Equestria Part Two: Welcome to Ponyville
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
My Little Pony
I used to wonder what friendship could be
My Little Pony
Until you all shared its magic with me
Big adventure
Tons of fun!
A beautiful heart
Faithful and strong
Sharing kindness
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete!
Yeah, my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?
No matter what, you’re all my very best friends!
Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
Equestria Part Two: Welcome to Ponyville
“Um, guys? Maybe you shouldn’t be touching that. I mean, it’s hooked up to the mirror that leads back home,” Smog said.
Nightmare and Sunset glanced at each other and backed away from the mirror with sheepish smiles. “You’re probably right Smog,” Nightmare said. She stomped her hoof in determination and said, “Right, enough dawdling! It’s time we start looking for my Element! Even if we run the risk of facing whatever unspeakable horrors this world may contain, we march forwards to reclaim my Element of Power and restore order to Everfree! Are you guys with me?!”
Smog raised his claw and Sunset raised her hoof. “Yeah!”
“I can’t hear you!”
“YEAH!” Smog and Sunset shouted.
“Alright then! Let’s move out!” Nightmare declared as she marched towards the library’s exit.
Sunset lowered her hoof and giggled. “That was silly.”
“Fun though. You gotta appreciate these moments when Nightmare gets overdramatic,” Smog chuckled.
Nightmare reached out with her magic to open the door, when someone else pushed the door open first. “Excuse me? Who’s shouting in here? You can’t be in here without permission from Princess Twilight…Spark…” A pegasus stallion stood in the open doorway, staring at them. He had a bright orange coat and a sapphire blue mane and tail. But the strangest thing was that he still had a cutie mark, in the form of a lightning bolt over a blue shield. He also wore a brighter version of the royal guard uniform.
“Oh good, they have a version of Princess Twilight,” Nightmare said cheerfully. She cleared her throat and said to the stallion, “Hello there. We’re here to see Princess Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Sunset Shimmer and Smog. My name is-”
“Nightmare Moon!” the stallion shouted.
“Oh, you know who I am too? Good, then we can – Hey!” Nightmare shouted as the stallion flapped his wings and launched himself towards Nightmare, tackling her to the ground. Nightmare responded by blasting the stallion off of her with her magic. “What was that for?!”
“Ponyfeathers! I can’t beat Nightmare Moon all by myself,” the stallion growled. He turned around and made a break for the door. “Princess Twilight! HELP! Invaders in the library! Nightmare Moon-”
“Stop him!” Sunset hissed as her horn glowed with power. Nightmare was already ahead of her as her horn glowed too. The two mares grabbed the stallion in their magic and pulled him back into the library, slamming him against the wall. While Nightmare shut the doors with her magic and put a barrier on them, Sunset pinned the guard down with her magic. “We need to restrain him!”
“Ooh, how about this? Someone left this in the corner,” Smog said as he held up a lasso.
“Perfect.” Sunset grabbed the lasso from Smog with her magic and used it to tie the guard up. Once the long rope was tightly wrapped around his legs she nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Smog, make sure he doesn’t shout.”
Smog clapped both of his claws over the stallion’s mouth, then grimaced at the guard’s attempts to make him let go. “Okay buddy, that’s pointless and gross. I’ve got thick scales so you can bite my claws all you want but you don’t get to talk until these mares say so. Got it?”
Nightmare sighed in relief. “Okay, possible threat neutralized. Good work team. Now…” She leaned towards the stallion and glared at him. “I’m sorry about this, but in my defense you attacked first and we really can’t have you shouting for the guards.”
“Why would he even do that?” Smog asked. “And what’s with calling us intruders?”
“This is an alternate world guys,” Sunset reminded them. “Things aren’t the same here as they are in our world. I mean, maybe in this world we never beat Eternal Twilight and she conquered the world. This royal guard probably works for her.”
“But he said Princess Twilight. Doesn’t that mean she’s good here?” Smog asked.
“Oh sure. Like being a princess automatically makes you good,” Sunset said sarcastically. “There have been evil princesses before, Smog.”
Smog rolled his eyes. “Mostly in fairytales but I get your point.”
“Still, we’re actually pretty fortunate that someone attacked us this early. Think about it, we were just going to charge into another world without any kind of plan,” Nightmare said. “But now, we can learn more about this world from one of its inhabitants. We just need to make sure this stallion cooperates.” She spoke to the guard next. “We had no intention of hurting you when we came to this world. However we are on an extremely important mission. If you could just answer some questions for us, we promise we’ll let you go.”
Sunset’s horn glowed as a thin beam of magic snaked out and wrapped around the stallion. “I’ve just put a spell on your vocal cords that has now altered your voice. If you shout, scream or even talk too loudly, well…it’s not going to be pretty. Smog, you can let him speak now.” Smog nodded and removed his claws, wiping them clean on his legs.
The stallion glared at them. “I don’t know what trick you’re trying to pull, but you won’t get away with it! I won’t let you hurt anypony!”
Smog raised an eyebrow. “Anypony? Ugh, they still do that here?”
“Let’s start off simple. You know our names. What’s your name?” Nightmare asked.
The stallion glared at them but answered the question. “Flash Sentry.”
“Nice to meet you Flash. Now then, you called for Princess Twilight. Are you one of her guards?” Nightmare asked.
“No, I’m just here because Princess Cadance ordered me to housesit Princess Twilight’s castle while she and her friends were away. Princess Twilight returned yesterday but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ordered me to stay here a little longer because they sensed something strange happen in this castle last night and they wanted another set of eyes,” Flash answered.
Smog’s eyes widened. “Four princesses? Bleh! I think I’m starting to see why King Sombra doesn’t like the princess title.” He noticed Nightmare giving him a small glare and quickly added, “Oh but you make a great princess Nightmare!”
“Wait? King Sombra? He’s back too? Oh this just gets worse and worse!” Flash cried.
Nightmare frowned. “Why? What’s wrong with King Sombra?”
“And while we’re at it, what’s wrong with Princess Nightmare Moon? Why’d you attack her?” Sunset asked.
Flash glared at them. “King Sombra was a tyrant who used dark magic to enslave the crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire, before he was defeated by Princess Cadance, Sir Spike, and the light and love of the crystal ponies.”
Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog stared at Flash before they glanced at each other and burst into laughter.
Flash blinked. “What? Why are you laughing?”
Sunset chuckled. “Because that’s ridiculous! King Sombra would never enslave anyone! And what’s this about the ‘light and love’ defeating him? That’s just silly!”
“It’s the truth!” Flash said. He glared at Nightmare and said, “As for you, Nightmare Moon is a wicked mare of darkness who tried to take over Equestria and plunge the whole world into eternal night!”
Nightmare smirked at him in amusement, although she didn’t laugh this time. “Now that’s just even more ridiculous. The whole eternal night thing is nothing more than a recurring daydream that I’ve had since I was a kid.”
Flash stared at her in disbelief. “What? You…don’t want eternal night?”
Nightmare shrugged. “Well I’d like eternal night, but I understand that other ponies wouldn’t be happy if the sun disappeared forever. So no, I’m not going to shroud the land in eternal night.”
Flash’s jaw dropped. “What? B-but you’re Nightmare Moon! That’s all you want! You’re a monster! You hurt Princess Luna! You-”
Flash gulped as Nightmare’s magic wrapped around his head and levitated him up to meet her furious glare. “Not another word, you stupid foal. The King Sombra I know is a kind and generous ruler. I’m not a monster and I would NEVER hurt Luna. I would rather rip my own wings off than ever let anyone hurt my mom.”
Flash stared at her, completely flabbergasted. “Mom? Princess Luna isn’t your mom!”
Nightmare’s horn and eyes glowed with cold fury as she blasted Flash with a powerful sleep spell that knocked him out cold.
Smog shook his head at the sleeping Flash. “What a weirdo.”
“No kidding,” Sunset said. “What are you doing?” she asked as Nightmare touched her horn to his head.
