Chapter 26 - An Alicorn and A Manticore
Nightmare Moon's world had narrowed down to a singular, desperate focus – survival. Her body was broken, her ebony wings which offered no chance of flight, were reduced to tattered remnants of bones and muscles with claw marks. One of them could be called stumped with what's little remained.
The adrenaline rushes had drawn out a power within her that she never knew she had, but now the magical wellspring she had once commanded was truly utterly drained.
Her once-regal starry flowing mane and tail were now lost its otherworldly beauty. Their memorizing moving pattern turned into solid dark blue hair that was matted with sweat and dirt, no different than any mane and tail of normal ponies.
Her body had stopped its healing process, and no amount of anger or fear could make her horn light up again, leaving her powerless against the magical beast that relentlessly pursued her.
Every step was a torment, every breath a struggle. Her side ached where the manticore's massive paw had struck her, sending her crashing to the forest floor. Her vision swam with pain, and each movement sent sharp, searing agony through her limbs.
Yet, she couldn't afford to stop, to give in to the pain, not with the ferocious predator hot on her heels.
The Manticore slowly walks toward its wounded prey with the grace of a feline, its eyes fixated on its today's prize. Saliva dripped from its jaws, and its fangs glistened. It knew that victory was within its grasp, and the anticipation of its meal continued to fuel its hunt.
Nightmare Moon staggered forward, her movements unsteady and awkward. She tried to scramble away, but her movements were slow and feeble, like a wounded prey animal.
The Manticore seized the opportunity, lunging at the injured alicorn with blinding speed, its claws tearing into her flank. Agonizing pain lanced through her, and she let out a strangled cry.
"My butt fuck fuck fuck!" The alicorn of the night cried out in pain and reflected in her slitted eyes were the bloodied remains of what was left of her right flank cutie mark.
Summoning every ounce of strength left in her battered body one more time, Nightmare Moon desperately tried to roll away from the manticore's clutches, but it was futile.
"Fuck you... gah!" She gritted her teeth as the magical beast pinned her to the ground, and its claws dug deeper into her flesh.
She could feel her life force ebbing away, her vision blurring as the pain threatened to consume her.
But then, in the depths of her despair, a glimmer of determination flickered within Nightmare Moon's eyes.
She refused to meet her end here as a helpless victim. People're waiting for her back home!
With a surge of her strength fueled by the will to survive, she summoned a battle cry - a primal, guttural scream, and made her counterattack...
Nightmare Moon's powerful war cry echoed through the forest, and the hunter of the forest was head-butted by the horned horse in the eye socket with said horn.
The manticore roared in pain at the loss of one of its eyes, crimson liquid flowing down from its face like river Styx. Its grip loosened slightly in shock. It was all Nightmare Moon needed.
Gritting her teeth and commanding her muscles with her willpower alone. The night alicorn mustered the strength to thrust her broken leg upwards, catching the momentarily stunned Manticore off-guard and sending it tumbling off her.
Gasping for breath and wracked with pain, the alicorn of night crawled away from the beast, leaving a trail of crimson behind.
The Manticore, now recovered from being disoriented, cried out in pain and anger. Its lone eye locked on the unruly food, the being who brought about this pain.
Nightmare Moon felt liquid slowly tickle down the side of her face and frown. “Is there something on my face…?” With the unknown substance on her face, the night alicorn did what any mare of science would–sample collecting with her tongue.
Nightmare Moon slowly extended her long equine appendage from her mouth, lowered it to the wet spot on her face, and licked it, tasting out the cocktail of fluid behind the retina and blood.
At that moment, something inside her stirred awake.
The alicorn spoke her mind out without thinking. "Taste like chicken." She muttered and shocked at herself.
It was a fucking blood and it taste as disgusting as I thought, why do I... Oh....
Her inner thought quickly came to a halt as the realization kicked in and a smile slowly spread across her face. She chuckled and gave the manticore a wide grin.
