Return of the Nightmare

Nxtl68 Presents:

Nightmare Returns
Based on woodentoaster and Micthemicrophone’s “Nightmare Night”

(A/N: The following fanfic contains moments of intense violence, coarse language, and some references to alcohol and drugs (tobacco). While not on the level of the other four most gruesome ponyfics of all time, this fic is still in no way intended to be read by younger bronies or pegasisters. Reader discretion is advised. )

Chapter 1: Return of the Nightmare

The warm spring breeze blew through the leaves of the trees just outside Ponyville as the metallic crank of an engine pierced through the calm.

Parked off to the side of a dirt path was a red and black transport truck. Attached to the back of the truck was a thirty foot trailer, with a red number 98 emblazoned on the side, outlined in gold. Inside the trailer was the speed-pony car made famous by Tornado Dash, one of the best colts in the Equestrian Pony Car Racing League (EPCR). He was coming from a visit to his cousin Rainbow Dash to celebrate his latest victory with friends and family, a party which featured dancing, music, and plenty of victory champagne. After a long sleep, and several cups of coffee, he was ready to return home to enjoy the two-week break before his next race.

However, before getting home to kick up his hooves and take a load off, he first had to get his truck working again. Under the truck, two red hooves and a long black tail hung under the front of the truck. Underneath, the red unicorn pony gripped a wrench in his mouth, his face and hooves splashed with grease as he tried to unstuck the crankshaft of his engine.
Although the truck was usually driven by another one of his team members, he had decided to drive his truck home from the latest race outside of Trootingham, through Ponyville to his home in Draftmane, the resting place for all Speed Pony Car racers. But now, a jammed crankshaft derailed his plans for rest.

“Next time, I’ll just walk to Ponyville,” the Speed Colt grumbled, using the small orb of light at the end of his horn to light the area under the truck. He sighed and slid from under the truck, wiping his forehead with his hoof. He levitated a rag from the tool box next to his tail and wipes his face and hooves with it, cleaning the grease from his body. He sighed, feeling parts of his thick black mane stuck to his body. Grease was hell to get out of pony hair, and tonight would mean another three hour shower cleaning the sticky substance from his fur.

After tossing the rag back into his tool box, he trotted around and hopped back into the cab of the truck. Using his magic, he turned the key while pressing his left hoof down on the clutch. With a throaty cough, the engine sputtered to life, the truck rumbling with the whirring of the machinery under its hood. Tornado smiled and banged his right hoof against the wheel in victory- he’d be home to Draftmane in no time! He cut the motor off and hopped out of the door. Closing the door behind him as he leapt out with a kick, he went to work packing up his tools…
…then it got dark.

That wasn't out of the ordinary; night time does happen. Princess Celestia raises the sun and the moon every day. However, the difference this time was the hour: it was 2:30, on the day of the Sunlight festival, the longest day of the year. Something was amiss.

“Oh…now what…” Tornado grumbled, flicking on the light from his horn, a faint red glow illuminating the area around him. He looked up, then gasped at the sight. The sky wasn’t illuminated by the billions of stars that normally dot the night sky. This time, the sky was blacked out, rolling clouds of smoke billowed across the heavens above, as if a super volcano had exploded and blotted out the sun with its clouds of ash.

Tornado gulped and felt a shiver run up his spine. He’d never seen the sky in so much turmoil. “W…what…is this?” Tornado whimpered to himself, his ears lying flat on top of his head.

Suddenly, a bright flash, followed by an earth shaking bang propelled the red colt forward, an intense heat searing at his back and hooves as he was thrown face forward into the dirt. It would be several minutes before Tornado Dash woke up, shaking off bits of earth and metal from his body as he struggled to stand. He turned around slowly, his jaw dropping at the site…

“What the…What the fuck?!" Tornado Dash’s prized Hauler, and the Speed Pony car inside of it, had been destroyed. The cab and top half of the trailer was opened up like a tin can, flames erupting from the inside. Around him, pieces of tools, trailer, and car where strewn all around him, some of the flaming debris sparking secondary fires, lighting the grass and trees around him a blaze.

Tornado shook his head, his heart sinking as his life’s work had been turned to dust in an instant. He felt a tear run down his cheek. He buried his head in his hooves and let out a soft cry. Six years of work…six years of toiling for long hours without sleep, driving for hours on end til the heat inside seared his hooves and sapped his strength, all for the perfect line, was gone. Destroyed, by pure chance. Who could have done this? Whose idea of a sick joke was this?

In the flames, a shadowy figure appeared. A tall, slender body which large wings spread outward across a space of seven feet could be seen growing with each step it took. Tornado looked up, wiping the tears from his eyes he saw the figure; staring at the silhouette behind the flames, he bared his teeth and let out a howl of anger.