“Part of my studies in magic. The king and princess have been teaching me a few new spells they thought might be useful in the future,” Nightmare explained. “Princess Twilight taught me a memory spell and I’ve been playing around with it just in case any of you lost your memories due to magical amnesia or something equally crazy. I can also use it to remove certain memories.”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “Nightmare, you can’t just mess with a person’s mind like that!”
Nightmare smiled at her. “Why not, I’ve done it before. Whenever you or Smog is having a bad dream I alter your mind to make the nightmare go away.” She turned back to Flash. “All I’m doing is removing the last…let’s say twenty minutes of his memory, just to be safe. I’ll create a small memory of him taking a break and falling asleep. We’ll untie him and when he wakes up, he’ll have no idea we were even here. And that’s ALL I’m doing to him, nothing more.”
Sunset frowned. “Okay…that does sound pretty minor. But let’s avoid doing this in the future from now on, okay? I think having the power to control people would become too tempting for us.”
Smog snorted. “Oh please. Now you’re sounding like Paranoid Sentry here. We’re NOT evil.”
“Unfortunately, the other people here might not know that,” Nightmare said as she used her magic to untie Flash and throw the rope away. “Now maybe Flash here is just delusional but he seemed convinced that the Nightmare Moon of this world was evil. I might need a disguise or something.”
“Did someone say disguise?!” Discord said as he poked his head through the mirror. He poked his eagle claw out and tossed them a bag of supplies. “One Bag of Disguises, on the house!”
Nightmare smiled. “Thanks Discord.”
“No problem Nightie!” Discord’s head twisted around to look at the machine attached to the mirror. “Ooh! What’s this thing do? Hey!” He glared at the mirror. “There’s no need to pull on my tail Chrysalis! Ow! Fine, I’m coming!”
Nightmare chuckled as Discord vanished back into the mirror. She then turned to the bag and unzipped it with her magic. She stuck her hoof inside, pushing back glasses, wigs, hats, cloaks, and other silly disguise pieces. Her eyes widened as she found something. “Ooh, this looks good.” She looked up and smiled at her friends. “Remember when Aunt Celestia was still pretending to be the unicorn Heavenly Sunrise? She used a gold vest to keep her wings folded up.” She levitated a purple vest out of the bag and showed it to them.
Sunset examined the vest and smiled. “Go for it. If Rarity was here she’d say the purple would look good on you.”
Nightmare nodded before she got focused on changing. She removed the pieces of her armor and tucked them into the bag. She then folded her wings and slipped the vest on. “A little tight, but it’ll do. Now for the next stage.” With a little concentration, Nightmare began to dampen her own powers. Her body shrunk just a tiny bit while her dark blue starry hair that flowed without wind shifted into her non-magical purple hair.
Smog titled his head to one side. “Kinda weird to see your hair like that again.”
Nightmare smiled and posed for them. “Well, how do I look? Just a normal unicorn now, right?”
“Wait, hold on. Your eyes,” Sunset pointed out. “No one else has draconic eyes like you do. Except for Eternal Twilight and well, nothing else needs to be said.”
Nightmare sighed. “You’re right. I can get my hair to look normal with enough concentration but my eyes will be trickier…then again, I can always alter the enchantment I already have.”
“Wait, you mean your changeling detection spell? But Nightmare, you’ve had that enchantment since you were a filly!” Smog said.
Nightmare rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and it’s made such an impact on my life,” she said sarcastically. “Seriously, the best thing that enchantment ever did was point out Chrysalis’ disguise when we first met her. I don’t need this enchantment and there’s no need to get nostalgic over a weak spell I cast when I was younger. Sunset, let me see your eyes for a moment.” Nightmare stared at Sunset’s eyes for several seconds before her eyes began to glow. When she blinked her eyes again she had normal pony eyes, while still keeping their blue-green colour. “Well?”
Sunset and Smog both nodded in approval. “I can’t even recognize you,” Smog said.
“Now you just need a name. Nightmare Moon seemed to scare Paranoid over there,” Sunset said.
“Ugh, a name? What do you guys think?” Nightmare asked as she examined her reflection in the mirror.
Sunset tapped her chin in thought before a name came to him. “Hey, you know Trixie’s cousin? The Mysterious and Mighty Nyxie? Her name is sort of similar to yours.”
Nightmare frowned. “What if we bump into her?”
Sunset sighed. “She’s a traveling showmare in our world, but she might be different here. Even if we do see her, we’ll just think of something else.”
Nightmare sighed, shrugged, and smiled. “Alright then. Call me Nyxie Lulamoon.”
“Great. Now that we’ve sorted that out, let’s get outta here before he wakes up,” Smog said as he heard Flash groan in his sleep.
“Hello? Is someone in there?” The three of them turned around to see the library doors open as Princess Twilight walked in.
Sunset stared at the princess, noting that for some reason she had her old cutie mark on her flank. “Princess Twilight? What are you doing here?”
Princess Twilight took one look at Sunset and let out a huge gasp. “Sunset Shimmer?! What are you doing here?!” Fortunately, before Nightmare could grab the rope again, the other princess smiled widely. “This is wonderful!” She rushed towards Sunset and pulled her into a hug. “Oh it’s so great to see you in Equestria again! I never thought you’d come back here! How is Canterlot High doing? Are you fitting in well with the Rainbooms?”
Sunset could only stare at her. “Um…”
Flash groaned as he slowly woke up and stood back up. “Weird dream…”
Princess Twilight gasped and stepped out from her hug with Sunset. “Flash Sentry? Are you okay? Why were you lying on the floor?”
Flash blinked and stared groggily at her. “Huh…oh. I’m sorry. I guess I got a little sleepy during my break and had a nap.”
“Oh, well um…that’s fine,” Princess Twilight said. “Anyway, my friends and I are back now so you can leave…unless, um…” The princess started blushing as her smile became very nervous. “Unless you want to stay…so you can…you and I can…um…we…”
“Hey Twilight! Applejack just stopped by to give us this sweet apple pie! You want some?” They turned around to see Spike walk through the door carrying an apple pie.
Smog stared at the other dragon in shock. Even when the great dragon Spike was using his magical amulet to shrink to a smaller size, this Spike was even smaller. He had to be only be a baby dragon. In fact, it looked like Smog was slightly bigger than Spike. But even in this crazy world, Smog’s respect for the great dragon did not fade.
He walked up to the baby dragon and bowed before him. “It’s an honour to see you, oh Spike the Stupendous.”
Spike stared at the other dragon, his jaw hanging open in shock. “You’re a dragon...and you’re being nice to me?”
Smog raised an eyebrow at him but still kept smiling. “Well, of course I’m being nice to you. You’re my hero.”
Spike stared at Smog with a big smile, even as his eyes watered a little. “T-thanks.”
Smog fidgeted uncomfortably. “Are you alright, oh Great and Mighty Spike?”
“Y-yeah I just…don’t meet a lot of nice dragons,” Spike mumbled to himself.
“Wait, who are you guys?” Princess Twilight asked, looking at Smog and Nightmare.
“Oh um, these are my friends,” Sunset said. “He’s Smog and she’s Nyxie.”
Princess Twilight gasped in wonder. “They’re your friends? Are they from Canterlot High too? That’s wonderful!” She rushed over to Nightmare and smiled. “I’m so glad that Sunset has been able to make more human friends! Hi there, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Now, I understand that it can be very confusing getting used to a pony’s body.” She giggled. “I know I had trouble walking around as a human.” She glanced at Smog. “Is that your dog? I didn’t know dogs turned into dragons in Equestria! How is he able to talk already?”
Human? Dog? Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog all stared at her with the same stupefied look on their faces. “Um…”
Princess Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement and began dragging the three of them out of the room with her magic. “Come on! We have so much talk about!”
