Nightmare Equestria

by Herald Design

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Pinkamena pulled against the bonds that held her. Normally the guards would have come around by now. She couldn’t figure out what was keeping them. On the other hoof they had been coming less and less frequently these past few weeks. Maybe they had finally given up on her and left her to starve. It wouldn’t surprise her at all. They had been threatening to do that ever since she had been captured. She pulled again against the straight jacket. It actually didn’t bother her too much, but she was starting to get hungry. Hunger also wasn’t anything new. When she had lived on the family farm hunger was her constant companion. Then after she left, food was easier to find, but there were still days where she didn’t get enough. If they didn’t come to feed her soon she would have to try and escape, she was not going to starve to death. She had survived too much to go out that way.

A sudden pain in her knee brought her head up. Painful knees meant someone was coming. Sure enough a second later she could hear the sounds of hooves coming down the hallway. Pinkamena never quite understood her ability to sense things before they happened, but she had long learned to trust these feelings. The level of pain she felt in her kneecap indicative of the number of number of ponies who were approaching, and sure enough she could hear several ponies.

Upset stomach. That means someone was afraid. That was nothing new the ponies who came to see her were always afraid of her. She almost didn’t notice the upset stomach any more. Now they were right outside her cell. With the hood over her face she couldn’t see who was there and she could only hear distant murmurs, but they didn’t sound like the guards of the asylum. Itchy back. It was her lucky day. She guessed that whoever was outside her cell at least they weren’t going to hurt her. Maybe they were bringing her food. Warm heart. Warm heart? She hadn’t felt that in years. Not sense she had left the farm. Not sense that rainy night all those years ago. Maybe her sixth sense was finally starting to break down.

When she felt a warm feeling in her heart it meant that someone loved her, not in love with, but loved in a none romantic way, unquestionably. The only other ponies she had felt that from was her sisters. Pinkamena hadn’t expected to ever feel that again.

“SHE WHAT?” the sudden scream shattered her thoughts. The warm feeling in her heart immediately vanished and was replaced with a pinchy feeling in her knee. She mentally braced herself, that feeling meant something scary was about to happen. A rumbling shake filled the room then the hood on her head was ripped off. In front of her face was a pure white unicorn with red eyes, whose mane was billowing flames. Behind her the entire wall of her cell had been ripped away.

“YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!” she screamed. Pinkamena leaned back her eyes wide. Before she could answer a silver hammer appeared in the air above her head then it crashed down on the white fiery unicorn. She immediately reverted to a purple unicorn and collapsed on the ground.

***

Everyone stood in stunned silence. Groggily I got back to my feet. I shook my head to clear the ringing in my ears. Silver Hammer was immediately in front of me.

“Twilight! Are you alright? I didn’t want to do it but I had to!”

“Do what…” I didn’t finish what I was going to say because I saw Pinkie over his shoulder. Her mane hanging limp from her head and her pupils seemed really small. The memory was back. And so was the anger but before I could move Silver was again in front of me.

“She didn’t kill your brother.” He continued quickly before I could say anything. “Your brother died fighting Nightmare Moon. I was there when he fell.”

“What?” I had never been told how Shining Armor had died. Sometime after Nightmare’s return two of her Midnight Guard had come to the house where my family lived and informed us that he had died. That was the time before Discord’s escape from his stone prison, so all we had was night and darkness and confusion. Ponies were disappearing every day as Nightmare cemented her rule, so there was no way of knowing what had happened. We weren’t even allowed to have a funeral. The strain from losing his son and having to pretend that son never existed was too much for my dad. He attacked one of the guards in a rage in the middle of the street one day. That was the second death in the family we weren’t allowed to publicly mourn. I was finally allowed to cry in public when my mom killed herself shortly before Discord returned.

“It happened right after Princess Celestia vanished. Shining Armor rallied Canterlot with his filly friend, Princess Cadence. We didn’t know what had happened, only that our princess was gone and the sun hadn’t risen when it should have. Those two were trying to keep the country from falling apart, but somebody betrayed us, slipped something into Cadence’s drink. She couldn’t use her magic at all.”

