Chapter 10 - From The Eyes Of The Nightmare...
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The events of the chapter take place shortly after Nightmare Moon leaves Ponyville and take place during the Elements journey to the Old Castle of the Royal sisters.
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The knowledge she had gleamed from Celestia's traitors had proven quite fruitful. Sitting in what was once Celestia's throne Nightmare Moon was smiling to herself. Using the crystal communication device she had contacted the leaders of the nations who she could currently address and gave them an ultimatum. Surrender to her or watch as their nation is crushed under her might. They were given only one week to respond. She was no fool as to think that the other nations wouldn't try and attempt to subjugate Equestria with Celestia's disappearance so she made the first move.
Taking over Canterlot had proved rather simple a combination of ponies having grown soft under Celestia's era of peace and her own dark agents making a series of decisive strikes during the Summer Sun Festival celebration. Most of the Canterlot soldiers had found themselves ingesting a poison that paralyzed their bodies thanks to the ingestion of wine. The fact that this was one of the traditions on her day of banishment was a slight no doubt.
Besides being the goddess of the moon and mistress of stars her domain also included the realm of the hunt, matters of fertility, the hunt, alcohol, and the domain of wild life. Not only that she filled the role of protector of mares in the past earning the title Mother of Fillies.
"Your Majesty!" a high pitched voice calling out to the Alicorn dragged the mistress of her night out of her thoughts.
Nightmare Moon turned to face the speaker. A mare whose appearance was liken to that of a bat. The bat pony in question had purple-hue wings with an ashen grey coat and a lilac colored mane. Her height was of an average Negasi with a slim body wearing a dark sheer top and long flowing even skirt with a gemstones in shape of the moon encrusted in a pattern over her legs. Like all Negasi with pronounced fangs they hovered over her bottom lip giving her a predatory look and of course the look wouldn't be completed without the slitted eyes and ear tufts.
The Negasi were of course her personal soldiers. Their ancestry coming as a result of her loyal ponies who out of their love for the princess volunteered to be transformed into an elite fighting force through ancient magic during her campaign against Celestia a thousand years prior. The fact that the Negasi numbers had reached into the thousands had quite frankly stumped even her, to which she attributed to Celestia's foolishness and softness.
This only served in her favor as the loyalty and reverence of the Negasi's ancestry seemed to be hardwiring into their descendants. As it should, Nightmare Moon thought seeing as it was her magic that gave birth to their race after all. "You may speak Night Watcher."
"We've managed to subdue most of the royal guards with minimal causalities. As we speak our soldiers are hunting down and capturing any stragglers."
A please smirk formed on Nightmare Moon's lips. It appeared that she had won.
Celestia was defeated and the capital was hers. Her long sought victory and it was so easy.
So easy.
Easy.
The prickling of doubt began to form in the back of her mind. That had been far too easy. Celestia's cunning and planning ability were legendary. True while her tactics against armies and warfare were superior Celestia was superior when it came to the long game and major threats she begrudgingly admitted. While it had been her that crafted the decisive plans used against the Griffin and Satyr empires it was Celestia who came up with the strategies that thwarted Gaiadus and Queen Tyranus.
This had to have been a trap of sorts? What could Celestia have planned? Did Celestia set a seal to entrap her and drain her of her power? No far too simple and easy to counter. She had to have been missing something. Celestia had over a thousand years to plan for her return and the pathetic performance the Sun Goddess displayed earlier indicated that she had a great deal of faith in this plan.
Nightmare Moon cursed her own foolishness for not putting more thought into her actions. She had been far too careless and too insured in her own victory that she didn't question how convenient things were for her. That she would be so high and content on her own victory that she would be completely blinded to her own downfall. 'Nice try Si-Celestia but I will not be defeated so easily.' She thought as she began addressing the Negasi. "Inform Midngiht that she is to take command until I have returned." She ordered before teleporting out of the Crystal chamber to hear the reply.
The powerful wings of the Alicorn flapped as she flew over the darkened expanse of her country taking in its beauty.
Canterlot was certainly crossed off her list. She had expected a legion of guards armed with powerful spells and drawn out battle against Celestia and the worshipper of the suns, but that appeared to be anything but the case.
The only other clue was that small town she visited the one with the Unicorn mare who knew whom she was. The town was now under her control after all so finding the mare shouldn't be difficult. Landing down in the middle of the town Nightmare Moon was greeted with enthused 'Your Majesty!' from her loyal followers.
