Nightmare Moon Crashes the Oblivion Crisis

by Blackdrag-rose

9: The Fringe

In all the time that Pandora had spent with Nightmare Moon, the Queen of Knights of the Imperial Arena, she had always believed that she was on a level of insanity that was lower than her own. Now that they had crossed into Sheogorath's realm and came face to face with one of the residents, however, it became clear to her that Nightmare was more insane than she had originally thought. There was no other reasoning for her, as it seemed almost unnatural for someone to possess two personalities, each strong enough that Sheogorath's realm separated them from each other.

The newest arrival was essentially a younger looking Nightmare; so while Nightmare herself looked like she had seen her thirtieth winter the younger Nightmare Moon looked like she was around her twentieth year. As she thought about it Nightmare's hair seemed to look like a night sky that was full of stars, though the younger Nightmare's hair consisted of a single blue color. The younger one wore a simple dress with a moon emblem on it, which told Pandora that she had to have some like to the moon, of which Nightmare was the princess of in her home world. The younger Nightmare even possessed a pair of wings and a horn as well, though Pandora figured that those would be there.

"What in Oblivion is going on?" Nightmare asked, her arm reaching out and gripping the neck of Luna's dress, "What have you done to me this time?!"

"Unhand me you monstrosity," Luna replied, her hand touching Nightmare's arm for a moment, "I am not the cause of our current... predicament. Perhaps to solve this mystery we require two heads, instead of one."

For a moment nothing happened between the two, causing Pandora to took at them in wonder, before Nightmare growled and shoved the other her forward, releasing her in the process. Pandora was getting the feeling that Nightmare and her other personality were at odds with each other, considering how angry Nightmare was the moment the other one appeared. She sighed and faced the breton that was, surprisingly, still standing on the other side of the room, standing near the opposite side of a desk, one that she knew that hadn't been there before all of this.

"Please, take a seat Pandora," the breton said, taking the seat opposite as she did so, "Now that we've gotten the anger out in the open, I would like to discuss why I am here, near the border of Lord Sheogorath's realm. Like many who have entered the Fringe before you, you carry a sliver of Lord Sheogorath's Madness inside of you. This makes you an interesting player to my Lord, though he is never quite sure of where all the players stand until they make it past the Gates of Madness. Should you make it passed the Gates and escape the Fringe you are to instructed towards New Sheoth, but I won't spoil your fun at the moment.

Or you can turn around and leave, if coming here is beginning to seem like a bad idea and you'd rather take your chances with Mehrunes Dagon and his cult. Do let me know what your choice is, as I have a busy schedule to keep and I'm afraid that I might fall behind at this rate."

"Oh, we're heading in," Pandora replied, without wasting a second.

"Then I welcome you to the Shivering Isles," the breton replied, appearing as if he didn't care what her choice had been, "do enjoy your stay Pandora."

Without another word the breton seemed to disappear, almost as if he had never been there to being with, before the walls around them began to turn into a swarm of butterflies. The swarm flew around them, tearing the room apart until they were standing on top of a hill, overlooking a dirt road that continued off into the distance. Nightmare and Pandora had seen the realm of Oblivion that Mehrunes Dagon ruled over, the seemingly burning land with lakes of fire and ash in the air, but they were surprised to find such an alien landscape stretched out before them. Luna, on the other hand, sighed and moved forward, taking to the path while the others realized that she was already moving away from them.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced yet," Pandora commented, falling in step with the younger Nightmare while Nightmare herself walked behind them a bit, "I'm Pandora. And you are?"

"I am Princess Luna of Equestria," Luna replied, waiting a moment to be sure that there wasn't any trap before giving her reply, "I am the Princess of the Night, and as such it is, or rather was, my duty to raise and lower the moon and create the night sky."

"Nightmare mentioned something like that a day or two ago," Pandora said, though she had kind of blocked out most of that conversation when it had happened, "but she said that she was supposed to do that."

"Figures," Luna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, "I bet that she failed to mention that it was because of my jealousy, hatred, and rage towards my sister that gave way for Nightmare Moon's creation. If anyone is to blame for our current predicament then it would be me, as I was the one that gave into my hatred for my own sister and let that creature take over."

"We are not telling her about this," Nightmare cut in, pulling on Luna's left shoulder, "and besides, how in Oblivion did you learn to properly walk so quickly?"

"Fine, I'll play your game, for now." Luna replied, shrugging to remove Nightmare's hand, "As for your question, I have you to thank for being able to walk like this. Everything you learned about this world, I learned at the same time, though I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to try any of it out before we were called back."

