Nightmare to Earth

by bobdat

Chapter Two: Lost in Translation

I checked Darius' piece of paper as soon as I woke up the next day, to refresh my memory. Then I went to see if Mayumi was back. She wasn't.

She got back just as I was having a breakfast of tinned pineapple.
“Got it.” She announced, smiling. But she said no more about it, and she'd buried it deeply in her backpack before either Darius or I could see it.

Because Mayumi had been so successful, we left to pick up the Professor that day. It was much safer travelling in a group, so I wasn't really very worried as we clambered our way through downtown, heading for the electronics shop. Not that any of the things were around.

The Professor was surprised to see us, but he was quickly packed and ready to go. I wanted another cup of coffee, since he could use a kettle to heat the water in moments, but Mayumi was in a hurry and I didn't like to say anything to her.
I spent most of the journey to the city outskirts, what used to be suburbs, keeping my eyes out for movement and inwardly complaining about the irritating clanking coming from my backpack. We all had to carry our own supplies in case we got separated, so the tins of lentils and fruit salad kept knocking together at the bottom. Plus, my ankles tired more quickly than everyone else's because I wasn't wearing boots.

The old map we had said that there was a main road heading north east, which would skirt round the scorched area where I used to live. The road was still there, but had more craters and cracks than seemed necessary. It proceeded in a dead straight line to the horizon, so we simply made our way to the right hand side and began walking, only deviating when there was a hole in our way.

Around lunchtime, by which time the city was merely a dusty, smoky blemish behind us, we encountered some of the things. In the wilderness outside of the cities they travelled in packs, three or four together. They jumped out of a field on our left and attacked immediately. The Professor was no use, but Darius and I were quick enough to claim a 'kill' each. Mayumi had calmly finished the other two.

The drawback to this was that the Professor was so shaken by the experience that he insisted we stopped for a rest. I didn't mind resting, because it meant I could reorganise my backpack to stop the noise, but Mayumi was getting more and more tense the longer we waited. I didn't think it made much difference when we arrived at our destination, but she did.

After fifteen minutes we were on our way again. The road was starting to twist, heading for a town a little further east, so we went cross-country to cut off the corner and join another road, now heading north. As we walked, the Professor talked to me. I didn't reply much, but it took my mind off my aching ankles and passed the time.
He mixed reminiscences about his younger days with explanations of what we would do once we'd got to wherever we were going. It was broken only by Mayumi telling the Professor to keep up the pace, and the occasional stumble over a loose bit of tarmac.

The sun was low when we stopped to eat next. Mayumi said we would keep going after dark for a couple of hours, so I took the opportunity to ask the Professor about this human city he was talking about.
“Ah, of course. There are actually two key locations – the city we've chosen is in what used to be Europe, because of the fertile land. But we're also planning to reinforce a little of the coastline on the Atlantic, because we'll need to get boats from North America to us. The more people we get together, the better.” He said, smiling happily. “That's where we're heading now, to board a boat.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Mayumi leaping forward, sword in hand. By the time I'd scrambled to my feet and grabbed the hilt of my sword, she'd already made two movements, and the ground was suddenly thick with black dust.
“I've never seen that before.” She suddenly said. I followed her gaze and saw two of the things simply running away, moving far faster than we could. In seconds they were shadows in the darkness, going west.
Darius shrugged. “How did you see them?”
“They were hiding in one of those craters. They're behaving very strangely, normally they just charge.” Mayumi said, looking thoughtful. Darius nodded knowingly, and the two of them returned to their thoughts.

I felt guilty that I hadn't been more alert, and since our location had been spotted we began moving again. The Professor was silent for this leg of the journey, and I just concentrated on not falling over. The things acting strangely was playing on my mind, and that frustration of not being able to pick something out of my memory was back. My mind seemed to be full of a white mist that made it too difficult to see clearly, but yet the silhouettes were always there, just lurking outside of my grasp.

