Captain Goodking and the Nightmare Knights

by Leondude

Chapter 10 - Nightmare Fuel

Luna trotted through the labyrinth, expecting Sacanas to appear out of nowhere to offer her a deal or play some sort of trick on her. And when Sacanas did appear out of nowhere, it came as a surprise because he teleported right in front of Luna rather than just sneaking up behind her as one would expect. Sacanas was also wearing the corrupted Alicorn Amulet as well, although that left Luna with more questions than answers.

"The princess of the night!" Sacanas loudly announced, "I knew saving you for last was a good idea after I had taken care of your pitiful little band!"

"What did you with them, Sacanas?" Luna said with cold contempt, glaring at Sacanas all the while.

"Oh, there's no need to be like that, Lulu! You make it sound like something bad happened to them. All I merely did was grant them what they truly desired, no strings attached."

Sacanas then jumped up and placed his foreleg onto one of Luna's shoulders while giving her a little shake and showing her an illusion of when she was once Nightmare Moon.

"You had so much power back then, you know. You could have been powerful enough to destroy Celestia."

The illusion then changed to Luna's banishment, something that made Luna feel uneasy while Sacanas just looked on with a grin.

"Aw, but then she had to cheat and use the Elements of Harmony on you. Oh well, joke's on her since, due to the bond that existed between the two of you was broken, that meant she can no longer use the elements because she no longer had loyalty to you, she wasn't honest to her subjects about how she felt after doing that, she was secretly too miserable to really laugh. Really, the only qualities she really had were she was still kind and generous to her subjects and she could still do magic, but what good is only half of the elements when you need their full power to take on whatever nefarious evil-doer that might be terrorizing your kingdom?"

Sacanas then showed Luna's return from her banishment and her being freed from her dark side thanks to Twilight and her friends.

"But Celestia just had to send one of her star pupils, you know, the one with the silly vampire bat-pony name, to a quaint little village known as Ponyville! And that pupil just had to make friends that, by some contrived coincidence, represented five of the elements with her being the Element of Magic! Sounds like something out of a fairy tale but if someone named Discord can make friends, even though the term 'Discord' means 'a state or condition marked by a lack of agreement or harmony' and he has those qualities in spades as well as inducing it in others, can make friends and even get along with them for the most part, then I don't know what's real anymore!"

Sacanas then threw Luna into a bush before levitating her and slamming her down into the ground, wearing a sadistic grin all the while. He then telekinetically grabbed her by the throat and pulled her closer to him.

"You know what I find really funny? It's the fact that you're unaware that the elements have brainwashed you! Seriously, one blast from the elements and suddenly you're all 'Oh, I'm sorry for being a big meanie, please forgive me, wah wah wah'! Sweet Celestia, give me a break! Hello, your sister banished you to the moon for a thousand years !!!! And during that time, you had a group of Nightmare Forces at your disposal to give ponies nightmares for as long as they lived! Oh, but after you've been hit with the elements, you're like 'buck this, I'm done'!"

"If...you are..t...trying to turn me back into Nightmare Moon," Luna said, struggling through Sacanas' grip on her "Then you are sadly mistaken".

"Ohoho, but think about it! Not only did the elements revert you to a younger form, but it made you regress to a time where you spoke the Old Ponish when previously, you spoke Ponish easily! If that doesn't sound like the Elements changed you, I don't know what the Tartarus is!"

While Sacanas does bring up some good points, those points were immediately invalidated by the fact that the elements' "brainwashing" and any other side effects were merely temporary. Even if it were the case that the elements reformed her against her will, Luna still refused the temptation to become Nightmare Moon, knowing that the power of friendship is far greater than whatever she had as Nightmare Moon. Plus, the ponies nowadays adored her, even if she has difficulty smiling for an extended period of time. Even though it took Sacanas a while to take a hint, he eventually let Luna go and chuckled. His chuckle eventually deepened as he turned into a familiar dragon that Luna and her sister recently fought.

"You!"

"Ah good, you remembered me. Although I'm not entirely sure if you know my name so allow me to give an overdue introduction."

"Celestia has already informed me of who you are, Sanies!"

