Cutie Mark Crusaders Nightmares, Yay!

by LostUmbrella

Chapter 11

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in horror as the cloud enveloped Sweetie Belle, soon followed by her pained screams.
As the sickening mist started to be absorbed by the filly's body, her head shot back towards the sky, tears streaming profusely from the emerald pools of raw magic that were her eyes and down her cheeks, as her coat darkened till it was the same color of anthracite, her mane following a similar fate turning coal black and deep purple. When the last strand of mist disappeared, the screaming ceased, but Sweetie did not move a muscle except from closing her eyes, stopping the tears too.
All in all, it took just a couple of minutes, five at best, but for Rainbow they had been five painfully long minutes in which she could only stare powerless at her friend's little sister suffer.

"S-Sweetie?" tentatively asked the pegasus landing in front of the filly.

The unicorn moved her mouth, but produced no sound at all.

"Did you say something? Sweetie, talk to me, please!"

"I won," said the other, in a voice that wasn't her own nor was Nightmare Moon's, but a mixed up dissonance of the two, a two toned nightmare in Rainbow's hears.

The cyan mare, hears splayed back, took a couple of steps away from Sweetie, as she retook a normal stance and fixed her reptilian eyes on her.

"What is it? Rainbow Dash, daredevil, is scared of a filly!" teased the nightmare laughing evilly "You're pathetic, you all are, and that's why I have won."

Rainbow shook her head to clear her mind, then, wearing an angry frown, said: "You may have a filly's face, but you're a monster at heart."

"Then come, show me you're not weak!"

Rainbow shoot like a bullet towards the nightmare, who didn't even try to dodge, ending up pinning the filly to the ground, a hoof raised and ready to hit. A hit that never came.

"See? I told you: weak and pathetic," laughed the nightmare.

A second later, her horn lit up and the pegasus was sent flying by an emerald blast.

"I'd love to keep chatting with you," said the nightmare slowly pacing towards the point where her opponent had fallen "But you're a nuisance, and as such you must be eliminated."

A golden beam made the ground in front of her explode, forcing her to back down and shield herself with a hoof.

"Surrender Nightmare Moon, and release the filly!" commanded the booming voice of princess Luna as she, her sister, and an hot air balloon carrying the remaining elements of harmony landed near Rainbow.

"Luna, Celestia and the elements of harmony, all came to witness my victory!" laughed the filly "Yet Nightmare Moon now sounds off... I must choose a new name... Nightmare Belle? Nah, lame..."

None of the mares' expressions changed, all of them frowning in anger except Rarity, whose worry for her sister was more than evident.

"There is no victory here for you, nor there will be in the future!" sternly said Celestia.

"Then what would you do? Use the elements?" asked the nightmare, her bravado unchanged.

"Ya can bet on it!" said Applejack "Com' on girls, let's take our Sweetie back!"

"Are you sure?" asked the filly in an uncaring tone "I fail to see how killing this girl will bring her back to you."

"Nice try nightmare, but we know the elements won't harm Sweetie!" said Twilight with a confident grin.

"Yes, I know that, I was there too, remember?" said the filly inspecting one of her forehooves "I'm talking about the fact that I'm fusing my life essence with hers... An alicorn can survive, maybe even one of you, but this filly..."

"She's certainly lying to avoid being attacked," said Rainbow "She knows the elements are our only option!"

"Maybe, but we have no mean to know if it's true," said Twilight, disgust in her voice.

"We can't risk: it's my Sweetie!" implored Rarity.

"As I was saying, Celestia, it's my win," laughed the filly "Hey, what do you think of Nightmare Toll? Pretty cool, uh?"

In that moment her left forehoof jabbed her face in the left eye, as if it had its own will. Around the impact point, Nightmare's coat looked cracked, revealing Sweetie white fur and a normal looking emerald eye.

"Sis, it's me, Sweetie!" said the filly in her own voice "You have to use the elements!"

"You stupid little foal!" said Nightmare pressing a hoof on the rejuvenated eye, the fur rapidly darkening once more "How did you pull that stunt?"

There was no reply from the body owner.

"Good," said the filly turning to regard the mares "What was I saying? Hey, what's with that look?"

The element bearers didn't answer, instead they started floating, rainbow hued treads linking them. They all looked determined to end that story.

"Wait, you can't do that!" said the nightmare "Think of the filly!"

Rarity offered her sister a graceful smile, then she answered the nightmare: "We do."

And with that, a stream of every color of the spectrum surged from them to crash on the filly.

"No, not this again!" screamed the nightmare, absolute fear in her voice.

When the light died down, Sweetie Belle was lying on the ground, her normal color scheme restored. She was unconscious, but alive. Almost immediately Rarity was hugging her.
Over them, the ominous purple mist that was the nightmare flowed in the light breeze.

"This will be the last time we hear of you, parasite!" said Celestia in a harsh tone.

The cloud tried to float away, but soon found its gaseous form trapped between four silvery walls.
That day, the bearers of the elements witnessed Celestia's wrath, in the form of a blazing pillar of searing golden light and scorching crimson flames falling from the sky on the nightmare, freeing Equestria from its race.
Around five minutes later, Sweetie woke up and shared a long hug with her sister. Then an idea struck her mind. Her eyes flew down on her flank and...

"OH, COME ON!" she shouted staring at her still blank flank "What does a filly needs to do to get a cutie mark?"

At those words, everypony else shared a much needed heartfelt laugh.

"What?" she asked "Did I say something funny?"

---

Sweetie Belle entered her room and wobbly made her way towards the night stand where she started preparing for the night.
It had been an exhausting day: the changelings, the fake princess, the wedding and the party after it!
And now she was so tired she could almost fall asleep right there.
She walked away from the mirror and placed herself in her bed, where she immediately drifted to sleep.
Had she been less sleepy, she would probably have noticed that something was off... Like the image in the mirror, who was still standing there, watching her sleep with her emerald, reptilian eyes.
She moved her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out, then went to bed mirroring Sweetie's position.

"Soon," she had said "Very soon."

Author's Note:

So here we are, that's the end, thank you all for all your wonderful support

As I had previously stated, the last part is a bridge to the upcoming sequel, which will be released in a month maybe, but don't take that for granted, it might take a bit longer.

Anyway, see you all soon folks

Comments

[PiMan]

If that's the end, why is the fic still marked as incomplete?

[LostUmbrella]

3834950

Because, my dear friend, I forgot to change the status XD

Thanks for letting me notice

[Kenshinryuu]

This was an interesting story, I do wish the telepathy had stayed, that was useful. But can Scootaloo still fly without Night's power and is Applebloom still strong enough to buck apples???

[LostUmbrella]

4639849

Well, those were boons given by Nightmare, so they're gone with her influence. Yet, since those are things pretty normal for pegasi and earth ponies (or at least for The Apple family XD) they will be able to once again after growing a bit

[Kenshinryuu]

4640941 good, because letting Scootaloo fly and then taking that away from her permanantly would be pure evil of you.

[Kichi]

Liked it, not many stories with corrupted crusaders, even if it leave a open ending