Nightmare growled and continued forward, leaving Luna behind as she looked for whatever they were supposed to be looking for in this area of the Isles. Pandora, still wanting to know what was going on between them, pressed herself near Luna's face, but after some blank stares she finally gave up and followed after her companion. Luna looked around the surrounding area and sighed, following after her companions, as much as she hated one of them, before they left her behind.

The trio followed the pathway, coming across a single creature that decided to attack them and died in the process, until they ended up near what appeared to be a settlement of some kind. As they approached the village Luna spotted what she assumed was the leader and his second-in-command, apparently in the middle of a discussion, though she left the need to point them out for the others. Nightmare clearly didn't like the fact that she was helping them out, but Pandora beamed at the idea of her new companion was actually helping them out. So, with the majority rule, the trio approached the leader and his second, but before they could say hello the duo bolted up the hill, leaving behind something about a 'Gatekeeper' fighting a group of adventurers.

They followed the duo up the hill until they came to a wide open area with five other soldiers standing near each other with their weapons drawn and their shields at the ready. Standing in the direct center of the area, however, was a true monstrosity, a creature made of flesh and bone with one of its hands replaced by a rather large blade. Nightmare, upon seeing the creature, reached her hand back and touched her weapon, itching to unleash it so she could do battle with the beast, but she held herself back to watch it.

The adventurers charged forward, their weapons raised to do whatever damage they could, before the creature swung its arm and took one of their heads in ease. The second soldier raised his shield to protect himself, but the full force of the coming attack knocked him into the air and into the nearby rock wall, hard enough for the sound of his spine snapping to be heard. The third and fourth came at him, attacking from both sides, but the beast spun around in the process, slashing through their armor and cutting the poor soldiers in half. Their commander, seeing his friends fall with ease, dropped his weapon and turned around, to run away like the coward that he was, but he didn't get very far as Nightmare's battleaxe separated his head from his body.

"Bloody coward," Nightmare commented, turning to the village leader so she could get the show on the road, "Tell me, village leader, how do we get passed this creature?"

"First off, I'm the Mayor of Passwall," the leader replied, shaking his head, "and second, you don't get passed the Gatekeeper. No one's gotten passed the Gatekeeper, though I have heard that Jayred Ice-Veins has been cooking up some mad scheme to get the keys. He should still be in Passwall, unless he has finally given up and returned to wherever he came from."

Nightmare waited for him to point out which house belonged to the person he was talking about, but after a minute of just staring at him it was clear that he wasn't going to help them at all. She sighed and looked out over the small village, wondering which house they could knock on the door of and ask where this Jayred fellow was living. Luna walked to the legde, stopping exactly to the left of Nightmare, and gazed upon the village, apparently looking for something that she was missing. Then, as if she had figured it out by looking at the buildings, she pointed at the furthest building, the closest to the water, and beckoned for them to follow her.

Pandora, eager to discover how Luna had figured it out, followed after her new companion, heading down the hill while Nightmare silently followed after them. Whatever residents there were in the village mostly stayed indoors, which meant that they didn't need to bother themselves with stopping and talking to everyone. They approached the house and Nightmare knocked the door in, hearing someone shout from above her and discovered that someone was now staring down at them.

"You!" the man shouted, pointing at Pandora as she walked into the house, "Yes, you...I have seen you in my dreams. Come, we must journey to the Gardens of Flesh and Bone to discover how to slay the Gatekeeper."

Before any of them could stop the man he was out of his bed, armed with his bow and dagger, and was out the door before they could raise an objection to stop him. Nightmare moaned and followed after him, allowing the other two to fall in behind her and giving them yet another chance for Pandora to speak with her new ally.

"So, how did you figure out this was his house?" Pandora asked, slightly curious as to how it happened.

"He was sleeping," Luna replied, turning to see a blank stare, "Back in our world, I had the ability to peer into our subjects' dreams when they were asleep. So I basically used that power here to see if he was still in this realm, though I am quite surprised that I managed to find him as quickly as I did."

Pandora knew there had to be more to the story of how she discovered where the man was hiding so quickly, but she kept her mouth shut as she wondered why Nightmare and Luna hated each other. From what she could tell Luna was supposed to be the original Princess, who apparently hated her sister so much, likely because she was taking all the spotlight, that she created an alternate personality that thought it was okay to fight said sister. She knew that she was missing the majority of the events that happened between Luna/Nightmare and her sister, but she still couldn't figure out how she had suddenly appeared in Cyrodiil, in the middle of the Arena.

She was certain that, if she had the time and patience to listen, she could get Luna to literally spill the beans on what happened between her and her sister, which would also annoy Nightmare.

