Chapter 25
Rainbow Dash whirled around, but in every direction she looked all she saw was the same bluish mist that obscured everything. She couldn’t see or hear anything else. She was trapped, alone, with Nightmare Moon.
“I wanted to have a moment to talk, just the two of us,” the Nightmare explained, far too calmly. “Free from any distractions.”
Rainbow flapped her wings, rearing up on her hind legs. “All I have to say to you can be said with these!”
“If you wish,” Nightmare Moon said calmly. “But before you do, tell me, why are we fighting?” She ignored the incredulous look on Rainbow’s face. “Celestia is dead. Should I somehow be vanquished, what would become of Equestria? Bereft of a queen and anypony capable of moving the sun or the moon, how will Equestria survive?”
Rainbow’s mind came to a screeching halt. She had been so focused, so determined on saving her friends and stopping Nightmare Moon that she never allowed herself to really stop to think about what it would be like after they won—to be in a world without Celestia.
For Rainbow to be without Celestia.
Nightmare Moon saw and pressed on. “Celestia isn’t coming back. There isn’t anything you or I can do about that, regardless of the outcome here. Despite what she may have told you, I never wanted her dead—I wanted her to see that she was wrong.” She whickered in annoyance. “She made her a choice without consulting us and the rest of us have to live with it. Typical Celestia.”
“You shut up about her!” Rainbow barked.
“I know you cared for Celestia but let us look at this rationally: she was using you to fight her battles for her. You, barely out of your fillyhood, were left to face the greatest power Equestria has ever known. Why didn’t she do it herself?” She narrowed her eyes as Rainbow opened her mouth. “I’m sure she gave you some neat and pat explanation but the truth is she’s a coward, always using others like chess pieces.”
“You—no! She … she…” Rainbow Dash wished she was more eloquent. She knew Nightmare Moon was wrong but she just couldn’t come up with the words to prove it. She’d been running on adrenaline so long and she was just so tired...
The dark alicorn shifted the conversation to another ground while Dash was struggling. “The old world can never be brought back. It is dead, and Celestia herself signed its death warrant. Instead of futilely fighting me, why not help me create a new world—a better one?”
“Gee, when you put it like that—” Rainbow injected as much sarcasm as was possible into her reply. “Are you totally insane? Why would you ever think I would help you, after all you’ve done to me and my friends?!”
To her surprise, Nightmare Moon actually seemed to consider the question. “When I returned and found Celestia gone I was … distressed. I took my frustration out on you, punished you in Celestia’s stead.” She shook her head. “I sought to take everything from you: your friends, your confidence and your pride. A lesser pony would’ve been broken by the ordeals you’ve gone through. Instead, here you stand before me. I admit, I should have tried to convince you when I first returned rather than casting you aside and relying on thralls. Instead I was … impatient. That was an error, one I intend to correct now. The best place for you is by my side.”
“Seriously?” Rainbow stomped her hoof. “Is that the best you got? I’m never going to want to waste my time on somepony who tried to humiliate and break me! And that’s without even mentioning what you did to my friends, so if you think for a second that I’m going to join you you’re flat-out nuts!”
"Then what is your alternative? The Elements failed. You have no fallback solutions. Prolonging this conflict will only mean more pain and suffering for you and your companions. However stubborn your resistance is, I will outlast it and you because I am immortal. But it would ultimately be pointless for I have no desire to lose subjects of your caliber."
Rainbow snarled. "You don't know the first thing about me, or you'd know just how dumb your offer sounds to me."
“I’ve looked into your dreams,” Nightmare Moon reminded her. “I saw how alike we really are. Nopony can understand you like I can.”
“Yeah right.” Dash turned around, flicking her tail dismissively at her.
“You mean that I can never understand that deep driving thirst for recognition and respect for your accomplishments that propels you forward?” the Nightmare called out. “The stabbing pain when in spite of all your hard work goes unnoticed and unappreciated, suffering the stings and barbs of disdain from others who are just so small that they resent anypony who isn’t as puny as them? Or how tired you are of the cliched response to simply not let them ‘get’ to you? To be the ‘better’ pony, even though you already are?”
