• Published 23rd Aug 2016
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The Pony Dreadfuls - No one is home



A series of stories about ponies. Dreadful in both subject and quality. Enjoy :)

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Chapter 52: Rise of the Dreadfuls

-=-=-=-=-
Present Day, Present Time
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“Why’d you do it Pip? We all stood up for you, you know.” Moon Phase looked harshly on the sneering changeling.

“I prefer Moth.” The changeling replied.

“And yet you still wear that mark on your flank.” The lunar guard captain shook his head. “Why bother? You’re not even trying to be a pony.”

“You think the mark is a choice I have?” Moth laughed dryly. “It’s my destiny. If you need a reason why I did what I did, there’s your answer. Revenge.”

“Revenge? What did Princess Fast Change ever do to you?” Moon Phase snapped.

“Who said anything about the Princess?” Moth smiled coyly. “No my revenge was against the Orange family. Succeed or fail there was going to be a scandal.”

“And your niece? What about Diane? Was she just a pawn in your petty schemes then?” The lunar stallion asked in disgust.

“Diane Pastel, a pawn?” Moth laughed wholeheartedly. “Do you think I’m suicidal? Diane was going to challenge Fast Change or Fast Change was going to challenge her. Just like Diane was going to take her revenge. Standing in her way would have been foolhardy. If anything, I was able to minimize the carnage caused by her over-zealous ‘sisters’. Do you expect me to be ashamed that we rattled the noble’s chains? Do expect me to feel badly that I replaced their spoiled relatives with qualified administrators? I regret that we didn’t have twelve more hours. We never intended harm to Princess Fast Change. Let her go home to the hill and marry her handsome prince! We nearly made Decanter an independent city. Decanter doesn’t need Canterlot. Diane Pastel may be a spoiled and psychotic foal but she was right about that. With proper guidance…”

“Your guidance?” Moon Phase raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t do this for power, captain.” Moth snarled.

“No you did this for revenge.” the lunar guard sighed heavily. “You, Diane Pastel, your mare-friend, hell, even the damned school teacher! You all talk a big game about the greater good, but it was all about revenge. Do you really think you can make Equestria a better place out of spite?”

“It never bothered you when I was helping you solve crimes, now did it?” The changeling sneered cruelly. “Do you remember our last case? A changeling was murdered. A young minotaur bull was orphaned. We knew exactly who was responsible. And we could do NOTHING! We could have stopped it all right there. The invasion, the massacre in Baltimare, Gold Brick was the lynchpin to the Nopony schemes. And we had no choice but to let him walk away. Within hours he had been betrayed and replaced and the wheels were in motion. How many lives could we have saved with one little act of spite? Just one act of vengeance?”

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“She used a changeling filly to spite the family who raised her.” Celestia’s voice was cold. “She is NOT a good pony.”

“She is not a pony at all sister.” Luna’s smile was equally cold.

“No, she’s a sterile changeling queen, with no intention of reforming.” Celestia raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Equestria faces threats that would break good ponies.” Luna responded calmly. “Human immigration is only the tip of the iceberg. And our human prince is far too quick to assume the best in his fellow humans… and ponies. Our nation was saved by those we had seen as villains. Our ‘good little ponies’ drove the Unspoken Prince into hiding and shunned him; even he cried alarm. They watched and cheered even as you dragged him to trial at the demands of the very fiend he sought to defend them against.”

“That is hardly fair, sister,” Celestia said, hurt in her voice.

“Very little in this world truly is.” Luna shrugged. “The threats to our kingdom have become more insidious. Princess Diane Pastel, and I will acknowledge her title, she may have been confused and misguided, but her Shadow Hive served a noble purpose. Our kingdom will not be dependent on the good intentions of misguided foals. My task force will see to the… dreadful… of these new threats. This ‘Moth’ is my choice to lead them.”

“I do not approve, dear sister, but I will not interfere.” Celestia turned for the door with a heavy sigh.

-=-=-=-=-
Else-When
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"Charlie, what the hell is going on?" Pinkamena scowled as the party boarded the commuter-rail.

"None of this is real. The text tricked me, we're in a dream." Train Wreck spoke quietly to the mares to either side of him.

"That doesn't make sense." Carrot shook her head. "How can this be a dream?"

"Think about it, think about specifics. How long have we been here? A few hours, a few days? Where'd the other soldiers go? Diane, do you remember what the text said, about Noone?" The mutant's voice was grim.

"Those words? They said that we couldn't kill that thing because it was in its own past." The Pink Ghost replied thoughtfully.

"Right. I have a history with the Nopony. It was out of the dream world. A sort of demiplane that existed outside of normal space and time, a coma-dream." Train Wreck nodded. "When I left Equestria I made a deal with the Text. I disappeared, and Carrot Plate lived. I thought at first it had sent Carrot Plate back with me to my home-world, but now..."

The whole world suddenly stopped cold. All around them it was as if some god had hit the pause button. "And where did you think your home-world was?" Legion Scratch lounged leisurely on a bench-seat. "I had the most enlightening little chat with those words after you left. You called me Iam Noone. That should have struck more of a nerve than it did. Do you even remember who Iam Noone was? You don't do you? But if you're Kiki, you should. You wrote him, after all. You drew him. You created me... if you're him."

"What are you doing here?" Train Wreck snarled.

"Oh relax. You can't kill me, and I have no real reason to kill you... not yet anyway." The blue-maned changeling grinned. "You can't kill me. You can't even interfere with my revenge. Woe be unto all the little ponies, for the devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows his time is short... well not that short. I have almost 15 years. The Text showed me exactly where, or rather when, I have to go to find the exit to this little nightmare Twilight banished me to. You and the pink abomination on the other hand only have until she wakes up, because that's when this little corner of sleepytime collapses and everything in it ceases to exist."

"What's he talking about Train Wreck?" Carrot shrank back as the Nopony pointed her out.

"The text promised you would live." Train Wreck shook his head sadly. "You're in a coma, and me and Diane are trapped in your dream."

"But here's the really fun part." The insane changeling laughed merrily. "You don't know who you are. You think you're him. You think you're the real Kiki, and I'm some kind of living nightmare. But if I'm Iam Noone, who does that make you? Come on, you should have his memories, there in that big ugly noggin of yours. You just lack the proper cues to access them. I'm poking all the right neurons, think about it. I'm Iam Noone, who are you with that big pointy grin splitting your skull?"

"NO! I'm not some figment! I exist!" Train Wreck lashed out, grabbing the changeling in his snakes.

"Now you're getting it!" The would-be Nopony chuckled. "Now you're getting it! You're the other side of my coin. The man who wasn't there, and the monster under the bed. If I'm Iam Noone, then you're the Cannibal Head. The mad imaginings of a dead madman. But here's the trick... I already won. It just hasn't happened yet. And the most beautiful part: this moment, right now, is when you close the loop and ensure my success. I WILL burn Equestria, and now you know it’s all your fault.”

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