Chapter 1: The Nightmare Games
Time had passed after the fliers were posted, giving enough prep time for the participants of the event that seemed to have glory in the eyes of the moon and its queen. Small vendors of food and little games were outside of the castle of the twin sisters small accompanying arena for those that only came to grab small, carnivalesque prizes, but those that went into the arena were in it for the bigger prizes. The lands subjects were split into three visible ques, the first and second ques were for the ponies to sit either at the far left or far right seats to view the ironic form of entertainment, funneling into the arenas major numbers. The third line however was purely for the competitors, the ones that cared to take up the name of glory or for the sin of greed.
The line led under the stadium to the barracks below where numerous pieces of armor and weapons were at their disposal, yet many used their own homemade weapons to use against their competition. Lunar guards kept watch over those that entered, making them sign a completely unnecessary waiver for acknowledging whatever damage they take in battle is their fault and will be entitled to, being laughed at, being sent to the closest mortuary or hospital, and such. Those that signed the waiver were also given a second sheet of paper to fill out the basic name, age, gender, race, cutie mark, and address of the participants to keep track of their records. Although it was given, the guards did say it was optional to fill out, thankfully a hooded figure that walked past the guards took advantage of its optionality and instead denied the second form, opting out to have been assigned a number for their call out.
The competitors waited underground for their names to be called out to start the tournament, the mixed yells of cheers and oppositions heard from above ground. Groups of unicorns were still studying their spell tomes and picking up standard weaponry to use their magic. Flocks of pegasi stretching their wings and chose simpler weapons that were lightweight, some daredevils using wing blades that could cleave clouds into perfect shape. Herds of earth ponies came around and chose heavy weaponry such as hammers to swing and copper hoof plates to have a harder swing. Griffons were taking up two weapons at a time to intimidate some of the ponies of the competition, only being the second best fliers in equestria. Yet, nothing compared to the intimidation tactics of the dragons that signed up, holding arrays of weaponry with no trouble at all, the addition to breathing fire, and born with the most durable scales raised them as the highest on the power scale. All these opponents, so intimidating and stronger than any could imagine, yet the hooded figure sat on a bench on their haunches, back legs hanging out in front of their veiled form.
“Hey! Look at the silent shorty over here, aren’t you a bit too young for this type of shit?” There at that point did a single griffon’s taunting caused the whole of the armory to stare at that one pony. Many looked at the griffon and the hooded pony, unanimously agreeing that they were strangely short to compete.
“Hey! Say somethin’ you fuckin’ brat! You’re probably scared aren’t ya?” A dragon added in, “Scared to see how outmatched and out classed you are? Best just to give up before you get beat back to your mom and dad.” The rest of those that were in the barracks started to let out the most mocking laughs imaginable, all aimed at the short silent hooded pony, the whole time though, they did not engage. “Maybe we should cut down the competition by one less potential nuisance right guys!” The whole of the barracks were completely filled with the chants and cheers of death before the main event, the griffon and dragon holding weapons at the ready without a second thought. Both of the aggressors were immediately caught off by the sounding of the loud trumpets that signaled the first act of the tournament. “Fuck. I guess we’ll be forced to see how terribly you place after all. You got lucky punk, but not lucky enough.”
The room completely spun around, staring at the iron gates finally opening. Lunar guards escorting all participants out onto the arena's circle were met by the mixed reactions to the fighters, blending together in a whirlwind of all voices combining to form aggressive neutrality in a crowd. Guards along the perimeter of the arena were tasked for clean up, along with pegasi tasked to attack any that disturbed the fight in any unfair manner. After a few minutes, trumpets blew for the second time to reveal the one that organized this event of clashing races, the one that had kept the moon from moving an inch from the skies, the queen of the night herself, Nightmare Moon. The spectators stood silent as she stood tall above her subjects, even if rejecting her rule she was a ruler nonetheless. Were it a choice between Chrysalis or her, then they would rather take their present situation to the rule of the changelings.
