21 - Nova
Equestrian Countryside
Dragon Lord Spike, now back to his usual size, flew over the vast Equestrian Countryside as his vast shadow swept over the land below. The first light of dawn was creeping over the horizon, ushering the new day as the night was banished away for the time being.
Banished.
With prejudice, Spike figured, given Twilight and Luna’s rocky relationship at the current time. He knew she was in a bad way, but he had no idea how bad until the night before. Spike had never seen Twilight like that in his entire life. He, like the others, was worried for her. However, he was confident that time mixed in with their support could heal her wounds. It wouldn’t be easy, but as the saying goes, things that are worth it never are.
Still, he couldn’t think of that right now, for he was approaching the village where the sighting of the other dragon had been reported.
And it was on fire.
The ponies inhabiting the settlement screamed as a large red dragon swooped down and unleashed a torrent of lethal flames down onto the small village. Ponies scrambled to escape, grabbing family members and what little they could carry as they tried to flee the village and the attacking monster.
One family had to slow when their child tripped up and fell to the floor. They doubled back to help them, only for their eyes to widen in horror as the fang filled more of the dragon bared down onto them, intent on swallowing them whole. They shut their eyes and held tightly onto one another, waiting for the embrace of death.
But it never came.
Just as the dragon reached them, Spike rammed himself full force into it and they both tumbled and rolled down the street and through a few burning buildings. Finally their momentum ceased and they came to a painful stop, both groggily getting to their feet afterwards.
“What is this?” the red dragon shouted in anger.
“It is I,” Spike growled. “I am your Dragon Lord, and I demand to know why you have done this!”
“Ah,” the dragon smirked in recognition. “Dragon Lord Spike, an ‘honor’ to make your acquaintance,” he sneered.
Puffs if boiling steam shot from Spike’s nostrils. “Have some respect, and answer my question!”
“Why should I take orders from you?” the dragon asked. “You’re pathetic, ‘Dragon Lord’. You and Ember both, you coddle the ponies and want ‘peace’ with them. They are prey! We and the predators! We should not be at peace, we should torch their lands and take what we please!”
“Ah,” Spike sighed. “You’re one of those dragons. That… I cannot allow. And if you will not stand down, I shall do what I must as is my duty as Dragon Lord.”
Spike shot forward, using his wings to propel him as he flashed his own fangs in the other dragon’s direction. The dragon retaliated by swinging his tail around and knocking Spike wildly to the side with it, shooting off after him a moment later.
The two grappled with one another, Spike’s priority at the time being to keep him busy while the remaining ponies fled the village. He kept the dragon in the grapple until he could spy no more little ponies in the vicinity. Then, he pressed his claws against the ground, lifted his legs up and bucked hard against the other dragon like a pony apple farmer tending their crop. The red dragon was winded by the impact, and flew through the air into some more building in a painful heap.
“Thank you, Applejack,” Spike smirked, he learnt many things from his pony friends.
The red dragon arose from the heap, blind rage in his eyes. The two eyed one another from a moment, before both charged violently towards one another.
The fight had only just begun.
Canterlot Castle
Princess Luna walked with Princess Flurry Heart through the halls of the castle, both were in a foul mood.
“Any sign of Twilight?” Flurry asked.
“None,” Luna sighed. “She’s retreated to her room, there shall be no court today.”
“Oh, I feel terrible,” Flurry sadly said. “I should have been there, I should have-”
“Do not blame yourself, Flurry,” Luna said. “You had your mother and the Crystal Empire to take care of, I know it hasn’t been easy for you.”
Flurry Heart sighed. “I know, I just… I just want to help.”
“And we will,” Luna assured.
Flurry Heart looked at her meaningfully. “Perhaps you should take your own advice.”
“What?”
“When you said what you said to her, you were trying to protect her from yourself. But you didn’t need to, Luna. You’re not Nightmare Moon anymore,” Flurry put a hoof on Luna’s shoulder.
