• Published 28th Feb 2021
  • 3,045 Views, 64 Comments

A Royal Nightmare - StormLuna



Twilight Sparkle has been ruling Equestria for over a thousand years and she has had it. Magic has been replaced with technology, ponies whine and complain all the time and after a certain trio visits her, she decides to wipe it all out.

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Twilight's Nightmare

A new day had arrived in Canterlot and just like she had every day for more than a thousand years, Twilight arrived in the throne room and plopped down on her throne. When she first started, she always sat there in a regal stance but as time went on, she began to slouch a bit but now, she arrives in the throne room with her mane and tail so unkempt it barely has it's normal wavy appearance.

Spike would soon arrive and see how Twilight was sitting, leaning back with her legs spread apart and drinking coffee out of a cup with writing on it, one that read, "I should've let Starlight win."

Spike gasped, "What? Why in Equestria would you be using a cup that reads that?"

Twilight was in a less than stellar mood and yelled, "Because I should have! Had I done so, then maybe she would be the one cursed with this job!"

Twilight then flipped on the news and would not be impressed by what she saw. They were covering protests going on back east by ponies who wanted to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. She sat up and leaned forward as the report went on and the rage began to build with in her. She growled, "So they want to abolish the monarchy do they?" She stomped a hoof on the floor before yelling, "Maybe I should abolish their lives! Maybe I should turn them into cat food and sell it to the Abyssinians!"

Just when Twilight thought things couldn't get any worse three ponies came barging in through the throne room doors. Twilight was not thrilled when this happened and yelled, "Where the hay is the royal guard? Why the hay hasn't he shown up for duty yet?"

Spike replied, "I don't know, maybe he called in or something." Twilight's glare deepened and Spike continued, "Look, it isn't my job to check your messages!"

Twilight snapped, "So help me Faust if he did, I'm having griffon wings for supper!"

She then heard a female voice, "Like, what do you mean you'll have griffon wings?"

Another female voice added, "Ewww....gross! You're really going to eat meat?"

A male voice finished, "Uh-what?"

Twilight turned her attention to the three ponies in front of her and gave them a deep glare, "Who the hay are you three and what the hay do you want?"

The unicorn stepped forward and said, "My name is Izzy."

The earth pony did the same, "My name is Sunny"

The stallion turned his attention way from his portable gaming console and added, "My name is Hitch."

Twilight looked at the three with a great amount of disdain. She had grown to despise what ponykind had become, too much tech, no magic, so much materialism and an overall lack of intelligence. She let out a groan, "Ugh, ok I know what your names are but what the hay do you want?"

Izzy was the first to say anything, "Well you see, I like kinda got this tennis ball stuck on my horn thingy and I can't get it off. I don't know if you like might know who a good surgeon is to remove it cuz I wanna get it off, y'know?"

Twilight let out a screech of frustration, "You're a unicorn, use your magic to remove it you ditz!"

Izzy protested, "I would but I can't. My magic isn't like good enough!"

Twilight grabbed the tennis ball in her aura and ripped it off her horn. She snapped, "There, happy!"

Izzy pouted, "No cuz now my horn looks boring!"

Twilight began to hyperventilate, "I can't do this anymore Spike, I just can't!" She used her magic to create a paper bag to breathe into. After a full minute the next young mare would speak, "Princess, are you ok? You look really messy."

"Really messy?" Twilight screamed, "I'll show you really messy!"

Twilight flared her horn up in anger but Spike would be quick to swat it, "Whoa Twilight, calm down! See what she wants."

Twilight grumbled, "Fine, what do you want Sunny?"

"Well you see, I'm having serious problems in school. I'm learning about you and your old friends in history class and I have a question, was Fluttershy the one that ate animals because if she was, that wasn't very loyal!"

Twilight again flared her horn up in anger and screamed, "She LOVED animals you idiot, she didn't eat them!" She stomped her hoof into the floor and snorted, "What the hay is wrong with you? EVERYPONY knows Fluttershy loved animals!"