“My loyal subjects of Equestria, I, your queen Nightmare Moon, welcome all to The Nightmare Games!” Half the crowd yelled out in cheers praising her entrance to get the show on, while the other half sat silent in anger and disgust. “Tonight, you shall either gain righteous glory over those who stand as your opponents, or be humiliated by your peers from your defeat! The rules are simple to restate from, if there is any form of trickery, unfair conduct, or stray idiotic attempts to attack your ruler or any unparticipating spectators, these offenses will be punishable by imprisonment or death from the severity of your stupidity. The first event consists of all participants to battle in a free for all, the last six survivors shall fill the brackets, and become closer to your ultimate prize. That being said, let your Nightmares come to life!” She stomped her hoof to the ground in her high placement, the crack of power making the Lunar guards signal another trumpet song, sounding off the start of the games.
“Mother!” a whinny disheartening voice arose from the Queen's side. “Did you forget to invite me to the games? The mean guards didn’t let me in without a ticket.” Of course the Tantabus had to make up fake scenarios when only she could see her, ironic how such a mental construct could joke about participating in a physical event the queen had thought.
“Of course, my apologies Tantabus. Although, thy expected thou to remember their own idea. I see a grandiose night ahead, and a similar grandiose event to all who have come to see.” Her majesty whispered optimistically.
“I am very busy terrorizing ponies of the night for your important duties as Queen. Serving ponies in their waking hours sounds boring anyways.” It says with an upside down stature. “So, who’re we betting on to win the grand prize ?”
The queen sat on her throne, spectating the contestants with her cold cyan slit eyes. The dragon with the large ego looked to be the strongest of them, the griffon was easily the most balanced yet fast, a certain unicorn seemed the most skilled in magic, the decision was hard to make. For seeing each race being in the arena all at once waving at the appraisers, there was one that had no reaction to the cheering and booing, the small one in the hood. It had that look, or lack of a visible look, that it would be the underdog, the black sheep, the many many other metaphors that excluded that one suspicious and unsuspecting being of no importance having the most promising results.
“Thou hath chosen the one in the hood.” Her hoof decorated with a clear polished silver hoof piece, the moon's glow reflecting a beautiful shine from it.
The Tantabus stood confused as to why she had bet on a weakling gaining the upper hoof from a dragon, griffon, and ponies that looked tough enough to squash the competition. “Um, why him? The little shrimp won’t make it past round 1.”
“Thy did not specify age, but as they say nowadays, I just have a hunch.”
The Tantabus had a strange look on its ethereal face, of course it stood blank yet the expression it gave was that of a stern agitated look at the queen of the night. “If you say so, but I’m betting on a winner, mainly the dragonborn. Durable, strong, and can fly, in all three categories he looks like a beast, of course he is a beast. So now, to the exciting part, what we’re betting.” The Tantabus smirked a toothy grin, its teeth an ineffable mix of milky stone, she continued issuing her first bet, “If you lose, then I get to take over your body, along with the terrorization of a few fillies.”
The queen gave her extraterrestrial mental creation a face of pure unnerved agitation, and gave her end of the bet. “If thy are victorious, placing thy faith in the hooded one, I get to speak to Luna-” before she could finish, her creation was instantly filled with unending rage, cracking the stone wall encasing their private seating. She continued again, ignoring her imaginary friend, “-and I will release the sun for a day.” That again set it off in anger, only a small piece of restraint keeping it back from the unimaginable things it wanted to do to teach her a lesson.
“You have too much confidence in this little fool, as if you’re trying to conspire against our victory. What foalish game do you play mother?”
In a professional plea for explanation, Nightmare Moon spoke. “If they desire sunlight, we shall only tease them as much. They will only see the first ray of dawn, and the last ray of dusk, never being able to gain the satisfaction of the full experience.”
It seemed to calm her metal cognition a bit, “And for you speaking to that of the dead ?”
