The Story of Twilight Glow

by Jeweled Pen

S1 CH 5. Rainbow. No. Just no.

Twilight raced through the castle, the sound of fighting echoing through the halls. Or rather, of things breaking. She passed a shattered window, at least a dozen shattered vases, portraits that were knocked aside. The place was a wreck. Off ahead she saw a rainbow blur blow into one of the rooms, only to fly out of it a moment later. A few of the guards were trying to keep up, but failing wildly as they raced after it.

Twilight, fortunately, had a feeling she knew exactly where the blur would end up. After all, there was only one place it could end up to cause the most possible trouble and likely get them all killed. She turned down a hall and raced straight towards the throne room.

She made it just in time for the blur to break in through the side door and race straight at Nightmare Moon.

They were all so bucked.

The blur raced straight at the alicorn and she stared in bewilderment. Right until the moment it slammed into the princess and sent her reeling back, toppling head over hooves.

They were all going to die. The color slowly drained from Twilight's face as she watched. That was all she could do. Watch helplessly as the blur finally slowed down, hovering over them. It was a pegasus, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. Odd, she'd always imagined the envoy of her destruction would have been a darker shade. Or maybe red.

“Hey! You! Nightmare! Where's Rarity? I don't care if she's prissy, she's one of us Ponyvillions and there's no way I'm letting you keep her hostage!”

Twilight desperately wanted to cry as she watched it all play out. There was no fixing this. There was nothing she could do. She had to do something, but what? What could she possibly do in the face of THIS?

The princess slowly got to her hooves, her body trembling with barely contained rage. “You... dare to strike us?”

The rainbow maned pony dived down again. Except this time she barely made it two feet before she found herself wrapped in Nightmare Moon's magic. The alicorn plucked the pegasus from the air as easy as one would an apple, drawing her in and bearing her sharp teeth. “You... foalish... pony. You have signed your own death warrant.”

Twilight gulped.

Then heard a shriek from behind her, making her jump.

“Rainbow! What are you doing here?” Rarity yelled as she galloped into the room.

“What? Rarity? Hey, I'm here to rescue you! Err, just a moment,” the pegasus yelled as she tried to break free from the magic. It had no effect.

“Rainbow, I'm not being held captive, I was hired!”

The pegasus blinked and then slowly looked into the face of rage, the furious princess glaring at her. She slowly gulped. “Oh.”

“'Oh'? Is that all you have to say?” the mare asked, her fury almost palpable. “You have attacked your princess, and you say 'oh'?” She closed her eyes, before flicking her head.

Rainbow let out a scream as suddenly she was compacted tightly and thrown down into the ground. Twilight watched in horror, staring at the pegasus as the magic holding her slowly got smaller and smaller, crushing the pegasus. There was the sound of a few bones breaking.

Nightmare was going to kill her. She was actually going to--

“NIGHTMARE MOON! STOP!” Twilight yelled, rushing forward. “Stop! Stop stop stop!” she screamed.

For a moment, the crushing stopped as the alicorn turned to her. “What is it now, bard? Does this not match your story, either? We have been attacked and will not allow this crime to go unpunished!” she yelled, stomping a hoof down.

“Wait, please, you can't just... kill her,” Twilight said softly, looking back at the panting, pained pegasus. “She was just... she...”

The alicorn sighed, closing her eyes. “Perhaps... you are right.”

Relief flooded the earth pony.

“But she must still be punished. But as one of my subjects, what would be fitting?” She lifted the pony up into the air, eliciting another groan from the hurt pegasus. Then her eyes lit up. “Of course.” She slowly turned the pegasus around.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked. The magic left most of Rainbow, now just gripping her wings and leaving her suspended by them. The pegasus let out a pained whimper.

“We will not kill her. However, as punishment, pegasus... we will take your wings.” The wings were spread out, eliciting another gasp from the mare.

“W-what?” Rainbow said, before letting out a shriek. “N-no! Please, I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!” she screamed, thrashing about as she tried to pull herself free. “Don't, please, please not my wings! Please!” she begged.

Nightmare just grinned, pulling the wings taut. Then, slowly, pulling on them more.

Twilight watched with horror, shaking her head. “No, no no. Stop. STOP!” she cried, but the princess ignored her. She stared at the wings were tugged, slowly pulling on the mare's back. Pegasus wings were durable, but there was no way they could stand against an alicorn's magic for long.

There was nothing else she could do. As scary as it was, she had no choice. She turned around and slapped the princess across the face as hard as she could, the resounding smack seeming to echo through the chamber. It had the desired effect. Rainbow was dropped to the ground and Nightmare Moon took a few stunned steps back, more from shock than from the force of the blow.

The princess stood there for a moment, unmoving. Twilight gulped, looking to Rarity and gesturing quickly towards Rainbow. The unicorn eeped and quickly moved forward, grabbing Rainbow's hoof and dragging the hurt pony away as quickly as she could, using her magic to help support her.