Rainbow paused.
Nightmare Moon nodded. “Oh I understand that better than you think. All I wanted was for my night to be appreciated as much as my sister’s day. Was that so wrong? But no matter what I did, how hard I tried, I could never get the respect I was due. I was scorned, ignored, dismissed as the lesser light.” She hissed. “They all thought Celestia was perfect, and who can compete with perfection?”
The words hung heavy in the air. Rainbow Dash recognized them as her own—perhaps not exactly, but the spirit of her words.
“Nopony can compete with that,” Nightmare Moon murmured. “Not without giving up everything that makes you different, everything that makes you wonderful and unique in the hopes of being a pale imitation of her. I couldn’t—I wouldn’t!—do that. And neither did you.”
Rainbow’s mouth was dry. She shook her head in denial, even as everything seemed to suddenly invert itself. She was careening and couldn’t tell which way was up. Nightmare Moon was supposed to be an embodiment of pure evil, like something from out of Daring Do. She wasn't supposed to make even this much sense!
The dark mare chuckled. “Admit it: for as much as you loved my sister, you’re secretly glad she’s gone, aren’t you? With my return you had something you would never have had otherwise: an opportunity to prove to all of Equestria that you truly deserved to be her student, by being the world-saving hero.” Nightmare Moon shook her head. “You thought that if you could stop me on your own, it would finally silence the petty neighsayers and prove yourself to all—and to Celestia; prove that she was right to choose you all along.”
Rainbow shook her head again but Nightmare Moon took no notice. “But I know how futile that course is. No matter what wonders I performed, the affection and respect of ponies is fickle. They’ll deny it to you for any reason, and indeed, for no reason at all. You’ll never win them over like that. Not like a circus performer trying to entertain an audience.”
With a flash, Nightmare Moon disappeared from her spot and reappeared right in front of Rainbow, catching her off guard. “But now I can show them all, make them all see how wrong they were. I will get the respect and appreciation I was denied, and they will see that I deserved it all along! And so can you.” She pointed down to Rainbow. “A mere word from me would be enough to get you an audition to the Wonderbolts. You would be their captain within a few years on your own merits. If I said the word, you could be their captain now.”
Rainbow Dash’s wings twitched. To have her dream offered up on a platter before her ... Who wouldn’t be tempted?
“Flying through the skies with nothing but the wind in your face and the sky at your back.” Nightmare Moon spun her fantasy as it materialized in the mist in front of Rainbow. “All your troubles left miles behind you, the doubters and detractors left in your wake. Everything you sacrificed, all those ponies who doubted you … it’ll all be a thing of the past, left far behind and down below.”
Nightmare Moon leaned in closer, voice almost seductive. “After all the hard work you’ve done, are you any closer to joining them now then you were when Celestia took you on? Instead of helping you as Celestia promised she would, she’d been intent on grooming you to be something you’re not: a boring, proper mare learning things only small minded-fools care about, all with the goal in mind of making you the perfect weapon to use against me. But we both know that you and I have more in common than you do with the staid, uptight, and shallow ponies of Canterlot, don’t you?”
Dash's face could've been carved from stone.
“Not enough?” the Queen of the Night asked. “Never fear, I will not forget those you care about. You see, Celestia is not the only one who can be merciful and kind. Your friends will have everything they ever wanted.”
She gestured with her wing as images started to swirl in the mist surrounding them. Rainbow Dash saw Applejack beaming as hundreds of new apple trees were planted at Sweet Apple Acres, dozens of hired ponies working the fields while she and her extended family looked on with pride. Next was Rarity, flanked by some of the most important ponies in Canterlot: Fancy Pants, Photo Finish, Sapphire Shores, and Hoity Toity all gushing over her new fashion line as model after model walked down the runway in Rarity’s dresses. She squealed with happiness, the others eating out of her hoof. Then came Pinkie Pie, planning parties and decorating all of Canterlot as the entire city was transformed into one great big laughing, dancing celebration that everypony joined in.