As they were dragged out of the room, Sunset muttered a quick “sorry” to Flash before the three mares and two dragons left the stallion alone in the library. Flash could only shake his head in confusion before he went back to patrolling the castle.
“So, what’s new? Oh, we have so much catching up to do!” Princess Twilight said with a grin.
Sunset tried to match her smile, but was still feeling very confused. Princess Twilight had brought them all to a throne room in the middle of this crystal castle. There was a large table with a starburst on it, and seven thrones arranged around it. The six larger ones all had cutie marks on their backs including Princess Twilight’s mark, three apples, three diamonds, a cloud and a rainbow-coloured bolt of lightning, three balloons, and three butterflies. Only the smaller throne had no cutie mark.
“Um, well what would you like to hear about, Your Majesty?” Sunset asked.
Princess Twilight giggled. “Sunset we’re friends, you don’t have to call me that. Just Twilight is fine.”
“So what’s it like being dog? Oh wait, I already know that. Well, how do you feel about being a dragon? Pretty cool, huh?” Spike said with a smile.
“Um yeah…being a dragon is pretty cool,” Smog said. He exchanged glances with Nightmare and Sunset and cleared his throat. “Um, Princess Twilight?” He waited until Twilight was looking at him. “We didn’t exactly come here for a social visit. Someone has stolen something very important to us, and we think they might be hiding somewhere nearby.”
“Pardon? Ah didn’t catch all of that, what’s all this ‘bout some thief stealing something from y’all?” They turned around to see another mare walk in through the door and place an apple pie on the table. To Sunset, the earth pony looked a lot like Applejewel except that she was a plain Stetson hat instead of a fancy dress or hat. Her mane and tail were tied back into ponytails and she still had a cutie mark of three apples. Her eyes were also completely normal green eyes.
“Oh um, hello there,” Nightmare said, trying to be polite even with how confused she felt. “I’m Nyxie Lulamoon. It’s nice to-”
She was interrupted as the orange mare smiled and shook her hoof vigorously. “Well howdy Nyxie! Ah’m Applejack. Oh, and who’s this little feller?” she asked, looking at Smog.
“I’m Smog,” the red dragon said as he walked over to Applejack to shake her hoof.
“Howdy Smog, pleased to meetcha!” Applejack chuckled. She turned to Sunset and said, “And Ah recognize ya! Yer Sunset Shimmer, Twilight’s friend from that crazy human high school world!”
“Um…that’s me,” Sunset said, smiling awkwardly. She stared at Applejack and asked, “You know, you remind me of someone. Um…does the name Applejewel mean anything to you?”
Applejack tapped her chin in thought. “Huh…Applejewel…Applejewel…not ringing any bells…oh wait! Now Ah remember!” she chuckled. “Funny story sugarcube. Applejewel was a fancy-shmancy name Ah came up with fir myself. See mah friend Rarity was acting all silly ‘cause of this Trenderhoof fellow. So I threw together that Applejewel act ta show her how silly it was pretending ta be somepony that yer not.”
“Oh…that must be it,” Sunset mumbled.
Nightmare glanced at the two orange mares and spoke up, “That’s interesting. Sorry, I think we got a little off track here.” She turned to Twilight. “What my friend Smog was saying before Applejack came in was that someone stole something very important to me.”
Applejack gasped. “What? That’s awful! What’d they look like?” She reared up on her hind legs and threw a few mock punches into the air. “You just tell me who did it and Ah’ll teach them a thing or two!”
“I don’t know what the thief looks like. Although I’m guessing it’s an orange mare. Possibly a unicorn, but I can’t say for sure. Anyway, what’s really important is recovering the item that was stolen from me,” Nightmare said. She charged her horn and conjured up an illusion of her Element. “This is what I’m looking for.”
Twilight stared at the illusion. “Hmm…it kind of looks like my Element of Harmony. Only mine had my cutie mark on it. This one looks like it has Princess Luna and Princess Celestia’s cutie marks on top of my own.”
“Speaking of which, where are your cutie marks?” Spike asked them.
“Huh? Oh, um…humans…don’t get those,” Smog said.
“Oh.” Spike shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”
Applejack stared at the illusion and chuckled. “Wait a minute. Yer telling us that somepony stole a crown from ya and then traveled to a different world to hide from ya?” She chuckled and nudged Sunset. “Boy howdy, this must be like reverse déjà vu fir ya!”
Sunset frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Applejack and Twilight both gave her a weird look. “Well ya stole Twilight’s crown, took it to another dimension, and used it ta turn yourself into a raging she-demon and raise a teenage army to conquer Equestria before Twilight helped ya come to yer senses.”
Sunset stared at her in shock and disbelief. “What? No! I’d never steal from Princess Twilight! And…demon? Teenage army? What are you talking about?”
Applejack backed away from Sunset. “Whoa, easy there sugarcube. Ah didn’t mean to offend ya, Ah was just saying that’s what Twilight told us had happened.”
Sunset stared at Twilight with a hurt look. “Princess Twilight I would NEVER steal from you!”
Twilight smiled reassuringly, even if she did look confused. “It’s okay Sunset. It’s all in the past, I know you’d never steal from me now.”
“That’s the spirit! Why focus on the past when we got a no-good thief we need to pin down?” Applejack smiled confidently. “Don’t you worry Sunset. That goes fir you too Nyxie, Smog. We’ll find this crown of yours.” She glanced at the table and spotted the apple pie. “Oh, y’all haven’t had a bite of Granny Smith’s famous apple pie yet? Y’all must be hungry after yer trip through the portal.” She walked towards the apple pie, but in doing so she tripped over a book that was lying on the floor and crashed into a stack of books that stood on Twilight’s side of the table. “Whoops!”
Nightmare, Sunset, and Twilight all grabbed Applejack and the falling books in their magic. Twilight blinked at the other two mares using their magic as they set everything down. “Wow. You two have amazing reaction time with your magic.”
“Hey, what’s this?” Smog said as he removed a pamphlet that had fallen off of the book pile.
Applejack took the pamphlet from him, read it, and groaned. “Shoot! Ah plum forgot that’s tomorrow! Talk about bad timing. Ya see, with all the friendship lessons we learned and all the crazy shenanigans that happen ‘round here the princesses figured, wouldn’t it be something if ponies all over Equestria could learn about our adventures? Especially after what happened with that no good Tirek! Why, Twilight was smacking that magic-stealing varmint back and forth all by herself before we got together to finish him off!”
Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog frowned at that. What had happened to Lord Tirek’s counterpart in this crazy world?
“That’s why tomorrow, we’re hosting the grand opening fir the Museum of Eternal Friendship! A place where everypony can learn about the magic of friendship!” Applejack finished with a smile.
Twilight smiled. “It could be a really good learning experience for fillies and colts all over Equestria.”
Applejack chuckled. “Of course our princess egghead would be happy for any opportunity ta lecture ponies about magic. Sorry Twi, somepony had ta say it and Dash ain’t here.” She turned to face Nightmare. “Problem is, everypony is gonna be busy putting the celebration together. As much as Ah’d like ta help ya, Ah just don’t have the time.” She gave them a wink and added, “But luckily Ah know just the pony who can help y’all out and still have time to help set the preparations up.”
Twilight smiled. “Oh, you’re right! Pinkie knows Ponyville better than any of us, she easily can help them out!”
“Wait, who?” Nightmare asked with some concern.
Applejack chuckled and turned to face Nightmare. “Y’all just head outside and knowing mah friend, y’all should find her waiting outside to greet y’all. You’ll know her when ya see her.” She turned to Spike and handed him a checklist. “By the way, Ah think ya left this in yer room Spike.”
Twilight gasped and yanked the checklist over to her with her magic. “Oh my gosh! We still have so much to do before the princesses show up!”
“Wait! What about…” Nightmare trailed off as Twilight, Applejack, and Spike ran out of the room.
“Nightmare, it’s okay,” Sunset said. “They said they know someone who can help us. Let’s just get back on track on finding your crown so that we can leave this mad world.”