She then noticed that the young stallion with them was holding something in his hooves and tapping on it. Twilight grabbed the object from him and yelled, "If you want an audience with me, you'll PAY ATTENTION, not be wasting my time by messing with whatever this is."

Twilight slammed the device up against the wall and shattered it. He yelled, "My gaming console! My dad spent 2,000 bits on that thing and when he finds out you broke it......"

"I don't care what your daddy will do colt," Twilight screamed "now what the hay is it you want?"

Hitch replied, "Well uh, I was wondering if I could have some money because there is a new video game I want and now I need a new portable console too."

Twilight grabbed him in her aura and screeched, "Get a job, get a job, get a job! Ugh, I'm so sick and tired of ponies begging me for money!" She then threw him against the wall and yelled, "At least the Abyssinians know how to manage their money! At least they don't beg their king and queen for money! Ugh, why couldn't I rule Abyssinia instead?"

Izzy asked, "Like what is Abyssinia and could you like get me a new horn accessory?"

Sunny added, "Yeah and could you make my teacher pass me no matter what?"

Twilight again began to hyperventilate as she lit up her horn and fired a beam of energy towards the arm of her throne, causing a red button to appear. She broke down into a manic cackle, "Ooooh, soon you won't have to worry about that anymore, none of it!"

Spike saw her hoof moving towards the button and gasped, "Twilight, you're not really going to launch that thing are you?"

Twilight broke down into a cackle, "Oh yes Spike, all 187 of them! Hee-hee-hee, now these three will have no problems and I won't have to deal with this anymore once the cobalt bombs hit!"

Spike went to stop Twilight but it was too late, she slammed her hoof on the button and launched the bombs. Their three visitors looked on in shock wondering what it was Twilight did. They had no clue what cobalt bombs were but they knew that whatever Twilight did, it likely wasn't good.

Finally a blinding flash and explosion blew out the palace windows.


"AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Twilight woke up screaming in her study tower and terrified Spike. Twilight sat there in her bed screaming for a good five minutes before Spike was finally able to calm her down. "Twilight, it's ok. You were just having a nightmare."

Twilight continued to breathe heavily as she replied, "A horrible nightmare Spike! Princess Celestia wound up punishing me for not going to Moondancer's party! She sent me down to Ponyville to set up her festival and forced me to make friends with some of the ponies down there!"

"Alright, what is so bad about that?"

Twilight continued to be frantic, "Well I befriended them, we had to go and defeat Nightmare Moon. After that, we had to defeat this weird creature named Discord that escaped his stone prison! Then I had to stop my brother from marrying the queen of the changelings and save my old foal sitter! After that, King Sombra came back and then Celestia punishes me for fixing Starswirl's spell by making me a princess."

Spike commented, "That sounds like a weird dream."

"Ooooh, that's not all. Then we had to stop the Everfree Forest from eating Ponyville, then we had to defeat Tirek because that dumb mutt Cerberus can't stay put. Then I had to face off against this crazy unicorn that stole cutie marks and perfected Starswirl's time spell. After that, Cadence's baby broke the Crystal Heart and we had to save the Crystal Empire. Then the unicorn that stole my cutie mark had to save me from Chrysalis. Then I unleashed the pony of shadows before opening a friendship school where some psycho filly stole these artifacts and nearly drained all the magic from Equestria!"

Spike suggested, "You know maybe you should stop."

"Oh no, I can't stop now. Then Discord betrayed everypony by freeing Sombra from the ether and then teaming up Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek and they stole Grogar's bell to become real powerful and somehow in the end, us and a lot of different creatures saved Equestria and then Princess Celestia punished me, again! She retired and made me take over Equestria and I grew to be a re-color of her that everypony hated!"

Spike commented, "Twilight, it is ok. It was just a dream, nothing else."

Twilight had calmed down somewhat but continued, "Well then I wind up living for over a thousand years and Equestria becomes a land where only I have good magic and technology and materialism become the norm." She took a deep breath before finishing, "And then I have three of the most annoying ponies ever come bug me in the throne room. One had a tennis ball stuck on her horn, another asked me to make her teacher pass her because she thought some pony named Fluttershy ate animals and then there was this disrespectful colt who expected me to give him money after breaking some weird device he called a gaming console." She finally calmed down entirely as she finished, "Well I wasn't myself so I launched a large number of things called cobalt bombs to destroy the world. Right as the first one hit, that is when I woke up."

