Where One Exists, So May Others
Ted spent a few hours researching pony marriage customs before actually retiring for the night. They were surprisingly simple, and while it probably wouldn't be professional, he'd written some notes in case he forgot a line or two during the ceremony. The couple approaching him had been a sucker punch, but now that he thought about it, they probably wouldn't be the last couple to ask for his blessing for such a thing, considering both his position as ruler of the temple slash country that he was in right now, as well as the deific status that the ponies attributed to alicorns. Actually the only surprising thing was that they had built up the courage to ask him, considering the legends surrounding the Nightmare. Surely the creature was a terrible thing if Luna could be scared so badly by her presence in the dream realm.
Mentally berating himself for falling into the gender confusion again, and double checking his mental wards, Ted was stopped short as an idea occurred to him. He was not in a good way with Luna's memories combined with his own, and he had magic to combat the effects. What hope did the Nightmare have of doing the same with a mortal human brain? He now knew what magic felt like, and not once in his life had he ever felt anything like the buzzing energy that completely saturated the planet. Surely such a thing would be noticed by researchers at some point if it existed. Luna's memories of the Nightmare said that it would use magic to alter the host to allow it to continue functioning properly, so what would it do if it didn't have access to magic. The mental imagery of his body in a padded room while wearing a straight jacket and gibbering madly didn't sit well with him, but considering the alternatives, and the fact that he was actually fine? There were worse possibilities. It also reinforced for Ted the necessity of getting his head sorted out. There was no possible way for him to survive going home in his current condition. Even if he never found his way home, he could at least stop referring to himself as a her every now and again. He'd avoided doing it in public so far, but he didn't trust his luck to hold out. Not when said luck had him stuck in a world of magic and ponies.
Setting aside his research for the night, the dark alicorn once more bedded down for the night. This would be his forth foray into the dream realm, and while he was tempted to use the time to plan a better layout for the temple, the hope that he could find answers was just too much. Slowly fading from consciousness until he once more found himself in Dreamscape, he focused on her name. Surprisingly, he got a ping, though the distance was quite far. It took him a long time, just how long he didn't know, as time seemed odd in the dreamscape, but eventually he reached the location of the ping. Settling down in the area, he focused on memories of his target. White fur, a glowing smile, always there to lend an ear to her troubles... Before Tuna knew what was happening, a small light had started to form, the dream orb slightly larger than those of her ponies. Lost in Luna's memories of her older sister, she dove in, desperate to see her once again.
<-(0)->
The next conscious thought Ted had was of confusion, followed by embarrassment as he put the pink maned and white furred alicorn down on the grassy hill of her dreams. It seemed that while he was focusing on the memories Luna had of her sister, he'd been swept away in the tide of emotions they'd elicited, driving him to snatch the smaller alicorn in a crushing hug before either of them knew what was going on. Finally back in control of himself, he noticed that his dream form had once more faded into a hybrid of both lives, this time his humanoid form modified by in a light fuzz of black fur on his arms. How long before both lives reached balance, and what would that truly end up looking like? Was it possible for a two minds of such different potential to reach balance?
Celestia, meanwhile, could only stare at the newcomer in confusion. First she'd found herself in a dream, something she'd not had in years, then this strange creature rushed her and collected her into a crushing hug, claiming how much she, though the creature seemed male, had missed her sister. The creature had even called her Tia, and spoke in the older dialect Luna had favored so much upon her return. What was this thing? She almost missed the cutie mark on it's shoulder, an odd place for it, but considering the alien physiology, it could be ignored. An oak tree, with a strange circular symbol in the center of the trunk. Her first thought had been the Nightmare, but the dream was nice, and the Nightmare had merely copied Luna's mark.
"Who... What are you?" She settled upon. It would at least get the ball rolling, if nothing else.
