//------------------------------// // Nightmare fright night (Part One) // Story: The Nightmare Reborn // by vintage brony //------------------------------// Evan still looked out the window as the train slowed to a halt. “Look everypony we're here!” Lunar yelled as he hopped around the train cart in excitement he wasn’t even trying to conceal. “Yes, it sure looks that way.” Kristoph said as he returned to his calm demeanor. “So everyone, whats the plan?” He asked as he rose from his seat to leave. “Well the letter Princess Luna sent to me said that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would await us at the station to greet us and then we proceed from there.” Kebert explained as he too got up from his seat. “Well after we get that all sorted out.” Hocus said pointing a hoof to the train cart behind theirs indicating the brothers. “I'm gonna check out the theater they have here. Mareland doesn't have one and I’ve been craving to see this movie that came out not to long ago!” He said as smiled with anticipation. “So lets get going!” He said as he ran to the train cart with the brothers and Nuudo. He opened the door and peeked his head in and yelled in. “Hey Nuudo! We're here so come on lets get this circus act on the road!” Evan wondered for a moment if this phrase was meant to pick some fun at their rather eccentric group or if he picked it up in his years with the circus. Eh - He shrugged - who cares? He got up to go see if Nuudo needed help with the brothers when he heard a “Wooooah...” Escape Hocus's lips. Fearing something bad had happened to him he galloped the short distance to look through the door alongside Hocus. When he saw the reason for the 'Wooooah', he quickly seconded it. He saw special carriages that held cages for the brothers, they each were held suspended in the cages by some glowing rope attached to the four top and four bottom corners of the cages and their respective hooves. Each carriage had a harness for a pony to attach themselves to and pull the rather heavy looking transport cells. Evan's curiosity took over once again and he cantered into the room as he observed and took in all he could about these devices the Zebra had brought along. “Not that these aren't really cool and I would really like to take a closer look at one of these when we get back by the way. But don't they seem a bit... - He waved his hoof in a circle in the air as he looked for an appropriate word - excessive?” He asked fearing he would insult the apparently well equipped zebra. “Yeah I mean when we captured them it took us all of about ten seconds to get them down and out!” Hocus said as he smacked his right forehoof into his left to emphasize his point. Nuudo jumped down from atop of the carriages with a full black outfit on. He also had a pair of goggles that matched his cutie mark to a tee, along with a belt full of pockets probably brimming with useful utensils. “Either way we need to split up.” Nuudo said as he gathered the rest of the group from the other train cart together as well. “Wait, what? Why?” Kidd asked as he joined them next to the carriages. “Aren’t we supposed to get a special welcome/escort group to help us with them?” he asked as he gestured over the zebra's shoulder to the brothers, who snarled in return. “Well that was the original plan but do you see any ponies out there waiting that match the description the princess sent us?” Nuudo pointed out with a hoof pointing to the window facing the station. Kidd peered out and couldn’t find anypony (or apparently dragon) that even remotely matched the description of any ones they were to meet once they arrived. “Maybe they needed to powder their noses?” Hocus asked flatly. Which was followed by a brief silence. “Sexist.” Kidd said finally as he flew into the train cart they traveled in, forelegs crossed. “Yeah that was a little mean, just sayin.” Evan said as he followed Kidd. Nuudo simply replied with a slightly agitated “Nice.” before returning to the final preparations. Hocus huffed to himself, “Geez blow a gasket why don’t you?” He muttered under his breath as he followed Evan and Kidd. A few minutes later... “Is everypony in position?” Nuudo said into his radio. Or it would be a radio if he had remembered to bring it. “I’m not gonna use that string and can. And you can get off of the train roof now. There’s nopony here anymore.” Hocus said as he sat impatiently. Nuudo groaned, so unprofessional... “Fine but I told you we have to be on the lookout for any of nightmare moon's tricks! These two are probably her only slaves at this point and I'm not gonna risk it if she does end up coming this way to stop us.” He saw