“Celestia!” He roared, stomping towards the inferno. “If this is your idea of a sick joke, by the stars, I don’t care what you’re the ruler of!" He shouted, standing at the edge of the fire as the shadowy figure approached. Overcome by rage, he reared back on his rear hooves, drew back his left front hoof, and prepared to throw a punch. “I will break! Your! Ne…”

“Be gone!”

The powerful shout tossed the enraged colt back and for a second time, he flew end over end and landed on the ground with a hard thud, his head jerking upward as he impacted the ground.
“Is that anyway to talk to your Princess?” The stern voice booming through the clearing struck Tornado Dash’s ears like a hammer. He quickly covered his ears and looked in the direction of the fire once more. The sight made his heart sink.
Standing in front of him was not the majestic Princess of the day…but someone more sinister. A jet black pony loomed over him, wearing midnight blue armor emblazoned with the symbol of the Crescent moon. Her purple eyelids snapped open as she stood over him, revealing sky blue eyes, with pupils sharp like a cat’s, that transfixed on the Colt before her. The mare smiled in a devilish grin, her teeth appearing razor sharp as she sized up her foe.

“N..no…” Tornado leapt to his hooves, and began to back away.”You’re not real!” The mare before him was no deity of light. This was the maiden of the night, the pony mares told stories about to frighten young mares, this was the mare that had been imprisoned inside of the moon for her arrogance…this was…

“N…Nightmare Moon…” Tornado stuttered out, his tail dipped low, his ears flat against his head.

“So, you do remember me, mortal foal!” She snorted, her voice inflection lowered to normal speaking level, although it did little to put the red colt at ease. He jumped up and turned to gallop away. Tornado had to get away, run anywhere, away from this nightmare become real. He knew he wasn’t far from Ponyville, he could make it back in no time, get some help. The Royal guard was securing the town for Princess Celestia’s arrival, after all; they’d know what to do.

Tornado Dash would never get that far.

The goddess of the night dive bombed from above, landing perfectly in front of him on her front hooves. Before the colt could whoa up, he felt the sting of her rear hooves driven into his skull and chest, propelling him backwards, smashing hard against a tree, blood dripping from a newly opened gash on his head.

Nightmare Moon lowered her rear hooves and turned her body to face her first victim. She sighed; she had hoped to toy with him more, but this pony had fallen all too soon. She approached him slowly, wisps of purple smoke surrounding her hoof steps as she approached her prey. Dark red rivulets of blood stained his fur and mane; pieces of bark from the tree were embedded in his back from the force of impact. She snorted in disgust and her horn flickered with light. A magical field enveloped the downed colt and pulled the lifeless pony into the air, where he would be eye level with the princess.

“So…what was that about breaking something of mine?” She let out a chuckle and turned her head, throwing the Colt against another tree. A sick crack could be heard as the bones of his right front hoof snapped in half against the tree. The impact woke Tornado Dash, his first breath thrust out of his lungs in the form of a high pitched wine. He was brought back to consciousness just in time to feel a horn pierce his side, ripping through his ribs, and puncturing his lungs. The pony let out a gurgled cry and looked down, his eyes meeting the evil stare of the moon goddess. She shook her head to and fro, violently shaking her captive’s body like a rag doll before tossing him to the ground, a trail of blood following his body’s trajectory to the ground.

“You insolent foal!” Tornado heard Nightmare speak as she approached his battered body. “You have some nerve attacking a Canterlot Princess, but you have only sealed your death.”

“Y…you're no Princess…” Tornado mustered the strength to speak and struggled to stand on shakey hooves, blood leaking down his sides and staining the grass beneath him. If these would be his last words, he’d make them count— by telling the “princess” just how he felt about her. “Y-you’re a t-traitorous.…b-itch!”

Nightmare Moon snorted, her eyes filled with rage as she let out an ear shattering whinny; she raised her hoofs in the air, hell bent on crushing the arrogant colt under hoof.

Suddenly, a rainbow-colored streak darted in from above, and slamming down on Nightmare Moon’s head, pinning her to the dirt. Two more ponies then leapt from the trees, one an orange earth pony, the other a yellow pegasus. The orange pony rammed Nightmare Moon in the side, knocking her off her hoofs and onto the ground. This distraction held long enough for the yellow pegasus to apply a quick medical patch to Tornado’s wound, then pull him away into the darkness of night.

Nightmare Moon pulled her head from the dirt just as the four ponies disappeared out of sight. Tornado Dash had escaped her wrath…for now. But the Mare in the Moon only smirked as she looked upon the inferno raging around her. After a thousand years, the flames from this blaze were just the beginning of what she has been planning for 1000 lonely years.

End Chapter 1

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