House of Sun

by Riossumari

Bad to Worse

Nightmare looked up the sound of Grogar’s portal booming open as he emerged.

“Well? Where is he?” Nightmare asked. Grogar walked over to the table where seeing stone was at, the image of the orb changing as he began to search anew. Nightmare walked over annoyed at Grogar not answering him,

“Well?! What happened?” he demanded. Grogar’s gaze lifted up just enough to look at Nightmare, but he was still clearly focused on the orb.

“I left him in Tartarus, I have no use for him. At least for now.” Grogar replied. This wasn’t the answer Nightmare wanted though and angrily he slammed his front hooves onto the table,

“That’s it?!? You broke into Tartarus, scolded him like a child and left?” he shouted. Nightmare now had Grogar’s full attention,

“Is that a problem?” Grogar said standing up right and reminding Nightmare of the difference in their size and power. Nightmare took a step back rethinking his outburst just a little.

“You said you would get rid of the House of Sun, you said I would get my revenge on Twilight for costing me my full power. But all you’ve done is sit here and scheme, nothing more! Do you even have a plan?” he asked. Grogar glared back at Nightmare, the ram was not in the mood for insubordination right now.

“And what would you have me do? Canterlot and by extension the House of Sun have become more powerful now than before. Another tribe of ponies is now loyal to them, and they have the lord of chaos at their side. Attacking them would be a fool’s errand. And I am certainly no fool, you wish to do something about this? Fine, leave. But know that you’ll get aid from me if you choose to. And we both know you aren’t strong enough to fight Celestia or Luna, let alone Twilight.” Grogar said. Nightmare grit his teeth and backed away leaving Grogar to refocus on the orb before him. This attitude of Grogar’s didn’t sit well with him though, he wanted his revenge and his power back. Nightmare thought for a moment how he could do this, how or what he could use to get the revenge he so desperately sought.

Then he smiled and whispered, “Hmm, well now...they are both in the same place. I think I’ll do just that…”

Canterlot was in a state of repair, a most of the bat ponies were helping to restore and rebuild the damage done during the invasion. A few of the Storm King’s soldiers ever volunteered to help, although they were under watch by the Canterlot guard. Twilight was walking through the town along side Sunset looking at the repairs and every pony trying to get everything back to normal.

“Sure did a lot of damage in just two days. But at least we have help to fix things this time.” Sunset said.

Twilight nodded in agreement, “Yeah, Lullaby and a few other bat ponies volunteered to even stay in Canterlot for good after all this. Not just to help fix everything, but they want to try and integrate into Canterlot. You know, be a part of all this like the rest of the pony tribes.” Twilight said with a grin.

“Oh yeah, I heard about that from Shining. Princess Luna has, what was his name again? Nightshade? Forming a new night guard consisting of Bat ponies and a few of the current Canterlot guard. She’s practically got her own army now.” Sunset said. The two ponies made their way to Canterlot castle, like Sunset said a few of the Canterlot guards were teaching and showing some bat ponies what to do and where things were at.

“So where’s Tempest at? I know Princess Celestia said she wasn’t going to be too hard on her since she did help in the end.” Sunset asked. Twilight got a bit of a frustrated look on her face,

“She’s at the castle guard post right, she’s kind of on probation at the moment. I’m trying to brainstorm something she can wear that will keep her magic in check and let us track her. That way she can at least walk around Canterlot instead of staying locked in a jail cell in the guard post. I’m just glad they both agreed not to lock her up alongside the Storm King.” she replied. Sunset nodded in agreement with Twilight’s words,

“Hopefully she won’t be under watch for too long.” The two mares walked into the castle and shortly after were greeted by Sweetie Belle, carrying an old spell book and looking for Sunset.

“Sunset! I know we just got done with all the bad stuff and everything, but...can we pick up where we left off with my lessons? I want to learn some more magic!” she asked. Sunset smiled and looked at Twilight before answering Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, sure thing. Let’s go to the library though, we can keep any mishaps under control in there. You wanna come too, Twi?” Twilight shook her head though,

“Thanks, but I promised I’d say goodbye to Pinkie and the others before they headed back to Ponyville today. I’ll catch up with later though. I promise.” she answered. Sunset and Sweetie waved goodbye as Twilight trot off to find her friends.

Twilight made her way to the guest rooms, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were standing outside talking to one another. Fluttershy leaned to the side a bit as she noticed Twilight approach,

“Oh hi Twilight. Did you need anything?” she asked. Twilight shook her head as she walked up,

“No, nothing like that. I just wanted to say goodbye, and see you all off before you head back home. I owe every pony a lot after all. I wouldn’t have gotten half as much done as I did without all of you there to help. Thank you all so much.” she said. Pinkie smiled and hugged Twilight tight pressing her cheek to hers.

“Oh Twilight, you don’t have to thank us. We’re best friends! We’ll always jump at the opportunity to help out, all you have to do is just ask us!” Pinkie said. Twilight smiled and hugged Pinkie back. One of the guest room doors opened as Applejack walked out.

“Well howdy there Twilight, I was hoping we’d get to see y’all again before we left.” she said.

“Me too, I was just telling Pinkie and Fluttershy how much I appreciate everything you helped me with.” Twilight answered. Applejack nodded and walked up beside Fluttershy as Pinkie finally stopped hugging Twilight.

