My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Nightmare Mirror looked out her window, she saw in Pony-City-Canterlot (the two having merged together several centuries back), seeing the celebration of the anniversary of Daring Do's first printing, the series of adventure novels having maintained a cult classic status even if few ever actually read the books anymore, and preferred the comics and made for TV cartoons.
She opened her wings wide and let all the world reflect upon her. She felt it. Deception and manipulation had completely vanished not just from ponies' psyches, but from their very souls. The idea being not only unthinkable, but as incomprehensible as the racial hatred of the three tribes had been for modern Equestrians in the days of her youth.
After all, hadn't she crushed Nightmare Whisper, the Kindest of Lies? Hadn't she completely stamped out the goddess of deceit? Hadn't truth triumphed over falsehood?
Her work was complete.
She let herself smile for a few seconds. Then sighed.
"Only one thing left to do." She then called out through her mirrors. "Minty Pie."
"Yes Yer, Ah mean, yes Auntie?" The little pony came in, ready to serve, ready to help.
Nightmare Mirror took the hat cowpony hat off her head and gave it to the green pony. "Please give this to Apple Pie, with my blessing, tell her it's hers. And please take the rest of the day off."
"W-w-what?! Auntie! But it's ... it's YER HAT!"
"No. It's Apple Pie's hat now. And before that, it was mah Pa's. Please take it to her. Tell'er it's a birthday gift. She ain't no filly no more when she wears it, she's a mare."
"Ah know that'll make 'er very happy to hear Auntie! But, are ya sure?"
"Absolutely sure." She nuzzled her. "Now git."
Minty Pie stopped herself from bowing and galloped out with the keepsake.
Nightmare Mirror make sure she was safely out of the tower before turning her attention outwards.
She spoke through her mirrors, to every pony in Equestria, young and old.
"Attention ya all ponies of Equestria and everywhere! And all ya other folk too out there! The Nightmare of Truth Speaks! Long have Ah worked to cleanse the hearts and minds of every pony alive of deception and usin' the truth to her own means. Ah'm happy ta say, yer free. Lies' grasp is gone from ya. The road ahead won't be easy, not at all. But Ah believe in ya. And that ain't no lie. But for now, right now, there's something mighty important ya all gotta do!
"There is a criminal in Equestria, worse than any other since Discord! They have brought pain and unhappiness to countless innocent ponies to establish themself. And this here monster must be made to face justice. This criminal's name, is Nightmare Mirror! Also known as the Cruelst of Truths! Also known once as Applejack! And Abigail Jacqueline Apple The Fifth Of the Fifth line! And once the Element of Honesty!"
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"Sister you heard?" Princess Luna asked teleporting into Princess Celestia's throne room.
"Yes Luna."
"How can this be?"
"How could it not be? She is the Nightmare of truth. It was forever the only conclusion."
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"This vile criminal, this monster, has imposed her will upon innocent ponies for centuries, and irrevocably changing their free-will to suit how she believes it should be! The very idea of what it means to BE a pony has been rewritten because of her meddling! She is selfish and cowardly beyond all reason! She must be shown no mercy! She is a hypocritical nag who has tried to hide from the truth that she was still the stubborn farm mare she has always been even as she has forced all others to face the reality of the world and the reality of themselves.
"She must be brought down, dead or alive. Either stripped of all her power and prestige, and made to face justice for her many crimes against free-will, ponykind, and the world. Or eliminated and obliterated so none may take up her belief that forcing their will upon others is justified ever again! Or simply both in whichever order is most effective. She must not be remembered as a martyr or a hero! She is a criminal and must be removed from power!
"Her good intentions, nor her grief at her actions excuse or pardon them in the slightest! And it is an insult to those she has trampled on to think so otherwise! This filth must not be granted pity or compassion!
Do not let 'er escape with her ideas to another world for her to corrupt! This must end here and now! This Is Truth!"
The Apple clan looked up at the tower in horror and dismay.
Nightmare Mirror deactivated all the tower's defenses with a thought.
She saw the herd of pegasi headed for the top of the tower, led by the other Alicorns.