Mayumi told us to be quiet, not that she needed to. You could often hear the things before you saw them, because of the strange way they communicated. It was like a series of electronic beeps and thuds, but somehow not how I remembered electronics to sound. It was almost musical, although I hadn't heard any music for two years. It was more like a memory of music, another memory that was just hazy. I kept my ears strained for any snatch of the music floating on the gentle, meandering zephyrs that swept across the landscape, but heard nothing.

We slept in a small group of trees, just at the wayside. Darius took the first watch, and he said he'd awaken me after four hours. I nodded and did my best to sleep, keen not to waste any of the time I'd been given. I only checked Darius' paper briefly, saying the words in my head. The gentle rustling of the trees unnerved me after years of sleeping under a roof, but the tiredness seemed to run throughout my body and I didn't even remember falling asleep.

***

Nightmare Moon smiled a wide smile, a smile of success. During her takeover of the entire world, she'd always kept one secret from all of the humans, who seemed too stupid to realise it. They'd always assumed, right from the start, that because of her magic she could understand them. They were wrong. She could understand them, but so could all of her minions, right down to the stupid thugs who just guarded her palace. Everything they said to each other could be reported back to her, but no human ever realised that those minions that they saw were actually listening.

To try and keep this a secret, she only ever allowed her minions to flee when they were scouting strange human movements. In cities around the world, there were pockets of humans, but they were disorganised. They had merely decades left until they rotted away in their hiding places, but she'd waited thousands. Only when they did something strange, like leaving the city and heading elsewhere, did she try to work out what they were doing. She didn't take over the world by being stupid and careless. Oh no, she made sure she micromanaged everything down to the last search party.

And now... this. When humans had moved before, it had always been because of vain hopes of finding areas of the world that were untouched by her. Rumours, always rumours, never true. They'd invariably meet a sticky end, to keep those rumours alive. Nightmare Moon chuckled at the possibility.
The two minions stood in her presence remained bowed. They were probably thinking all sorts of things about their Princess, Nightmare thought. She'd have to make sure they were the next to be sacrificed for information.

This party of four humans were somehow different. Firstly, they were very good; the report said that the diversion had not lasted anything like as long as it normally did. And more importantly, they were speaking of some kind of human city, a fortress that Nightmare could not storm. This had to be crushed. A warrior knows his foe's weaknesses, but a winner knows his own. Nightmare knew she could be defeated by the power of friendship. The Elements of Harmony might not exist in this world, but friendship did. And worse, it manifested itself in all sorts of ways. Teamwork, humour, cheerfulness. All these things seemed offensive to Nightmare, but she knew they could hurt her.

In a human city, they'd have all of this. They'd have harmony. It was a dire threat and Nightmare had to stop it. But, like a predator waiting patiently for its prey, Nightmare knew she had to allow this to develop. The humans had spoken to two locations, both coastal, that would be protected. There was no point allowing her minions to be uselessly beaten by assaulting them, but she could cut off the humans on their way. They would follow paths to the city, which she could cut off. The humans would think they were heading towards safety, and walk into an ambush.

The success smile crossed Nightmare's face again, but she suppressed a laugh. Sending the minions away, she informed her generals to keep tracking that party of four and send occasional attacks, on strict orders not to kill anyone. She had to find out where both of the locations were as soon as possible, so the minimum amount of humans would slip through her net.

In fact, if this plan of theirs appeared to work, it would send all of the humans scurrying there, exposing themselves to her attacks. Yes, it could actually be an advantage. Nightmare decided not to be too hasty. Nothing was worse than pulling out a weed before discovering that it was a flower.

The orders went out post-haste, and additional minions were moved into their predicted path. She needed to hear everything they said without seeming suspicious.

The clock on the mantel ticked over to nine. Nightmare nodded. It was time to return to Equestria, to resume her duties as shepherd of the night. Back to her 'good' self, Princess Luna. It was difficult keeping up such an act, but necessary. She could do without those ponies from finding out about her latest little project. They were far more dangerous than the humans.

Comments

[Detective Chmilewsky]

oh maaaaaaaan this is good.

[bobdat]

606633
615857
Thank you both! There's definitely more to come.

[wat]

Ya dis gone be gud