The wrathful beast recognized the emotion on its prey’s muzzle and snared in anger. It lunged at her again, but without depth perception, it missed its mark. The massive jaws of the magical beast didn’t make contact with her meaty barrel and only snapped shut just inches from Nightmare Moon's side.
The phantom pain struck the alicorn as she felt the searing heat of its breath as it hissed in frustration for missing its prey by a hair's breadth.
Nightmare Moon’s momentarily fears soon fade away as her muzzle curved up a little bit. Her heart flustered at the manticore's frustration, pumping adrenaline-filled blood throughout her body.
Ignoring the pain, Nightmare Moon lifted her only working hind leg from the ground. She curled her leg up and aimed at the center of the beast's muzzle-its nostril. "Get the fuck away from me!" She shouted at the manticore as its muzzle received a powerful buck on the face.
The manticore cried out in pain as the sound of bone cracked reverberated through the forest. Blood oozed out from the torn skin of its muzzled, and hints of white bones protruded here and there.
The giant silhouette of the magical creature collapsed on the ground with a thud, covered its muzzle with paws, and glared angrily at the alicorn of the night.
Nightmare Moon couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Her broken body was aching and filled with pain, and the conscious part of her mind worked to the fullest to keep the despair at bay.
Yet somehow, she felt alive more than ever.
Every time she's able to inflict damage against her enemy, her body instinctively pumps in a new batch of happy chemicals into her brain, making her feel rejuvenated despite all her pain.
More so especially when she got a reaction from her enemy.
No matter how much they hurt, not once do they feel fragile or lash out in anger. The wooden pack was too perfect and their actions blended together without conflicts or wasted movements.
Deep down, her subconsciousness understood. The Timberwolves may cry and whimper, but everything's fake. Growls with the same intonation and tone are used multiple times by different timberwolves.
The fact that they threw themselves at her wave after wave without a single hesitation, self-preservation, or even any wasted movement disproved them being an individual sentient creatures. They are emotionless machines that just mimic the actions without putting in actual feelings.
Or not, but who cares? Nightmare Moon shook her head gently, looking at her tormentor with a glint in her serpent-like eyes.
Whatever the case, it didn't trigger this side of her like the crippled manticore before her do. The magical beast howled in pain with some amount of fear in its eyes, while her body registered that the taste of its blood was certainly one hell of a trigger by Nightmare Moon’s standard.
But this asshole... It's real. The pain, anguish, and fear... Everything is all real.
"I guess I inherited that part too, huh?" The human-turned-pony chuckled, laughing at the new discovery about herself. “Just another thing I have to look out for.”
Luna wasn’t called the Sword of Equestria for nothing, and Nightmare Moon knew it too. Her jobs are unpleasant at best but the night princess would do anything for her beloved nation.
She did learn how to cope with it at first, but nothing was truly eternal and everything would change, be it for better or for worse.
Years after years, centuries after centuries, the sovereign of night slowly but surely learned to be happy and have fun with her work. Disgusted turned to amusement and sadness turned into mirth. Ingrained it into every fiber of the mare's whole being.
The ruler of the dream realm was happy, and so too the one who took on her body.
Nightmare Moon's face morphed into a dangerous predator grin with her sharp fangs glittering in sunlight. She then looked at the magical beast and lost control of her voicebox, chuckling out in mirth.
The noise of the happy alicorn echoed throughout the area, Nightmare Moon's voice would intensify more every time the Manticore failed to push itself off the ground.
The night alicorn's small chuckle slowly went up in intensity, turning into a crackle of glee "Ha Ha Ha! What the fuck wrong with me?" Nightmare Moon knows it's dangerous to make such a loud noise in this cursed green hell of Equestria, but she simply cannot stop herself.
“Ha! Who cares!? I know I don’t anymore.“ Nightmare Moon laughed and laughed, her dried throat protested back with pain but she couldn't help herself. The sole working eyes of the manticore looked at her with comprehension and filled with pure hatred–the thing that made her heart skip a beat and kept her going.