"Wow Twilight, that sounds like a really bad dream. Not so much of a nightmare but a night terror."

Twilight let out a slight laugh, "It was and all that happened because I skipped Moondancer's party. Well I'll make sure that never happens. We're going to her party today!"

Spike exclaimed, "Yes and I can give her the presents we have for her!"

"The teddy bear and the portrait? I'm sure she will love them." Twilight yawned, "Alright Spike, let's get some more sleep. I don't want to be tired at Moondancer's party."

Spike nodded and the two tried to get some more sleep. As Twilight laid there trying to resume her slumber, she truly hoped that by going to Moondancer's party, that she could escape the punishment that Celestia would give her, that along with all the horrors that would follow.

TEN HOURS LATER

Twilight and Spike were walking through Canterlot when they ran across some of Twilight's "friends." For the first time Twilight was actually happy to see them and would be more excited when Twinkleshine asked, "There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?"

Twilight exclaimed, "Yes, I'd love to! Come on Spike, let's get to Moondancer's party!"

Spike replied, "Well it's about time you hang out with your friends! I know Princess Celestia will be thrilled!"

The two followed Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Minuette to Moondancer's party and out of all of them, Moondancer was the happiest to see her. While Twilight was discussing advanced magic with Moondancer she thought to herself, "Thank goodness! Now I'll never have to put up with immortality, moving to a backwater town, taking over for Celestia and most importantly, Izzy, Sunny and Hitch! I'm free from that fate!"

Several days later Nightmare Moon cast Equestria into eternal darkness but Twilight didn't panic or even care that much as she had escaped the fate from her nightmare. Rather than battling Nightmare Moon, she and her friends befriended her. Because of that friendship and how welcoming and accepting they were of her, Nightmare Moon realized Equestria needed sunlight for plants to grow and to keep things warm. In the end, she was a loving ruler who did what was best for Equestria and much to Twilight's relief, she never sent her to Ponyville.

Comments ( 64 )

Excellent Chatter 1 keep it up the story don't stop in till you reach Chatter 100 .
Ps a have brand new fanfic ideas you mite like to write

10700841

Well the next thing would be in a different story....perhaps Moondancer's party. This one was specifically about the future which turned out to be pre-Ponyville Twilight's nightmare.

10700862
How about this story the nightmare from the west.
The story is about scottish equestria take over Equestria and ponyville.

10700878

Scottish Equestria? Is that something from your ponyverse?

10700883
Its not my story is everyone's story

I like how everyone is doing G5 fics after only a few days of the leak designs lol :rainbowlaugh:

10700889

Well I just thought a Twilight freakout story involving G5 would be fun. I could see the Twilight from the night before Moondancer's party reacting like this to everything too. After all, her primary goal in life was to become as talented and well-learned as Starswirl, nothing more. I doubt the Twilight from right before the series began even thought about becoming a princess and taking over Equestria....and if attending Moondancer's party and actually being friends with her Canterlot friends was how to avoid the events of the series, I'm sure she'd gladly socialize. Yeah G5 fics are quickly coming a thing. I would put this in G5 groups but it doesn't portray the characters in a real positive light and in the end they just wind up being part of Twi's nightmare, that likely wouldn't sit all that well with some people.

10700901
Speaking of which, did they ever reveal their character. Like I’m terms of personality

10700906

Not that I know of. That is why I took the liberty of giving them the personalities I gave them. That is why I made Izzy a valley girl, Sunny as a pony who wants Twilight to make her teacher pass her and Hitch as a self-entitled gamer pony.