Once they were out, Twilight turned to the alicorn. She still just stood there, stunned. Unmoving. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe--

The doors slammed shut.

Oh buck.

The alicorn's eyes slowly lowered to her. There was a cracking sound, followed by every mirror, window and glass in the room shattering to a thousand pieces.

”YOU DARE TO STRIKE US?!”

Oh. Oh buck. She was going to die. She was going to die. The only reason she didn't wet herself there was she was too afraid to. Every part of her body froze as the princess turned to her, her dark magic swirling around her as her eyes glowed with an evil fury. She turned her head and there was a crash as one of the pillars in the room collapsed, smashed to dust.

What had she done?

Author's Note:

And so comes chapter 5, the last chapter I actually finished. I will TRY to get chapter 6 done soon so it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but I was always a bit wary of it, namely because I was worried it didn't portray Nightmare Moon in a way she was supposed to be regarded. But, meh, I think I found a way to make it work. And if I failed, well, I did my best and you all know where to buy pitchforks and torches.

I got seasons 2-3 and EQ girls finished up yesterday, or at least the outline. Oh. My. Gosh. I am over 30 arcs now, and keep in mind every arc can be like... 10-40k words. Anywhere from 3-20 chapters. I've still got three seasons to write out and plan. Fortunately, season 4 SHOULD be easy enough. Rainbow rocks... that'll be a bit more difficult, but I have ideas. Lots of ideas. Season 5 will be the kicker and I'm not sure I can even do season 6 yet, I've got no clue what to do with it. Namely because it's not done. On the up side! Should the story turn out to be a colossal failure, I can just end up quitting at the end of one of the seasons before hiding in some mountain sanctuary from those who will hunt me down... :P

As an aside, I have decided to follow through with my initial plan of having the majority of the story be done through Twilight's views. There are OTHER stories going on at the same time, but the majority of the side stories will likely be brushed over. Namely because if there is to be ANY chance of this story ever being completed, I just won't have time to write all the side stories aside from like... well, maybe side fics. All in all, though, please keep enjoying and thank you for all the support. Honestly, all the loving comments have been very encouraging and really helping to give me the drive to write this.

Comments

[kojivsleo]

Twilight, you done fucked up.

[Ratmandango]

Oh my.

[HB_DS2013]

Thanks for being a complete idiot, RD. You're gonna get a pony killed.

[Masterweaver]

Time for a lecture.

[RazDelacroix]

Wait, I was certain I have been following you. *Checks status* Yes, been following you...

SO HOW IS IT I JUST NOW STARTED READING THIS!?

[Mangafanatic22]

well shoot.

[Star Brush]

Beautiful! Magnificent! Spectacular! A true piece of art.

[Kind of Brony]

Quick! Twilight, jump up and kiss her! She'll be to shocked to kill you...! Or want to kill you more.

[Crimson Twilight]

Well, Rainbow, that is a fine mess you've gotten everypony into... Good job, Rainbow...

[DarknessLilly]

mountain sanctuary you say? well that narrows down where we will have to look.... :D JK keep up the good work! ^_^

[Victus454]

I absolutely love how amazing Twilight is even without her magic, I love how you her a writer and I love how you have characterized her in general, it's awesome, I just loved the twist where Twilight slapped Nightmare Moon!!!!

[Zobeid]

I love these kinds of stories where we get to see Nightmare Moon in power. Every author has a different interpretation of just how crazy she is, how destructive or cruel she might be, etc.

I think I'm one of the few to ever write a story with Nightmare Moon as the protagonist, though. And it was fun.

[Pencyke]

[Salnax]

One, I have to give Rainbow a bit of a break. At the time, it really was a kidnapping/abduction.

Second, I have to ask how Twilight gets around carrying those colossal balls of hers.

[raven618]

Rainbow you have no idea how lucky you are right now.
As for Twilight, would you you like the remains of your remains cremated, or buried?

[Biker_Dash]

So, how shall Twilight do her job while frozen in magical carbonite next to Discord? I think she may be the dumbest smart pony I know.

[Dragonwaz]

7371433 Earth pony strength

[Commander Darklight]

when people can see the good you are trying to do for them

its time to slap a bitch

[NeuroticScientist]

It's shit like this that I don't get why everyone loves Rainbow Dash.

[Tali_The_Lamia]

7371433
Luck

[TartarusFire]

i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/013/306/2dd.jpg

[Teraunce]

7371433
I don't know but by golly I am impressed with her.

[KvAT]

7682753
Honestly, yeah. She can be adorable at times, but her head is like 1% brain and 99% cloud. I love stories that make her look like she just don't wanna think at times, and absolutely loathe those that make her genuinely doesn't think, because her design and personality is actually kind of cool.