Nightmare

by Blackdrag-rose

Six-Nightmare

As soon as Nightmare and her group finished their breakfast and the bill had been paid by Thunder did the Mistress of the Night make her move. Using her magic she pinned poor Fluttershy to the ground before dragging her by her tail out the front door and into the parking lot. For her it was turning out to be a fantastic day; she had a grand breakfast and she was dragging the Element of Kindness along for the fun of it. Mostly because she wanted to keep an eye on the Elements and make sure they didn't try blasting her to pieces before she fought Discord.

By the looks on the faces all around her she knew that her Shadowbolts, her new allies as they called themselves, were indifferent to her actions and went along with it. The locals who watched her seemed scared that she was kidnapping one of their own, but they weren't making any movements to stop her. They were likely afraid of what she, Nightmare Moon, would do to them if they tried to stop her from taking a fellow pony along for the ride.They would be afraid, because those who dared stand in her way would be visited during the night and have their dreams plagued by the most vile nightmares she could conjure up.

And as for Christan...he had a look of horror on his face that must have been from the fact that she was dragging the shy mare by her tail.

"Get in there," she growled, opening the back door of the van and forcing Fluttershy to get in, "Let's move already. We don't want to give Discord any more cushion time then he already has. We must strike hard and we must strike fast if we want to best his magic and tear him down."

Christan sighed and climbed in after Nightmare and Fluttershy, making sure he sat at the back like last time and watched the others sit where they had been previously. Silent took the wheel while Thunder sat in the passenger seat and Nightmare occupied the central area of the van all by herself. With another pony things would soon become cramped and they would have to trade up to a new form of transportation that wasn't this small van.

"When do you think we'll change our mode of transportation?" Nightmare asked, echoing Christan's thoughts perfectly, "I like this van, but now that there's another pony on board we'll be needing more room."

"We have a Headquarters already set up after we cross the border," Thunder replied, "We've got several large trucks, equipment vans, and just about thirty members of the New Lunar Republic waiting for us. We have received no word on the movements of the Solar Empire nor the arrival of Princess Celestia as of yet."

"She'll arr...arrive soon enough," Fluttershy spoke up, laying next to Christan while keeping her eye on the others in the van, "She...she'll be here to fight Discord. I... I know she will."

Christan pulled out the laptop he had been using earlier and brought up the browser so he could continue his search for any strange happenings. There was one article he found that was related to the Crystal Heart, something about the warehouse run by Rayger Fell being sacked by either his employees or his enemies. A man like that was sure to have made dozens of enemies, but to have his entire warehouse attacked in the middle of the night and have every piece he had stolen was remarkable.

Remarkable and downright disturbing.

It was disturbing to think that a man who would have brought an army of security guards to protect his treasures had been beaten by a lesser rival. Rayger Fell had millions of dollars to his name, yet someone had beaten him as if he were just a poor man who had nothing to defend himself with. That meant that the Crystal Heart had been taken, moved so some unknown location and likely never to see the light of day again. Which meant that Sombra either missed his chance to steal the gemstone from Rayger or he had attacked in the middle of the night and had made off with the gemstone.

"It seems that you found something Christan," Nightmare commented, noticing the look on Christan's face while he did his research, "Care to share what you have discovered?"

"Rayger Fell has lost the Crystal Heart," Christan sighed, wondering what was going to happen next, "The news article says that he was attacked by either his own employees or a rival who decided to take matters into their own hands at last. No one knows the exact location of the Heart anymore, but it is rumored that King Sombra might very well be in the general area of Seattle and that he has the Heart now."

"Bah, rumors." Nightmare cursed, "Nothing solid for me to hold while I try and find out what is happening to the rest of my enemies. They say Chrysalis is in Florida, but there is nothing about her movements that suggests that she is actually there or that she has even truly arrived. I cannot trust you humans to correctly tell me where my enemies are with all the rumors that appear to be flying around the place."

Christan sighed and let Fluttershy lay her head on his side, he really wasn't planning on doing anything that would upset the evil mare more than she already was. He was thankful that the two cops, if they were real cops, hadn't tossed him on the side of the road and were still carting him along, He guessed his services were now to care for any and all ponies, be they the Elements of Harmony or not, that Nightmare decided to gather along the way. Which meant that all he had to do was make sure the ponies she brought with her were alright and he would still be accounted among their number.

He also assumed that they were trying to turn him into a supporter of the New Lunar Republic by just keeping him around them. He had some silent news for them, he was a supporter of the Solar Empire at heart and he would flock over to Princess Celestia's side the moment she arrived. And now that he had a position in the Republic he could always make sure he could make off with the ponies Nightmare collected so they could be free later on.