"At ease my subjects," she responded with a pleased purred. "I'm seeking for a mulberry mare unicorn with a…" Now that she thought about it she didn't get a glimpse of the mare's cute mark. Her clothing didn't emphasize her mark nor was it on her outfit. "…rose streak in her mane." The night mistress changed up her last identifier after taking a moment to recall what else she could remember.
"We have no one like that captured currently your highness." The underlying timidity in response to the stallion Negasi's question was not missed by the Alicorn.
"Oh?" she stared down into the eyes of the stallion and she could sense it. Fear. "And tell me why is that? Were my orders not clear?" the question exited her lips in the form of a cold hiss.
"Your majesty we captured most of the ponies in town but the rest of them are hiding behind a barrier out on a farm. Nothing we tried seemed capable of..." Nightmare moon's hand was placed on his forehead and he froze. Suddenly his mind was bombarded with images from his deepest and darkest nightmares. The Stallion broke down, pleading and crying forgiveness from the dark mistress.
Her other followers watched on in a mixture of awe and fear. The stallion collapsed on the ground in a shivering and catatonic heap.
"Let this be a reminder to the rest of you I will not tolerate failure. " she warned as she took off to find this barrier. Sure enough finding the barrier proved to be colt's play as it was the only magical signature of interest being put out. The Alicorn was even halfway impressed by the power put behind the barrier, she would make note of finding out the identity of the Spellcaster to recruit into her forces.
For a moment Nightmare Moon toyed with the idea of breaking the barrier, but decided against the rash action as it would alert its occupants. Instead she would merely search for a weak spot in the structure and slip through undetected.
Transforming into mist she began to pierce through the weakest point of the barrier. The nature of the spell would see to it that the brief intrusion would quickly mend. Nightmare Moon continued her journey as she flipped pas the crack in the homes. As she floated through the area she took notice of dozens of ponies gathered together using all matters of blankets or whatever could be constituted in a shape of pillow. They seemed to be setting up bedding for preparation for sleep. As her eyes glanced over them she had yet to find her target.
"Naruto!"
The sound of multiple voices drew Nightmare Moon's attention and she headed where they were.
"What happened?"
"We thought you were captured!"
"How'd you escape?"
"I got lucky that the individuals Nightmare Moon have recruited for her cause contain a lot of untrained and sloppy followers. Unfortunately she's managed to capture and round up most of the town and the royal guard." He explained. "Where is everyone else who escaped?"
She made a mental note to severely punished those involved with the town hall incident.
"There's only one thing that can stop Nightmare Moon." After her tight lipped silence Twilight spoke, surprising everypony, ever herself. "The Elements of Harmony... it might be our only hope."
As she expected it was too good to be true. With Celestia gone she thought no pony else would have the knowledge to attempt such a move. The Elements of Harmony were kept secret from the population at large with only military personnel with the highest level and leaders of the other nation knowing of their existence.
"You mean the ones mentioned in this book?"
"Yes this is it, how did you get your hands on this?"
"Nearly a year ago I spent a good deal of time learning about some of the strongest forms of magic. I was interested in learning about many kinds of magical lore and I happened to remember the Elements being mentioned once as a myth. Considering that Nightmare Moon was also considered a myth, but turned out to be real is fair to say the Elements exist as well."
What nonsense was that? The Elements of Harmony being referenced in a book? It was by Starswhirl's very exploits that the domain of the Elements was even discovered in the first.
"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now known as the Everfree Forest."
What good would the Elements of Harmony be without bearers? Still. It would be in her best interest to get a hold of them. The true extent of the Element's capabilities was a mystery even to her and it made no sense to change it.
"Between the seven of us we should be able to handle it. Think about it logically Twilight. I should go because I know the area best and you have a better chance of getting around safely if I were to lead you. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash are both talented in Strength, Agility, and Speed meaning they'll be useful in fighting off the creatures of the forest as well as scouting ability. Rarity's Gem finding ability might prove useful in finding the Elements of Harmony if the hints of them being in the shape of gems I found proved to be right and Fluttershy is talented with animals which will be useful where we are going. If we all stay together, keep our heads low, and keep quiet we should be okay."
The plan was far from terrible the Alicorn had to admit, but he was a fool if he thought her forces would be so easy to beat.
