“So that's really your name?”
“Yeah,” the filly – whose name was apparently Apple Bloom – whispered. “How'd she know?”
Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Your name's really Scootaloo? What kind of name is that? It doesn't even mean anything.”
“Hey!” Scootaloo frowned.
Quickly, Apple Bloom leaned in and pointed towards the center of the throne room. “What's she doing?”
Standing where Apple Bloom had pointed was Nightmare Moon, scratching at the cobblestone floor with a single hoof. The scraping of hoof on stone made a grating noise that hung in the air.
“I don't know,” Scootaloo whispered back. “But she's been doing it for a long time now.”
“Maybe she's polishing the floor,” Sweetie suggested.
Scootaloo scoffed. “That's just stupid. Why would she do that?”
“Hey! I was only guessing.”
Nightmare Moon scraped the ground again. She spoke without turning, her regal voice carrying through the whole expanse of the room.
“I am looking for the Elements.”
The fillies jumped, but Nightmare Moon continued unperturbed.
Scrape.
“My sister hid them somewhere here before our last battle, as a way to surprise me with their presence. They are still here – I can sense them.”
Scrape.
“The only thing I don't know is the method to reveal them from their hiding place.”
Scrape.
“It must have been something simple – some switch, or minor cantrip. She could not have expected me to give her a chance for anything more complicated than that.”
A small voice piped up.
“How could you do this to your own sister?”
The other fillies started. “Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom hissed. “What are you doin'? Are you tryin' to make her mad?”
Nightmare paused in her search, and turned to regard the small white unicorn. The filly didn't flinch under the Princess' gaze, her own face scrunched up in foallike determination.
“You talked about how much that poison hurt her, and you were laughing about it! Even if she did trap you on the moon, you were the one who made her do it. You tried to cause eternal night. You're still trying to cause it! How can you hate your own sister that much?”
The room was still for a moment. Nightmare Moon's mane flickered silently in the darkness.
“... Do you love your sister?”
“Of course I do!” Sweetie Belle replied. “She's my sister!”
Nightmare nodded. “A sister can be a wonderful thing, if you love her, and she is good. She is somepony who will be around you for a great deal of your life. A good sister is a blessing.”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said. “Mah sister's always lookin' out for me!”
“She can bring you comfort, when times are tough. Companionship. She can be a strength for you, when you have none.” Nightmare tilted her head. “Your sisters are older than you, yes? Mine is as well. I know well how much a sister can help you grow, and be happy.”
“Then why?” Scootaloo asked. “Why are you fighting with her?”
“That is what a sister can be, at the best of times. But a strong sister may not always be a blessing.”
Nightmare looked each filly in the eye in turn.
“You are young yet. Still, I think you two, at least, who have sisters of your own, may already understand how suffocating it can be to have someone older than you, so alike you in many ways, but better, simply because they have had more time to get better in. Just a year or two more experience; not much, in the long run. But they will always be ahead of you by those years, and there is nothing you can do about it. And the better your sister is, the worse it gets.”
Scootaloo frowned.
Nothing Nightmare was saying was making any sense. A sister would be great to have, especially if it were somepony as awesome as Rainbow Dash.
But Scootaloo didn't have one herself.
She glanced at the other two, wondering if there was some speck of truth to Nightmare's words.
Apple Bloom was staring up at the Princess with a look of confusion. Her frown was much like Scootaloo's, and the pegasus could tell that Apple Bloom had no idea what Nightmare was talking about either.
But Sweetie Belle flinched.
“It was years before I rebelled,” Nightmare continued. “Hundreds of years ruling beside my sister, and many years before that as well. I was always with her, everywhere we went. You three are young; you cannot begin to understand the length of the time I'm speaking of. And my sister... My sister was a genius.”
“I loved her, of course.” Nightmare scoffed. “She was wonderful. Braver and stronger than I was, and she always managed to keep us safe, no matter what brainless scheme we came up with. And she was beautiful, too, and kind. She was always looking out for me. How could I not love her? Everypony did. And she loved them back.”
“Every. Single. One.”
Nightmare scowled.
“Did you know that was the reason sunglasses were invented? It was. Three ponies – a pegasus, an earthpony and a unicorn – grew so enamored with my sister that they decided they wanted to be able to look at her Sun, so that they could admire it without being blinded. They made it a challenge among themselves.”
“The unicorn devised a spell that strengthened his eyes. It took a lot of time and effort to cast, and, of course, only a unicorn could use it, but the spell was very clever, as was the pony who made it. From his testings, he devised a way to limit the body's sensations, and so came up with spells that would be used as medicinal anesthetics for centuries to come.”