He opened a new tab on his laptop and entered in the address for Facebook, which he logged into for the first time in over three months. To his relief he remembered the password correctly and it loaded up his page, which looked unfamiliar since he hadn't been on in such a long time. He typed in a search for two names, one being 'Princess Celestia' and the other being 'Queen Chrysalis'. To his disappointment there were no entries under Celestia's name, but when he searched for Chrysalis he found something interesting.

Queen Chrysalis, Empress of the Changeling Swarm, was actually in Dallas, Texas under the name of some girl called Ashley Anderson. Upon closer inspection he discovered that Ashley had turned into Chrysalis about the same time that Allen had turned into Nightmare Moon, only she was more on the having fun part of things. According to what he read that meant that she was partying the nights away and only taking as much love as she needed to keep herself going, but seeing how she was Chrysalis and people loved her it made things easy for her.

It was a mystery as to how Nightmare and her network had failed to discover Chrysalis' arrival, seeing how she was partying and the news should have posted something about her already. Christan wrote her a quick message, mostly asking how she was doing and if she had seen any other ponies so far in the time she's been Chrysalis. He hoped to gain some more information that Nightmare and her Republic didn't have, giving him a card they didn't know about. He thought about logging out of the system, but just as he went to press the logout button he noticed a popup on the bottom corner of the screen.

Ashley said; Who are you? Who do you work for?

Christan smiled and immediately wrote a reply back.

My name is Christan Miller and currently I work for no one, or in the situation I'm in, nopony as it were. I am currently riding in a van with Nightmare Moon herself, who is preparing for battle with Discord and is also keeping tabs on where anypony else is at the moment. She's also claimed Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, who just happens to be laying on my shoulder at the moment.

A moment passed after he clicked send and then;

Very well then Christan Miller, we believe you. You say the Dark Mare has the shy pegasus? How has something like that come to pass?

Well, we stopped to eat at Denny's earlier this morning and there she was as our waitress. At first I hoped that Nightmare would ignore her and just concentrate on her enemies, namely Discord and her own sister. Unfortunately she knew that Fluttershy was there and, once the meal was over and paid for, she dragged the poor dear right out of the restaurant by her tail.

By the might of the Swarm, that evil mare has one of the Elements close at hoof already. I have been seeking the Elements by means of this world I find myself in, using this 'Facebook' to see if I can find anypony who is claiming to be one of the missing links. So far all we have is Fluttershy's location, mostly thanks to you giving it to us, and some dead leads on Twilight Sparkle. Say, how do you usually curse?

Mostly I say Holy Heck or something like that, but it doesn't change the fact that you already know where we are.

Yes, I assumed I could manage to keep some tabs on whoever had already arrived, such as the Dark Mare known as Nightmare Moon by everypony else. There is reason to believe that our old enemy, King Sombra, has arisen in Seattle, Washington and is building an army to fight both Discord and the Royal Sisters. But I must ask the question; who are you aligned with? Who is it? The Dark Mare, the Solar Rump, the Chaos Lord, the Mad King, or myself?

Seriously? I'm more willing to follow Princess Celestia then anypony else.

Ah, but there lies the problem that you'll come to face soon enough. Until Princess Celestia, the Mighty leader of the Solar Empire, arrives in this world you are out of a master to serve in the upcoming war. Which is better; serving an evil mare who is going to be rid of you the moment you prove your worthless to her or serving a Queen who treats her subjects in a respectable manner like they should be?

Am I to understand that your offering me a place in the Changeling Swarm?

That is correct, Christan Miller. I am offering you a chance to save yourself and any other pony you come across when the Swarm makes it's move against Discord. I do not require a direct or an immediate answer, but I would prefer you reply before midnight is two days time. Do not contact me by this 'Facebook' again until you have made a decision and are ready to tell me what that decision will be.

Christan stared at the screen as his new chat buddy left the chat, leaving him to just log off while he considered telling anyone or anypony what he had just discovered. Telling Nightmare that he had found and made contact with Chrysalis wouldn't be the best idea in the world and he wasn't about to trust her after everything that she had already done. What he needed to do was high tail it out of Nightmare's moving fortress before she joined up with the rest of the Republic, but he also wanted to get Fluttershy out of this mess.

He really didn't know if he should stay his hand and wait for Princess Celestia to arrive or if he should get Fluttershy out of here and join Queen Chrysalis until the time was right. He was on thin ice, that he realized all too well at the moment.