"Ooooh, that's not all. Then we had to stop the Everfree Forest from eating Ponyville, then we had to defeat Tirek because that dumb mutt Cerberus can't stay put. Then I had to face off against this crazy unicorn that stole cutie marks and perfected Starswirl's time spell. After that, Cadence's baby broke the Crystal Heart and we had to save the Crystal Empire. Then the unicorn that stole my cutie mark had to save me from Chrysalis. Then I unleashed the pony of shadows before opening a friendship school where some psycho filly stole these artifacts and nearly drained all the magic from Equestria!"

Don't forget about Celestia's dumb plan of dumping the princesses magic onto you, Twilight.
That is one huge problem with the finale there.


Also, loved how Nightmare Moon/Luna got a happy ending there too.

SLZ

Thank you for making my day when they mentioned if Fluttershy ate animals.

10700928

Well Twilight was freaking out and not every detail stuck in her mind....thanks for reminding me about that. I did the Nightmare Moon thing because that is what would happen but Twilight doesn't want any of what was in her dream to come true so she befriended Nightmare Moon, as did the rest of her Canterlot friends to prevent the events of the series from coming to pass, particularly the ruling Equestria thing and living so long that she saw Equestria become what it does in G5. To her, being a loyal student and friend to Nightmare Moon is worth it, well that and they do become genuine friends.
10700990

Well Sunny wasn't doing so well in history class and that is why she brought up her eating animals and said that wasn't very loyal. She didn't even tie the right element to Shy.

I didn't see that twist coming of everything being Twilight's nightmare! Nice touch.

10701005

I was initially going to just have it be everything after she took over for Celestia and Luna but then I figured, why not have EVERYTHING in the whole series be her nightmare? Because let's face it, she initially was not thrilled about having to go to Ponyville in the very beginning.

10700999
Wonder how well does Nightmare Moon/Luna rules in this case?
With all the others popping up to cause trouble and such.

10701021

Well here is the thing, while she did have the Elements used against her, she is still tied to them....not Twilight and the gang so the power of the petrification spell holds, Chrysi knows better than to mess with NMM, yes Sombra does return but NMM is strong enough to handle him on her own. Cerberus never leaves his post with NMM in charge so Tirek never escapes, the cutie mark bond never happens so Starlight stays out in her village....as she is never discovered because there is no map. Flurry was never born so the season 6 premiere never happens. Like it was with season 2, Chrysi knows better than to mess with NMM so that finale doesn't happen. Twilight never attempts to free Starswirl in season 7. The school of friendship never happens so Cozy never surfaces and since the petrification spell holds, Discord isn't around to make the evils of season 9 happen. Nightmare Moon provides a much more stable Equestria, especially once the Canterlot 6 convince her that daytime is necessary for crops and temperature control.

Long story short: A series with Nightmare Moon would have a completely different setting, well Chrysi could choose to challenge her but let's face it, NMM would crush her.

Well... That was a load of stupid that once again makes me glad Hasbro doesn't listen to fan ideas.

Have a favorite anyway :D And I'll be glad when G5 doesn't do this. Because they're not that stupid.

I hope.

10701100

I doubt G5 is going to make them that way. I simply did that because this was in Twilight's nightmare and given we know nothing about their personalities, I took the liberty to give them personalities that would drive Twilight up the wall. If Hasbro listened to fan ideas, nothing would do all that well.

Thing is, I know none of this will happen, I just wrote this as a fun project....oh and thanks for the fave.

10701085
Is it odd I keep imagining Chrysalis acting all adorable when NMM gets her or something?
Like boop da buggo or something.

10701118

She could try to be all adorable but I don't see NMM falling into that kind of trap.

10701149
Meant like actual adorableness.

Yeah.. can't stop imagining Chrysalis having this adorable buggo side.
If only the show could have touch on stuff like that than just making her 'evil because evulz" with how they handled her.

10701159

That is something that could have been explored. WHY would she be evil? Was it simply because she wanted to take over Equestria or was there some other reason? A lot of people bring up Cozy Glow having no back story but I made one for her. She had horrible parents who neglected her and simply pawned her off on Twilight without even asking her if she wanted to go. That made her bitter and cynical and I think it wasn't long after that that she wound up communicating with Tirek.