“The pegasus tried packing thin clouds together to screen the Sun's rays. It didn't work as well as she had hoped, but in the process she happened to discover the secret of making and distilling rainbows, revolutionizing the weather industry in a way no other discovery has done before or since.”
“The earthpony was a glassblower, and she set about making dark glass lenses to see through. It took a lot of tries, and most of the glasses she made were either too light for the Sun, or too dark to see through at all. She gave away all of her failures. By the time she succeeded, everypony and their mother was wearing a pair.”
“And all this happened because they loved Celestia, whose Sun was hard to look at.”
Nightmare whirled round, and began to pace.
“Why? Why did they go to such great lengths for her, while my night, with the wonderful, gentle colors and swirls and eddies of its stars, and the radiant majesty of the Moon, went unnoticed? I worked for them. I built the sky for them to watch. I strove to protect them from the dangers of this world just as much as my sister did. But they strove for her, rather than trust in me enough to brave the darkness. Why did they love her so?”
She lifted a hoof before her face. Her foreleg trembled. Her muscles were taught beneath her skin, and her voice sank to a whisper.
“I would have protected them...”
The room was quiet.
Sweetie Belle stood up.
“T- that's it?” she cried. “You hate your sister because she's better than you? That's just – just stupid. You're stupid! You can't just go and beat up ponies because your sister is good at things, or pretty, or, or a-anything... You can't...”
Her voice trailed off. The others said nothing.
Scootaloo glanced back and forth between Sweetie and the Princess as the two stared at each other.
Nightmare's face was impassive.
Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to be sick.
Then, all of a sudden, Nightmare's ears perked up. She glanced around.
“Well well. It seems that your little rescue party was more resourceful than I gave them credit for. To think that they would actually be able to best an Ursa Major. Which of them do you think that was, I wonder?”
Scootaloo jumped. “Rainbow Dash! I knew she could do it! She could totally take an Ursuhmay thingy or whatever.”
Apple Bloom squinted, and held a hoof to her chin. “What's an Ursa Major?”
“Woah...” Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. “An Ursa Major is really, really dangerous. Rarity is always complaining about how she can't get any quality replica fur, because the actual fur is too hard to get. She has to make it herself...”
“Indeed,” Nightmare said. “Anypony who can get past an enraged Ursa is worth watching.”
Her horn shone, and a circle of color formed in the air. In it, the fillies could see the image of a forest path.
“Let's just take a look at our little adventurers, shall we?”
Murmurs and whispers of voices came through the screen. The fillies leaned forward in spellbound silence as the voices became clear.
A pink pony bounced into view of the scrying spell.
“... think it's obvious that I should have been the one to win the Cake Day eat-off, but Celestia totally got a head start on me, and I just couldn't make up the lost time. I mean, she eats really fast!”
“Ah,” Nightmare mused. “A pony who knows my sister personally.”
“That's Pinkie Pie!” Sweetie Belle said. “She visited us this morning.”
“Are we just giving up the whole 'hide the name' thing?” Scootaloo asked.
“Pinkie, it's not that I don't believe you,” came another voice, as a purple unicorn walked into frame. “I just can't imagine the Princess of Equestria devouring an entire cake in one sitting.”
“Isn't that the librarian?” Apple Bloom asked. “Twilight Somethin'? What's she doin' here?”
Scootaloo sighed. “Yeah, we've given up the whole 'hide the name' thing.”
Another voice spoke out as a pegasus wrapped in a cloak floated in through the undergrowth.
“The world is a cruel place, Twilight. Even the Princess herself has her sins. Sometimes it's the ones we think are the best among us who are willing to eat an entire cake.”
“Rainbow Dash,” a new voice said, “I find it difficult to tell if that is your usual cynicism showing through, or if you are simply making fun of Twilight's unwillingness to admit the Princess might have such a harmless flaw as a bit of yearly self-indulgence.”
Rainbow smirked. “Can't it be both?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cheered.
“Is that Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She's actually here? To save me?”
“Of course she is,” Apple Bloom nodded. “That's what sisters do for each other.”
A yellow pegasus walked into frame, softly chiding her flying companion.
“Rainbow, I think you've hurt Twilight's feelings.”
Rainbow Dash glanced over at the librarian. Twilight was walking stiffly at a brisk pace, trying to keep at the head of the party.
“It's alright, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “It's just – a little friendly teasing. I just haven't been around many ponies with different views from mine, that's all. I'll be fine.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy mumbled. “Um. Okay...”
