the purple spirit getting an feeling that the younger of the two was but a child in comparison with this snake. Just what bound them together? She had to see. Curiosity was her worst enemy besides Celestia after all.

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Soul's unconscious mind...
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It had to be a miracle, when the nightmares had stopped coming one after the other and wearing him down bit by bit. though the peace lasted only momentarily when he felt a new form of uneasiness reach his mind, not the cruel and harsh eyes of Fang, instead a colder, dimmer feeling of night air and moonlight who hid no shadows, a pair of dark judging eyes of radiant blue color emerged and stared at him, he could feel something akin to fog brush across his entire being as it studied him, "Who and what are you?" both Soul and a feminine demanding tone demanded at the same time.

Both remained silent for a short while, the amount of stars in the darkness growing as the set of eyes stared at him and drew Soul into her own, with no response incoming Soul began, "I am Soul... A Pokémon, and a Reaper of those who cheated death...You are?"

The voice chuckled darkly; briefly the image of a mare's head in the moon, appearing and vanishing as soon as it had came. The voice replied cold as steel, "Do you not recall the terror that we were not so long ago? We, who are the true queen of Equestria, she who would rule a world with the beauty of the night sky and say goodbye to the ever 'precious' sun? We, who would make Celestia kneel before us and have her claim our light as better than her own?"

Soul began to sweat, which shouldn't be possible considering he was a flaming chandelier made of metal, but then again this was a dream, anything was possible. Though he had the strangest feeling he had heard bits of this before, albeit from Twilight and the citizens of Ponyville when he had first arrived, "We are..." the voice began, forming into a solid figure equaling Celestia in shape and size with a starry mane of the night sky, "Nightmare Moon."

She held herself proud and tall, a regal dominance and massive intimidation through sheer size all but flooding his mind as she stood over him, a giant compared to an ant. If Soul had a jaw, it would of dropped, as is however, he managed a quiet, "Why me?"

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Meanwhile within Fang's unconsciousness....
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Go away, go away, go away! Fang all but screamed in anger and frustration as the giant lumbering monsters behind him ruthlessly chased him down. They didn't care what Fang said or did, they didn't care. They just ran on after him anyway, occasionally clawing and biting the end of his tail, inducing a wave of pain rocking throughout Fang's show of a body, he had tried to bite them, poison had no affect, he had also tried to turn them to stone to no avail. They didn't give a buck to what he tried, all they wanted was to rip his throat out and eat him for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. Maybe all four at once.

As Fang threw up a labyrinth between him and the giant monstrosity's that were chasing him, they didn't even slow down so much as an inch as they rammed through it like it was nothing. Shrink down and hop into a hole? they dug through it in no time! try and fight them? There was no way to win! Surely a nightmare to contend with and all he could think about was how much he hated the pair of beasts chasing him.

But the Honey badgers didn't care, like most of their species, Giant monstrous nightmare, or real, they didn't give one buck to poisons, spells, violence, or even obstacles in their way. They only cared about the next meal, and that was currently the snake slithering as fast as it could away from them while it spewed profanities that fell upon their deaf ears. The latest of the snakes creative vocabulary consisting somewhere along the lines of 'Oh, Buck you both with all the dragons sharp filthy claws!'

As one of the two finally took a good chunk out of Fang's tail. This causing the 'fearsome' Basalisk to leap through the air squirming like a worm who just had been stepped on, while falling into a pool of lava that he had created to escape. The honey badgers didn't care, they hoped on in anyway and continued chasing the poor thing. As the nightmares that had been reversed onto Fang, continued, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Soul.

Author's Note:

Once again, thanks Slyph and Eli for editing, sorry it seems a bit random though I thought it would be a nice start to the next few arcs and also the start on where exactly 'Nightmare Moon' went after Luna was 'cured' by the elements of harmony. I'm aware of the Nightmare Rarity comics but from lack of those on both the show and online readability, I offer my own theory instead. See you next time on our mistress of the night.

Comments

[Mother3Forever]

Well....I got a LONG night ahead, don't I? This is like, the fifth story that I could've SWORN I favorited....But I didn't get any notifications, so I didn't think to go look at them again. I'm just glad I found this again before it got too far in.

[Omega Infinita]

Honey badgers don't care!

[ShadowCelebi]

2779220 in short then they would basicly stay just one pony i guess. oh and by the way you get ten mustaches for the story so far.

[ShadowCelebi]

3299453 hi me!

[ShadowCelebi]

and now for the ultimate showdown randomly appearing. [youtube=GgLiA2Jch5Y]

[Metroid Prime]

Will their be darkrai?

[ShadowCelebi]

Hurry up and make a new chapter!

[Iridescence T Wind]

3299453 Wonder what would happen if your cutie-mark was for something that can't be done in death, like construction work or helping the government, or perhaps economic type cutiemarks.

3345791 Working on it, as well as a lot of other things though, will update as soon as possible.

3299464 Not really a showdown persay.

3158359 Dang right.

[Pfudorappuls]

HAHAHA Fucking honey badgers!