In another scene, Twilight Sparkle’s eyes glittered as she twirled around from her place inside the heart of the royal archives of Canterlot, surrounded by all the knowledge in the world as her family watching her with pride. Fluttershy flitted her wings happily, squeeing softly as she was surrounded by animals great and small in the Canterlot gardens, wearing a white coat with her name denoting her status as royal veterinarian and caregiver.
Cloud Kicker stood proudly in her Guard uniform, tears in her eyes as she saw her family look upon her with approval. And Derpy Doo … Rainbow bit her lip as she saw her old friend, who struggled with two jobs to support her foals all by herself, hugging her daughters and crying happily as they moved into a spacious and well-furnished house.
“And lest we forget…” the alicorn murmured. Nightmare Moon’s ethereal mane circled around Rainbow Dash, obscuring her peripheral vision. Soon all she could see was Shining Armor, standing before her and looking at her with ... she didn't quite know what and wasn't sure she wanted to. “I know Celestia would never have understood,” the Nightmare whispered. “She was eternal, beyond the common needs of mortal ponies. I am beyond them as well, but I understand them. We leave behind things like love and friendship because we know how short-lived they truly are. We endure while everything else dies. Only short-lived mortals like yourself can convince themselves that such things are forever.”
With her wing, she gently nudged Rainbow Dash towards her happy friends. “You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your kind has ever received. And I offer it to you, freely.”
Rainbow tentatively reached out a hoof, only to have the illusion before her dispel into the mist.
Nightmare Moon walked in front of her. “The choice is yours, Rainbow Dash: will you fight a doomed battle where even victory would change nothing, or will you help me make everypony’s dreams come true?”
Rainbow tried to marshal her thoughts. Did she have the right to make this decision? What she did could affect everypony she knew … why did she have to make this choice for them? All her dreams and theirs, wrapped up into one bundle—why should she refuse just to continue a fight they'd already lost? If it was just her, that would be one thing. But if she continued the fight that would have consequences for everypony else.
Nightmare Moon was right, Celestia was gone and by her own decision. What would happen if Nightmare Moon was vanquished? Would the sun and moon move on their own? Would they be stuck where they were forever?
She couldn’t know the answers to those questions, so she settled on the one that she had the best chance of answering: why keep fighting a battle for a pony who wasn’t around anymore, who might have indeed—as Nightmare Moon alleged—abandoned her?
How would that be different from what the batponies had done for the last millennium? Did she really want to cling to the memory of somepony long gone—somepony who might not even have been everything she thought she was? Why do that to herself, and everypony else?
A little voice in her mind murmured, Say yes to your heart's desire. Say yes to your friends' dreams.
Say yes.
Say it!
Rainbow looked up.
"No."
Nightmare Moon frowned at her. “What nonsense is this? What possible reason can you have to refuse?”
"Because Celestia cared about ponies! It's what makes her different from you!” Rainbow Dash shot back, looking her squarely in the eye, the momentary wavering and self-doubt having evaporated. “You just want to rule so you can have things your way and force everypony to like you!” She pointed an accusing hoof at her. “The batponies did care about you, but that wasn’t enough for you, was it? What, you didn’t want to risk having them having second thoughts? You tossed them away and turned my friends into mind-puppets!”
That was the difference between her and the batponies. At the end of the day, their loyalty was misplaced; based on a reality that was simply false. Nightmare Moon didn’t care about anypony but herself. Celestia did, and that’s why she’d stay loyal, even if she was gone. That’s what made all the difference.
Rainbow flew up so she could look down on Nightmare Moon. “And you're wrong about friendship and love, it can last! Even if Celestia's gone, I'm not going to stop cherishing what we had. But you were right about one thing: even if I could stop you all by myself, that probably wouldn’t change anything for me in Canterlot. If some ponies are determined not to respect me, there probably isn’t anything I can do to ever change that. Maybe that’s on them, maybe that’s on me, but I can’t force them respect me.” She glared at Nightmare Moon. “It doesn’t matter if Celestia never gave me my dreams on a silver platter. And really, who even wants that? Yeah, I want all the things you showed me, but I wanna earn them for myself, not just have them because some creep like you gave ‘em to me! What’s the point of even being a Wonderbolt if I only get in because of you? That’s the thing you don’t get about what Celestia did for me. She was never trying to give me or anypony our dreams with no effort. She was trying to lift us up and show us the way to get what we want ourselves! She was always there for us. Now it’s my turn to be there for what she cared about.”