“What could do that to an Alicorn like that?” Applejack asked.

“Poison Joke.” I answered. The blue plant made a joke of what some pony loved most. For Rarity it made her mane a mess, Pinkie lost the use of her tongue. For a powerful unicorn mage or an Alicorn it would damage their ability to use magic effectively. This story was starting to make me sick. I could see how it was going to end.

“Yes, exactly. Shining was distracted, trying to take care of Cadence. That’s when she struck. We didn’t have a chance. The Dark Queen would never allow another Alicorn to challenge her rule. Princess Cadence died almost instantly. Without her magic she was a sitting duck. Shining was almost driven mad with rage and sorrow.” Silver glanced at me. “He did the same rage shift that you just did. His magic, powered by his emotions had enough power to stop Nightmare in her tracks. The battle almost tore the throne room apart. But he could see that he didn’t have chance. She was filled with even more rage then he was. He used the bubble shields that your family is famous for to get the rest of us out. I think that if he had focused on fighting Nightmare he probably could have driven her off, at least for a while. Instead he saved the rest of the guard’s lives. Including mine.”

“And with that the resistance was born.” Fluttershy’s Amethyst piped up.

Silver nodded then continued, “Now today has been a day of several misunderstandings. Let’s all take a breath and calm down before we bring the Midnight Guard down on our heads. Do we want to try this again?”

I nodded then went to offer Pinkie my hoof. Remembering that she was still bound I started to lower my hoof, when she started to shake it. I was confused until I saw her quickly pulling herself out of the straight jacket, then my confusion only increased. Before I could say anything she piped up.

“Oh that silly jacket couldn’t hold me! I could leave whenever I wanted to. I only stayed in it to keep the guards feeling safe. Then they would give me food and not hit me as often.”

“Well if it’s food you want then we can help you.” Applejack said. “And I promise we won’t hit you none.”

“Both of those sound better than my current arrangement so I think we will work well together.”

“In the interest of avoiding entangling with any royal guards we should save any introductions and explanations for when we are somewhere safe. One of us did just tear a hole in the wall,” Rarity said looking at the damage I had done.

“Oh of course!” Pinkie’s voice seemed as happy as usual. I couldn’t help wondering if her supposed ‘rap sheet’ was really a farce. She continued over my thoughts, “But first I have to collect my things.”

Then she bounced down the hall. She even moved in her typical fashion that I remembered from Equestria Proper. She stopped briefly at the cell down the hall, where she pressed her face against the glass of the door.

“Goodbye Timey! I got out early! But don’t worry I’ll be back to visit I Pinkie Promise!” And she bounced on. I glanced in to the cell as we passed, but the brown pony was still mumbling to himself. We caught up with Pinkie outside the administrator’s office pulling desperately on the door handle.

“It’s locked,” she wined. “Would you mind ripping the door off its hinges?”

“Hardly necessary, darling.” Rarity replied. Then she used her magic to undo the latch and open the door. Pinkie smiled and immediately dashed in.

“That’s a useful skill there Miss Rarity.” She said as she passed. Inside she immediately went to a large filing cabinet and opened one of the drawers, out of which she pulled an old leather roll up case. “This is all I need. We can go now.”

As everyone else filed out of the room I glanced into the open filing cabinet. Inside were two files. The first was clearly labeled ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie.’ Quickly I grabbed the files and shoved them into my saddle bags. Pinkie was a riddle to me, a riddle I planned on solving. But I couldn’t do that until I had more information. Once I had the files I quickly hurried after the others.

After we were all back safe in the library it was time for some hard talks. The walk back had been in a terse silence the whole time. On the way back Fluttershy had said good bye to her Amethyst. She was bound for Canterlot and needed to leave if she was to catch the train. Pinkie had bounced on ahead for all the world just like she did in Equestria Proper. But there were subtle differences, for one thing I had never seen her mane flat like this, normally it was in wild curls that bounced when she walked. It wasn’t until we were half way back that I realized what it was. In EP she always walked like she didn’t have a care in the world, relying on her unexplainable sixth sense, what she called her Pinkie Sense that allowed her to sense things before they happen, to keep her out of trouble.