“And yet I still harm those I care for…” Luna sighed dejectedly.
“Only because you still cling to who you were, and reject it instead of embracing it.”
“You want me to embrace Nightmare Moon?!”
“You and her are the same pony, you need to accept that part of yourself, and allow yourself to move on.”
“It’s not that simple,” Luna stated. “Others have tried to help, and they made it easier to live with the burden. But it never left, not even after the Tantabus fiasco.”
Flurry gave her a supportive smile. “One day, you will. And somepony who knows how you felt now could even help you, and you her, if you would let each other.”
Luna suddenly found the floor tiles very interesting, moving away from Flurry’s gaze as she thought things over.
“Listen,” Flurry spoke. “I’m going into the city for the day, it’s been far too long since I’ve been in Canterlot.”
“You go on ahead,” Luna said. “I have business to do in my study, paperwork to catch up on.”
“Fun,” Flurry deadpanned. “I’ll see you later, alright?”
“Alright,” Luna nodded, watching Flurry leave.
Luna turned back towards her study further in the castle, she doubted she would get much paperwork done that day.
She needed to figure out how to earn her love’s forgiveness.
Princess Twilight had cancelled her royal duties for that day, including her court. The night before kept playing in her mind over and over again, the things said to her, and the things she herself shouted to them.
She felt horrible.
She meant every word, and still meant them. But how she acted was not becoming of a princess, she should have shown restraint as her mentor would have done.
Twilight kicked over the mannequin in her room out of frustration, moving out onto the balcony to receive some fresh air. She took several deep breaths, trying the technique Cadance had taught her as a filly to calm herself. However, this time it had little effect. Her mind was at war with herself, part of her wanted to find the others and apologise profusely, the other felt they deserved what they got. The latter was winning, and that concerned the Princess of the Sun.
“I should apologise,” she said to herself. “I should have shown restraint.”
“Why?” another voice spoke, sounding so much like her own, and yet had a sinister quality about it that was reminiscing of another, an adversary from so long ago…
“What?” she called out, but nopony was there.
“Why should we apologise? We only told the truth. Isn’t that one of the elements? Honesty? They deserved everything we gave them.”
“But…”
“Luna rejected us in the worst way possible, she showed her true colours that day. Why did she even kiss us? Was it just to make the sting worse? I find that most likely. And Flurry Hear stopped caring for us long ago, likely only involved because the others convinced her despite what she said, she’s a liar,” the voice sneered.
“But… Spike? He would never do anything to hurt me, he only wanted to help.”
“True,” the voice conceded. “But he should really choose better allies. You want your time with him to be untainted by the other two… in what time we have left with him.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“We already know the truth, do we not? As with our other friends, Spike will die eventually, and we shall live. We are doomed to be alone… forever.”
Tears flowed down Twilight’s cheeks as she acknowledged the words spoken to her… her own words.
“I know. And it’s their fault…”
“Yes,” the voice agreed. “We gave up everything for them, and this was our reward?”
“They’re ungrateful pieces of filth,” Twilight spat. “After all I have done… all I have lost… they keep on taking for nothing in return. I’ve always strived to uphold harmony, and peace in Equestria. To be selfless… but where has that gotten me. When Celestia died her family stayed by her side, but what about me? What reason do I have to continue with this?”
Twilight wiped her tears away, walking back into her room. “Very little, but… I must continue. It is my duty…”
Twilight sighed, she had been wearing her regalia up to now despite not carrying out her duties that day, but now she levitated them off and discarded them onto the floor carelessly.
Perhaps a stroll was in order? A day to herself, to be herself. Not some figurehead princess, just Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps near the town Ponyville, through the rolling green hills and countryside. A walk through Sweet Apple Acres, she wouldn’t have to talk to anypony, but she could just enjoy the memories. It would be good, she could clear her head, calm down. It would be perfect.