The Nightmare snarled, baring her teeth as her eyes glowed with malice. Her facade of kindness fell away like a snake shedding an old skin. “Every decision carries consequences.”
“I’m sure.” Rainbow snorted. “Only, none of them could be worse than letting you win, now could it?”
“I am offering you a chance to accomplish anything—no, everything!”
“And I’m offering you a chance to kiss my rump!” Dash shot back. “Take your offer and shove it!”
“So be it!” The darkness converged around Rainbow, pinning her in place and wrapping itself around her throat. “You chose this!”
Rainbow struggled, gasping for air. All her punches and kicks just went through the air—there was nothing to strike. Her vision swam and her hearing began to fade in and out. She was on the verge of passing out when she thought she heard ... something.
“Rainbow Dash!”
It was so hard to focus. She closed her eyes to block out everything else out …
“Rainbow!”
There it was again! Despite the situation, she felt her spirits raise just knowing there was somepony out there looking for her. Her ears twitched. No, it was several someponies. It was her five companions from her journey into the Everfree.
Her friends.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“G ... uys!” she choked out, one hoof reaching out towards the source of their voices. A tiny white light began to shine, chasing the darkness away. As it grew in size and intensity, the darkness choking Rainbow began to fade. With a relieved gasp, she found she could breathe again.
Nightmare Moon recoiled from the light, holding up a wing toward her face. The light grew even brighter until the darkness had been completely dispelled. But when Rainbow looked, the light didn’t hurt her at all. The mist thinned to reveal Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. She had never been so grateful as she was in that moment.
They ran over to her like a shot, and soon Rainbow found herself in the center of a group hug. They all began talking at once, asking how she was and if she needed anything—she could barely tell where one voice started and another ended. But it didn’t matter. Even if Celestia was still gone, she wasn’t alone.
Nightmare Moon clenched her jaw. “This changes nothing, Rainbow Dash,” she hissed. “I had considered sparing your wretched little friends, but now I’ll keep you alive just long enough so you can watch helplessly as I kill them all, one by one.”
Rainbow’s back stiffened. She slowly turned back around to face her, flaring her wings to put herself between them and Nightmare Moon. “You’re not going to touch them. You hear me?! You so much as even look at them and I’ll feathering break you into a million pieces!”
Nightmare Moon laughed even harder, though it tapered as she saw the grin on Rainbow’s face. “Has your feeble mind finally cracked? Or have you finally recognized how big of a joke you are?”
“Neither.” Rainbow smiled. “More like I just got the last proof I needed. You’re through.”
“Madness it is.” Nightmare Moon shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, did you really think you could defeat me all by yourself?”
“Now that you mention it, I did. Turns out I don’t need to. I’ve got the best friends anypony could ever ask for backing me up.” Spotting Nightmare Moon’s contemptuous look, Rainbow just smirked. “But if even that’s not enough for you, take a look outside and see for yourself.”
Apparently deciding to humor her, the Nightmare spared a look through the half-destroyed wall. That glanced soon turned into a longer, stunned stare: there were shapes moving out in the darkness. Lots of them. They darted across the ground, in the river that flowed past the castle and in the air just outside.
“While you were busy trying to deal with me and Zecora, and failing, by the way—my friends were paying a visit to some nice folks we met along the way here,” Rainbow crowed. “Turns out Rarity has a way with the Twinkle-Eyes and their Diamond Dogs friends. The seaponies know Applejack’s reliable. As for the batponies, turns out Fluttershy has a really trustworthy face.”