“Oh, come on,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't be talking about things I don't know. Hay, maybe the Princess really is an angel. Maybe she doesn't eat whole cakes at a time.”
“She does~” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“It's alright, Rainbow,” Twilight said, not turning around. “You're entitled to your own opinion.”
“No, it's not alright.” Rainbow sighed. “Come on. Look at me.” She drifted over until she was in front of Twilight, who stopped and looked away.
“I shouldn't be making fun of you like that right now, especially if you're not used to it. It's distracting you, and that could get you killed. That's not worth taking out some random aggression on you for.”
Twilight stared at her for a moment. Then she nodded. “That's very mature of you, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow smirked. “What, I apologize to you and you call me old? What kind of a 'thank you' is that? Sheesh, and ponies wonder why I'm all doom and gloom all the time.”
Twilight blinked. Then she started to laugh.
“Hey,” Pinkie said. “Does anypony know where Applejack is?”
“See?” Apple Bloom asked, waving to Sweetie Belle. “Applejack's here, just like I told you she would be!”
“It would seem you were all correct,” Nightmare chuckled. “Your idols must care for you a great deal.”
Back in the woods, the five ponies searched frantically around them for a few instants. Then there was a snap from above the area of the trail they had just walked past. With a cry of alarm, an orange earthpony swung down to dangle from a vine wrapped around one hindleg, her head just inches above the forest floor. Her stetson fell off to the ground beneath her.
Apple Bloom blushed as Scootaloo hid a grin.
“Yeah, she's coming to save you, alright.”
“Applejack!” Rarity cried. “Are you okay?”
“Daggum it,” Applejack growled. She struggled uselessly to reach her bindings. “No! It's like this whole forest is tryin' tah kill me.”
“That's a Snare Vine,” Twilight observed. “Colloquially known by the less tasteful title 'Hanging Vine'. How did that lift you off the ground? They normally trap smaller creatures – ones around the size of a rabbit, or a common snipe.”
“Well it helps if'n there's about six of them,” Applejack frowned, crossing her forelegs in midair.
Rainbow Dash was struggling not to laugh. “How did you manage to set off six of them at once?” she asked.
“Ah don't know, okay? It just happened. Now can one of you get me down? Mah head's startin' to get heavy...”
The other fillies laughed as Apple Bloom stared crestfallen at the scene in front of her. Quietly, Nightmare Moon stepped away from the little group.
'This is the team arrayed against me?' She asked herself. 'An agent of my sister and a warrior of some reported skill, I can see as reasonable. But a librarian, an armorer, a soft-spoken mare and a clumsy farmer?'
Nightmare shook her head. 'No. They cleared the Ursa, somehow. Let that be proof enough of their quality. It would not do to underestimate any of these mares, no matter how meek their appearance may be.'
Nightmare strode up the steps to the dais in front of the thrones, where she began to carve a rune into the stone floor. Lighting crackled from her glowing horn, melting a pattern that began to glow both with heat and its own mysterious light.
“If this is the path they choose to take,” she declared, “then let it lead them nowhere but trouble. We will see how they handle something more... unorthodox.”
I was so tempted while I was writing this to put in all sorts of references with the whole cake scene.
This is an actual excerpt of what I was typing before I edited it out.
4267149
You sir are a genius. Though, I can see why you may not want to put that in, because not a lot of people might get the reference.
4267191
Heh, which one? There are at least three.
(I'm guessing it's not the first one, because that's pretty famous. So was it the one about eggs, or the one about code names?)
Yeah, I'm trying to steer away from putting in obvious references to popular culture in this story, just on principle. It makes things feel less serious because it reminds the reader that it's just a story, and that's not really the type of humor I want for this story in particular.
But sometimes they're so much fun just to think about!
4267149
Ever hear of this one?
fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/64745.png?1353470399
4267315
Oh yeah, I've seen it before. That one's great!
The longer I stare at it, the funnier it gets!
Yay! New Chapter!
In the main universe, the Elements were exposed and had obviously been for some time. Are you assuming here that this got butterflied? That, perhaps, because the Everfree was more hostile and hence getting to the Castle might be more difficult, Celestia hid the Elements?