Here she moved almost like wild animal, she was always looking around, taking in every part of her surroundings. Her choice of path at first appeared random, then I realized how specific she was being. Pinkie always seemed to pick a path that would leave her exposed in an open area for the least amount of time. She always navigated us around any area that would have large groups of ponies, so we hardly saw anyone else the entire way back. What I couldn’t figure out though was if Pinkie was a wild animal, was she prey or predator?

Now there were many discussions that needed to be had. I needed to talk with Silver and try to describe Rainbow better. Since we had found Fluttershy and Pinkie she was the last element of harmony left. I decided that conversation can happen slightly later. Pinkie needed to have the situation explained to her. We also needed to talk out plans with her and Fluttershy. And I needed some time to myself so I could read the file on Pinkie.

We all settled in on the floor of the library. The remaining members of Applejack’s crew who had stayed when the Sparrow left stayed on the edge of the room while the rest of us occupied the center. Before I could start our discussion out, Rarity spoke up.

“Pinkie, when we were in the hospital you knew my name. Do you remember me?”

“Of course I remember you silly! Do you really think I would let anyone live at the family farm if I didn’t know everything about them?”

Rarity was a little shocked by that reply. She just sat there with her mouth open. Finally she was able to focus her thoughts to a single question, “So you knew I was at the farm?”

“Yep! As soon as you moved in.”

“H-how? You left…”

“Just because I left the farm doesn’t mean I abandoned it! I was always nearby making sure my sisters were taken care of. And if you had harmed them in any way I would have skinned you.” Pinkie’s smile stretched all the way across her face. A stunning silence met this proclamation. “I always made sure they had enough food even during hard years. When monsters and creatures came from the wilderness I would send them off so they knew not to bother my farm again. When you showed up willing to help I was suspicious, but eventually I knew that you were a decent pony. In fact I know each of you.” Her smile widened as she swept her hoof around the room.

“When Rarity discovered how to enchant regular stones to become magic lights I knew that would help out my sisters a lot, so I had to find some way for them to make money on the lights. So I found a representative of Apple Industries.” She paused, gesturing at AJ. “I knew you Applejack would want to control something like that. So you paid her for the stones and my sisters had food, so I was happy.”

Pinkie spun on her heel so she was facing Silver Hammer and I, “I had heard about you two only recently. The guards were just talking about how a purple unicorn from Canterlot had been reported missing and was presumed pony napped by a member of the Anti-Nightmare resistance. There is a tidy reward for information about you two.”

“Wait, how is there already a missing pony report for me?” I asked. There was no one who I spoke to regularly back when I lived in Canterlot. The only ones who knew me were the ponies at the factory. And I didn’t have the best track record there with showing up every day. The report only should have been filed a few days ago. It certainly wouldn’t have traveled all the way to the little town of Ponyville.

“I don’t know silly!” She booped my nose lightly. “They weren’t exactly doing a question and answer session with me now were they?”

“Oh I guess not.” I paused as I tried to digest all the information Pinkie had delivered. It was strange how even when none of us knew each other we still ended up being closely connected. It was also strange that ponies were looking for me so quickly, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. We needed to start moving forward. “Anyways, now that everyone knows each other we need to start talking about our plans. I think the first thing we need to do is find the remaining Elements of Harmony.”

There was an immediate uproar after I said that. With every pony talking at once I couldn’t quite tell what each were upset about. I think AJ wanted to look for Rainbow Dash first. Rarity wanted to try and help the ponies of Ponyville first. Silver wanted to make tracks for Canterlot to start stirring things up there. I couldn’t hear what Fluttershy was saying but she was shaking her head vehemently. Pinkie was the only one who remained silent.

I used a touch of magic to magnify my voice, “QUITE!” I glared around the room for a second to make sure everyone was silent. “We need to find the rest of the Elements because we currently have two of the Bearers, Kindness.” I said, pointing at Fluttershy. “And Laughter,” Pointing at Pinkie. “Even without their Elements they can do great good. But with them our bonds of friendship will be strengthened and all of our individual magics will be strengthened as well.”