She flew up in the air and tossed her mane, clearly enjoying the shocked, enraged expression Nightmare Moon was now sporting. “We left Shining Armor with them, and by now Zecora led my other friends to them. If my friends and I don’t stop you, everyone outside is willing and able to give it their best shot. And they were the ponies who liked you the most. You had their respect back in the day but you blew it. If they aren't going to stick with you, do you really think anypony else in Equestria is going to?"
She paused, ready to sink that final barb. “No one is going to kneel to you. Celestia earned their respect. You just demanded it. You’ll be the Queen of Nothing, and even that’s more than you deserve.”
Nightmare Moon turned back to face her, her expression stony. “You fool. You realize that this will change nothing for you. If by some miracle you succeed, you’d return to Canterlot without Celestia, and the upper class will point the hoof at you for not being able to save her. You’ll not even be credited with stopping me because you needed your friends to help you.” She sneered contemptuously.
Rainbow Dash thought about that for a second. “You’re probably right. If I’m being totally honest, you might have been right about something else: I did think this was my big chance to show everypony why I deserved to be Celestia’s student, and that I had to do it all on my own. And maybe I just wanted to pay you back for what you did to me in Ponyville.” She shrugged. “Thing is? I realized something you never did.”
“And what would that be?” Nightmare Moon spat.
“It’s not about me. If I want to show that Celestia was right to trust me, then the way to do it isn’t just punching you in the face until you cry uncle. It’s doing whatever I have to do to help Equestria. If that means putting my own wants aside and relying on my friends so we can stop you together, then I’m more than fine with it. If the neighsayers still doubt me for needing help—then whatever. I don’t care about that anymore. Stopping you is what matters.”
Nightmare Moon stood tall. “You won’t. All you’ve done is sealed your own doom." She reached out a hoof and planted it firmly atop of one of the Elements. Her hoof pressed down and crushed it into pieces. The other five, as if reacting in sympathy, shattered into broken shards. "Everything that happens to your friends is now all on you. Every moment of their suffering will be because of you and your foolish spiteful defiance. Then, and only then, after your last hope is extinguished, will I end your miserable existence.”
Time seemed to slow for Rainbow Dash as lightning arced from the alicorn’s horn towards her friends. With only a split-second to act she hurled herself into the path of the lightning.
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You are a cruel, cruel author. And I’m okay with that.
And that’s why he’s called Cliff Hanger!
This is angling for a much different ending than I remember.
I like that.
And thus, light dawns on Rainbow Dash.
Go, go Rainbow!
This...is a way better test of Loyalty. I really enjoyed how close Rainbow was to actually accepting Nightmare's offer. And that Nightmare was actually right about a few things; defeating her won't fix all the problems. Celestia is still gone and they'll have to deal with the consequences of that.
Thank you for continuing this story.
Join me and we can rule the Galaxy together as Father and Son, yadda yadda yadda, we know the drill get to it.
Wait what? Celestia's DEAD? You're bluffing. You've gotta be bluffing.
See what I mean?
And now she's pulling the "We're Not So Different" card.
So what's the catch?
Freely?
There it is. Cue the Heroic Speech!
"For a time, I considered sparing your wretched little planet Cybertron. But now, you shall witness, its dismemberment!"
You really love your cliffhangers don't you?
Ohh, this is different....
10010343
I guarantee the way the next events unfold will not be the same as the original treatment.
This was a great read again! Ah! I really enjoy how this is going, even having read the original it continues to be really interesting and surprising! Looking forwards to the next instalment!
10009583
That should be his theme song honestly.
Dash: "What about Discord?"
Nightmare: "Well...okay, sure, not Discord."
Dash: "And Tirek? Or Grogar?"
Nightmare: "Well, obviously not them, but I mean - "
Dash: "Or Catrina - "
Nightmare: "NO! NO! Screw you, I am not weaker than Catrina!"
Insert Firefly theme here. Actually I think I will.
"There's no throne for you, no winning! That's what you don't get! Becasue if we can't save Equestria, then you can be damn sure that we'll avenge it!"
10681421
So much nerd-love in one comment.
Love it.