You know how Discord set everything up for Twilight as a test, I know now that HE was the one who helped the two communicate. How else would Cozy communicate with someone in Tartarus? Cozy was horribly bitter but it was Tirek that helped push her past the point of no return....ok, I know I went WAY off topic here but I just thought I'd share my opinion while it was fresh in my mind.

10701195
If Discord was the one that allowed the two to communicate, he essentially corrupted Cozy Glow by allowing her communicate with a criminal pretty much.
Discord sure screwed certain characters over for sure.

10701201

Well Discord ADMITTED to setting up all these tests for Twilight in "The Ending of the End." Discord did a very good job of fooling folks for so long. He can say that everything was well intentioned but still, he put Equestria at risk so many times. I'm honestly shocked that they apparently had Discord and Fluttershy in a relationship in "The Last Problem." The Fluttershy we are most familiar with would have been too hurt and felt so betrayed by him that she'd never associate with him again.

10701214
Whats worse is how Discord still has that "people are my playthings" mentality due to this plan.
He intended on using the trio and Sombra as disposable pawns.
Which is something only bad guy's do.
Even if they are bad guys, they are still living beings. And yet, Discord disregarded that and used their lives as cannon fodder for Twilight.
That is something he needs to be called out on. He's supposed to be above this kind of thinking at this point due to reforming.

10701219

I'll be honest, I don't think Discord was ever fully reformed. Not only did he use the Legion of Doom as pawns, he put the very life of the Mane Six and the welfare of all of Equestria at risk just so he could "test" Twilight. Twilight didn't need to be tested in my opinion. Draconeqqui are chaotic by nature and I don't think Discord truly understood what he did could result in. Like you said, he also used living, breathing beings for his plan and what really seems to be "calling the kettle black" as some put it is that he was able to decide their punishment despite probably deserving the same thing himself.

The season nine finale wiped out all of his character growth and made him not much better than he was at the start of season two in my opinion. He used the Mane Six for his own amusement then, he used the Legion of Doom there in the end. Yes he apologized for what he did but still, he wound up not being the nice caring friend he had fooled them all into thinking he was. That is one reason I'm not fond of the implied ship with him and Fluttershy. I don't think Fluttershy would ever forgive him for what he did. I'm shocked she forgave him for what he pulled in the season four finale but to me, this would be unforgivable.

10701337
Wonder if his plan damaged Luna and Celestia's reputations?
I am sure even if his plan didn't go haywire, it would still make them look like failures.
For all we know, this might be more part of his "revenge" on them if he hasn't fully reformed. By destroying the sisters' reputations further than it already is damaged.

10701354

Oh I'm sure their reputations were damaged further. Throughout the show they always appear to be incompetent. Like in the episode where they go on vacation, they start out by fixing tiny little problems just so they can feel relevant. To me, that is reducing them to jokes and I was not a fan of that. Why not have them have to save Twilight and her friends, allow them to have one final glorious moment before retiring instead of having their big moment only being joining Discord in turning the Legion of Doom to stone?

10701365
Luna really needs the glory due to she returned from the moon only to fail and fail again.
And the fact the story literally started with her given how the book opening on her.
Luna starting the show off as a villain but ending it as a big hero would have been fitting.
Like make things come full circle.

10701371

My thoughts exactly. I think it would have been far better had they had her go out as a hero, the savior of Equestria instead of being depowered by Cozy Glow and being held prisoner most of the time. The more I think about it, the more frustrating it becomes.

10701380
The two not being included in using the final rainbow laser despite their cutie marks were on the tree and they used the Elements before adds more salt to the wounds too.

Speaking of the final rainbow laser, I do hope they touch on why Spike was finally included.
Hopefully its not going to be "everyone can use the magic of friendship", it will ruin the specialness of the rainbow laser if anyone can fire it. But it also screw Spike over since he's not being truly included with the girls, like its just he isn't "chosen one" that got to use the rainbow first like the girls are. It would also screw with Luna and Celestia too.