Pinkie laughed, “Oh I am the Element of Laughter? Oh that is just so awesome!” Her voice rose to almost inaudible ranges on the last word and she leapt into the air. Rather than falling back to the floor immediately she drifted back down like a leaf.

I turned to Silver first, he would be the easiest to convince. “Silver, I’m sorry. We can’t go to Canterlot right now. There is just no way we would stand a chance against Nightmare Moon. Even with all of our power and strength combined it wouldn’t be enough. She can move the moon on a will and she is almost pure magic and rage at this point. If she found out that some of the bearers of the elements of harmony, the one weapon that can defeat her, were coming against her… she wouldn’t hesitate to eviscerate us. Anything to stop all of us from coming together against her. But I promise that once we have the Elements we will travel to Canterlot and stand against her, and over throw her.”

I held his gaze for a second, making sure that he understood that I meant what I was saying. Eventually he nodded and looked down. “If you say, Twilight. But we can’t put this off too much longer. The wheels are turning, it is only a matter of time before something sparks.”

Before I could say anything more Applejack jumped into the conversation. “That’s all well and good, but what about Rainbow Dash?”

This was something I had wanted to put off till last. Applejack had always been close to RD. No one could ever tell how close, but they were clearly more than ordinary friends. “AJ… we can’t go looking for Rainbow yet.”

“I don’t see why not!”

“Uh… well…” I struggled for something to say. “We don’t know where she might be. For all we know she might never have left Cloudsdale. Even with the Sparrow and your Pegasi it could take forever to find her. But you knew her, wherever the trouble was thickest, that’s where she was.” My voice caught in my throat a little. “She was always so loyal.”

No pony else in the room noticed that I had started to choke up, or the specific words I had used when describing Dash, except for Silver. He sat up a little and looked troubled. Fortunately he didn’t say anything and Rarity piped up immediately after.

“I don’t see how I can be of a help on this adventure. I think my talents would be much better served helping the ponies here. This is our home and look at the state of the town and the ponies here. None of them have very much food and the whole town is so drab and dark, maybe I could do something to brighten up their lives a little. Make life a little more livable! It would be fabulous!”

The others were nodding. Her plan made sense to them. But a bolt of fear ran through me. “No Rarity! As much as I want to help out here, the most important thing is that we stick together.”

“Well you can do whatever you want.” Fluttershy’s voice startled me. Under normal circumstances she rarely spoke up in crisis meetings like this. This was hardly normal circumstances though. “My duty is to the young ponies under my care. And I will not leave them to go off on some wild adventure. So I will stay here.”

“Well if Fluttershy is staying here, then I might as well stay too.” Rarity said. “Really we would both be doing so much more good it we stayed here.”

My fear had a strong grip of me. This can’t be happening. I couldn’t let my friends split up. Not after everything I went through to get them together. All the tears we had shed and shared. Especially when one of them didn’t even remember that we were friends. The worst thing was that both of what they said made sense. I really wanted to help make my home a better happier place. Life under Nightmare Moon was miserable, but in the cities it was much more passable. Perhaps with a little bit of work we could do the same for Ponyville. Also there was no way I could just leave helpless fillies and colts alone in this dark world. There had already been enough sadness and death, anyone who could be spared more hardship should be.

And of course there was always the thought I had, had while convincing Applejack to wear her Element. I lied to the Element of Honesty. I was not going to tie up the Element of Kindness just to bring her with us. I was desperately floundering for some way that we wouldn’t have to break apart, leaving us alone in night again. Then an idea came to me.

“Wait, I’ve got it! Rarity, why don’t you and Fluttershy work together? Your goals are pretty similar and I am sure that two smart mares can solve a lot of the problems this town is facing. I could show you, Rarity, how to enchant the magic lights, then you can give those to the ponies in the town. Then maybe Applejack, some of your ponies could stay and help with the work?”

Applejack picked up on what I was hinting at quickly. “Ah, of course. I have a few ponies who were a little injured after that last fight, a little shore leave would do them well. They could of course assist you two in fixin’ things up and carin’ for the little ones.”