"Hehe, I guess she really must be desperate to make up for lost time to tell you about me. And how I nearly broke her."

Sanies then grabbed Luna by the throat, his eyes glowing a brighter shade of green with red undertones as a result of the amulet's power.

"I was hoping to corrupt you would be less time-consuming since that my master and I are on a tight schedule, but since that, you have proven yourself to be resilient to the offer of greater power, it appears I will have to get inside that pretty head of yours by force."

Luna felt a painful drilling sensation in her head as Sanies tried to enter it. She gritted her teeth and grimaced at the mental agony she was in. She would bring her hooves to her head in an attempt to get Sanies out of there if it weren't for the fact that she now can't move her body. She tried to fight back against this mind invader for the sake of her very identity and person, making sure that Sanies doesn't dig up any more bad memories in an attempt to weaken her resolve. While every part of her being was fighting against Sanies, the dragon just smiled. And what delighted Sanies the most is that he didn't have to worry about accidentally awakening Nightmare Moon this time around as he did with Celestia and Daybreaker because they are in a place that would render many beings powerless unless they were a changeling.

"If I had known how weak your mind was, I would have taken over your body much sooner. I could even use your form to destroy your beloved sister if I wanted to, but I'd rather wait until any potential obstacles have been eliminated. Tell me, were you always this weak-minded or is this another side-effect of the elements 'freeing' you?"

"G..et...Ou...t....of...my...head...."

"With the amount of power at your disposal, combined with the power of the Alicorn Amulet, why would I do that?"

"Y..ou...w...i...ll....not.....con...tr....ol...me...."

"I beg to differ, princess. After all, your sister has essentially been controlling you the moment the elements reverted you back to a less powerful form."

Luna was still trying to resist Sanies' hold on her, but it was no use. Her jaw dropped and her eyes rolled up at the back of her head. And the last thing she saw was Equestria from afar, while she was stuck on the moon. Meanwhile, Sanies changed into Chrysalis and a dark blue essence left Chrysalis' horn into Luna's. Both Luna and Chrysalis were screaming during the transaction before both of them passed out. Luna, or rather Sanies, slowly got up with a zombie-like gait. He then looked at the Alicorn Amulet on Chrysalis' unconscious form and crudely moved Chrysalis around like a twisted marionette in order to take the amulet off of Chrysalis and place it on Luna's form. After that, he then stumbled through the labyrinth in an attempt to exit it, not caring where he went because he could not feel what his host would be feeling at the moment. After that, he sat down and looked at the sky, knowing what he was going to do next. Sacanas, the real one I should mention, then jumped to his side staff in hoof, recognizing that Luna was not in control at the moment.

"You really couldn't resist the power of an alicorn, couldn't you?" Sacanas said, his tone indicating that he couldn't decide whether to congratulate his apprentice or be enviable of him.

"It was surprisingly easy, Sacanas. While I could have taken my time with it, I understand that your allies are not going to hold out much longer against Celestia and her forces."

"And I trust that you are still aware of our deal."

"Yes. I have the Nightmare Knights living out whatever fantasy I grant them in return for you granting me the power that I could have only imagined."

"Yep, And you know what happens if you betray me."

"You take that power away. Speaking of which, you should know the only reason I'm following your orders is that I've got time to kill before the total annihilation of Equestria."

Sanies then pointed to the moon, which was slowly descending towards Equestria. While Sacanas and his new ally Kronos have absolutely no interest in ruling a crater of what was once a kingdom, Sacanas left his apprentice to do his own thing as the only means of securing Sanies' allegiance until the time was right to dispose of him. Plus, Sanies was right. It will not take long for the alien forces to be defeated and eventually be forced to surrender to Celestia and her forces.

"Why am I not surprised that you still have the same apocalyptic taste for destruction as when I was teaching you? I would stop you since ruling a kingdom of the dead is no fun, but I have an annoying little draconequus to deal with. Toodles!"

Author's Note:

This is what I was listening to when writing the part with Sanies possessing Luna, which one can't help but find fitting giving Sanies' MO:

So, it appears our heroes are in quite the pickle. Will they manage to get back to reality? You'll have to wait an extremely long time to find out.