The night alicorn turquoise orbs met her tormentor with eyebrows crinkled from smiling face, mocking the manticore of its conditions. "Yes yes yes! I am laughing at you!" Her mad crackle went up another notch as the manticore growled and tried to swat her. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end, huh? How does it feel?"
Nightmare Moon's mirthful laugh only slowed down and turned deprecating when she noticed that the manticore was trying to push itself off the ground, recovering. "Oh, Come on..." She muttered out, as the despair took its reign once more.
Nightmare Moon knew she couldn't beat the manticore, not with her current strength - She did not have her magic, be it unicorn's spells or earth pony's strength, and her broken body couldn't hope to outmaneuver one of the apex hunters of this magical forest.
Everything has both upsides and downsides, including her immortal body. As an alicorn–a creature that is made of the biological machine and magic spells, Nightmare Moon at its current drained state is no different than a fang-less wolf, a venom-less viper.
Magic is everything for an alicorn. Without it, piecing the defense of the manticore's thick hide is nothing but a fool's errand.
Her only option was to run and run and run. Hope that maybe she will reach the ruined Castle of the Everfree before her stamina runs out.
Or she might find any other place of refuge, a safe location where she could perhaps wait until her magic recovered and hopefully escape from the impending threat.
With sheer determination, the alicorn of the night pushed herself onward, one agonizing step at a time.
Each step sent jolts of pain through her broken body, but she kept going, her hoof steps irregular and her movements unsteady, disappearing deeper into the forest.
Of course, not before she did something to increase her survival chance first. Not every critical organ is protected, and the obvious one is staring back at her, literary.
"Hiya! Full score!" With a swish of her hoof, a rock-turned projectile found its mark, and the howl and scream of pain confirmed it. The night alicorn's tormentor truly lost its sense of vision.
Another month-longed delay, yay
...There are many reasons why I was delayed, and here's the one you might find an enjoyment in.
At first, it started out with an original music video.(Kind of feel like a MLP:FiM song)
Seeing that I enjoyed good musics and memes, the all-powerful algorithm decided to send me down a rabbit hole with another meme.
After digging around for a bit... What a masterpiece I've struck.
Doofenshmirtz Hero Incorporated! - fiction.live
If you interested but intimidated by 'Crossover', then don't. You didn't need to have any knowledge of those two franchises to enjoy it.
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A blind predator is nothing but prey waiting to be slayed, the Manticore is finished.
Nightmare Moon is absolutely insane?
Can anyone get anything out or her withhin reason?
She seem to be acting partly without sense.
Or at least without a healthy common sense.
Is she trying to kill herself?
Otherwise her action makes no real sense.
She only endangered Armstone with her broken rescue mission.
I think Nightmare Moon should take a vacation and perhaps try to go through with a normal citizens life.
Maybe she start to make sense eventually.
Thanks for the update
Huh, I kinda thought Nighty was gonna take a 'bite' outta crime, in the literal sense.
11754722
I reiterate my earlier point.
Absolutely no sympathy.
She deserves every bit of this pain and suffering for her stupidity and recklessness. Everything that is happening now is completely her own fault.
I'm sorry what?
11778060
Come now, it is demonstratably unfair to put the blame on her. Nightmare Moon is 110% insane due to having suffered one of, if not THE worst form of tortures known to mankind for over a 1000 years. While yes, there is (Potentially) someone new behind the drivers seat they still had to deal with it for years themselves. and as shown especially well in this chapter they still have to contend with all the baggage and trauma dealt to Luna's mental state, as proven by the fact Nightmare Moon has, by there own admission, retained the thrill of the hunt from Luna's Youth. This is on top of all the usual garbage Luna has to deal with in canon such as having to catch up on a thousand years of history and progress.
If anything, I'd argue the only Pony to blame in this scenario is Celestia for her decisions to just hand the keys of the kingdom to her sister without thinking even once about the consequences of doing so, let alone even once thinking of her sisters mental health before doing so.
11778101
Whoever is piloting NMM's body knows about the show. They KNOW how dangerous the Everfree is. Yet, they decided that the best thing to do is to carve a path of destruction and expend all of their magic, while they are still grievously injured.