Nightmare sighed. “You’re right Sunset. Let’s go.” With that said, her horn glowed as she teleported the three of them out of the castle. Once they appeared outside they turned around to stare at the bizarre tree crystal castle they had just left.
“Wow…what a stupid looking castle,” Smog said.
“I dunno, I think it looks pretty,” Sunset said. “Reminds me of the Crystal Castle back home, except smaller and more tree-like.”
Nightmare snorted in disdain. “Meh. King Sombra’s castle looks better.” She turned around and began walking away from the castle. “But we don’t have time for this. We need to find this friend of Applejack’s so we can find my crown.”
“Did somepony say friend? HI THERE!” Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog all jumped back as none other than Pinkie Pie appeared before them. She had a cutie mark of three balloons on her flank but otherwise she looked exactly the same.
“Gah! Pinkie Pie, I thought I told you to stop sneaking up on us like that! What are you even doing here?!” Nightmare asked.
Pinkie giggled. “Aw, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you…you…” She trailed off as she stared at them. The smile on her face faded as she scratched her mane in confusion. “Um…it’s great to see you again…um…” Her smile returned when she spotted Sunset. “Oh, Sunset Shimmer! I know you! You’re the pony who turned into a human and stole a crown and turned into a demon and tried to turn the other humans into your own personal army and fought Twilight but then you turned good and you became friends with the human us and you told Twilight about the sirens and you sang the song that defeated them and summoned a magical music alicorn and you became Twilight’s student!” She finished off her long speech with a huge grin.
Sunset could only stare. “What?”
“You’re friends with human me!” Pinkie shouted.
“Sweet Celestia, there’s more of you?” Sunset shuddered.
“Yep! And of course I remember…you…” She turned back to face Nightmare and Smog, her smile fading again as she stared at them. Her breathing suddenly became rapid as she frantically scratched her head, her puffy hair deflating a little.
“Um, Pinkie? You’re creeping me out,” Smog said.
“I…I don’t know who you are. Why don’t I know?! I can’t remember your names!” Pinkie cried. “You said we met before, right?!”
Nightmare and Smog glanced at each other. “Um…something like that,” Nightmare said.
“B-but how can that be?!” Pinkie cried. “I remember ALL my friends! Every single detail about them! How can I forget?!”
Nightmare hesitated then placed a comforting hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Everyone forgets some things every now and then.”
“But not me! Not important things like who my friends are! I can’t even remember your names! I’m a horrible friend!” Pinkie cried. She collapsed on the ground face first and sobbed into the dirt, tears spilling out of her eyes.
Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog all stared at Pinkie in complete shock. They had never seen Pinkie this sad before. Unless you counted the visions they had seen of Pinkie losing her hope for Everfree and slipping into insanity. The present day Pinkie they all knew was either cheerful and friendly or creepy and chaotic. It was clear to them that this world’s Pinkie wasn’t like the one they all knew.
“Pinkie. Pinkie! It’s okay! We forgive you,” Nightmare said, pulling Pinkie back up.
“Y-you do?” Pinkie sniffled.
“Yes,” Smog said, giving her a smile.
Pinkie saw his smile and smiled back, her hair regaining its puffiness. She leapt back up and pulled them all in for a group hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, I won’t forget your names this time!” She grinned expectantly at them.
Smog chuckled nervously and backed out of the hug. “Okay. I’m Smog.”
“I’m Nyxie Lulamoon,” Nightmare said.
Pinkie gasped. “That sounds like Trixie Lulamoon!”
Nightmare smiled. “Yeah she’s my um, cousin. Do you know her?”
Pinkie grinned. “Sure do! She put on a magic show, made an Ursa Minor come to town which broke her wagon, then she left, came back with the Alicorn Amulet, took away my mouth which was super mean of her, banished Twilight, got defeated by all of us, took the Alicorn Amulet off, said sorry, put on a fireworks show and left.” She paused for a few seconds before she cheerfully added, “And I think there was a thing with Rainbow Dash and some Diamond Dogs, I dunno.”
Sunset winced. “Yikes. Sounds like me and Trixie have a bad reputation in this town.”
“An Ursa Minor broke her wagon? That’s awful,” Nightmare said. “And what’s this about the Alicorn Amulet?”
Pinkie giggled and waved her hoof. “Oh don’t worry about that, Zecora has the amulet locked up somewhere safe. OOH! Speaking of wagons, wanna see mine?” She immediately ran off somewhere only to return with a wacky looking wagon. “I use it to welcome folks!”
“A literal welcome wagon, huh?” Sunset said with a smirk.
Pinkie grinned. “Yep! And now, without further delay…” She pressed a button on the side of the wagon, causing an oven, flags, horns, and cheerful music to burst out of it. She began dancing and singing to the tune:
“Welcome, welcome, welcome
A fine welcome to you!
Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say how do you do?
Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say hip-hip hurray!
Welcome welcome, welcome
To Ponyville today!”
As she finished singing, a ding came from the oven. A colourful cake with red icing came flying out of the oven, while confetti shot out of the horns. Nightmare reflexively caught the cake in her magic.
“Woohoo! I put the confetti and the cake mix in the right places this time!” Pinkie congratulated herself. “No way am I going to forget anything else today!”
Smog raised his claw. “Hold on…you mean that book was serious? What did you say this town is called?”
“Ponyville!” Pinkie answered cheerfully.
“…That is the dumbest name for a town that I have ever heard,” Nightmare said.
Pinkie’s smile faded a little. “Why? What’s wrong with Ponyville? Everypony is always happy in Ponyville!”
“Pinkie, there are other sentient creatures besides ponies that live here, right? Calling a place Ponyville or using terms such as everypony and anypony instead of everybody and anybody makes it sound like you’re excluding people,” Nightmare said. “Is Smog not allowed in town because he’s a dragon?”
Pinkie gasped. “Of course Smog’s allowed in Ponyville! Spike’s a dragon and he’s one of my bestest friends in the whole world!” She bit her lip nervously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to exclude you Smog.”
Nightmare sighed and shook her head. “It’s not your fault Pinkie. You didn’t come up with the term.”
“Okay everyone stop for a second,” Smog said. “I appreciate you coming to my defense, but we’re getting off track again.” He faced Pinkie and said, “The reason we came to…ugh, Ponyville is because someone stole something from Nyxie.”
Pinkie gasped again. “Somepony – I mean, somebody stole from you?! That’s terrible!”
Nightmare conjured up the illusion of her missing Element again. “This is what my crown looks like. Your friend Applejack said you could help us find it.”
“Hey, that looks kinda like Twilight’s crown!” Pinkie smiled. “Of course I’ll help you! Anything for my friends! We…we are friends, right?” Nightmare smiled and nodded. “Great! Then let’s get to work on finding your – OOH!” Pinkie’s eyes widened as she spotted three familiar fillies walk by. “Girls! You wanna help us?”
Sunset sighed in relief as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo walked over to them. Other than Apple Bloom’s eye not being injured in this universe, these three looked normal. Three talented blank flanks just like they were back home.
“Hey Pinkie. What do you need help with?” Sweetie asked.
“Cool! Another baby dragon!” Scootaloo said as she admired Smog.
“I’m not a baby,” Smog grumbled. He sighed and shook her hoof. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“My new friends Nyxie, Sunset, and Smog lost something that looks like a crown! Someone stole it from them! We need to help them find it!” Pinkie said.
Apple Bloom gasped. “Gosh, that’s awful. But don’t worry! The Cutie Mark Crusaders are on the job!”
“The Cutie Mark…what?” Sunset asked.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CROWN FINDERS! YAY!”
Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog stared at the three screaming fillies. “Wow. They’re almost as loud as Loony,” Smog whispered to Nightmare.
“Alright crusaders! Let’s go find that crown!” Scootaloo cheered before the crusaders ran off. Nightmare, Sunset, Smog, and Pinkie chased after the fillies and began to search Ponyville for Nightmare’s crown.
