Dimension Jumper

by redtau

A Lunar Incursion

"A thestral." I said, looking the guard up and down. Three more joined him, forming a defensive line between me and the sniveling noble who was my target. "You guys are extremely rare, almost exclusively used as Princess Luna's favorite guards. Which means the princess either sanctioned your actions or..."

Moon Dancer stepped up onto the stage, her form shifting and flowing as Princess Luna let the illusion drop away. "You have leveled some serious charges at this Noble." The princess said, "If he has done as you said, then he will be tried and punished in an Equetrian court."

"He's already being tried Princess. In my court, right here and now." I pointed my sword at Harold. "I found him guilty of just trying to slit my throat after cheating in a duel and I believe I have very clearly laid out his punishment."

"While the crimes you have listed are quite serious, the punishment described is far to harsh." Luna said. "I cannot stand by and let you harm a noble." Behind her Harold started charging a spell.

"You had no problem when he had a sword to my throat." I countered, advancing slightly. I was trying to keep an eye on Harold while also keeping a guard between the two of us. There was less chance of him casting any nasty spells if one of the princess' favorites was in the line of fire. "Nor did you or your guards seem to have any trouble letting a trio of brutes rush me while your precious pony rained down spells."

"We were interested in how your army would respond to the threat." The princess responded, waving a hoof at the crowd.

"My army? Have you seen these creatures? This isn't some fighting force set to conquer Equestria!"

"Your real army must be hidden, perhaps out in the forest."

"In the forest?" I almost laughed. "In the Everfree? At night? If I had an army that could survive that then all of Equestria is in trouble."

"So you admit you have an army in the forest!"

"I don't and you know it because of all your spies!"

"They didn't stop you from digging a tunnel to town! Is that where your army is? Marching on Ponyville as we speak?!"

"THERE IS NO ARMY!"

"How can I trust someone so Nightmare tainted?"

"You didn't have any trouble last time!"

"You mean the time you poisoned me?"

"YOU POISONED YOURSELF!"

"That's what I thought at the time too, but then I heard all the stories-"

"What, from before you banished me out here?"

"No, from when you used Nightmare's power to slip away and terrify the countryside!"

"YOU LISTENED TO THOSE LIES?!"

"HOW DO I KNOW YOU ARE TELLING THE TRUTH?!"

"YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE FANFICTION AS CANNON?!"

"HOW CAN I DO OTHERWISE? YOU NEVER RESPONDED TO MY SISTER'S LETTERS"

"WHAT LETTERS?"

NO PONY MOVE!

---

Twilight watched the back and forth between Sarah and the princess with disbelief. That ponies might run from a princess she had accepted after Luna's first Nightmare Night, but that anyone would willingly stand and yell at one was not something Twilight's personal theology encompassed. Worse, with every exchange it became increasingly clear that somewhere a massive communication breakdown had occurred. This didn't look to Twilight like some covert assault on Equestria so much as an attempt by Sarah to get out from under the negative publicity she'd been subject to.

You don't put that much thought and detail into creating and getting acknowledgement for a brand new nation just to throw it away by attacking a military and industrial giant like Equestria. she thought. There has to be something else going on here!

NO PONY MOVE!

Twilight spun around in shock at the amplified voice coming from the rear of the party. A trio of unicorns were all holding short daggers in their magic and grappling with a squirming child. The one on the far left was wrestling to hold onto a young gryphon, while the one on the far right had snagged a zebra colt who was scared stiff. The center one, who had yelled at the crowd, was holding a very familiar little yellow filly with a bright red bow in her hair.

"I see one claw, one horn light, one wing flap, and these little ones will regret it!" The unicorn shouted. "You are all going to bow down to Queen Nightmare and then we are going to walk out nice and slowly and nopony will follow us! OR ELSE!"

Applejack was edging slowly through the silent, frozen crowd, trying to get in a better position to rescue Apple Bloom. Pinkie looked on terrified, holding a single pie from the desert table but uncertain who to target. The rest of the children, who were still no more than a few yards from the kidnappers because of the press of everyone else, stared on in horror and shock.

This is WRONG! Twilight thought. This isn't something somepony who was trying to sneak away would set up! This does nothing but CONFIRM all those terrible stories about Sarah. Twilight turned and looked up at the stage, silently begging Luna to see through this for what it really was. It's a setup. Please, princess you have to see it's a setup! If Sarah claimed the kidnappers, commanding them to stand down, it would confirm everything Harold had been saying. If she denounced them, she endangered the children.

"Sarah, how could you?" Princess Luna asked, her voice a mixture of scorn and disappointment. "How could you endanger children?"

Twilight froze, feeling an odd chill wash over her. She saw the torches around the party gutter and flicker for a moment, and the shadows cast across the ground seemed alive. That had been the wrong thing to say.

"OK." Sarah whispered, her voice seeming to carry unnaturally in the night air. "You win."

