• Published 17th Oct 2014
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Living Nightmare - Autum Breeze



Nightmare Moon was destroyed by the Elements. But a part of her remained, working til it could become whole again. But something went wrong.

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Chapter 24

Chapter 24


___________________________________________________________

“So, you’ll really give us our chance?” the Pegasus stallion asked, looking into the shadows of the Canterlot alley.

“Yes,” a mare’s voice replied. “As long as you bring us the foal princess, you can be assured whatever you want on those you are against will be done, however you wish.”

“We just want to be sure, okay?” the Earth Pony mare beside him said, her tone annoyed.

The second voice scoffed. “You needn’t worry yourself. It will be arranged. Just remember to keep your end of the bargain, peasants.”

The Pegasus snorted. “We will. But you can’t blame us for wondering why you want the princess’s daughter. Especially after she was foalnapped not so long ago.”

The voice in the dark scoffed again. “We would not be so forward, had we not learned it was one of our own that was punished for doing what is right.”

The earth mare made a “titch” sound. “Whatever. So, we have a deal, or not? I’ve better things to spend my time on than talking to a pony in a dark alley alongside a has-been flyer.”

“Hey!” the Pegasus growled.

“Enough,” the voice made them stop and turn to face it’s direction again. “Go and do as instructed. Succeed and you will be rewarded.”

The two nodded, before leaving the dark alley, nodded once to each other, then headed out into Canterlot proper to set events in motion.

___________________________________________________________

“I don’t believe this,” Mama says, snorting in annoyance.

I look over to her from my bed. “What’s wrong, Mama?”

She sighs, turning to me. “Your aunt requires my presence in Canterlot to deal with some matters. She handle them herself, but she has been swamped with paperwork the fallout of so many nobles after learning about your... um...”

She trails off and I sigh, glancing back at my still regrowing limbs. This is something we probably won’t be able to talk about without grimacing in any sense for a while. A long while.

“Wait,” I look to her with worry. “You’re going to Canterlot? What about me?”

She looks at me with a hurt expression, before coming over and nuzzles my mane, before resting her head on top of mine. “If I can, I’ll see if the doctors would be okay with your coming along. I shouldn’t be too long.”

Mama gives me a reassuring smile, then heads out the room to no doubt find one of the doctors or nurses, to see if I’m well enough to travel to Canterlot for a bit.

I settle down in my bed and close my eyes.

It’s been two days since Diamond Tiara became friends with me. It is still a bit odd to think of her as a friend, but at the same time, it feels right, too. It’s hard to explain.

Anyway, one thing I learned was that the reason Diamond’s family got mentioned by the ponies who had foalnapped me was because her dad’s ex-wife, Spoiled Rich, had been one of the ponies following Alchemist whilst he was disguised as Blueblood.

Unlike the others, however, she didn’t act as if he had been wrong. She still thinks of me as a monster that doesn’t deserve the title of Mama’s daughter.

Her current whereabouts are unknown. As soon as word reached Ponyville about my return, she’d gone into hiding.

Diamond is still seeing somepony about everything that’s happened to her, including the pressures Spoiled put on her that just made matters worse, but her dad, Derpy and Dinky are helping her as best they can.

I decide to have a little nap. Mama doesn’t have to leave for about an hour, so that gives me a little resting time.

___________________________________________________________

“Well, as long as she doesn’t do anything too strenuous, I don’t see why you can’t take her with you, Your Highness,” Nurse Tenderheart said, nodding to the dark Alicorn, before pulling some papers out from under her desk and passing them to the princess. “You’ll just need to sign these forms for an Out Day. Also, we’ll need to have somepony from either our staff, or Canterlot General with her to make sure her condition doesn’t deteriorate and will be able to assist as soon as possible, if need be.”

Luna nodded, levitating the papers and a quill in her magic, before signing the needed documents.

She knew her daughter wasn’t emotionally as stable as others believed right now. Her dreams showed she still was punishing herself for how she treated the Element Bearers and Spike during Hearth’s Warming.