“Find anything yet?” Scootaloo shouted.
“Nothing yet!” Sweetie shouted.
“Wait! Ah think Ah found…nope, that ain’t it,” Apple Bloom said.
Smog grumbled as the fillies continued searching. “This is getting us nowhere.”
Sunset groaned. “You’re telling me. We’ve been searching all day and still no sign of the Element of Power.”
Nightmare sighed. “It seems as if the thief foolish enough to steal from me is not AS foolish as I had thought. By now my Element could be miles away from here.” She turned her attention back to the Crusaders and called out to them. “Okay guys, that’s enough for today. If you’re up for it, you can keep helping me search tomorrow.”
“Aw!” The Crusaders sighed in disappointment but still walked back to Nightmare. “We’re sorry we couldn’t help you Miss Lulamoon,” Sweetie said.
“Hey, you guys did your best. There’s always tomorrow,” Sunset said with an encouraging smile.
“Well sure, after the museum ceremony thingy,” Scootaloo said with a grin. “Can you imagine it girls? Some of those friendship lessons were ours! Maybe we’ll have our own wing!”
“Since when do ya care about museums and other ‘egghead’ stuff like that?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Since Rainbow Dash and-”
“Say no more,” Apple Bloom cut her off with a smile and a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah. Oh, I almost forgot!” Sweetie smiled. “Pinkie Pie wanted to throw you three a party to welcome you to Ponyville!”
“Really? We’d better not keep her waiting then,” Nightmare said. Throughout the whole day, Pinkie had been zipping back and forth between helping them search and getting everything ready for the upcoming museum opening. They had discovered that Pinkie had no chaotic powers...or at least, not to the same level she had back in Everfree. She still possessed abilities that couldn’t be explained, but Nightmare didn’t really care where they came from. Even though she had tried to be friends with the Pinkie in Everfree there had always been some tension between her friends and the Trickster, but this Pinkie was constantly friendly and helpful, and Nightmare found it much more relaxing to be around her.
“Great! Sugarcube Corner is right this way,” Sweetie said as they hurried down the street.
“Ow!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom cried as two fillies bumped into them as they walked around the corner.
“HEY! Watch where you’re going…oh, great. What do you three want?”
Nightmare and Sunset smiled at the sight of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, a few more familiar friendly faces. However, they soon noticed that those familiar faces were twisted into unfamiliar scowls.
“Um, look I’m sorry we bumped into you,” Sweetie said apologetically.
“Really sorry,” Scootaloo muttered angrily.
“Not as sorry as we are for bumping into you,” Diamond Tiara said before she raised a hoof to haughtily brush her mane back a little. “So, what are you three blank flank crusaders doing to earn your cutie marks this time?”
“With how often you three make a mess of things, I’m betting they’ll have a twister for a cutie mark. Maybe a mud puddle,” Silver Spoon said with a cruel smirk.
“Please! Mud is too good for these losers!” Diamond sneered.
Sunset stared at the two fillies in complete shock. The Diamond and Silver she knew were such sweet little fillies. They would never say anything like that.
“Hey! What’s the matter with you? Ah get that we don’t get along but you’ve never been THIS awful to us. Ah thought you trying to be friends with us,” Apple Bloom said.
Diamond snorted in disgust. “What, you mean Twilight Time? After all those favours I did for you, after inviting you to my pool party, and after what you did to us? I tried to be nice to you and all you did was prove how you’re nothing but a group of uncivilized, ungrateful, selfish, princess-hoarders! Princess Twilight should have been hanging out with me and Silver Spoon, not you three babies!”
“Yeah. She only hangs out with you because you’re sisters with two of her friends. It’s not like you’re actually special enough to be part of her entourage,” Silver said.
“Well said Silver. They’re NOT special. After all, they started their little Cutie Mark Crusaders club over a year ago and they STILL don’t have their cutie marks!” Diamond said with a sneer. “You’re nothing but a bunch of talentless blanks flanks!”
“Blank flanks, blank flanks!” Diamond and Silver sang in their faces. The crusaders sighed and avoided their glares as if they’d heard this insult before.
“Alright that’s enough!” Nightmare and Sunset snapped, as their horns began to glow with furious power.
Smog quickly grabbed onto their hooves to stop them. “Don’t!” he hissed to them. “They’re not worth the trouble.”
As Nightmare and Sunset reluctantly let go of the spells they’d been charging, Diamond and Silver finally noticed them. “Oh u-um…this isn’t what it looks like,” Diamond hastily stammered out, not wanting to get in trouble with the grown-ups.
Silver opened her mouth to spin a lie about how rotten the crusaders were, when something caused her jaw to drop in shock. “Like, oh my Celestia! Diamond, look at their flanks!”
Diamond did so, her own jaw dropping in shock. “You’re blanks flanks?!”
The crusaders spun around to stare at Nightmare and Sunset too. “Huh?! How the hay did we miss that?!” Scootaloo asked.
Diamond spun back around to face the crusaders with an evil grin. “Oh this is just tragic. Looks like you’ll be missing out on a lot. If two grown-ups still don’t have their cutie marks, that means you three will NEVER get your cutie marks!”
Silver matched her friend’s evil grin. “You’ll be blanks flanks FOREVER!” The crusaders cringed at their harsh words, the new spin on the old insult cutting much deeper.
“Leave them alone!” Sunset said as she stormed in front of the bullies and glared at them. “Seriously, what is wrong with you two?”
Diamond smirked coldly at her. “What’s wrong with me? I’m perfect. You’re the one who doesn’t have a cutie mark. Why was I ever scared of you?”
“They’re probably just some lazy old losers who’ve never even had jobs!” Silver said.
Nightmare glared at them. “Things work a little different where we’re from. We had our cutie marks and then we lost them, just like everyone else back home.”
“Wait…y’all lost yer cutie marks?” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Of course they did. I mean, what’s so great about a cutie mark anyway?” Smog asked.
The fillies gasped at him before Diamond replied, “Well of course I wouldn’t expect an ugly little dragon to understand. A cutie mark tells a pony what makes her special.”
Nightmare smirked at Diamond and Silver. “Really? What your marks are telling me is that you two are talented in being born into a wealthy family and wearing a fancy hat. Whoop-dee-do for you.”
“That’s not what it means! It means I’m daddy’s little princess,” Diamond shot back. “It means I’m going to rule my family’s company one day! It’s my destiny to be amazing!”
“Destiny?” Sunset said. “Destiny has favourites. People who get lucky in life.” She glanced at the disguised Princess Nightmare. “And people who don’t,” she sighed, looking down at herself. “I have friends who are a lot luckier than me and I’ll admit I’m jealous of them. But I don’t let those feelings ruin my friendship and I don’t let destiny tell me what to do. My friends inspire me to be better. My hard work will bring me the luck I need. Why should we let something like a mark tell us how to live our lives?”
Nightmare smiled at Sunset. “Well said. If you ask me, you’d make a far better princess than this pink brat.” She glared at Silver and Diamond and said, “But cutie marks are not the point of this discussion.”
Silver sputtered in anger. “What? Of course our cutie marks are-”
“The point is that you two are acting like cruel little bullies and you need to stop,” Nightmare said. “Now you leave these three fillies alone or else.”
“Or else what?” Diamond shot back.
“Or else we’ll tell your parents about your horrible behavior,” Smog said.
“What?” Fear flashed in Diamond’s eyes before she smirked again. “You’re new in Ponyville. You don’t even know-”
“You’re Diamond Tiara. I’ve been to Barnyard Bargains and I know Filthy Rich quite well,” Sunset said, hoping that the Mr. Rich of this world was close enough to the one she knew.
Diamond and Silver both froze in fear, before they glared at the crusaders. “This isn’t over,” Diamond hissed at them before she and Silver ran away.