“So where’s Gabby and Trixie at? Figured they would’ve stayed here with all of us.” Applejack asked. Twilight and the others began to walk down the hallway towards the stairs,

“Trixie has her caravan just outside the castle, she preferred to sleep there rather than in the guest rooms. Last I checked Gabby was talking to Trixie and probably bombarding her with questions about her caravan while she was at it.” the purple mare explained. The group talked and made their way through the castle, as they entered the main hall Twilight came to a stop. The air in the castle felt slightly colder to her, it wasn’t a big difference but it was noticeable enough. She looked around wondering what the cause was, Pinkie and the others watched as Twilight began to look around the main hall.

“Everything okay Twilight?” Pinkie asked. Twilight didn’t answer, she wasn’t entirely sure herself. As she continued to look around for anything suspicious she then noticed something, one of the shadows to a pillar was moving slightly. When she approached it a pair of red eyes appeared in the shadow and quickly it darted off and away from her. Twilight gasped in shock recognizing the magic that was involved.

“Oh no! She’s here! Not now of all times!” Twilight said, she quickly turned to her friends and asked them to go and search for her family right away. Twilight couldn’t stress enough the level of danger they were currently in right now. Applejack and the others nodded and rushed off while Twilight followed the shadow in the direction it fled.

Twilight used the glow of her horn’s magic to light the halls as she searched for any trace of magic in the castle. She caught another glimpse of the moving shadow running away again and further down into the castle depths. Twilight didn’t know where it was going but she had to find out and quick she thought. As Twilight went further into the castle she noticed it was cold same as the main hall, an obvious sign of the dark magics being employed right now. Twilight was getting nervous now, a small bead of sweat forming on her brow despite the cold air. She was getting closer to the castle archive and vault, where they kept some of the more dangerous artifacts for safety. As she walked through the halls she noticed the moving shadow again, this time she was ready though and with a quick zap of her horn she dispelled the shadow destroying it before it could flee again. Twilight knew the creature that summoned the shadow had to be nearby and began to look around. As she searched the halls Twilight soon her laughter coming from one of the rooms. Twilight rushed over and kicked the door open and was shocked to see a tall black mare with purple hair, a single silver highlight standing there.

“Why Twilight...darling, so good to see you again.” she said as she slowly turned to face her, his voice perfectly imitating Rarity's. Twilight grit her teeth ready to fight, but then she saw hanging around the mare’s neck was the alicorn amulet. “Nightmare!” Twilight shouted, before she could attack red energy arced off the amulet and Nightmare grew in size to match Celestia’s height, her eyes turning to a shade of red, and lastly a large pair of red bat wings erupting out her back. With a villainous laugh Nightmare spoke up in Rarity’s voice again,

“Now then darling, let’s catch up. We have so much to talk about now...”

Author's Note:

Was originally going to make this a nice breather chapter, focus on the bat poines adjusting to life in Canterlot. But then I brainstormed too much about Nightmare Rarity and decided to just go straight ahead and get this arc done now. So yeah, new Nightmare Rarity arc begins! Hope you all enjoy it. Next update or two may be a little longer than usual, holidays coming up and my job is gonna be crazy. But I'll try and make time when I can.

Comments

[SuperSonicHeroes]

What does Nightmare Rarity want now?!

[Comickook]

Whoa. Another really good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Yeah, Grogar had a point about not wanting to strike too soon, even if his sole remaining minion for the time being is being too impatient right now. Of course, we'll have to see what Nightmare has up his/her foreleg in the next chapter (since he/she would have to have some sort of clever trick to even the odds). Perhaps Grogar would have been better off with minions stupid enough to stay loyal and strong enough to be useful, but JUST smart enough to be patient when he calls for it. But did like the reflections on Tempest and the Bat Ponies as well.

REALLY looking forward to more of this.

[redandready45]

Your portrayal of Grogar and his calm and rational evil is making me giddy.

Now, what does Nightmare Rarity plan to do?

[Melody Song]

Something tells me this talk won't end well...

[Twilight Is Cool]

Nightmare's finally reared his head! Hopefully Twilight and the others will finally get to save Rarity! 0.0 I wonder if this also means Applejack and the others will finally see why Rarity's been no show for so long! Oh jeez, the suspense is too much!!!

I do wonder. I know I've asked this already, but with how so much has happened.... how long HAS Rarity been gone for now? Still six months?

Either way, great work as always!! I know you just updated... but I can't WAIT for the next one! I will be patient though, since holidays are coming up!

[Riossumari]

11437605
To be fair, Storm King was kind of incompetent in the Movie. So I felt a need to give him someone other than Tempest as his backer of sorts. And since I wanted Grogar as the penultimate Big Bad, it just worked out nicely this way.

[Comickook]

11438871
Penultimate? That means there's actually somebody lurking even WORSE than him? Okay, I won't pry further than that because I know that's spoiler territory.

[Riossumari]

11440667
Oh derp, why'd I say that? I don't have any real plans for a big bad beyond Grogar. My eagerness to sound dramatic backfired on me. Lol

[Comickook]

11440959
Quite all right. Stuff happens.

[DavisSentoV5]

Oh snap!