"Win?" Luna asked, confused. Harold seemed just about bouncing for joy.

"You want me to be the villian? The monster?" Sarah asked, a strange blue light starting to glow from her eyes. "Fine."

From the back of the crowd came a trio of terrified cries of pain.

---

Diamond Tiara was watching in horror at the little blank flank being held at knife point by this terrifying pony. If her father had been here, he would have protected her. She was scared, but put on a brave face for Silver Spoon, who was crouched behind her trembling.

"H-h-hey, Silver. Maybe the l-l-little blank flank can get her cutie mark in being k-k-kidnapped?" Diamond joked half heatedly, trying to calm Silver down a little. Something dark flickered near the kidnapper and suddenly Apple Bloom was rushing past Diamond crying about how the bad pony still had her. And sure enough, the bad pony's hoof was still grabbing hold of her costume.

It's just that hoof wasn't attached to anything anymore.

"What the-?" Diamond asked, as a burst of orange motion filled her vision and she turned to look back at Apple Bloom's ex-kidnapper.

She learned something important that day. Something that made her almost completely stop teasing Apple Bloom altogether.

When you buck with the Apple Family, the Apple Family buck back.

Applejack's rear hooves connected with the barrel of the stunned kidnapper, who was staring at his severed hoof, to a symphony of cracking ribs. The impact drove the pathetic unicorn into the black stone wall so hard it left a pony shaped dent when he slid away.

The other two kidnappers, also without their hostages and missing a hoof looked up at the small army of angry creatures advancing on them. Pony, gryphon, minotaur and canid stood shoulder to shoulder in staring down those who had dared to raise a hoof against a child. A single zebra stepped forward.

"You thought our children gave you right

to command us as though you owned this night."

Another stepped forward, this one holding a number of broken chair legs that were quickly snatched up and passed around.

"That to hold small lives in dangers way

Would make us listed to what you say."

The last, an older zebra with a minotaur at his side, stepped up with authority.

"But all that power has gone poof

And it's clear to see that-"

"You done goofed." The minotaur said with a smile, lifting a heavy looking ax.

---

Princess Luna stood stunned at the turnaround happening in the back of the party. While she had no love for any who would threaten children, especially children who had accepted her upon her return, to see them so casually maimed by the Nightmare sent chills down her spine.

"Waaaaaaah!"

Her attention promptly returned to the standoff before her. She found her guards now fighting dozens of black shadowy snakes, some as small as garden snakes while others seemed like anacondas. The dark mass had already bound two of the four thestrals who had accompanied her to the stage, and had thoroughly bound Lord Bright Harold in place, going so far as to wrap him in a torn scrap of stage curtain. The snakes gathered in pools and...

"Sarah?!" Luna cried, looking up at the human who seemed to be floating above the stage. Her hair had become long and shadowy, pooling below her and stretching out into tendrils and snakes, disappearing into crevices and shadows. "Sarah what are you doing?!"

"I tried" Sarah said, Nightmare's voice doubling her own. "I really tried. I built and I helped and I did everything I could to be free while following the rules. And none of it mattered." She floated forward, eyes fixed on the bound noble. "You were always there, always in my way. Stealing my funding, sabotaging my repairs, dropping stones onto the castle living quarters, planting spies and stealing mail. Only you, my warden, would be in the right place to take all that money. Only you would have the influence, the connections, to get all those petty little stories published. All those nasty little lies. Well, do I live up to your expectations?" Turquoise eyes opened up in Sarah's hair. And down her hair. And in the snakes. And in the shadows under every creatures feet. And in the crevices and cracks in the stones.

"Am I enough of a monster for you?"

Princess Luna leaped into the air, her wings holding her above the dark monster as creatures ran around screaming. Her guards were quickly becoming overwhelmed, and Harold was lifted into the air as Nightmare drifted closer to him.

"I wanted to explore this world as a traveler," Sarah said, waving her hands as though it was the simplest thing in the world. "one that would come and go and no creature would be the wiser. But you prevented that, all for your precious castle. Now I will walk the world like a dark goddess, and you my precious little idiot, shall be my herald."

"I'D DIE BEFORE I HELPED YOU MONSTER!" The noble screamed.

"Of course you will." Sarah said, and crazed smile on her face. A huge mass of darkness emerged below Harold before splitting open to reveal a giant maw lined with hundreds of razor sharp teeth. "Your rotting corpse shall march on strings of shadow before me, announcing my coming to all and showing the price of crossing me." A lolling tongue, dripping acidic spittle reached out of the maw and dropped a destroyed crossbow and a bleached white minotaur skull. "You chose to cross us on this night, Nightmare night. MY NIGHT! And though this night will not last forever, you shall never see another dawn!"

Luna looked about the scene, trying desperately to find a solution. She saw her guards all bound, save those who were still hidden in the crowd. She saw creatures of all kinds running around trying to find an escape from the eyes and tendrils that seemed to be everywhere. She saw Pinkie Pie trying desperately to put eye patches on all the eyes and keep the children calm. She saw Twilight, searching the chaos, looking small and frightened.