Eventually the three of them arrived at the gate that lead into the Gardens that the nord had brought them to, though the moment they arrived they noticed a large skeleton resting in the center of the Gardens. All three of them thought it was weird that the Mayor of Passwall had told them that it was impossible for the Gatekeeper to be killed, yet they were staring at the massive skeletal corpse of a previous Gatekeeper. The nord approached them and mentioned getting passed the lock, but Luna stepped forward and pressed the palm of her hand against the lock, focusing her magic into the desired spell she wanted. Not a minute later the rest of the group heard a click and the gate opened, though Luna stood up and beckoned for them to enter the Gardens.

Sure enough a group of skeletons pulled themselves out of the ground and gathered their weapons, thought Nightmare was glad to meet them as her battleaxe shattered two of them in seconds. Pandora swung her bow like it was a sword and smacked a skeleton upside the head, breaking it off from the rest of the body before pulling the string back and putting an arrow in another skeleton's head. The nord hacked and slashed with his dagger, cutting whoever dared to get near him while he made his way towards the large skeleton in the center. Luna, being the last to enter the Gardens, brought a bit of magic into her hand and blasted two of the remaining skeletons in their chests, destroying them in seconds.

Once the deed was done the nord gathered some samples from the large skeleton and muttered something about needing a few hours to craft some arrows that they could use to wound the Gatekeeper. Nightmare, not wanting to waste any time, grabbed the nord by the neck of his armor and told him that he had an hour to craft as many arrows as he could. Once the time was up she promised that they would kill the Gatekeeper, which was enough to satisfy the nord before he ran back to his house.

Pandora, seeing the opportunity, used the hour to talk with Luna, trying to get as much as she could out of the quiet alicorn while avoiding anything that would annoy Nightmare. It was hard, she noted, to ask about what happened that made Nightmare end up in Cyrodiil, as she seemed to get one that wanted to tell her while the other kept cutting the conversation to pieces. Eventually she gave up asking questions for the moment, figuring that she'd need to get Luna alone to figure out everything that she had questions for. Nightmare, upon noticing the hour was up, beckoned for them to join her as she began the walk back to where the Gatekeeper was waiting for them, where they were joined by Jayred.

Jayred handed over a dozen arrows to Pandora, as she was the only one with a bow at the moment, and told her to be careful of where she aimed at when the fight began.

The moment they approached the Gatekeeper Pandora pulled out one of the arrows, pulled the sting back, and loosed the arrow, letting it fly into the Gatekeeper's chest. The beast roared at them, but Nightmare stepped forward and pulled her battleaxe out, beckoning for the beast to come at her so she could destroy it. The Gatekeeper charged at her, but Nightmare leapt over it and brought her weapon down hard on its shoulder, cutting into the skin and drawing blood. As the Gatekeeper made a movement to grab her and toss her to the side Jayred and Pandora put two more arrows in his chest, trying to use the previous Gatekeeper to kill the current one. Before it could get another chance to grab her Nightmare leapt off and landed behind the creature, growling as she realized who was missing from the fight.

"LUNA!" Nightmare shouted, ducking before the Gatekeeper's blade could reach her, "We would really appreciate your help right now!"

The Gatekeeper, now realizing that there was another target for him to fight, turned his gaze away from Nightmare and faced the direction of Passwall, where Luna was standing outside the area he fought people inside. Then she summoned magic to her hands and stepped inside the area, throwing her hands forward and blasting the Gatekeeper right in the chest. The Gatekeeper staggered for a moment, now having felt the power of an alicorn, and in that instant Pandora and Jayred planted another duo of arrows in his massive chest. Nightmare, seeing her chance as the Gatekeeper fell to one knee, leapt on top of the creature's back and brought her battleaxe down on top of its head, planting it as deep as she could get it.

The four of them waited as the Gatekeeper fell to the ground, waiting to see if it would get back up and fight them some more, but as the minutes ticked by it became clear that they had succeeded in their mission. Pandora grinned and grabbed the two keys that were stitched into the Gatekeeper's chest, noting that one was labeled 'Dementia' and the other was "Mania'. Without even knowing which key went to which side of the gate she had to admit that she liked the sound of Dementia more than its counterpart Mania.

"Girls," Pandora said, holding up Dementia's key, "We're going to Dementia!"

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

Okay, I'm assuming that Luna regrets attacking her sister, while Nightmare wishes she had won.
Its very clear that these two are going to get in some serious trouble in the future.
Now, onward to Dementia and Lord Sheogorath!

[the_Doc]

6492982 If only Discord could be here to see this!

[HB_DS2013]

Something tells me that Discord's dimension would be at home in the Shivering Isles.

[Sonata Blaze]

6493158 Yeah, he'd likely get a kick out of seeing this.

6493169 I would imagine that your likely right about that.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Boldly they step into Sheogorath's realm, where all they will find is madness.