Is Nightmare Moon conceding that she’ll bring back the day, then? Her whole schtick was that the night would last forever—which would, of course have some apocalyptic implications in the event she isn’t defeated. If she’s capable of being reasonable, that opens up some doors.
Y’know, fair point. It’s a failing of Celestia in the original canon, too. Almost everything she does is super questionable, constantly putting this group of six teenagers without deific powers in danger for the sake of beating Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek, whoever the villain of the week is.
Reminds me a bit of The Night That Never Ended.
Sure, there’s some overlap here, but the difference is, Rainbow never wanted her dreams to come at anyone else’s expense. Whereas Nightmare Moon has a Napoleon complex and Napoleonic ambitions, and she steamrolls over anyone who gets in her way.
Rainbow’s test of loyalty has arrived. It totally makes sense from the framing—that this would be the last trial, and the trial everything else hinges on. It probably works better than S1E2 of the show, where Twilight doesn’t even have a trial, she just has to realize the others are her friends and then poof, a tiara.
On the one hand, I don’t know how you could really do this better. For Rainbow’s loyalty to be really tested, there has to be some kind of temptation, and she has to be able to identify with Nightmare Moon on some level. Both those things are here, so credit where it’s due.
The ingredients are right. So I guess the question is: has this had enough time in the oven?
Rainbow’s “lesser light” complex is definitely touched on in the first two chapters of the story. The first chapter ends with her complaining that she always feels stuck in Celestia’s shadow, and she can’t win. (I do still think that makes Rainbow look like an ungrateful, spoiled diva—but that’s par for the course, at this point. I’m pretty much resigned to not really liking Rainbow Dash very much, so it’s whatever.)
My question is this— The seeds for this conversation between Rainbow Dash and Nightmare Moon were planted way back in chapters one and two. But were they nurtured and cultivated consistently in chapters three, four, five, six, all the way up to this point in the story? Has Rainbow continued to struggle with feeling like the “lesser light” compared to Celestia during her time in Ponyville, or during her journey through the Everfree? If so, can you give some examples?
That’s a poisoned pill if I ever saw one.
This is great. It’s good to see Rainbow thinking beyond herself, to how accepting Nightmare Moon’s offer will benefit her friends as well. It acquits Rainbow well, and it also makes the loyalty calculation a lot more complex.
Typo. Looking at her with.
Yeah, it’s kind of a problem.
This is also a really important aspect I’m glad you touched on. Rainbow’s intent on getting where she wants to be by her own talents, not by cronyism.
Yeesh! Choked to death. Not a pleasant way to go.
This is kind of a weird sentence. It’s like a fusion between “She was as grateful as she ever had been” and “She had never been so grateful as she was in that moment.” I would just pick one of them, the sentence as written reads kind of strange.
Nightmare Moon clenched her jaw.
“This changes nothing, Rainbow Dash,” she hissed.
Nightmare Moon laughed even harder.
Stony.
Upper class, no hyphen.
10765185
Thanks!
As for your question about this being in the oven long enough, yeah, that was a bit hard for me to convey.
The parallel of Nightmare Moon and Rainbow Dash feeling overshadowed by Celestia, or only seen as having value for their relationship to Celestia (more Rainbow's thing) was set up at the start, but after Celestia 'died' it's difficult for that to be on the forefront of Rainbow's mind. There was a lot of other things to occupy her thoughts and it'd be especially hard to like the character if she was thinking "boy, now with Celestia out of the way I can finally show everypony how awesome I am on my own merits!"
That wasn't her first priority, of course. It probably wasn't even consciously on her radar. The idea is that it'd be more of a subconscious thought if anything, something she wasn't even aware she was thinking about: a potential undercurrent to her desire to handle this mission on her own, without the others. That might be too subtle but I don't know how else to have it come up without damaging Rainbow's likability.
P.S.
Forgot to mention, the age of the Mane Six is a bit nebulous but I didn't get the sense that they were teenagers at the start of the series. But since there's not much to go on I can't really debate it one way or the other. For the purpose of my stories, I figure they're in their early 20s.