Luna turned on Sarah and unleashed a spell she had been saving for last resort. The power coursed down her horn straight at the daemonic looking creature. "SEE THE TRUTH!"

Author's Note:

Woot! Another Chapter done!
This chapter and the next were originally one long chapter but I felt the break here worked better. I know some of you wonderful readers are getting a little sick of the cliffhangers and if I could find a better chapter break I would use it but this is basically everything coming to a head in very short order.

I'm going to try and release this chapter and the next two in rapid succession so there won't be so much of the cliffhanger and wait.

Comments

[DJSkywalker]

They're right...he done goofed.

[The Slending Angel]

I need to ask... Is Sarah an OC, or is she from a VideoGame, or TV, or what?

[The Slending Angel]

5228085 Thanks.

[Sauron]

5182566
There is a fine line between being critical (in a positive way) and being nit-picky. Most of your corrections were fine, but labeling "Ok" as being grammatically incorrect crosses the line in my opinion. "O.K.", while correct, is not even the original notation; "OK" is the original (Dating back to 1840). Most Americans these days (I can't speak for English speakers of other nationalities) do not know that "OK" is an abbreviation of "Oll Korrect". "Okay" and "Ok" are both frequently used as if it was it was its own word. In fact, due to the fact that language is almost exclusively a means of communication, and the majority of English speakers understand what is being conveyed with the word "Ok", Ok is a de facto word in modern times. It is not even considered slang (like ain't) because its application is almost universal, being used worldwide, even in Non-English languages. Informing someone that their usage of "Ok" is incorrect is equivalent to informing the author than they should not use "you" to refer to singular persons and should use "thou" instead.

[redtau]

5228051 Timetraveling Pony is right, Sarah, Machina and D are OC.

I came up with the original concept for them over 20 years ago as a author insertion character. If you want more info on her or are interested in using her or ARCO in one of your own stories, please PM me.

[The Slending Angel]

5228141 Nah, I'm a shit writer. But, I appreciate the offer.

[Moon_Dew]

Cliffhanger, my mortal enemy, we meet again.

[Aziraphael]

I love Luna. She is best princess. But I swear, if she gets vindicated for how she's been acting since the start of the party I will be very disappointed.

[Kenshinryuu]

Applejack Bucking Apple Bloom's kidnapper... oh man that was good. I'm guessing those three unicorns were hired by Harold to lend credence to his story... or they're crazy cultists who honestly think Nightmare Moon should rule Equestria. Either way... all three win Darwin Awards. And Luna... GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR PLOT AND LISTEN TO WHAT SARAH IS SAYING AND NOT RUMORS!!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU FIRST CAME BACK FOR NIGHTMARE NIGHT AND YOU HATED IT!!!!
5228401 Yes, this whole thing screams "SET UP TO APPEAL TO YOUR FEARS!" it's practically using the Royal Canterlot Voice

[Mad Maudlin]

That spell should really bounce back on Luna, given that she's just an inch better than Harald here. And, uh, I think Sarah is seeing the truth pretty damn clearly here.

And I really hope someone kills Harald. It's fully justified. Both for his bushel of crimes and because, guess what? He, a noble of Equestria just tried to assassinate the ruler of a sovereign country and assaulted several of it's citizens. And he seems to have left his diplomatic immunity card in other pants. Luna's involvement in the internal matters of a foreign nation is also probably a violation of whatever they have for international law. I do hope Equestria is ready to pay reparations.

[Tek]

I have to admit I have to agree with Sarah's disappointment in Luna, she was the one who was willing in the past to give her a chance see past the bad press she had created for herself but now is just as blind as any other pony due to Harold's lies and I think associating her with Nightmare.

I also have to agree with Mad Maudlin, I definitely see that spell Luna just turned loose coming back to bite her and depending on the focus of the spell, many of the other guests in the flanks.

[Nightingalehound]

5228693 Killing him would be too easy, now the proper thing to do would be to geld him, brand him, and have him chained and collared so that he may serve the rest of his pathetic life as servant with no hope of ever being freed or having a lineage of any kind.

[Nightingalehound]

5228693 Also about luna violating it, yes she is. Celly is gonna be pissed.

[Dragonfox]

I have to say that this story is gitting better and better. Keep up the good job you are doing.

Dragonfox

[Cmnd Vanguard]

"See the truth"? ... Uh oh. Not only will this likely become something of an international incident, but I do believe that Sarah and Nightmare are about to get thoroughly mind-fucked.

Jeez Luna, you're getting pretty close to winning a minor Darwin Award yourself.

But then, what would that award be called? I don't think the "Social Darwinism" award counts, 'cause it wasn't coined by Darwin.

Y'know what, let's here what you guys think.

What would be the title of a "runner's up" Darwin Award?

Just for curiosity's sake.