As the two bullies fled, the three crusaders stared at Nightmare and Sunset. “Um, Miss Lulamoon? Miss Shimmer? Are cutie marks…really that bad?” Sweetie asked.
Sunset chuckled. “Hey, it’s your cutie mark. And your mark is as good as you want it to be.
Nightmare smiled reassuringly at the fillies. “What Sunset’s saying is that destiny is what we make of it. That’s what I think at least.”
“Oh, okay then,” Scootaloo said with a growing smile. “Well, way to tell them off! Seriously, you don’t know how much trouble they’ve been.”
“Hey guys! What’s keeping you?” The group of ponies plus one dragon looked up and smiled as they saw Rainbow Dash hovering over them. “The party can’t start without you. Hurry up!” Sunset chuckled as Rainbow flew ahead of them. It was nice to see that some things hadn’t changed too much.
They made their way to Sugarcube Corner and were warmly greeted by a happy Pinkie and several of Ponyville’s citizens. Pinkie was quick to introduce Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog to everyone at the party, some people they knew plus a few that they didn’t. They were pleased to see that this world’s versions of Rarity and Fluttershy were both there; the two mares taking time out of their museum preparation schedule to attend their welcoming party. There was one more familiar face they saw at the party too.
“Discord!” Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog exclaimed as they saw their friend.
The cheerful master of chaos was talking with Fluttershy when they spotted him. “Oh. Good afternoon,” he said, taking his head off and tipped it like a hat as he greeted them. “I take it you three are the guests of honour? Oh, and a dragon too, how wonderful!” He teleported over to Smog and levitated him into the air. “Little Spike gets a new playmate!”
Fluttershy frowned a little. “Now Discord, we talked about personal space-”
“Discord! It’s so good to see you!” Smog said as he pulled the alternate version of his friend into a hug.
The alternate Discord blinked in surprise as Nightmare and Sunset joined in the hug too before he relaxed into their embrace. “Oh. This is a surprise. I had expected that after my little um…incident with Tirek most ponies would be a little hesitant around me. However you three seem rather friendly.”
They let go of Discord and sheepishly looked away as a few other ponies in the room gave them odd looks. “You um…remind us of a really good friend of ours back home.”
“Oh, I doubt that my dear. You’ve never had a friend quite like me,” Discord said with a confident smirk as he brushed his claw over his chest.
Smog grinned up at him. “So, what kind of crazy awesome things did you bring to the party?”
“Hmm? Oh no, I haven’t brought anything. Fluttershy has asked me to be on my best behavior,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “No, no, you are the guests of honour.”
Nightmare smirked. “Well as the guests of honour, we say it’s our party and you can act however you want.”
“Come on Discord, let’s see what you got!” Sunset said.
“Woo! Chaos!” Smog cheered.
Discord blinked down at them. “You…want me to spread chaos? Sorry if I seem rather shocked,” he said as a small thundercloud darted out from behind his tail and began to float around a pegasus mare who looked a little like Mayor Derpy. “But I was under the impression that most ponies didn’t appreciate chaos the same way I do. I mean Fluttershy lets me have my space and Pinkie Pie does so enjoy my chocolate rain clouds but other than that…”
Nightmare waved her hoof. “Oh please, if other people don’t like your brand of chaos that’s their problem. Who doesn’t like silly and random things happening at parties?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Discord said as he glanced at some of the other ponies in the room.
“Come on, we’ll get you started. Like this!” Sunset quickly spun around and zapped Rarity with a bright green blast of magic.
“AH! What did she do? What did she – GREEN!” Rarity screamed as she saw the effects off Sunset’s spell. Rarity’s white coat had turned grassy green. In fact, her fur looked more like grass then it did fur. Sunset chuckled while Discord he covered his mouth with his claw as he held back a snicker.
“Oh sure, any unicorn can use an old illusion like that. Watch this!” Smog said as he dashed over to one of the tables, grabbed two bananas out of the fruit and candy bowl, and jammed them into Applejack’s ears.
“Hey! What in tarnation are ya doing?” Applejack shouted as she scratched at her ears with hoof.
“Who doesn’t love bananas?” Smog chuckled as Discord’s paw joined in on holding back his building laughter.
“Oh yeah? BEHOLD!” Nightmare announced as she fired a spell at Rainbow. The pegasus grew a pink horn with a sparkly tiara hanging off it as her feathery wings turned into butterfly wings with pink heart patterns. “Thy princess Rainbow cometh! Shower her with sparkles and frilly dresses!”
Discord couldn’t hold it back anymore and snapped his fingers, causing a ridiculously frilly pink dress to surround Rainbow. “Ha, HA! You should see yourself right now!”
“Hey! How am I supposed to fly with this thing?!” Rainbow grunted as she tried to rip the enormous dress off.
“Rainbow Dash, a princess is far too dignified to get off their lazy flank and do something! Just find an eager, egghead purple unicorn and shove your workload onto her!” Discord laughed.
“Hey!” Twilight shouted.
Sunset chuckled. “Relax Princess Twilight, we’re just having a little fun. Speaking of princesses and royalty…” Sunset smirked as she fired another illusion spell at Twilight. The alternate version of their princess gasped as he body turned black and holey, while her horn curved and her wings became more insect-like. “Nothing like an upgrade from princess to queen, eh Twilight?”
“Enough!” Twilight shouted as she dispelled the illusion.
The smiles on Nightmare, Sunset, Discord, and Smog faded as they noticed how upset Twilight was. “I-I’m sorry Princess Twilight. We were just having a little funny, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Sunset said. “W-we were going to fix everything back up when we were done.”
Twilight took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s okay Sunset. I just had a bad experience with changelings.”
Nightmare frowned. “Changelings? Why would you have a bad experience with that?”
Applejack snorted. “Gosh, might’ve had something ta do with their queen sucking the love outta her brother.”
Twilight sighed as Nightmare, Smog, and Sunset stared at her in shock. “It’s a long story…”
The three undercover friends exchanged glances. “Maybe it’s not the only long story we need to hear…” Smog muttered.
That night, Sunset and Smog were surprised to see Nightmare appearing in their dreams. “Hey Nightie. What are you doing here? I’m not having any bad dreams,” Sunset said.
“I think I might be,” Nightmare said as she stared at the ground, her ears folded down.
“Come on Nightie, it wasn’t that bad,” Smog said as he patted her on the shoulder.
“Yes it was!” Nightmare said as she shrugged him off. “I may have put on a disguise but that was only to be cautious. I never actually expected that stallion to be right!”
“Flash Sentry wasn’t right,” Sunset argued.
“Yes he was! You heard what they all had to say about us! King Sombra, a cruel tyrant who tried to enslave an empire! Discord, a spirit who corrupted ponies into monsters and filled the land with chaos, and only recently reformed. Chrysalis, a cold-hearted queen who kidnapped a princess and tried to conquer Equestria! ME, apparently nothing more than my mom’s evil alter ego!” Nightmare cried.
Sunset grabbed Nightmare’s face in her hooves. “Snap out of it Nightmare Moon!” Slowly, Nightmare’s face relaxed until she had calmed down enough for Sunset to let her go. “Now we expected bad news when we asked them about our counterparts, especially after learning how bad Diamond and Silver were in this world. Maybe not to such an extent, but you have to remember that the other Nightmare Moon? The other Sunset Shimmer? The other Chrysalis, the other Discord? We’re NOT them. We’re better than them.”
“You’re right Sunset,” Nightmare sighed. “But even in an alternate universe…I could never be prepared for this.”
She began to wander through the dreamscape as images of the ponies they had met the previous day began to fill the dream. As Nightmare stared at the illusions with unease in her eyes, she began to softly sing:
“I’ve never seen a place
That’s quite like this
Everything is turned around
This crazy world is upside-down.”
Smog sighed and began to sing with her:
“We have to stay on our feet
It’s the claw that we’ve been dealt
And we don’t have much time with them
We had to learn all that we could.”