She gave a sad inward chuckle. Like mother like daughter, I guess.

Not even Stellar knew of the Tantabus. Luna was doing everything she could to prevent her daughter from following in her hoofsteps. She deserved her daily punishments in her dreams for what her actions wrought, both to her sister and Equestria, but also to Stellar herself. Stellar, however, did not deserve such a thing. She had acted in pain and grief. On top of that, she was only a child. Luna did not have that excuse.

Luna was pulled from her musings by a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw Doctor Stable standing there, a clipboard held in his magic... and a worried look in his eyes.

“What is it, doctor?” she asked, turning around, sighing at his flinch. This clearly was about Stellar and he obviously worried telling her bad news about her daughter would end badly for him.

After a worried glance at the Alicorn, he turned his face to his notes, clearly not wanting to meet her eyes. “We-w-well, Your Highness,” he gulped, “w-we’ve been going over Stellar’s rate of recovery and...”

Luna sighed as he tried off, before giving him a firm look. “Tell us straight, doctor. Do not, as the ponies of today say, beat around the bush. You can tell us what is wrong without fear of our actions.”

She had a worrying feeling she knew anyway.

He gulped, before looking back to his notes. “W-well, princess,” he said, before taking a breath, seeming to regain some of his composure, before going on, “we’ve been monitoring your daughter since her arrival and... well, it isn’t good news, I’m afraid.”

Luna closed her eyes. “Go on.”

He gulped. “We-well, it would seem that, while true your daughter is regenerating her limbs as you and the other princesses are able,” she could only assume he was assuming Twilight and Cadance could regenerate their limbs, as neither had been injured enough to require to do that, yet, “it is at a far slower rate than it should be.”

He looked to Luna, who nodded her again, indicating for him to continue.

He sighed. “Princess, we are unsure what it is, but there is something stopping her from recovering at a faster rate. It’s as if something within her is halting the process, like a blockage to a dam halts water flow. It still happens, but at a much slower pace. At best... it may be several years before Stellar’s regeneration will be enough for her to try flying or using magic again. We... we just can’t be sure.”

Luna remained silent for a while, before nodding and turning to head back for her daughter’s room. “Thank you, doctor. Return to your work.”

“Yes, princess,” he bowed slightly, before heading off to tend to his next patient.

The princess of the night sighed as she walked through the halls. She had feared this.

Every night, she was checking her daughter’s inner magic and had always been seeing something that worried her. There was something deep within Stellar that seemed broken, disconnected.

She wished she could just blame this was from her time under Alchemist’s tortuous hooves, that he had hurt her to the point of this disconnection within her.

In a way, she knew she was not too far off with this assumption. She was certain the disconnection was due to Nightmare Moon having given herself up to save Stellar’s spirit.

Whilst it had made Stellar whole, Stellar had spent her whole pony life with that mare inside of her, always a constant presence alongside the young one’s spirit.

Now... that was gone. Moonie was no more and Stellar was on her own in her body for the first time since her creation.

Luna stopped just out her daughter’s room and schooled her features before entering to let Stellar know she would be able to go. She didn’t want her daughter to know something so sad, so soon.

___________________________________________________________

“I shouldn’t be too long,” Mama says as we step out of the carriage in front of the gates to Canterlot Castle. She turns to the mare from Canterlot General who is waiting for us with several of the guard. “Rose Heart, I trust you will keep my daughter safe?”

The red coated mare nodded, bowing. “I promise, princess, I will do what is expected of me.”

Mama nods, before leaning down and nuzzling me. “Be good, and I’ll see you soon, okay? I might even take you to one of my favourite restaurants as a treat?”

I nuzzle back and nod, smiling up at her, though I do try to hold back a shudder. Rose Heart seems nice enough, but I’m still anxious. Then again, after what I went through, can you blame me?

My wings were torn off and my horn sliced off! That doesn’t exactly make somepony as young as me feel comfortable.

As Mama walks off, I turn to Rose Heart to ask her if she knows some place we can go whilst I’m waiting for Mama to be done with whatever her sister wants her for.