“Oh that sounds wonderful!” Rarity was practically hopping with excitement. Fluttershy stayed seated, and merely nodded. Fortunately her angry frown had vanished, her frown pulled the scar on her face and made for a grim picture. With those two together I felt a little better and AJ’s trained guards would be around in case of trouble. Splitting into two groups was much better than splitting into individuals again.

“How about you Pinkie? Which party would you like to work with?”

“Why you of course!” she said, rolling her eyes. “I have already been in this city for way longer then I wanted to. Let’s go on an adventure!”

“Ok great! Now why don’t you all starting planning what you think you need to do. Silver and I need to have a small talk.”

I guided Silver Hammer up stairs to where my bedroom used to be. Once we were in there I cast a spell of silence around us so the others couldn’t hear what we were saying. Silver watched what I did and waited till the spell was complete before speaking.

“This is about Rainbow Dash isn’t it?”

I nodded and slumped onto the floor.

“You don’t think she is alive do you?” I shook my head. Silver sat down on the floor next to me. “Why do you think that?”

Quickly as I could I explained to him about the feelings I had during the healing we had done at the rock farm. “I could feel Rarity and Applejack there with me. And when Rarity received her Element I could feel the bond between the three of us strengthen. Not only that but I could feel two other ponies. I could feel them Silver! I can’t feel the bond right now, but I know it’s there. If we used the Elements of Harmony I know that I would be able to feel all four of the girls downstairs. But…”

“You can’t feel Rainbow?”

“That’s just the thing! I can feel something but it’s like…” as adjectives failed me I picked up a small thread off the ground and laid it across Silver’s shoulders. “It’s so barely there, it’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“Do you think she is just distant? Maybe she is in the Griffin Lands or somewhere beyond.”

“I don’t think it’s that. If she were far away I should still be able to feel her emotions, or at the very least the recognition of the bond like I felt for the rest of them. But I don’t feel anything.”

“Well I don’t want to raise your hopes, but why don’t you tell me what she was like, and I will see if I know someone like that.”

So we spent several minutes talking about Rainbow Dash. The first time I had described mostly her physical traits. I had said she was a cyan Pegasus, with magenta eyes. She was cocky and brash and always sure of herself. Now rather than describing her I told Silver stories. All the stories I could remember about her from Equestria Proper. How she would always sacrifice her own dreams and hopes to help her friends, again and again I kept coming back to her undying loyalty. Silver’s face grew still as I was talking. Eventually I ran out of words to say about my friend. Eventually Silver spoke up.

“I didn’t want to raise your hopes, and I still don’t. But I knew someone like that.”

“Knew? Not know?”

He nodded. “Actually she served with me.” He cut off my surprised shout with a wave of his hoof. “Before you start she doesn’t sound anything like your initial description. This mare had gray hair. She said it had turned gray after something that happened to her in her childhood, but she never went into more detail. She was called Storm Dash.” I nodded. With the number of Pegasi who had the special talent for racing and flying, Dash wasn’t an uncommon surname. “And she was shy and constantly scared that she might hurt someone. But she was loyal. She joined us shortly after the Sun fell. In fact the very night your brother saved the rest of us. Storm helped us get into Applejack’s office. Then when we were denied, she volunteered to train and lead our Pegasi troops. Then about a year after the last sun rise and after Discord had returned, we heard word that Nightmare Moon was moving over Ponyville alone, and we moved against her. I wasn’t there, I had to stay in Canterlot with a second line of troops to secure the capital if Nightmare fell.

We never heard for sure what had happened. But from what we’ve seen I think I can piece it together. Nightmare was moving to secure the Elements of Harmony. Discord, Chrysalis and who knows what else moved the same night. Maybe they could sense the power, but I don’t know. Either way our troops must have showed up in the middle of a show down between the three strongest creatures that existed in the world. And paid for it. Only a few of our ponies returned from the fight. And those that did, well they didn’t last long. The fight had been too much for them. We couldn’t even get a coherent report from them. We had heard that Nightmare had been injured so in desperation we had hit her with all of our remaining forces. And again paid for it. Even injured badly she was still more than a match for us. Her pain fueled her anger, which in turn over powered her magic. That was the battle I lost.” He winced at the memory of his punishment. “And we haven’t heard from Storm Dash since the battle.”