Nightmare Moon seems pretty non-hostile to the (ones who would in the main universe become the) Cutie Mark Crusaders. Is this because, save with regards to her major purpose and effective opposition to same, she's not really all that evil? My NMM would have behaved pretty much the same way as yours: logic being that the controlling Shadow would see absolutely no point in wasting its psychic energies trying to overcome Luna's fairly strong compunctions against directly murdering innocent little fillies, and hence not bother to do so.`
Compare with the way Chrysalis acts toward the CMC's in The Return of Chrysalis -- she pretty much wants to kill them "just because" even though she doesn't actually hurt them (because she wants them as hostages and lures). Difference is that Chrysalis really is evil to the core, while Nightmare Moon is some combination of insane or possessed, depending on who you asked, and Luna herself is inherently good. It's a fairly clear demonstration of the distinction between Affably Evil (Nightmare Moon) and Evilly Affable (Chrysalis). It's also a matter of A Million Is a Statistic -- I think it's harder for the Nightmare to push Luna into killing three little fillies right in front of her than to push her into killing most of the population of an entire planet if she doesn't have to watch it personally.
Luna's conversation with the (almost) CMC's about sisterhood is one of the best parts of this chapter.
The argument between Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow over the degree of Celestia's gluttony was hilarious. For what it's worth, my version of Celestia suffered considerable loneliness during the millennium of Luna's exile and manifested various personality disorders at various points, though she always pulled herself back from the brink of going full-on Nightmare or going crazy in some of the other ways such as becoming Tyrantlestia or Molestia. Gluttony was one of the least of her worries, though there were periods in which her weight oscillated all over the place from bouts of gluttony followed by anorexia.
My Celestia can't really die from any plausible degree of overeating (she regenerates any damage caused by cardiovascular failures) or starvation (she can if necessary electrolyze hydrogen from water and fuse it internally to produce energy), but she can become alarmingly fat or thin if she ceases to care about her appearance. She can range from a sort of vaguely equine blob with a head at one end and legs sticking out of it, to something that looks almost undead.
Oh, and I liked the Snare Vines.
4271761
The way the elements are hidden is supposed to be the same as how Celestia had them stored until she deployed them in the episode Princess Twilight Sparkle Part II.The decision to hide them again rather than just leave them out in the open was not a large one, and probably had mostly to do with making sure that they weren't disturbed. The difference between here and canon is as simple as flipping a switch. Mostly I decided to make it that way because having the elements hidden helps to set up some future events.
Of course, look back over how things went in canon, I've realized that the elements were not in the throne room as I have hinted; either I'll have to make some edits to move which room the ponies are in in the castle, or Nightmare Moon is looking in the entirely wrong room.
Like you've said, Nightmare Moon has no reason to actively wish to harm the CMC. This version of her in particular has stated that she desires only the admiration of her subjects; she was being perfectly sincere when she said that. She's not so far gone as to think hurting them would help matters any.
She is, however, insane enough to think that all she needs to do to make ponies love her is get rid of Celestia. She also just doesn't realize that a world without a Sun would die; ponies might be able to get through to her later, as things start to get really bad, but it would be very, very hard to convince her that wasn't just your idolization of Celestia talking.
I'm glad you like the conversation! It's important to the story that it happens, but I was worried that I was laying on the exposition a bit too thick at parts of it.
I've actually written a little one-shot about the very first Cake Day, which shows how Pinkie is directly responsible for both the holiday and Celestia's enthusiastic participation in it. I'd like to post it, but I'd also like to add a second chapter to it showing Luna's reaction to discovering the whole debacle, and that would have spoilers for the story. I'll probably wait until that's no longer the case.
4290314
Oh, it's a totally-trivial matter. In fact I thought the exposed and abandoned condition of the Elements in The Elements of Harmony was kind of strange, and had Luna think long and hard about this in Nightmares Are Tragic. I also think that the incredibly good condition of the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters and its contents, in canon, require some explanation. My explanation for both is that Princess Celestia cast some powerful preservative spells on the place before letting it lie untenanted for centuries.
I was writing something meant to be consistent with what's shown in canon, you're doing an Alternate Universe and as you point out the precise positioning of the Elements was dependent on Celestia's own decisions -- and she could have decided differently. It's a far more minor difference than her choosing Pinkie Pie instead of Twilight Sparkle as her apprentice!
(*nods*) ... and it's true in canon that Princess Luna likes children. In Nightmares Are Tragic, when Luna realizes that she's terrifying Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo this realization comes close to triggering an early rebellion against the Nightshadow -- it has to clamp down on her to retain control. It's definitely a "Wait, I'm not that kind of pony" kind of moment.
Her name is Apple Bloom, actually. Pedantic I know, but it bugs me.
4485617
Blaugh! And after all the trouble I went to to make sure I got Big McIntosh right, too.
I've gone back and changed the names.
... I still like Applebloom better though.
I like Apple Bloom