Rose has a red coat, similar to Big Mac’s. Her mane is long a purple and her Cutie Mark is a medical cross with a rose in front of it.

As I turn however, something makes me pause. For a split-second, I can swear I saw a sneer on her face and a cold look in her yellow eyes.

“Um, Rose Heart?”

She turns to me, her warm smile and caring eyes returned. “Yes, princess?”

“Um, is there somewhere you’d like to go while we wait for Mama to finish?” I don’t know why, but I can swear that sneer almost returned for a second.

However, Rose Heart just smiles and nods. “Of course, Your Highness. Why, I know of just the place.”

She turns and I move to follow her. We walk through the streets of Canterlot for a few minutes.

As we do, many ponies take notice of us. However, what surprises me is that none of them are shying away or glaring at me. In fact, they either smile warmly or sadly at me.

Some even greet me. One mare even offers me a small takeway tub of chocolate blueberry swirl ice cream as we pass her store.

My mood improves very quickly, even though I am slightly confused and I look to Rose Heart for answers.

“Rose Heart, why is everypony being so nice?” I ask, just as a couple wave to us as we walk passed. “Before, almost everypony would either hide away or glare at me.”

Rose looks to me and something flickers in her eyes, before she answers. “Well, after everypony saw what happened to you, they stopped seeing the monster and instead an innocent, wonderful little filly.”

I look down, finishing off the small ice cream I’d been given, frowning slightly. So, it took that monster pony taking my wings and horn for everypony to see me as a normal pony? I’m half torn between being happy they’re finally treating me like any other pony instead of a monster, and being angry that it took something like that to make them all see reason.

“Huh? Stellar?”

At once I go rigid, dropping the ice cream tub. Slowly, I turn around to see the owner of the voice.

Two mares are trotting towards us. One is a white unicorn with a fancy purple mane and the other is a light-blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane.

I cringe, pulling away and hiding behind Rose Heart. I don’t want to be near Rainbow Dash or Rarity. I still hate myself for how I treated her before my foalnapping, but I also still haven’t forgiven them for hiding the truth from me.

They both pause, before glancing at each other anxiously.

“So...” Dash says, looking away, scratching her neck, “uh, what brings you to Canterlot?”

“Mama has to handle some things,” I murmur, not meeting their eyes. “Wh... why are you here?”

Dash looks to Rarity, then back to me, smiling sheepishly. “I’m here with the Wonderbolts. They’ve got a performance in a few days and I was brought along in case that need somepony to fill in at the last minute.”

“And I’m here because I was just finishing up some last touches to my new shop here in Canterlot before the open in two days,” Rarity says, seeming both proud and sheepish at the same time.

“Well, if you two ponies will excuse us,” Rose Heart says, an odd hint of coldness entering her voice and face as she looks at the two mares, “the princess and I were just on our way to a meeting place and we are now already late thanks to your interruption. Now, come along, princess. We must hurry.”

“Wait. Meeting?” I turn to Rose Heart, blinking in confusion. “But, I thought we were going somewhere to hang until Mama was finished with whatever Princess Celestia wanted her for.”

“Um, pardon me,” Rarity says, stepping forward. “What’s this about Princess Luna finishing something her sister wanted her for?”

As I turn to Rarity, I can swear a worried scowl crosses over Rose Heart’s face. “Mama got a letter from her sister saying she’s swamped with paperwork from the nobles and asked if she’d handle something, since she can’t right now.”

Both mares frown in confusion, glancing at each other, before Rarity looks back to me. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Stellar. Princess Celestia is spending the day at the spa. I know because Rainbow Dash and I passed her own her way out of the castle and she said it was a shame Luna wasn’t able to leave your side to join her. She never mentioned anything about—”

Suddenly something shoots down from above, slamming into Rarity, sending her falling into Rainbow Dash, causing the two of them to tumble.

“What in the—?” I begin, before crying out in alarm as I feel something round and metal clink around my neck.

“Should’ve known you couldn’t pull off such a simple acting job,” a gruff male voice says as I feel somepony bite the scruff of my neck and lift me up.

