Of Ponies and Bat Kings

by OrdinaryAnomaly

The Nightmare Rises...

Darkness. While it would have been his haven under normal circumstances, it was something he hated right now. It was a constant reminder of his defeat. If those two plumbers hadn't been there, he could have crushed Dreambert, and done the same with Bowser! But no... Now he sits in a plane between the worlds of Life and Death. A true god never dies, right?

'I know I vill return. Some day they vill remember me as the vun who crushed them in my hand...' He always thought. Though the time never came. At least he thought so.

His eternal sleep was interrupted by something. Power. Even though he was blinded in the limbo he remained in, he knew the feeling of power. The power that only resonated from nightmares. He could feel only a spark for the moment. Then a wave of it. It felt as if he had been wandering in an eternal desert and found an oasis. It had been coming to him by the loads, being absorbed by him until he saw something...

An opening in the darkness. One he knew very well, with it's bright colors and vivid movements! A Dream Portal! His day had finally come! He let out a distorted and deep laugh as he floated towards the Portal. Revenge would be his, and he wouldn't hold back this time! Never again will he taste defeat!!! NEVER!!!

---

Luna had been cradling herself on the ground for what felt like forever as she was being bombarded with insults. The heads of ponies flew around her as they screamed at her. She couldn't do anything except plea to stop the names, but no matter what it wouldn't stop. A few names had been drowned out by only one name in particular. One that every pony had chanted. "MONSTER!"

Even though her banishing and return as Nightmare Moon was in the past, it would never stop haunting her. Nearly every day she thought of what every pony thought about her, and she always felt they thought one thing. The one thing that was happening right now in her dream. Her tears would've filled lakes, and her collective pleas would've made a pony deaf when combined. And this happened every night!

Luna had finally turned to face the angry mob of ponies that followed her... only to see a hoof flying straight towards her face at a speed that would've even surprised Rainbow Dash. Luna had winced and flinched for the oncoming blow, knowing she'd wake up soon, that this would be over once again... but it never came. She didn't even hear any pony now, and opening her eyes had led her to find that there was no pony there. Not even hoof prints. But then again the ground wasn't even there. Or the sky. Or anything at that matter. "Thank Celestia," the Princess of the Night stated with a sigh.

It was almost an abyss of pitch black that surrounded her. Almost.

The only thing that broke the abyss was an object that she knew almost immediately.

A pillow. A large, purple pillow sat in the black abyss, with a set of dark, empty eyes. All was silent as the pillow sat in the void. "How odd..." Stated the princess of the night. This had never happened in her dreams before. Curiosity had filled her mind as she gazed at the empty scene around, but she was still in a nightmare. Chills had already been sprinting down her spine as she began to trot over to the pillow.

She could feel something emanating from the pillow, but it wasn't pleasant. Not even in the least. Still, curiosity won over Luna's reluctance. She pushed on until she was stood right over the strange pillow, gazing with interest and curiosity at the pillow. She had gazed at the pillow for what felt like hours, but she knew it couldn't have been even a couple of minutes, before she had prodded it with a slightly shaking hoof. Which had caused a bit of what seemed like purple dust to fly off of it. Her response was almost instant as a "What in the..." had echoed across the void that she stood in, along with coughing. But that wasn't all. Her eyes shot wide open as she noticed something new. The previously empty eyes that remained on the pillow had a yellow glow to them... And it was following Luna where ever she went. She could only yell out,"What the-" before a plethora of the purple dust had erupted from the pillow, throwing Luna back on her side.

To say Luna was merely shocked by the event would've been an understatement. She could only stare at the cloud as the dust had began to settle. And when it did, Luna could only stutter at what she was seeing in front of her.

It was terrifying for her. Even with all of her years of life, she's never seen such a creature like this. It wasn't until what the creature had done next that Luna was truly left speechless.

It had observed the princess with such intensity and then... it spoke with a deep, slavic accented voice

"Vell vell, vhat do I have here? A small pony? Not exactly vhat I'd think to find in a dream, but it vill have to do..." The nightmarish creature said to Luna, who could only gawk at the spectacle speaking to her. It only smirked at what it got from Luna, and proceeded to hover straight over to her. It was easily about two and a half times her height as it... floated over her, its smirk transitioning into a small frown.

"Vhat is vrong, little pony? You must be sentient if you are dreaming. So vhy not introduce yourself?"

Luna scrambled to form her words but only stuttered as she stared sheepishly at the ominous being in front of her. She wasn't sure whether or not it was something evil or something nice. After all, she herself has been in those shoes during the aftermath of her "Nightmare Moon" incident. She took a risk at that moment and with as much confidence she could muster, she spoke.

---

Antasma, while seeming quite mature on the outside, was practically giggling like Fawful on the inside. He just loved toying around with people like he was then, just like the old days in his nightmare-fueled life! Unlike then though, he wasn't bringing fear to his... victim. After what happened last time with those pesky plumbers, he didn't want to take his chances with being forceful and violent. He already had a plan for this world- A foolproof plan compared to his last one. To tell the truth, his last had plan practically revolved around his ex-partner, Bowser, so he already had set one ground rule: No partners. Without a partner, he couldn't be betrayed whatsoever. But his planning came to a halt as his new 'Friend' had finally spoken to him, but not in the way he had expected...