Ted had by this time finally managed to reel in the surging emotions of his sealed side, even going so far as to triple the amount of magic used to keep the princesses memories separated from his own. The price of not knowing much about Tia was worth not rushing over and hugging the life out of her again. "I, uh, apologize, Tia. I've had memory problems for a few days now, or have noticed them in the last few days. My name is Theodore, Theodore Noc-Fredston, though my friends call me Ted. I'm a human, or, well I was one at one point. I'm fairly certain my current form, and problems, stem from a mutual, shall we say, acquaintance of ours, though my experiences with it are second-hand besides the event that brought me here."
When the princess cocked her head in confusion, he tried a more obvious explanation. "The parasite, princess." Celestia's eyes widened. Not only did it know the Nightmare, it called it a parasite, and there was no way the Nightmare would refer to itself as such. The creature had a god complex that made Sombra's look like a childhood fantasy.
"You know of the creature? I thought the elements had banished it, purging it from my sisters mind." The small alicorn said
"From what I've managed to put together, it used some type of swap spell on me, switching places with me the moment before the elements struck. I was pulled from your sister the next moment, stuck in the armor with an absolute mess of a memory dump and a pounding headache from the spell's backlash despite no longer having a head. I've only recently been able to wander around again."
"The spell she felt before the elements..." Celestia breathed out. "My sister spoke of a powerful spell the nightmare used just before the elements cleansed her, but it had no noticeable effect, besides the horrific recoil they suffered as a result. When she attempted to discern the spells target, it merely led her back to the armor, so she assumed it failed." Thinking about this for a moment, she turned back to the hybrid before her. "You have been stuck in the armor for all this time? How did you not go mad?"
"I uh, actually, I think its equal parts not having a temporal reference while stuck in the armor, and having hundreds of years of memories to try understand."
"Is that why you, uh" The alicorn mumbled, her white fur tinged a slight pink. Even if it was a dream, it was the first contact she'd had in decades.
"Yes. I'm, sorry if I lose myself in them every now and then, humans only live about a century at the most, the memories I've had to deal with span several of my lifetimes. Sometimes they get the better of me, as you saw." Ted said, scratching at the odd fur on his arm. "It doesn't help that I'm also finding myself dealing with instincts that are alien to me."
"Yes, I noticed your form. I can't say I've seen anything like it before, although it looks..." Celestia muttered, taking another glance at the creature before her. At first it had just seemed alien, but after learning it was no longer merely 'human', she noticed something. "You are an alicorn?"
"Yes, though I think that has to do with the magic involved in giving me a physical form here. Cultists were trying to resurrect the Nightmare, and ended up freeing me." Ted said. "My best guess is that the lack of magic from my own world meant that my magic is a combination of your sister's and the Nightmare's. I guess that would make you my magical aunt?" He asked with a smile.
The princess giggled lightly, before her tone turned much more somber. "I would be honored, but I don't deserve such a title. I have failed my little ponies, I have failed in keeping them safe and now they suffer under the iron hoof I helped to create. To this day she demands each year that my sister and I give to her our powers, leaving her the sole ruler of the world. She has weakened us, but the power of the cosmos is not within her ability to steal. Unless something changes soon, however, I fear my sister or I may end up breaking eventually. She has eternity to wait, after all."
"I've spoken to your sister recently, I don't think you need to worry about her giving in anytime soon. She has way too much fight left in her. This Mad Queen, you know her? I've only heard of her atrocities second-hand from the cultists and those that have come under my care."
The princess nodded sadly. "She was once a mare I proudly called my beloved student. I do not know when she fell, but she was twisted by her anger, she lashed out at those she once called friend, and eventually used her knowledge to trap both my sister and I in our prisons until we gave her our power once more. Those she once called friends she turned to stone, preserved for all eternity to power her arrays. The self-preservation of the elements to those bound to them is strong, strong enough to protect them even after they were returned to the Tree of Harmony. She used this knowledge against it, placing dangerous arrays that, should they fail, would destroy the bearers utterly. The elements therefore continuously pour power to those poor conduits to keep them safe, only furthering her schemes. I- I can't help but wonder where I went wrong, what lesson I didn't teach her." The princess uttered on the verge of tears. "I did so much for her, I raised her higher than any before her, and she struck us all down with the power I'd gifted her with. The element of Magic, she was always meant to bear it, but I knew she could be so much more."