“Shudup,” the muffled voice of Rose Heart says, for some reason sounding different. “The little pesch ish annoying enough to deal wish, okay. How wash I ch’ know they’d show up choo?”

“Whatever,” a Pegasus stallion with a coat like Dash’s if a with a green tinge to it, said, stepping forward. I could just make out his Cutie Mark. It’s a pilot’s hat with a small white wing on either side of the top of the helmet. His mane is a two-toned grey. “Let’s just get to the drop off point before they recover.”

With that I feel myself yanked as Rose Heart turns, bolting down the streets and down an alley.

As I see the darkness, I realize I’m being foalnapped again. Fear runs through me as I scream.

“Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Help!”

___________________________________________________________

“Ugh,” Dash said, getting up, shaking her head. “What hit me?”

“Somepony, a very rude somepony, knocked us over, it would seem,” Rarity said as she got up, dusting herself off.

“Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Help!” a terrified scream rang out.

At once the two turned in the direction of the scream to see the shadowy shapes of a Pegasus and Earth Pony hurrying down an alleyway, with something held in the latter’s mouth.

They quickly glanced around and saw neither Stellar, nor the mare she’d been with.

“Stellar!” they both cried, hurrying to catch up to the ponies.

The idea that somepony would foalnap Stellar again, and this time in broad daylight? What was going on?

They bolted down the alley, Rainbow Dash flapping her wings, aiming for the Pegasus. She couldn’t make too much out in the minimal light of the alley, but it was clearly a stallion.

The two rounded a corner and Dash darted to follow, Rarity lagging a bit behind.

As she turned though, Dash got caught in a clothes line and became tangled up in clothes and line.

“Rainbow?” Rarity turned her head up as she rounded the corner.

“Never mind me!” she cried, pointing to the disappearing ponies. “Get Stellar!”

Rarity nodded and continued on, pushing herself to increase her running speed, her eyes narrowed. She would not allow somepony to take away her little sister again.

As she gets closer, she sees a bunch of grates lined on the wall the two foalnappers are about to pass.

Thinking quickly, she lights her horn, causing the grates to fall over. The two ponies didn’t notice til the last second and the grates came crashing down on them, causing the one carrying Stellar to let go, the young filly flying into the air, screaming.

Her screams stopped when Rarity grabbed her in her magic, hurriedly bringing her over. The young filly clung onto her the moment she was released from the magical hold.

Groaning from the turned over grates causes Rarity to lifted Stellar onto her back, before hurrying back the way they came, quickly meeting up with Dash, who’d managed to free herself.

“Not one more step.”

The three turn to see the two ponies, having quickly gotten out from the pile of grates and both glaring at them.

Rarity’s eyes widened and she gasped as she looked to the mare. Her red coat had been rubbed away in several places, revealing a light-pink coat beneath. However, what caused her to gasp was the Cutie Mark. It had also been rubbed partially away, revealing three sewing buttons.

“Suri?!” she asked in shock, looking to the mare. “What...? Why in Equestria were you trying to take Stellar like that?”

However, before Suri could answer, Dash gave a shocked and angry cry. “Wind Rider?!”

Rarity turned her attention to the Pegasus stallion, before glancing to her friend, who was glaring at him, his nostrils flared. “Who?”

“He’s a living legend!” Dash said, indicating to him. “He holds the Wonderbolts’ record in the mustang marathon!” she looked to him, her eyes hardening, while also looking hurt. “Which just confuses me as to why he’s helping somepony foalnap Stellar!”

“Give the foal to us, or else,” Wind Rider said, holding out a hoof.

Rarity responded to this by levitating Stellar off her back and behind them, so she and Dash would be standing between them and her.

She only now noticed they were backed against a wall, so there was no way out except past the two ponies before them. “Or else what?”

Suddenly, both ponies’ scowls turned into sneers.

“Or else, everypony will learn you steal all your best ideas from me and copy them before I can get them out,” Suri said.

Both Dash and Rarity’s mouths dropped, before their expressions hardened.