"I AM LUNA! PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT FOR EQUESTRIA! STATE YOUR-"

Luna had been cut off by a large, clawed hand clamping her muzzle shut as another had been clamped down on Antasma's head

"Ach! Vhen I say I vant you to introduce yourself, I do not mean for you to MAKE ME DEAF!!!" Antasma had stated with aggravation in his voice.
'Vhat kind of vorld screams for introductions? Ugh...' He thought, as he put a clenched hand in the air, forming his favorite snack Antasmunchies©! (*Not in production anywhere! Don't buy now!)

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Said the worried pony in front of him. The pony was sitting on her haunches with her head down, seemingly ashamed of herself. Antasma already was worried he was getting off track. He didn't want to seem like the bad guy... yet. He needed knowledge of what he felt was a new world. After all, he's never heard of anywhere called Equestria in all of his time on Pi'illo Island.

"Do not vhine over spilled milk. I am just fine! You have nothing to vorry about." Antasma said in the friendliest tone he could muster, even though he hated things like friends. Still, he was only doing this to get the information he needs, so it was worth it.

"I understand Mister... what is your name?" Antasma nearly gloated out his title before catching himself. He was quite sure that 'Antasma, The Bat King of Nightmares' would NOT give a good impression upon this pony... thing in front of him, so he just tweaked his title.

"You may call me Antasma, the Bat King of Dreams!" He called out in the dark void surrounding him and Luna, popping one of his spherical delicacies into his mouth with a glass-like crunching sound. 'Nailed it.' He thought. "You say that you are Princess Luna, am I correct?"

"Yes, I am Princess Luna, but I've never heard of anyone like you... Surely I would have seen you in the dreams of others by now if you are the so-called 'King of Dreams'."

Antasma was about to respond when he realized what this princess just said. With curiosity in his voice, he had promptly asked," Vait a moment. You say that you can enter the dreams of others? How exactly do you do so? Vith Dream Portals?"

It was Luna's turn to be curious at that point. "I can't say so. I've never even heard of such thing as a Dream Portal... Why do you speak of such nonsense?"

"Vell... I can't quite say that I am from around here... I think. Vhat do you call this vorld of yours?"

"This is Equestria! I'm quite sure you would know that, am I correct?"

"Vell, no. As I have said, I am not quite from around here... Tell me more about this 'Equestria'..."

"Well, I cannot say much about it. It's actually quite peaceful- there isn't much violence or evil around here..."

'You von't be able to say that for long,' Was the only thing Antasma could ominously think for the moment, a smirk stretching across his face.

"There are some things that come by though, looking for chaos or destruction to cause, but we have the Elements Of Harmony for those times!" Luna had cheered out with a smile.

"The Vhat-aments Of Vhat now?" Antasma nearly growled out.

"Um, yes! The Elements Of Harmony! They protect Equestria from the forces of evil! How would you not know of this?!"

Antasma couldn't wait anymore. He had already gotten the information he felt he needed. He didn't need to hear anything else from this pony!

"That is none of your business, you fool! SCREEK!!!" Antasma had yelled out. "Vhat kind of royalty gives out such precious information to something that has never even been seen before! SCREEGH!"

Luna had immediately taken an angry demeanor towards the new arrival. "What do you mean!? Nearly everyone knows these facts! It's common knowledge!"

"Yes. Maybe to your 'subjects' it is. Not to the thing who vill take this world for himself! SCREEKEE!!!" Antasma had boasted to the Princess ominously.

"Farevell! Your highness!"

And with that, his hand had raised. Seemingly from no where, as if it were a pet, a cloud had formed, with such magnificent colors swirling around in it. The same cloud of purple dust from before had exploded from the Bat King himself, and out from the dust flew a large, purple bat, squeaking in way that could only be taken as laughing. It wasted no time flying into the cloud.

"Wait! Come back here this instant you fiend," Cried out Luna, as she jumped towards the cloud...

And slammed right into it as if it were a brick wall. It was at that moment that Luna had awaken from her slumber in the middle of the night, her eyes wide and full of worry.

"I have to inform the Elements and Celestia of this! Now!" Luna had yelled out before scrambling out of her bed.

Author's Note:

Hey there mates! If you didn't read the description, then I'll go ahead and tell you now!

Hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of this! If I get positive feedback then I'll continue this story, and as I'm sure you know: I'd like construcive criticism for this. Please.

Comments

[GiygasDistruttoreCosmico]

Well written, even if the nightmare with all those ponies hating Luna is a bit jarring.

I presume this is before the Luna Eclipsed episode, right?

[OrdinaryAnomaly]

6118986 Well, I guess. I can't quite say I pay attention to the show as much as I pay attention to the community of bronies. I'd be a half-blood when it comes to being a brony: I don't exactly watch the show, but participate in the community of bronies. On the topic of your question, you could say that this could take place before or after it. You know, when you've been the target of hate or fear in the past, you'd still have backlash from it, right?

[OrdinaryAnomaly]

This story is not already dead in case anyone wanted to know. I am currently working on Chapter 2 of this story, so just be patient for now.

[GermanAntasma]

I'm already loving this story but little information. Antasma's accent is slavic, that's what I was told.