Ted took this in silently, mind already hitching on a niggling detail that refused to leave him alone. "You said this girl, she suddenly turned on everyone she held dear to her?"
"Yes" The princess nodded. "Even her own brother, he was left a husk of his former self, his mind burned away as she attempted to purge him of controlling magics that did not exist. She said he was turned against her when he spoke against her actions, said that he was no longer himself. I, I've never been so ashamed as the day she came to my prison with that smiling puppet following her." She said, burying her face in her hooves.
"This sudden change, it doesn't ring any bells? Doesn't set off any alarms, or give you any sense of deja vu?" Ted asked leadingly.
"I-What are you talking about? What could possibly have turned her to such-"
"TIA!" The pink and white princess' confusion was interrupted by the furious shout of her sister, the lunar alicorn arriving in the dreamscape to find her sister staring wide-eyed at her, as the creature that bore the Nightmare's aura pointed a single digit in her direction.
"Tia?" Luna asked, confused. "Tia, what did it tell you? Did it hurt you? FIEND! What did you do to my sister?"
Ted ignored the raging diarch, never taking his eyes from the alicorn sitting before him. "The Nightmare that took your sister is gone, I'm fairly certain of that, or at the least indisposed. The world I'm from lacks magic, after all. It may be my human paranoia speaking, but the problem with monsters, Celestia, is that where there's one, there may be more."
<-(0)->
Far above the kingdom of Equestria a lone figure stood proudly, surveying her kingdom with smug satisfaction. It left the balcony, passing the guards now donned in amethyst armor and bearing her crest on their chest. It was satisfying, seeing such obvious displays of her rule. The Queen walked her halls alone, no need for guards with the pure power she wielded. Once the Sun and Moon caved, she would finally have it all. The elements would no longer be needed, and she would dispose of them, lest they find some way to break her hold on Magic. The Queen passed by relics of her victories. A griffon blade ceded to her by the Ruler of High-Talon, it would soon be the only remaining griffon-made weapon in the world. The Shield of the Shattered Horn, an ancient relic of the Minotaur people, one she'd threatened once or twice to melt down for a new bath faucet when the 'taurs got uppity. Finally, a large blood ruby in the shape of an eye, the largest of its kind on the planet, said to be the actual eye of the first Broodmother of the dragons. Even the arrogance of the fire-lizards was nothing to her power. The biologically grown crowns of several changeling queens, removed to their absolute agony, and to her auditory pleasure. Finally, the Raiment of the princesses, both the golden armor of the Sun, and the purple armor of the Night. Armor that she had personally removed from those two when they'd fallen to her magical arrays. Oh how sweet victory was.
Finally done with her daily trot through her collection, she retired for the night, laying down upon the finest silks. She would preserve a few of the changeling drones from her experiments, after all, no need to lose such finery just because she got overzealous with her pursuit of science. Laying down for the night, the Queen laughed to herself at the idea of how far she'd come in so little time. Yes, the future was certainly looking bright.
If any had bothered to look upon the shadow of the queen, they would have sworn it was heaving, as if wracked by sobs. But that would be impossible, as everypony knew that shadows don't cry.
Double, as I said, I wasn't sure where to go with Mirage's story, or how to say it. Also got sucked into games like dying light, and space engineers. So this is my gift to you.
AH! THERE IT IS! I know some of you were already throwing poor Twilly under the bus, but I like this better. Besides, we don't know where the Nightmare came from, just that it targeted the weaker of the strongest species on the planet. Who's to say there aren't more?
As for the Nightmare that swapped with Ted? This is its current favorite song.
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Allow my to express my love for you guys.
damn i had an idea but i just wished it wasn't so
this story is great, cant wait for more
6003674
it is returned in waves, your a great author if this story is any indication and we(or at least i) will follow your profile to the end of days
I... I ran out of words to describe how good this is.
6003674 Love accepted.
That really does make sense. Good chapter.
So everything everyone said is true. Yikes. Poor Twily. Really like that crying shadow image. Nice.
Well this has been an interesting development.