But then a knock on the door caught her attention, and with an annoyed groan she opened it to find a guard standing there.
“I thought I said not to be disturbed today, under any circumstances?” Twilight asked angrily.
“I-I’m sorry, your highness,” the guard bowed. “But this letter came in urgently, it’s the initial report from the dragon attack that Dragon Lord Spike went to intercept. The report is a bit muddled due to conflicting accounts and a finalised version shall exist later, but most of the information is here.”
“I see,” Twilight said. “And? Couldn’t this have waited until tomorrow?”
“No… your highness,” the guard said regretfully. “You have my deepest condolences.”
That got Twilight’s attention.
“Condolences? What are you talking about?!”
The guard passed the letter over to Princess Twilight. “You may want to read this privately, your highness.”
The guard bowed again, dismissing himself from the princess’ presence.
Twilight quickly slammed the door shut and tore the letter open, her eyes hastily moved over each and every single word. She read it once, twice, three times to make sure what she was reading was accurate.
It was.
The letter tumbled from her grasp to the floor, dark magic slowly eating it up until there was nothing left.
Spike was dead. He had stopped the dragon, but gave his life doing so.
She had lost him.
She had lost everything.
A terrifying scream reverberated throughout the castle, the Royal Canterlot Voice carrying it far and wide.
“They’ve taken again!” she shouted in her normal voice, though it began to morph. “Again and again they take everything I hold dear! It has no end, the suffering is eternal. I protect them, and this is my reward?!”
Dark magic began to swirl around the room, all originating from the lavender alicorn.
“Well, enough! They take everything from me… two can play at that game.”
Her fur began to turn a darker shade as her mane turned from her ethereal bright blue with pink highlighting to a more smoky and dark cloud while keeping the same, albeit darkened, colours; armour formed around herself and her voice had morphed into the same voice she had heard within herself mere minutes earlier as she shut her eyes tight, holding back the coming tears.
Outside, the sun turned a mixture of red and black as the heat began to rise. Ponies moved on out of their homes and other buildings to witness the sight, reacting with a mixture of awe and fear. The guard in the castle scrambled to inform Princess Luna, while Princess Flurry Heart, who was in the city itself, saw the sun change with her own horrified eyes.
“If they’ve taken everything from me… so shall I take everything from them! The world shall burn, and the day. Shall last. FOREVER!”
Sinister cackling emerge from the alicorn as her eyes shot open, her pupils were sharp slits that, as she moved to her balcony, gazed down onto the city hungrily.
“Your Princess is no more, my little ponies,” she chuckled evilly. “Your destruction begins now, and Nightmare Nova shall see it done!”
Her wings opened wide as she took to the air, her horn charging viciously as she shot forwards towards the city below as the heat continued to rise.
For a year now (I've been a brony since July 2015) I've had a headcannon I've stuck with for all the princesses' nightmare forms.
Celestia = Nightmare Star
Luna = Nightmare Moon (Obviously)
Cadance = Nightmare Lust
Twilight = Nightmare Nova
Below is a closest image I could find to how Nova looks (just with added wings), it is by Siansaar:
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Wahoo first person to comment
Welp the shit just hit the fan.......
Also I think Twilight should be Nightmare star and Celestia should be Nightmare nova it kinda works better at least in my head
cool
I guess you could say the story is, "Heating Up"!
not perhaps decadance for cadances nightmare name
shit got real,
now i think twilight going to be seal away or seal her self way then 1000 year later she come back
This is awesome. I expect an epic fight scene soon.
I heard these somewhere but I forgot where.
Celestia: Nightmare Noon, Nightmare Flare, Solar Flare
Cadence: Nightmare Heart, Nightmare Hate, or as a joke, Overly Obsessed Mare friend
Twilight: Nightmare Dusk, and sort of but not really the same thing, Nihilus
7535072 Nightmare Dusk was one I considered once, but Nova sounds cooler.
7535077 A bit more fitting than Dusk too considering she wants to burn everything by keeping the sun up.
The only thing I was wondering is if the "nightmare" versions of the other princesses should even be called nightmare since dreams was Luna's thing and it debatable whether that should be exclusive to her evil alter ego.