Tears were flowing slowly down my face. I had always suspected that Rainbow had died here in this terrible nightmare world. But to have it confirmed, was still painful. Silver let me cry for a few minutes, then he awkwardly hugged me. I cried against his shoulder for a few more minutes. Long before my tears had dried up he pushed me back.

“So what is our plan now?”

I quickly dashed the tears from my eyes. Without Rainbow I would have to be strong for my friends. If we could bring Celestia back she would know how to fix all of this. I had to hold on to that hope.

“Our plan now, is that we have to find Discord.”

“What?! Are you insane? Discord is as bad as Nightmare!”

“No he isn’t. Fluttershy was able to befriend him once, and I am sure I can do it again. While I wish Fluttershy would come with us to help, I won’t force her to.”

“But why? Do you think he will help you fight the Midnight Queen? We thought that too, but that thing is completely crazy.”

“I don’t care whether he helps us against her or not. If he was after the Elements then most likely he has at least one. And it is high time that we take it from him.”

Silver looked at me with wide eyes for a probably a solid minute before he nodded. “We’ll have to tell the others.”

“I’ll take care of that. In the mean time you have things you need to take care of. I want Canterlot stirred up as much as possible before we get back. Once we have the Element that Discord has we will have to strike against Nightmare. If Discord doesn’t have an Element or if he only has one, then she for sure has the other. And I am worried that she might be catching on to what we are doing.”

He nodded again, then quickly jogged down the stairs leaving me alone in what was in a different time my room. I looked slowly around the sad little room. It looked much smaller without all of my things. I needed to tell my friends what was happening, and somehow break the news of Rainbow’s death to Applejack and Rarity. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy wouldn’t remember who she was, but it would be hard on the other two.

Before I could go down stairs I needed some time to gather my thoughts and get myself organized. I wished I had something to read. Reading always helped calm me down. Then I remembered the file I had stolen from the hospital. Perhaps this could shed some light on the situation.

About an hour later I had finished reading the file. I felt slightly ill from what I read. Pinkie’s file had clearly not been the best thing to read on any day, but especially when I was already emotionally raw. I slowly made my way down stairs. I needed to talk to the others about everything I had thought about for the past several hours. And now I needed to talk to Pinkie about what was in her file. I paused on the landing so I could watch my friends. Rarity was talking to Pinkie Pie.

“So darling in all your time watching over the farm, you wouldn’t happen to have seen my sister Sweetie Belle would you?” Rarity was trying her best to keep her composure, but I could tell by the strain in her voice that she was only barely containing her anxiety.

“Well of course I did.” Pinkie said.

“You-you did? Do you know what happened to her?” Now Rarity wasn’t controlling herself at all. It was a sign of how worried of Sweetie Belle that she was this frantic.

“Yep!” Pinkie smiled, “I pony napped her!”

“You what? You monster! You took away from me, her sister, her only family! Now she could be dead. You took my sister away from me!”

Rarity was trying desperately to attack Pinkie while Fluttershy and Applejack held her back. Pinkie however didn’t appear to need any help as she nimbly avoided all of the white unicorn’s attacks, even her magic. Finally she grabbed Rarity by the face and shouted at her.

“Don’t you understand I did it to protect her!” Here there was none of the Equestria Proper Pinkie. This was the sadness I had felt through our connection. She was so wretched that she could hardly contain herself. “That house isn’t a safe place for young fillies! My sisters were older, they would be alright. I had protected them while I was still living there. But I wouldn’t allow history to repeat itself. I wouldn’t allow anyone else to be hurt!”

Rarity collapsed gasping against Applejack, “Then where is she?”

“She is safe don’t you…”

“WHERE IS SWEETIE BELLE?” Rarity’s bellow cut off Pinkie completely.