something move in the corner of his eye and spun around to get a better look. “There!” He yelled out into the tin can as he pointed it out. They all turned to look at the source of Nuudo's attention. What they saw not only quelled their fear but got them laughing as well. A snow white cat came out of the bush looking irritated and quickly made its way away from the station. “Watch out for that Big scary cat Nuudo! I saw it plotting with discord to take over Equestria!” Hocus was barely able to force out between chuckles. He fell to the ground clutching his sides with his forelegs and wiped tears away with his wings. “We still should split up!” Nuudo said a bit irritated he was the punch line of a joke to them. “This town is nice and all but they can be judgmental at first glances!” He said thinking of a certain magician and zebra. “Think how they'll react to us bringing in the brothers in the state their in! They'll be easier to hide if we split up. And if Nightmare does try something here then well be dividing up her forces.” He reasoned to the others. Hocus still clutched his side with a mix of pain from his sides and barely contained mirth evident on his face. The others appearing to mull over the plan presented to them. Kebert spoke up first of the group, “Fine by me as long as we get this show on the road. So who’s going with who?” The others exchanged glances with each other. Kristoph cleared his throat before offering his solution. “How about me, Lunar, Hocus, and Nuudo? And you - he pointed a hoof at Kebert - Evan, and Kidd? We get Flim and you guys get Flam?” “I don't see why not.” Kebert said as he reared back on his hindlegs and shrugged before returning to all fours. “Anypony object to this?” Everyone shook their heads no, acknowledging their agreement. “I guess we have a plan then.” “Alright we'll search the west side of the town while your group will search the east. Stick close to each other and keep within each others sight lines.” Nuudo advised/ordered them. “Understood!” Evan said before giving a crisp salute and performing an about face (Which can be quite a feat for a pony) and heading off to gather the troops. “Whats with the whole soldier thing?” Kidd asked with a half amused grin at the usually hyperactive pony acting stoic and controlled. “A few years in Royal Guard ROTC program at my old school.” Evan said nonchalantly as he got his light travel saddle he packed for the trip. And by light he only packed for about a month of surviving in the wilderness with no hope of seeing civilization again. As he struggled to get it strapped on he had to levitate it for a bit to get it secured properly. Even by using magic it was strenuous. With his pack on his back he made his way to the carriage they were to be bringing to the bearers of the Elements. “Ugh your gonna try to be inconspicuous with that thing? Its almost as big as another pony!” Kidd said as he flew up to the top of it to compare his size to it's. “It's only emergency gear and some things we may need.” He said as he breathed heavily under its weight. Even with those years of ROTC this is still heavy... I'm a scientist not a pack mule... not that there's anything wrong with mules. He added mentally. “I have to agree with Kidd on this one Evan...” Kebert said as he warily viewed the pack. “The carriage will be enough of a struggle to hide. The pack will make it harder.” He said hoping to not make him mad. Evan sighed in defeat, “I guess it is rather cumbersome...” He said as he let go of his burden and levitated it back to a compartment on the train for safe keeping. “Oh I almost forgot my luggage!” Kidd said as he flew off into the train to get his things. Kebert following in after to do the same. Kidd came out a few moments later with a small collapse-able easel paint supplies all inside of a light side bag and a beanie he quickly donned. Once atop his head he smiled widely and cantered his way off the train. Kebert only brought Evan's book, his hoodie, some parchment and quills, and an ink bottle in his own shoulder bag. He soon met up with Kidd and Evan once again and Evan took up the task of pulling the carriage while the other two were look outs. Looking for the least populated route to the library. Rather difficult for them since this was the first time in the town and they had to go by the directions that Luna had sent them. Kebert, Kidd, Evan “Head due west upon arriving at the local shoppe 'Quills and Sofas', then thou shall head due south south west towards an eatery, one 'Sugar Cube Corner', if thou finds town hall thou hath gone too far.” Kidd said with slight annoyance at the “Ye olde” speak that Luna was striving