It's all hypotheticals though. Technically it's extended cannon that Nightmarification, if you will, is cause by becoming the leader of the "nightmare forces" that live on the moon? It's interesting to explore occasionally, but the fannons with it just being giving in to anger or possession by nightmare itself are more natural in my opinion.
7535123 I'm not a fan of the 'nightmare forces', and they aren't even canon in the timeline of the show, just the comics.
Oh damn, it happened! This is gonna be exciting what comes next. I love the fact that you made her refer to herself as "We" it adds a nice ring to it. Let us see how the aftermath will look like when she unleashes fire on Canterlot, and how will the others think when they come to the conclusion on what has happened. And a black sun? That is very intriguing. Also that line at the end she shouted out gave me goosebumps
Also fittingly enough i had Dark souls 3 Soul of Cinder ost running in the background and it hit the sad melancholy part as she was turning. It was very fitting to say the least. Now i hope she brings out some sort of weapon. Maybe a huge two handed sword that is her weapon. Should not be anything fancy, just a huge blade that is well..on fire from the sun! 
I am so happy right now, and i can't wait for the upcoming chapters. I feel like Nova will get a chance to shine and i love the thing that the Nightmare form is a part of you when you transform to it, that means Nova will still always be there. And i feel Luna and Twi will bond over this.
I had a felling this was gonna happen.
HAIL NOVA!
What?
7535577
Yup, and, as a clue to what comes soon...
Luna can still turn physically into Nightmare Moon on a whim, and not be evil.
7535658 Really? That is gonna be interesting, i do not think i've seen that be done before and it might create some interesting twists. In my headcannon i always viewed the "Nightmare" form as a far more powerful manifestation of the alicorn, however not all alicorns have one. Only those who went through something simmilar like Luna and Twi did bassically falling into madness and to the dark. I've always seen it as a tool for war or combat since Nightmare versions look more terrifying and with the added armor combat ready. And they also seem more immensely powerful with magic strenght stamina and all that you would need for conflict.
7536681 In my headcannon all alicorns have a nightmare form, but it is locked off to them until they fall to darkness. However, if they are redeemed later they still know how to change, and can do it on a whim and still be them.
7536977 We basically have the same rough idea then.
I think that that's one of many things i love this story for. It's always fun with an author that is responsive in the comment section. Can't wait to see what happens next in the story!
plz update more often
HYPE
7536977 Actually Celestias nightmare form in called "Solar Flare" not Nightmare Star.
And Twilights is "Midnight Sparkle"
Not sure about Cadence. But it your story so write it however you like. Either way I'm sticking to the end for this is a very good story
7548322 She can be called Solar Flare or Nightmare Star, and was actually titled both on the trading card.
As for Mignight Sparkle, I see that as the name of evil non-alicorn Twilight (unicorn or human, as seen in EG 3), as only alicorns have the specific 'Nightmare Forms' we see in Nightmare Moon.
7548345 I didn't know both names were on her trading card so for that I apologize. And the only reason I said Midnight Sparkle, is cause she is the only evil version of Twilight we've seen and know about. But like I said, its your story. Also look at the comment I posted on your story "Change"
7548357 I saw it. Your opinion is your own, but I disagree.
7548487 to each their own
Did... Did she just accelerate the suns aging process and turn it into a red giant prematurely?
Holy fuck, how powerful are alicorns, to control the life cycles of a star...
Also, Spike's death... DAMN IT, WHERE ARE THOSE ONIONS, AND WHY CAN'T I FIND THEM!G
Eh.
7563291
That's not how that works, the sun was red before it became orange, if she were to accelerate the sun's ageing process then the sun would turn blue.