They should have 100% forseen the possibility that they would accidentally strike a hydra or a dragon or an Ursa with their magical death lasers. Or otherwise badly piss off something big and dangerous.
The less said about their decision to heal Rainbow in the way that they did and teleport away, the better.
The fact that they now find themselves in a situation where they are alone, horribly injured, depleted of magic and facing a pissed-off Everfree is COMPLETELY THEIR OWN FAULT! There is no possible way to blame Celestia for Nightmare's extremely poor decision-making here.
They fucked around with the Everfree, now they are finding out.
11778115
1st of all, Nightmare Moon did not recklessly waste her magic unless the story has undergone a serious revision since I last read the previous chapters. the vast vast majority of it was spent fighting off literally endless hoards of Timberwolves for hours on end. Considering how massive her magic reserves are it's unreasonable for her to assume she'd ever run out like she has, as it took a literally insane scenario (after already doing a few magically intensive feats before hand mind) to reach her current condition
2ndly, it can not be said that her actions with Rainbow Dash were reckless, as she did not intend to teleport to the Everfree Forest, that was a side effect of her (understandably) forgetting to set a proper endpoint for the spell due to being in severe pain at the time and having her poorly crafted spell lock onto a point she had long forgotten even existed and even expected to have long since destroyed itself. I will admit that the act of forgetting such an important step is an incredibly idiotic move, but at the same time she IS also working with zero actual training due to her situation and what information she had to work with was a 1000 years out of date so it's not irredeemably idiotic.
Finally yes you can very much blame Celestia for this whole situation, as Nightmare Moon was only even in the position to screw up this badly because Celestia effectively did the equivalent of giving a baby a loaded machine gun. She had zero consideration for what her Sisters mental state may be after literally suffering Solitary Confinement for a 1000 years uninterrupted, let alone any thought at all about Luna/Nightmare Moon beyond trying to create a very stupid plot to Manipulate someone who clearly has zero interest in ever having any relationship with her again into crawling back to her. She is very clearly and explicitly abusing everyone around her, with no cares about literally ANYTHING except getting what she wants, a sentiment that everyone that personally knows and has interacted with Celestia so far has shown concern over.
Nightmare Moon, in her current mental state and severe lack of current knowledge should have never been given the keys to rule the kingdom, and in fact had zero interest of even BEING anywhere close to the Everfree or Ponyville in the first place if not for having that duty forced upon her. As such, everything that has happened, from Twilight being an emotional wreck, to Rainbow Dash attacking Nightmare Moon and getting severely injured, to Nightmare Moon making that mistake and ending up in the Everfree while heavily injured.. is very much a result of Celestia's actions. This entire plot only existed because Celestia decided that instead of doing the right thing and trying to talk to her sister like an adult or even just accepting that she screwed up and letting go of someone she has harmed in severe (not to mention fatal) ways.. she had to do what she always does and make incredibly stupid plots to manipulate the people she cares about into doing what she wants. regardless of how much it puts the ponies she's sworn to protect in harms way.
It's the blood loss. The insanity has taken charge!
Too bad she didn't have that turn-into-mist trick available. Even if the injuries were merely suspended, having a generic escape method is handy.
11777979
She can't do any sustantial damage to the manticore in her current condition.
11778115
Her previous experience walking though it with Twilight is 'it's peaceful enought to take a relaxed stroll'. Chapter 8.
11778174
It's the only way to make it not too boring and a couple of dynamic fight scences with proper stakes as a bonus.
11778174
She didn't recklessly waste magic you say?
While Celestia might be an idiot as well. It doesn't nullify my point that she should have known better than to recklessly throw around destructive spells in the Everfree, especially since she doesn't have any sort of viable escape tactic.
If she had randomly stumbled upon a nest of hundreds of Timber wolves, then maybe I would have such an issue with it. However, the story explicitly states that her reckless use of spells DIRECTLY results in her being attacked.
11778187
She watched the show. There is no excuse for her ignorance. She knows about the manticores, the timber wolves, the hydras, the dragons and the Ursas.