“And what makes you think anypony would believe a load of cow dung like that?” Dash asked, tossing her head. “She’s done dresses for the princesses. The princesses. You honestly somepony with that much creditably would be believed to copy your designs?” Dash laughed. “Puh-lease. I’m no fashion pony, and even I can tell everything you do is just copying others. Who’d believe you?”

Suri just continued to smirk. “I’ve friends in high places. They’d work it so I’m believed.”

“And what about you?” Wind Rider chuckled. “Nopony going to take the word from an ex-Wonderbolt who got kicked out because she tricked another Wonderbolt out of the show just so you could take her place?”

“Huh?” Dash pulled her head back, cocking an eyebrow.

He gave a sly smile. “Either you give us that foal, or I’ll convince everypony you tricked Spitfire out of the show just so you could fly with me.”

Dash’s eyes widened, before she looked at him with hurt eyes. “What?! Wh-why would you do that?”

He snorted. “I’ve heard word that you might one day beat my record. If you’re not in the Wonderbolts, though, my record will be preserved.”

Dash’s hurt turned to anger. “Seriously?! You want to get me kicked off the Wonderbolts because you want to keep your record?! Dude, that’s just pathetic!”

He scowled. “I don’t care what you think. Sometimes you have to play dirty to be the best. Now, give us the foal, or you can say goodbye being a Wonderbolt.”

“And you can say goodbye to ever having customers again,” Suri sneers, before laughing. “Maybe I’ll let you work for me. I need somepony to replace that waste of space, Coco, now that she quit, the ungrateful retch.”

___________________________________________________________

I watch from behind as Dash and Rarity talk angrily with the two ponies who tried to foalnap me.

I’m shaking, my heart pumping a mile a minute. Again. Somepony wanted to foalnap me again, even after everything I’ve been through. Why?!

As Dash and Rarity are given a choice between their careers and me, I sink down. What’s going to happen to me? What are these ponies going to do with me?

“Well, for starters,” Rarity says after the mare that was pretending to be Rose Heart finished talking, “Coco quit because you were a horrible pony to her. She did all the work, and you took all the credit, whilst treating her like nothing. And, as for your ultimatum if I refuse to let you take Stellar,” she looks back at me with a warm smile, before returning to glare at the other mare, “I’d gladly give up my live as a fashion designer if it means keeping her safe. Whilst you may not care about anypony but yourself, I’d rather never be involved in fashion again if it means keeping my little sister safe from you.”

“And I don’t care what you say,” Dash glares at the pony named Wind Rider, “if you think that’s what being a Wonderbolt’s about, go ahead.” She looks back to me and winks, before turning a glare back on the other Pegasus. “Unlike you, I know what being a Wonderbolt really means: it’s sticking together and I’d never abandon Stellar to somepony the likes of you.” she snorts. “Can’t believe I used to look up to you. Not anymore.”

I stare up at them, my eyes wide. Rarity would be generious enough to give up fashion to keep me safe? And Dash is loyal to me that she’d give up being a Wonderbolt to protect me?

Suddenly, I feel a tingling feeling deep inside me, before I feel a surge of magic, before everything goes white.

___________________________________________________________

Rarity and Dash hunch down, ready to defend their mutual little sister, when Rarity winces as she feels a sudden surge of magic.

From behind them, a fierce wind blows forth. Turning, all four ponies’ eyes widen. Stellar was floating in the air, the anti-magic collar that Suri had placed around her neck laying on the ground, shattered. Her magic no longer being retrained, Stellar’s magical mane and tail were billowing around her and her eyes were shining white. Her horn and wings were also shining and... were they regrowing a bit?

All at once, a flash of cyan and white light shoot out from her chest, engulfing the unicorn and Pegasus mares. When it fades away, it reveals Rarity and Rainbow Dash having taken on the forms that did back when they opened the chest that became Twilight’s castle.

“Wh-what in the—?” Suri gaped, backing away slowly.

“No... nopony told us anything about this!” Wind Rider said, just as shocked.

