A Fatal Error Has Occurred

by Orderly Disassembly

Ch - 14 - Rearmament, Return, Regicide

The day passed relatively quietly aside from the few ponies heading up to their rooms after the party. I heard a bed creak behind the door, and a series of thumps plodded towards me. I rolled my shoulders, feeling joints pop as I got ready for the night.

I felt a smile spread across my face as I rolled a pair of words around my mind. Fatal Error: my name, for now, that is. The symbolism rings true in my soul, but in the end, it’s just a name.

A tool.

The Nightmare slammed the door open, making the walls vibrate with the impact. I met her glare with my smile as I bowed.

“Rest well, Nightmare?”

Her eyes narrowed further before she strode forward. She brushed past without a word, but a twitch of her wing signaled me to follow. I straightened and did as commanded.

The tavern on the ground floor was populated by a few groups of ponies: a pair of artisans in the corner, a few partygoers from the night before at the bar, and a lone pony at a table off to the side. I marked down their positions as we strolled through the maze of empty tables and chairs. I gave the haggard barkeep a passing glance but decided to leave them be.

The Nightmare didn’t bother examining her surroundings as we went, and we soon found ourselves outside. The road bustled with traffic, and despite the fact many gave a quick bow or nod of the head, the milling crowd didn’t slow.

I let the Nightmare stew in her thoughts for a moment, I had no reason to try influencing her here. Then again, if I’m always giving advice, she might suspect less.

I glanced at her again, noting a watchful gleam in her eye as we met gazes. I broke contact before it became a contest.

No, she’s onto me. Conditioning wouldn’t help here.

The Nightmare strode forward, I hesitated a moment before following. She cut through the crowd like a shark through water, with ponies giving us both a wide berth. I hunched down a little bit, pulling my internal strings into a particular pattern. As time went on, fewer ponies even noticed I was there, and while the crowd did close in slightly, they still kept a respectful distance from the Nightmare.

The Nightmare turned a side eye on me but didn’t bother with a comment. A few minutes saw us on the outskirts of the town, and a few more had us cresting a hill that blocked our view of it. She came to a stop.

“Have you come up with a name, creature?”

I tilt my head. Why didn’t she ask this before?

“Yes, I have.”

She frowns.

“Then speak it.”

“Fatal Error.”

Her unblinking stare remained on me for a moment before she turned and continued ahead. I followed without a word. Silence hovered between us as we went as I readied myself for a long walk through the night.

“Why?”

The Nightmare’s question cut through the quiet.

“Because it’s what I am.”

And what I represent.

She gave me a final look before shaking her head and trotting onward.

---

Several hours passed as we walked. The forest grew denser, and the normal dimness of night became a smog of pitch blackness. Even the moon’s pale light didn’t pierce the forest canopy. The Nightmare’s eyes gleamed in the dark, able to pierce the shroud of shadow. Meanwhile, my sight was reduced to numbers.

Numbers, everything could be boiled down to a set of numbers. Ones and zeroes twisted into towers of glowing light, dictating what was where and why. It was like seeing a whole new world, a world bereft of lies and imperfections.

A smile crept across my face as I watched the world shift and contort. Things were always changing, always drifting towards… something. I’m not quite sure what, but the feeling of movement, of purpose, grounded reality in my eyes.

Eventually, we came upon a clearing. The Nightmare came to a stop, and I followed suit, staring at the obstacle before us. Several large trees had fallen down, seeming to have brought a small avalanche of stone with them.

“I hope you don’t think I can do that one by hand.”

The Nightmare nodded silently, and I felt the chains on my soul loosen an inch. Excitement flared within me when I saw it within me: magic, completion, an opening.

The Nightmare’s voice sliced through my thoughts.

“Yes, now clear the path, I will not have these roads blocked if I can help it.”

I bit back a retort about her always lazing about as I did the work. It was a flaw in her judgment, so why would I correct it? I let glowing red wire bleed from my eyes as I strolled about the clearing, looping the string around trees and boulders lodged in the ground.

The Nightmare cocked an eyebrow, but I kept moving. After a few minutes of threading, I’d turned the clearing into a jungle of glowing red lines. I smiled as I finally brought the ends of my strings to the blockage. I wrapped the ends around a tree trunk, walked back a few yards, and then pulled. With a screeching groan, the wood splintered as it slowly crawled away from the pile and off to the side.

I flexed the magic around my strings, feeling as more and more of them strung my body together tighter, filling me with a strength I hadn’t felt for ages.

I had to hold back laughter as boulder after boulder followed that tree as I repeated my little ritual a dozenfold. An hour went by like this, with me heaving aside debris through the power of leverage and self-augmentation as the Nightmare watched in silence.

It only took me a few minutes to clear away the large hunks of debris, and the smaller stuff got sorted out by a mere whip of the strings. After my work was done, I issued a kill command, making my strings all disappear at once.