10701389

I personally think Spike was always treated as a second tier character throughout the series, much as Luna was treated as a second tier princess. Everyone LOVED Twilight, ponies use expressions for Celestia "Sweet Celestia, what in the name of Celestia, etc." Cadence is adored by the crystal ponies while Luna is basically crammed in the trunk with little if any acknowledgement of even existing half the time it seems.

10701577
I wished the show could have had Spike and Luna bond and such.
I know Spike is loved by the Crystal Ponies but outside of that, he got nothing.
(And in the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Ponies don't seem to be focused much on Luna and Celestia)
If only the show had Luna and Spike interact alot.

Aww, it's over. I want to see this story world expanded and how the timeline went after this NMM event

10701618

Well I could do a sequel I suppose. I am working on a season 10 and am in the planning phases of a G5 crossover. I swear, I said I was not going to put too much on my plate but that is exactly what I'm doing, again! The next one would involve Moondancer's party if I do decide to do a sequel.


10701587
They could have had them expand on the events of "Sparkle's Seven." Spike and Luna worked together there, they could have had them interact more throughout the series since both are in the shadow of somepony else.

10701658
Maybe even Spike and Luna teaming up for a finale to stop some big baddie or something.

10701664

That would be an idea. Definitely unexpected from me.

10701679
Wonder how Celestia and the Mane 6 reacts to the fact those two saved them?

I loved the afterword. In your version, they befriended NMM and reformed her, but in the actual canon timeline, Celestia was all like, "Friendship is super freaking important, so I need you to shoot my sister with a laser."

10701918

Well here is the thing, Twilight did not want to go through everything that went on in her nightmare, basically everything that happened after she skipped Moondancer's party so she figured that rather than fighting Nightmare Moon, that befriending her would be much better. She and her friends (the Canterlot 5) knew that you catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar. Yeah the idea of Nightmare Moon realizing that Equestria needs sunlight for things to grow and be warm sounds odd to some but my view is that if you befriend somepony like her, you can be her moral compass.

10702327
I totally agree. I always saw Nightmare Moon as a villain that wanted to be loved, but she had fallen so far into despair that she decided that fear was all she would be able to get, so she went for that instead.

And I also never got over how Twilight never chose anything that really happened to her either. Twilight likes Friendship, Magic, and Books. Those are the things she likes. So seeing her stuck in a throne, stripped of her Ponyville friends, practicing politics of all fuckin' things, in a body she never asked for that would be able to do that for millennia... really bummed me out.

This story is very cathartic.

10702725

I added the Nightmare Moon part in at the last minute because that is what would have happened had Twilight put her Canterlot friends first. I also thought that a return of Nightmare Moon didn't have to be a bad thing or lead to a disaster. She is a pony with feelings like everypony else, she just went about expressing her displeasure the wrong way. Hell with enough exposure to the Canterlot six and their positivity, they could maybe even get her to free Celestia and they could try and patch things up.

Very funny, the ultimate Twilight hates everything scenario

10723971

This was a nightmare that Twilight had, including a bad case of Twilighting. Yes she hated everything involving how things would come to be but now, Twilight won't have to worry about it because since she started spending time with her Canterlot friends, she never got sent to Ponyville and of course, in a way anyway, the Canterlot Six reformed Nightmare Moon.

10724141
Yeah I know.... I did read the whole thing ;)

10701918
And aka "essentially brainwashing my sister despite the issues that led her to snap are not resolved lol".
All while she acts like Luna alone is at fault for this whole mess.
That certainly didn't sit right with me in the season 1 premiere there.

Twilight grabbed the tennis ball in her aura and ripped it off her horn. She snapped, "There, happy!"
Izzy pouted, "No cuz now my horn looks boring!"

According to the internet tennis balls on horns is a new trend these days.

Finally a blinding flash and explosion blew out the palace windows.

And about 200 years later we will see this mare running around, wondering just what the hell had happened back then:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/10/18/2172407.png
Source.


Good story!
I enjoyed reading it.

But now I wonder what happened to Celestia in the alternate timeline? Is she still banished somewhere?

10905347

Well this is just a dream of Twilight's. I would assume she is enjoying retired life.

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