Sunset began to sing with them too:
“They don’t use any crystals
They’re opposed to all changelings.
“I don’t get their flowery parks, wimpy clouds or cutie marks.
Everything’s confusing and it seems so new.”
Nightmare smiled at one image they saw yesterday of the Cutie Mark Crusaders gliding down Discord’s tail like it was a slide.
“But I look a little closer and it starts to feel familiar too.”
Smog let out a weak chuckle and stared at the image of Ponyville around them.
“What a strange new world.”
“We’re trying to make heads or tails of this strange new world,” Nightmare sang.
“Sorting through the small details of this strange new world. What a strange new world,” Sunset sang.
The next morning was the day of the museum opening. Twilight met up with Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog in Twilight’s castle after breakfast. “Don’t worry Nyxie. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be arriving soon. Once I’ve informed them of the situation we’ll all start searching for your crown together. Unfortunately there’s no time to reschedule the museum opening so we’ll just have speed through the ceremony.”
Nightmare smiled. “Thank you for agreeing to help us Twilight. I know how much the Museum of Eternal Friendship means to you.”
Twilight blushed. “Not as much as my friends do.”
The door burst open and Applejack ran into the room. “You guys! Yer never gonna believe this! Nyxie, Ah found yer crown!”
They spun around to face her. “You did? That’s wonderful!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Where is it? Did you find the thief who stole it?” Nightmare asked, a grin forming on her face at the thought of reclaiming her Element and punishing the foolish thief.
“Yeah! But here’s the weird part: the thief is pretending to be me!” Applejack said.
“What? What do you mean?” Sunset said.
“Okay, here’s what happened. Ah just woke up to get started on mah morning chores when Ah bump into a mare that looks exactly like me, other than not having mah hat. She introduces herself as Applejewel and goes on saying how she stole this crown to save the world. Next thing Ah know, she’s babbling about some crazy alternate world where Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, the changelings, and Discord all won!”
Nightmare, Sunset and Smog froze as she said that. “Her name is Applejewel, you say?” Sunset asked.
“Yeah! Just like the name Ah came up with during that whole Trenderhoof thing. Now Ah reckon that this crazy mare is some disguised changeling trying to fool me and doing a poor job of it. Ya know how much I hate liars, so Ah smacked her over the head with a shovel and tied her up in one of the empty barns.”
Twilight and Sunset flinched at that. “A shovel? That sounds pretty harsh,” Sunset said.
Applejack waved her hoof. “Ah, she’s fine. The changelings we fought at Canterlot took a worse beating than that. Them changelings got thick skulls. Anyway, the important thing is Ah got yer crown! I left it in the same barn so y’all can interrogate her if ya want.”
“You left my crown with the thief?!” Nightmare said with a frown.
“She’s out cold and tied up. She couldn’t grab yer crown if it was dangling right in front of her,” Applejack assured her. “Now come on! Ah’ll lead the way.”
The door burst open again as Pinkie came bouncing in. “Hey everypony! What are you all still doing inside? The princesses just arrived!”
Twilight turned to face her. “They have? Oh dear, that means we’ll need to start the ceremony soon. Pinkie, Applejack was just telling us that she captured a changeling disguised as herself who stole Nyxie’s crown!”
“Applejack was just about to take us to where she’s got the thief captured. I need to know why she wanted to steal my crown,” Nightmare said.
Pinkie gasped and then grinned. “Really? That’s great! I’m so happy you found your crown again Nyxie!” she giggled. “Ooh, ooh, can I come with you when you interrogate her? I’m really good at!” She pulled a lamp off a nearby desk and shined it into Smog’s face. “Confess!” she growled.
“Um…sure…you can come,” Smog said as he pushed the lamp away from him and slowly backed away from Pinkie. “That alright with you guys?”
When Nightmare and Sunset nodded, Applejack grinned. “Well alright then! Nyxie, Sunset, Smog, Pinkie, and Ah will go deal with that while the rest of y’all do yer little museum opening!”
Twilight frowned in concern. “Maybe we should all come with you.”
Applejack chuckled. “Aw sugarcube, there’s no need to worry! Ah got two unicorns, a dragon, and Pinkie Pie on my side all against one little changeling. If ya remember, we took out a whole army of them back at yer brother’s wedding! Trust me, we’ll be fine.”
Twilight sighed. “Okay then. I’ll see you guys at the ceremony. You should have your crown and the answers you need by then Nyxie.”
“Thank you Princess Twilight. Lead the way Applejack,” Nightmare said.
Applejack smiled as they passed through Sweet Apple Acres. The farm looked more or less the same way it did back in Peaceville, although Nightmare could tell that this Apple family wasn’t quite as rich as the one back home. “Ya know, after this is all over how about Ah treat y’all to some Apple family apple cider? Don’t tell Rainbow Dash Ah said this, but we keep a few bottles stashed away fir emergencies. This don’t exactly qualify but Ah reckon when are y’all gonna get another chance to taste some?”
Pinkie giggled. “She’s right you know! This one time I got like a dozen glasses of cider. It was sooooo good,” she said, drooling a little.
Applejack chuckled and then stopped as they reached a small storage barn. “Alright y’all. She’s in there.”
Nightmare pushed the door open and walked inside, lighting her horn up so that they could all see inside the dark barn. As they went inside she saw her Element of Power sitting behind a glass case. And right next to the Element was…another Applejack, without her hat and tied up and trapped inside a cage.
As soon as she saw them, the other Applejack cried out. “Pinkie Pie! Ya gotta get outta here! That ain’t the real me!”
They heard the barn door close behind them. Nightmare spun around to face the threat, her horn already glowing with power, only for Applejack’s hoof to slam into her face with tremendous force. The blow knocked Nightmare into Pinkie who managed to catch her.
Nightmare looked up to see Applejack glare down at her with an evil grin. “Boy howdy, that felt really good.”
Sunset and Nightmare both growled as they fired blasts of magic at Applejack. But the earth pony just chuckled as the magic was absorbed into her body, causing her muscles to grow a little. “What? How are you doing that?!” Sunset cried.
“Yer crystal research worked perfectly Miss Shimmer. Everything has worked out perfectly,” Applejack said with a smirk.
“Applejewel?” Sunset asked in disbelief.
“Oh no, it’s Applejack sugarcube. Ah’m done with lies and Ah’m done with looking at yer faces.”
Applejack charged at them with surprising speed. With little space to move in and unavailable to blast her with magic directly, Nightmare knew their options were limited. She and Sunset grabbed random tools in the barn with their telekinesis and flung them at Applejack, but the mare was quick to dodge or kick them out of the way. As she charged in closer to them, Nightmare reared up to crush Applejack under her hooves only for the earth pony to spin around and kick her hard in the chest. Sunset, Smog, and Pinkie all charged at Applejack too. Smog used his claws and his fire breath, while Sunset and Pinkie used their hooves and in Pinkie Pie’s case a foam finger to fight her. Applejack fought with such strength and speed that she was actually proving to be a real challenge for three ponies and one dragon. But eventually Pinkie was able to leap on top of Applejack and pin her down by sitting on her back.
Nightmare paused to catch her breath before she glared at Applejack. “I’ll admit, you’re really strong. You did good for only one pony. But now you’re done.”
Applejack chuckled darkly. “Ah wouldn’t say that sugarcube. Pinkie Pie, would ya please take care of our guests?”
Pinkie stared down at her. “What? I’m not helping you, evil Applejack!”
“I think she was talking to me, silly filly!” Pinkie’s voice giggled.
They turned around to see another Pinkie Pie, grinning at all of them. She shifted around so that they could all see her blank flank.
The Pinkie sitting on Applejack blinked in shock. “Huh?”