to work around. Then add the fact he'd need a compass that they didn't have to follow them easily. But she was his princess so he forgave her, especially since she was helping him anyways. He looked at the route indicated and frowned. “That's waaay too many ponies for us to just slip by.” He muttered to himself. We need to find another way. He thought as he flew to inform the others. He called Kebert from his position behind Evan in the sky so he could tell them both at once. “Alright the path she told us to take – he pointed at the letter in his hoof – its crowded with ponies for some reason. We have to find a different route to get there.” “Well which way do you suggest then?” Evan asked as he began to unfold a very detailed map of Ponyville with a haze of grey magic. Needless to say it was bigger then all three of them when unfolded completely. “Now were here – he muttered under his breath as he poked the map with a hoof – and the library is... There! - he poked the map again this time poking a small hole over the picture of the library – oops...” He quickly folded the map back with his magic to hide his little mess up. “Right! I know where to go now! This way everypony!” He said as he made his way down an adjacent road. The other two looked at each other and simply shrugged as they followed the excited unicorn carrying a crazed pony in a cage. This is gonna be more then a little weird... They both thought in unison. Lunar, Kristoph, Hocus, Nuudo “So are you guys as excited as meeting a whole new group of ponies as I am!?!?” Lunar asked as he ran in place while he waited for the others to catch up. “Have you had any coffee recently?” Hocus asked as he walked beside Kristoph who was pulling the cage-cart. “No! Whats coffee!? Does it taste like chocolate!?” Lunar said as he got in Hocus's 'personal space'. Hocus gently put a hoof in the middle of Lunar's muzzle and pushed him away from himself to give him some breathing room. “Anyways were going to the library right? So whats there that we don’t have under my house? I mean apparently we have these. - he pointed a hoof to the cage-cart – right Nuudo?” Hocus asked the zebra, or more accurately where the zebra had been not two seconds ago. Hocus stopped and looked at the spot with a look of incomprehension “Uhh...” was all he could say. The others stopped to see why he stopped and noticed Nuudo gone as well. “Uhh...” they muttered in unison. They all started to look around in random directions till they saw a rope fall behind were Hocus was standing. “Hocus...” Kristoph said as he pointed a hoof towards the rope behind Hocus. “What?” He asked oblivious to the black clad zebra sliding down the rope upside down towards the pegasus. Nuudo's tail hung limp downwards and his goggles were over his grey eyes. Once he was directly behind the pegasus he put a hoof to his muzzle and whispered in Hocus's ear “Shhhh... I'm here.” Hocus clenched every muscle in his body in response to being startled so bad. But as per the instructions he didn’t make a noise (Whether if it was because he was trying to be quite or he was scared into silence even he couldn’t say). “I cant let anypony notice me, new faces around here are already a flag. This town is so small that everyone probably knows everypony by name around here. Let alone a stallion zebra, id be obvious at even a glance. And let me remind you this is a stealth operation!” Nuudo whisper-yelled at Hocus. “As stealthy as a group of new faces carrying around a crazed barbershop reject in a magic cage!” Hocus whisper-yelled back. “Wait why am I whispering!?” He said getting irritated with the whole situation. “Aren’t we supposed to be looking for the Element holders anyways!? Best way to look for them is to get noticed, and to get noticed we need to make a big scene and a lot of noise right?” “Oh I can make a scene!” Lunar exclaimed and bolted off and came back with a small puppet stage which he quickly entered. They all looked on in confusion as he brought out puppets on his hooves as performed a play. He pulled out one puppet that was dressed in archaic pony attire. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” He said in an old fashion style voice that sounded a lot like Luna. He then brought out another puppet that looked like a very buff stallion as he yelled out in a thick Germane accent. “GET TO THE CHOPPA!!!” and he began to smack the puppets together and made fake explosion sounds with his mouth. The others simply stared with ranging emotions and different levels of comprehension registering on their faces. Kristoph looked blank (blanker then usual), Hocus repeatedly faced hoofed himself in the same spot leaving a red round spot in the center of his forehead, Nuudo examined him to seem if somepony was controlling him as a distraction. Nope – he concluded – just insane. “Riiiiight... well now that we are properly entertained shouldn’t we be on the way to the library?” Kristoph said as he regained his composure. This snapped the other two back to Equestria and they nodded quickly trying to make up time. “Wait for me guys!” Lunar yelled as he hopped out from behind the puppet stage to catch up. Back in Mareland... “Well now that you have this girl what now? Your powers are back now aren’t they?” Sombra asked in a low grumble. “Yes and no. I shouldn’t run out of power now that I have a unicorn body but since she is still fairly young I shall have to slowly regain strength. She doesn’t have enough cumulative power as a full grow mare, let alone an alicorn. But now we can proceed a bit more on schedule.” She said with an evil sneer gracing her now young face. She slowly cantered out of the room she occupied to join Sombra in the prison, I mean boarding rooms for her new subjects. Sombra chuckled a bit at the sight of the great and powerful Nightmare Moon. Not only was she a young filly but she didn’t even have a cutie mark! And the way she tried to appear just as intimidating in such a miniscule body was just hilarious! As he laughed to himself everything went pitch black and he grew disorientated. Then he saw that he had reverted in size and age, and ponies walked around and payed him no mind. And those that did pointed at him and laughed. He tried to fight them for their disrespect and ignorance. But he only succeeded in getting pushed back ten fold. And ridiculed even more for his weakness. He tried to get away and ran muzzle first into a glass wall, examining his surroundings he discovered he was in a glass prison on display for all to see. The plaque outside read 'pay one bit to laugh at the wimp! Seniors and children get in free of charge.' Seeing how easily they did this to him made him lose it, he began to back up into a corner and pant heavily as the wall began to close in on him. He pulled in one more deep breath as he bellowed out a yell of fear. He opened his eyes and saw he was still in the confectionery on the floor, with a young filly sneering at him looking proud of herself. “Don’t you think they call me 'Nightmare' Moon for a reason?” she walked away as she laughed at his lost mirth. That will be the last pony to underestimate me! She thought to herself. Sombra picked himself up off the floor and growled in frustration. He saw a way to relieve it by setting his horn glowing and magically enhanced his strength and brought his hoof down hard on a nearby table. It splintered in half by the impact and he proceeded to repeatedly smash it until it was little more then saw dust. Ill teach that mare not to mess with a king... Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy “Oh come on everypony! Were already late enough as it is! The schedule might as well not even exist at this point!” Twilight said in a panic as she tried to urge the others to speed up the pace to make up time. “Again I'm quite sorry about that Twilight, if Opal hadn’t gotten out again then we could have been here on time.” Rarity apologized again. “Its ok Rarity I just don’t want to be any later then we already are. Who knows if theirs even anypony there any more.” Twilight said as she rose her head up a bit as if she could get a quicker view of the train station. “So do we even know the names of these ponies? Or what they look like? I didn't get the full explanation.” Applejack asked trying to get a better understanding. “Well there’s seven of them. Kristoph, Hocus, Kidd, Kebert, Lunar, Event, and Nuudo. And the letter came with a picture of each of them.” Twilight said as she levitated out the pictures which were tucked in with the scroll the princess sent the day prior. Once Rainbow got a glimpse of them she exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh! Lunar Midknight, and Kristoph are coming! The Lunar Midknight and Kristoph!” The others looked at her with confusion present through all of them. When Rainbow noticed she gaped. “You don’t know who they are!?!? How can anypony not know who they are and say they even know what music is!” She said as she flew above the group, keeping to just above their heads. “Their both famous rock stars! Kristoph is a bass player- “A bassist.” Twilight corrected. “- whatever, and Lunar sings and plays the guitar!” Rainbow finished. After no light of recognition hit their faces she gave up with a sigh and rejoined them on their way to the train station on hoof.