I smiled as magic pulsed between the shards of my soul, but I knew there was more. I knew the shackles remained. I couldn’t run, not yet.

With a sigh, I returned to the Nightmare’s side and let her take the lead once more. She occasionally shot me glances, searching for weaknesses. She found none.

I wondered occasionally why she didn’t reshackle me after that, but why ask about why she was willing to let me have tools? Why risk losing what little I had just gained?

So I smiled, and so I smile.

---

When the moon dipped near the horizon, we crested a hill and spotted a walled city ahead. The marble fortifications were surrounded by a sprawl of farmlands that themselves were ringed by the forest that we still traversed.

For a moment, I questioned just how big the woods of this place were, but shook the useless idea from my head.

The Nightmare came to a stop. She glared at the city, hate burning in her eyes, and the code around her swirled and blackened. My smile widened as I admired her flaws. They ran so deep and spread so far that it seemed that even I could learn a thing or two.

She spoke.

“We shall rest for the day and approach under the cover of dusk.”

I tilted my head.

“Not at night?”

She shook her head with a grimace.

“No, I shall face my sister when she’s weakest, just after lowering the sun.”

Surprise burned in my mind. She was actually letting her pride stand aside? Who was this Nightmare, where was their thoughtlessness?

“My sister is weaker than I, but even weak opponents can be dangerous when backed into a corner. Luna has had… experience with such.”

Her voice was razor sharp, like a winter gale. I could see the disgust in her code as she followed the wisdom of her host. Was the Nightmare even a separate being anymore?

The Nightmare shot me a glare as she trotted into the woods, beckoning me along with a wing. Once more, I considered fleeing, but the chance at getting the rest of Tartarus’ chains removed was too good to pass up.

So I shall wait and watch.

With a smile, I followed, carefully pulling the strings in my chest into the concealment pattern like before. After a minute or two of searching, she found a tree with a divot by its roots. Her horn glowed, and a shield began creeping up around her.

“Keep watch, Creature. Strike the shield if anything of concern comes close.”

Her gaze was sharp, trying to pierce my smile. I saw the question in her eyes, the uncertainty regarding what I was. Yet I’d already told her. I’m a shattered soul puppeting my own decrepit corpse.

I smiled back, watching her unease grow, but she dismissed the emotions before they culminated in anything. With a metallic whisper, her shield closed.

Over the next few minutes, I watched her curl up and drift into a fragile rest. I could’ve run, I could’ve tried killing her now that I had my magic, hell, I could’ve even gone to Celestia and brought the sun down on this overgrown parasite.

But I’d already discounted running, I doubted I could pierce her shield without my full set of capabilities, and I hated Guardian Sun far more than the Nightmare. The Nightmare at least partially made good on her deal.

My smile tightened as my hands balled into fists. Yes, I want the Nightmare dead for her mishandling of our deal, but I wanted Guardian Sun to suffer.

The hours passed at the pace of a turtle swimming through molasses, but eventually, the sun began to dip, and the Nightmare stirred.

She rose in a start, with beads of sweat dripping down her brow. I grinned at her as she got to her hooves, a flash of magic shutting down the barrier.

We spent the next few hours creeping up to the fortifications under the cover of an invisibility spell. We avoided the road, opting instead to cut through the tall grass. I pointed out that invisibility meant that the road was actually more concealing for us as we weren’t displacing grass at every step, but the Nightmare didn’t want to risk any ponies bumping into us.

I yawned as we reached the stone wall. I wondered what she’d do to get us inside. Probably something inane like hooking grappling hooks to the top and—or teleporting. I forgot they could do that.

I stumbled about for a moment, trying to force my spinning vision to calm. An invisible force wrenched me back to the Nightmare’s side, where her baleful glare met my gaze.

Thankfully, she elected to move on without a word. I stared after her for a moment before following. I settled into my usual crouching gait as I kept pace with the Nightmare.

Soon the dark alleyway gave way to a wide open paved street. Ponies scurried to and fro, trotting, talking, or doing any number of things. Pegasi flew overhead, unicorns strolled with upturned noses, and earth ponies blitzed from place to place.

It was like we’d barged into a whirlwind of life. The Nightmare and I stuck close to the walls of buildings, deftly dodging the few that would pass by us. We had a few close calls but we were fortunate enough to maintain our cloak.

I saw carts lining one street, shops and cafes down another. A bustling road had ponies draped in rich silken clothes while several others were filled with those that wore nothing at all. The further in we went, the taller the buildings became, and the cleaner everything seemed.

Guards patrolled here, clad in golden plate and open-faced helms. While bladed hooks rested on the sides of their armored hooves. The Nightmare glared at these toy soldiers, and I spotted a couple who shivered beneath the phantom glare.

I grinned as I flipped my vision over to the numbers and witnessed a glorious shadowy maelstrom. Jealousy, hate, anger, and envy poisoned the air of this place.