While I've seen the whole bit where Twilight goes crazy before, this definitely looks to have enough of its own swing to feel new
Awesome chapter, and I look forward to seeing what becomes of the royal sisters and Ted's relationship---and what happened to twilight in the past to bring her to where/who she is now.
And also anything at all about the changelings.Twilight sparkle...
6003674
No homo. Unless you're hot.
QUEEN IS REVEALED! GIT HYPE!
Damn, hang on Twily! There's still a chance to save you from your fate, we just have to fight fire with fire!
I had a feeling that this would be the case.
NOTE: Humans don't have magic but know of it. Why not get inventive and apply human ideas about magic to create new magic? Being the "wielder" of Magic, perhaps the Queen would notice Ted's presence if he did. It's just an idea to expedite the plot's progress. Also, Ted needs a nuke. I mean the RPG term, not the atomic variety. Perhaps Ted's new nuke will make the Queen's Magic sense tingle, if you catch my drift. I'd love to see that!
When in doubt, use Minecraft.
Called it!
Double release! Yay!
Poor Twilight.
Sheesh -- you like that version? You have to go with the original...
Napoleon XIV from 1966.
Thanks, can't wait for the wedding and Tia/Luna plotting with Ted.
6003876
Luna doesn't exactly seem convinced at this point.
cluepicsanswers.com/images/cluepics/the-plot-thickens.jpg
So either A. Twilight went mad from power, Or B. Shit got planted in her mind turning her paranoid to the point of madness. (Or who knows, maybe a prick that knew of the MLP world replaced her like Ted and the Nightmare, shhhtuff with the rainbow x "kawarimi" spell and said "Y'know what, fuck this shit RULING TIME.") Dunno, lookin' forward to how this plays out.
Sooo... NOT Derpy?
Darn, but it explained so much.
while I am happy the mad queen is not Celestia, Twilight is usually the third choice after a villain comeback so I am disappointed, though the ending was a new twist on it where most stories with this set up would choose a "lesson zero" twilight you have one with hidden regret. im looking forward into this developing further.
6003905 Not Enough Muffins.
6003917 I know insane Twi is the logical next choice, which is why I skipped it. And what is this regret you speak of? The queen doesn't feel any regret.
6003733 Glad you liked it, I thought it was a nice touch.
6003882 Don't worry, he'll have mommy Woona wrapped around his forehoof before the nights through. Whether its her will that's wrapped around his foreleg, or her own forelegs mid arm-bar is yet to be decided.
6003887 Both good guesses, but I'm going with C: a second Nightmare parasite.
6003940
In the first case, Tuna had the advantage because it was Luna invading his dreamscape.
In this case, it is neutral ground -- Luna and Tuna are in Celestia's dream.
Of course there is the third choice, enemy ground -- In Luna's dreams, Tuna would be at a disadvantage.
I really like this sentence I can just imagine the tone and gravity behind this announcement, and...
That's an excellent as well a chilling way to end the chapter. Even though I already suspected a nightmare infected Twilight you gave the revelation in a compelling manner.
6003959 Silly reader, Luna's been stuck in a prison while Ted is being worshipped by cultists. He has dah powah!
6003969 Glad it hit in the manner I was aiming for. I've done things like that in another story and it ended up falling flat.
6003921 I got the mental image of the ritual room flooding with muffins, as Derpy formed from the shadows in the room.
6003674 SIGN THE SAVE TWILIGHT BRIGADE! PLEASE SIGN IT!
I'm wondering how Ted will fight her cause right now its a very uneven match up between the two of them.
Also whats the Nightmare doing right now besides listening to sick beats..
6003674 i love that song
and we love you (no homo) for making this story.
Twilight is a bit OP much?
OH SHIT! I thought that it was gonna be celestia. :/ well i guess twily went evil.
There's so many Twilight becomes the villain fics, because it works.
There's at least two things about her that gives her a lot of villain potential.