Sunset figured out who it was first. “Look out! It’s-”
But she never got to finish her warning. The blank flank Pinkie waved her hoof, grabbing Nightmare, Sunset, and Smog in her chaotic magic. She slammed them all into a barn wall, causing them all to cry out in pain. She slammed them into another wall, then the ceiling, then the wall again before she blasted them all into the cage the other Applejack was trapped in. With another wave of her hoof, the chaotic Pinkie teleported the nice Pinkie into the cage with them. Ropes and streamers sprung up from the floorboards and tied them all to the Applejack who tried to warn them.
The chaotic Pinkie giggled and helped the dark Applejack back up. “Did I do good Applejack?”
The dark Applejack chuckled. “Ya did wonderful Pinkie. Ah couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.”
As the ponies and dragon in the cage stared at them in confusion and fear, the chaotic Pinkie giggled and floated closer to the five of them. “Oh, how I have dreamed of this day…”
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I must say, I LOVE how you write Ponyvil Discord! I just do.
HOLY
FUCKING
SHIT!
APPLEJACK! APPLEJEWEL! ALTER EGO OF AJ? PINKIE WITH HER? WHAT? HOW? WHAT?
That. Is. An. Evil. Cliffhanger!
Oh my, this is good, I'm on the edge of my seat. You write the Canonverse and the reactions of Nightie, Sunny and Smog very well.
Oh, sweet, sweet irony...
Indeed. There you can see what influence Trixie, Rarity and partly Discord had on her.
Hello, Flash Sentry!
Goodbye, Flash Sentry!
Not necessarily...
And those fairytales are all 100% Sombra-approved.
Of course, Cadance was behind that... Old Princess of Shipping, you...
Bye Flash, was nice knowing you. Greet the afterlife.
Godmode-Nightie? Good that for Flash that for her spells that have to do with sleep, dreams and shadows are the easiest to cast and shake off.
Doesn't explain were he got those bruises, but on the other hand, he's a soldier, those get bruises more often. And a pegasus at that, those are robust.
Listen to the Element of Knowledge, Smog. She knows what she's talking about.
I see what you did there.
They could have also added a little Poison Joke to the mix and have her white and pink-maned.
In the first chapter she said letting her hair flow was a spell that would use up her energy. I guess it's some sort of habituation effect now that she has left it on for the majority of the story?
D'aw, that must be awesome for Ponyville-Spike.
Or a changeling. I'm still curious about the Dr Whooves affair.
Explains Nyxmare, but Sunset had a mark when she stopped by for a steal. I guess Sunny could say she must have lost it from spending so much time as a human.
Duh, Sombra's an awesome teacher.
Though you can argue that his success with Sunset was negligence, he was surprised to see her sneaking around at night. And than there's Appeljewel...
But that aside, for new-pony Nyxmare, such a reaction shouldn't be the case. OK, you could say it's a reflex that shows that she is pretty talented at magic as a pony. But I bet Twilight already knows that something is up.
Like I said. The Mystery Fun Box only dug up colt Sombra's old treehouse.
Oh, Ponyville-Pinkie, I missed you! Really, after all this hassle with Pinkamena Disaster Pie, she's a sight for sore eyes. Finally the one that only creeps me out on occasion rather than all the time.
I love how quick she is in accepting this thought process and changing her speech accordingly.
This is going to be heartbreaking. Especially for Sunny, her Diamond is looking up to her and they are sisterly with each other.
Because you are not shallow and mean, that's why.
Go, Sunset!
Their reaction to Equestria-Discord is heartwarming. Even though Sunny often rolls her eyes at him, this shows how much she cares about him and misses his fun insanity in this serious insanity of a world. I wonder if EQ-Discord first thought they were some crazy fans.
How much do you want to bet? I wonder what Everfree-Discord would say to this. I guess he'd take it as a challenge.
Discording Discord.
This is awesome.
But yeah, with their own draconequus around, they have a chaos standard that needs to be fullfilled so a party can be good. And they magic around a lot more as they have one to clean it up with one fingersnap.
Well, you didn't see any lovebugs all day long. But maybe she thought that PONYville isn't exactly the place a changeling would feel welcome, no matter what reality.
I love the dream scene. Sunset is now the one to build up Nightmare. It was a good thing that Sunset was the one to join them, as she is the most levelheaded and shows here. Though she hasn't seen what Nightmare has seen in the dreams back in Return of Redemption.
Not better... Sure, you're not evil, but you just had a different environment...
Hey! Well, they did, but it's a good thing there!
Also, shouldn't you know that there is at least one verse where Sombra, Chrysalis and Discord are good people?
And you left someone who you think to be a changeling, and because of that,, robust unguarded. A creature that could either use magic to untie the rope or just shapeshift into something big enough to rip the rope apart? I guess it could have been the heat of the situation, but AJ isn't a dunderhead. Very suspicious...
Oh boy, this is bad. Poor Sunny.
I wonder if Nightmare would have wrestled her down in her big alicorn form.
Darn it, Pink One! No, no more Pinkie for you. That sounds way too nice.
That is reserved for this awesome party pony next to Nightie.
Ponyville is a silly name? Typoville is worse.
Missing full stops at the end.
'slide' and 'sliding' in one sentence, not really a typo and maybe just me, but maybe change 'slide' to 'chute' or 'sliding' to 'gliding'?
5782651
I only missed two sentence periods and changing slide to glide that time? I hope that means I'm getting better at catching typos myself. Thanks for pointing those out and fixed.
And it does make sense for Nightmare to be better at sleep spells. Even if she doesn't need her cutie mark anymore, the night and everything associated with it is still her special talent.
Ummmmm....
*sounds of panicking in the background*
I think that I'll just wait quietly for this to end... XD
Now this just got interesting. Hope you will update soon!
How exciting, it's good that Sunset came along with Nightmare, she's the most like Applejack of the Everfree Mane 7. The scenes with Spike and Discord were particularly sweet.
As disappointed as I am in the Pink Demon,( 5782651 is right, no more Pinkie Pie for her), that was a masterful betrayal, I was shocked that she actually beat on them directly with her magic, I've never seen her directly cause pain like that before. With the whole magic-absorbing thing, AppleJewel resembles Tirek here, which doesn't bode well for the Pink Demon's future chances...
One big mystery to me is this: Discord has the ability to sense strange magic better than anyone, Pinkie's actions should have alerted him almost immediately that there is powerful chaotic magic going off at AJ's barn. I expect we will see his reactions next chapter.
Oh, and before you jump on Cadance as the shipper princess, remember Celestia and Luna ordered Flash to stay a little longer when Twilight was actually back, because of a "mysterious disturbance." I fear the Regal Sisters have caught shipping sickness!
5782830
'she had her old cutie mark'?
'can put use to' or just 'can use'?
5784173
It's one big conspiracy...
And Twilight's life might be Celestia's soap opera...
Yes, seeing Pinkie crossing that line is pretty scary. Her crimes in violence until now were trapping others in various apparatures and stealing magic. At least I imagine that for highly magical beings getting your magic essence ripped out does hurt or at least feels very unpleasant.
I also just thought about something: What if the clear Absorbing Crystals and the highly energetic Overcharge Crystals are the same, only in different power stages? Everfree is full of magic, that might be the reason why uncharged Absorbing Crystals are so rare.
5787447
I really thought I got them all before. Fixed the new ones, and thanks for pointing those out.
5787447 Considering she asked Twilight to write her letters about episodes with her friends, I think Twilight is very much Celestia's soap opera. And I bet Luna appeared in Flash's dreams, telling him he had to "face his fears" and just ask her out already.
I'll be honest, I don't understand crystal magic very much, beyond that they can let energy be drained. But it did lead me to wonder something else: When AppleJewel was King Sombra's apprentice, what did he teach her? Crystal magic? I feel like there would be plenty of other teachers on subjects like governance or economics who are less busy.
5791164
Ok how about we fund this instead of hasbro. Better?
Before I forget, congratulations to 4369890. If you're still reading this, good job. You managed to guess what was coming before anyone else.
I had a feeling that AJ was no good
5794573 more!!!!!!!!!!