“I have her.” All heads whipped around to focus on Fluttershy. Rarity’s mind couldn’t change gears fast enough to form any words, she just hung on Applejack with her mouth open. Fluttershy continued quickly, “I found her on my doorstep years ago. She didn’t know where she was, how she had come there, or even where she had come from. So I took her in and cared for her.”

“So… she’s…safe?” Rarity panted. When Fluttershy nodded she collapsed all the way to the floor, dragging AJ down with her. “Then can I see her?”

“Unfortunately no. Amethyst left with her hours ago.”

“W-what?” her sob broke my heart.

“Those three are shaping up to be some of my best thieves. I sent them to Canterlot by train. They will help with preparing for the fight there. Stealing for the resistance and gathering information.”

“Wait, ‘three?’” Applejack asked. “You wouldn’t happen to be talking about…”

“Scootaloo…” Fluttershy said.

“Sweetie Belle and…” Rarity whispered. All three of us knew what was coming next.

“Applebloom!” AJ gasped.

Fluttershy nodded slowly. I looked wildly around the room. My friend’s sisters were on their way to Canterlot, out of our reach and into danger, and I was about to ask them not go after them. And on top of that I had the other dark news. My breath came short as I my eyes rocked back and forth in their sockets. What can I do?

***

The unicorn mage, Corvus, trembled in the shadow of the pony next to him. He tried to tell himself that it was just the drafty house they were standing in and not fear. The house had once belonged to two other unicorns. Corvus had known them from their days in the Starswirl the Bearded Academy. They were both highly skilled, adept unicorns. There had been high hopes for their children when they had announced their engagement. Their son had immediately justified these hopes by rising quickly through the ranks in the royal guard, all the way to captain. It was too bad he was such a loyalist, he would have been a great asset to the new regime. Their daughter had been a great disappointment, failing her entrance exam to Celestia’s school and only barely able to maintain her employment at a local factory. Corvus however knew differently. He had memories of a different time and he had created this time with his mastery of magic. And he couldn’t be happier.

Or so he told himself. The real Nightmare Moon, the one who towered over him right now, was not like the one his brothers in the legion of Night had told him. Their legends held that Celestia had been a cruel tyrant and Nightmare had tried to free the country from her clutches. But it was clear from the first day that perhaps their legends had lost a bit of the truth in the past thousand years. Now even though he was her closest advisor he still lived in fear of her.

It had taken a long time to rise to this inner circle. At first his Dark Queen didn’t trust him because he had served the false princess Celestia. Eventually he was able to speak to her privately and explain the memories he had of his other life. She refused to believe that she had been defeated in any time. Eventually he was able to convince her. By that time Discord had returned and was starting to fight her.

Nightmare Moon stood in the house of the one who, in another life had orchestrated her downfall sniffing the cold air. The pony who had lived here hadn’t left the mage lights on when she left so the house was freezing. Nightmare inhaled again. Even though Corvus wasn’t as magically sensitive as she was he could still feel the traces of magic and could barely tell that they were the same as Celestia’s magic. To Nightmare the whole house must have stank of her sister’s magic. She glared around the room.

“So. Somehow my accursed sister has managed to contact one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I can smell the Element. But the traces are long gone. If what my spies are telling me is accurate then they will move against me soon.”

“What will you do my Queen?”

“Do? I will not do anything. They will have to come to me eventually, one way or another, then I will destroy them and their precious Elements.”

“You majesty they will be much more difficult if they have found their elements. I did mention that we should eliminate the Element of Magic while we had the chance.”

“BE SILENT” she roared, lightening flaring from her mane. “You presume too much if you will tell me what to do.”

She angrily paced the house for a minute. “I have something they desperately need. Without it they won’t stand a chance against me. And when they come…”

She stopped speaking as she channeled her magic, then unleashed it. Corvus was blasted out of the house by the magic wave. Slowly the whole house crumbled and fell as waves of lightening blasted it to pieces. In the center of the chaos was Nightmare Moon, laughing as she destroyed every trace of the house.

Author's Note:

Uhhh. It's been a while. My bad.