"Is it really safe to go with just the seven of us? Should we not also get Big Mac, Lyra, and some of the others? Surely their talents will also come in handy?"
"They need to be here when Nightmare Moon forces attack Rare to help keep everypony safe. The only other option would be bring everypony with us and I'm sure I don't have to explain how terrible of an idea that would be. We should all get some rest and prepare to leave early in the morning than. If we try to leave now without a doubt the others are going to try and stop us."
A few last words were exchanged as the mares began leaving the kitchen. Just as Nightmare Moon was about to leave a stray thought caught her attention.
'I hope this plan of Princess Celestia's is going to work.'
She paused in place after hearing the statement and realized that her suspicions were indeed correct. Sure enough another individual walked into the room.
"Naruto!" the Mare had softly called out to the stallion.
"Ditz!" the stallion roughly exhaled and closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. "You heard all of it didn't you?"
"I-I want to help you." She softly spoke as she closed the distance between them. "You and the others are going to fight against Nightmare Moon right? Let me help." She pleaded as the blond merely shook his head.
"Ditz you can't it's far too dangerous for you to come along." He reasoned with her as he peered past her to make sure no one else is going to just wonder in.
"And its not for the others?" the mare angrily challenged, her rough voice cracking as she tightened her fist before she threw her hand back to the doorway. "You're saying Miss Rarity and Fluttershy can help and I can't? I can understand Applejack and Rainbow Dash because they're strong and they can fight and Pinkie Pie is really good at dodging stuff but…" she trailed off as her body trembled and angry tears threaten to fall from her eyes. She was cut off when suddenly she was suddenly pulled into a warm hug.
"I'll be careful Ditz. I'll come back." He whispered in her ear and softly stroked her back above her wings.
"What if…what if…" she struggled to get out between the sniffles. She was worried; she didn't want to lose one of her only friends.
"I'll come back." He firmly told her with a decisive look in his eyes that calmed the mare. "Your daughters are going to need you Ditz. If something were to ever happen to you I wouldn't forgive myself." He said as he rose his hands up and gently brushed the tears from her cheeks.
"But…but I don't understand. They have loved ones too, why are you bringing them along?" Ditzy was able to accept Naruto didn't want to bring her along, but she wondered why would he bring the others who loved ones would also miss them if something happen.
"They…they have to go Ditz. Those five…those five are going to be needed because it's they're the only ones who have the necessary traits we need to fight against Nightmare Moon. I know this doesn't make sense now, but it will be. " he explained as Ditzy nodded and accepted the explanation. Putting together what she overheard earlier she was beginning to get an idea on exactly why them.
"Ok."
The mind of the Moon Princess digested what she just learned. So that was Celestia's plan? She had managed to find five candidates to wield the Elements of Harmony. She pondered just what Celestia's plan was? Surely without the Element of Magic them wielding the other Elements would surely prove fruitless, unless Celestia had some sort of contingency plan that would include her being captured yet being able to wield the Elements while being in an indisposed state.
Were the bonds of Harmony not broken when the Elements were used on her? Celestia could not surely hope to still the Elements, unless she planned on relying on the bond of these five and channel the Element of Magic herself and surely enough the admiration the ponies had for their goddess would make it more than easy to be maneuvered into her willing tools.
For a moment Nightmare Moon considered attacking and capturing them now, but decided against the rash action. Celestia would not have left such an exploitable flaw and decided she would handle this from another angle. She would indirectly attack and delay them while her forces would catch up to them. Either her forces would be able to overwhelm and capture them or they would be weakened enough to where she would be able to capture them before the plan could be put into action. Without knowing the full power of the Elements it would be best for her to simply capture the five and eliminate the other two.
And if the stallion's comment was anything to go by they surely most have been specially trained or had dangerous talents. The fact that one of them was of the Apple clan supported this claim as their clan always proved unusually gifted Earth Ponies of great strength meaning that it was also likely the others were similarly gifted.
Nightmare Moon returned to the Canterlot castle. "Midnight! Come to me now!" she bellowed as the large double doors were opened by two of her Negasi guards.
At the beckoning of her majesty's call a mare with an exceptional talent in Dark Magic known as Midnight walked into the throne room.
"Yes, your majesty? What would you have me do?" she asked as she kneeled on one knee.
"Gather our troops. I have a mission for you and our soldiers."