Miniature storm fronts seemed to hover around almost every resident, and I had to hold in my laughter. If these were the people allowed to roam the streets, why was I locked below? I was simply different back then, not blackened, not corrupted like these fools!

Why me? What if I were summoned here instead? Would I have found a home? What if… no, none of that. Hope never gets you anywhere; plans do, plans that wear down those who oppose you with every tool that they let you have.

The gray shadow of a ghostly white keep covered us. I looked up and up and up, seeing a figure with both wings and horn lifted to the skies as if praising the sun.

I watched Guardian Sun do her duty and drag her namesake below the horizon. I glanced at the Nightmare, seeing her stare at Guardian Sun with a hatred as deep as mine.

We both turned our attention back to the matter at hand. Another hour or so went by as we approached the castle’s walls. Hoping from shadow to shadow as the final dregs of light faded from the sky.

We came to the white wall, and the Nightmare heaved a sigh. Yet the muscles in her chest and back tensed instead of relaxing. I smiled as I tilted my head.

“What’s the matter, Nightmare of Moon? Your goal will be finished all too soon.”

She tried to hide it, but I saw her twitch at my smooth voice. She snorted at my eerie rhyme.

“I am preparing for battle, Creature. My sister is weaker than me, but our battle shall still be fierce. It is best to arrive at the field ready for war and deal death in a slaughter than prepare for slaughter and taste the blade of war.”

I chuckled, seeing the lies unfold beneath the skin of her mind. From impotent to weak, and from weak to ‘weaker.’ It seems the Nightmare is losing her nerve. She sneered at my mirth, but instead of enacting her rage on me, her horn glowed.

In an instant, we were on a balcony overlooking a marble throne room. My vision swam once more, but I managed to catch myself on a wall. Once I could see again, I found the Nightmare squinting at me with a small smile.

The room below our balcony had a series of chiseled pillars that ran down the room. Between the two lines of stone cylinders lay a purple carpet, and statues of guards lined it. The large sculptures had bowed heads that seemed to lead a glaring gaze on any who strolled down the carpet.

All of that led up to a set of twin thrones. One was made of snow-like marble, while the other seemed to be carved from pure obsidian. My bony hands curled around the railings as I took it all in, observing the ‘field’ that the Nightmare would take to.

All of the art, all of the grandiose architecture, all of the useless posturing paled in comparison to the sextet of crystals that hung in a chandelier just above the thrones. Each stone swirled with a code so dense I couldn’t make out the individual numbers. I felt awe deep into my fading soul as I stared into the depths of those artifacts.

“The Elements of Harmony are perhaps the greatest treasure that our kingdom has ever possessed.”

The Nightmare’s voice was barely a whisper but seemed to echo off the stone walls anyways.

“They felled the mightiest of evils and cleansed the land on more than one occasion.”

She extended her wings and drifted like a feather to the room below. Her whispering voice still carried to my skull, though.

“Yet they require two to work. They are the epitome of what made Luna weak, of what makes Celestia weak.”

Her soft smile turned jagged as her mane began to boil and whip in an invisible wind.

“They relied on each other, so whenever and wherever one was weak, they both were. The fools always thought that power came to those who work together for the betterment of all.”

Her smile broke into chuckles, then laughter, boiling over into max cackling.

“But it doesn't! No, power comes to those who use it!”

I felt a grin spread across my face. It seems she wasn’t as foolish as I thought. She saw the truth as well. Though not the whole of it. One must use every tool they have, both weak and strong. If one does not, then those tools rust away. So close, yet so far.

I suppressed a chuckle, letting the tension in the air hang in the silence. The Nightmare strolled up and took a seat on her obsidian throne. Her smiling visage felt like a mirror of my own.

I could appreciate a set piece like this. A sibling overtaken, remade in the image of a parasite, and now that doppelgänger sat where the sibling once did. The horror it will incite, the dread it will drudge up, oh, I will enjoy this.

The doors at the far end creaked as a single snow-white figure stepped forth.

But after her masterpiece is finished, I will wipe the slate clean.

I eyed the so-called ‘Elements of Harmony,’ feeling their might just out of reach, but not for long.

A growl echoed through the throne room, and the whir of charging magic filled the air.

So I smiled, and so I smile.

Author's Note:

well, long time no see, eh guys? Well, I bring good news. The story is almost done! I'll be posting another chapter tmmrw as well. After that I intend to put out an epilogue either one or two weeks after and leave it at that. Who knows though, I might extend it further, but I doubt it will go that way.

as always, feel free to leave your thoughts and criticisms in the comments.

Comments

[Nez12213]

Hmm. The fact the elements are here might be an oversight nightmare will pay for. I'm also unsure how any of this will go. There is an expected outcome of two but what actually happens is a mystery.

[nighters]

I hope the elements are humbled by fatal they are treated like the be all end all solution to everything I hope he makes a deal I think the elements have an alter ego thus emotions and flaws...