If you had written her as character that had never watched the show or have the timber wolves happen upon her by accident, then maybe I'd be more understanding, but she knew about all the dangers that lurk in the Everfree.
She should have known that one peaceful stroll doesn't prove that the Everfree is safe. She should have known better. Her current predicament is a direct result of her stupidity.
11778187
Eyes are not known to be very danage resistant, matter of fact: They are very fragile. A stone hitting it would be enough to damage or destroy it.
Rather surprising how many are not going for the eyes in a life or death situation.
You have a problem with "show don't tell" author, that is to say, you describe it too much, I mean instead of saying that she screamed or roared or that her cry echoed through the forest Show it, like.
AHHHHG!
UHAAAAAA!
YOU BASTARD!
See? You showed it this way, we as the readers can understand this, don't treat us like we're babies.
11778197
In that condition, she could handled a dozen timberwolves and a manticore, as shown in the shows.
Here, she was pitched against hundreds of timberwolves and immedietly hunted by a manticore without even a minutes of down times.
11778203
And the manticore now close it eyes. Only weakness are earholes and butthole Tiny and on the side/back. Impossible for current magicless Nightmare Moon.
11778206
But that sounded so bad on text2speech! Is there another way?
And we might have different definition of 'show, don't tell' too.
Mine is all about not spell out characters' motiavation directly.
11778244
It doesn't change the fact that she behaved incredibly recklessly or that her recklessness almost got her killed.
She could maybe handle a few timberwolves or a manticore, but could she have handled a fight with a Hydra or an Ursa Major or a dragon?
Perhaps she is lucky that the Everfree only chose to send relatively weaker monsters.
The point is that she should have known better than to mess around in one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria, alicorn or not. She was injured, far from help and very inexperienced in modern magic. She had no right to be as careless as she was. She is currently reaping the consequences of her actions.
11778244
Who... WHO THE HELL READS ON TEXT TO SPEECH?! This is a written history author you don't have to consider other means of reading it.
It's like trying to translate a camera view on a fic and writing "the camera moved toward xxx showing xxx" like this is a writing history, why are you trying to make it something else?!
11778248
You're talking about the one who rammed Celestia with a railgun and pick to stayed in ponyville on a whimp.
She's not your typical mary sue protaganist... I hope....
11778275
...I do, around 40% of every webnovel I read.
Those novels that used different color to specify different characters or weird symbols or too many dots... pain
11778275
Text to speech, I use it for years. Can be rather useful to do something else while listening.
Also a lot easier on the eyes and don't stop me for example to listening to a Fimfiction story while I make my laundry.
Especially with stories like:
- Crossing the Trixie Bridge -
There is a word count over a million, it takes literally me listening over a week real time to re- experience a story like this.
One can use a standard set of voices depending on the mobil phone or payed versions.
Very entertaining to have Darth Vader read you a story about Ponies and friendship, minus all the heavy breathing
Also if one uses a method like this it helps killing time when for example driving the car to or from work
Though comedian heavy stories could keep one distracted to mutch with laughter from time to time.
Here is a free version I use outside Fimfiction:
👍
https://ttsreader.com
You are welcome to try use it on comments like this, that are extreamly long... copy & pasting and than listening takes usually less time, than reading it for yourself
11778332
But... That's the point, wasting time on something you like.
11778349
I play video games while currently enjoying a story I listen to, double the entertainment
11778322
I'm not saying that reckless stupidity is out of character for her. I'm arguing that the situation that she currently finds herself in is a direct result of her braindead decision making. She deserves everything that is happening to her at the moment and I have no sympathy.
11778187
No worries on that front, it's definitely understandable why things happened the way they have, after all you can't write a good story without some drama and conflict occurring. Personally I enjoy the story so far, I just disagree with the idea that everything is her fault.