She allowed herself a small sigh, and removed her barding, tossing it aside. Was it more proper to stand or sit down? Maybe standing made her more cooperative.
She wasn't able to keep the relief out of her voice as the army of Royal Guards and Alicorns descended around her. "At long last it's over."
2780056 40K went into 6th edition, and they shook up the galaxy and created fluff and background that the fans didn't like. Its comparable to the rage over the Grey Knights codex and the new angsty chapter master with the Deamon sword, the hero that travels the warp sniffing warp dust and the armor that looks like Optimus Prime.
This just shows that even if a Nightmare takes over, eventually what they represent will become the norm and they will no longer be needed.
2781980
Which can be simply be a victory for them.
Very interesting. Things are not very black and white in the POVerse are they?
Will you be doing something similar for the other nightmares, or just Nightmare Mirror?
2783124
I only wrote one for also Granfalloon. I AM NOT writing ones for the others. If anyone else wants to, they're free to and encouraged to.
2785470
What Discord did to Neighpon was a tribute to Paprika the anime movie.
And it was a typo.
2785186
I think you made my head implode with that one.
2788473
What's wrong with G3? The entire point of the origins and 7 Dreams/Nightmares is that it's not as bad as others say it is.
2789217
You think she considers revenge a BAD thing? Revenge and justice are one and the same in her mind.
And Minty Pie's 'just a prop' remember? As long as the person you're doing it to isn't a person, you can pretty much do ANYTHING to them.
2789278
It's not like any of it matters. To her it doesn't matter because it's like resetting a video game, if you don't like how things turn out, you can just reset as many times as you want to get the Golden Ending. So in her mind, once they've created the golden world, NONE OF THEM WILL HAVE KILLED ANYONE, because those murders will have only happened in a timeline that no longer exists!
2789288
You make Minty cry.
Short, to the point, and final. Very Applejack.
2789919
Thank you. Which is the point. In the Pony POV-Verse. As corrupted, and certifiably insane the Nightmares are, they are still themselves rather than a split personality.
2790001 But of course.
Insanity is the brain getting out of balance - profound dissatisfaction leading us to ignore or minimize some behavior and focus more on another. Deception, Injustice, Cruelty, Guilt, Betrayal, Hurt.
Yeah... you can fight a war/battle/argument and you can 'win' by bringing your opponent to the point they no longer feel strong enough to oppose you, but if you don't pay attention to their heart you will never have any peace. Just someone you've pushed out of balance.
That's the second reason forgiveness is important.
2789407 Which shows a fairly massive Logical Fallacy, because all of them came from different time loops where according to Paradox, only they, Twilight, and Discord existed, yet they're murdering themselves over and over simply in the hopes of forgetting that no matter how much they claim that their alternate selves from those alternate time loops are fakes, it is the Nightmares who feel more fake then the so-called NPCs that they're fighting.
2789392 And yet, when Minty Pie showed up, Paradox quickly changed her status from prop to one of her biggest threats.
Then again, she is the Query most Contrary.
2789410 I didn't mean to insult her, mind.
I just prefer things that are intellectually stimulating enough that my brain won't turn into a mass of tapioca, and I'm afraid that the world the Nightmares want to create falls WAY below the necessary level.
2789392 I feel the need to point out that Nightmare Manacle is working for the one who is truly responsible for Scootaloo's death.
After all, Nightmare Eclipse had more then enough power to prevent Scootaloo from dying at Traitor Dash's hooves, but did she ever do it? No, in spite of the fact that it would have frustrated and tormented Discord to no end, Eclipse never did anything to save Scootaloo.
In other words, Manacle is working for Scootaloo's REAL murderer! I wonder how that would make Manacle feel if that was ever pointed out?
Very Applejack of her. Fitting.
4095381
Which is the idea.
............damn.............I did not expect this at all.................while she may be a tyrant, I have to give her props for being brutally honest with herself...................I tip my hat to her as she faces justice for her crimes against freedom and to be honest.....I feel bad for her and I take no pleasure in her punishment.
Either the cruelest or kindest thing they could do at this point would be to gather around to celebrate her rather than destroy her. I wonder how she'd take that.