“To see the reaction of such a broken mare, would put a bigger smile on my face.” She planned for these responses in truth, yet accomplishing that in reality was a different story. Seeing its demeanor change to a somewhat calm state made her own state of mind become calm.
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I think of that?”
“Dream jumping becoming too much for thy to handle?” The queen smugly commented.
“As if. You created me to do so without any stamina, so there isn’t any boredom or exhaustion to speak of.”
“Of course.”
The first act of the tournament started underway, the races of all clans had to clash in a vicious free-for-all. Fire spewed immediately from dragons that wanted to kill of the competition easily, spells fired from unicorns that balanced their defense and offense, blood flew from most that were brutally wounded, and screams of those that had fallen out of the arena’s ring were promptly labeled losers of the tournament getting actively kicked out without a reward, or carried off from the rules of the waver. In the center of the ring, the ever so confident dragon and griffon were taking the competition by storm, scorching and tearing flesh from multiple targets. The screams didn’t deter them from their task though, the task of simple victory, with casualties resulting in their imaginary scoreboard rising higher and higher.
The griffon and dragon were back to back, counting their kills like wildlife hunters stalking the hundreds of weaker prey in a stampede of color, feathers, and pure bloody carnage. The griffon smirked, “Well, do you see the shorty anywhere? I counted fifteen kills and none of them were the kid.”
The dragon replied in dumbfounded arrogance, “Fifteen? I thought griffons were good at combat, meanwhile I’m at twenty-one. I didn’t get a hit on the kid either though, so we’re both waiting for the jackpot to show up.”
His feathers beat from his skills not holding up like he thought they would, “You think the kid is worth ten kills, or twenty?”
The dragon spurted out, “If anyone other than me kills the kid, I’ll let everyone in the barracks know I’m-” Suddenly, out of the commotion, the silhouette of a small hooded figure started trotting toward them and from under their noses. “Well well well, guess we don’t need to hear the last part of my bet, cause I’m the one that’s gonna win this !” The dragon took the opportunity to lay a strong fiery burst on the tiny figure that once stood in front of the red scaly creature, if only that figure wasn’t still standing. Attracting the attention of the griffon behind the once confident dragon, now wishing their birth was completely halted. The small statured figure lifted its head, the show of dark glowing eyes from behind its shadowy veil. It hovered into the air, carrying both the cocky dragon and his griffon ally with a force that couldn’t be broken. After fear had been fully instilled in the two unworthy opponents, the force that held them in the air had suddenly flung them both into the nearby arena walls with great force, ending their chance at victory for life.
Almost hundreds of competitors had entered the ring in the pursuit of glory and greed, but when the dust had cleared, all that was left were six contestants each from a different equestrian race. Nightmare Moon stomped her hoof to end the first act and give her decree. “You who have survived long enough shall endure your opponents in formal combat after a quick recess. Rest thyselves and take up arms in your waking hours.”
With that they all bowed their heads and retired to the barrack chambers. The watchers of the arena also making their way wherever they could to gain rest, even if it was outside of the arena’s walls in a tent to get the best seating arrangement possible for tomorrow. In the barracks, the lunar guards escorted each of the six remaining contestants to six independent rooms, there would’ve been more if all the races were involved, however the Yaks and Hippogriffs still shunned away from the queen's rule, hidden away effectively. The six entered for their resting hours, a strange way to say sleep with no sun, ‘waking hours’ and ‘resting hours’ sounded the most understandable to the rest of Equestria at this point. Still astounding how none of the vegetation had died off by now. In the depths of the night, the hooded contestant made their way out of their room, with Lunar guards already holding weaponry at the small figure. They stood still, holding a paper in their mouth, it read. “Which way to the restroom?”
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Are we ever going to get a prequel to this story?
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It would be a messy prequel since the age of this particular concept came out of obscurity and in an unplanned manner, however creating a prequel maybe possible if this story does better than expected. Thank you for showing interest.