11778248
I mean.. it kinda does. if we're going by just what the show states there is no reason to assume that the Everfree was actually a serious threat to her. The show never once even implied that the Everfree had the capacity to throw literally the entirety of the Timberwolves at someone in such an aggressive way. Based solely on the foreknowledge of the show, you could maybe at worst case expect something like a Manticore and a few dozen Timberwolves that may or may not combine into one giant Timberwolf.. even with Nightmare Moon wasting magic on less cost efficient spellcasting like she was there's no reason to be concerned about running out in those conditions with the absurd (in a good way) magical reserves of an Alicorn, nor any reason to be concerned about the injuries she had from healing Rainbow Dash because she has that regeneration factor.
It only became as much of a problem for her as it has because of sheer bad luck and lacking even a hint that the Everfree may be sentient, let alone a force that can command a literal army of puppets to swarm her, as I recall she even acted rationally and started actively toning down her magic usage once it became clear things were escalating to a point that she was at risk of running out. Its not exactly reckless to come into a situation that, by all accounts of your knowledge you're way overprepared for, and being a bit wasteful with those resources which as far as you know you shouldn't have any need for. at worst you could call it overconfidence but certainly not reckless.
At the end of the day, It's rather harsh to say that she deserves what's happening, she did not choose to have any of this happen, she did not choose to teleport to the Everfree while Injured, and she did not choose to waste important resources that she knew she'd need because by all accounts she thought she had way more than enough magic to handle anything that could naturally occur. It's not her fault that she was left completely unaware of the true nature of the Everfree, nor that she was left unattended without anyone to help her learn important facts she needed to know or even given a quick update on the modern, far more useful version of Teleportation that would have left her in a much less dangerous spot.
Well, Merry Christmas to Nightmare Moon, and may Santa Hooves give her something good
11778349
Hey... there are people who took their time to enjoy things.
But there are also somes who want to finished this 100k long fanfic at the same time as Cursed Halo within 5 hours, while eating dinner, and painting miniatures as a way to rest those sore eyes from the computer screen.
11778680
You wouldn't believe how much your kind words mean to me. Thank you.
11779037
Another manticore?
11779429
Or maybe a Celestia plushie to hug at night
I wonder how Twilight is going to react when she finds out just how close Nightmare came to dying while she was mopping in her room. I mean shes missing a chunk of her cutie mark and there's nothing left of her wing's
Nightmare Moon is chewing waaay more than she can swallow
camo.fimfiction.net/iMnTmz1_oInQkjqD4FKtp_8PxK1Qdx48hvG-zl3gQeY?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Fnewsfeed%2F001%2F318%2F553%2F497.jpg
Just re-read the story:
camo.fimfiction.net/91f9ToApSRz89rhmFHOP1c99EDKyq09xzZvNbnqxWL4?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2F2020%2F5%2F3%2F2338648%2Fmedium.png
Looking forward to the story getting continued eventually.
What was the final trigger for Luna?
But jokes aside, Nightmare Moon is in better condition mentally than anyone else would be...
camo.fimfiction.net/LKXcQvxL-1S_IU9nIuF3RNcoQ-_nhGllnatwk_VjcDE?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgflip.com%2F2bktwu.jpg
Wat what will the future bring?
camo.fimfiction.net/NLCm5uqyF5w-yUyUmc28_crZlcjQNEYOE8_GEVVNL6E?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F68%2F73%2Fa3%2F6873a30c83d41a4dc3c304396becc7d6.jpg
One way or another, the ponies will run red alert for a while:
camo.fimfiction.net/3w3Dwfru-LgMxrxtHd0cYWkhNpOSqd5KumlX_BUyg94?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2F2013%2F9%2F19%2F430894%2Ffull.gif
Twilight should request extra snuggle time with Nightmare Moon, that mare needs to relax more, for relaxation seem to be missing in her life way to often.
Maybe a spar visit?
A health check up was needed before she wrecked herself, more than ever now.
Time for a Thestral or two to save their queen ♤♡
camo.fimfiction.net/iwNGWxUgSxRinAV5nmNHYxGBFf6rMvUmpDUtS-Fp0OY?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimg.cc%2Fgbg86u1b1%2FBatty_Scene_Break.png