Even though she doesn't have a malicious bone in her body, she's the ultimate well-intentioned extremist. Whenever the world isn't working the way she wants it to, her reaction is, "Can I fix this, with magic?" but never, "Should I fix this, with magic?" Parasprites, fruit bats, Pinkie clones, 7 day time travel spell, want-it need-it spell, and so on.
Then there's her unswerving obedience towards Celestia. She never questions her Princess, no matter how many times she gets sent on a dangerous mission with little or no briefing. The disturbing implication there is that if she ever gets used to being a princess, and starts seeing herself as Celestia's equal, she's going to expect the same unquestioning obedience from her subjects.
6004024
So did I just guess correctly or did I give you ideas, in regards to Luna being trapped for a long time?
6004119 Counting how many hugs it gave itself over the last few minutes.
6004175 I've had this idea for a while, well before I knew about fimfiction, and even before I let myself acknowledge that yes I have an addiction, no, ponies are not a problem
6004136 She does nothing but study magic for years. She better know the ins and outs of every frackin spell created since time immemorial with her ability to memorize and plan.
6003753 I've thought about this, and I'll have to say I don't know, since I'm no expert on the attractiveness of the male human body.
6004162 I remember Whatmustido's fic took a sick twist on the clones, though I liked it, and agree with the interpretation of how twilight handled the situation. Magical clone or not, you don't just blast something with magic and hope things get better.
6004068 *sighs, pulls out marker* No I don't hate Twilight, I just think she's a shining beacon of "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." and "What happens when a child plays with fire."
[claps]
You handled this chapter very well indeed. I was afraid that Twilight (or Celestia) would end up as evil for no particularly apparent reason (or bullshit reasons), but a Nightmare-possessed Twilight neatly sidesteps that issue.
With that hurdle out of the way I'm eagerly anticipating the next chapter.
To clarify.
Nightmare Moon ≠ Luna.
"The Queen" ≠ Twilight
They were both posessed by an aptly called "parasite".
Luna's parasite is gone, currently in the human world.
Twilight is being controlled.
6004248 As I've said in other ANs I've read enough fics to see the pitfalls, and I'm trying to avoid them. In this case, I had already planned it being Twilight from chapter two, but by chapter three or four, I realized a good way to put a different spin on the topic, since most people seem to treat the nightmare either as Luna's fractured mind or a one of a kind parasite. Not only that, Lesson zero Twilly is a shining example that she's not exactly of sound mind, as I'd hope my immortal rulers would be. Ted isn't either at a moment, but he recognizes the issue, and it stems from something outside of his control.
Can we get a short interlude chapter with Nightmare Moon stuck in an asylum, in Ted's body?
How to drop human racial insanity into the Mad Queens mind, to give the parasite there something to scream in terror about?
The Elements were used to zap Discord first, or did he manage to dimention shift and run away?
aww im sad he got to explane he was from another world but thats just me i wouldn't really care to explane where or what i was if im nightmare now then im nightmare now ...and id get a kick out of seeing there reactions when i dont conform to there expectations of what thay think a nightmare should act like
greatest theme music ever
6004278
That would be WONDERFUL
6003795 Dang my bet was on Sunset Shimmer an alternet outcome of the first EQG movie where she successfully returns with the element of magic and takes over. But a second nightmare possessing Twilight works too.
6003940 Bollocks, well that takes the fun out of the mystery eh? Unless it's coming up next chapter in which case "Eh."
The exposition dump is real... and I love it.
6004379
Or, you know, an accident of the elements going wrong in the EQG 'verse feeding back on her like they did to Sunset.
I'm sorry guys but I have a question....it's pretty dumb but I have to ask it
Is Ted in a male alicorn body or a female one?
It just gets confusing sometimes.
Poor Ted will have identity issues for decades to come.
Also, Luna will have a hard time accepting that Ted is the son of her and the Nightmare.
6004278
6004367
I was debating on doing something like that, actually planned a bit of it out, but I've never done an interlude, and it wouldn't really add anything useful. I know that's kind of the point of calling it an interlude, but still.
6004463 I don't know how you managed to miss that answer, man. It's pasted all over the first chapter or two.
6004428 Lordy no. Too easy to make a star wars reference at that point.