Rarity and Rainbow looked to each other in surprise, before nodding and turning to the other two again.

“Uh... I think...” Suri said, slowly backing away, “we should run.”

“Yeah,” Wind Rider nodded, backing away as well. “Later!”

With that, he shot up into the air as fast as he could.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow cried, blasting off, a shockwave radiating from her point of lift off. She soared up at speeds she was surprised by herself, before rounding about and slamming a hoof into Wind Rider’s oncoming face.

The Pegasus reeled back, tumbling down and hitting the pavement hard.

Suri looked from Wind Rider to Rarity and made a run for it.

“Not on your life!” the unicorn cried, glaring at the fleeing Earth Pony.

At once, the diamonds in the earrings that Suri was wearing suddenly launched out, grew larger and attached to her legs, causing her to trip over.

As she fell, the diamonds fully encircled each of her legs, before expanding out and binding together, like hoofcuffs, only made of diamond.

Dash returned to the ground, landing on top of Wind Rider, making it impossible to escape.

As she did, there was a flash of light and both she and Rarity returned to normal, followed by a beam of dark-blue light shot up into the sky and exploded in the shape of Stellar’s Cutie Mark.

___________________________________________________________

“What do you mean Celestia did not call for me?” Luna asked Celestia’s personal assistant Ink Well, frowning.

Ink Well looked up to the mare with a firm, but confused expression. “I’m sorry, princess, but Princess Celestia isn’t in any problems with paperwork at the moment. In fact, she is enjoying a break at the spa right now. Since you’re here, I’m sure she’d be happy for you to join her.”

“But, if Celestia did not call for me, then who—?”

A sudden surge of magic caused her to stop and she turned in the direction she could feel it coming from. That... that was Stellar’s magic!

Without even waiting to explain herself, Luna shot towards a group of guards who were coming around the corner.

“You’re with me!” she cried, skidding to a halt in front of them and charging a mass teleport.

“Yes, Your Highness,” they said, sounding a little taken aback, but getting into formation right away as the teleport went off.

When it faded, they were standing in an alley and could see pink mare with what looked like diamond encasing her legs like hoofcuffs, Rainbow Dash standing on top of a Pegasus stallion, glaring down at him, and Rarity holding an unconscious Stellar.

It took Luna all of three seconds to figure out the general idea, before holding out a leg. “Guards, arrest that pink mare and the Pegasus stallion.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the guards nodded, before moving off. Several collected the mare, whilst Dash helped the others handle Wind Rider.

Luna went over to Rarity and blink, noticing Stellar’s horn and wings had regrown a fair bit.

“We should get her to the hospital, now,” Rarity said, looking up at the princess.

She nodded, looking sadly to her daughter, before scowling at the two ponies her guards were preparing to take away.

Whomever had organized this, they would pay.

___________________________________________________________

“I really shouldn’t be surprised,” one mare said as she sat in the dark room around the table. “Trusting those two would actually manage something was pointless.”

“At least we can’t be connected,” a stallion’s voice replied. “And, as I don’t see us benefiting in any way from doing what they asked of us, seeing as they’ve failed to uphold their end of the bargain, I see no reason to go ahead with their requests. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” everypony said.

“We may have failed, but there will be plenty more chances to get that brat!” another mare said, snarling, before taking a deep breath. “For now, we will have to be patient. Luna will now suspect somepony is after her daughter. We will have to be careful.”

“Agreed,” everypony in the room said in unison.

Author's Note:

Phew! Well, this was a long time coming, huh?

So, seems several ponies are still after Stellar. Wonder who there are? Why were they saying they were responding to one of their own?

You'll have to wait and see.


Now, this is mainly a sort of experiment. Seeing as, as of chapter 24, Stellar has lost all faith in the mane 6, i'm trying to find ways she can regain her faith in them again; Rarity and Dash giving up their dreams for her restored her faith in them... and somehow made her able to unlock their Rainbow Power Forms. hmm. i wonder why.

well, anyway, hope you liked this chapter, let me know what you thought in the comments and, til next time, later everypony